NewsHawks 27 August 2021

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WHAT’S INSIDE Friday 27 August 2021 NTrEaWnsSparency ‘SAPgOoRldT
critical in medal made
NMEoWanSa’s Fidelity gold in Zimbabwe’
young sister stake sale
Tatenda Story on Page 52
relapses Story on Page 27

Story on Page 9

Mnangagwa’s
helicopter in
hair-raising
emergency
crash landing

ALSO INSIDE Chief Svosve’s people: From land invaders to squatters

Page 2 News NewsHawks

Issue 45, 27 August 2021

Mnangagwa’s chopper in hair-
raising emergency landing

President Emmerson Mnangagwa (with scarf )’s presidential helicopter was forced into an emergency landing on Sunday due to a technical failure.

BERNARD MPOFU “The incident happened in Sandringham. dollars, hundreds of soldiers and equipment grows several crops and rears livestock.
A probe into what happened to the President’s worth multi-millions. Earlier this month, he was forced to make
IN a hair-raising incident which might leave chopper is currently underway. Whenever the
heads rolling at the Air Force of Zimbabwe President is not flying the chopper, the heli- In a bid to replace the dilapidated equip- a last-minute flight postponement to Mutare,
(AFZ), President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s copter will be parked at Manyame Air Base in ment, Mnangagwa in April reportedly brought where he was expected to officially open an in-
presidential helicopter was dramatically forced Harare and it’s usually flown when he visits his a new helicopter despite Zimbabwe’s economic dustrial and medicinal oxygen plant — which
into an emergency landing over 60 kilometres Sherwood farm or when he wants to travel to deterioration and growing poverty. he eventually did last week — due to bad
south-west of Harare on Sunday afternoon due remote areas,” a source said. weather.
to a technical failure, The NewsHawks has es- A Russian Antonov AN-124 — the world’s
tablished. “From Manyame, it usually picks him up third heaviest gross weight production cargo “Strict protocols in maintaining the Presi-
from his state residence, but sometimes it lands aircraft — was said to have delivered the chop- dent’s chopper are expected to be enforced after
Security sources said the crash landing inci- at Morris Depot grounds where it would be per to Harare on 15 April which Mnangagwa the probe is concluded,” the source said.
dent happened on Sunday around 4pm in the under police guard. While many people think plans to use during his 2023 re-election bid.
Sandringham area, Matsvaire village, in Che- that he has bought a new chopper, it’s not true, In April this year, three Air Force officers
gutu district, about 65 kilometres south-west the helicopter which was forced to make an The Volga Dnepr-operated Antonov flew out died when their helicopter crashed in Arcturus
of the capital when Mnangagwa was coming emergency landing is an old one which was of Rzeszów–Jasionka Airport in south-eastern near Harare.
from his Kwekwe farm. Earlier information resprayed. Poland, 10km from the city of Rzeszów, and
had indicated it took place in the nearby Chin- landed at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe Interna- The horror crash of the Agusta Bell AB 412
gwere village in Mhondoro-Ngezi, also in “Initially it had been agreed after the inci- tional Airport carrying an Airbus Helicopters killed two pilots, Wing Commander Thomas
Mashonaland West province. dent that he should be picked up to complete H215, an upgraded version of the ageing Euro- Tinashe Manyowa, Flight Lieutenant Anita
the journey by road, but while the motorcade copter AS-532UL Cougar which Zimbabwe’s Mapiye, as well as aircraft technician Flight
The sources said Mnangagwa, who frequent- was on its way, a second helicopter was sent to military has been using for VIP transportation. Sergeant Tinodiwanashe Chikamhi. The acci-
ly flies out of Harare to his Precabe Farm in fly him back home.” dent also claimed the life of 18-month-old Jade
Sherwood, Kwekwe, was rattled and terrified However, security sources insisted that the Pfenyere, who was on the ground.
by the incident which forced him into a scary The Air Force, which maintains Mnan- helicopter Mnangagwawas flying is an old re-
emergency while on his way back to Harare. gagwa’s helicopter and military choppers that painted chopper. Flight Lieutenant Mapiye was the first fe-
escort the President when he flies within the male helicopter pilot in the AFZ and had be-
Upon the incident, Mnangagwa’s security borders of the country, has been blighted by Investigations underway on the incident, come part of the VIP transport aircrew when
details, including an aide-de-camp, marksman aviation accidents in recent years due to bad sources said, will involve the Air Force, intelli- she was killed in the accident.
from the Presidential Guard, a medic and in- weather, human error and use of ageing air- gence services, Presidential Guard and aviation
telligence officers, scrambled to cordon off the craft. experts. Air Marshal Elson Moyo, commander of the
scene, as the team also worked out an emer- Air Force, said a “dark cloud” had engulfed the
gency rescue plan to complete their 45-minute The AFZ’s capability was largely decimat- Mnangagwa, who has spoken several times military after the April crash.
journey. ed during the DRC War from 1998-2002, in about his passion for farming, including in his
which Zimbabwe lost hundreds of millions of recently published biography, A Life of Sacri- In November 2020, an instructor and stu-
fice, often leaves his state residence in Harare dent pilot died after an Air Force plane crashed
on Sunday mornings for the farm where he during a training session in the Midlands cap-
ital, Gweru.

NewsHawks News Page 3

Issue 45, 27 August 2021

Heroics myth exploded after 56 years…
Biography exposes President over
his repeated death sentence claim

OWEN GAGARE day Mail in an interview in as research by lawyer Tererai ed a series of tweets calling rifice: Emmerson Mnangag- view 
April. Mafukidze published by The Mnangagwa out on the issue. wa’,” Moyo said. “In a revealing and dam-
THE now hackneyed phrase NewsHawks recently shows.
that “the first casualty of war “So I was saved by age be- There were 11 white male “Mnangagwa’s claim that “Throughout his politi- aging disclosure, which con-
is truth” has been attributed cause I was underage at the judges in 1980. The death he was sentenced to death in cal career, Mnangagwa has firms Jonathan Chando’s
to many prominent people time I committed the crime sentence myth has triggered 1965 and escaped the penalty claimed that he was sentenced previous reports, Eddie Cross
– from the father of Greek they were charging me of.” new controversy. because he was underage, is to death for blowing up loco- reproduces (p.23) the 1965
tragedy Aeschylus to United a myth, that is a lie, as pre- motive No.510 in Masvingo court record, which is missing
States senator Hiram Warren The purported death sen- Former Zimbabwean cabi- viously revealed by Jonathan in 1964, but was not executed from the National Archives, in
Johnson, Arthur Ponsonby tence was commuted to 10 net minister and MP Jonathan Chando and now confirmed, because he was underage. He which the judge found that: ‘I
and Samuel Johnson. years in jail.  After serving Moyo, a professor of politics, behind Mnangagwa’s back, by repeated the lie in April 2021 do not therefore propose to
seven years, Mnangagwa was seized on the issue and post- Eddie Cross in ‘A Life of Sac- in his @SundayMailZim inter- sentence you to death’.”
While controversy over its released from Khami Prison
origins may never end, who- near Bulawayo in 1972 and
ever coined it was dead right. deported to Mumbwa, out-
During the Rhodesian con- side Lusaka, where his parents
flict and subsequent liberation lived after they had also been
struggle for Zimbabwe, truth apparently deported by the
was a major casualty of the Rhodesian authorities. 
war. 
However, some critical
Myths, mostly to enhance minds have always questioned
liberation fighters’ heroics, the authenticity of Mnangag-
reputation and for propagan- wa’s story, especially in view
da purposes to scare or man- of the brazen falsehood that
age the enemy, were peddled he was a member of the Croc-
and sustained until they be- odile Gang, a group of early
came like fact. Zanu militants. 

Perception becomes reality A war veteran, writing un-
unless bridged with facts. der the non de guerre Jona-
than Chando, recently chal-
One of the urban legends lenged the myths, including
sustained for a long time was the death sentence and Croc-
that President Emmerson odile Gang narrative. After
Mnangagwa was in 1965 sen- 56 years of uncertainty, it
tenced to death for bombing has now emerged – ironically
a train in Fort Victoria, now through his own biography by
Masvingo.  Eddie Cross, A Life of Sacri-
fice – that Mnangagwa was
That story has been passed never sentenced to death.
down from generation to gen-
eration for the past 56 years. The court record of January
1965 contained in the book,
Mnangagwa has insisted which has many shades of grey
that he was saved from the magnified by distortions and
gallows by his age over his omissions, makes it clear the
train-bombing heroics. judge did not sentence him to
death.
“It was my age. At the time
the age of majority was 21 “I do not therefore propose
and at the time when I went to sentence you to death,” Jus-
for military training I was 19. tice John Lewis said.
So I committed my crime at
the time when I went for mil- Lewis was to later become
itary training. The time I was Judge President in 1980. Hec-
tried I was already 21, but the tor Mcdonald was the Chief
commission of the crime was Justice. 
when I was 19,” Mnangagwa
told the state-controlled Sun- With Harry Davies, the trio
sat in the Appellate Division,

Page 4 News NewsHawks

Issue 45, 27 August 2021

Where’s the ZW$18bn rescue package?

DUMISANI NYONI Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry minister Nqobizitha Mangaliso Ndlovu million.
Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe Ma-
THE ZW$18 billion Covid-19 economic re- unfortunately, it has to be approved in Parlia- 2022 because it has to be approved through pro-
covery and stimulus package announced by the ment,” he said. cess. That’s the unfortunate part.” tabeleland North chairperson Anald Musonza
government last year to provide liquidity sup- “If anything, it might come in the budget for The tourism sector was promised ZW$500 recently told state media that more businesses
port to several sectors of the economy remains were now technically insolvent and could shut
elusive, with Treasury now blaming businesses down anytime.
for their failure to convince banks to release the
money. Ministry of Industry and Commerce dep-
uty director of communications and advocacy
Equivalent to 9% of the country’s gross do- Yvonne Gundu said: “With regards to your que-
mestic product by then, the stimulus package ry, please be advised that the Covid-19 recovery
was meant to put Zimbabwe on a recovery package is being coordinated from the ministry
trajectory following the devastating impact of of Finance.”
Covid-19. Out of the amount, agriculture was
allocated ZW$6.08 billion, industry (working Ministry of Finance and Economic Devel-
capital fund) ZW$3.02 billion, mining sector opment chief director of communication Clive
(ZW$1 billion), small and medium enterprise Mphambela said the money was there, sitting in
support fund (ZW$500 million), arts sector the banks.
fund (ZW$20 million), liquidity release from
statutory reserves (ZW$2 billion), health sec- “It’s a demand-driven fund. So anyone with a
tor support fund (ZW$1 billion), broad relief genuine Covid-related business stress which can
measures (ZW$1.5 billion) and food grant be demonstrated to their bank should get fund-
(ZW$2.4 billion). ing. Those who have adequately demonstrated
to their banks can access the fund,” he said.
Industry players who spoke to The News-
Hawks this week revealed that they had lost “I think the challenge may be when the bank
hope of accessing the package given the time it assesses a particular entity or project it may not
has taken. fit the test. For example, if your business is gen-
erally doing well the bank will wonder why you
“There is nothing, we haven’t seen any drop are trying to borrow more money.
of that. Last time when we had a meeting we did
ask Finance minister Mthuli Ncube over that “So, the corporates must be able to justify the
and he told us that he will talk to the banks but need to their bankers. When the bank is satis-
nothing came up. I think it was just for public fied that there is a genuine need, the bank then
relations (purpose) because no one has benefited requests the government to issue a guarantee in
and no one has been given that money,” Zimba- their favour for that loan.
bwe National Chamber of Commerce vice-pres-
ident Golden Muoni said. “So, you can see that it was a clever facili-
ty because we didn’t want to create a situation
“There is no money, there is nothing whatso- where people just take money that they don’t
ever. In real terms, there is no money. I think the need and end up using it for speculation and
government has other things which they want other things. If there is a genuine need, it will
to attend to. To say there is someone who has be funded. But that test is passed at the level of
benefited, I would be lying. So, it’s each man for the bank. So if customers cannot convince their
himself, God for us all. There is no dollar, there bank, then they probably don’t need the mon-
is no cent and now given that this lockdown is ey,” Mphambela said.
continuously being extended, there is now more
need for that money.” Mpambela, however, would not reveal the
loans that have been gazetted by the government
Zimbabwe’s economy is currently struggling, so far, saying he does not remember the figures
with Covid-19 affecting all sectors, yet at the off-hand.
same time inflation is spiralling out of control.
Treasury promised the tourism sector ZW$500 million.
The government this week extended the level
four lockdown by another two weeks, further
constraining businesses.

Victor Nyoni, chief executive officer of the
Association for Business in Zimbabwe (ABUZ),
said the fact that very few banks were partici-
pating in the programme made it difficult for
companies to access the fund.

“I know for a fact that ABUZ members did
not benefit from the fund, the reason being
that very few banks are participating in that
programme. I think it’s only CBZ Bank and
this makes it difficult for companies to access
it because it’s not everyone who banks with the
CBZ,” Nyoni said.

“Government must engage all banks. You
cannot force everyone to bank with CBZ. It
must also work on the access modalities. Banks
prefer to stay away due to certain conditions and
there is no transparency with those funds.”

The government has shareholding in CBZ
Bank.

Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries Bul-
awayo chamber late last year also revealed that
its members had not received their share of the
government’s ZW$18 billion rescue package.

Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospi-
tality Industry minister Nqobizitha Mangaliso
Ndlovu confirmed the hospitality sector had not
benefitted. He said the banks were not willing to
lend to the tourism sector because of its state at
the moment.

“It’s something that we are aware of (that
tourism players have not benefited from the
fund) and we are working on something which
will give the government better leeway. The
Treasury is working on giving us a fund, but

NewsHawks News Page 5

Issue 45, 27 August 2021

Treasury must provide detailed
breakdown of vaccine purchases
priation of funds, violation of pro-
BRIDGET MANANAVIRE Ministry of Finance chief director of communications Clive Mphambela. curement rules and regulations.” 

GOVERNMENT should ensure penditure has not been fully disclosed funds,” Chikumbu said.  audit report by the Auditor-General, TIZ says government is blighted
strict accountability in its use of for public scrutiny. There is evidence “The recent reports, both the 2019 media reports and TIZ Briefs have by gross unsupported expenditure,
Covid-19 vaccine funds as the public of gross misuse and abuse of public annual audit report and the Covid-19 highlighted the continued misappro- wasteful expenditure, unreconciled
remains in the dark on the breakdown expenditure, unauthorised transfer of
of the US$93.2 million spent in pro- funds, fraudulent expenditure, unau-
curing the life-saving jabs, governance thorised borrowing, excess expendi-
watchdogs say.  ture, overstated expenditure, and pay-
ments made for goods not delivered.
In July, Finance minister Mthuli
Ncube told the nation the govern- Chikumbu said full disclosure of
ment spent US$93.2 million out of government spending would improve
an allocation of US$100 million on public confidence. 
Covid-19 vaccines but conspicuously
absent from his speech was the break- “Full disclosure of information on
down of how the money had been the source and utilisation of public
used. This week, cabinet revealed the funds is important.  It enables cor-
country had already acquired 13 mil- ruption risks and vulnerabilities to be
lion doses out of the 20 million doses addressed as various stakeholders can
required to achieve herd immunity by monitor and hold the government to
December 2021. account on its expenditure patterns.
Transparent processes enhance public
But government has failed to pub- confidence in the government’s policy
lish contracts. Procurement processes implementation strategies and broad-
pertaining to the awarding of public ly increases trust in governance insti-
tenders are handled clandestinely. tutions. Public trust and confidence
in institutions are fundamental attri-
The basic tenets of public finance butes of sound governance practices,”
management require the government Chikumbu said. 
to publish all relevant information
concerning the procurement of vac- Ministry of Finance chief director
cines to the last detail. This is because of communications Clive Mphambela
transparency and accountability are declined to comment, dropping the
not only statutory requirements but phone on this reporter.
also constitutional stipulations.

This is important as Zimbabweans
have already experienced corruption
in the procurement and supply of
Covid-19 requirements.

Transparency advocates say Ncube
should publish a breakdown of all the
Covid-19 outlays; the names of the
suppliers, those given supply contracts
or the middlemen – companies and
their beneficial owners – the pricing,
and margins, and how the supplies
were distributed, when and where.

While purchase of Covid-19 vac-
cines is commendable and instrumen-
tal in protecting the lives of millions
of Zimbabweans who have been under
successive lockdowns since March last
year, the government should improve
its accounting processes, analysts say. 

Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt
and Development (Zimcodd) pro-
grammes manager John Maketo said
the government’s processes lacked
transparency. 

“There should be compliance to
public finance management systems.
The constitution is clear, but issues
of compliance and impunity remain
a problem,” Maketo told The News-
Hawks. 

“The Auditor-General’s report has
sufficient evidence to the fact that
there has not been proper planning
and sound financial management with
regards to Covid-19 funds. It brings
us to shame as a country if the Finance
minister goes to ask for money that we
cannot account for,” he added. 

Transparency International Zimba-
bwe (TIZ) head of programmes Ta-
fadzwa Chikumbu said there has not
been full disclosure of government’s
use of Covid-19 funds. 

“Transparency and accountabili-
ty on the use of Covid-19 funds has
been a challenge over the years. In-
formation on the total receipt and ex-

Page 6 News NewsHawks

Issue 45, 27 August 2021

LIZWE SEBATHA Environmental watchdog slams
Zim’s proposed second pipeline
A LOCAL environmental advocacy group has
raised concern over the planned multi-mil- CNRG says the proposed pipeline positions the country as a hub for dirty energy. ronmental, economic and social costs for Zimba-
lion-dollar proposal to construct Zimbabwe’s Governance (CNRG) has raised objections to the project, arguing the pipeline comes with “envi- bwe”, while positioning the country as a hub for
second fuel pipeline, arguing it goes against the “dirty energy”.
Paris climate change agreement by positioning
the country as a regional hub for greenhouse gas “Huge projects like this one require large tracts
emissions. of land and this will result in displacements of
people along the route of the pipeline.
Under a US$850 million investment proposal,
United Kingdom (UK) oil firm, Coven Energy The project also places Harare as the regional
Limited will form a joint venture with the state- hub for dirty energy and is contrary to President
owned National Oil Infrastructure Company Emmerson Mnangagwa’s promise to transform
(Noic) to construct the pipeline linking Beira in Zimbabwe into a Green Economy by 2030,” the
Mozambique and Harare. CNRG argued in its position paper citing Zimba-
bwe’s ratification of the Paris agreement.
The project is expected to be undertaken in
phases and over a period of four years, with the “By positioning itself as a regional hub for dirty
total cost of the project expected to reach an esti- energy, Zimbabwe is also announcing itself as the
mated US$4 billion upon completion. future regional epicentre for greenhouse gas emis-
sions.”
Reports indicate that there are long-term plans
by the company to connect the pipeline to South In 2017, Zimbabwe ratified the Paris Glob-
Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Malawi and the Dem- al Climate Agreement as a demonstration of its
ocratic Republic of Congo. commitment to deal with climate change. Under
the agreement, Zimbabwe committed to reducing
However, the Centre for Natural Resource its per capita energy emissions by 33% by 2030.

The Paris Agreement Under the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change, also
called the Paris Climate Agreement or COP21, is
a legally binding international treaty on climate
change. The Paris agreement set out to improve
and replace the Kyoto Protocol, an earlier interna-
tional treaty designed to curb the release of green-
house gases. It entered into force on 4 November
2016, and has been signed by 195 countries and
ratified by 190 as of January 2021.

Zimbabwe also has a Climate Change Re-
sponse Strategy which promotes decarbonisation
of all economic activities. The National Renew-
able Energy Policy also supports the harnessing of
the country’s untapped renewable energy sources.

“Against these progressive policy documents,
it is surprising to witness plans for massive in-
frastructure construction for dirty energy,” the
CNRG added.

“The CNRG believes the same amount of
money to be invested in a pipeline can still be
invested in renewable energy infrastructure with
more sustainable, environmentally friendly and
economically-inclusive outcomes, considering
that continuous reliance on fossils has been linked
to flooding and drought and other catastrophic
events by the IPCC August 2021 report.”

IPCC stands for Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change.

“Investing such an amount into solar and wind
energy projects and also manufacturing of lithium
batteries for electrical vehicles, whose demand is
on the rise, could bring a lot of profits for Zimba-
bwe in the long run.”

A recently released United Nations Intergov-
ernmental Panel on Climate Change report on the
state of global climate science warns that climate
change’s disastrous consequences will lead to the
destruction of natural habitats if the world does
not drastically cut greenhouse gas emissions in the
next 20 years.

The fuel pipeline project is reportedly front-
ed by South African businessman Errol Gregor,
chairperson of Coven Energy Ltd, the company
given the deal. The company was only registered
in August 2020 in Britain and its South African
subsidiary was registered in April 2021.

CNRG urges government to opt for renewable
energy sources such as solar.

NewsHawks News Page 7

Issue 45, 27 August 2021

BRIDGET MANANAVIRE Country reels from financial chaos

ZIMBABWE’S foreign debt has ex- Zim foreign debt scales over
ceeded US$20 billion in a brazen US$20bn in violation of law
breach of the law, which limits the
threshold of public and publicly-guar- RBZ debt in 2015, the government
anteed debt to a maximum of 70% of is closely monitoring RBZ debt to as-
gross domestic product (GDP). certain the fiscal risks emanating from
contingent liabilities in the form of
The country’s GDP is US$18 bil- called-up guarantees. 
lion by conservative estimates. Offi-
cially, the GDP is US$25.8 billion.  The RBZ accrued legacy debts
during the United States dollar and
Even measuring by Finance min- Zimbabwean dollar exchange rate
ister Mthuli Ncube’s rebased official parity era, estimated at US$2.9 bil-
GDP figure of US$25.8, the coun- lion. These are pending validation and
try remains in violation of the law in reconciliation. Following the policy
relation to the national external debt announcement in the 2021 Monetary
profile. Policy Statement on the resolution of
blocked funds and foreign exchange
Fiscal authorities have previous- legacy debts, Treasury is working
ly breached the law with regards the on the debt assumption procedures
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) guided by the provisions of the Pub-
overdraft, which should be limited at lic Debt Management Act (Chapter
20%, but previously scaled 60%.  22:21). The procedures include val-
idation and reconciliation process,
To address the external debt limit cabinet and parliament approval for
violation, Ncube rebased the econ- the Debt Assumption Bill. 
omy from around US$15 billion to
US$25.8 billion. The legacy debts resolution frame-
work will be designed to ensure that it
Zimbabwe continues to sink into is not inflationary and the settlement
debt amid economic turmoil.  plan will use long-term instruments
taking into account fiscal capacity and
The government has been opaque debt sustainability. Applications for
with its finances. It has been con- qualification under the Legacy Debts
demned for failing to go through Framework were closed in August
Parliament on its borrowings as stip- 2020. 
ulated in the Public Debt Manage-
ment Act. It has also failed to give a US$2.8 billion foreign exchange lia- ing loans through Zamco (Zimbabwe Finance minister Mthuli Ncube. External debt service 
transparent and verified figure on the bilities contracted by Zimbabwean Asset Management Corporation), the multilateral creditors amount- In 2020, due to the Covid-19 pan-
external debt.  entities prior to the change of curren- over US$1.5 billion. They borrowed ed to US$2.68 billion, of which demic, the government faced chal-
cy in February 2019. to lend money to the government, US$1.53 billion is owed to the World lenges in making external debt service
In his mid-term budget review in the government overdraft, about three Bank Group, US$729 million to the payments, hence no token payments
July, Ncube admitted that the external This gets the external debt to borrowings. They are also paying the African Development Bank, US$356 were made to the three internation-
debt was now above 71%, although US$15.9 billion before adding the legacy debt after converting the cur- million to the European Investment al financial institutions, namely: the
his figure of US$10.5 billion foreign Chinese debt and others.  rency in 2019 after the introduction Bank, and US$68 million to other World Bank Group, African Develop-
debt was understated as it excluded of Statutory Instrument 33 of 2019.” multilateral creditors.  ment Bank and European Investment
the Chinese loans and external fund- Former Finance minister and law- Public debt stock  Bank. 
ing for several government projects. yer Tendai Biti said the government Zimbabwe has 476 public and pub- On the other hand, bilateral PPG
is able to get away with breaching the licly-guaranteed (PPG) loans, as well external debt amounted to US$5.75 Total debt service payments for
Section 11 of the Public Debt law on debt as there were no strong as over 500 debt securities which are billion, with US$3.79 billion owed to 2020 amounted to US$20.39 mil-
Management Act  on borrowing pow- accountability systems.  active and currently running. Paris Club bilateral creditors mainly lion. The payments were made to
ers and limits reads: “In any financial comprising Germany (US$1.02 bil- creditors with active portfolios. 
year by way of loans shall not exceed “We do not have strong civil soci- As at the end of December 2020, lion), France (US$724 million), Ja-
the limit fixed by National Assembly, ety, we do not have strong Parliament, total PPG external debt, includ- pan (US$435 million), UK (US$416 Debt service payments were made
which limit the minister may propose even if they breach, they would end ing RBZ external guaranteed debt, million) and USA (US$285 million).  to the International Fund for Agricul-
to the National Assembly for approval up being above the law,” Biti said. amounted to US$10.5 billion, repre- tural Development (US$2.2 million),
by resolution or by means of a provi- senting 71.2% of GDP.  The Non-Paris Club creditors are OPEC Fund for International De-
sion in a Finance Bill: Provided that “All debt is theft on the future, be- owed US$1.67 billion, which com- velopment (US$0.92 million), Arab
the limit fixed in terms of this sub- cause future generations have to pay Excluding the RBZ external debt prise mainly China (US$1.57 billion) Bank for Economic Development in
section and section 300(I) of the con- that debt. In the case of Zimbabwe, all of US$2.1 billion, total external and India (US$70 million).  Africa (US$0.17 million) and Chi-
stitution may not result in the total debt is a tax on our development, we public debt stood at US$8.4 billion, RBZ-guaranteed external debt  na-Exim Bank (US$17.1 million). 
outstanding public and publicly-guar- are under-developed because of un- which is an increase of 4.1% from RBZ external debt stood at US$2.1
anteed debt as a ratio of the gross sustainable debt, too many resources the total public external debt stock of billion as at end December 2020. This External loans disbursements
domestic product at current market are going to pay debt, debt which is US$8.094 billion in 2019.  mainly consists of guaranteed facilities during 2020 amounted to US$189.5
prices exceeding 70 per cent at the consumptive, which has been opaque for the importation of strategic com- million. These were from OFID and
end of any fiscal year, unless the min- and debt which has been corrupt. The increase in the total PPG ex- modities and raw materials which China Exim Bank. The disbursements
ister obtains a resolution of the Na- ternal debt is as a result of the contin- were done on behalf of the govern- for 2020 represented a 216% increase
tional Assembly to do so under one or “About 90% of the debt contracted ued accumulation of arrears, as well ment.  from the US$59.96 million recorded
more of the following conditions- (a) by this government between 2014 and as the disbursements from the active in 2019. 
occurrence of natural disasters or oth- now has not been approved by Parlia- portfolios recorded in the year under This external debt stock excludes
er emergencies requiring exceptional ment. Meaning all that debt is illegal. review.  PPG external debt owed to non-guaranteed facilities and blocked This increase is mainly attributed
expenditure; or (b) where a large in- If you read the report by the Public funds. Since Treasury assumed the to the ongoing projects, particularly
vestment project in the public sector Accounts Committee on the RBZ, the Hwange 7 and 8 Thermal Power
is deemed by Cabinet to be timely they borrowed to buy non-perform- Station Expansion and the rehabili-
and prudent or (c) in case of a general tation of the Robert Gabriel Mugabe
economic slow-down requiring fiscal International Airport projects funded
and monetary stimulus”. by the China Exim Bank. 

Ncube in his 2021 mid-term re- In 2020, the government signed
view said the external debt was at two external concessional loan agree-
US$8.4 billion owed to multilateral ments amounting to US$320 million,
creditors and bilateral creditors, but for the refurbishment of Hwange 1-6
it does not end there. It excludes the Thermal Power Station and for the
RBZ debt, the Chinese loans, money procurement of Personal Protective
owed to dispossessed white farmers, Equipment (PPE) and laboratory
money owed to private institutions,
parastatal debt as well as debt from To next Page
other deals. 

According to the RBZ monthly
economic review, the RBZ foreign
debt stood at US$4.7 billion.

Ncube said in his budget review
the central bank and the Public Debt
Management Office in the ministry
of Finance are finalising putting in
place a Blocked Funds Bill for the
settlement by government of around

Page 8 News NewsHawks

Issue 45, 27 August 2021

Pari passu principle waived for Zim on arrears

BERNARD MPOFU “This is a culmination of meetings within three months,” an informed make.” Debt service payments were made
held three years ago when Zimbabwe source said. In 2020, due to the Covid-19 pan- to the International Fund for Agricul-
ZIMBABWE has committed to mak- requested for a more accommodative tural Development (US$2.2 million),
ing token payments to the United treatment under the pari passu prin- “Ncube implored the World Bank demic, government faced challenges OPEC Fund for International Devel-
Kingdom as international financial ciple and this received positive con- to reconsider its insistence to apply the in making external debt service pay- opment (US$0.92 million), Arab Bank
institutions (IFIs) ease the rigid pari sideration from the creditors, wherein pari passu principle on the clearance ments, hence no token payments were for Economic Development in Africa
passu principle on arrears repayment they agreed that Zimbabwe can use of the remaining arrears to the World made to the WB, AfDB and EIB. IMF (US$0.17 million) and China-Exim
requirements for the financially trou- the sequential approach to clear World Bank Group and the African Develop- has already been paid. Total debt ser- Bank (US$17.1 million). 
bled southern African nation, The Bank and AfDB arrears, starting with ment Bank. That has been agreed and vice payments for 2020 amounted to
NewsHawks has established. the AfDB then paying the World Bank Zimbabwe is now expected to walk US$20.39 million. The payments were External debt arrears remain a ma-
the talk on the reforms it undertook to made to creditors with active portfolios.  jor challenge to Zimbabwe’s economy,
The pari passu rule requires that making up over US$6.6 billion (62%)
Zimbabwe pays IFIs – the Internation- of total external debt. 
al Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank
(WB) and the African Development Almost all external debt owed to
Bank (AfDB), which in terms global MDBs is now in arrears: World Bank
financial architecture enjoy “preferred Group, US$1.3 billion (88%), African
creditor status” – simultaneously and Development Bank, US$699 million
without preference, but Harare does (95%) and European Investment Bank,
not have the money to do so. US$339 million (95%).

The public and publicly-guaranteed Only a small proportion of the debt
external debt owed to the multilateral owed to most creditors is yet to mature.
creditors is US$2.68 billion, of which
US$1.53 billion is owed to the WB. The re-engagement, external debt
About US$729 million is owed to the resolution and arrears clearance strate-
AfDB, US$356 million to the Europe- gy will assist Zimbabwe to regain access
an Investment Bank, and US$68 mil- to concessional financing from both
lion to other multilateral creditors.  multilateral and bilateral development
partners. The clearance of external debt
Bilateral external debt amounts to arrears and debt relief will unlock new
US$5.75 billion, with US$3.79 billion lines of credit for the economy.
owed to Paris Club bilateral creditors,
mainly comprising Germany (US$1.02 Zimbabwe is in debt distress mainly
billion), France (US$724 million), Ja- due to the continued accumulation of
pan (US$435 million), UK (US$416 external debt arrears.
million) and United States (US$285
million). The Non-Paris Club creditors The 2017 Debt Sustainability Anal-
are owed US$1.67 billion, which com- ysis for Zimbabwe indicates a breach
prise mainly China (US$1.57 billion) of the key debt indicators, including
and India (US$70 million).  the ratio of total public and public-
ly-guaranteed debt to Gross Domestic
Waiving of the pari passu rule gives Product, which is currently at 72.6%,
Zimbabwe fiscal space to settle arrears. against the limit of 70% provided for
So far it has only paid the IMF US$110 in the Public Debt Management Act
million. It has, however, failed to pay (Chapter 22:21). 
the WB and AfDB.
Ncube had requested a grace peri-
Three years ago, Finance minister od for Zimbabwe to settle WB arrears,
Mthuli Ncube began renegotiating re- three months after paying the AfDB.
payment terms under the Lima arrears
and debt settlement strategy. The minister, who attended the
IMF/WB annual meetings in Nusa
Information gathered by The New- Dua, Bali, Indonesia from 8-14 Octo-
sHawks shows the UK, a member of ber 2018, pushed for the relaxation of
the Paris Club, an informal grouping the Zimbabwe arrears clearance plan
of creditor nations whose objective is agreed in Lima, Peru, in 2015, after
to find workable solutions to payment government missed its timelines.
problems faced by debtor countries, has
influenced the WB, IMF and AfDB to Contacted for comment on the de-
waive the pari passu principle in order velopments, Reserve Bank of Zimba-
to create fiscal breathing space for Zim- bwe governor John Mangudya referred
babwe.  this reporter to the Finance ministry.
Clive Mphambela, Finance ministry
spokesperson, could not be reached for
comment at the time of going to print.

From previous Page Zim foreign debt scales over Biti said debt figures provided by
equipment towards Covid-19 pan- US$20bn in violation of law Treasury were wrong and fictitious
demic.  and prepared by people obsessed with
External debt arrears remain a ma- sury Bills. These Treasury Bills were grain importation and ZW$8.95 mil- This year, the African Export-Im- trying to create an image that they are
jor challenge to Zimbabwe’s economy, issued through the auction system lion was for cashflow management, port Bank (Afreximbank) ratified a doing well and that the economy is
making up over US$6.6 billion (62%) and private placements. Restructur- including maturing Treasury Bills.  US$70 million loan to finance the doing well. 
of total external debt.  ing of existing debt instruments was facelift of the Beitbridge border post
Almost all external debt owed to also used as a refinancing tool during This  resulted in the stock of do- while a group of African banks also “They are concerned with form and
MDBs is now in arrears: World Bank 2020.  Due to the Covid-19-induced mestic debt increasing to ZW$16.7 signed a US$194 million debt facility not substance. They have excluded to-
Group, US$1.3 billion (88%), Afri- lockdown, Treasury resorted to pri- billion as at 31 December 2020. to rehabilitate the same border post.  tally the Reserve Bank debt, which in
can Development Bank, US$699 mil- vate placements and raised funding Additional loans, more debt the past few years has grown by over
lion (95%) and European Investment amounting to ZWL$3.95 billion, In November 2019, former Chinese In July 2020, the government 5 000%. They have borrowed huge
Bank, US$339 million (95%).  while ZWL$485 million was raised deputy ambassador Zhao Baogang signed an agreement worth US$3.5 amounts of money from the Afrex-
Only a small proportion of the through the auction system.  said Zimbabwe owed about US$2.1 billion to compensate dispossessed im Bank. They have borrowed huge
debt owed to most creditors is yet to billion in loans financed by a Chinese white farmers.  amounts of money from Trafigura,
mature reflected as Debt Outstanding ZW$3.4 billion worth of Treasury institution in 2018.  then they are borrowing money right
and Disbursed.  securities were restructured.  This gets the debts to over US$21 now to sustain the foreign exchange
Zimbabwe is in debt distress main- Among projects funded by Chi- billion. There is also money owed by auction system,” he said. 
ly due to the continued accumulation Of the ZW$7.85 billion raised na are the US$1.5 billion Hwange parastatals including telecoms op-
of external debt arrears.  through Treasury Bills issuances, Thermal Power Station expansion and erator NetOne, which has received “They are busy securitising the
2020 budget financing  ZW$4.03 billion was for health-relat- the US$153 million Robert Gabriel US$285 million in government-guar- country’s gold reserves, and that is
While Treasury continues to rely on ed Covid-19 pandemic expenditures, Mugabe International Airport refur- anteed loans from China for network part of the reason they sold Fidelity
the domestic financial and capital while ZW$3.4 billion was for restruc- bishment.  expansion since 2016.  (Printers and Refiners). You have got
markets to meet the financing re- turing existing debt, which was con- a series of parastatal debts that have
quirements of the budget, Treasury verted to Treasury Bills.  The Chinese are also funding the TelOne is also sitting on letters of been assumed by these people, you’re
managed to contain issuance of do- US$500 million Kariba South expan- demand worth US$22 million from talking Air Zimbabwe, Industrial De-
mestic debt throughout 2020.  Furthermore, ZW$327 million sion project and other dam projects. foreign suppliers, according to recent velopment Corporation, Agribank,
Treasury raised a total of ZW$7.85 was issued to mobilise resources for reports.  and this money is legacy debt. There
billion through the issuance of Trea- is also money that government is
owing to private actors such as Kuda
Tagwirei, Trafigura and to suppliers of
inputs, including fertiliser.”

NewsHawks News Page 9
Tatenda Amuli
Issue 45, 27 August 2021

Moana’s younger
sister Tatenda goes
berserk, arrested
. . . hallucinates on drugs

JONATHAN MBIRIYAMVEKA day. According to police reports, she said she hit
Sean in self-defence. The other case involves her
FOR Tatenda, losing two of her closest people in mother, whom she accuses of bewitching her
life must have been a bitter pill to swallow. while the other case was on drug charges together
with her brother Tashinga (18).
The socialiate, popularly known as Tatts on
social media, has taken to the bottle and inter- Of late, Tatts has been hallucinating a lot
mittently slips into substance abuse. whenever she takes to social media. There is no
doubt she needs help.
While most people attribute her relapse to
the loss of her loved ones, firstly her boyfriend It is all the more startling that Tatts is carrying
Delroy Scara Maripakwenda in September 2020, her baby wherever she goes. The child is exposed
before another blow when she lost her sister Mi- to the unthinkable.
chelle Amuli, better known to many as Moana,
in November the same year. Sources in Highfield suburb where she lives
told The NewsHawks that Tatts had gone nuts
Life has been tough. and is now into hurling abuse at everyone, in-
Sadder still, Tatts, who is mother to Kayla (al- cluding her mother.
most two years old), has of late had brushes with
the law following a relapse. During an interview on Mangungundengu
She has been to court facing allegations of as- Podcast, she is seen holding her baby while she
sault. At least three cases involving violence and sips a drink from a cup.
assault were opened recently at Machipisa Police
Station in Highfield. There are fears that if Tatts does not get urgent
She allegedly had a brawl with her boyfriend, attention she could get wasted and get infected
only identified as Sean, and was arrested Wednes- with some common viruses such as HIV from
those she now surrounds herself with during her
excursions.

Page 10 News NewsHawks

Issue 45, 27 August 2021

LIZWE SEBATHA Byo mayor defends controversial
plan to build Z$25m mansion
“The State House was never built for Mugabe
(late President Robert) and Mnangagwa (Pres- Council-owned house at Hornung Golf Club in Burnside suburb, Bulawayo.
ident Emmerson),” Bulawayo mayor Solomon
Mguni said, as he sought to justify why the coun- our control. Let the minister make a pronounce- projects and a dissatisfied staff due to delayed and chokes received during the month of June 2021
cil should also build a ZW$25 million mayoral ment and decision on what BPRA has now writ- pending salary arrears,” Ndlovu wrote. were cleared, leaving a cumulative backlog of
mansion. ten to him, and the concerns I raised with the 324. The cumulative chokes backlog recorded
minister. We will be guided by what the minister Bulawayo is battling an increase in sewer pipe this month (June) increased to 324 (from 221
Mguni is in the eye of a storm following rev- then says.” bursts, exposing residents to water-borne diseas- in May). The major challenge for the section was
elations that the financially struggling local au- es such as cholera and typhoid as witnessed in shortage of vehicles for maintenance purposes,”
thority has resolved to set aside an unbudgeted In a letter to the Local Government minister, 2020. About 13 residents succumbed to a killer the report reads.
ZW$25 milion to build a mayoral mansion in BPRA coordinator Emmanuel Ndlovu said the diarrhoea outbreak in 2020 blamed on contam-
Selborne Park suburb. city did not need a mayoral mansion in the face ination of water sources by sewer, among others. In 2020, Mguni attracted controversy follow-
of collapsing service delivery. ing revelations that council had allocated him a
Mguni currently stays in Nkulumane A July report on council’s sewerage system 2.5 hectare plot situated in Lower Rangemore
high-density suburb. “Residents are also worried because the man- blames the failure to attend to sewer bursts on a suburb for urban farming purposes for a paltry
sion was not mentioned in the 2021 budget. shortage of vehicles for maintenance works. ZW$165 per month for 25 years. The figure was
Initially, council had resolved to renovate one Bulawayo is characterised with burst sewer, pot- equivalent to US$2 on the parallel market by
of its houses at the exclusive Hornung Golf Club hole-ridden roads, piling refuse in street corners, “For management purposes, the city is divid- then, but is now equivalent to just over US$1.
in Burnside suburb into a mayoral house, but non-functional street lights, unfinished housing ed into four zones, namely Town, Mabutweni,
abandoned the idea after noting that the cost of Nkulumane and Cowdray Park. 1712 of 1815
refurbishment would only be slightly lower than
the amount required to build a new mansion.

Council reports show that renovating the
Hornung Golf Club property would cost the
council an estimated US$146 364, approximate-
ly ZW$13 million using the central bank’s for-
eign exchange auction system whereas ZW$25
million was needed for a new mansion.

Council has set a five-month deadline to con-
struct the new mansion. To speed up the project,
30 contract workers, among them builders and
bricklayers, will be employed, increasing the local
authority’s already problematic wage bill. Coun-
cil is currently behind on salary payments, citing
strained finances.

“(However) the estimated building costs of a
new house were slightly higher than the renova-
tion costs. It was also noted that council could
utilise its Building branch staff to conduct the
special project,” a council report on the contro-
versial mayoral mansion project reads.

“The team further recommended that addi-
tional temporary contract staff (30 workers) dis-
tributed among builders, bricklayers, labourers,
and carpenters be procured to assist in ensuring
that the deadline is met.”

The mayoral mansion proposal has divided the
MDC Alliance-led council along tribal and fac-
tional lines and attracted the anger of residents,
with the Bulawayo Progressive Residents’ Associ-
ation (BPRA) going a step further by writing to
Local Government minister July Moyo to stop
the project.

The party’s Bulawayo province is battling in-
fighting, further fuelled by reports that some
members, legislators and councillors have crossed
the floor to the Douglas Mwonzora-led MDC-T
to survive recall from Parliament and local gov-
ernment.

So intense is the faction that a grouping of
party members led by former deputy mayor Ti-
nashe Kambarame in July resorted to passing a
vote of no confidence in chairperson and Ma-
kokoba legislator James Sithole.

Sithole was accused of being linked to the
Mwonzora faction.

According to MDC-Alliance provincial
spokesperson Swithern Chirowodza, the oppo-
sition party is against plans to build a mayoral
mansion, adding Mguni is no longer a member
of the

Nelson Chamisa-led opposition formation.
“The proposal is a violation of Article 4.1 of
the MDC Alliance constitution, which states
among other factors that the MDC Alliance is
a pro-poor, people-centred social democratic
movement,” Chirowodza said, adding: “Mguni
has never attended a single meeting since he was
elected into office in 2018.”
As the mayoral saga rages on, Mguni finally
broke his silence to The NewsHawks, questioning
the hullabaloo.
“Why the noise? This is not Mguni’s house!
This house (if construction is approved) will be
finished, even after my term of office. A State
House was built many years ago, but it was nev-
er built for Mugabe or Mnangagwa. In the same
vein, it’s a mayoral house like a State House,”
Mguni said in an interview.
“They (BPRA) have now written to the minis-
ter. It is now up to the minister. It is no longer in

NewsHawks News Page 11

Issue 45, 27 August 2021

Uproar as Gweru mayor
moves into mansion

STEPHEN CHADENGA to be made so we are shocked and saddened Gweru mayor Josiah Makombe In 2019, council announced plans to turn
by this latest development.” the mayoral mansion into an accommoda-
GWERU residents this week came out guns at top council officials for having a “penchant tion and events centre in a bid to boost reve-
blazing against mayor Josiah Makombe who Chikore said residents will decide on the for lavish lifestyles”. nue for the cash-strapped local authority.
moved into the mayoral mansion (pictured next course of action after the government
top) despite his suggestion in past years that provides clarity. He told The NewsHawks: “This is clear we The proposal however failed to materialise
the white elephant built in the 1990s should have people at town house who are full of after officials at Town House dithered and
be turned into a money-spinning venture. Gweru Residents and Ratepayers Associa- themselves, people who do not have the city failed to reach consensus on the issue.
tion director Cornelia Selipiwe took a swipe at heart but their own egocentric agendas.
Investigations by The NewsHawks revealed Let them enjoy the meal while it lasts.” Council made the resolution a few years
that Makombe began moving in the old ago to turn the mansion, which has been
mansion last month with renovations and re- lying idle since the departure of then mayor
furnishing of the giant council-owned house Sesel Zvidzai in 2008, into a lodge, but the
still ongoing. project stalled. Proposals were made for Gwa-
tipedza to use it as her residence.
Indications on the ground show that the
mayor has previously strongly suggested The move to turn the mayoral mansion
that the mansion be converted into an in- into the town clerk’s residence was however
come-generating venture for the financial- resisted by residents. Council then aban-
ly crippled local authority, only to change doned the plan.
stance by occupying the spacious house lo-
cated in the leafy Kopje area. In 2016, the Judicial Service Commis-
sion approached council requesting to lease
Successive attempts by this publication to the building and use it a the venue for High
reach out to Makombe over the matter did Court sessions, but residents objected to the
not yield results as he referred all questions move, arguing council would not benefit
to council spokesperson Vimbai Chingwara- from such a deal.
musee.
The mayoral mansion is a white elephant
Chingwaramusee said she had “no re- that Gweru has for years been urged to ex-
sponse”. But residents’ associations blasted ploit, as the city’s coffers are running dry due
the mayor’s decision to stay in the house, to dwindling municipal income streams.
barely a year after he backtracked on the deci-
sion to dispose of a Toyota Prado vehicle that At one point, council tried to lease out the
had been bought for fired town clerk Eliza- property for US$3 000 per month to inter-
beth Gwatipedza. ested tenants, but found no takers.

Makombe now drives the all-terrain vehi- Fence-sitting councillors torment MDC-Alliance
cle which he uses as his official car.
STEPHEN CHADENGA this might cost us, come 2023 elections.” rochial, prejudicial and narrow-minded of
Gweru United Progressive Residents and To date, Mwonzora has recalled nearly our councillors to join the Mwonzora sink-
Ratepayers Development Association Trust DISCORD and mistrust have hit the 80 councillors and more than 40 MDC-Al- ing ship at this historical juncture.”
executive director David Chikore said succes- MDC Alliance-run Gweru City Coun- liance legislators from Parliament.
sive attempts to engage the council over the cil, with councillors suspecting that some Last week, the MDC-T recalled three Zhou however said those who wanted to
mayoral mansion had failed to yield results, colleagues have defected to the Douglas MDC-Alliance councillors in Kwekwe, in- leave the party were free to go.
adding residents were now seeking govern- Mwonzora-led MDC-T to avoid being re- cluding the mayor and her deputy.
ment intervention. called. Although Mwonzora’s axe has fallen “We have a surplus of personnel to fill
on councillors in various urban councils any gap left by egocentric, one-armed ban-
“As Guprada Trust, we sought audience Some councillors have been seen in the around the country, not a single of the 18 dits masquerading as democrats,” he add-
with the mayor on the issue, but we never presence of Gweru Urban legislator Brian councillors in Gweru has been recalled. ed.
made progress and so we wrote a letter to Dube who crossed the floor to the MDC-T, MDC-Alliance Midlands provincial
the minister of Local Government seeking although they have reportedly not declared spokesperson Takavafira Zhou said he was During a social media discussion this
clarification on the perks of the ceremonial their new allegiance. not aware of any defections among the week, MDC-Alliance leader Nelson Cha-
mayor. We e-mailed this letter to the ministry Gweru councillors. misa blamed defections by his councillors
on 24 April 2021, but up to now there is no “They attend nocturnal MDC-T meet- “We can certainly not stop mouths from and MPs to poverty.
response,” Chikore told The NewsHawks. ings while on the surface they appear to opening, but as a party we are not aware of
still be with the MDC-Alliance,” a close any that have joined MDC-T,” he said. He said those who joined either the
“We have since 2016 been proposing that source in the party said. “At any rate, if they are there, time will MDC-T or Zanu PF were driven by the de-
the mayoral mansion be converted into a big tell as that which has horns can never be sire for wealth at the expense of the struggle
revenue-earning upmarket lodge with confer- “The situation though appearing nor- concealed. But it would be foolhardy, pa- for democratic change in the country.
ence facilities and a wedding venue. The idea mal, is so bad because councillors are now
had gathered traction in council corridors going around fingering each other for be- Political analysts however say the ques-
after much discussion and we were actually traying the party and tionable loyalty of some MDC-Alliance
counting the days waiting for the resolution members could heavily cost the main op-
position outfit in the 2023 elections.

Page 12 News NewsHawks

Issue 45, 27 August 2021

MDC-T’S Future Titora was an unlikely candi- New Kwekwe mayor attributes
date to land Kwekwe’s number one office. rise to God, vows to unite town

The Ward Two councillor, who replaced the Kwekwe mayor Future Titora
recalled Angeline Kasipo as mayor last week, did
not hold an influential position in the cham- It took a single nomination from her allies in councillor. nity. As a woman I said to myself I have a role
ber despite being one of the veteran councillors MDC-T to face off with Juta in the tightly con- She laughed off the accusation of being a sell- to play and contribute towards the development
from the original 14 Kwekwe councillors. tested election before she sailed through in the of my community and my party. I believed that
second round, following a tie in the first round out. it’s possible for us to bring about change dem-
She is inheriting a divided council, moreso of voting. “When I joined president Mwonzora, I was ocratically in our country, that’s why I joined
after rising following Hasipo’s recalling. Titora Morgan Tsvangirai,” she said.
has however vowed to unite councillors and “It was God who just pushed me on that day driven by the desire to follow constitutionalism.
push through a development agenda. to stand up and believe in myself. I heard an We cannot purport to fight for democracy while Her first election to council was in 2013 be-
inner voice which told me that I can do it. And at the same time we don’t respect constitutional- fore she was re-elected in 2018.
“I am inheriting a divided council on party I am humbled by the support I got from fellow ism. I am a firm believer of constitutionalism. I
lines. We currently have three political parties councillors who believed in me,” she said. was harrased by my political opponents here in “It shows that the electorate now believes in
in council, that is MDC-T, MDC Alliance and Kwekwe because of my political beliefs. I have the leadership of women. My predecessor was a
Zanu PF. However, I am not reading much into Despite the electoral euphoria, her ward has been heckled. I am not in any way a sellout, but woman, I am also a woman and I want to leave
those divisions because the moment we are at since labelled her a sellout for ditching MDC a constitutionalist. My conscience is very clear,” a mark,” she said, adding that Kwekwe City is
Town House our politics dies and we become Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa for his political she said. run by women.
people’s representatives despite our political and nemesis Douglas Mwonzora in 2019.
ideological differences. We were elected on par- Despite divisions, Titora says she is confident She joins other influential women at Kwekwe
ty basis, but the moment we were elected coun- Titora was even denied an opportunity to of overcoming challenges, pinning her hopes on Town House, namely acting town clerk Lucia
cillors we became councillors for everyone,” she speak at a funeral in her ward recently by MDC her religious faith. Mkandla, finance director Rejoice Dandira and
told The NewsHawks. Alliance supporters who went on to heckle her former director of health Mary Muchekeza.
and told her they did not recognise her as their “When I entered politics in 2002, it was
“Therefore, residents look up to us for service based on a desire to see change in our commu- — STAFF WRITER.
delivery. As a mayor, I am a mayor for all. Our
first task is to unite council so that we speak
with one voice and have a common vision.”

She said it was also important for councillors
and residents to work together if her vision is
to fulfilled.

“I have a vision to see a transformed city of
Kwekwe but the question is: How do we achieve
such a city? We first and foremost need to agree
that Kwekwe is not owned by an individual. We
thrive in Kwekwe as a collective.

The first point is to bridge the gap between
council and residents. There has been mistrust
between council and residents and that is go-
ing to change as we will be engaging residents
more,” she said.

“As councillors, we are going to transform
our city through the formulation of people pol-
icies, but we don’t work in isolation, we work
with policy implementers, who in this case is
management. Furthermore, as mayor the cor-
nerstone of my leadership will be a demand for
accountability and transparency in council op-
erations. It’s not going to be business as usual.”

The 55-year-old veteran MDC-T politi-
cian said it was God who saw her prevail over
MDC-Alliance councillor Charles Juta.

“The elections to the post of mayor were
highly contested and many people in the cham-
ber were eyeing the position,” she said.

Individuals who were tipped to land the post
included the youthful

Mercy Ranga, who was however not nomi-
nated and also councillor Silas Mukaro.

Titora, considered by many aas a back-
bencher, shocked many when she initially nom-
inated herself for the top post alongside Coun-
cillor Ranga before

Kwekwe human resources manager Athinus
Chidzurira indicated one could not nominate
themselves as it was against the rules.

TAKE WHY YOU SHOULD
RESPONSIBILITY STAY 3 FEET AWAY

PREVENT FROM PEOPLE
THE SPREAD
OF COVID-19

Ÿ You can’t immediately identify who has the
virus..

Ÿ To reduce the spread of the virus if you are
already infected.

Ÿ To avoid droplets from an infected person
when they sneeze or cough.

NewsHawks News Page 13

Issue 45, 27 August 2021

Maganga village Kraalhead George Siyawamwaya (left), makeshift houses and residents returning to the village after fetching water.

THEY inspired Zimbabwe’s land reform pro- Chief Svosve’s people: From
gramme, but two-decades down the line they land invaders to squatters
have been left out in the cold.
construct temporary houses since we were prom- they used to sneak and fetch water from their pre- Jeremiah Saidi, one of the villagers, said there
They endured the chilly winter and are bracing ised to be allocated land but the situation is get- vious homesteads, but they are no longer allowed is also a lack of privacy between parents and chil-
themselves for the upcoming rainy season. ting out of hand as days keep passing by,” she said. near those places. dren.

See-through tents have become their homes “It’s been two months now and our life is at “We used to sneak into the area during the “We are living with our children in one tent
where mother, father and children live together. stake as we are living under poor sanitation condi- night, but we have been banned from there. Now and it compromises our privacy. Some of our chil-
They have been totally stripped of their dignity, tion. We have improvised by digging shallow pits we are suspecting that they might contaminate dren are grown up to the extent that they must
and yet one cannot write the history of Zimba- as toilets near our tents. the water so that we cannot continue sneaking to not share the same space with their parents, but
bwe’s land reform programme without mention- fetch water,” he said. this is happening here,” he said.
ing them. “On water we were not allowed to go back to
our wells, so we are now using shallow open wells Villagers also said they had been stripped of The Maganga villagers are keeping their fin-
They are part of about 200 villagers from Ma- along the riverbank.” their dignity as they are sleeping in see-through gers crossed, hoping the government will allocate
ganga village near Marondera who invaded land tents. them land. — STAFF WRITER
belonging to Hunyani Estate at the onset of Zim- Maganga kraalhead George Siyawamwaya said
babwe’s chaotic fast-track land reform programme
in 2000, who were evicted at the onset of winter.

The Maganga area is located in Marondera
East, 20 kilometres from the town, which is also
the Mashonaland East provincial capital. The area
is under Chief Svosve who mobilised his people
to invade farms, thereby spearheading the land
reform programme.

The Svoswe people, with the encouragement
of the late Chief Svosve Enock Gahadza Zenda,
armed with hoes and axes, moved into the Ru-
zawi commercial farming belt east of Marondera
in 1998.

They invaded farms owned by white commer-
cial farmers, arguing they were reclaiming ances-
tral land expropriated from their forefathers by
the colonial settler regime.

They were evicted, but continued making noise
and demanding land until President Robert Mug-
abe’s government yeilded, perhaps sensing an op-
portunity to use land as a campaign tool at a time
a formidable opposition

in the form of the Movement for Democratic
Change was threatening Zanu PF’s stranglehold
on power.

The Svoswe people’s action was a precursor to
the land reform programme, as it later inspired
war veterans to invade farms with the support of
Zanu PF. The land reform programe was used as
a campaign tool during the 2000 parliamentary
elections and the 2002 presidential elections, as
well as subsequent polls.

But 20 years is a long time.
Hunyani Estate, armed with an eviction order
and backed by heavily armed riot police, forcibly
evicted the Maganga villagers in June. The villag-
ers were dumped near the Harare-Mutare road.
Maganga kraalhead George Siyawamwaya re-
vealed that they invaded the farm at the height of
the fast-track land redistribution programme after
which they were promised offer letters.
The offer letters never came, hence their cur-
rent predicament.
Despite being promised to be allocated 210
hectares of land after they were evicted, the gov-
ernment is yet to fulfil its promise.
The villagers are living in unhyegenic con-
ditions, exposing them to danger at a time the
Covid-19 pandemic is wreaking havoc in the
country.
Their tents are closely packed, making it im-
possible to adhere to social distancing.
Maganga village health worker Violet Makoni
said they did not have proper toilets, leaving them
vulnerable to waterborne diseases.
“We are living in houses made of torn plastics,
tents and grass as you can see. We were told to

Page 14 News NewsHawks

Issue 45, 27 August 2021

‘Politically motivated violence on the rise’

A report by ZPP claims Zanu PF is forcing some people to join the party ahead of the 2023 elections.

BRIDGET MANANAVIRE ly report released on 11 August. ating a register of party supporters. The party is nal codes of conduct to deal with politically moti-
“Zanu PF dominated political activity in eight also going door-to-door collecting information vated violence. To the police, your work is cut out
A PEACE advocacy organisation, the Zimbabwe such as mobile phone numbers, ID numbers and for you, and that is to impartially deal with any
Peace Project (ZPP), has reported an increase in of the 10 provinces and the party, which is on a election registration numbers,” the report reads. criminal conduct that happens during political
politically motivated human rights violations and mass mobilisation exercise, was responsible for co- campaigns.”
violence across the country, mainly perpetrated ercing citizens to be part of its low-level structures “We have all your details so if you vote other-
by Zanu PF, as political parties gear for the 2023 across the country.” wise, we will find out’, that is a phrase that has Some of the cases noted in the report were in
elections. been used in previous elections and with where the political violence hotbed, Mashonaland
Politically motivated human rights violations things are going, we are back to that again.”
While the ruling party has blocked political have so far been recorded in Mashonaland Cen- Central, where people claiming to be Zanu PF
activities, with the police arresting opposition tral, Mashonaland East, Matabeleland North, The organisation also reported the use of tradi- representatives are the parcelling out land.
officials and activists for purportedly breaching Matabeleland South and Bulawayo. tional leaders to threaten villagers by
Covid-19 lockdown regulations, Zanu PF has “A group of people identifying themselves as
continued with its activities and functions. The organisation said there is a systematic in- Zanu PF, particularly in Matabeleland North the war veterans of Zanu PF are operating in Ma-
fusion of a culture of fear such that, come 2023, and Mashonaland East. The ZPP said this situ- zowe North making announcements to the effect
According to the ZPP, 176 cases of human many people will not be able to openly express ation would lead to traditional leaders and local that there is land in Mutorashanga for allocation
rights violations were reported in February while themselves politically. Zanu PF leaders having a list of all the people to party supporters. They are allegedly asking po-
188 cases were reported in July, with most cases in villages and then “escorting” voters to polling tential beneficiaries to declare allegiance to Zanu
relating to citizens being forced to buy Zanu PF Zimbabwe’s past elections have been marred by stations under the strict instruction that everyone PF, pay US$20 and boom, one gets 15 hectares of
membership cards. Zanu PF has embarked on a violations, which have affected the credibility and must vote for Zanu PF. land,” the report reads.
restructuring exercise at grassroots level ahead of fairness of the polls. Among the issues that have
the 2023 polls, which has seen some people being been under the spotlight in the past are issues of “ZPP therefore urges that these findings act In Mashonaland East, the organisation record-
forced into joining the party. breach of electoral laws through vote buying, vot- as a clear early warning mechanism that it goes ed incidents in which Zanu PF officials have been
er intimidation and violence. beyond collection of citizens’ personal details, threating to “violently wipe out all MDC Alliance
“The Zanu PF card has long since been asso- threats or discrimination during food aid process- activists before the 2023 elections”.
ciated with privilege as those who buy it are pro- The report states that observations by the ZPP es. We urge for collective civil society action to
tected from harassment and access benefits such show that the party is using its access to the food advocate for a peaceful and level playing political The peace advocacy organisation noted that
as food and other aid. For the sake of peace, those aid distribution chain to coerce citizens into join- field within a culture of human rights,” the organ- the jostling for power within Zanu PF, MDC Al-
targeted have acquired the cards,” the July month- ing the party or else be excluded from receiving isation said. liance, MDC-T, Zapu and Mthwakazi Republic
aid. Party was stoking inter-party and intra-party vio-
“We also call on political parties to have inter- lence, particularly in Bulawayo.
“The party has openly announced that it is cre-

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NewsHawks News Page 15

Issue 45, 27 August 2021

MOSES NGWERE Restructuring exercise turns nasty
as Zanu PF factional fights escalate
BLOWS were nearly traded at a Zanu PF re-
structuring exercise in the volatile Mashona- gust 2021. Mashonaland West Provincial Affairs minister Mary Mliswa-Chikoka
land West province on Sunday, forcing riot “This restructuring exercise will naturally Zanu PF politburo member Ziyambi Ziyambi
police to disperse party officials to avoid a Businessman James Makamba
mass brawl in a development signalling the redress the issue of vacant posts. Provinces
escalation of divisions in the faction-ridden are, therefore, prohibited from carrying out
political formation. co-options and VONC (vote of no confidence)
in any of the above-mentioned party organs.
Zanu PF is currently conducting a nation- In respect of the above, it is directed that all
wide restructuring exercise in preparation for co-options and VONC conducted from April
its elective congress next year. 2021, which marked the commencement of
the current restructuring exercise to Decem-
The restructuring exercise is meant to reor- ber 2021 are null and void,” he said.
ganise its structures, from the cell — the low-
est — all the way to the central committee. Mashonaland West Provincial Affairs min-
ister Mary Mliswa-Chikoka has emerged as a
The restructuring exercise has escalated front runner for the position and enjoys cor-
the factional fights, with heavyweights now dial relations with Mnangagwa through her
getting involved in the political skullduggery brother Temba.
that normally punctuates the process.
Her camp was last month accused of threat-
The party is currently sharply divided be- ening to violently resist Mujere.
tween President Emmerson Mnangagwa and
his highly ambitious deputy Constantino Also involved in the tussle for the chair-
Chiwenga, whose presidential ambitions were manship is the combative Vengai Musengi
laid bare by his estranged wife Marry in court who, as current provincial youth chair, com-
papers in their acrimonious divorce case. mands the foot soldiers.

Although Mnangagwa appears to enjoy an Sources in Mashonaland East, Chiwenga’s
upper hand, making full use of the power of home province, said fights have emerged over
incumbency, Chiwenga and his allies contin- the chairperson’s post left vacant following
ue to lurk in the shadows. the death of Joel Biggie Matiza in January.

The restructuring exercise is critical in that Matiza’s son Batsirai has emerged as the
bigwigs would want to fill lower structures hot favourite to land the youth league chair-
with their proxies, who would, in turn, con- manship post and has been moving around
stitute congress delegates and vote for officials some of the districts, especially Goromonzi,
in the higher echelons of the party. canvassing support ahead of the looming
elections.
Currently, much of the fighting is taking
place in the three Mashonaland provinces The current provincial youth chairman,
and Manicaland. Kelvin Mutsvairo, is one of those seeking to
replace the late Matiza as the provincial chair-
The situation in Mashonaland West has person.
been particularly dramatic.
According to a letter dated 8 August, ad-
The Sunday incident took place in Banket, dressed to provincial youth league political
where the area’s district chairperson, Never commissar Lincoln Matare and signed by
Hutepasi, was targeted for assault at a restruc- Goromonzi district coordinating committee
turing meeting. youth chairperson Arthur Chidenhe, Batsirai
is being accused of breaching Covid-19 rules
Sources who were at the meeting said as well as violating the party’s directives on
Hutepasi, who is also Ward 22 councillor, is campaigning.
believed by his colleagues to be sympathetic
to Chiwenga. “He disrespectfully entered Goromonzi
district and called the youths for a meeting
He was almost beaten by district youth without my knowledge as the incumbent
league chairperson, Steven Zidana, whose youth secretary for the district. Not only is
charges were foiled by police officers. he disrespecting me, but the entire Zanu PF
leadership as well as violating the Covid-19
“Zidana was not happy with the conduct of restrictions put in place by the government
Hutepasi, who is widely regarded as an ally of of Zimbabwe in order to curb the pandemic,”
the VP. Zidana accused Hutepasi of working Chidenhe wrote.
to undermine the party and sabotaging the
president ahead of the 2023 elections. That is In Manicaland province, war veterans and
when tempers flared. their affiliates say they have dumped Zanu
PF Manicaland provincial chairperson Mike
“Zidana also accused Hutepasi of hiring Madiro, accusing him of ineptitude and fail-
MDC people to carry put public works in the ing to unite the party.
area in his capacity as councillor, but he re-
sponded by saying what he did was fair and This came after Makoni district endorsed
he could not have been partial in selecting the candidature of its district co-ordinating
those who would do the work,” a Zanu PF of- committee chairperson Albert Nyakuedzwa
ficial said. to contest for the

“This response greatly angered Zidana who Manicaland provincial chair Nyakuedzwa
hurled all sorts of insults towards Hutepasi appears to be in the driving seat, although
and accused him of being a thief. Police of- facing stiff competition from Chipinge South
ficers arrived on time to disperse the crowd legislator Enock Porusingazi and Information
before the situation deteriorated.” Communication Technology minister Jenfan
Muswere.
Zanu PF officials in the province are cur-
rently involved in a major turf war which has Business mogul James Makamba leads
exploded over the position of provincial chair a stellar cast of influential Zanu PF officials
vacated by Ziyambi Ziyambi, who is accused fighting to wrest the Mashonaland Central
of turning himself into a provincial godfather provincial chairmanship from Home Affairs
and imposing one Abia Mujere as his heir minister Kazembe Kazembe.
through co-option.
The list includes another businessman,
Ziyambi is now a politburo member. Tafadzwa Musarara, Kazembe’s long-term
Following complaints, Zanu PF’s acting na- nemesis, former Education minister Lazarus
tional political commissar Patrick Chinamasa Dokora, who is seeking a new lease on life fol-
responded by banning all co-options, arguing lowing years in relative pollical obscurity, the
they were divisive. belligerent provincial war veterans chairman
“It has come to the attention of the (com- Sam Parirenyatwa and the current Provincial
missariat) department that some provinces Affairs minister, Monica Mavhunga — widely
are conducting co-options to fill in vacant considered a rank outsider.
posts in their branches, districts and pro-
vincial executive committees. Provinces are
aware that the party is currently conducting
a restructuring exercise which should usher
in new leadership for the same organs by Oc-
tober 2021,”
Chinamasa said in a circular dated 3 Au-

Page 16 News NewsHawks

Issue 45, 27 August 2021

Utilise or lose your farm, Chinomona told

ZANU PF women’s league boss Mabel Chino- Zanu PF women’s league chairperson Mabel Chinomona (front) which was very successful. We must support the
mona, who is also Senate President, has been vision of our President,” she said.
told to utilise her farm in Chirumhanzu, Mid- make the farm productive. I want to advise you officials, that he hands over power in 2023.
lands, by her juniors as she risks losing the prop- to utilise the farm before it is repossessed by the “Some people are already saying President She said although Mnangagwa assumed pow-
erty, in what is seen as an escalation of factional Lands ministry officials,” she told her boss. er under difficult circumstances, he has done ex-
fights ahead of the party’s elective congress next Mnangagwa must leave office at the end of his ceptionally well.
year. Chinomona sat silently as Shirichena talked. five-year term. Going where?” she rhetorically
When she finally got a chance to speak, she asked. “The President will serve his full two terms.
Despite the Covid-19 pandemic which has did not respond to the assertion that she was not That is not a problem in any way because he is
seen government banning political gatherings using her farm which now faced seizure. “What kind of leader do you really want? As a performing, he is a hard worker and is going
and arresting opposition officials for violating She instead chose to extol Mnangagwa’s suc- country we are battling sanctions, but President nowhere. We have to understand that when the
lockdown regulations, Zanu PF has been restruc- cesses since assuming power, while also slam- Mnangagwa is working to develop the country. President assumed power we had drought and
turing ahead of congress and the 2023 elections. ming factionalism in the party. We are seeing developments in road infrastruc- he ran around buying food to feed the nation.
The restructuring has resulted in an escalation of Chinomona said Mnangagwa should be al- ture, clinics and dams despite us being under Then Cyclone Idai struck and it destroyed in-
factional fights amid revelations that some Zanu lowed to serve two terms, despite a push by some sanctions. People are no longer starving, thanks frastructure. And that destroyed infrastructure
PF officials want President Emmerson Mnan- to the President as he introduced Pfumvudza, was fixed within a year. As a country we are un-
gagwa to hand over power in 2023 after serving der sanctions. You have to be aware that if you
one term. are under sanctions you dont get aid from IMF.
Zimbabwe is looking for its own money from
Ellena Shirichena, the Zanu PF Midlands mines, farms and some of that money is used to
women’s league chairperson, last Saturday told procure vaccines so that we protect our people
Chinomona she risked losing her farm due to a from Covid-19. We have to be cognisant of the
lack of productivity, during a provincial meet- fact that Covid-19 slowed our economy. And
ing. this impacted on employment creation. If not
for Covid-19, we would be speaking of a differ-
“Mother (Chinomona) as a national executive ent story economically,” she said.
member, we gave you a farm here in Midlands
in Chirumhanzu at a place called Mahamaya. Chinomona called on women in the Mid-
However, I would like to advise you to utilise the lands to give Mnangagwa maximum support
farm as you risk losing the farm. Government and respect.
is currently repossessing underutilised farmland
and if you don’t use the farm you are going to “The developments currently being undertak-
lose it. May you please utilise the farm as gov- en by the President benefit us women. To us as
ernment is repossessing underutilied farms,” she women, development is very good as it impacts
said. on us. As women in

Shirichena said the Midlands is endowed with Midlands, you are blessed to have the Presi-
good agricultural soils and also good soils for dent coming from your area; you must support
mining. and respect the President,” she said.

“As a province, we are endowed with good She then talked about factionalism.
soils for agriculture and you can use the land to “We don’t want to hear about any factional
grow crops of your choice. You can even utilise talk. If you have any differences, resolve those
the land for mining or anything to your fancy to differences amicably amongst yourselves,” she
said. — STAFF WRITER.

NewsHawks News Page 17

Issue 45, 27 August 2021

PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa’s I’m being targeted for exposing
spokesperson George Charamba last week corruption: Hopewell Chin’ono
accused award-winning journalist Hopewell
Chin’ono (HC), who is also a stern critic of
the government of sour grapes after his bid to
work with the government failed. He also ac-
cused the journalist of selling out the director
of Counselling Services Unit Dr Frances Love-
more as well as smuggling foreign journalists
into the country. The NewsHawks (NH) news
editor Owen Gagare and reporter Chipa Gon-
ditti had a chat with Chino’no about these
allegations. He also talked about why he be-
came a critic of the regime when he appeared
to support the regime in its early days, and, as
well as concerns among some colleagues that
he had over-stepped the ethical boundaries of
journalism by become an activist. For more,
read the excerpts below:

NH: President Mnangagwa’s spokesperson Hopewell Chin’ono will give you an example, reformation of the me- my journalistic privilege and they said I am taint-
George Charamba alleges that you wanted to ing Dr Lovemore. dia, which is something I was interested in seeing ing the name of the First Family, bringing the
work with the government, doing some public because I am a journalist, the use of hate speech kids of the President into the Draxgate scandal
relations work in the aftermath of the 1 August NH: Some people are saying before the elec- continued in the media, the opposition was be- and yet I was merely doing my work as a journal-
2018 shootings. Is this true and can you tell us tions you were supportive of the Mnangagwa re- ing lampooned in the media. You would see that ist. All I was saying was this is what I had found
what was going on? gime and after the elections there was a sudden when you read The Herald, some of the stories out and all one had to do was come out and say
change, what happened? were propaganda then I said to myself, but this what you found out was not true this is the cor-
HC: That is not true. I was never interested in guy came in on the ticket that he was going to be rect position, but what actually happened is that
working for the Mnangagwa regime. What actu- HC: What happened after the coup is that I different than Mugabe. I was intimidated and spent time in jail.
ally happened is that there is a gentleman called argued that there was no other way except to give
Kalaa Mpinga who is a Congolese businessman these guys a chance because there is no other legal It is one thing talking about the economy and NH: You have been arrested three times and
who owned Freda Rebecca and Bindura Nickel. way of removing them because according to the it is a different thing all together seeing on TV at one time you actually spent around 45 days in
He called me when he was in the United States constitution which they used, they removed the or reading newspapers, it does not require many prison. Can you tell us where those cases are? Of
after the August 1 shootings and said “there is a Zanu PF President and replaced him with anoth- hours if someone wants to really change. We course, you were acquitted on the charge of pub-
lot of bad news from Zimbabwe, what is going er Zanu PF President. So, there was no need to were now heading to 12 months after the coup, lishing falsehoods, but what’s happening with the
on?” I explained to him that people had been fight because even Morgan Tsvangirai and Nel- we were still seeing hate speech in the media and other cases?
killed, beaten up and that there are reports of son Chamisa said it was not a coup and Tsvan- I then realised that these guys were not sincere,
abductions and rapes in the townships. He then girai even called it a miraculous transition. So, a because if you are sincere, the first things that you HC: The first one I was arrested on the 28th
said ok because this is bad, it is going to be very lot has not been written by the media about what must deal with are visual things so that people see of July where the police came with guns and hit
difficult for this new government to raise any actually happened during the coup. Most people that there is change. If people can see an opposi- my glass door with an AK-47 and dragged me
capital if they are behaving like that or perceived do not understand that the opposition actually tion leader being given a fair amount of time on out and charged me with incitement to public
to be behaving like that. He then said that he supported the coup and the evidence is there TV and a fair amount of copy in newspapers run violence because I reported as a journalist on
was going to call Vice-President Chiwenga and online, so there is a specific unhealthy way of by the state then you can tell that there is change what had been said by Jacob Ngarivhume that
the President. targeting me by certain people for other reasons taking place. So I realised that it was pointless he is going to mobilise citizens into a protest. A
to say Hopewell supported Mnangagwa. There is to continue saying give him a chance when the protest which is underpinned in our constitution
He then called me after having talked to Chi- a difference in saying let us give them a chance regime was failing to do things which are basic which allows us to protest and petition the gov-
wenga and said the Vice-President had said the and supporting somebody. In fact, after Mnan- and did not require any money. ernment and that is the reason why they arrested
reports of the abductions and beatings were not gagwa appointed his first cabinet in December, me and the case is up in the air, it’s now on review
true. I then said to him that there were reports I criticised it. As journalists, people assume we NH: You have been critical of the government in the High Court because we went to trial and
which had been made and that people cannot are supposed to take a particular side and ride and in turn critics have been going after you. my lawyers Beatrice Mtetwa and Douglas Coul-
make reports which are false. He then said what with it, I can criticise Mnangagwa and Chamisa Why do you think they have been going after tart argued that there was no case to answer. So
do you mean by reports, I then told him that at the same time, which is exactly what I did. you? we are waiting for the court.
there are organisations that look after people who The evidence is awash online but people choose
have been beaten and they are making reports to follow a particular narrative and some people HC: I think the main reason they are going The second case was when I exposed that the
which cannot be false. He then said “Ok I am just do not like you, it is part of human nature. after me is not necessarily that I am being critical. President’s niece, Henrietta Rushwaya, had been
coming to Zimbabwe and the Vice- I criticised Mnangagwa and at some point I ac- I think it is more of my work exposing corrup- caught with six kilogrammes of gold. I exposed
tually wrote articles explaining that what Chami- tion, looting of public funds, the plunder of the that she was about to get a corrupt arrangement
President has asked me to come and see him”. sa was saying makes sense when he was talking nation’s natural resources and on the critical side that she would get bail without contest from the
He then asked me to accompany him to see Chi- about spaghetti roads and things like that. There there is the issue of hospitals that do not work. state. Indeed, the court itself when she finally
wenga, I then said if he thinks it will help stop is no evidence of me saying vote for Mnangagwa Go to hospitals, there is no medication, salaries got to court and tried to do that with the state,
the violence I am happy to accompany him. so if I support Mnangagwa, how can I not say are very poor, doctors are getting paid US$160, the magistrate said no this is unacceptable. So, I
vote for him? the use of violence, the use of abductions, arrests, was arrested for that but what actually happened,
He flew into Harare and then took me to see the captured judiciary where you are charged un- they came to my home to arrest me under the
the Vice-President. When we got there, he raised NH: At what point did you realise that per- der laws that do not exist like what happened to guise I had violated my bail order, I had said
the issue and said this gentleman is a journalist haps giving Mnangagwa a chance was perhaps me in January. So, it’s those sorts of things that something about the Chief Justice, I was then
and he told me abcd. I then explained to Chi- not the right thing to do? when I challenge, they do not want to be chal- taken to Harare Police Station. I am told after my
wenga what I had told Kalaa. The Vice-President lenged. When I expose corruption, they do not lawyers had said the Chief Justice had to come
then said it is not true and that people are fak- HC: I think it was around November 2018. want me to expose corruption. When I was ar- in and testify how he was injured by what was
ing things, “we are even talking to people in the I then realised that we were going nowhere. rested on the 20th of July it was a week or two said, they then decided to come up with another
MDC and Zvidzai was even at my farm so it can- Around that time, going into December I before the ruling party had a conference in which trumped charge to say I had obstructed justice
not be true”. I then told him that these reports wrote an op-ed explaining why I did not think I was named by name and they said I am abusing because they said I had a case with them and I
were true and available, he then said how do we that these guys were sincere. You remember the
get the reports? I then told him that the embas- promises that were given during the election. I
sies had released the reports and you can talk to

British embassy, the EU and the CSU which
is an organisation which looks after people who
have been victims of violence and gives them
medical care. Chiwenga then said how do we do
this? I then said why don’t you call them so that
they come and discuss with you.

NH: I guess that is where he alleges that you
sold out people like Dr Lovemore and that you
gave out his number. Can you explain what hap-
pened there?

HC: There was no selling out. I called Dr
Lovemore and I said I am going to this meeting
and I will let you know how it goes. The British
embassy knew the meeting was taking place a
day before, Yvonne Gonzalez from the American
embassy came to talk to me the night before the
meeting because I had explained to them that a
businessman is taking me to see the Vice-Pres-
ident about issues of violence and what are the
issues you want me to say other than the fact
that this (the violence) is happening. I had that
meeting with Gonzalez here in my house, Peter
McFallen, who was the deputy Australian ambas-
sador, came to me the day before and explained
to me their disquiet about the violence that was
taking place. So what he is saying about people
selling out is a lie. People actually knew the meet-
ing was going to take place the day before includ-

Page 18 News NewsHawks

Issue 45, 27 August 2021

cannot report about them and what they doing and see how they can help. So, I first went to my of things that people like George are now doing, paper or TV that I am working for. The assump-
and using sources within the Nationa Prosecut- former employer ITV and they agreed to give us you end up having to embarrass your govern- tion that I have overshot any boundaries means
ing Authority. Which is ridiculous because there their Johannesburg bureau to come and train our ment by producing this evidence so that people that I do not have any rights as a citizen to ex-
is no such law, so again we are yet to go to trial. journalists for two weeks. I went to Channel 2 can see that this is actually what happened. So press my views in how the country is being run.
News and talked to John Snow who said he was at that point I realised that these people are not So, it is like yourself you are journalists, there are
The third case was squashed by the High excited about the idea. I then went to CNN who serious about reform, we’re still working with the things which are close to your heart and when
Court, but the state is still trying to get it back, then said they would give us Christiane Aman- old mindset of wanting to bring the hammer and you speak about them you are not crossing the
they have gone back to the High Court to con- pour to come and train these journalists for two that is not what change looks like. Sometime in boundaries of ethical journalism, you are simply
test, saying it should be heard because they had weeks. November I then wrote to all the partners and I expressing yourself.
not filed the opposing papers before it was dis- said this thing I do not see it going anywhere but
missed. More importantly, they said we will give ZBC I am quite happy for you guys to continue with NH: We have noticed you are expressing these
an affiliate arrangement, where ZBC becomes a it but I am pulling out because I don’t see it going views on social media, but are you still practising
NH: Some critics such as Thandekile Moyo CNN affiliate and have access to over 900 TV sta- anywhere. The promises that have been made, if as a journalist?
and Jealousy Mawarire have labelled you an op- tions to get content from and also offer training these people were serious, you have been offered
portunist. What do you think of such critics? and they get what is called CNN Breaking News. free money, you have been offered free training. HC: I have heard that so many times and I’ve
The British embassy here in Zimbabwe then said So they (government side) now started saying the always said social media is like The NewsHawks
HC: Thandekile Moyo was supporting Zanu we will put £3 million and it will be used via the other faction is blocking it and I just said I am website, it’s like a TV station, it’s like newspaper,
PF and G40 before Mugabe was removed and BBC trust for ongoing training at ZBC. not interested in this and if you cannot get your and it’s a platform where you can exercise your
Jealousy Mawarire was supporting Mugabe and act together, that is your business and that is how journalism. When I come and expose that so and
still supports Mugabe to this day. Their struggles When I was in London I got a call from the the whole thing collapsed. I wrote about this so has taken some amount of money as I did with
and mine are completely different. I have never minister who said I have someone whom I want somewhere online, after that they (government) Draxgate, it’s social media, but I am practicing
been in a political party, to call me an opportun- you to add to the team and I then said “no, min- said you are just being critical because the project journalism. Journalism does stop because it is
ist when I was offered a job by the ministry of ister, I am not part of this team, this is your team did not go through and if you go online there is now being practiced on social media, it has given
Information to go to ZBC and I said no, “I am and project, I am just using my network to get an article by George Charamba where he labels us the freedom not to wait for an editor to say
not interested in a job, I am interested in seeing a things done”. And I made it absolutely clear to me a Western pawn, saying the project did not go you can publish this or not.
fair society where teachers, doctors and journal- them that I am just somebody who wants to see through and that I wanted to bring in Americans
ists earn decent wages”. things work out in Zimbabwe. So they were like to come and capture ZBC and use it to support Social media allows me to express my views,
ok that is fine what about Helliate Rushwaya, MDC. so when I express my personal views it is just like
I have managed to live a comfortable life be- then I said no that is your own business with you as a news editor going to The NewsHawks
cause I worked in England and that is how I your own donors. I have put these people togeth- NH: Some of your critics now say you are no and writing your editorial, it is your personal
made my money and most of my peers are strug- er and you have to make a case to them but it longer a journalist, but more of a political activ- view, but it is being published in a newspaper or
gling and it is an irresponsible act for me to ig- is going to be very embarrassing to make a case ist. What is your take on this? on website and the same thing applies to social
nore that. The funny thing about Thandekile and to bring someone who does not have that kind media. I can write an article for The NewsHawks
Jealousy is they have got a regime which is failing of experience in broadcasting and motivate the HC: Yes, I am an activist and there is nothing and still take it to social media.
to give hospitals medication, failing to provide donors to pay her as a trainer when you have got wrong with that, let us say you are a journalist
jobs, but they spend their time attacking an indi- these world-class journalists who are being of- and you have a child who is disabled and you Social media to me is just a platform. I think a
vidual who is not even in government. I do not fered for free. When I came back from that trip, campaign for disability rights, what is wrong lot of people get unnerved because I have a huge
even have any political power or ambitions. I do that is when I was offered the job as a director at with that? I am campaigning for a better Zim- social media following and they say that it is now
not want to say a lot, but Thandekile was actually ZBC and I said I am not interested, in the pres- babwe. broadcasting because I have many followers,
a friend who used to come into my home, I do ence of Nick Mangwana. I was actually shocked but those people follow me because I am saying
not want to say a lot but some of these things are when I was in prison she tried to say something NH: Do you think you have overshot the something they find interesting. If I was not say-
driven by personal issues. else but these things have records and emails. You boundaries of ethical journalism? ing anything they find interesting, they would
know sometimes you do not want to embarrass not have followed me.
NH: You said you were offered a job at ZBC, your government but sometimes with the kind HC: How do I overshoot any boundaries
when was this and why did you turn it down? when I am expressing my personal views? I am In 2017, I had 400 people following me, to-
not expressing my personal views using a news- day I have 228 000, it’s because what I am saying
HC: It was in October 2018. My history of is resonating with people and I am able to say it
being offered jobs goes back to 2003 at ZBC
and I turned it down. I was offered a job by Mrs
Mutsvangwa in the presence of Nick Mangwana
and I turned it down again because I was not in-
terested in a job. I need to tell you a story so that
you can contextualise how the job came about.

Sometime in September after the cabinet
had been announced, Chris Mutsvangwa got in
touch with me and said his wife wanted to meet
me. I think it was on a Saturday, I then agreed
and he said let us meet at Queen of Hearts (Ha-
rare restaurant), I then went there and he intro-
duced me to his wife.

She then said as you know I have been ap-
pointed Information minister and your broth-
er was talking about you being an experienced
journalist, so I wanted to discuss with you about
what needs to be done. So at the end of the dis-
cussion we had agreed that there is need for re-
forms in the media. I explained to her one of the
key issues that is a stumbling block in removing
the sanctions is the issue of the media reforms.

So, she asked me to write a paper and send it to
her, which I did. After reading the paper she said
“I am really excited about this and how do we do
it on the issue of funds and things like that?” And
I said you can discuss this with donor partners.
She then said why don’t you do it for me and I
said “if you give me the power to talk to them, I
will talk to them” and she said fine. I then went
and spoke to the American ambassador Brian
Nichols and he said ok that is not a problem and
we will get UST to deal with you. I then went to
see the then British ambassador Catriona Laing
and she said it was exciting and she had told the
embassy and everybody was excited and she gave
me her deputy to deal with the issue.

I spoke to the World Bank and spoke to a lady
called Nkanu who has just left and again she said
she was willing to be a part of this because it is
exciting. I then spoke to the current Australian
ambassador Bronte Moules and she said she is
really excited about it. We had a meeting and we
agreed that we would bring the former World
Bank manager, Dr Mungai Lenneiye. We had
our first meeting at 46 Cork Road where the pa-
per I had written was presented and when that
paper had been presented, the minister came
with Nick Mangwana.

There was the Australian ambassador, there
was the deputy British ambassador, head of UST
and someone from the World Bank. The agree-
ment was that Dr Lenneiye would go to ZBC
and do an assessment. He went there, did an as-
sessment report and came back. I had scheduled
a trip to London and when I was there I just said
since I am here let me talk to other broadcasters

NewsHawks News Page 19

Issue 45, 27 August 2021

US$15 billion worth of diamonds looted from Chiadzwa is hospital care worth 320 years because all six central hospitals in Zimbabwe cost US$50 million to run.

in a simple way that people understand without tent security service system. I am not a member things. wrote on his new Twitter account Mhofela, he
making it complex. of July 31 movement, it’s a movement that was It is like that thread which was done on Twit- says it was in January, Charamba says it was in
started by Jacob Ngarivhume. I merely reported 2018, Jealousy says it was in 2019, they are re-
So I will give you a good example, everybody on it and that was the attachment they saw. ter, it is just a pack of lies but for me tragedy porting on one story. Ultimately I cannot do
for over five six or seven years has spoken about is not on the lies, but on the state because if a much about that other than just telling it like
US$15 billion worth of diamonds being looted NH: Do you have a political ambition? Some state can lie about things that can be proven its it is. People can call me an opportunist if they
from Chiadzwa, I then broke it down and said people are saying you doing this because you ridiculous. In his thread when he was lying that want. I have had opportunities in life that I had
what was actually looted is hospital care worth have bigger plans ahead. I brought people without accreditation, he was to walk away from simply because I was pursuing
320 years because all six central hospitals in Zim- talking about Emma Hurd and she was actually other things. I was working for ITV news and I
babwe cost US$50 million to run. The US$15 HC: I have no interest in politics. I was asked accredited. I will give you Emma Hurd’s number resigned because I wanted to do other things.
billion that was stolen is equivalent to 320 years, to come and join Zanu PF as far back as 2004 and you say Hopewell has given us your number
so I am communicating in a way that makes peo- but I refused, MDC also asked me to join and and ask her about the reports that she was accred- NH: What is your opinion on the coup and
ple understand because if you tell my colleague get a position, and I refused because I have no ited along with her cameraperson and producer. the Mnangagwa presidency? Comparing it with
here that US$10 billion was stolen, if he is go- interest in politics. But this guy lies and that is why I want you guys the Mugabe regime, has there been progress in
ing to be honest he doesn’t know what US$10 to put that evidence out so that people can see terms of service delivery, reforms and fixing the
billion is. I do not know either, but if you then NH: Some people, especially those close to for themselves. economy?
explain to me that US$10 billion is the size of the President, believe that you might be close to
your country’s GDP, it makes me have clarity of Vice-President Chiwenga and you are therefore I find it very disturbing that people can lie HC: I think the coup was based on fiction and
what has been talked about and because of that advancing a factional Zanu PF agenda. What about things with records and lie about some- lies. Everything that was promised, the freedoms,
I think I have been able to break down things in sort of relationship do you have with Chiwenga? thing that you yourself can just pick up the constitutionalism, all that has not happened, we
very simple ways. phone and call the American ambassador and say have now seen that this regime is more corrupt
HC: I have only met the Vice-President twice, is it true that you wanted to assist ZBC and is it than the Robert Mugabe regime. Mugabe is
NH: I want to bring back the subject of ar- the first time when I was taken there by Kalaa true that Hopewell came to you. now being seen as a mere spokesperson of the
rests and detention. Has that not taken a toll Mpinga and the second time when he called me system, the wrong assumption that we had was
on you emotionally and physically? Is there any when I had protested. After the meeting, George You can even ask the Australian ambassador that Mugabe was the problem but now we have
post-traumatic stress disorder on your part? Charamba got the meeting to be published in is it true that you were part of this project that seen that Mugabe was not actually the architect
the Sunday Mail in 2018 and I protested because Hopewell wrote a concept paper for and you can of all that madness that was taking place because
HC: It takes a toll more on friends, relatives I said you are characterising Dr Lovemore as even ask the same question to Dr Mungai Len- the madness is happening. Some of the madness
and the people that care about you and when it someone who is a bad person and anti-govern- neiye. I can send you the concept paper, what we is new and some of it is worse and I do not think
does then it obviously takes a toll on you because ment. I then called Kalaa Mpinga and said if I want is our colleagues at ZBC to work under the under Mugabe Draxgate would have happened.
people around you are worried. Ultimately it’s had known this is what you guys were going to right conditions, to be well-trained and have the He was a bad leader, but I do not think he would
something that I’ve decided I am going to do do I wouldn’t have come. Kalaa then called the right equipment. The state took my equipment, have been so callous to loot money meant to ad-
because it is the right cause. I am sure you have Vice-President, who then said I am sorry and I which is better than what ZBC had. I am an in- dress the pandemic.
seen me buying food for people, paying people’s did not know anything about this article. Those dividual and yet I can produce better stuff than a
hospital bills, it’s because it hurts me to say that I are the only two times I met Chiwenga. whole broadcasting institution not because I am I think that ultimately this regime is cleansing
lead a comfortable life when someone else is not smart but because I am able to get what is needed Mugabe bit by bit. I thought that ED was going
living a comfortable life. NH: You were involved a lot in the Draxgate for me to do my work and we were saying the to be completely different; redeeming himself
scandal in terms of revealing what was going on same thing had to be done for ZBC. and all people around him for what they did un-
NH: Some people in the security system be- behind the Covid-19 procurement scene. Do der Mugabe, the violence and so forth. Even af-
lieve you are part of a formation called the July you think that was your number one issue with Call Judith Todd and ask her if she was ap- ter the August 1 shooting there was still a chance
31 movement involving some activists and op- this regime or there is another issue? proached to be on the board of ZBC, I have the and even after 2019 there was still a chance to
position parties which want to overthrow the emails where they all said we cannot be a part of do the right thing, but I do not know whether
government. Are you a member of such an or- HC: It is the Draxgate issue. Before the Drax- this when I moved out. that chance is still existing. Because we are go-
ganisation? gate issue I am sure we can all agree that I was ing into elections, what they try to do may be
never attacked even when I was talking about Ralph Stutchbury, he was a cameraperson perceived as politicking. Even if he comes today
HC: I am not a member of such an organisa- hardcore politics. I would go and film hospitals and wildlife photographer, he once worked for and builds a hospital outside my house, I would
tion. That to me is tragic because it shows a very with no medication, they would never respond ZBC when it was still RBC, they all wanted to say that you are doing this because you want my
incompetent security service because if a security to that. come onboard to become directors and they had vote, so it’s a lost opportunity if he was a young
service is competent they should know that I am agreed. I had actually been asked to look for peo- man, he would still have time to redeem himself,
not a member of any organisation. If security ser- The minute I started working on the Draxgate ple, ask Shingi Munyeza, he was one of them. If but he is not.
vice people are saying those things, then it wor- issue, it was like I had touched the lion’s tail and you go on Twitter and look at what
ries me because it means we have an incompe- the fact that Zanu PF wheeled out its spokesper-
son Patrick Chinamasa is a tragedy because when Jealousy Mawarire wrote or what Matigari
they are cornered by facts they start to politicise

Page 20 News NewsHawks

Issue 45, 27 August 2021

Karoi Town Council has been in a legal war with Solution Motors (pictured below) since 2019 over an undelivered truck.

NHAU MANGIRAZI Civil society condemns Karoi
council over botched truck deal
THE Karoi Town Council procurement com-
mittee has come under fire from civil society or- ment for personal benefits.’’ supplier reneged on the judgment. of sale between the two parties is cancelled and
ganisations over its alleged incompetence which Karoi council has been in a legal war with In her arbitration award, Mutangadura ruled respondent shall pay damages to the claimant be-
has caused a legal battle with a car supplier who ing equivalent to 70 percent of the value of the
has failed to deliver a truck ordered in 2017. Solution Motors since 2019 over the undelivered that Solution Motors must ‘‘deliver to Karoi value of the same or similar refuse truck as pro-
truck, resulting in the matter going for arbitra- Town Council a brand new 20 self-weighing re- vided in the agreement entered into on 20 July
Solution Motors won a tender to supply a Nis- tion. Arbitrator Susan Mutangadura ruled in fuse truck UD or a similar model within the peri- 2017.’’
san UD compact refuse truck in 2017, but was council’s favour on 12 July 2019. od of 8 to 12 weeks of the date of arbitral award.
not delivered. The arbitrator noted then that the claimant
Recently, council lawyers Mangwana and Part- Part of the award reads: ‘‘In the event that the successfully established the “breach of contract
Karoi Development Agenda, a coalition of civ- ners legal practitioners approached Mutangadu- respondent fails to provide the said truck as said and entitlement to damages’’.
il society organisations that advocate social jus- ra to quantify how much must be paid after the in this order it is hereby ordered the agreement
tice, transparency and accountability, has called
on professionalism at the council.

‘‘This puts to question the type of people we
have at council. The procurement committee is
unprofessional and it exposes the accounting of-
ficer at the council as failing to help out to bring
sanity at the council. There was no due diligence
to award a tender to a company that had a dark
past of not honouring its obligation. Solution
Motors duped government and a local authority
out of its own wisdom or lack of it awards a ten-
der to the same supplier,’’ said the organisation in
a statement.

The organisation also accused council bosses
of corruption.

“There is serious abuse of public funds as there
is lack of transparency. Competency at town
house remains suspect. Overlooking such an
anomaly of background checks of any organisa-
tion raises eyebrows and awarding a contract to a
company that was blacklisted soon after getting
the award raises more questions than answers,”
reads the statement.

“This was deliberate and driven by motives of a
few individuals aimed at siphoning public funds.
The error of the undelivered truck has been costly
to the residents and this affects service delivery.
We have to live with erratic refuse collection and
also pay heavily for a hired refuse truck when the
money should have bought a new truck from a
credible supplier.

“Our council has never been transparent as a
few top officials take it as an offence when they
are asked to be professional and accountable.
We are talking about public funds not person-
nel funds and we condemn how council failed to
discharge its duties in getting a refuse truck from
credible supplier. This is being done as a sinister
plot of improper procurement of council equip-

NewsHawks News Page 21

Issue 45, 27 August 2021

‘O’ Level students drag
Zimsec to court for
withholding results

Zimsec offices in Harare

THE Zimbabwe School Examinations Council and with the urgency that it deserves having re- “Zimsec has dismally failed to prove that in- He also said there has never been communica-
(Zimsec) has been taken to court by two Ordi- gard to the Mutandwa and Chinembiri’s rights deed there was a commission of an examination tion between Zimsec and the students. The mat-
nary Level students whose results were withheld at stake. malpractice by the Applicants,” Chiota said. ter is pending. — STAFF WRITER.
on allegations of cheating.

In a High Court urgent chamber applica-
tion, the students, Ashley Mutandwa and Jim-
my Chinembiri, are seeking an order compelling
Zimsec to release their results.

The court has been told that the two passed a
Mathematics paper with flying colours and failed
the other one, triggering suspicions of cheating.

Zimsec accused them of having accessed
Maths Paper 2 which leaked on social media.

The two wrote their exams at Vimbai High
School and passed Maths Paper 2 with high
marks, but on some occasions provided wrong
workings with correct answers.

Mutandwa and Chinembiri argue that Zimsec
has failed to prove that they cheated.

Said Mutandwa in her founding affidavit:
“Chinembiri and I are among O Level students
that sat for a Mathematics Paper 2 (4004/02) in
the November 2020 session.

“Pursuant to having written the examinations,
and on the 8th June 2021 Zimsec communicat-
ed to our respective schools that it had withheld
all our results based on the basis that we were
part of a group of students who had ‘accessed’
the Mathematics Paper 2 question paper via so-
cial media.

“It is shocking that Zimsec has failed to link
either of us to the examination malpractice.

“For a greater reason, Zimsec’s evidence is only
circumstantial in that it basis its allegations on
the fact that both of us passed ‘with high marks’
in Paper 2 and failed in Paper 1, so that is the link
to have committed an examination malpractice,”
Mutandwa wrote.

The duo’s lawyer Nyasha Chiota in a certificate
of urgency said Zimsec’s decision to withhold the
results is preventing the two from progressing.

“Mutandwa and Chinembiri have a right to
education and undeniably need to proceed with
their studies beyond O-Level, and this requires
them to have results early before year end in
2021. Zimsec has not treated this matter fairly

Page 22 NewsHawks

Issue 45, 27 August 2021

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NewsHawks News Page 23

Issue 45, 27 August 2021

Special Covid-19
PANDEMIC coverage

Covid vaccination extends to teens

BRIDGET MANANAVIRE tion of vaccination cards and strict adherence to vention and management systems. The two among other issues. As such, the inter-city and
Covid-19 protocols,” the briefing reads. ministries met with provincial teams to evaluate intra-city transportation for learners will be al-
CABINET this week announced the extension progress in the implementation of the Joint Op- lowed during schools re- opening periods, sub-
of the Covid-19 vaccination programme to chil- Schools will be opening beginning with ex- erational Plan of the Standard ject to close monitoring by law enforcement
dren between the ages of 14 to 17, as the coun- amination classes on 30 August and non-exam- agencies.”
try races to get 10 million citizens vaccinated by ination classes on 6 September. Guidelines for the CoordinatedPrevention
December 2021. and Management of Covid-19 at learning insti- Meanwhile, the Beitbridge Border Post quar-
“Regarding primary and secondary educa- tutions,” the cabinet briefing read. antine centre received 24 deportees, while Plum-
So far, the country has acquired 13 million tion, the collaboration between the ministries of tree received 40. This, according to cabinet,
doses out of the 20 million required to get the Primary and “The ministry of Primary and Secondary Ed- brings the number of returnees received through
targeted 10 million people vaccinated. Some of ucation also met with teacher organisations and all ports of entry to 31 249 as at 19 August 2021.
the doses are however yet to be delivered. Secondary Education, and Health and Child deliberated on the safe re-opening of schools,
Care has buttressed the sector’s Covid-19 pre-
A total of 2 422 256 people had received their
first dose as of Wednesday, while 1 535 298 had
received their second dose.

“Given the current vaccination statistics, cab-
inet is confident that herd immunity will be
achieved by December 2021. On the advice of
scientists, the vaccination programme will also
be extended to the 14 to 17-year age group,” this
week’s cabinet briefing reads.

“The ministry of Health and Child Care
will employ the following strategies in the roll-
ing out of the vaccination exercise: expanding
the engagement of the private sector; involving
churches, universities and other institutions of
higher learning; and accelerating outreach cam-
paigns taking advantage of the Integrated Ex-
panded Programme for Immunisation.”

Some of the strategies adopted by the govern-
ment to speed up the vaccination programme is
to transfer municipal nursing staff to be part of
the ministry of Health and Child Care establish-
ment.

The government is also targeting border town
hotspots and peoples’ markets.

The government said it had enough financial
resources to procure all the required vaccines and
will be donating 20 000 doses of vaccines to the
government of Namibia.

While maintaining the level four lockdown
measures, cabinet announced the opening or
restaurants for sit-in services for vaccinated peo-
ple.

“The nation is further informed that restau-
rants will be allowed to re-open for sit-in patrons
who are fully vaccinated subject to the produc-

LIZWE SEBATHA Govt commends Ekusileni fundraisers

BULAWAYO Provincial Affairs minister Ju- ident, we appreciate the way the Bulawayo companies and other stakeholders have stood to ensure Ekusileni re-opens and functions
dith Ncube says the government is humbled community, diaspora community, individuals, up in complementing government efforts smoothly. We are humbled by that sense of
by the IAM4Bulawayo Covid-19 campaign, ownership shown by our citizens,” Ncube said
which is mobilising financial and material sup- in a telephone interview on Thursday,
port to ensure the smooth running of Ekusile-
ni Medical Centre since its re-opening. “This is the spirit of ubuntu, the spirit of
togetherness which we want. I am happy for
“IAM4Bulawayo Fighting Covid-19” was the IAM4Byo initiative; they have done an
launched in April 2020 with the objective of amazing job. We appreciate and thank the
mobilising resources to equip health institu- Bulawayo community for that sense of owner-
tions handling Covid-19 cases in the country’s ship. We appeal to all well-wishers to continue
second city, such as Ekusileni. giving a helping hand to Ekusileni and other
facilities in the city.”
Ekusileni was re-opened in late July, with
two patients, after closing down for 15 years Eggs, bread, utensils, vegetables, chicken
following an inspection visit by a 15-member and other basics are some of the groceries do-
panel from the Health Professions Authority nated by different companies and individuals
(HPA). with retired colonel Tshinga Dube chipping in
with two head of cattle.
Upon re-opening, authorities revealed that
the hospital was not in a position to admit in- Ekusileni was identified as a Covid-19 cen-
dividuals who required intensive or high-de- tre alongside the Catholic- run Mater Dei,
pendency treatment due to lack of equipment, United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) Old Bart-
food and other materials needed for smooth ley Memorial Block (BMB) and the coun-
operations. cil-run

On Friday, Ekusileni, the brainchild of the Thorngrove Infectious Diseases Hospital.
late Father Zimbabwe Joshua Nkomo took de- The National Social Security Company-owned
livery of donations including utensils, grocer- facility had been closed since 2004 after it
ies and other materials worth ZW$10 million emerged it had outdated equipment.
mobilised by the “IAM4Byo initiative”.

“As government, and on behalf of the Pres-

Page 24 News NewsHawks

Issue 45, 27 August 2021

Kariba tourism players decry pandemic impact

NHAU MANGIRAZI

KARIBA — TOURISM players in the resort Kariba was listed as a hotspot in June, resulting in government banning travel to and from the town.
town are still reeling under the effects of the
Covid-19 pandemic, which has resulted in a sharp national visitors. Kariba Publicity Association public relations are utilised. Most facilities will continue accruing
decline in business. ‘‘We must keep the tourism industry running officer Alois Chimbangu bemoaned the inter-city costs and losing value without any usage. We call
travel ban that has affected tourism sector. upon all concerned to reach mutual ground on
The town was in June listed as a hotspot, re- on reasonable volumes. We see that controlled ensuring the industry survives,’’ Chimbangu said.
sulting in government banning travel to and from movements are not bad, but I feel as long as some- ‘‘The ban on inter-city travel meant most of
Kariba. one has vaccinated they must be allowed to travel our projected clients were not able to travel. Many Kariba was placed under two-week lockdown
because those vaccinated are now getting affected facilities are on the verge of being white elephants in June together with Hurungwe as cases in
There is, however, a ray of hope as cases are de- because of people who were not vaccinated.” unless mechanisms are put in place to ensure they Mashonaland West increased.
clining in Kariba district, with a recovery rate of
96%.

District medical officer Godwin Muza revealed
the district has registered a significant decline in
infections.

‘‘As of Tuesday this week, Kariba district had
only one infection. The severity of Covid-19
illness is that we had no patient at the isolation
centre, no admissions, no discharges, no mild in-
fections, and no severe cases at all,’’ said Muza.

He added that 27 798 people had received the
first dose of vaccination, while 15 752 people re-
ceived the second dose.

Kariba Tourism Business Indaba administrator
Cephas Shonhiwa said Covid-19 had greatly af-
fected the tourism sector.

‘‘Most tourism companies have been forced to
downsize their workforce or stop operating. There
is no business, since travelling is now limited. This
has affected income generations since internation-
al tourists are locked out due to the situation on
the ground,’’ Shonhiwa said in a written response.

A local resident, Mabhena Mutumwa, said
even ordinary citizens had been affected by the
pandemic and the resultant lockdown.

‘‘We are going through hard times and it is be-
yond our control due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Tourism is one of the major sources of income
and the prolonged lockdowns are badly affecting
people in towns which rely on tourism, especially
Kariba and Victoria Falls, among others.

These should have been the areas which should
have been focused on first because they get inter-

THE government has challenged an urgent Forced vaccination: Govt challenges ZCTU
court application recently filed by the Zim-
babwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) ZCTU accuses government of “folding hands” while employees are being forced to take Covid-19 vaccines against their will.
against the decision to stop unvaccinated
employees from reporting for duty. Act and as such should be removed from pro- of this honourable court to compel the min- away without any delay. In any event, the
ceedings. ister to enact legislation as well as subsidiary applicant has failed to give a reasonable ex-
In response, the government argues the legislation. At the same time, both the re- planation for the delay in launching the pres-
ZCTU’s application is misplaced. Machaya also said the minister has no spondents have no obligation to issue Stat- ent urgent court application,” she said.
duty at law to advise companies on how to utory Instruments related to public health is-
The ZCTU cited Labour minister Paul conduct their business and to adhere to the sues. This is the primary responsibility of the The other companies only submitted no-
Mavima, provisions of the constitution and legislation minister of Health and Child Care.” tices to oppose the ZCTU.
relating to public health.
Attorney-General Prince Machaya and TelOne, through its head of employee re- The decision comes after the government
companies including ZIMNAT Insurance “This being a constitutional matter, ap- lations Lindy Dziripi, said the ZCTU’s appli- early this week announced that 2.4 million
Company, Zimbabwe National Road Ad- plicants ought to proceed against the alleged cation is not urgent at all. people have been vaccinated with the first
ministration (Zinara), TelOne, Windmill, violators of the constitutionally enshrined dose of Covid-19 vaccine so far, against its 10
Seed Co Zimbabwe and Manicaland State rights. There thus is no basis for citing the “In the present case, TelOne issued a staff million people target. The government also
University of Applied Sciences are cited as first and second respondent in these proceed- memo on the 21st July 2021 and the period revealed it has so acquired 13 million doses of
1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th Re- ings. Applicant should be made to pay costs of more than three weeks has passed without Covid-19 vaccines, mainly from China, out
spondents respectively. for unnecessarily dragging the respondents to any challenge. Surely, the time-frame demon- of the 20 million required for Zimbabwe to
court,” Machaya said. strates that the same cannot be deemed ur- achieve herd immunity by December 2021.
The labour movement sought an order in- gent as the same was not dealt with straight- — STAFF WRITER.
terdicting employers from forcing unvacci- “It is the duty of the cabinet and not that
nated workers from reporting for duty.

The ZCTU said that some employers, as
a response to the third wave of the Covid-19
pandemic, are prohibiting unvaccinated em-
ployees from reporting for work, which the
labour movement described as unconstitu-
tional.

The labour body accused the government
of “folding hands” while employees are being
forced to take Covid-19 vaccines against their
will.

All the companies cited as respondents are
also challenging the ZCTU.

Machaya, who also responded on behalf of
Mavima, said there was a misjoinder of re-
spondents.

“This is a clear case of misjoinder of the
first and second respondent. The functions of
AG are outlined in section 114 of the con-
stitution of Zimbabwe and the applicant has
shown no reason why he has cited the AG in
the current proceedings,”he complained.

According to Machaya, he has no direct
control over the administration of the Labour

NewsHawks News Page 25

Issue 45, 27 August 2021

MORRIS BISHI Zanu PF holds rallies in Masvingo,
but opposition parties still banned
ZANU PF is holding political meetings in Mas-
vingo during the Covid-19 lockdown yet polit- By holding rallies, Zanu PF is accused of abusing restrictive lockdown laws to close the democratic space.
ical gatherings are still banned, exposing thou-
sands of villagers to the risk of infection. they continue to attend inaugurations in other creating jobs, improving food security and set- always been fighting against. We need a free and
nations where elections have been held despite ting our nation on the course to prosperity for safe Zimbabwe. Generations are being wasted
Opposition parties in the country are com- Covid and where opposition parties have greater all,” Mahere said. by this club of corrupt leaders called Zanu PF,”
plaining that they have been unable to convene latitude to campaign, yet they deny their own said Dumbu.
political meetings since the declaration of lock- people the same rights. MDC-T shadow minister of state for Masv-
down in the country early last year. ingo Festus Dumbu told The NewsHawks that At the ward 32 meeting, the area council-
“They are in panic mode and are terrified of the ruling elites do not care about the safety of lor Munyenyiwa forced about 400 residents of
The NewsHawks attended a meeting in Mas- the will of the people. The electoral and political Zimbabweans and they are using the Covid-19 more than 10 villages to contribute a bag of ce-
vingo North’s ward 32 on Wednesday, which playing field is unfair. That notwithstanding, we pandemic to suppress the opposition. ment per each household towards the construc-
was addressed by local councillor Stephen will ensure that we use every tool available to us tion of a classroom block at Wondedzo Sec-
Munyenyiwa. to get our message to the people. We will stop at “Zanu PF does not care about the safety and ondary School, a move which many residents
nothing to win Zimbabwe for change. We urge health of the Zimbabwean citizens, they are us- condemned. Munyenyiwa threatened to take
The gathering was convened by Zanu PF every young person to register to vote. Voting is ing the Covid-19 pandemic as a tool to suppress unspecified action against all residents opposed
branch chairperson who told villagers that they our best shot for achieving a better Zimbabwe, the opposition. We have been knowing Zanu to his declaration.
will be given food handouts at the meeting, but PF in this disposition and this is what we have
the vallagers went home with empty hands. The
meeting was attended by over 300 people with-
out the observation of social distancing.

Masvingo provincial Covid-19 spokesperson
Rodgers Irimayi told The NewsHawks that pub-
lic gatherings are not allowed at the moment
except for churches, but only for fully vaccinat-
ed congregants. He said people should report
to the nearest police station if they come across
any political gathering or any funeral with more
than 30 people.

“Currently no meetings are allowed except
churches for fully vaccinated people and funer-
als where 30 people should attend. Anyone, re-
gardless of his affilliation, who addresses a rally
or a political meeting is breaking the law. We
call upon all those people who know or attend
such meetings to report to the nearest police sta-
tion and police will make arrests,” Irimayi said.

Zanu PF Masvingo provincial vice-chairper-
son Robson Mavenyengwa told The NewsHawks
his party is currently not holding meetings and
advised this reporter to talk to Zanu PF Mas-
vingo North legislator Davies Marapira before
publishing the story.

“I am not sure of what you are talking about,
but as a party we are not holding meetings
during this lockdown, but it is wise for you to
talk to the area legislator first. Currently we are
not holding rallies due to the lockdown, anyone
doing that is breaking the law,” Mavenyengwa
said.

MDC-Alliance spokesperson Fadzai Mahere
told The NewsHawks that her party condems the
selective application of the law in the country
and the abuse of the restrictive lockdown laws in
the country to close the democratic space. She
also said that president Emmerson Mnangag-
wa’s regime is afraid of elections.

“The MDC-Alliance condemns the selective
application of the law and the abuse of lock-
down measures to restrict the democratic space.
There can be no doubt that Mr Mnangagwa’s
illegitimate, violent and corrupt regime is afraid
of elections and what the true opposition will
be able to do once the country opens up. Their
equivocation is demonstrated by the fact that

Restaurant operators welcome
permission to re-open for diners

THE Restaurant Operators’ Association of ue working with its partners to advocate for
Zimbabwe (Roaz) says the permission granted a steady and safe return to full operation and
this week to resume serving fully vaccinated to avoid any further periods of closure. This is
sit-in diners will provide much-needed relief essential, not only for restaurateurs, but also
to restaurateurs, who had either completely for all stakeholders.”
shut operations or have been running partially
for the past 17 months. He said the re-opening would also be wel-
comed by the hundreds of businesses that
This comes after the operators appealed to supply goods and services to the restaurant
the government to allow them to open after industry, including a large number of small to
months of closure due to lockdown regula- medium enterprises in agriculture, manufac-
tions. turing and the service sector.

The operators said the period of closure The number of employees in the sector is
to sit-down dining had resulted in a massive estimated to have dramatically declined from
threat to the restaurant industry, which has ex- between 9 500 and 11 000 as at March 2020
perienced closure of businesses, job losses and by at least 2 000.
evictions from leased premises.
The job carnage has also filtered to the sec-
“It is important to note that evening meals tor’s suppliers of goods and services that in-
provide between 60% and 80% of income for clude small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs),
restaurants, so we look forward to extended agriculture, commerce, industry, financial
operating hours that facilitate such dining,” services, information communication tech-
Roaz president Bongai Zamchiya said in a nology services, transport, the arts and enter-
statement yesterday. tainment.

“Many operators have used personal funds Job losses within these SMEs and within
to keep people employed and businesses open larger operations could reach as high as 3 500,
and I pay tribute to them. Roaz will contin- according to research by Roaz. — STAFF WRITER.

Page 26 Editorial & Opinion NewsHawks

CARTOON Issue 45, 27 August 2021

Education system
needs pragmatism

GOVERNMENT officials in Zimbabwe have mastered the art of Fake news is bad. But fake
shooting themselves in the foot and there is no better evidence of this history is ultimately worse
than the shambolic state of official communications.
THAT the Zimbabwean leadership, es- for military training. The time I was tried shades of grey magnified by distortions
Where else in the world do you get a presidential spokesperson pecially those in Zanu PF, have always I was already 21, but the commission of and omissions, makes it clear the judge
using crude and insulting language to denounce the well-meaning committed crimes against history is not the crime was when I was 19,” Mnangag- did not sentence him to death.
leader of a neighbouring country? In matters of statecraft, such reck- new. wa told the state-controlled Sunday Mail
less conduct is frowned upon. It is only in banana republics that you in an interview in April. “I do not therefore propose to sentence
find an unhealthy tolerance for uncivilised behaviour in the corri- In many ways they have engaged in you to death,” Justice John Lewis said.
dors of power. But we digress. Schools are finally re-opening, after a historical revisionism, distortion, nega- “So I was saved by age because I was
long break necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic’s rampaging third tionism — denialism — and outright under age at the time I committed the Lewis was to later become Judge Presi-
wave. falsification of the historical record. They crime they were charging me of.” dent in 1980. Hector Mcdonald was the
have even physically destroyed material chief justice.
While it was a good idea to extend vaccination to teenagers of they don’t like. The purported death sentence was
school-going age this week, this should have been done during the commuted 10 years in jail. With Harry Davies, the trio sat in the
prolonged break and not now when parents are scrambling to dis- When history is falsified, a shockwave Appellate Division. There were 11 white
patch children to school at short notice. There is no denying the fact is sent through society and leaves in its After serving seven years, Mnangagwa male judges in 1980.
that schools had to re-open at some point. It would be unreasonable trail distortions, illegitimate historical was released from Khami Prison in 1972
to expect Covid-19 to hold the world hostage in perpetuity. discourses and accounts that are used to and deported to Mumbwa, outside Lu- The death sentence myth has triggered
manipulate reality and people usually for saka, where his parents lived after they new controversy.
As soon as schools close, government officials must logically be a self-serving and nefarious ends. had also been apparently deported by the
step ahead in terms of planning for any unforeseen situations or con- Former Zimbabwean cabinet minister
tingencies that may arise. That is what pot-bellied bureaucrats and The now hackneyed phrase that “the Hawk Eye and MP Jonathan Moyo, a professor of
political leaders are actually remunerated for by the toiling taxpayer. first casualty of war is truth” has found a politics, seized on the issue and posted a
new meaning in the context of the Rho- Dumisani series of tweets calling Mnangagwa out
Due to a volatile mix of incompetence, administrative deficiencies desian conflict and subsequent liberation Muleya on the issue.
and poor strategic communications, the government has bungled struggle for Zimbabwe.
the re-opening of schools in a spectacular manner. Rhodesian authorities. “Mnangagwa’s claim that he was sen-
Myths, mostly to enhance liberation However, some critical minds have tenced to death in 1965 and escaped
One moment, an official announces the extension of the level fighters’ heroics, reputation and for pro- the penalty because he was underage,
four lockdown; the next moment, it is announced that schools are paganda purposes to scare or manage the always questioned the authenticity of is a myth, that is a lie, as previously re-
re-opening. enemy, were peddled and sustained until Mnangagwa’s story, especially in view of vealed by Jonathan Chando and now
they became like fact. the brazen falsehood that he was a mem- confirmed, behind Mnangagwa’s back,
Parents have every right to complain that they are being am- ber of the Crocodile Gang, a group of by Eddie Cross in ‘A Life of Sacrifice: Em-
bushed. This has all the characteristics of an ambush. In a country Perception becomes reality unless early Zanu militants. merson Mnangagwa’,” Moyo said.
where almost half the entire population lives in extreme poverty, bridged with sustained facts.
public policy must not be wielded like a weapon against the poor A war veteran, writing under the nom “Throughout his political career,
majority. Families that are failing to put a square meal on the table One of the urban legends sustained for de guerre Jonathan Chando, recently chal- Mnangagwa has claimed that he was sen-
will most certainly struggle to find money for school fees overnight. a long time was that President Emmerson lenged the myths, including the death tenced to death for blowing up locomo-
In urban areas, impoverished families face another serious dilemma: Mnangagwa was in 1965 sentenced to sentence and Crocodile Gang narrative. tive No. 510 in Masvingo in 1964, but
what to pay first between rent and school fees? These are the exis- death for bombing a train in Fort Victo- was not executed because he was under-
tential struggles a pampered government official sitting in Harare’s ria, now Masvingo. After 56 years of uncertainty, it has age. He repeated the lie in April 2021 in
air-conditioned offices will pay scant regard to. now emerged — ironically through his his @SundayMailZim interview.
That story has been passed down from own biography by Eddie Cross, A Life of
Zimbabwe’s amended school calendar is a stark reminder of how generation to generation for the past 56 Sacrifice — that Mnangagwa was never “In a revealing and damaging disclo-
disruptive Covid-19 has been. This year, children will have only 139 years. sentenced to death. sure, which confirms Jonathan Chando’s
school days, which is astonishing, considering that they must be in previous reports, Eddie Cross reproduc-
class until 17 December. Mnangagwa has insisted that he was The court record of January 1965 es (p.23) the 1965 court record, which
saved from the gallows by his age over his contained in the book, which has many is missing from the National Archives,
The year has been divided into two strange terms. The first term training bombing heroics. in which the judge found that: ‘I do not
had 59 school days, while the final term will be 80 days long. Al- therefore propose to sentence you to
though these are tough times for sure, the government’s education “It was my age. At the time the age of death’.”
plan could have been crafted in a much better way. majority was 21 and at the time when I
went for military training I was 19. So I Fake news is bad. But fake history is
The prolonged disruptions caused by Covid-19 require new learn- committed my crime at the time I went even worse.
ing methods, skills and technologies.

In March 2020, when Zimbabwe recorded its first case of the coro-
navirus, most people were caught flat footed. It was, in every sense,
quite understandable, given that this was an unprecedented global
public health emergency. But in 18 months, surely bureaucrats and
political leaders should have refined their Covid-19 response strategy
by now, especially with regards to the education sector.

It is not an exaggeration to say an apartheid-like system has
emerged, in which children from rich families are now miles ahead
of their peers from disadvantaged backgrounds. Online learning,
which the deceptive politicians are quick to glibly mention when
politicking, needs gadgets, internet connectivity and digital assets.
Before we even list such fancy requirements, we must ask ourselves
whether the 67% of Zimbabweans who live in rural areas have access
to electricity and digital connectivity. Even in urban communities,
how many families can afford online learning?

Rwanda, a fellow African country which President Emmerson
Mnangagwa’s government has expressed interest in emulating, is dis-
tributing hundreds of thousands of gadgets under its “One Laptop
Per Child” and “One Laptop Per Teacher” programmes. This is prac-
tical action, not hollow rhetoric.

Reaffirming the fundamental impor- The NewsHawks is published on different EDITORIAL STAFF: Marketing Officer: Voluntary Media
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Business

MATTERSNewsHawks

MARKETS CURRENCIES LAST CHANGE %CHANGE COMMODITIES LAST CHANGE %CHANGE

EUR/USD 1.168 +0.001 +0.05 *OIL 62.61 -0.89 -1.402

USD/JPY 109.75 +0.03 +0.03 *GOLD 1,785.3 +2.2 +0.123

GBP/USD 1.362 -0.002 -0.154 *SILVER 23.14 -0.09 -0.39

USD/CAD 1.29 +0.007 +0.55 *PLATINUM 975.5 +4.3 +0.44

AUD/USD 0.713 -0.001 -0.098 *COPPER 4.087 +0.046 +1.14

DUMISANI NYONI Transparency critical in
Fidelity gold stake sale
THE shareholders intending to snap up equity
in Fidelity Printers and Refiners (FPR) should be The move to unbundle Fidelity Printers and Refiners (top) has the potential to improve investments in the gold sector.
listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE)
or the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange (VFEX) ing its gold to Rand Refineries in South Africa is companied by comprehensive due diligence pro- promotion of human rights including proposals
for transparency and accountability purposes, lower than the value that it would get if the gold cesses on the potential shareholders so that this to eliminate illicit financial flows (IFFs) or adopt
the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association export stocks were to be sold directly to LBMA opportunity to foster good management of gold OECD guidelines on responsible sourcing.
(Zela) has said. and one of the major reasons is that these refiners revenue in line with section 298 of the constitu-
charge for the refinery process which they do on tion is not lost. “The government might also consider includ-
In an effort to boost compliance levels in the the country’s gold exports. ing a condition that the shareholders should have
gold trade, the government is intending to offer “Using a three-year average delivery of gold to a clean tax clearance certificate or evidence of a
a 60% stake in FPR’s gold refinery and market- “Based on FPR’s gold production and deliv- FPR as a key factor to be considered in choosing good human rights promotion record as part of
ing arm to large-scale gold producers, major gold eries for the past few years, it is now very easy the companies to take up equity in FPR is not its application to acquire shares in FPR,” it said.
buying agents and small-scale producers through for the country to re-join the LBMA. The gov- enough, given that the government is incorpo-
their associations. ernment should be persuaded to get re- admitted rating the private sector in the management of Such due diligence processes, Zela said, would
into the LBMA as this will attract internation- gold,” it said. enable the government to attract responsible in-
A three-year average delivery of gold to FPR al investments and possibly remove the ‘pariah vestments into the gold sector and reduce risks
will be used by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe state’ tag.” The organisation said shareholders should be of the government losing revenue from investors
(RBZ) to determine its offer to the various play- able to demonstrate that they are in a position to who may have a bad history of evading tax and
ers. Zela said the unbundling of FPR must be ac- comply with the best international standards on being involved in illicit gold trade.

So far, 10 mining companies, including small-
scale miners, have shown interest in taking up
equity in FPR.

The move to unbundle FPR, according to
Zela, could be a game changer in the country’s
gold sector as it has the potential to improve local
beneficiation, investments in the gold sector and
producers’ compliance with gold trading rules.

“Moreso, the government should consider
making it mandatory for all shareholders who
are going to take up equity in FPR to list on the
Zimbabwe Stock Exchange or the Victoria Falls
Stock Exchange,” Zela said in a recent statement.

“This will open a window for citizens to hold
the companies to account on mineral revenue
transparency since companies will be expected to
publicly disclose their environmental, social and
governance (ESG) information in line with inter-
national best practices,” it said.

The organisation said by allowing private com-
panies to be part of the gold refinery process, the
country stands a good chance in complying with
the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA)
on responsible sourcing.

The LBMA established the guidelines for re-
sponsible conduct for gold refiners to combat
systematic or widespread abuses of human rights,
to avoid contributing to conflict, comply with
high standards of anti-money laundering and
combating terrorist financing practices.

Being an LBMA-accredited refiner provides
an assurance that the country’s practices and pro-
cesses in gold refineries are aligned to the require-
ments of the Organisation of Economic Cooper-
ation and Development (OECD)’s guidelines on
responsible gold sourcing.

“Compliance with OECD requirements on
responsible sourcing and LBMA accreditation
will ensure that our gold exports fetch the highest
return on the international market.

The unbundling of FPR could release resourc-
es needed for the government to comply with the
LBMA’s requirements on responsible sourcing if
adequate legislation is put in place for the private
companies to comply with,” Zela said.

“The privatisation of the gold refinery process
should therefore be linked to mechanisms to en-
hance responsible sourcing activities such as gold
traceability initiatives,” it said.

Zimbabwe lost its LBMA membership in
2008 after it failed to meet the prerequisite gold
production levels of 10 tonnes per year. For the
country to be re-admitted into the LBMA, it
needs to be producing 10 tonnes of gold per year.
The country has since surpassed this requirement.

Officially, FPR sells its gold to international
markets mainly through South Africa and Dubai
refineries.

The value that the country acquires from sell-

Page 28 Companies & Markets NewsHawks

Issue 45, 27 August 2021

THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) is seized RBZ seeks to narrow official,
with implementing a raft of measures meant to parallel market forex rate gap
narrow the foreign currency exchange rate gap as
well as reducing the backlog on the forex auction letters of credit facilities for the importation of RBZ governor John Mangudya
system, The NewsHawks has learnt. strategic commodities and capital goods in order
to lessen the demand on the auction system,” he
Central bank governor John Mangudya, em- said.
phasised last week that the auction system is there
to stay, said increased transparency and compli- He added that the central bank was support-
ance will be important to increase the effective- ing banks to promote financial intermediation,
ness of the auction as a dependable source of leveraging on the current long foreign exchange
foreign currency. position of around US$1.8 billion managed by
banks while also working closely with the govern-
He was speaking during a monetary policy ment to ensure that some of the foreign exchange
statement review. balances in the Exchequer Account are utilised to
expunge the backlog.
This is coming as the foreign currency exchange
rate gap continues to widen with the black mar- He insisted that current policies were working
kets rates having shot to US$1:ZW$150 while and need to be sustained as the economy was on
the bank rate is hovering around US$1: ZW$85. a rebound. Stability in inflation is also expected
to anchor the obtaining macro-economic stabili-
On the other hand, the bank is battling with ty and its expected future evolution.
the foreign currency backlog which finance min-
ister Mthuli Ncube in his mid-term budget said “Current stock of foreign currency is sufficient
would be extinguished in one-and-a-half months. to foster exchange rate stability as the available
forex is six times the usable local currency reserves
However, recently the central bank secured a (reserve money). It is important to note that the
US$150 million facility with the Africa Export country has a surplus on the current account thus
Import Bank (Afreximbank) to ameliorate sig- parallel market premium is not driven by funda-
nificant pressures being exerted on the foreign mentals but by currency preference/store of value
currency auction system as demand outstrips purposes,” he said.
available funding.
The current account balance is projected to re-
Among other measures, Mangudya said tight- main in surplus in 2021, driven by strong recov-
ening money supply was key, as well as expung- ery of the global economy, strong performance
ing the foreign exchange allotment backlog while in export and diaspora remittances, as well as
also increasing the attractiveness of the local cur- moderated imports due to improved domestic
rency so that the local unit complements rather
than competes with the US dollar. production. — STAFF WRITER.

“We are also discouraging rent-seeking be-
haviour to promote sustainable behaviour in the
foreign exchange market fostering compliance
and enhance monitoring of the auction system
and increasing transparency and accountability
in the allocation of foreign currency. In relation
to the auction system. The following measures
have been put in place: Utilisation of the existing

IH Securities cautiously optimistic on inflation

DUMISANI NYONI High electricity prices pose a challenge to the welfare of consumers and businesses. “That affected the prices of beef. In the poul-
try industry, shortages of day-old chicks also re-
ZIMBABWE’S annual inflation, seen falling omies,” it said. ment) 127 whose effects resulted in inflationary sulted in their prices going up significantly, also
between 25% and 35% by the end of this year, The Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers pressures bottling up,” it said. putting pressure on chicken prices. The price of
might overshoot due to unpredictable imported feed also nearly doubled, compared to three years
inflationary pressures on domestic pricing and (CZR) said while the authorities were targeting “Further, we note with concern how infla- ago, which further disincentives poultry farmers
financing of the remaining agricultural harvest, an inflation rate of 25%, its view is that the figure tion rates for certain individual basic commod- and again puts pressure on chicken prices,” it
the research firm IH Securities has said. is still high, as inflation should be understood in ities and services are still very high and actually said.
terms of a moving vehicle. way above the headline annual inflation rate of
In its latest macro-economic update, IH Se- 56.37% for the month of July.” “It is hoped that in the second half of the year,
curities said it was “cautiously optimistic” that “Although it would have decelerated, it would feed prices will relatively decrease as the bumper
inflation will remain on a downward trajectory, still be going forward at that reduced speed, but Examples include meat, whose annual infla- harvest realised this year kicks in. The inflation
provided that the discipline displayed in the first affecting consumers especially in this low-income tion was 63.42% in July 2021. Prices of meat rate for milk, cheese and eggs was also high at
half of the year is maintained. environment that we are operating in. In light of were forced upwards by outbreaks of tick-borne 64.78% in July, owing to the same reasons al-
the above, the confederation urges authorities diseases which resulted in cattle deaths across the luded to above. Also on the high note was the
“However, key risks that could potentially see to be pragmatic in taming inflation while also country. inflation rate for fruits 81.53% and vegetables
the country overshoot the set inflation targets in- reconciling that with measures to lift spending 63.25%.”
clude unpredictable imported inflationary pres- power upwards and ensure policy consistency on The CZR said Zimbabwe received too much
sures on domestic pricing and financing of the measures that support price stability, as opposed rainfall this year, with some areas experiencing The CZR said medical aid contribution in-
remaining harvest, with only 733 000 tonnes of to legal instruments such as SI (Statutory Instru- flooding, causing an outbreak of other livestock flation also stood at 167.54% and car insurance
grain delivered to the GMB (Grain Marketing diseases which resulted in fatalities. 136.76%. The inflation rate for electricity is still
Board) against an expected 1.8 million tonnes,” very high at 208.79% and, given that it is a basic
the report reads in part. necessity, especially for urban dwellers and busi-
nesses, the high prices for electricity still pose a
The grain utility is currently paying challenge to their welfare.
ZW$48 000 for a tonne of soya bean,
ZW$32 000 for a tonne of maize and Gas inflation also stood at 55.34% in July.
ZW$38 000 for traditional grains. University fees recorded a very high inflation rate
of 353.92%. Restaurants and cafes recorded rel-
The central bank has indicated satisfaction in atively high inflation of 87.32%, largely due to
the noticeable change in trajectory of the coun- operating at low capacity, which somehow forces
try’s inflation figures decelerating from a high of them to charge relatively higher prices in order to
837.5% in July 2020 to 56.4% in July 2021. recoup their fixed and variable costs.

However, end-of-year inflation estimates have Animal-drawn vehicles also recorded relatively
been revised upwards from about 10% annual higher inflation of 59.42%.
inflation to a projected 25%-35% range due to
global inflation factors such as the firming of “However, some individual products actually
international food prices and correction in oil recorded inflation rates which were much lower
prices. than the headline rate. These include passenger
transport at 21.18%, largely due to the control
The central bank is instituting a month-on- of passenger transport prices by the govern-
month inflation rate of below 2%. ment,” the CZR said.

“We believe that in line with the central bank’s “In May 2021, the government actually
sentiments and continued fiscal discipline, infla- slashed ZUPCO bus fares by 50%. Another no-
tion will continue to decelerate,” IH said. table low inflation is also noted in actual rental
for housing at 18.41%, with the slowing down
“However, domestic inflationary pressures largely reflecting the low incomes being realised,
will remain under the surface amidst pegged civ- and giving flexibility to negotiate rental reduc-
il servant salaries increases, payments to farmers tions.”
for the bumper agricultural season and planned
expenditure to meet NDS 1 (National Develop- Other low inflation rates of note were re-
ment Strategy) development targets. US infla- corded in motor cycles 9.35% and non-durable
tion remains at a 13-year high, and risk remains household goods 37.2%, it said.
of a continued spillover into all the other econ-

NewsHawks Companies & Markets Page 29

Issue 45, 27 August 2021

Companies register uptick in performance

ALEX MHANDU Hippo Valley Estates chief executive officer Aiden Mhere proved access to foreign currency by manufac-
“Trading environment during the quarter disinflation that commenced in July 2020 at- turers of goods.
WHILE the Covid-19 pandemic continues to ended 30 June was characterised by sustained tributable to the exchange rate stability and im-
weigh on businesses, listed companies across “Covid-19 lockdown restrictions during the
sectors have witnessed improved performance period under review were moderate compared to
for the quarter to 30 June 2021 compared to the the hard lockdown during the same period last
corresponding period last year, on the back of a year.
more stable operating environment.
Resultantly, sales volume growth was achieved
From hospitality to agriculture, as well as pa- across group operations in comparison to same
per and packaging, businesses generally concurs period last year,” said Meikles company secretary
there has been a significant improvement in Thabani Mpofu.
the economic environment as evidenced by the
declining rate of annual inflation coupled with While the mining sector was not spared the
more relaxed Covid-19 restrictions this year. impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic despite the
essential service status, resources group – Bindu-
As of June 2021, the annual rate of inflation ra – indicated the nickel sales tonnage for the
had dropped to 107% from 241% recorded in quarter was significantly higher than the same
March 2021. period last year. The mining concern has played
a critical role in providing vaccination for its em-
This follows the re-introduction of the foreign ployees and their dependents in line with World
currency auction system by the Reserve Bank Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines as part
of Zimbabwe (RBZ) in June last year, which of efforts to tame the pandemic while maintain-
has helped tame the exchange rate, as well as ing production.
enhanced the access to foreign currency on the
official market. Agro processing firm CFI Holdings reported
that while Covid-19 continued to pose challeng-
Sugar processor Hippo Valley Estates chief ex- es for businesses, the re-introduction of the auc-
ecutive officer Aiden Mhere acknowledged the tion system helped the company access foreign
positive economic environment which also saw currency on the formal market to source its raw
agriculture and agro-processing sectors benefit- materials and merchandise effectively. As a result,
ting from a good rainfall season, which had a
positive impact on the economy. CFI’s revenue performance for the quarter was
88% ahead of same quarter last year while vol-
The government also allowed the use of umes in its key revenue drivers rose 169% from
multi-currency for transacting, enhancing li- the prior year’s corresponding period.
quidity on the market.
At Nampak, group managing director John
Mhere said: “The Zimbabwe dollar exchange Van Gend highlighted the quarter was marked
rate has been relatively stable and industry con- by an increase in trading volumes as Covid-19
tinued to transact in multi-currencies on the lo- restrictions were relaxed.
cal market, ensuring improved foreign currency
liquidity within the formal economy.” “Foreign currency, although still limited,
was more available through the auction system
For diversified hospitality group Meikles Lim- and was supplemented by additional amounts
ited, the quarter under review was characterised sourced from customers,” said Van Gend.
by a significant improved performance as vol-
umes for the supermarkets rose 21% compared However, for companies like National Tyre
to the same period in the prior year while its ho- Services Limited (NTS), the spike in Covid-19
tel occupancy was 11% ahead of same compara- cases this year and subsequent ban on cross-bor-
ble quarter as lockdown restrictions were relaxed der and inter-city bus movements has a knock-
compared to same period last year. on effect on the tyre business for that market
segment, which is one of its major markets.
During the same quarter last year, the hotel Businesses are upbeat the rollout of the vacci-
segment had no occupancy as the hospitality nation programme will help restore confidence
sector was the hardest hit by Covid-19-induced and therefore see further improvement in perfor-
travel restrictions. mance.

ECONOMIC experts have singled out the Poor employment quality responsible
country’s poor quality of employment as a fac- for aggregate demand decline: Experts
tor behind the constrained aggregate demand
being experienced by business, amid calls for the Most Zimbabweans work in the informal sector, where they do not get steady income.
government to expedite the implementation of
viable employment-creation policies. still subject to the 2% tax which becomes tax mand is to go up. the timeframes,” he said.
on top of tax. Therefore, when the government Economist Prosper Chitambara blamed low He underscored the need for parastatals to
Several companies have bemoaned depressed celebrates the huge budget surpluses, there is a
demand since 2019, a position which has been need to acknowledge that such achievements are per capita income levels for the current demise be reformed and become better placed to play
further complicated by the emergence of the coming at the expense of disposable incomes,” of depressed demand, among other causes. their important role on managing key national
Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. he said. resources.
“Most workers are living from hand to mouth
Presenting the financial performance for the The independent economist urged the au- amid chronic high inflation. Zimbabwe needs “Government needs to identify economic sec-
year ended 31 December 2020, listed cigarette thorities to revisit tax regimes, align wages with an inclusive job-rich trajectory. The problem has tors and departments which are key in revamp-
manufacturer British American Tobacco (BAT) inflationary pressures and implement policies been further complicated by the inconsistency ing job-rich growth, as well as eradicating bot-
registered 12% volume decline which was at- which result in higher salaries if aggregate de- of implemented reform policies which are mov- tlenecks blocking jobs growth which are around
tributed to depressed disposable incomes in the ing at a very slow pace and in most cases missing
economy. institutions.” — STAFF WRITER.

In a 2021 Confederation of Zimbabwe Re-
tailers (CZR) first-half report released last week,
the business member organisation decried weak
demand.

“As CZR, we believe that consumer spending
is a major source of economic activity and the
consumption shock and change in consumer
behaviour experienced since the beginning of
the year should be addressed through measures
that promote consumers to have more income,
create employment, promote investment and
remittances, as well as reduce the trade deficit,”
said the retailers.

Speaking to The NewsHawks Business this
week, economist John Robertson blamed the in-
formalised nature of the country’s economy and
high taxes as factors behind depressed demand.

“The problem is that a few people in this
country have steady jobs, which are poorly re-
munerated. The majority are working in the in-
formal sector, where there is no reliable income
which makes the majority of people skeptical of
spending.

“Apart from this, the country’s citizens are
highly taxed, for instance, when paying the Val-
ue-Added Tax through online methods you are

Page 30 Companies & Markets NewsHawks

Issue 45, 27 August 2021

BERNARD MPOFU Debt-ridden Zim to make
token payments to the UK
ZIMBABWE has committed to making token
payments to the United Kingdom as interna- remaining arrears to the World Bank Group and Finance minister Mthuli Ncube “preferred creditor status”, which means debtors
tional financial institutions ease debt repayment the African Development Bank. That has been Clive Mphambela, Finance ministry spokesper- who are in arrears to them have to clear the ar-
requirements for the southern African nation, agreed and Zimbabwe is now expected to walk son, could not be reached for comment at the rears first before the debtors can pay any other
The NewsHawks has established. the talk on the reforms it undertook to make.” time of going to print. creditor.

Three years ago, Finance and Economic De- Contacted for comment on the develop- In the international financial architecture, Even worse, the clearing of the preferred
velopment minister Mthuli Ncube began rene- ments, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor three multilateral financial institutions — the creditor status arrears must be done simultane-
gotiating repayment terms of the Lima arrears referred this reporter to the Finance ministry. International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World ously under a pari passu rule.
and debt settlement strategy. Bank Group, and AfDB — enjoy what is called
Therefore, if a new issue of shares is said to
Ncube requested a grace period for Zimba- rank pari passu with the existing shares, then the
bwe to settle World Bank arrears, three months rights associated with both issues are exactly the
after repaying the US$680 million African same. Which means the preferred creditor status
arrears must be paid simultaneously.
Development Bank (AfDB) arrears. Ncu-
be, who attended the International Monetary Official figures show that as at 31 Decem-
Fund/World Bank annual meetings in Nusa ber 2020, Zimbabwe’s total public and pub-
Dua, Bali, Indonesia from 8 to 14 October licly guaranteed (PPG) debt stood at US$10.7
2018, pushed for the relaxation of the billion. This represents 72.6% of the country’s
gross domestic product.
Zimbabwe arrears clearance plan agreed
in Lima, Peru, in 2015 after the government PPG external debt owed to the multilateral
missed its timelines. creditors, as at the end December 2020, amount-
ed to US$2.68 billion, of which US$1.53 bil-
Information gathered by this newspaper lion is owed to the World Bank Group, US$729
shows that the United Kingdom, which is a million to AfDB, US$356 million to the Euro-
member of the Paris pean Investment Bank and US$68 million to
other multilateral creditors.
Club, an informal grouping of creditor na-
tions whose objective is to find workable solu- On the other hand, bilateral PPG exter-
tions to payment problems faced by debtor nal debt amounted to US$5.75 billion, with
countries, has influenced the World Bank, In- US$3.79 billion owed to Paris Club bilat-
ternational Monetary Fund and AfDB to waive eral creditors mainly comprising Germany
the pari passu principle in order to create fiscal (US$1.02 billion), France (US$724 million),
space for Zimbabwe. Japan (US$435 million), UK (US$416 million)
and US (US$285 million).
“This is a culmination of meetings held three
years ago when Zimbabwe requested for a more The Non-Paris Club creditors are owed
accommodative treatment under the pari pas- US$1.67 billion, which comprise mainly China
su principle and this received positive consid- (US$1.57 billion) and India (US$70 million).
eration from the creditors, wherein they agreed
that Zimbabwe can use the sequential approach
to clear World Bank and AfDB arrears, starting
with the AfDB then clearing the World Bank
within three months,” a source familiar with the
developments said.

“Minister Ncube implored upon the World
Bank to reconsider on their insistence to apply
the pari passu principle on the clearance of the

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NewsHawks Stock Taking Page 31

Issue 45, 27 August 2021

Price Sheet A MEMBER OF FINSEC & THE ZIMBABWE STOCK EXCHANGE

Friday, 20 August 2021

Company Sector Bloomberg Previous Last VWAP Total Total Price Price YTD Market
Ticker Price Traded (cents) Traded Traded Change Change (%) Cap
AFDIS Consumer Goods (cents) Volume Value ($) (cents) ($m)
African Sun Consumer Services AFDIS: ZH Price 7500.00 (%)
ART ASUN: ZH 7550.00 700.00 400
Ariston Industrials ARTD: ZH 722.05 7500.00 799.00 1,800 30,000.00 -50.00 -0.66 212.50 8,797.95
Axia Consumer Services ARISTON: ZH 798.79 700.00 340.49 847,300 12,600.00 -22.05 -3.05 311.76 6,032.40
BNC AXIA: ZH 346.20 799.00 2445.55 29,300 6,769,955.00 0.21 0.03 67.40 3,491.45
BAT Consumer Goods BIND: ZH 2454.55 320.00 479.75 543,400 99,764.00 -5.71 -1.65 154.10 5,541.12
CAFCA Basic Materials 491.21 2445.00 115080.00 73,700 13,289,140.00 -9.00 -0.37 166.98 13,325.66
Cassava BAT: ZH 115095.00 480.00 17000.00 1,700 353,574.50 -11.46 -2.33 26.25 5,996.19
CBZ Consumer Goods CAFCA: ZH 17000.00 115080.00 1600.00 1,956,360.00 -15.00 -0.01 109.24 23,745.05
Dairibord Industrials 1599.95 8645.03 - 89.10 1,484.97
Delta CSZL: ZH 8700.00 - 3602.17 451,900 - - - 146.15 41,449.24
Econet Technology CBZ: ZH 3976.67 1600.00 8631.49 167,800 7,230,400.00 0.05 0.00 1.16 59,411.39
Edgars Banking DZL: ZH 8632.87 8650.00 3769.81 14,506,360.00 -54.97 -0.63 174.97 12,895.80
FBC DLTA: ZH 3635.17 3600.00 337.34 2,300 -374.50 -9.42 279.39 110,868.14
Fidelity Consumer Goods ECO: ZH 344.44 8610.00 2994.71 452,000 82,850.00 -1.38 -0.02 298.92 97,659.82
First Capital Consumer Goods EDGR: ZH 2904.92 3750.00 1000.00 1,604,400 39,014,340.00 134.64 3.70 181.12 1,103.07
FML Telecommunications FBC: ZH 1150.00 350.00 349.71 60,482,830.00 -7.10 -2.06 99.47 20,122.95
FMP Consumer Services FIDL: ZH 355.56 2895.00 2516.67 800 89.79 3.09 424.38 1,089.23
GBH FCA: ZH 2516.67 1000.00 1400.00 356,400 2,698.75 -150.00 -13.04 217.92 7,542.27
Getbucks Banking FMHL: ZH 1400.00 349.50 198.85 10,673,150.00 -5.85 -1.65 139.68 17,368.62
Hippo Financial Services FMP: ZH 199.17 855.00 2,000 332.10 17,334.20
Innscor GBH: ZH 853.08 - 18995.00 11,000 20,000.00 - - 728.54 1,067.01
Lafarge Banking GBFS: ZH 19000.00 1400.00 9995.57 38,468.00 - - 6740.00 9,944.66
Mash Financial Services HIPO: ZH 10462.57 199.00 9400.00 - -0.32 -0.16 111.06 36,664.26
Masimba INN: ZH 9400.00 855.00 320.00 100 - 1.92 0.23 169.94 56,452.63
Medtech Real Estate LACZ: ZH 321.34 18995.00 3966.67 13,200 1,400.00 -5.00 -0.03 879.17 7,520.00
Meikles Industrials MASH: ZH 4000.00 9990.00 27.75 400 26,248.00 -467.00 -4.46 244.09 5,949.04
Nampak MSHL: ZH 27.30 9400.00 9195.00 92,900 3,420.00 - - 254.17 9,585.61
NatFoods Financial Services MMDZ: ZH 9273.65 320.00 1302.86 106,900 17,646,360.00 -1.34 -0.42 251.27
NTS Consumer Goods MEIK: ZH 1300.00 4100.00 52000.00 700 10,685,270.00 -33.33 -0.83 317.87 843.53
NMBZ NPKZ: ZH 52000.00 28.00 1080.00 300 65,800.00 0.45 1.65 470.80 23,230.81
OK Zim Industrials NTFD: ZH 1080.00 9195.00 1600.00 300 -78.65 -0.85 765.22 9,845.04
Proplastics Industrials NTS: ZH 1600.00 1300.00 1649.42 360,600 960.00 2.86 0.22 3834.43 35,568.06
RTG Real Estate NMB: ZH 1650.00 3300.00 109,700 11,900.00 - - 299.95 2,741.82
RioZim Industrials OKZ: ZH 3360.00 - 515.00 700 100,078.10 - - 83.27 6,466.75
SeedCo Healthcare PROL: ZH 515.00 1080.00 2800.00 10,086,920.00 - - 283.28 20,565.18
Simbisa Industrials RTG: ZH 2800.00 1600.00 7790.05 - 9,120.00 -0.58 -0.04 168.58 8,313.88
Star Africa Industrials RIOZ: ZH 7895.83 1650.00 4000.00 1,200 -60.00 -1.79 87.27 12,851.80
Truworths Consumer Goods SEED: ZH 4000.00 3300.00 199.52 1,300 - - - 238.70 3,416.83
TSL Industrials SIM: ZH 194.73 515.00 220.00 325,500 12,960.00 - - 232.84 19,126.76
Turnall SACL: ZH 220.00 4955.00 20,800.00 -105.78 -1.34 638.96 22,487.39
Unifreight Banking TRUW: ZH 4955.00 - 389.00 100 5,368,850.00 - - 645.76 9,407.54
Willdale Consumer Services TSL: ZH 389.00 7800.00 2992.00 400 3,300.00 4.79 2.46 187.25
ZB TURN: ZH 2992.00 4000.00 312.73 2,060.00 - - 318.28 844.95
Zeco Industrials UNIF: ZH 312.09 200.00 8000.00 - - - 15986.02 17,694.43
Zimpapers Consumer Services WILD: ZH 8000.00 220.00 0.03 19,400 - - - 877.28 1,917.93
Zimplow ZBFH: ZH 0.03 300.00 71,800 1,511,270.00 - - 233.33 3,185.71
ZHL Basic Materials ZECO: ZH 309.75 - 1590.00 479,600 2,872,000.00 0.64 0.21 50.00 5,560.34
TOTAL Consumer Goods ZIMP: ZH 1600.00 - 400.03 22,800 - - 206.12 14,015.25
Consumer Goods ZIMPLOW: ZH 409.51 - 956,877.00 - - 218.00
Consumer Goods ZHL: ZH 310.00 - 50,160.00 -9.75 -3.15 27.61 0.14
Consumer Services 8000.00 - - -10.00 -0.63 1,728.00
Consumer Goods - - - -9.48 -2.31 3,790.25
300.00 1,100 - 7,275.17
Industrials 1590.00 58,900 3,440.00 813,320.26
Industrials 400.00 -
Industrials 5,000 4,712,000.00
600 -
Banking 30,400
Industrials 6,250,100 15,000.00
Consumer Services 9,540.00
Industrials 121,610.00
Financial Services 208,859,833.35

ETFs OMTT.zw 227.02 225.00 225.06 260,800 586,965.00 -1.96 -0.86 124.57 180.05

Old Mutual ZSE Top 10 ETF

FINSEC Financial Services OMZIL 6000.00 6000.00 -- - 126.42 4,980.70

Old Mutual Zimbabwe

VFEX (US cents) US$m

Padenga Consumer Goods PHL:VX 18.00 18.00 18.00 - -- - -50.00 97.49
SeedCo International Consumer Goods SCIL:VX 25.20
- 25.20 - -- - 40.00 60.76

Index Close Change (%) Open YTD % Top 5 Risers Price Change % YTD %
ZSE All Share 6,820.36 -0.41 6,848.48 +159.39 Econet 3769.81c +134.64c +3.70 +298.92
Top 10 3,635.74 -0.05 3,637.59 +119.75 FBC 2994.71c +89.79c +3.09 +99.47
Top 15 4,188.07 -0.08 4,191.35 +114.99 Star Africa +4.79c +2.46 +638.96
Small Cap -1.42 234,172.94 +1843.76 Medtech 199.52c +0.45c +1.65 +251.27
Medium Cap 230,844.49 -0.87 17,962.90 +220.02 Getbucks 27.75c +1.92c +0.23 +6740.00
17,807.22 855.00c

Top 5 Fallers Price Change % YTD %
Fidelity 1000.00c -150.00c -13.04 +424.38
Dairibord 3602.17c -374.50c -9.42 +174.97
Innscor 9995.57c -467.00c -4.46 +169.94
Zimpapers -9.75c -3.15 +206.12
African Sun 300.00c -22.05c -3.05 +311.76
700.00c

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Page 32 News Analysis NewsHawks

Issue 45, 27 August 2021

NYASHA CHINGONO Mnangagwa spooked by bubble that is encouraging opposition
spectre of youth revolution leaders like Chamisa and Uganda’s
PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangag- Bobi Wine to dream again. 
wa’s declaration that the opposition manages to capture their imagination President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
would never emulate the feat of Zam- is guaranteed of winning a clean elec- Zambian President Hikainde Hichilema. His statements are no different from
bian President Hikainde Hichilema tion.   previous declarations by the army and
by winning an election shows that the top Zanu PF officials that the opposi-
regime is in panic mode ahead of 2023 Despite concerted efforts to make tion would never win hence no possi-
polls, analysts have said.  campaigning hard for Hichilema, bility for a smooth transition of power
Lungu lost dismally, largely due to a in country. 
In his now familiar politicking, decisive turnout by young Zambians.
Mnangagwa said the Zimbabwean op- “Muka ubike doro,” Mnangagwa’s
position should desist from dreaming This shows there is a new crop of trademark denunciation of the oppo-
of replicating the Zambian opposi- voters, predominantly comprising the sition, means forget it.
tion’s victory.  youth, who can spring a surprise come
2023.  He is saying, in effect, that Zimba-
Reminiscent of Ian Douglas Smith’s bweans must forget that they can ever
futile, “not in a thousand years” state- It is apparent that Mnangagwa’s experience a Hichilema moment, at
ment directed at the black nationalists, statement betrays a rattled politician least not in this life. 
Mnangagwa spoke with bravado last desperate to curb the enthusiasm of a
week. But much to Smith’s dismay, In- Zimbabwean opposition energised by Political analyst Ibbo Mandaza said:
dependence came, and he lived to see Hichilema’s win. Opposition parties “Of course, the regime – and in partic-
the same nationalists govern a post-in- across the length and breath of Africa ular Emmerson – is rattled.”
dependent Zimbabwe.  now fancy their chances of dislodging
ruling parties.  But Mnangagwa’s statement comes
The all-too-familiar script has amid a dip in popularity after he failed
played out in mainstream politics in Indeed, Hichilema’s win has sent the ailing economy, ordered soldiers
Zimbabwe since 1980 where Zanu shockwaves across Africa, causing pan- to shoot civilians in August 2018 and
PF politicians have declared that the ic among long-standing regimes, and January 2019. 
country will never be ruled by an op- ramping up the confidence of opposi-
position party.  tion parties on the continent.  Mnangagwa is less popular than
Mugabe who, despite murdering ci-
“Whoever dreams that what hap- Mnangagwa wants to burst that vilians and ruining the economy, still
pened in Zambia will repeat itself wielded some residual support. That
here, should forget it,” he said while did not stop Mugabe from losing the
addressing a predominantly Zanu PF first round of polls to Tsvangirai in
crowd in Mutare last week.  2008, only to be rescued by the army.

The import of his statement raises What about a less popular and a
many questions ahead of the 2023 less charismatic leader in the form of
elections as to whether the country Mnangagwa who will face a young,
will hold free and fair elections.  popular and eloquent leader by way of
Chamisa? 
With a history of unleashing po-
litical violence on the opposition, the His statement rings hollow, more
involvement of the security forces and so because the population dynamics of
allegations of vote rigging, Mnangag- the youth and those with attachment
wa’s statement can be viewed as intim- to the liberation struggle are changing. 
idatory. 
Rigging could be the reason behind
Zanu PF’s relationship with the se- the bold statement.
curity forces has over the years negated
the will of the people, with the 2008 But Mandaza believes: “They will
elections an example of how the army have difficulty in pulling off another
was used to ensure that the late Mor- fraudulent poll, thanks to the Zambi-
gan Tsvangirai, who had beaten for- an precedent and the watchful eye of
mer president Robert Mugabe in the the world.”
first round of presidential elections,
ultimately loses the polls.  He said Zimbabwe was ready for
a transition, but under a transitional
The party’s collusion with the ju- authority. The National Transitional
diciary is also glaring, especially after Authority is a caretaker government
Mnangagwa mutilated the constitu- made up of technocrats whose duty is
tion to extend Chief Justice Luke Mal- to create a good policy framework for
aba’s term of office beyond his retire- the economy and craft policies for a
ment age.  level playing field. 

Malaba will be central to Mnan- Political analyst Stephen Chan said:
gagwa’s win in 2023 after ruling in his “The Hichilema victory in Zambia
favour in the 2018 election petition was startling, but not too much should
against MDC Alliance leader Nelson be read into it.”
Chamisa. 
He said opposition parties should
If Mnangagwa is so confident that emulate his forward-looking political
he is a popular leader and that the rul- messaging, adding that regimes across
ing Zanu PF commands support, why Africa had modified their rigging
does he need Malaba’s help or assur- machinery over the years, making it
ance? difficult for alternative voices to win
elections. 
The fact that he desparately needs
Malaba only confirms that he does not “Hichilema is indeed a ‘newcomer’.
trust his ability to win without rigging He is not a member of the Kaunda
or the court’s help. His behaviour on independence generation. He was two
the ground does not reflect a person years old when independence came.
who is confident of clean victory. So, he had to campaign by looking
forward, not looking back. When Af-
But last week’s events in Zambia rica stops looking backwards, that will
which saw Hichilema resoundingly be the key change in attitude across
defeating his predecessor Edgar Lungu Africa, especially in ‘liberation Africa’,”
by over a million votes – with youths Chan said. 
playing a pivotal role – shows that the
tide could be turning. Like in Zam- Indeed the next polls should be
bia, the youths could determine the won by a candidate who will appeal to
next election and whichever candidate the youths and not just empty decla-
rations.

ADVERT SPACE

The NewsHawks TheNewsHawksLive www.thenewshawks.com join@thenewshawks.com

NewsHawks Critical Thinking Page 33

Issue 45, 27 August 2021

THIS article by Dr Jonathan
Moyo (his title then) was first

Zambia Elections: Kaunda loses publishedbyParadeMagazinein

1991 when he was still a lecturer
at the University of Zimbabwe’s
Department of Political and Ad-

elections – lessons for Zimbabweministrative Studies. Moyo went

on to become a professor of poli-
tics, minister and MP in his ac-
ademic and political career later.

WHEN Zambians went to the The late Zambia founding president Kenneth Kaunda.
polls in the usually sweltering
month of October in their first only for their country, but for It would have been useful for entrench their party at the ex- part of the suffering majority.
multi-party experience since all of southern Africa, especial- those responsible for running pense of the taxpayer. For example, the Registrar
1968, they turned the heat on ly Zimbabwe which is ruled by elections in this country to
Dr Kenneth Kaunda and his complacent and unreasonably draw lessons from the Zambi- While Zanu(PF)’s failure to General, Mr Tobaiwa Mudede,
United National Independence jingoistic politicians who have an experience. But the fact that observe the Zambian elections is too close and scared of Zanu
Party (Unip) who ruled, actu- developed a knack for ignoring this did not happen is not very is understandable, the absence (PF) that he cannot be expect-
ally misruled, Zambia for 27 regional realities.  surprising. Ruling politicians of Zimbabwean opposition ed to run free and fair elections.
years under a state of emergen- in this country are not com- parties, especially ZUM and During elections his public
cy. The governments of Angola mitted to fair play in politics. its splinter group the Demo- statements make him sound
and Mozambique had the wis- Where elections are involved, cratic Party (DP), is inexplica- like a Zanu (PF) spokesman.
The resounding victory by dom to send official observers their predisposition is to rig, es- ble. Surely, the Zambian polls Grassroots
Mr Frederick Chiluba’s Move- to the Zambian elections in pecially where postal votes are were so important in terms of The chairman of the Elec-
ment for Multi-Party Democ- October. Zimbabwe should concerned. regional politics that one would tion Directorate, Mr Malcom
racy (MMD) on October 31, have done the same. Last year’s Observers have expected opposition par- Thompson, is so removed from
1991, gave Dr Kaunda a two- presidential elections in this Mr Didymus Mutasa’s dread- ties worthy of their salt to have grassroots politics and appar-
day notice to vacate the State country showed that official- ful Ministry of Political Affairs gone to Lusaka as observers. ently so personally indebted to
House in Lusaka to stay for the dom has a worrying contempt did not send official observers Mr Robert Mugabe that he has
first time as a common citizen for the voter. A breakdown of to the Zambian elections out of Putting aside the truancy of shown himself to be incapable
in independent Zambia at his the results of the presidential fear of being exposed for sin- the politicians, one is tempted of presiding over national elec-
Shambalakale farm in Chinsali elections, showing how much ister arrangements that it has to rest all hope with civil ser- tions in this country. His belief
District, southern Zambia. Mr Robert Mugabe and Mr Ed- been. Witnessing democracy at vants charged with running that “the first past the post, win-
gar Tekere got in each of Zim- work will have been too much elections in Zimbabwe.  But, ner takes all” Westminster style
It will take some time for Dr babwe’s 120 constituencies, has to hand for Mr Mutasa and his alas, these are either corrupt is the best electoral system, be-
Kaunda to settle down and un- not been made public. Whereas officials who are more inter- and thus amenable to manip- trays his misunderstanding of
derstand what happened, even Zambian know how they voted ested in learning about how to ulation by ruling authorities or political problems in Africa.
though the writing is on the in their presidential elections, they simple do not care about
wall for the asking. He stayed Zimbabweans do not. the democratic process in this Messrs Mudede and Thomp
for too long in power and he country because they are not
was corrupted by the excessive
national power he accumulated
for himself. His name became
synonymous with corruption
and bankruptcy. When he left
office, Zambia’s coffers were
empty, with foreign debt of
US$7.8 billion. Every social
service had collapsed.

There was no public trans-
port in the urban areas. Major
highways had become potholed
almost yard to yard, buildings
were rundown and squatter
communities had mushroomed
everywhere while health and
education became imaginary
services.  Zambia, which used
to be an African jewel in the
early 60s and whose soil is
much richer than that of Zim-
babwe, had become a ghost
country unable to feed itself
and facing a dismal economic
future.

But the October elections
turned things around for Zam-
bia. While the country’s future
still remains uncertain because
of the entrenched nature of its
economic problems, Zambi-
ans have enough reason to be
hopeful. They now have a cred-
ible president who is aware and
understands the suffering of
workers and peasants because
of his track record as a tested
trade unionist who rose from
the very bottom of common
existence.

Also, and maybe for posteri-
ty, Zambians should be proud
that their democratic transition
is pregnant with lessons not

Page 34 Critical Thinking NewsHawks

Issue 45, 27 August 2021

son should have been sent ernment and the media which awakened our sleeping human University students in Zambia why civil society in this country
to observe the Zambian elec- should have paid attention to rights groups and taught them are not about making noise and is underdeveloped in some cas-
tions not only for their own the Zambian elections. Groups a few important lessons and staging demonstrations just for es and undeveloped in others.
professional good given their like the Catholic Commission broadened their horizons and the fun of it. They are about se-
responsibilities but also for the for Justice and Peace should understanding of African poli- rious political business. There are two different but
good of the country. If they have gone to Zambia before tics. related historical reasons which
had gone, they would have wit- and during the election where In July this year, students at do not justify but which ex-
nessed what running free and they would have been given im- Even the Zimbabwe Con- the University of Zambia were plain the impoverished state of
fair elections in the African portant lessons about the role gress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), instrumental in bringing Mr civil society in this country.
context is all about.  of civil society in the African should have sent observers to Chiluba and Dr Kaunda to dis- Politics
continent. the Zambian elections where cuss national issues in a public First, the essence of British co-
However, the fact that nei- they would have gained valu- meeting when tempers between lonialism in 1890 and the Rho-
ther the politicians nor the Such a visit would have been able experience about the role Unip and the MMD were very desia Front’s Unilateral Dec-
relevant civil servants went to immensely useful because, at of trade unions in the electoral high. The thought of the SRC laration of Independence in
officially observe the Zambian the moment, leading human process in Africa. The Zambi- at UZ bringing together, say, 1965 was to criminalise politics
elections, is not surprising. The rights groups in Zimbabwe an Congress of Trade Unions Mr Mugabe and Mr Tekere, in the black community. 
event was considered a Zam- have become elitist, even open needs to be studied rather se- is presently unthinkable, yet
bian affair having little if any- to the charge of being racially riously by the fledgling trade things should not be that way. For blacks, politics became
thing to do with Zimbabwe. based, to the point where they union movement in Zimbabwe an underground affair as is
This was apparent from media are simply unable to get to the which is still suffering from the In essence, the Zambian elec- readily revealed by a cursory
coverage of the run up to the bottom of the human rights pains of breaking away from tions represent a missed learn- review of the history of the lib-
elections. There was nothing of quandary of the average person Zanu (PF) control. ing opportunity not only by eration struggle. This attempt
substance. Thus, Mr Chiluba’s in this country. Student the Government of Zimbabwe, to monopolise politics by the
victory must have come as a big This is not all, the student Rep- but also by civil society in this British and the Rhodesians had
surprise to Zimbabweans who Most Zimbabwean human resentative Council (SRC) at country. For the Zanu (PF) the sum and consequence of
rely on the local media because rights groups are beginning to the University of Zimbabwe government, this omission is undeveloping and under-de-
the impression given was that treat their functions as if they (UZ) should have observed the unforgiveable. But the issue is veloping civil society in Zim-
Dr Kaunda was hard to beat were exclusive professional pre- Zambian elections where they different for civil society. babwe. Social movements such
when all indications were that serves which entitle them to would have enquired about the as trade unions, student groups
he was on his way out. moral superiority, especially the role of the student movement in Even though several civil so- and even political parties were
right to take some constitution- Zambia’s democratic transition. ciety groups in Zimbabwe have trampled upon in a desperate
But, where Zimbabwe is con- al cases to the Supreme Court. been cited above, the fact of the attempt to relegate them to po-
cerned, its not only the gov- Going to Zambia would have matter is that virtually all of the litical irrelevance.
groups are hardly entrenched.
ADVERT All of them are isolated elite Second, instead of rectifying
SPACE groups without an established the situation at independence
grassroots base. In effect, there in 1980, Zanu (PF) sought to
To place your booking contact is no spirited and vibrant civ- take maximum advantage of an
Charmaine on 0735 666 122 il society in Zimbabwe. This is undeveloped and underdevel-
Email- marketing@thenewshawks.com one very important difference oped civil society by claiming
Land line- (0242) 721 144/5 between Zambia and Zimba- that it was the sole legitimate
bwe. Unlike the latter, the for- representative of the people.
The NewsHawks @NewsHawksLive www.newshawks.com join@thenewshawks.com mer has a highly developed and Under the guise of this claim,
sophisticated civil society, espe- the party declared itself as the
cially in the trade union move- umbrella organisation of all so-
ment. cial movements and went about
destroying civil society in the
The existence of civil soci- name of the revolution. 
ety, that is to say, entrenched
and autonomous social groups Social groups which tried
which exist and operate out- to resist Zanu (PF)’s tactic of
side the government machin- exclusion by inclusion were
ery, accounts for Mr Frederick branded sell-outs bent on
Chiluba’s defeat of Dr Ken- working for “the enemy”, as the
neth Kaunda. The feat would party publicly touted its com-
have been impossible without mitment to a legalised one par-
a vibrant civil society. Mr Chi- ty state. 
luba and his MMD were able
to reach voters using commu- As a result, and strictly
nication channels outside Unip speaking, independence liber-
lines, and the former govern- ated only one part of the state:
ment of Dr Kaunda. the government which became
black, actually Zanu (PF), al-
The lesson for Zimbabwe most overnight. 
from the Zambian experience
is that democracy, particularly Civil society groups, like
the possibility of free and fair trade unions, which had oper-
elections in a multi-party state, ated underground in the hope
is not possible without a vi- of coming out to the open at in-
brant and spirited civil society.  dependence were left bleeding
and some bled to death. Others
If, for the opposition, the which survived, sooner or later
1995 elections in Zimbabwe found themselves forced to sing
are going to transcend previ- Zanu (PF) songs.
ous pretensions to power in
the guise of participating in The situation was different
the poll, then those interested in the white community where
in the spoils of politics need the private sector, which was
to start building civil society despised by Zanu (PF) as it was
structures as a matter of urgen- at independence, nevertheless
cy. The vibrancy of civil soci- retained and subsequently in-
ety in Zambia did not develop creased its power and influence
overnight. over government in economic
policy.
But if Zimbabweans are go-
ing to build a vibrant civil so- *About the writer: Moyo is
ciety as part and parcel of the a professor of politics, former
democratic process, it stands to cabinet minister and Zanu PF
reason that there should be an MP.
identification of the problem

NewsHawks The Big Debate Page 35

Issue 45, 27 August 2021

Goodread Bin Laden’s catastrophic success:
The US war on terror after 9/11
NELLY LAHOUD
How Al Qaeda changed the world but not in the way it even expected
ON 11 September 2001, al
Qaeda carried out the deadliest The late al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden
foreign terrorist attack the Unit-
ed States had ever experienced.  By the time of 9/11, bin Lad- bin Laden grieved for Muslims filled with explosives into the American invincibility.” 
en had been contemplating an whose “blood has been spilled” USS Cole as it was refuelling in About two weeks after the at-
To Osama bin Laden and the attack inside the US for decades. in places as far-flung as Chechn- the port of Aden, Yemen, killing
other men who planned it, how- Many years later, in conversa- ya, Iraq, Kashmir, and Somalia.  17 US Navy personnel. Soon af- tack, bin Laden released a short
ever, the assault was no mere act tions with family members, he ter that, bin Laden told a large statement in the form of an ulti-
of terrorism. To them, it repre- recalled that it was in 1986 that “My Muslim brothers of gathering of supporters that the matum addressed to the US. “I
sented something far grander: he first suggested that jihadis the world,” he declared, “your attacks represented “a critical have only a few words for Amer-
the opening salvo of a campaign “ought to strike inside America” brothers in the land of the two turning point in the history of ica and its people,” he declared.
of revolutionary violence that to address the plight of the Pal- holiest sites and Palestine are the umma’s ascent toward great- “I swear by God almighty, who
would usher in a new historical estinians, since, in his mind, it calling on you for help and ask- er eminence.”  raised the heavens without ef-
era.  was US support that allowed for ing you to take part in fighting fort, that neither America nor
the creation of the state of Israel against the enemy, your enemy: The Abbottabad papers in- anyone who lives there will en-
Although bin Laden was in- on Palestinian land.  the Israelis and the Americans.” clude handwritten notes that joy safety until safety becomes a
spired by religion, his aims This collective battle, bin Laden bin Laden composed in 2002, reality for us living in Palestine
were geopolitical. Al Qaeda’s Bin Laden’s concern for the hoped, would be the first step in disclosing “the birth of the and before all the infidel armies
mission was to undermine the Palestinians was genuine; their reviving the umma. idea of 11 September.” They leave the land of Muhammad.” 
contemporary world order of suffering, he often reminded his reveal that it was in late Octo-
nation-states and re-create the associates, was “the reason we It soon became clear that bin ber 2000, within weeks of the The attack had an electrifying
historical umma, the worldwide started our jihad.” But the Pal- Laden was ready to back his USS Cole attack, that bin Laden effect, and in the years that im-
community of Muslims that was estinians mostly served as a con- words with deeds. In 1998, al decided to attack the American mediately followed, thousands
once held together by a com- venient stand-in for Muslims all Qaeda carried out simultaneous homeland. They also reveal his of young Muslims around the
mon political authority.  over the world, whom bin Lad- bombings of the U.S. embassies reasoning at the time: bin Laden world committed themselves
en portrayed as the collective in Kenya and Tanzania, killing believed that “the entire Muslim in various ways to bin Laden’s
Bin Laden believed that he victims of foreign occupation 224 people and wounding more world is subjected to the reign cause. But a close reading of bin
could achieve that goal by de- and oppression.  than 4 000. Emboldened by the of blasphemous regimes and to Laden’s correspondence reveals
livering what he described as a international attention those American hegemony.”  that the world’s most notorious
“decisive blow” that would force In his “Declaration of Jihad,” strikes received, bin Laden be- terrorist was ignorant of the lim-
the US to withdraw its military a 1996 public communiqué that came more ambitious.  The 9/11 attack was intended its of his own métier.
forces from Muslim-majority came to be known among ji- to “break the fear of this false
states, thus allowing jihadis to hadis as the “Ladenese Epistle,” On 12 October 2000, al god and destroy the myth of Bin Laden was born in 1957
fight autocratic regimes in those Qaeda rammed a small boat in Saudi Arabia. His father was
places on a level playing field. 

Bin Laden’s worldview and the
thinking behind the 9/11 attack
are laid bare in a trove of inter-
nal communications that were
recovered in May 2011, when
US special operations forces
killed him during a raid on the
compound in the Pakistani city
of Abbottabad where he had
spent his final years hiding. 

In the years that followed,
the US government declassified
some of the documents, but the
bulk of them remained under
the exclusive purview of the in-
telligence community. 

In November 2017, the
CIA  declassified an additional
470 000 digital files, including
audio, images, videos, and text.
With the help of two research
assistants, I pored over 96 000
of those files, including nearly
6 000 pages of Arabic text that
form a record of al Qaeda’s in-
ternal communications between
2000 and 2011, which I have
spent the past three years ana-
lysing. 

These documents consist of
bin Laden’s notes, his correspon-
dence with associates, letters
written by members of his fam-
ily, and a particularly revealing
220-page handwritten notebook
containing transcripts of dis-
cussions between members of
his immediate family that took
place in the compound during
the last two months of his life. 

The documents provide an
unparalleled glimpse into bin
Laden’s mind and offer a portrait
of the US “war on terror” as it
was seen through the eyes of its
chief target.

Page 36 The Big Debate NewsHawks

Issue 45, 27 August 2021

a wealthy construction magnate sor, Ayman al-Zawahiri, found When Saad’s pregnant wife If these proved too difficult, he been sold out by most of their
whose company was renowned himself more preoccupied with needed to be induced, she was had alternative plans to target erstwhile Afghan sympathisers
not just for the opulent palaces delegitimising the Islamic State not taken to a hospital until af- rail lines.  and the Taliban — “90 percent
it built for the Saudi royal fam- (or ISIS), the jihadi group that ter “the fetus stopped moving”; of whom,” Habib complained,
ily, but also for its restoration of eventually overtook Al Qae- she was forced “to deliver him His associates quickly set him “had been lured by the shiny
the Islamic holy sites in Mecca da, than with rallying Muslims after he died.”  straight: al Qaeda had been crip- dollars.”
and Medina.  against American hegemony. pled, and such operations were A lifeline for Al Qaeda 
Still, it is impossible to look back Saad was convinced that the out of the question. In Septem- But around the time that bin
He was raised in comfort, at the past two decades and not Iranians “were masters at making ber 2004, a second-tier leader Laden was able to re-establish
wanting for nothing. He grew be struck by the degree to which us lose our nerve and took plea- known as Tawfiq wrote a letter contact, things started looking
into a poised young man who a small band of extremists led by sure in torturing us psycholog- to bin Laden describing just up for al Qaeda. After the US-
yearned to take part in politi- a charismatic outlaw managed ically.” So desperate were their how difficult things had been in led coalition had ousted the Tal-
cal causes around the Muslim to influence global politics.  conditions that when a Libyan the immediate aftermath of the iban from power in Afghanistan,
world. In his early jihadi ex- jihadi leader, Abu Uns al-Sub- US-led invasion of Afghanistan.  the next phase of Bush’s war on
ploits, which involved fighting Bin Laden did change the ayi, was eventually released in terrorism was the 2003 invasion
in Afghanistan in the 1980s and world — just not in the ways 2010, he wrote to bin Laden “Our afflictions and troubles of Iraq, a country ruled by a sec-
helping finance and coordinate that he wanted.  that Iran is where the “greatest were heart-rending, and the ular tyrant, Saddam Hussein,
the mujahideen battling the So- Satan reigns.”  weakness, failure, and aimless- who viewed jihadis with hostil-
viet occupation of that country, After fleeing to Pakistan fol- ness that befell us were harrow- ity. 
he demonstrated that he had lowing the Taliban’s defeat, Detention there felt like being ing,” he wrote. He lamented
learned something about entre- many al Qaeda fighters and op- “exiled from religion,” he wrote, that bin Laden’s “absence and The US-led invasion put a
preneurship and management eratives were arrested by author- admitting that he had even inability to experience [their] swift end to Saddam’s brutal
from the family business.  ities there.  begged his Iranian captors to de- painful reality” had itself fed the reign, but also led to the dis-
port him to “any other country, turmoil.  banding of the Iraqi army and
And yet, although bin Laden’s Fearing the same fate, the re- even to Israel.”  the hollowing out of other secu-
correspondence indicates that he maining al Qaeda leaders and “We Muslims were defiled, lar government institutions. 
was well-versed in Islamic histo- many members of bin Lad- Bin Laden was completely desecrated, and our state was
ry, particularly the seventh-cen- en’s family covertly crossed the unaware of these travails while ripped asunder,” he reported. Initially, Arab Sunnis, the
tury military campaigns of the border into Iran  in early 2002. they were happening. The Ab- “Our lands were occupied; our minority group that had domi-
Prophet Muhammad, he had Once there, they were assisted bottabad papers show that in resources were plundered. . . . nated Iraq under Saddam, bore
only a perfunctory understand- by Sunni militants who helped the wake of the US invasion of This is what happened to jihadis the lion’s share of the sectarian
ing of modern international re- them rent houses using forged Afghanistan, bin Laden disap- in general, and to us in al Qaeda violence that followed the inva-
lations.  documents. But by the end of peared from the scene and was in particular.” sion. This proved to be a lifeline
2002, the Iranian authorities not in command of al Qaeda for for al Qaeda and other jihadi
That was reflected in the 9/11 had tracked down most of them three years, even though he con- Another second-tier lead- groups, which were able to posi-
attack itself, which represented a and had placed them in a secret tinued to release public state- er, Khalid al-Habib, explained tion themselves as the defenders
severe miscalculation: bin Laden prison underground. They were ments cheering jihadi attacks in a letter to bin Laden that of the Sunnis. 
never anticipated that the US later moved into a heavily guard- in Indonesia, Kuwait, Pakistan, during his three-year absence,
would go to war in response to ed compound, along with their Russia, Tunisia, and Yemen.  their “battlefield achievements As Habib put it in his 2004
the assault.  female relatives and children.  were negligible.” He counted a letter to bin Laden: “When God
It was not until 2004 that bin total of three “very modest op- knew of our afflictions and help-
Indeed, he predicted that In 2008, bin Laden’s son Saad Laden was finally able to resume erations, mostly with [rockets], lessness, he opened the door of
in the wake of the attack, the escaped from Iran and wrote a contact with second-tier leaders and from a distance.” Another jihad for us and for the entire
American people would take to letter to his father detailing how of al Qaeda. He was eager to correspondent told bin Laden umma in Iraq.” 
the streets, replicating the pro- Iranian authorities had repeat- launch a new campaign of inter- that al Qaeda’s “external work”
tests against the Vietnam War edly ignored the al Qaeda de- national terrorism. In one of the — that is, attacks abroad — had Habib was referring, specifi-
and calling on their government tainees’ medical conditions and first letters he sent after re-es- been “halted” because of the un- cally, to the rise of Abu Musab
to withdraw from Muslim-ma- how “the calamities piled up and tablishing contact, he methodi- relenting pressure that Pakistan al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian jihadi
jority countries.  the psychological problems in- cally outlined plans to carry out was exerting on the jihadis. As who had come to prominence
creased.”  “martyrdom operations akin if this weren’t bad enough, bin in the aftermath of the US in-
Instead, Americans rallied be- to the 9/11 New York attack.” Laden learned that al Qaeda had vasion. By 2004, Zarqawi, and
hind US President George W. not bin Laden, was the leader of
Bush and his “war on terror.”  the world’s most powerful jihadi
group. 
In October 2001, when a US-
led coalition invaded Afghan- Aside from their shared com-
istan to hunt down al Qaeda mitment to violent jihad, the
and dislodge the Taliban regime, two men had little in common.
which had hosted the terrorist Bin Laden had enjoyed a privi-
group since 1996, bin Laden leged upbringing; Zarqawi had
had no plan to secure his organ- grown up poor, had done time
isation’s survival.  in prison, and had emerged not
just as a religious extremist, but
The 9/11 attack turned out also as a hardened ex-convict
to be a Pyrrhic victory for al and a brutal thug. 
Qaeda. The group shattered in
the immediate aftermath of the Despite the vast gulf between
Taliban regime’s collapse, and the two men, Zarqawi was eager
most of its top leaders were ei- for his group, Jamaat al-Tawhid
ther killed or captured. The rest wal-Jihad, to merge with al Qae-
sought refuge in the Federally da. In a series of missives to bin
Administered Tribal Areas of Laden, Zarqawi made clear that
Pakistan, an autonomous area his followers were “the sons of
bordering Afghanistan. Hiding the Father” — that is, bin Lad-
became a way of life for them.  en — and that his group was a
mere “branch of the original.”
Their communications reveal Zarqawi also assured al Qaeda’s
that for the rest of bin Laden’s leaders that he was collaborating
life, the al Qaeda organisation with and seeking to unite all the
never recovered the ability to jihadi factions in Iraq. 
launch attacks abroad. (The
group did carry out attacks in Zarqawi’s enthusiasm pleased
November 2002 in Kenya, but bin Laden. “The merger of
was able to do so only because the group [Jamaat] al-Tawhid
the operatives tasked with plan- wal-Jihad [would be] tremen-
ning them had been dispatched dous,” bin Laden wrote to his
to East Africa in late 2000 and deputy Zawahiri and Tawfiq,
early 2001, before everything urging them “to give this matter
fell apart for al Qaeda in Af- considerable attention, for it is
ghanistan.) 

By 2014, bin Laden’s succes-

NewsHawks The Big Debate Page 37

Issue 45, 27 August 2021

a major step toward uniting the Bin Laden’s hideout compound in Abbottabad in Pakistan where he was killed by American seals on 2 May 2011. this reactive battle, it occurred
efforts of the jihadis.”  to you that you should persist?”
among their new associates. erally referred to as Atiyah), who gles were hardly limited to Iraq. Wuhayshi’s letters to bin Laden
In December 2004, bin Laden “Ansar al-Sunna have been oversaw al Qaeda’s external con- In 2009, a group of jihadis in show that he was vexed by the
formalised the merger by pub- spreading lies about me,” Zarqa- tacts and relations at the time, Yemen dubbed themselves al guidelines that the leadership
licly appointing Zarqawi as the wi complained in one. “They say grew ever more dismayed with Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsu- had given him. Despite backing
leader of a new group, al Qaeda that I have become like [Antar] Zarqawi’s leadership and wrote la without alerting the parent down from declaring an Islamic
in Mesopotamia (often referred al-Zawabiri,” the leader of a to bin Laden that “we cannot group or even publicly pledging state, Wuhayshi defied senior al
to in Western media as al Qaeda notoriously extremist Algerian leave the brother to act on the allegiance to bin Laden. They Qaeda leaders’ instructions to
in Iraq).  group who had been killed in basis of his judgment alone.”  were to prove a persistent source refrain from sectarian attacks
2002 and whom many jihadis of headaches.  targeting Houthis in Yemen and
Zarqawi’s initiative eventually had considered to be overzealous In a December 2005 letter to curb military confrontations
spurred jihadi groups in Soma- even by their standards. “Can intercepted by US intelligence, In or around 2009, an with the Yemeni government. 
lia, Yemen, and North Africa to you imagine?!” he fumed.  Atiyah urged Zarqawi “to less- AQAP  leader named Qasim
formally align themselves with en the number of attacks, even al-Raymi admitted in a letter to For bin Laden, the least prob-
al Qaeda. These groups did not More disturbing for al Qaeda to cut the current daily attacks al Qaeda’s leadership that he and lematic of the new al Qaeda
directly grow out of the original than Zarqawi’s vain whining, in half, even less,” pointing out the group’s other top members spinoffs was the North African
organisation, but their leaders however, were his group’s indis- that “the most important thing suffered from inexperience and group al Qaeda in the Islamic
saw many benefits in acquir- criminate attacks, which result- is for jihad to continue, and a “deficiencies concerning lead- Maghreb. Unlike the other af-
ing the internationally feared ed in massive Iraqi casualties, protracted war is to our advan- ership and administration.” He filiates, it did not want to pro-
al Qaeda brand, especially the particularly among Shiites. Bin tage.”  conceded that he himself was claim a state and instead focused
chance to improve their stand- Laden wanted al Qaeda to make not equipped “to judge when, on taking Westerners hostage for
ing in the eyes of their followers headlines by killing and injuring Things went from bad to how, and where to strike.”  ransom or for the freeing of ji-
and to gain international media Americans, not Iraqi civilians — worse for al Qaeda after Zarqa- hadi prisoners held by Western
attention, which they hoped even if they were Shiites, whom wi was killed by a US airstrike But inexperience did not de- governments. 
would help them raise money Sunni jihadis saw as heretics. in 2006. His successors declared ter AQAP’s top leader, Nasir
and recruit new adherents. It themselves the Islamic State al-Wuhayshi, from announcing Bin Laden saw this tactic’s po-
worked. From their hideouts in Paki- of Iraq without consulting bin in 2010 that he wanted to pro- tential for influencing Western
stan and the tribal areas, al Qae- Laden, Zawahiri, or any other claim an Islamic state in Yemen. publics and seemed to appreci-
Fixated on al Qaeda, counter- da’s leaders struggled to unify senior al Qaeda figures.  It took a great deal of finesse on ate the pragmatic approach of
terrorist authorities all over the the militant groups in Iraq that the part of senior al Qaeda lead- AQIM’s leader, Abu Musab Ab-
world often subsumed all jihadis were now at the centre of glob- In 2007, ISI  leaders stopped ers to dissuade him.  dul Wadud.
under a single umbrella, unwit- al jihadism. But the divisions responding to al Qaeda’s letters
tingly giving individuals who among them became even more altogether, a silence that reflect- For his part, bin Laden was Still, because bin Laden
wanted to associate themselves entrenched. Zawahiri tried to ed, in part, the fact that the Iraqi dismayed that AQAP even con- could not communicate with
with bin Laden a larger selection mediate between Zarqawi and jihadis had begun losing ground sidered itself a jihadi group at AQIM in a timely fashion (since
of groups to potentially join.  Ansar al-Sunna, but his efforts to what became known as the all, much less an affiliate of al his communications depended
failed. Ansar al-Sunna made it Sunni Awakening, which saw Qaeda. “Did you actually plan on the schedule of a courier), his
Thus, although the al Qae- clear to al Qaeda that unity with US forces forge ties with Sunni and prepare for jihad?” he tart- interventions often arrived too
da organisation was broken, its Zarqawi was conditional on tribal sheikhs in order to con- ly asked in a draft letter to Wu- late and sometimes even proved
brand lived on through the deeds “correcting the ways of al Qaeda front the terrorists. hayshi. “Or is your presence counterproductive. On at least
of groups that acted in its name. in Mesopotamia.”  On the sidelines a result of a few government one occasion, negotiations over
All of this flowed from Zarqawi’s Al Qaeda’s management strug- attacks to which the brothers the release of Western hostag-
alliance with bin Laden.  Atiyah Abd al-Rahman (gen- responded, and in the midst of es that could have benefited
AQIM fell apart because of bin
In early 2007, a Saudi jihadi Laden’s meddling. 
cleric, Bishr al-Bishr, described
the merger in a letter to a senior By 2009, most of al Qaeda’s
al Qaeda leader as an instance of senior leaders were fed up with
God having “shown mercy on their unruly affiliates. That year,
al Qaeda,” which would have bin Laden hardly rejoiced when
come to an end had it not been Mukhtar Abu al-Zubayr, the
for “the amazing jihadi victories leader of the Somali jihadi group
in Iraq, which raised the value al Shabab, sought a public merg-
of al Qaeda’s stocks.” It was a er with al Qaeda. Zubayr, too,
divine intervention, he assessed: wanted to proclaim an Islamic
“God’s way of repaying the peo- state. In a letter to Zubayr, Ati-
ple of jihad for their sacrifices in yah delicately explained that it
his path.”  would be best to “keep your alle-
Things fall apart giance to Sheikh Osama secret.” 
Bin Laden had assumed that
those who pledged their alle- For his part, bin Laden de-
giance to him would pursue the clined the public merger and
kind of attacks against the US suggested that Zubayr downsize
that al Qaeda had pioneered. from a state to an emirate, and
Their success, he hoped, would do so quietly. “Our inclination,”
“raise the morale of Muslims, he wrote, “is that your emirate
who would, in turn, become should be a reality to which the
more engaged and supportive of people grow attached without
jihadis,” as he put it in a letter to having to proclaim it.” Zubayr
Zawahiri and Tawfiq in Decem- complied with their wishes, but
ber 2004.  his response shows that he was
troubled, rightly pointing out
Once again, bin Laden had that he and his group were “al-
miscalculated. The decision to ready considered by both our
bestow the al Qaeda imprima- enemies and our friends to be
tur on groups that he did not part of al Qaeda.” A few years
control soon backfired. Zarqa- later, Zawahiri, who succeeded
wi failed to unite Iraq’s jihadi bin Laden after his death, finally
groups under his banner, and admitted al Shabab into al Qae-
the country’s most established da.
jihadi group, Ansar al-Sunna
(also known as Ansar al-Islam) During the last year of his
refused to merge with him.  life, bin Laden lamented that
his “brothers” had become a “li-
Before long, bin Laden and ability” for global jihad. Some
his followers found themselves of their attacks, he bemoaned,
at the receiving end of letters resulted in “unnecessary civilian
that chronicled the squabbles casualties.” 

Page 38 The Big Debate NewsHawks

Issue 45, 27 August 2021

Worse yet, “the Muslim public Taliban militants after recent taking over Kabul, the Afghanistan capital. In 2020, the US and the Tal-
was repulsed” by such attacks. iban reached a peace agreement
The new generation of jihadis, for its part, overestimated the Iraqi group had moved on. up the fight, and the coalition in which the Taliban promised
he concluded, had lost their way.  positive effects that bin Laden’s Between 2011 and 2013, the eventually wrested control of all “to prevent any group or in-
death and the US withdrawal of Isis’s territory. Baghdadi had dividual, including al-Qa’ida,
In the winter of 2010–11, from Iraq would have on the ISI expanded into Syria, insert- spurned bin Laden’s strategy of from using the soil of Afghani-
the revolts that became known fight against jihadism. “The ing itself into the bloody civil fighting from the shadows in fa- stan to threaten the security of
as the Arab Spring initially gave drawdown in Iraq allowed us to war that had begun there after vour of empire building and had the United States and its allies.” 
bin Laden some hope. He rev- refocus our fight against al Qae- the regime of Bashar al-Assad managed to replace bin Laden as
elled in the success of what he da and achieve major victories crushed an Arab Spring upris- the face of global jihadism. But Will the Taliban make good
called the “revolutionaries” against its leadership, including ing.  the two men had similar fates.  on their promise? Judging by
(thuwar) who brought down the Abbottabad papers, not all
autocratic regimes in Tunisia, Osama bin Laden,” Obama In June 2014, after the ISI had In October 2019, US forces Taliban members were equal in
Egypt, and Libya. But soon, he claimed in October 2011.  conquered vast swaths of terri- raided Baghdadi’s compound in the eyes of al Qaeda, which had
grew troubled. In conversations tory in both Iraq and Syria, the Idlib Province, in north-western long suspected that some Tali-
with his family, he worried that At that very moment, howev- group’s spokesperson, Abu Mu- Syria. US military dogs chased ban factions had been seeking
“the revolutions were born pre- er, the ISI, al Qaeda’s erstwhile hammad al-Adnani, proclaimed Baghdadi into a dead-end tun- rapprochement with the US. 
maturely” and lamented that al ally in Iraq, was being energised Baghdadi to be the leader of a nel. Cornered, the caliph deto-
Qaeda and other jihadi groups by a new generation of lead- new caliphate, and the group nated a suicide vest. “The world As early as 2007, Atiyah wrote
were mostly on the side-lines. ers. The Obama administration renamed itself the Islamic State, is now a safer place,” Trump de- to bin Laden that “forces within
He was resigned that “we cannot and other Western governments dropping all geographic refer- clared. the Taliban are distancing them-
do anything except intensify our failed to see the growing danger. ences from its name. Its territo- The futility of terror  selves from al Qaeda to elude the
prayers.”  rial expansion led jihadi groups In the two years since Baghda- terrorism accusation.” 
In 2010, the ISI had come un- in more than ten countries to di’s demise, Trump’s pronounce-
Yet bin Laden was determined der the leadership of a formerly pledge allegiance to the new ca- ment has held up. The jihadi And in 2010, Zawahiri ex-
to “protect these revolutions” obscure Iraqi who called himself liph.  landscape is still divided. Jihadi pressed alarm in a letter to bin
and intent on advising the pro- Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The Iraqi organisations continue to prolif- Laden that the Taliban seemed
testers through his public state- government’s sectarianism and In turn, the Islamic State (also erate, but no group dominates “psychologically prepared” to
ments. His one and only re- corruption offered fertile ground known as Isis) designated these in the way that al Qaeda and accept a deal that would render
sponse to the Arab Spring went for the ISI to rebuild and grow.  groups as either “provinces” or Isis  once did. Their capabili- al Qaeda impotent. Owing to
through at least 16 drafts before “soldiers of the caliphate.” ties range from merely howling the Taliban’s  factionalism  since
he made an initial recording of In 2010–11, Baghdadi un- threats, to throwing Molotov 9/11, it may be difficult for the
it.  leashed a wave of terrorist as- After bin Laden’s death, al cocktails, to carrying out suicide group’s leaders to enforce com-
saults on Iraqi Christians and Qaeda continued to operate un- operations or blowing up cars, to pliance with the terms of their
And his daughters Sumayya Shiites. This campaign enraged der Zawahiri’s command, but it seizing control of territory — at agreement with the US. 
and Maryam, who had effective- al Qaeda’s leaders. “I do not un- had now been fully eclipsed by least for a time. When it comes
ly co-authored most of the pub- derstand,” Zawahiri chafed in a Isis. Still, just as bin Laden had to the next phase of the struggle, The Taliban’s factionalism
lic messages that bin Laden de- letter he wrote to bin Laden a been ignorant of terrorism’s lim- all eyes are on Afghanistan. may prove to be an intractable
livered over the years, did much few months before the Abbot- its, Baghdadi proved to be clue- problem for the US. But al Qae-
of the heavy lifting in compos- tabad raid. “Are the brothers less when it came to running a Al Qaeda, Isis, and a number da’s experiences after 9/11 sug-
ing the text.  not content with the number state, let alone a “caliphate” that of other groups maintain oper- gest that the same factionalism
of their current enemies? Are aimed to conquer other coun- ations in the country, but they will also complicate matters for
In late April 2011, they were they eager to add new ones to tries without possessing so much are overshadowed by the larger terrorists seeking refuge in Af-
planning to give it one more their list?” He urged bin Laden as a single fighter jet. In Septem- conflict playing out between the ghanistan. 
round of edits before the final to write to the ISI’s leaders and ber 2014, the Obama admin- Afghan government and the Tal-
recording, but they ran out of instruct them to stop “targeting istration formed a coalition of iban, which are both struggling Even a sympathetic host re-
time: US Navy seals raided the the Shiites indiscriminately” 83 countries “to degrade and for control of the country in the gime is no guarantee of safe ha-
Abbottabad compound before and to “end their attacks against ultimately defeat Isis.” By 2016, wake of the US withdrawal.  ven. Bin Laden learned that les-
they had a chance to polish it. Christians.”  Isis had begun to collapse.  son the hard way, and Baghdadi
It was the US government that later found out that controlling
ended up releasing the state- But bin Laden no longer had The administration of US territory was even harder. 
ment, probably to help estab- any influence over the ISI. The President Donald Trump kept
lish that the raid had actually But Washington and its al-
occurred and undermine the lies have come to realise (or at
claims of conspiracy theorists to least they should have) that an
the contrary. open-ended war on terrorism is
futile and that a successful coun-
The raid was masterfully terterrorism policy must address
planned and executed. “Justice the legitimate political griev-
has been done,” US President ances that al Qaeda claims to
Barack Obama declared in an- champion — for example, US
nouncing bin Laden’s death. support for dictatorships in the
With the man behind the 9/11 Middle East.
attack eliminated and with most-
ly peaceful and secular protest- Washington cannot quite
ers on the march against Middle claim victory against al Qae-
Eastern tyrants, it seemed for a da and its ilk, which retain the
moment that the jihadi move- ability to inspire deadly, if small-
ment had run its course. But scale, attacks. The past two de-
that moment proved fleeting. cades, however, have made clear
A short-lived caliphate  just how little jihadi groups can
Back in Washington, the Obama hope to accomplish. They stand
administration had dropped a far better chance of achieving
Bush’s “war on terror” moniker. eternal life in paradise than of
But Obama maintained his pre- bringing the US to its knees.
decessor’s excessive focus on al
Qaeda, and  his teamhad failed • The Taliban have since
to discern divisions within ji- taken over Afghanistan af-
hadism that proved consequen- ter US withdrawal.
tial.  In choosing to go to war
in Iraq, the Bush administra- *About the writer: Nelly La-
tion had exaggerated al Qaeda’s houd is associate professor with
connections to the country and the Combating Terrorism Cen-
overestimated the counterterror- tre in the department of Social
ism benefits of toppling Sadd- Sciences, U.S. Military Acade-
am’s regime.  my, West Point. Her publica-
tions include Political Thought
The Obama administration, in Islam: A Study in Intellec-
tual Boundaries and Letters
from Abbottabad: Bin Laden
Sidelined?

NewsHawks Critical Thinking Page 39

Issue 45, 27 August 2021

What Ngugi wa Thiong’o taught me about
power of language to transform literature

EINEHI EDORO

“Language…has a dual character: it is cultures that served African language One area where African language of depriving African languages of the Professor Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni.
both a means of communication and novels. It turns out that in the 1950s literatures lack every kind of insti- power of translation. When language
a carrier of culture,” writes Ngugi wa and 60s when African literature writ- tutional influence is in translation. B is translated into language A, the other. The arguments have been up-
Thiong’o in contemplating why lan- ten in European languages were taking When we talk about the problems translation benefits language A be- dated over the decades, but we still
guage is powerful. The power of a lan- off, African language literature was left facing African language literary cul- cause the translated language enriches come back to that founding debate.
guage does not only lie in speaking it behind. The question is how do we re- ture, we tend to focus on texts orig- the translating language. For example, It’s time to move on from the con-
but also in using it to create and trans- verse this unfortunate history? inally written in these languages, not imagine all the new words and imag- troversy so that we can take on the
mit culture through time. on translations, which present a far es that would have to be invented to task. Time is of the essence. African
In some countries, African language more dismal picture. One of the great- translate Einstein’s  Theory of Relativ- language literature suffers from in-
Some of Ngugi’s clearest utterances literature is older than literature in Eu- est scandals of modern literature is ity  into Igbo. Igbo stands to gain far frastructural problems resulting from
about language are in Decolonizing the ropean languages. Thomas Mofolo was that an Igbo translation of Things Fall more from the translation than En- over a century-long neglect that needs
Mind. One of his major contributions writing at the turn of the 20th centu- Apart  has not been published. Word glish. Ngugi unashamedly calls this to be urgently reversed.
to the discussion of African languages ry. Beginning in 1906, his novels were on the streets says that there are trans- uneven relationship a kind of “prey-
is his idea that language is a systemic initially published as serials in Leselin- lations out there. ing.” “How,” he asks: Stakeholders who claim that there
issue. Language is as powerful as the yana, a local newspaper published in is no market for African language lit-
institutions it animates and which the Sesotho language. A year ago while They just haven’t been published. In “can we enrich our languages? How eratures are missing the importance of
animates it in turn. It is one thing to was drafting a chapter in my book, I any case, an Igbo translation of Things can we “prey,” on the rich human- capacity building. Imagine how things
speak Yoruba at home and quite a dif- read English translations of letters to Fall Apart  should not only exist but ist and democratic heritage in the would have been different if the last
ferent thing to teach in a school system the editor sent in response to Mofo- should also have considerable impact struggles of other peoples in other 100 years had been spent building on
where Yoruba is the primary language lo’s controversial book  Chaka. These on the culture around the book. But times and other places to enrich our the momentum set off by Mofolo’s
of instruction, where physics text- letters gave me a glimpse into Sesotho it’s not just  Things Fall Apart. What own? Why not, have Balzac, Tolstoy, generation: cultivating markets, set-
books are in Yoruba, and where a li- reading culture at the time, how vi- of  Great Expectations? What of The Sholokov, Brecht, Lu Hsun, Pablo ting up literary prizes, training writers
brary containing 2 million documents brant it was, how engaged these read- Kamasutra? What of Isaac Newton? Neruda, H. C. Anderson, Kim Chi. and translators, expanding literacy, ad-
and books are all in Yoruba. Speaking ers were. Similar trends were taking Why isn’t there a Swahili translation Ha, Marx, Lenin, Albert Einstein, vocating for government policies, and
Yoruba is great, but establishing Yoru- place in Lagos with Yoruba journals, of Game of Thrones, a Yoruba transla- Galileo, Aeschylus, Aristotle and Plato networking with global institutions.
ba within institutional spaces where  it in Nairobi, and other places. Today, tion of  Beloved, a Shona translation in African languages?” As someone who runs a literary plat-
grounds the production of knowledge with the exception of Hausa language, of Sex and the City? African languages form, I’ve been thinking a lot about
is even better. Swahili, and a few others, African lan- are translated into European languag- I prefer to think of translation less these issues.
guage literature has become curiosities es, but never the other way round, as preying (I bristle at the violent im-
Literature is one such institution. you encounter in special collections except in cases such as the bible with agery) and more as an openness to What part can Brittle Paper play
Today, African language literature archives in university libraries. Even its legacies of colonialism. In  Na- the riches offered by others. Every in making space for African language
dwells at the margins of a literary cul- with Swahili literature, we could do tions Negres et Culture, Cheikh Antar language is a storehouse of cultural, literature? This is a question that ev-
ture and industry that seems immov- so much more to build it into a rich- Diop translates a short excerpt of Ein- metaphysical, and linguistic treasures. eryone—publishers, critics, authors
ably centered on European languages. er, more diverse cultural ecosystem. I stein’s Theory of Relativity into Wolof. Translating texts in other languages (regardless of what language you write
To be clear, this essay is not about cri- love the work that the Mabati Cornell He wanted to prove that African lan- into African languages is how we par- in) should be asking.--Brittle Paper.
tiquing the use of European languages Kiswahili Prize, Jalada, the African guages could handle the most abstract take of the global exchange of these
in African literature, in part, because Books Collective, Munyori Literary philosophical thought. Of course they treasures. It is common to pose the *About the writer: Ainehi Edoro is
I find those debates and controversies Journal, Afrolit San Frontiere, Imbiza can! That shouldn’t be the point of question of African language literature a Nigerian writer. She is the founder
tiresome. They are ideologically-driven Journal and others are doing to build contention. The real value of Diop’s as a controversy, a line drawn between and publisher of the African literary
and end up reducing complex cultur- the culture, but more is needed. experiment is that it shows us the cost Achebe and his supporters on the one blog Brittle Paper. She is current-
al and historical forces to questions of hand, Ngugi and his militants on the ly an assistant professor of Global
identity and authenticity: Does liter- Black Literatures at the University
ature written in European languages of Wisconsin-Madison, US.
count as African literature? Then you
have those on the other extreme who
claim that English is an African lan-
guage. I want to move on from these
ways of formulating the problem. I
want to set aside ideology for a second
so that I can see clearly what the real
stakes are.  After all, we’ve had these
quarrels for decades and yet nothing
has changed. The fact is that no matter
where we stand on the so-called lan-
guage controversy, we can agree that
African language literatures urgently
need to be centered in African liter-
ary culture. In other words, we can all
write in whatever language we please
and still invest in African language
literature. Those are not two mutual-
ly exclusive things. The problem was
never that Achebe wrote in English
and saw all kinds of value in doing so.
The problem is that Achebe and many
in his generation did not do enough
to include African language literatures
in the culture, in the industry, in the
market. Take the African novel for in-
stance. In The Rise of the African Novel,
Mukoma wa Ngugi suggests that the
decision to keep African language nov-
els out was strategic. In an attempt to
consolidate the African novel into a
global form, competing forms of the
novel were excluded so that the re-
alist novel in English came to be the
dominant form of African literary
expression. The more global the Afri-
can novel became, the less it seemed
worth it cultivating the local reading

Page 40 Africa News NewsHawks

Issue 45, 27 August 2021

Tsitsi Dangarembga. Photograph: Aaron Ufumeli/EPA

Tsitsi Dangarembga’s next work
won’t be read by anyone until 2114

TSITSI Dangarembga made the decide” – with Margaret Atwood, the project with those who will I’m used to writing into the void.” writer, but I don’t think of myself
Booker shortlist for her most re- Ocean Vuong and Karl Ove be present in 100 years’ time is Paterson said that  Future Li- in those terms,” Dangarembga
cent novel, This Mournable Body, Knausgård already signed up. The thrilling and a privilege.” said. “So it’s really a great honour
the story of a girl trying to make works, unseen by anyone but the brary was “honoured” to include I’m very pleased about it.”
a life in post-colonial Zimbabwe writers themselves, will be kept in The author, whose acclaimed Dangarembga on a roster of au-
which was praised as “magnifi- a room lined with wood from the debut Nervous Conditions thors that also includes David Nervous Conditions, to which
cent” and “sublime”. Her next forest in the Deichman library in (1988) was the first novel writ- Mitchell, Han Kang, Sjón and This Mournable Body is a se-
work, however, is likely to receive Oslo. ten in English by a black woman Elif Shafak. quel, was named by the BBC as
fewer accolades: it will not be re- from Zimbabwe, said she was al- one of the 100 books that shaped
vealed to the world until 2114. One hundred years after Future ready “settling on the story” she “Tsitsi Dangarembga’s words the world. Currently in Hara-
Library was launched, in 2114, would tell. She was not worried have shaped the world. Praised re, the Zimbabwean author is
The Zimbabwean writer is the the trees will be felled, and the about the fact that she will never for her ability to capture and working on a piece of non-fic-
eighth author selected for the Fu- manuscripts printed for the first know how her writing is received. communicate vital truths, the tion, and a speculative young
ture Library project, an organic time. Zimbabwean novelist is admired adult novel. She is also awaiting
artwork dreamed up by the Scot- “I’m always my first audience. worldwide as a voice of hope,” a trial date after she was arrested
tish artist Katie Paterson. It began The artwork “perfectly express- So I think as long as I’m satisfied, said Paterson. “She examines during anti-corruption protests
in 2014 with the planting of 1 es my yearning for a human cul- then I’ll be ready to let it go,” said oppression, discrimination, and in Harare  last year, and charged
000 Norwegian spruces in a patch ture that centres the earth’s sus- the author . “I’ve been writing for systemic racism, through writing with intention to incite public
of forest outside Oslo. tainability”, said Dangarembga. a long time, and lots of things, that is brave and unforgettable.” violence. Authors and free speech
“I share with many other dwell- without a great deal of feedback. organisations have called for the
Paterson is asking one writer a ers of our beautiful planet a deep When it comes, for example with “It’s really quite shocking, be- charges to be dropped, describing
year to contribute a manuscript sense of concern for our home’s This Mournable Body, that’s cause, you know, I don’t think of them as an outrage.
to the project – “the length of the wellbeing. wonderful. But a lot of my life myself in those terms. I’m sure
piece is entirely for the author to has been writing into the void. So there are writers out there who — The Guardian.
“Communicating through know that they are that level of

NewsHawks World News Page 41

Issue 45, 27 August 2021

Bush, Obama, Trump, Biden: How four
presidents created today’s Afghanistan mess

PRESIDENT Joe Biden has said re- Taliban insurgents. By May 2003, the surge known, Obama ultimately be- US President Joe Biden carrying out a series of terror attacks,
peatedly over the past four months Pentagon said major combat in Af- gan deploying tens of thousands more withdrawal by the time Obama left including in Kabul, which killed
--  as recently as last week  -- that he ghanistan was over. Focus for the US troops to Afghanistan. At the same office. scores of civilians. Even after Trump
refuses to hand off the war in Afghan- and its international partners turned time, he committed to a withdrawal invited and then canceled peace talks
istan to a fifth US president. toward reconstructing the country timetable that would begin pulling But a year later, as his tenure was with the group to be held at Camp
and installing a western-style demo- troops back out by 2011 and insisted nearing an end, Obama determined David in 2019, the discussions con-
Implicit in that statement is the be- cratic political system. on standards in measuring progress in the fragile security situation in the tinued with Khalilzad.
lief the war shouldn’t have been passed fighting the Taliban and al Qaeda. country meant  the full withdrawal
to him, nearly 20 years after it began. Many of the strictures of the Tal- he’d hoped for wasn’t feasible. He left A deal was struck in February 2020
iban did fall away, and thousands Obama said  in a televised ad- office with just under 10,000 troops that set the course for a full American
Each president since 2001 has of girls and women were allowed to dress  that the additional US troops in the country and said it would be up withdrawal in exchange for guarantees
confronted an evolving mission in attend school and take jobs. But Af- would “help create the conditions for to his successor to decide what to do from the Taliban it would reduce vio-
Afghanistan, one that resulted in tens ghanistan’s government, still rife with the United States to transfer responsi- next. lence and cut ties to terror groups. But
of thousands American and Afghan corruption, frustrated American offi- bility to the Afghans.” But later, aides Donald Trump there weren’t any measures to enforce
casualties, frustratingly futile attempts cials. And the said Obama felt jammed by military As a candidate, Trump vowed to bring those promises, which the Pentagon
to improve the country’s political lead- commanders pushing for a counterin- American troops home from Afghani- said went unfulfilled.
ership and a Taliban that stubbornly Taliban began a resurgence. surgency strategy. stan. But making good on his promise
refused defeat. At the same time, focus was shift- proved difficult as the Taliban contin- Even as US troops began leav-
ing in Washington toward another By August 2010, US forces in Af- ued to surge, and an Islamic State af- ing, the Taliban gained strength. And
Biden has explained his decision to war, this time in Iraq, which sapped ghanistan reached 100,000. But it filiate emerged. the May 2021 deadline for pulling out
withdraw all US troops as a necessary military resources and attention away was in a different country — Pakistan all US troops ultimately was passed
choice for a war whose purpose had from Afghanistan. By the time Bush — where US intelligence ultimately In his first major Afghanistan de- onto Trump’s successor.
become blurred, adding that it was set was reelected in 2004, troop levels tracked down bin Laden, who was cision, Trump outsourced troop level Joe Biden
in motion by a deal with the Taliban in Afghanistan had reached around killed during a Navy SEAL raid in authority to the Pentagon. His team Even before entering office in Janu-
made by President Donald Trump. 20,000, even as oversight and atten- May 2011. Shortly afterward, Obama was divided along ideological lines, ary, Biden had begun weighing what
The chaos that ensued in evacuating tion were directed more squarely on announced he would  begin bringing between his military advisers who to do in Afghanistan, where he’d long
Americans and Afghans who assisted what was transpiring in Iraq. US troops home with a goal of hand- advocated a continued presence and become disillusioned about the war
the war effort was a predictable and The following years would see ing off security responsibilities to the more staunch nationalists who op- efforts. After having his advice to re-
mostly unavoidable outcome, he said steady increases in American forces Afghans by 2014. posed foreign interventions. move US troops rejected by Obama,
last week. deployed to Afghanistan as the Tali- Biden was finally in a position to end
ban regained ground in rural areas of Over the next years,  troop levels Eventually,  Trump admitted in what he’d come to view as a war with-
Still, the scenes of rushed departures the south. When Bush left office in declined steadily  as the US engaged an August 2017  speech that though out purpose.
from Kabul and the Taliban’s takeover 2009, there were more than 30,000 in fraught diplomacy with Afghani- his instinct had been to withdraw
of the country have proved deeply US troops stationed there -- and the stan’s leaders. By the start of his sec- all US troops, conditions made it Over the course of the early months
humbling for a global superpower that Taliban was staging a full-blown in- ond term, Obama had adopted a impossible. He left the future of the of his presidency, Biden received ad-
spent billions of dollars and lost thou- surgency. view toward the country summed up American presence there open-ended, vice from his national security team,
sands of lives in its efforts. Barack Obama by members of his team as “Afghan rejecting a timeline for withdrawal including “clear-eyed” warnings that
Entering the White House in 2009, good enough” — a recognition that and instead insisting  “conditions on withdrawing all US troops could lead
How America spent 20 years in President Barack Obama faced a deci- attempts to cultivate a western-style the ground”  would dictate any deci- to the eventual collapse of Afghani-
Afghanistan, only to have the Tali- sion on a war he inherited from Bush. democracy were mostly hopeless, and sion-making. stan’s government and a takeover by
ban resume control again as its troops Top generals recommended a “surge” that taking out terrorists and keeping the Taliban.
withdrew, will be a topic for historians in troop levels to weaken the Taliban, the Taliban in check amounted to the A year later, Trump tasked Zal-
to ponder for decades. And who ulti- which was staging attacks at a height- limits of the United States’ role. may Khalilzad, a seasoned Afghan Conversely, remaining in the
mately bears responsibility is a com- ened clip. American diplomat, with  leading country past the May deadline set in
plicated debate. After a grueling internal debate, Obama announced the end of ma- negotiations with the Taliban  meant Trump’s deal with the Taliban would
during which then-Vice President jor combat operations on December to bring the war to an end. The talks expose US troops to attacks.
Here is how each president has ap- Biden made his opposition to the 31, 2014, with the US shifting to a mostly excluded Afghanistan’s govern-
proached what became America’s lon- mission of training and assisting Af- ment,  driving a wedge between the Ultimately,  Biden announced that
gest war: ghan security forces. Further troop US and President Ashraf Ghani. the remaining 2,500 US troops in Af-
George W. Bush declines put the US on track for a full ghanistan would come home by Sep-
After the September 11, 2001, terror Meanwhile, the Taliban continued tember 11, 2021 — 20 years after the
attacks, which were plotted by al Qae- terror attacks that prompted the war
da from bases in Afghanistan, Presi- in the first place. It was clear, Biden
dent George W. Bush vowed to stamp said, that the United States’ objectives
out global terrorism. He called on the had been fulfilled -- and that there
Taliban — which controlled most of wasn’t anything more his country
Afghanistan — to deliver al Qaeda could do to build Afghanistan into a
leaders hiding out in the country, in- stable democracy.
cluding Osama bin Laden.
The timeline eventually accelerated
When the Taliban rejected that call, as the Pentagon worked to pull forces
he adopted a war footing. Congress out faster. On July 2, the US handed
authorized US forces to go after those Bagram Airfield — a symbol of US
responsible for 9/11 on September military might — to Afghan forces.
18, 2001 -- though lawmakers have The Taliban, meanwhile, were taking
never explicitly voted to declare war over provincial capitals, often without
on Afghanistan. Bush, in remarks to a any resistance from the Afghan mili-
joint session of Congress two days lat- tary.
er, acknowledged the coming conflict
would amount to “a lengthy campaign On August 15, the Taliban returned
unlike any other we have ever seen.” to power in Kabul after Ghani fled the
country — a collapse that American
Still, even Bush couldn’t have pre- officials frankly said happened far
dicted just how lengthy the war would more quickly than they anticipated.
become.
The US and its allies began a hur-
On October 7, 2001, the US mili- ried mission to evacuate citizens  and
tary officially launched Operation En- Afghan allies who had assisted during
during Freedom, with support from the war effort and feared reprisals by
the United Kingdom. The war’s ear- the militants.
liest phase mostly involved airstrikes
on al Qaeda and Taliban targets. But Biden sent 6,000 US troops  back
by November, 1,300 American troops into the country to secure the Hamid
were in the country. Karzai International Airport in Kabul,
and facilitate the airlift. But a new
That number steadily increased deadline — August 31 — still stands
over the coming months as US and for those troops to leave.
Afghan forces toppled the Taliban
government and went after bin Laden, The Taliban has called it a red line.
who was hiding in the Tora Bora cave And  Biden  has decided that the US
complex southeast of Kabul. Bin Lad- will meet that deadline if the Taliban
en eventually slipped across the border cooperates, but the Pentagon and
into Pakistan. State Department are still making
contingency plans in case the situation
The coming months and years on the ground changes.
would see Bush send thousands more
US troops to Afghanistan to go after — CNN.

Porsche just got angrier Being a Fashion Model

&Life Style

STYLE TRAVEL BOOKS ARTS MOTORING

Page 42 Issue 45, 27 August 2021

JONATHAN MBIRIYAMVEKA People used to pay not to ican beatmaker and record
listen to me: Jah Prayzah producer DJ Mustard On
THESE days, Jah Prayzah’s The Beat showcases his art-
concerts can be sold out in marks in an interview with chance to showcase my tal- through,” he said.  path or “gwara”. istry. Asked if ever he gets
a day, with adoring fans jos- radio host Chamvary on ent and the consistency paid “You cannot judge an al- It is easy to see why he possessed whenever he per-
tling for tickets.  Power FM’s Centre Stage. off.” forms the song Goto, Jah
bum within the first three often refers to “machem- Prayzah said he always at-
It was not always the case. “That is so true. I used to Afterwards, Hozheri de- days of its release, that is bere” (matriarchs), “mhon- taches so much emotion to
Once upon a time, people curtainraise for veterans Ja- cided to give Jah Prayzah a impossible. So when I re- doro” (guardian spirits) the song that fans believe he
did not pay for his shows. bavu (Drive) and it so hap- slot every Wednesday at Jazz lease my album I go through and “machangamire” (pa- goes into a trance.
They would, in fact, pay so pened that there was this 105 where he and his group, the comments and some of triarchs) -- this language is
that he gets off the stage! group of revellers who were Third Generation, used to them are quite discouraging, steeped in Zimbabwean tra- “I really don’t know (if I
regulars at Jazz 105,” Jah hold their rehearsals. but I pay attention to those ditions and customs. get possessed). It is the same
Talk about rising from Prayzah said. who love and support what thing when I perform a tra-
nothing to something! Asked about how he I do.” Although he infused tra- ditional or even a love song,
“The guys asked pro- feels about his critics, the ditional African instruments I try and show the mood.
The hugely popular Zim- moter Josh (Hozheri) how 34-year-old singer said he There were mixed feel- with guitars, the experi-
babwean contemporary mu- much I was getting from the had developed a thick skin ings following the release of ment yielded a sound that is “Just like in film when
sician has for the first time live gigs so that they could but appreciates fans for the his 16-track studio album, uniquely Zimbabwean. you see people believing that
spoken about how his “noisy pay me off the stage. They support. Gwara, which comes across what they are seeing is real,
sound” once cost him a slot didn’t want me on stage be- as a highly experimental but One of the most no- then you know you’ve done
at Jazz 105 in Harare during cause they said my sound “At first I was hurt to successful project. ticeable traits of his music a great job,” he said.
his formative years.  was noisy and felt annoyed. know that people did not comes from the beats by
However, that did not dis- enjoy my music and it was There is no doubt Jah Rodney Beatz and Young Jah Prayzah, whose real
Unable to stomach the courage me because there noisy. But the one good Prayzah’s believes in his DLC whose signature name is Mukudzei Mu-
up-and-coming musician’s were people who believed thing about talent is that it traditions and customs. It “Young Dee On The Beat” kombe, also believes that
then unknown songs, revel- in me and what I wanted to takes you places. There are should come as no surprise which prefaces the beat is a working with different pro-
lers at the well-known joint achieve. So Josh gave me a those who listen to my mu- that he consults elders and feature of many of his songs, ducers makes his discogra-
in central Harare, on more sic and those that browse traditionalists’ for the right in the same way the Amer- phy rich and refreshing.
than one occasion, are said
to have offered management To date, he has worked
some money in exchange for with producers ranging
Jah Prayzah’s exit. from DJ Tamuka, Rodney
Beats to Young DLC, who
Jah Prayzah, Zimbabwe’s have all produced hits for
hottest artiste over the past him.
few years, made these re-

NewsHawks State of the Culture Page 43

Issue 45, 27 August 2021

Addy Music, nationalism and politics
Kudita of sound in contemporary Zim

MY young heart beat so The late wartime musician Cde Chinx.
fast in thrall to moments
pregnant with danger: A troops did not have such into Mozambique) or price. The anger of the vil- are distinct ones which oc- the guerrillas; they would
matter of life and death.  hits. All the hits belonged Newten whom the villag- lagers was palpable each casionally surface from my definitely need to check
to the revolutionary move- ers said made it to Chimo- time after the “moraris” mind’s recesses without their goat pens for life
It was in the Eastern ments, namely Zpra and io camp.  and “pungwes”, which invitation. They now carry first or chickens. It took
Highlands of the coun- Zanla, who fought the were basically mass edu- a certain prescience. One courage indeed to over-
try in the late 1970s and war. In the mind of the im- cation sessions and indoc- of those songs had the fol- look your chicken run of
more precisely in Gurure pressionable little boy I trination intended to en- lowing line: five fowl and not see relish
village, Nyazura, in Man- Songs about sacrifice was, a dream comes with lighten the villagers about for the visitors. Once you
icaland. I cannot recall were common. wings and man can reach the reasons for the libera- “Gandanga haridye der- had heard the song, it was
the precise name of the a height of his own imag- tion war effort and impart ere mukoma, rinorutsa…”. not wise to test the gods of
commander of the guerilla “Mai nababa musandi- ination. In the mind of a party ideology.  (A guerilla does not eat war. 
regiment who was in our cheme kana ndafa, ihondo. little boy, even the apoc- okra, it causes him to Song of entitlement
area, but it may have been Ndini ndakazvida kufire ryphal tale about the vil- And music and dance vomit!)Combatants need- When the Finance minister
Comrade Max Mabhunu- nyika, kana ndafa ihon- lagers who built a tower in was integral to the now ed all the protein the vil- announced the near-com-
muchapera.  do…” (Father and mother order to fetch the crescent ritual proceedings. Mu- lagers could supply. War pletion of the VVIP hospi-
do not weep for me when I moon for use by their king sic and dance gave the is not fought and won by tal at Manyame Air Force
He was a performer in die, that is the way of war. I as a saucer is not the stuff sessions something of a vegetarians! Sometimes Base it made a lot of sense
the theatre of war and on am the one who dedicated of fiction.  distraction and titillation I chuckle when I think to me within the context
the dance floor. He danced my life to die for the coun- away from mundane vil- about it because it was a of what I had seen grow-
away “kongonya” strutting try’s liberation). The lyrics The “boys” and the lage life.  clever use of song. Instead ing up. 
out his stuff and quietened of the song were not long, “girls” strapped with Ka- of coming across as petty
the nocturnal owls with but they delivered the vital lashnikovs (AK-47) rifles But the sessions were through telling mothers The sense of entitlement
the revolutionary fervour evocative and inspiration- were the mythic heroes also dangerous because what to cook for their sons – believing that the world
of his singing at the “pun- al message. The tone in of our waking reality as the Selous Scouts could and daughters, why not or people owe you some-
gwes”, Zanu and Zanla’s which this song was sung young cattle herding boys lay an ambush. Not that put the message in humor- thing – is not new to those
night vigils during the was inevitably plaintive in the vleis. We craved there was much of an ous ditties which carry the with long memory. Writ-
war. and sombre enough to their swagger and daredev- option those days. Once subtle “encouragement”.  ing this piece, I remem-
convert the most self-serv- il antics.  summoned, the villagers bered the line from anoth-
I shall never forget the ing youth and imbue them would attend.  Well, the villagers un- er of the songs we learnt at
songs around night fires. with a martyr complex.  Smith was the oppres- Warning songs derstood the song’s clear the “moraris”.
As villagers pounded the sor and he had to vacate There were many songs meaning and before any of
drum, the yellow moon Youths yearned to join the seat of power. Blood and I cannot recollect all them dared set a meal of “Tea hobvu pano
hovered tepidly up in Sanyihwa (except that he would have to spill and of those I heard, but there sadza/isitshwala accompa- yekucheka nebanga”, trans
the charcoal sky. The air was caught by the Selous there were boys and girls nied with okra in front of
was thick with tension as Scouts as he tried to cross ready to pay the ultimate
the “boys” and the “girls”
roused the collective spirit
of the people and their na-
tionalist feelings. 

Pungwes were also a
time for terrible purges of
“enemies” – the so-called
witches and sellouts. 

But the concoction of
music and politics fuelled
adrenalin and nationalist
sentiment.

“Vana mai vanonetswa
namabhunu vachibvunzwa
vana varipiko, sendekera
mukoma taka togumbu-
ka kwazvo...”, one of the
songs went.

Translated, the song was
an exhortation to “steel”
the resolve of parents.
What all villagers who
harboured and fed the
guerillas believed was that
once the common enemy
had been vanquished, they
would share the spoils in
the denouement of the
struggle. 

Guerrillas swam among
the people like fish in wa-
ter. Without the support
of the people, guerrillas
were like fish out of water.

Freedom fighters were
their own flesh and blood,
so the people believed
them. Still, just one song
could altogether shift the
mind, melt the heart and
trigger idealistic young
men and women to risk
life and limb in search of
freedom for their people. 
There were many more
popular wartime songs
such as this one and the
Ian Smith government’s

Page 44 Life & Style NewsHawks

Issue 45, 27 August 2021

lated it meant that the Jah Prayzah Some of his songs have been viewed as heavily political, especially the one that became the coup soundtrack ‘Kutonga Kwaro’. tive was woven around
guerillas expected to be this core message and it
served their tea thick with Hero worshipping for their heroics.  ernment only managed to is pending. The Finance was used to devastating
creamy milk. I would add that music Like Jesus, his or her construct a mere 9.5 km minister has been on the effect to counter Western
played its own mesmer- of the Bulawayo-Nkayi record as saying that a lot media and the opposition
I do not exaggerate ising effect in what I call works speak for them be- between 2015 and 2020. of Zimbabwean gold finds whose figurehead then,
these memories. I realise the deification of the late cause they are grounded in That is the indictment be- its way down there each the late Morgan Tsvangi-
now that the songs the former president Robert the fact of their principled cause the standard for the month and Dubai as well. rai, was a subject of much
freedom fighters indoctri- Mugabe.  lives. Now the proposition construction of national And so it goes.  local derision as a Western
nated us with portended is never that those who infrastructure projects is sellout and puppet. 
the exceptionalism and Take, for instance, the wage war should lead a life pitched too low and mired Zimbabwe is not poor;
brazen elitism of the polit- song by the Runn Family of poverty upon the com- in too much opacity and it is only looted. If I be- The music of that era
ical leadership today.  “Ishe Kombererayi Pres- pletion of their struggle. willful incompetence. The lieved that the dead can helped cement the mus-
ident Mugabe…Ndiwo Why should that be the opacity breeds corruption tell tales, I would say Bob cular nationalist rhetoric
Back in the days of musimboti wedu...” (God case?  and fat cats tear voracious- Marley is frowning as he of that era and Mugabe
struggle, it sort of made bless President Mugabe; ly at the ailing body of our reads this piece. played the swashbuckling
sense for the villagers to he is our succour).  What most cannot rec- nation.  Songs of the republics anti-colonial stalwart of
do their part in supply- oncile with is the irony of Last week, I did write even Marcus Garvey-like
ing the materials, name- Looking back now, it a country richly endowed Is this the meaning of about how Professor Jona- stature to the hilt. It was
ly food and clothes, they was effusive and crazy. It with natural resources revolution? Is this the than Moyo used his infor- a consistent message for
could muster to support was idolatrous to say the wealth and the abject pov- ethos of a “people’s war”? mation portfolio to con- the world’s ears, but the
the war effort. Much as least. Mugabe must have erty and desolation of the Now resource wise, Zim- siderable effect and how flipside of the singing and
it cost the villagers their loved it because it fed his mass of its people.  There babwe is not a desert. It according to my theory he merry-making was the
materials and even life, it Dear Leader delusion of is enough to go around is one like the proverbial helped cause a whole gen- brutality, the “short sleeves
was our struggle together grandeur and cult of per- if the holes are properly King Solomon’s mines. eration to fall into what I of 2008”, and greed and
to remove an oppressive sonality. It was also typical plugged as the Auditor- Ask Uganda’s Museveni referred to as a deep polit- corruption harking all
settler system from power of the agit prop of Zanu’s General’s annual reports about Zimbabwean gold. ical slumber.  the way back to the days
that excluded and exploit- Marxist pretensions. The always show.  He will tell you all about of Paweni and other early
ed millions to serve a mi- Harare Mambos were one it because his country re- The jingles would play crooks. 
nority.  of the pop bands post-in- Critical thinkers are ceives tonnes upon tonnes and play again on the ra-
dependence whose mu- revulsed by the idea, for of the unrefined precious dio and in our heads. You The leadership code had
However, those de- sic aided and abetted the example, that US$4 mil- metal. would find yourself sing- long been discarded and
mands made guerrillas stranglehold of the ruling lion was the cost of the ing along because, at the the eating frenzy had be-
have a dangerous sense of party through some of Karanda bridge. I mean, His is not the only subconscious level, the gun. The masses were left
entitlement – they felt and their songs. how much is the cost of a country which does. Hell, message had inserted. holding a dummy.
still do feel that people The meaning of a merce- granite rock lying around the other day Henrietta
and the world owed them nary in the village? How many Rushwaya tried to lift six The music was part of The coming of the “sec-
a living. A revolutionary is a man bags of cement and steel kilogrammes of it through the arsenal of propaganda. ond republic” was por-
Song of freedom or woman of honour. A does it take to build such the airport. Her former The story-telling by the tended by the music of
Bob Marley’s music rever- revolutionary does not a small bridge?  driver smuggled 12kg to ruling party was essential- Jah Prayzah undoubtedly.
berates through time and have to grandstand, make South Africa. It was for- ly:  “The land is ours, and In songs such as “Mda-
space, and has provided noise, or demand reward Another example is con- feited to the authorities we will sacrifice for it”.  ra Achauya” and “Kuton-
the soundtrack to many tained in the recent revela- over there and the case ga Kwaro”. The rumour
struggles throughout the tion by Transport minister The state media narra- mill was in overdrive and
world.  Felix Mhona that the gov- some point out that he got
pelted by a faction within
Yes, it was of cosmic sig- the ruling party which did
nificance in my view that not like his melodies or
he graced Zimbabwe’s   In- the one his songs seemed
dependence stage in 1980 to be lionising. 
and rendered songs from
his now globally famous Yet again, music car-
corpus of revolutionary ried the message about the
songs. Those that attended coming of a new order, but
the gig have the memory how many listened care-
etched in their minds.  fully? When Jah Prayzah
sang “Ishumba Inoruma”
Some of us were too (the man is like a lion that
young to attend the gig bites), how many decoded
which was made possible the meaning correctly?
through some visionary Parting shot
folks within the ruling In case you may also want
party as well as through to understand why the
Marley’s staggering gen- likes of dancehall mu-
erosity of spirit. He came sician Winky D missed
at his own cost with his harm by a whisker at a
famous backing band the show in Kwekwe because
Wailers including the of his song “Jecha”, read
iThrees led by the late Rita this column again. 
Marley. He even brought
his massive public address After that sad peri-
system with him just for od, Winky D released
the gig.  “Mugarden” depicting the
romance of our Biblical
One song stands out parents Adam and Eve. I
and it is the song dedicat- suppose it is safer in the
ed to Zimbabwe going by environs of the garden of
the same title. Almost all Eden than outside in the
the lines in the song car- fields of battle. The rulers
ry much resonance for our understand the power of
country and have turned an artiste and the power of
out to be a sort of proph- music to carry messages,
ecy.  which explains all the galas
of the past, the utilisation
“Every man got a right of popular artistes such as
to decide his own desti- the late Andy Brown, Soul
ny, and in this judgement Jah Love, Sandra Ndebele,
there is no partiality… Bryan Mteki and the cur-
In everyman chest, mm - rent efforts by the likes of
there beats a heart, so soon Java. They are part of the
we’ll find out who is the regime. But it usually ends
real revolutionaries, and I in tears.
don’t want my people to
be tricked by mercenar- Twitter: @kuditaaddy
ies…” 

NewsHawks Life & Style Page 45

Issue 45, 27 August 2021

Poet: Temba Munsaka And articulated words Title: The temple sweeper
Title: Rigor Mortis; The Flight of the Cadaver that hold no meaning for me Poet: Chenjerai Mhondera
Wild gestures and gesticulations
Death is natural; Urgently punctuate purpose I used to be a temple sweeper,
to breath, the last is to breath the first in the On an indifferent slate For a whole age and half,
next dimension I nod my head The half, halving my heart
Like a people in transition; Up and down For the entire time, a sweeper I was,
colonial prosperity far better than an emanci- Her tongue inaccessible I would sweep the torn
pated state in capture! Until in silence and discarded pauper’s prayers
Muscles soft and flaccid, We sit From the Priest’s holy pulpit
as life escapes the vault, Deafened by chasms of They were all torn, and worn out,
akin to rule of law expired; language lost Filled with lone and dejection,
from protector to usurper! and stories left Numerous in wounded and bleeding card-
Calcium ions cease to obtain; forever untold board boxes,
no different to a political dogma that has gone The silver foils only decorated the rich
to the dogs! *********************************************** merchant’s prayers,
Acting and myosin filaments are dumbfound- Title: Immolated Morality But still as a temple sweeper,
ed; likened to societal moral fiber vanquished! Poet: Nikki H Hwindiri I collected none of these prayers
Adenosine triphosphate freezes in eternity; Into the holy of holies
kindred to corruption & other vices becoming A holocaustic blood bath, Because for the dunces it was a sanctu-
the norm! Needlessly callous Nazi wrath ary, But for the temple sweeper, it was a
In the absence of oxygen, the chemicals ex- His legacy, the face of a genocide brothel, An ordained, holy sister
pire; democracy supplanted strangles a nation! Protecting the slave master with zeal and pride A sacred lamb, to complete the ritual
Temperature becomes a catalyst, Could have been Tongogara, deliverer of The temple sweeper, does not persecute
an enabler retrogressive; peace The pauper on pulpit
selfsame to partisan politics as an enabler! Bulwark of freedom, egalitarianism and justice By preaching to the sins of adultery and
& Bootlicking becomes the currency! Nonaligned to moronic, despotic individuals fornication,
Muscles stiffen like law; Insatiable thirst for blood, credulous rituals? Because all these, to the leader of the
to the death of free will. But his pockets were full. parish,
From Absent to Passed stages in rigor mortis Beautiful face, ugly disposition Are heresy and blaspheme; In our hushed
the body mutates; Caramel light skin, dark imagination conscience, myself being many,
like a state in decay-thriving pre-colonial to Could have penned the truth on that pad And many being me,
a stable independent state to a decomposed Sang for her supper, told a lie in its stead I would sweep all these secret prayers
post-colonial state; All the while she beholds the rot Into a dustbin,
a parabolic arc to eventual democracy fossil- Unabashedly defending it in her report Because it was unholy to keep them
ization! Great potential to be Rosa Parks In chapel until the next prayer session
The body lies in state; obvious of the eerie Teller of truths, exposer of the false
silence; allegorical to a people who have been But her pockets were full. Title: They Are Listening
classically conditioned, tamed, and caged! Right in front of her but she looks aside Poet: Kelly Kaur
The beginning of eternity Facilitating the scourge that taints blood
Like an economy in comatose! Youngins delict, brains in turmoil I have wandered aimlessly
But unlike a corpse, democracy must thrive Suppressed electrons, scatty neural intel through the nooks and crannies
again, the economy must rise like a Phoenix! A good disguise boxes of cooking oil of my lopsided house laid on my arched
Veiling horrors, merchandise of the cartel back etched histories
*********************************************** Could have prevented decomposing minds on the ceiling fervently prayed
A whole generation lost to opioids in the darkness splattered words of hope
Title: Unheard Stories But her pockets were full. on beams that defiantly enclose me these
Poet: Kelly Kaur Galant people’s lawyer walls have ears storing shameless se-
A symbol of honor and valor crets
Grandmother spoke Or so they mistakenly thought I zigzag from living room to dining room
In a language Until that day when he walked in the court from kitchen to bedroom back and forth a
I barely understood Hand in glove with corrupt Zachariah caged beast some days these walls suf-
Leaning toward me Defending embezzlement of the chaotic Pariah focate constrict like a madwoman; I peel
On her rattan bed Insulting efficiency in carrying out the duty layers and layers of of interrupted lives
Under the squeaky, whirring fan Used to have principle, passion, dignity wordlessly I erase life as I know it I erase
On a hot Singapore afternoon But his pockets were full. the warm embrace of strangers I erase the
I strain to listen migration between continents this this is
To sounds *********************************************** all I have my haven is my heaven
my heaven is my haven

Page 46 NewsHawks

Issue 45, 27 August 2021

LADIES’ CHOICE
Women on the Move

The NewsHawks introduced a section on its digital publication covering issues about women’s endeavours – under Ladies’ Choices: Women on the Move - to provide women
with opportunities to succeed in their professional and personal lives. Empowering women is empowering families, communities and societies. The coverage’s key objectives are
to highlight women’s careers, endeavours, businesses, financial issues and advance their career growth, as well as contribute to fulfilling their hopes and aspirations. Through this
initiative, our goal is ultimately to contribute, while also helping to secure an equal future for our fellow female citizens, entrepreneurs, employees, clients, consumers and the
communities we serve. In recent years conversations around patriarchy and social tenets of equality have been at the forefront of feminism, but now campaigns and demands for
equality are nearing a fever pitch. However, economic equality – which matters the most – is still a pipe dream.

From Gokwe to Oxford – A
feisty girl’s rocky life journey

AS part of our monthly coverage and Zimbabwean University of Oxford alumna and author Petronella Munhenzva.
focus on women in Zimbabwe from
different walks of life who are passion- the book? It has an interesting title, book is my biggest inspiration. Girls it not only points to the journey
ate and inspiring about what they do, how did you come up with that one? like her do not end up in Oxford! The being explored in the book, it also
while positively influencing change in (PM): My biggest motivation for writ- fact that she did inspired me to write the offers a contrast between these
society, closing social inequalities and ing this book is the journey that I have book and tell her story to inspire other two worlds that eventually came
uplifting others in the process, this time walked to becoming the person that I people, especially young girls and wom- together. The Girl Who Dared to
we interview a young Zimbabwean am today. en to dare to dream.  Dream title brings the focus to the
academic, Petronella Munhenzva, girl who brought these two con-
who dared to dream and shatter the That little girl on the cover of the The title just occurred to me. From trasting places together. 
glass ceiling to climb the scholarship Gokwe to Oxford was just perfect as
ladder from Gokwe to Oxford.

Her story is especially inspiration-
al to girls, particularly those from
underprivileged family backgrounds
and rural areas; it encourages them to
dream big -- which goes a long way in
helping them to become accomplished
women in life; confident of their place
in society and individuals who want
to change the world in their own small
way. 

The go-getting Munhenzva has
written an instructive book, From
Gokwe to Oxford: A Girl who Dared
to Dream, which is mainly for people
who fall short of society’s definition and
standards of success, built around so-
cial status, material things and fame,
yet  fighting to break the chain of
deprivation as they search for light at
the end of the tunnel to emerge from
the darkness of their lives to the bright
side.

The book offers motivation to peo-
ple, especially young girls and women,
trapped in seemingly inescapable social
conditions, including poverty, to em-
ulate the spirited Munhenzva as she
moves from a dusty rural backwater
where no one hardly goes to university,
let alone Oxford, against all odds to a
global citadel of education.

The NewsHawks (TN) interviewed
Petronella Munhenzva (PM) on her
life story and her journey from Gokwe
to Oxford. Find herewith excerpts of
the interview:
(TN): What inspired you to write

NewsHawks Page 47

Issue 45, 27 August 2021

(TN): In brief, what is the running be a lawyer, he called me Advocate P, Patience, Pamela and Paula. We are brings me fulfilment somehow. Hob-
trope, motif or theme of the book?  when my Grade 7 teacher told him the daughters of Ronald and Elinah bies, I like reading and love playing
(PM): The running theme of the that my command of English was Munhenzva.  chess. 
book is  “dare to dream.” Give your- very good, he called me the English (TN): Tell us about your early life, (TN): Give us a synopsis of your ac-
self the opportunity to become all major. When I told him that I want- growing up in Gokwe where you ademic journey.
that you ever hoped or wished for. ed to travel to Sweden, he called me were born? (PM): Wow, a synopsis of my ac-
Despite your background and cir- Sister Sweden. His latest names have (PM): My early life, particularly my ademic journey; this is the hardest
cumstances of birth, despite what been Sister Oxford and my million- primary school years, are perhaps the question yet, because that is one ex-
you have or better still what you don’t aire! All this gave me a strong sense most interesting. Before I had reached tremely action-packed summary. As I
have, you can dream and pursue your of amour propre, self-worth and mo- Grade Five, I had learnt at five dif- have highlighted somewhere earlier in
dreams. tivation to achieve my goals. ferent primary schools: Simuchem- the interview, by the time I reached
(TN): There are tonnes of books in (TN): Who was your role model, or bo, St Joseph, Tsungai, St Kizito in Grade Five, I had learnt at five differ-
bookshops out there. Why should role models? Gumunyu, Pfupajena and a bonus ent schools. I then completed the rest
one buy yours? (PM): Growing up, my mum was al- where I did part of my pre-school of my primary at St Joseph’s Lunga.
(PM): (Laughs). Well I can think of ways my role model. She is the stron- Musadzi (that is the place where the My secondary education was at Rio
a few reasons why you should buy gest, most determined and grounded picture on the cover of the book was Tinto Zhombe High School and my
my book. The first one is that it tells person that I know. I watched her go taken). As a child my parents say that high school was at Cheziya Gokwe
a story, an interesting story. As human to college to pursue her dreams after I liked composing songs out of every High School. Then I went to the Uni-
beings we love stories, we make sense having three kids. She is tenacious, situation to communicate my happi- versity of Zimbabwe where I studied
of the world around us through sto- self-driven and real to the core. She ness or frustrations, and to this day for an honours and my first masters;
ries. We watch Facebook lives, follow taught me many lessons about life they sing some of the songs and laugh then in 2019 I was enrolled at the
Instagram posts, Twitter or simply so- and hard work that I live by up to this about it.  University of Oxford. It’s a long story,
cial media for stories. We love movies day. (TN): What do you like in life? but that’s it in brief.
because they tell us good stories. And What inspires you, makes you sad (TN): What else are you doing at
my book tells a story of a girl who Over the years as I have grown to or happy. Your hobbies? the moment, apart from studying?
brought together two contrasting have a number of role models. (PM): One of my beliefs is that what (PM): I’m involved in a lot of projects
worlds: Oxford and Gokwe, through I am a good learner, so I keep on make you sad the most is an indi- and I am truly grateful. I am current-
dreams and performance. Second, the learning and looking up to new peo- cation and a signpost towards your ly serving as one of the coordinators
book doesn’t just tell a story, it shares ple for inspiration. purpose in life. This is a Biblical les- for the Africa Working Group with
relatable life lessons to becoming the (TN): Give us a brief background son. My greatest sadness generally is Young Scholars Initiative Institute of
person that you may want to be. Last- about yourself, where you were caused by children suffering or failing New Economic Thinking. I am also in
ly, the girl on the cover is an inspira- born, which year and date, how to meet their potential because of lack the process of registering and launch-
tion to others in her own small ways. many you are in your family, your of basics. I’m always heart-broken ing a foundation “The Munyaradzi
(TN): You come from Gokwe, a parents and such other details.  watching shattered dreams. My hap- Education Foundation” focused on
rural backwater where not many (PM): I was born at Gokwe Hospital piness then comes from being able to improving and empowering the lives
people go to university, let one Ox- on 1 November 1994. I am the sec- help people in any way that I can. It of children growing up in rural Afri-
ford. What inspired you to fight ond of four girls. I have three sisters: ca, starting with Gokwe, where I grew
against all odds to break the chains up in. I also work with a number of
of deprivation and go that far? NGOs on research projects, policy
(PM): I have always been a self-driv- research and empowerment  initia-
en person. My life is built on one tives. My personal favourite pursuit
fundamental principle: I set goals and though is the work and investment
I go after them. I had the grace of I am putting in to write my second,
knowing from an early age that God third, fourth, fifth… book. 
had a lot more in store for me be- (TN): What are your future plans
yond what I saw or the environment and ambitions. Eventually what do
I was growing up in. I am also very you want to become and be remem-
grateful to my parents for creating for bered for?
me the environment to believe that (PM): I have got a lot of future plans
I could be anything I wanted to be. and ambitions, but that’s a story for
My dad has always been my greatest another day.
cheerleader, always putting a name to
my dreams. When I said I wanted to

Page 48 People & Places NewsHawks

Issue 45, 27 August 2021

SAA back on the skies
on 23 September 2021

South African Airways will resume flights on 23 September domestically and regionally.

SOUTH Africa Airways ellers who want choice and Travel Credit Vouch- prepare for take-off, with with planning for the global travel.  
(SAA), once the conti- and competition to get er redemption will be one common purpose relaunching of a restruc- The airline came out of
nent’s leading airline in the most competitive available from Monday, – to rebuild and sustain tured and fit for purpose
its heyday, will resume ticket prices, came as fel- 6 September 2021,” SAA a profitable airline that airline that South Afri- the business rescue pro-
domestic and region- low South African oper- interim chief executive once again takes a lead- cans can again be proud cess in April and the
al flights – including to ator  Comair, operating Thomas Kgokolo said. ership role among local, of. 
Zimbabwe – under new under British Airways continental, and interna- “The airline is restart- South African govern-
ownership and manage- franchise, which suspend- Ticket sales resume tional airlines. ing with a formidable ment agreed a deal to sell
ment during the begin- ed flights early in July from 26 August and “The aviation sector is business case,” Lamola 51% in the airline to a
ning of the last week of amid heightened travel SAA  will initially oper- currently going through said.  consortium of local in-
next month. restrictions in the coun- ate flights from Johan- a testing period, and we Earlier in August, vestors in June.
try, said it will resume nesburg to Cape Town, are aware of the tough South African aviation
The airline had stopped flights from 1 September. Accra, Kinshasa, Hara- challenges that lie ahead regulators restored SAA’s SAA will have to bat-
flying in September last re, Lusaka  and Maputo. in the coming weeks. We operating licence, paving tle to regain control and
year due to viability prob- But it is SAA’s return It says it will add more thank South Africa for the way for it to resume ser- dominance of its former
lems and the impact of which is big news to fly- destinations in response support we have received vices.  routes. 
Covid-19, changing the ing travellers. to market conditions. in getting us to where we The airline had  sus-
region and continent’s are today. As we are now pended flights at the end On the lucrative Hara-
flying map, given its wide “The wait is final- “After months of dili- poised for take-off, we see of September 2020 amid re-Johannesburg route, it
footprint in South Africa ly over. In just under a gent work, we are delight- this as a major milestone mounting financial prob- will have to fight to retain
and across Africa. month, the striking and ed that SAA is resuming for SAA and the country.”    lems before a state R10.7 market share with Fastjet,
familiar livery of SAA service and we look for- SAA board chairman billion (over US$700 Airlink, Air Zimbabwe
This allowed its former will once again be visible ward to welcoming on John Lamola said since million) rescue funding and Comair. 
affiliate Airlink to re-or- in the skies as the airline board our loyal passen- the airline came out of package was agreed.
ganise and fast expand resumes operations. The gers and flying the South business rescue at the end SAA entered a formal This will be much to
its network domestically carrier has confirmed African flag. We continue of April 2021, the Minis- business rescue process, the delight of custom-
and regionally. Airlink is the first flights will com- to be a safe carrier and try of Public Enterprises, but efforts to restructure ers who usually pay high
now the region’s biggest mence on Thursday, adhering to Covid-19 together with the board the carrier were further fares for the short flight
airline. 23 of September 2021.  protocols,” Kgokolo said. and the management complicated by the pan- – at most 1 hour 30 min-
Tickets will go on sale team, had been seized demic’s disruption to utes, but sometimes a bit
News of SAA’s return, on Thursday, 26 August “There is a profound less depending on the fly-
which will be welcome 2021. Voyager bookings feeling of enthusiasm ing equipment used – be-
by the majority of trav- within Team SAA as we tween Johannesburg and
Harare. – STAFF WRITER.

Property
NewsHawks

Issue 45, 27 August 2021 PROPERTY INTERIORS ARCHITECTURE GARDENING Page 49

The home of prime property: property@newshawks.com

Massive progress at
Zimnat Office Park

Construction is underway at the Zimnat Office Park being built along the Sam Nujoma Street in Harare. — Pictures: Aaron Ufumeli

Page 50 Sport NewsHawks

Issue 45, 27 August 2021

GEORGE Shaya obviously knew Battle for control that nearly
about Eusébio, but most likely not turned nasty for George Shaya
the authoritative Hungarian-Austra-
lian football journalist-cum-broad- The late George Shaya. armed with an assortment of weap-
caster who once likened him to the ons: sticks, stones, iron bars. 
late Portuguese superstar hailed as the post-digital era, Murray – then record five awards. good sources of news were Bernard
one of the greatest of all time. an aspiring journalist making baby I of course never watched Shaya Marriot, Ernest Kamba and Isidore Quick as a flash, the gang scaled
steps in the profession – had done play. To many, mostly older gener- Sagwete.  the premises’ fence, into the offices,
László Ürge was born in Hungary his research on the Rhodesian play- ation, he is simply the greatest ever As the conflict reached fever pitch, where the new occupiers had made
in 1945, growing up in an era when ers, despite being unable to travel to from this country. We all have our it suddenly turned nasty in a man- themselves comfortable.
the central European country had Mozambique. own personal fa- ner one could
the best national football team in vourites, and for never have They were ambushed and brutally
the world, driven chiefly by a mean He particularly took interest in me I always go imagined.  assaulted in a sickening and sadis-
goal-scoring machine called Ferenc Shaya, a stylish forward-cum-play- with Peter Ndl- HawkZone Brandish- tic attack, their assailants inflicting
Puskás. maker gifted with defence-splitting ovu. But we all ing a club harm like enraged animals. It was a
vision and ability to get into good know that Sha- electoral col- 10-minute reckless disregard for life
Young László was aged nine when positions and score crucial goals ya’s place in his- lege ruling in and limb that can only come from a
the great Hungary side came close to himself. tory was guaran- Enock their favour, heart so hard and a soul so dead. 
seal its place in history, suffering a
shock defeat to West Germany in the Over a drink at a Munich café 16 teed more than Muchinjo I was alerted From the safety of our car, we
1954 World Cup final. years ago, Murray told us that word four decades ago. that Shaya’s heard grown men crying, the kind
of Shaya’s potential threat quickly My closest group had de- of frightened last cry for mercy that
It was a heart-breaking end to the spread within the Australian squad interaction with cided to give you produce when a cold-hearted
tournament for the young fan, who upon arrival in Mozambique. It this iconic of Zimbabwean football it a last throw of the dice by storm- attacker is about to deliver the fatal
three years later would migrate with was spoken of in the corridors of was when he was an official of the ing the club’s head office in Eastlea. blow.
his family to Australia as refugees, their Lourenço Marques hotel, and club that he achieved fame with, Dy- They would then seize control of
adopting the name Les Murray for during meals in the dining area.  namos. the rented headquarters, and declare After the battering, we saw the
the rest of his life.  With his quiet presence and calm themselves the new executive. goons leave in their waiting vehicle,
After the original two-match demeanour, he always appeared like Prominent figures like Sifelani and red-eyed and clearly high on some
Down Under, Murray rose to be- schedule ended in draws, 1-1 and an unwilling leader during his ten- Marriot stayed away, so Kamba was powerful substance, emotionless
come a legendary figure in Australia’s 0-0, an extra third match had to be ure as Dynamos’ board chairman. tasked with leading a small group of about the permanent damage that
sports media industry. hastily arranged to decide the win- It then came as something of a the Shaya clique on the mission.   they had caused.  
ner. Australia eventually won 3-1, surprise around 2008 when a faction It was a miscalculated move. They
In a unique country where Aus- but later lost to Israel for a place at led Shaya would plunge into the had clearly underestimated Chimin- We made sure they had left, that
tralian rules football, cricket, rugby the 1970 World Cup in Moscow. thick of a bitter battle for control ya, an older brother of senior Za- we were safe, then we entered the of-
union, rugby league and even golf of the club, pitted against a camp nu-PF official and Cabinet minister fices to examine the damage.
rule the roost – Murray’s journalism From home in Australia, Murray controlled by the aloof Richard Ignatius Chombo, himself an inter-
and broadcasting skills, as well as followed the three matches in Mo- Chiminya, the embattled club boss ested party in the club. There was blood on the floor, lit-
deep knowledge of football (soccer zambique by every means possible, at that time and a founding player Accompanied by a company driv- erally. The people inside spread on
as they will call it) – gave impetus and through some footage brought who would resort to vicious tactics er and a photographer to witness the the surface, writhing in agony. For-
to the growth of the sport across the back by travelling colleagues. to outfox the opponents.  dramatic coup, we parked strategi- tunately, everyone was conscious.
vast island nation. I covered the saga extensively for a cally, a street away within sight of But thy had been badly injured.   
Something about Shaya reminded local weekly, and I remember having the offices, at the instruction of our
Australia’s national football asso- him of the great Eusebio, who inci- regular interaction with Shaya’s men source who as it turned out rightly Kamba, a yesteryear player who
ciation honoured him in 2003 with dentally was born in Mozambique: because they were more accommo- predicted the consequences of their was now in his 60s and walked with
induction into its Hall of Fame, in the deft footwork, elegance, move- dating and enthusiastic to outline actions.   a limp, was shaken. He was in great
addition to being awarded the Mem- ment of the ball. their vision for the club, especially As soon as the takeover crew pain and he bled from the head, his
ber of the order of Australia in 2006. the suave and eloquent Morrison forced their way into the closed of- suit stained. 
There was also the low centre of Sifelani, also a pioneering player.  fices, a group of menacing young
So, in 2005 I met Murray in Ger- gravity that allowed both players Others on Shaya’s side who were men disembarked from a minibus I was suddenly besieged by
many – as part of 12 international good control of the ball, Murray thoughts: what if Shaya had been
journalists from 12 countries across said.  there himself to lead this foiled club
the globe – invited by the federal takeover? What would they have
government to cover preparations At the end of that year, Shaya was done to him? To this day, I’m still
for the football World Cup staged befittingly crowned Rhodesia’s Soc- convinced that the callous hired
there the following year.  cer Star of the Year, the first of his thugs would not have spared him.
They probably would not have
We found him to be an inex- known who he was, drunk in their
haustible fountain of knowledge, a barbaric and indiscriminate attack
walking encyclopaedia, in matters of on everyone in sight.  
world football.
The great George Shaya merciless-
For a guy who had covered big ly pummelled by brutes hired by a
tournaments, interviewed the best rival club faction? I wondered how
footballers on the planet, and hob- this would have been reported by a
nobbed with some of the world national media that had been deeply
game’s most powerful personalities, I poralised over the Dynamos control
was pleasantly surprised that Murray saga due to the politics surrounding
knew a great deal of football in my it.
own country, a place he had never
been to but desired to visit.  Not that those that were brutal-
ised that afternoon, and bear perma-
If he ever came to Zimbabwe in nent scars, matter less. I still wonder
his lifetime, he told me, he would what a similar savage assault on Sha-
not leave without humbly requesting ya, the club’s greatest player of all
a meeting with George Shaya. time, would have done to Dynamos:
the team’s reputation, its history, its
A national team from Rhodesia, culture, and everything else that it
as Zimbabwe was known before stands for.
1980, played against the Australians
in 1969 in World Cup qualifiers, a That day in 2008 marked the de-
three-match series whose legendary feat of the Shaya faction. Who would
tales live to this day. dare have stony-hearted, politically
protected hoodlums unleashed on
Because the rogue nation of Rho- them again?  
desia was shunned by the rest of the
outside world, the qualifiers – ini- Richard Chiminya continued as
tially scheduled over two legs – had Dynamos chairman until his death
to be played in a neutral country be- in 2012, preceding Shaya, who
cause the Rhodesians would not be passed on this week at the age of 74
allowed into Australia.  following a long battle with illness.

Lourenço Marques, the Mozam- As for Les Murray, he died in
bican capital later to change its name 2017, before he had fulfilled his de-
to Maputo, was chosen as the venue.  sire to visit Zimbabwe and meet the
man he associated with greatness,
A Rhodesia side overflowing with after he was charmed by masterly
attacking talent, notably the front- glimpses by a Mastermind. 
line led by poster-boy Shaya and
the free-scoring Bobby Chalmers,
crossed the border into Mozam-
bique for the showdown against the
over-confident Aussies. 

Based on thorough research in