NewsHawks 10 September 2021 (1)

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WHAT’S INSIDE Friday 10 September 2021 NAcEtWivSist ASPmORinTute
challenges longer with
NAEnWotSher naked snooping on Loga not
lie exposed in telecoms data worth the cost
Mnangagwa
biography Story on Page 21 Story on Page 50

Story on Page 16

Treasury loses
ZW$112bn
on dodgy tax
exemptions

Page 2 News NewsHawks

Issue 47, 10 Sept 2021

Treasury loses ZW$112bn to
dodgy crony tax exemptions

DUMISANI NYONI ment goods for a certain period. Finance minister Mthuli Ncube tax to ensure that the richest pay a fairer share of
Zimra acting commissioner-general Rameck the resources required to ensure sustainable and
TREASURY, always in financial dire straits, lost get of ZW$180.45 billion, 8.16% above target. inclusive growth,” the civil society group says.
about ZW$112 billion in potential revenue last Masaire said in the tax collector’s 2020 annual For the second half of 2021, Zimra said it was
year (approximately US$1.3 billion on the of- report released last Thursday: confident of exceeding the remaining period’s “There is an urgent need for the government
ficial exchange rate) through tax expenditures targets, ultimately surpassing the 2021 annual of Zimbabwe and other African governments to
consisting of uncollected tax due to exemptions “Out of the ZW$76.76 billion revenue fore- net revenue target of ZW$387.4 billion. stop giving out harmful tax incentives to multi-
and incentives to corporates, including dodgy gone, which is 38% of potential for the year, national companies.”
companies, an official Zimbabwe Revenue Au- 69% was in respect of domestic taxes, while However, Zimcodd said in a report the gov-
thority (Zimra) report says. 31% was in respect of trade taxes.” ernment should stop granting tax incentives to Zimcodd said it is a huge contradiction that
multinational companies as this is not in the corporates get tax exemptions, while the general
When value-added tax (Vat) refunds are in- Masaire said the authority swiftly responded spirit of tax justice, constitutionalism and pro- citizenry is burdened by many taxes, further fu-
cluded, the figure rises to ZW$118 billion. This to the Covid-19 pandemic by increasing Vat re- gressive taxation in the country. elling inequality.
was a dramatic 555.79% increase in the loss from funds from an average of 19% between January
2019’s ZW$17.01 billion. The ZW$112 billion and March last year, to as much as 51% in April, It said due to such practices, global inequali- The move to offer tax incentives to foreign
loss could have built roads, dams, schools, hos- averaging 21% by end of year. ty has increased by 11% in the recent past. The companies was described by the then Zimra
pitals, repaired water systems and sewage retic- United Nations Development Programme indi- commissioner-general Gershem Pasi in 2015 as
ulation, while ensuring improved social service So far, Zimra has managed to surpass the net cates that the richest 10% have up to 40% of tantamount to surrendering the country’s tax-
delivery. It could have also been used to fix some revenue target for the first half of 2021 despite global income whereas the poorest 10% earn ing rights and would negatively impact on so-
ailing utilities. the constant interruptions to business brought only between 2% and 7%. cio-economic development.
by the Covid-19-induced lockdowns.
Tax expenditures, also consisting of trade “For there to be equality, we argue that there is Pasi then said tax incentives mostly resulted
agreements or concessions, are similarly known In the first half of this year, net revenue a need for just and equitable distribution of the in benefits accruing to the country of origin of
as revenue foregone. Annual foregone revenue amounted to ZW$195.18 billion against a tar- tax burden through the introduction of a wealth the concerned companies, not the host country.
for 2020 comprised ZW$76.76 billion and
ZW$34.79 billion from domestic taxes and Tax, in most countries, is the main source of
trade taxes respectively. government income.

This comes after Zimra, and by extension According to the Heritage Foundation Report
Treasury, lost ZW$6 483 624 570.48 in Vat (2012), tax in Zimbabwe contributes 49.3% of
refunds precipitated by Covid-19. The tax col- gross domestic product and in South Africa it
lector last year responded to the pandemic by contributes 26.9%. This shows in Zimbabwe tax
increasing Vat refunds from an average of 19% contributes a large chunk of income towards the
between January and March to as much as 51% fiscus.
in April, averaging 21% by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, Zimra revealed that the out-
The total amount of foregone revenue and standing debt position as at 31 December 2020
Vat refunds becomes ZW$118 billion. Zimra’s closed at ZW$8.669 billion, which translates to
actual net revenue for 2020 was ZW$182 bil- a debt-to-revenue ratio of 3% against a target of
lion against a target of ZW$172 billion. 5%, a decrease from 21% in 2019.

The ZW$181.9 billion collected was 5.85% Despite the increase in debt from ZW$4.791
above target. This included US$791 million billion, the authority said the debt-to-revenue
in foreign currency collections. It represented ratio improved due to increased revenue collect-
74.93% growth over 2019 when year-on-year ed during the year.
inflation peaked at 785% in May last year before
going down to 50% in August this year. Masaire said the authority continued with its
drive of broadening the tax base through new
In a bid to attract investment, the govern- registrations. “Active taxpayer education and
ment has been offering tax incentives to some engagement programmes implemented result-
foreign companies, a move once described by ed in 21 643 new registrants who contributed
the economic and social justice watchdog, the ZW$558.234 million (19.48%).
Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Develop-
ment, as harmful and unfair. Management also enhanced the project on
integration of databases between government
For instance, last year the government ex- agencies to facilitate registration in sync with the
empted Chinese telecommunications giant government`s thrust of widening the tax base,”
Huawei Technologies from paying income tax he said.
dating back 11 years to December 2009.

In January this year, Great Dyke Investments
(GDI), which is developing a platinum min-
ing project in Darwendale, Mashonaland West
province, was granted five-year tax exemption by
the government. This was done by Finance min-
ister Mthuli Ncube through an Extraordinary
Government Gazette dated 27 January 2021.

GDI is a joint venture between Russia’s Vi
Holdings and Zimbabwe’s Landela Mining
Venture (Pvt) Limited. It is reportedly investing
US$3 billion into platinum mining. Exemp-
tions, to run until 2025, include income tax and
tax on dividends earned by shareholders.

Landela Mining Venture is owned by Zimba-
bwean business magnate Kudakwashe Tagwirei,
President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s close ally.

The government has also said it will offer tax
incentives to companies operating in the spe-
cial economic zones in certain industries such
as manufacturing as a way of attracting foreign
direct investment.

Tax incentives, according to experts, refer to
a deduction, exclusion, or exemption from a tax
liability, offered as an enticement to engage in a
specified activity such as investment in equip-

NewsHawks News Page 3

Issue 47, 10 Sept 2021

Page 4 News NewsHawks

Govt mulls merger of six Issue 47, 10 Sept 2021
banks into three entities

BRIDGET MANANAVIRE

A PROPOSAL to merge six financial institu- The Zimbabwean government, in collaboration with local and international bankers, is working on an ambitious project to create the biggest financial services
tions into three big ones is being considered company in the country, with an asset base of over US$2.5 billion.
by the Zimbabwean government, in a different
consolidation process from the CBZ Holdings, other financially excluded groups. tial inputs. crofinance institutions, eight deposit-taking
ZB Financial Holdings, First Mutual Holdings The same documents that contain the merg- Meanwhile, the Infrastructure Development microfinance institutions and two development
Limited (FMHL) and First Mutual Properties financial institutions under the purview of the
(FMP) merger. er proposals say in the process, the government Bank of Zimbabwe (IDBZ) will focus on infra- central bank. The banking sector had total assets
must make sure that the institutions do not structure projects. of ZW$486. 4 billion, total loans and advances
As reported by The NewsHawks last week, the compete against each other. of ZW$142.79 billion and a net capital base of
government, in collaboration with local and in- There has been an argument that Zimbabwe ZW$72.90 billion as of June 2021.
ternational bankers, is working on an ambitious This means they must focus on different has fragmented financial institutions, including
project to create the biggest financial services things. The CBZ, ZB, FMHL and FMP merg- merchant banks, commercial banks and build- “The banking sector remained adequate-
company in the country, with an asset base of er, which will have a combined total asset base ing societies. Plans to merge institutions have ly capitalised, with aggregate core capital of
over US$2.5 billion. of about US$2.5 billion, will focus on funding existed for decades and the government has now ZW$57.54 billion as at 30 June 2021, an in-
large-scale national projects. The FBC holding taken steps to make them happen with the CBZ, crease of 8.09%, from ZW$53.18 billion as at
It will have five major divisions: banking, in- and NBS merger will concentrate on housing. ZB, FMHL and FMP being the leading project. 31 December 2020. The banking sector average
surance, investment, property and agriculture. capital adequacy and tier-one ratios of 35.32%
On the other hand, AFC and POSB will According to the mid-term monetary policy and 25.05% respectively, were above the regu-
The new mergers being considered, according focus on presidential input schemes while the by Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John latory minimum of 12% and 8%, respectively,”
to a government advisory, involve a merger of Women’s Bank and Empowerment Bank merg- Mangudya, as at 30 June 2021, the banking sec- Mangudya said in the monetary policy state-
FBC Holdings Limited, in which the Nation- er will focus on empowerment with special focus tor comprised 13 commercial banks, five build- ment.
al Social Security Authority (Nssa) is the single on women. ing societies and one savings bank.
largest shareholder and National Building Soci-
ety (NBS), in which Nssa is the only sharehold- The POSB and AFC will focus on presiden- In addition, there were 178 credit-only mi-
er.

NBS was set up with a mandate of contribut-
ing to the national housing stock while FBC is a
holding company listed on the Zimbabwe Stock
Exchange with financial services through sub-
sidiaries that cover commercial banking, mort-
gage financing, insurance, reinsurance, securities
trading and micro financing.

The other merger involves Agricultural Fi-
nance Company (AFC) — formerly Agribank
— and the People’s Own Savings Bank, both
owned by the government. In recent years there
have been efforts to privatise the savings bank.

AFC, on the other hand, evolved from the
Land and Agricultural Bank (LAB) of 1924 of
the then Southern Rhodesian government and
through the Agricultural Finance Corporation
(AFC), which was established in 1971 by vari-
ous Acts of Parliament.

The proposal also includes plans to merger
the Zimbabwe Women’s Microfinance Bank
and the Empowerment Bank, also owned by
government.

The Women’s Bank is a national financial in-
stitution focused on empowering women while
the Empowerment Bank’s thrust is to provide
social and financial solutions to the youth and

NewsHawks News Page 5

Issue 47, 10 Sept 2021

Page 6 Special Report NewsHawks

Issue 47, 10 Sept 2021

OWEN GAGARE/ NHAU MANGIRAZI Contract tobacco farmers
in Zim drowning in debt
WHEN John Ruvanga started growing tobacco
for the Zimbabwean subsidiary of China’s state Karoi tobacco farmer John Ruvanga from Mwami Village, Karoi, in Hurungwe District, harvesting vate property” that breached the constitution.
cigarette company in 2014, it seemed like he tobacco in the field with his workers. — Credit: Nhau Mangirazi Believe Tevera, president of the Tobacco
would be able to make enough money to pro-
vide for his family. foreign currency earnings than other business- the bank uses an official rate that overvalues the Farmers Union of Zimbabwe, called the central
people. local tender, it ends up keeping most of export- bank’s system “exploitative”.
As a contract farmer for Tian Ze Tobacco ers’ incomes.
Company (Pvt) Ltd., which is owned by China “Tobacco farmers are in a much better po- “We have been lobbying the government to
Tobacco International, a subsidiary of China sition compared to other exporters when it Zimbabwe’s government uses the foreign change, but it is not yielding because [tobacco
National Tobacco Corporation (CNTC), he comes to forex surrender or retention require- currency it accrues to service its international export earnings] provide easy and cheap access
was given seeds, fertiliser, chemicals, and train- ments,” he said. debt, about a third of which it owes to China. to foreign currency,” he said.
ing up front, which he would pay for once he Some is spent on critical imports such as fuel
had sold his crop at the end of the season. At Vicious Cycle of Poverty and medicine. But some reportedly goes to lux- Zimbabwe requires Tian Ze to pay its con-
US$3 for a kilogramme of tobacco, he got paid Zimbabwe has been scrambling to get hold ury goods for senior officials, including buying tract tobacco farmers through the Central Bank
more too. of US dollars since its currency meltdown in top-of-the-range vehicles for ambassadors, se- in a mixture of US dollars and local quasi-cur-
2008, precipitating the country’s spiral into nior civil servants, and army officers. rency, while their loans must be paid off in for-
In the first year, Ruvanga’s income from his hyperinflation, and a desperate economic crisis eign currency alone.
3.5-hectare Toro (Lot 1) Farm in Mwami Vil- that continues to this day. The currency exchange system has been de-
lage in Karoi, Hurungwe District, in Mashona- The RBZ has rules requiring all exporters to nounced as illegal by Zimbabwe’s own law- Most of their earnings get eaten up paying
land West province under Chief Kazangarare surrender part of their foreign earnings, which makers. A 2019 report by the Public Accounts back loans for inputs like seeds and fertiliser.
(John Chirozva), in Zimbabwe’s north, reached is then converted into a quasi-currency based Committee found the central bank had retained Then, because the official exchange rate for the
US$3 500, leaving him with more than US$2 on government bonds — either physical bond billions of US dollars under these rules, which it quasi-currency is drastically overvalued com-
300 in profit. notes or their digital equivalent. But because described as “an unlawful appropriation of pri- pared to the commonly used black-market
rates, farmers lose much of what’s left over.
“I was able to pay back the loan, still have
some money to pay my bills, school fees, rent Many farmers end up with barely enough to
in town, buy cattle, goats, and other things survive.
that my family needed,” Ruvanga told OC-
CRP’s partner The NewsHawks, sheltering from A Tian Ze contract for the 2019-2020 season
the midday sun under the wide branches of a shows how the system is rigged in the compa-
muchacha tree. ny’s favour, with farmers running the risk of
shouldering debts larger than they are likely to
But things soon changed. The price he re- earn from their tobacco. Loans must be paid
ceived for his tobacco, which he was obliged in full before the grower makes any profit, and
to sell to Tian Ze, was cut to US$2 per kilo- sometimes their property is offered as collateral
gramme. in case they default.

Meanwhile, Ruvanga said the company pro- If contract farmers don’t pay Tian Ze and a
vided him with fewer inputs for his crop, then legal process ensues, the farmers are required to
automatically deducted the same amount as he pay the costs of the proceedings.
had paid the previous year, pushing him into
debt. A 2020-2021 contract for Mashonaland To-
bacco Company (Pvt) Ltd, a Zimbabwean sub-
By 2018, Ruvanga found himself trapped in sidiary of Pyxus International, Inc. that has sold
a cycle of debt, where his earnings were never to Tian Ze, has similar terms.
enough to repay his loans. The following year
he stopped farming tobacco under contract to Tian Ze’s contract system, which is now be-
Tian Ze, but he still owed the company US$3 ing adopted by other tobacco companies, leaves
000. His tractor, water pump, and other equip- farmers more vulnerable to sliding into debt.
ment were confiscated under a court order to A 2019 paper by academics from the Univer-
collect his debts. sity of Cape Town School of Economics based
on research done in Manicaland, Zimbabwe’s
More than 20 000 farmers in Zimbabwe fourth-biggest tobacco growing region, found
grow tobacco for Tian Ze, a subsidiary of the contractors were 15% to 20% more likely to be
state-run CNTC and the top buyer of the in the red than independent growers.
country’s tobacco by value.
“The debt compels them to grow tobacco in
Established in 2005, the Chinese-owned the following farming season, in an often-vain
company has been credited with resurrecting attempt to repay the debt,” the authors wrote.
Zimbabwe’s tobacco industry after it was crip- “The cycle is usually repeated, making tobacco
pled by a violent land reform programme and growing a debt trap, leading to a vicious cycle
Western sanctions. of poverty.”

The relationship has proved mutually ben- Wenjie said Tian Ze was engaging with the
eficial for longtime allies Harare and Beijing: Ministry of Finance and RBZ about the curren-
Zimbabwe, now Africa’s top tobacco producer, cy exchange program, which she said also drives
offers China Tobacco a ready supply of leaf to
feed its growing business, while tobacco exports Zimbabwean workers of Chinese Tian Ze Tobacco Company arrange bags of tobacco leaves at the company’s warehouse in the southern suburbs
have become an important source of badly of Harare, on April 11, 2014. — Credit: Xinhua/ Alamy Stock Photo
needed foreign currency for Zimbabwe’s gov-
ernment.

But as the two governments profit, it is farm-
ers who are paying the price. Growers say they
often end up trapped in a painful debt cycle, as
they struggle to pay for expensive inputs they
can ill afford — a claim backed up by research-
ers —while a controversial currency system run
by Zimbabwe’s central bank saps much of what
is left of their income. Caught in a system that
seems rigged against them, many growers have
been left ruined. Ruvanga said he now relies on
subsistence farming to support his family.

Tian Ze spokesperson Li Wenjie denied that
it overcharged for the inputs it provides to its
growers, and argued that it is the only company
that offers interest-free loans and pays the high-
est average prices for tobacco in the country.

“All the inputs we give to farmers are given at
the suppliers’ price; we do not [add] any mark-
up,” he said. “We support the farmers.”

Asked for comment, Reserve Bank of Zimba-
bwe (RBZ) governor John Mangudya referred
reporters to a previous statements he made on
Zimbabwe’s monetary policy. He said the ex-
change system was vital to ensure the country
had enough foreign reserves, and that tobacco
farmers actually had to surrender less of their

NewsHawks Special Report Page 7

Issue 47, 10 Sept 2021

up costs for the Chinese company. Tian Ze’s head office in the southern, Harare.
“The official rate is around ZW$85, but out-

side they use a black-market rate which is much
higher so this actually increases our cost of op-
eration and adds the extra cost to the company,”
Wenjie said.

Zimbabwe Tobacco Association chief exec-
utive Rodney Ambrose said that, because so
much of tobacco farmers’ income goes to pay-
ing off loans, only a fraction of export earnings
actually end up in the country.

“While on paper tobacco sales may earn
[Zimbabwe] $500 to $600 million per season,
real inflows are about a quarter of this,” he said.

But with bank credit hard to come by, 95%
of tobacco sales in 2020 were from contractors,
according to the Tobacco Industry and Market-
ing Board. Farmers say people are so eager to get
a foot in the door they often sign contracts they
do not understand.

Tawanda Muchenje thought Tian Ze’s model
sounded like a godsend when he heard about it
from his neighbors.

A mineworker with no savings, he decided
to turn his hand to farming, and was granted
a 10-hectare plot under the government’s land
reform program.

He planted the first tobacco crop for the Chi-
nese company in Karoi district in 2015. That
year he borrowed $5 000 to buy inputs and
made US$6 000 from his crop, leaving him
US$1 000 profit. The second season, Muchenje
produced roughly the same quantity of tobacco
and got paid US$5 000, meaning he broke even.

But in 2017 his output fell, leaving him ow-
ing US$500. As the seasons went by, Muchen-
je’s debts grew to US$3 500, forcing him to quit
tobacco farming. The sole breadwinner for his
family, he has sold all his livestock to pay his
debts to Tian Ze, and now relies on subsistence
farming.

“Contract farmers have been left to uncaring,
big international companies who ill-treat them
and the government has never done anything to
help the dire situation,’’ Muchenje said.

A long friendship Tobacco farmer Mathew Banda grades dry tobacco leaf at his home in A Tian Ze contract for 2019-2020 shows how farmers run the risk of taking
Tian Ze’s headquarters in Harare is far from Zimbabwe’s Hurungwe District. Credit: — Nhau Mangirazi on debt they cannot afford, with inputs priced in dollars and the cost of loans
inviting. Visitors must pass through several se- taken out of their pay before they make any income. — Credit: Edin Pasovic
curity checks to enter the compound, where
trucks unload bales of tobacco into a massive not,” he said, according to Zimbabwean media from Zimbabwe by US$100 million, to be paid company dominates the market, because it not
warehouse facility that dominates the grounds. outlet NewsDay. in kind with farming machinery from major only buys from contract farmers, but also oth-
Inside, is a piece of China set down in south- Chinese manufacturer Zoomlion, which in er merchants and tobacco auctions, beating out
ern Africa. A picture of Chairman Mao Zedong Backed by cheap Chinese loans and political 2020 was at least 20% owned by government competition using its financial muscle.
greets anyone who enters the reception area, connections at the highest levels, Tian Ze’s busi- entities in China.
where Chinese staff bustle around. Nearby ness has grown rapidly from 78 growers in its The sector’s regulatory body, the Tobacco
hangs another picture of Chinese President Xi first year to more than 20,000 now. Today the Tian Ze has also flexed its soft power by spon- Industry and Marketing Board, is working on
Jinping next to one of his Zimbabwean coun- company spends over US$40 million a year on soring social projects in Zimbabwe, including ways of changing the financing model so strug-
terparts, Emmerson Mnangagwa. contract farmers. medical clinics, orphanages, and the China To- gling farmers have alternatives to borrowing
Tian Ze arrived in Zimbabwe when former bacco Ma Bo Hope Primary School in the sub- from Tian Ze and other tobacco companies di-
President Robert Mugabe’s government was China is now the biggest importer of Zim- urbs of Harare — activities banned under the rectly.
building its relationship with China in response babwean tobacco. The country buys some 62 Framework Convention on Tobacco Control,
to crippling Western sanctions. million kilograms of packed tobacco worth a global treaty regulating the tobacco industry But farmer Robert Shoriwa said the Chinese
Mugabe had been on friendly terms with Bei- US$500 million every year, according to spokes- which both China and Zimbabwe have signed. company has become untouchable.
jing since China supported his Zimbabwe Afri- person Wenjie, accounting for well over half of
can National Unity during the country’s war for the country’s tobacco exports by value. Some industry experts worry that Tian Ze has “Tian Ze is now dominating the market and
independence from British colonial rule. This gained a stranglehold on the tobacco industry. it has changed its approach [. . .] It now charges
relationship strengthened in the 2000s as Zim- In 2019, Tian Ze further expanded its in- interest on loans, the prices it pays for tobacco
babwe’s isolation on the international stage left fluence through a so-called “tobacco for equip- Zimbabwe Tobacco Association’s agricultur- are lower than before, and the inputs come late,”
it dependent on support from China. ment” program. It agreed to increase its exports al manager Casper Mlambo said the Chinese he said.
Today, China is Zimbabwe’s biggest single
creditor, its top investor, and its most powerful
ally.
Tian Ze was established in a 2005 sweetheart
deal aimed at reviving Zimbabwe’s dying tobac-
co industry, which exempted the Chinese com-
pany from rules that require large foreign-op-
erated companies to be 51% owned by local
citizens.
Former Minister of Youth Development,
Indigenisation and Empowerment Saviour
Kasukuwere later defended the exemption for
some Chinese companies, reportedly arguing it
was justified based on Beijing’s “disposition to-
wards our people.”
“Companies such as Tian Ze came into the
country at a time when no one wanted to come
in. They have been supporting our agriculture
and our farmers, so we look at those things
when considering whether to exempt them or

Page 8 Special Report NewsHawks

Issue 47, 10 Sept 2021

Tian Ze speaks on its emerging
Zim tobacco market monopsony

IN a bid to understand how Zimbabwe- million kg we are buy is best quality tobacco al run so that we can see how the process goes CG: What are the main terms and conditions
an-based Chinese tobacco giant Tian Ze, a and the value of that is around US$500 million, because the problem with small-scale farmers is on contracts between a farmer and Tian Ze?
subsidiary of China Tobacco International that is money that China tobacco is bringing to that they are not stable, the quality of tobacco
Inc, controlled by the state-owned China Zimbabwe in purchases. that they produce is not up to the same level as LW: If a farmer wants to join us, there is a
National Tobacco Corporation (CNTC), is that by commercial farmers. But the good thing procedure that they have to go through like an
fast becoming a monopsony — dominant CG: What would say are some of your is that inputs levels for small-scale farmers are assessment. There are things which we will need
buyer in the market — The NewsHawks re- achievements as a company so far? low; you do not have to give them much inputs, to check out like title deeds and offer letters so
cently sought an interview with the company. but we are really trying to engage them. that we see if the farmer is actually entitled to
CNTC is the biggest cigarette company in the LW: As Tian Ze, we are here to buy tobac- farm on that land. We also send in our guys so
world. Tian Ze spokesperson Li Wenjie (LW) co and send it to China, and in the process we CG: How many commercial farmers did you that they check out the various equipment and
spoke to The NewsHawks reporter Chippa support the farmers. And if you check around start with and how many do you have now? facilities in the area. So if a farmer joins us, in
Gonditii (CG) about various issues relating you will see that we are the only company that the first year we do not give them any inputs
to the company, market dynamics and its does not charge interest on inputs and loans, we LW: We started with one and now we have because we want to see how good they are in
emerging dominant position in the local to- lend to our farmers at zero interest. And all the over 150. growing tobacco, but as the years go by we in-
bacco industry which generates close to US$1 inputs we give to farmers are given at the sup- crease the inputs.
billion annually. Find below the interview ex- pliers’ price. We do not put any mark-ups; some CG: How much tobacco do you buy from
cerpts: other companies charge higher prices than those auction floors Every year we do an assessment before sign-
offered by suppliers. That is why we have a big ing of the contract, this will be in the form of
CG: May you start by telling us the history and stable contract farming scheme. LW: Slightly over a million kg. a scoresheet. So basically farmers are graded ac-
of Tian Ze. CG: How much tobacco do you get from cording to how they score on this assessment.
As I said earlier on, China Tobacco is buying commercial farmers and tobacco merchants? Farmers who get higher than 90% are given
LW: Tian Ze is a subsidiary of China Tobacco half of the tobacco in Zimbabwe which is a big LW: Out of the 62 million kg I mentioned more inputs because we then know they will
(CNTC). We came to Zimbabwe in 2005. Our contribution to the economy I would say. earlier, we get 12 million kg from in-house able to pay back the loan; in tobacco farming if
initial aim was to outsource tobacco growing (from growers) and the other 50 million kgs we you give money away you don’t get it back.
for cigarette-making in China because Zimba- CG: How many people do you currently em- are getting from merchants. So far we have nine
bwe has one of the best tobacco in the world. At ploy at your company? suppliers selling to China Tobacco, including CG: What type of inputs are generally given
that time production of tobacco in Zimbabwe ourselves Tian Ze). out to farmers?
was very low, so the Zimbabwean government LW: We have six Chinese expatriates sent CG: What been your average buying piece?
came to China Tobacco and asked for help, that from China; these are like civil servants sent by LW: You might have to check the TIMB (To- LW: The inputs that the farmers get are
is when we set up the company and started con- China Tobacco. But overall, we have 10 Chinese bacco Industry Marketing Board) data, but we unique to each farmer, for example some farm-
tract farming. At that point farmers in Zimba- guys, 73 permanent employees and 350 season- do have the highest average price among all the ers might require more fuel and another might
bwe had land, but did not have any money, so al workers from around March to August. tobacco companies in Zimbabwe. say he or she needs more fertiliser, while some
we started the contract growing system where CG: Farmers we have spoken to complain prefer other things. However, there is a limit to
we would give them inputs and encourage them CG: What is your business model as Tian Ze? about the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s 60:40 what they can get.
to grow tobacco that they would deliver to us. LW: At Tian Ze we do contract farming and forex retention ratio. What is your comment on
currently we have about 150 contract farmers this? CG: How much are you spending annually
We have had this system for 15 years to 16 who grow about 80 000 hectares. Most of our LW: I think there are two sides to this story; on commercial farmers?
years now and it has worked very well. We have farmers are commercial farmers; we actually for farmers this year they are getting 60% forex
seen production of tobacco in Zimbabwe im- don’t have small-scale farmers, but now we are and 40% Zimdollar when they sell their tobac- LW: Roughly I can say we are giving out
proving greatly from 50 million kilogrammes trying to get into the small-scale business and co. However, from the company side, whenever US$55 million to farmers for both commercial
around that time to 200 million kilogrammes support small-scale farmers. We use third party we bring forex from outside we have to claim and small-scale farmers.
now. We are also buying half of all the tobacco companies and give them inputs to go to look from RBZ; if the money is for farming inputs
produced in Zimbabwe (from growers, auction for small-scale farmers who then grow and sell then you get to keep 100% forex, but if it’s for CG: How much are you spending on buying
floors and other tobacco companies). to us. So we use third parties to support the other uses then its 60:40. tobacco annually?
small-scale farmers. CG: How has this affected your company?
As Tian Ze we do contract growing, we have Besides contract farming, we also buy from LW: As a company we do not have a prob- LW: About US$100-US$120 million.
got our own department, but that is not enough. the auction floors; every year we buy one mil- lem with the 60% which goes into the nostro CG: From all the tobacco that you buy, how
So we also buy tobacco from other merchants lion kg from the auction floor. The problem account, the problem is the 40% because the much do you export to China?
and other tobacco companies like Northern To- with the auction floors is that volumes have official rate is around US$1: ZW$85, but out- LW: From what we get, there is some which
bacco and Zimbabwe Leaf Tobacco. been dropping, all these years before they used side they use a black market rate which is much sell to China then there is the other tobacco of
to sell between 50 million kg and 60 million kg, higher. So this actually increases our cost of op- poor quality which we swap with other compa-
Every year we buy almost 62 million kg of but last year they had less than 10 million kg. eration and adds extra costs to the company. nies. There is some quality that is need in Chi-
packed and processed tobacco. So if you con- This year it’s expected to be 15 million kg. We have been trying to talk to the Ministry na, so we swap with other companies and get
vert it back to green tobacco, you will actually CG: When did you start engaging small-scale of Finance and the RBZ to adjust this policy what we want. Alternatively, we just sell to them
see that its 100 million kg, which is almost half farmers and what has been your experience so because as a tobacco company we are bringing that grade of tobacco we don’t want and buy the
of the tobacco produced in Zimbabwe. This 62 far? a lot of forex. grade which is wanted in China to top upon
LW: We started engaging small-scale farmers what we already have.
two to three years ago; we are still doing a tri- We used to just send everything to China,
but now they need top quality tobacco and that
is the only grade they accept.

NewsHawks Special Report Page 9

Issue 47, 10 Sept 2021

VARIOUS empirical studies done by different re- Farmers reel from debt: Research
searchers on contract tobacco farming and its vi-
ability among smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe “In illuminating on contract farming, the land Provinces. Zimbabwean tobacco farmers in the field.
have found that most of the golden-leaf produc- study also pays attention to non-contract farm- “This was done through examining different liabilities through contract arrangements and in-
ers are reeling from debt and poverty. ers. The rise in the number of contract farmers is centives — credit and inputs.
attributed to; better extension services, improved levels of income earned between contract and
This is contrary to the popular narratives that and guaranteed access to input and output mar- non-contract tobacco growers, food consumption Before each farming season, farmers get inputs
since the tobacco industry is a money-spinning kets. At the same time, tobacco contract farming rates, land use patterns and asset accumulation and after harvest and sales, the contract growers
sector, whose market value is about US$1 billion is marked by several vicissitudes. Some farmers among other indicators. The asymmetric power — entangled in debt — see all their proceeds de-
annually, farmers, who do all the dirty work, are withdrew from the contracts due to low output relations between farmers and buyer firms was ducted to pay off arrears, leaving them with little
also minting money in the process. prices and high input costs resulting in indebted- as well examined. Evidence shows that contract or worse off.
ness. Similarly, some contracting firms dropped farming has improved access to high-yielding in-
However, different research show that farmers out from the contracting arrangements. Overall, put, better extension service, incomes, while also To make matters worse, farmers get 40%
are drowning in a sea of debt and poverty, while many contracted growers accumulated more than contributing to asset accumulation when com- of their money at the official bank rate (US$1:
tobacco big merchants make megabucks. There non-contract farmers.” pared to noncontract farming households. ZW$85), while some of their inputs and goods
are 31 tobacco merchants in Zimbabwe currently. for consumption are sold at the black market rate,
Another research, Contract Farming Arrange- “However, lack of platform in the contract de- now scaling US$1: ZW$160.
A study, titled Tobacco Farming and Current ment and Poor Resourced Farmers in Zimbabwe, by sign process disadvantages farmers and exposes
Debt Status Among Smallholder Farmers in Mani- Mazwi, Chambati and Knowledge Mutodi says: them to different forms of buyer firm exploita- This means farmers are exploited by tobacco
caland Province in Zimbabwe, published last year “This study sought to understand the impact of tion such as the charging of high interest rates on buyers and also mugged by government which
by three local researchers based at the University contract farming on livelihoods among the small- inputs.” seizes their hard currency and gives them local
of Cape Town School of Economics, Rutendo scale farmers in two study districts of Zvimba and units at the official exchange overvalued against
Chingosho, Chengetai Dare and Corné van Wal- Goromonzi which are located in the Mashona- Most of the tobacco small-scale farmers in the United States, hence depriving them of real
beek, shows that farmers are getting a raw deal different farming areas are drowning in debt, im- value.
from tobacco buyers and government. poverished by big merchants who lure them into
This exchange rate misalignment has created
“There is no evidence to suggest that tobacco huge scope for currency arbitrage. — STAFF WRITER.
growing, in its current state, has benefitted the
tobacco farmers in Manicaland province. Tobac- Big merchants lure most small-scale tobacco farmers into liabilities.
co farmers are largely victims, rather than bene-
ficiaries, of the sector. There is a strong case for
government intervention to improve the condi-
tions of tobacco farmers, either through direct
intervention in the tobacco-growing sector, or by
encouraging and promoting crop substitution,”
the study says.

“The results of our study indicate that while
most farmers in Manicaland province in Zimba-
bwe operate under the contract system, an over-
whelming majority of them are unhappy with the
returns that they get from producing tobacco.
Nearly 60% of farmers indicated that they are in
debt.

There is no evidence from this study that sug-
gests that tobacco growing, in its current state,
benefits tobacco farmers.

“The obvious policy implication of this study is
that the government should intervene to improve
the economic conditions of tobacco farmers. For
example, imposing some ‘meaningful’ price con-
trol on tobacco leaf would allow farmers to get
more revenue for their tobacco crops and would
improve their chances of breaking out of the cycle
of poverty.”

Since most tobacco farmers have limited op-
tions to shift to other crops, government support
may include facilitating improvements in the
markets for these alternative crops, it says.

“Considering that Manicaland province (par-
ticularly Odzi, Shamhu and Headlands) has large
swathes of arable land, which are suitable for a va-
riety of crops, farmers are likely to improve their
livelihoods by switching to other crops,” the study
notes.

“Changing the structure of the Zimbabwean
agricultural sector will require political will and
resources. Sadly, both are missing in Zimbabwe at
present. The fact that China plays an increasingly
important role in Zimbabwe, also in the tobacco
sector, makes it politically difficult to reduce the
country’s dependence on tobacco production.

“Also, the country is in a dire economic sit-
uation and considers tobacco-leaf growing an
important economic sector. What this paper has
shown is that the tobacco farmers in Manicaland
province are, largely, the victims, rather than the
beneficiaries, of this sector.”

Another research, Tobacco Contract Farming in
Zimbabwe: Power Dynamics, Accumulation Trajec-
tories, Land Use Patterns and Livelihoods, done by
Freedom Mazwi, Walter Chambati and George T
Mudimu, says despite the “tobacco boom” in the
aftermath of Zimbabwe’s chaotic and violent fast-
track land reform programme, which resulted in
a massive growth of the country’s tobacco sector,
there is a downside to the positive story that is
often ignored.

“Some authors have labelled this, the ‘tobacco
boom’. The effects of this growth are variegated
across space and time. This study explores the
growth of tobacco contract farming in Goro-
monzi and Zvimba districts and the resultant ef-
fects on land use patterns, accumulation, power
dynamics and livelihood outcomes,” it says.

Page 10 Special Report NewsHawks

Issue 47, 10 Sept 2021

China’s state tobacco
company is massive at
home. Now it’s ready
to take over the world

Zimbabwe is Africa’s biggest tobacco produc- The tobacco museum belonging to the China Tobacco’s Hongta Group. — Credit: Rocco Rorandelli
er, ranking high up with the world’s leading
producers such as China, India, Brazil and the
United States, hence part of the global indus-
try. The global tobacco market was valued at
over US$932 billion in 2020 and is expected to
grow at an annual rate of 1.8 percent from 2021
through 2028.

Alessia Cerantola and Andrei Ciurcanu Italy’s Guardia di Finanza officers in 2016 arrest a man suspected of being part of a ring smuggling
IT is the biggest cigarette company you have CNTC cigarettes made in Romania. — Credit: Guardia di Finanza
never heard of. While the China National To-
bacco Corporation (CNTC) produces nearly A pack of illegally imported Regina cigarettes which are either smuggled into the country or Global Smuggling
half the world’s cigarettes, almost all of them purchased at a stand in Kyiv, Ukraine. — Credit: manufactured there illegally. Regina and other brands are manufactured in
have been consumed at home. Until recently. China Tobacco’s only factory in Europe, which
In 2015, state-owned CNTC jumped on Chi- The Kyiv Post The cigarettes are called Regina, “a name sits next to a slow-moving river, surrounded by
na’s “Belt and Road” initiative, a global strategy China Tobacco’s focus on domestic sales goes related to the Italian tradition, the Italian lan- forest-covered hills about 140km from the Ro-
for developing Chinese infrastructure and trade a long way in explaining its obscurity in other guage,” Cosimo De Giorgi, head of customs for manian capital, Bucharest.
that built on the country’s “go global” doctrine. countries, according to Jennifer Fang, one of the the Guardia Di Finanza, said. He thinks they A company called China Tobacco Interna-
The company, which is often simply called Chi- paper’s authors and an expert on the tobacco sec- could be specifically designed to appeal to the tional Europe Company (CTIEC) owns the
na Tobacco, has been aggressively pushing its tor in Asia at Canada’s Simon Fraser University. local market. factory, and its cigarettes are sold legally around
cigarettes into new markets, and expanding to- “CNTC’s main market remains in China and Europe, mostly in duty-free shops at airports.
bacco production in other countries. is not well known overseas beyond the Chinese “This could also be a Trojan horse,” he said. But the Romanian-manufactured smokes are
“They are looking for global domination and diaspora,” she said in an email. “I think this is China Tobacco did not respond to an email also smuggled across borders, sometimes using
a place in the world,” Judith Mackay, an expert the primary reason it has gone unnoticed by to- and phone call requesting comment.
on the global tobacco industry, said. “The drag- bacco control researchers, institutions, media,
on is roaring.” etc.” Authorities examine cartons of seized Chinese cigarettes in Bogotá in July 2020. — Credit: Policia National
Even though CNTC has grown into the But that is changing. For the past few years,
world’s biggest cigarette company, relatively lit- Fang and her colleagues have been documenting A tobacco field in São Lourenço do Sul, Brazil. — Credit: Daniela Xu
tle is known about the secretive giant. China Tobacco’s push to go global.
Journalists from Organised Crime and Cor- “The deeper we dig, the more we realize how
ruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and its aggressive CNTC has been about its globalisa-
partners on five continents — including The tion strategy, as it targets raw materials, prod-
NewsHawks — decided to investigate CNTC’s ucts, brand development, and operation,” she
activities. They found that the massive conglom- said.
erate has pursued a strategy of expansion that When journalists looked into some of these
is ethically dubious, and sometimes outright il- strategies, they found CNTC subsidiaries prolif-
legal. erating around the world. Some are responsible
Working through a dizzying network of sub- for buying up tobacco leaves and manufacturing
sidiaries, joint ventures, and other companies cigarettes. Subsidiaries in countries like Brazil
—some with connections to smuggling net- and Zimbabwe have become major players in
works — China Tobacco has flooded markets cultivation too — sometimes at the expense of
illegally with its brands. The company has also local farmers.
been buying favour with consumers through ad- China Tobacco is also forging new markets
vertising, and by funding community projects — often countries where their brands aren’t
at home and abroad — both of which violate legally sold. The OCCRP investigation reveals
China’s commitments to the Framework Con- that people and companies connected to CNTC
vention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), a global have delivered cigarettes to smugglers to be sold
treaty overseen by the World Health Organiza- on the black market in Europe and Latin Amer-
tion (WHO). ica.
In its expansion strategies, CNTC has taken It’s a well-documented strategy that PMI
a leaf from the playbook of its “Big Tobacco” used in Colombia in the 1990s, when its Marl-
competitors, according to Mackay, who advises boro cigarettes illegally flooded the market. The
the WHO on implementing the FCTC. government then opted to legalize and tax the
The companies most often referred to collec- PMI brand. These days, Colombia is awash with
tively as Big Tobacco –– Philip Morris Interna- brands like Golden Deer and Silver Elephant.
tional (PMI), British American Tobacco (BAT), “If you want to understand what is happening
Imperial Brands and Japan Tobacco Internation- now, look what happened in the ’80s, and ’90s
al (JTI) –– have all been hit over the years with with the Big Tobacco producers,” said a Colom-
scandals involving smuggling and unethical ad- bian customs official on condition of anonymity,
vertising. as he was not authorised to speak to journalists.
“As a template, you could argue this is just In Italy, an officer with the financial police
what China is doing now,” said Mackay. “It’s not told OCCRP he suspected that CNTC could be
different from what they’ve learnt from the rest using the same tactic in that country by encour-
of the world.” aging the proliferation of inexpensive smokes,
And China Tobacco has done it well. Accord-
ing to a 2019 estimate by its largest competitor,
PMI, China Tobacco controls about 45% of the
global market of cigarettes and heated tobacco
units. That’s a bigger share than PMI, BAT, JTI
and Imperial Brands combined.
Because CNTC is wholly state-owned, unlike
its Big Tobacco competitors, its success puts the
Chinese government in the awkward position of
working directly against its own FCTC obliga-
tions. But money talks, and China Tobacco is
the country’s fourth most profitable company,
according to the authors of a 2017 paper pub-
lished in the journal Global Public Health. The
conglomerate supplies as much as 11% of Chi-
na’s state tax revenues, they found.

NewsHawks Special Report Page 11

Issue 47, 10 Sept 2021

enterprising methods. In one case, reporters un- zilian farmers directly. China Tobacco International Europe Company’s factory in Romania. — Credit: Andrei Ciurcanu
covered a network of people connected to orga- By 2019, China accounted for more than 19
nized crime, as well as a CTIEC official. They projects and donations. These are flagrant violations of the FCTC. Al-
were part of an elaborate scam to avoid taxes by percent of Brazil’s tobacco exports, valued at al- “The tobacco industry continues to unleash though China is a signatory of the convention,
smuggling cigarettes into Italy using a “cloned” most US$386 million. That figure had grown documents discovered by OCCRP show that
shipping container. from just US$12 million worth of Brazil’s to- large marketing campaigns and is still able to the company made its opposition to the FCTC
bacco — only 1 percent of exports — in 1997. expand its consumer base and successfully ac- known in the years running up to the treaty’s
First, the smugglers rented a container in the quire a new generation of smokers,” the WHO launch in 2003.
Italian port in Salerno, near Naples, stating that Despite growing into one of Brazil’s major to- noted in its 2019 report on the global tobacco
it would be used to ship cigarettes to Libya — bacco companies, reporters found that CNTC’s epidemic. “To ban any tobacco advertising or to deter-
thereby avoiding taxes. But instead of doing joint venture, China Brasil Tabacos Exportadora mine the health warning in the package with the
that, they filled the container with cheap bricks SA (CBT), has largely flown under the radar of Chinese state media and even government same size and content worldwide is unaccept-
and mattresses that weighed the same as a ship- authorities. websites carry articles about good works by able and is a violation of the legal right of a legal
ment of cigarettes. Then they bought another CNTC subsidiaries like the China Tobacco product,” the company wrote in a 2000 submis-
container, painted it the same colour, attached In one case, the Pyxus subsidiary that owns Guangdong Industrial Co., Ltd. One press re- sion to the FCTC, which reporters discovered in
a sticker with the same identification code, and 49 percent of CBT was fined for allowing “slave lease posted to the Guangdong provincial gov- an online archive at the University of California,
sent it to the CTIEC factory in Romania to be labor” on a farm where it purchased tobacco un- ernment website in mid-2020 expounded on the San Francisco.
loaded with smokes. der contract. (The fines were later cancelled by a company’s “decisive victory” over poverty in the
higher court.) village of Dengfang. “The health evidence is controversial, and
Border guards and customs officials were plenty of smokers live long life.” — China
shown paperwork indicating that this cloned In another case, the Pyxus subsidiary was A resident, “impoverished by illness in his National Tobacco Company, in a letter to
container was legitimate and could be moved fined for forcing pregnant employees to quit younger years,” received agricultural training state bodies warning against imposing new
back into Italy, in transit to Libya. In reality, the their jobs at a factory where CBT also based its that helped him make “the highest income from anti-smoking regulations
cigarettes inside would be smuggled around Eu- operations. tobacco planting in the village,” according to the
rope and sold —tax free — on the illicit market. press release. Three years earlier, in response to a WHO
Authorities told OCCRP that in both cases, conference on tobacco, CNTC wrote to gov-
Or at least that’s how it was supposed to go they were unaware of CBT’s involvement with China Tobacco has also carried out charitable ernment state bodies –– including the Central
down. the company. activities overseas, in violation of the FCTC. Communist Party Office –– to warn against
imposing new anti-smoking regulations. The
Unfortunately for the smugglers, police got In Zimbabwe, Africa’s biggest tobacco pro- The CNTC subsidiary in Zimbabwe engages company noted that the tobacco industry was
wind of the scam, which Italian prosecutors later ducer, China was the top importer of local to- in a host of projects from reforestation to fund- “the single highest tax earner in government,”
called “ingenious.” bacco as of 2019, buying at least a third of the ing orphanages and schools. and employed 100 million people around the
country’s entire crop through a CNTC subsidi- country.
Italian police tapped the phones of members ary. But farmers there are on the losing end of In Cambodia, the company Viniton, which
of the criminal network. One of the key suspects punitive contracts and a currency exchange sys- is majority owned by CNTC’s China Tobacco In the letter, which was provided to OCCRP
was a marketing executive from CTIEC, accord- tem that leaves them struggling with debt and Guangdong Industrial Co., Ltd. and produces by an industry expert and has not previously
ing to case documents obtained by OCCRP. hunger. the popular brand of Angkor cigarettes, touted been made public, China Tobacco even attacked
Prosecutors say she had been coordinating for its sponsorship of primary schools on its web- the science proving that smoking is harmful.
months with the smugglers, who have connec- Since Zimbabwe’s currency meltdown in site, until the page was taken down last year.
tions to the Camorra, a Naples-based organised 2008, the Central Bank has been unable to ob- “The health evidence is controversial, and
crime group. tain enough US dollars to keep the economy The company quoted a speech given by Vini- plenty of smokers live a long life,” the company
afloat. Most people are paid in “near money” ton’s general manager, Liu Daoxin, at a primary wrote.
“Smuggling is a way to expand the mar- tender that can only be used domestically, in- school.
ket.” — Daniel Rico, head of the Colom- cluding scarce bond notes known as “bollars” “Unscientific anti-smoking publicity would
as well as a local digital currency. Both of them He said that Viniton “actively contributes to not achieve the objective and would be mislead-
bia-based research firm C-Analisis. trade at an official exchange rate which is well domestic welfare initiatives, especially in the ed- ing.” — Bopha Phorn, Nathan Jaccard (OCCRP), Sol Lau-
Customs data obtained from Italy also shows below of what they are worth on the street. ucation sector,” and had “consistently provided
that seven tons of Chinese cigarettes were smug- financial assistance in several varying forms to ría (Concolón), David Tarrazona (Cuestión Pública), Mateo
gled into that country from Ukraine over just The CNTC subsidiary Zimbabwe Tian Ze fund infrastructure and equipment provision Yepes (Cuestión Pública), Lilia Saúl (OCCRP), Anna Myroni-
two years. These same brands of cigarettes were Tobacco (Pvt) Ltd. is required to pay farmers for schools and education facilities, helping pro- uk (Kyiv Post), Naira Hofmeister (The Intercept Brazil), Luiz
among the nearly 500 million exported over the through the Central Bank in a mixture of local mote the development of the country’s educa- Toledo (OCCRP), Owen Garare (The NewsHawks), and Nhau
past seven years from the Romanian factory to quasi-currency and US dollars. Much of the U.S. tion sector.” Mangirazi (The NewsHawks) contributed reporting.
Ukraine, where none of its brands are legally dollar payments are eaten up repaying loans for
sold. Some were brought in by companies now inputs like fertiliser and fuel, which the farmers China’s delegate signs a global WHO treaty against the illicit tobacco trade. — Credit: WHO
under investigation for smuggling. buy from Tian Ze’s suppliers. The local currency
CTIEC wrote in an email to OCCRP that payment, meanwhile, is converted at the huge-
it had always followed the law, conducted due ly overvalued official rate, sapping much of its
diligence, cooperated with customs authorities, value.
and taken other measures to combat the illegal
tobacco trade. Stealth and growth
In addition to European countries, the ciga- China Tobacco’s companies in Romania, Bra-
rettes have ended up in conflict zones includ- zil, Panama and Zimbabwe are just four points
ing Libya, Syria, and Iraq. Halfway around the in a corporate constellation that stretches across
world, reporters found another node for smug- the globe, from North Korea to Switzerland,
gling Chinese cigarettes in a free trade zone at and Namibia to the United States. In 2019, it
the mouth of the Panama Canal, which Colom- launched China Tobacco International (HK)
bian crime expert Daniel Rico called “the Disn- Company Limited, which is listed on the Hong
eyland of smuggling.” Tracing the origin of con- Kong Stock Exchange, to oversee the global ex-
traband cigarettes found in Colombia and the pansion.
US, journalists found a trail of shell companies Despite its expanding footprint, China To-
leading all the way back to CNTC. bacco remains mysterious even to global health
Most of the Chinese-manufactured cigarettes authorities overseeing the FCTC.
that pass through Panama are being moved into “Information is very fragmented,” Mackay
South America — even though Chile appears to said.
be the only country on the continent with a legal “We have so little idea, because it’s a state
market for them. government department and the way it interacts
In July 2020, Colombian authorities made a with other state government departments is all
historic bust of Chinese cigarettes, confiscating behind closed doors. There is no transparency.”
almost enough for each of the country’s 50 mil- As a 2020 publication funded by PMI’s Foun-
lion people to smoke two. They had been man- dation for a Smoke-Free World noted, the com-
ufactured in China and shipped to the free trade pany was not mentioned even once in the 2019
zone in Colón, then wound their way through WHO report on global tobacco use trends. In
the Caribbean, with stops in Jamaica and Aruba, contrast, the authors pointed out, competitors
before finally arriving in the coastal Colombian like PMI and BAT were mentioned 20 times or
city of Cartagena. more.
“Smuggling is a way to expand the market,” The WHO declined to comment on ques-
explained Rico, who heads the Colombia-based tions about China’s compliance with the FCTC.
research firm called C-Analisis. As the PMI study pointed out, there is an in-
Bumper crops herent contradiction between China’s pledges to
While CNTC is pushing its cigarette brands the FCTC to fight smoking and its ownership of
around the world, the conglomerate has also the world’s biggest tobacco company. Not only
been ramping up tobacco production in other are the fortunes of the government and the com-
countries. China has been cutting back on to- pany welded together, but they are joined at a
bacco cultivation at home, in accordance with policy level too.
its FCTC obligations, and countries like Bra- China Tobacco shares the same website as the
zil and Zimbabwe have helped to make up the authority in charge of regulating the industry,
shortfall. the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration
China Tobacco entered Brazil — the world’s (STMA). The two ostensibly separate bodies
second-biggest producer — in 2002, forming a also employ the same personnel.
subsidiary there to buy up leaves and ship them “In fact, the STMA and CNTC are the same
home. In the early 2010s, it formed a joint ven- organisation, with two different names,” the au-
ture with a subsidiary of an American tobac- thors of a 2012 study by the Japanese Society for
co-trading giant, which began contracting Bra- Hygiene wrote.
Meanwhile, examples abound of how Chi-
na violates the FCTC by attempting to attract
smokers with advertising and through charitable

Page 12 Special Report NewsHawks

Issue 47, 10 Sept 2021

NAIRA HOFMEISTER (THE INTERCEPT) Debt, death and disease: Brazil
tobacco farmers’ dire struggles
A STRING of tragic events unravelled Edelber-
to Bersch’s life, and sent his family spiraling into A farmer sprays pesticide onto tobacco plants in São Lourenço do Sul. — Credit: Daniela Xu
debt and despair –– an all too common situa-
tion among Brazilian tobacco farmers, who also law. has represented dozens of farmers in lawsuits partnered with China Tobacco to form CBT.
struggle with endemic pesticide and nicotine “Members are commercial partners, free to against tobacco companies. The 61-year-old farmer killed herself after a
poisoning.
contract with the company that suits them, as “Year by year the debt increases, so that new judge ordered her to give up her crop. Police
He was already in debt after borrowing mon- well as cultivating what is in their interest,” he contracts are signed along with documents relat- sent to enforce the order continued to carry
ey to buy land in São Lourenço do Sul, in Brazil’s said in an email. ing to previous debts,” he said. “When it reaches bales of tobacco out of her shed after finding her
tobacco-growing south, where he farms under high values, above the farmer’s capacity, they are hanging from the rafters.
contract for China Brasil Tobacco (CBT). Then None of the farmers interviewed were heavily sent for collection.”
Bersch’s crops were hit by disease and drought, indebted to CBT, which is a joint venture be- Bersch said his debts had grown “like a snow-
making it even harder to pay off loans he had tween the Brazilian subsidiaries of state-owned The judge may order farmers to turn over ball” over the years. But he was determined to
taken in the years before signing up with CBT. China Tobacco and US-based Pyxus Interna- their entire crop to a company in lieu of unpaid keep working, along with his wife and son-in-
tional Inc. debts, leaving impoverished families with no law, while his daughter takes care of her two-
In 2011, his daughter learned she had skin way to make an income and put food on the year-old boy.
cancer, and the family had to scrounge up funds But lawyer Mateus Ferrari explained how the table. The Intercept reported on the tragic death
to cover treatment. She died in 2013 at age 23. system can sometimes turn into a debt trap. of one farmer who had been selling tobacco for “You have to fight,” said Bersch, but added
25 years to Alliance One Brasil Exportadora de that he hoped for something different for his
“We spent what we had and didn’t have,” said “Companies provide annual production fi- Tabacos, the Brazilian subsidiary of Pyxus that grandson. “We were born into this. But there is
Bersch, 54. “You know, the money goes and nancing, and it is common for debts to remain better work, yes there is.”
then you don’t recover. After the person dies, the after the harvest is delivered,” said Ferrari, who
debt stays.”eing set and personal.
Farmers load tobacco leaves onto a tractor. — Credit: Daniela Xu
Debt is not the only factor that can lead
farmers to desperation. Growing tobacco is
hazardous work and studies show it has serious
health effects, including depression and suicidal
thoughts.

A 2014 study by Braziilan researchers pub-
lished in the journal NeuroToxicology found
higher suicide rates in regions where agricultural
pesticides were commonly used.

Tobacco growers have an even higher risk
because they are also exposed to nicotine poi-
soning, known as “green leaf disease,” which can
cause physical symptoms like vomiting and diz-
ziness, as well as depression.

“The data maintain that both poisoning from
pesticides and green tobacco leaf are associated
with suicidal ideas and mental disorders,” said
Neice Muller Xavier Faria, who was among
a team of epidemiologists who carried out re-
search on tobacco plantations in Lourenço do
Sul.

Although the tobacco industry rejects this as-
sociation, there are grim statistics to back it up.

While the national average suicide rate was six
per 100,000 people, the tobacco-growing state
of Rio Grande do Sul saw double that number
in 2019, the most recent year for which data was
available. In Venâncio Aires municipality, where
CBT has its headquarters, there were 37 suicides
per 100,000 people.

In the community of São Lourenço do Sul,
the year 2020 ended with seven suicides, mak-
ing the figure 16 out of 100,000 residents. That
alarmed the health authorities, who created a
prevention protocol, which included initiatives
like making communities leaders more aware of
the risk.

But this year is off to an even worse start:
There had already been seven suicides among
tobacco farmers by April.

In contracts with farmers, tobacco companies
warn of the risks of exposure to nicotine. “The
PRODUCER declares that he is expressly aware
that it is his sole responsibility to prevent the
occurrence of the ‘green tobacco disease,’ which
is why he is obligated to take the appropriate
measures to prevent the occurence of the disease
. . .” reads a standard contract.

Companies are required to sell farmers pro-
tective equipment at cost. But farmers say it’s
difficult to work while wearing gloves and cov-
eralls that bake during summer harvest season,
despite the risks.

The work can take a serious toll, psycholog-
ically.

“We have many cases of depression. We have
cases of young people, whole families - father,
mother, and children with depression,” said
Guerda Maria Kuhn Klumb, a nurse who works
in public health surveillance in São Lourenço do
Sul.

Like other companies in Brazil, CBT uses the
“integrated tobacco production system.” Farm-
ers working in the system are contracted to sell
their crop to a specific company, which may pro-
vide them loans as well as inputs like fertilizers
that they pay for later.

Some farmers showed contracts they had
signed with CBT, which guaranteed bank loans
on their behalf. If the farmer were to default,
CBT would be responsible for paying the bal-
ance and recouping the cost from them, includ-
ing taking fees and penalties.

Ricardo Jackisch, a director of CBT, noted
that the contracts his company signs with tobac-
co growers are regulated according to Brazilian

NewsHawks Special Report Page 13

Issue 47, 10 Sept 2021

NAIRA HOFMEISTER (THE INTERCEPT)/ China Tobacco discreetly becomes
LUIZ FERNANDO TOLEDO (OCCRP) leaf-buying powerhouse in Brazil

CHINA is complying with recommendations — Credit: Edin Pašović
under a global treaty to decrease the amount of
land under tobacco cultivation — but its massive Since 2014, the Ministry of Economy has Modern day slavery “Our partnership aligns Alliance One’s strategy of
state-owned conglomerate is shifting production handed out 34 fines to Philip Morris Brasil In- While CBT has largely flown under the radar, profitable growth with meeting customers’ unique
overseas. Brazil has become a major supplier, with dústria e Comércio Ltda for safety, hygiene and its co-owner has attracted considerable attention individual requirements through our sustainable
farmers working under difficult conditions to other violations. British American Tobacco’s local from Brazilian authorities. model.”
grow tobacco for Chinese cigarettes. subsidiary, Souza Cruz, was hit with 23. Alliance In 2018, Alliance was ordered by a La-
was fined 15 times. CBT received only four fines bour Court judge to pay 50,000 reals (about Eight months after Sikkel made that statement,
Key Findings: during this period, all of them in 2014. US$15,500) to compensate for discrimination MPT inspectors visited the farm contracted to
l Despite significant growth since it launched against female employees at its tobacco leaf pro- grow tobacco for Alliance in the municipality of
in 2014, China Brasil Tabacos Exportadora has A search of a database on activities of companies cessing plant. Grão Pará. They issued 16 notices of infractions,
largely escaped scrutiny by government authori- maintained by the tobacco industry observatory Women at the facility in Venâncio Aires — a including several citing the “slave labor” of some
ties tasked with enforcing labor standards —even turned up only 15 documents related to CBT — tobacco-growing municipality in the state of Rio workers who did not receive salaries from the
when they have taken action against one of its par- far fewer than for other companies. Rather than Grande do Sul — were coerced into resigning owner of the farm.
ent companies, Alliance; in-depth reports or legal files, the records were after informing their bosses they were pregnant,
l The Labour Prosecution Service, which initiat- mainly short news clippings that mentioned CBT. which violates Brazilian law. But it turns out that “We noticed that Mr. Savalagi used accom-
ed penalties against Alliance for labor violations at investigators from the Labour Prosecution Ser- modation in the storehouse as a payment for the
a facility in Brazil, was unaware of CBT’s relation- “They are really very discreet,” Turci, coordina- vice, or Ministério Público do Trabalho (MPT), services of the group of workers,” the inspectors
ship with the firm — even though the facility also tor of the observatory, which is based at the Os- had no idea that the facility was also CBT’s center wrote in their report.
serves as CBT’s center for operations; and waldo Cruz Foundation, a public health research for administrative, buying and processing opera-
l CBT and Alliance have donated to politi- institution in Rio de Janeiro, said. tions. Nor did the prosecutor. “The employment relationship of the workers
cians in tobacco-growing areas who have lobbied “The prosecutor responsible for following up found at the site was not formalised.”
against the WHO global tobacco control treaty In that respect, CBT appears to follow the on the case told us that the action was exclusive-
and in favor of opening up direct tobacco exports model of its Chinese parent, which is often re- ly about this one company (Alliance),” an MPT Alliance argued in court, citing a law passed in
to China. ferred to simply as China Tobacco. Although Chi- press officer said by email. “If they somehow share 2016, that its contract with the producer meant
na Tobacco is actually the world’s biggest tobacco facilities or have joint activities, this was not high- the company was not responsible for labor vi-
The sun had not yet risen, but Lizimeri Weber company — mostly due to a massive market for lighted during the process.” olations that occurred on the farm. The Labour
was already tending shoulder-high tobacco plants cigarettes at home — far more is known about A spokesperson for CBT declined to answer Court agreed, and in 2018 cancelled the infrac-
in southern Brazil, which would eventually end other global giants like British American Tobacco, questions about its activities at the shared facili- tion notices against the company, and chose not
up filling Chinese-manufactured cigarettes. She Philip Morris International, Japan Tobacco Inter- ty. Prosecutors who dealt with a different labour to include it on the federal government’s Lists Suja
wouldn’t be able to rest until well after sunset. national, and Imperial Brands. abuse case four years earlier was also unaware of do Trabalho Escravo, which is known as the “dirty
the company’s relationship with CBT. Investi- list” of companies involved in slave labor.
“We work from five in the morning, more or Together those four firms are commonly re- gators found that “workers were degraded [and]
less, until about 10 p.m., including Saturday and ferred to as “Big Tobacco,” a club that does not deprived of dignity” when they inspected a farm “Alliance One doesn’t hire workers in rural ar-
Sunday, and holidays,” said Weber, as she prepared include China Tobacco, even though the con- in Santa Catarina state that was contracted to Al- eas and is not responsible for the management of
lunch at her house of exposed brick, which sits glomerate is far more profitable than any of liance in 2014. properties owned by our producers,” said Braulio
amid a rippling green sea of tobacco leaves at the its competitors, and produces one-third of the That was the same year the joint venture was Staub, a spokesperson for the company.
farm she runs with her husband. world’s cigarettes. announced between China Tobacco’s subsidiary,
China Tabaco Internacional do Brasil, which The Santa Catarina prosecutor, Bruno Martins
Like many of their neighbours in São Lourenço Brazil has emerged as an important source of owns 51 percent, and Alliance One Brasil Expor- Mano Teixeira, who dealt with Alliance, said he
do Sul, a coastal municipality near the frontier tobacco to fill those cigarettes. tadora de Tabacos. had no idea the company was in business with
with Uruguay, the Webers sell under contract to CBT had actually been operating since 2011, CBT.
China Brasil Tabacos Exportadora SA (CBT), a In 1997, China imported US$12 million according to financial information published in
relative newcomer to Brazil’s centuries-old tobac- worth of Brazil’s tobacco, amounting to just 1 April 2021. It already had 9,500 farmers under “It turns out to be a gigantic group. In my
co industry. percent of the South American country’s exports. contract by the time of the official 2014 launch, mind they were individual companies,” Teixeira
By 2019, China accounted for more than 19 per- Alliance said in a press release at the time. said, adding that he only found out about the re-
Officially launched in 2014, the firm is a joint cent of Brazil’s tobacco exports, valued at almost “We are honored that China Tobacco selected lationship after being asked about it by OCCRP
venture between local subsidiaries of the state- US$386 million. Alliance One for its first international joint ven- and the Intercept.
owned China National Tobacco Corporation ture in the tobacco leaf supply segment,” Alliance
(CNTC) and North Carolina-based Pyxus In- The big increase began not long after CNTC CEO Pieter Sikkel said in the announcement. “Even though there are a couple companies
ternational Inc., a global leaf-trading giant that entered Brazil in 2002, setting up China Tabaco within the same joint venture, they have different
changed its name in 2018 from Alliance One In- Internacional do Brasil to buy the leaf. Starting in lawyers,” he said. “They do not even show that it
ternational. the early 2010s, through its joint venture with Al- is the same management.”
liance, China Tobacco was able to secure supplies
As a signatory to the global World Health Or- more directly by signing contracts with Brazilian Corporate affairs manager Deise Kanitz first
ganisation’s Framework Convention on Tobac- farmers. told reporters that Alliance represented CBT, and
co Control, China has pledged to find alternate would provide comment “as soon as the Chinese
income streams for tobacco farmers. But as the position themselves.” A month later, Staub said
amount of land under tobacco cultivation de- Alliance could not comment on behalf of CBT,
clined at home, CNTC has been looking to oth-
er countries to make up for the shortfall, raising
questions about China’s commitment to the con-
vention.

“It is neither desirable, nor is it expected, that
countries party to the treaty act contrary to the
convention,” Silvana Rubano Barretto Turci, co-
ordinator of the Observatory on Strategies of the
Tobacco Industry in Brazil, said.

As the world’s second-biggest tobacco produc-
er, Brazil is an important country for CNTC’s
global expansion. And CBT is a key part of the
strategy there.

In a 2015 statement, CNTC’s general manag-
er at the time, Ling Chengxing, pointed to the
success of its “Brazil company.” He cited it as a
strategy to emulate in other countries as part of
CNTC’s push to “go global,” which he linked to
the Belt and Road initiative, China’s ambitious
plan to develop its trade and infrastructure over-
seas.

Financial information published by CBT
this April showed major growth. The company
declared a profit of 97,560,000 Brazilian reals
(US$18,833,977) — up from just around 55 mil-
lion reals the year before.

“Today it is one of the largest companies in the
sector in Brazil,” said Roque Danieli, a fiscal ag-
ricultural auditor at the Ministry of Agriculture.

Despite its major role, CBT has kept a low
profile, largely escaping scrutiny by government
authorities tasked with enforcing labor standards
— even when they have taken action against one
of its parent companies, the Pyxus subsidiary Alli-
ance One Brasil Exportadora de Tabacos.

An official from the agency that initiated pen-
alties against Alliance for labor violations told
OCCRP and The Intercept they were unaware
of CBT’s relationship with the American-owned
firm. One case involved discrimination against
pregnant workers at an Alliance facility, which also
serves as CBT headquarters.

Page 14 Special Report NewsHawks

Issue 47, 10 Sept 2021

Guards at the entrance of the headquarters of China Tobacco subsidiary Yuxi Hongta in China. — Credit: Rocco Rorandelli

which “has its own management.” the company for conditions of workers on farms the last year Brazilian law allowed companies to of Agriculture lifted its ban on exports. Colombo
Ricardo Jackisch, a director of CBT, noted under contract, was passed in 2016 — a year and donate to political candidates. Alliance gave him did not respond to a request for comment.
a half after inspectors found the labor violations. 71,250 reals (US$28,594), and he received an
that Alliance had received “no penalties for slave additional 28,500 reals (US$11,507) from Philip Politicians were also involved in preparing the
labour.” Lemos said the legislation was designed to Morris Brasil. Wickert failed in his run for con- ground for the launch of CBT. In December
clearly define the responsibilities of those buying gress, but was elected mayor of Venâncio Aires 2013, the government of Rio Grande do Sul an-
“CBT does not have workers in plantations, and those growing tobacco, and to protect the in- two years later. In total, CBT donated 180,000 nounced that it had sent a delegation to CNTC’s
and its operation is focused on the purchase and terests of both. reals (US$74,000) in 2014 to eight congressio- subsidiary in China “with the aim of continuing
processing of tobacco,” Jackisch said in an email, nal candidates, six state and two federal. All were negotiations aimed at forming a joint venture
adding that the company “cannot impose practic- “If one of the parties commits illegalities, it running in either Paraná, Santa Catarina, or Rio between the Chinese state-owned company and
es of management, but only guide and carry out must answer in court for them!” she said by email, Grande do Sul, the southern states where Brazil’s Alliance One.”
constant quality assessment of its suppliers.” although she did not mention how the law would tobacco industry is concentrated.
protect the rights of laborers who work for pro- The world’s largest buyer
The politics of tobacco ducers. One of those candidates, Elton Weber, is still a Big Brazilian tobacco growers have a power-
Labour abuses, as well as extreme debt and dis- state congressman in Rio Grande do Sul. He also ful economic incentive to tap into the Chinese
ease, have long been known to plague Brazil’s to- Lemos does not support tobacco control and serves as deputy coordinator of the Parliamenta- market. As Colombo’s administration noted in
bacco industry, yet the problems persist. Insiders has used her position to defend the industry, ac- ry Front in Defence of Producers in the Tobacco its 2014 statement, “China is the world’s largest
say this is at least partly due to the close relation- cording to the tobacco strategies observatory. She Supply Chain, a lobby group made up of politi- buyer of tobacco.”
ships between politicians and the industry. received a donation of 80,000 reals ($34,877) cians that opposes the WHO global tobacco con- The rise in Brazilian tobacco exports to China
Municipal authorities, including mayors, have from PMI for her unsuccessful campaign for gov- trol treaty. during the 2000s has coincided with shrinking
been known to put pressure on inspectors, ac- ernor of Rio Grande do Sul in 2014. demand for cigarettes at home and in other coun-
cording to one official involved in enforcing la- “At no time did the producers, through their tries, putting pressure on growers and brokers.
bour laws, who spoke on condition of anonymity Sometimes, politicians are also members of lob- representatives, have the opportunity to speak out Pyxus, Alliance One Brasil’s U.S. parent com-
because he did not want to harm his relationship by groups. during the construction of the global agreement,” pany, declared bankruptcy in 2020 after years of
with local authorities. He said there have been cas- Weber said in an email, referring to the treaty. losses. The company changed its name from Alli-
es of an inspector refusing to do a job, “because he Giovane Wickert was vice-mayor of Venâncio ance One International in 2018 while reinventing
is afraid of persecution within the municipality.” Aires in 2014, when CBT established its opera- “They simply did not have a say in decisions itself as a more diversified agricultural company.
Officials from tobacco-growing areas are often tions in the Alliance facility that was later fined for that affect their lives and their business.” The strategy has not succeeded in replacing lost
strong supporters of the industry, as it makes up discriminating against pregnant workers. profits, but Pyxus said bankruptcy would not af-
the backbone of the local economy, pointed out Alliance was even more generous than CBT in fect its “international subsidiaries or affiliates.”
Turci, coordinator of the tobacco strategies ob- He has also received funding from tobacco 2014. It donated 630,000 reals (US$256,334) to Pyxus’ key international operations include le-
servatory. This means they are reluctant to force companies including CBT and Alliance, and he 23 candidates in the three southern states. One of galized cannabis in Canada, and its tobacco busi-
growers to implement measures against problems was until last year a prominent member of the them, Raimundo Colombo, received 50,000 reals ness in Brazil, where it partnered with CNTC to
like pesticide exposure, green leaf disease, or child lobby group Association of Tobacco-Producing and was elected governor of Santa Catarina. He form CBT and streamline sales to China.
labor. Municipalities (Amprotabaco). went on to work with the lobby group Union In- While both China and Brazil have signed
Instead, Turci said, they often “turn a blind eye” terstate Tobacco Industry, known as SindiTabaco. and ratified the global tobacco control treaty, or
to abuses. “Defending the production and com- Amprotabaco has opposed a bill that would re- FCTC, neither country appears to be meeting its
mercialisation of tobacco is defending a way of life move branding from cigarette packs and impose In particular, Colombo pushed for a change in commitment to diversify crops away from tobac-
for this group,” she said. fines for smoking in cars carrying a passenger un- policy to allow direct exports to China from his co in Brazil. Jackisch, the CBT director, said the
“Many mayors and secretaries of the cities that der age 18. state. At the time, Santa Catarina and other tobac- company has expanded its production area and is
grow tobacco end up occupying positions in the co-producing states were blocked from exporting now “reaching 116 municipalities.”
state congresses and or in the federal congress.” “There is no conflict of interest, as the mayor’s because there had been an outbreak of blue mold Turci pointed out that FCTC commitments
When Alliance successfully argued that it role is to represent the economic and social inter- disease, a fungus that can severely affect tobacco are not legally enforceable, but added: “Not every-
should not be penalized for “slave labor” on a farm ests of the municipality,” Wickert said in response crops. thing that is legal is moral. Expanding a plantation
owned by one of its producers, the company based to questions about accepting tobacco industry that kills one in two consumers is immoral, but
its case partly on a law that had been proposed by funding while in office. “We cannot be stuck with these growth con- there are no laws that prohibit this.”
former senator Ana Amélia Lemos in 2011. The straints. Therefore, I am very interested in ex-
legislation, which removes the responsibility of “For these municipalities, the tobacco agenda is ports,” Colombo said in a 2014 post on the state
of the collective interest, both in the generation of government website, following a meeting with the
jobs and income, as well as the social well-being in president of SindiTabaco.
guarantee of essential services.”
Seven months after that meeting, the Ministry
Public records show that Wickert received
30,000 reals (US$12,395) from CBT to help
fund his campaign for state congress in 2014,

NewsHawks Special Report Page 15

Issue 47, 10 Sept 2021

Plans for a US$5bn tobacco industry

CABINET on Tuesday approved the Tobacco Another challenge the sector is having to deal TIMB chief executive officer Meanwell Gudu
Value Chain Transformation Plan presented with is deforestation caused by growers cutting
by Agriculture minister Anxious Masuka. It down indigenous trees for fuel wood for curing nual production to 300 million kilogrammes. To tive changes, especially the acceleration of decen-
aims to transform the tobacco value chain into tobacco. Loss of viability of tobacco growers be- achieve this, we envision a collective sustainable tralised tobacco sales in line with government pol-
a US$5 billion industry by 2025 through lo- cause of high-cost structure of producing tobac- production of tobacco as the future for tobacco icy of devolution. In the 2021 selling season the
calisation of tobacco financing, increased pro- co. in Zimbabwe. With the way the 2021 season has board has authorised decentralised contract sales
duction and productivity, value addition and been progressing, we are hopeful we will attain to be conducted at the central location of Karoi,
beneficiation, and exports of cigarettes. Find OG: Tobacco farmers have been experiencing that target. Mvurwi, Bindura, Marondera and Rusape. Glob-
below a re-run of our recent interview with a number of challenges. One of them is access to ally, the demand for cigarettes is declining due to
the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board cash after selling their produce. How do you plan OG: What is the long-term plan to ensure that enforcement of anti-smoking regulations from
(TIMB) boss. TIMB in April elevated its tech- to address this going forward? the tobacco industry remains one of the top forex lobbyists and introduction of reduced risk elec-
nical services executive Meanwell Gudu (MG) earners for the country? tronic nicotine delivery systems. Therefore, there
— a veteran in the tobacco industry having MG: Soon after the opening of the 2021 to- is need to facilitate agricultural diversification
worked across the value chain of the US$1 bacco marketing season, some contracting com- MG: There is need to champion sustainable into alternative crops. There is also need to invest
billion industry — to the position of chief panies faced information technology (IT) system tobacco production by ensuring that 100% of to- in collaborative research and development efforts
executive officer. The NewsHawks news edi- challenges because of many decentralised selling bacco produced is being cured using the renew- to develop new and improved tobacco varieties
tor Owen Gagare (OG) caught up with Gudu points. The challenges affected processing of pay- able energy by 2025. That way, we can ensure the that can serve non-smoking users.
who shared his vision for the tobacco industry. ments to farmers. That issue was discussed with tobacco industry remains one of the top forex
He said during his tenure he will encourage the affected contracting companies and it was earners for the country. OG: Your parting words to tobacco industry
diversification, value addition and beneficia- agreed that they revert to their old IT systems to stakeholders will be most welcome.
tion while working towards the production of ensure timeous payments to the tobacco growers. OG: Going forward, what is your outlook for
300 million kilogrammes of the golden leaf by In the event of any IT system challenges, compa- TIMB? MG: Our everyday motto in the industry
2025. Crucially also, Gudu said he will ensure nies have been asked to communicate timeously should be sustainability, viability and 100% com-
that the socio-economic conditions of farmers with the growers so that they make their own de- MG: This is the second selling season under pliance to regulations all the times.
are improved. Below are excerpts: cisions. the “new normal” imposed by the Covid-19
pandemic which has also brought with it posi-
OG: Congratulations on your appointment as Delays in payments were also initially caused
CEO. May you share with us what your vision by delays in processing inter-bank money trans- TIMB, working with stakeholders in the industry, including other government departments, seeks to
for TIMB is and how you intend to manoeuvre fers by the national payment clearance system. increase annual tobacco production to 300 million kilogrammes.
to attain your goal? This has since improved after the intervention of
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
MG: For TIMB, I envision a collective sus-
tainable production of tobacco as the future for As TIMB, we always ensure that all stakehold-
tobacco in Zimbabwe. This will entail efficient ers involved in the marketing of tobacco do so in
production of quality tobacco in conditions that an orderly manner hence continuous monitoring
limit the impact on the natural environment of the tobacco marketing process.
and that improve the socio-economic conditions
of the people and communities involved in its OG: Most farmers have found themselves in
production in line with the sustainable tobac- heavy debt after being contracted to grow the
co production (STP) standard produced by the crop, but thereafter found that the cost of inputs
global cigarette manufacturing companies. The advanced to them is beyond their reach. In some
current marketing system should also leverage on cases, this has left farmers with nothing in terms
information communication technology (ICT) of income. Are you aware of this and what are
to improve efficiencies. Growers should monitor you doing to protect farmers?
sales in the comfort of their homes through ICTs.
There is need for use of artificial intelligence (AI) MG: As TIMB, we have come up with guide-
in the classification of tobacco and its pricing. lines that every registered contractor should
meet, that is for funding for small-scale farmers
Big data analytics can also be used for import- the minimum to be paid out for half a hectare
ant decisions by many stakeholders. TIMB is is US$500, for one hectare US$1 000 and for
sitting on a rich source of data which can even large-scale farmers the minimum support pack-
be used to create innovative products and ser- age for one hectare is US$4 000. At the onset of
vices such as a futures market for tobacco leaf in receiving inputs, the farmer and the contractor
Zimbabwe. In terms of transforming the tobacco enter into a mutual agreement based on inputs
value chain, there is need for diversification. To- availed; this is meant to protect the farmer in the
bacco farmers should diversify with tobacco as an long run.
anchor crop. Diversification options include food
crops, horticulture crops, cannabis and industrial OG: Farmers have also fallen victim to in-
hemp. surance scams. Has there been any discussion
around ensuring that insurance companies deliv-
The industry should also take advantages of er services to farmers in times of need?
fiscal incentives announced by the minister re-
sponsible for Finance and invest in niche tobacco MG: Tobacco growers are not mandated to
products, especially smokeless and heated tobac- insure their crop with any insurance company.
cos. The tobacco farmers could also invest into However, we have certain contracting companies
end tobacco use product processing, for example that make it mandatory for tobacco growers to
pipe tobacco or packaged fine tobacco for roll insure their crop against natural disasters, for ex-
your own (RYO) cigarettes. ample, hail or fire during the curing of tobacco.
An agreement between the farmer and the insur-
OG: You have been with TIMB for some time ance company is signed at the beginning. Premi-
and were serving as technical services executive ums are then deducted through a stop order sys-
before your recent appointment. How will insti- tem when the marketing of tobacco commences.
tutional and industry memory assist you as you As TIMB, we are calling upon any growers who
forge a new path? feel they are being short-changed by any insur-
ance company to come forward and we will in-
MG: It is widely acknowledged today that vestigate. If the deduction is not on the contract
knowledge is the most strategically important signed initially, then the insurance company will
resource. Therefore, institutional and industry have to reimburse the farmer.
memory will go a long way in helping me draw
back on past experiences in mapping the way for- OG: Tobacco side marketing is quite com-
ward. Over the years, there have been successes mon. How do you plan to curb this?
and lesson learnt along the way which will shape
decision making in building the successful future MG: Side marketing is a crime which under
for the board in the tobacco industry. Section 36 (1) and Section 44 (1) of the Tobacco
Industry and Marketing Act Chapter 18:20 at-
OG: What are the key issues in the tobacco tracts a level five fine or six months imprisonment
industry that you feel need to be handled as a or both. A contractor who also violates Section
matter of urgency? 5 (1) of the Statutory Instrument 61 of 2004
if convicted will be liable to such fine or to im-
MG: The sector operates in a dual system, that prisonment for such period as the court deems
is auction and contract. The former is where to- fit or to both such fine and such imprisonment.
bacco growers are self-funded, they support their We have a list of names which we have published
own tobacco production until they can sell on in the media of those who have been convicted
the market. However, the major challenge is the and fined. With this exercise, we are encouraging
limitation on access to funding from the banks members of the public to shun side marketing at
because of lack of bankable collateral by most all costs to avoid fuelling an illegal activity which
farmers. This has pushed them to opt for contract has the potential to kill the tobacco industry.
farming, which in a way has seen a decline of to-
bacco sales on the auction floors. OG: The tobacco selling season is well under-
way. Does TIMB see industry targets being met?

MG: By the year 2025, TIMB, working with
stakeholders in the industry, including other
government departments, seeks to increase an-

Page 16 News NewsHawks

Issue 47, 10 Sept 2021

NYASHA CHINGONO Another naked lie exposed
in Mnangagwa biography
PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa’s biogra-
phy by his newfound ally, Eddie Cross, has yet Critics say Eddie Cross’s version of events in President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s biography A Life of Sacrifice is a desperate attempt to locate him as one of the
another major distortion which borders on lies chief architects of the coup that toppled late former president Robert Mugabe.
on what happened after the former vice-president
had been fired by his predecessor, the late presi- On the day Mnangagwa was fired from the babwe government. The issue I was now faced roics.
dent Robert Mugabe. government, Maphosa had received a call from with was, do I dispatch a second plane, and do “It was my age. At the time the age of majority
Emmerson Jnr, according to Ndlovu’s book. I physically go there myself? It was a very tense
The biography claims that after escaping from moment and I kept on talking to the pilots to find was 21 and at the time when I went for military
Zimbabwe, Mnangagwa flew to China to meet Emmerson Jnr had called on behalf of his fa- out what was happening. The excuses for delay training I was 19. So I committed my crime at the
Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga, who was ther, who begged Maphosa for help as he feared were petty reasons such as the manager on duty time when I went for military training. The time I
then the Zimbabwe Defence Forces commander, that state security would swoop in on him. was not around.” was tried I was already 21, but the commission of
to discuss how they should fight back from the the crime was when I was 19,” Mnangagwa told
far-flung Asian nation. “I’m sure you are watching the news. I have After a 12-hour wait, the plane carrying Mnan- the state-controlled Sunday Mail in an interview
been fired and I have been stripped of my body- gagwa and his sons left Beira at 6.15pm, headed in April.
“When Emmerson drove home at lunchtime guards and I am now on the run. I’m going to try for South Africa. And about 7.15pm, the plane
on the 6th of November, he was aware that if he and find a way to run away from this, but it’s very arrived at Lanseria Airport near Johannesburg. “So I was saved by age because I was under-
stayed in the country his life would be in danger. hot and I need your help,” Mnangagwa pleaded. age at the time I committed the crime they were
He called his family in, and they quickly made To avoid unwarranted attention, Maphosa had charging me of.”
plan to get Emmerson out of the country over Mnangagwa’s earlier attempts to leave the coun- 30 identical black Range Rover SUVs which were
the border in the Eastern Highlands. Emmerson’s try had failed while close associates like on the tarmac ready to leave with Mnangagwa. The purported death sentence was commut-
brother would drive to the Border Post in Mutare ed to 10 years in jail. After serving seven years,
in his official car, while Emmerson would be driv- Zunaid Moti also refused to help. Mnangagwa was then put in a heavily guarded Mnangagwa was released from Khami Prison near
en in a small, inconspicuous sedan to Number 3 “Immediately after the conversation, Maphosa safe house where he narrated his ordeal to Mapho- Bulawayo in 1972 and deported to Mumbwa,
Brigade outside the City of Mutare. From there put together a rescue plan with his team of white sa. outside Lusaka, where his parents lived after they
he would be taken over the border into Mozam- security officers at his office, who he boasts are had also been apparently deported by the Rhode-
bique,” reads part of the biography by Cross enti- highly skilled and professional. The plan was to “While in South Africa, Mnangagwa went to sian authorities.
tled A Life Of Sacrifice. collect Mnangagwa using Maphosa’s private plane meetings with persons whose names Maphosa re-
from Beira in Mozambique and to land at Lanse- fuses to disclose. Most of these meetings were held Some critical minds have always questioned the
Further reads the biography: “After a short time ria Airport near Johannesburg. A second plane in private settings and away from the public eye. authenticity of Mnangagwa’s story, especially in
in Mozambique, he was flown to China where he was on standby in the event that an emergency Security was a top priority whenever Mnangagwa view of the brazen falsehood that he was a mem-
met with the Commander of the Armed forces in situation developed and the rescue plane ran into travelled, with heavily armed security accompany- ber of the Crocodile Gang, a group of early Zanu
Zimbabwe who was in China for talks on military trouble in Mozambique,” reads the book. ing him,” Maphosa added. militants.
cooperation and then after a short time they flew “Mozambique was aware that Mnangagwa was
back to South Africa where Emmerson remained in the country. Anyone who claims they did it in Although the book has been criticised as an A war veteran, writing under the non de guerre
until the 22 of November.” their power, they are lying. You would not have hagiography, it has been confirmed by multiple Jonathan Chando, recently challenged the myths,
done this thing if God was not involved. It is very sources, including Mnangagwa’s family members. including the death sentence and Crocodile Gang
“The Commander of the Armed Forces Gener- simple Zimbabwe could have just called and said: narrative. After 56 years of uncertainty, it has now
al Constantine Chiwenga flew home from South We have a fugitive, find him, catch him and bring Cross’ account of Mnangagwa’s escape from emerged — ironically through his own biography
Africa and was escorted to his home by crack Zim- him to us,” Maphosa was quoted as saying. Zimbabwe is riddled with “half-truths”, as it is by Cross, A Life Of Sacrifice — that Mnangagwa
babwean troops from which he issued a lengthy According to Ndlovu, Mnangagwa arrived at apparent that the Zimbabwean president did not was never sentenced to death.
statement saying that the Armed Forces were the airport in Beira in disguise, making it difficult travel to China to meet Chiwenga.
deeply concerned about the potential for instabili- for the authorities to recognise him. The court record of January 1965 contained in
ty. Accordingly, threatened that they might ensure “At 6am, Maphosa dispatched his plane from Critics say Cross’s version of events is a desper- the book, which has many shades of grey magni-
that law and order was maintained and that they South Africa to Beira where he would pick up ate attempt to locate Mnangagwa as one of the fied by distortions and omissions, makes it clear
stability of the state was protected.” Mnangagwa and his sons. It was the beginning chief architects of the coup that toppled Mugabe. the judge did not sentence him to death.
of yet another nerve-raking episode. There were
However, various other accounts written delays to the paperwork for the plane, and this fu- The biography, which reportedly sold thou- “I do not therefore propose to sentence you to
around the time of escape show that Mnangag- eled the fear that Mozambique was using delaying sands of copies on its launch, exposed Mnangag- death,” Justice John Lewis said.
wa left Harare headed for Mozambique through tactics,” Maphosa said. wa’s lies over claims that he was sentenced to death
Mary Mount, outside Mutare, where he was then Further reads the book: “The clearance took a as a 16-year-old boy. Lewis was to later become Judge President in
taken to Beira, before taking a plane to Lanseria long time to come. I was worried why, and I was 1980. Hector Mcdonald was the Chief Justice.
Airport, North of Johannesburg. thinking during that time of waiting that perhaps One of the urban legends sustained for a long
they were busy conveying information to the Zim- time was that Mnangagwa was in 1965 sentenced With Harry Davies, the trio sat in the Appellate
He was flown by a Zimbabwean South Afri- to death for bombing a train in Fort Victoria, now Division, as research by lawyer Tererai Mafukid-
can-based businessman, Justice Maphosa. Mapho- Masvingo. That story has been passed down from ze published by The NewsHawks recently shows.
sa owns Bigtime Strategic Group. generation to generation for the past 56 years. There were 11 white male judges in 1980.

Mnangagwa was taken to Maphosa’s house in Mnangagwa has insisted that he was saved from The death sentence myth has triggered new
Pretoria, where he stayed for two weeks until his the gallows by his age over his train-bombing he- controversy.
return. Maphosa has given detailed interviews on
several occasions, saying he stayed with Mnangag-
wa in his house.

A book titled In the Jaws of The Crocodile by
journalist Ray Ndlovu, based on various accounts
with members of Mnangagwa’s family, differs
from the narrative in the latest book. Ndlovu’s
book details

Mnangagwa’s “great escape” through Beira
where he would eventually escape into South Afri-
ca and not China.

After a brush with security officials at Forbes
Border on 7 November 2017, Ndlovu writes that
a visibly shaken Mnangagwa went to a hideout
in the bush before seeking safe passage out of the
country. Crossing into Mozambique with three
military personnel, Mnangagwa purportedly
walked 30 kilometres.

“At about 11.55pm, the group crossed the bor-
der and dashed into the no man’s land that sep-
arates Zimbabwe and Mozambique. There they
began the long journey of about thirty kilome-
ters into Mozambique, walking in mud as it had
rained. Danger continued to lurk, and often they
had to take cover from soldiers patrolling the terri-
tory,” reads part of the book, which paints Mnan-
gagwa in heroic light.

“Eventually the mission was a success although
it involved having to crouch down to avoid detec-
tion and it set the group back about US$4 000 as
they had to pay their way through. Once they had
arrived at the pickup point in Mozambique, a ve-
hicle was on standby ready to collect Mnangagwa,
his son and Mavoro. It then took them to Bei-
ra, where a plane collected them and took them,
his son (Collins) and (Richard) Mavoro. It then
took them to Beira, where a plane collected them
and took them to South Africa,” further reads the
book.

This account is different to the false narrative in
Mnangagwa’s latest biography.

Ample evidence shows that Mnangagwa es-
caped into South Africa, with Zimbabwean-born
businessman Maphosa playing a leading role.

NewsHawks News Page 17

Issue 47, 10 Sept 2021

Chadzamira’s arrest stuns Zanu PF Midlands
the Mnangagwa faction bigwigs jostle for
chairperson’s post

MORRIS BISHI

THE arrest of minister of State for Mas- I don't have time to hate colleagues, but Minister of State for Masvingo Ezra Chadzamira STEPHEN CHADENGA Mckenzie Ncube said the
vingo Ezra Chadzamira earlier this week let me tell you one thing, there is nothing smear campaign that had
has left a faction aligned to President Em- like a faction. Yhe President is for every- Chadzamira in the upcoming provincial A BATTLE for the post of been adopted by some party
merson Mnangagwa in shock, blaming the one and no one is too close to him. If you party elections. People from various quar- Zanu PF Midlands provin- members was mischievous
dramatic development on rivals aligned hear people saying that, they are are liars,” ters are urging me to do that, but l am not cial chairperson has ensued and foreign to Zanu PF po-
to Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga Marapira said. interested. I am also not a member of any with party stalwarts already litical culture.
who want to topple the provincial leader faction, l am a party member who will nev- engaging in underground
at upcoming Zanu PF elections. Mavenyengwa, a former police intel- er work to put others in trouble. I heard campaigns despite an offi- “It’s malicious actually.
ligence head for Masvingo province and there was a meeting on Sunday in Gutu, cial directive that members The strategy they have adopt-
The arrest came a day after a high-pow- current MP for Zaka North, dismissed but l went to church during that day so l should desist from jostling ed is alien to the Midlands
ered meeting held in Gutu which was not allegations that he is aligned to any fac- am not aware of what was discussed at the for provincial positions, The province.
attended by Chadzamira and his close al- tion. He said he is not willing to challenge meeting,” Mavenyengwa said. NewsHawks can report.
lies. The meeting was allegedly hosted by a Chadzamira, but people within the prov- “Surely anyone with good
politburo member linked to the Chiwenga ince are the ones asking him to vie for the The NewsHawks understands that Chad- According to information intentions should campaign
faction. post. He also confirmed that there was a zamira, who is also the ruling party’s pro- gathered by this publication on a progressive platform,
meeting in Gutu on Sunday but he did not vincial chairperson for Masvingo, is facing those angling for the hot not on an aggressive smear
Mnangagwa allies are of the view that attend it and was not aware of what was three counts, one involving a Chiredzi provincial top seat are in- campaign,” he told The New-
the arrest of Chadzamira is politically mo- discussed. white farmer Tony Sappor and Tungamirai cumbent chairperson Daniel sHawks.
tivated since what he is doing is similar to Rukatya. The two complainants entered McKenzie Ncube, State Se-
what other ruling party leaders are doing. A top government official in Masvingo into a joint venture, but their productive curity minister Owen Mud- When asked if he was con-
They said everyone has the right to get told The NewsHawks that the President is farm was recently subdivided and given ha Ncube, provincial youth testing for the top provincial
land so the reversal of a list of beneficiaries the one seen as shielding Chadzamira from to other people believed to be linked to chairman Edmore Samamb- post, Mudha Ncube simply
of the Kilimanjaro sugarcane plot project Zacc. Chadzamira. wa and the current provin- answered “no”.
shows that Chiwenga is working to prop cial deputy chairman Robson
up his faction. The official said the government foiled Sappor and Rukatya are among the Nyathi. A follow-up by The News-
the first attempt to arrest him in April and complainants who filed cases against the Hawks on Zanu PF Midlands
Chadzamira was briefly arrested on on Monday prosecutors in Masvingo were minister. The other complainant is only The quest to lead the prov- activists’ WhatsApp groups
Monday by investigators from the Zimba- instructed via phone call from the Nation- identified as Mago from Masvingo. An- ince has resulted in smear showed that he is being ad-
bwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) al Prosecuting Authority head office in other aggrieved person was removed from campaigns and mudslinging, dressed as “Midlands chair”,
for alleged abuse of office and corruption Harare not to proceed with the case. a list of people who were set to benefit particularly on social media to which he has responded
involving land in the province. He became from the Kilimanjaro sugarcane project in platforms. by posting laughing emojis.
the first person to be arrested after the cor- “I don’t have intentions to challenge Chiredzi.
ruption watchdog opened office in Masv- Party members, especially Those close to the political
ingo last week. youths in the province, have battle say Samambwa, who is
formed WhatsApp groups also Zanu PF Zhombe leg-
A top ruling party official in the prov- with the main campaign fo- islator, contemplated con-
ince told The NewsHawks that Chadzami- cusing on Mudha Ncube as testing for the top post since
ra, a top ally of Mnangagwa, is facing the preferred candidate. he no longer qualifies to be
unendless fights from people aligned to youth leader due to his age.
Chiwenga and other perceived opponents Campaign messages such He is now in his mid-40s.
who are eyeing his position as minister of as “Midlands chairman
State and party provincial chairperson. He Mbunhlo, Touchbomber But Samambwa denied
said the timing of the arrest is indicative of (Ncube’s nicknames) pfeee” eyeing the provincial chair-
the motive. (clinching the post) are the person’s post.
order of the day on social
“This is sensitive, but what l can tell you media platforms. “I am not interested,” he
is that his deputy, Rabson Mavenyengwa said.
and Masvingo North MP Davies Marapi- The discrediting of Mck-
ra are eyeing his position. The two as well enzie Ncube has turned Nyathi, who is also the rul-
as another bigwig from Gutu are believed nasty with well-calculated ing party’s MP for Shurugwi,
to be behind this guy’s misfortunes. There reports linking him to the did not respond to questions
was a meeting last Sunday in Gutu where vanquished G40 faction and sent to him.
the other faction was positioning its mem- exiled former Zanu PF polit-
bers with a view to announcing who will ical commissar Saviour Ka- Zanu PF provincial
take what at the upcoming provincial co- sukuwere. spokesperson Cornelius Mu-
ordinating committee elections,” the offi- pereri also did not respond.
cial said. Those against Mckenzie
Ncube claim he is being giv- But party secretary for
Marapira, who is also the minister of en money by G40 elements adminstration Obert Mpofu
State in charge of Monitoring The Imple- to tilt the provincial vote to last week warned members
mentation of Special Agricultural and Re- their (G40) candidates’ fa- against jostling for provincial
lated Programmes in Mnangagwa’s office, vour. positions, saying they should
told wait for “guidelines on the
But Mckenzie Ncube’s selection process”.
The NewsHawks that his official respon- supporters accuse Mudha
sibilities cannot allow him to be the Zanu Ncube of disregarding Zanu Mpofu said those already
PF chairperson for Masvingo. He said he is PF leader Emmerson Mnan- canvassing for votes were
always busy with government business and gagwa and the party’s direc- bent on dividing the party,
does not have time to hate Chadzamira. tive to desist from campaign- pointing out that the process
ing for provincial posts. was a restructuring exercise
“That is speculation which is untrue. and not a programme for
I am always busy with my government Although he would nei- campaigning.
duties so l cannot be a party chairman. ther confirm nor deny his
interest in retaining the post, As of last week, the ruling
party had completed setting
up cell structures but is yet to
complete re-organising the
branch structures.

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The NewsHawks TheNewsHawksLive www.thenewshawks.com [email protected]

Page 18 News NewsHawks

Issue 47, 10 Sept 2021

Vicious warfare as
Zanu PF factional
firestorm worsens

MOSES NGWERE formed a special pact to fight Mliswa-Chikoka, Zanu PF acting national political commissar Patrick Chinamasa
whom they accuse of riding on the popularity of Local Government minister July Moyo
THE Zanu PF factional firestorm has contin- his brother, Temba Mliswa, who has previously
ued raging, with officials blatantly defying last chaired the province. member Kenneth Musanhu. Another influen- Former Energy minister Joram Gumbo
week’s injunction by the politburo — its highest tial party member and businessman, Tafadzwa nounced in these provinces and to an extent in
decision-making organ between congresses — as Mutsvangwa has an axe to grind with Mliswa, Musarara, has also withdrawn his candidature Manicaland and Matabeleland North, but these
they continue jostling for leadership positions who trounced him in the Norton legislative poll and is now rooting for Dokora. things are happening everywhere. It’s only a mat-
throughout the country, it has emerged. in 2018. ter of time before things explode,” a Zanu PF
“The problems may for now be more pro- politburo member said.
The ruling party’s acting national political A senior Zanu PF official from the province
commissar, Patrick Chinamasa, revealed in the said: “Mary controls about 80% of the prov-
immediate aftermath of the politburo meeting ince now. She virtually has Hurungwe, where
on Saturday last week that the organ had decided her brother is immensely popular, in her hands.
to strongly warn party members against engag- She also controls Kariba, Kadoma and Makonde
ing in divisive campaigns for positions before districts, which have the potential to decide
being authorised do so. the election. She only has to work a little hard-
er in Chegutu, Mhondoro and Zvimba, but as
Zanu PF is currently in the middle of a mas- it stands, she is odds-on favourite to land the
sive root-and-branch shake-up which will see its chair,” the source said.
entire structures, right from the cell to the cen-
tral committee, being reconfigured in elections Constance Shamu, wife of former Zanu PF
set for next month. national political commissar Webster Shamu,
has also formed a pact with Mliswa-Chikoka in
Despite the fact that the party has not yet her quest to bounce back as provincial women’s
opened up campaigning, its officials are already league chair, and 29-year-old Tatenda Gwinji
engaging in a vicious scramble for positions. who is eyeing the provincial youth league chair-
manship.
And as is characteristic of such events, the
fights have assumed the usual factional dimen- Gwinji is the current chairperson of Chegutu
sions as bigwigs seek to line up surrogates for key district.
positions.
“It looks like a very formidable crew and can
The party’s leadership however insists cam- only lose because of a major upset,” a party offi-
paigning has not been opened up yet and those cial from the province said.
who would dare defy the ban, Chinamasa said,
will be punished with disqualification when the The ructions appear to be worse in Mashona-
process begins. land Central province where two distinct camps
scrambling for key positions have emerged amid
But even so, brutal campaigns have continued reports that two cabinet ministers belonging to
across the country, with bigwigs now burning one camp are moving around threatening par-
the midnight oil as they try to line their ducks in ty members with unspecified action if they dare
a row, even in Mnangagwa’s home province, the vote for the opposing group.
Midlands, where some of his closest allies are at
each other’s throats. Energy and Power Development minister
Zhemu Soda, who is also district coordinating
Sources in the Midlands said Local Govern- committee chairperson for Muzarabani district,
ment minister July Moyo is fronting one camp is leading the campaign on behalf of Home Af-
diametrically opposed to the other led by Joram fairs minister Kazembe Kazembe.
Gumbo. The two, sources said, are long-term
sworn adversaries and are currently fighting Kazembe is seeking re-election as provincial
for the honours of being the most senior party chair.
member in the geographically vast province.
Soda has been accused of recruiting gangs that
Moyo, who considers himself the provincial move around the province threatening support-
political godfather, stoked the factional fires two ers of Kazembe’s main rival, Lazarus Dokora —
weeks ago when he reportedly convened a meet- who is seeking to rebound in the party following
ing of his proxies at his farm near Kwekwe. years of relative obscurity and has emerged as a
clear frontrunner.
He is believed to be campaigning heavily for
State Security minister Owen Mudha Ncube in The other competitor is businessman James
his quest to become the provincial chairman. Makamba. Soda’s alleged gangs have also report-
Former deputy secretary for youth affairs Edson edly been blocking the campaign teams of wom-
Chakanyuka, popularly known in the party as en’s league provincial chairperson, Tsitsi Gezi,
Chiherenge, is campaigning for the vice-chair- who is seeking re-election.
person’s post.
Interestingly, Gezi is the deputy speaker of the
On the other hand, Gumbo is reportedly National Assembly, in which capacity she is So-
rooting for the incumbent, Daniel Mackenzie da’s superior on the legislative front.
Ncube.
Highly-placed Zanu PF officials in the prov-
“Trouble is brewing in the President’s prov- ince said the campaign has become so deadly it
ince,” a source privy to the goings-on said. has now divided the volatile province along trib-
al lines, with the Dokora camp now reportedly
“About two weeks ago, the July Moyo camp labeling the Kazembe camp as riddled with for-
met at his farm overnight and came up with a eigners.
list of those who will contest for leadership po-
sitions. Mudha is gunning for the chairmanship “The issue here is that Soda is originally from
and Chiherenge is aiming to deputise him. They Mozambique and Kazembe is not originally
are campaigning heavily, even after the politburo from this province. So basically, there is a pack
warned against that,” the source, a central com- between the Zezurus and Korekores against a
mittee member, said. group now being referred to as aliens. They say
it is our time to rule the province now given
“It happens all the time, people are bound that they have been sidelined for too long. So,
to disobey these rules. The private meeting they they are now fronting Dokora, who has become
had at July’s farm has caused a lot of discomfort a clear favourite to win the chairmanship,” a
in the province and the rival camp is now fight- source said.
ing back,” the official added.
“Soda has been running the show on behalf of
Sources in Mashonaland West said Mary Kazembe and he has literally blocked campaigns
Mliswa-Chikoka is virtually a shoo-in, as she from Gezi in his district and is trying to spread
now commands huge support in most districts, that to the other districts,” the source said.
but must still contend with acting chairperson
Abia Mujere, who is reportedly being supported Another source said Kazembe has become se-
by the two politburo bigwigs, Chris Mutsvang- riously vulnerable following the death in January
wa and Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi. of Agriculture minister Perrance Shiri, who was
his pillar of strength while Dokora enjoys the
Mutsvangwa and Ziyambi are believed to have support of wealthy businessman and politburo

NewsHawks News Page 19

Issue 47, 10 Sept 2021

The era of strongman
politics over in Africa

BERNARD MPOFU joyed. This means we have The impetus to fast-track ing the youth ahead of the National Democratic Institute director Arnold Tsunga.
to move more and more to- the establishment of Zida next polls, especially in the
THE era of damaging per- wards a value-based system came after Mnangagwa aftermath of the Zambi-
sonality-driven politics in rather a system that is de- visited Rwanda and toured an elections that brought
Africa, including Zimba- pendent on a strongman or the RDB in 2018. RDB President Hakainde Hich-
bwe, may soon be coming a strongwoman. So I think chief executive Clare Aka- ilema to power.
to an end due to demo- the strongman politics in manzi visited Zimbabwe in
cratic reforms by the Afri- Africa is coming to an end, April 2018. The youth were one of
can Union and changing but we still have quite a the decisive factors.
political dynamics fuelled number of strongmen in Tsunga said the growing
by a bulging youth popu- Africa. youth vote in Africa would In the 2018 elections in
lation in the region whose play a key role in shaping Zimbabwe, the youth con-
demographic impact on “We have our own Presi- future election outcomes.  stituted almost 44%. Their
democratisation is being dent here, ED Mnangagwa demographics as registered
felt across the continent, — he is a strongman... You The ruling Zanu PF and voters are expected to surge
more recently in Zambia, also have in Rwanda Presi- the main opposition MDC above 50% in the 2023
a local director of a Unit- dent Paul Kagame, another Alliance have begun roll- elections, making a deci-
ed States-headquartered strongman coming after ing out campaigns target- sive factor.
think-tank has said. the genocide and who may
have been needed to try Be ahead of the curve...
This comes as Zimba- and bring society together.
bwe is preparing for the But he has been running Secure your future with an internationally recognised
2023 election following Rwanda with very strong
the contested 2018 poll in arm tactics and, as a result, qualification from the IMM Graduate School
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you look at the policy ar- tary coup which brought
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that the African Union has ain – the former colonial
designed for Africa, you power – wanted Zimbabwe
will find that the participa- to adopt the Rwanda mod-
tion of people in the enter- el, which has been widely
prise of Africa in terms of hailed and also questioned
governance, politics, eco- in terms of its democratic
nomics and their own wel- framework, form and con-
fare is at the centre of Af- tent.
rican policy,” Tsunga said. 
Soon after Mnangagwa
“You can also look at came in, he forged close
the policy architecture on relations with Kagame
electoral practices that the and there were exchanges
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tail on governance of elec- institution and capacity
tions. There is an expec- building.
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Board (RDB).

Page 20 News NewsHawks

Issue 47, 10 Sept 2021

BERNARD MPOFU Deadly Arcturus helicopter
was meant for Mnangagwa
PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa’s fleet
of presidential helicopters was depleted in Last month, Mnangagwa’s presidential helicopter was dramatically forced into an emergency landing.
April when an Air Force of Zimbabwe chop-
per crashed in Acturus, 30 kilometres east of The sources said Mnangagwa, who frequent- scene, as the team also worked out an emer- Its capability was largely decimated during
Harare, as new details emerge on last month’s ly flies out of Harare to his Precabe Farm in gency rescue plan to complete their 45-minute the Democratic Republic of Congo war from
hair-raising emergency landing, The News- Sherwood, Kwekwe, was rattled and terrified journey. 1998-2002, in which Zimbabwe lost hundreds
Hawks has established. by the incident, which forced him into a scary of millions of dollars, hundreds of soldiers and
emergency while on his way back to Harare. The Air Force, which maintains Mnangag- equipment worth millions of dollars. In a bid
As investigations into the emergency land- wa’s helicopter and military choppers that to replace the dilapidated equipment, Mnan-
ing of one of President Mnangagwa’s choppers Upon the incident, Mnangagwa’s security escort the President when he flies within the gagwa in April this year reportedly bought a
progress, information gathered by The News- details, including an aide-de-camp, marksman country, has been blighted by aviation acci- new helicopter despite Zimbabwe’s economic
Hawks indicates that the Augusta Bell 412 from the Presidential Guard, a medic and in- dents in recent years due to bad weather, hu- deterioration and growing poverty.
which crashed in April killing two pilots, a telligence officers, scrambled to cordon off the man error and the use of ageing aircraft.
technician and a child on ground, was on a test
flight for presidential use.

Zimbabwe’s Air Force complains that its he-
licopters and fighter jets are old, but the mili-
tary has not been able to buy new ones due to
sanctions by Western countries.

Information gathered by this paper also
shows that the helicopter pilot who was flying
Mnangagwa made an emergency due to poor
visibility caused by mist and a faulty battery.
This incident, according to sources familiar
with the incident, also exposed weak commu-
nication between the two AFZ of Zimbabwe
choppers and the presidential one.

“The two choppers which flank the Presi-
dent’s chopper only realised upon arriving at
his residence in Harare that the presidential
chopper was nowhere to be seen. Insiders
say this could have been averted if there was
another chopper which he could alternate in
using. Unfortunately that aircraft is the one
which crashed in April,” a source said.

The helicopter which crashed in April was
on a training mission, manned by two pilots
and a technician, when it disappeared from the
radar.

“The late Wing Commander Thomas Ti-
nashe Manyowa had experience in flying
VVIPs such as former President Robert Mug-
abe and at the time of the accident he was
training Flight Lieutenant Anita Mapiya who
had recently been promoted to fly VVIPs,” an-
other source said.

The chopper came down on a house in Arc-
turus, a farming area some 30 km east of the
capital Harare. It killed a child.

Before this crash, Manyowa and Mapiya
trended on social media platforms after they
flew one of the helicopters that transported se-
nior government officials to the opening cere-
mony of a new bridge in Mshonaland Central
province.

Information secretary Nick Mangwana was
not immediately available for comment.

Last month, Mnangagwa’s presidential heli-
copter was dramatically forced into an emer-
gency landing over 60 kilometres south-west of
Harare on a Sunday afternoon due to technical
failure.

The chopper, which was flying from Mnan-
gagwa’s Kwekwe farm, landed at a farm owned
by a ministry of Finance official.

Eye witnesses and sources said the crash
landing incident happened around 4pm in the
Sandringham area, Matsvaire village, in Che-
gutu district, when Mnangagwa was coming
from his Kwekwe farm.

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NewsHawks News Page 21

Issue 47, 10 Sept 2021

Activist challenges snooping on telecoms data

PRO-DEMOCRACY activist Alice Kuvheya allows for installation of a system to collect call contacts and communications is an untenable The regulations prescribe the unlawful tracking
(pictured right) has taken Information min- detail records and for such details to be stored invasion into the right to privacy. To add salt of physical location of users.”
ister Monica Mutsvangwa and the Postal and for three years. to the wound, the regulations mandate every
Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of licensee to provide Potraz with any information She said the monitoring of telecommunica-
Zimbabwe (Potraz) to court for enacting Statu- Kuvheya said regulations do not only infringe relating to the entity or carrier managing inter- tions through extraction of information such as
tory Instrument (SI) 95 of 2021, permitting the upon the rights of media practitioners and their national incoming traffic and or the national caller identification and call duration constitutes
monitoring, recording and storing of communi- contacts but also extend to any communication, traffic including but not limited to the identity direct infringement of privacy. Such conduct
cations data between persons, where at least one personal relationships and contacts which the of the entity or carrier (entity name) and or the may well be categorised as the state spying on
communicator is using a Zimbabwean number. public wish to keep private. base transceiver station used for a specific call. its citizens.

The regulations were published and gazetted “The collection and storing of data over such The matter is yet to be set down for hearing.
by the respondents on 9 April this year.

Kuvheya is seeking a review of the regulations
which she feels are ultra vires the law, irrational
and illegal as they violate the Administrative Jus-
tice Act and the right to privacy as embraced by
the Constitution of Zimbabwe.

The urgent chamber application is before the
High Court.

Kuvheya said Mutsvangwa and Potraz pur-
port to have made the regulations using power
bestowed upon them in terms of section 99 of
the Postal and Telecommunications Act (chapter
12:05).

The objective of the regulations as set out in
section three is to provide for conditions, re-
quirements and procedures for monitoring tele-
communications traffic in Zimbabwe in order to
ensure accurate revenue collection.

Revenue is defined as taxes, duties, fees, lev-
ies, charges, penalties, fines or any other monies
levied, imposed, collected or received in terms of
any of the Acts outlined in the first schedule of
the Revenue Authority Act.

But Kuvheya argued that the Zimbabwe Rev-
enue Authority (Zimra), which operates under
the ministry of Finance and Economic Devel-
opment, is responsible for matters of revenue
collection thus the ministry headed by the re-
spondent has no duty at law to facilitate revenue
collection.

“Clearly the respondent has acted beyond the
powers given by the Act,” Kuvheya said.

It is her submission that the Act as required
by the law, specifies the limits of the power, the
nature and the scope of the statutory instrument
that may be made and the principles and stan-
dards applicable to the SI.

She said it is not legal, therefore, that the re-
spondents exercised powers which they were not
given by the Act.

“In the course of my human rights work, I ad-
vocate for promotion and protection of econom-
ic, social and cultural rights. This brings me in
close interaction with members of the media as I
am interested in pursuing protection of human
rights including shelter, water, education,free-
dom of association and assembly,” she said.

“I aver that the regulations infringe on the
right to privacy which extends to the freedom
of expression and freedom of the media. In the
course of my advocacy work, I provide informa-
tion on a confidentiality basis to members of the
media to protect my identity and my privacy and
this privacy is under threat given the provisions
of the regulations.”

She added: “The regulations are providing an
opportunity for mass surveillance, thereby jeop-
ardising the anonymity of sources. As a result,
there is a real threat to the protection of journal-
istic sources and the chance that they may face
retribution from powerful members of society if
their identities are disclosed. The regulations are
doing more harm than good to the democratic
society of Zimbabwe. It is clear that they are irra-
tional and unjustifiable.”

In her founding affidavit, Kuvheya says confi-
dential source protection ensures that journalists
and media houses in the country are able to per-
form their role as a public watchdog uncovering
wrongdoing, maladministration and corruption.

“Mass surveillance and lack of protection of
the police means they would lose their credibility
as independent, impartial observers. The appar-
ent drawbacks of the Regulations therefore are
that they do not provide any safeguards to pre-
vent the abuse of the surveillance ensuring the
protection of constitutional rights and freedoms
of Zimbabwean citizens. There are no param-
eters set to protect citizens from abuse by the
state,” she said.

The activist said the regulations threaten the
privacy of such communications and others as it

Page 22 News NewsHawks

Issue 47, 10 Sept 2021

NHAU MANGIRAZI Tragic death of our children evokes
sad memories: Hurungwe teacher
IN utter shock, Hurungwe teacher Zanorashe
Isaac Musiiwa (40) haplessly watched his two us as we have nothing. All our properties were Zanorashe Isaac Musiiwa
daughters die in an inferno. destroyed in the fire. Worse still, losing our chil-
dren is so devastating to accept,’’ he added.
The haunting scenes of the raging flames en-
gulfing his precious angels beyond recognition Although he received ZW$8 000 from
keeps him up at night. well-wishers, he said it was not enough to rebuild
their lives.
Two weeks on, lingering screams ring in his
head as he struggles to come to terms with his Musiiwa lost his clothes, kitchen ware, maize
loss. stock and 100 broiler chickens, among other
valuables.
On top of dealing with the death of his two
daughters, Grace (5) and Polite (6), Musiiwa He had ventured into income-generating
must provide emotional support for his grieving projects, relocating from Karoi town to stay at
wife. It is, however, apparent that he requires ur- the school as a means of cutting accommodation
gent psychological help himself. and travel costs.

Now that schools are open, Musiiwa says He was sharing a grass-thatched farmhouse
going back to work is the furthest thing on his with three fellow teachers.
mind.
‘‘I used to stay in Chikangwe in Karoi and
Musiiwa lost two of his children in fire that I relocated to stay at the school to cut costs on
engulfed a farmhouse at St Michael’s School in rentals and other expenses. I was now doing sub-
Kondo village, ward three, in Karoi on 25 Au- sistence farming to supplement my salary. With
gust. He is a teacher at the school. the Covid-19 national lockdowns since last year,
I opted to be at the school with my family. We
Villagers and fellow teachers failed to extin- were staying at the farmhouse together with two
guish the fire. other teachers. Personally, I harvested nine-and-
a-half tonnes of maize from the one-hectare
‘‘It will be hard for me to go back to work at maize plot I rented from the local community.
St Michael’s Primary School. It is very tough for I had eight tonnes of maize for safekeeping in
me and my family. My wife Prisca is drowning in one of the rooms and we lost it all,’’ he explained.
sorrow. She watched our children burn to death,’’
an emotional Musiiwa told The NewsHawks. Musiiwa added that one-anda-half tonnes of
maize was used for the chicken rearing project.
His teary voice is testimony to the immense
grief that has hit the family. He pauses to recol- ‘‘This was my third batch of broilers of 100
lect his thoughts. and it was still yet to be on market. The chicks
were destroyed in the inferno. I lost everything.
Two weeks after the tragic incident, Musiiwa I don’t know how I will cope with life because I
is still to get psychotherapy support. lost everything,’’ he added.

‘‘We are on own. Our family members here in All three teachers, namely Joseph Mazarura,
Chivhu have been trying to comfort us, but it is Luckson Chenjerai and Musiiwa, are members
tough,” he said. of the Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association (Zimta).

His wife sustained burns when she tried to res- Zimta national secretary-general Godwill To-
cue her children from the raging fire. baiwa said the organisation will mobilise assis-
tance for Musiiwa.
“My wife also sustained some burns and she
is not in a good space emotionally. The pain of ‘‘As Zimta, we have investigated to get the ex-
hearing your daughters cry for help and no one tent of damages that affected the three Hurun-
being able to help is still haunting her. We all gwe teachers following the inferno. We have
helplessly watched them die in the fire,” Musiiwa deployed officers so that we make mitigation
said, adding that going back to work would in- measures in securing accommodation through
voke sad memories. a temporary shelter of a wooden cabin, clothes,
and necessities like groceries,” Tobaiwa said.
Their other two young children, aged two and
three, have no idea what happened to their sis- Musiiwa has been teaching since 2007 and is
ters. passionate about seeing his pupils succeed.

“There is nothing for us there anymore, just
horrific memories of losing our children,’’ he
said.

The fire did not only cut short the lives of
their two daughters, but also destroyed their live-
lihood. The couple was left with nothing except
the clothes on their bodies.

‘‘We are appealing to the government to help

NewsHawks News Page 23

Issue 47, 10 Sept 2021

Special Covid-19
PANDEMIC coverage

BRIDGET MANANAVIRE Teenage vaccinations: Govt
to conduct clinical trials first
GOVERNMENT says it will only roll out the
Covid-19 vaccination programme to teenagers The Zimbabwean government recently announced it had extended Covid-19 vaccination to teenagers.
after conducting phase three clinical trials.
resources to procure all the required vaccines. ucation ministry and the Education, and Health lines for the Coordinated Prevention and Man-
More than two weeks ago, the government Schools opened on 30 August for examination and Child Care had collaborated to buttress the agement of Covid-19 at Learning Institutions,”
announced that it had extended the vaccination sector’s Covid-19 prevention and management the cabinet briefing read.
programme to teenagers, after scientists gave the classes and on 6 September for non-examination systems.
green light for the age group to be vaccinated. classes, with some schools recording positive cas- “The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Ed-
es of Covid-19, while others demanded that stu- “The two ministries met with provincial teams ucation also met with teacher organisations and
Public hospitals and clinics administering dents present negative Covid-19 results. to evaluate progress in the implementation of the deliberated on the safe re-opening of schools,
Covid-19 vaccines have been turning away chil- Joint Operational Plan of the Standard Guide- among other issues.”
dren aged between 14 to 17, saying they have not Cabinet said the Primary and Secondary Ed-
yet received any communication from the gov-
ernment for them to commence the vaccination.

Health and Child Care ministry spokesper-
son Donald Mujiri told The NewsHawks that
the Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe
(MCAZ) gave conditional authorisation for the
vaccination of children.

“The condition is that Ministry of Health and
Child Care shall conduct a Phase three clinical
trial first before rolling out the vaccination; and
Ministry is in the process of implementing the
MCAZ conditions and once that is complete, the
rollout will begin,” he said.

Zimbabwe is targeting to get 10 million citi-
zens vaccinated by December 2021.

A total of 2 750 681 people had received their
first dose on 7 September while 1 742 641 had
received their second dose.

Health deputy minister John Mangwiro had
said it might be a question of distribution logis-
tics. “The policy position stands, what we do is
set the policy but talk to doctor (Maxwell) Hove
who is responsible for distribution,” Mangwiro
said.

In its 24 August post-cabinet briefing, the
government expressed confidence that herd im-
munity 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,” cabinet said.

“The Ministry of Health and Child Care will
employ the following strategies in the rolling out
of the vaccination exercise: expanding the en-
gagement of the private sector; involving church-
es, universities and other institutions of higher
learning; and accelerating outreach campaigns
taking advantage of the Integrated Expanded
Programme for Immunisation.”

The government said it had enough financial

Perpetual by-elections suspension unjustified: Zesn

LIZWE SEBATHA Affairs minister Ziyambi Ziyambi told Parlia- ensure adequate representation of the citizenry,” uencies that are due to hold by-elections can be
mentarians that by-elections will remain sus- the Zesn said in its recommendations contained another option as this will not be the first time
AN independent election watchdog and a com- pended until the country achieves herd immuni- in a latest situational report titled Monitoring that Zimbabwe has carried out targeted vacci-
munity public health civic group have called on ty by vaccinating about 60% of the population. Responses to Covid-19. nation, having done a similar vaccination pro-
the government to consider targeted Covid-19 gramme in the resort city of Victoria Falls and
vaccination programmes in vacant constituen- Election watchdog Zimbabwe Election Sup- As of 6 September, a total of 2 729 955 had thereby reaching localised herd immunity that
cies to pave the way for the holding of long over- port Network (Zesn) and the Community received first jabs with 1 728 797 having received allowed for increased tourist arrivals,” Rusike
due by-elections. Working Group on Health (CWGH), however their first and second jabs. said.
argued elections cannot be suspended forever as
Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga in they proposed the rollout of targeted vaccination In an interview on Wednesday, CWGH exec- “We can also consider staggering or extending
October issued Statutory Instrument 225A of programmes at vacant constituencies. utive director Itai Rusike weighed in saying the the voting hours to reduce the number of people
2020, indefinitely suspending elections citing country can take a leaf from the recent Zambian voting at the same time as this can help to lower
the Covid-19 pandemic. Incidentally, Zanu PF “Given the extended suspension of by-elec- election where the risk of Covid-19 transmission the risk of Covid-19 transmission.”
has not suspended the holding of its intra-party tions on account of Covid-19, the govern- was minimal by observing World Health Organ-
elections. ment could consider a targeted vaccination isation Covid-19 preventive standards such as In July, cabinet announced the opening of the
programme in constituencies and wards where the wearing of masks, temperature screening and prime tourism destination Victoria Falls to visi-
At the time of the announcement, the country elected representatives were recalled or died so as social distancing. tors who have been vaccinated against Covid-19,
was scheduled to hold by-elections in December to pave way for the holding of by-elections to with Information minister Monica Mutsvangwa
following the recall of MDC-Alliance legislators “Targeted vaccination for the vacant constit- adding that this was “in view of the realisation
and councillors by the MDC then led by former that over 60% of the population in Victoria Falls
deputy prime minister Thokozani Khupe. has been vaccinated”.

Khupe later lost the post to secretary-gener- On Tuesday this week, President Emmerson
al Douglas Mwonzora in an elective congress. Mnangagwa further relaxed Covid-19 regula-
By-elections remain suspended despite several tions as he moved the country from level four
calls from rights’ groups, opposition parties and to level two, but remained silent on elections.
other stakeholders who insist the ban is an as- Mnangagwa attended the inauguration of Zam-
sault on democracy. bian President Haikande Hichilema in a ceremo-
ny attended by thousands.
In July 2021, Justice and Legal Parliamentary

Page 24 News NewsHawks

Issue 47, 10 Sept 2021

Vic Falls mass vaccination pays off

NOKUTHABA DLAMINI

THE Victoria Falls rainforest was visited by over The Victoria Falls rainforest recorded 15 411 domestic and foreign tourists.
15 000 tourists between May and June with most
tourists arriving after the successful mass vaccina- Kingdom and that, we hope, will encourage them contributed about US$310 million to Treasury. outside the country so most of the people spent
tion rollout campaign in the resort city. to also act.” The ZTA had an ambitious target of US$1.5 their money at home, and that’s an encouraging
figure.”
According to Zimbabwe Tourism Authority Koti said it also pleasing that the World Health billion but was hamstrung by the Covid-19 pan-
(ZTA) figures, the rainforest recorded 15 411 do- Organisation (WHO) has commended Zimba- demic. In 2018, domestic tourism contributed about
mestic and foreign tourists, 11 469 of which were bwe for how it is managing the Covid-19 pan- US$300 million to Treasury, and US$298 mil-
local tourists. demic hence the increase in the number of tour- “I am hopeful that this year we are going to get lion in 2019.
ists from countries that have put Zimbabwe on a different story in terms of the contribution from
ZTA head of corporate affairs Godfrey Koti the green tag such as United States, which is the tourism.” Koti said. Tourism employs about 120 000 people coun-
said the visits can be attributed partly to the mass country’s highest source of tourists. trywide, but the authority has not released the
vaccination campaign programme, which saw “What is interesting about that 2020 contri- total number of people who lost their jobs since
over 20 000 Victoria Falls residents getting vacci- He revealed that domestic tourism in 2020 bution is that about 80% came from the domes- the Covid-19 was first detected in the country in
nated against Covid-19. tic tourists because not many people travelled

“We have seen just a little bit of movement
from inflows of tourists as obviously there are
still restrictions in the global community, so we
are not going to get as many people as we would
want to but the a few that have come and acted
as ambassadors going out there to speak positively
about how Victoria Falls has taken care of them,”
Koti said.

“The numbers may be insignificant but they
are definitely going up slowly and we are hoping
that as we put lockdown restrictions aside, we will
be seeing more people coming into the country
globally.”

The vaccination programme, according to
Koti, has attracted even high-profile visitors into
the country. He said high-profile government
delegates, including the Kenyan Foreign Affairs
principal secretary Macharia Kamau, visited the
country after the exercise.

“The vaccination programme has attracted
attention to travellers across the world where re-
cently we had 10 billionaires that came into the
country, the Kenyan Foreign Affairs minister,”
Koti said.

“These are people of high level and high regard
and they found the country to be very safe. We
are hoping that they would also go back to their
countries and speak positively about Victoria Falls
and the way they were treated during this pan-
demic.

“With the vaccination on its own, we have
seen Zimbabwe being removed from the red list,
in particular Ireland right next door to the United

ZIMBABWE National Statistics Agency (Zim- Covid-19 disrupts national census preps
Stat) director-general Taguma Mahonde says
the Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted prepara- said. ZimStat director-general Taguma Mahonde districts.
tions for the national census scheduled for April The mapping exercise began in November Through exemption, we were allowed to “Initially we had a problem with census
next year. go back to our business and when we realised
2019 and has suffered setbacks due to Covid-19 14 teams wouldn’t be sufficient we multiplied dates. We had expected to finish everything in-
Maguma expressed the concern during an lockdowns. them by four and we got 56 teams. By then we cluding publication of results by the 1st of July
ongoing enumerators’ workshop ending today had acquired extra vehicles so we acquired 28 2021, so we had taken a strategy to say let's map
in Kwekwe. He also revealed that costs have bal- “The mapping exercise is a systematic way of more Land Cruiser vehicles,” he said. where you see human settlements expansion so
looned because of the global health emergency. conducting a census as that saw us initially with ZimStat has 72 officers on the ground who that we could be within the set timelines. But
14 teams, it began in November 2019. Then we are conducting the mapping exercise. The ex- now with us having a census in 2022 we have
“Our budget is US$98 million, initially it had the Covid-19 restrictions so we lost about ercise is complete in Bulawayo and 32 rural shifted back to do normal 100% enumeration.
was US$87 million. It is now US$98 million 10 months before we got back on our feet.
due to the need for PPEs (personal protective “We are hoping that by 21 January we would
equipment). Treasury has been helpful and has have completed our mapping exercise. We need
released money that is going towards the pro- some three months before the actual enumera-
curement of tablets which are going to be used. tion for purposes of logistics,” he said.
We are doing a census guided by the principles
of holding a credible census,” he said. Mahonde said the pilot census is meant to
prepare ZimStat for the actual census.
Unvaccinated enumerators will not be al-
lowed into the field because of the risk of “Ideally it should be done under similar cen-
spreading Covid-19 infection. sus conditions. The pilot will help to put our
preparedness to test,” he said, adding next year’s
“Challenges which we are most likely going census will be different.
to face are actually Covid-19 related. We are
currently in the process of procuring equip- “The census is going to be the first one we are
ment that has got to do with computerisation undertaking using the computer personal inter-
of enumerators,” he said. view. Next year’s census is going to be different
as we are going digital. What used to happen is
“Unfortunately, deliveries are coming in that we would arm our enumerators with paper
slowly because of source matters; they also have questionnaires who would go into the field and
been affected by lockdown restrictions. Produc- return the prepared questionnaires at various
tions have been seen to be limping. We now parts across the country. Then there would be
have less flights, logistically we are disadvan- a big exercise of transporting responses from
taged that is the major threat of Covid-19.” around the borders. All the papers would come
to Harare then there would be a process of about
ZimStat, which is at a pre-enumeration phase 14 months of data capturing from paper to
of the census, is undertaking capacity building computer. Then you would see the preliminary
programmes. results will come after 24 months. Now within
three months we will be releasing preliminary
“The two major tasks that we have will be results of the census; that is, three months after
mapping and this will be followed by a pilot data capturing,” Mahonde said. — STAFF WRITER.
census. The mapping exercise is a mammoth
task. Basically, we have our mappers on the
ground that are visiting each and every house-
hold in Zimbabwe. The idea is that we should
come up with enumeration areas,” Mahonde

NewsHawks Page 25

Issue 47, 10 Sept 2021

PSMAS introduces long-term medical scheme

PREMIER Services Medical Aid Society (PSMAS) initiative while also highlighting that negotiations babwe, non-communicable diseases are estimated
has introduced a Chronic Medicine Programme were underway, with other service providers to reg- to account for 31% of total deaths, with diabetes,
aimed at providing crucial services to members re- ister PSMAS members for this programme. In Zim- hypertension and asthma the main killers.
quiring treatment for long-term medical conditions.

Some of the illnesses which will be covered by the
programme include asthma, heart disease, chronic
renal, diabetes mellitus, epilepsy, hypertension, Par-
kinson’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, schizophre-
nia, as well as HIV and Aids.

The programme is designed to benefit both mem-
bers and beneficiaries alike. In order to benefit from
the programme, members with chronic conditions
would be required to register at the nearest PSMAS
branch or PSMI unit after having provided a PS-
MAS membership card, national identity card and
current prescription from a doctor. Once registered
on the chronic medicine facility, one would be as-
sured of a regular monthly supply of registered med-
ication and these will be ordered and reserved for
each eligible member.

The medicines will be available from the nearest
registered PSMI pharmacy or registered collection
point. This initiative also comes with extra conve-
nience as members have an option of getting medi-
cines delivered at their door-step at no cost, provid-
ed it is within a 20-kilometre radius.

PSMAS Managed Care director Munyaradzi Mu-
juru said this initiative is one of the many healthcare
programmes the medical aid society was seized with
to improve quality of life.

“We have taken a step in bringing convenience to
our members by ensuring that all those living with
chronic conditions have access to medicines at all
times. Our aim is to improve the quality of life and
health outcomes for a variety of chronic conditions
for our members,” Mujuru said.

He also urged members to take advantage of the

PSMAS head office in Harare

•
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•
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NewsHawks The Big Debate Page 35

Issue 47, 10 Sept 2021

Mandela of Guinea, rose to power in cy Elections and Governance and the
an era that promised great hope, but Ecowas equivalent policies demand that
one that has sadly resulted in greater any member state that engages in an
darkness at noon. He had become an unconstitutional change of government
increasingly autocratic and erratic au- should be suspended. 
thoritarian relying on force to manufac-
ture either silence or consent amongst Despite Ecowas’ move, the AU and
Guineans.  the international community either
have limited leverage or are disinterest-
The pre-coup Guinean crisis – like ed in going out of its way to censure the
the Zimbabwean one – was a conflu- coupsters. But Condé, as AU chairper-
ence of several historical and contempo- son, came close condemning the Zim-
rary factors including: the conflation of babwean military takeover, calling it a
party, state and the economy; the per- “coup”.
sonalisation of governance and nation-
al politics; incomplete nation-building As a trend, European countries have
and the mortgaging of national assets to been reluctant to sanction recent coups
foreign elites by local compradors.  in West Africa. The US was the only
major power to suspend military assis-
Prior to the Zimbabwean coup, Mug- tance to Mali. Unlike on the landlocked
abe had accused certain elements with- Mali, Ecowas first agonised on the op-
in the security sector of looting US$15 tion to close borders with Guinea. 
billion worth of diamonds, although he
later admitted in his last interview with Guinea – for the historical reasons
journalists at his Blue Roof mansion in explained above – is not part of the
Borrowdale in Harare, after the coup, French-supported monetary union; it
that the figure was a thumb-suck.   has its own currency. Thus it has pre-
sented a special challenge to France and
In turn, Mugabe’s detractors count- French ambition going forward. 
er-accused him of personalising the state
and positioning his wife Grace Mugabe The late Major General Sibiso B. Moyo reading a statement during a TV broadcast on the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation. Nobody can stop reggae
as his successor. The spat between the se- As Doumbouya drove through the city
curocrats and the first family played out coup took place within a context of a ean security forces are completely rid UK and Guinea. He is reputed to have on Monday – something occurred akin
in the public domain with deadly and fraught history of highly contested and of Condé loyalists. There are huge ex- excelled in the operational protection to what happened in Zimbabwe in 2017
sometime tragi-comedic consequences.  violent elections in Guinea’s nascent de- pectations upon Doumbouya and his specialist training at the International – crowds chanted the military leader’s
mocracy and the Sahel as a region.  colleagues to stabilise the national econ- Security Academy in Israel, as well as name, just like they did with Chiwenga.
So too did the Guinean political omy, address historical grievances, end elite military training in Senegal, Gabon Some people even undressed and shout-
power inner-circle disputes.  Across the Sahel and Gulf of Guin- divisive ethno-regional politics, tran- and France.  ed “Doumbouya, Doumbouya, and
ea, there are growing protests and con- sition the country back to democratic Freedom, Freedom, Freedom!”. Many
More than 52% of Guineans live in flicts, especially by the youth who feel civilian rule, the sort of things expected Ironically, Doumbouya returned are wondering what fate awaits Condé
poverty. Guinea’s legal and administra- let down by the state, the economy and in Zimbabwe after the coup. home to Guinea at the behest of Condé and his close allies.  
tive systems are highly inefficient and civil society.  in order to lead the newly-established
corrupt. The judiciary lacks the requi- If the Zimbabwean experience – and French-trained and equipped elite spe- More poignantly, has Africa pressed
site independence to rein in errant poli- Guinea boasts of a strong civil society indeed recent Sudanese, Chadian and cial forces group in 2018. a rewind button to the 1960s and 70s
ticians and military personnel.  with a long history of resistance to au- Malian events – is anything to go by, the where questions of governance are set-
thoritarianism and an equally long tra- instinctive habit of the military will lean In Zimbabwe, the coup was orches- tled through the barrel of the gun? Have
These factors combine to produce a dition of anti-colonial and anti-imperial towards consolidation of power and trated by senior military officers who guns (the military) become the new
pervasive culture of impunity and cor- struggles.  transition into civilian office or assump- had been part of the liberation struggle guarantors of Africa’s waning season of
ruption within public institutions and tion of a controlling stake in the state. for Independence and loyally served democratisation? 
among public officeholders. Condé’s Under Toure, Guinea resisted French Ideological, political or entrepreneur- Mugabe for close to 37 years. 
Guinea had become one of the world’s imperialism and chose a socialist path. ial armies  As George Derpanopoulos, Erica
most tragic cases of squandered poten- Condé was a passionate opponent to There are interesting differences in the But some of these officers had built Frantz, Barbara Geddes and Joseph
tial and goodwill. Toure and his successors as he cam- backgrounds, ages and military history strong bonds amongst themselves while Wright asked in their research paper on
Power and squandered legacy paigned for multi-party democracy, of the Guinean and Zimbabwean coup serving on several foreign missions, in- coups, the big question is: Are coups good
In 2010, Condé won Guinea’s first pres- economic liberalisation, constitutional- leaders. Doumbouya is a 41-year-old cluding in the Democratic Republic for democracy? 
idential election since independence ism and human rights – the platform on former French Foreign Legion. He is Congo and Mozambique. These offi-
from France in 1958; he was an iconic which the late main opposition MDC from the same ethnic group, the Malin- cers in the late 50s and 60s had close Several scholars have recently chal-
figure, a professor of Sorbonne and head founding leader Morgan Tsvangirai ke, as president Condé, just like Mug- relations with the Chinese, British, Rus- lenged the standard interpretation of
of the African Students Association in campaigned.  abe and former military commander, sians and Israelis.  military coups as anti-democratic. In-
Paris. As a prisoner of conscience, now Vice-President Constantino Chi- stead, they argue, a coup can help usher
Condé was on death row.   Hence his backing by several Western wenga, and is from Guinea’s eastern Again, there is no verifiable inde- in democracy. 
states and donors opposed to the social- Kankan region.  pendent evidence to suggest that these
In 2015, Condé won his second term ist policies of Toure. Condé’s political countries had any hand in the Zimba- However, the above four authors’ re-
following boycott of the election by the career came to a close on a contradictory Yet Doumbouya has very strong con- bwean coup, although many often ac- search gives pause to such optimism. 
opposition. A mixture of arrogance, note with him now the symbol of greed nections to Guinea’s former colonial cuse former British ambassador to Ha-
self-delusion and short-sightedness and an unbridled will to power – forced power, France. He holds dual Guin- rare Catriona Laing, and by extension To assess whether coups are associat-
crystallised an unlikely trade union of out ignominiously. He detained several ean-French citizenship; is married to a London, of supporting the coup.  ed with democratisation, the researchers
the discontented against Condé akin to opposition political party members and French woman, apart from serving for investigated what usually follows coups
what happened to Mugabe.  civil society activists without trial since several years in the French Foreign Le- The outstanding feature in both the against dictators, excluding coups that
the October 2020 presidential election gion.  Guinean and Zimbabwean coups is the subvert democracies. 
In particular, Condé’s recent appoint- for his third term, a huge mistake.   role and interests of the military in do-
ment of the minister of Defence Mo- He also has significant connections mestic, regional and international eco- They show that coups are not system-
hamed Diane as interim prime minister Condé imposed a travel ban on Cel- to Israel, the United Kingdom and nomic relations. atically correlated with democratisation,
was a catastrophic mistake as it created lou Dalen Diallo, president of the op- United States. There is no evidence or either during the period from 1950 to
the impression he was being positioned position Union of Democratic Forces clear motive why these countries would This remains a decisive and yet un- 2014 or post-Cold War. 
as the preferred successor, just like Mug- of Guinea, and Sidya Toure, president want Condé ousted from power. But der-researched and equally under-theo-
abe wanted his own last Defence minis- of the Union of Republican Forces, has the same cannot be entirely ruled out rised phenomenon. On the contrary, the perpetrators of
ter Sydney Sekeramayi to take over from been out of Guinea in self-imposed ex- given the vicious competition between coups tend to oust dictators, only to im-
him.  It did not help matters that many ile. Both are former prime ministers. Western countries and China and the The AU, Ecowas, the United Nations pose new ones. 
in the army and the population at large Middle Eastern countries. Or France’s (UN), African Union (AU), and coun-
resented Diane.   Mugabe and Condé were removed complex interests in the region and its tries like Nigeria have issued pro-forma Zimbabwe, like many other post-
through military coups at the ages of 95 politics. statements condemning the coup and coup African countries, fits the descrip-
The appointment exacerbated the years and 83 years respectively, having calling for the restoration of constitu- tion.
already vicious power struggle within extended their terms of office. Although Growing Chinese and Russian in- tionalism and democracy. 
Conde’s inner circle. their political backgrounds and what fluence in the Lake Chad Basin, Gulf But then I suppose all this will fur-
they stood for are different, the longer of Guinea and Sahel generally worries Ecowas moved to suspend Guinea on ther loom large as Guinea prepares for
Conde’s tenacity for power and both leaders stayed in power, the more many Western observers. Wednesday – days after the coup, call- either transition, regression or stagna-
his bid to remain in office beyond his divisive they became. ing for a restoration of the constitution- tion as has been seen elsewhere. 
constitutional term limit essentially de- Doumbouya previously served on al order and release of Condé.
stroyed his legacy as a fighter for democ- Both tended to rely on ethno-region- missions in Afghanistan, Ivory Coast, Many will debate whether soldiers
racy, justice and human rights.  al alliances, securocrats and their fami- Djibouti, Central Africa Republic and But what constitutionalism or de- should ever play an active role in civil-
lies, thus alienating critical institutions close protection in Israel, Cyprus, the mocracy when Condé’s opponents have ian politics. Others will theorise about
Mamady Kaba of the League for and stakeholders.  either been gagged or rotting in jail, as the claim that when ruling elites oppress
Rights and Democracy in Africa told he wilfully manipulated the constitu- the poor, only the army can liberate or
the Washington Post that what motivated Given the nature of the deep state, tion in order to gift himself a third term?  restore to them their freedoms. What is
Doumbouya and his soldiers to stage a it will take a while before the Guin- the impact of coups on politics and de-
coup was “disappointment and a feeling The AU Shared Values framework mocratisation?
of failure” after Condé’s 11-year rule. and the African Charter on Democra-
Betrayal In an ideal world the answer to the
Condé turned Guinea into a top baux- first question is a resounding “No”! But
ite exporter and attracted significant our world is grossly imperfect and de-
foreign direct investment and trade. mands a re-think of the neat boxes of
These however did not translate into real our democracy and republicanism the-
changes in the lives of ordinary Guin- ories, or does it? 
eans. There are accusations that Condé
mortgaged off the bauxite to Chinese No doubt, though, that the increased
companies which over-exploited it and mass protests and coups are an indict-
made the market price uncompetitive.  ment of the failure of democracy to
deliver both accountable governance,
The list of local grievances is inex- social well-being and sustainable devel-
haustible, but there are also several po- opment. 
tential geo-economic and geo-political
interests at play in the Guinea coup. The As Robert Nesta Marley sang, “Only
time will tell who is the real revolution-
ary!”

*About the writer: Kagoro is a
prominent Zimbabwean lawyer and
Pan-Africanist.

Page 36 The Big Debate NewsHawks

Issue 47, 10 Sept 2021

Are coups good for democracy?

FOLLOWING the Guinean coup last
Sunday in which Lieutenant-Colonel
Mamady Doumbouya ousted President
Alpha Condé, debate on whether mili-
tary takeovers are good for democracy in
desperate situations, like the one in which
Zimbabwe was when the late former
president Robert Mugabe was toppled in
November 2017, has resurfaced. 

This looms large in environments
where citizens would have failed through
democratic means to change their repres-
sive situations due to subversion of democ-
racy and crushing of their collective will
by their authoritarian rulers. 

To assist that debate, we publish a
summary of a compelling empirical study
done by American scholars on coups and
their impact on democracy. That debate
is still raging in Zimbabwe, almost four
years after the coup that brought President
Emmerson Mnangagwa into power before
he won the disputed 2018 presidential
election against his rival, main opposition
MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa.

GEORGE DERPANOPOULOS/ERICA FRANTZ/
BARBARA GEDDES/JOSEPH WRIGHT

A NUMBER of recent studies argue A handout photo made available by Guinea military shows Alpha Conde, President of the Republic of Guinea (centre) detained by army special forces in Conakry,
that coups can help usher in democra- Guinea on 5 September 2021. (Photo: EPA-EFE / Guinea military handout)
cy. We examine this relationship empir-
ically by looking at the political regimes that would not exist otherwise (Thyne group of autocrats intent on replacing deaths in the 12 post- and 12 pre-coup creasingly followed by competitive elec-
that follow coups in autocracies, as well and Powell, 2014: 2–3). Summarising one arbitrary distribution of benefits months. We find only one case of a tions (Marinov and Goemans, 2014).
as the level of repression against citizens.  these arguments, Paul Collier writes and suffering with another. At least half coup followed by a drop in deaths and From 1950 to 1989, 14% of successful
that “coups and the threat of coups can of all coups – 56% during the Cold numerous cases of increases in violence coups against dictatorships led to de-
We find that, though democracies be a significant weapon in fostering de- War and 50% from 1990 to 2015 – after different types of coup events.  mocracy within two years, while 40%
are occasionally established in the wake mocracy” (Collier, 2009).  initiate new authoritarian regimes.  did so from 1990 to 2015. 
of coups, more often new authoritarian The central message of this study is
regimes emerge, along with higher lev- Can coups really foster democracy? For example, even though Nigerien clear: though coups against autocrats A variety of factors could explain
els of state-sanctioned violence.  We explore this question by looking at coups in 1999 and 2010 brought de- have sometimes led to democratisation, this. For one, onspirators often state
the political systems that follow coups mocracy, coups in 1974 and 1996 es- more often they install a new set of that the desire to save their countries
On 18 February 2010, troops in autocracies, as well as the ensuing tablished new dictatorships. Basic sum- autocratic elites and expose citizens to from autocratic incumbents motivat-
stormed the Nigerien – not Nigerian levels of repression. Our aim is simply mary statistics indicate that both before higher levels of repression.  ed them. They may opt for free and
- presidential palace and arrested Presi- to establish what the empirical patterns the Cold War and afterward, coups are fair elections simply because they val-
dent Mamadou Tandja. Though Tand- look like. Because scholars have ob- most often followed by new dictator- The study is organized as follows. ue them. Even when junta members
ja was elected in free and fair elections served that “good coups” have dramat- ships.  It first provides some background: a are less altruistic, coups may lead to
in 1999, his government took an auto- ically increased in frequency since the definition of coups, and a description democratisation because of the incen-
cratic turn a decade later when (among end of the Cold War (for reasons we Statistical tests that take into account of how patterns associated with them tives created by international pressure
other things) he dissolved the National summarise in the section that follows), a variety of potentially confounding have changed over time. Next, it evalu- in the post-Cold War era (Marinov and
Assembly and passed a constitutional we emphasise throughout how these factors tell a similar story: the associa- ates the link between coups and regime Goemans, 2014). Threats to suspend
referendum to extend his rule another patterns compare during and after the tion between coups and democratisa- change empirically. It then investigates foreign aid can motivate the military to
three years.  Cold War (Marinov and Goemans, tion is statistically insignificant, while the connection between coups and re- hold elections quickly. 
2014).  that between coups and the establish- pression. The final section summarises
Upon ousting Tandja, the coup lead- ment of new dictatorships is robust.  our findings.  In summary, there are a variety of
ers formed the Supreme Council for We begin by noting that coups Background  mechanisms through which coups
the Restoration of Democracy (CSRD) against dictatorships replace the dic- Looking at failed as well as success- Coups are successful efforts “by the might pave the way for democratisa-
to rule the country, and to “make Ni- tator and sometimes other leaders as ful coups fails to yield a rosier picture. military or other elites within the state tion (Thyne and Powell, 2014), as well
ger an example of democracy and good well. The new leaders then choose one Though some have argued that coup apparatus to unseat the sitting executive as compelling arguments for why they
governance”. Citizens celebrated, and of three possible outcomes: no regime attempts, such as the Burundian mil- using unconstitutional means” (Powell might be more likely to do so since
the opposition proclaimed it an oppor- change (for example, the 1975 Nigeri- itary’s failed power grab in 2015, can and Thyne, 2011: 252). Though civil- the Cold War’s end (Marinov and
tunity to restore democracy.  an coup General Yakubu Gowon with set in motion changes leading to de- ians may support coups, at their core Goemans, 2014). Have coups become
Brigadier Murtala Muhammad, with- mocratisation (Noyes, 2015), our study coups are a technology that can only be good for democracy, though? In the
Observers around the globe won- out changing either the group in power indicates that this is unlikely. Regime used by the military, police, and secu- next section, we evaluate this question
dered whether the coup was a positive or the rules for governing); the ouster change is less likely to follow a coup at- rity forces.  empirically. 
development (Miller, 2011). News of the incumbent dictatorship and tempt than a successful coup, and when Coups and regime change 
headlines included, “Niger coup: Can the establishment of a new one (as in it does, the regime that emerges is more The most basic goal of a coup is to An investigation of the consequences
Africa use military power for good?” the 1971 Ugandan coup that toppled likely to be a new dictatorship than a bring about a change in leadership, but of coups should take into account the
(Armstrong, 2010) and “Niger: A coup the civilian government led by Milton democracy.  often coup plotters also seek more sub- kind of leadership the coup aimed to
for democracy?’ (BBC News, 2010). Obote and brought General Idi Amin stantial political transformation. They replace.
Their optimism was well founded. The to power); and the ouster of the dicta- We also examine the association may announce their intention to hold
CSRD oversaw free and fair elections torship followed by democratisation (as between different types of coups and democratic elections in the near future From 1950 to 1989, nearly half of
in early 2011, and former opposition in Niger in 1999 and 2010).  repression. Using an annual latent mea- and even offer a timeline for the transi- all dictatorships (49%) suffered from
leader Mahamadou Issoufou assumed sure of repression, we find that coups tion. However, they do not always ful- at least one coup, while only a third of
the presidency a few months later We find that since the Cold War’s that launch new dictatorships are fol- fill such promises, as in Egypt where the democracies did (35%). 
(Freedom House, 2012).  end, regime change of some sort in- lowed by an increase in repression in military that promised a transition later
creasingly follows successful coups: the calendar year after the coup com- ousted elected President Morsi in 2013 Since 1990, coups have been much
This was not the first time the Ni- 68% pre-1990, compared to 90% af- pared to the year before it.  and remains in control.  less frequent but just as likely to occur in
gerien military staged a coup to im- terward. (The rest are coups that only democracies as in dictatorships (12%).
pose democratisation. The competitive reshuffle the leadership). In contrast, coups that lead to de- Recent research, however, suggests Democracies ended by coups, however,
elections that installed Tandja in 1999 mocracy are associated with a decrease that the consequences of coups may tend to rebound quickly (Marinov and
came after a coup that killed Ibrahim Though democratisation coups have in repression, but only for post-Cold have changed since the end of the Cold Goemans, 2014). One reason compet-
Bare Mainassara, a strongman who had become more frequent, the most com- War cases. We supplement this with War. Not only have coups declined in itive elections more often follow coups
ruled Niger since 1996.  mon outcome is still the ouster of the an analysis of event data for 49 coup frequency, but those that occur are in- may therefore be that a larger propor-
incumbent dictatorship by a different attempts that occurred after 1989, by
Nor is the Nigerien experience an comparing state- sanctioned civilian
isolated one. So-called “good coups” –
or coups against dictatorships that pave
the way for democracy – have occurred
in places ranging from Portugal in 1974
to Mali in 1991 to Guinea- Bissau in
2003. 

These events have generated argu-
ments that coups have the potential to
be good for democracy. By providing a
“shock” to the system, coups may create
opportunities for political liberalisation

NewsHawks The Big Debate Page 37

Issue 47, 10 Sept 2021

tion of them now occur in places that Soldiers on military tanks and the crowd celebrating in the streets of Harare, during the November 2017 coup that toppled pression in the months immediately
tend to re-democratise quickly.  the late former president Robert Mugabe. before and after coups, unlike the data
used in Figure 2. In order to capture
Yet, few would argue that coups the status quo has declined.  day after the death of long-time dictator repression, we compare levels of re- repression, we only aggregate deaths
against democratic governments are Incumbents, fearing a future success- Lansana Conté. Camara established the pression in the year before the coup/ from government-sanctioned lethal
“good” for democracy, even in cases like National Committee for Democracy attempt to repression in the year after atrocities coded in WAD and deaths
2009 Honduras, where the Supreme ful coup, then opt for political liberali- and Development (CNDD) to control it, limiting the sample to dictator- from pro-government violence coded
Court sided with the military and the sation, which gives them a better posi- government (Walker, 2008). Though ships that experienced coups. The be- in SCAD. 
autocratic interlude was short. Democ- tion from which to negotiate their exit some citizens initially welcomed the fore-and-after comparison allows us to
racy, at a minimum, guarantees that than would a coup.  coup as a respite from the repressiveness rule out the possibility that coups and (Illustration) displays this informa-
transitions from one leader to the next of Conté’s government, their hopes of repression are correlated because coups tion for all coups that occurred in dic-
occur through a free and fair process. The data, again from Powell and greater freedom were soon dashed.  occur more frequently in more repres- tatorships in the years 1990-2014, by
Thus coups in democracies indicate Thyne (2011), show that about half sive countries.  coup type.
democratic backsliding at a minimum of all attempted coups fail. The likeli- Reports emerged in the months that
and usually outright democratic break- hood of failure varies with time period: followed of arbitrary arrests and deten- During the full period, repression is This includes 30 failed coups, seven
down.  48% of attempted coups failed during tions, restrictions on citizens’ political lower after failed coups, democratising democratising coups, seven adverse re-
the Cold War and 63% after it. In any rights, and criminal activities organised coups and reshuffling coups, but the gime change coups and five leader- re-
To avoid treating cases of quick case, regime change rarely follows failed by the military (Human Rights Watch, effects for Failed coups and No change shuffling coups. Boxplots summarise
re-democratisation after coups against coups: 6% of failed coups were fol- 2009).  are small and not statistically different the distribution of changes in deaths.
democracies as “good for democracy”, lowed by democratisation and 3% by from zero.  They show that, for all except reshuf-
we limit our investigation to coups the establishment of a new dictatorship. The violence peaked on 28 Septem- fling coups, the median within-country
against dictatorships. We examine In summary, coups fail frequently, and ber 2009, when security forces killed Higher repression follows coups change is zero – the median is the dark
how coups influence the likelihood of when they do, regime change rarely fol- more than 150 citizens participating that initiate new dictatorships, how- line in each box.
two distinct types of autocratic regime lows.  in anti-government protests, sparking ever, consistent with the experience of
collapse: democratisation and adverse re- international condemnation of the Ca- Guinea after the 2008 coup. In other Though we cannot be statistically
gime change (Geddes et al., 2014).  It (illustration) reveals a similar pat- mara regime and triggering sanctions words, dictatorships that replace oth- confident that repression increases after
tern: coup attempts are correlated with against it (Reuters, 2009).  er dictatorships via a coup tend to use coups – even for reshuffling coups – we
The latter constitute events during an increased probability of adverse re- more violence against citizens than the nevertheless believe there are some pat-
which one group of autocratic elites re- gime change, but the effect on democ- The 2008 coup in Guinea led to the dictatorships they replaced.  terns worth noting. 
places another – as for example, when ratisation is not statistically significant.  establishment of a new dictatorship.
coups replaced monarchies with mil- The events that followed it highlight The post-Cold War pattern looks First, only one (failed) coup event
itary-led dictatorships in Egypt, Iraq, These findings contrast with recent the possibility that coups can have similar, but the worsening of repression is followed by a decrease in civilian
Libya and Yemen. Our main indepen- research on the democratising effects damaging consequences for citizens be- following coups that replace one dicta- deaths. No lethal violence occurred ei-
dent variable is an indicator of whether of coups, notably Thyne and Powell yond regime change.  torship with another is even greater, as ther pre- or post-democratising coups
a coup occurred in the observation year (2014). To explore why our results dif- is the reduction in repression after de- (D); hence the whole distribution falls
or either of the two years prior (Thyne fer, we re-examine their statistical tests At the extreme, coups precipitated mocratising coups.  on the zero line. Substantial increases in
and Powell, 2014).  in the Online Appendix. We show that deadly civil conflicts in Algeria (1991– repression against citizens follow other
the “democratising effect” of coups is 1999) and Rwanda (1994), while a We next look at the effect of coups kinds of coup, however.
We estimate a linear model with not robust to including either a control 1999 coup in Côte d’Ivoire unleashed a on repression using event data. We use
regime-case fixed effects. Doing so en- for military regime or regime-case fixed decade of political violence and repres- two sources: the Worldwide Atrocities A considerable amount of violence
ables a within-regime comparison of effects. These are not trivial changes to sion, culminating in foreign interven- Dataset (WAD) (Ulfelder and Schrodt, follows adverse regime change coups
what follows a coup, while condition- the specification because they address tion. We explore the coup–repression 2009), and the Social Conflict in Anal- (A), consistent with the annual data ev-
ing-out all differences between auto- the most important omitted variable nexus in this section.  ysis Database (SCAD) (Salehyan et idence in Figure 2. 
cratic regimes (for example, the level of – namely, military regime leadership al., 2012). The former codes deaths of
evelopment, colonial history, how the – which is correlated with both coups To measure repression, we use mean non-combatants and includes the years Leader-reshuffling coups (N) are also
regime seized power). Crucially, this ap- and democratisation.  estimates of a latent measure of respect 1995 to 2014.  associated with an increase in violence.
proach accounts for autocratic regime for human rights from Fariss (2014). However, this is owed mostly to one
type, including whether the incumbent Furthermore, we show that even us- This measure accounts for the changing The latter captures broader manifes- large outlier (which has been removed
autocracy is ruled by the military.  ing their specification, the association standards of accountability over time, tations of instability, such as protests from the graph to aid interpretability).
between coups and the probability of as human rights norms and reporting and riots, in Africa and Latin America Finally, increases in post-coup deaths
Accounting for differences among democratisation is quite small in the standards have become stricter. We from 1990 to 2013. Given our focus follow a number of failed coups (F), the
regimes, such as whether a military jun- post-Cold War period (1.2%).  invert it so that larger values indicate on repression, we rely mostly on WAD, modal type in this period. 
ta leads the dictatorship, is important, higher repression.  but also use lethal events included in
because military dictatorships often Regime change is not the only way SCAD from 1990 to 1994, in order to To sum up the evidence in this sec-
use coups as a method for reshuffling coups can affect citizen welfare, how- We disaggregate coups into four analyse as many coups as possible. tion, most coups, successful or failed,
leaders, and they are also more likely to ever. In the next section, we investigate categories: failed coups (failed coups), are followed by greater repression
democratize, though not necessarily be- the relationship between coups and re- coups that launch new autocracies (ad- Using these two sources, we create a against citizens. Although yearly in-
cause of coups (Geddes, 1999).  pression.  verse change), democratisation coups variable measuring the change in num- dices, which exclude the year of the
Coups and repression  (democratising) and coups that mere- ber of deaths recorded in the 12 months coup itself, suggest a possible decrease
The specification also controls for On 23 December 2008, Captain Dadis ly reshuffle leaders, causing no regime following each coup event compared to in repression after some coups, partic-
regime duration, leader duration and Camara staged a coup in Guinea, just a change (no change).  the 12 months preceding it. ularly democratising ones, event data,
year fixed effects. To examine the effect which track the months immediately
of the end of the Cold War, we estimate To estimate the effect of coups on These data allow us to focus on re- after coups, document no short-term
separate variables for Pre-1990 coups decreases. The annual data allow a con-
and Post-1989 coups. This is similar to fident claim that substantial increases in
estimating an interaction between time repression follow coups initiating new
period and coups; the year fixed effects dictatorships, and the monthly data
subsume the time period constituent supplement this claim with suggestive
term.  evidence that more atrocities are com-
mitted against citizens. 
The sample covers all autocratic re- Conclusion 
gime-years in 285 dictatorships from Several scholars have recently chal-
1950–2015. A model with democra- lenged the standard interpretation of
tisation as the dependent variable esti- military coups as anti-democratic. In-
mates the effect of coups on the prob- stead, they argue, a coup can help usher
ability of transitioning from autocracy in democracy. Our results give pause to
to democracy, from one calendar year such optimism. 
to the next.
To assess whether coups are asso-
The figure (illustration) shows that ciated with democratisation, we in-
successful coups during the Cold War vestigated what follows coups against
are not correlated with democratisa- dicta- tors, excluding coups against
tion; post-Cold War coups are, but the democracies.
estimate is not statistically significant. 
We show that coups are not sys-
A successful coup is, however, asso- tematically correlated with democrati-
ciated with an increase in the chance of sation, either during the period from
transition from one autocracy to anoth- 1950 to 2014 or post- Cold War. On
er; a 19% increase during the Cold War the contrary, the perpetrators of coups
and 27% afterward. Both estimates are tend to oust dictators only to impose
statistically significant. new ones. 

This suggests that coups destabi- Further, we show that many coups
lise dictatorships not by improving in dictatorships lead to increases in
prospects for democratisation, but by human rights abuses. Using a year-
boosting the odds that a new dictator- ly repression measure, we show that
ship replaces the old one.  coups that launch new dictatorships are
followed by increases in state violence
We next consider whether coup at- against citizens.
tempts – regardless of whether the coup
effort succeeds or fails – are associated With more fine-grained event data,
with higher chances of democratisa- we note that the year after all, but
tion. It is possible that when coups fail, one post-Cold War coup against dic-
they set in motion events conducive to tatorship brings either an increase or
democratization down the road. Thyne no change in civilian deaths. In short,
and Powell (2014) argue, for example, the months that follow coups can be
that failed coups increase the likelihood bloody, even if the coups themselves
of democratisation by sending a signal were not.
to incumbents that military support for

Page 38 Reframing Issues NewsHawks

Issue 47, 10 Sept 2021

AS reported by The NewsHawks re- As Zim deploys special forces
cently, Zimbabwe, which has had Moza conflict is far from over
some troops on the ground in Mo-
zambique earlier, is moving to deploy
special forces in line with the South-
ern African Development Communi-
ty (Sadc) Standby Force Mission in
Mozambique, but as this Cabo Liga-
do Weekly summary report shows, the
conflict is far from over. Mozambican
and Rwandan forces are, however,
gaining ground against the Islamist
insurgents.

THE extent of violence in Cabo Zimbabwe deployed combat special forces to help Mozambicans.
Delgado last week is unclear due to
a lack of media access to southern had been reported in the area, fol- placed people in Cabo Delgado has significant challenges to receive in- (US$23.50) -- a substantial outlay.
Mocimboa da Praia district, where lowing the retaking of Mbau on dipped in recent months, and is un- ternational food aid that is meant to In some cases, people reported that
Mozambican and allied troops re- 21 August. The release said that likely to recover soon. A new report be freely available to them.  intermediaries were demanding sex
main in action.  SAMIM forces executed a raid on from the Famine Early Warning in exchange for food. 
an insurgent position, capturing Systems Network predicts that all As has been frequently referenced
Though there is evidence that one insurgent as well as documents, Cabo Delgado districts except for in earlier reports, the challenges WFP declined to comment on
the government offensive south vehicles, and weapons.  Namuno, Montepuez, and Balama stem from problems with the distri- the specifics of Valoi’s article, but
from Mocimboa da Praia town has in the west of the province will face bution lists set up by local authori- issued a statement condemning any
pushed insurgents further south Included with the release were crisis-level food insecurity through ties to govern aid distribution. The abuses and touting its mechanisms
into Macomia and potentially two photographs of equipment the rainy season this year. The report lists are meant to include all dis- for monitoring food aid distribu-
Quissanga districts, reports this SAMIM forces recovered from in- highlights that a major contributor placed people requiring assistance tion. Key among those mechanisms
week indicate continued insurgent surgents, presumably in the raid to the crisis is the fact that World in a given community, but in reality are telephone hotlines and other re-
resistance in southern Mocimboa near the Muera river. The photos Food Programme (WFP) food dis- many displaced people are left off porting mechanisms meant to allow
da Praia district. include an industrial electric gen- tribution has been rationed in re- the list while some locals have al- displaced people to report instanc-
erator of a type frequently used by cent months due to lack of funding. legedly been added to lists.  es of abuse. However, in a series of
On the morning of 31 August, mines and large construction proj- The organization only made one surveys conducted earlier this year
local citizens discovered the dis- ects in remote areas. Generators of distribution in July to cover July The displaced women Valoi spoke in Metuge district, displaced wom-
membered bodies of three local cit- this type had been in Palma district and August, and expects to make a to recount local authorities who in- en were found to report abuse to aid
izens in Nivico, Quissanga district. prior to the insurgents’ March at- single distribution in September to terface between them and the WFP workers much less often than dis-
Local sources suspect that the kill- tack on the town, suggesting that cover both September and October. distribution system demanding that placed men. 
ings were perpetrated by insurgents. the insurgents may have stolen the This means that, absent an increase they pay large sums for food. The
If insurgents were responsible for generator in that attack and then in funding for food aid, people re- authorities are able to enforce these Beyond Valoi’s article, there is
the killings, this would be the first transported it south. Wherever they liant on WFP disbursements will demands because the displaced peo- evidence from the humanitarian
recorded incident involving insur- acquired it, possession of equip- only be able to take in an average ple are not on the local distribu- community itself to suggest that
gents in Quissanga district since ment of that scale indicates the of 39% of their calorie needs each tion list. As one woman said, “We these monitoring mechanisms are
October 2020. level of the insurgency’s ambitions day.  The rationing of food aid questioned, why do we have to pur- functioning particularly poorly for
for its southern Mocimboa da Praia only increases the vulnerability of chase the food? We were informed women. The results of a focus group
On 3 September, multiple sourc- district bases. displaced people -- largely women that our names were not on the list of displaced people in Metuge dis-
es reported insurgent attacks on -- who are being excluded from the of people supposed to receive free trict released in early August shows
Mozambican and Rwandan forces In addition to the southern Mo- existing food aid system or being food. They said we must wait to be that women face unique barriers to
in Mocimboa da Praia district. The cimboa da Praia district deploy- exploited in exchange for access to registered before we could receive food access, even months after the
reports described attacks on mili- ment mentioned in the press re- that system.  free food.” The woman said she had most recent major displacement
tary positions both in Mocimboa lease, a local source confirms that paid for food aid in both February event -- the March attack on Palma.
da Praia town and near the Muera SAMIM has also sent forces to In an article published in the and April of this year.
River, south of Mbau. Details of the Nangade district. Personnel from Zimbabwean newspaper The Stan- The focus group reported that
fighting are sparse, and no casualty Lesotho arrived on 28 August and dard, Mozambican investigative Controlling the distribution lists “Single and/or unmarried women
estimates are available.  were joined by Tanzanian troops on reporter Estacio Valoi chronicled allows intermediaries substantial seem to be discriminated [against]
1 September. Relations between lo- the experiences of displaced wom- leverage over displaced civilians, during food distribution” and “If
Mozambican helicopters were re- cal civilians and SAMIM forces in en who struggle to access food aid many of whom have little access to you are a single woman with no
portedly in action in southern parts Nangade are broadly positive in the while living at the edges of the con- other sources of food. In one area kids, if you are unmarried then you
of the district. Further north, a early days of the deployment. flict zone. Valoi spoke to displaced of Ancuabe, according to the arti- won’t be put on [food aid distribu-
source reported that insurgents ap- Women food aid access  people in Ancuabe district, who cle, the going rate for a food pack- tion] lists” and “Elderly women feel
proached Mocimboa da Praia town Overall food aid assistance to dis- reported having to contend with age of 25 kilogrammes of rice, 25 really isolated as they do not receive
from both the north and the west, kilogrammes of flour, and five litres food as a priority.” There were no
suggesting that insurgents retain of cooking oil is 1 500 meticais mentions in the focus group notes
the ability to launch attacks from
both Palma and Nangade districts.

Further north, Mozambican and
Rwandan military units have been
assisting in transporting people and
goods from Quitunda to Palma
town, in an effort to speed the reset-
tlement of the town and help peo-
ple escape the relative deprivation
of Quitunda. Speaking to reporters,
the Palma district administrator
emphasised that displaced people
are returning of their own accord.

New information also emerged
last week about earlier incidents in
the conflict. In its first official press
release, the Sadc Standby Force
Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM)
described two incidents that took
place on 28 August. According to
the release, one Tanzanian citizen
deployed with SAMIM was killed
in an “incident involving an air-
craft” that SAMIM characterised as
an accident. No further details were
provided.

The release also claimed that
SAMIM forces were involved in
combat near the Muera River, in
southern Mocimboa da Praia dis-
trict on 28 August. Previously, only
Mozambican and Rwandan forces

NewsHawks Reframing Issues Page 39

Issue 47, 10 Sept 2021

of men being targeted during food devote their energies to seeking out the malaria infection rate was Africans had been deployed as part other Rwandans in Mozambique
distribution.  and denouncing insurgents in their roughly 38%. of SAMIM so far, and that the main he might perceive to be dangerous,
midst. South African force to be sent to such as Rwandan opposition jour-
It is not clear why the aid mon- On the international front, the Mozambique is still “preparing” at nalist Cassien Ntamuhanga, who
itoring mechanisms in place func- Despite Tauabo’s words of cau- SAMIM press release mentioned the Lohatla military base in North- had been living in Mozambique be-
tion better for men than for wom- tion, there are significant pressures above included more than just de- ern Cape. SAMIM may be losing fore being arrested in the runup to
en, but there appears to be strong pushing people to attempt to return tails on conflict incidents. The re- face in comparison to Rwanda’s the Rwandan intervention and has
evidence that they do. It appears soon. With the international com- lease declared that the mission is fast-moving intervention, but, Ol- not been heard from since. Many
that monitoring mechanisms may munity’s weak record on aid fund- now at “full operational capacity” ivier, pointed out, the Rwandan see Ntamuhanga’s arrest as being
need to be reworked if the human- ing up to this point, it is likely that and lays out a set of goals that en- approach of quickly engaging in part of a quid pro quo for Rwandan
itarian community is to avoid the local agricultural production will compass supporting Mozambican combat operations without deeply assistance in Cabo Delgado.
outcomes detailed in Valoi’s article. have to be increased to supplement combat operations, military logis- studying the conflict is far riski-
Government response food aid in order to adequately feed tics, policing, and humanitarian er to intervening troops than the Kagame reported that lines of
Mixed signals from the Mozam- the population of Cabo Delgado. In assistance. The release emphasises SAMIM approach. communication are open between
bican government about whether order for crops to be harvested in the humanitarian relief aspects of the Rwandan deployment and
and when displaced people will be the coming autumn, seeds will have the mission, a notable departure Rwandan president Paul Kagame, SAMIM, and that there are no plans
able to return home continued last to be in the ground before the rainy from earlier rhetoric about SAMIM for his part, seems to feel that the at present to expand the Rwandan
week. After electrical power was season begins in October. Indeed, which largely ignored the Cabo risk has been well worth it. In a long deployment beyond the 1,000 per-
restored last week at Mueda town some people are already moving by Delgado humanitarian crisis. Ac- press conference last week, Kagame sonnel currently in Cabo Delgado.
following the repair of the electrical sea from Pemba to Palma in order cording to the release, SAMIM is spoke at length about the Rwan- He also said that Rwandan forces
substation at Awasse, Mocimboa da to prepare their fields for planting. actively working with the United dan intervention in Cabo Delgado. have gathered intelligence through
Praia district, the mayor of Mueda The ships they are taking are osten- Nations Office for Coordination Kagame flatly denied widespread captured documents suggesting that
took to the radio to encourage peo- sibly set up to carry workers expect- of Humanitarian Affairs to support speculation that France or TotalEn- insurgents intend (or, perhaps, in-
ple and businesses who had left the ing a resumption of work on the humanitarian efforts in the prov- ergies are financially supporting the tended) to expand westward into
town to come back. liquified natural gas projects near ince. Rwandan intervention, saying that Niassa province.
Palma. the intervention is relatively inex-
Nangade and Palma, which are South African defence expert pensive and that Rwanda is paying Another notable intelligence
both also served by the Awasse sub- In addition to malnutrition, Darren Olivier, however, urged ob- for it from the country’s own coffers. breakthrough was reported last
station, have not yet had their elec- many displaced people are con- servers not to take SAMIM’s claim Rather than being rooted in a mer- week, when, according to a Carta
tricity restored. tending with high rates of malaria. of being “fully operational” at face cenary impulse, Kagame argued, de Mocambique article, informa-
Mosquito nets are being distributed value. Olivier told reporters that the intervention took place due to tion gathered during the recent
Cabo Delgado governor Valige among displaced people in Balama, SAMIM’s work will take place in a combination of solidarity politics offensives in Mocimboa da Praia
Tauabo, however, speaking in Melu- Nangade, and Macomia districts, phases, as per the Sadc technical and a concern about the effects of district allowed the Mozambican
co district last week, urged caution but in many cases malaria has al- team’s recommendations, with the the Cabo Delgado insurgency on government to identify six people
for displaced people considering ready struck displaced families. current phase focusing on intelli- Rwandan security. Indeed, Kagame financing the insurgency. Three are
returning to areas in the conflict Médecins Sans Frontières, which gence gathering and future phases asserted, there have been Rwandans reportedly based in Tanzania, two
zone. He asked displaced people provides healthcare for many of more oriented toward combat and found among the insurgents, along in Mozambique’s capital Maputo,
to delay their returns at least until the most vulnerable displaced peo- holding territory. Olivier’s analysis with Tanzanians, Congolese, Ugan- and one in Pemba. No further in-
government services are restored ple, reported that in the course of was borne out, at least in part, by dans, and Burundians. The Rwan- formation about the alleged finan-
in areas that were recently under 80,000 examinations of displaced an article in Vrye Weekblad report- dan president made no mention of ciers is available.
insurgent control, and to instead people done in the last six months, ing that no more than 200 South
– Cabo Ligado Weekly.

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Page 40 Reframing Issues NewsHawks

Issue 47, 10 Sept 2021

Free lesson from Guinea and more
fortable with being reviewed, but
DR NOAH MANYIKA the scars of having fought in the dan- and believe that it is not possible for Guinean President Alpha Condé. it is necessary. It is also critical that
gerous pro-democracy trenches could it to breed archetypal African despots anyone, which is why every leader, followers overcome their discomfort
ALLOW me to continue my contri- be cut from the same cloth as the des- and corrupt and incompetent lead- young or old, male or female, educat- with reviewing leaders out of fear of
bution to the serious conversation pots who reigned before him.  ers, the evidence notwithstanding. ed or uneducated, Karanga, Ndebele, demythologising their heroes. I had
Job Sikhala has challenged the oppo- As uncomfortable as it may be that Zezuru, Manyika, Black or White the honour over three decades ago of
sition to have. Guinean President Al- Political leaders must never forget it’s a coup leader in Guinea who is must be held to serious account be- having Stanislaw Wasowski, a Polish
pha Condé has just been overthrown that history is an open book, and that pointing out this fatal disease of “the fore and when they come to power.  World War II hero, former POW and
by Colonel Mamady Doumbuya it would be a betrayal of the cause personalisation of political life” in Af- chairman of the economics depart-
who told French media on the 5th of for people who are fighting for gen- rican politics, it is dangerous for those At each stage, leaders must pass the ment at Georgetown University as my
September that “the Guinean person- uine change to unsee what they have in the pro-democracy movement to test that the struggle for change and professor during my graduate studies
alisation of political life is over. We seen and to unknow what they know. pretend that we Zimbabweans are for democracy is not about them, but at the Edmund A. Walsh School of
will no longer entrust politics to one What do we know from the history of immune from it.  truly about the people. Education, Foreign Service in Washington DC.
man, we will entrust it to the people.” our own country? We know that wea- People are people exposure, popularity, even faith does I remember my own discomfort at
Ironically according to a BBC report, ried by Mugabe’s rule, many tragical- Let us suppose that Condé was in- not immunise anyone from corrup- the end of the course when Professor
Doumbuya who Condé recalled from ly believed that Mnangagwa, who is deed different. What could have tion. We are all potentially corrupt- Wasowski handed us forms to review
an overseas assignment in 2018 to on record boasting that he prevented changed him? One of Zimbabwe’s ible. If we weren’t, there would be no him as was required by the univer-
form the elite military unit that has Mugabe from conceding after he lost Christian leaders is known for the need for institutions, constitutions, sity and as is the standard practice
just staged the coup “is among 25 the presidential election to Tsvangi- simple but profound adage: “People laws, systems in democracies to pro- in American institutions of higher
Guinean officials the EU has been rai in 2008, not to mention his role are people.” Leaders are people, and tect people from leaders and from the learning. How could I, a mere stu-
threatening to sanction for alleged in every atrocity the Mugabe regime leadership is a journey. The fact that abuse of power. Companies would dent, review this great man? Many
human rights abuses committed in was responsible for, could not possi- a leader is not corrupt today does not not have boards of directors and other luminaries who end up teach-
recent years under President Condé.” bly be as bad as Mugabe. People also make them incorruptible. Power and churches would not have elder boards ing at American institutions of higher
know that they are many in our own sycophantic adulation can corrupt to govern them. learning, including former secretar-
Throughout the 1980s, ‘90s and pro-democracy movement who want Objective leadership review ies of state like Madelaine Albright,
first decade of the new millennium, everyone to suspend their judgment It is normal for leaders to be uncom- my other professor, willingly subject
Condé was a respected activist for de- themselves to review because it makes
mocracy, and after many run-ins with them better at what they do.
the authoritarian regimes in his coun- Great players, fighters, leaders are
try, he was finally elected Guinea’s reachable
president in 2010. He would be an Zimbabwe recently buried George
example of a former opposition lead- Shaya, one of the greatest soccer
er who “unpacked the equation” - to talents the country ever produced.
use Sikhala’s phrase - and figured out It is unlikely that Shaya would have
how to translate popularity to power. reached his level of greatness if he
The question is: Why did his assump- was not coachable. The same is true
tion of the presidency not mark the of Messi and Ronaldo, tennis super-
end of the struggle for democracy in stars Venus and Serena Williams,
the former French colony?  boxing greats Ali and Tyson etc. We
may all be born with innate talents,
Guinea got its independence from but it often takes others to unlock our
France in 1958…that is 63 years full potential. Uncoached talent can
ago. For 28 of those years, it endured only take us so far, and it is no exag-
the iron-fisted rule of Ahmed Sékou geration to say that it can also be the
Touré, leader of the Parti Démocra- greatest enemy of fulfilling one’s des-
tique de Guinée, (PDG) during tiny. It can make one deaf to objec-
whose presidency over 50 000 Guin- tive criticism and dangerously blind
eans who were opposed to his rule to one’s own flaws.
were massacred at concentration
camps such as the infamous Camp It is easy to forget that great players
Boiro. The one-party state system are also made great by the greatness
Touré formalized in 1960 was ended of their teammates. Michael Jordan,
by Lansana Conté in 1993, nine years considered by many as the great-
after Conté first took power in a mil- est basketball player of all time, was
itary coup following Touré’s death in aware of that, going on a recruiting
1984.  drive in the ‘90s which landed Dennis
Rodman, the game’s best rebound-
No serious observer of Guinean er on the great Chicago Bulls team.
politics would suggest that Conté’s Great teams, made up of great players
reign ended the struggle for democra- (and yes, one of them can be the star)
cy, which explains why Alpha Condé are also coachable. Great players and
and others continued the fight.  great teams are coached to stardom
So what happened to Condé?  and championships.
Guineans must face the possibility
that Condé never changed. Wearied It is not going to be different for
by Touré’s and Conté’s authoritarian- political organisations and leaders,
ism, few wanted to believe that a man including those in the pro-democracy
who had lived in France, an erudite movement.
former professor at the world-famous
Sorbonne in Paris who was fluent in Is there not a cause?
the language of democracy and bore

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NewsHawks World News Page 41

Issue 47, 10 Sept 2021

IN 2013, the Taliban opened an How Qatar became Taliban’s
office in Qatar’s capital of Doha, contact to global community
with America’s blessing. The office
became the permanent address of (L to R) The head of Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation Abdullah Abdullah, Qatar’s envoy on counter-terrorism Mutlaq al-Qahtani, and the leader of the
Taliban officials as they engaged in Taliban negotiating team Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar during the peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban in Qatar’s capital Doha. KARIM JAAFAR / AFP
peace-talks with international of-
ficials. At the time, Taliban repre- Qatari mediators are still trying to zeera Arabic. Qaradawi was tasked trying to get out of Afghanistan. relief groups. Importers would also
sentative Mohammed Naem went bring decision makers to the table. with encouraging the Taliban to Qatar has aided those efforts by be reluctant to do business in Af-
on Qatar’s state-broadcaster Al-Ja- reimagine the role that Islam could agreeing to temporarily resettle ghanistan due to the risk of acci-
zeera television to announce that “The problem with the Taliban play in their governing structure. thousands of Afghans until they dentally violating sanctions.
the Islamist insurgency wanted to is you speak to them and half the The move risked harming Qatar’s can be relocated to a new perma-
keep “good relations with all of the group agrees on one thing and the carefully crafted reputation, yet an- nent country. The catastrophe can be avoided
world countries.” other half doesn’t,” the source said. alysts believe that its gambit ulti- if Qatar convinces the global com-
“Right now, the guys at the table mately paid off. The real test for Qatar will be to munity and the Taliban to coop-
“But the Islamic emirate (Tali- in [in Doha] are great, but it’s clear convince the Taliban to retire its erate for the sake of Afghans – a
ban) sees the independence of the they are not making the final deci- “Qatar has positioned itself as harshest polices to appease west- scenario that requires the Taliban
nation from the current occupa- sions on both sides.” the go-to mediator with the Tali- ern donors. More than half of Af- to demonstrate tangible changes in
tion as a national and religious ob- ban. It was a risky bet, especially ghanistan’s legal economy is reliant the way it governs.
ligation,” he added. Qatar’s efforts are consistent with considering the optics with the on foreign aid, with 90 percent of
its larger geo-political objective of wider public, but it paid off,” said the population living on $2 a day. So far, the Taliban has displayed
Fast forward to today, and the becoming the primary mediator for Cinzia Bianco, Gulf research fellow If countries such as the U.S and its well-oiled public relations ma-
Taliban now controls Afghanistan conflicts and political disputes in at the European Council on For- member EU states do not recog- chine, yet reports coming out of
after toppling the U.S backed gov- the Arab world, and beyond. How- eign Relations. nize the Taliban, they could cut off Afghanistan suggest the group
ernment earlier this month (Au- ever, critics argue that Doha’s role desperately needed aid indefinitely. still adheres to a violent, extrem-
gust 2021). The Taliban walked in Afghanistan did little but legit- “Now, Qatar is well-positioned ist ideology. Taliban fighters have
into Kabul on August 15, 2021 af- imize the Taliban. Others add that to be the first contact point for Some leaders may be pressured recently massacred nine people
ter using coercion to win a number Qatar was clearly invested in trying regional and international players by their domestic rivals maintain from the country’s Shia minority
of negotiated surrenders against to persuade the extremist group who want to explore the possibil- crippling sanctions on the group. and are going door to door to track
government forces, many of whom to soften its governance approach ity of engaging with the Taliban Yet despite the brutality of the down wanted people – particularly
hadn’t been paid in six to nine and adopt tenants of its own Isla- … without compromising them- Taliban, sanctions will collectively prominent women – that worked
months. The Taliban’s military blitz mist-oriented worldview. selves,” she added. punish a population that has al- as civil servants, interpreters and
shocked the globe following the ready suffered from two decades of journalists. Persuading the group
Biden administration’s withdrawal For instance, in October 2020, Since the withdrawal, a U.S war and western occupation. Hu- to change its ways may be futile,
from Afghanistan in May 2021. Qatar arranged for a Taliban dele- military commander has met with manitarian exemptions wouldn’t yet Doha appears up for the chal-
gation to meet with the renown Is- the Taliban in Doha to discuss the suffice since navigating the legal lenge.
Biden has defended himself lamic Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi, who evacuation of thousands of people loops sucks much of the energy of
against criticism that the with- hosts a religious program on Al-Ja- —Fanack.com
drawal was executed poorly. The
chaos was best epitomized by a
viral video of a U.S aircraft taking
off amid a sea of Afghan civilians
that were pleading to get out of
the country. Some young men died
from clinging onto the aircraft as it
ascended.

Still, Biden blames the fall of
Kabul on the collapse of the Af-
ghan military. He also blames for-
mer U.S President Donald Trump
for inking a deal with the Taliban
that obligated the U.S to pull out
by May 1. That deal was sealed in
Doha by U.S envoy Zalmay Khalil-
zad and Taliban deputy leader
Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar on
February 29, 2020.

The U.S only had one main con-
dition for peace: it didn’t want the
Taliban to harbor terrorist groups
like Al-Qaeda or IS which threaten
western lives and interests. Despite
the breakthrough, peace talks took
place behind a backdrop of increas-
ing Taliban violence. At the time, it
appeared that the group sought to
improve its leverage in negotiations
by making gains on the battlefield.
In retrospect, the Taliban knew
that it could topple the Afghan
government because of how badly
the U.S wanted to leave its longest
war behind.

The Taliban’s calculus ham-
pered Qatar’s efforts to facilitate a
genuine power-sharing deal with
Afghan officials from the now top-
pled government. After months of
failed talks, Qatar finally proposed
in June to be a formal mediator be-
tween the warring sides. But Qatar
failed to persuade the Taliban to
halt its military take-over of Kabul.

Now it seems that Qatar may
have boxed itself in. The emirate’s
foreign minister Mohammed bin
Abdulrahman al-Thani, who was
mediating between the toppled Af-
ghan government and the Taliban,
said that Doha would not recog-
nize any Afghan government that
was installed by force.

A person briefed on the ongoing
talks told the Financial Times that

Page 42 World News NewsHawks

Issue 47, 10 Sept 2021

The Taliban embrace social media:
‘We too want to change perceptions’

IN early May, as US and Nato forc- Taliban forces patrol near Kabul airport earlier this month. The group once shunned technology but is now embracing social media.
es began their final withdrawal from
Afghanistan, the Taliban stepped up people who had joined the Taliban Mr Khosty told the BBC the Tal- He said the team members, some Human rights organisations Am-
their military offensive against Af- because of its ideology and “bring iban was finding it hard to sustain of whom have tens of thousands nesty International and Human
ghan national security forces. them to social media platforms so their presence on Facebook, and of followers, were issued specific Rights Watch say they have already
they amplify our message”. was focusing instead on Twitter. guidelines “not to comment on the received reports of Taliban fighters
But they also did something foreign policy issues of neighbour- searching for, and allegedly killing,
less common in the group’s histo- There are just 8.6 million internet Although the US State Depart- ing countries that would constrain people in reprisal attacks.
ry of conflict in the country - they users in Afghanistan, and absence ment has designated the Haqqani our relations with them”.
launched a comprehensive social of network coverage and affordable Network as an international terror- Facebook has launched a one-
media campaign to go with it. data remains a key challenge. The ist group, their leader Anas Haqqa- In the past, the Taliban were click tool for people in Afghanistan
IEA social media team team pays ni and many members of the group known for being highly secretive to quickly lock down their account,
A network of social media ac- 1 000 Afghanis (US$11.51) per have Twitter accounts with thou- about the identity of their lead- preventing anyone not already list-
counts highlighted the alleged fail- month for data packages for team sands of followers. ers and fighters. So much so that ed as a friend from seeing their de-
ures of the Kabul government while members “fighting their war on- there are barely any clear pictures of tails. The site also announced it had
lauding the Taliban’s achievements. line”, Mr Khosty said. Speaking on condition of ano- group’s founder, Mullah Omer. temporarily removed the ability to
nymity, one member of the Tali- view and search the “Friends” list
Tweets boasted about the group’s He boasted that the IEA had ban’s social media team told the Today, in an effort to gain inter- for accounts in Afghanistan.
recent victories — sometimes pre- “four fully equipped multimedia BBC that the team decided to use national legitimacy, their leadership
maturely — and pushed several studios that are used for generating Twitter in earnest to promote a New is not only making media appear- The question is whether the Tal-
hashtags, including #kabulregime- audio, video content and digital York Times opinion article written ances but promoting them heavily iban have changed and abandoned
crimes (attached to tweets accus- branding”. by Sirajuddin Haqqani, the deputy on social media. When the group’s the brutality associated with the
ing the Afghan government of war leader of the Taliban, in February previously secretive spokesman, group. Many in Afghanistan and
crimes); #westandwithTaliban (an The result is high-quality pro- 2020. Most of the active Taliban Zabihullah Mujahid, made a press around the world do not believe
attempt to drive grassroots support) paganda videos glorifying Taliban accounts on Twitter were created conference appearance shortly after their promises of change.
and #help from God and victory fighters and their battles against after that. the fall of Kabul, the profile pic-
is near. The first of the hashtags at foreign and national forces, wide- tures of many Taliban Twitter ac- But they appear to have grasped
least trended in Afghanistan. ly available on their YouTube and “Most Afghans don’t understand counts were changed to his image. that some of the technology they
Al-Emarah websites. English, but the leaders of the Ka- once shunned can help them in
In response, Afghanistan’s then- bul regime actively communicated By contrast, many Afghan citi- their quest to shape opinion on a
Vice President Amrullah Saleh The group publishes freely on in English on Twitter — because zens who worked for international global stage.
warned his forces and the public Twitter and YouTube, but Facebook their audience is not Afghans but forces, organisations, media and
not to fall for false claims of Taliban has designated the Taliban a “dan- the international community,” he others who were critical of the Tal- “Social media is powerful tool
victories on social media, and called gerous organisation” and frequently said. iban on social media are now deac- to change public perception,” said
on people to avoid sharing details of removes accounts and pages associ- tivating their accounts, fearing that the social media team member. “We
military operations that could com- ated with them. Facebook has said “The Taliban wanted to counter the information could be used to want to change the perception of
promise security. it will continue to ban Taliban con- their propaganda and that’s why we target them. the Taliban.”
tent from its platforms. too focused ourselves on Twitter.”
The coordination suggested the — BBC
Taliban had moved on from the
staunch opposition to modern in-
formation technology and media
once associated with them, and
built a social media apparatus to
amplify their message.

When the Taliban first came to
power in Afghanistan in 1996, they
banned the internet and confiscated
or destroyed television sets, camer-
as, and video tapes. In 2005, the of-
ficial website of Islamic Emirates of
Taliban, ‘Al-Emarah’, was launched
and now publishes content in five
languages — English, Arabic, Pash-
to, Dari, and Urdu. The audio,
video, and written content is over-
seen by the cultural commission
of Islamic Emirates of Afghanistan
(IEA), headed by their spokesper-
son Zabihullah Mujahid.

Zabihullah Mujahid’s first Twit-
ter account was suspended by the
company, but his new account - ac-
tive since 2017 — has more than
371 000 followers. Underneath him
is a dedicated team of volunteers
promoting the Taliban’s ideology
online.

The reported head of that group -
effectively the social media director
of the IEA - is Qari Saeed Khosty.

Mr Khosty told the BBC the
team had separate groups focused
on Twitter — attempting to get
Taliban hashtags trending — as
well as disseminating messages on
WhatsApp and Facebook.

“Our enemies have television,
radio, verified accounts on social
media and we have none, yet we
fought with them on Twitter and
Facebook and defeated them,” Mr
Khosty said.

His job, he said, was to take

Porsche just got angrier Being a Fashion Model

&Life Style

STYLE TRAVEL BOOKS ARTS MOTORING

Page 43 DJ Fafi reveals struggles with Issue 47, 10 Sept 2021
bookings, sexual harassment
JONATHAN MBIRIYAMVEKA “At this point I didn’t even
them and more often than not deejaying skills. “I became a DJ because I Butu, a young Rufaro would have the idea of being in me-
TO make it in life, women (they) will ensure you don’t get “A good DJ makes people loved going out and I thought spend most of her time with dia but rather pursuing a de-
have to work twice as hard as the same platform with them to myself, ‘I can drink and get her father during radio shows gree in political science. My
their male counterparts. because they are either close to happy,” she says.  to party and still get paid, so and outside broadcasting late mother was one fun par-
bar owners or promoters. “Technically, it is knowing what’s the best way to get all events. ty person, everyday was party
This holds true for the these three in one.’ I then be- day.
hugely gifted DJ Fafi, who “Some of us we are DJs your music, mastering the art came a DJ,” she explains. “We were always going to
has had to up her game in because of passion and, yes, of transition, not switching events but my best moments My father would bring her
order to gain recognition in a the money, but they fear you from genre to other.” She grew up in a family of were being in the studio at favorite cassettes and vinyls
male-dominated area, behind might take the spotlight.” five children, and she is the last Radio Zimbabwe, then Radio and I promise you sleep that
the turntables. Born on 24 November born. 2, doing some of his shows, night would be scarce,” she
DJ Fafi says it is only when 1993, DJ Fafi says she loves for instance Murimi WaNhasi says. 
In most cases, the 28-year- she stages a great show that playing music because mu- The daughter of famed and Tsika Dzedu,” she says. 
old teetotaler -- real name Ru- people start appreciating her sic heals and enlightens the ZBC radio presenter Killian “My mother subconsciously
faro Butu -- is either looked mood, good or bad. contributed a lot to my love
down upon or pestered for for music as she would give me
sexual favours in exchange for money to go to concerts and
bookings by show organisers, shows like Akon and Sean Paul
promoters and club goers. a couple of years back.”

It is the kind of occupa- Her exposure to music and
tional hazard that can so easily artistes almost influenced her
deter those whose character is to go into music, but not until
made of sterner stuff.  she had a feel of the turntables.

Not DJ Fafi!  “I met up with Nitredy, at
“Being a female DJ is hard, that point he had produced
I swear,” she tells The News- Roki’s song Chidzoka and I
Hawks this week.  then wanted to sing although
“Some of my challenges as it was an epic fail,” she says. 
a female DJ is getting the job
to begin with. The moment I “I didn’t lose heart until
approach the manager, show one day I went to a club and
promoter or organisers for saw someone behind the turn-
any particular event, first of all tables and I was intrigued. I
they will ask: ‘Are you good? did my research and worked
Can you manage?’  towards attaining the DJ
“And also they take advan- gear. Four months down the
tage of you and usually they line, I didn’t know how to use
start by passing comments the equipment but DJ Fujee
like ‘oh you’re pretty, nice taught me and I became part
body’ before they ask you for of ‘The Family’ that played at
a hook up. What’s worse is 1+1 every Saturday,” she says. 
when you turn down their sex-
ual advances or anything, then She has co-produced two
you’re sure to lose the job and tracks with Ian “Ahsayn” Mu-
the paycheck.” tamiri although they are yet to
DJ Fafi further says the sex- be released.
ual advances are not associated
with managers and promoters “I’m inspired mostly by my
only, but also perverted fans.  father who has travelled far
“Sexual harassment also and wide. He used his voice
comes from fans who want to and personality to
take pictures with you, which
is fine, but the problem is they go far and beyond, captur-
overdo it. Some get touchy, ing data and understanding
others get too close for com- what the people love to listen
fort while others mistake you to and giving them the satis-
for a hooker. Instead of being faction of the heart,” she says. 
on the dance floor, they come
to DJ box and stare at you.” But her worst memorable
While this appears too time as a DJ was when the
much to contend with, DJ promoters kept shifting her
Fafi also has to contend with slot and also when Garry B
jealous and envious colleagues. pulled the plug during her set.
“So when you finally get the
job at some nightclub or hang- She also remembers how
out, then next is sabotage from a friend and fellow DJ, Rob-
colleagues who always want to ert “Robbie T” Tichareva,
see you fail,” she comments.  mentored her in grasping old
“There is so much hatred skool music. DJ Fafi, who is a
within the deejaying circles. devout Catholic, owes her suc-
And some people just hate you cess to her parents for accept-
because you play better than ing her career path and strong
support systems.

She describes herself as a fun
and free-spirited person but
she admits to being sensitive.

“Do it with passion or not
at all,” is her motto.

Page 44 State of the Culture NewsHawks

Issue 47, 10 Sept 2021
Zimbabwean film producer makes 
big Amazon content breakthrough

Addy
Kudita

THE Covid-19 lockdown pe- KC: It’s pay per view; yes we are the rise locally and even globally. Derek, however, soon realises Is Derek’s older grandchild. He Kudzai Chikomo.
riod has undoubtedly been a considering working on second We need to capture these new how irresponsible his grandchil- is in his late 20s, but his be- ever always stem from a place of
time of hardship for people season. audiences. There’s a high appe- dren are. He still tries to ignore haviour suggests otherwise. He love.
the world over, but more so AK: How are you managing in tite for local stories in the dias- this until his daughter-in-law, is irresponsible and has no sense
for people who are part of the terms of funding for film pro- pora. We just need to start small, the children’s mother, asks him of consequence. He can be easily She does tend to be a little
creative sector with varying de- duction? In other words, how with who we are, what we have to move in with the children dismissed as lazy and uninspired, selfish sometimes, but is always
grees of misery depending on do you do it? and where we are. We will grow so that they can take care of but it is probably because he did quick to realise it. She gets along
just how supportive and vision- KC: We self-fund the film proj- organically. each other and with the help not get any guidance while he with Daphne very well but is
ary governments are.  ects. We don’t have investors as AK: Who is your inspiration? of Daphne and Jo, staffers at was growing up. Notwithstand- very affectionate towards Derek,
yet. KC: Tyler Perry. I admire his the restaurant, take care of the ing his obvious faults, DJ is al- although they tend to cross paths
But some had to work AK: What could be done in work ethic and vision. His busi- restaurant as well. ways willing to help other people very often.
against all the odds in between that regard and at the policy ness acumen when it comes to although his methods almost al-
the brief spurts of time the re- level, what could be done to telling stories which actually Derek is in his 70s. He is still ways fail. He tends to get carried Daphne
laxation of lockdown regula- move the creative sector for- translates into income. very fit and healthy, possibly be- away and will often lose track of She is the manager of the restau-
tions permitted.  ward? Series synopsis: cause of his military background. the ultimate goal. His intentions rant. Daphne is mature and wise
KC: There is need to set up a Derek  Derek is a practical man. For are always pure though. He gets beyond her years and tends to be
Kudzai Chikomo (KC) is a film fund or a film production to He is an old retired man who him, everything is black and along with Jo the most, possibly the voice of reason for everyone
resourceful creative and film support content production in used to be in the army. His only white and there is hardly any because Jo is the only one who is else. She tends to act as a mother
producer who to date has Zimbabwe. son Derry (Short for Derek) and room for negotiation. He is stern always ready to go along with his for everyone else and sometimes
produced content for Mul- AK: Any insights you would his wife have just moved to the and hardly ever jokes and this rather odd ideas. a confidant to Derek. She is sar-
tiChoice, mainly films. The want to share regarding the US, leaving behind their two may make him seem scary to Noxolo castic and witty and there is a
NewsHawks’ Addy Kudita (AK) arts sector in the country? children DJ who is well into some people. However, despite She is Derek’s granddaughter. side of her that she always tries to
sat down with the film produc- KC: New digital habits caused his late 20s and Noxolo who is this, beneath the tough exterior She has a bubbly and overbearing keep hidden. This side of her will
er for an interview discussing a by the lockdowns are an oppor- a school-going 17-year-old girl. is a man who deeply cares for his personality. She is always all over come up every now and then in
number of issues regarding his tunity for content creators. Dig- Initially, Derek is fine with the family although he may not al- the place and is a bit of a scat- little outbursts.
recent breakthrough of getting ital content consumption is on idea of the children being by ways be able to show it. At the ter brain. She is very loud, very
his production Bazukuru, a themselves; after all he sees them beginning, he comes off as rather animated, and overly expressive Sometimes, she tries too hard
sitcom, onto Amazon’s global fairly regularly at the successful rigid and unapproachable but as and loves attention. Once she and her desperation sometimes
content distribution platform restaurant that Derry and his the story goes further, it can be gets her mind on something, she leads her to follow some outra-
and creative work in general in wife Sheila left behind.  noted that he softens up, partic- hardly lets it go and very often geous ideas.
the City of Kings, Bulawayo.  ularly to Noxolo of whom he is she has very over-the-top ideas.
overly protective. Her unconventional ideas how- Chikomo runs Film & Tele-
Bazukuru is a portmanteau DJ  vision Resources based in Bula-
from Shona “Vazukuru” and wayo and works across various
“Bazukulu” from Ndebele. creative disciplines and his activ-
ities span production and train-
According to Chikomo, the ing.
sitcom explores “the idea of
uniting people from different
ethnicities to laugh together
as they watch the lives of this
unconventional family of three
and their relationships within
and outside the family”. 

“It explores the world of
transnational families, where
parents leave for the diaspora
in search of greener pastures
and left-behind children have
to grow in the absence of their
parents. Some of the most edu-
cated and skilled people in Af-
rica opt to migrate overseas to
seek better opportunities, leav-
ing their families to long-dis-
tance parenting. More impor-
tantly, the sitcom addresses the
issue of a generational gap,” he
says. William Nyandoro is the
director of the series, Nkosile-
sisa Ncube is the writer and
the director of photography
is Rasquesity Keaitse. Others
are Selina Moyo who is the
production manager; sound is
handled by Matesu Dube, also
the director of Umkhathi The-
atre Arts.
AK: Tell me all about the
breakthrough with Amazon.
How did it happen?
KC: I got in touch with an agent
in the United States.
AK: Amazon Prime distributes
to how many countries?
KC: This deal is for the United
Kingdom, US and Canada
AK: Will you do a second sea-
son and what is the deal basi-
cally?

NewsHawks Life & Style Page 45

Issue 47, 10 Sept 2021

Title: The Barber Title: The Motif Giving birth to entourage of words to se-
Poet: Charles Nyoni Poet: Agrippa Tivarere - Chiteretere date the mind
Like a roulette game in spinaratzy
As the blade approached my face, With novelty of COVID-19 pandemic rules So was the mind
I had no choice but to remain still. Commandeering our lives Infinite spins!
One wrong move - I took a sho’t left to a public joint Boon of swirls!
And I could lose an eye, The park in the hood Olympian swoops!
Or an ear. To reset the mind And
I shut my eyes, So I witnessed Damn right crashing
As my cheek was forced to the ground. An entourage of souls meandering at will With ricocheting cacophony piercing ear
With each slice of the blade, I too perched at benches like an FBI agent lobes!
My hair was half cut, Mulling over own crappie moments With mind in race
Half tugged from my head. Occasionally indulging at unfolding events To secure anchorage
My stinging scalp made my eyes water. Consigned A defiled parchment slapped me on the
My neck was twisted - Conscripted to the benches brow
As he turned me on to the other cheek. There was nothing much to offer Like a rocket launcher at take off
As he cut that side, Except unleashing wandering mind scanning I rocketed spaceward
I tasted the dirt of the ground on my lips. park’s acres! Landing on the benches with a thud
My head was pulled up - I watched souls in chitchats Timidly pulling off the parchment on the
As he sheared the back. Divergent topics often capped in monotonous face!
After a final series of chops, sharp-sharp It was not an ordinary litter
It was over. Can you blame them? A parchment in texts it was
As quickly as they pinned me down, That’s Zimbabwe’s affable lingo for “Re Often fading away from corrosive Komba
He melted away in the shadows. Grand!” dancing
I put my hands up to my head, I watched birds in relentless glide sorties Yet
And touched my crudely hacked locks. Hassling to stay alive The Motif was alive in scripted boldness!
I felt the cold air around my ears, Yet DESTINY- was the enigmatic MOTIF
And vulnerable bones of my skull. Never lost that supple agility scribbled on the parchment
I curled into a ball, Like blazing guns So I pondered
Writhing in my own sweat, They shot through aerial obstacles Paging every catalogue for discernment
Hoping the pain from the blade cuts would Tiptoed on the park’s minefields! D-E-S-T-I-N-Y that incredulous MOTIF
subside. There I was sedated in thoughts tattooed on all brows!
But finally, Often missing life’s simple billboards What’s in your MOTIF catalogue?
It was over. Nature’s obvious offerings Page through for Affirmation!
The park teeming with texts Your D-E-S-T-I-N-Y could just be ready for
*********************************************** The park a confluence to all things living Endowments!
The park a herbarium of associates
Poet: Patrick Hwande Each marshalling connections of endearment ***********************************************
Title: if it rains Simple or lofty
All enmeshed in purposefulness Title: My father’s kraal
People will have a bountiful harvest That each one finds spoors to destiny! Poet: Farai C Mlambo
And forget about this devastating drought. At the park’s benches
The rain will pour I witnessed a whirlwind formation In my father’s kraal,
And sweep off the litter Crisscrossing park’s acres with exuberance There are four cattle;
And donate it in Chahonyosa river; Lifting in spectacular Five if you like:
Never to molest us again. All sorts of stuff A strong ox
Thriving crops will catch the eye Then suddenly ceased to absolute calmness A big bull
And the angry, hungry faces Like the biblical summoning of the sea to chill A fat cow
Once again, It dead ceased! And a little calf.
Will beam with tremendous joy. I marveled at the moment of intrigue Then there is a caterpillar
That is, if it rains! Witnessing scraps of litter fall like snowflakes which lives in the dung.
So, may it rain today Magical choreography in motions It can neither moo,
We are grappling with shattered hope. And so I was bequeathed Nor dance murambamhuru
With a fountain of thoughts like the rest.
*********************************************** Each in exuberant auditioning It has neither horns nor a tail,
Nor four legs with hooves,
Nor fur on its body;
Just a delicate, shiny belly.

Page 46 People & Places NewsHawks

Issue 47, 10 Sept 2021

EXPLORERS are constantly looking Longest walk in the world: route  that two scientists suggest-
for new adventures and world firsts From SA to Russia via Zim ed might be the longest continuous
to accomplish. One mouth-watering, The route ascends a total of 117 In the 1970s, Dave Kunst became Perhaps the reason that this has walk. But that was only 11 000km.
still-undone route is the longest con- 693m and descends 117 686m –- the first person to walk completely never been attempted is the risk that This current one is twice as long.
tinuous walk in the world. the equivalent of 13 Mount Everests. around the earth. It took him four accompanies it. The route is littered
Google estimates that it takes 4 492 years. Steven Newman was the first with visa restrictions, war-torn re- - Explorersweb.com
In 2019, reddit hours (187 days) to walk the entire to walk solo around the world. Fyo- gions, civil wars, and unstable gov- *About the writer: McPhee is a
user  cbz3000  played around on distance, but in Google’s infinite wis- na Campbell walked for 11 years ernments. Besides politics, anyone freelance writer and science teacher
Google Maps to find the longest dom, this is 24 hours a day, no breaks! across America, Africa and Europe, who attempted it would need excep- based in the UK. She is a keen trav-
route that you could walk without More reasonably, if you walked eight and Rosie Swale Pope ran around the tional skills to tackle the constantly eller and has been lucky enough to
having to cross an ocean. Stretching hours a day, the walk would take 562 world in 2003. The idea of walking changing terrain and temperatures. backpack her way around Africa,
22,387km, it runs from Cape Town, days to complete, not including rest across the world is not new, but this South America, and Asia. With a
South Africa to Magadan, Russia. days. route is. Two years ago, ExplorersWeb background in marine biology, she
reported on  another straight-line is interested in everything to do
It crosses 16 countries: South Af- with the oceans and aims to dive
rica, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and open-water swim in as many
Tanzania, Uganda, South Sudan, Su- seas as possible. Her areas of exper-
dan, Georgia, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, tise include open water sports, ma-
Turkey, Romania, Belarus, and Rus- rine wildlife and adventure travel.
sia.

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Charmaine on 0735 666 122
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Property
NewsHawks

Issue 47, 10 Sept 2021 PROPERTY INTERIORS ARCHITECTURE GARDENING Page 47

The home of prime property: [email protected]

Diverse architecture in Mabvazuva

Some of the houses in Mabvazuva along Mutare Road in Ruwa. The stands, which range from 400 up to
900 square metres are managed by Exodus and Company. — Pictures: Aaron Ufumeli

Page 48 Sport NewsHawks

Issue 47, 10 Sept 2021

Planning a Meeting or
Training Session?

Ÿ Choose The NewsHawks Executive Conference Room

WORKSHOPS I PRODUCT LAUNCHES I MEDIA/FINANCIAL BRIEFINGS I EVENTS

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The NewsHawks @NewsHawksLive www.newshawks.com [email protected]

NewsHawks Sport Page 49

Issue 47, 10 Sept 2021

How Bolton were told to deal with
Cristiano’s Manchester United debut

CRISTIANO Ronaldo is poised to pull on the famous red shirt Cristiano Ronaldo.
of Manchester United this weekend for a second spell with the
club.

The Portuguese superstar has rejoined his former team from
Juventus this summer and could begin his second spell at Old
Trafford this weekend against Newcastle United.

In his first time at the club, Ronaldo scored 118 goals in 292
appearances for United, winning three Premier League titles, the
FA Cup, Champions League and the Ballon D’Or.

And his first spell with United came with his debut against
Bolton Wanderers in August 2003 at Old Trafford.

Ronaldo came on in the second half for Nicky Butt and helped
contribute to a 4-0 victory, with a brace from Ryan Giggs, as well
as strikes from Paul Scholes and Ruud van Nistelrooy.

Playing for Wanderers that day was Nicky Hunt at right-back
as he made his own Premier League debut and came face to face
with the future superstar.

Reliving that day, Hunt said that instructions from Wanderers
boss Sam Allardyce and assistant Phil Brown were to ‘hit’ the
Portuguese winger whenever he got the ball.

That is precisely what Hunt did, but despite his best efforts
and those of his Wanderers team mates, the scoreline went from
1-0 to 4-0 as Ronaldo helped extend United’s advantage.

And though the Wanderers dressing room did not foresee him
at the time becoming the world’s best player, they were left in no
doubt about his talent.

Hunt told Sky Sports: “There was no preparation for what he
did that day. He came on for them 20 minutes and turned the
game around.

“We were 1-0 down and by the time the full-time whistle had
been, it was 4-0 so what more can you say about the man him-
self.

“Phil Brown and Sam Allardyce were just saying ‘hit him’ ev-
ery time he got the ball.

“That’s literally what I did. The first two tackles I smashed him
and then he switched over to the other wing and caused absolute
havoc on the left wing as well.

“I’m not sure that day that we all thought in the changing
room that he was going to be the best there ever was or the
best in the world, but there was certainly glimpses that day that
when we were sat in the changing room after the game and just
thought to ourselves ‘yeah, we’ve got a real player on our hands
here’.” — Agencies

I HAVE been fortunate to be around Win or lose, sometimes all Wednesday with a workmanlike 38-
Zimbabwe’s foremost national teams that matters is giving your all run victory over Ireland in the first of
and in my experience – covering them three ODIs on tour.
on assignments both at home and in- their peers – representing their country Quite sadly, we HawkZone therefore,
ternationally – I would like to believe is a non-negotiable sacrifice of limb.  have seen this fire to witness That result in Belfast to take a 1-0
that the insight gained gives me privi- die down, plunging Enock a gutsy and lead in the series, following a 3-2 de-
lege to know what make these sporting The passion is fierce: the intense to levels of treason- Muchinjo hearty per- feat to the hosts in the T20Is, is only
ambassadors of our country tick.  training sessions, ous performances by formance Zimbabwe’s second win in the ICC
a national team that by a team World Super League, a pathway to
I am a big fan of our football team. the pre-match tears during a has steadily turned known as 2023 World Cup qualification.
To some fellow countrymen, though, full-throttle national anthem, the par- into expressionless the Chev-
this team, inappropriately nicknamed tying late into the night after a win, or receivers of one hu- rons these It was a pleasing team performance
Warriors in their view, simply is not the sulking in case of a rare defeat. miliation after an- days, turn- by Zimbabwe, and long may it con-
worth their time. other.  ing up in tinue in the World Cup quest, starting
This fire was there in our cricket style on with today’s second ODI.
Human nature is such that it is hard team, when a group of super patriots What a relief it was,
to convince people otherwise, espe- used to represent the Zimbabwe side The sweeping reforms by the In-
cially when those they expect so much around the turn of the millennium. ternational Cricket Council (ICC),
from do not often deliver to their ex- particularly relating to the teams go-
pectations. ing to the World Cup, has made qual-
ification much tougher for sides like
Truly, on numerous occasions our Zimbabwe.
hopes have been raised high by the
Warriors, only to fall back to earth Not being at the World Cup for the
with a thud at the hands of this team.  second time will be a massive blow for
Zimbabwean cricket all round – finan-
But I have often dared say that win, cially, growth and interest. 
lose or draw – the commitment of this
team to represent Zimbabweans with But failure or not, I always like
pride and joy is something I do not to see some heart and genuine effort
question. from those honoured and privileged to
play international sport at the highest
A genuine sense of patriotism runs level for this country. 
deep in the spirit of most of our foot-
ballers and if you, like most of us, Let us hope that Wednesday was
find the often-poor results unbear- the beginning of a new day for the
able, spare a thought for the players Chevrons, the rebirth of a once proud
themselves who are the ones to endure team, in pursuit of a profoundly need-
defeat after defeat, and on many oc- ed World Cup ticket.
casions the result of bad management. 
Similarly – failure or not – I would
Occupying another soft spot in my like to see the footballers heartily put
heart is, of course, our rugby team, the their own World Cup hunt back on
Sables. With these fellows – histori- track and the rugby players launch
cally under-renumerated compared to their own campaign next year with the
gusto we all know and respect. 

Sports How Covid-19
has exposed

Cristiano Ronaldo’s heartlessness
most ridiculous
and ineptness

Thursday 1rOectcoboerrd20s2!0

Friday 10 September 2021 @NewsHawksLive TheNewsHawks www.thenewshawks.com

WHAT’S INSIDE NEWS CULTURE Ireland
$60 Covid Community
LoAgmainnouttwe olornthgethrewcitohstALWYNMABEHLA tariff for radio to save
visitors & against
Chamisa reacTHERE is no other way to put it as tourists lookregulations
seriesunder review
Story on Page 3 confidentStory on Page 8

Zimbabwe

plainly as that, the rot at the Zimba- LAGGING behind 1-0 in the three-
match One-Day International series,
bwe Football Association (Zifa) has KhupeIreland need a win in the second match
gone on far too long. out to to keep the hope of a series win alive.
Zimbabwe were relentless in their
That Warriors coach, Zdravko Log- efforts to turn the first ODI in their
arusic, continues to blame everything favour.
but himself, had made it even more The resistance was led by the bowlers
difficult to take him seriously. He has
become the butt of many jokes. 
Under the stewardship of the Croa- who countered Ireland’s steady start by
sparking an implosion. Blessing Mu-
tian, Zimbabwe has managed a single Unofficial president calls for emergezarabani’s four-wicket haul contributed
victory in 14 games – against light- to the hosts bundling out on 228 after
weights Botswana – while managing being 187-3 at one stage. A similar per-
five draws and losing the remaining formance can be expected from the vis-
eight. These are horrific stats by any itors on Friday. 
measure. Ireland’s batting found support from
the top order but the middle order
Tempers have flared following the failed to capitalise on the start, with the
Warriors’ thoroughly unconvincing energy missing in the field from ball
performances over the last two World one. As Ireland sit at the 8th position
Cup qualifiers against South Africa in the ICC Cricket World Cup Super
and Ethiopia. In the last game away League standings, they would contin-
to Ethiopia on Tuesday, the Warriors ue to want to galvanise more points as
wilted in stoppage time, conceding a long road lies ahead. On the other
a last-minute penalty to leave them hand, Zimbabwe are currently posi-
rooted at the base of Group G. tioned at the bottom of the table with
two wins in seven matches.
Against Bafana Bafana at home in After having asked Zimbabwe to bat
the opening nil-all draw, Zimbabwe first, Ireland struck at the beginning to
had again been lifeless and, truth be send back Regis Chakabva in the fifth
over. However, Brendan Taylor (49)
told, they probably did not deserve and Craig Ervine (64) regrouped to put
a point from that tie.  together a 71-run stand, strengthening
Zimbabwe’s position. Although wickets
Forward Tino Kadewere, who has fell at regular intervals, the visitors were
had a slow start with French Ligue boosted by important contributions
1 side Lyon, was starved of the ball from their experienced batters. Sean
upfront and clearly struggled as the Williams (33) and Sikandar Raza (59*)
team failed to create any chances. did well to maintain a consistent scor-
ing rate. Wesley Madhevere and Luke
The midfield was devoid of class Jongwe added a few handy runs at the
and lacked any creativity to send end to help Zimbabwe post 266-7.
Kadewere clear.  In reply, Ireland got off to a good

For a team playing at home in a
regional derby, the Warriors were
expected to show some imagination
upfront. 

Away to Ethiopia, it was the same
script despite a flashpoint early in the
second half when Khama Billiat teed- start, openers William Porterfield
and Paul Stirling stitching a valuable
up a chance for captain Knowledge Zdravko Logarušić. half-century opening stand. After
Musona, whose effort was brilliantly
saved by the hosts’ goalkeeper. the dismissals of Stirling and Andrew
Logarusic has been performing like Brendan Galloway and Macauley ALrtaoSnpOtedcoIiaNnchSaesIsD.o  nEe of LFoingaarunscice’s Massiins-istyowuEtliaiptshteeedsr tiohtsuettZim$ifea3ob.2noatBrhdiellositroagLneo.dgaerupsoicsitoBhraasllfb-ficruennniteu,drsyPosrttaenrdfieZwldiitmhsh'HasraelradrtyeaTnseotctthloaerrn. d
somersaults in excuses over the terri- Bonne, who were set to make their c
ble run of form. It will come as no international debut in the two qual- Quite honestly, it was foolhardy himself should do the honourable Zimbabwe hit back in the middle overs,
surprise if he adds another conve- ifiers.  to expect much from the celebrated thing – resign. Qualification to the picking up wickets and strangling the
nient excuse, the absence of the En- It is certainly hard to imagine how Benjani, who is still cutting his teeth Africa Cup of Nations alone is not scoring rate. With wickets falling at reg-
gland-based stars like Marvelous Na- these players would have made a dif- in coaching, having just attained his worth the price of Logarusic.  ular intervals, Ireland failed to recover.
kamba, Tendayi Darikwa and Jordan ference. In the build-up to the games, coaching badges this year. Local coaches Sunday Chidzamb- They lost their last seven batsmen for
Zemura. there was a wave of optimism with This current crop of Warriors will wa, Charles Mhlauri and Callisto 41 runs and were bowled out for 228,
Then he will also mention the the news that former Warriors cap- find it very difficult to excel under Pasuwa have done it before, at a far giving Zimbabwe a 38-run victory.
newly secured players from the UK tain Benjani Mwarurwari had been Logarusic, an expensive joke that has less cost. – ICC.

ALSO INSIDE Win or lose, sometimes all that matters is giving your all