NewsHawks 1 October 2021

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WHAT’S INSIDE Friday 1 October 2021 NJuEdWgeSs set wrong S‘DPeOdReTAyew
precedent by not fit to
SNmEWokSing gun: hearing their play against
Mnangagwa and own case Warriors’
dodgy Zanu PF
characters Story on Page 7 Story on Page 48

Story on Page 5

Parliament
investigates
US$109m
tender scandal

Page 2 News NewsHawks

Parliament Issue 50, 1 October 2021
investigates
US$109m
tender scandal
Co-operation Co. Ltd, through a smash-and-
MARY MUNDEYA grab approach. Zinwa chief executive officer Taurai Maurikira. — Picture: Mary Mundeya

THE Zimbabwe National Water Authority Nanchang was taken to court in 2019 for Agriculture minister Perrance Shiri, secretary is on the upper reaches of the Nyagui River.
(Zinwa) executive is under investigation for muscling into the US$171 million Silver- Ringson Chitsiko, Zinwa, Nanchang, and the Its dam site is approximately four kilome-
awarding a dodgy US$109 million Kunzvi stroom Dam project in Mashonaland Central Pocurement Regulation Authority of Zimba-
Dam construction tender to China Nanchang province outside the tender process. bwe (Praz) as respondents. tres upstream at the confluence of Nyagui
Engineering, which has a shady past, ahead of River and the Nora River. The main purpose
other cheaper yet competitive bids. The company, now mired in a new scan- Justice Tawanda Chitapi heard the urgent of the reservoir is to supply water to Harare,
dal over the US$108 885 000 Kunzvi Dam application. which has serious water problems.
Corruption, including industrial-scale loot- proposal, fought to keep its ill-gotten Silver-
ing mainly at the top echelons of state power stroom project. Dzvetero argued that the tender reversal was The Kunzvi Dam project’s cost has been
and public enterprises, is rampant in the coun- illegal, as Jiangxi’s bid was held to be compet- speculative, with wide variations. The figures
try, having found a haven in parastatals. The Chinese companies, Nanchang and Ji- itive in all aspects and the most cost effective bandied about widely vary — ranging from
angxi, ended up resolving the tender robbery by the Praz. US$65 million to over US$800 million; for
It not only lowers the tax-to-Gross Domes- fight over Silverstroom through an out of the same project. Initial feasibility studies
tic Product ratio, but also causes long-term court settlement. Dzvetero told The NewsHawks in August have shown cost projections going up to about
damage to the economy by undermining in- that the matter was later resolved by consent US$865 million, creating room for rent-seek-
vestment, increases the size and scope of the The Kunzwi Dam tender was also awarded order. ing and corruption.
informal market, distorts tax structures and under dubious circumstances.
corrodes taxpayers’ tax morality and compli- “Basically, the parties decided to resolve the For example, the Infrastruture Develop-
ance. In the aftermath of the contentious tender, matter outside the court because they decided ment Bank of Zimbabwe on its website says
SinoHydro, which had submitted the lowest not to fight government. An out of court set- the project is estimated at US$865 million.
The Zinwa executive — including chief ex- and competitive bid (US$65 523 463.61) in tlement was reached and the project remained
ecutive Taurai Maurikira — on Wednesday partnership with a local company Marmfold with China Nanchang,” Dzvetero said. “The dam site is 67 kilometres north-east
came under fire from MPs on Parliament’s Engineers, raised the alarm over Nanchang’s of the capital, near Juru Growth Point on the
portfolio committee on Lands, Agriculture, US$108 885 000 controversial winning pro- Nanchang has another issue in its dodgy Nyanguvi River. The dam will have the capaci-
Rural Resources, Water Development and Re- posal. past record. Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe gov- ty to deliver 158.4 million cubic metres of wa-
settlement after failing to avail documents for ernor John Mangudya on 24 January 2020 ter daily. The estimated project cost is US$865
the Kunzvi Dam tendering process as per the Subsequently, it has bitterly complained issued a statement, saying an investigation by million and will be funded through Public-Pri-
request of the committee, prior to the appear- to the government, through the Office of the the central bank’s Financial Intelligence Unit vate Partnership initiatives,” the bank says.
ance. President and Cabinet and Agriculture min- (FIU) had found that Nanchang had used its
istry, about what it said was a shady process. bank account “to inject millions of dollars into “Project implementation is estimated at 60
The parastatal’s bosses were supposed to give SinoHydro believes that given its lowest bid, the parallel market in the last few days”. months. In addition to supplying water to Ha-
oral evidence on the Kunzvi Dam tendering capacity and experience, it should have won rare and its catchment areas, the dam project
process as well as on the controversial contract the tender, but the project was irregularly giv- “The FIU has ordered the freezing of the will provide surrounding communities with
for prepaid water meters they entered into en to Nanchang. identified account pending further analysis water for irrigation. Furthermore, the city will
with various companies. and is undertaking ongoing surveillance to save on treatment costs as the project is more
These revelations and details are contained identify more culprits involved in the parallel upstream than Lake Chivero which is down-
Zinwa ended up giving evidence on pre- in documents that were leaked to two local market transactions, particularly on the Eco- stream and heavily contaminated with effluent
paid water meters only after failing to furnish media organisations, including The News- Cash platform,” he said. from industries.”
the committee with required documents. The Hawks.
committee chairperson, Mayor Wadyajena, or- Mangudya said the RBZ would “identify Construction Review Online in January
dered Zinwa executives, who included Mau- Nanchang’s US$108 885 000 bid was and take appropriate action, in terms of the last year quoted Mashonaland East Provin-
rikira, to avail the documents by the end of ranked fifth, based on costs. The lowest bid law, against any culprits involved in illicit for- cial Affairs minister Aplonia Munzverengwi as
business on Wednesday. was from SinoHydro and Marmfold joint-ven- eign currency activities and manipulation of saying US$259 million had been allocated for
ture at US$65 523 463; followed by Jiangxi the foreign exchange rates”. the project, although the overall cost stood at
Wadyajena said it was unfair to expect legis- (US$78 130 826), JR Godart (US$83 971 US$680 million.
lators to discuss the Kunzvi tendering process 779) and RDAVIS Company (US$99 948 Kunzvi Dam is located 67 kilometres
without having had prior access to the relevant 883). north-east of Harare near Juru Growth Point The Infrastructure Consortium of Africa in
documents. in Goromonzi district in Mashonaland East 2011 reported that a group of private contrac-
This means Nanchang’s bid was province. tors had mobilised US$370 million needed to
“We can’t discuss the Kunzvi Dam build- US$43 361 536 more than SinoHydro’s low- fund the Kunzvi Dam project.
ing tender process when we have nothing in est proposal. Drawcard submitted a bid of The project, estimated to have capacity to
front of us. Its unfair to honourable members, US$109 432 004, Multi Force Construction produce 250 000 cubic metres of water daily,
including myself, so we would rather discuss (US$121 286 896), Masimba Construction
Kunzvi when you have submitted the required (US$140 191 249), Bitcon and Kuch Con-
relevant documents,” Wadyajena said. struction joint-venture (US$142 377 001)
and Nyagui Construction (US$149 447 353).
“We sent a letter to your office requesting
the submission of the Kunzvi Dam build- The highest bid of US$197 139 196, almost
ing tender process and we had assumed that three times that of the lowest quotation, was
by now you would have submitted the doc- from Exodus and Company. The tender pro-
uments. We want them submitted by end of cess raised eyebrows.
day.”
Barely two years ago, Nanchang was caught
China Nanchang Engineering was contro- up in a tender scandal. Jiangxi, which also bid
versially awarded the US$109 million tender for the Kunzvi Dam project, given to Nan-
for the construction of the dam — critical chang under murky circumstances, won a ten-
to alleviating Harare’s perennial water supply der for the construction of Silverstroom Dam
problems despite its shady past, hence the in- in 2019.
terest from the committee.
However, the government corruptly re-
The Sino company had its accounts frozen versed that and awarded the tender to Nan-
by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) last chang, in violation of the bidding process and
year for illegal black market foreign currency the law. The intervention smacked of brazen
trading activities. irregularities and corruption.

In addition, it also seized a US$171 million In anger, Jiangxi approached the High
dam construction tender from a competitor, Court, through its lawyer Tapson Dzvetero, to
China Jiangxi International and Technical fight Nanchang’s robbery.

In its application, Jiangxi cited the late

NewsHawks News Page 3

Issue 50, 1 October 2021

MARY MUNDEYA Zinwa bosses cornered over
US$4m prepaid meters deal
THE Zimbabwe National Water Authority
(Zinwa) awarded Helcraw Electrical (Pvt) Ltd Businessman Farai Jere (centre), appears before parliamentary portfolio committee, accompanied by his legal team. — Pictures: Mary Mundeya
— owned by Harare businessman Farai Jere — a
tender worth over US$4 million to supply pre- Parliamentary portfolio committee on Lands, Agriculture, Water, Fisheries and Rural Resettlement chairperson Mayor Wadyajena
paid water meters despite the parastatal’s execu-
tives knowing that the company had a pending you mislead Parliament you will be charged in process even though he could not avail the letter viction. Even the Praz regulation, it doesn’t talk
court case over allegations of defrauding the Zim- your personal capacity? We gave you an oppor- his company received from the water authority in- about litigation when there is pending litigation.”
babwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution tunity to freely express yourself. I asked for the forming it to re-submit the bid after the first one
Company (ZETDC) of about US$3.6 million in letter, you said Zinwa doesn’t do letters, you said had been cancelled. In the ZETDC saga which is before the courts,
a smart meter deal, in yet another scandal to rock you would give me minutes; you have the min- the allegation against Helcraw is that in 2018,
the water authority. utes and then turned around, saying you will give Asked whether he notified Zinwa about his the company, through Jere, misrepresented to
us the minutes after one hour, only to say that you court case on fraud when he submitted his bid, the power utility after being awarded a contract
Zinwa, a parastatal responsible for managing don’t have the minutes you have an attendance Jere said that there was no provision for such a to supply 1 151 smart meters. Jere’s company
the country’s water resources, was already in the register which has no heading and no date, now disclosure in the tender documents his company claimed that its supplier, Secure Meters (Pvt) Ltd,
dock after controversially awarding a US$109 you change again. You never took the minutes?” filled. had a manufacturing plant for smart meters and
million tender for the construction of Kunzvi the committee chairperson, Wadyajena, asked. a head-end system in the United Kingdom, yet
Dam — critical to alleviating Harare’s perennial Jere said he submitted a declaration that indi- none existed.
water supply problems — to China Nanchang Nketa legislator Phelela Masuku weighed in: “I cated he had never been convicted of any crime,
Engineering, a company with a shady past. suggest that we close the meeting because what we in line with the requirement of the bidding pro- The tender they had been given required that
wanted from Zinwa, we got. They never followed cess. He later told The NewsHawks he was within the factory acceptance test (FAT) be done at the
The tender was awarded in August. the proper procedure in awarding the tender, so I his rights to seek the tender despite the ongoing factory where the 5 amps base current and 120
China Nanchang was awarded the tender de- don’t think there is anything we need from them fraud case. amps maximum current smart meters were to be
spite the existence of cheaper and competitive bids anymore.” manufactured.
from other companies, prompting SinoHydro, “The constitution of Zimbabwe is very clear,
which had submitted the lowest and competitive Other committee members agreed with Wady- no one is guilty until proven guilty. So, we can- Jere is alleged to have travelled with three en-
bid (US$65 523 463.61), in partnership with ajena and Masuku that Zinwa did not follow laid not stop people from trading or doing business gineers from the ZETDC to the UK to carry out
a local company Marmfold Engineers, to raise down procedures in handling the controversial because they have pending court cases because the factory acceptance test and he took them to a
alarm over Nanchang’s questionable US$108 885 tender. The committee then resolved to compile this will breed a situation whereby I see that I’m warehouse, but no test was done.
000 winning proposal. a report which it will present to the National As- in competition with you and I just come up with
In the latest scandal, Zinwa chief executive sembly in due course. a case against you just because I want you to be It is alleged that one of the ZETDC engineers
officer Taurai Maurikira and his team were on disqualified,” Jere said. signed a false report after which a shipment was
Wednesday dragged to the National Assembly to Appearing before the same committee on made and Helcraw was paid US$3 566 878.02.
appear before the parliamentary portfolio com- Thursday, Jere on behalf of Helcraw Electrical said “We have got rights and those rights cannot The ZETDC was later forced to remove the me-
mittee on Lands, Agriculture, Water, Fisheries that his company followed all the relevant proce- be violated by people reporting each other to the ters
and Rural Resettlement to give oral evidence re- dures that were required in the Zinwa tendering police when there is a tender coming up. So hav-
garding the tendering process for prepaid water ing a litigation is not a crime, the problem is con- Helcraw delivered from its network because
meters which they awarded to Helcraw Electrical they were not compliant.
and two other companies, Statewave Technolo-
gies and Finmark Energy.
In a report presented to the committee, Zin-
wa executives said the water authority received
six bids, none of which met the technical require-
ment.
“On closing date, 19 August 2020, six bids had
been submitted and all six bidders did not meet
the technical requirement and the financial pro-
posals were therefore not opened. Praz (Procure-
ment Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe) guided
Zinwa to invite all the six bidders to re-submit
the tenders under a restricted tender in line with
Section 32 of the Public Procurement and Dis-
posal of Public Assets Act. All the six bidders were
invited and attended the briefing before re-sub-
mission.”
When the chairperson of the parliamenta-
ry committee, Gokwe-Nembudziya MP Mayor
Wadyajena, asked the Zinwa executives to avail
the letter to prove that the parastatal had indeed
asked the bidders to re-submit bids, Maurikira
said they used word of mouth to invite the bid-
ders to re-submit their bids during a meeting
whose minutes, as it turned out, were nowhere to
be found.
“To us as an authority we educated the bidders
to go and re-bid,” he said.
When the parliamentary committee asked
whether Zinwa had conducted the requisite due
diligence on Helcraw Electrical given that the
company has an ongoing fraud case in court, the
Zinwa executives conceded that the due diligence
was not comprehensive.
The parliamentary portfolio committee also
requested to be furnished with the adjudication
results which led to the awarding of the tender as
well as minutes of meetings.
“There is no report that due diligence was
done. The due diligence that we sought in this
case involved cross-checking with Praz to whom
we submitted matters that arose concerning ev-
ery bidder from the evaluation process we had as
Zinwa in undocumented meetings and they indi-
cated that without a legal undertaking, it was not
possible to eliminate Helcraw from the bidding so
they gave us a nod to award them the contract,”
Maurikira said, despite having earlier promised to
avail the minutes.
The parliamentary committee unanimously
expressed disappointment over the explanation as
well as the non-availability of the debriefing min-
utes, the letter Zinwa purported to have written
to bidders asking them to re-submit their correct-
ed bids after the first ones were disqualified, and
the due diligence report on Helcraw Electrical.
The committee said by failing to avail the re-
quired documents, Zinwa was evading account-
ability.
“Engineer Maurikira, do you understand that
you are under oath? Do you understand that if

Page 4 News NewsHawks

Issue 50, 1 October 2021

IN a renewed bid to contain the runaway for- Authorities unleash sweeping
eign exchange rate — now trading at double crackdown on forex market
the official rate around US$1: ZW$170 — the
government has launched a fierce crackdown on RBZ governor John Mangudya
currency traders in a multi-pronged approach de-
ploying law and order instruments, and leverag- While exchange rates are determined by nu- currency flows are seasonal. Every September ernment needs a root-cause analysis, focusing on
ing market intervention measures. merous complex factors that often leave even the after the tobacco auction floors close the rate variables like inflation, interest rates, public debt,
most erudite and experienced economists flum- depreciates because of lack on inflows. Nothing economic health, current account deficit, balance
The official exchange rate is US$1:ZW$85. moxed, investors should still have some under- new there. of trade and reserves, government intervention,
Since last week, at least 14 currency dealers standing of how currency values and exchange political stability and confidence.
have been arrested in what is codenamed Oper- rates play an important role in the rate of return “The biggest problem is the ongoing printing
ation Pangolin. on investments. of money by government to fund infrastructur- “Sometimes currencies are affected by the con-
The arraigned executives and dealers now al development programmes. The Beitbridge fidence (or lack thereof), which the market has
await rulings on their various bail applications on “The biggest driver of the exchange rate move- highway project and various Chinese construc- in a particular currency. Currency changes from
Monday. ment at the moment is public infrastructure de- tion works are a case in point. If you combine speculation tend to be irrational, abrupt and
The sweeping campaign is coordinated by fis- velopment programmes such as the building of these factors, you have a solid and proper expla- ephemeral,” one analyst said.
cal, monetary and security clusters that have been roads, dams and housing. Contractors are usually nation of what is happening on the ground. It’s
alarmed by the rate at which the Zimbabwe dol- paid in local currency — this involves billions not about individuals. It’s a market environment, “For example, traders or dealers may devalue a
lar has been overrun by base currencies, especially of dollars — and when they get the money they with fundamentals, market forces and dynamics currency based on political considerations, espe-
the United States dollar, in the foreign exchange rush to the black market. That changes the de- to manage. Of course, speculation is an issue, but cially if the events are perceived as unfavourable
market. mand and supply forces and upsets the equilibri- not the only or the critical factor. There is need for business or the economy. In other cases, trad-
Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga has um. Once money supply increases, the rate goes for a holistic approach to address the situation. ers may be bullish on a currency because of eco-
warned currency dealers — officially described as up,” one analyst said. Applying a law and order strategy, raiding and nomic news, which may buoy the currency, even
“economic saboteurs” — that they will be dealt detaining people, is not effective in dealing with if that did not affect the currency fundamentals.
with ruthlessly. “The forex auction is 12 weeks behind in set- complex market issues like these.” That’s sentiment and it’s the biggest driver of ex-
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has tling outstanding payments, hence corporates are change rate movement in Zimbabwe at the mo-
also released a statement listing individuals it says resorting to the alternative market. Zimbabwe Analysts say to address the problem, the gov- ment.” — STAFF WRITER.
are forex rate-fixers who need to be named and
shamed, besides being prosecuted.
RBZ governor John Mangudya said while
there are parallel markets everywhere in the
world, the unique aspect of the Zimbabwean
situation is that it defies economic logic and is
characterised by irrational market behaviour.
“Parallel markets exist everywhere around the
world, determined by the rules of demand and
supply, but the Zimbabwean situation defies eco-
nomic fundamentals and the attendant dynam-
ics,” Mangudya told The NewsHawks.
“The fundamentals are strong. The country
has US$1.7 billion in nostros. There are new
funds in the form SDRs (International Monetary
Fund Special Drawing Rights) which are about
US$1 billion. There is also US$2 billion which is
in circulation in the market. That is over US$4.5
billion, in fact close to US$5 billion. Exports
and diaspora remittances are doing well. Capac-
ity utilisation has gone up. So the rate should be
following fundamentals and economic dynamics,
stabilising, but it is not. Even when the tobacco
marketing season started and ended, the rate still
continued to depreciate.
“Now this is where we begin to investigate
what is driving the exchange rate. There are
many factors that come into play. Among these
you will find the laws of demand and supply, the
exchange rate is a monetary phenomenon; there
are critical fundamental considerations, senti-
ment or confidence factors, and behavioural or
speculation issues.
“Yet there are also currency attackers, these are
economic saboteurs, exchange rate manipulators
or fixers. They destroy the market and economy.
Some of them act like sport match-fixers. They
are opportunistic arbitrage entrepreneurs or
rent-seekers.”
Analysts say, moreover, the exchange rate influ-
ences other factors such as interest rates, inflation
and even capital gains from domestic securities.

NewsHawks News Page 5

Issue 50, 1 October 2021

OWEN GAGARE The smoking gun: Mnangagwa
and dodgy Zanu PF characters
WHEN Zanu PF activist Marx Mupungu filed a
Constitutional Court (ConCourt) application in President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Marx Mupungu, the man who rescued him and Chief Justice Luke Malaba in the ConCourt.
June seeking to quash the High Court judgment
by the three brave judges who had barred Chief with his accomplice Mthunzi Mabhena, for swin- l Any person with a sufficient interest may ap- not contradict that position without also declaring
Justice Malaba from extending his controversial dling a Chinese mining firm and its representative peal, or apply, directly to the Constitutional Court section 186(4) of the constitution to be constitu-
tenure by five more years after reaching the hither- Cheng Minghua of US$110 000, posing as Mo- to confirm or vary an order concerning constitu- tionally invalid.
to 70-year retirement age, it raised eyebrows. hadi’s son who could secure business favours for tional validity by a court in terms of subs (1).
the company. In 2019, Mushando, who was once Mupungu took issue with the fact that the reg-
People could smell a rat. arraigned on similar charges in 2017, was accused Mupungu’s locus standi in judicio to institute istrar of the High Court had not acted in terms of
They suspected Mupungu was acting at the be- of defrauding a local businesswoman Priscilla the application was an issue. By virtue of section rule 31(1) of the ConCourt Rules 2016 to place
hest of some powerful political actors, either in the 175(3), it was incumbent upon him to show that the record of its proceedings before the highest
executive, legislature or the judiciary — or indeed Ncube of US$12 000 after he allegedly told her he was “a person with a sufficient interest” in an court in the land for confirmation. The High
in any sphere of society — to rescue President Em- that he was linked to Mnangagwa and could liaise order concerning constitutional validity. Court orders would therefore remain as if they
merson Mnangagwa’s faltering power consolida- with his office to secure her mining interests. were unaffected by section 175(1) of the consti-
tion and retention agenda pivoted around keeping In paragraphs 27 to 29 of his founding affida- tution and respondents were acting as if section
Malaba in the job until the 2023 crucial elections. Mushando seems willing to do anything for vit, he asserted that he was a person with suffi- 175(1) was not in issue.
Malaba rescued Mnangagwa in the ConCourt money. In another bizarre case, he was arrested cient interest within the contemplation of section
in 2018 during his battle with main opposition for allegedly defrauding a local businessman of 175(3) of the constitution. He averred that, as a Mupungu had cited Justice minister Ziyambi
MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa following US$1 000 after lying that he wanted to bankroll citizen by birth, he had a sufficient interest in de- Ziyambi, the Judicial Service Commission, Zim-
a disputed presidential election. the funeral of Zanu PF provincial youth chair fending and protecting the constitution and that babwe Human Rights NGO Forum executive di-
Mnangagwa, who won the 2018 poll with a Khumbulani Mpofu, whom he had falsely claimed section 175(3) exists for his protection as a citizen. rector Musa Kika, Young Lawyers Association of
wafer-thin margin, desperately wants re-election had died. Faking someone’s death for money. He further elaborated factors which gave rise to his Zimbabwe, businessman Frederick Charles Moses
in 2023 against all odds. particular interest as an ordinary citizen. Mutanda, Attorney-General Prince Machaya and
Mupungu was not acting ex mere muto — of While Mupungu seems not involved in all this, Mnangagwa as the first to the seventh respondents
his own volition or without prompting, observ- he has been fighting in Mnangagwa’s corner in the These include his belief that Mnangagwa acted respectively.
ers said. But there was simply no evidence of any courts. Mupungu had filed his application to help constitutionally in approving Malaba’s election to
sort, circumstantial or incontrovertible. However, Mnangagwa to save Malaba in terms of section continue in office as Chief Justice for an addition- The Zanu PF activist insisted he was entitled to
onlookers held onto the truism that there is no 175 of the constitution which regulates the pow- al five years and that he is in office in accordance a final pronouncement on these issues in keeping
smoke without fire. Time would tell. And it did. ers of the courts on constitutional matters. with the constitution following the President’s ap- with his right to the protection of the law coupled
Soon after the ConCourt judgment on 23 Sep- proval. with his duty as a citizen to observe the constitu-
tember in favour of the Zanu PF activist, photos Of particular relevance were sub-sections (1) tion and respect its institutions.
emerged showing Mupungu with Mnangagwa. and (3) of s175 which provide as follows: Mupungu further said he believed that all those
Some of the photos were posted on social media l Where a court makes an order concerning the who were judges of the Supreme Court and those When Mupungu chose Professor Lovemore
by filmmaking journalist Hopewell Chin’ono. constitutional invalidity of any law or any conduct acting as judges of the ConCourt as at 7 May Madhuku as his lawyer, the plot thickened. Mad-
That was the smoking gun. of the President or Parliament, the order has no 2021 were entitled to elect to retire at the age of huku submitted that Mupungu, as a citizen, had
Mupungu had been unmasked not just as a force unless it is confirmed by the Constitutional 75 years in accordance with section 186(4) of the a sufficient interest and the right to approach the
Zanu PF activist, but also as a Mnangagwa cro- Court; constitution. He argued the High Court could court to vindicate and protect the constitution.
ny and foot soldier. Some of the pictures showed
their closeness. A photo tells the story of a thou-
sand words. Mupungu’s brief Facebook profile
says he lives in Bulawayo; he was born on 11 Au-
gust 1980; went to Gwanda High School and is
self-employed.
Yet what is more revealing is not Mupungu’s
background. It is the profile of his close friend,
Blessed Sean Mushando, a Zanu PF activist —
who is closer to Mnangagwa than Mupungu —
with a record of extortion, fraud and imperson-
ation.
His background shows he, like Mupungu, lives
in Bulawayo, but he is from Mberengwa, Mnan-
gagwa’s Midlands political fiefdom. He went to
Mutare Boys High School and works for “Croco-
dile Gang”. Historically, the Crocodile Gang was
a militant Zanu group in the 1960s during the lib-
eration struggle which Mnangagwa falsely claims
to have been part of.
In his series of photos, Mushando is seen hang-
ing around Mnangagwa for years now. Interest-
ingly, he was one of the Zanu PF youths who
booed former first lady Grace Mugabe at White
City Stadium in Bulawayo on 4 November 2017
during the party’s presidential youth interface ral-
lies addressed by the late former president Robert
Mugabe in the run-up to the November 2017
military coup that brought Mnangagwa to power.
That marked the culmination and turning
point in Mugabe’s succession battle. Outraged by
the boos, Mugabe publicly and famously thun-
dered: “Ndokudonedza, mangwana chaiye (I will
floor you, anytime)”.
Mushando and his partners in crime that day
earned their stripes as Mnangagwa’s political
stormtroopers, hence their proximity to him up to
now, although some have now been sidelined af-
ter becoming Frankenstein monsters and for gross
indiscipline.
Further, Mushando is also seen in photos with
former vice-president Kembo Mohadi, whom he
was to later go around claiming was his father, to
extort money. Reports show Mushando also used
Mnangagwa’s name to defraud people.
He is also seen wearing Zanu PF regalia, includ-
ing T-shirts or shirts emblazoned with Mnangag-
wa’s face, and hobnobbing with controversial pas-
tor Passion Java, among other people. His love for
finer things in life filters through his photo gallery,
where he is seen posing at upmarket hotels like the
Da Vinci in Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa,
standing idle enjoying the oceanic breeze and pan-
oramic views or with many bottles of expensive
whisky.
This probably explains why he has been arrested
for extortion, fraud and impersonation. He per-
haps lives beyond his means to fund his bling and
drinks.
Last year, Mushando was arrested, together

Page 6 News NewsHawks
Common law requires a direct and substantial
interest in order to found locus standi, but that is Issue 50, 1 October 2021
not the test to be applied in casu. He said it did
not matter that the applicant was not a party to Zanu PF activist Marx Mupungu at State House in Harare.
the proceedings a quo. He was entitled to defend President Emmerson Mnangagwa (centre) with his foot soldiers, Blessed Mushando (left) and Marx Mupungu (right).
the constitution as a citizen so as to avoid over-
reach by a subordinate court within the separation
of powers framework. Madhuku further argued
that citizenship is a key element in giving rise to
a sufficient interest within the meaning of section
175(3) of the constitution and that every citizen
has an automatic and sufficient interest in any
matter relating to the constitution.

Apart from being a citizen by birth, the ap-
plicant also has a sufficient interest by reason of
being concerned and aggrieved by the conduct of
the registrar of the High Court and the strategy of
avoidance adopted by the third, fourth and fifth
respondents — Kika, Young Lawyers Association
of Zimbabwe and Mutanda respectively.

After some court battles, on 22 September
2021, the ConCourt ruled in favour of Mupungu,
who had approached the court seeking the setting
aside of the declaratory order handed down by the
High Court.

The High Court had ruled that Malaba had
ceased to be chief justice when he turned 70 years
on 15 May, notwithstanding the purported exten-
sion of his tenure by Mnangagwa following Con-
stitution of Zimbabwe (No. 2) Act of 2021.

Kika had made the argument that a term lim-
it extension cannot benefit an incumbent, as per
section 328 of the constitution. He cited all judges
of the Supreme and ConCourt as respondents, as
potential beneficiaries to this manner of extension
of tenure, thus as individuals with a personal inter-
est in the matter.

Two applications were filed following the High
Court decision on 15 May. The first was an ap-
plication for contempt of court against Malaba,
which was dismissed by the High Court. This was
after Malaba had continued to go to work, not-
withstanding the order.

Justice Webster Chinamhora recused himself
before the hearing after it emerged he had in-
terfaced with a party to the proceedings, Walter
Chikwana, the secretary of the Judicial Service
Commission (JSC).

Veteran lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa thereafter sub-
mitted a complaint to the JSC and a request for an
investigation to be instituted. The outcome of that
is not yet known.

The second was an application for leave to ex-
ecute pending appeal, withdrawn before hearing.
At that point, Kika and others did not disclose the
reasons for withdrawal as they intended to ensure
judicial processes occur in a fair manner.

When the judges were dissatisfied with the de-
cision of the High Court, they noted an appeal
to the Supreme Court, which appeal was never
heard.

Instead, Mupungu, who was not even party
to the case, emerged from nowhere to come and
change things, claiming that an appeal was not
appropriate; judges needed to have the matter de-
termined in the ConCourt on different grounds.

After some arguments, Kika and others had
serious difficulty comprehending and coming to
terms with that sort of process. Judges, who were
party to the case, refused to recuse themselves,
thus becoming judges in their own cause; a serious
assault on the rules of natural justice. The nemo ju-
dex in causa sua rule, meaning that “no one should
be a judge in their own cause”, was ignored. It is a
basic rule of natural justice that no one should be
a judge in a case in which they have a personal or
vested interest.

So the ConCourt and its judges erred and set a
wrong precedent. As it later transpired, the Con-
Court had decided to proceed to hear the matter,
citing public interest.

In the ConCourt, Mupungu argued that the
order made by Justices

Happias Zhou, Jester Helena Charewa and
Edith Mushore in the High Court concerned
constitutional matters and was of no effect until
reviewed and confirmed by the ConCourt.

The ConCourt agreed and declined to confirm
the order on the basis that the High Court had
misdirected itself in its determination.

Resultantly, the ConCourt affirmed Mnangag-
wa’s extension of Malaba’s tenure beyond 70 years
to 75 years. But the mystery on those operating in
the shadows is now over: Mupungu is the Presi-
dent’s man.

His friend and cheerleader in the case, Mushan-
do, is Mnangagwa’s henchman. That is the smok-
ing gun.

NewsHawks News Page 7

Issue 50, 1 October 2021

Judges set wrong
precedent by
hearing own case

Deputy Chief Justice Elizabeth Gwaunza

Justice Bharat Patel

OWEN GAGARE the President and parliament for exercising questioned as to which persons should properly Justice Rita Makarau
their constitutional mandate to amend the con- constitute the bench to hear the merits of this of any term limit,” Justice Patel said in the judg-
CONSTITUTIONAL Court judges who over- stitution giving judges the option of extending matter, in the event that all the incumbent judg- ment.
turned a High Court ruling that Chief Justice their mandate, if physically fit. es of the Constitutional Court and Supreme
Luke Malaba’s continued stay in office beyond Court were to recuse themselves, and which “The court a quo (lower court) did not dif-
70 years was illegal despite being cited have set ConCourt judges, including Deputy Chief authority could be called upon to legitimately ferentiate between age limits and term limits
a wrong precedent by being “judges in their Justice Elizabeth Gwaunza, as well as Rita Ma- appoint such persons to that bench, both coun- and conflated them by ascribing a generalised
own cause”, judicial officers have told The New- karau and Bharat Patel, who delivered judge- sel for the respondents were studiously unable meaning to term limit provisions.
sHawks. ment on behalf of the entire bench, heard the to enlighten the court with any meaningful an-
case despite a conflict of interest on their part. swers to those very pertinent questions.” Consequently, it misinterpreted and misap-
High Court Justices Happias Zhou, Edith plied the concept of a term limit in the context
Mushore and Jester Charewa in May ruled The case put the judges in the dock for nemo Patel, on behalf of other judges, said Malaba of judicial tenure under the provisions of sec-
that Malaba ceased to be chief justice when he judex in causa sua: no one should be a judge could continue in office. tion 186.
turned 70 on 15 May, despite President Em- in his or her own cause thereby compromising
merson Mnangagwa extending his term by five judicial integrity and public confidence. “Conversely, the option to continue in office “The new section 186, in sub-sections (1), (2)
years following an amendment of the constitu- for an additional five years after reaching the and (3), operated to amend only the previously
tion to allow for the extension. Nemo judex in causa sua is widely considered mandated retirement age of 70 years, as con- stipulated age limit for retirement, from 70 to
a pre-requisite to an independent and reliable templated in sub-sections (1), (2) and (3) of 75 years. It did not have the effect of amending
Mnangagwa wants Malaba to stay as the head judicial system. This principle is meant not section 186, does not constitute the extension or extending the non-renewable term limit of
of the judiciary to pivot his 2023 election bid. merely to prevent a potential wrong-doer from 15 years specified in section 186(2) or the fixed
condoning his or her errors by judging the va- term limits envisaged in section 186(6).”
The High Court judges ruled that incumbent lidity of their actions, but also, and more im-
justices could not benefit from the amendment portantly, to preserve public confidence in the
of the constitution. The ruling was made fol- sanctity and independence of the judiciary.
lowing an application by the Zimbabwe Hu-
man Rights NGO Forum and Young Lawyers The principle of natural justice encompasses
two important principles: nemo judex in causa
Association of Zimbabwe in which they cit- sua (no one should be a judge in his or her own
ed Supreme Court and Constitutional Court cause) and audi alteram partem — hear the
judges, given that they also stood to potentially other party or the rule of fair hearing; that no
benefit from the amendment. one should be condemned unheard.

Initially all superior courts judges were cited These are buttressed by the notion that jus-
in the High Court matter, but Mnangagwa lat- tice should not only be done, but manifestly
er appointed new jurists to the ConCourt and and undoubtedly be seen to be done. Judges —
Supreme Court in a bid to resolve the judicial like Caesar’s wife — should be above suspicion.
imbroglio. He also took control of the High
Court which had appeared rebellious by pro- But in a judgment delivered on Wednesday,
moting then Judge President George Chiweshe the ConCourt ruled that the extension of Jus-
to the Supreme Court bench whom he believes tice Malaba’s tenure was constitutional and,
was undermining his plan because of his prox- therefore, he was legally in office.
imity to Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga.
First Makarau dismissed an application for
Although Malaba appealed to the Supreme the judges to recuse themselves. She said seek-
Court, a Bulawayo man, Max Mapungu, made ing the recusal of the entire court was an “un-
a ConCourt application seeking to overturn the tenable” legal position.
High Court ruling which he argued impugned
“It makes the application frivolous,” she said.
“We further observe in this regard that, when

Page 8 News NewsHawks

Issue 50, 1 October 2021

BRIDGET MANANAVIRE Malaba case: The key actors

ZIMBABWE, for the past four months has Chief Justice Luke Malaba Supreme Court judge George Chiweshe Justice Happias Zhou
been going through a constitutional test and
legal drama following the extension of Chief Court application. Chiweshe, seen as Vice-Pres- political activists who participated in demon- President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s foot soldier
Justice Luke Malaba’s term in May, which was ident Constantino Chiwenga’s ally, was the strations in 2016. In retaliation against all the for a long time. Mapungu approached the Con-
put to bed last week following a Constitutional vice-president’s deputy in Zanla’s political com- judgements they did not like, government offi- stitutional Court seeking to overturn the High
Court (ConCourt) ruling in favour of the top missariat during the liberation struggle. cials last year blocked Zhou from becoming one Court judgment.
judge and President Emmerson Mnangagwa. of seven members of the International Tribunal
Chiweshe joined Zanla in 1975 after fleeing for the Law of the Sea when his nomination was Rita Makarau
The High Court had in May ruled that Mnan- from the then University of Rhodesia as a law withdrawn without his knowledge. Among the ConCourt judges who overturned
gagwa’s extension of Malaba’s tenure was unlaw- student. After independence, Chiweshe joined the High Court ruling is Rita Makarau. She is
ful and that his term expired when he turned 70 the ministry of Justice as a prosecutor in 1980 Justice Helena Charewa the former chairperson of the Zimbabwe Elec-
on 15 May, in line with constitutional provisions and became a magistrate three years later. Chi- Justice Charewa was part of the panel which toral Commission and also former secretary of
prevailing then. weshe retired from the army in April 2001 after passed the ruling which blocked Malaba’s con- the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).
being appointed to the bench by the late former troversial tenure extension. Charewa has a mili- Makarau was the first female Judge President
However, on 22 September the ConCourt President Robert Mugabe. tary background and was a senior officer in the in 2006. At one time, she was Electoral Com-
overturned that ruling, arguing that the High army, serving for 10 years between 1985 and missions Forum-Sadc president.
Court misinterpreted the law. The ConCourt A retired Brigadier-General, Chiweshe was 1995. She worked as a public prosecutor between
said all medically fit judges of the three top appointed the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission Between 1990 and 1995, she was the chief 1983 and 1984 at the Harare Magistrates' Court
courts can extend their terms of office until they chairperson in 2005. legal officer of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces before going into private practice. From 1988
reach 75. At the centre of this test were judges, where she was head of the Department of Re- to 1989, Makarau was the secretary of legal af-
lawyers, parliament and government officials, He was then sworn in as Judge President in search, Legal Drafting and Training. fairs at the Parastatal Commission. From 1998
who played a key role in the case. May 2010. She joined the military as a captain in 1985, to 2000, she served on the Constitutional Com-
having served as a professional assistant at mission before she was appointed High Court
Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi kick-start- Justice Happias Zhou Higham, Lewis and Lock (now Henning Lock Judge in December 2000.
ed the process of extending Malaba’s term by From the onset, the government was not hap- Donagher and Winter Legal Practitioners) in Makarau was also a part-time lecturer at the
pushing the motion to amend the constitution py with Zhou’s appointment to hear Malaba’s Mutare. After leaving the military, Justice Cha- University of Zimbabwe. She taught procedural
to allow for the Chief Justice and other judges to case as evidenced by complaints from Justice rewa went into private practice as a partner at law, conveyancing law and notarial law. In De-
serve beyond 70 years of age. minister Ziyambi and the Judicial Service Com- Mucharehwa and Partners. During her time in cember 2017, Makarau resigned as chairperson
mission. There were also attempts to pressurise private practice, she was also a lecturer in Civil of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. And
He was also at the centre of the government’s Zhou into recusing himself. Zhou has in the past Practice and Procedure in the University of Zim- two months later, she resigned as acting secretary
challenge of the High Court ruling, before Mu- refused to be cowed and has made a number of babwe’s Faculty of Law. of the JSC.
pungu’s game-changing application. judgements which upset the government. In 2008, she joined the African Court on Hu- Bharet Patel
Zhou is an experienced practitioner who has man and People’s Rights in Arusha, Tanzania, as Patel was also among the ConCourt judges
After the ruling by the High Court, Ziyam- worked at The Hague in the Netherlands and at a senior legal officer before becoming a special who reversed the High Court ruling. He once
bi threw a tantrum, saying the judgement was a the House of Commons at Westminister in Lon- assistant to the president and later deputy reg- stirred controversy in 2008 as Acting Attor-
“typical case of a night court, consisting of night don. From 1996 until the time he was appointed istrar. ney-General (AAG) of Zimbabwe as his de-
judges and night lawyers”. a High Court judge in 2012, he was in private She was appointed a High Court judge in ployment to an executive post was criticised for
practice as an advocate based at the Advocates September 2015. undermining the judiciary as an equal and inde-
“With the greatest of respect, we do not agree Chambers. He was also a lecturer in the Univer- Justice Charewa holds a Bachelor of Law pendent arm of the state.
with the decision of the court for so many rea- sity of Zimbabwe’s Faculty of Law. (Honours) degree from the University of Zim- Patel completed his legal training at the then
sons, we have already instructed our lawyers to As an advocate, he was admitted as counsel at babwe (UZ), Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Rhodesia in 1975 and qualified as
file an appeal first thing on Monday [17 May the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda UZ and a Master of Science in International Re- a barrister at Inner Temple and then attained
2021],” he charged. in Arusha, Tanzania. lations, also from the UZ. a Master’s degree in Law at University College
After the June 2000 parliamentary elections, She has also undertaken several courses with London. His career began in 1978 in the Lon-
“We do not understand how the Honourable which the MDC narrowly lost to Zanu PF, Zhou institutions such as the Commonwealth Judicial don para-legal sector. He returned to Zimbabwe
Justice Zhou insisted on proceeding with the represented in court Crispa Musoni, opposition Education Institute, African Court on Human in 1982 and joined government service as legal
matter after we sought his recusal because he is candidate for Gutu North, but withdrew his and People’s Rights, PricewaterhouseCoopers counsel.
clearly conflicted. petition in the High Court challenging the late and the International Organisation for Migra- From 1993, he headed the Division of Legal
vice-president Simon Muzenda, the Zanu PF tion, among others. Advice in the AG’s office until he was appointed
“How does one judge continue to make deci- candidate. Justice Edith Kuda Mushore to the position of deputy AG in August 2000.
sions that are against the government? In the eyes In 2002, Zhou represented the late MDC Justice Mushore, who was part of the three- In December 2004, he was appointed to High
of the judge, does it mean that the government is president Morgan Tsvangirai after the disputed judge panel in the initial ruling, is a sharp legal Court bench, and assumed judicial duties in Jan-
always wrong? And how are cases allocated at the presidential election against Mugabe. In that mind. She was a long-time advocate based at the uary 2005. He was appointed to the Supreme
High Court? Why does a certain group of judg- case, he worked with veteran lawyers including Advocates Chambers in Harare. Court as Judge of Appeal in May 2013 and then
es including that judge continue to be allocated Advocate Jeremy Gauntlet of South Africa, Ad- From 1993 to 1999, she was the legal advis- to the Constitutional Court by virtue of certain
cases in which the Second Republic is involved?” vocate Adrian de Bourbon (now based in South er (Africa) of the International Organisation of transitional provisions in the new Constitution
Africa) and Bryant Elliot as attorney. Consumer Unions at The Hague in the Neth- of Zimbabwe which came into operation in May
Ziyambi was elected a member of Parliament Zhou, in 2018, scrapped Statutory Instru- erlands. 2013.
in 2013 and served as deputy Home Affairs min- ment (SI) 205 of 2018, which enabled the gov- Between 1987 and 1989, she was a parliamen- He was sworn in, alongside fellow justice Ben
ister from 2013 to 2015. He was appointed act- ernment to levy 2% on electronic money trans- tary research assistant at the House of Commons. Hlatshwayo, who was also part of the bench that
ing Zanu PF provincial chair for Mashonaland actions above ZW$10. The tax was introduced Before that, she had served as the corporate legal overturned the High Court ruling by Mugabe in
West to replace Temba Mliswa and was subse- by Finance minister Mthuli Ncube. Last year, adviser for Old Mutual. May 2013.
quently removed as chairperson in 2015 follow- Zhou set aside Harare magistrate Ngoni Nd- Marx Mupungu The bench was also constituted by deputy
ing accusations of dishonesty and failure to plan una’s ruling which barred prominent lawyer Be- Another key player was Marx Mapungu, a chief justice Elizabeth Gwaunza, Paddington
for the election of a substantive committee. atrice Mtetwa from representing award-winning Bulawayo-based Zanu PF activist who has been Garwe, Anne- Marie Gorowa and Antonia Gu-
journalist Hopewell Chin’ono. Zhou further dis- vava.
He enrolled with the University of South Af- qualified Nduna from presiding over Chino’no’s
rica in 2009 and was awarded the Bachelor of criminal trial and ordered that a new magistrate
Laws (LLB) degree in 2013. He enrolled at the preside over the case.
Midlands State University for a Master of Laws At one time, Zhou ordered the release of 57
degree in Constitutional and Human Rights
Law in 2015.

Musa Kika
One of the people who played a critical role is
Musa Kika, who launched the court application
against the extension of Luke Malaba’s term in
office together with Young Lawyers of Zimba-
bwe and businessman Frederick Mutandah.
Kika is a lawyer and human rights activist. He
has been the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO
Forum executive director since August 2020.
Before that, he was the Forum’s programmes
coordinator. He has worked for Justice for Chil-
dren Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human
Rights and Democratic Governance and Rights
Unit.
His professional experience also includes the
Supreme Court of Namibia, Supreme Court of
Appeal, South Africa and the University of Kwa-
Zulu-Natal Student Law Review.
Kika was a junior member of parliament be-
tween 2007 and 2009. He attained his Master’s
degree in Constitutional Law, Civil Rights, Ad-
vanced Legislation, Government Administration
Policy from Harvard Law School in 2017. He
holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Public
Law, (Constitutional and Administrative Law)
from the University of Cape Town. He attained a
Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree at the University
of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa.
Former Judge President George Chiweshe
(now a Supreme Court judge)
As the then Judge President Chiweshe ap-
pointed a three-judge panel to hear Kika’s High

NewsHawks News Page 9

Issue 50, 1 October 2021

STEPHEN CHADENGA Zanu-PF-linked businessman
fails to turn around Zimglass
SLIGHTLY more than a decade ago, a drive Many questioned the businessman’s connec-
along Portland Road in Gweru’s heavy industrial eries, shocked Gweru residents when the then Zimglass is now a pale shadow of its former self. tions with senior government officials, but it was
sites would lead one to the glass-manufacturing minister of Industry Mangaliso Ndlovu officially opened a small bakery situated opposite the icon- not long before the controversial businessman
giant — and one of the companies that made the ic Cecil Hotel in the Midlands capital. posted pictures of himself and Mnangagwa while
Midlands capital a force to reckon with. in a car with bread between them. The pictures
went viral on social media platforms.
Fast forward to 2021. Zimbabwe’s sole glass
maker is now a pale shadow of its former self, de- He also attracted attention last year after Bula-
spite being acquired by a powerful and well-con- wayo whistleblowers wrote a letter to the Zimba-
nected businessman who last year promised to bwe Anti-Corruption Commission complaining
change the fortunes of the ailing company that that the Midlands miller was allegedly “fraudu-
used to sustain thousands of livelihoods. lently” benefiting from a Grain Marketing Board
allocation of maize meant for Bulawayo metro-
Midlands entrepreneur Douglas Kwande, an politan province.
associate of President Emmerson Mnangagwa,
last year acquired Zimglass under unclear circum- Kwande has grain milling machines located in
stances, but has failed to turn around the once Gweru along Bulawayo Road. His accusers que-
thriving company to its former glory. ried how a Midlands miller could benefit from
grain allocated to other regions.
When The NewsHawks visited the company
premises this week, a dark shadow hung over
the former corporate giant. Two old vehicles
were parked inside the once bustling premises,
adjacent the main gate. One of the cars, an old
bread-delivery van emblazoned with the letters
DCK (the trade name of Kwande’s retail shops)
appears abandoned, with no sign of ever shifting
from that spot.

A handful of weary-looking workers were mill-
ing inside the grounds, where a maize milling ma-
chine is stationed.

“We are processing maize into mealie-meal
here and your enquiry about the refurbishment
of glass furnaces is beyond our knowledge,” one
worker said wryly.

Kwande was not answering phone calls when
The NewsHawks sought his comment. A WhatsApp
message delivered to his mobile number was also
not responded to.

The businessman was last year quoted as saying
that although the revamping of Zimglass required
huge sums of money, as his company had to start
from “scratch”, he was “ready to go”.

In May last year, Kwande, through his invest-
ment vehicle Brainman

Investments, bought Zimglass for a measly
ZW$22 million, with many questioning the val-
uation, as well as the procedure followed in secur-
ing the once thriving firm, which used to employ
thousands of workers.

Zimglass was a wholly owned subsidiary of the
state-owned Industrial Development Corpora-
tion of Zimbabwe Limited before its subsequent
takeover by the Midlands businessman.

Zimglass ceased operations in 2010 before be-
ing placed under judicial management in 2014.
Kwande then bought it, more than 16 months
ago. Investigations by this publication revealed
that plans to construct a sodium silicate furnace
have since stalled, amid reports that bricks need-
ed for the furnace are expensive and have to be
imported.

According to experts, sodium silicate furnaces
are designed with highly specialised features since
the refractories installed inside them should take
into account the high corrosion rate.

At its peak, Zimglass’s core business was the
processing and beneficiation of silica, a main
ingredient in glass making. The company oper-
ated two electric glass furnaces (named G1 and
G2 units) whose combined production was 120
tonnes per day.

G1 furnace, which is mothballed, needs refur-
bishment while G2 furnace, which used to pro-
duce packaging for carbonated soft drinks, beer
and liquor bottles, was shut down in 2013. The
two furnaces require millions of US dollars to
keep them running.

Brainman is also at the centre of a storm with
Zimglass former workers over outstanding salaries
and allowances dating back to 2014. The new in-
vestor has not shown much commitment to settle
the dues.

Zimglass owed workers a total of US$3 662
442 as at 30 June 2014 when it was placed under
judicial management.

Kwande also acquired Industrial Sands Limit-
ed, a subsidiary of Zimglass, which used to supply
quality silica sand for glass manufacturing, water
purification, sodium silicate manufacturing, con-
struction and foundry industries but the former
has also failed to operate to expectation, raising
questions as to the motives behind such asset buy-
ing by Zanu PF-connected business people.

“These (business) acquisitions and others such
as agricultural prime land and gold claims, among
others, are usually for speculative purposes,” one
well-placed ruling party businessperson said.

In 2019, Kwande, who also owns DCK Bak-

Page 10 News NewsHawks

Issue 50, 1 October 2021

Coup dividend: Zim-Rwanda
relations turn over new leaf

OWEN GAGARE

RELATIONS between Zimbabwe and Rwan- Former British ambassador to Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa
da, which were strained during former president Catriona Laing Rwandese President Paul Kagame
Robert Mugabe’s time in power culminating in
the two sides fighting on opposite sides of the wealth Heads of Government Meeting this year
Democratic Republic of Congo war in the late but the event has been postponed because of
1990s to early 2000s, have improved under Presi- Covid-19.
dent Emmerson Mnangagwa, after being nudged
onto the same path by the British government Government officials say despite relations be-
which wanted Harare to follow the Kigali eco- tween Mnangagwa and the British government
nomic model. waning since the coup because of Harare’s failure
to implement reforms as well as continued hu-
The two countries, which established a dip- man rights abuses, relations with Rwanda remain
lomatic relationship in October 2019 follow- strong.
ing consultations between Mnangagwa and his
Rwandese counterpart Paul Kagame, in March Britain was hoping Harare would adopt a
held their inaugural Joint Permanent Commis- model based on strong leadership and high, sus-
sion on Cooperation. tained economic growths over years.

This week, the two countries also held the When Kagame took over the Rwandan lead-
inaugural Rwanda-Zimbabwe Trade and Invest- ership in 2000 following a devastating civil war
ment Conference in Kigali, aimed at establishing and genocide in which almost a million minority
a network for trade and investment interactions, Tutsis were killed by Hutus, the country moved
promoting a market-led approach and ascertain- to rehabilitate devastated infrastructure, while
ing the trade and investment opportunities avail- embarking on an ambitious development strat-
able in both countries. egy to transform the country from a low-income
agriculture-based economy to a knowledge-based
Delegates visited key business establishments service economy by 2020.
in Kigali, while the two countries signed mem-
oranda of understanding in various fields of co- Since Mnangagwa first met Kagame as pres-
operation. Presentations and discussions on trade ident on the sidelines of the AU extraordinary
and investment opportunities were also held. summit on 21 March 2018 in Kigali, the two
Business-to-business sessions for both govern- have been working together.
ment and business executives were also held.
After their meeting, Mnangagwa’s administra-
Zimbabwe commissioned an embassy build- tion flew in Rwanda Development Board chair
ing in Kigali on Wednesday as relations deepen. Clare Akamanzi in April 2018 to help in the pro-
cess of establishing the Zimbabwe Investment
After overthrowing Mugabe in a military coup and Development Agency.
in November 2017, Mnangagwa was eager to
adopt Kagame’s economic development model Flag carrier RwandaAir now services the Ki-
which blends authoritarian practices and home- gali-Harare-Cape Town route, symbolising the
grown solutions with international best practice close co-operation between Mnangagwa and
from developmental states in Asia. Kagame.

The British government, through its ambassa-
dor to Zimbabwe at the time, Catriona Laing,
supported the coup, and encouraged Mnangag-
wa to adopt the Rwandan model after losing
faith in the opposition.

At the United Nations General Assembly
meeting in New York in September 2018, Kag-
ame, then the African Union (AU) chair, went
out of his way to rally the international commu-
nity and plead with them to give Mnangagwa a
chance.

“In Zimbabwe . . . the next stage on the coun-
try’s path of progress warrants steady encourage-
ment from the international community,” Kag-
ame said in his address.

Kagame was one of the few African leaders
who attended Mnangagwa’s inauguration in Ha-
rare on August 26.

Zimbabwe has now sought Rwanda’s assis-
tance to be readmitted into the Commonwealth,
which it left in 2003, as revealed by Foreign Af-
fairs minister Frederick Shava this week.

Rwanda was earmarked to host the Common-

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NewsHawks News Page 11

Issue 50, 1 October 2021

A BID to rename major roads in the country after Renaming roads fails to
President Emmerson Mnangagwa and some fallen convince Zimbabweans
heroes seems to have failed to resonate with Zim-
babweans as they are still using old names, while Government mooted the idea of naming at least 10 major roads across the country after President Emmerson Mnangagwa in 2019.
in some cases, residents have even taken the gov-
ernment to court over the issue. dence the renaming of the roads gained traction to indicate what Andrew Astrow called ‘a libera- “It failed because it’s not a product of consulta-
because it was a credible move then. He said given tion struggle that lost its way’.” tion with the people. In any case, what’s so special
In 2019, the government mooted the idea of the economic hardships and the government’s fail- about ED to cause people to change street names
naming at least 10 major roads across the country ure to address the plethora of problems bedeviling Zhou added that Mnangagwa’s chequered past into his? His association with violence, grabbing
after Mnangagwa. the country, changing city roads was not a priority. was not helping matters. power through a coup and driving the coun-
try down the spiral of poverty are all things that
Through Statutory Instrument 167 of 2020, “The renaming of roads gained traction at Inde- “Above all, Mnangagwa is accused of playing people are angry about and would rather not be
Local Government minister July Moyo ordered pendence when there was greater need to reverse a key role in the decimation of 20 000 innocent reminded about each time they walk that street.
municipalities in Bulawayo, Harare, Chipinge, colonial injustice and quest to acknowledge some civilians in Midlands and Matabeleland together There is simply no mark he has left or printing
Gweru, Masvingo, Bindura, Chegutu, Kwekwe, of our liberation icons in Zimbabwe. It was cer- with the late Perrance Shiri under the tutelage of for him to deserve the honour of having a street
Mutare to name some of the roads after Mnan- tainly credible and enjoyed great support from the RG Mugabe. As such, many people in Matabele- named after him,” he said.
gagwa and several other stalwarts. Zimbabwean populace, as it resonated with the land view the naming of roads after him as an in-
liberation struggle,” Zhou said in an interview. sult. The honest truth is that there was so much He said compared to Mnangagwa, Mugabe was
The then acting Information minister Manga- hope that Mnangagwa would usher in better a saint.
liso Ndlovu in November 2019 said the govern- He explained that under the present circum- governance than Mugabe after the 2017 coup by
ment was renaming roads with immediate effect, stances the move was not going to gain traction. focusing on the improvement of the livelihoods of “Mugabe had a great start to the throne,
adding that there was nothing wrong with naming Zimbabweans, re-kitting our industries, produc- stamped a lot due to an appetite for absolute pow-
streets after a sitting president. “However, clinging to renaming streets 37 and ing and ensuring a balance between exports and er, leading to the murderous periods of Gukura-
41 years after Independence is not a key priority imports. However, we seem to have replaced the hundi and killings of opposition members when
“When you look at the names that we have to Zimbabweans wallowing in poverty and misery. driver with his conductor with the same mantra the MDC arrived on the scene. However, he
come up with, they are all speaking to our histo- Its main purpose now is self-aggrandisement and of majoring on rhetoric than practical service de- attempted to put a human face to power. The
ry, to our values and pretty much that is the rea- reward of predatory leaders whose contribution livery. It is within this context that resistance to current dispensation projects Mugabe as a saint.
son why we thought it was important to take this to the liberation legacy is insignificant. It is note- renaming of streets for political expediency must Moreover, his sad ending through a coup and the
route,” Ndlovu said. worthy that the liberation legacy’s pre-occupation be fully comprehended,” Zhou said. continued shenanigans around exhumation of his
was not merely liberating Zimbabwe but also en- body casts a bad picture of ED and loads a victim
“In terms of naming streets and any building trenching participatory democracy and improve- MDC Alliance secretary for local governance tag on Mugabe. This invites sympathy,” Zvidzai
after the President, in terms of our constitution, ment of the livelihoods of Zimbabweans. As such, Sesel Zvidzai said the issue failed to take off, as it said. — STAFF WRITER.
he is the only person who can have a street named the current poverty and misery in Zimbabwe seem was done without consultation.
after him while he is still alive, and this is not the
first time we have seen this obtaining. We have
seen it under the former president.”

However, in April this year Mnangagwa’s bid to
have 6th Avenue in Bulawayo named after him hit
a snag after the High Court blocked the move.

Last year, minister Moyo ordered the Bulawayo
City Council to rename some streets in honour of
living and departed liberation war stalwarts.

Bulawayo’s 6th Avenue had been renamed Em-
merson Dambudzo Mnangagwa Way.

But the Bulawayo Progressive Residents’ Asso-
ciation challenged the directive in court, arguing
that ratepayers were not consulted as the city’s
key stakeholders. Justice Maxwell Takuva denied
the President the honour after agreeing with the
residents’ association that it was unlawful for the
government to impose street names on the local
authority without consultation.

“To the extent that Statutory Instrument
167/20 purports to alter and substitute certain
names as depicted therein, in Bulawayo the same
is null and void and of no legal effect whatsoev-
er for violating section 4(2) of the Alteration of
Names Act Chapter 10:14,” Justice Takuva ruled.

Under the rejected directive, the government
had also changed 9th Avenue to Simon Muzenda
Avenue, 8th Avenue to Liberation Legacy Avenue
while 12th Avenue was to become Joseph Msika
Avenue.

Bulawayo’s 4th Avenue was to be renamed after
the late former Vice-President John Landa Nko-
mo, 5th Avenue to Maria Msika Avenue, 1st Ave-
nue to Lazarus Nkala Avenue, 10th Avenue would
be known as Nikita Mangena Avenue, 3rd Avenue
as Naison Khutshwekhaya Ndlovu Avenue where-
as 11th Avenue would be Daniel Madzimbamuto
Avenue.

Speaking to The NewsHawks, historian and ac-
ademic Takavafira Zhou said that after Indepen-

Zanu PF activist lies over CCC exposed
T Hara and Partners, 2nd Floor, CIPF Centre, J. post box office address. In a recent interview in Bulawayo, Chamisa all
LIZWE SEBATHA Moyo, 10th Street, Bulawayo,” the letter reads. Bulawayo analyst Effie Ncube said the revela- but confirmed that the opposition party was mov-
ing towards unveiling a citizen-led movement.
PROMINENT Bulawayo lawyer Tavengwa Hara President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s spokesper- tions by Hara confirmed opposition fears of state
has distanced himself from the shadowy Citizens son George Charamba and Zanu PF secretary and Zanu PF-sponsored manoeuvres to under- “We are in the process of building a citizen
for Convergence for Change (CCC) that listed for administration Obert Mpofu also posted the mine and frustrate the democratic opposition movement, a people’s movement, a citizen alliance
him as its lawyer upon notifying the Zimbabwe same letter on Twitter, fuelling speculation that from fighting for a better life for long-suffering across the board. We want an omnibus, a broad
Electoral Commission (Zec) of its existence and the CCC was a government-sponsored vehicle to Zimbabweans. church that accommodates everyone, a broad or-
intention to contest the 2023 elections. undermine Chamisa. ganisation that accommodates everyone so that we
“Well, it was very clear from the beginning that are able to deliver change,” Chamisa said in the
The CCC has often been cited as an alterna- In fact, Charamba posted the letter on Twitter this was a fraudulent exercise that is meant to un- interview.
tive party name to the Nelson Chamisa-led MDC while it was being typed and before it had reached dermine democratic opposition,” Ncube said.
Alliance owing to unending contestation for the Zec. “Some are saying it is a new name, no, it’s a
name with the Douglas Mwonzora-led MDC. “It is a state-sponsored exercise so that it keeps new direction. Some are saying are you going to
Hara told The NewsHawks he knows nothing the opposition divided, so that it keeps the op- give us a different name , yes, it’s a different force
Mwonzora recently laid claim to the MDC Al- about CCC or the people involved in the project, position unable to focus on the mis-governance altogether that galvanises all the people of Zim-
liance name. strengthening the suspicion that it is yet another and on corruption so that the opposition does babwe. A lot is happening; there will be no con-
ploy to destabilise the opposition. not spotlight the poverty and unemployment and fusion for the people when the time to decide to
In a letter addressed to Zec dated 20 Septem- hunger but keeps fighting for its survival. vote comes.”
ber, CCC secretary-general Farai Zhou named “Besides the lawyer-client confidentiality issues,
Varaidzo Musungo and Hara as presidential can- is that letter signed? It (letter) is not even signed. “The MDC should take advantage of the gaps A number of new opposition parties are being
didate and lawyer respectively. I don’t know anything about it (CCC). I cannot and really protect the people’s logo or name, as it launched as the country heads towards the 2023
waste my time commenting on things I have no were, so that no one takes advantage of it going general elections.
“In the interests of better communication, we knowledge of things that are on social media,” forward.”
are sourcing offices in Harare and will advise once Hara told The NewsHawks. The 2018 elections had a total of 23 presiden-
we have these. In the meantime, we ask that you Exiled minister Jonathan Moyo once urged the tial candidates.
contact us through our legal practitioners, Messrs Zhou, in the Zec letter, put a Vuhera (Buhera) MDC Alliance to legally register the CCC.

Page 12 News NewsHawks

Issue 50, 1 October 2021

Political uncertainty
hampering energy
sector revival: AfDB
led to the ouster of long-time leader Robert
BERNARD MPOFU Mugabe, President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s
new administration requested the African De-
THE African Development Bank (AfDB) has velopment Bank to update the 2011 Zimbabwe
cited an unstable political environment and the Infrastructure Flagship Report, to aid in invest-
risk of expropriation as some of the reasons un- ment planning as part of the government’s Vi-
nerving potential investors from injecting capi- sion 2030 blueprint.
tal in Zimbabwe’s energy sector.
The government also requested the bank to
Since the turn of the millennium, the coun- prepare an urgent economic report, to assist and
try has faced intermittent power outages due to advise on re-engagement with the international
ageing equipment, limited investment as well community, launched in November 2019. The
as droughts affecting power generation at hy- report projects that the country will need to in-
dro-electric power stations. vest US$3.3 billion per year to 2030 in order to
restore infrastructure.
Limited access to concessionary funding has
also resulted in other key infrastructure such as Experts say poor infrastructure is a critical
road network being run down. barrier to accelerating growth and poverty re-
duction in Africa.
Farai Kanonda, the regional sector manager
at the AfDB, said while Zimbabwe has enor- Studies have shown that increasing the stock
mous potential in the capital-intensive energy of infrastructure by 1% can add up to 1% to
sector, a plethora of challenges were unsettling gross domestic product.
investors despite a flurry of independent power
producers over the past few years. Infrastructure is considered a key component
of the investment climate by reducing the costs
“Risk perception on the part of investors of doing business and enabling people to access
will be high, and so will be the cost mitigation, markets. It is a precondition for private sector
which will invariably drive PPA (power pur- development and a key enabler of integration of
chase agreement) prices,” Kanonda told del- regional sub-regional markets for intra-African
egates during the virtual launch of the AfDB trade, and positioning of a competitive Africa in
Zimbabwe Country Brief (2021-23). world markets.

Over-reliance on hydropower and coal; non- Investments in infrastructure are critical to
cost reflective tariffs; financially weak off-takers advances in agriculture and fundamental to
and sector policy and reforms constraints were human development, including the delivery of
also presenting challenges in the country’s en- health and education services to poor people.
ergy sector. Infrastructure is an enormous untapped poten-
tial for the creation of productive employment.
According to the regional bank, following the
political transition of November 2017, which

BRIDGET MANANAVIRE US$12 000 compensation can’t soothe
activist for unjustified imprisonment
AT the age of 28, Linda Musiyamhanje was
charged with the murder of a police officer and show him that motherly love. When they used to and build something bigger. I never felt like giv- Masiyamhanje said her experience has made
spent almost a year in prison. visit me in prison I would only see him through ing up because I was so much determined and her courageous and alive to the importance of
the fence, no touching, no what. My siblings also my lawyer was very determined that we will hard work.
She left her two-year-old son in the care of her also endured a lot of pain when they visited me win the case, and we did,” she said.
siblings and together with 28 other individuals almost every day. They used to come to court “This experience has changed me as a person.
became known as the Glen everyday until the day I was proven not guilty. The last two of the 29 who were arrested in I used to think that everyone in jail was a crim-
2011, Tungamirai Madzokere and Last Maenga- inal, but my experience changed those beliefs. I
View 29, a group of MDC activists who were “Ever since I came out of prison, I had to hama, were freed in June this year after spending now understand that some might be innocent
accused of killing police Inspector Petros Muted- restart building my life, so having this kind of 10 years in prison. but lack funds to get legal representation. Some-
za during a scuffle with law enforcement officers. money is an addition to something that I had al- times it is just fear (that stops them from fight-
ready built and it will help me expand and grow They are contemplating suing for compensa- ing for justice) and sometimes it is fear that is
Musiyamhanje was arrested in June 2011 and tion. instilled in them by relatives, and lack of support
spent 11 months in prison before being acquit- from relatives. On some occasions they will only
ted in 2013. be inspired to fight after sharing with others in
prison,” she said.
The High Court last week ordered Home
Affairs minister Kazembe Kazembe and Com- “I have also realised that if you have that cour-
missioner-General of Zimbabwe Republic Po- age you will prevail. It helped me to be coura-
lice Godwin Matanga to pay Musiyamhanje geous and independent. Society judges people,
US$12 000 as damages for violation of her fun- and considering the nature of our charges, we
damental rights when she was unlawfully arrest- were labelled. People will say ‘she is said to have
ed, detained and prosecuted 10 years ago. murdered someone’. People judge you. This ex-
perience taught me to work hard.”
For the past six years, she has been fighting
for justice and compensation from the state for Throughout the journey, Masiyemhanje said
wrongful arrest, detention and prosecution. she got a lot of support from the Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights, the MDC party
She says it has not been a walk in the park, but that was led by the late Morgan Tsvangirai, her
she soldiered on. family, sisters, the church and friends from the
diaspora.
“I’m numb at the moment, I am happy
though, but I can’t say I am very happy because “Everyone played a pivotal role, including my
the case took longer than I had anticipated and fellow inmates, we used to encourage each other
the amount I was given cannot turn back the to be strong. Not forgetting Mai Tsvangirai, as a
hands of time because I lost so many opportuni- mother she played her part and my son, who was
ties in life,” Musiyamhanje said. my pillar of strength and each and every time he
would say ‘mom, mom’, it gave me hope that we
“Be it marital status, education wise, business would reunite,” she said.
wise, to mention but a few. But I am grateful
that at least I was compensated something. And Her lawyer Bamu said the victory remained
I would like to give credit to my lawyer Jeremiah hollow until payment is effected to her.
Bamu. He stood by me through thick and thin,
even before I was acquitted. He was our lawyer “The government is notorious for not paying
as a group and would visit us regularly and check on time and processing paying only after con-
on us. And also thanks to the Lawyers for Hu- tempt proceedings have been initiated,” Bamu
man Rights for their unwavering support. I hope said.
other people will be able to be helped.”

She said her innocence propelled her to sue
for damages, as well as the pain that she had en-
dured while in prison, and separated from her
two-year-old son.

“At the time I was arrested, I had a two-year-
old son and I left him for almost a year. I didn’t

NewsHawks News Page 13

Issue 50, 1 October 2021

Govt curtails internet surfing freedom

KUMBIRAI MACHINGURA Repressive regimes use the internet to clamp down on civil liberties.

THE Zimbabwean government has maintained a cence fee to Post and Telecommunications Regu- plans to monitor restrict online activities 65.IAPs users.
tight grip on internet control, curtailing the basic latory Authority (Potraz), the reports says. and ISPs are also subject to security screenings by The report states that the “Government sus-
rights to freedom of expression and information, the military according to sources,” further reads
a report has revealed. “According to Econet, licence fee requirements the report. pended internet access in at least 20 countries,
have been used to undermine private companies, and 21 states blocked access to social media plat-
According to the Freedom on the NET 2021 as the state-owned firms have not been forced to As big tech continues to wield economic and forms, most often during times of political tur-
report, an annual survey on internet freedom pay the full amount,’’ reads the report. political power around the world, paranoid re- moil such as protests and elections”
around the world published by Freedom House, gimes have maintained a tight grip on access to
the government has continued to control inter- Potraz’s ability to operate independently also and activity on the internet. Repressive regimes around Africa like Uganda
net traffic gateways, monitoring three out of five came under the spotlight in the report, with the have also used the power of incumbency to con-
mobile service providers. The government also state control evident as management appoint- “A growing number of governments are assert- trol internet gateways and weaken opposition
controls two of the four internet traffic gateways. ment is subject to Mnangagwa’s approval in con- ing their authority over tech firms, often forcing leaders.
sultation with the ministry of Information Com- the business to comply with online censorship
The report says the state has continued craft- munication Technology. and surveillance have contributed to an unprec- In Zimbabwe, the government's grip on inter-
ing draconian laws which infringe on the right to edented assault on free expression online, causing net use is set to tighten with the Cyber Security
access the internet, in contravention of the con- “Potraz is expected to operate independently, global internet freedom to decline for an 11th Bill and Data Protection Bill, which seeks to pun-
stitution which guarantees freedom of expression. but in practice, its independence has eroded over consecutive year’’, Freedom House says in another ish those who abuse social media, internet and
the years, as it has become increasingly subordi- report titled The Global Drive to Control Gig Tech. communication networks. The legislation sailed
“Zimbabwe has five international gateways nated to state security agencies. In 2016, a former through Parliament early this month.
for the internet traffic, controlled by state-owned intelligence official, Gift Machengete, was ap- The report says government interventions in
TelOne and Powertel and privately owned Dan- pointed as director-general of Potraz, which ob- the operation of technological firms had contrib- This is set to criminalise the use of the internet
demutande, Econet, and Africom, the state con- servers said was an indication of the government uted to the infringement of rights of the internet in the country, giving the government authority
trol of the two of the country’s gateways gives the to imprison perceived enemies.
government some ability to unilaterally restrict
access to the internet and mobile networks,” reads Journalist Hopewell Chin’ono was this year arrested on charges related to the use of the internet.
part of the report.

Repressive regimes like Zimbabwe have used
the internet to clamp down on civil liberties, in-
cluding shutting down the internet during pro-
tests.

Under the cover of internet shutdowns, human
rights organisations say security forces have vio-
lated human rights, including documented cases
of assault and abduction during the January 2019
protests.

In January 2019, the government shutdown
the internet gateway after widespread protests
over a fuel price hike. About 17 people were killed
by security forces in state-sponsored violence
which further dented Zimbabwe’s international
reputation.

Last year, the government also limited internet
speeds ahead of the 31 July protests.

“The government of Zimbabwe limited inter-
net speeds during the protests in July 2020. Users
experienced slowed connectivity on the state-
owned network Telone on July 30 and 31 after
President Mnangagwa and government officials
reportedly ordered connection restrictions be im-
posed ahead of the protest which was planned on
31 July’’.

“Government officials, including President
Mnangagwa defended the 2019 internet shut-
down stating that it was necessary to stop alleged
crimes and violence by protestors”.

Freedom House said that the intervention by
the government in the operation of the internet
has allowed the government to silence journalists
and activists.

In 56 countries, officials arrested or convicted
people for their online speech, the report says.

“The arrest of human rights defenders and op-
position figures over their online activism, as well
as the governments’ threatening statements about
posting critical content, increased individuals'
hesitancy to express their opinions online during
the coverage period, according to local observers”.

“The government is intolerant of online activ-
ists, particularly those that are protected under
international human rights by invoking vaguely
written laws to arrest social media users who crit-
icise them,” further reads the report, citing the ar-
rest of journalist Hopewell Chin’ono on trumped-
up charges related to the use of the internet.

To maintain a grip on the internet, the gov-
ernment exercises control by monitoring three
out of five service providers, including TelOne,
Telecel and NetOne, while privately-owned inter-
net service providers are required to register with
Zimbabwe Internet Service Providers Association
(ZISPA).

Exorbitant charges by the ZISPA have also
been a barrier to entry for new players.

“The regulatory licence fee ranges from US$2
million to US$4 million depending on the type of
service plus the 3.5% of their annual gross income
to the regulator,” according to the report.

“Private telecommunications firms sense that
regulators are favouring state-owned entities and
sets onerous licence fees and conditions that dis-
advantage private competitors”

Companies partly owned by the government
like Telecel had not paid US$137.5 million li-

Page 14 News NewsHawks

Issue 50, 1 October 2021

NYASHA CHINGONO MDC Alliance targets 6m votes as
2023 campaign gathers momentum
ZIMBABWE’S main opposition MDC Alli-
ance says it has set its sights on mobilising six MDC Alliance spokesperson Fadzai Mahere
million votes ahead 2023, with the party refo-
cusing to attract the elusive rural vote. ed violence by the Mugabe regime. communities from any form of violence and campaign under a broad alliance of citizens.
The MDC Alliance however maintains that: Zanu PF must know very well that violence has “We have consistently stated that we are build-
This comes at a time Zanu PF has gone for no place in a democratic society,” Mahere said.
broke to woo voters, recruiting clergymen, so- “Our brand of politics is a contestation of ideas, ing a broad alliance of citizens to win Zimbabwe
cial media influencers, musicians and artists. not violence. Only individuals and organisations Ahead of 2023, observers have called for the for change in line with our Agenda 2021. We are
with no solution to problems use violence to co- MDC Alliance to rebrand to avoid confusion building the new and all shall be unveiled at the
The MDC Alliance, which narrowly lost to erce the people. It’s confirmation that they are in amid indications that Mwonzora could run his appropriate time. There will be no confusion as
Zanu PF in the 2018 polls, garnering more than panic mode and lack popular support.” campaign under the MDC Alliance brand. the people know who their leaders are. The citi-
2 million votes in the presidential race, says the zens are clamouring for a Nelson Chamisa presi-
rural vote will be crucial if the party is to win “The movement has modalities in place to Without being drawn into confirming the dency and this is what we shall deliver,” she said.
in 2023. deal with violence. We will protect the rural name change, Mahere said Chamisa will run his

Party spokesperson Fadzai Mahere said the MDC Alliance claims it is consolidating and strengthening its presence in the rural areas.
MDC Alliance had already begun rural mobil-
isation ahead of 2023.

“The MDC Alliance has set a goal to secure
six million votes in the next election and we have
targeted that at least a third of these votes must
emerge from our rural vote,” Mahere told The
NewsHawks.

Mahere said the party was focused on con-
solidating and strengthening its presence in the
rural areas.

Since its formation in 1999, the MDC has
missed the elusive rural vote, with its supporters
falling victim to state brutality, while Zanu-PF
has often used food and violence to cow opposi-
tion supporters.

“Firstly, I would like to commend the people’s
president, Advocate Nelson Chamisa, for his
able leadership in driving our rural penetration
strategy and making this one of our key result
areas. Zanu PF uses falsehoods, force, abduc-
tions and violence to cow the rural population
into submission. The communities are alert this
time round and we are working with them to
ensure that we vote for a people’s government.
As a government in waiting, we are strengthen-
ing our rural structures, maintaining engage-
ment and lending assurance that their vote will
remove the regime from power,” Mahere said.

She accused Zanu PF, which controls the le-
vers of state, of abusing national resources and
humanitarian aid to sway the rural vote.

“However, we represent the aspirations of the
people and that’s why we are championing their
cause,” Mahere said.

While Zanu PF is already on the campaign
trail, mainly in rural areas, the MDC Alliance
has been accused of focusing on urban centres
which often do not decide the presidency.

Mahere however said: "Our team recently
visited Uzumba, Mutoko, Chisumbanje, Dinde,
Chilonga where the regime is parceling out an-
cestral land to the Chinese firms and its local
proxies against the will of the people. We have
visited those areas and I tell you our strategy to
secure their rights and lead the resistance is well
on course.”

The MDC Alliance, which has over the past
year been rattled by parliamentary recalls, a bat-
tle over the party’s name and the formation's
unceremonious removal from Morgan Tsvangi-
rayi House by former secretary-general Douglas
Mwonzora, is at its weakest.

Although he has denied it on several occa-
sions, Mwonzora is believed to be a pawn in
Zanu PF’s game to maintain a grip on power.

Riding on the parliamentary recalls of top
MDC Alliance officials and amendments to the
constitution, President Emmerson Mnangagwa
is seen tightening his grip on power, nearly four
years after grabbing power from long-time ruler
Robert Mugabe.

The Covid-19 pandemic has also affected the
party’s mobilisation programmes as the govern-
ment banned political gatherings. Several MDC
Alliance stalwarts have been arrested for cam-
paigning during lockdown.

While the MDC Alliance is fighting for po-
litical survival, Zanu PF is already on the cam-
paign trail.

“Currently, the party controls three rural
district councils, namely Chipinge, Binga and
Hwange. This number will only grow in the
next election as we seek to increase this margin.
Our strategy is to run an issue-based campaign
and ensure community leaders represent these
communities in Parliament and local govern-
ment. Our rural strategy will certainly play an
important part in our goal to win Zimbabwe for
change,” Mahere said.

The rural vote has since 2000 been blighted
by violence, with many opposition supporters
hounded out of their homes, while some homes
were torched at the height of politically motivat-

NewsHawks News Page 15

Issue 50, 1 October 2021

New Parly lit up as China
celebrates National Day

CONSTRUCTORS of Zimbabwe’s impos- Zim-
ing new parliament building, perched on babwe’s
top of Mt Hampden, north of Harare last new Parlia-
night lit up the building, which is nearing ment building
completion, to celebrate China’s National in Mt Hamp-
Day. den, north of

The National Day of the People’s Repub- Harare.
lic of China, is a public holiday celebrated
annually on 1 October, commemorating the
formal proclamation of the establishment of
the People’s Republic of China on 1 October
1949.

In China, the holiday will be extended
for a week, also known as the “golden week”
because it is the biggest week for tourism in
that country, when people reunite with fam-
ilies and take trips.

The US$100 million building, wholly
funded through a grant from the Chinese
government, is being carried out by Shang-
hai Construction Group, working closely
with engineers from the Ministry of Local
Government, Public Works and National
Housing.

The new parliament building’s architec-
tural design borrows heavily from the iconic
Great Zimbabwe Monuments — one of the
country’s leading tourist resorts and Unes-
co World Heritage Site — from which the
country derives its name.

The great Zimbabwe resemblance can
be seen through the lights, in magnificent
drone pictures.

Shanghai Construction Group proj-
ect manager for the Zimbabwe parliament
building Cai Li Bo, last week told The News-
Hawks that the building was 80% complete,
adding work is likely to be completed in the
next six months.

“Eighty-five percent of the facade of the
New Parliament Building has been complet-
ed, and 90% of the equipment has been put
in place. Seventy percent of the internal dec-
oration have been completed,” he said.

“In total, 80% of the project has been
completed. We are looking forward to com-
pleting the whole project in the coming six
months months.”

The massive structure will have two con-
ference centres each with a capacity to ac-
commodate 350 people. It will also have a
banquet hall which can accommodate 1 000
people, offices for parliamentary officers and
several boardrooms for parliamentary com-
mittee sessions.

The project is seen as the first in the pro-
posed new capital city and is seen as a gesture
of friendship between Zimbabwe and Chi-
na. — STAFF WRITER

Page 18 News NewsHawks

Issue 50, 1 October 2021

Special Covid-19
PANDEMIC coverage

Covid-19 a great threat to schools

BOARDING schools are contributing to the to help learners catch up on time already lost nicipal payrolls to central government’s payroll. cabinet decision of transferring 368 health pro-
spike of Covid-19 cases being recorded in Zimba- during the lockdown and this will also strengthen In Chitungwiza, 60 out of 65 nursing staff in fessionals. This is in the line with the government
bwe, cabinet has said. Covid-19 containment measures’’. decision to centralise the payment of essential ser-
Chitungwiza have been transferred. vices in order to ensure timely payment,” cabinet
Despite this, the government says learners shall Meanwhile, cabinet has announced the transfer “Measures are being put in place for the City announced. — STAFF WRITER.
remain in school. of nurses from the Harare and Chitungwiza mu-
of Harare to expedite the implementation of the
The largest numbers of cases were recorded
in Masvingo, Mashonaland East, Matabeleland
North, Manicaland and Mashonaland Central.

“It is apparent that Mashonaland East, Mid-
lands, Masvingo and Matabeleland South prov-
inces are experiencing a resurgence of Covid-19
spurred by the cases in boarding schools,’’ the
33rd post-cabinet briefing read.

“The number of cases recorded went up to 3
356. The cases increased slightly, with 1 687 cases
recorded during the week under consideration,
compared to 1 669, the previous week.”

Zimbabwe had as of 29 September recorded a
total of 130 485 cases and 4 616 deaths.

Although Zimbabwe announced the extension
of the vaccination programme to teenagers, the
policy is yet to be implemented, as trials are still
being conducted.

Cabinet said the ministries of Health and
Child Care and Primary and Secondary Educa-
tion were continuing to implement the standard
guidelines for the coordinated prevention and
management of Covid-19 at education institu-
tions, while strengthening measures to ensure
continuous teaching and learning during isola-
tion or quarantine.

“The nation is informed that cabinet direct-
ed that half-term breaks be prohibited in order

NewsHawks News Page 19

Issue 50, 1 October 2021

AYESHA CHIDEMBO Entrepreneur defies lockdowns,
seizes online market opportunity
FEMALE entrepreneur Tsitsi Chinyandura is
among a few who are counting their blessings in the market and realised my idea could make Tsitsi Chinyandura clients want and heed this. People desire clear
in the unprecedented Covid-19 environment. it possible for them,” she told The NewsHawks. skills to garner clientele support. communication about the products, where
they can buy them, and, importantly, when
While Zimbabweans were stuck in a pro- Chinyandura maximises her communication “Naturally I am a good listener, so I have they will be delivered.”
tracted lockdown and businesses were stuck in been able to understand what international
the doldrums, Chinyandura realised an oppor- “Our repeat customers keep us going by
tunity in the market. knowing that they are satisfied with our service
and can proudly recommend us to others. We
With long, winding queues being a daily have developed such good customer relation-
feature in most parts of the country, Zimba- ships that they can freely request additional
bweans yearned for convenient and affordable products for us to supply.”
groceries while they stayed at home. Irked by
restricted business operating hours and a strict “For example, a few people mentioned they
curfew, Zimbabweans desired a return to nor- struggled to get through to their loved ones via
malcy, which seemed elusive. cellphones, as they were either faulty or not
charging properly. We responded by adding
As prices of basic goods and services skyrock- brand new mobile phones, which customers
eted, Chinyandura deployed social media to can now purchase on our website,” Chinyan-
become the go-to person for cheaper groceries. dura said.

The world of business is fast changing and She attributes part of her success to deliver-
gone are the days when entrepreneurs relied on ing relevant services to her clients.
physical stores to sell their products.
“Reliability is the primary driver of our on-
Innovative online selling is fast becoming line business. We pride ourselves on offering
a universally accepted way to keep businesses same-day and next-day delivery. Our fastest
afloat during these difficult times. delivery was able to be done in less than two
hours in Harare,” Chinyandura said.
“At the beginning of the first lockdown, peo-
ple wanted to ensure that their families had Beyond the convenience, her clientele
enough meals and could remain safe without thrives on nostalgia, hence an important part
joining long queues at the supermarket for gro- of her business.
ceries.
“Most of the products on our website are
“At that time, many diasporans were yearn- manufactured here in Zimbabwe, such as ma-
ing for a fast and reliable Zimbabwean online zoe, cerevita, kapenta, and many other popular
grocery delivery service that did not require fol- brands. It brings us much joy to know that we
low-up,” Chinyandura said. are all contributing to the Buy Zimbabwe ini-
tiative.”
As an entrepreneur, whose business had been
affected by the pandemic, like many other She was raised by entrepreneurial parents
businesspeople whose incomes had shrunk and who during the school holidays required her
had been pushed to the brink of closing shop, to help in her father’s green bar soap-manufac-
Chinyandura’s newfound enterprise became turing business, while her mother’s commer-
a silver lining during the era of Covid-19-in- cial greenhouse tomato project also presented
duced lockdowns. Chinyandura with first-hand experience in
business.
Due to social distancing rules put in place
by the authorities, the uptake on digital solu- Finance minister Mthuli Ncube says dias-
tions to business surged. Riding on this wave, pora remittances have now overtaken foreign
Chinyandura recorded brisk business, serving aid in terms of contribution to the country’s
hundreds of customers. economy.

Her company, OneClick Supplies, an online Diaspora remittances to Zimbabwe jumped
shopping company, has grown as a result of 58% in 2020, reaching about US$1 billion,
limited movement by customers. the highest-ever contribution made to the local
economy.
Run on an easy-to-use website, which utilis-
es email order notifications to meet shopping It is estimated that between 2.5 and three
needs and delivery for customers, the online million Zimbabweans live in other countries,
business has also attracted interest from the di- with neighbouring South Africa being the most
aspora population. popular destination.

Diasporans can select and pay for groceries A spike in remittances was due to the con-
for their relatives in Zimbabwe. stant operation of money transfer agencies
during the Covid-19 pandemic.
As the economy has begun to open up,
Chinyandura has diversified her business to fa- Zimbabweans in the diaspora send money
cilitating building and agricultural projects for to their relatives in Zimbabwe through money
Zimbabweans living in the diaspora. transfer agencies.

“Now that things have settled down, our cus-
tomers realised that they could use our services
for their building and agricultural projects.
Many Zimbabweans in the diaspora want to
build their homes and businesses, while having
complete control of their finances and avoiding
misuse of their funds. I noticed an opportunity

MORRIS BISHI Masvingo battles surge in Covid-19 at schools

MASVINGO province is witnessing a surge in Learning institutions require funding to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. that they could effectively prevent the spread of
new Covid-19 cases in schools, a development, the coronavirus. He added that all schools in the
prompting the health authorities to urge school to Covid-19 preventive measures so that pupils babwe (Artuz) president Obert Masaraure told country are pontential Covid-19 super spreaders.
administrators to adhere to preventive measures are protected. The province is still a red zone; The NewsHawks that teacher unions warned the
and curb the spread of the coronavirus. people should not relax,” Irimayi said. government before the opening of schools that “We warned government before schools
the learning institutions schools need funding so opened, but they remained defiant and pushed
This week saw over 50 pupils contracting Amalgamated Rural Teachers’ Union of Zim- on with reckless schools opening. Government
the deadly virus, raising fears that some of the promised to avail RTGS$500 million which is
schools, mostly boarding institutions, could be equivalent to RTGS$50 per learner. Looking
forced to close. at our schools’ population, it is inadequate. We
are aware that we received US$453 million from
Masvingo Covid-19 taskforce spokesperson Unesco for our education sector so that they cope
Rodgers Irimayi told The NewsHawks that the with Covid-19 so we urge our government to
province is still at risk as it is still recording more unveil those resources so that our schools can be
cases than other provinces. He said most cases able to provide enough protective clothing to pu-
are now being recorded at boarding institutions, pils. Our classrooms are overcrowded and every
highlighting the need for school authorities to school is a possible super spreader of the virus,”
make sure that pupils adhere to set down protec- Masaraure said.
tive measures.
Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe
“We are worried about the new surge of president Takavafira Zhou told The NewsHawks
Covid-19 cases in our province, especially in that over 30 schools in the country are affected by
schools. The figures are changing daily but as of the disease after the government rushed to open
Wednesday we recorded 52 new cases and of that schools. He said teachers were forced to go back
number 36 cases were from Gutu district and let to work before they were tested and pupils are
me tell you that most of the cases were record- overcrowded in classrooms.
ed at Gutu High School and Alheit Mission. We
have many other cases being recorded in other
schools. I am urging school authorities to adhere

Page 20 Editorial & Opinion NewsHawks

CARTOON Issue 50, 1 October 2021

Mask of deception
has finally fallen off

THROUGHOUT history, autocrats have taken advantage of all Botswana @55: What an inspiring
manner of public emergencies to consolidate their stranglehold on journey which is a model for Zim
power.
WHEN Botswana got independence from ta which becomes a lush wildlife habitat world, yet today has 90% literacy rate, fifth
Whether profiting from war or politicising food aid during dev- Britain yesterday in 1966, it was an eco- during seasonal floods. highest in Africa.
astating droughts, the favourite motto of dictators has been: “Never nomic and social backwater — a big poor
let a good crisis go to waste.” village, 70% of it desert. But it was very poor at independence in Tswanas used to learn in Zimbabwe and
1966; the British thought their exit would South Africa.
The Covid-19 pandemic, a catastrophic global health emergency Of course, up to this day the massive Ka- spell disaster.
whose impact will be felt for many years to come, has been milked lahari Desert still covers 70% of Botswana. But now things have changed.
to the last drop. This has been our lived experience in Zimbabwe. At independence, it was the world’s sec- Zimbabwe, whose rate is above 90%,
This means it is a dry country, not arable ond poorest country, among the five least is now in the same league as Botswana on
Political elites and their cronies have been caught red-handed or suitable for viable agriculture, although developed nations on the planet, yet today that front.
looting public funds meant for the national Covid-19 response. Pre- cattle ranching is big. it has the highest human development in- Thanks to large-scale investments in ed-
dictably, the authorities have responded by intimidating journalists dex in sub-Saharan Africa and also fifth ucation since Independence, Zimbabwe
and muddling the waters, instead of bringing the culprits to justice. When its leaders demanded indepen- highest in Africa. has one of the highest literacy rates in Afri-
dence, they were told by the British, who ca, which averages 90%.
Precious minerals have been smuggled by well-connected crimi- sustained the country through aid, that It is now among Africa’s richest in GDP It had been Africa’s most literate country
nals during lockdowns while law-abiding citizens cowered in their they are either “very brave” or “very fool- per capita terms (US$7 859). for a long time and that is where it is rather
homes. There are even reports of unauthorised aircraft flying in and ish”. better than Botswana and other countries.
out of the country willy-nilly in violation of aviation law, safety and While Botswana started with an annual While Botswana made dramatic strides
national security. A lot of this criminal conduct is really nothing Britain thought Botswana was not and budget of US$1 million in 1966 to fund its forward, Zimbabwe has been disastrously
new under the sun; the only difference is that the pandemic has could not be a sustainable country. That is capital and recurrent expenditures, its bud- regressing.
provided convenient cover for the perpetrators to brazenly carry out why it did not invest anything meaning- get is now averaging US$5 billion, which is The country was the most developed
their iniquity without fear of consequence. ful in the country unlike in other colonial and advanced in sub-Saharan Africa out-
countries. Hawk Eye side South Africa, but it has now been
For uncaptured journalists, the task of prying open the prover- virtually reduced to a failed state widely
bial Covid-19 can of worms could be likened to flicking on a light But the Tswana leaders and the Botswa- Dumisani characterised by authoritarian repression,
switch at 2am — you better be prepared for the shocking spectacle na Democratic Party, in power ever since, Muleya human rights abuses, hunger, poverty and
that assails your weary eyes. But it is not only the looters and smug- were convinced they would make it. floods of emigration to various countries,
glers who are having a field day. Political and constitutional crimes far bigger than Zimbabwe’s. including Botswana.
are also being committed in the name of fighting Covid-19. After 80 years as a British protectorate, Zimbabwe’s annual budget in real terms That is the tale of the two neighbouring
Bechuanaland became independent in countries.
The prolonged ban on by-elections is one such egregious viola- 1966. ranges between US$1 billlion and US$2 Botswana has achieved what looked im-
tion of the constitution. Active suffrage, which is the right to vote, billion. possible 50 years ago: A vibrant multi-par-
and passive suffrage, which refers to the right to stand for election, Unlike some African countries, Botswa- ty democracy, thriving economy, with one
are established constitutional rights. na had no modern economy, no currency, Botswana’s GDP is now about US$20 of the world’s fastest growing economic
which means no monetary sovereignty; it billion compared to Zimbabwe’s, which and low corruption.
In addition, the right to vote has evolved into well-accepted in- only had 10 kilometres of tarred road and some say was US$15 billion until the re- The difference between Botswana and
ternational law. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was its leaders travelled by bus to meetings, in- cent rebasing to US$25 billion. Some say Zimbabwe boils down to this: Visionary
adopted unanimously by the United Nations General Assembly in cluding Sadc ones. Zimbabwe’s GDP is US$20 billion. leadership, good governance, workable
1948. It upholds the important role of free, fair and credible elec- policies, craft competence and meritocracy.
tions in safeguarding the right to participatory democracy. Article Its situation was desperate, but now it Botswana’s population is now 2.2 mil- Zimbabwe has been ruined by leader-
21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights highlights the is a rising African star. By contrast, for in- lion, while Zimbabwe’s is 15 million. It is ship, governance and policy failures, as well
right of every person to participate freely in their government. stance, when Zimbabwe got Independence the size of Harare. as endless cycles of violence and corrup-
in 1980, it was widely viewed as the jewel tion.
The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights as well as the of the Africa crown: fairly industrialised That is partly why Botswana’s GDP per In the end, Botswana is a good model
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights also provide economy, world-class farms and mines, a capita (US$7 859) is far higher than Zim- which shows African people can actually
useful perspective. While no level-headed person would dispute the currency that was stronger than the world’s babwe’s at US$1 386. succeed in building democratic, econom-
necessity of putting by-elections on hold at the peak of the pandem- reserve currency, United States dollar, ically viable and progressive states if they
ic, there is no denying the fact that the Zimbabwean government modern infrastructure, including schools, The country came a long way. have competent leaders in charge, good
has no legal authority to suspend elections in perpetuity. Elections hospitals, great cities and sophisticated so- To make matters worse, Botswana governance, accountability, and shun cor-
have been safely and successfully convened in fellow ciety, but now it is practically a failed state. gained independence with only three mis- ruption, as well as destructive policies.
sion schools, no university and only eight
African nations. Zimbabwe was one of the first countries to roll Now the big question is: What did Bo- graduates, with lowest literacy rate in the
out a Covid-19 vaccination programme and, although herd immu- tswana do right, and what went wrong in
nity is yet to be attained countrywide, a commendable threshold has Zimbabwe?
been reached. When you consider that the government is allowing
crowds to gather in church, school, college, buses, trains, supermar- Botswana, a landlocked country, has
kets and other spaces, the public health argument against the con- beautiful landscape defined by the vast
vening of by-elections falls away. How come it is safe to convene the Kalahari Desert and the Okavango Del-
Zimbabwe International Trade Fair, the Harare Agricultural Show
and Zanu PF politburo meetings — yet citizens are told that it is too
risky to have elections? Who is fooling who? It has become patently
clear that the Zanu PF government is terrified of voters.

What makes it a monumental scandal is that the Zimbabwe Elec-
toral Commission (Zec) — which must be independent and operate
above the fray in terms of the law — is fatally compromised. How
does Zec justify its outrageous decision to unilaterally exclude the
main opposition MDC Alliance from the political parties’ consul-
tative meetings?

Through the inordinately prolonged suspension of by-elections,
the Zanu PF government has weaponised Covid-19. After subvert-
ing the democratic will of voters by using autocratic tactics to recall
elected MPs, they cannot countenance the inevitable nightmare
that comes next: coming face-to-face with the disgruntled voters at
the ballot box.

Reaffirming the fundamental impor- The NewsHawks is published on different EDITORIAL STAFF: Marketing Officer: Voluntary Media
tance of freedom of expression and me- content platforms by the NewsHawks Digital Managing Editor: Dumisani Muleya Charmaine Phiri Council of Zimbabwe
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mocracy and as a means of upholding Interest Journalism Assistant Editor: Brezh Malaba [email protected] The NewsHawks newspaper subscribes to the
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in its various forms and manifestations Harare, Zimbabwe Subscriptions & Distribution: fair and balanced news reporting. If we do not
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Business

MATTERSNewsHawks

MARKETS CURRENCIES LAST CHANGE %CHANGE COMMODITIES LAST CHANGE %CHANGE
EUR/USD 1.168 +0.001 +0.05 -1.402
USD/JPY 109.75 +0.03 +0.03 *OIL 62.61 -0.89 +0.123
GBP/USD 1.362 -0.002 -0.154 -0.39
USD/CAD 1.29 +0.007 +0.55 *GOLD 1,785.3 +2.2 +0.44
AUD/USD 0.713 -0.001 -0.098 +1.14
*SILVER 23.14 -0.09

*PLATINUM 975.5 +4.3

*COPPER 4.087 +0.046

ALEX MHANDU CEO Africa Roundtable
convenes major indaba
THE CEO Africa Roundtable, a high-level
platform for corporate chief executive officers African Union Commission Commissioner for Economic Development, Trade, Industry and Mining, sectors to harness converging technologies in or-
(CEOs) and other senior executives, will hold its Ambassador Albert Muchanga, der to create an inclusive CEO, who is prepared
three-day annual roundtable and awards ceremo- for the future. This is an opportunity to create
ny next month in the resort town of Victoria Falls region and industry in the world, which creates light of the changing dynamics. smart and modern African CEOs,” the concept
amid efforts to map out a recovery path following scope for top executives to map a way forward “CEO Africa Roundtable 2021 therefore aims note reads.
the adverse impact of Covid-19. that ensures their businesses remain relevant in
to assist CEOs and senior executives in different This edition of the Roundtable also comes at a
The CEO Roundtable 2021 is a leading inter- time when implementation of the African Con-
national gathering that will bring together Afri- tinental Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA) has al-
can CEOs, bankers, investors, entrepreneurs and ready begun and expected to boost intra-Africa
board chairpersons from both public and private trade.
sectors from 27 to 29 October 2021 under the
theme Charting the Recovery Curve, Building Mo- The ACFTA aims to create a continental mar-
mentum — Crashing Barriers, Creating impact, ket for goods and services, and free movement
according to the concept note. of businesspersons and investments as well as en-
hance competitiveness at the industry and enter-
Financial advisors and financiers from Africa prise level through exploitation of opportunities
and beyond, senior government officials, heads for scaling up production, continental markets
of parastatals, multinational company heads, access and better allocation of resources.
private sector specialists, private equity investors,
equipment manufacturers and suppliers, logistics According to the Roundtable, it therefore
and supply chain companies, legal consultants as becomes critical that the private sector take a
well as insurers and wealth managers are also ex- leading role in actualising the ACFTA under the
pected to attend the event. broader agenda of achieving Agenda 2063.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa is expected In light of this, some of the topics that will
to officiate at the awards night on 28 October. be tabled include the Fourth Industrial Revolu-
tion, the future of transportation and mobility,
Industry and Commerce minister Sekai Nzen- drive towards innovation and industrialisation as
za is expected to be part of the high-powered well as economic rejuvenation — safely bringing
roundtable. Her counterparts, Transport minister communities out of the Covid-19 curve.
Felix Mhona and Higher and Tertiary Education
minister Amon Murwira, are also expected to be The conference will also hold a Women’s
in attendance. Roundtable, where Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
governor John Mangudya will speak on venture
Agriculture minister Anxious Masuka is also capital and launch Pundutso Capital.
expected to be among the guests and will discuss
unlocking billions of dollars in the tobacco value Among the high-powered speakers will be
chain. African Union Commission Commissioner for
Economic Development, Trade, Industry and
A total of 300 physical and over 500 virtual Mining, Ambassador Albert Muchanga, among
participants are expected to attend the 7th edi- others.
tion of the Roundtable, which is coming at a
time when technological changes in the midst of
the deadly Covid-19 pandemic are transforming
global business like never before, increasing com-
petition, shifting customers’ tastes and require-
ments.

Additionally, the globalisation of markets and
the changing demographic trends are drastically
altering how companies operate in almost every

Special Economic Zones take longer than anticipated

LIZWE SEBATHA Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government to copy chief investment and corporate affairs officer, said ing policies which have a direct impact on the
and paste China’s SEZs success story is failing to in an interview. activities of the SEZs. This inconsistency in poli-
THE country will wait a little longer before the yield results, with zero or slow movement towards cies has been attributed to the failure of the EPZs
much-touted Special Economic Zones (SEZs) implementation. This is not the first time the gov- “We are relooking that whole area and we are in Zimbabwe which were implemented prior to
come to life, as management at the Zimbabwe ernment of Zimbabwe have used economic zones actually learning from the likes of Rwanda, Ken- SEZs. If the issue is not addressed holistically,
Investment Development Agency (Zida), respon- as a means to attract investments and accelerate ya. Actually, we are currently going through a there is no guarantee that the SEZs will survive in
sible for governing the long -awaited project is still the economy out of its lethargy. In 1995, the workshop with Singapore who are training us as the current institutional and policy framework,”
undergoing training on its implementation. government promulgated the Export Processing one of the best in the ease of doing business in the it reads in paper.
Zones Act, which was later repealed in 2007. world. So we are actually undergoing training as
Zida is responsible for the licensing of invstors we speak. We had our last training a fortnight ago Policy inconsistency has often been identified
and licensing and management of the SEZs The EPZs had been established for the pro- to learn about SEZs.” as one of the stumbling blocks hindering the im-
through the Zimbabwe Special Economic Zones motion of exports and aimed to increase foreign plementation of key government strategies.
Authority (ZIMSEZA) was established in Febru- currency during the time the country was in re- A number of areas have since been declared as
ary 2020. cession. SEZs in Zimbabwe with Bulawayo and Harare In recent memory, this inconsistency has been
designated as high tech and manufacturing zones. seen with the removal of the multi-currency re-
Its establishment followed the abolishment of “With the SEZs we are slightly taking it from gime in June 2019 in favour of the Zimbabwe
the SEZ Act and Zimbabwe Investment Author- a different point of view from our predecessors, A 2020 research titled Special Economic Zones dollar through Statutory Instrument (SI) 142 of
ity Act. The SEZs are designated geographical ar- Zimbabwe Investment Authority (ZIA). So our in Developing Countries: Challenges and Oppor- 2019.
eas within an economy, where business activity is predecessors, when it was still ZIA, were licensing tunities for Zimbabwe, however, identifies policy
subject to different rules from those prevailing in individual companies in different areas. It (SEZs) inconsistency by the government as a setback on In March last year, the government changed its
the rest of the economy. must have a very clear strategy and benefit to the development and operationalisation of SEZs in policies and brought back the United States dollar
country so we are still working on that, and learn- Zimbabwe. into the market to be used in tandem with the
The SEZs have been a success in China. ing from other countries,” Tino Kambasha, Zida local currency under Statutory Instrument 85 of
However, in Zimbabwe, attempts by President “It was accentuated that businesses were facing 2020.
challenges associated with costs because of chang-

Page 22 Companies & Markets NewsHawks

Issue 50, 1 October 2021

Kwekwe gold plant set for resumption

DUMISANI NYONI

KWEKWE Roasting Plant is set to resume op- Kwekwe roasting plant is expected to increase volumes to the national gold output.
erations next year after the Minerals Marketing
Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) entered The roasting plant was established in 1937 by 220 ounces of gold worth US$169 million at in Zimbabwe, particularly in the Kwekwe, Kado-
into a joint venture with an unnamed local in- the then government of Rhodesia to assist small current prices. ma and Gwanda greenstone belts.
vestor to inject capital into the dump treatment and medium-scale miners around Kwekwe in the
and gold-ore toll treatment plant. processing of dumps or refractory gold ore. The MMCZ is planning to replace roasters Meanwhile, Muzenda said rebranding would
with new technology to improve recovery of put MMCZ at an international scale.
The refractory plant, designed to process gold The dumps have an estimated 350 000 met- gold and reduce the environmental impact of the
which has a high content of sulphite, ceased op- ric tonnes of ore and, according to Peacocke and plant. “We are already international but we wanted
erations in 2000 and the government transferred Simpsons Mineral Processors, they contain 97 to have international appeal. Rebranding is also
ownership of the assets to the MMCZ on con- Extensive reserves of the refractory gold exist about culture change,” he said.
dition that the corporation would pay all of the
roasting plant’s liabilities.

The MMCZ paid all the liabilities and as-
sumed ownership of the assets on behalf of the
government.

The organisation’s general manager, Tongai
Muzenda, told The NewsHawks in an interview
last week that, all things being equal, the plant
would be operational by next year.

“We have had a fairly successful rebranding.
Besides changing the logo, we have put minerals
in a box. Generally, this logo has been accepted
because it’s fresh, new and well-researched into.
It's not just one mineral. If you look at it, it looks
like a diamond but when you look deeper into
the logo, you will see that there are other min-
erals that are included there,” Muzenda said, re-
ferring to their rebranding exercise which they
undertook some time ago.

“Obviously, we have had other negative com-
ments like some people have said, ‘why yellow,
yellow is supposed to be gold and you guys are
not into gold. FPR (Fidelity Printers and Refin-
ers) is gold.’ On many occasions, I have joking-
ly said to the FPR guys, ‘at some point in time
before I leave the MMCZ, I will be selling gold
also’.”

“When you look at it in a different way, I
wasn’t really saying I will take the gold from the
FPR, we have actually gone into a joint venture
with another local company where we are resus-
citating a gold dump called Roasting Plant in
Kwekwe. So that yellow could mean gold soon.
By next year, everything being equal, we will be
producing gold,” Muzenda said.

The Kwekwe roasting plant has capacity to
process about 9 000 to 10 000 tonnes of concen-
trate per annum and its resuscitation is expected
to increase volumes to the national gold output.

Deputy minister revives
collapsed supermarkets
The one I am doing now is the sixth one. I have
DUMISANI NYONI done five already,” Modi told The NewsHawks Modi said his main aim was to create more Industry deputy minister Raj Modi
in an interview. employment for “our people in Bulawayo, espe- because I am from Bulawayo. I want to make
BUSINESSMAN and Industry deputy minister cially and I don’t have any intention to go out- sure Bulawayo comes right.”
Raj Modi has stepped in to revive shops locat- “At Nketa Six, I did two, Nketa Nine I did side Bulawayo. I want to remain in Bulawayo
ed in Bulawayo, particularly those belonging to one, one in Emakhandeni, and one in Loben- So far, he said more than 300 jobs have been
Choppies Enterprises, which were burnt down gula West. The sixth one I am doing now is at created.
during the January 2019 nationwide protests. Entumbane and I hope to open it by December.
That’s what I am doing. After that I finish the
In January 2019, Zimbabwe witnessed wide- Entumbane one, there is another one in Luveve
spread protests against a steep hike in the price also. They told me but I said let me finish with
of fuel and general economic decay which this, and then I will come to that. I want to
turned violent when security services used ex- revive all of them,” he said.
cessive force in a bid to quell the protests.
Asked about the quantum of investment for
In Bulawayo, several businesses, including this project, Modi, who owns Sai Mart whole-
Choppies supermarkets, shopping malls and sale and grocery store, as well as The Wholesale
other small shops were looted and some burnt Centre Liquor Hub in Bulawayo, said to revive
down. Choppies in Lobengula West, he spent close to
US$35 000.
Choppies, for instance, lost stock valued at
US$2.5 million while equipment and assets “So now what happens with that money is
worth US$6.5 million were destroyed after nine that I am going to get it back from them. The
of its branches were attacked by violent dem- rent money which I am going to pay them, so
onstrators and looters, according to Choppies they are going to give me a certain amount to
chief executive officer Ramachandran Ottapa- say, ‘25% will go towards your expenses.’ I don’t
thu. charge interest or anything,” he said.

As part of the agreement, Modi said he would “That’s simply the same money that I spent.
renovate those shops using his own money and That money you can give me over five years or
thereafter use them for a certain period of time 10 years depending, because I am in business
before returning them to their owners. with them. So every month I pay them, for in-
stance they will give me US$150. That’s how I
“There was a problem, and then I decided am working with them,” he said.
to come in. So what I am doing, I am renting
the places (shops) after renovating them myself.

NewsHawks Companies & Markets Page 23

Issue 50, 1 October 2021

ALEX MHANDU RTG optimistic of recovery as
govt relaxes travel restrictions
LISTED hospitality group Rainbow Tourism
Group (RTG) is upbeat of a positive full-year The growth was seen despite the fact that the doubled from ZW$84 million compared to the in place to lessen the effects of low business vol-
performance and going forward, as the earnings group operated for only three months due to same period last year. umes.”
report to 30 June 2021 is already showing signs the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown restrictions
of recovery. during the first quarter of 2021. During this pe- After-tax profit rose 49% to ZW$164 million Total revenue increased by 53% to ZW$706
riod, inter-city travel and social gatherings were from ZW$110 recorded during the same period million from the ZW$462 million recorded in
The growth will be underpinned by the easing prohibited. Inter-city travel is a major driver of in the prior year. Basic and diluted earnings per the prior year’s comparable period.
of the Covid-19-induced restrictions while the conferencing business, a key contributor to rev- share rose 48% to 6.68 cents.
global vaccination programme is also expected to enue generation. Assets improved by 6% to ZW$5.48 billion
continue driving the re-opening of world travel Manase said: “Despite business interruption compared to ZW$5,13 billion during the corre-
as well as domestic tourism. Average daily rate grew by 24% to close the due to the lockdowns, the group’s gross margins sponding period in the prior year.
period at ZW$8 395, while the revenue per for the period under review closed at 67% up
Group chairperson Arthur Manase said the available room grew by 31% to ZW$2 014. from 63% posted in 2020. Manase said the group will continue to explore
hospitality firm was also upbeat of a rebound for the various opportunities presented through its
the entire travel and tourism sector, reversing a At ZW$164 million, profit before tax almost “The improvement in gross margins is attrib- digitisation initiatives. The RTG did not declare
serious rout experienced after the outbreak of utable to cost reduction measures that were put a dividend.
the pandemic, which restricted movement across
borders and within the country.

“While the second half of the year has already
started, the resumption of international flights
into destination Zimbabwe and the expected
opening up of the economy in the remaining
months of the year will see significant growth in
business,” he said.

The travel and tourism sector was hit hard by
the pandemic across the globe. Zimbabwe was
not spared, as hospitality groups were forced to
shut down. But the gradual easing of the lock-
down restrictions in the second half of the year,
which is the traditional peak season for Zimba-
bwe’s tourism sector, is expected to see RTG re-
gain ground on revenue lost due to the lockdown
restrictions in the first quarter.

Manase reported that the company’s tour op-
erations business, Heritage Expeditions Africa
(HExA), continues to grow into a significant
player within the tour operations adventure
space in the country’s major resorts and business
centres.

Growth is also expected to come from expan-
sion of the RTG’s Gateway Stream platform,
which should play a significant role in group re-
covery. The Gateway Stream web and mobile ap-
plication is a diversified and unified global online
business ecosystem that delivers perpetual, pas-
sive and active income through the ownership of
markets where it connects with the highest quali-
ty of products and service. It has been positioned
as a driver of revenue and continues to capitalise
on opportunities presented by e-commerce.

The platform has grown its rooms stock
to over 50 000 rooms listed across 29 African
countries and has grown from the four sub-ap-
plications when it was launched in 2018 to the
current nine sub-applications, offering a diverse
range of products and services such as hospitality
and leisure, food and drink, groceries, insurance,
online shopping, book-a-ride, online auction,
pharmacy, as well as music.

The group managed to double its rooms stock
in Bulawayo during the just-ended Zimbabwe
International Trade Fair through its virtual part-
ners listed on the Gateway Stream platform.

For the half-year period, occupancy margin-
ally rose to 24% in comparison to the corre-
sponding period in the prior year when it closed
at 23%.

Experts bemoan Zim’s paltry 15% GDP-to-revenue ratio

ECONOMIC experts have bemoaned the He said regionally, at the bottom is Tanzania, sumption and increasing related taxes could be fiscus of potential revenue that could be redis-
country’s low revenue-to-Gross Domestic Prod- Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe politically difficult leading up to elections. The tributed to address inequality as high-income
uct (GDP) collection ratio, amid calls for the with less than 15% of revenue as a percentage of other issue is the significance of the informal earners inadvertently benefit from them,” he
authorities to deepen revenue collection mech- GDP, underscoring that, at this level, revenues economy and the challenge of effectively taxing said.
anisms if the country is to meet development are inadequate to finance basic state needs. it. I think the 2% IMMT (intermediated money
goals. transfer tax) was an effort to do so but it was Zuze urged the authorities to reduce tax ex-
Economist Prosper Chitambara cited corrup- met with a lot of resistance and I think further emptions for Value-Added Tax and tax holidays
The remarks came shortly after African Fo- tion, illicit financial flows and the highly infor- taxation will meet a similar response. for foreign companies as this would boost tax
rum and Network on Debt and Development malised economy as some of the factors contrib- revenue for redistribution to social sectors and
(Afrodad) policy consultant Michael Zuze uting to the undesirable situation. “Increasing corporate taxes will also be diffi- foster equality between domestic and foreign
briefed delegates at the Zimbabwe Annual cult, given the current government's pro-busi- entities.
Multi-Stakeholder Debt Conference that cur- “Zimbabwe urgently needs to address the ness mantra. If I can be an idealist, I would say
rent revenue collection volumes are among the above risk factors and in the long term, Zim- in the short term the government should be He said the government needs to increase the
lowest in the region. babwe Revenue Authority needs to tap into the focusing on controlling recurrent expenditures, depth and coverage of electronic transaction tax
informal sector if revenues are to be improved. and easing the fiscal drain of poor performing in view of the increased use of emerging elec-
“Zimbabwe’s revenue collection levels as a However, tapping into the informal sector is not parastatals,” he said. tronic payment streams, including mobile mon-
percentage of GDP are currently at below 15% easy, considering the underground nature of the ey.
and significantly lower than other regional market’s operations,” he said However, Zuze said taxation policy can be a
counterparts who are averaging plus 20%. powerful tool for addressing inequality if appro- “This tax will also assist member countries
Chitambara added that there is a need to give priately administered. It can achieve the three to tap into the informal sector which largely re-
“The total revenue as a percentage of GDP incentives to informal sector players, saying this main objectives, namely supporting macro-eco- mained outside the income tax bracket.
varies substantially across the Southern Africa will go a long way in motivating them. nomic stability, provision of public goods and
Development Community, with countries such redistribution of income. “Similarly, technology can be leveraged to
as Lesotho consistently recording a high reve- Yona Menon, an analyst at Ethos Capital enhance the efficiency of tax collection by mod-
nue-to-GDP ratio above 40%, followed by Sey- Partners, said the situation leaves authorities be- “Tax exemptions, though critical in reducing ernising and streamlining tax collection process-
chelles at 36%,” he said. tween a rock and a hard place. burden for low-income households, deprive the es, reducing compliance costs and closing leak-
ages,” added Zuze. — STAFF WRITER.
“Currently, the main source of tax is con-

Page 22 Companies & Markets NewsHawks

Issue 50, 1 October 2021

NMBZ set to rely on funded income

DUMISANI NYONI

DUAL-LISTED financial services company subsequently registering a 717% growth year-on- within the period. cilitate various capacity enhancement initiatives.
NMBZ Holdings Limited is envisaged to derive year from ZW$106.72 million to ZW$875.85 Investment securities, which consisted of IH Securities said as inflation slows down, and
its total revenue from funded income in tandem million, outperforming 106.6% annual infla-
with its strategic thrust to wade back into active tion. Treasury Bills and government bonds, remained post-lockdown operations scale up across the
lending, advisory firm IH Securities has said. relatively flat for the six months at ZW$1.12 country, FY21 is expected to offer better pros-
The bank continued its aggressive drive to billion, with the bank having set maximum lim- pects for the banking sector at large on account
In an analysis of NMBZ’s financials for the leverage on digitisation of its services with fees its in order to ensure that most of the funds are of increased economic activity, rebounding trans-
half-year ended 30 June 2021, IH Securities and commission income growing 592% year-on- channeled towards the productive sectors of the action volumes and revisions in tariffs.
said the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange and London year to ZW$1.07 billion. economy.
Stock Exchange-listed financial company would The central bank is expected to maintain
derive its revenue from funded income. Net exchange gains slowed down to Loans and advances were up 69% year-on- a tight grip on liquidity, reducing some of the
ZW$66.49 million in the period under review year at ZW$6.40 billion. Loans and advances for downside risk of another run of inflation which
“For FY21 (full-year 2021), we anticipate that on maintaining stability of the currency with re- the period were mainly concentrated in services, was affecting viability in the regulated sector, it
a larger percentage of NMBZ’s total revenue is valuation gains on the bank’s investment prop- with facilities given to individuals surpassing the said.
going to be derived from funded income in tan- erty portfolio dropping 93% year-on-year to agriculture and horticulture sector.
dem with the bank’s strategic thrust to wade back ZW$74.58 million. While the central bank policy rate and me-
into active lending,” IH Securities said. The group held deposits of ZW$9.55 billion, dium-term accommodation facility have been
Resultantly, total operating income moderated up 49% in the prior period. maintained at 40% and 30% respectively, IH
“Net interest income for the period is an- to a growth of 34% year-on-year to ZW$1.92bn. Securities said the cost of funds for the sector
ticipated to reach ZW$1.02 billion, up from While the group’s banking subsidiary had may be on the rise in the second half of this year
ZW$410.58 million reported in FY20. It is Operating expenditure for the period, however, exceeded the minimum regulatory capital of on enforcement of Statutory Instrument 65A of
our view that digital banking fees will remain a increased by 518% year-on-year to ZW$1.15bn US$30 million required by 31 December 2021, 2020 requiring banks to start paying interest on
key driver to revenue as the banking experience attributable to staff costs and a jump in admin- the board resolved not to declare a dividend as it savings accounts and deposits.
moves from the brick-and-mortar business mod- istrative costs from increased business volumes seeks out to strengthen its capital position to fa-
el and therefore forecast fee and commission
income of ZW$2.28 billion for FY21, up from
ZW$815.54 million recorded in FY20.”

IH Securities said revaluations in land and
buildings should continue tapering off on ac-
count of a stable exchange rate compressing earn-
ings for the year and inducing corrections across
key performance metrics in the sector at large
with NMBZ’s return on average equity (RoAE)
for FY21 forecast to adjust to 27.2% from 91.4%
recorded in the preceding year.

“We, however, believe that operating expens-
es will flatten in 2H21 (second half of 2021) on
condition that inflation maintains its current
downward trajectory. We have therefore forecast
opex (operational expenditure) of ZW$2.12 bil-
lion for FY21, up 160% year-on-year. Overall,
profitability is projected to come off to FY21 on
these corrections.”

In the first half of the year to June 2021,
NMB’s core operating income from interest pay-
ments grew 556% year-on-year to ZW$839 mil-
lion driven by an uptick in loans and advances to
non-banking entities.

Whilst the bank maintained strict credit un-
derwriting standards and aggressive collections,
non-performing loans (NPLs) rose from 0.44%
to 0.63%. Loan-to-deposit ratio remained flat
year-on-year at 67% with net interest income

RONALD MUCHENJE Reforms rhetoric fails to match action

DESPITE President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Zimbabwe’s Parliament this year passed a number of constitutional amendments that reinforce President’s authority.
pro-business rhetoric, progress on reforms is seen
remaining patchy even as the authorities make sition vis-à-vis his influential first vice-president, lose their seats if they cease to be a member of the of 27.5 out of 100 in the 'social stability’ sub-com-
progress in tackling ruinous inflation and curren- Constantino Chiwenga, who played a key role in party under which they were elected). ponent of our Short-Term Political Risk Index,”
cy volatility. the military intervention that led to the removal Fitch said.
of Robert Mugabe as president in 2017,” noted The seats remain vacant because Zanu-PF sus-
However, an international research firm, Fitch Fitch. pended by-elections indefinitely in 2020, citing In April 2021, Parliament approved another
Solutions, says pledged privatisation programmes the Covid-19 pandemic as the reason. constitutional amendment that gives the President
and efforts to attract large-scale investment out- Other provisions pave the way for extending powers to appoint the Chief Justice, the Deputy
side the mining sector are likely to remain slow, non-parliamentary cabinet appointments from “In addition, restrictions on public gatherings Chief Justice and the Judge President of the High
given ongoing hard currency shortages, capital five to seven. remain in place, with no more than 50 people al- Court, while raising the retirement age of Con-
controls, and concerns about governance, trans- lowed to attend. As a result, May 2021 protests stitutional and Supreme Court judges from 70 to
parency and openness to investors not linked with The main opposition MDC Alliance won 88 against constitutional amendments organised 75.
vested interests. out of 270 parliamentary seats in the 2018 elec- by the MDC and civil society groups under the
tions, but Fitch said its already-weak position has hashtag ‘#ResistDictatorshipConstitution' were Critics and civil society groups believe that such
This is reflected in Zimbabwe’s weak score of been further undermined as almost half of its rep- held online. Substantial public protests are possi- measures will reduce the independence of the ju-
31.8 out of 100 on the Operational Risk Index, resentatives have been expelled from Parliament ble once Covid-19 restrictions are lifted, although diciary from the executive branch, since they effec-
ranking as the worst of 13 states in southern Afri- (chiefly because of splits in the MDC and consti- the security services would crack down on any tively enable the President to appoint judges with
ca and a lowly 174th out of 201 countries world- tutional stipulations that members of Parliament such unrest. This is one factor in Zimbabwe’s score little or no independent oversight.
wide.

At a time the ruling party has commenced
election campaigns ahead of 2023, Fitch expects
Mnangagwa to continue consolidating his sup-
port base within the ruling Zanu PF, with opposi-
tion groups remaining poorly placed to challenge
the incumbents, although the judiciary will pro-
vide some checks on the President’s authority.

“We expect President Emmerson Mnangagwa
to continue to consolidate his support base within
the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Pa-
triotic Front. In April 2021, Parliament passed a
number of constitutional amendments that will
serve to reinforce the President’s authority. For
example, vice-presidents will no longer be demo-
cratically elected but will rather be selected by the
President, who will also be able to dismiss them.
This gives Mnangagwa increased control over
succession within Zanu PF and reinforces his po-

NewsHawks Companies & Markets Page 23

Issue 50, 1 October 2021

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NewsHawks Reframing Issues Page 31

Issue 50, 1 October 2021

competition persists. down with problems at home that the excesses of the Russian leader’s watched as every peril was politicized Policymakers should step up their
Americans point to a pattern of they will cease criticising his person- kleptocratic system, Navalny has and turned into fodder for personal cooperation with the private sector
alisation of power and will eschew gotten under Putin’s skin. He has gain and partisan games. Successive in order to cast light on and deter
Russian aggression and provoca- any efforts to transform Russia simi- forced the Kremlin to pay attention national security advisers, cabinet Russian intelligence operations and
tion: Russia’s invasion of Georgia in lar to those the US government car- to him. This is why Navalny is in jail members, and their professional other efforts to exploit social media
2008, its annexation of Crimea in ried out in the 1990s.  and why Putin has moved swiftly staffs were unable to mount coher- platforms. They also need to figure
2014 and its subsequent assaults on to roll up his movement, forestall- ent responses or defences to securi- out ways to educate the American
Ukraine’s territory and sovereignty, Putin also blurs the line between ing any chance that Navalny might ty issues in the face of personalised, public about the perils of posting
its intervention in Syria in 2015, the domestic and foreign policy to dis- compete for the presidency in 2024. chaotic, and opportunistic conduct personal and political information
Kremlin’s interference in the 2016 tract the Russian population from The task at hand  at the top. online.
US presidential election, and the fre- the distortions and deficiencies of The current US-Russian relation-
quent ransomware attacks and email his rule. On the one hand, he stresses ship no longer mirrors the Cold War In this regard, Putin actually of- Making the US and its society
hacks attributed to Russian actors.  how decadent and dissolute the US challenge, even if some geopolitical fers an instructive contrast. Trump more resilient and less vulnerable to
has become and how ill-suited its contours and antagonisms persist. railed against a mythological Amer- manipulation by tackling inequali-
Russians, for their part, point to leaders are to teach anyone a lesson The old US foreign policy approach ican deep state, whereas Putin — ty, corruption, and polarisation will
the expansion of NATO into east- on how to run a country.  of balancing deterrence with lim- who spent decades as an intelligence require innovative policies across
ern Europe and the Baltic states, the ited engagement is ill suited to the operative before ascending to office a huge range of issues. Perhaps the
US bombing of Belgrade during the On the other hand, he stresses that present task of dealing with Putin’s — is a product of Russia’s very real highest priority should be given to
Kosovo war in 1999, Washington’s the US still poses a military threat insecurities.  deep state.  investing in people where they re-
decision to invade Iraq in 2003, US and that it aims to bring Russia to its side, particularly through education.
support for the “colour revolutions” knees. Putin’s constant refrain is that And after Trump’s disastrous per- Unlike Trump, who saw the US Education can lower the barriers to
that took place in post-Soviet states the contest between Russia and the formance at Helsinki, it is also clear state apparatus as his enemy and opportunity and accurate informa-
such as Georgia and Ukraine in the US is a perpetual Darwinian strug- that the arms control summitry that wanted to rule the country as an tion in a way that nothing else can.
first decade of this century, and the gle and that without his leadership, took the edge off the acute phase of outsider, Putin rules Russia as a state It can help people recognise the
uprisings in the Middle East during Russia will not survive. Without Pu- the Cold War and nuclear confron- insider. Also unlike Trump, Putin difference between fact and fiction.
the Arab Spring.   tin, there is no Russia. He does not tation can provide little guidance for rarely dives into Russia’s social, class, And it offers all people the chance
want things to get completely out how to anchor the future relation- racial, or religious divisions to gain not only to develop knowledge and
In Moscow, all of these serve as of hand and lead to war. But he also ship. political traction.  learn skills but also to continue to
proof that Washington is hell-bent does not want the standoff to fade transform themselves and their com-
on invasion and regime change and away or get resolved. As the sole true The primary problem for the Instead, although he targets indi- munities.
also has Russia and Putin in its cross champion of his country and his Biden administration in  dealing viduals and social groups that enjoy
hairs. people, he can never be seen to stand with Russia is rooted in the domestic little popular support, Putin tends to One thing US leaders should
down or compromise when it comes politics of the US and Russia rather promote a single, synthetic Russian avoid in seeking to foster domes-
In truth, most American poli- to the Americans. than their foreign policies.  culture and identity to overcome the tic unity is attempting to mobilise
cymakers simply wish that Russia domestic conflicts of the past that Americans around the idea of a com-
would just go away so they can re- Similarly, Putin must intimi- The two countries have been destabilised and helped bring down mon enemy, such as China. 
focus their attention on what really date, marginalise, defuse, or defeat heading in the same political direc- both the Russian empire and the So-
matters. For their Russian coun- any opposition to his rule. Anyone tion for some of the same reasons viet Union.  Doing so risks backfiring by stir-
terparts, however, the US still rep- who might stand in his way must over the last several years. They have ring up xenophobic anger toward
resents the main opponent. That is be crushed. In this sense, the jailed similar political susceptibilities. The That Putin seeks one Russia while Americans and immigrants of Asian
because, as a populist leader, Putin Russian opposition leader Alexei Na- US will never change Putin and his Trump wanted many Americas heritage and thus fuelling more di-
sees the US not just as a geopolitical valny and Clinton fall into the same threat perceptions, because they are during his time in office is more than visions at home. Instead of trying
threat to Russia but also as a person- category. deeply personal.  just a difference in political styles: it to rally Americans against China,
al threat to himself. is a critical data point. It highlights Biden should rally them in support
In Putin’s view, if Clinton had be- Americans will have to change the fact that  a successful US poli- of the democratic US allies that
For Putin, foreign policy and come US president, she would have themselves to blunt the effects of cy  approach to Russia will rest in Trump spurned and derided.
domestic policy have fused. His at- continued to hound him and hold Russian political interference cam- part on denying Putin and Russian
tempt to retain Russia’s grip on the him to task, just as she did when paigns for the foreseeable future. operatives the possibility to exploit Many of those countries, espe-
independent countries that were she served as secretary of state in the Achieving that goal will require divisions in American society.  cially in Europe, find themselves
once part of the Soviet Union and to Obama administration, by promot- Biden and his team to integrate their in the same political predicament
reassert Moscow’s influence in other ing democracy and civil society to approach to Russia with their efforts The Biden administration must as the US, as authoritarian leaders
global arenas is inseparable from his root out corruption in Russia.  to shore up American democracy, integrate its approach to Russia with and powers seek to exploit socioeco-
effort to consolidate and expand his tackle inequality and racism, and its efforts to shore up American de- nomic strife and populist proclivities
authority at home.  Of course, Navalny is far more lead the country out of a period of mocracy. among their citizens. 
dangerous to Putin than Clin- intense division.
Putin sits  at the apex  of a per- ton would have been. Navalny is The US’s vulnerability to the Biden should base a new trans-
sonalised and semi-privatised klep- a Russian, not a foreigner. He is a The polarisation of American so- Kremlin’s subversion has been am- atlantic agenda on the mutual fight
tocratic system that straddles the next-generation alternative to Pu- ciety has become a national securi- plified by social media. against populism at home and au-
Russian state and its institutions and tin: young, handsome, charismatic, ty threat, acting as a barrier to the thoritarianism abroad through eco-
population. He has embedded loyal- patriotic, and defiant. He poses a collective action necessary for com- American-made technology has nomic rebuilding and democratic
ists in every important Russian in- threat to Putin not only owing to bating catastrophes and thwarting magnified the impact of once fringe renewal.
stitution, enterprise, and industry. If their differences but also because external dangers.  ideas and subversive actors around
Putin wants to retain the presidency of a few key similarities: like Putin, the world and become a tool in the Most important, Biden must do
until 2036 — by which time he will Navalny is a populist who heads a Partisan spectacles during the hands of hostile states and criminal everything in his power to restore
be 84 years old and will have become movement rather than a party, and global covid-19 pandemic have un- groups.  trust in government and to promote
the longest-serving modern Russian he has not been averse to playing on dermined the country’s international fairness, equity, and justice.
ruler — he will have to maintain nationalist sentiments to appeal to standing as a model of liberal de- Extremists can network and reach
this level of control or even increase the same Russian voters who form mocracy and eroded its authority on audiences as never before on plat- As many Americans learned
it, since any slippage might be per- Putin’s base. public health. The US’s inability to forms such as Facebook and Twit- during Trump’s presidency, no coun-
ceived as weakness.  get its act together has hindered the ter, which are designed to attract try, no matter how advanced, is im-
Navalny has survived an auda- projection of American soft pow- people’s attention and divide them mune to flawed leadership, the ero-
To do so, Putin has to deter or cious assassination attempt and has er, or what Biden has called “the into affinity groups. Putin has wea- sion of political checks and balances,
defeat any opponents, foreign or do- humiliated Putin on numerous occa- power of our example.” During my ponised this technology against the and the degradation of its institu-
mestic, who have the capacity to un- sions. By skilfully using digital me- time in the Trump administration, I US, taking advantage of the ways tions. Democracy is not self-repair-
dermine his regime. His hope is that dia and slick video skills to highlight that social media undermines so- ing. It requires constant attention.
leaders in the US will get so bogged cial cohesion and erodes Americans’
sense of a shared purpose.  – foreignaffairs.com

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Page 32 Critical Thinking NewsHawks

Issue 50, 1 October 2021

Young Africans are fleeing farming.
But agritech can bring them back

ADESUWA IFEDI which drew responses from some 30,000 a career in agriculture. The survey, which farm performance and a mobile applica- sustainable – and to make food produc-
young people across 11 African coun- included focus groups with farmers and tion to help farmers detect crop disease. tion more exciting and attractive for a
INNOVATIVE new technologies can tries, found that only about 1 in 4 young tech companies, revealed evidence of a A  start-up in Nigeria  is using machine new generation.
make smallholder farming more profit- farmers has access to the kinds of agri- rapidly growing cadre of agritech start- learning to guide farmers from seed to
able and exciting for a new generation, cultural technologies that are transform- ups operated by creative, young people market, helping them choose what to Financing and supporting these com-
but they need investment. ing food production around the world. across the continent. By encouraging grow, how to grow it and where to sell panies are powerful ways of creating a
These “agritech” tools include things like and supporting this new generation of it. And farmers from Senegal to Kenya virtuous circle in African agriculture:
As communities in Africa start to re- digital sensors that monitor soil health innovators, we can boost access to la- can sign on to receive SMS alerts on successful youth-led agritech companies
bound from the initial impacts of coro- and digital platforms that connect farm- bour-saving and transformative technol- important weather updates, market in- lead to more successful young farmers
navirus pandemic  and look ahead, the ers with market opportunities, technical ogies for huge numbers of smallholder sights and farming advice. and a more dynamic and profitable agri-
importance of creating millions of jobs advice and high-quality inputs. The fact farmers. cultural sector. Their success then creates
for the continent’s booming youth pop- that many young African farmers lack With these kinds of tools and tech- an even bigger market opportunity for
ulation cannot be overstated. This will access to these kinds of tools puts them These young, innovative entrepre- nologies, young African farmers could agriculture innovators that encourages
require concerted efforts across myriad at a severe disadvantage. neurs understand the farming struggles better manage, or even avoid, many of more investors to get involved.
sectors, but one that is brimming with of their parents’ generation. But they the challenges they reported in the sur-
vast and untapped resources is agricul- The report also found that with the also believe farming can provide a prom- vey, from climate shocks to crop pests But this future will not just magical-
ture. appropriate financing, training and ac- ising future for their own generation. In and diseases. These technologies have ly appear. Governments and businesses
cess to technologies, many more African Ethiopia, a group of young engineers the power to make smallholder farmers alike need to invest in African farmers
I hear a lot of dire warnings about the youth would seriously consider pursuing is providing drone services for analysing much more productive, profitable and and encourage them to develop and
food situation in Africa, and there are adopt agritech innovations. The need for
indeed many reasons to be concerned. this investment grows more urgent ev-
The pandemic disrupted supply chains, ery day. Our survey revealed that during
upending many farmers’ precarious live- the pandemic some 40% of agricultural
lihoods that are already being hit hard organisations supporting smallholder
by the climate crisis in new and unset- farmers were forced to close at least tem-
tling ways. It’s easy to think that we are porarily, while more than a third lacked
on an unalterable path toward a crisis of the capital they needed to recover.
food security in Africa, but I know that
doesn’t have to be the case. The pandemic has exacerbated an
already difficult situation for African
The future of food on the continent is farmers, with climate change looming as
in the hands of African farmers, particu- a bigger threat. But when I talk to the
larly our young farmers of whom are in young people running African agritech
desperately short supply. About 60% of firms, I detect no sense of gloom. These
Africans are under 25 years old, but the young people exude energy, ideas and
average age of Africa’s smallholder farm- optimism. They represent an entire gen-
ers is over 60. Too many young people eration that has the potential to trans-
view farming as exhausting work with form African agriculture for the better.
antiquated tools for very low pay. You That gives me hope for the future. In a
rarely hear under 30s say “I want to be a time filled with hardship, we should em-
farmer” and many parents shudder at the brace their vision and make it our own.
thought of their children going into ag-
riculture. Yet if we are going to secure a --African Arguments.
sustainable future of food in Africa, these *About the writer: Adesuwa Ifedi
things need to change. We need to show is senior vice-president of Africa pro-
agriculture can be a major source of jobs grammes at Heifer International. The
for the future. organisation runs the AYuTe Africa
Challenge, an agritech competition in-
A report last month released by Heif- vesting in innovative youth-led African
er International  reveals why youth are businesses that increase smallholder
turning away from agriculture and high- farmers’ access to technology. Heifer
lights a major opportunity to evolve the International also sponsors the Pitch
sector and bring them back. The survey, AgriHack competition.

How mobile money grew in sub-Saharan Africa

TWO of Africa’s biggest start-up sto- monie, Ecobank, and Standard Bank rica. and 90-day periods in sub-Saharan d’Ivoire, and Senegal score 32 on KYC,
ries of 2021 involve the billion-dol- also joined the fray, adding diverse The diversity of service provid- Africa (29% and 40% respectively) indicating sub-optimal requirements
lar valuations accorded to OPay, and models to the business environment. than in other regions, except in Latin for identification and verification.
Wave. Propelled by Chinese and ers increased the number of mobile America and the Caribbean (40% and Francophone west Africa’s big four
American venture capital, each rose The result is that at least 11 coun- money accounts in sub-Saharan Afri- 59%). Knowing that users continue mobile money markets, namely Côte
rapidly to own large shares of the fi- tries in sub-Saharan Africa have five or ca 11-fold between 2011 and 2020. using their mobile money accounts d’Ivoire, Senegal, Mali, and Burkina
nancial services sector in Nigeria and more deployed mobile money services, The region accounted for 45% of all after signing up helps the industry Faso score 40 on consumer protection.
Senegal respectively, primarily because from five in Kenya to 17 in Nigeria. registered mobile money accounts and understand whether mobile money is
of their sprawling mobile money op- More than half of the 310 live mobile 48% of registered agents last year. merely a fad or a necessity. Nigeria shines on KYC (92) and
erations. money services in the world are in Af- consumer protection (100), perhaps
Accounts are more active over 30 Taken together, these data seem to aided by its central bank’s ultra-vig-
But  Opay  and  Wave  are just two support an impression that sub-Sa- ilant supervision of the financial sec-
among many companies behind haran Africa is the destination for in- tor. Yet, it lags behind Ghana, Libe-
sub-Saharan Africa’s mobile money vestors seeking value from developing ria, and South Africa on the enabling
push, underpinning an ecosystem that financial markets. environment for infrastructure and
generates US$13 billion a month in More is needed on infrastructure investment. In July, Nigeria’s central
transaction value, the most of any re- and investment  bank published a directive that effec-
gion in the world. Despite the impressive metrics, the tively prevents telcos from participat-
Africa’s mobile money rise next decade for mobile money could ing in the mobile money sector.
According to the GSM Association be better if attention is paid to regula-
(GSMA)—an industry organization tory aspects of the sector. For prospective mobile money pro-
that represents the interests of mobile viders, the challenges in each country
network operators worldwide—64% GSMA devised a “regulatory in- will differ according to the regulatory
of the US$2.1 billion transacted daily dex score” for 90 countries to identi- issues that exist. A country like Ken-
through mobile money platforms in fy those that have the most enabling ya, where  M-Pesa holds 98% market
2020 happened in sub-Saharan Africa. environments for mobile money. The share, does not seem welcoming.
score is based on six indicators includ-
But before 2011, references to mo- ing consumer protection, KYC, and But if there is a broad lesson from
bile money on the continent were infrastructure and investment envi- the rise of OPay and Wave, it is that
about M-Pesa, Safaricom’s pioneering ronment. the financial services sector in sub-Sa-
service in Kenya in 2007. Orange, Air- haran Africa remains open to new
tel, and MTN followed suit with their While most sub-Saharan African entrants with consumer-friendly strat-
own versions a few years later, but countries have high overall index egies to take on incumbents. Some
non-telco operators like Paga, First- scores (over 70 out of 100), there are of the world’s biggest financial institu-
concerns. For example, Kenya, Côte tions are already hedging for the next
10 years. — Quartz Africa.

NewsHawks Critical Thinking Page 33

Issue 50, 1 October 2021

Shadow states: Biggest threat to democracy

PHILLAN ZAMCHIYA inate dissidents, along with the Zapu in Matabeleland and Midlands who used connections to gain tenders outside formal state institutions.
provinces. At least 20,000 civilians were killed between 1982–1987 in Those that were not compliant, such as Strive Masiyiwa, founder of the
IN Zimbabwe, a clandestine and parallel centre of power is held in the what became known as Gukurahundi (loosely translated, this term de- Econet Group, were hounded out of the country.
hands of military elites, largely the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF). rived from the Shona language means ‘the early rain that washes away
the chaff before the spring rains’). By the middle of the decade, annual growth rates slowed to 1 per cent
They control this parallel centre of power — a shadow state — for in 1995, formal employment declined, wages dropped, foreign exchange
their own economic and political gain. Most ZDF commanders partic- By 1985, Mugabe had successfully created the ZPM, with more than earnings slipped and inflation escalated.
ipated in the liberation struggle against colonial rule. They regard them- 20,000 paramilitary troops.
selves as the guardians of sovereign national interests, obliged to act out- The economic hardships caused general discontent among the pop-
side the legal and formal scope of decision-making powers. They exercise Many saw the ZPM as an extension of Zanu PF, which was meant to ulace. It was evident in the 1996 presidential election that Zanu PF
their autonomous decision-making role to control vast mineral assets, destroy Zapu under the explicit orders of Mugabe. political support was dwindling. In this context, the government paid
farmland and the agricultural sector, the fuel sector, local authorities, the unbudgeted gratuities to war veterans in 1997 to buy political loyalty.
media, tertiary institutions, state enterprises and the prison services. The In the first decade of independence, Mugabe sowed the seeds of a The decision undermined the technocrats and the Esap. The economy
reach of their power is extensive. shadow state by creating parallel military institutions to consolidate continued to decline with devastating effects on the urban working class.
power outside the formalized command of the ZNA. Western powers The number of civil society organizations that challenged the govern-
Military elites are also central to the operations of the national elec- and many Zimbabweans ignored this however, because developmental ment increased.
tion management board, the formulation and execution of ruling Zim- projects in education, health and other social services earned the state
babwe African National Union popular legitimacy outside Matabeleland. Trade union resistance led by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Covert shadow state: 1990–2000 Unions (ZCTU) also surged, which was met with state brutality.
Patriotic Front (Zanu PF) electoral strategies and battles for state pow- In the second decade of independence, with no serious political threat
er.3 These parallel operations to formal state institutions are carried out to Zanu PF, the state within the state largely operated behind the scenes. Towards the end of the 1990s, social forces that had contested the
in alliance with auxiliary forces, war veterans, Zanu PF youth brigades, Zimbabwe was a de facto one-party state. The ruling party elites force- one-party state, Esap and corruption, along with the general decline of
local and international business moguls, and other civilian security agen- fully pushed for political domination through the establishment of a de the economy and civic freedoms, coalesced and formed the National
cies. Sometimes the military elites even form consensual pacts with ci- jure oneparty state. This was resisted by a coalition of student move- Constitutional Assembly to campaign for a new democratic constitu-
vilian democratizing elites, opposition political parties and the broader ments, the Zimbabwe Unity Movement, led by Edgar Tekere and the tion. In September 1999, the National Constitutional Assembly, the
population to advance their strategic interests. Hence, the cliché — these Zimbabwe African National Union led by Ndabaningi Sithole. Zanu PF ZCTU and the Zimbabwe National Students Union, other civil society
days the army is everywhere — is common among Zimbabweans. resented any form of political opposition and ruthlessly dealt with such. organizations and everyday people launched the MDC. The government
gave in to political pressure and set up a constitutional commission that
To gain a façade of legitimacy, the military elites appear to be subor- During this decade, while there was a symbiotic relationship between gathered the views of Zimbabwean citizens and drafted a constitution,
dinate to the civilian leadership of Zanu PF but only if there is a high Zanu PF and the army, the latter remained in the background. which was presented for a referendum in February 2000. The state, or
level of concord regarding their own interest. In times of discord, such at least particular technical ministries, still had some input at the end of
as occurred in November 2017, they overtly engineered the removal of The ruling party moved to assert supremacy over state institutions the decade but they were already being marginalized as Zanu PF faced a
then President Robert Gabriel Mugabe, the founding leader of Zim- and established parallel committees to supervise the work of professional serious political threat.
babwe, through a military coup d’état. Thereafter, they facilitated the civil servants. Shadow state in crisis: 2000–2008
installation of President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa on 24 No- A critical juncture in the formation of the shadow state was the constitu-
vember 2017. Mugabe continued to consolidate power by appointing his loyalists tional referendum in February 2000. With the MDC campaigning for a
and former Zanla commanders into positions of authority. When Mu- no vote, the Zimbabwean people rejected the draft constitution by 54 to
Military elites wield the balance of power in Zimbabwe. Most have a juru and Josiah Tungamirai (the former air force commander) retired 46 per cent. This constituted a serious threat to Zanu PF hegemony. In
sense of entitlement rooted in their participation in the liberation strug- in 1992, Mugabe appointed Vitalis Musungwa Zvinavashe ZDF com- the context of a pending general parliamentary election in the same year,
gle. They have financial power, control the coercive apparatus of the state mander in 1993. the referendum was a portent for the national election results to come.
with capacity to discipline rivals and are sufficiently educated to compete
in ideological persuasions. In addition, they have strong but sometimes Zvinavashe was a loyalist and the former Zanla chief of security and The MDC and other opponents of the government were denigrated
dubious local, regional and transnational networks. Also, the fear of ret- intelligence. as sell-outs, traitors and stooges of western imperialism and neo-colo-
ribution that sometimes comes with the winds of democratic change nialism.
tends to unite them. The shadow state grip on power is characterized by There were no major parallel operations run by the army during this
internal contradictions in an inherently unstable policy. decade until 1997, when around 12,000 soldiers were deployed in the To Zanu PF, it became the third phase of the war of liberation, the
The character and evolution of the state Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to protect then President Lau- Third Chimurenga.
From the first decade of independence, beginning in 1980, Zanu PF rent-Désiré Kabila from armed rebels who sought to depose him from
(Zimbabwe African National Union–Patriotic Front) sowed the seeds power. This was to justify violence and the overt deployment of the army
for a shadow state through the creation of parallel military institutions in politics. Zanu PF co-opted security forces, traditional leaders, war
that operated outside the central command of the Zimbabwe National On the economic front, in early 1990, Zimbabwe was experiencing veterans and later youth militias in their ideological, patronage and vi-
Army (ZNA). These parallel institutions withdrew from civilian affairs problems of foreign exchange shortages, excessive government spending, olent mobilisation campaign for political hegemony. These cooptations
in much of the second decade of independence. fiscal deficits, declining industrial outputs and increasing debt. Conse- changed the political and administrative terrain in ways that deeply
quently, the government adopted the economic structural adjustment entrenched the shadow state. Formal state institutions were disrupted
Instead, the army was more involved in the Second Congolese War, programme (Esap) from the Bretton Woods institutions, which meant a and civil servants were beaten up. In most cases, civil servants were also
from 1998–2003, where it established parallel and frontier companies to reduction in state expenditure, market deregulation and a need to restore superseded by ad hoc arrangements as the bureaucratic approach of the
loot diamonds, timber and other resources. macro-economic stability. first two decades of independence was set aside for a partisan and author-
itarian mode of domination. Retired and serving army officers began to
The ruling party rather than the military became more visible in advo- While there are debates on why it failed, the negative consequences be appointed in parastatals and other important state institutions.
cating for political domination by trying to superimpose its party com- of Esap on state delivery are hardly disputed. One of the effects of Esap
mittees on the bureaucracy, with rallying cries for a one-party state. In is that the ruling officials became pro-elite rather than pro-poor. They By early 2000, the Joint Operations Command (Joc) was established.
2000, with the formation of the opposition Movement for Democratic formed new networks with liberal business groups such as the Confed- It was made up of the commander in chief of the ZDF, the ZDF com-
Change (MDC), the army became more overtly involved in running ci- eration of Zimbabwe Industries. Beneficiaries of business deals were mander and the commander of the ZNA, the leaders of prisons, police,
vilian affairs outside the legally defined scope of their operations and did mainly from the Affirmative Action Group and the Indigenous Business air force and intelligence services.
so with impunity. Authoritarian politics became increasingly militarised, Development Centre.
as parallel operations became the modus operandi of governance.
The class of black entrepreneurs that emerged were largely lobbyists
Transitional shadow state: 1980–1990
In February 1980, Zimbabwe held its first elections after the end of
colonial rule. Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF won 57 out of 80 seats, while
Joshua Nkomo’s Zimbabwe African People’s Union (Zapu) took 20
seats.
Ian Smith’s Rhodesian Front party won all 20 seats reserved for whites.
Mugabe formed a unity government and took over as prime minister
of Zimbabwe.
The immediate challenge was to integrate the military wings of the
three parties; namely, the Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army
(Zpra) of Zapu; the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (Zan-
la) of Zanu PF; and the Rhodesian Security Forces (RSF) of the Rho-
desian Front.
In March 1980, Mugabe set up the Joint High Command to merge
the Zanla, Zpra and RSF into the ZNA. He prioritized consolidation of
power by seeking direct control over the organs of state security.
Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was Mugabe’s personal assistant during
the liberation war, chaired the Joint High Command and Peter Walls
from the RSF was the commander.
When Walls resigned, Mugabe appointed his close wartime ally, Sol-
omon Mujuru, as commander. The British Military Advisory and Train-
ing Team helped with the integration process and preferred to build a
professional army. Mugabe did not want a purely professional military
force but one that was modelled around the Chinese style of deploying
soldiers to different economic production units.
The overall failure to build an integrated professional army can be at-
tributed to Mugabe’s penchant for the creation of a shadow state. Parallel
to the ZNA, for example, Mugabe created the Korean-trained Presiden-
tial Guards, the Artillery Regiment, the notorious 5th Brigade and the
Zimbabwe’s People’s Militia (ZPM).
A key moment in the development of the shadow state was Mugabe’s
visit to North Korea in 1981, when Kim Il-Sung — the then North
Korean leader — offered him military weapons, money and military
instructors. In particular, these resources helped Mugabe create the 5th
Brigade, which was under the command of Perrance Shiri from the Zan-
la. In January 1983, the 5th Brigade was deployed to crush and elim-

Page 32 Critical Thinking NewsHawks

Issue 50, 1 October 2021

The Joc grabbed the powers of the cabinet, the politburo and civil fertile parts of the country, including Chipinge district. Data related to Former minister of Defence Sydney Sekeramayi.
servants in decision-making. A1 farms indicates four main types of beneficiaries: Civil servants; tradi- tees at provincial and district level.
tional authorities; war veterans; and security services. Table 1 shows the
Mugabe ensured that Joc members were loyal and indebted to him profile of Fast Track land reform beneficiaries, with 15% of these mem- This was because the Zanu PF leadership did not entirely trust the
at all times. For example, Constantino Chiwenga was appointed ZDF bers of the security services, dominated by members of the Zimbabwe technocrats or civil servants on the provincial committees, who were al-
commander in 2004 ahead of other senior Zanla commanders.24 In or- National Army (ZNA). Although members of the security services were leged to sympathize with the opposition.
der to easily mobilize funds outside the cabinet for Joc activities, Mugabe numerically fewer than other groups, those that benefited had a larger
appointed Gideon Gono, a family friend, as head of the Reserve Bank of share of the farms than others. In most cases, these parallel land identification committees were
Zimbabwe (RBZ) in 2004. dominated by Zanu PF members, members from the security forces,
Table 5.1: Profile of A1 beneficiaries in Chipinge district war veterans and traditional leaders. Politicians subverted the policy pro-
Gono took charge of mobilizing finances for the parallel activities of Category Percentage of beneficiaries cess and political rather than rule-bound technocratic procedures took
the shadow state. This enabled the military elites to have direct con- Civil servants 35.0 centre stage in terms of who got land.
trol over the formulation and implementation of their parallel activities. Traditional authorities 22.2
RBZ technical and official plans to revive the economy gathered dust as War veterans 16.7 The parallel institutional framework put in place to oversee fast track
Gono is said to have recklessly printed money and funded quasi-fiscal Security Services 15.0 was the district land committee.
activities, circumventing the finance ministry and raiding foreign ac- Other ordinary citizens 6.9
counts of private individuals, civil society organizations and companies. Former farmworkers 4.2 In the majority of cases, the DLC had the final say in confirmation of
Total 100.0 land occupations or allocation of land to applicants. In Chipinge district,
The judiciary had also been violently purged, with Mugabe replacing Source: compiled by author from survey data (N=70). the DLC was composed of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Vet-
professional judges with loyalists such as Godfrey Chidyausiku, a for- erans Association district chairperson, the Zanu PF district chairperson,
mer Zanu PF minister, who was made the chief justice. With impunity, A separate study of A2 farms in the Goromonzi district shows that 18 head of Agritex (Agricultural Technical and Extension Services), head
the Joc-led military-style parallel operations. Operation Murambatsvina per cent of beneficiaries are from the ZNA and 6% from the Zimbabwe of the department of lands, the representative of the chiefs, the district
(drive out the filth) in 2005 is a primary example. The operation was Republic Police (ZRP) and state intelligence officers from the president’s administrator and a security sector representative. In the Goromonzi dis-
‘the state’s politicized programme of mass urban demolitions … through office. In contrast, however, a similar study in Masvingo province finds trict, a similar pattern is observed.
which 700 000 people lost their homes and/or their informal urban live- that only 1.8% of total beneficiaries on A2 schemes are from the security
lihoods’. It was a way to drive out opposition supporters because the services. This is partly because Masvingo is a low potential agro-ecologi- Fast track was not just about transferring land but also about en-
MDC support base was located in urban areas. Most ministers expressed cal zone. Nevertheless, a careful read of the Masvingo data shows a trend trenching the military and other vigilante groups as a parallel centre of
ignorance of the operation, while a few others condemned it in the early of elite capture: 3% of beneficiaries received nearly a quarter (23.7%) of power in order to prop up a waning regime. They used violence for both
days. Little did they know that Operation Murambatsvina was a deci- the redistributed Fast Track land. Disaggregation of the data reveals that political and material reasons, doing so with impunity from state insti-
sion made by the Joc with the approval of Mugabe outside the official there were a minimum of 58 individuals who acquired a total of 111 tutions. Mugabe gave an order to the effect that no police officer was to
cabinet. 330 hectares, which means on average each beneficiary got about 1 920 intervene with the informal groups on the farms.
hectares of land during fast track. The beneficiaries were senior ruling
The military extended its parallel operations to electoral politics in party officials, senior civil servants, traditional leaders, cabinet members As one observer notes, “It [violence] was used to seize land from 4
defence of the ruling party. In the June 2000 parliamentary elections, and ZNA officers. All these were critical networks in the shadow state. 500 white farmers … and to destroy the political base of MDC amongst
more than 30 opposition supporters were killed by state security agents, Members of their financial networks, such as Muller Conrad (Billy) Ra- farm workers whose households had a population of about two million.”
war veterans, youth militias and Zanu PF supporters. utenbach, a wealthy white Zimbabwean business person with close ties
to the Mugabe regime and a controversial business history, also owned To the extent that security personnel were now farmers, they still
More than 200,000 cases of politically motivated violence were re- huge tracts of land in the same province. maintained constant surveillance, doubling as the safeguards of Zanu PF
corded by NGOs from January to June 2000. Zanu PF won 62 of the and enforcing discipline on the farms. The partiality of the security forc-
120 contested seats, the MDC 57 seats, and Zanu retained one seat. In the first phase of the technocratic land reform in the 1980s, mem- es is linked to fear of being targeted themselves by the shadowy groups
The following 2002 presidential elections and the 2005 parliamentary bers of the security services were not beneficiaries and did not fit the that have the support of the president and also the desire to protect
elections were also won by Zanu PF but characterised by violence. Zanu criteria. How, then, did they subsequently acquire farmland? their material possessions by maintaining the status quo. For example,
PF lost the 2008 general election, however. Paradzai Zimondi, a decorated soldier and the head of the Zimbabwe
Though the government put in place policy procedures about how Prison Services clearly states: “If the opposition wins the election, I will
In the presidential poll, MDC opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai people were to be allocated land be the first one to resign from my job and go back to defend my piece of
received 47.9% of the vote while long-time Zanu PF leader Mugabe land. I will not let it go. … I am giving you an order to vote for the Pres-
received 43.2%. Chiwenga, Mnangagwa, Perrance Shiri (chief of the air after the invasions of 2000, what happened in practice was differ- ident [Mugabe].” Even though there might be contradictions within the
force), Augustine Chihuri (chief of the police service) and Happyton ent because politicians set up parallel committees. On A2 farms, the security services, common material interests ensure that they are most
Bonyongwe (chief of the intelligence services), who were Joc members, policy stipulated that aspiring beneficiaries had to fill in an application likely to unite when faced with a perceived external threat.
vetoed the election result. With violence and repression growing, Tsvan- form that required proof of experience in farming, proof of ownership of
girai withdrew from the run-off on 22 June 2008. Mugabe contested property and proof of financial capital. Applicants were also required to Although parallel structures took over land allocations after 2000, the
alone and was declared president on 29 June 2008, with 85 per cent of provide a comprehensive business model for the farm. The applications central state superstructure still maintained some control in cases where
the vote. The Southern African Development Committee (Sadc), the were supposed to be assessed by a provincial committee comprised of a it needed to protect domestic and international capital, even amidst
African Union (AU) and the international community did not accept number of technocrats from different government departments. chaos. For example, in Chipinge district, some army officers and war
the results. They called for dialogue instead, which resulted in the for- veterans invaded privately owned corporate estates (namely Makande
mation of the Government of National Unity (GNU), incorporating Instead, the government set up parallel land identification commit- and Southdowns estates) that produced bananas, coffee and tea but the
the MDC alongside Zanu PF. The GNU governed from 2009 to 2013. anti-riot police drove out them in late 2000. One respondent working
During the GNU, there was further informalization of power as Zanu in the government district department of social welfare recalls, “The war
PF sought to circumvent the MDC and consolidate its power base mov- veterans wanted to resist but they were beaten by the riot police and
ing forward to the 2013 general elections, which it resoundingly won. no one ever returned to that place.” It later emerged that former Vice
An overt shadow state: 2013–2019 President Joice Mujuru had some business interests related to the estates.
From 2013, Zanu PF remained inherently unstable due to the unre-
solved question of Mugabe’s successor. Military intelligence engineered
the unceremonious and gender-based political destruction of former
Zanu PF vice president, Joice Mujuru.30 She led a rival faction angling
to succeed Mugabe.

In 2014, Mnangagwa was appointed as vice president but his tenure
was unstable. Grace Mugabe, wife of Mugabe, formed an alternative
bedroom shadow state. The succession struggle came to a head when the
militarized state took over power through a coup in November 2017,
destroying the political faction led by Grace and facilitating the installa-
tion of Mnangagwa as president. Since then, there has been a reconfigu-
ration of actors within the shadow state as Mnangagwa is trying to build
it in his own image. While the shadow state has a grip on power, it is also
characterised by internal contradictions in an inherently unstable polity.
The shadow state at work
The entrenchment of the shadow state and how it works may be demon-
strated in a series of four case studies that detail its operations. These case
studies examine shadow state capture of farmland, the agriculture and
fuel sectors, mining assets, and electoral and state power politics. Each
case study highlights distinct aspects of shadow state operations, with the
militarization of Zimbabwe an overarching theme.
Militarization of farmland
From February 2000, Zimbabwe witnessed disorderly and violent pro-
cesses of occupation of whiteownedcommercial farms on a scale unprec-
edented in post-colonial Africa. In what has become known as fast-track
land reform, securocrats, war veterans, youth militia, traditional leaders
and rural populations were key actors in the initial invasions. Most of the
beneficiaries of large-scale farms and multiple other farms in high poten-
tial agro-ecological zones were political loyalists of those in the power
circles at the core of the regime. At a national level, around 400 political
loyalists acquired a total of 2 million hectares, which left 5.6 million
hectares for about 160 000 rural households.

Based on government data analysed by the author, among the 400
political loyalists who benefitted were nearly 200 military elites, ranging
from the rank of major to lieutenant general. A sample survey of those
who acquired farmland in the Chipinge district shows that on A2 farms
(large-scale farms), members of the army and their networks — con-
sisting of Zanu PF politicians, traditional leaders and senior civil ser-
vants — along with Mugabe’s relatives, benefitted from gaining control
of multiple farms. This is far from the government policy of one person,
one farm. The primary data shows a similar trend, with 20% of bene-
ficiaries in the Chipinge district senior army officers (see Annex 1 for a
detailed overview).

Even on A1 farms (small-scale farms meant for poor households),
the security sector and their networks were major beneficiaries in the

NewsHawks Critical Thinking Page 33

Issue 50, 1 October 2021

Such state evictions of land invaders echo the argument that the re- The late minister of foreign affairs who was also among the military elites controlling Cosleg Sibusiso Moyo.
lationship between the party ruling elites and the shadow state involved
both a mix of collusion and contradiction, alliances and antipathies, and of fuel, claiming to have used it all for farming activities. Similarly, the monitor ministry of agriculture provincial and district offices. In 2019,
authority and subordination. In the lowveld (field, from Africaans; refers then Manicaland governor, Tinaye Chigudu, is reported to have received for example, almost all ministry of agriculture district offices in Masho-
to various types of open country used for pasture or farmland) in Chi- thousands of litres of fuel, with other Zanu PF MPs and cabinet min- naland East province had a member of the ZNA in their midst.
sumbanje, for example, Chipinge district communal farmers violently isters in the province also benefitting. This was done outside the norms
lost more than 40 000 hectares of their agricultural land to Macdom and procedures for fuel distribution, with impunity. These district offices are where beneficiaries are vetted, selected, reg-
(Pvt) Ltd and Ratings Investment, a corporation involved in bio-fuel istered and contracted. Hence, it was important to deploy the army and
production that is owned by Billy Rautenbach, a close ally of Mnangag- The plan to entrench the military in all frontiers of agrarian produc- ensure the side-lining of technical officials from the ministry of Agricul-
wa and the late Mugabe. Rautenbach is also said to have acquired 229 tion structures reached its climax during the 2015–2016 farming sea- ture and Lands in order to protect the interests of the military.
000 hectares of land in Mwenezi, where he runs the Nuanetsi ranch and son, when then Vice-President Mnangagwa initiated a new command
a wildlife conservancy. The process of acquiring land through fast track agriculture programme. According to the government, this scheme was In addition to getting tenders to supply the inputs for the military-run
entrenched the economic power of military elites and their business net- meant to mobilize financial loans and inputs for farmers; repayment was command agriculture programme, Sakunda Holdings in partnership
works operating in the shadow state. in the form of produce. Mnangagwa, however, understood it as a way with Trafigura, a company based in Singapore, controlled the single ex-
Militarisation of the agriculture and fuel sectors to buy the loyalty of military elites and rural populations in the context isting fuel pipeline in Zimbabwe from Beira to Harare.
Between 2004 and 2019, an elite network involving the Reserve Bank of of declining economic resources. Following instructions from military
Zimbabwe (RBZ) governors, fuel dealers and military elites introduced and political elites, the RBZ and the ministry of finance channelled the All fuel importers in Zimbabwe have to bring fuel through the pipe-
a number of parallel agricultural schemes, which played a key role in en- earmarked money to Sakunda Holdings, the head of which is Kudak- line and pay a levy to Sakunda Holdings, in part because Tagwirei invest-
trenching the shadow state. In 2004, for example, the RBZ introduced washe Tagwirei, who according to a report in the Daily Maverick, has ed money to repair the pipeline. Similar to command agriculture, key
the productive sector facility for agriculture, sidestepping the agriculture been involved in a number of the clandestine commercial deals as part figures in the shadow state backed Tagwirei in the fuel deal, including
ministry in post-settlement support. Under the productive sector facility, of the shadow state. As a result, responsible ministries could not account a former commander of the air force and a former head of the presi-
farmers were eligible for loans from the central bank at an interest rate for billions of dollars. dential guard. Tagwirei was so networked within the military that “At
of 25% compared to the then prevailing market rates of up to 400 per his father’s funeral, the Who’s Who in the army attended, leaving the
cent. In 2005, another initiative, the agriculture sector productivity en- Specifically, the 2018 report of the auditor general indicates that the barracks with no single senior commander.” Beyond controlling the fuel
hancement facility was introduced to help finance food production and US$3 billion allocated to command agriculture could not be accounted pipeline, Sakunda Holdings is alleged to have been given preferential
rebuild the national herd. New farmers also received heavily subsidized for. In July 2019, under oath, the permanent secretary in the ministry of treatment – including being able to offload government bonds at “huge-
fuel. In addition, the RBZ set up a farm mechanization programme lands and agriculture, Ringson Chitsiko, and the finance director, Peter ly preferential rates” – from the RBZ. Despite unity on some fronts,
meant to distribute farm equipment to both resettled and communal Mudzamiri, told the parliamentary public accounts committee that the on others there were contradictions within the shadow state. President
farmers. The RBZ used US$200 million to finance the farm mechaniza- US$3 billion had not been disbursed through the ministry and therefore Mnangagwa, Christopher Mtsvangwa (chairperson of the Zimbabwe
tion programmes outside the government ministry. could not be traced. National Liberation War Veterans Association) and Joram Gumbo (for-
mer minister of energy) favoured Mining Oil & Gas Services (MOGS)
Another scheme was Operation Maguta/Sisuthi (we are full), which At the same committee meeting, the permanent secretary in the min- from South Africa to construct a second fuel pipeline.
was launched in November 2005. istry of information, Nick Mangwana, explained that the money was ap-
propriated through different institutions because command agriculture This would effectively end Tagwirei’s monopoly on fuel supply. In
This agriculture programme placed food production under the con- was a special project. If anything is special about this money, it is that it addition, Mnangagwa had business interests in the fuel industry through
trol of the ZNA — outside the responsible ministries. The programme was used to buy the loyalty of military elites at a crucial stage in the bat- Zuva Petroleum, so the new deal could work better for him. In 2018,
was run by non-elected individuals in ways that benefitted them. Par- tle to succeed Mugabe, fund the military coup in November 2017 and a deal with MOGS was still to be made and faced resistance from the
tisan traditional leaders and the politicised army played a role in the finance Mnangagwa’s election campaign in 2018. This makes efforts to military elites and their business networks.
selection of beneficiaries. recover the money futile.
Gumbo says, “As government, I have said that we need a second pipe-
Traditional leaders did the initial selection of beneficiaries then Following Mnangagwa’s ascension to power in November 2017, line, which would enable us to become a fuel hub in the region, but we
passed their short list to members of the ZNA, who then approved the command agriculture has intensified despite resistance from technocrats have not yet done a feasibility study on the deal and we are yet to reach
names and the release of agricultural inputs, which were usually kept in the ministry of finance and the IMF. On 1 August 2019, for exam- a decision on whether we indeed need it or not.”
at Grain Marketing Board depots. Distribution of farming inputs was ple, Mthuli Ncube, the minister for finance, allocated US$2.8 billion
‘dependent on the political party supported by the recipients’. Under to command agriculture in a supplementary budget. Initially, it was not Breaking the fuel monopoly would earn Mnangagwa popular legiti-
the programme, small-scale farmers in communal areas and in the reset- part of his plan, as he had already agreed with IMF officials to scrap the macy, weaken the financial power of military elites and undermine their
tlement schemes were given seed and fertilizers to boost food production programme. parallel activities. Nonetheless, such a move remains politically risky for
throughout the country. him, most notably because his political control depends in part on mil-
He was, however, instructed by members of the Joint Operations itary elites.
The army would then take the grain harvests to the Grain Marketing Command (Joc) to include it in the budget a day before. This prompted
Board depot to build strategic grain reserves, leaving farmers with what the IMF to issue a public Chiwenga, Tagwirei’s chief ally, fell sick and was admitted to a hospi-
they (the soldiers) deemed was enough for consumption. As then RBZ tal in China amidst rumours that he was poisoned by political compet-
head, Gideon Gono, who funded the programme, explains, “Under this statement condemning command agriculture. The current head of itors within Zanu PF.
programme, no doubt a huge food gap will be closed, effectively saving the air force, Air Marshal Elson Moyo, was adamant that command agri-
foreign exchange to go towards other priority sectors of the economy.” culture would go on for the next decade. It is most likely that the private In the absence of Chiwenga, Mnangagwa cleared the RBZ financial
sector and commercial banks will be roped in to sanitize the programme. intelligence unit to temporarily close the bank accounts of Sakunda
While Operation Maguta/Sisuthi aimed “to ensure that trapped acre- Behind the scenes, though, the military will remain in control. By July Holdings. Whether it was a mere public relations act or a serious move
ages of grains were planted to the key food security crops through pro- 2019, 10 lieutenant colonels and 60 majors from the ZNA were already intended to break the fuel monopoly and prevent money laundering
vision of land preparation, seeds and fertilizers to selectedfarmers”, other deployed to implement and monitor command agriculture across the remains unanswered at the time of writing. What is clear, however, is
observers take a more cynical view, suggesting that “giving the army ef- nation. that the state can still punish individual actors in the shadow state for
fective control over large aspects of agriculture is keeping soldiers who misbehaviour.
might otherwise get bored and angry at their poor conditions, active Junior army officers were also deployed throughout the country to
and fed”. For the full article visit our Opinion section on: www.thenews-
hawks.com.
In some cases, Operation Maguta/Sisuthi was characterized by vio-
lence. Soldiers beat villagers who grew market or export crops instead of
planting maize.65 In particular, “Soldiers placed under Operation Ma-
guta/Sisuthi have been accused of beating, ill-treating and denying villag-
ers and plot holders food despite forcing them to work for long hours
without rest.” Under Operation Maguta/Sisuthi, rural areas became no-
go areas for known opposition supporters: The army was not only con-
cerned with food production but strengthening the Zanu PF support
base in those areas. As with many command agriculture schemes, Op-
eration Maguta/Sisuthi failed to reach its economic target of increasing
maize production.

In 2008, the RBZ acted outside its fiscal mandate to distribute farm
implements a few weeks before the harmonised council, parliamentary
and presidential elections of 29 March 2008. This prompted Tendai Biti,
the then secretary general of the MDC, to say, “Now, two weeks before
the election, he [ZRB governor, Gideon Gono] is aiding Zanu PF to
buy votes through the distribution of tractors and farm implements.”
By September 2008, 3 000 tractors, 105 combine harvesters, 1 733 disc
harrows, 100 000 ploughs, 78 000 scotch carts, 200 000 chains and
2 000 planters were distributed to farmers across the country. For the
sub-programme, called the strategic food programme, the then minis-
ter of agriculture, Joseph Made, said the government had distributed
20 combine harvesters, 100 tractors, 400 generators, 750 motorbikes,
7 000 scotch carts, 4 000 animal drawn harrows, 50 fertilizer spreaders
and 150 grinding mills across the country in 2008.

At a parliamentary portfolio committee on agriculture on 17 July
2012, Gono refused to divulge the names of the beneficiaries of the dis-
tribution in 2008, giving a legal explanation: “Section 60 (1) of the RBZ
Act [Chapter 22:15] forbids bank staff from disclosing information re-
lating to the affairs of the bank or a customer unless lawfully required
to do so by any court or under an enactment.” This prompted former
Zanu PF Goromonzi North MP, Paddington Zhanda, a then member
of the committee, to walk out of the meeting in protest. The fact that
a Zanu PF MP was infuriated by Gono’s refusal to disclose the names
of the beneficiaries demonstrates that even within Zanu PF there was
internal contradiction. According to other sources, however, the major
beneficiaries were security officials, cabinet ministers, Zanu PF MPs and
civil servants, who received tractors and other farm equipment.

This network of shadowy beneficiaries used their power not only to
acquire the farm equipment but also to loot huge amounts of fuel, “sup-
posedly for agriculture, but then selling it on the black market”.

Many Zanu PF officials benefitted from the fuel in Manicaland. For
example, according to the Standard, the then Zanu PF Manicaland
province chairperson, Shadreck Chipanga, received thousands of litres

Page 32 Critical Thinking NewsHawks

Issue 50, 1 October 2021

Head of UNAIDS unpacks the knock-on 
effects of Covid-19, what needs to be done

The Covid-19 pandemic has deepened
global inequities. The world’s poor have
bore the brunt of national lockdowns
and will struggle to recover and poorer
countries have been unable to rollout
comprehensive vaccination campaigns
because of a grossly unequal distribution
of vaccines. On top of this Covid-19 has
also derailed progress against diseases
that affect poor people. Imraan Valodia
(IV), dean of the Faculty of Commerce,
Law and Management, and head of the
Southern Centre for Inequality Studies
at the University of the Witwatersrand
in South Africa, sat down for a conver-
sation with Winnie Byanyima (WB),
the executive director of UNAIDS.

IV:  What impact has Covid-19
had on the fight against HIV in
countries, particularly those in the
global South, carrying the biggest
burden of the disease and with sig-
nificantly weaker healthcare sys-
tems?

WB:  Firstly, we must recognise gender pay gap. How do we begin UNAIDS executive director Winnie Byanyima. those who understand it best.
the successes of the Aids response. to address this gender economic As a UN leader, I have experienced
We have achieved what many once and inequality pandemic? of power in all its inter-connecting by national social and economic pol-
said was impossible. Of the  38 mil- WB:  Both Covid-19 and HIV are forms. icies and resource allocation, and by the power of the pressure of commu-
lion  people living with HIV, 27.5 feeding off inequalities: women IV:  You say that extreme inequal- global policies and finance. And key nities, women’s groups and grassroots
million are accessing life-saving an- whose rights are not respected; wom- ity is not inevitable – it’s a policy to determining all those outcomes are movements, pushing us; at times that
ti-retroviral therapy. We have cut the en who do not have economic securi- choice – explain what you mean by inequalities of voice and power. pushing is uncomfortable for us; but
rate of new HIV infections by more ty or access to the most basic health this? What roles can individuals, my message to you is: Keep pushing!
than half and averted 16.6 million or education services. These are the communities, and nations play to In the face of the colliding crises, IV:  What lessons can we learn for
deaths. people that pay the heaviest price of end it? it has become clear that we need bold the management of future pandem-
our inaction on inequality. They pay WB: There is a pandemic of inequal- new approaches to how we survive ics from the triangle of science, gov-
But let us be clear: fighting a pan- the price in insecurity, in poverty, in ity – between men and women, be- and thrive. Action is needed at all lev- ernment and communities that was
demic with no cure and no vaccine is sickness, and too often in death. tween the South and the North; be- els – not to build a perfect world but in place in dealing with HIV?
hard. tween dominant and marginalised to enable a resilient one. WB:  We have learned a lot about
Five in six African adolescents new- communities, between the elite and how to fight pandemics. This year
Hundreds of thousands are still ly acquiring HIV are girls. The reason the majority – which hold back our The answers are being articulated marks  40 years  that we have been
dying of Aids and 1.5 million people is power. Research  shows  that com- enormous potential. by activists and organisers, partic- fighting Aids and our successes and
were newly infected last year. Aids re- pletion of secondary education re- ularly young people from the most failures have taught us that we can-
mains a crisis and Covid-19 is mak- duces a girl’s risk of acquiring HIV by Inequalities are perpetuated by marginalised communities. They are not successfully conquer a pandemic
ing it worse. up to half, and by even more if this is laws, by informal rules (social norms), showing how to build societies able without working together to end in-
complemented by a package of rights to overcome any crisis and to unleash equalities, promote people-centred
Even before Covid-19, we were off and services. Yet as countries struggle the potential of all. They have done so approaches, engage communities,
track  in meeting the global Aids with the current fiscal challenges, ed- because the people most impacted are and respect human rights.
targets and the Covid-19 pandem- ucation and girls’ empowerment are
ic has pushed us back even further. among sectors that are suffering the This is one of the most challenging
Covid-19-related restrictions have biggest budget cuts. moments in the history of HIV and
hurt the most vulnerable, including global health. We need greater ur-
marginalised and stigmatised com- Governments also have a responsi- gency in our response to pandemics,
munities and has disrupted access to bility to shift the burden of care away global solidarity behind a data-driven
HIV services. from women’s invisible unpaid la- global plans to end Aids and to end
bour. Affirmative action is essential to Covid-19, and partnerships to pre-
Since Covid-19 hit, the Global counteract the legacy of discrimina- pare to respond to the next threat.
Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and tion against women.
Malaria  estimates   that the number We need to draw from the collec-
of mothers receiving prevention of Economic interventions are need- tive experience, brilliance and value
mother-to-child transmission services ed to overturn the gross imbalance set of the Aids response. If we apply
dropped by 4.5%, people reached of wealth. But ending the age of in- the hard-earned lessons of Aids up
with HIV prevention programmes equality requires the strengthening front, we will increase our odds of
declined by 11%, HIV testing de- of emancipatory social and cultural winning. —The Conversation.
clined by 22% and medical male cir- forces to overturn the gross imbalance
cumcision to prevent HIV dropped
by 27%. In very high prevalence set-
tings in Africa, it is estimated that the
effects of Covid-19 could contribute
to a 10% increase in HIV deaths over
five years.

Amid unprecedented global dis-
ruptions, we must act urgently to pre-
vent a resurgent global Aids pandem-
ic and to quickly recover our progress
toward ending Aids. To get fully back
on track on HIV we absolutely have
to get on top of Covid-19.
IV:  Covid-19, like HIV, has deep-
ened inequalities in society and
disproportionately affected women
while widening the long-existing

NewsHawks Africa News Page 33

Issue 50, 1 October 2021

Who is Morocco’s new prime minister,
Billionaire-tycoon Aziz Akhannouch?

AFTER a decade of the moder- Under Akhannouch (C), Morocco is set to be ruled by a marriage of money and power.
ate Islamist Justice and Develop-
ment Party (PJD) dominating multiple Moroccan governments tary-General of the Justice and the results with 86 seats, is like- ‘misdeeds’. The new Moroccan
the kingdom’s politics, Morocco since the 1970s. It was founded Development Party, Abdelilah ly to dominate the new govern- premier’s holding company was
entered a new era this month, by Ahmed Osman, son-in-law of Benkirane, in order to join the ment. targeted by a consumer boycott
when the National Rally of In- the late King Hassan II. 2016 government formation. campaign in 2018 over high
dependents (RNI) emerged as During the electoral cam- prices, while he was occupying
the largest party in the Septem- Given the historical and po- Akhannouch conditioned the paign, Akhannouch gave huge the position of minister of agri-
ber 8 general election, taking litical context of the party’s exclusion of Istiqlal party in or- promises to the public including culture.
102 of the 395 seats while the inception, observers say the es- der to join the coalition. A con- a promise of creating 1 million
former largest party, PJD, col- tablishment of the party was at dition that Benkirane strongly jobs, even thought the country After his appointment by the
lapsed to only 13 seats. the behest of the royal palace by rejected on the pretext that the has been struggling for years to Moroccan king as the new head
attempting to create a seeming Istiqlal Party and its Secretary reduce unemployment on the of government, the RNI’s leader
Aziz Akhannouch, the RNI balance with the other political General Hamid Shabat stood back of chronic economic cri- decided to completely withdraw
leader was appointed by the parties that started changing the with PJD after the 2016 elec- ses. Akhannouch said during the from all business activities, in-
king of Morocco to start coali- national political scene. tions as they refused to block the campaign that his party’s experi- cluding those related exclusively
tion talks with other Moroccan PJD and prevent it from form- ence will enable it to stay true to to the acquisition of shares and
parties to decide the shape of The RNI’s current leader, ing a government. the given promises by creating the management of transferred
the national government for the Akhannouch, served as the head initiatives in the private sector. values, “despite the absence of
next five years. of the council of the Souss-Mas- Due to Akhannouch’s condi- any legal impediment,” as he
sa-Draa region between 2003 tions, Benkiran failed to form a Before the announcement of stated in a published statement.
Born in 1961, in Tafraout, and 2007, before serving as min- government, and the Moroccan the elections’ results, Akhan-
southern Morocco, Aziz Akha- ister of agriculture for 14 years king replaced him with Saad nouch’s party faced allegations Akhannouch said, during the
nouch learned about trade and (2007-2021). Akhannouch froze Eddine Othmani to restart coa- of illegal spending during elec- campaign, he will work “just for
business from his father, who his candidature in RNI to pre- lition talks. Othmani gave up to toral campaign, from the Secre- the homeland” without any fi-
had accumulated a huge fortune serve his seat as minister in the Akhannouch’s conditions. tary-General of the Authenticity nancial reward as he will indorse
in the hydrocarbons industry. 2011 government, since his par- and Modernity Party, Abdellatif this choice to be made by more
ty didn’t participate in the 2011 After his victory in the Septe- Ouahbi. Ouahbi at the time said businessmen ministers in the
In the early 1980s, Akhan- government’s coalition. mebr 8 elections, Akhannouch’s the RNI was “flooding the elec- party.
nouch’s father sent his son to post-electoral alliance with the toral arena with money”.
Canada to continue his studies. In 2016, Akhannouch went Istiqlal party, which came third But whatever he says, the
In 1986, he returned with a dip- back to the RNI to win the in the elections results with 81 Despite this, Ouahbi joined Akhannouch’s post-Islamist era
lomat in management and ad- leadership of the party. As the seats, as well as with the Au- forces with Akhannouch after will be one of the marriage of
ministration. new leader of RNI, he launched thenticity and Modernity party the election results, seeming- money and power.
negotiations with then Secre- (PAM), which followed RNI in ly forgiving him all his alleged
The graduate son took respon- —The New Arab
sibility of developing the family
business Africa Gas, expanding
the company’s activities to be-
come a pioneering leader in the
hydrocarbons sector in Moroc-
co. He also branched out into
real estate and media.

Aziz Akhannouch married
Salwai El Idrissi in 1993, the
granddaughter of one of the big-
gest tea merchants in Morocco,
Haj Hammad El Fakka.

The billionaire’s wife is a busi-
nesswoman in her own right,
and serves today as president of
the Aksal group, a pioneer in
introducing international fash-
ion brands into Morocco. The
company is also known for its
make-up brand Yan & One and
holds a stake in the biggest mall
in Africa, Morocco Mall.

According to Forbes maga-
zine, Akhannouch and his fam-
ily are worth a whopping $1.75
billion.

Although he has long been
affiliated with the RNI, Akhan-
nouch stayed away of the polit-
ical spotlight focusing on run-
ning his Akwa holding group,
which controls about 50 compa-
nies active in several economic
fields, foremost of which is gas
distribution, in addition to his
membership in banking and
administrative institutions that
dominate the Moroccan econ-
omy.

The RNI is a centre-right lib-
eral party that has participated in

Porsche just got angrier Being a Fashion Model

&Life Style

STYLE TRAVEL BOOKS ARTS MOTORING

Page 37 Issue 50, 1 October 2021

Nutty O hits
right chords on
Mustard Seed

JONATHAN MBIRIYAMVEKA when he sings love songs as heard on
Kokorigo, a club banger.
A DEBUT album makes any budding
musician nervous: will it be a runaway He talks about having someone who
success or a false start?  is more than a friend, someone to hold
and that person should always be next
It does not matter how gifted you are, to him.
but the burden of a good first impres-
sion weighs down heavily on any cre- And on Ready, featuring ExQ, his
ative artiste in their formative days.  ex-stable mate, the two simply vibe to-
gether like fish in water. Again, this is a
Nutty O was not immune to such love song of which ExQ carefully laces
personal pressure when he launched his his vocals on Afrobeat. And he does it
music career. effortlessly.

How relieving, though, for Nutty In Handipere Power, Nutty O warns
O, that his maiden offering has been a his contemporary not to take him for
resounding success in both sound and granted or wish him bad. In the song,
substance. he gives all glory to Jah.

Simply titled Mustard Seed, Nutty Just like in other songs, Nutty O han-
O, real name Carrington Chiwadzwa, dles each verse with genuine passion.
has come up in a big way, hitting all the His powerful harmonies add incredible
right chords. depth to his most potent verses.

Like a condiment made from mus- The track Be My Girl, featuring Kae
tard seed, the album offers plenty to Chaps, sounds like trap-soul but, re-
like, and enjoy!  markably, Nutty O did not lose his vibe
or rhythm.
The album is defined by surefire hits
and a thumping bass. Rest assured, you The perfect punctuation of rhythm
will not move an inch while you listen!  and bass makes this track danceable as
it is sensuous and meaningful.
There are no random collaborations,
but Nutty O chose some amazing voices As he gives thanks to the Lord, Nutty
that not only brought out the best in O continues with that theme on Open
him, but also added new flavours. Doors and Peter Pan (Chenesai Nzi-
ra) where he asks for God’s mercy and
Ranging from Jamaican Demarco blessings to enable him to take care of
and Ghanaian Stonebwoy to Zimba- his family dependents which he says are
bweans ExQ aka Mr Putiti and Kae too many.
Chaps, the album is a solid project that
fans will play from start to finish with- Numerous times in different songs he
out skipping a track. makes reference to God for guidance,
and that is positive. No profanities or
The instrumentation complements explicit sexual content but only good
Nutty O perfectly as he lays down vibes. The lyrics are well thought out,
hooks with his signature patois. but the producer, DJ Tamuka, deserves
kudos for creating some addictive beats
No doubt, when Nutty O was put- on the project.
ting the album together, he was aiming
at going global. In this competitive music industry
full of great musicians, Nutty O could
You cannot pigeonhole his music: yet play a major role as a refreshing
This album is as diverse as the messages. composer whose talent generates posi-
tive vibes, to the benefit of an audience
And what are his central message? that has gone through immense hard-
He displays depth in most of the ships due to a devastating Covid-19
songs with messages of hope, love and pandemic.
social commentary where necessary and
is an enjoyable listen. Evidently, Nutty
O is a sucker for love. He sounds great

NewsHawks Life & Style Page 35

Issue 50, 1 October 2021

Addy Can monetising the social world now.
Kudita media rescue broke artists? The business model for the

THIS past week has been a liter- Social media maven Tarisai Cleopatra Chikocho aka Madam boss. new celebrity is anchored on
al feast of cultural and business social media presence. In this
activities, with both the City The money never came The new celebrity to date 754 000 followers of her Both became famous through reckoning, content is king and
of Kings and Harare running through for the bulk of the art- Now the past few years have lifestyle on Instagram. sex tapes with their former boy- to the extent that the content
concurrent events in the form ists, going by the conversations been very interesting for some friends which were leaked on- is consistent and “sticky”, it will
of the Zimbabwe International in the various arts groups yours of us cultural critics because of She has morphed into the line and went viral. It is arguable ensure that the followers remain
Trade Fair as well as the Intwasa truly is in and I am not alone in such oddities as the rise of the self-styled Queen of Swagger, that these persons also have a glued to the platforms. Mar-
Arts Festival and the Shoko Arts this reckoning. likes of Zodwa waBantu (with business owner and the pop canny appreciation of social me- keters love the data generated
Festival respectively. I will try to her nudist antics), Kim Kar- culture force behind the Pink dia business which has helped through these platforms because
give you snippets of what I have Perhaps the artists wail too dashian and Pokello Nare (their Bottoms shoe line. She fuels them perfect and monetise the it is precise and packaged in a
seen and heard in these events. much, perhaps they received parlay of sex tape notoriety into the dreams of thousands of art of living on line. But that is manner that helps them make
Well, Bulawayo is my base and the purported amounts and pre- social media fame) and  the likes young women across the world the over-simplified version of the case for businesses to part
so will have to narrow my focus. ferred to weep with the weep- of Mai Titi and Madam Boss to live the lifestyle of the rich the story which may hide the with huge amounts of money to
Intwasa Arts Festival ing! But seriously, I know that (with 710 000 followers on In- and famous on her social me- detail that Nare is a connected advertising campaigns etc. No-
Kicked off on 21 September that is a longshot. stagram). dia handles. Her flaunting of step daughter of rich ex-minis- tice that I only mentioned the
with a number of events pen- global fashion brands may not ter Ignatius Chombo and that followership these social media
ciled in. I attended the work- The money never really came These personalities do not be about mere clout-chasing Kardashian grew up around ce- phenoms command on just one
shop entitled “Monetising The through for the artists and their fit the normal definition of the but she may well be a paid in- lebrity as the daughter of the late platform whereas they all have
Arts Through Social Media”. Of situation is more dire now. Yet, term artist and are in a sense fluencer. famous lawyer Rob Kardashian. a presence on several platforms.
course, this subject is one of con- the show goes on, courtesy of supplanting the musicians and One thing stands, however, and Monetising the arts in a time
cern to all businesspeople and, the likes of the Open Society other artistic types in the celeb- This is the age of the influ- that is the fact that the two have of Covid-19
quite frankly, has been one since Initiative for Southern Africa rity money game. I mean, Zod- encer, a social media personality ubiquitous brands in America One of the presenters at the In-
the days when the world first ex- (supporting Intwasa and the wa acquired her fame channel- with a huge following whom and Africa. Sometimes these twasa workshop, Kuda Takund-
perienced its first dot.com tech Dutch embassy supporting ing Madonna as a sexual tease companies hire to push their influencers or slay queens fol- wa of online magazine Culxure
bubble back in the late 1990s Shoko Festival). with few scruples. The more she brands for a fee. Kardashian, low each other on social media Mag, stressed the point about
and early 2000s as various en- scandalised, the more famous with 225 million followers on and the network grows bigger, consistency, hashtags and con-
trepreneurs were trying to figure Here and there, artists who she became. Instagram, is another one who, snowballing in the process. tent, saying that social media
out just how to make money off are lucky enough to secure per- alongside her sisters who are all Charity Baaitse, Botswana’s own is “fast-paced by nature and
the World Wide Web. We have formance slots on these two gigs Well, her fame is waning now famous for being famous, has glamour queen (with 178 000 that content becomes obsolete
seen the rise and fall of entities will be able to temporarily re- but there was a time when even created global lifestyle brands followers on Instagram) follows quickly”, necessitating frequent
such as Napster (free file-sharing lieve their desolation. the late Robert Mugabe was so and become very rich in process. Pokello. Well, I do not know posting. Of course, he also
platform) and MySpace (musi- irked by Zodwa she was not who followed who first, but pointed out the danger of over-
cians’ platform), to name a few. The rest will have to continue welcome in Zimbabwe. As for It is all about data and all there it is: that is the way of the whelming audiences with too
Some of the social media plat- wallowing in the social media Nare, she is associated with all about the numbers that follow much. Gilmore Tee Moyo spoke
forms such as Facebook, Twitter, groups and toss and turn inside things glamourous and she has her famous life. But look at just about branding and about hav-
Instagram and WhatsApp have their fantasies of fortune and how they have grown famous. ing a strong and clear brand.
gone on to become billion-dol- fame someday.
lar concerns. Overall, the presenters posed
challenges to creatives to appre-
The business models pretty ciate the fact that social media
much depend on the leveraging has become an exceptional tool
of humungous data collected for marketing for all business
from users of the platforms and and provided a way to connect
the algorithms that underpin and share content with audienc-
online navigation. Data, as they es across the globe.
say, is the new petroleum and
small wonder then that these I found it interesting when
companies have become so the presenters reminded me
valuable. of the fact that social media is
also a place much like the real
Data is required across a world. It is a place of illusions
range of socio-economic activi- as well. How? Well, to the ex-
ties and, the more precise it is, tent that there is such a thing
the better for the end user. But as paid reach. One can literally
that is a story for another day.  pay for views and followers such
The situation as is the claim about musician
Over the past two years,  the cre- Roki on YouTube recently for
ative and cultural sectors which his song Patati Patata which
rely on people coming together garnered over a million views in
to experience art in its various just over a day. There was a lot
forms have suffered massive of talk about that… But what
losses in revenue because of the was the point of it? To create an
lockdown regulations which illusion of success.
have in effect dispersed their au-
diences. Those without big budgets
have to rely on organic reach
It is not just a Zimbabwean which is the number of people
reality. It is a global one and who see your content in their
with varying degrees, artists have newsfeed because they follow
probably been hit the hardest you and “viral reach”, which is
because of the manner in which the number of people who have
the entertainment value chain seen your content from sharing,
is set up. Without people com- suggested posts and content
ing together, there is no money hashtags.
to be made for performers and
performances. Now a typical Zimbabwean
artist who is hardpressed may
Thus, nightspots, concert have to settle for the last two.
halls, and film theatres have But even then, things are not
been forced to close in a glob- that cut and dried. Last week’s
al bid to curb the spread of the column tried to help demystify
coronavirus. It is logical to cur- how a broke artist may just be-
tail movement in this context come an internet sensation and
but what has been lost to regu- get rewarded for their pursuits.
lators is the issue of sustenance Parting shot
for artists. Ultimately, the fact remains that
aside from platitudes, the artist
There is virtually no so- in Zimbabwe is not highly re-
cial safety net despite the garded by the authorities. Yes,
much-lauded disbursement of they love to watch them and
about ZW$500 million toward use them in their political games
mitigation. but the level of funding for the
arts in the budget is zero. That
is a fact! So maybe the last hope
for artists is social media, al-
though the cost of data bundles
is currently prohibitive to most
of them. Tough.

Page 38 NewsHawks

Issue 50, 1 October 2021

NewsHawks Life & Style Page 35

Issue 50, 1 October 2021

Title: Ode to Bacon Poet: Agrippa T Chiteretere Title : Royalty
Poet: Andrew Manyika Title: Nature Poet : Tererayi Chanakira

Bacon The other day; Enflamed eyes, oxygenated by murder
We never knew you Walls of the womb and rape
Yours was the sweet savour of a Saturday you kicked with tenacity Ignored pleas
morning, Scintillating scent transcending Stranglehold taken Uniformed Sergeants are miles away
space, and perhaps time, in birthing a future From the defined Public Servant
Titillating taste teasing tongue and perhaps Mind made up Souvenirs of poverty
mind, Placed on plates while I cleared the pal- to leap frog into life Became our vision of what a palace could
ate, Among taste-buds you had pride of place, Allures of life inciting decibels be
my mouth – your palace Branches and shoots yelling green On the flea market, a dream is sold for a
Oh, Bacon Giant leaps arresting nature’s presence note
You, who moved from forbidden fruit, to break- Nature; a serving servant obliging. At night, thoughts hover over guilt like
fast staple, Oh, the hopeless emptiness when Beautiful leaves and shoots courting sights drones
you are absent from the breakfast table, Vibrant as cascading slopes Flash, ripixelate, infrared blood
Devoured in a flurry of gobbledygook, Oozing life Our royalty is in the impregnated girls we
We chowed and munched and gobbled now So you summoned nature’s best handyman envy
look, All that remains, is a plate marked with Hand brushing That is our escape from poverty, sad
grease stains, colour blocs of violet, yellow, blue, red and Victims become victims of victims
And the unspeakable question, lingering in our green. And Victors become victors of victors
brains, “Does it really come from a pig’s rear Beautiful coined gardens To us, they define royalty, sad
end?” Oh, my dear dear friend, Colour green, Never pale grin Title: Song of freedom
Bacon Bright calm; enticing and enterprising as a Poet: Onnie The Pisces
We never knew you Mamba
(and perhaps that was for the best) Engaging as the galaxies lighting gardens I’m Luther battling for peace of con-
Colour me green; colour me life science,
Title: Coming of age Breath securing stewardship My life is tied to making things right
Poet: Gift Sakirai Nature stimulating life’s moments If I write not the wrongs then I lose it all
Frolicked in naked summer’s showers So here am I with a resolve to life
I grew up in the ghetto, the dark side, the part Inducing autumn’s radiance I plant myself before so that you see the
caught up in a wrinkle of time, where we lit it Chilled at winter’s ordinance light
up with our dreams. Look at you now! Bleached and rugged So that you give back my rights
Within that wreckage of existence, we fash- Yet I as Lafayette,
ioned our destinies, overly presumptuous, You never loose your touch. Raise the flag to purify the house of
we figured that the penurious lifestyle was a But nothing lasts forever shame
passing fad. Still your demise is your resurgence I jumped in remorse of the course but
Conversely, we came of age in a dispensa- Manure you are, replenishing Mother Earth tears are fuel
tion fraught with stolen dreams: we mirrored a azzling at other seasonal shoots! And man was born to cry,
bildungsroman minus the coup de grace of it’s Why can’t liberty be ours to exercise
aestheticism. Our hopes, once vibrant and ef- Why do struggles have to come with a
fusive, fizzled up and got swallowed up by the price
oppressive heat whose mainstay is immutable And why should we get axed for demand-
economic barrenness. ing change
Anger and despair took over: the latter day ex- Step up and march for what is ours
istential signatures of our borrowed existence Sing for freedom, sing justice and preach
within which we will struggle, ad infinitum. Unity; Say no to the draconian rule
Be a Vanguard to this city walls,
Title: Love and Poetry Lest not darkness eat us in dreams
Poet: Andile Sayi Shine the lighters of tormented souls
Vow in the spirit of a martyr
Love and poetry. And so we march to bring back our legacy
Roses of words the new forestry, If we fall, we rise
False like metaphors of honesty, Only gentle sheep are led to the
Triggered by pain to feel like felony. Slaughter,
Lines and rhymes, Perfect like dime. Steal the knife and stop the next spill of
Flawless like your lies, Pray you don’t make Blood
someone die.

Page 38 People & Places NewsHawks

Issue 50, 1 October 2021

FOR more than two decades, R Kelly: The history of April/May 2002: Two more
R&B singer R. Kelly had faced allegations against him court cases
allegations of sexual abuse. Kelly is sued by Patrice Jones,
age on the wedding certificate, sons”. Hawkins sought US$10m in a Chicago woman who claimed
The accounts went back to listing herself as 18. The mar- In a 2016 interview with GQ damages but accepted a frac- he impregnated her when she
the start of his career in the riage was annulled in February tion of that amount (US$250 was under age, and that she
1990s, with many centring on 1995. magazine, he described their 000) when the case was settled was forced to have an abortion.
the predatory pursuit of teen- relationship as “best, best, best, in 1998. Kelly’s spokeswoman
age girls. A former tour manager for best friends”, but declined to said she had “no knowledge” of Montina Woods also sued
Kelly testified at his trial that comment on their marriage, the accusations. Kelly, alleging that he video-
He has now been found he bribed a government worker saying: “I will never have that 2001: Sued by intern taped them having sex without
guilty of eight counts of sex in 1994 to obtain a fake ID for conversation with anyone. Out Tracy Sampson sued R. Kelly, her knowledge. The recording
trafficking and one of racke- Aaliyah -- so the singers could of respect for Aaliyah, and her accusing him of inducing her was allegedly circulated on a
teering in a New York court marry. mother and father who have “into an indecent sexual rela- “sex tape” sold by bootleggers
and will be sentenced in May. asked me not to personally.” tionship” when she was 17. under the title R. Kelly Tri-
For the rest of her career, Aa- 1996: Sued for emotional dis- ple-X.
Kelly is separately facing trial liyah dodged questions about tress The woman, a former intern
in Chicago on child sex imag- the nature of her relationship. Tiffany Hawkins sued R. Kelly at Epic Records, said she was The star settled both cas-
es and obstruction charges. He “When people ask me, I tell for the “personal injuries and “treated as his personal sex ob- es out of court, paying un-
is also due to face sex abuse them, ‘Hey, don’t believe all emotional distress” she suf- ject and cast aside”. disclosed sums in return for
charges in Illinois and Minne- that mess,’” she told one inter- fered during a three-year rela- non-disclosure agreements.
sota. viewer. “We’re close and people tionship with the star. In court “He often tried to control June 2002: Charged over
took it the wrong way.” documents, she said she began every aspect of my life includ- child abuse videos
Kelly was himself the victim having sex with Kelly in 1991, ing who I would see and where The star is charged with 21
of child sex abuse, and detailed Kelly rarely spoke about Aa- when she was 15 and he was I would go,” she said. The case counts of making child sexual
in his autobiography how he liyah after she died in a plane 24, and the relationship ended was settled out of court for an abuse videos involving various
was raped by a female fami- crash in 2001. She is not men- when she turned 18. Accord- undisclosed sum, according to sexual acts.
ly member when he was eight tioned in his autobiography, ing to the Chicago Sun Times, the New York Post.
years old. where an author’s note explains Chicago police accused
“certain episodes could not be him of taping the acts and en-
Here is a history of the accu- included for complicated rea- ticing a minor to participate in
sations against him. them. All the charges related
1994: Marries Aaliyah to one girl, born in September
The star, then aged 27, wed 1984. His arrest stemmed from
15-year-old singer Aaliyah at a a video that was sent anony-
secret ceremony in Chicago. mously to the Chicago Sun

Vibe magazine later discov-
ered Aaliyah had lied about her

Page 39 People & Places NewsHawks

Issue 50, 1 October 2021

Times earlier in the year. They engage in sexual encounters ferred young girls. 2019: New documentary R. Kelly, who said she met the
passed it on to police, who ver- that he records”. 2018: #MuteRKelly, staff de- leads to charges singer during a previous trial.
ified its authenticity with help partures and new court case Over the course of six hour- July 2019: Sex trafficking
from FBI forensic experts. The star also confiscated the The #MuteRKelly campaign long episodes, Lifetime doc- charges
women’s mobile phones, the re- lobbied record label RCA to umentary Surviving R. Kelly Kelly was hit with two separate
Kelly, who posted US$750 port said, barring contact with sever ties with the singer. They presented the most compre- federal indictments  in Illinois
000 bail, immediately denied friends and family. The allega- also targeted concert promot- hensive look yet at the allega- and Brooklyn.
the charges in an interview tions came from three former ers, ticket sellers and streaming tions against the musician.
with MTV and later pleaded employees and the parents of services - with Spotify, Apple Combined, the allegations
not guilty in court. It took six several women, who said their Music and Pandora all agreeing Two weeks after the pro- depicted an organised effort
years for the case to come to daughters had all but vanished. to demote Kelly’s songs from gramme was broadcast, Kel- from the star and his associates
trial, during which time Kelly 2017-2018: Victims approach their playlists (a decision that ly was dropped by his record to recruit and transport un-
released his wildly successful the Press was later reversed). company. Planned concerts in derage girls over state lines for
Trapped In The Closet album Buzzfeed’s report prompted the US and New Zealand were illegal sexual purposes, includ-
and was nominated for an further allegations. Jerhonda Around the same time, the cancelled. ing the production of child sex
Image Award by the NAACP Pace broke a non-disclosure star’s  lawyer, publicist and abuse images, as well as con-
(National Association for the agreement to speak about hav- personal assistant all quit - al- In February, celebrity lawyer spiracy to obstruct justice by
Advancement of Colored Peo- ing sex with Kelly while she though attorney Linda Mensch Michael Avenatti said he had destroying evidence and brib-
ple), prompting widespread was underage. said her departure was “unre- obtained a video showing Kelly ing or threatening witnesses.
criticism. lated to any allegations related having sex with a 14-year-old August 2019: Bail denied
Another woman, Kitti to Kelly’s social life”. girl. Appearing in court in New
The jury eventually conclud- Jones, claimed the star starved York,  the star pleaded not
ed they could not prove that her, coerced her into sexual Kelly  continued to perform Weeks later,  the star was guilty, but was denied bail on
the girl on the tape was a mi- encounters with other women live despite protests outside his charged  in Chicago with 10 the grounds that he posed a
nor, and Kelly was found not and physically abused her. Pace shows, and was filmed saying counts of aggravated criminal flight risk. Days later, prosecu-
guilty on all counts. would go on to testify against the campaign against him was sexual abuse. He pleaded not tors in Minnesota  filed prosti-
2002-2004: Arrest prompts Kelly in the 2021 trial. “too late”. guilty and gave a histrionic TV tution charges against the star,
further charges interview. meaning he faced criminal cas-
Kelly was charged with a fur- Kitti, along with other mem- “Only God can mute me,” he es in three US states.
ther 12 counts of producing bers of R. Kelly’s inner circle, sang defiantly on a song called Prosecutors later filed an
child sexual abuse images in also spoke to a BBC Three doc- I Admit. “Am I supposed to go additional 11 charges of sex- The star’s application for bail
Florida, where he was arrested umentary in March 2018. One to jail or lose my career because ual assault and abuse against was denied by a federal judge
at his holiday home. former friend and collaborator, of your opinion?” a minor aged between 13 and in Brooklyn. Magistrate Judge
Lovell Jones, said Kelly asked 16. The charging documents Steven L Tiscione said he was
These charges came after him to scout out women “that Meanwhile,  the star was described sex and oral sex with “extremely troubled” by the
police seized a camera during looked young” at parties, and sued  by a former partner who a minor “by the use of force or potential for witness tamper-
the arrest, which allegedly con- claimed that it was “common said he “intentionally” infected threat of force”. The accuser ing.
tained images of the star having knowledge” that the singer pre- her with a sexually transmitted was thought to be one of the March 2020: Trial delayed
sex with an underage girl. The disease. women featured in Surviving Kelly’s Chicago trial was  de-
charges were dropped when a layed by six months, after pros-
judge agreed with Kelly’s de- ecutors seized more than 100
fence team that police lacked electronic devices including
sufficient evidence to justify a smartphones, iPads and hard
search. drives from a storage facility
2017: Allegations of a “cult” holding the star’s tour equip-
A long and detailed Buzzfeed ment.
report accused R. Kelly of trap-
ping six women in a sex “cult”. Prosecutors also updated the
charges against the star, to “add
The article alleged that Kelly yet another victim” to the list
seduced young women when of allegations. The new victim,
they approached him for help referred to as “Minor Six”, met
with their music careers, before Kelly in the late 1990s at the
taking control of their lives - age of 14 or 15. Kelly pleaded
dictating “what they eat, how not guilty to all of the charges.
they dress, when they bathe,
when they sleep, and how they

Property
NewsHawks

Issue 50, 1 October 2021 PROPERTY INTERIORS ARCHITECTURE GARDENING Page 40

The home of prime property: [email protected]

Covid-19 slows down First
Mutual Park completion

ALEX MHANDU

LISTED property firm First Mutual Properties Experts say op-
(FMP) says the Covid-19 pandemic slowed the portunities in the prop-
implementation of its Arundel Office Park Ex- erty sector in Zimbabwe
tension project, which is still at pre-construction
stage. remain in retail, office
parks and residential.
Although the construction industry was given
essential service status and therefore allowed to evaluate applications for the conversion of CBD House in Bulawayo into student accommodation. tors, while limited owner-occupied office park-
operate during the various stages of lockdown, a buildings into multiple uses as experts suggested Experts have maintained opportunities in the style buildings are ongoing.
number of projects across the country got delayed CBD office space be turned into residential in
as a result of supply chain disruptions. view of the increasing voids. property sector in Zimbabwe remain in retail, of- “The residential sector development activity re-
fice parks and residential, as demand for housing, mains strong, mainly supported by the informal
Zimbabwe has implemented various levels of Companies such as Mashonaland Holdings especially in Harare, continues to balloon. sector of the economy and the Diaspora commu-
lockdown since 30 March last year. have already opened up to the idea and indicated nity.”
intentions to turn Charter House in Harare into a Moyo said: “Commercial development activity
FMP group chairman Elisha Moyo revealed world-class boutique hotel while Zimre Property also remains limited due to the supply-demand Moyo said the group will continue looking for
the property firm is at pre-construction stage of Investments (ZPI) has already converted its Nicoz imbalances. The majority of development activity new opportunities and diversify its property port-
the Arundel Office Park extension. Design of the remains in the industrial/retail warehousing sec- folio to cushion it against economic volatilities.
architectural plans has been completed and an
environmental impact study is being undertaken,
before the company seeks the requisite approvals
by the local authority ahead of commencing the
tendering process.

“We expect the tender process to commence
and be completed in H2 (second half) 2021 with
site mobilisation in Q4 (fourth quarter) 2021.

“The project implementation has been impact-
ed by the Covid-19 pandemic, however, the nec-
essary plans to ensure the project is expedited are
in place once approvals by the local authority are
granted,” Moyo said in a performance update for
the half-year to 30 June 2021.

The development comes as demand for retail
warehousing, light industrial properties and office
park properties remains strong. This is in contrast
to central business district space, which has over
the past few years continued to suffer as businesses
downsized operations or eventually closed, while
others opted for suburban offices or office parks.

Resultantly, there has been an over-supply of
central business district (CBD) office space, forc-
ing some property owners to look at alternative
use. The City of Harare also indicated it would

NewsHawks Sport Page 41
“They (Côte d’Ivoire) made sure all
Issue 50, 1 October 2021 How Ivorians ended their players plying their trade in Eu-
Zim’s World Cup reign rope, particularly in France, were all
ENOCK MUCHINJO available for the tie,” remarks Chim-
Elimon ‘Bedford’ Chimbima in Harare in 2001. bima.
WHEN rugby’s World Cup was “Personally, I didn’t travel with the
staged on African soil 26 years ago rience of the tournament again, closer the side that then failed to qualify this week. team as I had just recovered from an
and for the first time in these parts, to home this time around in front of for the 1995 tournament, a “massive “The country would have benefit- injury, so I wasn’t fit enough to com-
it was quite conspicuous that the only family and friends.  disappointment” according to the for- pete at that level. But speaking to my
nation from this continent to have mer Zimbabwe flier, who is now 52 ted, not only on the playing side but teammates, there was frustration over
taken part in all previous editions of Dashing winger Elimon “Bedford” and lives in the United Kingdom. in business.” how the delegation was treated, which
the tournament was noticeably miss- Chimbima was a member of Zimba- just made the whole trip a nightmare.
ing.  bwe’s 1991 World Cup squad, playing “With the (1995) tournament in Chimbima did not make the trip Also, never having toured West Africa
in one pool match against Scotland South Africa, it would have been ide- to the Ivorian capital city Abidjan in before, I think it disadvantaged us as
Zimbabwe had played in the inau- in the African side’s 51-12 defeat at al, and an opportunity for our sup- 1994 for the fateful match in which we didn’t know what to expect.”
gural World Cup edition in Austral- Murrayfield in Edinburgh.  porters as well as the country in gener- the West African side pulled off a Shurugwi-born Chimbima – who
asia in 1987 – as one of nine special- al,” Chimbima tells The NewsHawks shock win over Zimbabwe to qualify grew up in Harare’s Dzivaresekwa
ly-invited teams – before winning a After that, Chimbima was part of for the 1995 World Cup. township and learnt his rugby at Ellis
newly-launched African qualification Robins Boys High School – was one
competition three years later to clinch of only five players of colour in Zim-
a place at the 1991 tournament in babwe’s `91 World Cup squad, a side
Britain and France.  under the guidance of head coach Iain
Buchanan.
South Africa’s transition to de- Two of the non-white Sables in that
mocracy in the early 1990s, and sub- World Cup, Richard Tsimba and Mil-
sequent end of sporting sanctions, ton Nyala, are late, both having died
would see them play in the Rugby in car accidents in a space of two years
World Cup for the first time, as tour- at the turn of the millennium.
nament hosts in 1995. Chimbima particularly has fond
memories of the world-class talents of
With one other team from the con- international Hall of Famer Tsimba, a
tinent assured of a place at the tour- veteran of the first two World Cups,
nament via the qualification process, and the only black player in the entire
none would have dared bet against inaugural tournament in 1987.
the South Africans’ neighbours, Zim- “Richard Tsimba was already a
babwe, being the second side in that household name after his exploits in
tournament. the 1987 World Cup,” Chimbima
speaks of the late ex-Sables star centre. 
And what a momentous occasion it “I played with Richard both at club
was going to be for the Sables to play and national team level and if you
in their third successive World Cup, speak to anyone who played alongside
just across the Limpopo River, where a him, they will tell you it was not just
strong Zimbabwean expat communi- his scoring abilities, but the ability to
ty was sure to turn up at the stadiums create space for others, which made
in large numbers and provide quite a him a special player. Our World Cup
spectacle to the historic tournament.  team of 1991 also had other very good
players like Andy Ferreira, Brian Cur-
As it turned out, it was a night- rin, Mike Letcher, Brenton Catterall,
marish qualifying campaign for Zim- Honeywell Nguruve, Chris Botha,
babwe who for the first time did not Adrian Garvey, Brendan Dawson,
play in the World Cup--and never Milton Nyala, just to mention a few.
have since then. It was such an honour to play and be
in the same changing room with such
The African qualifying team for that excellent players.”
World Cup was not Namibia, who to Dawson, an ex-national team cap-
this era have dominated that slot. It tain, is currently Zimbabwe’s coach,
was, interestingly, surprise package tipped by `91 World Cup teammate
Côte d’Ivoire, who went to the World Chimbima to guide the Sables back
Cup in South Africa, where they lost to the Webb Ellis Cup stage for first
all three group matches heavily. since in three decades.

For Zimbabwe, the disappoint-
ment of not playing in that World
Cup is a distant memory now. But it
does not at all make the memories less
sad.

Not least within a group of players
who already knew how it felt to be
at the World Cup, and were eager in
1995 to relive the unbelievable expe-

More reason to demand equality post-Loga debacle

NOT that it matters now, but I Warriors interim coach equal to the task.  So Logarušić, HawkZone for being the coach at the time Zim-
would like to know what stage it was Norman Mapeza. the one who is a mockery of his babwe qualified for next year’s Afcon
when the wise guys at the national fellow Europeans in African foot- Enock finals.
football association, Zifa, decided country.  But I have struggled to ball like Renard and Schafer, will Muchinjo
that Zdravko Logarušić would be understand how a small-time coach be collecting a cool US$55 000 Yet this fellow had the easiest task
Zimbabwe’s next substantive coach.  from Croatia, fired by Sudan in as part of his severance package of beating Botswana in the reverse
his only one previous international following his sacking as Warriors tie, after the platform was laid for
Was it after Joey Antipas — a coaching job — good gracious he coach two weeks ago.  him by Antipas, to seal qualification.
caretaker local coach who must be is not a Hervé Renard or Winfried
wondering what he must do to get Schäfer’s — would be plucked from The US$55 000 is due to him The 1-0 win in Francistown re-
the recognition from his own home obscurity to take the place of a lo- mained Logarušić’s only win in 14
federation — had gone to Zambia cal who has repeatedly proved to be games, until he was shown the exit
and guided the Warriors to a famous early this month. 
away in Lusaka?
What of Joey Antipas, whose four
The win against Chipolopolo, and points in the opening fixtures, in-
the point earned from the opening cluding the priceless win in Zambia
draw with Botswana, both under that cleared the path? Well, he will
Antipas’ watch, to me pretty much not be getting anything. Zilch! 
secured Zimbabwe’s qualification to
next year’s Africa Cup of Nations fi- Following Logarušić’s exit, I
nals in Cameroon. would be surprised if Norman
Mapeza — the former national team
If the decision to overlook Anti- captain who accepted the position of
pas was made after the Lusaka feat Warriors interim coach last week —
and the four points he amassed from would not have made reference to
the first two qualifiers, then we real- the treatment of Antipas in his ne-
ly need to take a long hard look at gotiations with Zifa. 
ourselves as a proud people and as
a footballing nation — asking our- Zifa has made Mapeza’s interim
selves if we really value ourselves appointment short term and perfor-
enough. You be the judge, but I tru- mance based. I do hope that he does
ly believe that I say what I say here well. And if as a nation we still have
with no hint of blind patriotism.  a sense of integrity and self-worth, I
wish that Mapeza, or any other local
I have a natural detest for enti- coach that may take over, gets the
tlement and we all know how it has same recognition and perks that any-
been one of the downfalls of our one from anywhere would be offered
by Zifa under the circumstances. 

Sports How Covid-19
has exposed

Cristiano Ronaldo’s heartlessness
most ridiculous
and ineptness

Thursday 1rOectcoboerrd20s2!0

Friday 1 October 2021 @NewsHawksLive TheNewsHawks www.thenewshawks.com

WHAT’S INSIDE NEWS CULTURE

‘Dede Ayew not fit to$60Covid
tariff for
visitors &
tourists
Community
radio
regulations
under review

play agaiCnshtaWmaisrraiorresa’ cStoryonPage 3 Story on Page 8

A TOP Ghanaian physical trainer out to forward Ayew unfit for the clash
says the country’s national team cap-
tain, Dede Ayew, is not “fit enough” Khupewith Zimbabwe.
to play against Zimbabwe in not 31-year-old former Swansea City
only October’s double-header World winger Ayew, who now turns out for
Cup qualifiers with the Warriors, Qatar Stars League club Al Sadd, was
but the entire campaign. included in the Black Stars’ 32-man
training squad drafted by Rajevac. 
The four-time African champions This is despite that Ajew, whose
will host Zimbabwe in Cape Coast
on 9 October before travelling to Unofficial president calls for emergeclub is coached by Barcelona leg-
Harare for the return fixture on 12 end Xavi Hernandez, has been in
October. goal-scoring form in the Qatari
league. 
Ghana, who will be under new “Dede Ayew is not fit, he needs a
coach Milovan Rajevac – the Serbian special physical trainer to help him
who is in his second spell in charge gain his stamina,” Laryea told Radio
of the Black Stars – have named a Universe this week.
strong squad in the quest to breathe “He is the captain so he must
life into their 2022 World Cup qual- work extra hard ...when Stephen
ification campaign following a slow Appiah was the captain, he worked
start that has cause public uproar extra hard. It’s a wrong move to go
in the football-mad West African and play in Asia. Training in Asia as
country and triggered the sacking of a footballer is not effective like being
coach Charles Akonnor.  in Europe. Even the training in Mex-
ico is very effective than Asia.”
Physician Totti Laryea, mean-
while, had declared skipper and star Ghana national team captain Dede Ayew. – STAFF WRITER.

‘Anything is possible’ for Man U with Ronaldo

CRISTIANO Ronaldo’s record was in who was on the end of those coming in Manchester. through.” Solskjaer. “David was fantastic.”
178th Champions League game had opportunities. In Ronaldo’s five games since re- United move level on three points The United boss continued to un-
been one of his quietest for 94 min- De Gea denied Arnaut Danjuma, turning to the club, he’s scored five with Young Boys, one behind Group load his artillery from the bench as
utes until the ball broke kindly for Paco Alcacer, Moi Gomez and Bou- times. But he has also already been on F leaders Atalanta. Edinson Cavani and Jesse Lingard
him to break Villarreal hearts at Old laye Dia either side of Alcacer’s de- the losing side twice and twice more However, that there is even any were sent on in search of a winner.
Trafford on Wednesday. served opener for the visitors on 53 United have needed late winners to doubt over United’s progress to the And finally the home side’s depth
minutes. dig themselves out of trouble. last 16 speaks volumes for Solskjaer’s of talent paid off as Lingard calmly
Manchester United’s returning Alex Telles’ spectacular strike from A 2-1 defeat to Swiss champions inability so far this season to get the rolled the ball into Ronaldo’s path to
hero rode to the rescue just in time distance quickly restored parity, but Young Boys on matchday one left the best out of a stellar cast. smash home his 136th Champions
to salvage a 2-1 win from another it was not for another half an hour English giants facing another embar- Ronaldo, Sancho, Mason Green- League goal as Old Trafford erupted.
performance which cast more doubt that the all-time top goalscorer in the rassing early Champions League exit wood, Bruno Fernandes and Paul “What a game @ManUtd. Epic
over where the Red Devils are headed Champions League took centre stage. had they failed to win. Pogba all started in an offen- winner by @Cristiano,” tweeted Us-
under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. “Cristiano Ronaldo only got one “I made history in this club, and sive-minded team selection. ain Bolt, who had been watching
chance and, well, he’s Cristiano Ron- ALwISwhOoanwtIoNtnoSdhIoiDs ifEtirasgt aoinfF,f”iivnseaaiCdnhcRaeomnMpailodinnos,istyUwnBiitupetdesVmoililduafritreel$adl3.w2cuitBthiltelhiaorsoenugodhneptthhoeesitofrrosBmufutthneitdstsawnadss.a Zgeimt-o'ust-loaft-ejasilt-flraeend c
The Norwegian badly needed three aldo,” said Villarreal defender Juan
points after a run of three defeats in Foyth, who had kept United’s most League titles during a six-year spell at counter-attack to expose a defence card for Solskjaer. And it buys him
four games and got it with seconds to expensive summer signing Jadon San- United between 2003 and 2009. missing the presence of three of the some time rather than a vindication
spare. cho quiet all night. “If we hadn’t got three points to- first-choice back four due to injuries of his credentials to lead United back
Sancho and Raphael Varane’s arriv- day it would have been tough to get to Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw, to the status they enjoyed during
However, Solskjaer conceded Unit- al in the transfer window had already through to the next stage. But now and Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s suspension. Ronaldo’s first spell at the club under
ed had “got lucky” and were “saved” raised expectations at United this sea- anything is possible for us, everything “Thankfully we had the best goal- Alex Ferguson.
by goalkeeper David de Gea as Vil- son before Ronaldo’s stunning second is open and we believe we can go keeper in the world tonight,” said – Agencies
larreal enjoyed the overwhelming ma-
jority of the chances.

The difference between the sides

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