NewsHawks 11 February 2022

WHAT’S INSIDE Friday 11 February 2022 SBcUaSnIdNaEloSuSs Price
data cost
NMEaWroSva wants is a violation US$1
virtual court of rights
proceedings KSPluOsRenTer linked
on her case Story on Page 21 to Zim return
in coaching
Story on Page 13 reshuffle

Story on Page 44

Mnangagwa
scared stiff
of Chamisa,
Hichilema
relationship

ALSO INSIDE Zanu PF factions sharpen knives as December congress beckons

Page 2 News NewsHawks

Mnangagwa Issue 67, 11 February 2022
scared stiff
of Chamisa,
Hichilema
relationship

OWEN GAGARE ed political and economic problems Zimbabwe's main opposition Citizens Coaliton for Change leader Nelson Chamisa (left) with Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema.
north of the Limpopo, Chamisa could
IN the aftermath of the rise of Zim- get more allies in the region, including government. ed. In fact, his wife Mutinta Hichile- NewsHawks.
babwe’s main opposition leader Nel- Zambia, Malawi and Kenya. Hichile- “Zimbabwe’s security establishment ma and I grew up in the same town of “The CIO is probing dynamics of
son Chamisa’s Citizens' Coalition for ma and President Lazarus Chakwera’s Mumbwa, west of Lusaka.”
Change (CCC) and its “yellow wave” victories in Zambia last year and in is deeply worried about Chamisa’s their relationship to see how it can
from the ashes of the now defunct Malawi in 2020 respectively changed links with Hichilema. Since HH (Hi- Sources say it was the Johannesburg have an impact on the upcoming
MDC-Alliance and Zambian Presi- the electoral narrative in the region chilema) came to power, the intelli- book launch meeting that got Mnan- elections. There is already belief that
dent Hakainde Hichilema’s dramatic where incumbents hardly lost power gence has been working hard to estab- gagwa’s apparatchiks more worried. Hichilema’s victory has energised op-
electoral victory last August, Zimba- through polls; they usually rig or steal lish the nature of their relations and The launch was attended by some position parties in the region and giv-
bwean President Emmerson Mnan- the polls.  whether it involves financial support,” businesspeople, including members of en them renewed confidence, while
gagwa is worried sick and scared stiff an intelligence source said. the Oppenheimer family, raising fears the youth bulge is seen as something
of a major geo-political and electoral Hichilema visited South Africa re- in Harare that a potential funding deal which opposition parties can capitalise
shift in the country. cently as an invited guest speaker at a “Their worry is on various fronts: could have been sealed behind the on.”
book launch where he met Chamisa. diplomatic, political and geopolitical. scenes.
Intelligence sources told The New- He also paid a courtesy call on South Diplomatically, the issue is whether Concerns over Mnangagwa and his
sHawks that Mnangagwa’s adminis- African President Cyril Ramaphosa at this won’t damage relations between In October last year, Daily Maver- party’s declining popularity were fu-
tration is closely monitoring Chamisa his Mahlamba Ndlopfu official resi- Zambia and Zimbabwe; politically if ick hosted a webinar on the book in elled by a recent Central Intelligence
and Hichilema’s relations and ma- dence in Pretoria. Hichilema was guest HH supports Chamisa and his CCC, which CCC vice-president Tendai Biti organisation (CIO) report which
noeuvres, especially following the local speaker at the launch of a book titled and in geopolitical terms how this will was a panelist, together with popular showed that Zanu PF has a 45% prob-
opposition leader’s meetings with the Expensive influence relations between the two Ugandan opposition leader Robert ability of winning the 2023 elections
Zambian President twice inside five countries and power relations in the Kyagulanyi Ssentamu (commonly due to popular discontent facing gov-
months; first in Lusaka during his in- Poverty: Why Aid Fails and How region. known as Bobi Wine). ernment. The CIO always conducts
auguration on 24 August 2021 and it can work written by his friend pre-election surveys to gauge public
recently in South Africa on 26 January Greg Mills, director of the Brenthurst “Bluntly put, Mnangagwa is wor- Although foreign political funding opinion and how Zanu PF might per-
during a book launch. Foundation, a Johannesburg-based ried that HH may fund Chamisa and is banned in Zimbabwe under the form before all general elections. 
organisation established by the Op- influence the outcome of the 2023 Political Parties Financing Act, local
The book launch was held at the Jo- penheimer family in 2005 to promote elections, mainly the presidential poll.” political parties, including Zanu PF, The CIO report says Zanu PF’s
hannesburg Holocaust and Genocide, new ideas and innovation to strength- have in the past received money from strength, as reflected by numbers after
1 Duncombe Road, Forest Town, at en economic performance in Africa.  When Chamisa flaunted his close abroad. Zanu PF has received funding the restructuring exercise, could have
6pm on 26 January. relations with Hichilema, saying he from China and foreign businessper- been inaccurate due to inflation of
With Brenthurst, Mills has di- had called him after his victory, Mnan- sons, while the opposition MDC re- numbers by party officials.
This comes as fears within Mnan- rected numerous reform projects in gagwa came out to claim that he was a ceived funds from the West.  
gagwa’s regime mount that veteran Africa, including Rwanda (2007-8), friend to the Zambian leader and his Apprehensions are growing in the
Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odin- Mozambique (2005-11), Swaziland wife, in fact a relative. “There is grave concern in govern- corridors of power that Mnangagwa’s
ga, who is also close to Chamisa, could (2010-11), Malawi (2012-14, and ment about this because the geo-po- social base has shrunk since 2017
win elections scheduled for 9 August, again 2020/1), Kenya (2012 and “I, in particular, am a friend of al- litical shift flowing from elections in while the international and local good-
providing another geo-political di- 2020), Lesotho (2008; 2019-20), Li- most all presidents of Zambia from Malawi, Zambia and possibly Kenya will he enjoyed after the ouster of the
mension that could boost the CCC’s beria (2006/7), Zambia (2010; 2016), Kenneth Kaunda to the incoming might boost the Zimbabwean opposi- late former president Robert Mugabe
electoral prospects. Zimbabwe (2009-13), Ghana (2017), President that we know each other tion’s electoral prospects. It is a well- has evaporated due to his failure to
Ethiopia (2019-20), Nigeria (2017- very well. I congratulate my brother known fact that Hichilema is close to deliver.
Kenya is barrelling towards a high- 18), and almost continuously at var- for being voted overwhelmingly by the Chamisa and Biti; so his ascendancy is
ly contentious and likely tumultuous ious levels of government in South people of Zambia,” Mnangagwa said. a political and electoral advantage for His botched reform programme
presidential election that could alter Africa. them. There are fears Hichilema could has resulted in Harare’s international
the future of the country’s political sys- “The president-elect phoned me help to fund or mobilise resources for re-engagement process being derailed,
tem. Kenya will hold general elections The foundation reportedly bank- while I was at my farm in Kwekwe in- them,” a government official told The leaving his administration rated as a
on 9 August to elect the president, rolled Hichilema’s United Party for viting me and we discussed so many failure.
members of the National Assembly National Development during the last things in Tonga. I realised we are relat-
and Senate, and various county posi- elections and before. It previously fa-
tions.  cilitated talks among Zimbabwean po-
litical players behind the scenes.
However, the presidential ballot
is shaping up to be a hotly contested Sources say Mnangagwa’s fine-
race, with two political gladiators as tuned political antenna was first raised
frontrunners: Kenyan Deputy Presi- when Hichilema invited Zimbabwe’s
dent William Ruto, former ally and opposition leaders, including Nelson
now adversary of Kenyan President Chamisa, then MDC-Alliance leader;
Uhuru Kenyatta, and Odinga, a hith- his deputy president Tendai Biti, inter-
erto Kenyatta rival. Kenyatta now sup- national relations representative Glad-
ports Odinga.  ys Hlatywayo and Mmusi Maimane,
ex-Democratic Alliance leader in
The implications of the Kenyan South Africa. Tanzania’s Zitto Kabwe,
elections on Zimbabwe could be leader of the Alliance for Change and
far-reaching, especially if Odinga wins. Transparency, was also present as Zam-
bia turned the page on Edgar Lungu's
With South Africa’s relations with
Zimbabwe icy of late over protract-

NewsHawks News Page 3

Issue 67, 11 February 2022

Land grab bombshell: The govt
targets indigenous-owned farms

MOSES MATENGA

GOVERNMENT is consolidating and face threats of seizure include Fred- independent indigenous businesspeo- er of Transnational Holdings Limited, enous farmer who has been given his
persisting with its unconstitutional and erick Mutanda, Nicholas Vingirai, ple. ls it that the government is afraid businessman Afaras Gwaradzimba and farm back,” Markham said.
resultantly illegal policy of acquiring Tawanda Nyambirai, Sam Ruturi, Af- they will form a political party to chal- banker Nyasha Makuvise.
land from black individual farmers who aras Gwaradzimba, Francis Zimuto, lenge them or support a certain politi- “Another thing is if an indigenous
bought farms and put them into full Wonder Matsaira, Chris Tande, Phin- cal party? Gwaradzimba refused to comment farmer is given his farm back, then
productive capacity, The NewsHawks eas Hwata, Nyasha Makuvise, Onias on the matter yesterday, saying he was what? He has a farm that has been giv-
has learnt. Gumbo, Max Chisvo, Tendai Kandaw- "l am a war veteran myself and l yet to hear anything from the govern- en an offer letter to other people and he
asvika, Chris Goromonzi and Siphosa- fought for this country alongside some ment. is going to get the other people off the
Several indigenous landowners are mi Malunga, in partnership with Zeph- of the people in government, why be- farm. Once those beneficiaries are off
effectively being forced to relinquish aniah Dhlamini and Charles Moyo. tray them now? “I will wait to hear from them. Now the farm, how are they going to farm?
land for compensation and join the I have not heard anything,” he said 99% of the infrastructure is dilapidated
US$3.5 billion facility extended to Businessman and war veteran Fred "They must respect the constitution curtly. and the indigenous farmer has been to-
white former commercial farmers, Mutanda, whose farm is also being and why are they punishing the people? tally subjected to a process where he has
most of whom were violently displaced targeted, said the move was unconsti- They are just scared as l said that we will Nyambirai was not picking calls yes- lost everything that he had.
during the chaotic land reform pro- tutional and said government officials use our money to support the opposi- terday.
gramme since 2000. must come clean on why the are target- tion, but l don’t think that is the case. “What happens to the farm workers?
ing them. Look at people like Nyambirai, people Senior government and Zanu PF Where do they go? The government
Under Statutory Instrument 62 of like Vingirai, can they do such?” officials have been on a rampage, force- must explain, therefore, to say why did
2020, the government is empowered "It is unconstitutional and the con- fully taking over indigenous-owned they take a farm from an indigenous
to take over farms from indigenous stitution is very clear that the govern- Suspected Zanu PF youths last year farms for resettlement. farmer.
farmers and compensate. Farmers are ment cannot take land from black Zim- invaded Mutanda’s Mutorashanga farm
however doubtful of the government’s babweans. lf they take it, they cannot and accused him of teaming up with Zanu PF secretary for administra- “With elections coming up now,
capacity to compensate them for com- take more than one farm and, if they Vice-President Constantino Chiwen- tion Obert Mpofu is embroiled in a the government is paralysed and doing
pulsorily acquired land. are to do that, they have to compensate ga and Judge President Justice George fierce fight with owners of Esidakeni nothing.”
black farmers for improvement and the Chiweshe to undermine President Em- Farm, located about 67km from Bul-
The government has so far written land," Mutanda told The NewsHawks merson Mnangagwa by opposing the awayo, with dozens of workers having Last year, the Land Commission
to some black farmers opening negotia- yesterday. extension of Chief Justice Luke Mala- lost their jobs after he reportedly locked urged the government to compensate
tions in the process.  ba’s term of office. the property and set armed guards on some farm owners whose land was ir-
"We wonder whether our consti- them. regularly acquired despite the farms be-
Several farmers who spoke to The tution is even followed by the govern- Mutanda had joined the Young Law- ing owned by indigenous farmers.
NewsHawks this week said talks were ment or to them it is just a document yers Association of Zimbabwe in suing Harare North Member of Parliament
likely to reach a deadlock as they have that is not applicable to the ordinary the government, the Judicial Service Rusty Markham yesterday accused the The government is not only seizing
lots of differences on several matters, person. Commission, Attorney-General Prince government of lying in its promise to land from prominent indigenous black
including valuation. Machaya and Malaba to fight the term return land to indigenous farmers. farmers but is also taking over commu-
"ln 2022, this shouldn’t be an issue. extension which the courts ruled was nal land, including the Chilonga area of
In a letter to the affected individu- Government should just give black illegal. Markham last year questioned Agri- Chiredzi in Masvingo province.
als, the ministry of Lands, Agriculture, people their land. Blacks bought their culture minister Masuka in Parliament
Fisheries, Water and Rural Develop- land under the old constitution that Other targeted personalities include on the matter. They have also grabbed communal
ment through its acting director of afforded all of us property rights. We Nicholas Vingirai, a top banker and land in Chipinge, Matopo, Beitbridge
land management and administration, wonder why the government is fighting former board member of ZB Finan- “His response was they are in prog- and other areas where the government
Cephas Magauze, said the government cial Holdings Limited and the found- ress and mentioned a figure of around is now at loggerheads with local com-
had already approved compensation to 20 or 30 that were being processed. In munities.
the affected farmers. reality, he was telling untruths because,
as of today, there is not even one indig-
“Please be advised that your appli-
cation has gone through all legal and
administrative processes as guided and
provided for by the Statutory Instru-
ment. ln this regard, we hereby inform
you that government has approved
that you be paid compensation as pro-
vided for in the Land Acquisition Act
(20:10)," the letter reads in part.

“For processing, contact our Valua-
tion and Estates Section at Block 2 Ma-
kombe government complex.”

But the farmers also said they were
doubting the sincerity of the govern-
ment, which is unlikely to have the
money to pay compensation.

“They have written to make an offer
on some of the properties. They have
made an offer to buy land, but I am not
convinced they have the money. I need
to be convinced before I say yes. I need
to be convinced whether they have the
money and there is also the issue of
valuation. We are not happy with the
valuation they have,” one of the farmers
said.

“The government has no money and
needs money to spend on more press-
ing issues rather than to spend money
on someone who doesn’t want it. They
should just give me my farm back and
use the money for other things. Why
offer money when they need it for more
pressing issues?”

Mainly prominent businesspeople
and bankers are targeted in the pro-
gramme.

Some of the prominent black farm-
ers whose land has been invaded or

Page 4 News NewsHawks

Issue 67, 11 February 2022

MOSES MATENGA FML faces investigation over 
asset separation law defiance
THE Insurance and Pensions Com-
mission (Ipec), a statutory body, has Ipec commissioner for insurance, pension and provident funds Grace Muradzikwa. Annual inflation for January was
launched a forensic investigation into 60.61%, down from a peak of 761%
the affairs of First Mutual Life Assur- Benefits expected from the ongoing in 2020.
ance (FML), a wholly-owned subsidi- verification exercise include:
ary of First Mutual Holdings Limited While the rate of asset growth was
(FMHL) which provides primary in- • Identifying assets that may have below inflation, Ipec managed to en-
dividual and group life assurance cov- been misappropriated from policy- sure that the fund members enjoyed
er, over its failure to separate assets be- holders to shareholders or vice versa; the nominal growth in asset value
tween shareholders and policyholders. through enforcing the requirements
• Quantifying the assets that may of the Guideline for the Insurance and
FML, the second-largest life assur- have been misallocated and appor- Pensions Industry on Adjusting Insur-
ance company in Zimbabwe by mar- tioning them to their rightful owners; ance and Pension Values in Response
ket share that also provides retirement, and to Currency Reforms. 
medical insurance, micro-insurance
and other long-term financial securi- • Enhancing compliance with the This saw pensioner values being ad-
ty products, has also effectively defied legal requirements for asset separation justed upwards to reflect the revalua-
the law on separation of insurance as a way of improving good gover- tion gains realised by the funds. 
and pension businesses due to internal nance in the insurance and pension
squabbles over the issue, which has led sector. The project, which is being The insurance industry wrote gross
to some executives being removed.  done at industry level, is now at the premium amounting to ZW$18.48
tail end.  billion for the year ended 31 Decem-
Zimbabwe’s leading financial ser- ber 2020, representing a nominal
vices conglomerate, CBZ Holdings, is Conclusion of this project will in- increase of 586% from ZW$2.69 bil-
in the process of taking over FMHL form additional regulatory and gov- lion written in 2019, resulting in real
to build a business behemoth in the ernance reforms as well as controls to growth of 52.9%. The soundness of
local and regional markets. ensure transparency, fairness and eq- the industry was enhanced as compli-
uity between policyholders and share- ance with minimum capital improved
In a letter dated 8 February ad- holders.  from 66% in January 2020 to an aver-
dressed to FML board chairperson age compliance of 87% by December
Samuel Rushwaya, copied to FMHL The pensions industry has re- 2020. Funeral assurance companies
chief executive Douglas Hoto, FML mained resilient in the face of Covid- had the lowest average compliance
boss Reuben Java and FML acting 19-induced challenges and high infla- ratio at 38%. 
principal officer Williefaston Chibaya, tion in the past few years. 
Ipec commissioner for insurance, pen- Total assets for the insurance in-
sion and provident funds Grace Mu- According to Ipec’s 2020 annual dustry increased by 191% from
radzikwa says a forensic investigation report, key positives were noted in in- ZW$17.19 billion in 2019 to
into the company’s issues has begun vestment earnings driven by fair value ZW$50.04 billion as at 31 Decem-
after it failed to comply with the asset gains on real assets which constitute ber 2020, a negative real return of
separation policy and law. the huge chunk of pension funds’ bal- -35.1%. Figures for 2021 were not
ance sheets.  immediately available. Efforts to get
“Reference is made to our letter comments from Hoto and Java failed
of 31 December 2021, wherein the The total asset base of the indus- as they did not answer repeated calls
commission expressed concern over try increased in nominal terms by to them.
the failure by FML to adhere to the 273.06% from ZW$29.55 billion as
agreed timelines and the quality of at 31 December 2019 to ZW$110.24
submission thereof,” the letter says. billion as at 31 December 2020. This
was against an annual inflation rate of
“Notwithstanding your late sub- 348.6% for December 2020, imply-
mission, and after assessing your ing a decline in the industry’s assets in
submissions of 24 and 29 December real terms. 
2021 respectively, regrettably, they
were still not adequate to enable the
completion of the asset separation ex-
ercise of the entity.

“To this end, the commission is
proceeding with instituting a forensic
investigation into FML as commu-
nicated in our letter of 18 Novem-
ber 2021 in line with Section 67 of
the Insurance Act (Chapter 24:07).
The commission has therefore com-
menced tender processes to obtain a
forensic investigator. 

“The full costs of the forensic in-
vestigation shall be recovered from
FML in terms of Section 67 (7) of the
Insurance Act (Chapter 24:07). The
commission will keep your organisa-
tion updated on the processes of the
forensic investigation. Be guided ac-
cordingly.”

Section 29 of the Insurance Act
[Chapter 24:07] and Section 16 of
the Pension and Provident Funds Act
[Chapter 24:09] require separation of
assets between shareholders and pol-
icyholders; and insurance and pen-
sion businesses. The verification of
whether insurers are complying with
statutory provisions relating to this is
being done by Ipec retrospective to
2009. Ipec is established in terms of
the Insurance and Pensions Commis-
sion Act [Chapter 24:21] to regulate
the insurance and pensions industry
with the objective of protecting the
interests of policyholders and pension
scheme members. 

The commission reports to the
ministry of Finance. It began opera-
tions in 2005 after it was weaned off
the ministry.

NewsHawks News Page 5

Issue 67, 11 February 2022

Dramatic new twists and turns 
in Mnangagwa’s fresh lawsuit

THE convoluted case about ac- Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
countability and the rule of law
in which a Harare man Tichaona ed to assist the court in determin- March 2021.  the application”. formation was made available to
Mupasiri has filed a Constitution- ing the matter in the interest of In his application, Mupasiri In essence, Mupasiri wants peo- him that the effect of your (Man-
al Court (ConCourt) applica- justice. ikai or lawyers) averments was
tion against President Emmerson says Mnangagwa appointed Chi- ple responsible for the demise of to undermine his integrity and
Mnangagwa’s appointment of for- “There was no suggestion in namasa to head AirZim, a com- SMM Holdings, who are causing public confidence in his fitness to
mer minister Patrick Chinamasa Mupasiri’s papers that speak to pany whose control and man- suffering among shareholders and hold any public office.
as embattled Air Zimbabwe chair the vindication of SMMH as the agement was divested from its employees, held accountable for
has taken a new twist. sole shareholder of SMM in rela- directors and shareholders. their actions. Mupasiri says control of SMM
tion to the reconstruction of the Holdings was vested in an admin-
The matter, case number CCZ company,” Mawere says.  The case has drawn in South Mawere says Mnangagwa’s istrator appointed by the Justice,
34/21, has been set down for African courts, judges and Presi- narrative that the application is Legal and Parliamentary Affairs
hearing on 9 March. “You (Manikai) gave a version dent Cyril Ramaphosa. It also has mainly about the allegation that minister – Chinamasa – pursuant
to (Frederick) Mutanda that the a Zambian dimension amid alle- the Reconstruction Act is to the operation of the Recon-
It has now drawn in Zimba- President was part of the persons gations of corruption and looting struction of State-Indebted Insol-
bwean-born South African busi- who were involved in scheming of funds. invalid and violated rights of vent Companies Act 2005.
nessman Mutumwa Mawere af- the process that led to the recon- SMM Holdings shareholders has
ter Mnangagwa and his law firm struction of SMM in the manner Although the application, as now created a factual dispute as to “By engaging in a self-help
DMH Commercial Law Cham- it was implemented.” shown by Mupasiri’s founding the true nature of Mupasiri’s cause scheme, interposing himself as
bers mentioned him in their an- papers, is focused on section of action. a shareholder of Air Zimbabwe,
swering affidavit on 24 December Mawere adds: “It is not for you 167(2)(d) as read with section the first respondent (Mnangagwa)
2021. to then start implicating people 167(3) of the constitution as set “It is disingenuous for Presi- failed to fulfil his obligations in
on a scandal that you directly au- out on paragraph a(4) of Mnan- dent Mnangagwa to seek to im- terms of s90(1) and s90(2)(c) by
As a result, Mawere wrote a let- thored.” gagwa’s answering affidavit, the port a cause of action when the clothing himself with the right to
ter to Mnangagwa’s lawyer Edwin President on b(6) instead targets applicant has chosen the question amend to the Reconstruction Act
Manikai, dated 11 February, in Manikai, whose agency as the Mawere: “A proper consideration he would like the ConCourt to that specifically vests the control
his capacity as the shareholder of President’s lawyer has been called shows the application champions test,” Mawere says.  and direction of the company un-
Africa Resources Limited (ARL) into question by Mupasiri, is said the cause of SMM Holdings. Mr der the administrator,” the appli-
that in turn is the sole sharehold- to have made remarks implicating Mutumwa Dziva Mawere also de- “Mupasiri’s application is strict- cation says. – STAFF WRITER.
er of Africa Construction Limited Mnangagwa in the SMM demise posed an affidavit in support of ly concerned about the failure and
(ACL).  in a chat with Mutanda on 27 refusal of the President to comply
with his oath or duties when in-
ACL is the sole shareholder of
Shabanie Mashava Mines (SMM)
Holdings, which is incorporated
in the United Kingdom. This has
led to the matter being referred
to the British embassy in Harare,
causing a row with the respon-
dents. 

SMM, now in ruins, was once
an asbestos conglomerate under
Mawere, employing thousands of
workers and sustaining the Mid-
lands province.

However,  the Zimbabwean
government in 2004 launched a
hostile takeover of SMM Hold-
ings through the controversial
Reconstruction Act, blamed by
many for destroying several com-
panies.

Mnangagwa was reportedly be-
hind the seizure of the company
after a fallout with Mawere.

At the core of Mupasiri’s ap-
plication though is Mnangagwa’s
actions concerning the affairs of
SMM Holdings, Air Zimbabwe
(Private) Limited and Hwange
Colliery Company Limited, as
well as the pursuit of truth and
justice by invoking the constitu-
tion and the rule of law.

“This application is concerned
about holding public office bear-
ers to account for their conduct
and ensuring that the first respon-
dent (Mnangagwa)’s conduct is
subject to public scrutiny and in-
terrogation,” he says.

Mnangagwa appointed Chi-
namasa to head the AirZim board
in June 2019, hence he is cited as
the first respondent, while Man-
ikai is the second respondent.

Mupasiri indicated in his
founding affidavit that no relief
was being sought from Manikai,
who is said to have made some
revealing remarks last year about
Mnangagwa’s actions, as he is cit-

Page 6 News NewsHawks

MORRIS BISHI Issue 67, 11 February 2022

GOVERNMENT has finally Six months later, govt seeks
launched a process to consult the talks with Chiredzi villagers
people of Chilonga over a grass-grow-
ing project to be undertaken in parts Staff from the Masvingo Centre for Research Advocacy and Development (MACRAD Trust) consult with members of the Ephraim Mthombeni said the first
of Chiredzi East and South which Chilonga community in Chiredzi. © 2021 MACRAD Trust. consultative meeting was done in a
could displace 10 000 families. partisan manner as Zanu PF officials
Chilonga as well as Ward 8 in Masiv- er farmers. The the project will move we were not asked if we accept the were invited to attend in their polit-
The first meeting, held on Tues- amele which now falls under the new- to other areas if the pilot project suc- project since other meetings will be ical capacities. He said the venue of
day at Hippo Valley Country Club, ly created Chilonga chieftainship. ceeded. held at community level," said the the meeting was unfair as it was far
was attended by traditional leaders traditional leader. from where the affected commu-
from the area, government officials A traditional leader who attended "We attended the first meeting nities live, with the situation being
including members of the Chiredzi the consultative meeting on Tuesday on Tuesday which saw Dendairy Chiredzi district development co- worsened by the flooded Lundi River
joint operations command, former told The NewsHawks that the delib- through their representative giving ordinator Lovemore Chisema con- where people are paying R50 to cross
journalist Lilian Muungani who was erations, chaired by Chiredzi district us all details about the project which firmed the convening of the meeting the river using illegal boats, with one
representing Kwekwe-based company development Coordinator Lovemore they are intending to launch in our to The NewsHawks, but said he was having to fork out R200 as transport
Dendairy as well as Zanu PF Chiredzi Chisema, was also addressed by Mu- area. The representative told us about not priviledged to delve into the de- fare to the venue.
district coordinating committee ungani on behalf of Dendairy. He the services offered by Dendairy and tails of the Tuesday discussion.
members. said Muungani told the meeting that she also told us that the company al- "The consultative meetings have
the milk-processing company will ways wanted to consult the commu- Efforts to get a comment from already been done in a partisan man-
The consultative meeting comes consult people at all levels in the af- nities before launching the project. Muungani were fruitless as her mo- ner. We are reliably informed that
more than 6 months after the gazzett- fected communities with the firm re- Dendairy distanced itself from the bile phone was switched off when The Zanu PF DCC members were in-
ing of statutory instruments by Local questing 200 hectares to construct a processes which were being taken by NewsHawks called for a comment. vited to attend in their capacities as
Government minister July Moyo ad- dam for a pilot project which will see government. It was just the begin- Zanu PF members. There is no ba-
vising the nation about the govern- communities taking part as outgrow- ning of the consultative process and Masvingo Centre for Research sis whatsoever for inviting Zanu PF
ment's intention to use the Land Act Advocacy and Community Develop- members to the meeting. The meet-
to evict the mostly Shangaan people ment (Macrad) programmes manager ing was done in Chiredzi town, far
to pave way for the Dendairy project aqay from where the affected people
whose owners are linked to President are domiciled. To worsen the situa-
Emmerson Mnangagwa. tion, the meetings are being done at a
time when Lundi River is overflowing
The Shangaan people are resist- at Chilonga bridge, with cars unable
ing the move, saying they cannot be to cross and one has to use an engi-
moved away from their ancestral land neless boat to cross the river and the
for a project which will not benefit boats are charging R50  with the total
them. They also said they cannot be cost of travelling rising to R200 for
moved for the third time since they the trip inclusive of transport fare for
were once evicted from Hippo Valley the trip" 
and Triangle to pave way for sugar-
cane farming before being moved "We humbly submit that if there
again to pave way for the creation of are any consultations to be done it
Gonarezhou National Park. is the government that should travel
to the people to conduct the con-
The villagers are also citing huge sultation and not vice versa. The
mineral deposits in their area, includ- land question is a very sensitive issue
ing diamonds as the primary target which affects a lot of fundamental
of senior  government officials and human rights. Where possible, all
their allies rather that the livestock affected people must take part in
feed which the government is talking consultation meetings that are to be
about. done, while village heads can be used
as mediums of communication where
First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa has the government must engage villag-
adopted Chambuta Refugee Camp, ers on a village-to-village basis" said
turning it into an orphanage which Mthombeni.
will run under her Angel of Hope
char initiative and is now being up-
graded.

Four village heads from each ward
were invited to attend the prelimi-
nary meeting which will see the meet-
ings cascading to affected villages and
communities. Wards 6 and 7 from

TAKE WHY YOU SHOULD
RESPONSIBILITY STAY 3 FEET AWAY

PREVENT FROM PEOPLE
THE SPREAD
OF COVID-19

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

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

Ÿ To avoid droplets from an infected person

when they sneeze or cough.

NewsHawks News Page 7

Issue 67, 11 February 2022

Multibillion-rand gold VAT scheme:
The Rudland family connection

FAMILY interests behind the pro- (only) Rappa Resources and that aBhungane show that Baker obtained allegations, maintains Sars is on a Simon Rudland.
spective new owners of Tongaat Aulion “forms part of the Rappa a 42.5% share in the close corpora- witch-hunt and has taken on the tax member of the Free Trade Indepen-
Hulett appear to be linked to a web Management group of companies” tion in 2013/14 when the company authority in a series of court applica- dent Tobacco Association (Fita), an
of companies suspected of shift- that was bidding to take over the did nearly R1 billion (US$66.3m) in tions since Sars stopped paying out industry group for smaller cigarette
ing money offshore and which are South African firm. turnover. its VAT claims. producers. 
seemingly entangled in a SARS gold Baker and Rudland
scam investigation. This raises new In other words, the Dubai compa- Of interest is that Gold Kid was Three sources who asked not to be In 2019 Rudland was shot outside
questions about how a R2 billion ny buying gold bars from the refin- a significant supplier of gold to named, identified Baker as a friend the association’s offices in an appar-
(US$132.6m) bid for the sugar giant ery and the new company bidding to Rappa in previous years and one of Simon Rudland and named Rud- ent assassination attempt.
is being funded. take over the refinery in South Africa of its founding members, Andries land as being a behind-the-scenes
had the same owner. Greyvenstein, was last year convict- player in the Rappa gold business, After Rudland and Fita parted
Evidence suggests the controver- ed for “illegal dealing and illegal pos- though they did not provide any evi- ways in acrimonious fashion, Saint
sial Rudland family of Zimbabwe, amaBhungane  has since estab- session of unwrought precious met- dence of this and as noted, his lawyer emerged as the chair of a new organ-
which has made a bid to control Ton- lished that at the time of the take- als”, according to a media statement has denied any such involvement. isation, the South African Tobacco
gaat Hulett, has links to Rappa, the over the declared owner of both by the Hawks. Organisation (Sato). 
gold refinery targeted by the South Aulion and Rappa Management – There are circumstantial links,
African Revenue Service (SARS) for and hence the gold refinery under Baker, via Aulion and Rappa, is however. Saint’s co-directors in Sato – a
an alleged multibillion-rand gold investigation by SARS – was How- now entangled in allegations con- Zimbabwean and a Malawian – are
VAT scam, as  revealed by  amaBhu- ard “Howie” Baker. cerning the machinery of the colos- Firstly, Rappa Management, the both associated with companies that
ngane last week. Who is Howard Baker? sal gold-based VAT scam currently company (allegedly owned by Bak- have close business ties with GLTC,
Baker is well known in polocrosse being battled by SARS behind closed er) that took over the refinery in suggesting that Sato is GLTC’s
The evidence, while circumstan- circles, having previously played for doors, as detailed in an  amaBhun- 2019, has only one director: lawyer proxy. Saint vehemently denies this.
tial, relates to links between Simon Zimbabwe and South Africa. He gane exposé last week. Raees Saint, a man inseparable from
Rudland, his controversial Gold Leaf is also not a new arrival in the sec- Simon Rudland’s tobacco business. The Baker-Rudland link is further
Tobacco Corporation (GLTC) and ond-hand gold industry. That alleged scheme revolves It was Saint who responded to our supported by another Baker com-
Howard Jon Baker, who is, on paper, around Rappa Resources, a large questions on behalf of both Baker pany in the United Arab Emirates
the major shareholder of Rappa. He has little online presence, but gold refinery that allegedly buys up and Rudland. called Paloma Precious. Since 2018
was a director between 2013 and tonnes of illicit gold laundered into this company has employed Craig
Raees Saint, the lawyer simulta- 2015 of a company called “Gold Kid the legitimate supply chain – and Saint is also GLTC’s attorney and Preston who is simultaneously an
neously representing Rudland, Bak- Trading”.  then exports it to claim enormous spokesperson. He represented the employee of Pioneer Development
er and GLTC, told  amaBhungane, VAT refunds. tobacco company when it was still a Company in Zimbabwe, according
“Simon Rudland has no interest in Company records seen by  am- to his LinkedIn profile. Pioneer ap-
the Company [Rappa] and your al- Rappa has vehemently denied the pears to be associated with both Si-
legations concerning the ‘holding mon and Hamish Rudland, and the
company’ that ‘controls the refinery’
are entirely incorrect. Any publica-
tion of false and/or malicious infor-
mation in this regard will be strongly
challenged.”

He said his clients “will not tol-
erate any insinuation of any illegal
conduct and your reference to same
will be dealt with in the appropriate
Court of law”.

Although Saint did not explicitly
confirm that he also represents Rap-
pa, the company’s chief executive,
Gary Bickerton, also referred our
questions to him.

This circumstantial link between
the Rudlands and Rappa might cast
new light on the ability of the large-
ly unknown Magister Investments,
registered in Mauritius and con-
trolled by Simon Rudland’s broth-
er and long-time business partner
Hamish Rudland, to put down R2
billion (US$132.6m) to buy control
of Tongaat.

A lawyer representing Magis-
ter told  amaBhungane, “Neither
Hamish Rudland nor Magister are
under any obligation to disclose pri-
vate company information to you,
nor do we nor Hamish Rudland
consent to publication by you of any
private or confidential information.”

When a company called Rappa
Management was given the  green
light by the Competition Tribunal to
take over the Rappa gold refinery in
July 2019, the identity of the bene-
ficial owners of Rappa Management
was blacked out. 

However, the tribunal did note
that of relevance to the competition
assessment of the proposed transac-
tion were the activities of a Dubai-
based company, Aulion Global Trad-
ing DMCC.

This was because, the tribunal
said, in South Africa, Aulion pro-
cures semi-refined gold bars from

Page 8 News NewsHawks

Issue 67, 11 February 2022

latter previously declared his direc- Trading, Baker’s Dubai gold trader, (US$402 000) and on 20 May an- ents will not tolerate any sensation- gaat’s shares for roughly R10-million
torship of Pioneer. which appears to have issued two in- other R10 million (US$663 300). alism written about them through in December last year. 
voices to GLTC worth nearly R400 unethical abuse of journalism."
What’s more, Preston became a million (US$26.5m). The instruction by Baker gives the Chinese wall? Not at all Betelgeux Investments, a compa-
director of Rappa Holdings in Feb- details of the recipient as Omulunga Ever since the deal that would see ny founded by his son Aadil, bought
ruary 2020. This suggests a Rudland In other words, Baker was sus- Capital Investments. All these pay- Hamish Rudland – via Magister another 2%. This was just before
employee is also a Baker employee pected by Sasfin of helping Rud- ments were duly made by AMFS. – take control of Tongaat was an- Tongaat shareholders were going to
and a director of the gold refinery. land’s company externalise funds. nounced, the two companies have vote on the Magister takeover.
Meanwhile, in Windhoek… Right before starting these pay- been at pains to distance themselves
Which brings us back to Aulion In 2017, Namibia experienced a ments to Omulunga, Aulion entered from Simon Rudland and in partic- Aadil also served for a number of
in Dubai, the company owned by bank collapse similar to what hap- the picture.  ular GLTC.  years on the board of Zimre Hold-
Baker. pened to VBS Mutual Bank in ings, in which both brothers still ap-
Where there is smoke… South Africa. The destruction of On 21 January 2016, Aulion had In a response to questions earlier pear to have an interest.
On 15 September 2017, Amanda the Small and Medium Enterprises provided Omulunga with an invoice this year Hamish Rudland said:
Gie, the head of forex operations at Bank (SME) even involved charac- for R64 493 439 (US$4.3m) for Saint, on behalf of Adamjee, de-
Sasfin Bank, emailed three top exec- ters from the VBS saga, as we report- payment to its Dubai bank account.  “Magister has no involvement or nied “any insinuation of any illegal
utives at the niche corporate finan- ed here. Shareholders and executives interest in Gold Leaf Tobacco Cor- conduct”.
cial services provider. stole at least R380-million from the The invoice was for mining equip- poration, nor does Gold Leaf Tobac-
tiny lender before the central bank ment, which suggests Aulion was co Corporation have anything to do Magister by itself does not appear
The subject: “GOLD LEAF TO- seized control and SME eventually now ostensibly trading in gold, to- with the transaction between Magis- to be a substantial investor. Its only
BACCO CORPORATION PTY went into liquidation. bacco and heavy machinery. ter and Tongaat.” visible investment is in a small com-
LTD”.  (GLTC is the controversial pany called Agriterra which has a
producer of “cheapie” cigarettes that Subsequent investigations un- Omulunga duly paid Aulion at There are, however, any number total turnover (not cash or profit) of
is controlled Simon Rudland and his covered what looked like a money least R29 820 000 (US$2m) using of reasons to doubt that there is real- US$12 million (roughly R185 mil-
business partner Ebrahim Adamjee).  laundering network based in Johan- this invoice repeatedly for several ly a Chinese wall separating Magis- lion). A presentation given to major
nesburg through which most of the different transactions. The payments ter and Hamish Rudland from his Tongaat shareholders (reported on
“Business is of the opinion that it money was routed. matched the payments received from brother Simon and the controversial in an earlier  amaBhungane  report)
would be in the best interest of Sas- AMFS on Baker’s instruction. They tobacco business. to gain their support for the Magis-
fin Bank to exit the relationship with An alleged R79.8 million totalled R29.8 million (US$2m). ter deal presented Magister’s “key
the client with immediate effect as (US$5.2m) of this stolen money This suggests this channel could still While Tongaat and Hamish have investments” as including Agriterra
the bank faces image, financial and flowed into the accounts of Asset have been used to move a further presented Magister as an accom- but also a number of Zimbabwean
serious regulatory repercussions,” Movement and Financial Services R35 million (US$2.3m) using the plished investment vehicle easily companies.
Gie wrote to her Sasfin bosses. (AMFS) in Johannesburg, a compa- single Aulion invoice. able to marshal the R2-billion for
ny that handled enormous amounts the deal, a closer examination of the As far as  amaBhungane  was able
The deals threatening Sasfin with of money daily for a client base in- Saint failed to answer specific company and Hamish’s other inter- to establish, these have historically
“repercussions” involved a network cluding several gold traders accused questions about these trades or what ests show how “Rudland Inc” is very been owned by other Rudland fami-
of companies in secrecy jurisdictions by SARS of participating in the VAT the relationships were between Rud- much a family business. ly entities, rather than Magister.
like Dubai and Mauritius that billed fraud scheme. land, GLTC, Baker and Aulion.
GLTC in South Africa millions of Long before the deal was an- The most substantial of these
rands for tobacco, cigarette-making Documents the SME liquidators He said: “Gold Leaf Tobacco nounced in December last year the companies are listed and have pub-
machinery and related materials.  have filed in the Windhoek High Corporation, a private company, Rudlands had already become the licly available financial information. 
Court show that Howard Baker on has nothing to do with THL [Ton- second-largest single shareholder
Gie’s concern was that some sup- several occasions in 2016 sent AMFS gaat Hulett Limited] or Magister for in Tongaat when the Dubai-based Using official exchange rates,
pliers looked to Gie like “invoice emails directing them to pay mil- that matter. Your line of questioning company Braemar, which was os- these companies – Zimre Hold-
factories” which generate paper- lions of rands into various accounts. concerning alleged historical busi- tensibly controlled by the broth- ings, CFI Holdings, Unifreight and
work showing apparently legitimate ness dealings of Gold Leaf Tobacco ers’ mother, bought 9.981% of TSL – have a combined balance
transactions to throw banks and One of these belonged to Omu- are [sic] unmerited and unrelated to the company worth R120 million sheet of only about R3.1 billion
regulators off the scent when large lunga Capital Investments, regis- anything you purport to infer con- (US$7.9m) at the time. Leading up (US$205.6m).
amounts of money leave the country. tered a mere two weeks before the cerning the THL transaction.  to the announcement in December,
payments started. individuals tied specifically to GLTC Neither Magister nor the Rud-
If true, the purpose of such a “Our clients will not participate and the Rudlands were also buying lands own all the shares in these
scheme would be for GLTC to get On 27 January it was R7.07 mil- nor entertain your fishing expedition significant numbers of shares. Simon companies and they would probably
money out of South Africa under lion (US$469 000), on 29 January as all of the information you request Rudland’s partner in GLTC, Ebra- have to give their entire visible Zim-
false pretences.  it was R3.03 million (US$201 000), is related to private matters pertain- him Adamjee, bought 1.5% of Ton- babwean business empire as security
on 5 February it was R6.06 million ing to different private individuals to afford the offer being made for
Among the suppliers Gie flagged, and private companies. Tongaat. Unless the money comes
one name stood out: Aulion Global from elsewhere.
“We caution you against selective
and agenda-driven reporting, our cli- — amaBhungane.

There is a future.

ZIMBABWE
CHILDREN’S CANCER RELIEF

EARLY
DETECTION

IS THE BEST PROTECTION!

STAY IF YOU SUSPECT EYE CANCER
ALERT! VISIT YOUR CLINIC TODAY

NewsHawks News Page 9

Issue 67, 11 February 2022 Mnangagwa’s oligarchs: the president, among them the Rud-
Heirs of Cecil Rhodes land brothers who are seeking control
AS Zimbabwe’s economy has spi- over South African sugar producer
ralled down, with one million eco- Zimbabwe’s first modern businessman was Cecil John Rhodes, the Tongaat Hulett.
nomic refugees in South Africa alone tycoon and imperialist whose remains are buried in the Matobo Hills
and ordinary people facing shortages near Bulawayo. The patronage politics of the past few decades of A new factor is the Chinese busi-
of food, fuel, medicine and shelter, Zanu PF rule and the mineral riches and other economic goodies on nessmen who now wield ever greater
there is a class of people who have offer in Zimbabwe, have swollen a private sector that resembles the influence in Zimbabwe and especially
done extremely well out of the sys- adventurers, buccaneers and rogues of Rhodes’s era. with Mnangagwa. Chinese business
tem. holds a special place in Zimbabwe’s
42 years and who continue to enable Oil Mining Lease 29, owned by his President Emmerson Mnangagwa. economic and political space, draw-
The poster child of this business the regime of Mnangagwa? Through company Aiteo, which spewed two ing on Beijing’s support of the ruling
model is Kudakwashe Tagwirei, who covert and overt support of the ruling million barrels of oil into the popu- Cecil John Rhodes. party during the Independence war
despite multiplying scandals has built elites in Harare, these businessmen lated riverine areas of Nembe Creek. tions for his support of the Mugabe from 1964 to 1979. Some Chinese
an empire that spans almost all key have reaped economic benefits while It took 32 days to seal one of the most regime. businesses have gone into business
sectors of Zimbabwe’s economy. He maintaining a pervasive influence on toxic blowouts in the history of Nige- with the Zimbabwean army, especial-
has done this by cutting corners, set- economic affairs. rian oil spills. Although he was close to the Mug- ly in the mining sector.
ting up  shelf  companies and hiding abe administration, Mnangagwa has Mnangagwa’s rogue’s gallery
behind proxies. With elections looming, Zanu-PF Peters’ name cropped up in the long been a key contact of Rauten- Kudakwashe Regimond Tagwirei
will be looking to them once again recently released  Pandora Papers, bach. The two were involved in min- Kuda Tagwirei  is the most influen-
But Tagwirei is not alone. Among for donations for its campaigns and alongside another veteran crony of ing deals in the Democratic Republic tial black Zimbabwean businessman
the “colourful” characters who reg- to grease the palms of office-holders Zanu PF, Billy Rautenbach, who has of Congo during the 1990s when to emerge in the country in the last
ularly dine in the splendour of the in order to hold on to the protection been placed under EU and US sanc- Zimbabwe sent its army to rescue the decade. His empire straddles many
Meikles Hotel while awaiting their of the ruling party. regime of Laurent Kabila. sectors, from mining to fuel, logistics,
friendly chats at State House with banking, construction, healthcare
President Emmerson Mnangagwa are The 2017 military coup that re- There are a number of significant and agriculture.
a Nigerian oil tycoon whose compa- moved Robert Mugabe from office white businessmen who are close to
ny has just spilt two million barrels of has left the economic system he Tagwirei has captured the system,
crude into the fragile Nembe Creek honed to serve the Zanu PF elite ensuring that many state tenders go
in the Niger Delta, and a shadowy largely untouched, with only a slight to him or his  proxies.  In return, he
Belarussian “consultant” who was ar- reshuffling of loyalties and personal- funds not only the Zanu PF party but
rested in the Democratic Republic of ities. provides hefty kickbacks to influen-
the Congo (DRC) last year on suspi- tial cronies within the government.
cion of arms dealing – which of course The leading figure among the
he vociferously denies. But if you stop group of black businessmen that have Tagwirei commands enormous in-
and listen in the dining room you will captured the political system is Tag- fluence in the corridors of power in
hear the voices of many languages. wirei. Zimbabwe. He was put under Unit-
ed States sanctions in August 2020
Cecil Rhodes always stood at the But while Tagwirei is well known for alleged corruption and helping
nexus of political and economic and increasingly reported on, there Mnangagwa’s government.
power. Not only did he create two of are others who operate in the shad-
South Africa’s most successful min- ows, such as the Nigerian oil tycoon He is closely connected to the mil-
ing companies – De Beers and Gold Benedict Peters. He recently acquired itary and has provided funding for
Fields – but he was prime minister of a lucrative haul of  platinum  assets some of the economic projects run by
the Cape Colony and a representative on the back of his relationships with the army.
of British imperial interests during Mugabe and with Mnangagwa.
the scramble for Africa. He used his After working in government
wealth and connections to shake While Peters’ dealings in Zim- and the private sector, in 1995 he
down African chiefs for mineral con- babwe have flown largely under the formed Sakunda Holdings, his most
cessions, the most egregious being radar, he has been in the news in recognised company, which sits atop
the treaty he signed with Lobengula, Nigeria recently because of a spill on his vast and often complex business
King of the Ndebele, that opened the empire. It has subsidiaries in fuel dis-
way for the exploitation and colonisa- tribution, petrol filling stations, com-
tion of Rhodesia. modity trading, road construction
and agriculture inputs, among others.
Rhodes might recognise his lat-
ter-day successors by behaviour, but Tagwirei’s growing influence was
not all by appearance. The coterie noticed during the final years of Mug-
of businessmen that swarms around abe’s rule. But after Mnangagwa came
Zanu PF are both black and white, to power in 2017, the 52-year-old’s
Zimbabwean and foreign. Some are business empire rapidly expanded as
billionaires, some come from old he snapped up strategic mining assets
money and some are pure products as well as companies in the financial
of patronage, having been spun from services  sector  and received lucrative
the Zanu PF mill. What they have in government tenders.
common is that their success in busi-
ness is tied to their proximity to po- Tagwirei’s proximity to Mnangag-
litical power in Zimbabwe. wa and his government has fuelled
widespread accusations of state cap-
The actual relationships between ture. He is a distant relative of the
political and economic power in President and the two come from the
Zimbabwe are opaque and often same rural Midlands province.
shifting. They are subject to political
intrigue within Zanu PF, the military He is the sole supplier of buses to
and the state. the state bus company, a deal he got
without going through a tender pro-
For many businesses it is simply a cess.
matter of survival – as it was for those
white farmers who bought them- His influence in government was
selves protection from the ruling par- on display when his father died in
ty during the land seizures initiated May 2018. The president, most
by Robert Mugabe two decades ago members of his cabinet and security
while their neighbours were evicted, chiefs attended the funeral in rural
often violently. Midlands, which shut government
business in his honour, an extraordi-
During the past year a series of nary feat for a private citizen.
devastating reports by groups such as
Sentry and ARC, published in Daily Sakunda Holdings was embroiled
Maverick  last year, have exposed the in controversy after it emerged in
swampy cartels and corrupt dealings Parliament last year that it had cut
of Zimbabwe’s political and business corners to secure a US$3 billion deal
insiders. These, the beneficiaries of to supply farming inputs under a gov-
Zanu PF and government connec- ernment programme without going
tions, have made it their business to to tender.
loot and siphon off state funds, to
hog contracts and ultimately to im- Tagwirei made money from hold-
poverish ordinary Zimbabweans. ing the monopoly on importing
and selling  fuel. For a while, under
The dire state of the economy and Mugabe,  Tagwirei  had a contract to
the mutating politics of patronage import duty-free fuel, ostensibly for
have driven the Zanu PF regime, power generation at Sakunda’s plant
which was once a proud liberation in Dema. But, instead, the fuel was
movement, to subsist on a mixture sold to the public at huge mark-ups.
of banditry, corruption and state cap-
ture. The media-shy business tycoon
knows how to secure political influ-
But what of the other side of the ence. He has donated several cars to
ledger: the businessmen who have the Zimbabwe Republic  Police  and
bolstered the ruling party for the past

Page 10 News NewsHawks

Issue 67, 11 February 2022

is one of the biggest funders of Zanu bwe and three other African coun- Shingai Mutasa Kudakwashe Regimond Tagwirei. Nicholas van Hoogstraten.
PF. tries. Mutasa studied in the  United multiple investigations for  corrup- structures of government all the way
Kingdom and returned to Zimbabwe company called Bitumen Construc- tion. He was recently named in the to the president. He has a personal
In 2018 he bought the party a fleet at Independence in 1980 to join a tion, which has received several large Pandora Papers  exposé  as operating relationship with Mnangagwa, and
of vehicles for its election campaigns commodity-broking family business. contracts in the Eastern Highlands as a front for the minister. the Bravura mining venture is spear-
and purchased cars for the first lady and for the rehabilitation of the Ha- headed directly from Mnangagwa’s
and Vice-President Constantino Chi- In 2010, Mutasa registered a new rare/Beitbridge road. Peters’ relationship with Mnan- office.
wenga. investment company, Masawara plc, gagwa dates to 2003 when Mnangag-
in Jersey. The new firm bought TA Zietsman has had ties with the rul- wa made an official visit to Ghana as Mnangagwa sees this as one of the
A recent report by the US- Holdings, delisted the company and ing party since Mugabe’s days. Before Speaker of Zimbabwe’s Parliament. signature projects that will help de-
based The Sentry, based on a trove of renamed it Masawara Zimbabwe, the coup he was a business adviser to The two have kept in touch over the liver him re-election in 2023.
documents from a whistle-blower and where he is the chief executive officer. Grace Mugabe but quickly changed years. Peters first tried to invest in
court records, exposed how Tagwirei, allegiances. Zimbabwe during the era of Mug- Peters has direct access to Mnan-
through shelf companies in South In the insurance sector, Masawara abe when he said he was prepared to gagwa but also deploys other links,
Africa and Mauritius, tightened his controls  Zimnat Lion Insurance, He built his fortune on contracts to invest up to US$2 billion in  plati- as he is based outside Zimbabwe.
hold on the Zimbabwean economy Zimnat Life Assurance, Grande Re- rehabilitate and build roads through- num and gold mining. He has direct access to Mines min-
despite the US sanctions. insurance and Minerva Risk Advi- out Zimbabwe. To Bitumen’s credit, ister Winston Chitando and is close
sors. During the same year, Masawara it is the best road construction com- Peters’ plans did not immediate- to Gerald Mlotshwa, Mnangagwa’s
In December last year the gov- bought BP Shell’s local franchise and pany in Zimbabwe at the moment. ly materialise as he was held back son-in-law.
ernment of Zimbabwe unexpectedly renamed it Zuva Petroleum. The deal Benedict Peters by bureaucracy and red tape. His
announced that it had formed a new went through despite opposition Nigerian billionaire Benedict Peters fortunes changed when Mnangag- Sources at the ministry of Mines
company,  Kuvimba  Mining House, from black economic empowerment has been looking to diversify his in- wa came to power in 2017 with his say Chitando is an informal advis-
which is now the owner of platinum, groups. vestment from oil, gas and energy “open for business” mantra. Bravura er to Peters on Bravura’s platinum
gold, chrome, and nickel mining as- Andre Zietsman under the Aiteo Group. Zimbabwe, Peters’ local mining ve- venture, using his extensive back-
sets previously owned by Tagwirei. Zietsman is arguably the white busi- hicle, is exploring for platinum on ground in platinum mining and
nessman who is seen most often with Aiteo controversially acquired Oil a  disputed  concession that previ- that Chitando is being paid for these
The government has not tabled Mnangagwa these days. He owns a Mining Licence 29 from Shell in ously belonged to the South African services. This allegation has not been
any proof that it paid for the assets, 2015. Peters had a close relationship company Amari. proven.
leading to concerns that Tagwirei re- with the then minister of petroleum,
mains the owner and that authorities Diezani Alison-Madueke, who faces Peters’ influence traverses the Charles Davy
are trying to shield the businessman Davy is one of several rich white
from the impact of US sanctions. businessmen with strong  ties  to
Zanu PF. He owns HHK Safaris,
Through a range of proxies such as which describes itself as Africa’s
the Fossil Group, owned on paper by biggest safari operator and boasts
Obey Chimuka, Tagwirei continues of lodges and exclusive rights to a
to win lucrative government tenders, hunting area covering 2.2 million
with a recent Government Gazette re- hectares in Zimbabwe and Camer-
vealing that the Fossil Group had oon.
won state jobs amounting to US$45
million in the past five months, more At the height of the land inva-
than any other company. Chimuka is sions in 2000, Davy’s HHK Safaris
widely known in Harare circles as a in western Matabeleland was  un-
front for Tagwirei. touched due to his strong links with
Nicholas van Hoogstraten the ruling party. He is the father of
Van Hoogstraten has been infamous Chelsy, a former girlfriend of Prince
in England and Zimbabwe for de- Harry.
cades. Born in Shoreham, West Sus-
sex, in 1945, he dealt stamps as a pro- Like most Zimbabwean business
fession when he was a schoolboy and tycoons, the millionaire shuns the
by the age of 22 was a millionaire, media and public spotlight. He was
one of the youngest in the country at previously in  business  with Zanu
the time. PF MP Webster Shamu but sold his
shares to concentrate on HHK Sa-
He is reported to own around 350 faris.
properties in Sussex alone and divides
his time between Sussex and Zimba- Born in South Africa in 1952,
bwe, where he has multimillion-dol- Davy was nine when his family
lar business interests, including real emigrated to the then Rhodesia.
estate. He started in cattle ranching in the
south-east of the country in the
Van Hoogstraten has for years been late 1970s at the height of the In-
close to the Zanu-PF government, dependence war, which forced him
including Mnangagwa. He regular- to abandon the business. His big
ly funds the ruling party to earn po- break came in the late 1980s when
litical favours. he oversaw the purchase of Liebig’s
farm in Matabeleland.
In the past, the outspoken tycoon
has helped bankroll troubled state- Davy sold off the ranch’s cattle
owned companies, which increased and brought in wildlife, transform-
his clout within government circles. ing it into Lemco Safari Area and, by
the late 1990s, the hunting business
Van Hoogstraten’s net worth is un- had made him a millionaire. As the
known, but he is a major investor on land seizures started, Davy gave up
the stock market and has a large farm- four other farms, including a large
ing estate in the Midlands province,
where Mnangagwa comes from. He
owns several commercial properties
and apartments in Zimbabwe’s major
cities and is one of the few white busi-
nessmen to own a string of properties
in the townships.

Van Hoogstraten is an activist
shareholder in Rainbow Tourism
Group, the country’s second-largest
hotelier, and Hwange Colliery, which
is majority-owned by the govern-
ment. One of his financial outfits,
Hamilton Finance, named after one
of his sons, has made millions lending
to desperate Zimbabweans who put
up their properties as  collateral  but
often end up defaulting.
Shingai Mutasa
Mutasa is considered one of the rich-
est black businessmen in Zimbabwe
and has a long history of deal-mak-
ing, dating back to the early years
of Independence. Media-shy and
soft-spoken, Mutasa is well regarded
by Zimbabwe’s ruling elite, to whom
he has unlimited access.

The tycoon has interests in agro-
chemicals, hospitality, insurance, and
investment management in Zimba-

NewsHawks News Page 11

Issue 67, 11 February 2022

estate near Harare and got into busi- share of “bribes”, it usually uses the Zimbabwe to expand his cane fields. sures have been taken by the govern- officer who works as a consulting ex-
ness with  Shamu, so he could keep police and the courts to send a mes- The government has turned a blind ment. ecutive for Innscor.
his prized safari ranch. sage, the sources say. It is a game that eye to this. The military
Tino Machakaire white Zimbabwean businessmen are Through its two investment vehicles, Reports say many govern-
Machakaire is a deputy minister in well  aware of. In 2003, Macmil- The Pandora Papers, an anony- Rusununguko Nkululeko Holdings ment officials and ruling party
Mnangagwa’s government who is lan and his son were  arrested  and mous leak of millions of documents and Old Stone, the military is in- types  throng  Khumbula’s office
not shy to flaunt his acquired wealth. charged for  smuggling gold worth from databases of 14 corporate ser- volved in off-the-national-budget seeking financial favours from
The 40-year-old millionaire’s  for- about US$68 million to South Af- vice providers that set up and man- commercial activities through min- Koudounaris. In 2016, Koudounaris
tunes changed when he married Tag- rica through a syndicate. They were age shell companies and trusts in tax ing gold in central Zimbabwe. and Fowler were named in the Pan-
wirei’s sister more than a decade ago, acquitted but have remained in the havens, provided a partial window ama Papers  as having opened four
which opened the doors to several gold buying business. into Rautenbach’s more recent busi- The biggest mine is in Battlefields, companies in the British Virgin Is-
business opportunities. Muller Conrad “Billy” Rauten- ness exploits, including details about west of Harare. The mine is believed lands and transferring money from
bach  the significant financial losses sus- to produce up to 50kg of gold a their salaries, against the country’s
Machakaire’s main business is A Zanu PF benefactor, Rautenbach tained by Green Fuel.  month and the Zimbabwe Defence forex regulations. The two were nev-
transport logistics, through his is a buccaneering white Zimbabwe- Forces retain all the sales and do not er charged.
Tinmac Motors, which runs one an businessman who has been sur- Rautenbach is also a major share- remit any money to the government. Alyaksandr (Alexander) Zingman
of southern Africa’s largest logistics rounded by controversy for a long holder in Western Coal and Ener- The military commercialisation in Zingman is a Belarusian business-
companies. time. He has had business ventures gy Project, which is mining coal in Zimbabwe happens behind a thick man who in 2019 was appointed
in transport, car assembly, distribu- western Hwange. veil of secrecy and is highly elitist. honorary consul for Zimbabwe
His business has been helped by tion, fuel and mining. Jim Goddard by Mnangagwa. A year before, in
large government tenders, including Jim Goddard of JR Goddard Con- It mostly involves top army man- March 2018, Zim Goldfields, a
deals to move farming inputs across He spent the period between 1999 tracting isn’t a crony as such but has agement and select politicians and company jointly owned by Zing-
the country, under the Command and 2009 as a fugitive from South worked very closely with Zanu PF there is no evidence it is bringing man and Viktor Sheiman was issued
Agriculture programme, and fuel lo- Africa after fleeing the country when people over many years and has one institutional gain. a special grant to prospect and mine
cally and in the region. Machakaire he was charged with corruption and of the country’s largest engineering for gold in Zimbabwe.
sits on the boards of several com- customs tax fraud. His company SA firms. He also has large land holdings The presence of the military in
panies that are owned by Tagwirei Botswana Hauliers later paid a R40 which have been largely unaffected high-value commerce presents a rich Sheiman is a close ally of Belar-
and lavishly donates to Zanu-PF. million  fine, but Rautenbach never by the land reform programme. opportunity for coups in the future usian leader Alexander Lukashenko.
Machakaire and Obey Chimuka are admitted any personal liability and Chinese businesses if not handled carefully. Several mil- Through Zingman, Mnangagwa’s
widely seen as  fronts  for Tagwirei, charges against him were withdrawn Chinese businesses have mush- itary officers individually own gold government is importing buses and
although Machakaire is slowly estab- as part of the 2009 settlement. roomed in Zimbabwe in the last 15 concessions around the country, agriculture and mining equipment
lishing his own imprint. years, taking advantage of the coun- with some of them partnering with from Belarus, but few details on the
The Rudland brothers Rautenbach is a major  donor  to try’s isolation from Western coun- Chinese investors. Separately, many deals have emerged.
Simon and Hamish Rudland are Zanu PF, which has earned him a lot tries. Riding on the deep political rank-and-file soldiers  have moved
millionaire brothers who started Pi- of influence in the government. His ties between Harare and Beijing, the into illegal gold mining, leading to Zingman is the major link be-
oneer Transport in 1995,  growing controversial reputation flows from businesses are in mineral resource clashes with the police and artisanal tween the opaque multimillion-dol-
it into Pioneer Corporation Africa allegations that he uses his proxim- extraction, construction, agriculture miners. At times this is done with lar deals being conducted by Harare
through the acquisitions of other ity to government leaders to gain and general trading. the blessing of senior officers, who and Minsk. Mnangagwa has pivoted
leading transport businesses. favourable access to business oppor- get to take a share of the earnings. towards Belarus as the Zanu PF gov-
tunities. China is the biggest buyer of Zim- ernment expands its economic ties
The two are active shareholders babwe’s tobacco. Like many African The presence of the military in to Eastern Europe.
on the local stock exchange and His major break came in 1998 nations, Zimbabwe is enveloped by high-value commerce presents a rich
are  close  to Mnangagwa.  While when he  was appointed chief exec- Chinese influence, be it with regard opportunity for coups in the future This has been particularly galling
Hamish is the polished boardroom utive of La Générale des Carrières et to the political, military or econom- if not handled carefully. Several mil- for most Zimbabwean rights activ-
operator, Simon is a brawler who des Mines (Gecamines) by the then ic class. itary officers individually own gold ists, who see the Eastern European
is not afraid to get his hands dirty. DRC president, Laurent-Désiré concessions around the country, country’s human rights record as a
He has made millions from his Gold Kabila. He was seconded to the po- China has provided loans to fund with some of them partnering with red flag.
Leaf Tobacco Corporation company, sition by the Zimbabwe government the upgrade of Zimbabwe’s two larg- Chinese investors. Separately, many
which he formed in South Africa in as payback for Harare’s military est power stations and many of its rank-and-file soldiers  have moved Zingman has been accused of be-
2000. backing. firms are involved in diamond, gold, into illegal gold mining, leading to ing involved in several arms deals in
chrome and coal mining. clashes with the police and artisanal southern Africa. In March 2021, the
He has been  accused  of fuelling It was reported then that Rauten- miners. At times this is done with 54-year-old Zingman, who travels in
the illicit cigarette trade in South Af- bach’s position at Gecamines was se- Global steelmaker Sinosteel and the blessing of senior officers, who a private jet, was  arrested  by DRC
rica by smuggling cheap contraband cured in direct negotiations between the Anhui Foreign Economic Con- get to take a share of the earnings. security agents and spent nearly two
cigarettes from Zimbabwe, which he Kabila and Mnangagwa.  In 2002, struction Group, which mines dia- Zinona Koudounaris weeks in detention before his release
denies. He was shot in his driveway the UN Panel of Experts on the Ille- monds in the east of the country, are Koudounaris is a Zimbabwean en- without charge. DRC authorities
in South Africa in 2019, which he gal Exploitation of Natural Resourc- two of the most well-known Chinese trepreneur of Greek descent who had suspected him and his colleagues
blamed on the cigarette wars in that es and Other Forms of Wealth of the businesses operating in Zimbabwe. co-founded one of the biggest com- of trafficking arms, an accusation he
country. Democratic Republic of the Con- panies listed on the local stock ex- denied.
go described  Rautenbach as a man The Zimbabwe Defence College, change. John Moxon
Recently, Mauritius-registered “whose personal and professional which was built with a US$98 mil- Moxon is best known as the long-
Magister, a company owned by integrity is doubtful”. lion diamond-backed loan, is a sym- Known among business associ- time chairperson of Meikles Limit-
Hamish Rudland, undertook to un- bol and manifestation of the Look ates as Zed, he started  Innscor Af- ed, one of Zimbabwe’s oldest com-
derwrite half of the rights issue of In 2008, the company in which East policy adopted under Mugabe. rica Limited with his friend Michael panies, which has been in existence
one of Africa’s largest sugar produc- he was a minority shareholder, Cen- The latest official data show that Fowler in 1997. What started as a for more than a century.
ers, Tongaat Hulett. That amounts tral African Mining and Exploration Zimbabwe owes China US$1.6 bil- chicken and chips shop has over the
to US$128.5 million and shows Company (Camec), paid US$100 lion, most of it in arrears, but most years grown into a diversified com- Meikles has interests in retail, ag-
the financial muscle of the Rud- million to Mugabe’s government, analysts think the figure is much pany with annual revenue of more riculture, hospitality, and financial
land brothers. After the rights issue, providing the ruling party a lifeline higher. than US$600 million and has spun and security services. Moxon’s moth-
Hamish Rudland could become for elections that year. Sources have off other businesses and separately er was the daughter of the founder of
the biggest shareholder in Tongaat, said Rautenbach was at the centre of In terms of exercising control over listed them. Meikles, Thomas Meikle.
which has operations in South Af- the deal. political and strategic affairs, China
rica, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and is the only country that has invested From food manufacturing that in- Moxon (77) grew up in the fam-
Botswana. At that time, Rautenbach had bat- in providing direct technical support cludes bread, flour and maize meal, ily business and is one of the most
The Macmillan family tles with the DRC government but to Zimbabwe’s state security appara- to poultry, meat, furniture and ap- recognisable faces of white capital in
Ian Macmillan and his son Ewan he had close ties with Camec. When tus and the Presidency.  pliances and car parts, Zimbabweans Zimbabwe. Meikles sold its flagship
have built a business milling and a Cabinet team approached him to interact with Innscor’s products dai- hotel, Meikles Hotel, for US$20
buying gold around the country raise funds for them, he asked for Though the main role of the Chi- ly. It would be hard to find a local million but still owns Cape Grace
from their base in southwestern platinum concessions, taken from nese was to build infrastructure, its household without an Innscor prod- Hotel in South Africa and the Victo-
Zimbabwe. The elder Macmillan is Anglo Platinum, to be given to him determination to exert influence has uct. ria Falls Hotel, which is a joint ven-
among a small but influential group instead of the Chinese and said he seen Beijing embark on a mission to ture with African Sun Ltd.
of white businessmen that supports was going to find a buyer for them.  project its technical and surveillance The company cornered the market
Mnangagwa’s government. capacities by selling these to Zimba- for basic goods. As one news report Other subsidiaries are tea grower
He reached out to Camec, with bwe’s security services. put it, “You don’t ask what Innscor and exporter Tanganda Tea Com-
Although the elder Macmillan is which he had business dealings owns, but what don’t they own.” pany and TM Pick n Pay. In 2013,
retired, he remains influential with in the DRC, and it facilitated the China preaches non-political in- Koudounaris is at the centre of the Moxon helped fund the purchase of
his vast contacts in Zanu PF, culti- US$100 million loan. He came out terference as a central plank of its company’s expansion drive and has hundreds of vehicles for the Zanu
vated over the last four decades. The of the deal with US$5 million, plus foreign policy, but when Mugabe been able to navigate the concerns of PF election campaign, the first time
Macmillans, like other white busi- shares in Camec. was toppled in a military coup in the Competition Commission due he had been publicly linked to the
ness tycoons, are not immune to the 2017, the then defence forces com- to his access to connections in the ruling party.
factional battles that consume the His ties to the ruling party landed mander and now vice-president, government.
ruling party. him on the US and European Union Constantino Chiwenga, had just re- The donation came some months
sanctions lists in 2008. In 2011, turned from an unannounced trip to Innscor’s National Foods supplies after Meikles had announced that
They have been arrested in the Rautenbach’s new company, Green Beijing. maize and rice to army barracks. But it was seeking a licence to venture
past for illegal possession of bullion Fuel, started producing ethanol and the army also has its own farms in into mining.  Although he is fading
and gold  smuggling, but acquitted two years later was given a licence To most political and security an- the southeast of the country where it from the public spotlight, Moxon’s
or released after paying small fines. and monopoly to supply ethanol for alysts, this was no mere coincidence grows crops including maize. ties with Mnangagwa remain very
Ruling party sources say the arrests fuel blending in Zimbabwe. but part of a well-thought-out strat- strong.
are always linked to factional fights egy. Typically, Koudounaris stays away
in the governing party. Although Green Fuel’s ethanol is from the glare of the media, pre- Meikles’ secretary, Thabani Mpo-
more expensive than imported eth- As in most countries in Africa, ferring to be a backroom operator. fu, a former public prosecutor and
When one faction believes an- anol, Rautenbach’s political connec- China’s power and clout in Zimba- Koudounaris’s go-between with gov- former head of the MDC’s research
other is receiving more than its fair tions have ensured he remains the bwe can be recognised from the fact ernment and political functionaries department, also works full-time as
sole supplier.  that despite numerous cases of ram- is Musekiwa Khumbula, a former director of the Special Anti-Corrup-
pant abuse by Chinese employers of journalist and information ministry tion Unit in Mnangagwa’s office.
He has courted controversy the local labour force and a disregard
by evicting villagers in southeastern of environmental laws, no hard mea- — Daily Maverick.

Page 12 News NewsHawks

Issue 67, 11 February 2022

Zanu PF factions sharpen knives
as December congress beckons

MOSES MATENGA

ALTHOUGH President Emmerson The insider said there were recent President Emmerson Mnangagwa. was set to challenge then provincial Vise-President Constantino Chiwenga.
Mnangagwa seems to have contained manoeuvres by both camps to field for the ouster of Mary Mliswa, who is chairperson Daniel Mackenzie Ncu- in June 2018, with the Mnangagwa
his ambitious deputy Constantino candidates in the 26 March by-elec- the party provincial boss. be before they were both asked by camp alleging it was a plot by the ri-
Chiwenga, there is growing concern tions, with the Chiwenga faction also Mnangagwa to pull out of the race, val camp to assassinate the President.
in Zanu PF that the former military forwarding its people in the process. Mnangagwa’s man, Ezra Chad- with Larry Mavima being chosen as a
general may challenge for the party zamira, fell in Masvingo during the compromise candidate. Mnangagwa also took advantage
leadership at a congress scheduled for Chiwenga’s faction is trying to re- provincial elections, with Chiwenga’s of Chiwenga’s health woes that saw
December amid escalating tension in gain control of Manicaland province ally Robison Mavhenyengwa taking Mnangagwa and Chiwenga were him spend a long time in South Af-
the provinces. that was won under controversial the chairmanship instead. inseparable allies who conspired rican, Indian and Chinese hospitals,
circumstances with Mnangagwa be- to topple the late former president to purge the former military general’s
Party insiders say Chiwenga will ing accused of using his politburo to Rugeje unwittingly revealed last Robert Mugabe via a military coup loyalists in government, Zanu PF and
challenge Mnangagwa but Chiwen- endorse “rigged” elections where his week his intention to, at some point, in November 2017 but the two are the armed forces, severely weakening
ga has consistently watered down ally Mike Madiro was facing defeat vie for the provincial chairmanship. no longer in good books because the him in the process.
the prospect. In December last year, by Albert Nyakuedzwa, a perceived He sent a congratulatory message Mnangagwa camp failed to stick to
Chiwenga likened Mnangagwa to Chiwenga ally. to the new provincial chairperson, a the coup plan, causing divisions. Health issues also dealt Chiwenga
Munhumutapa, after a Masvingo tra- move that insiders said was confirma- a heavy blow as Covid-19 took the
ditional leader, Chief Murinye, said Madiro wrote to the national polit- tion of The initial arrangement, insid- lives of Foreign Affairs minister Si-
the President would lose elections ical commissar Mike Bimha accusing ers said, was to have Mnangagwa at busiso Busi Moyo, Agriculture min-
because of his failure to deal with the Zanu PF politburo member and the former military officer's inten- the helm until 2023 after which he ister Perrance Shiri and former Pris-
corruption, including by his own former army boss Engelbert Rugeje, tion to take charge of the party struc- would hand over to Chiwenga. But ons boss Paradzai Zimhondi, who all
children. a known Chiwenga ally, of presid- tures going forward. after a few months in office, Mnan- were key allies of Chiwenga.
ing over biased polls as he sought to gagwa, through his allies, began cam-
Events on the ground, as shown manipulate the results in favour of Former army generals, among paigning for the Zanu PF candidacy Mnangagwa took advantage of the
by turf wars in the provinces between Nyakuedzwa. them ex-Presidential Guard com- in 2023. gaps to appoint his own loyalists with
Mnangagwa and Chiwenga’s allies, mander who is now Zimbabwe’s Fredrick Shava taking over as Foreign
point to raging factional fight. He alleged that Rugeje, in the dis- ambassador to Tanzania Anselem Tension and mistrust between Affairs minister while his other ally
charge of his duties, “exhibited un- Sanyatwe, have also been flying back Mnangagwa and Chiwenga have Anxious Masuka took over the Ag-
This is despite Chiwenga having restrained personal and political bias into the country and pushing for been building up since the coup days riculture post to replace Shiri despite
suffered a series of setbacks, includ- against my candidature while show- their preferred candidates in the pro- as the two disagreed on several issues calls by Chiwenga to have a person
ing the death of allies, purging of his ing unbridled preference for the other vincial structures. that include cabinet and Zanu PF ap- with a military background taking
camp from party and military, result- contestants.” pointments. over. 
ing in his power base being shaken. Sanyatwe was pushing his wife,
Madiro, who was later endorsed Chido, who is also Nyanga North Mnangagwa reportedly wanted the After the coup, Mnangagwa un-
Last week, Mnangagwa’s top ally as the winner at the instigation of Member of Parliament, in the provin- party and ultimately the country’s leashed a wave of purges in the mil-
in Harare, Provincial Affairs minister Mnangagwa, has been on a campaign cial structures as chairperson of the vice-president's post to be given to itary, police and Central Intelligence
Oliver Chidau, gave the clearest indi- to deal with the Nyakuedzwa camp's women’s league together with many Oppah Muchinguri before Chiwenga Organisation targeting Mugabe and
cation of a plot insiders said was tar- insiders. of Chiwenga’s allies. wrested the post.  former first lady Grace Mugabe’s
geting Chiwenga’s allies, saying heads allies, before going for Chiwenga’s
will soon roll. In Mashonaland Central province, In Mnangagwa’s own backyard, the In Zanu PF, Mnangagwa and Chi- loyalists, including Sanyatwe, for-
divisions have also rocked the party, Midlands province, the party is wenga clashed over the appointment mer Zimbabwe National Army chief
The party is also fretting over a po- with Home Affairs minister Kazem- also divided on factional grounds of a political commissar, with the of staff retired Lieutenant-General
tential "bhora musango" in the 2023 be Kazembe's camp still in combat- that has seen him turning the knives Zanu PF leader initially choosing war Douglas Nyikayaramba, who was
elections should Mnangagwa run for ive mood against Mazowe district against his loyalist Owen "Mudha" veteran Victor Matemadanda over chief of staff responsible for service
the presidency, as infighting contin- coordinating committee chairperson Ncube who was last month fired as Lieutenant-General Engelbert Rugeje personnel and logistics. Nyikayaram-
ues in the party between the rival fac- Tafadzwa Musarara's camp amid ac- State Security minister. before the decision was overturned by ba also succumbed to Covid-19.
tions. cusations and counter-accusations of Ncube, a longtime ally of the Zanu the former military bigman.
belonging to rival camps. PF leader, was fired under controver- Among Mnangagwa’s strategies
“No one should go for bhora mu- sial circumstances, with insiders say- Rugeje was later removed from the was to appoint mainly his ethnic
sango. We want discipline in the par- Fights are also continuing in Ma- ing he could have been kicked out for post and in came Matemadanda who Karanga homeboys, mostly from the
ty and we can’t have those who think tabeleland North province where his support for the Chiwenga faction was later posted to Mozambique as Midlands and Masvingo provinces,
if they are not voted will do what they Believe Gaule is challenging Richard and disregarding Mnangagwa’s advice ambassador. into key positions in the security sec-
want. President Mnangagwa is differ- Ndlovu’s victory, Mashonaland West not to stand in the provincial elec- tor, as part of a power consolidation
ent from others in the past. He will province where one camp is pushing tions that had become volatile. Tensions were escalated by the strategy.
give you a long rope but will sudden- The former State Security minister White City Stadium grenade blast
ly clip your wings. Just wait and see
where we are headed,” Chidau said in
his recent address of party supporters
in Epworth.

There are growing concerns over
whether a “subdued” Chiwenga will
mount a serious challenge, with in-
siders warning that the fights may
get worse as the party gears for the
elective congress slated for December
where the Chiwenga camp is deter-
mined to challenge Mnangagwa.   

The NewsHawks was told this
week that the faction aligned to the
Zanu PF deputy is intact and on the
ground to gain control of districts
and provincial structures, although at
the top it appeared Mnangagwa was
in total control. The faction’s strong
showing in internal elections shows
that Mnangagwa does not control the
party at grassroots level, observers say.

“It is game on,” an insider said
yesterday. “The real fight is on the
ground and though the President and
the VP appear well together, there is
a lot of tension on the ground and
it will worsen as we go towards the
congress.”

NewsHawks News Page 13

Issue 67, 11 February 2022

Intake of Crystal meth has reached alarming levels with over 60% of admissions to mental hospitals being youths who abuse the substance.

MOSES MATENGA  Zimbabwe now ‘market
foothold’ for illicit drug
ZIMBABWE has been named to-
gether with South Africa, Uganda, …60% youths in mental health struggle
Kenya, Malawi and six other African
countries that have become a "mar- stances has become rampant among ly imagined, marking it potentially high-density areas, have become ad- African countries where the drug is
ket foothold" for methamphetamine youths across townships, driving among the largest meth consumer dicts of the dangerous drug. being taken to and this cannot exon-
(crystal meth), commonly known as mental illness, violence, and pre- markets in the world,” the report read erate Zimbabwe as previous reports
"mutoriro", that has caused severe mature death. Observers blame the in part.  “Meth is an illicit substance used indicate an increase in its uptake but
mental disorders particularly among youth behaviour on stress induced by in a growing number of African com- with little or no arrests of suppliers
youths in East and southern Africa. a failing economy and growing pov- The dangerous drug, which has munities. In many places, it has dis- who are believed to enjoy protection.
erty.  now become a multi-billion-dollar placed cannabis, the traditional stan-
A report titled A Synthetic Age, enterprise, the report said, was main- dard bearer for African drug markets, “State-based and law enforcement
The Evolution of Methamphetamine The NewsHawks has since last year ly manufactured in South Africa and as well as heroin and cocaine. It has corruption are rife in the domestic
Markets in Eastern and Southern Af- been following the illegal substanc- Nigeria, with corruption and porous become a multifunctional commodi- and regional meth markets, and this is
rica, released last year and corroborat- es trail in Harare’s townships, where border posts allowing easier transpor- ty as well. Meth is used as a currency a principal structural feature that has
ed by local researchers indicates that youths spend time taking drugs in- tation in and out of the continent. to be exchanged for other illicit goods enabled the sustainability of supply
the deadly and highly addictive drug cluding crystal meth, a highly addic- as well as being a substance for per- and distribution chains within and
that affects the central nervous system tive stimulant, and other illicit sub- “While still being produced in sonal consumption.” across each of the researched coun-
has gripped huge markets in eSwatini, stances. South Africa, Nigerian-based produc- tries.”
Malawi, Uganda and other countries tion flows appear to have assumed a “Of the markets analysed here,
with the authorities engaging in cor- “The consumer base for meth in dominant role in the supply of mar- consumer demand for meth is high- “Primary infrastructural points
ruption to facilitate the movement of South Africa appears to be signifi- kets in southern Africa.” est in South Africa but it is increasing include OR Tambo International
the illicit drugs across borders. cantly greater than initially imagined. in neighbouring markets, particularly Airport in Johannesburg, the Port
Furthermore, meth appears now to “A new flow appears to have because it is beginning to compete as of Cape Town, and the land border
Although local organisations, in- have market footholds in eSwatini, emerged out of Afghanistan, along a substitute substance for crack co- crossings at Komatipoort (the border
cluding the Zimbabwe Civil Liberties Lesotho, Botswana, Mozambique, the so-called Afghan heroin ‘southern caine.” with Mozambique), and Pioneer Gate
and Drug Network, said they could Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Ugan- route’, landing in Africa in both Tan- (Botswana) along the Trans-Kalahari
not ascertain the exact source of the da, and Kenya,” the 2021 report by zania and Mozambique with the aim “South Africa remains the primary Corridor.”
drugs and its movements, the intake Jason Eligh read in part, effectively of feeding the growing base of south- destination market for meth traffick-
by youths has reached alarming levels confirming various reports including ern African users.” ing within the region, but cross-bor- “Multiple smaller shipments make
with over 60% of admissions to men- local ones that put the blame on sub- der supply is flowing to all neighbour- their way out of South Africa through
tal hospitals being youths who abuse stance abuse on the government's fail- “This evolution of a regional meth ing countries. A new meth production the country’s two major international
the substance. ure to address economic challenges.  market should not be a surprise. That supply chain has emerged from South airports, but many shipments move
southern Africa now is a node in the Asia, with strong evidence supporting overland on public and private trans-
The organisation’s executive direc- “These substances are moving global meth supply chain connecting the conclusion that meth produced portation to Lesotho, Botswana, and
tor Wilson Box said they were yet to alongside other illicit commodities both the cartels of Mexico in the west in Afghanistan is being smuggled Zimbabwe. Nigerian groups control
establish the real source of the crystal and across both traditional and newly and the Taliban provinces of Afghan- through Pakistan and via traditional much of the higher-level distribution
meth but conceded it has become a emerging trafficking routes. The new istan to the east, has, in many ways, heroin maritime trafficking routes to of both Nigerian-made and Chi-
menace. research finds that the consumer base been inevitable.” eastern and southern Africa.” nese-made meth within South Africa,
for meth in South Africa appears to and from South Africa to neighbour-
“We have not established a real be significantly greater than initial- Previous surveys by The News- The report also unearthed the com- ing markets.”
source of crystal meth, but it is cer- Hawks in several suburbs in the last plicity of the state in some southern
tainly coming from somewhere. In years show that youths, mainly in
terms of numbers, over 60% of men-
tal hospital admissions are young
people. Also, there are several affected
young people who cannot afford to go
to such facilities,” he said.

In Zimbabwe, which the report de-
scribes as a "market foothold" togeth-
er with other countries like Kenya,
Uganda and South Africa, the abuse
of crystal meth and other deadly sub-

Page 14 News NewsHawks

Issue 67, 11 February 2022

Marova challenges govt to launch
virtual court proceedings on case
CITIZENS' Coalition for Change
(CCC) activist Netsai Marova says ernment he represents, are full of confirmed our arrest to various statement during the country’s Netsai Marova.
she left the country to pursue her hypocrisy, they say one thing and media houses on 13/05/20 includ- third cycle universal periodic re-
studies abroad despite an ongoing do the opposite." ing Star FM, ZBC TV, Herald (all view before the president of the UN “Consequently, they were
court case because of the oppressive state-run media houses) and private Human Rights Council in Geneva charged and arraigned before the
bail conditions which impinged on Marova said on completion of media like Daily News and others.,” recently. courts. Since the commencement
her social life and made it impossi- her studies she is determined to she said. of the court proceedings, the three
ble for her to pursue her academic return home and have her name Ziyambi said Mamombe, Chim- women have employed dilatory tac-
goals locally. cleared and get on with life. However, the police made a biri and Marova, formerly famously tics to evade trial, including faking
U-turn on their confirmation of known as the MDC-Alliance trio, mental health illness.
Marova is facing several criminal She said she was given no choice. arrest, claiming the police never were liars. He further prayed for the
allegations, including publishing "Regrettably the conditions im- arrested the trio. Marova says it is quick finalisation of their cases so “One of them has since abscond-
falsehoods against the state and posed by the state made it impos- disheartening that government of- that the government can be cleared ed to Europe and a warrant of ar-
breaching Covid-19 regulations. sible for me to continue with my ficials still peddle the claim that on allegations of human rights vi- rest has since been issued against
life while answering to  their mali- the three were never abducted and olation. her. The remaining two have been
In some cases she is jointly cious charges at the same time," she have concluded their fate before the granted bail and are currently out
charged with her colleagues, CCC wrote. court. She singled out Justice min- The three friends have been in of custody.
legislator Joana Mamombe and Marova said the express denials ister Ziyambi Ziyambi, President and out of the courts over a number
another firebrand activist Cecilia of the enforced disappearances, and Emmerson Mnangagwa, Home of criminal allegations which are “If this matter is proved, it could
Chimbiri. the state's bid to accuse her of false Affairs minister Kazembe Kazem- still pending. perhaps assist to lessen the number
abduction is in fact one of the key be and Information secretary Nick of false abduction and disappear-
The three have been arrested on features that constitute the crime of Mangwana. Ziyambi said the issue of the ance claims levelled against the
several occasions and once spent enforced disappearance. alleged enforced disappearances government which normally coin-
months in jail after their outstand- She said it is on record that she She said Ziyambi's utterances did of the three opposition politicians cide with important international
ing saga in which they went missing was deprived of liberty against her not come as a surprise to her, as he does not fall under the category events,” said the minister.
for two days folliwing their arrest will, insisting this was done by state sought to defend the indefensible. . of enforced disappearances but are
at a roadblock while on their way agents. cases of alleged abduction. Mamombe and her friends are
from Warren Park where they had "In my case I was arrested at a Ziyambi recently announced at accused of faking abduction to soil
staged a demonstration against the police roadblock by persons in po- a United Nations meeting that the “This case was extensively inves- the government’s reputation, pub-
government. lice uniform, who took us first to trio were employing delaying tactics tigated by the Zimbabwe Republic lishing falsehoods and also breach-
a police station — Harare Central and hampering the finalisation of Police. The resultant police report ing Covid-19 regulations, among
They were taken from Harare Police Station and disappeared us their several criminal cases through revealed that their allegations were other allegations.
Central Police Station by unknown from there — police spokesperson faking illness, among other trickery. false and that they had staged the
persons but were found in Bindura abductions in a bid to tarnish the Marova has since been issued an
two days later. The minister was presenting his image of the government,” he said. arrest warrant after she failed to
turn up in court for trial.
The activists were arrested af-
ter expressing concern that many — STAFF WRITER.
families had been locked down in
their houses with no food and basic
commodities, during the govern-
ment-imposed lockdown to fight
Covid-19 infections.

They called on the government
to put in place measures to ensure
that no one would suffer during the
national lockdown.

The defiant activist confirmed
that she is currently pursuing her
studies abroad and will not let the
courts deny her the right to educa-
tion.

She said when she is done, she
will come back and answer to
charges "fabricated against her" al-
though she is willing for her trial to
be done virtually.

Marova also said since the gov-
ernment has it on record that they
are implementing a virtual court,
she will not have a problem attend-
ing court virtually.

She wrote on her Twitter handle,
"Today I decide to put the record
straight, on all that which the state
choose to keep writing against my
person.

"Firstly it should be known that I
did not abscond any court. Despite
charges being levelled  against me,
the fabric of my social life must still
be maintained.

The oppressive bail conditions
were making it difficult and all at-
tempts to have them relaxed to
enable me to proceed with my ac-
ademic pursuits as I answer to the
alleged charges were all thwarted by
the state.

"The trial against me can still
proceed as the law allows virtual
court sittings, and indeed Ziyambi
alludes to these. If he is sincere, he
could arrange for these virtual sit-
tings in my case and i will gladly
attend, but Ziyambi, like the gov-

NewsHawks News Page 15

Issue 67, 11 February 2022

Businessman pushes ahead with
panic-button claim against Econet

NYASHA CHINGONO Potraz has now made a U-turn on. the complaint, which is more of an Ignatius Munengwa. sible for the execution of an indepen-
This conduct and others highlighted intellectual property issue and not an not intervene if the matter was in dent, transparent and fair complaint
HARARE-BASED businessman, in- in this letter create a biased adjudica- anti-competition issue,” Potraz said court, although the authority offered process. As it stands, I have been
novator and entrepreneur Ignatius tion process and questions Potraz in- in November.  a platform to resolve the issue. grossly prejudiced of a fair adminis-
Munengwa has reported the Postal dependence in handling this matter,” trative process. The information has
and Telecommunications Regulatory further reads Munengwa’s complaint.  Before approaching Potraz, In his complaint, Munengwa said been in my opinion managed to ben-
Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz) top Munengwa had sought legal recourse the Law Society had become an im- efit and protect Phillipa Phillips. I do
executives to the ministry of Infor- “The regulator commits to handle at the High Court before withdraw- pediment to his pursuit for justice.  not agree that it is the Secretariat's
mation Communication Technology complaints transparently, impartial- ing the matter after his lawyers failed professional judgement to withhold
(ICT) for throwing out his complaint ly and communicate accurately to to meet deadlines.  He then pursued “The Law Society instead of being the only key evidence submitted by
in which the innovator accused tele- players in the industry. We have had the matter through the regulator. an independent regulator has become Phillipa Phillips especially after in-
communications giant Econet of our complaint file unilaterally closed an impediment to our pursuit for jus- forming me that a thorough complete
stealing an idea he had presented to by the Director General in October Munengwa believes Phillips un- tice. Information should freely flow investigative process has been admin-
the company for a partnership. 2021 and recently by the Potraz’s law- dermined his case, resulting in him in a complaint and not be held back istered,” Munengwa said. 
yers whilst there are still unanswered withdrawing the matter from the for any reason. This response which
This comes as the innovator has matters on our complaint.” High Court last year after Justice Fe- we were not shown appears to have “As the Law Society, this is a matter
also written to Law Society of Zim- listas Chatukuta sought comments been at the centre of the verdict we which should be resolved and deter-
babwe president Wellington Magaya, Before Potraz threw out Muneng- on an alteration to summons she had received. Without sight of this mined by your administration as the
complaining about how the society wa’s case citing lack of jurisdiction, made on his behalf. custodian of the administrative pro-
threw out his case involving lawyer the regulator had earlier argued that information we had no chance in cess which we are querying. Please ur-
Phillipa Phillips’ non-disclosure of his matter against Econet was not an He told The NewsHawks that when arguing or defending our complaint gently revert back to us on this matter
conflict of interest in handling the intellectual property issue. it became clear his lawyer was refus- before a verdict was issued,” reads so we can chart an appropriate way
case.  ing to respond within the timeframe Munengwa’s complaint to Magaya forward.” 
“Having considered the details of set by the High Court, while also dated 8 February. 
In a letter addressed to ICT min- your complaint and representations withdrawing her services at a critical In 2011, M-Comm Africa,
ister Jenfan Muswere, Munengwa made by Econet Wireless (Pvt) Ltd, time, he withdrew the matter from He singled out executive secretary through Munengwa, approached
maintains that Potraz acted negli- attached hereto for ease of reference, court to pursue it through Potraz. Edward Mapara for failing to execute Econet Wireless with a proposal to
gently when the regulator said it had we advise that the case is beyond our the law society’s mandate. partner the company with the provi-
no jurisdiction to handle his case jurisdiction in view of the nature of In an earlier meeting, Potraz offi- sion of panic button rapid response
against Econet.  cials had informed him they could “The Executive Secretary, Mr security services.
Mapara, has washed his hands from
Munengwa argues that Econet had this matter, when he is fully respon- Munengwa said he continued
a hand in Potraz’s decision to drop his engaging Econet until June 2015,
case and close his file last year after when the then chief commercial and
the regulator initially indicated that it customer services officer of Econet,
was looking into his case.  Stanley Henning, responded advising
that the company would not pursue
“We believe Potraz has acted negli- the idea.
gently in misrepresenting their capac-
ity to have a legal platform to resolve In November 2015, howev-
our matter. We placed great reliance er, Econet launched “Connected
on this and seek the appropriate com- Home”, which included a Panic
pensation. We also believe that Potraz Button and Rapid Response Service,
should answer our questions on why which Munengwa believes is a replica
Potraz staff acted in a manner not of his idea.
consistent with clearly laid out Po-
traz code of conduct. We still do not Econet confirms that Munengwa
understand why Potraz will not allow indeed approached the telecommu-
for us to hold Econet accountable for nications company to discuss a panic
presentations made to it as the Reg- button service concept or an idea that
ulator,” reads Munengwa’s complaint the firm wanted to venture into.
dated 7 February. He further said that
Potraz’s failure to handle his case was The telecommunications giant
tantamount to protecting Econet.  says M-Comm Africa was not in ex-
istence at that time, and that instead
“This behaviour as highlighted Munengwa represented himself as the
above is tantamount to protecting director of Iacocca Investments.
Econet in light of the issues high-
lighted above,” Munengwa said.  “Meetings were indeed held with
Mr Munengwa in relation to his idea/
“Potraz’s conduct has created a bad concept."
precedent where resolving a com-
plaint is involved. The Government Econet says it had considered sev-
of Zimbabwe and the industry at eral ideas and, in particular, Chuan-
large is encouraging transparent and go Security Technology Corporation
ethical governance of institutions. which had developed a similar home
Potraz appears compromised in pro- security system. Munengwa is de-
tecting Econet by not allowing the manding US$870 375 as damages for
free flow of information and secondly breach of contract and misappropri-
having its senior members collaborate ation of confidential information or
with conflicted media journalist in alternatively an order directing that
communicating Potraz’s policy, which Econet pays M-Comm 40% of what-
ever profits have been made from the
Connected Home service.

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Page 16 News NewsHawks

Issue 67, 11 February 2022

Zim teachers dare government

KUMBIRAI MACHINGURA/ …as the poor bear brunt of bad plan “Teachers cannot afford to pay tu-
AYESHA CHIDEMBO ition for their own children, even at
schools for the past two days is “The government had plenty of presenting their grievances as before. the schools where they teach, and yet
SCHOOLS officially opened on that most teachers failed to report time between the end of the last term All teachers want is a decent living they are expected to teach. Teachers
Monday in what was supposed to be for duty. Contrary to what is being in 2021 and 7 February , 2022 to ac- wage. We don't care if the govern- are unable to purchase basic neces-
a positive on the part of learners who said in state-controlled media, most complish this. The government has ment exports sewage or borrows from sities such as clothing or pay utility
had gone for months without class- teachers have failed to report for duty come out guns blazing, threatening Lucifer to get that money’’, he told bills while the government pretends
es, but the situation on the ground in schools over the last two days be- teachers now that they are genuinely The NewsHawks. that everything is normal”, said
paints a picture of continued idleness cause they are incapacitated. There is Machenjera.
and hopelessness. almost nothing going on in schools,
even in those where some teachers Munyaradzi Masiyiwa, deputy
A snap survey by The NewsHawks, clock in. They are simply clocking in, secretary general of Zimbabwe Ru-
which included visits to dozens of but not teaching because they lack ral Teachers' Union concurred, with
schools and interviews, showed that motivation to do the work,” he said. Machenjera saying the government
the government failed to address should meet all registered teachers'
critical issues, including teachers' “Teachers are simply asking the unions and show willingness to ad-
incapacitation before calling for the government to return their salaries' dress the challenges.
opening of schools. purchasing power to pre-October
2018 levels of at least US$540.” “As previously stated, there was no
Consequently, idle students, most agreement and no collective bargain-
of whose parents and guardians can- “Teachers too want meaningful ing. It's a case of take it or leave it,”
not afford to pay foreign currency engagement between the government he said.
fees for extra lessons, have now been and teacher unions and not the cur-
exposed to drug and sexual abus- rent situation where the employer The government announced a
es. This was the situation at several meets its darlings in the moribund 20% salary increase for all civil ser-
schools in Harare's Highfield, War- and archaic Apex Council which has vants plus an additional allowance
ren Park and Houghton Park suburbs been overtaken by events,” he said. and payment of school fees for its
as.well as Chitungwiza, among other workers, among other non-monetary
areas. He accused the government of incentives the employees criticised as
choosing to exclusively meet the Zim- hogwash.
At Seke 3 High School in babwe Teachers' Association (Zimta)
Chitungwiza, students were seen while sidelining other unions, a move The employer has been in sixes and
milling around the school grounds or he said was raising eyebrows. sevens over how to deal with the cri-
roaming the streets as they had noth- sis and initially issued threats before
ing to do as their teachers were in a “Right now, the government is dangling a few incentives that have
no-show. meeting with Zimta on its own. We since been rejected by the majority of
don't mind our sister organisation teachers.
The situation was similar at other meeting with the government, but
schools, with those interviewed say- the timing is questionable, especial-
ing teachers, who are paid an average ly where the government issued a
ZW$21 000 a month, demanding threatening circular on the same day
United States dollar payments from of this secret meeting,” he said.
students for extra lessons.
On 8 February, a day after schools
"Since January, some  of us have were supposed to open, the govern-
been attending extra lessons and our ment issued a letter to provincial ed-
teachers insist we should continue ucation directors stating that heads
paying US$5 per week. This is de- of offices should take immediate dis-
spite having paid school fees and sup- ciplinary action against any of their
posed to attend lessons at school,” a members who obstructed the open-
Form Four student at the school said. ing of schools and deprived learners
of their constitutional right to edu-
“The teachers argue that we come cation.
to their homes for extra lessons as
they cannot afford to come to school. The circular was also used to
They want us to ‘push the syllabus’ threaten teachers with suspension.
which they say is better as we are al-
ready behind since we are writing our "A Press release does not obli-
final examinations in November.” gate teachers to report for duty. The
government is aware that teachers
A parent said teachers were making are incapacitated and should do ev-
use of social media platforms to teach erything possible to enable teachers
pupils  for an extra fee, an indication to report for duty. The government
that school opening was a non-event. should simply give money to teach-
ers and everything will fall into place.
“I have two daughters, Grade One Imagine that teachers received a sal-
and Six and we have realised that ary of around ZW$20 000 on 18
the teachers are making use of social January 2022, and anyone assuming
media platforms, mainly WhatsApp that teachers were supposed to save
to conduct lessons. They use the something so that they could travel
WhatsApp platforms to send work to their various stations is insane.
throughout the week that is then
submitted on Fridays at school for That money they pay teachers is
marking,” the parent said. their children's pocket money for one
weekend,” said Machenjera.
“Obviously we pay for it, but my
worry is on those less privileged chil-
dren who cannot afford the mon-
ey. What will happen to them? The
economy is not performing well and
sometimes we even struggle to bud-
get for extra lessons, online lessons
and all. It is a crisis.”

Another parent who identified
herself as Margret Tonga, a mother
of three, said: “When the schools
opened, we were relieved of our
worries but teachers are always not
around. To ensure that my child does
not fall behind, I had to approach the
teacher and have him conduct private
lessons at his house while I pay him
US$3 per week for one child."  

The Progressive Teachers' Union
of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) spokesper-
son Peter Machenjera said the teach-
ers were not on strike as wrongly
reported, but were just too incapaci-
tated to attend class due to the biting
economic crisis.

“What has been happening in

NewsHawks News Page 17

Issue 67, 11 February 2022

Government has lost moral
authority due to slave wages

GOVERNMENT last week issued
a stern “no work, no pay” warning
against striking teachers as the show-
down between the employer and em-
ployee takes centre stage. Teachers,
the majority of whom are getting a
paltry salary of ZW$21 000, far be-
low the current poverty datum line
(PDL) of ZW$70 000, are demand-
ing at least US$540 per month, as
per the pre-October 2018 salaries.
The government says it cannot afford
that amount and has labelled out-
spoken union leaders as opposition
activists pushing a foreign agenda.
Rural teachers have borne the brunt
of poor salaries and deteriorating
livelihood. Through the Amalgamat-
ed Rural Teachers' Union of Zimba-
bwe (Artuz), they have vowed not to
return to work until the salary issue
is addressed, rubbishing the US$100
incentive introduced for civil servants
across the board as worthless. The
NewsHawks reporter, Nyasha Chin-
gono (NC), spoke to the Artuz, pres-
ident Obert Masaraure (OM) and
below are the excerpts:

NC: Schools opened for the first term
of 2022 on 7 February, but teachers
declared "incapacitation" and vowed
not to report for duty. What is your
grievance against the employer?

OM: The employer slashed our sal- Amalgamated Rural Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe Obert Masaraure.
aries from US$540 to the current
US$100 through currency reforms. government has dumped the ideals OM: School heads are also teachers; gaining platform. We will force the are pushing for the reversal of the il-
The salary slash pushed the teachers of the liberation struggle and has be- they endure the same challenges faced government to dialogue outside the legality.
deep into poverty. The Poverty Da- come a poodle of global capital. This by teachers. Only corrupt school confines of the law. NC: Teachers' remuneration is not
tum Line is currently above ZW$73 government no longer has the moral heads who are swindling funds from NC: The Reserve Bank has set the only burning issue in the educa-
000 while teachers earn as little as authority of claiming to be for the schools are insulated from the cri- ZW$25 000 as the maximum daily tion sector. School fees are generally
ZW$18 000. Teachers cannot afford workers. The US$85 is a mockery to sis. School heads who are in schools withdrawal limit while, in compari- unaffordable. Is Zimbabwean educa-
accommodation, food, transporta- the working class and is an incentive (and have not joined the job action) son, teachers are paid a ZW$21 000 tion now meant solely for the rich?
tion or even school fees for their own for launching a sustained campaign should be investigated by the Zimba- monthly salary. OM: Zimbabwe's education is now
children. The salary crisis is further against austerity. bwe Anti-Corruption Commission. Although the authorities concede that a preserve of the elites. The sons and
worsened by the absence of a struc- NC: The authorities are threatening NC: Some senior government officials inflation has shot through the roof, daughters of those who make de-
tured inclusive dialoguing platform to invoke the so-called "no work, no claim that teachers are influenced by they are still refusing to pay a living cisions for education do not learn
with the employer. The employer pay" sanction on striking teachers. wayward opposition politics. What wage. What is your take on this? in our public schools. In a country
decimated the National Joint Nego- Surely, your members are cornered exactly are teachers fighting for? OM: The only way to insulate teach- where 50% of the people live in pov-
tiating Council through imposing and have no choice but to report for OM: Teachers are educated conscious er salaries from inflation is to bench- erty, only the government has the ca-
workers' representatives for public duty? adults who do not need opposition mark it in the stable United States pacity to pay for education. Section
sector workers. The government is OM: It is the government that is leaders to tell them that they are being dollar currency in line with provi- 75 of the constitution mandates the
also failing to align labour laws to cornered, they no longer have any exploited. People should never make sions of Statutory Instrument 185 of government to fund basic education.
provide for collective bargaining as sanctions at their disposal. You can't the mistake of viewing teachers as id- 2020. It is mandatory for everyone NC: Why have teachers tolerated sal-
envisaged in section 65 of the con- threaten workers you have not been iots who need a third party to think who sells goods and services to have aries described as "slave wages" for so
stitution. The absence of collective paying for five years without paying for them. Teachers are aware of their a dual pricing regime. We have put long? Is it a question of desperation
bargaining space leads to perennial them. It is the workers' side which rights and welcome all allies who sub- the US dollar price of our labour at to survive or the fear of victimisation?
unresolved conflict. is now declaring "No pay, no work". scribe to the agenda of demanding a US$540.
NC: On average, a teacher at pub- Teachers will no longer render their living wage for teachers as a way to
lic schools earns the equivalent of services for free, they are demanding save our education from collapse. NC: Teachers currently earn the OM: Teachers are patriots who are
US$85, an amount described as an the restoration of their pre-October NC: Teachers say they want dialogue. equivalent of US$85, and they are giving their all for their country.
insult by the unions. Has the Zanu 2018 salaries. The government also says it wants di- clamouring for US$540. Is this a rea- They have however realised that the
PF government lost the moral author- NC: The government says school alogue. So where is the problem? sonable demand? government is not sincere. National
ity in championing workers' rights? heads must compile reports on teach- OM:  If the government wanted di- OM: US$540 was negotiated at the wealth is being squandered on elite
OM: The policy attitude of the gov- ers who boycott work, but many alogue, they should have legislated it bipartisan engagement of workers luxuries at the expense of welfare of
ernment is informed by its neo-liber- school heads have joined the teachers way back, dismantling NJNC (Na- and employers. The slashing of the teachers and all social services.
alism ideology. The government is in in declaring incapacitation. Is it cor- tional Joint Negotiating Council) salary through currency reforms was The fresh push is aimed at reconfig-
the mode of cutting expenditure on rect to say the school heads are equal- and enacting a genuine collective bar- arbitrary and unilaterally done by the uring the national priority list. "Peo-
public services, including education. ly frustrated by low pay? employer. The move was illegal. We ple over capital" is the thrust of this
The austerity measures imposed by campaign.
the Treasury also means cutting on
salaries for the workers. This govern-
ment is therefore a puppet of global
capital and completely disregards the
rights of workers under the "ease of
doing business" mantra. The current

Page 18 News NewsHawks

Issue 67, 11 February 2022

Zanu PF Epworth rally in pictures

Pictures by Aaron Ufumeli.

NewsHawks Editorial & Opinion Page 19

Issue 67, 11 February 2022 CARTOON

Workers deserve
decent salaries

SCHOOLS were scheduled to open for the first term of The rule of law is imperative
2022 on 7 February, but there was a dramatic development
when grossly underpaid teachers declared "incapacitation" THE ongoing seizures of land by govern- violated with impunity. Until investors are er landless majority, but politics, greed and
and vowed not to report for duty. ment from black indigenous farmers is in- confident in the legal environment and rule primitive accumulation.
creasingly becoming a crisis which speaks to of law, they will not come. It is simply basic
For a long time, the government has taken civil servants ideological bankruptcy and bad governance economics.  The trouble is that law enforcement agen-
for granted. The educators have finally drawn a line in the by President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s gov- cies have either actively collaborated in law-
sand -- they will not return to work until the employer ernment, as well as policy inconsistency and Capital, as they say, is timid. Foreign in- less activities, or simply failed to perform
shows seriousness in paying a living wage. a breakdown of the rule of law. vestors, not to mention local ones, want to their duties. 
be assured that the rule of law will be ob-
Contrary to government apologists who have found yet A number of local black farmers have had served and adhered to, and that their invest- In Rhodesia, especially under the Ian
another opportunity to peddle threadbare propaganda, the their farms grabbed by the government out ments will be safe before coming. Smith government, the rule of law was often
teachers' grievance is fully justified. of sheer greed and not the need for import- not observed. The declaration of rights, in a
ant state development projects or produc- The vicious onslaught on democracy and series of constitutional enactments, was not
Nobody can be realistically expected to survive on US$85 tion. Most of such farms are taken for politi- the rule of law in Zimbabwe cannot be un- justiciable. Fundamental human rights were
per month in this high-inflation economy. It is the height of cal reasons or personal vendettas.  violated with impunity. 
cruelty to pay a teacher ZW$21 000, yet the same govern- Hawk Eye
ment has now set the daily maximum bank withdrawal limit Some of the prominent black farmers Due to the racist system of inequality,
at ZW$25 000. The authorities are tacitly conceding that whose land has been invaded or face threats Dumisani similar to apartheid, black people were de-
chronic high inflation is problematic, but they still stub- of seizure include Frederick Mutanda, Nich- Muleya nied their rights and ruthlessly oppressed.
bornly refuse to pay a decent wage. Such naked bad faith olas Vingirai, Tawanda Nyambirai, Sam Ru-
leaves a sour taste in the mouth. turi, Afaras Gwaradzimba, Francis Zimuto, derestimated. Legality and constitutionality But the irony is that after Independence
Wonder Matsaira, Chris Tande, Phineas have been systematically subverted and un- in 1980, former liberators borrowed their
After threatening the striking teachers with the so-called Hwata, Nyasha Makuvise, Onias Gumbo, dermined. This has left the country a lawless colonial predecessors’ instruments of re-
"no work, no pay" sanction, the Zanu PF government ac- Max Chisvo, Tendai Kandawasvika and society in many respects. pression and coercion, and unleashed them
cused the educators of being driven by "regime change" Siphosami Malunga, in partnership with on the black population. For the past 42
motives. Party spokesperson Chris Mutsvangwa was trotted Zephaniah Dhlamini and Charles Moyo. Meanwhile, the forces of darkness, vio- years, Zimbabweans have been living in an
out to level ridiculous accusations against the teachers. He lence, and disorder have been unleashed, and authoritarian environment amid social and
pitched a ludicrous yarn — as he is wont to do — accusing This was done in violation of the constitu- allowed to prevail particularly, but certainly economic decay.
teachers of being misled by the opposition Citizens ' Coali- tion and the law.  not exclusively, on the fast-track land reform
tion for Change. programme. More than 20 years since land One of the consistent features of national
The seizures and abuse of power by those invasions and seizures began, black people failure has been lack of the rule of law.
Civil servants find such arguments patently insulting. behind such dastardly actions have reduced continue to have their farms grabbed.
Does a poverty-stricken teacher need to be coached into the land reform programme to a partisan Although there is a wide variety of juris-
complaining by Nelson Chamisa? Zimbabwean civil ser- political enterprise, mainly furthering the in- The land reform programme was justified prudential thought on the complex concept
vants have been reduced to crying paupers by a corrupt, terests of the greedy elites and their cronies, in principle to address historical injustices of the rule of law, it is generally accepted that
incompetent and uncaring government. Clueless officials not Zimbabweans collectively. and unfair land distribution and ownership a society in which the rule of law prevails
are expending their energies on concocting fiction about patterns, but the chaos and violence, which enjoys a climate of legality, constitutionality
imaginary political shadows, instead of addressing genuine The underlying problem is lawlessness in led to the destruction of the economy, were and stability.
grievances. Zimbabwe, which is now entrenched. This needless. The seizure of land from black
has helped destroy the country, making it an farmers has nothing to do with the professed The rule of law is the antithesis of the
The Zanu PF government lost the moral authority object of ridicule by neighbours and the in- continuation of the revolution to empow- wielding of wide, arbitrary and discretionary
in championing workers' rights a long time ago? When ternational community.  powers by the executive which often breeds
Mutsvangwa comically invokes the long-lost credentials of abuse of power or office, corruption and im-
yesteryear's "revolutionary party", he comes across as a bad Yet Zimbabwe’s natural resources and punity.
joke. Zanu PF was reduced to a fringe rural party a long human capital were once the envy of Afri-
time ago. Even its contrived "rural strongholds" are the re- ca; and they still could be. But no one will The fundamental basis for a constitution-
sult of intimidation, political violence and the criminal hi- seriously invest in a county where the rule al democracy and progress is the rule of law.
jacking of public resources. Zanu PF has lost the support of of law is trampled on and property rights are Without that, a nation sinks into a chaotic
workers, students, ghetto youths, the urban poor and intel- society where individual liberties and prop-
lectuals. In fact, the party has lost the backing of just about erty rights are violated with impunity.
everyone except hungry and exploited villagers who are held
to ransom by wayward political overlords.

The ongoing strike has rattled the government. For start-
ers, it is markedly different from previous industrial action.
The authorities have instructed school heads to compile re-
ports on teachers who boycott work, but the officials have
gotten more than they bargained for — many school heads
have actually joined the teachers in declaring incapacitation.
The school principals are also suffering, therefore the divide-
and-rule tactic will not work this time around.

Teachers' renumeration is not the only burning issue in
the education sector. Schools fees are painfully unaffordable.
Top quality Zimbabwean education is now the preserve of
the rich.

Which brings us to an unavoidable question: If the gov-
ernment is not channeling public resources to the all-im-
portant education and health sectors, where exactly is tax-
payers' money going?

Reaffirming the fundamental impor- The NewsHawks is published on different EDITORIAL STAFF: Marketing Officer: Voluntary Media
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Page 20 New Perspectives NewsHawks

Issue 67, 11 February 2022

How feasible is an e-Zimbabwe dollar?

HERE is an extract from the Mon- sanctions. However, there is political able to “fully achieve financial inclu- up and saying we do not want the cash, dominated by the US dollar.
etary Policy Statement: “Pursuant will in certain countries, such as Chi- sion in the way that it is been pro- US dollar anymore, we want to be In the formal sector, transactions are
to Government’s announcement in na, to create alternatives to the exist- moted.” masters of our own domain.  mostly carried out through the bank-
November 2021 on the country’s ing international payments system There are a number of risks in- ing system with most deposits being
preference to introduce the central using CBDC technology. What then of Zimbabwe? Just like transitory.
bank digital currency (CBDC) as volved, including financial stability, Nigeria and El Salvador, Zimbabwe
opposed to cryptocurrencies, the For developed countries and their if those with e-Naira wallets start relies on remittances, in view of its Savings are almost non-existent
(Reserve) Bank is actively exploring competitors, the motivation is cen- using them as a deposit account. If huge disapora population. Confi- given negative real interest rates as
the feasibility of adopting a Zim- tred on foreign policy. But what of that happens, rather than using com- dence in Zimbabwe’s financial sys- a result of stubborn inflation. The
babwean CBDC including specific small and developing countries?  mercial banks, people actually use tem however is very low given the banking sector income is dominated
design considerations, opportunities e-Naira wallets to store their savings, continued currency crisis that has by non-interest income as banks cash
and risks to the monetary and fi- An analysis into Nigeria and El which then means that the relevance seen the nation adopting the US dol- on transactional activities rather than
nancial system. In this context, the Salvador may provide some light on of banks becomes lending business. It is clear that if the
Bank is developing a clear roadmap what strategies the RBZ could adopt. redundant.  Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe intro-
for adopting CBDC, encompassing Nigeria is Africa’s largest economy El Salvador duces the CBDC, those using formal
the feasibility and assessment stage and its most populous country. El has been using Econometrics banking channels will move all their
currently taking place, policy design Salvador is a small republic in Cen- the US dollar as deposits into CBDC wallets, making
stage based on results of the feasibili- tral America. But despite their many its currency since HawksView the RBZ the only bank in principle. 
ty study and implementation modal- differences, they have two economic 2001, when it
ities. The Bank shall keep the public problems in common. First, a large abandoned its Before even carrying out a feasibil-
informed through periodic updates proportion of their populations do own currency, the ity study, the RBZ should answer the
on the progress of the CBDC pro- not have access to bank accounts. colón. But in Sep- Tinashe Kaduwo following questions:
gramme.” Second, their economies rely heavi-
ly on remittances, money sent back tember 2021, El • To what problem is an elec-
A CBDC would be a form of by people living abroad. But the Salvador added Bitcoin to its list of lar as legal tender and the source of tronic Zimbabwe dollar the
central bank electronic money that money-transfer agencies that facili- official currencies. referencing when it comes to pricing answer?
could be used to make everyday tate these cashflows can be slow and The motive behind adopting the models by businesses. The majority
payments — in essence a "digital costly. Nigeria introduced its e-Naira Bitcoin as legal tender is geopolitical of the population does not trust the • How can a CBDC be a com-
banknote", a "digital Zimbabwe dol- while El Salvador adopted Bitcoin.  as well as aimed at increasing finan- banking system and prefers holding petitive payments option
lar". Zimbabwe has had a checkered cial inclusion and ramping up remit- cash rather than keeping deposits. without exacerbating the al-
history in managing its currency For Nigeria, e-Naira wallets are tances. In November, El Salvador’s The informal sector has grown sig- ready rising level of banking
and, of course, when authorities have only available for people with bank President Nayib Bukele announced nificantly, with some estimating it at sector disintermediation that
failed to manage the physical note, accounts, but the plan is to extend plans for a Bitcoin City whose econ- above 40% of the overall economy would have increasing nega-
what then of a digital note? Around access to anyone with a phone num- omy is centred on Bitcoin mining and employing more than 80% of tive consequences for credit
100 central banks are exploring CB- ber in the future. However, one of and is powered by a volcano. the active population. Transactions allocation and financial sta-
DCs. In developed countries, there the questions Nigeria has to answer In essence, El Salvador is standing in the informal sector are mostly bility?
are two common motivations. First, is that whether the country will be
central banks are concerned that big • What additional
tech companies, such as Meta/Face- • monetary policy op-
book, could issue their own digital
currencies to the users of their vast tions would the electronic
networks, enabling them to accrue banknote provide to the RBZ
excessive market power. Second, and would these be propor-
many central banks are concerned tionate to the central bank’s
by the decline in the use of physical current mandate for mone-
cash, which some have said anchors tary and financial stability?
public confidence in the monetary • How can a CBDC ensure
system.  strong privacy safeguards
while also meeting financial
With growing adoption of digital compliance rules?
currencies, including cryptos, central • Which organisations will be
banks, given their need to provide able to access sensitive CBDC
reliable and stable payment systems, payments data, and for what
are turning to digital bank notes for a purpose will that data be
solution. Some are researching, some used?
testing and a few are already distrib- • What are the main interna-
uting CBDC to the public. In the tional and national security
Bahamas, the Sand dollar — the lo- risks that arise from a CBDC,
cal CBDC — has been in circulation and how can these be man-
for more than a year. Sweden’s Riks- aged? How can a CBDC be
bank has developed a proof of con- made secure
cept and is exploring the technology • against current and future
and policy implications of CBDC. threats without sacrificing
useability?
In China, the digital renminbi • Is the country prepared to
[called e-CNY,] continues to prog- promptly meet the ever-
ress with more than 100 million in- changing technological envi-
dividual users and billions of yuan in ronment?
transactions. And, just last month,
the United States Federal Reserve For the proportion of the econ-
issued a report that noted that “a omy that uses formal channels, the
CBDC could fundamentally change operations of the monetary system
the structure of the US financial sys- are already highly efficient, princi-
tem. pally through the Real-Time Gross
Settlement (RTGS) system, limit-
In Africa, Nigeria banned bank ing the need for a CBDC. In the
trading of cryptocurrencies and then informal sector, a CBDC will not be
launched its own central bank digi- accepted, given the need for privacy.
tal currency, the e-Naira, while El Indeed, for a small country that has
Salvador, a small republic in Central failed to manage its physical note, a
America, became the first country in CBDC will entrench its economic
the world to adopt a cryptocurrency woes. The concept of this RBZ-con-
as legal tender. trolled digital Zimbabwe dollar pres-
ents a lot of risk for very little reward. 
There is a need to understand why
countries are turning to virtual cur- *About the writer: Tinashe
rencies. For example, the SWIFT Kaduwo is a researcher and econ-
messaging system enhances the US omist. He writes in his personal
government’s ability to implement capacity. Contact kaduwot@gmail.
com whatsapp +263773376128

Business

MATTERSNewsHawks

MARKETS CURRENCIES LAST CHANGE %CHANGE COMMODITIES LAST CHANGE %CHANGE

EUR/USD 1.168 +0.001 +0.05 *OIL 62.61 -0.89 -1.402
+0.123
USD/JPY 109.75 +0.03 +0.03 *GOLD 1,785.3 +2.2

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

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

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

Scandalous data cost
a violation of rights

DUMISANI NYONI structure and business model is beholden to the information is a basic human right which most babwe (Misa), in its 1 December 2021 statement,
debt recovery interests of private creditors who Zimbabweans are denied by high data costs, it said internet freedoms and digital rights, which
THE rate at which data costs have continued to financed the development of the infrastructure.” said. should be enjoyed equally, remain a luxury to
rise in Zimbabwe will leave a lot of people behind most Zimbabweans.
and will widen inequality between the rich and “These continuous price increases by the tele- “The high data costs have heavily impacted the
the poor, with devastating generational implica- coms give credence to calls for the government education sector by further widening the digital This is despite numerous calls for telecommu-
tions, experts have warned.  to impose caps on data price increases to ensure gap between students in private schools and those nications industry players to be guided by their
that all Zimbabweans enjoy the right to access the in government schools. With the Covid-19 pan- public interest role, Misa said.
Zimbabwe’s largest mobile network operators internet. Ordinary citizens who can hardly afford demic which affected the school calendar, most
have, since last year, been reviewing their tariffs basics, more than half of whom are living in ex- schools were conducting online lessons, leaving “As a result, internet freedoms and/or digital
regularly, by an average of 20%, citing rising op- treme poverty, are heavily impacted and thereby behind the children from less privileged families.” rights, which should be enjoyed equally, remain
erating costs. left behind,” Zimcodd said. a luxury for ordinary citizens and the majority of
“Who exactly is to blame for the increase in Zimbabweans. The digital divide between low-in-
According to the new data bundle tariffs, “The world has become digital, and Zimba- data tariffs in Zimbabwe? Private sector players come earners and high-income earners thus con-
Econet subscribers are paying ZW$31 (US$0.26) bwe is not spared. Zimbabweans deserve to access cite various reasons to justify the price increases, tinues to widen,” Misa said.  
for a daily 20 megabyte (MB) data bundle, while information and one of the channels being the including price adjustments by the Postal and
100MB of monthly data bundles have been ad- internet.” Telecommunication Regulatory Authority of Misa Zimbabwe urged the government, Parlia-
justed to ZW$157 (US$1.34). Econet’s monthly Zimbabwe (Potraz), rising operating costs, pow- ment and Potraz to ensure that universal access
8GB private Wi-Fi bundle will now cost ZW$4 Zimcodd said section 62 of Zimbabwe’s con- er-cuts and extensive vandalism of its infrastruc- to technology and the internet becomes a reality.
320 (US$37). stitution stipulates that every citizen has the right ture.”
to access information.  It pointed out that the principles pertaining
NetOne subscribers are now paying ZW$47.50 “As long as the telecoms and internet sector are to internet access and affordability, democratic
(US$0.41) for a 30MB daily bundle and ZW$315 “The rate that data costs have continued to rise dominated by a monopolist interest in a context multi-stakeholder internet governance, the open-
(US$3) for a weekly 200MB bundle. leaves others behind and will increase the inequal- of poor regulatory oversight and weak consum- ness of the internet, among others, are clearly laid
ity gap between the rich and the poor, with devas- er protection mechanism, rising internet charges out in the African Declaration on Internet Rights
The company charges ZW$6 500 (US$56) for tating generational implications,” it said. will continue making poor Zimbabweans even and Freedoms.
10GB. poorer,” Zimcodd said.
The organisation said the cost of data has a di- Misa also said internet access and affordability
Telecel, whose network has been down for rect impact on one’s ability to access the internet The Media Institute of Southern Africa Zim- in Zimbabwe remain critical issues that need to
some time, is yet to adjust its prices. and, ultimately, access to information. Access to be addressed, particularly for purposes of promot-
ing universal access to the internet for all.  
The latest data bundle price increase comes at a
time Zimbabwe’s economy is experiencing rising “More so, for purposes of promoting digital in-
inflation, local currency devaluation and increas- clusion. The continued increase in prices of data
ing network input costs. tariffs is widening the digital divide hence the
need for urgent interventions. Policymakers, con-
The price adjustments, though necessary to sumers, private companies, civil society organisa-
keep telecoms companies afloat in an inflationary tions and the regulator should have meaningful,
environment, have a negative impact on many truthful and open conversations on this issue,” it
sectors of Zimbabwean society, especially stu- said.
dents and informal sector businesses which rely
on the internet for research and social media to Ranked 136th worldwide for mobile data pric-
reach customers respectively. ing in a study based on the cost of one gigabyte
of mobile data, neighbouring South Africa’s data
“Data costs continue to skyrocket in Zimba- costs an average of US$2.67 (R38.93) for 1GB
bwe beyond the reach of many ordinary citizens of data, with the cheapest data costing US$0.12,
whose disposable incomes are already depressed,” while the most expensive is US$34.95. Sub-Saha-
the Zimbabwe Coalition for Debt and Develop- ran Africa has six of the 10 most expensive coun-
ment (Zimcodd) said in a recent statement. tries in the world for internet costs, with Equato-
rial Guinea the most expensive at US$49.67 for
According to the Zimbabwe National Statistics 1GB of internet, according to Cable.co.uk.
Agency (ZimStat), an average family of six needs
ZW$36 918 per month for food as at January Regulator Potraz recently noted that the tele-
2022. Some civil servants are earning ZW$21 coms industry’s operating costs grew by 15.8% to
000 per month.   ZW$8.9 billion in the second quarter of 2021,
up from ZW$7.6 billion in the first quarter.
“This means that internet access then becomes
a luxury. Low-income earners who constitute the It said Econet’s operating costs increased by
majority are the hardest hit by high mobile data 16.2%, from ZW$5.6 billion to ZW$6.6 bil-
tariffs in Zimbabwe. The data regime is pushing lion, while NetOne and Telecel's operating costs
for online spaces to be a preserve of the few and surged by 10.2% and 42.1% respectively.
not the many,” the organisation said. 
The latest industry report showed a worrying
Zimcodd said universal access to the internet trend where telecommunications companies’
in Zimbabwe is still far from reality.  operating costs are growing at a faster pace than
revenues.
The organisation said Zimbabweans are at the
mercy of the profit motive of the internet market For instance, report said mobile networks’ op-
which is controlled by only seven major internet erating costs grew by 40.9% to ZW$12.5 billion
service providers. It said the fact that these same in the third quarter of 2021, up from ZW$8.8
private sector companies control the country’s in- billion reported in the second quarter.
ternet infrastructure means that the government
has little power to intervene on consumers’ be- Revenues, however, grew only by 15.8% to
half.  ZW$19.5 billion, up from ZW$16.9 billion in
the previous quarter.
“It also means that the country’s internet infra-

Page 22 Companies & Markets NewsHawks

Issue 67, 11 February 2022

Full dams boost sugar producer's prospects

ALEX MHANDU Hippo Valley Estates chief executive officer Aiden Mhere. was 53.59% compared to 49.95% in the prior
year. The total industry sugar sales into the do-
THE country’s biggest sugar producer, Hippo are disposed at best value to the industry, both 768 804 tonnes due to a 21% growth in yields mestic market for the same period, at 285 548
Valley Estates, is banking on adequate dam wa- locally and regionally.” and a 9% increase in area harvested, benefiting tonnes, was 10% above same period in prior
ter supplies for irrigation to boost production from prior year carryover cane. year on the back of strong local demand and
during the 2021/2022 season which will en- According to the group, the 2021/22 sugar improved supply.
hance competitiveness in export markets. milling season closed in mid-December with no “While private farmer yields were approx-
cane carried over to the next season. imately 20% below those on the company’s Meanwhile, Hippo says the lack of clarity on
This comes as the group has already bene- plantations, the positive trajectory from prior land tenure has stalled progress on the expan-
fitted from the above-normal rainfall experi- Cane deliveries from the company’s planta- years is commendable,” said Mhere. sion of its Project Kilimanjaro as it has resulted
enced in the 2020/2021 season which saw the tions (miller-cum-planter) came in at 897 334 in delays in settling funding options with local
sugar manufacturer record annual revenue of tonnes, representing 14% below the same peri- While total cane milled remained stable, financial institutions.
ZW$16.8 billion, a 34% surge on the previous od in prior year due to a combination of a 3% sugar production for the season under review
year. reduction in area that was available for harvest increased by 2% from prior season to 209 239 So far, 700 hactares of the Kilimanjaro Proj-
and a 11% drop in cane yields, due to insis- tonnes due to improved factory performance, ect have been set aside and allocated to new
Total production is therefore forecast to in- tent cloud cover during the past rainfall season, following a successful prior off-crop mainte- farmers by the government as part of ongoing
crease on the back of improved yields, cane which constrained cane growth during the peak nance programme. empowerment initiatives by Triangle Limited
quality and milling efficiencies while efforts are growing period. and Hippo Valley Estates Limited.
underway to establish other regional markets to In terms of industry sugar sales, Hippo’s share
supplement the Botswana market as well as re- However, cane deliveries from private farmers of total industry sugar sales volume of 317 155 Farmers have already benefited from the pro-
duce Kenyan market concentration risk. were 30% above the same period in prior year to tonnes for the 9 months to 31 December 2021 ceeds of the 562 hectares planted to sugarcane
in prior years at the back of impressive yields
Experts in the sugar industry say the global achieved in the past season.
trend now shows that demand will increase go-
ing forward. Completion of Kilimanjaro and other proj-
ects will significantly increase sugar production
“The industry’s major water supply dams are to meet increasing local demand at the back of
once again reaching maximum capacity, ensur- a growing population and recovery of the bever-
ing adequate irrigation water cover for at least ages industry, with surplus for export.
three seasons at normal water duty.
The project is also expected to contribute sig-
“This provides the necessary assurance to nificantly to industry's ability to fully utilise its
stimulate both vertical and horizontal sugar- installed capacity of 600 000 tonnes of sugar by
cane growth by existing and new players to the 2024/2025 while positioning Zimbabwe as one
industry which will, in turn, maximise existing of the most competitive sugar producers in the
milling capacity and improve the nation's cost region.
competitiveness in the region and globally,” said
chief executive officer Aiden Mhere in an up- Project Kilimanjaro, which is being under-
date for the third quarter to 31 December 2021. taken by Tongaat Hulett Zimbabwe in part-
nership with the government and local banks,
Having successfully concluded the past mill- has seen a total of 2 700 hectares of virgin land
ing season in mid-December 2021, Hippo’s fo- being bush cleared and ripped and 562 hectares
cus is also now on ensuring a robust plant main- planted with sugarcane in prior years. The re-
tenance programme during the off-crop season. cently launched partnership framework where-
by Tongaat Hulett Zimbabwe is co-managing
Mhere said: “As successfully achieved in prior certain underperforming out grower farms is
year, the company is again planning for an ear- also expected to yield positive results.
ly milling season start in April 2022, with the
long-term goal of gradually repositioning the “The company recognizes the importance of
crop to prevent the disruptive impact of har- private farmers in the growth of the industry
vesting during wet spells in December. and is committed to amicably resolving conten-
tious contractual matters between the millers
“Marketing efforts in the last quarter of the and the private farmers,” said Mhere.
financial year are on ensuring available stocks

National payments Inflation and rising costs
reach trillions amid seen eroding bank capital

echoes of 2008 THE Zimbabwean unit of Africa’s largest bank, come, an indication of a shift towards the traditional
Stanbic, says inflationary pressures confronting the sources of revenue such as income from financial
DUMISANI NYONI economy and rising operating costs will erode the intermediation activities, which is considered stable
bank’s capital. and sustainable.
THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) says the value of transactions processed
through the national payment systems hit the ZW$7.8 trillion mark last year, According to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, as Non-interest income, the apex bank said,  was
rising by 218% from ZW$2.5 trillion during the previous year, highlighting how of December 31 2021, out of the 18 operating bank- driven by fees and commissions due to increased
hyperinflation has depreciated the domestic currency. ing institutions (excluding POSB with no statutory transactional volumes on digital platforms in the
minimum capital requirement), 13 banking institu- wake of Covid-19, as well as initiatives by banking
The last time transactions were valued in trillions in the country was during the tions had complied with the new minimum capital institutions to promote the use of plastic money.
2007/2008 hyperinflationary era, more than a decade ago. requirements. Translation gains on foreign currency-denominated
assets, as well as revaluation gains from investment
In his Monetary Policy Statement released this week, RBZ governor John Man- However, cognisant of the disruptive effects of properties also contributed to the growth in other
gudya said the Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system accounted for the Covid-19 and the need to complete banks’ capi- non-interest income.
bulk of transactions during the period. tal-raising processes currently underway, the Reserve
Bank has extended, on a case-by-case basis, the com- Total banking sector loans and advances increased
“Notwithstanding the Covid-19 pandemic, the national payment systems re- pliance deadline to 31 December 2022. by 61% from ZW$142.79 billion as at 30 June 2021
mained safe, sound and stable during 2021. There was notable increase in the to ZW$229.94 billion as at 31 December 2021,
use of available digital channels by the transacting public and the bank enhanced “The growth in profitability for banks at 59% is largely attributed to the translation of foreign cur-
security issues on these platforms to protect customers,” Mangudya said. below the rate of operating costs growth (which is rency-denominated loans. As at 31 December 2021,
in line with parallel market rates estimated at above foreign currency-denominated loans constituted
“Digital payment systems transaction values continued on the exponential 100%). These slow profitability growth rates are like- 36.87% of total banking sector loans, an increase
growth trajectory with a 218% increase from ZW$2.5 trillion recorded in 2020 ly to result in capital erosion,” Stanbic said in a post from 30.16% reported as at 30 June 2021. During
to ZW$7.8 trillion in 2021. Transaction volumes, on the other hand, were on a monetary policy review. the period under review, financial intermediation
declining trend, falling by 24% to 1.4 billion,” he said. improved from 45.84% recorded in June 2021 to
For the year ended 31 December 2021, the bank- 48.27% as at 31 December 2021.
The RTGS system, which caters for large-value transactions, registered im- ing sector reported unaudited aggregate profit of
proved performance following the upgrade implemented during the last quarter ZW$59.29 billion, an increase of 69.63% from a The central bank projected that the demand for
of 2021, he said. profit of ZW$34.95 billion reported for the corre- loans is expected to continue improving in line with
sponding period in 2020. the incremental recovery of economic activity from
The value of transactions going through RTGS rose by 217% from ZW$1.6 the Covid-19 pandemic.
trillion in 2020 to ZW$4.9 trillion in 2021. Volumes recorded growth of 16% During the year under review, interest income
from 10.8 million to 12.4 million during the period under review. from loans and advances contributed 34.99%, com- —STAFF WRITER.
pared to 17.82% in December 2020, of the total in-
The central bank chief said he was satisfied with developments on mobile mon-
ey interoperability, which witnessed a steady upward trend in the figures, with
average monthly growth of 21% and 16% in volumes and values. 

He said the apex bank remains committed to continuous public education
and awareness on the use of interoperable digital payments in its endeavour to
promote financial inclusion and a cash-lite society.

NewsHawks Companies & Markets Page 23

Issue 67, 11 February 2022

BERNARD MPOFU Compensation for eroded
pensions to boost confidence
PLANS to compensate policyholders when
pension and insurance funds go bust will re- formation' to other authorities, and will not have against self-incrimination and lawyer-client priv- Nicoz-Diamond offices in Harare.
store confidence in the multi-billion sector after to disclose 'privileged information' received from ilege] would not apply to information passing be- The Bill, Veritas added, needs to be amended
thousands of pensioners were left out in the cold those authorities.  tween the commission and other regulatory au- to make it quite clear what information the com-
due to economic turbulence, a parliamentary thorities.  The other two, the privilege attaching mission will be able to disclose and what infor-
and legal watchdog has said.Last September, the "It is not clear what is meant by this.  In le- to confidential communications and privilege in mation it will have to keep confidential.
government gazetted the Insurance and Pensions gal parlance privileged information is infor- the public interest, are conferred only by order of Meanwhile,  Treasury last year undertook to
Commission (Ipec) Amendment Bill which, mation that the holder cannot be obliged to a court – i.e. the information is privileged only if pay a US$400 000 dividend in compensation to
among other aims, seeks to improve the level of disclose.    According to the Civil Evidence Act, a court orders it to be so.  So these two privileges pensioners who lost value after the government
disclosure in the sector as well as empower the our law confers privilege on information in only would probably not apply either.” embarked on currency reforms which came after
local insurance regulator to co-operate with local four circumstances, two of which [the privilege the local currency plunged.
and foreign regulatory authorities in matters such
as enforcing laws, carrying out investigations and
exchanging information. 

Veritas, in its analysis of the bill, said while the
proposed amendments were fraught with irreg-
ularities, the new changes would benefit policy-
holders. The Bill also proposes to set up a fund
to compensate holders of insurance policies and
members of pension and provident funds who
suffer loss if their insurance companies or funds
go insolvent.

“Establishing such a fund is a welcome move
as it will protect the public against loss and so
enhance confidence in the insurance and pension
industry,” Veritas says.  

“On the other hand, some aspects of the new
provisions could be improved:  The fund will be
administered by a board [not the board of the
commission] comprising the Commissioner of
Insurance [the CEO of the commission] and up
to seven other members appointed by the minis-
ter.  It will be financed primarily by contributions
from insurers and pension and provident funds. 
Although there is provision for it to get other
funding – for example it may receive appropria-
tions from Parliament – the fund will essentially
be financed by the insurance and pensions indus-
try.  Put briefly, it will be a compulsory insurance
fund for the insurance industry.”

Clause 11 of the Bill will insert a new part into
the Act, empowering Ipec to co-operate with
other regulatory authorities, both local and for-
eign, in such matters as enforcing laws, carrying
out investigations and exchanging information.  

“This is admirable because insurance compa-
nies and pension funds operate across national
boundaries and co-operation between different
regulatory agencies is necessary to ensure they
abide by all applicable laws,” Veritas says.

“There is however a point that needs to be
clarified.  According to clause 11 of the Bill, the
commission will be able to pass on 'privileged in-

Companies upbeat despite daunting headwinds

RONALD MUCHENJE trading year,” Nampak said. Nampak Zimbabwe Limited. sults as a key milestone reached that cements the
Star Africa said going forward, the company and machinery.  group’s thrust towards future profitability even
ZIMBABWEAN companies are upbeat of fu- in the face of a harsh operating environment
ture prospects despite looming economic head- will focus on completing the outstanding capital “The company continues to monitor the such as noted in these six months under review.
winds, with many entities devising strategies on investment projects while continuing to maxi- Covid-19 situation in the country, where a Sustained improvement in throughput is expect-
prudent investment and preservation of share- mise on the benefit of the central bank auction fourth wave may sweep through in the short- ed in all the product-lines as the group continues
holder value.     system in securing critical raw materials, spares term due to the emergence of the Omicron su- to pursue high levels of operating efficiencies,
per-variant. The board views these financial re- health and safety standards and maximisation of
The going concern status of firms has come shareholder value. The board is confident that
under the spotlight due to the devastating the gains achieved to date will be sustained. The
Covid-19 pandemic amid economic uncertain- pronouncements made in the recent National
ty. Companies have been reeling under a tough Budget Statement are expected to further stabi-
trading environment although there are hopes of lise the economy into the second half of the year,
improved access to foreign currency through the fostering a conducive environment for industry
official forex market. to flourish,” the company said

Nampak Zimbabwe Limited in its financial In its financial results for the year ended 31
results for the year ended September 30 2021 October 2021, Tobacco Sales Limited (TSL)
said given the continued focus on cost control said there were ongoing plans to expand and
and margin preservation, the group was well-po- improve the group's infrastructure with con-
sitioned to address the challenges despite the struction anticipated to commence at a strate-
year ahead forecast to be characterised by strong gically located warehouse.  This construction
economic headwinds. of additional warehousing is anticipated to be
kick-started during the 2022 financial year.
During the period, the company continued
to invest in the business where there was growth “The group continues to pursue its “moving
while exploring new opportunities to improve agriculture strategy in a difficult operating envi-
product offering and quality.  ronment and to invest accordingly to create and
reserve shareholder value. The group continues
“There was improvement in accessing foreign to explore strategic partnerships both locally and
exchange through the official foreign curren- regionally to enhance its market presence. The
cy market. The overall demand for packaging availability of foreign currency and appropriate-
was significantly improved this year, compared ly priced financing will assist in taking advantage
to previous years. Nampak benefitted from the of the existing growth opportunities,” noted the
recovering economy, led by the rebound in ag- group.
ricultural and mineral commodities. Focus re-
mained on cost containment within a difficult

Page 24 ComSptaoncikesT&akMinagrkets NewsHawks

Issue 67, 11 February 2022

Price Sheet A MEMBER OF FINSEC & THE ZIMBABWE STOCK EXCHANGE

Friday, 11 February 2022

Company Sector Bloomberg Previous Last VWAP (cents) Total Total Price Price YTD Market
Ticker Price Traded Traded Change Change (%) Cap
AFDIS Consumer Goods (cents) Traded Volume Value ($) (cents) ($m)
African Sun Consumer Services AFDIS: ZH (%)
ART ASUN: ZH 12702.50 Price -
Ariston Industrials ARTD: ZH 770.42 1,800
Axia Consumer Services ARISTON: ZH 1000.00 - 12702.50 - - - 1.62 15,178.79
BAT AXIA: ZH 355.84 770.00 757.22 - 13,630 -13.20 -1.71 17.90 10,782.29
CAFCA Consumer Goods 7049.28 1000.00 148,200 -4.31
Cassava Consumer Goods BAT: ZH - 351.51 368,800 - - - -5.56 4,369.77
CBZ CAFCA: ZH 296480.00 350.00 7089.28 520,940 -4.33 -1.22 135.92 5,720.46
CFI Industrials 17000.00 7100.00 700 26,145,270 40.00 0.57 -7.38 39,143.48
Dairibord Technology CSZL: ZH 6834.21 296470.00 296470.00 - 2,075,290 -10.00 -0.00 61,172.19
Delta CBZ: ZH 8988.56 17000.00 - 1,484.97
Econet Banking CFI:ZH 10200.00 - 7116.33 152,100 - - - 75.05 184,354.03
Edgars Industrials DZL: ZH 3497.50 7210.00 700 10,823,950 282.12 4.13 25.05 49,130.18
FBC Consumer Goods DLTA: ZH 22037.91 - 411.44 4.58 9.01 10,816.17
Fidelity Consumer Goods ECO: ZH 11207.68 9800.00 9400.00 800 65,800 -1.61 12,328.65
First Capital Telecommunications - - - 43.24 303,629.95
FML Consumer Services EDGR: ZH 410.94 - 10200.00 519,900 -53.75 -1.54 40.37 309,090.01
FMP FBC: ZH 2893.56 100,000 27,550 1243.46 5.64 4.23 2,739.54
GBH Banking FIDL: ZH 1150.00 3450.00 3443.75 121,039,900 723.64 6.46 -14.42 19,468.61
Getbucks Financial Services FCA: ZH 340.19 1,300 42.44 10.33 -27.15 1,252.62
Hippo 2189.06 23300.00 23281.37 765,200 11,931,320 3.77 0.13 1.51 7,572.96
Innscor Banking FMHL: ZH 675.00 5,894 0.95 13,933.57
Lafarge Financial Services FMP: ZH 195.04 12000.00 11931.32 - - - -13.46 8,357.56
Mash GBH: ZH 518.00 3,200 22,170,350 10.44 3.07 -21.39
Masimba Real Estate 28000.69 450.00 453.38 132,000 - -170.12 -7.77 -13.67 968.01
Medtech Industrials GBFS: ZH 24526.06 19.60 6,024.95
Medtech Class B HIPO: ZH 8500.00 2895.00 2897.33 - 11,220 - - 54.76 64,641.29
Meikles Financial Services 330.14 33,900 2,665,000 -14.64 -7.51 6.25 143,228.19
Nampak Consumer Goods INN: ZH 4600.00 - 1150.00 -6.16 6,800.00
NatFoods LACZ: ZH 2500.00 - - - - -9.09 5,660.51
NTS Industrials MASH: ZH 3200.00 355.00 350.63 235,000 61,155 5488.64 19.60 -28.57 12,082.69
NMBZ Industrials MSHL: ZH 12799.16 332,900 607.14 2.48 28.00
OK Zim Real Estate MMDZ: ZH 1250.00 2000.00 2018.94 - 11.95 300.00
Proplastics Industrials MMDZB: ZH 140000.00 - 78,699,930 - - 12.04 42.94
RTG Financial Services MEIK: ZH 672.00 - 675.00 9,400 83,668,420 -25.66 -7.77 1.85
RioZim Financial Services NPKZ: ZH 1200.00 185.00 180.40 400.00 8.70 6.67 35,384.12
SeedCo Industrials NTFD: ZH 2798.60 518.00 700 - 47.24 9,445.60
Simbisa Industrials 2600.00 - 33489.33 - 28,621 - - 4.31
Star Africa Consumer Goods NTS: ZH 741.90 33600.00 25133.20 - 35,000 - - -6.99 95,760.15
Tanganda Industrials NMB: ZH 4600.00 25005.00 8500.00 1206.25 9.42 -5.04 1,706.02
Truworths OKZ: ZH 13064.56 304.48 83,200 - - - 15.00 4,792.30
TSL Banking PROL: ZH 14962.70 - 5000.00 - - - - 35.14
Turnall Consumer Services RTG: ZH 146.07 300.00 2500.00 11,652,500 - - 72.64 36,812.17
Unifreight RIOZ: ZH 7557.12 5000.00 3200.00 2,700 - -14.29 -1.19 22.01 6,794.86
Willdale Industrials SEED: ZH 220.25 14005.41 - 3,780,000 64.19 2.29 15.66
ZB Consumer Services SIM: ZH 8000.00 - 1250.00 - 97.06 3.73 10.08 18,483.39
Zeco SACL: ZH 501.61 - 140000.00 700 8,300 -1.23 -0.17 14.01 5,613.36
Zimpapers Basic Materials TANG: ZH 3100.00 15000.00 672.00 17,900 512,440 - - 21.92
Zimplow Consumer Goods TRUW: ZH 360.09 - 1185.71 17,000 458,500 1201.06 9.19 0.11 35,264.99
ZHL Consumer Goods TSL: ZH 7895.00 140000.00 2862.79 2,222 574.62 3.84 15.85 87,348.45
TOTAL Consumer Goods TURN: ZH - 2697.06 300 - -4.71 -3.22 2.53
Consumer Goods UNIF: ZH 2.00 1100.00 - 13,866,190 198.91 2.63 316.67 6,665.24
Consumer Services WILD: ZH 300.12 3005.00 4,148,465 -0.10 -0.05 3.09 20,248.25
Consumer Goods ZBFH: ZH 2229.59 2700.00 97,200 5,763,677 - - -5.53
ZECO: ZH 337.13 26,700 45,931,200 -1.61 -0.32 -6.66 845.52
Industrials ZIMP: ZH 740.00 740.67 4,077,300 3,743 -100.00 -3.23 28,568.20
Industrials ZIMPLOW: ZH 592,200 - -1.56 -0.43
Industrials ZHL: ZH - 4600.00 3,867,500 - - 2,465.20
1,700 3,000 - - 3,194.23
Banking 15600.00 14265.62 - 6,095 -0.12 -0.04 6,374.67
Industrials - - - 13,831.30
Consumer Services 16000.00 15537.32 773,500 - 13.91 4.13
Industrials 100 34,500 9.27
Financial Services 150.00 141.36 - 1,728.00
1,700 425,110 7,682.73
7500.00 7756.03 - 450,452,682 6,382.68
- 1,735,675.07
220.00 220.15
11,500
- 8000.00 -

500.00 500.00 121,100
3000.00 3000.00 8,631,400
355.00 358.53
7895.00
-
- 2.00
300.00 300.00
- 2229.59
380.00 351.04

ETFs MCMS.zw 1370.39 1365.00 1361.27 16,288 221,723 -9.13 -0.67 36.13 1,714.22
Morgan&Co Multi-Sector ETF OMTT.zw 783.83 805.00 805.35 315,694 2,542,445 21.52 2.75 83.00 644.28
Old Mutual ZSE Top 10 ETF
11,621.64
FINSEC Financial Services OMZIL 14000.00 - 14000.00 - -- - 40.00
Old Mutual Zimbabwe US$m
57.27
VFEX (US cents) Mining BIND:VX 4.50 - 4.50 - - - - -18.18 8.06
BNC Mining CMCL:VX 1300.00 - 1300.00 - - - --
Caledonia Consumer Goods 21.00 18,800 3,948.00 - -- 113.73
Padenga Consumer Goods PHL:VX 21.00 - 21.00 - - - - 1.60 108.71
SeedCo International SCIL:VX 28.50 28.50
YTD %
Index Close Change (%) Open YTD % Top 5 Risers Price Change % +19.60
ZSE All Share 14,077.59 +3.95 13,542.80 +30.08 Hippo 33489.33c +5488.64c +19.60 +4.23
Top 10 9,393.29 +4.97 +37.90 Edgars +10.33 +11.95
Top 15 10,277.13 +4.69 8,948.34 +36.49 Meikles 453.38c +42.44c +9.42 +35.14
Small Cap -0.80 9,816.50 -1.41 SeedCo 14005.41c +1206.25c +9.19 -9.09
Medium Cap 397,070.92 +0.94 400,285.28 +10.66 Masimba 14265.62c +1201.06c +8.70
22,583.29 22,373.85 YTD %
5000.00c +400.00c -6.16
+0.95
Top 5 Fallers Price Change % -21.39
Mash 304.48c -25.66c -7.77 +0.11
FML -7.77 +22.01
GBH 2018.94c -170.12c -7.51
Unifreight 180.40c -14.64c -3.23
Star Africa -3.22
3000.00c -100.00c
141.36c -4.71c

SALES & TRADING: Davide Muchengi: davide@morganzim.com | Lungani Nyamazana: lungani@morganzim.com | Tatenda Jasi: tatenda@morganzim.com
RESEARCH: Batanai Matsika: batanai@morganzim.com | Precious Chagwedera: precious@morganzim.com | Tafara Mtutu: tafara@morganzim.com
Tel: (+263) 08677008101-2 | Email: research@morganzim.com | Address: 14165 Sauer Road, Gunhill, Harare

MORGAN & COMPANY has issued this document for distribution to its clients. It may not be reproduced or further distributed in whole or in part for any purpose. This document is not and should not be construed as an
offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase or subscribe to any investment. MORGAN & COMPANY has based this document on information obtained from sources it believes to be reliable but which it has not

independently verified; MORGAN & COMPANY makes no guarantee, representation or warranty and accepts no responsibility or liability as to the accuracy or completeness of its content.

NewsHawks Companies & Markets Page 25

Issue 67, 11 February 2022

Corporates
in Zim to eye
consolidations
in year 2022 C RONA
VIRUS
DUMISANI NYONI is a mix of cash and equity and the
cash will be raised from the group's ALERT
ADVISORY firm IH Securities (IH) assets.
has projected sustained corporate ac- WEAR
tivity throughout this year, particular- He said the cash portion is US$21 A
ly consolidations, as companies look million and the split in terms of the
to shore up balance sheets and earn- cash and equity swap is 30-70% split. MASK
ings capacity.
The US$21 million will be paid in
In its January 2022 report, IH said 18 months, but an amount of US$10
2022 is promising to be a great year, million will be paid within 10 days of
with companies being active in con- the fulfilment or waiver of the condi-
solidations. tions precedent, while the balance of
US$11.2 million would be paid over
“The year began with a series of the 18-month period, he said.
transactions, some spillovers from
prior year….We anticipate sustained FMHL has successful business op-
corporate activity throughout the erations in Botswana, Malawi, Mo-
year, particularly consolidations as zambique and Zambia.
companies look to shore up balance
sheets and earnings capacity,” the re- Lafarge Zimbabwe Limited pub-
port reads in part.  lished a cautionary statement amidst
news flow of a potential disposal by
CBZ Holdings Limited (CBZ) is anchor shareholder Holcim that has
set to complete the acquisition of a been exiting similar assets across Af-
31.22% stake in First Mutual Hold- rica. 
ings (FMHL) following approval of
the transaction by shareholders at an Meanwhile, IH said the valua-
extraordinary general meeting on 31 tions gap experienced over the last 18
January 2022. The transaction will months has now been closed. It said
result in the creation of a significant the majority of stocks are trading at
insurance and property cluster.  rich multiples relative to current earn-
ings capacity.
Prior to the transaction, CBZ
held 3.23% shareholding in FMHL “Whilst revenue run rates will re-
through a special purpose vehicle, main positive, we anticipate contin-
PIM Nominees (Pvt) Limited. The ued narrowing of margins as cost lags
acquisition of the additional shares catch up. However, the Zimbabwe
from the National Social Security Au- Stock Exchange is likely to maintain
thority, constituting 31.22% of the is- its role as both a currency and infla-
sued ordinary shares of FMHL, takes tionary hedge despite demanding val-
CBZ Holdings total shareholding to uations,” researchers said. 
approximately 34.45%.
IH encouraged investors to be
According to CBZ group chairper- highly selective on stock picking, po-
son Marc Holtzman, the transaction tentially waiting for temporary weak-
ness or profit-taking to accumulate
into quality names.

Dilapidated structures at Highfield Farm that belonged to the late former Presi-
dent Robert Mugabe.

Property
NewsHawks

Issue 67, 11 February 2022 PROPERTY INTERIORS ARCHITECTURE GARDENING Page 26

The home of prime property: property@newshawks.com

Brick maker rides on rising housing demand

ALEX MHANDU mining. with cluster homes and individual housing increase in sales volumes.
“The positive sentiments around the eco- projects featuring prominently. An operating profit of ZW$252 million was
LISTED brick-making firm Willdale Lim-
ited’s prospects for financial year 2022 look nomic growth prospects in Zimbabwe, a sta- “The brand remained strong throughout achieved after charging ZW$29 million to de-
bright on the back of rising demand boosted ble exchange rate and declining inflation give the operating regions, riding on consistent preciation of property, plant and equipment.
by residential housing developments. us confidence for the future. The growing ap- quality and a wider range of brick types. The
petite for modern housing and government’s delivery channel was successfully serviced Other income, comprising largely of ex-
Demand for building materials is expect- drive to reduce the housing backlog under the through third-party partners despite effects of change gains, contributed ZW$32 million to
ed to maintain an upward trend as activity National Development Strategy 1 will drive the Covid-19 pandemic and diesel availability operating income. After-tax profit of ZW$177
in the residential housing segment remains demand for bricks and related materials in the challenges. million was recorded compared to ZW$32.9
high. This comes as demand for housing in year ahead. million in 2020. At ZW9.9 cents, basic earn-
the country – especially for the low end of the “Housing development will continue to ings per share surged 450% from ZW1.8 cents
market – keeps rising with nearly two million “We expect to improve productivity, vol- drive volume and revenue in the short to me- recorded in the comparable year.
units required to meet demand while Harare ume levels and profitability subject to avail- dium term given the appetite for provision of
alone has an estimated half a million home ability of foreign currency to import spares decent accommodation from both the govern- “Profit margins remained relatively strong
seekers on its waiting list. and capital equipment and adequate electrici- ment and private sectors,” said Chidziwo. despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic
ty supply,” said chairperson Washington Chid- on the business. Net cashflows generated from
Under the National Development Strategy ziwo in a performance update for the full year Although production activities during the operations amounted to ZW$90 million,” said
(NDS 1), the government has indicated one to 30 September 2021. past financial year were disrupted by effects of Chidziwo.
of its key priority areas is the provision of af- the Covid-19-induced lockdowns, production
fordable housing. Experts in real estate see potential in the sec- increased by 19% compared to the prior year. During the year, contracted capital expen-
tor coming from the residential segment while Significant downtime was recorded during the diture amounted to ZW$35 million compared
Management at Willdale therefore sees retail space and warehousing facilities are also year emanating from electricity outages. to ZW$54 million and was all financed from
great potential in residential housing develop- expected to offer good returns on investment. internal resources. This year, the brick-making
ments in the current year and going forward, In terms of financial performance, Will- firm has budgeted about US$1 million in cap-
also spurred on by an anticipated econom- Willdale recorded total sales volumes dale’s revenue for the year grew by 37% to ital expenditure to refurbish and renew parts
ic upturn, driven mainly by agriculture and growth in the year under review of 32% com- ZW$1.234 billion, compared to the prior of fixed and mobile plant to enhance efficiency
pared to the prior year housing developments, year’s ZW$ 904 million on the back of a 32% and quality.

NewsHawks News Analysis Page 27

Issue 67, 11 February 2022

NYASHA CHINGONO Govt's failure to negotiate tunity to show the world that a new
ruins children's future culture of dialogue with citizens is
PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangag- possible. 
wa’s government should urgently ad- PTUZ communications secretary Peter Machenjera.
dress teachers’ grievances if his regime Announcing a blanket US$100
is sincere about securing the future of This is tantamount to killing the fused to go back to class after schools meant to whip “rogue” teachers in “cushioning” salary increment this
millions of school children, analysts goose that lays the golden egg as the opened on Monday shows how the line. The government, through the week was another sign of failure to
have said.  future of scholars depends on the government does not prioritise the ministry of Primary and Secondary open dialogue and negotiate. 
teachers.  teaching profession.  Education, also announced that a
The future of education looks daily roll call of teachers will be con- Teachers have demanded a US$540
bleak as the impasse between teachers The teaching profession is central Instead of calling for dialogue, ducted at schools to fish out the strik- living wage, but their pleas continue
and the government continues, with to any nation’s development and the the government responded in typi- ing educators.  to fall on deaf ears. 
no end in sight.  welfare of these professionals must be cal hardline stance, issuing chilling
treated with utmost priority.  threats that any teacher who does not True to form, the government has They maintain that they are inca-
Although the love-hate relation- report for work will be punished.  reacted “military” style.  pacitated. 
ship between government officials The current impasse between the
and teachers has continued for de- government and teachers who re- The "no work, no pay" threat is Mnangagwa’s regime has an oppor- “Teachers are simply asking the
cades on the back of a crumbling government to return their salaries'
economy, their plight has worsened purchasing power to pre-October
over the past four years.  2018 levels of at least US$540,” Pro-
gressive Teachers' Union of Zimba-
Now barely getting enough to sur- bwe (PTUZ) communications secre-
vive, teachers say they are living like tary Peter Machenjera said.
paupers, yet they carry the responsi-
bility of educating the nation.  “Right now, the government is
meeting with ZIMTA (Zimbabwe
Constant teacher strikes are a stark Teachers' Association) on its own.
reminder that Zimbabwe’s education We don't mind our sister organisa-
system is in crisis and may continue tion meeting with the government,
on that path until the government but the timing is questionable, espe-
realises that the teacher deserves a de- cially where the government issued a
cent wage.  threatening circular on the same day
of this secret meeting.”
It is however sickening that the
government treats each industrial ac- The circular was also used to
tion as a direct attack on the state or threaten teachers with suspension.
the regime. 
“The government should simply
Teacher organisations are labelled give money to teachers, and every-
regime change agents, worse still, lik- thing will fall into place. Imagine that
ened to terrorist organisations. teachers received a salary of around
ZW$20 000 on January 18, 2022,
The never-ending cat-and-mouse and anyone assuming that teachers
game is a cause for concern, consid- were supposed to save something so
ering the deteriorating educational that they could travel to their various
standards in Zimbabwe.  stations is insane. That money they
pay teachers is their children's pocket
Reeling from a 12-month disrup- money for one weekend,” Machen-
tion on the school calendar due to jere said.
Covid-19, where pupils had to rely
on expensive home schooling. They “Teachers cannot afford to pay tu-
however continue to bear the brunt ition for their own children, even at
of a failed education system.  the schools where they teach, and yet
they are expected to teach. Teachers
The government soon respond- are unable to purchase basics such as
ed with a crackdown on backyard clothing or pay utility bills while the
schools, shutting down some and ar- government pretends that everything
resting the teachers. is normal,” he added.

The iron-fisted response to teach- Munyaradzi Masiyiwa, deputy
ers conducting extra lessons, especial- secretary-general of Zimbabwe Ru-
ly for examination classes, was wide- ral Teachers' Union, concurred with
ly viewed as counterproductive as Machenjera, saying the government
schools were shut over a long period.  should meet all registered teachers'
unions and show willingness to ad-
Apart from assisting scholars pre- dress the challenges.
pare for final examinations, the pri-
vate lessons also augmented teachers' “As previously stated, there was no
poor salaries. But the government agreement and no collective bargain-
has forged ahead with its crackdown.  ing. It's a case of take-it-or-leave-it,”
he said.
During this period, the govern-
ment introduced online lesson, but While the government contin-
most poor families could not afford ues taking a hardline stance towards
data, a situation that excluded most teachers, public commentators say
scholars from accessing education at the authorities should instead engage
home.  the educators, hear their grievances
and find a solution. Zimbabwe risks
Despite spirited efforts by teach- plunging yet another generation into
ers’ associations to engage the gov- hopelessness if teachers continue to
ernment on the salary issue, the au- stay away from classrooms.
thorities have thrown out educators'
petitions. 

TAKE WHY YOU SHOULD
RESPONSIBILITY STAY 3 FEET AWAY

PREVENT FROM PEOPLE
THE SPREAD
OF COVID-19

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

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

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

Page 28 Critical Thinking NewsHawks

Issue 67, 11 February 2022

Sabelo J. Is another politics possible?
Ndlovu-Gatsheni
The November 2017 military coup in Zimbabwe which led to the fall of the late former president Robert Mugabe and others idea of decoupling the “nation” from
NATIONALIST politics are exhaust- in Egypt, Algeria, Sudan and new ones in Guinea, Mali and other places have not yet proven to be a solution to the Africans the “state” arises as part of a purpose-
ed but not out of the way worldwide. problems of governance. ful reconstitution of the political it-
They are everywhere degenerating self so as to implement a paradigm
to chauvinism and other detestable ficed and many died.    of the so-called independence, who a strong confidence in multi-party political shift from “state sovereign-
forms of racism, nativism, xenopho- All this is a sign of a failed liber- have been subjected to genocides, liberal democracy as a solution. It ty” to the “sovereignty of the people.”
bia, sexism and walled states. ethnic cleansing, massacres, and in- was within this context that Francis States as a regime come and go. But
ation project in which popular an- deed been exposed to marginality Fukuyama posited his Hegelian “end nations as the people remain. Cur-
The very ideas of a people of a ti-colonial nationalism was never and even being written out of the na- of history’’ thesis in which liberalism rently, those who ascended to the
place (insiders) and a people out of translated successfully into post-colo- tion-states; are toying with politics of as an ideology had triumphed over all state power make the state superior
place (outsiders) is generating much nial pan-ethnic horizontal comrade- secession as an option and life-saver. other ideologies.  It was the leading to the nation. It is within this con-
of contemporary conflicts and wars. ship. Rather tribalism, regionalism, Can we blame them? Not at all, as African intellectual Thandika Mkan- text that the people find themselves
At the centre of nationalism is the sexism and patriarchy, which were long as all doors of enjoying citizen- dawire who dropped the bombshell being pressured to be patriotic to a
idea of a nation as constituted by covered under the garb of national- ship and belonging remain closed. with his concept of “choiceless de- blood-sucking securocratic state pre-
a people of a place and a boundary ism, returned in its most detestable However, there is a limit to the se- mocracies” as a problem in Africa in sided over by a blood-sucking mili-
enclosing them from the people out forms. State-making was confused cession option in that it is still about which elections were hijacked and tary junta.  If the marriage of the na-
of a place. The sider-outsider binary with party-and-leader power consol- establishing another “nation-state” redeployed as mere rituals with pre- tion to the state and vice-versa is not
has been accentuated by increased idation. Conquest of power and its (whereby “nation” and “state” are determined outcomes favourable to toxic, the question of a nation whose
human movement and accelerated retention by all means pervaded the forced into a marriage of conve- the incumbents. Is the return of mil- patriotism is doubted to the extent
human entanglements. Populists, body politic. nience) and the invention of minori- itary coups in Africa an attempt to of thinking of introducing a law to
nativists and imperialists and indeed ties might emerge in that envisioned circumvent “choiceless democracies” enforce it would not arise. 
neo-colonialists, have not hesitated Attainment of political power outfit. There is a sort of repetition whereby elections are just rituals with
to fish in these troubled waters and which was supposed to be a means to without change in that nationalism predetermined outcomes? The No- What is on the table is how to
in the process abet the conflicts and an end became an end in itself called remains the driving ideology,  un- vember 2017 military coup in Zim- re-invest energies in the invention
wars.  "kutonga". Nation-building was re- less there is a clear strategy on how babwe and others in Egypt, Algeria, and construction of “citizen-states”
duced to a change of name, hoisting to transcend the majority-minority Sudan and new ones in Guinea, Mali whereby the citizens wield the pow-
In the formerly colonised world, of a flag, composing a national an- problem. However, the South Sudan and other places have not yet proven er and determination of who leads
the notion of the heaven of decolo- them, and changing names of build- example proves otherwise and the to be a solution to the Africans prob- them. How did the nation lose pow-
nisation being attainment of nation- ings and roads.  Dinka and Nur turned on each other lems of governance.  er to the state, without a clear social
al status and national sovereignty soon after attainment of liberation.  contract to ensure the state is acting
has proven to be hellish. National Those in charge of the state of- This takes us to the Leninist ques- on behalf of the nation? How did the
sovereignty has not been successfully fended the nation when they elevated Not only is nationalism exhausted tion of what is to be done? Is another state invade, colonise and dominate
translated to people’s sovereignty. In their ethnic and clannish ancestors but also liberalism. Since the end of politics possible? In the first place, the nation? Worse still, how did one
most cases, national sovereignty has into national ancestors and commis- the Cold War in 1989, liberal democ- what emerged and became known political party invade, colonise, and
been captured by ethnic, regional, sioned statues for them as national racy has been sold to the post-Cold as the Arab Spring engulfing parts of dominate both the state and the na-
partisan and even clannish elites who symbols. Both the living nation and War world as a panacea to modern Africa and the Middle East, were in tion? 
continue to invite the poor peasants the departed ancestors became open political and even economic prob- a sense an attempt by the people in
and workers to annual celebrations to abuse for hegemonic purposes. lems. National conferences, begin- their various walks of life to recap- These are pertinent questions of
of non-existent independence and Nation-building does not mean that. ning with one in Benin in the 1990s, ture their stolen sovereignty by the today and we have to put our heads
hijacked people’s sovereignty.  The were convened to enable a shift from states and its leaders who were no together to advance a struggle for the
very coupling of “nation” to “state” It entails strategic and careful se- one-party and military-dictatorships longer accountable and legitimate in decolonisation of constituted toxic
into “nation-state” has proven to be lection of what would constitute to multi-party liberal democracies. the eyes of the people. Leaders who politics so as to re-centre the citizens.
a toxic marriage. Some nations/peo- national symbols considering the di- In the national conferences, one were in power for power’s sake and These pertinent questions also arise
ple had to be killed in the name of versity and complexity of the nation could see an attempt by citizens to nothing more.  from a context where over the years,
saving the nation-states. States as in- itself for purposes of fostering na- recapture sovereignty and there was citizens have been reduced to “vot-
stitutions have been captured by par- tional unity and national harmony.   It is within this context that the ers” who are always threatened and
ticular ethnic and partisan elites. In killed if they make choices, which
other instances, a man and his wife In desperation, some compatriots those who claim to have liberated
(calling themselves the first family) who have been on the receiving end them from colonialism and are cur-
would end up at the apex of the state rently in charge of the state did not
pretending to be symbolising the prescribe. Operation Gukurahundi
nation-state, turning it into a family and Operation Mavhoterapapi are
affair and arrogating to themselves clear reminders of how the nation as
honorifics of being a mother and a people was conquered by a particular
father of the nation who are beyond political party and is continuing to
reproach.  Those who claim to have be held hostage by an unholy alliance
fought for the liberation of Afri- of a military-civil cabal presiding
cans continued to make themselves over a securocratic state. 
the first citizens and push all other
into subjects. By claiming the right The key difficulty is that this parti-
of having died for others, they have san securocratic state is highly invest-
attained also extended that to claim ed in continually reducing elections
power to rule over others for ever. to a mere ritual with predictable out-
comes. This raises a difficult question
Governance is reduced to rulership as to whether elections are adequate
and a straightjacket only fitting those to the task at hand. It would seem
with the so-called liberation war cre- that without downplaying the role
dentials.  By claiming the right of of elections as a means of deliver-
having died for others, they have es- ing change, the aspiring opposition
calated that to the level of legitimate political formations have to rethink
corruption of accessing national re- the nature of our politics itself and
sources and even to loot the national especially political values and polit-
coffers for our own personal benefits.  ical practices in the first instance.
It is not surprising that in another They must be an alternative, not a
country in Africa, a young man was potential successor to the regime in
quoted as saying “when will this in- power.  The political formation that
dependence come to an end?” In took over power from the colonialists
desperation, he thought it was inde- in 1980 did not succeed to be a gen-
pendence itself that was the problem. uine radical alternative in its political
In Zimbabwe, where the ideology of values and political practices. It even
Chimurenga has been privatised and exceeded the colonialists in its vio-
where the nation has been conquered lence and authoritarianism. Some-
by a Chimurenga aristocracy, some thing better has to arise.
among the youth who are totally
excluded from resources and power *About the writer: Sabelo J. Ndl-
have to openly challenge this cabal ovu-Gatsheni is professor and chair
to return the country to where they of epistemologies of the Global
brought it, so that they can also lib- South with emphasis on Africa and
erate and perhaps also benefit as war vice-dean of research in the Africa
veterans with liberation credentials! Multiple Cluster of Excellence at
All this speak to an abused noble lib- the University of Bayreuth in Ger-
eratory legacy, for which many sacri- many. The opinion expressed here
is his own and that of a concerned
Zimbabwean.

NewsHawks Critical Thinking Page 29

Issue 67, 11 February 2022

Voter suppression and reason why it’s
important to vote in the by-elections
Another constituency that it does
Alex T. Citizens' Coalition for Change leader Nelson Chamisa. not trust and is likely to frustrate are
Magaisa young urban voters. One way of frus-
success in promoting voting rights. once the old liberators took power, registration, they miss out on a criti- trating these urban millennials is by
THE right to vote is one of the fun- Following the American Civil War, they discovered the joys of voter sup- cal part of the election process during slowing down the process of issuing
damental rights and freedoms that are the US Congress passed the 15th pression mechanisms. which rigging is likely to take place. national identity (ID) cards. The ID
known to humankind. Amendment to the Constitution card is a requirement for the voter
But it is also one of the most under- which outlawed state laws that de- The art of rigging Voter registration as a site of rig- registration process. As millions of
rated and most suppressed. It is the nied male citizens the right to vote When people hear of election rigging, ging young people who have become eli-
right that gives expression of consent based on “race, color or previous they have the image of election offi- One of the key sites of rigging in gible to vote do not have IDs, they
between the governors and the gov- condition of servitude.” While this cials busy stuffing ballot boxes with advance of an election is the voter are unable to register to vote. A gov-
erned and establishes an important major amendment opened the right fake ballots intended to favour one registration process. It is this process ernment that is sincere about pro-
social contract. By voting, citizens to vote for previously disenfranchised candidate. They might even visualise that determines the size of the voting moting voter registration would have
choose who should exercise the pow- African American males, the follow- officials running away from polling pool. At law, only the people who are carried out an ID registration blitz as
er to govern their society. And those ing decades saw new discriminatory stations in the middle of the might registered to vote are eligible to vote. a precursor or parallel to the current
who are chosen take on the respon- methods being implemented in the with ballot boxes and dumping them This might seem obvious, but I still voter registration exercise. There is no
sibility to fulfill their end of the bar- South to prevent African Americans in the river. These crude acts of elec- get young people asking me privately reason why the Registrar-General’s
gain. from exercising their right to vote. tion rigging have happened in the if they can just turn up at a polling Office and the Zimbabwe Electoral
Active and passive voters Therefore, there is a sense of déjà vu past and may still happen from time station to vote on election day with- Commission (Zec) cannot have an
The right to vote is unique in that to the current machinations in some to time.  out first registering as a voter. Elec- integrated process whereby an in-
every citizen exercises it whether in US states, a grim reminder that dom- tion illiteracy remains a key problem dividual gets the ID document and
an active or passive form. The citi- inant groups are always trying to lim- But the risk of getting caught and that political parties can only take for registers simultaneously. It is both
zen who goes to the polling station it other citizens’ rights to vote to gain undermining the whole election pro- granted at their peril.  cost-effective and reduces voter in-
to cast his or her vote on election an advantage long before the polling cess is too high. Those who want to convenience. 
day is actively exercising their right day.  rig elections know that it is far better The important point here is that
to vote. But the apathetic citizen to undertake rigging practices well in anyone who wants to affect the voting Another example of the exclu-
who stays at home and does not go The right to universal adult suf- advance of polling day. Nic Cheese- process will focus on influencing the sionary practices in the past was the
to the polling station is also passively frage, which guarantees the rights of man and Brian Klaas have an excel- size and quality of the voting pool. disqualification of citizens who were
exercising their right to vote. By not every adult person regardless of their lent book, How To Rig An Election, They will aim to limit the number labelled as “aliens”. The majority were
being active voters, they are outsourc- race, gender, or class had to be won that exposes these election rigging of people that are less likely to vote people born in Zimbabwe to parents
ing their responsibility to the active through hard battles. In the UK, it mechanisms. It is a manual for an- for them and to increase the numbers who had migrated from neighbour-
voters. By not going out to vote, they was not until 1918 that women were ti-riggers to devise ways of pre-empt- that are likely to support them. In ing countries like Malawi, Zambia,
are strengthening the choice of those allowed to vote. In the colonies, the ing and overcoming rigging. Zimbabwe, Zanu PF has traditionally and Mozambique during the colonial
who would have cast their votes. colonised communities were exclud- done better in rural areas than in ur- period. Zimbabwe is the only home
ed from exercising voting rights. One Unfortunately, international elec- ban areas. It tends to do well among they have ever known all their lives,
Therefore, just as the active voter of the key voter suppression mecha- tion observation processes are de- older voters and is less confident of but suddenly they found themselves
affects the election outcome by cast- nisms was to classify the colonised signed with a bias towards the polling youthful voters. Additionally, Zamu excluded from the pool of voters. As a
ing their vote, the passive voter also as non-citizens. Unsurprisingly, the day. This means at best independent PF has no confidence in citizens in result, hundreds of thousands of peo-
affects the election outcome by not right to vote was one of the key issues election observers only arrive a few the diaspora. It shouldn’t be surpris- ple found themselves not only state-
casting their vote. Either way, wheth- that motivated liberation struggles in months before the polling day. They ing therefore that it has never been less but disenfranchised. Although
er you are an active voter or a passive colonial societies. One of the reasons observe the brief campaign period, interested in promoting the diaspora their rights were fully restored under
voter, you will be affected by the elec- that the draft 1961 Constitution pro- the election day, and the immediate vote.  the 2013 Constitution, the practical
tion outcome. But at least the active posed by the Rhodesian government post-election period. As a result, they restoration is still a work in progress,
voter took positive steps to influence was rejected was that its provisions on only have sight of a part of the pic- Zanu PF is more likely to promote which means eligible voters remain
the outcome, whereas the passive vot- the right to vote suppressed the right ture, not the whole. They do not get voter registration in rural areas and to excluded. 
er did nothing and must carry the among Black Africans. Ironically, to observe what happens long before frustrate the urban voters who have
consequences of their inaction. polling day. Without sight of voter tended to vote for the opposition. One of the tragic legacies of Guku-
rahundi in the Matebeleland and
On a balance of considerations, it Midlands provinces in the 1980s is
is better to be an active voter. that families of thousands of people
Voter suppression who were killed by the state never got
To appreciate the significance of the death certificates as the state never
right to vote, one must consider how acknowledged their deaths. Children
dominant sectors of society have of victims of these atrocities have also
sought to suppress it throughout his- struggled to get identity documents,
tory. Just a quick glimpse at current which impacts their ability to register
events in the United States, one of the as voters. This leads to disenfranchise-
oldest democracies in the world, re- ment.   
veals how the ghost of voter suppres- Need for a voter registration strat-
sion is always threatening this most egy
important of democratic rights.  The opposition needs a robust and
sophisticated voter registration strat-
The US has a dark history of voter egy. It must recognize that the rul-
suppression, particularly among Afri- ing party’s strategy is to frustrate the
can Americans. It was not until the millennials whom it does not trust. A
historic Voting Rights Act in 1965 president who is keen to promote vot-
that barriers to voting were removed er registration would have addressed
for African Americans, especially the nation on this most important of
in the South who were made to go political processes. It is up to Nelson
through several hoops before they Chamisa to fill that gap and demon-
could exercise their rights. For exam- strate leadership. He is the one that
ple, they were subjected to literacy needs more new voters on the voters’
tests that the majority suffering years roll and must do more to encourage
of discrimination failed thereby pre- the millennials to register. 
venting them from voting. 
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commis-
Ironically, these discriminatory sion posted pathetic voter registration
methods had grown on the back of figures in 2021, a complete negation
of its constitutional mandate. The
constitution makes provision for a
continuous process of voter registra-
tion, but you would not think such
a facility exists. The idea was to make

Page 30 Critical Thinking NewsHawks

Issue 67, 11 February 2022

the process easier and more accessi- The second reason is that the ing judicialisation of politics. There is Citizens will also remember that Zanu PF leader Emmerson Mnangagwa.
ble. Yet nothing has changed from the by-elections are an opportunity for a growing tendency among political the MPs that were brought into par-
past. Zec does very little to promote citizens to participate in the demo- elites to rely on judges to decide pure- liament to replace the lawfully elect- major rival and gain an advantage be-
voter registration outside short bursts cratic process from which they have so ly political questions. Some judges ed MPs used their unjust mandate fore 2023. It will not be the first time
of mobile voter registration exercises far been excluded. Unfortunately, the have imprudently accepted the invi- to mutilate the national constitution that an election has been held where a
usually before election day. law regarding the recall of elected rep- tation to wade into internal matters when they voted for the two contro- regime surrogate is involved. Back in
resentatives excludes citizens. There is of political organizations and thereby versial constitutional bills. They could 1978, Ian Douglas Smith made a deal
The opposition needs to recognise no obligation on the political parties getting drawn into the cesspool of have used their mandate to defend with Bishop Abel Muzorewa, where-
that the election can be won or lost to consult citizens before recalling an party politics. These are quintessen- the constitution from the unneces- by Muzorewa became the blue-eyed
at the voter registration phase. This is MP. This is why Khupe and Mwon- tially political matters that must be sary and unlawful amendment. But boy of the colonial regime. The plan
why from the days of Tobaiwa Mud- zora went on recalling sprees without left to members, just as courts usually true to their character as marionettes was to create a charade of black ma-
ede running the Registrar General’s any regard to the opinions of citizens. leave corporate affairs to sharehold- of the regime, they repaid their polit- jority rule. Muzorewa was installed
Office with an iron fist Zanu PF has The same had happened in previous ers and directors of a company. The ical benefactors by voting to change as a Prime Minister following a sham
always maintained tight control over recall cases. This is a chance for citi- result is that there is over-reliance on the constitution. This helped to un- election in 1979. He was pampered by
the voters’ roll. An election cannot zens to have a say in the process; to opinions of the courts ahead of the lawfully extend the tenure of Chief the regime. But that was also the kiss
be free and fair when the process of say that even though the political court of public opinion in deciding Justice Malaba and to centralize pow- of political death because the more
establishing the voters’ register is not elites exercised their power to unjust- political questions. The forthcoming er in the hands of the President. he got support from the regime, the
open, transparent, and efficient. For ly recall their elected representatives, by-elections emanate from decisions more citizens lost confidence in him.
its part, the opposition must raise the the citizens can now restore them to of the courts of law, which failed to Finally, the by-elections present an In the end, a man who had presided
game and have a clear voter registra- their rightful positions. That way, the take cognizance of the court of public opportunity for citizens to halt the over the country as Prime Minister of
tion strategy. This strategy must be citizens will be demonstrating that opinion. The by-elections are an op- charade that Mwonzora and Mnan- Zimbabwe-Rhodesia managed just 3
decentralised down to the ward level.  they, and not the political elites are portunity to rectify this, to say that gagwa are promoting through their seats in the first democratic elections
the legitimate decision-makers.  political questions are decided by the so-called dialogue. Mwonzora and in 1980.
This is why local authority elec- The third reason to go out and citizens, not by unelected men and his allies have been angling for seats
tions matter – with a candidate for vote on 26 March is to punish po- women in their judicial chambers.  on the gravy train. The problem is The similarities couldn’t be more
every ward, there is a focal point to litical elites who have wasted tax- The by-elections also present a they have no political capital that striking. Mwonzora has strutted the
campaign for and encourage voter payers’ money through unnecessary great opportunity to defeat the pol- comes from the consent of the citi- political stage as the blue-eyed boy of
registration at the ward level. There recalls. Elections are an expensive itics of cronyism. The recall of pro- zens through an election. the Mnangagwa regime, just like Mu-
should be incentives for aspiring can- process, especially in a country that portional representation MPs opened zorewa was Smith’s favourite. The re-
didates both at local, constituency, is already struggling. The millions of a pathway for cronyism. This is be- They have been riding on the polit- gime has been openly partial to him,
and provincial levels to promote voter dollars that are being spent on the cause, without the need for an elec- ical capital won by Chamisa and his giving him public funds and favour-
registration in their respective areas. by-elections could have been put to tion, Khupe and Mwonzora simply party in the 2018 general elections. able media coverage that no other
For example, anyone aspiring to rep- more productive uses. The by-elec- rewarded their cronies. Khupe herself Even though the by-elections present opposition leader has ever received in
resent a ward or constituency must tions were not inevitable had Khupe jumped at the chance to return to an opportunity to demonstrate this the past. But in the end, Mwonzora
satisfy a certain threshold in terms of and Mwnzora exercised forbearance. parliament even though it was absurd political capital, Mwonzora did not is set to discover, just as Muzorewa
the numbers of new voters that they Contrary to common belief, Zimba- considering that she was taking a seat want them. It has been the odd case did 42 years ago, that the citizens
have helped to register. There must be bwe’s laws do not automatically pro- won by a party that she had compet- of a man who wants political dialogue ultimately have the final judgment,
similar targets for those who aspire to hibit floor-crossing between political ed against and lost to in the 2018 but is not prepared to demonstrate and they have the wisdom to tell the
get into parliament through propor- parties. An MP can cross the floor elections. Other cronies had also the political capital that is required to difference between right and wrong.
tional representation seats. The more and retain his or her seat. He or she competed and lost to the MDC-Al- earn a seat at the table. The by-elec- The honeymoon that began with the
aspiring candidates compete to reg- can only lose their seat when the par- liance’s candidates. tions are an opportunity for citizens Supreme Court judgment in March
ister voters, the better for the parties ty that he was a member of when he Their installment as MPs after the to make an emphatic statement that 2020 was never going to last forever.
and voter registration.  was elected notifies parliament that recalls represented one of the gross they reject the politics of puppetry. Voters have a chance to pronounce
Why it matters to vote in these he or she is no longer their member. absurdities of the recall process. Al- History repeats itself their judgment emphatically on 26
by-elections Had it not been for vindictiveness, though voters will not be able to cor- It is another moment in history when March, but to do so they must turn
By-elections traditionally draw a low- the MPs could have retained their rect this in the by-elections, a vote to Zimbabweans have a chance to say out in large numbers and the CCC
er voter turnout than general elec- seats and millions of dollars would restore the unjustly recalled represen- reject political surrogacy that is de- leadership must take the by-elections
tions. This is the biggest challenge not have been wasted on by-elections.    tatives will be a vote of no confidence signed to undermine the people’s seriously and campaign as if their
that the CCC faces in the forthcom- The fourth reason is that an over- in the politics of cronyism promoted will. Mnangagwa depriving Chamisa own political lives were at stake.
ing by-elections. Its opponents are whelming vote in the by-elections by Mwonzora, Khupe, and Mnan- of public funding and channelling it
keen to discourage voters by planting will represent a vote against the creep- gagwa. to Mwonzora is classic political sur- *About the writer: Dr Alex
information that is designed to frus- rogacy. The aim is to suffocate his Magaisa is a law lecturer at Kent
trate them into not bothering to go University in Britain and former
to the polls. When they say the MPs adviser to the late prime minister
will still be recalled, they are essen- Morgan Tsvangirai.
tially communicating that voting is a
pointless exercise. They realized that
their plan to confuse voters by grab-
bing the MDC-Alliance name came
to naught when the CCC adopted
a new name. The next strategy is to
manufacture yet more confusion over
it. However, citizens must remain
steadfast and vote in large numbers in
the by-elections.

The first reason is that the by-elec-
tions present an opportunity for
citizens to correct the democratic
anomaly caused by a small group of
individuals who were driven by vin-
dictiveness to subvert and undermine
the will of the people. When people
voted in 2018, they believed they
were voting for the MDC-Alliance
led by Chamisa. It never occurred to
them that someone else, let alone a ri-
val like Thokozani Khupe or Douglas
Mwonzora would wield the power to
remove their elected representatives.

The unjust removal of MPs left
several constituencies, provinces,
and wards without representation.
The people know that these removals
would not have been possible with-
out the connivance of the Zanu PF
regime which was hell-bent on de-
stroying the main opposition. This is
an opportunity for citizens to correct
the state-engineered anomaly but also
to present a vote of confidence to
Zanu PF’s surrogates.

NewsHawks Critical Thinking Page 31

Issue 67, 11 February 2022

What humans lose when we let AI decide

CHRISTINE MOSER/ FRAND DEN HOND/ Mind the Gap haps even a misrepresentation. During may make sense for many but could be will never be capable of judgment, only
DIRK LINDEBAUM These kinds of unintended consequenc- the making of the map, a multi-dimen- counterproductive if the air quality is of reckoning. Any attempt to inject
es should come as no surprise. Algo- sional reality is reduced by forcing it bad or you have weak lungs. ethics into AI therefore means that the
IT has been more than 50 years since rithms are nothing more than “precise to fit onto a two-dimensional surface ethics will be straightjacketed, distort-
HAL, the malevolent computer in the recipes that specify the exact sequence with a limited number of colors and How can we capture the undeniable ed, and impoverished to fit the charac-
movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, first ter- of steps required to solve a problem,” symbols. Many of us still know how benefits of these smart machines with- teristics of AI’s reckoning.
rified audiences by turning against the as one definition puts it. The precision to use a map. The trouble with AI sys- out mistaking the machine’s abstraction
astronauts he was supposed to protect. and speed with which the problem is tems is that we cannot fully understand for the whole story and delegating to AI Those who believe in ethical AI con-
That cinematic moment captures what solved makes it easy to accept the algo- how the machine “draws” its technical the complicated and consequential de- sider the technology to be a tool, on
many of us still fear in artifical intelli- rithm’s answer as authoritative, particu- images — what it emphasizes, what it cisions that should be made by humans? par with other tools that are essentially
gence (AI): that it may gain superhu- larly as we interact with more and more omits, and how it connects pieces of extensions of the human body, such as
man powers and subjugate us. But in- such systems designed to learn and then information in transitions toward the The problem is less the machines lenses (to extend the view of the eyes),
stead of worrying about futuristic sci-fi act autonomously. technical image. As statistician George than we ourselves. Our trust in AI or spoons and screwdrivers (to extend
nightmares, we should instead wake up Box once noted, “All models are wrong, leads us to confuse reckoning — deci- the dexterity of the hands). But we are
to an equally alarming scenario that is But as the examples above suggest, but some are useful.” We add, “If we sion-making based on the summing up skeptical. In our view, as with wear-
unfolding before our eyes: We are in- this gap between our inflated expecta- don’t know  how  a model is wrong, it of various kinds of data and technical ables, it’s crucial to consider the user as
creasingly, unsuspectingly yet willingly, tion of what an algorithm can do and is not only useless, but using it can be images — with judgment. Too much part of the tool: We need to think hard
abdicating our power to make decisions its actual capabilities can be dangerous. dangerous.” This is because reckoning faith in the machine — and in our abil- about how algorithms shape us. If the
based on our own judgment, including Although computers can now learn based on a technical image can never ity to programme and control that ma- substitution of data-driven reckoning
our moral convictions. What we believe independently, draw inferences from reveal the full truth, simply because this chine — can produce untenable, and for human judgment is something to
is “right” risks becoming no longer a environmental stimuli, and then act is not what it has been made for. perhaps even irreversible, situations. be very cautious about, then following
question of ethics but simply what the on what they have learned, they have We see(k) in AI’s confident answers the rallying cry to develop responsible
“correct” result of a mathematical cal- limits. The common interpretation Through a process of reckoning, the the kind of certainty that our ancestors AI will not help us break the substitu-
culation is. of these limits as “bias” is missing the machines make decisions — which are sought in vain in entrails, tarot cards, or tion. What can we do?
point, because to call it bias implies that essentially based on technical images the stars above. A Call to Action (and Inaction)
Day to day, computers already make there is the possibility that the limits of — that have an air of precision, and We see two ways forward.
many decisions for us, and on the sur- AI reckoning can be overcome, that AI of being indisputably correct. The risk Some observers — scholars, man- First, we want to make a call for inac-
face, they seem to be doing a good will eventually be able to eliminate bias is that we end up fashioning ourselves agers, policy makers — believe that tion: We need to stop trying to auto-
job. In business, AI systems execute and render a complete and truthful rep- and our society based on the image that following responsible AI development mate everything that can be automated
financial transactions and help HR de- resentation of reality. But that is not the the technology has formed of us. If we principles is a valid and effective ap- just because it is technically feasible.
partments assess job applicants. In our case. The problem lies deeper. rely too much on these algorithms, we proach to injecting ethical consider- This trend is what Evgeny Morozov
private lives, we rely on personalized risk mistaking the map for the territory, ations into AI systems. We agree when describes as  technological solutionism:
recommendations when shopping on- AI systems base their decisions on like the unfortunate motorists in Mar- they argue that as a cultural product, AI finding solutions to problems that are
line, monitor our physical health with what philosopher Vilém Flusser called seille, France, who let their GPS direct is bound to reflect the outlooks of peo- not really problems at all. Mesmerised
wearable devices, and live in homes “technical images”: the abstract patterns them straight off a quayside street and ple who commissioned the algorithm, by the promise of eternal improvement,
equipped with “smart” technologies of pixels or bytes — the digital images into the harbor. wrote its code, and then used the pro- technological solutionism blunts our
that control our lighting, climate, en- of the “world” that the computer has gramme. We disagree when they say ability to think deeply about whether,
tertainment systems, and appliances. been trained to produce and process. A Consider, for instance, the way peo- that therefore careful attention to the when, how, and why to use a given tool.
technical image is the computed trans- ple use wearable electronic devices that overall project and its programming
Unfortunately, a closer look at how formation of digitalised data about monitor bodily functions, including is all that is needed to keep the results Second, we also make a call to action.
we are using AI systems today suggests some object or idea, and, as such, it is pulse rate, steps taken, temperature, and mostly positive. Critical voices about As a society, we need to learn what AI
that we may be wrong in assuming that a representation of the world. However, hours of sleep, as indicators of health. our ability to instill ethics into AI are really is and how to work with it. Spe-
their growing power is mostly for the as with any representation, it is incom- Instead of asking yourself how you feel, increasing, asking the basic question of cifically, we need to learn how to un-
good. While much of the current cri- plete; it makes discrete what is continu- you can check your wearable. It may whether we can “teach” ethics to AI sys- derstand and use its technical images,
tique of AI is still framed by science fic- ous and renders static what is fluid, and tell you that you should be concerned tems in the first place. Going back to just as we needed to learn how to work
tion dystopias, the way it is being used therefore one must learn how to use it because you do not take the minimum the roots of AI, we should realise that with models and maps — not just in
now is increasingly dangerous. That’s intelligently. Like a two-dimensional number of steps generally recommend- the very fundaments of judgment and a general, abstract, and idealised sense,
not because Google and Alexa are map, it is a selective representation, per- ed for a healthy life — a target that reckoning are different and cannot be but for each specific project where it is
breaking bad but because we now rely reconciled. This means that AI systems envisioned.
on machines to make decisions for us
and thereby increasingly substitute da- In practice, that means that man-
ta-driven calculations for human judg- agers should judge on a case-by-case
ment. This risks changing our morality basis whether, how, and why to use AI.
in fundamental, perhaps irreversible, Avoiding blanket applications of the
ways, as we argued in our recent essay technology means taking AI’s limits se-
in Academy of Management Learning & riously. For example, while algorithms
Education  (which we’ve drawn on for gain greater predictive power when fed
this article). more data, they will always assume a
static model of society, when, in fact,
When we employ judgment, our de- time and context are ever changing.
cisions take into account the social and And once managers have judged AI to
historical context and different possible be a useful tool for a given project, we
outcomes, with the aim, as philosopher see essential merit in managers devel-
John Dewey wrote, “to carry an incom- oping and maintaining an attitude of
plete situation to its fulfilment.” Judg- vigilance and doubt.
ment relies not only on reasoning but
also, and importantly so, on capacities This is because, in the absence of
such as imagination, reflection, ex- vigilance and doubt, we might miss the
amination, valuation, and empathy. moment when our decision-making
Therefore, it has an intrinsic moral di- frame has transitioned from judgment
mension. to reckoning. This would mean that we
would hand over our power to make
Algorithmic systems, in contrast, moral decisions to the machine’s reck-
output decisions after processing data oning.
through an accumulation of calculus,
computation, and rule-driven ratio- Given the rapid advances of AI,
nality — what we call  reckoning.  The there isn’t much time. We all must re-
problem is that having processed our learn how to make decisions informed
data, the answers these systems give by our own judgment rather than let
are constrained by the narrow objec- ourselves be lulled by the false assurance
tives for which they were designed, of algorithmic reckoning.
without regard for potentially harmful
consequences that violate our moral — MIT Sloan Review.
standards of justice and fairness. We’ve *About the writers: Christine Mos-
seen this in the error-prone, racially bi- er is an associate professor of organ-
ased predictive analytics used by many isation theory at Vrije Universiteit
American judges in sentencing. And in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Frank
the Netherlands, some 40 000 families den Hond is the Ehrnrooth Professor
unfairly suffered profound financial in management and organisation at
harm and other damages due to the the Hanken School of Economics in
tax authorities’ reliance on a flawed AI Finland and is affiliated with Vrije
system to identify potential fraudulent Universiteit Amsterdam. Dirk Linde-
use of a child benefit tax-relief program. baum is a senior professor in organi-
The ensuing scandal forced the Dutch sation and management at Grenoble
government to resign in January 2021. Ecole de Management in France.

Page 32 Reframing Issues NewsHawks

Issue 67, 11 February 2022

Politics is praxis: 
The organic 
activism of 
Madzibaba 
Veshanduko

Taona B. uploaded and posted their yellow the CCC can do for you, but raltarians do not have access to problems is an important ingre-
Denhere outfit in solidarity with the birth what you can do for them”. Ac- social media and the national dient in cultivating servant lead-
of the CCC. cordingly, in these early moments broadcaster ZBC is institution- ership. There is no doubt that
OFTENTIMES in our political, of the political teething of the ally biased against the opposi- in future if Madzibaba wants to
electoral and social spheres much The CCC’s expected rise will CCC, Madzibaba could be seen tion, it was mostly through word run for councillor, he has so far
attention and visibility are fo- effectively bury the MDC polit- as already evangelising and trying of mouth that the village elders demonstrated that he had the or-
cused on elite public figures and ical brand which became the ral- to win hearts and minds for the could be kept abreast about the ganic discipline, the gravitas and
political leaders who are custom- lying point against Zanu PF over CCC. birth of CCC. sound qualities to be a grounded
arily at the top of the state and the past two decades, especially at servant leader.
civic food chain.  the height of its power. Through his unmistakable The multi-pronged organic po-
customary and traditional an- litical conscientisation of Madzi- The Zimbabwean political eco-
Consequently, those at the The MDC brand is likely to kle-length brightly coloured baba can be further demonstrat- system, just like its social and
bottom of the electoral and polit- die in the by-elections or gener- apostle gown, which this time ed by the manner in which he cultural polities, has been heavily
ical pyramid tend to be conspic- al elections, with MDC-T leader is yellow instead of being red, spread his political evangelical influenced by the hyper-glam-
uously ignored, anonymised and Douglas Mwonzora, Chamisa’s Madzibaba’s visibility and pres- tentacles into voter registration ourised celebrity culture. This
invisibilised despite the fact that political arch-rival, as its under- ence was felt in Harare's city cen- and voter mobilisation exercise.  celebrity culture has expressed
they are important bolts and nuts taker. tre. Like a biblical prophet, itself through the socialite phe-
that make the overall party elec- In another particular video nomenon of mbingaism (mon-
toral and political machinery to However, amid the intoxicat- Madzibaba, armed with his clip, he is witnessed thanking ied and usually flamboyant social
spin, turn and run smoothly.  ing and infectious "yellow fe- sceptre, could be seen traversing the newly registered young voters high-fliers).  
ver" euphoria around the CCC, the length and breadth of the and exhorting them to be fishers
At this point it is important to Madzibaba VeShanduko was al- central business district, spread- of other new young voters. This Consequently, national vir-
invoke Mari Matsuda’s thesis of ready getting his hands dirty, bat- ing the news and publicising the is particularly significant, consid- tues of civic responsibilities and
“looking to the bottom” in order tle ready and hitting the ground newborn political baby to local ering the fact that there has been civic agency have largely been
to bring to national conscious- running, propagating and publi- residents and citizens at large.   voter registration apathy from under-appreciated, downplayed
ness the fundamental civic duty cising the newly-born baby across the younger generation. It is this and largely ignored. Hence, the
and organic agency of one of the the political landscape. Politics is praxis and, accord- largely under-appreciated hands- selfless commitment of Madzi-
frontline warriors of democra- ingly, Madzibaba, like a prophet on approach work of the likes of baba VeShanduko deserves to
cy whose selfless and tireless ef- The MDC-Alliance, led by possessed with yellow fever and Madzibaba which has a signifi- be highlighted, recognised and
forts have often been overlooked, Chamisa before its metamor- anointed with the gospel of citi- cant bearing in driving home the appreciated.  Madzibaba is the
downplayed and largely ignored.  phosis to CCC, had been bru- zen change, took his crusade into gospel of voter registration. visible representation of many in-
tally criticised as only actively the belly of the beast. That is into visibilised and under-appreciated
This effort attempts to bring involved in idle social media ac- the Zanu PF rural strongholds.  The organic citizen respon- foot soldiers of the democratic
into focus the crucial civic, po- tivism, but conspicuously and sibility, activism and agency of struggle. 
litical and democratic role being crucially missing on the political Thus he did not just confine Madzibaba is also further cap-
performed by Madzibaba Vesh- theatre, especially in the Zanu PF his evangelical crusade to the tured in video footage of a bro- It is their tireless efforts in
anduko, a local activist, in the rural heartlands. safe and comfort zones of oppo- ken village borehole. Madzibaba the frontlines of the democrat-
less glamorous dungeons of po- sition-friendly enclaves like Ha- was highlighting concern about ic struggle that lubricate and set
litical and civic activism. Its leaders were also criticised rare city centre. Therefore, it was the lack of clean potable water in motion the whole democratic
for being full of talk, but no ac- refreshing and empowering to for the villagers due to the bro- machinery. Madzibaba VeShan-
The launch of the Citizens' tion and visibility – all froth but witness Madzibaba aboard a don- ken down borehole. Nonetheless, duko, tinoti vhangeri ne shoko
Coalition for Change (CCC), no beer. All sorts of theories were key-drawn cart in the company he was assuring the community reshanduko ngarifambe (Madzi-
formerly MDC-Alliance, led peddled about why Chamisa was of village elders.   that he had purchased some of baba VeShanduko, we say the
by Nelson Chamisa, was over- not acting, with some saying he the spare parts to fix the bore- gospel of change must spread,
whelmingly received and greeted was compromised behind the In that scotch-cart, Madzibaba hole.  reach far and wide).
with much pomp and fanfare.  scenes by President Emmerson was breaking the bread, inform-
Mnangagwa’s regime or its en- ing, educating and conscientising Moreover, his overall wish was *About the writer: Taona
It was a big deal. ablers. the village elders about this new to modernise the borehole and Blessing Denhere is a human
The contagious and infectious political kid on the block. This have a solar-powered system with rights and international de-
resonance of this new political However, in the spirit of the was a pragmatic and common- water storage tanks and taps. velopment lawyer based in the
kid on the block – set to emerge late United States President John sensical approach to publicising This kind of grounded hands-on United Kingdom.
as the biggest opposition par- F Kennedy, people must "ask not the CCC in the rural areas.  approach towards community
ty in the March by-elections or what your country can do for
the 2023 general elections given you, but ask what you can do for Considering that most ru-
its wide social base, was accom- your country".
panied with euphoria as demon-
strated by the trending on the Zimbabweans are fond of ask-
social media platform Twitter of ing what their country can do for
the hashtag #YellowFriday where- them, not the opposite – what
by every progressive freedom and they can do for their country.
democracy-loving Zimbabwean Former US ambassador to Ha-
rare Christopher Dell once de-
scribed Zimbabweans as “docile”,
a description widely shared by
many locals at home and abraod.

But Madzibaba is not and
could be literally and practically
viewed as saying “ask not what

NewsHawks Reframing Issues Page 33

Issue 67, 11 February 2022

The face of the modern mercenary

IN Frederick Forsyth’s 1974 novel, The An age-old profession has changed, raising questions most recent and high-profile engage-
Dogs of War, a band of mercenaries slips about accountability and effectiveness. ment on the continent was its involve-
into a small, fictional African nation at ment in the growing violent insurgen-
the direction of a Western tycoon bent tives and exploitation of African na- dependence from 1954 to 1962. Russian Wagner Group. cy in northern Mozambique’s Cabo
on deposing the nation’s dictator to ex- tions and their valuable resources. Private Military Companies:  This — was  Executive Outcomes (EO), Delgado province. DAG was called in
ploit valuable platinum. Types of 'mercenary' groups founded in 1989 by Eeben Barlow, a to help Mozambican authorities put
Mercenary is a term often applied to is the more modern version of what former officer in the South African De- down the Islamic State-backed insur-
The novel, and the 1980 movie anyone working in a military or securi- commonly are called mercenaries. fence Force. Barlow’s connections and gency in 2020, but its one-year con-
based upon it, tells a violent tale that ty context outside of a state military or PMCs, sometimes called private mili- experience — he was a lieutenant col- tract reportedly was scheduled to end
paints a stereotypical picture of merce- police institution. But there are distinc- tary security companies, are legal enti- onel — afforded him access to person- in early April 2021.
naries: cynical, amoral, highly trained, tions that should be noted when look- ties, unlike true mercenaries. Howev- nel with a range of military and tactical
heavily armed, single-minded and be- ing at those hired to perform functions er, their use is controversial and often experience. DAG had some success during its
holden to those who pay them. traditionally reserved for the military. raises questions about accountability presence in Mozambique. It came in
and actual or potential abuses. Various That, coupled with equipment that after extremists had routed the forces
In Forsyth’s story, the small band Here are some useful definitions: countries take differing positions on included cargo and troop carriers, light of the Russian PMC Wagner Group.
of hired guns are veterans of other Mercenaries:  This term typically the use of PMCs. aircraft and surveillance equipment, However, in a March 2021 report,
clandestine battles, operating through applies to individuals who sell their allowed EO to operate with efficiency Amnesty International accused the or-
shadowy deals, selling their services to services to fighting forces or causes as A PMC is a private business that and effectiveness in two African con- ganization — and other parties to the
questionable benefactors. freelancers. They take part directly in typically has several characteristics. flicts: civil wars in Angola and Sierra conflict — of indiscriminate attacks on
hostilities, do so for private gain and First, it sells its services to national Leone, wrote South African journalist civilians.
The modern mercenary is more like- for sums typically exceeding those paid governments, international groups Khareen Pech. She reported her find-
ly to operate under a corporate banner, to combatants in the armed forces, ac- and other actors. Those services can ings in the 1999 book Peace, Profit The report accused DAG staff of
sometimes with government ties, strik- cording to international humanitarian include guarding convoys, buildings or Plunder? The Privatisation of Se- opening fire indiscriminately on civil-
ing deals with legitimate administra- law. They are not nationals or residents and personnel; maintaining and op- curity in War-Torn African Societies, ians while pursuing insurgent fighters.
tions to crush insurgencies and end of territories controlled by parties in erating weapons; overseeing detainees; published by the Institute for Security
civil wars. the conflict and are not sent by non- and advising and training local security Studies. DAG founder Lionel Dyck told Re-
party nations as members of their forces, according to the International uters: “We take these allegations very
Mercenaries are about as old as war armed forces. Committee of the Red Cross. In Angola, EO used Mi-24 heli- seriously and we are going to put an
itself. Persia’s King Xerxes I is said to The 1989 International Conven- copter gunships, converted Mi-17 independent legal team in there shortly
have employed Greek fighters in 484 tion Against the Recruitment, Use, Sometimes, these groups engage troop-carriers and L-39 trainer jet to do a board of inquiry and look at
B.C. Soldiers for hire have populated Financing and Training of Mercenar- in “direct, tactical military assistance” fighters, Pech wrote. It also operated what we are doing.”
many of history’s well-known wars, ies forbids the recruitment and use of to include combat on the front lines several light aircraft and two Boeing
from the Balearic Islands shepherds mercenaries. of a conflict, according to American 727s out of airports in Johannesburg Russia’s  Wagner Group  is perhaps
who fought for Carthage during the Thirty-seven nations are parties to scholar and political scientist Peter W. and Malta. Through troop training the most active and notorious PMC
Punic Wars against Rome, to the Ger- the treaty, including 10 African na- Singer. Sometimes, services include in- and other support, EO is credited with operating on the continent now. It
man auxiliary soldiers known as Hes- tions: Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, telligence, logistics and maintenance. helping to turn the tide in favor of gov- has been active in the Central African
sians who fought for the British in the Guinea, Liberia, Libya, Mali, Maurita- ernment forces during that conflict. Republic, Libya, Madagascar, Mozam-
American Revolution. nia, Senegal, the Seychelles and Togo. These private groups have been used bique and Sudan. It pulled out of Mo-
Five others — Angola, the Democratic in conflicts all over the world in plac- In Sierra Leone, EO was hired in the zambique after Islamic State-aligned
Mercenaries also have deep roots Republic of the Congo, Morocco, Ni- es such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo, mid-1990s to help government forces extremists there imposed heavy losses
in African warfare. Egyptian Pharaoh geria and the Republic of the Congo Syria and the former Yugoslavia. Such in their fight against Revolutionary on its personnel.
Ramses II is said to have used more — have signed, but not ratified, the groups recently have been active in United Front rebels. Government forc-
than 10 000 mercenaries in the 13th treaty. Africa in the Central African Repub- es eventually defeated rebels, secured a Wagner Group is a prime example
century BC. Such fighters also were Auxiliaries: These fighters are orga- lic, Libya and Mozambique, to name peace treaty and held elections. of a private organization being used as
hallmarks of colonial and Cold War nized differently than regular military a few. a national proxy to secure influence in
eras.  forces and might consist of troops from EO, which frequently has been the a foreign nation without having to sub-
foreign or allied nations that serve an- The use of PMCs is complicated subject of controversy, shut down in mit to the scrutiny usually brought on
Major Michael “Mad Mike” Hoare, other nation at war. An example of from a legal standpoint. Put simply, if the late 1990s, but Barlow announced by the use of more official government
a British Army veteran of World War this would be the Hessians used by the PMC employees are not used as com- in a December 2020 post to his Face- and military channels.
II, once was considered the world’s British in the American Revolution. batants, then they are by definition book page that the company had been
best-known mercenary. He fought at Also, auxiliaries can include local civilians and entitled to all associated reactivated. Wagner is linked to Yevgeny Prigo-
the behest of Congolese prime minister fighters recruited to serve with colonial protections. zhin, a Russian businessman and close
Moïse Tshombe against the commu- troops. For example, French colonial Prominent PMCs in africa Another PMC active on the con- associate of Russian President Vladi-
nist-backed Simba rebellion in 1964, forces used Muslim fighters known as Several PMCs have been involved in tinent is South Africa-based  Dyck mir Putin. The oligarch is said to run
according to a February 2020 BBC Harkis during the Algerian War of In- high-profile African conflicts over the Advisory Group (DAG), which was the company. In fact, experts say that
obituary. His men became known as past 30 or so years. Some of the more formed by Lionel Dyck, a former colo- Russia uses PMCs such as Wagner as
“The Wild Geese,” and a fictional mov- prominent ones are profiled below. nel in the Zimbabwean military.  a way to advance national foreign pol-
ie was based on their exploits.  icy objectives in other nations without
Perhaps the most well-known Af- DAG offers a range of services, ac- the direct involvement of the Russian
In 1981, Hoare’s career ended in rican PMC — and one of the first cording to its website, which include government. 
embarrassment when he and 46 of his counterpoaching, explosive hazard Balancing benefits and threats
recruits tried to overthrow the socialist management and canine services. Its The use of PMCs and mercenaries was
government of President France Al- discussed in February 2019 during
bert René in the Seychelles. An airport the United Nations Security Council
blunder by one man revealed a disas- debate on “Mercenary activities as a
sembled AK47. In an attempt to es- source of insecurity and destabilisation
cape, the mercenaries commandeered in Africa.” Equatorial Guinean Presi-
an Air India plane back to South Af- dent Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mba-
rica, the BBC reported. A year later, sogo presided, and members discussed
Hoare and his men were tried in the the potential destabilising aspects of
hijacking. Hoare spent 33 months in such forces balanced against the super-
prison. vised use of PMCs to train militaries
and offer much-needed logistical sup-
Starting in 1961, well-known port.
French mercenary Bob Denard led
uprisings in Angola, the former Bel- Mercenary forces were cited as a
gian Congo, Benin, Zimbabwe (then threat to African nations, especially
called Rhodesia) and several times in in regions with rich natural resources.
the Comoros, according to The New President Obiang said his nation be-
York Times. It was in that tiny island came a mercenary target after oil was
nation in October 1995 that French discovered in the 1990s, adding that
forces stormed the country to reverse there had been five attempts to invade
his third coup there, marching the Equatorial Guinea using mercenaries.
limping, gray-haired man out of the “These mercenaries attempted to assas-
barracks outside the capital, Moroni. sinate me and my family in December
He died in 2007. 2017,” he told the Security Council.

Some more modern incarnations of Participants spoke of updating leg-
the “soldier of fortune” are likely to be islation on mercenaries, using a legal
employed by what are called private framework similar to those used to
military companies (PMCs). These counter piracy and terrorism, and of
businesses, sometimes formed by veter- securing borders. Still others said na-
ans of national militaries, can provide tions must distinguish between desta-
anything from logistics and training to bilising mercenary groups and more
lethal force on the battlefield. professional and legitimate groups that
provide valuable services. 
They have been a steady presence in
Africa for at least a generation, selling PMCs are likely to continue as a
their services in high-profile conflicts source of debate in Africa for years to
all over the continent. Their use fuels come.
ongoing debates about accountability.
PMCs coming in from outside raise — Africa Defence Forum.
difficult questions about foreign mo-

Page 34 Critical Thinking NewsHawks

OSCAR GAKUO MWANGI Issue 67, 11 February 2022

KENYA remains in a state of height- Kenya is on edge again: Here’s what
ened alert following travel warnings you should know about terror alerts
by French, US and European Union of- The more complex a terrorist group
ficials of imminent terrorist attacks. is in terms of organisation and ideol-
Kenya has suffered deadly terror attacks ogy, the more difficult it is to predict
claimed by the Somali Islamist group its strategies and tactics.
Al-Shabaab. As a result it has  beefed
up security. Oscar Gakuo Mwangi has Special forces arrive at the scene of a terrorist attack at the DusitD2 hotel complex in Nairobi, Kenya, in January 2019. What steps should the public and
studied Kenya’s counter-terrorism pol- Simon Maina/AFP via Getty Images security forces take?
icies and strategies. We asked him to The public, once aware of the threats,
unpack the intelligence behind terror citizens based on the information to celebrate prior successful attacks. the coastal county of Lamu. are supposed to take precautions.
alerts. shared. Attacks can be  symbolic, intended These include avoiding crowded pub-
How is intelligence on impending to advance ideological aims and ob- Why are alerts usually general, lic spaces and avoiding specific areas
terrorist attacks gathered? How reliable is the intelligence jectives. They can also be carried out rather than specific? where prior attacks have occurred.
Cooperation between governments prompting alerts? in response to the target state’s count- It is often difficult to predict an im-
and security agencies is a crucial el- Sound intelligence research and anal- er-terrorism interventions. minent terrorist attack in a place or The public should perceive these
ement in combating terrorism. This ysis identifies trends and specific ter- Diplomatic advisories or alerts are time. Terrorism, as a special form of alerts and react to them in a positive
is more so for transnational terror- rorist groups’ strategies and tactics. adjusted frequently as they are based political violence, is a  complex and rather than negative way. The prima-
ism. Effective  inter-agency coopera- For the most part this means that on security information that is  con- dynamic phenomenon.  ry responsibility of securing oneself
tion  depends on the timely and ac- sufficiently reliable data on imminent stantly changing. Its strategies and tactics rapidly begins with the individual.
curate sharing of intelligence through attacks is produced. In the case of Kenya, terror threat keep mutating to adapt to changing
established channels. However, it’s not a perfect sci- warnings have been vindicated time local-level, national, regional and in- It is also the responsibility of the
ence.  Intelligence sources  sometimes and again. Between January 2019 ternational circumstances. state to provide basic security. The
Kenya cooperates with various offer opinions rather than hard evi- and December 2021, the US gov- The tactics have been described government should take additional
Western countries to arrive at the dence. Hence the analysis can at times ernment  published  nine travel advi- as asymmetric warfare – they are both security measures. Measures include
conclusion that a terror attack is be subjective rather than objective. sories and alerts warning of terrorist ideological and military. The uncon- additional installation of surveillance
imminent. For instance, Kenya and The reliability of the intelligence attacks around the Kenya-Somalia ventional tactics aim at winning over cameras, scanners, security barriers,
the United Kingdom have a  mutual is determined by how correct or true border and the country’s coastal ar- marginalised local-level communi- and enhancing visible policing.
agreement  to counter Al-Shabaab’s the information is. The UK’s MI5, eas. During this period, five attacks ties. Asymmetric warfare is therefore
threat. The two countries share in- for example, records  credible intelli- and two foiled attacks were reported long-term and more sustainable than But a robust security response risks
formation and identify new ways to gence  correctly by recording its ori- in these areas. conventional warfare. unintended consequences. For exam-
disrupt the group’s operations in East gin and validity. Assessments of valid On 5 January 2022, the US embas- The unpredictability of this type of ple, certain areas can become viewed
Africa and beyond. threats are regularly adjusted in view sy in Nairobi issued a  travel adviso- warfare based on ideological motives as hotspots of terrorism. Communi-
of new intelligence. ry to US citizens warning them not to is a key defining feature of terrorism ties in these areas can be unfairly pro-
The  UK  and  Kenya  gather infor- But terrorist groups behave in travel to some coastal areas because of as a special form of political violence. filed as ‘suspects’. This has a tendency
mation in a number of ways. These unpredictable ways. Some terrorist terrorism. Kenya has since witnessed Hence forecasting terrorism is prob- of increasing suspicion and distrust,
include covert human intelligence attacks are  commemorative, that is attacks  conducted by Al-Shabaab in lematic. including intolerance between com-
sources, directed surveillance, inter- munities.
cepting communications, data ob-
tained from communications service Security actors should also avoid
providers, bulk personal data, intru- employing repressive counter-terror-
sive surveillance and equipment in- ism operations that target specific in-
terference. dividuals and communities who live
in volatile areas. Such operations only
The National Counter Terrorism serve to entrench perceptions about
Centre also provides  online chan- human rights violations committed
nels  where the public can, anony- by the state.
mously, report terrorism-related ac-
tivities. The state and its security agencies
should react to alerts using alterna-
Kenya’s government also  cooper- tive methods. These include prevent-
ates  with the US. For instance the ing and countering violent extrem-
General Service Unit counterteror- ism and employing soft approaches.
rism response team is funded by the These are often ideological, commu-
US. nicative and social. They are based on
trust not fear.
In addition, information on immi-
nent attacks is also provided by ter- — The Conversation.
rorist groups themselves. As part of its
publicity, Al-Shabaab provides infor- *About the writer: Oscar Gakuo
mation on imminent attacks through Mwangi is associate professor of po-
its media outlet, Al-Kaitab Media litical science at the National Uni-
Foundation. versity of Lesotho.

Individual states are responsible
for providing travel advisories to their

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NewsHawks Critical Thinking Page 35

Issue 67, 11 February 2022

JONATHAN MUNEMO Covid-19 vaccines: African countries
need to fix their distribution chains
SUB-SAHARAN Africa still has This could be replicated across the
too few vaccines for too few people. Bringing vaccine manufacturing closer to Africa to speed up supply is important for building capacity in the region. region in the short term with sup-
port from development agencies.
Delivering more inoculations to cines are shipped from Germany or the delivery of vaccines to remote Zimbabwe  announced  that those
the region deserves top priority. But South Africa to, say, the Democrat- areas difficult and in part explains who refuse Covid-19 vaccines could The region can also leverage digi-
there is another hurdle to overcome ic Republic of the Congo (DRC) why close to zero percent of the be denied public sector jobs and tal platforms for registration and in-
to successfully deploy vaccines: the if, at the last mile, the distribution population is fully vaccinated. In services, the vaccination rate in- formation about vaccine availability
region’s poor trade and logistics chain is broken by gaps in transport addition, the DRC and the other creased significantly in big cities. It - drawing lessons from  South Af-
quality. Logistics are a network of and logistics. landlocked African countries are made Zimbabwe one of the African rica. A new e-appointment system
services that support the physical Logistics at a glance naturally challenged by geogra- countries with the highest vaccina- allows citizens to schedule their
movement of goods both within Before Covid-19 vaccines were de- phy and economies of scale when tion rates despite its poor logistics own Covid-19 vaccination appoint-
and across a country’s borders. ployed globally, a World Health it comes to connecting to global performance. ments at a convenient time and at a
Organisation (WHO)  assess- supply chains. This has led to logis- Plugging the gaps centre close by.
No journey is more critical in ment  showed that Africa has an tics-induced delays in transporta- After addressing the issue of vaccine
determining the fate of a pandem- average preparedness score of 33% tion and distribution, leaving Ma- supply, closing gaps in logistics per- In the medium term, it is critical
ic than the distance a vaccine must for the Covid-19 vaccination pro- lawi, South Sudan, and the DRC formance is critical to changing the to develop the infrastructure inputs
travel from the production line gramme. This is far below the de- unable to deploy and administer course of the pandemic in Africa. to the supply chain that affect lo-
to a person’s arm. In sub-Saharan sired benchmark of 80% in key ar- vaccines on short notice. gistics performance, particularly in
Africa, the last mile of this race is eas, including logistics quality and In the short term, measures to cold-chain capacity. The Covid-19
all-important. performance. In contrast, South Africa, with a substantially increase vaccine de- vaccines require special treatment
score of 3.38, stands out as the top livery and uptake are essential. and handling in transit and when
The World Bank’s  Logistics Per- Emerging data (see graph below) performer. This is thanks to its large Useful lessons can be found with- being administered. The AstraZen-
formance Index, a good proxy for appear to confirm that logistics economy (which allows for econo- in the region. For example, when eca vaccine can be stored safely in
transport and distribution logistics, performance quality is positively mies of scale in supply chain con- Côte d’Ivoire started its vaccination refrigerated conditions for up to six
puts Africa at  2.5 on average. The correlated with the Covid-19 vacci- nections), superior and much wider drive, centres equipped to vaccinate months. Both the Pfizer and Mod-
score ranges from 1 to 5, the highest nation rate across Africa. It is inter- network of health services, access 300 people a day were struggling to erna vaccines require temperatures
score being an indicator of better esting to compare vaccination rates to the sea, and proximity to major inoculate 20 a day. Then the gov- of – 20 degrees Celsius or less.
performance. of countries with a relatively low transportation hubs. ernment deployed mobile clinics
Logistics Performance Index (such and medical buses that travelled It is therefore quite concerning
Africa’s score trails all major re- as the DRC) with those that have On the other hand, Zimbabwe, to the busiest areas to vaccinate that a WHO  survey  of 34 coun-
gions of the world in six key cat- a relatively higher index (such as Equatorial Guinea, and Comoros people, albeit at a significant cost. tries found widespread gaps in
egories of logistics performance, South Africa). have relatively better vaccination There are now fixed or mobile vac- cold-chain refrigeration capacity
including timeliness and tracking. rates but lower Logistics Perfor- cination centres across 113 districts, in Africa. About 30% of countries
For more than a decade, its nega- The DRC’s low score of 2.43 re- mance Index scores. This suggests and nearly all are operating close to surveyed have gaps in cold-chain
tive impact on the region’s trade flects its problem with a very poor that other factors contribute to the capacity. Ghana has done the same. refrigeration capacity in more than
has been well  documented. For transport network. This has made uptake of vaccines in Africa. half of their districts. Only 28% of
instance, delays at customs are es- health facilities in sub-Saharan Af-
timated to add 10% to the cost of For instance, when authorities in rica are estimated to have access to
imported goods, which is higher a reliable power supply. Addressing
than the average impact of tariffs in these structural issues should be a
some cases. development priority in the medi-
um term.
But it is also now becoming clear
just how much poor transport lo- Poor-quality transport and dis-
gistics could derail already slow tribution logistics stifle trade and
attempts to vaccinate the region’s competitiveness and, as is now ap-
population. Once fully thawed, parent, will also be a major impedi-
some vaccines have a short shelf ment to pandemic vaccination once
life. This raises the risk of destroy- the current supply constraints are
ing perfectly good doses when the resolved. The Covid-19 crisis pres-
region’s logistics challenges are fac- ents Africa with an opportunity to
tored in. leverage financial assistance for in-
vestment in infrastructure and trade
Looking closer at the reasons cit- facilitation measures that support
ed for vaccine destruction, the com- strong logistics performance. These
mon thread is poor logistics and investments will also improve trade
transport infrastructure. In Malawi, and competitiveness and strengthen
for instance, health authorities  cit- health systems to deal with current
ed the short time between delivery and future shocks. — Finance &
and expiration of vaccines and the Development Magazine.
need to reduce hesitancy as the
rationale for incinerating close to *About the writer: Jonathan
20,000 doses of AstraZeneca vac- Munemo is professor of economics
cine. at Salisbury University in Mary-
land, United States.
Addressing vaccine hesitancy is
critical to a successful mass vacci-
nation campaign. But overcoming
logistics challenges also plays a large
role. Bringing vaccine manufac-
turing closer to Africa to speed up
supply is important for building ca-
pacity in the region. But it matters
less in the short term whether vac-

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Page 36 Africa News NewsHawks

Issue 67, 11 February 2022

Libya has two prime ministers
as political divisions deepen

LIBYA'S political turmoil is set Parliament meeting to discuss appointment of a new prime minister. relative calm. He said that he
to worsen after its eastern-based would only relinquish his post
parliament appointed a new that date. tal, Tripoli, to protest against the his dismissal would lead the to an elected government.
prime minister and the interim On Wednesday, hundreds parliament’s decision to name a country back to “division and
incumbent refused to step aside. new PM. Dbeibah warned that chaos” after nearly two years of Dbeibah, a powerful business-
took to the streets in the capi- man from Misrata, was appoint-
A spokesperson for the par- ed prime minister in February
liament said it had chosen the last year as part of the UN-bro-
former interior minister Fathi kered, western-backed political
Bashagha by acclamation after process. His government’s main
the only other candidate with- task was to steer the deeply di-
drew. However, Prime Min- vided country towards nation-
ister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, al reconciliation and lead it
who heads the internationally through elections.
recognised Government of Na-
tional Accord, has rejected the The elections were the linch-
parliament’s moves, saying he pin of UN-mediated efforts to
will only hand over power after bring peace to the oil-rich north
a national election. African country.

The development runs count- But the incumbent prime
er to UN efforts to reconcile the minister became a polarising fig-
divided country and is likely to ure since he announced his pres-
produce two parallel administra- idential bid, breaking his pledge
tions. not to run in elections when
he was appointed as an interim
Libya has been racked by con- prime minister.
flict since the Nato-backed up-
rising toppled then  killed the Dbeibah said he had em-
longtime dictator Muammar barked on consultations to agree
Gaddafi  in 2011. The country on a new roadmap to hold elec-
was for years split between rival tions in June, when the UN mis-
administrations in the east and sion in Libya wants to resched-
west, each supported by militias ule the vote.
and foreign governments.
Western governments have
Shortly before the vote in urged that the current govern-
parliament, its speaker, Aguila ment remains in place until the
Saleh, told lawmakers in a tele- vote is held to avoid chaos and
vised session that Bashagha had confusion.
become the sole candidate for
the post because the other con- During the same session, law-
tender, Khalid al-Baibas, had makers also voted in favour of
pulled out. a set of constitutional amend-
ments that put forward a new
Libya was to hold presidential roadmap for the country’s tran-
elections on 24 December,  but sition to a democratically elect-
the vote was postponed  over ed government.
disputes between rival factions
on laws governing the elections The amendments envisage the
and controversial presidential creation of a new electoral com-
hopefuls. East-based lawmakers mission and the appointment of
have argued that the mandate of a 24-member committee, rep-
Dbeibah’s government ended on resenting the country’s all three
regions, to draft a new constitu-
tion. — The Guardian.

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NewsHawks Africa News Page 37

Issue 67, 11 February 2022

NICHOLAS FLORQUIN/ The arms trade to Africa can be
ALAA TARTIR/EMILIA DUNGEL opaque: Why this is dangerous

EOLIKA, a Guyana-flagged cargo creased compared with 2020, it re- declared end users participate in un- networks, which in West Africa con- Security-focused responses to ad-
vessel, had already been detained in mains low. It shows that the inter- authorised retransfers. tribute to fuelling conflict and insta- dress these threats have also shown
the port of Senegalese capital, Dakar national community still has a long bility in several ways. their limits. They tend to affect the
due to "inconsistent" declarations. way to go in fostering openness in the There are also often instances livelihoods of local communities who
arms trade. where armed groups and criminals Small Arms Survey research in the depend on the informal cross border
Authorities in the West African manage to seize national stockpiles tri-border region of Burkina Faso, trade.
nation then searched the ship, seizing The quality of data on the small or capture weapons on the battlefield, Côte d’Ivoire, and Mali, for example,
three containers  of  Italian manufac- arms trade in Africa is no exception. sometimes shortly after the delivery documented an increase in smuggling They also risk enticing  smug-
tured ammunition worth an estimat- Information on ammunition trans- of this material to the state entities. and trafficking activities due to grow- glers into becoming involved in traf-
ed US$5 million. fers to the continent is particularly ing local demand for illicit goods and ficking and other illicit activities for
scarce. For instance, in 2014, the UN firearms. a living.
According to initial accounts, port Group of Experts monitoring the
authorities in  La Spezia  authorised Our 2020 trend analysis of arms embargo on the Democratic Re- This demand is fuelled by banditry, While the specific linkages be-
the shipment, which was reportedly the global authorized small arms public of Congo (DRC) documented communities’ need for self-defence, tween arms trafficking and insecurity
headed to the Dominican Republic. trade,  Trade Update  2020: An Eye the presence of heavy machine gun traditional hunters’ reliance on fire- are complex and context-specific, it
on Ammunition Transfers to Africa, ammunition bearing markings that arms, and artisanal and small-scale is clear that illicit transfers to Africa
But at the time of writing, it re- showed that African ammunition im- were consistent with Chinese manu- gold mining. The growing trade is have the potential to rapidly reach
mained unclear why the vessel made ports amounted to US$97.7 million facture in armed group arms caches challenging states’ ability to monitor countries and regions affected by in-
the unexpected stop in Dakar, leading in 2017, or 42% of the continent’s in the country’s North Kivu province. and control their borders. security and armed violence.
civil society groups to  call  for more total small arms imports.
transparency on the transfer. In its  2015 report, the Group of Several governments in the region Achieving more transparency in
This is not the full picture. The Experts established that this ammu- have sought to contain and respond the small arms and ammunition
The consignment highlights the scope of the trade originating from nition was originally part of a 2012 to insecurity by increasing their reli- trade would support better and more
fact that the international small arms the least transparent exporters is par- delivery of 12.7 × 108 mm ammuni- ance on local self-defence groups for independent monitoring of the legal
trade is shrouded in ambiguity. Avail- ticularly difficult to assess. tion from China to the Armed Forces providing community protection. trade. This, in turn, would contribute
able statistics don’t capture all actual of the DRC. to preventing its diversion to unau-
(as opposed to reported) transfers. Field research on ammunition This raises concerns about the risk thorised users and traffickers.
used in conflict areas and export re- The transfer was not transparent in of excessive use of force, harsh pun-
Yet it’s important to be able to cords compiled by commercial enti- that it had not been notified to the ishments, or even extra-judicial kill- —The Conversation.
measure the extent of the trade. ties, reveal a broader range of ammu- United Nations Sanctions Commit- ings.
nition transfers than what is reported tee. It therefore violated the exemp- *About the writers: Nicolas
Our organisation, the Small Arms by African states and their trading tion procedures established under the Regional trafficking routes also ex- Florquin is head of Data and ana-
Survey, maintains a database on the partners. arms embargo on the DRC. tend well beyond local borders, and lytics and senior researcher for the
transparency of global authorised From authorised to diverted connect the Gulf of Guinea to the Sa- Small Arms Survey, Graduate Insti-
small arms transfers: the Small Arms The  2020 Trade Update  also illus- The case illustrates how rapidly –in hara in the North and to Central and tute (IHEID). Alaa Tartir is senior
Trade Transparency Barometer. trates some of the ways in which au- less than two years– unreported am- East Africa (see map). researcher and coordinator of the
thorised transfers can subsequently munition transfers can be diverted security assessment in North Africa
Launched in 2003, the Barometer end up in the hands of unauthorised into the illicit sphere. Some of the main smuggling project at the IHEID. Emilia Dun-
provides annual updates on states’ armed groups. Destabilising effects and trafficking hubs are located in gel is communications coordinator
arms export reporting. This is a way New illicit flows of arms and ammu- the Sahara–Sahel region, which has and lead editor at the Small Arns
to assess the transparency of the Such ‘diversion’ can occur when nition feed into existing trafficking been particularly affected by conflict Survey.
world’s major exporters of small arms, and the attacks of prominent terror-
light weapons, as well as their parts, ist-designated armed groups.
accessories, and ammunition.

A trade that lacks transparency
The 2021 edition found that the 50
exporters under review scored on av-
erage 12.61 points out of a possible
25.

While this score marginally in-

Page 38 World News NewsHawks
BORIS Johnson and his officials
"broke lockdown laws" over parties Issue 67, 11 February 2022
held in Downing Street, Conservative
former prime minister John Major has Johnson broke law over office
said. parties, says ex-premier Major

He accused the government of feel- Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson. to state plainly that the prime minister
ing it "need not obey the rules", add- broke the law.
ing: "Outright lies breed contempt." cised Johnson over his handling of "Lies can become accepted as fact, Major has repeatedly criticised
Brexit and  called the government which... has consequences for policy Johnson and his government so the That accusation, of course, is what
Major's comments come while 12 "politically corrupt"  in its treatment and for reputation," he said. fact he is doing so again isn't going to the Met Police are currently investi-
gatherings are still being investigated of Parliament, urged the prime minis- come as a surprise. gating and Number 10 has repeatedly
by the Metropolitan Police. ter to introduce a "fully independent" "That is why deliberate lies to Par- said people should wait for the out-
guardian of ethics in politics. liament have been fatal to political ca- But the words he has chosen to use come of that investigation.
He also said the UK's reputation reers, and must always be so." are particularly strong, going as far as
was "being shredded", but Johnson It's also striking to hear a former
called this "demonstrably untrue". Tory prime minister echoing Labour's
attack line that it looks like one rule
The prime minister, speaking on a for the government and another for
visit to Poland, declined to comment everyone else.
further on Major's criticisms, adding:
"I'm going to have plenty to say about So while Major's intervention
all that in due course." may not be entirely unexpected, it is
yet more criticism from yet another
He said he wanted to concen- source within the Conservative Par-
trate on diplomacy, after talks on the ty at a precarious time for the prime
Ukraine crisis with Polish counterpart minister.
Mateusz Morawiecki.
In a question-and-answer session
The Met is reviewing its previous after the speech, Major said he had
decision not to investigate a Christ- "little doubt" lockdown rules had
mas quiz in No 10 Downing Street been breached, but it would not be
in 2020, after The Mirror published a "prudent" to pre-judge the police re-
photograph of Mr Johnson with three port.
aides - wearing tinsel and a Santa hat -
near a bottle of sparkling wine. Giving his reaction to Major's com-
ments, Labour leader Keir Starmer
It also announced on Wednesday said: "It's time for the prime minister
that it was emailing more than 50 to go. That's in the national interest.
people as part of its existing inquiry The only people that could remove
into lockdown parties, which could him are his own MPs.
lead to fines for those found to have
broken Covid rules. "The important thing here is the
prime minister's lost the moral au-
Downing Street said the prime thority to lead."
minister, known to have attended
three gatherings, had so far not been If 54 Tory MPs write letters of
contacted. no-confidence in Johnson, this would
prompt a full vote on his future, which
But, in a speech to the Institute for - if lost - would see him leave office.
Government think tank, Major said:
"At No 10, the prime minister and of- Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey
ficials broke lockdown laws. said Major had shown "bravery", add-
ing: "This damning criticism should
"Brazen excuses were dreamed up. act as a wake-up call to every Con-
Day after day the public was asked servative MP who is sitting on their
to believe the unbelievable. Ministers hands while Johnson trashes the val-
were sent out to defend the indefensi- ues that underpin our democracy."
ble - making themselves look gullible
or foolish." But deputy Prime Minister Domi-
nic Raab told BBC Wales: "I know Sir
Major, in office from 1990 to 1997, John well. I always listen to what he's
added that current ministers thought got to say. I disagree with him."
that "they, and they alone, need not
obey the rules, traditions, conven- — BBC.
tions... of public life.

"The charge that there is one law
for the government and one for every-
one else is politically deadly, and it has
struck home."

Major, who has previously criti-

UNITED States President  Joe ‘Things could go crazy quickly,’ Biden porters in Brussels that he didn’t think
Biden has warned that “things could a decision has yet been taken by Putin
go crazy quickly” in Ukraine and warns on Ukraine as talks in Berlin fail to order an invasion.
again urged American citizens to leave
immediately, as the United Kingdom’s Belarusian forces. elements are in place if Putin wanted US President Joe Biden. “This is probably the most danger-
defence secretary headed to Moscow In Berlin on Thursday night, Rus- to attack. ish enough to go in, he’s smart enough ous moment. I would say that in the
in the latest round of diplomacy. not to in fact do anything that would course of the next few days, in what
sia and  Ukraine  said they had failed In his interview, Biden reiterated negatively impact American citizens.” is the biggest security crisis that  Eu-
“American citizens should leave, to reach any breakthrough in a day of that under no circumstances would rope has faced for decades, we’ve got
should leave now,” Biden said in an related talks with French and German he send US troops to Ukraine, even During a visit to Nato’s headquar- to get it right,” Johnson said.
interview with NBC News. “We’re officials aimed at ending an eight-year to rescue Americans in case of a Rus- ters on Thursday, Boris Johnson said
dealing with one of the largest armies separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine. sian invasion. “That’s a world war. the Ukraine crisis had entered “the But he made it clear that Brit-
in the world. This is a very different When Americans and Russians start most dangerous moment” as Rus- ain could not intervene militarily if
situation and things could go crazy It had not been possible to “over- shooting one another, we’re in a very sian forces  continued their military Ukraine was attacked. Speaking later
quickly.” come” Russia and Ukraine’s different different world,” he said. buildup on the borders of its southern at a military base in Warsaw, he said:
interpretations of the 2015 Minsk neighbour. “The UK has been supplying some
On Friday, UK defence secretary agreement aimed at ending fighting “What I’m hoping is that if [Rus- defensive weaponry in the form of an-
Ben Wallace joins foreign secretary between pro-Russian separatists and sian president Vladimir Putin] is fool- The UK prime minister said “our ti-tank missiles, we have been training
Liz Truss in Moscow after she held Ukrainian government forces, said intelligence remains grim” but told re- Ukrainian troops. That is as far as we
frosty talks with her Russian coun- Russian envoy Dmitry Kozak. can go at the moment.”
terpart, Sergei Lavrov. Lavrov said
the meeting was like a  conversation His Ukrainian counterpart, Andriy The conclusion of Johnson’s whirl-
of “the mute with the deaf ”. Wallace Yermak, said both sides agreed to keep wind European trip took place at
will reportedly tell Sergei Shoigu, the talking. “I hope that we will meet Warsaw’s presidential palace, where
Russian defence minister, that invad- again very soon and continue these he was greeted by Polish president
ing Ukraine would be a “lose-lose” negotiations. Everyone is determined Andrzej Duda.
situation. to achieve a result,” he said. The con-
flict in the breakaway Donetsk and They exchanged warm words, with
The diplomatic manoeuvring came Luhansk regions, known together as the prime minister repeating that
as Russia-Ukraine relations soured the Donbas, simmers despite a no- Britain stands “shoulder to shoulder”
further. On Thursday Ukraine’s for- tional ceasefire. with Poland and its eastern Nato al-
eign ministry accused Moscow of lies.
showing a “blatant disregard for the Military analysts estimate Moscow
rules and principles of international has massed more than 135,000 troops The UK has put 1 000 troops on
law” by planning missile tests in the on the borders of  Ukraine, both in standby in case of a humanitarian cri-
Black Sea that Kyiv says will  make Russia and in Belarus – and some sis in the east if the current Russian
shipping navigation impossible now believe nearly all the necessary military buildup leads to war, and
there  and in the Sea of Azov. Russia 350 Royal Marines arrived in Poland
has just started 10 days of drills with to coincide with Johnson’s visit.

—The Guardian/AFP/PA/
Reuters.

Porsche just got angrier Being a Fashion Model

&Life Style

STYLE TRAVEL BOOKS ARTS MOTORING

Page 39 Issue 67, 11 February 2022

BaTroy

JONATHAN MBIRIYAMVEKA Jah Prayzah comparison es my grief. A life without a mother
is an honour — BaTroy is a motionless one and is also about
IMITATION seems like one of the children who grow in the absence of
worst things a musician can ever be not met, but the one good thing is that a brand.” ing powerful music. We love them all. their parents. I had to fight my own
accused of. But for BaTroy, being BaTroy gives thanks to Jah Prayzah for Others have even gone to the ex- Now in Zimbabwe it’s different. Ter- battles without anyone to depend on.
likened to Jah Prayzah is a badge of inspiring him.  erai music chete and torai message. Only memories left behind of a fight-
honour.  tremes of calling BaTroy a copycat. (I urge people to listen to the music er and a well-spirited soul of Rose-
“Being compared to the finest of But he says he does not get offended. and the message). If I may ask, did mary Kamango, who was my moth-
Every artiste believes they are them all enlightens my path and I also JP write lyrics for Shungu Dzemoyo er,” he says. 
uniquely talented and, on most occa- notice that I am extremely gifted too,” “Problem with our audience, they Wangu? No? He didn't but I managed
sions, they are indeed proudly unique. BaTroy tells The NewsHawks. call names and disses but at the end to breakthrough and it became a hit. Besides Shungu Dzemoyo Wangu,
of the day they sing along. I believe in Just choose your favourite artiste and BaTroy also has Ndiwe, on More En-
So being accused of having imitat- “Though we almost sound the myself and I am confident in what I stop judging mwana wevhu (child of tertainment riddim by Cymplex and
ed a fellow singer is a cause of anguish same, we are different only if you are do. Copycat, No! I am my own man. the soil).” Ndipe Mukana.
for any proud singer. But not this patient enough to give time to listen I don’t know what made them think
34-year-old contemporary singer. to Wagwizi and BaTroy. I haven't met it was Jah Prayzah when it is actually The Harare-based singer, whose Since he made a huge splash on the
the Mukuru (Jah Prayzah) yet. I be- me. I think that's why our music in- real name is Mike Pagiwa, says he ven- mainstream music scene, BaTroy sees
You have probably listened to a lieve he loves my music too.” dustry is not going nowhere because tured into music after discovering that himself as one of the big names in the
track called Shungu Dzemoyo Wan- people don't know how to support “I had the voice and strength to do it.” next 10 years.
gu, and wondered: Who could this When pressed to comment on his music.
be? relationship with Jah Prayzah, Ba- And his breakaway hit, Shungu “In 10 years' time I will be a giant
Troy says: “I really like Mukudzei “Have you listened to Wassafi in Dzemoyo Wangu, reflects on his per- and well-recognised artiste in Zimba-
Some thought it was sung by Jah Mukombe, aka Wagwizi, big time. Tanzania? We've got Diamond Plat- sonal experiences after losing both bwe,” he reckons. 
Prayzah, while others speculate that Ndoo madhara edu ndiye Mtukudzi numz, Ray Vany and Harmonize. The parents.
he wrote and gave it to BaTroy. wanhasi. (I look up to Jah Prayzah he guys almost have the same vocal abili- Explaining why he does not per-
is like our (Oliver) Mtukudzi. He is ties, but they all make it and are mak- “Shungu Dzemoyo Wangu express- form more often, BaTroy said his ser-
Yes, there is a striking resemblance vices do not come cheap and was not
in the voices, with both artistes sound- under pressure to be on stage.
ing similar, but to the trained ear there
is a slight difference. “My fans ini ndino pedza bhora (I
am the real deal) stay tuned ndinonzi
When asked about BaTroy, Keen BabaTroy wekwa Pagiwa ndine ngo-
Mushapaidze, Jah Prayzah’s publicist, zi,” he signed off.
professed ignorance about the rookie
singer. It remains to be seen how his con-
fidence fares with the passage of time.
Well, the truth is both artistes have

Page 40 State of the culture NewsHawks

Issue 67, 11 February 2022

2022 Nama nominees announced

Addy Do not destroy us by Rickson Zavare; Cedric Musongwelwa in Deathbed [amaBooks]; Poor Cousins Directed by Sydney
Kudita Garandichauya Series Three by Pru- and Sirens:Tales of Youth and Love by Le- Taivavashe and
dence Tafadzwa Bob Mutumbi in The roy Mthulisi and Veza: The Unfolding Directed by
THE National Arts Merit Awards Chimutuwah and Good Minister from Kunyarara Ndlovu [Leroy Mthulisi Ndlovu] Dumie Manyathela
run by the National Arts Council Restoration by Forbes Mushipe Outstanding Actress Outstanding Poetry Book MUSIC AWARDS
have released a list of nominees for Outstanding Exhibition Munyaradzi Guramatunhu in How Oasis in crisis by Ruth Tsopotsa [An- Outstanding Newcomer
the  2022 edition. No nominees are you really? cient Pageant]; Felistas Chipendo aka Feli Nandi;
The following is the list. Notably SPOKEN WORD AWARDS Eyahra Mathaiza in How are you re- For women Trying to breath and Sandra Sibanda;
conspicuous from the list is Msiz’kay, Outstanding Poet ally? failing (It’s not your fault) by Batsirai Herman Mpelo Mukombe
who has enjoyed a good run in con- Obert Dube; Rumbidzai Karize in Deathbed Chigama [Ntombekhaya Poetry]; Day Tawanda Ncube aka DT Bio
tests in recent years. Kuda Rice and Special Mention Who killed Grandfather? by Kwan- Mudimba
DANCE AWARDS Tanyaradzwa Emily Ngundu Patricia Putsai in Bleeding wounds; ele Khumalo [Underclass Books and Outstanding Female Musician
Outstanding Female Dancer Outstanding Comedian Outstanding Theatrical Production Films]; Janet Manyowa;
Lisa Magwenzi in Love Shouldn’t Theophilus Gabriel Chigumira aka @ and FILM ANDTELEVISION AWARDS Felistas Chipendo aka Feli Nandi;
Hurt; astra 632; Deathbed by Savanna Trust Outstanding Actor Dorcas Moyo and
Lorin Sibanda in Footprints and Hidden Sibanda aka Mdawini; Improvisational show at Oak Tree by Kumbilani Ncube as Khalu in Ikasi: Gemma Griffiths
Ndomupeishe Chipendo in Shuwa Kudzai Chengedza; Under The Influence Theatre The Hood; Outstanding Male Musician
Outstanding Male Dancer Special Mention; How are you really? by Talisma The- Eddie Sandifolo as Maso in Poor Mukudzei Mukombe aka Jah
Devante Sanganza in My Passion for Mthokozisi Ncube; atre Company Cousins; Prayzah;
Dance; John Cole in Gotta Feeling Social Media Skits Outstanding Director Michael Kudakwashe as Matsa in Simbarashe Carrington Chiwadzwa
and Tarisai Cleopatra Chikocho aka Norbert Makoche in Bleeding Kugara Nhaka Kuona Dzevamwe aka Nutty O;
Tichaona Chikara in Purpose Driven Madam Boss; wounds; Outstanding Actress Rockford Josephat aka Roki and
Outstanding Dance Choreogra- Prosper Ngomashi aka Comic Pastor; Elizabeth Zaza Muchemwa in How Bathabile Dlamini as Blessing in Poor Emergy Chizanga aka Freeman
pher Kingsley Kaisi aka KingsleeZW are you really? and Cousins; Outstanding Song
Mishael Ndlovu in Most High; MEDIA AWARDS Teddy Mangava in Deathbed Thelmar Mukonza as Feli in Sister Kujata-Jata by Day;
John Cole in Loyal and Outstanding Journalist – Print LITERARY AWARDS Dhokezi and Tawanda Ncube aka DT Bio Mu-
Hillary Indie in Tipei Ndiro Sithokozile Sibanda – Ilanga; Outstanding First Creative Pub- Felistas Tizola as Immaculate in Two dimba;
Outstanding Dance Group Kennedy Nyavaya – Standard and lished Work Dead Government Officials Munyaradzi by Mukudzei Mukombe
Ezimnyama Ensemble in Hope; Yvonne Ncube – Chronicle Bringing us back by Mercy Dhliwayo Outstanding Music Video aka Jah Prayzah;
Umkhathi Theatre in Footprints and Outstanding Journalist – Radio [Vhokololo Press]; Nhoroondo Directed by Vusa”Blaqs” Hello Mwari by Rodney Mashandure
Elysium Magna Dance Theatre in Ti- Monica Chanda aka Moechanda – Diaspora Dreams by Andrew Chato- Hlatshwayo ft. Jah Prayzah; aka Jah Master;
pei Ndiro Classic263; ra [Kharis Publishing]; Rainmaker Directed by Kalai Faye Handipere Power by Simbarashe
VISUAL ARTS AWARDS Rumbidzai Mugwira aka Chamvari – Umkhosi Wabangela ; Barlow ft. Djembe Monks and Carrington Chiwadzwa aka Nutty O
Outstanding Two-Dimensional Power FM; Mazwi by Pretty Ndlovu [Ukhozi Move Together Directed by Jonathan Outstanding Album
Work Phathisani Sibanda and Publishers] Samukange ft. Desert Sessions Hokoyo by Mukudzei Mukombe aka
Yadeuka Haichahorereke by Keith Tinashe Chikuse – Power FM Outstanding Children’s Book Outstanding Screen Production Jah Prayzah;
Zenda; Outstanding Journalist – Television The Cursing Tortoise by Onwald (Television) Sounds of Victory by Janet Man-
Free at Last by Keith Zenda and Collette Musanyera – ZBC; Gwiriri [Essential Books Publishing Kuchina The Genesis Directed by yowa;
Domination by Joseph Nyakwenga Patience Nyagato – ZBC and Company]; Bless Gatsi; Mustard Seed by Simbarashe Car-
Outstanding Three-Dimensional Barney Mupariwa – ZBC Auntie Mazvita by Tinashe Muchuri Gazaland Police Directed by Lucky rington Chiwadzwa aka Nutty O and
Work Outstanding Journalist – Online [Essential Books Publishing Compa- Aaron and 5136 Born in Highfield by Trevor
Nhumbu by Tatenda Gwarada, Media ny]; Chipo the Gift Directed by Daves Dongo.
Tears of Happy by Blesssing Mutuk- Amazing Voices – Nonkululeko Tim’s Adventure in the Chocolate Guzha SPECIAL AWARDS
wa; Dube aka AmardZW, World by Chris Martin Lebolang Outstanding Screen Production Promoter Of The Year
Bundle of Joy by Farai Tandi and SoProfound – Arnold Chirimuka and [Hoart (Short Film) X-Mo Squad;
My Music Drum by Simelokuhle Zi- Earground – Plot Mhako Benom Pty Publishing] Ikasi: The Hood Directed by Mzin- Bira Remadzisahwirwa and
bengwa Special Mention: Special Mention gaye Ngwabi; Gateway Stream
Outstanding Mixed Media Nash TV and ConvergenceZW by Mgcini Nyoni Mlamu Wami Directed by Raisedon Outstanding Artist In The Diaspora
Theatre Awards [Mgcini Nyoni]; Baya and Arnold Tongai Chirisa;
Outstanding Actor Dear Eternal Mom by Kuda; Nehanda Directed by Sydney Awakhiwe Sibanda aka Awa Khiwe
Shawn Mundawarara in Choosing Mucharambeyi[Soar Publishers] Taivavashe and
Sam; Outstanding Fiction Book Outstanding Screen Production(- Zandile Mazithulela aka DJ Zandi-
Mboni by Abraham Makamera [Pro- Full Length Film) maz
gressive Publishers]; Gonarezhou Directed by Sydney
All Comes to Dust by Bryony Rheam Taivavashe;

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NewsHawks Life & Style Page 41

Issue 67, 11 February 2022

Title: We have a problem Title: Sign Posts Title: I’m Sorry
Poet: Andy Kahari Poet-Patrick Hwande Poet: Lingiwe Patience Gumbo

Tots will endear the few; I saw a sign post I don't know how
Many it will brew That showed the way I don't know when
In wrinkles as astronauts they will imagine From Gokwe to Gweru. But I did you harm
to be; Only to find themselves deep in beer I saw the sign post I'm so sorry my dear heart
space; Aging in capsules of tots tossed in time That showed the distance I let them pull you apart
machines; Aging the lads before the forefa- From Gweru to Bulawayo. Into a million pieces they trampled under-
thers. But l am still to see foot
Tipsier they become; A sign post to show A rug they wiped their mess with
More arrogant they drown in tots; This generation the way. Tossed in the rubbish after
Never heeding - "... Houston we have a prob- I should've taken better care
lem ..." *********************************************** Closed you in away from their claws
As the rockets of fast life are ricocheting to Title: Refugees Secured you far from their reach
and fro in spirals of despair. Poet: Samuel Chuma Shredded you again and again
Strangely danger is endearing to their crav- Only you endured the pain
ing-, Last night I looked at the sky Never to be the same again
Stubborn they become to see how far earth is And beheld its vivid anger I'm sorry I did not teach you
from the binge- As it roared with thunderous voice To be steady as you fall in
And so are left more and more binged to their Scaring virgin droplets To be in love but not blind
liking, Of waters pure and innocent I should've been more aware
To gravitate on lapels of danger into the un- And causing them to Not too trusting nor expectant
known of liquor interstellar. Flee the heavens To avoid disappointment
Never will we hear from them again. For the dusty embrace I'm so sorry my dear heart
Just as their fathers lost at liquor stores before Of a gleeful earth I wish I could turn the hands of time
More daring they are, Which offered not I wish I could hide you close
To be even more lost Its hand to afford In my bosom where you are safer
As heroes lost in vastness of liquor orbits The refugees a soft landing Covered with the cage just to be sure
doused in heroin, sparkles of crystal meth, But only opens its mouth Because I detest this taste of defeat
bronchodilators- To feed the insatiable I'm sorry dear fragile heart
Sadly finding delight in being lost forevermore! Rivers and lakes I let you down
That form its innards I promise to take better care of you
*********************************************** *********************************************** If there's a next time.
Title: Cheers
Poet: Sithembinkosi Ncube Poet: Rutendo Mugadza ***********************************************
Poem: Happiness Title: A Black Thing Floating In The Pot
hi, hullabaloo Poet: Elias M. Muonde
we sit in the gloom If only he could then I would
at dawn; bottles in hands If only she would then I could Mother would be gently paddling around
drooping and drooling So we think and we wonder and we ponder the starchy water in the big sadza pot with
from the hangover Why can't he: why can't she the big cooking stick in the big round hut
a fly sings irritably If only we both knew, then we both would Now and again, she sprinkles mealie meal
from body to wall Why doesn't he just then I will about the pot
from wall to body Why won't she just then I'll do Mother cautious and thorough as always
now and again So we sit and we wait and we're patient Mother focused and meticulous under our
a slap misses it Why isn't she: why hasn't he hungry watch from the edges of the fire-
but falls hard on a limb If only we both did then we'd be place
the sun's rays So let's; then we can... Then suddenly she spots the thing
steal through chinks So let's; then we will... Black and tiny
exposing urine smudges, Become all that you are thinking Bobbing around in the mess of porridge...
bottle tops, cigarette stubs Become all that I am thinking With a stroke of a deft hand
and parked bicycles Happiness will be ours. Mother tackles the thing with the tip of her
one by one some disperse cooking stick
shy; as pals lie scattered It lands in the heart of the fire;
like logs in the dust And Mother carries on
still We don't know what it is
Motionless and adamant. Mother doesn't want to know what it is.

Page 42 People & Places NewsHawks
THE shares in Cassava Smart-
ech since the beginning of the Issue 67, 11 February 2022
year increased from a price
of ZWL40.65 ($$0.1263) on 7 rules for success from Zim’s
Dec. 31, 2021, to ZWL44.9 richest man, Strive Masiyiwa
($0.1263) on Jan 5. This led to Earlier this month, Zimbabwe’s richest man and Executive Chairman of Econet,
gains of 10.45-percent for share- Strive Masyiwa, reportedly made $10.3 million this year following a surge in
holders as Masiyiwa’s total gains the market value of his stake in the Zimbabwe-based smart tech group, Cassava
of ZWL3.33 billion saw his net Smartech.
worth rise by ($10.34 million)
in the first five days of the new
year.

Over Masiyiwa’s roughly
27 years as CEO, he’s regular-
ly shared advice and lessons
learned in interviews and his
annual letters to Econet Global’s
shareholders.

Here are some of the best ex-
amples of what Masiyiwa, 61,
has shared over the years.

1. Know your numbers
According to Masiyiwa, know-
ing your numbers as an entre-
preneur is the number one way
to grow a business and keep your
dream alive. You don’t need to
become an accountant or book-
keeper, but you certainly need to
have a basic level of understand-
ing of the key financial metrics.

“Businesses are based on
numbers, and the entrepreneur
must always function in num-
bers. Make numbers your best
friend,” he said.

2. Become a master of process 7 rules for success from Zimbabwe’s richest man, Strive Masiyiwa.
According to the Zimbabwean
billionaire, the three pillars for
a successful business are: Prod-
uct. People. Process. However,
to maintain a good product and
sell to the right people, entrepre-
neurs must build the necessary
structures and systems to make
businesses grow quickly. In one
of his interviews, Masiyiwa
said, “The best way to do this
is by mastering the process and
respecting institutional frame-
work. Focusing on the idea isn’t
enough to grow your business.
As an entrepreneur, having the
understanding and the ability
to build a process around the
business is what makes it scale
faster.”

3. Find a great co-founder is something African entrepre- stand what the investor wants CEO or Chairman of the group. to help me build my business.
This is another important rule neurs must practice. “Giving the and who the investor is. The in- Do some research on the organ- That’s not to say it’s a hard and
to having a successful business. right people the room to func- vestor is not your donor or your isation and try to find out the fast rule. But pay a lot more at-
According to Strive, finding the tion at their best.” grandmother. They may find person making the decisions on tention to the passionate young
right people to complement 4. Become a master at pitching what comes from what you do the issue you’re interested in.” guy or girl sitting next to you.
what you cannot do is essential Suppose you bump into Afri- beneficial, but that’s not what’s They’re usually more driven than
for a business to succeed. “I un- ca’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, driving the investor’s approach Also, network much more ef- someone outside your circle.”
derstood this early on when I and you have to say something to things. So as an entrepreneur, fectively. Attend industry events 7. Look at the challenges as
launched Econnect. In the early to him about your business that you need to make sure you are and conferences, and register opportunities
days of the business, I tried to will make him stop and listen to pitching to the right people, tell- yourself for every business asso- It is important to learn how to
raise about $10 million, but I you. What is it that you’ll say in ing them what they need to hear, ciation if possible. Because that’s look at challenges as opportu-
didn’t know how to do it. Before your pitch? as well as the risks you present where you find the Chairman nities to succeed as an entrepre-
that time, the highest amount to them that you need to low- walking along the corridor and neur. For example, there is an
I ever raised was $300,000. So Well, according to Masiyiwa, er if you’re going to be making you can have a chat with him. entrepreneurial opportunity for
what I did was employ someone there are two key principles in a pitches throughout your entre- 6. Learn to trust other entre- somebody in your challenge in
who could do what I couldn’t pitch: First of all, as an entrepre- preneurial journey. preneurs the cost of electricity or a par-
do. I had to negotiate giving him neur, you must do your research, 5. Learn the art of networking Stop looking upwards, but fo- ticular commodity. So never feel
10% of the company, but he got and you must understand your As an entrepreneur, you have to cus on looking sideways. “While frustrated because of the chal-
the job done for me.” product and the service you offer be creative about networking. building my businesses, I never lenges you’re faced with. Just
so well that you can unpack it in “If you’re a small entrepreneur, sought after big players. I was look at it as a step that you have
I’ve also discovered over the 2 mins. don’t always try to get to the always about reaching out to to climb.
years that good people function people around me who I needed
at their best when trusted. This Secondly, you need to under-

NewsHawks Sport Page 43

Issue 67, 11 February 2022

The rugby gods have conspired against us yet again

I GUESS it has something to do with Tangai Murangari. horrific accident that claimed a young
values that this special game instils in man whose spheres of influence had
people. thankfully, but with a damaged leg, With such kind of exposure, I felt business behind the scenes. garnered huge respect for him due to
his career finished before becoming a Modreck would have stood in good He did not have a strong rug- remarkable deeds. 
Because of the camaraderie and Sable, a dream he later lived through stead, had he lived by back-
brotherhood involved, it is easy for his brother who proceeded to captain longer, to perhaps ground, but Tangai Murangari – Tank his nick-
those who do not go far in their play- his country. seek a higher posi- all the same name – was a very good example of
ing careers, or those not of desirable tion in the game. was an im- somebody born to lead, a genuine
shape and size, to selflessly fit into oth- At ZRU, Modreck worked in differ- ZRU was also HawkZone portant youth role model who took on the
er roles. ent roles under three presidents of the a training ground, man in the responsibility to help mould his gen-
union who possessed different admin- and their office ZRU chain.  eration into better citizens and good
It is a global culture of rugby, an istrative styles and even personalities.  manned by the su- Enock Smile on leaders. 
ethos that drives young people to stay per trio of Modreck his face and
in the game, offering themselves to Bryn Williams – smooth-talking and his colleagues, Muchinjo towering Tank had a way with people so his
the service of their sport, some having and exuding quiet dignity, with the Yeu Gandawa and above ev- role as manager of Zimbabwean glam-
gone through the great anguish of a kind of natural diplomacy that nor- Edson Sandako, was erybody, he our team Old Hararians Rugby Club,
career-shattering injury like Modreck mally propels such men to positions an oasis of youthful wound be in addition to a position on the Hara-
Makotose.  of influence in international sporting proficiency.  there earlier re Rugby Football Board, brought the
bodies. Themba Sibanda – a thriv- Good Lord, Eddie is also now gone. than everyone else to made sure that best out of him. 
He was only 33 when he passed on ing young Harare entrepreneur, me- He passed on last year, in his early grounds were ready, that changing
in 2011, a father of three young chil- dia-shy, known to generously share 40s, also after sudden illness. Forever rooms were to the teams’ liking. Team He had previously played for OH,
dren and development manager of the personal resources with the game, he will be remembered as a good guy, managers knew their jobs were easier and before that as a schoolboy at St
Zimbabwe Rugby Union (ZRU) at the yet never one to seek publicity for the general administration chap of with Eddie around. In another tragic George’s College in Harare. But ad-
time of his death in Triangle following it. Bruce Hobson – easy-going but the union who went quietly about his development, this week we learnt of a ministration suited him perfectly. He
a short illness. A very close friend and hands-on and highly-driven, never had the traits, gifts and qualification
confidante, we spent countless hours afraid to ruffle a few feathers. for it.
together on numerous occasions,
many fond memories and experiences A former Mandela Washington
shared for years.  Fellow and University of Cape Town
finance and economics graduate, the
And then suddenly he was whisked young family man was a suave busi-
away to another place, with his whole ness executive in the corporate world
life and career ahead of him.  here in Zimbabwe – a shining star re-
spected by men much older in life and
Quite a lot about his passing left in sport. 
a huge emotional scar on me – be-
ing one of the last people to see him He has been described by some in
in good health following a night out rugby as candid and blunt. And yes,
together one Sunday before we said he was, respectfully so because he was
our farewells for yet another weekend. an independent man, open to offer his
Fatefully, it turned out to be the last views without fear or favour, for the
time.   greater good of rugby in Zimbabwe. 

It was probably the first instance He saw his assessment of things as
in my adult life that somebody so constructive – not selfish – even if it
personally close, outside family, had did not go well with some in a sport
died. Death became real thereafter for where viewpoints can be notoriously
me as relatives, colleagues and other poralised along friends, club and old-
acquaintances have followed to the boy circles.
Pearly Gates over the years.
But one thing, when Tangai Mu-
Modreck had learnt his sports ear- rangari spoke, it was with a strong
lier in his hometown of Chiredzi at conviction that was laced with an aura
Murray McDougall Primary School, of personal integrity, a man hard to
a multi-racial countryside jewel where disagree with.
children of all colours participated in
all sorts of codes: cricket, rugby, swim- The impact Tank had on a cross-sec-
ming, hockey, tennis, athletics.  tion of people stems from his passion
for sport, business and life – which
Proceeding to boarding life at have parallels where lessons can be
Plumtree School, he continued to shared. 
excel in sport alongside his younger
brother Cleopas Makotose who, years A loyal friend to many, Tank was
later in 2005 – aged 23 – became one a sociable guy who, away from life’s
of the youngest men in history to be more pressing matters, loved good
appointed Zimbabwe’s rugby captain. company. The occasion would not be
complete without a fairly large num-
As for big brother Modreck, fate ber of cold ones, which he was known
had not always been kind. A near-fa- to put away with trademark gusto at
tal road accident in Bulawayo, his an impressive rate, much to the amaze-
birthplace, left him battling for his life ment of all his mates, hence the Tank
at Mater Dei Hospital in the city in moniker.  
2004. That week Modreck, a rising star
at Bulawayo club giants Old Miltoni- What a hammer blow his tragic loss
ans, had just deservedly earned himself is. But his inspirational legacy must
selection into a provisional squad of be celebrated even in sorrowful times,
Zimbabwe’s national team, the Sables. as we take the time to also remember
He would be discharged from hospital fondly the other young dearly depart-
ed servants of the game. 

Sports A crippling
poverty of
leadership
at Zifa

‘Humiliated, intimidated,
degraded’ ref reports
Thursday 1 October 2020 sexual advances

Friday 11 February 2022 @NewsHawksLive TheNewsHawks www.thenewshawks.com

WHAT’S INSIDE NEWS CULTURE
Klusener linked to Zimbabwe$60 Covid
tariff for
visitors &
Community
radio
regulations

tourists under review
return in coCachhainmg riessahurffeleacENOCKMUCHINJO
Story on Page 3 Story on Page 8

ZIMBABWE is considering making out to Khupe
changes to its coaching department
with a new batting coach likely to be Unofficial president calls for emerge
appointed soon, a real possibility be-
ing the return of Lance Klusener to Lance Klusener Afghanistan's coach in 2021.
the side in the same role.
before the qualifiers. The Zimbabwean board is under- the decider. After Sri Lanka totalled a firm position whether the consistent-
The former South Africa all-round- Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) has how- stood to be hugely dissatisfied with chasable 254-9 in the third tie, Zim- ly poor showing is down to the play-
er left his position as Afghanistan’s ever maintained huge respect for Klus- ALthSeOpeIrNfoSrmIDanEces of Fthine atenamce, wMhicnhistybwabwipeehsaoduat $gr3e.a2t Bopilplioortnunditeyptoositoerrsstfhuemndseslves, or Zinidmee'ds laactoeascthilnagnd c
head coach last December after decid- ener and they are understood to have is currently bottom of the ICC World stage a major upset, but the African problem, which they are now trying
ing against renewing his initial two- lined up the ex-Protea alongside other Cup Super League, a qualification tourists batted spinelessly in Pallekele to rectify. 
year contract with the Asian team.  possible new batting coach candidates process to the next World Cup in to be all out for 70 runs, gifting the Last year, ZC extended the con-
to replace former Zimbabwe interna- 2023. On a recent tour of Sri Lanka, hosts a big 184-run win. tract of head coach Lalchand Rajput,
“Having spent two years with the tional Stuart Matsikenyeri, who may Zimbabwe recovered well to win the Although batting has been identi- against popular sentiment that the
team, I will take away some memora- be re-assigned to another role within second ODI by 22 runs to level the fied as the Zimbabwean team’s major 59-year-old Indian is out of his depth
ble moments with me,” Klusener said the structures.  three-match series one-all going into weakness, the board has not made a and should be released.
in a statement in November.

“As I walk away from Afghanistan
cricket team and its cricketing struc-
ture, I look forward to the next stage
in my coaching career and opportuni-
ties it brings.”

Under Klusener, Afghanistan made
some notable strides. The Asian side
won one Test, against Zimbabwe in
Abu Dhabi in March 2021, to draw
the two-match series 1-1.

The ex-Proteas star also led the Af-
ghans to three ODI and nine T20I
wins, including series wins over Ire-
land and West Indies.

50-year-old Klusener previously
worked as Zimbabwe’s batting coach
under the then head coach Heath
Streak. With Klusener’s fellow coun-
tryman and former Proteas teammate
Makhaya Ntini also involved in the
set-up as bowling coach, Zimbabwe’s
performances improved markedly, but
failure to qualify for the 2019 World
Cup seemed to reverse all the progress
made.

Klusener was sacked later in 2018
alongside Streak and chief selector
Tatenda Taibu following Zimbabwe’s
dramatic defeat to minnows UAE
during a qualification tournament
hosted by the African country, a result
that prevented the side from playing
in the World Cup for the first time
since 1983. Ntini, on the other hand,
escaped the axe after stepping down
from his Zimbabwe post two months

ALSO INSIDE The rugby gods have conspired against us yet again