WEEKLY DIGEST April 20, 2022

 ANC speaks with forked tongue on  Highly anticipated Asaph featuring Loki track
xenophobia. . . Page 19 Thebelele drops . . . Page 22

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Wednesday April

. New

framework to
tackle hurdles
facing IPPs

. Protected

areas: National
assets or
shared
heritage?

ThoefitnheeviGtarbeleenrbeatcukrn

AFRICA IN BRIEF April 20-26 2022 Weekly Digest 2

South Africa deploys troops to help Mali gets more military
with flood relief efforts equipment from Russia

1 South Africa’s armed 4 Mali has received an- force chief "discreetly" visited Mos-
forces have been de- other batch of military cow.
ployed to help with re- equipment from Russia
lief efforts in the KwaZulu- after the European Union State media widely publicised
Natal province, where more suspended its military training pro- the reception and hailed Russia's
than 440 people died follow- gramme with the Sahel nation. growing support for Mali in coun-
ing torrential rains that triggered Mali's armed forces chief, Maj ter-insurgency operations.
floods and mudslides last week. Gen Oumar Diarra, received two
The South African National De- combat helicopters and surveil- Mali has defended relations with
fence Force (SANDF) said it had lance radars, the Malian presiden- Russia after international backlash
been instructed to activate 10,000 cy said in a statement. over a decision to deploy merce-
troops for tasks including mop-up The presidency shared a video naries from the controversial Wag-
work and transporting aid. showing the equipment as it was ner paramilitary firm in December.
The SANDF would also provide delivered by a Russian cargo flight
medical support and helicopters at the airport in the capital Bam- This triggered the ongoing
for rescue and reconnaissance ako. withdrawal of France's Opera-
missions. The death toll stands at Mr Diarra termed Russia's sup- tion Barkhane forces and Europe-
443, but with each passing day, port to Mali as "a manifestation of an troops under the Takuba Task
hopes diminish of finding more the very fruitful partnership". Force.
survivors. Last month, Mali received two
The floods have left thousands Russian-made combat helicop- Wagner fighters and the Malian
homeless, knocked out power and ters and radars shortly after reports army have been linked to allega-
water services and disrupted op- that its defence minister and air tions of gross human rights abus-
erations at one of Africa’s busiest es in joint counter-insurgency op-
ports, Durban. erations in recent months, reports
‘Extensive damage’ Mali denies.
Swathes of eThekwini, the mu-
nicipality that includes Durban, re- — BBC
main without power or water, and
the province said it could take time A search and rescue team uses a dog to search for bodies in Umbumbulu
before services are restored. near Durban, South Africa, April 18, 2022
“There are areas that have suf-
fered extensive damage which will Dassenhoek near Durban southwest of Durban, herdsman
take longer to repair,” it said in a A member of the search and res- Mbukeni Khwela accompanied
statement. police officers and sniffer dogs to
Many streets remain slathered cue team looks through debris in scour a river for a missing neigh-
with mud, although the main Dassenhoek near Durban, South bour who had been swept away.
roads have been cleared enough Africa, April 17, 2022 [Rogan Ward/ “We have found her son, but we
to allow water tankers to the hard- Reuters] haven’t found her,” the 59-year-old
est-hit areas. said. Police said they were mourn-
A member of the search and res- But eThekwini deputy mayor ing two officers and a sniffer dog
cue team looks through debris in Philani Mavundla said in a televi- killed in the floods, among the
sion interview that 80 percent of worst to affect the east coast prov-
the city’s waterworks were down, ince in recorded history.
making it difficult to even fill the
tankers. Outside the town of Um- — Aljazeera
bumbulu about 45km (28 miles)

Protest forces Libya’s national oil firm to close Al-Fil field

2 Libya’s National Oil NOC and Italian energy giant ENI vention of the field’s workers from Draghi, 74, who is "asymptomatic", was to fly to Luanda on Wednesday
Corporation (NOC) has and produces about 70,000 bar- continuing production,” the NOC and Brazzaville on Thursday
announced the suspen- rels of oil per day. The field was al- said in a post to Facebook on Sun-
sion of production at ready forced to close temporari- day. The firm added that the field Italy PM Draghi to skip Africa
a major oil field in the ly in early March when an armed was shut down on Sunday, mark- trip after positive COVID test
country’s south, declaring a “force group shut down valves delivering ing the second closure in a matter
majeure” due to a protest at the crude. of weeks and “making it impossi-
site. ble for the NOC to implement its
Located some 750km (466 “On Saturday… the Al-Fil field contractual obligations”.
miles) southwest of Tripoli, the Al- was subjected to arbitrary clo-
Fil field is jointly managed by the sure attempts, due to the entry of — Aljazeera
a group of individuals and the pre-

Sudan investigates social worker

for ‘leaking state secrets’ to UN

On March 28, Volker Perthes told 5 Italian Prime Minis- by the two countries’ dominant en-
ter Mario Draghi has ergy players, Eni and Sonatrach.
3 the United Nations’ Secu- scrapped a visit to oil- Details of the deal were not imme-
rity Council that Suda- rich Angola and the Re- diately available.
nese government forc- public of the Congo after
es had raped 16 female testing positive for COVID-19, his As part of a broader declara-
protesters since last De- office has said. tion of intent, Draghi said Italy was
cember’s anti-coup protests. A statement from his office on ready to work with Algeria to de-
He added that as UN envoy Monday said Draghi, 74, who was velop renewable energy and green
for Sudan, he was working with to fly to Luanda on Wednesday hydrogen.
the Combating Violence Against and Brazzaville on Thursday for
Women (CVAW) Unit under the talks on switching energy supplies Rome and Algiers already had a
Ministry of Social Affairs and civil from Russia, is “asymptomatic”. He contract for gas deliveries up un-
society to mitigate sexual violence will be replaced by foreign minis- til 2027. There have been debates
in the country. The next week, Suli- ter Luigi Di Maio and the minister about whether other countries –
ma Ishaq, head of the unit, was in- in charge of ecological transition, in Africa and beyond – can step
terrogated by security services. Her Roberto Cingolani. up to provide alternative gas sup-
lawyers say she is being investi- Last week, Italy and Algeria plies to Europe since Russia invad-
gated for accusations of “leaking signed agreements to strengthen ed Ukraine on February 24.
state secrets” to the UN envoy un- energy ties and increase the North
der Article 47 of the country’s crim- People take part in demonstrations demanding a civilian government and African state’s energy exports to It- Italy has also reached out to
inal act. the release of political prisoners, in Sudan's capital Khartoum on April 6, aly. Draghi announced the deals make arrangements with the Dem-
“The information I gave to the 2022 in Algeria on April 11, adding that ocratic Republic of the Congo, An-
[UN] had already been broad- gola, Azerbaijan and Qatar, among
casted on television channels and tests toppled former autocrat arrested. they were a significant step in Ita- others. The Russian invasion has
media outlets,” Ishaq, who is now Omar al-Bashir, citizens and ad- In March, a Khartoum office – ly’s drive to reduce its dependency triggered sweeping Western sanc-
worried that she’ll go to prison on vocacy groups say Sudan is spiral- on Russian gas. tions that threaten to disrupt ener-
trumped-up charges, told Al Ja- ling back into a full-throttle dicta- belonging to a commission inves- Italy, which is heavily depend- gy flows, raising the possibility of
zeera over the phone. “But be- torship. tigating a June 3, 2019 incident in ent on foreign gas, bought some gas shortages.
cause the information was pre- which security forces reported- 29 billion cubic metres (bcm) from
sented to the Security Council and Since last October when a mili- ly murdered at least 120 people to Russia last year, about 40 percent Ecological transition minister
the [coup forces] are afraid of get- tary coup upended the country’s break up a sit-in – was raided by of its total gas imports. Roberto Cingolani said earlier this
ting sanctioned, they are [target- fragile transition to democracy, security forces. The prime minister said the gas month that Italy expected to get
ing] me now.” hundreds of protesters have been deal with Algeria had been signed an extra 10 bcm of gas from pipe-
Three years after popular pro- — Aljazeera lines from Algeria, Libya and Azer-
baijan this year.

— Aljazeera

THE DIGEST VIEW April 20-26 2022 Weekly Digest 3

Access
to a decent

toilet is a
right

the part of government and the
Karoi Town Council which both ap-
pear not to be prioritising the issue Independence: Why
of Wash.
But the issue of access to a de-
cent toilet in public places is a ma-
jor problem across the country. has Zim regressed?N Monday, Zim-
Travel to any town, growth point or babwe turned 42
business centre, it is rare to find a after gaining in-
decent toilet. Those available are
O dependence in
usually unusable after years of poor has failed us? It’s leadership,
maintenance or mere neglect. stupid! This is well argued in
And for a country which expe- the book Why Nations Fail?
rienced one of the world’s worst
This seminal book argues
cholera outbreaks one would have 1980. This was a countries may have the same
thought that the southern African huge moment, a moment geography, same climate,
nation had learnt something from that needs reflection on have mineral resources, but still
its past nasty experiences. For in- we met independence aspi- remain poor. The author
Alfonce Mbizwo stance, between 2008 and 2009 rations? If not, what held the argues the only factor that
Zimbabwe reported 98 585 chol- country back? The answer is makes the difference is
Editor era cases and more than 4 000 always simple — it’s leader- leadership. Paidamoyo Muzulu
cholera-related deaths. The pan- ship, stupid. It may be important to look
OUR sister publication, demic spilled to neighbouring When Zimbabwe got at Zimbabwe’s leadership. thrived on speculation and
NewsDay recently countries and dented Zimbabwe’s independent, it had a Who has led us and what rent seeking behaviour than
carried two stories tourism sector big time. fairly sophisticated and were their big ideas on production.
that spoke to the is- diversified economy second development?
One would have thought that only to South Africa in sub- The late former President It has to be emphasised
the 2008 pandemic should have Saharan Africa. It had a fairly Robert Mugabe was at the that collectively, Zanu PF has
sue of water, sanita- been enough wake-up call for failed. It failed to renew its
tion and hygiene (Wash). Zimbabwe to treat the issue of developed manufacturing helm for 37 years with his leadership peacefully in 37
One of the stories talked of a Wash with the seriousness it de- sector, well-maintained Zanu PF party. years. It needed a coup to
health time bomb that is ticking serves. roads, functional schools, In the post-independence remove Mugabe from power.
in the small farming town of Kar- A 2017 Health and Human Rights functional health centres, an honeymoon phase, Mugabe
oi where council has purportedly Journal report says: “A breakdown efficient rail system and a expanded education and This renewal was not a
failed to provide toilets and water in the most basic elements of wa- developed banking system. health services to the root and branch change. It
to vendors who have crowd- ter and sanitation infrastruc- All construction was citizens. He built new clinics recycled the deadwood. It
ture underpinned the planned and approved before and hospitals, new primary recycled the same neoliberal
ed the town to cash in One cholera epidemic in it commenced. All the off- schools, technical colleges IMF policies of privatisation.
on an influx of farm- Zimbabwe.” site infrastructure had to be and universities. He gave
ers coming to sell Fundamental- No one has thought like
their tobacco. of the stories in place before the houses or people houses under home Captain Thomas Sankara
In the oth- ly, this means factories were put up. It had ownership schemes. that development had to
er story, the talked of a health time that access to nice tarred roads and potable This redistribution of be made from inside not
a decent toi- water. wealth, while welcome, was reliance on foreigners. That
recent- bomb that is ticking in the let is a hu- It has to be admitted, the not enough. Zimbabwe development is not achieved
ly opened man right economy then was set up to did not build a national by privatisation whose only
new gov- that should motive is profit.
ernment small farming town of Karoi benefit the minority white bourgeoisie class as argued
building be re- people. This has been well by Frantz Fanon in his book It is clear that Zimbabwe
housing where council has purportedly spected argued in the book The Dual The Wretched of the Earth. needs a new leadership with
by gov- enclave. Historian Walter The economy remained new economic policies, not
the pass- failed to provide toilets and wa- ernment Rodney in his book How steeped in the hands of the oversold neoliberalism.
port offic- and all lo- Europe Underdeveloped multinational companies and
es in Hara- cal author- Zimbabwe needs to have
re has toi- ter to vendors who have crowd- Africa argues in one poignant a coterie of foreign investors. a robust and candid debate
lets that ities. Failure line saying: “All roads and Things were made worse on what economic policies
are failing ed the town to cash in on an to provide railways led to the sea.” by adopting International to adopt, which industries
a decent toi- The quotation is powerful. Monetary Fund (IMF) should never be privatised
to cope with influx of farmers coming let where it It speaks to how the economy economic reforms, popularly and above all, how to
the hundreds is needed is was structured. It was known as Economic Structural harness its human capital for
of people be- tantamount to development.
sieging the to sell their tobac- connected to the colonial Adjustment Programme.
building to obtain abuse. power. The colonies had to Under this economic policy, While we celebrate this day,
passports. As a result co. There is absolute- supply raw materials fed Zimbabwe was forced to sell a day of our independence,
ly no excuse for govern- into industries in the colonial the family silver — privatising we have to revisit the vision
of the heavy congestion ment and all the local au- powers’ cities. State-owned companies. of our liberators and try to
the toilets are almost always live to those ideals and where
out of order mainly due to lack of thorities that answer to it to fail to Andre Gunder Frank also Privatisation did not improve necessary make changes
water. provide toilets in all public places. raises an important point the quality of lives for the for the greater good of our
Zimbabwe should be known for on development when majority. Companies were citizens.
In both cases people desperate he postulated about the closed and employees laid off
to relieve themselves are resorting its decency and not for being in- Happy Independence Day.
to open spaces. different to basic rights such as ac- “metropole and satellite” in thousands. Paidamoyo Muzulu is a journalist
This is a serious indictment and cess to a respectable place to an- theory. The few blacks who based in Zimbabwe. He writes in
an embarrassment for a country swer nature’s call. No one in this day However, with nearly half a benefited from indigenisation his personal capacity.
that is aiming for an upper middle and age should be seen squatting century of independence we have largely been usurpers
income economic status by 2030. in the open relieving themselves, could be doing better. What or corrupt business who
All this points to poor planning on especially in the capital city.

Weekly Digest is published daily by Alpha Media Holdings EDITOR Tel: 883184-8/887057/58/69/70/71 Tel. 883184/5/6/7/8,887069/70/1,887058/885280/1/2. AMH subscribes to truthful,
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INTERVIEW April 20-26 2022 Weekly Digest 4

New
framework
to tackle

hurdles
facing IPPs

Arevolution has taking place Zesa applies for tariff review in the pre- an advertisement with regards to the ap- would have sought. That process hasn't
in Zimbabwe’s power sector. scribed format after having consulted with plication to the regulator in terms of the happened yet.
Under new regulations that government and Zesa is obligated to make quantum of the percentage increase they
came into force about a dec- When it happens, we will review the tar-
ade ago, the government has
been licensing new independent power
producer (IPPs) to expand the electricity
generation base.

Senior business reporter, Tatira Zwin-
oira (TZ) recently had a discussion with
Edington Mazambani (EM), chief execu-
tive officer at the Zimbabwe Energy Reg-
ulatory Authority (Zera) on the push to-
wards IPP licensing and renewable ener-
gy facilities.

TZ: Tell us about the licencing require-
ments for energy projects in Zimbabwe?

EM: One of the requirements for an in-
vestor to approach us for licensing is that
they must come up with a bankable fea-
sibility study. If you don’t have a bankable
feasibility study we just don't look at it.

TZ: How often do you find yourselves
having to do that?

EM: At the beginning, it was a bit more
often but lately, most of the projects that
come are accompanied with bankable fea-
sibility studies.

TZ: There are about 90 renewable ener-
gy projects. Of these, only 20 have start-
ed. How are you going to address this?

EM: I think there is a need to indicate
why those are struggling. Reaching finan-
cial closure has been a challenge with most
IPPs. Financial closure avails the funding for
projects to go ahead. Most of them have
not gotten to that stage yet. The main rea-
son that is inhibiting is the issue to do with
government implementation of agree-
ments. It is like a government guarantee to
the implementation of the project. There
have also been issues to do with curren-
cy risk. Investors invest in US dollars. While
the tariff is set in US dollars, it's payable in
local currency at the exchange rate ruling
on the date of payment. The IPPs are not
assured of then accessing foreign curren-
cy in terms of loan repayment, in terms of
profit repatriation. These are the issues to
be addressed by (our) framework, which is
currently being developed by government.
We are waiting for the format to be final-
ised then we will be ready to run with it.

TZ: What has ZERA done since President
Emmerson Mnangagwa ordered a review
of the fuel cost build-up?

EM: When we set prices, we set them
within the stipulated regulations. We have
to set prices in consultation with the Min-
ister of Energy and Power Development.
We also consult with other relevant gov-
ernment departments, including his Excel-
lency (the President). We have to be very
grateful to the government.

Whenever there are spikes in interna-
tional prices, we have always gone to ask
for a reduction in taxes and levies. They
have been very accommodative. If the full
impact of prices increased had not been
cushioned by the reduction in taxes and
levies, prices would have been very high.
However, because of that assistance, taxes
have been really slashed.

TZ: Is there room to reduce prices?
EM: Taxes and levies, unfortunately, Tat-
ira, are the preserve of the Minister of Fi-
nance and Economic Development. But
I may say the taxing regime in any giv-
en country is informed by various factors,
such as tax compliance. It is to do with the
revenue and the environment.
TZ: Power utility, Zesa has indicated
that tariffs are low, and is making losses
EM: With regards to the Zesa tariff,
there's a process which we go through.

INTERVIEW April 20-25 2022 Weekly Digest 5

iff, consult consumers, consult the government, and by TZ: Tell us about electric vehicles (EVs) framework of the certification process. It is going to be
consumers, I mean all groupings be it the farmers, indus- EM: I think you will agree that this is a new area we're all encompassing looking at the vehicle itself, looking at
trial, commercial and domestic consumers. We will then venturing into and there's need to come up with a frame- the infrastructure to facilitate the use of these vehicles
definitely have to consult them and then approach the work which will guide in terms of the type of vehicles we and also looking at the people who are going to be ser-
government in terms of consultative process because the are going to accept into this country, the types of infra- vicing the vehicles. The other thing is to get in touch with
government is a key stakeholder in the determination. Af- structure we are going to install, the type of maintenance emergency service providers. When an electric vehicle is
ter that, then the Zera board will decide on the tariff which which will be required. People who sell these vehicles are involved in an accident, the rescue operation is different
will be communicated to the minister. supposed to be certified so we need to come up with the from a normal vehicle.

COVER April 20-26 2022 Weekly Digest 6

The inevitable return of the Greenback

TMELODY CHIKONOHE introduction early this
month of new United States
dollar bundles by diversified
communications company
Econet Wireless was one of the
strongest signals yet that the country’s
economy is heading back towards redoll-
larisation despite spirited claims by gov-
ernment that the country will dedollarise
by 2027.
Econet recently launched the ‘Smart
US Dollar bundles’ that will allow its cus-
tomers to purchase airtime, data and
SMS products in US dollars. That govern-
ment has approved the sale of bundles in
hard currency is widely seen as a tacit ad-
mission by government that the country
is heading towards dollarisation.
The local currency continue to lose val-
ue against the United States dollar hav-
ing tumbled to around $290-$360: US$1
while the official foreign currency rate at
the auction system is now $150,12: US$1.
This has resulted in prices of goods
and services skyrocketing. The Consumer
Council of Zimbabwe bread basket for a
family of six has shot up to more than $92
000 up from just over $78 000 in Feb-
ruary. Inflation shot up to 72,7% for the
month of March although economist Ste-
ve Hanke has put the country’s inflation
at 189%. The continued depreciation of
the local currency has intensified calls for
the country to dollarise.
However, last week the central bank
governor John Mangudya dismissed the
possibility of dollarisation insisting that
movement was still firmly on course to
de-dollarise the economy.
Mangudya, however, admitted that
more still needed to be done to create a
PUBLIC NOTICE: strong demand for the local currency, es-
pecially given the dollarisation hysterics
SECURITY ALERT- BOGUS ZIMRA in the economy.
OFFICIALS ON A PROWL Studies have, however, shown that the
process is not easy, especially on the as-
pect of restoring public confidence in the
restoration of the local currency.
The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) wishes to advise its valued clients, members of staff and the This is more so in Zimbabwe where
public in general to be on the lookout for fraudsters posing as ZIMRA officials. The fraudsters who many are still traumatised by the loss of
masquerade as Tax Auditors are using the following names; Mr. D. Musakwa, Mr. B. Masango, Mrs. savings during the hyperinflationary era,
Chibungu, Mrs. Kunaka and Mrs. Chikodzonge. which led to the 2009 demise of the Zim-
babwean dollar.
Countries like Chile, Israel, Poland and
The above have been reported as sending SMSs and have been calling tax payers announcing intention Georgia have been able to successful-
to conduct an audit and subsequently solicit for bribes to avoid carrying out the audit or affecting the ly de-dollarise their economies through
results on the intended audit. market-oriented measures and bet-
ter macro-economic management com-
pared to those implemented in Zimba-
ZIMRA’s clients are advised to be careful of these fraudsters and to avoid bowing to their criminal bwe. The flip flop over the country’s cur-
demands. Clients are encouraged to be aware of the following: rency by the government particularly

on reintroducing the local currency has
worsened levels of poverty as the Zim-
 ZIMRA is not associated with and has no links with the bogus Auditors purportedly conducting babwe dollar value continues to plum-
ZIMRA work in the manner described above. met. Citizens’ savings and incomes have
been severely eroded as a result of gov-
 All ZIMRA employees have clearly defined work procedures and do not carry out ZIMRA business ernment’s shift in policies, thus reducing
over unofficial personal media platforms such as SMS, WhatsApp, Twitter and Facebook. public confidence in fiscal and monetary
authorities.
 All ZIMRA employees carry with them valid staff identity cards when on duty and do not ask for any In June 2019 government woke up to
form of monetary deposits into their personal bank accounts for them to conduct ZIMRA business. declare the Zimdollar as the sole legal
tender and banned the multi-currency
 ZIMRA clients should not be intimidated into unnecessarily parting with their money through
actions of the bogus ZIMRA employees.

regime under Statutory Instrument 142
creating chaos and confusion in the mar-
Anyone who has been approached by the fraudsters as stated above or with information pertaining to ket.

the bogus ZIMRA officials should immediately report to the nearest Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) The local unit was introduced without

station and nearest ZIMRA office or contact ZIMRA via the following details: vital benchmarks being met.

General Lines : 024-2-758891-5 The conditions needed for a de-dol-

Econet toll free : 0808190 larisation and use of a fully-fledged lo-
cal currency include attaining a sustaina-
Telecel toll free : 0732880880 ble gross domestic product (GDP) growth

Netone toll free : 0814880 rate of at least 7%; low and stable infla-

WhatsApp : 0712790972/0772135690 tion; reducing the high debt ratios to very

SMS : 0712790972 low and sustainable levels; increasing the
level of savings and investments to at
Email : [email protected] least 25% of GDP; reducing the balance-

/[email protected] of-payments and at least six months im-

My Taxes, My Duties: Building My Zimbabwe!! port cover.
Public Notice No. 28 of 2022, issued on14/03/2022. Rocked by the catastrophic conse-
quences of the decision to make the local
www.zimra.co.zw @Zimra_11 ZIMRA.ZW currency the sole legal tender, govern-
ment then reintroduced the multi-cur-
rency regime as a measure to ameliorate
the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
the following year.
Market watchers this week told Week-
ly Digest that the Zimdollar was doomed
from the beginning.
Economist Victor Bhoroma is convinced
the economy will dollarise soon.
1

COVER April 20-26 2022 Weekly Digest 7

“The Zimbabwean dollar was doomed from the start as Bhoroma added that the country needed a situation the currency function. Rukwara said: “There seems to be
the economy lacked fundamentals for currency stabili- whereby there is more competition and promotion of grounded consensus on the part of government on the
ty. It is just a matter of time before we re-dollarise, oth- policies that favour business growth. necessity and usefulness of a dual currency system in
erwise there is no future in the Zimbabwean dollar if we the short to medium term to our economy. In as much
are to be honest and realistic. The government is already Research and Investments Analyst Enock Rukarwa there is compelling case for the use of local currency for
collecting tax in foreign currency using the Finance Act said in as much there is a compelling case for the use sustainable and inclusive economic growth and devel-
of 2009 and 2012. The US dollar is already in circulation of local currency for sustainable and inclusive economic opment, in the interim our local economy operates bet-
domination of over 80% in real terms,” he said. growth and development, in the interim our local econ- ter with USD partially performing the currency function.”
omy operates better with US dollar partially performing

BUSINESS April 20-26 2022 Weekly Digest 8

Amid chaos, ZSE has become a bubble

LTAFARA Mtutu Theory fans the market rally. This When the internet’s relevance these paradigms preceded. is characterised by the investors
ATELY, some investors phenomenon manifests when in- began extending beyond gov- A closer look at Zimbabwe’s exhibiting the Greater Fool The-
have voiced their worries vestors are aware that an asset is ernment use in the 90’s, it under- ory. Evidence of the euphoria
regarding the viability of overvalued and still purchase it in scored the surge in the price of broader economic landscape stage on the ZSE is very limited
investing on the Zimba- and local capital markets reveals and inconsistent.
bwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) hopes of disposing it at an even internet stocks,which led to the oneremotely potential paradigm
in light of a year-to-date perfor- higher price to another buyer NASDAQ’s stratospheric gain of that could warrant investor’s wor- The introduction of punitive
mance beyond 100% on several manifesting the same phenom- 579% between 1995 and 2000. ries, that is, the dramatic increase capital gains tax on stocks held
counters on the stock exchange enon — a classic act of tossing However, a series of bankrupt- in retail investor activity since the for less than six months has also
like Simbisa Brands, Axia Corpo- a grenade to the next person cies by these internet companies introduction of the ZSE Direct deterred any speculative inves-
ration, and Ecocash Holdings. before it explodes. Bubbles can became the pin that popped the platform in 2020. tor activity on the exchange.
Simbisa Brands has gained manifest in stock markets, com- dot com bubble in 2002.
214% since the year began, while modity markets, credit, or any The most recent known bubble The growth in the platform’s The profit-taking stage hardly
Axia Corporation and Ecocash other asset class. is the US housing market bubble users also coincides with unreal applies to the ZSE given that the
Holdings have gained that unravelled in price growth in many small cap bourse is among the best infla-
233% and 99%, respective- 2007 and be- stocks throughout 2021, like Get- tion-hedging avenues in Zimba-
ly, over the same period. Simbisa Brands has gained 214% came the pro- bucks’ and Unifreight’s respective bwe in the absence of liquidity
Overall, the ZSE has logue to the YTD gains of 16,011% and 4,700%. on the Victoria Falls Exchange
gained 65% between Jan- since the year began, while Axia global financial (VFEX) and accessible mortgage
uary and April 2022 while crisis of 2008. However, we opine that this is facilities for real estate invest-
Consumer Price Index (CPI) Corporation and Ecocash Holdings According not enough to warrant a bubble in ments. We opine that a panic
growth over the same pe- to Sanlam, US the same way that the GameStop phase, though subjective, is un-
riod has been 20%. have gained 233% and 99%, re- house prices saga did not culminate in a stock likely to manifest given that the
In addition, the official nearly doubled market bubble in 2021. lack of evidence of the first four
exchange rate has incom- spectively, over the same period. between 1996 phases.
mensurately depreciated and 2006 on The second part is the boom
by 35% over the same pe- the back of low phase that is characterised by a We reiterate that overall; the
riod. This has been accom- interest rates gain in price momentum that is ZSE is fairly valued with devel-
panied with the question, “Is and poor due driven by a fear of missing out opments around parallel mar-
the ZSE in a bubble?” The earliest documented case diligence on fixed income instru- more than fundamentals. ket rates strongly driving asset
According to usnews.com, a of bubble was documented in ments. House prices began to prices. We note that there are
stock market bubble is a rap- the Dutch Republic in 1634 where slide in 2006 and ripple effects While stock prices on the ZSE some stocks that have rallied
id rise in the price of stocks or speculators bought tulip bulbs, led to the biggest global contrac- have been relentlessly going up, ahead of fundamentals, but
other assets that is not justified which were a coveted symbol of tion since the 1930s. these movements have been ZSE stock prices are notoriously
by fundamentals and is usually status at the time. Bubbles often unravel in five fundamentally driven by the de- sticky-down, and this often lim-
followed by a sharp fall in prices When demand for the flow- phases, namely (i) displacement, preciation of the local currency its downside risk for investors.
once investor enthusiasm wanes. ers collapsed in 1637, the price of (ii) boom, (iii) euphoria, (iii) profit- on the parallel market.
Stock market bubbles develop tulip bulbs crashed to the detri- taking, and (v) panic. There also remain pockets of
when (i) investors do not under- ment of speculative investors. The displacementphase is driv- The bourse’s 60% YTD growth opportunity to earn a real return
stand the fundamental drivers This case of stock market bub- en by a new paradigm thatcre- coincides with the 60% deprecia- on the ZSE that investors should
of the stock market and (ii) the bles subsequently gave rise to ates the bubble. tion of the currency from 200 at consider with the help of their in-
building blocks of fundamentals- the term, “tulip mania”, a meta- In the above examples, the the beginning of the year to 320 vestment adviser.
driven are not clear and investors phor for a large economic bubble highly coveted symbol of status in the second week of April 2022.
“go with the flow”, creating an air in modern times. Another popu- of the tulip bulb, the”Web 1.0” Tafara Mtutu is a research an-
of speculative buying. lar case of economic bubbles craze during the 90’s, and the his- Further, we observe that the alyst at Morgan & Co Research.
In some cases, a phenom- is the dot com bubble that oc- torically low mortgage rateswere market also incorporates future — [email protected] or
enon known as the Greater Fool curred between 1995 and 2002. the architects of the bubbles that currency rates in current market +263 774 795 854.
prices, and given the progression
of local rates to date, this is likely
to fundamentally drive prices
even higher up throughout the
year without creating a bubble.

The euphoria stage that follows

OPINION April 20-26 2022 Weekly Digest 9

Land revelations of possible abuse of funds countability of how the funds were print, the National Development
tenure under the controversial scheme amid disbursed. Strategy 1 (NDS1) acknowledges the
question claims there were no records and ac- need to resolve the matter, “fundamen-
demands The government’s economic blue- tal to the projected economic growth,
resolve is resolving the security of land tenure”.

EBEN MABUNDA However, the government has lacked
the political will to change the land
T HE land tenure question tenure matrix.
requires an objective assess-
ment and lasting solution Key to the government’s con-
because it is key to unlocking siderations are concerns over land
value out of Zimbabwe’s agri- ownership, especially in the event of
cultural sector. default, considering several banks and
financial institutions in Zimbabwe are
The sector provides employment foreign-owned.
and income for 60-70% of the pop-
ulation, supplying 60% of the raw The panacea is a ‘’give and take”
materials required by the industrial solution, one which makes the farms
sector. It contributes over 35% of the bankable with clearly defined terms is-
nation’s aggregate export earnings. sued by the government to address its
fears.
Land tenure is the lynchpin to elimi-
nate inefficiencies in Zimbabwe’s This would revive the entire ecosys-
agricultural sector and is required tem, revitalise value chains and ensure
to revitalise the local agricultural local farmers are adequately-funded
ecosystem. toward food security for the country.

Taking notes from yesteryear when Eben Mabunda is an analyst and
Zimbabwe was the breadbasket of Af- TV anchor at Equity Axis, a leading
rica; land security was the glue that financial research firm in Zimbabwe.
held the farming value chain together. — [email protected]
Without land security the farming eco-
system was incomplete and the dream
of alleviating Zimbabwe from a ‘basket
case’ status is elusive.

According to the World Food Pro-
gramme (WFP), more than 7,7 million
people — half the population, faced
food insecurity in 2020 on the back of
erratic weather patterns, which nega-
tively impacted crop harvests and
livelihood.

Before the land reform, white farm-
ers had full ownership of their land,
which made their farms bankable.

This allowed access to credit fi-
nancing from banks, secure farming
equipment on credit as well as other
relevant farming inputs and necessary
support in advance, for meaningful
crop and livestock production.

In the aftermath of the controversial
fast-tracked land reform programme
in the early 2000s, farmers were issued
with 99-year leases over the tracts of
land.

The arrangement allows farmers to
conduct various agricultural activities
as mere leaseholders. Farmers do not
have full ownership as the farms are
owned by the government.

While this has allowed farmers the
leeway to engage in agriculture, poor
mechanisation, lack of skills and the
absence of capital has hampered op-
timal performance.

Despite frantic efforts by the gov-
ernment to finance the activities
of farmers through the provision of
farming inputs and providing farm-
ing equipment, this has not translated
to much except for improvements for
a season or two before restoration to
default settings.

Between 2007 and 2008, the gov-
ernment of Zimbabwe implemented
the farm mechanisation programme
through quasi-fiscal operations by the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ).

The initiative sparked debate be-
tween 2010 and 2015, eventually, the
RBZ Debt Assumption Bill was de-
liberated on and was signed into law
— despite grave concerns from citizens.

In 2017, the government launched
the Command Agriculture programme
with US$3 billion injected to fund
the scheme. The initiative, aimed at
improving the country’s agricultural
prospects, provided inputs to farmers
across the country translating to short-
term gains.

However, it failed to eliminate ef-
ficiencies in the sector as there were

FEATURE April 20-26 8 2022 Weekly Digest 10

Protected areas: national
assets or shared heritage?

WIAN SCOONES and not part of an export zone graze inside the park boundary, ed to be a range of outreach and not better. Many complain that
hat are the roles where ‘disease freedom’ is re- no matter how bad the drought community liaison activities, as the park does nothing about it.
of protected ar- quired, the veterinary rationale conditions. The aim then is to well as intensified policing and While this is not strictly true, the
eas in nation- for the fence is shaky to say the keep animals in and people out. arrests. The community outreach scale of the challenge is huge.
al development? least (see an earlier blog on this activities are pursued genuine- The fence does restrict some ani-
Are parks na- theme). And, in any case, given While Hugo and colleagues ly and with considerable resourc- mals, but elephants, in particular,
tional, even global, assets pre- that the fence is not continuous, objected to the label of ‘for- es and are led by committed don’t have much time for fences
served for posterity and for pro- as animals are allowed to move tress conservation’ in my previ- staff from the Trust. There are in- even electric ones, and regularly
tecting biodiversity, or are they into hunting areas and can an- ous blog, there are clearly many vestments in local infrastructure break through. None of the ‘pro-
part of a shared, local heritage, yway move up rivers where the parallels. The increased militari- (roads, a proposed bridge, school jects’ offered by the park provide
where nature and human use fence does not cross, buffaloes sation of park defences is also a rehabilitation), as well as at- a genuine alternative to grazing.
must be seen as integrated? (the main FMD carrier) can eas- clear trend, again very similar to tempts to address human-wild- With increasing droughts and
ily move into the farming areas elsewhere. While from inside the life conflict (including growing more pressure on land around
This debate is a long-running (and do). park, it looks like there are as- chilli to create ‘cakes’ that can be the park, the need for relief graz-
one, ever since the establish- saults from all sides that must burned to repel elephants). There ing only gets bigger. While those
ment of the first ‘national parks’ Whatever the origins of the be defended against (poach- is also a commitment to wider di- with big herds (including absen-
in the US. Today, it is rising up fence, it serves the park strate- ers from Mozambique, villagers alogue, with platforms created in tees) are the most affected, it is
the agenda again, as advocates gy well. As was explained to us, seeking grazing from the Zim- villages around the park bounda- the smaller livestock owner, who
for a 30×30 commitment (pro- the aim is to reduce human-an- babwe side and so on), from the ry, where grievances can be aired may have just a few cattle and
tecting 30% of a country’s land imal conflict (although see the other side of the fence, it looks and issues addressed by park of- goats, whose livelihoods are es-
area for conservation by 2030) previous blog on the ‘trouble like a well-defended fortress, and ficials. pecially affected, as they depend
gains traction in debates around with elephants’), as well as en- a big change from the more flex- on livestock provisioning through
the ongoing COP15 discussions courage more regulated use of ible, negotiated (others would However, there remain prob- drought periods when crops fail.
on the post-2020 global frame- park resources by local people, say simply unregulated) arrange- lems, as we found when we
work on biodiversity to be con- overturning what was seen as a ment that existed before. talked with community mem- While community outreach
cluded in Kunming in China lat- dangerous free-for-all that exist- bers. There is a deep resent- certainly helps open up chan-
er this year. ed before. Today groups are al- Community tensions ment around the change of ac- nels of communication, the lo-
lowed in to cut grass and to col- The result has been height- cess, especially for grazing, and cal liaison officers are at a bit of
The rehabilitation of lect non-timber forest products, ened tension with local commu- multiple complaints that wild- loss what to do, as they have no
Gonarezhou national park but livestock are never allowed to nities, which have been respond- life conflicts are getting worse power to address the more fun-

These were themes that were
central to discussions during
our recent visit to the southeast
Lowveld in Zimbabwe, includ-
ing a visit to Gonarezhou Na-
tional Park at the kind invitation
of Hugo van der Westhuizen, Di-
rector of the Gonarezhou Con-
servation Trust, which followed
on from our recent exchange af-
ter my earlier blog. Thanks to fi-
nancing through the Frankfurt
Zoological Society from a num-
ber of philanthropic foundations,
the park is undergoing a much-
needed rehabilitation. After
years of neglect, the basic infra-
structure had declined and the
management of what are cru-
cially important ecosystems and
biodiverse habitats had lapsed.

The Gonarezhou Conserva-
tionTrust is a joint venture be-
tween the government (through
the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife
Management Authority) and the
FZS, based on a 20-year agree-
ment from 2017 to manage the
huge 5,000 km2 area. Already
major changes have happened,
including the recruitment and
training of many armed guards
and rangers, along with the im-
provement of roads, camping
and lodge sites. Although cur-
rently the park is receiving signif-
icant amounts of external fund-
ing as a contribution to its US$3
million per annum running costs,
the aim is to break even, boost-
ing pre-COVID income of about
$500m per annum through ma-
jor tourist investments.

Central to the park strategy
is the securing of the bounda-
ry, especially on the Zimbabwe
side. The erection of an electri-
fied veterinary fence along the
whole border has been recent-
ly completed, together with the
employment of guards to patrol.
This investment has been facili-
tated by government, through
the Department of Veterinary
Services, although where the
money originally came from re-
mains obscure. Although the
fence is aimed at stopping ani-
mals leaving the park and car-
rying disease to domestic herds
outside, the fence is also part of
the park strategy to contain an-
imals and maintain a strong, se-
cure boundary.

However, given that the area is
endemic with Foot-and-Mouth

FEATURE April 20-26 2022 Weekly Digest 11

damental questions around access to land (and CONGRATULATIONS
crucially grass and water for animals). There is
also a slightly naïve approach to ‘community’ in- The management and staff of Gray Group of Companies congratulates
volvement, with the assumption that co-opting Annavestah Mudiwa for scooping the Director of the year award at the
some chiefs or headmen is sufficient. As was ex-
plained to us, sometimes the dialogue meetings Megafest Business awards (Midlands region)
are open fights as people rail against the park or
– slightly bizarrely – against ‘Hugo’, as the dis- Your noteworthy accomplishment is a culmination of your efforts and wisdom
pute with the new park arrangement has be- which will propel you to even more triumphs.
come oddly personalised as if the Trust director
owns the place! GRAY MOBILE BRANCHES GRAY HOMES VESTAL PERFUMES VESTAL PHARMACY
Shurugwi Filabusi 44 Longden Easgate Market BRANCHES
The problem is that there are very divided Harare Gwanda Belvedere Shop A14 Shurugwi
views; different narratives about what the park Zvishavane Beightbridge Gwanda
and the wider landscape are for and the role of Mberengwa Contact us 0784614434
people in them. For some, parks are the last ves-
tiges of the wild, natural world, where global-
ly important habitats and species can be pro-
tected from human depredation. As part of a
core strategy for protecting biodiversity, they
are therefore globally important and central to
a country’s national assets. Given their wider val-
ue as ‘global public goods’, they can also attract
funds from outside, including interest from tour-
ists and others able to pay for access. For others,
by contrast, parks are part of a wider natural her-
itage, which has co-evolved together with hu-
mans. The landscape is one that has been part
of people’s cultural histories, and where grave
sites lie and spirits reside. These areas should be
protected for use, but humans – through living
with and from nature – are the natural guardi-
ans of it.

These views are not easy to resolve, although
there is a growing recognition, including in on-
going discussions about a post-2020 global
framework for biodiversity, that the most pro-
tected areas for biodiversity are ones that used
by ‘indigenous’ peoples and communities, and
that management of ecosystems is always nec-
essary for their protection (just look at what hap-
pens when ‘protected’, ‘endangered’ elephant
populations explode; see the last blog).

Ways forward?
So, what are the ways forward? Clearly the in-
vestment in Gonarezhou is much needed and
welcome, but has the Trust adopted the right
strategy? Is conflict bubbling away and will it ex-
plode at some point? Can the separation of wild
nature and people really be sustainable?
As we saw in our own study areas neighbour-
ing the park, land is currently highly constrained
– particularly better watered grazing and ara-
ble land at the end of a dry season or during a
drought (as now). Tensions between wildlife and
people will always focus on these ‘key resourc-
es’. This means shared use, within and outside
the park boundaries is essential. People in the
communities must find ways of allowing wildlife
to co-exist in their areas, while parks managers
must find ways of people using key resources in
the park (in certain places, at certain times). It
has to be a negotiated settlement, and one that
benefits both (conflicting) objectives. Without
this damaging conflict will persist.
Creating ‘alternative livelihoods’ in these ar-
eas is very difficult, and no matter how many
high-end tourist lodges are built this is not go-
ing to provide for the vast majority. Such peo-
ple are not going to be bought off with the odd
gardening project or infrastructure investment,
no matter how welcome these may be. They
need to make a living from the land – and that
means livestock grazing and farming. Using aid
and philanthropic money to invest in a national
park is justified because of its importance for bi-
odiversity protection, but this argument is diffi-
cult to sustain if over the fence poverty and even
starvation reigns.
Development must emerge in the round –
people, wildlife, ecosystems all need to be part
of the picture. The alternative to the siloed ap-
proach, where nature conservation is separated
from wider development (and attracts the big
bucks), is to accept that (no matter what fence
is put up), boundaries are flexible. A park such
as Gonarezhou is a national (even global) as-
set, but it is also a shared heritage, amongst all
those who value this landscape; not least those
who lived inside the park for many generations
before its establishment less than 50 years ago.
There is a need for what some call an ‘inclu-
sive’ or a ‘convivial’ approach to conservation:
shared use, negotiated goals and so less con-
flictual and violent. In the wider landscape, this
must mean biodiversity conservation of crit-
ical habitats and species; tourism to allow the
widest group of people to enjoy and appreci-
ate these historically and ecologically important
areas; hunting, revenue generation and benefit
sharing; and shared use of resources, particular-
ly those key resources vital for agricultural and
pastoral livelihoods, as well as wildlife. Fences,
guns and guards are not the solution, and may
even make matters worse.
This blog was written by Ian Scoones and origi-
nally appeared on Zimbabweland

SUSTAINABILITY April 20-26 2022 Weekly Digest 12

Chiredzi communities find solace in groundwater

From left: Norman Chauke, Ester Chikilimusi and ZRCS Majoko at the rehabilitated borehole Chilohlela village IMOSES MUGUGUNYEKI
T was all smiles for Shylet Makondo, Sa-
rah Matsambo, Roselyn Sibanda and Rum-
bidzai Chauke of Mesa village as they made
their way to a borehole in Chilohlela village,
ward 15 in Chiredzi rural.
They could not hide their joy because for the
past five years the quartet and mnay other fami-
lies in this part of Chiredzi rural have been fetch-
ing water from an unclean source of water – a
shallow well – following the breakdown of the
only borehole in the area.

Chiredzi rural is a low-lying area in south-east-
ern Lowveld characterised by recurring droughts,
which sometimes are followed by floods.

Here resides one of the most marginalised
communities in the country.

The close by Gonarezhou National Park also
poses a threat to communities in this area as
stray wild animals pounce on the little crops that
they would have grown.

The perennial water problems in Chiredzi ru-
ral affect Makondo, her peers and many other
people directly as it burdens them with the ad-
ditional task of fetching water from distant plac-
es or from the crocodile-infested Mwenezi River.

According to a recent WHO/UNICEF Joint
Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, San-
itation and Hygiene report, in 2020 about one
in four people lacked safely managed drinking
water in their homes and nearly half the world’s
population lacked safely managed sanitation.

A recent Zimbabwe Demographic and Health
Survey says the national coverage of improved
water service provision stands at 78%; 69% for
rural and 97% in urban areas, while improved
sanitation stands at a mere 37%.

As climate change continues to wreak havoc
in the Lowveld, villagers are haplessly watching
their sources of water dry up; their crops with-
er and fail while their health is exposed to infec-
tious diseases.

“We used to wake up early in the morning
to fetch water from the well after the borehole
broke down,” Makondo said.

“If you go to the well late in the day, you would
find nothing as the water would have been de-
pleted because of the high temperatures.

“Today, we are happy that our borehole which
was not functional for the past five years is now
working.

“Our survival is pinned on this borehole and
the water that is underground.”

An analysis by the British Geological Survey
(BGS) and WaterAid says groundwater has the
potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives
and can be the world’s insurance policy against
climate change.

Ester Chikilimusi, chairperson of the Chilohlela
Borehole Committee, said there was need to in-
vest more in underground water.

“With boreholes you never go wrong when it
comes to sustainability of communities and I
urge our authorities to drill more boreholes to
ease pressure on the few that we have,” she said.

“In our case, there are 50 families fetching wa-
ter from this borehole. We can have boreholes
in each of the villages getting water from this
point.”

Chikilimusi said rising temperatures coupled
by extreme droughts and floods driven by cli-
mate change pose an increasing threat to the
lives of hundreds of people in her area.

“Our area receives erratic rainfall and we suffer
chronic food shortages,” she said.

“Even if we grow the crops, wild animals from
the national park would come and destroy them.
We are in a catch 22 situation.”

She said communities in her area need sus-
tainable and safe water as well as sanitation to
mitigate impacts of extreme weather, especially
droughts and floods.

As a result of the challenges faced by commu-
nities in Chiredzi rural, the Zimbabwe Red Cross
Society (ZRCS) has embarked on a programme
meant to help villagers cope with climate
change impacts such as drought and floods.

The programme, which is being implemented
under the Disaster Response Emergency Fund
(DREF) and funded by the International Feder-
ation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
(IFRC) focuses on food security, water, health
and hygiene promotion, and nutrition as well as
livelihoods through cash distributions.

Three thousand people in wards 13, 14 and
15 are benefitting from the programme which
started in January and ends this month with a
possibility of an extension due to the worsening
drought situation in the Lowveld.

According to the World Food Programme, an
estimated 30% of the country’s population are
set to be affected by drought, with communities

SUSTAINABILITY April 20-26 2022 Weekly Digest 13

in the southern parts of the country being the impacts of climate change.” over land, which limits the amount of water to replenish
most vulnerable. Simbi strongly believes their salvation lies underground. groundwater.
“In our area we are blessed because the water table is high,
Under the water, sanitation and hygiene pro- maybe because we are very close to a big river,” he said. “By contrast, the anthropogenic effects on groundwater re-
motion component of the DREF, ZRCS rehabili- However, pump minder Ananias Ndlovu who was tasked sources are mainly due to groundwater pumping and the in-
tated 10 boreholes in the three wards. to rehabilitate a number of boreholes in the three wards said direct effects of irrigation and land-use changes.”
perennial droughts have affected the level of water under-
Africa Climate fellow and ZRCS project coor- ground. Lawrence Mashungu, a climate change mitigation and fi-
dinator – Food Security and Livelihoods - Mclar- “There are few areas where water levels are high, but for the nance expert, said a large chunk of the Zimbabwean commu-
ence Mandaza said Chiredzi rural is character- rest of the communities the water table is very low that you nity relies on groundwater, but there was need to have sus-
ised by extreme water scarcity and stress, hence can drill up to 70 metres without getting to the water table,” tainable management of the commodity underground.
the need to invest more in underground water. Ndlovu said.
“We have for many years been subjected to droughts which “The bulk of water supply in Zimbabwe is predominantly
“This is one area that is severely affected by have caused water scarcity and stress.” groundwater with almost all people in rural areas in relying on
the impacts of climate change which include Social sci- entist Tapuwa O’bren Nhachi said groundwater. About 75% of water used in Zimbabwe is under-
high temperatures and poor rainfall,” Mandaza uti- lising resources such as ground and for groundwater, you only need to drill a borehole
said. groundwater is critical and obviously treat at once,” Mashungu said.
in mitigating effects
“The intervention by Red Cross is meant to of climate change. “We, however, need an approach on how to manage
mitigate the impacts of climate change through “Groundwater groundwater, in terms of water levels of abstraction and levels
the rehabilitation of boreholes. provides criti- of harvesting that ground water.
cal freshwa-
“Such a community needs sustainable and ter supply, “As for areas like Chiredzi, even though they have droughts,
safe water as well as sanitation in order to al- particular- but we can use other methods of providing water like use of
leviate distressing impacts of extreme weath- ly in dry re- dams in the area like in Mkwasine and Triangle where they
er such as heat waves, droughts and floods.” gions where draw water from Mutirikwi or Tugwi-Mukosi dams. It's an op-
surface wa- tion that needs to be explored and can be done to reach out
According to BGS and WaterAid, many ter availabil- to those areas.”
countries in Africa – including most parts ity is limited,”
of sub-Saharan Africa – have enough un- Nhachi said. Mashungu said it was more of water management and
derground water to meet everyone’s dai- “Point-of-use planning that the country needs to adopt both surface and
ly needs. water and san- underground water.
itation technolo-
“Going forward we expect to mechanise gies reduce the num- IFRC senior operations officer for Harare cluster, Zambia and
and install solar to power these boreholes ber of deaths caused by Malawi Hillary Dhliwayo Motsiri said despite being an emer-
with the hope of setting up nutrition gar- wa- terborne disease, while also gency response project, the DREF also sought to strengthen
dens, which could help lessen the impact of freeing wom- en and girls from the work required to the Chiredzi rural community’s response to the threat of cli-
climate change,” Mandaza said. transport and store water, allowing them more time to focus mate change.
on education and income-generating activities.
“The other aspect of DREF, the cash and “The solution lies in new technology and boreholes can go a “Under this emergency response project, we managed to
voucher-based assistance, is meant to cushion long way in alleviating climate change problems.” rehabilitate 10 boreholes, distribute cash and non-food items
the villagers and prevent them from selling their Nhachi, however, warned that overuse might cause ground- such as mosquito nets, PPE and hygiene kits,” she said.
livestock for a song. You will realise that people water depletion and many other environmental challenges.
in this part of the country don’t rely on growing He said: “Climate change impacts on groundwater storage “Yes, somehow, we were mitigating the climate change
crops, but on livestock.” could affect the sustainability of freshwater resources. challenges that the people in Chiredzi Rural face. We chose
“Climate change influences groundwater systems in several this part of the district because we understand their challeng-
Marumbini village head, David Simbi pointed ways. In terms of the hydrological cycle, climate change can es are unique considering that they live very close to the na-
out fetching water from unprotected sources as affect the amounts of soil infiltration, deeper percolation, and tional game park.
rivers had many challenges and dangers. hence groundwater recharge.
“Also, rising temperature increases evaporative demand “We understand that even if they get good rains, they can-
“We have had cases whereby people have not harvest because their crops would have been destroyed
been attacked by wild animals or crocodiles by wild animals.”
while fetching water from Mwenezi River,” Sim-
bi said. Motsiri said an appeal has been made to continue imple-
menting the programme in Chiredzi rural.
“We are happy that we now have a borehole in
the community and thanks to Red Cross who re- According to the World Social Report 2021, a United Nations
habilitated it after many years. Department of Economic and Social Affairs flagship publica-
tion, more than three billion people live in the rural areas of
“Our area is dry and it is known, so we appeal developing countries.
to the powers be that we need sustainable wa-
ter projects so that we are not subjected to the Most survive on less than US$2-a-day and depend on agri-
culture for their livelihoods.

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The importation of drones by air, the use of the services of a clearing agent.
road or post requires a license from Private imports of drones can be cleared at the counters without the use of
Civil Aviation Authority of Zimba- clearing agents. At the post o ces, the drone can be cleared on a charged
bwe (CAAZ)? parcel docket Customs o cers upon production of the clearance letter.
How to clear the drones
Clearance of Drones can be done Which documents are required for clearance?
individually or commercially using • Invoice from the supplier
registered clearing agents. In both • Consignment note/freight statement (where applicable)
cases, the client needs to register the goods with the relevant Authority. • Permits/licences from BAZ and POTRAZ for radio and television broad-
In this case, one needs to visit Civil Aviation Authority Zimbabwe (CAAZ)
for registration and clearance with the make, model and serial number of casting drones
the drone. The Civil Aviation Act (CAP 13:16) regulates the importation of • CAAZ Clearance Letter for drones.
drones.
The Civil Aviation Act (CAP 13:16), de nes an “aircraft” to include— (a) all Please Note:
• Drones have to be properly declared and entered for clearance by
ying machines, airplanes, sea-planes, ying boats, helicopters, gliders
and other aircraft designed to be heavier than air; and (b) all airships, bal- Customs at the point of entry.
loons and other aircraft designed to be lighter than air;
Section 42 of the same Act vests control of aviation in Zimbabwe in CAAZ My Taxes, My Duties: Building my Zimbabwe!!
in that;
(1) Subject to this Act, no person shall cause an aircraft to— (a) arrive in Disclaimer
Zimbabwe; or (b) depart from Zimbabwe; or (c) over y Zimbabwe; except This article was compiled by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority for information
with the Authority’s permission and in accordance with any terms and purposes only. ZIMRA shall not accept responsibility for loss or damage arising
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POLITICS April 20-26 2022 Weekly Digest 14

Why South Africa’s electoral reforms are neither inclusive nor fair

IMICHAEL ATKINS allocation calculations, and a hybrid system balanc- junction, there is no jurisdiction in the world where
n June, 2020 the Constitu- purely proportional system em- ing 200 single-member constituencies with pro- individuals are treated as parties in proportional
tional Court in South Afri- ployed in the 1999 election was portional representation. calculations, except for the narrow circumstances
ca ruled in favour of the ap- Innot intended to be the final elec- of multi-member constituencies that typically have
plicants, the New Nation Beyond the MAC, three sub- between three and seven members.
Movement NPC and others, toral arrangement for the new stantive proposals have
that, “the Electoral Act 73 of 1998 South Africa. A major review In November, 2021, a draft Bill commissioned by
is unconstitutional to the extent of our electoral system was March, been advanced, each de- the Minister of Home Affairs was published, based
that it requires that adult citizens undertaken by the Elector- scribing a variation on essentially on the “minimalist” option set out by the
may be elected to the Nation- al Task Team chaired by the principle of multi- MAC. On January 10, this Bill was presented to Par-
al Assembly and Provincial Leg- Frederik van Zyl Slabbert 2021, the member constituen- liament for the first time. Following a period of pub-
islatures only through their mem- in 2003, which recom- cies: lic consultation, the Home Affairs Committee must
bership of political parties”. Par- mended a multi-mem- Minister of Home The MAC present- now consider submissions, and prepare a final draft
liament was given 24 months to ber constituency sys- ed two options as of the Bill to put to Parliament. At the time of writ-
remedy this defect. tem. This was echoed Affairs convened a they were unable ing, no meeting of the Home Affairs Committee is
in the High Level Panel to agree on a rec- scheduled.
Many have emphasised the im- Ministerial Advisory ommendation to
portance of the 2024 election. Committee (MAC), chairedon the Assessment of advance. Those What the Bill proposes is that independent candi-
The ANC may be in danger of los- in favour of the dates for the National Assembly contest 200 seats,
ing an absolute majority in Par- Key Legislation (page distributed among the nine provinces (appearing on
liament, albeit that none of the 524), chaired by for- minimalist op- the ballot only in their home province), with politi-
larger opposition parties shows mer President Kgale- by former Minister of tion were, Pansy cal parties contesting the 200 compensatory seats
substantial growth. There is also Constitutional Affairs, Vallima Motlanthe in separately. For provincial legislatures, independent
the prospect that Gauteng at Tlakula, a former candidates contest elections directly alongside par-
least will be ruled by a coalition 2017. Despite these Chairperson of ties. In each case, obviously, regardless of the num-
government. In a time of upheav- reviews, it has taken the Independent ber of votes secured by an independent candidate,
al, both within the ANC, and in a court ruling to bring Moosa, to, “help develop Electoral Com- only a single seat can be awarded.
the broader society, any change Parliament to the policy options on the mission (IEC), Mi-
to the electoral system could play point of amending our electoral system that chael Sutcliffe, a The fundamental problem of the system set out in
an important role in shaping the electoral system. How- former Chairper- the Bill is that there is inherently going to be a sig-
future trajectory of the country. ever, even this process son of the Munic- nificant variation between the share of seats gained
The dynamics of inter- and in- has proved to be and ipal Demarcation by independents collectively, and their collective
tra-party power relationships are address the defects ofproblematic. share of votes (precisely because a successful can-
particularly touched by the pros- In March, 2021, the Board, and Norman didate can achieve voter support equivalent to mul-
pect of independent candidates, Minister of Home Affairs the Electoral Act du Plessis, a former tiple seats, but can only be awarded a single seat).
and by the possibility of intro- convened a Ministerial Ad- Chief Operating Of- When seats are allocated to parties, all seats won by
ducing some form of constituen- visory Committee (MAC), ficer of the IEC (who independents, and all votes cast for independents,
cy system. chaired by former Minister of was responsible for set- are subtracted from the totals before seat allocation
1998 ting up our electoral sys- calculations are carried out. If there is a substan-
Elections are the lifeblood of tial variation between collective seat share and vote
any democracy, and in a new de- Constitutional Affairs, Valli Moo- tems during the 1990s). share for independents, subtracting these automat-
mocracy, the electoral system is sa, to, “help develop policy op- ically means that there is a corresponding variation
of particular significance in shap- tions on the electoral system that It is difficult to imagine a for parties, where seat share noticeably exceeds
ing the success and sustainability more qualified trio than Tlaku- vote share. This disproportionality becomes a real
of democratic outcomes. It is per- address the defects of the Elec- la, Sutcliffe, and du Plessis, and yet this problem in respect of the requirement within sec-
haps a little-known fact that the toral Act 1998”. The Report was makes their proposal all the more astonishing. Pro- tions 46(1)(d) and 105(1)(d) of the Constitution, where
submitted in June, 2021. This re- portional representation, by definition, is an elec- it is specified that we must have an electoral system
port presented two options, be- toral system for political parties, and thus inherent-
ing a “minimalist” system where ly excludes the direct participation of individuals.
independent candidates are While hybrid systems are common, with separate
placed alongside parties for seat individual and proportional elections held in con-

POLITICS April 20-26 2022 Weekly Digest 15

l FROM PAGE 14 cessful votes for independent candidates are ent candidates as ranging between 5% and sions may impact on the thinking of the Home
that, “results, in general, in pro- effectively discarded, along with many votes 15% of total votes cast, provisional modelling Affairs Committee. Up to this point, none of
portional representation”. for candidates who obtain more votes than has shown that the African National Congress the political parties in Parliament have raised
parties’ per-seat requirement, but do not gain would gain a majority of seats in the Nation- concerns over the constitutionality of the Bill.
Any electoral system where sig- a seat. This “discarding” strengthens the nu- al Assembly with as little as 44% of the votes Of the public submissions, very few individ-
nificant disproportionality exists merical effect of independents collectively cast. A similar effect would occur, to a less- uals or groups have raised any of these con-
as an automatic consequence of gaining far fewer seats than their share of the er extent, in the provincial legislatures, where cerns (the writer has consulted with two such
the design of the system must in- votes, which has the above-mentioned effect the largest party could generally gain an out- groups, and a formal written analysis of the
evitably come into question on of giving parties a greater share of seats than right majority of seats with 46% of the vote. concerns was included with one of the sub-
constitutional grounds. their vote-share would indicate. missions).
Any electoral system that merely blends in-
A second very significant prob- In the calculations for seat allocation of par- dividuals with proportional representation is If the Committee presses ahead with the
lem pointed out by some is that ties, the disproportionality of the independ- bound to suffer from the difficulties and con- Bill in substantially the same form, then it will
only 200 seats are available to in- ents’ seats and votes that are removed caus- tradictions described herein. Only a hybrid go to the National Assembly and then to the
dependent candidates, whereas es the effective quota for parties to be some- system, where separate constituency and National Council of Provinces to be passed.
the full complement of votes cast what reduced. Clearly, the party with the most proportional elections are combined, can sat- After this, it would have to be signed by the
is used in the calculations. This seats in any context benefits the most from isfy the particular requirements in the Consti- President. Assuming that this goes ahead, it
is done is avoid the difficulty of any reduction in quota, as the seats allocat- tution of, “in general, proportional represen- would then be up to civil society to challenge
having every single independent ed to them “cost” fewer votes, meaning that tation”. the constitutionality of the Bill in court. If such
candidate on the national bal- they gain more seats. Where “extra” seats are a challenge is successful, and the Bill is re-
lot by restricting candidates to allocated to parties in this manner, the largest A multi-member constituency system does ferred back to Parliament, then it will be near-
their home provinces. With half parties gain the most. However, the gain goes share some of the difficulties of the current ly impossible for the 2024 National and Pro-
of the seats being allocated in re- beyond the relative proportionality among Bill, albeit to a lesser extent, if a single ballot vincial elections to be held in terms of a new
lation to all of the votes, the ob- the parties, as a marginal reduction of quo- is used for both constituency and proportion- electoral system that accommodates inde-
vious numerical consequence ta would make almost no difference for the al seat allocations. If separate ballots for con- pendent candidates. Given that this was the
is that independent candidates smallest parties, while still making a distinct stituencies and for proportional representa- clear intent of the court in the June, 2020 rul-
for the National Assembly re- difference for the largest parties. tion are used, then the proportionality prob- ing, failure to do so would be a most unfortu-
quire, in general, twice as many lems fall away, providing that the number nate outcome.
votes to secure a seat compared At an absolute minimum, for the National of constituency seats is not too high, which
to the numbers of votes that par- Assembly, at least half of all votes cast for in- makes the system prone to “overhang” (where Over all of these years, Parliament has failed
ties require per seat. With pro- dependents will effectively result in seats be- the excess of constituency seats gained by a to grasp the nettle of electoral reform, and
vincial variations, this means that ing granted to the largest parties, above and dominant party is greater than the balancing even when compelled by the court, it is most
independent candidates would beyond their respective share of the votes. effect of the proportional-only seats). In par- unfortunate that this has still not happened.
require between 80,000 and Numerical simulations carried out to mod- ticular, a single-member constituency system The convenient, “minimalist”, option has such
96,000 votes to secure a seat in el the effects of the Bill indicate that the ef- would satisfy the constitutional proportional- severe unintended consequences as to render
the National Assembly (using the fective rate of discarding votes is likely to be ity requirements, as the second ballot would it unviable. This leaves us no further forward,
figures from 2019 as a guide), around 75% of all votes cast for independents ensure the overall proportionality, and there and there is an urgent need for leadership
whereas political parties required for the National Assembly. would be no “discarding” of ballots. and direction to move South Africa through
about 44,000 votes per seat. to a new, inclusive, and fair system. It may just
There are further provisions in the Bill where Even though unsuccessful constituen- be that civil society and the courts have a cru-
What this means is that even novel arrangements (particular details of how cy votes are discarded, voters are fully aware cial role to play to take this long-running saga
successful votes for independ- seat allocation calculations are carried out that they are voting for a candidate in their to a successful conclusion.
ent candidates (before consid- that have not previously been used in the district, and that the overall proportionality
ering unsuccessful votes, or “ex- South African context) place higher burdens of the National Assembly or provincial legis- — DemocracyinAfrica
cess” votes) count half of what on independent candidates, and effective- lature is determined solely by their PR ballot. Michael Atkins (@atkinsmike1) is an IT
votes for political parties count. ly transfer some seats from smaller parties consultant, and independent election data
From this perspective of individ- to the largest party. These serve to amplify It is telling that Valli Moosa has articulated analyst, focusing on the accuracy and trans-
ual voters, the constitutionality of the disproportionality of the final outcomes. concerns over the Bill publicly, saying recent- parency of electoral processes. He presented
the Bill is brought into question Changing these would soften the effect, but ly, “Without any political analysis and without a proposal to the MAC in 2021, and submitted
on grounds of proportionality. A would not alter the fundamental numerical any mathematical analysis, the risk of unin- a formal analysis of the Bill to the Home Af-
further consequence of this ar- distortions described above. tended consequences are very high.” fairs Committee.
rangement is that half of all suc-
Using the 2019 election results as a base, This leaves us with the question of what
and assuming overall support for independ- happens from now. As yet, we have no indi-
cation of the extent to which public submis-

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INTERVIEW April 20-26 2022 Weekly Digest 16

Public relations is no

magic wand, says Higgins
Veteran public relations con-
sultant Stan Higgins says ing sure the priority was always other em- generally speaking in this country and A PR programme has to be tailor made
public relations is not be- ployees and the families of the people maybe in the region, that PR is given the to that analysis that is done and the PR
ing accorded the space it de- who had passed. space that it deserves? objectives you have set yourselves.
serves by corporates in Zim-
babwe. There was also a need to explain what Because I see PR disasters almost every You then need to look at the budget
they were doing and why they were doing day, and there is no accountability. and the resources that are required, which
Higgins (SH) told Alpha Media Hold- it to the authorities. is Step number 4.
ings (AMH) chairman Trevor Ncube (TN) Big corporates get away with murder
on the platform In Conversation with There was a learning curve to be had as because of the way they treat the public, Nothing happens without money, noth-
Trevor that many people in the pub- there always is, in how we cannot do this the way they communicate with the pub- ing happens without other resources, and
lic and private sectors “think that PR is again. lic. very often organisations are prepared to
some magic wand that is waved and all do things, but not to the extent that they
is sorted out.” I am glad they generally handled it very Do you get the sense that this is some- should.
well, but it was not easy because of this thing that is important as far as our busi-
He also spoke about his 40 years ex- loss of life, and I think that is something ness is concerned? That is fine if there is a budget capaci-
perience in Zimbabwe’s PR industry. Be- that is always the worst. ty that does not allow for it, but I do think
low are excerpts from the interview. SH: I think your question is: does PR get that of people are serious about what
You know if you have a crisis and it in- the right space? they want to do with the resources that
TN: Stan Higgins, welcome to In Con- volves a financial situation, or a moral sit- need to be allocated must be allocated.
versation With Trevor. uation it is one thing, but when you are I think the answer to that is no.
dealing with human lives it is really very A great many people in the public sec- It is not always financial, very often we
SH: Thank you for the invitation. Great important to make sure that the prime tor and private sector alike think that PR is are going to be calling on management
to catch up. focus is on a) the regret of loss of life, b) some magic wand that is waved and all is to spend much more time on PR activi-
making sure that those who survive both sorted out, and it is not really like that at all. ty than they would like or they have been
TN: Absolutely. I am looking forward to in the families and in the business are A properly constituted public relations used to, and that resource, the people
this conversation. You and I come a long treated properly. programme really starts with an examina- spending time is just as important as any
way you know. tion of what is right or wrong. expenditure of money.
Also to make sure that one learns that We have in PR what we call the six point
SH: A long time ago since you were one cannot do this sort of thing again. planning model. Step number 5 is to make sure you an-
very young. When you do a PR programme you go alyse what we call, in marketing we have
There was a fairly significant shift in the through this methodically and you follow what we call publics, market segments, in
TN: Young in the newsroom, a cub re- way transportation was handled by cor- the rules. PR very similarly we talk about publics.
porter and you were one of those people porates at that time, as they were not TN: What are the six points?
who were holding my hand, so thank you the only people doing this, because at SH: Step number 1: There is an analysis So you have to analyse who are the
very much for that. the time the public transport was failing of the situation. Where is the organisation publics of this organisation.
somewhat, and people were relying more now? What is right? What is wrong?
I think a lot of journalists are grateful and more on the informal operators of What are the strengths, the weaknesses, They might be government and oth-
too. public transport. the opportunities and threats? er regulatory authorities, consumers, cus-
All of the sort of things that you need to tomers, employees, neighbours in the in-
The professional guidance that you So I think what happened was that peo- do to examine exactly where you are. dustry that you are in etcetera.
have given them over years. ple became a lot more mature about who So that you do not have a situation where
they appointed to do their transporta- the chief executive says this is our problem It has got to be looked at very careful-
Stan you will be celebrating 40 years tion, making sure they followed the rules, please deal with it and then you run away ly because very often a communications
in this field. When you look back, I am re- making sure that their vehicles were road and deal with it. programme that is developed by the PR
minded that you have had highlights and worthy, that the drivers had the proper li- It may be the problem but then again it consultants must address all of the differ-
lowlights, and we will get to one of those censing and the proper defensive driv- might not be so it is always best for the PR ent publics and it is not the same mes-
highlights. ing courses, that there was in vehicles, the people, whether in-house or consultants, sage, and it is not the same methods, they
right sort of medical and fire equipment to do a thorough examination. Step num- differ from time to time of course.
For you, what has been your worst pub- etcetera and etcetera. ber 1 Analysis of the situation.
lic relations disaster you have had to deal Step number 2: Definition of PR objec- TN: And the sixth one?
with? It was a learning curve, but it was a sad tives. Where do you want to go from here? SH: The 6th Step is to go back to the
one on the back of that. You have now analysed where you are, beginning, it is a review.
Without obviously sharing or naming what do you need to do as a PR pro- At a given point you have to review what
names as it were? I would like to say though that the gramme to achieve an end result. has been done, was it worthwhile, did we
families responded very well, they were The end result is usually tied in with achieve what we set out to do.
SH: Sure. You know one of the interest- shocked and horrified. things like corporate plans and desirability. If we did, what do we do now, if we did
ing things about public relations is that we Basically, in life like human beings or- not why and how can we move in a direc-
try to keep people prepared. They never pointed fingers, they were ganisations want to be liked generally. tion to still achieve those objectives or has
so traumatised that they really wanted They want to be known and they want the time now come to go in a different di-
Like the Boy Scouts, the motto should comfort, they wanted assurances and you to be liked and that is generally what the rection, are we looking at something else.
be “Be Prepared”, and we have tried very know large families the bread winner was objectives are designed to do, to create a Of course, in this very dynamic cor-
hard with all clients and I think all PR con- gone. positive situation out of the possibility of a porate world of the 21st century things
sultants work hard to try and make sure negative. change and change quickly and busi-
any client is prepared for a disaster. So what could they do and I think the I have in the past done analysis situa- nesses change.
company did extremely well to make sure tions where things are fine. I remember when I first started in PR,
So, when one comes along, one hope- that people were looked after, people The organisation is popular, it has got telecommunications organisations were
fully is ready for it, and in the case of my were consoled. good products, it is respected. non-existent.
own experience we were ready for it, This is not always the case, pretty often There was the national telephone au-
which I am pleased about. Of course, there are always people in a there are little problem areas, big prob- thority and that was it, it is very different
disaster situation who want to take advan- lem areas, sometimes there is really a lot of now.
One of our clients, and this goes back tage. work to do to get from a very negative sit- In those days there were half a dozen
to the late 1980s, one of our clients was a uation into a positive. commercial banks, so the financial servic-
leading beverage manufacturer right here So, creeping into the media was the odd Step number 3 is then of course analys- es sector is hugely different today to what
in Zimbabwe and they had a problem. voice saying “But they did not do this or ing what to do. it was then.
they did not do that, this and that were How are you going to get there, what are The dynamics have changed and a PR
At that particular time there was a fuel the problems”. the methods you are going to use. programme must change with those dy-
shortage, one of the early fuel shortages I think a lot of PR practitioners come to namics too.
that we experienced. It was not so much media people, but the table with a ready-made set of ideas, l “In Conversation With Trevor” is
more other people... and say if you do this or that it will all be a weekly show broadcast on YouTube.
They had night and day shifts. alright. com//InConversationWithTrevor. Please
For the night shifts they were hiring TN: The public. That is also wrong, it is not going to work get your free YouTube subscription to this
transport from informal operators to get SH: I have to say the media did extreme- like that. channel. The conversations are sponsored
their staff home after night shifts and to ly well. by Nyaradzo Group.
get there for early morning shifts. They were very objective about the
The things we call kombis now, but in whole thing, and they took to examining
those days, they had different sorts of what was right and wrong on the issue as
names, but it was informal. well.
Then one night on the way home with So, it remained in the public spotlight
the shift work group there was a can of for a good two to three months.
fuel in the vehicle and it was not in a jerry- It was an issue that did not die after the
can it was in a plastic bottle. first day or two or the first week, but it re-
There was a fire from an explosion and ally carried on.
I think eight people were killed in the ve- Even in subsequent years on, anniver-
hicle. saries we would often get media peo-
The vehicle may have been a bit over- ple saying it has been a year or two years,
loaded as well. what have you learned and what has hap-
So, the company had this major drama pened.
on its hands of whether it was responsible That is important I suppose because the
for the deaths of its employees through media is in part, to hold everybody ac-
contracting a vehicle, which quite clearly countable, not just government but also
was contravening regulations. corporates.
So, it was quite an incident, so immedi- TN: Stan do you get the sense that
ately the media were interested, immedi-
ately the authorities were interested, but
also more importantly the families were
interested.
We swung into operation, it was literally
in the early hours of the morning, like 4am.
By the time work started we were ready
to handle the media.
It was not good, I mean eight people
had died, a serious situation, severe and
problematic.
The company did well in terms of mak-

April 20-26 2022 Weekly Digest 17

COLUMN April 20-26 2022 Weekly Digest 18

Spiralling inflation: It’s no
longer sanctions but Putin

THIS week, the Professor from Oxford a money launderer.
pinpointed the cause of the economic We all know all this stuff was from jeal-
crisis that the country finds itself in. ous people. In any case, our owner does
Mthuli Ncube ran the numbers, did his not do business with anyone who does
analysis, and pinpointed the culprit be- not have silly allegations against them.
hind Zimbabwe’s rising inflation and col- Tungwarara is qualified.
lapsing currency — it is Vladimir Putin. Quick fix
“It’s the global factors which are not Speaking of the country’s owner, he
easy to deal with,” Ncube responded this was again in Matabeleland this week,
week, when asked by some pesky jour- ahead of massive celebrations around
nalists why prices are so high when he the world for Zimbabwe’s 42 years of
told us that he had everything under con- freedom and prosperity.
trol. In Bulawayo, residents were shocked
That is right, before the Ukraine war, the to see that the country still had any con-
country was swimming in prosperity. The struction equipment. Children ran out-
economy was booming. It is only when side to gawk at the marvelous sight of
Putin got bored and decided to shoot at men fixing roads, a rare sight all across
his annoying neighbours did the Zimba- the country.
bwe economy start suffering. Before that, At Barbourfields Stadium, the venue of
we were Africa’s fastest growing econ- the wild celebrations to be held on Mon-
A stampede for omy, no day, there
doubt. Tidbits were ren-
profits (prophets) ovations.
At least This, by
sanc- the way,
tions are is the
now out same
of fash-
ion as an stadium
excuse. It Twitter: @MuckrakerZim deemed
was get- unfit to
ting bor- host any
My Dear People ing. Putin is the new scapegoat now. matches by Fifa. Suddenly, authorities
After all that drama and tremors in the profit corridors.  Excitable Herald cared about the ground to splash a few
months spent in courts, a Still on the visit to the profit, I think The country was blessed this week to coats of paint on it.
testimony in camera and receive Dubai-based billionaire Shaji Ul Roads leading to the stadium and
all the high profile wit- Launchmore is still smarting from his less Mulk. to the Bulawayo State House were be-
nesses, Marry got away with a little more than stellar by-election showing and is There was much excitement at the Her- ing resurfaced. Who would want motor-
than a slap on the wrist.  now seeking divine intervention.  ald of absolute truth. “Dubai-based bil- cades falling into potholes and leaving
lionaire expected tomorrow”, the Herald the nation orphaned?
I know she faces other charges like at- He has done it all, from mapostori to the reported on Monday. The paper followed Residents of Bulawayo have since ap-
tempted murder and she’s not entirely off Angelic one, but the urban vote has re- this up with “Dubai-based billionaire ex- plied to the government to have Inde-
the hook, but for a charge where a fine mained elusive.  pected today”, the next day, just in case pendence celebrations held in their city
was an option, Marry should have been we had forgotten. every week. That is the only way anyone
allowed to go to South Africa for treat- Launchmore has literally crushed MDC Apparently, Mulk is here to discuss pro- can give their infrastructure any atten-
ment.  and brought in a new candidate in the jects such as a “state-of-the-art cricket tion.
form of Dougie, but still, urbanites have re- ground” and hotels. Binga sojourn
For context, Marry was fined $60,000 jected him.  Now that the billion- Unpatriotic people will The country’s
for forging a marriage with Number 2. aire is here, the economy owner once again
After Brother Emmanuel, his next stop is set for massive growth. point at other returned to Binga,
On the parallel market, which Mthuli may be Brother Walter.  Of course, unpatriotic weeks after voters
and Panonesta don’t believe exists, that’s people will point at oth- billionaires who visited there did the trea-
a little less than US$200.  Although I’m not keeping my fingers
crossed for that to happen kkk.  er billionaires who visited before amid similar sonous act of voting
So Marry risks losing an arm because of before amid similar fan- fanfare. They will recall against his party.
a crime where her fine was this little be- Since Nero is also a man of God, may- fare. They will recall 2018,
cause she was denied a chance to go and be Launchmore might want to visit that According to Nick
seek treatment.  church as well, kkk.  when we were told that a Mangwana, Africa’s
delegation of 17 Chinese 2018, when we were most hardworking
While Marry and others may celebrate That will be fun. 
that she got away with it, the honest truth Baptism of fire billionaires was headed told that a delegation spokesperson: “Be-
is that she is paying the price with her I felt pity for Zimbabwe’s poor ambas- into the country to put in of 17 Chinese hold, the Leader of
poor health.  sador to South Africa as he was jeered off money. the Second Repub-
the stage at the memorial for the late Elvis We will not even men- lic leading. This year
There’s something malevolent about Nyathi.  tion Aliko Dangote, who billionaires was headed we will commemo-
the way this whole case was handled.  The ambassador and the mandarins in visited and flew back rate Independence
Harare thought that by giving the slain Ny- home in a hurry after our into the country to put on the backdrop of
By the way, if the magistrate says Marry athi a state assisted funeral a red carpet
is of ill health and justice will not be served would be rolled out for them.  liberators tried to liberate in money. a lot of infrastruc-
by sending her to prison, so what was the Nyathi’s death is a symptom of worse his pockets. Good luck to tural development
point of taking the case to trial in the first things here at home.  Mr Mulk. in this country. Mat
place?  If the economy was moving as we are Crooked links (Matabeleland)
meant to believe, then people like Nyathi Speaking of the Dubai billionaire’s vis- North is one of the provinces that have
If this was all about justice, then they and millions others wouldn’t have left for it, some will remember that the man met many national projects.”
should have waited for her to recover first South Africa.  our owner in Dubai not long ago. To find out more about these infra-
and then drag her to court.  If there were jobs in Zimbabwe, Nyathi There, President Emmerson Mnangag- structural projects, Muckraker joined
and his family would have been here, thriv- wa promised Mulk: “I will personally en- millions across the globe in listening to
On the other hand, since a magistrate ing.  sure the provision of all the facilities re- the President’s speech.
has said she’s not well enough to go to But because the country is going back- quired by businesses to carry out their He promised the people of Binga that
prison, I wonder if her other trials will go wards, people are forced to look for better investment activities.” he would repair the local mortuary. He
ahead.  opportunities.  So, who is on Mulk’s delegation? The also stood on the podium and promised
Nyathi would not have died in such a man behind the visit is one Tempter clean water at the district hospital. These
I have not forgiven Marry for her nasty cruel manner if there were opportunities Tungwarara, a name that many might are the massive, revolutionary achieve-
dancing during the coup. It’s like she real- here.  not have heard of. ments that we all prayed for at Inde-
ly wanted to rub it in our faces.  So when the ambassador stood to To those not given to gossip, like pendence in 1980.
speak, many in the crowd at the memo- Muckraker is, here is a brief rundown of Non-transparent Zacc
But, I don’t think anyone deserves to go rial thought it was hypocritical because he Tungwarara. He heads an outfit called According to the Auditor-General’s lat-
through what she did, even if you have a represented a system that has impover- the Zimbabwe Youth Presidential Sup- est report, the Zimbabwe Anti-Corrup-
grudge against the person.  ished them, driven them out of their home port Organisation. Who founded this tion Commission (Zacc) is not exactly be-
country and led them to a life of uncertain- group and appointed Tungwarara to ing transparent about its books.
I wish her all the best in her upcoming ty in South Africa.  lead it? One of the country’s finest and Who would have thought Zacc, the
trials and also the best on her road to re- The ambassador was just a messenger, most credible entrepreneurs, one Pas- one organisation meant to be an exam-
covery.  but on the other side of the coin, he is an sion Java. ple to corrupt institutions everywhere,
emissary for people that have contributed That Tungwarara has been in and could be hiding something?
Look at me being the bigger person, to the ruin of Zimbabwe.  out of court for various alleged fraud- “Since its appointment in 2019, the
kkk. The exit ulent activities, which he naturally de- current commission led by Justice Loyce
A quick note on Standard Chartered nies, is neither here nor there. His record Matanda-Moyo has worked tirelessly to
Unholy fights Bank leaving Zimbabwe; even in 2008, includes allegations in an audit report enhance professionalism and transpar-
A little birdie tells me there are a few tiffs when you all say Baba was at his worst, by the Harare Municipality. The council ency in its conduct and execution of its
among profits — I mean prophets — kkk.  they still remained.  claimed to have lost money to Tungwa- mandate,” Zacc said in response to the
The allegations are that ambassador That bank had faith in the coup govern- rara’s company, Paulos Construction. Of audit report.
profit is using his proximity to the powers ment and even gifted this lot with a loan. course, he denied the whole thing and Clearly, that transparency includes hid-
that be to fight his counterparts.  But now look, they too have lost faith in blamed it on the “MDC council”. At one den accounts. As for being “tireless” in
The fighting is apparently very nasty Launchmore and are leaving.  time, his lawyers warned online news fighting corruption, it seems entries for
and there’s nothing holy about it.  Munopengaaaaa! outlets to stop repeating lies that he was Joke of the Year are now open for 2022.
So imagine during the Holy Week, yes Ntombizodwa Woyeee!
Baba taught me Catechism, Launchmore Dr Amai Stop it! PhD (Fake)
visited Brother Emmanuel. 
Brother Emmanuel and the Angelic one
apparently don’t get along well and the
latter has been using his links to authority
to fight others. 
So when Launchmore visits Brother Em-
manuel, like he did, there are likely to be

AFRICA April 20-26 2022 Weekly Digest 19

ANC speaking with forked
tongue on xenophobia

TNyathi's wife Nomsa Operation Dudula? classified the events as an insurrection, Minister Mapisa-
he issue of xenophobic attacks against foreign na- Pule Mabe is not just a mere member of the ruling par- Nqakula felt rather that they were acts of counter-revolution.
tionals has once again reached disturbing levels in
South Africa. Although latent for a few years now, ty. He is the national spokesperson of the ANC. His job is to While the impact of this show of incoherence in the ANC
Mbhodazwe Nyathi. a Zimbabwean gardener, was speak on behalf of the party at the national level, express- can quite possibly be ascribed to political embarrassment
recently accused of being a criminal and killed by ing the views and the positions of the highest structures of at the moment as the ANC scrambles to find a plausible ex-
a mob just metres from his house following days of tension the ANC on a number of matters. There should not be a sin- planation to the kind of violence that we have just witnessed
in Diepsloot. gle doubt about his alignment with the party president. Un- in Diepsloot and elsewhere, the absence of a common firm
The motivation of the vigilantes who killed Nyathi was less he is openly defying his boss and endorsing Operation position against acts of xenophobia may lead to a major dis-
simply the fact that Nyathi could not Dudula? aster.
prove to them that he was either a
South African national or that he was Nevertheless, it is not the first time that With xenophobic tensions already very high, the continu-
staying in South Africa legally (they we have experienced ous loop of blaming migrants for some of the gravest prob-
were going to be judge and jury over lems in the country — including corruption, crime, unem-
what legality meant in this case). a disconnect between
The barbaric killing of Mbhoda- President Ramaphosa and some high-level ployment, poor health services and others
zwe Nyathi is a strong symptom of cadres of the ANC. We all remember the recent episode be- — that is playing out in the media
a much bigger catastrophe that tween the President and then Minister of Tourism Lindiwe in a context of record-high unem-
awaits South Africa if the ruling ANC Sisulu on what many people perceived to be an attack from ployment weak state security, and
does not take a common firm po- her on the country’s Constitution, which was in stark con- increasing politicisation of migra-
sition against xenophobia and oth- trast to the president’s view on the matter. tion at national and local level, will
ering in general. certainly lead to potentially uncon-
While it is apparent from some Another fresh episode of lack of alignment within the ANC
of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s structures was Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqaku- trolled bloodshed.
public statements that he con- la contradicting Ramaphosa on the nature of the July 2022 Moreover, the ANC knows very
demns and stands against xen- unrest in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. While the president
ophobia, his position does not well that the narrative blaming mi-
seem be clearly visible in a man- grants for the current crisis in South
ner that filters down to the entire Africa is totally disconnected from
party rank and file. As we have the reality. As the governing party,
seen in many other issues re- the ANC knows the structural con-
lating to Ramaphosa’s running straints hampering job creation in
of state affairs, some members South Africa, the causes and types of
within the ANC and the gov- corruption, and that nationality is not
ernment do not seem to align synonymous with crime.
with his views or vision. Furthermore, because of its own his-
For example, a recent in- torical experience of exile (migration) in
cendiary statement by ANC which pan-Africanist solidarity paid a
national spokesperson Pule central role in the survival of the ANC as
Mabe embracing the xeno- a liberation movement, and which later
phobic cause of the vigilante group Oper- led to freedom in South Africa, the par-
ation Dudula represents another contradiction with what is ty has the historical debt of leading the
known to be the position of his own president. While Pule struggle for the unity of the African peo-
Mabe praised the movement for, according to the Mail ple. Of all liberation movements, the ANC
&Guardian, affirming the ANC’s view, Ramaphosa took a dif- is the one that benefited the most from
ferent view, reiterating the need for South Africans to show pan-African and global solidarity.
respect towards people from other nations. He even de- While this does not mean that as a re-
nounced the police checking of foreign nationals’ identifi- sult, South Africa must carry the burden of
cation cards (IDs) and compared this type of police action all other African countries, it certainly de-
with apartheid practices. mands a more proactive role from South Africa, through a
If Ramaphosa’s view represents the official positions of people-oriented foreign policy and diplomacy in fighting
the South African state and the ANC, who was Pule Mabe for effective peace, democracy, and socioeconomic pro-
speaking for? On whose behalf was Pule Mabe “endorsing” gress on the continent.
That is the kind of proactive coherent message that the
ANC should be announcing from the front and not act in a
manner that casts doubt on its honest and firm

— Daily Maverick

AFRICA April 20-26 2022 Weekly Digest 20

Is move - as critics of 64-year-old Paul Kag- Last month, Human Rights Watch issued filmed and criticised soldiers forcefully ex-
Rwanda a ame, who led the rebel forces which ended a report about the prosecution over the last pelling residents during a slum clearance,
the 1994 genocide and has been president year of at least eight YouTubers considered has been sentenced to seven years in jail.
land of since 2000, tend to regret it. to be critical of the government. One, who
safety or — BBC

fear?

Visitors to Rwanda are often blown away
to find a country where things seem to
work efficiently. It is neat and tidy with lush
green views - and the wi-fi is good in the
capital, Kigali.
Everyone tends to pay their taxes; services are reli-
able; the roads are safe - the government calls it "one
of the world's safest nations".

Take the pandemic for example. Rwanda did not
hesitate to take coronavirus by the horns: lockdowns
were implemented quickly and enforced strictly. To-
day more than 60% of the population is vaccinated -
something the British Medical Journal calls a feat "in a
continent that is a Covid-19 vaccine desert".

But underlying this compliance and Kigali's land-
scaped flower beds is a collective fear.

Walk into a bar and try to start up a controversial
debate, and you will be shut down - and there is eve-
ry likelihood your behaviour will be reported to the au-
thorities. Those deemed a real threat will be dealt with
harshly. "It does look like the Switzerland of Africa but
it is an extremely repressive and frightening country,"
Michela Wrong, author of a recent book on Rwanda
called Do Not Disturb, told the BBC.

On the last Saturday of every month, everyone
gets together in their neighbourhoods to do a col-
lective clean-up - roads are swept, rubbish collected.
It is called Umuganda, which in Kinyarwanda means
"Community Work".

One Rwandan, who asked not to be named, ex-
plains there is no law that forces people to attend the
Umuganda - but there is a fear you will gain a reputa-
tion, that someone will report you, that your name will
be logged as a troublemaker.

Driving school and languages classes
Any camp that asylum seekers are sent to under the
new UK deal is likely to be a well-organised affair - not
the refugee camps you sometimes see with tents or
plastic sheeting tacked on to thorns.
The country, which has a population of 13 million,
has already taken in more than 900 African asylum
seekers from Libya since 2019 - under a deal with the
UN refugee agency (UNHCR) and the African Union
(AU).
The UN-run Gashora site has permanent structures
- and many of those who have come from Libya have
moved on
They have been housed at Gashora, about 60km
(40 miles) from Kigali. The UNHCR says it is not a ref-
ugee camp, but an Emergency Transit Mechanism -
and more than half of them have already been relo-
cated to Sweden, Canada, Norway, France and Bel-
gium.
The UN site, which has permanent structures, aims
to teach those who suffered appalling conditions in
Libyan camps, the skills to help them in their new life.
The camp has a driving school and offers language
classes, amongst other things.
But when Denmark announced last year that it
was planning a similar deal to the one the UK has just
launched, the AU hit out.
"Such attempts to stem out migration from Africa
to Europe is xenophobic and completely unaccepta-
ble," it said last August.
Africa already shouldered 85% of the world's refu-
gees "often in protracted situations, whereas only 15%
are hosted by developed countries", it said.
Wrong calls it a "cynical and amoral deal".
"It's all about sending a deterrent to asylum seek-
ers… anyone who is trying to flee repression in Afri-
ca is going to be horrified at being sent to Rwanda,"
she said.
Unlike the UNHCR project, details being released
of the UK scheme suggest asylum seekers would be
in Rwanda for longer - "so that they can resettle and
thrive", as the home secretary put it.
It is not clear how many people Rwanda is expect-
ing to accept, given it is one of the most densely pop-
ulated countries in Africa but UK Prime Minister Boris
Johnson said it would take "tens of thousands in the
years ahead".
Out of Kigali, Wrong says it is a "poor agrarian soci-
ety where every inch of fertile land is being cultivated
and which doesn't really have room to take refugees".
YouTubers prosecuted
No-one expects much opposition at home to the

April 20-26 2022 Weekly Digest 21

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ARTS April 20-26 2022 Weekly Digest 22

Highly anticipated Asaph featuring

Loki track Thebelele drops

Newly signed Def Jam Recordings
Africa Zimbabwean based artist
Asaph has taken to the studio to
birth a beast of a single. The award
winning star is determine to break
the music boarders as he features South Afri-
can fellow hip hop star Loki on “Thebelele”.

earGROUND | Community
Highly influenced by the nostalgic Kwaito
sounds this track is set to lend well on both art-
ists fan’s ears . This single is quite special as it
revives that sound in the midst of the Amapi-
ano era. “To me Thebelele is the name of the
era I’m moving into. Pure vibes!

I feel like I’ve put in a lot of work to get to
this point and now it’s all about the vibes and
having a good time celebrating where we are
and what’s to come”

Thebelele loosely translates “Good Life” is
well embodied on this track , with his rich flow
Asaph gels well with Loki on the track .

Loki also brings in the rough South African
street flavour to the song.

Seeing that this is the first time both artists
have worked with artists from beyond their
boarders , the magic was unmatched .

Loki
“I’m really excited to be a part of a song

like this , even when we were making the song
it felt like 2 worlds coming together seamless-
ly , creating something that will hopefully last
for the ages”

Loki
Kwaito played a huge part of shaping the
South African music sound since the 1990’s . In
the early 2000’s we saw the rise of hip hop in-
fused kwaito from the likes of Khuli Chana and
HHP just to name a few . Asaph described Loki
as talented and humble which allowed both of
them to properly execute the “Thebelele” .

Asaph is determined to diversify his tal-
ent and collaborate with more artists beyond
home boarders . His fans can expect more hits
and possible a full body of work from this art-
ist .

— earGROUND

SPORT April 20-26 2022 Weekly Digest 23

Who
killed
Senzo
Meyiwa?

In October 2014, South African football fans
were left devastated at the news of the Or-
lando Pirates and Bafana Bafana captain
Senzo Meyiwa’s death. Eight years later, the
court case got under way.
This week, Fisokuhle Ntuli, Muzikawukhulelwa
Sibiya, Bongani Sandiso Ntanzi, Mthobisi Prince
Mncube and Mthokoziseni Maphisa appeared
in court on charges related to Meyiwa’s murder.
The men are facing charges of murder, attempt-
ed murder, armed robbery, possession of firearms
without a licence and the possession of ammu-
nition.

All five men have a history of violence. A week
ago, one of the accused, Sibiya, was sentenced
to 12 years’ imprisonment in an unrelated matter
for attempted murder. In January, Ntuli was found
guilty on charges of murder, attempted murder,
and unlawful possession of firearms and ammu-
nition. He was sentenced to six life sentences and
39 years.

The five accused in the Senzo Meyiwa mat-
ter, Mthobisi Prince Ntanzi, Mthokoziseni Ma-
phisa, Bongani Sandiso Ntanzi, Sifisokuhle Nkani
Ntuli Sifiso and Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya during
their appearance in the Pretoria high court, 11 April
2022, Pretoria. (Photo: Supplied)

The trial for Meyiwa’s murder was meant to start
on 11 April but was postponed for a day to give
Ntuli time to consult with his legal representative.
On that day, it was reported that advocate Dan
Teffo, who is representing Sibiya and Ntanzi, let
slip that his clients confessed to killing Meyiwa.
Judge Tshifhiwa Maumela shut Teffo down and
said that the court wasn’t ready for that testimo-
ny yet.

Teffo, who also represents Maphisa and Mncu-
be, is also holding a watching brief for Sifiso Mey-
iwa, Senzo’s brother. Sifiso and Maphisa’s sister,
Sinqobile, don’t believe the five men on trial had
anything to do with Meyiwa’s death.

About the five arrested men, Sifiso told City
Press: “The people who are arrested aren’t in-
volved. These policemen are trying to cover up
for someone. They’re not interested in finding the
truth. They know the truth. They just want to close
this case. They’re protecting someone we know,
but I won’t mention the name. We’ve got evi-
dence of defeating the ends of justice. We know
who shot my brother. That’s why we’re saying that
those people aren’t the right suspects.”

On 12 April, the trial was again postponed to 22
April to allow Ntuli and his legal representative to
consult and go over witness statements handed
to them by the state two weeks ago owing to se-
curity reasons.

As the court case unfolds, Netflix viewers have
been gripped by the new documentary, Senzo:
Murder of a Soccer Star, which relies on archival
footage of Meyiwa and recordings of the peo-
ple present when he died, to piece together what
happened that night.

Meyiwa was allegedly shot in the chest during
a robbery in Vosloorus, where he was with his girl-
friend, Kelly Khumalo, her sister, Zandie, Zandie’s
boyfriend, Longwe Twala, and two of Meyiwa’s
friends, Mthokoszisi Thwala and Tumelo Madla-
la. The group were at Khumalo’s mother’s house,
who was present, as well as Khumalo’s two chil-
dren, one of whom was Meyiwa’s child.

Kelly Khumalo during Metro Music Awards Feb-
ruary 25, 2017 in Durban, South Africa. (Photo: Gal-
lo Images/Oupa Bopape)

Months and even years after Meyiwa’s death,
South Africans were trying to make sense of the
night Meyiwa took his last breath.

Throughout the years the Khumalo sisters and
Twala all did radio and TV interviews recounting
what happened.

— Daily Maverick

April 20-26 2022 Weekly Digest 24

Australian Grand Prix: 'Controlled' Charles Leclerc
lives up to potential as title rivals flounder

Charles Leclerc looked like a fu- The only threat to his win came on the re- to the last two years because now I know done a great job building up this car for this
ture world champion from very start after a second safety-car period when that underneath me I have a car that is ca- year. There are some developments com-
early in his Formula 1 career and he got some used rubber on his tyres try- pable of winning and I don't really have to ing and I am confident it will go in the right
that potential is becoming very ing for the optimum exit from the final cor- overdo things to do something extremely direction.
real after his dominant victory ner and lost grip. But he fought off a brief special and spectacular to get one or two
in the Australian Grand Prix. challenge from Verstappen, and soon dis- positions - because I know it is in the car "I wouldn't focus too much on the oth-
appeared off into the distance again. and I just have to do the job." ers. We need to focus on ourselves, not on
The 24-year-old Ferrari driver's second the others.
win in three races has moved him into a Leclerc is now 34 points ahead of his Can Ferrari keep it up?
46-point lead over the only man who at closest challenger in the championship - Carlos Sainz "Since the last two years, I have really
this early stage looks like a realistic title ri- Russell - and has an advantage of almost While Leclerc enjoyed the perfect week- seen a jump in the way we have analysed
val, Red Bull's Max Verstappen. There is a two clear wins over Verstappen. He's saying end with pole, victory and fastest lap, the every weekend, in the way we have iden-
long way to go - 20 races still, in what is ex- the right things, the things all sportspeople polar opposite was true for team-mate tified our weaknesses and how quick we
pected to be the longest season in F1 his- say when chasing the big prizes, but he's Carlos Sainz, who was denied a higher were to react and try and get better in the
tory - but the belief in Leclerc is starting to well aware of the possibilities ahead of him. starting slot on the grid by an ill-timed red places we were struggling. So I am confi-
build. flag in qualifying before spinning off on lap dent the team can do a great job with de-
"We are only at the third race so it is dif- two of the race as he tried to recover from velopment this year."
Not the belief in his talent - that has al- ficult to think about the championship," he a poor start from ninth place
ways been there, and quite right, too, for said. "But we have a very strong car, a very Ferrari - Carlos Sainz's Melbourne dra- Next comes the Emilia Romagna Grand
Leclerc is one of the special ones - but in reliable car too, and for now we have al- mas aside - have had a dream start to the Prix at Imola, the closest track on this year's
the possibilities within his car and his team. ways been there. season, fully delivering on their optimism calendar to the Ferrari factory, where the
that the reset of the new regulations would famously enthusiastic Italian fans may be
Verstappen, meanwhile, realises he is al- "I hope it continues like this and if it does give them a much-needed opportunity to less capable than Leclerc of maintaining
ready facing an uphill battle against a rival we probably have chances for the cham- get back to the front after falling from the control.
he has been racing on and off for 10 years pionship, which makes me happy after the pace in recent years.
and more, since long before they made it last two seasons, which have been difficult Now, their challenge is to keep it up in the "I am pretty sure there is a lot of excite-
to F1. for the team." face of the inevitable development battle. ment," Leclerc said, "but we need to make
This is a challenge Ferrari have failed on sure as a team that we don't try and over-
The Dutchman's second retirement in Leclerc's mindset 'is a bit different this the last three occasions on which they have do things. Because there will be a lot of ex-
two races - both from different problems year' been contenders. pectations as always, but we need to stay
related to the Red Bull's fuel system - has In 2012, when Fernando Alonso fought calm."
left him with a mountain to climb against a Leclerc's reputation before this year was a marvellous rearguard battle in a car that
Ferrari team that looks stronger than it has of an abundantly fast and talented driver was never fully competitive, he was even- Red Bull's self-inflicted and 'unaccepta-
been for years, perhaps even decades. who had a tendency to make the odd mis- tually overhauled by Sebastian Vettel when ble' pain
take here and there which he would need Red Bull found some key developments
"We're already miles behind," Verstap- to iron out if he was ever to fully challenge later in the season. Max Verstappen
pen said. "I don't even want to think about for the title. And in 2017 and 2018, Mercedes' strong- For Verstappen, Australia was already
the championship fight at the moment. It is er rate of progress with its car was a key a difficult weekend before his retirement
more important to finish races." He has never been shy of admitting factor that led to Vettel's challenge fad- from the race. Never happy with the bal-
weaknesses - to the point, arguably, of be- ing in what was for much of the season the ance of his car, its difficult handling had a
Can anyone else enter the fight between ing too hard on himself - but the truth is best car, along with a series of driver and knock-on effect on tyre wear during the
them? Mercedes, remarkably, are second in that the errors came from having to push team errors. race.
both drivers' and constructors' champion- over the limit to compensate for the limi- Leclerc is not much of a student of histo- While Leclerc could push on without
ships, despite being a second off the pace tations of his car. The result was that he ry, even relatively recent, but he's aware of damaging his tyres, Verstappen was tear-
after a poor start to the season. But already pushed the Ferrari to results it did not de- the challenge, and believes Ferrari are up ing his, and the Ferrari driver was able to
a title challenge from Lewis Hamilton or serve, a characteristic that separates the to it. build a comfortable gap at will.
George Russell looks a long shot. Leclerc great from the merely very good. "To keep up with Red Bull is going to be In the circumstances, the second place
started the weekend in Melbourne saying difficult," he said, "but it is the same team for which Verstappen was on course would
he expected the revised and faster Albert If he so far has seemed more controlled that did this car that will work on the devel- have been decent damage limitation, but
Park circuit to favour Red Bull. But he took this year, it could be because, in this year's opment for this year's car. instead Red Bull managed to inflict more
pole position by the biggest margin any- Ferrari, over-reaching is no longer neces- "There is no reason for us to be on the pain on themselves even than Leclerc was
one has yet had in 2022 and utterly domi- sary. back foot. All the guys at Maranello have doing.
nated the race. The suspected fuel leak that ended Ver-
"I have been in this situation in the jun- stappen's race was the second fuel-system
The Ferrari was quicker around the lap ior categories but to be in it in F1 means a problem to force his retirement in three
than the Red Bull, better balanced, faster lot," he said, "especially after the last two grands prix.
in the corners and used its tyres more ef- years and especially with a team like Ferra-
ficiently. ri. It feels incredible. — BBC

"The mindset is a bit different compared