NewsHawks 10 March 2023

Price US$1 Friday 10 March 2023 NEWS How Chikore tied himself in knots over dodgy ZimAirways saga Story on Page 4 NEWS Labour hearing over Mavima’s corrupt US$400k scandal WHAT’S Story on Page 7 INSIDE SPORT Henry Olonga becomes citizen of fourth different country Story on Page 44 ALSO INSIDE Police forced into Zanu PF poll propaganda sessions Nssa audit nails corrupt minister on house deal

Page 2 News NewsHawks Issue 122, 10 March 2023 BERNARD MPOFU AN internal National Social Security Authority (Nssa) audit has nailed Public Service minister Paul Mavima over his corrupt US$400 000 upmarket house deal in Quinnington, Borrowdale, Harare, confirming an investigation by The NewsHawks recently. The confidential audit report seen by The NewsHawks confirms the whole story done over several weeks, threading issues together until unimpeachable evidence emerged. The only difference is that the audit is more detailed and has exhibits. The audit, done by Andrew Nyakonda and dated 20 February 2023, confirms that Mavima, without naming him, bought the house through a corrupt process that was not approved by the board and in “blatant disregard of corporate governance principles”. The NewsHawks named Mavima. Nyakonda is deputy audit director. Nssa director of investments and properties Brian Murewa — on the run after fleeing to South Africa — unilaterally facilitated the deal on behalf of the minister. Mavima was further nailed by Nssa boss Charles Shava in a letter to the executive through Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Misheck Sibanda a fortnight ago. The minister and his corrupt Nssa and Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) cabal then got Shava arrested for fighting corruption. They want him suspended from work to stall the disciplinary hearing against Murewa on 30 March, which may expose the minister further. They got him arrested last week on Thursday to prevent the disciplinary which was scheduled for Friday after trying to do the same on Monday as the process was initially set for Tuesday. Zacc officials reportedly facilitated Murewa’s escape to South Africa to prevent him from arrest and testifying in a Nssa internal disciplinary process where he could spill the beans, throwing the minister under the bus to save his skin. Says the audit: “Audit investigations noted blatant disregard of good corporate governance practices in the disposal of Stand 218, Lot 1A of Quinnington, Borrowdale. Nssa Policies and Procedures require that investment proposals be tabled by management for discussion at Board Investment Committee (BIC). “BIC then deliberates on the matter before making recommendation to the Board for approval. It is only in exceptional cases that section 18 of the Nssa Act is evoked. The Director Investments (Brian Murewa) violated this requirement by recommending the disposal of the Nssa Stand 218 Lot 1A Quinnington without following the due process and obtaining the necessary governance approvals.” Murewa initiated the disposal of the Borrowdale house through an email dated 10 June 2022. The email was copied to Victor Manyowa (Nssa executive assistant to the general manager) and the now suspended general manager Arthur Manase who was later sent home for a corrupt loan arrangement. The house transaction did not go through then, only for Murewa to resuscitate it on 3 October 2022. The three-member audit team enquired with Shava on whether he was consulted on the disposal and he indicated Murewa had lobbied for that on two occasions, but he did not sanction the transaction. Shava told auditors he had advised Murewa that there was need for board approval, but he proceeded to dispose the property without authority, defying him, the acting general manager who is the Nssa boss. “The property Stand 218 Quinnington, Borrowdale, is not registered in Nssa name. The deed of transfer is in the name of (Angvo Investments (Private) Limited),” the audit says. “Audit investigations showed that deeds for the property are not in the custody of CBZ Custodial Services who are custodians of assets purchased by asset managers. This could facilitate easy disposal and transfer of the property without Nssa knowledge. “Murewa acted outside the duties and responsibilities stipulated in his job description and usurped powers of the General Manager and the Board. Brian Murewa failed in the fiduciary responsibility of managing the day-to-day activities of the investment function in accordance with approved policies and governing regulations and laws.” On the Kariba property, the audit report says Murewa misrepresented to the Nssa board, the true cost of purchasing the Kariba lodge. “In his recommendation seeking board approval to buy the property, he stated the purchase price as US$240 000 fully aware that the advertisement for the property had a price tag of US$220 000,” the audit says. “The investigation noted that Brian Murewa made an offer of US$240 000 for the property despite it having an asking price of US$220 000 on the advert by the seller, Pam Golding Properties. “From the audit investigations, the property was finally purchased for US$215 000 as evidenced by the cash payments made to the estate agent Pam Golding Properties and the amendment to the agreement of sale. “By so doing Murewa overstated the purchase of the property by US$25 000. At the instigation of Murewa, Nssa paid a total of US$244 000 towards the purchase of the property. There is therefore a potential prejudice to Nssa of about US$29 000. Further, evidence shows that the original cost of the property is US$252 631.59.” Apart from misrepresenting to the board about the purchase price of Kariba Lodge, Murewa also misrepresented to stakeholders that the cost price of the property was US$240 000. “Murewa also initiated the transfer of US$300 000 to towards the acquisition of the property fully aware that the advertised cost of the property was US$220 000. The money was transferred on 13 January 2022,” the audit further reads. “It is public knowledge that there are numerous incidents of armed robberies in the country. Notwithstanding this and against the authority’s policies and procedures, Murewa proceeded to withdraw and carry Nssa cash on three occasions amounting to US$153 000 (US$30 000: US$23 000 and US$100 000), thus exposing public funds to theft and robbery. “The US$100 000 was received and kept overnight and paid the next day. Of the cash withdrawals made by Murewa, US$29 000 never reached Palm Golding Properties who were agents handling the sale of the property as he delivered US$124 000 in two batches of US$24 000 and US$100 000.” The agreement was signed in retrospect on 11 March 2022, yet all the payments for the acquisition had been paid by 31 January 2022. Following The NewsHawks’ exclusive investigation into Mavima’s house deal, Shava was summoned to President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga’s offices recently to explain what was happening. He was asked to write a report on the house issue before he was arrested last week — on Thursday — on allegations of fraud, which he says are contrived to break him down to save the minister. Nssa audit nails corrupt minister on house deal Public Service minister Paul Mavima Nssa boss Charles Shava

NewsHawks News Page 3 Issue 122, 10 March 2023 BERNARD MPOFU FAILURE to present the group’s audited financial results within the prescribed time frames and a series of corporate governance infractions led to the suspension and subsequent resignation of former BancABC managing director Lance Mambondiani, new information obtained by The NewsHawks shows. Mambondiani, one of the new generation of young executives in Zimbabwe, threw in the towel last month following his appointment in 2019 as the bank’s board expressed dismay over the delays in publishing financials in line with local banking laws. The resultant fining of the bank over this, coupled with mismanagement, corporate failures and abuse of company property, worsened the situation. Mambondiani's appointment followed the retirement of the bank's managing director Joseph Sibanda who had succeeded Hashmon Matemera. Its founding chief executive was the late Douglas Munatsi who served at the top from 2000 to 2014. Following weeks of speculation surrounding Mambondiani’s exit, documents gleaned by The NewsHawks reveal Mambondiani, who had been widely credited with revolutionising the bank’s systems, was pushed out due to failure to publish audited results, mismanagement, procurement problems and abuse of company property. According to a letter dated 20 March, Mambondiani wrote to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) director of Banking Supervision and Surveillance Phillip Madamombe seeking an extension of the publication date of financial statements, ICAAP Report (internal capital adequacy assessment process), recovery plan and stress testing reporting. An ICAAP report represents the board and senior management's ongoing assessment of material risks that a banking institution is exposed to, the mitigants it has put in place and capital adequacy to manage the risks and future business needs. “We write to advise that our audit for the year ended 31 December is not complete. The added requirement to prepare inflation-adjusted financial statements has widened the audit scope,” Mambondiani wrote. “In addition, our external auditors-PWC (PriceWaterhouseCoopers) Chartered Accountants (Zimbabwe) have indicated that they are not able to finalise the audit of the full year 2021 financial statements by 31 March 2022. They have indicated that the review of the financial statements will be concluded by 30 April 2022. “In light of the above, we humbly seek regulatory approval to publish annual financial statements for the full year ended 31 December 2021, on or before 30 April 2022. In addition, we humbly request to submit the ICAAP Report, Recovery Plan and the Stress Testing report on or before 31 May 2022 due to the report’s dependence on financial statements.” The documents show that on 4 April, the central bank wrote back to BancABC requesting communication from PWC showing that they would have completed the audit process by 31 May. After receiving correspondence from the RBZ, Mambondiani then wrote another letter addressed to the central bank with attachments of progress that had been made in preparing the financials. “Reference is made to correspondence dated 4 April 2022 which we received from your esteemed office. The contents of the letter laid out your position on our request to publish financial statements for FY2022 later,” Mambondiani wrote in a letter dated 30 April 2022. “Kindly note that the fieldwork has largely been concluded; the outstanding audit workstreams are on journals testing and loan impairements under the IFRS 9 (and any requests arising from their review processes.) The review of the financial statements and workings done to restate the numbers to inflation-adjusted terms has also commenced. The bank is of the view that the fieldwork will have been concluded before 30 April 2022, and other remaining procedures including the financial statements review and issuance of the audit opinion by the 31st of May as stated by PWC.” On 27 May, the RBZ wrote to BancABC expressing its displeasure over the late publication of results. “As indicated in our earlier correspondence to ABC on 4 April 2022, we are concerned that the justification for the extension of the period to publish the financial results as at 31December 2021, cited by the auditors are matters that are within the control of institution and the auditors,” the letter reads. “In light of the foregoing, we bring to your attention that failure to publish financial statements within prescribed times is a breach of Section 17 of the Banking Act [Chapter 24:20] which requires every banking institution to conduct its business and other operations in line with sound administration and accounting practices and procedures, adhering to proper risk management policies, complying with the terms and conditions of its management policies, complying with the terms and conditions of its registration and within any given to it by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe or the registrar in terms of the Act. “We are concerned that failure by BancABC Zimbabwe to publish financial statements in line with regulatory requirements demonstrates conduct of business which is in variance with sound administration, proper risk management and sound corporate governance practices.” The correspondence also shows that after reading the riot act, the central bank then fined BancABC for failing to comply with the financial service sector regulations. “Subject to the above background, we give a notice of intention to penalize ABC Zimbabwe Limited in terms of the Banking Act and the banking institution is required to submit representations within seven (7) working days ending June 2022 showing cause why the proposed supervisory action should not be taken,” the letter further reads. “We advise that ABC Zimbabwe Limited will be liable to a daily penalty at level 10 which is equivalent to an amount of US$70 000 in terms of First Schedule to the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act [Chapter 9:23]. Please note that the monetary penalty will (be) calculated from 1 June 2022 to the date of publication of financials.” Questions sent to RBZ governor John Mangudya and Mambondiani’s mobile phones were not responded to at the time of publication. Calls made to the central bank chief and the former BancABC boss went unanswered. BancABC, a unit of ABC Holdings whose majority shareholder is AtlasMara, was once listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange before former Barclays Plc chief executive Bob Diamond and British-Ugandan entrepreneur Ashish Thakkar took control of the financial institution. BancABC has its primary listing on the Botswana Stock Exchange and secondary listing on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange. The group's shareholders include Old Mutual, Botswana Insurance Fund and the International Finance Corporation. It is part of AtlasMara. Why BancABC boss was forced out

Page 4 News NewsHawks Issue 122, 10 March 2023 BERNARD MPOFU THE late president Robert Mugabe stopped his son-in-law Simba Chikore and daughter Bona from joining the scramble to take over the country's third-largest mobile network operator, Telecel Zimbabwe. The NewsHawks has confirmed that Chikore and Bona in 2015 approached the then minister of Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services,  Supa Mandiwanzira, seeking to leverage their powerful family position and influence through Mugabe and his wife Grace to take control of Telecel. At the time, Isabel dos Santos, the daughter of the late Angola president Eduardo dos Santos, Africa's richest woman then before her business empire crumbled in chaos amid corruption charges, also wanted to buy Telecel. For 37 years, while her father ruled Angola, Isabel held the top positions in the state trade of diamonds and oil and became one of the most influential people in and outside Africa.  Following a well-established system of kleptocracy and nepotism, Isabel had been able to weave a complex web of companies and banks related to her family, mostly in tax havens, but also with the complicity of corrupt businessmen, lawyers and consultants. Isabel already had shareholding in Angolan mobile phone company Unitel S.A. Ownership of Unitel was split equally between Isabel, Brazilian telecoms company Oi, Angolan state oil company Sonangol and Angolan businessman and former government official Leopoldino do Nascimento. As part of her business expansion programme, Isabel then flew to Zimbabwe below the radar and met with Grace to cut the Telecel deal, but that did not go anywhere as local corporate vultures were already circling above the company. "Simba and Bona wanted to use their family position and influence to take over Telecel through an undisclosed bid and funding structure. They approached Mandiwanzira for discussions about that, hoping the minister would simply fast-track the deal for them. However, Mandiwanzira asked to meet Mugabe to seek guidance on the matter as the minister responsible.Typically, the late president completely refused to sanction the deal," a source said. "From there, Mandiwanzira did not facilitate anything as he had been told by Mugabe that it shouldn't happen." While Mugabe destroyed the economy through leadership, governance and policy failures, as well as mismanagement and corruption, he did not actively push for his family's primitive accumulation of wealth and self-enrichment as is happening now. After the jostle for Telecel,  Nasdaq-listed global telecoms giant VimpelCom sold its majority shareholding in Telecel for US$40 million as the government tried to tighten control on the country's telecoms sector. The Amsterdam-based telecoms firm in 2016 announced that it had entered into an agreement with the Zimbabwean government to sell its 60% stake to a chaotic quasi-government entity, ZARNet. VimpelCom then formally confirmed that, together with its 51.9% owned subsidiary Global Telecom Holding (GTH), it had completed the sale of the equity stake for US$40 million. Telecel’s other shareholder, alongside GTH, were    local Empowerment Corporation (E Corp), which had a 40% stake and was itself owned by James Makamba Kestrel (23%), IEG (18%), Indigenous Business Women’s Organisation (17%), National Miners’ Association (14%), Zimbabwe Farmers’ Union (14%) and Magamba eChimurenga (14%). Local tycoon James Makamba was the de facto controller of Telecel. From that controversial deal, Telecel then became owned by ZARNet, the Zimbabwe Academic and Research Network, an internet service provider wholly owned by  government through the Ministry of Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services. The completion of the deal meant that the Zimbabwean state owned two of the three mobile operators in the country, Telecel and NetOne, leaving only Econet Wireless, which is owned by the same group as wholesale fibre operator Liquid Telecom, in the private sector. Russian-based Vimpelcom’s 51.9% subsidiary GTH — formerly Orascom Telecom Holding — sold the 60% interest in Telecel after bids were invited  from various interested parties. At the time, President Emmerson Mnangagwa's son-in-law Gerald Mlotshwa, a lawyer and Telecel board director, entered the fray battling Makamba over Telecel ownership. Both claimed the company. The disposal of Telecel formed part of a strategic review by Vimpelcom of its international assets; in October 2016 it sold its mobile operations in the Central African Republic and Burundi to  Zimbabwe's Econet Wireless Group for US$65 million.  Econet Wireless already controlled the largest cellular operator in Zimbabwe, which has over 63% of the overall market ahead of state-owned NetOne (around 20%) and Telecel (16%) at the time. The late former President Robert Mugabe Mugabe stopped Chikore, Bona from joining the scramble to take over Telecel

NewsHawks News Page 5 Issue 122, 10 March 2023 BERNARD MPOFU WHEN Simbarashe Mutsahuni Chikore married the late former president Robert Mugabe’s only daughter with ex-first lady Grace, Bona Nyepudzai Ouma, in 2014 at the height of the authoritarian ruler’s reign — at a lavish wedding attended by 4 000 guests and broadcast on state television while costing millions of United States dollars — he would have told himself “I have arrived”. Given his humble background, including doing some menial jobs while studying in the United States, that would have been a dream come true for Chikore. He had joined Zimbabwe’s political royalty, a family whose head had run the country for 34 years without a break. It was also a family that had come to be known for opulence as demonstrated by Grace, a shopaholic whose love for top exclusive and expensive fashion brands earned her the moniker “Gucci Grace”. Besides, he was marrying a beautiful overseas-educated university graduate who was known and admired by some for being intelligent and scandal-free in a controversial family, unlike her dunderhead siblings notorious for being allergic to education, leading champagne lifestyles, throwing costly parties with harems of gold-diggers and quaffing expensive cocktails, champagnes and whiskies. Having ascended the social ivory tower, living in the lap of luxury was guaranteed. He now had a seat at the VVIP table. Some people would have assumed that his snout was now firmly lodged into the official feeding trough. Chikore’s life was truly sorted, or at least it appeared to have been at the time. However, no sooner had he settled in his new dream marriage than he started venturing into the public domain and business. This saw him being deployed to Air Zimbabwe where he became chief operating officer between October 2016 and November 2017. Chikore ruled the roost at AirZim; he called the shots even though he did not have the necessary credentials to run an airline. While at AirZim, Chikore — a pilot who had started on a deceptive note claiming he was a captain (commander of a flight) when in fact he was a first officer (co-pilot) — began making manoeuvres to form a new airline using his aviation background and family ties in a US$70 million shady deal supported by the then Transport minister Joram Gumbo. Government officials, aware of Chikore’s links with the powerful Mugabe family, facilitated the deal before some concerned people raised a stink about the corrupt arrangement. The ZimAirways deal involved the formation of a new airline and purchase of new planes — used Boeing 777s and Embraers — for US$70 million. The saga sucked in national flag carrier AirZim and ministers. The airline would be owned by an entity known as Aeronautics Africa Trust registered on 13 November 2017, a day before Mugabe was toppled by his proteges President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his deputy Constantino Chiwenga in a coup. The story of ZimAirways and AirZim is not only that of the government's determination to press a self-destruct button on the debt-ridden state-owned airline, but that of ever-changing narratives which read like a cock-and-bull story, an implausible tale told as an excuse to cover up a bad deal and corruption. AirZim was on its knees mainly due to extended periods of mismanagement, corruption, state impunity and poor corporate governance, among other factors. Yet in the midst of this, Treasury, which has for years poured public funds into the airline, had over the few years discretely sunk taxpayers' money into the ZimAirways project, whose arrangement and inner-workings are as clear as mud. The government said ZimAirways was a state project and former Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa came out in the open insisting on this. He also said the Zimbabwe Aviation Leasing Company (Zalc) associated with it was a state entity. Gumbo publicly supported that and has came out validating it. Rewind to November 2017. Gumbo had said the government was facilitating the setting up of ZimAirways owned by lawyers living in the diaspora. As drama continued to unfold, what then emerged is that directors behind Zalc, the firm which controversially fronted buying four Boeing 777 planes for ZimAirways, were lawyers. Documents showed Harare lawyer Phillipa Phillips was one of the two Zalc directors, together with another legal practitioner Gift Watinaye. It was not clear why the lawyers were representing government interest there, if Chinamasa's explanation was anything to go by. "We were approached by the Zimbabwe Aviation Leasing Company, which said it was seeking partners, so we took them to Malaysia which had shown interest in the Air Zimbabwe deal, but could not take it, as long as there were legacy debts,” Gumbo said. "So when Zalc came, my ministry was ready to assist because all we want is to use our facilities at the airport and at the same time creating jobs." Gumbo also said Chikore had nothing to do with ZimAirways as he remained an AirZim employee. He, however, said Mugabe's then son-inlaw was giving "advice" to ZimAirways as he was an "expert" in the aviation industry, without elaborating what was in it for him. During the secretive negotiations to clandestinely buy aircraft from Malaysia while at the same time trying to wind down AirZim, Chikore, who then worked for the flag carrier, also worked with Gumbo to set up ZimAirways. Gumbo then failed to explain this conflict of interest on Chikore's involvement in the murky project. "I involved Chikore when I was looking for partnerships, so Zimbabwe Airways are also seeking his advice and expertise. They are talking to him, just like Fly Africa is doing, so that he gives them best advice. He has experience in the aviation field and that is what we want," Gumbo said. ZimAirways at one time operated from Mavis Gumbo’s Gletwyn home. Mavis is related to the minister. It only took Chinamasa to come to Gumbo’s defence when he said the ZimAirways project had been kept off the radar as a sanctions-busting measure. A closer look at the initial purchase agreement, however, for the planes, tells a different story. Documents show the sanctions-busting story is a smokescreen as the purchase agreement openly indicated the government bought the airliners on behalf of AirZim. This suggested the sanctions-busting narrative was a convenient snake oil story to cover their tracks. Gumbo for his part did not explain why he had been telling the government ZimAirways was a state project, yet publicly insisting it was a private entity. However, Chinamasa, who officiated at the delivery of one of the aircraft in April 2018 said ZimAirways was wholly-owned by the government, contrary to Gumbo's remarks. He also said Zalc was a government special purpose vehicle. Gumbo and Chinamasa's explanation was that two Boeing 777-200 were bought from Malaysia Airlines through their sole agent PricewaterhouseCoopers Kuala Lumpur, but are now being leased to ZimAirways via Zalc. They claimed ZimAirways and Zalc are owned by the government. But Gumbo had always maintained they are private companies owned by Zimbabwean Diasporans. It later emerged that Zalc's offices were located at 1426 Gletwyn in Harare, a property owned by Mavis Gumbo, although she denied any connection to the airline. Despite her denials, details showed she is linked to ZimAirways. Documents and investigations at the time showed in October 2016 government entered into an agreement with the Malaysian Airline System Berha for the sale and purchase of four Boeing 777-200ER aircraft with manufacturer's serial numbers 29065, 29066, 28421 and 28422. The agreement was signed by Gumbo and former Mines minister Walter Chidhakwa — Mugabe and Simba's relative — on 10 October 2016. In the terms and conditions of this agreement also signed by Lim San Peen of Malaysia, the parties agreed "the aircraft are made available for sale on the basis they are solely to be used for commercial aviation purposes. The intended operator of the aircraft is Air Zimbabwe (Pvt) Ltd." The initial arrangement was that two of the Rolls Royce-powered planes would cost US$16.5 million each, while the other two would be bought for US$18.5 million apiece, bringing the total to US$70 million. But Gumbo and his associates later decided to buy two Boeing 777s for US$18.5 million and US$16.5 million, a total of US$35 million. It was also later resolved to buy two Embraers for US$6 million using Treasury Bills. This brought the total of the revised deal to US$41 million. However, documents show that even if the planes were bought in AirZim's name, the flag carrier's board and management were later kept in the dark after their initial involvement. Chinamasa did not produce documents to back his account. In yet another glaring example of the government's deceit, Chinamasa and Gumbo in their joint statement to painstakingly justify the setting up of ZimAirways said the government could only bail out AirZim once the airline had a turnaround strategy. What Gumbo did not disclose was that he had written the foreword for AirZim's strategy for 2018-2020 contrary to his claims. Then came the US$1 million which Chikore received from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to set up the airline and was supposed to pay back. The money was squandered like confetti at his wedding with Bona, buying office furniture, equipment (laptops, desktops, printers and televisions), software, ticketing system, consultancy, and paying salaries, security, expatriates and building an airport office. The money went down the drain as Chikore could not register the airline to fly internationally and pay back the central bank as initially agreed. He was in 2018 arrested for corruptly hiring security company Safeguard Security without following proper tender procedures. He was alleged to have hired the security services company for US$16 445 instead of the recommended US$10 000. Further, Chikore was accused of kidnapping ZimAirways legal head Bertha Zakeyo and detaining her for two hours at the airline’s offices in June amid chaos at the company. He was however acquitted on kidnapping and criminal abuse of offices charges. Yet in the end, Chikore’s ZimAirways audacious bid — which included liquidating AirZim — collapsed in chaos, while his fairy-tale marriage to Bona ended in tears just on Tuesday. His only consolation though would be fighting for properties he acquirred with Bona, some of them donated to the couple by Mugabe and his widow Grace. How Simba Chikore tied himself in knots over dodgy ZimAirways saga

Page 6 News NewsHawks Issue 122, 10 March 2023 BRENNA MATENDERE WHILE the late former president Robert Mugabe’s daughter Bona and her estranged husband Simba Chikore are still locked in divorce proceedings and intense negotiations on property sharing, the controversial pilot has sold 100 cattle belonging to the couple, prompting contemplation of a police case against him. This has set the stage for a dramatic and messy divorce which Bona is desperate to avoid to protect her name and family reputation. Chikore's name is already mired in a series of controversial issues, including the Zimbabwe Airways scandal and the attempt to build a US$39 million mansion at the foot of a mountain next to Venue Umwinzii, in Umwinsidale. The house is accessible through Carrick Creagh Road, Umwinsidale Road and Luna Road, which converge along the way from opposite directions. However, the fight for the estate is likely to be fiercely contested as it involves a sentimental house at No. 40 Quorn Avenue in Mount Pleasant, Harare, where Mugabe first stayed when he became prime minister in 1980. Chikore is demanding his pound of flesh. One of the properties likely to trigger noise between Bona and Simba is the historic Mount Pleasant house donated to them during their wedding. But after Mugabe gifted them the Mount Pleasant house, the couple asked him to build them a house of their choice and dreams. As the divorce negotiations intensify, it has now emerged Bona offered Chikore a house in Chishawasha, motor vehicles, cattle and other “significant assets” as part of the divorce settlement. However, Chikore promptly rejected the offer, demanding, instead, to be given more properties, including in Harare’s upmarket Umwinsidale which Bona is holding onto on the grounds that they were donated to her through her late father’s estate. An investigation by The NewsHawks in 2021 into the property development showed that the construction of the 25-room house is estimated to cost at least US$20 million. It was originally expected to cost US$39 million. The imposing mansion sits on a 22-hectare tract of land that cascades down the mountain right to its foot in the Umwinsi River valley in Umwinsidale. To put it into perspective, the house is built on land that is bigger than the Harare Gardens which sit on 21 hectares. The house’s plinth — a built-up area measured at the floor level of the storey or at the basement — is about 7 800 square metres. The multi-storey house has a basement which is 1 200 square metres; ground floor (3 000 square metres); first floor (3 000 square metres); and a sundeck which is 600 square metres. In the basement are nine rooms, including an apartment, while the ground floor has eight rooms and the first floor has another eight rooms. When all these additional features are factored in, the house will cost well over US$20 million, according to conservative estimates. The initial planned cost was US$39 million, before Mugabe’s death gave Simba and Bona a financial reality check. “At the moment the total cost of the house is expected to be at least US$20 million. This is because the owners of the property are now struggling to finish the house, which at the beginning was supposed to cost US$39 million,” said a source at the Mugabes’ Blue Roof family home in Borrowdale, Harare. “The late former president was financing the project.” Mugabe said he would fund the Umwinsidale project; he paid for everything before he died. Simba and Bona are now struggling to complete it. It is a huge project; they need millions of US dollars to complete it. The source said if Mugabe was still alive the cost would escalate to around US$39 million, considering the price of the vast tracts of land, construction expenses, design charges, finishings and landscaping, which he would have been prepared to finance. “The price would have been much higher if they still had money because in an elevated mountain area like that it might have cost up to US$5 000 per square metre to build, but that has now been contained at US$2 500 per square metre,” another source said. While Bona has offered Chikore some properties, her separated husband is demanding to be given more properties which she is flatly refusing to do. This is contrary to Bona’s wish to quickly finalise the divorce and settle all outstanding issues without drama. In her High Court summons issued to Chikore, Bona prays the divorce must be quickly granted, while the property issue would be dealt with later in a separate suit as permitted by Section 7 of the Matrimonial Causes Act (Chapter 05:13). She says since the marriage has now irretrievably broken down, dealing with proprietary issues now will only delay granting the divorce decree. She adds that it is just and equitable to address that after divorce. Meanwhile, the parties are still engaging each other on their proprietary interests and rights. This has led to disagreements on how to share the properties. Section 71(2) of the constitution stipulates that every person has the right, in any part of Zimbabwe, to acquire, hold, occupy, use, transfer, hypothecate, lease or dispose all forms of property. This includes even on divorce. The principal Act that governs division of property is the Matrimonial Causes Act [Chapter 5:13]. Section 7(1)(a) of the Act provides that in granting a decree of divorce, judicial separation or nullity of marriage, a court may make an order with regard to the division, apportionment or distribution and transfer of the assets from one spouse to the other. An order made may contain consequential provisions expedient for the purpose of giving effect to it and making operate fairly. Sub-section 3 of the same provision goes further to limit the power of a court in making an order not to extend to any assets which are proved to have been acquired by a spouse, whether before or during the marriage by way of an inheritance, or in terms of any custom are intended to be held by the spouse personally, or which have particular sentimental value to the spouse concerned. In making an order a court shall have regard to all the circumstances of the case, including the direct or indirect contributions made by each spouse to the family. Zimbabwean jurisprudence has evolved on the subject based on the fact that all civil marriages in the country are out of community of property, meaning that there is no joining of estates and each spouse keeps his/her estate separate. Upon divorce, a court must begin by sorting out the property into three lots, which are termed "his", "hers" and theirs’. The court does not simply lump all the property together and then hand it out as fair. Section 7(3) of the Act explains the process. In a jointly owned property, each spouse owns a 50% share. One of the greatest fears of people upon divorce is fear of losing property. For most people property represents stability for family, while to others it represents their own financial stability. Property might be in the form of movable or immovable, corporeal or incorporeal and tangible or intangible property. Proprietary issues are always ancillary to the divorce. How property rights are dealt with on divorce differs from one jurisdiction to another. Bona has filed for divorce with her husband of nine years Simba on the grounds that their marriage has irretrievably broken down with no prospect of restoration. She filed divorce summons in the High Court on Tuesday. Simba and Bona battle for properties Bona Mugabe (right) with former husband Simba Chikore

NewsHawks News Page 7 Issue 122, 10 March 2023 NATHAN GUMA CSC-BOUSTEAD Beef employees are in limbo, with their employer yet to pay them salaries backdating to 2019 when the company promised to invest at least US$130 million over five years to revive the defunct Cold Storage Company (CSC). Despite the promise, Boustead Beef, a British-registered shelf company which had a nominal balance sheet of £1, has invested little into the operation despite seizing control of itself CSC's vast assets countrywide — with staggering salvage value — only to collect rentals from the properties without injecting capital. The meat processor’s properties now being leveraged for borrowings and rentals include large farms and cattle ranches, houses, abattoirs, and distribution centres dotted around the country. This has put the CSC properties at risk of being sold off separately for profit for equity investors who have put nothing into the deal – asset-stripping — since they are now deemed as private belongings. After signalling to invest in the CSC in 2019, Boustead Beef promised to retain workers previously employed by the CSC. However, in February 2020 at least 140 workers formerly under the CSC saw their contracts terminated, with some being retired, while others, especially top management, were forced to resign. The remaining middle management and permanent employees were sent on forced leave for the months after being told that the company would be refurbishing the Bulawayo plant. In October last year, the ministry of Labour’s Retrenchment Board refused to give the green light to the retrenchment by Boustead Beef, beaming a ray of hope to the workers. “In terms of retrenchment, the process was done, but they did not follow the right procedure. Apparently, the Retrenchment Board did not give the thumbs-up on the retrenchment board. What had happened is that some of the workers were not there, hence they could not sign (the retrenchment) for themselves. “The retrenchment package was also an issue in question. So, the Retrenchment Board did not approve that the retrenchment had been done. As we speak, not even one person has been given a retrenchment certificate. “There is also a recent document from the Retrenchment Board nullifying the retrenchment. The other issue is that we were told that exports were supposed to resume in the first quarter of 2023, but as we speak nothing has been done yet,” the ministry wrote in a letter to the CSC workers' committee. In the letter dated 5 October 2022, the ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare said: “The Retrenchment Board did not issue any confirmation to the Cold Storage Company (CSC). There were issues raised in terms of Section 12D and 12C, hence the file was returned to CSC to rectify the anomalies.” Workers' efforts to take the legal route have been cast into further doubt, with the CSC’s corporate rescue practitioner, Vonani Majoko, suspended by Boustead Beef. “Our challenge is that the company has been put under corporate rescue. Workers cannot do any litigation or go to court, because the company is under corporate rescue practitioner. We can only engage the practitioner. “The practitioner has been suspended over allegations that he was doing some criminal activities. As it stands, we cannot go anywhere. We are between the hard rock and the horns." Despite the letter from the labour ministry, Boustead Beef is maintaining that it has no workers. “If you go to the investor, they are claiming not to have any workers. We cannot do anything because the issue is with the courts. There are outstanding salaries and remittances that are yet to be paid. Those things have not yet been done. As we speak, our pensioners are getting nothing at all, but they were contributing to Old Mutual, among others, but nothing has been done. “There was an amount which the investor, Boustead Beef was supposed to foot, which is over US$300 000, so pensioners could start benefitting from the pension fund. Nothing has been done to date,” the workers said. Several attempts to get a comment from Reginald Shoko, a consultant with CSC-Boustead Beef, and Isaiah Machingura, a senior manager, were fruitless. The company has missed its targets to start exports in the first quarter of 2023. In February, the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) Holdings disconnected power supplies to the company over a ZW$24 million (US$27 220) bill at the company’s Bulawayo Beef Abattoir. CSC workers go for 4 years without pay

Page 8 News NewsHawks Issue 122, 10 March 2023 OWEN GAGARE THE disciplinary hearing for Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare minister Paul Mavima’s proxy in the US$400 000 Borrowdale housing scandal Brian Murewa, who is the National Social Security Authority (Nssa) director of investments, is set for 30 March, although doubts remain over his availability. Murewa is believed to have fled to South Africa, after helping Mavima to unprocedurally acquire an upmarket house in Quinnington, Borrowdale. He was also involved in a fraudulent US$244 000 Kariba property transaction. Further, he is wanted for questioning by investigators from the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) as confirmed by its chairperson Loice Matanda Moyo to The NewsHawks a fortnight ago. Murewa’s disciplinary hearing has been set for 30 July, having been initially set for Tuesday before being moved to Friday last week, before the new date was set. The investigation has unsettled Mavima and set him on a collision course with Nssa boss Charles Shava, who is spearheading the investigation of the Borrowdale house transaction. Investigations by The NewsHawks show the property deal was done secretly on behalf of Mavima. Due process and board approvals to buy the Quinnington house, Stand No. 218 Lot A1, amid fraudulent financial engineering for private benefit by a Nssa executive, were not followed. The house was valued at US$350 000, but US$400 000 was paid by Nssa, creating room for US$50 000 to go into private pockets. The transaction was executed through Platinum Investment Managers on 3 October 2022. The issue came to light when Nssa deputy director (audit) Andrew Nyakonda was tasked by acting general manager Charles Shava on 16 February to conduct an investigation into the disposal of the Borrowdale house and the purchase of Kariba Lodge Stand No. 989 Kariba Township for US$244 000. Although Nssa bought the house, it was not transferred to its books before it was sold to Mavima. The minister initiated the deal as he identified the property and asked Nssa to buy and keep it for him while he awaited disbursement of his US$500 000 housing allowance given to each cabinet minister. Deputy ministers got US$350 000 and MPs US$40 000. Even the acting general manager, Shava, who is also the director for occupational safety and health, was sidelined on the deal. Shava is now dealing with the transaction and the knives are out for him. He was arrested last week, with insiders saying it was part of a plot to silence him. Their strategy is being implemented to the tee in a bid to save the minister and his Nssa faction which was prevented by Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga from seizing control of the US$1.2 billion pension fund in January when he was Acting President. Mavima and his Nssa board wanted to remove Shava and replace him with Agnes Masiiwa, Nssa's director of contributions, collections and compliance. Chiwenga scuttled the plan. President Emmerson Mnangagwa has also voiced serious concerns about Nssa corruption. Mavima and his troops’ strategy was to move fast to get Shava arrested on Monday to pre-empt a disciplinary hearing against their ally Murewa who has now fled to South Africa. Shava is the complainant as acting general manager. Without him, the case cannot go ahead. The minister and his group fear that the hearing might open Pandora’s box for them, revealing the Borrowdale house scandal and other corrupt activities around real estate. When the disciplinary process was postponed to Friday, as Shava was briefing government officials on the house corruption on Monday, Mavima and his faction moved swiftly to rope in Zacc to arrest the Nssa boss on Thursday, a day before the hearing. That stalled the Friday hearing, which was their plan. The disciplinary hearing was postponed to 30 March. Shava was arrested on fraud charges involving allegations that he gave allowances amounting to US$12.2 million to Nssa doctors — an average of US$3 000 a month — without board approval. He appeared in court on Friday and was given ZW$500 000 bail. He was remanded out of custody to 3 May. While Zacc, which is accused of supporting the minister and his Nssa allies, charged Shava of fraud, his legal advisers say the allegations are fabricated and designed to get rid of him from the organisation to save the minister and his cronies. Shava says he did not commit fraud because the allowances were approved by management and the board. He says the approvals are there in writing. Claims to the contrary, he says, are vindicative and malicious. Announcing Shava’s arrest, Zacc said: “The accused altered a board resolution which had rejected the proposed allowances for four Nssa doctors and caused the human resources manager to pay the allowances without approval, claiming the board had since approved the allowances.” However, a memorandum dated 20 December 2022, from Shava to human resource committee chairperson Grace Mathe, shows that the board had approved the proposal to pay allowances to doctors. The memo is signed by Shava, Mathe and board chairperson Percy Toriro. There is also another document supporting that resolution. Shava is now the target of suspension. A legal opinion written by company secretary Prudence Mutsvanga recommends that Shava be suspended. “Considering the above (Shava’s arrest and court appearance, as well as bail and attendant laws), we recommend that the board suspends Dr Shava pending finalisation of the inves tigations into his matter and in the interim appoint someone acting general manager,” Mutsvanga’s opinion, dated 3 March, says. This gives Mavima and his board the opportunity to appoint Masiiwa acting general manager, the very thing Chiwenga blocked them from doing in January, saying it violated tenets of corporate governance in the midst of a forensic audit. Mavima wants his person to be in charge — and he prefers Masiiwa — so that he grabs control of the institution and covers up corruption tracks. Nssa, constituted and established in terms of the Nssa Act of 1989, is a statutory corporate body tasked by the government to provide social security. It has an investment portfolio of US$1.2 billion in various sectors of the economy. As a result, it is seen as a cash cow by political and corporate vultures, although pensioners get peanuts. Zanu PF factions and their leaders always fight to control the fund as it gives them access to cheap finance and business deals for self-aggrandisement, as well as opportunities to build war chests for political battles. Due process and board approvals to buy the Quinnington house, Stand No. 218 Lot A1, for Mavima, amid fraudulent financial engineering for private benefit by Murewa, were not followed and secured respectively. Although Nssa bought the house, it was not transferred to its books before it was sold to Mavima. The minister initiated the deal as he identified the property and asked Nssa to buy and keep it for him while he awaited the disbursement of his US$500 000 housing allowance given to each cabinet minister. Deputy ministers got US$350 000 and MPs US$40 000. Efforts to get a comment from Mavima were unsuccessful. Brian Murewa Labour hearing over Mavima’s corrupt US$400 000 scandal

NewsHawks News Page 9 Issue 122, 10 March 2023 BRENNA MATENDERE THE battle for the release of the electronic voters' roll has escalated amid revelations by Harare North MP Allan Norman Markham that he has instructed his lawyers to appeal Tuesday’s High Court ruling upholding the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission’s strange refusal to avail the document. The opposition Citizens' Coalition for Change and independent electoral watchdogs are still insisting on having the electronic voters' roll from Zec in order for them to audit it before the elections. Zec has however refused to release the roll. On Tuesday this week, High Court judge Justice Never Katiyo threw out Markham’s application for an order to force Zec to release the electronic voters' roll. The judge cited concerns that the vote register could be tampered with. "The applicant approached the court prematurely before exhausting the available remedies. Also the Electoral Act mandates Zec to safeguard the electronic voters' roll. To say 58 days wait (for a printed version) is unreasonable period cannot be understood. "The parties were still engaging up to the time the application was launched thereby violating the doctrine for ripeness. "Further the delimitation report is already finalised so this issue has been overtaken by events," ruled the judge. However, Markham on Thursday told The NewsHawks that he strongly disagrees with the judge and will use his constitutional right to appeal the judgement at the Supreme Court. “I disagree with the court’s reasoning that we approached it prematurely. Once Zec refused to provide the electronic roll and/or indicate when it was going to do so, we were entitled to seek redress from the courts,” he said. “I disagree with the court that a period of 145 days which has lapsed since my request is a reasonable time to keep a citizen waiting for a roll that is already available. “The very failure by Zec on the date of the request to indicate when it was to provide the voters' roll in electronic form was unreasonable and amounted to a refusal to give me the roll which should have moved the court to order its provision,” he said. The MP also said he disagreed with the judge’s findings that tweets by Team Pachedu proved that the entity had tampered with the voters' roll which made it unsafe for it to be released by Zec to him in electronic format. “These tweets were irrelevant and should not have been considered as they came after my demand, some even came after I had already filed the application,” he said. “If a genuine case of alteration and tampering had occurred, Zec would have shown proof of their police report and the alleged perpetrators would have been facing prosecution. “I have instructed my lawyers to file an appeal and hope to get the necessary redress from the superior court,” said the MP. After analysing the voters' roll as at 1 February 2022, the MP said he noted a number of material breaches of the Electoral Act, and a direct failure by Zec to fulfil its obligations regarding the vote register. On 27 July 2022, through his legal practitioners, Markham wrote a detailed letter to Zec outlining these breaches and demanding they rectify them. Zec responded on 19 August 2022, saying it was in the process of producing an updated voters' roll which would take into account some of the queries he had raised and implored that he wait for the new roll to establish whether there was still a need to pursue the queries. On 9 October 2022, Markham made a follow up, and was on 20 October advised that the roll was ready. However, Zec advised that it could, within 30 days of the payment of the US$187 000 fee, only provide him with a hard copy of the consolidated national voters' roll. It could not provide him with an electronic roll as it was "currently working on enhancing the security of the electronic voters' roll”. It undertook to avail the electronic roll on a platform at a date to be advised. The MP disagreed with Zec’s proposal to delay the provision of the voters' roll in electronic form for an open-ended period. This was because the Electoral Act gives citizens a choice to get the voters' roll either in hard copy or electronic form and Zec is obliged to provide it in the requested format. He felt the electronic voters' roll of his choice should have been provided in searchable and analysable form within reasonable time. Markham explained to The NewsHawks why he had to go to court under the circumstances. “My choice to get the voters' roll in an electronic form was instructed by, among other things, the fact that the electronic roll is easy to analyse and review compared to the bulky hard copy (more than 187 000 pages) and that it costs an affordable US$200 as opposed to the expensive and prohibitive US$187 000,” he said. “A lot of money is spent on the preparation of the voters' roll. Citizens must have an opportunity to satisfy themselves that it has integrity. With a total of over 185 000 pages containing more than 35 million words, no person can carry out an integrity analysis of a physical copy even if they dedicate a decade of their lives to it, let alone compare it with earlier versions. “The provision of an electronic copy is not only financially cheaper, but it is the best chance at an effective search and analysis of this important document. “At the time of my request, apart from the need to follow up on the original queries, there was an urgent need on my part to review and analyse the voters' roll for the purpose of contribution to the public consultations regarding delimitation which was ongoing.” He said the failure by Zec to indicate a time within which the electronic roll would be provided was unreasonable and tantamount to a refusal. “I therefore, on the 2nd of November 2022, gave Zec an ultimatum that they either provide me with an electronic voters' roll within seven (7) days, or I will approach the court. They did not respond to my letter. I accordingly instituted the application on 23rd November 2022,” he said. Voters’ roll battle escalates Harare North MP Allan Norman Markham

Page 10 News NewsHawks Issue 122, 10 March 2023 NATHAN GUMA THE recent discovery of strange coordinates — stretching as far as from Antarctica — in Zimbabwe's latest delimitation process, has left the integrity of the exercise in tatters, given the many shortcomings identified by Parliament which were not resolved. Civil society group Team Pachedu discovered that many coordinates which the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) used in delimiting some wards for the upcoming August elections were from the far-flung remote, virtually uninhabitable Antarctica, further exposing electoral fraud. Located at the South Pole, Antarctica is the world's fifth-largest continent, a vast land mass almost entirely covered with ice and surrounded by ocean, unlike the Arctic region, which is a frozen sea surrounded by land. Why Zec chose Antarctica coordinates to delineate local Zimbabwean wards is a mystery, but the resultant fraud damages the credibility of the process. The parliamentary ad hoc committee on delimitation said Zec used a complicated; unworkable system. "Zec had an option to use a simpler geographic coordinate system that represents location in terms of degrees, minutes, and seconds, such that users can simply enter the coordinates on google maps to identify locations in their respective wards and constituencies. "Zec indicated that it used the Geographic and Projected system which is modern and also adopted by other countries in the Sadc region. The coordinates on the maps are meant for experts while the descriptions were for use by the general public. "In the committee’s view, it was not prudent to prioritise regional benchmarks without considering the interest of citizens. We do not know whether the benchmarks being referred to by Zec also extend to how electoral commissions must choose coordinate systems," the parliamentary ad hoc committee said in its report on the preliminary draft delimitation report. In the final report gazetted by Mnangagwa, Zec said it used the Geographic and Projected coordinate systems in delimiting electoral boundaries. “The Geographic coordinate system which uses Latitude and Longitude was adopted for mapping at the national level while the projected coordinate system (in this case Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) coordinate system) based on the Modified Clarke 1880 spheroid (SA) was used for mapping electoral boundaries at the subnational level e.g., local authority level. Zimbabwe falls into two UTM zones which are divided by the 300 line of longitude i.e., Zone 35 and 36 south of the equator. “Coordinates were therefore measured and recorded using these UTM zones. In this delimitation report, the coordinates were used to provide precise location of electoral boundaries to compliment the textual descriptions. In the text, coordinates were only used in instances where there were no describable features (i.e., distinct physical or man-made features). “All electoral boundary maps i.e, national, provincial and local authority level have a scale bar labelled with its ground length for easy interpretation,” said Zec in the preliminary delimitation report. More irregularities were unearthed in the preliminary delimitation report, many of which were carried into the final report, including Zec’s failure to stick to the 20% variance threshold in populations of respective constituencies, raising eyebrows over the credibility of the delimitation process. In January this year, the committee highlighted a number of constituencies and wards where the 20% threshold was surpassed. In Manicaland province, the committee found out that in Makoni West constituency's ward 12 was delimited at 3 274 above the maximum threshold of 3 185. Ward 16 in the same constituency was delimited at 3 226 above the maximum threshold of 3 185. In Mashonaland East, ward 9 of Marondera municipality was delimited at 3 057 above the threshold of 3 051. In Mashonaland West, Zvimba Rural District Council’s ward 1 was delimited at 4 675 above the permissible maximum threshold of 3 912. The committee also picked that in Matabeleland North, Hwange West constituency’s ward 2 was delimited at 2 267 above the maximum threshold of 2 211. Zec also used a wrong maximum threshold of 2 211 instead of 2 188, but the wards were still above the maximum threshold of both values. Several other discrepancies were noted in other wards from Manicaland, Mashonaland Central, Matabeleland North and South. The committee also raised concerns in 14 constituencies. Zec pointed out in its report that Gutu South was collapsed because it did not meet the required threshold to make a constituency, but the committee found out that none of the constituencies in the whole of Gutu district met the minimum required threshold at the time the electoral body conducted the delimitation exercise, save for Gutu West. Gutu South had 18 453 registered voters, Gutu East 16 822 and Gutu North 15 359. “Zec was supposed to abide by the principle of fairness and use similar formula which it was using in other provinces, constituencies and wards that those with low registered voters than the others in the same constituency or province would be collapsed to give in to those that had more registered votersas at the time Zec conducted its delimitation exercise.” “Community of interest between registered voters in Gutu South was not considered as some registered under a certain chief are now under two different constituencies,” read the report. The ad hoc committee also noted that in Mberengwa East there was unjustified movement of Musiiwa polling station from ward 4 Bikita West to Bikita South constituency and recommended that Musiiiwa polling station be returned to Ward 5. In Binga North, the committee expressed concern over why Zec did not create three constituencies when the numbers allowed. The total voter population in Binga North was 81 118, and if three constituencies were created, the average constituency would have averaged 27 039 voters. In Zvishavane Runde, the committee made a proposal for wards 1,2,3,4 and 9 to be retained and move Hwani Village from ward 13 to ward 8, Hwande and Mugabe villages from ward 2 to ward 1 Chikuni, Mafurire and Masuna Villages to ward 2, Ndebvu, Ndirishe and Dumbu from ward 9 to ward 4, and moving villages 11, 13, 14 from ward 14 to ward 9. The committee also made recommendation that in Zvishavane Ngezi, 10 000 voters be moved to beef up numbers in Mberengwa and create one constituency called Mberengwa-Zvishavane. Recent findings by Team Pachedu are likely to dent the credibility of the delimitation process, which has been flagged as unconstitutional. Zec Antarctica bombshell explodes

NewsHawks News Page 11 Issue 122, 10 March 2023 BRENNA MATENDERE A NEW report by the Southern African Human Rights Defenders Network in conjunction with the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum has reaffirmed fears of a bloody election period this year and warned that Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga’s chilling threat that the opposition Citizens' Coalition for Change (CCC) supporters will be crushed like lice is a strong indicator. The report, titled Communique on Attacks on Human Rights Defenders in the Sadc Region, also cites state repression in neigbouring countries like Eswathini, Mozambique, Malawi, South Africa and Angola. On Zimbabwe, the report flagged utterances by President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his deputy Chiwenga, as well as repeated cases of human rights implosion as indications that the coming polls will be drenched in blood. “The cases against HRDs (human rights defenders) are expected to increase as Zimbabwe heads towards the 2023 harmonised elections as this has been the trend in the past election cycles. President Emmerson Mnangagwa has openly threatened government critics, independent civil society organisations, including legal and medical organisations providing services to victims of human rights violations, as well as members of opposition parties,” the report reads. “While addressing his supporters in March 2022, President Mnangagwa threatened to “shorten the lives” of Mthwakazi Republic Party members, among other threats to the opposition. “Earlier, in February 2022, Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga made some shocking utterances to the effect, 'I have heard others here saying down with triple C; let me assure you that there is nothing that it can achieve, you see how we crush lice with a stone. You put it on a flat stone and then flatten it to the extent that even flies will not make a meal out of it. That is what we are going to do to the CCC. “Such threats and hate speech are not to be taken lightly and are characteristic of the restrictive civic space in Zimbabwe that is increasingly intolerant of opposing voices,” reads part of the report. Chiwenga made the remarks at a rally at Mbizo Stadium in Kwekwe while campaigning for Zanu PF ahead of the 26 March 2022 by-elections won in the constituency by the opposition CCC’s Settlement Chikwinya against the ruling party’s candidate Vongaishe Mupereri. After the VP’s remarks, there was violence in Mbizo which claimed the life of CCC supporter Mboneni Ncube and left dozens injured. Last year alone, the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum recorded 2 683 cases of violations against government’s critics such as assaults, abductions, verbal threats, arbitrary arrests, detentions and prosecutions. It includes the case of Zimbabwean opposition member of Parliament Job Sikhala who was arrested in June 2022 after attending the funeral of opposition political activist, Moreblessing Ali. He is still locked up. At the time of his arrest, Sikhala, who is also a lawyer, was acting on behalf of Ali’s family. For over eight months Sikhala has been detained at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison without going to trial. Human rights lawyer Kudzai Kadzere was assaulted by police officers while attending to his clients who happened to be members of the opposition. Kadzere’s assault is one of many documented cases of lawyers, particularly those representing pro-democracy, anti-corruption activists and opposition members, who have been physically and verbally harassed, arrested as well as arbitrarily arrested. In Budiriro, the CCC's interim organising secretary Amos Chibaya and Budiriro MP Costa Machingauta as well as several other party activists were arrested at the legislator’s private residence while holding a closed-door meeting. Senior government officials have also publicly chastened the Law Society of Zimbabwe following the institution’s public involvement in rule of law and constitutional matters. In one other blatant case of lawfare, award-winning Zimbabwean novelist Tsitsi Dangarembga was convicted of inciting public violence and sentenced to a six-month suspended sentence and fine for merely holding up a placard inscribed “We want better. Reform our institutions”. In the latest report, SAHRDN and the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum made far-reaching recommendations if the next elections can be salvaged from politically motivated violence. “We call on Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Eswatini, Malawi and South Africa to guarantee and ensure that independent and thorough investigations are carried out in cases of the abduction, torture and extrajudicial killings of human rights defenders in their countries.” “Perpetrators, including police services and armed forces, must be publicly held accountable for these heinous acts against HRDs and their communities. The victims and their families must be adequately compensated.” “We call on member states to refrain from militarising their police in the absence of war. Eswatini must immediately desist from engaging Private Military Companies and revoke any existing contracts.” “We call on Eswatini and Zimbabwe governments in advance of their national elections in 2023 to ensure that they are conducted freely and fairly. We condemn the harsh response by all member states against citizens that are peacefully protesting for political reforms,” read part of the report by the two human rights organisations. Bloody elections loom: Report warns

Page 12 News NewsHawks Issue 122, 10 March 2023 BRENNA MATENDERE JUNIOR and middle-ranked police officers from Bulawayo province were this week forced to take turns to attend two-day brainwashing lectures conducted by ideologues from Zanu PF’s Herbert Chitepo School of Ideology who told them to vote Zanu PF and desist from entertaining opposition parties ahead of elections likely to be held in August this year. The training, which started on Monday, is being held at Drill Hall. Training will end next Thursday, according to a schedule seen by The NewsHawks. The exercise is part of the ruling party’s preparations for the next elections in which it is drumming up support to stranglehold on power. An internal radio memorandum sent to all police stations by the Bulawayo DCIO, Chief Superintendent K. Mpofu on 2 March 2023 under reference number KM 52/2023, says the training is part of the “rollout of synschronised security services civic education programme for Bulawayo province.” The memo was addressed to all police officers attached to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), from Bulawayo metropolitan province’s four operational districts, namely Bulawayo Central, Bulawayo West, Bulawayo Suburban and Nkulumane. They were drawn from stations such as the CID Law and Order, Homicide, PACU, Drugs, CID Bulawayo District Headquarters, CID Stores, CID Studios, TFC, Nkulumane, MFFV, CID Westcom, VTC, CID cyber laboratory section and CID Scenes Of Crime. The subject of Mpofu’s radio memorandum was stated as the “rollout of sycronised security services civic education programme for Bulawayo province.” Police officers who attended the training said they were explicitly told to vote for Zanu PF in the upcoming elections. “They also tried to teach us about patriotism, civic pride and duty. We were told not to tolerate other parties,” said an officer. The training sessions are being conducted by officials from the Herbert Chitepo School of Ideology which is also referred to as Chitepo Ideological College and is a Zanu PF institution. “No civilian is allowed into the hall. People visiting are being turned away, because at the entrance there are sergeant majors,” revealed a police officer, who reluctantly attended the training. “Once inside, you cannot go out. You just sit and listen. The toilets are also inside the hall, so it's hell. We only go out during breaks.” The first batch consisting 70 CID officers underwent the indoctrination classes on 6 and 7 March followed by another batch of 96 officers who attended the exercise on 8 and 9 March. A total of 110 CID officers will attend the exercise next week on Monday and Tuesday. The last batch comprising 117 CID officers will go through the ruling party’s "patriotism" lessons on Wednesday and Thursday next week. Duty uniform police officers in Bulawayo have also undergone similar indoctrination. According to a Zanu PF central committee report which was tabled at the party’s 7th congress in Harare last year, several police officers, prison officers, university lecturers and top civil servants from the Public Service Commission have gone a similar indoctrination programme. The report revealed that in a bid to drum up support for the party, a virtual ideology symposium was organised in 2021 for all state universities and the Robert Gabriel Mugabe School of Intelligence. Part of the central committee report reads, “Two workshops for sergeant majors and officers-in-charge of police stations were held separately at Ntabazinduna Training Centre near Bulawayo. Workshops were also held for members of the (police) Support Unit at Shamva Training Depot and superintendents and above at Morris Depot,” the report read.” “Since last year, Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) recruits have been undergoing ideological training at Ntabazinduna Training Depot as part of their recruit training package. The trend or practice has become a permanent feature as agreed between the school and ZPCS. “Five-day workshops have been held in all provinces for newly-elected district co-ordinating committee members, traditional leaders and civil servants so that they work in harmony in pursuit of government developmental programmes as well as cultivating the spirit of patriotism. “Three workshops for directors and deputy directors were held between 2021 and 2022. The Public Service Commission (PSC) requested the school to hold the workshops as part of its re-orientation programme.” Early this year Zanu PF through its Chitepo School of Ideology also frogmarched lecturers from across the country’s universities to attend similar indoctrination training at the Midlands State University. Civil servants are prohibited by the constitution from dabbling in active political party politics such as enrolling for Zanu PF indoctrination training, but the party uses coercion and threats of victimisation to browbeat dissenters. Police forced into Zanu PF poll indoctrination classes

NewsHawks News Page 13 Issue 122, 10 March 2023 NATHAN GUMA HARARE City Council’s subsidiaries have not been submiting their books of accounts to the local authority, escalating the risk of corruption and mismanagement of funds, a report by Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee has shown. The irregularities were uncovered when council sought to establish the extent to which Harare City Council had addressed audit observations made in the 2020 Auditor-General’s report. PAC also sought to establish why council is operating without a proper accounting system. The findings, presented last week in the National Assembly, revealed that the City of Harare’s wholly-owned subsidiaries, namely Rufaro Marketing (Pvt) Ltd, City Parking (Pvt) Ltd and Sunshine Holdings, were not consolidated or accounted for. “City of Harare officials submitted that the set up was such that subsidiaries were treated as entities outside the City Council. “Harare City Council also had problems accessing information from the subsidiaries which it wholly owns. The subsidiaries had not been providing audited accounts to Harare City Council since their inception. “While Harare City Council has a sound ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) System in BIQ, Harare City Council had not been doing bank reconciliations since 2015 leading to huge unreconciled amounts. Not all transactions have been going through the Harare City,” read the report. The accounting situation was worsened by a fallout between Harare City Council and its accounting system provider, Quill Associates, which saw the local authority being switched off, leaving council without a sound accounting system. “At the moment, the prejudice of the amounts involved or the amounts lost could not be quantified. A proper investigative audit would help to numerate the amount lost,” according to the report. In 2019, Quill Associates hiked licence fees to the accounting system from US$25 000 to US$75 000, an amount which council has been disputing. After the fallout, council then turned to SAGE for an alternative system, at an annual fee of US$300 000, compared to Quill’s BIQ’s US$75 000. However, it was further submitted to the Public Accounts Committee that SAGE was not functioning and did not have the capacity to handle council's huge operations, which saw the local authority being grounded. This led to a lot of anomalies within council operations, most of which were unearthed by the Auditor-General in the 2020 report. While Harare City Council says it is now undertaking a tendering process to acquire a new accounting system, the Public Accounts Committee has urged council officials to hastily re-engage Quill Associates for the BIQ system to recover funds which are unaccounted for, and restore sanity, transparency an well as efficiency to avoid continued financial haemorrhage in city operations. Last month, the Public Accounts Committee ordered local authorities, with immediate effect, to put in place back-up systems for information, while ordering the ministry of Local Government to procure current accounting software by 30 June 2023, after it emerged that several of them were last audited between 2017 and 2019, raising the risk of corruption, and mismanagement of fund. Local authorities are required by section 35 (6) of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) to submit audited accounts to the Auditor-General. Rural district councils comprise the bulk of local authorities that are yet to submit, with their accounts going unaudited between 2018 and 2019. Harare council companies fail to submit audit books Harare City Council Zimbabwe Parliament

Page 14 News NewsHawks Issue 122, 10 March 2023 NATHAN GUMA THE forfeiture of Marry Mubaiwa’s assets worth US$650 122 on account of illicit procurement is inching closer, with the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) placing her case on a priority list. Mubaiwa’s woes have mounted since her fallout with Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga, leading to an acrimonious divorce. After she was accused of attempting to kill Chiwenga in 2019, her passport was held by the state, resulting in her failing to get medical attention abroad. Her arm was amputated as a result. She denies the charges. Dark clouds are drifting over her head, with the forfeiture of her assets being listed as a case of interest in Zacc's first legal committee meeting, according to documents seen by The NewsHawks. The meeting sought to discuss cases of interest to be followed up by Zacc as it is targeting to refer 40 files to the National Prosecuting Authority and seize assets with a total value amounting to US$1 billion in 2023. Zacc is following up on the forfeiture process. In December, South Africa produced the order in terms of section 53 of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act 121 of 1998 (South Africa) on Mubaiwa’s properties which the courts said have been acquired through illicit means. According to the order granted by acting Justice JJ Strijdom, Mubaiwa illicitly acquired immovable property, Erf 191 Sterrewag, Extension 3, Township Registration Division JR Province of Gauteng, under title deed T19471/2019, in Pretoria. She also acquired a Land Rover Range Rover, registration number HW40JNGP, chassis/vehicle identification number SALGA2AE2KA523088, engine number 18081800502508PS, and another with registration number HX61SGP, chassis/vehicle identification number SALWA2AK6KA843337, engine number 1285854306DT. She is being charged with five counts of fraud and contravening section 8 (2) of Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime Act for “concealing, disguising the true nature, source, location, disposition, movement or ownership; of or rights with respect to property, knowing or suspecting that such property are proceeds of crime”. Mubaiwa through her South African lawyers made an urgent application to stop the auction of assets pending a rescission application. The urgent application was heard on 10 January 2023, but the matter was thrown out for lack of service. Zacc gave permission to its legal and asset recovery department to engage Advocate Kumbi Toma, who was referred by Zimbabwe's ambassador to South Africa, David Hamadziripi. Advocate Toma indicated that he had read the issue about the forfeiture and felt he could assist the government of Zimbabwe on pro bono basis since there was an interest in the forfeited properties. Zacc is working on getting information on the issue. On the current position, Zimbabwe's National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) was advised of the status of the case and a senior NPA official Chris Mutangadura linked up with both Advocate Toma and the deputy director of the South African NPA Asset Forfeiture Unit for the repatriation of proceeds of the sale of the forfeited assets. The South African authorities have requested a Zimbabwean bank account number into which the funds will be transferred once the properties are disposed of. “On 25 January 2023, Mr Mutangadura submitted the Asset Management Unit account number to the South African NPA and we await their response. Total estimated value of the properties is US$650 122,” read part of the minutes. Marry Mubaiwa Forfeiture of Marry Mubaiwa’s US$650 000 property imminent

NewsHawks News Page 15 Issue 122, 10 March 2023 BRENNA MATENDERE BULAWAYO councillors have resolved to launch a crackdown on President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s shadowy group operating illegally in the second-largest city under the moniker Vendors for ED. The group, whose notorious members are believed to be from parts of Harare, are resisting enforcement of by-laws to restore order in the central business district’s 5th Avenue where they are camped. On 23 February, municipal police battled to clear them off the streets but they converged on the Large City Hall in huge numbers where they were addressed by Zanu PF’s Bulawayo Nehanda district chairperson Josiah Mutangi. In his address, Mutangi told the restive vendors to defy police and council officers. He told the vendors to go back to their illegal operating spaces. However, a resolution has since been made by Bulawayo councillors to crack down on the restive group despite its political backing from Zanu PF stalwarts. The resolution was made during the 3 368th full council meeting of the Bulawayo City Council on 2 March 2023 after recommendations for the operation had been brought forward by the local authority’s environmental committee. Mayor Solomon Muguni and several councillors who contributed during a debate on the resolution reiterated that the city risked losing investors and tarnishing its good image due to the activities of the shadowy group. “The question is: Are they real traders or something else? If they can throw stones at municipal officers, the question will be: Are they just trying to defend tomatoes with their lives or there is more to it like pushing drugs?” Mguni asked. “We need to protect the legacy of order in Bulawayo for future generations. We are now therefore in clearing mode. We are going to clear, (the shadowy group) clear and clear again.” Ward 9 councillor Donaldson Mabutho said the situation prevailing on 5th Avenue had become political and therefore also needed a political settlement. He said council should engage Zanu PF’s Bulawayo chairperson Jabulani Sibanda, who is former national chairperson of the Zimbabwe Liberation War Veterans' Association. “We are talking of individuals who are riding on a political horse. Maybe they want to use it as a campaign tool that the city fathers are failing to keep the city clean. That is what is happening in 5th Avenue. “My plea to you, Your Worship and chief accounting officer, is that as a matter of urgency, the resident minister (Judith Ncube) and Zanu PF chairman in this Bulawayo metropolitan province Jabulani Sibanda, must be engaged so that we bring peace in 5th Avenue. “The issue of 5th Avenue is not about legalities. It's political and it needs a political solution. 5th Avenue turned into an eyesore after the Covid-19 outbreak. “There is a political volcano at 5th Avenue which can erupt at any time. You can’t also take an investor and drive along 5th Avenue. They will board the next plane and go back to wherever they will have come from. 5th Avenue was not like that before. We have seen isigodlo sithunjwa Nkosi [the city has been invaded]. Ninety percent of those people in 5th Avenue are not people from Bulawayo and I can bet my last cent,” he said. Ward 21 councillor Tinevimbo Maphosa spoke strongly against the shadowy group. He called for a serious all-stakeholders' meeting to read the riot act to the ring leaders of the group. Ward 19 councillor Christopher Dube said Zanu PF is disrespecting the people of Bulawayo. “We are trying to make Bulawayo clean by clearing illegal traders, then someone says go back and sell at the illegal sites. It’s not proper. We are asking that those people show us some respect,” he said. Ward 24 councillor Arnold Batirai said the notorious group should not be allowed to operate above the law. “We have more than 10 000 (vending) bays in the CBD. They must follow the rules and operate in those,” he said. Michael Ndiweni, the Bulawayo Vendors Association executive director, told The NewsHawks that the shadowy group had fomented lawlessness in the country’s second-largest city. “There is a serious issue of space barons who appear to be a law unto themselves. They have caused and are at the centre of all this mess — selling of drugs, illicit alcohol, duping innocent women and men who are informal traders by promising them protection through collecting a US$1 a day and they are literally eating the money collected,” Ndiweni said. “What is very unfortunate is they then expect council to clean the waste they generate with their own diesel, use of their own trucks, getting toilets overflowing with sewerage and expecting omahlokoza [council workers] to come and work for free. Surely a genuine informal trader would not condone such acts. It’s sad that these traders are now at the mercy of authorities. These space barons are now cartels, a law unto themselves.” Ahead of the next general elections, several shadowy groups pledging allegiance to Mnangagwa have emerged but some have gone into illegal activities such as forcefully invading public spaces like schools. The Amalgamated Rural Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe last year complained that a group known as Teachers for ED had started holding workshops at schools, campaigning for Mnangagwa. The group was given the nod by rhe government to “roll out its economic development” programmes in all schools where hundreds of teachers are abandoning classes to attend the workshops. Teachers for ED got government approval for its controversial activities in a letter dated 22 September 2022, written by acting Primary and Secondary Education secretary Kwadzanai Nyanungo. “Your communication dated September 2022, is hereby acknowledged,” Nyanungo wrote. “Permission is granted for the roll out of the economic development programme in schools, on the understanding that teacher participation in your proposed activities is in the spirit of voluntary teacher building capacity programme, with due care that there is no disruption to planned teaching and learning process in schools,” read part of the letter. However, teacher unions complained that schools are professional institutions which are not supposed to be politicised, especially during learning hours. Groups pledging support to Mnangagwa and conducting controversial activities include Mahwindi for ED, Nurses for ED, Pastors for ED, Lecturers for ED, Mahure for ED, and Men Believe ED. Byo council resolves to launch crackdown on Vendors for ED

Page 16 News NewsHawks Issue 122, 10 March 2023 NATHAN GUMA TEACHING, mentoring and guiding students with hearing impairment to dance in rhythm can be a difficult task — but not to Courage Chipatiso, a trailblazing teacher at King George VI Memorial School in Bulawayo. Despite living with a condition called muscular dystrophy, Chipatiso has managed to overcome the odds and has become an inspirational English and accounts teacher as well as an award-winning dance and drama teacher for her deaf students. She has not been held back by her condition, which damages and weakens muscles over time, while decreasing mobility and making daily tasks difficult. A fortnight ago, Chipatiso was honoured as an integrity icon at the integrity awards held by Accountability Lab Zimbabwe (AL Zimbabwe), a governance institute. AL Zimbabwe holds the annual event to recognise honest public servants who display integrity in their job. The icons are selected by their communities and recognised by the organisation for their outstanding work. She is a counsellor, sign language interpreter, and is considered a role model by her community. “Because of my condition I cannot dance, but I dance in my spirit and I dance through them,” she said, referring to her deaf students as they danced to yesteryear hit song True Love by the legendary band Ilanga. She has a natural connection with her students. “We hear vibrations from the speaker. We feel with our hearts,” says Anele Ndlovu, a 15-year-old King George VI student, who is in the drama and dance class. Anele says she is lucky because Chipatiso also teaches her English and accounts. “She is patient with the deaf. If she realises that we don’t understand, she is able to repeat several times until we understand. She is extremely committed to her work.” Chipatiso believes she has had an impact on her students’ lives. “As a teacher I would like to say I have had a positive impact on my students, firstly I have contributed a lot towards their academic achievements. “From the time I started teaching, I had a belief in my students who are deaf, that they could write an exam, a national exam, and pass the exam like other students who are not deaf,” she says. “My first exam class, I actually have a 100% pass rate. And it was amazing and people were really surprised and asked ‘how did you do it, how did you make them pass?’ and I told them it was a matter of believing in them,” she says. As a guidance and counselling teacher, she has been imparting life skills to her students. She was among the first batch of teachers who were trained when the module was made part of the national curriculum. “I was able to take classes and imparted a lot of knowledge in terms of life skills. My students were excited for me to teach them things they were not able to get from their homes because of the lack of sign languages.” Her students have been exposed to international platforms, due to her dance and drama classes. “This has boosted their confidence and self-esteem,” she says. “We've been to places locally, nationally and regionally, for instance travelling and competing in the Sadc 3 Zwakala Competition in Johannesburg, South Africa. “I have discovered that the deaf express themselves well through dance and drama. Issues are brought out and resolved through these performances. Twice we scooped the gold medals back home as we lifted the KG VI flag to the apex. I love making people happy; a good performance makes people smile! So does my spirit.” Chipatiso says her desire is to impart values of honesty, hard-work, commitment and excellence to her students. “Integrity has to do with the principles of right and wrong. What is it that is considered right in our society, and what is it that is considered wrong in our society? If you conform to those standards, then you have integrity,” she says. “You need to also be having certain behaviour, and characteristics that fall under the title of integrity. Are you a person that is honest? Honest is an integral part of integrity. We also expect a person to be transparent and accountable.” As a teacher at King George, she takes seriously the importance of upholding integrity in governance and public service delivery. “To ensure good governance at my school, I lobbied and advocated for a balance in bodies like: administrative body and special committees that are formed so that they are inclusive, since King George VI is a school where learners with various abilities are enrolled. “This means that if we have a committee with non-disabled teachers or staff members, there should be at least a number of staff with disabilities so that the interests of all people are catered for,” she says. Chipatiso says she has been honest in the discharge of her duties by being truthful and upright at all times. “I am honest with my time and am honest with my work. I am honest with the leaners that I work with, and I tell them about life.” She believes all human beings deserve respect. This explains why she considers underlying reasons in the behaviour of her students when helping them to change for the better. “To me, all people are equal, hence they need to be treated with the same respect. I do not choose people and I do not care whether you come from whichever religion. Like I said, a person is a human being. Whatever they trust or have faith in, I have to respect. “A good example that I can give is that at my workplace we are different people with different backgrounds. For instance, religion, there are some types of people that actually attack a person because of their religion. “For instance, we have people who openly despise apostolic churches. I am an adventist, but I am open to letting people be comfortable with their beliefs. We should not segregate people because of what they believe. At the end of the day, who are we to judge?” Chipatiso has also been working hard to ensure that the school delivers its mandate to teach persons with disabilities. “I know our programmes are very powerful, because we are having a learner with a disability at the forefront. We are actually showing that we as the public service sector are actually able to deliver effectively to the learner. So, they really appreciate. “The business community, individuals – even generally the private sector. We have a network of friends that actually can say they trust the King George institution, who can say that they trust King George with support in terms of; human support (volunteers), donations in cash or in kind.” While several institutions have been dogged by corruption, particularly in enrolment, Chipatiso has been promoting transparency. At times, she questions the enrolment process, should there be suspicion of foul play. I have quizzed the way the enrolment is done, if I am not satisfied that a learner has been enrolled properly. I do ask openly what criteria have been used. “I also ask about the criteria used to form management committees, where decisions are made. I strive to make sure that persons with disability are included to make sure there is representation,” she says. Chipatiso’s workmates believe she deserves to be an integrity icon. “Without a shadow of doubt,” says the head of the school, Perseverance Hadebe. “She is an excellent woman of integrity; she is clear of focus, who does her duties beyond our expectations. She strives for excellence all the time. “She is dynamic and a self-starter. Courage is now the senior woman in the deaf department. She can be trusted and we can bank on her all the time. She delivers even when she is given tasks at the 11th hour.” A colleague, Ennet Mutasa, who teaches computers and art and is the head of the information communications technology department, says Chipatiso’s integrity and commitment to duty are beyond doubt. “Through her, her dancers are learning the vales of ubuntu and hard work. Despite her personal challenges, she works hard and is degreed. She is now pursuing another degree in theology, so she is seen as an inspiration to her students." Enez Hussey, a consultant at the school, says Chipatiso has immensely contributed to changing people’s perceptions towards people with hearing impairment. Hussey says people are often amazed to learn that her dancing and drama groups are composed of deaf people after seeing their polished performances. She has also inspired her deaf students to strive for greatness by, among other things, taking on the challenges that confront them. “On two occasions her teams have won first prize in regional competitions held in South Africa after putting up outstanding performances,” Hussey says. AL Zimbabwe country director McDonald Lewanika says the Integrity Icon campaign, which has amplified the virtues of honest work, acts as a conversation starter on accountability and integrity in public service. “Besides celebrating members of the public service who go over and beyond the call of duty to operate with integrity, the Integrity Icon campaign acts as conversation starter on accountability and integrity in public service. The intention is to facilitate conversations that allow people to take a closer look at what integrity is, rather than what it is not. It uses positive deviants such as naming and faming public service employees who display integrity,” Lewanika said. He said the campaign presents models of what integrity looks like in practice and this contributes to conversations on what it is not. “Through sharing Integrity Icons’ stories, the campaign triggers conversations, and inspires others to walk the path of integrity. So far, we know that the campaign and the stories of the icons have had demonstrable effects, that is, the fact that others are doing it, has triggered interest in doing the same. We are getting more requests for information on the campaign and testimonies of how it has inspired other public servants who previously thought they were alone,” Lewanika said. “As such, the campaign has begun building a coalition of reformers within the public service who believe in certain professional, ethical and excellence stands when serving the public. For us, this is a big win in the fight to shift norms and values in public service, and is a huge step towards building responsible leaders and accountable institutions.” Teacher in spotlight for spectaular job King George VI Memorial School in Bulawayo teacher Courage Chipatiso

NewsHawks News Page 17 Issue 122, 10 March 2023 JONATHAN MBIRI YAMVEKA IT is election year again in Zimbabwe, and if you have lived in this country as long as some of us, you will be forgiven for dreading the scary times ahead. As predicted, there has been significant deterioration of political tolerance ahead of this year’s general election set for August. Among the acts of brutality against opposition political supporters was a video that went viral months ago, revealing Zanu PF youths viciously beating up CCC supporters in Murewa. Some victims of the public flogging were elderly people, old enough to be parents of their tormentors. From physical harm against dissenting voices, it seems the ruling regime in the country is determined to victimise anybody perceived to have an influential voice against the system. Music icon Winky D has been added to that list following the release of his hit album, perceived as containing lyrics critical of the government. Of course, the music resonates with the downtrodden masses, and Zimbabweans across all walks of life have taken an immediate liking to Winky’s album, which has riled the political guys at the top. However, with several digital platforms at our exposal, it has become difficult, if not impossible, for one to ban artistic expression, especially music. So, when Winky D launched his latest album, Eureka Eureka, he drew a full house at Harare International Conference Centre. But Zanu PF's social media trolls and supporters would not have none of it and they went all out to try and silence Winky D's music from state-run radio stations. The latest attack on Winky D, whose real name is Wallace Chirimuko, was at the weekend at Dam View in Chitungwiza where, despite being the headline act, he was ordered off stage by the police. The incident happened moments after the 40-year-old singer had performed the song Ibotso off his studio album Eureka Eureka. Eureka Eureka carries songs such as Ibotso, Vafarasi, Chauruka and Dzimba Dzamabwe — tackling social injustice, Zimbabwe's economic meltdown and corruption within government. Indeed, the album has ruffled the feathers of many in the political space. Ibotso speaks of how the rich and powerful are amassing even more wealth at the expensive of the ordinary citizenry while Chauruka warns those in higher offices not to abuse the authority they have as one day this could backfire. There was a show in Chitungwiza last weekend where police attempted to stop Winky D’s show, causing crowd trouble, and a premature end to the gig. And it did not end there as Baba Harare’s show was also cancelled. According to Baba Harare, the show was cancelled because police in Chitungwiza had not cleared the concert. For those who can remember, Baba Harare has been active on Twitter, encouraging youths to register to vote. But Zanu PF trolls took have taken it to mean that he is encouraging youths to vote for CCC. The suppression of artistic expression is the last thing any government would want to do. It shows desperation on the part of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration. This is because freedom of expression is a human right enshrined in the constitution of Zimbabwe. There was a furore on social media after that Chitungwiza incident, with many openly criticising the government for the deteriorating levels of tolerance. German-based rapper Awa Khiwe tweeted: “Even if they cut off his mic, people can still sing his songs word for word. He is the voice of the people and he will never be silenced. History will remember him as the artist who chose to stand with the struggling people of Zimbabwe during tough times, risking his life and refusing to accept blood money." The tweet received 1 228 retweets and over 7 300 likes. Veteran music critic Professor Fred Zindi commented: “What happened in Chitungwiza last week is unfortunate. Shows that the democratic space in Zimbabwe is closing. If anyone, especially a popular artiste like Winky D sings about what is deemed to be anti-government sentiments, he becomes an enemy. The Human Rights Act, Article 10 says everyone has a right to freedom of expression without interference.” Oscar Mugomeri, the deputy director of the Censorship and Entertainment Control Unit, said they had nothing to do with the disruption of Winky D’s concert. “We insist that artistes should submit their albums to the censorship board first then once it is cleared they can proceed with the launch. But Winky D didn’t submit his album. However, we were not responsible for disrupting his performance. You remember his previous album launch (Njema) was only cleared at the eleventh hour after submitting the required documents and the album. And it doesn’t cost much to submit an album for reviewing,” Mugomeri said. Winky D has always been consistent with his messages, singing for the poor and downtrodden. He mirrors the society in which he lives alongside friends, relatives and millions of fellow countrymen. It was the same with the likes of Thomas Mapfumo and Oliver Mtukudzi during the liberation war. Mtukudzi would sing music that resonated with the aspirations of Zimbabwean against the racist Ian Smith regime and the same applied to Mapfumo whose Chimurenga music became the soundtrack to the liberation struggle. Repression reaches new low as Zanu PF targets musicians Musician Winky D

Page 18 International Investigative Stories HITMEN working for a criminal group active in Montenegro and Serbia used open-source intelligence techniques, poring over apartment listing sites, satellite images, and tourist photos posted online, to track down and kill the leader of a rival clan as he hid out in Greece. Montenegrin crime boss Alan Kožar had taken great pains to stay alive, as a war with a rival clan left a trail of blood across Europe. But in the end, a simple sunburn helped get him killed. Kožar was hiding out on the Greek island of Corfu in the summer of 2020, using an encrypted text messaging app to keep in touch with his crew. “I slept badly — I got sunburned yesterday and kept waking up,” Kožar wrote. “Brother, they say yogurt is good,” one of his associates replied. “So cover yourself in it, if it doesn’t bother you.” “I have yogurt, I’ll spread it on myself now,” Kožar answered. But Kožar had been betrayed. Right after suggesting the home remedy for a sunburn, the man he was messaging used another phone to take a photo of the exchange and send it to Kožar’s arch-enemies. The 43-year-old Montenegrin was being hunted by killers from a rival clan, the Kavač. Another boss from his own group, the Škaljari, had just been murdered. As one of the Škaljari’s top leaders, Kožar knew he could be next. So he never revealed his location, even when communicating with a fellow clan member he thought he could trust. Now, the messages he sent to his associate not only helped to confirm the Kavač clan’s suspicions that Kožar was most likely in Greece, but also revealed one of his weaknesses: He liked to come out of hiding to sun himself on the beach. Kožar’s complaints about a sunburn allowed Kavač operatives to track him over the next few weeks, using open source investigative techniques (also known as OSINT) more often employed by journalists and police, including poring over satellite images, apartment listing sites, and tourist photographs. This story of that hunt, recently told by OCCRP’s Serbian member center, KRIK, is based on a secret police report that analyzed thousands of chat messages exchanged by Kožar’s enemies. Almost exactly a month after his sunburn, Kožar and an associate were gunned down in a hail of bullets in front of their Corfu villa. The killers had found their way right to his doorstep. Bad Blood The ambitious OSINT murder operation, costing at least 1.4 million euros and involving nearly a dozen people on the ground, was a turning point in the years-long battle between the Škaljari and Kavač clans. Both groups hail from Kotor, a town on Montenegro’s picturesque Adriatic coast. In fact, they were once part of a single gang that smuggled South American drugs into Europe. But the group split in 2014, sparking a rift that has pulled in other Serbian and Montenegrin criminal organizations and led to more than 70 murders. Some insight into this secret world of violence has been made possible in recent years thanks to evidence obtained from Sky ECC, the encrypted messaging app favored by members on both sides. The app was cracked by European investigators, leading to a series of raids on organized criminal groups in Belgium, France, and the Netherlands in early 2021. The EU’s police agency, Europol, also forwarded the newly obtained evidence to the Balkan countries, leading to dozens of arrests. Evidence obtained from Sky ECC has been used in criminal cases against members of both the Škaljari and Kavač clans. But as Kožar basked in the Corfu sun in 2020, that was all in the future. He was an influential man, highly respected among his colleagues, with a reputation for effective mentorship of younger gang members. He had amassed a long rap sheet over the years, including several juvenile convictions and, more recently, a International InvestigativeStories How a Montenegrin gang used open-source intelligence to kill NewsHawks Issue 122, 10 March 2023

Page 19 prison sentence of nearly seven years for planting explosives at a construction site to intimidate its owner. Now he was on the run from the law again — this time for planning the murder of an elderly Montenegrin mobster — but the real danger was from the rival Kavač clan. Although his enemies didn’t know his exact whereabouts, Kožar’s reliance on Sky ECC proved a crucial vulnerability. Thanks to a Kavač member with an official license to distribute the secret communications system, the clan could see in which country a certain number was active. Kožar’s phone, they saw, was in Greece. Of course, it was always possible that he had given it to someone else. How could they track him down? ‘For Honor and Justice’ A key step was gaining the cooperation of one of Kožar’s trusted associates: a man named Ratko Živković, nicknamed “Zemo.” According to the police report obtained by KRIK, Zemo stood to earn 100,000 euros in exchange for helping track down his unsuspecting boss. The message he forwarded about the sunburn was an early confirmation that Kožar was indeed in Greece. But the Mediterranean country has many beaches, and Kožar’s enemies needed more information. To coordinate their hunt, they created their own chat groups on Sky ECC — one called “For honor and justice” and the other called “Action” — where they exchanged over 12,000 messages between June and December 2020. Among other topics, they discussed how to get more photos from Kožar. A group member in touch with the intermediary, Zemo, asked for advice: “It would be good to find some topic so I can write to him constantly,” he wrote. “Send a picture of a weapon if it’s expensive,” came a suggestion. “A stolen car that’s being offered, a motorcycle … These are topics that interest him.” “You have to hunt him with a picture from the gym,” another person advised. The next important clue came when Zemo forwarded a photo Kožar had taken at a beachside restaurant. Judging from the shape of a small islet that appeared in the background, two members of the group identified the location by searching the internet for photos showing similar views. The restaurant was in Perama, a village on Corfu’s eastern shore. “He’s on fucking Corfu,” one of the group members wrote. “Nik and I found the fucking bar at the same time.” Another person noted that Kožar had chosen a good location to hide. “It’s the best hiding place, it’s warm, and with a lot of trees. I was there only once, [came] from Montenegro on a yacht.” They immediately conveyed their findings to several gang members who were already in Greece. “We need boats, a ship,” replied a member of the scouting team. “We’ll finish everything now, since we know where it is. Now we’ll examine all of Corfu on Google.” Fortunately for them, Zemo kept delivering. Next came a photo of a motorcycle Kožar had rented; tracking down the name of the rental agency helped narrow down where on the island he might be staying. Then they got the big prize: A photo of the swimming pool at Kožar’s villa. Searching through real estate rental sites, his enemies looked for Greek villas with pools and found what they thought might be the same one. “Compare it with his photo, it’s just that this [photo] is from an old ad,” one wrote. “You see a tree and a slide … Right next to the deck chair, just like in his photo.” To be completely sure, they compared Kožar’s photo with satellite images of the villa on Google Maps. “Well done, bro,” wrote one member. “That’s it, awesome. You made me so happy … Remember when we wrote that that fool would relax after a few months?” ‘Everyone Is Wearing Masks’ The next step was to plan and carry out the murder. “Will we be able to find engineers to carry out all the work?” one member asked in apparent code, noting that measures taken to fight the COVID-19 pandemic could work in their favor: “It’s good that everyone is wearing masks now.” But the pandemic did pose challenges. Travel restriction and quarantine requirements made it difficult to quickly cross international borders, leading the group to discuss how to get the hit squad into Greece illegally. “A Macedonian from [the city of ] Gevgelia takes 1,500 euros [per person], hands [the person] over to a Greek, and drives them to Thessaloniki,” one member wrote. In another last-minute hiccup, a member of the scouting team backed out of any participation in the actual killing, because he had entered Greece on his real passport and was afraid of being identified by authorities. This led one of his colleagues to withdraw as well, requiring the organizers to send two replacements. By July 20, the hitmen had joined scouts already on Corfu, having hired the Macedonian smuggler to help them move illegally through North Macedonia, then cross the Greek border on motorbike. Over the next three days, they staked out Kožar’s villa, taking photos of him and an associate walking, sitting, and talking in the yard. The scouts had already rented the quad bikes they would use for their escape. Information obtained by reporters about the murder reveals no inside details about the group’s final days of planning. But that initial clue about Kožar’s penchant for spending time in the sun may have proved helpful: On July 23, he and his associate were gunned down in front of their villa just as they were returning from the beach. The killers fled by quad bike to a boat waiting to take them back to the mainland. From the seaside village of Syvota they made their way to Thessaloniki, staying in a rented AirBnB apartment, before crossing the border to North Macedonia and eventually back to Serbia. Although the police report detailed the planning for the murder, even naming the participants, no arrests have yet been made in any country. This story was adapted for OCCRP by Ilya Lozovsky and Bojana Jovanović. — Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project. The location of the villages of Škaljari and Kavač villages in Kotor, where the eponymous criminal clans hail from. Alan Kožar NewsHawks International Investigative Stories Issue 122, 10 March 2023

Page 20 The NewsHawks is published on different content platforms by the NewsHawks Digital Media which is owned by Centre for Public Interest Journalism No. 100 Nelson Mandela Avenue Beverly Court, 6th floor Harare, Zimbabwe Trustees/Directors: Beatrice Mtetwa, Raphael Khumalo, Professor Wallace Chuma, Teldah Mawarire, Doug Coltart EDITORIAL STAFF: Managing Editor: Dumisani Muleya Assistant Editor: Brezh Malaba News Editor: Owen Gagare Digital Editor: Bernard Mpofu Reporters: Brenna Matendere, Ruvimbo Muchenje, Enock Muchinjo, Jonathan Mbiriyamveka, Nathan Guma Email: [email protected] Marketing Officer: Charmaine Phiri Cell: +263 735666122 [email protected] [email protected] Subscriptions & Distribution: +263 735666122 Reaffirming the fundamental importance of freedom of expression and media freedom as the cornerstone of democracy and as a means of upholding human rights and liberties in the constitution; our mission is to hold power in its various forms and manifestations to account by exposing abuse of power and office, betrayals of public trust and corruption to ensure good governance and accountability in the public interest. CARTOON Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe The NewsHawks newspaper subscribes to the Code of Conduct that promotes truthful, accurate, fair and balanced news reporting. If we do not meet these standards, register your complaint with the Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe at No.: 34, Colenbrander Rd, Milton Park, Harare. Telephone: 024-2778096 or 024-2778006, 24Hr Complaints Line: 0772 125 659 Email: [email protected] or [email protected] WhatsApp: 0772 125 658, Twitter: @vmcz Website: www.vmcz.co.zw, Facebook: vmcz Zimbabwe Monument to abuse of power Dumisani Muleya Hawk Eye Editorial & Opinion NewsHawks Issue 122, 10 March 2023 Down but not out ELECTION season is in full swing and there is no better evidence of this than a mid-week headline on the front page of a state-controlled newspaper proclaiming: "Nkayi roadworks resume". The road they are referring to is a 15-kilometre stretch of the Bulawayo-Nkayi Road. That highway surely deserves a slot in the Guinness Book of Records. Every five years — on the eve of every general election — politicians and bureaucrats sit on a mountain top and share the wonderful news of a highway construction project that never ends. Nkayi Road is the perfect gift — the gift that never stops giving. After tinkering with a few kilometres of asphalt in front of media cameras just for the optics, the clever chaps jump into their taxpayer-funded luxury vehicles and return to air-conditioned offices while the godforsaken villagers are left to wallow in the dust. The Bulawayo-Nkayi highway has been "under construction" — in perpetuity — for decades. This is not funny anymore. But the election-related jokes keep mounting. This week, the world woke up to a curious story which has gone viral. The Times of London reported on the sort of strange happenings that can leave you scratching your head in utter amazement. "Zimbabwe’s looming general election is set to be its most inclusive yet: the redrawing of electoral boundaries has put voters in Swaziland, the Indian Ocean and even Antarctica," reported The Times in its opening paragraph, pregnant with satire. For the Zimbabwean electorate, this is no laughing matter. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission’s legendary incompetence has finally brought international fame — nay infamy. The tenacious techno sleuths at Team Pachedu revealed that some Zec constituency boundary coordinates are extending as far afield as Antarctica. Astonishing! Such wild irregularities point to yet another rigged election. Interestingly, opposition CCC leader Nelson Chamisa sounded confident of victory when presenting a Press statement on Thursday. Chamisa announced what he termed the five pillars of "Zimbabwe Agenda 2023" which underpin the CCC's election strategy. Of late, his critics have often remarked that Chamisa does not seem to have a coherent plan for winning an election. T hey point to the absence of party structures on the eve of the election, the opposition's failure to counter Zanu PF's politics of obstruction which has paralysed CCC-dominated urban councils, and the rapid closure of democratic space by an authoritarian regime. Chamisa himself acknowledged that the Zanu PF government has banned more than 60 opposition rallies and meetings. He correctly attributed this to a panicky ruling party which is afraid of people power. The big question is: What will the opposition do to counter this, beyond complaining? Already, the signs are ominous. High Court judge Never Katiyo brewed a shocker by rejecting opposition legislator Allan Markham's legitimate demand for Zec to release a copy of the electronic voters' roll. Justice Katiyo's reasoning — if it can be termed that — is highly problematic, not just from a constitutional perspective but even from a basic commonsensical approach. Where on earth has the judge ever seen a general election whose vote register is a secret document? A voters' roll is a public document. By refusing to release the electoral register, Zec is not only failing in its constitutional responsibilities but also creating a toxic political environment that will lead to a disputed poll outcome. One does not need a PhD in constitutional law to understand this. Legitimate political power is secured through the consent of the governed — not through brazen electoral theft. The joke is on citizens A mansion nestled on a mountain that Simba Chikore and the late former President Robert Mugabe's daughter Bona were building in the exclusive Umwinsidale suburb.

NewsHawks Page 21 Issue 122, 10 March 2023 New Perspectives BARD Santner Markets Inc, which recently launched a Gold Coin Unit Trust, is sponsoring a major capital markets conference in London, UK, under the theme: The role of capital markets for sustainable growth of the economy: Creating and developing efficient local capital markets. Zimbabwe is in the process of deepening its capital markets and Bard Santner is taking the lead in spreading the word and attracting investment in Zimbabwe. The best time to invest in Zimbabwe is now. However, foreign investors have not moved into the country as quickly as expected because foreign investment decisions are often methodically overstructured. One of the major factors cited is perceived too much risk which needs engagement through investment and capital markets forums such as the one being pioneered by Bard Santner. But risks and profits are inseparable twins: high-risk ventures are frequently associated with higher profits. Zimbabwe, given its multicurrency economy, is one of the most profitable economies in Africa.  Private player analysis reports shows that Zimbabwe is among the countries in Africa with the highest rate of return on inflows of investment. Its main stock market, the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, was the top performer in 2020 and 2021, while the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange prides itself of being a US$ market. On the economic front, economic growth prospects are among Africa’s brightest, according to the International Monetary Fund. Good news: sectors where foreign investment could have a comparative advantage, such as mining, agriculture, banking, telecommunications and infrastructure, are among the drivers of current economic growth in Zimbabwe — creating clear investment opportunities for foreign businesses. The country’s growing, youthful population (63%) constitutes a formidable market. The youthful population contributes to an abundance of labour, which is one of the country’s highest potentials for labour-intensive industrialisation, and lowers production costs, leading to benefits that far outweigh the cost of doing business in the country. The hourly wage on average is less than 50 cents compared to US$10.49 in UK, US$7.25 in the United States and US$6.57 in Japan. Engaging more foreign companies may help raise wage rates in the country, improve labour market efficiency and generate additional resources for those left behind on the age ladder.  Maximising this good demographic calls for actively engaging Zimbabwe’s structural economic transformation. Zimbabwe’s large deposits of natural resources promise a bright future for developing value chains. Agriculture and the extractive sectors are linchpins of national, regional and global value chains. Zimbabwe boasts more than 60% of arable land. It has large deposits of minerals, with agriculture and mining sectors combined accounting for about 80 percent of Zimbabwe’s export earnings and around 40% of national GDP. The top minerals mined in Zimbabwe include gold, platinum, chrome, coal, diamonds, and lithium while top agricultural commodities include tobacco, cotton, maize, sugarcane, macadamia, citrus and cut flowers. Building sustainable capital markets in Zimbabwe lends credence to the country’s economic transformation agenda. Some of these developments include improvements in macro-economic prudence and overall governance. For instance, evidence from the 2017 Ibrahim Index of African Governance shows that Zimbabwe’s overall governance index improved since 2010 on an annual basis. This improvement helps to mitigate perceived risks for many investors in the country. Public-private partnerships and investment forums such as Bard Santner's City of Westminster-sponsored conference should be used to encourage the government to build on this positive trend to maximise foreign investments. This includes e l i m i n a t i n g corruption; improving safety and security; strengthening macro-economic environment, investing in quality education and skill development in science, technology and innovation; and avoiding a "race to the bottom" syndrome, that gives unnecessary tax holidays and waivers to foreign companies. Investing in Zimbabwe is good business and a sustainable corporate strategy for foreign investors. Advanced and emerging countries’ governments and the private sector should leverage these profitable emerging investment opportunities. Using official development assistance to leverage and de-risk the investment climate in Zimbabwe is also a key component in attracting foreign direct investment. The country can learn from other African countries. For instance, Japan’s Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI) initiative to insure a facility in Ghana is a laudable effort that should be scaled-up and supported by other actors and expanded to Zimbabwe as well. Zimbabwe is also a signatory the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) which was formally launched on 7 July 2019. It is expected to be the game changer in regional economic development. The agreement aims to eliminate tariffs on intra-African trade, reduce unemployment, increase infrastructure development and eventually create a more competitive and sustainable environment for cross-border trade. Regional signatories hope that AfCFTA will encourage a shift away from reliance on primary sector exports towards more sustainable and diversified trade in Africa. Trade integration allows countries to specialise in the production of goods and services for which they have comparative advantages to exploit economies of scale, thereby improving productivity and growth. Moreover, encouraging trade in goods from more labour-intensive industries such as manufacturing and agriculture as well as supporting services can increase employment on the continent. Regional integration also promotes movement of capital, huge infrastructure development, mergers and acquisations. Private sector actors are working with the government to derisk and improve the country’s investment climate. Developing industrial strategies and clusters (Sunway City), promoting special economic zones (Victoria Falls), improving energy access (solar farms), facilitating innovative funding, advocating for value chain development and supporting investment promotion through the initiatives such as the Bard Santner UK capital markets conference.  The best time to invest in Zimbabwe is now. *About the writer: Kaduwo is a researcher and economist. Contact: [email protected] or WhatsApp +263773376128. Best time to invest in Zim is now Econometrics HawksView Tinashe Kaduwo Bard Santner CEO Senziwani Sikhosana

Page 26 NewsHawks Issue 76, 15 April 2022 Business MATTERS NewsHawks CURRENCIES LAST CHANGE %CHANGE USD/JPY 109.29 +0.38 +0.35 GBP/USD 1.38 -0.014 -0.997 USD/CAD 1.229 +0.001 +0.07 USD/CHF 0.913 +0.005 +0.53 AUD/USD 0.771 -0.006 -0.76 COMMODITIES LAST CHANGE %CHANGE *OIL 63.47 -1.54 -2.37 *GOLD 1,769.5 +1.2 +0.068 *SILVER 25.94 -0.145 -0.56 *PLATINUM 1,201.6 +4 +0.33 MARKETS *COPPER 4.458 -0.029 -0.65 Illicit financial flows on the rise BRENNA MATENDERE A sub-committee of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS) which comprises law enforcement agencies responsible for financial investigations has reported an increase in cases of high-profile illicit financial flows in the country. The committee, which is overally led by Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission chairperson Justice Loyce Matanda Moyo, comprises the Zimbabwe Republic Police, Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra), and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s Financial Intelligence Unit. In a report tabled at the NACS’ latest meeting held in Harare on 2 March, the committee reported that there were a total of 71 high-profile illicit financial flow cases received by the country’s law enforcement agencies (LEAs) in the first quarter of this year. In the month of January alone, the RBZ’s FIU recorded 28 cases of illicit financial flows up from only two recorded in December last year. The value of seized properties from the cases recorded in January stood at US$ 2.2 million. Part of the sub-committee’s report singled out a case of former Zimra employee identified as Tobbias Zangairai whose matter was handled at the High Court under case number HACC 01/23 and his unexplained wealth seized. “Subject is a former employee of Zimra and during his term of employment he amassed his wealth using proceeds of crime. Lifestyle audit was carried out and established various properties in Mutare, Bulawayo, Beitbridge and Harare.” “Parallel financial investigations were instituted against Subject and various properties were identified to be under his control. On 30 January 2023, an interim freezing order was issued by the High Court,” reads part of the report. Another case recorded by the committee was of Patricia Magumise recorded under case number HACC 29/22 at the High Court. “Subject was employed by CBZ Bank Victoria Falls and was a personal banker for VID. Subject fraudulently stole money thereby amassing her wealth using proceeds of crime. Parallel financial investigations were instituted against Subject and various properties were identified to be under her control.” “In January 2023, eight motor vehicles were confiscated and forfeited to the state,” reads another part of the subcommittee’s report. In its recommendations, the sub-committee said there was a need to migrate to e-registration of all title dleeds and trusts. “Most criminals are now registering properties under Trusts and it is very difficult to trace the names of the Trusts against the beneficial owners as the same are registered in other names,” said the sub-committee. It also urged recruitment of valuators for purposes of execution of asset recovery investigations for valuation of seized assets awaiting determination by the High Court. The sub-committee also called for continued capacity building “for all stakeholders in the asset recovery value chain in order to effectively carry out investigations ranging from technical skills, vehicles, laptops and drones.” The sub-committee also reiterated its call for the threshold of unexplained wealth to be reduced from US$100 000 to US$20 000. The amount of the unexplained wealth threshold is contained in the amended Statutory Instrument 246 of 2018 under Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime Act and Exchange Control Act. A report by the International Crisis Group last year estimated that cash-strapped Zimbabwe is losing at least US$1.5 billion annually to gold smuggling which adds to illicit financial flow cases. In a documentary yet to be released by international news agency Al Jazeera, some of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s close allies like Ewan Macmillan, Henrietta Rushwaya and his Ambassador at Large Ubert Angel are implicated in shady deals. Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission chairperson Justice Loyce Matanda Moyo

Companies & Markets Gloomy VFEX start for Innscor, Axia ‘Food poverty stable as inflation eases’ PRISCA TSHUMA INNSCOR Africa and Axia Corporation have experienced their first gloomy days on the Victoria Falls Exchange as they recorded losses on their opening day of trading on the market. Innscor Africa and Axia Corporation listed on the US dollar-indexed bourse on 24 February 2023 and 3 March 2023 respectively. The successful listing of Innscor brought the number of securities listed on VFEX to nine, pushing the market capitalisation of the exchange beyond US$1 billion. On its first day of trading on the VFEX, Innscor Africa shed 9.07% to close at US cents 83.81, having opened the session at US cents 92.17, with 181 shares exchanging hands in three trades. Also losing on the US dollar market was Axia Corporation, which shed 5.08% of its starting value on its first day of trading with 1 550 shares exchanging hands at 14 US cents each. Trading opened at 14.75 US cents. On its last day of trading on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange market, Axia closed its trading at ZW$132.25 with a gain of 1.76%, having traded 1 600 shares. Most securities listed on VFEX for the past six months to access the US dollar capital available on the bourse. Part of the benefits that are offered on the market include attractive tax incentives for investors, including zero capital gains tax and a 5% withholding tax on dividends for foreign investors, which will enhance shareholder returns; and lower share-trading costs, with fees of 2.12% compared to the 4.63% charged on the ZSE. An incentive to allow listed firms to retain 100% of their incremental export receipts was included. However, this incentive was shortlived as in his 2023 monetary policy statement Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mangudya removed it. The MPS standardised all export retentions to 75% across all sectors, including firms listed on VFEX. This resulted in Seed Co Limited suspending indefinitely its plans to migrate from ZSE to VFEX, citing uncertain policy issues that are on the foreign currency market on 23 February 2023. “Shareholders of Seed Co Limited and the investing public are advised that the Board has resolved to suspend indefinitely the proposal to migrate the Company’s listing from the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange to the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange,” said the company. Regardless, African Sun published the circular of its exit that was approved by the ZSE on Tuesday, confirming that it might complete its listing on VFEX on 14 April this year. The chairperson of the group, Emmanuel Fundira, said the board approved the migration to ensure longevity of the industry while evaluating strategies to drive growth. “Generally, listing on the VFEX will allow African Sun to gain access to a favourable exchange control regime that appeals to international investors,” said Fundira. BERNRAD MPOFU ZIMBABWE’S food poverty line stagnated in February at ZW$22 386.42 from the January figure as annual inflation maintained a downward trajectory against the backdrop of increased use of a more stable currency. The country’s economy which, according to the World Bank has one of the highest food inflation rates in the world, effectively re-dollarised to ease inflationary pressures which threatened the collapse of the domestic currency. According to latest Zimbabwe National Statistical Agency (ZimStat) inflation figures for February, the average amount required by an individual to meet the monthly basic remained the same as inflation trended downwards. “The food poverty line (FPL) as at February 2023 was $22 386.43. This means that the minimum needs basket cost that much per person in February 2023. This represents an increase of 0.0 percent over the January 2023 figure of $22,384.78, ZimStat says. “The Total Consumption Poverty Line (TCPL) for Zimbabwe stood at $29 562.94 per person in February 2023. This means that an individual required that much to purchase both non-food and food items as at February 2023 in order not to be deemed poor. This represents an increase of 0.2 percent when compared to the January 2023 figure of $29 499.89.” The TCPL of $29 563 represents the total income needed for an individual (with all their income added together) as a minimum for them not to be deemed poor. With effect from November 2020, ZimStat began producing the Poverty Datum Lines (PDL) using the lower bound poverty line. The method refers to the sum of food poverty line and the average amount derived from non-food items of households whose total expenditure is equal to the food poverty line. The food poverty line (FPL) represents the amount of money that an individual will require to afford the minimum required daily energy intake of 2 100 calories. The total consumption poverty line (TCPL), which is naturally higher than the FPL, was derived using 2017 PICES data and using the lower bound poverty line method. It was derived by computing the non-food consumption expenditures of poor households whose consumption expenditures were just equal to the FPL. The amount was added to the FPL, if an individual does not consume more than the TCPL, he or she is deemed poor. For more details, the user is referred to a more recent publication by ZimStat Zimbabwe Poverty Update 2017-19. The month-on-month inflation rate in February 2023 was -1.6%, shedding 2.3 percentage points on the January 2023 rate of 0.7%. This means that prices as measured by the all-items weighted CPI increased by an average of -1.6 percent from January 2023 to February 2023. The month-on-month inflation rate is given by the percentage change in the index of the relevant month of the current year compared with the index of the previous month in the current year. The weighted CPI was 273.65 in February 2023, 278.12 in January 2023 and 142.28 in February 2022. The year-on-year inflation rate (annual percentage change) for the month of February 2023 as measured by the all-items weighted Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 92.3%. NewsHawks Issue 122, 10 March 2023 Page 23

Page 24 Companies & Markets NewsHawks Issue 122, 10 March 2023 ZSE approves African Sun delisting Demand for Zimdollar still high: Mangudya PRISCA TSHUMA THE Zimbabwe Stock Exchange has approved the exit of African Sun Limited following the company's announcement that it is moving to the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange (VFEX). The hotelier is expected to discontinue its trade on ZSE on 31 March this year and complete its listing on the foreign currency bourse on 14 April 2023. Like all the companies that moved from the Zimdollar market to VFEX, the group seeks to gain access to US dollar capital which is offered on the Victoria Falls market. Company chairperson Emmanuel Fundira said the African Sun board believes that migrating to the VFEX will bring significant benefits to both current and potential shareholders. He said US dollar capital is important for hotel assets and projects that require foreign currency for execution. “African Sun, being a business in the tourism industry, is expected to generate USD revenue. As a result, shareholders and investors would expect the business to be valued in USD with the ability to generate USD dividends and USD proceeds on disposal of shares,” he said. Withstanding the devastating impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, international and domestic tourism recorded a resurgence in the 2022 fiscal year. Fundira said the board approved of the delisting to maintain the momentum and ensure the longevity of the industry while evaluating strategies to drive growth and increase shareholder value. “Generally, listing on the VFEX will allow African Sun to gain access to a favourable exchange control regime that appeals to international investors,” he added. When the group lists on VFEX, African Sun would be able to trade shares and repatriate both their capital and dividend earnings in foreign currency. “This feature is crucial for offshore investors who are looking to make long-term investments, as it addresses a key concern regarding the current ZSE listing,” said Fundira. Furthermore, he said the migration would enable the group to have access to a source of capital that is aligned with its developmental needs. Onother favourable condition attracting securities to the VFEX market is a lower share-trading costs, with fees of 2.12% compared to the 4.63% charged on the ZSE. The successful listing of African Sun Limited on the US dollar-indexed bourse will bring the number of securities listed on VFEX to nine. Zimbabwe’s largest hospitality group operates 10 hotels, including internationally recognised brands. In 2021, the group merged with Dawn Properties Limited as part of a strategy to create a sound balance sheet that supports the company’s ability to raise capital to fund various hotel refurbishment and expansion projects. BERNRAD MPOFU ZIMBABWE’S central bank says demand for the local currency remains high despite increased use of foreign currency across economic sectors. The country legalised the dual monetary system to tame runaway inflation which had rendered the Zimbabwe dollar almost worthless. The use of hard currency in Zimbabwe is the second time in just over 10 years. In 2008, Zimbabweans ditched the local unit for a basket of multiple currency following an economic implosion which wiped out the value of the domestic currency. Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mangudya told delegates attending a currency and inflation symposium organised by the Zimbabwe Economic Society that although 70% of government expenditure is now in hard currency, appetite for the local unit remains high. “The demand and use of ZW$ is still robust as depicted by continued strong demand for ZW$ loans despite the high interest rates and high levels of transactions on settlement of domestic transactions. Velocity of ZW$ has shown signs of stabilising in line with positive inflation developments Average monthly transaction in local currency is equivalent to more than US$5 billion,” Mangudya said. “The Bank is comfortable with the current dual currency system and will do whatever it takes to sustain it until durable stability necessary to support the significant use of the local currency in the economy. Annual inflation currently at 92% and expected to end the year around 15% and to be single digit from 2024. This should encourage continued use of the local currency.” Financial dollarisation is the degree of foreign currency in terms of the assets and liabilities of the balance sheet of the financial system The central bank chief said the ratio of foreign assets to broad money declined from about 100% in 2009 to around 4% by end of 2018, resulting in reduced financial dollarisation. He said this was reflective of money creation by banks and high fiscal deficits. He said confidence in the fixed exchange rate/ parity from 2009-2018 sustained the multicurrency system despite lower levels of forex compared to the current scenario. “The significant mismatch culminated in the creation of blocked funds, a scenario that needs to be avoided going forward,” he said. The ratio of foreign currency deposits to M3 increased since 2019, signalling increasing financial dollarisation. The ratio, the central bank says, is currently around 65%.

NewsHawks Companies & Markets Page 25 Issue 122, 10 March 2023 Minister cornered over minimum wage BRENNA MATENDERE LABOUR and Social Welfare minister Paul Mavima has been placed in a tight corner to gazette a minimum wage agreed upon by partners in the Tripartite Negotiating Forum (TNF) after the Employers' Confederation of Zimbabwe (Emcoz) this week formed a bipartite deal with the Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions (ZFTU) as well as the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU). The three entities met in Harare this week and formed the alliance to jointly push for mutually beneficial issues at the TNF, where the gazetting of the minimum wage of US$150 is a priority matter. Last year, the TNF agreed on the minimum wage, but Mavima has been refusing to gazette it so that it becomes legally binding. The bipartite arrangement which has now been stitched together by the employers and workers will therefore see them piling pressure on Mavima at the TNF. Kenneth Shamhuyarira, the ZFTU secretary-general, told The NewsHawks that the organisations for workers and employers had unanimously agreed to speak with one voice at the TNF. “The continuing deepening economic crisis in Zimbabwe on the one hand and the continued disregard for dialogue through the TNF necessitated the bipartite partners — that is the Employers' Confederation of Zimbabwe (Emcoz) and organised labour [ZFTU and ZCTU] — to engage and come up with recommendations on issues of common interest bedevilling the economy,” Shamuyarira said. “Both employers and employees agreed to table the recommendations to the main TNF for discussion. Once there is consensus on the priority issues at TNF, a joint action plan and implementation matrix will be agreed. This is a sign of our commitment as social partners to dialogue.” The trade unionist also highlighted that at present workers are not happy with Mavima’s disregard of the TNF agreements and urged him to gazette the minimum wage. “We implore the government to expedite the operationalisation of the TNF and to be swift in responding to socio-economic crises. Furthermore we call on expeditious implementation of agreed issues to, including gazetting the agreed US$150 minimum wage,” said Shamuyarira. “This will eradicate issues of mistrust and confidence-building within the TNF and the nation at large. “We were expecting that by now the TNF technical team should have met to review the minimum wage in Q1 (first quarter) as previously agreed and map a forward for implementation of the agreed recommendations in Victoria Falls last year. “Our joint plea to government is to honour the TNF and give it a chance to jointly deal with socio-economic issues as mandated by the TNF Act. Emcoz and organised labour feels that the TNF is not being fully utilised yet it has so much potential.” He added that in the bipartite agreement, employers and employees agreed that issues which need to be pushed in the TNF include prices, currency and incomes stability. Last month, the labour side of TNF wrote to Mavima asking him to urgently convene a crisis meeting of the platform, immediately gazette the minimum wage agreed by parties to the forum in September last year and organise a gathering that would bring President Emmerson Mnangagwa to the table. The letter was delivered to Mavima’s offices at Kaguvi Building on the same day. The TNF is a constitutionally formed body comprising the government, the business sector and labour representatives. It was formed through the Tripartite Negotiating Forum Act which makes it a serious platform for discussing issues affecting workers. The ZCTU’s acting secretary-general, Kudakwashe Munengiwa and Shamuyarira co-signed the letter. Part of the letter reads: “On behalf of Organised Labour, we bring to your attention outstanding issues that have not been resolved after our last TNF meeting where we agreed that every worker must be paid at least US$150 per month. “We are particularly unhappy that you have literary refused to gazette the agreed amount as a minimum wage and you prefer to call it a 'guideline line' despite the fact that at the Victoria Falls meeting we all agreed to the gazetting of the US$150 minimum wage. Your failure to do so has made it difficult to enforce the US$150 as organize employers say they have no obligation to pay it.” The workers added that they had agreed that the amount would be reviewed upwards in the first quarter of this year. “Surprisingly, we are already in the first quarter of the year and no meeting has been called to review this amount. As partners, we feel you are not taking TNF platform seriously and understanding the importance of organised labour as a stakeholder and a partner in the TNF,” reads the letter. BERNRAD MPOFU THE Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe has warned that the country’s high royalties will threaten the survival of mining companies currently operating at break-even-point or those in the red. Experts say Zimbabwe has one of the highest royalties in the world, a development which may constrain investment in the capital intensive extractive sector. A mining royalty is a sovereign right to receive payment based on a percentage of the value of the mineral exported. Mining royalties are deducted as a percentage of the gross value of minerals shipped. In Zimbabwe, royalty is calculated as a percentage of the gross fair market value of minerals produced and sold. Zimbabwe and Mozambique levy up to 10% in royalties while Angola has up to five percent. Local diamond miners pay 10% in royalties, while large-scale gold producers are levied at 3% for prices below US$1 200 per ounce and 5% for prices above US$1 200. The royalty for small-scale miners is 1% while platinum is levied at 3%. Coal miners and lithium miners have to remit and 5% respectively. Current government policy also provides for payment of 50% of gold and diamond in actual commodity. Pardon Chitsuro, chief economist at the Chamber of Mines, told delegates attending an annual tax review symposium that Zimbabwe should urgently review the current tax regime to attract more investment in the mining sector. Mining is the country’s top foreign currency earner, generating more than 50% of export shipments. “High royalties are sterilising the country’s mineral ground. Effectively, the nation’s collective national mineral wealth is reduced and in certain instances can never be monetised,” the Chamber says. “Royalties also have a direct impact on marginal mines which are operating at breakeven levels, by reducing their revenues upfront. Such mines are reducing exploration or mine development expenses to remain viable, potentially reducing the life of the mine. At these very high royalty rates, we are most likely to witness marginal mines closing down operations.” The optimal royalty improves investment competitiveness and promotes capital inflows into the mining sector. “All mining jurisdictions compete for the same capital. Capital is timid, flows to softer environments. There is need for benchmarking the country’s royalty structure in line with regional and international best practice,” the Chamber says. Labour and Social Welfare minister Paul Mavima Hefty royalties threaten mining

Page 26 Stock Taking Company Sector Bloomberg Ticker Previous Price (cents) Last Traded Price VWAP (cents) Total Traded Volume Total Traded Value ($) Price Change (cents) Price Change (%) YTD (%) Market Cap ($m) AFDIS Consumer Goods AFDIS: ZH 28000.00 - 28000.00 - - - - 6.30 33,458.47 African Sun Consumer Services ASUN: ZH 9200.00 9095.00 9096.60 60,300 5,485,250 -103.40 -1.12 269.82 134,438.79 ART Industrials ARTD: ZH 2200.00 2300.00 2275.76 9,900 225,300 75.76 3.44 62.55 9,944.56 Ariston Consumer Services ARISTON: ZH 1145.82 1100.00 1136.56 28,900 328,465 -9.26 -0.81 180.36 18,496.33 BAT Consumer Goods BAT: ZH 277200.00 277100.00 277100.00 300 831,300 -100.00 -0.04 -1.00 57,175.48 Bridgefort Capital Industrials BFCA: ZH 920.00 - 920.00 - - - - 15.00 110.40 Bridgefort Class B Financial Services BFCB: ZH 2930.00 - 2930.00 - - - - 12.69 39.32 CAFCA Industrials CAFCA: ZH 34985.00 - 34985.00 - - - - 74.84 3,055.98 CBZ Banking CBZ: ZH 14031.82 14005.00 14005.19 262,900 36,819,650 -26.63 -0.19 3.74 73,199.73 CFI Industrials CFI:ZH 58880.00 - 58880.00 - - - - 43.02 62,436.87 Dairibord Consumer Goods DZL: ZH 9000.00 - 9000.00 - - - - 157.14 32,220.08 Delta Consumer Goods DLTA: ZH 53121.08 59800.00 55839.28 563,900 314,877,700 2718.20 5.12 55.21 729,177.02 Ecocash Technology EHZL: ZH 6586.57 6900.00 6507.42 184,000 11,973,660 -79.15 -1.20 62.36 168,579.74 Econet Telecommunications ECO: ZH 18076.25 19110.00 18280.43 107,900 19,724,580 204.18 1.13 89.88 473,568.58 Edgars Consumer Services EDGR: ZH 1650.00 - 1650.00 - - - - 73.68 9,970.09 FBC Banking FBC: ZH 8300.00 8305.00 8305.00 15,100 1,254,055 5.00 0.06 33.95 55,805.44 Fidelity Financial Services FIDL: ZH 2900.00 2900.00 2900.00 300 8,700 - - 20.83 3,158.78 First Capital Banking FCA: ZH 1800.05 1790.00 1790.00 6,600 118,140 -10.05 -0.56 13.65 38,662.48 FML Financial Services FMHL: ZH 1949.90 - 1949.90 - - - - -23.83 13,457.10 FMP Real Estate FMP: ZH 1550.00 - 1550.00 - - - - 29.17 19,191.44 GBH Industrials GBH: ZH 190.00 190.00 190.00 2,200 4,180 - - 5.94 1,019.52 Getbucks Financial Services GBFS: ZH 2300.00 - 2300.00 - - - - 5.50 26,751.72 Hippo Consumer Goods HIPO: ZH 50000.29 50000.00 50080.32 7,700 3,856,185 80.03 0.16 174.26 96,665.32 Mash Real Estate MASH: ZH 1000.00 1100.00 1100.00 100 1,100 100.00 10.00 18.95 18,563.42 Masimba Industrials MSHL: ZH 11800.00 - 11800.00 - - - - 47.58 28,515.14 Meikles Industrials MEIK: ZH 19805.00 20005.00 20005.00 16,900 3,380,845 200.00 1.01 78.62 51,242.96 Nampak Industrials NPKZ: ZH 2629.81 2700.00 2601.68 41,600 1,082,300 -28.13 -1.07 188.75 19,659.55 NTS Industrials NTS: ZH 1250.00 - 1250.00 - - - - 22.55 3,173.41 NMBZ Banking NMB: ZH 4509.96 - 4509.96 - - - - 19.73 18,227.98 OK Zim Consumer Services OKZ: ZH 5557.75 5800.00 5700.38 1,173,200 66,876,900 142.63 2.57 76.38 73,894.70 Proplastics Industrials PROL: ZH 7031.60 7100.00 7099.01 10,100 717,000 67.41 0.96 115.12 17,884.94 RTG Consumer Services RTG: ZH 1400.00 - 1400.00 - - - - 57.84 34,936.94 RioZim Basic Materials RIOZ: ZH 18400.00 - 18400.00 - - - - 31.33 22,453.42 SeedCo Consumer Goods SEED: ZH 19614.81 19615.00 19615.00 11,200 2,196,880 0.19 0.00 163.22 48,914.65 Star Africa Consumer Goods SACL: ZH 170.19 172.00 172.20 50,600 87,131 2.01 1.18 -18.70 8,119.37 Tanganda Consumer Goods TANG: ZH 29964.79 29950.00 29981.16 164,800 49,408,960 16.37 0.05 235.48 78,270.19 Truworths Consumer Services TRUW: ZH 280.06 280.00 280.00 2,400 6,720 -0.06 -0.02 1.82 1,075.39 TSL Consumer Goods TSL: ZH 6500.94 7405.00 7405.00 4,300 318,415 904.06 13.91 68.28 26,515.60 Turnall Industrials TURN: ZH 755.00 - 755.00 - - - - 91.26 3,722.45 Unifreight Industrials UNIF: ZH 6300.00 - 6300.00 - - - - 21.97 6,707.88 Willdale Industrials WILD: ZH 350.00 350.00 350.00 28,600 100,100 - - 94.44 6,223.00 ZB Banking ZBFH: ZH 11880.00 11800.00 11800.00 400 47,200 -80.00 -0.67 4.47 20,672.50 Zeco Industrials ZECO: ZH 3.31 - 3.31 - - - - 0.00 15.34 Zimpapers Consumer Services ZIMP: ZH 579.59 - 579.59 - - - - 140.20 3,338.44 Zimplow Industrials ZIMPLOW: ZH 3415.00 - 3415.00 - - - - 100.88 11,767.42 ZHL Financial Services ZHL: ZH 1095.00 1200.00 1151.76 3,700 42,615 56.76 5.18 119.38 20,941.52 TOTAL 2,757,900 519,773,331 2,585,419.40 ETFs Cass Saddle Agriculture ETF CSAG.zw 208.82 - 208.82 - - - - 16.01 75.59 Datvest Modified Consumer Staples ETF DMCS.zw 199.87 216.00 209.81 74,600 156,516 9.94 4.97 34.49 147.99 Morgan&Co Made in Zimbabwe ETF MIZ.zw 140.00 149.00 143.36 88,643 127,083 3.36 2.40 26.03 3,427.75 Morgan&Co Multi-Sector ETF MCMS.zw 2198.64 2200.00 2200.00 500 11,000 1.36 0.06 -4.35 2,830.81 Old Mutual ZSE Top 10 ETF OMTT.zw 786.31 785.00 785.05 40,249 315,974 -1.26 -0.16 21.90 1,127.53 FINSEC Old Mutual Zimbabwe Financial Services OMZIL 14500.00 - 14500.00 - - - - 11.54 12,036.70 VFEX (US cents) US$m Axia Consumer Goods AXIA: VX 13.86 13.80 13.82 3,300 456 -0.04 -0.29 -6.31 76.31 BNC Mining BIND:VX 2.00 2.01 2.01 1,100 22 0.01 0.50 -12.61 25.58 Caledonia Mining CMCL:VX 1300.00 - 1300.00 - - - - - 8.06 Innscor Industrials INN: VX 70.05 69.75 69.92 31,631 22,116 -0.13 -0.19 -24.14 398.46 NatFoods Consumer Goods NTFD:VX 181.00 - 181.00 - - - - 1.32 123.80 Nedbank Financial Services NED:VX 1150.00 - 1150.00 - - - - - 1.84 Padenga Consumer Goods PHL:VX 22.10 - 22.10 - - - - -3.58 119.69 SeedCo International Consumer Goods SCIL:VX 27.00 - 27.00 - - - - -9.85 102.99 Simbisa Brands Consumer Goods SIM: VX 42.00 42.00 42.63 164,658 70,190 0.63 1.50 16.48 239.66 TOTAL 200,689 92,784 1,096.39 REITs Tigere REIT TIG.zw 4500.00 5062.00 5062.00 1,510 76,436 5.62 12.49 23.52 64,425.73 Index Close Change (%) Open YTD % Top 5 Risers Price Change % YTD % ZSE All Share 30,049.98 +1.97 29,467.99 +54.15 TSL 7405.00c +904.06c +13.91 +68.28 Top 10 17,359.67 +2.17 16,990.67 +41.01 Mash 1100.00c +100.00c +10.00 +18.95 Top 15 20,600.50 +2.16 20,164.83 +53.32 ZHL 1151.76c +56.76c +5.18 +119.38 Small Cap 678,863.75 -0.00 678,872.11 +50.17 Delta 55839.28c +2718.20c +5.12 +55.21 Medium Cap 65,938.99 +0.99 65,290.58 +79.95 ART 2275.76c +75.76c +3.44 +62.55 Top 5 Fallers Price Change % YTD % Ecocash 6507.42c -79.15c -1.20 +62.36 African Sun 9096.60c -103.40c -1.12 +269.82 Nampak 2601.68c -28.13c -1.07 +188.75 Ariston 1136.56c -9.26c -0.81 +180.36 ZB 11800.00c -80.00c -0.67 +4.47 Friday, 10 March 2023 A MEMBER OF FINSEC & THE ZIMBABWE STOCK EXCHANGE Price Sheet MORGAN & COMPANY has issued this document for distribution to its clients. It may not be reproduced or further distributed in whole or in part for any purpose. This document is not and should not be construed as an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase or subscribe to any investment. MORGAN & COMPANY has based this document on information obtained from sources it believes to be reliable but which it has not independently verified; MORGAN & COMPANY makes no guarantee, representation or warranty and accepts no responsibility or liability as to the accuracy or completeness of its content. Tel: (+263) 08677008101-2 | Email: [email protected] | Address: 14165 Sauer Road, Gunhill, Harare Tafara Mtutu: [email protected] | Gabriel Manjonjo: [email protected] SALES & TRADING: Davide Muchengi: [email protected] | Lungani Nyamazana: [email protected] | Precious Chagwedera: [email protected] RESEARCH: NewsHawks Issue 122, 10 March 2023

Page 27 IN recent years, the media has been under intense scrutiny. Perhaps it is because of the rise of fake news or because of the perception that the media has a political bias. Whatever the reason, the media has lost some of the public’s trust. This is where public relations (PR) professionals can step in and help restore people’s confidence in the media. One of the first things PR professionals can do is to educate the public on how the media operates. Most people do not understand how news is gathered, verified, and reported. PR professionals can help explain the process and show how journalists work hard to be fair, accurate, and impartial. They can also emphasize the importance of fact-checking and using multiple sources to ensure the accuracy of a story. PR professionals can also encourage transparency in the media. This means being open and honest about mistakes and corrections. When a news outlet makes a mistake, it is important to acknowledge it and correct it as quickly as possible. This transparency helps build trust with the public and shows that the media is committed to accuracy and fairness. Another way PR professionals can help is by promoting diverse voices in the media. The media should reflect the diversity of the communities they serve. This means including more women, people of colour, and other under-represented groups in newsrooms and in the stories they cover. When the media reflects the diversity of the public, people are more likely to see their own experiences and perspectives represented in the news. PR professionals can also encourage the media to focus on the issues that matter most to the public. In a world where clickbait and sensationalism dominate the headlines, it’s important to focus on the stories that have the most impact on people’s lives. This means covering issues like healthcare, education, and the environment, rather than just focusing on the latest celebrity scandal or political controversy. One of the most important roles PR professionals can play is to help journalists build relationships with the public. This means being How PR professionals help restore people's confidence in the media available to answer questions, provide context, and address concerns. Journalists are often seen as remote and inaccessible, but PR professionals can help bridge the gap and make journalists more approachable. PR professionals can also help journalists engage with the public through social media. Social media has become an important tool for journalists to connect with their audiences and share their work. PR professionals can help journalists use social media effectively and engage with their followers in a positive and constructive way. Finally, PR professionals can encourage the media to be more proactive in promoting their work. Too often, the media waits for people to come to them. But being proactive is i m p o r t a n t . This means p r o m o t i n g stories on social media, partnering with influencers, and finding other creative ways to get their message out. In conclusion, the media plays a critical role in our democracy. It is important that people trust the media to report the news accurately and impartially. PR professionals can help restore people’s confidence in the media by educating the public on how the media operates, promoting transparency, encouraging diversity, focusing on important issues, building relationships with the public, using social media effectively, and being proactive in promoting their work. By working together, PR professionals and journalists can help ensure that the media remains a vital and trusted source of information for years to come. *About the writer: Lenox Lizwi Mhlanga is a consultant communications specialist with 22 years of experience in the profession. He has worked for the World Bank Group and blue chip companies in Zimbabwe and the region. Contact him at email: lenoxmhlanga@ gmail.com and mobile: +263 772 400 646 Corporate Communications Lenox Lizwi Mhlanga NewsHawks Companies & Markets Issue 122, 10 March 2023

Page 28 phen Chan described the situation of gross human rights violations in the country as a hallmark of an arid government. “Earlier giants of music such as Thomas Mapfumo did not always feel safe in Zimbabwe. What the artistes and musicians do is very important because they bring popular adhesion to the campaign for change. But that makes them targets.” “Burning books, banning plays, disrupting music — these are the hallmarks of (an) arid government. But there will likely be a lot of suppression and repression leading up to the elections. In those terms it's probably just now getting started,” he said. Rashweat Mukundu, a political analyst, also bemoaned the direction that the country is taking under Mnangagwa. “I think it is an embarrassing incident, or rather embarrassing incidents that is the targeting of Winky D and Baba Harare. It shows the low depth in terms of civility, lack of decency and lack of leadership that the Zimbabwean government has fallen into,” Mukundu said. “For lack of a better word, we are in the very throes of a failed state in which law and order can easily collapse because what happened to Winky D and to Baba Harare and the opposition indicates leadership, that is very desperate, that is clueless and fearful of its own people. “We cannot have a whole security apparatus targeting an artiste because of a song that they do not like. That is the lowest of authoritarianism, but equally, the lowest level of failure in leadership. And this is likely to get worse as we get to the elections.  But, there are fears that this is now becoming a culture that will even persist even post elections to the extent that we may actually have this government targeting people in the streets for attacks, and targeting its opponents as we have seen in the past with kidnappings, arrests, beatings,” he said. Mukundu added that Mnangagwa is putting Zimbabwe on acceleration to being a failed state. Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition also condemned the police action, which it said was a clear violation of the musicians' freedom of expression and artistic creativity, as enshrined in the constitution of Zimbabwe. “This banning of musicians by the state is reminiscent of the colonial era and points to clear manoeuvres by the incumbent government to turn Zimbabwe into a one-party state. This quest to control artistic expression can only draw parallels to and reads like an ill-thought imitation of Joseph Goebbels’ quest to cleanse the arts sector in Nazi Germany or the Rhodesian colonial government that banned and persecuted artistes who sang for the liberation of Zimbabwe,” said Obert Masaraure, the spokesperson of the organisation. “Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right and is clearly laid out in section 61 of our constitution. We call on the Zimbabwe Republic Police to respect this right and to allow artistes, especially musicians, to hold their shows without such blatant political  interference." Musicians have for long lamented the poor working conditions in the arts industry, a sector which has not  been spared the vagaries of the poorly performing economy. Live shows currently stand out as a key source of livelihood for musicians; they are a crucial component of the entertainment industry ecosystem. Banning popular musicians not only threatens livelihoods of the targeted musicians, but those of organisers, venue owners and others both upstream and downstream within the industry. In short, this is a war on the livelihoods of these artistes by the government of Zimbabwe.” Former Speaker of Parliament and Matobo North MP Lovemore Moyo, said the political environment is very fragile and has the potential to be volatile if left unchecked. “The biggest challenge is the Zanu PF regime's desperation to retain power at all cost and by all means necessary. Also, the Mnangagwa regime has invested heavily in creating politically safe constituencies using money, intimidation and other unorthodox tactics. We note with great concern that the Zanu PF regime is already in the election campaign mode hence political bullying of opposition parties has begun in earnest,” he said. “Unless the opposition political parties, churches and civil society stand up and speak out against Zanu PF political bullying and violence, it will continue unabated. In other words, Zanu PF has activated its political repression strategies and tools among others using state resources, the military, police and security agencies.” Moyo pointed out that the sad reality is that nothing has substantially changed politically in terms of electoral reforms as the Zanu PF regime has further tightened their grip on the Zec which has clearly become a proxy for Zanu PF. “The delimitation exercise and subsequent gerrymandering of the constituencies especially in electoral areas where the opposition is perceived to stronger than Zanu PF.  Clearly, the manipulation of the electoral processes by the ruling party has begun and must be checked now if free, fair and transparent elections are to be achieved in the forthcoming 2023 plebiscite,” Moyo said. “On the other hand, the opposition is conspicuously politically silent and dormant in the face of massive Zanu PF political shenanigans. To make matters worse, the opposition parties represented in Parliament and local governments are quiet on critical election reforms that ought to be effected which were last raised during the GNU period. In essence, there seems to be an opposition political vacuum hence the absence of a coherent opposition political agenda and political activities.” BRENNA MATENDERE PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa’s crackdown on dissenting voices and political opposition, which is a wanton violation of constitutional democracy, hit a record low last weekend when artistes were banned from performing live because of perceived anti-regime messages in their works, in barbaric developments reminiscent of the colonial days of Rhodesia. Last Saturday, police shut down Winky D’s performance in Chitungwiza, moments after he performed his politically-charged song, Ibotso, which speaks against bad governance and gross corruption. Police officers, some in plain clothes, surrounded the star before dragging him offstage just after 10PM. Thousands of fans at Dam View Chikwanha Blue Roof Grill and Bar sang in protest "Siyanayi neGaffa" (leave the star alone) in support of Winky D. The singer was sharing the stage with several other musicians including Saintfloe and Tocky Vibes, but the state security agents were targeting him. As a pattern emerged, another musician who has stood up to Mnangagwa’s excesses, Baba Harare, had his live show cancelled barely hours after Winky D was dragged off the stage and stopped from performing. In May last year, police officers again disrupted Winky D’s live show in Harare during his performance at the Castle Lager Tankard show in Borrowdale. Two people died in a stampede that followed. The treatment that Winky D received reminded the older generation of musicians like Thomas Mapfumo who received the same treatment during colonial times, highlighting how some of Zimbabwe’s liberators have become oppressors. The Mnangagwa administration, just like the Mugabe administration before it, has copied Ian Smith’s rule book of oppression. It is a shame and great betrayal to aspirations of the liberation war heroes whose lives were lost while fighting for a democratic Zimbabwe. Political analyst Vivid Gweshe told The NewsHawks that wheels are off in Zimbabwe insofar as the trampling of human rights is concerned. “There is an evident suppression of all voices that are critiquing the current administration's performance in delivering on its electoral promises and solving the problems facing Zimbabweans.” “We have seen this muzzling of dissent targeting investigative journalists, activists and artistes. It's a sign of a paranoid regime not confident of its appeal, acceptance, and endorsement by Zimbabwean society,” he said. Political analyst Professor SteMnangagwa’s crude repression sparks Smith-era comparisons News Analysis President Emmerson Mnangagwa NewsHawks Issue 122, 10 March 2023

Page 29 DR SIMUKAI TINHU Dealing with a regime that has no respect for political norms, rather priding itself on some of the most outrageous behaviours known to politics and diplomacy, requires extreme decisiveness. FOR much of the 1980s and 1990s, Britain dealt with Zimbabwe rather quietly. On small matters over which it disagreed with Zanu PF, it usually opted for silence. When seriously concerned about the regime’s behaviour, it summoned diplomats to register its disapproval. But it was hard to ignore a really big mess. In 2000, then president Robert Mugabe  seized whiteowned  land, triggering  serious human rights violations, civic disorder, and, at the time, the worst economic crisis outside a warzone. Assuming the role of a “responsible” former colonial power, Britain’s government reacted by choosing a public platform to read the riot act to Harare, decisively ending a foreign policy strategy that had been characterised by restraint. Whitehall’s calculus was that the ferocity of its criticism  would bear on the Zanu PF regime, forcing it to retreat from its malign activities. Return to restraint Then, in what seems like an abrupt shift, in 2017, London once more reached for restraint. It resuscitated this strategy despite deteriorating human rights abuses. Even more surprising, this pivot from a policy designed to curtail Harare’s excesses came at a time when the military had just assisted the regime to commit the worst of excesses: a coup. It is no wonder that Zimbabweans responded with questions rather than excitement at what the Zanu PF government propagandised as rapprochement. In reality, London’s reversion to quiet diplomacy was not sudden. Small moves in the direction of a more measured approach began as far back as 2009, when the British government started scaling back its public position on Zimbabwe as a way of giving the then government of national unity room to manoeuvre on the international scene. Also, it should be said, the coup was not a fundamental pivot point – it simply formalised an almost decade-old reality. In other words, we should not exaggerate 2017 as a sudden break in Britain’s foreign policy on Zimbabwe. Neither should we see this “formalisation” of restraint as a response to the change in government. It is not unreasonable to suggest that the most likely reason for the change in policy was the unfavourable assessments Britain’s turbo-charged diplomacy was receiving. Here, one is tempted to quote the international relations aphorism that foreign policies rise and fall with their successes and failures. Indeed, as Mugabe dug in in response to Britain’s severe criticisms, the strategy started to attract a list of laments. In particular, the 2008 violence in which more than 300 opposition supporters were killed by the Zanu PF regime, revealed the weakness of the policy’s claims to be most suited to keeping Harare’s excesses in check. Add that to Zimbabwe’s growing inclination to seek refuge in the arms of the Chinese and Russians, and you begin to see why an assertive foreign policy project fell apart. But an assessment of the official goals of a policy can be limiting. In this case, an alternative — if not better — way to assess the strategy is to look beyond its narrowly stated aims and examine its effects on the dynamics of the target organisation, Zanu PF. One of the most overlooked consequences of the policy was how it triggered convulsions in Zanu PF politics, creating profound existential angst among the ruling party’s leadership, fed by an interpretation of Britain as the source of the party’s post-2000 electoral miseries. In particular, Britain’s perceived support of the opposition was potent stuff. It disoriented the ruling party elite and left less experienced party members distressed. The challenges of the  2000  and 2005 elections in which the opposition MDC won some seats in Parliament — significant inroads for the opposition since 1980 independence — were blamed on foreign funding of the opposition. The problem of Tony Blair’s government became a priority that needed to be solved with urgency. Succession battles Rumblings began over how to stem the perceived existential threat posed by London’s foreign policy, with the effects of those discussions being the emergence of a clear chasm within Zanu-PF. This led, for the first time, to the start of serious debates about succession in the party. Indeed, while the unity of the party had until then ebbed and flowed over fringe issues, debates on how to respond to London became a site for substantive elite competition. Mugabe and a group of elderly hardliners insisted on maintaining a pugnacious stance that reciprocated Britain’s brazenness. Hence Mugabe’s rhetoric on fighting the British to the end – a stance which met opposition in many places, not least among a group of moderate politicians led by the former army chief, the late  Solomon Mujuru. Mujuru and his wife Joice Mujuru, who was later vice-president, wanted to retain a nationalist agenda, but reconcile it with the demands of diplomatic reality. Mujuru’s faction would prove to be a power bloc capable of challenging Mugabe. Nothing illustrates this more than how the group undermined the long-time  leader’s presidential campaign in 2008 by urging Zanu-PF supporters to vote for the ruling party in parliamentary elections, but vote for the opposition in the presidential elections. This led to Mugabe’s first loss in national elections.  Implosion Showdowns over how to respond to Britain’s hard-line foreign policy created not only a pathway for the fracture of the elite, but also to subsequent processes that culminated in the party’s implosion in 2017, when Mugabe’s inner circle ganged up against him to bring his reign to a swift end. In that sense, London’s foreign policy strategy could be viewed as a surprising success. This success was slowed by Britain’s more deliberative approach towards the coalition government of 2009. But it was the “rapprochement policy” of the post-2017 period — driven by the mistaken assumption that Zanu PF could reform — that took the wind out of the sails of the fracturing processes that had been ignited by London’s unremitting rage. Today, Britain’s less assertive policy is mistaken for disengagement, which fits easily with Zanu PF’s propaganda messaging. Harare has capitalised on this apparent lethargy, branding Britain’s reduced criticism as a sign of its approval of President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his government’s actions and policies. Excesses Since 2017, the Zimbabwe regime has been steadily escalating its problematic activities. What is worrying is that this has not only been confined to an increase in policies that have hurt the economy, but there has also been an increase in  government’s excesses, suggesting that Britain’s post-2017 foreign policy may inadvertently be acting as a vehicle for the expansion of Zanu PF’s malign activities. As we hurtle towards the 2023 legislative and presidential elections, violence has already increased, and journalists, opposition politicians and democracy activists have been arbitrarily exposed to harm. It is what Zanu PF does. Dealing with a regime that has no respect for political norms, rather priding itself on some of the most outrageous behaviours known to politics and diplomacy, requires extreme decisiveness. That requires Britain to depart from foreign policy orthodoxy and to return to the carefully calibrated pre-2009 rage that pushed the liberation movement into a coalition government with the opposition and ignited debates that set the pathway for elite discohesion and much of today’s internal infighting.  — Daily Maverick *About the writer: Simukai Tinhu is a scholar and writer on Zimbabwe’s foreign policy. He has recently completed a PhD in Politics from Edinburgh University, and holds master’s degrees from the London School of Economics in International Relations, and from Oxford and Cambridge in African Studies. The late former President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe Less diplomacy, firm hand — Why Britain needs policy shift on Zim NewsHawks Critical Thinking Issue 122, 10 March 2023

Page 30 The Big Debate DR ADMORE TSHUMA THIS study adopted a semi-systematic literature review. This includes searching for relevant literature and analysing poverty surveys that have been carried out in Zimbabwe. The approach provided a clear overview of various poverty assessment studies which included both quantitative analysis and qualitative studies. While the study focused on secondary data, it also utilised descriptive statistics to analyse quantitative studies through the assessment of the poverty line and head counts, and multidimensional approaches such as the analysis of the Unsatisfied Basic Needs Index, and the Human Development Index. The use of quantitative studies allowed the analyst to explore data based on large-scale data collection efforts designed to produce consistent data that allow for comparison across Zimbabwe. That way, the analyst was provided with a clear snapshot of the extent of poverty. Consequently, the approach may be critical in mapping out targets to eradicate poverty in terms of allocation of resources. Qualitative studies were examined to seek an understanding of economic participation and general perceptions on poverty. Most studies examined are those that were based on selected representative samples, and site specific. The choice of methodology was influenced by the intended use of the information, thus to understand the extent of absolute poverty in Zimbabwe. This paper contextualises Nancy Fraser’s theory of cultural misrecognition and maldistribution in exploring the Zimbabwe poverty problem. According to Fraser (1995, 1998), there are two primary kinds injustices, first, there is socioeconomic injustice which is rooted in the political and economic structure of society. This kind of injustices includes economic marginalisation, exploitation and deprivation of basic goods. The second form of injustice propounded by Fraser (1995, 1998) is cultural or symbolic rooted in social patterns of representations, interpretation and communication. While both of these forms of injustice may apply in the analysis of post-colonial injustices, this paper reflects mainly on socio-economic injustice which is propelled by processes of maldistribution of resources. In the Zimbabwean context, maldistribution maybe linked to office abuse and political corruption that has characterised the former British colony since the advent of self-rule. Fraser argues that processes of maldistribution violate principles of social justice. Furthermore, Fraser (1997) argues that institutions should be judged by the degree to which people have participatory parity. She defines participatory parity as citizens’ ability to participate on a par with others in social life (Fraser, 1997). In Fraser’s viewpoint, justice requires social arrangements that permit of (adult) members of society to interact with one another as peers. Fraser’s theoretical approach will be considered in relation to current levels of poverty and inequalities in Zimbabwe. This will include an analysis of cultural misrecognition which Fraser (1997) claims is a source of maldistribution, consequently the main cause of injustice. Critiquing poverty in Zimbabwe There is growing debate attempting to locate a nexus between democracy and economic growth (Przeworski, Adam, 2002). This debate serves to challenge the status quo of Zimbabwe’s democracy, against overwhelming evidence of socio-economic deprivation. However, the economic success of China against persistent reports of gross inequalities defies this claim. There have been questions whether it is beneficial to insert politics in the poverty debate (Harriss, 1999, Herring, 1999). However, this paper takes a position that politics is deeply implicated in the making of poverty in Zimbabwe. As the previous sections have demonstrated that the United Nations World Food Programme and the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Report (2013) both agree that at least two million Zimbabweans face starvation, it is inevitable that policy researchers would challenge politicians and policymakers on causes of deprivation in a country with such a historic economic success story like Zimbabwe. There are a number of factors that may have contributed in the creation of poverty in Zimbabwe, hence to explore these factors it may require a multidimensional approach focussing on the preservation of political and economic freedom. For instance, one of the causes of economic decline and socioeconomic disadvantage may have been the haphazard expropriation of white farmland under the late former president Robert Mugabe’s rubric of “Redistribution and Indigenisation”. Under this programme, productive white farmland was expropriated, clearly without considering ramifications. The outcome was the gawky destruction of one of Africa’s finest agro-based economies, marking a turning point in the country’s ability to feed its own people, let alone to remain a continental breadbasket. Economists, business leaders and trade unionists later warned that Mugabe’s “indigenisation” law would wreck any chance of attracting foreign investment and strangle the economy’s Critiquing the making of poverty in Zim from colonial era to now A man stands at the entrance to his shack in Harare. NewsHawks Issue 122, 10 March 2023

The Big Debate Page 31 weak recovery (Financial Times, 2010, p11). Consequently, it can be argued that if the goal of freedom is to liberate society from hunger and socioeconomic deprivation, clearly freedom is yet to be fully achieved. To add salt to injury, indigenisation policies introduced by Mugabe’s administration have had a profound negative effect on the economy. For instance, white-owned and foreign-owned businesses have been forced to cede a 51% stake to black Zimbabweans. This has had a retrogressive effect to the economy, as it hurts the very processes that seek to create wealth and employment. The market perceives such policies as an act of chasing away foreign capital which the country badly needs to resuscitate its ailing economy and dwindling revenue. These are some of the few examples that may have contributed to the problem of poverty and human suffering in postcolonial Zimbabwe. Hence, the violation of economic and social rights may not be a result of Mugabe’s Pan-African philosophical position, but a flagrant miscalculation. Rhodesia: Zimbabwe’s economic heritage This section will attempt to explore the status of the Rhodesian economy which was inherited by the country’s black political dispensation at independence in 1980. The aim is to provide evidence that the current rising poverty levels are a result of bad socioeconomic and political policies adopted in postcolonial Zimbabwe. While some basic economic data is missing about the economic status of Rhodesia, there is a consensus that despite being subject to global sanctions, the economy passed on to the newly independent Zimbabwe was a vibrant one. For instance, Muchayi (2013) states that at independence in 1980 Mugabe inherited a healthy and vibrant economy from Rhodesia. As a result of the Rhodesian economic legacy, Muchayi (2013) notes that Zimbabwe enjoyed gross domestic product growth rates of 11% in 1980 and 10, 7% in 1981. This was before the economy slumped to 1,4% in 1982 and then declined by 4, 2% in 1983 and 1984. However, Muchayi (2013) observes a sharp growth of 9,3% in 1985 before another heavy retreat to 0, 2% growth in 1986. Muchayi’s assertions are further developed by Cross (2012) who points out that when Zimbabwe became a democratic state in 1980, it had gone through 86 years of various white settler dominated governments. During this period, Cross (2012) observes that the Rhodesian government had created a thriving economy without significant overseas aid in which its currency was worth twice the value of a US dollar, while the entire population had the second highest per capita income in Africa. By any standards, this was a significant achievement in terms of economic management at a time when there were UN sanctions against Rhodesia following the 1965 Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI). It is imperative to consider that at the time when Zimbabwe became independent in 1980, the country had been a heavily regulated economy due to sanctions imposed in response to the UDI (Young, 1969). With all this in mind, there is little doubt that the current black political dispensation inherited a dynamic, healthy, and most importantly, the world’s best organised agro-based economy. The question is: What then went wrong in the last 30 years of postcolonial Zimbabwe? Is Zimbabwe a classic example of an incapable black economic manager? Evidence show that poverty levels rose significantly under the black political dispensation (Meier & Rudolf, 2010), a view that serves to reinvigorate claims that poverty in Zimbabwe is manmade. The rise of poverty levels suggests that there is something unconventional that is being done by black administrators of the post-colonial economy. This view is echoed by the World Bank which argues that poverty is a consequence of several political, social and economic processes that interact in ways to make people’s living conditions sub-standard (World Bank, 2000). It has already been suggested that politics in post-colonial Zimbabwe have interacted with the economy in an indecorous way that have triggered a dramatic collapse resulting in mass poverty. Furthermore, the role of Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (Esap) is rarely implicated as a contributory factor in the making of poverty in Zimbabwe. This paper argues that the analysis of the rise of poverty in Zimbabwe should not ignore the impact of Esap on Zimbabwe’s social economy. The Esap programme was initiated following recommendations of the World Bank, among other institutions involved (Saunders, 1996). While, the newly independent Zimbabwe began by witnessing an expanding economy, interferences from world governing bodies such as the World Bank and International Monitoring Fund (IMF) may have led the Zimbabwean government to embrace the Esap programme. By 1991, Esap was comprehensively introduced with the help of the World Bank (African Development Bank, 1997). Needless to say, the harm caused by Esap in Zimbabwe’s social economy is unprecedented and will be examined in detail in this paper. Initially, Esap was meant to herald a new era of modernised, competitive, export-led industrialisation (Saunders, 1996), yet turned out to uproot existing economic and social infrastructure, leaving many Zimbabweans in dire need, nose-diving into poverty. Apart from Esap, clearly the problem in Zimbabwe is how to cure the harms caused by poverty which is often understood from the context of democracy and freedom. The severity of poverty and resulting social harm extinguishes the self-confidence and feelings of freedom and independence. *About the writer: Dr Admore Tshuma is a former Zimbabwean journalist, now an academic at the University of Bristol. He did his PhD in Social Policy at the University of Bristol's School for Policy Studies. He previously worked at the University Centre of Southend as a programme director for the BSc (Honours) Psychology and Sociology course, in partnership with the University of Essex. Zimbabwean children are pictured in a file photo carrying vegetables as they walk past a house in Harare. NewsHawks Issue 122, 10 March 2023

Page 32 Reframing Issues We need to understand the past before we can understand the present, and predict the future. Understanding history can help one improve their ability to comprehend how changes happened over time and how the future may look like. Interpreting history properly can help one reflect and think through the causes, effects and significance of things that happened in the past. As we seek to understand the present Zimbabwean political economy better, it is important to first understand how it was in the past. In the face of so many dire predictions of the future and so much uncertainty engulfing Zimbabwe, where can we find reassurance? In our past. The future isn’t one certain, monocausal conclusion of doom and gloom, but rather, a range of possibilities that we must assess with the ratiocination from understanding the past.  GIOVANNI ARRIGHI IT is one of the purposes of this article to test the validity of the assumption of an interaction between economic base and superstructure in explaining the historical development of Rhodesia, and in interpreting recent political events there. To this end the economic base of the Rhodesian social system before World War II is analysed and related to the coexisting set of socio-political events and attitudes. In and after World War II external stimulants induced a process of development which altered the economic base and saw the emergence of an African proletariat and a manufacturing capitalist class. But this process of development was subsequently interrupted because of the resistance of those classes who owe their economic and social status to the superstructure of the old production relations. In light of this analysis, some conclusions about the present political conjuncture are drawn. The most important single element determining the nature of economic and political development in Southern Rhodesia, was the British South Africa Company’s overestimation at the end of the 19th century of its mineral resources, and the persistence of this overestimation for roughly 15 years. The reasons behind such a misconception can be partly detected in the political interruptions which characterised the early period of colonisation (Jameson Raid, Matabele and Mashona rebellions, Boer War). The costs incurred in the meantime increased the stake of the company in the country and led to additional heavy development investment particularly in railways. The overvaluation became apparent when, eventually, the Rhodesian gold fields failed to yield deposits comparable to those of South Africa. For example, even in 1910 against a profit of close to £7 million from the 11 leading Johannesburg gold mines, the 10 leading Rhodesian mines yielded a profit of only £614 000. Largescale workings were uneconomic because the deposits were scattered and the ore itself often of a low quality. The desire to recover the original heavy outlays induced the chartered company to foster the formation of a white rural bourgeoisie which, by developing the country would raise the value of its assets in the area — viz the railway system, the mine claims, and especially land. Settlement gathered momentum after 1902 when small workings of mine claims on a royalty basis were extended. The influx of peoples, European and African, to the mining camps brought about a derivative demand for other products. Between 1901 and 1911 the European population doubled from 11 000 to over 23 000. Farmers began to settle and to feed the growing population and commercial undertakings became established in the growing towns of Salisbury and Bulawayo. Thus a cumulative process was started leading to a class structure which crystallised during the depression of the 1930’s. White rural bourgeoisie Within this class structure the white rural bourgeoisie was the foundation of the capitalist sector of the economy. This bourgeoisie consisted largely of both owner-workers of small and medium-sized mines and farmers who were economically committed to the development of the country. This "national" character of the white rural bourgeoisie, even at that time, distinguished Southern Rhodesia from practically all other African colonial territories north of the Limpopo and South of the Sahara, where exploitation of resources was carried out by large-scale international capitalism. In these other territories, where exploitation was based on large-scale mining or plantation or monopoly trade, capitalist interests in the economy were not permanent, but lasted until, for example, deposits were exhausted or the raw material was substituted in the industrial process overseas or some more economic source of supply was found. In inter-war Rhodesia about a third of the Europeans gainfully occupied belonged to the rural bourgeoisie, but to assess the full strength of this class, it is important to take into account the would-be agriculturalists. In fact, even the civil servant, business and professional man, miner or railway employee looked forward to retiring to a plot of land. International capitalism was represented mainly by the British South Africa Company which, apart from its control over the railways, the bulk of gold production and coal mining, also owned land in part exploited for productive purposes (maize, cattle, citrus, etc). In accordance with its interest in encouraging the growth of the white rural bourgeoisie, it also experimented with new crops. Large estates had been given to companies and syndicates for certain interests acquired by the British South Africa Company. Other big companies were already dominating asbestos and chrome mining. Control over tobacco production was exercised indirectly through monopsonistic practices by the United Tobacco Company which, in former prime minister Godfrey Huggins’ view, “was aiming at becoming the country’s sole tobacco buyer, and managed to draw the best experts out of the government service”. A third class consisted of craftsmen engaged in manufacturing, whose activity was totally dependent on the rural bourgeoisie and big international capital, mainly the British South Africa Company. It was typically a petty bourgeoisie and, indeed, the Colony’s official Year Book of 1932 does not even mention the manufacturing industry. Continued on next page How the Zim economy has changed so far Political economy of Rhodesia The Contrarian Think Again: Reflections on Current Affairs, Politics, Law, Economics, History, Religion, Arts & Culture. NewsHawks Issue 122, 10 March 2023

Reframing Issues Page 33 How the Zimbabwe Council of Churches is neglecting women MATHEW MARE IT is the position of this study that Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC) has not done much to address the challenges being faced by church members, especially women and children. The ZCC has churned much of its efforts towards the state and inadvertently neglected a very important aspect of theological practices, rituals, teaching and belief systems that impacts negatively on the rights of women and children. The ZCC is considered a very important variable that interacts with the state and other churches at strategic level which is an unutilised opportunity towards ending theologies that violates women and children’s rights. It is at a vantage point to advocate for the full recognition of women and children in those denominations like Johanne Marange Apostolic Church (JMAC) that violate the rights of women and children. Torres and Eagleson (1981: 108) strongly believe that the unity of the church and the poor would achieve social transformation and enhance human rights recognition within and outside the church. The ZCC is, therefore, is failing to utilise the power of unity to achieve transformation of theologies that impinge on the rights of women and children. According to McAfee Brown (1984: 19), the church through the ZCC has engaged in a brutal fight with the state with regard to the rule of law, social and economic rights, developmental disparities, electoral violence, among others. Continued from previous page White wage-workers Much more significant was the class of white wage-workers formed by artisans, semi-skilled workers, foremen, clerical workers, administrative employees, etc. Demand for their labour was concentrated in mining, transport (mainly railways) and service activities (civil service especially). It is important to notice that, unlike South Africa, or Algeria, their settlement was a consequence of, and did not precede, capitalist development in the country. Therefore they had to be attracted by the offer of high wages, and with their skills they brought union organising abilities. This phasing of white settlement and capitalist development is at the root of the absence of ‘poor-whiteism’ in Southern Rhodesia. This class of white wage-worker, together with the white petty bourgeoisie, i.e. handicraftsmen, shopkeepers and small employers in agriculture and mining, already in the pre-war period constituted the bulk of the European population in Southern Rhodesia. The Africans The Africans were still essentially a class of self-employed rural cultivators. The African wage-workers, the African middle-class and petty bourgeoisie were merely appendages of the peasantry rather than independent classes. Land was not a saleable commodity, but each adult had rights to its use. The system of cultivation involved a form of land rotation whereby it was used until its fertility was diminished and then abandoned and left to recover until fertility was restored. Within the peasantry some division and hence specialisation of labour could be observed. The role of men was to regulate the community’s relationship with animals (tending cattle and hunting) and to provide development works such as bush clearance and building huts. The women’s role on the other hand consisted of routine tasks: sowing, weeding, threshing, fetching water, preparing food and making beer. Communal ties were very strong and when the peasant left to seek wage employment he left his family behind and kept close links (through a flow of goods, cash or occasional labour) with the peasantry to which he belonged and meant to return, even after several years of absence. At the same time the size and number of holdings under cultivation within the rural areas contracted and expanded as the wage labourers left or returned to their wards. Thus, given this security in land tenure, we cannot, strictly speaking, refer to the African wage-workers of the 1930s as a proletariat. On the other hand the African middle class and rural (petty) bourgeoisie were numerically and economically insignificant. For example, by 1930, i.e. before the Land Apportionment Act was introduced, Africans had managed to acquire only 45 000 acres in the open market, while Europeans had purchased about 31 000 000 acres. The reasons for the failure of these classes to emerge are a consequence of the class structure itself and therefore they will be dealt with at a later stage. To sum up: we can discern five main classes in pre-war Rhodesia. There were (a) the white rural bourgeoisie operating in mining and agriculture, national in character; (b) large-scale international capitalism controlling transport (railways) and power (coal) and engaged in primary production and speculation in land; (c) the white wage-workers whose entrance into the economy followed and did not precede the capitalist development of the country; (d) the white petty bourgeoisie operating in all sectors of the economy but especially trade; (e) the African peasantry and wage-earners. — The New Left, 39, 1966. *About the writer: Professor Giovanni Arrighi was an Italian economist, sociologist and world-systems analyst at Johns Hopkins University. His work has been translated into over 15 languages. How the Zim economy has changed so far The ZCC has influence in a number of policies in Zimbabwe (McGovern 1989: 197). Whilst the church has made strides to reform the state, it has not made meaningful engagements to solve its own problems. There is evidence of outward-looking over inward-looking approach. In churches, there are issues of child marriage, child pledging, gender disparities with women occupying very peripheral positions in the church, barring women in some denominations from exercising their right to education, self-determination, freedom of expression and after expression, public health, sexual, reproduction and maternal healthcare, political determination, among others. It can be concluded that women-led churches are very instrumental in uplifting women ecclesiastically. This study noted that the ZCC is pushing for the recognition of human rights by the state. However, and of note, the study believes that the ZCC has not been doing enough to transform theologies that violate women and children’s rights. Mai Chaza played a key role in leading the way for women into key leadership positions ecclesiastically. *About the writer: Matthew Mare is a Zimbabwean academic who holds two bachelor’s degrees, five master’s qualifications and a PhD. He is also doing another PhD and has 12 executive certificates in different fields. Professionally, he is a civil servant and also board member at the National Aids Council of Zimbabwe. Women praying in Church. NewsHawks Issue 122, 10 March 2023

Page 34 Reframing Issues tions are losing out because, as cities across history and around the world have demonstrated, embracing diversity drives innovation and change. Women in senior leadership Current available evidence is scarce. What is available suggests that women are likely to make up the majority of the workforce in the international development sector. If this was reflected in senior management and board positions, we would expect more of these positions to be occupied by women too. But according to even the limited evidence, this is often not the case. For instance, in the US, women make up  75% of the not-for-profit workforce, but only 43% of CEOs. This was also the conclusion reached by UNWomen. In its 2016 report on the  Status of Women in the United Nations System, it found that women tended to dominate junior positions, but accounted for a much smaller share of senior leadership. To develop a comprehensive list of organisations operating in the international development sector, we analysed data from the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI). The database included aid recipients as well as donor governments, philanthropic foundations, and other organisations that either provide or receive funding. We limited our initial analysis to major recipients of aid, selecting the top 150 organisations in terms of funds received. Complete data was available for only 72 of those organisations. We then engaged several Ugandan research assistants who helped us review each organisation’s website to collect data on the size and composition of their senior leadership teams and board. The focus on the highest levels of management is based on the assumption that they provide the greatest influence on how an organisation functions and resources are allocated. For senior management, we included anyone with a senior title (such as “director”). This was based on the hierarchy of staff titles presented on their website. Country and regional directors were also included but were separately categorised for analysis. Board members were also identified from an organisation’s website and included all members responsible for monitoring and advising on an organisation’s performance, strategy, governance or leadership. One of the constraints in our approach is that we assigned the sex of each staff member by the information available on each organisation’s website, via their name, picture, title or chosen pronoun. We are aware that this may not always reflect their gender identity. In the future we intend to seek feedback on the data from surveyed organisations to provide an opportunity to correct any factual errors. Mixed results Our analysis showed that females held about 50% of senior leadership positions. This was a promising result. It indicated that men and women were equally represented at senior levels for the organisations surveyed. But it is lower than expected, given the proportion of females working in the sector is likely to be high. Women also made up 50% of senior management, 48% of board members and 47% of country directors. But women held only 32% of the most senior positions on senior management teams (such as CEO). Nearly a third of the organisations had men holding 60% or more of positions on both their senior management team and board. And more than 40% of organisations in our sample had men in all the available senior positions on their leadership teams. This means that nearly half of the organisations in our sample have women serving in the most senior positions in their leadership team. What next? Our analysis shows that on the one dimension of diversity – gender - the aid sector still has a way to go to achieve parity. In future analyses, we will tackle other areas such as racial diversity in senior leadership positions, which is known to be a common problem. More diverse and representative leadership teams will be more innovative and better suited to support the ultimate beneficiaries in cities where they work. This sector should therefore be embodying these values through their own policies, practices, and, above all, people. — The Conversation. This article is based on research done with Giles Dickenson-Jones. *About the writer: Astrid R.N. Haas is a fellow at the Infrastructure Institute, School of Cities, University of Toronto, Canada. More women needed in top development ASTRID R. N. HAAS A GLOBAL reckoning is emerging in the international development sector. Donors and the wider public are recognising the need for aid organisations to practise what they preach on diversity and inclusion. Diversity is about recognising the multitude of characteristics all people hold. It encompasses gender, ethnicity, religion, disability and sexuality. Inclusion relates to the ability to use these traits by enabling everyone to participate. Yet, as a woman of colour who has led organisations in the development sector, I myself have experienced the challenges associated with a lack of diversity. As an urban economist, I can see the evidence of the strong benefits of diversity and inclusion. Successful cities show what societies can achieve when they accept and include people from a multitude of backgrounds. The density of diversity is exactly the reason that cities are the  engines of innovation. There is also a growing body of evidence suggesting that when women serve as political leaders, governments are not only more inclusive but also better at delivering public services. Yet globally, at a city level,  fewer than 5% of leadership positions  are held by women. This is against a backdrop in which, since colonial times, African cities women have been  central to economic activity, particularly in the informal economy. For example in Kampala, Uganda, it is estimated that over 70% of single person businesses are owned and run by women. In many African cities a disproportionate amount of work on infrastructure and service provision  is funded and carried out by the international aid sector. And while terms like “gender-mainstreaming” and “inclusion” have become a common catchphrases in this community, from my own experiences it is not clear that some of these organisations are living up to their own standards. To my knowledge, there has been no systematic analysis of the state of diversity and inclusion in the sector. Therefore, together with my co-researcher and fellow economist Giles Dickenson-Jones, I have embarked on a project to investigate this. We have collected data on diversity for organisations operating in the international development sector. Our goal is to develop an “aid diversity index” that allows us to track and rank the relative performance of organisations across multiple measures of diversity and inclusion. As a start, we’ve analysed one core dimension of diversity: gender. This looks at how well women are represented in leadership positions in the aid sector. Our analysis  suggests that women and men are almost equally represented on senior leadership teams, but the most senior positions in aid organisations are still dominated by men. This does not reflect the overall structure of the industry. Furthermore, it is likely that these organisaWhat is available suggests that women are likely to make up the majority of the workforce in the international development sector. If this was reflected in senior management and board positions, more of these positions would be occupied by women. NewsHawks Issue 122, 10 March 2023

Reframing Issues Page 35 CÉLESTIN MONGA To develop a proper understanding of the risks facing indebted African countries, international financial institutions must overhaul their own methods for assessing debt sustainability. Rather than setting arbitrary limits on a country’s debt-to-GDP ratio, the focus must shift to how debt is being used. ACROSS Africa, macro-economic management has improved substantially in recent years. Studies by the International Monetary Fund, the African Development Bank (AfDB), and the World Bank, as well as surveys from Worldwide Governance Indicators and Transparency International, all attest to this trend. Yet concerns about debt sustainability on the continent have been mounting, especially since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Such worries are nothing new. By the 1980s and 1990s, African countries had amassed debt largely by borrowing from official creditors such as development banks, OECD export credit agencies, and Paris Club lenders (major creditor countries). This set them apart from Latin American countries, which had borrowed heavily from private lenders. Still, rising debt-sustainability concerns led to a wave of debt-relief programs from the late 1990s through the 2000s. In 1996, the IMF and the World Bank launched the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative, which was followed three years later by the Enhanced HIPC Initiative. Both were major innovations in development finance that allowed for debts to multilateral creditors to be canceled. Then came the 2006 Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative and the rescheduling of sovereign debts through the Paris Club, which created a sense of optimism about the future of Africa’s debt burdens. Official creditors had extended more than US$100 billion in relief to more than 40 countries – some 85% of them in Africa. More recently, the G20 established the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (in May 2020) and then the Common Framework for Debt Treatments (in November 2020) to help indebted countries deal with the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic. Under these programs, all G20 and Paris Club creditors agreed to coordinate debt relief on a case-by-case basis to countries that applied for it. The anatomy of African economies Debates over sovereign debt often link indebtedness with poor governance or gross incompetence, as if debt is something shameful that any “good” government would seek to avoid. And yet, as  Barry Eichengreen  and his co-authors argue in their book  In Defense of Public Debt, “governments’ ability to issue debt has played a critical role in addressing national emergencies – from wars and pandemics to economic and financial crises, as well as in funding essential public goods and services such as transportation, education, and healthcare.” More fundamentally, “the capacity to issue debt has been integral to both state building and state survival. Public debt securities have contributed to the development of private financial markets and, through this channel, to modern economic growth.” While excessive spending and misuse of public funds have certainly been a problem in some African countries, the financial fragility found on the continent is mainly the result of balance-of-payments deficits caused by external factors. For example, recessions in the few advanced economies that import goods from African countries tend to have an outsize impact on the latter cohort’s fiscal position. These African economies are heavily dependent on the export of one or two primary commodities, and they have struggled to diversify their trade partners. Higher global energy prices also tend to cut deeply into African public finances – including even in the major oil-producing countries, owing to their lack of refining capacity. Similarly, African countries are acutely vulnerable to commodity-price Rethinking Africa debt sustainability swings, dollar exchange-rate fluctuations, and rising interest rates in major economies (which can substantially limit their access to financial markets). All these factors are well beyond African governments’ control. These problems are compounded by the continent’s rapid population growth, which is increasing demand for public services. Moreover, African countries have large infrastructure gaps. The AfDB estimates that the continent’s infrastructure needs amount to US$130-$170 billion per year, with a financing gap in the range of US$68-$108 billion. Africa therefore has a good reason for its large external debt: it needs such financing to pay for major investments in infrastructure (energy, water, telecommunications, and road networks) and human capital (health care and education) required by the continent’s rapid demographic growth. Increases in public and external debt thus can be justified, especially if they go toward investments that will increase potential growth and attract more foreign direct investment (FDI). A better way The many debt-relief schemes implemented since 1996 have failed because they have all been based on a flawed framework for debt-sustainability analysis in Africa. The traditional DSA is a rather simplistic accounting tool that focuses solely on a country’s financing needs and its ability to repay – or what is misleadingly known as a country’s overall “balance sheet.” The problem with this approach is that it over-emphasizes external assets and liabilities encompassing both the public and the private sector. Abiding by this definition of an overall balance sheet, the IMF and the World Bank have long focused on debt-related liabilities (as opposed to equity) and reserves. Their justification is that a country’s external debt and reserves have a significant impact on its ability to discharge external obligations – which may result from a problem of either solvency or liquidity – and thus will determine its overall debt vulnerability. But a better approach is to move beyond a narrow, rigid understanding of debt sustainability to get a fuller picture of the determinants of indebtedness and debt-servicing capacity on the continent – especially in natural resource-rich countries. If solvency is defined as a country’s ability to meet the present value of its external obligations, a broader view of public wealth should be considered, in addition to granular assessments of public-sector balance sheets. This would allow for a comprehensive evaluation of what the state owns and owes, thus offering a broader and more accurate fiscal picture beyond debt and deficits. Once governments understand the size and nature of public assets, they can start managing them more effectively, with the potential to raise considerable additional revenue. A deeper analysis of public-sector balance sheets also would allow for better risk management and policymaking. The IMF’s  Fiscal Monitor  already provides governments with the tools to analyze the resilience of public finances. By identifying risks within the balance sheet, they can take steps to manage or mitigate them early, rather than dealing with the consequences after the fact. What has been missing In 2018, the IMF and the World Bank finally acknowledged the weaknesses of their DSA framework, and introduced a new multi-pronged approach (MPA) that sought to strengthen debt transparency by working with borrowing countries and creditors to produce better public-sector-debt data and to mitigate debt vulnerabilities. The MPA also called for new tools to analyse debt developments and risks, and for reforms to the IMF and World Bank’s surveillance and lending policies to address debt risks and promote more efficient responses to debt crises. The MPA represented a substantial improvement on the initial framework, but it still did not capture the specific economic identities of African countries. Since exports are these countries’ main engine of growth (owing to limited domestic demand), a realistic framework should account for the other macroeconomic and financial policies that are in place to boost external trade, promote economic and financial resilience, and reduce the volatility of export revenues. Any DSA for Africa should place issues relating to external competitiveness and the appropriateness of exchange-rate policies at its core, to allow for a proper evaluation of national-currency overvaluation and devaluation in the medium term. Likewise, the analysis should consider a monetary policy’s capacity to provide a supply response in case of a currency devaluation. DSA frameworks traditionally have not recognised the importance of the exchange-rate regime, even indirectly. While all countries should generally avoid excessive debt-service obligations, the risks and constraints are heightened for countries with a pegged exchange rate, especially when the anchor is a strong currency like the euro, which is the case for the 14 Sub-Saharan African countries in the CFA franc zone. For these countries, currency fluctuations have enormous implications for external debt, export revenue, employment creation, government revenue, and public debt. Current analyses of debt sustainability do acknowledge the importance of reserves – which allow a country to absorb the shocks of curtailed or costly borrowing, boost confidence in its commitment to the timely discharge of external obligations, and support the value of its domestic currency. But even for countries with generally good macroeconomic management, a substantial volume of reserves is not a sufficient safety net in the case of sudden crises or financial contagion. Hence, a more effective DSA for African countries (and for developing countries more generally) would identify the critical element of their structural economic vulnerability – namely, their weak export structure (reliance on a few commodities and limited diversification of trade partners). Finally, traditional DSA frameworks do not account well for security, even though this is a widespread issue on the continent, with significant macroeconomic implications. African countries at all levels of development are facing myriad security risks that carry major economic costs. While security budgets are usually state secrets, it is safe to assume that a substantial portion of fiscal revenue in many countries is now going to fight armed jihadist and rebel groups such as Boko Haram, Al-Shabab, and others. These kinds of sustained security shocks incur heavy costs. Armed conflicts, civil wars, and terrorism destroy physical, human, and social capital, which in turn negatively affects production, trade, exports, consumption, and governments’ ability to collect adequate revenue to finance public expenditures. When military spending rises, social spending falls. Armed conflicts are bad for business. They create unacceptably high levels of uncertainty (particularly for private-sector investment), fuel capital flight, and depress savings. Even after a conflict has ended, boosting investment remains difficult, because much of the necessary capital will have been damaged or destroyed. The harmful economic effects of conflict and war can last for years – or generations – undercutting growth and a country’s ability to service its debt. It is therefore critical that development-finance institutions devise new, credible financing instruments to support African countries confronted with exogenous security shocks, without worsening their capacity to service their debt. New urgency To be sure, concerns about Africa’s rising public-debt levels (both external and domestic) should not be downplayed or treated with complacency. Given the global rise of nominal interest rates and the heightened volatility and downward trends for commodity prices, African countries may find it difficult to service the debts they accumulated during the last expansionary period. As such, they will struggle to maintain the elevated levels of government investment needed to sustain growth and structural transformations in the years ahead. But this means that complementing the traditional, flawed DSA approach with alternative methods has become an urgent priority. We need a new process that accounts for additional information on a country’s debt trajectory, and that offers new policy levers to address debt concerns – such as through exchange-rate adjustments or a rebalancing of public investment. Given African countries’ serious infrastructure gaps, limited public services, and persistent security issues, debt will remain an indispensable financing tool. To the extent that it is used to fund productivity-enhancing public infrastructure, it can be fully justified. Under plausible assumptions, infrastructure improvements can increase growth enough eventually to decrease the higher debt-to-GDP ratio that results from the initial financing. The role that such investments play in boosting FDI – and the role that FDI then plays in boosting growth – should be considered fully in any DSA. Development institutions and rating agencies should focus more on the quality and proper uses of debt to finance inclusive growth and essential investments. Rather than setting arbitrary limits on a country’s debt-to-GDP ratio, the focus of monitoring institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank should be on assessing whether increases in Africa’s public debt are being used for the right purposes – namely, public infrastructure. This alone would go a long way toward reassuring investors and decreasing spreads. — Project Syndicate. *About the writer: Célestin Monga, a former managing director at the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation and a former senior economic adviser at the World Bank, is adjunct professor of public policy at Harvard Kennedy School and a former vice-president and chief economist at the African Development Bank Group. A worker loads rice into a truck at a market in Lagos, Nigeria. NewsHawks Issue 122, 10 March 2023

Page 36 Reframing Issues STEPHEN ONYEIWU BOLA Tinubu, the winner of Nigeria’s keenly contested presidential election, will have a daunting task fixing a near comatose economy. His administration will encounter monumental economic, security and political challenges. They will be greeted by a distraught populace bedevilled by rising poverty, inflation, unemployment and unprecedented levels of insecurity. The high poverty and unemployment rates  in Nigeria are ticking time bombs. To avoid the kind of  violent protests  that forced the president of Sri Lanka to step down, as well as those that rocked Sierra Leone recently, the new president will need to take bold and decisive measures. Nigeria’s 33.3% unemployment (42.5% for the youth) and 22.3% underemployment rates are an urgent issue, coupled with a 20% inflation rate. The latter is caused mainly by increases in food prices. Insecurity has forced many farmers to abandon their farms and disrupted food supplies to urban centres. The cost of living in Nigeria is so high that Nigerians devote over half of their income to food alone. About four in 10 Nigerians live below the  national poverty line. Only  17%  hold jobs that pay enough to get out of poverty. Amid these economic challenges, Nigerians feel a deep sense of deprivation when they see a few elites, with privileged access to the national wealth, live ostentatiously. Given all these problems, and based on my previous research, I propose that a plan for economic revitalisation should be Tinubu’s first focus. The plan should contain measurable targets for creating jobs, reducing poverty and decreasing the cost of living, improving security and making space for a more collaborative approach. This should involve the private sector and other players. 1. Create jobs Massive job creation should be done through labour-intensive “shovel-ready” projects in construction, agriculture, renewable energy, environmental sanitation and security. The new head of state should resist pressures by politicians to include self-serving projects that don’t create jobs or strengthen the economy’s productive capacities. Former US president Barack Obama showed how massive Nigeria’s economy: Four priorities president-elect  Tinubu must deliver on fiscal stimulus programmes that include job-creating projects can be effective in reducing unemployment and revitalising a depressed economy. Nigeria’s  unsustainable  debt profile means Tinubu won’t have much space for an expansionary fiscal policy. About 65% of government revenue and over 90% of  foreign exchange earnings  come from the oil sector. Uncertainties in the global oil market and sluggish revenue growth, as well as the negative impacts of COVID-19 on the economy, imply that the country will face challenges generating enough revenue to service debt and finance budget deficits. But Nigeria can reduce government profligacy and rein in corruption. Fiscal challenges can also be addressed by imposing taxes on major corporations, especially those in lucrative sectors like oil and gas, telecommunications and banking. 2. Reduce poverty and cut the cost of living The new administration will have to provide immediate succour to millions living in misery, destitution and hunger. The Muhammadu Buhari administration experimented with conditional cash transfers. But school meals and other social interventional programmes  have only reached 10 million people – 5% of the population. Nigeria is one of the very few resource-rich countries with no means-tested and institutionalised safety net programmes. The new president should learn from India, where the government introduced  ration cards. These enable poor Indians to obtain basic food items at subsidised prices. Food affordability increases productivity, fosters good health, spurs demand for agricultural products and boosts economic growth. It also prevents violent protests and crime. Tinubu should eliminate Nigeria’s very expensive and corruption-ridden  fuel subsidies, to create a better environment for job-creating projects. 3. Reduce insecurity Nigeria’s President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu Nigeria’s economic problems can’t be addressed in an environment of insecurity. There are many causes for this insecurity, but the biggest is inadequate resources. Stories have been told about how criminals overwhelm military and police posts because of inadequate manpower and equipment there. The number of security personnel should be increased massively, through recruiting new officers and withdrawing others from non-essential services. 4. Collaborative approach The government cannot do it all. Tinubu should create a conducive environment for the private sector to thrive. Domestic and foreign investors need incentives to invest in the economy. They need a stable macroeconomic environment with low inflation, a stable exchange rate and robust economic growth. To this end, the president should be very careful about the choice of his economic management team. The choice of advisors shouldn’t be dictated by ethnic, political and other extraneous criteria. It is widely believed that Nigerians have never been as polarised. Across the country there are embers of religious intolerance, ethnic chauvinism, separatist tendencies and  intra-class clashes. The new president should provide a credible platform for Nigerians to have frank conversations about how to resolve these issues, as well as the future political structure of the country. Practical steps Tinubu should rejig the  Economic and Financial Crimes Commission  and the  Independent Corrupt Practices Commission  to make them more effective in fighting corruption. Nigerians want to see more corrupt individuals prosecuted and jailed. They want to move beyond mere naming and shaming. To signal urgency, the new president should announce his cabinet and economic team before their inauguration. This would enable them to hit the ground running. Ministerial portfolios should be assigned before ministers are screened by the senate. This will enable their eligibility to be assessed during their confirmation hearings. — The Conversation. *About the writer: Stephen Onyeiwu is professor of economics and business at Allegheny College in the United States. NewsHawks Issue 122, 10 March 2023

Reframing Issues Page 37 JEAN-PIERRE CASSARINO TUNISIA’S president Kais Saied recently called for urgent measures against illegal immigration of sub-Saharan African nationals. He said they were a source of “violence, crime and unacceptable acts”. His comments were condemned by the international community and the World Bank  paused talks  over its future engagement with Tunisia. They also led to widespread protests in Tunisia while hundreds of migrants fled the country. Moina Spooner, from The Conversation Africa, asked Jean-Pierre Cassarino, an expert on international migration in the Maghreb and Africa region, to shed light on migration to Tunisia and what might be behind the president’s comments. What is the history of sub-Saharan migration to Tunisia. How many migrants are there? Sub-Saharan migrants in Tunisia come  primarily  from western Africa. Immigrants in Tunisia account for 0.5% of the national population. Official, documented migrants number around 21,000 persons out of a total immigrant population of around 58,000 according to a recent study. These basic figures are important. They show that immigrants make up a very small number of foreigners compared with the national population. There are different types of sub-Saharan migrants. Many students from west Africa come to Tunisia because they obtained a scholarship or wish to continue their training in Tunisian universities. There are several bilateral university agreements between Tunisia and various west African countries. Other migrants come to Tunisia for labour, or because they are en route to Europe. However, for these, there are no precise statistical data as they are irregular. To give an idea of a figure though, in 2021, at least 23,328 irregular migrants were intercepted by Tunisian authorities trying to get to Europe. Note that a migrant from sub– Saharan Africa can come with a regular status and may become irregular. Irregularity is far from being a choice in Tunisia. There is a lot of administrative paperwork and bureaucracy that lengthen the procedure for getting a regular status in Tunisia. Procedures are so cumbersome that migrants - such as students - find themselves in a legal limbo when they need to extend their stay. What are the country’s current policies towards migrants like? Let me be clear and concise: it is selectively discriminatory. Tunisia is quite open with European immigrants and very restrictive with nonEU citizens. The bottom line is that Tunisia’s approach to migration and migrants’ rights oscillates between the Tunisia’s president is targeting migrants to divert attention from serious domestic problems need to comply with international standards and the necessity to maximise the benefits of its citizens living abroad – such as remittances or the transfer of skills acquired abroad. This means it needs to try and keep its migration policies quite open. At the same time it wants to act as a credible player in the fight against irregular migration in its interactions with the EU and its member states. This means that Tunisia needs to show it can cooperate with the EU and its member states as well as control its own borders. Are there social and political factors behind the president’s comments? A law against racism was adopted in Tunisia in 2018. It was an important step in defending the rights of Tunisians who identify as black, as well as the country’s migrants. It is quite staggering to hear a political leader using such statements publicly. When it comes to social tensions migration has been used in many countries as a means to discipline public opinion while scapegoating foreigners. One example of this is in  South Africa  where migrants were scapegoated as inequality and unemployment surged. Another is in the US where business cycle downturns  led to  blaming Latino migrants. The common denominators include rising domestic unemployment (especially youth unemployment), public deficits, the crisis of the welfare state and of the economy, and, last but not least, social tensions. This is true in Tunisia too. The link between the conditions of labour migrants and native workers’ rights is  well documented  by scholars across disciplines. Tunisia is behaving like many other countries confronted by social, political and economic challenges. Public opinion needs radical positions regardless of their responsiveness to the malaise of a society. Our recent history abounds with examples, even the worst we could ever imagine. It is much easier to refuse to come to terms with what is really happening. This is a kind of escape from reality. Making the public believe that the containment of foreigners’ rights will somehow protect citizens from the containment of their own social and economic rights is a classic political strategy used by many leaders. Of course, there are variations across countries. Tunisia’s economy  is in crisis: state finances are on the brink of bankruptcy and there are shortages of key goods. President Saied has also been  seizing more power and recently had a massive crackdown on critics that accuse him of trying to install a new dictatorship in the country. Clearly, the anti-immigrant rhetoric in Tunisia is profoundly problematic but it is not exceptional. It is not specific to Tunisia. That being said, this same rhetoric is paradoxical because Tunisia is predominantly an emigration country with a large diaspora living in various countries. Tunisians are confronted with similar discriminatory and nationalist discourses abroad. I wonder how a country can credibly protect its own citizens living abroad against discrimination and racism when similar facts are glaringly happening at home. Meanwhile, I am afraid that more restrictive provisions will be adopted in the near future. When I refer to escape from reality I mean that it is easier for a government (and a part of its constituencies) to place blame elsewhere than to come to terms with what is really happening. — The Conversation. *About the writer: Jean-Pierre Cassarino is a senior research fellow at the College of Europe in Belgium. Tunisian President Kais Saied NewsHawks Issue 122, 10 March 2023

Page 38 Reframing Issues AMANDA SPERBER/ JUSTIN ARENSTEIN A six-month undercover probe using extensive analysis of digital evidence to investigate the secretive global disinformation-for-hire industry has unmasked a crusading investigative reporter, Anita Pettit, as a completely fictitious persona created by a shadowy Israeli private intelligence company, Percepto International, to smear opponents and subvert elections. FOR crusading investigative reporter Anita Pettit, “the truth has no secrets”. A French-Ghanaian graduate of the Université Paris-Est Créteil, Pettit built a reputation for exposing injustice and what she calls “betrayal”. Her hard-hitting opinionated reportage is published both on her own investigative website,  Pour La Verité (“For The Truth”), and in African mass media, including La Revue de l’Afrique and Net Afrique and similar regional outlets, reaching a combined audience of over 10.2 million people, where she tried to shine a light on supposed crooked politicians and their links to terrorism and suspected corruption across eight African countries. But the earnest pan-Africanist — and her portfolio of hundreds of exposés — is not what she seems. A six-month undercover probe by the #StoryKillers consortium of 30 newsrooms that used extensive analysis of digital evidence to investigate the secretive global disinformation-for-hire industry has unmasked Pettit as a completely fictitious persona, or “deep avatar”, created by a shadowy Israeli private intelligence company, Percepto International, to smear opponents and subvert elections. Percepto later claimed to have used the Pettit sock-puppet and similar bots, as well as “deep platforms” such as fake media outlets or fake civil society groups, to secretly rig elections or smear major organisations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Burkina Faso, where Percepto  framed it for supposedly working with jihadist terrorists (see story below). “We’re currently operating dozens of assets online, unattributed assets in Africa, in Francophone Africa… our secret sauce is the use of avatars for intelligence gathering… [our] online assets are able to communicate, to engage, with targets,”  Percepto’s co-founder and CEO Royi Burstien boasted during a series of secretly recorded meetings with the consortium’s undercover reporters. “A deep avatar,” he explained, Age of Disinformation: Building next level bot to subvert Africa’s elections “is someone, an online entity, who looks real [but] that is really not true. And, if one of our deep avatars engages with you, you’ll be certain that [it’s] a real person. We have  been operating this specific investigative journalist for the past, uh, from 2019. She is French. She lives in Paris, [but] she’s an avatar of course… “She’s already worked in three different countries, on three different projects. One project in France and two projects in two different countries in Africa. One Francophone, one Anglophone.” Burstien claims Pettit was so effective she triggered retaliation. “She published a piece attacking one of our clients’ opponents and we probably struck a nerve, because I think 24 hours after she published the piece, we had a cyber DDOS attack on [her] website. This was also picked up by a lot of cyber experts, and it gained huge traction on Twitter in France and in specific countries. [O]ver the past four years, she engaged with a lot of journalists, including from France, including, by the way, a lot of French-speaking journalists in the diaspora outside of France.” Percepto offered to make Pettit available as a tool for our undercover reporters, who he thought were representing a potential major new client in Africa that wanted to undermine a commercial competitor. The journalists were actually part of an initiative launched by the European non-profit  Forbidden Stories, alongside major investigative media such as the  Guardian,  Le Monde, Haaretz, Der Spiegel and 26 others, to expose the inner workings of the global world of disinformation mercenaries. Code for Africa (CfA) is the only African member of the consortium. Percepto offered to deploy the Pettit bot alongside other avatars that could help amplify whatever Pettit published. Pettit’s digital backstory is elaborate, starting with heartfelt blogging about reconnecting with her African roots on her personal  Ghanaland journal. She writes about busking in restaurants to save money to travel back to Ghana because, “I was born in France and I have a Ghanaian mother and a French father. Unfortunately, I did not really know my mom, who disappeared when I was very young. It’s hard to grow up without a mother by my side.” Pettit writes that she’d been to Africa before, on a trip to visit her friend Sonia in Cameroon, but her “head and heart are with Ghana.” Travelling to Ghana, Pettit was a little nervous because English isn’t her first language, and she had some concerns about poverty and security, but after a long trip (she hates when the layover is longer than the flight) she arrived in Accra and was immediately struck by the hospitality. She appreciated that Sonia’s cousin, Souleman, welcomed her at the airport and helped her get to her hostel, the Sleepy Hippo, a well-reviewed, pet-friendly establishment with a pool on Duade Avenue in Kokomlemle, near the city centre. Pettit enjoyed her time in the country, visiting Kejetia market to buy “various handicrafts, souvenirs from all over the country, glass beads, all kinds of wooden sculptures, batik fabrics and many other wonderful things”, and travelling out of the capital to visit Kumasi and Cape Coast. Along the way, Pettit enjoyed a beer on the beach, until she spotted a boy who couldn’t be more than 12, drinking beer. Pettit was surprised and upset; shocked, even. “If I just tasted beer at this age, my father would have killed me,” she wrote. But, she came to understand, “More I look at them, more I understand that they have to live by themselves. No law and no limit for them. Just one goal: live as they can.” But none of this is real: not her dreams and hopes, not the revelations she’s had along the way on her journey, and definitely not her supposed belief in the truth. The vast majority of the content on her investigative website is plagiarised from elsewhere, including leading French media such as  Le Monde and Le Croix. The images on her personal blog from her travels are also edited versions of stock images from the Internet. Not even the profile photos on her social media on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are real. Percepto constructed Pettit by stitching together stolen photos from at least three different people. A reverse image search of her Facebook profile picture shows that the picture had similarities with one posted on Instagram by a model based in Los Angeles, Sydney Graham. Pettit’s pose, clothing and the physical location are identical, but there is one big difference: the face. The facial features of the image have been changed and manipulated, presumably in an effort to evade detection or recognition by the original user. On her Twitter feed, Pettit wishes herself happy birthday, using another “body-double” cloned from another model, this time a Paris-based model, Sharon Alexie. It was modified and posted as Pettit, using a different face, along with adjustments to make the body colour slightly darker in tone. A reverse search of the face used on Anita’s profile shows that the image originated from a Jamaica-born engineer, Sherry-Ann Wellington, currently working in Russia. In fact, most of the facial images used by NewsHawks Issue 122, 10 March 2023

Reframing Issues Page39 Pettit originate from Wellington’s profile. Graham said she had never given Percepto or anyone else permission to use her image, and was not aware there was a doppelganger online. It was, she said, “weird and misleading”. Neither Alexie nor Wellington responded to multiple requests for comment. Petitt’s profiles are being systematically removed by social media platforms after the #StoryKillers consortium alerted them to Percepto’s activities. The takedowns include a network of 23 other similar avatars, including another supposed investigative journalist, Chloé Boyer, whose profile claimed they were based in Paris. Boyer’s image appears to have been stolen from an account on the Russian VK social media platform, claiming to be a user called Svetlana Kerdich, that posts porn and humour memes. The Kerdich profile image was in turn lifted from another VK profile for a real-world user, Anna Vihareva, based in the Siberian city of Tomsk. Percepto also tried to obscure the origin of Pettit’s supposed travel photos on her personal blog, by cropping/cutting the original photos they lifted from the Internet, and then inverting the image so that it would not appear as a duplicate if anyone tried to Google or otherwise look for the image. The original images are, however, easy to trace using specialised anti-fraud tools. But, why go to all the effort to create such elaborate backstories? Burstien  told #StoryKillers that social media platforms like Facebook use algorithmic defences to find and delete avatars that aren’t convincing enough. Percepto, he insisted, is one of the few companies to have created unique techniques for evading detection. “We have avatar management systems and we have operational IP infrastructure [to] operate in Africa; in Cameroon. Senegal. Burkina Faso. After the Trump 2016 campaign, that’s when everybody started talking about unattributable avatars. That’s when it came to light. We’ve been doing this since 2013, 2014. And I think we’re one of the few companies that really has the longest track record in operating… for almost now over 10 years.” Burstien, a former Israeli intelligence operative,  was previously CEO of the Psy-Group, which worked with the Israeli state as well as clients across the Gulf region until it was closed in the wake of Robert Mueller’s investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 American presidential election. And, because Percepto has been doing this for so long, some of the more complex avatars have built up years of “track record” across a wide variety of assignments, just like real humans.  Burstien uses the metaphor of wine to explain, saying: “The older the avatar, the better the avatar.” This, he adds, is why Percepto’s networks remain operational, even while those operated by countries like Russia are regularly detected and destroyed. Percepto’s deep avatars don’t just publish propaganda or smear opponents. Burstein claims that the more advanced avatars are also used to recruit and manage unsuspecting humans: real-world journalists or political activists. The #StoryKillers consortium filed a set of detailed written questions with  Burstien  and Percepto, focusing on their claims during the four meetings with our reporters. Percepto responded by saying that it does not disclose confidential information, and would neither confirm nor deny the identity of its clients. It responded to a list of five questions about the avatars, including whether Percepto had created the Pettit bot or alternatively met/interacted with a real person by that name, with a single-word answer to each question: “No.” When questioned specifically about the ICRC disinformation campaign in Burkina Faso, Percepto said “the content of your question is untrue, but we do not comment on alleged activities performed by the company”. The use of fake persona on social media is widespread in the disinformation industry. Another  Israeli company unmasked by the #StoryKillers consortium, Team Jorge  (TJ), appears to operate sophisticated digital tools that control an army of 30,000 avatars, all with fake profiles on Twitter, Facebook, Gmail, Instagram and LinkedIn. Some even have Amazon accounts with credit cards, Bitcoin wallets and Airbnb accounts. TJ is also led by former intelligence officers.  #StoryKiller partner newsroom, the  Guardian,  explains  that TJ’s toolkit, marketed as the Advanced Impact Media Solutions, or AIMS, controls fake social media profiles on an industrial scale to spread client’s propaganda at speed. Unlike Percepto’s more targeted avatars, the TJ bots are used for coordinated comments or mass sharing of content. The campaigns driven by the bots appear to be mostly commercial disputes in about 20 countries, including the UK, US, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Greece, Panama, Senegal, Mexico, Morocco, India, the United Arab Emirates, Zimbabwe, Belarus and Ecuador. Twitter has suspended 1,775 accounts in the wake of #StoryKillers’ coverage, but has declined to comment on questions from the consortium. Meta, the owner of Facebook, also took down AIMS-linked bots on its platform after reporters shared a sample of the fake accounts with the company. A Meta spokesperson connected the AIMS bots to others that were linked in 2019 to another, now defunct, Israeli firm which it banned from the platform. “This latest activity is an attempt by some of the same individuals to come back and we removed them for violating our policies,” the spokesperson said. “The group’s latest activity appears to have centred around running fake petitions on the Internet or seeding fabricated stories in mainstream media outlets.” — Daily Maverick. Percepto’s Anita Pettit avatar used an image of the body of US-based model Sydney Graham, grafting on a different face to mask the changes. Percepto’s Anita Pettit avatar used a copy of an image of French model Sharon Alexie, adjusting the skin tone to be darker and with a different face grafted into the body. NewsHawks Issue 122, 10 March 2023

JONATHAN MBIRIYAMVEKA THOSE born after Independence can sing along  but those who were born at turn of the millennium will simply watch as UB40 takes music fans down memory lane. Dubbed a must-attend concert, the popular English reggae and pop band's show is billed to perform in Zimbabwe on 25 May 2023. According to flyers doing the rounds on social media, the Harare concert coincides with the Africa Day celebrations. Known for easy skanking reggae vibes, UB40 command a huge following in and outside Zimbabwe. Formed in December 1978 in Birmingham, England, UB40 has had more than 50 singles in the UK Singles Chart, and has international success. According to information online. UB40 have been nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album four times, and in 1984 were nominated for the Brit Award for Best British Group. UB40 have sold over 70 million records worldwide. The ethnic makeup of the band's original line-up was diverse, with musicians of English, Welsh, Irish, Jamaican, Scottish and Yemeni parentage. Their hit singles include their debut Food for Thought and two Billboard Hot 100 number ones with Red Red Wine and Can’t Help Falling in Love. Both of these also topped the UK Singles Chart, as did the band's version of I Got You Babe, recorded with Chrissie Hynde. Their two most successful albums, Labour of Love (1983) and Promises and Lies (1993), reached number one on the UK Albums Chart. The band's line-up was stable for nearly 29 years, from March 1979 until January 2008, when frontman Ali Campbell left the band, followed shortly thereafter by keyboardist Mickey Virtue. Another member, Astro, remained with the band until November 2013, when he departed the original band to team up with Campbell and Virtue in a new version of UB40. In 2014, legal advice was sought by the original band (now consisting of remaining co-founding members drummer Jimmy Brown, guitarist Robin Campbell, bassist Earl Falconer, percussionist Norman Hassan, and saxophonist Brian Travers, along with new vocalist Duncan Campbell) who took action against the group containing Campbell, Virtue, and Astro over usage of the band name, due to it being used by both parties. Walter Wanyannya, who is one of the organisers, confirmed that tickets were selling like hot cakes. Slated for Old Hararians Sports Club,  tickets are going for US$60 per head and the show starts at 6pm. Be there or be square! STYLE TRAVEL BOOKS ARTS MOTORING Porsche just got angrier Being a Fashion Model Life&Style Page 40 Issue 12, 10 March 2023 UB40 to take fans down memory lane 

Poetry Corner Title: How things once turned Poet: Farai Chinaa Mlambo The other night we dreamt Of dark low hanging clouds And pounding tropical rains; The sky rumbled as an overfed beast And gave birth to a staccato of bass and contralto farts Such as had never been heard Frogs leapt from their hibernation And croaked with sheer determination At this miraculous turn of events At the pens, cows mooed their incredible delight And mollycoddled their gleeful calves As bulls bellowed their approval The cocks flapped their wings And uttered a unanimous victory crow from the fowl runs All over there were deafening echoes Of shrilly voices of little kids Backed by women's pregnant ululations; Drumbeat resounded from virtually all quarters In accompaniment to beerish chants That immediately sank into the ancestral lands Whence Chaminuka's Gourd Froths with unfulfilled royal promises Soon ploughs of all makes and sizes Creaked amid cracking whips As they gratefully welcomed the chance To shake off their rust and lust Upon the free intercourse with the fallow earth Alas, we woke up to a blistering October sun Perched on a clear blue sky With no slightest trace of a spec of our picturesque dreamy scenes We saw the dream anyhow Resurrected as an omnipresent corpse Hanging limply on all the trees around With the toes on its limbs barely scratching the earth below As if demanding an autopsy from it Detailing why it had died before its birth ***************************************************** Title: These Fatherless sons: An Ode of Despair! Poet: Tevin Ntobeko Ndimande Hath the world given no fathers, Only our humble folk and mothers? This folk of fatherless sons, Parading their mothers like guerrillas’ triumphant guns, Singing a wartime song! These motherless sons, Where are their fathers? This world with many men is clothed and clad, Dare ask the weaning nepios or the growing lad, They know not of fathers but mothers. Where the hell went the fathers? Either dead or deadbeat, Expired of the pressure, Or simple ran away; couldn't handle the heat! ***************************************************** Title: In Africa Poet: Temba Munsaka I am tired of the goring, politics is boring! Their camouflage green-like flora, baggy pants matadors in a ring. Around the ring, they saunterbig boys in combat A dazzling sight indeed, inside the ring, they struta coliseum of decay. Thrusting and allonging, the credulous have the final say on paper But the barracuda always winsa facade that has become part of our lives! Suerte de matara horn thrust in his guts, spine-chilling it was as protagonists smell blood Yet we cast nonetheless, beguiled we all are The ring is for the stern Savage bulls don’t cringe They plummet till you die Cheerleaders forget in a haste, they howl after the fightwhen they get no recompense for the duel Wet behind the ears they are, to be plucked like greens! As toreadors have the last laugh! - A collection of protest pieces ************************************************ Title: The Bravery Of A Stolen Heart Poet: Ndaba Sibanda Bonani traversed beyond the small and big hills Beyond the singing mountains and valleys The bushes were full of thorns and roots And were a well-known refuge for snakes He braved windy or chilly nights And the frightening sounds of owls Whoo whooo whooo whooo Hoo hoo hoo hoo Maybe the owls were hooting: Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you-all? Who cooks for you? Were the witches and wizards Not stalking him too? What about the infamous ghost Over Nkanyezi bridge? Was it not said to be stubborn? Was it not said to be talkative and slippery? How did he deal with that spook That showered down some red-hot coal? Sometimes he heard dogs bark madly Sometimes there was some grunting At times there were eerie voices Sometimes he tripped and fell to the ground Jackals howled and snakes hissed Lions roared but he was undeterred At times the night`s darkness Was blinding and confusing But Bonani groped for the path And rummaged through the bushes Sometimes the rivers were flooded Sometimes the rain pounded For Bonani it was just a delay He usually reached his destination His destination kept his heart Beyond the hills and valleys Beyond the streams and rivers Someone had stolen his heart *********************************************** Title: The Last Stand Poet: Gift Sakirai At two I knew not what they taught Daily, I stayed indoors \doggedly pursuing mother to a fault. Snotty-nosed and recalcitrant, I threw tantrums to my mother's consternation. At five, I left the comfort that home guaranteed and found my personage in the midst of people unknown. Fear thus a friend of mine became in that class of peers unforgiving. I learned mostly from a curriculum unofficial, kicks and fists thus my friends became and homeward I took nosebleeds like homework daily. At fifteen I loved my first love, a gem of a girl whose smile was the envy of many a teenager. I mumbled in her presence daily for words would fail me always. This it was for a whole year until like a bird in flight she flew out of my life. At twenty I stumbled into university, having scrapped by my studies. Therein all hell broke loose for what mother had taught was useless thus rendered. I partook in pomp and fanfare. By chance it was that I finished my studies, only to be accosted by a job market unforgiving. At thirty-five I decided to take the plunge after years of a hesitation acute and hitched myself to a woman who had thus been a decade patient. Therefrom, I second guessed myself into fatherhood, and bumbled along in a world where; I was a stranger unwelcome. At sixty-four with hair turned grey I'm still waiting to exhale and for once have a momentary relief from a life vengeful a year before I'm put out to pasture like a heifer overworked. I know not what the twilight years will my way bring a mystery it was in childhood, a mystery it still is in old age. A hustle death will have in taking me to the world beyond though. Having been short changed many times over in life, I swear my fall won't be as easy as that. This time, I won't go down without a fight. Death, beware! NewsHawks Page 41 Issue 122, 10 March 2023

Page 42 Zim shines at Berlin tourism show People & Places NewsHawks Issue 122, 10 March 2023 Zimbabwe's Tourism minister Nqobizitha Ndlovu led a delegation to Europe as the country won the Pacific Area Travel Writers Association’s International Travel Award for Destination of the Year at the International Tourism Bourse in Berlin, Germany, which is the world's biggest travel show.

saster "island" hole with vast crowds waiting  to acclaim or groan after each shot. The course is quite long at 7 256 yards and there are 16 other holes where water comes into play. Tiger Woods, twice a winner here, will not be playing. He had not entered by the deadline date. Delving into the tournament's past we can find the time in 1992 when Nick Price, then of Zimbabwe, won with a record low score of 270, three shots ahead of Bernhard Langer, a perforEVERY year they want to call it the "Fifth Major". And those sentiments will no doubt emerge again among American tournament golfers on Thursday when the 2023 Players Championship gets under way at Sawgrass, Florida, with 43 of the world's top 50 competing. But they will surely be whistling into the wind. Its addition would dilute the present four majors' status. And of course it could not include last year's championship winner Australian Cameron Smith, nor Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and Sergio Garcia for example who have joined the Saudi Arabia LIV tour, thus forfeiting their PGA membership. However, the imminent 49th Players Championship this week nevertheless has its own very high rating among players, spectators and TV viewers alike. The bookmakers' favourite is Rory McIlroy at 9-1, with Scottie Scheffler, John Rahm and Patrick Cantlay also fancied at 12-1.  Max Homa, Jason Day and Justin Thomas are among the top-class field at the course which boasts one of the most famous holes in golf. This is the spectacular 17th green-or-water, triumph-or-diSport Page 43 When Zimbabwe’s golfer Nick Price stormed the Players Championship John Kelley HawkZone Rugby is considered to be the world and Africa's fastest-growing team sport. mance that confirmed him at the time as the world's number one. Then at the peak of his considerable capabilities, one of Zimbabwe’s greatest sports stars of all time won with scores of 64, 68, 72 and 67 to leave the others gasping with admiration and envy. This year the winner will be paid US$4.5 million, almost double Cameron Smith's US$2.5 million last year. Total prize fund has been set at US$25 000 000. The winning caddie will even get US$450 000, enough to buy a house. Not bad for a week's work. As to the aforementioned "LIV" Saudi Tour, Cameron Smith has recently been paid a whopping and irresistible US$100 million to join. Others include Justin Johnson, Sergio Garcia, Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson, Ian Poulter, Dean Burmester, Paul Casey, Lee Westwood and Zimbabwe's Scott Vincent with a US$1.5 million pay day.  *About the writer: Veteran author and journalist John Kelley is himself a keen golfer. He is the author of a book on the history of Zimbabwean golf, titled Staying the Course. NewsHawks Issue 122, 10 March 2023

WORLD-FAMOUS former Zimbabwe cricketer Henry Olonga has announced finally becoming an Australian citizen after having lived Down Under for over a decade and married to Aussie Tara (nee Read), with who he has two children. 46-year-old Olonga — the first black player in history to play international cricket for Zimbabwe — has been living in Australia since 2015, 11 years after fleeing Zimbabwe for Britain following a famous protest against Robert Mugabe's tyrannical government. At the 2003 World Cup that Zimbabwe co-hosted, Olonga and his teammate Andy Flower gained international recognition by wearing black armbands in the match against Namibia at Harare Sports Club, to "mourn the death of democracy" in Zimbabwe under the leadership of Mugabe. The great Flower has since returned to his native Zimbabwe for a visit following Mugabe’s ouster on a coup in 2017, but Olonga — who has now described himself as a “Brit” following acquisition of yet another citizenship in his eventful lifetime — has not set foot back home yet. Ex-fast bowler Olonga could well be entitled to five nationalities. He was born in Zambia to a Kenyan surgeon father and a Zimbabwean mother, and raised up in Zimbabwe, the country he pledged allegiance to for most of his life until politics changed everything in 2003. When Olonga left Zimbabwe in the black armband storm, he became a British citizen after living there for 12 years, and now he has been granted his Aussie papers after 50c PRICE SPORT Zim Cricket launches Premier League NEWS $60 Covid tariff for visitors & tourists CULTURE Community radio regulations under review @NewsHawksLive TheNewsHawks www.thenewshawks.com [email protected] Thursday 1 October 2020 WHAT’S INSIDE ALSO INSIDE Finance Ministy wipes out $3.2 Billion depositors funds Zim's latest land controversy has left Ruwa farmer stranded Story on Page 3 Story on Page 8 Story on Page 16 Chamisa reaches out to Khupe Unofficial president calls for emergency meeting +263 772 293 486 Friday 10 March 2023 ALSO INSIDE When Zim’s Nick Price stormed the Players Championship Sports Mandela’s grandson in African football political row at Chan opener Pull up your socks, it’s no more business as usual Olonga, trailblazing ex-Zim cricketer, becomes citizen of fourth different country Henry Olonga and wife Aussie Tara living there since 2015. The multi-talented Olonga, also a musician, announced the new development on Tuesday after participating in an exhibition athletics competition Down Under. “Firstly I took part in the South Australian state Athletics champs Sunday and won a gold in the over 35s shot putt - (I was the only entrant LOL) and silver in Jav just losing to a 35 year old. On Monday I became a fully-fledged Australian. As a Brit I am now truly confused who to support in the Ashes now. Ahhhh well perhaps the winning side,” quipped Olonga. Olonga was a gifted all-round sportsman at school, attending Plumtree High School, about 90 kilometres away from his hometown of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second-largest city. Away from the cricket field, Olonga excelled in rugby and was also a top-notch sprinter so much that he once visualised himself representing Kenya in athletics at the Olympic Games. His older brother Victor Olonga is a former Zimbabwe rugby captain, now permanently based in Bulawayo for over a decade now, after playing professionally for years in the UK. — STAFF WRITER