NewsHawks 12 August 2022

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WHAT’S INSIDE Friday 12 August 2022 INhEaWveS SSPucOhRaTshort
royal blood: memory,
NGEoWldScoins Chiwenga Khaled and
just a drop Tamim!
in an ocean Story on Page 10
of liquidity Story on Page 48

Story on Page 5

US$10bn
budget
overrun
mystery
deepens

ALSO INSIDE Sikhala writes emotional letter to AU on persecution

Page 2 News NewsHawks

Issue 93, 12 August 2022

Finance ministry fails to account for
US$10bn unauthorised expenditure

MARY MUNDEYA

THE mystery over the US$10 billion budget the matter. The committee has held four oral required parliamentary approval and without Auditor-General Mildred Chiri
overrun by the government from 2015 to 2018 evidence hearings with representatives of the the knowledge of beneficiary ministries, as re- US$486 501, leaving a variance of US$151 217
is deepening, with Auditor-General Mildred Finance ministry who have promised to sub- vealed by Auditor-General Mildred Chiri’s 2020 220.
Chiri yet to gain access to documents revealing mit validation documents to show how the report on Appropriation Accounts, Finance and
how the money was spent, while legislators are US$9.6bn was spent. The ministry has however Revenue Statements and Fund Accounts. The A foreign direct payment of U$15 044 768 on
pressing public officials to account for the mas- failed to avail the required documents. 2021 reports are not yet out. behalf of the Energy ministry was made without
sive taxpayer funds. its knowledge. Treasury made a foreign payment
Two weeks ago, the committee grilled Trea- The report sheds light on how government of US$12 345 758 on behalf of the ministry of
Treasury officials say major expenses incurred sury’s acting accountant-general Edwin Zvan- finances continue to be in a shambles, with Trea- Defence without its knowledge.
by the government during the period in question dasara, who was standing in for Finance perma- sury and ministries making payments without
include Command Agriculture, the 2017 mili- nent secretary George Guvamatanga, over the supporting documentation in numerous cases, A total of US$10 254 123.77 was paid on
tary coup preparations and execution, as well as failure to furnish the Auditor-General’s office resulting in blatant corruption and loss of mil- behalf of the Health ministry, but the ministry
the 2018 general elections. and Parliament with adequate information jus- lions of taxpayer dollars. was only aware of a payment of US$5 252 688,
tifying the unauthorised expenditure. leaving a variance of US$5 001 436.
This comes at a time Finance and Econom- Several government ministries lost revenue af-
ic Development minister Mthuli Ncube last During the meeting, MPs accused the Finance ter paying for goods, including cars, which were Treasury also made a foreign direct payment
month announced a ZW$929 billion supple- ministry officials of disrespecting Parliament and not delivered, while in many cases purchased as- of US$1 688 376 on behalf of the Public Service
mentary budget as a result of the dual effects of the people of Zimbabwe. They gave the ministry sets were not recorded in official registers. Commission, which was however only aware of
over-spending and inflation. a seven-day ultimatum to submit unauthorised US$1 658 586, giving a variance of US$29 787.
expenditure information to the Auditor-Gener- The Finance ministry, according to Chiri,
The Finance ministry has over the past two al’s office for validation purposes and bring cop- made unauthorised excess transfers of ZW$100 In addition, the ministry made payments to
years failed to avail documents to the Audi- ies to Parliament. 690 788 418 without condonation from Parlia- its foreign suppliers and service providers which
tor-General’s office and the National Assembly, ment as required by section 307 of the constitu- were questioned by Chiri.
prompting Parliament to seek to escalate the Dzivaresekwa legislator Edwin Mushoriwa, tion, among many other anomalies.
matter. who was the acting committee chairperson when “My review of the direct payments register
the Finance ministry was issued the seven-day “I observed that Treasury made foreign direct showed that Treasury made various foreign pay-
Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee gave ultimatum, told The NewsHawks in an interview: payments on behalf of 16 ministries amounting ments totalling US$20 691 044 (approximately
the ministry a seven-day ultimatum to provide to US$300 599 941. However, I noted that a ZW$770 646 758 when converted to Zimba-
the required documentation, last week, to no “The ministry of Finance failed or neglected number of the ministries were not aware of these bwe dollars using RBZ [Reserve Bank of Zim-
avail. to adhere to the deadline of 1000hrs on Monday payments and did not acknowledge these trans- babwe] spot rates for 2020). The payments were
1 August 2022 which was given by the commit- actions,” Chiri says. made to suppliers and service providers on be-
Under pressure to bare its teeth in line with tee on the meeting held with the ministry of Fi- half of the ministry of Finance and Economic
the constitutional mandate to provide oversight, nance on 25 July 2022. “As at November 15, 2021, five line ministries Development during the year ended December
the committee is scheduled to meet on Monday disputed Treasury disbursements from direct 31, 2020. The expenditure was not uploaded
to decide on the next course of action. “The Public Accounts Committee will meet payments totalling US$183 638 970 (approxi- in the public financial management system and
on the 15th of August to make a determination mately ZW$14 763 681 058).” hence, this expenditure was not accounted for in
In 2020, the government brought a Financial on whether or not the non-submission of req- the ministry’s appropriation account for the year
Adjustment Bill to Parliament as it sought con- uisite documents for validation process by the Chiri expresses concern that the direct pay- 2020,” the report reveals.
donation for the unapproved expenditure be- ministry of Finance is a violation of the Parlia- ments were not uploaded onto the respective
tween 2015 and 2018 totalling US$9.6 billion. mentary Privileges Act and take decisive action ministries’ votes in the public finance manage- The Auditor-General says whereas the ap-
from there.” ment system. As a result, the ministries did not proved budget for unallocated reserves as per the
According to the Bill, in 2015 Treasury ex- report the amounts in their appropriation ac- Appropriation Act was ZW$1 394 632 000, the
ceeded the national budget by US$25 305 741, The development comes at a time the min- counts for 2020. ministry of Finance transferred ZW$102 085
which ballooned to US$1 490 888 789 in 2016 istry has also failed to adequately account for 420 418 to line ministries, resulting in unautho-
and trebled to US$4 562 064 124 in 2017. The US$300 million in foreign direct payments on Treasury made a foreign direct payment of rised excess transfers of ZW$100 690 788 418.
government overshot the budget by US$3 560 behalf of 16 government ministries without the US$155 703 721 on behalf of the ministry The excess expenditure was not approved by Par-
343 130 in 2018. of Mines, but the ministry was aware of only liament as stipulated by law.

The Public Accounts Committee, then
chaired by opposition Citizens’ Coalition for
Change senior leader Tendai Biti, however, re-
quested that the Auditor-General first audit the
budget overrun to determine if the public funds
were used for genuine government expenses.

The Finance ministry has however failed to
furnish Chiri with the books despite numerous
requests. The Public Accounts Committee has
also failed to get access to the books despite sum-
moning ministry officials four times between
2020 and 2022, leading rise to suspicions that
there is an attempt to conceal how the money
was spent.

“Due to overspending for the period 2015 to
2018, the committee asked Chiri to audit and
verify the US$9.6 billion figure which came
under the Financial Adjustment Bill. They (gov-
ernment) wanted us to just approve the bud-
get overrun without asking questions, but we
couldn’t,” Biti said.

“We wanted them to explain how the money
was used and to determine whether it was used
for genuine government expenses.

“The problem is that they start by spending
the money without prior approval by Parliament
and then come for approval later. The reason is
that they are running a parallel government, it’s
a regime which doesn’t go through formal gov-
ernment procedures.”

Parliamentarians believe Treasury is taking
advantage of the lapsing of the Financial Adjust-
ments Bill (2016 to 2018) in October 2020 to
sweep the US$9.6 billion over-expenditure un-
der the carpet.

The Bill was published on 12 November
2019, seeking condonation for the unlawful ex-
penditure of amounts totalling US$9 638 602
782.

The proposed condonation lapsed before
it reached the second reading stage when the
2019-20 parliamentary sessions ended.

Parliament, through the Public Accounts
Committee, has however continued to pursue

NewsHawks News Page 3

Issue 93, 12 August 2022

MOSES MATENGA Soldiers morale hits rock bottom

DESPITE efforts by President Emmerson . . . unfulfilled promises rile security forces
Mnangagwa’s government to create the impres-
sion that it is supportive and takes good care of Chamisa felt the Mnangagwa administration cating and providing decent wages and living Above all, we will advocate that you have a fair
security forces, morale is plunging low in the was undermining the uniformed forces. conditions commensurate with the pivotal and share of our resources, decent housing and title
military barracks and police cantonments, as “We will honour and respect you by advo- vital role you play and responsibilities you bear. deeds.”
promises of better pay and working conditions
remain pie in the sky.

Commemorating the Heroes and Defense
Forces Days this week, Mnangagwa was at pains
to depict himself as a Commander-in-Chief who
is looking after his troops. He promised decent
wages and accommodation for the uniformed
forces, but during interviews in a snap survey
by The NewsHawks, the men and women in uni-
form said they are living in abject poverty.

This adds to the anger of unfulfilled promis-
es to mainly young members of the force who
feel they were used in November 2017 when
the army went into the streets and cleared the
way for the removal of the late former president
Robert Mugabe via a military coup amid myriad
promises that remain unfulfilled.

In 2020, the Mnangagwa administration
promised to set up subsidised grocery shops
inside the barracks to cushion restive members
of the uniformed forces from the rising cost of
living.

This came as mainly junior soldiers had begun
raising questions on the sincerity of the govern-
ment over their welfare and airing their concerns
and “protesting” openly over their welfare — de-
velopments which appeared to jolt the regime
into action, but the promises have remained
mere talk.

Cabinet then announced the new measure
but, two years on, no subsidised garrison shops
have been introduced as reflected by observa-
tions in some military and police cantonments
and as attested by serving members who remain
hard-pressed by the economic crisis.

“Garrison shops (will) be established to enable
all members of the defence forces who will be on
the GEMS fund (Government Employees Mu-
tual Services Fund) to have the additional ben-
efit of accessing subsidised basic commodities
that will be sold in the specialised shops located
within cantonment areas,” Information minister
Monica Mutsvangwa said back then after a cab-
inet meeting.

A member of the uniformed forces, who spoke
to The NewsHawks, said they are still waiting for
the fulfilment of the promise.

“We have seen nothing yet,” he said.
“All we have is the salary that will see us on the
black market like any other person to get the US
dollar to pay for services.”
At some of police camps, the news crew ob-
served rundown facilities, including tuckshops
operated by individuals. Ncube’s garrison and
cantonment shops were nowhere to be seen.
In most instances, those running the business-
es are charging in US dollars and their prices are
the same as those of other retail outlets, a far cry
from the 2020 promise.
Recently, some cantonments were switched
off by state power utility Zesa over unpaid bills,
piling on the misery for members of the armed
forces who stay within the camps.
The government had said the garrison shop
facility will not only benefit members of the
uniformed forces staying within the cantonment
zones, but also those staying outside.
“They can only access those coupons once
a month to buy those goods so they can be in
these cantonments or outside, it doesn’t matter,”
Finance minister Mthuli Ncube said back then.
“It is a global norm and we will not be the first
to do that. Uniformed forces have such shops in
cantonment areas as part of their service benefits.
For the teachers, there are Silo shops and they
must be subsidised. These shops have not been
rolled out fast enough for teachers, nurses, but it
will with time,” Ncube said.
No Silo shops, however, have been established.
Zimbabwe is faced with a multi-faceted cri-
sis worsened by chronic high inflation that has
eroded salaries and cash challenges that have also
affected soldiers and the police.
So dire is the situation in the barracks that the
opposition has found a campaign voice around
the welfare of the armed forces.
“We are aware of your challenges, circum-
stances and predicament in resources, livelihoods
and welfare,” Citizens’ Coalition for Change
(CCC) leader Nelson Chamisa said in his De-
fence Forces Day message.

Page 4 News NewsHawks

Issue 93, 12 August 2022

BERNARD MPOFU Govt cuts off key payments to
suppliers over parallel market
ZIMBABWE’S Treasury has suspended pay-
ments to the government’s service providers Finance ministry permanent secretary (front) George Guvamatanga
until a due diligence exercise is carried out as it
battles exchange rate volatility and rampaging These services include buying motor vehi- the market. of bank credit and resulted in those entities
inflation partly — and ironically — fuelled by cles, information communication technology In order to address the domestic inflation- being penalised. The investigations further re-
its own suppliers who dabble in the parallel systems and computers, fuel, furniture, food, vealed that suppliers of goods and services to
market. travel, cleaning services, utilities, construction ary pressures mainly attributable to the move- the government were also a major contributor
of roads and dams, alteration, demolition, in- ment in the parallel foreign exchange premi- to the depreciation of the exchange rate on
As reported by The NewsHawks last week, stallations, or repair work done under contract ums, government and the RBZ implemented the parallel market as they were using forward
government procurement and service provid- and paid mostly in full through taxpayers’ measures to deal with factors driving exchange foreign exchange rates in the pricing of their
ers — who include public works contractors funds. rate volatility and inflation. goods and services even after being paid by the
and suppliers of goods and services — are government in advance.
destabilising the foreign exchange market by Sometimes these are financed by loans, do- The measures announced by President Em-
offloading part of their staggering monthly nor funds and grants, but due to Zimbabwe’s merson Mnangagwa on 7 May 2022 managed Continued monitoring, tightening of reg-
payments, fuelling inflation. international isolation and lack of external to instill discipline and curb speculative be- ulations and imposition of punitive measures
funding because of failure to repay debts and haviour, particularly on the stock market. against offenders by the FIU is expected to go
Public procurement is central to govern- arrears, as well as financial restrictions (target- a long way in reducing speculative behaviour
ment service delivery. It involves large sums ed sanctions), foreign funding is limited. Following 7 May measures, the RBZ tem- in the economy, officials say.
of money. The sources say the government’s porarily suspended lending by banks in order
monthly operating budget is between ZW$95 Due to failure to repay arrears, the coun- to allow comprehensive investigations by the In addition, subsequent measures were tak-
billion and ZW$100 billion. try cannot borrow externally. As a result, it fi- Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) into abuses en by the RBZ to increase interest rates and
nances its capital expenditure projects through of commercial bank loan facilities by business introduce gold coins as an alternative stable
The average ZW$100 billion is split almost short-term outlays, thus creating liquidity, fu- entities. investment product for store of value and
equally between civil servants’ wage bill on elling money supply and inflation. mopping up excess liquidity from the econo-
one hand and recurrent, as well as capital ex- Officials say investigations by the FIU my.
penditures on the other. After procurement, and providing goods showed significant abuse of loan facilities by
and services, the suppliers are paid in Zimba- borrowers through arbitrage, multi-dipping, Authorities say all these measures have gone
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor bwe dollars, which they often rush to offload borrowing on behalf of third parties and di- a long way in preserving the value of the local
John Mangudya said yesterday in his monetary on the parallel market to buy hard currency version of foreign exchange obtained through currency, reducing liquidity and lowering for-
policy statement the authorities have further — United States dollars — as a store of value the forex auction system to parallel market ac- eign currency demand on the parallel market,
intervened to tackle procurement issues desta- and a more preferred medium of exchange in tivities. thus stabilising the exchange rate and prices.
bilising the market.
The probe exposed 15 entities as abusers
“On its part, government has taken steps
to review its procurement approach to min-
imise the practice of forward exchange rate
pricing that was being pursued by its suppliers
of goods and services,” he said. “The bank ap-
plauds this move by government to deal with
issues affecting exchange rate stability while at
the same time ensuring value for money.”

A letter written by George Guvamatan-
ga, addressed to senior government officials
including Martin Rushwaya, deputy chief
secretary to the President and Cabinet, and
Jonathan Wutawunashe, secretary to the Pub-
lic Service Commission, among others, says
Treasury has suspended invoices for payments
submitted as at 31 July as it reviews existing
procurement contracts.

“Treasury has noted with concern that Min-
istries, Departments and Agencies are sub-
mitting pay runs for the disbursement of cash
goods and services procured using the parallel
market exchange rates,” wrote Guvamatanga
in a letter dated 4 August.

“As you are aware, such pricing framework
by suppliers of goods and services, have not
only been causing inflationary pressures but
also fuelling parallel market activities. This has
caused instability in the foreign exchange mar-
ket characterised by unnecessary movements
on the rate resulting in exorbitant prices being
charged.”

Forward pricing by the contractors and the
buying of foreign currency from the parallel
market, according to Guvamatanga, has result-
ed in budget overruns which are piling pres-
sure on Treasury to fund expenditure which is
not aligned with revenue inflows.

“In this regard, Treasury is suspending all
payments to MDAs whilst awaiting your sub-
mission of reports of findings of due diligence
on all running and future contracts with spe-
cial focus on pricing,” the letter further reads.

“Going forward, you are required to seek
Treasury approval on contract prices in order
to ensure effective control in the utilisation
of public resources as guided by the PFM Act
[Public Finance Management].

“In addition, all payment runs submitted to
Treasury should have been reviewed and
signed off by the Accounting Officer ensuring
value for money in procurement and confirm-
ing that the pricing framework is in line with
government policy.”
Sources say the government spends about
ZW$50 billion a month (about US$110 mil-
lion at the official exchange rate) on suppliers.
This money mostly finds its way into the par-
allel market, fuelling exchange rate volatility
and inflation.
The official exchange rate was
US$1:ZW$478.6 this week. The parallel mar-
ket rate was US$1:ZW$800. However, the
rate is coming down due to a cocktail of tight
monetary policy measures and crackdown on
the market. Most of the government’s procure-
ment of goods, works and services is financed
from short-term public funds.

NewsHawks News Page 5

Issue 93, 12 August 2022

RBZ coins
just a drop
in an ocean
of liquidity

BERNARD MPOFU billion supplementary budget ahead of market on an ongoing basis in line with As a result of the measures, month- Finance minister Mthuli Ncube
the watershed 2023 general elections. demand. on-month inflation, which had in- abused bank credit, resulting in those
DESPITE the rush for gold coins and creased to 30.7% in June 2022, decel- entities being penalised. It further re-
hype surrounding the government’s lat- This will continue to increase liquid- The current ZW$1.1 trillion money erated to 25.6% in July 2022. vealed that suppliers of goods and
est move to mop up liquidity and re- ity in the market, lessening the gold stock comprises foreign currency de- services to the government were also
lease pressure on the foreign exchange coins impact. posits, 58.76%; local currency deposits, The exchange rate has also large- a major contributor to the deprecia-
market — hoping to strengthen de- 40.93%; and currency in circulation, ly stabilised during the month of July tion of the exchange rate on the paral-
mand and enhance value of the local Following the resolution by the 0.31%. 2022 following the implementation lel market as they were using forward
currency — the impact of the coins has Monetary Policy Committee on 24 of the tight monetary policy measures. foreign exchange rates in the pricing of
so far only been a drop in the ocean. June 2022 to introduce gold coins into Out of this, the gold coins have only Following the announcement by Presi- their goods and services even after be-
the market as an alternative stable in- been able to mop up 0.31% currency dent Emmerson Mnangagwa on 7 May ing paid by the government in advance.
As at 10 August 2022, a total of 4 475 vestment product for value preserva- in circulation. of far-reaching measures to stabilise the The continued monitoring, tightening
gold coins had been sold for ZW$3.7 tion, the RBZ released the first batch economy, the RBZ temporarily sus- of regulations and imposition of puni-
billion of which 90% was paid in lo- of 2 000 gold coins into the market on Yet broad money grew by 269.62% pended lending by banks in order to tive measures against offenders by the
cal currency and the balance in foreign 25 July 2022. It was due to release the on an annual basis, an increase from allow comprehensive investigations by FIU is designed to curb speculative
currency, according to Reserve Bank of second batch during the week starting 203.48% realised in June 2021. The lo- the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) activities in the economy. Lending
Zimbabwe governor John Mangudya. 1 August. cal currency component of broad mon- into the abuse of commercial bank loan rates have been continuously reviewed
ey grew by 172.77% while foreign cur- facilities by business entities. since the beginning of the year in line
However, considering that broad The gold coins are being sold rency deposits increased by 392.32%, with exchange rate and inflation de-
money increased by 15.25% to ZW$1 through authorised dealers, the RBZ also reflecting movements in the ex- The investigations by the FIU velopments. The bank policy rate was
119.7 billion (ZW$1.1 trillion) in June and its subsidiaries, Aurex (Pvt) Ltd change rate and increase in exports. showed significant abuse of loan facil- increased from 60% in January 2022
2022, compared to ZW$973.5 billion and Homelink (Pvt) Ltd. ities by borrowers through arbitrage, to 80% at the end of April 2022 and
recorded in May 2022, the impact of The first half of the year 2022 saw multi-dipping, borrowing on behalf of further to 200% on 24 June 2022. The
the gold coins is insignificant so far. They can be bought back or sold emerging inflationary pressures in the third parties and diversion of foreign increase in the policy rate and its align-
after 180 days at the instance of the economy driven by external and do- exchange obtained through the foreign ment to the minimum lending rate is
The increase reflected expansion of holder. mestic factors. exchange auction system to parallel calculated to reduce speculative bor-
ZW$98.75 billion and ZW$49.40 market activities. rowing and stabilise the exchange rate.
billion in foreign currency deposits and The price of the gold coins is deter- The government and the central
local currency component, respectively. mined by the London Bullion Market bank reacted by implementing bold The probe revealed that 15 entities
The amount of money mopped up by Association PM Fix gold price plus a fiscal and monetary policy measures to
gold coins represents only 0.31% of the margin of 5% to cover the production stabilise the situation.
liquidity in the market — currency in and distribution costs.
circulation.
On the date of its release on 25 July,
As previously revealed by The New- the price of the gold coin was US$1
sHawks, the government spends about 823.80 or ZW$805 745.35 in local
ZW$100 billion a month on the civil currency.
servants’ wage bill and public procure-
ment suppliers of goods and services. Fluctuations will be experienced on
the US dollar and Zimdollar prices of
Authorities have accused govern- the gold coins as a result of the move-
ment suppliers — who get about ment in the international price of gold
ZW$50 billion a month on average and the exchange rate — creating arbi-
— of fuelling exchange rate volatility trage opportunities.
and inflation by dabbling in the black
market. While the government hopes the
high demand for the gold coins will
Growing pressure from a restive assist in mopping up liquidity from
public service, a weakening domestic the market and thus strengthen the de-
currency and rising inflation recently mand and enhance the value of the lo-
forced Zimbabwe’s Finance minister cal currency, their financial weight and
Mthuli Ncube to announce a ZW$929 impact have been inconsequential.

The RBZ says it will continue to
release additional gold coins into the

The price of the gold coins is determined by the London Bullion Market Association PM Fix

Page 6 News NewsHawks

Issue 93, 12 August 2022

BERNARD MPOFU Gold coins rush propelled
by arbitrage calculations
WHILE Zimbabwean authorities recently re-
leased gold coins to encourage individuals, cor- RBZ sells gold coins through authorised dealers, banks, and its subsidiaries such as Homelink (Private) Limited. Though bought using Zimdollar, they will be sold
porates and institutional investors to buy them in hard curency (below).
as a store of value and hedge against exchange
rate risk and inflation, as well as mop up excess tial release, 25 July 2022, was US$1 823.80 or opportunities. ited and Homelink (Private Limited.
liquidity in the market, the move also has unin- ZW$805 745.35 in local currency, which was Following the resolution by the Monetary However, there have been mixed feelings
tended consequences: arbitrage. the official exchange rate.
Policy Committee on 24 June to introduce gold about the introduction of the gold coins, with
Traders are arbitraging between buying the Fluctuations will be experienced on the US coins into the market as an alternative stable some observers saying that they were elitist and
gold coins in Zimbabwe dollars and selling dollar and Zimdollar prices as a result of the investment product for value preservation, the excluded low-income groups. The coins entered
them in United States dollars. Although official- movement in the international price of gold RBZ sold the coins through authorised dealers, the market at US$1 823.83 per piece, which is
ly the coins will be sold after 180 days, transac- and the exchange rate, thus providing arbitrage banks, and its subsidiaries Aurex (Private) Lim- far beyond the reach of many Zimbabweans.
tions are already happening.

At least 90% of the coins have been bought
in local currency at the official rate, which is
cheaper. They will be sold in hard currency.

Individuals, companies and organisations are
buying the coins as a store of value to get rid
of the fast-depreciating Zimbabwe dollars and
hedge against exchange rate risk and inflation,
while also seeking to benefit from arbitrage op-
portunities.

The official exchange rate was
US$1:ZW$478.6 yesterday. The parallel mar-
ket rate US$1:ZW$750.

Inflation climbed to 256.9% in July, from
191.6% in the prior month — June. It reached
its highest point since February of 2021.

A gold coin is being bought for an average
of US$1 000 using local currency at the official
exchange rate and sold for US$1 800.

Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor
John Mangudya yesterday confirmed in his lat-
est Monetary Policy Statement that 90% of the
gold coins have been bought through local cur-
rency.

“As at 10 August 2022, 4 475 gold coins had
been sold realising ZW$3.7 billion of which
90% was paid in local currency and the bal-
ance in foreign currency, and evenly distributed
throughout the agents,” Mangudya said.

This is consistent with the sentiment and cal-
culations of different arbitrageurs.

Arbitrage over the gold coins is rife largely
because of different currencies and exchange
rates used to buy and sell them — officially after
180 days, and face value differentials in differ-
ent markets.

In economics and finance, arbitrage is a prac-
tice of taking advantage of a difference in prices
in two or more markets; striking a combination
of matching deals to capitalise on the difference,
the profit being the difference between the mar-
ket prices at which the unit is traded.

Put differently, it is an investment strategy in
which an investor simultaneously buys and sells
an asset in different markets to take advantage
of a price difference to generate a profit.

While price differences are typically small
and short-lived, the returns can be impressive
when multiplied by a large volume.

Just like in the trade of shares or currencies,
arbitrage dealers sell for a higher price in one
market ,while buying for a lower price in a dif-
ferent market in order to make a profit quickly.
Financial arbitrage as a short-term trading strat-
egy takes advantage of price inefficiencies.

Arbitrage is commonly leveraged by hedge
funds and other sophisticated investors, but in
Zimbabwe currency traders are the biggest ar-
bitrageurs.

RBZ released a further 2 000 gold coins into
the market during the week beginning 1 Au-
gust, following a successful launch on 25 July
during which all the 1 500 coins introduced
were sold out.

The central bank launched the gold coins as a
store of value amid the continued depreciation
of the Zimbabwe dollar, and buyers wasted no
time in procuring them.

“A total (of ) 1 500 gold coins were sold by
the bank’s agents during the first week of their
release into the market, with 85% having been
bought in local currency and the balance of
15% in foreign currency,” Mangudya said re-
cently.

Monetary authorities say Mosi-oa-Tunya
gold coins are an instrument that the RBZ was
using to mop up excess liquidity which was in
the hands of a few contractors, institutional in-
vestors and pension funds.

The price of the gold coins is determined by
the London Bullion Market Association PM Fix
gold price plus a margin of 5% to cover the pro-
duction and distribution costs.

The price of the gold coin on the date of ini-

NewsHawks News Page 7

Issue 93, 12 August 2022

MOSES MATENGA Zim international remittance
figures expose PVO Bill folly
THE controversial Private Voluntary Organisa-
tions Amendment Bill (PVO Bill), which seeks The PVO Bill is currently undergoing its Second Reading in the Assembly and is likely to have ripple effects on developmental programmes(below).
to give the government more power to regulate
activities of non-governmental organisations warned the proposed law will have a far-reach- others,” the report says. of 2021, giving cumulative receipts of US$850.2
and trusts, is tantamount to economic sabotage, ing negative impact and implications not just for “For instance, according to the 2022 nation- million for the year.
given the amounts of money that come through civil society organisations, but also for govern-
channels the authorities are trying to throttle for ment development programmes and the poor al budget statement, during the period January “In 2022, support from the development
political reasons. who rely on aid for survival and access to critical to September 2021, the country received de- partners is projected at US$761.5 million, bro-
social services. velopment assistance amounting to US$647.8 ken down as US$274.3 million and US$487.2
In his Monetary Policy Statement yesterday, million, of which US$401.9 million was from million from multilateral and bilateral partners,
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor “NGOs have also played a critical role in bilateral partners and US$245.9 million from respectively. Importantly, a lot of the gains that
John Mangudya showed the magnitude and im- bridging the huge financing gap in the critical multilateral partners. have been registered in key health and social in-
portance of the money coming into the econo- sectors of the economy such as social protection, dicators have been on account of the partnership
my through NGOs and international organisa- education, health, water and sanitation among “A further US$202.4 million in development between the government and NGOs.”
tions. assistance is projected during the fourth quarter

“As at 30 June 2022, total international re-
mittances amounted to US$1.372 billion, an
increase of 23% from the US$1.113 billion re-
corded during the same period in 2021,” Man-
gudya said.

“Of the total amount, diaspora remittances
amounted to US$797 million, a 23% increase
from US$650 million received during the same
period in 2021. International remittances re-
ceived through the normal banking system on
behalf of International Organisations amounted
to US$575 million, an increase of 24% from
US$463 million recorded during the same pe-
riod in 2021.”

International remittances comprise transfers
by Zimbabweans in the diaspora and interna-
tional organisations. The Bill was published in
November last year and provoked a storm of
protest from civil society and communities.

Veritas, an organisation of lawyers which
monitors legislative processes, analysed the Bill
and found it to be “unconstitutional, inimical to
freedom of association, ill-conceived and badly
drafted”.

However, the Bill went through its first read-
ing in the Zanu PF-dominated National As-
sembly and was passed as constitutional by the
Parliamentary Legal Committee. It is currently
undergoing its Second Reading.

Recently, on 8 June, the minister of Public
Service, Labour and Social Welfare published a
long list of amendments he proposes to put for-
ward during the Bill’s committee stage.

The amendments will delete provisions in the
Bill which would have allowed the registrar of
PVOs to require trustees of any trust either to
forswear their right to collect funds for charita-
ble purposes or to register their trust as a PVO.

In place of these provisions, however, the
amendments will insert a new section 6 in the
PVO Act which will:

· Require any trust that collects funds for
charitable purposes to register under the Act;

· Prohibit anyone from collecting funds
from the public except in accordance with the
Act – which means that only registered PVOs
will be allowed to do so;

· Debar unregistered PVOs from receiving
funds from the state,

· Permit the registrar to require any trust
to get itself registered as a PVO, and

· Make trustees and their trusts jointly
liable to criminal penalties for failure to comply
with the new section.

While the new provisions are clearer than the
vague ones they replace, they will give the reg-
istrar — that is government — greater power to
control trusts.

Veritas says the new provisions are largely
unconstitutional because they limit freedom of
association and any limitations on that freedom
must not only be fair, reasonable and justifiable,
they must also be necessary in a democratic soci-
ety and, in addition, they must meet two further
tests:

· They must not impose greater restrictions
on freedom of association than are necessary to
achieve their purpose, and

· There must be no other less restrictive
means of achieving the purpose of the limita-
tions.

The new provisions cannot be said to meet
these tests.

Earlier warnings had shown that the ill-con-
ceived Bill could cost Zimbabwe close to
US$800 million in development funding this
year — with devastating social and economic
consequences — if the government persists with
its repressive legislative agenda.

A report, titled Punching Holes To A Fragile
Economy?, compiled by Prosper Chitambara,
Clinton Musonza and Phillan Zamchiya, had

Page 8 News NewsHawks

Illegal miners Issue 93, 12 August 2022
strain Zim-SA

diplomatic
relations

BERNARD MPOFU al Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) said Shava term review of the Bi-National Commission to be South Africa’s Police minister Bheki Cele
and Pandor would co-chair the high-level meet- held in Pretoria on Wednesday, 10 August 2022,” ment announced that it would not be extending
DIPLOMATIC relations between Zimbabwe ing. Dirco said. the Zimbabwe Exemption Permits (ZEP), which
and South Africa may soon reach a new low, amid lapsed on 31 December 2021.
concerns in Pretoria that illegal gold miners from “At the invitation of Dr Naledi Pandor, Minis- “During the visit, the two ministers will also
Mozambique, Lesotho and Zimbabwe are en- ter of International Relations and Cooperation of have an opportunity to share information and The almost 200 000 permit-holders were given
gaged in violent criminal activities. the Republic of South Africa, Mr Frederick Sha- exchange views on bilateral relations and other a 12-month grace period to regularise their stay
va, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International matters of mutual interest.” under another category of permits.
It is estimated that over three million Zimba- Trade of the Republic of Zimbabwe will pay an
bweans have emigrated to the neighbouring coun- official visit to South Africa to co-chair the mid- Numerous Zimbabweans living in South Afri- South Africa’s government announced that
try in search of better employment prospects. The ca are in limbo, after the South African govern- those who are not successful will have to leave that
undocumented immigrants are working in met- country or face deportation.
ropolitan cities, farms and mines.

Just this week, there protests in some of South
Africa’s mineral-rich towns targeting the illegal
miners known as zama-zamas.

David Makhura, the Gauteng premier, says
criminal activities committed by illegal miners are
a question of national security.

Makhura was quoted by South Africa’s televi-
sion channel Enca addressing the people of Kagi-
so on Sunday at a crime imbizo alongside Police
minister Bheki Cele.

The meeting followed the violent demonstra-
tions in the West Rand township this week, which
were sparked by the gang rape of eight women at a
mine dump in Krugersdorp late last month.

Most of the zama-zamas in South Africa,
Makhura says, are from specific countries in the
Southern African Development Community
(Sadc) region and this is known by the police.

“This is information that is not a secret. There
are those who come from Lesotho . . . Zimba-
bwe . . . and there are those who come from Mo-
zambique. There are three countries. To say this
means we as South Africa also have to work with
those Sadc countries,” Makhura said.

“We can’t deal with this issue of illegal mining
the same way we’ve been dealing with it again. We
can’t keep doing this . . . and they are now gaining
more confidence in that they are removing people
from houses.”

The rise in violent crime is now a cause for
concern both at home. The ongoing protests
come against a backdrop of a visit by Zimbabwe’s
Foreign Affairs and International Trade minister
Frederick Shava to South Africa. Shava is leading
Zimbabwe’s delegation in Pretoria, attending the
mid-term review of the Bi-National Commission
(BNC) at the invitation of International Relations
and Cooperation minister Naledi Pandor.

South Africa’s the Department of Internation-

NewsHawks News Page 9

Issue 93, 12 August 2022

US$3bn Wenela miners’ benefits unclaimed

NATHAN GUMA

MORE than R47 billion (US$3 billion) in un- Most migrant workers, including Zimbabweans, have been subject to occupational injuries of varying magnitude.
claimed benefits belonging to over 4.8 million
migrant workers, including Zimbabweans, who Trust. They are a grouping that was created to tries that contributed labour to South Africa,” Some countries working with the trust have al-
contributed labour to South Africa’s mining in- administer compensation to the entire Sadc re- said Lungelwe Mkhwananzi, president of the ready had their compensation processes attended
dustry have remained unclaimed in the neigh- gion. The trust is going to be representing coun- Ex-Wenela Miners’ Association of Zimbabwe. to, The NewsHawks has learnt.
bouring country, a report has revealed.

The fund is meant to compensate workers who
sustained occupational injuries and diseases.

Many of them were employed under the Wit-
watersrand Native Labour Association (WNLA),
also known as “Wenela”.

South Africa has been reliant on migrant la-
bour for a long time. According to the World
Bank, over one-third of its mineworkers came
from neighbouring countries, namely Botswana,
Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Na-
mibia and Zimbabwe during the Covid-19 era.

Currently, there are approximately half a mil-
lion active mineworkers in South Africa, with
about 40% coming from neighbouring countries,
according to the latest report by the Southern Af-
rica Resource Watch (SARW) titled “Mapping of
Mineworkers and the Portability of Social Bene-
fits in the Sadc Region”.

The number of ex-mineworkers rose from
about two million in 2014 to 4.8 million in
2022, thereby expanding the mining community
at large, but most are failing to access the com-
pensation.

Findings by SARW show that unclaimed ben-
efits have been accumulating exponentially, while
paid benefits have dropped drastically between
2009 and 2018.

The highest pay-off was in 2014 with paid ben-
efits reaching R7 760 000, against a total of R36
100 000 million unclaimed benefit assets for the
same year, according to the report.

From there, the number of unclaimed ben-
efits fluctuated from R3 810 000, R4 290 000,
R5 240 000 and R1 830 000 between 2015 and
2018.

The number of mining community members
with unclaimed benefits has also continued to
increase, while that of paid beneficiaries has con-
tinually dwindled.

According to the report, there was a 3.15 mil-
lion increase in workers with unpaid benefits
between 2009, and 2018, while paid beneficia-
ries rose by 700 000 from a paltry 200 000 to
900 000 in the same period.

“Numerous challenges have been implicated in
the inaccessibility of the social security benefits in
South Africa. Lack of knowledge and awareness
by migrant workers and their dependents regard-
ing the social security benefits to which they are
entitled, available schemes and the procedure to
access them. Most employers have been using
an ineffective record system by employers, espe-
cially in the past. At the point of employment,
minimum information was collected about each
employee’s contact details and dependants, which
makes it difficult to trace them when the need
arises,” the report reads.

“There is a risk that several migrant minework-
ers could be retrenched, due to Covid-19, and the
pool of unclaimed benefits is likely to increase,
adding to the billions of unclaimed social secu-
rity benefits reported each year by social security
funds and compensation schemes in South Afri-
ca.”

In addition: “Excessive and cumbersome doc-
umentation and paperwork are required by the
different schemes and social security funds. The
application process is time-consuming and ex-
pensive, particularly for ex-miners and depen-
dents of deceased miners, for example, transport
costs and at times engagement of consultants or
advisors,” part of the report reads.

Most migrant workers, including Zimbabwe-
ans, have been subject to occupational injuries of
varying magnitude, infectious and non-infectious
occupational diseases such as tuberculosis and sil-
icosis, as well as deprivation of certain basic hu-
man rights that negatively impact workers’ health
and psychosocial well-being.

Zimbabwe, being a major labour exporter to
South Africa, with an estimated three million
people resident in the neighbouring country, has
been negotiating for repatriation of the compen-
sation fund.

“We are yet to hold a meeting with Tsiamiso

Page 10 News NewsHawks

Issue 93, 12 August 2022

MOSES MATENGA I have royal blood: Chiwenga

VICE-PRESIDENT Constantino Chiwenga last Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga
week told his in-laws that he has royal blood, giv-
en that his grandfather was the last Monomota- “We think we have got the genes, longevity links with Ndebele royalty, saying: “The Presi- “At the Battle of Pupu, he is the one who threw
pa, while his family has ties with Ndebele royalty, genes. Two weeks ago we went to Hwedza, our dent’s grandfather, Mubengu, was taken when he the spear that killed the last white man there.
a revelation observers said was an attempt to seek home, to congratulate my auntie, my father’s sis- was a little boy by Mzilikazi and was kept at the That is why you hear the President say he wants
validation to lead the country and likely confir- ter who turned 100 years, my father’s sister.” royal kraal until he was put in the Mbizo regi- to build a statue for general Mtshana Khumalo.”
mation that he still holds ambitions to take over ment.”
as Zimbabwe’s leader at some point. Chiwenga also said that Mnangagwa also has

In a 15-minute video recording while address-
ing his new in-laws, relatives of his wife, Mini-
yothabo Baloyi, Chiwenga said his family has
always been associated with leadership and des-
tined to live long because of “longevity genes.”

Chiwenga is widely tipped to challenge Pres-
ident Emmerson Mnangagwa at the October
Zanu PF elective congress.

“From where I was born, our great grandfather
was the last Monomutapa and the sister was the
Chief in Nkayi and she was married to Mzilikazi
as one of the wives,” Chiwenga revealed.

“So it goes on like that. I had to tell the story
to my beautiful wife,” he added, saying together
with his children, they had gone to Tanzania for
the family to understand the history that led to
the family settling in present-day Zimbabwe.

Chiwenga said Zimbabweans should perse-
vere, as the end to their misery was nigh.

“We went into the wilderness for over 40 years,
but we did not get to the objective,” he said.

“We now need to get to the objective; we have
been in the wilderness for a long time like the
Jews.”

The former army boss, who played an instru-
mental role in the military coup that toppled
the late former president Robert Mugabe in
November, 2017, has kept his ambition to chal-
lenge Mnangagwa in the forthcoming congress
a closely guarded secret, but his close associates
confirmed that he will throw his hat in the ring.

Groundwork is in progress as seen by increas-
ing factional fights in the party.

Insiders said Mnangagwa and Chiwenga had
a “gentlemen’s agreement” after the coup that the
Zanu PF leader would lead for one term then
handover to Chiwenga.

However, those close to Chiwenga said Mnan-
gagwa is now reneging on the agreement by re-
fusing to hand over power, a development that
has strained relations between the two.

In his speech, Chiwenga also took time to tell
the new in-laws how he has taken Baloyi to coun-
tries and places of historical significance while
giving her background on African history.

“My grandmother was not born here, she was
born Ezansi and she came as a baby,” Chiwenga
said.

“In 1888 when Robert Moffat came, she is the
first one who gave him water in a caravan. When
you go to the State House today, you go behind
the State House, there is a door which faces the
hill, if you go through that door and straight be-
hind, there is a small little hut. That is my grand-
mother’s hut. That is her history and died at 122
years,” Chiwenga added.

Insiders say President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his vice had a “gentlemen’s agreement” after the coup that the Zanu PF leader would lead for one term then handover to Chiwenga.

NewsHawks News Page 11

Issue 93, 12 August 2022

Job Sikhala writes
emotional letter to
AU on persecution

RUVIMBO MUCHENJE The lawmaker had engaged international
lawyers Amsterdam & Partners from London
INCARCERATED member of Parliament for and New York to represent him in the matter,
Zengeza West, Job Sikhala, has written to the but they were barred from representing him in
African Union, regional bodies and internation- the country.
al human rights organisations about the deteri-
orating political situation and collapse in rule of Sikhala has a running case for allegedly in-
law in Zimbabwe. citing public violence by calling for the 31 July
2020 protests.
Sikhala’s nine-page letter is addressed to the
African Union, Southern African Development In the emotional letter, Sikhala accuses Pres-
Community, Human Rights Watch and Am- ident Emmerson Mnangagwa of influencing
nesty International. He bemoans political perse- judicial decisions against political opponents
cution, citing his prolonged pre-trial detention unlike his predecessor Robert Mugabe.
and repeated denial of bail.
“The late former President, Robert Mugabe’s
“The world cannot remain silent when the government arrested me 60 times until the
people of Zimbabwe are under siege. There is time of his downfall. Despite the 60 arrests I
total breakdown of laws in Zimbabwe that peo- was aquitted of all politically motivated charges
ple are being thrown into prison without fair against me. This was so because, Robert Mug-
hearing. The right to a fair trial is a universal abe was not one to interfere with criminal jus-
concept of law and the pillar in international tice system neither did he create funny courts
law. The people of Zimbabwe are denied the to persecute opponents. The judiciary in the
right to a fair trial. We are under political perse- criminal justice system operated independent
cution passed as trials,” he wrote. of the Executive. Furthermore Mugabe had no
command structure to dictate what judicial of-
Sikhala has been detained at Chikurubi Max- ficers must do against his opponents,” he wrote.
imum Security Prison for more than 60 days,
awaiting trial on charges of inciting violence Sikhala says this meddling in judicial affairs is
and obstructing justice. part of Mnangagwa’s plan to silence dissenters.

He was arrested on 14 June 2022, alongside “My current two manufactured charges by
Chitungwiza North MP Godfrey Sithole and the government are before this court, a develop-
14 others from Nyatsime for demanding justice ment that has eroded public confidence in the
for slain Citizens’ Coalition for Change activist criminal justice system in Zimbabwe, the rule
Moreblessing Ali. of law has totally broken down here in Zim-
babwe to the extent that an accused person in
Ali is yet to be buried because her distraught North Korea will expect to get justice from its
family is demanding that Sikhala, who is the courts than an accused person in Zimbabwe,”
family lawyer, be released from prison first. he wrote.

Ali’s family says it has been hounded away The outspoken MP accused Mnangagwa of
from its Chitungwiza home by Zanu PF thugs. crushing critics, making him a more vicious dic-
tator than his predecessor.
“Now is the time for the world to speak
against the excesses of the Zimbabwe govern- “Since the overthrow of the late President
ment against its citizens,” Sikhala said. Robert Mugabe in 2017, Zimbabwe has been
turned into a nightmare for opposition politi-
He is appealing for help as his two bids for cal persons. More than 20 people have been ar-
freedom have hit a snag, with the courts saying rested and charged with treason. This is three
granting him bail is risky as he is likely to in- times more than all persons charged with the
cite the public to commit public violence. He same offence in Mugabe’s more than 37 years
was denied bail by Harare magistrate Gibson of reign. At the present more than 100 leaders
Mandaza and High Court judge Justice Lucy of opposition are facing various charges in the
Mungwari in the case in which he is accused government’s courts of law,”
of inciting public violence. The court felt that
releasing him and his co-accused is risky as the “What makes even more bizarre is that all
duo is likely to incite violence. senior opposition political leaders, prominent
journalists, civil society leaders, lawyers regard-
Magistrate Stanford Mambanje also denied ed as critics of government and social activists
Sikhala bail in the case in which the lawmaker is are being dragged to the specialised court, called
accused of obstruction. the Anti-Corruption Court,” he added.

He is yet to get a ruling on his third bid for Sikhala and Sithole will submit a fresh bail
bail from the Harare magistrates’ court on the application at the High Court on 15 August.
latest charges.

Zengeza West MP Job Sikhala has been detained at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison for more than
60 days and accuses President Emmerson Mnangagwa of influencing judicial decisions against political
opponents..

Page 12 News NewsHawks

Issue 93, 12 August 2022

Wiwa's epistle of engagement from Amsterdam

NewsHawks News Page 13

Issue 93, 12 August 2022

‘Nation fails troubled Marry Mubaiwa’

MOSES MATENGA find a solution to Mubaiwa’s situation, but has l Mnangagwa, Parly ignore pleas
not received feedback.
VOCAL Zimbabwean civil society activists Marry Mubaiwa
and organisations based outside the coun- Sources said the organisation was asked by
try say the country has let down Vice-Presi- the Mubaiwas not to pursue the matter as the
dent Constantino Chiwenga’s ex-wife Marry family is pursuing dialogue to help the situa-
Mubaiwa by remaining silent while her right tion.
to medical care is being violated.
The human rights defenders also petitioned
The former top model is in critical condi- First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa, the Southern
tion and being tossed around the courts in a African Development Community, the United
spectacle described by observers as heart-rend- Nations Women and several other institutions
ing, cruel and unacceptable. to stop what they see as the flagrant violation
of her rights.
Local organisations have remained quiet on
the matter, fearing retribution from the pow- Mubaiwa has been unwell since the dead-
erful Vice-President, a former military com- ly 2018 White City Stadium grenade blast in
mander who has also been accused of blocking Bulawayo and, according to a medical report
Mubaiwa’s access to her children. by specialist trauma and orthopaedic surgeon
John Nyahunzvi, the former top model was on
The Mubaiwa family has tried everything, post-revision surgery for a right humerus shaft
including engaging Chiwenga on the matter, refracture and her condition was critical.
to ensure she gets her passport, but in vain.
In April, Nyahunzvi said her condition has
The Restoration for Human Rights necessitated hospitalisation and stabilisation
(ROHR) in the United Kingdom recently with a plan for emergent right high above el-
wrote to President Emmerson Mnangagwa to bow amputation as soon a she is deemed med-
intervene and facilitate that his deputy’s former ically stable.
wife be afforded an opportunity to travel for
medical care outside the country as her health Mubaiwa was convicted for violating the
condition continues deteriorating. Marriages Act after lying that her former
husband had consented to solemnise their
Activists also weighed in, saying it cannot wedding while he was receiving medical care
remain business as usual while Mubaiwa is suf- in India. She was slapped with a wholly sus-
fering. “It’s not business as usual when Marry’s pended one-year sentence and ordered to pay a
condition continues to deteriorate,” human ZW$60 000 fine by magistrate Lazini Ncube,
rights activist Vongayi Mufara told The New- who also felt she would be unable to perform
sHawks this week. community service due to ill-health. Mubai-
wa’s family last week said they were losing hope
“I am not going to wake up one day and as the former top model is in urgent need of
wish I had spoken out. It’s depressing to see the her passport to seek medical attention abroad.
extent to which our courts are captured and
one will wonder if Marry will ever get justice “Grave injustice is being perpetrated against
for the way our courts and VP is treating her.” Marry and, if we do not act now, she will lose
her life,” the Restoration for Human Rights
She said Mubaiwa was being used as a weap- said in a petition to Mnangagwa.
on to intimidate those who may want to criti-
cize the regime. “If you are not careful, Marry’s matter will
rank very high amongst those that will define
“As an activist, it is my duty to raise aware- your legacy. Is such a glaring case of abuse of
ness and advocate for Marry to see her children power against a mother and, by extension, her
and to be allowed to get medical treatment innocent children, what you want to be re-
outside Zimbabwe because we all know that membered for?”
our health system has collapsed,” she added.
“Marry’s case is one of the most despicable
She said it was disheartening to see Mubai- human rights violations to happen under the
wa in such a state while women and human ‘new dispensation’.”
rights organisation turn a blind eye.
The human rights organisation also said the
A video that went viral last week showed First Lady must use her influence to demand
how Mubaiwa’s health condition has became justice for Mubaiwa at a time women’s groups
dire. Mubaiwa was last week issued with a war- in Zimbabwe have remained quiet as they are
rant of arrest after failing to attend court due evidently afraid of Chiwenga.
to ill-health. This week, Mubaiwa appeared
in court in a wheelchair to face attempted “The mission of your (Angel of Hope) foun-
murder charges with Harare magistrate Feresi dation is to provide access to healthcare. Why
Chakanyuka later cancelling the warrant. are you not advocating for Marry to have ac-
cess to medical treatment either in Zimbabwe
Mubaiwa is accused of attempting to kill or outside the country?” a letter to Auxillia
Chiwenga while he was hospitalised in a South Mnangagwa reads.
African hospital.
“What message are you sending to the na-
Her lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa broke down tion? Are you saying it is okay for women to be
last week after the Harare court issued a war- treated like this?”
rant of arrest after Mubaiwa failed to get into
the courtroom due to ill-health that has seen “We look forward to your intervention,
her wetting herself. mother. You cannot just ignore such a glaring
case of abuse and neglect,” the organisation
The RORH also wrote to Speaker of Parlia- wrote.
ment Jacob Mudenda in a desperate attempt to

Actvist Vongayi Mufara Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda

Page 14 News NewsHawks

Issue 93, 12 August 2022

Marry’s harrowing experience in pictures

NewsHawks News Page 15

Issue 93, 12 August 2022

MOSES MATENGA Authorities target Mnangagwa
critics via outdated legislation
ZIMBABWE is once again witnessing multiple
arrests of citizens under a controversial law crit- . . . dozens in the dock for insulting President
ics say is designed to impart President Emmerson
Mnangagwa with imperial powers. President Emmerson Mnangagwa

The number of people arrested under Mnan-
gagwa’s so-called insult law has exceeded 60.

The latest citizens accused of undermining the
President are Cuthbert Mutero (49) from Mt
Darwin in Mashonaland West province together
with Admire Mupemhi. They join a long list of
those charged for allegedly contravening section
33 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Re-
form) Act which deals with undermining the au-
thority of the President or insulting the President.

The discredited law was a major source of crit-
icism for former president Robert Mugabe, but-
tressing his reputation as a dictator as over 200
were arrested between 2010 and 2014.

While many felt Mnangagwa’s ascendancy
would lead to the repealing of such laws, the re-
ality is that the new regime, which prides itself as
a “new dispensation”, has perpetuated the instru-
ments of oppression.

Mutero and Mupemhi, the latest to fall afoul of
the draconian law, are accused of using unprint-
able words to insult Mnangagwa.

This was after Zanu PF activists allegedly or-
chestrated a siege on Mutero’s complex in July.

Mutero, his lawyers say, reported the matter to
the police who later summoned him and charged
him with insulting the President.

He went to the police in the company of Mu-
pemhi, who was also arrested. Mutero now has
two cases, one as a complainant and the other as
an accused.

Nyasha Machirori, of the Zimbabwe Human
Rights NGO Forum, is representing the two.

Victims of the law include journalists, students
and opposition activists, who have been accused
of undermining Mnangagwa’s authority.

Journalist Mduduzi Mathuthu was in June
charged with contravening section 33 of the
Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act
which deals with undermining the authority of
the President or insulting the President after al-
legedly taking to microblogging site relating to
Mnangagwa’s address when he suspended lending
by banks to both private companies and govern-
ment departments.

Statistics show that the number of people ar-
rested and charged with undermining the author-
ity of the President continue to rise in Zimbabwe
under Mnangagwa.

In March this year, a 48-year-old woman, Ma-
ria Mapfumo from Shurugwi, Midlands province,
was arrested after calling Mnangagwa a murderer
during an altercation with Bernard Dangi, a Zanu
PF councillor.

Again in March, Mehlo Mpala, a 42-year-old
train engineer from Hwange was accused of act-
ing unlawfully after he criticised Nyambe Mathe,
a war veteran and the Zanu PF ward chairperson,
saying the President was causing a lot of suffering
among Zimbabweans.

Prosecutors alleged that Mpala told Mathe that
he was wearing a good pair of shoes and trousers
except for the cap and T-shirt which he said was
“rubbish” stuff and that President Mnangagwa’s
picture on his party regalia was not good.

Others accused of undermining the authority
of the President include Tinotenda Majuru (24)
from Bindura, Clapaton Redi, a 42-year-old man
from Mbare, Leonard Mutsa Mukuya from Seke,
among many others.

Several experts, including constitutional law
don, Professor Lovemore Madhuku, have de-
scribed the law as outdated.

Journalist Mduduzi Mathuthu Constitutional lawyer Lovemore Madhuku

Page 16 News NewsHawks

Issue 93, 12 August 2022

BERNARD MPOFU Forex loan appetite surges

APPETITE for foreign currency-denominat- RBZ says Zimbabwe’s banking sector remained safe and sound.
ed loans increased during the first six months
of the year, constituting nearly 70% of loans
advanced by Zimbabwe’s banking sector as
the economy switches back to dollarisation,
a central bank report has shown.

Astronomically high inflation has weak-
ened the buying power of the Zimbabwe
dollar, forcing business to charge goods and
services in hard currency.

According to the Monetary Policy State-
ment (MPS), the banking sector recorded
unaudited aggregate profits of ZW$181.25
billion for the half-year ended 30 June 2022,
a 12-fold increase from aggregate profits of
ZW$15.09 billion reported in the corre-
sponding period in 2021.

“As at 30 June 2022, foreign currency-de-
nominated loans constituted 65.87% of to-
tal banking sector loans, an increase from
36.87% reported as at 31 December 2021.
77,” the MPS reads.

“Growth in banking sector income was
largely spurred by non-interest income,
which constituted 79.03% of total income
[2021: 51.81%]. Non-interest income com-
prised mainly revaluation gains from invest-
ment properties (25.77%), fees and commis-
sions (21.47%), as well as translation gains
on foreign currency-denominated assets
(20.38%).”

Aggregate banking sector loans and ad-
vances, according to central bank figures, in-
creased 2.64 times from ZW$229.94 billion
as at 31 December 2021 to ZW$603.14 bil-
lion as at 30 June 2022, largely attributed to
the translation of foreign currency-denomi-
nated loans.

During the half year to 30 June 2022, in-
terest income from loans and advances con-
tributed 18.22% compared to 40.96% of the
total income in June 2021.

“During the period under review, fi-
nancial intermediation as measured by
the loan-to-deposit ratio, improved from
48.27% recorded as at 31 December 2021 to
53.69% as at 30 June 2022. The banking sec-
tor continued to support the productive sec-
tors of the economy as evidenced by loans to
the productive sectors constituting 76.29%
of total loans as at 30 June 2022, the report
reads.

“Banking sector asset quality remained
satisfactory. As at 30 June 2022, the average
non-performing loans (NPLs)-to-total-loans
ratio for the banking sector was 1.50%,
against the generally acceptable international
threshold of 5%.”

The banking sector, according to Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Man-
gudya, remained safe and sound with demon-
strable capacity for increased support for the
recovery of the economy, notwithstanding
the challenges in the operating environment.

As at 30 June 2022, the banking sector
comprised 13 commercial banks, five (5)
building societies, and one (1) savings bank.
In addition, there were 183 credit-only mi-
crofinance institutions, eight (8) licensed
deposit-taking microfinance institutions and
four development financial institutions un-
der the purview of the central bank.

Male-dominated lending sidelines women

BERNARD MPOFU try System registered a total of 1,126,411 enqui- rowers were delinquent compared to 7.27 % for pilot testing of the Collateral Registry System
ries as at 30 June 2022, up from 980,187 as at male borrowers.” with stakeholders during the month of August
NEARLY seven out of 10 loans in Zimbabwe 31 December 2021 reflecting increased usage as 2022. The Collateral Registry system is expect-
were taken out by males, amid concern that the adoption of the Credit Registry System im- The sustained availability and growth of the ed to centralise the database of movable assets
females remain financially excluded from the proves over time. credit registry system, according to monetary accepted by banks and MFIs as collateral for se-
mainsteam economy, a central bank report has authorities, continues to play a critical role in cured loans. The new system will facilitate access
shown. “The Credit Registry had 541 488 active loan the provision of credit and effective manage- to credit and encourage economic activity and
contracts as at 30 June 2022, with individuals’ ment and ongoing monitoring of credit in the contribute towards stimulating growth to the
Zimbabwe is currently running a credit regis- records accounting for 97.93% of the records,” sector. various economic sectors.”
try system which profiles the creditworthiness of the statement reads.
citizens as the authorities seek to improve finan- “The Credit Registry has commenced engage- Official figures show that non-performing
cial inclusion as well as minimise systemic risks “Gender distribution of loans is generally ments with microfinance institutions to bring loans which stood at 10.82 in December 2015
in the banking sector triggered by high levels of skewed towards male borrowers who constitut- them on board as data providers. It is anticipated have been trending downwards and as at June
non-performing loans. ed 68.31%, while female borrowers constituted that microfinance institutions data will further this year, the figure stood at 1.5% as banking in-
31.69% of loan contracts in the Credit Registry. enrich and broaden the scope of credit registry stitutions took a conservative lending approach
According to the latest Monetary Policy State- database, reads the Monetary Policy Statement. due to rising inflation.
ment presented on Thursday, the Credit Regis- “The Credit Registry database indicates that
only 6.86% of total loans granted to female bor- “The Bank is targeting to conduct the final

NewsHawks News Page 17

Issue 93, 12 August 2022

RBZ nets ZW$4bn from gold coins sale

BERNARD MPOFU RBZ governor John Mangudya
Gold coin
ZIMBABWE’S central bank says nearly ZW$4 billion
has been realised from the sale of gold coins as the au-
thorities turn to the new asset to mop up excess liquid-
ity which experts blamed for the mounting inflationary
pressures buffeting the economy.

The economy is facing rising year-on-year inflation
which shot up to 256.9% in July from 191.6% in June.

John Mangudya, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe gov-
ernor, in his Monetary Policy Statement presented on
Thursday, said inflation is expected to continue to de-
celerate as measures put in place by the central bank and
the government to keep inflation under check continue
to bear fruit. However, he said annual inflation could
increase in the short term as a result of the lower base
effect in 2021 and subsequently decelerate in line with
declining month-on-month inflation.

“As at 10 August 2022, 4 475 gold coins had been
sold realising ZW$3.7 billion of which 90% was paid in
local currency and the balance in foreign currency, and
evenly distributed throughout the agents,” Mangudya
said.

“The high demand for the gold coins will assist
in mopping up liquidity from the market and thus
strengthen the demand and enhance the value of the
local currency. The Bank shall continue to release addi-
tional gold coins into the market on an ongoing basis in
line with demand.”

The price of the Mosi-Oa-Tunya coins is determined
by the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA)
PM Fix gold price plus a margin of 5% to cover the
production and distribution costs.

The price of the gold coin on the date of initial re-
lease, 25 July 2022, was US$1 823.80 or ZW$805
745.35 in local currency. Fluctuations will be experi-
enced on the US dollar and Zimdollar prices as a result
of the movement in the international price of gold and
the exchange rate.

Following the resolution by the Monetary Policy
Committee on 24 June 2022 to introduce gold coins
into the Zimbabwean market as an alternative stable
investment product for value preservation, the cebtral
bank released the first batch of 2000 gold coins into the
market on 25 July 2022.

The gold coins are being sold through authorised
dealers, the bank and its subsidiaries, namely Aurex
(Private) Limited and Homelink (Private) Limited.

Monetary Policy
Statement — The
critical highlights

l RBZ anticipates the monthly inflation to contin-
ue to progressively decline by between 3 to 10% in
the outlook period;
l Exports projected to close the year 2022 at US$7
346.5 million, a 15.5% increase from US$6 359.1
million in 2021;
l Imports projected to end the year at US$8 082.3
million, 13.2% up from US$7 138.4 million in
2021, driven by increases in grain, fuel, machinery
and raw material imports;
l RBZ to introduce and release into the market
gold coins in smaller units of a tenth ounce, quar-
ter ounce and half ounce for sale with effect from
mid-November 2022;
l Willing-Buyer Willing-Seller Foreign Exchange
increased from US$10 000 to US$20 000 per trans-
action per week from 15 August;
l Statutory reserve requirements shall be extended
to foreign currency deposits at rates of 5% for call
deposits and 2.5% for time and savings deposits
from September 1;
l The foreign exchange retention thresholds shall
continue at the current levels with agricultural ex-
porters (tobacco, cotton, tea, coffee and horticul-
ture) retaining 75% and the tourism sector retaining
100%; and
l Foreign exchange transactions for individuals and
micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) pro-
cessed through bureaux de change have, with effect
from 15 August 2022, been increased from US$500
per week to US$5 000 per transaction per month for
foreign currency payments that include medical
expenses and educational expenses.

Page 18 News NewsHawks

Issue 93, 12 August 2022

World Bank arrears close funding door

BERNARD MPOFU The World Bank (top picture) says although poverty remains an overwhelmingly rural phenomenon, in recent years it has increased relatively faster in urban areas,
leading to an urbanisation of poverty in the country.
DEBT-RIDDEN Zimbabwe received
just over US$52 million from 2014 to
2021 from a World Bank-administered
multi-donor trust fund which is expect-
ed to come to an end later this year as
the southern African nation country
remains ineligible from accessing long-
term loans from international financial
institutions.

Official figures show that World
Bank Group’s assistance to Zimbabwe
totalled US$1.6 billion between 1980
and 2000. Direct lending was suspend-
ed due to non-payment of arrears.

However, the World Bank remains
fully engaged through trust funds such
as the Zimbabwe Reconstruction Fund
(Zimref ) and the Global Financing Fa-
cility.

According to the Zimbabwe Recon-
struction Fund annual report released
this week, although poverty remains an
overwhelmingly rural phenomenon, in
recent years it has increased relatively
faster in urban areas, leading to an ur-
banisation of poverty.

The persistent drought, Cyclone Idai,
triple-digit inflation, and the Covid-19
pandemic have contributed to the re-
cent increase in poverty.

Zimref is a country-specific
multi-donor trust fund supported by
seven development partners: the Eu-
ropean Union, the UK’s Foreign Com-
monwealth and Development Office
(FCDO), the Swedish International
Development Cooperation Agency,
the Swiss Agency for Development and
Cooperation, the Norwegian Aid Agen-
cy, the State and Peacebuilding Fund
(SPF), and the Canadian government.

From an initially programmed end
date of 2019, Zimref ’s end disburse-
ment date has been extended twice
during implementation to allow for
completion of activities. Currently the
trust fund has an end disbursement
date of December 2022.

“Over the last six years, Zimref ’s de-
velopment partners have provided over
US$52 million, against a planned en-
velope of US$60.2 million,” the report
reads.

“Since 2014, Zimref has worked
on strengthening Zimbabwe’s systems
for reconstruction and development
through an initial eight main activities
under four windows. With an evolving
context, sub activities have been add-
ed over the years. For instance, with
additional funding in 2021, Zimref
began implementing a Social Protec-
tion (SP) and Water Sanitation and
Hygiene (Wash) pilot to support ado-
lescent girls in Zimbabwe to help keep
them in school after Covid-19 related
school closures (under the Resilience
window).”

Zimref supports recipient-executed
and bank executed activities such as the
Public Financial Management project,
Results-Based Budgeting project and
the climate crisis programme, among
others.

Zimbabwe faced climatic shocks in
2019 and 2020, Covid-19 pandemic
and macro-economic challenges that
led the economy to experience two suc-
cessive years of recession.

The economy contracted both in
2019 and 2020. In 2021, though the
economy experienced three significant
Covid-19 waves in January, June and
December, it recovered, mainly driven
by higher agricultural production and
improved capacity utilisation. Now the
economy is experiencing headwinds
which have prompted the authorities to
revise growth targets to 4.6% from an
initial projection of 5.5%.

NewsHawks News Page 19

Issue 93, 12 August 2022

Rights group demands help over Zim crisis

MOSES MATENGA . . . isolation plays out at US-Africa summit

ZIMBABWE’S international isolation will US President Joe Biden
be amplified this year as the country is one Foreign Affairs minister Frederick Shava
of three African countries that will not be
represented by a head of state at the US-Af-
rica Summit to be held in December.

This also comes as activists and human
rights organisations convene in the Unit-
ed Kingdom next week to give their take
on the obtaining Zimbabwean crisis with
a view to stopping the abuses of President
Emmerson Mnangagwa’s regime.

The US-Africa summit was called by US
President Joe Biden, with Mnangagwa not
invited as he remains on the sanctions list
together with his deputy Constantino Chi-
wenga. Instead, the US has invited Foreign
Affairs minister Frederick Shava, who is
not on the sanctions list.

Despite spending millions of taxpayer
dollars on a public relations stunt and ex-
pending energy on an international re-en-
gagement exercise, Zimbabwe continues
wallowing in isolation amid reports that
the United States has not invited Harare to
the crucial summit in December that will
be attended by over 50 leaders.

“We invited the Foreign Affairs minis-
ter. We could not invite the President or
his deputy as they are all on the sanctions
list,” US embassy officials told The News-
Hawks this week.

Zimbabwe missed out on last year’s vir-
tual Democracy Summit.

The US has constantly called Zimbabwe
to order over alleged human rights viola-
tions and corruption, among other press-
ing issues, saying relations between the two
countries can only normalise if Harare se-
riously addresses the concerns.

Several top officials in Mnangagwa’s ad-
ministration and businesspeople linked to
the Zimbabwean government and its lead-
er were placed on the US sanctions list for
their involvement in acts of human rights
violations and corruption.

While Shava is likely to use the meeting
to try and mend relations with the US, hu-
man rights activists under the Restoration
for Human Rights (ROHR) grouping will
attend the meeting in the UK. ROHR
spokesperson Vongayi Mufara confirmed a
meeting has been penciled in for next week
with the minister of Africa Foreign Com-
monwealth and Development office Vicky
Ford over the Zimbabwean crisis.

“We petitioned the FCDO, Sadc, AU
on human rights violations in Zimbabwe
and advocating for diaspora vote of which
we are being denied the vote because they
know the diaspora will not vote Zanu PF
and we were called for a meeting next
week,” Mufara said.

Recently, Mnangagwa dispatched Sha-
va and Finance minister Mthuli Ncube to
meet Ford as part of Zimbabwe’s interna-
tional diplomatic re-engagement efforts.

Ford told Parliament that she met Shava
and Ncube to discuss political and eco-
nomic issues ahead of next year’s general
elections.

“Ahead of upcoming elections in 2023 I
stressed the importance of civic space, and
the need for all political parties to respect
the rule of law, refrain from violence and
be able to campaign freely,” Ford told Par-
liament last month.

Zimbabwe is once again on the radar of
the international community ahead of the
2023 elections which observers fear will be
bloody.

There is concern over the blocking by
police of Citizens’ Coalition for Change
(CCC) rallies, arbitrary arrests of opposi-
tion lawmakers and activists, among other
issues.

The Zanu PF government is also ac-
cused of coming up with legislation to
throttle civic space, including the Private
Voluntary Organisations (PVOs) Amend-
ment Bill that has received worldwide con-
demnation.

Page 20 News NewsHawks

Issue 93, 12 August 2022

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NewsHawks News Page 21

Issue 93, 12 August 2022

RUVIMBO MUCHENJE Vendors mourn lost livelihooods as
Mbudzi interchange displaces them
LILIOSA Chivende sits uncomfortably on an
empty 20-litre bucket while carrying one of her Aerial view of construction and other activities at Mbudzi Traffic Interchange in Harare.
two toddlers on her back, tightly wrapped to pro-
tect her against the nippy weather. “Money has been difficult to come by. Initially country’s year-on-year inflation rose to 256.9% in seek space at our legal sites while we are working
you would go home with about US$20 or US$30 July from 191.7% in June. on building other sites. They can choose Mbare,
Braving the winter chill, she constantly keeps an but, of late, if you are lucky you will go home with for fruits and vegetables, Coca-Cola and Sunshine
eye on passers-by and motorists, hoping to clinch just US$5 or US$10,” said Sibanda. Innocent Ruwende, Harare City Council com- Bazaar,” Ruwende said.
a sale. Her wares are neatly packed on a makeshift munication officer, told The NewsHawks that there
stall made of cardboard boxes and bricks. She, “If we move from here, it will be difficult to sur- are unoccupied vending stalls at Sunshine Bazaar But as the economy continues wobbling pre-
together with hundreds of other vendors, sells vive,” he laments. and surrounding areas where the vendors can seek cariously, not many street vendors would be in a
bananas, cooked groundnuts and cigarettes for a licensed working space. position to pay statutory monthly fees and other
living. United States-based applied economics profes- taxes. For the ordinary citizen, the struggle con-
sor Steve Hanke says at 595%, according to his “They have not been paying to City of Hara- tinues as Zimbabwe heads for the 2023 elections,
Welcome to Harare’s Mbudzi roundabout, an calculation, Zimbabwe has the highest inflation re save for those in the big Mbudzi Market and with bread and butter issues uppermost on every-
informal marketplace where running battles with rate in the world, making it one of the most diffi- these ones will not be affected. All those selling one's mind.
law enforcement agents are a daily drill. One can cult places to live in. Official figures show that the along the road are illegal so we just urge them to
find nearly everything — from cigarettes to goats
— hence the name “Mbudzi”, Shona for goat.

Here informal vendors, who now constitute the
bulk of Zimbabwe’s unemployed, wake up early
and return home late at night, hoping to cash
in on the endless stream of travellers who board
long-distance buses plying the Harare-Beitbridge
highway, as well as local commuters going about
their business. As hunger continues to stalk many
urbanites on account of a floundering economy,
many have turned to street vending, moonlight-
ing, handouts from relatives in the diaspora and,
in extreme cases, donations from well-wishers.

Amidst the hustle and bustle, a man approaches
Chivende’s stall, asking the price of bananas. Sud-
denly, her face becomes radiant as the prospect of
gaining a few Zimbabwe dollars lifts her spirits.
Her joy does not last long, however, as the man
decides to leave without buying.

With urban-to-rural migration intensifying and
piling pressure on infrastructure and amenities in
major cities like Harare, policymakers continue to
grapple with congestion both within and outside
the capital city’s central business district.

The Mbudzi traffic circle, which connects Hara-
re’s high-density residential areas, including Glen
Norah and Southlea Park, has been a nightmare
for most motorists during peak hours. Apart from
an increase in vehicular traffic, many people like
Chivende have found a place where they ply their
trade, a makeshift space they call their workplace.

Now that the government wants this changed
to decongest the Mbudzi roundabout, locals have
received this new development with mixed reac-
tions. While this may be sweet music to motorists,
the economic fortunes of the mother-of-two who
has fended for her children for years at Mbudzi are
about to change for the worst.

Although the government has decided to tackle
the traffic congestion menace, Chivende and other
street vendors survive on this very urban “chaos”.

“I stay in Southlea Park and I come here every
day to sell my stuff to make a living. The inter-
change will negatively impact my business be-
cause moving away from here means finding new
customers and even less sales, whereas here I have
regulars,” she said.

“We will definitely move so we will look for al-
ternative locations but since it will be a new area
we do not know how things will go. One thing I
know for sure is that the wellbeing of my family
will be negatively impacted.”

Next to her is a second-hand clothes vendor
(name withheld) who has been eking out a living
from this spot. She is tending to a colleague’s baby
who has gone looking for change up the road.

In the coming few days, Chivende and other
vendors have to face the new reality as the new
road interchange takes shape. Life as she knows it
is now uncertain.

“Things have become difficult, our customers
can no longer afford to spend on clothes. On a
good day you get a dollar or so, meaning I can go
home, buy vegetables and have sadza every night
with my family, which is better than sitting at
home,” she said.

Business has not been as rewarding, but what is
more worrying is that her continued presence at
the roundabout, where she has been selling clothes
since the beginning of Covid-19 restrictions in
2020, is coming to an end as the vendors must
make wag to the new traffic interchange.

Mehluli Sibanda, who sells both new and sec-
ond-hand clothes, also faces the same predica-
ment. Sibanda says he began selling apparel near
the traffic circle after his initial business of selling
mobile phone cards in the central business district
was forced to shut down by strict Covid-19 re-
strictions. At the peak of the respiratory infection,
only people designated as essential workers were
allowed to move freely around. Sibanda, sadly, was
not one of them.

Page 22 International Investigative Stories NewsHawks

Issue 93, 12 August 2022

InInvteesrtniagtaiotinvaelStories

Unexplained wealth of top
Georgian judge highlights
obstacles along country’s

path to Europe

IN recent months, tens of thou- highlighted by the local chapter clare significant real estate hold- It was Murusidze, she says, who convey the full extent of his in-
sands of people in the Caucasian of Transparency International, is ings registered to his aunt. helped Chinchaladze establish a fluence: Between 2013 and 2017,
country of Georgia have taken to officials’ failure to fully declare behind-the-scenes relationship he was the secretary of the High
the streets to demand their gov- their assets. Murusidze and Chinchaladze with Ivanishvili. “Personalities Council of Justice, a powerful
ernment pursue integration with are alleged to be the leaders of a are key here, and Murusidze hap- body that controls all judicial ap-
Europe. In a new investigation, report- powerful group of judges, known pened to have excellent commu- pointments in Georgia.
ers from OCCRP’s Georgian as “the clan,” that is said to be nications skills,” she said.
“Glory to Georgia! Glory to partner, Studio Monitor, found blocking the kind of reforms re- Seated in front of him is Lela
Europe!” protesters shouted at a that the problem extends to the quired to deepen Georgia’s ties to “They got along well. Bidzina Chania, who works as the head
massive June 20 rally in the capi- highest levels of the country’s ju- Europe. The two men are both Ivanishvili’s power rests on this of a secretariat in the Tbilisi City
tal, Tbilisi. “Soon we’ll be a mem- diciary. associated with a powerful body court system.” Court. Though the two are offi-
ber of the big European family! called the High Council of Jus- cially unmarried, they appear to
Long live Europe!” As it turns out, one of Geor- tice, the supreme oversight body Mikheil Chinchaladze and Bid- be living together, and Murusidze
gia’s most influential judges, Le- of the country’s judicial system. zina Ivanishvili declined to com- has never denied Georgian media
After Russia’s invasion of van Murusidze, failed to disclose They’re also believed to have ment. reports that describe her as his
Ukraine, the European Coun- assets belonging to his long-term a close behind-the-scenes rela- wife.
cil accepted accelerated EU romantic partner in his asset dec- tionship with Bidzina Ivanish- Murusidze did not respond to
membership applications from larations. This ensured that the vili, Georgia’s richest man and questions about his asset declara- The couple’s relationship is
Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia. multiple apartments, expensive the éminence grise behind the tions or his partner’s purchases, also documented in an unusu-
But while the other two countries jewelry, and designer clothes she country’s ruling party, Georgian only telling reporters that he was al place: Records pertaining to
received candidate status, approv- acquired in recent years were hid- Dream. not married. Murusidze’s charitable donations.
al of Georgia’s application was den from public scrutiny. In 2010, the prominent judge
delayed. Nazi Janezashvili, who served A Taste for Luxury contributed to the construction
That spending far exceeded for four years as a non-judge In an Instagram photo from fund of a monastery complex that
Before being considered for what the couple’s declared salaries member of the High Council of 2019, three middle-aged couples names all its donors — and their
membership, the Council said, could pay for, raising questions Justice and is now the head of pose on the crowded steps of an family members — on its website.
Georgia must implement reforms about the source of their wealth. an NGO called Georgian Court ancient Greek ruin. Since that year, Chania has been
to make its institutions more ac- Watch, identifies Chinchaladze as One of the men in the photo listed as a member of Murusidze’s
countable and democratic. In a previous investigation, the clan’s “irreplaceable” top lead- is Judge Levan Murusidze, who family alongside his mother and
Studio Monitor found that an- er, along with Levan Murusidze. serves on the Tbilisi Court of father.
But there’s a long way to go. other influential judge, Mikheil Appeals. But that title does not
One deeply-rooted problem, Chinchaladze, had failed to de-

NewsHawks International Investigative Stories Page 23

Issue 93, 12 August 2022

As such, she and all her signif- income. these arguments, what you have aladze cases are especially note- Levan Murusidze.
icant possessions should appear Because none of these items and what you have searched for. worthy since both judges’ inde-
in his annual asset declaration. After that the bureau will make pendence has been called into for poor performance and to re-
But when journalists examined were declared — as those worth a decision about the justification question. ward good work, including by
Murusidze’s declarations going over 5,000 GEL ($1,800) are and we will conduct monitoring.” granting lifetime appointments.
back to 2006, Chania was no- supposed to be — the Georgian Both men have been described
where to be found. public has had no opportunity to In a separate written response by knowledgeable insiders as top The council is made up of eight
scrutinize the couple’s purchases. to reporters’ questions about figures in a group of judges be- judges, six non-judge members
Chania told reporters that she Murusidze, representatives of the lieved to have gained control of (typically lawyers), and a chair-
does not live with Murusidze. “I “The prosecutor’s office of bureau claimed to have inspected Georgia’s judiciary, using their in- person. Murusidze himself served
don’t live anywhere permanently,” Georgia should take an interest nearly 2,000 asset declarations fluence to protect their own jobs as the secretary between 2013
she said. “I have my own place to in this case, especially since it in- over the past 5 years, ultimately and possibly even to influence the and 2017. A number of judges
live, and if I stay somewhere else, volves a senior official,” said San- finding violations in more than outcomes of specific cases. on the council — both former
that’s none of your business.” dro Kevkhishvili, the head of the half of them and issuing fines, and current — reportedly have
anti-corruption team at Trans- though only 11 were referred to The group, popularly known as close personal and professional
But apart from uncovering their parency International Georgia. prosecutors. the “clan” or the “clan of judges,” connections to Chinchaladze. In
joint vacations — in addition to “The Civil Service Bureau [where has no formal structure and its 2017, the council made him the
Greece, the couple also visited asset declarations are filed] has a The ‘Clan’ and the Council full extent is unknown, though first judge in Georgia ever to be
Portugal this year — reporters department in charge of declara- Murusidze is hardly the only it is thought to consist of about appointed for life.
documented both Murusidze and tion monitoring, which also must influential judge who failed to 30 judges. The group has not
Chania’s cars parked at Murusid- study this case.” declare all his assets and faced no been formally investigated by the Tsikarishvili, the judicial re-
ze’s home in the village of Dzegvi, consequences. authorities, and there is no hard form advocate, echoes the alle-
to the northwest of Tbilisi. They He also suggested a possible A previous investigation pro- evidence of corruption among its gations that this group of judges
also observed the couple leaving reform. “As far as we know … duced jointly by Studio Moni- members. But its existence and has established a mutually bene-
the property, both in their sep- the Civil Service Bureau does tor and the Georgian service of alleged pernicious influence has ficial relationship with the high-
arate cars and together. When not have a system for verifying Radio Free Europe, Radio Ta- been described by independent est echelons of power in Georgia.
journalists approached them, the whether [people are] living under visupleba, found that another watchdogs, senior politicians and “We see that Georgian Dream is
pair quickly left the scene. one roof,” he said. “This mecha- powerful judge, Mikheil Chin- officials, and international orga- taking steps to slowly hand over
nism must be adopted.” chaladze, failed to declare several nizations the judicial system to the clan,”
It is possible that Murusidze apartments and garages in Tbili- he said.
did not declare his relationship Elguja Makalatia, deputy head si’s historic central neighborhood Kakha Tsikarishvili, formerly
with Chania because it would be of the bureau, acknowledged of Vera that had been purchased an assistant to the head of Geor- The European Commission has
difficult to explain her wealth: that, in addition to joint utility by his aunt for 105,000 lari gia’s Supreme Court, is now a made a number of recommenda-
Though she comes from humble payments or transfers of money ($63,000) in 2009. member of a group of indepen- tions which must be addressed
origins, in recent years — a pe- between bank accounts, social Two sources who own apart- dent lawyers calling for judicial if Georgia’s EU integration is to
riod that coincides with her rela- media accounts can also be used ments in the same building and reforms. He said it’s difficult to progress. One of those is to “en-
tionship with Murusidze — she as evidence that people live to- know Chinchaladze personally name concrete cases of corrup- sure a judiciary that is fully and
has made a number of expensive gether. told reporters that he was the true tion within the judiciary. truly independent, accountable
purchases. In 2015 and 2016, owner of the real estate registered and impartial.” Another is to
Chania bought two apartments “When we look at a public in his aunt’s name. Regardless, he “For the most part, it exists in “implement the commitment
and two plots of land in Tbili- Facebook profile,” he said, “and should have declared the assets the form of instructions given to to ‘de-oligarchisation’ by elimi-
si, plus another apartment in it’s actually seen that people are during a period when she was liv- judges on what kind of decisions nating the excessive influence of
the Black Sea resort city of Ba- together, it’s visible [that] they’re ing with him in his home. they’re expected to deliver,” he vested interests in economic, po-
tumi, worth a total of just over husband and wife, but they’re not Chinchaladze never respond- said. “Clan members tell judges litical, and public life.”
$166,000. Purchase agreements in a registered marriage … then ed to reporters’ questions about to make one decision or another.
obtained by reporters show that of course [they’re] considered a these apartments, and did not The judge follows orders, and the The Commission did not men-
she paid for them out of pocket, permanent resident.” deny any aspect of the story af- clan makes money off the relevant tion Ivanishvili personally. But at
without taking out a mortgage. ter it was broadcast. Neverthe- case.” the massive June 20 rally in Tbili-
Besik Vekua, who leads the bu- less, he appears to have faced no si, Rasa Juknevičienė, a mem-
Until 2015, Chania was reau’s department for monitoring consequences. The Civil Service The members of this group are ber of the European Parliament,
registered as living in a tiny, asset declarations, rejected criti- Bureau told reporters that no vio- said to include the heads of many made clear that it had a specific
12-square-meter apartment, and cism of the agency. And while he lations had been identified in his district and city courts, as well as name in mind.
her annual salary in 2022 is list- says that the bureau cannot act on 2019 declaration. members of the High Council of
ed as 33,000 GEL ($12,000). the basis of press reports, it may The Murisidze and Chinch- Justice, which plays a crucial role “Everyone knows which oli-
According to public records, she review Murusidze’s case if it re- in Georgia’s judicial system. This garch we are talking about,” she
owns no businesses that could ceives a formal referral. body appoints all judges across said. “Please do not let your beau-
provide additional income. the country and also has the au- tiful country become a hostage.”
“You can apply to us with a thority to punish or fire judges
If Chania saved up her entire reasoned application,” he told — Organised Crime and Cor-
salary, it would take her at least Studio Monitor. “Attach each of ruption Reporting Project.
14 years to afford her properties.
She did not respond to reporter’s
inquiries about how she man-
aged to buy them and whether
Murusidze was their true owner.

But Chania also has other
spending to account for. Her
Facebook photos, which have
been removed since reporters first
accessed them, show that she is
an avid consumer of luxury brand
clothing and accessories. Besides
Dolce & Gabbana and Gucci, her
wardrobe abounds in items from
Prada, Moschino, Furla, Miu
Miu, Jimmy Choo, Casadei, and
Valentino.

She also acquired dozens of ex-
pensive golden rings, necklaces,
earrings, and bracelets.

Murusidze’s own official salary
of just under 73,000 GEL (about
$26,000) per year is considerably
higher than Chania’s. But it’s still
insufficient to account for the ex-
tent of her possessions, especially
since just under half of it goes to-
ward paying off loans taken out
for the construction of his house.
He has no other known sources of

Page 24 Editorial & Opinion NewsHawks

CARTOON Issue 93, 12 August 2022

Stop weaponising
the justice system

THE incarceration of opposition legislators Job Sikhala and SA illegal miners must be
Godfrey Sithole has come to symbolise not only the authoritar- treated as human beings
ian excesses of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government,
but also the glaring failings of what ought to be an impartial Hawk Eye
justice delivery system.
Dumisani
Locking up accused persons for than 60 days in pre-trial de- Muleya
tention is a serious violation of human rights.

The lengthy pre-trial detention is clearly undermining any
prospects of a fair trial.

It is an affront to the rule of law in a country that claims to be
a constitutional democracy.

Bail is a constitutional entitlement, so why are the opposition
politicians being repeatedly deprived of their liberty in a manner
that raises serious questions on the very integrity of state insti-
tutions?

It has not escaped the public’s notice that rapists and robbers
are routinely granted bail, yet these two elected members of
Parliament are kept locked up under scandalous circumstances.
Judges and magistrates in this country have often granted bail to
carjackers who have proceeded to commit more heinous crimes.
Are we to believe that Sikhala and Sithole are more “dangerous”
than marauding gun-wielding criminals?

For any level-headed person, it is not difficult to see what is at
play here: this is political persecution writ large.

Sikhala has been arrested more than 70 times — but has never
been convicted. It speaks volumes about the nature of the system
he is up against.

On what objective basis can he be endlessly denied bail? He is
an MP, a lawyer, a businessman, a family man and a senior pol-
itician. He has a lot to lose, so his chances of absconding court
are next to nil.

A fair, uncaptured and uncompromised justice system would
know that there are plenty of non-custodial measures at its dis-
posal, including bail, submission of passport and a requirement
to report regularly to the police.

These measures are more than adequate to serve the interests
of justice.

In the final analysis, what the government and the courts are
doing to these unjustly detained legislators is to criminalise dis-
sent and outlaw the political opposition. That is a very dangerous
slippery slope.

Zimbabwe cannot be a one-party state. Zanu tried that in the
1980s and ended up committing genocide against the Ndebele
community.

International human rights standards require the Zimbabwe-
an authorities to uphold the law and ensure that both law en-
forcement and the justice delivery system are not weaponised in
a partisan manner.

Five years after Mnangagwa stormed his way to power on the
back of military tanks, Zimbabweans continue witnessing the
flagrant abuse of power.

Human rights defender and political activist Makomborero
Haruzivishe was locked up for almost a year in pre-trial deten-
tion. Journalist Hopewell Chin’ono was denied bail and locked
up for lengthy periods.

This unconstitutional deprivation of liberty tarnishes the al-
ready soiled image of the country. Repression has devastating
consequences: investors keep away; international financiers shut
their purses; transparency and accountability are whittled down;
corruption and bad governance spiral out of control; country
risk shoots through the roof; the economy suffers and citizens
continue wallowing in poverty.

Without a shadow of doubt, pre-trial detention has become a
weapon of choice for an authoritarian kleptocracy desperate to
intimidate and silence critics.

It is a violation of the constitutional presumption of inno-
cence. Mnangagwa must free all political prisoners.

Reaffirming the fundamental impor- The NewsHawks is published on different EDITORIAL STAFF: Marketing Officer: Voluntary Media
tance of freedom of expression and me- content platforms by the NewsHawks Digital Managing Editor: Dumisani Muleya Charmaine Phiri Council of Zimbabwe
dia freedom as the cornerstone of de- Media which is owned by Centre for Public Cell: +263 735666122
mocracy and as a means of upholding Interest Journalism Assistant Editor: Brezh Malaba [email protected] The NewsHawks newspaper subscribes to the
human rights and liberties in the con- No. 100 Nelson Mandela Avenue [email protected] Code of Conduct that promotes truthful, accurate,
stitution; our mission is to hold power Beverly Court, 6th floor News Editor: Owen Gagare
in its various forms and manifestations Harare, Zimbabwe Subscriptions & Distribution: fair and balanced news reporting. If we do not
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corruption to ensure good governance Beatrice Mtetwa, Raphael Khumalo, Reporters: at No.: 34, Colenbrander Rd, Milton Park, Harare.
and accountability in the public inter- Professor Wallace Chuma, Teldah Mawarire, Nyasha Chingono, Enoch Muchinjo, Moses Matenga,
est. Doug Coltart Jonathan Mbiriyamveka Telephone: 024-2778096 or 024-2778006,
Email: [email protected] 24Hr Complaints Line: 0772 125 659

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NewsHawks New Perspectives Page 25

Issue 93, 12 August 2022

WHILE others are seeing greater AfCFTA creating big market to smallholder farmers: area-yield
opportunities for trade and trade fi- for agricultural insurance index (AYII) and weather index in-
nance, the African Continental Free surance (WII). Area-yield index in-
Trade Area (AfCFTA) will create an segment, deterring them from offer- ance services. Indemnity-based in- Smallholder farmer in Zimbabwe. surance services are similar to indem-
opportunity for rapid development of ing agricultural insurance altogether. surance pays out claims based on an quire individual claims to be assessed, nity- based services, with assessments
the most neglected sector, agricultur- actual loss incurred by an insured allowing them to be settled through a made at one farm against a predeter-
al insurance. Without access to formal insurance party. In the event of a disaster, a cer- quicker, more objective process. mined index for a given area. With
schemes, smallholder households re- tified loss assessor conducts an objec- weather index insurance, payouts are
Across the African continent, sort to traditional risk management tive loss assessment to determine the Indices are developed prior to the based on the occurrence of a specific
smallholder farmers make the most schemes, such as self-insurance and compensation due. While large farms planting season and are used to mea- weather event over a specified period
part of the agricultural sector in terms community funds. Self-insurance in- may still use indemnity-based sure deviations from typical levels of in a defined area.
of both employment and ensuring volves growing a mix of crops, using insurance, this type of insur- common parameters such as rainfall,
food security. However, smallholder pest-resistant or drought-resistant ance is unaffordable for most Early weather index insurance ser-
farmers face a range of shocks and crop varieties, staggering planting smallholder farmers world- Econometrics vices involved assessments at weather
challenges beyond their control that dates, spreading crops out over their wide. HawksView stations that kept paper-based rainfall
can have a drastic impact on their in- fields and investing in livestock. records. While early index insurance
comes and livelihoods. These include Farmers may also engage in off-farm Today, innovative ap- Tinashe Kaduwo gave many farmers their first expe-
unexpected non-agricultural events, employment or non-farm business to proaches like index insurance rience with agricultural insurance,
such as health problems, and agricul- reduce their dependence on farming. offer smallholder farmers an temperature, crop yield and livestock these services were not easily scalable
tural events, such as market and price affordable and accessible way mortality rates. Farmers can buy pol- due to the operational costs and effort
fluctuations or pest and disease infes- However, self-insurance can be to manage agricultural risks. icies based on an index correlated required, and the use of indices based
tations. costly and ineffective against major This can be scaled up taking with a specific event, such as rainfall, on incomplete datasets.
weather shocks. Community funding advantage of favorable policies un- drought or yield losses, for a certain
The climate crisis is a key driver schemes, in which farmers pool sav- der the AfCFTA. Index insurance is a period and across a defined area. Pay- Over the last decade, the growth
behind agricultural shocks. More fre- ings to support those who need finan- type of insurance service that pays out outs are automatically made when an of digitally enabled index insurance
quent extreme weather events and an cial help, may not always provide an benefits based on a predetermined in- index falls above or below a predeter- services has overcome some of the
increase in the incidence of pests and adequate safety net. A key challenge dex, such as rainfall level for losses re- mined threshold. limitations of indemnity-based and
diseases are increasing financial losses is that traditional risk management sulting from weather and catastroph- early index insurance services. From
for farmers in Africa. schemes are unable to cater for covari- ic events. Index insurance provides Two types of index insurance ser- a farmer’s perspective, new index in-
ate risks, which refer to catastrophic cover against specific perils across a vices have traditionally been available surance services are more affordable,
Insurance services on the continent events that affect many farmers in the defined area rather than at the farm have clearer and faster payouts and
can struggle to offer safety nets for same region at the same time. level. Unlike indemnity-based ser- cover specific perils.
such shocks. Globally, less than 20% vices, index insurance does not re-
of smallholder farmers have any form Historically, farmers have been One drawback to index insurance,
of agricultural insurance, and across limited to indemnity- based insur- and weather index insurance in par-
sub-Saharan Africa this figure is less ticular, is the incidence of basis risk,
than 3%. The insurance coverage gap which is the difference between the
is due to a range of demand-side and actual loss incurred by a farmer and
supply-side factors. the loss determined by the index. An
index calculated as an average for an
On the demand-side, lack of area will be accurate for most farmers,
awareness of insurance services, large- but may not reflect the experiences of
ly due to the low penetration of fi- those farming on the fringes. Basis
nancial services in rural areas, is a key risk events occur when a calculated
barrier to uptake. Even when farmers average index does not reflect actual
are aware of insurance, insufficient losses or when weather stations, sat-
knowledge and understanding of fi- ellites or other data sources provide
nancial services means they may not imprecise measurements. Basis risk
immediately trust the service provid- events can also be caused by factors
er or their ability to pay out a claim as not covered by insurance policies,
promised. For farmers who are aware such as when a farmer with a weather
of insurance, they are only likely to index insurance policy suffers losses
use it if they understand how the ser- due to a pest infestation.
vice works and the value it offers.
Recent index insurance services use
Insurance uptake amongst small- technology to automate and digitise
holder farmers has also been con- key steps in service creation and de-
strained by two potential costs: the livery, such as satellites and automat-
cost of insurance premiums and the ed weather stations (AWS) to collect
cost of travelling to nearby towns to the weather data needed to calculate
register for services and make claims. indices. As national and international
Governments have used subsidies to space programmes expand their satel-
lower premiums and drive farmer up- lite networks and operate increasingly
take, in Kenya for example. However, powerful instruments, more frequent
subsidies can sometimes be restricted and higher resolution remote sensing
to government-mandated schemes or data is becoming available. This can
to specific agricultural insurance ser- be expanded rapidly as Africa become
vices and are often short lived. For ex- more integrated, become more of a
ample, Hollard Insurance conducted
a pilot to provide insurance to cotton one big village under the
farmers in Mozambique in 2012 with AfCFTA.
support from the World Bank. How-
ever, the scheme ended in 2013 due Many index insur-
to a lack of support from key stake- ance providers should
holders. see this as an opportu-
nity. Already, some have
From the perspective of an insur- taken advantage of the
ance service provider, a higher inci- increased adoption of
dence of catastrophic events, such as mobile phones and mo-
droughts, would require larger and bile money to provide
more frequent payouts. Covering services to farmers in re-
such agricultural risks can be costly mote locations. However,
for providers, who would struggle there is an opportunity for mobile
to design insurance services that are technology to play a bigger role in
both affordable and offer adequate creating and delivering index insur-
cover. Distribution is also a key chal- ance services especially under the aus-
lenge, as reaching and serving small- pices of the AfCFTA.
holder farmers can be logistically *About the writer: Tinashe
difficult and expensive. Given that Kaduwo is a researcher and econ-
smallholder farmers are price sensi- omist. Contact: kaduwot@gmail.
tive, insurance providers often per- WhatsApp +263773376128
ceive them as a low-profit customer

Companies & Markets NewsHawks

Issue 76, 15 April 2022
BusinessPage26
MATTERSNewsHawks

MARKETS CURRENCIES LAST CHANGE %CHANGE COMMODITIES LAST CHANGE %CHANGE
USD/JPY
GBP/USD 109.29 +0.38 +0.35 *OIL 63.47 -1.54 -2.37
USD/CAD
USD/CHF 1.38 -0.014 -0.997 *GOLD 1,769.5 +1.2 +0.068
AUD/USD
1.229 +0.001 +0.07 *SILVER 25.94 -0.145 -0.56

0.913 +0.005 +0.53 *PLATINUM 1,201.6 +4 +0.33

0.771 -0.006 -0.76 *COPPER 4.458 -0.029 -0.65

New gold coins trigger ZSE sell-off

BERNARD MPOFU to business models. Additionally the financial the review of capital gains tax for shares held “Also, currency risks have also limited in-
services sector remains undervalued. for a period not exceeding 270 days in a bid flows. This is because investors cannot freely
THE introduction of gold coins has triggered to control inflationary pressures, instil confi- move money in and out of Zimbabwe. This re-
a sell-off on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange “As part of our assessment, we compared the dence, strengthen demand for the Zimbabwe mains a barrier to the flow of new money into
(ZSE), as recently announced government mea- ZSE with other regional stock exchanges using dollar and foster market discipline. the Zimbabwe. As a result, the country has not
sures stifle activity on the local bourse, making market cap as a percentage of gross domestic been able to secure adequate lines of credit to
it one of the most undervalued stock exchanges product (GDP). Our findings are that the ZSE The measures, according to market watchers, capacitate local producers.
in the region, a new report has shown. market cap expressed as a percentage of GDP is have had a negative impact on trading volumes
amongst the lowest at 11.9% vesrus a regional on the local market given limited access to “Morgan & Co contends that Zimbabwe
A sell-off occurs when a large volume of se- average of 16.3%. This analysis confirms our Zimdollars and increase in trading costs. needs to do all the things necessary to attract
curities are sold in a short period of time, caus- view that ZSE stocks are undervalued and foreign and regional partners to not just grow
ing the price of a security to fall in rapid succes- there is scoping for re-rating." “All in all, the instability has largely triggered but survive in the new global economy. Inter-
sion. As more shares are offered than buyers are low levels of investor confidence which has national investors today possess a plethora of
willing to accept, the decline in price may ac- The government has over the past 24 months been a major impediment in terms of foreign investment options in the form of asset classes
celerate as market psychology turns pessimistic. introduced several measures such as the sus- direct investment flows into the country,” the and projects they can invest in.”
pension of trading of dual listed entities and report reads.
Authorities have in recent months an-
nounced a cocktail of measures to slow down
rising inflation and defend the value of the
Zimbabwe dollar. Experts say a deteriorating
local currency and tight liquidity have seen
the ZSE market capitalisation falling in real
terms from US$6.7 billion in January 2022 to
US$2.6 billion (using parallel market rates.)

Last month the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
introduced gold coins into the market in an ef-
fort to ease demand on the Zimdollar as well
as preserve the value of the local unit. A report
by a local brokerage firm shows that while the
gold coins have presented a new asset class for
institutional investors such as asset manage-
ment firms and pension funds, activity on the
ZSE has been depressed since their introduc-
tion.

“The gold coin has triggered a sell-off on
the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange as institutional
investors are switching to an alternative asset
class that has prescribed asset status. As a re-
sult, the stock market has de-rated pon weak
demand because of tight liquidity in the mar-
ket, “Morgan & Co said in its Economics and
Equities Strategy note.

“One fundamental observation is that stock
prices have declined significantly in real terms
and the market is looking for ‘cheap”. The re-
cent sell-off on the ZSE has resulted in the ap-
parent undervaluation of traditional blue chips
like Delta, Econet, Innscor, Hippo and Meikles
while there have been no fundamental changes

DUMISANI NYONI ‘Zim GDP growth seen shrinking 3.2%’

STOCK broking firm Morgan & Co says Zim- in 2023 given that the country is not insulated pact of external global risks such as the Rus- The region’s recovery will be supported by
babwe’s gross domestic product (GDP) will from geo-political headwinds and is also fac- sian-Ukraine crisis. elevated commodity prices, gradual recovery in
grow by 3.2% this year, slightly below the 4.6% ing several regional and country-specific con- tourism, with vaccinations in some tourism-re-
projected by the government, as the country straints such as power shortages,” the stock In addition, growth has been weighed down liant economies already proceeding at a much
battles to forestall setbacks stemming from broking firm said. by reduced output from the 2021/22 agricul- faster pace than in the rest of the region.
power shortages and Ukraine-Russian war. tural season. However, the government expects
More recently, the World Bank trimmed the economy to continue on a growth trajecto- On the other hand, the Southern African
GDP growth has also been held back by Zimbabwe’s growth forecast to 3.7% from ry and register 5% in 2023. Development Community's real GDP growth
exchange rate volatilities, along with a relent- 4.3% on the back of the impact of Russian's is projected to decelerate to 3.1% in 2022 from
less inflationary charge. Annual inflation rate invasion of Ukraine and the Covid-19 pan- This growth is expected to be driven by a recovery of 4.4% experienced in 2021.
shot up to 257% last month, up from 191% demic. The Bretton Woods institution also ex- favourable international commodity prices,
in June, while the local currency is trading at pects growth to marginally slowdown in 2023 stable macroeconomic environment, and im- South Africa, an economic powerhouse in
around ZW$850 against the greenback. to 3.6%. proved production in all sectors of the econ- the region, is projected to grow by 1.9% and
omy. 1.4% in 2022 and 2023, lifted by growth in
In its latest report titled "Economics and Eq- On the other hand, the ministry of Finance trade, tourism, mining and manufacturing, al-
uity strategy note: The Zimbabwe Syndrome", and Economic Development has revised its Morgan & Co said economic recovery in though electricity supply constraints and un-
the brokerage firm said the country’s economic GDP growth forecast for Zimbabwe down- Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) was expected to slow derperforming state-owned sub-Saharan Africa
outlook remains highly uncertain. wards from 5.5% to 4.6% because of the im- down to 3.8% during 2022, before accelerating economies GDP growth.
to 4% during 2023.
“Morgan & Co research projects a modest
2022 GDP growth of 3.2% in 2022 and 4.0%

NewsHawks Companies & Markets Page 27

Issue 93, 12 August 2022

Forex crunch hampers Econet expansion

BERNARD MPOFU

ZIMBABWE’S largest mobile phone operator by gaming, music and entertainment to create more “This growth was achieved largely due to our fect from 1 November 2022,” the company says.
subscription, Econet Wireless, says it has slowed platforms for entertainment and revenue streams customer acquisition strategy. The telecommuni- “The tariff adjustments will cover voice, SMS,
down its expansion projects owing to limited ac- for artists.” cations sector was granted a staggered tariff ad-
cess to foreign currency. justment by the regulator of 61% in July 2022, data and internet services and are determined in
Voice and data traffic for the period under re- and a further 61% with effect from 1 the local currency. The company is now selling
Many formal businesses are accessing foreign view grew by 6% and 18% respectively, over the some of its products in United States dollars,
exchange from the auction system run by the previous quarter. September 2022, and a further 61% with ef- having received the requisite approvals.”
central bank, but complaints over settlement de-
lays have become rampant. The delays, according
to business leaders, have been affecting procure-
ment and other obligations payable in hard cur-
rency.

“As previously reported, significant foreign
currency losses continue to be recorded due to
the weakening exchange rate which deteriorated
by 172% for the quarter under review,” Econet
says in its trading update for the first quarter end-
ing May 31.

“Our access to foreign currency remains se-
verely constrained, creating further challenges in
implementation of necessary network upgrades
to assure the continued level of high quality ser-
vice experienced by our customers.”

Despite having limited access to foreign ex-
change, Econet became the first mobile network
operator to roll out 5G service in Harare towards
the end of the last financial year.

In the quarter under review, 5G service was
further rolled out in Bulawayo during the Zim-
babwe International Trade Fair (ZITF 2022) and
in Victoria Falls as well as in Chitungwiza, bring-
ing the total number of 5G sites rolled out to 22.

The business added 100 new 4G sites to im-
prove network and speed of data connectivity.

“Persistent national grid power outages have
affected network quality and reliability, thereby
necessitating us to increase our efforts to augment
our power supply with solar power. However, as
inflation increases and disposable incomes are
coming under more pressure, there is a discern-
ible increase in the theft of diesel, batteries and
solar panels,” the company says.

“In response, we have enhanced security at our
sites to counter the effects of increased vandal-
ism and theft. In line with our broad strategy to
enhance the digital lifestyles of our customers,
more focus and attention was directed towards

Cost-cutting measures for Tanganda as inflation bites

BERNARD MPOFU are resulting in imported inflation. Global infla- Tanganda Tea Estates ping and supply crisis and depressed disposable
tion hit record highs, prompting tightened mon- 6% in inflation adjusted terms.” income on the domestic market. Avocado produc-
BEVERAGE maker Tanganda Company Limited etary conditions as the world grapples to contain tion of 3 494 tonnes was 12% above 3 108 tonnes
says it will embark on more cost-cutting measures inflation and potential economic recession,” the Despite the geo-political instability triggered achieved same period prior year.
as inflationary pressures and a weakening local company says. by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, bulk tea export
currency continue to eat into the company’s profit volumes achieved for the nine months were 7% The macadamia nuts harvest of 1 072 tonnes
margins. “Company revenue for the quarter under re- above the corresponding period in the prior fi- was 2% above prior year of 1 048 tonnes. Revenue
view was 135% ahead of the previous financial nancial year. However, production volumes were from export of avocado fruit and macadamia nuts
Zimbabwe economy is battling rising inflation, year in historical cost terms and 3% below com- 7% below the prior year following a prolonged is expected to be recognised in the last quarter of
the highest in the world and a weakening domes- parative period in inflation adjusted terms. Reve- dry spell at the onset of the season. Coffee export the financial year. Profit after tax exceeded same
tic currency. The local currency depreciated by nue for the nine months ended 30 June 2022 grew volumes were 14% above same period prior year. period of last financial year in both inflation ad-
160.74% from March 2022 to June 2022 against by 84% in historical cost terms and declined by justed and historical cost terms.
the United States dollar on the auction market. In Packed tea sales volumes remained resilient
a bid to stem rising inflation and currency insta- though 5% below prior year due to global ship-
bility, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Monetary
Policy Committee reviewed the bank policy inter-
est rate from 80% to 200% per annum effective
1 July 2022.

“Inflationary pressures are expected to remain
on the rise driven mainly by the continued ex-
change rate depreciation and general rise in global
inflation,” the company said in its trading update
for the quarter ending 30 June.

“The company is focusing on cost management
to mitigate the adverse impact of rising inflation
and exchange rate volatility to profit margins. The
Company is however optimistic about its pros-
pects during the last quarter of the financial year.”

The quarter ended 30 June 2022 was, according
to the company, characterised by surging inflation
on the backdrop of sharp exchange rate volatility.
Inflation increased from 72.7% as at 31 March
2022 to close at 191.6% as of 30 June 2022, re-
sulting in increased operational costs and reduced
consumer spending power.

“Geo-political instability in Russia and Ukraine
remains a risk to both global and domestic econo-
mies, as tensions induced supply chain disruptions

Page 28 Companies & Markets NewsHawks

Issue 93, 12 August 2022

‘Zim may slide back
into hyperinflation’

BERNARD MPOFU major recurring problems in macro-economic The country’s economy is battling rising inflation and weakening domestic currency.
policy management over the past two decades:
ZIMBABWE may soon slide back to historic excessive monetary expansion; and a fixed/crawl-
hyperinflationary levels experienced during the ing peg exchange rate policy.
aught as the authorities maintain excessive mon-
ey supply and continue pegging the exchange “The above combination has and will inher-
rate, a new study presented at a high-level eco- ently guarantee high inflation (and hyperinfla-
nomic symposium has shown. tion, as occurred in 2008, if corrective measures
are not implemented). The relationship between
The economy is battling rising inflation, a money, nominal and real variables has been
weakening domestic currency and high levels of well-documented over the past decades, since
unemployment and experts warn that the situa- Milton Friedman’s treatise in the 1960s.”
tion may worsen.
The economy is experiencing elevated infla-
At the height of the country’s unprecedent- tionary pressures, with headline inflation sharply
ed economic meltdown Zimbabwe’s inflation escalating over the past few months. The author-
officially reached 231 million percent in 2007, ities had made significant progress in reducing
rendering the domestic currency worthless. To annual headline inflation from a peak of 834.1%
halt the meltdown, the government ditched the in July 2020 to 50.2% in August 2021. During
Zimbabwe dollar for a basket of multi-currencies the same period, month-on-month inflation de-
mainly dominated by the United States dollar. celerated from 35.7% in July 2020 to 2.6% in
July 2021.
According to paper presented by economist
Joseph Mverecha at the ministry of Finance-or- However, since August 2021, the economy has
ganised Zimbabwe Economic Development witnessed a resurgence in inflationary pressures
Conference held in Victoria Falls this week, sta- with month-on-month inflation rising from
bilising inflation therefore requires, first, policies 2.6% in July 2021 to 4.7% in September and
to collapse the parallel market and inflation ex- 6.4% in October 2021.
pectations.
Official figures show that month- on-month
This paper, titled Monetary Policy Shocks, Ex- inflation surged to 7% in February 2022 and
change Rate Volatility and Inflation Persistence: 15.5% in May. The annual inflation rate in-
Implications for Currency Stability and Inflation, creased from 66.4% in February to 131% in May
explores the causes of the exchange rate deprecia- 2022.
tion and inflationary spiral, applying co-integra-
tion econometric techniques and error correction “The signs of inflation build up have been ev-
modelling. The paper has some policy proposals ident since August 2021 (or more precisely re-
drawing from the analysis. newed inflation pressure), as exacerbated by the
sustained exchange rate depreciation,” Mverecha
“The inflationary spiral is largely explained by said.
exchange rate depreciation and inflation expecta-
tions. In the presence of inflation expectations, Zimbabwe’s growth path over the past decade
the short run dynamics amplify the exchange has been characterised by significant variability,
rate movements in response to monetary shocks,” with positive growth last year following consec-
Mverecha said. utive decline in 2019 and 2020, with domes-
tic growth constraints as compounded by the
“At the heart of the current challenges are two Covid-19 pandemic.

Hippo Valley squirms amid sugar imports influx

BERNARD MPOFU Zimbabwe recently removed duty on imported basic commodities like sugar. mills have started the new season well with focus
being on increasing production and capitalising
ZIMBABWE Stock Exchange-listed sugar man- Covid-19, the sugar industry is engaging author- “This is also in an attempt to safeguard the on efficiencies. Operating and trading conditions
ufacturer Hippo Valley Estates says it is engaging ities to ensure an even competitive playing field health of the local population as some of the sug- are likely to remain challenging in the current
the authorities over the influx of cheap imports against cheap imports of sugar originating from ar imported is not vitamin A-fortified, as required milling season, with farmers and millers contend-
despite registering growth in domestic sales and a surplus producers who enjoy duty protection in by law. The substantial off-crop maintenance pro- ing with high cost pressures on account of both
decline in exports. their host countries,” the company says. gramme has been successfully completed and the local and global infla­tionary dynamics, exchange
rate volatilities, high cost of funding and supply
The government recently removed duty on chain bottlenecks, resulting in pricing of local
imported basic commodities like sugar to cush- products difficult in the short to medium terms.”
ion consumers from rising prices on the domestic
market. Zimbabwe year-on-year inflation, which The company’s share of total industry sugar
stood at 256.9% in July, has been on an upward sales volume of 94 257 tonnes (2021: 98 718
trend, pushing up the cost of living. tons) for the quarter under review was 54.5%
(2021: 52.1%). Total industry sugar sales into
According to the company’s trading update the domestic market for the quarter at 84 228
for the quarter ending 31 March, Hippo Val- tonnes (2021: 91 645 tonnes) decreased by 8%
ley’s share of total industry sugar sales volume of compared to same period prior year largely due to
394 000 tonnes (2021: 440 000 tonnes) for the reduced production as well as purchasing power
year ended 31 March 2022 was 53.2% (2021: constraints experienced by customers. The price
50.0%). Hippo Valley is a unit of Tongaat Hulett. realisations in both local and foreign currency on
the local market suffered negatively from the ad-
Total industry sugar sales into the domestic verse exchange rate dynamics on currency.
market for the year at 356 000 tonnes (2021: 325
000 tonnes) were 10% higher than prior year, “In order to further contribute to socio-eco-
driven by strong domestic demand. Industry ex- nomic transformation and to facilitate inclusion
port sales however, decreased by 67% to 38 000 of more local farmers in the sugar value chain, the
tonnes (2021: 115 000 tonnes) following redirec- company together with Triangle Ltd, is actively
tion of supply to the local market in view of the assisting new farmers who have been allocated
increased demand. Price realisations on the local virgin land with clear water rights and in areas
market, the company said also remained firm in close to the mills, with technical and commercial
current purchasing power terms. While local mar- feasibility studies, mobilisation of funding and
ket US dollar sales were firm at the beginning of where required actual development of the land
the year, these subsequently slowed down owing to sugarcane on a full cost recovery basis. Good
to limited availability of foreign currency with- progress has been made with respect to the de-
in the economy. The Zimbabwe sugar industry velopment of 1 168ha of Pezulu Project with one
has a single marketing desk at brown sugar level, local bank having availed US$5.2m (about 50%
administered by Zimbabwe Sugar Sales (Private) of the total development cost) with other banks
Limited (ZSS). indicating a willingness to fund the balance,” the
company says.
“Although local demand for sugar remains
strong as industry recovers from the impacts of

NewsHawks Companies & Markets Page 29

Issue 93, 12 August 2022

THE ZIMBABWE WOMEN IN

PRODUCTION AGRIBUSINESSFeeding the nation, building the economy

CONFERENCE

Simelane Mlilwane Simon Pande Tatenda Machirori Tryphina Dube Nomhle Mliswa
(AMA) Thakaza
(Ministry of Labor) (Zimtrade) (Summerhill Farm)
The formalities in (Value Chain Specialist)
Formalizing from Local & Export Overview of current Good quality
informal to formal Opportunities. goat export market Understanding Goat Production.
goat production. the Goat value
opportunities. chain production.

Dr Lawrence Michelle Gwatimba Nyasha Cris Kadram Eng.Mhonda Sibanda
Dinginya Madzvamuse
(Tzoro Farm) (Kadram Livestock) (Crisper Body Solutions)
(VET Department) (Credsure Insurance)
Women in Goat Health and Goat value addition
Goat Breeding livestock farming Livestock Insurance. Maintenance. in cosmetics.
and Nutrition.

05 AUG 2022

Zimbabwe Agric Show Ground (ZAS)

(ROBBIE MUPAWOSE HALL)

Tatenda Katai Patience FOR MORE INFO CONTACT
Chakuvinga
(Prestige Leathers)
(Empower Bank)
Women in
livestock farming Understanding Financial
Management in the
Goat Production SHAMISO NOMHLE
Value Chain.

+263 775 988 199 +263 772 393 691
+263 713 687 141 +263 712 149 054

Page 30 Companies & Markets NewsHawks

Issue 93, 12 August 2022

How public relations contributes
to sustainable business growth
THE age old argument is whether
the public relations profession can
make any significant contribution
to organisations and, if so, wheth-
er PR professionals can stake their
claim at the top table or the C-suite.

This involves an understanding
of the role PR plays in influencing
those touch points that company
leaders are concerned with.

This was the subject of a webinar
organised by the Marketers’ Associ-
ation of Zimbabwe on how PR can
help in achieving sustainable busi-
ness growth. In this article, we dis-
cuss the impact that public relations
has on companies and how these
public relations measures affect the
company’s bottom line, demon-
strating that PR can be a significant
tool to help companies grow.

The value of PR ness’s online platforms and retail ·        Help attract high-quality rate power. their competitors, and present a
According to Gilaninia & Taleghani locations. links, improving search rngine op- The Covid-19 pandemic brought positive image to the public.
(2013), public relations helps or- The contribution of PR timisation rankings, and generating the importance of communication
ganisations’ management teams in We often see PR as a tactic that leads and driving sales. to the fore for many businesses who Conclusion
achieving institutional or corporate is not sustainable. As companies ·        Create a positive company found themselves isolated not only Public relations can help your busi-
goals. It brings into the affairs of struggle to stay relevant and build image and generate media cov- from their employees, but from ness achieve sustainable growth
companies’ transparency, account- their brand, PR has become in- erage, which can increase customer their markets as well. in several ways. We have outlined
ability, respect for citizens’ rights, creasingly more important to gain trust and enhance credibility of the It became extremely beneficial for some of the most effective. As a
and programmes evaluation. It can exposure and increase consumer brand. those companies that had already modern and effective way to spread
help build better relationships with trust in a company, product, ser- If one is looking to take their embraced new technologies. Be- a brand’s message and improve the
customers, create a positive brand vice, or brand. PR is a powerful tool business to the company’s image, PR can help peo-
image, and help achieve business for building a brand and generating next level, they ple understand what they are about.
goals as well. leads. What better way of creating cannot over- It also can put a company in the
sustainability is there than helping look public Corporate news. The key is to always be look-
In this and other ways, PR can be a company reach new customers, ing for ways to build relationships
the driving force behind sustainable generate leads and grow the busi- relations as a Communications with a company’s various stakehold-
business growth. It can also be one ness? powerful tool ers. This way, it will get in front of
of the key ingredients in the recipe for just that. the people you want to be collabo-
for business success, the elixir that There are many benefits of public PR in the rating with.
gives your company the extra boost relations for a business. Public rela- digital age Lenox Lizwi Mhlanga
it needs when times are tough. tions can help to: *About the writer: Lenox Mh-
Optimising your public relations brings an extra langa is a specialist communi-
efforts with the right strategies can ·        Position a company as an dimension to cation consultant and can be
help generate interest in your brand industry thought leader, driving communications for a company. cause with social media, everything reached at: lenoxmhlanga@gmail.
and build an engaged audience. traffic to your website and increas- The ability to reach audiences, clari- is public and visible to the public, com and +263772 400 656.
ing brand awareness. fy concepts, and point to customers’ PR helps organizations control their
Public relations can be a powerful needs provides extraordinary corpo- image, set themselves apart from
tool for sustainable business growth
when it is used correctly.

However, many businesses do
not understand how public rela-
tions works or what it can achieve
for them. In this article, we will
discuss the basics of public relations
and show you how you can use it to
grow your business sustainably.
The role of PR in business
Public relations is an essential func-
tion for any business. It is how you
communicate with your customers,
the media, and the public. PR helps
companies to communicate with
their audiences in a targeted, strate-
gic and cost-effective way.

Public relations is about more
than just issuing Press releases and
handling crisis situations. It is also
about building relationships and
creating a positive image for a com-
pany. PR can help achieve sustain-
able business growth by influencing
perceptions, building brand aware-
ness, and driving traffic to a busi-

NewsHawks Stock Taking Page 31

Issue 93, 12 August 2022

Zimbabwe Stock Exchange Pricelist

`

12 August, 2022

Market Cap ($mn) 1,949,763.68 -1.50% Top 5 Gainers 14.72% Top 5 Losers -10.64% Value Leaders ($) 326,930,100 Top 5 Gainers YTD 500.00%
All Share Index 15,129.49 -1.13% Edgars 11.11% NTS -5.79% Delta 260,841,400 Zeco 295.42%
Top 10 Index 9,085.04 -1.23% Masimba 0.15% Econet -3.67% Econet 188,312,600 CFI 183.33%
Value Traded ($) 551.62% African Sun 0.05% Meikles -2.23% Natfoods 186,084,500 GetBucks 164.00%
Interbank rate (USD/ZWL) 1,468,730,020.00 0.78% Innscor 0.04% Simbisa -1.67% OK Zimbabw e 155,776,400 Afdis 149.51%
481.8543 Axia Turnall Innscor African Sun
Market Cap (US$mn) -1.50%
YTD Movement (%) 4,046.3760 -66.81%

Bloomberg Opening LTP Closing Price Previous Volume traded Value traded Shares In Market Cap Market Cap Price Change Price Change

Ticker (RTGSc) (RTGSc) (RTGSc) Change (%) Price (RTGSc) (shares) (RTGS$) Issue (mn's) (RTGS$ mn's) (US$ mn's) RTGS YTD (%) US$ YTD (%)
33,000.00 - 33,000.00 - 33,000.00 - - 119.49 39,433.19 81.84 164.00% -40.46%
Afdis AFDIS: ZH 1,600.14 1,602.53 1,600.14 22,812.29 47.34 149.51% -43.73%
1,800.00 0.15% 244.48 55,700.00 892,610.00 1,423.52 3,978.66 8.26 -34.32% -85.19%
African Sun ASUN: ZH 244.48 - 244.48 - 1,700.00 - - 1,627.40 7,428.62 15.42 62.68% -63.31%
1,700.00 - 1,700.00 - 6,795.00 - - 37,534.35 77.90 126.22% -48.98%
Ariston ARISTON: ZH 6,795.00 6,797.85 1,900.00 436.98 57,755.53 119.86 -45.71% -87.76%
1,900.00 6,795.00 1,900.00 0.04% 2,600.00 516,100.00 35,083,710.00 552.15 34.42 0.07 14.71% -74.13%
Art ARTD: ZH 2,600.00 - 2,600.00 - 245,000.00 - - 3,039.76 50,531.48 104.87 -23.49% -82.75%
245,000.00 - 244,900.00 - - - - 0.00 0.00 - -
Axia AXIA: ZH SUSPENDED 23,550.00 1.32 2,057.12 4.27 38.53% -68.76%
23,550.00 244,900.00 - -0.04% 12,500.00 16,300.00 39,918,700.00 20.63 65,332.68 135.59 66.29% -62.50%
Bridgerfort MMDZ: ZH 12,500.00 - 23,550.00 - 37,000.00 - - 42.94 39,235.12 81.43 295.42% -10.83%
37,000.00 - 12,500.00 - 21,198.43 - - 8.74 273,931.39 568.49 29.23% -70.86%
Bridgerfort Class B 21,198.43 - 37,000.00 - 2,800.00 - - 522.66 10,024.02 20.80 -20.00% -81.96%
2,800.00 - 21,004.18 - 4,700.00 - - 106.04 121,495.22 252.14 15.36% -73.98%
BAT BAT: ZH 4,700.00 2,800.00 15,722.39 1304.18 383,719.37 796.34 74.26% -60.70%
15,722.39 21,010.00 4,689.89 -0.92% 610.00 1,556,500.00 326,930,100.00 358.00 4,228.53 8.78 60.87% -63.72%
Border BRDR: ZH 2,800.00 14,812.12 - 6,055.00 1,100.00 30,800.00 2590.58 40,686.57 84.44 78.86% -59.66%
610.00 4,595.00 2,200.00 2590.58 2,396.31 4.97 39.37% -68.57%
Cafca CAFCA: ZH 6,055.00 14,395.00 699.80 -0.22% 749.71 851,600.00 39,939,080.00 604.25 15,965.78 33.13 114.02% -51.74%
2,200.00 6,055.00 -5.79% 1,850.00 1,761,000.00 260,841,400.00 671.95 12,767.65 26.50 -7.50% -79.14%
CBZ CBZ: ZH 699.00 2,200.00 14.72% 900.00 108.92 11,143.42 23.13 15.38% -73.98%
749.71 - 150.00 362,600.00 2,537,490.00 2159.81 804.88 1.67 -34.64% -85.26%
CFI CFI: ZH 1,850.00 - 739.22 - 1,700.00 - - 690.14 19,773.01 41.04 183.33% -36.10%
1,850.00 - 24,539.31 - - 1,238.16 47,280.68 98.12 -12.52% -80.27%
Delta DLTA: ZH 900.00 720.00 -1.40% 26,965.20 536.59 153,746.63 319.07 66.13% -62.53%
150.00 1,850.00 900.00 - 12,000.00 2,124,200.00 15,702,470.00 1,163.12 9,600.00 19.92 50.00% -66.17%
Dairibord DZL: ZH 1,700.00 150.00 - 450.24 100.00 1,850.00 193.02 8,365.83 17.36 38.69% -68.72%
24,539.31 900.00 1,700.00 - 4,500.00 10,800.00 569.88 12,082.69 25.08 -9.09% -79.50%
Ecocash EHZL:ZH 26,965.20 - 24,495.15 - 10,900.00 1,200.00 - 80.00 26,527.84 55.05 -16.07% -81.07%
12,000.00 - 26,978.94 -0.18% 1,100.00 - - 1,859.07 8,312.13 17.25 -1.41% -77.77%
Econet*** ECO: ZH 450.24 12,000.00 0.05% 175,000.00 - 241.65 119,708.23 248.43 27.32% -71.29%
4,500.00 24,495.00 450.00 - 1,700.00 82,303,700.00 252.65 6,870.92 14.26 111.10% -52.39%
Edgars EDGR: ZH 10,900.00 26,965.00 5,000.00 -0.05% 1,175.00 336,000.00 155,776,400.00 755.65 2,665.66 5.53 66.67% -62.41%
1,100.00 10,500.00 11.11% 3,030.48 577,400.00 68.40 38,576.02 80.06 9.30% -75.35%
FBC FBC: ZH 175,000.00 - 1,100.00 -3.67% 8,199.06 - 404.17 5,425.19 11.26 0.00% -77.45%
1,700.00 450.00 175,011.75 - 795.00 - 1,800.00 253.87 294.84 0.61 0.00% -77.45%
Fidelity Life FIDL: ZH 1,175.00 5,000.00 1,700.00 0.01% 2,500.00 400.00 5,000,000.00 1,285.88 6,298.39 13.07 -13.79% -80.56%
3,030.48 10,500.00 1,050.00 - 900.00 100,000.00 21,000.00 66.17 22,459.46 46.61 15.38% -73.98%
FCB FCB: ZH 8,199.06 2,999.96 -10.64% 9,000.00 200.00 37.09 22,248.24 46.17 -14.74% -80.77%
795.00 - 8,199.06 -1.01% 18,406.68 - 251.94 101,170.27 209.96 99.95% -54.91%
First Mutual FMLH: ZH 2,500.00 175,005.00 795.00 - 154.99 - 188,312,600.00 2,495.50 7,308.38 15.17 33.78% -69.83%
900.00 2,500.00 - 13,900.00 107,600.00 247.20 36,287.98 75.31 107.43% -60.82%
First Mutual Properties FMP: ZH 9,000.00 - 900.00 - 200.00 - 562.18 768.14 1.59 0.00% -77.45%
18,406.68 1,050.00 9,000.00 - 8,500.00 - 849,450.00 4,715.08 30,353.71 62.99 21.13% -72.68%
GB Holdings GBH: ZH 154.99 3,000.00 17,995.91 - 469.00 80,900.00 186,084,500.00 261.06 2,273.75 4.72 12.45% -74.64%
13,900.00 155.00 -2.23% 5,000.00 6,202,900.00 384.07 5,323.71 11.05 66.85% -62.37%
GetBucks GBFS: ZH 200.00 SUSP 13,900.00 0.01% 262.75 - 357.10 4,671.70 9.70 -15.10% -80.85%
8,500.00 SUSP 200.00 - 12,200.00 - - 493.04 21,373.26 44.36 58.44% -64.27%
Hippo HIPO: ZH 469.00 8,500.00 - 2.88 - - 106.47 13.34 0.03 500.00% 35.31%
5,000.00 - 461.17 - 374.98 - - 1,778.00 6,818.32 14.15 -0.29% -77.51%
Innscor INN: ZH 262.75 - 5,000.00 -1.67% 500.00 - - 175.19 2,880.00 5.98 71.82% -61.25%
12,200.00 - 262.75 - 1,625.00 - 127,231,100.00 463.34 5,568.97 11.56 -31.52% -84.56%
Lafarge LACZ: ZH 17,995.00 12,200.00 - 707,000.00 180,110.00 1,818.22 7.14 0.01 - -
2.88 155.00 - 9,352.38 116,200.00 - 576.00 11,412.66 23.68 133.81% -47.27%
Mash MASH: ZH 374.98 - 2.88 - - 200.00 344.58
500.00 200.00 375.00 0.01% 100.00 - 167.89
Masimba MSHL: ZH 1,625.00 - 500.00 - - 13,835.00 122.03
SUSPENDED 469.00 1,616.16 -0.54% 3,000.00 -
Meikles MEIK: ZH 9,352.38 - - - -
- 4.25 - - -
Nampak NPKZ: ZH - 9,352.38 - -
- - 849,750.00
Natfoods NTFD: ZH 375.00 226,600.00 -
- - 216,565.00
NMB NMB: ZH 1,615.00 13,400.00 -
- - -
NTS NTS: ZH - -

OK Zimbabwe OKZ: ZH

Old Mutual OMU: ZH

PPC PPC: ZH

Proplastics PROL: ZH

RTG RTG: ZH

Seedco SEED: ZH

Simbisa SIM: ZH

Star Africa SACL: ZH

Tanganda TANG:ZH

Truworths TRUW: ZH

TSL TSL: ZH

Turnall TURN: ZH

Unifreight UNIF: ZH

Willdale WILD: ZH

ZBFH ZBFH: ZH

Zeco ZECO: ZH

ZHL ZHL: ZH

Zimpapers ZIMP: ZH

Zimplow Holdings ZIMPLOW: ZH

Hw ange HCCL: ZH

RioZim RIOZ: ZH

Econet shares in issue include Class A Shares

Exchange Traded Funds Opening LTP Closing Price Change Previous Price Volume traded Value traded Market Cap Market Cap Price Change Price Change
(RTGSc) (RTGSc) (RTGSc) (%) (RTGSc) (RTGS$) (RTGS$ mn's) (US$ mn's) RTGS YTD (%) US$ YTD (%)
Cass Saddle Agriculture ETF 150.00 150.00 150.00 150.00 993.00 1,489.50 23.55%
Datvest Modified Consumer Staples ETF 169.49 169.49 170.00 0.00% 169.49 9,275.00 - - 50.00% -55.02%
Morgan&Co Made in Zimbabwe 0.30% 15,767.50 115.65 0.24 70.00%
Morgan&Co Multi Sector 115.00 - 115.00 115.00 - 15.00%
OM ZSETop-10 ETF 2,607.04 2,600.00 2,600.00 0.00% 2,607.04 400.00 - 2,831.30 5.88 15.00% -41.37%
-0.27% 12,980.00 10,400.00 3,274.12 6.79 160.00%
690.32 695.00 693.96 690.32 -64.74%
0.53% 90,076.00 555.16 1.15 56.34%

* The complete list of ZSE Indices can be obtained from the ZSE website: www.zse.co.zw

Page 32 News Analysis NewsHawks

Issue 93, 12 August 2022

Kenya polls: Key lessons for Zimbabwe

MOSES MATENGA …reforms vital for credible elections

THE Kenyan elections held this week protests broke out over suspected ma- tions, especially Zec and the govern- “Kenya, like Zimbabwe, has had dis- Zec embraced technology as it has in-
present key lessons for Zimbabwe if the nipulation of results by Zec. ment,” Vava said. puted elections also because the IEBC creased efficiency and transparency as
southern African country, known for [Independent Electoral and Boundaries seen in Kenya.
chaotic and often disputed polls over Six unarmed civilians were killed “Transparency, openness and non-in- Commission] was interfering until the
the years, is to hold a successful plebi- while several others were seriously in- terference have been the hallmarks of 2016 petition by Maina Kiai, Khelef Observers in Zimbabwe have already
scite in 2023, analysts said. jured by armed soldiers on the day. the Kenyan elections, something which Khalifa, and Tirop Kitur that has set cast doubt on the possibility of a free
Zimbabwe can adopt. What the Ken- the stage for some minimum reforms and fair election next year, citing lack of
Kenya held elections on Wednesday Political analyst and director of the yan elections showed is that Zimbabwe on the conduct of elections which in electoral reforms.
in which Raila Odinga, a former prime Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition Blessing needs electoral reforms sooner than later a way have been held in a transparent
minister of the eastern African country Vava said the Zimbabwean authorities otherwise with the present infrastruc- manner.” They also claim the playing field
and long-time ally of the late former have a lot to learn from Kenya. ture there is doubt that the elections remains uneven in favour of Zanu PF
Zimbabwean premier and opposition would be free and fair,” he added. Vava said it was also high time that which they say has captured Zec and
leader Morgan Tsvangirai, faced off “If anything, Zimbabwe has a lot to other key institutions.
against Deputy President William Ruto. learn in terms of the conduct of elec-

Odinga enjoys the support of incum-
bent Uhuru Kenyatta who is winding
up his second term in office.

Ruto was Kenyatta’s running mate in
the previous polls but the two no longer
enjoy the political romance.

The winner of the elections will be
declared the country’s fifth president.

Zimbabweans are keenly following
the elections with the opposition Citi-
zens' Coalition for Change (CCC) led
by Nelson Chamisa having a soft spot
for Odinga.

Political analyst Rashweat Mukundu
said Zimbabwe must emulate the trans-
parency shown by the authorities in the
elections.

“The key lesson is transparency by
the electoral management body, the
real-time transmission of results, which
enhances confidence and trust in the
process,” Mukundu said.

“It is something the Zimbabwe Elec-
toral Commission [Zec] can learn from
Kenya in terms of how to run elections
in a manner that builds trust and confi-
dence in the outcomes,” he added.

Mukundu said the use of technology
in the Kenyan elections is also some-
thing Zec and stakeholders in the hold-
ing and management of elections in
Zimbabwe should also be keen on.

“Another lesson is on how technol-
ogy can be used without much delay
in results to avoid use of opaque ways
which lead to loss of trust and potential
violence as we have seen in the past.”

There was violence a day after the
Zimbabwean elections in 2018 when

NewsHawks Critical Thinking Page 33

Issue 93, 12 August 2022

WILLIAM JETHRO MPOFU The political tragedy of a and Angolans amongst others,
Nkomo opted for a negotiated
IT has been my principal al- transition that included his “col-
legation that Joshua Nkomo’s philosopher of liberation league Mugabe.” He disarmed
philosophy of liberation was his and blunted Zipra, a military
great strength that became his outfit that one Rhodesian gener-
greatest weakness and undoing. al openly    feared and admired,
saying if he had such an army he
The zenith of his moral virtue could march from Cape to Cai-
made Nkomo a failed politician, ro, unstopped by any obstacle.
and whose failure cost his fol- The Lancaster negotiations led
lowers and Zimbabwe as a whole to the unfree and unfair elec-
dearly. Zimbabwe is still paying tions of 1980 where force and
the price for the loss of Nkomo fraud were combined to force
politically. At some point be- the victory of Zanu PF. Profes-
tween 1977 and 1978, British sor Blessing-Miles Tendi records
intelligence got wind that the that Zanla had about 3 000
Union of Soviet Socialist Repub- armed cadres that were instruct-
lics was enhancing its training ed by their leadership not to re-
and equipment of Zipra. Zip- port to the designated assembly
ra soon intended to transition points but remain at large in the
from guerrilla warfare to regu- villages of Mashonaland. These
lar war. The advice of the Brit- armed dissidents were used to
ish was that Ian Smith should make Mashonaland, especially
urgently call for a negotiated eastern Mashonaland, a no-go
but secret settlement with Nko- area for Zapu. Father Zimbabwe
mo and Zapu to avoid military could not go into some parts of
defeat and to hand over power Zimbabwe because he was not
in dignity and pride.    Marga- Father Zimbabwe after all, ex-
ret Thatcher pressed Kenneth cept in ceremony and symbol,
Kaunda to pressure Nkomo to or as a cruel nickname.
meet Smith. Nkomo tells us Nkomo tells us that “exer-
thus: “Despite the risk, I agreed cising our democratic rights,
to talk to Smith, face to face. In PF-Zapu put up candidates
absolute secrecy we met in State throughout the country. Two
House, Lusaka, as the guests of of our candidates and 18 of our
Kenneth Kaunda. I found Smith party campaigners were killed”
a tired man, a battered man. He and many more “were terror-
told me he wanted to surrender ised.” Nkomo should have seen
power, to hand the whole thing this unfree and unfair election
over; I am convinced he knew coming and the Gukurahundi
the game was up. That the time genocide that followed, but he
had come to concede defeat.  stuck to being a good philos-
opher, a failed politician and
But I could not on my own a tragic soldier.    General Peter
accept his offer… I had to bring Walls wrote to Margaret Thatch-
in Robert Mugabe, my colleague er advising that the elections
in the Patriotic Front. It was to should be stopped because they
the PF that power must be sur- were unfree and unfair before
rendered, not Joshua Nkomo or The late Vice-President Joshua Nkomo. they started, but he was ignored.
Zapu.”  Here was Nkomo being
a philosopher of liberation at his but he denied Zimbabweans his compelled to politically surren- full-scale conflict in which we Lord Soames intended to stop
most fragile and post-political. great leadership. It did not need der to avoid military devastation would match the Smith regime’s the elections, but succumbed
The man he called a colleague a Machiavellian but any prag- and humiliation. Nkomo tells us armour and air cover with ar- to political pressure from some
is a man who wanted him dead matist to see the political penal- that: “Behind the scenes a time- mour and air cover of our own. known haters of Nkomo among
and showed him so. Mugabe was ty kick and take it. If morality bomb was ticking away, nobody We had requested the Soviets the Frontline heads of state. 
later to show the Patriotic Front was so important, the “colleague but myself and senior Zapu col- to accelerate the training of our
that Nkomo exalted the middle Mugabe” could be brought in leagues knew of its nature. A aircrews in that country, and *About the writer: Dr Wil-
finger. later when power had been con- year previously, Zapu and Zipra to make available sophisticated liam Jethro Mpofu is a re-
solidated.  in the closest secrecy, had decid- modern aircraft which could searcher at the University of
While another philosopher Nkomo was aware that Zipra's ed that the war must be ended, strike in equal terms against the Witwatersrand in Johan-
of liberation, Kaunda, gained latest military capabilities scared the agony could not be allowed Rhodesian strategic installa- nesburg, South Africa. Mpofu
even more respect for Nkomo the British and the Rhodesian to go on. We had set in motion tions.” The Soviets agreed to is also a senior associate re-
for his refusal of power, Smith regime. Smith was not being what we called the Zero-point enhance and to equip Zipra to a searcher at Good Governance
was disgusted by Nkomo and generous to offer Nkomo the strategy, for a transformation yet unknown standard. Against Africa in Rosebank, Johannes-
even doubted his sanity. Nkomo country and power but had been of the war from guerrilla war to the advice of the Soviets, Cubans burg, South Africa.
did not only deny himself the
opportunity to lead Zimbabwe,

Page 34 Reframing Issues NewsHawks

Issue 93, 12 August 2022

Vacuum of ideas at ANC policy conference
bodes ill for South Africa’s governing party

SUSAN BOOYSEN

SOUTH Africa is in the throes of The governing ANC 's policy proposals do not inspire confidence.
an unprecedented, multifaceted so-
cio-economic crisis requiring substan- vate gain – have become deeply em- ment? dence, that delegates had applied their vious policy conferences. The ANC
tive, impactful policy interventions. bedded in the party, destroying public The conference  bore testimony  to minds to this problem. The  stalled had also controlled access. Combined
trust in it. Conference narratives gave fact that the ANC remains confused reform process, ordered by the Con- with the party’s  funding constraints,
Yet, having attended the governing at best timid references to better ac- about its role. It has governed the stitutional Court, is supposed to fun- the  “festival of ideas”  turned into
African National Congress’s recent countability. country for nearly three decades, but damentally change the post-apartheid quite a subdued affair.
five-yearly national policy conference, often protests against its own govern- electoral law to make it fairer by al-
which was supposed to show how Delegates did condemn high levels ment. lowing independents  to contest pro- On the organisational unity front,
the party intends to steer the country of crime and de facto rule by crimi- vincial and national elections. there were minimal outbreaks of fac-
forward, I wonder if it actually appre- nal networks, such as those running Delegates lamented suffering due tional contest, and disciplinary codes
ciates the enormity of the problems extortion rackets. But policy propos- to the rising cost of living and un- To address the debilitating instabil- of behaviour helped hold the confer-
facing the nation. als on how to deal with the problem employment, and  condemned the ity in local governments run by coa- ence together. This also helped con-
were largely absent. Vague advocacy scourge of gender-based violence. litions, the delegates proposed that tain the proxy “ideological” battles
A phrase from Italian philosopher for better ethics in the party and gov- Yet, the conference did not assume future coalitions be based on legally over the party’s anti-corruption reso-
and poet  Alighieri Dante’s 1320 ernment was all that was on offer. responsibility for the fact that it has binding contracts to avert their insta- lution. This requires all those charged
poem Divine Comedy comes to been on the ANC’s watch that these bility. There was no mention that the with criminal offences to leave their
mind: Abandon hope all ye who enter Big policy ideas came in repeat- problems have come to characterise ANC in local government has been a party and government positions.
here. ed proposals for a  basic income South African society. prime destabilising force wherever it
grant and implementation of Nation- lost to opposition coalitions. The policy was contested by some
The  policy deliberations and pro- al Health Insuranc. There was no shortage of disingen- delegates. But they didn’t muster
posals fell hopelessly short of address- uous policy statements. There were more unconvincing enough support to get it removed.
ing the country’s pressing problems But, the prospects of a basic in- platitudes about the need to continue
— high unemployment, poor econo- come grant have been dimmed On the  July 2021 unrest, which protecting the power utility  Eskom, All in all, the lack of sound poli-
my,  high crime  and  massive corrup- because the state has already used cost over 350 lives, the conference to pursue a state-owned bank, na- cy proposals to address South Afri-
tion, violence against against women. available emergency funds to address concluded that it was the work of tionalise the South African Reserve ca’s myriad challenges may suggest
unexpected crises such as COVID, those ideologically opposed to the Bank and promote local production that the ANC has  given up hope of
The subdued conference exposed flooding in KwaZulu-Natal and East- ANC’s advances in government. The of pharmaceuticals. making a difference to people’s lives.
a deficit of new policy thinking, and ern Cape, and destruction of infra- conference offered no recognition Party weakness This has implications for its electoral
failed to provide solutions. It certain- structure during the July 2021 riots. that ANC internal factional politics The poverty of policy ideas on offer prospects.
ly did not live up to party leader and had wreaked the havoc. was expected, given the ANC’s exis-
national president Cyril Ramapho- New funding would depend on tential crisis. It is at its weakest mo- If people’s hopes of it delivering a
sa’s declaration in his  opening ad- rearranging existing social relief and Regarding the  dysfunctionality of ment ever, as Ramaphosa confessed. better future also dissipates, the par-
dress  that the conference would be grant budgets, or another wealth tax. local governments  – most of which ty’s decline will be sealed. This will
defining moment for the ANC and are run by the ANC – the proffered From the 1.6 million unverified mean that the ANC, while probably
the country. What followed was not Implementation of the National solution was the government’s district members figure party spokesperson remaining the biggest party, will in-
a good omen for the governing party, Health Insurance continues at a pace development model. It envisages the Pule Mabe  claimed in July, a group creasingly fail to garner outright ma-
which is seeking reelection in 2024. that’s almost imperceptible. Mean- integration of local municipalities at of us were told on the sidelines of the jorities and be forced into increasing
while, the country’s public health sys- district level, a process that may help conference that the party had only numbers of  unstable coalition gov-
This analysis is based on my re- tem is collapsing. bolster capacity and effective use of 600,000 members in good standing. ernments.
views of two sources. The first was national funding at the local govern-
the ANC’s policy documents that had The conference did agree to minor ment level. Organisational weakness was also — The Conversation.
been prepared to anchor deliberations new ideas – such as a proposal to in- evident in the modest (around 2,000)
of branches in preparation for the crease the number of ambulances. Similarly, there were minimalist number of delegates. This is less than *About the writer: Susan Booysen
conference and the thematic commis- This is hardly the answer to the crisis pronouncements on forging a new half the number who attended pre- is visiting professor and professor
sions set up to tackle particular areas in the health system. electoral system. The relevant com- emeritus at the University of the
of policy. The second was the reports A government, or a protest move- mission simply said, without evi- Witwatersrand in South Africa.
to the plenaries  and the media pre-
sented by ANC luminaries.

In my view, there were mismatches
between  the crises facing the nation
and proposed solutions. There was a
flood of small – or partial – stabs at
big problems. A few big ideas came
with the proviso that they may be
“not affordable”.
Paucity of ideas
The deliberations were characterised
by disingenuous, counter-factual pol-
icy pronouncements, and de facto
denials of the ANC’s culpability in
causing many of the current problems
facing the country.

Foremost among the small stabs at
major policy problems was the coun-
try’s high levels of unemployment.
Beyond recognition of the problem,
and the statement that there was a
“sombre spirit” in the meeting of the
breakaway commission that discussed
the issue, nothing new emerged.

Delegates retreated into  existing
economic plans  and reiterated the
much stated view within the govern-
ing party that it has good policies –
all that’s  missing is good implemen-
tation.

Over the years, this has become an
easy pardon for under-performance.

Absent was any acknowledgement
that patronage networks as well as
corruption and  state capture   – the
funnelling of public resources for pri-

NewsHawks Reframing Issues Page 35

Issue 93, 12 August 2022

When the IMF comes to town: Why
they visit and what to watch out for

DANNY BRADLOW The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Kristalina Georgieva. ly, governments are reluctant to
ask for IMF financing unless they
IN most rich countries the news ber states to try and direct their that it’s difficult for anybody in- Fourth, the IMF can make rec- cannot get enough foreign ex-
that a mission from the Interna- economic and financial policies terested in the visit to learn how ommendations to the government change from other sources.
tional Monetary Fund (IMF) is towards the objective of fostering they might engage with the mis- on actions that it should take to
coming to visit is met with in- orderly economic growth with sion or provide it with informa- deal with any challenges that have The IMF provides the financ-
difference. But, in most African reasonable price stability. tion. been identified. ing on an unsecured basis. It tries
countries the news can cause great to ensure that it will be repaid by
consternation. Thus, the IMF regularly — usu- Second, in principle, there is These recommendations are making the financing subject to
ally annually — sends a staff team no limit on what issues the IMF purely advisory. In principle, the policy conditions, known as con-
Why the difference? to assess the state of each country’s can focus on during its mission. country is free to ignore them. ditionalities. The premise of these
History has a lot to do with macro economy, the risks it faces Consequently, IMF staff can raise This may be the case if the coun- conditionalities is that the coun-
it. The citizens of many African and its capacity to continue evolv- any issue and request whatever in- try is confident that it will not try is essentially living beyond its
countries have suffered through ing in a sustainable way. This team formation they think is relevant to need IMF financing in the future. means and must reduce its expen-
their governments, under IMF usually meets with officials in each assessing the state of the country’s This is the reason that the citizens ditures to the level of its income,
pressure, cutting subsidies and so- country’s ministry of finance and macroeconomic situation. This of rich countries do not usually including the funds contributed
cial spending, firing public sector central bank. In addition, they has led to a gradual expansion in care that an IMF mission is visit- by the IMF. In short, the IMF
workers and increasing taxes. For can ask to meet other government the range of issues the IMF may ing their countries. However, this is demanding that the country
example, a  2021 Oxfam study, officials. For example, during raise in these missions. They now is a luxury that a country cannot makes sacrifices.
found that the IMF encouraged Covid-19, the IMF might have range from fiscal policy, inflation afford if it thinks it may need
33 African countries to adopt aus- been interested in meeting with and unemployment rates, and bal- IMF financial support. Or that its This means, inevitably, that the
terity policies in the wake of the health department officials. ance of payments deficits to issues access to international financial terms of IMF financing are con-
Covid-19 pandemic. about how the country is dealing markets may be influenced by the troversial. First, the scale of the
On the other hand, with a few The IMF staff will also normal- with climate change, gender dis- IMF’s view. This, of course, is the sacrifices necessary to restore a
exceptions,  such as Greece, cit- ly meet with members of parlia- crimination, public health and case for most African countries. country to macroeconomic health
izens of rich countries have not ment and with representatives of wealth inequality. Financing missions are not easily determined. They
experienced the IMF having any business and labour. The second type of mission is ini- depend on perceptions of the
direct impact on their lives. Third, the outcome of the mis- tiated by requests for IMF financ- causes of the country’s crisis, as-
Another important reason is They may also meet with repre- sion is a report prepared by the ing. sumptions about future econom-
lack of knowledge. Usually, when sentatives of civil society. staff that is discussed by the IMF’s ic developments and the capacity
the IMF comes to town, the pub- Board of Executive Directors. The Their purpose is to assess the of the government to implement
lic gets little information about There are four important points report is usually made public af- country’s need for financial sup- policy changes and the public to
the purpose of the IMF’s visit – or to note about these missions. ter the discussion, together with a port. And to negotiate the terms accept and absorb these changes.
its likely outcomes. In other cas- press release. on which it will be provided. Reasonable people can, of course,
es, people are concerned that they First, while the IMF provides have different views on these is-
have limited ability to influence some guidance to its staff, it does The IMF also uses the informa- The IMF effectively acts as a sues.
the outcome of the visit or its im- not require them to follow any tion in preparing its reports on lender of last resort. Consequent-
pact on their lives. particular procedures for inform- the global economy. Second, the scope, terms and
This article seeks to remove ing interested parties that it is number of conditionalities the
some of the mystery surrounding visiting the country. The result is IMF chooses to attach to its fi-
IMF visits to a country. It explains nancing can be very broad, or
the two basic reasons for the IMF quite specific. For example, it can
sending its staff on “missions” to a merely state the size of budget cuts
country. And what can be expect- that the country must make or the
ed in each case. amount of additional revenues it
The IMF’s remit must raise and then leave it up to
According to its Articles of Agree- the country to decide how to meet
ment, the IMF’s purposes include these conditions. Alternatively, it
promoting monetary cooperation can specify which budget items
among its 190 member states so should be cut, which taxes should
that they can more sustainably be increased, and which structural
manage their macroeconomic sit- reforms must be implemented in
uations and their international fi- order to get IMF financing.
nancial relations. This should help
them promote and maintain high This effectively means that the
levels of employment and real in- conditionalities are matters for
come and develop their produc- negotiation between the govern-
tive resources. ment and the IMF and that they
The IMF also provides financ- depend on the balance of bargain-
ing to countries that do not have ing power between them. This
sufficient foreign exchange to means that the IMF is effectively
meet all their needs and obliga- a player in the domestic economic
tions so they do not have to resort policy making process of coun-
to measures that are destructive of tries that need its financing.
“national or international pros-
perity”. However, the IMF is not sub-
To fulfil these responsibilities, ject to the same legal require-
the IMF sends its staff on two ba- ments regarding participation or
sic types of missions to member transparency as other players in
countries. this process. It is also less account-
Surveillance missions able to those who will be affected
The first are  surveillance mis- by its policy choices than the gov-
sions.  Article IV  says that the ernment itself.
IMF should exercise “firm surveil-
lance” over the efforts of its mem- — The Conversation.

*About the writer: Danny
Bradlow is SARCHI Professor of
International Development Law
and African Economic Relations
at the University of Pretoria in
South Africa.

Page 36 Reframing Issues NewsHawks

Issue 93, 12 August 2022

Human rights considerations in 
Catholic Church priest training
MATHEW MARE

THE church must reconsider serious- Twitter and WhatsApp with end-to-end the Vatican to, in 2005, visit a number mation houses and seminaries. Studies Catholic Church in Harare .
ly the human rights considerations at encryptions, livestreaming, sharing and of seminaries and formation houses have seen the documentation of human
seminaries and formation houses where posting of videos and pictures. (Schuth, 2012:6). It must be acknowl- rights violations obtaining in the apos- ment by the church impacted on the
it trains its nuns and priests  (Schuth, edged that the Roman Catholic Church tolic independent churches but little has image and the integrity of the church.
2012:2). It is losing a lot of people due Meanwhile, a number of nuns and does have instruments to tackle human been written about human rights viola- The Roman Catholic Church must re-
to human rights violations at these for- priests who are failing to endure the rights like the Catholic Commission tions on women in formation houses, brand and deploy theories of strategic
mation houses and seminaries. There is human rights abuses in formation and for Justice and Peace (CCJP), but it is nuns, and sexual molestation of mass communication like image repair and
a lot of framing, racial segregation and seminary houses have been seen to be failing to resolve human rights viola- servers by priests in the Roman Catho- corporate apologia theories. The church
jealousy at formation houses and this is resigning in numbers. The Anglican tions within its backyard. Surprisingly, lic and other mainline churches. Whilst must apologise to their catechists whom
affecting the church negatively.   Church tends to be the greatest bene- the CCJP is the number one critic of the Roman Catholic Church has such it ill-treated and, where possible, offer
ficiary of defections from Catholic for- human rights abuse by state actors and organs like the CCJP, the church must compensation. The majority of these
While it is not the position of the mation houses and seminaries. The Ro- inter-state agencies. walk the talk on human rights. The catechists are no longer attending the
church to violate the rights of its nuns man Catholic Church needs to institute 1962 Vatican 11 created catechists or church out of frustration with some de-
and priests in formation and semi- a commission of inquiry into allegations The categorisation and nomenclature African agents of the gospel who later fecting to other churches. 
naries houses, there is a human rights of gross human rights abuses in the for- given to people in formation houses became the face of the church in open-
consideration to be addressed if it is mation houses and seminaries in order and seminaries like novices, seminari- ing most of its centres and spreading the *About the writer: Matthew Mare
to avert losing priests and nuns due to find ways through which they can ans, nuns, brothers, and priests differ- catholic doctrine. is a Zimbabwean academic who holds
to non-sanctioned procedures (ibid, address these concerns and allegations. entiate how each sub-category is treat- two bachelor’s degrees, five master’s
2012:2).  Schuth further argues that, However, it must be acknowledged ed.    The novices and seminarians are However, post 2000 the church be- qualifications and a PhD. He is also
there are a lot of human rights violations that, the Roman Catholic Church has the worst affected as they are subjected gan to lay off its catechists without any reading for another PhD and has
by priests and deacons on minors and in the post-2000 era made inquiries into to gross human rights violations like benefits after they had worked for more 12 executive certificates in different
the Vatican 11’s  pastores dabo vabos the abuses in seminaries and formation racial segregation, verbal insults, hard than 40 years.  Since the catechists are fields. Professionally, he is a civil ser-
(apostolic exhortation) instructed the houses, the reports of which influenced labour, amongst others, whilst at for- members of the societies their ill treat- vant and also board member at the
church not to conceal any human rights National Aids Council of Zimbabwe.
abuses. He also argues that in the mid-
1980s the church changed regulations
at the formation houses where spiritu-
ality and academic formation began to
be emphasised.  

Schuth, (2012:2)  also argues that
while at public perception level the
church does not condone human rights
violations, in practice the theology of the
Roman Catholic Church directs nuns
and priests to take the vow of "complete
confidentiality and strict secrecy". The
doctrine of complete confidentiality
and strict secrecy is akin to the Johanne
Marange Apostolic Church (JMAC)’s
doctrine of  Chitsidzo  which makes it
difficult for congregants to speak out on
human rights violations in the church.
With the information age, the conceal-
ing of human rights abuses is becoming
more and more difficult. Technically,
churches that used to conceal infor-
mation will in the unforeseeable future
face the same predicament, with states
of failing to contain social media implo-
sion. With the nuns and priests in the
formation houses and seminaries having
access to the secular world through ac-
cess to personal cellphones, the secular
influences cannot be underestimated.
The impact of social media socialisation
cannot be underestimated. In the past,
nuns, brothers, seminarians and priests
would be protected against secular so-
cialisation as the only form to reach out
to a person in the formation house and
seminaries was through letter writing.
The letters would be read before they
were handed over to the concerned per-
son.

Even the barring of visits to forma-
tion houses and seminaries is no lon-
ger relevant because of social media
explosion. Social media has provision
for video calls, live chats, livestreaming,
cheap data calls,  live chats, livestream-
ing, cheap data calls, picture and video
sharing platforms, making it easier to
connect and communicate. With the
fluid nature of communication, flow
of information to and from formation
houses can no longer be regulated. This
is to say the events at formation houses
are no longer a secret. Social media has
created applications such as Facebook,

NewsHawks Reframing Issues Page 37

Issue 93, 12 August 2022

Improving cross-border trade policy vital
in solving the African food security crisis

FRED MUTENYO

AFRICA can feed itself. It can also ground in terms of its participation can earn by selling produce at local tices that conserve scarce water and pic: Jekesai Njikizana/AFP
feed people beyond the borders of its in global food systems. We need to markets. on pest control using low-cost in-
54 countries. reverse this trend. digenous methods that do not con- tions, such as the Southern African
We help them with these inputs taminate the environment. We are Development Community and the
We have that potential and key to There are several reasons for this and with training in more intensive also working to ensure small-scale East African Community, aim to
unlocking it is the streamlining of lost market share — too little of the agronomic practices for vegetable farmers have access to the seeds of do. The World Bank estimates the
cross-border trade policy. African agricultural sector is mech- and field-crop production. We also drought-resistant crop varieties. free trade agreement will raise the
anised and we are not taking advan- provide training on how to preserve incomes of 68-million people across
The opposite is what we see to- tage of innovations and technologi- food post-harvest. On the policy side, the good news the continent. Unfortunately, its im-
day — too many of our fellow Afri- cal advances. In fact, there isn’t even is, to date, 43 countries have signed plementation has been delayed by
cans face food insecurity, or famine. enough use of fertiliser and irrigation To reclaim Africa’s place in world the African Union’s Comprehensive a number of factors, not least the
Our brothers and sisters across the to boost yield. There is also the high food markets, and to strengthen our Africa Agriculture Development Covid-19 pandemic.
East African region urgently need cost of acquiring the mechanisation continent’s resilience in the face of Programme which was launched in
humanitarian assistance to prevent technology and fertilisers needed to an increasingly uncertain world — July 2003 as a flagship continental We have a lot to gain if we invest
large-scale starvation. Parts of south- contend with, as well as a lack of the worldwide shortage in grain programme for AU member states in agricultural and trade infrastruc-
ern Africa are experiencing drought government subsidies for agricul- and cooking oil because of the war to increase investment in the agri- ture, in better farming methods and
and heat stress which are affecting ture. The developed world subsidises in Ukraine is a case in point — our culture sector. The programme aims in streamlining cross-border, in-
food security in that region. We can its agriculture, making it difficult for governments must invest far more to have each signatory put 10% of tra-African trade. In comparison to
change this scenario. Africa’s sector to compete. than they currently are in the sec- its gross domestic product into agri- tariffs imposed in central Asia and
tor, including increasing the use of culture. Our governments can reap Europe, Africa’s cross-border trade
After all, the African Develop- Deploying all these technologies technology, research and scientific huge benefits if they achieve this policy performance in trade logistics
ment Bank estimates that 65% of will boost production and mean we advances and insights to improve aim. is poor. “Sub-Saharan Africa’s logis-
the world’s uncultivated arable land are able to meet export quotas — and broaden production and to tics performance index scores are,
is in Africa and our labour costs are too often we miss out because we safeguard produce after it has been And while there has been good on average, 25% lower than those
generally low. We have not tapped don’t produce enough to export in harvested. This will become increas- progress in streamlining intra-Af- of countries in Europe and central
into that potential. the required volumes. Furthermore, ingly important as climate change rican trade policy, there is a lot of Asia,” the UN report concludes.
we have challenges in meeting and takes greater hold — technology can room to improve, especially in prac-
Imagine the benefits that would maintaining export-quality stan- help farmers mitigate against climate tice. The global economy is unsta-
come to Africa’s 1.2-billion citizens dards. change and adapt to its effects. ble and indications are that it will
if our countries earned more revenue According to the UN Confer- not calm down soon. Also, climate
through customs duties and taxes ForAfrika’s focus is primarily on For its part, ForAfrika is work- ence on Trade and Development’s change is here to stay. We must be-
from our broader and more effective ensuring our fellow Africans have ing with communities to fast track Economic Development in Africa come more self-sufficient and better
food production. That is revenue enough nutritious food to eat, and the adoption of climate-smart agri- Report 2021, intra-African trade able to weather the shocks that come
that could be invested in services we do this in two ways: we support culture. We promote the use of en- accounts for 14.4% of total African from global events.
such as universal health coverage, households with food donations and ergy-efficient cooking fuel, which exports. We can, and must, increase
education and more of the infra- we work with them to ensure they reduces tree felling — forest cover this percentage. We must do this and we can. Let’s
structure we need — roads, railways, are better able to produce food. Too brings overall temperatures down really get going.
harbours, cold storage facilities and many African smallholder farmers — and is one way we can mitigate Also, we need to reduce the high
more — to export still more food to do not have the inputs they need — against the rising temperatures that cost of trading across borders in Af- — Mail & Guardian.
the world. quality seeds and equipment, most- go along with climate change. We rica — something the African Con-
ly — to produce a surplus so they educate farmers on agricultural prac- tinental Free Trade Agreement and *About the writer: Fred Mutenyo
We could completely change the various smaller free-trade organisa- is country manager in Uganda for
game. ForAfrika, an non-governmental
organisation.
According to the UN Food and
Agriculture Organisation, just over
half of Africa’s population is in-
volved in the agricultural sector.
Increased agricultural productivity
would create more jobs and would
lead to an increase in individual in-
comes. The knock-on effects of bet-
ter and broader agricultural activity
would allow families and communi-
ties to enjoy a higher quality of life,
increasing their ability to afford bet-
ter nutrition, education, healthcare
and other goods and services.

But without integrating cross-bor-
der trade policies and regulations,
none of this will happen. There is
no point producing more food, and
food products, if we cannot move
them around efficiently. We need to
be able to sell them abroad and be-
tween each other.

Without better cross-border trade
integration we will still find our-
selves in a situation where people in
a region that has a food surplus can-
not send supplies to their sisters and
brothers, starving in another region,
quickly enough. 

Ugandan President Yoweri Mu-
seveni is one of the few high-profile
leaders advocating free cross-border
trade in East Africa. In his recent
speech at the 22nd Ordinary Sum-
mit of the East African Communi-
ty heads of state, Museveni urged
governments to drop policies that
promote protectionism because they
deny consumers access to imported,
quality food at affordable prices.

Sadly, Africa has steadily lost

Page 38 CRreiftriacmaliTnhgiInsksuinegs NewsHawks

Issue 93, 12 August 2022

JAMES D. LONG Kenya’s election: Institutional
safeguards are still work in progress
KENYA has held its seventh nation-
al election since the reintroduction of Raila Odinga, left, and William Ruto are the frontrunners in the August 9 presidential race
multiparty competition in the early
1990s. Elections in the country are with the tabulation, transmission and The election management system In response, the 2010 constitution er, it helped to quell tensions between
never dull affairs. They are always con- certification of results. is probably the most controversial and provided for numerous reforms to the Odinga and Kenyatta’s supporters.
tested by ever-shifting and  unstable consequential aspect of the commis- judicial branch. It specifically empow-
political alliances  that employ vibrant The ability of the Independent Elec- sion’s reliance on technology.  ers a Supreme Court to hear and be Although the nullification required
campaigns to sway both core and swing toral and Boundaries Commission to the final arbiter on all electoral peti- a revote, the commission proved inept
voters. This happens right up to elec- oversee a robust election under the new It was designed to improve the trans- tions. Odinga used this path because of at providing credible improvements.
tion day. constitution has been undermined by mission of results from polling stations documented irregularities in 2013 and Odinga boycotted the re-run.
a number of what seem to be errors. to the commission’s headquarters. But 2017.
The 2022 race proved no exception. Some were unforced, some forced. many kits (or some would argue the What next
The election landscape has had many Some were of their own doing and whole system) failed in 2013 and 2017. In 2013, the court heard his petition The new constitution enhances elec-
ups and downs resulting from the some not. This was as a result of intentional or but ruled in favour of the Independent tion management, some of which the
country’s evolving institutional dynam- unintentional user “error”, network Electoral and Boundaries Commis- commission has improved on from its
ics since the 2007-08 election, which For example, in 2013 and 2017 the connectivity problems, cyber-hacking, sion. It certified Uhuru Kenyatta’s first- predecessor. But challenges remain.
triggered unprecedented post-electoral commission was beset by scandals over or some combination of the above. round victory. And unlike 2007, the constitution also
violence. These dynamics are driven the tendering processes  of sensitive provides new dispute mechanisms to
in particular by the promulgation of a election materials and technologies. The commission improved trans- Despite all the controversies in the encourage any petitioners to pursue
new constitution in 2010. Many of its These are often procured from suppli- parency in 2022 by demonstrating to commission’s performance, Odinga legal, as opposed to violent, objections
provisions regarding the bodies respon- ers abroad. the public how the results transmission – importantly – abided by the court’s to results.
sible for managing the election and works  and performing a pre-election actions.  Voters perceived the sourt as
adjudicating any disputes continue to Some of these actions probably arise nation-wide field-test of the manage- the legitimate arbiter. And the outcome The lessons from 2013 and 2017 in-
underscore many opportunities — as from compressed timelines and uncer- ment system. It also encouraged me- was peaceful. dicate that the media, parties, civil so-
well as challenges — Kenya faces with tain budgets. But others imply improp- dia and civil society to conduct their ciety and citizens should be as vigilant
democratic deepening. er actions by commission staff and po- own “parallel” tallies. In 2017, the court shocked the as ever. If the commission can improve
The constitutional reform process it- litical agents trying to influence it. The Supreme Court country when it ruled against the com- its performance, the Supreme Court
self was enacted on the heels of a con- The second constitutional reform in- mission’s certification of Kenyatta’s will simply become the “arbiter of last
tested result in the December 2007 The commission has turned to new volved the dispute mechanisms avail- re-election and  nullified the presiden- resort” rather than the “go-to” solution
election between then-president Mwai technologies to improve the voting and able to contest results. As the thinking tial result. The verdict was based on for the losing side.
Kibaki and opposition leader Raila tabulation of results. These include the went, Odinga and his supporters took evidence from petitions and its own
Odinga. Odinga cried foul on Kibaki’s introduction of biometric voter regis- to the streets in 2007-08 because they investigation. — The Conversation.
certified victory, resulting in post-elec- tration and the Kenya Integrated Elec- did not see credible legal avenues avail-
tion clashes. More than 1 000 civilians tion Management System. In 2013, the able, given a corrupt and sclerotic judi- On one hand, this unprecedented *About the writer: James D. Long is
were killed and upwards of 700 000 biometric system failed. This was due to ciary stacked by Kibaki’s allies. action demonstrated the Kenyan ju- associate professor of political science
displaced. the inability of laptops and fingerprint diciary’s newfound independence and at the University of Washington in the
The fighting and ensuing political scanners to work properly or receive willingness to take aggressive action to United States.
stalemate ended in February 2008 with power at many polling stations. improve electoral integrity. On the oth-
the formation of a power-sharing Gov-
ernment of National Unity. It included
Kibaki, Odinga and their coalitions.
Included in a reform package under
this mediation, the government pur-
sued constitutional revision. Passed by
popular referendum in 2010, the con-
stitution provides two relevant group-
ings of institutional reforms. These
were designed to improve and stream-
line the electoral process to prevent an-
other 2007-style debacle.
As I argue in this article, the results
have been mixed. Kenya is not unlike
any other country where democratic
deepening requires a “two-steps for-
ward, one-step back” outlook.
A new electoral commission
The 2010 constitution overhauled the
institution responsible for managing
the vote and certifying the outcome.
A new Independent Electoral and
Boundaries Commission replaced the
Electoral Commission of Kenya. It was
responsible in 2007 for creating anxiety
about the manner of tabulation and an-
nouncement results.
The  constitution  and  subsequent
legislation  improved managerial over-
sight and operations by specifying
that the new electoral commission’s
appointment of commissioners must
be non-partisan. The institution is also
empowered to regulate political party
activities and implement procedures to
improve voter registration and voting
procedures. Most critically, it is charged
with the tabulation, transmission and
certification of results.
The  constitution  and  subsequent
legislation  improved managerial over-
sight and operations by specifying
that the new electoral commission’s
appointment of commissioners must
be non-partisan. The institution is also
empowered to regulate political party
activities and implement procedures to
improve voter registration and voting
procedures. Most critically, it is charged

NewsHawks Reframing Issues Page 39

Issue 93, 12 August 2022

How America
can foster an
African boom
The continent needs investment — not just aid

ZAINAB USMAN and 2022. that African states need to invest around business capital for Africa, with over 21 to resuscitate declining trade and invest-
But opportunities for investment ex- US$50 billion per year in climate ad- 000 African companies headquartered ment relations with African countries
IN United States policy circles, Africa aptation, the United States should seize in the UAE. The soaring volumes of while punishing these same countries
is generally viewed as a backwater, pe- ist, and some countries have capitalised the moment and push multilateral de- African-Chinese trade, meanwhile, are for exercising their sovereign right to
ripheral to US economic and security on them. Africa’s growing digital econo- velopment banks and European allies to mostly a result of the transcontinental interact with another country, albeit a
priorities. That status is reflected in US my is powered by Chinese digital infra- provide low-rate financing. ties between thousands of hardworking problematic one.
diplomacy. The last visit by a US pres- structure and mobile phone companies small-scale African and Chinese entre-
ident to an African country was then such as Huawei, Transsion, and ZTE. This initiative would align well with preneurs. That legislation is another indication
president Barack Obama’s trip to Ethi- These Chinese companies have become the needs of most African countries. of how little import the United States
opia in 2015. Contrast this with Pres- market leaders on the continent in large The region needs jobs for the more US-African small-business links, in places on the continent. This paternal-
ident Joe Biden’s trips to Europe, Asia, part because, in the early years of this than 11 million young people joining contrast, remain paltry. The most obvi- istic approach is reflected in US foreign
and the Middle East just during the first century, US companies wrote off most the labor market each year. Precedents ous way to develop those ties would be policy, which has been almost exclusive-
year of his administration. Africans as too poor to afford mobile for successful US private-sector invest- to streamline the US visa system. ly focused on humanitarian initiatives.
phones. ment in developing countries include Some of these programmes have done
But now that the Chinese govern- places such as Singapore, South Korea, Changing US domestic politics, the a lot of good. The President’s Emer-
ment has dramatically enlarged its foot- Similarly, African countries are now and Taiwan, which were lifted into pros- impact of Covid-19, and bureaucratic gency Plan for Aids Relief, unveiled by
print in Africa, Washington policymak- forging a variety of economic partner- perity through such investments and re- inertia have created serious backlogs for President George W. Bush in 2003 to
ers are paying attention. Trade between ships with companies and governments main reliable US allies. processing nonimmigrant visas. This is combat HIV/Aids, has saved millions of
China and African countries reached in places such as India, Russia, Turkey, People-to-people contact especially true in African countries: the lives. The US Agency for Internation-
a historic high of US$254 billion in and the United Arab Emirates. These In pursuing this new strategic approach wait times to secure an appointment for al Development recently announced
2021. In comparison, trade between deepening relationships are shaping the to Africa, the US should expand its a visitor visa in US embassies in Gha- US$1.3 billion for food assistance and
the United States and African countries foreign policies of African governments: outreach to segments of African society na, Nigeria, and Kenya can exceed two the prevention of infectious diseases in
declined from a peak of US$142 billion witness how many countries in the re- that US policymakers often overlook. years. This wait time is contributing to the Horn of Africa, which will help alle-
in 2008 to just US$64 billion in 2021, gion abstained on the UN resolution is- Some opinion surveys show the United the growing perception among Africa’s viate deprivation in the region.
and it now accounts for a mere 1.1% sued in March that condemned Russia’s States’ favorability rating in the region future tycoons and decision-makers that
of US global commerce. The Chinese invasion of Ukraine. to be tied with or even lagging that of United States is distant and inaccessible. Still, a narrow focus on humanitari-
government, moreover, has numerous China. The US government already Take notice, Capitol Hill an need can overlook how much Africa
energy, rail, and port projects across the Because US policy on Africa is linked conducts civil society outreach in Afri- It is not just the Biden administration has to offer the United States in terms
continent. It has also donated vaccines to the administration’s effort to curb can countries through the Internation- that needs to refocus its Africa policy. of new markets, growth opportunities,
and hazmat suits to help countries in China’s rise, there will be a strong im- al Visitor Leadership Program and the US congressional representatives are and geopolitical alliances. Africa is not
the region combat the Covid-19 pan- petus to match China’s investment in YALI Mandela Fellowship. These initia- pursuing initiatives that overlap in ways a peripheral region. What happens in
demic. building high-speed railways, airports, tives, however, target well-credentialed that are not complementary. For exam- African countries will increasingly shape
and power plants. Indeed, the Partner- journalists and employees of nongov- ple, two proposed bills on Africa have the rest of the world. The internation-
In part to counter China’s growing ship for Global Infrastructure Invest- ernmental organisations, omitting an countervailing goals. The Prosper Africa al partners that help African countries
influence, the Biden administration ments launched at the 2022 G-7 sum- important constituency: small-business Act aims to codify interagency efforts overcome some of their seemingly in-
has just unveiled a new “21st Centu- mit to counter China’s Belt and Road owners. and promote, facilitate, and increase tractable challenges and unlock their
ry US-African Partnership.” Biden’s Initiative was pitched as a way to launch US. latent potential will reap significant eco-
strategy supports a just energy transi- energy, health, and digital projects. Policy should be geared toward de- African trade and investment. nomic and political gains. China, Tur-
tion and the region’s post-pandemic Yet similar infrastructure investments veloping strong business ties between The Countering Malign Russian Activ- key, the UAE and other countries are at-
economic recovery. It also emphasizes would not be the best use of US public the United States, home to the world’s ities in Africa Act, meanwhile, would tuned to this reality. To realise the vision
the importance of strong democratic resources because those initiatives play wealthiest market economy, and Africa, hold accountable “African governments of a twenty-first-century partnership
institutions and transparent gover- to Beijing’s strengths. Instead, Washing- the region with the highest rate of entre- and their officials who are complicit in outlined in the Biden administration’s
nance. To truly forge new partnerships ton should build on the United States’ preneurship in the world. A whopping aiding [Russia’s] malign influence and Africa strategy, economic diplomacy
with Africa, however, the United States strengths in advanced technologies and 22% of the African working-age popu- activities” on the continent. No such should be at its core.
should place economic diplomacy at the private capital, thereby aligning US in- lation has started businesses. It is com- counterpart bill exists for any other re-
core of its engagement. This approach terests with the economic development mon to encounter a middle-class Afri- gion, even though India and Gulf Arab — Council on Foreign Relations.
should draw on America’s unparalleled needs of African countries. can trader or entrepreneur on a flight countries such as the UAE maintain *About the writer: Zainab Usman
strengths in advanced technologies and to Dubai or Beijing traveling to source strong economic ties with Russia. The is a senior fellow and director of the
private capital while streamlining the US pharmaceutical companies are apparel, electronics, or heavy industrial result is that the United States is seeking Africa Programme at the Carnegie
US visa system to allow for more busi- global leaders compared with similar machinery. In fact, Dubai has become a Endowment for International Peace
ness-to-business ties between the Unit- entities in rival countries such as China. in Washington DC.
ed States and the continent. With guarantees from public agencies
such as the US International Devel-
An agenda of this sort would shore opment Finance Corporation, the Ex-
up African economies and offer long- port-Import Bank of the United States,
term benefits to the United States. Af- and the United States Trade and Devel-
rica’s population is younger and faster opment Agency, American companies
growing than that of any other conti- can invest in building out supply chains
nent — the median age is 19. In fact, to produce medicines, medical equip-
it’s expected that more than two billion ment, and vaccines in African countries.
people will reside on the continent by Such investments would help strength-
2050. By the end of the century, rapid- en vulnerable supply chains for medical
ly growing African cities will constitute products in Africa, improve the ability
13 of the world’s 20 biggest urban ar- of local pharmaceutical industries to
eas. The region’s latent growth potential comply with international quality stan-
is enormous. Companies that invest in dards, create jobs, and reduce the Unit-
Africa — and countries that exercise ed States’ reliance on Chinese supplies.
patience in addressing governance chal- The US government can also support
lenges on the continent — will gain ac- human capital development in African
cess to new markets and build political countries through exchange programs
influence. for medical professionals.
Leveraging America's strength
To be sure, those expressing doubts Another comparative advantage of
about Africa’s growth prospects can the US government is its ability to pro-
point to some dispiriting statistics. Ac- vide financing, unilaterally and via mul-
cording to the World Bank, 48 coun- tilateral institutions such as the World
tries in sub-Saharan Africa could be Bank, at below-market rates. African
home to 90% of the world’s poor by countries are advocating for reforming
2030. Twenty of the world’s 38 coun- global finance to make it more equitable;
tries in fragile and conflict-affected situ- the United States can win more friends
ations are on the continent; five military on the continent by backing this cause.
coups took place there between 2021 It was, after all, the absence of Western
financing for infrastructure in recent
decades that prompted African coun-
tries to turn to Chinese banks. Now

Page 40 Africa News NewsHawks

Issue 93, 12 August 2022

Is there really a paradigm shift in US-Africa
relations? Why the answer seems to be yes

GILBERT M. KHADIAGALA

UNITED States secretary of state gress (ANC) coalition. This has resources to be able to pacify the The strategy also emphasises the United States has an abiding
Antony Blinken’s whirlwind visit to had a detrimental impact on South eastern DRC sufficiently to ad- digital democracy, the centrality of interest in ensuring that the region
three African countries is the sec- Africa’s stature in foreign policy. In dress Kagame’s concerns. cities, and incorporation of African remains open, and accessible to all,
ond in less than 12 months. Africa and globally. American diaspora in US-Africa and that governments and publics
It is going to require US dip- relations. Beyond these, the four are able to make their own choices,
In November 2021 he visit- In the Democratic Republic lomatic dexterity and a sustained objectives capture the continuity consistent with international obli-
ed key US regional partners Sene- of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda, economic and political re-commit- of policies that past administrations gations.“ (p.7).
gal, Kenya and Nigeria. Blinken will confront the unending ment to resolve this 30-year-old cri- have articulated. The change pre-
conflicts in the region. These have sis. A start may be a US-led military scribed in the strategy, therefore, is Instead of being preachy and
In South Africa – the first stop decimated lives and communities, force composed of new military in tone rather than substance. prescriptive with respect to African
on this trip – Blinken unveiled frustrated international and region- contingents from various countries. relations with other powers, the
the US Strategy Toward Sub-Saha- al stabilisation efforts, and con- This could be bolstered by a bold Third, sensitivities to race play strategy presents African states with
ran Africa, marking a remarkable signed the Great Lakes region to US commitment against author- a dominant role in the strategy, the enticing option of working
paradigmatic shift in America’s en- global marginality. This is despite itarian and autocratic regimes in reflective of the convergence of Af- with the US in the advancement
gagement with Africa. its abundant resources. the region. But Blinken is bound to ricanists and African Americans in of common values, mutual respect,
face opposition from some of the the Biden administration and its democracy, and prosperity.
Why do I call the new strategy a Bilateral, regional, and interna- key players. Africa policy.
paradigmatic shift? tional efforts to resolve the root The paradigm shift The strategy is a fresh beginning
cause of the problem — the an- The strategy outlined by Blinken Throughout the document, in US-Africa relations. But its out-
First, it sets a positive tone for tagonism between the DRC and has four key objectives. These are there is mention of placing people comes will be judged on two fac-
US engagement with Africa. Pre- Rwanda — have failed. They need fostering openness and open so- of colour at the heart of US-Africa tors. Will the Biden administration
vious US strategies began from the the injection of US mediation to cieties; delivering democratic and relations as well as recognizing the be able to negotiate implementa-
premise that Africa was not a stra- break the impasse. security dividends; advancing pan- historical and ongoing connections tion in the fractious US political
tegic actor in the broad scheme of demic recovery and economic op- between addressing racial justice process? And will African countries
American foreign policy. The government of President Fe- portunity; and supporting conser- and equality in Sub-Saharan Africa be able to seize opportunities that
lix Tshisekedi has made decisive at- vation, climate adaptation and just and the United States (p.12). the strategy presents?
This strategy is different. It starts tempts to mend fences with Rwan- energy transition (pp. 7-10).
from the assumption that Africa is da’s President Paul Kagame. But the Equally germane, the strategy The December 2022  Africa-US
a core priority of US foreign policy. two are incapable of resolving their An innovative idea is the in- acknowledges past criticisms of US summit in Washington  will be an
problems while conflict persists. volvement of the US International training and support for African excellent opportunity to gauge re-
This guiding assumption frames Development Agency (USAID) on militaries that launch coups against sponses to this strategy.
the fundamental commitment to Kagame will not cease his relent- the education front. What’s been civilian regimes and abuse human
working together toward common less military adventures in the re- tabled is that US academic institu- rights. — The Conversation.
aspirations in the advancement of a gion if the DRC and its supporters tions and the private sector provide
shared agenda. cannot eliminate insurgent Hutu online courses for African students. Finally, the strategy is cleverly *About the writer: Gilbert M.
rebels implicated in the 1994 geno- Subjects could include science, articulated to undercut critics who Khadiagala is Jan Smuts Pro-
The tone is matched by the em- cide. technology, engineering and Maths often invoke US competition with fessor of International Relations
phasis on African agency. And the (Stem) (p.16). China and Russia in Africa as the and director of the African Centre
ability of the continent to lead and In addition, neither the DRC main driver of engagement with for the Study of the United States
participate effectively in decisions government nor the United Na- Africa. The strategy poignantly ad- (ACSUS) at the University of the
when it comes to economic, politi- tions Mission in the DRC (Mon- dresses this issue. It states: Witwatersrand in South Africa.
cal and military engagements. usco) seem able to marshal the

But, first some reflections on
Blinken’s three-country visit.
Significance of three-country
stopovers
The visit to South Africa under-
scored US interest in re-engaging
the South African government
within the context of the US-
South Africa Strategic Dialogue
framework. This was crafted by the
Barack Obama administration in
2010 to deepen the relationship be-
tween the two sides.

The dialogue provides a forum
for both partners to review com-
mon aspirations and objectives
while also addressing persisting dis-
agreements. But it was interrupted
by the Donald Trump adminis-
tration as well as the onset of the
Covid-19 crisis. South Africa is one
of the few African countries with
this kind of strategic partnership
with the US. The forum therefore
reinforces South Africa as an Afri-
can actor that Washington takes
seriously. This is despite differences
which both partners should man-
age amicably.

Hopefully, the Blinken delega-
tion may have had the opportunity
to cautiously raise concerns about
the instability and disarray in the
governing African National Con-

NewsHawks Africa News Page 41

Issue 93, 12 August 2022

Kenyan electoral board designs transparent
voting system that mirrors Bitcoin blockchain

RUFUS KAMAU A man puts his thumb on a biometric machine to check his ID to cast his vote at a polling station. that so and so are their preferred
candidates. Bitcoins are stored
KENYANS held national elec- a third party, collecting and an- tronic copy of the signed form to When the IEBC headquar- on the ledger on the Bitcoin
tions on 9 August 2022, and the alyzing data from these polling the IEBC headquarters, followed ters receives and verifies a form network, and you only use your
voting system closely mirrored stations. This includes manu- by the physical form to the same from a polling station, the form private keys to sign that your
the BitcoinBTC -1.5% block- ally collecting all signed voting location. To ensure transparency, is published on its website as an bitcoins be moved to a specific
chain. African governments have forms, verifying them with the party representatives would also official copy. Voters, party repre- public address.
traditionally conducted chaotic returning officer and the elec- send a copy to their party head- sentatives, the media, and aspi-
elections rife with gross miscon- tronic copy, and tallying them quarters. rants can download and compare To win the Kenyan presiden-
duct and outright vote rigging. within seven days of the election this data to their own copy from tial elections, one must receive
The election, however, was the to announce the official winners. If this copied Bitcoin, a signed the polling station. They can also 50% of the votes cast plus one.
most transparent system I have At the time of writing, the IEBC copy of the form would be sent count votes to determine elec- This means that if someone
ever seen or heard of, thanks to had received and verified 46 193 to other nodes to update all cop- tion winners before the IEBC wanted to steal the election, they
the Independent Electoral and of the 46 229 presidential elec- ies. releases the official results. would have to manipulate data
Boundaries Commission of Ken- tion forms and was awaiting from 50% of the polling places
ya (IEBC). the 36 remaining forms so that Each polling station has a This compares with the pub- plus one. This would require a
the election results could be an- maximum of 700 registered vot- lic nature of the Bitcoin ledger, significant investment in terms
In spite of the similarities, nounced. ers. The number of voters in the where anyone can query any of resources, but it would ensure
which we will get into, the polling station would be either Bitcoin transaction and view its the security of the voting system.
IEBC's top officials can change This compares with the ease the number of people who vot- address.
voter registration details and with which blockchain analytics ed or the number of people who If one or more people want-
transfer voters. There is no sin- firms like Chainalysis are able voted before the voting window Once a voter signs in to a poll- ed to hack the Bitcoin network,
gle administrator in Bitcoin who to query data from the Bitcoin closed. This means that each ing station using biometrics, the they would need to control
can move Bitcoin or change blockchain and publish insights. record contains 700 entries. In device sends an electronic signa- 50% of the nodes plus one. This
transactions. comparison, Bitcoin's block size ture to the IEBC servers, notify- would necessitate a massive col-
The consensus mechanism is is one megabyte per block. ing them that the citizen has vot- lection of resources, firmly es-
Furthermore, the polling sta- different from that of Bitcoin. ed. While this solves the double tablishing Bitcoin as the world's
tion biometric devices have the Political party representatives To vote successfully, a voter voting problem, Bitcoin’s block- most secure monetary network.
full register but can only allow in would watch the entire ballot needed to bring an original copy chain solves the double spending
voters registered for that specific casting process within a polling of their national ID card, go to problem. If one region went offline or
location. In Bitcoin, one’s trans- station immediately after the their registered polling station, the voting process was disrupt-
action can be signed by any node voting window closed, count and sign in using an IEBC bio- Votes are stored on the IEBC ed, other regions would still
on the network. This is probably each vote and sign the record in metric scanner. To sign a trans- database in the voting system, vote seamlessly, and the missing
an IEBC feature designed to en- the electoral system. This copy, action in Bitcoin, one must have and the user only needs to sign data would be appended once
sure one does not vote in a loca- once signed, would be a perma- a public address (similar to an them. That is, every registered the bottleneck was handled. In
tion they do not live in. nent record. The IEBC represen- ID card) and a private key (com- voter's information is recorded, Bitcoin, if some miners or users
tatives would then send an elec- pares to fingerprints on the bio- and they only visit the polling are offline, their coins are still on
While it is debatable whether metric scanner). station on election day to sign the chain and their transactions
the system designer was directly are appended to the blockchain
inspired by the Bitcoin network, once they get online.
the similar features are compel-
ling to conclude that they were IEBC designed the system to
inspired by the Bitcoin block- minimize trust and allow voters
chain. If you wanted a foolproof to verify all records, whereas Bit-
system with no single point of coin's infrastructure is designed
failure, where else would you to eliminate trust and allow us-
look? ers to verify. In Bitcoin, collec-
tive nodes are the single point of
The comparison between failure, just as collective polling
the Bitcoin blockchain and the stations are the single point of
Kenyan voting system used in failure in the IEBC voting sys-
August 2022 is impressive. To tem.
begin with, all polling stations
were distributed into 46 229 On the Bitcoin network, once
units, and votes cast in any one a transaction is signed, it is final,
polling station were counted, verifiable and cannot be amend-
signed, and accepted as a per- ed or reversed. Similarly, once
manent record. This compares the votes cast are recorded and
to the Bitcoin network, which signed, they are final, verifiable
has an estimated 14,951 decen- (you can go and count the con-
tralized nodes spread across the tents of the ballot box), and can-
globe, according to Bitcoin ana- not be amended.
lytics firm Bitnodes.
The vote records are not kept
The system combines both in the voter registration ledger.
manual and electronic transmis- The KIEMS device stores the
sion systems to ensure security. voter ledger and scans signed
The Kenya Integrated Elections ballot forms while the votes re-
Management System (KIEKIE main in their respective ballot
+1%MS) biometric device scans boxes. The Bitcoin ledger, on the
the QR-coded signed forms from other hand, stores both the ad-
each polling station and sends dresses and the Bitcoins.
the copy to the IEBC servers
for analysis and reporting. The — Forbes.
physical ballots in ballot boxes
serve as the verification protocol, *About the writer: Rufas Ka-
while the signed physical forms mau works as a financial mar-
serve as the signed transactions. kets researcher and analyst for
EGM Securities. He has exten-
The IEBC would then act as sive experience trading forex,
stocks, and cryptocurrencies.

Page 42 World News NewsHawks

Issue 93, 12 August 2022

Chinese private security firms are growing
their presence in Africa: Why it matters

ALESSANDRO ARDUINO

CHINESE private security compa- persists. creasing criminal and militant vi- with risk assessments to get the Checks and balances are needed to
nies have found a profitable niche Second, well before the launch olence  against Chinese individuals green light to invest abroad. It also prevent private security firms from
market in Africa: guarding Chinese and infrastructure abroad, their addresses procedures on data shar- becoming political pressure tools.
executives and construction sites. of the Belt and Road Initiative and role is expanding from securing ing and reporting on local security
Beijing’s focus on private security fixed structures to providing high- developments. As it is, China’s private security
They are also securing Chinese companies, several Chinese com- tech surveillance. companies are still evolving. This
vessels at sea against piracy. panies operating in Africa organ- These guidelines have been well increases the likelihood of private
ised a sort of armed militia. These In the last decade, China has received among the dozens of Chi- firms moving overseas without
The growing presence of Chinese were established to protect Chinese recognised that sole reliance on the nese private security companies al- proper training, operational capa-
private security companies in Afri- interests  from criminal or political economic development of African ready operating efficiently abroad. bilities or an understanding of the
ca comes against the backdrop of a violence. These ranged from nat- countries isn’t enough to protect its But it’s yet to be seen how the esti- threats.
global security architecture that’s in ural resource extraction to small workers and projects. Bursts of vio- mated 10,000 local Chinese com-
transition. businesses. lence and  terrorist expansion  from panies with limited knowledge of Prepared or not, Chinese compa-
the Sahel to Somalia are putting international security requirements nies are extending feelers in African
These changes reflect the US Third, Africa is witnessing the Chinese workers and investments will operate if they want to work in countries to establish security busi-
moving away from being the return of well-structured groups of in the cross-hairs. Africa. ness partnerships. This has been
world’s sheriff to its  offshore secu- international private military com- China’s regulatory response Way forward seen in Mali, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethi-
rity balancer. America is using its panies. These companies support In 2018, the Chinese government It’s important to consider how Chi- opia, South Africa and Tanzania.
strategic alliances and intervening local governments and interna- drew up a set of security regulations nese private security companies
to protect its interests abroad only tional interests, such as  Moscow’s for companies operating overseas. interact with local government se- Unfortunately, the race for the
when necessary. muscular return to the African con- These are detailed in the  Security curity forces and the  substantial cheapest contract still plagues the
tinent. Management Guideline for Over- Chinese peacekeeping presence  on internationalisation of the Chinese
Today, regional recalibration is seas Chinese-Funded Companies, the continent. security sector. To counter this, it’s
the name of the game. As a result, the expansion of Institutions and Personnel. necessary to partner efficient Chi-
Chinese private security companies Proper integration of foreign nese private security companies
The demand for Chinese securi- – and their implications for the The document outlines training private security services will bene- with local security providers.
ty services in Africa has  increased continent’s security landscape – has requirements, security assessments fit host governments, especially as
significantly since the 2013 launch drawn less scrutiny. and risk mitigation procedures. security threats rise. But, in Chi- — The Conversation.
of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Companies, for instance, need to na, it’s not easy to know where the
This is the country’s blueprint for Private security companies are provide the Chinese government public ends and the private starts. *About the writer: Alessandro
its engagement with the continent. not new to Africa. However, the Arduino is a principal research
Chinese ones are still  establish- fellow at the National University
But private security companies ing themselves. In response to in- of Singapore.
have captured less attention than
the rise of private military compa-
nies and mercenaries like the Wag-
ner Group.

The growth of Chinese private
security companies comes as Bei-
jing increases its investment in
large infrastructure projects in Af-
rica. China is also investing in min-
ing projects  across the continent.
However, in nations like the Dem-
ocratic Republic of Congo, Sudan
and South Sudan, ongoing political
unrest means government security
services are wanting.

China’s reliance on these coun-
tries for resources explains why it’s
become more anxious about securi-
ty in Africa.

This highlights the need for bilat-
eral and multilateral agreements on
the private security sector between
China and African nations. They
need to agree on codes of conduct
for oversight, regulation and coop-
eration. Increased sector scrutiny,
based on best practices, would also
help prevent the growth of unregu-
lated private security firms.

Failing to establish these regula-
tions could lead to  negative spill-
overs.

Private security companies could
abuse authority or fail to operate
along clear guidelines. It could also
lead to unaccountable mercenar-
ies and rogue foreign militia. This
would affect African populations
and the viability of the Belt and
Road Initiative.
Three pecularities
Africa’s private security sector is
characterised by three peculiarities.

First, the continent still carries
the stigma associated with  merce-
naries’ actions  during post-colo-
nial conflicts. The kind of heavily
armed soldiers that wrought havoc
over the last three decades may no
longer be the norm. But the stigma

Porsche just got angrier Being a Fashion Model

&Life Style

STYLE TRAVEL BOOKS ARTS MOTORING

Page 43 Issue 93, 12 August 2022

Koffi Olomide JONATHAN MBIRIYAMVEKA
teases fans in
new ‘dress’ code CONGOLESE rhumba star Koffi Olomide has teased fans with
his new dress code, raising speculation that the Doubolo King,
as he now calls himself, could be dropping fresh music anytime
soon.

The Papa Mobimba singer took to his Facebook page and
posted some of his startling pictures including one in a colourful
dress-like number and another one in off-white heels by Rick
Owens called Bottines a Plateforme which cost 1 544 pounds
(US$1 870.

While the new outfits look good on Koffi Olomide, it might
not work on every other Tom, Dick and Harry, especially
non-performing artistes.

Interestingly, Koffi Olomide is not new to such eyebrow-rais-
ing outfits as seen on most of his videos since his formative years.

When it comes to showmanship, Koffie Olomide, who has
performed in Zimbabwe a number of times, brings his "A" game.

But perhaps it is not just Koffi Olomide who has a “weird”
fashion sense.

American hip-hop artiste Kanye West, now known as Ye, who
is a fashion designer of note, literally changed the way men now
dress up in more ways than one.

In his 2004 video for one of his first singles, "All Falls Down"
from his album "The College Dropout," West wears a pale pink
polo, stained with mustard, under a brown velvet jacket.

And at galas, music award shows and even at a brunch hon-
ouring that year's Grammy nominees, West donned the palest
shade of red nearly from head to toe. 

According to mic.com: “In doing so, he was showing men like
him — in the industry or not — that pink was nothing to be
afraid of. Really, it could look cool as hell.’

Long before Jaden Smith even thought about wearing a
skirt to prom, Kanye West slipped into one for a concert. 

In 2011, West paired a black T-shirt with a black leather skirt
during his Watch The Throne tour with Jay-Z.

One year later, he did it again at Madison Square Garden,
pairing an oversized black hoodie and black leather skinny jeans
with a black leather skirt designed by Givenchy.

The fashion choice was a controversial one within the rap
world, with Chris Brown writing on Instagram, "Can't get wit
that swag! N*ggas gone be wearing heels next!" Reportedly, the
criticism was so intense that West had begged Getty Images to
take the pictures of him in the skirt down.

But by 2015, West only mused on the skirt in a positive light,
telling Paper magazine: "There are warriors that have killed peo-
ple in kilts in the past.  Who gets to decide what's hard and
what's not hard? When I saw this kilt, I liked it. I was into it. It
looked fresh to me. I felt creative; I didn't feel limited by some
perception." 

Seeing how men have long accepted skinny jeans, maybe in
future they will not hesitate to don the skirts.

Page 44 Poetry Corner NewsHawks

Issue 93, 12 August 2022

Title: Plagued By An Energy Pandemic Title: New Para Of adage and metaphor.
Poet: Ndaba Sibanda Poet: Hebert Chiweshe It succumbs,
To the path of pretence.
Lord, have mercy on us, there is a lousy My work was daft. Wherein it seeks to walk,
,drowsy load of load shedding crisis that has My work was inept. With the literary anointed.
snowballed into a daily disruptive, piteous My work riled. Who assemble and disassemble,
plague. Our prayer seeks to push out an energy My work stank. Knots and knurls of the faculty of man.
pandemic that preys on the powerless peoples The least grade I got, Who untie the warps and kinks,
of Zimbabwe and South Africa, it reigns su- Was in literature. Of the crevices of
preme by virtue of an acute lack of pragmatism I was shocked. The prehensile, unfathomable brain.
and vision. I was numbed. And lay it bare
It is like the mad mutations of the Covid-19 pan- I was chastised. In honest simplicity.
demic, an energy pandemic that plunges san- I searched myself. I read Sheridan,
ity into insanity, happiness into helplessness, I asked myself. His book, The Rivals
productivity into paralysis, homesickness into Had I really understood, I read Shakespeare,
haziness, brightness into bleakness. What I read? His book Twelfth Night
Had comprehension sunk? Now, not a line do I recall.
***************************************************** Had I got to the heart of the subject? From the fervent play, verses.
Title: Sterile Had I fathomed it well? I recall Feste The Geste
Poet: Samuel Chuma The subject of economics, I recall Mrs Malaprop
Comes to mind. I faintly remember Sheridan's work as
You shall find her Broad it is. possibly a play of repute.
Seated on these black shores Vast it is. My web of memories fails me.
Where congealed menstrual flows Unending it is. I remember reading about Mariners and
Harden into eerie shapes Definitive and concrete goal posts, the albatross.
That gleam with lifeless lustre It has not. From which book they came,
Under the gaze of a bloodied noonday moon Man can stretch it. I recollect not.
She will be staring; At the horizon Its flexibility is astounding. Great Expectations I read.
Waiting for the ship; Whose captain is despair So many interpretations it begets. My mind ails.
And whose mate is; Pain in prime Aberrations, too, visit. It cannot regurgitate the tale in Expecta-
Who sail the briny waters But it is a plausible and sinuous subject. tions.
Whose source are the tears It allows man great scope of thought. The flimsy terrain
That escape the soul; Via vacuous eyes Thought not always backed by credible ballast. Of scattered threads of recollection,
Grown too tired to even blink I liken it to poetry. Can only throwback so little.
When accusatory fingers; Point and at her stab Which has no bounds. So little as to be insignificant.
As she carves lifeless effigies No reins. No emasculation. I read literature long back.
Of the children she never No muzzlement. I read to fool the examiner.
Shall nurse and treasure No asphyxiation I read not to comprehend.
From the caked menstrual excreta It is a free agent. I read to confound.
It is a rare legend. I read to hoodwink,
.***************************************************** It is a lavish project. The zealous prescriber of the Cambridge
Title: Death Claimed All! Today, When I read poetry, exam.
Poet: Obey Chiyangwa I see glut of verbose outage. As I read today,
I see words stringed together. I read to comprehend.
A violent wind suddenly struck at midnight. I see lines choreographed. But mostly I fail to comprehend.
A fiery earth shaking sound seized all of nature. I see phrases painstakingly aligned. Because I never comprehended,
Owls hooted eerily in the shivering trees. I see sentences clinging together. From the beginning.
Jackals yelped in the bare stripped grasslands I see stupendous syntax. I don't know what I enjoy
The entire valley was a vast arena of confused My palate opens up. It savours rhyme. In the meat of a poem.
cries. It tastes cloying sweetness. Shall I say words bewitch me?
Frolicking witches could be heard cackling at It kicks lips of exposition. Words potent but vacuous to me?
the crack of thunder. It sucks nectar of craft, Words which are the poet's select poi-
There was no moon to rescue earth from the Dexterity. My mind gaps. soned arrows?
darkness, Nor stars to silence the madness of At the onslaught of terms. Words which are darts
the dancing elements. Comprehend them, Of expression, release and emancipation?
Death's confident stride pummelled a huge It does not. Words which pine for cognisance?
blow in the ensuing shambles. Though ambitious it has always been. Words which spur introspection?
Carting away a chunk along the pathway to Deciphering is a precarious task. Words which pummel the soul,
eternity. For it lacks the requisite depth, With salient vigour?
What do you do when all the cemeteries are To unravel the intricacies Words which plummet from the poet's
engaged in a nationwide renegade? Of the human mind. crucible?
It falls short of perspicacity. Words which are the hammer.
.***************************************************** It lacks innate grasp Words which are the anvil.

NewsHawks People & Places Page 45

Issue 93, 12 August 2022

Kenya elections in pictures

Page 46 Sport NewsHawks

Issue 93, 12 August 2022

NewsHawks Sport Page 47

Issue 93, 12 August 2022

Obituary: De Klerk, veteran of the
‘Miracle of Bulawayo’, passes on
ENOCK MUCHINJO

TRIBUTES have been paid following Piet de Klerk and his wife Mienkie at home in Mutare in 2010.
the death last week of Piet de Klerk
Snr, who captained Zimbabwe in Hartsfield in Bulawayo. His contri- rugby legacy extended to his sons Piet and Zimbabwe (Rhodesia). He was “Miracle of Bulawayo”, are still sur-
rugby and played in the famous win bution to the game in Nyazura and Jnr, Tiewe and Koos, who all went on in the stages of writing a book on his viving.
over the All Blacks in Bulawayo 75 Manicaland was immense as he was to play for Mutare Sports Club. We rugby experiences and playing and
years ago. a hard-tackling player and astute ad- join his family and community in re- winning against the All Blacks.” De Klerk, who arrived in Rhodesia
ministrator – gentle, fair and down to membering a gentle giant in celebrat- from the Cape in the 1950s and set-
De Klerk, who passed on in Mu- earth. An unassuming and friendly ing his life and reflecting on his rugby It is not known how many mem- tled in Manicaland, was distantly re-
tare, provincial capital of his beloved family man off the field of play. His contribution in Nyazura, Manicaland bers of the squad that defeated the lated to FW de Klerk, South Africa’s
Manicaland, was in his early 90s.   All Blacks, in a match known as the last white ruler.

He was best known in post-inde-
pendence Zimbabwe as a white farm-
er who lost one of the most viable
commercial farms in the country, a
massive agricultural business known
as Kondozi in Odzi, 32-km west of
Mutare, Zimbabwe’s third largest city.

In his young days he was a top-
class rugby player, featuring in Rho-
desia’s 10-8 win over New Zealand in
1947, a result recorded as one of the
biggest upsets in the history of inter-
national rugby. Rhodesia was Zim-
babwe’s name before transformation
into black majority rule in 1980.

De Klerk won selection into the
national side following excellent per-
formances for Nyazura Rugby Club
and Odzi Country Club, two clubs
in farming districts of Manicaland
which were some of the strongest rug-
by teams in the country in the old era.

When De Klerk’s farming business
grew, he went into administration
post-playing, generously funding rug-
by in the province through the Mani-
caland Rugby Board.

The Zimbabwe Rugby Union re-
leased a condolence message:

“The Zimbabwe Rugby Union
president Aaron Jani and the board
would, on behalf of the rugby com-
munity, like to express their sincere
and profound condolences to the De
Klerk family, Old Nyazura Rugby
Club community, the Manicaland
Rugby Board on the sad passing of
rugby legend Piet de Klerk Snr on the
6th of August in Mutare.

Piet played for Nyazura Rug-
by Club where his rugby talent was
honed and played for the Rhode-
sia (Zimbabwe) national team. Piet
de Klerk Snr captained the national
team and played in the famous Rho-
desia-New Zealand games in Hara-
re (then known as Salisbury) and at

Sports Nurturing
footballers
on the other
side of town

Romanticism v
Realism: How we
blew it againThursday 1 October 2020

Friday 12 August 2022 @NewsHawksLive TheNewsHawks www.thenewshawks.com

WHAT’S INSIDE NEWS CULTURE
Such a short memory,$60Covid
tariff for
visitors &
tourists
Community
radio
regulations
under review

Story on Page 3 Story on Page 8
Khaled aCnhdamTaimsaimre! ac
NASUM Ahmed, a Bangladeshi out to team from this country — on a
cricket fan, summed it up for me Khupegood day, in a good series — can
when he requested “forgiveness” defeat Bangladesh.
on behalf of two cricketing figures It is fair to say Bangladesh has
from his country who recently played some amazing cricket over
made rather unflattering com- the past decade or so. The senior
ments about the Zimbabwe team. side has scored some notable suc-
Unofficial president calls for emergecess against top opposition, and
Bangladesh’s team director their youth team lifted the Un-
Khaled Mahmud was the first to der-19 World Cup. But to feel
provoke a salvo of condemnation “disgraced” by a loss to an in-
after he remarked, following Zim- form fellow full member nation is
babwe’s 2-1 win against his team a rather false sense of how strong
in the T20I series, that losing to they really are.
the Chevrons was a “disgrace” for It seems that some people with-
the Asian side. in the cricket system in Bangla-
desh are refusing to accept reality,
Tamim Iqbal, Bangladesh’s for some strange reason, and it
ODI captain, piled on the dispar- has now bred disrespect for Zim-
aging remarks after the touring babwe.
side also went on to lose in that Didn’t Tamim — who now says
format. Bangladesh would not he takes losing to Zimbabwe to
have “taken it to heart” if they had heart — label the Chevrons pace
been beaten by the bigger teams, spearheads Brian Vitori and Kyle
not Zimbabwe, said Tamim. Jarvis “overrated” in 2011? And
then what happened?
This prompted Ahmed to com- Tamim had an average tour, and
ment of Facebook: “I’m urging Vitori got him out three times!
forgiveness of my country Bangla- In those matches, Zimbabwe’s
desh. Even when a big team like return to Test commitments after
Sri Lanka lost to Zimbabwe five a long lay-off, Bangladesh were
years ago, no matter how big they beaten in the sole Test, with Zim-
are, I have never seen them talk babwe also winning the ODI se-
like this. Belittling Zimbabwe, Khaled Mahmud. ries.
I think it is this rage which led
to (in-form Zimbabwe batsman) alarming levels. But cricket is also own backyard, Bangladesh were says something about the poten- In a post-match Press confer-
Sikandar Raza to get revenge.” a Zimbabwean game, it is in its hammed by a riotous Zimbabwe tial of a Zimbabwean cricketer. ence following Tamim’s remarks,
people’s genes. So a return to what team, by eight wickets, in the I asked Brendan Taylor, Zimba-
Mahmud and Tamim conve- things used to be, without sug- first Test — after Trevor Grip-
niently forget that Zimbabwe gesting that’s how it has become per, Andy Flower and Craig bwe’s captain back then, for his
for some time was by a distance comment. 
a better international team than — too early to be saying that — Wishart all smashed centuries HawkZone Taylor did not mince his words,
Bangladesh before the player dis- surely cannot surprise anyone in in the first innings. quick as a flash, visibly infuriated
turbances and subsequent mass who knows their
exodus in 2004 that changed EnockBangladesh his-
things. By Zimbabwean standards
of that era, perhaps losing to Ban- tory.
gladesh would have been the dis- ALZSimTOhbeIaNbsweSceIoDnwdEasmoantFcthoin,paifnnorcwemhMiocshtinisty wipes out $3.2 Billion depositobrystfhuenddigsat twoZoifmh'iss lsatatrebsot wlal-nd c
grace. But of course nobody said
that, on the rarest of occasions And Mahmud is one of those of the tie, was drawn. ers.
that Bangladesh won. “Tamim talks too much!” thun-
who should know this history. All in all, Mahmud belongs dered Taylor. “He has not been
True, Zimbabwe had declined scoring runs. He must let his bat-
over a very long period, to some MuchinjoWhen Mahmud made his Test to a generation of Bangladesh
debut, against touring Zimba- players who routinely lost to
bwe in 2001, Bangladesh lost the Zimbabwe, home and away. Yes, ting do the talking for him.”
Cleary he still likes talking, of-
two-match series 1-0. In their those days are long gone. But it Nobody can be alarmed that a ten when he shouldn’t.

ALSO INSIDE De Klerk, veteran of the ‘Miracle of Bulawayo’, passes on