NewsHawks 17 March 2023

Price US$1 Friday 17 March 2023 NEWS Mnangagwa meets civil society leaders for PVO Bill crisis talks Story on Page 4 NEWS Harris visit casts spotlight on Zim-US frosty relations WHAT’S Story on Page 11 INSIDE SPORT How naïve of us to expect to change stubborn Fifa! Story on Page 54 ALSO INSIDE Rushwaya demands lithium ban lifting US Afghan spies enter Zim to fight for asylum in South Africa

Page 2 News NewsHawks Issue 123, 17 March 2023 BRENNA MATENDERE THE group of 22 Afghan nationals, who worked closely with United States military and security agencies after the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attack on America, were recently holed up in Zambia after they moved out of Zimbabwe following a failed bid to enter South Africa. The Afghans, who worked with the US securi - ty forces as interpreters, informers and spies, had arrived in Harare last year en route South Africa before they were blocked at Beitbridge border post on 16 February 2023. Investigations by The NewsHawks show the Afghans are seeking asylum in Johannesburg where safe havens for them have been organised by their American handlers. This is meant to protect them after the US hastily withdrew from Afghanistan in a chaotic way under pressure from the Talibans who had surged back to power on 30 August 2021, marking the end of the 2001-2021 war. In late 2001, the US and its close allies invaded Afghanistan and toppled the Taliban regime. The invasion was calculated to dismantle Al-Qaeda's terrorist infrastructure which had executed the deadly September 11 attacks. The smashing of terror networks, bases and lo - gistical support would deny Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden a safe haven in Afghanistan. However, after two decades of fighting in Amer - ica’s longest war the Taliban surged back to power. As the date of the US withdrawal from Afghan - istan approached, US President Joe Biden’s administration officials and top lawmakers were urgently working on resettling a particularly vulnerable group of Afghans, people who worked as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)’s local spies during the two-decade war there. The CIA relied on Afghan informants and key assets to secretly gather intelligence on the Taliban and al-Qaeda, and it pledged to protect them in return. But now many of those spies, whose work for the US in some cases became publicly known in Afghanistan, faced the possibility of deadly re - prisal. Afghans who worked alongside Americans, in - cluding translators and interpreters, are eligible for a special visa that allows them to seek refuge in the US. But the application requires them to provide evidence of the relationship. Due to the clandestine nature of their intelli - gence work, Afghans who spied for the US often lack the required documentation. Even interpret - ers able to prove they worked for the military have faced long processing delays. In the midst of fear and chaos as the Taliban closed in on the capital Kabul, the CIA managed to get most of its Afghan informants and spies out of the country ahead of the US pullout, but some remained. Prior to that, Biden had ordered the full with - drawal of about 3 000 American troops from Afghanistan in April 2021. A well-placed Zimbabwean security source told The NewsHawks: “The Afghans are now in Zam - bia after they were denied entry into South Afri - ca from Zimbabwe where they had been for over a year. They are now waiting for South Africa’s Home Affairs department to process their asylum permits after getting a court order in Pretoria in their favour. “Members of the group had arrived in Zim - babwe on different occasions between 20 and 28 January 2022 through Robert Gabriel Mug - abe International Airport. They tried to leave the country to South Africa on 16 February 2023 to seek refugee status with the assistance of three American nationals who have some military background, showing their links to US security forces. “Before trying to manoeuvre into South Africa, the three Americans had converged with the Afghan group at Iganyana Tented Camp, a luxurious private tented bush camp on an exclusive wildlife concession bordering Hwange National Park, masquerading as tourists. “They also stayed at Southern Cross Estate in Bulawayo before departing for South Africa aboard a Delta coach (bus) — registration KCF 442 EC — on 16 February. Payment for their tickets was done in Pretoria. However, they were denied entry into South Africa, forcing them to go to Zambia through Zimbabwe.” Information gathered shows the Afghan group is being funded by an American organisation Flanders Fields (Veterans Supporting Veterans), which rehabilitates and supports war veterans, and the United Nations High Commission for Refu - gees (UNHCR). The UNHCR is a United Nations agency man - dated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly dis - placed communities, and stateless people, as well as to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to a third country. Flanders Fields is an area in Belgium were some of the fiercest World I battles were fought. It is particularly associated with battles that took place in the Ypres Salient, including the Second Battle of Ypres and the Battle of Passchendaele. For most of the war, the frontline ran contin - uously from south of Nieuwpoort on the Belgian coast, across Flanders Fields into the centre of Northern France before moving eastwards — and it was known as the Western Front. The name was popularised by a poem In Flan - ders Fields by Canadian Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae which was inspired by his service during the war in Ypres. Another source added: “The three Americans involved in this have a military background and are war veterans, and part of the Afghan group which worked closely with the US during the in - vasion of Afghanistan in 2021. From the nature of their story, most of these Afghanistan citizens have US Afghan spies enter Zim to fight for asylum in South Africa Former US President George W. Bush The September 11 terrorist attack on America in 2001

NewsHawks News Page 3 Issue 123, 17 March 2023 been trained. “Americans are keen to internationalise South Africa’s refusal to accept the Afghan asylum-seekers when it is signatory to UN Refugee Convention, although a court has ruled that they must be given refugee status.” The 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol are central to this. With 149 state parties to either or both, they define the term “refugee” and outline the rights of refugees, as well as the legal obligations of states to protect them. On 15 February 2023, South Africa’s depart - ment of Home Affairs received a letter from a firm of attorneys representing the Afghans, demanding that asylum transit visas be issued to them at Beit - bridge Border Post. While Pretoria was preparing a response, the following day — 16 February 2023 — the Afghans, accompanied by the Americans, arrived in Beitbridge and requested asylum transit visas to enter South Africa to apply for asylum. The im - migration officer refused as they were issued with multiple entry tourist visas by Zimbabwe on 20 January 2023. The Afghans’ lawyers rushed to the Pretoria High Court on an urgent basis seeking relief. The court granted them an interim order for the South African government to issue them with asylum transit visas. However, the court allowed Home Affairs to anticipate the interim order within 24 hours. It refused to confirm the interim order to allow Home Affairs to file its answering papers. The matter was heard on 20 February 2023. Judgment was reserved. After just over a week, the court issued judg - ment on 1 March confirming the interim order as final. In reaction, South Africa’s Home Affairs said it would abide by the court judgement and deal with the Afghans’ applications for asylum. South Africa said while it abides by the rule of law, this should not be taken as opening flood - gates for spurious asylum claims. US President Joe Biden US soldiers in Afghanistan

Page 4 News NewsHawks Issue 123, 17 March 2023 BERNARD MPOFU PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa on Friday afternoon met representatives of Zimbabwe’s civil society organisations (CSOs) at State House in Harare to discuss the contentious Private Voluntary Organisations (PVO) Bill which now awaits presidential assent. The agenda of the meeting by CSOs was to persuade Mnangagwa not to sign the Bill into law. The PVO has already passed in Senate and is now being scrutinised by the Attorney-General’s office. Information gathered by The NewsHawks shows CSO leaders from the National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations, Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum and Women of Zimbabwe Arise attended the meeting, while other vocal pressure groups such as Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition were conspicuous by their absence. A tight information blackout has been imposed on the meeting and talks. There were no journalists at the State House except government spokesperson Nick Mangwana who released a few details. Mangwana, also ministry of Information permanent secretary, confirmed the meeting. “Late afternoon HE President @edmnangagwa met and engaged with representatives of CSOs in Zimbabwe at Statehouse. The subject of the engagement was the PVO Bill which is currently being tidied up by the AG. The meeting was cordial and good natured,” Mangwana wrote on Twitter. Critics say the proposed law has huge financial implications for Zimbabwe which stands to lose over US$1 billion in annual financial aid. CSOs and Western governments such as the United States have over the past year engaged the Zimbabwean authorities in an attempt to discourage Mnangagwa from signing the Bill — which they say is an affront to democracy — into law. Responding to the Senate’s passing of the Private Voluntary Organisation (PVO) Amendment Bill, which now awaits Mnangagwa’s assent to become law, Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International’s director for East and southern Africa, recently said: “The PVO Amendment Bill in its current form threatens civic society organisations working on human rights in Zimbabwe. The proposed Bill, if it becomes law, will have dire consequences, including restricting civic space and access to humanitarian support services in Zimbabwe as it will immediately render all non-governmental organisations (NGOs), not registered as PVOs, illegal. “This Bill, if passed by the President, could be used to deny registration of human rights organisations due to the work that they do, including defending rights such as freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly. The Bill would also exacerbate the growing crackdown on civil society organisations, increase human rights violations and make it more difficult for the people to hold the government to account. There is a risk that employees and board members of NGOs could be arrested and subjected to punitive measures, including imprisonment, simply for doing their work. “President Mnangagwa must use his leadership position to reject this Bill as it is repressive. The President must ensure that this Bill is never signed into law.” Chagutah added Zimbabwe should enact laws which are consistent with fundamental rights and international law. “Any future law must fully reflect international human rights standards and reaffirm the country’s human rights obligations towards the promotion and protection of the human rights of everyone including those who work to defend the rights of other people. NGOs must be allowed to operate freely and to do their work without any reprisals,” Chagutah said. On 5 November 2021, the Zimbabwean government gazetted the PVO Amendment Bill ostensibly to “counter terrorism and prohibit political lobbying from non-government organisations”. The Bill was then presented to Parliament in June 2022, significantly toughening the initial legislation, disregarding civil society’s concerns, and imposing harsher and more repressive clauses. The National Assembly and Senate passed it. The PVO Bill places civic organisations registered under different laws under one legislation in an attempt to control civil society perceived to be “anti-government”. The PVO Amendment Bill is not the first attempt by the Zimbabwean authorities to restrict NGOs. The first one was made in 2004 through the Non-Governmental Organisation Bill. It was passed by Parliament, but the then president Robert Mugabe did not sign it into law. Mnangagwa meets civil society leaders for PVO Bill crisis talks President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his team.

NewsHawks News Page 5 Issue 123, 17 March 2023 Enjoy MORE DOLLAR VALUE FOR YOUR 60 Mins $5 $7 $10 or to check your OneFusion balance, dial *379# To convert your USD airtime to OneFusion or to check your MoGigs balance, dial *379# To convert your USD airtime to MoGigs

Page 6 News NewsHawks Issue 123, 17 March 2023 BERNARD MPOFU/ BRENNA MATENDERE WHILE President Emmerson Mnangagwa claimed that the majority of his ministers were doing well — with three outstanding and two being a dismal failure — the reality on the ground is different: Zimbabwe’s economy is plateauing and stagnating in a prolonged crisis that has persisted for over two decades. Judging by their failure to deliver basic services and revive the economy, ministers are generally perceived as inefficient, corrupt and incompetent. They are failing to deliver on their mandates and performance contracts. They have not delivered the much-needed reforms. Poor performance by the government — particularly Mnangagwa and his ministers — are evident in the collapse of schools, hospitals, roads, public transport, state enterprises, unemployment, massive exodus of economic refugees, poverty and suffering. Cities like Harare and Bulawayo have decayed. Their roads resemble those in war zones. The problems which the leaders are failing to solve are endless. On the political front, there are no reforms and authoritarian repression remains entrenched. Constitutional infractions, corruption and partisanship in the judiciary, lack of constitutionalism among the executive and parliamentarians’ disappearance from the electorate are some indicators that ministers, and their bosses too, are not doing well. Some of the ministers are openly corrupt. Those who have been named in corrupt deals include Local Government minister July Moyo and his Public Service counterpart Paul Mavima. Poor performance is also evident at the top. A comparison can best explain this. Zimbabwe and Zambia share a lot in common socially, culturally and economically; this dates back from the colonial era. As if that is not enough, the two countries even share the same main source of power generation, Kariba Dam and the same world wonder Victoria Falls. At some point the two countries were bundled into one, the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, from 1953 to 1963. Since Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema assumed power in 2021, he has achieved key performance indicators, for instance on the exchange rate, an indication of strong leadership and that people have faith in his approach. This is in stark contrast to Mnangagwa, who has presided over the rapid loss of value of the local currency since he grabbed power in a military coup in 2017. The kwacha has rallied against the United States dollar; it was US$1: K22.59 in July 2021 and went to US$1:K16.11. Currently it is US$1: ZW$20.24. Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, the Vice-President of Ghana, an economist who has worked as a consultant, as well as African Development Bank's representative in Zimbabwe, said: “As the saying goes, when in doubt, observe the exchange rate. The lesson from history is that you cannot manage an economy with propaganda. In fact, you can engage in all the propaganda you want, but if the fundamentals are weak, the exchange rate will expose you.” When Mnangagwa took over through a coup in November 2017, the local quasi-currency bond note (now Zimdollar) was pegged at 1:1 with the US dollar until February 2022. Now the exchange rate is officially US$1:ZW$913.6, although on the parallel it has deteriorated to US$1:ZW$1 200. American applied economics professor Steve Hanke says the Zimdollar is now in a death spiral, having lost more than 97% against the US dollar since January 2020, in the process becoming the second worst performing currency in the world after the Venezuelan bolivar. On the inflation front, Hichilema reduced inflation from 25.6% in August last year when he came in to 9.7% in July last year. Zambia’s annual inflation rate rose to 9.6% in February of 2023, from a near-42-month low of 9.4% in the previous month, on the back of a weaker kwacha. Zimbabwe's inflation eased to 92.3% yearon-year in February 2023, down from the prior month's 229.8%, and moving further away from August's 18-month high of 285%. The annual inflation has been on a downside trend since September 2022, and reached its lowest level since March last year. Hanke says in reality Zimbabwe has shot back to the top of his inflation dashboard as the country with the highest in the world at 484%. This is compounded by exchange rate volatility. Yet Mnangagwa on Thursday rated the performance of his ministers, describing their aptitude as “exceptionally good”, “satisfactory” and “below par for some”, while the economy continues to reel under extended periods of mismanagement, coupled with a cocktail of leadership, governance and policy failures. Mnangagwa said the indicators of good governance are the provision of quality and timely services, high performance, promotion of economic growth and the realisation of sustainable development. In addition to this, there are performance contracts which stipulate the terms and conditions relating to a performance and provides certainty and protection to both parties before the performance takes place. These are the official benchmarks of performance. Performance contracts that cabinet ministers and other senior officials have signed are assisting government departments to be focused on improving the livelihoods of Zimbabweans, according to Mnangagwa. He was speaking at the signing ceremony of the 2023 performance contracts by cabinet ministers, ministers of state for provincial affairs and devolution, permanent secretaries, chairpersons and chief executive officers of public entities and local authorities as well as vice-chancellors of state universities at State House in Harare. In his scorecard, which sparked controversy as the ministers’ marks did not correspond with the realities on the ground, Mnangagwa said 19 out of 21 ministers had attained the pass mark. Among those who distinguished themselves are his close allies, Agriculture minister Anxious Masuka, Frederick Shava (Foreign Affairs) and Amon Murwira (Higher and Tertiary Education), while two had performed dismally. He did not name the two, fuelling speculation about who they are. Sport minister Kirsty Coventry and her Energy counterpart Zhemu Soda are top contenders for worst performer, according to the court of public opinion. The majority of ministers are performing badly, hence the economy not working. In his remarks at the performance evaluation results and the signing ceremony of the 2023 performance contracts for ministers, permanent secretaries, chairpersons and chief executives of public entities, local authorities and state universities, Mnangagwa showed his disdain for local authorities which are controlled by the opposition. Moyo, who has been accused of various corruption charges, is also widely regarded as one of the worst ministers in the court of public opinion. While Mnangagwa reserved special praise for the three ministries of Agriculture; Higher and Tertiary Education and Foreign Affairs, he had no kind words for the Information ministry led by Monica Mutsvangwa. “In our journey to leapfrog the socio-economic development of our country, the importance of effective, robust and responsive communication cannot be over-emphasised,” Mnangagwa said. “The success milestones of the second republic are many and evident for all to see. However, these are not reaching a broader cross-section of the citizenry due to gross shortcomings in the communication and information dissemination strategy. “The requisite communication models, together with the personnel with contemporary skills, must be deployed to address shortcomings in this sector, as a matter of urgency. Additionally, the tendency to overlook the critical pronouncements I make as President is most unfortunate. “It is my expectation that as top public officials, you should follow up my observations and implement directives. I hope to see greater improvements in this regard.” Mnangagwa’s spokesperson in the presidency is deputy cabinet secretary George Charamba, while the government’s communications are managed by Mutsvangwa as Information minister and Nick Mangwana, permanent secretary in the ministry. Mnangagwa said opposition-run local authorities are performing badly. “The performance of local authorities as outlined in the assessment report remains worrisome and huge drawback in our march towards Vision 2030,” he said. “While devolution funds have gone a long way to accelerate infrastructure development, the neglect and failure by the majority of local authorities to focus on their core mandate of service delivery is not acceptable. Equally, the performance of state-owned enterprises is disappointing, more so given the centrality of these organisations in aiding development and delivering public goods and services.” While the government has kept a tight lid on the full contents of the assessment report, there was a strong reaction following the announcements of the snippets. Speculation is rife that Energy minister Soda Zhemu, who is superintending over one of the worst energy crises in recent times, and Sports minister Kirsty Coventry, who has overseen Zimbabwe football being thrown to the backburner through a Fifa ban, were the worst performers. Rashweat Mukundu, a local political and media analyst, said: “I guess honourable Soda Zhemu is below target, no room for guessing, the country is in darkness and Madam Kirsty, we have no international football because she is afraid of the Sports Representative Council leaders. But what did the excelling ministers achieve? It will be good to know.” United Kingdom-based policy studies lecturMnangagwa’s ministers preside over Zim implosion amid world’s highest inflation President Emmerson Mnangagwa

NewsHawks News Page 7 Issue 123, 17 March 2023 er and former policeman Keith Silika said it was an anomaly for the country’s Finance minister Mthuli Ncube to be regarded as a top performer. “So you are telling us a minister of Finance in a country with the highest inflation in the world performed well. Garison shops and gold coins?” Silika responded to a tweet by Mangwana after the announcement that 19 out of 21 cabinet ministers had exceeded targets. The NewsHawks selected a handful of key ministries to assess their performance since Mnangagwa’s election in 2018. Ministry of Finance: Mthuli Ncube Ncube, a former Switzerland-based consultant, became Zimbabwe’s Finance minister at a time signs of a floundering economy were there to see. Immediately after his appointment, Ncube through his "austerity for prosperity" mantra undertook to balance the books; cut the budget deficit and improve internal systems. He got a pat on the back from international financial institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund for his fiscal consolidation agenda and the fight on money laundering which saw Zimbabwe being removed from the grey list. But as for the proverbial bread-andbutter issues, many were not impressed with his performance. At some stage war veterans threatened to camp at his offices over treasury’s failure to address welfare issues. Picketing teachers also had running battles with police for demanding more. Resultantly, his security was beefed up to mitigate any threats arising from growing public anger. While multilateral lenders like the World Bank praised Ncube’s policies, Zimbabwe’s inflation shot through ythe roof. By the end of 2022, the southern African nation was ranked by the World Bank as having the highest food price inflation globally. The World Bank showed that Zimbabwe’s monthly food inflation increased by up to 30% in 2022 and other countries which also reported high inflation — although lower than Zimbabwe — included Venezuela, conflict-hit Somalia and Lebanon. The number of people living in extreme poverty now stands at 44%. Desperate to save the Zimbabwe dollar from imminent collapse triggered by rising inflation, the government, through Ncube’s ministry, gazetted a statutory instrument which legalised a dual monetary system. But with 75% of expenditure now in hard currency, use of the local unit, which ought to be a source of national pride, has dramatically reduced. In 2022, Ncube closed the year on a high note after organising a high-level debt meeting with creditors to tackle the country’s long-standing debt crisis. Fully resolving this issue will not only unlock funding for the debt-ridden nation but will also add a few feathers on his cap. Ministry of Transport: Felix Mhona The tale of Zimbabwean roads can be summed up as the best of both ways. For Mnangagwa the Harare-Beitbridge highway is good for the optics. TV and radio jingles are hyping this project and the ongoing expansion works at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport as Mhona’s trump card in this assessment. Ironically, while international airlines are increasing their flights to Zimbabwe, the flag carrier remains grounded and is only servicing domestic routes and neighbouring South Africa. The perennial problems at Air Zimbabwe which Mhona inherited are far from over and the airline’s reliability remains a challenge. Now back to the state of road infrastructure, while the government is happy that it has largely used domestic resources to finance the projects, the war of attrition between central government and local authorities has been projected in the state of roads in towns and cities. Local authorities argue that the Zimbabwe National Roads Administration is not playing ball in allocating adequate financial resources to patch up roads. The government, through the Local Government ministry, blames local authorities for failing to account for funds allocated to them. It has become a finger-pointing contest. Zimbabwe’s once thriving contribution as the nerve centre of the Sadc region has been broken, lowering regional trade and investments. The once thriving National Railways of Zimbabwe, with a rolling stock of 12.5 million tonnes in the 1990s, now accounts for under 2.5 million tonnes. Ministry of Agriculture: Anxious Masuka Masuka, former chief executive of the Zimbabwe Agricultural Society, is over the moon after being recognised as Zimbabwe’s super-minister during the assessment. Masuka has every reason to strut like a cockerel when he jumps out of his Mercedes-Benz at Ngungunyana Building. He took over from Perrance Shiri at a time the country was conducting a land audit which was expected to address contentious issues such as multiple ownership of farms. The report is yet to be made public, but this is not the first time this issue has been swept under the carpet. In 2020, Masuka’s predecessor, Shiri, led the signing of Zimbabwe's US$3.5 billion agreement to compensate white farmers displaced during a land redistribution programme two decades ago. The matter remains unresolved two years on and is one of Ncube’s key result areas in normalising relations with the country’s creditors. One area which Masuka will always brag about is wheat production. Last year Zimbabwe recorded the highest wheat harvest in 56 years. According to the Agricultural and Rural Development Advisory Services, the country has achieved a milestone in wheat production by harvesting 375 000 tonnes of the cereal this year. The good harvest has been attributed to on government’s agricultural transformation anchored on active private and public sector participation. Over the years, the country could not meet national requirements and had to import wheat. Production of the maize staple also improved last year although it was preceded by two successive years when the government depended on imports and humanitarian aid to feed nearly 50% of population which was facing starvation. Although the authorities attribute growth in maize production to proper planning, some experts say good rainfall patterns have largely resulted in improved yields. Defence ministry: Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri Muchinguri-Kashiri has fared dismally in her portfolio despite having been ranked among cabinet officials who met their targets. Junior soldiers in particular are now worse off as compared to the last days of late former president Robert Mugabe when their remuneration and working conditions were fairly better.Sources say top military commanders have not been keen to have strategic meetings with her because she is clueless on functions of the army. The sources say on several occasions Muchinguri-Kashiri has complained to Mnangagwa about the issue that the commanders do not show her utmost respect. In Parliament, legislators have taken Muchinguri-Kashiri to task over her failures during the course of the year. In August last year, Muchinguri-Kashiri was cornered by Norton MP Temba Mliswa over the opaque investments and business dealings of army-owned company Rusununguko Nkululeko Holdings (Pvt) Ltd. The military company is the brainchild of the late Foreign Affairs minister Sibusiso Moyo and has vast investments in various sectors of the economy, including in the media after getting a television licence to operate its NRTV station. Mliswa took on Muchinguri-Kashiri over the business entity which symbolises the opaque commercialisation of the military whose beneficial owners have gone unscritinised. Mliswa said the shadowy firm is not benefitting junior soldiers but a small clique of the top brass. Challenging the Defence minister led to Mliswa's ejection from Parliament by deputy speaker Nomalanga Mzilikazi Khumalo. To bring the matter into context, Mliswa said although he had no problem with the army investing in the economy through Rusununguko Nkululeko, the company must be audited and held to account for its activities to avoid corruption and benefiting individuals. Home Affairs ministry: Kazembe Kazembe Kazembe did well by decentralising the passport application system under the central registry department and moderninising the travel documents through the e-passport initiative. He however failed on the major obligations of his portfolio. The Zimbabwe Republic Police, which falls under his ministry, presided over the closure of democratic space in the country through unwarranted repression, including cracking down on the opposition CCC. The party’s rallies were banned several times during the year under review in violation of the constitution which dented the performance of Kazembe. Kazembe was again summoned to explain in Parliament why the police were using metal spikes to deflate “errant" drivers' car tyres. Parliament raised the issue after police threw spikes at a commuter omnibus full of passengers in Manicaland, resulting in the driver losing control and the vehicle overturning. The accident claimed four lives, and left several others injured. Harare Central legislator Murisi Zwizwai (CCC) said Kazembe should explain why the police were endangering the lives of the travelling public and this incident should have affected the performance scorecard of the minister if rational assessment had been done. Justice ministry: Ziyambi Ziyambi Ziyambi's performance fell short, despite the praise he received from Mnangagwa who said he met his targets. His ministry erred when he commandeered constitutional changes that fail the test of democracy. Ziyambi pushed through the Zimbabwe Constitutional Amendment Bill (Number 1 and 2), giving the President unfettered powers. It also scraped the running mate in the supreme law, giving the President power to appoint judges and extend the retirement age of Chief Justice Luke Malaba. Obviously in Mnangagwa’s eyes, this made him score highly, but the changes were bad for the country. Again, Ziyambi is in a storm of controversy over the Private Voluntary Organisation (PVO) Bill which will see the government interfering into operations of non-governmental organisations. In another major setback that should have affected Ziyambi's scorecard, he bungled in the delimitation exercise by attempting to push back the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission final report, in violation of the constitution. However, Ziyambi can be credited for the creation of the Commercial Court and also pushing for virtual sittings in the proposed Judicial Laws Amendment Bill which seeks to amend a number of judicial laws, including the Constitutional Court Act, Supreme Court Act, High Court Act, Labour Court Act, Administrative Court Act, Magistrates Court Act, and Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act. Local Government ministry: July Moyo Moyo was adjudged to have done well in the performance report. He has however been involved in several scandals since 2018 which could have affected his performance scorecard in the year under review. He was implicated in the corrupt awarding of a multi-million-dollar deal to his alleged crony, businessman Paul Kruger, to supply water pumps to the City of Harare two years ago. The lucrative contract was awarded to Petricho Irrigation, which was represented by Kruger in Zimbabwe, without going to tender. In July this year, Moyo was again implicated in another scandal of diverting more than US$55 million of devolution funds to buying fire trucks from Belarus for 89 councils at an inflated cost. Mnangagwa’s Belarusian crony, Alexander Zingman, who runs Aftrade DMCC, was awarded the multi-million-dollar deal without going to tender. Moyo is also involved in a staggering US$155 million Chiredzi land deal scandal after unprocedurally giving his crony 750 hectares of land, meant for the construction of a new town. There is also the Victoria Falls land scandal.

BRENNA MATENDERE THE recent swallowing of a classroom by a sinkhole caused by illegal gold mining in Kwekwe underlines the dangerous lawlessness spawned by restive vigilante groups backed by top Zanu PF officials led by former State Security minister Owen "Mudha" Ncube. The lawlessness has moved from the cold-blooded murder of civilians like Citizens' Coalition of Zimbabwe supporter Mboneni Ncube, wanton destruction of infrastructure and now to the threat to children's lives as shown by the predicament of pupils who were injured during the collapse of Globe and Phoenx Primary School. The school is located about a kilometre from the Kwekwe central business district (CBD). Illegal miners have been digging under the school where there are underground tunnels left behind by the Germans who once worked at the now disused Globe and Phoenx Mine. In December last year, Globe and Phoenix Primary School decommissioned two classroom blocks over fears they would collapse because of illegal gold mining activities that have been occurring beneath the school. Some of the tunnels that the illegal miners are working in to extract gold run underneath the Kwekwe CBD. Warnings have been issued in the past that the city faces the risk of caving as happened at Globe and Phoenix Primary School. Police, the Mines ministry and the city council are powerless in curbing the illegal miners who enjoy the backing of top Zanu PF officials. A gangster group called Al-Shabaab has since coalesced around Ncube and is largely responsible for the lawlessness. Settlement Chikwinya, the opposition CCC MP for Mbizo constituency, reiterated that at Globe and Phoenix Mine there is a cartel involved in underworld operations. He said Ncube is the biggest beneficiary of the plunder together with former Kwekwe deputy mayor John Mapurazi. Chikwinya also revealed how the underworld operations are taking place at the mine. “While members of the ZRP [Zimbabwe Republic Police] were stationed there [Globe and Phoenix Primary School] beginning yesterday to guard the area, it is the same ZRP guys that allow illegal miners to access the place for mining activities and, in turn, get some entrance fees. In a year of two, the whole school area will be dug up,” Chikwinya said. “More is still with us going into the elections; we have just opened up another 'Gaika' of 2018. “Ruling party politicians will take direct charge of illegal mining activities, arranging youths into syndicates of about 20 per group and in turn all ore that comes out of the illegal mining is milled at Owen Ncube, and Mapurazi's mills that are near Globe and Phoenix. “In turn, Owen Ncube and Mapurazi buy the gold at a song and then re-process the sands. Reprocessing the sands is the real deal as one gets more than one-and-a-half times what the primary process produced.” He said illegal small artisanal miners are operating with impunity at Globe and Phoenix because they enjoy the backing of senior Zanu PF politicians. “The law enforcement authorities are subordinate to the ruling party officials, hence the miners act at will,” he said. Prominent Kwekwe-based human rights activist Emmanuel Nkosilathi Moyo also decried the role of Zanu PF in sponsoring the lawlessness in the city, particularly the collapse of the classroom block at Globe and Phoenix School. “The artisanal mining that has caused the collapse of the classroom block is being done by people with political muscle, Zanu PF top chefs to be frank,” he said. Moyo said several warnings have been issued, but nothing has happened to the culprits. “Environmental warnings have been given before, but the mining continues because the culprits have political protection,” he said. “So, the classroom block collapsed in the morning while children were in class and several were injured and rushed to the hospital. “I recommend that the school close with immediate effect and relocate elsewhere. Those doing the mining there must be held responsible and the law must take its course to protect the lives of the little ones.” Midlands provincial police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Emmanuel Mahoko referred questions to national police spokesperson Commissioner Paul Nyathi. When contacted for comment and asked why police are not cracking down on the illegal miners who are camped at Globe and Phoenix Mine, Nyathi said he needed to first make consultations. “I will need to first speak to the Officer Commanding Midlands so that I can get to know the situation that is prevailing there. As far as I am concerned, there are no challenges that have been brought to us regarding lack of capacity of the police there to arrest the illegal miners,” he said. In 2008, another gold rush was experienced at Gaika Mine in Kwekwe and similar illegal activities took place there with the backing of top Zanu PF officials. Illegal gold mining, violence Kwekwe’s ticking time bomb Globe and Phoenx Primary School in Kwekwe collapsed due to undergroung illegal gold mining activities. Page 8 News NewsHawks Issue 123, 17 March 2023

NATHAN GUMA CONTROVERSIAL mineral dealer Henrietta Rushwaya wants President Mnangagwa to remove the ban on lithium ore exports, saying a stockpile of 2 million tonnes has built up since December. Rushwaya says the viability of smallscale miners has been affected as a result. In December 2022, Zimbabwe banned raw lithium ore exports to minimise the economic potential of artisanal mining and encourage investments in state-approved production facilities. In a letter addressed to President Emmerson Mnangagwa, in which she addressed herself as “the loyal miner”, Rushwaya said: “The unexpected ban has prejudiced standing off-take agreements between miners and international buyers some of whom had taken loans from their respective countries to finance trade in these minerals. “Some miners have found themselves stuck with huge stockpiles thus locking cashflows and affecting operations. Establishment of processing plants takes between six months to 12 months to commission. “The current market for lithium is outside Zimbabwe and companies need to export the mineral to raise capital to build the plants. Livelihoods of small-scale miners involved in mining base minerals have been negatively impacted by the ban since the trading of the minerals was halted,” Rushwaya said. She said the ban had prejudiced standing offtake agreements between miners and international buyers. There has been a lithium rush in many areas across the country leading to many villagers and small-scale miners being prejudiced by politically connected players. For instance, in January this year, more than 10 000 miners were evicted from Sandawana Mine, leaving stockpiles of lithium ore, which the company promised to buy in principle, but left them empty handed without any compensation. Some of the affected miners in Mberengwa were captured on audio recordings accusing an unnamed son of the First Family of looting thousands of tonnes of the raw mineral. Rushwaya has in the past been mired in controversy. In June last year at the Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe's annual meeting held in Victoria Falls, she made a shocking plea to the Zanu PF government to repeal a piece of legislation which criminalises the possession of gold without a valid licence, in order to ramp up output. That time, Rushwaya was facing charges of attempting to smuggle six kilogrammes of gold at Robert Mugabe International Airport in 2021. In terms of the law, Fidelity Printers and Refineries is the only entity mandated to buy the yellow metal on behalf of the government. Although licensed third parties can buy gold, they are then supposed to sell to Fidelity Printers. Rushwaya said the move would help small-scale miners, who account for more than 50% of export earnings. “With regards to growth prospects, we are requesting for the repealing of the Gold Trade Act especially Section 3 up to Section 12 which mostly talks about the criminalisation of gold possession without a valid licence,” Rushwaya said last year as reported by The NewsHawks. During the meeting, Rushwaya also asked Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi to speed up reforms to formalise artisanal mining in the country and accused the Attorney-General’s Office of being lethargic in its operations. Zimbabwe Miners’ Federation president Henrietta Rushwaya Rushwaya demands lithium ban lifting NewsHawks News Page 9 Issue 123, 17 March 2023

Rehashed story: IN January we published a story saying part of the land on which Zimbabwe’s new US$140 million Parliament and the planned US$60 billion ultra-modern Cyber City in Mt Hampden on the outskirts of the capital, Harare, are situated is owned by leading agro-based conglomerate CFI Holdings Limited, listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE). This week The NewsHawks obtained a map showing the vast piece of land — measuring 800 hectares — located between Old Mazowe Road (now Mao Zedong Road) and Bindura Road, from the foot of the hill where Parliament is built, sprawling northwards and in a north-easterly direction, on which the legislature is constructed. OWEN GAGARE THE land on which Zimbabwe’s new US$140 million parliament and the planned US$60 billion ultra-modern Cyber City in Mt Hampden on the outskirts of the capital, Harare, are situated is owned by leading agro-based conglomerate CFI Holdings Limited, listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE). The vast piece of land — measuring 800 hectares — is located between Old Mazowe Road (now Mao Zedong Road) and Bindura Road, from the foot of the hill where Parliament is built, sprawling northwards and in a north-easterly direction. The state-of-the-art mixed-use hi-tech park cybercity will be built on that CFI space. The Chinese-built Parliament Building is located on a 50 000-square metre piece of land in Mt Hampden, which is in Mashonaland West province in terms of administrative boundaries, about 25 kilometres northeast of Harare — the largest city in the country with over two million people. Given that land in that area costs US$15 per square metre and the 800 hectares is owned by CFI (8 000 000 square metres), this means government has to pay the ZSE-listed company US$120 million for it. The Land Acquisition Act empowers the government to acquire land for development purposes, but it is obliged to pay fair compensation. As a result, the government needs to resolve the issue before it proceeds with its project to comply with the law. CFI is a leading agricultural-based industrial holding company primarily involved in manufacturing and selling fresh produce, as well as manufacturing stock-feed, property management and letting. Through subsidiaries and joint ventures, it manages wholesale and retail outlets, offers products and services for animal health, operates maize and wheat mills, and is involved in poultry farming and associated products. It also manages a separate entity offering services for development and management of real estate in. STALAP Investments, an investment vehicle owned by Zimre Holdings, is now the largest shareholder in CFI after increasing its stake to over 40%. Its retail outlets include Farm & City and Vetco Animal Health; its specialised divisions include Victoria Foods, Saturday Retreat Estate, Reston Developers and Maitlands Zimbabwe Limited. Poultry is marketed and distributed through Agrifoods, Agrimix, Hubbard Zimbabwe, Glenara Estates, Crest Breeders International and Suncrest Chickens. The new Cyber City project is being spearheaded with an investment from Dubai-based businessman Shaji Ul Mulk, who has pledged to inject US$500 million. The total investment will cumulatively reach US$60 billion — more than twice Zimbabwe’s gross domestic product. This has raised a storm among the public who are demanding that President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his government fix the decaying capital, which used to be one of the wealthiest and cleanest cities in the region. After destroying Harare, now characterised by potholed roads, dilapidated buildings and garbage, the government is running away from the rot to Mt Hampden, where the new city is to be built around Parliament, initially supposed to be constructed in the Kopje area on the southern end of the capital. The imposing six-storey Parliament Building, perched on Mt Hampden, was financed through a US$100 million grant from the Chinese government. It is the first major project to be completed in the envisaged new city. The massive structure has two conference centres, each with a capacity to accommodate 350 people. It also has a banquet hall which can accommodate 1 000 people, offices for parliamentary officers and several boardrooms for parliamentary committee sessions. With the new Parliament in place, focus has shifted to the Cyber City, which Mulk says will ultimately cost US$60 billion and resemble Dubai. The development offers investors a five-year holiday from paying company tax, a lower income tax burden for workers and expedited immigration permits for foreign staff, according to the brochure that contains quotes from and photographs of Mnangagwa. At least 12% of 250 luxury villas to be built in an initial stage have already been bought in advance, according to Ul Mulk. However, it has emerged part of the land that the Cyber City will be built on actually belongs to CFI. Other than Parliament, the government wants the headquarters of the Reserve Bank, top courts, mineral auction centres, a stock exchange, a presidential palace and luxury villas to be part of the Cyber City. A shopping mall, with high-end shops and entertainment centres, are envisaged in the new city's central business district (CBD). The residential part of the city will consist of a low-density suburb, penthouses and apartments, cluster and garden flats, hotels, Parliament Village and golf estates. On the outskirts of the city will be industrial areas and land reserved for agro-business. However, there are doubts over the project which experts say appears like a pipe dream or castle in the air. Mulk International, the United Arab Emirates-based company roped in by Mnangagwa to build a Cyber City in Harare, secretly bought Nigeria’s National Theatre for US$40 million in 2014 in a corrupt deal, raising anger in the West African country, checks by The NewsHawks revealed. The corrupt deal in Nigeria cast doubt over the real intentions and transparency of the Mulk-led conglomerate in its current Harare project, where Mnangagwa officiated during the ground-breaking in August last year. Mulk and its joint venture partners own and manage a group of 20 companies with a sector focus on construction and fit-out manufacturing, as well as diversified business interests in trading, commodities, real estate and energy, spread across 48 countries. If developed, the Zimbabwe Cyber City is expected to decongest Harare, whose infrastructure has been stretched to the maximum by a ballooning population and extended years of neglect. Decaying infrastructure and Harare City Council’s failure to provide adequate social service delivery, including collecting garbage, has seen large parts of the city becoming an eyesore. Harare, once known as the Sunshine City owing to its cleanliness and orderliness, was a model regional city in the 1980s and 1990s, with its welllit tree-lined roads, well-maintained pavements, flowers and manicured lawns, and vegetation in the parks in and around the CBD. Potholes, rubbish heaps and uncovered trenches have become part and parcel of the Harare’s overcrowded CBD, which has seen large departmental stores and huge offices being closed. Prominent shops have largely been replaced by flea markets, tuckshops and informal traders. The city has become a haven for vendors, selling an assortment of goods from fruits and vegetables on pavements, to second-hand clothes and foodstuffs, sometimes in cars. Commuter omnibuses and unregulated transport operators wreak havoc on Harare’s roads, contributing to congestion, particularly when it rains, and accidents. As a result, Harare now symbolises Zimbabwe’s chronic poor leadership, mismanagement and bad governance. Parliament built on private CFI land Page 10 News NewsHawks Issue 123, 17 March 2023

NATHAN GUMA A PLANNED visit to Zambia by United States Vice-President Kamala Harris has cast Zimbabwe’s frosty relations with Washington in the spotlight, just over two decades after Harare was slapped with sanctions which resulted in international isolation. While senior US officials have been jet-setting the continent reinforcing the superpowers' foreign policy, Russia and China have also been growing their influence in the region. According to a statement by the White House, Vice-President Harris and second gentleman Douglas Ermhoff will be travelling to Lusaka, Accra and Dar es Salaam, in a trip that is set to strengthen US partnerships throughout Africa and advance “shared interests in security and economic prosperity”. The trip is also expected to build on the US-Africa Leaders Summit hosted in December last year aimed at strengthening economic ties between the United States and Africa. While Zimbabwe was invited to the summit held in Washington, the country has not implemented reforms as has been suggested by human rights defenders and other political analysts. The country’s invitation was largely seen as a critical step towards re-engagement with the West and the United States. However, even after the summit, the Harare’s track record has been worsening. United Kingdom-based professor of international politics Stephen Chan said: “Although Zimbabwe is invited to be represented, President Mnangagwa is not. He is still under US sanctions. So, if there were any signals that the US is lightening its position on sanctions it would have been by way of a personal invitation to the President. As it is, the Washington foreign affairs establishment remains committed to sanctions.” University of Zimbabwe political scientist Professor Eldred Masungure told The NewsHawks that Zimbabwe’s invitation to the US-Africa Summit is a “small step” in the right direction which can only be made big through the implementation of reforms. “I hear that it will just be the Foreign Affairs minister going there and not the President of the country because he is on sanctions. However, it is a small step in the right direction. What is key is to implement the necessary reforms so that Zimbabwe’s ties with the US are salvaged.” “The reforms that Zimbabwe needs to implement are there in the papers that speak about US sanctions on Zimbabwe. They are also in our own constitution. So it must be easy for Zimbabwe to implement them,” he said. Zimbabwe has done little to implement reforms, with the government further shrinking the civic space ahead of the 2023 general elections. This has seen the country unlikely to benefit from the US$55 billion facility that is be injected in Africa over the next three years, due to restrictive measures placed on the country. Over the years, the US has not been directly lending money to Zimbabwe, with the country mainly benefitting from humanitarian proceeds. Since 1980, the United States Agency for International Aid (Usaid) has extended an estimated US$3.2 billion to Zimbabwe in aid, making it one of the biggest providers of humanitarian assistance in the country. The US has also been seemingly handpicking countries that are showing signs of reform for visits by high-profile delegates since the beginning of the year. Last year, US secretary of state Anthony Blinken also visited South Africa. Five months later, in January, the winds of a renewed Cold War between the United States and Russia swept across the southern African region this week as Russian Foreign minister Sergey Lavrov visited South Africa to meet his counterpart Naledi Pandor, five months after his American opposite number Anthony Blinken was in Pretoria. While Lavrov was in South Africa asserting Russia’s influence in Africa, US ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield travelled to Ghana, Mozambique and Kenya this week to advance mutual priorities following December’s US-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington DC. The moves heightened the ongoing geopolitical rivalry and turf wars between Washington and Moscow in southern Africa and across the continent. Harare has taken sides in supporting Moscow in the ongoing geopolitical battle between the US and Russia, to gain a foothold in Africa. Zimbabwe’s support for Russia was shown last year when the country abstained from voting against Russia in the United Nations motions on Russia and Ukraine. In March last year Zimbabwe abstained, then voted with Russia and later abstained again on UN motions on Russia over Ukraine, effectively putting itself behind Moscow in the scheme of things. In the last vote in October last year after Russia’s controversial referenda in Russian-speaking Ukrainian territories — following Moscow’s veto of a similar move in the Security Council in late September — 26 African countries voted in favour of the resolution rejecting the referenda in four Ukrainian regions. 19 others abstained. Harris visit casts spotlight on Zim-US frosty relations United States Vice-President Kamala Harris NewsHawks News Page 11 Issue 123, 17 March 2023

NATHAN GUMA LAWMAKERS have taken Treasury to task over delays in updating Parliament on the progress of the Gwayi-Shangani water project after it emerged that there has been little construction activity despite the government painting a rosy picture. The project, whose primary purpose is to supply water to the city of Bulawayo, as well as communities in Hwange and Binga districts, has been dogged by several drawbacks, including poor cashflow and non-payment of contractors. The project is yet to reach the second and third phases which are envisaged to see the construction of a 251-kilometre pipeline to convey water from Lake Gwayi-Shangani Dam to Bulawayo, while the third and final stage will see the construction of a 122km pipeline from the Zambezi River to link the Gwayi-Shangani pipeline. “On the issue of the supply of water, we have to be a bit serious, because when we visited Cowdray Park, we only saw a kilometre where there were pipes. We even went on to ask whether they had been paid for and if there was a contractor who was going to supply the pipes, but there seemed to be nothing happening," said Kuwadzana MP Willias Madzimure while commenting on a report by the parliamentary committee on Budget, Finance and Economic Development on visits to flagship infrastructure projects. “However, we were all of the impression that there was serious progress that was going on to have water in Bulawayo soon. Something must be done. The ministry of Finance must also be sincere. On the Gwayi-Shangani, the dam itself, the contractors are doing perfectly well, but because they are not being paid, that thing should have been running as we are speaking right now. “The ministry of Finance has to respond to this report and tell this House exactly what is happening,” said Madzimure. According to the report presented in the National Assembly last week, contracted companies on the project have witnessed serious losses in the value of certified works due to changes in cost, spurred by contract pricing in Zimbabwe dollars (ZW$). “Contract pricing in ZW has had a knock-on effect on the project, as Zimbabwe dollar prices were being eroded by inflation. However, in order to provide fair compensation and to lock in the value of completed work, it was suggested that all interim payment certificates (IPC) be processed in US dollars, with amounts converted to local currency on the day of payment at agreed terms with the contractor and government. “Furthermore, the committee was informed that fund disbursements from the ministry of Finance and Economic Development were lagging and that the project had not received any cement consignment from June 6 to June 30, 2022." Smooth completion of the project has been further cast into doubt following the garnishing of accounts of the main contractor, China Water and Electrical Corporation, for the fourth time in the same year over tax compliance issues. The government has been struggling to pay contractors in time, which has hampered progress. “The contractors also stated that if a permanent solution was not found, garnishing of accounts that had not been resolved since the beginning of the year would continue to impede progress on site. “Furthermore, contract workers from the contractor's camp were forced to stop working on June 15, 2022, due to unpaid wages. The workers resumed on June 23 when they began receiving salaries, and this has slowed progress on site and prevented the set target of four metres of construction per month from being met,” read the report. The government took over the project from the National Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project in 2012, who had contracted China Water and Electrical Corporation. After the takeover, the company resumed work in 2017. However, there were some delays in 2019 and 2020 due to insufficient cash flow, as well as the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the parliamentary committee report, the current contract was signed in 2012 for US$121 732 922.60. A further ZW$3.6 billion was allocated to the project under the 2022 National Budget. With the relocation of displaced local villagers imminent, human rights defenders have been calling for fair compensation to the affected families. Last year, the Matebeleland Institute for Human Rights (MIHR) called for an increase in the proposed US$2 million relocation fund, saying it is insufficient to provide modern amenities for over 734 families who are facing displacement to pave way for the dam project. “If shared equally . . . it is US$2 725 per household assuming everyone gets a fair share of the package,” said Khumbulani Maphosa, the MIHR coordinator. MPs demand progress on Gwayi-Shangani project Kuwadzana MP Willias Madzimure Page 12 News NewsHawks Issue 123, 17 March 2023

BRENNA MATENDERE FINANCE minister Mthuli Ncube has abandoned his public image as President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s poster boy technocratic cabinet minister after throwing his hat in the ring ahead of the Zanu PF primary elections slated for this weekend. Riding on international goodwill following the ouster in a military coup of long-time ruler Robert Mugabe, Mnangagwa appointed a new cabinet which blended the loyal old guard, young Turks and technocrats such as Ncube. Mnangagwa promised to break with the past and normalise relations with the West which had isolated his predecessor for nearly two decades. Ncube, a Cambridge-trained economist, left Zimbabwe in the early 2000s after a bank he founded — Barbican — collapsed. He then embarked on a journey which took him to lecture rooms of prestigious universities to becoming vice-president of a regional lender. This week, the Finance minister was named as one of the candidates in the race to contest in the Zanu PF primary elections in Bulawayo metropolitan province. Should Ncube win the primaries, he will stand as the ruling party’s parliamentary candidate for Cowdray Park constituency in the August general elections. His campaign poster has been shared on various platforms by his handlers and this week Information ministry permanent secretary Nick Mangwana also posted it on Twitter. The development comes after Ncube was elected a Zanu PF central committee member last October. The central committee is Zanu PF’s highest decision-making body outside congress. His participation in primary elections confirms that Ncube is now a full-time Zanu PF politician with ambitions to entrench himself in the party. When Ncube was appointed to cabinet as Finance minister in 2018, he projected himself as a technocrat who was committed to tackling his tough mission and created an impression that he was going to operate above the Zanu PF political fray. Many Zimbabweans at home and abroad therefore gave a nod of approval, considering that he was held in high esteem. He was seen as the man who could rescue the economy which was on a downward spiral, given his massive leadership experience, reputation and academic qualifications. Besides being a holder of a PhD in mathematical finance from Cambridge University, Ncube has also worked at the very top level of a number of prestigious institutions. He was previously chief economist and vice-president of the African Development Bank (AfDB). As chief economist at AfDB, he oversaw the economics complex, which was focused on the process of knowledge management and economic research. As part of his duties, Ncube supervised the Development Research Department, Statistics Department and African Development Institute. As vice-president of AfDB, Ncube was a member of the senior management team of the bank and contributed to its general strategic direction. Before his appointment as Finance minister, he was managing director and head of Quantum Global Research Lab in Switzerland, which is part of Quantum Global Group, the largest private equity group dedicated to investing in Africa. He was also previously a regulator and a board member of the South African Financial Services Board (FSB), which regulates non-bank financial institutions in South Africa. Ncube was also chairperson of the board of the African Economic Research Consortium, chairperson of the Global Agenda Council on “Poverty and Economic Development” (World Economic Forum) and a governor of the African Capacity Building Foundation. He is also a professor at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom where he taught economic development, public policy and doing business in Africa, at both the Said Business School and the Blavatnik School of Government. He was also a distinguished professor of banking and financial markets at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. His curriculum vitae therefore is not only impressive but also reflects his lofty status in the academy. If Ncube succeeds to win the Zanu PF primary elections to represent the party as its candidate for Cowdray Park, he faces a tough challenge to win the seat because Bulawayo is generally a stronghold of the opposition. The constituency was won in 2018 elections by the MDC-Alliance’s Stella Ndlovu while it was still Luveve-Cowdray Park, but after this year’s delimitation exercise it was split into two constituencies, Luveve and Cowdray Park. In June 2019, Ncube was said to be in the running to represent Zanu PF in the 3 August Lupane East by-election, indicating his ambitions to join full scale party politics. Ncube is among senior government officials and diplomats who have seized the Midlands Black Rhino Conservancy, in typical primitive wealth accumulation style. Mnangagwa’s brother Patrick is also among the invaders. The conservancy is a highly protected area because it is a sanctuary for the endangered animal. Ncube abandons technocrat tag Finance minister Mthuli Ncube NewsHawks News Page 13 Issue 123, 17 March 2023

BRENNA MATENDERE ZANU PF has resorted to its traditional vote-buying tactics ahead of the next elections with the latest move being the pampering of traditional chiefs with all-terrain vehicles in a development that sets on course rigging mechanisms of the next elections. On Wednesday, President Emmerson Mnangagwa handed over new cars to 38 newly installed chiefs during an annual chiefs’ conference held in Bulawayo. Anti-Corruption Trust of Southern Africa (ACT-SA) director Obert Chinhamo told The NewsHawks that handing over the cars to chiefs four months before elections is a clear sign of vote-buying. “It's a case of outright vote buying. The timing the meeting with the traditional leaders when facing the 2023 election is more telling about the hidden agenda of Zanu PF. Traditional leaders are being abused by Zanu PF for political gain. This is prohibited by our Constitution but continues with impunity,” he said. Last week, unveiled ambulances with a big face of Mnangagwa, which it said was donated by Zanu PF supporters. This again, was seen as vote-buying. Zanu PF officials have also been on the campaign trail, dolling out more goodies and cash ahead of the party’s primary elections. There has also been distribution of chickens, fertilisers and drilling of boreholes by Zanu PF functionaries in again vote-buying tactics. The government has also been distributing inputs and food in rural areas in a partisan manner. The current developments are an attestation of what Mnangagwa in August last year said when he unwittingly admitted that Zanu PF uses food aid as a political tool to drum up support in rural areas. He made the remarks while addressing congregants at Johane Masowe Vadzidzi VaJesu shrine in Madziva, Mashonaland Central province. Mnangagwa revealed that the ruling party structures would play a leading role in distributing food aid and agricultural inputs as the country heads to the 2023 elections. “I have been to many districts in the country and most households are facing hunger. The ruling party is in every village, so people who are starving should forward their names to Zanu PF village committees so that they can be assisted with food aid. We want everyone to be Zanu PF,” he said. “I have been to Mangwe, Plumtree, where we donated solar-powered boreholes and helped people to start horticulture. When you go there and say Mnangagwa is bad, they will beat you up.” According to the constitution, central government is mandated to take a leading role in food aid distribution but Zanu PF has been using food aid to harvest votes. About 38% of the rural population, which translates to about 3.8 million people, will face hunger this year according to government statistics. A recent report by the Zimbabwe Civil Society Anti-Corruption Coalition, and other concerned civil society organisations raised grave concerns against acts of vote buying in the country which it described as electoral corruption. “Our understanding of electoral corruption is that it is the manipulation, abuse or illegal interference with a conducive electoral environment, legal and policy frameworks, management modalities, voters, processes, the voting, outcomes and other related activities around the electoral cycle by state and nonstate actors to give advantages to one political player over others,” the report reads. “We are concerned that Electoral Corruption is rampant, appears as if it is normal and that it has flourished with impunity. “We are gravely concerned that acts of Electoral Corruption have deleterious effects on development since it leads to conflicts and controversial electoral outcomes. Apart from destroying economies and societies, it subverts and undermines the principle of free choice thereby rendering an election open to contestation. “In addition, electoral corruption jeopardises the freeness and fairness of elections, triggers physical fights, killings, and human rights abuses as witnessed in Kenya and Zimbabwe. It is also important to note that it leads to apathy triggered by the understanding that participating in elections that are often rigged is useless since that will not bring out changes expected by a voter,” reads part of the report. President Emmerson Mnangagwa handed over new cars to 38 newly installed chiefs on Wednesday and donated ambulances (below) last week. Zanu PF resorts to vote-buying tactics Page 14 News NewsHawks Issue 123, 17 March 2023

BRENNA MATENDERE PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa’s close allies in his Midlands home province have been exempted from being challenged by other party officials in Zanu PF primary elections in a development that has stoked political tension. Zanu PF was initially scheduled to convene primaries countrywide this Saturday to choose its candidates for council and parliamentary elections as well as select candidates for senatorial seats. But the internal elections were postponed amid fears of factionalism after the flooding of party ranks by new faces and suspected supporters of the banished G40 faction who could play "bhora musango" (internal sabotage) against President Emmerson Mnangagwa in the August general elections. However, in the Midlands, The NewsHawks has gathered that five of Mnangagwa’s close allies will not be subjected to primary elections. These are Local Government minister July Moyo who has since been listed as an unopposed candidate for Redcliff constituency; minister of State in the President's Office in Charge of Policy Implementation Jorum Gumbo, who will represent the party in Mberengwa unopposed as a senator and former State Security minister Owen “Mudha” Ncube, who is eyeing the Gokwe-Kana constituency. Mnangagwa’s other allies who will not be subjected to primary elections are former party youth leader Edmore Samambwa (Zhombe constituency) and Gokwe-Mapfungautsi MP Tatenda Karikoga. They were listed as unopposed in a list sent to the party's national commissariat by the provincial party leadership led by Senator Larry Mavima on Monday. Zanu PF spokesperson Christopher Mutsvangwa was coy when contacted for comment by The NewsHawks over the issue.  “The party‘s national elections directorate is yet to meet,” he said. Ahead of primary elections, aspiring Zanu PF candidates are undergoing security vetting by the commissariat department led by Mike Bimha. An announcement of those who will make it shall be made before Saturday, according to a media statement released on Tuesday by Bimha, but Mnangagwa’s five Midlands allies have already sailed through. Sources in the Midlands told The NewsHawks that there is disgruntlement over the five top party officials who have been shielded from internal elections. “The comrades are saying the rules should have applied to everyone. No-one was supposed to be shielded from primary elections and people are not happy with the way that things are currently prevailing in Midlands where people believed to be close allies of number one (Mnangagwa) are said to be untouchable.” “We have got comrades that are eager to represent the party in all those constituencies and the reason being made to say no-one else expressed interest in challenging them is just political banter,” said a source. Other sources said the five top officials were being rewarded for being instrumental in Mnangagwa’s rise to power through thick and thin during Robert Mugabe’s era. Minister Moyo who lost the election in Redcliff in 2018 to the then MDC-Alliance’s Lloyd  Mukapiko, is Mnangagwa’s long-time ally and was touted as his chief strategist ahead of the November 2017 coup that ousted late Mugabe. He was one of the governors who were suspended by Mugabe for supporting Mnangagwa to become vice-president in 2004 during the socalled Tsholotsho declaration. Moyo has been entangled in several scandals since 2018 which could have warranted his expulsion from government in other countries, but Mnangagwa has been unmoved by them and has not said anything. He was implicated in the corrupt awarding of a multi-million-dollar deal to his alleged crony, businessman Paul Kruger, to supply water pumps to the City of Harare two years ago. The lucrative contract was awarded to Petricho Irrigation, which was represented by Paul Kruger in Zimbabwe, without going to tender. In July this year, Moyo was again implicated in another scandal of diverting more than US$55 million of devolution funds to buying fire trucks from Belarus for 89 councils at an inflated cost. Mnangagwa’s Belarusian crony, Alexander Zingman, who runs Aftrade DMCC, was awarded the multimillion dollar deal without going to tender. In another scandal, Moyo instructed Harare City Council to give Pomona dumpsite for free to a Netherlands-based company Geogenix B.V, a shadowy firm linked to Mnangagwa’s son Collins and family friend Delish Nguwaya in a US$344 million tender that caused a public outcry due to its outrageous terms and conditions. The company was expected to turn waste into energy, with the city council paying at least US$22 000 per day. The debt at council accumulated to US$780 000 and council indicated it did not have the capacity to pay, but Moyo in a letter tried to force through the payment. The deal has since been cancelled. Ncube (Owen 'Mudha') is close to Mnangagwa as he hails from Kwekwe and has held two government positions from 2017, starting off as minister of State for the Midlands and then becoming State Security minister in charge of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO). On the other hand, Karikoga, whose constituency borders Ncube's in Gokwe, is also close to Mnangagwa. Gumbo currently works in Mnangagwa’s office and the two are close. In 2019, the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission detained and charged Gumbo for abuse of office after the anti-graft body alleged that he cost the government US$3.7 million (R55m), after he directed the controversial government-owned airline Zimbabwe Airways to rent a property owned by his relative Mavis Gumbo as its headquarters. The case however fizzled out, reportedly because of his close relations to Mnangagwa. Samambwa was a vital cog in Mnangagwa’s camp dubbed Team Lacoste before the coup and was expelled from Zanu PF in 2016 for that reason when he was chairperson for the party’s Midlands provincial youth assembly. He bounced back after the coup and he has developed stronger ties with Mnangagwa since then. Zanu PF insiders in the Midlands warned that there are high chances of "Bhora Musango" protest votes in the province if the controversial selection of the top five officials is not addressed and opened up before the August general elections. Primary polls exemption for Mnangagwa’s Midlands allies Local Government minister July Moyo Minister of State in the President's Office in Charge of Policy Implementation Joram Gumbo NewsHawks News Page 15 Issue 123, 17 March 2023

NATHAN GUMA ZIMBABWE’S former Parliamentary and Constitutional Affairs minister, Eric Matinenga, a senior ex-MDC-T official, has described as “dishonest” the declaratur sought by MDC-T leader Douglas Mwonzora to have the delimitation report nullified, while general elections are postponed. This week, Mwonzora made an application to the constitutional court seeking to nullify the delimitation report, saying it was not constitutional. While it was constitutional for Mwonzora to file an application over the report which has been seriously riddled with errors, Matinenga said the demand to have elections postponed is wrong. “Have not read the full Constitutional Court application by Mwonzora, yet, save for paragraphs 1 & 2 shown on this platform. The delimitation report is a mess, both in terms of process and substance. It must be set aside. "The consequential relief sought in paragraph 2 is, in my view, dishonest. Section 161(2) of the constitution provides for the use of 'boundaries that existed immediately before the delimitation are applicable'. "The relief which the application should seek therefore is not to postpone the election but for the 2008 boundaries to be used,” Matinenga said on social media. Analysts have also rendered the delimitation report unconstitutional over the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec)’s decision to retain flaws flagged in the preliminary delimitation report presented to President Emmerson Mnangagwa in December. The delimitation report gazetted by President Emmerson Mnangagwa in February has in some cases retained a ward and constituency population threshold of over 20% — in violation of the constitution — which has in the past been condemned by experts. The final report has also failed to declare ward and constituency boundaries, which is contrary to section 161 (11) of the constitution. “Within fourteen days after receiving the Zec’s final report, the President must publish a proclamation in the Gazette declaring the names and boundaries of the wards and constituencies as finally determined by the commission,” reads the constitution. Last week, civil society group Team Pachedu discovered that some coordinates which Zec used in delimiting some wards for the upcoming August elections were from the far-flung, remote, virtually uninhabitable Antarctica, further exposing electoral fraud. Located at the South Pole, Antarctica is the world’s fifth-largest continent, a vast land mass almost entirely covered with ice and surrounded by ocean, unlike the Arctic region, which is a frozen sea surrounded by land. Why Zec chose Antarctica coordinates to delineate local Zimbabwean wards is a mystery, but the resultant fraud damages the credibility of the process. The parliamentary ad hoc committee on delimitation said Zec used a complicated, unworkable system. “Zec had an option to use a simpler geographic coordinate system that represents location in terms of degrees, minutes, and seconds, such that users can simply enter the coordinates on google maps to identify locations in their respective wards and constituencies,” according to the ad hoc committee’s report. Opposition MDC-T leader Douglas Mwonzora's court application to have the flawed delimitation report nullified and elections postponed has provoked the proverbial post turtle question to know on whose behalf Mwonzora is acting. While many agree the delimitation report is flawed and must be nullified, legal experts have been questioning the honesty of the relief he is seeking, on nullification of the report and postponement of elections. In terms of the constitution, if the current delimitation boundaries do not apply in the upcoming polls, then elections must be held under the 2008 wards and constituencies map, contrary to postponing elections. Mwonzora’s latest action has sparked heated debate on whether he is acting on his own behalf, which implies self-preservation, or he is acting for Mnangagwa, which means a clandestine political agenda to postpone elections. Mwonzora’s election lawsuit dishonest Former Parliamentary and Constitutional Affairs minister Eric Matinenga MDC-T leader Douglas Mwonzora Page 16 News NewsHawks Issue 123, 17 March 2023

BRENNA MATENDERE THE impoverishment of professionals by the government has reached heart-rending levels, but those who dare complain are often victimised, leaving public sector workers feeling helpless in the face of a double whammy of economic suffering and political intimidation. The NewsHawks has seen the payslip of an experienced rural teacher which shows a shockingly paltry salary, which explains why the educators describe it as a slave wage. The current payslip shows a salary of ZW$39 636 (about US$30 on the prevailing parallel market rate), while the rural allowance is ZW$1 982 (US$1.30) and the housing allowance is ZW$7 508 (US$5). After deductions for funeral cover, medical aid, National Social Security payment, among others, the teacher’s net salary is ZW$24 172.94 (US$19). The teacher can derive cold comfort from a US$125 cushioning allowance and a US$75 Covid-19 allowance which can be cut off anytime as it was awarded at the sole discretion of the government at the height of the pandemic which has since been contained. At Independence, educators not only earned respect across all social classes but also made enough money to either build a modest house or service a home mortgage. For the older generation of teachers who have since retired, the Zimbabwe/Rhodesia era remains a cherished one. The vintage Peugeot 404 was then known as a car for headmasters or senior educationists. But today paying bus fare daily is now a tall order and relations between the employer and the employee have turned frosty. The shockingly paltry income earned by the profession which is the backbone of all professions has become a source of resentment. Any attempt to send this message to government has often been met with police brutality, arrests and intimidation. Years of misrule and corruption have triggered an economic collapse of Zimbabwe’s once buoyant economy. Hustling has become the order of the day as the economy rapidly becomes informalised. Maphepha Thembakuye Moyo, a Grade 4 teacher at Silwane Primary School in Lupane, elicited empathy as he narrated to The NewsHawks how tough life has become for him on these meagre earnings. Moyo, who is originally from Bulawayo, rents a modest apartment for US$150 a month and his average expenses for basic foodstuffs for his family are US$250. He requires fuel to travel from Silwane at least three times a month to his home in Bulawayo, but that has become unaffordable and strained his family relations. “I am supposed to pay a modest wage to my herdboy back in the rural areas, pay for medical bills, funeral cover, clothing, needs of my twin daughters and aged parents, but it's presently now just a pipe dream, yet I am a professional and employed. This situation has broken my mental health,” said Moyo. To add to Moyo’s plight, his daughter is asthmatic and needs care, which comes at an additional cost that is now out of his reach. Leonard Mabasa, a heritage studies teacher at Mukodza Secondary School in Buhera, is in the same fix. “I find it very difficult to look after my parents who live on subsistence agriculture. My clothes are now below par. Learners sometimes laugh at my old-fashioned clothes. I feel robbed of my dignity,” he bemoaned. Teachers who have tried to be vocal against the measly salaries in the rural areas have been victimised. The NewsHawks is aware of some rural teachers in the Midlands province who have been expelled from their jobs after protesting the poor wages. In a letter obtained by this publication dated 16 January 2023, Midlands provincial education director (PED) Jameson Machimbira fired Maliyami Primary School senior teacher Richard Siasongwe for joining a protest organised by the Amalgamated Rural Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe (Artuz) on a charge of misconduct. Part of the dismissal letter reads: “The charge of misconduct preferred on you on 25 September 2021 and your letter dated 25 September 2021 responding to the charge and subsequent hearing which took place and which you attended on 10 June 2022 refers.” “In terms of Section 46 (4) of the Public Service Regulations 2 000, as amended, you are found guilty of violating paragraph 1 of the First Schedule (Section 2) in that you absented yourself from duty without cause . . .” On 10 February this year, Mudara Edwin Ndaiziveyi, who taught at Maboke Secondary School in Gokwe South, was also dismissed under similar circumstances. The NewsHawks obtained the discharge-from-service form which he was made to sign. Another teacher victimised for protesting the “slave wages” is Gerald Tavengwa, who taught at Mapfungautsi Secondary School in Gokwe. “I was fired for fighting for better working conditions for teachers in Zimbabwe last year, 2022. In Gokwe, I had a house that could accommodate me and my family costing US$150 my transport to and from work was approximately US$100 per month to just travel on weekends only from Gokwe Centre to Gokwe-Mapfungautsi.” “There were, in total, living expenses in excess of US$500 which I could not afford due to the peanuts I was getting before I was unfairly relieved of my duties,” he told The NewsHawks. The National Joint Negotiating Council (NJNC) has failed to resolve the salary crisis after three meetings this month were deferred. This effectively means that in March 2023, teachers will earn the same “slave wages” they earned last month, as highlighted above. Artuz president Obert Masaraure told The NewsHawks that the situation is dire. “Teachers are struggling to make ends meet. Some have failed to pay examination fees for their children and others are reportedly failing to pay house helpers. The NJNC seems unmoved as they take forever to conclude a deal that can bring relief to the teachers of Zimbabwe,” he said. On 6 December 2022, six public sector unions, including the Zimbabwe Teachers' Association (Zimta), Progressive Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ), Artuz and the Education Union of Zimbabwe (EUZ), filed an application at the High Court under case number 8261/22. The unions are seeking a declaratory order in terms of section 85 (1) of the constitution. The application is premised on the apparent violation of the constitutionally provided right to collective bargaining. The unions are seeking to assert the right to collective bargaining and the striking off of unconstitutional powers of Labour minister Paul Mavhima which they say are stalling NJNC negotiations. The applicants are seeking the following order from the court: “It is be and is hereby declared that; (a) The effect of Section 203 (1)(b) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No.20) Act, 2013, is that the conditions of service of members of the Public Service including their salaries, allowances and other benefits must be determined through a collective bargaining process which results in a collective bargaining agreement.” The application also submitted that “Section 19(1) of the Public Service Act [Chapter 16:04] which gives the Public Service Commission and the Minister of Public Service Labour and Social Welfare the authority to unilaterally determine conditions of service of members of the public service without going through collective bargaining process is unconstitutional as it is inconsistent with section 203(1)(b) as read with section 65(5) of the Constitution.” Section 20 of the Public Service Act is again being deemed unconstitutional by the applicants for being inconsistent with section 203(1)(b) as read with section 65(5) of the constitution in that it does not provide for the right to collective bargaining and to organise but only provides for discretionary consultation which may not result in any collective bargaining agreement. Masaraure said the unions had every right to file the court application. “It is an indisputable fact that the NJNC has no legal leg to stand on. It is an unconstitutional creature under which the employer unilaterally fixes conditions of services without going through the section 65(5) process of collective bargaining. Under the NJNC regime, unions are useless as they are just consulted,” he said. “The NJNC is therefore unsustainable as aptly captured by the current labour minister Prof Paul Mavima on Wednesday 4 August 2022 addressing a workshop organised by Zimta, I quote, ‘We are in a process of creating a CBC to replace NJNC . . .,” he said. The trade unionist, who is also spokesperson of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, revealed that the new salary demand for teachers is US$1 260 and that the educators must stay home in protest until they get awarded a living wage they deserve. “Teachers have resolved to form a rank and file movement, the #Teachers4USD movement which seeks to organise resistance outside the armpits of captured union bureaucrats. Unions cannot be captured; only the leaders can be captured. The teachers are collaborating across the union divide to hold government to account.” “The teachers have already staged a massive strike which has seen teachers being threatened by authorities. The number of members for the movement are swelling, the NJNC postponements are helping to fuel the struggle.” “The message remains: Teachers Stay at Home and Demand US$1 260,” said Masaraure. Teachers earn ZW$39 636 (US$33) A teacher's payslip . . . The cushion of US$150 and US$25 was backdated. The current payslip has US$125 as cushion. NewsHawks News Page 17 Issue 123, 17 March 2023

RUVIMBO MUCHENJE EMBATTLED Zengeza West lawmaker Job Sikhala’s latest freedom bid was thrown out by Harare magistrate Marehwanazvo Gofa on Wednesday as Zimbabwe’s foremost political prisoner continues to languish behind bars for nine months so far. Sikhala was applying for discharge at the close of the state case. He is accused of obstructing justice. The magistrate dismissed the matter on the grounds that Sikhala has a case to answer. “At this stage of the proceedings, the simple question is whether there is evidence against accused person which requires a reply or answer from him. This was also rightly argued by state. My emphasis is on the words I have emboldened 'reply or answer from accused'. Court is of the view that indeed, there is evidence before court that calls for an answer or reply from accused,” said Gofa. She added that the state’s video evidence links Sikhala to the scene of the alleged crime and the authenticity of the video will be validated at the end of trial. “There is evidence on a balance of probability that links accused to the video in question and the scene. Whether the video is authentic or not, as well as its originality are issues not to be decided at this stage, but rather will be decided at the end of trial,” said Gofa. Arrested in mid-June 2022, Sikhala was last July charged with contravening section 184 (1)(a) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, Chapter 9:23, that is, defeating or obstructing the course of justice in the case pertaining to the murder of opposition Citizens' Coalition for Change (CCC) supporter Moreblessing Ali, that was being investigated by police The police said Sikhala recorded and uploaded a video to the ZimLive Youtube site intending to mislead invesrigators probing the murder of Ali whose body was discovered in a disused water well. Sikhala’s argument for discharge was that there is nothing that proves he recorded and posted the video or whether he was directing the message to the police. He had spent three weeks remanded at Chikurubi on a different charge of incitement to violence. Sikhala had been arrested on 14 June alongside the CCC's Chitungwiza North legislator Godfrey Sithole for allegedly inciting violence in the Nyatsime community. He has spent 278 days in prison and has been denied bail more than five times at both the High Court and the Harare magistrates' court. The discharge application is a remedy granted to a person who has been maliciously charged. If the allegations which have been levelled against him are false, the Criminal Code provides for the filing of a discharge application. Meanwhile, the political solidarity for Sikhala has waned over the past nine months. At the beginning, the courtroom used to be packed with supporters, but of late only his lawyers, police officers from the Law and Order section and his wife and daughters have pitched up for hia sessions. Sikhala’s fresh freedom bid thrown out Zengeza West MP Job Sikhala Page 18 News NewsHawks Issue 123, 17 March 2023

NATHAN GUMA CSC Boustead Beef workers’ pension fund is in a shambles after the company’s anchor shareholder failed to honour part of its obligation to inject US$290 000 into the financially beleaguered entity. After undertaking to shore up the CSC, a loss-making parastatal, United Kingdom-based Boustead Beef undertook to capitalise the company’s pension fund in line with an agreement with a Joint Farming Concession Agreement (LJFCA) with the government. The company, which promised to inject US$130 million in five years from 2019, has injected little capital into the venture, with workers and pensioners failing to access outstanding remittances and pensions. In 2018, the National Social Security Agency (Nssa) expressed interest, as an equity investor, to inject up to US$14.3 million that would see the revival of the CSC. However, the state-run social security agency ceased to be part of the venture in 2019. After taking over the CSC in 2019, Boustead Beef was obliged to pay outstanding salaries and pensions owed to the company’s workers as agreed in the LJFCA signed in January 2019 between the company and the ministry of Agriculture. According to the agreement, Boustead Beef would: “Takeover and retire the entire inherited CSC legacy debt as outlined in the High Court of Zimbabwe case number 3099/17, scheme of agreements as per the negotiated payment plan.” With accumulated debt of over US$33 million since 2009, the CSC owed its current employees US$2 074 948 in salaries and US$4 443 104 in pension funds by 2018, according to the High Court order of agreement. Workers' committee members who spoke to The NewsHawks said Boustead Beef has failed to inject money into the pension fund, leaving the workers stranded. “There are outstanding salaries and remittances that are yet to be paid. Those things have not yet been done. As we speak, our pensioners are getting nothing at all, but they were contributing to Old Mutual and MARSH, among others, but nothing has been done. “We would call it the Nssa scheme, since it was going to be used by Nssa when it took over as investors. However, Nssa was booted out following the ouster of the late former president Mugabe. “So Boustead Beef rode on the scheme, but never followed it as it were. They also failed to follow the correct procedure as stipulated in their joint venture agreement,” the workers said. In the employees' scheme of 2018, the CSC proposed to pay employees and the pension fund in full, which meant Boustead Beef was supposed to assume the debt. “CSC shall have a ten-month moratorium on payments to current employees. CSC shall pay US$290 000 into the pension fund at the commencement of the restructured operations and the Applicant shall thereafter have a ten-month moratorium on payments to the Pension Fund. “Thereafter, CSC shall pay current employees the sum of US$2 074 948 over a period of 54 months, shall pay the Pension Fund the debt of US$4 153 104 over a period of 120 months towards arrear pension contributions and Pension Fund shortfall,” read the agreement. Boustead Beef has also retrenched CSC workers, despite the ministry of Labour’s Retrenchment Board signalling the move as illegal. This is not the first time Boustead Beef has violated the LJFCA. Last year, while officially re-opening the beef processing plant in Bulawayo, Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga praised the company for injecting US$24 million. Even if this amount were true — which is disputed by workers — it would fall far short of the agreed capital injection. According to the agreement, the investor was supposed to raise and invest a minimum of US$130 million in the project over five years, being for both capital expenditure and working capital to run the business. Total investment in year one was supposed to be US$45 million, broken down as follows: refurbishment of abattoirs, canning factory, distribution (US$6 million), working capital abattoirs, canning factory, distribution (US$5 million), logistical fleet, vehicles, distribution abattoirs (US$2 million), information technology systems or meat matrix or stock control (US$3 million), external cattle purchase facility (US$5 million), external buy-back facility for processed beef (US$5 million, capital expenditure ranches and feedlots (US$4.5 million), working capital ranches and feedlots (US$3 million) logistics fleet ranches, cattle purchase (US$10 million). CSC pensioners stranded after Bousted Beef baulks NewsHawks News Page 19 Issue 123, 17 March 2023

Residents dread cholera menace as garbage remains uncollected RUVIMBO MUCHENJE IT is not yet rush hour along the main road to Harare's Warren Park suburb, but many motorists are getting impatient as congestion builds up, slowing down the flow of traffic. There is no broken down vehicle or potholes the size of earthquake craters slowing down motorists, but a pile of trash overlapping into the road has become the new barrier which has narrowed the road. This is Harare, Zimbabwe’s metropolitan city where some residents have to play hop, skip and jump over burst sewer pipes or endure the pungent smell of uncollected refuse by the roadside. As the motorists branch into the various streets to avoid the congestion, the situation shifts from bad to worse as more rubbish dumps emerge. The onset of the rainy season has made the situation worse in a city where some residents have gone for weeks or months without seeing running water. A public health hazard is looming — yet the local authority says everything is under control. Already, one out of the 124 community boreholes condemned for having contaminated water is in Warren Park D suburb, and residents fear that the situation may worsen. Residents say this puts Warren Park and other high-density areas at risk of waterborne diseases. A typhoid and diarrhoea outbreak looms in the city. Hundreds of Harare residents have been diagnosed with either of the two, setting a ticking time bomb for the local authority, which says it is striving to become a world-class city in two years’ time. Harare, once known as the Sunshine City, has now turned into an eyesore as the capital city continues to be a battlefield for perennial turf wars between the opposition-led local authority and the Zanu PF government. A proposed plan by a private contractor to collect trash as throughput for a waste-to-energy plant in Pomona has been stalled as haggling over the term sheets of the contract rages on. Ratepayers and residents have paid the price for this attrition. The signs are not encouraging and the situation in Warren Park is just a reflection of how high-density suburbs in Harare have battled to deal with primitive medieval diseases in the past few months. “We have survived these diseases by the grace of God,” says Martha Diza a 64-year-old who has just emptied her two bins at the illegal rubbish dump situated a few yards away from her house. She adds that the collection of refuse by council is so erratic, leaving residents with no option but to dump in open spaces. “There was collection once in December and once in January, but they have not collected yet this month (February). So the challenge is that people end up dumping near the council bar and clogging the pathway that was once there or open spaces near the new stands, because it is better to get rid of garbage from our households and put it to those spaces where there are no habitants,” she says. These complaints explain why illegal rubbish dumps are mushrooming within the high-density suburb, but a schedule obtained by The NewsHawks shows the local authority has failed to adhere to its own refuse-collection programme. News of the detection of cholera cases in Chegutu evokes scary memories of devastating outbreaks which killed over 4 000 people in 2008. Now the deteriorating water and sanitation situation in the capital city, coupled with a population increase, posed serious challenges. Harare City Council epidemiology and disease control officer Dr Michael Vere says the city is on top of the situation. “As for watery diarrhoea, currently the city is below the outbreak thresholds. For this week we recorded 193 cases compared to 230 cases last week, which is a 16% decrease in the number of watery diarrhoea cases recorded. The highest number of diarrhoea cases were from the clinic called Hopley which had 19 cases. Some of these cases were tested and there was no cholera that was detected,” he said. “The other enteric disease that we are battling is typhoid. Since the 17th of October 2022, we now have 145 cases in total, with 60 of those cases from Glen Norah suburb. 28 of those cases are confirmed cases while the rest are suspected cases. Of the 28 confirmed cases, 18 are from Glen Norah suburb, so this is the situation in terms of watery diarrhoea and typhoid. “The typhoid situation is fairly under control as we have witnessed recently the number of cases being recorded every week is gradually going down.” In the central business district, barely a few metres from Town House where councillors and the mayor constantly meet, the city centre is characterised by rubbish dumps, notably at the Rezende and Copacabana bus termini. Vere says the healthcare workers who dealt with the previous cholera pandemic have since left the country and there is a need to conduct refresher courses for the new crop of carers that have joined the City Health Department. “We also want to do refresher training for our staff as we know that it is now quite some time since we last experienced a cholera outbreak and because of the movement of staff out of the country for greener pastures most of the staff we have now are new. These obviously require refresher training on the management of diseases like cholera and even the typhoid, so this is still pending; we are planning to do that,” said Vere. As the battle between the local authority and central government rages, a time bomb is ticking and residents will bear the brunt of political expedience. Page 20 NewsHawks News Issue 123, 17 March 2023

TELECOM giant Ericsson kept records about potential bribery schemes locked in safes and basement cabinets while company lawyers withheld “key details” from an explosive report alleging the Swedish firm’s possible payoffs to terrorists in Iraq, U.S. court documents reveal. Documents filed earlier this month in federal court in New York by the U.S. Justice Department also say Ericsson employees failed to disclose evidence of corrupt payments contained on USB drives for as many as six years, despite an ongoing criminal investigation. The latest revelations come as Ericsson, a key player in the West’s battle with China over the future of global communications, is set to plead guilty to previous bribery charges in federal court on March 21. The company already agreed this month to pay a $206.7 million penalty for violating its 2019 deferred prosecution agreement with the Justice Department to resolve what prosecutors called a “years-long campaign of corruption” in China, Indonesia, Kuwait, Djibouti and Vietnam between 2000-2016. A similar investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission found corrupt activities by Ericsson in Saudi Arabia. Under the 2019 agreement, Ericsson paid $1 billion and pledged to stamp out corruption and report any more wrongdoing to the U.S. government. But Ericsson broke its promises by hiding allegations about bribes in at least three countries, including Iraq. The total settlement amount now stands at $1.27 billion — the second largest in the 45-year history of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, according to Mike Koehler, a legal expert who runs the FCPA Professor website. Michael Volkov, a white-collar lawyer who writes about corporate corruption and compliance, said the Ericsson case “reads like an internal investigation horror show.” “There are enough failures here so that the explanation of negligence seems to ring hollow,” he told ICIJ. “What’s really weird is the failure to know that hard copy documents existed in the basement of a building on the most key issue in any bribery investigation. These failures further damage the company’s reputation and beg credulity that they’re just a mistake.” The March 2 plea deal was sparked by an ICIJ investigation revealing that Ericsson made tens of millions of dollars in suspicious payments over nearly a decade to sustain its business in war-torn Iraq. ICIJ’s Ericsson List investigation, based on a leaked internal report, found that Ericsson financed slush funds, trips abroad for defense officials and payoffs through middlemen to corporate executives and possibly terrorists with the Islamic State group. The company also sought permission from ISIS to smuggle equipment into ISIS-controlled areas and ignored frantic internal warnings, putting workers’ and citizens’ lives in peril, ICIJ found. “No family should have to go through what we have,” said Art Sotloff, father of 31-year-old journalist Steven Sotloff, who was beheaded by ISIS. The Sotloff family is one of 528 families of slain or injured civilians and U.S. military members suing Ericsson for allegedly aiding and abetting ISIS and other terrorist groups. Steven was kidnapped during a reporting trip in Syria in August 2013. More than a year later, ISIS released a video of Steven, bound and kneeling in an orange jumpsuit, beheaded by a masked ISIS executioner. “As a journalist, Steven wanted nothing more than to shine a light on suffering and injustice in the region,” Art Sotloff told ICIJ. “The purpose of our lawsuit against Ericsson is accountability. As Steven’s family, it is our hope that the government fully investigates any allegations of protection payments made to ISIS by any transnational corporations, including Ericsson.” An Ericsson contractor whose kidnapping came to light in the leaked internal report said he never received an apology from the company. The contractor, who is named in the company report but asked to be identified only as Affan, was assigned to do fieldwork for the telecom in an ISIS-controlled city when a trio of hooded militants took him hostage. “I have not been contacted by the company in any way,” the engineer told journalist Amir Musawy. Affan, now 34, still fears for his safety and struggles to make sense out of his captivity. “The ISIS occupation continued for years because of financing by many parties, including Ericsson,” Affan said. Ericsson denies making payments to any terrorist organization. In a federal court filing, the company said the lawsuit brought by the Sotloffs and other families is built on “innuendo and speculation.” Chief Executive Officer Börje Ekholm said in a statement on March 2 that the guilty plea and fine mean that “the matter of the breaches is now resolved” and that Ericsson is a “very different company today.” The telecom still faces a U.S. government probe over its operations in Iraq, which likely will include a review of the questions raised by ICIJ about the firm’s contacts with ISIS. And experts International InvestigativeStories Key details withheld, files locked in basements as Ericsson ‘impaired’ US investigation Court documents filed as part of the Swedish company’s $206 million plea agreement reveal how Ericsson lawyers and employees withheld information from U.S. prosecutors, including details about its operations in ISISheld areas of Iraq. Ericsson’s headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden. NewsHawks International Investigative Stories Page 21 Issue 123, 17 March 2023

say a guilty plea could lead to reviews of public contracts or struggles with bank loans. Ryan Sparacino, a lawyer representing the American terror victims, said Ericsson’s guilty plea is likely just the beginning of a long accountability process for the company. “That process will include civil claims against Ericsson by American victims’ of ISIS’s as well as, hopefully, tough criminal charges against Ericsson by the United States Department of Justice, for Ericsson’s egregious misconduct in Iraq,” Sparacino told ICIJ and its Lebanon-based partner, Daraj Media. In Iraq, a spokesman for the Justice Ministry told Daraj that the government is investigating whether Ericsson committed crimes against the Iraqi people and if a lawsuit should be filed seeking compensation. Beyond reviving corruption charges, Ericsson’s plea agreement has rekindled controversy over the growing global practice — highlighted in an ICIJ investigation in December — of granting multinational companies leniency deals for criminal wrongdoing. Although the Biden administration has vowed to get tougher on corporate crime, prosecutors have yet to hold any Ericsson executive responsible for the decades of corruption. The Justice Department declined to comment for this story. It said earlier this month that Ericsson broke its promises to clean up its act and now faces what prosecutors called “a steep price for its continued missteps.” Experts on corporate misconduct, however, argue that Ericsson got off lightly. “We still don’t know the extent of wrongdoing that occurred, or who was responsible for it, and we might never know,” said Peter Reilly, a Texas A&M law professor who researches corporate wrongdoing in the U.S. He likened the combined impact of Ericsson’s 2019 deferred prosecution agreement and this month’s plea deal to a “speeding ticket.” Volkov, the corporate compliance expert, agreed that the $206.7 million penalty seems “too low,” especially for a company that already paid $1 billion. “It doesn’t seem like much of a hammer to me,” Volkov told ICIJ, adding that the Justice Department has been “talking tough and putting out policy changes” about corporate law enforcement, “but I haven’t seen the follow through.” In documents filed earlier this month with Ericsson’s plea agreement, the Justice Department said the company’s failure to disclose corrupt conduct “prevented the United States from bringing certain charges against certain individuals.” In the Djibouti bribery case, DOJ faulted Ericsson for taking 10 years to disclose a May 2011 email between two unnamed Ericsson executives who orchestrated a payoff scheme to win a telecom contract. In the China scheme, Ericsson didn’t turn over a February 2018 email alleging that senior executives approved “very large” improper payments to third-party agents, and that top managers may have conspired to withhold that information from U.S. authorities. As for the telecom firm’s activities in Iraq, Ericsson’s prior outside counsel disclosed only “generalized information” two weeks before the company signed its deferred prosecution agreement in December 2019, the Justice Department said in a court filing earlier this month. Both the lawyers and Ericsson omitted telling the Justice Department about possible bribes to ISIS until they learned about ICIJ’s investigation in February 2022 — more than two years later. Neither the Justice Department nor Ericsson identified the lawyers who withheld the information. Ericsson also finalized its internal Iraq report five days after signing the 2019 deferred prosecution agreement and “did not update the United States on the findings and conclusions of the investigation despite being required to do so,” the Justice Department said. But only after ICIJ had contacted the Justice Department and the company seeking comment about the possible payoffs to ISIS did Ericsson contact federal officials and, through a new outside counsel, fully disclose details of the report, the department said. The lawsuit filed on behalf of Steven Sotloff and the other U.S. terror victims alleges that Ericsson authorized protection payments to terrorists for financial gain. “Ericsson prioritized profits over all else, including any risks that its substantial payments to violent terrorists would facilitate violent terrorism,” the complaint says. In a statement to ICIJ, Ericsson spokesman Kristoffer Edshage said a company review last year indicates Ericsson did not make or was responsible for payments to any terrorist organization. The company did not say who it interviewed or whether it planned to make public any new report about its Iraq operations. According to recent Justice Department filings, the crucial data that Ericsson failed to disclose included thousands of hard copy records potentially key to the government’s probe, including agreements with third parties, third-party invoices, and due diligence files. The records were located in locked safes and filing cabinets in secured storage areas in basements of various buildings at the company’s headquarters in Sweden. The hidden USB drives also contained records about third-party payments and agreements, as well as who approved and signed those agreements and who approved the payments, the government said. The Justice Department didn’t identify the Ericsson employees who withheld the thumb drives. “Those materials contained information relevant to the United States’ investigation,” the Justice Department wrote in an attachment to Ericsson’s recent plea agreement. “Certain LM Ericsson employees and now former executives, as well as prior outside counsel, were aware of these records and understood that they were required to produce them to the United States….These disclosure failures, including at least hundreds of documents containing key evidence of the bribery, books and records, and internal controls schemes, impaired the United States’ ongoing criminal investigation.” Reilly, the law professor, said the case illustrates “why big companies like deferred prosecution agreements and don’t really care if they violated them.” Not only did Ericsson pay a fine that’s just a fraction of its profits, but individual wrongdoers escaped punishment and the plea agreement, like the deferred prosecution agreement before it, was negotiated behind closed doors with no oversight, he said. In fact, Reilly noted, the court filings contain a three-page letter from prosecutors to the judge — a kind of script with questions and remarks for the judge to make during next week’s sentencing proceeding. “DOJ is signaling that companies can continue to flout the law with only minor consequences – a system that favors companies and their profits over rule of law and public welfare,” he said. — International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Steven Sotloff, right, pictured in a family photo with his father Art, mother Shirley and sister Lauren. Image: courtesy of the Sotloff family Page 22 International Investigative Stories NewsHawks Issue 123, 17 March 2023

PROSECUTORS in Lebanon and Europe are investigating the longtime Banque du Liban governor, Riad Salame, for suspected money laundering and corruption. He’s also been blamed for the country’s financial crisis. But Salame claims he is a scapegoat. Who Is Riad Salame? Riad Salame is one of the longest serving central bank governors in the world. He has helmed the Banque du Liban for nearly three decades, joining it in 1993 after a career as an investment banker for Merrill Lynch in Paris and Beirut. For years, Salame was portrayed as something of a miracle worker, helping establish relative economic stability after Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war. Annual inflation fell from a postwar peak of nearly 100 percent in 1992 to just 0.2 percent in 1999. By 2008, credit ratings agency Moody’s had upgraded Lebanon to “positive.” A year later, The Banker, an industry magazine, named Salame the Middle East’s “central banker of the year.” But Salame’s record has faced growing scrutiny since Lebanon’s financial system imploded in late 2019. Critics have accused him of severe economic mismanagement, while investigations into suspected money laundering have brought European prosecutors to Beirut. In just around three years, many of the gains seen under Salame have been wiped out. Lebanon’s currency has lost more than 95 percent of its value against the dollar, hundreds of businesses have shuttered, and thousands of jobs have disappeared while commodity prices continue to surge. “Most Lebanese are suffering, even if some continue to make huge profits,” said Alia Ibrahim, co-founder and chief executive officer of OCCRP partner Daraj. “In most of Lebanon, the situation is one of the worst Lebanon has ever known.” Why Is Riad Salame blamed for Lebanon’s economic crisis? In a glowing 2008 BBC News article, Salame claimed his “very conservative” monetary system had been “tested against wars, against instability, against political assassinations.” Fast-forward to today, and many economists — and ordinary Lebanese — now blame Salame for the country’s spectacular collapse. The World Bank has compared Salame’s fiscal regime to a “Ponzi scheme.” Under the system, the central bank injected U.S. dollars into the economy to maintain a favorable exchange rate for the Lebanese pound compared to the dollar. This kept down the price of imports, upon which Lebanon relies heavily, and helped buoy the country’s middle class. The catch was that Lebanon’s trade deficit and high debt meant a constant stream of foreign currency was needed to pay off old debt and keep the system running. Dollars were lured into the system through high interest rates, which allowed Lebanese banks to make substantial profits by depositing dollars with the central bank. The banks meanwhile received a steady flow of dollars, largely from Lebanon’s expansive diaspora, who were also seeking high returns. When Syria’s civil war broke out in 2011 — coupled with the economic fallout — the system was strained. From 2015, dollar inflows slowed noticeably. The following year, Salame introduced a $13 billion “financial engineering” scheme, providing state bonds to banks in exchange for the foreign currency they received from deposits. This allowed banks to offer even higher interest rates on dollar deposits — 9.7 percent by 2019 — while the national debt ballooned. Then, in 2019, the stream of dollars dried up. By August, the pound’s black market price started to decline. Banks began blocking cash transfers abroad and imposed withdrawal limits. Amid the ensuing dollar shortages, the pound collapsed, crippling ordinary Lebanese who could not withdraw their rapidly devaluing deposits. Salame has denied responsibility for the crisis. In a January 2021 interview with France 24, he claimed he was the victim of a political “campaign” designed to scapegoat him. Why Is Riad Salame being investigated? While many Lebanese struggled, Salame had personal wealth hidden overseas. In August 2020, a joint OCCRP-Daraj investigation found that the governor’s offshore companies had invested in overseas assets worth nearly $100 million, including a $4.1 million luxury apartment in London. His son Nady was also able to send more than $6.5 million abroad while banking restrictions blocked ordinary citizens from accessing their savings. Salame told OCCRP at the time that he had amassed “significant private wealth” before he became central bank governor and that he had broken no laws. But Lebanese and European investigators are looking into multiple money laundering and corruption accusations. In November 2020, the Swiss attorney general’s office wrote to Lebanese authorities, claiming that Salame and his brother, Raja, had embezzled over $330 million of central bank money from 2002 to 2015. The money was reportedly transferred from the central bank to a British Virgin Islands-registered firm allegedly controlled by Raja Salame, and then to the brothers’ Swiss bank accounts — including some $248 million into Raja’s personal account. Since then, France, Germany, Liechtenstein, and Luxembourg have opened their own probes. In March 2022, authorities froze 120 million euros’ worth of assets in multiple countries “linked to the investigation of a money laundering case in Lebanon.” German prosecutors told OCCRP this was related to the Salame investigation. British MP Margaret Hodge also reported Salame and his associates to the U.K. National Crime Agency in 2021 after the OCCRP revealed his vast holdings in the country. In Lebanon, prosecutor Ghada Aoun charged the Salame brothers with illicit enrichment and money laundering in March 2022 in relation to transactions concerning apartments in Paris. In June, Lebanese authorities raided a Beirut property owned by Salame. Both brothers deny the charges. The same month, prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat separately ordered Salame to be charged with money laundering, illicit enrichment, forgery and tax evasion. But the case has stalled amid political interference allegations and procedural objections made by the central bank governor's lawyer in court. Why Is Salame still running Lebanon’s central bank? In short, because Lebanon’s political system is paralyzed. Since shortly after gaining independence from France in 1943, the country has been run according to a delicate power-sharing arrangement, whereby official positions are allotted based on affiliation with one of the country’s various religious sects. This system, which was rebalanced after the civil war, has been maintained even as it has come under increasing criticism for contributing to political dysfunction. Since President Michel Aoun’s term ended in October, for instance, parliament has repeatedly failed to elect a replacement. Despite calls for his removal, Salame has also continued to enjoy public support from prominent figures including Prime Minister Najib Mikati and the long-serving speaker of parliament, Nabih Berri. Salame’s current six-year term as central bank governor is set to end in July. In February 2023, he indicated he would step down at the end of his term, telling Saudi TV channel Asharq News he would “move to work outside the central bank.” — Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project. Who is Riad Salame? Lebanon’s central bank chief accused of embezzlement Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon in February 2021. (Photo: Reuters/Alamy Stock Photo) NewsHawks International Investigative Stories Page 23 Issue 123, 17 March 2023

The NewsHawks is published on different content platforms by the NewsHawks Digital Media which is owned by Centre for Public Interest Journalism No. 100 Nelson Mandela Avenue Beverly Court, 6th floor Harare, Zimbabwe Trustees/Directors: Beatrice Mtetwa, Raphael Khumalo, Professor Wallace Chuma, Teldah Mawarire, Doug Coltart EDITORIAL STAFF: Managing Editor: Dumisani Muleya Assistant Editor: Brezh Malaba News Editor: Owen Gagare Digital Editor: Bernard Mpofu Reporters: Brenna Matendere, Ruvimbo Muchenje, Enock Muchinjo, Jonathan Mbiriyamveka, Nathan Guma Email: [email protected] Marketing Officer: Charmaine Phiri Cell: +263 735666122 [email protected] [email protected] Subscriptions & Distribution: +263 735666122 Reaffirming the fundamental importance of freedom of expression and media freedom as the cornerstone of democracy and as a means of upholding human rights and liberties in the constitution; our mission is to hold power in its various forms and manifestations to account by exposing abuse of power and office, betrayals of public trust and corruption to ensure good governance and accountability in the public interest. CARTOON Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe The NewsHawks newspaper subscribes to the Code of Conduct that promotes truthful, accurate, fair and balanced news reporting. If we do not meet these standards, register your complaint with the Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe at No.: 34, Colenbrander Rd, Milton Park, Harare. Telephone: 024-2778096 or 024-2778006, 24Hr Complaints Line: 0772 125 659 Email: [email protected] or [email protected] WhatsApp: 0772 125 658, Twitter: @vmcz Website: www.vmcz.co.zw, Facebook: vmcz Zimbabwe This is clear vote-buying Dumisani Muleya Hawk Eye Editorial & Opinion IF President Emmerson Mnangagwa were serious and sincere about assessing his ministers and senior bureaucrats, he would have demonstrated by now that there are severe repercussions for dismal performance. But how long can he continue shielding inept officials? On Tuesday, the Zimbabwean cabinet received and adopted the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS 1) performance report for the fourth quarter of 2022, which was presented by Finance minister Mthuli Ncube. The NDS 1 blueprint was launched in October 2020, with implementation commencing in 2021 under 14 thematic working groups that were created to drive the programme and achieve set targets. Mnangagwa’s own scorecard — according to the court of public opinion — is that of a politician who has spectacularly squandered a glorious opportunity to positively shape Zimbabwe's destiny. Mnangagwa will not admit it for obvious reasons, but this country is wallowing in mediocrity. In this neighbourhood in southern Africa, we are lagging a good 40 years behind other nations, in development terms. It is a national scandal that most of our young people now have one dream: to attain a decent education, get a passport and leave the country at the earliest opportunity. Young Zimbabweans are voting with their feet in huge numbers — and with good reason. They see no future in a society impoverished by chronic high inflation, with food prices rising at a faster pace than anywhere else on the planet. In sketchy excerpts of the performance assessment report issued on Tuesday, the government gloated about the ebullient mining sector. "The mining sector grew by 10% in 2022, driven by higher international mineral prices, the resuscitation of closed mines, and expansion and opening of new mines. Gold production in 2022 improved to 36 tonnes, from 31.5 tonnes in 2021. Construction of Gold Service Centres such as Makaha in Mutoko made significant progress," cabinet announced. What Mnangagwa’s government conveniently avoids explaining why a country richly endowed with precious minerals is failing to provide essential medicines and life-saving equipment at public hospitals. Mnangagwa’s crumbling hospitals cannot even dispense basic drugs. If the Zanu PF government does not consider the health sector a priority, then where are public funds going? Who is benefitting from the much-vaunted gold, platinum and chrome? The government must get real. To attain Vision 2030's upper middle-income status, Zimbabwe needs to sustain productivity growth rates of between eight and nine percent annually for the next seven years, as the World Bank has correctly projected. The current crop of clueless political leaders is woefully incapable of building a globally competitive economy. Here is the brutal reality: As long as Zimbabwe's leadership failure remains unaddressed, the citizens will continue suffering the indignity of poverty. The rulers are not accountable. Last year, the High Court found it unacceptable that almost a decade after the adoption of a new constitution, Zimbabwe has no code of conduct for vice-presidents, ministers and deputy ministers. We should not be surprised that Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare minister Paul Mavima can brazenly instruct the National Social Security Authority to buy him a house for US$400 000 using money belonging to long-suffering pensioners, without repercussions. A pensioner is expected to survive on a measly US$40 per month, yet Mnangagwa’s minister can divert such vast amounts from Nssa. The Zimbabwean government is a crime scene. Government is a crime scene Page 24 NewsHawks Issue 123, 17 March 2023

New Perspectives We have gold coins, the Mosi-oa-Tunya gold coin, a very innovative intervention by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) that has been widely accepted by capital market players which include Bard Santner Markets Inc that recently introduced the Gold Coin Unit Trust.  At the same time, the RBZ has stepped up plans to create Zimbabwe's own central bank digital currency (CBDC) on a phased approach, a move I believe will be supported by capital market players. It is true that central banks, the RBZ included, have settled on what is called a CBDC. A CBDC is an electronic form of central bank money that citizens can utilise to make digital payments and store value. Today, the Bank of England and UK Treasury, just like other central banks, have just fired the starting gun for a British CBDC. The ambition to develop a digital currency that would sit in our wallets on smartphones and could be used for shopping much like notes and coins puts central banks at a better footing to counter the manoeuvres made by cryptocurrencies. So far, most of the innovation in CBDCs is anchored in the retail space. CBDCs are still a long way from being used in the wholesale processes that would have a lasting impact like correspondent banking and cross-border payments, forex or large-value transactions between corporates and their suppliers. But the potential for CBDCs to transform capital markets and payment systems is growing increasingly apparent all the while capital markets and payments systems grow more comfortable with the associated technology like platforms based on distributed ledgers to record ownership. There is nothing for capital market players to do now; the government needs to decide how to roll out CBDCs and build new regulatory regimes first. However, excitement about the prospect of another revolution in payments is growing, with the prospects of having a lasting impact on cross-border payments and modernisation of treasury management.  CBDCs are merely the next step in this digital transformation journey. This will absolutely happen and money is being modernised. Perhaps the most significant opportunity inherent in CBDCs lies in cross-border payments. Built on multiple correspondent banking arrangements, cross-border payments are slow, opaque and incur transaction costs and risks that corporates know all too well. In a brave new world of CBDCs, a multi-CBDC platform could process international payments, bypass SWIFT, a vast and secure messaging system that allows banks and other financial institutions from all around the world to send and receive encrypted information, namely cross-border money transfer instructions and the corresponding banking network, speeding up cross-border transfers from days to seconds. Countries like Zimbabwe that have suffered huge losses in terms of correspondent banking relationships would benefit from CBDCs.  There is clear evidence we are starting to gain real traction around potential solutions. The benefits of moving away from the SWIFT network model to simplified architecture based on distributed ledger technology underpinned by interoperable CBDCs are easy to see. Linked to this is the potential for CBDCs to transform corporate liquidity. If payments and receivables are all tokenised and settled in real time, it will change the amount of liquidity a corporate needs to keep in the system because of unknowns around clearing or settlement times thereby transforming capital markets. Given our move towards promoting Victoria Falls as a financial services hub, such technology-driven innovations anchored on gold coins may have a lasting impact. CBDCs’ programmability could also rewrite strategy, offering compelling solutions and innovative new approaches. For example, a company with US$/gold coin-denominated CBDCs could programme the allocation to respond to a change in interest rates, either automatically paying down loans, hedging foreign currency risk, or consolidating back to the central treasury. CBDCs will change what a company can do operationally. It opens the door to new strategies and corporates and banks that CBDCs could optimise yields. Other examples include the potential to automatically initiate payments on completion of a given scenario, like the receipt of goods or even the automatic processing of a tax payment at the point of sale. Other commonly touted benefits include a new flexibility in the currencies corporates use to trade, leading towards more diversified international payments and reducing the reliance on today’s narrow set of national currencies. It is a compelling value proposition that could replace the primacy of the US dollar, the reference currency for the bulk of global trade. If trade between, say, a Zimbabwean and Chinese company could be in e-ZW$ or e-Mosi-oa-Tunya gold coin and e-CNY, that has strong ramifications. Dealing in the US dollar is costly and requires bank regulation that is passed onto businesses and their customers. Amid all the talk of transformation, proponents also inject a dose of reality. SWIFT will not disappear anytime soon, and third parties and the private sector will play an essential role enabling CBDC rollout and operability. It would be a massive undertaking for the central bank to employ the staff to build and manage the hardware and software of a new payments system. The central bank will not onboard clients or carry out anti-money laundering due diligence, for example. The fact SWIFT is already evolving its business model to support CBDCs suggests the global network will continue to play an important role. SWIFT’s current role as a trustworthy, independent third party in the correspondent banking network where it sits in the middle of the different segments and providers in the payments market is much more likely to evolve than diminish. SWIFT has never been the problem in correspondent banking, however the fees correspondent banks charge are the problem. Regulators such as the RBZ must take care to avoid CBDCs triggering unintended consequences. In an ideal scenario, global trade would be conducted in the largest and most liquid CBDCs. But one concern is that it will result in the digital currencies from powerful economies such as the digital US dollar crowding out local CBDCs in jurisdictions outside the US raising concerns about sovereignty. Digital dollars issued by the Federal Reserve and held in other markets such as Zimbabwe in tokenised form would not be visible to the local regulators, since they are unable to see wallets outside their own jurisdiction. How then do we solve the issue that no companies or individuals, except banks, have direct accounts with the central bank. Remember, CBDCs are a digital form of central bank money, issued by a central bank it constitutes a direct claim on the central bank. Today, central bank money exists either in physical cash or in electronic form as reserves held by a few eligible banks in reserve accounts at the central bank. So when the central bank issue CBDC, there should be consensus not for offering direct CBDC accounts to consumers, but rather to distribute CBDCs via the existing banking system. Is that possible, how can that be implemented, given technological resistance? ...To be continued in the next issue. *About the writer: Kaduwo is a researcher and economist. Contact: [email protected], WhatsApp +263773376128 Push towards modernising money Econometrics HawksView Tinashe Kaduwo NewsHawks Page 25 Issue 123, 17 March 2023

Page 26 NewsHawks Issue 76, 15 April 2022 Business MATTERS NewsHawks CURRENCIES LAST CHANGE %CHANGE USD/JPY 109.29 +0.38 +0.35 GBP/USD 1.38 -0.014 -0.997 USD/CAD 1.229 +0.001 +0.07 USD/CHF 0.913 +0.005 +0.53 AUD/USD 0.771 -0.006 -0.76 COMMODITIES LAST CHANGE %CHANGE *OIL 63.47 -1.54 -2.37 *GOLD 1,769.5 +1.2 +0.068 *SILVER 25.94 -0.145 -0.56 *PLATINUM 1,201.6 +4 +0.33 MARKETS *COPPER 4.458 -0.029 -0.65 Blackouts set to worsen as Zesco threatens to cut off power supply BRENNA MATENDERE ROLLING power outages which have seen some residential areas in cities experiencing 18-hour load shedding cycles are set to worsen after Zambia’s power utility (Zesco Limited) gave the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) notice to cut off supplies over the non-payment of a US$10.7 million debt owed to the entity for the month of February and March 2023. Experts say limited investment in the energy sector, climate change, unviable tariffs, theft and vandalism of equipment have over the years worsened the electricity crisis. Early this week, ZETDC’s commercial services director, Gift Ndhlovu, while speaking during a virtual meeting with captains of industry from the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI), revealed that last Friday Zesco wrote to Zimbabwe threatening to discontinue supplies. “Our Zesco supply is under threat from non-payment. We might be switched off tomorrow (Tuesday) because of shortages in foreign currency,” Ndlovu said. “On Friday we got a letter that tomorrow we will be switched off by regional suppliers.” Zesco supplies Zimbabwe with 100 megawatts of electricity in a special power import deal but Harare has failed to pay for February and March supplies, resulting in the bill rising to a staggering US$10.7 million. While Zimbabwe is reeling under the power crisis, Zambia on the other hand is completely doing away with load-shedding. Zambia’s minister of Energy, Peter Kapala, is on record as saying this development comes after an improvement in water inflows into major hydro power reservoirs such as Kariba, Kafue and Itezhi-tezhi. He indicated that the water inflows have resulted in increased power generation at Kariba North Bank Power Station, Kafue Gorge Power Station, Kafue Gorge Lower Power station, Itezhi-Tezhi Power Station and Victoria Falls Power Station. Kapala explained that with these improvements, total electricity generation has now increased by 305 megawatts (MW), bringing the total national generation to 2 215MW. He pointed out that this increased generation is against the current power demand of 2 380MW resulting in a reduced power deficit from 470MW to 165MW. In 2008, Zesco disconnected Zimbabwe’s supplies but at that time the company said the reason was to protect local power systems from “external disturbances” in what was interpreted as diplomatic language to avoid direct confrontation with the then respected late leader President Robert Mugabe. The country’s five power stations, namely Hwange (thermal), Kariba (hydro), Harare (small thermal), Munyati (small thermal) and Bulawayo (small thermal), are generating below capacity owing to viability problems and chronic faults of the aged generation equipment. Zimbabwe, which shares the northern border with Zambia, imports energy from other countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo-based SNEL, South Africa’s Eskom, Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM) and Hidroeléctrica de Cahora Bassa (HCB) of Mozambique. In the past, Angola also used to supply Zimbabwe with power. Energy minister Zhemu Soda was recently grilled in the Senate over the electricity crisis currently affecting the country. Senators demanded to know government’s plans to improve power generation. Soda said his ministry would meet the Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) soon to discuss water allocations to improve electricity generation. “What the government did in order to ameliorate the situation of depressed power supply was to increase imports from the region. We got an addition of around 250MW, and we are importing a total of 500MW. That is the reason why the situation did not deteriorate even when we had reduced production at Kariba because of the water situation,” Soda said. “From Kariba, we are generating 250 megawatts, but we are meeting ZRA with the hope that water allocation is going to be increased and improve our generation,” he said. Zambia’s minister of Energy Peter Kapala

Companies & Markets Investors fret over market performance NIVAASH SINGN THE global energy transition imperative has understandably had a massive impact on the vast majority of industries and sectors. It could be argued that this impact has been felt the most intensely in the mining sector, where mines and other industry participants have had to comprehensively rethink how they utilise resources to power their operations. While this has been a global mining paradigm shift, mines in Africa have had to make the biggest changes given the still immense dependency that most have had on fossil fuel-based energy sources. Mines on the continent are faced with a growing need to remain competitive by delivering ever-higher levels of performance, despite the challenges of volatile commodity prices, increasing stakeholder pressure and rising awareness of the need to adapt to climate change, water scarcity and social issues. Exacerbating the situation is a growing trend amongst financial institutions to reduce their involvement in, and support of, many mining operations on the basis that they no longer consider the industry in alignment with their strategic objectives, particularly with regard to sustainable development. This argument does not really hold water. In fact, at Nedbank CIB, we consider the opposite to be true; with real opportunities for mining as a whole to become a significant contributor to a more sustainable future for South Africa and Africa. As such, Nedbank CIB remains ‘open for business’ in terms of partnering with mining companies, particularly with respect to their sustainable development and growth aspirations. We are actively involved in many such mining finance transactions in the sustainability and renewable energy space. The positive outcomes that these are already delivering validate our belief that mining can, and will, return to a position of prominence as a key driver of economic growth on the continent; only this time around, that contribution will be more sustainable, more inclusive, and more transformative than it has ever been in the past. Many of these transactions are reinforcing the fact that the sustainable transformation of mines is not a one-sided process. There is, in fact, a level of co-dependence between the mining and energy sectors. Mines are essential for the supply of commodities that are needed for the production and operation of renewable energy infrastructure, and at the same time, renewable energy is imperative for the effective sustainable transformation of the mines themselves. This mutual dependency means that, contrary to widely held misperceptions that there is little place in a sustainable world future for mines, the reality is that the mining industry has a pivotal role to play in creating, and eventually sustaining, that future. As such, appropriate mining finance should form an integral part of any financial institution’s sustainable development contribution strategy. In addition, the recent reopening of China’s trade borders, coupled with the steady improvements in global supply chain efficiencies, makes this positive case for the future of Africa’s mining sector even stronger – and even adds a very compelling commercial returns component to the equation. This is clearly illustrated by an almost immediate 14% increase in the price of copper, accompanied by a concurrent spike in global demand for the majority of metals. Clearly, the sleeping giant is finally awakening, and investors underestimate the positive knock-on effect of this for mines around the world at their peril. The question, of course, is: “will the improving global sentiment that will undoubtedly accompany China’s re-entry into the global trade arena be sufficient to override the many challenges that still face the mining industry in Africa, and particularly South Africa?” While it’s impossible to predict with absolute certainty that this will be the case, it’s very likely. The strong positive influence on commodity prices delivered by China’s renewed involvement in global markets will undoubtedly increase foreign exchange revenues, to the point that the mining sector here will once again become highly attractive to investors, irrespective of the issues it is facing and the often negative press that it receives. Interestingly, there are already a number of international investors and mining companies that recognize this growth potential for mining in South Africa and that are funding some very large projects in the country. Just one example is the US$1.5bn Platreef PGM project by Canadian-listed Ivanhoe Mines, which combines a portion of debt funding from local banks and equity capital from Canada. Vedanta Zinc International’s US$500m investment into expansion projects at its Black Mountain and Gamsberg Mines is another example of the still positive sentiment towards South Africa by international mining investors. For us at Nedbank CIB, this combination of China’s trade re-entry, a gradual but steady uptick in global investor sentiment, the intensified global focus on mining transformation, and the hopedfor imminent resolution of many of SA’s lingering regulatory challenges represents a proverbial aligning of the planets for this country’s mining sector. Should this alignment continue, there’s no doubt that there is significant potential for mining to regain its place of prominence as a vital, and invaluable, contributor to Africa’s long-awaited, and long-overdue, sustainable economic turnaround. About the writer: Nivaash Singh is co-head of mining and resources finance at Nedbank CIB. — STAFF WRITERMININGMX PRISCA TSHUMA DEPRESSED performance of the capital markets poses risks to the insurance sector as it has a bearing on returns generated from investments, says the National Social Security Authority (Nssa). Insurance companies invest a significant portion of their assets in stocks as a way of generating income and growing their reserves. This means their financial performance is closely tied to the stock market. The poor performance of the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) market in 2022 pushed companies like Nssa to diversify through increasing alternative investments and private equity, in a bid to create a balanced portfolio. The current inflationary environment has eroded the purchasing power of people’s incomes. Pensioners have not been spared. Meanwhile, disturbances in Russia and Ukraine which contributed to the increase in prices of commodities in Zimbabwe threaten to plunge pensioners into further poverty and vulnerability. Addressing journalists at the launch of a 2023 Journalism and Mentorship Programme, Nssa's acting general manager Charles Shava said the staterun entity has been regularly reviewing pension levels to cushion pensioners against the effects of inflation. “We are now regularly reviewing pension levels so as to cushion our pensioners against inflationary pressures, hence preserve the buying power of their pensions,” said Shava. The Pension and Other Benefits Scheme (POBS) February 2023 minimum retirement pension was ZW$41 496, while the Accident Prevention Workers Compensation Scheme (APWCS) February 2023 minimum worker pension was ZW$55 756.51. He added that Nssa embarked on various non-monetary benefits aimed at improving the resilience of the pensioners which include the revolving facility for Nssa pensioners to finance projects for self-sustenance. Speaking to The NewsHawks, market analyst Hilton Chikoto said the performance of the stock market had a big impact on the value of an insurance company’s investment portfolio and its ability to pay claims. “This can reduce the surplus available with insurance companies and affect their ability to pay claims. In some cases, insurance companies may need to divest surplus amounts in order to make good on their promise to pay claims,” he said. In addition to the stock market, Chikoto said changes in interest rates can also affect the profitability of insurance companies. Going forward, Chikoto advised that insurance companies carefully manage their investments, in view of the complex relationship between the stock market and the insurance sector. “Insurance companies must carefully manage their investment portfolios and balance risk and return in order to remain financially stable and able to pay claims, especially in an inflationary environment as investments also tend to be more complex,” he said. Are planets aligning for resurgence in the African mining investment? NewsHawks Page 27 Issue 123, 17 March 2023

Page 28 Companies & Markets ‘Power cuts erode industrial operations’ BERNARD MPOFU ZIMBABWE’S organised manufacturing sector lobby group, the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI), says rolling power outages currently being experienced have resulted in a drop in capacity utilisation and will push export costs as firms turn to costly alternatives. This comes after the country’s power utility Zesa announced a new electricity tariff of US12.21c/ kWh for all exporters, while all foreign currency earners will be required to pay their electricity bills in US dollars at an average tariff of US10.63c/ kWh. The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries says while the new tariffs were largely expected to usher in improved power supply and speedy fault resolution, the power supply situation in the country remains erratic to a level where some consumers are experiencing an average of 10-12 power cuts daily while others go for days without power and before faults are resolved. Official figures show that as of 10 March 2023, power supply on the grid was at 666 megawatts (MW), against national demand of at least 1 600MW. Thus, daily power deficit averages 1 000MW. Zesa has pointed out that it is currently not capacitated to provide adequate power due to supply gaps, viability concerns and antiquated equipment that frequently breaks down. “Capacity utilisation in the sector has dropped as most businesses cannot operate on the usual number of shifts due to power cuts, this means that productivity no longer matches fixed costs of running plant and machinery. Significant time is lost when there is no power during daytime. This also takes into consideration the fact that generators cannot be run continuously without rest,” the CZI says. “Producers are struggling to meet supply deadlines for the local and export markets, which poses a threat to well-developed export markets and foreign currency earnings. Frequency of faults has also increased, and fault resolution is taking longer than expected thereby affecting opening hours and affecting productivity. “Frequency of faults has also increased, and fault resolution is taking longer than expected thereby affecting opening hours and affecting productivity.” A survey of 440 manufacturing firms by the CZI showed that capacity utilisation — actual output measured against potential production capacity — increased to 56.25% in 2021, from 47% the previous year. This was the highest level since 2012. The business sector, the CZI says, has several concerns with regards to foreign currency billing and arbitrary conversion of tariffs from the local currency to foreign currency. “Business notes with concern the absence of stakeholder consultations in the setting up of US dollar tariffs. This role should be assumed fully by Zera (not ZETDC) to ensure that the cost build up to the tariffs is known by consumers, This also allows consumers give their input to tariff structure and subsequent price adjustments. The last consultations by Zera yielded a tariff of US$0.96/ KWh. This means that the tariff setting, and adjustments should be very transparent and fair to all users,” the CZI says. “The increase in US dollar tariffs is too high considering that US dollar inflation is less than 10% annually. Business members propose tariff increases which match USD inflation movements locally. The US$0.1221/kWh is way above the Sadc regional average of US$0.117kWh according to SAPP (2022). This prices out Zimbabwean exports, especially value-added exports and discourages value addition locally before exporting. This is out of sync with the impetus to improve capacity utilisation in line with the African Continental Free Trade Area agenda.” BERNARD MPOFU FOREIGN investor appetite on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) maintained a downward trend in February after market activity declined by 34.64% as more counters switch to the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange, a new report by a local brokerage firm has shown. The ZSE market saw the migration of Innscor and Axia to the VFEX, a trend that is likely to continue as more counters, like African Sun, join the migration. High demand for medium and heavy cap counters saw the overall ZSE market cap increasing by 3.43% to ZWL$2.48 trillion. The onboarding of Innscor and Axia saw the VFEX market cap going up by 70.63% to US$1.07 billion. All ZSE indices closed the month of February in the positive. The All-Share Index advanced by 25.14% to 28,548.02 points while the ZSE Top 15 and 10 added 26.70% and 22.85% respectively. The Medium Cap Index saw the largest gain after increasing by 30.64% to close at 62 970.45 points. “The top movers' list for the month of February was largely comprised of medium cap counters. African Sun, Nampak Zimbabwe and Zimbabwe Newspapers topped the gainers' list while Willdale, Seed Co and Star Africa Corporation were the biggest losers,” Akribos Research Services said in its latest research note for February. “Total foreign sales increased by 43.09% to ZWL$5.27 trillion while total foreign purchases went up by 355.44% to ZWL$3.78 trillion. Foreign sales outpaced foreign purchases by ZWL$1.48 trillion as foreigners continued to exit the market. Foreign market activity dropped by 34.64%. “On the ZSE, the market is likely to continue to witness a drop in the number of listed counters going forward as some companies migrate to the VFEX and some are likely to volunteer to delist. This will leave the market with fewer options for investors to park in their excess, therefore, we expect the market to rally. The VFEX also remains a viable option for long-term investors with US$ balances. We expect the market activity to improve as more liquid counters come on board.” The report show that the top movers' list for the month of February largely comprised medium cap counters. Foreign investor appetite on ZSE plummets NewsHawks Issue 123, 17 March 2023

Companies & Markets IN the report "The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Public Relations Practice," researchers Steven Waddington and Andrew Bruce Smith explore how artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming public relations (PR) practice. The report, which was published by the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR), is based on interviews with more than 100 PR professionals and senior business leaders, as well as an international survey of more than 1 000 practitioners. The main purpose of the CIPR report was to explore the role that AI tools are playing in PR and how they have impacted the practice. It was co-authored by Andrew Bruce Smith and Stephen Waddington, with contributions from Professor Anne Gregory, Jean Valin and Scott Brinker. The research found that while AI is present in just 2% of the original 5 800 tools analysed, the range of tools and technologies available has grown rapidly since January 2023. “This report has been published at an inflection point in the public relations tools market. The growth has been steady over the past five years but has exploded with the release of the ChatGPT and related generative AIbased technologies. Practitioners can readily see many of the tactical public relations activities such as transcription, editing and content development being handled by machines,” says Stephen Waddington, managing partner at Wadds Inc. and visiting professor at Newcastle University. The report is in two halves. The first one focuses on the current range of public relations tools, as revealed by Scott Brinker's Chiefmartec dataset. Scott has built a comprehensive dataset of more than 10 000 tools used in marketing and related fields, including PR. The second shows the dramatic increase in communications, PR, and marketing tools that will arise from GPT-3 Large Language Model and AI-driven technologies. The main findings were that AI tools have had a significant impact on the way in which PR practitioners perform their jobs, regardless of whether they use them frequently or infrequently. The researchers found that the use of AI tools has a positive impact on PR practice, as well as increasing productivity, and that they have been in use for some time now and are becoming more popular every day. Yet, many professionals are still unsure about how they can use them effectively. There is a need for more education on how to use AI tools in public relations. This could take the form of online courses, workshops, or one-on-one training sessions with an experienced professional who has already implemented AI into their workflows. “Practitioners who are prepared to invest time and energy into understanding the role that technology can legitimately and ethically play in public relations are more CIPR researches impact of AI on PR practice likely to enjoy the best that the AI has to offer as a digital assistant to human agency and creativity, free to spend time on tasks such as data analysis, and relationship management,” says Andrew Bruce Smith, chair of CIPR's AI in PR Panel. Other critical findings were that the use of AI tools increased productivity by 50%. AI tools also reduced the time it takes to complete tasks by 30% and allowed for better tracking and analysis, the report found. The report emphasises the need for immediate action to address the ethical implications of the swift rise of AI, like whether experts must reveal their utilisation of AI in their work and the potential of "weaponising" it to generate a vast amount of false information rapidly. The report reminds us that public relations is much more than communication – it is about building and maintaining sustainable relationships with all stakeholders. That, in turn, secures the future of organisations. Yet one cannot communicate his or her way out of bad behaviour or poor decisions – and AI does not offer a solution to either of these issues. In fact, it may make it worse if bad decisions and what others say about them are the narrative from which AI tools draw their data. “Ignoring AI isn’t an option. At the same time, it seems wrongheaded and defeatist to assume AI will remove the need for human PR practitioners completely unless we let it. Our challenge is to keep up and make sure we dictate the role of technology and not the other way around,” the report says. The conclusions of the research are that AI tools are here to stay and will continue to be used by PR professionals for years to come. No matter how sophisticated AI tools become, there will always be a need for good governance, leadership, and management of AI resources in public relations that requires informed human intervention. You can access the full report and others at this link: https://www. cipr.co.uk/CIPR/Our_work/Policy/ AI_in_PR.aspx *About the writer: Lenox Mhlanga is a specialist communications consultant with wide experience in PR, the media and corporate communications. He is available to provide strategic communications counsel, facilitation, mentorship and training in these areas. Contact him on mobile: +263 772 400 656 and e-mail: lenoxmhlanga@gmail. com Corporate Communications Lenox Lizwi Mhlanga NewsHawks Page 29 Issue 123, 17 March 2023

Page 30 Stock Taking Company Sector Bloomberg Ticker Previous Price (cents) Last Traded Price VWAP (cents) Total Traded Volume Total Traded Value ($) Price Change (cents) Price Change (%) YTD (%) Market Cap ($m) AFDIS Consumer Goods AFDIS: ZH 28000.00 28500.00 28500.00 9,500 2,707,500 500.00 1.79 8.20 34,055.94 African Sun Consumer Services ASUN: ZH 9000.00 9000.00 8986.96 6,900 620,100 -13.04 -0.14 265.36 132,818.42 ART Industrials ARTD: ZH 2600.00 2960.00 2960.00 54,200 1,604,320 360.00 13.85 111.43 12,934.53 Ariston Consumer Services ARISTON: ZH 1013.58 1015.00 1035.06 79,500 822,875 21.48 2.12 155.32 16,844.52 BAT Consumer Goods BAT: ZH 277000.00 - 277000.00 - - - - -1.04 57,154.84 Bridgefort Capital Industrials BFCA: ZH 922.00 - 922.00 - - - - 15.25 110.64 Bridgefort Class B Financial Services BFCB: ZH 2930.00 - 2930.00 - - - - 12.69 39.32 CAFCA Industrials CAFCA: ZH 34000.00 36000.00 36000.00 3,400 1,224,000 2000.00 5.88 79.91 3,144.64 CBZ Banking CBZ: ZH 17500.00 17500.00 17500.00 700 122,500 - - 29.63 91,465.76 CFI Industrials CFI:ZH 58880.00 - 58880.00 - - - - 43.02 62,436.87 Dairibord Consumer Goods DZL: ZH 9245.00 9250.00 9250.00 51,600 4,773,000 5.00 0.05 164.29 33,115.08 Delta Consumer Goods DLTA: ZH 65160.00 71000.00 66432.72 1,001,100 665,058,000 1272.72 1.95 84.65 867,511.41 Ecocash Technology EHZL: ZH 6918.24 7900.00 7241.92 509,400 36,890,340 323.68 4.68 80.68 187,607.53 Econet Telecommunications ECO: ZH 22010.31 23515.00 23513.32 1,460,200 343,341,500 1503.01 6.83 144.23 609,130.62 Edgars Consumer Services EDGR: ZH 1875.00 2155.00 1903.00 1,000 19,030 28.00 1.49 100.32 11,498.84 FBC Banking FBC: ZH 8695.10 8520.00 8553.52 9,100 778,370 -141.58 -1.63 37.96 57,475.37 Fidelity Financial Services FIDL: ZH 3000.00 - 3000.00 - - - - 25.00 3,267.70 First Capital Banking FCA: ZH 1809.96 2080.00 1955.34 17,600 344,140 145.38 8.03 24.15 42,233.68 FML Financial Services FMHL: ZH 1950.00 - 1950.00 - - - - -23.83 13,457.79 FMP Real Estate FMP: ZH 1545.00 - 1545.00 - - - - 28.75 19,129.53 GBH Industrials GBH: ZH 190.00 192.00 192.00 100 192 2.00 1.05 7.06 1,030.25 Getbucks Financial Services GBFS: ZH 2300.00 - 2300.00 - - - - 5.50 26,751.72 Hippo Consumer Goods HIPO: ZH 50000.00 - 50000.00 - - - - 173.82 96,510.28 Mash Real Estate MASH: ZH 1000.00 - 1000.00 - - - - 8.13 16,875.84 Masimba Industrials MSHL: ZH 11800.00 - 11800.00 - - - - 47.58 28,515.14 Meikles Industrials MEIK: ZH 23695.00 27245.00 27245.00 500 136,225 3550.00 14.98 143.26 69,788.27 Nampak Industrials NPKZ: ZH 2800.00 3220.00 3220.00 200 6,440 420.00 15.00 257.38 24,331.87 NTS Industrials NTS: ZH 1250.00 - 1250.00 - - - - 22.55 3,173.41 NMBZ Banking NMB: ZH 4504.89 - 4504.89 - - - - 19.60 18,207.49 OK Zim Consumer Services OKZ: ZH 5915.26 6100.00 6050.02 24,600 1,488,305 134.76 2.28 87.19 78,427.12 Proplastics Industrials PROL: ZH 7500.00 8000.00 8000.00 300 24,000 500.00 6.67 142.42 20,154.85 RTG Consumer Services RTG: ZH 1296.62 1205.00 1205.00 500 6,025 -91.62 -7.07 35.85 30,070.72 RioZim Basic Materials RIOZ: ZH 18400.00 - 18400.00 - - - - 31.33 22,453.42 SeedCo Consumer Goods SEED: ZH 21100.00 21100.00 21100.00 1,100 232,100 - - 183.14 52,617.84 Star Africa Consumer Goods SACL: ZH 162.36 163.00 162.68 89,400 145,439 0.32 0.20 -23.20 7,670.50 Tanganda Consumer Goods TANG: ZH 30029.88 31500.00 30728.57 87,500 26,887,500 698.69 2.33 243.85 80,221.42 Truworths Consumer Services TRUW: ZH 240.00 - 240.00 - - - - -12.73 921.76 TSL Consumer Goods TSL: ZH 8500.00 8500.00 8500.00 400 34,000 - - 93.16 30,436.54 Turnall Industrials TURN: ZH 700.00 - 700.00 - - - - 77.33 3,451.28 Unifreight Industrials UNIF: ZH 6300.00 - 6300.00 - - - - 21.97 6,707.88 Willdale Industrials WILD: ZH 350.00 350.00 350.00 4,500 15,750 - - 94.44 6,223.00 ZB Banking ZBFH: ZH 11800.00 - 11800.00 - - - - 4.47 20,672.50 Zeco Industrials ZECO: ZH 3.31 - 3.31 - - - - 0.00 15.34 Zimpapers Consumer Services ZIMP: ZH 581.00 - 581.00 - - - - 140.79 3,346.56 Zimplow Industrials ZIMPLOW: ZH 3455.00 3400.00 3400.00 11,100 377,400 -55.00 -1.59 100.00 11,715.74 ZHL Financial Services ZHL: ZH 1135.40 1140.00 1142.17 12,900 147,340 6.77 0.60 117.56 20,767.15 TOTAL 3,437,300 1,087,806,391 2,936,490.91 ETFs Cass Saddle Agriculture ETF CSAG.zw 209.33 207.00 207.00 21,895 45,323 -2.33 -1.11 15.00 74.93 Datvest Modified Consumer Staples ETF DMCS.zw 188.00 188.00 187.89 72,745 136,681 -0.11 -0.06 20.44 132.53 Morgan&Co Made in Zimbabwe ETF MIZ.zw 143.00 144.00 144.00 3,522,884 5,072,872 1.00 0.70 26.59 3,443.05 Morgan&Co Multi-Sector ETF MCMS.zw 2180.00 2195.00 2195.00 340,800 7,480,563 15.00 0.69 -4.57 2,824.37 Old Mutual ZSE Top 10 ETF OMTT.zw 807.52 808.00 808.00 10,000 80,800 0.48 0.06 25.46 1,160.49 FINSEC Old Mutual Zimbabwe Financial Services OMZIL 17400.00 - 17400.00 - - - - 33.85 14,444.04 VFEX (US cents) US$m Axia Consumer Goods AXIA: VX 12.53 12.55 12.47 103,316 12,883 -0.06 -0.48 -15.46 68.85 BNC Mining BIND:VX 2.00 1.99 1.99 600 12 -0.01 -0.50 -13.48 25.33 Caledonia Mining CMCL:VX 1300.00 - 1300.00 - - - - - 8.06 Innscor Industrials INN: VX 67.05 70.00 70.00 1,000 700 2.95 4.40 -24.05 398.91 NatFoods Consumer Goods NTFD:VX 181.00 - 181.00 - - - - 1.32 123.80 Nedbank Financial Services NED:VX 1150.00 - 1150.00 - - - - - 1.84 Padenga Consumer Goods PHL:VX 24.95 24.95 24.95 1,000 250 - - 8.86 135.13 SeedCo International Consumer Goods SCIL:VX 27.00 27.00 27.00 1,125 304 - - -9.85 102.99 Simbisa Brands Consumer Goods SIM: VX 42.91 42.50 41.46 6,700 2,778 -1.45 -3.38 13.28 233.08 TOTAL 113,741 16,926 1,098.00 REITs Tigere REIT TIG.zw 5062.00 5062.00 5057.68 14,353 725,929 -0.04 -0.09 23.42 64,370.74 Index Close Change (%) Open YTD % Top 5 Risers Price Change % YTD % ZSE All Share 33,715.26 +2.56 32,874.16 +72.95 Nampak 3220.00c +420.00c +15.00 +257.38 Top 10 19,984.56 +2.53 19,490.56 +62.33 Meikles 27245.00c +3550.00c +14.98 +143.26 Top 15 23,578.08 +2.79 22,939.04 +75.48 ART 2960.00c +360.00c +13.85 +111.43 Small Cap 671,319.22 +1.01 664,597.12 +48.50 First Capital 1955.34c +145.38c +8.03 +24.15 Medium Cap 68,364.97 +1.99 67,030.36 +86.57 Econet 23513.32c +1503.01c +6.83 +144.23 Top 5 Fallers Price Change % YTD % RTG 1205.00c -91.62c -7.07 +35.85 FBC 8553.52c -141.58c -1.63 +37.96 Zimplow 3400.00c -55.00c -1.59 +100.00 African Sun 8986.96c -13.04c -0.14 +265.36 - - - - - Friday, 17 March 2023 A MEMBER OF FINSEC & THE ZIMBABWE STOCK EXCHANGE Price Sheet MORGAN & COMPANY has issued this document for distribution to its clients. It may not be reproduced or further distributed in whole or in part for any purpose. This document is not and should not be construed as an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase or subscribe to any investment. MORGAN & COMPANY has based this document on information obtained from sources it believes to be reliable but which it has not independently verified; MORGAN & COMPANY makes no guarantee, representation or warranty and accepts no responsibility or liability as to the accuracy or completeness of its content. Tel: (+263) 08677008101-2 | Email: [email protected] | Address: 14165 Sauer Road, Gunhill, Harare Tafara Mtutu: [email protected] | Gabriel Manjonjo: [email protected] SALES & TRADING: Davide Muchengi: [email protected] | Lungani Nyamazana: [email protected] | Precious Chagwedera: [email protected] RESEARCH: NewsHawks Issue 123, 17 March 2023

Page 31 PETINA GAPPAH THERE is a photograph of Chimamanda Adichie, taken almost immediately after her novel Half of a Yellow Sun was announced as the first African winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction (then the Orange Prize). She wears a red turban and an elegant sleeveless sheath dress and is smiling into the phone as she talks. I am at the end of that call, having watched the ceremony from my office in Geneva. I know just when to call because in the room, feeding me live updates, is our friend, the Nigerian writer Molara Wood. It is on Molara’s phone that I speak to Chimamanda, who laughs as she says, “You got here ahead of my father, he is usually the first to call.” She hands the phone back to Molara. We both whoop with joy. It is June 2007. I am two years away from publishing my first book. I am writing frenetically, reading everything, and dreaming about being published. As I take the bus home to my flat that night, filled with pride for Chimamanda’s achievement, I flash back to 2003. At Johannesburg airport, on my way from a holiday at home in Harare, connecting on a flight to Zurich to get back to Geneva where I live and work, I buy a book from the airport bookshop. It is called Discovering Home: A Selection of Writings from the 2002 Caine Prize for African Writing. I buy it without knowing anything about the Caine Prize or many of the authors whose stories are published in the anthology. I read the book from start to finish that night; it is more compelling than the temptations of in-flight entertainment. By the time my flight lands in Zurich the next morning, my world is fuller, more hopeful, and much, much bigger. It was in that anthology of short stories that I first read Chimamanda, Binyavanga Wainaina, Helon Habila and other writers from my continent. I read them all with a shock of recognition and a sense of wonder. Here were writers talking about studying, living and working abroad and coming home, about family fights and falling in love. Here were the writers writing the Africa I recognised, the Africa I lived in both Geneva and Harare, the Africa of striving and ambition, of disappointment and heartache, of joy and love. The warp and woof of African lives. The kind of stories that I wanted to write; the kind of stories that, as far as I could see then, were not being published as a matter of course in London and New York. Certainly, at this point, the story of my own patch of Africa, Zimbabwe, was the story of the white farmers who lost land in violent invasions. It was a story refracted through the lens of the writers Alexandra Fuller and Peter Godwin, whose memoirs were driving the narrative of what Zimbabwe meant to the west. I had enjoyed their books, which were vivid and captivating, but I was deeply unsettled that this was the set narrative of my country. I had long wanted to be a writer. I had been writing all my life, but reading Fuller and Godwin gave me a new urgency, a determination to “write back”, to bring some sort of balance, to write in the black voices missing from the narrative. The problem, though, was that I didn’t know that anyone wanted to publish, let alone read, these stories I longed to write. On that flight to Zurich, I realised that I was not alone. Discovering Home showed me a continent of writers who wanted to tell the same kind of stories. As a child and teenager at my two high schools in Chishawasha, I had read the first generation of modern African writers voraciously: books published in Heinemann’s African Writers Series by authors such as Chinua Achebe, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Cyprian Ekwensi, Nadine Gordimer, Wole Soyinka, Peter Abrahams, Dambudzo Marechera and many more. Those early writers had taken it as their mission to write Africa into the public imagination, presenting to the world stories in which Africans were fully formed subjects with agency in their own histories. These writers were writing against a background in which Africans were presented as mute objects of colonial patronage. That early generation tackled themes as broad as the indignities of colonialism, the independence movements and the crushing disillusionment of the post-independence African state.  Later came writers such as Ben Okri, who became the first black African winner of the Booker Prize in 1991 for his transcendental novel The Famished Road. Okri’s success was important in linking the first generation to the next. The Famished Road demonstrated that not only could African writers narrate stories that went beyond the colonial condition and its aftermath, but that stories of families grappling with modernity, stories of love and loss, of spirituality and religion, stories that showed a joyful Africa even in its poverty, had an audience in the world. When I got back to Geneva, where I worked as an international trade lawyer, I decided to get serious about my writing. I read that Chimamanda and Binyavanga had met each other on Zoetrope, an online writing community. I joined Zoetrope too. It is there that I met Molara Wood and Muthoni Garland, a writer from Kenya. We read and workshopped each other’s writing. These friendships continued into real life, and with them came a chain reaction of more friendships — Molara knew Chimamanda, and through Molara I became acquainted with Teju Cole. When I read his column in the Nigerian newspaper NEXT, Letters to a Young Writer, it felt as if he was writing to me, egging me on.  Muthoni was also friends with Binyavanga. I became obsessed with a blog called African Bullets & Honey by Martin Mbugua Kimani, now Kenya’s permanent representative at the UN. I started a blog called The World According to Gappah and Martin and I established a mutual admiration society. He invited me to a literary festival in Lamu, Kenya. It was here that I at last met Binyavanga, who generously included me in a circle of writers — among them Parselelo Kantai, Martin Kimani, David Kaiza, Billy Kahora, Jackie Lebo and Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor. To close off the circle, Binyavanga’s best friend was Chimamanda, whom I would call on Molara’s phone a few months later. This group became the core of my ambitions as a writer. No one knew who I was, as I was just starting out, working on both a novel and a story collection. I had won a couple of prizes and published sporadically here and there. I was a mess of ideas and insecurity, gut-wrenching fear and ambition. In these friends, I found my tribe. A few months after meeting him, Binyavanga asked me to fly from Geneva to Nairobi for the weekend, to discuss Very Important Publishing Things. I can no longer remember the specific reason for the meeting but, as in all our conversations, I came away believing more in my writing. In our Nairobi summit, in our conversations in Lamu, in our forum, emails and phone calls, we issued a clarion call. We are young, gifted and African. We vow to decolonise publishing. We are enraged by what we see as outsiders, and especially western outsiders, centring themselves in the story of our continent. Our mission is to change how Africa is viewed. Like Thomas Sankara, the slain leader of Burkina Faso who renamed his people the Burkinabe, meaning upright people, we are daring to invent the future. The Senegalese film-maker Ousmane Sembène once said of his films: “Africa is my audience, the west and the rest are markets.” This is the spirit that drives us. We want to share our stories with our audiences at home in Africa, but we recognise that power lies in the traditional centres of publishing — New York, London, Frankfurt, Stockholm, Paris. It is a magical meeting of young ambitious people bursting with talent, and ideas. We are touched with fire. Our conversations are loud and liquid. In Lamu, Martin Kimani invents a word, “whiskerish”, to describe our Scotch-fuelled arguments. We listen as Binyavanga gives an eloquent, impassioned takedown of his bête noire, the Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuściński, linking him to his fellow Polish-born writer Joseph Conrad, whom we are all desperate to decolonise. In the years since The late former President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe ‘We are daring to invent the future’ — the generation that rewrote Africa’s story Critical Thinking Gappah on a group of writers who put a fresh, modern vision of Africa out into the world NewsHawks Issue 123, 17 March 2023

Page 32 The Big Debate Kapuściński’s death, it has become clear that Binyavanga’s instincts were right, that it is dangerous to rely on Kapuściński to give us the truth about any African place or character, and that the manner in which he was lionised in Europe gives us an understanding of how the west views Africa. From Kapuściński, we flow immediately to VS Naipaul, who presents us with major conflict, as we admire his prose and his clearsightedness but wince at the savage caricatures he makes of our people. I feel rather proud that I am the only one who has read Sir Vidia’s Shadow, Paul Theroux’s incredibly whiny memoir about Naipaul, and entertain the group with some of its excesses. We spend a week in Lamu passing around a Naipaul essay collection that includes his fine essays on the Michael X killings in Trinidad and on the Crocodiles of Yamoussoukro, but we despair at the disdain he shows to black people. Binyavanga convinces us to read Kojo Laing’s Search Sweet Country. I make the case for the American writer Dave Eggers, whose How We Are Hungry I am carrying everywhere. He has written an incredible story about climbing Kilimanjaro, one of the rare examples of a white writer writing beautifully on an African subject. He is the anti-Hemingway, I argue. Eggers is friends with Chimamanda, I learn. And that brings him closer. We have a lot in common. We are almost all middle class, some born into it, and others like me achieving it through education. We speak a variety of languages, we read widely, voraciously. These friends are the only people I have ever met who read as I read, first greedily, taking in everything, and then reading it all again, forensically, to see how it’s done, how the rabbit gets into the hat. We obsess over the Caine Prize for African Writing. Binyavanga and Yvonne have won it, Chimamanda and Parselelo have been shortlisted. Those of us who haven’t won it plot to win it, even as we resent the indignity of wanting something as colonial as a prize for African writers that is judged in London and handed out at the Bodleian. We want all that comes with the Caine — a literary agent, a book deal — but we resent deeply that it comes from London. Our politics are pan-African, but not in the sense of the dictators we disagree with. Our heroes are those who died young, whose Africa never came into being: Patrice  Lumumba, Thomas Sankara, Tom Mboya. Touched with fire, we are daring to invent the future. Who gets to decide what is African Writing? We talk about building our own canon, but by participating in a canon built in London and Paris and New York, are we not in fact part of the problem? We mull over whether we should perhaps start our own initiatives, our own publishing companies and literary festivals and build on those. We read each other’s work and push each other on. Chimamanda has taken on the weighty subject of Biafra. Yvonne is writing a massive book in which the Indian Ocean is a character. Parselelo wants to write a biography of Tom Mboya. Jackie Lebo is obsessed with what makes the successful runners from Kenya stand out. Binyavanga is taking on everything. The synergies are electric. Binyavanga brings me to tears when he reads a short story of mine, an autobiographical story about the weekend I spent in a mental hospital as a second-year law student at the University of Zimbabwe.  “Oh my goodness,” he says, “Oh my goodness. They have no idea, the big people in London and New York, they have no idea what is going to hit them.” I am crying as he says my story made him cry. He inspires me to send it to the New Yorker, who reject it with a kind, handwritten note of encouragement. I am so excited that I keep the rejection slip on my fridge for years and vow that the next time I send a story, they will accept it. They do, in 2016. Then he introduces me to the Caine Prize administrator Nick Elam, who invites me to the prize’s workshop at Crater Lake in Naivasha. There I write An Elegy for Easterly, the story that will become the title story of my collection, published in 2009. But even as I am on my way to being a published author, the bonds of our group are fraying, fracturing, sundering, breaking. The election violence in Kenya at the end of 2007, and in Zimbabwe the following year, force us to confront larger questions, national questions in which there is no simple western bogeyman. And in addition, as in any group where some soar while others are learning to fly, we fall prey to petty jealousies over book deals, we confuse purpose with vainglory, we treat sincere allies with suspicion, we argue over minutiae and wounded egos. We lose something fundamental, the sense of purpose that we had as a group. Individually, we succeed, each in our own way. Together, as a group if not a collective, I want to believe that we charted a path for a new kind of African writing. In the footsteps of Binyavanga Wainaina, Chimamanda Adichie, Muthoni Garland, Molara Wood, Teju Cole and many others have come a new generation of writers inspired by our dream. The types of African stories being published in the west have expanded, from historical fiction to romance, from sci-fi to fantasy. The success of African writers in the west has had a positive impact on publishing and literary production at home in Africa. In the wake of this, an ecosystem of intrepid publishing companies has evolved on the continent, with many successfully negotiating to be the African publishers of works originally published in London or New York. “Don’t give up your African rights,” was one of the rallying calls in many of our discussions, a recognition that even as we wanted the success that a publisher in London or New York could bring, we were also conscious that it was important to cultivate both a market and an audience on our own continent. “We need to tell our own stories,” Binyavanga often said. Today’s African writers are not only telling these stories but, inspired by his example, are also creating opportunities for others to tell their stories. I have another recollection, of my time in Kenya in 2007. I attended the festival in Lamu with my son Kushinga, then only four years old. I remember a night when Binyavanga, who was so lovely with children and had made an impression on my son, strode into the lobby of our hotel where we were waiting for him. He was electric and magnificent. Kush jumped from his chair when he saw him. “He’s here, Mummy,” he said, “He’s really here.”  Binyavanga died much too young, in 2019 at the age of just 48. I miss him. I miss his outsize personality, his capacious generosity, generosity, and his ability to combine savage humour and controlled rage as he did in his essay “How to Write About Africa”. I miss too those early days of frenetic emails, spontaneous meetings and ferocious, whiskerish arguments. I miss the dream that we dreamt when we were young and unafraid, the dream that we would transform an industry. — Financial Times. *About the writer: Petina Gappah is an award-winning Zimbabwean novelist, playwright and international trade lawyer. Her latest novel is Out of Darkness, Shining Light. MORGIANE NOEL RESEARCHERS have tried for decades to find a relevant legal status for people forced to flee their homes as a result of floods, droughts and storms — calamities which climate change promises to make more severe and commonplace — as well as appropriate laws which might ensure their protection. But climate migrants are sometimes  forgotten  among the various flows of people seeking asylum. To protect climate migrants who were forced to leave their country, some legal scholars have proposed amending the definition of refugee in the Refugee Convention of 1951 to consider environmental degradation  a form of persecution. This would expand eligibility for asylum as a refugee under international law beyond the existing grounds of persecution by religion, race, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinions. But the principle of non-refoulment, mentioned in the refugee convention, already prohibits a host country of returning asylum seekers to somewhere they would not be safe. This could be interpreted as guaranteeing access to an environment offering decent air and clean water according to the European Environment Agency. Despite this provision, international law is failing to protect climate migrants, which means that the scope of the refugee convention, however broad, must be widened. Ioane Teitiota is a citizen of Kiribati, an island nation in the central Pacific Ocean. In 2015, he was denied asylum in New Zealand after floods forced him to flee with his family. He protested to the UN Human Rights Committee, which ruled that his situation did not constitute an imminent risk to life. The legal right of the people of Kiribati to seek effective protection from saltwater intruding into farmland, coastal erosion and crop failures as a result of sea-level rise does not exist. New Zealand maintained that it could only reward refugee status to people if the state had failed to respect their fundamental human rights. The effects of climate change are systemic, the argument goes, rather than a personal persecution against Teitiota himself. Nevertheless, the Human Rights Committee said that people who fled their country because of the effects of climate change can argue that their experiences amount to persecution and seek refugee status under the refugee convention. Vulnerable people could also claim that climate change threatens their right to life under the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights. This includes situations where environmental disasters are interlaced with conflict, leading to water or air being contaminated by chemical weapons. States might consider asylum claims resulting from climate disasters in the future. But until consensus is reached among scholars or jurists about the legal status of climate migrants, they will probably avoid introducing a broad interpretation of what comprises a climate migrant into international law. Environmental disasters are unpredictable and the damage they cause can blight a territory for years, taking decades for people to properly recover. The people displaced may need to seek shelter in another country or region while the reconstruction is underway. Climate change will cause an increasing number of disasters such as floods, droughts and wildfires. Legal solutions, especially in the case of climate change disasters, will be difficult to predict in advance. A firm understanding of what works where climate migrants are forced to settle will be invaluable. States neighbouring vulnerable countries are more likely to be affected by inflows of climate migrants. By shouldering a disproportionate share of this responsibility, these countries will keep the impasse over the legal status of climate migrants alive on the international stage and have an outsize role in constructing an international consensus around their legal status. As these countries attempt to acquire funding and build shelters to house migrants, they’ll also be dealing with a rising number of asylum claims. This will inevitably prompt research within the country to determine the most relevant legal status climate migrants need to guarantee their protection. This could attract international recognition as climate change and the entwined refugee crisis escalate. There was a dramatic spike in 2015 in the number of migrants fleeing war and famine, especially in countries such as Iraq, Syria and Eritrea and migration policy remains a very sensitive and divisive topic of debate as a result. Preparing the efficient protection of climate refugees is a challenge for the years to come. But in the meantime, people need help. The recent earthquake in Turkey and Syria caused several thousand deaths, but may have left millions without homes. Only the creation of an efficient international framework of laws can guarantee refuge for people fleeing such environmental disasters in future. Building that outcome is likely to begin in the countries nearest to the suffering. — The Conversation. *About the writer: Morgiane Noel is a PhD candidate in law at Trinity College in Ireland. International law doesn’t protect people fleeing environmental disaster — Here’s how it could NewsHawks Issue 123, 17 March 2023

Reframing Issues Page 33 up to 4 000 Zimbabweans died of cholera while WHO (2008) observes a 4% overall fatality rate which however, rose to 20%–30% in remote rural areas. Out of the total number of cases, 50% have been reported from Budiriro, a high-density suburb of the capital city, Harare. Beitbridge, a town bordering South Africa, has reported 26% of all cases. Two additional areas have been affected: Chegutu (in Mashonaland West province) and Mvuma (in Midlands province) (WHO, 2013). The section has attempted to identify risk factors of socio-economic disadvantage in the context of Zimbabwe. It has attempted to explore the increase of ill-health, and its connection with poverty in Zimbabwe. Apart from the relationship between poverty and diseases, it has been shown that socio-economic disadvantage produces adverse effects such as insecurity and hopelessness within society. What caused poverty in Zim? This section explores four critical factors that may have led to the impoverishment of post-colonial Zimbabwe under the stewardship of President Mugabe. The first claim relates to the embracement of the World Bank’s Economic Structural Adjustment Programme. The second relates to question of economic mismanagement which will include the looting of Marange Diamonds Mine Field estimated to be the biggest diamond field to be discovered this century. The third claim relates to the abolishment of property rights, followed by the legacy of colonialism. The section begins with an analysis of Zimbabwe’s Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (Esap). Esap Zimbabwe is among several developing countries that adopted Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (Esap) under the pretext of transforming and developing the country’s economy following the end of the Rhodesian bush war. Saunders (1996) details how Zimbabwe embraced Esap which may have inadvertently contributed to the creation of absolute poverty. Saunders (1996) believes that Zimbabweans deserve apology over Esap, noting how society was stripped of many of the state functions such as education and health services through the economic programme. Saunders (1997) blames Esap in the creation of poverty, arguing that the World Bank-inspired economic reform laid the foundation for biting poverty. It is noted that while Esap was introduced in the 1990s, its adverse consequences are beginning to be seen more now. Kanji (1995 p39) develops this view: “Since the initiation of Esap, there have been retrenchments in the agriculture, textile, clothing, leather and construction industries. Estimates of numbers retrenched since 1991 vary, particularly since government figures do not include seasonal and casual workers.” From the quote, it can be argued that free market principles that come with Esap allow business to do as they please. They can retrench and hire as they want, without restraint from the government. This may be a source of social misery because workers are always at risk of being sacked. In many cases, losing a job creates poverty, considering that many workers are usually bread winners. It may mean that a child would not be able to pay school fees and there is no-one to put food on the table. Consequently, absolute poverty is created. According to Kanji (1995), by the end of 1993 up to 60 000 workers were retrenched from both public and private sectors. This figure is corroborated by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions. By 1995, Esap had reduced civil service staff by 25% (Kanji, 1995). With all this in mind, it can be argued that the poverty problem in Zimbabwe was triggered by Esap which allowed ruthless processes of economic deregulation. Standing (1991) is critical of an economic approach such as Esap, pointing out that as a result of deregulation, forms of labour security around the world have been eroded and conditions of work have deteriorated. Standing (1991, p39) states that: “Under Esap, a system of collective bargaining for wages and conditions has replaced government intervention in wage-setting except for farm workers and domestic workers. Wage rises, however, have been completely eroded by inflation”. The quote reflects how living standards of workers who remained employed were eroded through less powers in bargaining for wages and other working conditions. This represents a serious depletion of workers’ rights to protect themselves against unscrupulous employers. It reflects the vagaries of the processes of Esap. Henceforth, it can be argued that Esap imposes harsh economic measures in countries where it has been implemented. It deepens poverty and undermines social security, resulting in unsustainable means of life and suffering. *About the writer: Dr Admore Tshuma is a former Zimbabwean journalist, now an academic at the University of Bristol. He did his PhD in Social Policy at the University of Bristol’s School for Policy Studies. He previously worked at the University Centre of Southend as a programme director for the BSc (Hons) Psychology and Sociology course, in partnership with the University of Essex. The effects of poverty in Zimbabwe DR ADMORE TSHUMA HAVING previously discussed the levels of poverty in post-colonial Zimbabwe, this instalment will explore effects of poverty. The aim is to demonstrate some of the harms that have resulted from black-on-black injustices in Zimbabwe. Many studies have shown a link between indicators of poverty and the risk of mental disorders (PatelI, & Kleinman, 2003). There has been notable increase in mental health cases, particularly in the 1990s at a time when the Zimbabwe economy began to experience rapid decline. For instance, Bowden (2013) states that: “This increase in mental health cases throughout the country, which individually can range anywhere from mild and increasingly common depression to high levels of uncontrollable anxiety and borderline manic episodes likely to be brought on by the likes of post-traumatic stress, is widely considered to be reflective of the current instability being endured by many Zimbabweans.” The quote identifies a connection between mental health problems among Zimbabweans and hardships being experienced. This may be attributed to the fact that poverty makes society feel insecure and hopeless. For PatelI, & Kleinman, (2003) factors such as insecurity, hopelessness, rapid social change and the risks of violence may explain the greater vulnerability of the poor to common diseases, for example, mental disorders. The World Bank echoes the relationship between poverty and diseases (World Bank, 2000). For instance, the World Bank study, named Voices of the Poor, set out to investigate the link between poverty and disease (World Bank, 2000). The study gathered views of more than 60 000 poor people across the world. It looked broadly at poverty, its determinants and consequences, and concluded that health and ill-health are the central concerns of those who were interviewed (World Bank, 2000). The results of the 2000 World Bank study carries a meaning when contextualised from a Zimbabwean perspective. For instance, Zimbabwe was in 2008 blighted by a cholera outbreak in which over 4 000 people were estimated to have died (Mbiba, 2013). Cholera is a bacterial infection caused by drinking contaminated water or eating food that has been in contact with contaminated water (United States Government, 2013). In 2013, David Parirenyatwa, Zimbabwe’s then minister of Health and Child Care, stated that at least 440 children under the age of five died of diarrhoeal diseases (Mbiba, 2013). “These cases are more prevalent in children aged five years and below and are a major cause of deaths in that age group. This year alone, over 48 000 cases and 440 deaths from common diarrhoea have been reported countrywide. The deaths reported have happened in health facilities with diarrhoea as the cause of death,” Parirenytwa said. “Dysentery has accounted to date 40 756 cases and 59 deaths while typhoid cases reported in 2013 were 1 475.” Furthermore, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has reported that as of 1 December 2008, there was a total of 11 735 cholera cases with 484 deaths since August 2008, affecting all provinces in Zimbabwe (WHO, 2008). However, Mbiba (2008) states that A man buys cooking oil at a street market in Harare, Zimbabwe, 26 November 2020. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo NewsHawks Issue 123, 17 March 2023

Page 34 Reframing Issues This is an executive summary of the World Press Trends outlook for 2022- 202 by The World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), the global organisation of the world’s press. AFTER the optimism of our 2021- 22 report, this year’s World Press Trends study makes for a more sobering read. Publishers are contending with issues on multiple fronts. These considerations include high levels of inflation, rising paper and print costs, as well as ongoing changes to advertising markets. Meanwhile, the impact of layoffs and significant changes at major tech companies, such as Meta and Twitter, may also have a knock-on effect on publisher strategies; most notably in terms of distribution and some potential revenue streams. At the same time, publishers are continuing to invest in new revenue streams. Many of our survey respondents report that these investments are beginning to bear financial fruit. Publishers are balancing these efforts with the need to maintain their core revenue streams, often centred around print, while also recognising the need to double-down on investments in areas such as product development, R&D (including AI technologies), reader revenue and personnel. We explore these themes in detail in this report. Our analysis is based on detailed insights provided to WAN-IFRA last summer. Between July-September 2022, we received responses to an online survey from 167 news executives across 62 different countries. As ever, their observations form the basis of this annual study. The Covid-19 bounce reflected in our 2021-22 report has quickly fallen flat. Short-term pessimism: Publishers are concerned about the next 12 months, but a bit more optimistic about where they will be in three years' time. More than half of respondents (55.4%) said they were “pessimistic” about the next 12 months. Longer-term optimism (for some): Levels of pessimism dropped to 46.4% (-9%) when survey participants were asked about the prospects for their business in three years' time. At just under half, many respondents have a negative view of their future. However, almost a third (31%) indicated that they are “very optimistic” about where they will be in three years' time. Levels of optimism have dropped considerably since last year: In 2021, 82% of respondents said they were optimistic for the year ahead. This year, less than half (45%) held this view, a drop of 37%. Similarly, in 2021, 79% of respondents said they were optimistic for the three years ahead. That figure is down 25% to just over half (54%) of our sample in 2022. Despite a pessimistic outlook, publishers are bullish about revenues for 2022. Revenue expectations are up: In 2021, coming out of the early stages of the pandemic, survey participants projected revenues to increase by 7.3% year-on-year. For 2022, they anticipate revenues to grow by 16.4% vs. 2021. Emerging markets are leading the way: Revenue growth is led by developing economies. In 2021, publishers in these markets expected revenues to rise by 8%. That’s  a jump to 24% year-on-year for 2022. In contrast, respondents from developed economies said they expected revenues to grow 12% in 2021. This drops to 8% for 2022. Profit margins are slim: Collectively, our sample forecasts profits are up by 3.6% in the past 12 months. However, in developing markets, reflecting their in- creased revenues, this figure is higher at 5.4% (vs. 2.4% for developed markets). Revenue sources The old duopoly of advertising and print continues to dominate, but other income streams are the biggest sources of growth. Growth is led by “other” income streams: Advertising and reader revenues remain important, but the fastest growing area for publishers is in “other categories.” This catch-all label includes activities such as events, contract publishing and e-commerce. Print continues to dominate revenues: When combined, print advertising and circulation generate more than half (53.5%) of the total income seen by our survey respondents but is down from last year's report when it was at 56.1%. Advertising remains the leading source of revenue: Across our sample, advertising revenue accounts for nearly half (47.7%) of their income. Reader revenue, across print and digital, is expected to bring in just over a third (35.8%) of earnings. Investment and expenditure Investment in content and tech is seen as key for today’s publishers. Editorial continues to make up a third of all costs: This is some way ahead of the next biggest area of expenditure for publishers, print production at 20% of outgoings. Product development and R&D are the leading areas for investment: Nearly nine in ten respondents (88%) across our full sample indicated that these areas were important for their organisation to invest in. Revenue streams are the next most pressing priority: Reader revenue, advertising sales, and a focus on other revenue streams, were all identified as important by 84% of our sample. Newsroom hiring was ranked next on our list, with 76% of respondents saying this was an important area for investment. Data analytics and Intelligence are priorities for tech investment: Nine in ten survey participants (90%) told us it was important for their organisation to invest in these fields. This was followed by video (85%) and audio/podcasts (81%) reflecting the growing importance that publishers attribute to these mediums. The move to digital Digital transformation efforts continue, with AI seen as the biggest game changer. AI is seen as the emerging technology that will most impact publishers: Over two-thirds (69%) told us this will have the biggest impact on their business in the next two to three years. This was followed by 5G (28%) and the Metaverse (16%). Organisational transformation efforts see little change: We saw minimal movement year-on-year in terms of how participants described digital trans- formation efforts in their company compared to their peers. Nearly half of our sample (47% vs. 49.1% in 2021) described the level of digital transformation at their company as “sophisticated” (8%) or “advanced” (39%). Just 10% indicated these efforts are “nascent” or “seriously lagging.” Transformation efforts are far from complete: The largest single group, 42% of responses, indicated this activity was “emerging.” This suggests that digital trans- formation efforts have made progress, but more work is still required. Looking Ahead Despite diversification efforts, advertising remains important, while press freedom and relationships with platforms are becoming more uneasy. Publishers expect nearly 24% of their overall revenue to come from other sources in the next 12 months. Events remain the leading focus for non-advertising and reader revenue. About a third of respondents (33.5%) identified this as an important revenue stream for 2022, ahead of grant funding (15.6%). Advertising is still projected to be the leading revenue source: Although we see considerable variances, based on their business model, advertising revenue is expected to account for 47.7% of revenue across our sample. Relationships with platforms appear to have levelled out: Just under half of our participants (45.5% vs. 63.4% in 2021-22) said this association had improved over the past 12 months. A third of our sample said that relationships had either stayed the same (30%) or improved (45%). Less than a quarter (24%) said it had gotten worse. News outlets continue to face major press freedom challenges: Six in 10 (60%) of respondents indicated that their employer had been a target of cyber-attacks, up Problems buffeting media get worse NewsHawks Issue 123, 17 March 2023

Reframing Issues Page 35 The interface between the Zim constitution, JMAC theology MATTHEW MARE ZIMBABWE is a constitutional democratic state where the constitution is the supreme law of the land. In fact, the constitution is the highest law of the land because all laws are invalid if they are inconsistent with it to the extent of their invalidity. It defines the structure, procedures, powers (extent and limitations) and duties of the government and the corresponding obligation of the citizens. Through the constitution, citizens and the state enter into a social contract, where each element has its distinct obligations. The constitution also sets out the rights of the citizens in the country which the government is obligated to respect, promote, enforce, protect and fulfil. The principles and rules that govern the relationship between the government and citizens, including how officials are elected, are also contained in the constitution. Fundamental human rights and freedoms in the constitution include right to life, right to personal liberty, right to human dignity, freedom from torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, freedom from slavery, servitude and forced labour. There is also equality and non-discrimination, right to privacy, freedom of association, freedom of assembly, demonstration, picketing and petitioning, freedom of conscience, freedom of expression and freedom of the media, access to information, language and culture, freedom of profession or occupation, labour relations, freedom of residence and movement, political rights, administrative justice, property rights, environment, housing, education, healthcare, food and water, family and marriage, and right to fair hearing before a court. The constitution applies to every citizen universally. Johanne Marange Apostolic Church (JMAC) members are first and foremost citizens, therefore, are obligated to follow the secular laws as defined and provided for in the constitution. The constitution has a self-preservation method where the doctrine of abrogation is applied where the state cannot limit the rights contained in the bill of rights. The doctrine of ultra vires helps to deal with any other laws that are inconsistent with the constitution by declaring such laws or practices invalid to the extent of its invalidity (Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment 20 Act, 2013:16). With this doctrine, any law or practice that is inconsistent with it is invalid from 45.7% in 2021. Other tactics targeting journalism are much more acute in developing markets: Although they are, by no means, limited to them. One in three participants from developing nations said their staff faced physical threats (vs. 5% in developed countries) and more than half (55% vs. 10%) say their own governments have threatened them. Source: WPT analysis of WPT Outlook survey and historical data, informed by Zenith Advertising Expenditure Forecast 2022. Figures based on daily and weekly publications. A tale of two worlds: When we conducted our survey in September and October of 2022, many publishers were bullish on revenues increasing in 2022, particularly in developing countries. Yet our global snapshot above, which is based on data collected from PwC, our historical data and Zenith (including weekly newspapers as well), weaves a slightly different narrative: contraction. Much of that is due to publishers telling us that their biggest growth area is coming from other, not- so traditional revenue streams. This is where developing countries are really thriving. Those publishers are also banking more on digital advertising as reader revenue hasn’t caught on with readers in those regions like they have in others. The news publishing industry faces many of the same challenges that television does, but both industries have opportunities to innovate and bring added value to their audiences — daily. It is always interesting to put a figure, a value on the industry: this year US$ 130 billion. Like much of what publishers tell us in our survey, this is our best estimate. On one hand, though, that figure is not peanuts. On the other hand, it pales in comparison to television, for example, although that is an industry in upheaval over its business model for many of the same reasons the news business is: disruption in technology (streaming), ad declines, changing consumer behaviour... sound familiar? Both mediums face tremendous challenges, but both have opportunities to innovate and bring added value to their audiences — daily. Two industries seemingly in decline —both from an outsider’s and insider’s perspective — but both still playing a prominent, important role in their local, region- al, national and global audiences. Both trying diligently to face those challenges, adapt to today’s and tomorrow’s realities, and hopefully thrive rather than just survive. - WAN-IFRA Report. Problems buffeting media get worse to the extent of its invalidity and must be repealed. With regard to the subject matter under discussion, any theological practice, ritual, teaching or belief system that is ultra vires the constitution is invalid to the extent of its invalidity (ibid, 2013:16). Thus, it is not recognisable at law. It is the duty of the state to enforce the laws indiscriminately and without fear or favour. The state is obligated not to convive to violate the rights of any section of the society. The state is accountable to alleged cases of human rights violations obtaining in JMAC. It is the duty of the state to put measures, policies and mechanisms to stop any form of human rights violations indiscriminately. The law is clear under the responsibility to protect doctrine that, if a state fails to protect and promote the rights of its citizens, other states, regional bodies and inter-state agencies can intervene and ensure that citizens enjoy full rights. The municipal and international law was designed to complement each other to ensure maximum enjoyment of rights by the general citizenry. It is actually a crime for a state to fail to investigate and account for allegations of gross Human Rights violations in JMAC, as reported by non-governmental organisations (NGOs), Civil Society organisations (CSOs) and academics. The doctrine pacta sunt servanda was designed to ensure that states do not deviate from treaties, conventions, constitutions and protocols to which the state is a signatory.  With all these provisions, it is the desire of this study to make an inquiry on why the government of Zimbabwe is failing to end human rights violations in JMAC and African independent churches in general. While the state has the duty to protect the rights of women and children in the religious sphere, there is no much evidence that the government of Zimbabwe intends to take a radical approach to end abuses ecclesiastically. The issue of abuse in JMAC has been extensively exposed and covered by scholars, NGOs, CSOs, media and human rights peer review documents without meaningful government responses. It is worth noting that annually the president, senior government officials and leaders of various political parties attend and are given platforms to speak during JMAC gatherings and conferences. These leaders in their speeches heap a lot of praises to JMAC and never at any given point in time mention or infer to the abuse of women and children aforementioned herein. In the interactions between the church and the state in Zimbabwe, there is more emphasis on political talk than human rights. In Zimbabwe, it appears politics has more prominence over all other spheres of human existence. Zimbabwe is equally known for crisis denial and state-sponsored human rights abuses, making both the state and the church accomplices in human rights abuse. *About the writer: Matthew Mare is a Zimbabwean academic who holds two bachelor’s degrees, five master’s qualifications and a PhD. He is also doing another PhD and has 12 executive certificates in different fields. Professionally, he is a civil servant and also board member at the National Aids Council of Zimbabwe. Johane Marange Apostolic Church NewsHawks Issue 123, 17 March 2023

Page 36 Reframing Issues WILLIAM J. MPOFU THERE are some among us in the African academy who believe that we should not invest any serious thinking in the war in Ukraine as it is one of the “European tribal wars” that should not concern us. The logic of that argument is that in Africa we have too many of our own problems to invest any energy and effort in far-flung European problems. The trouble of being African in the present world order, however, is that all problems and wars end up African in effect, if not in form. Africans get hit more by those wars seemingly far afield. From the perspective that one who knows it feels it, every war in the world is an African war because Africans have, for the longest time, felt and known wars that are not of their creation. Indeed, there is a very simple reason why some of Africa's bloodiest, most brutal and prolonged wars never seem to come to an end: They are not really its wars, but wars rooted elsewhere, with local players but foreign instigators. Of course, there have been wars among Africans within themselves but the wars with far-reaching consequences on Africans’ existential reality and future have foreign roots. At the same time, there can be no denying that Africans must take charge of their own affairs within the limits of their power and control in the broader matrix to end some wars. For if they don’t, those benefitting from those wars naturally won’t end them. It is not enough for Africans to lament wars brewed from outside, they also need to stand up and demand or push for their end. The African condition itself can be understood as a condition and an experience of war — daily. There are daily plots and battles over Africa emanating from Western and Eastern geopolitical and economic chessboards to change the world and remake it in their own image to facilitate their dominance and access to resources and markets. The economic and material living conditions of the big powers can never be the same without Africa. That is why they wage war over Africa daily. It is for their own benefit and survival. The scramble for Africa will never end until Africans get more organised and muster irresistible political will to end the exploitation. It is in fact getting more serious and volatile with new competition for African resources involving the United States, China, Russia, Japan, European Union, Britain, France and Germany, among other big powers and blocs. Each one of these have their own summits with Africa once in a while to discuss bilateral relations. The battle for Africa takes different forms and manifestations, including the divide-and-rule strategy which has allowed global powers to maintain a firm grip on Africa, its resources and markets. Over the centuries Africa has been structured and positioned by external forces, sometimes working with local actors, to be at the receiving end of all world problems. As such, Africa is not only the storied cradle of mankind, but it is also the cemetery of the human condition where every human and world problem comes to kill and to die as well. The worst of the human condition and human experiences tend to find final expression in Africa. It is for that reason that Julius Nyerere once opined that the Devil’s Headquarters must be in Africa because everything that might go wrong actually goes wrong on the continent. Our generation of African thinkers has been so lucky. Lucky in the tragic sense of the word “lucky”. We have lived to witness a vampiric global pandemic whose medical and economic reverberation shook Africa to its very roots. We saw “vaccine apartheids” and “vaccine nationalisms” that had African lives being the last to be attended to as the global Covid-19 pandemic virus chewed into the world population and wrecked world economies. From as high places as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, predictions came that Covid-19 was to occasion piles of bodies in African streets if there were streets there. Being Africans, coming from the bloody history of colonial medical experiments on black bodies, we were as much afraid of the virus as we were of the vaccines that were produced against it. Vaccine suspicion and denial became another pandemic in Africa. Contrary to popular judgments, African vaccine hesitancy did not emanate from conspiracy theories alone but also from conspiracy experiences that Africans had previously gone through. From the First Industrial Revolution to the present Fourth Industrial Revolution that is powering the hitech war in Ukraine where we have seen artificial intelligence perform magic, all be it so destructively and costly to human life and the environment, Africa has been the theatre of technological, medical and military experiments. The total effect of the pandemic that by all signs, scientific and popular, is about to become an endemic that we have to live with, was to illuminate the condition of Africa as unequal, peripheral and dispensable in a world governed by the will to power and a paradigm of war as the oxygen of history. In all the industrial revolutions new technologies did not only aid African advancement but also facilitated colonisation, domination and exploitation of the continent. As the world tiptoes precariously from the pandemic, at the same time it seems to be tittering irreversibly towards a nuclear World War III. Much tragically, the powers of the world that have the power and the privilege to stop the war pretend to be unable to do so. Even some powerful and privileged Western thinkers are beating the drums of war. For instance, considered “the most dangerous philosopher in the West”, Slavoj Zizek wrote for The Guardian on the 21 June 2022 saying “pacifism is the wrong response to the war in Ukraine,” and “the least we owe Ukraine is full support, and to do that we need a stronger Nato”. Western philosophers, not just soldiers and their generals, are demanding stronger armies and bigger weapons, big war.  The war in Ukraine is proving too important to be left to the soldiers, the generals and the politicians alone. It is about geopolitics and world order, which affect us all. It has changed the world. In that assertion, Zizek speaks from the Euro-American political and military ego whose fantasy is a humiliating total defeat of Russia in Ukraine. Zizek the “dangerous philosopher”, takes his place as a spokesperson for war and largescale violence who agitates from the Western ogeopolitics and geopolitics of war, from a comfortable university office, far away from the horrors of Bakhmut.  United States President Joe Biden spoke from the same egopolitics of war before the Business Roundtable CEO Quarterly Meeting on 21 March 2022: “And now is a time when things are shifting.  We’re going to — there’s going to be a new world order out there, and we’ve got to lead it.  And we’ve got to unite the rest of the free world in doing it.” Clearly, an “end of history” fantaAgainst war: Africa’s position in chaotic new world disorder A Ukrainian soldier in the Russia-Ukraine war. NewsHawks Issue 123, 17 March 2023

Reframing Issues Page 37 sy of another unipolar world led by the US and its Nato allies has possessed Western powers that are prepared to pump money, weapons and de-uniformed soldiers into Ukraine to support the besieged country to the “last Ukrainian”. A consuming paradigm of war as the oxygen of history has possessed the US and its Nato allies that are prepared to not only normalise, but also naturalise war. Suggestions for a negotiated settlement in Ukraine that have come from influential figures from Henry Kissinger on the right to Noam Chomsky on the left have been dismissed with the sleight of the left hand, and this is as Ukraine as a country is literally being bombed to dust. African countries that have for years been theatres of colonial invasions, proxy wars, sponsored military coups and regime changes can only see themselves in Ukraine. What Ukraine is going through is a typical African experience taking place in Europe and the first victims are Europeans. Being Africans in Africa, at the least, should equip us with the eyes to see the war in Ukraine for what it is, a war driven by a Euro-American will to power, a spirited desire for world dominion against the Russian fear of Nato encirclement and containment, and some lingering nostalgia about a great Soviet Empire. It is a war of desires and fears from which the belligerents will not back off. The envisaged “new world order” can only be another “world disorder” for an Africa that has for so long been in the periphery of world things economic, political and military. The true nature and aim of the war are tightly concealed behind the usual language of protecting Ukrainian sovereignty, securing democracy and civilisation, and protecting human rights. Africans, some of whom were trapped in Ukraine when the war started and suffered discrimination during evacuation, remember only too well how promises of civilisation and modernisation, protecting one tribe from another, and bringing God to the natives were used to cover and decorate conquest and colonisation. In Ukraine — the theatre of a proxy war — mass destruction is covered up with practiced mass deception where the true military and political agendas of the belligerents are not disclosed. From Africa we can only be spectators as new powerful weapons are being announced and brandished as what will be “game changers” in Ukraine, while the Russians continue to threaten the use of nuclear weaponry in reaction. Ordinarily and on any given day around Ukraine’s Black Sea coast, Russian and Nato aircraft and naval vessels, manned and unmanned, buzz around in close proximity, sometimes too close and dangerously so, a constant recipe for a superpower crisis along the edges of a war. This brings the world to the brink. The stakes are raised precariously high as both sides have thousands of nuclear warheads as a weapon of last resort. The risks are raised considerably by reckless behaviour. Tuesday’s Su-27 fighters and US MQ-9 Reaper drone  incident is more serious because it led to a collision and a crash-landing in the sea. It was quite possibly an error. The US European Command pointed to incompetence on the part of the Russian pilot. But Massicot said that in this case “a deliberate bump cannot be ruled out yet”. The collision cost the US a machine that cost up to US$32m and triggered a race to get to the wreckage in the Black Sea. If the Russians get there first, it will be an intelligence boon, allowing their experts to pore over its innards at leisure. That the military escalation is leading to an “Armageddon” is clear to both warring sides and the spectators; what is not clear to all is why wisdom is not prevailing. Why wisdom for a negotiated peace is not prevailing is a stubborn question that is also an old one, as old as war. Perhaps it is because the balance of forces at the moment does not favour serious negotiations, yet the truth is that like any other war, it will end at the negotiating table when power relations change. Troubled by the same stubborn question on 30 July 1932, Albert Einstein wrote an anxious letter to a man that he, as a scientist who contributed to the science that built the atomic bomb, believed was an “expert in the lore of human instincts” that generate and drive wars. Einstein trusted that only a famous psychologist could answer the troubling question of why war should be so naturalised. Scientists might build the bombs but may not understand the psyches and the passions of the men that are going to order their use, and those that are actually going to use them. And powerful politicians from their cosy offices might order the deployment of armies and use of arms but do not exactly get the depths of the damage to be caused. It is an existential paradox that big wars are frequently ordered by people that are not warriors, in the military and philosophical sense of the word warrior. It might as well be our global misfortune that we have people who do not know the way and the meaning of war ordering the deployment and use of weapons of large-scale violence in such war theatres as Ukraine. It is one of Nicollo Machiavelli’s baptismal suggestions in The Art of War that if the world was led by true warriors there would be very few if no wars. That is why one of Machiavelli’s principal wisdoms in the same book is that “to try to finish with arms what can be finished with words can only lead to the peril of the commanders”. It is a piece of Machiavellian wisdom that diplomacy and dialogue should be the first and the last or else those that command wars will come to perish, only that they will perish after armies and populations have been wasted, and countries turned into cemeteries. It seems that 1914 was not enough to teach world powers that huge and catastrophic wars begin as small and short military events and operations that suddenly explode into continental catastrophes. There must have been a good reason for the delay in Sigmund Freud’s reply to Einstein that came after two months. Freud’s answer was that the wrong political sense that "might is right”, that those who have the power can enforce their will leads to wars and their escalation, we see that in Ukraine. Freud suggested that technological advancements and capabilities are also a temptation towards war. Thinking from Africa where chemicals and weapons from other places have been tested before we may find it thinkable that manufacturers of weapons and powerful governments that buy the arms may have found some testing ground for their latest weapons in Ukraine. Materially, Freud diagnosed conflicts of desires as the generators of war, while psychologically the presence of evil and love, in the hearts and minds of people leads to war and its escalations. The desire to lead the “New World Order” uncontested by other powers that desire the same is what has turned Ukraine into a theatre of war between old rival powers. The tragedy for Ukraine, for the Russian and Ukrainian soldiers, and for the rest of humanity is that what is a New World Order to the privileged powers of the world may be another New World Disorder for those in the receiving end of violence and its durable effects. The world seems to have finally turned that corner where those who are jostling for conquest and dominion will not and cannot step back until catastrophe. We may not need prophets of doom because doom appears so actual and needing not to be predicted as world powers sleepwalk the world to Armageddon. To be continued… *About the writer: Dr William Jethro Mpofu is a Zimbabwean-born researcher at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in South Africa. He is the author of Robert Mugabe and the Will to Power in an African Postcolony (African Histories and Modernities.) NewsHawks Issue 123, 17 March 2023

Page 38 Reframing Issues RESEARCH AND ADVOCACY UNIT Introduction THIS study analyses by-elections that were held on 26 March 2022 in Mutasa South constituency and ward 15 Bethania in Mutasa Central. Based on research in those two areas, the paper describes the operational context in which the elections were conducted, including a conscious endeavour to determine the use of organised violence in elections as a tactic. The research is based on the experiences of voters in the two seats and hence does not purport to reflect the national viewpoint. However, the style and structure of organised violence in rural areas witnessed in Mutasa Central ward 15 are a microcosm of a larger electoral strategy in response to the opposition challenge ahead of the 2023 national elections. Background On 26 March 2022, Zimbabwe successfully conducted by-elections for 28 National Assembly Constituencies and 122 local authority Wards. The call for by-elections is in line with the Electoral Act, since seats that become empty due to death or recall must be replaced. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec), as the election administration agency, is the constitutionally required entity in Zimbabwe to conduct elections. When the circumstances were "safe", Zec deployed its apparatus to carry out the by-elections, which were primarily the consequence of a widespread recall of MDC-Alliance lawmakers in Parliament and Local Councils. The initial worries of another Covid-19 outbreak were put to rest as political parties contested in open seats. The bulk of unfilled cases were the result of MDC factional warfare between Douglas Mwonzora and Nelson Chamisa. The latter went on to form another opposition political party, the Citizens' Coalition for Change (CCC), a party that was successfully registered with ZEC and so qualified to run in all elections, including the 26 March by-elections. The split of the opposition was also a confirmation of factional politics that have become a part of Zimbabwe’s politics. The March election was significant for three reasons; firstly, it was seen as a litmus test for the 2023 general election, providing a chance to assess the political waters of popularity. Thus, the by-elections acted as a mid-term assessment of success, difficulties, and prospects, particularly for the governing party. Secondly, and equally important, the byelection confirmed Zimbabwe's official opposition to challenge Zanu PF. With the recalls, the obvious question that needed to be addressed was which of the opposition political parties was the largest and best positioned to confront Zanu PF in the national elections in 2023. Thirdly, the by-election had significance regarding the political careers of Douglas Mwonzora and Nelson Chamisa. From the standpoint of human rights programming, the intensity of Unpacking organised violence in elections: A case study of Mutasa South and Central the by-election helped to examine Zec's preparedness to handle elections, particularly given the credibility difficulties highlighted in the 2018 general elections by all parties, including Zanu PF. These elections also provided an opportunity to assess whether Zimbabwe's reputation for violent elections was fading and whether the "Second Republic" was prepared to embrace fair electoral contests without resorting to violence, torture, "disappearances," and other electoral malpractices it has been associated with in the past. This could have been a departure from the infamous Mugabe era. The popularity of the by-elections was judged by the hype created in the run-up. Elections also functioned as a mechanism for residents to demonstrate their constitutionally guaranteed rights to freedom of assembly and freedom of choice in determining who has the power and legitimacy to represent them. Regai Tsunga, who had won the Mutasa South Constituency seat on the MDC-Alliance ticket in the 2018 National Assembly Elections, recalled. Mwonzora's MDC section won a court challenge and naming rights, culminating in the foundation of the CCC, a new political party registered with Zec. Mutasa South was a by-election like any other, but it presented a chance to investigate not just the results, but also to assess the existence of organized violence and its impact in especially rural areas on political outcomes. Misheck Mugadza, a Zanu PF candidate, successfully wrestled the seat from the opposition. As a result, it is this shift thatgenerated interest in the study. Several doubts had been raised about whether Zanu PF's win reflected increasing support for the governing party or a rise in violence. One cannot rule out the possibility that previous electoral organised violence had an impact on how the elections turned out. Past election results continue to provide difficulties in resolving the legitimacy issue. According to Norma Kriger, the governing party (Zanu PF) has used systematic violence and intimidation of the opposition, although to varied degrees, before, during, and frequently after elections to punish constituencies that dared to resist it. With so much at risk, though, direct violence became the best way to force votes. However, the use of violence and force in politics is unsustainable, costly, and has the effect of tainting the "Second Republic's" re-engagement efforts. The obvious issues of concern are election management process and how it could have facilitated this development. This is not to say Zec failed the test, but rather reflects popular conceptions of political confidence in state institutions. According to the Afrobarometer NewsHawks Issue 123, 17 March 2023

Reframing Issues Page 39 (2021) survey, confidence in state institutions is declining, and Zec is one of the least trusted institutions (30.4% do not trust Zec at all). Our study was based on the idea that organized violence and torture still significant factors in election results in Zimbabwe, and that this factor has been institutionalized to the point that it now manifests as routine bureaucracy and acceptable. This study aimed to examine broad concerns based on a wide research question: What impact did organized violence have in electoral procedures and outcomes? A follow-up inquiry was the extent to which the institution of traditional leadership has been compromised in order to maintain the status quo? Interestingly is that the institution of the traditional leadership is one of the few institutions that is trusted by citizens (32.2%) according to the Afrobarometer (2021). Methodology The study used qualitative methods based on Williams' approach (2009). The research employed in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and Key Informant Interviews to analyze community members' experiences, attitudes, and perceptions of the 26 March by-elections. The methodologies were used to investigate the values associated with various reactions, attitudes, sentiments, and behavior participants in order to get a better understanding of how these influenced the persons in question. In particular, in FGDs, individuals may not provide all information that may be offered by other participants. This provides an overall picture of the environment that molds the responses, but it also provides the logic for the reaction as group members debate it. Individual participants have distinct experiences as a result of their interactions with the environment, and this method aids in gathering nuanced answers that may not be attainable in focus groups. The survey was completely voluntary and anonymous. In Mutasa South Constituency, 200 questionnaires were administered randomly. This was used to develop trends by obtaining a quantitative sense of the number of views on certain factors. For example, to determine whether or not people were organized to vote at a certain time in order to influence them, we asked voters to specify the time they went out to vote in order to develop a pattern. Urban Chikanga Ward, Penhalonga, Tsvingwe, Watsomba and Africa University all had teams deployed. All Wards in Mutasa South were administered the questionnaire during a five-day period. Three FDGs were conducted, one in Bethania and two in Mutasa South Constituency, and seven Key Informants were interrogated. It was feasible to hold FGDs for community members thanks to a collaboration with a local CBO. Secondly, the team used the snowball method to conduct individual interviews with key Informants. Using these methods, we believe we were able to triangulate the data and provide a full narrative. There was no effort to consult the candidates to gain their feedback on the byelection and its consequences. Research approach The purpose of this study was to investigate and characterize the degree to which organised violence had a role in influencing the result of the Mutasa South constituency House of Assembly election and ward 15 Local Government election. Qualitative research techniques bring the researcher in close contact with participants and allow the researcher to reach "beyond the surface" of attitudes and behaviors as well as a depth of knowledge of difficulties within the examined areas (Miles and Huberman, 1994). The technique enables the researcher to acquire a more genuine sense of the environment, which a quantitative approach would not allow, and to engage with the study participants in their own surroundings, language, and on their own terms (Matveev 2002). (Kirk & Miller 1996). As Miles and Huberman (1994:1) point out; Good qualitative data are more likely to lead to serendipitous findings and to new integrations; they help researchers get beyond initial conceptions and to generate or revise conceptual frameworks….the findings from qualitative studies have a quality of undeniability. Words, especially organised into incidents or stories, have a concrete vivid, meaningful flavour that often proves far more convincing to a reader – another researcher, a policymaker, a practitioner – than pages of summarised numbers… The strategy is ideal when the research includes in-depth analysis of a subject or problem, with a focus on gathering information from those who are experiencing or participating in the situation (May 1997 and 2002). The suitable procedures for a specific study are determined, among other things, by the research challenge or research questions (Creswell 1994). Qualitative research may reveal why particular results occur by delving into people's subjective experiences and the meanings they assign to those experiences. Case study approach: In this study, we administered a questionnaire that targeted 200 respondents as well as carried out focus group discussions and key informant interviews. This allowed us to get a general sense of violence as well as the experiences of the Mutasa community. According to Walton (1992), case studies allow us to connect the micro level, or individual activities, to the macro level, or large-scale structures and processes (Vaughan, 1992). It is vital to stress that lived poverty is a reality in Zimbabwe, with virtually all survey respondents reporting that their families were at some point concerned about inadequate food. This was not restricted to rural settings; it was also felt by city inhabitants. The existence of poverty makes voters susceptible. Many respondents said that even though their families needed food, they did not get the necessary assistance. Those who did get the assistance received it through programs run by non-governmental organizations (NGOs), churches, or through the government via the Social. Welfare Department. The assistance came in the form of cash for projects, although this may be classified as campaign funding since the resources were delivered during election time. Description of location Mutasa South is separated into three distinct areas, each with its own set of dynamics. It contains ten Wards separated into rural, urban, and peri-urban areas. Wards 22, 23, and 25 are resettlements that arose during the land reform initiative between 2007 and 2009. Households, mostly supporters of the ruling Zanu PF, moved to this location from adjacent places such as Honde Valley, DC Mutasa, Watsomba, and Penhalonga. This turned out to be a Zanu PF stronghold, and opposition and civil society activities are almost impossible to conduct. Tsvingwe and Penhalonga are a mix of peri-urban and rural areas, with ward 26, and Muchena, being heavily rural. The inhabitants make their living via forestry and fishing. The community is a hybrid of Zanu PF and the opposition. Nearby is St Augustine's Mission, whose inhabitants depend on community farming and have reported boundary conflicts in the past. Bethania Ward 15 is in Mutasa Central, on the Mutasa South border. During the March byelection, there were reports of vote buying, intimidation, bussing, and a record number of aided voters. Villagers claimed that they were threatened with eviction from the area by the local Headman. A prominent national member of the War Veterans' Association visited the site ostensibly to intimidate villagers. The prominent war veteran is infamous for unbridled violence against opposition party members. Uniformed soldiers were also observed in the community, ostensibly offering courses ahead of youth recruitment into the service. The other wards are in the city, comprising Chikanga as well as low-density suburbs of Murambi and Palmerstone of Mutare city. Analysis of electoral environment The majority of the respondents (95.7%) were satisfied with the electoral atmosphere, and they praised the many actors that contributed to this. Asked whether the respondents had witnessed any organised groups or individuals that were causing/threatening violence during the campaign period, only 12% did say yes. This contrasts sharply with the study assumptions and previous election experiences where people felt obligated to attend political events for fear of being labeled and targeted for reprisals. They considered that the candidates had a fair opportunity to campaign, and that there were few squabbles. This calm setting enabled voters to attend meetings, with 56.5% of the respondents saying they were able to attend the meetings without feeling compelled to do so, while 42% were not able. Many others said they were delighted to attend and support their party and listen to the manifestos. To understand further the respondents were posed a question if they ever felt compelled to attend political meetings. The responses showed that 74% felt that they were not compelled, while 22.3% felt that they were compelled to attend the rallies. From face value, the description of the environment was peaceful and absent of violence. However, fear of violence during elections is still evident in communities. With 22.3% of respondents saying they felt compelled to attend rallies in the runup to the by-elections, it is clear that the culture of violence will take long to rid of and will continue to be a factor influencing electoral processes, behaviour, and possibly outcomes. The rational man will consider personal safety and attend political meetings. These decisions are informed by the context and mainly a reflection of previous electoral violence experiences. The size of the contest between political parties was evident throughout the campaign process, as seen by the resources available to the parties to conduct their campaign. All respondents named Zanu PF, MDC-T, and CCC as the parties fighting the elections, and no additional parties were mentioned. However, it seems that the Zanu PF candidate was either more resourced or more organized than the other candidates since he was visible where it was most required to distribute goodies to the electorate. This situation is hardly surprising, particularly given that the opposition CCC was unable to get public support under the Political Parties Finance Act. Besides, CCC was a "new" party although its candidate was the one who had won the constituency under the MDC Alliance ticket. Thus, expecting them to participate in a large voter awareness campaign was exaggerated, particularly when compared to Zanu PF, which was well-resourced and supported by elites, the mining industry, and other companies stampeding to move closer to the center of power. As a result, they made every effort to ensure that the campaign was funded. So, from a financial standpoint, opposition political organisations were under-resourced, particularly considering the degree of work required in Zimbabwe to create voter awareness. Is Zanu PF moving away from election violence strategies towards other non-violent strategies? It appears that Zanu PF did not use violence as an absolute strategy to influence the election outcomes in Mutasa South. Of course, a few cases may have been recorded but these seem not to be directives from the political leadership but a few rogue elements. This explains why 95.7% of the respondents felt the electoral environment was peaceful. The political leaders were also credited for denouncing violence in the by-election. When it comes to power retention perhaps the violent mode and dirty strategies may not be publicly emphasized given the quest for good PR and an international spotlight on the Second Republic. Nonetheless, there were some overzealous supporters who engaged in violence and intimidation, and this also applied to the opposition political parties. In some cases, acts of violence during elections had nothing to do with those elections but were driven by personal agendas unrelated to the electoral process. Electoral violence is levied by political actors to purposefully influence the process and outcome of elections, and it involves coercive acts against humans, property, and infrastructure (Bekoe, 2012; Harish & Toha, 2019; Höglund, 2009). It is likely that Zanu PF will be strategic and not rely on the dirty strategies as they are portraying themselves as a people-centred party. They are desperate about regaining international legitimacy so leaving another indelible dent in their endeavors to outdo the opposition may be a last resort, and the Mutasa South by-election demonstrated that. Political stakes normally determined the strategies used in an election. Mutasa South has been hotly contested in the past with results showing a narrow margin between the opposition and Zanu PF candidates. Even though the Zanu PF candidate Misheck Mugadza won the by-election against CCC’s Tsunga, the margin remains narrow as it was in 2018 and this should be worrisome to the winning candidate. The Constituency is competitive and every effort has to be made to get the competitive urge. In areas where the political stakes seemed high, the deployment of violence was evident. For instance, violent clashes erupted in Kwekwe resulting in the death of an alleged member of the CCC. Skirmishes of this magnitude were not witnessed in Mutasa South. A direct question in the survey was what people liked about the by-election and an overwhelming number indicated that it was the peacefulness of the by-election. The deployment of violence in elections is always a calculative strategic move dependent on the stakes and it appears the stakes were low in Mutasa South Constituency. Effects of proximity to resources to gain ascendancy and buy the interests of voters Zimbabwe has reached a situation where the distinction between the state and the ruling party, Zanu PF, no longer exists as the party equals government. Thus, the party can easily mislead the electorate, especially in rural communities where government programs have been hijacked and are equaled to Zanu PF projects in its attempt to achieve political mileage. The agriculture programmes are a case in point. Thus, agricultural programs are a very strategic campaign tool and Zanu PF has ensured that all their campaigns are hinged on all those developments. Other projects include general infrastructure development which is a function of the government, and not necessarily the party. The ruling party uses state media to gain political mileage on national projects every day. It uses the same platform for hate speech against political opponents. Local authorities have not been spared. The Mutare City Council (MCC) is reported to have cut off Tsvingwe water supplies for non-payment of its water bills. (Tsvingwe is in Mutasa South constituency but gets its water supplies from Mutare City Council). In the run-up to the by-election, the MCC was forced to reconnect the water supplies by a candidate and this became a major campaign boost for the Zanu PF candidate. From that point of view, one can see that the ruling party engages in some strategic calculus to win supporters in elections. The case of Tsvingwe is no different from the actions taken by the government through then Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo instructing all local authorities to write off debts owed by residents. The circular further explained that “The government policy dovetailed with Zanu PF’s pro-poor policies that sought to alleviate the hardships induced by "illegal economic sanctions”. This was an important campaign strategy at the local level or constituency level. The local authority was forced to supply water to another unit that is not paying anything at all. So this proximity to power is strategic and capitalises on peoples’ ignorance to use and abuse the administrative machineries for political gains. It is unethical, but this is the reality. Lived poverty and vulnerability An interesting social dimension that seems to have a bearing on the electorate behavior relates to the level of poverty and hunger in communities. This factor is often undermined but can play a decisive role in political outcomes. The World Food Programme in 2020 noted that more than 7.7 million people – half the population – would face food insecurity at the peak of the lean NewsHawks Issue 123, 17 March 2023

Page 40 Reframing Issues season, as poor rains and erratic weather patterns had a negative impact on crop harvests and livelihood prospects. Fewsnet (2022) reported that a poor start to the 2021/22 rainfall season and erratic rainfall likely to result in below-average harvests by April or May and only short-lived improvements to food security outcomes. The extent of lived poverty amongst the survey respondents was high, with 69.6% indicating that they had at some point been concerned about not having enough food for the family. A large percentage (54.3%) indicated that they had received food assistance. This demonstrates a high level of vulnerability amongst both rural and urban dwellers in Zimbabwe. The politicisation of food aid has been recorded and used as a weapon to ensure that suspected opposition supporters or sympathisers did not have access to food aid. In Bethania ward 15 it was reported that the Zanu PF campaign trail ensured that every person who accessed mealie meal did so in exchange of their right to vote, in the process declaring themselves assisted voters. This explains the increase in the number of assisted voters. This will be described below. Linked to hunger and vulnerability is the role of government and other non-state actors in assisting the vulnerable and poor people in communities. The majority of respondents who were assisted with food aid received it from non-governmental organisations (45.7%). Direct assistance by the government was 12.5% through the Social Welfare Department. Despite all the hype only 3.3% of respondents received assistance from political parties. This statistic is significant and highlights the central role the humanitarian sector is playing towards mitigating the effects of persistent hunger in Zimbabwe. With the introduction of the PVO Bill, the implications are dire for the humanitarian sector which is the largest assister. The Bill if enacted into law will allow the government to interfere in the operations of NGOs including how they reach out to vulnerable communities. The weaponization of food aid is well documented and a law such as the one being proposed has dire consequences for society. From the survey responses it is more worrying that for those who required food aid, a significant percentage (36.4%) did not get any assistance they required. This creates a vulnerable society that can easily be used as political pawns with goodies in exchange for votes. The youth factor The excitement generated by the by-elections was not misplaced. It firstly was a contestation between Nelson Chamisa and Douglas Mwonzora but also came against the backdrop of Zambian elections where opposition leaders Hakainde Hichilema dislodged the incumbent Edgar Lungu with the assistance of the youth. The youth had mobilised supporters to vote and to “protect the vote”. The question was whether the youth can be the guardians of democracy and help to deliver change. This is not a misplaced question given that in general Africa is a young continent, with 67% of the entire population below the age of 35. Elections in Zimbabwe are synonymous with violence and the youth have been identified as key trouble causers. Even though that is the perception, it contradicts empirical studies that suggest that youth are peaceful. For example, an Action Aid study (2013) reported that youth refrain from violence and only a small minority of 6% think that they might find themselves in a situation where they might use violence "for a just cause". This is also confirmed by other studies (Oosterom, M. and Pswarayi, L (2014); Pswarayi L (2018); Pswarayi, Lloyd (2020). The study also sought to understand what role youth were playing during the by-election. This may possibly give an indication of what role youth will have in future elections in Zimbabwe, notwithstanding what youth in the region have done in their respective countries. The election in Mutasa South was described as peaceful and this is the sense that is cross-cutting into all the Wards to the extent that people were happy to attend the political meetings. For example, 72.8% of the respondents said they had witnessed groups or individuals promoting peace. They identified various players for having campaigned for peace in the run-up to the election. These included the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), the churches that are said to have prayed for peace, NGOs, the NPRC, Zec officials, political leaders, and many others. It interesting also is that youth were identified for promoting peace. This confirms what other studies have come up with, an important departure from Urdal’s Youth Bulge theory suggesting that increasing youth unemployment and underemployment are threats to the social, economic, and political stability of nations as they lead to frustration among young people (Urdal, 2006, 2012). Whilst Urdal’s suggestion cannot be dismissed in its entirety, perhaps an important question would be why have youth in Zimbabwe not been at the center of destabilisation given nearly two decades of economic, social and political decline? An important response to that is given by respondents in the survey questionnaire as well as Key Informants who described youth as "absent". This is not to suggest that the youth were totally absent because they did a lot of voter mobilization and publicity for their respective political parties in the run-up. “Youth participation in the by-election was confined to mobilising support, involvement in door to door campaigns and distributing the political party manifestos”. The socio-economic and political context of youth in Mutasa South provides a microcosm of youth’s attitudes and perceptions towards elections in general and civic participation. The respondents 59.8% indicated that they participate in political meetings by their respective political parties whilst 38% indicated that they do not. This was not specifically directed to the by-election but participation in general. A more direct question concerning participation in the run-up to the by election showed that 56.5% did attend these political meetings while 42% did not. This was a by-election which had generated a lot of media hype only to have an underwhelming voter turnout. A key Informant noted that “Zimbabweans really do not respect by-elections. They need to be motivated for them to go vote especially when we are doing main elections in 2023”. This view is also shared by participants in an FGD at Bethania who noted that “Very few youths voted in the by-elections. The majority of the youth are not in this area. This was a by-election, and the rhythm is different from that of the General elections. Voter turnout was low because most people did not pay much attention to the election”. Interestingly to note is that wards 25 (52.1%), ward 23 (47.5%), ward 18 (46.23%), and ward 26 (46.55%) had higher voter turnouts compared to say ward 11 (25.6%) and ward 12 (27.27%) that had low voter turnout. Ward 25 for example is described as a no-go area for the opposition, with the majority of residents in this community being beneficiaries of the government’s land reform program. It appears that the Zanu PF campaign team did not take chances and was also seen contributing resources on election day to transport voters to polling stations. The urban wards, which are traditionally regarded as opposition strongholds did not turn up to vote on voting day and the consequence was that the seat was lost to Zanu PF’s Misheck Mugadza. Some confusion on the relevance of by-elections may explain the low voter turn-out; the two main candidates were the same candidates competing for the same seat they had previously competed for in 2018. Besides, the recall of representatives is a new development in Zimbabwe where the electorates are used to seeing their representatives finishing their terms. The gerrymandering argument could not be substantiated in this case even though Mutasa South constituency is a typical example. It is a mixture of rural, peri-urban, and resettlements, all in one constituency. Gerrymandering has the effect of deliberately diluting votes and managing voting patterns at the behest of the incumbent regime. This makes it difficult to predict an election outcome even when one feels he has popular support. It also has the effect of diluting the popularity of opposition parties that have generally enjoyed success in urban constituencies. Voting patterns and outcomes can be determined by loyal membership. Opposition political parties whilst they have generated interest amongst people, they have struggled to cultivate a substantive membership base. This is where the ruling party does better. The ruling Zanu PF is a membership-based organization and this is demonstrated by attempts to formalize its party structures from the cell level up to the national Executive. This reality cannot be said for the opposition which appears to be supporter-based organizations. This may not be true, with the opposition opting for secrecy as a strategy to counter Zanu PF infiltration. Over the years, Zanu PF has deliberately created structures to ensure that they grow the party membership from cells at the grassroots to the national level. Whether the cells have become redundant or not, it does not change the fact that each member is identified by a card to which they subscribe for. The structures and ‘membership’ generated from the cells do not necessarily translate to popularity of the ruling party. Zimbabweans have mustered the art of survival in the context of a difficult socio-political environment where alternative views are not tolerated. Being a member of the ruling party becomes the source of protection and personal safety. There are other who join the structures to get access to resources and sometimes safeguard ill-gotten wealth. This is a sharp contrast with the opposition that finds strength in supporters. Nevertheless, it is also for security reasons that opposition members do not have a carded relationship with their political parties. However, the behaviour of supporters and members differ in that members have something to protect and they are aware that if they do not protect that something then they will likely lose it. The members make sure they vote at each and every opportunity to defend their interests, whether these are formal interests or informal, ethical or unethical. Conversely, the behaviour of supporters is emotive and guided by emotions at particularly given moments. Their reactions are based on emotions and this is demonstrated in their voting patterns and behavior. If they are angry they go to vote, if they are happy they ignore voting. They are like soccer fans; when their team is performing well the supporters go out in numbers and cheer the team, but if the results are disappointing they watch from aside and call it wasting time. Even though the Zimbabwe crisis has had an impact on various segments of the population, it seems that the youth was one segment of the population hardest hit (Chirisa I & Muchini T, 2011). According to the UNDP (2015), 74 million young people aged between 15 to 24-year age group were unemployed worldwide. With a collapse of industry in Zimbabwe, the unemployment rate soared to nearly 90%, with youth unemployment reaching 75% of the working population. Young people below the age of 35 years account for 63% of the population of Zimbabwe. The high level of youth unemployment in Zimbabwe and the emergence of the “hustling” economy puts youth participation in civic and democratic processes in jeopardy. Youth have found ways to navigate the socio-economic and political crisis, a term called kukiya kiya. The kiya kiya economy is an instinctive response to circumstances; a mixture of cleverness, dodging, and exploitation of whatever resources are at hand, all with an eye to selfsustenance11. Others would want to use the term “kungwavha” (kungwara nehumbavha, hence kungwavha), meaning a mixture of cleverness and dodgy-ness bordering on criminalities. All this is in the name of survival. At this frontier, the youth are engaging in shoddy works. This explains, how in the face of socio-economic and political challenges nearing two decades, the youth in Zimbabwe have not been an establishing factor as suggested by Urdal. They have been able to navigate the political space to eke a living and address the “waithood period” described by Honwana (2013) as the transition between childhood and adulthood. Young women and men in the waithood period develop their own spaces where they subvertauthority, bypass the impediments created by the state, and fashion new ways of functioning on their own. Sometimes the state prefers it that way, and creates a patronage system out of it for political mileage. It may turn a blind eye and even encourage youth to go ahead in their illegalities for as long as it serves the state. The existence of natural resources in the form of gold in Mutasa South has seen thousands of youth congregate to dig for the precious metal. They come from all over the country and set up their small mining operations which ordinarily would be called “illegal”. These are youth who do not find value in civic affairs and would rather stick to hustling as anything else is deemed time-wasting. Many do not believe the government will address their needs or be capable of solving their problems. A comparison of six Sadc countries on trusting the ruling party and trusting whether the government was capable of addressing the needs of youth is made below. It partially explains why youth are engaging less in civic and public affairs. Political Trust In order to examine political trust, we chose eight questions about trust in political parties and government officials. We began by looking at political parties. Results from the regional surveys show that in none of the five countries do the ruling parties get much of a vote of confidence, and this does seem to bear out the theoretical point made earlier; citizens trust governments that act in a trustworthy manner. Not even the citizens of Botswana have much trust in the ruling party. This would all seen logical where citizens have high degrees of political fear, generally do not see the government doing a good job in providing public goods and services, and not dealing effectively with corruption. (Afrobarometer, 2021). The critical issue for a country having a large youthful population is the availability of education and jobs, and here we are interested in how well the governments of these five countries are doing in this respect. It would appear that only Botswana is meeting the aspirations of its citizens in addressing the needs of the youth. Namibians are significantly more satisfied than South Africans, Zambians or Zimbabweans, but still most (67%) Namibians are dissatisfied with how well their government is doing. All these five countries, in common with most African countries, have significantly large “youth bulges”: all five countries have more than 60% of the population under 35 years. The organisation of violence The Zimbabwean constitution (2013) and the Traditional Leaders Act (1988) establish the position of a traditional leader. This office is part of the rural governance system in Zimbabwe and in many other regions of the African continent. By right of ancestry, traditional leaders are connected to the people they rule. This "ancestral right" has provided traditional leadership with durability, especially in cases where the right to rule was effectively inherited and not created by the central government for control purposes. Nonetheless, there is an increasing tendency of Zimbabwean traditional leaders to be recruited into politics and used to further political objectives. For example, Kurebwa (2020) asserts that the traditional power has been captured and will work for them as an institution that advances the political interests of the ruling party. With that in mind we sought to understand the role played, if any, by traditional leaders in influencing the by election outcomes. The respondents in Mutasa South did not see the obvious role as it used to be in the past. Partly this is explained by the fact that through gerrymandering, Mutasa South includes Wards in Urban areas, peri-urban, a plantation and a rural setting. That is not to say the role of traditional leaders is not appreciated by their subjects, but they prefer that they stay out of politics (Ndoma, 2019). With the set-up of Mutasa South ConstituNewsHawks Issue 123, 17 March 2023

Reframing Issues Page 41 ency, the influence of traditional leaders appears somewhat diluted, but still very influential. This is not the case in Bethania ward 15 in Mutasa Central where a local government by-election took place. The institution of traditional leadership consists of chiefs, headmen, and village leaders in ascending order (Chigwata, 2016, p.40). Each chief's customary territory extends back to the pre-colonial period. Some of the characters and portions of the borders were altered by the colonial authority in order to reduce the chieftainship's power or exert control over the chief. In the natural order of things, only the village-heard (sabhuku) which was established by colonial governments under their paradigm of "indirect rule" is the lowest, the most active, and most targeted. The village heads owe their existence to the state, while the chief owes his existence to the "earth" (pasi) or the souls of the long-deceased. This arrangement strengthens the chief's connection to their people and land, making the institution harder to manipulate by politicians and hotly contested. Nonetheless, the village heads are accommodating because they believe that their "suzerainty" was tied to the government, and if they "misbehaved" the government would threaten to revoke it or the privileges associated with it. It is not surprising that the traditional leaders in Mutasa South Constituency and Mutasa Central Constituency were instrumental in determining the results of the council and constituency by-elections. The ward 15 (Bethania) focus group discussion (FGD) in Mutasa Central was nuanced about the vital role traditional leaders play in determining a political result. It also demonstrates the structure of organised violence which has now been bureaucratised. For instance, the village operates a list of the names of village residents whom they know and monitor closely. The governing party targeted them for patron-client politics by establishing a "complex network of personal ties between political patrons or bosses and their particular clients or followers" (Brinkerhoff & Goldsmith, 2002, p.2). In exchange for their support and collaboration, the patron provided excludable resources (money, food, employment) to dependents and accomplices (votes, attendance at rallies). In Bethania, it was mealie-meal given to the communities that had experienced a poor harvest. Once one received the mealie- meal, it was literally a pact with the devil. According to the community members “wainge wadya chengozi” and you would pay it back! In Zanu PF there were no freebies. This explains the increase in the number of assisted voters. In the survey, 7.1% of the respondents were assisted voters and 7.7% of these declared that they were assisted by militias. Below is a villagers’ account of what transpired in Bethania The environment changed when nominations started after Covid. Even before the campaigns started state institutions were captured. The Agritex Officers now work under the Production Secretary of Zanu PF but supervises them to the extent that even during a field days attendant forced to do Zanu PF slogans. The extension officer is a government employee but that has changed. Each and every village now has a production secretary, meaning each and every activity is now supervised by the party. After capturing the extension officers came the Headmen. All people who are employed or receive money from the government are forced to belong to the Party. So now the Village Head is expected to be present at every Zanu PF meeting. The Village Health Workers were also instructed to attend all party meetings since they are employed by the Zanu PF government because they are supposed to implement programmes initiated by the party. When they were building their cells they changed the format and instructed that these be done at the homestead of the Village Head. He is instructed to convene people and the cadres organize the party structures there. The Pfumvudza programme all along was going smoothly but it changed its format with the distribution being controlled by Zanu PF. So before receiving fertilizers you are first initiated with slogans. All activities in the Ward are managed by the party. Towards elections Zanu PF bigwigs like (names withheld) came with a truckload of mealiemeal. They said everyone was receiving the mealie-meal at their meeting. This was later distributed in villages and everyone was told to join a party cell. They wanted to know those who were not joining the cells. The language had changed and they would claim that if they lost the Ward, people would be beaten. That was about the time XXX (prominent leader of the War Veterans) came and people would say, “XXX munomuziva” (You all know XXX). The language was instilling fear. Here in rural communities people are vulnerable especially those that survived 2008. People still have memories of what happened in 2008, some had to flee their homes because the base was here at Mapfekera. Those who were known to support opposition would not sleep in their homes. Those memories were brought during the by-elections campaign that if people voted the opposition they would be beaten. Many people as a result of fear and issues regarding hunger, people were told that those not in the Zanu PF cells would not receive any food aid. People in this area had developed a certain culture that they would attend all party meetings but would guard their votes. Some Zanu PF aspirants lost their money here in the past and never got support but this time they insisted this would never happen again. Two days before the election people were told to come collect mealie-meal and it was said that those who had received would be assisted voters. They made sure of it and they paired people with those that would assist them. People were told to make excuses like I was blind, I couldn’t write etc to be assisted to vote. Each and every Polling Station had a base where everyone would pass through and ascertain whether they were Zanu PF or not. Those that were not trusted were assigned a person who would vote on their behalf...... At Chinamasa the whole village was instructed to go to the acting chief who, in turn, had summoned the whole community and warned those that would abscond would be dealt with after the elections. From there people were paired to the extent that each and every polling station in ward 15 ran out of Assisted Voter forms and additional forms had to be brought in. But they were determined to win the Ward. These were not elections at all but just a determination to claim the Ward at all cost. The whole process was captured. Those traditional leaders in rural areas are now an extension of central government. They are already part of a structure where those leaders are CIOs of central government and they try their best to ensure that they mobilize people on behalf of the party. The organisation of violent electoral participation centered on identifying individual villager’s political leanings. Around each voting station, there were checkpoints where villagers would first register their desire to vote before proceeding the official polling station. The traditional leader and a few Zanu PF activists managed these checkpoints where they tallied the potential figures for Zanu PF. Zanu PF history with the traditional leaders dates back to the struggle for independence where they destroyed the existing structure that was aiding the colonial government. We cannot expect new political players to come and easily enjoy the same benefits enjoyed by Zanu PF, especially at a time the economy is destroying its electability potential even in its rural strongholds. For opposition political parties to win in rural areas will be a milestone. The political setting of Bethania ward 15 illustrates a well-coordinated system of organised violence, a system, and machinery that can easily be replicated in any other rural community in Zimbabwe. A previous study that sort to unpack violence around the 2008 run-off elections pointed that traditional leaders were often tasked with identifying those who would qualify for food assistance and farming subsidies. Even though traditional leaders are mandated with oversight roles, they were accountable to Zanu PF structures for the manner in which they discharged their duties and responsibilities. This meant that the distribution of resources was open to abuse, with distribution being confined to those prepared to declare their loyalty to the ruling Zanu PF16. These superstructures remain intact, in some cases reducing the role of the traditional leaders to mere figureheads. Conclusion The by elections in Mutasa South Constituency was deemed free and described by the voters as lacking violence. This is one positive factor that was applauded and the fact that the campaign process allowed political candidates to campaign freely. We note however, that eventhough this was the case, the remnants of violence remain with the use of threats and intimidation, especially in rural communities. Violence may not manifest in the manner of the 2008 elections, but the capture of the institution of the traditional leaders into the party bureaucracy have ensured that the remnants of organised violence are still a factor in elections in rural communities. The situation is made worse by the vulnerability of voters as a result of the effects of climate change leaving communities to rely on food aid from the government and the donor community. With the threat of the PVO Bill signed into law, it is not far-fetched that the distribution of food aid to vulnerable communities will be centralized and controlled by political structures. The description of "free and fair elections" alluded to in the statistical breakdown should be viewed in a political context that makes the comparison of previous electoral periods that were violent, particularly the 2008 election. But the structures of violence remain to an extent that they even manifest as bureaucracy. Thus the mere fact that physical violence did not manifest as it had done in the past does not translate to a "free" election as the remnants and structures of violence remain intact and will make it difficult for the conduct of “free, fair and credible” elections. *About the writer: The Research and Advocacy Unit (Rau) is an independent non-governmental organisation that conducts research and advocacy in three key areas, namely women, displacements and governance. NewsHawks Issue 123, 17 March 2023

SIOUX MCKENNA/ DON DIXON/ DANIEL OPPENHEIMER/ MARGARET BLACKIE/ SAM ILLINGWORRH THE Covid-19 pandemic was a shock to higher education  systems everywhere. But while some changes, like moving lectures online, were relatively easy to make, assessment posed a much bigger challenge. Assessment can take many forms, from essays to exams to experiments and more. Many institutions and individual academics essentially outsourced the assessment process to software. They increased their use of  programs like Turnitin to check for matched wording in students’ assignments. And for closed-book, timed tests they  used tools such as Proctorio, which monitor a student’s computer or phone while they write exams. But universities did not seize this chance to reflect on what higher education is for and how assessment might be used to enhance its achievement. Instead they doubled down on the status quo, breathing a sigh of relief once isolation and lockdown orders were revoked and things could return to “normal”. The advent of ChatGPT and similar chatbots provides another opportunity for the sector to reflect on why and how it assesses — and what higher education is for. ChatGPT is a chatbot technology, powered by artificial intelligence (AI), that enables users to have natural, human-like conversations with a computer. It uses advanced language processing techniques to understand user input and provide natural, contextual responses. With ChatGPT, users can converse with a computer in a way that feels like talking to a real person. It scrapes information from a large database mined from the internet and uses this to create a unique response to a prompt. So, for instance, it can write an essay on any topic — “the advantages of breastfeeding” or “the social complexity of the refugee crisis in Europe”. It can also be trained to provide context-specific essays. We are academics from South Africa, Australia, the UK and the US, working in fields related to education, ways of learning and teaching, and academic practice. We believe ChatGPT could be a powerful impetus to shift from understanding assessment as the assurance of an educational “product” to assessment as learning. Used properly, it could be a valuable way to teach students about critical thinking, writing and the broader role of artificial intelligence tools like chatbots in the world today. Threat or opportunity? The advent of ChatGPT has prompted a variety of reactions from universities all over the world. In the UK, for instance, the reaction towards ChatGPT and higher education has ChatGPT is the push higher education needs to rethink assessment veered from  the hyperbolic  — will AI ruin universities? — to the more measured, such as considering what students think of the technology. If the purpose of higher education is that students memorise and summarise a body of knowledge, and that this is then certified via assessment, then ChatGPT is an existential threat. The market value of credentials is directly threatened if universities can no longer confidently assert that the texts assessed by academics have indeed been produced by their students. But if the purpose of higher education is to nurture a transformative relationship  to a particular body of knowledge that enables students to see the world — and their place in it — in new ways, then assessment takes on a vastly different meaning. Used well, ChatGPT and similar tools can show students the wonders and responsibilities of acquiring and building powerful knowledge. It can assist rather than being seen in opposition to their learning. Here are four ways this might happen. Four potential applications 1. Students can reflect on articles produced by ChatGPT which have fabricated references and distorted inWith proper teaching, students can use ChatGPT to develop their arguments and build their essays. Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock Page 42 Reframing Issues formation and then deliberate on the potential consequences of this in an era of fake news. 2. Students can be set assignments that require them to compare ChatGPT’s answers to ones they have developed and ascertain whether they know the material and how it might be represented differently. 3. ChatGPT can be used to support essay writing and to help foster a sense of mastery and autonomy. Students can analyse ChatGPT responses to note how the software has drawn from multiple sources and to identify flaws in the ChatGPT responses which would need their attention. 4. Students can be encouraged to consider the extent to which their use of ChatGPT has enabled or constrained their access to powerful knowledge. This is a chance to critically reflect on where and how the use of AI is taking place in society and their potential future professions. There is already  a multitude of ideas  available online about how ChatGPT can be used to create prompts for assignments. Lecturers and students can explore these to see how they might be adapted for their own learning and teaching needs. None of these ideas will be simple to implement. Academics will need support from their institutions in considering what such technological developments mean for their disciplines. And, we’d argue, that support must help academics to move beyond seeking ways to trick the software or to monitor students. Innovation and inclusion Society and the higher education sector squandered the opportunity that Covid presented to reflect on what higher education was for and how assessment might be used to enhance learning. Rather than signalling the end of higher education, ChatGPT has instead presented the sector, and society more broadly, with another opportunity. This is a chance to develop innovative and inclusive teaching, learning, and assessment aligned to such understandings. — The Conversation. *About the writers: Sioux McKenna is director of the Centre for Postgraduate Studies at Rhodes University and a visiting research professor at the Centre for International Higher Education at Boston College, Rhodes University in South Africa. Dan Dixon is adjunct lecturer at the University of Sydney in Australia. Daniel Oppenheimer is professor of decision science and psychology at Carnegie Mellon University in the United States. Margaret Blackie is associate professor at Rhodes University in South Africa. Sam Illingworth is associate professor at Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland. NewsHawks Issue 123, 17 March 2023

Reframing Issues Page 43 THE Banyamulenge are a minority ethnic group in South Kivu, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In December 2022, the United Nations adviser on the prevention of genocide raised concerns about attacks against the community based on “ethnicity or perceived allegiance with neighbouring countries”. The Banyamulenge have  long been viewed as not being Congolese. The government, however, has often dismissed claims that the community is facing targeted attacks  as fiction. Delphin R Ntanyoma, who has extensively researched  the Banyamulenge, explains why they are facing persecution. Who are the Banyamulenge and how has their status changed over time? The Banyamulenge live in eastern DRC in South Kivu province. They are mostly seen as affiliated to the Tutsi of the African Great Lakes region, and they speak a language close to Kirundi (Burundi) and Kinyarwanda (Rwanda). The Banyamulenge settled in South Kivu between the 16th and 18th centuries, having come from what are today Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. They are largely cattle keepers. They mostly occupy the southern part of South Kivu province: the Fizi, Mwenga and Uvira territories. In the 1960s and 1970s, some Banyamulenge moved to Katanga in the DRC’s southern region. The region has rich pastures for cattle herding and is close to the large cities of Lubumbashi and Mbujimayi, providing business opportunities. However, in 1998, nearly 20,000 Banyamulenge were forced to flee Katanga after they were attacked for being “foreigners”. Since 1984, the DRC has not organised a  general census. The historian  Joseph Mutambo  estimated the group had around 400,000 people in 1997. There are no clear estimates today, but it’s safe to assume that they have grown in number. Colonial history in the Great Lakes region has categorised local communities into  “native” and “immigrants”. Farmers are seen as native, while cattle herders are largely perceived as immigrants, foreigners and invaders. Based on these assumptions, the Banyamulenge have been viewed as foreigners and were  denied citizenship in the 1980s. A decade later, the Congolese state  sought to expel them after a parliamentary resolution to send back all Rwandan and Burundian descendants. This added to the perception that the Banyamulenge were “invaders”. I have researched the drivers of violence in South and North Kivu for six years, with a focus on the Banyamulenge situation. It’s clear that much of the  violence targeting them  revolves around the misconception that they are  strangers in their own country. Who’s who on the list of their political adversaries? The Banyamulenge’s political adversaries range from local politicians to armed groups and militias. Most of the politicians who rally their constituents against the Banyamulenge are from neighbouring ethnic communiBanyamulenge: How DRC minority ethnic group became targeted ties. These include the Babembe, Bafuliro, Banyindu and Bavira. Members of these ethnic communities consider themselves “native”. Political figures outside South Kivu have also spread the idea that the Banyamulenge are outsiders. Since 2017, Burundian rebel groups like Red-Tabara and Forces Nationales de Liberation have joined local militias in attacks against the Banyamulenge. The Red-Tabara’s involvement raised questions about Rwanda’s role  after UN reports claimed that the country had supported the rebel group with logistical and training skills. How are the Banyamulenge targeted? The Banyamulenge have been targeted by Congolese security services and local militias in major attacks in 1996, 1998 and 2004. A new wave of violence against the group  began in 2017, and has since led to the deaths of thousands of civilians and the destruction of hundreds of villages. That year was marked by  intensifying conflict in the DRC over election delays. The looting of Banyamulenge-owned cattle has been a constant occurrence  since the 1960s. Cattle constitute a major source of income and livelihood, and looting has worked as a strategy to impoverish the community and jeopardise their future. Due to the widespread destruction of villages, the remaining Banyamulenge in South Kivu live in small localities like Minembwe, Murambya/Bijombo, Mikenge and Bibokoboko. They continue to face  regular and coordinated attacks, which have prevented the community from accessing pastures and farmland beyond a two-kilometre radius. Armed militias in South Kivu have  prevented and constrained humanitarian organisations from getting aid into Banyamulenge settlements. Hate speech has played a major role in  fuelling violence  against the community. Twitter, Facebook,  YouTube  and other social media platforms have thousands of posts and videos that claim the Banyamulenge are not Congolese citizens and shouldn’t be in the country. Such dehumanising and hateful speech feeds the minds and hearts of young people, mainly men, who consider attacks against the Banyamulenge a “noble” cause.  Researchers  and  activists  have called for greater attention to be paid to these attacks. Who is behind the attacks? The Banyamulenge are targeted because they are viewed as “foreigners”. For decades, local armed groups and militias have mobilised to get rid of those perceived as invaders. This ideology is transmitted across generations. In addition, the Congolese national army has played a role in enabling attacks against the Banyamulenge by providing ammunition to militias or opening breaches when rebels attack civilians. Huge destruction has taken place in areas where the Congolese army is present  but didn’t intervene. There are three possible reasons for the army’s general inaction. First, some military commanders and soldiers may believe the narrative that the Banyamulenge are not Congolese. Second, some military commanders create chaos and conflict pocket zones to serve one or more protagonists in the Great Lakes region. Third, violence allows military commanders to access operational funds – and looted cattle can be turned into money. — The Conversation. *About the interviewee: Dr Delphin R. Ntanyoma is a visiting researcher at the International Institute of Social Studies at Erasmus University in the Netherlands. Banyamulenge community members at the funeral of one of their own in eastern DRC. Alexis Huguet/AFP via Getty Images NewsHawks Issue 123, 17 March 2023

Page 44 Africa News US assistance in developing tech infrastructure could help achieve Washington’s strategic and diplomatic goals by countering Russia and China JOSEPH B. JELLER Submarine fiber-optic cables traversing oceans and connecting the African continent have fast emerged as a geopolitical hotspot for the West. As of late, United States foreign policy has been captivated by strategic maneuvering in response to China’s surveillance balloon and plans to implement a national ban on the world’s most popular app, TikTok, which has ties to Beijing. Meanwhile, as extensive plans to expand cable networks are being executed by coalitions of investors and international partners, the West cannot lose sight of other looming national security risks as undersea cables and other information and communications technologies (ICT) in Africa now function as modern pressure points for authoritarian regimes to supplant Western influence and secure competitive advantages. The continent is experiencing the most rapid growth of international bandwidth on the planet, and accelerated construction of African subsea cables gives significant leverage to China while creating a security vulnerability due to the risk of Russian meddling. The West would be mistaken to overlook the implications of African submarine cable proliferation for modern geopolitical strategies between global powers. Submerged beneath the sea, these small tubes of glass and light hold the promise of facilitating greater internet access across Africa, enhancing connection among the continent’s people and to the rest of the world, and linking a budding network of data centers and digital infrastructure. Reliable internet connectivity is a crucial component of artificial intelligence (AI) applications, and Africa has captured substantial investment from private industry titans, including Google and Meta, to digitise some of world’s least-connected countries. Global reliance on subsea cable systems accompanies heightened demand and the growth of cloud computing, extending the power of Beijing’s hegemonic foothold on the continent (thanks to Chinese debt financing and infrastructure construction) and providing Moscow a target for spying, tapping, or cyberattacks — causing direct or indirect physical harm through the exploitation of digital systems and processes — in its bid to antagonise the United States and its Western allies. There are upward of 552 active or planned submarine cables transmitting more than 95 percent of global telecommunications traffic across Africa, Europe, and the Americas. They serve as crucial ICT infrastructure tucked mostly out of sight — encircling the African continent like a cocoon. For more than 20 years, cables have enabled digital connection in Africa, spanning a burgeoning undersea network system along the coastline, comprised of 72 cables active or under construction. These cables can improve internet speeds, connect remote communities, and advance economic progress while supporting various machine learning and AI applications. Despite the immense cost, these undertakings are a necessary means to an end. African leaders expect to justify this venture by creating a skilled labor force, sparking economic growth, and not allowing the continent to be left behind in this next iteration of digital transformation. This technological revolution has gone hand in hand with Africa’s deepening relationship with China, which has risen since the 1990s to a consequential position in the global fiber-optic cable sector Workers haul part of a fiber optic cable onto the shore at the Kenyan port town of Mombasa. AFP via Getty Images beyond the Pacific. Investments in Africa have become a significant pillar of Beijing’s foreign-policy agenda. Chinese leaders recognize these technologies are instrumental for delivering their tech products and influence throughout the world. China’s techno-diplomacy on the African continent goes well beyond the standard construction of bridges, roads, and ports — its bond is focused on touting AI, internet connectivity, and cloud computing possibilities. For years, China has been manufacturing and sharing ICT assets — including data centers, semiconductors, and other  key technologies, particularly those enabling surveillance — with African nations. Beijing has been the primary financier of Africa’s digital revolution. Chinese companies and banks support two notable subsea cable projects on the continent. Indeed, Beijing has been the primary financier of Africa’s digital revolution. Chinese companies and banks support two notable subsea cable projects on the continent, including one of the largest in the world, with numerous landing sites across several countries. This aid is undoubtedly transformative, but  insurmountable debt may compromise those on the receiving end; debt-trap diplomacy means countries can’t pay back loans or projects may never get completed. Beijing’s funding of African cables affords it disproportionate control of its operations and may nurture growing economic dependence — it foreshadows important discussions regarding data privacy and sovereignty. Frequent recipients of Chinese investment have much in common; however, partnership terms often arrive in opaque packaging and may come with a hefty price. Loans through Chinese banks lack transparency. International observers are concerned lending terms can be coupled with higher rates and shorter repayment windows than more traditional multilateral development banks, such as the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank. Burdened by debt and fiscal capacity challenges, African countries also face steeper borrowing rates than other countries with similar risk profiles. The United States remains a vocal critic of development loans of this type because destructive debt can ultimately stifle forward progress. But it’s unclear if Washington can counter with a better alternative. China’s new foreign minister  visited Africa in January, depicting Beijing as a willing and trusted commercial partner. Given historically lackluster economic injections from the West as well as immediate needs, many African countries will not unnecessarily hinder tech endeavors by implementing heavy-handed regulatory processes that might curb societal advances. Most countries understandably prioritise ICT infrastructure with urgency. Nevertheless, complete acquiescence to Beijing’s terms and financial support threatens to restrict African agency and autonomy in the future. Leaders around the globe are beginning to acknowledge the vulnerability of undersea cables. Although most threats are primarily environmental or accidental, speculations flourish about fiber-optic cables as potential targets of sabotage, and both industry leaders and policymakers express mounting concern about deliberate attacks on vital cables. Many scholars have explored the danger to cables in warfare; although some circumstances appear overblown, others appear severely underplayed. Yet the potential for military exploitation has not entirely receded whether malign actors are on the doorstep of major conflict or not. British Prime Minister  Rishi Sunak knows all too well about the vulnerability of cables in the Atlantic Ocean to adversaries like Russia. As a member of Parliament years ago, he noted there was a growing risk of attacks on subsea cables, specifically from Russia, declaring it an existential threat to United Kingdom national security. He issued something akin to a  rallying cry  for cooperation, writing, “Working with global partners it is crucial that we act now to protect against these dangers, ensuring that our century’s greatest innovation does not also become its undoing.” As the most proficient  seabed operator  in the world, Russia’s military and naval capabilities have enormous capacity to engage in combat and espionage across the ocean floor. As the most proficient  seabed operator  in the world, Russia’s military and naval capabilities have enormous capacity to engage in combat and espionage across the ocean floor — they remain a pervasive threat to African undersea cables. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine  amplified  security concerns among Nato leaders. They can deploy their Main Directorate of DeepSea Research, which has been gathering expertise and generating technologies optimised for seabed warfare for years. Russia has monitored UK subsea cables during the war with Ukraine, a formidable demonstration of cyberwarfare. Although Moscow may not devastate the West’s entire internet, purposeful movements to impair select adversaries are possible. The Nord Stream gas pipelines explosions aroused suspicion of sabotage — although attribution remains unclear — and elevated the security issues of seabed infrastructure and cyber-physical systems in general. Russian President Vladimir Putin comprehends the power of such disruption, and Russia’s naval strength has significant reach beyond its shores. China and Russia are the two largest sponsors of  cyberoperations  that could impact cables, and they are highly effective at manipulating networks to police internet voices. A military synergy between the two draws ever closer. As the three global superpowers converge on Africa, tensions may boil over into  confrontation. The United States has become increasingly worried about losing valuable rapport with the African continent; however, struggling efforts to repair a languishing relationship have been impeded by missteps. But the larger The next superpower battlefield could be under the sea in Africa concern is that long-term economic influence from China may translate to political leverage on the African continent. The impetus for the recent US-Africa Leaders Summit last December, in part, was to rebuild and reinforce ties that may have been weakened under the Trump administration. The summit convened to much fanfare with the declaration of numerous commitments and promises, but the true success of the engagement will emerge in the aftermath. African nations have exercised independence in the global arena, but they still find themselves in a frustrating middle ground in these scenarios. The West’s new posture and earnest overtures toward the African continent recognizes the considerable relevance of its culture to the African diaspora — but also the economic potential linked to high-grade deposits of rare earth minerals and extensive population growth, with the 10 countries with the most youthful demographics in the world being located in Africa. They are key to the future of emerging technologies. Ultimately, the fatigue inherent to being seen as a pawn while existing as a stage for geopolitical competition can cultivate resentment. China’s intensifying presence and the potential cyber and physical threat that Russia poses to subsea cables fulfill broader desires to displace the liberal influence of the United States and its allies on Africa as well as threaten the security and reliability of global communications. If Western leaders intend to limit authoritarian forces as they endeavor to tip the scales of the global digital ecosystem, then they must engage with these issues swiftly in the region. The stakes are high. The United States and the European Union both  acknowledge  increasing risks for critical internet infrastructure and maintain support for secure and robust connectivity with partner countries, some now on the African continent. At the same time, Washington and the West lament ceding ground and depth in Africa. The West would be wise to foreground these emerging geopolitical conflicts and closely scrutinise Russia and China’s engagement around subsea cables in Africa to shield its own economic and political interests as well as maintain the security of global communications. Authoritarian and state-sponsored actors may attempt to surreptitiously reshape the global digital network — to the detriment of Africans. At a moment when the planning and construction of undersea cables accompany surging ICT infrastructure on the continent, it is essential that Western governments account for these escalating hazards. The next chapter should begin with greater investments in Africa’s digital future. In collaboration with Africans, Western governments could demonstrate their commitments to empowerment and equal partnership with undersea cable management and construction while uniting around cutting-edge training and educational opportunities as well as incentivising a productive alliance toward prosperity and technological self-determination. ICT infrastructure lies at the heart of this mission. It would also behoove the United States and its allies to ensure African stakeholders are equipped with robust security measures, best practices in submarine cable resilience, and mutually beneficial intelligence. — Foreign Policy. *About the writer: Joseph B. Keller is a cognitive scientist and visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution in the United States. NewsHawks Issue 123, 17 March 2023

Africa News Page 45 PHILLIP VAN NIEKERK It is a measure of how rapidly Tanzania is changing that President Samia Suluhu Hassan celebrated International Women’s Day last week as guest of honour of the opposition Chadema party at an event in Kilimanjaro, the stronghold of Chadema chairman, Freeman Mbowe. ONLY a year earlier, Freeman Mbowe was released from detention after being held for seven months on spurious terrorism charges. Even more staggering is the endorsement of Samia’s reforms by Tundu Lissu, Chadema’s 2020 presidential candidate and probably the most outspoken critic of Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), the ruling party in Tanzania for the past 61 years. “I am almost pinching myself,” Lissu told  Daily Maverick  this week. “I believe that we are going to pave the way forward for a new Tanzania.” Lissu recently returned to Tanzania for the first time since his failed attempt to beat President John Pombe Magufuli in his den in the 2020 election – which ended when he was forced back into exile. On his return to Tanzania on 25 January this year, Lissu could not believe his eyes. Samia has moved with speed in recent months to open up the political space and opposition parties have been holding public rallies across the country. “All those years when we held political rallies, even during the good old days of Benjamin Mkapa and Jakaya Kikwete, the police would come to our meetings armed to the teeth,” said Lissu.  “Now not only do police arrive without visible weapons, but they are there to give us protection.” Lissu also found something he had never experienced before: “I was covered by national television, by the mainstream media outlets that have always avoided me like the plague.” Lissu is under no illusions about the pitfalls that lie ahead, and the fact that there are still diehards who will try to obstruct change. But actions speak louder than words and he credits President Samia with starting to purge the system and the government of hardliners. She recently removed police chief Simon Sirro and the head of intelligence, Diwani Athuman, regarded as the enforcers-in-chief of the Magufuli regime. Athuman was sacked while Sirro was bowler-hatted and made an ambassador.  The CCM’s new central committee is “almost unrecognisable” from that which served under Magafuli, said Lissu. “Many of the CCM power brokers are gone. That’s incredible.” Now the government has invited the opposition to discuss a new political dispensation. Lissu believes the Tanzanian Spring has truly arrived. Fate takes a surprising turn There was always something perTanzania's president offers glimmer of hope sonal in the clash between Lissu the “troublemaker” and Magufuli, the “bulldozer”. Lissu was gunned down by an AK47-wielding assassin on 7 September 2017 outside his parliamentary residence in Dodoma. His shattered body, with 16 bullet holes, was airlifted first to Nairobi and then to Belgium where he underwent years of surgery and rehabilitation. The culprits have never been found. The shooting happened hours after Magufuli told the nation that “those who betray the country and oppose the struggle… don’t deserve to survive”. Lissu’s offence was to speak out against the disappearances, abductions and torture of government critics and journalists; extrajudicial killings of opponents by the ruling party, and the use of paramilitary security forces against a civilian population trying to exercise democratic rights. His return to contest the 2020 election ended with rigging and security force violence inflicted on the opposition. Lissu, fearing for his life, sought refuge at the German ambassador’s residence before returning to exile in Belgium. Fate then took another turn. Magufuli, having been in total denial of the Covid pandemic, believing it had been eradicated through prayer, succumbed to the coronavirus, which carried off many other eminent Tanzanians. As Magufuli’s successor, vice-president Samia was not a dyed-in-thewool party hardliner. Coming from Zanzibar, she had been included on the ticket with Magufuli to balance the two mismatched entities that constitute the Union of Tanzania. But no one realistically expected she would ever be president. And, certainly, no one expected her, in her quiet and low-key manner, to alter the direction of the entire country. Now comes the hard part Lissu is under no illusion that there is an enormous task ahead to deal with what he sees as the legacy of 60 years of authoritarian rule: “We have not even begun. What remains is massive… absolutely massive.” He pointed to the fact that the current police chief and his deputy were directly involved in the worst of the Magufuli atrocities. Camilius Wambura, then police intelligence chief for Dar es Salaam, was complicit in the paramilitary police terror that saw hundreds of villagers killed or disappeared south of Dar es Salaam between 2016 and 2018. His deputy, Ramadhani Kingai, was directly involved in the persecution of opposition leaders and activists, Mbowe and Lissu included. “That they’ve been promoted rather than sacked is a chilling reminder that we’re not out of the woods yet.” What gives him hope is the setting up of a bilateral dialogue between teams from Chadema, the leading opposition party led by Mbowe, and the CCM, whose lead negotiator is the vice-chairman of the party, Abdulrahman Kinana. “We are discussing the kind of things that we have never discussed between ourselves and CCM, not since the introduction of multiparty politics three decades ago.” Kinana is a political insider who, as general secretary of the CCM, fell foul of Magufuli. He was put under house arrest and his assets were seized. Lissu sees him as a serious person they can do business with. Electoral reform On the top of Chadema’s list up for discussion is the reform of the electoral system which he says is irrevocably broken:  “We simply cannot go to the next elections (due in 2025) without reform.” The big challenge is how to bring back a constitutional reform process. “Our system of government as a whole needs to be overhauled,” said Lissu. “We need to end the imperial presidency – the shadow of the president looms so large in every aspect of public life. That has to be dealt with. “Then there are the security services and the criminal justice system. Our security forces have run amok for far too long.” The Zanzibar question And then the big one: the question of the “union” – shorthand for the status of Zanzibar. It has long been acknowledged to be an imperfect union cobbled together in a hurry in 1964 and in need of reform ever since. A decade ago, a commission under former Prime Minister Joseph Warioba consulted broadly with the citizenry and recommended a three-tier government, which would have meant greater autonomy for Zanzibar. But the recommendations were never adopted and the status of reform has remained in limbo. Chadema has drawn up a set of detailed proposals and Lissu is talking about a timeline of about a year and a half to get the reforms done. He wants the proposal to set up a constitution-making process sent to parliament as soon as next month. Lissu believes they could have everything in place constitutionally by November 2024. “If there is goodwill on both sides, I think we will have something worthwhile before the next election.” This is regarded as too optimistic a timeline by other groups. One of the senior leaders of the Alliance for Change and Transparency (ACT-Wazalendo) – which is headed by Zitto Kabwe and includes a major portion of support within Zanzibar itself – cautioned that substantive moves towards a new constitution would not take place until after the 2025 elections. ACT-Wazalendo is part of a presidential task force which includes other opposition parties and civil society groups, but which Lissu criticised for recommending cosmetic reforms. Lissu said Tanzanians want to see more rapid change, especially with the current economic pain that many people are experiencing.  “People are growing militant in their demands. They are accusing us of becoming too soft.” President Samia will have to manage expectations and maintain the spirit of goodwill in the country while starting the legal process of creating the new Tanzania. Speaking at the International Women’s Day meeting last week, she attributed the wisdom required for the balancing act that lies ahead to her gender. “The opposition is lucky that it is a woman president in charge because if a misunderstanding occurs, I will stand for peace and make the men settle their egos,” she said to tumultuous applause from opposition supporters. — Daily Maverick. Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan NewsHawks Issue 123, 17 March 2023

Page 46 Africa News STAN CHU ILO WHEN he was presented to a cheering crowd at St Peter’s Square, Vatican City, on  13 March 2013, few people outside Latin America knew much about Jorge Bergoglio. But a decade later, based on my work as a scholar of Catholicism, I would argue that most Catholics know and love Pope Francis. They also see a deep connection between his message and priorities, and their dreams and hopes for a better church and a world that is reconciled. When Pope Francis was introduced in 2013, I was working as an African expert on global Catholicism for Canada Television. I went blank when the new pope was presented to the world on live TV because I had no biographical information on him. So, I ran off the list of what we African Catholics wanted from the new pope. This included a decentralised and decolonised Catholicism, with more powers given to local church leaders to address local challenges using their own cultural and spiritual resources. There was also the urgent need to give African Catholics more places at the decision-making table in the world church. Before Pope Francis, many of these challenges were either ignored, spiritualised or papered over through moral platitudes. Pope Francis has taken them on. He is the first post-colonial pope to challenge the system within the church and society that exploits the poor and vulnerable. Pope Francis’ papacy is anchored on what he calls a “revolution of tenderness”. This reflects two central themes: the courage to dream and the culture of encounter. These two themes have resonated with African Catholics. They awaken a sense of hope that by collectively tapping into Africa’s human, material and spiritual resources, it’s possible to address the continent’s social, economic and political challenges. The courage to dream The word “dream” is a constant in Pope Francis’ vocabulary. It is the title of one of his recent books,  Let us Dream: The Path to a Better Future. In it, he invites people to work together as one human family and break the chains of domination driven by nationalism, economic protectionism and discrimination. He described his recent trip to Africa as a dream come true. It gave him the opportunity to share a message of hope and peace with the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan. When he stood alone at St Peter’s Square in March 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Pope Francis asked humanity “to reawaken and put into practice that solidarity and hope capable of giving strength”, and embrace the courage to dream again. Reflecting on the question Jesus asked his disciples in the Bible, “Why are you afraid?”. He encouraged humanity not to lose hope because of the fear and despair surrounding the loss of lives from the virus. The culture of encounter In his speech to the  UN General Assembly in 2015, Pope Francis invited the world to embrace a culture Pope Francis delivers messages that resonate with Africans of encounter. This, he said, would lead to a “revolution of tenderness” and the globalisation of love and solidarity. I have argued in my research that the “culture of encounter” is his way of capturing the communal ethics of ubuntu, which encompasses African values of community, participation, inclusion and solidarity. Under this theme, Pope Francis is  challenging people  to envision a world freed from violence and war; of a common humanity dwelling in peace in a healthy climate; and of economies that work for all, especially the poor. In his letter to bishops,  Fratelli Tutti (no.195), Pope Francis says the culture of encounter can shatter socially and historically designed narrow structures, systems and institutional practices. The dream of a better world, he says, can be realised if people learn to love rather than hate. Pope Francis challenges all global citizens to contribute to mending the interconnections that have been ruptured among peoples, nations, cultures, churches and religions. These ruptures, he says, are the result of long years of exclusionary practices, unjust economic and global systems, and false ideologies of identity. Realising the dream In his apostolic exhortation Querida Amazonia, Pope Francis writes about four dreams he has for all people. First is a social dream, where everyone can live an abundant life in dignity and in a healthy environment. This can be realised, he proposes, through “an arduous effort on behalf of the poor”. The second is a cultural dream where people’s cultures are affirmed. Their talents are valued, and they can apply their human potential and material resources as free agents. For an African continent that continues to suffer the effects of colonialism in both church and state, Pope Francis proposes a strong resistance to the destructive forces of neocolonialism. The third dream is the hope for humanity that flourishes through responsible stewardship of Earth’s resources. This invites all peoples to care for, protect and defend the environment. The fourth dream is Pope Francis’ hope that the Catholic church will become a community of communities, where people seek common ground. This requires the rejection of any forms of exclusionary practices in the church. It advocates the liberation of the poor, and the protection of the rights of the vulnerable and those who have suffered neglect, oppression and abuse. Realising this dream, in Africa particularly, requires dismantling the structures of neocolonialism, the global structures of injustice, and the dependency cycle that continues to characterise the relationship between the continent and the rest of the world. It will also require a new crop of transformational leaders who are on the side of the people. Leaders who place the interests of their countries and the continent above selfish, ethnic or partisan interests. New identity Pope Francis’ revolution of tenderness can help bring about a new cohesive identity in Africa built on a historical consciousness of who we are, how far we have come and how we can reach the future of our dream. The courage to dream and the culture of encounter are capable of ushering in new ethics of co-operation, collaboration and inclusion so that the common good is promoted and preserved for the benefit of all. — The Conversation. *About the writer: Stan Chu Ilo is a research professor in world Christianity and African studies at DePaul University in the United States. Pope Francis NewsHawks Issue 123, 17 March 2023

World News Page 47 ANA PALACIO IF Ajay Banga is confirmed as World Bank President — as is likely — he will have to find ways to meet the demands of a Global South that is eager for change. Failure to do so would undermine the Bank’s long-term viability; and jeopardise the West’s future ability to exercise its convening power. Major changes are afoot at the World Bank, but few people seem to be paying attention. Beyond devising a new, greener mission, the Bank is undergoing a leadership transition, with important implications for its relationship with the Global South and the institution’s long-term relevance. By the time  David Malpass, the World Bank’s president,  announced  his resignation last month, tensions over the bank’s stance on climate change had been building for months. Chosen for the job by former President Donald Trump’s administration, Malpass faced considerable pressure when Joe Biden took over, with the US Treasury expressing dissatisfaction with the bank’s failure to show genuine climate leadership. Criticism of Malpass  escalated  in September, after he refused to acknowledge the role of human greenhouse-gas emissions in driving climate change. While he subsequently did so, his backpedaling did nothing to diminish accusations that, under his leadership, the World Bank was not doing nearly enough to align its lending with global emissions-reduction goals. A month later, a group of ten major economies — the G7, plus Australia, the Netherlands, and Switzerland — submitted a  proposal  for a “fundamental reform” of the Bank that would lead to greater progress on this front. The Bank’s climate action plan remains, according to many Western countries, too short on ambition. Malpass’s resignation was thus probably a relief – not least to the United States. Almost immediately, Treasury secretary  Janet Yellen reiterated  America’s commitment to “evolve the World Bank” into an engine of the green transition. Soon after, Biden  nominated  Ajay Banga — the Indian-born former Mastercard executive who oversaw the firm’s emergence as a global payment platform — to succeed Malpass. Banga was not necessarily an obvious choice. The World Bank’s board of executive directors “strongly encouraged” the nomination of women candidates, of which there were several solid options with extensive development experience, including Gayle Smith, a former USAID administrator, and the agency’s current head, Samantha Power. In the world of multilateral development institutions, Banga is an outsider. But Banga’s selection may prove to be a shrewd move by Biden. Yes, his confirmation would uphold the longstanding tradition of the US — the World Bank’s biggest shareholder and the largest donor to its concessional arm, the International Development Association — handpicking the bank’s head. This custom, together with the tacit understanding that a European should lead the International Monetary Fund, has rightfully generated discontent in the Global South, with countries there calling for more representative multilateral governance. Banga does represent a nod to India and the Global South more broadly. The question is whether this will translate into more effective leadership on development, including the climate trends that threaten it. The World Bank was originally conceived as a tool for reconstruction. Development later became the bank’s primary focus, thanks not least to its former president and key architect, Robert McNamara, who sought   to promote the Western model of economic development. Despite being a signatory to the Bretton Woods Agreement, the Soviet Union never joined the World Bank, not least because it viewed the Bank as a platform for promoting the West’s free-market philosophy. While such discussions unfold – or stall — the crises fueling them continue to escalate. The World Bank must mobilize adequate resources to help countries confront a perfect storm of climate, energy, food, and debt crises. At a time of rising protectionism and global economic fragmentation, this will be especially difficult. Only a leader with both technical and political savvy can hope to succeed. Ambition and scale will be crucial. A compelling case has been made for a far larger World Bank. But even barring such an institutional transformation, a dramatic increase in lending to clients across the income distribution is badly needed. Though the Bank’s commitments have nearly doubled since 2019 — reaching US$115 billion — lending has been lagging behind global economic growth  since 2017. Reforming lending policy is particularly important for the bank to regain influence in middle-income countries, which have long looked elsewhere to finance their development needs. But more funding is just the beginning. The World Bank must also do a much better job of listening to developing countries. Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley’s Bridgetown Initiative — which recommends new terms for development financing and calls for increased funding for climate resilience, mitigation, and post-disaster reconstruction — is one proposal worth considering. If the World Bank fails to listen to the ideas and demands of developing countries, the West will lose them — with consequences that extend far beyond the bank. And rebuilding relationships with alienated allies is both difficult and costly. South Africa’s  drift  toward the Sino-Russian nexus — and resistance to the West’s hasty efforts to win it back — offers important lessons in this regard. Banga is now on a “global listening tour.” But winning support for his candidacy is only the first step. As president, Banga will have to find ways to meet the demands of a Global South that is eager for change, or else risk undermining the World Bank’s long-term viability and jeopardising the West’s ability to exercise its convening power. Banga’s outsider status may work in his favor, as he attempts to shake up the institution and bridge its traditional mandate with a 21st century agenda. But the “outsiders” who really need to be brought into World Bank decision-making are the countries that have been kept outside far too long. — Project Syndicate. *About the writer: Ana Palacio, a former minister of foreign affairs of Spain and former senior vice-president and general counsel of the World Bank Group, is a visiting lecturer at Georgetown University in the United States. The shake-up the World Bank needs World Bank headquarters in Washington DC. NewsHawks Issue 123, 17 March 2023

JONATHAN MBIRIYAMVEKA AFTER years of speculation and denial, music sensation Sandra Ndebele Sibindi has come out of her shell and publicly declared her affiliation to the ruling Zanu PF. The sultry and energetic dancer, more popularly known on stage simply as Sandy, is the latest musician after Joshua Sacco to embrace Zanu PF politics. According to campaign posters doing the rounds on social media, the Bulawayo-based artiste has thrown her hat into the race to represent Zanu PF as a councillor for ward 20 Pelandaba-Tshablala in the upcoming primary elections set for this weekend. If she wins, Sandy will proceed to represent Zanu PF in the general elections set for August this year. On the poster, Sandy is decked out in her signature traditional outfit which she accessorised with a colourful beaded choker around her neck and matching earrings. The poster has a portrait of President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the Zanu PF party symbol in the background. By submitting her curriculum vitae to participate in the primary election, this means Sandy is interested in representing Zanu PF in the council elections despite her denying for years that she was a member of the ruling party. There have been so many affiliate campaign entities which have sprouted up this year ahead of the general elections, most of them purporting to be this or that for ED (Mnangagwa). In August 2021, Sandy was appointed a representative of Young Women in Economic Development (Young Women 4ED), essentially a Zanu PF affiliate group. At the time, Sandy claimed it was not about politics but so-called development. Independent Norton legislator Temba Mliswa slammed Zanu PF's manoeuvres to try and use celebrities in politics. But even then, Sandy had long been part and parcel of Zanu PF-organised musical galas where she was a regular performer together with other praise singers, the likes of Tambaoga, Cde Chinx, Bryan Mteki and Andy Brown. While Sandy has now openly come out, other artistes who portray messages critical of the Zanu PF government, the likes of Winky D and Baba Harare, face repression. Only last month, police stormed and disrupted Winky D’s show held at Dam View in Chitungwiza before they declined to clear Baba Harare’s scheduled gig scheduled for the same town. Sandy also pulled a shocker on 12  November 2022, when she launched her 10th album at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair Hall 3 in Bulawayo. The event was a culmination of her 20 years in the arts sector since 2002 when she released her first song, Mama. In the audience was Finance minister Mthuli Ncube, deputy Youth minister Tino Machakaire, Women’s Affairs minister Sithembiso Nyoni and Zimbabwe Music Awards (Zima) chief executive officer Reason “Rizzla” Sibanda. The high-powered government delegation pledged its support for the artiste by buying the album for a combined total of over US$30 000. After launching the album, an auction was initiated and Minister Ncube bought the album for US$8 500, setting the tone for the night. He went on stage and was presented with the album by Sandra. Thereafter, Deputy Minister Machakaire gave Sandy US$13 000, much to the delight of the crowd. A local music promoter, Rice, pledged US$1 000 and the Young Women for Economic Development said they would buy the album for US$500 while the organisation’s chairperson, Tatenda Mavetera, pledged US$1 000. Minister Nyoni pledged four cows. STYLE TRAVEL BOOKS ARTS MOTORING Porsche just got angrier Being a Fashion Model Life&Style Page 48 Issue 123, 17 March 2023 Sandra Ndebele finally declares affiliation to Zanu PF

Poetry Corner Title: The Last Stand Poet: Gift Sakirai At two I knew not what they taught Daily, I stayed indoors \doggedly pursuing mother to a fault. Snotty-nosed and recalcitrant, I threw tantrums to my mother's consternation. At five, I left the comfort that home guaranteed and found my personage in the midst of people unknown. Fear thus a friend of mine became in that class of peers unforgiving. I learned mostly from a curriculum unofficial, kicks and fists thus my friends became and homeward I took nosebleeds like homework daily. At fifteen I loved my first love, a gem of a girl whose smile was the envy of many a teenager. I mumbled in her presence daily for words would fail me always. This it was for a whole year until like a bird in flight she flew out of my life. At twenty I stumbled into university, having scrapped by my studies. Therein all hell broke loose for what mother had taught was useless thus rendered. I partook in pomp and fanfare. By chance it was that I finished my studies, only to be accosted by a job market unforgiving. At thirty-five I decided to take the plunge after years of a hesitation acute and hitched myself to a woman who had thus been a decade patient. Therefrom, I second guessed myself into fatherhood, and bumbled along in a world where I was a stranger unwelcome. At sixty-four with hair turned grey I'm still waiting to exhale and for once have a momentary relief from a life vengeful a year before I'm put out to pasture like a heifer overworked. I know not what the twilight years will my way bring a mystery it was in childhood, a mystery it still is in old age. A hustle death will have in taking me to the world beyond though. Having been short changed many times over in life, I swear my fall won't be as easy as that. This time, I won't go down without a fight. Death, beware! ***************************************************** Title: A Farmer's Return Poet: Farai Chinaa Mlambo Fed with toil, Having dedicated his entire life to tilling the soil, At last, the farmer returns to his wife. Several seasons away, in far off arable lands, Leaving everything in the logical will of the rainmaker, And in God's able hands – Himself, the ultimate peace and Love maker. Like one fresh from detention He arrives home with determination. And the first thing to grab his attention is her pregnancy. The wife, now bulging with expectancy, Hurries to embrace her dear husband Under her own oppressive load. Her thoughts race faster than her feet. And her heart skips a bit, overcome with fits. But she quickly calms herself As an almighty voice commands a storm to cede its untimely and unnecessary havoc. A sweet smile of reassurance she wears And in her heart she confidently swears; "This time I'll bear him a son, for sure, I shall bring honour to him and his family. He shall be very very pleased; Isn't what he always longed for. I shall kowtow and call him Shewe. I shall forever be his heart's desire." But the farmer is functionally illiterate. He is not too good with his mathematics. He can't even count days of the calendar. So he doesn't quite remember when they last mated. He just knows it was many moons ago When there were some monsoons. That night, like one possessed, She flung herself wildly upon his being And he thrust his plough into her fallow regions Digging furrows so deep she screamed. Or could it have been a mere dream? He desperately tries to read the signs. Then he resignedly sighs. Something isn't adding up. Still, he silently shoulders the responsibility of the paternity For he fears to offend her, should he ask; He is aware of her suicidal tendencies. He might lose both the seeds of the land he impregnated And the almost ripe seed in her womb Upon the collective wrath of the ancestors Who are quick to frown at harassment of the fairer sex. ***************************************************** Title: Days like these Poet: Sir OCTAgon There are mornings that smoke weed, That roll my days into blunt truths Like this rolling stone which keeps gathering moss Dust is a sure bet! Noons are for toi toi; Negotiations for joy with this mournable body Patching leaking eyes with plastic hope from recycled faith Nights are for resolve; Myriad of dilemmas to solve Thoughts scattered about, and emotions gathered in a corner Its here they share a joint and discuss what to do with me tomorrow. ************************************************ Title: Distant shadows Poet: tchigazz silhouetted distant shadows waltz before his cold strained eyes causing odd reflections on ice of horses, beggars and wishes too. if only he were the grubby walls which the shadows were gleefully licking he wouldn’t be wishing or imagining but experiencing the feel of their tongues they attract furtive peeps of strangers, and keen puzzled peers of perplexed passers-by, cherishing the beauty of distant shadows his fingertips itch to softly caress sketching out the shadowy outline nonchalantly nodding back and forth, to a wheeze of his curious breath’s puff they appear golden-like summer sunset shades beautiful like a rainbow reflection, across the slanting, sunlit rain showers behold the beauty of distant shadows *********************************************** Title: Progress Check Poet: Patrick Hwande Day by day, towards zero hour we're itching, Bring your progress record for public scrutiny, It's time we separated men from mice, Rigmarole is an exercise in futility. Why did Dorica die of treatable disease? Why is the mass still mired in a bottomless pit of poverty? Why did Dhongi vanish for daring to flap his wings? Happiness is now a pure rarity, Are we still living? Why did you condemn us the living dead? ************************************************* Title: Drops Of Rain Poet: Andy Kahari All I ever wished for was to be rain And be in a race with mankind With every thunder starting gun Be the sprayed bullets in amorous congress with spayed not clouds Hope I had to espy on seeds of union droplets they be; To ravage in precipitation sweat drenching pores; Living I then rain in awe As to who among men has ever been able to eschew drops of rain Yet many when in torrents Will I espy on again striving to outrun dews of mist; When their days are already drenched moaning’s enduring a chew Living nothing of this torrid man's broken life shoe; Only for I to understand what they do not perceive Still to this sounding bell of time Why they all are sweaty gongs in this race they deem existence When in pluvial already the wetting uterus is dim wide for the dream running man NewsHawks Page 49 Issue 123, 17 March 2023

Page 50 People & Places Fourteen pupils were injured at Globe and Phoenix Primary School when a classroom block in which they attend school from caved into a mine shaft. NewsHawks Issue 123, 17 March 2023 Globe and Phoenix Primary School collapse as illegal gold panners mine within its premises