NewsHawks 3 June 2022

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WHAT’S INSIDE Friday 3 June 2022 NExE-WZiSscosteel SFProOmRTa nation
workers yet hungry for peace,
ZNiEmWbSabwe to get pensions to one starved
confirms of success
Indonesia Story on Page 8
arms deal Story on Page 40

Story on Page 5

Financial
looting
exposed
at CIO

ALSO INSIDE Knives out as Zanu PF infighting reaches crescendo

Page 2 News NewsHawks

Issue 83, 3 June 2022

MOSES MATENGA Massive financial decay,
looting exposed in CIO
CENTRAL Intelligence Organisation (CIO) fi-
nancial controls are in a shambles, amid fears that funds committed and cost trend. Since PMU
senior officers in the state spy agency are presiding commenced procurement of materials and ser-
over massive looting and hounding out two senior vices for capital projects, they have never availed
employees they suspect of plotting to expose the essential documents on costs such as invoices and
rot, available documents have shown. procurement authority.”
In the application, the two said up to the date
The documents gleaned by The NewsHawks, of the filing of court papers, the resource manage-
which include court papers and correspondence ment division was in the dark as to whether all the
between lawyers of the under-siege senior CIO materials and services paid for by the CIO were
officials, have revealed a litany of corrupt activities delivered to the projects.
and failure to follow public procurement proce- “The division has only been receiving issue
dure. vouchers from PM and is not sure if what was
issued tallies with what was authorised and subse-
The explosive case is lifting the lid on the CIO’s quently paid for,” documents read.
murky and unaccountable spending of taxpayer “Finance Division has also been reluctant to
funds. reveal Treasury allocations. Resultantly, records
on CIO project costs do not meet government re-
Those questioning the underhand dealings quirements. The MRM Division raised the above
have now been targeted. anomalies in several administrative branch daily
Heads of Division meetings and wrote several re-
In an application for review in terms of clause quests but with no result.”
45(1) of the CIO code of conduct, following a The two said the CIO director of administra-
ruling to expel them from the spy agency, Charity tion also issued deadlines to the two divisions to
Madyambudzi and Shadreck Mugabe said they avail the documents, but nothing materialised.
have been targeted and subjected to cruel treat- “It should be noted that when audits are car-
ment as part of attempts to silence them for chal- ried out, the auditee is the CIO directorate. As
lenging corrupt tendencies in the institution. such, our persistence to have the capital projects
implemented in a legal manner with government
In their application for review dated 16 May requirements and avoid adverse audit reports on
2022, the two cited four members of the disci- the auditee.
plinary committee housed at Chaminuka Build- “The differences have been mainly on contrac-
ing in Harare, the national headquarters of the tors failing to deliver what they would have been
CIO. paid for, to meet agreed timelines and baseless or
unsupported price variations.
“We are deeply and severely aggrieved by the “Examples are on the renovations of properties
determination and penalty imposed on us by the number 4 Crighton Road Gloombridge and 568
respondents,” Madyambudzi said. Eagle’s Place Borrowdale Brooke.
“When the MRM Division queried this over-
“They completely disregarded constitutional pricing of the service (from a possible US$20 000
provisions and have to be set aside by the Minister to US$100 000), I was labelled a renegade who
of National Security.” CIO Director-General Isaac Moyo doesn’t want to cooperate with others.
“This left us wondering whether we were sup-
The applicants said that they questioned a lot the process. integrity of the handover/takeover process be- posed to serve government interests or individual
of irregularities in procurement and in the en- “The ploy to get rid of us was clear from the came compromised and impossible to complete illegal interests.”
gagement of contractors within the CIO, open- in terms of Treasury Regulations.”
ing them to attack by their superiors. This led to attempts at subverting the handover/takeover According to an answering affidavit filed by
their suspension and ultimate dismissal by CIO procedures so that we would not properly record In correspondence to the CIO over the matter Mutasa in response to allegations raised by the
Director-General Isaac Moyo. the state of play of funded projects, how disbursed through their lawyers, the two said: “The pro- applicants, the CIO disputed the hearing was un-
funds had been used, etc with incoming officers ceedings were brought in order to hide corrupt lawful, arguing that it was in line with how disci-
Madyambudzi said the two were in October signing for these after projects were visited and in- practices by our superiors and make the irregular- plinary proceedings are conducted.
2020 unceremoniously excluded from the Ma- voices, receipts etc done and produced,” she said. ities even more egregious particularly when this is
terial Resource Management (MRM) division to against a background where the President (Em- “The transfers were not as a result of crossing
the “It is precisely because there was no misconduct merson Mnangagwa) is pushing the fight against the superiors’ lines but were poised to entrench
that the respondents struggled to come up with corruption.” sound administration within the branch,” Mutasa
Investment Branch and Security Branch re- allegations against us hence the failure to timeous- alleged.
spectively by the director of administration, Pat- ly commence the disciplinary proceedings. In a letter of appeal in October 2021, the ap-
rick Donald Mutasa. plicants through their lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa “The respondents are not aware of any differ-
“A handover/takeover process in a department of Mtetwa, Nyambirai and Partners legal practi- ences between the applicants and those in the
They argued their exclusion was done without that deals with high value projects is not and can- tioners appealed for clarity on, among other is- procurement’s ethical conduct and operational
following proper procedures of a transfer such as not be a one-day affair. sues, on why the required responses on projects efficiency.
conducting a handover/takeover in which docu- done by the CIO were not given and why re-
ments are signed by incoming and outgoing of- “The deponent’s desire to force us to abandon quirements by the government on procurement “Failure by a member to obey an instruction
ficers. the process was part of the attempt to frustrate a and engagement of contractors were not followed. regarding transfer constitutes an act of miscon-
proper recording of what were corrupt activities duct. It is disputed that the transfers constitute an
Madyambudzi said the two began hearing “cor- alleging that proper handover/takeover processes “It is government requirement that commit- act of misconduct. It is disputed that the transfers
ridor talk” over their impending redeployment for had not been done. ment registers are maintained for all capital proj- were an act of victimisation in order to get rid of
upsetting their superiors, especially those respon- ects funded by Treasury. These registers show the the Applicants and covert any corrupt activities.”
sible for procurement, finance and transport. “Once the deponent had covered the change
of locks at my office on October 19, 2020, the
“We had queried the way projects and engage- Senior officer’s house raided over car
ments of contractors had been done, execution
of services by contractors and failure to furnish MOSES MATENGA “What we know is they got to the house others milling around.”
us with the requisite information with regards to when he was bathing, after dropping his chil- A senior CIO official said the way the oper-
purchase for the purposes of updating records and CENTRAL Intelligence Organisation (CIO) dren from school. We saw people we felt were
also keeping track of expectations of Public Sec- operatives on Wednesday besieged the house strangers, who acted as if they were observing atives behaved, especially towards a colleague,
tor Investment Programme as is mandatory,” said of a former senior official who is fighting his something from the house,” one of the witness- was unusual, an indication they were acting on
Madyambudzi expulsion in court after exposing cases of sus- es, who stays close to Mugabe’s house, said. instruction from some superiors.
pected corruption within the organisation, and
“It was as a result of these differences that a forcefully took his vehicle, before speeding off “They went in and demanded to see him, but Mugabe is one of the two officers who are
ploy was devised in the Administrative Branch, in dramatic fashion, The NewsHawks heard. while they were asking to see him, they were being hounded out of the spy agency, together
Procurement Management Unit and Finance already by the car, demanding the keys and ob- with Charity Madyambudzi, in what is seen as
Division to get rid of the 2nd applicant and me Over six operatives forced their way into serving.” a ploy to silence them over queries they raised
since we refused to be engulfed in their corrupt Shadreck Mugabe’s house and some into one as per their mandate in ensuring accountability
schemes. of his spare bedrooms, where they grabbed the The car in question is a personal issue vehi- in procurement and the engagement of con-
keys to the vehicle, a Toyota Corolla. cle allocated to senior officers and should have tractors.
“Their fear was we were going to expose them been sold at book price after five years.
since we had a lot of information in connection Witnesses said the combative agents claimed The two argue that their suspension was not
with their corruption activities which we had they were working on instructions from their Mugabe was issued the vehicle on 2014 and procedural. They were later fired, but they ar-
discussed with the Director Administration and superiors. the five years elapsed in 2019. gue in court that the act was illegal, as due pro-
heads of respective divisions.” cess was not followed.
“Those who came in were six, but there were
In one of the corrupt deals cited by the
two, renovations that would have ideal-
ly cost US$20 000 were charged at a cost of
US$80 000 on the parallel market rate and
US$100 000 on the official market rate.

She said the two appealed to the CIO direc-
tor-general following their transfer, seeking clarity
on the intended objectives of the purported trans-
fer which had been irregularly done.

She said she was also locked outside her office
and forced to work from the car park. She is thus
challenging why they were then charged and fired
for absenteeism.

After being locked out of her office, she said
she lost US$837 that she kept there.

“No investigation was done,” she said.
Madyambudzi argued that the handover/
takeover process was frustrated by their superiors
amid suspicion they intended to hide a lot of cor-
ruption cases that were bound to be exposed in

NewsHawks News Page 3

Issue 83, 3 June 2022

BERNARD MPOFU Shoddy mining development
stalls Zim’s platinum project
AN off beam and shoddy mining development
approach led to the collapse of some shaft at A solid platinum nugget, usually found alloyed with other platinum group of metals, including iron, copper, gold, nickel and other PGMs.
the stalled US$3 billion Zimbabwean and Rus-
sian-owned Great Dyke Investments (GDI) quire extractive methods or tunnels. on geological exploration and construction of virtually no activities at the mine and operations
platinum project in Darwendale, 65 kilometres This surface mining approach is used when two box cuts and surface infrastructure. were placed under care and maintenance.
west of the capital Harare.
mineral or ore deposits are found relatively close Afreximbank was expected to provide about “Contractors such as JR Goddard, KW Blast-
The project was expected to be one of the to the surface of the earth. US$500 million to fund the initial mining ing, Dific Mining Contractors, Static Strata,
biggest mining developments in the world on a phase. The Centre for Natural Resource Gov- Esor Construction and Intrachem withdrew and
massive and rich Great Dyke deposit in a coun- Open-pit mines are dug on benches that are ernance (CNRG), a civil society research and workers were retrenched. By the end of 2021,
try which ranks third in the production of the between four and 60 metres in size, depending advocacy group, says in its latest report after a the Russians had started to strategically pull out
platinum group metals (PGMs) after leader on the magnitude of machinery used to exca- protracted investigation it established the proj- of the mine site. Conclusively, although lack of
South Africa and Russia. vate. ect is now stuck after a shaft collapse, misman- funding was the visible cause of the failure of the
agement and shoddy workmanship. project, underlying this cause were signs of mis-
GDI is 50% owned by Russian tycoon Vi- The walls of most open-pit mines are dug at management and mistrust between the Russian
taliy Machitskiy’s Vi Holdings, through its JSC an angle and include steps to prevent avalanches The report shows the GDI project in Dar- investors and their local partners,” the report
Afromet subsidiary, and 50% by Landela Min- from occurring inside the build site. The incline wendale, 65 kilometres west of the capital Hara- reads.
ing Venture linked to local tycoon Kudakwashe section of the wall is called the “batter”, and re, which has the potential to become one of the
Tagwirei who is closely associated with President the flat part of the step is called the “bench” or world’s biggest platinum mines with capacity Initially the project was owned by a consor-
Emmerson Mnangagwa and his family. “berm”. to reboot Zimbabwe’s collapsing economy, has tium of Zimbabwean investors operating under
stalled and now faces collapse for myriad rea- the name Pen East, 30% controlled by the mil-
After further wheeling and dealing involving In some cases, de-watering bores are drilled sons which include poor engineering works and itary’s Old Stone Investments and 20% by the
Tagwirei — who is under American and British horizontally into the walls to relieve water pres- shareholding tussles. state-owned Zimbabwe Mining Development
sanctions for shady deals — and his companies, sure, which can destroy the walls if not properly Corporation, before Tagwirei bought that 50%
Sotic International and a labyrinth of shadowy addressed. A haul road is dug at the side of the “Investigations by CNRG revealed that Por- stake, and Russian investors including VI Hold-
local and offshore structures, Kuvimba Mining pit to form a ramp for ore-carrying trucks to tal 2 was left incomplete, while Portal 1, though ings, Rostec and Vnesheconombank. That was
House, 65% owned by government and 35% by haul material to and from the mining site. completed, collapsed at the stage of drilling the before further shareholder changes which result-
ghost shareholders, now controls 50% of GDI. decline shafts. The collapse of Portal 1 raised a ed in the current structure.
After the physical mine infrastructure has lot of questions about the competency of the en-
The mine is located on the unique Great Dyke been built, production activities include drill- gineers who designed the mine plan,” the report South Africa’s Impala Platinum, which owns
geological feature on a layered mafic intrusion ing, blasting, excavation, loading and transport- reads. Zimplats, the country’s biggest platinum proj-
of igneous, metal-bearing rock associated with ing broken ore. ect, was approached to buy a stake in GDI.
chromium, nickel, copper, platinum, titanium, “The engineers carried out secondary studies
iron, vanadium, and tin. Waste rock is piled up near the edge of the on the geology of the area and concluded that However, the move failed due to GDI’s
pit and spreads both horizontally and vertically. the ground condition was poor and unstable opaque shareholding structure, especially re-
The mineral-rich belt extends more than This is known as the “waste dump”. The waste hence not suitable for underground mining. garding Kuvimba. Landela paid US$21.5 mil-
550km north-east to south-west across the cen- dump is also tiered and stepped, to keep rocks Rather, opencast mining was recommended. lion for a stake in GDI. There were also further
tre of Zimbabwe with width varying from three from falling into other parts of the site. mysterious payments, which included US$220
kilometres to 12 kilometres. “With a lot of safety fears, all excavation oper- million and ZW$300 million.
Processed ore, known as “tailings”, is pumped ations to proceed with making the declines liter-
The Darwendale platinum project is estimat- into a settling pond until the water evaporates. ally hit a wall. According to internal sources, de- The deal was not transparent.
ed to hold 181.3 million tonnes of measured These tailings ponds are often toxic due to the lays in the project scheduling and budget creeps The project was commissioned by the late
and indicated ore resources grading 1.60g/t of presence of unextracted sulfide minerals. caused fatigue in the Russian investor who had former president Robert Mugabe in September
platinum and 2.93g/t of 4E, containing 17.1 anticipated that mining would have started by 2014 in a high-level ceremony also attended vis-
million ounces (moz) of PGMs and gold. Shaft mining or shaft sinking involves ex- 2021. No further funds were injected into the iting Russian Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov.
cavating a mine pit from the top down, where project thereafter.” A bankable feasibility study undertaken in
The deposit is estimated to contain 243 tonnes there is initially no access to the bottom. Shal- 2017 by Afreximbank showed the project had
of PGMs in proven and probable reserves. low shafts, typically sunk for civil engineering In December 2020, the report further shows, the potential to contribute to Zimbabwe’s eco-
projects, differ greatly in execution method from there were signs that the momentum at the mine nomic turnaround.
The mine was supposed to be an underground deep shafts, typically sunk for mining projects. had slackened, and from May 2021, there were
operation with an annual run-of-mine ore out-
put of 3.45 million tonnes and an annual PGM The company, according to information at
production of 290Koz in phase one. hand, had already spent over US$100 million

The first box cut which provides a safe and
secure entrance to the mine was initiated in
January 2020. It was supposed to serve as the
opening for the Mwendamberi Portal. Initial
mining operations were expected to start from
the northern end of the deposit and involve si-
multaneous production from declines 1 and 2.

The ore body is divided into five major blocks
which were to be mined in phases. At full ca-
pacity, the concentration and metallurgic plant
for the project was envisaged to be capable of
producing up to 860Koz of PGMs treating up
to 10.5Mt ore a year.

Zimbabwe, which has other running plat-
inum mines, has been pushing since 2014 to
develop the GDI project expected to showcase
the country’s dramatic PGM endowments and
bring close to reality its dream of a US$12 bil-
lion mining sector economy by 2023.

However, an off-centre and poor mining de-
velopment method led to shaft sinking instead
of open cast mining which was most suitable for
the Great Dyke concession as the resource is not
that deep underground.

“GDI mining developers went for shaft min-
ing development instead of simply going with
the opencast method,” one of the mining engi-
neers involved said.

“They spent a lot of money — at least US$100
million — sinking shafts and other related works
instead of developing an open-pit mine.

“In the process, the shafts collapsed after the
Russians were forced to hire dubious mining
developers who did a shoddy job. After that, a
dispute erupted on how to proceed; Russians
wanted Zimbabwean shareholders to put some
money on the table to fix the problem, but the
locals refused as they always felt they had already
contributed the resource and should not put
money.

“Resultantly, misunderstandings arose and
that saw the Russians pulling back or out, and
Zimbabweans unable to proceed on their own.
Investors, contractors, engineers, developers and
workers have now pulled out. That is why the
project has stalled, practically collapsing.”

Open-pit mining, also known as opencast
mining, is a surface mining technique that ex-
tracts minerals from an open pit in the ground.
It is the most common method used throughout
the world for mineral mining and does not re-

Page 4 News NewsHawks

Issue 83, 3 June 2022

Farmers lose land over stalled mining project

MORE than 20 farmers in Darwendale in Mash- In March 2022, Environmental Management deposits in the world. a year, translating to almost US$1 billion. The
onaland West province lost land as a result of the Agency suspended GDI’s Environmental Im- The project was being developed by GDI, a total mine life expectancy is 40 years. Mining
stalled US$3 billion platinum project which has pact Assessment certificate for failure to comply preparatory works started in 2020 with the es-
left a trail of socio-economic and environmental with the conditions of the Environmental Im- joint venture between Russia’s Vi Holding and tablishment of two portals for the mine. Shortly
consequences on the surrounding communities, pact Assessment of relocating and compensating Zimbabwe’s Landela Mining Venture. A bank- afterwards, in 2021, the mining project stalled.
a report by an extractive industry and resources affected farmers before the project commenced.” able feasibility study which was undertaken in
watchdog says. 2017 by African Export-Import Bank (Afrexim- The CNRG closely followed the develop-
The government of Zimbabwe commissioned bank) showed that the project had a potential ments at this much-hyped mining investment
Official figures show that mining is a Zimba- the Darwendale platinum project in September to contribute to the turnaround of Zimbabwe’s and identified lack of transparency as the chief
bwe key foreign currency earner accounting for 2014. economy. cause of the collapse. This has left the commu-
more than half of export earnings, but the sector nity around, especially displaced farmers, more
has failed to lift millions of citizens out of pover- Located on the mineral-rich Great Dyke, the The peak production of the mine was expected impoverished. — STAFF WRITER.
ty. In some cases, as the situation in Darwendale belt is one of the biggest platinum group metals to be 860 000 ounces of platinum group metals
shows, mining has displaced and impoverished
some people.

Touted as a game changer and an indicator of
progress in attracting investors, the Great Dyke
Investment (GDI) project collapsed in 2021 due
to a plethora of problems, which include corrup-
tion, mismanagement, mistrust, and poor plan-
ning, an investigation by a civil society natural
resources watchdog says.

According to the latest Centre for Natural
Resource Governance (CNRG) report, Brighton
Murisa, who was a poultry farmer in the Dar-
wendale area, is one of several local farmers who
lost land when the project was first mooted.

“However, he lost land and his US$780 000
poultry investment to GDI mining. Portal 1 box
cut of the mine sits on Murisa’s farm and less
than 50m from his homestead,” the report says.

“Murisa was forced to leave his land without
compensation. According to the EIA report con-
ducted by Black Crystal Consulting Pvt Ltd, 38
farmers were to be affected by the project. Out
of these 38 farmers, 25 are to lose 100% of their
land and are supposed to be relocated to an al-
ternative land. Five farmers would co-exist with
the mine but paid for their losses.”

When GDI commenced works at the mine in
February 2020, the report further shows none of
the farmers had been resettled or paid for their
losses.

“The resettlement plan was also not available.

NewsHawks News Page 5

Issue 83, 3 June 2022

MOSES MATENGA Cabinet confirms Asian arms deal

CABINET has confirmed Vice-President Con- Acting Information minister Jenfan Muswere
stantino Chiwenga’s intent to purchase ammu- PT Pindad is an Indonesian state-owned arms-manufacturing company specialising in military hardware.
nition in Indonesia ahead of elections next year
in a development that has sent shivers down the
spines of many who fear the use of the military
by the Zanu PF regime to settle political scores.

Chiwenga was recently in Indonesia for the
2022 Sector Ministers’ Meeting on Sanitation
and Water for All where he visited an arms-man-
ufacturing company to buy military hardware
for Zimbabwe.

On Tuesday, Cabinet adopted his report that
included the intention to sell ammunition.

The visit and apparent plan to purchase the
ammunition, particularly ahead of the 2023
elections, has sent the opposition, civilians, dip-
lomats and the international community into
panic especially after the 1 August 2018 shoot-
ings that saw the military shooting and killing
unarmed civilians after the 31 July polls.

“In addition, PT LEN of Indonesia will ex-
plore investment opportunities in the renewable
energy and rail signaling systems, while PT Pin-
dad will explore partnerships with authorities
in the defence industry,” acting Information
minister Jenfan Muswere said on Tuesday in a
post-cabinet briefing.

The involvement of the army is civilian pro-
cesses has been the hallmark of Emmerson
Mnangagwa’s government that has in the past
used the military to silence critics.

Chiwenga landed in the Indonesian capital,
Jakarta, on 15 May on government business and
soon after his arrival in the Asian country, state
media news agency Antara exposed a secret part
of his itinerary, which included visiting the state-
owned weapon maker PT Pindad in Bandung to
explore the possibility of an arms purchase.

PT Pindad is an Indonesian state-owned
arms-manufacturing company specialising in
military hardware.

It was founded in 1808 as a military equip-
ment workshop in Surabaya under the name of
Artillerie Constructie Winkel. It expanded into
a factory before moving to Bandung in 1923.
The Dutch handed over the factory to the Indo-
nesian government in 1950.

The company is now a major manufacturer of
military equipment for internal use and export.

PT Pindad sells a host of lethal weapons, from
sidearms to submachine guns, assault rifles, bat-
tle rifles, machine guns, sniper rifles, grenade
launchers and armoured vehicles.

In its stock it has a 40mm Silent Mortar, ME-
105 105mm Howitzer, PK-1 field knife and a
PL-1 throwing knife.

Zimbabwe usually buys its weapons from
Eastern Europe and China while in the past the
southern African country has purchased weap-
ons from Brazil and African countries such as
South Africa, Namibia and Egypt.

Before the European arms embargo, it bought
arms from Britain and other European coun-
tries.

Last month, the United Kingdom expressed
concern over reports that Chiwenga was shop-
ping for weapons in Indonesia amid growing
fears of a plan to perpetuate human rights abus-
es by state security agents against civilians in
Zimbabwe.

In a question to the Foreign, Commonwealth
and Development Office, the Labour member
of Parliament for West Ham, who is the current
shadow minister for Foreign, Commonwealth
and Development Affairs, Lyn Brown, asked
about the potential impact of Zimbabwe’s pur-
chase of arms to Indonesia on the country’s hu-
man rights situation.

The United Kingdom views Zimbabwe as a
politically volatile environment, with the state
security agents previously involved in shooting
and killing unarmed civilians during protests in
August 2018 and January 2019.

The government has failed to institute investi-
gations to hold to account those responsible for
the killings.

In 2008, a shipment of weapons bound for
Zimbabwe from China was intercepted in South
Africa with the Asian country authorities later
saying the arms would be recalled after South
African port workers refused to unload it.

There were calls then from Britain to prevent
arms flowing into the troubled country follow-
ing the disputed March elections that led to a
bloody runoff campaign fronted by the military
and saw dozens dead.

Page 6 News NewsHawks

Issue 83, 3 June 2022

MOSES MATENGA Council officials in trouble
over US$400m Pomona deal
HARARE City Council has threatened to hold
accountable its officials who sheepishly agreed instructions from council.” Harare mayor Jacob Mafume
to sign the Pomona deal without following due Mafume told The NewsHawks that council
process.
will be guided by the report and recommen-
The officials are claiming they were ordered dations of the special committee set up to in-
by the government after a meeting involving vestigate the deal and whether due process was
the Office of the President and Cabinet to sim- followed.
ply forego their own feasibility study and work
with what a foreign company had done. The committee set up is expected to report
back to council within 14 days.
Officials at Town House, including act-
ing town clerk Mabhena Moyo, who signed Councillors resolved to shelve the deal which
the US$400 million waste-to-energy Pomona they said was a disaster to the cash-strapped lo-
dumpsite deal, angered councillors on Thurs- cal authority.
day when they confirmed they signed the scan-
dalous deal after they were instructed to do so On what will happen to the officials includ-
even without following procedure after a meet- ing the acting town clerk who were part of the
ing involving the Office of the President and deal, Mafume said: “We are going to wait for
Cabinet, Local Government Ministry and the the special investigations committee, but a les-
central bank. son must be taught to people at City of Harare
and other cities that when you agree to work
The deal was then foisted on council officials for council you do that and exactly work for
even without undergoing a feasibility study, a council and defend the interests of the resi-
key and compulsory requirement for any such dents.”
deals.
“These whispers, these references to the Re-
Councillors hastily convened a special meet- serve Bank of Zimbabwe, reference to the Of-
ing on the Pomona deal on Thursday in which fice of the President and Cabinet and other in-
they angrily rebuked officials for succumbing dividuals who do not have a mandate is not an
to “bullying tactics” from the government into excuse,” Mafume said.
signing a deal illegally without a bankable fea-
sibility. Councillors resolved that the contract,
pushed through mainly by MDC-T council-
“You can’t tell us there was no bankable fea- lors, be suspended with immediate effect.
sibility study. We can’t continue in a situation
where the people admit they did not do any “You agreed to everything without challeng-
feasibility study (and) that they allowed the ing the deal. l saw no one among council offi-
contract to go ahead without that,” mayor Ja- cials who said no to this deal. Residents do not
cob Mafume fumed. expect us to be pushed around.

“That is completely unfair to the residents. “We have lost our power station, our roads
In the report they were supposed to tell us who and now Pomona. We can’t keep on losing,”
told them to do what, which officials told them Mafume fumed.
to do that.”

“They work for council (and) why then did
they listen to anyone outside council? They
can’t be told by whoever to do what they did
and fail to say I work for council and I get my

Councillors at Harare City Council resolved to shelve the Pomona deal, saying it is a disaster.

NewsHawks News Page 7

Issue 83, 3 June 2022 Waste management firms seek
reversal of controversial deal
RUVIMBO MUCHENJE
Rubbish piles up at Market Square Bus terminus, as the City of Harare fails to efficiently collect refuse. — Pictures: Ruvimbo Muchenje
PRIVATE players in the waste man-
agement sector have taken Harare
City Council to task to reverse the
controversial Pomona waste-to-en-
ergy deal, arguing the charges levied
by Netherlands-based company Geo-
genix BV are prohibitive and the city
fathers must block the transaction
they referred to as dirty and unfair.

The firms, including Waste Away,
Capital Waste and Skip It, are the sec-
ond group to challenge the Pomona
deal in court after the residents of Ha-
rare North filed a High Court applica-
tion to stop the project.

The deal, the companies said, has
increased the garbage dumping fees by
4 500% without notice.

Nanette Marrion Baker Smith of
Waste Away, who spoke on behalf
of the private players, told The New-
sHawks that the lack of consultation
before the city agreed the “dubious”
deal has derailed operations.

“We told them that there was no
consultation at all and everything was
conducted as if it was a big secret.
Overnight we were hit by prohibi-
tive costs to dump waste at Pomona
dumping area,” Smith said.

“From RTGS$7 000 dumping fee
per load, we were suddenly hit with
US$40 per tonne which turned out
to be US$800 per load, so for us the
increase was thousands percent over-
night. No RTGS was allowed. On top
of it, the US$40 per tonne charge has
a US$5.80 VAT (value-added tax),”
Smith added.

“What we proposed to the engi-
neer as a short-term solution, all the
waste that we collect belongs to the
city and under this very nefarious,
low key, unacceptable deal which we
want squashed and come to an end,
we asked them whilst things were be-
ing sorted that we would be able to
dump under the City of Harare. They
have to dump 550 tonnes a day and
pay Geopomona waste Management
(Pvt) Ltd US$22 000 per day, which
is absolutely crazy.”

Smith told The NewsHawks that the
aggrieved companies are now waiting
for council to give direction on their
proposal.

“Not a done deal yet: we have to
wait for city to come back to us and it
will only be a stop-gap measure until a
full solution is found. I told them the
deal should be cancelled. Those who
signed that deal are obviously compro-
mised, a very murky and unacceptable
deal,” she said.

Smith likened the deal to daylight
robbery.

According to an agreement entered
into by Harare and Geogenix BV rep-
resented in Zimbabwe by businessman
Delish Nguwaya, the city is expected
to pay US$22 000 a day for dumping
a maximum of 500 tonnes of garbage
at the Pomona dumpsite, but even if
they do not reach the required thresh-
old, they are still required to pay for it.

“City of Harare are being charged
for 550 tonnes per day yet they strug-
gle to do 200 tonnes per day. Even
with our reduced tonnages added to
the city the maximum you will get is
250 tonnes per day out of the agreed
550 tonnes per day. It’s a complete rip
off,” she said.

Smith added that private players
should have been consulted ahead of
the signing of the deal.

Other operators who spoke on con-
dition of anonymity said the contract
should have never been signed in the
first place and that they are thinking
of leaving the business altogether be-
fore they are further ripped off.

Harare councillors on Thursday re-
solved to set up a committee to look
into the deal.

Page 8 News NewsHawks

Zanu PF Issue 83, 3 June 2022
targets UK
lawmaker United Kingdom lawmaker Jonathan Oates consistently accuses Zimbabwe of violating human rights (below).

MOSES MATENGA

THE ruling Zanu PF has castigated a vocal Unit-
ed Kingdom lawmaker Jonathan Oates (Lord
Oates), a British Liberal Democrat politician and
member of the House of Lords, accusing him of
being undemocratic and hobnobbing with the
Zimbabwean opposition in pursuit of a regime
change agenda.

Oates has been one of the many UK lawmak-
ers who have consistently criticised President
Emmerson Mnangagwa’s regime, accusing the
government of violating human rights and failing
to observe the rule of law.

The UK lawmaker has also accused the govern-
ment of targeting the opposition through arbi-
trary arrests while shrinking the democratic space
but his position has angered the ruling Zanu PF
which described him on Wednesday as undem-
ocratic.

“He is not democratically elected himself. He is
a Lord by heredity,” Zanu PF spokesperson Chris
Mutsvangwa said.

“The opposition likes those people who are de-
viants in society. Why choose those friends? Spare
us the Lord Oates of this world who are not dem-
ocratic themselves,” Mutsvangwa added.

Oates recently told the Zimbabwean govern-
ment to respect and uphold the country’s consti-
tution or else it remains a subject of international
scrutiny.

This came as Zimbabwe recently told the UK
and United States officials to stop meddling in
Zimbabwe’s internal affairs.

The British lawmaker recently triggered debate
in the House of Lords on Zimbabwe’s alleged fail-
ure to uphold the constitution and respect human
rights while also accusing Zanu PF of actively un-
dermining the country’s main opposition Citi-
zens' Coalition for Change (CCC).

Mutsvangwa recently said Oates was a political
toddler suffering from colonial hangover, saying
he was an intelligence agent during his days in
Zimbabwe under the guise of being a teacher.

But Oates dismissed Mutsvangwa’s allegations
as desperate lies, insisting he was a teacher in rural
Zimbabwe in the 1980s.

Oates has raised several issues of concern on
Zimbabwe in the House of Commons includ-
ing the Private Voluntary Organisations (PVOs)
Amendment Bill and the proposed Patriotic Bill
that he said will further shrink the democratic
space under Mnangagwa.

The UK has imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe
over human rights abuses including the August
2018 shootings and the January 2019 fuel pro-
tests killings that saw Central Intelligence Organi-
sation (CIO) boss Isaac Moyo, former Presidential
Guard commander now Zimbabwe’s Ambassador
to Tanzania Anselem Sanyatwe and former State
Security minister Owen Ncube being placed un-
der sanctions.

Zanu PF spokesperson Chris Mutsvangwa

NewsHawks News Page 9
President Emmerson Mnangagwa
Issue 83, 3 June 2022

Knives out as Zanu
PF internal strife
reaches crescendo
challenge the Zanu PF leader in the elective De-
MOSES MATENGA cember congress.

ZANU PF has confirmed growing fissures within Chiwenga is accused by Mnangagwa loyalists
the party ahead of the December elective con- of working with exiled former political commis-
gress while warning those using money in their sar Saviour Kasukuwere and other former party
plot to challenge the party leader that they will stalwarts to dislodge the strongman ahead of the
be dealt with. 2023 elections.

Party spokesperson Chris Mutsvangwa says Already, party divisions have been shown in
President Emmerson Mnangagwa is the party’s the party’s youth league and this weekend’s pro-
sole candidate for the 2023 elections while warn- vincial women’s league elections that have di-
ing any plotters that they will not succeed to top- vided the party further as bigwigs line up their
ple the strongman. preferred choices

Some party members say there was an agree- Mutsvangwa has already insisted that all the
ment between Mnangagwa and Vice-President organs are rallying behind Mnangagwa despite
Constantino Chiwenga following the November insiders saying some in the party had launched a
2017 military coup that the Zanu leader will whisper campaign calling for an elective congress
serve only one term before handing over power where the party leader should be challenged.
to his deputy who played a crucial role in his rise
to power. Mutsvangwa’s political warnings con- Kasukuwere is accused of working with Sy-
firm that there is disharmony in the cockpit. beth Musengezi to challenge Mnangagwa’s rise to
the helm of Zanu PF following a coup in 2017
“He (Mnangagwa) is allowed two terms ac- that led to the ouster of the late former President
cording to the constitution and the ruling party Robert Mugabe.
has endorsed him as sole candidate (ahead of the
2023 elections),” Mutsvangwa said. Musengezi is now under siege after he was ar-
rested last week before he was granted bail for
“Zanu PF is united behind him and organs allegedly using a fake home address upon joining
of the party have endorsed him. The Women’s Zanu PF.
League conference is around the corner and will
also likely endorse him.” He said ever since his release, he has been un-
der the weather and has also been accosted by
Mutsvangwa said Mnangagwa deserved a sec- unknown assailants suspected to be state agents.
ond term as he has managed to win the hearts of
investors, particularly during his trip to Davos, “They put me in jail, threatened, intimidated,
Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum inhumanely treated and harassed me and those
that the Zanu PF spokesperson described as “the close to me so as to break my spirit and force me
United Nations of business”. into submission, but that’s not going to happen,”
he said on microblogging site Twitter.
“Investors want certainty and he had this to
offer in Davos,” Mutsvangwa said. “Mnangagwa has to respect us, this country
belongs to us all not him and his associates alone.
Mutsvangwa accused speculators of working They wanted my current physical address and as
to effect regime change in Zimbabwe, but he im- much information they can get on me through
mediately warned that their scheming will flop. the so-called “profiling” so they can put me un-
der surveillance, follow, harass or make a raid on
“Speculators are thinking they can succeed me anytime they want.”
where the opposition failed, where the trade
unions failed. The President has weathered the There are fears, which were confirmed by
storm. The economy is good and why only the women’s league boss Mabel Chinomona recently
currency?” during a meeting at party headquarters, that a
faction and some individuals were using money
“We are winning that war. We won back our to infiltrate structures for their own sinister agen-
land and every war we have won, now we are left das.
with the currency war,” he said.
This was in apparent reference to the G40 ca-
Mnangagwa’s loyalists have already sharpened bal that some within the ruling party suspect was
knives against those perceived to be working working with Chiwenga.
with Chiwenga, accusing them of plotting to

Exiled former political commissar Saviour Kasukuwere Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga

Page 10 News NewsHawks

Issue 83, 3 June 2022

Zesa wastes
US$2 million
worth power
equipment

LIZWE SEBATHA

AN electricity transformer test bay at Zesa En- Zimbabweans are reeling under power outages as Zesa is failing to meet demand.
terprises (ZENT) worth US$2 million has been
lying idle since it was acquired in the late 1990s to said. in the country generating just above 1 000MW. deliver within agreed timelines. The contract was
by Zesa Holdings amid fears it may have outlived “It’s very worrisome that our state enterprises The government targets to ease the electricity signed in 2015.
its lifespan.
continue to operate in a manner that is non-prof- outages by 2023, if ongoing projects to increase In September, 2020, Zesa abandoned its Mu-
The equipment was bought from Germany itable which is not accruing any revenue back to output are undertaken and completed. tare peaking power station project which was
before ZENT, a subsidiary of Zesa Holdings the national fiscus.” supposed to be completed in 2022. Zesa said it
charged with producing and maintaining trans- But a number of planned electricity generation abandoned the project, which was envisaged to
formers, was even established. With many citizens living in darkness owing to projects, including by independent power pro- contribute as much as 120 megawatts to the na-
transformer shortages, Zimbabweans are reeling ducers (IPP), are failing to take off or have been tional grid because using diesel to generate elec-
The machine has been lying idle at Zent’s trans- under power outages as the power utility is failing abandoned. One such project is the US$183 mil- tricity was costly.
former-manufacturing plant in New Ardbennie, to meet demand. lion Gwanda Solar Project awarded to controver-
yet many Zimbabweans are living in darkness ow- sial businessman Wicknell Chivayo. The scandal-ridden 100MW Dema diesel
ing to a transformer shortage. The country requires approximately 2 000 power plant built in 2016 by Sakunda Holdings
megawatts to plug the electricity outages, but age- The Gwanda solar project has been the subject has also been abandoned.
The equipment is used to test transformers be- ing equipment at existing power plants is resulting of court battles after Intratrek Zimbabwe failed to
fore they are put to use. At the moment, ZENT
has only one functioning bay.

Recently, ZENT said the country had a back-
log of over 2 000 transformers which is due to
the inability to produce at maximum capacity.
Reports also said the firm required about US$7.2
million per year to produce between 250 and 300
transformers every month.

But it has emerged that the critical machine
is gathering dust at the ZENT warehouse, with
the company’s officials saying they need foreign
currency to fly engineers from Germany to help
them bring it to life.

“We have two test bays which test transformers
of different sizes. The other one is not working
because its commissioning is not yet complete. To
commission it there is a need for foreign currency.
Because installers of that test bay are from Ger-
many, we need to hire and pay them in foreign
currency. We also need to import spares,” ZENT
acting managing director Burusa Mandipezano,
said.

ZENT operations director Philemon Dhafa-
na added: “Its full commissioning requires up to
US$200 000. What is not functional is the in-
strumentation and the software which is failing to
boot because it has now become obsolete due to
time and aging.”

Zimbabwe Coalition for Debt and Develop-
ment (ZimCodd) programmes manager John
Maketo said it was disturbing that US$2 million
was spent on the importation of a machine which
is gathering dust.

“There must be an investigation into this pro-
curement because it boggles the mind why the
whole entity procured the bay before undergoing
due diligence in terms of the needs of such utility
after procurement. It’s not just about buying but
you want to consider capacity utilisation,” Make-

NewsHawks News Page 11

Issue 83, 3 June 2022

Ex-Ziscosteel workers yet to get pensions

WILLIAM MILASI employees on 31st of August 2016. From then Industry and Commerce steel is going to be functional that, reveal when
onwards, we were expecting our pensions within minister Sekai Nzenza the investors are going to arrive on the ground
MORE than five years after being retrenched three months. It is within the law. It is within the as well as when they are going to start produc-
without severance packages, desperate former Zis- Statutory Instrument in Pensions and Providence meantime we are calling on government to show tion. Parliament and government of Zimbabwe,
costeel employees are yet to access their pensions. Act that anyone terminated or dismissed from the human face considering the contributions we Ziscosteel former workers and more important-
employment must be paid within 90 days of ter- made in US dollar its better we get paid on an ly the Kwekwe community want to understand
They fear that if the government is to contin- mination of their employment up to now we have interbank rate,” Moyo said. and know when this national institution in our
ue with the present arrangement of awarding the not been paid,” Moyo said. economic recovery program is going to begin pro-
pensions on a ZW$1:US$1 some workers will get He added, that some former pensioners have duction,” Chikwinya said.
less than US$10 following years of toil. In April, the former workers had a meeting to died without accessing their money while Redcliff
map the way forward. is now a ghost town given that former employees He also said Minister Nzenza must answer on
For former employee Taonezvi Machakaire, are struggling to make ends meet. the welfare of former Ziscosteel employees.
who spent over 40 years with the company, his “Government is the one which took over the
present situation is bitter. Ziscosteel debt in 2016 and this was passed into Mbizo lawmaker Settlement Chikwinya said “When are the outstanding pensions of former
an Act in 2019. Its now a law that we should be the government must really look into the welfare Ziscosteel employees going to be paid off? There
“I never imagined that after serving the compa- paid, unfortunately government hasn’t paid us of Ziscosteel pensioners who are wallowing in is currently a standoff between the ex-Ziscosteel
ny for 42 years I would end up being confined to up to now. Through SI 33 we were to receive our poverty following the closure of the former inter- workers whom the government wants to pay in
destitution by the company I served with distinc- pensions where US$1 was equivalent to 1 bond grated steelworks giant. RTGS at a rate converted at one-to-one for their
tion and loyalty,” he said. note. That was feasible in 2016 but not at the pensions which they accrued in US$ and now the
present moment. We contributed our pensions to “In Parliament I presented a question on na- government wants to pay them in RTGS,” Chik-
The former operator said his only hope is to get the employer in US dollars. tional importance in terms of standing order winya said.
a decent pension and maybe the re-opening of the number 62 of Parliament calling upon the minis-
company so that his children will get employment “The human part of it is not there. In the ter of Industry and Commerce, honourable Sekai The lawmaker said such callousness is totally
opportunities. Nzenza, to come before Parliament and do the unfair to the former employees.
following:
“I just pray that government grants us reason- “It is very unfair, it is very cruel and it
able pensions so that we live decently. It is also my “One, state the roadmap under which Zisco- is very inhumane for someone who had
hope that the company is rescucitated so that the US$30000in2017nowtogetpaidtheirpensionsin
youths around here can get employment,” he said. ZW$30 000. So we want the minister to come to
Parliament and tell us how they expect Ziscosteel
Another former employee, who at one time pensioners to survive when they had accrued US
served as a Redcliff councillor, Ashton Muchuwe- dollars in their pensions and yet the government
ni, said ex-workers are languishing in poverty. wants to pay them in RTGS,” Chikwinya said.

“It is the greatest height of being callous that Redcliff MP Lloyd Mukapiko said the coming
after serving the company for all those years we in of a new investor in Kuvimba Mining House
have not been paid our pensions. To aggravate the had not brought any joy to the former Ziscosteel
situation, the government is proposing to pay us employees.
devalued pensions which are next to nothing. As
former employees we are living by God’s grace. It “The issue of Ziscosteel pension payout is a dis-
was better in recent months when we were receiv- turbing story. Ziscosteel workers were retrenched
ing food aid from Plan International, but since in 2016 according to the Pensions and Providence
the aid came to an end we are living in serious Funds Act. Ziscosteel employees should then have
poverty. It is only through God’s grace that we been given their pensions within three months or
have made it this far,” he said. 90 days of retrenchment. They should have been
paid their pensions in December 2016 but up to
Former worker representative and councillor now they have not been settled,” Mukapiko said.
Maxin Dabvu has called on the government to
look into the issue of pensions. He said when government assumed the Zisco-
steel Debt Assumption Bill there was hope that
“Government must really look into the welfare the workers would get their dues.
of former employees. They are leading painful
lives, their lives are very unbearable. This has also “We received information through FML board
impacted on their ability to pay their bills,” he of trustees indicating that government through
said. the ministry of Finance had deposited ZW$39
million in FML account to disburse to benefi-
Paralegal expert and former worker representa- ciaries in December 2021. Considering that over
tive Willard Milazi said workers should have been 3 000 workers are supposed to have benefited it
paid their dues within three months of being ter- means that each worker would have been given
minated. US$70 in pensions, which is quite sad. Therefore,
there was an uproar and the money was not dis-
“It’s sad that I worked for Ziscosteel for over 27 bursed,” he said.
years, but I was retrenched with nothing. I urge
government to look into the welfare of the former “Ziscosteel contributed so much to the econ-
employees and release reasonable pensions. When omy. Therefore, their former workers are import-
we were laid off, according to law within three ant and they must be treated with dignity. We are
months we should have been given our pensions going to fight tooth and nail to ensure that the
but up to now we are yet to receive anything. former employees are given what’s due to them,”
Mukapiko said.
“We understand that our money was being re-
mitted to First Mutual, but First Mutual is telling Ziscosteel
us that no money was remmitted. Physically they
don’t have the money as the company was not re-
mitting to First Mutual. A recent workers' meet-
ing revealed that workers are to get their monies
on 1:1 basis and that is the bone of contention.
We were remitting these monies in US dollars, for
instance if I remitted US$2 000, I am now to get
ZW$2 000. We have really been reduced to beg-
gars. Life is tough,” he said.

In an interview, Benedict Moyo, chairperson
of the board of trustees of the Ziscosteel pension
scheme, said workers have decided to petition
Parliament over the issue.

If the government is to pay the former employ-
ees their pensions at ZW$1:US$1, then some for-
mer employees will get less than US$10 in pen-
sions in real terms.

“As stakeholders, including former employees,
we had a meeting where we resolved to petition
Parliament on the issue. We have since done so.
The reason why we chose that route is that when
the the Ziscosteel Bill was passed into an Act
were government took over our debt it was done
through Parliament and it is the same parliament
we are petitioning on the issue. The purpose is
to highlight that their law is now being broken,”
Moyo said.

He added that when the ex-employees met
they resolved not to take the paltry pensions in
their present state.

“What needs to be understood is that Zisco-
steel terminated through retrenchment all its

Page 12 News NewsHawks

Issue 83, 3 June 2022

Time running out for electoral reforms

NATHAN GUMA

ZIMBABWE is likely to have yet another disput- posted to another station. It might cause delays, The ERC says Zec has been insincere in providing the voters’ roll for analysis ahead of the 2023 election.
ed general election if electoral reforms, including frustration and an increase in the time a voter may Speaker of the National Assembly Jacob Mudenda
the alignment of take at the polling station,” he said.

Electoral Act to the 2013 constitution, are not In the recent by-elections, Epworth Local
done ahead of next year’s general polls, an inde- Board Ward 2 had 224 registrants moved to a dif-
pendent advocacy think-tank, the Electoral Re- ferent ward, but with the same address. The ERC
source Centre (ERC), has said. said the government, Parliament and other stake-
holders should act fast to ensure the 2023 election
The warning comes two weeks after the Euro- does not suffer the same defects as previous ones.
pean Union Election Observer Mission expressed
concern at the slow pace of electoral reforms after Speaker of the National Assembly Jacob Mu-
the contentious 2018 polls. denda said Parliament is seized with completing
alignment of laws to the constitution and the Elec-
The EU EOM follow-up delegation, which was toral Law reforms.
in the country two weeks ago, said progress on
the implementation of reforms has been limited, “These efforts are meant to ensure that the
with the majority of the priority ones yet to be 2023 harmonised elections are free, fair, transpar-
addressed. ent and credible to the extent that they reflect the
true democratic will of the people of Zimbabwe,”
The ERC says Zimbabwe is running out of he told a stakeholders' workshop on electoral re-
time to implement reforms and improve voter forms.
registration.
Civic society has been pushing for the gazetting
“We have up to six months to make sure that of the Electoral Reform Amendment into law to
the laws are in place and operational because the improve the administration of elections.
procedure is that, any law that comes into effect
six months before the election will no longer be The main opposition Citizens’ Coalition for
used in that election,” Solomon Bobosibunu, the Change (CCC) says while it has been pushing for
ERC programmes manager, told The NewsHawks. reforms, little is being done to implement them.

“It has been four years now since the last elec- “We need equal access for all political players to
tion, and we are already approaching the next elec- the public media, an end to the abuse of national
tions. Most of those recommendations have to do institutions that are used as implementing arms of
with the operation, administrative functions and, the ruling party. Also, election results should be
to some degree, law changes.” verified by party agents before announcing, and an
end to violence, abductions and partisan arrests,”
The ERC said Zec has been insincere in pro- Ian Makone, the CCC secretary for elections, said.
viding the voters’ roll for analysis ahead of the up-
coming election, thereby contravening section 21 “If there was such will, all the measures re-
of the Electoral Act. quiring legislation and publication of regulations
would have been catered for.”
The ERC wrote to Zec on several occasions re-
questing the voters’ roll, but to no avail. Time is running out for the implementation of
electoral reforms.
“We have a High Court order obtained in 2018
with regards to the 2018 voters roll that Zec must “Yes, the window is closing. They think we are
provide us with the voters' roll whenever we re- stupid, but we are ahead of them,” Makone said.
quest. If there is any reason not to give us, this
should be put in writing and it should be justi- “The constitution was designed for orderly
fiable by law because this is a public document. expression of political views to enable informed
Though independent, Zec is covered by the con- choices, not this hide-and-seek.”
stitution of Zimbabwe,” he said.
“What public interest is served by Zec refusing
Bobosibunu said a defective voters’ roll would to issue a voters’ roll to stakeholders? We are aware
undermine the credibility of the 2023 elections. of the resistance stakeholders are experiencing in
this regard, and we too will exhaust all legal means
The ERC produced findings showing defects for a resolution to this impasse.”
on the voters’ roll that was produced by Zec on 31
January 2022, if not addressed, would distort the
2023 election.

The assessment was done through a computer
test on the 2018 and 2022 voters’ rolls compar-
ing and tracking processes implemented by Zec
such as relocation of registered voters, removal of
deceased persons, and distribution of data across
demographic categories.

A total of 98 414 (1.43%) registrants were de-
leted from the 2018 full voters’ roll which contains
5 606 026 people, according to a statement titled
“An Independent Analysis on the 2022 Voters’
Roll”, produced by Babra Bhebe, the ERC exec-
utive director.

There were also 16 constituencies where more
than 3% of registrants were deleted — nine of
these being in Matabeleland South.

Of the nine, Matobo South and Insiza lost most
registrations, at 3.57% and 3.01% respectively.

In addition, 20 constituencies had less than 1%
of registrants deleted from the 2018 final voters’
roll. Mashonaland Central, East, and West ac-
counting accounted for 10 of the constituencies.

Statistics of deleted registrants were more than
new ones, with 21 440 (0.38%) being added to
the 2022 voters’ roll.

Among other findings, 8 313 registrants were
moved to a new constituency in the 2022 voters'
roll, with 1 435 1 427 and 207 being moved from
Glen View South, Kwekwe Central, and Zengeza
East respectively.

“It is procedural for people to be moved, but
they should be informed in time by the Elector-
al Commission. In this case, they have not been
moved to farther places, they have been moved
around the same polling compounds,” Bobosi-
bunu said.

More defects have been visible in polling lo-
cations with 5 821 (0.10%) people registering at
different polling locations, but their addresses re-
maining the same.

“It may affect voters if they knew that they were

NewsHawks News Page 13

Issue 83, 3 June 2022

NATHAN GUMA Forgotten: The Mbare midwife
who helped deliver 500 babies
INSIDE a small, poorly lit apartment in Mbare’s
Tagarika flats, Esther Zinyoro (74), an unqualified Unqualified midwife Esther Zinyoro
midwife, is preparing her supper.
The Zimbabwe Confederation of Midwives waiting homes whereby expecting mothers from Maternal mortality in Zimbabwe currently
The evening meal is a modest one. She is chop- (Zicom) says the co-existence of professional and hard-to-reach areas are expected to come in on stands at 614 deaths per 100 000 live births, one
ping a head of cabbage, which has been a regular informal midwives cannot be wished away. time. of the highest rates worldwide, according to the
part of her daily meal. United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
“We are trying to run away from the issues in “We are encouraging issues like early booking,
She has lit a fire on a metal manger-shaped regard to complications,” Obert Nyatsuro, Zicom institutional delivery, and having at least eight Informal midwives like Zinyoro have been
stand just outside the door of her soot-covered liv- president, says. “We realise that an informal mid- anti-natal visits. Also, before we even talk about helping women deliver in marginalised areas
ing room. A cloud of blue stinging smoke fills the wife in an event of a complication arising during pregnancy, we talk about the pre-conception peri- where formal healthcare is scarce.
room, but her eyes seem accustomed to it. childbirth cannot give the expected aid during od, the preparation before the pregnancy.”
that period, such that institutional delivery be- “When the first lady came, I was told to hold
Two years ago, she would prepare food for some comes an option.” While formal facilities have been there and are my services for a while until there is another
of her patients — expecting mothers whom she the best option, they become deserted during in- strike,” she chuckles.
helped during the Covid-19 lockdown when hos- He said it is important for expecting mothers to dustrial action by health workers. It is during this
pitals and clinics were short of staff. consider using the formal way. time that informal midwives lend a hand to abate “I am still waiting in anticipation for the land
the health situation from spiralling out of control. and everything else promised me, so I can operate
It is also in this room that Zinyoro helped close “Government itself had to establish maternity freely.”
to 500 women give birth between late 2019 and
early 2020 when doctors and nurses had downed
their tools in protest over low salaries paid by the
government.

The room has undergone little change since the
day Zinyoro closed the door to her last patient,
despite promises to improve her living conditions
after the media highlighted the unusual work and
impact she had made in the community.

Several companies came to visit her, pledging
foodstuffs among other donations. But, when
professional health service workers resumed work,
ending the damaging strike, she was left in the
cold.

The visits stopped. The food donations also
stopped.

“I used to help 20 to 25 women every day,” Zin-
yoro, who started out as a midwife at her church,
St John Apostolic Church of the World, says.

“Many people would stream to my place so
they could get help. I helped between 450 and
500 in this very room.

“It is amazing that there are people who still
remember and acknowledge the work I did years
ago,” she says.

From all her patients, she never demanded pay-
ment.

Her work caught the attention of First Lady
Auxillia Mnangagwa. When the first lady visited
to witness her work in aid of a festering health sys-
tem, Zinyoro was ecstatic.

During the crippling strike which ran between
2019 and into 2020 many people lost their lives
from conditions that could have been treated. The
poor were the worst affected as they could not
afford the high medical fees charged by private
health institutions.

At the height of the strike seven children were
stillborn in one night in July 2020 at Harare’s Sally
Mugabe Hospital, one of Zimbabwe’s largest med-
ical facilities.

Out of eight pregnant women who underwent
caesarean sections that night, only one successfully
delivered a baby.

She recounts the day the first lady’s entourage
visited her home-turned-makeshift clinic. An en-
tourage of security personnel and members of her
Angel of Hope charity packed into Zinyoro’s small
apartment in Mbare’s Tagarika flats.

The first lady met with the patients, many of
them groaning and grimacing in pain as they lay
on the floor awaiting their turn to deliver.

“I strutted with pride due to the work I was do-
ing that time,” Zinyoro reminisces.

“Everyone who came here delivered, and not
one of them had a miscarriage.”

The first lady made several donations and Zin-
yoro used most of the supplies to feed women who
would have given birth.

It was then the first lady promised her proper
working conditions which would see her moving
out of her makeshift nursing home to continue
her work.

“People asked the first lady how she would aid
the work I was carrying out,” Zinyoro says.

“Then she said she was going to provide land
which would be used to house children.

Again, on the land would be built a surgery
which would help more people deliver.

“There, she would also sponsor everything
needed for the place’s upkeep. Several infants were
dying. Four died at the nearby clinic, and she said
that this was defacing her.”

Since then, this has only been lip service as the
promise has turned out to be a pie in the sky.

While she yearns to resume assisting women to
deliver, her future in midwifery is becoming bleak-
er by the day as she was shown the red light by the
authorities over fears of a health catastrophe that
would loom from her lack of training as a profes-
sional midwife.

Page 14 News NewsHawks

Issue 83, 3 June 2022

NYASHA CHINGONO Binga folks eke out a living on
the river of dreams: Zambezi
LUCKY Mugombe (23) and his friend Em-
manuel Mudenda (21) sit around a fire near the Lucky Mugombe (left) and Emmanuel Mudenda sit around a fire near the Zambezi River in Binga’s Simatelele village.
Zambezi River in Binga’s Simatelele village as they Fishermen draw the net from the river after catching kapenta.
warm themselves on a winter morning.

The two fishers have endured a cold night on
the perilous Zambezi which has now become
their second home.

It is 6am and the two fishers have just disem-
barked from a fishing ferry, essentially a ticket to
their next meal.

They have been toiling all night, with little to
show for it.

As winter sets in, fishing becomes a tedious af-
fair on the Zambezi, Africa’s fourth-longest river,
which meanders through six countries.

“During winter the temperatures are too cold
so there is not much you can get. Last month
(April) we managed to get a lot of kapenta and
fish,” Mugombe said.

“It is tough, I wish I had something else to do.
The merchants who buy the fish always negotiate
low prices so at the end of the day you do not get
anything.”

Mugombe relocated to Binga from Fort Rixon
near Bulawayo where he was working as a gold
panner. But fortunes have changed, exacerbated
by the global climate crisis which has seen the wa-
ter temperature exceeding 28 degrees Celsius.

Fish and kapenta are now elusive in these wa-
ters.

“It has not been raining much so you hard-
ly get a lot of fish from the Zambezi. It is now
tough being a fisherman, but there is nothing we
can do because that’s all we have here,” Mudenda
weighed in.

Mudenda, who learnt fishing from his father,
makes US$15 per day from selling fish to mer-
chants.

He admitted that wading the waters every
night was a dangerous affair.

“We literally sleep on the boat, and you never
know what will happen to you. Sometimes the
winds will be too much, but you just believe you
will live to see another day. Many have died on
the Zambezi when their boats capsized,” Muden-
da said.

The 21-year-old had to learn how to swim in
case his boat capsizes.

“This job is like working in a mine, anything
can happen to you. If you are unfortunate, you
die here, but it does not happen every day,” he
added as he removes a bucket of fish from the
ferry.

He said: “But I am not afraid, this is like home.”
Mudenda is employed by a fish magnate in
Binga, but dreams of owning a fishing rig. To buy
a fishing rig, one requires US$7 000.
“It is difficult to ever get such money, but I be-
lieve I will one day.”
At night, when The NewsHawks visits the other
side of the Zambezi near Siachilaba village, flick-
ering torches are shining in thick darkness as fish-
mongers sail the perilous waters in small boats.
Ferry captain Talent Siyakanyowa (28) is get-
ting ready to sail to navigate his watercraft.
About 100 yards into the water, Siyakanyowa
lowers the fish net, with a huge light bulb used to
attract kapenta.
After two hours, Siyakanyowa lifts the net,
which is now full of kapenta. He recounted how
he embarked on the job.
“I started working on the boat in 2018. This
job is dangerous, but this is my livelihood, so I
must do it. Some nights are very windy, and the
pontoons can break, which makes the boat sink.
Our boat is old now and water sometimes gets
into the boat while fishing,” Siyakanyowa said.
At a distance, some fishers hold small torch-
es, while others work with floodlights to attract
kapenta. They take turns to pedal through the wa-
ters. As they sail into deep waters, where they will
cast their nets, some unwanted visitors are lurking
in the dark.
The boat ride in crocodile-infested waters is no
stroll in the park. In the dead of night, fishers are
busy at work, hoping for a big catch.
But some may not make it back home as the
old boats and canoes sometimes capsize in the
deep waters of the Zambezi. At times fishers are
attacked by hippopotamuses and crocodiles.
With little in the village granaries from the
previous yields due to poor rains, the Siachilaba
community relies on fishing for a livelihood.
Fishing is an important activity for the BaTon-
ga people, who are known for their love for fish, a
well-known delicacy.

NewsHawks News Page 15

Issue 83, 3 June 2022

Poor roads sabotage Binga’s tourism

NYASHA CHINGONO Road leading to Binga from Cross Dete Journey’s End lodge
in Binga helped market the place a few years Artifacts sold in Siachilaba, Binga
IT is a long bumpy ride into one of Zimba- ago and now the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority
bwe’s most beautiful but often forgotten places. (ZTA) is working on improving the beach.
Binga.
As we headed out of Binga, again through
Tucked away in Matabeleland North prov- the patched road, we were met by several visi-
ince, one of the most arid regions in Zimba- tors looking to spend the weekend.
bwe, Binga is the home of the BaTonga people
whose relatives can also be found on the other Binga is indeed a diamond in the rough,
side of the Zambezi River. with the potential of becoming a tourism hub.

It was set up in the late 1950s to re-house The warm of the BaTonga is enough to en-
those whose homes were flooded when the tice anyone to stay longer. But the government
country's Lake Kariba was built and filled but should be deliberate about marketing Binga, as
it hags been marginalised since Independence well as making it accessible to tourists.
in 1980 with only a few schools and health cen-
tres. A one-of-a-kind sandy beach, warm weather
and teeming wildlife are touted as major attrac-
But getting to see the beautiful land of the tions, but residents feel not enough is being
BaTonga requires a taxing journey. done to put these tourist features on the world
map.
The curves on the mountainous road that
leads to Siachilaba village would fool any vis- Creating a good road network is the first step
itor that the 100km stretch is all there is to see. towards making Binga a prime destination for
visitors.
There is a rough ride ahead.
Any driver would dread treading this pot- “In the last three years, we have done a lot
hole-ridded path, punctuated with remnants to bring Binga to the fore. But not enough is
of a tarred road, fast disappearing and turning being done. There is no development being
into a dusty road. done, mainly with regards to roads,” ZTA head
As we approached, Siachilaba about 80km of communication Godfrey Koti says.
from Binga centre, the treacherous ride began.
Reducing speed is the only way to survive However, he admitted that: “We have a
the curvy road and it is as if a metaphorical gun 100% occupancy rate in Binga, which means
is forever pointed at the driver with the dire in- we have reached people’s ears.”
struction: “Reduce the speed!”
Along the way, one cannot fail to notice the Binga is a great holiday destination, but the
warm faces of the BaTonga people going about roads are punishing!
their business in the scorching sun.
Craftsmen selling the popular BaTonga
chairs, kitchenware and other artifacts greeted
us with warmness as we asked for directions to
a shop owned by Binna Trencia, the woman I
had gone to visit.
They quickly pointed to her shop, which is
quite well known there.
Once we were done talking to her, the te-
dious journey continued.
The journey, punctuated with a bit of Oliver
Mtukudzi’s music, was now nearing the end,
but exactly how far were we from Binga centre?
“Another 70km,” a colleague said.
70km on this rugged road would take us an-
other hour or so, we grumbled.
As we approached Binga centre, the patched
road turned into a full blow dust road, with a
tar strip in the middle.
Here elephants often straddled the road.
But it was 9am and the largest land a animal
wals at that time preoccupied with having a
drink on the Zambezi. So we trudged on.
Once we got to Binga centre, the road had
smoothened out, as if to entice the visitor to
what lay ahead.
A gentle descent downhill is met by a blue
reflection of the waters in the Zambezi.
One was lulled into instantly forgetting the
tedious journey as the lovely landscape met the
eye.
“Is there such a place in Zimbabwe?” we
asked ourselves.
We were consumed by the beauty of God’s
creation tucked away in a secluded Binga, a
place often called medieval and backward.
As we drew closer to our lodgings for the du-
ration of the stay, a place called Journey's End,
one could not fail to notice a crocodile habitat
to the left and the hot springs to the right.
“How many people in Zimbabwe know that
there is such a place?” I asked myself.
The Zambezi view from my dwellings was
breath-taking.
The expansive blue waters that stretch into
Zambia are an absolute beauty to behold.
Lodges around Journey’s End were fully
booked. This meant that indeed people knew
about Binga and are indeed visiting.
The day would not end before we could visit
the sand beach, which is about 20km from our
lodgings.
Nothing fancy, just therapeutic sand dunes,
a potential tourist attraction.
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country, and this
is its first beach.
Most remarkable is how a group of youths

Page 16 News NewsHawks

Issue 83, 3 June 2022

BUSANI BAFANA Scaling Africa’s Great Green
Wall tackle drought in Zim
THE Great Green Wall Initiative — the desertification, on drought and on land degrada-
game-changing African-led project to restore the Land degradation is a growing environmental nuts,” Tangem said, adding that: “We are looking tion and member countries have realised the need
continent’s degraded landscapes and transform issue in Zimbabwe that compromises food and at promoting value chains for forest products so to work together in mobilising resources because
millions of lives in the Sahel — is now expand- that people will avoid cutting trees. When trees Africa’s development will be based on the sustain-
ing down to southern Africa where land degrada- water security. — Pictures: Busani Bafana provide fruits and income people realise that trees ability of its land,” Tangem said.
tion and drought are on the rise as climate change it soon as we are now working with all Sadc mem- are better alive than as firewood.”
worsens. ber states to develop international action plans to A drought of action and dollars
realise the programme in their countries,” Tangem Drought on the agenda Describing COP15 as having been successful
Created by African Union leaders in 2007, the said. The threat of drought, desertification and land in mobilising political will to tackle threats posed
Great Green Wall for the Sahara and the Sahel Ini- degradation highlighted discussions at the recent by drought and land degradation, Tangem said it
tiative is aimed at combating desertification and The UNCCD defines land degradation as the UNCCD COP15 which concluded with a global remained to be seen if global leaders will expedite
tackling the impacts of climate change. persistent or long-term loss of land-based natural pledge to boost investment in land restoration and action and put money on the table.
capital which increases poverty, hunger, and envi- drought resilience to the future of humanity. The African group of negotiators at the UNC-
The ambitious project — with an initial target ronmental pollution. Land restoration refers to a The UNCCD COP 15 adopted 38 resolutions CD recommended a binding protocol on drought
to plant an 8 000-km stretch of trees covering 11 continuum of sustainable land and water manage- to improve drought resilience, reduce land degra- that every country should sign. The proposed pro-
countries from Senegal in the west to Djibouti in ment practices that can be applied to conserve nat- dation, and invest in land restoration efforts, in- tocol was not adopted as member countries want-
the east — seeks to alleviate hunger, create jobs ural areas, “up-scale” nature-positive food produc- cluding an agreement to accelerate restoration of ed time to study the document before endorsing
and reduce conflict across the Sahel. tion in rural landscapes, and “green” urban areas. one billion hectares of degraded land by 2030. it.
Leaders at the conference further agreed to “The drought protocol is expected to be present-
In addition, the initiative is expected to restore The Sadc region presented a communique at boost drought resilience by improving a new part- ed at the next UNCCD in 2023,” Tangem noted.
100 million hectares of land — nearly the land size the recent UNCCD COP15, giving a roadmap nership model for large-scale integrated landscape “We are sure if we have a binding protocol then
of Egypt — while capturing 250 million tonnes of on implementing the Great Green Wall Initiative investment programmes, while improving nation- drought, land degradation and desertification will
carbon and creating 10 million green jobs. in Southern Africa. al policies and early warning systems. They also be like climate change and automatically attract
agreed to establish an Intergovernmental Working investment even when we remember the climate
It has hit the mark on achieving some of its am- “We have agreed that we were going to restore Group on Drought for 2022-2024 to support a change COP with a US$100 billion promise that
bitious goals and presented an update on progress 240 million hectares of land by 2063 in Southern shift from reactive to proactive drought manage- nobody has ever seen.”
made at the United Nations Convention to Com- Africa targeting the 16 countries because none of ment. The UNCCD is one of the three Rio Conven-
bat Desertification (UNCCD) 15th Conference these countries are spared land degradation,” he The Great Green Wall Initiative has promoted tions — along with the UN Framework Conven-
of Parties (COP15) in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, last said. land restoration as a tool to deal with drought. tion on Climate Change and the Convention on
week. To date, the initiative has met 18% of its Global leaders have committed to land restoration Biological Diversity. The programme of action of
targets which has seen the planting of one billion He added the initiative would need between efforts covering one billion hectares of land as part the UNCCD was adopted at the 1992 UN Con-
trees and creation of more than three million jobs US$40 billion and US$50 billion to implement. of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. ference on Environment and Development. The
and 250 000 natural resource-based enterprises, It costs up to US$550 to restore a hectare of land “Through the Great Green Wall Initiative we convention entered into force on 26 December
Dr Paul Elvis Tangem, Great Green Wall Initiative per year. There is interest from an array of private have managed to craft an international policy on 1996, and currently has 197 parties.
coordinator at the African Union Commission. and institutional donors to finance the initiative By merely implementing the Great Green Wall
roll out in southern Africa as investors perceive the Initiative, Tangem noted, Africa had the best tool
From the Sahel to the South region to be more stable and land tenure is not an to fight climate change because land restoration is
“We have made great progress,” Tangem told issue unlike in the Sahel. about restoring biodiversity.
The NewsHawks on the sidelines of the UNCCD A new report, Drought in Numbers, released
COP15, saying the success of the initiative has “We have people waiting to roll out carbon during COP15, shows that between 1900 and
provided key lessons to southern African states capture projects and others in hemp oil and oth- 2019, droughts have impacted 2.7 billion people
now pushing for an expansion of the programme er medicinal products, softwood and macadamia in the world, and caused 11.7 million deaths.
to their region. Current forecasts estimate that by 2050
“Zimbabwe is one of our targets,” he said, add- droughts may affect over three-quarters of the
ing: “We have learnt a lot in the past decade from world’s population.
what we have done in the Sahel and the Sahel is “Droughts have been part of human and nat-
getting better visibility and resources that we are ural systems, but what we are experiencing now
moving down south where the phenomenon of is much worse, largely due to human activity,”
drought and desertification is getting critical and Ibrahim Thiaw, UNCCD executive secretary, told
becoming an existential threat.” delegates at the Desertification and Drought Day
Drought is recorded as the most common nat- during the UNCCD 15th COP.
ural hazard occurring in Zimbabwe between 1982 The UNCCD’s evidence-based flagship Glob-
and 2011, accounting for six out of 10 top major al Land Outlook has warned that the way land
natural disasters. Agro-ecological regions IV and resources — soil, water and biodiversity — are
V, which include Matabeleland North, Matabele- currently mismanaged and misused threatens the
land South, Masvingo and part of Manicaland health and continued survival of many species on
provinces, are the major areas regularly affected earth. If the current business as usual attitude con-
by drought, according to the National Plan for tinues through 2050, the report projects addition-
Drought for Zimbabwe. al degradation of an area almost the size of South
Between 1950 and 2013, Zimbabwe experi- America. At COP15 countries pledged to restore
enced 22 droughts whose frequency has been at- one billion degraded hectares by 2030 which re-
tributed to climate change. quires US$1.6 trillion this decade.
The droughts experienced in 1983 and 1992 l This story was produced for The NewsHawks
were classified as extreme droughts, while those in as part of a virtual reporting fellowship to the
1982, 1967, 1968 and 2004 were considered to be UNCCD COP15 supported by Internews’
severe droughts whose impact was felt particularly Earth Journalism Network.
in the agricultural sector, triggering famines, food
crisis, water scarcity and economic decline. Zimbabwe is vulnerable to droughts, which trigger water scarcity.
The latest droughts in Zimbabwe have been ex-
perienced in 2016 which forced the government
to declare a state of national disaster while, in 2019
was another drought year which ignited a worse
hunger crisis in nearly a decade. The 2021/2022
is pointing to a drought year following poor rains
and a long dry spell. The government has estimat-
ed a 50% drop in the harvest of the staple, maize.
Zimbabwe has developed a National Drought
Plan to establish a framework for the country to
conduct an effective, coordinated and appropriate
response to drought that minimises potential ad-
verse impacts.
Prosper Matondi, national co-ordinator and
chief director of Environment and Climate Ser-
vices in the ministry of Environment, Climate,
Tourism and Hospitality Industry, said Zimbabwe
is currently reviewing the drought policy outlining
government responsibilities in responding to nat-
ural disasters and reviewing its capacities, as well
as structures to deal with drought preparedness,
mitigation and response.
Inspired by the Great Green Wall of the Sahel
and Sahara Region, ministers responsible for en-
vironment and natural resources in the Southern
Africa Development Community approved the
establishment of the initiative in the region in
2015. A strategy developed for this initiative was
adopted by the heads of state and government
summit in Harare in 2019, paving a way for the
roll out of the initiative in the Sadc countries.
“Last week we completed the strategy which is
currently being printed and we will be launching

NewsHawks News Page 17

Issue 83, 3 June 2022

Pollution of Mukuvisi River in pictures

Discarded plastic bottles, shopping bags and other forms of waste are clogging the Mukuvisi River in Harare. —Pictures: Aaron Ufumeli

Page 26 International Investigative Stories NewsHawks

Issue 83, 3 June 2022

InInvteesrtniagtaiotinvaelStories

Suspicious Chinese Funds
Should Have Raised

‘Alarm Bells’ at Canadian
Banks: Experts

For eight years, Chinese property de- about the due diligence and rigor em- transactions were first flagged by UBS, But Chen had little trouble find- Although the banks that received
veloper Chen Runkai used hundreds ployed by Canadian banks when it his daughter bought a mansion with a ing major Canadian banks to receive funds for Chen told reporters they
of wire transfers to move tens of mil- comes to anti-money laundering de- tennis court and swimming pool near millions from China using the same had strong anti-money laundering
lions of dollars into accounts at Cana- tection and reporting. the beach in Vancouver for 14.7 mil- methods, the documents show. None controls, Clement, who reviewed the
dian banks –– a technique experts say lion Canadian dollars. She paid for it of them flagged the transactions to Cullen Commission documents, ques-
is a hallmark of money laundering. The Toronto Star and OCCRP without a mortgage, while listing her Fintrac. tions how they could have let so many
Yet Canada's biggest banks –– includ- reached out to banks that received occupation as "student." Chen bought suspicious payments through their
ing the Royal Bank of Canada, CIBC, Chen’s funds and asked why the mon- a CA$15.6 million mansion on the In August 2020, British Columbia’s systems.
TD and the Bank of Montreal –– all ey flows did not trigger concerns or same street in 2016. Cullen Commission issued summons
accepted the money without flagging formal reports to authorities. The to 11 financial institutions in Van- "Our banks, although they've
it to the country’s financial regulator. banks each said they could not com- "He was successful in obtaining and couver asking for information on any spent, I would say multi-millions of
ment on individual customers. They making a lot of money in real estate transfers made to Chen and his fam- dollars on systems, they're still fall-
Only one financial institution act- added that they take their anti-money development in China without being ily members from overseas accounts ing down in a number of areas," said
ed: The Vancouver arm of Switzer- laundering obligations seriously, have involved in corruption," said Lorne since 2009. Responses from major Clement. "In a case like this, you have
land's UBS bank filed a suspicious implemented controls, and comply Waldman, a Toronto immigration banks revealed transfers totaling nearly to ask, how could...you overlook filing
activity report in 2012 after noting with all regulations. lawyer representing Chen. "He didn't CA$170 million over eight years. The a suspicious transaction report?"
massive flows of unexplained money do anything wrong." sources of the transactions were three
into a Chen family account. The story of Chen –– how he A Flurry of Transactions Hong Kong currency exchange com- "You have to ask yourself, is it a case
moved to Canada from China in UBS closed Chen's account in 2012 panies, and one individual. of greed trumping ethics?"
"All kinds of alarm bells should 2006 with modest means, then ac- due to a lack of explanation about
have gone off,” said Garry Clement, cumulated tens of millions of dollars the source of the funds, according to Experts say Canadian banks have The suspicious account closed by
a former Royal Canadian Mounted and luxury homes in Vancouver, while a report the bank filed to the Finan- moved more slowly on fighting money UBS in 2012 nominally belonged to
Police superintendent focused on pro- facing charges in his home country for cial Transactions and Reports Analysis laundering than many of their interna- Chen's mother, for whom he held
ceeds of crime. alleged bribery –– was detailed in a re- Centre (Fintrac), Canada's financial tional counterparts. power of attorney. A UBS client advis-
cent investigation. intelligence unit. er initially questioned Chen's mother
"It almost gives the impression "Unfortunately, these issues weren't about the source of the funds, accord-
they're asleep at the switch… It just The mysterious source of Chen's The high volume of transactions taken seriously enough for such a long ing to the Fintrac report. She said they
shows that the system is broken," conspicuous wealth, and its move- in a short time was a sign of a mon- time in Canada," said James Cohen, were the proceeds of a land deal in
added Clement, who is now chief of ment to Vancouver where he now lives ey laundering technique called "lay- executive director of the national China, but could provide no further
anti-money laundering for VersaBank. with his family, has been the subject of ering," in which "complex layers of chapter of the advocacy group Trans- details.
an investigation by Canada's financial financial transactions are used to ob- parency International.
At a time when governments are intelligence unit, as well as a probe by scure the source of the ownership of The UBS adviser later questioned
wrestling with the impacts of illic- a British Columbia commission study- funds," reads a UBS suspicious trans- "Canada was just lagging for so long Chen, who was the "ordering client
it foreign funds entering overheated ing the impact of money laundering in action report. on the issues...It's tough to say if it is on electronic funds transfers" on the
real estate markets in Vancouver and that province. better (today). There's definitely more account, the documents show. He was
Toronto, the unquestioned flow of public attention. So one would hope "unwilling to provide any satisfactory
Chen's money has raised concerns In 2012, the year Chen's financial that the banks are stepping up efforts." documentation confirming legal title

NewsHawks International Investigative Stories Page 27

Issue 83, 3 June 2022

over the land...or in relation to any Chen’s Tudor-style mansion in Vancouver. (Photo: Darryl Dyck for the Toronto Star/OCCRP) is is an underground banking transac-
land sale transaction." tion,” said Duhaime. “The company’s
Two firms in which Fang was a di- set-up for illegally moving money out scores of private firms will be set up services really are about taking the
Mary-Jane Bennett, a Vancou- rector transferred millions of dollars to of China, said Christine Duhaime, a with banking access in both Hong money out of China for a fee of 5 to
ver-based former criminal lawyer re- Chen accounts in Canada. The case financial crime expert who noted that Kong and mainland China so that 20 percent.”
cently commissioned by Toronto's study says the Fangs "are connected to the government limits individuals to personal funds can be sent in the guise
Massey College to investigate and a large number of companies in Hong transferring US$50,000 overseas per of a business transaction. The model is also commonly used
write a report on money laundering, Kong," which publicly list "little or no year, but allows companies to send in so-called “gambling junkets,” she
says Canada is well behind countries information about their operations." larger amounts. “It looks like they’ll be doing a said: underground networks that bring
like the U.S. and U.K. in detecting normal commercial transaction with mainland Chinese gamblers to Macau
and reporting suspicious financial ac- That's a "really, really common" To get around these restrictions, a private company, when in fact all it or Hong Kong and give them cash to
tivity. gamble with. By the time they leave
the casinos, gamblers are often heavily
"I found it interesting that the one indebted to organized crime figures.
bank that did question this money
is that Swiss bank," she said. "They One Fang family member, who
probably had a much lengthier, de- transliterates his name into English as
tailed history with money laundering Fong Siu Lok, has links to gambling
than we have here in Canada." and organized crime figures through a
Macau jewelry shop he runs, accord-
Cohen, of Transparency Interna- ing to Cullen Commission research.
tional, says there has to be account-
ability –– not just for the alleged mon- The store, Christine Jewelry, shares
ey launderers, but for the system that the same corporate secretary as a gam-
allows them to flourish in Canada. bling junket run by Lin Szeto Yuk,
who also goes by the English name
"Our law enforcement and prose- "Christine." She is a "gaming tycoon
cutorial services on the financial crime sometimes referred to as the 'big sister'
front have been really understaffed of Macao's gambling world," reads the
and under-resourced for ages." case study.
Underground Banks and Organized
Crime Lin is widely reported to have a close
Had Canadian banks probed the relationship with Wan Kwok-koi, or
sources of funds coming into Chen Broken Tooth Koi, an infamous leader
family accounts, they might have of Macau's 14K triad, who is wanted
discovered what Cullen Commission in Malaysia and reportedly in hiding.
researchers found: Most of Chen's The U.S. Treasury Department sanc-
money moved through offshore enti- tioned Wan in 2020, citing alleged in-
ties connected to a Hong Kong family volvement in criminal scams, includ-
with links to organized crime. ing corruption and bribery.

Members of the Fang family run a Chen's lawyer, Waldman, said his
network of companies, jewelry shops, client had no knowledge of the Fang
and currency exchanges in Hong family's alleged connections to or-
Kong and Macau, according to a case ganized crime. He added that strict
study that was one of more than 1,000 limits on moving money out of China
exhibits of evidence to the Cullen force people to make transactions that
Commission. look suspicious, but really aren't.

Fang Jinghua was accused in a Hong "There are often reasonable expla-
Kong lawsuit of running an "under- nations, especially when you're deal-
ground bank," although the court ing with countries like China, where
ruled that those transfers were legal, there's restrictions on transfer of for-
according to the Cullen Commission eign currency, as to why people trans-
case study. A redacted document cited fer money in the way they do," said
in the case study also accused him and Waldman.
another family member of running an
underground bank. — Organised Crime and Corrup-
tion Reporting Project.

There is a future.

ZIMBABWE
CHILDREN’S CANCER RELIEF

EARLY
DETECTION

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Page 28 Editorial & Opinion NewsHawks

CARTOON Issue 83, 3 June 2022

Don’t hold farmers
at gunpoint please!

WHEN a government views the national security forces as a magic Command agriculture: US$3bn
bullet that solves all the problems under the sun, then you must gone down the deep sinkhole
know that the rulers of the land have utterly run out of ideas.

A troubling pattern has emerged over the years. Official think-
ing — or lack thereof — has become eerily predictable. There is
a pro-democracy protest? Deploy the army. There is a post-elec-
tion demonstration? Unleash the soldiers. People are speaking out
against the unbearable cost of living? Send the military to crush
them. It never ends, does it?

Farmers have become the latest victims of this flagrant abuse of
power.

The government says it is deploying soldiers and police to seize
grain from farmers.

A fortnight ago, Agriculture ministry secretary John Bhasera
dispatched a memorandum instructing Grain Marketing Board
(GMB) chief executive Rockie Mutenha to operationalise provi-
sions of Statutory Instrument 145 of 2019, ostensibly designed to
curb the so-called side marketing of grain.

True to Abraham Maslow’s timeless dictum, when the only tool
you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.

Zanu PF has taught us that in an authoritarian polity, the over-
lords tend to see the coercive state apparatus as the solution to all
economic, political and social problems.

They forget that farming is a business and not charity. From that
perspective, it is ridiculous to expect farmers to embrace irrational
decisions that will plunge them into financial ruin.

Side marketing is a civil, not criminal, matter. Farmers who
produce maize under contract obviously have a legal obligation to
honour their commercial agreements. But to force an independent
farmer — at gunpoint — to deliver grain to the state-run GMB
in exchange for an uneconomic producer price is the height of ab-
surdity.

The GMB’s grain-purchase monopoly is unworkable and runs
counter to the free-market imperatives of a constitutional democ-
racy. The issue here is really about pricing.

All inputs are denominated in United States dollars in this
economy; it stands to reason that the farmer ought to be paid in a
manner that takes into account this fact. Foisting unviable produc-
er prices on farmers is bound to backfire. Logically, if there is no
return on investment this season, a grower has no incentive to toil
once again next season.

Sustainable food security can only be achieved through sensible
policies that promote fair pricing, market efficiency and open ac-
cess for smallholder farmers.

The GMB monopoly has spawned corruption and the time has
come for policymakers to take decisive action in the national in-
terest.

Zimbabwe should not be scrounging for staple food from its
neighbours — there is no greater indicator of leadership failure
than this.

Hawk Eye

Dumisani
Muleya

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Companies & Markets NewsHawks

Issue 76, 15 April 2022
BusinessPage26
MATTERSNewsHawks

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

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

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

BERNARD MPOFU Zim’s mining sector bullish
on firming global prices
ZIMBABWE’S large mining companies are op-
timistic that firm commodity prices on the inter- gold being a haven for those seeking to preserve Chamber of Mines chief executive Isaac Kwesu
national market will this year spur growth of the capital.
mining industry at a time the domestic economy
is in distress. Zimbabwe’s economy is projected to grow by
5.5% underpinned by an anticipated strong re-
According to the Chamber of Mines of Zim- covery in mining (8%), manufacturing (5.5%)
babwe, which will this week hold its annual con- and construction (17.4%).
ference in the resort city of Victoria Falls, the
mining sector, the country’s largest economic The gold price has already responded to the
driver, will register strong growth in 2022. unfolding crisis in Europe, surging above the
US$2 000 per ounce mark during the period of
The mining conference, which runs from June conflict, from an average of US$1 750 per ounce
2 to 4, comes at a time new mines in key sub-sec- in December 2021.
tors such as gold, coal and lithium have been
commissioned. The outcome of the conference is Amid growing geopolitical tensions, palladium
expected to assist in promoting the development price increased by over 55% to US$21 440 by
and growth of the mining sector in the medium end of February 2022. The imposition of sanc-
to long term. tions on Russia is expected to result in the shrink-
ing of platinim group metal (PGM) supply to the
“The outlook for the mining industry is pos- rest of the world, propping up PGM prices.
itive, buoyed by encouraging commodity price
upturn that has seen mineral prices surpassing The imposition of Western sanctions on Rus-
their long-term averages. (Most key minerals re- sia, one of the biggest producers of nickel, ac-
corded growth, with gold at 86%, lithium 83%, cording to market analysts, will result in supply
diamond 51%, coal 21%, platinum 13% and constraints and high prices in 2022. Production
nickel 13%.),” Isaac Kwesu, the Chamber of disruptions in Ukraine (another big player in the
Mines chief executive, said. nickel industry) due to the current war will hurt
the supply of nickel, they say.
“The industry is on a recovery path, having
rebounded by almost 3.4% in 2021 from the Russia accounts for approximately 38% and
Covid-induced contraction of -9% in 2020.” 10% of global palladium and platinum, respec-
tively.
Experts say prices of gold and other precious
metals on the global market are this year expected
to reach new highs driven by a surge in demand
triggered by the Russia-Ukraine war.

As global economies continue to feel the
shocks of the conflict in Eastern Europe, Zim-
babwe’s large mining companies have projected a
bullish outturn of the commodities market, with

Page 30 Companies & Markets NewsHawks

Issue 83, 3 June 2022

BERNARD MPOFU Delta records business uptick

ZIMBABWE’S largest beverage maker Delta Delta Corporation is involved, through its principal subsidiary Delta Beverages, in the brewing of lager and traditional beer and the bottling of soft drinks.
Corporation’s inflation-adjusted after-tax profit
for the year ending 31 March rose to ZW$16
billion from ZW$10.5 billion in prior compar-
ative year, driven by growth in revenue.

Group revenue increased by 58% to ZW$
110.16 billion while operating income ad-
vanced by 41% to ZW$25.38 billion.

According to the financials, revenue growth
was driven by a volume uptick across all busi-
ness units, changes in product and portfolio
mix and replacement cost-based pricing. Lager
beer contributed 39%, sorghum business 36%,
sparkling beverages 17% and wines and spirits
8%.

The volume increase in the lager category
was driven by improved product supply ben-
efitting from the ongoing glass injection that
encourages better circulation, competitive and
affordable pricing, the launch of Sable Lager
and additional packaging capacity expected in
the first quarter of 2023.

During the period under review, Delta con-
solidated its position as market leader for the
sparkling beverage segments. Market share rose
to 59% as of March 2022 from 47%.

Volume growth in this category, the com-
pany said, was driven by ongoing initiatives to
address affordability, leveraging the returnable
glass pack and consistent product supply.

The introduction of new and improved taste
“no sugar” flavours, as well as improved flavour
range gave wider choice to consumers and also
led to an increase in volumes, the company
said.

Chibuku and Maheu also recorded higher
volumes during the period under review.

Stenford Moyo, Delta board chairperson,
said going forward, the current operating envi-
ronment could affect the group’s margins.

“The operating environment is expected to
remain complex and challenging in the face
of difficult choices on economic policy, the
unfolding global supply constraints, rising in-
flation and uncertainties of the Covid-19 pan-
demic,” Moyo said.

Delta Corporation is involved, through its
principal subsidiary Delta Beverages, in the
brewing of lager and traditional beer and the
bottling of soft drinks under licence from the
Coca Cola Company.

It operates one of the largest distribution
network of depots and delivery fleets in Zim-
babwe. It has recently bought UNB, SA, a tra-
ditional beer company.

Delta has a significant interest in Schweppes
Zimbabwe, which manufactures still and juice
drinks under the Coca-Cola franchise.

The group’s portfolio includes Castle,
Carling Black Label, Chibuku, Chibuku Super,
Castle Lite, Redd’s and Castle Milk Stout as
well as leading local brands such as

Golden Pilsener and Zambezi. Its associate
entity, African Distillers, is the leading produc-
er of wines, spirits and ciders.

It is the majority shareholder in Natbrew
Plc, the Lusaka Stock Exchange-listed tradi-
tional beer business in Zambia.

Delta Corporation is an associate of AB In-
Bev, the world’s largest beer company.

Cambria projects inflation-driven lower growth

DUMISANI NYONI among Zimbabwe’s leading distributors of in- markets. the US dollar value of Tradanet’s loan process-
dustrial solvents and metal treatment products. Some of the measures, like a ban on bank ing portfolio as a consequence of inflation and
CAMBRIA Africa Plc, a London-listed invest- devaluation. Similarly, we expect a decline in
ment outfit with significant interests in Zimba- In its interim results for the six months end- lending, have now been reversed. the real value of our Payroll processing reve-
bwe, has projected slower growth in the United ed 28 February 2022, Cambria said the coun- “The net effect has been a doubling of the nues. However, both operations should contin-
States dollar value of its loan processing portfo- try’s inflation and volatile local currency was ue to trade at cashflow break-even levels.”
lio as a consequence of the country’s inflation causing a serious threat to its operations. functional exchange rate to ZW$300 against
and currency devaluation. the US dollar. At this time, our best indication Shasha said Cambria’s story is now focused
The country’s year-on-year inflation shot to is that this rate still lags the parallel market rate on realising its net asset value.
Cambria’s investments in Zimbabwe include 131.7% up from 96.4% in April while the lo- by almost 30%,” Cambria Africa chief execu-
the Payserv Group and Millchem. cal currency is trading at ZW$308 against the tive officer Samir Shasha said. In the period under review, the compa-
greenback on the official market. ny’s profit after tax increased by 158% to
The Payserv Group is the country’s leading “The impact of these movements in the ex- US$245 000 compared to US$95 000 achieved
provider of payments and business process out- On the parallel market, it trades at around change rates should be taken into account in the same period in 2021. This was mostly
sourcing services targeted at financial and relat- ZW$460. when analysing the company’s earnings in the due to increased revenue from Tradanet, the
ed sectors. local currency. To the extent we can, we will be company’s 51% owned subsidiary.
Facing headwinds ranging from a battered investing excess funds into a diversified portfo-
The group comprises four business units: currency to steep surges in inflation, the gov- lio on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange to pre- Revenues rose to US$540 000 compared to
Paynet Zimbabwe, AutoPay, Loanserv (pre- ernment announced unprecedented monetary serve value.” US$137 000 achieved in the same period last
viously Tradanet) and Softserv. Millchem is policy shifts, banning bank lending and tight- year.
ening the screws from stocks trading to super- “Regardless, we anticipate slower growth in

NewsHawks Companies & Markets Page 31

Issue 83, 3 June 2022

IDBZ envisages rising appetite for borrowing

BERNARD MPOFU er than the prior year at ZW$20 million as the aimed at retaining critical staff and matching and other comprehensive income of ZW$945.8
bank was negatively impacted by thin interest market remuneration levels. On the other hand, million compared to a profit of ZW$2.5 billion
THE Infrastructure Development Bank of margins emanating from the cap placed on in- administration expenses shot up by 118% for the same period last year.”
Zimbabwe (IDBZ) says it is considering ex- terest rates,” Zondo said. mainly driven by inflation and Covid-19-relat-
tending loans worth ZW$1 billion to finance ed expenses. Resultantly, during the period un- Total assets increased by 3% from the prior
energy, mining, and agriculture projects as ap- “Operating expenses increased by 95%, driv- der review, the bank recorded a loss before tax year-end level of ZW$9.2 billion to ZW$9.5
petite for borrowing outstrips the bank’s loan en by a 75% increase in personnel as the bank billion as at 31 December 2021, the bank said.
book.

Zimbabwe’s economy, which endured two
years of contraction, has a huge infrastructure
deficit which, according to official figures, re-
quires billions of United States dollars to up-
grade. The country’s is battling power outages
while road and rail networks are in bad state.

In its year-end financials the state-owned de-
velopment finance institution said to adequate-
ly fund projects, the bank has embarked on
several initiatives which included the issuance
of USD-linked bonds. The bank, according to
a statement accompanying the results, raised
an equivalent of US$9.84 million (ZW$877.9
million) for project implementation.

“During the period under review, the
bank approved private sector projects worth
ZW$144 million while applications worth
more than ZW$1 billion in respect of energy,
mining and irrigation projects were being con-
sidered for funding,” Zondo Sakala,

IDBZ chief executive said in a statement ac-
companying the financials.

“The bank’s infrastructure value chain book
closed the year at ZW$192,8 million, up
ZW$93,54 million as at 31 December 2020.”

The bank said notwithstanding the posi-
tive macro-economic developments during
the year, Covid-19 restrictions slowed down
project implementation resulting in a shift in
completion dates for several projects. This, the
bank further said, negatively affected the finan-
cial performance as revenue recognition from
affected projects was deferred to 2022.

The bank’s inflation-adjusted net oper-
ating income decreased by ZW$1.3 billion
from ZW$1.2 billion in 2020, to negative
ZW$28.87 million in 2021. Interest income,
the company said, was weighed down by sub-
dued effective rates.

“Fees and commission income was 49% low-

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Page 34 Stock Taking NewsHawks

Issue 83, 3 June 2022

Price Sheet A MEMBER OF FINSEC & THE ZIMBABWE STOCK EXCHANGE

Thursday, 02 June 2022

Company Sector Bloomberg Previous Last VWAP (cents) Total Total Price Price YTD Market
Traded Traded Change Change (%) Cap
AFDIS Consumer Goods Ticker Price (cents) Traded Volume Value ($) (cents) ($m)
African Sun Consumer Services (%)
ART Price 300 102,000
Ariston Industrials 11,400 191,620
Axia Consumer Services AFDIS: ZH 33000.00 34000.00 34000.00 1000.00 3.03 172.00 40,628.14
BAT ASUN: ZH 1643.73 1800.00 1680.88 - - 37.15 2.26 161.71 23,934.58
CAFCA Consumer Goods ARTD: ZH 2200.00 2200.00 25,900 101,141 - 110.53
CBZ Consumer Goods 389.73 - 390.51 345,800 0.78 - 9,613.50
CFI ARISTON: ZH 12517.50 389.75 12807.41 2,700 732,000 289.91 0.20 4.92 6,355.14
Dairibord Industrials AXIA: ZH 366000.00 12500.00 366000.00 200 - 2.32 326.20 70,716.15
Delta Banking BAT: ZH 26000.00 366000.00 26000.00 - - - 14.34 75,518.67
Ecocash 11500.00 11510.00 3,107,700 10.00 - 52.94 2,271.13
Econet Industrials CAFCA: ZH 26400.00 - 26400.00 27,000 - - 53.12 60,158.33
Edgars Consumer Goods CBZ: ZH 5000.00 11500.00 5700.00 - - 700.00 0.09 182.14 27,994.79
FBC Consumer Goods CFI:ZH 39625.64 40000.04 11,400 374.40 - 62.86 20,406.05
Fidelity 12004.14 - 13082.47 200 105,720,100 14.00 146.11 521,670.77
First Capital Technology DZL: ZH 24041.16 5700.00 23925.09 264,300 1,269,000 1078.33 0.94 221.81 338,911.49
FML Telecommunications DLTA: ZH 400.00 40000.00 400.00 6,579,400 -116.07 8.98 181.47 619,797.84
FMP Consumer Services EHZL: ZH 7100.00 13000.00 7099.74 9,700 -0.48 -8.05 2,416.99
GBH ECO: ZH 2000.00 24000.00 2000.00 27,500 2,800 - - 109.72 47,706.70
Getbucks Banking 993.04 400.00 1000.08 10,926,510 -0.26 -0.00 26.70 2,178.47
Hippo Financial Services EDGR: ZH 1838.05 7095.00 2000.30 700 - 189.54 21,599.88
Innscor FBC: ZH 650.00 747.00 153,900 - - 0.71 13,804.93
Lafarge Banking FIDL: ZH 140.41 - 140.61 1,309,100 7.04 8.83 0.01 9,249.04
Mash Financial Services FCA: ZH 1175.00 1000.00 1175.00 - 1,334,200 162.25 14.92 -4.23
Masimba 32500.24 2100.00 32500.73 130,900 97.00 0.14 -38.73 754.50
Medtech Real Estate FMHL: ZH 52551.93 747.00 52553.11 15,687 0.20 - 95.83 13,666.64
Medtech Class B Industrials FMP: ZH 15025.00 145.25 15025.00 66,700 13,498 0.00 16.07 62,733.09
Meikles GBH: ZH 420.00 420.00 2,100 - 0.00 223.61 299,487.80
Nampak Financial Services 5200.00 - 5200.00 9,600 - 0.49 - 87.81 12,020.00
NatFoods Consumer Goods GBFS: ZH 2000.00 32500.00 2000.00 - 22,328,000 1.18 - 29.44
NTS HIPO: ZH 2600.00 52550.00 2600.00 209,844,600 - -5.45 7,808.11
NMBZ Industrials 17200.00 17200.00 68,700 - - -42.86 12,565.99
OK Zim Industrials INN: ZH 1700.00 - 1700.00 399,300 - - - 4.00
Proplastics Real Estate LACZ: ZH 200000.00 420.00 200004.68 9,139,620 - - 37.49 240.00
RTG Industrials MASH: ZH 1165.00 1165.00 - - - 52.37 34.89
RioZim Financial Services MSHL: ZH 2723.44 - 3008.92 2,176,100 - - 0.00 45.50
SeedCo Financial Services MMDZ: ZH 4239.43 - 4200.46 - - - 84.92 43,455.13
Simbisa Industrials MMDZB: ZH 6800.00 - 6600.00 - - - 10.48 273.63 12,846.02
Star Africa Industrials MEIK: ZH 708.00 17200.00 790.32 - 68,800 4.68 -0.92 53.04 136,803.42
Tanganda Consumer Goods NPKZ: ZH 11000.00 - 11000.00 - - - -2.94 127.60
Truworths Industrials 23000.00 200005.00 23000.00 400 81,001,900 285.48 11.63 1.32 2,957.61
TSL NTFD: ZH 22200.49 - 22200.89 - - -38.97 - 175.00 12,161.20
Turnall Banking NTS: ZH 171.22 3000.00 175.90 40,500 111,330 -200.00 - 117.88 54,013.06
Unifreight Consumer Services NMB: ZH 24995.71 4200.00 24545.00 - 100,722,900 82.32 0.00 146.68 16,627.75
Willdale 200.00 6600.00 200.00 3,700 66,000 - 2.73 51.82 19,722.40
ZB Industrials OKZ: ZH 8500.44 800.00 8207.00 2,397,900 24,500 - -1.80 266.01 13,423.24
Zeco Consumer Services PROL: ZH 400.00 - 400.00 1,000 - 0.40 - 56,856.61
Zimpapers 3008.24 23000.00 3008.24 3,100 92,000 4.68 -3.45 - 124,810.03
Zimplow Basic Materials RTG: ZH 320.28 22205.00 345.64 - 137,068,300 -450.71 - 16.96
ZHL Consumer Goods RIOZ: ZH 7105.00 180.00 7105.00 400 435,011 - - -2.47 8,293.83
TOTAL Consumer Goods SEED: ZH 25000.00 617,400 343,630 -293.44 7.92 0.39 64,078.30
Consumer Goods 2.88 200.00 2.88 247,300 2,600 - - 11.69
Consumer Goods SIM: ZH 550.00 8200.00 550.00 1,400 5,096,545 - - -7.73 768.14
Consumer Services SACL: ZH 1915.00 400.00 2200.00 1,300 800 25.36 - 500.00 29,307.40
Consumer Goods TANG: ZH 543.71 - 543.72 62,100 - - 14.88 89.00
TRUW: ZH 350.00 200 19,010 - 0.00 -6.78 1,972.16
Industrials - - - - 44.58 3,203.00
Industrials TSL: ZH - 5,500 - 285.00 6,145.48
Industrials TURN: ZH 550.00 - 690,800 0.01 12,447.30
UNIF: ZH 2200.00 - 44,000
Banking WILD: ZH 542.00 125,600 91,888 13.34
Industrials ZBFH: ZH 2,000 698,954,190 3,168.00
Consumer Services ZECO: ZH 16,900 7,580.77
Industrials 6,903,900 9,886.02
Financial Services ZIMP: ZH 2,964,783.82
ZIMPLOW: ZH

ZHL: ZH

ETFs DMCS.zw 199.36 200.00 207.62 449,896 934,069 8.26 4.14 107.62 146.45
MCMS.zw 2395.35 2400.00 2399.33 15,019 360,356 3.98 0.17 139.93 3,087.29
Datvest Modified Consumer Staples ETF OMTT.zw 1066.78 1095.00 1077.95 1,089,265 11.17 1.05 144.94 1,548.21
Morgan&Co Multi-Sector ETF 101,050
Old Mutual ZSE Top 10 ETF 17,438.27

FINSEC Financial Services OMZIL 21007.00 21010.00 21007.00 81 17,018 - - 110.07 US$m
41.62
Old Mutual Zimbabwe 8.06

VFEX (US cents) Mining BIND:VX 3.15 3.27 3.27 205,079 6,697.33 0.12 3.81 -40.55 123.10
Mining CMCL:VX 1300.00 - 1300.00 - - - - - 107.19
BNC Consumer Goods - - - - -
Caledonia Consumer Goods PHL:VX 22.73 - 22.73 - - - - 8.24 YTD %
Padenga SCIL:VX 28.10 28.10 0.18 -4.23
SeedCo International -6.78
+62.86
Index Close Change (%) Open YTD % Top 5 Risers Price Change % +1.32
ZSE All Share 23,747.50 +1.53 23,390.66 +119.43 FMP 747.00c +97.00c +14.92 +273.63
Top 10 15,812.11 +1.53 15,573.82 +132.14 Zimplow 2200.00c +14.88
Top 15 17,229.15 +1.37 16,996.80 +128.83 Dairibord 5700.00c +285.00c +14.00 YTD %
Small Cap +0.01 474,821.48 +17.90 RTG 790.32c +700.00c +11.63 +16.96
Medium Cap 474,851.26 +1.55 37,973.59 +88.97 NMBZ 3008.92c +10.48 +127.60
38,562.94 +82.32c +266.01
+285.48c +53.04
+181.47
Top 5 Fallers Price Change %
TSL
Proplastics 8207.00c -293.44c -3.45
Tanganda 6600.00c -200.00c -2.94
OK Zim 24545.00c -450.71c -1.80
Econet 4200.46c -0.92
23925.09c -38.97c -0.48
-116.07c

SALES & TRADING: Davide Muchengi: [email protected] | Lungani Nyamazana: [email protected] | Tatenda Jasi: [email protected]
RESEARCH: Batanai Matsika: [email protected] | Precious Chagwedera: [email protected] | Tafara Mtutu: [email protected]
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NewsHawks

Issue 83, 3 June 2022 PROPERTY INTERIORS ARCHITECTURE GARDENING Page 35

The home of prime property: [email protected]

Glamour of new Chinese-built Zim Parly

Page 36 News Analysis NewsHawks

Issue 83, 3 June 2022

NYASHA CHINGONO Mpofu’s Gukurahundi

UTTERANCES by Zanu PF sec- denialism very unsettling
retary for administration Obert
Mpofu dismissing Gukurahundi Zanu PF secretary for administration Obert Mpofu.
as a "thing of the past" and telling
victims to forget is tantamount to and growth. had their memorial placard de- Tragedies of such a nature are gen- ew of the Khumalos.
attempting to whitewash the geno- The 1994 genocide against the stroyed at Bhalagwe last year, the erationally transferable so frustra- The Khumalo clan were also a
cide that killed an estimated 20 fact remains that someone needs to tion, anger, hate and the sense of
000 people in Matabeleland and Tutsis was treated with the urgency account. isolation is transferred from gen- victim of the Gukurahundi atroc-
the Midlands. it deserved, as the Rwandan gov- eration to generation,” Mukundu ities.
ernment worked with internation- Mpofu’s remarks are unfortu- said.
The burial of Chief Mabhik- al bodies to hunt down fugitives nate and should be dismissed as Chief Mabhikwa senior (Vusu-
wa, born Vusumuzi Khumalo indicted in the crimes. reckless, especially by a man who “If the government is serious, muzi’s grandfather) and a group
(35), over the weekend in Lupane masquerades as a senior statesman. they should put a break on its of elders were intercepted by the
sparked debate on the Gukura- But 35 years after the brutal 5 transference. Just politicising this 5 Brigade on the Bulawayo-Vic-
hundi massacres often spoken in Brigade killed innocent people in “Obert Mpofu is offside in his matter and accusing people of toria Falls Road. They were frog-
hushed tones and behind closed Matabeleland and the Midlands, cynical and insensitive request stoking tribal tensions and of not marched into the bush and killed.
doors. the government is still skirting that victims of the Gukurahundi being forgetful can only be done They were on their way to Bula-
around issues of accountability. genocide simply forget about what by the axe which has cut down the wayo from Jotsholo to bring home
Mabhikwa, himself an ardent happened and move on. Forget- tree. The tree will never forget.” the body of Chief Menyezwa Gu-
advocate for truth-telling, peace, No formal apology has been ting and moving on are enabled mude for burial when they met
and reconciliation, according to made by the government or those processes that are accompanied by Bulawayo-based political ana- their death.
the Reverend Useni Sibanda, had directly involved in the operation truth telling and closure for the lyst Dumisani Nkomo said: "There
been working on bringing finality that led to the brutal killings. families some of whom are buried must be a serious, independent “I heard the Reverend (Useni
to the issue. in mass graves and compensation truth telling process grounded in a Sibanda) talking about unity and
President Emmerson Mnangag- to those who are living. These are solid legal framework to deal with people of Zimbabwe uniting as
In life as in death, Mabhikwa’s wa, who was the State Security some with phycological wounds,” this issue. Zimbabwe is a unitary State,” Chi-
passion to solve the 1980s Guku- minister in the early 1980s, has political analyst Rashweat Mukun- wenga said.
ruhandi, described by the late also not offered a formal apology du said. Current processes, including
Robert Mugabe as a “moment of to those affected. the chiefs' process and NPRC, fall “He raised the issues which hap-
madness” was topical during the “If Obert Mpofu and the ruling short due to the fact that they are pened, which were bad and which
funeral. However, he has set in motion party are serious about this matter, not fully independent and do not we are looking into. The President
meetings for chiefs, communities they should be transparent in the have sufficient legal infrastruc- and the Chief ’s Council are deal-
While Vice-President Constan- and the National Peace and Rec- process of healing and compensa- ture.” ing with these matters every time
tino Chiwenga exhibited a recon- onciliation Commission (NPRC). tion of victims.” and a solution will be found as we
ciliatory tone as he presented his While Mpofu was widely vili- are all Zimbabweans.”
speech, Mpofu was the villain, The NPRC, led by retired Justice He said whitewashing Guku- fied for his insensitivity towards
telling victims of the atrocities to Sello Nare, has somewhat failed to rahundi would only boomerang his own people, Chiwenga struck Rev Sibanda had said: “I be-
forget about the "past". kickstart the process, while tradi- on future generations as it breeds a reconciliatory tone during his lieve it’s time for Zimbabwe to
tional chiefs remain muzzled in anger and resentment among the speech. be healed. It’s time for healing for
Mpofu said discussing Gukura- their quest to bring up such issues. affected. Matabeleland. Time does not heal
hundi was "counterproductive". He scored political points by wounds, but speaking the truth
Despite the efforts by the state “The matter is not going to die identifying with the people of Ma- about what happened will heal this
“What I request from you our to gag individuals and groups seen because politicians wish it could. tabeleland, claiming he is a neph- nation.”
people is that while we build, we to be vocal on Gukurahundi, in-
should not be removing sticks cluding Ibhetshu Likazulu who
from the fire; let us build,” he said.

“There are some people who
have time to talk about bad things
instead of talking about good
things. Something painful does
not build. Whenever you remind
people about something painful,
you are not building but destroy-
ing.”

He added: “We are the ones
leading people, and we are the
ones voted for by the people. Peo-
ple do not want to be always re-
minded about painful things. They
want development going forward.”

Mpofu’s speech betrayed denial-
ism of a dark era in the country’s
history, which even the 1987 Uni-
ty Accord has failed to address.

Mpofu missed an opportunity to
speak out on the issue, highlight-
ing its importance in present-day
Zimbabwe where thousands are
still reeling from the effects of the
atrocities which include trauma,
statelessness, and physical wounds.

“Some people now live on criti-
cising things which they don’t even
know how they were handled,” he
said.

“We are the ones who live where
those things happened.  I speak as
your child and as a leader in Zim-
babwe.”

The Zanu PF secretary for ad-
ministration forgets that a nation
in built on truth-telling and sin-
cere reconciliation.

It is unfortunate that those who
are supposed to be vanguards of
democracy are complicit in white-
washing heinous crimes.

Rwanda is an example of how a
sincere process of truth-telling can
lead a nation on a path to recovery

NewsHawks Critical Thinking Page 37

Issue 83, 3 June 2022 Trouble ahead in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe’s wors-
ening social, political
and economic land-
scape means trouble
for the Southern Afri-
ca sub-region.

MICHELLE GAVIN

CONDITIONS for the people of motely resembling a level playing field riskier than ever as xenophobia  gains more and more risk.  Southern Africa’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Zimbabwe continue to go from bad to as the 2023 elections draw near. strength in South Africa, where young trajectory is growing more uncertain.
worse. people face their own pressures and Visions of a vibrant, well-integrat- well in Zimbabwe and inviting more
All of these developments, com- some leaders aim to boost their pop- ed, and prosperous subregion have to of the same.
Triple digit inflation shows no signs pounded by the economic and social ularity by scapegoating immigrants. contend not just with the instability
of slowing.  Over half of the country consequences of Covid-19 lockdowns Drug use among young people in Mozambique and economic mal- Real solidarity with the people of
lives in poverty.  Its corrupt govern- and global disruptions arising from has soared, apparently driven by a ni- aise of regional giant South Africa, but Zimbabwe requires acknowledging the
ment lurches from disinterest in the Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, have left hilistic despair, and their government also with the realities of Zimbabwe, abuses and excesses of its elites, aiding
population’s pain to rosy projections Zimbawbe’s young people suffering. has neither the policy framework, re- its ongoing downward spiral, and the those in desperate need, and finding
for growth based on pure fantasy to Finding themselves in the midst of sources, or will to provide adequate health and future of its young people, ways to support those who keep push-
clumsy interventions like the recent grinding poverty and extraordinarily addiction and recovery services. who account for the majority of the ing for meaningful change.
short-lived edict  banning  banks from high unemployment rates, they must country’s population. There is nothing
lending.  also contend with the fact that mi- As Zimbabwe’s problems deepen neighbourly in pretending that all is *About the writer: Michelle Gavin
gration in search of opportunity looks and multiply, its neighbors assume is the Ralph Bunche Senior Fellow for
Politically, the merger of the ruling Africa Policy Studies at the Council
party and senior military leadership has for Foreign Relations.
long been complete, and they have be-
come inextricable from the state itself.
But because Zimbabweans, in the form
of independent journalists, opposition
politicians, and local activists, refuse
to give up on their efforts to hold gov-
ernment accountable for its actions,
state-sponsored campaigns of repres-
sion and political violence  continue.
In an effort to give the intimidation
a veneer of legality, the country’s lead-
ers are now working to dismantle civil
society, pursuing draconian legislation
aimed at private, voluntary organisa-
tions (PVOs) that would, in the words
of a network of mostly African human
rights defenders,  provide  government
with “unrestricted power to deregister,
target, and harass PVOs deemed critical
of the government”. Embracing irony,
the same government that sustains it-
self with illicit transnational cartels
justifies its efforts by pretending they
are necessary to meet the requirements
of the Financial Action Task Force. The
shamelessness is unsurprising, but the
PVO legislation is another important
indicator that there will be nothing re-

DUMISANI MOYO Can technology be driving force ing world-class competitive African
behind Africa’s development? businesses, it is one of the most acces-
THE month of May is significant for sible solutions to many of the chal-
the African continent because it is A resource-rich continent of world transitions to green energy the continent’s growth lenges that businesses face. Returning
during this month that we celebrate youthful potential sources, cobalt has become a strategic One of the solutions to driving to the mobile payment banking ex-
Africa Day. resource, particularly in the automo- ample, this innovation was the result
Africa’s youthful population is ex- tive and power generation industries.  Africa’s economic development could of a clever use of technology to ad-
Africa Day commemorates the for- pected to grow to 1.4 billion by the lie in the small and medium enter- dress a fundamental challenge in both
mation of the African Union on 25 year 2030 and 2.1 billion by 2050. In certain types of innovation, prise (SME) sector. SMEs have the Kenya and Ghana: a lack of banking
May 1963. It is a day when Africans Roughly 70% of Africans are under Africa also leads the world potential to support development by infrastructure.
celebrate the continent’s indepen- the age of 30, compared to Europe creating jobs and driving economic
dence, freedom, and liberation from where populations are aging and de- According to a  BCG study  into growth. The burning question is: why Digital supply chains and business
colonialism. clining. This young population offers mobile payment banking, Kenya and are African SMEs so slow to adopt network solutions could unlock ac-
enormous opportunities for econom- Ghana have the second and third and leverage technology? cess to new markets for raw materials
Reflecting on the significance of ic growth and innovation, but only if highest mobile payment usage after or finished products. Innovative use
Africa Day, we have accomplished they are seized. China, demonstrating Africa’s enor- African businesses – and SMEs in of technology – like what we’ve seen
much in terms of colonial liberation, mous potential. Mobile transactions particular – face significant challenges with mobile banking – could solve
but much work remains to be done in Other valuable resources are also account for 87% of Kenya’s GDP and that include lack of access to capital, immediate challenges stunting SMEs’
achieving liberation from persistent waiting to be unlocked 82% in Ghana.  specialised skills, raw materials, and growth and unlock a new wave of in-
challenges such as poverty, inequality, markets. novation across the continent.
and unemployment that continue to United Nations data indicates that To put this in context, the Afri-
plague the African continent. Africa has 30% of the world’s miner- can mobile payment market could A lack of adoption of new technol- Even though Africa continues to
al resources and 65% of the planet’s have 850 million customers by 2025, ogies is causing several issues for Af- face numerous and complex chal-
I am fortunate to work in the dy- arable agricultural land. South Af- which is 100 million more than Eu- rica’s SME sector, ranging from poor lenges, there is no denying that the
namic and vibrant technology space, rica, for example, holds 90% of the rope’s total population. planning, a lack of forecasting capa- continent is brimming with possi-
supporting a wide range of business- world’s  platinum reserves, while Ni- bility, and lack of capacity to leverage bilities. The time is now for African
es in various industries, including geria and Libya are among the top ten The big question is why, despite a the efficiency gains of artificial intel- businesses to leverage technology as a
small and medium-sized enterprises countries with the largest oil reserves. large young population and mineral ligence and machine learning. These strategic resource to fuel innovation
(SMEs) across the African continent. resource wealth, does Africa continue issues must be addressed if we are to and growth.
Africa also has the largest cobalt re- to trail the rest of the world in its de- unleash the next generation of Afri-
A common realisation in my travels serves, with the Democratic Republic velopment? can business success stories. — Africa.com
and interactions with business leaders of Congo accounting for more than
has been the enormous opportunities two-thirds of global supplies. As the Tech-enabled SMEs could power Although technology is not the *About the writer: Dumisani
that the African continent possesses. only answer to the question of build- Moyo is the marketing director at
SAP Africa, a leading enterprise
According to the  United Nations, software company. He is an avid
Africa has a population of 1.1 billion scholar in technology, leadership,
people, which is roughly equal to the diversity, and sustainability.
combined populations of Europe and
North America.

Page 38 Critical Thinking NewsHawks

Issue 83, 3 June 2022

What coltan mining in the DRC
costs people and the environment

OLUWOLE OJEWALE

THE Democratic Republic of Congo Conflicts between members of an artisanal miners’ cooperative called Cooperamma and the coltan mining company SMB led to violence that claimed lives on the mining site at Rubaya in North Kivu.
(DRC) is rich in natural resources –
its untapped deposits of minerals are gether digging large craters in stream- carbon stock, disrupt the photosyn- At Mwenga in Shabunda, 50 arti- sion.
estimated to be worth US$24 trillion. beds, scraping away soil from the sur- thesis process and affect air quality. It sanal miners died in September 2020
Gold, diamonds, cobalt and zinc are face to get to the coltan underground. is also affecting wildlife habitats. as a result of coltan mining-related Recommendations
among them. activities. The approach to extractive reform in
The indiscriminate exploitation of For instance, North and South the DRC is currently inadequate to
Another strategic mineral mined coltan is dramatically affecting envi- Kivu provinces contain most of the Holes dug by artisanal miners are deal with the human and environ-
in the DRC is coltan – a name de- ronmental biodiversity and disrupt- DRC’s coltan. Kahuzi Biega Nation- rarely covered after mining activities mental harms associated with coltan
rived from “columbite-tantalite”. ing ecosystems around mining sites. al Park, one of the last sanctuaries have ceased. mining.
In 2021, the DRC’s coltan produc- for the critically endangered eastern
tion amounted to an estimated  700 According to data available on lowland gorilla, spans both provinces. And landslides have trapped min- My study provides specific recom-
tonnes, making the Central African the  Global Forest Watch  platform Coltan mining has destroyed much ers underground. mendations to address the identified
country the world’s largest coltan managed by the World Resources of the gorillas’ natural habitat, leav- challenges.
producer by far. Institute, the DRC has lost 8.6% ing them vulnerable to poachers. The Conflicts between members of an
of its tree cover since 2000. One of population of eastern lowland gorillas artisanal miners’ cooperative called The government must reform the
Coltan is indispensable to the the  major causes  of deforestation in in the park  plummeted  from 8,000 Cooperamma and the coltan mining Congolese Environment Agency to
manufacture of all modern techno- the DRC is mining. in 1991, when coltan mining started company SMB led to  violence  that enforce environmental impact assess-
logical devices. The mineral is refined there, to about 40 in 2005. The pres- claimed lives on the mining site at ments and implementation of envi-
to tantalum powder, which is used to Observers I spoke to note that en- ent population is now  estimated  at Rubaya in North Kivu. ronmental management plans.
make heat-resistant capacitors in lap- vironmental impact assessments are 250. Child labour
tops, cellphones, and other high-end seldom carried out prior to coltan The DRC’s  mining code  was re- Civil society organisations should
electronic devices. mining. Artisanal miners and foreign The process of mineral separation, formed in 2017 to penalise the use of train and equip observatory groups at
companies even violate sites of his- sieving and sorting is done manually child labour or the sale of ore mined the local level to monitor and report
The global coltan market was val- torical heritage such as Kahuzi Biega through washing at streams and riv- by children. Yet much of the coun- on coltan mining sites. This will pro-
ued at US$1 504.81 million in 2019. National Park. ers. The chemicals used are pollut- try’s coltan is extracted through the vide a shadow report to compare with
It is expected to reach US$1 933.92 ing water bodies and are harmful to labour of over  40 000 child miners. audits carried out by state agents.
million by the end of 2026, growing The first impact of coltan mining aquatic creatures. The chemicals are They work in dangerous conditions as
at a rate of 5.58% a year between is when miners remove vegetation also known to produce radioactive washers and diggers. In line with  global best practic-
2021 and 2026. and topsoil. This increases the rate of substances that are detrimental to hu- es the upstream companies that mine
erosion. man health. Doing adults’ work in a hazardous and refine coltan are advised to mit-
But activists, journalists and schol- Human harms environment, child miners face  the igate environmental risks associated
ars have found a relationship between Most of the artisanal coltan miners The activities of the coltan miners and risks  of ill health, harassment and with their operations.
coltan exploitation and large-scale work on sites where there is no state the associated businesses are exploit- abuse. They may either drop out of
environmental degradation, human control. They take as much coltan as ative and impoverish communities. school or never have the opportunity *About the writer: Dr Oluwole
rights abuses, violence and death. they can without any regulation. For Observers note that coltan mining to attend. Ojewale is regional co-ordinator of
instance, while the Ministry of Min- businesses rarely compensate affected the Institute for Security Studies.
This can be seen in violation of ing  recommends  that miners should communities by implementing de- The quantity of coltan mined
environmental laws, child labour on dig no deeper than 30 metres below velopment programmes, which is a through child labour remains unac- • The  full report  was first pub-
mining sites, and complicity of min- the surface, they sometimes dig as statutory requirement in terms of the counted for, uncertified and untrace- lished by the ENACT project, a
ing companies in the abuses of popu- deep as 200 metres. mining laws. able. It is traded in the underground partnership between the Institute
lations at risk. economy and funnelled into the for Security Studies, Interpol and
Environmental activists in Bukavu coltan global supply chain through the Global Initiative against Trans-
In my  new study, I asked two re- confirm that coltan exploitation has smuggling, counterfeiting and collu- national Crime, funded by the EU.
search questions: what harms do led to loss of trees. That is known
coltan mining and trading cause to to  destroy ecosystems, decrease the
the environment and local people in
north-eastern DRC? And what can
the DRC government and private
sector do to ensure responsible sourc-
ing of coltan?

Coltan exploitation is destroying
ecosystems and affecting wildlife
habitats. Animals are being displaced
from their natural habitat, leaving
them vulnerable to poachers. The
chemicals used in washing coltan are
polluting water bodies and are harm-
ful to people and animals.

My study raises awareness of the
implications of this illicit mining and
suggests multi-stakeholder interven-
tions to halt environmental crime.
Environmental crime
The information for my analysis came
from a qualitative field survey, legis-
lation and UN reports on extractive
conflicts in the DRC.

Data also came from interviews
with officials of the Certification,
Expertise and Evaluation Centre, the
Ministry of Mines, civil society coa-
litions, the Congolese Environment
Agency and nongovernmental organ-
isations in North and South Kivu.

My study conceives environmental
crime as activities that breach envi-
ronmental legislation and cause sig-
nificant harm or risk to the environ-
ment, human health, or both.

Coltan is mined through a fairly
primitive process. Miners work to-

NewsHawks Critical Thinking Page 39

Issue 83, 3 June 2022

ANC policy papers touch on key issues
facing agriculture, land reform in SA

WANDILE SIHLOBO

THE latest  policy discussion doc- Rural development is one of the priorities identified by South Africa’s ruling party.
ument  published by the African
National Congress (ANC) presents production underutilised land. The ANC policy papers also em- passes  better infrastructure such gramme. This would help increase
a positive change from the ambig- Such land is mainly in the state phasise the need to improve the as roads, water and electricity, and the land supply for the redistribu-
uous agriculture policy  the South owned farmlands and the  former functioning of municipality and the building of schools and health tion pillar of land reform.
African governing party has main- homelands  in the provinces of the the network industries – road, rail, facilities.
tained in the recent past. Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and water, electricity and ports. These Perhaps, the  Land Reform and
Limpopo. The  weak land gover- are issues I have emphasised several Here again, the challenge of de- Agricultural Development Agen-
The latest document talks to the nance, infrastructure and institu- times. Some of the challenges the teriorating infrastructure remains cy will incorporate land donations
primary issues that, if implemented tions  in these areas are amongst sector has faced in the recent past a major hindrance. If improved, as one of its instruments.
relentlessly, would drive the sector’s the key constraints to agricultural stem from the poor functioning of along with municipality gover-
growth in ways that would benefit progress. network industries and the failure nance and service delivery, South What’s to be avoided
all. of the municipalities. Africa would achieve a vibrant rural The discussion documents will no
The ANC now places emphasis economy. doubt be revised by the ANC’s poli-
The policy document is set for on the Land Reform and Agricul- Municipalities provide services cy conference. One hopes that their
debate at the ANC’s policy confer- tural Development Agency, first such as water and sanitation, elec- Agriculture, fishing, aquaculture, thoughtful approach to agriculture,
ence in July, which is a precursor announced by President Cyril Ra- tricity, roads and technological mining and tourism are among the land reform and rural development
to the party’s elective conference maphosa in 2020 and more recent- infrastructure. These are funda- key industries that would contrib- will not be diluted.
scheduled for December this year. ly in the  State of the Nation Ad- mental for  the functioning  of the ute more to economic growth and
dress in 2022. agribusinesses and agriculture at job creation with improved infra- This is especially because the
The previous policy documents large. Some agribusinesses have structure. These industries contrib- dilution of the policy proposals
were clouded by the  proposals to The agency would ideally focus now resorted to  using their own ute a decent share to the economy might affect existing government
amend the constitution  to allow on the redistribution pillar of the funds to provide these services. and job creation. approaches to agriculture and agri-
for expropriation of land with- land reform programme. The oth- business.
out compensation under specific er pillars are land restitution and These are resources which would The one glaring omission in the
circumstances. Beyond the push tenure. The agency would  bring have ideally been used to support documents is the idea on “land do- The  Agriculture and Agro-pro-
for radical land reform, there was about  national coordination, re- new entrant black farmers and agri- nations”, which was  floated in the cessing Master Plan and the budget
inadequate reflection on the driv- duce red tape, and become a one- businesses. media  in April 2022. But it was vote speech have acknowledged the
ers of growth in the agricultural stop shop for issues related to a first proposed by the  Presidential sector’s contribution to economic
economy, and the importance of decentralised redistribution of agri- If these challenges could be ad- Advisory Panel Report on South growth, job creation, and the po-
food security. The recently released cultural land. dressed, along with the release Africa’s Land Reform and Agricul- tential for its further expansion.
document has a sharp focus on of state land to properly selected ture. Land donations would be an
the key interventions to drive the Details of how the agency will beneficiaries, South Africa could additional instrument to accelerate — The Conversation.
agricultural and rural economy. It function haven’t yet been set out. achieve improvements in  agricul- land reform.
highlights the sector’s role in job The minister of agriculture, land tural production and job creation. *About the writer: Wandile Si-
creation and reducing poverty. reform and rural development, The potential land donors would hlobo is senior lecturer extraor-
Thoko Didiza, is expected to an- The discussion papers also focus include churches, mining houses, dinary in the Department of
The ANC  acknowledges  that: nounce these before the end of June on rural development, acknowl- and big farming businesses. Agricultural Economics at Stel-
agriculture remains an important 2022. edging its multi-dimensional na- lenbosch University in South Af-
sector of the South African econ- ture. Rural development  encom- The state would provide  incen- rica.
omy. It holds the potential to up- tives or nudges for such a pro-
lift many poor South Africans out
of poverty through increased food
production, vibrant economic ac-
tivity, and job creation.

The policy discussion document
draws from the insights of  a 2018
collection of studies  which found
that, on average, growth in agricul-
ture is more poverty-reducing than
an equivalent amount of growth
outside agriculture.

This brings home the need to
invest and expand agricultural pro-
duction. That is if South Africa is
to reduce poverty, raise its econom-
ic growth rate and the rate of de-
velopment, specifically in the rural
communities.

Overall, my assessment is that the
idea presented by these discussion
papers on agriculture, land reform
and rural development are sound.
They also speak to the core issues
that have held back the growth of
agriculture in South Africa.

That said, once these ideas have
been adopted as the governing par-
ty’s policy positions, they still need
to be translated into government
policy. There’s a risk they may be
diluted along the way. A lot also
will depend on how well govern-
ment is able to implement the pro-
posals.
The big issues
The ANC  acknowledges  that the
growth of the agricultural sector
partly depends on effective land re-
form which includes bringing into

Page 42 Reframing Issues NewsHawks

Issue 83, 3 June 2022

CKENDNCE RUSENGA/
GERNOT KLANTSCHNIG/
NEIL CARRIER/ SIMON HOWELL

CANNABIS is a drug crop with Liberalisation of the cannabis policy in Africa is primarily for production for medical and scientific purposes.
a  long history  in Africa. Alongside
coca and opium poppy, it has been Cannabis policy changes in Africa are
subjected to international control for welcome. Small producers set to lose
nearly a century.
Africa the  gazetted fees  range from “traditional” uses, but on its contem- cannabis in 2021. The beneficiaries Further, the limiting of legal can-
The International Opium Con- R9 200 (US$579.27) for an export porary growth as an economic cash are established agribusinesses and nabis production to medical and sci-
vention of 1925 institutionalised the permit to R25 200 (US$1 586.69) crop, and source of livelihoods in a large-scale commercial farmers. entific purposes excludes production
international control system and ex- for the manufacture permit. global context where drug policy is in activities of many existing smallhold-
tended the scope of control to can- flux. Run jointly by the universities of Similar concerns in Malawi and er producers. This perpetuates their
nabis. The highest licence fees have been Bristol and Cape Town, the project is South Africa led small farmers to criminalisation. It also creates a dual
reported in  Lesotho  and  Uganda. gathering new empirical data in Ni- protest against the licensing process model where established businesses
In 1961 a new international  con- Here, they range from hundreds of geria, Kenya, Zimbabwe and South in November 2020 and April 2021. benefit from the reforms while small
vention  was adopted to replace the thousands of dollars to a couple of Africa. This will be used to examine Jacob Nyirongo, the chief executive producers’ activities remain outlawed
existing multilateral treaties for con- million dollars. the historical and contemporary place officer for the Farmers Union of Ma- and suppressed.
trol of narcotic drugs. The prohi- of cannabis in African rural and ur- lawi, argued:
bitionist framework it provided for The average farmer in these coun- ban settings. Legalising cannabis production for
control of cannabis was adopted by tries can’t afford these kinds of fees. The question is, if you buy a license medical purposes is all very well. But
post-colonial African states. These of- Our research also involves captur- at US$10 000 what kind of market ensuring the participation of ordinary
ficial efforts succeeded in driving can- Additional requirements include ing the experiences of ordinary citi- price for cannabis (must) a farmer citizens and producers in the indus-
nabis production underground and tax clearance certificates, bank guar- zens, beyond the official narrative of (get) to make a profit? try is the big challenge facing African
limiting its contribution to citizens’ antees, compliance with cultivation medical and scientific production. states. The risk of corporate capture
livelihoods. But they  failed  to eradi- guidelines and security guarantees. Other conditions attached to li- of the industry is a real possibility.
cate the crop. For authorities, these preconditions Our initial observations show that censes are also obstacles for small-
are designed to secure an end-prod- the risk of corporate capture of the le- holder producers.  For South Africa, — The Conversation.
Paradoxically, many African states uct that could be easily “abused” if gal cannabis industry, and exclusion applicants need to comply with  cer-
that persecuted citizens for cannabis not properly regulated. They seem to of smallholder producers, is serious. tification, be registered, and provide *About the writers: Clemence
related offences for years are now pro- be aimed also at ensuring that gov- Because the license fees are high, police clearance, among other condi- Rusenga is a research associate at
moting legal cannabis production. ernments do not lose on tax revenues many smallholder producers cannot tions. Police clearance, in particular, the University of Bristol in the Unit-
Over the past five years 10 countries from the emerging industry. afford them. This leaves corporate may affect those with past criminal ed Kingdom.
have passed laws to legalise produc- businesses as the main holders of li- records for the illegal production,
tion for medical and scientific pur- However, the limited scope of legal cences. possession or consumption of canna- Gernot Klantschnig is an associ-
poses. These include Lesotho, Zimba- production, the high license fees and bis. ate professor in international crim-
bwe, South Africa, Uganda, Malawi, business set-up costs and other condi- In Uganda, for instance, only one Towards an inclusive cannabis fu- inology at the University of Bristol.
Zambia, Ghana, Eswatini, Rwanda tions are likely to limit participation company is currently licensed by the ture
and Morocco. South Africa has also of many smallholder producers who government to produce medical can- Early insights from our research show Neil Carrier is associate profes-
legalised the private growing of can- lack resources to set up legal cannabis nabis. The strict regulations include an emerging legal cannabis industry sor in social anthropology in the
nabis plants by adults for their own businesses. a minimum capital of US$5 million with a limited role for smallholder Department of Anthropology and
personal consumption. The emerging picture and a bank guarantee. This is clearly a producers. This limits the industry’s Archaeology at the University of
We are involved in a pan-African re- deterrent to most aspiring producers. ability to contribute to livelihoods Bristol.
The cannabis policy liberalisation search project which aims to develop of the poor and the majority more
in Africa has been brought about by a deeper understanding of cannabis In Zimbabwe, the government  li- widely. Simon Howell is a research fellow
two main factors. One is the lobbying in Africa. We focus not only on its censed  dozens of new investors for in the Global Risk Governance Pro-
by local activists. Cannabis use is still cultivation and processing of medical gramme at the University of Cape
criminalised in most African coun- Town in South Africa.
tries. But even in the most conserva-
tive ones there are emerging debates
ultimately aimed at spurring cannabis
policy reforms.

The other factor is the emer-
gence of the global legal cannabis
industry projected to grow to nearly
US$200 billion by 2028. For state
authorities, policy changes are aimed
at opening avenues for scarce foreign
exchange revenue critically needed to
boost stagnating economies.

But there are still policy and prac-
tical concerns requiring attention
if the cannabis sector reforms are to
have a positive impact on the econ-
omy and citizens’ livelihoods. These
include the need to ensure partici-
pation of ordinary producers in the
legal cannabis sector. This is because
the emerging regulation frameworks
seem to  favour  corporate businesses
over smallholder farmers.
Winds of change
The liberalisation of the cannabis
policy in Africa is primarily for pro-
duction for medical and scientif-
ic purposes. Production, trade and
consumption of cannabis outside of
these purposes remain criminalised.
The production by many smallholder
farmers, who historically were cus-
todians of the cannabis plant and
knowledge, is not covered by the new
regulations. It means their cannabis
related livelihoods are still in contra-
vention of the laws.

Among other conditions, produc-
ers must acquire a license from state
authorities. There are various types of
licenses and fees for cannabis man-
ufacture, distribution and research.
These can range from US$5 000 to
US$50 000 in  Zimbabwe. In South

NewsHawks Reframing Issues Page 43

Issue 83, 3 June 2022

KORRINE Sky, a Zimbabwe- African students fleeing
an-born medical student, was study-
ing in Ukraine when Russia invaded Ukraine grapple with racism
that country on 24 February this
year. Refugees from Africa, Asia and the Middle East are among those fleeing Ukraine.

Like many others, she had to flee In a video Sky posted on Twitter, said to have left, and BW4BL assist- without receiving the required ed- tive barriers and language, “we are
Ukraine and was faced with the un- she said, “there’s been a lot of seg- ed in the evacuation with Movement ucation. “They are refusing to give classed as economic migrants, which
certainty, hostility, and racism  that regation and racism –for the people on the Ground and Team Humanity. transcripts in very subtle but diffi- is not true; I do not think education
many have experienced on the road, who actually get to passport control, Since there is no remaining students cult ways,” she says, making it dif- is tourism.”
on trains and buses, and at the bor- there seems to be a hierarchy, Ukrai- that need to be evacuated and need ficult to look for other universities,
ders. nians first, Indians second, and Afri- support, their mission has now been because the first thing universities Born in Zimbabwe but raised in
cans last.” fulfilled, she emphasised. ask for are transcripts. the United Kingdom, sky went to
After her experience, Sky, along study in Ukraine because the cost of
with two other women, found- Despite the racism and segrega- She has now started a new plat- As a result, Sky is trying to bring education in the UK for her degree
ed  Black Women for Black Lives tion, they faced, she wrote on Twit- form, called  Africans in Ukraine awareness to the needs of the stu- would be approximately US$11 300
(BW4BL) – an initiative focussed on ter, “I will never forget the warm Education Fund (AIUEF), focusing dents, while having conversations a year, as opposed to US$3 800 a
helping black students in Ukraine welcome we received in Romania more on education, and helping with educators, universities, and year in Ukraine.
evacuate, by offering support and and for that I am forever grateful.” African students continue their ed- organisations, on how opportuni-
funding. They acted as an interme- ucation now that they are in neigh- ties can be made available for the According to research published
diary at first, connecting those who While waiting to reach the bor- bouring countries or back in their students who were forced to flee by Ukraine’s ministry of Education
wanted to send money, directly with der, Sky created a  Telegram group homeland. Weʼre raising US$316 Ukraine. and Science in late 2020, foreign
the students who needed the finan- chat  for international students, 000 to help African students who students brought  US$542 million
cial support. where it was repeatedly highlight- fled the war in Ukraine continue Some universities across the world in revenue to Ukraine, which had a
ed by numerous students that they with their education. are offering opportunities specifical- gross domestic product of US$155
The main mission for BW4BL, could not leave because they did not ly for Ukrainian nationals, to the billion.
according to Sky was, “to help the have enough money or a means of Sky’s current university has said exclusion of students from other na-
students evacuate, and meet their transport. they are closed until further notice. tionalities. Furthermore, students have a le-
immediate needs whilst leaving The college then decided to conduct gal status in the country they reside
Ukraine.” After five weeks, BW4BL man- online lectures every two to three “Now that we have left Ukraine, in, and they should be safeguarded
aged to raise  US$411 000 and weeks, which she believes is not we do not have the same protection and have their rights protected in
She saw a vacuum and the lack of helped 2 000 people with transpor- enough for medical students. as Ukrainians, because we are not any country they choose to study.
response from officials and organi- tation, accommodation, food, and classified as refugees,” she lamented.  Clear policies and solutions should
sations. There was no information medical aid. It is now an issue that universi- be outlined to help those who find
given to non-Ukrainians, for whom ties want to retain students, and for This is making it difficult for Afri- themselves in similar situations.
identity documents were required, By 11 April, the last students who the students to continue paying fees can students to access opportunities.
and whether the open-door policy were in the town of Kherson were She explained that owing to legisla- — Shabaka.org
was also for Africans. The first issue
they faced was in trying to contact
different embassies, which was a
struggle she said, phone calls and
emails were not being answered, “it
took a lot of social media bashing,”
were her words.

Not until the next day, was it
eventually announced that all na-
tionals could enter Poland without a
passport or visa.

When they finally spoke to the
embassies, the British embassy in-
cluded – the advice they received
was, “make your way to Poland, once
you arrived in Poland, then we will
see if we can help you.”

However, there was no assistance
arranged to help the students evacu-
ate, and no financial or physical sup-
port was provided.

The Ukrainian government had
organised free buses, and when the
free buses would arrive, the bus
drivers would say, “no foreigners”
or “no black people,”  “only Ukrai-
nians,” and in other instances, other
nationals would be pushed off the
trains by citizens.

A Nigerian student in Sumy,
Ukraine, said in a video he shared on
Twitter, that his school had provided
three free buses, but they were only
for Chinese students, “no buses for
African students,” he said, “I don’t
understand, are we not paying the
same school fees?”

He also stressed that the drivers in
Ukraine are asking for US$4 500 for
a three-hour journey. Many of the
students do not have that amount of
money, leaving Sumy and many oth-
ers resigned to sleeping in the under-
ground to stay safe, with very little
access to food and water.

Sky also said they were in the
queue for three days, in a long line of
cars that was hardly moving as they
were waiting to enter Romania.

She noted that when they arrived
at the border, the racism they faced
was perpetuated by a citizen, but it
was dismissed and encouraged by
the guards, and these were not iso-
lated incidents but occurred across
the whole country.

Page 44 Africa News NewsHawks

Issue 83, 3 June 2022

JIM CUST/ALBERT G. ZEUFACK

SUSTAINING Africa’s growth over Managing nature’s assets is key
the coming decades will require a new to sustainable growth in Africa
approach to economic management,
one that looks beyond gross domes- Natural resources as an engine of by countries failing to diversify their nomically unsustainable. resilience and diversity of their econ-
tic product (GDP), and considers the economic transformation? economies and their asset base in a This edition of the CWON also omies.
underlying assets of its countries and Despite many resource-rich coun- way to withstand commodity price
how they can contribute to sustain- tries such as Australia, Chile and the movements. shows that resource-rich countries Since many countries in Sub-Sa-
able prosperity. United States transforming into pros- saw rising economic concentration haran Africa are lagging in terms of
perous diversified economies, others This is also clearly reflected in the during the boom and that this has wealth per capita, they need to accu-
The World Bank’s Changing have faced an uphill struggle. This CWON data. In 26 countries over- been accompanied by lower human mulate assets much faster than other
Wealth of Nations (CWON) 2021 challenge is known by economists as all — 11 of which are in Sub-Saharan capital accumulation, relatively high- regions. Successful countries, with
report and database, which measures the paradox of plenty, or by some, the Africa — wealth per capita declined er public sector employment, and the highest levels of per capita wealth
the wealth composition of countries resource curse. The decade from 2004 between 1995 and 2018. The losses lower levels of female human capital. globally are also those that have the
across human capital, physical capital to 2014 was a test of whether such a were not isolated to the depleting highest concentration of wealth in
and natural capital, found that the paradox of plenty exists. Higher com- subsoil assets like oil and minerals, Looking ahead, as commodity human capital.
Sub-Saharan Africa region has one of modity prices meant a big boom in but also many countries saw declin- prices begin to rise again, there is an
the highest concentrations of natural exports, government revenues, and ing value of renewable natural capital opportunity to learn from the mis- — World Bank.
assets in its wealth of all regions in the values of natural capital. wealth, including from deforestation steps of the last boom and bust cycle.
world, at almost 20%. and over-fishing. *About the writers: Jim Cust is
The legacy of the boom is, unfor- Natural wealth can again help gen- an economist and young profession-
This means that African countries tunately, one of missed opportuni- Declining values of wealth per cap- erate revenues, investment and jobs. al working in the office of the chief
need to give special attention to how ty. Some countries with the biggest ita means that future generations are However, how countries re-invest the economist, Africa Region at the
they manage these natural resources. commodity price boom also saw the at risk of being materially worse off proceeds from natural resources will World Bank.
Such assets can be either the engine biggest bust. This was accompanied than current generations. In other determine the legacy of this decade.
of economic transformation, or the words, the development path is eco- Investing in human capital alongside Dr Albert Zeufack is the World
catalyst of volatile growth. other assets can help to improve the Bank’s chief economist for Africa.

Subsoil natural resources such as
oil, gas and minerals are a particular
challenge for policymakers. Given
their exhaustible nature, growth driv-
en by resource extraction is inherently
unsustainable. That is unless the reve-
nues are used to build wealth in other
parts of the economy, rather than to
fuel increases in consumption.

This means that resource manage-
ment is not simply about maximising
inward investment to generate gov-
ernment revenues, but about re-in-
vesting those revenues in a healthy
and productive workforce, in build-
ing infrastructure and productive
cities, and by enhancing the value
of other forms of natural assets like
croplands, forests and fisheries.

The  Changing Wealth of Nations
2021  (CWON) report measures the
evolution of these assets and so we
can examine how resource-rich Afri-
can countries have fared.

The record is not good, however.
In 2003, oil prices rose from
around US$36 to US$61 in 2005,
marking the beginning of more than a
decade of sustained high commodity
prices: a commodity super cycle. For
the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa,
most of whom have an abundance of
natural resources such as oil, gas, and
minerals, this was a once-in-a-gen-
eration opportunity in terms of in-
vestment and revenues driving un-
precedented levels of GDP growth.
However, by 2014, as oil prices began
to slide, economic growth slumped.
Similarly, when we look at changes
in wealth per capita, the decade-long
boom was followed by a bust.

NewsHawks World News Page 45

Issue 83, 3 June 2022

SAMUEL CHARAP Ukraine’s best chance for peace

AT this stage of the war in Ukraine, How neutrality can bring security — and satisfy both Russia and the West
as Russia steps up its offensive in the
Donbas and more revelations of the A Ukrainian soldier manning a defensive trench, Donetsk region, Ukraine. Serhii Nuzhnenko / Reuters
atrocities committed by its forces
emerge, the prospect of any kind of ficial appeal from Kyiv and conducting to oust Zelensky by force, and when But the security guarantees out- coast close to Britain and is sandwiched
negotiated peace between Moscow and urgent consultations, would provide the Russian government subsequently lined in the Istanbul communiqué are on land between Germany, France, and
Kyiv seems remote. assistance to Ukraine, including, if nec- agreed to talks it also made several ex- very different from Article 5. Most the Netherlands — its territory had
essary, the use of armed force “with the treme demands — such as Ukrainian important, unlike the North Atlantic been the site of more than a thousand
Even earlier this spring, when dele- goal of restoring and then maintaining recognition of Russia’s annexation of Treaty, the proposed agreement would battles among European powers since
gations from the two sides were meet- Ukraine’s security as a permanently Crimea — that were absent from the include Russia as a party. The Istanbul Roman times. When the Belgians re-
ing, the talks had little impact on either neutral state.” Istanbul communiqué. Moreover, Rus- plan implies Russian consent to the belled against their then rulers, the
Russia’s or Ukraine’s determination sian hard-liners lambasted the propos- United States’ and its allies’ guaran- Dutch, in 1830, the members of the
to keep fighting. And at times, both Under the Istanbul plan, Russia als to accept a US security guarantee tees to Ukraine — and their consent, Concert of Europe — Austria, Prussia,
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zel- would be a stakeholder in Ukrainian to Ukraine and to support Kyiv’s EU in turn, to Russia’s co-equal guarantor the United Kingdom, France, and Rus-
ensky and Russian President Vladimir security. membership. But two days after ar- role. Indeed, since it would involve sia — began protracted negotiations
Putin have been dismissive of the nego- riving back in Moscow, Medinsky ap- geopolitical rivals as guarantors, the Is- with both parties to work out the pa-
tiations. Today, the sides have effective- According to the proposal, the guar- peared before the cameras and gave a tanbul proposal would not be a treaty rameters of an independent Belgium.
ly suspended their diplomatic efforts. antees would not extend to parts of very upbeat assessment of the Istanbul of alliance, like Nato, but a multilater- Eventually, they reached agreement
Ukraine occupied by Russia (although plan. It seems highly unlikely that he al security guarantee, an arrangement on a wide-ranging treaty separating
Amid the gloom, it would be easy Ukraine would not concede its legal would have done so without having whereby competing powers commit Belgium from the Netherlands and
to forget the real progress that negoti- claims to the entirety of its interna- first consulted Putin. And Putin him- to the security of a third state, usually agreeing that the former would be an
ators have already made. In late March, tionally recognized territory). Ukraine self, in his meeting with UN Secre- on the understanding that it will re- “independent and perpetually neutral
Ukrainian diplomats introduced an would commit not to join any military tary-General António Guterres in late main neutral and unaligned with any state … bound to observe such neu-
innovative framework for a deal that coalitions or host any foreign military April, called the proposal a “real break- of those powers trality toward all other states.” The ar-
could provide a pathway out of the bases or forces on its territory. Any mul- through.” Bekgian lessons ticles of the treaty were “placed under
war. And crucially, the proposal, which tinational military exercises in Ukraine Multilateral security guarantees serve a the Guarantee” of the five great-power
was leaked to the press following talks would be possible only with the con- In fact, the Istanbul communiqué fundamentally different purpose than signatories.
in Istanbul on 29 March, has already sent of all the guarantor states. And may be a breakthrough — at least alliances. Whereas alliances such as
received at least preliminary support finally, the guarantors would confirm a conceptual one. At first, this was Nato are intended to maintain collec- Belgium traded neutrality for securi-
from both sides. At the center of the their intention to promote Ukraine’s not entirely clear in Western capi- tive defense against a common enemy, ty and got 75 years of peace.
proposed deal is a trade: Kyiv would membership in the European Union. tals. When asked whether the United multilateral security guarantees are
renounce its ambitions to join Nato The proposal contained additional pro- Kingdom was prepared to become a designed to ensure comity among the This arrangement was possible be-
and embrace permanent neutrality in visions, and certain details have been guarantor of Ukraine shortly after the guarantors regarding the guaranteed cause all the major European states saw
return for receiving security guarantees clarified since the Istanbul meeting. Istanbul meeting, Dominic Raab, the state, and by extension to bolster that Belgium’s independence, security, and
from both its Western partners and But according to published reports, the British deputy prime minister, pointed state’s security. In this sense, the Istan- neutrality as essential to the security of
from Russia. core points of the communiqué remain out, “Ukraine is not a Nato member.” bul proposal is similar in form to the the entire continent. Belgium was par-
on the table. He added, “We’re not going to engage treaties that enshrined Belgium’s inde- ticularly important to the great-power
Perhaps because of its novelty, the Russia in direct military confrontation” pendence and guaranteed its perma- rivals that neighbored it, France and
significance of the Istanbul propos- Immediately after Istanbul, there over Ukraine. In other words, if Nato nent neutrality in 1831 and 1839. Germany, since the lack of topograph-
al has yet to be appreciated in many were questions about whether Russia allies have been unwilling to grant ical obstructions on its territory made
Western capitals, where security guar- would reject the proposal out of hand Ukraine Article 5 protections because it Prior to those treaties, Belgium did the country a direct pathway for one to
antees have become synonymous with — particularly after the chief Russian might get them into a war with Russia, not exist. Due to its strategic geogra- invade the other. And it was important
treaties of alliance. Unlike an alliance, negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, was why should they give Ukraine the same phy — the country enjoys a North Sea to the United Kingdom both for mari-
which unites close partners in common sharply criticized in Russia for not tak- commitment in a different form? time security and as a European trading
defense, usually against a potential en- ing a harder line in the talks. After all, hub.
emy, the proposed deal calls for geo- Moscow had only weeks earlier sought
political rivals to guarantee Ukraine’s
long-term security jointly, outside of
an alliance structure — and to do so
despite one of the rivals’ ongoing war
of aggression against Ukraine. If the
proposal were to become the basis of an
eventual settlement, the result would
be a mechanism, however counterin-
tuitive, that would make Russia itself a
stakeholder in Ukraine’s security.
Neutral, not Nato
In the context of Ukraine, officials and
analysts have tended to equate securi-
ty guarantees with Article 5 of Nato’s
foundational North Atlantic Treaty, the
provision that treats an “armed attack”
on one ally as an attack on all and calls
for each ally to respond with “such ac-
tion as it deems necessary, including the
use of armed force.” Indeed, Ukraine
aspired to join Nato in large part for
this collective defense pledge. And the
United States and its Nato allies have
been reluctant to offer Ukraine mem-
bership because of the Article 5 obliga-
tions it would entail, and the resulting
risk of direct conflict with Russia.

The Istanbul proposal envisions a
very different mechanism for ensur-
ing Ukraine’s security. According to
the communiqué that was leaked to
the press, the proposal would estab-
lish Ukraine as a permanently neutral
country and provides for international
legal guarantees of its nonnuclear and
nonaligned status. The guarantors of
the treaty would include all the per-
manent members of the UN Securi-
ty Council—China, France, Russia,
the United Kingdom, and the United
States—as well as Canada, Germany,
Israel, Italy, Poland, and Turkey. In the
event of an attack on Ukraine, these
guarantor states, after receiving an of-

Page 46 World News NewsHawks

Issue 83, 3 June 2022

But along with the guarantors, Bel- ity, as the plan calls for, Russia would
gium benefited, too: it gained indepen- have no interest in attacking it. Not
dence and had 75 years of peace. In- only would that explain Moscow’s will-
deed, on more than one occasion, the ingness to take on the risk of conflict
treaty wasinvoked by one of Belgium’s with the United States; it would also
guarantors to deter another’s (usually be consistent with the extraordinary
either France’s or Germany’s) designs lengths to which Russia has gone to
on the country. As one early-twenti- preclude Ukraine’s Nato membership.
eth-century British observer put it, In other words, the incentives created
“It was one of those treaties which are by a legally binding deal that ensured
founded not only on consideration Ukraine’s neutrality and kept foreign
for Belgium, which benefits under the militaries off its territory outweigh
Treaty, but in the interests of those who any possible benefits from a future in-
guarantee the neutrality of Belgium.” vasion. For if Russia were to repeat its
aggression, it would now risk both a di-
In 1914, of course, Germany violat- rect conflict with the United States and
ed its guarantee by invading and occu- the end of Ukrainian neutrality.
pying Belgium as part of its Schlieffen
plan to attack France, famously dismiss- Of course, such an agreement would
ing the 1839 treaty as a mere “scrap of entail significant challenges. For the
paper.” Belgium’s neutrality is therefore United States, the credibility of its
sometimes seen as a failed experiment. global alliances would rest on this risky
But the United Kingdom honored its arrangement. Ukraine’s neutrality and
guarantee and entered the war against the ban on foreign bases and exercises
Germany because of the German at- would pose particular dilemmas for
tack on Belgium. Moreover, Belgium the US military. The Pentagon’s usual
had at this point enjoyed three-quarters approach to ensuring security com-
of a century of peace under the treaty mitments — including, for example,
— balmost exactly three times as long forward deployments, full access to ter-
as the brief era of relative peace enjoyed ritory, and some degree of operational
by post-Soviet Ukraine before Russia’s planning with partners — would not
first attack in 2014. be possible in this case. Finally, the area
of application of the guarantees would
Ukraine’s geography, like Belgium’s, need to be squared with the line of de
makes the country a core security facto territorial control when a cease-
concern for the geopolitical rivals that fire is declared. The United States has
border it. And, as with Belgium’s secu- found formulas for guaranteeing the se-
rity in the nineteenth and early twen- curity of states with territorial disputes
tieth centuries, Ukraine’s security is — West Germany’s and South Korea’s
now seen as central to the peace and security were guaranteed to their de
stability of the whole continent. And facto borders, even though Washington
like the Belgian treaties, the Istanbul formally recognized their legal claims to
communiqué offers benefits to both the entirety of their divided countries.
the guaranteed state and the guar- But in those cases, the lines of demar-
antors. Ukraine would get an end to cation were relatively well defined and
the current Russian assault and strong stable — the inner German border and
guarantees against potential future ag- the 38th parallel — whereas the lines
gression. It would also get Moscow’s dividing Russian and Ukrainian forces
promise to stand aside on its path to in areas that Moscow has occupied in
EU membership. For its part, Russia Ukraine since 24 February change al-
would get Ukrainian neutrality, ending most daily. To make this work, Moscow
the prospect of its Nato membership, would have to withdraw from much, if
in an agreement legally guaranteed not all, of the areas it has occupied since
by the United States, its allies, and the invasion.
Ukraine; it would also receive assuranc-
es that there will be no foreign bases in These challenges are significant.
Ukraine or foreign militaries exercising And work to address them could begin
there without Moscow’s consent. And only after both sides no longer see an
for the West, the Kremlin’s renuncia- advantage in pursuing their aims on
tion of its objections to Ukraine’s EU the battlefield. There is currently no
membership would mean Ukraine’s fi- sign of that. But if Moscow and Kyiv
nal departure from the Russian sphere were to return to the table, the Istanbul
of influence. communiqué could point the way to a
Can it be done? resolution of the dilemma of Ukraine’s
Although Russia would benefit from status as an in-between state, trans-
the Istanbul plan, many observers forming geopolitical rivalry over its
doubt that Moscow will ultimately alignment into mutual commitment to
approve it. After all, Russia would be its long-term security. If this framework
agreeing that if it attacked Ukraine succeeds, it could also provide a mod-
again it would face a high risk, if not a el for other nonaligned states, such as
near certainty, of war with the United Moldova and Georgia, and even for a
States and its allies. There are two possi- new European security architecture, in
ble explanations, then, why the Krem- which Russia and the West remain geo-
lin signaled its preliminary support for political adversaries but accept certain
the Istanbul formula. First, it is possible red lines.
that Russia does not take seriously the
prospect of the United States’ and its An agreement based on the Istanbul
allies’ making good on guarantees to communiqué would be exceptionally
Ukraine and would sign up with the difficult to negotiate. The politics of
intention to violate the deal — much the conflict, Russia’s war crimes, and
as Germany dismissed the Belgian trea- the ongoing fighting present powerful
ty as a “scrap of paper” when it invaded obstacles to achieving it. But so far, it
in 1914. But the risk that the US mil- is the most plausible pathway that has
itary would come to Ukraine’s defense been identified to a sustainable peace
would be existential for Russia. It seems for Ukraine.
highly unlikely that Moscow would
want to open up the prospect of war — Foreign Affairs.
with the United States merely to prove
a point. *About the writer: Samuel Charap
is a senior political scientist at the
That leaves a second interpretation: RAND Corporation and a co-author,
if Ukraine accepts permanent neutral- with Timothy J. Colton, of Everyone
Loses: The Ukraine Crisis and the Ru-
inous Contest for Post-Soviet Eurasia.

Porsche just got angrier Being a Fashion Model

&Life Style

STYLE TRAVEL BOOKS ARTS MOTORING

Page 47 Issue 83, 3 June 2022

'It was Kelly
Khumalo who

shot Senzo
Meyiwa'

JONATHAN MBIRIYAMVEKA Bulawayo filmmaker drops JOHANNESBURG - The High
sci-fi film, a first for Zim Court in Pretoria has heard how it was
ZIMBABWBEAN filmmaker Daniel allegedly singer Kelly Khumalo who
Lasker has revealed his delight follow- said he had several scripts to choose American or British, or international babwean filmmakers, and filmmakers mistakenly shot her lover and football
ing the release of his science fiction from.  settings — within Zimbabwe.” around the world in countries that do star Senzo Meyiwa.
(sci-fi) short film, a first in the country not have access to the resources that
in the genre. “As a fan of the genre myself, for a He continued: “And, immediate- you would find in the Hollywood in- This was revealed by defence lawyer
very long time, I have always wanted ly, when it came to casting and char- dustry. We hope it inspires them that Malesela Teffo who cross-examined
Bulawayo-based Lasker is the di- to create a sci-fi movie set in my own acters, Dumi Manyathela, Tawanda by putting your heart into it and going state witness Sergeant Thabo Mosia.
rector of The Signal, a sci-fi short film home country. So, I got in touch with Denga and Natasha Dlamini popped after it, you can make the impossible
with Ndebele characters. my writer, and I asked him if he had straight into my mind because not come true.” Five men are standing trial for the
any ideas or concepts for sci-fi mov- only are they fantastic actors, but I murder of Meyiwa in 2014 at Khum-
Announcing the trailer via his Face- ies. He sent me a few scripts, and there have worked with them before on past Of late, the Zimbabwean film sec- alo's home.
book page, Lasker said: “My team was one in particular that I really liked. projects and we have a great working tor has been severely affected by a lack
and I are absolutely overwhelmed and relationship together. So, altogether, of funding. Teffo, who is the advocate for the
grateful for the response so far on the “So, I then sat down with my we are so proud to present the proj- first four accused, said he will bring an
trailer — if you haven’t seen it yet, it is co-producer and together we started ect to Zimbabwe and hope that it can There have not been film releases eyewitness to testify that it was Khum-
out online. Go check it out, the sup- brainstorming ideas of how to best set inspire and show other young Zim- for a couple of years now although the alo who pulled the trigger of a revolver
port has been phenomenal, not just this story which is usually only seen in country has lots of talent. that killed Meyiwa.
from Zimbabweans, but other people
around the world who I think for a “The firearm used to shoot Senzo
long time have wanted to see a story Robert Meyiwa by Kelly Khumalo
like this being told from the first per- came with Longwe Twala.”
spective in Zimbabwe.”
He said after that a meeting was
A huge fan of sci-fi movies, Lasker held with the people who were in the
house, with police and community
safety MEC Sizakele Nkosi Malobane.

“The meeting was all about how
to conceal or how to hatch a plan of
avoiding to say how Senzo was killed,"
he said.

Teffo completed his cross-examina-
tion and advocate Zandile Mshololo,
who is the lawyer for accused number
five, took over.

During cross-examination Mosia
made several concessions on how the
scene could have been contaminated.

He told the court how he took only
eight photos just after midnight when
he arrived on the scene.

Mosia, who is a forensic police of-
ficer who had six years’ experience in
that field at the time, said at some
point he decided to stop processing
the scene.

He said he did not know wheth-
er or not the people who were in the
house when Meyiwa was shot spent
the night.

But he says he confined them to a
bedroom in the house, warning them
not to contaminate the scene.

— EWN.
The late football star Senzo Meyiwa.

Page 48 Poetry Corner NewsHawks

Issue 83, 3 June 2022

Title: Cedars of Lebanon and I hold it out to you, hoping that when I see Title: A Hopeless Home.
Poet: Andrew Manyika you, Poet: Obey Chiyangwa
I will know you to be
They’re looking for us to lead them into love a woman taken from the fabric of a dream, We are sitting in a huge dish
For the longest time I carried the biggest torch And you are. From the way you walk Trapped in some filthy water
for you, like there’s a dance bound in your frame, This wetness goes very deep
I ripped it out from beneath the bark to how even music lacks lustre Such dirty water is very cold
of a Cedar tree of Lebanon, compared to the sound of your name, I am sure it is all father's fault
but you don’t hear me though, your silence which is a miner’s reward Struggling to stand
In a treasure trove of cedar groves and your laugh which is a musician’s invention, Let alone run away
there are evergreens that forever grow Would that you would lace your voice Our limbs are all numb
seasons change, and it never shows, with some of the fire in your belly, Feet cramped of cold
because these trees they never stray, use that passion to light it and see, Sad hearts dying of fear
save upward. With a bark that is etched that I love you from the deep ends of my heart, The food has depleted
from the marks of the stretch, where the flavours of my affection are concen- An empty pantry room
of striving to drink from the clouds trated like a deep thought, Field crops all shrivelled
while feet stay parched in the earth, you leave me both shaken and stirred Vegetables bowed down
Upward. With needle like leaves, Light it and see, that I would bind myself to you This grass has no life left
that are straining to teach buildings at an altar Tsitsi is crying for some food
what it means to scrape the skies. Upwards. and proceed to suckle the honey from the The dog barks for some also
Forward. moon, because I have decided to give you ev- Our black cat yawns of hunger
I hurtled forward toward this forest, erything, saving nothing for later, White mice gnaw exposed feet
having too often been thrown into the throes leaving nothing in reserve, Chickens sitting on their laurels
of reckless abandon, because of time without you, I have surpassed Mother sits starving in the pantry
only to find my soul trampled under soles my quota, Tobias is raiding the whole kitchen
then recklessly abandoned so I’m here to give you everything, every dot, Roaches are on endless night patrol
Having wearied of being wary and every iota. Mosquitos have invaded this our den
of false affections and feigned fealties, See that I would even honour the marks They crave to drink of human blood
of distressing damsels on your celestial body, Tiny termites on endless errands
that disdained detection whilst in reality, Because I understand, these aren’t scars, They don't look like starved ants
they came with a charm that is disarming, these are hieroglyphs Dragging morsels into their domain
taught me that love is a battle, Hewn into you I read them, and as I tune into Scurrying back and forth all day long
but I resigned my commission from this army your rhythm, They never seem to drink any water
I was looking for better wars for my metaphors, I become consumed by you my prism. You add Rats have little care in a busy world
so I set down my pen and pad colour, To the light-years of my life Helter skelter upon cracked floors
and tried to shut Forever’s door. But I was So I’m carrying a torch for you, Hunting open ground for tiny tit bits
hurled through. I ripped it, Messing and pissing our own world
Hurt and riddled with scars, I carved it, Ants drag their stool drink their urine
I sought shelter in this Cedar’s shade I tore it out from beneath the bosom Darkness is gathering around
till it only hurt a little, of a Cedar tree of Lebanon Light is disgruntled with life
And when the memory of present suffering To light the path to the great trees of Mamre, All the stars have stayed away
had been reduced to a mere murmur A place where God comes down. Moon is on a month long strike
in the chambers of my heart, Because they’re looking for us to lead them into Darkness has a field day tonight
I pronounced that I would love again love. All the fruit trees are groaning
And though I st-st-stammered a little, A large orchard full of mourning
I grabbed both hammer and chisel, Title: Untitled Rotten fruit dropping all morning
And set to carving. I took the wood from the Poet: Jurgen Namupira The mango trees weep in sorrow
tree, Maybe some rain will fall tomorrow
fashioned the good that could be, Tomorrow is too far, Both mother and father are jobless
and formed a torch from it. I overlaid it with gold Look! Tsitsi's mornings only job is fruitless
and placed it in my own two palms to hold, I'm here now, Uncle Tom's daily hustling is hopeless
so that when I met you, I would have more to What if tomorrow never comes? Father is always drunk and clueless
present to you than the mere time on my hands It's not even promised, This dish water is now getting frozen
So when I say I carry a torch for you, under- But he promised to come.
stand, Are you sure he will come?
I carved it out of the bleeding heart I am thirsty,
of a Cedar Tree of Lebanon. Understand, So are you
that with more time spent in my hands, Let's indulge already.
it took on features like the fibres of my being, I swear,
You'll never regret.

NewsHawks PPeeoople &&PPlalacceses Page 49

Issue 83, 3 June 2022

Diplomatic Business Networking
Club breakfast meeting in pics

The Diplomat Business Networking Club held a breakfast meeting in Harare on Fri-
day to explore business opportunities for Zimbabweans in Japan and the Japanese in
Zimbabwe.

Page 50 Sport NewsHawks

Issue 83, 3 June 2022

Real Madrid’s golden era sustained
by myth, epic and cold intelligence

Where other teams
are built on systems
and philosophies,
Madrid mix regal
self-assuredness
with calculating ge-
nius

AS the world turned a shade of white Karim Benzema of Real Madrid celebrates with the UEFA Champions League trophy after the UEFA Champions League final match against Liverpool at Stade de France in Paris,
close to midnight in Paris, dissolv- France. Image credit: Getty Images
ing into a familiar frieze — the same
shapes and songs, the Champions find space behind Trent Alexan- But Madrid were always more Plus, of course, there is something egos and politics, of dubious deal-
League trophy waved about with the der-Arnold that it became fact ahead precise. The front three lost the ball else, perhaps the real key through the ings, and bottomless loan facilities.
same sense of dieu et mon droit — of time. Even as Vinícius set off on eight times between them all game. last eight years of glory. Real Ma- Madrid may be a basket case of eco-
there was also a feeling of something a skittering run with 30 minutes Mo Salah lost the ball eight times drid’s ownership model has turned nomic entitlement, menaced only by
revealing itself, of a question being gone, a full second before the pass all on his own. In midfield, Madrid out to be a genuine gold-plated ace. the prospect of running out of other
answered. was launched in his direction (and seemed to be playing in more vivid For Madrid part of the beauty of this people’s money. But there is also a
intercepted), the entire Madrid end colours. Toni Kroos didn’t run or Champions League win is the fact degree of focus, of diffuse interests.
In the build-up to Real Madrid’s could be heard roaring and pointing hustle or press much, but complet- the teams they have beaten have been This will always be, at bottom and
narrow but decisive victory at Stade at an event that had yet to happen, ed 93% of his 83 passes. Kroos and project clubs, new money, upstart in whatever form, a footballing ob-
de France on Saturday night there gripped with premonitions. Bardic Luka Modric lost control of the ball powers: two nation-state vehicles session.
had been a lot of talk in England repetitions? It’s like having a 12th in possession once all game between and another club whose owner was
about claims on greatness and ulti- man on the pitch. them. This is simply a supreme group being sanctioned for his connection Good choices have been made
macy, born out of Liverpool’s own of players, governed by the ice-cold to a European land war. over those years. Even failing to buy
thrillingly sustained attempt to chase But then, of course, at some point intelligence of that all‑time midfield, Kylian Mbappé might turn out to be
the sun right to the seasons’s end. sense must also intrude. In reality, plus of course the deceptively precise Madrid have a very clear sense of a positive.
it’s not actually magic. Strip back light touch style of Carlo Ancelotti. themselves in this new world order
For Jürgen Klopp’s team there is the myth-making and the Real Su- and have been openly hostile, and He is at least parked somewhere
only glory in falling just short of the premacy is a more prosaic kind of Modric, incidentally, must light to some extent inspired too, by the safe. And Madrid’s recent success
peak, a point, a goal, a game from the brilliance. There is no tactical blue- up with fond fuzzy memories each threat of losing their muscle. Squint has been based on buying smart, on
perfect season. But one mystery was print, no “system”, no Madrid Way. time he sees Jordan Henderson’s a little and that run of victories – going pre-Galáctico, buying the next
at least solved in Paris. Greatness you Madrid win because this is just such name on the team sheet. Henderson’s PSG, Chelsea and Manchester City Neymar before he becomes Neymar;
say? A team for the ages? I can tell a high‑grade, hyper‑intelligent group record against Modric reads played – brings to mind the sequence at the buying Vinícius who, as luck would
you, messieurs et mesdames, the kill- of footballers. five, drawn one, lost four, including end of the Godfather where Michael have it, is a clean-living winning ma-
ers are in this room right now. two Champions League finals and a Corleone takes down the new faces chine.
In this sense the comeback stuff World Cup semi. We really must do in town, the incomers on the family
This is the big thing about ulti- has been misleading. What Madrid this more often old boy. It isn’t mag- turf, with a series of dramatic public On one level this great team is
macy. It doesn’t happen very often. really want is control. That was what ic or inner belief that makes Kroos, hit jobs. Kiss the ring. The cartel is now ageing, that great midfield, the
Or rather, it keeps on happening the they found in Paris. By the end Liv- Modric and Casemiro — the per- on top once again. real source of power, about to dis-
same way. Other empires will rise, erpool had taken 24 shots at goal, fect blend of craft, hustle, and vision solve. And yet while players keep
other seats of power, tactics, systems only four of them on target; Madrid — better than Henderson, Fabinho The real advantage here is that in on leaving, the regiment never dies.
and economic might. But this is still had four shots in total. Liverpool had and an unfit Thiago. But eight years a time of flux and interference the That regal white thread is still intact.
by any reasonable measure the age of more possession and three times as down the line, it is still epic. socio ownership model is a kind of And this, it turns out, is what ultima-
the Meringues. Albeit an age that is many corners. insulation. It may be a madhouse of cy looks like.
still hard to explain or define without
falling back on things like magic and — The Guardian
bloodline, leftover brilliance.

What is the model here? What
does the age of Madrid mean? How
do we replicate it? The obvious re-
sponse is that you can’t, not without
actually being Real Madrid, and there
is space for only one of those. This is
the great thing about believing your
own divine right of kings myth. Just
telling that story, repeating over and
over that Madrid know how to win,
is a source of power in itself.

There is an epic, almost bardic
quality to these five Champions
League triumphs in eight years. Ep-
ics repeat: the same scenes, the same
story details, the same outcome, em-
bedding itself as part of football’s
daily script, its dream life. The more
we tell this story of victory the more
it becomes true, to the extent even
writing the words “an almost bardic
quality” or “the more we tell this sto-
ry” becomes another small note in
this self-fuelling epic, with its bardic
qualities, with its repetitions, with
its epic heroes, its bardic qualities,
its white light, the same shapes and
songs.

This process was there in the final
itself, where we were told so many
times that Vinícius Júnior would

NewsHawks Sport Page 51

Issue 83, 3 June 2022

SPORTS WRITER Zimbabwe evade ‘grudge manding coaching jobs in world
match’ with De Villiers sport.
SOUTH Africa’s world-acclaimed
coach Peter de Villiers would have on Sunday, instead of De Villiers, some form of links with the Spring- Brendan Dawson. Mhani, who played for Border
been clashing with Zimbabwe this Zimbabwe will take on an EP side boks. In 2003, Eastern Cape-born shortlisted for the Springboks post Bulldogs and later coached it, is
weekend for the first time since his coached by somebody who has had Dumisani Mhani, then 43, was to replace Rudolf Straeuli, who had one of the modern-day stalwarts
sacking by the minnow neighbours resigned from one of the most de- of the sport in a region considered
three years ago. to be the cradle of black rugby in
South Africa. The now 62-year-old,
No doubt, the former Spring- who took over from De Villiers at
boks coach was going to relish the EP, is known for his penchant for
chance on Sunday to prove a big an enterprising brand of rugby and
point against the Zimbabweans, will provide another stern test for
who fired him three years ago after a Zimbabwe side smarting from
failing to guide them to the World two heavy defeats over the past two
Cup in 2019 following the fanfare games.
that had surrounded his appoint-
ment a year earlier. The Zimbabweans were put to
the sword 48-0 and 37-0 by SWD
But the Capetonian, who has ac- Eagles and Leopards respectively,
quired the knack of leaving posts and have all to do to restore some
unceremoniously, departed from confidence in camp ahead of World
his position as coach of Eastern Cup qualifiers in France next
Province Elephants in October in month.
controversial circumstances.
It is an uphill task again for Zim-
On Sunday in Gqeberha, Eastern babwe this weekend as the Currie
Province — who were coached by Cup draws to a close.
De Villiers until last October – will
take on the Zimbabweans in the The EP Elephants are in with an
Currie Cup First Division at the outside chance of qualifying for the
Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium. Currie Cup Premier Division for
the first time since 2016 despite
De Villiers was appointed EP’s defeat to the Griffons last weekend.
coach in December 2020 and last-
ed 24 months in the job before The Elephants are one log point
his contract was terminated two ahead of the Griffons on the Cur-
months before expiry as the ex-Bok rie Cup First Division promotion
mentor entered the political arena. barometer table ahead of Griffons,
who have a game in hand.
And just like in Zimbabwe, De ZIM SQUAD
Villiers has also made a court claim Starting line-up: 1. Tyran Fagan
against EP, seeking payments for 2. Matthew Mandioma 3. Gabriel
unsettled contractual obligations. Sipapate 4. Sean Beevor 5. Godfrey
Muzanargwo 6. Kelvin Kanenungo
A notable side-show on Sunday 7. Johan Du Preez 8. Nyasha Ta-
would have been the clash between rusenga 9. Hilton Mudariki (cap-
De Villiers and former Zimbabwe tain) 10. Taku Musingwini 11.
captain Brendan Dawson, who the Matthew McNab 12. Taku Chieza
former Bok gaffer removed as his 13. Marcus Nel 14. Tavonga Ablant
Sables assistant coach in 2018 over 15. Conor Kennedy.
differences in selection and tactics.
Subs: 16. Liam Larkan 17. Vic-
Dawson is now back as Zimba- tor Mupunga 18. Bornwell Gwinji
bwe’s head coach, for a second spell, 19. Godwin Mangenje 20. Aid-
tasked with guiding the Sables to en Burnett 21. Kyle Galloway 22.
the World Cup in France next year, Brendon Marume 23. Biselele
for the first time since 1991 when Tshamala.
the African side featured in its last
Webb Ellis Cup tournament. And

CAPS United taking us back to dark era of amateurism

SOMETHING is definitely wrong at no one to blame for their downfall but of crowd trouble and hooliganism.
CAPS United and in all the madness themselves. True, Makepekepe are not the only
surrounding the Green Machine it is No ball was kicked in the 2020 sea-
certainly hard to look no further than son due to the Covid-19 pandemic, side struggling financially in this coun-
the club’s co-owners, Farai Jere and yet still United dominated the head- try.
Nhamo Tutisani. lines for the wrong reasons as players
Events at Makepekepe for the past and officials were engaged in running But theirs has been a classic case of
few years have mirrored those of a clas- battles over outstanding salaries. disaster management.
sical circus. CAPS’ misery was compounded as
The chaos at United has been al- principal sponsors NetOne pulled the It is time, perhaps, for Jere to leave
lowed to breed for years, and now it is plug on their partnership with the cub. his PSL role and redirect his energies
reaching boiling point. With shallow pockets, the 2021-22 to rescuing his own club.
Only in 2019, CAPS were front- season expectedly saw a mass exodus
runners for the Premier Soccer League of players. The comic relief of the op- When he was elected chairperson
(PSL) title, only to collapse in dramat- era was opening the season with a trip of the PSL four years ago, Jere made
ic scenes. The ailing Harare giants, away to ZPC Kariba without a head a plethora of promises to turn around
that season, surren- coach. the fortunes of the league. Alas, noth-
dered the champion- That ing has materialised.
ship on the very last was early
day of the season to HawkZone indica- Running a football club in a badly
eventual winners FC tion of performing economy is not at all easy,
Platinum. the kind but there comes a time when princi-
The climax of the of sham- ples must never be sacrificed on the
bolic sea- CAPS United fans have had little to cheer about this season. altar of expediency.
Alwynanarchy was when
head coach Lloyd Mabehla son Unit- display of rebellion has taken place as chase each other around for money. CAPS are on a terrible run of form,
Chitembwe quit ed were players resort to every means possible This season, United’s president Jere having lost the previous five games on
the club in a huff as going to to publicise their plight in case some- the spin and are in dire need of both
United were closing have and body hears their cries. brought back coach Chitembwe to points and financial rescue.
in on the title, amidst we see probably appease the fans, but life has
rumours of a tiff with Tutisani. this week-in-week-out. Professional- This does not portray such a club so far been unbearable for the club leg- A win against city rivals Dynamos
Coupled with player discontent ism has been thrown out of the win- like CAPS in good light, and on the end, who has had the unenviable task this Sunday in the famous Harare
over winning bonuses, CAPS then lost dow in sheer frustration on the part of whole it is not a pretty picture for of working with a heavily disgruntled Derby might not even camouflage the
their last two games to Ngezi Platinum the long-suffering players.  Zimbabwean football in general. dressing-room. sad realities coming from the Green
and FC Platinum to throw away the Last weekend, players nearly re- Machine’s camp.
title and disappointingly finish in third fused to board the team bus for a It is absolutely disgraceful that a Perhaps the most disappointing fact
place. league match in Bulawayo. It is not the club of CAPS United’s stature can is that Jere is also the PSL chairperson. How Jere and Tutisani will bring
And in all this, Makepekepe have first time this season that such a public drag football back to the dark era of And you have, on one hand, his club sanity to the Green Machine is any-
amateurism, where it is somehow nor- fighting so hard to further tarnish the one’s guess.
mal for players and officials to literally image of a league battling the demon
*Guest columnist Alwyn Mabehla
is a former Daily News sub-editor
and football writer. He keenly fol-
lows CAPS United and Zimbabwe’s
top-flight league.

Sports Zim evade
‘grudge match’
with De Villiers

Real Madrid’s

golden era

sustained by

myth, epic and
Thursday 1 October 20c20old intelligence

Friday 3 June 2022 @NewsHawksLive TheNewsHawks www.thenewshawks.com

CULTURE

Community
radio
From a nation hungry for peace,NEWS WHAT’S INSIDE
$60 Covid
tariff for
visitors & regulations
to one starved of successtourists
Story on Page 3
under review

Story on Page 8

ENOCK MUCHINJO Chamisa reac
out to Khupe
ON Afghanistan’s third bilateral visit to
Zimbabwe in early 2017, the tourists’ Unofficial president calls for emerge
coach Lalchand Rajput made touching
remarks to me for a special assignment Lalchand Rajput as Zimbabwe's coach in 2018 (left) and (right) in charge of Afghanistan in 2016.
about the tour, looking at the situation in
the war-torn Asian country, and the role under the Indian’s watch. by others way before his arrival on the greater squad. Since the first meeting in 2014, the Af-
of cricket in solving the bloody conflict. Not having his contract renewed by scene. The tour begins with the ODIs, the ghans have played against Zimbabwe in
the Afghanistan Cricket Board in 2017 But we ought to be fair. History will first coming up this Saturday. The three five ODI series, defeating the Chevrons
“They are hungry for peace,” Indian therefore came as something of a surprise show that Test status was awarded when ODI matches are part of the ICC Crick- four times, after drawing the very first
Rajput said of his Afghanistan team. to quite a number of Rajput’s backers, Rajput was the Afghans’ coach.   Go a et World Cup Super League, qualifiers contest in Harare eight years ago.
who believed he had done enough to step further and you will see that a 61% for the World Cup in India next year. Of Afghanistan’s four wins, two were
“Cricket, you know, is huge amongst secure an extension and take the Afghan winning record across all formats – in Afghanistan landed in Zimbabwe a com- away in Zimbabwe, two in the United
the people of Afghanistan. What these side to the next level. those 14 months – was a cornerstone of mendable fifth on the 13-team table. Arab Emirates, and the stalemate staged
players do on the field helps unite the It seemed, however, that Rajput did Afghanistan’s rise into an emerging force Their struggling African hosts, on the by the African team.
whole country. So playing good cricket, not have a great deal of people solidly be- of world cricket. other hand, are wallowing on a measly So it is tempting to label the Afghans
and winning if they can and as they al- hind his coaching capabilities, including Six wins out of 10 limited-overs 35 points, just above bottom-place Neth- favourites in this series, given their
ways strive to do, is hugely important to within Afghanistan itself. matches – in those 14 matches – includ- erlands – needing to move mountains to achievements in Zimbabwe over a period
the players. It heals the entire nation.” The lingering misgivings over his com- ing beating the West Indies in the Ca- make a quick return to the World Cup stretching over eight years. This record
petencies followed Rajput to Zimbabwe. ribbean in a drawn maiden ODI series after missing out on the party three years is a matter of grave concern for Zimba-
Hailing from the cricket-crazy but No sooner had he arrived to become the between the two sides, was a record that ago for the first time since 1983. bwe, and the turnaround must start now
perpetually volatile South Asian region, country’s new coach than his critics here ALaSnyObodIyNcSoaIcDhiEng the FAifnghaanicsteanMteianmisty wBiapneglsadoesuh,te$ar3lie.2r oBni,lmlioadne dmeaspsivoesitobrefsorfeutnhidngss get toZaimpla'cse lwahteersetolnalynd c
Rajput can share absorbing stories about were vocally questioning his pedigree to at that time would be content with. strides and in no time had overtaken nightmares have taken us.
the uncanny connection, over there, be- replace the sacked Heath Streak. Since Rajput’s departure, Afghanistan Zimbabwe, who used to dominate meet- As for Rajput, his genuine passion to
tween cricket and conflict. By a rather The counter-argument against Rajput have continued on their upward trend. ings between these two sides before and see the bitter fighting come to an end in
curious twist of fate, both start with the was that he had coached Afghanistan They arrived in Zimbabwe this week, in the early stages of the Bangladeshis’ Afghanistan, surely must now translate
letter ‘c’ and end with ‘t’ as if to underline for only 14 months, and that the cru- for a tour of three ODIs and three Twen- attainment of Test status. into some sort of miracle to save anoth-
the link between the two in that part of cial groundwork for what the cricketing ty201s in Harare. The Afghans have And now it is Afghanistan, in more er country with serious problems of its
the world. world was witnessing – including but not toured with a lot of white-ball experience recent times, who have put Zimbabwe’s own, and a cricket team fast sliding into
limited to the Test status – had been laid as well as an abundance of talent in their long and ugly decline into perspective. oblivion.
It is a link that Rajput has personally
experienced in headline-grabbing tales.
None quite like that of October 2020
when India’s government barred Rajput,
now Zimbabwe’s coach, from travelling
with the African team for a series in Paki-
stan amid India-Pakistan tensions.

A tough-talking diplomat at the In-
dian embassy in Harare sensationally
claimed that allowing Rajput to tour Pa-
kistan would be putting the former India
batsman into “the mouth of death” due
to his status in a sport worshipped by the
scuffling neighbouring nations.

“Your coach is a very important per-
son in India, they will target him (in Pa-
kistan),” said the official in the very first
edition of The NewsHawks in 2020.

“We cannot let our citizen go to the
mouth of death.”

Four years on, Rajput’s tenure as Zim-
babwe’s coach has been a monumental
disappointment. The free-falling African
side has plunged to the depths of medioc-
rity under the stewardship of the 60-year-
old from Mumbai, the latest low being
a 3-2 T20I series defeat to minnows Na-
mibia in Bulawayo last week.

But a quick comparison will show that
Rajput’s record with Afghanistan was, in
fact, fairly impressive.

The Asians achieved their Test status
when Rajput was their coach, and the
players’ confidence was boosted sharply

ALSO INSIDE CAPS United taking us back to the dark era of amateurism