NewsHawks 27 May 2022

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WHAT’S INSIDE Friday 27 May 2022 DNEoWugSlas Munatsi SWPhOaRtTnext
was involved for Zim
SNcEaWndSal-ridden in Pomona football?
Glencore has a deal: Nguwaya
big footprint Story on Page 52
in Zimbabwe Story on Page 8

Story on Page 5

US$3bn
platinum
project
collapses

ALSO INSIDE Chiwenga-Indonesia arms deal jolts UK

Page 2 News NewsHawks

Issue 82, 27 May 2022

BERNARD MPOFU Zim’s US$3bn platinum deal
all but collapses in a shambles
IT was noisily touted as a game changer
for Zimbabwe’s mining sector, and the However, the move failed due to GDI’s awarded GDI a special mining lease and operations were placed under care The near collapse of the GDI project
economy; a centrepiece of government’s opaque shareholding structure, espe- under which a range of taxes will not and maintenance. Contractors such despite a five-year tax holiday indicates
ambitious yet unrealistic US$12 billion cially regarding Kuvimba. have to be paid for five years due to as JR Goddard, KW Blasting, Dific “deep structural challenges in Zimba-
target for the industry by next year and its political connections. Among tax Mining Contractors, Static Strata, Esor bwe’s investment climate”, the report
catalyst to transform Zimbabwe into a Landela paid US$21.5 million for a exemptions until 2025 are income tax Construction and Intrachem withdrew says.
knowledge-driven industrialising upper stake in GDI. There were also further and dividends to shareholders. and workers were retrenched. By the
middle income economy by 2030. mysterious payments, which included end of 2021, the Russians had started “The outlook is even more negative
US$220 million and ZW$300 million. “Nine years after the commissioning to strategically pull out of the mine site. when one considers the fact that Russia,
In its Vision 2030 document, titled of the platinum project, there has been Conclusively, although lack of funding alongside China are considered friendly
Towards a Prosperous & Empowered Up- The deal was not transparent. little progress towards getting was the visible cause of the failure of nations to Zimbabwe, hence their in-
per Middle Income Society by 2030, gov- The project was commissioned by the project, underlying this cause were vestments are expected to be protected.
ernment says: the late former president Robert Mug- the ore out of the ground, which was signs of mismanagement and mistrust Nevertheless, the collapse of the deal
abe in September 2014 in a high-level targeted to start in 2021. The company between the Russian investors and their confirms Zimbabwe as an investment
“This will be realised through sup- ceremony also attended visiting Russian already spent over US$100 million on local partners.” sinkhole that must do more to create a
port for local processing of Zimbabwe’s Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov. geological exploration and construction conducive environment in order to lure
diverse mineral resource endowment, Located on the unique mineral-rich of two box cuts and surface infrastruc- The GDI project was expected to serious investors.”
with thresholds for beneficiation and Great Dyke belt, it is one of the big- ture according to Ivanov,” CNRG’s re- create at least 8000 highly skilled jobs at
value addition spelt out. Envisaged in- gest Platinum Group Metals deposits port says. its peak, producing four million tonnes The project has a long history.
vestments involve beneficiation of such in the world. A bankable feasibility of ore per annum. In 2006, retired Colonel Tshinga
minerals as platinum, chrome, lithium, study undertaken in 2017 by African “Afreximbank was expected to pro- Dube, who was then head of Zimba-
nickel, diamond cutting and polishing, Export-Import Bank showed the proj- vide about US$500 million to fund According to GDI vice-chair Igor bwe Defence Industries, set up a joint
copper, gold and coal, with strengthen- ect had a potential to contribute Zim- the initial mining phase. Investigations Higer that would turn to 860 000 oz venture, Ruschrome Mining, with the
ing of linkages along the mineral value babwe’s economic turnaround. Peak by CNRG revealed that Portal 2 was per year, with an average annual reve- help of a Russian cooperation, Russian
chain. production of the mine was expected to left incomplete while Portal 1, though nue above US$350 million starting Centre For Business Cooperation.
be 860 000 ounces per annum, trans- completed, collapsed at the stage of from next year onwards. The signing of the agreement was
“Investors should, therefore, take lating to almost US$1 billion. The 6 drilling the decline shafts. The collapse witnessed by the Zimbabwe Defence
advantage of the smelting and refining 500-hectare mine life expectancy is 40 of Portal 1 raised a lot of questions “In January last year, government Force’s legal director and the Russian
opportunities this presents, including years. about the competency of the engineers awarded GDI a five-year tax holiday Embassy’s defence adviser.
increased scope for exploration.” GDI initially said the mine would be who designed the mine plan. through SI26/2021. The tax holiday The company would subsequently
developed in three phases, with the first inherit a Zimplats claim surrendered
However, the Great Dyke Invest- running from 2014 to 2017, entailing “The engineers carried out secondary was backdated to January 2020. The in 2006 as part of the government’s
ments (GDI) project in Darwendale, exploration, infrastructure develop- studies on the geology of the area and tax holiday was expected to incentivise indigenisation programme, although it
65 kilometres west of the capital Hara- ment and commissioning of mining fa- concluded that the ground condition and retain the investor. The decision by is not clear whether the army paid any-
re, which has the potential to become cilities. The second phase from 2018 to was poor and unstable hence not suit- government to award the tax incentive thing for the claims.
one of the world's biggest platinum 2021 was expected to include establish- able for underground mining. was widely challenged by civil society After Mnangagwa seized power
mines with capacity to reboot Zimba- ment of a new mine and expansion of as unconstitutional, unreasonable, and through a coup in November 2017, the
bwe’s collapsing economy, has stalled concentration capacity to produce 530 “Rather, opencast mining was rec- undermining domestic resource mobil- project got renewed attention from his
and now faces collapse for myriad rea- 000 oz of platinum per year. The third ommended. With a lot of safety fears, isation efforts,” the CNRG report says. government. In January 2019, Mnan-
sons. and full development phase would run all excavation operations to proceed gagwa visited Russia to revive the stalled
from 2022 to 2024, and see the expan- “Despite the tax holiday, GDI was project. However, his visit to Russia
The Centre for Natural Resource sion of platinum production to 800 with making the declines literally hit expected to pay royalties to the govern- and the return trip by Lavrov in March
Governance (CNRG), a civil society 000 oz per year. a wall. According to internal sources, ment based on gross revenue. In Zim- 2018 did not yield immediate results
research and advocacy group, says in its The cost of mining and establish- delays in the project scheduling and babwe, the platinum sector pays 10% until the October 2019 Russia-Africa
latest report after a protracted investi- ment of a smelter was estimated at budget creeps caused fatigue in the Rus- of gross revenue to the government as Summit. Agreements were signed on
gation it established the project is now US$3 billion, but would rise to US$4.8 sian investor who had anticipated that royalties.” the side-lines of the summit, but the
stuck. billion after the setting up of a refinery mining would have started by 2021.” project has stalled and now faces col-
between 2022 and 2024. However, the contract between Zim- lapse unless an urgent rescue operation
“The US$3 billion Great Dyke In- Finance Minister  Mthuli Ncube The report adds: “No further funds babwean shareholders and GDI has is launched.
vestments platinum mega project has were injected into the project thereafter. never been available for public scrutiny
all but collapsed,” CNRG’s report says. In December 2020, there were signs to determine how the project’s invest-
“Touted as a game changer and an in- that the momentum at the mine had ment outlays and fiscal regime would
dicator of progress in attracting inves- slackened, and from May 2021, there benefit the country in the long run.
tors, the project collapsed in 2021 due were virtually no activities at the mine
to a plethora of problems which include
corruption, mismanagement, mistrust,
and poor planning.”

The report adds: “Mining operations
have since stopped as the Russian inves-
tor has stopped pumping money into
the project.”

GDI is 50% owned by Russian ty-
coon Vitaliy Machitskiy’s Vi Holdings,
through its JSC Afromet subsidiary,
and 50% by Landela Mining Venture
linked to local tycoon Kudakwashe
Tagwirei who is closely associated with
President Emmerson Mnangagwa and
his family.

After further wheeling and deal-
ing involving Tagwirei – who is under
American and British sanctions for
shady deals - and his companies, Sotic
International and labyrinth of shadowy
local and offshore structures, Kuvimba
Mining House, 65% owned by govern-
ment and 35% by ghost shareholders,
now controls 50% of GDI.

Initially the project was owned by a
consortium of Zimbabwean investors
operating under the name Pen East,
30% controlled by the military’s Old
Stone Investments and 20% by the
state-owned Zimbabwe Mining Devel-
opment Corporation, before Tagwirei
bought that 50% stake, and Russian in-
vestors including VI Holdings, Rostec
and Vnesheconombank.

That was before further sharehold-
er changes which resulted in the cur-
rent structure. South Africa’s Impala
Platinum, which owns Zimplats, the
country’s biggest platinum project, was
approached to buy a stake in GDI.

NewsHawks News Page 3

Issue 82, 27 May 2022

US$130m CSC
deal reduced to
asset-stripping

DUMISANI NYONI The country’s biggest meat processor was set to Some of the CSC farms are being rented out to Zanu PF bigwigs like Obert Mpofu.
re-open last month under a new name, CSC-Bou-
THE US$130 million Boustead Beef deal to take stead Beef Zimbabwe, but remains shut down Mthuli Ncube that the CSC is to be revitalised Some of the CSC’s most productive ranches in-
over the now defunct state-owned Cold Storage while its new owners collect residual revenues. through a concession agreement under Rehabili- clude Maphaneni Ranch, Dubane Ranch, Umgu-
Company (CSC) has deteriorated into an as- tate, Operate and Transfer terms. Boustead would za, Chomfukwe, Dubane, Umzingwane-Railway
set-stripping scandal in which purported inves- According to the livestock joint farming con- raise and invest a minimum of US$130 million Block, Gwanda Ranch, Chivumburu, Mushand-
tors approved by cabinet have delivered nothing, cession agreement, in the first year Boustead was into CSC over five years.” ike Ranch (Meyers Rust), Zeederberg Belingwe,
but gained huge residual value. expected to invest US$45 million, with US$10 Willsgrove Feedlot and Darwendale Ranch.
million set to be channelled towards the purchase Mutsvangwa said the funds would be used for
This comes as the Joint Operations Com- of cattle to replenish the stock. capital expenditure and working capital. CSC’s Bulawayo complex is the largest
mand (Joc), which brings together police, army meat-slaughtering facility in Africa and is second
and intelligence chiefs, has been drawn into the The other money was supposed to be invest- The funds were also meant to pay off the CSC’s only to the Botswana Meat Commission in terms
controversy over the deal. Joc, through its Bula- ed into abattoir refurbishment, canning factory, debts totalling US$42 530 597 and foot the bill of the latest technologies.
wayo structure, tried to visit the project, but was plant equipment and working capital, among for rentals of US$100 000 per annum during the
blocked by the new owners who claim the CSC is other areas. first five years of the concession agreement. Some of the CSC farms are being rented out
now private property. to Zanu PF bigwigs like Obert Mpofu, who are
Sunduza said despite its state of disrepair, CSC Boustead was also given the green light to take paying next to nothing for the properties.
After promising in 2019 to invest at least is still intact and could be revived if capital is in- over and manage CSC ranches in Maphaneni,
US$130m over five years, Boustead Beef, a Brit- jected. Dubane, Umguza, Chivumbuni, Mushandike, At Independence in 1980, the CSC was part of
ish-registered shelf company with a nominal Willsgrove and Darwendale for an initial period the motive forces of Zimbabwe’s economy and a
balance sheet of £1, has invested little into the The Joc team, which also visited Wet Blue In- of 25 years. major foreign currency earner as it exported thou-
operation despite seizing control of its vast assets dustries Tannery, said Havercroft was hostile to sands of tonnes of beef to the European Union
countrywide — with staggering salvage value — certain members of its delegation and blocked In addition, Boustead Beef was granted per- (EU).
only to collect rentals from the properties without them from coming through to the facility. mission to take over CSC abattoirs in Bulawayo,
injecting capital. Chinhoyi, Masvingo, Marondera and Kadoma At its peak, the beef processor and marketer
“Havercroft didn’t want to see Zee Sibanda and for an initial period of 25 years. The company used to handle up to 150 000 tonnes of beef and
The meat processor's properties now being lev- Raphael Mapondera whom the JOC delegation would also run the CSC’s distribution centres associated by-products annually, and export to
eraged for borrowings and rentals include large drafted in as they had information on the where- and residential properties in Harare, Gweru and the EU where it had an annual quota of 9 100
farms and cattle ranches, houses, abattoirs, and abouts of some equipment and would help iden- Mutare for the same period. tonnes of beef.
distribution centres dotted around the country. tify it,” Sunduza said.
This has put the CSC properties at risk of being
sold off separately for profit for equity investors Efforts to get a comment from Havercroft were
who have put nothing into the deal — asset-strip- fruitless.
ping — since they are now deemed as private be-
longings. In a bid to turnaround the CSC, the govern-
ment signed an agreement for a joint-venture
Despite its US$42.5 million debt, CSC assets lease with Boustead Beef in March 2019 for 25
still have massive latent or residual value individ- years. The authorities and state media branded
ually. the shelf company that has taken over the CSC a
“British beef giant”.
After cabinet made all the noises about the
deal, three years down the line the CSC is still Checks done at the time revealed the purport-
mothballed, with the investors having injected lit- ed beef-processing behemoth was only an agricul-
tle or no capital despite controlling the company’s ture start-up company with a small balance sheet.
assets and collecting rentals. Verification by The NewsHawks this week shows
that nothing has changed.
This galvanised government officials, partic-
ularly in Bulawayo where the company is head- In fact, Boustead Beef UK Limited is described
quartered, into action to intervene. Authorities by the UK Companies House as a dormant firm
have initiated an investigation under Joc to estab- and its balance sheet as of November 2020 had
lish whether a major state asset like CSC has been net assets of only £1, while total shareholder
sold off for a song, or can still be revived. funds also amounted to £1.

CSC corporate rescue practitioner Vonani Ma- This makes the deal a major fraud or scandal.
joko said Boustead Beef has been collecting rent- In May 2019, Information minister Moni-
als from properties, but without capitalising the ca Mutsvangwa said during a post-cabinet Press
business. briefing: “Cabinet was informed by Finance
and Economic Development minister Professor
The looting of the CSC forced Bulawayo min-
ister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolu- Boustead was also given the green light to take over and manage CSC ranches in Maphaneni, Dubane, Umguza, Chivumbuni, Mushandike, Willsgrove and Darwen-
tion Judith Ncube and Joc to set up an inter-min- dale for an initial period of 25 years.
isterial team to the investigate goings-on at the
company.

However, the Joc team was denied entry into
some sections of CSC by investor Nick Haver-
croft and his team.

“Pursuant to the Joc Taskforce team appoint-
ment on the 9th May 2022 after Joc was briefed
by the corporate rescue practitioner, the taskforce
team undertook to complete its mandate on
Thursday 19th May by visiting the CSC facility,”
reads a report prepared by Cornelio M Sunduza,
a Joc team member.

“The team initially visited the canning factory
and successfully completed its assessment of the
facility to establish its readiness to resume opera-
tions. The conclusion is that the company is not
ready to open as there has not been any repair of
the equipment which in some important parts is
showing signs of rust and the walls are showing
strips of water leakage from the roof. The rest of
the facility requires servicing and there are signs of
electrical cable vandalism.

“Over and above that, there are four ma-
jor heavy duty boiler feed pumps which were
stripped and removed from the boiler rooms and
they need to be replaced. Four ammonia pumps
were also stripped and removed from the cooling
facility. Electrical cables are cut from two distri-
bution centres.”

Page 4 News NewsHawks

Issue 82, 27 May 2022

CSC looted into a shell

CSC collapsed due to extended periods of mismanagement, incompetence and corruption.

DUMISANI NYONI ment, for the placement of the CSC under cor- such as employee records, cattle loan schemes water circulation systems, splitting machinery
porate rescue proceedings. The court case num- and bank account details, hence the investor is and electrical systems.
THE Cold Storage Company (CSC) has been ber is HC1779/20. failing to make head or tail of the agreement
stripped of its assets by its executive, board and the implementation,” he said. Boustead also negotiated and concluded a
members and government officials, leaving it In his founding affidavit accompanying the partnership agreement to refurbish, operate
under corporate rescue proceedings, amid indi- court application, Masuka revealed that the Masuka said the Zimbabwe Asset Manage- and supply beef to the government's process-
cations that more than 10 000 head of its cattle Livestock Joint Farming Concession (LJFC) ment Company also threatened to sell the CSC’s ing company through a lease agreement with
have been stolen in the government heifer breed agreement signed by the government and Bous- Bulawayo abattoir and the canning factory to Fabwell Farming in respect of Dubane and
schemes, The NewsHawks can reveal. tead Beef last year was difficult to implement as settle a Z$3.71 million debt, then a huge sum. Maphabane Ranches in Matabeleland South.
creditors were threatening to attach CSC assets
Documents seen by this investigative centre while former employees had destroyed import- There are also numerous pending court cases At these ranches, Masuka said fence lines
show the state-owned company, which used to ant documents, among other bottlenecks. and orders which can be executed at any time, have been rebuilt, roads rebuilt, dips refur-
be a major player in beef supply in the local and he said. bished, new cattle handling facilities built, so-
foreign markets, continues to be plundered by Masuka said creditors including the Zim- lar-powered water pumps and lighting installed,
its executive, board members and government babwe Electricity Supply Authority, National “More former employees or their relatives are modern technology is being applied to enhance
officials. Social Security Authority, urban councils (Bu- coming forward with various claims which can- cattle breeding targeting breeds such as Tuli, Li-
lawayo, Harare, Chinhoyi etc) are demanding not be verified as management destroyed most mozin, Angus and Brahman.
CSC collapsed due to extended periods of the immediate settlement of debts and have of the records,” he said.
mismanagement, incompetence and corrup- disconnected water and electricity, demanding Currently, there is a herd of cattle of over
tion. This has been the experience of many oth- payment before reconnections. In light of this, Masuka said it was clear that 5 000 and the target is 13 000 in the next five
er state enterprises. unless something is done, the “noble intentions years.
“It also came to light that there continues to of the government to revive the applicant’s (gov-
The latest development comes after govern- be rampant corruption and unlawful dissipation ernment) company would be quashed.” “The investor is in the process of finalis-
ment misled the nation when it announced that of assets by certain executive members, board ing various contracts to supply 50 000 tonnes
a “British beef giant”, Boustead Private Limited, members, government officials and respondent He, therefore, asked the Bulawayo-headquar- of beef to Angola, 2 000 tonnes per month to
would pump US$130 million towards revival (CSC) officials. More than 10 000 head of cattle tered firm to be placed under corporate rescue Hong Kong, 22 000 tonnes to Malta, finalising
of the company. It, however, emerged that the have been misappropriated in the government proceedings. exports permits to China and other potential
purported beef processing behemoth was only heifer breed schemes,” he said. orders for various other markets including the
an agriculture start-up company with a small He said such a process will enable the nomi- United Arab Emirates, Russia, United King-
balance sheet. “At the moment, the respondent (CSC) is nated corporate rescue practitioner, Kudenga to dom, Malaysia and South Africa,” he said.
only in control of approximately 25% of its as- take judicial control and possession of CSC’s as-
Government announced after cabinet ap- sets. Former board members and executives are sets and business in order to carry out a full and A copy of LJFC agreement seen by The News-
proval the firm would assume control over the alleged to have corruptly allocated themselves, proper inventory thereof. Hawks, Boustead would assume control over the
moribund meat processing parastatal facili- family and other individuals various ranches ranches and meat processing facilities run by the
ties for 25 years in what was supposed to be a and homesteads, denying the investor access to Also all legal action pending or contemplated CSC spread across the country.
live-saving multi-million-dollar deal. these assets to refurbish, develop and restock.” will be stayed.
The enterprise will also take over and manage
Checks however revealed that Boustead (Pvt) In terms of the agreement, Boustead was Kudenga will be empowered to terminate or the CSC’s distribution centres and residential
Ltd is not a UK company, but a local start-up obliged to inject a minimum of US$130 million vary any questionable leases of CSC’s properties properties in Harare, Gweru and Mutare for the
owned by Nick Havercroft. It only commenced over five years for purposes of reviving opera- both agricultural and commercial and also cause same period.
operations in 2013. The local firm operates un- tions, refurbishing the industrial assets, ranches, for the accounting of all rentals paid.
der registration number 4852/2013 as recorded feedlots and residential properties. Ranches include Maphaneni Ranch, Dubane
by the Companies Registry. “Importantly, an implementation plan, es- Ranch, Umguza Chomfukwe Dubane Umzing-
Further and in terms of the agreement, the sentially an enhanced Livestock Joint Farm- wane-Railway Block Gwanda Ranch, Chivum-
In the UK, there is Boustead Agriculture, investor was also obliged to assume any out- ing Concession Agreement, with specific time buru, Mushandike Ranch (Meyers Rust),
registered under number 08154075 and domi- standing legacy creditors, affording CSC relief frames embodied in a statutorily endorsed cor- Zeederberg Belwigwe, Willsgrove Feedlot and
ciled at 78-80 St John Street, London, England, to its financial woes. porate rescue plan will allow for enhanced trans- Darwendale Ranch.
EC1M 4JN. It was only set up by Boustead parency and accountability in relation to the re-
(Pvt) Ltd founders to raise money for the CSC The meat processor has liabilities of about habilitation of the respondent (CSC),” he said. The CSC’s Bulawayo complex is the largest
deal. US$33.1 million, including outstanding wages meat slaughtering facility in Africa and only
and pension fund contributions amounting to In accordance with the agreement, Masuka trails Botswana Meat Commission in terms of
Ngoni Kudenga of BDO Zimbabwe Char- US$4.2 million. said Boustead had managed to procure the ser- the latest technologies.
tered Accountants has been appointed as an vices of an engineering audit report from Soft
interim corporate rescue practitioner to take Masuka said upon Boustead initiating busi- Energy Supply Chain Management Co Ltd at a At the attainment of Independence in 1980,
judicial control and possession of the CSC’s as- ness implementation with CSC as agreed, the cost of US$3 million; engaged cold chain room the CSC was one of Zimbabwe’s major foreign
sets and business in order to compile a full and former management of the CSC failed to co- management companies to refurbish, operate currency earners, as it exported thousands of
proper inventory. operate with the investor to the extent that the and manage the cold room chain systems across tonnes of beef to the European Union (EU).
working environment has become hostile. the facilities as and when they are brought back
According to court papers seen by The New- into production. At its peak, the beef processor and marketer
sHawks, Agriculture minister Anxious Masuka “Also that former employees deleted company used to handle up to 150 000 tonnes of beef and
successfully applied, on behalf of the govern- information from hard drives of the company Under the management of the investor as per associated by-products annually and exported to
computers and destroyed important documents the agreement, production at the tannery re- the EU, where it had an annual quota of 9 100
sumed in January 2020 with the refurbishment tonnes of beef.
of tanning drums, waste management systems,

NewsHawks News Page 5

Issue 82, 27 May 2022

Scandal-ridden
Glencore has a big
footprint in Zim

BERNARD MPOFU Glencore says it has reached deals with author- Woble Investments owner John Mushayavanhu
ities in the three countries to resolve corrup-
GLOBAL commodities giant Glencore, one of tion issues in return for penalties totalling up
the world’s largest diversified natural resource to US$1.5 billion.
companies, currently engulfed in a corruption
and bribery storm in the United States, Britain The Anglo-Swiss company said this week it
and Brazil, has a big footprint in Zimbabwe. will pay US$700 million to resolve a US brib-
ery investigation and a further US$486 million
It has been involved in fuel and coal busi- in connection with allegations of market ma-
nesses in the country. nipulation.

Prominently, Glencore was embroiled in the Glencore says about US$166 million in fines
controversial Zuva Petroleum-Masawara Plc agreed with the US authorities will be credited
US$30 million deal about a decade ago. The to a parallel probe by the UK Serious Fraud
transaction, funded by Glencore, involved the Office, where it has indicated that it will plead
purchase of Zuva Petroleum assets from Ma- guilty to bribery at a hearing next month.
sawara by a company owned by John Musha-
yavanhu. Separately, the company is paying US$40
million to resolve a bribery probe in Brazil.
Woble Investments, owned by Mushaya-
vanhu, banking group FBC Holdings chief After surviving a near-death experience in
executive and his wife, bought the assets from 2015, Glencore stocks were riding high on
Masawara, which were initially owned by BP world markets: the company posted its best-ev-
& Shell before it rebranded to Zuva Petroleum. er results in 2018.

After that, London-listed Masawara trans- One reason is its dominance of supplies of
ferred its 51% stake in Masawara Energy Mau- cobalt, an essential mineral used in batteries
ritius Limited (MEM) to Woble. for smart phones and electric cars. Cobalt pric-
es are soaring, and Glencore controls supply
MEM is registered in Mauritius and is the through massive operations in the Democratic
controlling shareholder of Zuva Petroleum. Republic of Congo.

However, market watchers said Masawara The US Department of Justice said its case
never owned the Zuva shares in the first place against the company related to “a decade-long
and that it was a front for Glencore, which scheme by Glencore and its subsidiaries to make
funded the purchase and was again the finan- and conceal corrupt payments and bribes” to
cier of Woble’s purchase of the same shares. foreign officials in Africa and Latin America.

The intricate deal also involved Strauss Lo- “The scope of this criminal bribery scheme is
gistics and Zanu PF associate Ketani Joshi, who staggering,” US Attorney Damian Williams for
has an interest in Strauss. Joshi also had an in- the Southern District of New York was quoted
terest in FBC led by Mushayavanhu, a bank he as saying.
helped found.
“Glencore paid bribes to secure oil contracts.
Some top local politicians were also linked Glencore paid bribes to avoid government au-
to the deal. dits. Glencore bribed judges to make lawsuits
disappear.”
Mushayavanhu, one of President Emmerson
Mnangagwa’s corporate allies, at the time said Glencore paid bribes to a web of its networks
he was not a shareholder in Strauss and the to make money — hundreds of millions of dol-
company had no equity interest in Zuva as it lars.
was only a service provider.
Glencore was embroiled in the controversial Zuva Petroleum-Masawara Plc US$30 million deal about a decade ago.
A National Indigenisation and Economic
Empowerment Board report then said Ma-
sawara “never owned” the former BP & Shell
assets purportedly sold to it, insisting Alveir
purchased the assets.

Alveir is one of several financing arms of
Glencore based in the British Virgin Islands.

“The real owners are and will remain Alveir,
and now Glencore Holdings. Woble is merely a
front,” the report said.

However, Mushayavanhu insisted that he
was not a front for Glencore, but had only se-
cured money for the deal from them.

Besides being entangled in the sale of BP &
Shell assets in Zimbabwe, Glencore sells fuel to
Zimbabwean suppliers and others in the region
on the high seas. It is thus a major player in the
Zimbabwean fuel market.

Six major oil-importing entities, including
the Indigenous Petroleum Association of Zim-
babwe, Zuva Petroleum, Puma Energy (Trafig-
ura), Total Zimbabwe, Petrotrade (Pvt) Ltd,
Genesis Energy and Engen Petroleum Zimba-
bwe service the cumulative daily fuel require-
ments of 4.1 million litres of diesel and 3.1
million litres of petrol in the local market.

Glencore supplies Zuva, which the market
insists it owns despite some front faces in-
volved.

Apart from fuel, Glencore was also in min-
ing activities in Zimbabwe. A few years ago,
it signed an agreement to buy coke and coke
products from Hwange Colliery.

Given its wide footprint in Zimbabwe, is-
sues about Glencore are of public interest lo-
cally, including its seemingly endless scandals.
The local market a proximity of interest in its
affairs.

After its latest scandal in the United States,

Page 6 News NewsHawks

Issue 82, 27 May 2022

Global commodities giant Glencore, one of Special report on Glencore: The
the world’s largest diversified natural resource commodities giant with no soul
companies, is engulfed in a corruption and
bribery storm in the United States and Brit- Glencore CEO Ivan Glasenberg
ain, as well as Brazil. The company says it has
reached deals with authorities in the three
countries to resolve corruption allegations in
return for penalties totalling up to US$1.5 bil-
lion. The Anglo-Swiss company said this week
it will pay US$700 million to resolve a US brib-
ery investigation and a further US$486 mil-
lion in connection with allegations of market
manipulation. Glencore says about US$166
million in fines agreed with the US authorities
will be credited to a parallel probe by the UK
Serious Fraud Office, where it has indicated
that it will plead guilty to bribery at a hearing
next month. Separately, the company is paying
US$40 million to resolve a bribery probe in
Brazil. After surviving a near-death experience
in 2015, Glencore stocks were riding high on
world markets: the company posted its best-ev-
er results in 2018. One reason is its dominance
of supplies of cobalt, an essential mineral used
in batteries for smartphones and electric cars.
Cobalt prices are soaring, and Glencore con-
trols supply through massive operations in the
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The
company sells fuel to Zimbabwean suppliers
and others in the region in high seas; was in-
volved in the Zuva Petroleum-Masawara Plc
US$30 million deal and in Hwange Colliery
coal purchase. Masawara had acquired BP &
Shell Marketing Services assets in 2010 before
the 2016 deal. And now this . . . but before that
another investigation four years ago had ex-
posed the company’s ugly face.

WALTON PANTLAND intransigence of Glencore in their own countries. Pinochet, and apartheid South Africa. Rich also controlling stakes of commodities, influencing the
Kemal Özkan, IndustriALL assistant general did deals with North Korea’s Kim Il price and potentially making a huge profit. Glen-
WHEN IndustriALL Global Union visited the core originally traded mostly in oil, but moved
DRC in February 2018 to meet with local unions secretary says: “The purpose of the campaign is Sung, Yugoslavia’s Slobodan Milosevic and the into coal, zinc, copper, lead, nickel, ferroalloys,
at Glencore mines, the company denied access to to restrain the monster, to prevent it from causing Philippines’ Ferdinand Marcos Snr, and through iron, aluminium and agricultural products.
its operations, and security forces attempted to further damage. IndustriALL affiliates are seeking convicted money launderer Gilbert Chagoury,
break up a union meeting in a church and arrest to negotiate with the company at a global level, with Sani Abacha in Nigeria. Seeing the benefit of controlling production, as
the organisers. What are they hiding? to create a transparent mechanism for resolving well as trade, Glencore began investing in mining
disputes wherever they arise.” Never fussy about the sources of his wealth, company Xstrata in 1990.
Last year, the Paradise Papers revealed that Rich claimed that breaking the UN embargo of
Glencore paid huge sums of money to a corrupt Company profile South Africa resulted in his “most important and In 2013, Glencore merged with Xstrata, by
fixer to obtain mining interests in the DRC. Add- Glencore’s criminal past — its founder was on most profitable” business deals. then the world’s largest coal mining company, and
ing to its reputation for corruption, human rights the US Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Most acquired a number of significant mining opera-
abuses and environmental degradation, Glen- Wanted list for almost 20 years — and ongoing In the 1980s, Rich worked with the Israeli se- tions. The company has moved along commodi-
core’s treatment of its workforce — in the DRC, contempt for the law means the company tries to cret service, Mossad, to set up a secret pipeline ties supply chains, controlling primary extraction
and across more than 150 operations in the world keep a low profile and stay out of the spotlight. to sell Iranian oil to Israel. In 1983, Rich was as well as value-added processing and logistics,
— is the scandal that has not received the atten- But recently, since the company’s public listing in charged in the US with tax evasion, fraud, trading and bought controlling interests in mines, coal
tion it deserves. The company directly employs 83 2011, and the leaks of the Panama Papers, Par- with the enemy and illegal business dealings. A terminals and freighters, refineries, smelters and
679 people around the world, with a total of 145 adise Papers and Hilary Clinton’s emails, more fugitive from justice — and for almost two de- warehouses. Glencore also moved into agricul-
977 including contractors. Glen Mpufane, In- information about the company’s behaviour has cades on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list — he ture, buying interests in grains, oils, cotton, sugar
dustriALL mining director, says: “For Glencore, come to light. fled to Switzerland. and storage facilities.
workers are a disposable and replaceable resource Glencore, originally named Marc Rich +
like any other.” Co, was founded in 1974 by Marc Rich, a Bel- Although Rich was controversially pardoned Glencore’s model of borrowing money to car-
gian-American commodities trader. Before Rich, by Bill Clinton on his last day in office in 2001, ry out trades almost led to bankruptcy in 2015,
These include miners at Glencore’s Oaky oil production and trading was dominated by big, Glencore’s headquarters remain in canton Zug in when a crash in worldwide commodities prices
North mine in Australia who were locked out of established companies like BP and Exxon, who Switzerland. Despite being the largest company left the company over-exposed and overwhelmed
their workplace for 230 days, workers at CEZinc made long-term deals with stable governments. in Switzerland, and at number 16 on the Fortune with debt. To ensure more sustainable and long-
in Canada having to strike for nine months to Rich flew into conflict zones with borrowed Global 500 of the world’s biggest companies, term sources of financing for commodities deals,
prevent a raid on their pensions, the loss of thou- money, making deals with officials to buy oil Glencore prefers to keep a low profile. Glencore has begun to form partnerships with
sands of jobs through casualisation in Zambia, directly. Rich brought two great innovations to state-owned sovereign wealth funds, such as the
a spate of preventable accidents at the Cerrejón the world of commodities trading: defying inter- In 2011, the company went public and was Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), which owns
mine in Colombia, and brutal labour conditions national law, and using leverage — trading with listed on three stock exchanges: London, Hong 8.2% of Glencore stock.
in the DRC. borrowed money and reselling at a profit — to Kong and Johannesburg. The public listing forced
corner lucrative markets. a greater degree of scrutiny, and Glencore’s deal- In 2017, QIA and Glencore bought 19.5% of
IndustriALL’s Glencore campaign The company’s fortune was built on tax avoid- ings are now more widely reported. The compa- Rosneft, the Russian state energy company. Oth-
At its executive committee meeting in Sri Lan- ance and sanctions busting: Rich defied interna- ny’s prospectus was candid about its strategy of er sovereign wealth funds, from Norway, United
ka in October 2017, IndustriALL launched a tional trade embargoes to do business with pa- operating in high risk and volatile environments. Arab Emirates, Singapore and China have also
campaign against Glencore. This follows years of riah regimes from across the political spectrum, been major Glencore investors.
unsuccessful attempts to establish global dialogue including Iran during the hostage crisis, Libya Laura Carter, IndustriALL Latin America re-
with the company to resolve workers’ rights and under Muammar Gaddafi, Chile under Augusto gional officer, has had a lot of experience with Glencore CEO Ivan Glasenberg owns 8.4%
health and safety crises at its operations around Glencore: Glencore profits from the misery of of Glencore stock, tying his personal fortune to
the world. Speaking at the launch of the cam- others. It is an ogre with the feet of a ballerina, that of the company. Glencore’s opaque network
paign, Tony Maher, national president of Austra- honing in on shortages and disaster with ra- of shell companies and intermediaries allows it to
lian affiliate the Construction, Forestry, Mining zor-sharp precision. show a loss in the countries where it extracts raw
and Engineering Union (CFMEU), said: “Glen-
core has no corporate soul. This is a Frankenstein The business model is to borrow money to buy
company, stitched together with body parts.”
Glencore is a hybrid, whose sole purpose is to
make money, a corporate colossus with a stran-
glehold on world resources. The company has
built up an extremely complex network of 80 or
more subsidiaries on five continents, using shell
corporations, partnerships and offshore accounts
to obscure transactions and avoid tax, and work-
ing with corrupt intermediaries to gain access to
resources.
Unions representing Glencore workers in Ar-
gentina, Australia, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, Co-
lombia, DRC, Germany, Italy, Norway, Peru,
South Africa, UK and Zambia have come to-
gether to coordinate action against the company:
many have been confronted by the arrogance and

NewsHawks News Page 7

Issue 82, 27 May 2022

materials and to sell these products for a pittance According to the Mine Workers’ Union of In 2017, the Copperbelt Energy Corporation, Seven workers died at Katanga in 2016 when
to subsidiaries in tax havens. Zambia, about half of the workers at Glencore’s which supplies electricity to mining companies the wall of an open pit mine collapsed. A Febru-
Mopani copper operations in Zambia are casual in Zambia, raised the price of electricity. Mopani ary 2018 mission by IndustriALL to the Glencore
Contempt for the law and these workers make on average under a third halted operations and threatened the Zambian operations in the Kolwezi area exposed horren-
In 2015, Glencore was fined in South Africa of the wages of permanent employees. This is government to retrench 4 700 workers, claiming dous conditions. Workers say they are treated like
for supplying substandard coal to utility company despite Mopani’s claim that it aims to pay every the hike in electricity tariffs would have a huge slaves, exposed to danger at work, and are expos-
Eskom, and accused by the government of Ghana contracted employee 80% of a permanent salary. effect on their budget. ing their families to occupational diseases because
in 2017 for illegally importing and reselling pe- they have no facilities to wash.
troleum products. Breaking industrial relations Chasing cobalt: Glencore in the DRC
The McArthur River mine in Australia has not A frequent complaint from Glencore workers Perhaps the starkest example of Glencore’s “We are so filthy when we get home that we
paid royalties to the government since it opened is that the company refuses to bargain centrally — treatment of its workforce is in the DRC. A vast cannot hug our children,” said one worker.
in 1995, and in 2017, the tax office ruled that even at country level — and there is no consisten- and frequently lawless country, the DRC pro-
Glencore had understated its taxable income by cy in terms and conditions at different operations. duces a range of extremely valuable minerals, in- The grinding poverty of the region was on clear
diverting US$190 million offshore. The compa- The company owns a number of operations in cluding cobalt and copper. The DRC is central to display. Cobalt — essential to the production of
ny was also accused of tax evasion in Zambia in South Africa where local unions are campaigning Glencore’s newfound fortune, and much of the many high-tech products — is hugely valuable,
2011, and in 2018 the UK Court of Appeal up- for a company level agreement. company’s recent success is dependent on its op- yet almost all this wealth disappears into foreign
held sanctions against Glencore for tax evasion. Although Glencore claims that “We are com- erations here. companies, or locally through corruption, with
Subsidiary Xstrata faces a lawsuit in the UK mitted to working honestly and openly with la- In 2012, Glencore was exposed for purchasing the complicity of foreign companies.
after allegedly paying the police force in Peru to bour unions at all our locations and treating em- copper mined using child labour. It has worked
attack protesters. In 2017, the London Metal Ex- ployees with respect”, the reality is very different. hard to improve its public image since then, but Glen Mpufane said: “We were shocked by
change fined Glencore US$1.4 million for falsify- Instead of negotiating in good faith with conditions remain terrible for workers mining the desperate poverty of the people of Kolwezi,
ing warehouse documents. unions as representatives of the workforce, Glen- some of the most valuable minerals on the planet. and the lack of development and infrastructure.
DRC subsidiary Katanga is subject to legal pro- core tries to actively break unions. According to the leaked Paradise Papers, Glen- The contrast with Glencore’s vast wealth is stark.
ceedings in both the US and Canada for giving In Australia, workers at Glencore’s Oaky North core loaned US$45 million to controversial Israeli There is a great irony in the fact that environmen-
false statements to investors. mine were locked out by the company for more billionaire Dan Gertler for his help in obtaining tally-conscious electric car buyers rely on a supply
The company also has a reputation for bullying than 230 days for resisting a plan that aims to re- mining concessions from state-owned mining chain built on Glencore’s environmental and so-
governments, after suing Bolivia and Colombia place permanent workers with contractors. Rath- company Gécamines at a discounted price, saving cial pillaging.”
through Investor-State Dispute Settlements, and er than making a fair offer, the company chose to Glencore US$440 million.
using oil-backed loans to control resources in lock out its workforce. Glencore paid Gertler a further US$960 mil- Glencore denied IndustriALL access to the sites
Chad, leaving the country in a financial crisis. Workers were punished and intimidated for lion to buy his stake in the mines. Gertler is linked and when local union Tumec held a meeting in a
opposing the company’s plans. Australia’s state la- to a string of bribery allegations and is subject to church, security forces attempted to break it up
Human and workers’ rights bour arbitrator, the Fair Work Commission, had criminal proceedings in Switzerland. The US and arrest the organisers.
Glencore has been accused of human rights to order the company to stop its surveillance of Treasury sanctioned Gertler in December 2017,
abuses in many countries. In addition to the case workers and refusing to allow them to wear union saying his corruption had cost the DRC US$1.3 It is possible to produce copper and cobalt,
in Peru, in Colombia, Glencore subsidiary Pro- T-shirts. Workers and their families were followed billion. and make a profit, while still respecting workers’
deco is accused of financing a paramilitary group around town to their homes, and filmed at social Since buying the stakes, Glencore employs rights. Belgian-headquartered Umicore is a com-
between 1996 and 2006, during the country’s events, by private security guards employed by the about 15 000 people in the DRC through its sub- petitor of Glencore’s, also producing cobalt, lithi-
armed conflict in an attempt to control the car- company. Workers say that security guards filmed sidiaries Mutanda Mining and Katanga Mining. um and other precious minerals.
bon industry. their children at the playground. It intends to double its cobalt production over the
IndustriALL campaigns director Adam Lee Glencore uses its employees as political tools. next few years. But the company has signed a global frame-
says: “Workers are expendable commodities work agreement on sustainable development
to Glencore. In operations in Europe — where with IndustriALL covering 14 000 workers in
Glencore employs few people in an environment 38 countries. The agreement also covers environ-
of strong unions and regulations — conditions mental sustainability, as the company increases
generally meet industry standards. But in many its focus on extracting minerals by recycling elec-
other countries, the company has either neglected tronic equipment. — INDUSTRIALL-UNION.ORG
or viciously attacked its workforce.”
Glencore is accused of purchasing minerals using child labour in the DRC.
Health and safety situation
“Glencore claims to want to be an industry
leader in the field of health and safety and proud-
ly announced that it only killed nine people in
2017,” says IndustriALL health, safety and sus-
tainability director Brian Kohler. “But our affil-
iates around the world report a lax attitude to
health and safety.”
In Bolivia, workers complain that safety equip-
ment is substandard. Because they are paid for
what they produce, stricter health and safety regu-
lations slow production and have led to a consid-
erable drop in wages. Unions say contract workers
are not properly trained, leading to fatal accidents.
According to Glencore’s annual report, two work-
ers were killed in 2017. After a worker was killed
at the San Lorenzo mine in 2014, the company
put pressure on the workforce, threatening to
close the mine if there are any further accidents.
In August 2017, the Sintracarbón union in
Colombia reported that in less than one month
there were 13 work accidents at Glencore’s open-
cast coal mine, Cerrejón, five of them in a single
day. Tragically it was only a matter of time before
somebody got killed. On 25 January 2018, Carlos
Urbina Martinez died in an accident at the mine.
The problems at Cerrejón have a long history.
Colombia is yet another of the resource-rich, con-
flict-ridden countries favoured by Glencore. As
early as 2006, there were allegations of corruption
and severe human rights violations with the local
union accusing the company of forced expropri-
ations and evacuations of entire villages to enable
mine expansion, in complicity with Colombian
authorities.

Outsourcing and contracting
Like many employers, Glencore casualises its
workforce to avoid responsibility, leaving over 62
000 of its workers and their families without the
security of a permanent contract, pension and
health cover. In the last few years, the proportion
of contractors to permanent workers has gone up,
while overall employment is falling.
In 2016, Cerrejón was fined US$2 million for
illegal and excessive use of contractors. Unions in
Bolivia report that the company employs subcon-
tractors even though this is illegal, and hires work-
ers classified as “employees of confidence” to limit
their right to organise or to strike.

Page 8 News NewsHawks

Issue 82, 27 May 2022

MOSES MATENGA Moyo speaks on Pomona deal

DOCUMENTS have unwittingly exposed how to elect their own hence I appointed councillor Local Government minister July Moyo tend the meeting. With respect to the chairing of
the government through several of its agencies Mutizwa as Acting Mayor in the circumstances. “lt appears that the 6th Respondent is a foreign the meeting, l only wish to say that the meeting
pressured Harare City Council into a murky The law allowed me to do so,” Moyo said. company but no order to found jurisdiction has was chaired by Councillor Mutizwa because the
US$400 million Pomona waste management deal been sought and granted.” substantive Mayor councillor Jacob Mafume was
that has riled stakeholders who are now calling for Moyo denied exerting undue pressure on coun- The acting town clerk denied that the meeting absent by virtue of his suspension letter attached.”
it to be stopped, as it will see the city losing mil- cil to sign the deal, saying he was simply “giving that resolved the deal was hastily convened and
lions of dollars. a hand”. accused the applicants, Markham, and the Com- “l am also told a tribunal was subsequently ap-
bined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) pointed to try Mayor Mafume on the allegations of
The deal has faced resistance from residents, op- In his answering affidavit, acting town clerk among others of mourning more than the be- misconduct. lt is not in my place to comment on
position parliamentarians and civil society organ- Mabhena Moyo, through his lawyers Mbidzo, reaved. the legality or otherwise of Councillor Mafume’s
isations who describe it as scandalous and meant Muchadehama and Makoni, argued that Geo- “l must state that the applicants are crying more tenure of office. That issue is best dealt with by the
to siphon money from the local authority for the genix BV, the local authority’s partner in the deal, than the bereaved. The councillors who should 2nd Respondent. All I know is that the council
benefit of the elite that include Local Government was wrongly dragged before the courts as they have been complaining about inadequacies in the meeting proceeded on the basis that Councillor
minister July Moyo and businessman Delish Ngu- were protected by the law. notices given have not complained,” he said. Mutizwa was the Acting Mayor appointed to carry
waya who has strong links to President Emmerson “ln other words, they were happy with the no- out that function by the 2nd Respondent.”
Mnangagwa’s family. “l am advised which advice l take that for one to tices given, had enough time to prepare and at-
sue a foreign company the leave of the court must The deal has been heavily criticised by residents
Several groupings, including the Crisis in Zim- be obtained first,” Moyo argued. and is being challenged in court while Citizens'
babwe Coalition, have called for the Zimbabwe Coalition for Change (CCC) councillors have
Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) to probe the called for a meeting next week with a view to stop-
deal while residents’ groups are urging the authori- ping the transaction.
ties to stop the deal.
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition issued a state-
In his answering affidavit, Moyo said all proce- ment on Friday challenging the transaction, say-
dures were followed as required by law. ing it was shameful.

“The project in question went through ZIDA “In our view, the contents of the Memorandum
Act (Chapter 14:37). The Act is very clear that of Agreement signed between the City of Harare
with regard to Joint Venture Agreements also and Geogenix for the US$300 million Pomona
known as Private Public Partnerships (PPP) in Waste-to-Energy Project is a pure scandal, and a
sections 34 and 36 of the said Act, the agency burden to the City meant to serve the best inter-
considers project proposals from contracting au- ests of the politically connected elites at the ex-
thorities and through the Chief Executive Officer pense of the residents of Harare,” the CiZC said.
makes recommendations through the Minister to
the Cabinet of Zimbabwe to either approve or re- “We reiterate that this scandal is a well-crafted
ject the proposal.” and cunning plan designed to siphon resources
and strip assets from the already cash-strapped and
He said the government was having nightmares financially distressed local authority.”
over the dumpsite and its risks, hence quickly gave
in to the foreign company Geogenix BV's “unso- Residents of Harare and stakeholders were not
licited bid.” consulted on the Pomona Waste-to-Energy Proj-
ect.
Moyo conceded he had a hand in appointing
Stewart Mutizwa as acting mayor after he had sus- Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition said the City of
pended Mafume earlier and that on the day of the Harare was being set up to fail as it has no capacity
meeting, the Harare mayor was before a tribunal to collect the required tonnes a day due to a de-
he had set up. pleted fleet of refuse collection trucks.

The Local Government minister also said he In its recommendations, the Crisis in Zimbabwe
personally appointed Mutizwa after the council- Coalition called for an “independent parliamenta-
lors had failed to do so on their own. ry inquiry” into the deal led by the Parliamentary
Portfolio Committee on Local Government.
“Mafume was absent pursuant to his suspen-
sion which I effected in December, 2021 and his “Zacc must conduct an investigation consider-
matter at the time of the meeting referred to was ing the circumstances around the signing of the
before a tribunal constituted in terms of the law,” MoA, the exploitative nature of the ‘deal’ and its
Moyo said. implications on council revenue and financial
standing.”
“There was nowhere Mafume could have
chaired the meeting in question. Councillor Mu-
tizwa is the Acting Mayor ever since I suspended
Jacob Mafume. Harare City councillors had failed

MOSES MATENGA ‘Munatsi was involved ...’
common in the European Union,” Nguwaya said.
BUSINESMAN Delish Nguwaya has claimed The late businessman ernment and Public Works, and our own officials. He said Harare engineers and other officials
that the late former Zimbabwe Investment Devel- Douglas Munatsi We presented our model of how we intended to
opment Agency (ZIDA) chief executive, Douglas ment Agency (ZIDA), in 2021 through its Chief carry out the project.” visited Italy and Albania to view projects done by
Munatsi, was heavily involved in the US$400 Executive Officer Douglas Munatsi, we attend- the company and were satisfied.
million Pomona dumpsite deal that has become ed a meeting at ZIDA offices after having ap- “It was agreed that we would negotiate around
an emotive subject and is being challenged by proached the Harare City Council with our pro- a joint venture agreement with Harare City “Post this visit through ZIDA engagements
stakeholders over allegations of corruption, court posal to invest in rehabilitation and construction Council. Central Government through 2nd Re- continued resulting in parties coming up with a
documents have revealed. of a waste energy plant at the Pomona dumpsite,” spondent (Moyo) would also be involved in the draft joint venture. The draft agreement was ne-
Nguwaya said. discussion, as the project was novel and brings gotiated with the City of Harare officials, the At-
Munatsi died in a house fire in November un- “The meeting was attended by various officials in concepts of Waste Management practiced and torney-General of the Republic of Zimbabwe, the
der unclear circumstances with friends and rela- from the City of Harare, Ministry of Local Gov- Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Local Gov-
tives suspecting that the prominent banker may ernment officials and the 6th Respondent and the
have been immobilised or held against his will on process was transparently done.”
the night of his death at his posh 9th floor pent-
house in Harare. Nguwaya, who is linked to President Emmer-
son Mnangagwa’s family, said the government
There was suspicion Munatsi was a victim of a rendered an oversight role as the project was of
deal that could have gone sour as he was said to national interest.
have been at the centre of blocking an unnamed
multi-million-dollar project, leading to specula- “ZIDA has not been cited. It facilitated the
tion the deal could have been the Pomona project. joint venture concession agreement of March 9,
2022,” Nguwaya added.
Munatsi’s family is said to have told the police
that the businessman had been receiving threats In his answering affidavit, Local Govern-
from unknown people prior to his demise. ment minister July Moyo also mentioned ZIDA
through its CEO’s involvement in the deal and
Munatsi died hours before he was set to meet putting that as justification that the transaction
President Emmerson Mnangagwa for a briefing was above board.
on some business issues.
Moyo, in response to questions as to why there
ln his answering affidavit in a case in which were no tender processes followed, said all pro-
Harare North member of Parliament Allan cesses were followed as required by law.
Markham is suing Local Government minister
July Moyo, Harare City Council, Netherlands In a letter submitted by acting town clerk
firm Geogenix BV, Harare mayor Jacob Mafume Mabhena Moyo as part of the local authority’s an-
and others, Nguwaya who is representing the swering affidavit, Munatsi on 14 July 2021 wrote
foreign company in Zimbabwe, said the Pomo- to council notifying them that cabinet had ap-
na deal was sanctioned following several engage- proved the proposed partnership between Harare
ments with ZIDA represented by Munatsi in line and Geogenix BV and that the council should
with the required processes, where foreign firms proceed and notify the partner.
are involved.

“Through the Zimbabwe Investment Develop-

NewsHawks News Page 9

Issue 82, 27 May 2022

We won't pay for the project: Mafume

MOSES MATENGA l Council expected to release US$22 000 a day

HARARE mayor Jacob Mafume says the city Harare mayor Jacob Mafume
council will not pay a cent to Geogenix BV, a Businessman Delish Nguwaya
company fronted in Zimbabwe by businessman
Delish Nguwaya, describing the agreement
signed by the local authority as the “mother of
all corruption” that has to be stopped imme-
diately.

Under the deal, Harare City Council is sup-
posed to pay Geogenix BV over US$22 000
a day for the first year and will suffer conse-
quences by way of heavy penalties if it fails to
fulfil its side of the bargain in a deal that has
been frowned upon by residents and stakehold-
ers who say it provides evidence of corruption
by government in cahoots with MDC-T coun-
cillors.

The transaction, under a deal titled Conces-
sion Agreement to Design, Build and Operate the
Harare Pomona Waste Management Facility and
Waste to Energy Power Plant, read in part: “On
financial matters, as from the commencement
date, City of Harare (COH) shall pay the fee
to the contractor which shall be equal to the
rate of US$40 (excluding applicable value-add-
ed tax) per each tonne of waste deposited by
COH at the site, operated by the contractor
from site's handover date. COH will pay the
fee to the contractor within 30 days from the
date of the invoice receipt by the contractor.”

In the first year, Harare is expected to deliv-
er 550 tonnes a day to Pomona dumpsite and
over 200 750 tonnes a year, which translates to
US$8 030 000 that will be paid to the Nether-
lands-based company.

“The contractor has based its business plan
and feasibility study on minimum guaranteed
waste quantities to be supplied by COH which
quantities throughout the term should be for
the first year not less than 550 tonnes a day
and in any case not less than 200 750 tonnes a
year,” the agreement reads in part.

“. . . For the second year not less than
650 tonnes a day (US$26 000) and in any
case not less than 237 250 tonnes a year
(US$9 490 000). For third year, 750 tonnes a
day and 273 750 tonnes a year.”

According to the contract, from the fifth
year to the end of the contract, council is ex-
pected to have 1 000 tonnes a day and not less
than 365 000 tonnes a year.

The contract was structured in a way that
will see the local authority, which is already
struggling with huge debt, paying heavily for
failure to pay or delays in payment.

“In case the COH delays in making the
payments 60 days from the date of submission
of their invoice from the contractor then the
contractor has the right, reckoned from lapse
of 60 days aforesaid, to extend the term of the
construction period for the same period of the
payment delay and also to stop providing ser-
vices to the COH,” the deal reads.

Invoices, the deal said, are supposed to be
issued within the last day of each month.

“In the event the fee has not been paid with-
in the periods specified in Article 22, the COH
shall be liable to pay to the contractor the late
payment interest calculated under the applica-
ble law, on the outstanding service fee amounts.
Such interest shall be due thirty (30) days after
the invoice becoming due and payable.”

But in all the drama, councillors linked to
the Citizens’ Coalition for Change (CCC) are
plotting to reverse the transaction, accusing
the MDC-T councillors of working in cahoots
with government officials led by Local Govern-
ment minister July Moyo to push for the deal
for self-aggrandisement.

“We will not pay even a cent,” Mafume told
The NewsHawks on Thursday.

“We have not paid anything as yet (and) we
urge every stakeholder to continue as normal,”
he added.

The matter is now being challenged before
the courts with Harare North member of Par-
liament Allan Markham, saying there was no
due process followed in coming up the deal
that will prejudice the local authority and res-
idents.

Page 10 News NewsHawks

Issue 82, 27 May 2022

Chiwenga-Indonesia arms deal jolts UK

MOSES MATENGA

THE United Kingdom has expressed concern Vice-President cluding trade, investment, and digital economy; equipment to improve the Zimbabwean mining
over reports that Zimbabwe’s Vice-President Constantino Defence and security including counter-terrorism industry.”
Constantino Chiwenga was shopping for ammu- Chiwenga and cyber; climate change, low carbon and sus-
nition in Indonesia, amid growing fears of a plan to elevate the UK-Indonesia partnership to new tainable development; research and innovation, PT Pindad is an Indonesian state-owned arms
to perpetuate human rights abuses by state securi- heights, both bilaterally as well as through vari- life sciences, health and education; and regional manufacturing company specialising in military
ty agents against civilians in Zimbabwe, especially ous multilateral settings including by supporting and multilateral interests.” hardware. It was founded in 1808 as a military
ahead of the 2023 general elections. Indonesia’s G20 Presidency in 2022 and its forth- equipment workshop in Surabaya under the
coming ASEAN chairmanship in 2023. During his visit, the Indonesian press report- name of Artillerie Constructie Winkel. It expand-
Chiwenga was last week in Jakarta, Indonesia, “The roadmap comprises a vision and action ed that the Zimbabwean Vice-President will be ed into a factory before moving to Bandung in
for a water conference, where he also held talks strategy for a forward-looking relationship bound offered weapons and arms to “modernise the 1923. The Dutch handed over the factory to the
with an arms manufacturing company to buy by a strategic partnership for mutual benefit and Zimbabwean military, as well as other heavy Indonesian government in 1950.
military hardware for Zimbabwe in a develop- respect for both countries and their people. It
ment that has sent shivers down the spine of the covers a wide range of areas of cooperation, in-
main opposition forces who fear the weapons are
being prioritised on the eve of general elections Labour member of
for a sinister motive. Parliament for West
Ham Lyn Brown
Indonesian state media news agency Antara re-
ported on the “secret” part of his itinerary, which
included a “visit (to) the state-owned weaponry
industry PT Pindad in Bandung to explore the
possibility of arms purchase.”

The former military chief’s visit has jolted the
UK, a close ally of the Asian country, with MPs
questioning the deal given Zimbabwe’s tainted
history on human rights violations mainly by
state security actors.

Chiwenga, who initiated a military coup that
toppled the late former president Robert Mugabe
in 2017, is also on record threatening to crush
the opposition Citizens' Coalition for Change
(CCC) like lice and his recent tour of an Indo-
nesian military firm has worsened the fears in the
country.

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 any in-
vestigations to hold those responsible to account
following the killings.

“To ask the secretary of State for Foreign,
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, (Eliz-
abeth Truss) what recent discussions she has had
with her Indonesian counterpart on the potential
impact of supplying arms to Zimbabwe on (a)
human rights and (b) democracy in that country,”
Brown asked in a written question.

In its response, the Foreign, Commonwealth
and Development Office said the UK continued
to be concerned with the human rights situation
in Zimbabwe.

“The Foreign secretary (Truss) last spoke with
the Indonesian Foreign minister in London on 19
April, where they together launched the UK-In-
donesia Partnership Roadmap 2022 to 2024.
Zimbabwe was not discussed,” the office said.

“The UK continues to be concerned about the
challenging human rights situation in Zimbabwe,
and our sanctions on Zimbabwe include an asset
freeze on Zimbabwe Defence Industries (ZDI)
and a longstanding arms embargo on exports
from the UK.”

London has placed Harare on sanctions and in
apparent reaction to the shootings of unarmed ci-
vilians in 2018 and 2019, the country placed for-
mer Presidential Guard chief, Anselem Sanyatwe,
now Zimbabwe’s ambassador to Tanzania, on its
sanctions list together with police commissioner
general Godwin Matanga and Central Intelli-
gence Organisation boss Isaac Moyo on its sanc-
tions list.

Indonesia and the United Kingdom have
strong diplomatic relations they have enjoyed
since 1949.

According to the UK government website,
London works well with Jakarta and internation-
al agencies to address global challenges including
human rights and democracy, regional security,
prosperity and climate change.

On 19 April, Truss and Indonesian Foreign
minister Retno L.P. Marsudi, met in London
where they re-affirmed their shared commitment

NewsHawks News Page 11

Issue 82, 27 May 2022

Mnangagwa’s Davos trip of shame

ZIMBABWE’S pariah state tag haunted Presi- President Emmerson Mnangagwa (right) with Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera (left) and other dignitaries at the Davos World Economic Forum in
dent Emmerson Mnangagwa’s recent visit to the Switzerland.
Davos World Economic Forum in Switzerland
with political analysts equating the journey to a shape partnerships and policies for the crucial The NewsHawks that Mnangagwa’s rhetoric on themselves to speak out.”
trip of shame. period ahead”, is held annually in Davos, Swit- unfulfilled reforms and promises of open de- “The international community has a chal-
zerland. mocracy and end to human rights abuses marred
Mnangagwa was one of the four African his Davos visit. lenge on believing what president Mnangagwa
heads of state who joined the political and busi- FIA castigated President Emmerson Mnan- says and the reality on the ground. So there is
ness elite in Davos for the 2022 annual meeting gagwa’s attendance of the summit, saying it does “Authoritarianism, capture of the judiciary need to close the gap between what is said by the
which ran until 26 May. not advance the interests of the country, but and repression of Zimbabwe’s democratic pro- Zimbabwean leader and what actually happens
“rather deepens inequalities through domestica- cesses makes it hard for President Mnangagwa on the ground,” Mukundu said.
The others were Malawian President Lazarus tion of the ideas and policy choices that further to have the world believe what he says at such
Chakwera, Namibian President Hage Geingob entrench poverty”. international meetings, be it at Davos or other The Davos forum placed focus on the ongo-
and Rwandan President Paul Kagame. meetings. What he says will be contrary to what ing conflict in Ukraine, but Mnangagwa was
The body requested that government disclose these groups then see happening in Zimbabwe not interested since Zimbabwe abstained from
This year’s theme was History at a Turning the size of its entourage to such meetings and in terms of the policies like the PVO Bill, which a United Nations vote to decide action on the
Point: Government Policies and Business Strategies justify the expenses drawn from taxpayers’ mon- is essentially a closure of the business space, be- aggressor, Russia.
and there were 200 sessions attended by more ey. cause we are saying the people must not organise
than 2 500 leaders and experts. Mnangagwa and Russian leader Vladimir Pu-
Rashweat Mukundu, a political analyst, told tin are allies. — STAFF WRITER.
It was the first in-person Davos meeting since
the Covid-19 broke out in December. President Emmerson Mnangagwa (with scarf ) meets Zanu PF supporters in Zurich, Switzerland.

Having attended the 2018 forum a few
months after romping to power through a mil-
itary coup, sources said Mnangagwa had a tor-
rid time this year to explain how he had largely
failed to implement reforms he promised then.

While there was international media fanfare
when he attended the 2018 forum with the
world keen to know how he would end the bad
governance and human rights trampling presid-
ed over by his predecessor, the late Robert Mug-
abe, this year’s event was a damp squib for the
Zimbabwean leader.

Political analyst Eldred Masunungure told
The NewsHawks that he was not surprised with
the isolation of Mnangagwa at the Davos meet-
ing.

“There are certain things that he promised to
do during his inaugural visit in 2018 which he
failed to implement for Zimbabwe to be a secure
investment destination. There has been a mis-
match between what he says and what he does.
This acted against him,” he said.

Masunungure added that the pariah state tag
of Zimbabwe, accentuated by United States and
European Union sanctions, haunted Mnangag-
wa.

“The pariah state tag for Zimbabwe is still
there and it could not be shrugged off by his vis-
it to Davos. The invitation on its own does not
mean much in projecting how the world views
Zimbabwe. There is more that Zimbabwe needs
to do to erase its past demeanours and he has
(Mnangagwa) failed to do that,” Masunungure
said.

After attending the 2018 Davos conference
where he projected himself as a reformer, Mnan-
gagwa went through a general election that was
contested by the main opposition.

In-between the legal contestation, several peo-
ple were killed, while others suffered gun-shot
wounds while demonstrating against delays of
presidential election results that the opposition
said it had won by over 60%. Defenceless citi-
zens were shot dead by the military.

Gladys Hlatywayo, the main opposition Cit-
izens’ Coalition for Change (CCC) secretary for
foreign affairs, told The NewsHawks that Zimba-
bwe’s isolation from the international communi-
ty will persist if key reforms remain frozen.

“The pariah state tag is not shrugged off by at-
tending international conferences and meetings
but real work on the ground. Real reforms are
needed in Zimbabwe and anything else is child’s
play,” she said, adding: “An authentic national
dialogue to discuss the reform agenda, includ-
ing electoral, political and economic reforms,
is needed urgently so that Zimbabwe can move
forward and can be taken seriously on the global
stage.”

“Without this, attending international con-
ferences and meetings is just meant to harvest
per diems at the expense of suffering citizens.”

Before Mnangagwa’s infamous Davos trip,
Fight Inequality Alliance (FIA), a network of
organisations that seek the fair distribution of
wealth, power, opportunities, social status, ac-
cess and control of resources in Zimbabwe,
raised concerns.

It said the country’s participation at the World
Economic Forum (WEF) was a waste of time
and resources.

The meeting, which the organisers market as
a platform that offers world leaders an opportu-
nity to “take stock of the state of the world and

Page 12 News NewsHawks

Issue 82, 27 May 2022

NHAU MANGIRAZI Chaos rocks Karoi Town Council

TWENTY-FIVE years after then Local Gov- l Five top managers suspended with benefits
ernment minister John Nkomo kicked out the
entire Karoi Town Council for poor manage- l Seven out of 10 councillors in the dock
ment, while describing them as a bunch of
jokers, the local authority has failed to shake stand 8676 to Ganizani Chimtokoma who is ent ministry and that payments to councillors Karoi Town Council
off the clownish behaviour tag, amid cha- Ward 2 councillor without going to tender. By should not exceed such sum as may be pre- council but self-enrichment. As council we
os and scandal that has seen seven out of 10 doing so, accused showed favour to Chimto- scribed. have failed to recruit better and skilled work-
councillors in the dock for corruption. koma and disfavour to other beneficiaries who ers due to arrogance among top managers who
could have participated in the tendering pro- “The resolution passed by the accused per- are at each other’s throat plotting to dislodge
Five top managers have also been suspended cess,’’ the state outline reads. sons was in violation of ministerial circular each other. Many of them were not recruited
and some arraigned before the courts, facing 12/20 and Treasury circular 13/20 which de- on merit, hence failure to work as a team,’’
various graft-related allegations that have seen On the fourth count, Mutikani allocated termine the amounts of allowances payable to said one councillor speaking on condition that
the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission a commercial stand to Champion Logistics, councillors,’’ the state outline charges read. he is not named.
(Zacc) officials probing allegations of abuse of where his son is director.
office, among a litany of other allegations. After passing the resolution, four of the He added that Mutikani delayed in flight-
‘‘Champion Logistics were not on waiting accused persons travelled to Harare for three ing advertisements for major vacant posts,
Nkomo then said the council was being run list as required and there was no tendering days on full board, getting ZW$101 541 each which has hampered progress in the town.
towards a wrong direction and while change process. instead of the government rate of ZW$24
was expected after a chaotic quarter of a cen- 750.00. ‘‘Mutikani kept saying resolutions were be-
tury, the local authority plunged into further “Ironically, Champions Logistics joined the ing acted upon, but there were no results. On
disorder last week after acting town secretary waiting list on 20 September 2021 after they The state further added that the actions of equipment purchases, he delayed everything
Tongai Namusala was dragged to court facing had been allocated the stand,’’ the state out- the accused persons were contrary and incon- and was sluggish and this has derailed coun-
abuse of office charges and allegedly victimis- line reads. sistent with their duties as public officers. cil operations. We are in a mess as a town,’’ a
ing housing director Sibongile Mujuriki. source added.
Mutikani was granted ZW$50 000 bail and ‘‘They showed favour to themselves by in-
Namusala is the town council’s substantive is still appearing for routine remand. creasing allowances payable to them without Matsika confirmed that the lack of heads of
finance director. approval from ministry of Local Government department has affected service delivery.
Five other Karoi councillors were charged and Public Works.”
Mujuriki was suspended on allegations of for abuse of office charges. ‘‘We are geared to see an end of poor ser-
fraud after she failed to return travel and sub- They were each granted ZW$2 000 bail. vice delivery in our town. Of late recycling of
sistence allowances advanced towards a work- They were arrested by the Zimbabwe An- Ward 2 councillor Ganizani Chimtokoma workers has also compromised services, that’s
shop in Kwekwe that was later postponed. ti-Corruption Commission under case num- (47) is facing criminal abuse of office under why councillors resolved that from now on
ber HRC 79/11/21. Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act. council will recruit personnel who are 35 years
Zacc officials have literally camped in Karoi It is the state case that Chimtokoma was and below to kick-start better workmanship,’’
investigating this and several other alleged cas- The five are Stewart Jena (59) who is council allocated a piece of land stand number 8393, Matsika said.
es of corruption and abuse of office. vice-chairperson and ward 3 councillor, Nich- Lake View at a 40% discount in 2016.
olas Murwira (55) ward 9, Rangirayi Hungwe ‘‘Accused person did not pay for the stand Karoi has had no town planner for almost
Zacc documents show Namusala is accused (48) ward 10, Thomas Mbiri (47) ward 5, and but went on to sell to Godknows Murambiwa 15 years.
of buying a commercial stand in 2010 without Kenston Kumponda (51) ward 8. for US$12 000. Murambiwa went on to pay
going to tender. US$4749 to council that he was supposed to Curse of death
The state, led by Pazvichaenda Valeri Mu- pay. Accused person acted contrary to his du- As fate would have it, town engineer Os-
He was arrested and granted ZW$50 000 nakira, alleges that the five acted in common ties as a public officer as he sold a stand that he well Mazvimbakupa succumbed to Covid-19
bail. purpose when they made a resolution on 4 should not have sold and made a profit while in June last year and his post is still yet to be
November 2021 to increase the travel and prejudicing Karoi Town Council,’’ the state filled. Another official, Abel Rwere, who was
While Namusala was being dragged to subsistence allowance by 100%. papers read. He was granted ZW$2 000 bail. the building inspector, passed on early this
court, acting housing director Admire Jimu According to some insiders, managers are year while human resources manager Gabri-
was also charged for allegedly giving false in- They also passed a resolution to increase one of Karoi’s major letdowns. el Zuva-Chirinhe died on the spot early this
formation. out-of-pocket allowances to US$40 remitted ‘‘Our own managers are not working as a month in a road accident.
at the interbank rate. team in Karoi. There is no zeal to work for Accountant Simba Shava is in hospital fol-
He was granted ZW$20 000 bail. The duo lowing the same accident.
join other senior managers, including town The state alleges that the resolution passed
secretary Wellington Mutikani, who was sus- was in violation of the Urban Councils Act
pended last year with full benefits over alleged [Chapter 29.15] that provides that payments
abuse of office charges when he bought mate- of allowances is subject to approval by the par-
rials for his Champion Lodge to repair a burst
Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa)
main pipe that was irregularly built under-
neath the lodge.

Mutikani faces four counts of criminal
abuse of office as a public officer as defined in
section 174 of the Criminal Law (Codification
and Reform) Act.

The first charge is when council failed to
notify Ultimate Land Developers as the win-
ners of the tender and for the company to sub-
mit bid bonds and price validity as a condition
stated in the minutes for developing Kubatana
residential stands.

In February 2017, council floated tender
number KTCENG/02/2017 for the servicing
of Kubatana residential stands in Karoi.

Four companies, namely Ultimate Land De-
velopers, Plan Infrastructure, Goodhope Land
Developers and Hellow Project, responded to
the tender and submitted their bids.

‘‘Accused person acted contrary to his du-
ties and awarded a tender to Goodhope that
came second in the selection process. Muti-
kani favoured Goodhope Land Developers,’’
the state alleges.

On the second charge, Mutikani is accused
of abusing his office when he was allocated
two commercial stands in Lake View Karoi.

Stands numbered 6268 and 6259 were al-
located to him without a council resolution.

The state outline reads: ‘‘According to lay-
out plan for Lake View low-density the in-fill
was instructional reserved for a crèche and
church.

After getting the stand accused went on to
dig a foundation with the intention of build-
ing a house against the approval of parent
ministry. According to Section 49 (3) (4) of
Regional Town and Country Planning Act
[Chapter 29.12], no person shall use any re-
served land for any other purposes other than
the purpose it was reserved for.’’

On the third charge, Mutikani allocated a
commercial stand without going to tender.

‘‘On 23 June 2020, Mutikani authorised
allocation of stand number 7880 Boundary
to Cleopas Gara. According to the approved
layout plan, it is a commercial stand that can
only be allocated through tender. Also on 20
May 2021 Mutikani authorised allocation of

NewsHawks News Page 13

Issue 82, 27 May 2022

How Karoi ‘standsgate’ scandal erupted

NHAU MANGIRAZI

THE scandal surrounding the Karoi Town Karoi Town Council housing director Sibongile Mujuruki
Council housing stands, currently hogging the
limelight, erupted soon after Auditor-Gener- must be answerable to anything under her pur- cused person is employed by Karoi town council questing the law enforcement agent to ensure
al Mildred Chiri's 2018 report came out, The view, worse still when she sold to the potential as Director of Housing and one of her respon- that the law takes its course.
NewsHawks can report. buyer to sell her sister stand and released a lease sibilities includes allocation of stands to those
and agreement of sale. ZAAC has been silent on eligible and ensuring that allocation, transfer, ‘‘We kindly request your good office to inves-
Chiri’s report exposed the shambolic work- the matter and their complicity is too loud for and disposal of stands is done in a transparent tigate the matter and arrest the accused at your
ings of the council housing department. any citizen to understand the bias,’’ Dube (45), manner and in a procedurally correct manner. earliest convenience. We further request that
said. you keep us updated on progress in the matter
‘‘The council housing department has no da- ‘‘In 2014 and in the course and scope of her as we have been instructed as watching brief.”
tabase of how many residential and commercial ‘‘All our challenges on the stands saga in duties, the accused signed an agreement of sale
stands the local authority has. This may breed Karoi are centred on Mujuruki, who has polar- on behalf of her sister Mercy Mujuruki who The case has not kicked off as well, raising
corruption and fuel double allocation and ille- ised council. Zacc must be professional as some was selling an underdeveloped stand known as suspicion that she is being protected.
gal sales of stands by some officials,’’ the report members who are interfering on Karoi town op- Stand 8254, Chiedza, which was leased from
noted. erations are fighting in her corner. As residents the complainant. Karoi Development Agenda (KDA), a coali-
we blame Zacc for the mess at council,’’ said tion of organisations fighting for social justice,
It made recommendations to have a housing Dube. ‘‘The accused person did not disclose this called for transparency in the handling of the
officer and a database as a matter of urgency. transaction to her Principal despite it being farming town’s matters.
Last year, Karoi Town Council lawyers clear that she had a personal interest in the mat-
But according to a dossier submitted by Karoi Mangwana and Associates represented council ter,’’ part of the letter in our possession reads. ‘‘Our concerns are that there must be equal-
Adhoc Residents Association led by Jabulani as it battled to nail Mujuruki over her abuse of ity as no one is above the law. Zacc must treat
Mike Dube and addressed to Zimbabwe Re- office charges involving the double allocation of It further added that by signing the agreement every citizen the same and must not protect an
public Police (ZRP) raising allegations against stands and missing leases. of sale, the accused aided her sister in arranging individual against the residents of Karoi. Town
suspected abuse of office by housing director the agreement between the complainant and operations are crippled because of their patri-
Sibongile Mujuruki, the case has not kicked off Non-disclosure charge Mercy Z Mujuruki yet the rules prohibited the cian attitudes in Karoi. There is lack of justice in
two years later. The law firm has been pushing for Mujuruki’s sale of underdeveloped stands. all stands saga and the truth will be out soon,’’
prosecution on “non-disclosure charges” after KDA said in a statement.
In a letter dated 9 December 2019, titled she allegedly sold two stands on behalf of her ‘‘The complainant (Karoi Town Council)
Allegations Against Director of Housing Towards sister and daughter. therefore firmly believes that as a public offi- Mujuruki was suspended in 2019 and when
Stand Number 8254 Chiedza Infill Lease, Dube Mangwana and Associates lawyers wrote a cer, the accused engaged in the conduct that she came back she was forced to go on forced
wrote on behalf of the residents’ association rais- letter on 12 July 2021 to ZRP officer-in-charge is contrary to or inconsistent with the duty as leave for three months from 12 August till 15
ing a case of suspected abuse of office by Mu- Karoi referenced Complaint Against Sibongile contemplated by Section 174 (1) (a) of Crimi- December last year.
juruki. H.A. Mujuruki-Director of Housing, Karoi nal Law and Codification Reform Act Chapter
Town Council. 9.23. It is on the basis of the above facts that Ten months after council lawyers wrote to
“I, Jabulani Mike Dube as chairperson of Ad- ‘‘We are under instructions to lodge a crimi- we are instructed that we are instructed to lodge the police, the case is yet to go to court.
hoc Karoi Residents Association am writing on nal complainant against Sibongile H.A. Muju- this complainant to as we do hereby as there is
behalf of our members so that we get facts as ruki as we do hereby of the following. The ac- reasonable belief of commission of criminal of- Of late, several councilors and senior officers
stated below. fence,’’ reads the letter dated 12 July 2021. have been dragged to court over the stands saga.

‘‘We want to know who filled and signed the The lawyers conclude in their letter by re- Last year, some lease agreements were de-
LEASE for stand number 8254 Chiedza Infill? stroyed, raising suspicion of criminal activities
Secondly, we want to know from the owner of in the housing department, one of council’s cash
the stand as there is a fake signature and we cows.
want the real owner Mercy Z Mujuruki to sign
her lease agreement in person.

“The housing director as a council employ-
ee signed the lease on behalf of her sister called
Mercy Z Mujuruki. We want to know her in-
tentions and interests towards the stand number
8254 Chiedza Infill. As a matter of fact the use
of council employees who are her juniors as wit-
nesses for the lease. These are James Nyamasoka
and Hama Mwanandima on the agreement of
sale. We want clarity and investigation on lease
papers for stand number 8254 Chiedza Infill,’’
reads the document in our possession.

The letter was copied to the Officer Com-
manding Hurungwe police, Officer Command-
ing Mashonaland West and Zimbabwe An-
ti-Corruption Commission (Zacc).

Dube was among witnesses subpoenaed
through Karoi Criminal Investigations Depart-
ment (CID) on a case of criminal abuse of office
against Sibongile Mujuruki in 2020.

The case was under CID Karoi Urban CR
number 73/1219, CRB Number 20 and P.P Ref
350/20.

Addressed to the Member-in-Charge, the
subpoena reads.

“ZRP CID Karoi, you are requested to sum-
mon Jabulani Mike Dube of Stand number 5,
Chikangwe, Karoi, James Nyamasoka of num-
ber 667 Claudia, Karoi, Hama Mwanandimai
of stand 8153, Chikangwe, Karoi, Gilbert Mag-
wedere of House number 3975 Chiedza Karoi.
That they and each of them appear personally
before this court in (room) number AB on 13
March 2020 at 08.00 hours in the fore-room to
testify and declare all he/she they each of them
know concerning a certain charge preferred
against Sibongile Mujuruki for Criminal Abuse
of Office of Duty as a Public Officer as Defined
in Section 174 of the Criminal Law Codifica-
tion and Reform Act Chapter 9.23.

“And that he/she they or each of them pro-
duce before the court. Serve each of them the
said witness as a copy of the subpoena and re-
turn to this court on that day what you have
done herein.”

Dube confirmed that it was the last time they
heard of the case as nothing has come out since
then.

“As concerned residents we raised our case
with authorities and prosecution never advised.
The case has suffered a natural death as others
that are coming before the Karoi Town Council
stands saga are being fast tracked yet Mujuruki

Page 14 News NewsHawks

Issue 82, 27 May 2022

MOSES MATENGA No appetite to probe state security
agents over injustices, says report
THE Zimbabwean government has failed to ini-
tiate investigations into several cases of human said during 2021, hundreds of thousands of resi- “The water crisis has affected Harare residents’ row wells — are often contaminated. However,
rights abuse, particularly involving state security dents of Harare, including nearby municipalities rights to water and sanitation as well as other re- despite the known risk of contaminated water,
agents, while there has been no accountability on of Chitungwiza and Epworth, continued to face lated rights, including the rights to life, food, and there is no specific official information on which
several cases of injustices, a 2022 Human Rights a potable water shortage three years after a deadly health. Many common water sources, namely water sources are safe, leaving residents to take
Watch report has said. cholera outbreak. shallow wells, taps, and boreholes — deep, nar- their chances.”

Zimbabwe has been accused of human rights
violations, including the August 2018 and Janu-
ary 2019 shootings, as well as arbitrary arrests of
opposition activists. Despite recommendations
for a probe and to hold the culprits to account,
the government has failed to show appetite in ad-
dressing the issue.

The human rights group’s report for 2022 was
dedicated to Dewa Mavhinga, the organisation’s
southern Africa director who died in December
aged 42.

“The administration of President Emmerson
Mnangagwa failed to take meaningful steps to
uphold human rights and ensure justice for seri-
ous abuses primarily committed by security forc-
es in 2021,” the report reads.

“There has been no accountability for abuses
by security forces, including the August 2018
post-election violence, and killings and rape
during the January 2019 protests. Abductions,
torture, arbitrary arrests, and other abuses against
opposition politicians and activists have not been
meaningfully investigated.”

The report said the government was yet to
establish an independent complaint mechanism
as provided for in the country’s constitution to
receive and investigate public complaints against
the security services.

Other human rights concerns, the report said,
were a severe water and sanitation crisis, includ-
ing during the Covid-19 pandemic, forced evic-
tions, and child marriages.

Zimbabwe has been placed on sanctions by
the United States, United Kingdom and Euro-
pean Union for serious human rights violations
mainly by members of the security forces, cor-
ruption by the ruling elite and failure to ensure
justice for past abuses.

“During 2021, authorities did not take con-
crete steps to ensure justice and accountability
for serious abuses, most of which were commit-
ted by the security forces. President Mnangagwa
appointed the (former South African President
Kgalema) Motlanthe Commission of Inquiry to
investigate the August 2018 post-election vio-
lence, which found that six people had died and
35 others were injured because of actions by state
security forces.”

“Yet, three years later, the authorities have not
implemented the commission’s recommenda-
tions, including to hold to account members of
the security forces responsible for abuses and for
compensating the families of those killed or who
lost property.”

The report added there was no attempt to in-
vestigate and prosecute other serious violations
that the state security forces were accused of
committing including violent attacks, abduc-
tions, torture, and other abuses against members
of the political opposition and civil society activ-
ists. Human Rights Watch investigations found
that security forces used excessive and lethal force
to crush nationwide protests in January 2019
with local groups adding that live ammunition
was used in killing 17 people while uniformed
soldiers raped at least 17 women during and after
the protests.

“No security personnel have been arrested or
prosecuted.”

“Unresolved cases in which there has been
no accountability include the abduction and
torture of rural teachers’ union president Obert
Masaraure, comedian Samantha Kureya (known
as 'Gonyeti'), activist Tatenda Mombeyarara,
and students Tawanda Muchehiwa and Takudz-
wa Ngadziore,” the report reads.

“In May 2020, three Movement for Dem-
ocratic Change (MDC) Alliance politicians,
Cecilia Chimbiri, Netsai Marova, and Member
of Parliament Joana Mamombe, were abducted
from police custody by suspected state agents for
taking part in a protest in Harare. They were as-
saulted and sexually abused by their abductors,
then dumped in Bindura, 80 kilometres from
Harare. While receiving treatment for their inju-
ries, the trio were re-arrested at the hospital and
charged with making false reports about their
abduction. At time of writing their trial was on-
going.”

On right to water and sanitation, the report

NewsHawks News Page 15

Issue 82, 27 May 2022

50th anniversary of Hwange disaster
— Recollection of horror explosion

JOHN KELLY

IT was a normal chilly winter’s morning at 6am Taking a much needed break at Wankie Safari Lodge close by the wildlife park after four dramatic days of reporting the disaster. From left: Howard Vaughan,
on 6 June 1972, when 427 miners boarded their Anglo American public relations consultant, alongside journalists Chris Reynolds and John Kelley.
transport vehicles and lifts to take them deep
down into the five kilometres of tunnel shafts at bands, sons and brothers. But there was abso- Zimbabwe during 2019, a bad year, there were parent that their hopes were slim, if not at zero.
the Wankie (now Hwange) Mine No. 2 Colliery, lutely nothing they could do and they were kept almost 100 deaths, including five at Esigodini, Before long, they became aware of the great
known as the Kamandama, in the north-west of well away from the mine entrance by officials 30 at Bindura, 13 near Mutare and among many
Zimbabwe, then known as Rhodesia. and police. Before long came the sense that ev- casual and artisanal miners unrecorded. danger they were putting themselves into, either
ery miner had been killed, though many would by roof rock falls or even further explosions.
More than 40 absentee miners had stayed be- never believe that. Many “proto” (rescue) teams began to arrive There were, in fact, three more. They neverthe-
hind, either through being sick or on holiday. at Hwange from neighbouring and other coun- less managed to get down 200 metres or so, but
Those unfortunate miners were a cosmopoli- tries. Most were accommodated at the hilltop that was all. And they were now undoubtedly in
Some had swapped their holiday dates with tan team. There were 176 Zimbabweans, others Baobab Hotel, outstandingly run by the coun- very dangerous territory.
colleagues, which turned out to be a big stroke from Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania, South try’s only woman manager, Queenie Slade. They
of bad luck for some and good for others — a Africans, as well as Namibians, from Caprivi immediately set about trying to rescue the vic- During this period a newspaper report stated
saving of life, or a condemnation to death. There Strip and a Botswana national. tims, hoping without much optimism, to bring that bodies were being brought out. This reckless
were to be many such stories emerging later. out survivors. false story prompted a great rush of local people
Nearly all of them were between 20 and 35 anxious to get identifications and to desperately
As these unfortunate shift workers boarded years old and had left behind a large number of The first of these teams were local men and hope against all odds they would soon be given
their vehicles and lifts that day, they had no idea widows and young children, many of these to very soon the next team arrived from Zambia. further and better news. Chaos resulted as they
of the fate that awaited them. become destitute in the long period of confusion They had said: “bugger sanctions and politics, demanded further information. In fact, three
that followed. these do not matter a jot compared to this. bodies were eventually located and removed.
Just after 10:30am, around halfway through Those men down there are our fellow brethren”. But that was all.
that early shift, office workers and others on the It was the fifth-worst mining explosion in the
surface felt a strong earth tremble underfoot. long international history of coal and other min- They had crossed the border in great haste Enter into this mayhem myself as news editor
They thought there had been a minor earth- eral extraction enterprises worldwide in terms of with President Kenneth Kaunda’s instant per- designate of The Rhodesia Herald, Chris Reyn-
quake, something occasionally experienced at fatalities. mission despite international sanctions. olds, news editor of The Sunday Mail and pho-
the mine and surrounding area through the tographer Johnny Woodruff, sent hurriedly to
years. The worst recorded was at Benhixhu, China, For three days, the many following rescue Hwange with the objective of carrying through
in 1942 that claimed 1 300 lives. At Couriers in teams joined the attempt, working in relays and proper and responsible journalism, as well as
But it soon became horribly clear that instead Northern Transvaal, 1906, a naked flame lamp at considerable risk to themselves while trying repair the errant newspaper’s failing. Commen-
of a minor earthquake, a massive explosion of ignited methane gas with devastating result and to penetrate the jumble of smashed machinery, dations and invitations to return at any time
methane gas had ripped through the shafts, a recorded 1 009 miners were killed. And around bodies, boulders and coal. It quickly became ap-
instantly killing every single one of those min-
ers and throwing the entire mining equipment
throughout the many shafts, including vehicles
and steel girders, rocks and coal into a vast en-
tanglement of bodies.

The immediate evidence of a disaster rapidly
became clear to those above. A huge pall of black
smoke spreading across the town and the coun-
tryside, spewing out in an ugly cloud from the
entrance to No.2 Colliery.

A further indication of the explosion’s im-
mensity was a wrecked cable car which had been
catapulted more than 50 metres from the mine
entrance into some trees.

The story of Hwange mine goes back to 1893
when a tribesman reported finding “stones that
burn”.

This was followed up by a young German
prospector, Albert Giese, who discovered that
coal was to be found in great quantities buried
deeply, as well as near the surface through a con-
siderable area not far from the Zambezi River.

Ultimately, in 1902 after sole mineral rights
were claimed by the British South Africa
Company and approved by the government,
6 600 000 tonnes a year were being extracted by
4 400 employees.

“Stones” brought out were soon feeding the
country’s industrial heating, farms and homes,
with a high proportion left over for export earn-
ings.

During the next 70 years there had been rela-
tively few accidents and fatalities recorded. With
its first-class ventilation system and careful safety
measures, the mine created a good reputation,
but always there was the underlying awareness
that mining was a dangerous occupation.

The miners knew all about the ever-present
long-term dangers of breathing coal dust, which
caused the pneumoconiosis that shortened
many lives.

It was also a generally unpleasant work rou-
tine to undertake every day down below. But
beneficially the miners had established a strong
community spirit in a supporting town, with
shops, schools, clinics and sports facilities.

In a split second, however, all that had been
ripped asunder as shown by that billowing
smoke pall.

At this first evidence of a dreadful disaster,
people came running to discover the worst and
were horrified at what they saw and had some
idea of what had happened below.

There was a stunned silence among a large
and growing crowd as the dread of what had
happened took hold.

People then ran in shock from everywhere
because down there were all those fathers, hus-

Page 16 News NewsHawks

Issue 82, 27 May 2022

were later sent to the editors of both papers. The known. Women, especially, were beside them- massive piece of machinery. of the dead were left destitute or in dire circum-
mine sent for 250 extra Herald newspapers for selves with renewed grief, shouting “No, no, This considerably reduced staffing require- stances for a long time.
distribution. you must try again.”
ments and also production levels. The future of Right up to 2020 and no doubt beyond, more
We were flown to Hwange in a tiny airplane Police were increased at the colliery entrance the town was put into question. Increased un- than 20 now elderly widows attend annually, by
piloted by a woman, Gay Russell. She had to re- for extra security, as this reaction was anticipat- employment levels had to be dealt with. Some invitation, an informal ceremony at the mine.
turn from the runway to the airport building so ed. newspaper assessments thought that the town A great many donations were made through the
as to retrieve her forgotten handbag which had might go into terminal decline. years. Britain’s parliament decided on a small
been left behind. It was the only bit of humour The focus now came down to a funeral and grant of £25 000, thus bypassing sanctions.
for a long time to come. memorial service combined. It was attended by After a massive investigation was instigat-
at least 5 000 people who came from up to 100 ed, a 109-page report of about 60 000 words The British National Coal Board was quick to
After two days of reporting, we were in the kilometres away. Some had even walked through was submitted months later to President Clif- send out an expert to carry through a review of
crowded bar of the Baobab Hotel the next the preceding night. It was a most moving cere- ford Dupont. The additional report by Living- the disaster. He told me in an interview follow-
evening when Reynolds noted that Howard mony, marked by the dignity of the great crowd stone-Blevins of 42 pages was more readable ing his inspections that the mine did not have
Vaughan, the Anglo-American Corporation as they conducted their traditional rites. and more clearly understood but neither report what is called “stone dusting”.
public relations consultant, was not present. indicated the precise reason for the methane gas
Politicians, church leaders of all denomina- explosions, nor did they make recommenda- This means the establishment of large piles
Journalists from newspapers worldwide had tions, mine management, traditional chiefs and tions. of crushed granite positioned at frequent inter-
no inkling. And so we quietly discussed his ab- headmen, as well as people from various com- vals on shelving just under the roofing of shafts,
sence and notified Woodruff. Vaughan could munities and miners built up into the huge But Livingstone-Blevins did record, however, designed to slow down any explosion. This is
only be down at the mine offices, we conclud- crowd. that Hwange was not a “fiery” mine in terms of a common precaution at many mines globally.
ed, which meant something of significance the mining regulations. Presumably he felt that Noting its absence at Hwange, he commented:
was being decided, probably at a meeting of The bereaved families, and also the miners the long-term safety record of the mine justified “If I had come here earlier, because of that fail-
all management and proto leaders. And so we who were not on that fateful shift plus hun- this observation, although at the time it seemed ing, I would have ordered the mine’s closure.”
crept away from all the other journalists, using dreds of children, stood in stunned silence, the contradictory in the circumstances.
Queenie’s borrowed car, thereby discovering younger ones confused about what was going After 50 years the memory of the disaster has
them in discussion under manager Gordon Liv- on. The service was conducted by various reli- He also referred to two recently new section slipped into history. But for a great many elderly
ingstone-Blevins. gious leaders, including primarily by a Method- workings in No.3 colliery known as HE2 and miners, widows and the extended families of the
ist minister, the Reverend Bill Blakeway, who HE3. But these were said to have unstable roofs men who lost their lives on that fateful day it
Vaughan spotted us peering through a win- had been a prominent figure among distraught and production was considered too low. So they remains a vivid memory.
dow and came out to divulge that the decision families in the disaster’s immediate aftermath. were ordered to have their entrance points per- l Author and journalist John Kelley em-
had just been made to permanently seal off the manently sealed with explosion-proof stoppage igrated from England to Rhodesia, now
mine as being too dangerous for any further res- The next Monday a large number of min- material. Zimbabwe, in the early 1960s, working for
cue attempts, thus leaving all the dead miners ers went back to work down Number Three national newspapers and magazines. Later
entombed down below. He said he intended to shaft, even though they were highly sensitive to However, this was never carried out and Liv- on he became a correspondent for major in-
circulate a Press release an hour or so after the thoughts of danger. ingstone-Blevins reported “and I don’t know ternational news agencies and newspapers in
meeting ended, when it had been drafted and why”. This seemed to reveal his suspicions that addition to publishing and public relations.
approved. They were well aware of its signifi- There was an incredible 85% turnout, which here might lie the root cause of the explosion. He also broadcasted for Canadian national
cance. showed their great courage and dedication and But only a suspicion. radio, Swedish Broadcasting and the Ameri-
was seen as a tribute to departed colleagues. can Broadcasting Company. After living and
And so Reynolds and I had an exclusive story Reynolds, Woodruff and I also went down with A fiery mine is a term used by the govern- working in Zimbabwe for nearly half a cen-
well ahead of all our rivals. When other jour- Livingstone-Blevins and mine captains and I ment’s principal secretary of Mines. It defines tury, Kelley now lives with his wife Barbara
nalists eventually rushed for telephones after had the dubious honour of setting off the first “a gassy mine where gas ignitions and outbursts at Southsea near Portsmouth, England, still
receiving Vaughan’s Press release, we had already controlled explosions. have occurred in the past and from which there playing golf at the age of 91 and writing oc-
filed. is caused a danger”. casionally for The NewsHawks.
There were also more important decisions to
There was more pandemonium among the be made. The primary one was to abandon deep There was a great deal of confusion about
populace as the decision became generally shaft mining at Hwange altogether and concen- Hwange’s obligations and responsibilities to
trate exclusively on surface dragging with one workers following the disaster and many wives

NewsHawks News Page 17

Issue 82, 27 May 2022

Firewood is hot business for Nobuhle Mpala, a wood trader in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. — Picture: Busani Bafana

BUSANI BAFANA Zim’s afforestation drive slows
down land degradation, poverty
BULAWAYO resident Nobuhle Mpala deso-
lately sits on a chair with huge firewood logs, of people in Zimbabwe. Fuel wood is mostly worries that wood poachers who cut trees have Monkey Bread tree was designated as the 2021
old tyres, buckets and pots shabbily strewn on obtained from logs, twigs and branches of trees given people like her who make a living from Tree of the Year by the Forestry Commission
her doorstep in Makokoba, the city’s oldest that have dried and fallen down. forests a bad name in a country where defor- and was planted during the annual tree plant-
suburb, selling dry teak logs. estation is a huge environmental challenge. ing day which Zimbabwe has observed since
However, many people often cut trees for 1980.
She looks anxious as her eyes dart around firewood or fuel wood. Firewood is more com- “The illegal cutting of trees is bad for the en-
penetrating the crowded and gloomy surround- mon in the rural areas where people do not vironment and makes my business look bad be- Preserving forests and planting new trees
ings enveloped in destitution and desperation have access to any other source of energy, but it cause there are many people who sell firewood helps in protecting landscapes from the impact
for the next customer in the poverty-stricken is also now common in urban areas where the obtained illegally,” Mpala told The NewsHawks, of climate change witnessed through increased
township. public faces shortages of electricity or have no in an interview outside her home yard that is a droughts, floods and high temperatures, ac-
access at all. makeshift firewood stall. cording to scientists.
Her next meal depends on how much fire-
wood she sells on the day. Her bills are also Selling firewood brings food on the table for “We have to stop the illegal cutting down of Trees are a storehouse of carbon dioxide — a
paid from that erratic business, which is a dou- Mpala, but at what cost? trees, not that I want people to come and buy greenhouse gas emitted through human activi-
ble-edged sword. It sustains livelihoods, yet from my business only, but because it is not ties — which is responsible for global warming
also destroys them in the long run by fueling Environmental problems flowing from de- good for the environment and for our liveli- and a driver of climate change.
environmental damage, hunger and poverty forestation add more to the miseries of poor hoods. We depend on the environment for fire-
unless, of course, sustainable methods of re- people. They cause more suffering as the dam- wood and food, so there has got to be a balance Planting trees, securing the
newable energy are adopted. age they cause heighten the impact of floods for sustainability.” land and livelihoods
and other environmental catastrophes. Soil
While Mpala is not interested in those eso- erosion, land degradation and deforestation Mpala suggests cutting down trees recklessly Each year the Forestry Commission leads an
teric debates, her actions have devastating con- lead to a decline in food production along with contributes to environmental damage and cli- afforestation programme with a target of plant-
sequences on the environment except that she a shortage of wood for fuel. mate change, problems Zimbabweans are in- ing 15 million trees. It includes promoting
has a different model. creasingly now aware of this. agroforestry practices and establishing fruit tree
In short, the worst consequences of envi- orchards to ensure food and nutrition security
Mpala (50) sells firewood on the doorstep of ronmental deterioration, whether they be eco- Her knowledge of these issues is not far- at household level.
her three-roomed house. The split logs are lined nomical, social, or related to mental or physical fetched and cannot be doubted as she is a
in bundles of four, each costs US$1 (ZW$400). wellbeing, are experienced by poor and vulner- member of the Bulawayo Wood Traders Asso- “The urgency to promote tree planting is
On a good day, Mpala makes US$20 — a big able people like Mpala. ciation, a formal body formed to protect the greater now than ever before because we are
haul for her. interests of firewood sellers. The association has fighting climate change,” says Violet Makoto,
Yet Mpala is a whole different animal. taken part in activities to protect the environ- spokesperson for the Forest Commission.
For Mpala, selling firewood is fast business While her firewood business thrive 9 the ment, including annual national tree planting
she runs with her 74-year-old mother who devastation of forests, she has a different mod- programmes. Zimbabwe is losing 262 000 hectares of for-
started it in 1988. Monthly, Mpala says she el. She sources and sells firewood from legally ests annually because of deforestation driven
sells at least three tonnes of firewood. harvested dead logs through the national forest In December 2021, the association planted by rising demand for wood fuel, agriculture
agency, the Forestry Commission. 20 indigenous Monkey Bread trees (Piliostig- expansion and road construction. Forests cover
While some passersby see a problem, denot- She is also a licenced firewood trader, but ma thonningii/ihabahaba/mutukutu). The 45% of Zimbabwe’s total land area.
ing cutting down trees, hence deforestation,
erosion and environment degradation, as well
as climate change consequences, for her this is
not about felling trees, it is about survival.

Where others see a problem, she sees an op-
portunity.

Firewood is an energy source for a number

Page 18 News NewsHawks

Issue 82, 27 May 2022

“The national tree planting campaign is help- dation, and drought. tality Industry. Under the country’s national drought plan,
ing to restore what we lose every year in terms “Now is the time for action,” said Ibrahim Matondi, who headed’s Zimbabwe delega- Zimbabwe has targeted to plant local and ex-
of the rate of deforestation,” Makoto says. otic tree species on over six million hectares
Thiaw, UNCCD executive secretary, adding: tion at the UNCCD COP15, said Zimbabwe of forest converted to shrubs and on 215 050
She adds that the tree planting exercise was “There is no future for our children or the plan- expected the conference to increase capacity hectares of forest converted to crops to meet
a primary response to deforestation, but wood- et if we continue with ‘business as usual’ when building and funding support by the its LDN goals by 2030. Further, the country
land management practices were also pro- it comes to managing our land...The decisions is seeking to rehabilitate 2 820 hectares of land
moted for communities to benefit from forest countries take at COP15 must be transforma- Global Mechanism, the Global Environment which are showing early signs of decline and
products and indigenous forests. tional, not incremental, to achieve land resto- Facility and other financing institutions to im- have declined in productivity.
ration and drought resilience the world longs plement bankable land degradation neutrality
As of January 2022, more than 18 million for.” (LDN) focused projects and programmes. Matondi told The NewsHawks Zimbabwe —
trees have been planted in communal areas and with funding from the US$10 million Global
on commercial timber lands, according to Ma- COP15 took place in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivo- LDN refers to a state where the amount and Environment Facility — was implementing a
koto, an improvement from last year’s 16 mil- ire, from 9 to 20 May. Its theme, Land. Life. quality of land resources necessary to support sustainable forest and land management proj-
lion trees planted against a target of 25 million Legacy: From scarcity to prosperity, was a call ecosystems to enhance food security remains ect to meet the country’s land restoration com-
trees. to action to ensure land, the lifeline on this stable or increase within a specific time. mitments.
planet, continues to benefit present and future
Demand for fuel destroys forests near vil- generations. He anticipated Zimbabwe would enhance The project is targeted at Save and Runde
lages and towns in many countries, including its engagement efforts with civil society or- catchments covering Manicaland, Masvingo
Zimbabwe. Loss of trees leads to environmen- COP15 brought together leaders from gov- ganisations and the private sector to catalyse and Midlands provinces. It will result in the
tal degradation and increased erosion. Where ernments, the private sector, civil society and programme implementation and significantly restoration of 2 150 hectares of land in forests
dried dung is used instead of firewood, soil fer- other key stakeholders from around the world contribute to the country’s achievement of the and mixed land-use areas and 172 540 hectares
tility is lost and harvests are reduced. to drive progress in the future sustainable man- LDN targets. of landscape under improved practices.
agement of one of our most precious commod-
The other major threat to forests is “coloni- ities: land. Zimbabwe developed voluntary LDN tar- The project will indirectly benefit 15 000
sation”: Cutting down faster than they can re- gets in 2017 focusing on improved land cov- people, more than half of them women.
generate, with valuable wood burnt on the spot UNCCD has warned that up to 40% of all er, land productivity and soil organic carbon
or left to rot. Other enemies of the forests are ice-free land is already degraded, with dire con- on 30% of the country’s land area. The targets “The major project components of the proj-
cattle ranching and logging (only species such sequences for climate, biodiversity and liveli- have been translated into programmes which ect are the creation of an enabling environment
as mahogany are extracted, but at the cost of hoods. Without swift action, 16 million square focus on interlinked interventions such as tree for the execution of land restoration initiatives
widespread devastation), prime examples of ex- kilometres (almost the size of South America) planting, soil erosion control, and conservation through environmental planning, training
port pressure on resources. of land will be degraded by 2050. agriculture, and agroforestry. and awareness,” says Matondi, adding that the
project will include sustainable land and for-
Clearing forest for agricultural use, road The conference focused on the restoration The Forestry Commission encourages farm- est management interventions and community
construction and settlements as well as massive of one billion hectares of degraded land be- ers to plant forest and fruit trees that will pro- livelihood projects.
dependence of urban and rural communities tween now and 2030, future-proofing land use vide economic and food benefits and discour-
on fuel wood for cooking and tobacco curing against the impacts of climate change issues age deforestation. An accelerated land restoration programme
are the leading drivers of land degradation in and tackling escalating droughts - some of the will be implemented to enhance economic re-
the country. key challenges facing Zimbabwe. In the semi-arid Matabeleland region, the silience, food security, biodiversity replenish-
Forestry Commission has provided fast grow- ment and increasing land cover, thus mitigat-
Although Zimbabwe ratified the United Na- “The government has intensified actions ing exotic trees like Acacia which are important ing against climate change and creating green
tions Convention to Combat Desertification towards environmental rehabilitation and in- in protecting the soil from erosion, while pro- jobs, he says.
(UNCCD) in 1997, deforestation and its ram- vesting in land, water, energy to realise pros- viding firewood and fodder. l This story was produced for The News-
ifications remain a huge problem. perity for all and in the spirit of leaving ‘no one Hawks as part of a virtual reporting fellow-
behind’,” says Professor Prosper Matondi, na- Currently, it is undertaking field trials on ship to the UNCCD COP15 supported by
Zimbabwe participated at the recent UNC- tional coordinator and chief director of Envi- promoting Chir Pine trees (Pinus roxburghii) Internews’ Earth Journalism Network.
CD 15th Conference of Parties (COP15) Abi- ronment and Climate Services in the ministry which are commercially valuable for timber in
djan, Côte d’Ivoire at which global leaders met of Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospi- the dry region.
to find solutions to desertification, land degra-
Dealing with drought situations

The Forest Commission is doing a field trial to introduce Pine trees Pine trees (Pinus roxburghii), which are good for timber and soil protection, in Matabeleland region. — Picture: Busani Bafana

NewsHawks News Page 19

Issue 82, 27 May 2022

Masvingo raw sewage kills aquatic life

Masvingo City Council

MORRIS BISHI

THE Environmental Management Agency Ema is accusing Masvingo City Council of discharging raw sewage into rivers.
(Ema) has given Masvingo City Council an ul-
timatum to repair its reticulation system after low. Ema gave the city council up to Friday 27 statement released by Town Clerk Edward Mu- rights set out in section 73 of the constitution of
untreated sewage was discharged into Shagashe May to repair the Rujeko Pump Station and karatirwa read. Zimbabwe. What is most disturbing is the fact
and Mucheke rivers, killing fish and other aquat- curb the direct discharge of raw sewage into the that the death of aquatic animals coincided with
ic life last weekend. environment. “We have attended to the sewer blockages and World Biodiversity Day which was commemo-
we also routinely monitor trunk sewer lines. Af- rated on 22 May 2022,” Nyamukondiwa said.
The environmental agency carried out investi- In a notice, Masvingo City Council acknowl- ter the incidents we collected and sent samples
gative inspections to establish the possible causes edged the raw effluent, attributing it to blocked to a reputable laboratory in Harare for tests. We EnviroPress director Moses Ziyambi said
of the loss of acquatic life in Shagashe River. sewer main lines in Mucheke A and Rujeko B as are therefore awaiting the results from the lab- council started discharging raw sewerage into
a result of vandalism. Council cited the break- oratory inorder for us to ascertain whether the the two rivers many months ago and an inde-
In a report released to The NewsHawks, Ema down of Rujeko Pump Station as another cause alleged death of fish was caused by the raw sew- pendent and credible laboratory must investi-
says discharge of the raw sewage caused the death of the discharge and promised to rectify the issue er discharge or other chemicals that might have gate the issue with urgency.
of the fish. The investigation also found that Ru- by 26 May. been deposited in the water bodies.”
jeko Pump Station, which treats raw sewerage, “We doubt it’s ordinary raw sewage that killed
was not functional. “Council acknowledges the recent discharge Flora and Fauna Zimbabwe director Fidelicy the fish. As far as we know, Masvingo has al-
of raw sewer into Mucheke and Shagashe rivers Nyamukondiwa said the discharge of raw sew- ways released untreated sewage into Shagashe
Shagashe and Mucheke rivers feed into Lake due to blocked sewer main lines in Mucheke age into the two rivers is a health hazard and a and Mucheke rivers. The Rujeko Sewage Pump
Mutirikwi, the sole source of water for the city A and Rujeko B as a result of vandalism. Big violation of environmental rights set out in the Station has not worked for over a year now and
of Masvingo. The pollution heightens the health boulders were deposited in mainholes there- country’s constitution. all the sewage that gets there is released raw into
risks for residents and acquatic life. by choking sewer lines. Another source of dis- Shagashe. There is therefore good reason to be-
charge was Rujeko Pump Station where we ex- “The discharge of raw sewage into Mucheke lieve that there was something unusual that hap-
“Ema has noted with concern the direct dis- perienced pump breakdown. Our engineers are and Shagashe rivers leading to the death of fish pened. It needs to be investigated by indepen-
charge of untreated raw sewage into the envi- working flat out to repair the Pump Station,” the and many other aquatic animals is both a health dent and credible laboratories,” Ziyambi said.
ronment, especially into Mucheke and Shagashe hazard and a blatant violation of environmental
rivers. The agency carried out investigation in-
spections to establish the possible causes of loss
of life in Shagashe River which was observed on
the weekend of 21-22 May 2022. First it was
noticed that there was raw sewage effluent that
was draining directly into Mucheke River close
to Craft Centre. However, upon further analy-
sis and inspections it was observed that Rujeko
Pump Station was not functional. The BNRP
treatment plant was not working whilst the
functional 7.5 megalitre convectional plant was
discharging effluent directly in a stream leading
to Shagashe River, exposing the river to raw sew-
age waste,” the report reads.

“From the tests carried by the agency on 10
specifications from different points along the
river it was duly noted that of importance, D.O
(level of free oxygen present) was 5.2% which
was too low to support acquatic life and affect
water quality which is red class. Conductivity
ranges from 927-1576 which reflects that the
river contained high masses of dissolved salts and
inorganic matter hence conductivity increases
with salinity which was ranging from 0.46-0.72
(green class) and this was also supported by the
fact that resistivity was very low ranging from
0.006-0.0011.”

The report also said that the amount of to-
tal dissolved solids was high, ranging from
467-787, which reflected that there were more
cations and anions, whilst permissible value
500ppm, for fresh water the value might be very

Page 20 News NewsHawks

Issue 82, 27 May 2022

MARY MUNDEYA Zim mining companies under fire
over environmental degradation
MINING companies that neglect the en-
vironment after extracting resources must The country has witnessed immense environmental degradation due to mining activities.
pay heavily for failing to properly decom-
mission operations, experts have said.

Environmentalists say the Environmen-
tal Management Agency (Ema) must be
tough against companies in the extractive
sector that cause environmental degrada-
tion.

Zimbabwe has witnessed immense envi-
ronmental degradation, whose impact has
been described by environmentalists as cat-
astrophic.

Lawyer and environmental activist Dar-
lington Chidarara bemoaned the extreme
levels of environmental degradation in
different mining communities across the
country and called for immediate action to
force the companies to comply with given
regulations.

“If you are to go to Chiadzwa today,
there are a lot of areas that were left with
open pits and areas that have become des-
erts inside the mining concession left by
the companies that had their operations
stopped by (the late) former president Rob-
ert Mugabe before the establishment of the
Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Com-
pany (ZCDC),” he said.

“If you go to Mhondongori in Zvisha-
vane, you will find sort of oceans where
a lot of water is gathered and has big and
open pits that no one cares about rehabil-
itating.”

Chidarara said there was a need for
a properly managed rehabilitation fund
which can be used to rehabilitate the min-
ing claims when the mining companies
leave.

“As per the Mines and Minerals Amend-
ment Bill, we need to properly manage a
properly managed rehabilitation fund
which can then be used to actually do the
rehabilitation when the mining companies
pack to leave,’’ he said.

The executive director of Environment
Africa, one of the leading environmental
organisations in southern Africa, Paradzayi
Hodzonge, told journalists after a tour of
the food security programme they are en-
gaged in with farmers in Guruve that the
government should strike a balance be-
tween economic development and conserv-
ing natural resources.

“There is need to strike a balance between
wanting to achieve economic development
whilst at the same time we also want to look
at conserving what we have for the future
generations,” he said.

“The honors is on the government and
regulatory authorities to ensure that inves-
tors that invest in the country particularly
in the mining sector take responsibility in
terms of rehabilitation of areas where they
have mined.”

Ema’s publicity officer, Amkela Sidange,
said her organisation was in the process of
lobbying for a fund to rehabilitate neglect-
ed spaces.

“The degraded landscapes that you see
over the country were affected by legacy
issues. Those are projects that came prior
to the establishment of the Environmental
Management Act. As the agency currently
we are lobbying for the government to ac-
tually set aside funds that will go towards
rehabilitation of these decommissioned
mines that came before the establishment
of the Environmental Management Act”.

Sidange said on the compliance rate for
rehabilitating decommissioned mines, there
were differences between registered and
non-registered miners.

“The compliance rate has been subjec-
tive, for those that have formalised their ac-
tivities the response has been high but there
are informal activities that we term as illegal
which often the agency comes across, espe-
cially during our routine inspections whose
compliance is low,” she said.

An estimated average of 262 349 hect-
ares of forests are being lost annually, while
thousands of hectares of land consisting of
abandoned mining shafts and pits are lying
idle in former mining concessions, the au-
thorities said.

NewsHawks News Page 21

Issue 82, 27 May 2022

Resistance leader faces trumped up charges

MORRIS BISHI

LIVINSON CHIKUTU, who is leading the Chilonga villagers say government must respect the constitution.
community in opposing the setting up of a lucerne
farming project in the Chilonga area of Chiredzi are leading the Shangaan people in resisting the take off at our expense again since the investor and idating community leaders in Chilonga who are
district, was arrested on Wednesday and appeared lucerne project which will affect our livelihoods. government are not giving us all details about the against forced displacement.
in court on Thursday. We were evicted from Triangle and Hippo Valley project,” the traditional leader said.
to pave way for sugarcane farming, but we were He said the authorities must respect the consti-
The arrest is viewed by the Shangaan commu- not compensated and only a few of us were given Masvingo Centre for Research Advocacy and tution and be guided both domestic and interna-
nity as persecution for resisting the project which sugarcane plots. We cannot allow this project to Community Development director Ephraim tional laws instead of riding roughshod over the
will displace thousands of families from their an- Mtombeni said the government must stop intim- fundamental rights of minority groups.
cestral land.

Chikutu’s arrest came a month after angry vil-
lagers in Chilonga stormed Chief Chilonga’s resi-
dence protesting the continued insistence by the
government to set up the lucerne project despite
community resistance.

Chikutu, facing charges of inciting the com-
munity to commit violence and acting in a dis-
orderly conduct, appeared before Chiredzi magis-
trate Misheck Brian Munyaradzi and was granted
$5000 bail. He will appear before the same court
on 29 June. He is being represented by lawyer
Rita Chakauya of Muzenda and Chitsama Legal
Attorneys.

Speaking to The NewsHawks after appearing in
court, Chikutu said he was arrested in Chilonga
on Wednesday afternoon by detectives from the
police Law and Order section. He was released af-
ter the intervention of Chakauya, who visited the
police station in the evening. He said his arrest is
meant to intimidate the Shangaan people against
standing up for their rights.

“I was picked by detectives near my home on
Wednesday and l was shocked by the development
which came some weeks after a protest by villagers
at the chief’s place. I was not involved in mobilis-
ing the community, the charges are frivolous and
I am denying them. Detectives asked me to pay a
fine and I refused, they released me in the evening
after the intervention of Chakauya who offered
me free legal services. I appeared before the court
on Thursday morning and the magistrate granted
me bail. I was touched by the support shown by
community leaders from Chilonga who came to
the court in large numbers and it is clear that we
will not compromise from our position against the
project by Dendairy in our area,” Chikutu said.

A traditional leader from Chilonga told The
NewsHawks that the arrest of Chikutu will
strengthen the resolve of the Shangaan people
and will affect the ongoing consultative meetings
between Dendairy, the government and the com-
munity.

“There was a time our area was flooded with
mysterious people whom we suspected to be state
security agents and that was meant to intimidate
us. This latest development which saw the arrest of
Chikutu is persecution targeted at individuals who

Page 22 News NewsHawks

Issue 82, 27 May 2022

Nurses are demanding payment of their salaries in United States dollars.

AN emerging union of nurses with a sound base Nurses pile pressure on govt,
of membership in Midlands and Matabeleland issue a two-week ultimatum
provinces has issued the government a two-week
ultimatum to resolve grievances of the health Industrial action by nurses greatly affects service delivery in public hospitals.
workers or face a crippling strike.
ministry of Health to liberalise post basic training release of diplomas for those who completed their In the past, industrial action by nurses has re-
The development comes as a huge blow to and ensure that nurses progress to degrees instead bonding. We also want upgrading and regarding sulted in dire consequences such as loss of life in
President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administra- of diplomas. Offering of post basic qualifications of primary care nurses as well as streamlining of public hospitals.
tion, which is already under pressure from teach- will ensure universal access to all nurses who want post-basic diplomas to degree programme and
ers and the entirety of civil servants who want to upgrade themselves.” allow universities to offer nursing programmes.” Many citizens rely on the public hospitals for
their salaries reviewed upwards in line with the medical care as they cannot afford charges levied
rising cost of living. The letter was sent to the Health ministry in “When we make these demands we are not by private health institutions.
Harare from Gweru using an overnight local cou- begging. These are things that we are entitled to.
According to the Consumer Council of Zim- rier company, EMS Zimbabwe. We are not working to get slave wages. We need While salaries and working conditions for
babwe (CCZ), a family of five now requires US dollar salaries without going back. We have nurses are deplorable, consumables and equip-
ZW$120 000 a month to meet living conditions, In an interview with The NewsHawks, Chiduku given the government and our employer the ment such as cancer machines are in short supply
yet the government workers are paid an average of said the demands of nurses are justified. Health Services Board two weeks to resolve these in Zimbabwe’s public hospitals, posing grave risks
ZW$30 000 monthly. grievances or we down tools,” he said. to citizens who cannot afford the services of pri-
“In short, we are demanding full US dollar sala- vate health centres.— STAFF WRITER.
Led by Robert Chiduku, the Zimbabwe Pro- ries because the economy has dollarised. We want
fessional Nurses’ Union (ZPNU) is headquar-
tered in Gweru and has membership of about 6
000 health workers.

A letter dated 23 May by the union addressed
to the Health ministry’s permanent secretary Jas-
per Chimedza and Health Services Board execu-
tive director Paulinus Sikhosana gleaned by The
NewsHawks, outlined the anger of the nurses over
their working conditions.

At top of their demands is payment of salaries
in United States dollars.

The ZPNU also want the government to re-
lease diploma certificates for nurses who have
completed specified periods of time working in
Zimbabwe on a bonding scheme so that they look
for employment elsewhere in the world.

The government has a scheme in which it
trains nurses while paying their tuition fees on
condition that they work in the country for about
two years.

The measure was put in place to avert brain
drain as nurses who complete their courses race to
go and work abroad, notably in the United King-
dom, where salaries are way better.

“We are informed by our members that those
who have already completed bonding are being
denied access to their diplomas. We kindly re-
quest that your highest office facilitates a smooth
flow to the issuance diplomas to those who have
completed bonding,” part of the ZPNU letter to
Chimedza reads.

The letter was counter-signed by ZPNU sec-
retary-general Douglas Chikobvu and president
Chiduku.

The letter further reads: “We kindly advise the

NewsHawks News Page 23

Issue 82, 27 May 2022

MDC-T dithers over elective congress

MOSES MATENGA l Party bans holding of private meetings

THE opposition MDC-T is dithering over the group to do any form of disobedience, we will Hawks within the MDC-T are baying for MDC-T in December 2020 during the extraor-
holding of an elective congress, with insiders ac- act hastily without fear. We are going to defend Mwonzora’s blood and plotting his ouster ahead dinary congress amid chaos that saw ousted
cusing party leader Douglas Mwonzora of shift- our party and its membership. Don't say we of an elective congress. deputy president Thokozani Khupe being phys-
ing goal posts while his loyalists were targeting didn’t warn you.” ically assaulted.
opponents for purging. Mwonzora dramatically took over the

Loyalty has shifted from Mwonzora since
the party performed dismally in the last two
by-elections, amid calls for renewal if the party
is to survive and mount a serious challenge.

Mwonzora has been accused of failing to
inspire the party to victory with supporters of
the party chairperson Morgen Komichi and
vice-president Elias Mudzuri saying either of
the two should take over from Mwonzora.

Other names that have been thrown into
the ring for the party leadership include Norest
Marara, who contested for the Harare Central
seat in the 26 March by-elections.

Marara, a businessman and close ally of the
late former party leader Morgan Tsvangirai, is
also said to be eyeing the party’s treasurer-gener-
al’s post but insiders said from the available pool
of possible leaders to take over, he was being
pushed by party supporters for the top post.

Those who lost have blamed Mwonzora for
failing to lead the party, with Zivai Mhetu,
who contested in Epworth, saying the elector-
ate openly spoke against the party leader’s lack
of charisma as the reason not to vote him into
office.

Mhetu has since been fired from the party
while Fungai Chiposi stood and lost in Kam-
buzuma. The party is due for congress, but in-
siders expressed worry this week that there was
no commitment in announcing a real date for
the congress.

Komichi on Thursday told The NewsHawks
that the congress has been set for July 23 and 24
but subject to change.

“The provisional date for the congress is 23
and 24 July. However, this is subject to review
depending on the situation on the ground and
progress in terms of preparations,” Komichi
said.

“There are issues to do with ensuring dele-
gates are all in place among others which will
have to be addressed hence the provisional dates
that are subject to review.”

Komichi condemned attempts by some he
described as excitable who have threatened to
block private meetings in what observers said
were attempts by the Mwonzora camp to con-
solidate power despite growing resentment.

“Campaigns are open as the leadership has
said and all vacancies, as the president has said,
will be contested and are up for grabs. No one
should be victimised.”

“That is unconstitutional and unacceptable.
Sometimes it is just positions of one or two in-
dividuals who are excitable, but that is not the
party position.”

Discussions in MDC-T social media groups
gleaned by The NewsHawks showed greater re-
sentment on Mwonzora’s continued leadership
of the party, with some openly calling for urgent
action to rescue the MDC-T brand.

Insiders said there was a plot to block the
congress by a cabal linked to Mwonzora that
has also blocked private meetings.

“They are afraid of congress. There is no of-
ficial date and there are plans to prepare a fake
voters' roll. He also plans to reduce the cam-
paign period to less than a month. He is also
planning to disqualify other candidates,” an in-
sider said.

Mwonzora recently reshuffled his party lead-
ership amid reports he is consolidating power to
make sure his position is not contested.

According to a letter dated 14 May 2022,
purportedly from the youth assembly members
who are supporting Mwonzora, any plot to
challenge the party leader will be blocked.

“The centre is still holding tight. As youths,
we are going to make sure from today that
we deal with all forms of discord, parallelism,
traitorship and factionalism. No to all unsanc-
tioned meetings in Harare. All structures and
members to do as stipulated in the constitution
concerning meetings,” the letter reads.

“Once we get wind of any plot by a leader/

Page 24 News NewsHawks

Issue 82, 27 May 2022

Redan wins
in first ever
Commercial
Court case

REDAN PETROLEUM, trading as Puma She said apart from at most a bare denial, Re- tential harm that it stands to suffer. The balance interim relief pending arbitration, at this stage
Energy, has won a case which will go down in dan has not been forthcoming and instead has of convenience clearly favours the applicant. the applicant has no other remedy to arrest the
the annals of Zimbabwean legal history as the gave a lukewarm response. situation save for seeking an interdict,” the judge
first-ever matter to be heard virtually at the new- “In terms of a remedy, apart from the fact that said, in granting the interdict. —STAFF WRITER
ly established Commercial Court in Zimbabwe. “The applicant has clearly articulated the po- the Arbitration Act recognises the awarding of

The company is suing Redan Coupons (Re-
dan) for breaching their 2019 agreement by
procuring and selling petroleum products from
third parties.

Parties had agreed that Redan would only
purchase from them, but it acted contrary to the
agreement, prompting Puma to rush to court
seeking an interdict.

Puma wanted an order that Redan should
continue to observe the terms of the agreement
of licence of 19 March 2019, that it shall not
procure or sell from third parties the petroleum
products to which the agreement pertains un-
less otherwise excused in terms of an arbitration
award.

In an urgent chamber application, Puma said
any failure by Redan to procure their petroleum
products as mandated in the agreement in the
absence of an arbitration award excusing such
procurement be declared unlawful.

This was upheld by the Commercial Court
judge, Justice Slyvia Chirawu-Mugomba, who
went on to grant an interim order against Re-
dan.

“Respondent be and is hereby interdicted
from receiving and selling petroleum products
from third parties at the following service sta-
tions, Westgate Mall Service station situated at
Stand number 1642 Bluffhill and at Avondale
Service Station.

“The applicant is directed to invoke clause 23
of the licencing agreements of September 2018
and 19th of March 2019 on settlement of dis-
putes within seven days of the date of this order
or any other longer period as the parties may
agree in writing.

“The applicant or their legal practitioners
or any employee thereof shall be authorised to
serve a copy of this provisional order.”

Court papers show that parties entered into
two agreements of licensing in September 2018
and March 2019.

These agreements relate to two service sta-
tions situated in Avondale and Westgate Mall,
Harare.

The agreements were that Puma is obliged to
deliver fuels, oils and other petroleum products
to the respondent at the two service stations.

This was exclusive in the sense that Redan in
terms of the agreements was restrained from re-
ceiving any products to sell from competitors.

The service stations have been branded with
the Puma logo.

In breach of the agreements, Redan refused to
receive products from Puma and has procured
products from third parties.

In handing down the interim interdict, the
judge said what is critical is that the parties had
existing contracts.

“To deny the applicant audience on the basis
that the deponent to the affidavit has no author-
ity to act would be to effectively shut the door.

“However, given the fact that this is an ur-
gent application for which a provisional order is
sought and where only a hearing on the points
in limine was conducted, making a finding on
locus standi would be going into the merits of
the matter and denying applicant or effectively
shutting the door on any other relief that they
may seek.

“In my view, what is critical is whether or not
the applicant has established a prima facie case
of breach.

“Based on annexures D to H of the applicant’s
founding affidavit and the response by the re-
spondent, there is prima facie evidence of breach
of the contract on the part of the respondent.

NewsHawks News Page 25

Issue 82, 27 May 2022

Byo council diverts US$1m to revaluation

LIZWE SEBATHA

BULAWAYO City Council (BCC) has been Auditor-General Midlred Chiri in her financial reports has exposed how local authorities were losing millions of dollars in potential revenue as they
forced to divert capital funds to finance the re- were not billing a number of properties due to a lack of valuation rolls or lack of title deeds to their properties.
valuation of its properties and purchase of of-
fice equipment amid revelations the city fathers a company(s) to do the revaluation of the CBD not been many additions or new developments Auditor-General Midlred Chiri in her finan-
sought US$1 million for the unbudgeted expen- properties. The reason being that generally there within the City of Bulawayo boundaries, save for cial reports has exposed how local authorities
diture even as the city reels under poor service had not been so many changes or new develop- new residential developments which had been were losing millions of dollars in potential reve-
delivery. ments within the city of Bulawayo jurisdiction captured in the system already.” nue as they were not billing a number of proper-
from 2011 to date,” the minutes added. ties due to a lack of valuation rolls or lack of title
The city’s valuation roll, which was effected on Under section 237 of the Act, a valuation offi- deeds to their properties.
1 January 2012 expired in December 2021. “The other was to use in-house resources for cer must be appointed to carry out duties such as
the industrial, residential and portion of com- valuation of all council and private properties for Under the Urban Councils Act, all properties
Valuation rolls are lists of properties and their mercial properties outside the CBD [central rating purposes, insurance, acquisition, sale and are rateable unless an application is made and ap-
owners situated within the boundaries of a given business district] as had been observed, there had taxation, among others. proved by council.
local authority compiled for the purposes of bill-
ing and taxation.

The Urban Councils Act [Chapter 29:15]
provides for the creation of valuation offices by
councils.

A valuation roll has to be updated every 10
years.

However, the period can be extended by a fur-
ther five years subject to ministerial consent via
statutory instrument.

Latest council minutes show that city fathers
did not budget for the revaluation of its exercise,
and have sought the virement of US$1 million to
fund the exercise and meet other needs.

“. . . this report sought authority to virement
funds for payment of various capital budget
costs. This was intended to cover payments for
the various capital expenditure items including
the procurement of the external supplier of the
revaluation of the properties in the city, the pur-
chase of a double cab motor vehicle and other
technical office equipment and stationery items,”
the minutes read in part.

“However, the project was not budgeted for
in the 2022 capital budget, hence, the request to
virement funds.”

Virement is the process of transferring funds
from one financial account to another.

However, council’s plans to transfer capital
funds to fund unbudgeted expenditure have in
the past attracted widespread criticism.

In 2021, the Bulawayo Progressive Residents’
Association (BPRA) blocked a virement proposal
by city fathers to doll out $25 million to con-
struct a new house for the mayor in Selborne
Park.

The proposal was met with mixed feelings
from various stakeholders in the city, with resi-
dents urging the local authority to put more at-
tention on improving service delivery.

“The strategy was to outsource the revaluation
of the Central Business District (CBD) by hiring

Bulawayo City Council

Page 26 International Investigative Stories NewsHawks

Issue 82, 27 May 2022

InInvteesrtniagtaiotinvaelStories

Following a trail of tainted
money from China into
Vancouver Real Estate

A MAN accused of paying bribes in she was 25, while listing her occupa- Through his Toronto lawyer, Chen It started with CA$15.1 million source of Chen’s wealth, noting that
one of China's biggest-ever military tion as “student.” said he had never been involved in sent from four different companies he had refused to supply information,
corruption scandals allegedly funneled corruption and that his money was in Hong Kong and mainland China, and it raised red flags about the nature
at least 114 million Canadian dollars Until now, Chen has been un- earned legally through property de- documents in the case study show. of the transfers into Canada.
into banks in that country before in- known to the public and referred to velopment in China before being Millions more followed. Money was
vesting more than CA$32 million in only as “Person A” in a case study by a brought to Canada. sent through offshore companies in Although the Chen family’s money
luxury Vancouver real estate. British Columbia commission tasked tax havens and an underground bank- moved through five major Canadian
with examining overseas money laun- “It’s obviously very stressful to be in ing network of companies and Hong banks, only one of them, UBS Bank
Before moving from China to Can- dering in the province, and its links to the situation that he’s in,” said the law- Kong currency exchanges, some with (Canada), flagged the conspicuous
ada in 2006, Chen Runkai told immi- surging property prices. yer, Lorne Waldman. “But he believes connections to organized crime, ac- transfers as suspicious. The volume
gration officials that he made at most in the legal system in Canada.” cording to the case study. By the end of transfers in such a short time had
41,000 Canadian dollars a year. His The Chen family’s investments in of 2014, the Chen family had moved the hallmarks of a money laundering
wife, he said, was employed as a clerk. Canada add to mounting concerns Court documents about Chen’s case over CA$114 million into Canada in technique called “layering,” in which
about illicit overseas money flowing to stay in Canada have been sealed. this way. “complex layers of financial transac-
Despite their modest incomes, into the country’s overheated real es- But a Federal Court judgment relat- tions are used to obscure the source of
a series of money transfers poured tate markets, helping push already ing to his daughter reveals that Chen An anonymized analysis from the the ownership of funds,” according to
CA$114 million into the Chen fam- sky-high housing costs out of reach for is fighting charges including “misrep- Financial Transactions and Reports a report filed by UBS Canada flagging
ily’s Canadian bank accounts a few many Canadians. resentation” to Canadian immigration Analysis Centre of Canada (Fintrac) some of Chen’s 2011 transactions as
years later. authorities, and “organized criminali- contained in the Cullen Commission suspicious.
Amid public debate about billions ty.” case study set out details of multiple
Chen, it turns out, is wanted for of offshore money laundered through transfers into a Canadian account held UBS asked the Chens about the
arrest by the Chinese government on real estate in Vancouver — one of the ‘Strong Indicators’ of Money by Chen’s mother — referred to as source of the funds. Clear answers
charges of bribery for his alleged role world’s most expensive cities to own a Laundering “Person D” in the documents — over never came, and the bank reported the
in a major corruption scandal involv- home — the British Columbia gov- which Chen had power of attorney. transactions to federal authorities and
ing a senior military official, OCCRP ernment formed the Cullen Commis- The federal government has been The money was transferred in smaller closed the account.
and the Toronto Star have learned. sion in 2019 to look into the issue. It quietly analyzing the source of Chen’s chunks, the transaction records show.
Now, he’s fighting to stay in Canada, is expected to deliver its final report to wealth through documents dating But the family had little trouble
where his family has two mansions in the government in June. back to before he arrived in Canada in The Fintrac analysis said the trans- finding other Canadian banks to ac-
Vancouver overlooking the Pacific. 2006 through the now defunct Immi- fers could be a sign of financial crime: cept ongoing flows of tens of millions
The Cullen Commission’s case grant Investor Program. “The discrepancy between the funds of dollars as late as 2016. The docu-
He is the owner of a Tudor-style study is heavily redacted and makes no they had available and the volume of ments show the money arrived in ac-
home with mountain and ocean views reference to Chen, but OCCRP and Chen told authorities that he and subsequent transfers to Canada is a counts the Chen family held in many
he purchased in 2016 for CA$15.6 Toronto Star reporters used publicly his wife had amassed CA$1.26 mil- significant indicator for money laun- of the country’s large banks, including
million. It sits a few doors down from available documents from Canada and lion to bring into Canada. But from dering activity.” CIBC, Royal Bank of Canada, HSBC
another mansion his daughter pur- China to piece together his identity, 2010, far more money started moving and Bank of Montreal.
chased in 2012 for about CA$14 mil- along with that of his wife and daugh- into Chen family bank accounts in The analysis cast doubt on the
lion — without a mortgage — when ter. Canada. When asked for comment, all the

NewsHawks International Investigative Stories Page 27

Issue 82, 27 May 2022

banks issued written statements saying Aerial view looking towards downtown Vancouver. British Columbia Assessment Author-
they could not speak about an indi- ity lists that property as the 98th most
vidual client, but have strong com- Chinese court and company regis- government approaching them,” said fully integrated into Canada’s econ- valuable in Vancouver, now worth
mitments to detecting and reporting tration documents, as well as media Waldman. omy, the report says, and nearly half CA$19 million.
suspicious financial transactions. accounts, reveal more about Chen’s were involved in the cocaine trade.
dealings with Gu. They say Chen The Canada Border Services Agen- Two years after Chen’s daugh-
“It seems to me there … are strong bought and sold properties at the site cy said it was unable to comment on The real estate sector, in particular, ter purchased the property, Chinese
indicators of money laundering,” said of a former military airport in Shang- Chen’s case specifically, but said it is “vulnerable to exploitation by crim- prosecutors brought a corruption
Mary-Jane Bennett, a former criminal hai that was part of a development sometimes receives information from inals looking to launder illicit (pro- case against Gu for abuses including
lawyer in Vancouver who was recent- project overseen by Gu. “foreign government enforcement ceeds of crime),” the federal govern- selling off military land in exchange
ly commissioned by Toronto’s Massey agencies” about individuals seeking ment submission reads, by providing for bribes. The general had amassed
College to investigate and write a re- The state-owned Wen Wei Po citizenship, and would then seek to a secure, legitimate investment and a properties and possessions that far
port on money laundering, who re- newspaper alleged that Chen was a “confirm its validity.” location to live and conduct “further outstripped his military salary, accord-
viewed the documents uncovered by “key figure” in the Gu bribery case. It criminal business.” ing to media reports. Chinese police
reporters. “This is a very strong case.” said that, in the late 2000s, Chen ob- Pils noted that Chen’s business ac- reportedly spent two days at one of his
tained parcels of land near the airport tivities may have been at least tacitly James Cohen, executive director of homes, loading four trucks with luxu-
The Cullen Commission also men- for “much lower than the prevailing approved of at the time, even if he was Transparency International Canada, ry items, including a solid gold statue
tions money sent from offshore tax market prices for Shanghai land at the involved in Gu’s corruption scheme. which also made submissions to the of the revolutionary communist leader
haven firms, and includes an image of time,” suggesting this was due to his Cullen Commission, urged authori- Mao Tse Tung.
a Hong Kong storefront currency ex- relationship with Gu. “It seems to be such a constant fea- ties to take action against international
change connected to a company that ture of these deals –– taking bribes,” money laundering. China issued an international ar-
transferred money to Canada. A court judgment shows that a she said, adding that the govern- rest warrant for Chen for his alleged
Shanghai businesswoman named Zou ment-controlled land tenure system “It is one of the most infuriating involvement in the scam, which even-
“As occurs in pretty well any money Yunyu then acquired the same land “ensures a very, very high involvement and awful reasons for housing prices tually got Gu a suspended death sen-
laundering case, you’ve got shell com- and between 2009 and 2013 took out of the party state authorities in virtual- to go up – the idea that limited hous- tence, later commuted to life in prison.
panies…built for one single purpose a series of loans against it, totaling 889 ly all major land transactions.” ing supply is just sitting there as a safe-
and that is to launder funds,” said million RMB (around US$144 mil- ty deposit box for the funds of drug In the meantime, Chen was fighting
Bennett. “Their whole purpose is to lion). She defaulted on the loans. Sweeping Implications dealers and crooks and kleptocrats,” to stay in Canada. The Border Services
create a sense of legitimacy.” As Chen’s legal battle to stay in he said. Agency found him “inadmissible” for
Also in 2009, payments start- Canada continued to wind through citizenship, but his lawyers convinced
And legitimacy is a key reason Can- ed coming into Chen family bank the courts, he found himself the anon- “We could add some housing sup- a federal judge to examine that deci-
ada is a routine target for money laun- accounts in Canada. The Cullen ymous subject of the “Money Laun- ply without ever hammering a nail sion. Amid this legal battle, with an ar-
dering, she says. Commission mentioned two main- dering Case Study”, one of more than into a board by removing the dirty rest warrant from China hanging over
land China companies among those 1,000 exhibits compiled by the Cullen money that’s just sitting in these va- his head, Chen and his family changed
“We’ve got these highly regarded transfering funds, and corporate doc- Commission. cant condos and houses.” their names.
banks so if you get it through one of uments reveal that those firms were Concerns about suspicious foreign
those banks, you’ve got a pretty good connected to Zou. money in Canada’s real estate market A British Columbia government Titles for their properties show
wash of clean money.” reach well beyond the Chen case. Ex- expert panel estimated in 2019 that that in 2015, Zijun and his daughter,
Waldman said the large money perts have testified to the Commission more than CA$7 billion in dirty mon- Zhouren, became Chen Runkai and
Alleged Bribes in China transfers coming into Canada were the that real estate has also become inun- ey was laundered in the province in Hanying. His wife, Qi Chenguang,
The Fintrac report shows the Chen proceeds of a land deal that was part dated with dirty money derived from the previous year alone. As much as switched her first name to Ruizhen.
family didn’t want to explain where all of the “big development” overseen the drug trade and other crimes, as CA$5.3 billion of that was laundered The following year, Chen purchased
this money was coming from. When by Gu. But he said his client did not well as alleged corruption. through real estate, causing housing a Tudor-style mansion under his new
a bank official asked about the source know Gu personally, had paid him no “By laundering illicit funds, serious prices to increase about 5 percent. name.
of their funds, Chen’s mother said the bribes, and had been caught up in a and other organized criminals are able
funds were proceeds of a land sale in “political” case against the general. to profit from some of the most dam- Two Mansions and Three Name His daughter’s Canadian citizenship
China, but could provide no details. aging crimes,” including drugs and Changes application is also in limbo, hanging
When they turned to her son for “He didn’t do anything wrong, human trafficking, violent crime and on the verdict of her father’s case, ac-
more information, Chen “was unwill- doesn’t know the general, and was fueling the devastating opioid crisis, Chen’s first known Vancouver prop- cording to a federal court judgment.
ing to provide any satisfactory docu- involved in legitimate business activi- the Government of Canada wrote in erty purchase was in 2007, when he
mentation confirming legal title over ties,” said Waldman in a video call. its closing arguments to the Commis- bought a home in the upscale Shaugh- Documents from the case show that
the land in [location redacted], or in sion last July. nessy neighborhood for just under Hanying Chen obtained permanent
relation to any land sale transactions.” He said Canadian authorities A 2020 report from the Criminal CA$2.3 million. He and his wife were residency as a dependent of her father,
But OCCRP and the Star have un- should understand that information Intelligence Service of Canada found listed on the title that year as joint ten- who had entered Canada under the
covered the alleged source of the Chen provided by China cannot be trusted that as much as CA$113 billion was ants under their former names, Chen federal government’s former Immi-
family’s wealth. The money appears due to the country’s notoriously cor- being laundered in the country every Zijun and Qi Chenguang. They sold grant Investor Program in 2006. She
to have come from land deals involv- rupt legal system, which often uses ev- year. In all, 176 organized crime gangs the house last year for CA$4.9 million. declared having $5,000 in her posses-
ing Gu Junshan, a Chinese lieutenant idence obtained through torture. – half with international ties – were sion on arrival. She noted in 2015 that
general who was handed a suspended In 2012 their daughter –– at the she was receiving financial support
death sentence in a high-profile cor- “I think it’s likely that the govern- time named Chen Zhouren –– bought from her parents, who were retired
ruption case in 2015. ment of Canada’s interest in my client’s a mansion featuring a tennis court and but had savings from real estate deals
Chen was named in a 2014 open case occurred as a result of the Chinese swimming pool near the beach in in China.
letter in Chinese addressed to “all Point Grey for CA$14.7 million. The
military commanders and fighters,” Waldman, who is also representing
which excoriated Gu for corruption. Chen’s daughter, declined to comment
The author of the letter was anony- on her immigration case.
mous, but it circulated widely online
and was referenced in state-backed Although Chen and his family live
media. It alleged that Chen paid large in luxury, their comfortable lifestyle is
bribes to Gu to acquire 100 hectares of tarnished by the ongoing court case
land near a former military airport in and threat of deportation.
Shanghai that was part of a develop-
ment project overseen by Gu. But the fact that the Chinese legal
“During the course of the initial in- system routinely relies on torture to
vestigations into Gu, unidentified se- obtain evidence puts the Canadian
nior military officials allegedly tipped government in a tricky position, said
off Chen, who fled to Canada,” the Pils, the King’s College professor. If
letter said. “President Xi Jinping then the justice system in Chen’s home
ordered the issue of an arrest warrant, country were trustworthy, Canada
but to this day he has eluded author- could extradite him to face a fair trial,
ities.” she said. “But you can’t have that when
The letter was cited in an article you’re dealing with China.”
published by the pro-Beijing Phoe-
nix Weekly magazine, which was then “It doesn’t matter whether someone
posted by the China Police Network, has perpetrated a completely awful
an official mouthpiece. That article crime, they still have a right not to be
called Chen a “real estate develop- tortured,” Pils added. Canada’s De-
er” who had “paid a huge amount of partment of Justice declined to com-
bribes to Gu.” ment, and the Chinese embassy in
Given China’s closely controlled Ottawa did not respond to questions.
media and internet environment, the
letter naming Chen would only have Legal and immigration experts
been allowed to circulate online if it agree there is little chance Canada
had been officially sanctioned, said would ever extradite Chen to face
Eva Pils, a China expert who teaches charges in China. But while he and
law at King’s College London. his family await word on their citizen-
“There would be zero likelihood ship in Canada, the weight of finan-
that it would survive, I’m kind of cial evidence authorities have gathered
tempted to say more than a few hours, is sufficient to justify a response, says
but maybe more than a few days,” she Bennett, the lawyer writing the report
said. “If there has been no attempt to on money laundering.
stop circulation, that’s almost like offi-
cial approval.” “When you’ve got all of the indicia
of money laundering, it seems to me
that somebody should take a serious
look at seizing their property,” she said.

— Organised Crime and Corrup-
tion Reporting Project.

Page 28 Editorial & Opinion NewsHawks

CARTOON Issue 82, 27 May 2022

Comical diplomacy
archaic, won’t cut it

IN years gone by, the annual World Economic Forum meet- US$3bn platinum deal collapses:
ings in Davos, Switzerland, were a useful platform bringing Huge indictment for Zimbabwe
together the big hitters on the international stage to brain-
storm for the good of mankind. Hawk Eye

Or at least it felt that way. Back in the day, billionaires Dumisani
rubbed shoulders with presidents, providing journalists with Muleya
an endless stream of exciting soundbites.

How times have changed! In January 2020, at the last Da-
vos gathering before the world was turned upside-down by
what initially appeared to be an inconsequential respiratory
disease outbreak in China, the priorities were markedly dif-
ferent. There was no physical meeting last year. In May 2022,
the world is barely recognisable, thanks to the devastating
impact of Covid-19 and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

And so Davos in 2022 was quite a bizarre spectacle. It did
not offer much in terms of the big international story. There
were certainly no A-listers of international gravitas in atten-
dance.

The end result, inevitably, was a hodgepodge of under-
whelming discussions that no serious person really paid at-
tention to.

The world is in flux. Who knows what tomorrow will
bring?

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa was
among the coterie of bland participants at this week’s Davos
Forum.

He hightailed it to Switzerland aboard a posh
US$30 000-per-hour chartered jetliner. It was always going
to be a herculean task for his clueless band of propagandists
to justify such mindless expenditure in the face of immense
corruption-induced suffering back home. The money blown
on this curious trip could have instead bought a cancer ma-
chine, saving the lives of many vulnerable citizens.

But no level-headed observer would begrudge Mnangag-
wa his Davos trip just for the sake of malice. Far from it. The
brutal reality is that Zimbabwe has not benefitted anything
tangible from his visit.

The last time Mnangagwa went to Davos, the internation-
al community was expectant: he had succeeded an author-
itarian ruler who had clung on to power for 37 years. The
world expected and wanted Mnangagwa to reform Zimba-
bwe. There was an outpouring of international goodwill.

What happened? He flattered to deceive. Even the most
vocal cheerleaders of the military coup which swept him
to power are crying foul. The British political class comes
to mind; just a fortnight ago, the House of Lords tore into
Mnangagwa’s performance, describing him as an unmitigat-
ed failure.

The Zimbabwean rulers have spent millions of US dollars
hiring Western public relations firms and lobbyists — to no
avail.

The overwhelming verdict on the world stage is that the
regime in Harare has squandered a glorious opportunity to
change Zimbabwe’s political, economic and social trajectory
in the national interest for posterity.

Zimbabwe’s clueless rulers put up a Mickey Mouse spec-
tacle in front of international media cameras. Whoever for-
mulated the hare-brained idea of hiring a scrum of lumpen
elements to don

Mnangagwa’s multi-coloured scarf and hold aloft lame
placards denouncing “Western sanctions” is a hopeless
schemer.

The world is not fooled. The Zanu PF government’s per-
formance will be measured in line with its delivery record on
the ground. Anything else is wishful thinking.

Reaffirming the fundamental impor- The NewsHawks is published on different EDITORIAL STAFF: Marketing Officer: Voluntary Media
tance of freedom of expression and me- content platforms by the NewsHawks Digital Managing Editor: Dumisani Muleya Charmaine Phiri Council of Zimbabwe
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mocracy and as a means of upholding Interest Journalism Assistant Editor: Brezh Malaba [email protected] The NewsHawks newspaper subscribes to the
human rights and liberties in the con- No. 100 Nelson Mandela Avenue [email protected] Code of Conduct that promotes truthful, accurate,
stitution; our mission is to hold power Beverly Court, 6th floor News Editor: Owen Gagare
in its various forms and manifestations Harare, Zimbabwe Subscriptions & Distribution: fair and balanced news reporting. If we do not
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Email: [email protected] 24Hr Complaints Line: 0772 125 659

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Website: www.vmcz.co.zw, Facebook: vmcz Zimbabwe

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

Russia-Ukraine conflict:
Consumers feel the heat

The Russia and Ukraine conflict continues to have spillover effects on international market . . . The two countries account for about 15% of global wheat production.

BERNARD MPOFU Prices fuel continue to increase at an alarming rate.

ZIMBABWE’S consumer watchdog says trem- US dollars which is now at ZW$360 for US$1,” which has seen products rising on a daily basis.” terventionist measures, while Treasury has waiv-
ors of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continue to be the report reads. Of late, the exchange rate has been exposing ered import duty on basic commodities to cush-
felt on the domestic economy after prices of basic ion consumers from the soaring price increases on
commodities shot through the roof, pushing the “The Russia and Ukraine conflict continues to the government’s assertions that the economic the domestic economy. After the Reserve Bank of
cost of living to astronomical levels. have spillover effects on international market, as fundamentals are strong, only sentiment, specula- Zimbabwe took a number of measures to contain
well as domestic prices, as prices of cooking oil tion and black market activities are wrong. money supply and stem inflation, the exchange
Experts have already warned that the conflict, and fuel continue to increase at an alarming rate. rate continued to dip, indicating there were un-
which began on 24 February, will affect manu- The parallel exchange rate rose from ZW$300 Mnangagwa’s 7 May series of measures to con- derlying problems at play rather than what the
facturers, who rely of imports for throughput (beginning of April) to ZW$360 (end of April), tain money supply and stem inflation, including authorities have been saying.
and trigger a new wave of price increases. Russia most retailers are following this exchange rate suspending lending, opened a Pandora’s box. The
is also the third-largest producer of wheat, while central bank has since made a U-turn on the in-
Ukraine is ranked 9th in the world. Combined,
the two countries account for about 15% of glob-
al wheat production.

According to the latest Consumer Council of
Zimbabwe (CCZ) report for April, the cost of liv-
ing as measured by the Low Income Urban Earn-
er Monthly Basket For a Family of Six increased
from the end of March figure of ZW$92 192.89
to ZW$98 279.13 by the end of April 2022,
showing an increase of ZW$6 086.24.

The food basket increased by ZW$5 551.99
(16.77%) from ZW$33 092.52 by the end of
March 2022 to ZW$38 644.51 by the end of
April 2022. The report shows that the price of
detergents increased by ZW$534.25, a 21.68%
margin from ZW$2 463.87 to ZW$2 998.12.

“All products on the basket except for items
like rice and flour among others have increased;
the most notable ones are onions by 27.31%,
cooking oil 49.61% and meat by 29.49%. Most
of the increases follow the parallel market rate e.g.
local tuckshops are now demanding payment in

Page 30 Companies & Markets NewsHawks

Zimdollar wobbles as Issue 82, 27 May 2022
inflation runs amok
Economist Tony Hawkins
BERNARD MPOFU local currency. That is not the case. People are
acting rationally, they are trying to protect their
ZIMBABWE’S year-on-year inflation has con- livelihoods, they are trying to protect their pen-
tinued to jump in quantum leaps, reaching sions, they are trying to protect their savings from
three-digit figures in May, amid warnings that the the predatory policies that are being followed at
domestic currency may soon be jettisoned for the the moment.”
United States dollar due to unending inflationary
pressures. Already, the government and other qua-
si-government institutions such as the passport
Rising inflation and the volatility of the Zim- office and the road administration authority are
babwe dollar have stood out as some of the key charging for their services in the greenback. Fear-
issues confronting the economy at a time global ing mass protests triggered by resentful public
economies are yet to come to terms with effects service employees, the government also paid out
of the Covid-19 pandemic and most recently the the annual bonus in United States dollars.
Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Businesses have been accused by the authori-
After enduring two years of economic contrac- ties of driving the parallel rate by chasing the US
tion between 2019 and 2020, latest figures from dollar but economic commentators argue that
the country’s statistical agency show that Zimba- they would need surplus Zimdollar liquidity to
bwe’s economy remains stuck in the quagmire as do so.
authorities battle to tame hyperinflation.
John Legat, Imara Asset Management chief ex-
ZimStats this week said year-on-year inflation ecutive, blamed excessive money supply growth
for May climbed to 131.7% from 96.4 in April. for stoking inflation.

According to international research firm Stasti- “The currency more than likely devalued by a
ca, Zimbabwe has the second-highest inflation in similar factor to the increase in the money supply,
Africa after conflict-ridden Sudan. although panic may have driven that higher. Put
another way, there were more ZWL relative to the
Analysts say the local currency is overvalued as USD than before hence its price fell,” Legat said.
reflected by the widening disparity between the
parallel market rate and the official auction rate. “There is also talk, as yet unsubstantiated, that
exporters were receiving more ZWL for their
The weakening domestic currency has result- export retentions as the rate used in that calcu-
ed in cost pressures despite the easing of inflation lation had moved from the auction rate to the
from 659.4% in September 2020 to 60.7% per ‘Tolerance’ rate, now the new interbank rate.
annum recorded in December 2021. That would have required more ZWL which the
exporters would have needed to find a home for.
As inflation continues galloping and confi-
dence in the Zimbabwe dollar wanes, two prom- “Had interest rates on ZWL monetary assets
inent local economists have warned that the do- been attractive enough, recipients of those extra
mestic currency may soon be ditched for hard ZWL could have deposited the money in the
currency. banks or bought government Treasury Bills. This
could have mopped up surplus ZWL liquidity
Economists Gift Mugano and Tony Hawkins which instead immediately went into equities
are arguing that the government is resisting the or other hard assets. If deposit rates or yields on
inevitable by sticking to the domestic currency Treasury Bills were nearer 125% as compared
when the market is rejecting it. with the current 25% — a premium over the
current 96% inflation rate — then at least there
“Our currency will die by June,” Mugano said would be another liquid ZWL asset class available
during a currency symposium held in the capital to consider.”
on Thursday.
Early this month, President Emmerson Mnan-
“We are increasing our debt and we won’t be gagwa announced a raft of interventionist mea-
able to defend our currency . . . We are not qual- sures such as the unprecedented ban on lending
ified to fight for the Zimbabwe dollar because by banks in a desperate move to rein in depre-
government itself wants the United States dol- ciation of the Zimbabwe dollar and runaway
lar. In fact, the market has dollarised, we are at inflation. The measures, which received wide
a funeral, we are going to the grave to bury the criticism, have since been reversed. But the rout
Zimbabwe dollar.” continues.

Hawkins said confidence in the local unit has “To resolve the problem of a devaluing cur-
reached rock bottom. rency, rising prices and a booming stock market
would simply be to cease creating excess money
“The public don’t want to hold the Zimdollar. in the first place since that is the financier behind
Yes, redollarisation would be painful, no doubt. these symptoms,” Legat said.
But will it be more painful than an inflation rate
of 400%?” he said.

“The opponents of dollarisation will tell you
that this is because saboteurs are destroying the

Imara Asset Management chief executive John Legat

NewsHawks Companies & Markets Page 31

Issue 82, 27 May 2022

BERNARD MPOFU African Sun plans to invest
US$10m on hotels upgrade
AFRICAN Sun Limited (AfSun),
a Zimbabwe Stock Exchange-listed Major refurbishment work is underway at the Troutbeck Resort, while preparatory work has
hospitality group, says it will invest commenced to undertake similar refurbishment work at the Hwange Safari Lodge (below).
US$10 million in upgrading its units
as the company sees domestic tour-
ism driving the sector from two suc-
cessive years of contraction.

The outbreak of Covid-19 and
poor economic policies saw Zimba-
bwe’s economy take a nosedive be-
tween 2019 and 2020, hitting hard
the tourism sector, which is largely
driven by global travel.

In its latest trading update, AfSun
blamed currency volatilities for the
slow rate of recovery and rising infla-
tion in the economy.

“Inflationary pressures, both in
Zimbabwean dollar (‘ZWL’) and
United States of America dollar
(‘US$’) terms persisted during the
period under review mainly due
to the continued weakening of the
ZWL against the USD, foreign cur-
rency supply constraints, global price
increases for commodities such as
fuel, wheat, and fertilizer as a result
of geo-political tensions in Eastern
Europe,” the company said in a state-
ment.

“In anticipation of improved
tourism activity, the group will be
undertaking refurbishment works at
some of its hotels during the current
year. Major refurbishment work is
currently underway at the Troutbeck
Resort, whilst preparatory work has
commenced to undertake similar re-
furbishment work at the Hwange Sa-
fari Lodge. The group anticipates to
invest an estimated US$10 million in
refurbishments, soft furnishings and
other ancillary developments around
its hotels during the current financial
year.”

The year-on-year inflation rate in-
creased from 60.7% at 31 December
2021 to 72.7% at the end of the re-
porting period. With the relaxing of
Covid-19 restrictions in the country,
the Zimbabwean tourism sector con-
tinues to recover, albeit being pre-
dominantly driven by the domestic
market. The impact of the Covid-19
pandemic on foreign arrivals contin-
ued into 2022, although a notable
recovery relative to the comparable
period last year.

Occupancy rate, the company
says, rose to 34% as of 31 March
from 14% recorded during compar-
ative prior period. Revenue per avail-
able room (ZWL) was up 233% to
ZW$6 087.

“The improved performance com-
pared with the same period last year
was mainly due to an increase in oc-
cupancies and cost-saving initiatives
implemented by the group,” the
company said.

“The group’s occupancy levels for
each of the three months ended 31
March 2022 were consistently bet-
ter compared to the same period
in 2019, the latter year being the
last normal trading year before the
Covid-19 outbreak. The hospitality
segment contributed 94% to group
revenue, while the real estate segment
contributed the balance of 6%. Hotel
revenue increased by 221%, largely
driven by conference business during
the period. City hotels (including
the Troutbeck Resort) recorded 56%
(2021: 24%) occupancies whilst
the resort hotels, which have not
fully recovered from the impact of
Covid-19, achieved an occupancy
level of 21% (2021: 5%).”

Indicative data shows that there
was a 93% increase in tourist arrivals
from 65 882 recorded during the first
quarter of 2021 to 126 955 recorded
during the quarter ended 31 March
2022.

Page 32 Companies & Markets NewsHawks

Issue 82, 27 May 2022

THE African Energy Chamber (AEC) spoke Invictus Energy to drill exploration
with Scott Macmillan (SM), managing di- wells in Cabora Basa — Macmillan
rector of Invictus Energy, ahead of the con-
tinent’s premier energy event, African Ener- Invictus Energy
gy Week (AEW) 2022, about the company’s managing director
operations on the continent, the challenges Scott Macmillan
independent explorers are facing and the op-
portunities AEW 2022 provides for explorers Macmillan says Cabora Bassa is one of the last undrilled interior rift basins in Africa with significant potential for finding hydrocarbons.
such as Invictus.
SM: The AEW conference will provide a to new opportunities and partnerships that you SM: We will be discussing the results from
AEC: What are Invictus Energy’s vision, mis- fantastic platform to network with other E&P can really only get from a meeting face to face. our maiden drilling campaign as well as seeking
sion and goals for 2022? companies and government delegates from new opportunities to grow our business beyond
around the continent and provide us with access AEC: What are some of the topics that you Zimbabwe. — WORLD OIL
SM: We are currently planning our maiden will be discussing at AEW 2022 in Cape Town?
drilling campaign in the Cabora Bassa Basin in
Zimbabwe, which is estimated to commence in
July. We will be drilling two exploration wells:
Mukuyu-1 and an additional well, which is be-
ing matured for drilling at present. Our goal is
to conclude our drilling campaign safely and
make a basin opening discovery.

AEC: Please provide insight into the com-
pany’s recent projects in Africa. How do these
projects contribute to Invictus’ 2022 and overall
oil and gas market agenda in Africa?

SM: Our Cabora Bassa project in northern
Zimbabwe is an exciting asset. It’s one of the
last undrilled interior rift basins in Africa that
has significant potential for finding hydrocar-
bons. Our Mukuyu prospect is world-class and
independently estimated to contain 8.2 trillion
cubic feet and 247 million barrels of conven-
tional gas-condensate. It is the largest undrilled
prospect onshore Africa and will be one of the
largest targets drilled globally in 2022.

Our vision is to become a regional energy
supplier in southern Africa and success in our
exploration campaign at one of the material
prospects we are drilling will go a long way to
fulfilling that goal and having a significant im-
pact in the region. Energy independence and
energy security are critical to helping end energy
poverty in southern Africa.

AEC: What challenges are companies like In-
victus Energy that are operating within Africa’s
oil and gas market facing and how can they be
addressed?

SM: The challenges for us from an opera-
tional perspective are mainly around availabil-
ity of service providers and the mobilisation
and logistics hurdles to move equipment to the
project. We experienced this during our seismic
campaign last year which we executed during
the height of Covid-19. It is something that our
team has had to be very involved in to ensure
that our drilling campaign kicks off on schedule
and within budget. We have managed to rapidly
progress a very frontier project from acquisition
in 2018 to shooting a large 840km infill seismic
campaign in the second half of 2021, and now
preparing to drill two wells within six months of
completing the seismic survey. We’re very fortu-
nate that we have a very experienced and ded-
icated local team and a supportive government
who have gone out of their way to assist us.

The other challenge is overcoming the per-
ception that whilst Africa has great geological
potential, the fiscal terms and above ground
environment have made it a difficult place to
do business. This is certainly true for some ju-
risdictions, but others have recognised this and
amended their terms to attract investment back
into their countries. We are now seeing the
change in terms bear fruit in places such as Ivo-
ry Coast and Namibia with the recent material
discoveries.

AEC: What are the top three key trends that
will shape Africa’s oil and gas market in the next
three to five years?

SM: Firstly, African oil and gas is going to be
in greater demand, particularly in Europe and
Asia, because of the changing energy dynamics
and desire to move away from dependence on
Russia. This will help unlock stalled develop-
ments that have struggled to reach Final Invest-
ment Decision or secure anchor markets.

Secondly, fiscal competitiveness will deter-
mine whether Africa can capture further interest
that will lead to exploration and development
activity.

Thirdly, the increasing energy demands in
Africa from a growing population as well as the
industrialization of economies will require af-
fordable and reliable sources of baseload power.
Gas is going to play a hugely important role in
that regard.

AEC: What are some of the opportunities
companies like Invictus Energy can gain from
participating at AEW 2022?

NewsHawks Companies & Markets Page 33

Issue 82, 27 May 2022

Forex auction bottlenecks cripple Lafarge

BERNARD MPOFU attributable to the start-up mode as the cement in unplanned downtime and, in some cases, the second quarter. The company’s dry mortars vol-
mills were restarted in February following the shortage of materials to keep the plant running. It umes fell by 23% compared to the same period
CEMENT maker Lafarge has bemoaned ongo- collapse of the cement millhouse roof in October is pleasing to note that cement production is get- last year.
ing bottlenecks in accessing foreign currency from 2021. ting back to normal and will further be improved
the auction market which it says are retarding the by the impending new VRM [vertical roller mill] “This is attributed to the suppressed cement
company’s capital projects. “The company continues to face challenges in start-up. The temporary stoppage in production availability post the cement millhouse roof col-
securing foreign currency for the timely replace- resulted in a backlog of pre-paid orders that need- lapse in October 2021 as cement is a key input in
Desperate to tame the runaway parallel market ment of critical spares that are sourced off-shore. ed to be satisfied before the resumption of nor- dry mortar products,” Ndugwa said.
rate and stabilise prices, the central bank intro- Foreign currency allocations through the auction mal market supplies. While the roof repairs were
duced the Dutch auction system a few years ago, market have been significantly below the compa- taking place, the company continued to produce “The company is confident that volumes will
which critics said was heavily managed by the ny’s requirements,” Geoffrey Ndugwa, Lafarge clinker, manufacture dry mortars and expand the recover and grow as the availability of cement
apex bank and benefited only a few individuals chief executive, said in a statement. retail franchise code-named Binastore. The com- stabilises, especially after the new VRM start-up
and companies. pany has continued to review product pricing to in Q2. The overall market demand continues to
“As a result, foreign currency obligations have keep up with the rapidly increasing cost of inputs grow driven by the segment of individual home
According to the latest Confederation of Zim- become increasingly difficult to meet and sustain. such as fuel, energy and transport.” builders as well as the ongoing major government
babwe Industry annual manufacturing sector sur- In addition, the October 2021 cement millhouse infrastructure development projects. Despite the
vey report, it takes 50 days for a company account roof collapse adversely impacted sales, resulting In addition, one of the existing cement ball adverse impact of the cement millhouse roof col-
to be settled after a bid has been accepted. in pressure on cashflows. The company faced sig- mills was decommissioned to make way for the lapse on cement volumes, the company’s historic
nificant liquidity challenges that hindered it from installation of the new VRM that will double the revenue grew by 36% versus the same period last
Larfarge, according to its latest trading update, fully meeting its cash obligations. company’s capacity after commissioning in the year and declined by 18% on inflation-adjusted
saw a cement volume decline of 55% versus the performance.”
same period last year. This, the company said, is “This affected business operations, resulting

RESOURCES group RioZim says it expects its RioZim expects Dalny Mine rebound
mining unit Dalny Mine to be back online from
June onwards after operations were halted due to testing of its Biological Oxidation (BIOX) Plant Dalny Mine has been one of the key primary producers of gold in Zimbabwe.
flooding. to bring it to commissioning stage.

Dalny, a gold mine located near Chakari in As a result, the mine suspended mining activ-
Mashonaland West province, has been one of the ities from its nearby OneStep Mine to pave way
key primary producers of the yellow metal. The for resumption of production from the Cam &
mine, previously known as Falcon Dalny, was ac- Motor pits. The BIOX plant was successfully
quired by RioZim in late 2016. Gold is Zimba- commissioned subsequent to the end of the peri-
bwe’s single largest foreign currency earner. od, on 14 April 2022.

In its latest trading update, RioZim said gold The group added that nostro retention for
production for the quarter was subdued at 34% exporters remained at 60% from the prior year
below the same period in the prior year due to and continues to be inadequate for business sus-
the testing of the BIOX Plant at its Cam & Mo- tenance and expansion projects.
tor Mine.
Power supply challenges remained prevalent
“There was no gold production at Dalny Mine throughout the quarter, which resulted in under
throughout the period. The mine suffered from capacity utilisation and a high cost of production
poor ground conditions and flooding of its pits through use of expensive alternative power sourc-
which rendered mining activities insurmount- es, the company said.
able," the company said in its first-quarter trad-
ing update. Despite these challenges, the company said the
average gold price for the quarter was US$1 820
“The mine is scheduled to resume operations per ounce, an increase of 4% from US$1 745/
in the second quarter after dewatering of the oz recorded in the comparative period in 2021.
pits.”
— STAFF WRITER
Turning to Cam & Motor Mine, the group
said the mine focused on the completion and

Page 34 Stock Taking NewsHawks

Issue 82, 27 May 2022

Price Sheet A MEMBER OF FINSEC & THE ZIMBABWE STOCK EXCHANGE

Friday, 27 May 2022

Company Sector Bloomberg Previous Last VWAP (cents) Total Total Price Price YTD Market
Traded Traded Traded
AFDIS Consumer Goods Ticker Price (cents) 33000.00 Volume Value ($) Change Change (%) Cap
African Sun Consumer Services Price 1451.12
ART 2200.00 100 33,000 (cents) (%) ($m)
Ariston Industrials 33000.00 397.42 20,900 303,285
Axia Consumer Services AFDIS: ZH 33000.00 1600.00 11096.19 - - 164.00 39,433.19
BAT ASUN: ZH 1464.24 2200.00 366000.00 800 17,600 -13.12 -0.90 125.94 20,662.95
CAFCA Consumer Goods ARTD: ZH 2200.00 380.00 26000.00 3,100 12,320 110.53
CBZ Consumer Goods 400.00 11100.00 11500.00 56,200 6,236,060 - - 9,613.50
CFI ARISTON: ZH 11141.98 26400.00 -2.58 -0.65 6.77 6,467.60
Dairibord Industrials AXIA: ZH 366000.00 - 5000.00 - - -45.79 -0.41 269.26 61,267.65
Delta Banking BAT: ZH 26000.00 - 31969.05 - - 14.34 75,518.67
Ecocash 11500.00 - 9843.54 - - - - 52.94 2,271.13
Econet Industrials CAFCA: ZH 26400.00 - 18478.34 - - - - 52.99 60,106.07
Edgars Consumer Goods CBZ: ZH 5000.00 5000.00 415.63 2,400 120,000 - - 182.14 27,994.79
FBC Consumer Goods CFI:ZH 31069.07 32300.00 7100.00 105,300 33,663,410 - - 42.86 17,900.04
Fidelity 9809.74 9850.00 2000.00 115,700 11,388,980 - - 96.69 416,932.55
First Capital Technology DZL: ZH 18422.36 18600.00 994.17 1,436,700 265,478,300 899.98 2.90 142.14 255,004.51
FML Telecommunications DLTA: ZH 440.04 400.00 1840.00 8,800 36,575 33.80 0.34 117.39 478,695.59
FMP Consumer Services EHZL: ZH 7100.00 - 650.09 - - 55.98 0.30 -4.45 2,511.44
GBH ECO: ZH 2000.00 - 141.13 - - -24.42 -5.55 109.73 47,708.44
Getbucks Banking 999.87 990.00 1175.00 18,700 185,910 - - 26.70 2,178.47
Hippo Financial Services EDGR: ZH 1600.00 1840.00 32500.00 100 1,840 - - 187.83 21,472.23
Innscor FBC: ZH 620.00 650.00 44952.12 64,800 421,260 -5.70 -0.57 -8.00 12,698.63
Lafarge Banking FIDL: ZH 144.77 140.00 15000.00 19,900 28,085 240.00 15.00 -16.66 8,049.14
Mash Financial Services FCA: ZH 1175.00 - 406.32 - - 30.09 4.85 -38.51
Masimba 32500.00 - 5400.00 - - -3.64 -2.51 95.83 757.29
Medtech Real Estate FMHL: ZH 44903.29 44960.00 1980.00 8,500 3,820,930 - - 16.07 13,666.64
Medtech Class B Industrials FMP: ZH 16500.00 15000.00 2600.00 1,200 180,000 - - 176.80 62,731.68
Meikles GBH: ZH 472.50 401.75 17000.00 6,700 27,223 48.83 0.11 87.50 256,171.55
Nampak Financial Services 5462.45 5400.00 1700.00 200 10,800 -1500.00 -9.09 25.23 12,000.00
NatFoods Consumer Goods GBFS: ZH 1980.00 - 220002.50 - - -66.18 -14.01 -1.82
NTS HIPO: ZH 2600.00 - 1165.00 - - -62.45 -1.14 -43.43 7,553.79
NMBZ Industrials 17004.82 17000.00 3000.00 347,200 59,024,000 - - 13,049.30
OK Zim Industrials INN: ZH 1700.00 - 4000.18 - - - - 4.00
Proplastics Real Estate LACZ: ZH 220002.50 - 6800.00 - - -4.82 -0.03 35.89 237.60
RTG Industrials MASH: ZH 1165.00 - 700.00 - - - - 52.37 34.89
RioZim Financial Services MSHL: ZH 2900.22 3000.00 11000.00 100 3,000 - - 60.05
SeedCo Financial Services MMDZ: ZH 3738.33 4000.00 23789.36 138,400 5,536,250 - - 84.92 42,949.83
Simbisa Industrials MMDZB: ZH 6800.00 - 21565.07 - - 99.78 3.44 272.53 12,846.02
Star Africa Industrials MEIK: ZH 700.00 700.00 176.34 2,000 14,000 261.85 7.00 45.75 150,481.95
Tanganda Consumer Goods NPKZ: ZH 11000.00 11000.00 27321.84 900 99,000 - - 134.50
Truworths Industrials 23780.00 23790.00 175.22 7,800 1,855,570 - - -10.26 2,957.61
TSL NTFD: ZH 21991.64 22000.00 8500.44 273,400 58,958,890 - - 175.00 12,125.15
Turnall Banking NTS: ZH 185.48 170.25 430.50 46,500 81,997 9.36 0.04 125.36 51,437.69
Unifreight Consumer Services NMB: ZH 27739.41 29800.00 3500.00 121,800 33,278,000 -426.57 -1.94 139.61 17,131.62
Willdale 174.94 200.00 320.07 34,600 60,625 -9.14 -4.93 52.20 17,468.47
ZB Industrials OKZ: ZH 8500.44 - 7100.00 - - -417.57 -1.51 307.42 13,423.24
Zeco Consumer Services PROL: ZH 430.50 430.50 100 431 0.28 0.16 -12.39 58,807.93
Zimpapers 3500.00 - 2.88 - - - - 21.14 121,235.54
Zimplow Basic Materials RTG: ZH 320.25 320.00 550.00 5,600 17,924 - - 4.97
ZHL Consumer Goods RIOZ: ZH 7100.00 - 2100.00 - - - - 16.80 8,314.58
TOTAL Consumer Goods SEED: ZH - 535.00 - - -0.18 -0.06 3.43 71,327.65
Consumer Goods 2.88 550.00 143,500 789,250 - - -7.79
Consumer Goods SIM: ZH 550.00 - - - - - 500.00 672.96
Consumer Services SACL: ZH 2100.00 520.00 700 3,745 - - 89.00 30,355.28
Consumer Goods TANG: ZH 540.86 2,992,700 481,688,259 - - -11.02
TRUW: ZH -5.86 -1.08 42.26 2,122.54
Industrials 3,726.60
Industrials TSL: ZH 5,690.85
Industrials TURN: ZH 12,438.54
UNIF: ZH
Banking WILD: ZH 13.34
Industrials ZBFH: ZH 3,168.00
Consumer Services ZECO: ZH 7,236.19
Industrials 9,727.47
Financial Services ZIMP: ZH 2,588,348.39
ZIMPLOW: ZH

ZHL: ZH

ETFs DMCS.zw 201.71 199.00 195.96 188,302 369,002 -5.75 -2.85 95.96 138.22
MCMS.zw 2400.56 2400.00 2400.00 12,717 305,208 -0.56 -0.02 140.00 3,088.15
Datvest Modified Consumer Staples ETF OMTT.zw 948.90 981.00 972.82 17,719 172,374 23.92 2.52 121.05 1,397.22
Morgan&Co Multi-Sector ETF
Old Mutual ZSE Top 10 ETF

FINSEC Financial Services OMZIL 21000.00 21500.00 21000.00 5 1,075 - - 110.00 17,432.46

Old Mutual Zimbabwe

VFEX (US cents) Mining BIND:VX US$m
Mining CMCL:VX
BNC Consumer Goods 3.93 - 3.93 - -- - -28.55 50.02
Caledonia Consumer Goods PHL:VX 1300.00 - 1300.00 - -- - - 8.06
Padenga SCIL:VX 22.35 1,623 362.74 0.40 1.82 6.43 121.05
SeedCo International 21.95 - 22.35 - - - - 0.18 107.19
28.10 28.10

Index Close Change (%) Open YTD % Top 5 Risers Price Change % YTD %
ZSE All Share 20,933.98 +0.51 20,827.53 +93.43 FML 1840.00c +240.00c +15.00 -8.00
Top 10 13,454.99 +0.66 13,367.37 +97.54 OK Zim 4000.18c +261.85c +7.00 +45.75
Top 15 14,848.43 +0.74 14,739.81 +97.21 FMP +30.09c +4.85 -16.66
Small Cap -0.97 483,786.14 +18.95 NMBZ 650.09c +99.78c +3.44 +272.53
Medium Cap 479,093.24 +0.15 37,534.03 +84.21 Delta 3000.00c +899.98c +2.90 +96.69
37,591.39 31969.05c

Top 5 Fallers Price Change % YTD %
Mash
Lafarge 406.32c -66.18c -14.01 +25.23
Edgars 15000.00c -1500.00c -9.09 +87.50
Star Africa -5.55 -4.45
GBH 415.63c -24.42c -4.93 +52.20
176.34c -9.14c -2.51 -38.51
141.13c -3.64c

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]
Tel: (+263) 08677008101-2 | Email: [email protected] | Address: 14165 Sauer Road, Gunhill, Harare

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responsibility or liability as to the accuracy or completeness of its content.

Property
NewsHawks

Issue 82, 27 May 2022 PROPERTY INTERIORS ARCHITECTURE GARDENING Page 35

The home of prime property: [email protected]

Residents set conditions
for Warren Hills Golf
Course development

RUVIMBO MUCHENJE force should come from the community on a Augur Investments
60% share.” boss Ken Sharpe
RESIDENTS have set conditions for the de-
velopment of Warren Hills Golf course into a Others said there were fears that the golf
world-class facility with recreational facilities, estate was likely to be too affluent for most of
saying the project must ensure a win-win for all them to afford, hence the need for a community
parties involved. hall with its own entrance that will not have ac-
cess to the golf course.”
After initial resistance from residents for the
project to take off, a stakeholder meeting was Addressing stakeholders last week, Sharpe
called on Thursday this week, where the com- said his company was open to dialogue and im-
pany responsible for the development, Augur mediately cautioned those politicking over in-
Investments and Harare City Council officials vestment opportunities.
faced residents, who have been raising concerns
over the project. “Let me give a word of caution, in Zimba-
bwe, we do not have enough development right
The meeting came after last week’s engage- now. Our country is starving for capital, our
ment over the project by Augur Investments economy is suffering. People’s income has been
boss Ken Sharpe that was attended by Harare eroded by inflation. In the world, we have Unit-
West Member of Parliament Joana Mamombe ed States dollar inflation, the cost of construc-
and local councillor Denford Ngadziore. tion has gone up by 40% during the Covid-19
pandemic.”
Residents said they would want the project
to take off, but gave conditions, including the “We need to attract investments into Zim-
resurfacing of roads around the area. babwe. If we are anti-development and anti-in-
vestment, then we must accept to be poor for
“The four roads, Sherwood Drive, Kirkman, the rest of our lives,” he said, before urging
Harare Drive and Richwell Avenue that demar- councillors not to unnecessarily fight investors.
cate Warren Golf Course should be resurfaced
and street lights must be put in place on those “My plea is do not stand in the way of de-
four roads,” the residents demanded in a state- velopment. Do not target certain investors and
ment released after the meeting. I can ask you of the 81 issues raised by the En-
vironmental Management Committee in their
“We also need employment of general labour- meeting, only one was targeted. Why? What is
ers. 60% of the workers should be locals. The fair for one should be fair for all,” Sharpe said.
company should consider offering other cor-
porate social responsibilities to the community The company has roped in world-renowned
like water and sanitisation through the drilling developer Peter Matkovich to develop the
of solar-powered boreholes.” multi-million-dollar facility that will include
a golf course, recreational facilities, and acade-
“After completion of the project the labour mies, among others.

Page 36 News Analysis NewsHawks

Issue 82, 27 May 2022

MOSES MATENGA ‘Bad leadership ruining Africa’

ON 25 May 1963, the Organisation of African in the present to be enslaved — political freedom Former Ghanaian leader Kwame Nkrumah pean and South American countries than on the
Unity (OAU), now African Union (AU), was that has no social and economic freedom.” African continent.”
formed with a vision to forge greater unity and Fomer Tanzanian leader Julius Nyerere.
solidarity among African countries but, 59 years “We cannot be free as Africans when our social prisingly, the two countries belong to the same Af- “We cannot talk of freedom on the continent
later, the dream of the founding fathers is slowly and economic development capabilities remain so rican regional block tasked with advancing social when some countries prioritise the purchase of
dwindling. disparate. We are countries on the same continent and economic development ideals.” weapons and heavy artillery at a time when there
that remain worlds apart,” he said. is no war or immediate threat to sovereignty. The
The likes of the late former Ghanaian leader “With such processing challenges, one won- same guns and artillery are then used to thwart the
Kwame Nkrumah wanted peace, co-operation He said there was a need for African leaders to ders how the African Continental Free Trade Area voices of dissent in the country.”
and respect for human rights, but events in Af- enhance technological capabilities that could easi- (AfCFTA) agreement would be realised to the full
rica show that a lot has not been achieved, with ly allow the movement of people and goods, add- benefit with bottlenecks limiting trade among Af- “Yet there is scant commitment to investing in
observers accusing the new crop of leaders of pur- ing that currently this remains a concern. rican countries.” infrastructure, rather preferring to be on standby
suing selfish agendas, while hobnobbing with the to fight off imaginary threats of danger, especially
powerful countries hell-bent on plundering their “. . . yet you can enter another country, and you “We, therefore, cannot talk of freedom among in disputed border regions on the continent. The
resources. are greeted by paper-based systems and with the African countries when in some cases it is more continued wars that seem endless stemming from
processing of travellers taking hours on end. Sur- expensive to do business with other African coun- inherited generational conflicts delay the building
Among the founding values of the OAU was tries than non-African ones. Surprisingly in some of schools, clinics and the provision of social ame-
the need to co-ordinate and intensify the co-oper- instances, it is cheaper for products to enter Euro- nities.”
ation of African states in order to achieve a better
life for the people Africa. He added: “We cannot talk of African freedom
when daily the lives of African youths are robbed
The founding fathers also envisaged the need of their future on the same continent they call
to defend the sovereignty, territorial integrity and home. The fallacious promises of corrupt African
independence of African states while also ensur- leaders are a far cry from their actions toward a
ing that Africans enjoyed human rights and raised better end.”
their standard of living.
In a published analysis, Pregala Pillay and Chris
But as it stands, several African countries have Jones said that for Africa to rise, there was a need
been red flagged for human rights abuses, corrup- for better leadership.
tion and other vices amid growing concern that
many are even worse in their attitude than the for- “Bad governance has been Africa’s major obsta-
mer colonisers. cle and constraint to socio-economic development
over the past few decades. This has in turn been
Academic Ibbo Mandaza said the new current informed by weak ethical and political leadership,”
crop of African leaders was hardly pursuing the vi- the two wrote.
sion of the founding fathers, while questioning the
independence of the African Union, whose head- Africa Day is celebrated annually.
quarters was built by Chinese and the continental “However, when examining different African
body depends on donor funding. countries, one finds many examples of how po-
litical leadership is, in fact, a major impediment
“They are hardly pursuing that dream because to these countries' growth, development, transfor-
Julius Nyerere, Kwame Nkrumah, Kenneth Kaun- mation, and prosperity.”
da, among others, are all gone and the generation Corruption has been flagged as one of the key
of leaders has lost the vision; they are more about challenges facing Africa today. On the Transparen-
themselves, some of them cannot even spell the cy International’s 2021 Corruption Perception In-
term pan-Africanism,” Mandaza said. dex (CPI), sub-Saharan Africa is the lowest-scor-
ing region in the world with regards to eradicating
“We are further away from goals of African corruption. “What is clear, is that a generation of
liberation and this is reflected even in the African new African leaders must be elected to office who
Union itself. You have the headquarters of the AU are altruistic, ethical, inspirational, and innovative
built by the Chinese, it is an indictment that AU and have a global vision in terms of taking both
depends on donor funding. It is a sad situation,” their country and the continent forward.”
he said. Citizens’ Coalition for Change (CCC) leader
Nelson Chamisa said Africa can only be saved by
China constructed the AU headquarters in Ad- new leadership.
dis Ababa, Ethiopia, with a report showing that “The legacy of our founding fathers and the
surveillance equipment was installed to snoop on liberation generation in Africa is at risk without
proceedings and communications. the effort of Africa’s young and new generation of
leaders. Africa will be saved by two things: leader-
China has shown interest in Africa, targeting ship and entrepreneurship.”
the continent’s resources, with particular interest In his Africa Day message, President Emmer-
in mining, agriculture and other ventures. son Mnangagwa said Africa must be free from
interference by others and be allowed to run its
Zimbabwe’s opposition Zapu said the AU has own race.
failed to rein in dictators. “Despite the colonial borders that separate us,
despite the ethnic differences, varied languages
Party spokesperson Msongelwa Ndlovu said and customs as well as differences in our political
the AU has dismally failed to call out injustices by realities, we are one, we are born of the same Afri-
member states and attacks on immigrants, as has can consciousness and remain united towards the
been witnessed in South Africa recently. common future,” Mnangagwa said.
“The principle of non-interference in the inter-
Anti-immigrant groups in South Africa have nal affairs of other countries must be respected. As
been targeting foreigners in attacks that have in people of this continent of Africa, we must enjoy
most cases turned bloody, including the violent the rights guaranteed to each and every citizen of
killing of Zimbabwean national Elvis Nyathi, who the world. Zimbabwe condemns both subtle and
was burnt to death by an angry mob. brute practices of racism and we call for the end of
racial prejudices in all its forms.”
“The AU has failed dismally to bring to order Political analyst Alexander Rusero said although
regimes which acquire and retain power through Africa has attained political independence, the
the most undemocratic means. Not only do they continent is yet to attain true economic freedom,
stampede around the feeding trough, but they with many colonial masters still interfering in the
have now reduced the union into an old boys’ club internal affairs of sovereign states.
to protect and insulate even the most mischievous “The dream was and is a process, that is why
despots Africa has ever produced,” Ndlovu said. the likes of Kwame Nkrumah exhorted all African
states to ‘seek yee first the political kingdom and
“They remain silent when fellow Africans are everything else would fall in place’,” Rusero said.
killed, raped, and abused by their governments for “So yes, almost six decades after, the continent
demanding justice and economic opportunities. has driven out colonial administrators and we
now have African administrators. But sadly inde-
“The AU turns a blind eye when these immi- pendence in Africa has not translated to decoloni-
grants choose slavery in the same world capitals sation. Erstwhile colonialists are still pretty much
we fought against over their own motherland. Vic- in charge of their independent colonies. Not one
es like tribalism and xenophobia pervade African single African country is fully independent from
society today, where a majority seeks to annihilate its erstwhile colonisers. So we can’t denigrate the
the minority both economically and politically. dream on the basis of bad human rights, bad gov-
ernance and corruption, but keep quiet on the
“The AU sees and hears no evil. Kwame Nkru- source of all such social ills which is continued
mah should be turning in his revolutionary grave.” coloniality.”

Willie Tafadzwa Chinyamurindi, a professor at
Fort Hare University in South Africa, said Africa
cannot be free as long as the current crop of leaders
do not unite their countries and allow free trade.

“We cannot be free as Africans when our social
and economic development capabilities remain so
disparate,” Chinyamurindi said.

“We are countries on the same continent that
remain worlds apart. This becomes apparent and
often nauseating for me as I travel the continent.”

Yes, names have since changed from the OAU
to the African Union, yet the mandate remains
portentous. The majority of African countries have
gained political freedom since 1963 yet continue

NewsHawks Critical Thinking Page 37

Issue 82, 27 May 2022

JAYNISHA PATEL/CYPRIAN MUCHEMWA Zimbabwe’s youth caught
between patronage, plunder
AT the time of its independence, op-
timism abounded about Zimbabwe’s Gold panners.
potential to become a model African
state that would leverage its abun- Women are also migrating to as Mbimbos, Magombiro and Mabhu- with very deep pits and heavily silted these pockets of instability is poor
dance of natural resources towards the Kwekwe to sell goods and services dhi, who mostly specialise in raiding sections. Other parts of the river have governance, that has in turn sabotaged
creation of a truly inclusive society. to artisanal small-scale gold miners gold ore or demanding rents from been diverted by ASGMers. These ac- the formal economy and left youth
(ASGMers), ranging from food and ASGMers using machetes and guns. tivities have affected the river’s aquatic with few prospects to prosperity. Un-
Sadly, this potential was squan- clothes to transactional sex.  Also in- life, farmers, wildlife and livestock.  checked youth unemployment within
dered by weak and often predatory volved are politicians, illegal gold buy- Growth and expansion of ASGM a state where patronage is accessible
governance, leaving society with few ers, middlemen, runners and criminal can be connected to the economic de- The water supply and quality of largely through the ruling party Za-
prospects to prosperity.  syndicates. The involvement of crimi- cline, rising unemployment and pov- towns like Bindura and Glendale are nu-PF is an option for some, leaving
nal syndicates has led to an increase in erty in Zimbabwe. also affected. Excessive use of chem- most youth forced into the informal
At present, Zimbabwe’s youth face violence and murders in the Kwekwe icals like mercury means the towns or illicit economy, or to seek work in
an entirely different future to the one area.  The situation has also been allowed now require additional chemicals to other countries where they are no less
promised at independence and again to worsen with the government turn- purify their water from this pollution. economically and socially vulnerable.
after the “new dispensation” in 2017.  Evidence points to violent conflict ing a blind eye to ASGMers’ activities
among different players in a bid to because the sector now plays a signif- In offsetting the dangers unlocked If anything, scarcity lies at the heart
Today, the country remains in a control resource-rich areas. The grow- icant role is supporting livelihoods of by these sites of illegal mining, is it of threats to stability and it is crucial
fragile state, characterised by chron- ing number of ASGMers and the in- many families.  critical that multilateral bodies like that the state facilitates an environ-
ic poverty, high levels of formal un- formal nature of the sector have con- SADC and the AU support research ment for private sector development
employment that has resulted in an tributed to  ongoing chaotic mining In addition to creating pockets of and fact finding related to the illegal and human development.
over-reliance on the informal econ- operations and rising instability. Eco- instability, its unregulated nature has mining operations. Urgent attention
omy, a virtually bankrupt state and nomic inequity could help explain the fed an increase in smuggling of metals and further research are required to This means that it ought to con-
endemic corruption. Declining state phenomenon of machete-wielding and minerals, with much of the gold better understand the circumstances cern itself with improving governance
capacity not only translated into gangs,  Mashurugwi, who are largely produced by ASGMers being smug- and impacts of the ongoing and esca- so that its core function is service to
weakened relations between the state marginalised youths that have resort- gled out of the country. As such, there lating illegal mining across the coun- society. 
and society, but also fuelled growing ed to violence and theft in mining is no fiscal benefit to the country. It is try.
competition for resources that has areas. estimated that gold worth $1.5 billion Without this, scarcity will continue
eventually yielded greater polarisation is smuggled annually out of Zimba- In instances where chemicals like to threaten the social fabric of society.
within society.  Data sourced from the Armed bwe. mercury are affecting water quality, To this end, SADC, as the region-
Conflict Location and Events Data immediate action is needed to safe- al body, should actively advance this
Ultimately, this state of perpetual (ACLED) project and used for this Smuggling deprives the govern- guard people, aquatic life, wild ani- agenda. It has a crucial role to play in
fragility within a country character- research, shows that this environment ment of much-needed revenue and mals and farm animals. Environmen- holding the Zimbabwean government
ised by trust deficits and a population has led to a gradual increase in conflict foreign exchange, yet the government talists and affected communities must accountable to standards of good gov-
left to fend for itself, has fractured so- events over the last 10 years. The surge earmarked gold production as a key also be supported to work towards ernance, which is also critical for the
cial cohesion and continues to threat- in violence is largely attributed to an sector contributing towards its Vision sustainable solutions. long-term peace and prosperity of the
en social and political stability. With increase in the number of ”attacks”, 2030. region.
millions facing economic marginalisa- “armed clashes” and “mob violence”. The international community
tion, the informal economy (with its Through this, Zimbabwe is also should also consider targeted sanc- *About the writers: Jaynisha Par-
own inherent vulnerabilities) has been Prominent actors in Kwekwe are being deprived of its natural heritage tions against the trade in illicit gold. el is a researcher at the Institute for
the only means to earn a living.  gangs including a group locally known with mining causing massive environ- This, coupled with human develop- Justice and Reconciliation in South
as Al Shabaab. They have strong con- mental damage on huge tracts of land. ment programmes for youth forced Africa. Cyprian Muchemwa is a lec-
Zimbabwe now looks to the next nections to some senior ruling party Mazowe River in the Mazowe district, into the trade due to a lack of other turer at Bindura University of Sci-
decade where a decidedly young and officials from the province. Other another popular site for illegal min- options, can help offset the illegal ence Education.
vulnerable population must navigate criminal gangs include groups such ing, has more than 155 kilometres of trade and its impact on youth.
declining living conditions with few its bank destroyed by alluvial mining.  — Mail & Guardian.
options to secure gainful employ- However, at the heart of driving
ment. Damaged areas include portions

Recent research  from the Institute
for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR)
finds that youth are now being driven
to participate in risky and sometimes
violent endeavours so that they can
earn some form of income. Compe-
tition over scarce resources, low levels
of human development and few op-
portunities in the formal economy
have resulted in an influx of youth,
politicians, gangs and other actors
engaging in the illicit economy, where
people are embroiled in violence.

One dangerous manifestation of
this reality is unfolding at illegal min-
ing sites. Artisanal small-scale gold
mining (ASGM) has attracted desper-
ate youth but also other actors such
as political elites, illegal gold buyers,
unscrupulous middlemen and crimi-
nals. Serious violence in artisanal min-
ing was first witnessed in alluvial dia-
mond mining in the Chiadzwa area in
Manicaland province during the most
difficult economic downturn in the
country between 2005 and 2008.

One area under study was the dis-
trict of Kwekwe in the Midlands prov-
ince of central Zimbabwe. Originally
established as a mining town in 1898,
successive waves of economic decline
and structural adjustments forced
mines to scale down and eventually
shut down, resulting in thousands los-
ing their source of income. 

The ASGM in Kwekwe became
the only lucrative option for the un-
employed because of attractive gold
prices offered by illegal gold buyers.
Although artisanal mining was de-
criminalised in 2014, it has made way
for pockets of lawlessness that have
turned into sites of instability and vi-
olence.

Today, it is estimated that there
are about one million people who are
making a living from illegal mining
activities in Kwekwe. With such a
large influx of people to the area there
has also been a growing demographic
diversity and that has come with ten-
sions underpinned by the differing in-
terests of those involved in the sector.

Page 38 Critical Thinking NewsHawks

Issue 82, 27 May 2022

Pan-African integration has made
progress but needs mindset change

BABATUNDE FAGBAYIBO

THIS year’s celebration of  Africa
Day  provides another opportunity
to assess how far continental inte-
gration has progressed.

Integration would mean a truly
united Africa — either a federalist
“United States of Africa” or the Af-
rican Union (AU) exercising  bind-
ing powers over member states. At
present the AU merely serves as a
platform for coordinating the inter-
actions of its 55 member states.

Although some progress has been
made, more needs to be done to
achieve the goal of integration.

Member states need to move be-
yond paying lip service to unity, and
empower critical AU organs. This
requires a shift in mentality. States
need to appreciate the need to sac-
rifice some autonomy for common
socioeconomic and political gains.
Lacklustre commitment to con-
tinental integration is connected
with Africa’s peripheral position in
global dynamics.

In my view, as a researcher of the
institutional dynamics of Africa’s
integration process, pan-African in-
tegration is in a crucial phase. This
phase is as important as the creation
of the Organisation of African Uni-
ty in 1963 and its eventual replace-
ment with the AU 20 years ago.

A pan-African worldview African leaders take a group photo in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
In a 1969 speech, the then Tanza-
nian president, Julius Nyerere, cap- itive developments that could ad- national development plans. on Human and Peoples’ Rights. come from  an integrated Africa,
tured  what the African worldview vance integration. They include the Yet pan-African continental in- In reaction to judgments against many African countries remain
entails: adoption of the following instru- them, member states such as  Tan- wary of the process. For example,
ments and processes: tegration remains constrained by zania,  Benin,  Rwanda, and  Côte some restrict human mobility. They
We recognise that we are involved many problems. d’Ivoire  have withdrawn the per- have refused to sign the continental
in the world and that the world is • AU Agenda 2063, the AU’s mission allowing individuals and protocol on free movement, citing
involved in us. Involvement with- blueprint for faster economic These include countries’  unwill- NGOs access to the court. security concerns and protection of
out understanding, however, can be growth ingness  to transfer powers to AU local jobs.
embarrassing and even dangerous. organs. The AU’s dependence on exter-
• 0.2% import tax levy  on nal funding is another impediment. Changing mindsets
A pan-Africanist worldview un- member states to finance AU pro- Addressing this will require a Despite ongoing financial reforms, The effectiveness of reforms at the
derstands that the continent can- grammes and policies change of worldview. Africa needs at least  61% of its budget  comes AU depends on a change of mind-
not exist in isolation. However, this to rebalance the way it sees itself from external donors. Some use do- set. Members need to understand
must be accompanied by a determi- • the  African Continental Free and relates to the world. African nations as a tool to manipulate AU that enhancement of Africa’s posi-
nation to drive an agenda that en- Trade Area states need to equip national and processes. tion in global realpolitik depends
hances pan-African goals. regional institutions to deliver on on an internally cohesive body. This
• the  free movement proto- the promise of political and eco- The continuous violation of AU will require actions in three key ar-
This position reflects the views of col (yet to come into force) nomic development. norms and standards on human eas:
many of Nyerere’s contemporaries, What’s not working rights and governance is a major
and those who came after him, on • sanctions  for non-payment of The ability to project a strategic obstacle to deepening continental • a detailed but  flexible  plan
how Africa should position itself on membership dues pan-African worldview is under- integration. For example, there has showing how willing states will
the global stage. mined by several factors. One is been an  upsurge  in military coups transfer supranational powers to
• reducing  the number of AU the unwillingness to transfer supra- in recent years. In addition,  dem- AU organs
Kwame Nkrumah’s  “African per- Commission members national powers to key AU insti- ocratic backsliding  is on the rise,
sonality”, Thabo Mbeki’s  “African tutions. For example, the Pan-Af- through unconstitutional changes • including the African populace
renaissance”, and the oft-repeat- • gender equality in leadership rican Parliament has only  limited, of term limits,  digital repression, in AU programmes and processes
ed  “African solutions to African • regulating the relations  be- advisory  rather than full legislative violent  clampdown on opposition
problems”  have also been used to tween the AU and the eight regional powers. voices, and electoral fraud. • adherence to constitutionalism.
capture the essence of an effective economic communities. Without a system that empha-
pan-African worldview. As  Thomas Tieku, an expert on Similarly, the AU Commission The AU’s response has been tep- sises fundamental rights and good
Africa’s international relations, has lacks the power to make member id. In some cases, leaders involved governance, regional integration
Mbeki’s idea speaks to restoring observed, despite some of the fail- states comply with institutional in  suppressing  democratic voices goals such as trade, free movement
Africa’s dignity, and pushing for ures of pan-African integration, the rules. The 2017  Kagame report  on are tasked with leading key process- of people, gender equality, peace
its economic and political devel- AU has set admirable guidelines on AU reforms noted that the union es in the AU. and security cannot be realised.
opment. Nkrumah’s advances the governance, peace and security. has passed over 1,500 resolutions — The Conversation.
principles of societal equality. It It has also developed enforce- but has no mechanism for tracking The limited role of civil society in
places the community over the in- ment mechanisms for violations their implementation. pan-African integration is another *About the writer: Babatunde
dividual in preparing African soci- of its standards. It has quickly ad- concern. And there is little public Fagbayibo is professor of inter-
eties to establish a federal union of opted the African Continental Free Member states have failed awareness of what the AU does and national law at the University of
African states that is assertive on the Trade Area, empowered the African to  comply  with about 75% of the how. South Africa.
global stage. Union Development Agency-NE- decisions of the African Court
What’s working PAD,  mobilised resources to get Despite the benefits that could
The continent has seen some pos- COVID-19 vaccines, and integrat-
ed the AU development agenda into

NewsHawks Critical Thinking Page 39

Issue 82, 27 May 2022

The African Union’s conflict early
warning system no more. What now?

ULF ENGEL

SINCE 2017, the African Union (AU) by the so-called Situation Room while developed a horizon-scanning practice. Second, it’s not clear what role the Peacekeeping soldiers.
has undergone institutional reforms to the second and third were carried out From 2016, it briefed the Peace and Se- system’s technical staff will play within steady progress in implementing the
increase its efficiency and effectiveness. by analysts. curity Council twice a year. However, the union’s peace and security appara- early warning dimensions of the Peace
this was also discontinued during the tus. Or what becomes of the tools that and Security Council Protocol, and
The gist of these reforms was pro- The  early warning analyses  were to pandemic. have been developed and customised even going beyond it. There is a strong
posed by the so-called  Kagame Re- be used by the chairperson of the Afri- The effect of institutional reform for data collection and analysis over the need for its decision-makers to realise
port commissioned by the AU Assem- can Union Commission: to advise the The Continental Early Warning System past 13 years. that these early warning functions and
bly of Heads of State and Government. Peace and Security Council on poten- was unfortunately obliterated under the practices must be re-organised quickly,
tial conflicts and threats to peace and broad AU reforms in 2021 that created Third, there is no dedicated unit left systematically and substantively.
An advisory team led by Rwanda security in Africa, and recommend the a new department of Political Affairs, to prepare the statutory horizon-scan-
President Paul Kagame took on  “the best course of action. Peace and Security. ning briefings for the Peace and Secu- On the issue of early warning and
chronic failure to see through African Early warning practices rity Council. conflict prevention, the well-intend-
Union decisions”. This had led to the Numerous early warning reports were The Situation Room has been re- ed institutional reform of the African
AU being seen as having limited rele- developed, such as the automated Afri- tained, but the early warning system Fourth, there is no unit in place to Union has gone a step too far.
vance to African citizens. ca News Brief or Daily Reports. There analysts were redeployed to regional continue assisting member states to
were also in-depth, analytical early desks. There are now three regional identify and address structural vulner- However, this can be easily rectified.
The team also addressed financial warning reports that offered concrete desks: West and Central Africa, East abilities at an early stage to build more A possible way forward can be bor-
over-dependence on external partners, policy recommendations. and Southern Africa, and North Africa. resilient and prosperous nations. This rowed from another structure that was
the under-performance of some organs They are staffed by five analysts each. core function is quite different from the dissolved under the new organogram:
and institutions, and the ambiguous The early warning system also devel- work of the African Peer Review Mech- the African Union Border Programme.
working relations between the African oped a strong dimension of long-term Obviously, they are preoccupied anism and cannot be replaced by it. The border programme had de-
Union Commission, and regional enti- conflict prevention practices. It resulted with conflict management in the many veloped an important track record
ties and member states. in strategies that countries could use to cases of violent extremism and terror- Finally, there is no indication which in addressing ill-demarcated borders
assess their potential for conflict and de- ism, or unconstitutional changes of organ will now coordinate and harmo- and border conflict in amicable ways.
One reform proposed was the merg- velop mitigation strategies. In 2017 and government. They simply don’t have nise the early warning relationship be- Its “need for dedicated capacity and
ing of the Political Affairs and Peace 2018, Ghana became the first country the time and structure to also do ear- tween the African Union and regional required resources” was recently  ac-
and Security departments in 2021. It is to voluntarily go through this process. ly warnings. This means the dedicated economic communities. knowledged  during a meeting of the
now called the Department of Political place for early warnings is gone. Specialised Technical Committee on
Affairs, Peace and Security. Another problem to be overcome A possible future Defence, Safety and Security held in
was the ‘silo mentality’ among African So, what are the practical implica- The current structure of the new Ethiopia on 12 May 2022.
However, the result was that one Union Commission stakeholders who tions of these decisions? Department of Political Affairs, Peace Taking stock of the achievements
of the five pillars of the African Peace were acting in isolation to each other. and Security basically does not fulfil the and current needs of the continental
and Security Architecture – the  Con- For this purpose, a separate  conflict First, the question arises: can these early warning mandate of the Peace and early warning system should follow
tinental Early Warning System  – has prevention framework  was established rather dramatic changes be made Security Council Protocol. soon.
disappeared. Established in 2002, the in 2015. The task force was partly oper- without the African Union Assembly It also does not address the ambi- — The Conversation.
early warning system was created to ational, until the COVID-19 pandem- revising the Peace and Security Coun- tious aims spelled out in the  African
anticipate and prevent conflicts in the ic hit the continent. cil Protocol? As stated earlier, the early Peace and Security Architecture Road- *About the writer: Ulf Engel is a
continent. warning system is one of five statutory map and the Master Roadmap on Si- professor at the Institute of African
In engaging decision-makers, the pillars of the African Peace and Security lencing the Guns. Studies, University of Leipzig, Ger-
It was recently argued that the warn- Continental Early Warning System Architecture. The African Union had years of many.
ing system’s functions would be incor-
porated across the new portfolio de-
partment. However, its major functions
can no longer be performed. These in-
clude coordination and harmonisation
with regional economic communities,
and assisting member states in conflict
analysis and mitigation.

As a former adviser to the African
Union’s Peace and Security Depart-
ment, I am deeply concerned about the
effect this will have on the continent’s
capability to prevent violent conflict.

The warning system’s major achieve-
ments included analytical reports that
informed the chairperson of the Afri-
can Union Commission and the Peace
and Security Council on impending
conflict situations. It also established
regular, direct relations with the council
and helped regional economic commu-
nities develop their own early warning
systems.

It further facilitated early warning
exchanges across the continent, and
helped member states address issues of
structural stability and root causes of
conflict.

The continental system additionally
offered regular analyses in pre-election
situations that had in the past escalated
to violent conflict.
Establishing the system
The African Union’s Continental Early
Warning System became operational in
2012, 10 years after its formation. This
followed the careful design of its sys-
tems, workflow and structure.

Historically, the core of the system
was the Conflict Management Centre.
This was set up in 1993 for the Organ-
isation of African Unity, the AU’s pre-
decessor.

The early warning system functions
included information monitoring and
collection. Second was conflict and
cooperation analyses. Third was the
formulation of response options for de-
cision-makers. The first was carried out

Page 40 Reframing Issues NewsHawks

Issue 82, 27 May 2022

Commonwealth in Kigali: Another chance
for Rwanda’s Kagame to project soft power

KEITH GOTTSCHALK

RWANDA is getting its turn to host
the Commonwealth Heads of Govern-
ment Meeting from 20 June to 25 June
2022. The grouping of former imperi-
alist Britain power plus its dismantled
empire of former colonies, protector-
ates, and mandates has not had its bi-
ennial summit since 2018 because of
Covid-19 restrictions. Rwanda, one of
the five "non-British Empire" member
states, joined the 54-member organisa-
tion in 2009. Political scientist Keith
Gottschalk unpacks key points of the
Kigali meeting.

What’s the history of the Com-
monwealth?
After the Second World War, the
United Kingdom dropped the use of
terms like “British Empire” and “Im-
perial”. As each colony, protectorate
or mandate gained independence it
was invited to join the Common-
wealth of Nations, which was formed
in 1949. The Commonwealth is
viewed as an inter-governmental or-
ganisation of equals.

The British monarch is only its
ceremonial head. Its working secre-
tariat is elected. Today, it is one of
the largest international governmen-
tal organisations, surpassing its Fran-
cophone, Lusophone and Islamic
equivalents. As a symbol of formal
equality, it rotates its summits among
members. The first summit was held
in Singapore; the most recent in Lon-
don. They are usually held every sec-
ond year.

What’s its relevance in today’s through discussions and negotiations lations seem to have taken a positive annual membership dues was wide- Rwandan President Paul Kagame.
world? about why different governments fol- turn. ly accepted. This international role
Relationships between a former im- low different policies. What does Rwanda gain by hosting brought much positive publicity (in What are the risks of such a
perialist power and an ex-colony are For "non-British Empire" states, the summit? Africa) to Kagame and Rwanda. high-profile event?
often fraught. The former imperialist what’s the attraction? It gives President Paul Kagame There are dangers in the spotlight.
power may dominate the economy of Many states find it a gain in prestige prestige and soft power. Kagame is A Commonwealth summit in Some human rights protest organ-
its colony for up to a century after and influence to add the Common- often  termed  “the West’s favourite Kigali enables President Kagame to isations could use the opportunity
“flag independence”. wealth to their portfolio. Rwanda, dictator” because he gets no public showcase the modernity of his capi- to seek media attention, to argue
Cameroon, Mozambique, Mauritius criticism from states in Europe and tal, and position himself as central in that it is inappropriate for a country
For example, South Africa got in- and the Seychelles are all examples northern America. But he receives a international diplomatic networks. with Kagame’s human rights record
dependence in 1910, but only a cen- of states with multiple internation- steady trickle of  criticism  from civil Kigali has an impressive  convention to host the Commonwealth summit.
tury later did its trade and investment al affiliations. (Mauritius and the society groups over repression of ri- centre, for instance. Rule of law, human rights, freedom
with China overtake that from the Seychelles were ruled successively as vals at home and dispatch of death of expression and democracy are
UK.The Commonwealth has done French, then British colonies.) squads to assassinate opponents Kagame also gets the opportunity some of the values of the Common-
remarkably well in retaining mem- abroad. to project all the positive dimensions wealth. Rights groups could organise
bership, and in comity of relations, In the case of Rwanda, joining the of his achievements such as econom- protests outside Rwandan embassies
despite these background tensions. Commonwealth was also intended as Author and journalist Michela ic growth (which averaged 7.2% over in western countries.
Associated entities range from the a diplomatic slap in the face to the Wrong’s  Do Not Disturb  bestseller, the decade before the COVID-19
Commonwealth Parliamentary Asso- French government from a Franco- and reactions to the jailing of  Paul outbreak) and a pro-information And should Rwandan troops in
ciation to university links. Publishers phone country. Rusesabagina, who saved lives in technology  policy  that includes  dis- the Democratic Republic of Con-
open branches in other Common- Rwanda’s genocide, are just the lat- tributing smartphones to households. go be involved in battles, or miner-
wealth countries: Oxford University Rwanda was a German colony, est examples of this undercurrent of als looting, during the summit, this
Press is the most prominent of these. then a Belgian mandate, and was condemnation. The summit will no doubt include could also detract from the summit
never under British rule. But the cen- tours of the 1994 genocide museum prestige accruing to Kagame. But
The average country in the de- tral Africa nation has been viewed as Ascension to the African Union for the visiting heads of state and overall, this Commonwealth summit
veloping world cannot afford to a French enclave in Africa. chairmanship in 2018 brought more government, and accompanying me- will be another feather in the cap of
maintain more than ten or a dozen prestige to Kagame than usual for dia. President Kagame.
embassies abroad. Summits like the Rwanda has been  bickering  with other chairs.
Commonwealth Heads of Govern- France for nearly 30 years, over in- Rwanda is a continental leader in — The Conversation.
ment Meeting provide useful oppor- volvement in the 1994 genocide. It’s His proposal to the African Union effective family planning. Rwanda
tunities for networking. only since the 2021 visit to Kigali by to narrow its focus in the interests of also boasts the  world record  for the *About the writer: Keith
President Emmanuel Macron that re- efficiency, and revise its collection of highest percentage of MPs who are Gottschalk is a political scientist at
It brings over 50 heads of govern- women, over 60%. This is especially the University of the Western Cape
ment to the same town at the same rare in African parliaments. in South Africa.
time. It is convenient to arrive a day
early, or depart a day late, to allow
time for lobbying as well as wheeling
and dealing.

Past summits have not had dra-
matic outcomes, but cleared the air

NewsHawks Reframing Issues Page 41

Issue 82, 27 May 2022

Angola’s ruling party faces united opposition
in upcoming polls. But it’s pushing back

JON SCHUBERT/GIBSON LÁZARO

THE election of Angolan Presi- as a trustworthy partner on the global Angolans. In an initial phase (2017- co Democrático  of  Filomeno Vieira Angolan President João Lourenço.
dent João Lourenço in 2017  raised stage. The negotiation of an agree- 19) the Angolan public was willing Lopes  and the political project  Pra-
hopes of a shift from the authoritari- ment with the  International Mon- to  trust  the new president’s willing- Já servir Angola, of  Abel Chivuku- Looking forward
an and corrupt era of his predecessor. etary Fund  for a multibillion credit ness to  reform. Since then, the so- vuku (ex-UNITA and ex-CASA-CE). Three months ahead of elections,
line to stabilise the ailing economy in cio-economic situation has got worse. The empire strikes back Angola presents a paradoxical pic-
This was thanks to the new, more 2018, was trumpeted as evidence of A politicised judiciary is playing a key ture. While foreign  investors  hail
open and approachable style of gover- Angola’s openness to reform. Many citizens (including some role in Lourenço’s fight back. Lourenço as a “courageous” great re-
nance he instituted in his first months within the MPLA) are dissatisfied former,  hunger,  poverty, and popu-
in office. This included opening up The change paved the way for new with a selective fight against corrup- Rattled by the threat posed by Cos- lar dissatisfaction are on the rise. The
the public media as well as symbolic oil investments and some debt re- tion that targets Dos Santos’ allies ta Júnior, Lourenço has mobilised the MPLA is reverting to old authoritar-
gestures such as ending the practice of scheduling. while promoting oligopolies associat- Constitutional Court, where most of ian reflexes – legal-administrative ob-
blocking off road traffic for the presi- ed with Lourenço. the judges are associated with the stacles, harassment and intimidation,
dent’s motorcade to pass. Yet these ‘reforms’ have largely MPLA. physical violence, arbitrary detention,
been geared towards  external audi- The end of the honeymoon coin- extra-legal killings, media manipula-
Yet ahead of the August 2022 elec- ences – including regaining the trust cided with change at the head of the After a  bogus claim  by some al- tion, judicial bias and electoral fraud
tions, in which Lourenço is running of foreign investors. opposition National Union for the leged UNITA member, the court in – to thwart any possible opposition
for a second term, these hopes have Total Independence of Angola (UNI- October 2021  annulled  the party’s threat to its dominance.
largely been dashed. Rather than improving socio-eco- TA ), one of Angola’s three historic 13th congress held in 2019 that had
nomic circumstances, self-inflicted liberation movements turned rebel elected Costa Júnior as leader on spu- The United Patriotic Front fac-
Lourenço’s moves to ‘open up’ the austerity measures have hit the poor- group turned opposition party, which rious grounds. es likely legal challenges, voter regis-
Angolan economy have had little ef- er parts of the population hardest. elected Adalberto Costa Júnior in No- tration is marred by obstacles, human
fect. Instead, an economic crisis that Debt servicing stands at 60% of gov- vember 2019. He was, until his elec- This was a political rather than rights  violations and the  repres-
has endured since late 2014 has led ernment expenditure. Health and tion to the party presidency, the head a legal decision, with a majority sion of protests are on the rise again.
to popular dissatisfaction and anger education are languishing at levels of of the party’s parliamentary bench. of judges following the wishes of the State-controlled media give over-
among Angolans. This anger is be- spending that are among the conti- He’s a fierce critic of the MPLA and president. The ruling triggered an- whelming airtime to the MPLA
hind the formation of a broad politi- nent’s lowest. And service standards its anti-corruption policies. gry protests across the country. while censoring opposition voices.
cal opposition front against the ruling are just as low.
party, the People’s Movement for the Costa Júnior (60) quickly gained An extraordinary UNITA party As a result, the elections are likely
Liberation of Angola (MPLA). The The cost of living has skyrocketed, in  popularity, articulating clear po- congress in December 2021 reelected to be marred by fraud, intimidation
new United Patriotic Front brings to- with the price of basic foodstuffs ex- sitions and cutting a much more Costa Júnior with an overwhelming and violence, with a subservient ju-
gether key opposition leaders as well ploding. presidential figure than his predeces- majority. But a further six-month de- diciary again quashing any legal chal-
as civil society organisations. Opposition consolidates sor, Isaías Samakuva. lay by the court in validating that sec- lenges to the MPLA.
A newly invigorated opposition is ond congress (plus those of five other
This front could be the best hope promising to capitalise on rising pop- Costa Júnior’s ascendance also parties) tied UNITA up in exhaust- — The Conversation.
for opposition and civil society activ- ular dissatisfaction. This has resulted paved the way for the  creation  of ing legal challenges. This prolonged
ists to prevent yet another victory for in frequent strikes and protests across the United Patriotic Front. insecurity and impeded Costa Júnior *About the writers: Jon Schubert
the MPLA and João Lourenço. That’s the country. from pre-election campaigning or is SNF Eccellenza Professor at the
because it brings together under one The front includes large sectors signing any agreements in the name University of Basel in Switzerland.
umbrella key opposition leaders and The opposition has never been in of organised civil society opposed to of the party. Gilson Lázaro is associate professor
offers a credible alternative for those a better position to earn the vote of the MPLA as well as political par- at the Catholic University of Ango-
disaffected with Lourenço and his ties. These include UNITA, the Blo- la.
party.

That said, even though the ruling
party’s voter share has been steadi-
ly declining, it is likely to win again
with more than 50% of the vote due
to electoral fraud and obstruction.

To quell potential threats to its
continued dominance Lourenço’s
party – which has ruled Angola since
independence in 1975 —- is using all
instruments at its disposal to hobble
the opposition.
Finished and unfinished business
Former president  José Eduardo dos
Santos  stepped back  ahead of the
2017 elections after 38 years in pow-
er. Lourenço, the MPLA’s new can-
didate for the presidency, was widely
panned  as an uninspiring party sol-
dier and Dos Santos loyalist. Cam-
paigning under the slogan, “improve
what is good, correct what is bad”,
Lourenço promised more of the
same, just perhaps slightly better.

Yet he managed to surprise many
by unleashing a flurry of dismissals of
high-ranking government officials
and civil servants.

The fight against corruption was
his first major policy plank. This has
been selectively successful. For exam-
ple, he instituted high-profile corrup-
tion inquiries. These included several
investigations into the dealings of the
dos Santos family itself.

This earned him the praise of crit-
ics and citizens. And it was a crucial
element towards his other main pri-
ority, which was to reposition Angola

Page 42 Reframing Issues NewsHawks

Issue 82, 27 May 2022

In most African

Solvable health issue that killscountries, quality
surgery is only more than malaria, Aids and TB
for the rich.

DESMOND JUMBAM

FOR decades, global health do- the surgery. The operation had to The majority of the population Nigeria, and Madagascar have all plans. We need action. African
nors have understandably pri- be redone, followed by months of that doesn’t have the luxury of developed national surgical, ob- elites must put themselves in the
oritised infectious diseases like gruelling and expensive antibiotic being airlifted to fancy foreign stetrics and anaesthesia plans with shoes of ordinary citizens. Gov-
malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV treatment and physiotherapy. hospitals are left to suffer sub- the support of foreign consultants ernments that have signed nation-
and Aids in their efforts to save standard care, if they have access and academic institutions. Yet al surgical, obstetric and anaes-
lives and improve health. How- I thought to myself: if this is the to treatment at all. Children born these plans have failed to achieve thesia plans need to finance those
ever,  new evidence  suggests that best quality care that I, a relatively with congenital conditions like their goals, primarily because gov- plans and implement them – ide-
about 30% of the global disease privileged young man, can receive cleft lip and palates either die of ernments and donors have not ally from the national tax base but
burden (death and disability from in Yaoundé, what is the situation malnutrition or are stigmatised allocated resources needed to im- also by urging foreign donors to
major diseases and injuries) could for the majority who live below and hidden. Thousands of men plement them. The plans just sit invest in their priorities.
be addressed surgically – includ- the poverty line? And with road and women perish from can- on a shelf.
ing in Africa. This includes con- accident rates rising across Africa, cers that are easily treated with Safe surgery is not a luxury. It is
ditions such as obstructed labour, the demand for trauma surgery is surgery elsewhere.  Millions are Despite the 2001 Abuja Decla- a critical part of the right to health
trauma from road traffic accidents, only going to increase. further  impoverished  as  they are ration that saw African heads of for all.
cataracts, cancers, and congenital forced to borrow or sacrifice their state commit to spending at least
anomalies. Safe, timely and affordable livelihoods to pay for surgical care 15% of government budgets on — African Arguments.
surgical services are an essential for their loved ones. health, many governments fall far
In fact, surprising  new element of any system that pro- short of this target. Health care *About the writer: Desmond
data  shows that poor quality fesses to provide universal health Action, not idle plans priorities also continue to be heav- Jumbam is a global surgery lead-
surgical care or lack of access to care,  according to  Tedros Ghe- Some governments and donors ily influenced by foreign donors, er who works with health provid-
such care now  accounts  for more breyesus, Director General of have begun to recognise the need who remain the major source of ers, patients, and health champi-
annual global deaths than HIV the World Health Organisation. to improve access to quality sur- healthcare spending in most Afri- ons to urge decision makers to
and Aids, malaria and tuberculo- However, in most African coun- gical care, especially c-sections for can countries. invest in safe surgical care. He
sis combined. tries, quality surgery is, in reality, pregnant women. serves as director of health pol-
only for the rich. Ministries of Health in Tanza- If we are to prevent women dy- icy and advocacy at Operation
Globally, about  two-thirds of nia, Zambia, Ethiopia, Rwanda, ing from obstructed labour and Smile and is a board member of
the world’s population  (five bil- We all know that when top African youth being decimated by King’s Global Health Partner-
lion people) lack access to safe, government officials and business road injuries, we need more than ships at Kings College London in
timely, and affordable surgery. In elites in Africa need surgery, they commitments, resolutions, and the United Kingdom.
sub-Saharan Africa, 93% of peo- fly to Dubai, the US, or Europe.
ple lack access to surgical care,
compared to 3.6% in high income
countries. The solution is not just
more surgery but higher quality of
surgery.

In Africa, the impact of poor ac-
cess to quality surgical care is par-
ticularly dismal. Take maternity
services. African governments and
global decision makers have com-
mitted to reducing maternal mor-
tality and ensuring that no woman
dies in pregnancy or childbirth.
Yet  African mothers are  50 times
more likely  to die after giving
birth by caesarean section than
women in high-income countries.
The drivers of this shockingly high
statistic are heavy bleeding after
giving birth (peripartum haem-
orrhage) and anaesthesia com-
plications, both of which can be
addressed by improved patient as-
sessments and training.

Unlike high-income countries
where surgical patients tend to be
older, surgical patients in Africa
are generally younger and have
fewer health conditions that might
complicate their care. Yet they are
still more likely to develop infec-
tions after surgery than patients in
higher income settings.

Sadly, I know this from personal
experience. One year ago, I broke
my thigh bone in a terrible car
accident on the busiest highway
in Cameroon. After thoroughly
researching the safest and most
skilled place to have a bone frac-
ture reduction, I decided on a pri-
vate clinic in the capital Yaoundé.
I paid thousands of dollars for the
surgical care I received. Unfortu-
nately, almost three months later,
I discovered that I had developed
a bone infection, most likely be-
cause of poor sterilisation during

NewsHawks Reframing Issues Page 43

Issue 82, 27 May 2022

IN April 2022, 70 refugees from the Rights of refugees in Africa are
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) under threat: What can be done
were reportedly  detained and then
deported  by the Zimbabwe govern- growing displaced population.
ment. Once back in the DRC, their Previously, refugees were support-
government rejected 15 of them, who
were sent back to detention facilities in ed to settle in rural areas and become
Harare. The incident raises legal ques- self-sufficient through agricultural
tions around human rights and the and other endeavours. Today, many
obligations of states that are signatories refugees are enduring  protracted
to the  1951 Refugee Convention and displacement. They are encamped,
its 1967 Protocol. Zimbabwe hosts 22 subject to state or donor support in
400 refugees and asylum seekers. Par- countries with struggling economies.
vati Nair, a professor of migration They are living in legal and econom-
studies at Queen Mary University of ic limbo. Additionally, reliance on
London, answers questions about the donors from the global north has
rights of refugees and the obligations increased. The result is that refugees
of states. have become pawns in larger so-
cio-economic and political deals.
Question (Q): What are the obli-
gations to refugees under interna- The latest in this context is
tional law? the UK’s proposed deal to send refu-
Answer (A): In the aftermath of gees to Rwanda.
World War II, the international
community came together to shape Lastly, taking into account the
and commit to the human rights of poor human rights records that often
displaced persons. feature in many African countries,
refugee law – forged in the language
The  1951 Refugee Convention of human rights and applicable to al-
and 1967 Protocol  marked a mile- ready very vulnerable people – drops
stone in framing the responsibilities from view. This has dire social and
of states to protect those fleeing un- personal consequences.
tenable or dangerous contexts. These
include conflict, disasters, political Q: Are there solutions?
oppression and other severe condi-
tions. A WFP-backed pop-up retail outlet in the Gorom refugee camp in South Sudan. A: The international community has
an obligation to support African
It also gave refugees and asylum to continue. out, state responses to displaced per- Q: Does Africa have a particular states and Africa’s refugees. This
seekers the right to have their cases Across the world, there are more sons as unwelcome intruders – and set of challenges? should be in ways that are equitable
go through legal processes. A key increasingly stringent border poli- A: Africa hosts approximately a third and offer actual benefits for refugees
principle within this framework is than  84 million forcibly displaced cies – have led to the obscuring of of the world’s population of  dis- and hosts alike.
that of  non-refoulement, a core le- persons. This means that one person international obligations to asylum placed persons, asylum seekers and
gal protection for displaced persons out of at least every 94 is forcibly seekers and refugees. refugees. Poverty, instability, conflict The international community
seeking asylum. It puts the onus on displaced. and climate emergencies form the must understand that the rising tide
hosting states to safeguard asylum Deportation is sadly an aspect context in which people are forced of refugees may be most intense in
seekers. In the face of such rising num- of  refugee management,  yet it goes to leave home and seek shelter across Africa, but is globally prevalent.
bers, as well as the rise in  populist against refugee rights. international borders. They then Good refugee management is key to
Situations such as those of the and neoliberal ideologies, the hu- find themselves housed, often for in- a sustainable and equitable world.
Congolese refugees in Zimbabwe of- manitarian priorities that led to the Today, the notion of the refugee definite periods of time, in already
fer examples of how states disregard establishment of refugee law are pro- as a person needing safety has altered overcrowded camps. Environmental crises and other
the law, transporting refugees across foundly threatened. There are rising in practice, if not in law. Represen- global challenges mean that forced
borders with no regard for their concerns around border protection tations in the media abound of dis- The movement of refugees across human mobility is here to stay.
rights. policies and mechanisms among placed persons as law breakers, devi- Africa is not new. What has shifted
states, and questions of national sov- ants and criminals who are burdens over the past half century is the rise Shaped by colonial legacies, and
Africa exemplifies many of the ereignty. on a state and its citizens. in numbers. Today, one in every 76 political and economic challenges,
challenges faced by refugees, as well Africans is a refugee. Africa remains enmeshed in relations
as many of the ways in which states Indeed, Africa is partnering with As a result, the legal principle of  dependency and inequality  with
fail to honour cross-border obliga- the European Union in the prolif- of  non-refoulement has been over- If we add to this the great number donor states and entities.
tions to asylum seekers. eration of securitised borders. The shadowed. This has had profoundly of internally displaced persons – of-
union’s coast guard agency  Fron- negative, even deadly, consequences ten facing more dire conditions than A clear prioritisation is urgently
The continent hosts a high pop- tex  is working with West African on the already harsh realities of ref- refugees because they do not have the needed to separate responsibility for
ulation of displaced persons. Ugan- states to construct European borders ugees. same access to aid from international refugees from short-term econom-
da, Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana are on African soil.. This is aimed at pre- agencies — then we see that address- ic gains or cross-border struggles.
examples of countries that host large venting the northward movement Take the example of migrants, ing displacement, asylum and rights A key step would be to reposition
numbers of refugees. of refugees and migrants to Europe. refugees and asylum seekers crossing is of paramount importance. humanitarian obligations as central
Such actions further alienate and multiple African countries in their to development to counter existing
As political scientist Sabella Abide ring-fence displaced persons. northward trek to Europe. Their Also different from before are the dynamics of dependency.
states,  many refugees and asylum journey is fraught with the dangers ways in which  states manage  this
seekers suffer protracted mental and As the Australian criminolo- of push back from countries like In line with the  Sustainable De-
physical abuse and suffering. Four gist  Sharon Pickering  has pointed Libya or Morocco. velopment Goals  and their prom-
years ago, the United Nations con- ise  to leave no one behind, African
firmed the  Global Refugee Com- states have the chance to make ref-
pact  as a blueprint for how states ugee rights key obligations of states
should support refugees and host and spearhead the issue, which is of
communities. global relevance.

Key priorities included upholding African states must also take re-
refugees’ human rights and ensuring sponsibility for much more efficient
their security. But many countries processing of asylum claims and
are still far from achieving this. resettlement, and support one an-
other. They should link refugee pro-
States are  contravening interna- tection to other core interests, such
tional law  at the cost of the digni- as health, youth futures and social
ty, safety and rights of forcibly dis- inclusion. In this way, refugee pro-
placed people. tection and support become key fea-
tures of development, which should
This is not an African phenome- be people-centred.
non. There are numerous examples
of refugee rights being disregarded Only by honouring legal human-
from Australia to the UK and the itarian commitments and empow-
US. ering its refugees can African states
Q: Are humanitarian priorities be- develop in ways that are sustainable.
ing eroded?
A: Human displacement  has been — The Conversation.
on the rise globally. This trend is set

Page 44 Africa News NewsHawks

Issue 82, 27 May 2022

Summary
• Tanzania, like several African coun-

tries, was hit hard by the Covid-19 pan-
demic.

• Tanzania’s economy shrank from
6.8% growth to 4% after Covid-19,
even though the country, unlike its
neighbours, did not go on a lockdown
and did not initially order compulsory
mask wearing, nor tap into vaccines.

• But after Samia was sworn in as
president in March last year follow-
ing the death of her predecessor John
Pombe Magufuli, she made changes,
including calling for citizens to take
up preventive measures, such as mask
wearing and hand hygiene, to curb the
spread of Covid-19.

TANZANIAN President Samia Suluhu
Hassan has defended her usage of loans
from multilateral lenders, telling an au-
dience in Accra, Ghana, that the insti-
tutions were her country’s lifeline in the
Covid-19 pandemic.

Samia, appearing on a panel along-
side presidents of Ghana, Mozambique
and the Comoros, said the loans re-
ceived from the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) and the African Develop-
ment Fund (AfDB) helped her stabilise
the economy, improve the quality of
learning environment and expand the
reach of clean water supply.

“With the support of the AfDB and
other multilateral lenders, I have done
well,” she told an audience on Tuesday
during the Presidential Dialogue on
Africa’s Development challenges and
opportunities, part of the Annual Meet-
ings of the AfDB this year in Ghana.

Covid funds Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan.
“Due to Covid-19, IMF gave us some
money as economic bailout. Most of the How Tanzania used IMF, AfDB
countries used that money for purchas-
ing sanitisers and those [other] items loans to improve livelihoods
needed to fight Covid-19. But for me, I power in March 2021 and Tanzania that money plus modern equipment,” do it, that women could do it. I think Babacar Ndiaye Trophy, an annual prize
thought Covid-19 meant decongestion agreed to share data on Covid-19, as President Samia told the audience, in the course of one year, I have prov- sponsored by the African Development
of students in the classroom. well as coordinate response with in- during a panel discussion that included en that women can do it. I have led the Bank (AfDB), and organised by Actur-
ternational bodies, the IMF Executive Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo, country in the same way that men did outes – an information platform on in-
“[We] had 100-120 pupils in one Board approved $265.2 million in Spe- Mozambican leader Felipe Nyusi and and in some circumstances better than frastructure and roads in Africa, as well
classroom. I have been able to decon- cial Drawing Rights (SDRs), equivalent Comoros President Azali Assoumani men did.” as the Media for Infrastructure and Fi-
gest them and now I have 45-50 pupils to about US$372.4 million. Given un- (who appeared virtually). It also in- nance in Africa (MIFA) – a network of
in one classroom. I thought Covid-19 der the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF), the cluded Ivorian Vice President Tiémoko During the session, she hinted that African journalists specialising in road
means availability of water, I have taken money was meant to aid Tanzania’s bal- Meyliet Koné and Prime Minister of she would keep going back to the lend- infrastructure. According to AfDB, the
that money and used it for supplying ance of payments as the country faced a Rwanda, Mr Édouard Ngirente. ers as the country targets crucial infra- prize is awarded to leading figures in Af-
clean and safe water to most parts of my shortage of revenues. Leadership structure like airports, ports, roads and rica who have demonstrated their com-
country. When I came in, availability The Tanzanian leader, visiting West an expanded national airline. mitment to the development of trans-
of water was 72% and I have moved it The IMF said at the time that the Africa for the first time since she took port infrastructure on the continent.
close to 80%. I am expecting, in 2025, money was also to help catalyse support power in March 2021, was responding “We have to raise our voice to the
it will be 95% in urban areas and 85% from development partners to support to a question on challenges faced in her multilateral lenders to allow AfDB to Her trip also comes as the continent
in villages.” Tanzania, if it strengthens governance one year of leadership. She said she had access the SDRs because those are go- discusses technology to boost energy
and transparency around the pandemic. to earn the trust of Tanzanians as the ing to benefit Africa,” she said, voicing investments and deal with the contin-
Tanzania, like several African coun- first female president. support for AfDB’s call to have SDRs ual crisis of food shortage.  The Bank’s
tries, was hit hard by the Covid-19 pan- “I have also used that money for reallocated to Africa for countries to theme this year is on climate resilience
demic. Tanzania’s economy shrank from health. Covid-19 means treating people “I had to prove to them that I could benefit directly. and a just energy transition.
6.8% growth to 4% after Covid-19, at the level of villages. So I have con-
even though the country, unlike its structed about 350 health centres using The Tanzanian leader is this year’s — The East African.
neighbours, did not go on a lockdown recipient of the Africa Road Builders–
and did not initially order compulsory
mask wearing, nor tap into vaccines.
But after Samia was sworn in as pres-
ident in March last year following the
death of her predecessor John Pombe
Magufuli, she made changes, including
calling for citizens to take up preventive
measures, such as mask wearing and
hand hygiene, to curb the spread of
Covid-19.

Nonetheless, the country drew bene-
fits from multilateral lenders keen to aid
a response to Covid-19.
Covid response
Under the Crisis Response Budget Sup-
port Programme, the AfDB disbursed
US$50.7 million loan in 2020 to aid
response measures, including strength-
ening health systems and emergency
responses.

And after President Samia came to

NewsHawks World News Page 45

Issue 82, 27 May 2022

A fight over Taiwan could go nuclear

STACIE L. PETTYJOHN/BECCA WASSER

RUSSIA'S invasion of Ukraine US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
has raised the spectre of nuclear
war, as Russian President Vladi- military, in particular, from ef- Defence projects that by 2030, were intended to be calibrated to perceived these strikes as attacks
mir Putin has placed his nuclear fectively countering a Chinese China will have around 1 000 avoid escalation; both sides tried on their home territory, crossing
forces at an elevated state of alert attack on Taiwan.  Meanwhile, a deliverable warheads — more to walk a fine line by attacking an important threshold. Instead
and has warned that any effort growing nuclear arsenal provides than triple the number it cur- only military targets. But such of mirror-imaging their own
by outside parties to interfere in Beijing with coercive leverage rently possesses. Based on these attacks crossed red lines for concerns about attacks on their
the war would result in “conse- as well as potentially new warf- projections, Chinese leaders both countries, and produced a territory, each side justified the
quences you have never seen.”  ighting capabilities, which could may believe that as early as five tit-for-tat cycle of attacks that initial blows as military necessi-
increase the risks of war and es- years from now the PLA will broadened the scope and inten- ties that were limited in nature
Such sabre-rattling has under- calation. have made enough conventional sity of the conflict. and would be seen by the other
standably made headlines and and  nuclear gains  that it could as such. Responses to the initial
drawn notice in Washington. China has historically pos- fight and win a war to unify with For instance, in the simula- strikes only escalated things fur-
But if China attempted to forc- sessed only a few hundred Taiwan. tion, China launched a preemp- ther as the US team responded to
ibly invade Taiwan and the Unit- ground-based nuclear weapons. US could go nuclear tive attack against key US bases China’s moves by hitting targets
ed States came to Taipei’s aid, the But last year, nuclear scholars Our recent war game — in which in the Indo-Pacific region. The in mainland China, and the Chi-
threat of escalation could outstrip at the James Martin Centre for members of Congress, former attacks targeted Guam, in par- nese team responded to Wash-
even the current nerve-wracking Non-proliferation Studies and government officials, and subject ticular, because it is a forward ington’s strikes by attacking sites
situation in Europe. the Federation of American Sci- matter experts assumed the roles operating base critical to US in Hawaii.
entists identified three missile of senior national security de- military operations in Asia, and A new era
A recent war game, conducted silo fields under construction in cision makers in  China  and the because since it is a territory, and One particularly alarming find-
by the Centre for a New Ameri- the Xinjiang region. The  Finan- United States — illustrated that not a US state, the Chinese team ing from the war game is that
can Security in conjunction with cial Times  reported that China a US-Chinese war could escalate viewed striking it as less escalato- China found it necessary to
the NBC programme “Meet the might have carried out tests of quickly. For one thing, it showed ry than attacking other possible threaten to go  nuclear  from the
Press,”  demonstrated just how hypersonic gliders as a part of that both countries would face targets. In response, the United start in order to ward off outside
quickly such a conflict could an orbital bombardment system operational incentives to strike States targeted Chinese military support for Taiwan. This threat
escalate. The game posited a that could evade missile defences military forces on the other’s ter- ships in ports and surrounding was repeated throughout the
fictional crisis set in 2027, with and deliver nuclear weapons to ritory. In the game, such strikes facilities, but refrained from oth- game, particularly after main-
the aim of examining  how the targets in the continental Unit- er attacks on the Chinese main-
United States and China might ed States. The US Department of land. Nevertheless, both sides
act under a certain set of condi-
tions. The game demonstrated
that China’s military moderni-
sation and expansion of its nu-
clear arsenal — not to mention
the importance Beijing places on
unification with Taiwan — mean
that, in the real world, a fight
between China and the United
States could very well go nuclear.

Beijing views Taiwan as a
breakaway republic. If the Chi-
nese Communist Party (CCP)
decides to invade the island, its
leaders may not be able to accept
failure without seriously harm-
ing the regime’s legitimacy. Thus,
the CCP might be willing to take
significant risks to ensure that
the conflict ends on terms that
it finds acceptable. That would
mean convincing the United
States and its allies that the costs
of defending Taiwan are so high
that it is not worth contesting
the invasion. While China has
several ways to achieve that goal,
from Beijing’s perspective, us-
ing nuclear weapons may be the
most effective means to keep the
United States out of the conflict.
Gearing for battle
China is  several decades into
transforming its People’s Libera-
tion Army (PLA) into what the
Chinese President Xi Jinping has
called a “world-class military”
that could defeat any third par-
ty that comes to Taiwan’s de-
fence.  China’s warfighting strat-
egy, known as “anti-access/area
denial,” rests  on being able to
project conventional military
power out several thousand miles
in order to prevent the American

Page 46 World News NewsHawks

Issue 82, 27 May 2022

land China had been attacked. kind of limited nuclear use and
At times, efforts to erode Wash- whether the United States could
ington’s will so that it would de-escalate the situation while
back down from the fight re- still achieving its objectives. 
ceived greater attention by the
China team than the invasion of An ounce of prevention
Taiwan itself. The clear lesson from the war
game is that the United States
But China had difficulty con- needs to  strengthen its conven-
vincing the United States that its tional capabilities in the In-
nuclear threats were credible. In do-Pacific  to ensure that China
real life, China’s significant and never views an invasion of Tai-
recent changes to its nuclear pos- wan as a prudent tactical move.
ture and readiness may impact To do so, the United States will
other nations’ views, as its nucle- need to commit to maintaining
ar threats may not be viewed as its conventional military superi-
credible given its stated doctrine ority by expanding its stockpiles
of no first use, its smaller but of long-range munitions and
burgeoning nuclear arsenal, and investing in undersea capabili-
lack of experience making nucle- ties.  Washington  must also be
ar threats. able to conduct offensive opera-
tions inside the first and second
This may push China to pre- island chains even while under
emptively detonate a nuclear attack.
weapon to reinforce the credibil-
ity of its warning. China might This will require access to new
also resort to a demonstration bases to  distribute US forces,
of its nuclear might because of enhance their survivability, and
constraints on its long-range ensure that they can effective-
conventional strike capabilities. ly defend Taiwan in the face of
Five years from now, the PLA China’s attacks.
still will have a very limited
ability to launch conventional Moreover, the United States
attacks beyond locations in the needs to develop an integrated
“second island chain” in the Pa- network of partners willing to
cific; namely, Guam and  Palau. contribute to Taiwan’s defence.
Unable to strike the US home- Allies are an asymmetric advan-
land with conventional weapons, tage: the United States has them,
China would struggle to impose and China does not. The United
costs on the American people. States should deepen strategic
Up until a certain point in the and operational planning with
game, the US team felt its larg- key partners to send a strong sig-
er nuclear arsenal was sufficient nal of resolve to China. As part
to deter escalation and did not of these planning efforts, the
fully appreciate the seriousness United States and its allies will
of China’s threats.  need to develop war-winning
military strategies that do not
As a result, China felt it needed cross Chinese red-lines.
to escalate significantly to send a
message that the US homeland The game highlighted just how
could be at risk if Washington difficult this task may be; what it
did not back down. Despite Chi- did not highlight is the complex-
na’s stated “no-first use” nuclear ity of developing military strat-
policy, the war game resulted egies that integrate the strategic
in Beijing detonating a nuclear objectives and military capacities
weapon off the coast of Hawaii of multiple nations.
as a demonstration.
Moving forward, military
The attack caused relatively planners in the United States
little destruction, as the electro- and in Washington’s allies and
magnetic pulse only damaged partners must grapple with the
the electronics of ships in the fact that, in a conflict over Tai-
immediate vicinity but did not wan, China would consider all
directly impact the US state. conventional and nuclear op-
tions to be on the table.
The war game ended before the
US team could respond, but it is And the United States is run-
likely that the first use of a nu- ning out of time to strengthen
clear weapon since World War II deterrence and keep China from
would have provoked a response. believing an  invasion of Tai-
The most likely paths to nuclear wan could be successful. The big-
escalation in a fight between the gest risk is that Washington and
United States and China are dif- its friends choose not to seize the
ferent from those that were most moment and act: a year or two
likely during the Cold War. from now, it might already be
too late.
The Soviet Union and the
United States feared a massive, — Foreign Affairs.
bolt-from-the-blue nuclear at-
tack, which would precipitate *About the writers: Stacy
a full-scale strategic exchange. L. Pettyjohn is a senior fellow
In a confrontation over Taiwan, and director of the defence pro-
however, Beijing could employ gramme at the Centre for a New
nuclear weapons in a more limit- American Security. Becca Was-
ed way to signal resolve or to im- ser  is a fellow in the defence
prove its chances of winning on programme and co-lead of The
the battlefield. It is unclear how Gaming Lab at the Centre for a
a war would proceed after that New American Security.

Porsche just got angrier Being a Fashion Model

&Life Style

STYLE TRAVEL BOOKS ARTS MOTORING

Page 47 Issue 82, 27 May 2022

JONATHAN MBIRIYAMVEKA Alick Macheso honours turing one of the top performers in the
childhood friend at gig country.
WHAT are the chances of a famous
singer spotting and acknowledging a each other at a farm in Belgon, near crowd he stopped the music and he parents would never allow children The afternoon gig was not anything
60-something-old fan in the crowd, Mazowe, where Macheso was raised gave me US$20. He is such a generous to play guitars. But now things have new for Macheso and, in fact, it came
and stopping the music to exchange by his mother. man.” changed. We actually encourage chil- at the right time since the Makan-
pleasantries? dren to pursue a career in music.” didana singer is busy in the studio re-
“It was there that he started out She said Macheso was keen on mu- cording his upcoming album.
Well, if the singer is Alick Macheso, playing his banjo,” Mandariza, who sic from a very young age, defying his Macheso was top billing for World
the chances are quite high because now lives in Zvimba, told The New- mother’s orders to focus on school. World Telecommunications and In- Tich Makahamadze, the manager
such gestures of humility are synony- sHawks. formation Society Day commemora- of the group, said they were happy to
mous with the sungura music maestro. It was the youthful defiance that has tions held by the Postal and Telecom- perform during the day.
“No one ever imagined that one changed Macheso’s life, as he devel- munications Regulatory Authority of
At the weekend in Murombedzi, day he would become the star that he oped into a very successful musician. Zimbabwe at the weekend in Murom- “For us, there is no gig that is too
Macheso even went a step further. is today. But back then, we loved his bedzi. important or less important. And we
Recognising 63-year-old Jane Man- music, we could tell he was destined “For me to be here it’s because of are not worried about time; night or
dariza, a long-time neighbour of his, for success. “I have known him since. music,” Macheso said before belting Thousands of fans thronged the day, any time is good for us,” he said.
a visibly overjoyed Macheso paused a That is why when he spotted me in the out tge hit song Madhawu, a favour- growth point for the free concert, fea-
song during a show and walked over ite of many. “During my younger days Fans had a whale of a time and what
to give her US$20. a celebration it turned to be!

“Musabirwe (don’t lose it),” he The elderly and the young, all could
whispered to her. be seen trickling in single file to have
a glimpse of Macheso, who has not
According to Mandariza, the two performed in Murombedzi in the last
once lived a spitting distance from two or so years due to the Covid-19
pandemic.

Page 48 Poetry Corner NewsHawks

Issue 82, 27 May 2022

Title: Echoes of Muripisa Street Street. Title: Time
Poet: Garikai Magaya Blessed are the meek for theirs is eternal opu- Poet: Samuel Chuma
  lence, our man of the cloth proselytizes weekly.  
A simmering calabash of labourers, migrants in A well-orchestrated ruse with a choreographed Time is so untimely a character
paucity, swirling in a maelstrom of scarcity. charade to swindle us of our sacred savings It never is on time
Scouring for an existence at every nook and meekly And pitches up when
cranny, the sweeping granny heralds the break Voluptuous praise and worship songstresses in And as it will
of a new day. an anaesthetic serenade to It came
The office helpers and factory labourers numb us from the unfolding heist. too early for father
dash to the daily tussle of standing spaces in The boisterous businessman- whose trade no Slinking up to him
the overcrowded Zupco. one can confirm With second hand precision
The unemployed cousin, fresh from the impro- thrusts out wads of dollars with a thump of the And impaling him
vised village with chest. The Pastor, a spirited paramour to many With its hour hand
hopes of a better life in a glittering Utopia. in attendance, showers givers with assurances As if with an assegai
An indistinguishable ant out of luck in an an- of spiritual armour and heavenly reward. Rudely hurling him
imated, marching army of hobos to lurk in Such were the Echoes of Muripisa Street From the arms of his mistress
silence like vultures by the factory gate.  Each night we retired to our reed mats in both- Into hell's bedchamber
Such were the Echoes of Muripisa Street ers In the space of a minute
The vending mothers long back from an early and surrendered with brothers to dreams of Robbing him of orgasm
Mbare Musika sojourn, taps that never ran dry, Grandpa still waits
laying their ware by the dusty roadside so voted politicians that kept campaign promises, For time to find him
forlorn The streak of scholars beeline to the fees that were always paid, He sits all day
cathedral of comprehension - adorned nourished neighbours than never In sun and shade
a gateway from the ubiquitous desolation. groused Listening to the toll
A preponderance of the voiceless hopeless and adored cherished nearby mothers that nev- Of nearby chapel bell
vociferously brave the cursed struggle anew in er woke up sore or bruised. For hours on end
the morning dew Such were the Echoes of Muripisa Street Cursing each second
Such were the Echoes of Muripisa Street He seeks and wonders
On the fringes of society, we are married to a Title: Weird Personalities And Their Poli- Why the hands of time
barbaric existence, cies And Practices Exercise their mercy on him
far divorced from the Northern Suburbs of afflu- Poet: Ndaba Jamela Sibanda When he has made
ence. Each year the budding flowers of poten-   His bed on the gallows
tial wither into nothingness for want of access Which way forward, churchification And pulled hard
or opportunity or resuscitation of the companies? At life's cigarette
In the mist of poverty from the get-go, we were Every time I think about the offbeat Reducing it to a stub
all too aware, the ghetto is a cemetery of talent. economic scenario, I end up making While blowing the smoke
From the patriarch slaving away for a pittance, a juxtaposition between the companies Into the heavens' face
 to the mother bearing his brutal beatings in that are now church buildings on one
drunken stupors of rage fatigue. hand, and on the other, the government’s Title: A Newly-Born Calf
The fair sex, the anvils of the frustrated males, apparent failure to resuscitate the factories Poet: Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali
take in the fiery spear meting out exerting brutal which were the economic heartbeat of the city  
punishment on their sacred caves for his humili- of Bulawayo in particular and the country`s A newly-born calf
ating emasculating existence. economic hub in general , before everything is like oven-baked bread
Such were the Echoes of Muripisa Street else was steadily, greedily and cruelly run steaming under a cellophane cover
The local harlot, the latest returnee from a shat- down.   The cow cuts
tered, early matrimony I don’t get it, economists, please the shiny coat
sits in awe, with an offspring in tow glued to her weigh in on this incongruity?  as a child would
knees. I call it the odd churchification lick a toffee
Now moaning and groaning for a living in dark of the industrial sites, for lack with a tongue as pink as
alleys of a better term, or description,    the sole of a foot.
at the mercy of endless drunkards brutalizing I think spirituality is a necessity The calf sways of legs
her nether regions in any given society or nation, filled with jelly and custard
with a ferocity belying the low token of en- still, I don’t figure out why instead of bone and marrow;
trance. The school-drop out now crook, they delude themselves and it totters
hobnobbing with convicted social malcontents that they can easily rig to suck the teats
in vain hopes of a big score. the economy into life of its mother’s udder.
Treading a worn-out path, by turning and using
heading to a known crossroad of jail, hell and factories as churches?
no more Such were the Echoes of Muripisa

NewsHawks PPeeoople &&PPlalacceses Page 49

Issue 82, 27 May 2022

Scenes at the World Economic Forum in Zurich

Page 50 Sport NewsHawks

Issue 82, 27 May 2022

Zim celebrates Africa Day

Allan Muungani, a trader of traditional African artifacts at a curio shop at Mbare Musika, in Harare, on Africa Day. Emmanuel Chauma wears an African traditional hat at a curio stall at Mbare Musika
displaying African artifacts on Africa Day on Wednesday. Zimbabweans joined fellow
African countries to mark a day that was set aside on 25 May 1963, to mark the
formation of the Organisation of African Unity. — Pictures: Aaron Ufumeli

The renowned Mbira DzeNharira, a mbira musical instrument outfit, performs at the Afropolitan restaurant near Madokero
suburb in Harare on Wednesday.

A young girl smiles as she dons head gear at a shop at Karigamobe Arcade.

Customers look for presents to buy to commemorate Africa Day at Ashava Designs in Harare.