Price
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WHAT’S INSIDE Friday 19 August 2022 ZNeEsWa Sbanks on SSPevOeRnTs World
judiciary as the Cup: Opportunity
NMEnWanSgagwa’s firm loses millions for Zimbabwe to
shadowy to vandals make amends
group invades
schools Story on Page 9 Story on Page 50
Story on Page 4
Minister
under fire
over army
company
operations
ALSO INSIDE Zanu PF internal fissures widen
Page 2 News NewsHawks
Issue 94, 19 August 2022
Muchinguri cornered over army firm
BRENNA MATENDERE Defence minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri.
DEFENCE minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashi- Rusununguko Nkululeko under a geographic He highlights that the reason why the army is of the day.
ri was on Wednesday cornered by independent lease agreement. commercialised is a power consolidation strategy The academics argue that a commercialised
Norton MP Temba Mliswa over the opaque in- and to crush the political opposition.
vestments and business dealings of army-owned Several journals written by academics in the army is dangerous for Zimbabwe because it poses
company Rusununguko Nkululeko Holdings past show that the commercialisation of the mili- Moyo argues that the military is commercial- a threat to civilian authority. The military must
(Pvt) Ltd. tary is a high security risk which could fund insta- ised in Zimbabwe to increase the personal wealth salute civilian political authority, not the other
bility or even coups. of top commanders as a reward for their loyalty in way round.
The military company is the brainchild of the ensuring regime survival in the face of mounting
late Foreign Affairs minister Sibusiso Moyo and In a journal titled “The Curse of Military Com- opposition challenge. The late army general SB Moyo who founded
has vast investments in various sectors of the mercialism in State Enterprises and Parastatals in Rusununguko Nkululeko company was the face
economy, including in the media after getting a Zimbabwe,” academic Gorden Moyo, a former “Against this backdrop, the military flagrantly of the 2017 military coup that toppled long-time
television licence to operate its NRTV station. minister of state in the late prime minister Mor- interferes with political processes of the polity, ruler Robert Mugabe.
gan Tsvangirai's office, highlights the matter. including elections in favour of the ruling party –
Mliswa took on Muchinguri-Kashiri over the Zanu PF,” writes Moyo. Muchinguri-Kashiri denied that funds were be-
business entity which symbolises the opaque He unpacks the implications of the increasing ing siphoned from Rusununguko Nkululeko and
commercialisation of the military whose financial incursion of both retired and serving military of- However, more research papers say the risk of said the government is taking care of the soldiers
owners have gone unscritinised. ficers into state enterprises and parastatals (SEPs) having an independent army which is well-re- through a “military salary concept which had
as shareholders, directors, chief executive officers, sourced from murky businesses is that they can been abandoned during the First Republic, only
Mliswa said the shadowy firm is not benefiting management, and, more curiously, as labour. use the same resources to topple the government to be resuscitated during the Second Republic.”
junior soldiers, but a small clique of the top brass.
Rusununguko Nkululeko Holdings is accused of not benefitting junior soldiers.
His challenge of the Defence minister led to
his ejection from Parliament by deputy speaker
Nomalanga Mzilikazi Khumalo.
To bring the matter into context, Mliswa said
although he had no problem with the army in-
vesting in the economy through Rusununguko
Nkululeko, the company must be audited and
held to account for its activities to avoid corrup-
tion and benefiting individuals.
“My question is, honourable minister
(Muchinguri-Kashiri), are you aware that the
minister of Defence has not submitted accounts
since 2020? There is a company called Rusunun-
guko which was a brainchild of the late SB Moyo
which would tackle the economic problems of the
military. Rusununguko has been given resources
in this country so that the ministry of Defence is
not seen to be suffering.”
“Rusununguko is yet to tell us that the resourc-
es given to them by government have achieved
how much. We do not know whether those re-
sources are for certain individuals using the name
Rusununguko in the army, or Rusununguko is
truly an army concern. We have not seen any
financial reports so that when we debate on the
budget of the ministry of Defence, the income
that Rusununguko makes comes in, the minister
of Finance then takes it on and does not give the
ministry of Defence all the money.”
“We would like to know from an accountability
point of view how much money is Rusununguko
making and where is the money going to because
in every area, they are plundering resources in the
name of Rusununguko, an army company. The
Chinese are partnering with Rusununguko and
we would like to know the partnership with the
Chinese and how much they are benefiting the
army because the soldiers are complaining that
there is no money, yet there are resources which
the army has been given to pay the soldiers,” asked
Mliswa.
Deputy speaker Khumalo tried to shield
Muchinguri by saying the question needed fig-
ures and could not be answered on the day, but
Mliswa would have none of it.
“Rusununguko is a vehicle which you Zanu PF
politburo members are using, honourable senetor
Mutsvangwa, to get things. That is the truth. You
are abusing it. It is a vehicle which generals and
you senior members are using to steal the resourc-
es of the country, yet the war veterans and soldiers
are suffering.”
“We want accountability. Where is the money
Rusununguko is generating going to or else give
the resources of the country to the people? Give
them to the ordinary soldiers so that they benefit,”
he fumed.
“Honourable Mliswa, please get out of the
House,” responded the deputy speaker, who later
claimed that the MP had been ejected because he
was making noise.
Mliswa was escorted out of the chamber by the
sergeant-at-arms, but on his way out he bellowed:
“Rusununguko icompany yevakuru irikubira
masoja mari (Rusununguko is a company of boss-
es that is stealing money from soldiers).”
Lack of financial probity in Rusununguko
Nkululekp Holdings can be traced to June last
year when the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife
Management Authority (ZimParks) took the en-
tity to court demanding US$142 530 for using its
chalets since 2018.
ZimParks said it had leased out its chalets to
NewsHawks News Page 3
Issue 94, 19 August 2022
MOSES MATENGA Zanu PF internal fissures widen
ZANU PF insiders and lawyers representing Gok- l Zacc’s political agenda under spotlight
we-Nembudziya Member of Parliament Justice
Mayor Wadyajena claim his arrest this week was Gokwe-Nembudziya member of Parliament Justice Mayor Wadyajena.
a political manifestation of internal squabbles and
deep-rooted factionalism in the ruling party ahead Justice Mayor Wadyajena showing off his Lamborghini Urus.
of its elective congress in October.
Wadyajena, a close ally of President Emmerson
Mnangagwa, is accused within Zanu PF circles
of using the Lands and Agriculture committee of
Parliament to target known allies of Vice-Presi-
dent Constantino Chiwenga to incriminate them
in opaque deals and tenders.
The young MP, however, dismisses the narra-
tive, insisting he is only doing his job.
His lawyers on Thursday said the MP was a vic-
tim of political hawks within Zanu PF, describing
his charge as malicious.
Wadyajena was on Tuesday arrested by the
Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc)
on allegations of fraud and money laundering
amounting to US$5 million.
He was arrested together with Cotton Com-
pany of Zimbabwe (Cottco) officials Pius Man-
amike, Maxmore Njanji, Fortunate Molai and
Pierpont Moncroix Ltd director Chiedza Danha.
“This matter involving the 4th accused person
will turn out to be the biggest scandal after the
Quail birds, Zviuta, that rocked the country at
some point,” Wadyajena’s lawyer, Oliver Marwa,
said while raising a red flag over Zacc's role in al-
legedly pushing a political agenda.
“This matter has been abducted by Zacc and
forced Cottco to lie that it has been stolen from,”
he added.
He said Cottco has stated it received what it
paid for. Wadyajena alleged that Zacc is working
for “other political forces”.
“Zacc is acting as cousin of some political hawks
to discredit the accused person. There can never be
anything more evil than what Zacc is doing to the
4th accused person,” he said.
He lashed out at Zacc, accusing it of falling into
a political trap and seemingly confirming the pub-
lic sentiment that it was using the commission to
settle scores without evidence hence inviting the
“catch and release” moniker on themselves relating
to political actors.
“This court is dragged into unenviable political
games and Zacc has become a catch-and-release
entity. They have nothing whatsoever against the
4th accused person,” Marwe added.
Harrison Nkomo, the lawyer of the other ac-
cused persons, accused investigators of a shoddy
job, saying the investigating officers’ report was a
shambles.
As chairperson of the National Assembly’s
Lands committee, Wadyajena has summoned
Zanu PF officials, including Grain Millers’ Asso-
ciation of Zimbabwe (GMAZ) chairperson Ta-
fadzwa Musarara for hearings in what some Zanu
PF insiders said was a political move in line of his
faction’s agenda.
Musarara is Zanu PF district coordinating com-
mittee (DCC) chairperson for Mazowe.
After he summoned the Zimbabwe National
Water Authority (Zinwa) and Grindale Engineer-
ing over a controversial US$87 million tender,
Wadyajena was seen as targeting Agriculture min-
ister Anxious Masuka.
The Zanu PF DCC chairperson for Gok-
we-North in the Midlands province was arrested
immediately after chairing and exposing possible
underhand dealings over the Vungu Dam project.
Zacc invited Wadyajena for an interview on the
morning of the scheduled committee meeting.
He was arrested immediately after Mnangagwa,
who he describe as his godfather, had flown out
to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for
a Southern African Development Community
summit that ends this Friday. Chiwenga is acting
President.
Zanu PF goes to congress in October where, ac-
cording to a circular issued by secretary for admin-
istration Obert Mpofu, will see the party electing
a new president if Chiwenga or anyone chooses to
challenge Mnangagwa.
Campaigning ahead of congress has already be-
gun, with Mnangagwa loyalists under the MenBe-
lieveED banner, working with other stakeholders,
planning a march ostensibly to show the politi-
cian’s popularity. The march has been viewed as
a campaign by Mnangagwa to portray himself as
popular ahead of congress, but the politicking has
angered some party bigwigs who accuse him of us-
ing outside structures while ignoring party organs
that have shown little liking for him of late.
Page 6 News NewsHawks
Issue 94, 19 August 2022
Mnangagwa backers invade schools
BRENNA MATENDERE
A SHADOWY group backing President Em- them into the teaching terrain where they will Primary and Secondary Education Ministry permanent secretary Tumisang Thabela
merson Mnangagwa’s bid to maintain a strangle- prove to be lackeys, clients and cronies of Zanu
hold on power has invaded schools to solicit the PF,” he said. Teachers are a vital cog in the country’s elections.
support of teachers ahead of next year’s crunch “We also hope that government has not been tions of service so as to guarantee them a modi-
elections. underpaying teachers in order to use this outfit cum of respectability in return for votes,” added
as a conduit for nominal improvement of condi- Zhou.
Operating under the moniker Teachers4ED,
the group has already been given the greenlight
by the Education ministry to conduct its cam-
paigns.
In separate interviews, leaders of teacher
unions however said they are not in support of
the Teachers4ED campaigns because schools are
learning institutions that must not be mired in
politics.
The teacher unions’ resistance to the creation
of the group comes against the background of the
government’s unbridled support for the project.
In a letter dated 22 June 2022, Tumisang
Thabela, the Primary and Secondary Education
Ministry’s permanent secretary, gave her thumbs-
up for the shadowy group to launch structures in
provinces and work in schools.
The letter, obtained by The NewsHawks, was
addressed to the Teachers4ED’s secretary-general
Takaiteyi Masikati.
Part of Thabela’s letter to Masikati reads: “It is
noted that Teachers for Economic Development
has completed setting up structures in the ten
provinces of the country and requested for au-
thority launch the Provincial Chapters and the
National Chapter.”
“In view of the above, authority is hereby
granted to conduct the Provinciual and National
launches of the Teachers for Economic Develop-
ment. Kindly liaise with Provincial Education
Directors in the respective provinces on the suit-
able dates and venues for the launches.”
Contacted for comment, Masikati said he pre-
ferred to comment in writing.
However, he later refused to comment on the
written questions, saying there had been a lot
of “falsification of information on our orgainsa-
tion".
In his brief statement he said: “Our organi-
sation is very open to discussions but not in the
media as it has been associated with falsification
of information.”
Teachers are a vital cog in Zimbabwe’s elec-
tions, both as individual voters and monitors of
the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) on
actual polling day.
Robson Chere, the secretary-general of the
Obert Masaraure-led Amalgamated Rural Teach-
ers’ Union of Zimbabwe (Artuz) told The New-
sHawks that “political vultures” must stay away
from schools.
“We urge the teachers to disregard, disapprove
and dismiss the abuse of the teacher through the
commissariate schemes played by the regime un-
der the guise of such projects as Teachers4ED.”
“Teachers should be let free and distant from
partisan politics and, if they choose to be in-
volved, let it be voluntary and outside work
bounds. The constitution of Zimbabwe under
sections 64 and 65 clearly makes a demand for
good administrative conduct that is free from po-
litical intrusion,” he said.
Chere, who has been arrested several times for
leading teachers’ protests against bad government
practices, said his organisation will not condone
the exploitation of the education sector by Zanu
PF which is coercing teachers to toil as political
commissars.
“The independence and freedom of the teach-
er should be respected. What boggles the mind is
that the very same system that has created pov-
erty, misery and demeaned our profession is now
coming back under the banner of Teachers4ED.”
“We cant be expected to live on dog tax dis-
guised as a salary and then allow the same source
of the problem to try and come in dark garments
of Teachers4ED pretending to have solutions for
our suffering, yet we know that their interest is
mainly to harvest votes from the education sec-
tor,” said Chere.
Takavafira Zhou, the Progressive Teachers’
Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) president, also ex-
pressed disdain over the emergence of the Teach-
ers4ED group.
“The best way to discredit them is to accept
NewsHawks News Page 7
Issue 94, 19 August 2022
Afrobarometer report unsettles Zanu PF
BRENNA MATENDERE stay at State House. President
“This goes to show the enormous and in- Emmerson
AN Afrobarometer survey report released in Mnangagwa
June this year showing a rise in the popularity of creasing power of the religious factor, partic-
opposition Citizens’ Coalition for Change lead- ularly the indigenous African churches as well Information minister Monica Mutsvangwa.
er Nelson Chamisa against waning support for as the pentecostals. Remember, according to
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has unsettled the recent Afrobarometer survey (March-April
Zanu PF. 2022), 90% of Zimbabweans declared that they
are Christians.”
Jolted into action, the ruling party’s leader-
ship is now canvassing political support in the “This is coupled with the fact that religious
church. leaders are by far the most trusted among public
figures, with 71% of adult citizens saying they
Afrobarometer conducted its survey via the trust them compared to the next most trusted
Mass Public Opinion Institute (MPOI). institutions, traditional leaders who attract 58%
trust levels. In short, the first family — Pres-
The key finding was that if elections were ident and First Lady — have their fingers on
held at that juncture, 33% of the respondents the pulse.”
were going to vote for Chamisa while 30%
would vote for Mnangagwa. “But, let’s be clear: it’s not for the love of Jesus
or the Bible but for love of power that prox-
Afrobarometer is a pan-African, non-partisan imity to religious figures yields. Also note that
survey research network that provides reliable traditional leaders have long been targeted and
data on African experiences and evaluations of are now in the fold, so are many other socio-po-
democracy, governance, and quality of life. litical demographic groups. This is all part of a
total strategy that leaves no stone unturned on
It was only the second time that an Afroba- the road to retaining State House,” he said.
rometer survey had shown an opposition can-
didate leading in Zimbabwe. The first time was Asked to comment on whether there are
in 2009 when the late founding Movement for chances the strategy to lure churches could
Democratic Change (MDC-T) leader Morgan save Mnangagwa in next year’s elections, Prof
Tsvangirai led over the late Zanu PF strongman Masunungure said: “The chances are extremely
Robert Mugabe barely two weeks after the for- high, especially in respect of the above religious
mation of the Government of National Unity movements — indigenous and pentecostal —
(GNU). where often the word of the bishop is taken as
a directive to the congregants and there is little
Zanu PF insiders this week told The News- to no room for dissenting voices and defiant ac-
Hawks that while in public, the party leadership tions.”
has been portraying a sense of invincibility, the
recent charm offensives on churches by Mnan- However, Professor Stephen Chan, another
gagwa and his acolytes evinced how much the political analyst, had a different view.
Afrobarometer survey had unsettled the former
liberation outfit. “I recall apostolics protesting against the gov-
ernment. It will be hard to win them over, es-
“Number one (Mnangagwa) and other party pecially as there are very many apostolic sects,
leaders at our Harare headquarters where most not always with deep affection for one another.
of them are working full-time were particular- People can don as many white robes as they like.
ly unsettled because in 2017 the same survey They will win only a handful of votes,” he said.
projected ED’s support at 38% and so coming
down to 30% was a cause of concern for them.
It was decided that the party harvest support in
churches,” a Zanu PF insider said.
Another top Zanu PF official added: “It is
not accidental that you see party leaders and
government officials flocking to churches with
huge followers to address them. It’s part of a
planned move in response to the Afrobarome-
ter survey. The party now believes that it can
regroup and bolster its support from wooing
churches. Our leader (Mnangagwa) himself is
not a staunch Christian but he has been go-
ing to these churches and putting on different
robes.”
In the past two months, Zanu PF officials
have indeed been frequenting countless church-
es.
On 16 July, Mnangagwa was in Mafararikwa
at St Noah, where he attended the Passover Ser-
vice with a record gathering at the shrine where
the late Johanne Marange Apostolic Church
leader, Noah Taguta, was buried.
Taguta died aged 82, leaving a church with
huge followers and he was survived by 25 wives
who gave birth to 120 children.
On the day Mnangagwa was at St Noah
shrine, his wife Auxillia was in Mutare, attend-
ing an Apostolic Ejuweni Jekenisheni church
service.
She was accompanied by Information minis-
ter Monica Mutsvangwa.
On 2 July, Vice-President Constantino Chi-
wenga was at the Catholic-run Monte Cassino
Girls High School in Macheke when the mis-
sion marked its 60th anniversary. He attended
mass and committed to building an Advanced
Level classroom block and a bridge linking the
school with surrounding communities.
During the last weekend of July, Chiwenga
again addressed church members during the
presbyteral and diaconate ordination of three
Roman Catholic Church priests and a deacon
at St George’s College in Harare.
On 7 August, Mnangagwa attended service
at Zion Christian Church at Defe Dopota.
Accompanied by the First Lady, he addressed
thousands of congregants.
Professor Eldred Masunungure, a political
analyst, told The NewsHawks that the first fam-
ily was luring churches in a bid to prolong its
Page 8 News NewsHawks
Issue 94, 19 August 2022
MARY MUNDEYA Ministry fails to explain US$10bn
unapproved expenditure — again
FINANCE and Economic Development min-
istry permanent secretary George Guvamatanga Finance ministry permanent secretary George Guvamatanga
and his team on Monday failed to appear be-
fore Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee been brought before us and we have itemised Yes we are over and above the 60 days but we sions to this committee today – 5th of October
(PAC) to give oral evidence on the govern- them. We are conscious that you have asked us feel that this is a process which is required to 2020.”
ment’s US$9.6 billion budget over-expenditure to address the issue of timing of submission of regularise those years (2015-2018),” he said.
incurred between 2015 and 2018. the Financial Two years down the line, Auditor-General
Kunaka and his team asked the committee to Mildred Chiri is yet to gain access to documents
This follows Treasury’s recent failure to sub- Adjustment Bill. We also indicated the need allow them to follow their proposed roadmap revealing how the money was spent, while legis-
mit information about the unauthorised expen- where there are figures which have not been au- with regards the submission of adequate infor- lators are pressing public officials to account for
diture to the Auditor-General and Parliament dited to have engagements with ministries so mation justifying unauthorised expenditure of the massive taxpayer funds.
before the lapse of the seven-day ultimatum that what we bring in the Financial Adjustment over US$9.6 billion, which committee chair
issued by the PAC three weeks ago. Bill has consent of the line ministries. Biti granted, saying: “We are pleased to report It remains to be seen as to whether anything
that the committee has accepted your timelines tangible will material from the PAC’s upcoming
In 2020, the government brought a Financial “We humbly submit that we still feel that we and your roadmap as contained in your submis- oral evidence session with Treasury scheduled
Adjustment Bill to Parliament as it sought con- need to go through this process of condonation. for this coming Monday.
donation for the unapproved expenditure be-
tween 2015 and 2018 totalling US$9.6 billion. Auditor-General Mildred Chiri
According to the Bill, in 2015 Treasury ex-
ceeded the national budget by US$25 305 741,
which ballooned to US$1 490 888 789 in 2016
and trebled to US$4 562 064 124 in 2017. The
government overshot the budget by US$3 560
343 130 in 2018.
The Finance ministry has however failed to
furnish the AG with the books despite numer-
ous requests. The PAC has also failed to get ac-
cess to the books despite summoning ministry
officials four times between 2020 and 2022,
leading rise to suspicions that there is an at-
tempt to conceal how the money was spent.
Parliamentarians believe Treasury is taking
advantage of the lapse of the Financial Adjust-
ments Bill (2016 to 2018) in October 2020 to
sweep the US$9.6 billion over-expenditure un-
der the carpet.
The proposed condonation lapsed before
it reached the second reading stage when the
2019-20 parliamentary sessions ended. The Na-
tional Assembly, through the PAC, has however
continued to pursue the matter.
Three weeks ago, the committee grilled Trea-
sury’s acting accountant-general Edwin Zvan-
dasara, who was standing in for Finance perma-
nent secretary Guvamatanga, over the failure to
furnish the AG’s office and Parliament with ad-
equate information justifying the unauthorised
expenditure.
During the meeting, MPs accused the Fi-
nance ministry officials of disrespecting
Parliament and the people of Zimbabwe.
They issued the ministry a seven-day ultimatum
to submit unauthorised expenditure informa-
tion to the AG's office for validation purposes
and bring copies to Parliament.
Guvamatanga on 12 August wrote to the
PAC requesting the meeting be postponed.
“Please be advised that due to preparations by
the Ministry for the Zimbabwe Economic De-
velopment Conference (ZEDCON 2022) held
in Victoria falls from the 10th to the 12th of
August 2022, where the Ministry hosted his Ex-
cellency, the President and various stakeholders,
treasury staff will only be travelling back to the
office over the weekend. In view of the above,
we request more time to prepare for the engage-
ment, and seek the committee indulge to post-
pone the scheduled meeting at a future date,”
the letter read.
Prior to this, Treasury officials on 22 June
2020 were dragged to Parliament after they
were nearly served with a warrant of arrest for
boycotting appearing before the PAC.
The then committee chairperson, Tendai Biti,
blasted them, saying: “We have called you here
for the Financial Adjustment Bill but before we
ask you questions the committee would like to
express its displeasure because of your continu-
ous disrespect of this committee.’’
“We were supposed to see you before the
lockdown. We wrote letters to your office and
we had agreed on timeframes and you said you
could not make it because you had other busi-
ness. We had agreed as a Committee that had
you not come today, we were going to ask the
Clerk of Parliament to issue a warrant in terms
of the Parliamentary Privileges Act.”
The committee agreed to give some Treasury
leeway to come up with timelines by which the
Finance ministry would have submitted the
figures mentioned in the Financial Adjustment
Bill to the AG.
By 5 October, when another oral evidence
session was convened on the same issue, Finance
ministry representatives led by the then acting
permanent secretary, Pfungwa Kunaka, after be-
ing reprimanded by then PAC chairperson Ten-
dai Biti, said: “We do record the issues that have
NewsHawks News Page 9
Issue 94, 19 August 2022
MARY MUNDEYA Surplus claims haunt ministry
FINANCE minister Mthuli Ncube’s claims but when you come back and say please I’m Finance minister Mthuli Ncube
that Treasury attained a surplus have come un- seeking condonation for, let’s say overspending Dzivaresekwa MP Edwin Mushoriwa
der the spotlight as members of Parliament are with 20 dollars more than the 10 dollars I had
questioning how the country ended up spend- initially been given, then we don’t understand.
ing outside its allocated budget in 2019 and Surplus is when you spend less of what you
2020. were given and what you then collected. It
doesn’t make sense that you come back and say
Debating the 2022 Mid-Term Budget and no, I thought I had a surplus, but I spent even
Economic Review during Tuesday's National more than the surplus I thought I had gotten
Assembly session, Norton MP Temba Mliswa and then you want 20 dollars more.”
questioned how the alleged surplus was used.
Kuwadzana East MP Chalton Hwende
“You have a situation where the honourable questioned why Treasury used the surplus the
minister here talked about a surplus. What Finance ministry is claiming to have achieved
has happened to the surplus? Many times we without Parliament’s approval.
were told about the surplus, I did not see the
Finance and Budget Committee talking about “What I’m understanding is that Mr Zvan-
the surplus. Where did it go? You have the op- dasara is saying they had a surplus they received
portunity to invite the minister to say minis- through revenue which they were not expect-
ter, we are short of money can you kick-in the ing, right? Then they decided to use it and ap-
surplus. Why do we not follow up on things propriate it themselves. I don’t know where it
which are said here? Where did the surplus fits because even if you raise more money and
go?" it's not covered in the budget, you are already
spending outside the budget and it must be ap-
Recently, the Finance ministry's acting ac- propriated by Parliament and it's in the same
countant-general, Edwin Zvandasara, also had manner that we are asking you why so much
a torrid time during a Public Accounts Com- was spent without our approval,’’ he said.
mittee session trying to defend Ncube’s budget
surplus utterances. In the ministry’s defence, Zvandasara said:
“What I was saying is that with surplus you are
After a failed attempt at justifying the basically looking at how much you have col-
government’s over-expenditure dating back lected versus how much you have spent, but
to 2015, legislators took turns to grill Zvan- when we come to the issue of condonation you
dasara, demanding answers pertaining to how are looking at how much you have spent, ver-
the ministry ended up seeking condonation sus what the approved budget is. I'm not sure
through the of how I can simplify it more.”
Financial Adjustment Bill of 2022 for unau-
thorised expenditure amounting to ZW$100.7
billion in 2020 when the Finance minister
claimed that the country had made a surplus.
Dzivaresekwa legislator Edwin Mushoriwa
was the first to demand an explanation as to
why the Finance ministry’s accounting depart-
ment ill-advised the government that it had
achieved a surplus yet there was none.
“Your ministry then came up with this new
Financial Adjustment Bill: 2022, where you are
now seeking Parliament to condone excess ex-
penditure in 2019 of ZW$6.8 billion and you
also expect Parliament to condone the other
expenditure for 2020 which is ZW$100.7 bil-
lion. Your department is supposed to be advis-
ing the minister the position in the finances of
the country, you are aware that Zimbabwe and
the people of Zimbabwe until recently when
the Auditor-General came up with the report
that we had excess expenditure, everyone was
assured that we had had surpluses in 2019 and
2020. Can you reconcile that your department
has been misinforming the whole ministry and
the whole of Zimbabwe in general or you say
that you don’t have mechanisms within your
ministry to actually see an excess and you have
to wait for the Auditor-General to point it out
to you,’’ Mushoriwa said.
Zvandasara claimed that it is possible for
over-expenditure to occur in the presence of
a surplus.
“I think it's important to make a distinction
between the issue of surpluses that you are re-
ferring to and the issue of excess expenditure
that requires condonation. There will be addi-
tional revenue raised, over and above what was
expected and the you end up with more expen-
diture. The only challenge would then become
that the additional expenditure would not be
covered by the appropriate authority, which is
the reason why we are then coming back for
condonation,” said Zvandasara.
Mushoriwa dismissed Zvandasara’s claims,
saying they were incomprehensible. "Mr Zvan-
dasara, could you explain it in layman’s lan-
guage? The question is you had a budget that
was approved by Parliament, and you were
asked to spend X number of dollars, we have
been operating on the basis that you have been
working within the budget to the extent that
the expenditures that you were actually mak-
ing were less than the revenue because of the
surplus. And now the Auditor-General tells
us that no, in 2019 you actually had an excess
expenditure of ZW$6.8 billion and in 2020
you had an excess expenditure of ZW$100.7
billion. And I did not understand your expla-
nation”.
Kambuzuma member of Parliament Willias
Madzimure added: "On the issue of surplus
and deficit, let's use simple arithmetic. You
are supposed to spend 10 dollars, you spend
eight dollars, so your surplus is two dollars,
Page 10 News NewsHawks
Issue 94, 19 August 2022
Grindale Engineering (below) was awarded the multimillion tender for the construction of Vungu Dam in Silobela.
US$87m dam project tender condemned
MOSES MATENGA l Praz disqualified ‘winning company’
THE Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zim- mittee and stop him from pursuing the Grindale that the equipment on site which the company perienced enough and on course to complete the
babwe (Praz) had condemned the awarding of an Engineering tender. claimed to have bought using the over US$2 construction of the dam.
US$87 million tender to Grindale Engineering million from the government was actually hired
(Pvt) Ltd, citing a number of reasons amid ques- MPs were not happy when they visited the equipment. The dam construction was set to take 36
tions as to why the company was chosen despite project site where they established that only 2% months and the handover to the contractor was
of the envisaged 10% engineering works had It emerged that the equipment was only hired only done in January this year.
its shortcomings, it has emerged. been done. just two days before the lawmakers’ visit to hood-
Grindale Engineering was awarded the wink them into believing that there was progress. Available information shows that the govern-
multi-million-dollar tender for the construction MPs left the Vungu Dam site in a huff during ment has only disbursed a total of US$2 624
of Vungu Dam in Silobela, Midlands province, by a tour in June after failing to find satisfactory an- It was not immediately established how Grin- 271.51 of the required US$8.7 million, which is
the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) swers on why the authorities settled for the con- dale Engineering clinched the tender, but avail- 10% of the total cost of the dam construction.
without satisfying laid down requirements. tractor who had shown lack of capacity to con- able information suggests the owners are linked
Praz had raised questions that were not imme- struct the dam. to a senior government official. When completed, the dam is set to benefit the
diately addressed, including evidence of experi- local community with irrigation facilities cover-
ence in handling similar projects, before the ten- The MPs were not happy after establishing The company insists however, that it was ex- ing more than 1 200 hectares.
der could be processed. But before Praz could be
furnished with the information, Grindale Engi-
neering was awarded the tender and received over
US$2 million as part-payment for the project.
The parliamentary committee on Lands chaired
by Gokwe-Nembudziya member of Parliament
Justice Mayor Wadyajena on Tuesday quizzed
Zinwa officials and Grindale over how the tender
was awarded despite the Praz reservations.
“Praz said they (Grindale Engineering) failed
to meet specific requirements. So if a company
fails you give them a tender?” Wadyajena asked
Zinwa officials during a committee hearing.
Several MPs present also weighed in before de-
manding documents on how the company finally
ended up getting the tender despite reservations
on its capacity raised by Praz.
There was also suspicion raised over the role of
the Lands ministry in the opaque transaction.
“Why did you go ahead and award this tender
to them when Praz had reservations? What role
did the ministry play in this?” Wadyajena quizzed
Zinwa chief executive officer Taurai Maurikira
who however insisted that there was nothing out
of the ordinary in the transaction.
The committee said it is seeking documents
from Zinwa and Grindale Engineering to estab-
lish if the ultimate winner met the legal stipula-
tions of public procurement.
Grindale Engineering and Zinwa said they will
furnish the committee with documents on 26
August.
Wadyajena is on remand facing fraud charges
and it is not clear whether he will be able to chair
the committee when the hearing resumes next
week.
Earlier this month, Wadyajena claimed there
was a plot to block him from chairing the com-
NewsHawks News Page 11
Issue 94, 19 August 2022
MOSES MATENGA Zesa banks on judiciary as the
firm loses millions to vandals
STATE-OWNED power utility Zesa is banking
on the judiciary to hand down severe penalties the suspect, Linos Sithole of Magwegwe North Zesa managing director in charge of stakeholder relations, communications and welfare George Manyaya
against copper cable thieves who cost the com- suburb, who was intending to smuggle copper by a crack team and, upon a thorough search, ments, and chassis frame were discovered. The
pany US$4.5 million last year alone as the crim- cables to South Africa. The vehicle was tracked copper cables stashed in the vehicle’s bonnet, cables, weighing a tonne, are valued at R200
inals continue wreaking havoc on suburbs and body panels, spare wheel and engine compart- 000. Police say the suspect is still on the run.
farms.
Zesa officials said they have recorded more
than 1 300 cases of vandalism and theft of ca-
bles. The cables are often smuggled to neigh-
bouring countries, amid suspicion that cartels
are involved.
It has emerged that while the thieves on the
ground are the ones usually caught, there were
ringleaders who remain unknown and are quick
to bribe the authorities to release the culprits.
Officials said over 100 suspects have so far
been arrested, but said Zesa is looking up to the
judiciary to pass deterrent sentences.
Stolen cables are finding their into mainly
South Africa and Botswana.
In 2021, Zesa recorded over 1 267 cases of
cable theft, translating to a loss of US$4 406 000
while in 2020 a total of 937 cases were recorded.
The thieves target copper cables and trans-
former oil.
Zesa managing director in charge of stake-
holder relations, communications and welfare
George Manyaya said: “We have embarked on
a joint operation with law enforcement agents
which has resulted in the arrest of over 200 sus-
pects in the past few weeks. We have declared
war on vandalism of electrical infrastructure as it
is tantamount to economic sabotage.”
He said the power utility is grateful to people
who have come forward with tip-offs leading to
the arrest of culprits.
However, officials say the power utility is now
banking on the courts to pass deterrent sentenc-
es.
“Our only hope is in the courts to ensure that
the culprits get punishment for their actions,” a
senior Zesa official said.
“As it stands, criminals are walking scot-free.
Law enforcement agents and Zesa loss control
officers are deployed in various operations across
the country.”
This week, the power utility officers recovered
a South African-registered vehicle with power
cables belonging to a Zesa subsidiary, the Zim-
babwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution
Company.
According to an internal memorandum, po-
lice officers in Bulawayo were tipped off about
Zesa says it has recorded above 1 300 cases of vandalism and theft of cables.
Page 12 News NewsHawks
Issue 94, 19 August 2022
BERNARD MPOFU Forex auction allocations
point toward dollarisation
ZIMBABWE’S economy has effectively
re-dollarised as weekly foreign exchange Rising inflation and weakening economy piled pressure on the Zimbabwe dollar.
allotments from the official system con- RBZ governor John Mangudya
tinue declining against the backdrop of
rising imports, a leading economist has
said.
After ditching the local currency for
a basket of multiple currencies mainly
dominated by the United States dollar,
the authorities frantically brought back
the local currency in an effort to boost
exports and drive a nationalist agenda.
But rising inflation and a weakening
economy piled pressure on the Zimba-
bwe dollar, prompting the use of both
the local unit and hard currency in
2020.
Gift Mugano, an adjunct professor
of economics at Durban University of
Technology, said the efficacy of the will-
ing-buyer willing-seller auction system
is questionable as retailers now prefer
the greenback as a medium of change.
“Continuous decline in weekly allot-
ment at the auction flow when imports
are rising tells you one thing — dol-
larisation. Firms are meeting their im-
port requirements from US dollar sales,
thereby rendering the auction system
irrelevant,” Mugano said.
Weekly allocations of foreign cur-
rency have over the past months been
declining, also partly due to the tight
liquidity situation triggered by a raft of
measures announced by monetary au-
thorities to tame inflation and preserve
the value of the Zimbabwe dollar.
This week US$16.6 million was allot-
ted to both the small and medium en-
terprise auction and the main auction,
down from US$21.4 million during pri-
or week. Early this this year, the figure
hovered around US$35 million as most
businesses turned to the system to meet
their forex requirements. The average
number of bids per auction, according
to central bank figures, was about 1 450
per week during the first half of 2022,
lower than the average of 2 000 bids per
week in the fourth quarter of 2021.
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe gover-
nor John Mangudya however attributes
the decline to the introduction of the
willing-buyer willing-seller foreign ex-
change trading mechanism (with some
applicants who used to rely on the for-
eign exchange auction system now ac-
cessing foreign currency through that
system) and effective monitoring by
banks and exchange control authorities.
Following President Emmerson
Mnangagwa’s announcement on 7 May
2022 to the effect that far-reaching
measures to stabilise the economy were
adopted, the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe temporarily suspended
lending by banks in order to allow com-
prehensive investigations by the Finan-
cial Intelligence Unit (FIU) into abuses
of commercial bank loan facilities by
business entities.
The investigations by the FIU, ac-
cording to the central bank, showed
significant abuse of loan facilities by
borrowers through arbitrage, multi-dip-
ping, borrowing on behalf of third par-
ties and diversion of foreign exchange
obtained through the foreign exchange
auction system to parallel market activ-
ities.
Official figures show that since the in-
troduction of the auction system on 23
June 2020, the apex bank has success-
fully held 104 main and 98 SME auc-
tions, as of 26 July 2022. In 2022, the
central bank allotted about US$834.7
million, representing about 91% of the
total bids submitted to the auction as of
26 July 2022.
The SMEs sector, the central bank
says, continues to receive a considerable
amount of funds from the auction sys-
tem, with a share of about 17% in the
first half of 2022, compared to a share
of 11% in the same period in 2021.
NewsHawks News Page 13
Issue 94, 19 August 2022
Dialogue only solution for Zim: Bere
MOSES MATENGA just terrible and there is no end in sight. Elec- l Restoration of freedoms critical
tions will just make it worse as violent repres-
IN the midst of a political and economic cri- sion will increase.” Dzikamai Bere.
sis that has hit Zimbabwe hard ahead of the
2023 elections, stakeholder dialogue to stop He said the government must stop the per-
the bleeding should be considered to avoid a secution of activists and NGOs.
bloodbath and deterioration of the country’s
fortunes, ZimRights national director Dzika- “(There is need to) initiate an inclusive and
mai Bere has said. comprehensive reform process that touches
both the political reforms necessary for a re-
Zimbabwe heads to next year’s polls, amid turn to constitutionalism (notice that I am
fears that without reforms, the dangers of vi- not saying political reforms necessary for a free
olence and manipulation are heightened, and and fair election — because constitutionalism
this could lead to yet another disputed elec- — not merely elections – should be our obses-
tion. sion) and a return to a life-sustaining economy
that saves all of us.”
Bere told The NewsHawks in an interview
this week that the economic and political sit- “These are difficult steps that cannot hap-
uation continues to deteriorate, affecting mil- pen without acknowledgement from the cur-
lions of Zimbabweans. rent leadership and necessary support from the
good people in Zimbabwe and the interna-
“The human rights situation in Zimbabwe tional community.”
keeps deteriorating at all levels, eroding the
dignity of families, communities and individ- He said what was standing in the way of
uals,” Bere said. reform and progress in Zimbabwe is lack of
ethical leadership that cares about the people.
“First there is need to acknowledge that we
are in a man-made crisis — it is called truth “For that reason, we are most likely going
telling. We are in a crisis. Many times, we only to remain on the road to perdition until the
take dramatic action when blood is flowing in contradictions have reached their limits and
the streets, but right now a lot of blood is flow- the nation will pay a price that is not unavoid-
ing in the hospitals, and in the streets.” able,” Bere said.
“We need — just like a nation at war — On worries that Zimbabwe is headed for a
to stop everything and initiate a broad-based bloodbath ahead of the 2023 elections, Bere
multi-stakeholder dialogue process aimed at said: “That is an understatement — we are
first stopping the bleeding and finding each heading towards a bloodbath. But if anyone
other, realising that elections are not the an- thinks only human rights defenders are under
swer. In fact, in Zimbabwe, they are part of the siege they are deluded.”
problem. They deliver nothing but dead bodies
and increasing authoritarian consolidation.” “Everyone is under siege. The pattern is
emerging. They started with the attack on the
Bere said instead of addressing the challeng- opposition — the recalls — aimed at captur-
es haunting Zimbabwe, the country’s “clueless ing the opposition. They moved to the judicia-
and heartless” leaders were fighting workers, ry with the Amendment Bill Number 2 and
imprisoning activists and trade unionists with- the infamous (Chief Justice Luke) Malaba de-
out trial while shutting down non-governmen- bacle. They are coming after the Law Society.”
tal organisations.
“With the Health Services Bill, they are
He also accused President Emmerson coming after the doctors. With the Private Vol-
Mnangagwa’s administration of ignoring the untary Organisation Amendment Bill — they
international community’s wise counsel. are coming after the NGOs. There will be the
Patriotic Act and many others. We are heading
Several labour rights activists have been ar- into the dark ages — not the human rights de-
rested in the recent past, including the Amal- fenders — all of us and we must wake up and
gamated Rural Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe smell the blood — it’s not coffee time.”
(Artuz) leadership over various charges observ-
ers say were trumped up and meant to silence He said both Zanu PF and opposition
critics of the regime. parties should acknowledge the power of the
people in dealing with the crisis in Zimbabwe,
Bere said several freedoms have been eroded adding that ordinary citizens were now frus-
in Zimbabwe, a cause for concern for many trated by political shenanigans.
who now feel the heavy-handedness of the
state, especially in dealing with critics and the “While the leadership may take time to
opposition. understand the path towards returning pow-
er to the people, ordinary Zimbabweans are
“The right to free expression, association frustrated with the shenanigans and are ready
and the right to protest have all disappeared. for broad-based dialogue — led by grassroots
You can almost get convinced that they are de- communities and giving a voice to their strug-
termined to fail at any cost. The situation is gles.”
Zimbabwe heads to next year’s polls, amid fears that without reforms, the dangers of violence heightened.
Page 14 News NewsHawks
Issue 94, 19 August 2022
BRENNA MATENDERE Zim faces UN backlash over
SEVEN Zimbabwean civil society organisa- racist Chinese employers
tions have presented a damning report to the
United Nations over the failure by the govern- Civil society blames Chinese companies of ill-treating Zimbabwean workers.
ment to uphold the country’s obligations it
ratified under the Covenant on Elimination of added that despite filing a complaint with the of them, telling the Zimbabwe Mail and UN.
all Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD). Zimbabwe Republic Police on 22 February Guardian, that ‘working for these men from In the past 10 years, Chinese investors have
2022, the case has still not been heard in court. the East is hell on earth’.”
The UN is currently holding a three-week- become dominant in Zimbabwe’s economy,
long 107th Session of the Committee on the In another case, in June 2010, construction “It must be reiterated that Chinese compa- particularly in mining, manufacturing and re-
Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) workers at a Military College situated at the nies rarely face any form of sanction, for such tailing.
in Geneva, Switerland in which the situation Anhui Foreign Economic Construction Com- violations. In fact, Chinese entities, such as
in Zimbabwe, among other countries, will be pany (AFECC), went on strike over low pay Amjin Investments, have entered into joint As a result, the government of Zimbabwe
reviewed before the world body issues its as- (US$4 per day), alleging regular beatings by operations/joint venture agreements with the has tried to lure investors into the country, and
sessment report. their Chinese manager. Zimbabwe Defence forces (Military). The role China has obliged.
of the security forces in protecting Chinese in-
The meeting began on 8 August and ends “More generally, allegation of beatings by vestors from accountability for flagrant human The Asian power’s growing investment in
on 30 August. Chinese employers’ cross sectors and sizes of rights violations impedes the implementation Zimbabwe is cross-sectoral and includes large
businesses. For example, the Atlantic reports of laws that protect victims of unfair and in- national-scale projects such as the repair of
A UN backlash for Zimbabwe will not only that ‘reports of beatings by Chinese managers humane labour practices,” the civil society or- water infrastructure for Harare City Coun-
cause diplomatic embarrassment, but also are so common that even a cook at Harare’s ganisations further wrote in their report to the cil (approximately US$144 million) and the
place the country in the international hall of popular China Garden restaurant complained building of the Zimbabwe National Defence
shame. University (approximately US$98 million), to
The NewsHawks exclusively obtained a
damning report that was submitted to the UN
committee by the seven civil society organisa-
tions which was in response to the one tabled
by the Zimbabwean government in which it
claimed everything was rosy in the country.
The seven organisations are Solidarity Cen-
tre; Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition; Domestic
Workers’ Association of Zimbabwe; African
End Sexual Harassment Initiative; Zimbabwe
Domestic and Allied Workers’ Union; Vendors
Initiative for Social and Economic Transfor-
mation, and the Zimbabwe Chamber of Infor-
mal Economy Associations.
The organisations tore into the government
for casting a blind eye on abuses by the Chi-
nese, whom they said flagrantly violate the
CERD’s articles 5 (a) and (b) pertaining to the
UN special convention on the elimination of
racial discrimination.
Part of the report presented by Zimbabwe’s
civil society organisations reads: “This issue of
the discrimination of locals by Chinese nation-
als is prevalent and it undermines the strides
which Zimbabwe has taken in tightening its
legislation on the elimination of all forms of
discrimination, including in the investment
and Development Agency (Zida) Act which
provides for non -discrimination clause be-
tween local investors.”
“There are recorded cases of Zimbabwean
workers facing bodily harm and violence in
the context of working in Chinese investment
entities, without recourse. The absence of en-
forcement of laws against Chinese nationals
and companies is not extended to investors
and nationals from other countries, nor indig-
enous populations.”
The civil society organisations further sub-
mitted that they received reports that there
is no equal treatment before the law when it
pertains to the Chinese and that this is demon-
strated by the contempt that Chinese nationals
and Chinese companies in Zimbabwe have to-
wards the laws.
One such company is Sunny Yi Feng Tiles
Zimbabwe, a Chinese-owned ceramics ven-
ture.
“For example, Lime, which is used during
the tile-making process, was not being man-
aged in tandem with environmental specifica-
tions, raising the fear that the substance could
contaminate the soil and seep into the nearby
Manyame River,” reads another section of the
report.
The organisations also said the police had
failed to investigate and thus “no prosecution
has resulted even though there is sufficient ev-
idence that the stolen ore is valued at USD 4
174 444, a signifiant amount.”
The organisations also told the UN that on
21 January 2020, two Zimbabwean workers
— Wendy Chikwira and Kennedy Tichao-
na — were shot by a Chinese national in the
Redan mine in Gweru, during an altercation
over unpaid salaries and the shooter fled the
country and was reportedly exonerated upon
return.
In addition, the civil society organisations
told the UN of another case of Vincent Matak-
ura of Nyatsime Park in Chitungwiza who re-
ported a matter of alleged kidnapping by Terify
Taruvinga and his accomplice, a male chinese
national by the name Wang Sunny Yi Feng.
The organisations said the Zimbabwean po-
lice instead arrested the complainant and took
him to court where he was later acquitted and
NewsHawks News Page 15
Issue 94, 19 August 2022
Opposition MPs suffer in detention
MOSES MATENGA . . . Sikhala, Sithole treated as hardcore criminals
. . . Duo languishing in prison ‘D’ class section
CITIZENS’ Coalition for Change (CCC) mem-
bers of Parliament Job Sikhala and Godfrey Members of Parliament Job Sikhala (right) and Godfrey Sithole are detained at Chikurubi Maximum Prison (below).
Sithole who are incarcerated on charges of incit-
ing public violence are being treated like hard-
core criminals and their constitutional rights vi-
olated while in remand prison, the duo’s lawyers
have said.
Roselyn Hanzi and Idirashe Chikomba of the
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR)
have written to the Zimbabwe Prisons and Cor-
rectional Services (ZPCS) officer-in-charge Chi-
kurubi Maximum Security Prison demanding
an end to the persecution of the two opposition
politicians.
The lawyers are demanding that the prison
officers respect the two opposition lawmakers’
constitutional rights.
“The two, Job Sikhala and Godfrey Sithole,
are being subjected to inhumane treatment more
specifically in that they are being shackled in leg
irons when they have to leave their holding cells
to meet with visitors including when they are
meeting with their lawyers,” the letter dated 16
August 2022 reads in part.
ZPCS Commissioner-General Moses Chihob-
vu is also copied in the letter.
“These leg irons are as old as they can be. Oth-
er than them being too tight, since they appear
to be one-size-fits-all (despite that some inmates
may have bigger legs) with a possibility of dis-
rupting the smooth circulation of blood, they are
also bruising the legs at some point of contact,
for our clients.”
The letter also revealed that some of Sikhala’s
visitors bringing him food were being blocked,
with the authorities arguing he had too much
already.
Hanzi and Chikomba queried why the offi-
cials were blocking those bringing food to the
two accused persons as if they were dieticians.
“We are also advised that the duo are being
detained in the D class section which we are re-
liably informed is the section for dangerous and
convicted criminals,” the letter reads.
Sikhala and Sithole were arrested in June and
have spent over two months in remand prison.
They were arrested for allegedly inciting vio-
lence at the funeral wake of CCC activist More-
blessing Ali.
Ali was allegedly killed by a Zanu PF activist
who has since been arrested.
The CCC activist is yet to be buried, with her
family demanding the release of Sikhala, their
lawyer and spokesperson, saying he was arrested
to silence them from demanding justice.
Sikhala and Sithole’s continued incarceration
together with 13 other activists has triggered in-
ternational condemnation, signalling a deteriora-
tion in Zimbabwe’s human rights situation.
Page 16 News NewsHawks
Issue 94, 19 August 2022
Woes mount for Chilonga villagers
Villagers in Chilonga are up in arms with a local mining firm.
MORRIS BISHI colonial era. Chilonga and other parts of Chiredzi South stretching to Mwenezi district have large deposits of various
“We saw excavators working along the river minerals, including diamonds.
TRADITIONAL leaders and villagers in
Chilonga, south of Chiredzi town, are up in last Friday and they spent almost three days
arms with a local mining firm they accuse of de- taking samples for minerals. This is all what we
ploying excavators to extract minerals along the used to say, these people are targeting our land
Runde River without consulting them, a move for mining.”
that puts their continued stay in the targeted
area in doubt. “They are talking of grass production, but
their main aim is minerals. Our leaders are now
The villagers said the new mining venture performing worse than what [Rhodesian prime
confirms their long-held suspicion that senior minister Ian] Smith used to do in terms of hu-
government officials were targeting vast min- man rights violations,” he said.
erals, including diamond and gold in the area,
while hiding behind the lucerne project that is “They are not worried about our reaction,
being fought in court. maybe because we are a minority tribe.”
The government is pushing for the lucerne According to an aeromagnetic survey carried
project by Kwekwe-based milk processor Den- out by a South African-based company three
dairy, a move which could leave more than years ago, Chilonga and other parts of Chiredzi
10 000 families homeless. South expanding to Mwenezi district have large
deposits of various minerals, including dia-
Chief Chilonga, born John Ben, said he was monds, gold and coal.
not informed of the new project as per tradition
and the development came to him as a shock. Chiredzi Rural District Council chief exec-
utive officer Ailess Baloyi told The NewsHawks
“I was not notified even by the council that that his council gave permission to Uni Oil to
such a thing will happen. I was only told by my prospect for all minerals along the banks of the
subjects that there are excavators taking samples Runde River in Chilonga. He said the company,
along the river,” he said. based in Masvingo, will be allowed to undertake
mining activities if the samples turn out posi-
“I am also not sure if this latest development tive.
is linked to the grass project which is being re-
sisted by most of our people,” he said. “Yes, we know the company. They have done
all preliminaries with us.The company is called
Livison Chikutu, one of the community Uni Oil from Masvingo and it is prospecting for
leaders resisting the lucerne project, told The any minerals in the area. Yes. They are on the
NewsHawks that villagers were worried that river bed, not on the grasslands. They are ba-
government officials were targeting their area sically extracting sand to test for minerals and,
for minerals while hiding behind the dairy proj- if they are satisfied with the samples, they will
ect, accusing the regime of being worse than the undertake mining activities,” Baloyi said.
NewsHawks News Page 17
Issue 94, 19 August 2022
PVO Bill to reverse empowerment gains
NATHAN GUMA The PVO Amendment Bill has passed the second reading stage in Parliament.
THE Private Voluntary Organisations (PVO) (MICS). 2019 and, according to the 2022 National Bud- NGOs, and if the Bill is passed into law, with-
Amendment Bill is likely to reverse gains made During the same period, Zimbabwe benefited get statement, Zimbabwe is expected to receive out the financial resource, women’s access to
in promoting gender justice, as it will clamp US$482 059 110 from development partners. adequate sexual and reproductive health services
down on organisations that have been pro- from the five-year US$25illion-Challenge Tu- will decline.”
moting women’s empowerment, human rights berculosis (TB) grant which came to an end in “Critically, these funds are channelled through
groups have said.
Civil society organisations such as Musasa Project have been partnering the government in fighting gender-based violence.
The Bill, which has already passed the second
reading stage in Parliament without objections,
is targeting a ban on civil society organisations
(CSOs), which Zanu PF is accusing of plotting
regime change.
Civil society organisations believe the Bill will
plunder gains achieved in promoting women’s
rights — milestones that have been reached with
the help of non-governmental organisations
(NGOs).
The PVO Bill proposes amendments that in-
terfere with the operations of NGOs, with long-
term consequences that may lead to CSOs clos-
ing or losing their funding, according to a report
by governance network Accountability Lab ti-
tled: “The PVO Bill is a step backward for wom-
en,” says Alois Nyamazana, the organisation’s
monitoring, evaluation and learning manager.
“NGOs have complemented the government
in the provision of safe spaces for women and
children, with support from external funders.
NGO-government partnerships exist to provide
adequate access to services including, legal, med-
ical, and psycho-social support to survivors,”
says the report.
Civil society has been collaborating with the
government in initiatives such as the Victim
Friendly Unit (VFU) of the Zimbabwe Repub-
lic Police, which has been pivotal in providing
access to justice for survivors of abuse, especially
children.
Other organisations that have successfully
collaborated with the government are likely to
lack funding if the Bill is passed into law, accord-
ing to the report.
CSOs like Musasa Project, Zimbabwe Wom-
en Lawyers Association (ZWLA), and the Legal
Resources Foundation, among others, have been
partnering the government in fighting gen-
der-based violence.
In addition, CSOs have been active in
strengthening entrepreneurial skills among
women by providing technical assistance in areas
such as agriculture and business management,
according to the report.
“NGOs also offer micro-finance facilities to
women, and some organisations such as Self-
Help Development Organisation, Plan Inter-
national, and Jekesa Pfungwa/Vul' Ingqondo,
support women’s empowerment through initia-
tives such as internal saving and lending which
promote women’s access to finance for their live-
lihood projects.
“Participants reported that the ability to earn
an income has enhanced their capacity to influ-
ence domestic relationships, specifically negoti-
ating with their husbands amicably, something
they found difficult without the support of
NGOs,” says the report.
The report also further says the PVO Bill is
likely to thwart gains made in promoting access
to reproductive and health services by women —
which has mainly been spearheaded by NGOs.
“Zimbabwe has brought the HIV epidem-
ic under control through successful prevention
strategies, including major advances made under
the Global Plan on Elimination of Mother to
Child Transmission of HIV. The HIV response
has contributed to strengthening the national
health system.
“Decentralised services, removal of barri-
ers such as user fees, service integration, and
strengthened community service delivery have
helped fulfill the country’s commitments to
eliminate Mother to Child Transmission of HIV,
and also boost all aspects of maternal health,”
says Nyamazana in the report.
The maternal mortality ratio declined from
651 in 2015 to 525 in 2017 and then 462 in
2019 The proportion of women of reproductive
age who have their need for family planning
satisfied with modern methods has increased
from 86% in 2016 to 89% in 2019, according
to the 2019 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey
Page 18 News NewsHawks
Outdated wildlife Issue 94, 19 August 2022
law inflicts misery
on communities Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority spokesperson Tinashe Farawo
MARRY MUNDEYA a bid to make sure that it best reflects the cur-
rent needs of society and is in line with inter-
ABEDNIGO MOYO of Matabeleland South national best practice.
province’s Halale village was harvesting mo-
pane worms (amacimbi) when he survived a However, conservationists such as interna-
near-death experience from a leopard attack. tional animal law advocate Ever Chinoda are
bemoaning the snail’s pace at which the review
He found himself wrestling the vicious cat is being done, a move she said is mostly ben-
which he miraculously fended off by shoving efitting poachers and animal traffickers at the
his hand into its mouth and blocking its wind- expense Zimbabwe’s wildlife heritage.
pipe.
“The ongoing review of the Parks and Wild-
He says sometime in January 2020 along- life Act of 1975 is a step in the right direction
side his brother and his wife they went to for us as a nation, even though the snail's pace
Gumela Farm owned by William Ncube and at which it’s moving is disadvantaging our
sought permission to harvest amacimbi at his wildlife and benefitting poachers and animal
property, which they were granted. traffickers.”
As he was harvesting the mopane worms, “The current Act has a lot of loopholes that
all of a sudden he heard an unusual sound of need to be swiftly amended so that we have a
something approaching from the thicket. law that speaks to wildlife crime without us
relying on other pieces of legislation when
“Before I could even see or react, a leopard prosecuting cases. As we speak, our definition
emerged charging towards me. I tried to run of wildlife is only limited to animals indige-
but it was too late, the predator attacked me nous to Zimbabwe which proved problem-
and I don’t know how I gathered the strength atic, for example when we were handling a
and managed to grab it by the neck before case involving 25 juvenile monkeys that had
it could savage me. However, the grip was been trafficked from the Democratic Repub-
not strong and the leopard freed itself but it lic of Congo (DRC). The culprits ended up
slipped and lost balance. I realised that if I serving sux-month jail sentences for cruelty to
don’t do something the animal would kill me. animals because we couldn’t charge them with
It was either I die fighting or I get mauled,” the bigger charge of wildlife trafficking since
he said. the monkeys were not native to Zimbabwe,’’
she said.
When the leopard opened its mouth ready
to sink its teeth on him, he shoved his hand Chinoda added that apart from the amend-
into its mouth and grabbed its windpipe. ments, there is also need to for the consolida-
tion of the various statutory instruments that
“It was painful because at the same time, the had been put in place to deal with different
leopard was biting my hand but I was choking wildlife cases.
it from inside while the other hand was fend-
ing off its claws. I was also screaming at the “We have more than 10 statutory instru-
same time. The struggle went on for a minute ments and other laws that regulate the pos-
or two and I could see the animal was also los- session, use and management of wildlife; they
ing power from the choke,” he said. should all be consolidated into one law which
makes things easier.”
For all his efforts to save his life, he was later
arrested and charged for killing an endangered ZimParks spokesperson Tinashe Farawo
animal. told The NewsHawks that the Parks and Wild-
life Management Act in recent times had done
Moyo’s story is typical of what Zimbabwe- more harm than good not only to animals but
ans in wildlife-rich areas go through on a daily also to humans.
basis as a result of the current outdated laws
that govern wildlife management and protec- “The current Act is a colonial document
tion. that does not speak to the realities of the day.
Individuals like Mr Moyo from Matabeland
In 2020, 78-year-old Amos Moyo of Thu- South’s Matobo district have been charged and
kani village located on the edge of Hwange convicted of poaching, after killing a leopard
National Park was ordered by a court to that had attacked him on a farm.”
compensate the Zimbabwe Parks and Wild-
life Management Authority (ZimParks) “Our goal is to come up with a document
US$20 000 after he killed a leopard that had that speaks to the aspirations of Zimbabweans
attacked him in the bush. in a manner that allows them to live in harmo-
ny with nature as they will be benefitting from
Pained by the loss of his goat that had been their wildlife,’’ Farawo said.
devoured by the marauding leopard and subse-
quently reporting the incident to the authori- National coordinator and chief director
ties of the incident to no avail, Moyo used an for climate, environment and meteorologi-
axe handle to finish off the leopard that had cal services in the ministry of Environment,
been caught by a trap he had set in the Vula- Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Professor
mashava bush. Prosper Matondi attributed the snail’s pace at
which the reviewing process has been going to
Since the beginning of 2022 to date, 45 the different propositions from stakeholders
people have been killed, while 40 others have that they have had to take into consideration
been left injured due to human-wildlife con- as well as the current backlog at the Attor-
flict and the problem is expected to skyrocket ney-General’s office.
as the dry season in which animals encroach
into human settlements in search of food and “The reason why there has been a slow pace
water is fast approaching. in regards to the passing of the final policy is
there are different propositions from stake-
Over the years, those injured as a result of holders, some of which have been requiring us
human-wildlife conflict have received sporadic to negotiate with them so that we reach a con-
and inefficient medical assistance from rural sensus. For example, there is a disagreement
district councils (RDCs) and ZimParks. On between communities who don’t want to be
the other hand, families of deceased persons part of the Community Areas Management
are being left without any form of compen- Programme for Indigenous Resources (Camp-
sation. fire) and rural district councils over non-bene-
ficiation from wildlife.”
Not only have the outdated laws escalated
human-wildlife conflict, they have also led to “Due to the current backlog at the Attor-
difficulties in the prosecution of wildlife cases ney-General’s office, we have liaised with him
and increased cases of animal trafficking from and he has agreed to address all the legal in-
other counties through Zimbabwean borders. struments we have presented to him all at once
in October”, he said.
In November 2020, the government of
Zimbabwe began a process to review the Parks
and Wildlife Act (Chapter 20:14) of 1975 in
NewsHawks News Page 19
Issue 94, 19 August 2022
Zec wades into Chamisa murder threat
BRENNA MATENDERE “Zec implores all political parties and stake- said she expected the Zec chairperson to pledge CCC leader Nelson Chamisa
holders to the electoral process to desist from tough measures against Bishop Mashayanyika. Mashayanyika’s incitement of Chamisa’s murder.
ZIMBABWE Electoral Commission (Zec) any conduct which might put the electoral can-
chairperson Justice Priscilla Chigumba this week didates and other stakeholders specified in the “I am disappointed that Zec has said nothing However, the bishop is still free and has not
wrote to human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa Fourth Schedule of the Electoral Act (Chapter 2: about investigations of the alleged utterances been arrested.
expressing anger over a Zanu PF official’s public 13),” wrote Chigumba. with a view to have the culprit prosecuted,” said
incitement to the murder of opposition Citizens’ Mtetwa, adding: “I will naturally follow up on On the contrary, Citizens’ Coalition for
Coalition for Change leader Nelson Chamisa. She added that she will follow up on the mat- both ZHRC and ZRP on progress made in their Change vice-chairperson Job Sikhala and
ter. “Zec will continue to reiterate this through investigations of the alleged utterances with a Chitungwiza MP Godfrey Sithole have now
Anton Mashayanyika, a bishop in the Hab- its multi-party liaison committee meetings view to have the culprit prosecuted.” spent over two months in remand prison for al-
bakuk Apostolic Faith Mission church in Mber- as well as its voter education and other public leged incitement of violence after the murder of
engwa, threatened to kill Chamisa for challeng- awareness drives,” Chigumba wrote. On 27 July 2022, Assistant Commissioner opposition activist Moreblessing Ali.
ing President Emmerson Mnangagwa while Taurai Mushoriwa of the Criminal Investigation
addressing a Zanu PF local meeting before the In an interview with The NewsHawks, Mtetwa Department wrote to Mtetwa advising her that Bishop Mashayanyika is on record as saying
video recording went viral on social media last acknowledged receipt of Chigumba’s letter and investigations had been instituted into Bishop he will never get into trouble over his incitement
month. of Chamisa’s murder because he is “too Zanu PF
to be arrested.”
In his address while speaking in Shona lan-
guage, Mashayanyika said: “When I say down
with Chamisa I mean that he must be killed.
Do you hear me? He must die. I say so because
I want all of you to understand that. So down
with Chamisa and his children.”
Mashayanyika’s address prompted lawyer
Mtetwa to file a formal police report of incite-
ment to murder. She also formally wrote a let-
ter of complainant to Zec, National Prosecuting
Authority (NPA) Zimbabwe Human Rights
Commission and the National Peace and Recon-
ciliation Commission.
In a letter dated 16 August 2022 obtained by
The NewsHawks, Chigumba wrote back to the
human rights lawyer expressing concern over
Mashayanyika’s call for Chamisa’s murder and
violence against opposition politicians in gener-
al.
The reference number of the letter is C/13/315
and its subject is “Video inciting murder and vi-
olence against opposition party leader Nelson
Chamisa.”
Chigumba wrote:“The Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission recognizes the founding values and
principles upon which the Zimbabwean consti-
tution is based and does not condone violence or
threats of violence against any person, political
party or the supporters of any political party.”
She also urged restraint.
Page 22 News NewsHawks
Issue 94, 19 August 2022
Farmers fume over maize import deals
MOSES MATENGA
ZIMBABWEAN farmers continue holding were holding on to their maize because of the We have seen local farmers holding on to their Norton MP
onto their maize harvest in protest over low undesirable pricing. maize. Why are we not prepared to give our Temba Mliswa
prices offered by the government through the farmers money yet we are prepared to pay the seeing farmers not doing well, not sustaining
Grain Marketing Board (GMB), while dealers “Importation you are paying US$280, your foreign farmers?” Mliswa asked. themselves because they are making commis-
are getting millions of United States dollars for local farmer you are paying US$90 plus RTGS sions from the deals of maize. Pane macuts ava-
sourcing grain outside the country through deals which probably is worth US$120 per tonne. “There seems to be people who are bent on nowana macommision (they receive cuts and
the local growers say are opaque. some commission). You cannot suffocate a
A visit this week by The NewsHawks to some
farms in Mashonaland East province and a snap
survey showed that the farmers, mainly in the
A2 category, were protesting over prices offered
by the government, insisting they would rather
keep their produce until officials take action to
allow them to remain in business in the coming
season.
“If the government doesn’t change its attitude
towards the farmers, we are going to have low
maize production, which will led to starvation
across the country,” one of the farmers, who is
also a member of Parliament in Mashonaland
East province, said in an interview.
“The government is paying farmers
US$90 at the interbank exchange rate and
ZW$100 000 (US$153) as the actual maize
price per tonne,” the farmer said.
“For a farmer to plant one hectare of maize,
a farmer needs 25kgs of seed maize which cost
US$115 for long season. A farmer needs at least
eight bags of compound D fertilizer, seven bags
of ammonium nitrate. Over US$100 is needed
for tillage costs while more is needed for herbi-
cides to control grass, among other unavoidable
costs.”
Other farmers said the government’s move
to grant grain millers licences to import maize
using foreign currency has dealt a blow on local
growers who continue to be paid in the unsus-
tainable Zimdollar.
“The government has given grain millers per-
mits to import maize from Zambia, growing
its import bill, instead of directing local millers
to buy maize from local farmers to empower
them,” the farmer said.
“Farmers are now like criminals or drug deal-
ers; you need a permit like someone who is sell-
ing cattle.”
Norton member of Parliament Temba Mliswa
on Wednesday told Parliament that farmers
NewsHawks News Page 23
Issue 94, 19 August 2022
Zim MPs snub desperate Wenela miners
NATHAN GUMA Over one-third of South Africa’s mineworkers came from neighbouring countries.
Nssa carried out an exercise in three cities to determine the degree of injuries sustained by workers during their tenure in South Africa.
FORMER Zimbabwean mine workers who
toiled under the Witwatersrand Native Labour
Association (WNLA), also known as “Wenela”,
have accused the country’s lawmakers of ignor-
ing their plight and refusing to expedite the pro-
cessing of their benefits currently locked up in
financial institutions.
This comes as it has emerged that more than
US$3 billion in unclaimed benefits belonging to
over 4.8 million migrant workers who contribut-
ed labour to South Africa’s mining industry have
remained unclaimed in the neighbouring coun-
try and the amount continues to increase.
A significant portion of that amount is due to
Zimbabwean workers who contracted tubercu-
losis or silicosis and other occupational injuries
while working in South African mines.
Ex-Wenela Mine Workers’ Association says
other countries like South Africa and Eswatini
are working with their local MPs to speed up
the compensation process, but the Zimbabwean
lawmakers are yet to speak up to ensure the locals
benefit.
Over one-third of South Africa’s minework-
ers came from neighbouring countries, namely
Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozam-
bique, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
“We have agreed with Southern African Min-
ers’ Association (Sama) that this model is extend-
ed to its affiliate countries, not in South Africa
alone,” Lungelwe Mkhwanazi, the Ex-Wenela
Workers’ Association president, said.
“The model has been piloted from the Eastern
Cape where the Sama is handling the compen-
sation process together with the SA government
through members of parliament in the area. We
want the same to be taken to countries who con-
tributed labour as well.”
Eswatini MPs already have a Parliamentary
Tuberculosis (TB) Caucas to push for the com-
pensation of ex-mineworkers.
Over 38 000 workers from Eswatini are still
alive.
Ex-Wenela Workers’ Association of Zimbabwe
says they are yet to engage local parliamentarians
a similar model to be applied in Zimbabwe.
Mkhwanazi said while several workers have
been working in South African mines, the com-
pensation will target workers whose companies
were registered under the Rand Mutual Associa-
tion (RMA), a South African agency that admin-
isters the compensation of mine workers who
would have sustained occupational injuries.
“Tshiamiso Trust is not facilitating payment
of every worker, but mines that contributed to
the class settlement,” Mkhwanazi said.
“The RMA specifically caters for all mines. So
those who worked for the mines which are not
part and parcel should not worry about the com-
pensation. Upon medical examinations, results
will be forwarded via the RMA.”
Zimbabwe’s National Social Security Agency
(Nssa) has already carried out an exercise in three
cities: Bulawayo, Harare and Masvingo, to deter-
mine the degree of injuries sustained by workers
during their tenure in South Africa.
Mkhwanazi says his organisation is pushing
for the setting up of more centres from where
members can access medical examination ser-
vices which are key in the compensation process.
The payment has remained in a stalemate since
the 1970s, with workers failing to collect their
benefits due to massive paperwork involved.
He said this has seen Zimbabwe making lack-
lustre progress in repatriating the unpaid bene-
fits.
“Some countries have workers who are work-
ing to this day, hence it is easy to repatriate their
benefits,” Mkhwanazi said.
“It is easy to deal with issues of someone who
would have left the mine two or three years ago
because that information is already captured. In
our case, most workers came before computers.
“Hence, our records of service are not easily
traceable. We also have ex-workers who died in
South Africa. There has to be closure to the issue
so that they can be buried here, and that their
families receive compensation on their behalf.”
He said the process can be sped up should
legislators be active in the compensation process.
Page 22 News NewsHawks
Issue 94, 19 August 2022
Stung by United States Applied Economics Zimbabwe’s high inflation rate
Professor Steve Hanke’s Inflation Dashboard disinformation: @steve_hanke
at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore,
Maryland, which use the Purchasing Power Accounting for inflation has been around 23 July 1797, ordered each departement to Manual for the scientific production of statis-
Parity Theory (PPP) to calculate the average for more than three centuries. The early his- draw up tables recording the declining values tics and offer advice, review missions and tech-
rate of monthly and annual price increases tory of coming up with methods to calculate of assignats and mandates. nical assistance to member countries.
— putting inflation much higher than offi- inflation evolved over a long period stretching
cial figures — The Zimbabwean government from 1700 to 1879. (Robert O’Neil et al, The The tables were to capture: Worth noting is that Zimbabwe and all
has come out to confront the American cur- Origins of Measuring Inflation, 2017) a) The price of coin; and member states have no option, but to abide
rency and inflation expert on the issue. Pur- by the rules of the game when calculating in-
chasing power parity is the idea that goods The French Revolution b) Free market values for: estate; flation.
in one country will cost the same in another The French Revolution had its fair share of i) Real
country, once their exchange rate is applied. commotion that brought about increases in Enter @steve_hanke
According to this theory, two currencies are the general price level, through supply side ii) Foodstuffs; and (American Applied Economics) Professor
at par when a market basket of goods is val- constraints. During this period, government Steve Hanke uses exchange rates and stock
ued the same in both countries. This is what also introduced assignats (bills issued as cur- iii) Other 10 commodities. market indices to calculate inflation rates. He
Hanke uses to calculate inflation. Mean- rency by the French Government [1789-96] bases his argument on the Purchasing Power
while, the official measures are calculated by on the security of expropriated lands). Adjustments of the debt’s principal amount Parity theorem.
determining the changes in prices of items The inflationary period was characterised by were to be made using the Tables of Depre- In Zimbabwe he used the Old Mutual Im-
(in local currency) in the official basket. a number of decrees postponing debts repay- ciation that became widely used. Enterprising plied Rate for a long time. This is besides the
These prices are gathered by sampling pric- ments, resulting in the decree of 13 July 1795 printers produced handbooks for businessmen fact that stock market prices are driven by:
es for items in the basket. Then, the items in that temporarily suspended payments on all containing such tables and explaining how a) Fundamental factors and these have
the official basket are assigned weights, and debts contracted before 1 January 1792. they were to be used for purposes of calculat- much to do with performance of firms;
a price index is produced. In contrast, PPP This was an appropriate move in response ing repayments. (Eugene N. White, 1991) b) Technical factors that are relat-
relies on exchange-rate data and price-lev- to creditors’ justified fear that assignats owed ed to stock price history in the market;
el differentials between two countries. PPP to them would continue to lose value (Eugene The above acts as one of the early methods c) Market sentiment — this is the most vex-
avoids the measurement errors and weight- N. White, Measuring the French Revolution’s and attempts at accounting for inflation. Ad- ing and subjective category, where subjectivity
ing problems associated with official price Inflation: the tableaux de depreciation, 1991). mittedly the tables had their technical chal- comes into play; and
indices, Hanke, who has taught economics Eugene N. White noted that by December lenges, but they initiated one of the first im- d) Speculative motive.
and held senior government positions as 1795, protection for creditors was granted by portant steps in accounting for loss of value However, the goods and services market is
an adviser around the world, says. Howev- government allowing them to refuse repay- of money. not driven by the same factors as the stock
er, the Zimbabwe Statistical Agency Direc- ment for contracts signed before 23 Septem- market. Accounting for inflation involves
tor-General Taguma Mahonde differs. But ber 1795, until a new law governing debts was Experiences of inflation in various parts tracking prices of commodities in the goods
Hanke, a leading world expert on currency enacted. of the world, over the years, led to improved and services market. This is not the same as
boards, measuring and stopping hyperin- On 4 April 1796 the French Government techniques in accounting for inflation. This re- tracking price developments in the exchange
flation, privatisation, currency and com- attempted a currency reform that phased out sulted in three major approaches, that give the and stock markets, thus Hanke’s model and
modity trading, insists the PPP theory is a assignats and introduced mandats (bank notes following indices: methods become questionable.
tried and tested — and better — method of issued as currency to replace assignats which Of interest is that, in as far back as the 18th
measuring inflation above 25% annually as had become virtually worthless). a) Laspeyres; century the French in their wisdom could
is the case with Zimbabwe now. Government ordered all debts contracted differentiate the stock, goods and foreign ex-
in assignats prior to 1 January 1792 to all be b) Paasche; and change markets. They respected the differences
TAGUMA MAHONDE repaid at face value in mandats. (Eugene N. in these markets as well as the different factors
White, 1991) c) Fisher. that drive these three distinct markets.
THE advent of social media enhanced in- However, government failed to maintain What is true is that the markets are not in-
formation dissemination to dizzy heights, so economic stability and finally acceded defeat Most countries the world over, and Zimba- dependent of each other as developments in
much that one can literally communicate with on 23 July 1796, when it passed a new law that bwe included, use the Laspeyres Price Index to one market can affect another. However, they
the whole world at the click of a button. allowed citizens to freely set repayment terms measure inflation. were, are not and will never be substitutes.
of any new contracts.
Needless to say such technological advance- Meanwhile, debtors and creditors continued Membership to international organisa- Official vs Parallel exchange rates
ment needs to be used with responsibility. to fight over how to settle repayments. Courts tions The principle used locally and internation-
were then roped in to make solomonic judge- ally when collecting prices data is that enu-
Of late some academics decided to disinform ments. In spite of this intervention, the newly The International Monetary Fund (IMF) merators collect prices that consumers would
the world on inflation rates being calculated in introduced repayments regime remained divi- Statistics Division, World Bank, International
various countries, Zimbabwe included. Some sive and chaotic. (Eugene N. White, 1991) Labour Organisation and other international
media houses, activists and politicians, with- Eventually government, through the law of bodies promote the development of interna-
out checking validity and intentions of the tionally accepted statistical methodologies.
source, jumped onto the bandwagon of con-
demning what is right and propelling unscien- These organisations foster availability of
tific calculations. high-quality, consistent, and comparable mac-
roeconomic and financial statistics.
As usual, the loser is the general public who
end up with the dilemma of whether to believe They produce the Consumer Price Index
or not to believe. This problem necessitated
this attempt to enlighten the public and take
everyone back to where it all started.
NewsHawks News Page 23
Issue 94, 19 August 2022
pay for goods or services. Professor Steve Hanke In the process, he made sure he reminded ev- Interestingly, it is not Zimstat alone that is
In cases where prices are quoted in foreign eryone of his previous engagements with other accused of all sorts of ills. The professor has a
After calculating price relatives by province governments like Bulgaria. Interestingly, his list of over 30 countries that are all alleged to
currency, enumerators are required to ask the for the 495 items in the basket, elementary prescription remained the same: be feeding stakeholders with wrong statistics.
shop personnel how much the commodity unweighted price indices are then computed
costs in local currency. Conversion is done by using the Jevons formula, as opposed to other a) Dollarise; and Of interest is the way the professor presents
the shop-owner so that the enumerator cap- methods like Carli or Dutot which make use b) Establish a currency board. his statistics: “Today, I measure inflation in
tures the price that consumers would pay. of arithmetic mean in their computation. By the last quarter of 2018 it then dawned #Turkey at a dismal 118%/year. My accurate
on the professor that no contract was coming measure is 1.5x TurkStat’s official inflation rate
This principle also puts to rest the argument The All-Items Index is computed using the his way. This is when the animal in the profes- of 78,6% . . .”
put forward by some, that Zimstat captures arithmetic aggregation of 12 COICOP divi- sor took charge. Up to now he talks negatively
prices at official exchange rates only. Notable sional indices and their respective weights. of authorities in Zimbabwe with most being The same “accurate measure” concept is also
is that enumerators collect going prices in out- labelled incompetent. He pushed the agenda applied to more than 30 other economies. In
lets, be they supermarkets, liquor shops, sa- Enter the Second Republic that wrong calculation of consumer price indi- some cases, his accurate measure is 3.5 times
loons, open markets and so on. The coming in of a new Government in ces or suppression of inflation rates is synony- the official statistics.
Zimbabwe in 2017, saw Professor Steve Han- mous with Zimstat.
In short, Zimstat does not go about looking ke resorting to use of positive language. He A person outside any country cannot go So the professor has issues with every oth-
for exchange rates or cost build-ups as they are would proffer his proposals on monetary sec- through a systematic process of price data col- er economy except the United States. Why?
already factored in the final price. tor reforms in a positive way. lection in retail outlets in a determined sample Because his model suddenly collapses as it is
It would appear Hanke was looking for a and apply the requisite processing techniques based on the exchange rate to the US dollar.
Zimstat methodology few million-dollars-contract in exchange of to come up with an inflation index. So, when it comes to America there is no ex-
Sampling of outlets consultancy work to stabilise the monetary Authorities in Turkey have reminded the change rate to use in his model, leaving Amer-
side of the Zimbabwe economy. His tweets professor that there is no way he can calculate ica out of the group of “problem” countries.
In undertaking the Consumer Price Survey were telling in 2017, as he was not aggressive, inflation in Turkey by use of exchange rate and
(CPS), Zimstat uses purposive or judgmental but showed interest. stock market indices. Hanke-Henry permanent calendar
sampling of outlets in both urban and rural ar- The professor was doing a combination of Hanke’s unique way of calculating inflation
eas. The sampling approach is the most recom- public relations and scouting for a consultancy is not the only invention he has ushered to
mended for such surveys and has the advan- contract. mankind. He once came up with a calendar
tage that closed outlets and outlets that change He pursued this mirage for over 12 months. reform proposal. With the professor’s calendar
their line of business are easily replaced.
Data collection
In compiling the Consumer Price Index,
Zimstat monitors price levels of 495 products
categorised according to United Nations Sta-
tistics Division’s Classification of Individual
Consumption by Purpose (COICOP)
More than four thousand retail outlets
in both rural and urban areas are surveyed
throughout the country every month. Data on
prices is collected in the Consumer Price Sur-
vey around the 15th of every month.
Among them are supermarkets, general
dealers, departmental stores, liquor stores,
open markets like Mbare farmers market, fuel
service stations and garages, hotels and restau-
rants, fast foods outlets, bus and taxi compa-
nies, hair salons, pharmacies,
communication service providers, govern-
ment and private hospitals as well as rural and
urban district councils.
Data processing and index calculation
The processing of CPS data is divided into
several stages as indicated below.
Data consolidation
When data from the field is synced to the
server, data consolidation takes place. Quality
control is done by checking that all enumera-
tors have submitted all data to the server and
that data was collected within the stipulated
period.
Checking of errors and inconsistences
After data consolidation, each collected
price is checked against the previous price.
This process is done for all the thirty-five
thousand price observations. Data is checked
for errors and inconsistences, which are then
corrected.
Matching of price codes
After correcting errors and inconsistences,
the next step is to verify price codes for the
thirty-five thousand price observations. Each
item for which prices are collected has a corre-
sponding code.
Missing items, special offer items and items
with varieties that changed also have their re-
spective codes. The idea of matching codes is
to ensure that like is compared with like.
For example, a loaf of bread from company
X in March 2021, cannot be compared with a
loaf of bread from company Z in April 2021
within that same outlet, even if the quantity
and price variations are the same.
This is because they are two different brands
and cannot be compared. Prices of items on
special offer cannot be compared with prices
of items which are not on special offer. Like-
wise, the price of a 10kg and 20kg roller meal
packet cannot be compared.
Only the same item varieties are compared
and used to calculate price relatives between
the two months.
Computation of the index
After matching the codes, price relatives are
then calculated. These are calculated using the
internationally recommended geometric mean
method, as arithmetic mean tends to be more
influenced by extreme values.
Page 22 News NewsHawks
Issue 94, 19 August 2022
BERNARD MPOFU Fierce fight erupts over the
real Zim inflation statistics
UNITED States professor of applied economics
at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Mary- l ZimStat boss dismisses global expert
land, and senior fellow at the Cato Institute, l Hanke says ZimStat is run by clowns
Steve Hanke, has fiercely hit back at the Zimba-
bwe Statistical Agency (ZimStat) director-general are not and will never be substitutes.” “The coming in of a new Government in it then dawned on the professor that no contract
Taguma Mahonde after he had challenged the The principle used locally and international- Zimbabwe in 2017, saw Professor Steve Hanke was coming his way.
Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) method which resorting to use of positive language. He would
the American expert uses to calculate price in- ly when collecting prices data is that enumera- proffer his proposals on monetary sector reforms “This is when the animal in the professor
crease rates in various countries, including Zim- tors collect prices that consumers would pay for in a positive way,” he says. took charge. Up to now he talks negatively of
babwe goods or services, he adds. authorities in Zimbabwe with most being la-
“It would appear Hanke was looking for a few belled incompetent. He pushed the agenda that
Said Hanke: “FLASH: A circus, amply sup- “In cases where prices are quoted in foreign million-dollars-contracts in exchange of consul- wrong calculation of consumer price indices or
plied with clowns, has arrived in Harare, currency, enumerators are required to ask the tancy work to stabilise the monetary side of the suppression of inflation rates is synonymous with
shop personnel how much the commodity costs Zimbabwe economy. His tweets were telling in Zimstat.
Zimbabwe. The lead clown is none other than in local currency. Conversion is done by the 2017, as he was not aggressive but showed in-
the Director-General of Zimstat Taguma Ma- shop-owner so that the enumerator captures the terest. “A person outside any country cannot go
honde. He is holding a banner: ‘Zim’s inflation price that consumers would pay,” Mahonde says. through a systematic process of price data collec-
= 256.9%/yr.’ SPOILER ALERT: Zim’s inflation “The professor was doing a combination of tion in retail outlets in a determined sample and
= 479%/y.” “This principle also puts to rest the argument public relations and scouting for a consultancy apply the requisite processing techniques to come
put forward by some, that ZimStat captures pric- contract. He pursued this mirage for over 12 up with an inflation index.
Stung by Hanke’s PPP theory to calculate the es at official exchange rates only. Notable is that months.
average rate of monthly and annual price increas- enumerators collect going prices in outlets, be “Authorities in Türkiye have reminded the
es — which mostly puts inflation much higher they supermarkets, liquor shops, saloons, open “In the process, he made sure he reminded ev- professor that there is no way he can calculate
than official figures — the Zimbabwean govern- markets and so on. eryone of his previous engagements with other inflation in Türkiye by use of exchange rate and
ment, through Mahonde, came out guns blazing governments like Bulgaria. Interestingly, his pre- stock market indices.
against the American currency and inflation guru “In short, ZimStat does not go about looking scription remained the same:
on the issue. for exchange rates or cost build-ups as they are “Interestingly, it is not ZimStat alone that is
already factored in the final price.” a) Dollarise; and accused of all sorts of ills. The professor has a list
Mahonde says the PPP approach is wrong. b) Establish a currency board.” of over 30 countries that are all alleged to be feed-
In any case, he adds, Hanke only became crit- Mahonde says Hanke initially supported the Mahonde adds: “By the last quarter of 2018 ing stakeholders with wrong statistics.”
ical of the Zimbabwean government methods government’s approach, hoping to get a consul-
after 2018 following his alleged failure to land tancy contract. Hanke insists official statistics are wrong.
a multi-million-dollar consultancy that he was
purportedly eyeing.
PPP is the idea that goods in one country will
cost the same in another country, once their ex-
change rate is applied. According to this theory,
two currencies are at par when a market basket of
goods is valued the same in both countries.
This is what Hanke uses to calculate inflation,
including in Zimbabwe. He previously wrote
about Zimbabwe’s hyperinflation in 2008.
Meanwhile, government’s official measures are
calculated by determining the changes in prices
of items in local currency in the official basket.
These prices are gathered by sampling prices for
items in the basket. Then, the items in the official
basket are assigned weights, and a price index is
produced.
In contrast, PPP relies on exchange-rate data
and price-level differentials between two coun-
tries. It avoids measurement errors and weighting
problems associated with official price indices,
says Hanke, who has taught economics and held
senior government positions as an adviser on cur-
rency issues around the world.
Mahonde differs, saying Hanke’s method is
“questionable”.
“Hanke uses exchange rates and stock market
indices to calculate inflation rates. He bases his
argument on the Purchasing Power Parity theo-
rem,” Mahonde says.
“In Zimbabwe he used the Old Mutu-
al Implied Rate for a long time. This is be-
sides the fact that stock market prices are
driven by: a) Fundamental factors and these
have much to do with performance of firms;
b) Technical factors that are related to stock
price history in the market;
c) Market sentiment — this is the most vex-
ing and subjective category, where subjectivity
comes into play; and
d) Speculative motive.
“However, the goods and services market is
not driven by the same factors as the stock mar-
ket. Accounting for inflation involves tracking
prices of commodities in the goods and services
market. This is not the same as tracking price de-
velopments in the exchange and stock markets,
thus Hanke’s model and methods become ques-
tionable.”
But Hanke, a leading world expert on currency
boards, measuring and stopping hyperinflation,
privatisation, currency and commodity trading,
insists the PPP theory is a tried and tested — bet-
ter — method of measuring inflation above 25%
annually as is the case with Zimbabwe now.
Says Mahonde: “Of interest is that, in as far
back as the 18th century the French in their wis-
dom could differentiate the stock, goods and for-
eign exchange markets.
They respected the differences in these markets
as well as the different factors that drive these
three distinct markets.
“What is true is that the markets are not in-
dependent of each other as developments in one
market can affect another. However, they were,
NewsHawks News Page 23
Issue 94, 19 August 2022
Chiwenga blows trumpet as
Boustead Beef seals CSC deal
DUMISANI NYONI tal revenue or turnover monthly, commencing Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga
from the first month of year six in this agree-
BOUSTEAD Beef, a firm that is currently ment, from the effective date up to year 25.
undertaking the revival of the Cold Storage Such shall be paid by the 10th of each and ev-
Company (CSC), has so far pumped in US$24 ery following month”.
million into the business, which is a complete
violation of the Livestock Joint Farming Con- “This will apply from the effective date un-
cession Agreement (LJFCA) signed in January til the expiration of the agreement when the
2019. managing partner, Boustead Beef, must have
cleared the CSC legacy debt. Thereafter, and
According to the LJFCA signed on 22 Jan- commencing upon renewal of this agreement,
uary 2019 by the government and Boustead CSC shall negotiate for an increase in the actual
Beef, the investor was supposed to raise and total revenue or turnover return with Boustead
invest a minimum of US$130 million in the Beef,” the agreement reads in part.
project over five years, being for both capital
expenditure and working capital to run the Meanwhile, Boustead Beef has approached
business. the courts seeking termination of corporate
rescue proceedings. The CSC entered judicial
Total investment in year one was supposed management in 2020 after the government
to be US$45 million, broken down as follows: claimed that the LJFCA it entered into with
refurbishment of abattoirs, canning factory, Boustead in 2019 was difficult to implement
distribution (US$6 million), working capital as creditors were at the time mounting plans to
abattoirs, canning factory, distribution (US$5 attach the firm’s assets.
million), logistical fleet, vehicles, distribution
abattoirs (US$2 million), information tech- Ngoni Kudenga of BDO Zimbabwe Char-
nology systems or meat matrix or stock con- tered Accountants was then appointed corpo-
trol (US$3 million), external cattle purchase rate rescue practitioner, before being disquali-
facility (US$5 million), external buy-back fa- fied on conflict of interest grounds.
cility for processed beef (US$5 million, capi-
tal expenditure ranches and feedlots (US$4.5 Kudenga was then replaced by Vonani Ma-
million), working capital ranches and feedlots joko of Majoko and Majoko Legal Practitioners
(US$3 million) logistics fleet ranches, vehicles who was also removed recently.
(US$1.5 million), cattle purchase (US$10 mil-
lion). In his founding affidavit, Boustead’s acting
managing director Reginald Shoko said the
But while officially re-opening the beef government had given his company control of
processing plant in Bulawayo on Thursday, the meat processor, hence the need for corpo-
Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga revealed rate rescue proceedings no longer subsisted.
that Boustead Beef has pumped only US$24
million into the business. “Applicant (Boustead Beef ) has been man-
aging the affairs of the Cold Storage Company
“I am reliably informed that to date, US$24 (Private) Limited in pursuit of the provisions
million has been invested to resuscitate the of the Livestock Joint Farming Concession
Cold Storage Company, which has been idle Agreement concluded with the government of
for the past 22 years,” he said in his speech. Zimbabwe; and as such, there exists no further
cause for the Cold Storage Company (Private)
According to the LJFCA, the CSC has a Limited to remain under corporate rescue,”
right to terminate the deal if Boustead Beef Shoko said in an application lodged on 15
fails to fulfil clause 4.1 within four months of August 2022. Applicant is advised and accepts
the signing of the agreement. Clause 4.1 indi- that this honourable court will set aside the
cates that Boustead Beef should, upon signing court order which commenced the corporate
the agreement, show proof of funding to the rescue proceedings, in terms of Section 125 of
tune of US$130 million over five years within a the Insolvency Act.”
period of four months.
“This is an application for the termination
As part of the agreement, the CSC or of corporate rescue proceedings in respect of
the government was supposed to receive the Cold Storage Company (Private) Limited,
US$100 000 as fixed rental from year one to which applicant is advised,” Shoko said.
year five per annum, and year “shall commence
on 1 January 2019 and 8% of the actual to- He cited Agriculture minister Anxious Ma-
suka and the deputy master of the High Court
as first and second respondents.
Page 22 News NewsHawks
Issue 94, 19 August 2022
AfDB targets energy synergies in Zim
BERNARD MPOFU AfDB headquarters improving good governance and enhancing ac- bank’s 10-Year Strategy 2013-2022 whose focus
Zimbabwe 2021-2023 that was approved by the countability,” the AfDB country manager said. is on inclusive green growth and overarching is-
THE African Development Bank (AfDB) has board in May 2021, which focuses on the two sues of gender, women and youth employment
deployed two senior officials to Zimbabwe to pillars, namely: enhancing the productive capac- “The bank's country brief's priority areas are opportunities, and a private sector-driven eco-
explore possible commercial opportunities in ity and resilience of the private sector including aligned with Zimbabwe's National Develop- nomic growth.”
energy and areas of synergy with the country’s in mining and agriculture value chains, and ment Strategy 1: 2021-2025 (NDS 1) and the
private sector, The NewsHawks has established.
Zimbabwe’s government is currently ineli-
gible for budgetary support or concessionary
funding from international financial institutions
such as the World Bank, International Mone-
tary Fund and the AfDB after defaulting on
loan repayments at the turn of the millennium.
Lenders such as the private sector-lending
arm of the World Bank, the European Invest-
ment Bank and most recently the AfDB have
been keen on financing bankable projects car-
ried out by the private sector, which badly needs
capital to retool and compete with regional
peers.
Kevin Kariuki, AfDB vice-president in charge
of power, energy, climate and green growth and
Solomon Quaynor, VP responsible for private
sector and industrialisation, will engage in a se-
ries of meetings with the private sector to iden-
tify commercial projects which the bank can
finance.
Kariuki told journalists that renewable energy
projects would top the agenda.
“My main purpose of being here was to reit-
erate the African Development Bank’s support
to the power sector in Zimbabwe, specifically
with regard to the Batoka Gorge hydro power
project and secondly support the country in
energy transition as Zimbabwe embarks on low
carbon development trajectory and thirdly to
offer support as far as climate smart agriculture
is concerned as a means of the country adapting
to climate change which is here to stay,” he said.
The visit comes barely two months after
AfDB president Akinwumi Adesina flew into
the country and committed to helping Zimba-
bwe clear arrears with its creditors.
Early this year the AfDB announced that a
total of US$10.5 million was being allocated by
the regional lender to finance three projects in
Zimbabwe to bolster socio-economic develop-
ment.
The three projects are Energy Sector Reform
Support Technical Assistance,
Institutional Support to Governance and
Public Finance Management and Sustainable
Enterprise Development for Women and Youth.
AfDB country manager Moono Mupotola
said during the launch of the initiatives that all
three had gained approval by the bank at the
end of 2021.
“The three projects are critical to improving
the socio-economic development of the people
of Zimbabwe, including youth and women.
Each one of the three projects has a funding
allocation of US$3.5 million bringing the total
value to US$10.5 million over a period ranging
from 30 to 48 months,” she said.
The aim of the Energy Sector Reform Sup-
port Technical Assistance Programme is to boost
the availability of reliable electricity supply via
the promotion of independent power producers
and to support further integration of renewable
energy power generation capacity.
“On the other hand, the Institutional Support
for Governance and Public Finance Manage-
ment Project aims at promoting macro-stability
by strengthening public sector effectiveness and
accountability.
“The specific objectives are to improve pub-
lic debt management and support Zimbabwe's
strategy for arrears clearance; enhance public
sector effectiveness through strengthening the
public procurement system; and enhance inclu-
sive governance and accountability by enhanc-
ing the oversight role of Parliament,” Mupotola
added.
The Sustainable Enterprise Development for
Women and Youth Project also aims to improve
job creation for skilled and semi-skilled youths
and women and help those in agricultural and
small-scale mining sectors within situations of
financial vulnerability.
“The projects being launched today were de-
veloped in line with the AfDB Country Brief for
NewsHawks International Investigative Stories Page 23
Issue 94, 19 August 2022
InInvteesrtniagtaiotinvaelStories
‘I confess to all the crimes’:
A Russian soldier admits
to executing a civilian and
denounces his commanders
“I TELL him to walk forward. He porters from IStories, OCCRP’s from Western Ukraine.” Separate Guards Motor Rifle Bri- they came to kick us out,” he re-
walks forward. I tell him, ‘On your Russian member center, to identify Tatiana’s husband, 76-year-old gade, based near the Russian city of called. “As we were leaving, my fa-
knees.’ And I just shoot him in the Frolkin and the others. A corre- Khabarovsk. ther-in-law said to the Russian sol-
head.” spondent traveled to Andriivka to Leonid, came out to meet the Rus- dier: ‘I fought so that your mother
interview locals and reconstruct sians. Many residents of Andriivka re- could give birth to you, and now
Daniil Frolkin, a 21-year-old the details of the crimes committed member their faces. These soldiers, you’re doing this.”
Russian corporal, is making a star- there. “Boys, the only ‘Banderovite’ they told reporters, were involved
tling confession: He murdered a here is me,” he said. in robbery, looting, and the gener- By the time the Russians had
Ukrainian civilian. Then she called the Russians and al threatening mayhem that envel- withdrawn a month later and Da-
confronted them with what she had “No, you’re not the right age,” oped their village over that terrible nilenko’s family was able to return,
The Russian military has been learned. One of them denied every- the soldiers answered with disap- month. his father-in-law’s World War II
accused of countless atrocities thing, but later called her back. He pointment. They had evidently medals were gone. So were two
during its invasion of Ukraine. wanted to confess to it all: the kill- been looking for a younger man, ‘Disappear From Here by TV sets, a microwave, an electric
Many incidents have been docu- ing, the looting, the pointlessness perhaps someone of military age. Morning’ oven, and a stock of cat food. The
mented beyond a reasonable doubt. of the whole endeavor. Most of all, But they still confiscated the cou- ceiling was full of bullet holes; the
But a straightforward admission of he wanted to name the command- ple’s cheap smartphone. After arriving in Andriivka at the walls were splattered with dark red
guilt by one of the perpetrators, ers he said were responsible for end of May, a reporter first set out stains — the remains of Danilen-
openly and on video, may be un- leading Russian troops into a war The Udods never expected to see to uncover where the photos had ko’s homemade cherry liqueur, he
precedented. that “should never have happened it again, but two months later, after been taken. With some help from suspects.
at all.” the Russians had withdrawn from locals, she eventually came across
Frolkin and three other Russian the area near Kyiv, it reappeared. a place that matched the scenery: Danilenko didn’t see the med-
servicemen took part in the occu- Lost and Found It had been abandoned in a local a two-story brick house and yard als again until they appeared in a
pation of the village of Andriivka, In early March, a Russian APC house, where a resident found it that belonged to a man named photograph on the Udods’ stolen
about an hour outside Kyiv. The pulled up to the home of an elderly and turned it in. Anatoly Danilenko. phone. Frolkin, one of the Russian
area was taken over by the Russians Ukrainian couple, Leonid and Ta- soldiers, was wearing them. In an-
as they advanced on the Ukrainian tiana Udod. When Leonid got it back, According to the metadata, the other picture, his comrade Glotov
capital in the early days of the war. “We are looking for the main charged it, and turned it on, he photos were taken on March 14 wore Danilenko’s sweater.
Banderovite, “ the soldiers said, found a surprise: It contained 25 and 15. As Danilenko recalls, it was
When they retreated in defeat climbing out. photos of four Russian servicemen on March 13 that he, his wife, and In exchange, the Russian soldiers
just over a month later, the Rus- “My husband is called a ‘Ban- in various celebratory poses — his 95-year-old father-in-law — a left behind detritus: Empty shells
sians left hundreds of destroyed derovite’ by everyone in the village wearing medals, posing with guns, decorated veteran of World War II on Danilenko’s lawn, and a damp
and looted houses, over a dozen as a joke,” Tatiana Udod explained. and smoking a pipe. — had been forced to leave their set of clothes in his barn. He found
dead bodies, and one curious ar- “Somehow the nickname stuck. home. a drab green ‘Army of Russia’ shirt,
tifact: a cell phone full of photo- He’s not a nationalist, he’s just Using open-source investigative camouflage pants, boots, dirty
graphs they took while occupying techniques, reporters managed to “They told us: ‘Disappear from socks, and worn-out Calvin Klein
Andriivka. identify the young men. All four here by morning.’ We were getting underpants.
— Daniil Frolkin, Dmitrii Dani- ready, but at four in the afternoon
It was this clue that enabled re- lov, Ruslan Glotov, and Ivan Shep-
elenko — are members of the 64th
Page 22 International Investigative Stories NewsHawks
Issue 94, 19 August 2022
In one of the pants pockets he The ruined village of Andriivka after the Russian occupation. Credit: Paul Grover/Alamy Stock Photo
found Velcro chevrons bearing the
name ‘Frolkin.” the window, then two more came day, he didn’t come back.” Russian troops left. “They started running around
through the door. They said [to His family still doesn’t know why “They killed three people in half and looking for the guilty party,”
It wasn’t just the Danilenko fam- Igor]: “You’re wanted by the com- recalls Nadezhda Savran.
ily who had to deal with looting — mander.” he was taken away. an hour that day,” says Vitali Cher-
many residents of Andriivka were Three Killings on Sloboda kasov, a member of the local terri- One of the suspects was her
robbed of food, household appli- “They took him out, and I never torial defense. 45-year-old son Igor, who had
ances, vehicles, and alcohol. The saw him again.” Street recently separated from his wife
Udods’ neighbors lost two scooters, A week after the murder of Igor The third, according to village and had been living with her. In
a bicycle, a laptop, and a chain- Tatiana could not leave the house head Anatoly Kibukevich, was his youth, he served in the army,
saw. In addition to the stolen cell until that evening, because the lock Yermakov and the disappearance of 47-year-old Ruslan Yaremchuk. then in the national guard and in
phone, the Udods were also robbed on her door had been jammed by Anton Ishchenko, on March 12, He lived on Sloboda Street, a few the state security service. More re-
of their car, an old gray Lada. the gunfire. When she finally man- two old friends, Vadim Ganiuk houses away from the other two cently, he had become disillusioned
aged to get out through a window, and Vitaly Kibukevich, were shot murdered men. with the life of a security officer
“They told me, ‘You should have she fell to her knees in front of a on Sloboda Street, where they lived and started repairing cars. Still,
left earlier,’” Tatiana Udod recalls. soldier on duty outside. near each other. The Yaremchuk family’s modest his military background may have
“There was this nasty redhead guy. wooden house stood out on Slo- been the reason he was mistaken
He said, ‘We came to fight against “For God’s sake, tell me, is he A neighbor, Yury, watched from boda Street among the larger brick for an artillery spotter.
Zelensky and the Nazis.’ I said, alive?” she recalls asking. his window. buildings nearby. Ruslan and his
‘But we’re not Nazis.’ He gave me wife Oksana had four children. The soldiers broke into the
a look. And that was it, they took “They’re talking to him. He’s “A car pulls up, three soldiers get Ruslan worked as a builder, and in Savrans’ house at about 4 p.m. One
the car away.” alive. Go home,” the soldier told out. They knock on the door, Vi- recent years had become interested of them took Igor away without
her. talik opens it, and so they go in. in photography and videography. explanation, in the very same gray
Tatiana recognizes the “redhead” After some time, two come out: Vi- Lada that had been stolen from the
in the photos on her husband’s It wasn’t until two days later that talik and one of the soldiers. They “He just filmed everything he Udods.
phone: Daniil Frolkin. she learned the truth. On March 4, go toward the barn. Then I hear saw,” says his daughter Yaroslava.
a soldier came to Tatiana and said: a short burst of gunfire, and one “We assume that’s why they shot Nobody knew what happened to
Several villagers remember see- “Go and look, isn’t that your hus- [soldier] comes back. Then two of him: They thought he was film- him until March 31, when his dead
ing the Udods’ Lada being driven band by the transformer?” them took out some kind of pack- ing and transmitting [information body was found in a barn on the
around the village by Russian sol- age, put it in their trunk, and drove about] the movement of Russian village outskirts. Next to him lay
diers. Some say they saw it used to Tatiana ran there. She found to Vadim’s. Fifteen minutes passed, troops.” the body of his friend and neigh-
transport men who were later killed Igor shot dead with his hands tied and again I hear a burst. And that’s bor, Vladimir Pozharnikov — the
or disappeared. After the Russians behind his back. it — they got in the car and drove Yaremchuk’s neighbors recall same “Vovka” whose saw the Rus-
left, Tatiana and Leonid found the off.” that the Russians came to the fami- sians had stolen.
car smashed to pieces on the out- “He didn’t have a face anymore. ly home on March 12, when he was
skirts of the village. It was all blue, and his head bashed Elena Kibukevich, Vitaly’s wid- home alone. His body was found After the Russians left, the
in,” she recalls. “And then they shot ow, who had managed to get out of by a neighbor nearby. Since the Ukrainian army didn’t let Nadezh-
The Russians in Andriivka him again in the back of the head.” the village a few days earlier, stayed shelling was still going on, and it da near the bodies, saying that the
weren’t only driving the Lada. An- in touch with her husband and last was impossible to move the body, corpses could be mined.
other resident, Tatiana Tkachenko, On March 13, the Yermakovs’ spoke with him just a few hours he buried him right in the yard.
recalls soldiers taking a stolen jeep house was destroyed by a direct before he was killed. She says he “I went there every day any-
for a joyride around the village and shell hit. Almost all the couple’s never mentioned being searched or Over the next few days, several way,” she says. “I took water from
crashing it into the wall of an apart- joint photos, memories of a happy interrogated. Russian soldiers bragged about kill- the house and washed them. They
ment building. Another soldier 24-year marriage, were burned to ing three people on Sloboda Street, were all gray. There are tanks driv-
liked to race through the village on ashes. Russian soldiers took their “They tied his hands, and with according to residents. ing past, equipment, the dust was
a red moped and even once offered phones. his hands tied they shot him in getting on them. I thought no one
her a ride. Tkachenko immediately the legs,” she says. “Then in the Tatiana Tkachenko recalls one would wash them.”
recognizes him in the photos from Only on their daughter’s phone shoulder, and then in the head. We soldier telling another: “They
Udod’s phone: It’s Dmitry Danilov. did a few pictures survive. In one found five shell casings. I imagine wiped out three on the next street.” Tracking Down “Sniper”
photo, Igor and Tatiana hold their the pain he suffered.” Reports found contact infor-
Ivan and Valentina, an elderly smiling granddaughter in their An elderly couple, Mikola and mation for all four soldiers in the
couple from Shevchenko Street, arms. The bodies of Kibukevich and Tatiana, recalled similar boasts: photos and decided to try and in-
recall that soldiers once came to Ganyuk were left where they fell: “They came and started telling us terview them. Two agreed to talk.
them with an unusual request. “You know, we try not to talk Vitaly in his yard, Vadim in his how they killed three of our guys. The first interview was with Dmit-
about it, so we don’t disturb each basement. Like, ‘They were f—–ts, they were ry Danilov, also known as “Sniper.”
“Ten of them came,” says Ivan. other. But I know that it must be waving dollars around, and we shot “Where did you get these pho-
“I come up to them. ‘Father,’ he told,” Tatiana says, fidgeting with Natalia Simoroz, a sales clerk at them.’” tos?” he asks after seeing the imag-
says, ‘do you have a DVD player?’ the handkerchief around her neck the local store, went with Vitaly’s es from the Udods’ phone. “I don’t
What am I going to say, no? … ‘I’ll and trying not to cry. “Ashes in the relatives to ask the Russian soldiers The pensioners say the most even have them myself.”
give you the money or I’ll bring it soul.” for permission to bury the men. boastful soldier was the very same Danilov does not recall the lo-
back,’ he says. I said, “No need.” One of them replied: “Want us to “red-headed” Daniil Frolkin. They cal pensioner Ivan, who recognized
I know what money means. He’ll The same day Tatiana found her bury you along with them?” recognize him right away in the him as the soldier who took away
take the money out and I’ll get a husband’s body, soldiers came to photos. his DVD player. He says he did
bullet in the head.” the house of the Ishchenko family. Natalia recognizes that man in no such thing. But he smiles as he
At 10:30 in the morning, 23-year- the photos: He is 21-year-old Dmi- “I Thought No One Would confirms that he did ride through
Ivan says he recognizes Dmit- old Anton was taken away. Days try Danilov. Wash Them” the village on a red moped — the
ry Danilov in photographs from later, his body was found in the same one remembered by Tatiana
the phone as the man who took village, bearing bullet wounds and Two days later, the women and The torture and murder didn’t Tkachenko.
his DVD player. Other Andriivka other signs of violence. a neighbor managed to bury Ga- end there. A week later, on March
residents also recognize Danilov in niuk and Kibukevich in the yards 19, a shell landed near one of the
the photos, remembering that his “They said that they were taking of their homes. The men were ex- places where the Russian soldiers
fellow soldiers addressed him as him for two hours,” his grandfather humed and reburied only after the were based.
“Sniper.” Petro cries. “I waited all night, he
didn’t come back…. I waited all
“They took everything from
people here,” recalls pensioner Na-
dezhda Savran. “My neighbor Vov-
ka had a saw for cutting firewood.
An imported, small, neat saw. I saw
one of them walking around with it
afterwards.”
“Vovka” — Vladimir Pozhar-
nikov — lost more than the saw
during the occupation. He was
shot and killed by the Russians.
The Dead of Andriivka
In late February, shortly after
the invasion began, a Russian tank
skidded off the road and hit a fence
behind a bus stop on Andriivka’s
main street. Villagers set to work
stealing ammunition and equip-
ment and trying to break the elec-
tronics inside so the tank would no
longer be operable.
Igor Yermakov, who lived near-
by, may have been suspected of this
kind of sabotage, although it’s un-
clear whether he was involved. But
on March 2, a group of Russian sol-
diers drove up to his house.
“They broke the window here
and then started shooting at the
doors,” recalls Igor’s wife, Tatiana.
“Two of them came in through
NewsHawks International Investigative Stories Page 23
Issue 94, 19 August 2022
In January 2022, Danilov’s unit Tatiana Udod with her recovered phone. Credit: IStories
was sent to Belarus “for exercises.”
Many already suspected that they many of his fellow soldiers tried to guilty of killing a civilian in And- occupation of Andriivka, he says, “He says: ‘I came from Kyiv the
might be sent to Ukraine, he said. quit, but no one was allowed. riivka, stealing a car from another Omurbekov “was sitting in the day before yesterday, they asked
Then the “special military opera- villager, and stealing Soviet and school basement,” where the head- me to send column coordinates.’ I
tion” was officially announced in “The guys went to brigade com- Ukrainian medals from a World quarters was located. just took him out of the house. We
February. mander [Azatbek Omurbekov], but War II veteran. found shell casings on him. … I tell
he started yelling at them, humili- “We tried to explain to this com- him to walk forward. He walks for-
“They said we would go in for ating them: ‘I’ll have you shot for In July, Slidstvo.Info published mand that we won’t go on the of- ward. I tell him, ‘on your knees.’
three days of ‘intimidation,’” not wanting to go into battle.’ The an investigatio reporting that an fensive anymore,” Frolkin recalls. And I just shoot him in the head.
Danilov says. “A special operation special operation is supposed to be Andriivka resident named Vasi- “[After that] Omurbekov started Then I was shaking for a long time.
had begun, Luhansk and Donetsk something voluntary. But we were ly had used the photographs on beating the guys, like they were I killed one, but I wanted to save as
would now be recognized as peo- forced into it, ‘voluntarily/forci- Udod’s phone to identify Frolkin as weak, he just poured foul language many people as I could.”
ple’s republics, they would be in- bly,’” he says. the killer of Igor Yermakov, whose on them. He hit one of them in the
corporated into the Russian Feder- body had been found by the trans- face with the stock of a gun, put a Frolov says he decided to make
ation, and then you’ll leave.” “They told me, like, you can’t former after the incident with the gun to the forehead of another, and his confession for the sake of his
refuse, like you’ll be charged, just damaged Russian tank. said: ‘I’m going to shoot you and “lads,” who are about to be sent
In keeping with the supposedly get going.” nothing will happen to me.’” back to the frontline — this time
short duration of the mission, he In his first interview with report- to the southern Kherson region,
and his unit were given provisions As of July 20, when this inter- ers, Frolkin denies any involvement Asked what he meant by “shoot- which Ukraine is reportedly about
for just three days: “There was no view was recorded, Frolkin said his in any murders in Andriivka. ing civilians,” Frolkin explains that to launch an offensive to retake.
opportunity to do laundry. Basical- unit had been brought back to Rus- on one day in March, the com-
ly, we had to change clothes, look sia — but not for long. “Tomorrow But several hours later, he gets manders asked him and several “Our guys will be spared, they’ll
for something more or less in the we’re going in for a third deploy- back in touch, this time asking to other soldiers to accompany them be brought out because of me,”
right size.” In practice, that meant ment,” he explained. talk by video chat. Smoking a cig- to search the homes of three local Frolkin hopes.
taking clothes from local residents. arette and looking directly into the residents.
Frolkin says that, after leav- camera, he makes a startling con- “Better to destroy one life than
Danilov says he and his fellow ing Andriivka, his fellow soldier fession: “They had a wad of money on to lose the lives of 200-300 peo-
soldiers were told they were sup- Ruslan Glotov, who appeared in them: hryvnias, bucks, all kinds of ple. I know all those boys. … Now
posed to achieve “the liberation of the photos with him, asked for per- “I, soldier of military unit 51460, shit. The lieutenant colonel who they’re going to be sent to Kherson.
Ukraine from the Nazis.” mission to go home. But though Guard Corporal Daniil Andreevich was with us, [Andrei] Prokurat, They have no right to do that, be-
he and two others were promised Frolkin, confess to all the crimes I took the money and gave us the cause they physically can’t stand it
“As we understood, the Nazis are a ticket home, they were soon back committed in Andriivka, shooting rest of the things — documents, anymore. I see that our brigade is
those who wanted to make peace, in action in Ukraine. Glotov sub- civilians, stealing from civilians, phones — and said: ‘Take them being destroyed.”
so to speak, with the side that’s try- sequently managed to quit, Dani- confiscating their phones, and the out.’ That’s it, I went and took one
ing to threaten Russia all the time,” lov says, after injuring his arm in a fact that our command does not of them out.” He confesses that he never un-
he says. mortar attack. give a fuck about our fighters, all derstood who he was fighting and
the infantry fighting on the front Judging by the circumstances why.
In Andriivka, however, he says When asked about looting, line.” Frolkin recalls, the man he killed
he interacted with “quite normal Frolkin says that he and his com- that day was almost certainly “They tell us about our unit,
locals.” rades only took “a bunch of crap” He went on to accuse a number Yaremchuk, the father of four who that we are rescuing people and
from local houses: a bottle of wine of officers. loved photography. Frolkin doesn’t that we’re so great, but it’s unclear
During the occupation of And- or beer, a barbecue grill, and food. recognize Yaremchuk from a pho- who we’re fighting. But they don’t
riivka, Danilov and his fellow ser- He says he didn’t take the World “And after this I would like to to shown by a reporter, but admits tell us anything about other units,
vicemen were engaged in “a con- War II medals from Danilenko’s say: Take measures to punish the there’s much he might have forgot- they don’t tell us anything about
stant search for people who were house. “We came, took a photo and commanders: Guard Colonel Azat- ten out of shock. the losses of civilians either. ‘The
giving out [Russian] coordinates put the medals back,” he says. bek Omurbekov, Guard Lieutenant artillery is good, they’re killing
[to the Ukrainian military].” Colonel [Sergei] Dmitrenko, our Later, when he shows the photo [Ukrainian soldiers].’ And how
Still, he doesn’t deny that loot- brigade’s Deputy Commander for to a fellow soldier who also par- many civilians are killed? They [the
When asked what happened to ing took place. He names a Colo- Logistics and Supplies, Colonel ticipated in the search, the soldier commanders] probably don’t even
those people next, he says, “As far nel Vyacheslav Klobukov, a deputy [Vyacheslav] Klobukov, and the identifies Yaremchuk as the man know themselves.”
as I know, they were taken prisoner, commander in charge of logistics, head of intelligence Lieutenant Frolkin shot.
after which they were handed over as an especially enthusiastic thief: Colonel [Denis] Romanenko. He At the end of July, Frolkin ap-
to higher authorities — that’s all. “He took refrigerators from stores. was in charge of the reconnais- Frolkin insists that he did it only plied for discharge from the mili-
They were interrogated in a routine Then we found stores with sneak- sance unit, which did a piss-poor because his victim was giving up tary.
way, and then they were returned ers, with all sorts of clothes — all job conducting reconnaissance and the coordinates of Russian army
through the exchange of prisoners this was also brought out. Entire led our men to their deaths. Also columns. “I understand that I can be put
of war.” trucks were brought out. I saw Deputy Brigade Commander Lieu- in jail for all this information,” he
those two trucks when we got to tenant Colonel [Andrei] Prokurat “I understand that revenge is a says. “Not even for the fact that
Danilov says he was not involved Belarus.” gave orders to shoot people.” fucked-up thing, but I was taking I did all this shit in Ukraine. But
in any killings of civilians in And- revenge and I knew what I was do- for the information [about the
riivka and does not know anything “I Confess to All The Crimes” When asked what his unit’s ing,” he says. commanders]. I just want to con-
about those who were murdered In June, the Office of the Pros- commanders did, Frolkin says that fess everything and explain what’s
there. But most of his fellow sol- ecutor General of Ukraine an- “they don’t consider ordinary sol- “He told us, ‘I’m a civilian, I live going on in our country. I think it
diers were unhappy with their mis- nounced that it suspected Frolkin diers to be people.” here.’ Then a dog came running would be better if this war hadn’t
sion, he says. of violating the laws and customs up, and you could see that the dog happened at all.”
of war. In particular, the agency He says Omurbekov conveyed was from this yard, and it started
“There were just no specifics,” said that the serviceman may be false information to higher com- barking at him, though it wasn’t — Organised Crime and Cor-
he says. “We were told the point af- mand about the brigade’s non-ex- barking at us. We tell him: ‘Tell the ruption Reporting Project.
ter which we would leave [the Kyiv istent successes. During the whole truth, bitch, we’ll shoot you now.’
region]. We got to that point. And
when it was time to leave, they told
us another point, then another, and
so on.”
Danilov says he quit the mili-
tary as soon as he got home from
Ukraine.
“On the one hand, it was right
to get involved, on the other hand,
it wasn’t,” Danilov says of the inva-
sion. “I’m not thrilled, but I can’t
say that I have a negative attitude.
No one’s too thrilled about it. 99
percent of the news is lies: on TV,
in the newspapers, everywhere.
Few people tell the truth. Only
those who got out of there know,
but few can talk about it, because
most signed [nondisclosure agree-
ments]. And [the] majority wants
to forget it all, like a nightmare.”
Still, before the interview ends,
Danilov asks a reporter to send him
the photos from the stolen phone
— “for the memories.”
Daniil Frolkin, whom reporters
call next, says that he was sent to
do “exercises” in Belarus as early as
January 11. He says he received no
special training, and learned he was
heading to Ukraine on the evening
before the invasion.
“First they wanted us to move
out at 4 a.m., then they moved it to
3. They came to me at 1 and said,
get your vehicle ready.”
After the invasion, Frolkin says,
Page 24 Editorial & Opinion NewsHawks
CARTOON Issue 94, 19 August 2022
Where is justice?
THERE is now enough evidence showing that Zimbabwe's judi- Political persecution: A
ciary and police have become so compromised that their partisan great betrayal of justice
actions pose serious threats to the rule of law and constitutional-
ism. Hawk Eye
If you doubt this, just visit the courts and see for yourself how Dumisani
the justice delivery system treats Zanu PF-aligned accused persons Muleya
compared to those perceived to be members of the political op-
position.
Swashbuckling Zanu PF legislator Justice Mayor Wadyajena,
accused of fraud totalling US$5 million, arrives in a luxury vehicle,
casually strolls into a courtroom and is accorded all the reverence
of a rockstar politician. He is resplendent in a designer suit and
accompanied by his aides.
Without much ado, he is smoothly granted bail totalling less
than US$300. He goes home and, the verdict in the court of pub-
lic opinion is that if previous cases of similar nature are anything
to go by, there is good reason to suspect that this may be the end
of the case.
A pattern has emerged. Henrietta Rushwaya, the Zanu PF-
aligned leader of the Zimbabwe Miners' Federation who is also
related to President Emmerson Mnangagwa, has received special
treatment in the courts after being caught allegedly smuggling
six kilogrammes of gold at Robert Mugabe International Airport.
A few days ago, she was acquitted on a charge of attempting to
bribe an airport officer. On the main charge, Rushwaya was swiftly
granted bail — yet another reminder that there is one law for Zanu
PF acolytes and another for “enemies of the state”.
Compare the Wadyajena and Rushwaya cases with that of op-
position MP Job Sikhala.
Sikhala, in his capacity as a lawyer, was engaged by the family
of the slain opposition activist Moreblessing Ali to ensure that the
dastardly murder would not be swept under the carpet. Instead,
what do we see? Sikhala gets arrested and has been locked up for
more than two months. He has been repeatedly denied bail —
even by the High Court, no less.
We have seen Sikhala being hauled into the courtroom in leg
irons and handcuffs, as if he is a dangerous criminal. The govern-
ment even has the temerity to arrogantly gloat that Sikhala's inter-
national lawyers, Amsterdam & Partners LLP, will not be allowed
to represent him in Zimbabwe’s courts. The Zengeza West MP has
been arrested more than 70 times — without a single conviction.
We have written in these pages that the incarceration of oppo-
sition legislators Sikhala and Godfrey Sithole has come to symbol-
ise not only the authoritarian excesses of President Mnangagwa’s
government but also the glaring failings of what ought to be an
impartial justice delivery system.
Locking up accused persons for than 60 days in pre-trial deten-
tion is a serious violation of human rights.
It has not escaped public notice that judges and magistrates
in this country have often granted bail to carjackers who have
proceeded to commit more heinous crimes. Are we to believe
that Sikhala and Sithole are more “dangerous” than marauding
gun-wielding criminals?
For any level-headed person, it is not difficult to see what is at
play here: this is political persecution writ large.
The judiciary is not the only compromised institution. Police
are quick to arrest pro-democracy campaigners, but are unwilling
to account for Zanu PF elements who commit crime.
Abton Mashayanyika, a Zanu PF zealot in Mberengwa who
publicly incited the murder of Citizens’ Coalition for Change
leader Nelson Chamisa, is still walking free and boasting that he is
“too Zanu PF” to be arrested.
There is video evidence of the crime, but the compromised
police will not touch a Zanu PF commissar. Law enforcement is
rendered dysfunctional by such egregious omissions and commis-
sions. The rule of law is in the intensive care unit owing to these
twin evils: limited accountability in the judiciary and selective ap-
plication of the statutes by police. Exasperated citizens can only
conclude that there is a political motivation behind this strange
behaviour.
The time has come — in the national interest and without fear,
favour or prejudice — to curtail blatant political influence over the
police, prosecutors, magistrates and judges.
Reaffirming the fundamental impor- The NewsHawks is published on different EDITORIAL STAFF: Marketing Officer: Voluntary Media
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NewsHawks New Perspectives Page 25
Issue 94, 19 August 2022
This article is a continuation of the Govt steering the economy deposits (debit bank’s liabilities),
one that The NewsHawks published towards 'narrow banking' whereas the RBZ’s balance sheet
on 5 August 2022. would record a decrease in bank
WE have the Mosi-Oa-Tunya cial institutions. through a digital wallet. Once the termediary, allowing for instant reserves (debit central bank’s lia-
gold coins, a Reserve Bank of Whether as a token or a bank digital currency is in wide circula- and final settlement between par- bilities) and an increase in CBDC
Zimbabwe-controlled currency tion, users may transact via their ties. in circulation (credit central
and a new baby is on the way, the account, a CBDC would be a digital wallet, making and re- bank’s liabilities). In other words,
RBZ’s Central Bank Digital Cur- form of money created by the ceiving payments without having From the commercial bank this would amount to banking
rency (CBDC). RBZ. This form of money will to use a financial institution. All standpoint, bank deposit with- disintermediation.
be as “sovereign” as you can get. payments are settled with- drawals result in loss of bank re-
RBZ governor John Mangudya It follows that proposals to create in the Central Bank Digi- Note that from the central bank
says the central bank’s intention to CBDCs should be considered in tal Currency system that is Econometrics perspective, no new money has
introduce Zimbabwe’s own cen- practice what they are in theory: within the RBZ’s system.. HawksView been created; monetary media has
tral bank digital currency, CBDC, an attempt to crowd out privately Therefore, a hypothetical merely been shifted from bank re-
is at an advanced stage. But what created money — and, therefore, CBDC would be held by Tinashe Kaduwo serves to CBDC. However, for the
really is a CBDC and is it a solu- an invitation for a greater degree the user via its digital wallet commercial bank, this does entail
tion to Zimbabwe's monetary of government-directed credit, and transferred electroni- serves, either by handing over a loss of reserves, which has con-
quagmire? money creation, and financial re- cally within the very same physical cash to customers or by sequences for liquidity manage-
pression. This is indeed a way of system. crediting the customers’ CBDC ment. Moreover, it also entails the
Under the current fiat money steering the economy towards nar- wallet. In a CBDC withdrawal, a destruction of bank money, since
standard, a central bank issues row banking. From the user standpoint, the commercial bank’s balance sheet a demand deposit was just written
its liabilities to the public in two only counterparty would be the would see a decrease in its bank off (such bank liabilities fall under
main forms: physical notes and A CBDC just constitutes a new RBZ itself, which would be in reserves account (credit bank’s as- the monetary aggregate M1).
coins and bank reserves. The lat- form of central bank liability, or charge of issuing digital currency sets) and a decrease in customer
ter comprise digital central bank digital cash. In this new arrange- units and operating the network. It is essential to comprehend the
money (or settlement accounts), ment, a depositor may wish to balance sheet repercussions of CB-
available to banks and selected fi- redeem either in physical specie The digital currency should DCs because these have profound
nancial institutions and are used (notes, paper-money) or digital work like physical cash, being a implications for financial interme-
to settle ultimate liabilities in an specie (CBDC, electronic cash) bearer asset with no financial in- diation and stability, while affect-
economy; this implies final settle- ing the creation and circulation of
ment in the system. It could be outside money (cash, either phys-
argued this is a wholesale CBDC. ical or digital) and inside money
Notes and coins are the metal- (bank money, bank deposits).
lic money and paper currency, or
simply “cash” used by the public at So the RBZ’s move to introduce
large for daily transactions. Cash a CBDC could very well displace
payments also imply final settle- the use of physical cash, making
ment. up most of money in circulation
over time. However, in contrast
Bank customer deposits are not to physical cash, users have fewer
physical, but they are not money incentives to return this outside
either in the legal sense, as a de- money to the banking system.
posit is a promise to pay in specie Since a CBDC, in any of its con-
whenever the customer demands ceivable forms, enables electronic
it (redemption in kind). Thus, payments over any distance and in
payments in commercial bank any amount, in most if not all of
money (that is, customer-initiated the proposals, users would have a
wire transfers) are not final settle- much lower propensity to deposit
ment, but merely a liability trans- a CBDC at a bank to convert it
fer between banks pending clear- into a demand deposit. Relatively
ing, either by compensation of higher than cash payment conve-
credits and debts between banks, nience would cease to be a feature
or by the transference of reserves, of commercial bank accounts.
that is, central bank-issued money.
This may mean permanent low-
Proposals for creating digital er reserves for commercial banks
currencies by central banks have to manage liquidity. Thus, to en-
taken the form either of “electron-
ic tokens” or “accounts”. Tokens courage customers to
are designed to mimic paper mon- deposit funds, finan-
ey. They are similar to pre-paid cial institutions may
debit cards, but in digital format. have to offer higher
rates of interest on de-
Account-based CBDCs would posits, which reduces
be universal central bank ac- banks’ profitability.
counts. They are designed to give The combination of
retail customers access to bank higher funding costs
accounts directly with the central with lower bank re-
bank — in this case the RBZ. Like serves may diminish credit expan-
electronic tokens, these accounts sion and indeed result in narrow
are liabilities of the central bank. banking.
They would be reserve balances
held at the RBZ, except that they *About the writer: Tinashe
would be available to everyone, Kaduwo is a researcher and econ-
and not only to designated finan- omist. Contact: kaduwot@gmail.
WhatsApp +263773376128
Companies & Markets NewsHawks
Issue 76, 15 April 2022
BusinessPage26
MATTERSNewsHawks
MARKETS CURRENCIES LAST CHANGE %CHANGE COMMODITIES LAST CHANGE %CHANGE
USD/JPY
GBP/USD 109.29 +0.38 +0.35 *OIL 63.47 -1.54 -2.37
USD/CAD
USD/CHF 1.38 -0.014 -0.997 *GOLD 1,769.5 +1.2 +0.068
AUD/USD
1.229 +0.001 +0.07 *SILVER 25.94 -0.145 -0.56
0.913 +0.005 +0.53 *PLATINUM 1,201.6 +4 +0.33
0.771 -0.006 -0.76 *COPPER 4.458 -0.029 -0.65
BERNARD MPOFU Gold export proceeds plunge,
but outlook remains bullish
ZIMBABWE’S monthly proceeds from gold
exports dropped to US$155 million in June vegetable fats and oils (8.4%), vehicles (8.1%), Notably, major imports in Zimbabwe were ag- “Cereal imports, including maize increased
from nearly US$166 million in prior month al- electrical machinery and equipment (4.3%), gregated to reach 92.9% in June 2022. from 3% in May 2022, to 4.2% in June 2022.
though the country's mining sector maintains a plastics (4.0%), cereals mostly rice (4.2%), fer- Rice, which makes the bulk of cereal imports
bullish outlook, latest figures from the official tilizers (2.9%), pharmaceuticals (1.7%), paper The report also shows that maize imports in- constituted 1.6% in June 2022, compared to
statistical agency have shown. and paper products (1.4%) and rubber (1.4%). creased during the period under review as the 1.4% in May 2022,” the report reads.
country grapples with food insecurity.
Gold producers have, since Russia's invasion
of Ukraine, ramped up output on the backdrop
of firm prices on the international market. The
authorities see gold output reaching 35 tonnes
this year despite massive leakages of the yellow
market on the parallel market.
According to the Zimbabwe National Statis-
tics Agency report for June which was released
in August, data for the month under review
shows that the country’s main exports were
semi-processed gold (22.8%), nickel mattes in-
cluding platinum group metals (PGMs) (20%),
mineral substances (19%), nickel ores and con-
centrates (16%), tobacco (4.7%), ferro chromi-
um (4.1%), platinum unwrought or in powder
form (2.9), coke and semi coke of coal (2%).
“During the month of June 2022, the coun-
try exported semi-manufactured gold valued at
US$152.2 million, signifying a decline from
US$165.9 million in May 2022. In the same
month of June 2022, the country export-
ed 1 295.0 tonnes of nickel mattes valued at
US$133.6 million, compared to 575 tonnes
valued at US$82.6 million in May 2022,” the
report reads.
“Besides the major minerals usually exported,
Zimbabwe also exported 3 kilogrammes of in-
dustrial diamonds valued at US$2.1 million in
June 2022, while in May 2022, 4 kilogrammes
of industrial diamonds raked in US$5.9 million
in export earnings.”
Zimbabwe’s major imports, the report fur-
ther shows, remained mineral fuels and miner-
al oil products which stood at 20.1% in June
2022, compared to 19.2% in May 2022. This
was followed by machinery and mechanical ap-
pliances at 16.2% in June 2022.
Other imports in June 2022 included animal/
BERNARD MPOFU Power cuts threaten local firms
31 June had headwinds buffeting the economy. negatively impacted on plant uptime. cal terms compared to the prior year. Market dis-
LOCAL companies are battling rolling power Official figures show that inflation was on an Consequently, the reduced production led to tortions continued to present pricing challenges.
cuts which have pushed overheads as firms turn The auction market backlogs worsened, and raw
to costly alternative sources of energy, resulting upward trend as of June, with fuel prices and a 3% decrease in sales volumes when compared material imports were sustained utilising foreign
in depressed output, it has been established. electricity tariffs trending upwards partly due to to prior year.” currency generated from trading.”
pressure from the Russia-Ukraine conflict and
The southern African country is experienc- excessive money growth. Starafrica has since installed a 11kV dedicated FBC Securities says power cuts and other
ing rolling power cuts lasting up to 15 hours a power supply line, procured a 1 000kVA gen- macro-economic problems affecting the econ-
day as the perennial energy problems continue. Zimbabwe Stock Exchange-listed sugar pro- erator and electrical cables to augment power omy will slow down Zimbabwe’s economic
Desperate to mitigate the situation which may ducer starafricacorporation registered a 14% de- supply. growth.
affect economic growth targets, the authorities cline in output during the peak period of hot
are now making frantic efforts to import power beverages intake. Art Corporation also says it had a bumpy ride “Unfavourable government policies, perenni-
from regional power utilities. during the period ending June. al currency and power shortages and other pre-
“This heightened currency volatility has re- vailing economic challenges continue to hamper
According to Zimbabwe Power Company sulted in increased operational costs for the “The operating environment in the third productivity, presenting a threat to the country’s
(ZPC) statistics, the country’s five power stations business and reduced consumer spending in the quarter was extremely challenging as inflation, growth outlook. While we believe positive out-
generated 1 250 megawatts (MW) as of Wednes- market. The business applauds efforts by the exchange rate volatility and foreign currency turn remains a possibility, we are of the view
day against an installed capacity of 1960MW. authorities to tame inflation and stabilise the shortages affected production and demand in that domestic economic growth may be below
Kariba Power Station, the country’s largest hy- local currency,” starafrica says in its first-quarter the local market,” the company says in its third government projections,” FBC says in a research
dro-powered plant, according to the ZPC, con- trading update. quarter trading update. note.
tributed 72% of the total energy production
“For the first quarter of the 2022/23 finan- The group’s overall volumes for the quarter Finance and Economic Development minis-
during the second quarter ending June, cial year production volumes of granulated sugar were held at the same level as the same period last ter Mthuli Ncube says government focus is on
Hwange Power Station contributed 27% while at Gold Star sugars were 14% lower than those year. Export volumes declined by 6% as orders the completion of the 600MW Hwange 7 &
the small thermal power stations contributed attained during the prior comparative period. could not be met due to raw material shortages 8 project which is expected to ease the power
only 1% to total energy production during the Power and steam supplies were the main causes and the erratic supply of power. Revenue for the outages.
quarter. of the reduced throughput at the refinery as they quarter declined by 28% in inflation-adjusted
terms, reflecting an increase of 137% in histori-
According to trading updates of some listed
companies released this week, the quarter ending
NewsHawks Companies & Markets Page 27
Issue 94, 19 August 2022
Punitive interest rates punish borrowers
BERNARD MPOFU
AFTER weeks of maintaining tight liquidity and book and interest income growth,” IH predicts. native market rate and the weekly depreciation Official figures show that aggre-
a relatively stable exchange rate, growing pressure “We expect revaluations gains to continue of the official auction rate has resulted in a re- gate banking sector loans and
to settle Zimbabwe dollar obligations is now ex- duction of the exchange rate premium from circa advances increased by 264%.
pected to force local firms to borrow under the on an upward trend on the back of the current 140% to about 60%. rates, saying the obtaining situation is choking
currently high interest rates, resulting in anoth- inflationary environment. The devaluing of the economic activity.
er plunge of the domestic currency in the long Zimbabwe dollar against the US dollar has made Morgan & Co says the tight liquidity situation “While maintaining a tight monetary stance
term, analysts have predicted. the minimum capital requirement a moving tar- characterised by high interest rates is not sustain- may be key in achieving inflation and exchange
get, negatively impacting dividend yield in the able. rate stability, tight monetary policies are likely to
Over the past three months, the authorities sector.” restrict economic growth as liquidity is essential
embarked on aggressive contractionary policies “We note that the central bank continues on in driving growth and investment spending. In-
from the central bank against a backdrop of ex- Figures obtained from the apex bank indicate its drive to withdraw Zimdollar liquidity in cir- flation targeting and exchange rate stability are
change rate depreciation, currency volatility and that excess reserves (RTGS balances at the cen- culation and curb depreciation of the local cur- the primary economic objectives, but achieving
build up in inflation expectations. tral bank) declined from 55.06% in June 2021 rency,” Morgan & Co says. these and favourable GDP growth target is mu-
to 0.34% in June 2022, largely reflecting tighter tually exclusive,” the brokerage firm contends.
Monetary authorities raised interest rates to liquidity conditions as a result of mopping up “However, we maintain that the effectiveness “Should inflation remain elevated, interest
200% to discourage speculative borrowing and operations and issuance of non-negotiable certif- of these measures will be short-lived given that rates are likely to be reviewed upwards to curb
promised to review the rates as inflation recedes. icates of deposits. business will soon be forced to pay its dues for speculative activity and tame money supply. In-
Experts say the high interest rates are now back- services rendered and products supplied by sup- creasing the cost of borrowing will likely weigh
firing and may affect economic growth projec- RTGS liquidity constraints have largely starved pliers and contractors in Zimdollar which, in down aggregate investment, further limiting de-
tions. the parallel market, resulting in some stability turn, will likely further result in the depreciation sired growth projections. Whilst this will anchor
on the alternative market rate in recent weeks, of the currency in the longer term.” inflationary pressures, it is inversely related to in-
The government has projected domestic eco- with the rate hovering between US$1:ZW$750 vestment spending, limiting desirable economic
nomic growth of 4.6% in the current year, a to US$1:ZW$830. Relative stability of the alter- FBC Securities says the government should growth.
downward revision from an initial projection of immediately consider lowering high interest
5.5% growth this year. The World Bank and In-
ternational Monetary Fund have forecast lower
growth of 3.7% and 3.5%, respectively.
Official figures show that aggregate banking
sector loans and advances increased by 264%,
largely attributed to the translation of foreign
currency-denominated loans. As at 30 June 2022,
foreign currency-denominated loans constituted
65.87% of total banking sector loans, an increase
from 36.87% reported as at 31 December 2021.
IH Securities says as appetite for Zimdollar
loans improves, loan books will come under
pressure.
“With the cost of borrowing increasing, we
believe loan books may come under some pres-
sure as corporates adjust to higher costs of debt
funding potentially translating to subdued in-
terest income in the short term,” IH says in its
post-Monetary Policy Statement research note.
“Appetite for loans in the devaluing domes-
tic currency would be preferable. However, the
numbers suggest banks are gravitating towards
loans in the more stable currency to protect bal-
ance sheet value. Given the need to repay US
dollar loans, some borrowers may need to change
their business models to ensure they earn more
foreign currency.”
This, IH further states, will partly support fur-
ther dollarisation in the formal sector.
Market watchers say non-performing loans
(NPLs) are of concern. As at 30 June 2022 the
average NPL-to-loans ratio for the banking sec-
tor was 1.5% from a December 2021 position
of 0.94%.
“The increase may be a reflection of increased
lending activities. We also believe the transitory
nature of deposits will continue to deter banks
from lending long term, further affecting loan
High inflation erodes Zim competitiveness
BERNARD MPOFU it highlights that the rate of price increase has after Zimbabwe. Tanzania and Botswana had will do more harm than good to Zimbabwean
slowed down. In July 2022, the electricity infla- the lowest at 4.4% and 6% respectively. business if inflation continues on this trajecto-
DESPITE announcing a cocktail of measures tion rate shed 198 percentage points, compared ry.”
to tame stratospherically high levels of inflation, to the June 2022 inflation. “The increase in annual inflation underlines
Zimbabwe’s triple-digit annualised inflation re- that inflation remains a challenge in Zimbabwe The CZI says while higher lending rates have
mains the highest in the region, surpassing the The soaring prices have pushed the cost of and the ability of the measures contained in the slowed down borrowing for parallel market ac-
sum total of its neighbours, a new report done living beyond the reach of many. The ZimStat Mid-Term Monetary Policy to reverse this trend tivities, the tight liquidity situation is hurting
by the country’s manufacturing sector lobby food poverty line (FPL) as at July 2022 stood will be key,” the Confederation of Zimbabwe business.
group has shown. at ZW$17 909.32. This means that for a per- Industries (CZI) says.
son not to be deemed food poor he or she must “The general policy thrust, which is also re-
Official figures show that year-on-year in- at least spend that much on food in July 2022. “Among Sadc countries Zimbabwe is the only flected in the 2022 mid-term budget review, is
flation rate for July 2022 increased to 256.9% This represents an increase of 29.1% over the country in triple-digit year-on-year inflation for that the growth in broad money is driven by in-
from 191.6% in June 2022, gaining 65.3 per- June 2022 figure of ZW$13 875.12. A typical June 2022. If we add up inflation figures of creases in lending, including both to the private
centage points. family of five would thus require ZW$89 547 the countries surrounding Zimbabwe, the sum sector and government,” the report reads.
just to stay out of food poverty, hence there will of the inflation figures will still be lower than
The month-on-month inflation rate in July be pressure on wage adjustments going forward. Zimbabwe’s annual inflation of 191%. This il- “Interest rates were increased to 200% in a
2022 was 25.6% shedding 5.1 percentage lustrates how the country is in dire need of infla- bid to curb speculative borrowing in the econo-
points on the June 2022 rate of 30.7%. According to a Confederation of Zimbabwe tion stabilisation. Zimbabwean companies are my. However, while lending is indeed one of the
Industries macro-economic research note, the handicapped with a high inflation environment main drivers of M3 growth, it is also the life-
After months of persistent increase in month- country’s annual inflation for June is miles ahead compared to their regional counterparts, as they blood of industrial development. The interest
on-month inflation, in July 2022 month-on- of other Southern African Development Com- have to forward price at higher levels that fac- rate of 200% is already having negative effects
month inflation declined to 25.6% shedding munity countries. The paper shows that regional tor in replacement costs. This makes the prices on industry, as they are struggling to profitably
5.1 percentage points on the June 2022 rate of powerhouse South Africa had an inflation rate generally higher than their competitors in the borrow. This also underlines the difficulties that
30.7%. of 7.4% during the period under review while region. The opening of borders of selected basic policymakers have in trying to strike a balance
Angola at 22.96% had the second highest figure goods through Statutory Instrument 98 of 2022 between the need to control money supply
Experts say a reduction in inflation does not without curtailing growth.”
necessary mean that prices have gone down, but
Page 28 Stock Taking NewsHawks
Issue 94, 19 August 2022
Zimbabwe Stock Exchange Pricelist
`
19 August, 2022
Market Cap ($mn) 1,834,913.40 -0.77% Top 5 Gainers 14.13% Top 5 Losers -15.00% Value Leaders ($) 294,758,300 Top 5 Gainers YTD 500.00%
All Share Index 14,423.98 -0.10% Turnall 12.36% Bridgerfort -12.50% Delta 260,285,100 Zeco 295.42%
Top 10 Index 8,691.07 0.61% Edgars 8.28% GB Holdings -12.31% Econet 59,859,540 CFI 183.33%
Value Traded ($) 185.66% RTG 4.88% FMP -7.28% OK Zimbabw e 11,962,690 GetBucks 159.92%
Interbank rate (USD/ZWL) 670,212,816.00 1.53% Delta 2.35% Axia -6.76% Simbisa 10,199,210 Afdis 133.88%
500.6261 Willdale EHZL Willdale RioZim
Market Cap (US$mn) -0.77%
YTD Movement (%) 3,665.2372 -69.94%
Bloomberg Opening LTP Closing Price Previous Volume traded Value traded Shares In Market Cap Market Cap Price Change Price Change
Ticker (RTGSc) (RTGSc) (RTGSc) Change (%) Price (RTGSc) (shares) (RTGS$) Issue (mn's) (RTGS$ mn's) (US$ mn's) RTGS YTD (%) US$ YTD (%)
32,490.00 - 32,490.00 - 32,490.00 - - 119.49 38,823.77 77.55 159.92% -43.58%
Afdis AFDIS: ZH 1,427.42 1,387.59 1,427.42 19,752.58 39.46 116.05% -53.10%
1,350.00 -2.79% 246.08 612,900.00 8,504,550.00 1,423.52 3,905.75 7.80 -35.52% -86.00%
African Sun ASUN: ZH 246.08 230.00 240.00 -2.47% 1,700.00 600.00 1,440.00 1,627.40 7,428.62 14.84 62.68% -64.69%
1,700.00 - 1,700.00 6,807.86 - - 34,854.38 69.62 110.07% -54.40%
Ariston ARISTON: ZH 6,807.86 6,312.48 - 1,900.00 436.98 49,092.20 98.06 -53.86% -89.98%
1,900.00 6,700.00 1,615.00 -7.28% 2,600.00 27,200.00 1,716,995.00 552.15 34.42 0.07 14.71% -75.10%
Art ARTD: ZH 2,600.00 1,615.00 2,600.00 -15.00% 244,900.00 100.00 1,615.00 3,039.76 50,531.48 100.94 -23.49% -83.39%
244,900.00 244,900.00 - - - 0.00 0.00 - -
Axia AXIA: ZH SUSPENDED - - 20,020.00 - - 1.32 1,747.02 3.49 17.65% -74.46%
20,020.00 - - - 11,532.79 - - 20.63 60,277.45 120.40 53.43% -66.70%
Bridgerfort MMDZ: ZH 11,532.79 - 20,000.00 - 37,000.00 42.94 39,235.12 78.37 295.42% -14.17%
37,000.00 20,000.00 11,532.79 -0.10% 23,855.32 2,000.00 400,000.00 8.74 326,302.13 651.79 53.94% -66.59%
Bridgerfort Class B 23,855.32 - 37,000.00 - 2,433.33 - - 522.66 8,835.93 17.65 -29.48% -84.69%
2,433.33 - 25,019.80 - 3,986.83 - - 106.04 96,302.64 192.36 -8.56% -80.15%
BAT BAT: ZH 3,986.83 25,100.00 2,468.13 4.88% 12,608.01 1304.18 318,225.70 635.66 44.52% -68.63%
12,608.01 2,435.00 3,717.42 1.43% 700.00 1,178,100.00 294,758,300.00 358.00 4,752.41 9.49 80.80% -60.75%
Border BRDR: ZH 3,500.00 12,283.97 -6.76% 5,885.00 1,600.00 39,490.00 2590.58 39,477.06 78.86 73.54% -62.33%
700.00 12,000.00 -2.57% 2,200.00 83,800.00 2590.58 2,396.31 4.79 39.37% -69.75%
Cafca CAFCA: ZH 5,885.00 775.00 786.50 12.36% 751.22 3,115,200.00 604.25 16,335.33 32.63 118.97% -52.47%
2,200.00 5,875.00 5,875.00 -0.17% 1,900.00 2,118,900.00 260,285,100.00 671.95 13,112.72 26.19 -5.00% -79.38%
CBZ CBZ: ZH - 2,200.00 - 700.00 200.00 108.92 7,600.43 15.18 -21.30% -82.92%
751.22 756.00 0.68% 149.00 1,573.00 2159.81 699.60 1.40 -43.19% -87.67%
CFI CFI: ZH 1,900.00 1,900.00 756.33 - 1,700.00 127,800.00 7,508,250.00 690.14 19,773.01 39.50 183.33% -38.50%
604.00 1,900.00 -12.31% 24,500.00 - 1,238.16 47,290.04 94.46 -12.50% -81.01%
Delta DLTA: ZH 700.00 130.00 -12.50% 26,116.67 - 536.59 149,442.63 298.51 61.48% -64.95%
149.00 1,700.00 613.85 - 12,000.00 16,400.00 124,038.00 1,163.12 9,600.00 19.18 50.00% -67.44%
Dairibord DZL: ZH 1,700.00 24,500.00 130.38 - 500.00 900.00 17,100.00 193.02 9,295.37 18.57 54.10% -66.55%
24,500.00 26,305.00 1,700.00 0.41% 5,000.00 95,760.00 569.88 12,082.69 24.14 -9.09% -80.27%
Ecocash EHZL:ZH 26,116.67 - 24,500.00 - 10,128.57 15,600.00 22,425.00 80.00 24,130.18 48.20 -23.65% -83.43%
12,000.00 500.00 26,223.69 - 1,050.00 17,200.00 11,900.00 1,859.07 7,934.31 15.85 -5.89% -79.57%
Econet*** ECO: ZH 500.00 5,000.00 12,000.00 - 150,000.00 24,500.00 241.65 102,600.16 204.94 9.12% -76.31%
5,000.00 10,000.00 500.00 -5.70% 1,799.97 700.00 9,388,080.00 252.65 7,274.97 14.53 123.51% -51.48%
Edgars EDGR: ZH 10,128.57 1,050.00 5,000.00 - 1,175.00 100.00 755.65 2,983.00 5.96 86.51% -59.52%
1,050.00 - 9,550.98 - 3,014.88 35,800.00 - 68.40 38,967.44 77.84 10.41% -76.03%
FBC FBC: ZH 150,000.00 - 1,050.00 - 8,199.06 139,000.00 404.17 5,425.19 10.84 0.00% -78.29%
1,799.97 - 150,000.00 - 795.00 - 10,000.00 253.87 294.84 0.59 0.00% -78.29%
Fidelity Life FIDL: ZH 1,175.00 3,035.00 1,799.97 0.51% 2,250.00 27,800.00 487,100.00 1,285.88 5,668.55 11.32 -22.41% -83.16%
3,014.88 SUSP 1,175.00 - 785.00 66.17 21,211.71 42.37 8.97% -76.35%
FCB FCB: ZH 8,199.06 SUSP 3,030.40 - 7,999.03 200.00 1,050.00 37.09 18,481.64 36.92 -29.18% -84.63%
795.00 - 8,199.06 - 15,862.11 5,100.00 - 251.94 88,840.71 177.46 75.59% -61.89%
First Mutual FMLH: ZH 2,250.00 850.00 795.00 8.28% 153.59 - 2,495.50 6,870.82 13.72 25.77% -72.70%
785.00 7,500.00 2,250.00 -6.53% 13,026.92 100.00 - 247.20 33,856.81 67.63 93.53% -64.81%
First Mutual Properties FMP: ZH 7,999.03 15,800.00 850.00 -0.37% 220.00 - 562.18 844.95 1.69 10.00% -76.12%
15,862.11 145.00 7,476.31 -5.12% 7,204.97 - 59,859,540.00 4,715.08 25,729.12 51.39 2.68% -77.71%
GB Holdings GBH: ZH 153.59 12,500.00 15,802.76 -0.45% 400.42 - - 261.06 2,253.19 4.50 11.43% -75.81%
13,026.92 - 145.72 - 3,400.00 - 384.07 3,620.12 7.23 13.46% -75.37%
GetBucks GBFS: ZH 220.00 - 12,968.75 - 200.29 1,975,300.00 - 357.10 3,644.73 7.28 -33.76% -85.62%
7,204.97 457.00 220.00 14.13% 11,400.00 - 493.04 19,971.73 39.89 48.05% -67.86%
Hippo HIPO: ZH 400.42 - 7,204.97 - 2.88 - 20,400.00 106.47 13.34 0.03 500.00% 30.24%
3,400.00 223.50 457.00 2.35% 425.00 - 1,285,925.00 1,778.00 7,727.43 15.44 13.01% -75.47%
Innscor INN: ZH 200.29 - 3,400.00 - 361.25 11,962,690.00 175.19 2,080.80 4.16 24.14% -73.05%
11,400.00 - 204.99 - 1,680.00 2,400.00 463.34 5,857.87 11.70 -27.97% -84.36%
Lafarge LACZ: ZH - 11,400.00 - 17,200.00 17,486.00 1,818.22 7.14 0.01 - -
2.88 - - 9,355.00 75,700.00 207,500.00 576.00 11,415.86 22.80 133.88% -49.24%
Mash MASH: ZH 425.00 1,700.00 2.88 1.19% 12,000.00 344.58
361.25 - 425.00 - 1,600.00 - 167.89
Masimba MSHL: ZH 1,680.00 - 361.25 - - 122.03
SUSPENDED 1,700.00 - 3,199.00
Meikles MEIK: ZH 9,355.00 - -
4.25 700.00 10,199,210.00
Nampak NPKZ: ZH 9,355.00 - -
4,975,500.00 -
Natfoods NTFD: ZH - -
- -
NMB NMB: ZH - 3,400.00
- -
NTS NTS: ZH 200.00 -
-
OK Zimbabwe OKZ: ZH -
Old Mutual OMU: ZH
PPC PPC: ZH
Proplastics PROL: ZH
RTG RTG: ZH
Seedco SEED: ZH
Simbisa SIM: ZH
Star Africa SACL: ZH
Tanganda TANG:ZH
Truworths TRUW: ZH
TSL TSL: ZH
Turnall TURN: ZH
Unifreight UNIF: ZH
Willdale WILD: ZH
ZBFH ZBFH: ZH
Zeco ZECO: ZH
ZHL ZHL: ZH
Zimpapers ZIMP: ZH
Zimplow Holdings ZIMPLOW: ZH
Hw ange HCCL: ZH
RioZim RIOZ: ZH
Econet shares in issue include Class A Shares
Exchange Traded Funds Opening LTP Closing Price Change Previous Price Volume traded Value traded Market Cap Market Cap Price Change Price Change
(RTGSc) (RTGSc) (RTGSc) (%) (RTGSc) (RTGS$) (RTGS$ mn's) (US$ mn's) RTGS YTD (%) US$ YTD (%)
Cass Saddle Agriculture ETF 155.00 155.00 155.00 155.00 32,900.00 22.88%
Datvest Modified Consumer Staples ETF 162.90 161.00 160.44 0.00% 162.90 5,316.00 50,995.00 - - 55.00% -59.14%
Morgan&Co Made in Zimbabwe -1.51% 63,700.00 8,528.76 109.14 0.22 60.44%
Morgan&Co Multi Sector 121.01 120.00 115.41 121.01 15.41%
OM ZSETop-10 ETF 2,816.00 - 2,816.00 -4.63% 2,816.00 - 73,515.00 2,841.39 5.68 15.41% -38.88%
0.00% 118,698.00 - 3,546.13 7.08 181.60%
655.71 579.00 580.10 655.71 -71.63%
-11.53% 688,570.56 464.07 0.93 30.69%
* The complete list of ZSE Indices can be obtained from the ZSE website: www.zse.co.zw
Property
NewsHawks
Issue 94, 19 August 2022 PROPERTY INTERIORS ARCHITECTURE GARDENING Page 35
The home of prime property: property@newshawks.com
Beethoven Hotel construction underway
Construction of the Beethoven Hotel and Harare Hippodrome Conference centre is going on schedule in Braeside, Harare.The conference centre is expected to be the country's biggest conference centre when completed.
It will have a capacity of 6300 . — Pictures: Aaron Ufumeli
Page 32 News Analysis NewsHawks
Issue 94, 19 August 2022
Mubaiwa plight scar on Zim conscience
NYASHA CHINGONO Analysts say Marry Mubaiwa is a victim of persecution.
VICE-PRESIDENT Constantino Chiwenga’s personal case but involves very powerful people,” who should have empathy. If this happens to the in good health.
messy divorce to beauty queen Marry Mubaiwa Mukundu said. mother of his children, God knows what would As a country that respects women, in all facets
and subsequent “persecution” of his former wife happen to anyone who crosses the path of a gen-
raise serious moral questions over the country’s While Mubaiwa’s case has split opinion, with eral,” Mukundu said. of life, Mubaiwa must not be an exception.
leadership, analysts have said. many of the belief that she has a case to answer, She penned a letter two years ago: “You have
it is widely agreed that she must have a fair trial. “It is a very negative message that the vice-pres-
Mubaiwa’s critical and fragile health situation ident is sending, not only on their capacity to the comfort of going to China for your condi-
as a result of lymphoedema, a chronic condi- What is not in doubt is how Chiwenga has lead but how they deal with issues at a family lev- tion and you block my every effort to get money
tion that causes swelling of body tissues and is used lawfare to chastise his former wife, betray- el, but also how they lack empathy for someone from the bank to get treatment locally. I wish you
sometimes associated with cancer treatment, has ing the abuse of power by the country’s deputy who is sick.” could wake up and smell the coffee, I wish for
placed Chiwenga under scrutiny. president. you to make right your wrong. My children suf-
When all is said and done, humanity should fer because of your abuse, blocking them from
Heartrending images and videos of Mubai- “This is an acrimonious end of a marriage be- take precedence. me and blocking me from them.”
wa struggling to walk into court, while nursing tween General Chiwenga, which unfortunately
hands disfigured with festering wounds and due does not send a clear message on the leadership Mubaiwa should have her day in court and Her cries have gone unheard, or have been ig-
for amputation, have set tongues wagging. People qualities of a vice-president, more so a leader answer to all her wrongs, but she should do so nored, but she deserves attention!
are asking why Chiwenga lacks empathy for his
ex-wife.
While the extent of her alleged transgressions
towards the former army general remain to be
fully uncovered, observers say Mubaiwa deserves
to be treated as a human being.
In March, doctors treating Mubaiwa rec-
ommended urgent amputation of her forearm,
warning that her current condition is life-threat-
ening, but with her health situation deteriorat-
ing, she is yet to get amputated.
Earlier this month, there was a heartrending
spectacle at the Harare magistrates’ courts when
Mubaiwa was assisted into the courtroom in a
wheelchair.
Her ambulance was barred from entering the
court premises, with the authorities claiming
they had “received instructions” not to allow the
vehicle in.
She groaned in pain as her wheelchair was
forced through uneven pavements until she was
wheeled into court 18, where magistrate Feresi
Chakanyuka presided over the hearing.
“She was in the court premises but couldn’t
help herself up the stairs. Her mother could not
carry her up the stairs . . .,” her lawyer, Beatrice
Mtetwa, said as she was moved to tears.
“What sort of justice system wants to arrest a
woman who could not even go to the toilet, who
has made herself wet because she cannot go to the
toilet because she is unwell? And you tell me that
is a justice system?” cried Mtetwa.
Before that, Mubaiwa had been rumoured
dead, but her lawyers said she was in critical con-
dition.
Mubaiwa, facing charges of money launder-
ing, fraud and murder, as well as assault linked
to their acrimonious divorce, is battling in the
courts to have her bail conditions varied and to
secure her passport to travel to South Africa for
treatment.
In 2020, CBZ Bank arbitrarily froze Mubai-
wa’s five company accounts without legal basis,
blocking her from accessing her money which
she desperately needs for sustenance and to foot
urgent medical bills, following her acrimonious
divorce with Chiwenga.
Chiwenga, who recently remarried, has also
denied his ex-wife access to their children.
With all this happening in the full glare of
international media and observers, analysts say
Mubaiwa is a victim of persecution.
“There are no doubts that there are elements
of persecution in Marry Chiwenga’s case. You do
not get someone sick like that being brought to
court in a hospital bed or wheelchair, including
denial of access to children,” political analyst
Rashweat Mukundu said.
“There is a legitimate concern that her case has
been politicised, there is an element of abuse of
power by her former husband that Marry suffers
as much — not just physical suffering — but
emotional suffering as well,” Mukundu added.
The principle of presumption of innocence
until proven otherwise has somewhat been ig-
nored in Mubaiwa’s case, some observers argue.
Accused persons are guaranteed protection at
law and reserve the right to good healthcare.
Her passport remains in the hands of the
court, making it impossible for her to travel for
medical attention.
With her situation deteriorating by the day,
her story betrays political persecution, they argue.
“All this points to an unfair legal process that is
going on. It is a difficult case for women’s organi-
sations to intervene, because it is not seen just as a
NewsHawks Critical Thinking Page 33
Issue 94, 19 August 2022
Page 34 Reframing Issues NewsHawks
Issue 94, 19 August 2022
MATTHEW MARE Hen-egg debate between the state
and the church on human rights
THE objectification of the girl
child can be both biblically and tra- and condone the violation of wom- Francisco de Victoria and Salaman- Africa where the Roman Catho- ed to AICs but to the whole reli-
ditionally traced back to antiquity. en and children’s rights. ca of Spain laid the systematic the- lic Church endeavoured to extinct gious sphere, be it Christianity or
oretical foundation for both inter- ATR and any other competing re- Islam.
This means the research is deal- Within the church, there ap- national law and universal human ligions.
ing with a historical problem which pears to be an upward trajectory in rights. While the church seeks to claim
was passed on from one generation terms of abuses involving the clergy This stance can be argued to the right over the human rights dis-
to the other and had been socially where congregants are found to be Corozza went on to state that the have been a human rights violation course, the church stands accused
misconstrued as a way of life. victims and survivors. The image concept of "universal rights" can be in that it could not promote reli- of gross Human Rights violations
of the Roman Catholic Church is traced back to the Thomistic no- gious freedom and liberalism. as well. With the Roman Catholic
Thus the abuses of women and continuously being marred with tion of common good as is artic- Church assuming both statehood
children have been conditioned and sex scandals by the church author- ulated in the ius gentium, the law It is evident that since 1648 recognition and church status, its
most women and children in Afri- ities. of nations. The judicial concept of Westphalia Treaty the church tried double role should have helped the
can independent churches (AICs) rights is traced back to the church’s by all means necessary to resist church to eradicate these churches
have accepted it as the will of God These sexual abuses are found to canon law. The concept of human state authority by maintaining that related human rights violations.
who created them as unequal to be rampant even in church-relat- rights is highly complex with both human rights should be applied
men. The use of forced marriages is ed institutions such as schools and the church and states claiming its from the church’s perspective over It may also be important to note
an old custom which was common medical facilities. custodianship. secular interpretation and applica- that most of the abuses that are
in Jewish culture. tion of human rights. found, especially within Christian
Globally, with the evolution The Roman Catholic Church, circles, do have some scriptural jus-
The practice is also found to of gender revolution, the Roman like JMAC, believes that state au- The turning point was in 1948 tifications.
have been common in many Afri- Catholic Church is facing count- thority comes from God and as when Pope Pius XII openly sup-
can societies. Through this prac- less lawsuits and in most cases the such the church is supreme to the ported the work of the Dumbarton Women in the Bible tend to be
tice, which is acceptable even in church prefers compensating the state. Pope Innocent X, in deny- Oaks Conference and the San Fran- portrayed as subordinate to men.
African traditional religion (ATR), survivors of these acts of abuse ing that the state is independent of cisco conferences that created the
children, especially the girl child, in order to protect its image. As the church authority, condemned United Nations (Cour, 1960:482, However, it is worth noting that
would be married off to rich fam- a result, of human rights-related the Treaty of Westphalia as "null, 484). this is a hermeneutical question,
ilies in exchange for food handouts scandals in the Roman Catholic void, invalid, iniquitous, unjust, for the same scriptures and the
or some material wealth. Church, and without a strong pub- damnable, reprobate, inane, empty As long as the church is failing same Bible can sufficiently be used
lic relations drive, its image is con- of meaning and effect for all time" and questions the state authori- to emancipate and empower those
The girl child could as well be tinuously suffering. (Carozza, 2012:10). ty, the state may find it difficult that the same scriptures seem to
used to appease avenging spirits to make the church accept secular throw under the bridge and sup-
should a family member be found In 2006 (Carozza: 2012:1), Pope The French Revolution further laws and authority. press.
to have killed someone resulting in Benedict XVI said that the Roman weakened the power of the church,
the spirit of the dead person tor- Catholic church embraces human as priests were now required to take On the other hand, relegating AICs, for example, tend to selec-
menting the perpetrator’s family. As rights, freedoms and religious and sign an oath of loyalty to the human rights discourses to church tively prefer those scriptures that
such, forced or arranged marriages plurality. The pope argued that it French authority with those priests authority means the state no lon- seem to be patriarchal in nature
in the Johanne Marange Apostolic is the Roman Catholic Church’s who refused to sign getting killed. ger has the locus standi to enforce and serve the interests of men. The
Church (JMAC) have their history social teachings that influenced them. mushrooming of denominations
in both ATR and Jewish customs. states to embrace the discourse on This was caused by the church’s and schisms within Christendom
human rights and that the church Middle Ages political doctrine that, Globally, the church cannot suc- is indicative of some hermeneutical
While this practice can be said is fighting authoritarianism (ibid, in all places where the majority are cessfully claim to be clean in as challenges, yielding to a plethora of
to be shared by both the church 2012:2). Catholic, other religions must be much as Human Rights violations hermeneutical perspectives.
and tradition, the 1648 Treaty of restricted. especially on women and children
Westphalia had legally limited the The church argued that, the are concerned. As such, one realis- This is further compounded by
church’s influence and empowered 16th century scholarly views by This doctrine was applied to es that human rights violations on prosperity gospel where modern
the state to exercise its authority on women and children are not limit- churches are identified with wealth
the religious sphere.
In line with the Westphalia trea-
ty, the perpetuation of religious
beliefs, teachings, rituals and prac-
tices which impede on the rights
of women and children have to be
blamed on the state. The right to
protect and promote the rights and
the welfare of the citizens is further
stated under the United Nations
Responsibility to Protect (UNR2P)
and the Montevideo Convention.
Thus, it is the duty of the state
to put measures and policies meant
to prevent the JMAC from abusing
women and children. Interestingly,
even the United Nations Peer Re-
view System is seemingly paying a
blind eye to religious abuses as it
seems to focus much on politically
motivated human rights abuses.
If states are not being made to
account for the human rights abuse
within the religious spheres by the
United Nations Peer Review Sys-
tem, it means the human rights
abuses in the religious sphere shall
remain unnoticed.
The nexus between human rights
and theology best explains whether
church-related human rights viola-
tions can be solved or not. Social
media, academics, state organs,
gender movements, civil society or-
ganisations and non-governmental
organisations are found to be tire-
lessly working towards exposing
and curbing against human rights
violations in the religious sphere.
Two major religions where wom-
en and children seem not to be
accorded full rights are Christi-
anity and Islam. These two major
religions seem to have backing and
justification of these abuses in their
theologies which seem to sanction
NewsHawks Reframing Issues Page 35
Issue 94, 19 August 2022
resulting in many secular commen- that seem to objectify women at the reviled (Titus, 2:5 ESV). Paul took church forever with very exception- tional and physical abuse at the
tators defining churches as "Ponzi behest of the influence of the Jew- submission too far by equating it to al provisions for returning back hands of older women who usually
schemes". ish culture. Godhead than merely a moral ob- into the church. feel threatened by the presence of
ligation. more sexually active young women
The religiosity of modern eccle- The Jewish culture played a key There is a grey area in research in the polygamous unions.
sia is under scrutiny and the human role in shaping the form in which Paul, an ardent follower of the where, in JMAC, older women help
rights discourse a topical issue. The the Old Testament scripture got Jewish culture, not only did he their husbands to persuade young Prima facie, older women in
availability of verses which pos- shaped, just the same way African instruct women not to speak in girls into falling in love with their JMAC accept polygamy and con-
itively depict women has neces- Traditionally Religion and the He- church but went on to instruct husbands. This theological practice done child marriages as a church
sitated the debate on the need to brew text influenced the JMAC women to be submissive to their is done perhaps as a way of try- doctrine, but in practice they in-
rationalise theologies. theology on women and children. husbands. ing to please their husbands. The stitute violence against the minors,
Since the study is on the intersec- church teaches that, no man with some of whom are found to be
Whilst women and children in tionality between human rights Additionally, being submissive ‘one eye’ shall enter the kingdom of 13-year-olds or even younger and
JMAC are alleged to be treated as and theology, the role of the state is being regarded as a symbol of God. Thus polygamy in JMAC is are not well versed with manage-
being unequal to men, the same bi- as the regulatory authority cannot Godhead. In Titus 2:5, women are linked to eschatology, where on the ment of social conflicts.
ble that the Church uses has scrip- be ignored. being confined to household chores judgement day the number of wives
tural verses where women occupy where they are expected to possess enhances one’s chances of entering The government, as the custodi-
equal roles with that of men. The verses cited herein serve to amongst other qualities, self-con- heaven. an of human rights, should ensure
demonstrate the hermeneutical di- trol, purity, working at home and that the ministry of Gender and
In Proverbs 31:26, for instance, lemma emanating from conflicting submitting to their husbands if The "one eye" means one wife Women's Affairs and the ministry
woman are said to be full of wis- perspectives in the scripture regard- they are to be Christians (Titus, and, furthermore, no man with of Health and Child Care formu-
dom and of astute teachings (Prov- ing women and children. Cited 2:5 ESV). one wife is allowed to occupy any late programmes which are meant
erbs, 31:26 ESV). In Acts 18:26, in this thesis are also verses in the position in the church. Those with to educate churches on the negative
women would know the gospel Hebrew text where women are ob- In Titus 2:3-4, the older wom- one wife remain ordinary church effects of marital and gender-based
more than men and the scripture jectified and regarded as unequal to en are expected to train young members. Perhaps for scholars, the abuses.
would say that, "he began to speak men. women to love and submit to their women-to-women abuse in JMAC
boldly in the synagogue, but when husbands (Titus, 2:3-4 ESV). The is another grey area that is yet to be *About the writer: Matthew
Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they However, from an interpretivist concept of submission in JMAC explored by scholarship. Mare is a Zimbabwean academic
took him and explained to him the perspective, terms such as ‘submis- stripped women of their rights, who holds two bachelor’s degrees,
way of God more accurately" (Acts, sion’ are highly problematic herme- self-determination and dignity. While most studies are glued five master’s qualifications and
18:26 ESV). neutically. The term ‘submission’ on men as agents of human rights a PhD. He is also doing another
means different things to different Through the theology of total abuses, theologically, it can be ar- PhD and has 12 executive certif-
While these verses appraise wom- societies. A case in point is, Ti- submission, mothers in JMAC are gued that there is abuse of the girl icates in different fields. Profes-
en, in JMAC women do not possess tus 2:5 ESV, to be self-controlled, forced to facilitate polygamy and child by both men and women in sionally, he is a civil servant and
any wisdom and are not allowed to pure, working at home, kind, and child marriages. The JMAC church this church. also board member at the Nation-
teach in church. Although there submissive to their own husbands, is very clear that any congregant al Aids Council of Zimbabwe.
are verses that recognise women as that the word of God may not be who deviates from its teachings In most polygamous relations
equal to men, there are also verses will be ex-communicated from the young women suffer trauma, emo-
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Page 36 Reframing Issues NewsHawks
Issue 94, 19 August 2022
Angola’s elections a close contest
between Unita and ruling MPLA
ROSS HARVEY Angola has strong Cold War rela-
In this Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2017 file photo Joao Lourenco, shows his ink-stained finger as he faces the media after cast- tions with Russia, which support-
ANGOLANS will head to the ing his vote in elections in Luanda, Angola, Angola's election commission announced Friday Aug. 25, 2017, the ruling ed the MPLA’s civil war efforts
polls on 24 August. On the sur- MPLA party has won the national election with 61 percent of the vote, meaning Defense Minister Lourenco will replace against Unita. After the end of the
face, these will be the most com- President Jose Eduardo dos Santos after his 38-year rule. (AP Photo/Bruno Fonseca, File)/ war in 2002, the country has en-
petitive Angolan elections yet. tered numerous oil-for-infrastruc-
tively from these positions when year has produced a protracted US$69 by 2026. Despite the price ture deals with China, to which it
In 2017, the incumbent MPLA he came to power. The family then war, with the West supporting drop, the EIU foresees economic has become highly indebted.
— in power since independence prevented Lourenço from provid- Ukraine indirectly by providing growth of up to 5.1% by 2026 on
from Portugal in 1975 — won ing Dos Santos with a state funeral weapons and intelligence support. the back of increased oil produc- As it stands, there are three ma-
the elections with a 61% majority. in Angola ahead of the elections to African countries, for a host of tion to 1.4 million barrels a day jor reasons to doubt that elections
Pundits are increasingly expressing avoid “unacceptable political use” complex reasons, largely refused (from a current level of only 1.153 would be fully free and fair:
the view that the main opposition of the event. This denied Lou- to vote directly against Russia on million) and a slightly more diver-
party, Unita, is proving more for- renço the opportunity to reunite three recent international occa- sified economy. • First, the National Election
midable than in past elections. But the party and galvanise electoral sions. China, similarly, has refused Commission (CNE) is run by
it has been refused permission to support. to condemn Russia directly. In re- The European conundrum plays Manuel da Silva, who the oppo-
register on the ballot with two oth- sponse to severe western sanctions, directly into Angola’s electoral sition deems to be an MPLA de-
er minority parties as a coalition. An Afrobarometer survey run in Russian President Vladimir Putin landscape dynamics. With de- ployment. Unita tried to challenge
May 2022 — three months after is turning up the pressure on Euro- creased oil and gas supplies from his appointment in court but to no
Adalberto Costa Júnior won the the Angobarometro poll — placed pean nations that have hitherto be- Russia (and increasing pressure to avail.
race for Unita’s presidency in 2019, the MPLA ahead of Unita, but come overly reliant on Russian gas. end all imports from the country),
with 96% of delegates’ votes. only by a small margin of seven Angola has become an irreplace- • Second, and related, is a con-
percentage points. Twenty-nine This brinkmanship, which seems able oil supplier of next resort for cern that the supreme court, which
Unita was run by Jonas Savimbi percent of those polled said they unlikely to end soon (although Europe. The European Union has annulled Unita’s 2019 congress re-
from 1976 until his death in 2002. would vote for the MPLA, while Russia’s economy is collapsing far not yet been invited to send an sults, is run by an alleged ally and
Unita’s internal politics have been 22% would vote for Unita. A full more rapidly than the official nar- election observer mission. Even if former aide of the president, Lau-
interesting, with one of Savimbi’s 31% of respondents refused to an- rative would admit), has pushed that invitation materialises, it is rinda Cardoso.
sons — Araújo Kanganjo Tão Sav- swer, making outcome prediction the international oil price to re- not clear that it would place much
imbi – supporting Alcides Sakala difficult. cord levels last seen in late 2014. pressure on the MPLA to ensure • Third, the CNE has again
Simões in that 2019 party race. The Economist Intelligence Unit credible, free and fair elections. picked a Spanish company, the
Angola’s supreme court subse- These elections will take place (EIU) has forecast Brent Crude to Indra Group, to manage the
quently annulled those results and against the backdrop of significant close out at about US$107 per bar- The EU is reported to fear push- vote-counting and tallying pro-
elections had to be held again in geopolitical uncertainty. Russia’s rel by the end of 2022, declining to ing Angola even deeper into Rus- cess. This company has run all
2021, but Costa Júnior again came invasion of Ukraine earlier this sia and China’s geopolitical hands. of Angola’s previous post-2002
out ascendant. elections and has been accused of
fraud by the opposition. In 2017,
Until now, the MPLA has been for instance, Unita called for mass
relatively adept at leveraging the protests over the awarding of the
internal politics of Unita to ad- tender, in secret, by the electoral
vance its own interests, largely board to this company.
through a divide-and-rule strategy
of infiltration and co-optation. It International attention is largely
is not clear that the MPLA will be focused on the Russia-Ukraine war,
able to do so this time. the global supply chain disruptions
that the war has exacerbated and
An electoral opinion poll run China’s aggressive response to US
by Angobarometro, a local Ango- special envoy Nancy Pelosi’s recent
lan agency, estimated support for visit to Taiwan. US President Joe
Unita and a third party — the Blo- Biden, reneging on election-trail
co Democrático — combined at promises, has also visited Saudi
64% in early February. The MPLA Arabia to try to ensure that the
polled at a mere 28%. Leader Organisation for Petroleum Ex-
João Lourenço, who succeeded porting Countries increases pro-
José Eduardo dos Santos in 2017, duction to keep oil prices below
polled at a personal approval rating the US$100 a barrel mark, but also
of 26%, less than half of the rating to prevent a Russian turn by Saudi.
ascribed to Costa Júnior (56%).
With the world’s eyes averted
Despite promises to stop cor- and democratic watchdogs paying
ruption and grow the economy, attention to precarious geopolitical
Lourenço has faced an uphill bat- dynamics elsewhere, along with
tle, having inherited a fiscal cliff increased demand for Angolan oil,
and an economy in recession. An- Lourenço may feel emboldened at
gola’s 2021 debt to GDP ratio was his party’s electoral prospects. But
at 108% in 2020 but higher oil the MPLA would also expect Uni-
prices have aided a recent recovery. ta to make significant international
Angola remains highly dependent noise about any evidently fraudu-
on oil, accounting for 92% of all lent procedures.
exports and contributing roughly
half the value of total GDP. Finally, these are only Angola’s
fourth set of post-war elections,
The recent death of Dos Santos, and the state remains highly secu-
who ruled the country with an ritised under Lourenço. Protests
iron fist from 1979 to 2017, has are likely to be met with relatively
not helped Lourenço’s cause ei- swift repression, and it remains to
ther. Dos Santos had placed family be seen what voter turnout on the
members ahead of party loyalists day will be like.
in key positions such as the head
of Sonangol, the state-owned oil — Mail & Guardian.
company, and head of the sover-
eign wealth fund. Lourenço then *About the writer: Ross Har-
purged Dos Santos’s daughter, Iso- vey is the director of research and
bel, and son Jose Filomeno respec- programmes at Good Governance
Africa.
NewsHawks Reframing Issues Page 37
Issue 94, 19 August 2022
Africa’s informal sector has problems,
but the answer isn’t to marginalise it
GIDEON ABAGNA AZUNRE/
FESTIVAL GODWIN BOATENG/
OWUSU AMPONSAH/
STEPHEN APPIAH TAKYI
AFRICAN leaders are increasingly A woman vendor in a market at Kalait between Abeche and Fada in northeastern Chad in September 2015. David Stanley / Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
aspiring to “modernise” their cities.
That is to make them “globally com- gestion”, “crime”, “filth/grime”, and Africa’s economy. In 2000, the gross after subjecting informal workers to streets of several neighbourhoods of
petitive” and “smart”. The hope is to “disorderliness”. value additions of Benin, Burkina extensive brutalities, they still refused Cairo.
strategically position cities in Africa Faso, Senegal and Togo’s informal to comply, forcing many govern-
to drive the continent’s much-needed In other words, they impede sus- sector (including agriculture) hovered ments to suspend the lockdowns. The When Cairo authorities finally rec-
socio-economic transformation. tainable city-making, and hence, around 71.6%, 55.8%, 51.5%, and pandemic has shown that the con- ognised that the Zabbaleen are bet-
must be eradicated. 72.5% of the countries’ total GDPs. tinuing systematic marginalisation ter suited for the job, they changed
But these aspirations tend to mar- of informal workers in city-making course and brought them onboard.
ginalise and antagonise the informal But is this premise backed by the The sector’s contribution to hous- heralds more trouble for the future. The emerging evidence suggests that
sector. The sector encompasses the evidence? This is the question our ing too is substantial. The most Informality at the heart of the change is paying some fruitful
suite of economic activities by work- team recently interrogated. notable form of informal housing, city-making dividends in improved sanitation.
ers and economic units that are – in popularly called “slums”, provide ac- The issue is not that city authorities
law or in practice – not covered (or We conclude that the informal sec- commodation to millions of urban must allow informal workers and ac- Cairo’s progressive example paints
insufficiently covered) by formal ar- tor is rather the goose laying Africa’s dwellers on the continent. tivities to go unchecked. They clearly a powerful image of how the capa-
rangements. golden eggs. have a responsibility to deal with the bilities of informal workers could be
Unpacking the data The United Nations’ data suggest problems in the sector to ensure the seriously incorporated and integrated
We are a team of internation- We argue in our paper that African that Nigeria’s share of urban pop- security and health of the public. This into building African cities. Hopeful-
al scholars researching sustainable leaders must re-think the informal ulation that are accommodated in includes the informal workers them- ly, more of such interventions will be
cities in Africa. In our latest paper, sector as a potential site for innova- slums as of 2015 stood at 50.2%. selves. replicated in other sectors of the con-
we explore the dual role played by tion and solutions. That of Ethiopia was 73.9%; Ugan- tinent’s urban economy.
the informal sector in Africa’s urban da’s 53.6%; Tanzania’s 50.7%. Ghana The problem with current ap-
economy. On the one hand, it plays Consider its employment creation and Rwanda’s hovered around 37.9% proaches is that they largely dispos- — The Conversation.
a positive role. It provides employ- potential for instance. and 53.2%, respectively. sess the workers and displace them *About the writers: Gideon Aba-
ment, securing household income to make way for big capital proj- gna Azunre is a PhD candidate at
and savings, provides household basic In 2018, a study by the Inter- Clearly, the informal sector oils ects which serve the needs of a priv- Concordia University in Canada.
needs and boosts civic engagement. national Labour Organization Africa’s urban economy in many im- ileged few. Festival Godwin Boateng is a
(ILO) found that the informal sec- portant ways. This makes it highly post-doctoral research fellow at the
But the sector also plays a negative tor employs some 89.2% of the total unlikely that any visions of trans- African leaders must recognise Centre for Sustainable Urban De-
role. It contributes to social and gen- labour force in sub-Saharan Africa if forming lives on the continent can the enormous potentials of the con- velopment, The Earth Institute, Co-
der inequality, insecurity, congestion agriculture is included. succeed without taking the sector tinent’s informal workers and begin lumbia University, United States.
and pollution. into adequate account. to integrate them better into their Owusu Amponsah is a senior lec-
Even without agriculture, the share city-building visions and strategies. turer in the Department of Plan-
Overall, we found that the infor- of informal employment is still signif- More importantly, the millions of ning at Kwame Nkrumah Uni-
mal sector has a lot to offer the future icant: 76.8%. In central Africa, with- working-class people whose lives de- The recent integration of informal versity of Science and Technology
of African cities. We therefore recom- out agriculture, the sector’s share of pend on the sector have shown con- waste collectors/recyclers – popularly (KNUST) in Ghana.
mend that public policy focuses more employment hovered at 78.8% and sistently that they won’t take their called Zabbaleen – in waste manage- Stephen Appiah Takyi is a senior
on regularising the sector, instead of 91% with agriculture. In east Afri- continuing marginalisation lying ment in Cairo, Egypt’s capital, offers lecturer in the Department of Plan-
displacing it. This is often done to ca, the contributions stood at 76.6% down. They frequently resist eviction great lessons. ning at KNUST.
make way for elitist big capital proj- without agriculture and 91.6% with orders. Dr Genry Mensah and Professor
ects. agriculture. The figures for southern The Zabbaleen had long been ne- Imoro Braimah of KNUST's Centre
and western Africa hovered around Perhaps, their most profound mo- glected for so-called “formal” private for Settlements Studies, and De-
Also, we warn that ignoring or 36.1% and 87% without agriculture ment of resistance was witnessed at companies which, however, contin- partment of Planning contributed
marginalising the millions of people and 40.2% and 92.4% when agricul- the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. ued to prove inefficient and struc- to the original article.
whose livelihoods depend on the sec- ture is included. turally unable to navigate the narrow
tor could spell a social bloodbath on Many African governments im-
the continent. The informal sector also makes posed lockdowns to limit community
The ‘smart cities’ craze in Africa other important contributions to transmission of the virus. However,
There has been a resurgent interest in
building so-called “smart”, “modern”,
“globally competitive” cities in Afri-
ca. Some are seeking to build entire-
ly new cities. But, for the most part,
most governments want to put cities
on the “map” through large-scale re-
development or by “modernising”
existing city districts.
African cities have long been
blamed for not serving as engines of
growth and structural transforma-
tion as their counterparts did during
Europe’s Industrial Revolution. This
makes it refreshing that leaders on the
continent are seeking to turn things
around.
The problem, however, is that these
visions of city modernisation tend to
heavily marginalise and antagonise
the informal sector in their design
and execution. Some even have a
strong focus on displacing informal
workers and activities – particularly
hawkers and hawking, slum dwellers
and slum settlements – from the cen-
tral business districts of the cities.
For instance, early this year, the au-
thorities in Nigeria sent a combined
team of police, military and other law
enforcement officials to destroy a Port
Harcourt informal settlement that
housed some 15 000 families.
Their counterparts in Ghana are
currently conducting similar exercis-
es.
These decisions are often justified
on the grounds that informal work-
ers and their activities generate “con-
Page 38 CRreiftriacmaliTnhgiInsksuinegs NewsHawks
Rwanda, DRC’s Issue 94, 19 August 2022
turbulent past
fuel their torrid
relationship
JONATHAN BELOFF however, are cause for concern. DRC President Félix Tshisekedi (left) and Rwanda President Paul Kagame.
They risk destabilising the East-
RWANDA and the Democratic ern Africa region, disrupting two events. First, the dismissal golese rebel groups, such as in recent years.
Republic of Congo (DRC) make trade routes and allowing for the of the Congolese defence min- the Congrès National pour la Following the 2018 election,
for very unhappy neighbours. establishment of opportunistic ister James Kabarebe, who was Défense du People (National
Both sides claim the other is set militia groups. Rwandan and largely responsible Congress for the Defence of the which saw Félix Tshisekedi be-
on bringing down their govern- for conducting the First Congo People, CNDP) and the M23. come Congolese president, rela-
ment, and violating past agree- The issue is on US secretary of War. Second, Congo’s support Divisions in Kigali tions between Rwanda and the
ments and international norms. state Antony Blinken’s agenda as for the remnant genocide forc- The Rwandan government is di- DRC improved. This included
he tours three African nations in es, Armée pour la Libération du vided on the future of relations increased trade activity between
Rwanda accuses the DRC August 2022. He will meet with Rwanda (Army for the Libera- with its giant neighbour. the two nations.
of working with the Forces Congolese and Rwandan lead- tion of Rwanda, ALiR).
Démocratiques de Libération ers to negotiate for a peaceful One group of policy leaders It seemed for a while that the
du Rwanda (Democratic Forces resolution to the current con- The Second Congo War perceives the DRC as a contin- beliefs of Rwandans who wanted
for the Liberation of Rwanda) or flict. dragged on for five years. It led ual threat to Rwandan security. rapprochement with Kinshasa
FDLR. The rebel group’s stated to the deaths of millions of peo- They view the Congolese mili- had the upper hand, hinting at
aim is to overthrow the Rwan- But, based on a decade of re- ple. This was as a result of the tary as being ineffective in com- a positive future for the two na-
dan government. search into relations between the actual fighting, and the increase bating forces stationed in the tions.
two countries, I do not believe in disease and malnutrition. DRC that are expressly against
For its part, the DRC accuses Blinken’s visit will to lead to the Rwandan government, such But in recent months, these
Rwanda of violating its sover- any significant reduction in ten- The lack of a quick resolution as the FDLR. hopes have been dashed. Once
eignty by supporting the Mou- sions. The most recent events are to the war resulted in various more, the dominant narratives
vement du 23 Mars (March 23 not new. Both nations hold old parts of the DRC being run by This group often domi- involve allegations of DRC col-
Movement, M23). The rebel suspicions of each other. either militia groups, or the gov- nates public policy decisions in laborating with the FDLR, and
group, along with multiple oth- How it started ernments of neighbouring coun- Rwanda’s foreign relations with Rwanda with M23.
ers, is active in the DRC. Since the 1994 genocide, the tries. Even allies during the start the DRC. But there’s a second
Rwandan government has kept of the war, such as Uganda and group that focuses on the eco- The two countries are likely to
A recent United Nations re- a close eye on DRC. While 4 Rwanda, fought against each nomic opportunities of closer continue experiencing periods
port supports Kinshasa’s conten- July is marked in Rwanda as the other. Rwandan-Congolese relations. of stability and tension. Another
tion. The group of experts on the day the genocide ended, it was a They believe that Rwandan de- major conflict, like the Congo
Democratic Republic of Con- temporary pause. Eventually, the 2002 Pretoria velopment should focus on the wars, is unlikely, but the contin-
go detailed its accusations in a agreement led to the withdrawal export of domestically produced ual tensions prevent trade inte-
131-page report. Kigali, how- After two years of inaction of the Rwandan military from goods to the Congolese market gration that would boost devel-
ever, dismissed the findings as from the then Zaire president Congolese territory. of 90 million potential custom- opment and peace between the
“false allegations”. Mobutu Sese Seko, Rwanda ers. Many within this group be- two nations.
went after those it believed were Nevertheless, Rwanda contin- lieve that the economic benefits
Rwanda is a country of 13 behind the attacks and were hid- ues to contend that Congo sup- outweigh the security concerns, — The Conversation.
million people and occupies ing in Zaire. It carried out mil- ports genocide remnants, now which they argue have decreased
26 000 square kilometres. The itary operations that triggered operating as the FDLR. *About the writer: Jonathan
DRC, on the other hand, has the First Congo War (1996- Beloff is a post-doctoral re-
90 million people and covers a 1997). For its part, DRC accuses search associate at King's Col-
territory of 2.3 million square Rwanda of supporting Con- lege London in England.
kilometres. The DRC lies to the This war had two objectives.
west of Rwanda. The two coun- The first was to disband the refu-
tries share a border of about 217 gee camps that were hosting the
kilometres. remnants of the genocide perpe-
trators. An estimated two mil-
Tensions between the two lion refugees were forced back
nations date back to the 1994 into Rwanda.
genocide in Rwanda when an
estimated one million Tut- The second objective was
sis and moderate Hutus were the removal of Mobutu on the
killed. Many of the perpetra- grounds that he was providing a
tors of the violence fled to the haven for genocide actors. The
DRC, at the time called Zaire. Zairian dictator was removed
The post-genocide Rwandan from power in May 1997.
government launched military
operations in a bid to force the Within nine months, the war
perpetrators back home to face was over. With Rwanda’s sup-
justice. port, Laurent Kabila and his Al-
liance des Forces Démocratiques
Rwanda believes the DRC pour la Libération du Con-
continues to provide refuge for go-Zaïre (Alliance of Democrat-
those behind the 1994 attack. ic Forces for the Liberation of
Congo, AFDL) took over power.
The two countries have gone
through two major wars and But a much bloodier Second
multiple skirmishes. They have Congo War (1998-2003) soon
also had periods of stability and followed. This was catalysed by
trade growth. The latest tensions,
NewsHawks Reframing Issues Page 39
Issue 94, 19 August 2022
Uhuru Kenyatta’s economic legacy:
Big on promises, but weak on delivery
ODONGO KODONGO Outgoing Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta. incubation and research centres.
Yet, these achievements have not
UHURU Kenyatta and his deputy, ternally sourced. Nine years later (by include inadequate medical equipment Energy Agency’s data.
William Ruto, ascended to Kenya’s pres- March 2022), the stock of public debt and shortage of trained human re- This level of generation pales in com- spawned visible impact: the current
idency in March 2013. This followed a had grown by 343% to almost KSh 8 source. Both have reduced the quality drought in the Horn of Africa region
contested poll that they won with a slim trillion (about US$67 billion). Just over of healthcare. parison to recently industrialised econ- has triggered fears of impending food
majority of 50.3% of the votes cast. 50% is due to external borrowing. omies such as South Korea (581,492) shortages in which an estimated 3.5
The corollary of low quality health- and emerging economies like South Af- million to 4 million Kenyans could face
They took office shortly after The excessive reliance on loans has care is the country’s high disease burden. rica (252,639) and Malaysia (175,778). severe hunger, malnutrition and starva-
the promulgation of Kenya’s progressive driven the ratio of public debt to GDP For example, the annual cancer death tion.
constitution in 2010. That gave them beyond 70%. This has raised questions rates increased between 2012 and 2018 Given its importance to industriali-
a unique responsibility of providing about whether the country has the fi- by almost 16%. It is projected to grow sation, the low power generation is an Overall, food production has not
leadership on its implementation and nancial capacity to meet present and fu- further. impediment to takeoff in the manufac- performed very well during the 2013–
entrenchment. ture obligations (interest and principal) Manufacturing turing sector. It could therefore delay 2022 period. For example, agricultural
arising from the debt. In the manufacturing sector, the gov- Kenya becoming a newly industrialised value added grew from 18.6% of GDP
Article 43 of the new constitu- ernment allocated about KSh 135 bil- middle-income economy providing to 22.4%, a meagre expansion over the
tion covers economic and social rights. Expectedly, the ballooning public lion in the 2022/23 budget. This mostly high quality life to its citizens. nine-year period. This was despite ef-
It confers every citizen rights to the debt has put a lot of pressure on the targeted satellite industries in the textile, forts to support value addition in ag-
“highest attainable standard” of health exchequer. For the year 2022/23, the leather, agro-processing, and construc- Food security riculture, such as processing fruits into
and access to reasonable standards of country is spending 53.8% of every tion sub-sectors. Years of failed economic policies, juices.
housing and sanitation. It also calls for shilling collected in servicing debt ob- reliance on rain-fed agriculture and no-
access to adequate food of “acceptable” ligations. Some gains have been realised. How- madic livestock husbandry, low levels of The fight against corruption
quality, clean and safe water, social secu- ever, inadequate infrastructure in the mechanisation of food production, and Like most countries in post-indepen-
rity, and education. The heavy debt servicing outlays have designated industrial zones has discour- insufficient emergency food reserves, dence Africa, weak institutions and
affected social infrastructure sectors. aged private sector participation and di- have combined to expose swathes of the poor governance have been Kenya’s
As Kenyatta and Ruto’s second term Take health. Official data show that minished the potential positive effects. country to food shortages. bane. Most Kenyans therefore wel-
comes to a close, it is important to estab- government healthcare spending has By including agriculture in the Big 4 comed Uhuru’s declaration of corrup-
lish the extent to which they have lived hardly grown since 2017. In particular, energy infrastructure Agenda, Uhuru’s government sought to tion as a national security threat and his
up to these constitutional expectations. appears to be the waterloo of manu- reduce the severity of these effects. promise to tackle it.
It went up from 2.8% of nation- facturing in Kenya. Kenya’s installed There have been achievements such
During the second term of their pres- al government expenditure during electricity generation capacity stood at as the expansion of insurance coverage Kenya has a well-established institu-
idency (2017-2022), Uhuru and Ru- 2017/2018 to a measly 3.7% during only 10,730 GWh in 2019, a change of farmers, commissioning of national tional framework for dealing with dis-
to’s government has focused economic 2021/2022. of about 20% from the 2013 level of food reserves, commissioning of grain honesty in the management of public
strategy on core aspects of Kenya’s Vi- 8,943 according to the International driers, and opening of agro-processing resources. Chapter 6 of the constitu-
sion 2030, labelled the Big 4 Agenda. This has meant that the coun- tion imposes high standards of integrity
try hasn’t been able to effectively ad- on holders of state offices, and establish-
The strategy rested on four pillars. dress constraints facing the sector. These es an independent ethics and anti-cor-
These were food security, affordable ruption commission to ‘ensure compli-
housing, universal health care, and man- ance and enforcement’.
ufacturing and job creation. Through it,
the government sought to implement But Kenya still ranks among the
projects and policies aimed at accelerat- worst in corruption perception. This
ing economic growth and transforming suggests that the public sees the Ethics
lives. and Anti-Corruption Commission as a
lame duck institution.
Despite these grand plans, in my
view, the government’s economic per- For example, there have even been
formance has been a mixed bag. accusations that the constitutional body
has lent itself to partisan political inter-
On the positive side, the outgoing ests since Uhuru’s anti-corruption cam-
government boasts of infrastructure paign appeared to target political rivals.
projects in sectors such as roads and
water. Examples include the complet- Credence was lent to these accusa-
ed Nairobi Express Way and over 2000 tions recently by the leaked information
dams that are at various stages of con- published in the Pandora Papers. The
struction. leaked information appeared to impli-
cate the president’s family in the stash-
These projects have the capacity to ing of fortunes in offshore tax havens.
improve lives. For example, better roads Although the report does not neces-
will reduce transport time to deliver sarily imply financial impropriety, the
commodities to markets while com- anti-corruption body has not, to my
pleted dams will lower disease incidence knowledge, investigated these allega-
by promoting access to clean drinking tions.
water.
Nevertheless, the commission recent-
But there are negatives too. The ly demonstrated its mettle when a case
country’s performance on job cre- that it brought before the court led to a
ation was weak, with unemployment conviction of individuals implicated in
rates worsening by 2.93 percentage a maize procurement fraud worth near-
points from 2.81% in 2013 to 5.74% ly US$3 million. Yet, many similar cases
in 2021. Weak job creation is explained have been dragging in court for a long
by the not-so-robust economy. Between time while some have been dropped.
2013 and 2021, Kenya’s economic
growth (GDP) averaged 4.4% while Conclusion
tax revenues stagnated at approximately As the country ushers in a new govern-
14.8% of GDP. ment, Kenyans hope that the mistakes
of the last 10 years can be avoided while
Uhuru and Ruto’s most prominent the gains realised are built on. For ex-
economic legacy is runaway public ample, will the investment in infrastruc-
debt, whose growth has not been com- ture be exploited to maximise welfare
mensurate with economic performance. gains?
In this article, I quickly survey what I
believe to be the government’s econom- — The Conversation.
ic performance highlights since 2013.
Public debt *About the writer: Odongo Kodon-
When Uhuru and Ruto took office in go is associate professor of finance at
March 2013, Kenya’s public debt stood the University of the Witwatersrand
at about KSh 1.8 trillion (US$17.95 in South Africa.
billion), of which about 45% was ex-
Page 40 Africa News NewsHawks
Issue 94, 19 August 2022
Not yet uhuru: the African Union has
had a few successes but remains weak
ADEKEYE ADEBAJO
THE African Union (AU) was born African Union Headquarters in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.
in the South African port city of
Durban in 2002. mostly funded the rest. This posed the million annual budget (56%) was trade, build infrastructure, establish a mains a “talking shop”. The Econom-
risk that AU institutional priorities still provided by foreign partners. But common market and ensure the free ic, Social and Cultural Council has
Under its first chair,Thabo Mbeki, could be set by its donors. Dlamini-Zuma failed to reduce this movement of people. But outside West failed to provide genuine civil society
African leaders seemed determined dependence during her four-year ten- and Eastern Africa, the free movement participation in the AU’s institutions.
to abandon the grandiose plans of its The AU Assembly of heads of state ure. AU leaders refused to back efforts of people remains a pipe dream. The idea of the African Diaspora in
predecessor, the Organisation of Af- has often failed to adhere to the princi- to find alternative sources of funding, the Americas, the Caribbean and Eu-
rican Unity (OAU). The OAU had ple of subsidiarity: taking decisions at such as customs duties and taxes on Most African governments are secu- rope as a sixth African sub-region,
been established in 1963 to promote the lowest practical level, as the Euro- flights and hotel stays. rity-obsessed and hostile to intra-Afri- along with the five continental ones, is
African unity and liberation. Other pean Union – the world’s only genu- can migration. There is also a lack of largely devoid of substance.
aims included: to protect the terri- inely supranational regional organisa- Among the more quixotic ideas convergence of African economies.
torial integrity of its member states, tion – does. of the Dlamini-Zuma-driven 50- Many compete to export raw materi- The AU must thus adopt more real-
promote non-alignment, and advance year development vision, "Agenda als rather than exchange diverse goods. istic and less illusory mandates. Its ap-
the peaceful settlement of disputes. The AU also conducts most of its 2063” includes increasing intra-Afri- proach should be based on an accurate
business through unanimity, making can trade from 12% to 50% by 2045, Road, rail, and port infrastructure assessment of financial and logistical
The African Union, for its part, was it difficult to reach quick decisions. ending armed conflicts by 2020 ] remains poor. Rules of origin – which realities.
established to achieve an integrated, (https://au.int/en/flagships/silenc- define where goods are made – are of-
prosperous and peaceful Africa which While the AU Commission has ing-guns-2020) and eradicating pov- ten restrictive, and non-tariff barriers More positively, AU members
would be led by its own citizens and some impressive staff, it also has much erty in two decades. are widespread. If integration has not had contributed US$295 million to
play a dynamic role in global politics. “dead wood” inherited from the OAU worked at the national and sub-re- their revised Peace Fund by June 2022,
Unlike the OAU Charter, the AU’s era. Under the Francophile Chadian gional levels, transferring all these complementing a US$650 million
Constitutive Act of 2000 allowed for chair, Moussa Faki Mahamat, since problems to the continental level will 2022 budget . African leaders must
interference in the internal affairs of its The AU’s 2003 plan to set up an Af- 2017, the report chaired by Rwandan certainly not integrate Africa. now strengthen the institutions they
members to stem instability, halt egre- rican Standby Force by 2010 was post- president Paul Kagame on reforming Need for realism have created.
gious human rights abuses and sanc- poned until 2015. In December 2020, the AU seemed rushed and lacked sub- The 15-member AU Peace and Secu-
tion military coups d’état. the organisation simply declared the stance, and its laundry list of recom- rity Council has contributed substan- They must also establish one effec-
force to be fully operational, despite mendations on institutional reforms tively to peacemaking efforts across tive economic body in each sub-region
Military regimes in Togo, Mauri- the fantasy involved in such a state- were on a level of vacuity as to be of Africa, and coordinated closely with that can promote socio-economic de-
tania, Madagascar, Niger, Egypt, Su- ment. no real utility. the United Nations. velopment and provide jobs for the
dan, Guinea, Guinea-Bis- continent’s youthful population.
sau, Mali and Burkina Faso were The deadline for “Silencing the These were physicians proposing But other AU organs have per-
thus suspended from the AU. The Guns” (ending armed conflicts) by half-baked cures to ills that had not formed less well. The AU’s first two decades have
continental body launched praise- 2020“ was casually pushed back a de- been properly diagnosed. All the 2017 largely represented a magical, mystical
worthy military stabilisation missions cade. report’s “key findings” had been more The New Partnership for Africa’s world of unfulfilled expectations. This
into Burundi (2003), Darfur (2007) Illusory reforms coherently outlined in Adedeji’s re- Development clearly lacks the re- is not yet uhuru (freedom).
and Somalia (2007). However despite As chair of the AU Commission port a decade earlier, the recommen- sources and capacity as a development
this progress, autocrats continued to (2012-2016), former South African dations of which still have not been agency to uplift the continent. The Af- — The Conversation.
rig electoral outcomes. foreign minister Nkosazana Dlami- implemented. rican Peer Review Mechanism, which
ni-Zuma complained that over 97% identifies governance challenges in 41 *About the writer: Adekeye Ade-
As the AU turned 20 in July 2022, of the continental body’s programmes Another disappointment has been countries, is toothless. bajo is professor and senior research
it had achieved a few successes. But were funded by external donors. In the 2018 African Continental Free fellow at the Centre for the Advance-
it remains a weak organisation em- 2013, US$155 million of the US$278 Trade Area which seeks to facilitate The Pan-African Parliament re- ment of Scholarship, University of
barking on sporadic bouts of illusory Pretoria, South Africa.
reforms. This is due to financial and
capacity constraints. And too much
decision-making power resides with its
omnipotent heads of state which has
denied the organisation the ability to
take decisions, and act more effectively
on behalf of its members.
Institutional sclerosis
The Addis Ababa-based AU Commis-
sion – its implementing arm – is led by
an Assembly of Heads of State, with
an Executive Council of foreign min-
isters and a Permanent Representatives
Committee of ambassadors. The am-
bassadors work with specialised devel-
opment, governance, parliamentary
and judicial organs. The AU Commis-
sion has, however, struggled to estab-
lish its independence to take initiatives
on behalf of its 55 member states in
fulfilment of its mandate.
A 2007 audit report led by the Ni-
gerian scholar-technocrat Adebayo
Adedeji revealed how the AU Com-
mission headed by Malian Alpha
Konaré (2003-2008) misunderstood
its mandates and authority levels, and
failed to coordinate overlapping tasks.
Some of these problems still persist.
Under the French-influenced
Gabonese Jean Ping (2008-2012),
the commission’s annual budget had
reached US$260 million by 2011.
Only 40% of this sum was actual-
ly paid by members. The European
Union, China and the United States
NewsHawks Africa News Page 41
Issue 94, 19 August 2022
WESTEN K SHILAHO Ruto: How Kenya’s new president
took on powerful political dynasties
WILLIAM Samoei Ruto (55) has
been declared the winner of Kenya’s which Ruto has propped up in the
presidential election. He is the lead- past, turned against him, fearful
er of the United Democratic Alli- that he would end their econom-
ance party under the Kenya Kwanza ic and political stranglehold. They
(Kenya First) coalition. perceived Ruto – relatively young,
astute, ambitious, prescient and
Ruto defeated his main rival in gallant – as a threat to their dubious
the election Raila Odinga (77), privileges. Now that Ruto, has won
who was running under the rival the presidency, time will tell wheth-
Azimio la Umoja (Unity Declara- er their fears were exaggerated.
tion) coalition.
In 2010, Ruto stood out from
He becomes Kenya’s first sitting this coterie and mobilised against
deputy president to succeed the the passage of the current constitu-
incumbent following competitive tion. He later defended his stand on
elections and first candidate to win the grounds that he did not approve
the presidency at first attempt. of some parts of the constitution –
but embraced it once it was passed.
The declaration of the results was
temporarily disrupted amid chaot- He faulted Kenyatta for violat-
ic scenes by the losing candidate’s ing the same constitution through
supporters alleging irregularities. blatant defiance of numerous court
The situation was thrown into fur- orders and weaponising oversight
ther disarray when four commis- bodies and state agencies against
sioners broke ranks, held a separate Ruto and his allies. Ruto also ac-
press conference and denounced cused Kenyatta and Odinga of a
the results as “opaque”. conspiracy to illegally amend the
constitution to consolidate their
Ruto won the polls in spite of power, and entrench ethnicity
a sustained pushback by the incum- through the Building Bridges Ini-
bent, Uhuru Kenyatta, his former tiative. The attempt was quashed
ally who chose instead to back his as unconstitutional by the high
former archrival and longtime op- court, appeals court and finally
position leader Raila Odinga. the supreme court.
Kenyatta and Ruto are former Kenyan President elect William Samoei Ruto. Political traction
allies: Ruto campaigned for Ken- Despite his rhetoric, Ruto is a crea-
yatta during his first presidential control of the state to enrich them- ical edifice to assuage the restless tion, insolence, warlord politics, ture of Kenya’s political culture,
attempt in 2002, which he lost. selves primitively. and disenchanted populace. He has and ethnic cleansing. He exploited notorious for a lack of scruples.
Both were indicted by the Inter- to provide leadership that will dis- this sense victimhood to his advan- Its elite is anglophile in outlook,
national Criminal Court (ICC) Ruto is also certainly a man of abuse the Kenyan society of tribal tage. and disdainful of the poor. It is also
as the suspected masterminds of means. According to his opponents consciousness, embed civic values mired in impunity and tribalism.
the mass atrocities that followed in the government he too has exten- and national identity. If he does These vices, however, pervade
the disputed 2007 elections. They sive business interests. It’s for this not, he risks becoming a casualty of Kenya’s political landscape and the What is significant is that Ruto’s
then teamed up to contest in 2013. reason that Ruto has been accused his success. depiction was more information by reframing of the political discourse
They prevailed in 2017 as well, but of hypocricy for championing the The making of a winner partisanship than moral rectitude. into hustlers versus dynasties has
not before the Supreme Court an- downtrodden, or ordinary Kenyans Following disputed elections in His accusers are no better. accorded him traction, helped him
nulled the first round. whom he refers to as “hustlers”. 2017, Kenyatta and his close allies win the presidency and set the tem-
embarked on a campaign of vilifi- Ruto cut his political teeth under po of this election despite the out-
After their falling out, however, Pivotal to Ruto’s campaign was cation against Ruto. He was soon the mentorship of the long-serving going government’s abysmal score-
Ruto characterised Kenyatta and his bottom-up economic model. edged out of the government and autocrat Daniel arap Moi in the card. He made the election about
Odinga as the embodiments of dy- Its pillars are the dispersal of eco- remained as Kenyatta’s principal as- early 1990s. Facing presidential op- the rule of law, constitutionalism,
nastic politics and entitlement. The nomic and political opportunities, sistant in law only. Kenyatta trans- ponents for the first time in 1992, equalisation of economic opportu-
two are sons of Jomo Kenyatta and and dignifying the poor. It invokes ferred his official responsibilities as Moi mobilised the youth vote with nities for the poor and marginalised
Oginga Odinga, Kenya’s first pres- equity, inclusivity, social justice and deputy president to a loyal cabinet the help of young politicians, under and political competition based on
ident and first vice-president re- fair play. minister in an attempt to whittle an outfit known as Youth for Kanu cross cutting social economic inter-
spectively. In a way, Ruto prevailed down the office and clip Ruto’s po- ‘92. Ruto was one of the youthful ests.
against the state, powerful elites, His “hustler nation” movement litical wings. politicians who crafted the success-
a biased media, the intelligentsia, was buoyed by mass unemploy- ful – but equally infamous – re-elec- This contrasted with Odinga,
civil society and jaundiced polling ment, poverty, inequalities and The aim was to delegitimise and tion strategy in 1992. This involved who publicly defined himself as the
firms. His victory is historic and state excesses such as extrajudicial frustrate him into resigning, thus Moi sanctioning the printing of status quo candidate, an extension
phenomenal. executions and runaway corrup- knocking him out of the succession money used to bribe voters, among of Kenyatta tenure and therefore
tion. race. Ruto exhibited resilience de- other things. out to preserve the exclusive politi-
As an outlier in Kenya’s political spite the frustrations. cal and economic arrangement that
power matrix, which is dominated Ruto successfully reinvented Ruto’s entry into parliament in dates to colonialism. It was a move
by a tiny clique related by familial himself as the agent of class con- In Kenya’s media, including so- 1997 was in defiance of his men- that cost him the presidency on the
and economic ties and adept at ma- sciousness hitherto absent in Ken- cial media, Ruto was the villain; tor. Moi, a fellow Kalenjin from fifth attempt.
nipulating tribalism to capture the ya’s political discourse and com- the bogeyman. Through news- the Rift Valley, had tried to prevail
state, Ruto was elbowed out by the petition. By rebranding himself as paper headlines, hashtags, prime on Ruto not to run. Moi exited in The stakes are high for Ken-
establishment. But he has somer- the antithesis of the status quo and time news and talk shows, he was 2002 and Ruto astutely won over yans. The Ruto victory has broken
saulted back by appealing directly personification of the hopes of the cynically depicted as the skunk of the Kalenjin voting bloc and used the back of dynastic dominance
to the masses, his original constit- poor, his messaging resonated with Kenya’s politics solely associated it as a launching pad into nation- of Kenya’s politics and economy.
uency. a cross spectrum of the marginal- with vices such as corruption, land al politics. Moi had wanted to be- Peripheral actors will emerge rise
Ruto versus status quo ised. grabs, impunity, unbridled ambi- queath it to his son, Gideon. Hence as he reorganises Kenya’s state and
For almost six decades, political the fallout between Moi and Ruto. politics. As to whether Ruto will
and economic power has been con- As the victor, his work is cut out live to his lofty promises and prise
fined within a group around Ken- for him. He will have to overhaul The Kenyatta-Moi-Odinga axis, open the economy for the benefit of
ya’s first two presidents – Kenyatta Kenya’s socioeconomic and polit- all, that remains an open question.
and Daniel arap Moi. Raila Odinga
joined this group in the sunset years — The Conversation.
of Moi’s tenure and counted on it
to propel him to power in the just *About the writer: Westen K
concluded elections. The group has Shilaho is a senior research fel-
leverage over state agencies and the low at the Institute for PanAfri-
security apparatus. It exploits state can Thought and Conversation
power to advance commercial inter- (IPATC), University of Johannes-
ests spread across the entire gamut burg, South Africa.
of Kenya’s economy.
Kenyatta’s family, for instance,
has vast business interests. The
Mois are also fabulously wealthy .
Ruto has accused these families
of state capture – exploiting their
Page 42 World News NewsHawks
Issue 94, 19 August 2022
Blasts, drone attacks rock Russian-held
areas far from Ukraine war front
RUSSIA reported fresh Ukrainian Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres attend a meeting, amid Russia's attack on
drone attacks on Friday evening, a Ukraine, in Lviv. Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REU
day after explosions erupted near
military bases in Russian-held ar- said, in what would be one of the ed in Crimea and Belgorod were Moscow was planning a "large- disaster.
eas of Ukraine and Russia itself, costliest attacks of the war. beyond the range of ammunition scale provocation" as justification The power station is held by
apparent displays of Kyiv's grow- Western countries have acknowl- to decouple the plant from the
ing ability to pummel Moscow's Russia has denied aircraft were edged sending so far. Ukrainian power grid and con- Russian troops on the bank of a
assets far from front lines. damaged in what it called an ac- nect it to Russia's. reservoir. Ukrainian forces con-
cident, although satellite pictures A senior Ukrainian official trol the opposite bank.
The latest incidents followed showed at least eight burnt-out said around half of incidents in "If the Russian blackmail with
huge blasts last week at an air warplanes and several huge cra- Crimea were Ukrainian attacks radiation continues, this summer Moscow has rejected interna-
base in Russian-annexed Crimea. ters. of some kind, and half accidents may go down in the history of tional calls to demilitarise the
In a new assessment, a Western caused by Russia's poor opera- various European nations as one plant and Putin on Friday re-
official said that incident had Moscow dismissed the head of tions. He emphasised that attacks of the most tragic of all time. Be- newed his accusation that Kyiv
rendered half of Russia's Black the Black Sea Fleet this week. were carried out by saboteurs cause no nuclear power station was shelling it in a phone call
Sea naval aviation force useless in rather than long-range weapons, anywhere in the world has a pro- with French President Emmanuel
a stroke. Ukraine hopes its apparent though he would not say wheth- cedure for a terrorist state turn- Macron, according to the Krem-
new-found ability to hit Rus- er Kyiv now had ATACMS, a ing a nuclear power plant into lin's readout.
Russia's RIA and Tass news sian targets behind the front line longer range version of the U.S. a target," Ukrainian President
agencies, citing a local official in can turn the tide in the conflict, HIMARS rockets it began using Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in an Macron's office said Putin
Crimea, said it appeared Russian disrupting supply lines Moscow in June. address Friday evening. agreed to a mission to Zapor-
anti-aircraft forces had been in needs to support its occupation. izhzhia by the International
action near the western Crime- The official, who declined to be Continuing the mutual blame Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
an port of Yevpatoriya on Friday A senior U.S. defense official named, said Ukraine had hoped game, Russian President Vladimir
night. Video posted by a Russian said on Friday that U.S. President its strikes would have a bigger im- Putin accused Ukraine of shelling Thousands of people have been
website showed what appeared to Joe Biden's administration was pact in reducing Russian artillery the complex, risking a nuclear ca- killed and millions forced to flee
be a ground-to-air missile hitting preparing another security assis- power but Moscow was adapting. tastrophe. since Russia launched its invasion
a target. Reuters was unable im- tance package for Ukraine valued Concern about nuclear plant on Feb. 24, saying it aimed to
mediately to confirm the video's at $775 million and containing Ukraine also issued dire warn- Ukraine's nuclear power oper- demilitarize Ukraine and protect
veracity. surveillance drones and for the ings about a frontline nuclear ator said on Friday it suspected Russian speakers on what Putin
first time mine-resistant vehicles. power station, the Zaporizhzhia Moscow was planning to switch called historical Russian land.
Tass cited a local official as complex, where it said it believed over the Zaporizhzhia plant to
saying Russian anti-aircraft forc- Since last month, Ukraine has Russia's power grid, a complex Ukraine and Western countries
es knocked down six Ukrainian been fielding Western-supplied operation Kyiv says could cause a view it as a war of conquest aimed
drones sent to attack the town of rockets to strike behind Russian at wiping out Ukraine's national
Nova Kakhovka, east of the city lines. Some explosions report- identity. — Reuters.
of Kherson. Ukraine says retaking
Kherson is one of its main pri-
orities. Separately, an official in
Crimea said defences there had
downed an unspecified number
of drones over the city of Sevas-
topol.
"The Ukrainian armed forces
treated the Russians to a magi-
cal evening," said Seriy Khlan,
a member of Kherson's regional
council disbanded by Russian oc-
cupation forces.
The night before, multiple ex-
plosions had been reported in
Crimea - which Moscow seized in
2014 - including near Sevastopol,
headquarters of Russia's Black
Sea Fleet, as well as at Kerch near
a huge bridge to Russia.
Inside Russia, two villages had
been evacuated after explosions
at an ammunition dump in Bel-
gorod province, more than 100
km (60 miles) from territory con-
trolled by Ukrainian forces.
Kyiv has been withholding of-
ficial comment on incidents in
Crimea or inside Russia while
hinting that it is behind them us-
ing long-range weapons or sabo-
tage.
A Western official indicated
on Friday that at least some of
the incidents were Ukrainian at-
tacks, saying Kyiv was consistent-
ly achieving "kinetic effects" deep
behind Russia's lines.
Huge explosions on Aug. 9
at Russia's Saky air base on the
Crimean coast had put more than
half of the Black Sea Fleet's com-
bat jets out of use, the official
Porsche just got angrier Being a Fashion Model
&Life Style
STYLE TRAVEL BOOKS ARTS MOTORING
Page 53 Issue 94, 19 August 2022
The NewsHawks reporter Jonathan Mbiriyamveka interviewing Cont Mhlanga.
JONATHAN MBIRIYAMVEKA Cont Mhlanga wasn’t interested
in national hero status
ZIMBABWE has what is known as the
National Heroes’ Acre, a cemetery locat- ious social media platforms, with his fol- than Moyo said: “Cont was a national
ed in the capital city Harare, where the lowers suggesting that the government hero; he deserves that status; his legacy is
country’s greatest citizens should be laid might have erred by not according Mh- a national treasure for posterity.”
to rest. langa hero status.
Award-winning playwright and arts
To be buried there, one must be de- They compared Mhlanga to other ar- administrator Raisedon Baya believes
clared a “national hero” by the govern- tistes like Simon Chimbetu, Cde Chinx Mhlanga was not an ordinary play-
ment. Chingaira and lately Soul Jah Love, who wright and director.
were accorded “provincial hero" status.
Thus interment at the shrine has “He (Mhlanga) was a leader. He was
largely been a preserve of the political However, National Arts Council of a thinker. He was a pioneer. He was a
elite, mainly associated with the ruling Zimbabwe director Nicholas Moyo visionary. He was so many things,” he
Zanu PF. confirmed to The NewsHawks at the said. “The best way to honour him was
weekend that prior to his death, Mhlan- to give him national honours. We must
Quite a few “neutrals” and non-pol- ga had insisted that he was not a hero. not just mourn him, but celebrate his
iticians have however been conferred legacy.”
with “national hero” status, but their “The truth of the matter is that Mh-
families chose to have them buried langa’s wish was granted,” Moyo said. And yet the best recognition of Mh-
elsewhere. A good example is the late langa’s contribution to the creative in-
world-famous Zimbabwean music su- “He told me in no uncertain terms dustry came from President Emmerson
perstar, Oliver Mtukudzi, who was laid that ‘Moyo, I don’t want you to lobby Mnangagwa, who granted a State-assist-
to rest at his rural home in Madziwa. for me to be given a hero status. Please ed funeral.
allow me to rest’. So those who blamed
Another icon of the Zimbabwean the government for not according him Accord to Zanu PF’s secretary for ad-
arts industry who could have possibly a hero status are misinformed. And re- ministration Obert Mpofu, the confer-
been granted that status was playwright, member there is a process before one ment of liberation hero status has over
film-maker, actor and producer Cont could be accorded such a status. With the years changed in form and context.
Mhlanga — who died in Bulawayo last regards to Cont, none of that took place
week at the age of 64. because he didn’t want that.” “It is no longer limited to those who
played a role in the liberation war only,
Mhlanga was not declared a nation- That however didn’t stop a legion of but those who actively advocated for the
al hero, as many of his admirers had Mhlanga’s fans, including high-profile emancipation and liberation of people
clamoured, but not that it mattered for figures, to personally honour the late in post-independence Zimbabwe are
the man himself as he professed in his arts guru. now being accorded the same honour,”
lifetime. he once said.
Former information minister Jona-
In fact, the celebrated theatre doyen
made a special request: I do not want
hero status.
Mhlanga, who succumbed to pneu-
monia, wished to be buried at his rural
home in Lupane.
There have been murmurings on var-
Page 44 Poetry Corner NewsHawks
Issue 94, 19 August 2022
Title: Plagued By An Energy Pandemic Title: New Para Of adage and metaphor.
Poet: Ndaba Sibanda Poet: Hebert Chiweshe It succumbs,
To the path of pretence.
Lord, have mercy on us, there is a lousy My work was daft. Wherein it seeks to walk,
,drowsy load of load shedding crisis that has My work was inept. With the literary anointed.
snowballed into a daily disruptive, piteous My work riled. Who assemble and disassemble,
plague. Our prayer seeks to push out an energy My work stank. Knots and knurls of the faculty of man.
pandemic that preys on the powerless peoples The least grade I got, Who untie the warps and kinks,
of Zimbabwe and South Africa, it reigns su- Was in literature. Of the crevices of
preme by virtue of an acute lack of pragmatism I was shocked. The prehensile, unfathomable brain.
and vision. I was numbed. And lay it bare
It is like the mad mutations of the Covid-19 pan- I was chastised. In honest simplicity.
demic, an energy pandemic that plunges san- I searched myself. I read Sheridan,
ity into insanity, happiness into helplessness, I asked myself. His book, The Rivals
productivity into paralysis, homesickness into Had I really understood, I read Shakespeare,
haziness, brightness into bleakness. What I read? His book Twelfth Night
Had comprehension sunk? Now, not a line do I recall.
***************************************************** Had I got to the heart of the subject? From the fervent play, verses.
Title: Sterile Had I fathomed it well? I recall Feste The Geste
Poet: Samuel Chuma The subject of economics, I recall Mrs Malaprop
Comes to mind. I faintly remember Sheridan's work as
You shall find her Broad it is. possibly a play of repute.
Seated on these black shores Vast it is. My web of memories fails me.
Where congealed menstrual flows Unending it is. I remember reading about Mariners and
Harden into eerie shapes Definitive and concrete goal posts, the albatross.
That gleam with lifeless lustre It has not. From which book they came,
Under the gaze of a bloodied noonday moon Man can stretch it. I recollect not.
She will be staring; At the horizon Its flexibility is astounding. Great Expectations I read.
Waiting for the ship; Whose captain is despair So many interpretations it begets. My mind ails.
And whose mate is; Pain in prime Aberrations, too, visit. It cannot regurgitate the tale in Expecta-
Who sail the briny waters But it is a plausible and sinuous subject. tions.
Whose source are the tears It allows man great scope of thought. The flimsy terrain
That escape the soul; Via vacuous eyes Thought not always backed by credible ballast. Of scattered threads of recollection,
Grown too tired to even blink I liken it to poetry. Can only throwback so little.
When accusatory fingers; Point and at her stab Which has no bounds. So little as to be insignificant.
As she carves lifeless effigies No reins. No emasculation. I read literature long back.
Of the children she never No muzzlement. I read to fool the examiner.
Shall nurse and treasure No asphyxiation I read not to comprehend.
From the caked menstrual excreta It is a free agent. I read to confound.
It is a rare legend. I read to hoodwink,
.***************************************************** It is a lavish project. The zealous prescriber of the Cambridge
Title: Death Claimed All! Today, When I read poetry, exam.
Poet: Obey Chiyangwa I see glut of verbose outage. As I read today,
I see words stringed together. I read to comprehend.
A violent wind suddenly struck at midnight. I see lines choreographed. But mostly I fail to comprehend.
A fiery earth shaking sound seized all of nature. I see phrases painstakingly aligned. Because I never comprehended,
Owls hooted eerily in the shivering trees. I see sentences clinging together. From the beginning.
Jackals yelped in the bare stripped grasslands I see stupendous syntax. I don't know what I enjoy
The entire valley was a vast arena of confused My palate opens up. It savours rhyme. In the meat of a poem.
cries. It tastes cloying sweetness. Shall I say words bewitch me?
Frolicking witches could be heard cackling at It kicks lips of exposition. Words potent but vacuous to me?
the crack of thunder. It sucks nectar of craft, Words which are the poet's select poi-
There was no moon to rescue earth from the Dexterity. My mind gaps. soned arrows?
darkness, Nor stars to silence the madness of At the onslaught of terms. Words which are darts
the dancing elements. Comprehend them, Of expression, release and emancipation?
Death's confident stride pummelled a huge It does not. Words which pine for cognisance?
blow in the ensuing shambles. Though ambitious it has always been. Words which spur introspection?
Carting away a chunk along the pathway to Deciphering is a precarious task. Words which pummel the soul,
eternity. For it lacks the requisite depth, With salient vigour?
What do you do when all the cemeteries are To unravel the intricacies Words which plummet from the poet's
engaged in a nationwide renegade? Of the human mind. crucible?
It falls short of perspicacity. Words which are the hammer.
.***************************************************** It lacks innate grasp Words which are the anvil.
NewsHawks Book Review Page 45
Issue 94, 19 August 2022
Black and Female by Tsitsi Dangarembga
review – A woman’s defiant fight to write
BIDISHA MAMATA A study in the power of words cautionary tale. stay in a foster home while their parents girls”. Nervous Conditions struggled to
AAMNA MOHDIN Dangarembga, who is also a play- worked and studied. It was an expe- find a publisher in Zimbabwe and was
The Zimbabwean author celebrates the The writer and film-maker’s nonfic- rience that “sliced her in two”, leaving eventually taken on by a small feminist
act of artistic creation while exploring tion debut weaves the personal and the wright and film-maker, went on to her with a “never-ending emptiness”. In press in the UK.
the colonial, racial and gender biases she political to arresting effect. write two sequels. The final book in the midst of powerlessness, words were
has faced. I READ Tsitsi Dangarembga’s debut the trilogy earned her this year’s Wind- a way of regaining agency. She wrote a At the time I read it, I remember
WRITER Tsitsi Dangarembga is the novel Nervous Conditions in 2016, ham-Campbell prize. Black and Female diary as a teenager, and gradually began thinking that simple representation was
much-heralded author of numerous nearly 30 years after it was first pub- is her first work of nonfiction, and rep- to think more seriously about the nar- enough, but Dangarembga challenges
novels, including the Booker-shortlist- lished. I was 23 and hungry for litera- resents a rallying cry for the transforma- ratives she wove. “With words I could these low expectations. Undistinguished
ed This Mournable Body and Nervous ture that reflected my reality as a black tive power of writing; not only to help do things. I could make good what was writing merely “raises a scar, puffy, of-
Conditions, winner of the Common- woman. I found it a compelling but us make sense of our place in the world, no more. Then perhaps I could bind the ten suppurating, over the damage” of
wealth writers’ prize. In this short, seri- deeply uncomfortable read, and was as Nervous Conditions did for me, but things that mattered to me with words colonisation. She recalls black men en-
ous and powerful nonfiction piece, she shocked by the almost violent emotions to lend us the imagination and courage and not experience their loss. I could couraging dull work by aspiring female
undertakes a deep dive into the conse- it inspired. I put it on my bookshelf and to change it. beat the nameless things that sharpened writers in the budding post-indepen-
quences of racism and misogyny on her tried to forget about it, but, like great the guillotine and came for me after I dence literary scene by failing to offer
development as an author, a thinker and literature always does, it stayed with me. The first of the three essays, an ex- was tucked into bed.” constructive criticism. Later, she came
a woman in the world. She is inextrica- The story, set in Southern Rhodesia amination of what it is like to write as a across the same modus operandi among
bly shaped by sex, race, nationality and (now Zimbabwe) during the turbulent black woman, feels the most relevant for Though writing helped her process white executives in the film industry,
class – and yet writing also enables her 1960s and 70s, follows teenager Tam- our times. During the 2020 Black Lives what was happening to her, she initial- who celebrated “mediocre black narra-
to adjust and transcend these categories, bu’s desperate attempts to escape her Matter protests, demonstrators across ly struggled to place her own life at the tive”. “The best writing opens the lesion
to establish counter-narratives and ex- family’s poverty and get an education. the world held placards carrying the slo- centre of her work. There was no signif- again and again and cleanses,” she goes
panded viewpoints. Motivated by the belief that if she works gan “silence is violence”. Dangarembga icant black female character in her first on to declare. When done right, the
hard she will be able to realise her po- similarly notes that it is through silence play. This changed once she became skin, in certain light, looks like it “was
She starts with a punchy history tential, she ends up both isolated from that the destructive legacy of empire is more involved in feminist activism at never lacerated”.
of Zimbabwe – formerly called Rho- her family and rejected by the western perpetuated. the University of Zimbabwe, at which
desia – and follows on to examine the millieu she is desperate to join. This she enrolled shortly after independence. The collection includes two other es-
impact of empire, colonisation and pa- state of affairs leads to her complete When the victim speaks, points to It was then that she was able to recog- says, one a sweeping sociopolitical histo-
triarchy on her life and that of her na- unravelling. As I prepared to enter the where they are in pain and indicates nise the pervasive “pressures on me to ry of Zimbabwean women, the other an
tion and generation: “The first wound workforce, knowing that I would also who has caused it, they find space for not be myself, but to stand in for some- examination of Zimbabwe’s project of
for all of us who are classified as ‘black’ have to navigate the expectations of two healing. “Through writing, I cultivate thing else”. Revolutionary literature that decolonisation, which, she stresses, did
is empire. This is a truth many of us – cultures, Tambu’s fate struck me as a my being to bring forth forests that re- glorified the struggle for independence not end with independence.
whether we are included in that catego- plenish our depleted humanity.” was the order of the day – few “were
ry or not – prefer to avoid. Today, the concerned with the individual per- In the latter, she shows with pains-
wounding empire is that of the western Dangarembga understood the power sonhood of young black Zimbabwean taking clarity, how the political elite has
nations: the empire that covered more of words from a young age. When she betrayed her countrymen. She argues
than 80% of the globe at its zenith in and her brother were taken from Zim- that activists must also decolonise how
the 19th century. It includes the Brit- babwe to England, they were forced to we produce and share knowledge, and
ish empire that colonised my country how we see ourselves. “No melanated
Zimbabwe in the 1890s. I was born person’s capacity to function has es-
into empire: my parents were products caped being affected in some disruptive
of empire, as were their parents before way by the white-centred structures of
them, and their parents before that, my the world they live in,” she writes, us-
great-grandparents.” ing a term that will still be unfamiliar
to many but that, she asserts, “we black
Her essay is a celebration of artistic people increasingly call ourselves”. She
creation at the same time as an acknowl- describes blackness as “condition im-
edgment of unjust worldly realities. She posed on me, rather than being …
has a talent for taking activist buzz- experienced”. For Dangarembga, it is
words, around women’s agency or the a political identity that has little to do
importance of decolonising the canon, with colour, but rather with the com-
and examining how powerful yet diffi- mon experiences black people endure.
cult it is to pull up the deep structural She continues: “Other melanated peo-
and psychological roots of patriarchy ple became complicit,” in upholding the
and empire: “Being categorised as black structures of the empire. Such complic-
and female does not constrain my writ- ity may be conscious or unconscious …
ing. Writing assures me that I am more melanated people are often rewarded for
than merely blackness and femaleness… their acquiescence to the demands of a
What writing while black and female white world with economic elevation,
does constrain for me is access to pub- or with other things that are valued in
lication opportunities, and when I am that world, such as social stature.”
published, avenues to reputable, profes-
sional publishing houses and lucrative For Dangarembga, this complicity
contracts, money being the currency of may be a rational choice for black peo-
empire.” ple, but it is ultimately a destructive one.
“This is how I came not to be for many
As Dangarembga frames it, pain, years, and how my coming into being,
anger, injustice and resilience can also past and present, requires filling in a
be the starter fuel in the development great chasm, which I constantly seek to
of necessary personal drive, a creative do with words.”
viewpoint and transformative political
power: “This is the sort of agency that The final pages of the book are
black feminists, and in particular black characterised by a fierce urgency. Dan-
African feminists of conscience, exhibit. garembga believes the challenges of cli-
It is the result of an unrelenting fight for mate change, immigration and inequal-
survival and dignity.” ity place the world at a crucial juncture.
“If the logic of the Enlightenment was
Black and Female by Tsitsi Dan- racism, slavery, genocide and coloni-
garembga is published by Faber. sation, decolonisation is the only logic
that offers hope of future,” she writes.
Dangarembga launches Black and The task – to uproot a half-a-millenni-
Female in an event run in partnership um-old practice – is immense, but “the
with English PEN at the Southbank trajectory of current and future genera-
Centre, London, on 4 September. tions depends on that uprooting.”
— The Guardian/Observer.
Page 46 People & Places NewsHawks
Issue 94, 19 August 2022
Scenes from the recent cricket matches between Zimbabwe and Bangladesh as well as the on-going series against India, all at Harare Sports club. Images courtesy of Zimbabwe Cricket.
NewsHawks Sport Page 47
the ICC's Super League standings
Issue 94, 19 August 2022 Aussies name strong with 70 points from 12 matches.
That could swell to 100 points if the
AUSTRALIA will return to one-day squad to meet Zim, NZ ICC approves the agreement between
cricket on home soil with a near-full- Cricket Australia and Cricket South
strength squad for the August-Sep- Zimbabwe could face a baptism of fire from this Australian side. Africa to award the points for the Pro-
tember season-opening ODI series in teas cancelled January ODI series.
Far North Queensland against Zim- the home summer," said national se- Dettol ODI Series against Zimbabwe day matches on home soil since early
babwe and New Zealand. lector George Bailey in a statement. in Townsville starting on August 28, December 2020, and form part of the Australia will also play three ODIs
and will then meet New Zealand in ODI Super League that determines against England in November, how-
Test captain Pat Cummins has "The team is excited to be marking Cairns for three fixtures from 6 Sep- qualification for next year's 50-over ever those are not part of the Super
been rested for the six matches, split the start of a huge summer with these tember. World Cup in India. League.
evenly across Townsville (Zimbabwe) matches in North Queensland."
and Cairns (NZ), while batter Travis They will be Australia's first one- Australia currently sit eighth on It will be the first time a senior
Head will be absent with his partner Australia will play a three-game Australia men's side has played in
Jess Davies due to give birth to the Townsville, and the first time they
couple's first child. have played in Cairns since 2004.
Adam Zampa, who missed the tour The Zimbabwe series was initially
of Sri Lanka for the arrival of his first to have been played in mid-2020,
child, Eugene, returns to the squad and was then rescheduled to last year,
while Sean Abbott also comes back however the global pandemic put
into the squad having recovered from paid to both those attempts.
the fractured finger he suffered in the
nets at the start of the Sri Lanka tour. All three matches will be played at
Townsville's Riverway Stadium, with
Ashton Agar has also been named a special tribute to the late Andrew
and will have recovered from a side Symonds to be part of the series.
strain that curtailed his involvement
in the Sri Lanka tour. The three-game Dettol ODI Series
against New Zealand that immediate-
Cummins is "being managed ly follows at Cazaly's Stadium is also
through a period of rehabilitation a rescheduling of matches postponed
and physical preparation for the up- amid COVID-19 travel restrictions
coming summer" and the fast bowler last January.
is recovering from minor hip and an-
kle niggles ahead of a huge summer New Zealand's quarantine require-
featuring Tests against West Indies ments and border controls forced a
and South Africa at home before a planned series last January to be post-
landmark tour of India in Febru- poned, making the 2021-22 summer
ary-March. the first in 44 years that there were no
home men's ODI matches.
Spinners Mitch Swepson and Mat-
thew Kuhnemann, back-up keep- Since Australia beat India 2-1 in a
er Josh Inglis and pace bowler Jhye home series in December 2020, they
Richardson have been left out from have won 2-1 away to the West Indies
the Sri Lanka touring party, while in mid-2021 but lost back-to-back
Kane Richardson, who injured his series on the subcontinent, 2-1 in Pa-
hamstring in Melbourne on the eve kistan and 3-2 against Sri Lanka.
of the Pakistan tour in late March but
is now fully fit again, has not been in- Australia ODI squad: Aaron Finch,
cluded but is expected to feature in Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Alex Car-
the T20 series that follow these ODIs. ey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood,
Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell
"These series against New Zealand, Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith,
the world's No.1 ranked ODI side, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David
and Zimbabwe will be good contests Warner, Adam Zampa.
and provide an opportunity to play
some great cricket in the lead-up to – cricket.com.au
CHUKA ONWUMECHILI New African football league other regions of the continent. Keep-
is coming: The pros and cons ing players in sub-Saharan African
THE Confederation for African Foot- clubs will continue to be a struggle,
ball (Caf) recently announced plans very few answers to questions about pate in expanded fixtures at the conti- games with the assurance of the bet- even with this new league.
for a continent-wide Africa Super the practical realities of the league nental level. ter-known teams participating. The
League. It will kick off with 24 clubs when its plans were announced in new Super League is far better suited Further, Caf could have used this
from 16 countries in August 2023. Tanzania on 10 August. A second question is whether the to TV interest and better placed to opportunity to strengthen privately
winner of this competition will auto- attract bigger rights deals than exist- owned clubs by granting access only to
The new tournament will run an- There are pertinent questions that matically have a place in the expanded ing continent-wide competitions for them. But this is not the case. It has in-
nually from August until May, with need clarifying, but even at this early World Clubs competition that world clubs. stead sought to include clubs based on
197 games in a format much like the stage it is clear that there are strengths football body Fifa is reportedly amend- current strength of performance even
European UEFA Champions League. and weaknesses to the shiny new Afri- ing. This is important given that the Of course, an African league is not if these clubs are state supported.
It starts off with the teams grouped in ca Super League. current representative to the global nearly as popular as the champions
three zones – North Africa, West/Cen- competition from Africa is the winner league in Europe, where US$2 billion The problem, across the continent,
tral Africa and East/Southern Africa. There are at least two major issues of the African Champions League. in rights was earned in 2022 and close is that state-supported clubs are not
The top 16 clubs move into a knock- that Caf should clarify. The proposed to US$1 billion brought in via com- compelled to develop commercially
out phase. Super League, which runs for the en- The predicted US$200 million mercial rights alone. and become trapped in their depen-
tire football season, involves 24 clubs windfall from this competition is not dency on state doles. Establishing fi-
The enticement is a projected that will, at the same time, be playing as steep as many may think. As far Caf is selling this competition as nancially strong and business-focused
US$200 million windfall from Caf, in their national club competitions. back as 2015, Caf signed a US$1 bil- one that would make African clubs clubs is not supporOverall, the African
with 25% of the funds going to the Continental competitions often dis- lion TV rights deal with the Lagardère more attractive to players by dissuad- Super League will bring more funds to
development of women’s and youth rupt local leagues. In places like the Group for a little less than US$100 ing many from travelling outside the African football – if Caf works hard
football. The rest goes into prize mon- Democratic Republic of Congo and million a year for 12 years. Although continent to earn a living. Howev- on securing top TV and media rights.
ey for participating clubs. The cham- Nigeria, clubs sometimes travel by Caf cancelled the deal a few years er, the Africa Super League payoff to Clubs, especially in northern Africa,
pion club will receive US$11.5 million road three times the distance clubs later, it was clear that the money had most of the participating clubs will not will likely expand their revenue.
and all members of Caf will get US$1 in England travel for league games. become a pittance considering similar be significant enough to keep players
million each. This is much bigger With these clubs being away from lo- TV rights contracts signed elsewhere. home. Unfortunately Caf has, with the
than the US$2.5 million received by cal fixtures for long periods, the travel A US$4 billion deal was signed by the current plan, missed an opportunity
current winners of the African Cham- arrangements for local competitions Asian Football Confederation in 2018. North African clubs that currently to develop commercially focused club
pions League club tournament. The become more complex. keep most of their players and even competition in Africa. Allowing state-
African Champions League and the Seven years after the Lagardère con- poach from other African countries owned clubs to participate is a missed
Confederation Cup will continue with Furthermore, African players travel tract, there is every reason to expect will be advantaged. With Caf’s pro- opportunity for clubs to develop rev-
entries from all African countries, but frequently to seek contracts abroad. Caf to earn an improved television posed formula for sharing prize mon- enue sources that are needed to make
the format for both competitions will This affects the squad sizes of local contract to support a proposed Af- ey, they will be able to widen the gap them competitive at a global level.The
return to the earlier iteration of two- clubs that are being asked to partici- rican Super League that offers more between themselves and clubs from Conversationted by this new league.
legged elimination contests.
— The Conversation.
For Caf, which lost an estimated
US$45 million in 2020-21, the league *About the writer: Chuka Onwu-
is a way to earn big money from tele- mechili, is a professor of communi-
vision rights. However, Caf provided cations at Howard University in the
United States.
Sports Nurturing
footballers
on the other
side of town
Romanticism v
Realism: How we
blew it againThursday 1 October 2020
Friday 19 August 2022 @NewsHawksLive TheNewsHawks www.thenewshawks.com
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Sita, Tafadzwa Chitokwindo —
since Namibia showed they are quite a long list.
not yet done, once again putting KhupeThere is desperate need for
some daylight between them- out to this kind of talent in the current
selves and the rest of Africa in side, and we do not have to look
the hunt for the continent’s sin- too far for it.
gle qualification ticket for the All that is needed is deliberate
World Cup. move to select the right play-
In Zimbabwe’s case, it has tak- Unofficial president calls for emergeers into the side heading to the
en some time to sober up from 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens
yet another disappointment, in Cape Town at the beginning
following three hard years of re- of next month.
hearsing for a mission impossi- I watched every game at the
ble – to knock the now increas- 2009 Rugby World Cup Sev-
ingly invincible Namibians off ens in Dubai when Zimbabwe
their perch. emerged with its best perfor-
Over a month later, Zimba- mance in the tournament —
bwean minds have cleared a bit, plate trophy winners after beat-
allowing all to focus on another ing Ireland in the final of that
World Cup that has not been the section.
much-desired accomplishment, That side, under the much-re-
the Rugby World Cup Sevens. spected coach Liam Middleton,
In the grand scheme of things, stood up and got noticed.
the Sevens World Cup has been Our premier national team,
treated as just another event the Sables, were at that time in
on the international calendar, the rearview mirror of Namibia,
where even the Olympics event as they still are now. The Namib-
— as new as it is — and the ians had been to the main World
yearly World Rugby Sevens Se- Cup in 2007, and they were off
ries, appear to be bigger. again to the next one in 2011 at
But for Zimbabwe, we have the expense of everyone on the
once again been reminded where continent.
our mouths are, and where our To replicate eye-catching performances of the past, Zimbabwe will need players in the mould of Tafadzwa Chitokwindo, seen But the Sevens side gave Zim-
strength is at this point in time. here flying past Welsh defenders at the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens in the United States. babwe something to cheer about
Besides, we have not been to years has not been the enthrall- and I have been privileged to Gerald Sibanda, Cleopas Ma- with that small taste of glory in
any of the first two Olympics in ing group of players we had have watched most of them in kotose, Wes Mbanje, Manasah Dubai 13 years ago.
Sevens, and we do not play in become accustomed to in this their pomp in both formats: It could be a little too late for
any of legs of the Sevens Series country. Kennedy Tsimba, Victor that sort of success this year. But
circuit anymore. Since the advent of Sevens, Olonga, Ian Noble, John Ew- what I would like to see — now
Zimbabwe’s quest for the different Zimbabwean coaches ing, Neill Nortje, Leon Greeff, HawkZone that this is all we have to fight
main World Cup over the past had been spoilt for choice with ALMSoOrdIeNkSaiID“EBhuruF”inManwceereMn-inisty wipes out $3.2 Billion depositoforsr fautntdhsis stageZim—'silsatfeorsttlhaend c
four years had made us go ahead talent, and the fans eating out of ga, Allan Mdehwa, Emman- powers-that-be to take the Cape
of ourselves and all but neglect- the palms of the players’ hands. uel Munyoro, Tich “Banja” Enock Town showcase seriously and
ed the format in which we have Unlike other countries, some Chidongo, Tangai Nemadire, Muchinjo make Zimbabwean rugby fans
our best chance of competing at of Zimbabwe’s greatest players Gardner Nechironga, Dan- proud to conclude a season that
the moment. of all time have also showcased iel Hondo, Jacques Leitao, has been a mixed bag and emo-
Our Sevens teams of recent their skills on the Sevens field Silethokuhle “Slater” Ndlovu, tional roller-coaster of a year.
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NewsHawks 19 August 2022
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