NewsHawks 10 February 2023

Price US$1 Friday 10 February 2023 NEWS Mbudzi US$88m controversy: Mthuli Ncube told to explain Story on Page 4 NEWS Zec’s capacity to conduct credible elections at stake WHAT’S Story on Page 9 INSIDE SPORT A happy team, and return of a ‘lion-hearted fighter’ Story on Page 50 ALSO INSIDE Mnangagwa challenged to answer questions in Parly July Moyo's US$155m Chiredzi land deal explodes

Page 2 News MORRIS BISHI LOCAL Government minister July Moyo's staggering US$155 million Chiredzi land deal — stinking to high heaven in the lowveld — for his cronies has now fully exploded as residents and Members of Parliament up the ante in the explosive issue which underlines rampant corruption in local authorities involving senior municipal and political bigwigs. This comes after Chiredzi residents had initially made appeals to President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his government to stop Moyo and his associates from parcelling out land for the town's expansion and to investigate the corrupt land deal. While the uproar intensifies, the entity Moyo gave the contentious land to, Full Life Open Arms Africa Investments, is now selling it unserviced residential stands at US$20.61 per square metre. Given the land size of 750 hectares and that 1 hectare is 10 000 square metres, this means sold in full the land cost US$155 million. The development has infuriated Chiredzi residents, who in November 2022 petitioned Speaker of the National Assembly Jacob Mudenda, urging Parliament to investigate the minister's abuse of power as well as establish the circumstances surrounding the acquisition of the land. Residents say officials from the two local authorities are afraid to challenge the minister over the murky parcelling out of the land. Zanu PF's Chiredzi West legislator Farai Musikavanhu this week told The NewsHawks that the project lacks transparency. Full Life Open Arms Africa Investments (FLOAAI) was in 2018 given the mandate to develop 750 hectares of land meant for Chiredzi town expansion. The allocation was done within a few days when Chiredzi Town Council and Chiredzi Rural District Council were being run by special commissions appointed by Moyo after the 2018 elections. At the time, Zimbabweans were anxiously awaiting the results of an electoral petition by opposition leader Nelson Chamisa at the Supreme Court. The land in Buffalo Range Extension, north of Chiredzi town, was under the jurisdiction of Chiredzi RDC and the two local authorities signed a memorandum of agreement to jointly develop the area, which is meant to be Chiredzi’s new town. Residents and stakeholders raised a red flag a few weeks ago after the developer, FLOAAI, started selling unserviced stands at US$20.61 per square metre. According to a petition presented to Parliament and signed by four members of Chiredzi Residents and Ratepayers Association (CHRRA), FLOAAI was handpicked by Moyo without following public procurement procedures. The petition further said the developer is a land baron who is set to prejudice the two Chiredzi local authorities of a substantial amount of money since he is now selling unserviced stands without paying a cent to the local councils. Residents also say they were not consulted when the land was grabbed. They also complained that an environmental impact assessment was also not carried out. “Your petitioners Jonathan Shonhiwa, Emmanuel Marimba, Lucky Mupungu and Lyold Sithole having consulted residents and other key stakeholders respectfully are worried about the high level of corruption on 750ha of land in Buffalo Range area allocated to both Chiredzi Town Council and Chiredzi Rural District Council for development on a joint venture based on percentage sharing,” the petition to Parliament reads. “Now therefore, your petitioners beseech the Parliament of Zimbabwe to exercise its constitutional role and address the issues which are of public concern. It is alleged that Minister July Moyo handpicked a developer for the 750h in Buffalo Range area in Chiredzi without following proper legal tender procedure and allowing both councils to advertise. The developer who does not have any history of works in other towns has not paid any cent to the two local authorities but is now selling unserviced stands prejudicing the two councils. “. . . The minister of Local Government abused his powers, to back and award the developer, without the two local authorities, hence the local authorities are in fear to whistleblow the wrong doings.” Chiredzi Residents and Ratepayers Association (CHRRA) chairperson Jonathan Shonhiwa told The NewsHawks that members of his association are deeply concerned about the level of corruption involved in the development of Chiredzi’s new town. He said it is a shame to note that high-level office bearers are involved in awarding a job of that magnitude to a developer without using a competitive tender procedure. “As CHRRA we are worried about the selection procedure of unsolicited bidding instead of competitive tender procedure since it involves a lot of money to develop the 750 hectares. They did this with the influence of officials from the ministry of Local Government and Public Works, since the handpicked developer, Full Life Open Arms Africa Investment, had proved that he has no money and capacity to develop the area. He is now selling 1 700 undeveloped stands at US$20.61 per square metre against the agreement signed between the developer and councils,” said Shonhiwa. FLOAAI chief executive officer Godfree Nelson Madanyaya was evasive when The NewsHawks reached him for comment. “I am one of the happiest people in this world. How can l help you and what do you want to hear from me?” said Madanyaya, before he abruptly terminated the call. Chiredzi Rural District Council chief executive officer Ailes Baloyi said there is an agreement between the joint venture and the developer for him to develop 350 hectares and the remainder will be developed at a later stage. He said councils will benefit from the sale of stands as well as shortening their ballooning waiting lists. Acting Chiredzi Town Council secretary Wesley Kauma told The NewsHawks the misunderstanding over the project was caused by former town secretary Charles Muchatukwa, who is now late, as he acted on behalf of council without consulting councillors and town management. He said the developer was selling unserviced stands to recoup his costs which he used for the feasibility studies and necessary surveys. “Yes, there is confusion regarding this project and it is true that information about it is not public. The agreement is that the developer should recoup his costs through selling stands. Our councils are the ones which approached the minister and he gave us the idea of bringing in the developer of which all other developers were not willing to take up the job due to magnitude of the area and this developer took that risk,” said Kauma. Chiredzi West legislator Farai Musikavanhu told The NewsHawks that the project lacks transparency. He said the land should be recovered “from dirty dealers”, adding all stakeholders must be involved in the process. Zanu PF's Chiredzi West legislator Farai Musikavanhu. July Moyo implicated in murky Chiredzi land deal NewsHawks Issue 118, 10 February 2023

News Page 3 BRENNA MATENDERE THE US$360.5 million loan which the government of Zimbabwe borrowed from PIM Nominees on 6 June last year for the construction of the Harare-Kanyemba Road came from an entity with tiny shareholding in CBZ Holdings, The NewsHawks can reveal. The top 10 share register obtained by this publication reveals that the entity which has bailed out the government holds 0.52% shareholding and 2 984 806 shares in the financial institution. Topping the shareholding structure of CBZ is Akribos Wealth Managers Nominess with 23.10% shareholding constituted from 131 379 129 shares. Akribos has been linked to local business tycoon Kudakwashe Tagwirei. The government of Zimbabwe is the second-largest shareholder of CBZ Holdings with 19.34 shareholding from 110 000 000 shares. The National Social Security Services Authority (NSSA) is ranked third with 24 .91% shareholding from 141 677 921 shares while Libyan Foreign Bank is fourth with 16.98 % shareholding from 96 609 470 shares. The Public Service Pension Fund and the Rock & Pillar Holdings appear on the register with 4.57% and 1.53% shareholding. According to the CBZ share register, other shareholders in the top 10 are the Local Authority Pension Fund (0.81%), Quant Africa Wealth Management (0.71%) and lastly Stanbik Nominees who have 0.39% shareholding in CBZ Holdings. Minority shareholders with less than 0.39% shareholding each complete the structure with 7.14%. According to the Government Gazette of 8 February 2023, there is a loan agreement between the government of Zimbabwe and PIM Nominees (Private) Limited entered into in terms of section 300(3) of the constitution of Zimbabwe, as read with section 18(2) of the Public Debt Management Act [Chapter 22:21]. Part of the notification in the Gazzette reads: “… the Minister of Finance and Economic Development (Mthuli Ncube) signed a Loan Agreement for the Harare- Kanyemba Road Construction Project between Government of Zimbabwe and PIM Nominees (Private) Limited on the 6th of June, 2022, under the terms specified in the Schedule . . .”— Schedule TERMS OF LOAN AGREEMENT 1. The terms of agreement for the loan are that: “The loan amount is US$360 500 000,00, loan to be disbursed through a revolving facility of US$60 000 000,00, at a time for 6 times.” “The borrower is Government of Zimbabwe.” “The lender is PIM Nominees (Private) Limited . . . The tenure of the Facility will be a period of 6 years . . .” “The loan facility shall be utilised for the sole purpose of rehabilitation and upgrading of the Harare to Kanyemba road over 5 years… The loan interest rate shall be 1-month SOFR + 5% per annum.” “The drawdowns are subject to a deposit of 30% of the revolving facility being US$18 000 000,00, which will be paid for each and every drawdown of US$60 000 000,00, subsequent to the first drawdown until the facility is drawn down in full.” “The grace period is a period of nine (9) months after signature of the Loan Agreement. The penalty interest charge on unpaid due payments is 3% for the number of days in arrears.” Early this week it emerged that the Zimbabwean government through Minister Ncube borrowed US$88 million from Fossil to fund the Mbudzi Interchange construction. This has sparked controversy, as the government has previously announced that it allocated US$144 million to the same project from Special Drawing Rights acquired from the International Monetary Fund. The deal is raising eyebrows and Parliament’s Public Accounts committee chairperson and Gweru Urban MP Brian Dube is demanding that Ncube appear in the National Assembly to clarify the matter. PIM Nominees of Mbudzi fame holds shares in CBZ Finance and Economic Development minister Mthuli Ncube NewsHawks Issue 118, 10 February 2023

Page 4 News RUVIMBO MUCHENJE PARLIAMENT'S Public Accounts Committee chairperson Brian Dube says Finance and Economic Development minister Mthuli Ncube should explain the decision to borrow US$88 million to fund the construction of the Mbudzi Interchange in Harare, yet the government previously stated that it had allocated the project US$144 million from International Monetary Fund Special Drawing Rights. Dube was speaking to The NewsHawks after Ncube announced in the Government Gazette that he had borrowed US$88m. “The responsibility of Parliament is to have oversight over the transaction and what must happen as soon as possible is that the minister must be summoned to appear before the portfolio committee on Transport and answer to the issues because the Public Accounts Committee will then deal with issues at a later stage during audit stage, so at times it will already be too late. So my view is that the portfolio committee must summon the minister even by Monday to come and answer to the issue or on Wednesday to give a ministerial statement explaining these issues,” he said. Dube added that every government borrows, but the money has to be procured transparently. “It is always good for government to use borrowing as a source of funds, but it must be transparent and have an advantage to the nation and in this case it is very tricky, ” he added. Contacted for comment, the chairperson of the Transport portfolio committee, Oscar Gorerino, advised The NewsHawks to contact the Finance ministry. “Talk to the ministry guys, they are the ones dealing with that loan. When you fail to understand each other, then come to us,” he said. In General Notice 131B of 2023, Finance minister Ncube said the loan agreement was signed on 6 December 2021 for the sole purpose of funding the Mbudzi Interchange project. “The loan facility shall be utilised for the sole purpose of funding the construction of the Mbudzi Interchange and Divergence Routes Road Infrastructure Project. The financier shall oversee the project implementation and disburse directly towards the project implementation,” read the notice. But, in the three-year strategic plan on the utilisation of IMF SDR allocations to Zimbabwe that was tabled before Parliament in November 2022, the same project was allocated US$144m under infrastructure development. “As approved by Cabinet and Parliament in November 2021, the 3 year utilisation plan is as reflected in the table, Transport Sector- Harare Beitbridge Road, Masvingo Road Interchange Development Project (Mbudzi) and Emergency Road Rehabilitation Project, 144 million,” reads the strategic plan. The interest rate on the US$88m loan shall be London interbank offered rate plus 5% per annum. The grace period is a period of nine months on the principal amount. The final maturity date for the loan is 6 June 2025. Fossil Mines, the company that was awarded the tender, is sister company to Fossil Mines (Private) Limited which is involved in the construction of the Mbudzi Interchange. Contacted for comment, the Finance ministry’s public relations director, Clive Mphambela, said there has been a bit of confusion on the matter, adding that a comprehensive statement would be released In due course. “We are already working on a public statement on the matter because there is indeed some confusion. There is no double allocation of resources, firstly it is not unusual for a contractor to pre-finance a turnkey project, so in that respect a loan agreement is a statutory requirement,” he said. He added that the SDR allocation would be used to repay the US$80m loan. “Secondly, the SDR utilisation allocation is precisely what it is, it's an allocation of the SDRs and part of that has been allocated to the project, so those SDRs will be the source of repayment of the loan. Meanwhile, the SDRs remain in national reserves but reserved for those purposes outlined,” said Mphambela. Mbudzi Interchange under construction Mbudzi US$88m controversy: Mthuli Ncube told to explain Parliament Public Accounts Committee chairperson Brian Dube NewsHawks Issue 118, 10 February 2023

NewsHawks News Page 5 Issue 118, 10 February 2023 Why Nssa suspended top boss THE National Social Security Authority (Nssa), established in 1989 as a statutory corporate body tasked by the government to provide social security, suspended its Director for Investment and Properties Brian Mrewa over dodgy transactions involving properties in Borrowdale, Harare, and Kariba. Sources said Mrewa, former chief investment officer at the Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe, facilitated the buying and selling of those properties in shady circumstances which have raised eyebrows. This led to some of his colleagues raising a stink about the issue, which involves high profile political figures. "The reason Mrewa was suspended involves properties in Borrowdale in Harare and Kariba which were bought and sold under unclear circumstances, which suggests some underhand and corrupt activities," a source said. "This has caused internal ructions and demands for an investigation. Remember there are audits and different forms of investigations going on at Nssa due to many issues that have been raised. The issue involves some chefs (political bigwigs)." Nssa was being investigated of late by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission over various charges. It's general manager Arthur Manase has been suspended over a dodgy US$750 000 housing loan which he got while he also simultaneously drew a housing allowance. Zanu factional battles continue to filter through and find expression in government and state institutions, with the US$1.2 billion Nssa pension fund being one of the key battlegrounds. The ruling party factions and their leaders always fight to control Nssa, as it gives them access to cheap funding and business deals for self-aggrandisement, as well as an opportunities to build war chests for their political battles. In a bid to bring the situation under control at Nssa, Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga has clipped the wings of Public Service minister Paul Mavima by stopping him from removing senior executives at Nssa and replacing them with his allies, saying it violates good corporate governance. Mrewa's suspension over properties is the latest in a series of events which show that Nssa has deep-seated governance and corruption issues. Nssa's investment universe covers both commercial -  retail and office - and industrial properties.  It says property investments are considered suitable only if there is reasonable assurance of valid title and are expected to generate adequate cash-flows at a rate of return acceptable to the schemes.  Nssa invests in real estate and other investments in good primary and secondary market locations. The authority has engaged in property development and financing across the commercial and industrial spectrum.  Further, Nssa also acquires fully developed or partially developed immovable property. In pursuit of its policy of investing in real estate, it may acquire land for future development. Nssa also invests in infrastructure development. — STAFF WRITER Suspended Nssa investment and property director Brian Mrewa.

BRENNA MATENDERE PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa’s habit of allowing his son Emmerson Jr and business partners like Kudakwashe Tagwirei to join his official trips and events – including state visits – smacks of brazen crony capitalism and patronage. Only this week, Mnangagwa took Emmerson Jr and Tagwirei on a state visit to the oil-rich Equatorial Guinea where he visited the country's authoritarian ruler Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. Mnangagwa's delegation included ministers and senior government officials. However, in an arrogant display of cronysim he took his son and business associate in tow to the central African nation. While other leaders also take along their family members on such trips, including them on the visits so that they pursue private business interests for personal benefit using state resources is abuse of power. Prior to that, Emmerson Jr was seen hobnobbing with his father during the visit of Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko to Harare last week. Mnangagwa's spokesman George Charamba defended Emmerson Jr's inclusion in the event at State House, saying it was a private luncheon in the middle of a state visit. “Who determines the composition of the delegation of the President? Is it NewsHawks? The people whom you saw there were they constituted by The NewsHawks? “The point I am trying to ask is, the people who attended the meeting were they appointed to be there by The NewsHawks? Why do you have to ask about one individual who attended the event instead of asking about the rest of them? “Was it a meeting or it was lunch? Were you there or you want to know so that we tell you? Now, that was a lunch. A private lunch. The President has a right to bring in part of his household because that is a social function. It does not need books. “Did you not see the table full of food? If you did not see the food, it means the food was yet to be placed on the table. There is nothing that you need to understand. The NewsHawks has nothing to do in it. “What you do in the newsroom . . . do we ask you who constitutes your newsroom and what each of them do? Did I ever ask your credentials to say what are you doing at The NewsHawks?” he said. However, Mnangagwa’s moves are widely seen as part of his patronage system, entrenching crony capitalism. This means an economic system in which family members and friends of government officials and business leaders are given unfair advantages in state tenders, contracts and jobs, among other opportunities, at the expense of equal opportunity for all. Cronyism is often associated with corruption and analysts see it as a major obstacle to development. Significant linkages between political elites and business classes can be found in almost all capitalist regimes, past and present, but the difference is abuse of office and power to use state resources for one's family members' private gain and self-aggrandisement, typical of kleptocratic regimes. Government spokesperson and Information ministry permanent secretary Nick Mangwana, posting on his Twitter handle on Wednesday, justified Emmerson Jr’s trip with government officials to Equatorial Guinea. “Western Leaders have this tendency of traveling with their families which sometimes include grown up children. It’s no biggie. On the infrequent occasion that an African Leader travels with their grown up progeny it’s still not a biggie. Families provide support to the leader,” he said. Other than Emmerson Jr who has been attending high-level government meetings, First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa has often been accused of usurping government roles, for instance being involved in diplomacy in a capacity similar to that of a Foreign Affairs minister or the President. Last year, the First Lady met with Iranian Foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian to discuss matters to do with expanding and deepening relations between the two countries. This work is usually reserved for diplomats and the President. Amir-Abdollahian said ties between the two countries continue to grow and expressed hope that, in the near future and with the holding of the 9th meeting of the Joint Commission on Cooperation between the two countries, relations in all fields will develop further. Mnangagwa’s cronyism web exposed Kudakwashe Tagwirei (left) and President Emmerson Mnangagwa's son Emmerson Jr in Equatorial Guinea. Page 6 News NewsHawks Issue 118, 10 February 2023

NewsHawks News Page 7 Issue 118, 10 February 2023 CCC now a practically banned outfit amid new one-party state

Page 8 News BRENNA MATENDERE PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa’s state visit to Equatorial Guinea this week, where he met the world's longest-serving head of state, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, underlines his penchant for closely associating with dictators as well as dodgy companies and business moguls. Mnangagwa, accompanied by several government ministers and business leaders, on Tuesday flew out to Equitorial Guinea on a three-day state visit. It was Mnangagwa’s second visit to the central African nation two months after he attended Mbasogo’s inauguration in December last year. Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea’s close relations began in 2004 when Harare foiled a coup attempt on Mbasogo’s government by arresting armed mercenaries at Robert Mugabe International Airport destined for Malabo. Mbasogo seized power in 1979 after a military takeover, just like what Mnangagwa did in November 2017 when he ousted his mentor the late Robert Mugabe. Last December he embarked on his sixth term as President of Guinea that will see him clocking a lengthy 48 years in power when it ends. Mbasogo, upon gaining office from his predecessor and uncle, Francisco Macias Nguema, retained his relative’s absolute control over the nation. Political opposition is barely tolerated and severely hampered by the lack of a free Press. All broadcast media is either owned outright by the government or controlled by its surrogates. He has been widely accused of corruption and abuse of power. Under his rule, Equatorial Guinea continues to have one of the worst human rights records in the world. In marked contrast to the trend toward democracy in much of Africa, Equatorial Guinea is currently a dominant-party state, in which Mbasogo’s Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (PDGE) holds virtually all governing power in the nation and has held all or almost all seats in the legislature since its creation. The constitution gives Mbasogo sweeping powers, including rule by decree, effectively making him an authoritarian leader. He has placed family members in key government positions. He faces accusations of human rights abuses and election rigging, but appears hard-pressed to use his sixth term to clean up a tattered international reputation. He abolished the death penalty last September. According to domestic and international observers, Mbasago leads one of the most corrupt, ethnocentric and repressive regimes in the world. Equatorial Guinea is essentially a one-party state. Although opposition parties were legalised in 1992, the legislature remains dominated by his political outfit, the PDGE, and there is no substantive opposition to executive decisions. At present, every Senate seat and all but one seat in the Chamber of Deputies is held by the PDGE. There have never been more than eight opposition deputies in the lower house, while the PDGE has held every seat in the Senate since its inception in 2013. To all intents and purposes, Mbasogo holds all governing power. Last week, Mnangagwa paid host to another dictator, Bularusian leader Alexander Lukasheko, who is Russiaan President Vladimir Putin’s confidante. Lukashenko fell out with the West on 17 August 2020 when members of the European Parliament issued a joint statement saying they did not recognise him as the president of Belarus, considering him to be persona non grata in the European Union. On 19 August 2020, the member states of the European Union agreed to not recognise the results and issued a statement noting that the presidential elections were neither free nor fair. The governments of the United States, United Kingdom and Canada have also refused to recognise the results. In an interview on 22 August, Josep Borrell explicitly stated that the EU does not recognise Lukashenko as the legitimate president of Belarus in the same manner that it does not recognise Nicolás Maduro as the legitimate president of Venezuela. On the afternoon of 11 May 2021, Mnangagwa flew to Uganda to witness the swearing-in of that country’s President, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, again associating himself with yet another dictator. Museveni was declared winner in an election he was contested by Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, who is also known as Bobi Wine. Museveni's presidency has been marred by involvement in the First Congo War, the Rwandan Civil War, and other African Great Lakes conflicts; the Lord's Resistance Army insurgency in Northern Uganda, which caused a humanitarian emergency; and constitutional amendments, scrapping presidential term limits in 2005, and the presidential age limit in 2017. Museveni's rule has been described by scholars as competitive authoritarianism, or illiberal democracy. The Press in Uganda has been under the authority of the government. None of the Ugandan elections for the last 30 years (since 1986) have been found to be free and transparent. On 16 January 2021, Museveni was re-elected for a sixth term with 58.6% of the vote, despite many videos and reports that show ballot box stuffing, over 400 polling stations with 100% voter turnout, and human rights violations. Some of the deals Mnangagwa clinched in the “New Dispensation” involve controversial business characters, including Zunaid Moti, Lucas Pouroulis and Jacco Immink. In 2018, Moti reportedly invested US$300 million to set up a chrome extraction and processing plant in Zimbabwe along the mineral-rich Great Dyke. During that time, Moti was arrested in Germany on charges that he defrauded his former business partner Alibek Issaev an estimated US$35 million in a sham mining deal in Lebanon in 2013. In June that year, Mnangagwa’s crony Pourolis signed a controversial US$4.2 billion deal with the government, paving way for his investment vehicle Karo Resources to grab mineral claims stretching over 23 903 hectares previously held by Zimplats along the Great Dyke. The US$4.2 billion cost had been plucked out of thin air, raising questions over the value of the investment. The Pourolis family holds a 42% stake in Tharisa Plc, which has managed to mobilise only US$8 million for the implementation of the platinum project. President’s links with kleptocrats, dodgy business networks solidify President Emmerson Mnangagwa (leftt) with Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo NewsHawks Issue 118, 10 February 2023

News Page 9 RUVIMBO MUCHENJE THE revolt by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec)’s seven commissioners who have refused to append their signatures on both the draft preliminary delimitation report submitted to Parliament and the final document handed over to President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Friday last week has put the capacity of the body to hold credible general elections at stake. Constituency boundaries for the upcoming elections — likely in August — will be determined by the delimitation report which the commissioners have rejected, putting themselves in an invidious and untenable position. Precedents in other countries, particularly Kenya, show that when commissioners disagree with leaders of the electoral agency, they resign. Alternatively, they are subjected to an internal disciplinary process or investigation by the executive. This happened in Kenya in 2017 and 2022. Zec chairperson Justice Priscilla Chigumba is only supported by her deputy Rodney Simukai Kiwa in the battle over the delimitation report. Last week, she said he wants to fix the crisis, but the rebellious commissioners cannot run polls on the basis of a report they do not want and support, analysts say. The Zec commissioners are said to be working with senior government officials who are trying to brazenly subvert the constitution and scuttle the delimitation process. Sources say some of the officials supporting the rebellious Zec commissioners, include Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi, his secretary Virginia Mabhiza, government spokesperson Nick Mangwana and by dint of lucky President Emmerson, among others. Zec spokesperson Commissoner Jasper Mangwana asked for written questions when contacted by The NewsHawks for comment on the issue and also requested time to respond to them. However, in his brief response issued later on, he said: “Speak to the chair (Chigumba)”. When contacted for comment by The NewsHawks, Chigumba refused to answer the question on how Zec will run an election whose processes are disputed by the majority of its commissioners. “You are a local journalist . . . our communication policy says that you need to put media questions before Mr Salaigwana, our chief executive officer. However, perhaps let me hear the question. Let’s do it,” she said. When asked whether Zec would be able to hold credible elections without the support of seven out of nine commissioners who are against the delimitation report, Chigumba dithered. “You will need to direct the question to Mr Silaigwana even though the question involves me and I am sure you will get your response within 72 hours,” said the Zec chairperson. Silaigwana was non-committal when contacted for comment on the same issue. “I am currently driving to Bulawayo so I cannot speak right now. Did you speak to our spokesperson?” he asked. When told that the Zec spokesperson Mangwana had referred questions to Chigumba who, in turn, requested that he respond to the matter himself, Silaigwana directed the question to another staff member at Zec. “Speak to our director of public relations,” he said. Efforts to reach out to the said staff member did not succeed, but it was clear the top brass of Zec did not want to reveal how they will run a credible election with discord in their cockpit. According to an affidavit by commissioner Catherine Mpofu filed in support of a court application by Tonderai Chidawa against the delimitation report, the seven Zec commissioners rejected the report because Chigumba “insisted that the report would still be presented to the President for tabling in Parliament and was not bound by the position adopted by the overwhelming majority of the members of the commission.” Jacob Mudenda, the Speaker of Parliament, filed a notice of opposition on Monday at the High Court, arguing that “what the applicant (Chidawa) is asking Parliament to do is unconstitutional.” Mudenda says in an affidavit that Parliament “did not breach its constitutional obligations” by “failing to determine whether or not the preliminary delimitation report tabled in Parliament by the President of Zimbabwe was an act of ZEC as a body corporate as required by the constitution, or was a report by one or two members of ZEC and thus contrary to the constitution” as alleged by Chidawa and his legal team led by Professor Lovemore Madhuku. Mudenda argues that once Parliament received a report from Mnangagwa’s office, the legislature's obligation was to debate the document and make recommendations. The war at Zec has brought to the fore internecine Zanu PF fights. Emerging revelations are that Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga and spy boss Isaac Moyo are backing Chigumba, while Mnangagwa and his lieutenants would like to kill the delimitation report and hold elections using old constituency boundaries. Mnangagwa loyalists claim that Zec re-drew ward and constituency boundaries in a manner that could hand the opposition more seats, and deny Mnangagwa a two-thirds majority. This, they say, was done by strategically moving voters from urban opposition hotbeds into neighbouring rural seats controlled by pro-Mnangagwa MPs in order to scuttle Zanu PF dominance. In the preliminary draft presented to Parliament, Zec collapsed seven constituencies held by Mnangagwa loyalists, among them Tourism minister Nqobizitha Mangaliso Ndlovu and Zanu PF chief whip Pupurai Togarepi. As commissioners' revolt intensifies Zec’s capacity to conduct credible elections at stake Zec chairperson Priscilla Chigumba NewsHawks Issue 118, 10 February 2023

BRENNA MATENDERE PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa faces an acid test as his handling of the delimitation report could affect the credibility of this year’s general elections or leave him valnerable to impeachment.. In terms of the law, the President must gazette the report by 17 February 2023, amid a sinister plot by senior government officials to subvert the constitution and disrupt delimitation process. According to the constitution, Mnangagwa must gazette the final delimitation report by 17 February, which marks 14 days after he received it from Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) chairperson Justice Priscilla Chigumba on 3 February. If Mnangagwa does not gazette the final delimitation report by 17 February 2023, he will be in serious breach of the constitution – an impeachable offence. However, his spokesperson George Charamba, Information ministry permanent secretary Nick Mangwana and Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi have been adamant that the delimitation report given to him is not final. Charamba and Mangwana last week said the report which Mnangagwa got from Chigumba was just a draft which he will have to further study and proffer recommendations on, despite a similar process having already taken place. As the mercy process gets more convoluted, Mangwana relented on their political chicanery, saying his remarks that the report is not final were merely about "flying a kite". In another development which showed that the government harbours a sinister plot to subvert the constitution on the final delimitation report, Ziyambi this week said the report presented to Mnangagwa last Friday was "basically for consideration”. Ziyambi, who is also Zanu PF secretary for information communication technology, was quoted in the state-run Herald on Monday at his party's cell verification meeting in Chinhoyi making the startling remarks. However, independent watchdogs like the Election Resource Centre (ERC) and Team Pachedu have come out clearly clarifying the legal position on the delimitation report, invalidating the claims of Charamba, Mangwana and Ziyambi. In a statement released on Tuesday this week, the ERC said there is no constitutional room for Zec to re-submit another delimitation report to Mnangagwa after what the commission did on Friday. “The ERC takes note of the submission of the delimitation report by Zec Chairperson Justice P. Chigumba on 3 February 2023. The ERC further notes erroneous public comments stating that the delimitation report submitted as not being final. Sections 160 (7), (8), (9) and (10) detail the submission process of the delimitation report. “ “The Constitution [section 160(7)] states that after carrying out the delimitation exercise, the Zec must submit to the President a Preliminary Report, which must be laid before Parliament within seven days.” “(This was completed, with the preliminary report being submitted by Zec on 26 December 2022.)” “Following the submission of the Preliminary Report to Parliament, the President and Parliament had fourteen days to refer the report back to Zec for further consideration of any matter or issue. (This was completed with the President handing over Parliament's Ad-Hoc Committee report to the ZEC Chairperson on 20 January 2023, while President Mnangagwa submitted his comments to the Zec Chairperson on 23 January 2023.)” “Once the Report has been referred back to Zec, according to section 160 (9) of the Constitution Zec may give further consideration to the matter or issue concerned, but the Commission’s decision on it is final. The Constitution does not allow for re-submission of another delimitation report for further consideration.” “After considering matters or issues raised by the President and Parliament, Zec must submit a final delimitation report to the President, giving the President fourteen days to gazette the Final Delimitation Report. (The ERC notes that on 3 February 2023, Zec submitted the Final Delimitation Report in line with the Constitution, with the Office of the President and Cabinet confirming the submission of the Final Delimitation Report as per the law.)” reads the ERC’s statement. On whether or not there can be re-submission of the report by Zec, the ERC said: “There is no constitutional or legislative provision that allows for the re-submission of a preliminary delimitation report by Zec following the initial submission of the preliminary report. The Constitution states that once the Commission considers issues raised by the President and Parliament, its decision is final and must submit a final report.” “The finality of the Commission's decision is to protect its independence in carrying out the delimitation process, and not potentially submit Zec to the undue influence of stakeholders, by repeatedly submitting the report for comments.” According to video excerpts published by the Office of the President and cabinet on 3 February 2023, following the submission of the delimitation report, the Zec chairperson Chigumba is quoted as saying the electoral body had re-submitted the delimitation report with corrections made and the “President has the mandate in terms of section 160 (10) [of the Constitution] to gazette the final delimitation report within 14 days.” Team Pachedu's submissions were similar to those of the ERC. “While section 161, sub-section 8 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe allows President and Parliament to raise any issue or matter regarding preliminary delimitation to report to Zec for further consideration, there is no legal or constitutional provision which allows either the President or Parliament to further review changes that Zec decides to make to the Preliminary delimitation report.” “The changes Zec decides to make are final according to Section 161 (a) of the Constitution.” Team Pachedu also submitted that while the President can read the final delimitation report to determine how it captures recommendations made by Parliament and him, he has no choice but to simply gazette the document. Page 10 News Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi Delimitation fiasco an acid test NewsHawks Issue 118, 10 February 2023

News Page 11 RUVIMBO MUCHENJE ZANU PF’s Tonderai Chidawa has responded to Speaker of the National Assembly Jacob Mudenda, stating that the legal battle over the preliminary delimitation report is still on despite Parliament raising jurisdiction issues. Chidawa, also Zimbabwe Youth Action Platform chairperson, filed his heads of argument on Wednesday and the case now awaits hearing before the Constitutional Court. In his response to Mudenda, Chidawa insisted that the Con Court was the right platform to hear his concerns. “The question before the court still remains whether Parliament failed to fulfil a constitutional obligation when it purportedly complied with section 161 (8) of the constitution,” he said. “I'm advised that jurisdiction is largely a matter of pleadings. All I want determined is whether Parliament failed to fulfil a constitutional obligation. Only this court has jurisdiction to determine that question. “Further, there are no material factual issues warranting an answer. I persist with the case I pleaded in my founding affidavit and also still stand by all the factual averments in my founding affidavit.” Chidawa took Parliament to court early this year for accepting the controversial Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) preliminary delimitation report. He wants the court to nullify the parliamentary proceedings, arguing that the legislature violated its constitutional duty to ensure the accountability of state institutions when it accepted the report submitted by ZEC. Chidawu feels the report which was tabled before Parliament on 6 January 2023 should have been investigated first. He argues that the unsigned draft delimitation report presented to President Emmerson Mnangagwa by Zec on 26 December and tabled in Parliament days later, might not be a product of Zec as a body corporate but just two members of the commission. In his initial Con Court application, he said the draft report was overwhelmingly rejected by seven of the nine Zec commissioners and as such should not have been forwarded to the President. On Monday this week, Mudenda defended Parliament, arguing that its decision to accept the report was not compromised. "What the applicant is asking Parliament to do is unconstitutional. "Parliament was not required to conduct any investigations under Section 161(8) of the Constitution, other than to remand, consider or analyse the report which the President caused to be laid before it in terms of Section 161 (7) of the Constitution. "The document which is allegedly authored by the seven Zec Commissioners did not disown the Preliminary Delimitation Report," said Mudenda. He added: "It is more of an expression of opinion by the seven Commissioners and they never affirmed that the Delimitation exercise was hijacked by one or two commissioners as alleged or at all. "Their opinion is that the Delimitation exercise was not people centred and that the format of the Report was difficult to understand issues which Parliament could also pick by considering the same Report under Section 161 (8) of the Constitution." Mudenda also argued that Parliament had no authority to halt or stop a constitutional process which had commenced under section 161 (7) of the constitution as it would have been unconstitutional to do so. Parliament feels Chidawu’s application was rushed and is unlawfully before the courts. "In view of this, the Honourable Court should not entertain this matter as it will end up interfering with other arms or departments of Government," he said. The report was tabled before Parliament on 6 January this year. Chidawu then argued that Parliament failed to fulfil its constitutional obligation. Earlier, Chidawu had written a letter to Mudenda raising his queries and also demanding an investigation. He said no reasonable person applying his or her mind to the document signed by seven out of nine members of Zec would fail to conclude that there is a reasonably strong basis for the suspicion that the preliminary delimitation report tabled in Parliament was not an act of Zec as a body corporate. The report has divided Zec and Zanu PF, with opposition members also criticising it for being flawed. If granted, Chidawa’s challenge could reverse Zec's delimitation process ahead of harmonised elections to be held later this year. The current challenge could result in elections — due in the second half of this year — being held under old constituency boundaries drawn over 10 years ago. The row has also brought to the fore Zanu PF factional fights. It is reported that Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga and spy boss Isaac Moyo are backing Zec chairperson Justice Priscilla Chigumba and her deputy Rodney Simukai Kiwa. Battle over new boundaries rages on Speaker of the National Assembly Jacob Mudenda NewsHawks Issue 118, 10 February 2023

Page 12 News JONATHAN MBIRIYAMVEKA GOVERNMENT spokesman Nick Mangwana has apparently relented on his sinister plot to campaign — with the assistance of Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi and President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s spokesman George Charamba — to subvert the constitution and democracy by sabotaging the constitutional delimitation process, saying his political chicanery was just “flying a kite”. Mangwana sparked uproar when he loudly proclaimed that the final delimitation report submitted to Mnangagwa by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) chairperson Priscilla Chigumba on 3 February 2023 was not final. “CORRECTION: We have noted a number of social media reports to the effect that the Final Delimitation Report has been presented to HE the President. The Final Report has NOT yet been presented to His Excellency. When that happens the public will be informed. Thank you,” Mangwana posted on Twitter. This was despite the fact that Chigumba had made it clear the report was final. The constitution is also abundantly clear that. When Zec launched the delimitation soon after the preliminary report on the new population census was released in April last year, it produced a draft preliminary report that was submitted to Mnangagwa by Chigumba on 26 December 2022, giving the President seven days to table it before parliament for debate. The report was tabled before parliament on 6 January 2023. It was discussed in the legislature and within 14 days the parliamentary ad hoc committee chaired by Zanu PF chief whip Pupurai Togarepi produced a report on it and submitted the package to Mnangagwa. Then Mnangagwa took the report and made his own input. Following that, it was sent back to Zec. After making corrections — taking into account parliament and the President’s contributions — Zec sent the final report to Mnangagwa on 3 February 2023. The constitution spells out that process in unambiguous terms. However, Mangwana disregarded that and initiated a campaign to create room for Mnangagwa to have a second bite of the cherry, saying the report was not final. This meant Mnangagwa could edit - manipulate and change — the report, undermining the constitution. Zec has the final say on the report in terms of the law. But Mangwana disregarded that. Charamba — who initially said it was final before he made U-turn — and Ziyambi joined in, claiming the report was not final. Ziyambi, a Justice minister and Leader of Government Business in Parliament, even went further, claiming the report was “basically for consideration” by the President. This triggered uproar, with civil society organisations and analysts joining the fray to express outrage against government mandarins trying to subvert the law. Even Speaker of Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda was forced to join the battle over the delimitation process and its resultant report. Mudenda told main opposition CCC MPs Wellington Chikombo and Prince Dubeko Sibanda to disregard what Mangwana, Charamba and Ziyambi had said, and just follow the constitution. Below is the full text of the conversation: HON. CHIKOMBA: My matter of national importance is to do with the meeting that took place on 2nd February between the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and His Excellency the President pertaining to the submission of the final report. This is in line with Section 239 and Section 161 of the Constitution. THE HON. SPEAKER: In line with what? HON. CHIKOMBO: Section 239 which gives mandate to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission on delimitation and Section 161. My issue is that post that meeting, we had varied statements that were uttered by Government functionaries which includes Mr. Mangwana and Mr. George Charamba claiming that the report that was given to the President is not final. Those statements that were uttered have caused a lot of polarization, disharmony and anxiety across the country. I would want the Justice Minister to come through to elaborate to the House what the correct position is pertaining to that. THE HON. SPEAKER: Thank you very much for what you said but musateerere nyaya yemumanewspaper kana social media. Dai makabvunza nezuro kuna Acting Leader of Government Business kuti muwane tsananguro yakanaka. Do not go by newspaper reports or social media reports. HON. P. D. SIBANDA: On a point of order Hon. Speaker. THE HON. SPEAKER: What is your point of order? Are you clarifying my ruling? HON. P. D. SIBANDA: I am seeking clarification on your ruling— on whether to rely on media, social media or something of that sort. THE HON. SPEAKER: So you want to seek clarification on my ruling? HON. P. D. SIBANDA: Indeed, Hon. Speaker. THE HON. SPEAKER: That is not allowed Hon. Member — [AN HON. MEMBER: He is challenging.] HON. P. D. SIBANDA: I am not challenging you Hon. Speaker, I just want to be … THE HON. SPEAKER: No, let me help you. HON. P. D. SIBANDA: Help me Hon. Speaker. THE HON. SPEAKER: Section 161 is very clear in terms of the processes. The report is tabled here in the House in Parliament, we scrutinize it and make our observations. We then submit to the Head of State and Government in terms of Section 161. Within the specified 14 days, the Head of State must submit to ZEC, which was done. After that ZEC will start on whatever contributions or analysis that were done by the relevant stakeholders. They will look at them, make adjustment where it is possible and send those adjustments in a report to His Excellency. Within 14 days, the President must gazette. What ZEC has said and done in that report is final. So why do you want to listen to people who talk from the side shows – [AN HON. MEMBER: Including Justice.] – It does not matter, you must follow the Constitution. HON. P. D. SIBANDA: Thank you Hon. Speaker for that explanation, however it did not extend to the issues that I sought your clarification. It is clear in terms of the processes that have to be done. However, the people that issued these statements are not ordinary citizens of this country. You are talking of a Deputy Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet and the Permanent Secretary in the Minister of Communication. THE HON. SPEAKER: Order Hon. Member, you are a learned friend, just follow the Constitution — that is all. Do now worry about people who speak outside the Constitution. HON. P. D. SIBANDA: It is alright Hon. Speaker, I am sure the whole country is listening that they should not worry about these other commentators. What is happening Members on my right? No issue of national interest? Delimitation Report: Speaker tells Parliament, do not listen to Nick Mangwana and George Charamba. Mangwana relents on dirty political chicanery over delimitation report Nick Mangwana NewsHawks Issue 118, 10 February 2023

News Page 13 BERNARD MPOFU FORMER Mozambican president Joaquim Chissano and African Development Bank (AfDB) chief Akinwumi Adesina are later this month expected to hold a high-level meeting on Zimbabwe’s debt crisis where overarching political issues are expected to top the agenda, The NewsHawks has learnt. Following several failed attempts to settle arrears with international financial institutions (IFIs) such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the AfDB, which all enjoy preferred creditor status, Zimbabwe, which has been struggling to access long-term concessional capital, is considering a change in tack. As first reported by The NewsHawks last December, the former Mozambican leader, one of the few surviving early pan-Africanists, was appointed to mediate over Zimbabwe’s intransigence in adopting key political governance reforms required by creditors to resolve the debt crisis. Kelvin Banda, AfDB principal economist for Zimbabwe, told delegates attending a virtual meeting conducted by the Zimbabwe Economics Society on the country’s economic outlook that Zimbabwe is the only regional member country of the AfDB group under sanctions due to arrears amounting to nearly US$736 million. The regional lender estimates that as of 31 December 2022, the figure stood at US$750 million. Zimbabwe is also in arrears with the World Bank amounting to US$1.47 billion and the European Investment Bank (US$372 million) out of the US$14 billion debt. “Also important to mention is that because of our limitations as a bank on the political side, the government has appointed former President of Mozambique Joaquim Chissano to be facilitating re-engagement with development partners,” Banda said. “We are expecting the next meeting on the 23rd of this month where president Adesina and His Excellency former president Chissano will be present to map out the key issues that need to be taken forward and we hope that this will lead to a debt resolution forum that will address the key issues and we hope that in the end this process can lead to the clearance of debt and arrears for Zimbabwe.” Banda said the first high-level meeting held on 1 December last year agreed on three main pillars, namely economic reforms, governance reforms and compensation of white former commercial farmers. Chissano, a politician who served as Mozambique’s second leader from 1986 to 2005, took over from Samora Machel who was killed in a plane crash. Chissano is credited with transforming the war-torn Mozambique into one of the most economically successful African states. After his presidency, Chissano became an elder statesman, envoy and diplomat for both his home country and the United Nations. Chissano also served as African Union chair from 2003 to 2004. According to the new debt plan, Zimbabwe is exploring traditional debt relief options, especially the Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) Initiative, which provides maximum debt relief for beneficiary countries and nonHIPC initiatives. As part of re-engagement with international financial institutions and other creditors, the Zimbabwean government in March 2021 resumed making quarterly token payments to the Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), the World Bank Group (US$1 million), the African Development Bank Group (US$500 000) and the European Investment Bank (US$100 000). Treasury also began making quarterly token payments amounting to US$100 000 to each of the 16 Paris Club bilateral creditors in September 2021, as a sign of its commitment to the engagement and re-engagement process with the international community. The authorities say Zimbabwe is also facing serious debt service capacity challenges – liquidity challenges, as reflected by low debt service ratios (actual debt service to revenue and exports), while at the same time accumulating arrears. Experts say, looking ahead, the country will face similar challenges in debt servicing which requires on average US$140 million annually, hence the need for debt restructuring. Chissano to lead Zim debt talks this month Former Mozambican president Joaquim Chissano AfDB chief Akinwumi Adesina NewsHawks Issue 118, 10 February 2023

Page 14 PRISCA TSHUMA THE Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Praz), which has been dragged to court to compel it to investigate a US$3.9 million tender issued by the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC), says the parastatal should consider the economic aspects raised by the applicant, despite the fact that the authority is opposing the application. The applicant, Denallare Technologies, was in 2012 awarded a tender by ZETDC to design, configure and commission a pre-payment, vending and management system. The company created a prepayment platform responsible for the encryption and vending of electricity tokens which are used to load credit onto all pre-payment metres. ZETDC however last year procured a new and expensive system under tender number ZETDC/INTER/07/2021, despite the existing system being at peak performance. Denallare is arguing that the new tender is unnecessary public expenditure and has been engaging Praz to investigate the matter, to no avail. In a letter, dated 28 December 2022, written by Praz chief executive officer Clever Ruswa and addressed to ZETDC managing director Howard Choga, Praz said it would oppose the application on the grounds that the matter was not a procurement issue, although it said economic matters raised should be addressed. Praz suggested that the ministry of Energy and Power Development was best placed to handle the matter. “We received a court application for mandamus from Denallare Technologies (PVT) Ltd t/a REMVA, regarding the tender ZETDC/ INTER/07/2021. The Authority intends to oppose the application,” Ruswa said. “The investigation being sought is outside the Authority’s mandate because of the following: “The decision to procure is entirely up to the procuring entity. “The matter amounts to an economic investigation regarding the utilization of a national resource, which is not a procurement issue. The matter revolves around poor financial planning and system changes, which must be referred to the appropriate ministries, not PRAZ. “We advise the Accounting Officer that consideration must be made to the economic aspects raised by REMVA, in light of section 14 of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act.” Denallare last year dragged Praz to court, compelling the regulator to investigate a US$3.9 million contract issued by ZETDC, after unsuccessfully engaging the authority over the matter several times. “It was an expensive, time consuming and rigorous exercise to have completed the contract with the second respondent and to install the prepayment platform for it to now generate the encrypted tokens for the nation and to allow for the various metres supplied to have access to this service,” argued Denallare, in court papers filed by Gill Godlonton & Gerrans. “The system is currently working at its peak performance and it was recently upgraded as of Aprill 2022." The system is helping ZETDC to collect a revenue of over US$350 million annually in advance for the national utility, including the historic customer debt. “As the current holder that is providing this service for the 2nd respondent and the country, it came as a surprise to the applicant that the 2nd respondent decided to go to competitive bidding process to procure a similar platform as the current, seeking to mirror the platform in a manner that would require the removal of just recently procured servers only to remove them and install new and expensive hardware from another source, to replace software and hardware that has just been upgraded to the latest technology in the sector and on brand new servers, just seven months earlier,” read the court papers. The applicant argued that ZETDC’s decision does not comply with the objectives of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act (Chapter 22:23), which prefers the direct procurement method in terms of section 33, where additional services are required by a supplier and where a change of supplier would cause problems of inter-changeability or incompatibility with existing equipment. Denallare further argued that the system that controls the encryption and vending of electricity tokens for a nation is very specialised and provided by a handful of suppliers in the world. “The second respondent is now undertaking an exercise in excess of US$3 900 000, which is an unnecessary cost to the nation, when the current system upgrade was already done as part of an annual upgrade and maintenance which the applicant provides for the second respondent,” the company argued. “The applicant is concerned by how the second respondent can sign contracts with a supplier with no known history in the region for this specialised software, and with the blessing of the first respondent, through their Special Procurement Oversight Committee (SPOC).” Denallare wrote a letter to the Praz chief executive officer Clever Ruswa on 18 March 2022, informing him of the anomalies and causes for concern. The letter contained correspondence between the applicant and ZETDC from 2018 to 2022, advising ZETDC of the need to maintain its national vending system. Through the letter, and several others afterwards, the applicant sought that Praz exercise its power in terms of section 96 of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act, to investigate this conduct, as well as to exercise its powers in terms of section 54 (10) (c) by suspending the ongoing process while the investigation was being undertaken. Denallare is seeking the High Court to order Praz to conduct an investigation on the tender proceedings ZETDC/INTER07/2021 in terms of section 96 of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act within five days of the order being granted. The company also wants ZETDC to be ordered to stay the tender proceedings and any acts taken pursuant to the same, pending the completion of the investigation. PRAZ advises ZETDC to tackle economic concerns NewsHawks News Issue 118, 10 February 2023

Page 15 NATHAN GUMA CITIZENS' Coalition for Change (CCC) member of Parliament for Mbizo, Settlement Chikwinya, has challenged President Emmerson Mnangagwa to attend the National Assembly and answer to pressing issues facing the country, saying his State of the Nation Address (Sona) grossly misrepresents the realities on the ground. In November, Mnangagwa presented the Sona in the new US$200 million Parliament Building in Mt Hampden while officially opening the ninth parliament. He painted a rosey picture of Zimbabwe’s socio-economic situation. However, opposition MPs say Mnangagwa misrepresents the real situation, hence the need for him to come to Parliament and answer questions on the country’s various pressing issues, while getting the facts from constituencies as is provided by the constitution. “We must be able to direct the President to be factual because we are the members of Parliament who come from constituencies. “Instead of us answering to each other as members of Parliament, let us be guided by section 140 (3) of the constitution. Section 140 (3) of the constitution which directs as such - ‘The President may attend Parliament to answer questions on any issues as may be provided in the Standing Orders’,” Chikwinya said. While Zanu PF MPs applauded Mnangagwa’s Sona during the parliamentary debate, Chikwinya said presenting the speech in a Chinese-donated parliament is evidence of failure. “First of all, the Presidential speech was held historically at the new Parliament in Mt Hampden. In my view, that whole parliamentary project is in contravention of section 315 (2) of the constitution, (2) (b) to be precise, which states that and I want to blame us as Parliament as I quote this section because the constitution directs us to say, '(2) An Act of Parliament must provide for the negotiation and performance of the following state contracts' and (2) (b) says, 'contracts for the construction and operation of infrastructure and facilities',” Chikwinya said. “I want to believe that the new Parliament is an infrastructure and is a facility for housing lawmakers and the legislature. We, as Parliament, were never involved in the negotiation of that contract,” Chikwinya said. Chikwinya said the government should be ashamed for failing to domestically mobilise resources to build Zimbabwe’s own Parliament, despite having over 63 precious minerals. Zimbabwe loses an estimated US$1.2 billion annually to gold leakages, and this is some of the money that Chikwinya says could have been used to mobilise resources for domestic projects, which include building a new parliament. “We stand here today guided by principles of a Westminster Parliament, a British-built Parliament and we are moving from a British-built Parliament to a Chinese-built Parliament. What have we, for us, to be proud of? We have nothing,” he said. Chikwinya said Mnangagwa’s presentation on the electricity crisis is detached from the real crisis gripping the country. Mnangagwa partly attributed the electricity shortages to industrialisation. Chikwinya said Mnangagwa has to interact directly with parliamentarians to find lasting solutions. “In my constituency, I have areas that did not receive power for three days. We have an electricity crisis, but because we are burying our heads in the sand, we are blaming the electricity crisis and, as contained in the Presidential speech, we are burying our heads to the extent that we are blaming a booming industrialisation for the lack of electricity,” he said. “So we are telling ourselves that industry is booming so much that there is so much demand for electricity and therefore, our generation cannot meet the demand — that is a lie. “I come from Kwekwe; Zimasco was closed recently and only opened a week ago. Lancashire Steel, Haggie Rand Steel, ZiscoSteel, Sable Chemicals are down and these are huge power-consuming industries which were operating in the early 2000s and in the First Republic, but now they are not operating. “How do we pride ourselves to the extent that because a museyamwa (informal trader) has opened dovi (peanut butter)-making project, therefore our industry is now booming? Let us face the facts; Hwange is not performing, Kariba is not performing. We must not bury our heads in the sand, let us face the crisis and take the route of South Africa where members of Parliament gather and tell their President that Mr President you must resign as long as we have this electricity crisis,” Chikwinya said. He said Zimbabwe should take a leaf from South Africa where the parliament is presenting factual findings on the power crisis to the underfire President Cyril Ramaphosa. He also said Mnangagwa’s Sona failed to speak authoritatively on the issue of peaceful and credible elections. “He did not do enough to emphasise that Zimbabweans have suffered enough in a cycle of disputed elections. He did not commit enough to the Electoral Amendment Bill, he did not do enough to set the conditions because as he was speaking about the Sona, things were happening in Murewa where Honourable Garwe (Daniel) — and I have mentioned him by name because he can respond, he was sending his own party vehicle to go and assault 82-year-old people in village 16 in Murewa. “Right now, a senior Zanu PF official is on record as saying all opposition identity particulars must be taken away so that they do not vote. What type of an election is that?” he asked. Another contradiction arose on the presidential inputs scheme, which he said has largely been politicised. According to the address, the scheme is said to have benefitted about three million farmers. “The scheme has been purely politicised. So, here is taxpayers' money that we jointly approve as Parliament because the budget is apolitical,” Chikwinya said. “When we pass the budget as presented by the minister of Finance and Economic Development, we pass it as a whole House – Zanu PF included; CCC and MDC-T included – but when it gets to the rural areas and village 25 in Nembudziya, the inputs are given only to members of one political party – so we cannot be celebrating that.” This week, Norton legislator Temba Mliswa ripped into cabinet ministers for failing to attend parliamentary hearings to answer pressing issues within their portfolios, and to respond to Sona addresses. “The State of the Nation Address and as the words say, ‘state of the nation address’, it is very clear in terms of what must be achieved and the success and the challenges. But, that also cannot be complete without the ministers responding. Unfortunately, not many ministers respond, which renders the address a mere ceremony. “There are many people capable of being ministers here who are competent. Why should we be keeping people who are not doing the job? What other job are they doing in reporting to the President other than makuhwa (gossip)? “What are you reporting? You are unable to respond on issues that you have been appointed to do in Parliament? This is the House that represents everyone. They (ministers) can go to cabinet, or any congress, but there is only one Parliament which represents the people and this is the august House. So, if you cannot lay your case here, it will not be heard,” he said. Mliswa said while the ministers were failing to carry out their parliamentary mandate – the Speaker has not been doing enough to ensure ministers are held to account. “This again, the Speaker’s panel, yourself included (Speaker), I think you are also a bit lenient on the ministers. There are rules that must be followed. For the first time, I will challenge the powers of the Speaker sitting there. He has the power to whip all the ministers. “If not, they can be charged for contempt. No minister has been charged for contempt. They do not come to parliamentary question time. The last time the Vice-President came here, he assured us they will come. They have not. The President says the State of the Nation Address, they do not come. The honourable Vice-President comes as well hoping that he is a general, they also listen and see that he is a general but they still do not come. “I am also disappointed that the Speaker’s panel has not exercised its power in ensuring that people are active when it comes to work. This is an institution which is governed by its rules and those rules must be used,” he said. Apart from the Sona address, Mnangagwa has previously been accused of misrepresenting facts, and portraying a rosey picture far detached from reality. As previously reported by The NewsHawks in January, Mnangagwa told the Feed Africa Summit in Senegal that Zimbabwe is currently food secure after implementing mathematical irrigation farming methods to tackle the effects of climate change like drought spells. However, his claims contradicted his own government’s report released last year revealing that the country is experiencing one of its worst food crises with 5.6 million citizens stalked by hunger. The Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZimVAC) 2022 Report compiled by his own government said that the country was experiencing food insecurity, with 5.6 million out of 16.6 million people (33%) having insufficient food, while projecting that 38% of rural households were likely to be cereal insecure at the peak of the lean season between October and last month. Mnangagwa challenged to answer questions in Parly Mbizo MP Settlement Chikwinya NewsHawks Issue 118, 10 February 2023 News

Page 16 News NATHAN GUMA HARARE North member of Parliament Allan Markham says the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) must come out clean on how it is going to roll out a voter registration blitz as fears of voter exclusion loom ahead of the general election. With Zimbabwe drawing closer to the 2023 polls, Markham fears that the blitz may leave out several eligible voters behind should it be clandestinely done. “My point of national interest is very important. We are coming up to an election. We hear on social media, Zec included, that they are going to do another round of what are called the blitz registration. I think it is important that Zec comes clean and tell us when and where they are going to do this. Markham said voter registration is likely to be affected by the Home Affairs ministry’s failure to bring a statement on the national identity registration, which could shut out more eligible voters. “I relate to a point that I brought up four times already. The minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage promised us that he would go back and at your insistence, leave no one behind and register all the unregistered people left behind when he did his blitz. “That was five months ago. To date, he has not come up even with a statement that he was requested to bring. You cannot register to vote without IDs,” Markham said during a parliamentary debate this week. “In Hatcliffe, I have over 2 000 people who have not registered. They have no IDs. In what we call makomboni kuzasi uku kuBorrowdale (compounds in Borrowdale), we have at least 500 people who have not registered. “This is disenfranchisement of the population. What is of serious concern to me is the minister (Kazembe Kazembe), four months after your insistence, has still not brought a statement to this House. I can only believe it is deliberate,” Markham said. In response, the Speaker of Parliament said he had sent a letter to ensure that Home Affairs brings a ministerial statement. “Thank you very much, Markham. The Clerk [of Parliament] is instructed immediately to ensure that the issues you raised are attended to. As for the minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage a letter has been written as evidence that he has been contacted. Now, I am going to apply Constitutional Provision Number 107 (2) to ensure that he complies this week. Thank you,” the Speaker said. Kazembe appeared in Parliament on Thursday with a ministerial statement to address Markham’s concerns. He said there would be a mop-up exercise to include everyone who has failed to register to date. “Preparations are underway to conduct a mop-up national mobile registration exercise before the general elections. This is an opportunity that will be given to those who failed to obtain or replace their identity documents during the initial exercise. The dates for the mop-up exercise will be announced in due course,” he said. Chegutu West legislator Dexter Nduna quizzed the minister on whether the blitz would not disenfranchise those who are yet to register. “Given that the elections are upon us, would it please the minister, have these blitz that he alludes to put in place almost immediately or in tandem with the current voting process modus operandi because two days after the proclamation by His Excellency, immediately the voter registration exercise comes to a screeching halt. Secondly, I would want to know from the honourable minister that even before the blitz is let out to go to mop-up exercise, is it still possible for the citizens to go to the current registration offices to embark on the same exercise that was embarked on to register themselves according to section 43 of the constitution? I thank you.” The minister however assured the house that the exercise will ensure all those who intend to vote in the upcoming polls will be included. “That is exactly what I highlighted that we will ensure that it (the second blitz) is done before Zec’s second round is done so that it will enable those who have then obtained identity documents (IDs) to be able to register,” said Kazembe. On issues of youths failing to access national identity cards for registration, Kazembe said the Civil Registry Department had managed to issue over a million identity documents nationwide during the blitz and 1 423 of those were for Hatcliffe and Borrowdale residents. “The Market Square mobile teams which were under Harare metropolitan province itinerary covered Hatcliffe and Borrowdale as follows: Hatcliffe 1 654 Birth certificate and 1 226 identity cards; Borrowdale 101 birth certificates and 197 identity cards, bringing it to a total of 1 755 birth certificates and 1 423 national identity cards,” said the minister. Zec must come out clean on voter registration blitz: MP Harare North member of Parliament Allan Markham NewsHawks Issue 118, 10 February 2023

News Page 17 RUVIMBO MUCHENJE WOMEN'S rights group Institute for Young Women's Development (IYWD) has petitioned Parliament over the steep fees gazetted by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) for candidate participation in elections and accessing the voters' roll. The organisation argues that the unreasonably high fees inhibit women from participating in electoral processes. Zec increased nomination fees from US$1 000 to US$20 000 per presidential candidate; US$50 to US$1 000 per National Assembly candidate, while those eyeing senatorial and council seats must fork out US$100. They also pegged voters' roll access fees at US$10 for each polling station; US$15 for the ward level voters' roll; US$50 for the constituency voters' roll; US$150 for the provincial voters' roll; US$200 for the national voters' roll; US$1 per page for the physical copy. IYWD appeared before the parliamentary committee on Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs yesterday and appealed to the committee to revise the fees downwards. “Your petitioners ask that Parliament in light of its oversight and legislative role of protecting the provisions of the constitution and national interests ensure that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) and the responsible minister of Legal and Parliamentary Affairs must in consultation with citizens and stakeholders, effect a downward revision of the gazetted nomination and access to the voters' roll and electoral maps fees and ensure that any set amounts are affordable. gender, youth, and disability sensitive,” pleaded IYWD. “The amounts are out of reach of many potential candidates’ efforts to participate in the elections. “Historically, the participation and representation of women in the political arena have been affected by patriarchal systems and structures that since time immemorial have hindered their participation and representation. Although several policies and laws were enacted to enhance the participation of women in elections and decision-making in Zimbabwe, the electoral playing field remains restrictive and oppressive to women and their participation remains low across all sectors of decision-making. These new exorbitant fees further marginalise the young women and women who cannot afford these astronomical fees, consequently closing the democratic space for women to participate,” said IYWD. It is against this background that the organisation appealed to Parliament to ensure inclusion of all in running for elections by funding the electoral body and the relevant ministry. “That adequate funds are appropriated to the Zec in a way that totally removes or ensures that prospective candidates pay a minimal affordable fee. The state promptly and urgently align all electoral laws to the country's constitution to include the enactment of a Gender Equality Act which shall provide for equal representation in local government, Parliament, and the presidium in line with sections 17, 20, 56, and 80 of the state must further ensure strict adherence to the rights guaranteed in the constitution by the state and its agents,” When Zec gazetted the fees in August 2020, there was an uproar from political parties, but the commission insisted that the fees would restore “order” in the election cycle. The IYWD delegation soon after engaging the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs. Zec fees cripple women’s participation in elections NewsHawks Issue 118, 10 February 2023

Page 18 News BRENNA MATENDERE MEMBERS of Parliament on Wednesday cornered the acting leader of government business in the National Assembly, Felix Mhona, and deputy Finance minister Clemence Chiduwa over an unfulfilled promise made to the millatry in 2020 for construction of garrison shops in barracks to serve soldiers with cheap basic food commodities. In a post-cabinet briefing to journalists in Harare on 26 February 2020, Finance and Economic Development minister Mthuli Ncube said the cantonment shops would enable military personnel to be “issued with a card or credit limit to buy what they want monthly”. At that time, Zimbabweans, particularly civil servants, were enduring one of the worst economic crises characterised by acute shortages of fuel, electricity, foreign currency and basic goods like maize-meal as well as cooking oil. Ncube's promise to introduce garrison shops was calculated at pacifying the soldiers who were increasingly becoming restive. Zimbabwe’s year-on-year inflation was as high as 525% at the time. Two years before the promise, Ncube had introduced austerity measures he said were going to boost the economy, but his interventions turned out to be ruinous to public sector workers, and the military which had staged a coup to topple Robert Mugabe in 2017. Junior and middle-ranked military personnel, who had hoped to be rewarded for staging the coup that ushered in President Emmerson Mnangagwa, were left grumbling as economic harships mounted. However, three years later, the government has not opened rhe promised garrison shops, prompting MPs to raise questions on Wednesday in the National Assembly. Opposition MDC-A proportional representation MP for Midlands Catherine Gozho kicked off the grilling of Mhona and Chiduwa. Mhona is also Transport minister. “My question is directed to the minister of Defence and War Veterans. Since the honourable minister is not here, I will direct it to the leader of government business. In 2020, government promised to build garrison shops in barracks so that the military personnel can buy basic commodities at low prices. Have the garrison shops since been constructed like you promised?” she asked. In his first response, Mhona, who was standing in for Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi and leader of government business, said: “The honourable member is so passionate about the welfare of the military and she asked whether the garrison shops have been built.” “What I would want to explain to the august House is, the garrison shops may not have been constructed as expected, but government has ensured that the security forces are well looked after. I think the honourable minister for Defence and War Veterans will explain to the august House the important aspects concerning the welfare of the forces so that we understand what has been done.” The Citizens' Coalition for Change (CCC) MP for Mbizo constituency, Settlement Chikwinya, followed up with another enquiry. “My understanding is that there are some barracks with existing garrison shops. The government’s promise at that time was to supply these garrison shops with subsidised commodities?” he queried, before Speaker Jacob Mudenda said: “Is it your understanding or knowledge?” Chikwinya responded and turned the heat on deputy Finance minister Chiduwa. “Knowledge. Understanding based on knowledge and I speak of 5.1 Battalion, that is Battlefields … So, they have garrison shops.” “The undertaking by government was to supply these garrison shops with subsidised basic commodities so that soldiers could buy at subsidised prices.” “That undertaking was made by the minister of Finance. I would want to know from the deputy minister of Finance here present whether the present garrison shops that are already there are supplied with subsidised basic commodities so that at least soldiers can buy at subsidised prices,” asked Chikwinya. In response, Chiduwa shifted the blame to the Defence ministry led by Oppah Muchinguri, but was interjected by other MPs. “On this issue, ministry of Finance provides the resources but in terms of implementation, it is done by the parent ministry. At the moment, I am not sure if they have done it, otherwise. I would still need to check because the provisions were approved here in Parliament, so I would need to check if there was a budget for the garrison shops,” he said. The matter was put to an end by Mudenda who held back more questions from MPs by saying Chiduwa needed more time to go and investigate the issue of the garrison shops in barracks before getting back to Parliament with a conclusive response. “The answer by the honourable deputy minister is adequate. Let him go and find out what exactly the position is and come back to the august House,” said Mudenda. Last year, independent Norton MP Temba Mliswa also cornered Muchinguri-Kashiri over the poor welfare of rank-and-file soldiers, saying they were supposed to get improved income from profits made in military companies like Rusununguko Inkululeko. Mliswa told Parliament that junior soldiers were suffering in the barracks yet their seniors were enjoying comfortable lives from income raked in from military companies like Rusununguko Nkululeko (Private) Holdings. The military company is the brainchild of the late Foreign Affairs minister Sibusiso Moyo and has vast investments in various sectors of the economy, including in the media after getting a television licence to operate its NRTV station. Mliswa took on Muchinguri-Kashiri over the business entity which symbolises the opaque commercialisation of the military whose financial owners have gone unscrutinised. The army also has other income-generating projects like the Zimbabwe Defence Industries (ZDI), but the profits realised do not trickle down to rank-andfile soldiers. Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development Felix Mhona (centre) Ministers cornered over false promise to military NewsHawks Issue 118, 10 February 2023

News Page 19 NATHAN GUMA LEGISLATORS are yet to be paid allowances backdating to September last year, despite getting assurance they would be paid during last year’s pre-budget seminar, and Treasury having budgeted for them. Norton legislator Temba Mliswa this week said some legislators were incapacitated. “My point of national interest is sad because we seem to be seized with it and I know that it has a lot of unnecessary responsibility. It is about the welfare of the members of Parliament, in particular their outstanding allowances - they have not received their outstanding allowances from September,” Mliswa said. “I would like to thank you for the US$40 000 that we received as it is said that half a loaf is better than nothing. So, I want to thank the government for the disbursement of the US$40 000. On allowances, we did not get our monies, especially after coming from the Pre-budget Seminar. “This was in November, so we actually thought that since we had the Pre-budget in November, all the outstanding issues would be taken care of. We then went on a break; there are field visits that are also outstanding in terms of payments. The rate was ZW$600 at that time and now it has gone to ZW$1 200, so we are merely getting half of what we were supposed to get. “So it is really out of that and the Pre-budget (seminar) also alluded to the fact that the Standing Orders Committee would sit down to come up with a way forward in terms of accommodation and allowances for the members of Parliament for those who do not stay in hotels. That is also an outstanding issue because the minister of Finance and Economic Development said that money has already been budgeted for,” Mliswa said. In response, the Speaker of Parliament, seemingly surprised, said that he was unaware that MPs had not received their allowances, a remark which was met with inaudible interjections. “Since September?” he asked. “I am there. I have got an open door policy, I am there. September, October, November, December, four months then January and now we are in February. Hon. T. Mliswa, answer that one, manga makamirira chii? (what were you waiting for?) when I am there?” However, the legislators said they have been engaging through their chief whips, but in vain. “Some of the honourable members have chief whips who represent them. If the chief whips fail to represent their people, then that is where I come in. I am only a messenger because some people have failed to do their jobs. I do not belong to any political party, but the members of Parliament have approached me saying that I must convey their messages,” said Mliswa. Since last year, legislators have been facing challenges booking into hotels, due to late payment of debts by Parliament. Last year, Parliament was forced to hold its Pre-budget Seminar in Harare, after hotels in Victoria Falls had demanded payment upfront. Parliament had accrued huge unpaid bills which it had been failing to settle. As a result, lawmakers were denied accommodation at top hotels in Harare while on parliamentary business. “The other issue is on the car loans that are outstanding. I am appealing also on the issue of duty free US$30 000 because it was agreed. In October last year, disgruntled Zanu PF members of Parliament met President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga at State House, complaining about their incapacitation due to the erratic payment of salaries, allowances and the non-provision of fuel, which they said was hindering their work and hampering visibility in their constituencies. The legislators also complained bitterly over Finance minister Mthuli Ncube’s perceived hostility towards them, which they said was a worrying development ahead of general elections. As previously reported by The NewsHawks, the Zanu PF legislators said they were incapacitated and financially paralysed, such that they could not effectively work for the President in their constituencies, which they said was worrisome ahead of the elections. The NewsHawks also gathered that during the meeting, the Zanu PF MPs told their two leaders that due to non-payment of salaries and allowances, they were unable to conduct projects back home in their constituencies so as to prop up the image of the party and President ahead of polls. “The MPs also complained about fuel. They indicated that distribution of fuel coupons has become irregular to an extent that it was affecting their programmes in constituencies,” said a source who spoke to The NewsHawks. Another issue brought to Mnangagwa’s attention is that of car loans which they had pegged at US$80 000, but were cut by Minister Ncube to US$50 000. The Zanu PF MPs from outside Harare proposed that they be given a flat fee of US$100 per night so they could secure their own accommodation when they pitch up for parliamentary business between Sundays and Thursdays, said another source. At that point, Chiwenga is said to have promised that he would directly instruct ministers to promptly attend the grilling sessions and have Parliament administration maintain a register of attendance. Excerpts from this week’s parliamentary session show that the non-payment of MPs' allowance is yet to be addressed, months after the seminar. MPs demand overdue allowances Norton MP Temba Mliswa NewsHawks Issue 118, 10 February 2023

Page 20 News BRENNA MATENDERE A NEW report by the International Peace Information Service (IPIS) has revealed that torture, beatings, killings, illegal detention and sexual violence on local women by the military and police in Marange are still rampant and questioned how Zimbabwe was allowed to assume chairmanship of the Kimberly Process (KP) Cerfication Scheme under these circumstances. The report obtained by The NewsHawks this week is titled From laggard to leader? Zimbabwe’s turbulent diamond history. It was co-authored by Hans Merket and Jonathan Weenink with financial support from the European Union. Following a frenzied diamond rush by citizens, the government declared the diamond fields in Marange a protecyed area under Protected Places and Areas Act (PPAA) in a bid to plug leakages of the gems. Although PPAA has been on the country’s statutes since 1979, it was gazetted to take effect for Marange in 2007. The PPAA law empowers the government to control the movement and conduct of people in protected areas. An authorised officer like a soldier or police agent under discretionary powers on people seeking to enter “or be in a protected area and may detain any such person for the purpose of searching them”. The section also gives power to the authorising officer to deal with any other matter in a manner that the officer considers to be necessary or desirable. However, IPIS in its latest report bemoaned the gross human rights violations that are increasingly taking place in Marange. Part of the report reads: “After the brutal crackdown on artisanal miners by the Zimbabwe police and military from 2006 to 2008, the violence in Marange became systemic. Moreover, a designation of Marange as a protected area in 2007 incited heavy militarisation to control access and movement of people.” “As it now became illegal for locals to enter the area without clearance, those found in or near the diamond fields risked brutal repression by state security forces. This resulted in a stream of reports and testimonies of torture, beatings, killings, illegal detention and sexual violence by the military or the police.” The report also reveals that local people in Marange are being subjected to dog bites by state security agents manning the diamond fields in flagrant violation of human rights. “A horrific practice, which surfaces in community testimonies with striking regularity, is the setting of dogs on those entering the area illegally, in often cases while the hands of victims are tied behind their backs.” “This is evidenced by numerous reports and photographs circulating of maimed faces, limbs and corpses,” reads the report. Authors of the report also raised concern over how Zimbabwe was made to assume the KP chairmanship in the wake of serious human rights violations in Marange. “Diamond industry observers were surprised when it was announced in November 2021 that Zimbabwe would assume the rotating chairmanship of the Kimberley Process (KP) in 2023. The fact that, of all 59 countries participating in the world’s leading diamond control regime, it had to be Zimbabwe, was yet another proof to some that the KP is not interested in curbing human rights violations,” reads the report, adding: “These sentiments harked back to events in 2009, when the world was shocked by reports of severe violence, including more than 200 killings, and human rights abuses perpetrated by government forces in Zimbabwe’s Marange diamond fields.” In September last year, the Centre for Research and Development (CRD) recorded a dramatic upsurge in human rights violations by state security agents in Marange diamond fields, as well as plunder of precious gems by rogue syndicates with the protection of law enforcement agents. The NewsHawks obtained photos of badly wounded citizens abused by the state security agents as well as footage of decomposing bodies suspected to be from such incidents. The CRD in its report said 13 state security bases and checkpoints dotted around the protected diamond area of Marange were porous and unsustainable because state security forces responsible for manning the area are corrupt and compromised. A case in particular which was picked by CRD is of Maud Makowa of Muedzengwa village, who says she was assaulted by a soldier called Munashe Masvaure stationed at Airstrip base in Chirasika village for turning down his sexual advances. She was assaulted at her shop on 14 September 2022. In another case again picked by CRD, Thomas Ziruwi said he was assaulted by three unidentified soldiers on 12 September 2022 at 7pm in Tonhorai village of Marange. The unidentified soldiers jumped into Ziruwi’s scotch cart without his permission and severely beat him up for questioning their harassment of fellow villagers in the community. “CRD condemns rampant and reactionary attacks on citizens by state security forces in Marange-protected diamond areas. The attacks have seen an increased number of people falling victim to sexual harassment, assault and murder at the hands of state security forces during the course of this year. CRD observed that state security agencies are manipulating state powers enshrined in the Protected Places and Areas Act (PPAA) (chapter 11.12) to commit these horrendous crimes in Marange,” read the CRD report. Torture killings, beatings still rampant in Chiadzwa: Report NewsHawks Issue 118, 10 February 2023

News Page 21 RUVIMBO MUCHENJE THE release of Zanu PF’s Gokwe Nembudziya legislator Justice Mayor Wadyajena on grounds that the state was not ready for trial four months after arrest is proof of double standards and that the government is using the courts to silence dissent, given Zengeza West MP Job Sikhala has clocked seven months in prison without trial, Norton legislator Temba Mliswa has said. Mliswa took to Twitter after the ruling, saying the rich and ruling party officials were above the law. The tweet attracted more than 1 000 likes and was viewed by over 10 000 people. “Some of these things are disheartening. How does the state fail to amass evidence where US$5 million has been swindled? It's now clear jail is for the poor and the opposition!!,” he tweeted. “It's clear where the failure is coming from. US$5 million swindled from a state enterprise and the state's case fails for lack of evidence! This is a reflection of the absence of political will to fight corruption.” His sentiments were echoed by Zimbabwe Divine Destiny cleric, Bishop Ancelimo Magaya, who described Wadyajena’s reprieve while Sikhala and journalist Hopewell Chin’ono remains on remand for allegedly inciting public violence as a mockery of the criminal justice system. “The removal of Wadyajena from remand whilst Sikhala continues suffering in prison and the likes of Hopewell still on remand is a mockery on our justice system. Christians choosing not to see this evil are guilty of strengthening the hands of evildoers — according to scriptures,” he tweeted. Wadyajena was arrested for using US$5 million meant for procurement of bale ties for the Cotton Company of Zimbabwe after allegedly diverting the funds to buy a fleet of trucks for his company, Mayor Logistics. His co-accused, Cottco bosses Maxmore Njanji and Pius Makunike, as well as Chiedza Danha and Fortunate Molai, were also released. On removing Wadyajena from remand, Harare magistrate Taurai Manuwere said the accused persons had been placed on remand to allow the state to conclude investigations but it had failed to do so four months later. The same magistrate denied Job Sikhala bail in October 2022, four months after the lawmaker was arrested at his home. At the time, he said the passage of time was not grounds to grant the accused bail. The state was saying the fact that he had spent four months in jail pre-trial is not enough grounds to grant him bail. “It’s not the mere passage of time that warrants granting bail to an accused person,” the prosecutor argued. “Investigations are complete and applicant has been furnished with trial date and state papers. Clearly, there has been progress and nothing was placed on record that risk of absconding has been averted so the accused must remain in custody,” argued Lancelot Mutsokoti, appearing for the state. Although this was the state’s argument in October 2022, trial is yet to begin for the embattled lawmaker. Wadyajena was granted bail two days after he was arrested. He has applied for bail several times in the past seven months, but it has been denied. Sikhala has been arrested almost 70 times since he joined politics in 1999 but has never been convicted of any of the charges levelled against him. He was arrested for inciting public violence in June 2022, and was co-accused with Chitungwiza North MP Godfrey Sithole. The latter has since been granted bail. Other dissenting voices challenging the current leadership in the ruling Zanu PF such as Sybeth Musengezi have been on remand for close to a year now and earlier this week the court further remanded him to a date in March, citing that the prosecutor was not available. Godfrey Tsenengamu was arrested after naming and shaming corrupt leaders in the party and has been on remand since his arrest in October 2020. Zanu PF elites perfect the catch-and-release strategy Gokwe Nembudziya MP Justice Mayor Wadyajena NewsHawks Issue 118, 10 February 2023

Page 22 News NHAU MANGIRAZI THE government says it is geared to repair badly damaged highways, including the Harare-Chirundu Road and Beitbrige-Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Road, which are in a deplorable state as reported by The NewsHawks a fortnight ago. The bad state of the roads has resulted in accidents, leading to loss of lives, while in many cases drivers have been forced to sleep by the roadside after hitting deep potholes. Tourists and hospitality industry players have also been negatively affected by the poor state of roads, which have resulted in the cancellation of bookings. Transport and Infrastructure Development minister Felix Mhona told The NewsHawks his ministry was moving to attend to roads. ‘‘There will be massive road construction around the country this year as we target to rehabilitate major highways. Harare-Chirundu highway is the topical one of all the roads that the government is gearing to rehabilitate. Be rest assured that this is a priority area that we are going to work on,’’ said Mhona. ‘‘The major highway was designed in two phases and, as we speak, we are over 400 kilometres from Beitbridge to Harare. This will pave the way for Harare-Chirundu highway that remains a topical road network for the region. Construction of the highway road will start soon after the tendering process.’’ The Beitbridge-Harare-Chirundu highway links southern Africa with the central and northern parts of the continent. It connects Zimbabwe and South Africa with other countries like Zambia, Malawi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania as well as other countries further north. Mhona said the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls highway is also in the government’s plans. ‘‘Another topical one is Beitbridge-Bulawayo that links to the resort town of Victoria Falls. We are going to construct the entire road, but in the meantime we are going to attend to such bad sections. You will see our teams working on bad stretches along this highway,’’ said Mhona. He also said work to rehabilitate Karoi-Binga road is now underway. ‘‘For the Harare-Domboshava road, people who were settled near the highway will be evicted to pave way for the new road construction. We will be forced to relocate some people settled near the road network,’’ said Mhona. Local travel, trade and economic situation is worsened by the terrible state of the Beitbridge-Bulawayo highway. The road is badly damaged, especially between Mazunga and Makhado areas, which lie within the 60 kilometre and 120 kilometre stretch from Beitbridge to Bulawayo. We’ll repair damaged roads: Minister Transport and Infrastructure Development minister Felix Mhona NewsHawks Issue 118, 10 February 2023

Page 23 Two wealthy Haitians recently sanctioned by Canada owned or had other links to almost 20 companies and trusts created in some of the world’s most secretive tax havens, according to documents from the Pandora Papers. TWO Haitian millionaires accused by Canada of corruption and enabling murderous gangs to run rampant across the long-suffering island nation were helped for years by U.S. lawyers and bankers to buy offshore companies and such luxuries as a multimillion-dollar ocean-view home in Florida, records show. In December, the foreign ministry of Canada sanctioned Gilbert Bigio, who is often referred to as Haiti’s richest person, and insurance magnate Sherif Abdallah, calling them “members of the Haitian elite who provide illicit financial and operational support to armed gangs.” Together, Abdallah and Bigio owned or had other links to almost 20 companies and trusts created in some of the world’s most secretive tax havens, according to documents from the Pandora Papers, a global investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Lawyers and bankers in Miami provided the men with tax advice, letters of reference and other services, according to leaked files that formed the basis of the 2021 investigation by ICIJ and media partners. “Canada has reason to believe these individuals are using their status as high-profile members of the economic elite in Haiti to protect and enable the illegal activities of armed criminal gangs, including through money laundering and other acts of corruption,” the government said in announcing the sanctions. The blacklisting came in response to what experts are calling Haiti’s worst humanitarian crisis in decades. So far, the foreign ministry in Ottawa has sanctioned 15 Haitian politicians and business moguls, including Bigio and Abdallah. “Those who invest in this economy at one level or another know they must be ready to have their own armed groups to protect themselves,” Jacques Jean-Vernet, a professor at Haiti State University in Port-au-Prince, told ICIJ. “We all know their practices, but no one dares do anything.” Bigio and Abdallah did not respond to requests for comment. Bigio, 87, made his fortune through decades of major deals. He built a steel mill, opened a bottling company and acquired oil industry assets across the Caribbean. In the early 1990s, the U.S. government sanctioned Bigio, his wife, son and others for their support of a military coup that ousted Haiti’s first democratically elected president. Years later, a member of a Haitian militia ‒ or private army ‒ accused Bigio and another businessman of paying for the 1993 assassination of a prominent democracy activist, according to Jeb Sprauge, author and University of California Riverside research associate. Authorities in Haiti did not charge Bigio with or accuse him of wrongdoInternational InvestigativeStories How US lawyers and bankers aided powerful Haitian tycoons now sanctioned over corruption by Canada NewsHawks International Investigative Stories Issue 118, 10 February 2023

Page 24 Officials attend a ceremony in honor of late Haitian President Jovenel Moise in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in July 2021. Image: VALERIE BAERISWYL/AFP via Getty Images ing. Years later, Bigio was the subject of positive reporting when a company of his provided medical relief after an earthquake that killed an estimated 230,000 people. The Israeli government set up a hospital on property owned by the Bigio family, according to media reports at the time. Publicly, Bigio stays focussed on making money. “Our principle, which we respect daily, is to not mix in Haitian politics,” he said in a 2007 newspaper interview. In August 2020, Haiti’s court of auditors criticized a government deal with a company owned by the Bigio family that was scrutinized as part of a broader probe into the alleged mismanagement of more than $2 billion in state funds. The company, Repsa SA, received a $30 million dredging contract despite a government decision to limit the contract to half that price. “Is it favoritism? Is this a poor needs assessment?” the court asked. “This way of managing development projects … has caused harm to the project and to the community.” Repsa did not respond to requests for comment. Abdallah, 64, owns one of Haiti’s major insurance companies, and he was reportedly a close ally of a former president, Jovenel Moïse. Abdallah is the honorary consul for Italy; Bigio is the former honorary consul for Israel. Honorary consuls are parttime volunteer diplomats who receive some of the perks and protections afforded professional diplomats. In 2018, as President Moïse came under pressure from growing unrest in the country, he reportedly sought refuge in a home owned by Abdallah. Local media reported that the home benefited from diplomatic protections given to Abdallah in his position as honorary consul. Moïse was assassinated in 2021. ‘Of the utmost integrity’ Records from the Pandora Papers show that Bigio and Abdallah were owners, directors or shareholders of at least 20 offshore companies. While owning an offshore company is not in itself illegal, such companies are used to evade taxes and commit other crimes. Offshore companies present particular challenges for poor countries, including Haiti, where tax inspectors, police and judges often face difficulties obtaining information about the wealthiest citizens. Bigio was connected to at least a dozen such companies, many of which were created in the Bahamas. He also set up two trusts, secretive entities that can provide tax benefits and that often do not require disclosure to governments. The trusts were used to benefit members of Bigio’s family living in the United States, records show. One trust invested in the fuel industry. Another, the Deep Blue Trust, had a $31 million stake in Haitian companies and owned a $3 million home in the Bal Harbour enclave in Miami-Dade County. One of Bigio’s most active helpers was the Miami-based law firm Packman, Neuwahl & Rosenberg. “My firm has been doing business with Gilbert for over 10 years and we have found him to be of the utmost integrity, to be extremely moral and professional,” wrote firm co-founder Todd Rosenberg in a 2010 letter of reference as he helped Bigio open a bank account in Switzerland. “Gilbert Bigio has always demonstrated a high degree of integrity and capability, and has been well esteemed by his colleagues and friends,” wrote Richard Bajandas, a founding partner at another Florida law firm, Perlman, Bajandas, Yevoli & Albright. Rosenberg did not respond to requests for comment. Bajandas told ICIJ that he stands by his firm’s assessment of Bigio’s reputation. “No evidence has ever been provided (nor to our understanding exists) that Mr. Bigio had anything to do with the gangs in Haiti,” Bajandas said, commenting on the Canadian sanctions. He added that gang violence in Haiti has caused economic harm to Bigio and his businesses. “Pointing fingers without any proof is equally damning and is a continuation of the misinformation that has ravaged Haiti for years,” Bajandas said. Abdallah owned at least four companies registered in the Bahamas, records show. In 2017, according to one document, Abdallah established a company in the British Virgin Islands to own a $1 million yacht named Karisa. In setting up the company, Abdallah listed his home as a 20thfloor apartment in downtown Miami. Not far down the road worked his longtime private bankers at Santander Bank. “In all my dealings with Mr Abdallah, I have found him to be of the highest personal integrity and honesty,” one banker wrote in 2017. “I can unequivocally state that Mr Sherif Abdallah is a person of the highest character.” Santander Bank did not respond to requests for comment. After Canada imposed sanctions, Abdallah resigned as a vice president of Sogebank, one of the largest financial institutions in Haiti. ‘Diplomatic power’ Bigio and Abdallah also moved together in another close-knit circle: diplomacy. Abdallah has represented Italy as honorary consul in Haiti for more than a decade, records show. Bigio was Israel’s honorary consul in Haiti for more than twenty years; a large Israeli flag once flew outside his home, according to media reports. The protections enjoyed by honorary consuls include the diplomat’s ability to shield certain communications and properties from searches by law enforcement officers. In 2016, according to the Pandora Papers, Bigio and his wife, Monique, used diplomatic passports to help set up an offshore company. Honorary consuls do not automatically receive diplomatic passports, but some countries provide them. And diplomatic passports can come with travel benefits, including special treatment by customs officers and police at airports. “Many of those who dominate the economy in Haiti are also honorary consuls,” said university professor Jean-Vernet. “Police won’t search their homes or their places of work because they believe them to be protected as part of the honorary consulate. They have diplomatic power.” Ben Moore, a spokesperson for Israel’s foreign ministry, said it vets the background of all its honorary consuls but declined to comment on why it had appointed those previously sanctioned by the United States. Moore said Bigio’s son, Reuven, replaced his father as honorary consul more than a decade ago. The foreign ministry in Italy told ICIJ media partner, L’Espresso, that it promptly learned of the sanctions against its honorary consul, who chose to “self-suspend” himself from the role. Italy is now seeking an honorary consul in Haiti to replace Abdallah. — International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. International Investigative Stories NewsHawks Issue 118, 10 February 2023

Page 25 The NewsHawks is published on different content platforms by the NewsHawks Digital Media which is owned by Centre for Public Interest Journalism No. 100 Nelson Mandela Avenue Beverly Court, 6th floor Harare, Zimbabwe Trustees/Directors: Beatrice Mtetwa, Raphael Khumalo, Professor Wallace Chuma, Teldah Mawarire, Doug Coltart EDITORIAL STAFF: Managing Editor: Dumisani Muleya Assistant Editor: Brezh Malaba News Editor: Owen Gagare Digital Editor: Bernard Mpofu Reporters: Brenna Matendere, Ruvimbo Muchenje, Enock Muchinjo, Jonathan Mbiriyamveka, Nathan Guma Email: [email protected] Marketing Officer: Charmaine Phiri Cell: +263 735666122 [email protected] [email protected] Subscriptions & Distribution: +263 735666122 Reaffirming the fundamental importance of freedom of expression and media freedom as the cornerstone of democracy and as a means of upholding human rights and liberties in the constitution; our mission is to hold power in its various forms and manifestations to account by exposing abuse of power and office, betrayals of public trust and corruption to ensure good governance and accountability in the public interest. CARTOON Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe The NewsHawks newspaper subscribes to the Code of Conduct that promotes truthful, accurate, fair and balanced news reporting. If we do not meet these standards, register your complaint with the Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe at No.: 34, Colenbrander Rd, Milton Park, Harare. Telephone: 024-2778096 or 024-2778006, 24Hr Complaints Line: 0772 125 659 Email: [email protected] or [email protected] WhatsApp: 0772 125 658, Twitter: @vmcz Website: www.vmcz.co.zw, Facebook: vmcz Zimbabwe AKA murder: SA a crime scene Dumisani Muleya Hawk Eye Editorial & Opinion Cdes, I'm back from a very lucrative trip to Equatorial Guinea. We're now poised for a landslide victory IN the past few days, there has been a great deal of finger pointing and soul searching over the country’s dismal Ordinary Level pass rate. Only less than 30% of candidates who sat exams last November under the Zimbabwe School Examinations Council managed to pass five or more subjects. The big question is: What happens to 70% of the candidates who fail to make it? Are they thrown into the dustbin of socio-economic decay? To gain a better understanding of what the country is dealing with, it helps to look at the full statistics. A total of 278 760 candidates sat the November 2022 'O'Level exams. 183 584 wrote five or more subjects and 53 169 passed five or more subjects. The overall pass rate is 28.96% compared to 26.34% in 2021. This is a 2.62% increase on the 2021 pass rate. It goes without saying that this pass rate is problematic. In a nation already grappling with serious problems of unemployment, drug abuse, child marriage and teen pregnancy, it must worry everyone that our education system is not giving our young people a solid foundation in life. Zimbabwe used to provide a competitive education and meaningful opportunities to young people. Those bygone days are now a distant memory. What went wrong? You do not need to be a rocket scientist to see what has happened. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4 is geared towards ensuring access to inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all by 2030. In the Zimbabwean context, is this even possible? The country's education crisis is the logical by-product of a broader economic and political malaise whose manifestations are widespread poverty, catastrophic decline in quality of life, chronic high inflation, and the impoverishment of professionals including teachers. Another way of looking at it is that Zimbabwe's education system cannot reasonably be expected to perform well in an environment characterised by dystopia. Just a few days ago, Primary and Secondary Education minister Evelyn Ndlovu told Parliament that the government lacks the money to roll out free basic learning. It amounts to a spectacular somersault. In his 2018 election campaign, President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s promised free basic education. Five years later, he is back on the campaign trail – despite a litany of unfulfilled promises. Zimbabweans need to be frank. Teachers are largely demotivated and parents are enervated by the sheer toil of survival in this tough environment. A US$150 salary cannot motivate an educator. These dedicated professionals were earning US$540 just five years ago. At schools which are recording good pass rates, you can easily see that the teaching staff are motivated, hence they do not hesitate to put in the extra hours. A lot of planning, researching and scheming goes into teaching. Study sessions are properly supervised. Policymakers are letting the country down. For decades, officials have paid lip service to the importance of striking a healthy balance between academic subjects, practicals, sports and extracurricular activities. Not all children will proceed to Advanced Level and university. Many will branch out into vocational training colleges, coding schools, entrepreneurship incubators, and sports academies. Society has an obligation to instil hope and create opportunities for the 70% of 'O' Level candidates who do not manage to pass five subjects. These children can go on to achieve their dreams. Our education needs rethink NewsHawks Issue 118, 10 February 2023

THE recent global energy supply and demand issue caused by the Russia-Ukraine situation has led to an abrupt shift toward balancing the use of available energy resources. The West has accelerated turning to renewable energy along with non-renewable sources by focusing on diversifying its energy mix. According to an International Energy Agency (IEA) report, the total amount of renewable energy added globally between 2016 and 2021 was 1 282 GW (gigawatts), and this is expected to greatly increase to around 2 400GW between 2023 and 2027. While proponents of renewable energy are pushing for greener energy sources, states like Germany and Japan are exploring ways to balance their energy mix by utilising cleaner energy sources. In Zimbabwe, non-renewable energy accounts for only 18% of power generation and renewable energy 72%; it is critical to focus on diversifying energy sources. While renewable energy is the preferred option, Zimbabwe can also consider clean energy under both renewable and non-renewable categories by focusing on cost-effective projects utilising hydro, coal, and biogas resources. Hydropower is a significant source of clean energy in Zimbabwe, and its overall contribution to electricity generation has decreased over time. The maintenance and renovation of existing hydropower facilities and infrastructure have become a challenge due to low water levels, lack of grid maintenance facilities, and alternative power reserves. However, Zimbabwe is working on various macro- and micro-hydropower projects, including the Batoka Hydropower and other mini hydropower at various dams. These initiatives demonstrate Zimbabwe’s commitment to diversifying its energy mix. Hydro power projects require a sizeable investment and, in the case of Zimbabwe, financial constraints limit the possibility of expansion in hydro. It is nonetheless important to focus on the long-term agenda and incorporate clean energy projects in sources that are widely available within the country. Coal is considered a low-cost energy source everywhere in the world and in Zimbabwe, and coal-based power production has been mainly from Hwange Power Plant. However, Hwange, the biggest coal-fired plant, was built in the 1980s and and is now proving to be costly, given dilapidated equipment and that the major coal supplier, Hwange Colliery, is struggling to stay afloat. Three other smaller coal-fired plants with capacity to add 270MW to the national grid are down. Environmentalists argue that the use of coal is hazardous to the environment. However, a working paper from the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) indicates that the world is moving towards the use of low-emission and higher-efficiency power plants. Countries such as Germany, Poland, and Japan have achieved efficiencies of 40% and above in their coal-fired power plants. China has also invested in clean coal technology by implementing the use of supercritical and ultra-supercritical plants that use carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology to decrease emissions from coal-fired power plants. Given Zimbabwe’s rich coal fields, it can generate the much-needed power using the same technology. In Hwange, there are massive investments led by the Chinese into power generation using coal. The government needs to ensure that the investors build and operate these coal-powered plants using the same technology and efficiency standards. Focus should be on plans for a power generation project through gasification aimed at cutting down on negative environmental impact. Coal gasification takes coal and turns it into something similar to natural gas. It is considered cleaner than coal because part of the process — called Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle, or IGCC— removes some of the pollutants that make coal a public health hazard. In the short term, with LNG not an accessible option due to massive European demand, nor expensive fuel imports due to forex challenges, depleted foreign reserves and a chronic circular payment issue, it is prudent to encourage and push non-industrial sectors like agriculture, offices, and residential units toward renewable energy sources — ideally solar installations. In the immediate and shortterm, utilising easily accessible indigenous energy sources like coal while adhering to strict emissions standards could offer stability for a while. Even Germany has resorted to firing up coal-powered plants as a response to sharp rises in energy prices. From a long-term point of view, the Zimbabwean government should address issues in the production, transmission, and distribution networks to enhance the efficiency of the grid. The focus should be on reducing energy imports and prioritising domestic energy resources like solar, hydro and, coal in order to produce clean energy. *About the writer: Tinashe Kaduwo is a researcher and economist. Contact: kaduwot@gmail. WhatsApp +263773376128 Towards a cleaner climate and lower import bill Econometrics HawksView Tinashe Kaduwo Hydropower is a significant source of clean energy. Page 26 New Perspectives NewsHawks Issue 118, 10 February 2023

Page 26 NewsHawks Issue 76, 15 April 2022 Business MATTERS NewsHawks CURRENCIES LAST CHANGE %CHANGE USD/JPY 109.29 +0.38 +0.35 GBP/USD 1.38 -0.014 -0.997 USD/CAD 1.229 +0.001 +0.07 USD/CHF 0.913 +0.005 +0.53 AUD/USD 0.771 -0.006 -0.76 COMMODITIES LAST CHANGE %CHANGE *OIL 63.47 -1.54 -2.37 *GOLD 1,769.5 +1.2 +0.068 *SILVER 25.94 -0.145 -0.56 *PLATINUM 1,201.6 +4 +0.33 MARKETS *COPPER 4.458 -0.029 -0.65 BERNARD MPOFU THE World Bank says confidence in the Zimbabwe dollar has waned after a new government-sanctioned survey revealed that over 70% of transactions are now being conducted in foreign currencies as rural areas also ditch the unstable domestic unit. Experts say high levels of inflation and excessive money supply growth have over the past year piled pressure on the domestic currency, prompting retailers and service providers to price goods and services in the greenback or the rand. The authorities reacted to the impeding carnage by raising policy rates and suspending payments to government contractors after accusing them of driving parallel market foreign currency transactions. Despite adopting a cocktail of measures, latest official figures from the central bank show that nearly two-thirds of domestic expenditure is now in foreign currency. According to the latest High-Frequency Telephone Survey of Households jointly conducted by the national statistical agency ZimStat, World Bank and Unicef, more than half of Zimbabweans are using foreign currency in conducting daily transactions although the country officially has a dual monetary system which gives legal effect to the Zimbabwe dollar as legal tender. The survey referred to as the Rapid PICES Monitoring Telephone Survey is based on Poverty, Income, Consumption and Expenditure Surveys (PICES) of 2017 and 2019. The initial PICES survey in 2017 covered 32 000 households from which a sample of 3 000 households was drawn for the 2019 Mini PICES Survey. From the 2 201 responding households, a sample of 1 800 households that provided contact details was drawn for the Rapid PICES Monitoring Telephone Survey. Eight rounds of the same survey were completed between July 2020 and August 2021, with the sample representative at both urban and rural areas. The survey shows that round 8 also collected data on prices and currency of transaction for key food items, namely maize-meal, cooking oil, rice, beef, and bread. At national level, more than 78% of the transactions on food purchases were in United States dollars or South African rand, while about 21% occurred in local currency (ZWL). The use of foreign currency was higher in rural areas than in urban areas. The use of USD was the highest for the purchase of beef and maize-meal. Marjorie Mpundu, World Bank country manager for Zimbabwe, told delegates attending the launch of the survey that the widespread use of foreign currency reflected declining confidence. “The data shows that people are losing trust in the local currency,” Mpundu said. “Of the five key food items – maize-meal, cooking oil, beef, rice, and brown or white bread – about 77% of the purchases were done in USD or South African rand. The use of foreign currency is more common in rural than urban areas. Rapid loss of its value means the currency cannot serve as the store of value and medium of exchange.” The study shows that the most common sources of household income were assistance from a family member within the country and wage employment accounting for 15.9% each. Non-farm family business in round 8 constituted 11.1% of household income compared to 15% in round 7. “Further, remittances from abroad constituted 6.5% in round 8, compared to 11% in round 7. Assistance from the Government accounted for 3.6% compared to 8% in round 7. Assistance from NGOs constituted 2.0% in round 8, compared to 7% in round 7,” the study shows. “The Government introduced safety nets on households to mitigate against the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. At national level, 2% of the households received Covid-19 cash transfers, 3.3% received food/grain and 0.1% received assistance from the public works programme. The proportion of households in urban areas who received Covid-19 cash transfers was 6.3% compared to 0.3% for rural households. In contrast, share of rural households who received food aid was 4.9%.” The survey collected data on availability of basic commodies such as maize-meal, cooking oil, rice, beef and bread in both rural and urban areas. “All basic commodities were readily available in urban areas with at least 95% of respondents confirming availability. In rural areas availability ranged from 52% for beef to 96% for cooking oil. The commodities that are readily available in rural rural and urban areas were cooking oil, rice and bread,” the survey shows. Confidence in Zimdollar wanes World Bank country manager for Zimbabwe Marjorie Mpundu

Page 28 Companies & Markets BERNARD MPOFU ZIMBABWE’S power utility says while electricity supplies will improve during the second half of the year in line with ramped up generation capacity at the major power stations, the country will experience more rolling blackouts in 2025 as aggregate demand for energy surges. Analysts say antiquated electricity infrastructure, decades of non-maintenance, foreign currency shortages, legacy debt, sub-economic tariffs, climate change-related factors, among other key variables, have led to erratic power supplies in Zimbabwe. In recent months, declining water levels at the country’s largest hydro-power station in Kariba and ongoing expansion works at Hwange thermal power station have triggered power cuts lasting up to 12 hours, prompting business to press the panic button. Gift Ndlovu, commercial services manager at the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) told delegates attending the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries economic symposium in Harare that electricity demand is expected to spike to 3 943 megawatts (MW) from a projected target of 2 711 MW in 2023. Ndlovu said expansion works at Hwange which were initially expected to be completed by year end 2022 will add 600MW to the national grid, thereby easing the current power outages. Above-normal rainfall expected during the current season and completion of two units at Hwange by end of March and June, Ndlovu says, will help Zimbabwe cut its power imports from regional peers such as Mozambique and South Africa. He said the power crisis is also spreading across the southern African region, with all countries, except Mozambique and Zambia, having shortfalls. “We are sitting on applications totalling 2 300MW by 2025 in terms of power required. So we need to work,” Ndlovu says. “We are guaranteed of having at least a 1 000MW coming to cover the current shortfall that we have so the second half of 2023 is looking good and we also feel that 2024 is also in safe zone in terms of our forecast, but like I told you earlier on that we are sitting on applications aggregating 2 300MW, that will certainly mean that we then start drifting towards the danger zone again as we get to 2025.” Official figures show that Zimbabwe currently has peak demand of 1 500MW against a generating capacity of 1 300MW. Independent power producers, Ndlovu says, are currently producing up to 90MW while the bulk comes from Kariba and Hwange power stations. Projected economic growth over the next few years, Zesa anticipates, will drive demand for power. Ndlovu says Zimbabwe has several renewable energy projects on the cards which the authorities hope will ease the perennial power crisis. PRISCA TSHUMA PAPER manufacturer Amalgamated Regional Trading (ART) has recorded a 3% sales volume decrease compared to the corresponding period last year, due to reduced plant availability. Export volumes fell 17%, as orders could not be met in December. Mutare Estates timber volumes declined by 29% during the period under review because focus remained on sustainability. “Value-addition and seedling projects enabled the division to maintain its revenues and profitability,” said the group. Overall volumes for batteries were 1% lower than prior year whilst export volumes fell by 13% because of product shortages. “The division was cushioned by the greater inventory holding levels which had been put in place in response to the global supply chain disruptions,” the group said. In addition, paper volumes shrank by 10% compared to last year as the projected efficiency improvements from the recapitalisation programme were delayed. The Mill relies on imported waste paper as the recovery of local collections remains slow. “The consolidation of the Mill, Waste Collection and Paper converting businesses to reduce operating costs is almost complete and will enable segment to compete on the export market where demand remains firm,” added the group. However, the Eversharp division recorded a 5% increase in volumes despite facing challenges that threatened its delivery services to the customers. “Opportunities to meet increased local demand were lost due to delays in receiving imported raw materials in December. Export orders could not be met,” ART said. Retooling of the division was completed in December and the company increased pen production capacity to avert product supply bottlenecks during peak back-to-school periods. Meanwhile, revenue increased 39% in inflation-adjusted terms from the previous year compelled by the improved local battery and pen sales notwithstanding the irregular supply gaps rising from outages in power and water provisions. Unprecedented power outages experienced during the period affected the commercialisation of the new Tissue Mill, with the delay necessitating additional support from lenders to ease the strain on the company. ART said margins remained strong, as costs had been recovered from customers ... added that increasing hard currency sales continued to provide a hedge to limit the effect of the foreign currency movements. Going forward, the group hopes the completion of ongoing capital expenditure projects would place the company in a better position to take advantage of emerging opportunities. Power crisis set to worsen ART sales fall in first quarter NewsHawks Issue 118, 10 February 2023

Companies & Markets Page 29 PRISCA TSHUMA INCREASED load-shedding due to depressed electricity generation during the third quarter ended 31 December 2022 has hampered the operations of National Tyre Services Limited. Zimbabwe’s largest distributor and retailer of new tyres and tubes suffered setbacks in its divisions owing to the increased power outages experienced in the country last year. “Revenue generation and customer service delivery were negatively affected by power outages that disrupted the Company’s re-treading factories and retail operations,” said the company. Zimbabwe, which exhausted its allocated water for hydro-power generation at Lake Kariba, has been grappling under a serious power crisis, with residential areas going for over 18 hours without electricity. Power outages had a negative impact on the company’s retail operations, causing the new tyre sales volume to drop by 1% in the third quarter of 2022 compared to Q3 2021. This also affected the cumulative performance of the company. The company's re-treading sales volume declined in the same period. “Re-treading sales volumes declined by 13% during the third quarter of 2022 compared to the same period last year as re-treading factories were severely affected by power challenges,” said the firm. The energy crisis hit the Year-to-date (YTD) performance, which stood at 118 110 from 137 669 recorded last year to date. “YTD December 2022 overall volume performance decreased by 14% compared to the prior year as the energy crisis deepened, negatively affecting demand for tyre services across our retail outlets.” Despite the challenges mentioned above, the company managed to retain business from key fleet operators from October to December 2022. “Tyre services grew by 5% during the period under review compared to the same period last year. Good workmanship improved demand for tyre services across all our branches,” the company said. PRISCA TSHUMA ZIMBABWE Stock Exchange-listed real estate investment trust (REIT), Tigere Property Fund, has declared its maiden interim dividend of US$152 577 and ZW$75 816 772 in the two months ended 31 December 2022. The REIT's dividends are a hybrid that will be paid in both US dollars and Zimbabwe dollars. In USD, 0.021 cents will be paid per unit and 10.54 cents per unit paid in ZW$. Market analyst Rufaro Hozheri said the hybrid dividends might be indicative of the rental mix of the company. “The dividend is a hybrid and, if you use a rate of 1 000, you will notice that 67% of the dividend is in the US$ portion. This might be a hint as to the rental mix of the company,” he said. “The dividend will be payable on or about the 24th of February 2023 to all shareholders of the Company registered at the close of business on 17th of February,” announced the firm. The real estate company said the performance of the assets was in line with projections and the assets would reach 100% occupancy levels within the first quarter of 2023. “The shares will be traded cum dividend on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange up to 14th of February 2023 and Ex dividend as from 15th of February 2023. The applicable shareholders’ tax will be deducted from the Gross Dividends,” added the company. The first full quarterly dividend of the firm is expected to be published after 31 March. This means that the first financial year of the company would be 14 months' long, including the two months under review, making it difficult to map out a yield on the dividends declared. Tigere Real Estate Investment Trust (Tigere REIT) made its trading debut on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) in November last year, becoming the country’s first ever REIT to list on the local bourse. Electricity outages hamper NTS Tigere REIT declares US$153 000 dividend NewsHawks Issue 118, 10 February 2023

Page 30 Companies & Markets PRISCA TSHUMA HOTELIER African Sun Limited has joined the exodus from the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) to the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange (VFEX), the company has revealed in a statement. “The Directors of African Sun Limited wish to advise all shareholders and the investing public that the Board has approved the delisting of the Company from the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, immediately followed by its listing on the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange,” said the group. African Sun Limited is a hospitality management company that is involved in the running of hotels, resorts, casinos and timeshare operations in Zimbabwe and South Africa. It operates through four divisions; hotels under management, hotels under franchise, owner-managed hotels. Three securities have migrated to VFEX from the ZSE market because of structural changes implemented on the local bourse and the favourable financial terms offered on the foreign currency bourse. African Sun’s delisting on the ZSE would bring the number of VFEX migrations to four within a year. Last month, retail enterprise Axia Corporation Limited revealed its intention to migrate to VFEX due to the financial benefits on offer. Some of the benefits include the low trading costs of 2.12% compared to 4.63% on the ZSE, which would enable the company to make savings and retain better value for the shareholders. Axia delisted on the ZSE to gain US dollar capital to assist the group in its capital expenditure, working capital requirements and regional expansion initiatives, which is in line with the company's focus this year. At the end of last year, Simbisa Brands migrated to VFEX from the ZSE and National Foods Limited also announced its exit. When Simbisa Brands announced its exit from the ZSE, VFEX gained momentum followed by National Foods Limited and other companies such as Karo Platinum and Nedbank listing on the market as well. Currently, VFEX has six counters, namely Caledonia Mining Corporation, Seed Co International, Padenga Holdings Limited, Bindura Nickel Corporation, Simbisa Brands and Nedbank Group Limited. The listing of African Sun Limited and Axia Corporation would bring the number to eight, with the access to US dollar capital the most enticing offer that VFEX has for its listed securities. African Sun joins exodus to VFEX NewsHawks Issue 118, 10 February 2023

Stock Taking Page 31 Company Sector Bloomberg Ticker Previous Price (cents) Last Traded Price VWAP (cents) Total Traded Volume Total Traded Value ($) Price Change (cents) Price Change (%) YTD (%) Market Cap ($m) AFDIS Consumer Goods AFDIS: ZH 28202.06 - 28202.06 - - - - 7.07 33,699.92 African Sun Consumer Services ASUN: ZH 4803.00 5300.00 4968.36 6,400 317,975 165.36 3.44 101.98 73,427.47 ART Industrials ARTD: ZH 2000.00 - 2000.00 - - - - 42.86 8,739.55 Ariston Consumer Services ARISTON: ZH 450.85 450.00 412.38 106,600 439,600 -38.47 -8.53 1.72 6,711.05 Axia Consumer Goods AXIA: ZH 13904.93 14105.00 14114.80 25,000 3,528,700 209.87 1.51 26.91 78,325.89 BAT Consumer Goods BAT: ZH 277300.00 - 277300.00 - - - - -0.93 57,216.74 Bridgefort Capital Industrials BFCA: ZH 800.00 - 800.00 - - - - - 96.00 Bridgefort Class B Financial Services BFCB: ZH 2600.00 - 2600.00 - - - - - 34.89 CAFCA Industrials CAFCA: ZH 26460.00 - 26460.00 - - - - 32.23 2,311.31 CBZ Banking CBZ: ZH 14500.00 16500.00 16500.00 1,000 165,000 2000.00 13.79 22.22 86,239.14 CFI Industrials CFI:ZH 49450.00 - 49450.00 - - - - 20.11 52,437.21 Dairibord Consumer Goods DZL: ZH 7611.07 8000.00 8000.00 100 8,000 388.93 5.11 128.57 28,640.07 Delta Consumer Goods DLTA: ZH 65129.10 64900.00 64915.84 267,000 173,325,300 -213.26 -0.33 80.44 847,703.24 Ecocash Technology EHZL: ZH 7056.36 7900.00 7819.78 98,100 7,671,200 763.42 10.82 95.10 202,577.44 Econet Telecommunications ECO: ZH 21855.00 21855.00 21860.02 2,252,400 492,375,100 5.02 0.02 127.06 566,300.61 Edgars Consumer Services EDGR: ZH 999.88 1085.00 1085.00 5,700 61,845 85.12 8.51 14.21 6,556.09 FBC Banking FBC: ZH 7000.00 - 7000.00 - - - - 12.90 47,036.49 Fidelity Financial Services FIDL: ZH 2400.00 - 2400.00 - - - - - 2,614.16 First Capital Banking FCA: ZH 1807.70 1900.00 1899.28 3,365,700 63,924,230 91.58 5.07 20.59 41,022.83 FML Financial Services FMHL: ZH 1905.14 1910.00 1909.97 16,000 305,595 4.83 0.25 -25.39 13,181.53 FMP Real Estate FMP: ZH 1696.31 1700.00 1700.00 15,500 263,500 3.69 0.22 41.67 21,048.67 GBH Industrials GBH: ZH 160.00 160.25 160.07 34,800 55,706 0.07 0.04 -10.74 858.92 Getbucks Financial Services GBFS: ZH 2300.00 2300.00 2300.00 100 2,300 - - 5.50 26,751.72 Hippo Consumer Goods HIPO: ZH 50700.00 50200.00 50210.90 664,500 333,651,400 -489.10 -0.96 174.98 96,917.36 Innscor Industrials INN: ZH 81508.91 81505.00 81516.75 1,197,600 976,244,600 7.84 0.01 14.22 464,544.76 Mash Real Estate MASH: ZH 709.28 750.00 700.10 100,200 701,500 -9.18 -1.29 -24.29 11,814.78 Masimba Industrials MSHL: ZH 11800.00 11800.00 11800.00 10,000 1,180,000 - - 47.58 28,515.14 Meikles Industrials MEIK: ZH 17325.00 18000.00 18090.31 22,700 4,106,500 765.31 4.42 61.52 46,338.46 Nampak Industrials NPKZ: ZH 1725.00 1860.00 1860.00 20,000 372,000 135.00 7.83 106.44 14,055.05 NTS Industrials NTS: ZH 1020.00 - 1020.00 - - - - 0.00 2,589.50 NMBZ Banking NMB: ZH 4440.00 4400.00 4400.00 2,100 92,400 -40.00 -0.90 16.81 17,783.55 OK Zim Consumer Services OKZ: ZH 5023.58 5005.00 5000.84 4,077,500 203,909,200 -22.74 -0.45 54.73 64,826.48 Proplastics Industrials PROL: ZH 6255.00 - 6255.00 - - - - 89.55 15,758.57 RTG Consumer Services RTG: ZH 1200.00 1020.00 1020.00 1,500 15,300 -180.00 -15.00 14.99 25,454.05 RioZim Basic Materials RIOZ: ZH 16000.00 - 16000.00 - - - - 14.20 19,524.72 SeedCo Consumer Goods SEED: ZH 23917.66 24000.00 23082.22 900 207,740 -835.44 -3.49 209.74 57,560.98 Star Africa Consumer Goods SACL: ZH 189.59 188.00 192.08 91,200 175,175 2.49 1.31 -9.31 9,056.73 Tanganda Consumer Goods TANG: ZH 18318.87 19320.00 18628.66 20,200 3,762,990 309.79 1.69 108.45 48,632.83 Truworths Consumer Services TRUW: ZH 280.00 280.00 280.00 600 1,680 - - 1.82 1,075.39 TSL Consumer Goods TSL: ZH 5200.00 5320.00 5320.00 10,000 532,000 120.00 2.31 20.90 19,049.69 Turnall Industrials TURN: ZH 444.25 - 444.25 - - - - 12.54 2,190.33 Unifreight Industrials UNIF: ZH 5900.00 6300.00 6300.00 1,900 119,700 400.00 6.78 21.97 6,707.88 Willdale Industrials WILD: ZH 297.47 260.00 272.14 117,500 319,760 -25.33 -8.52 51.19 4,838.65 ZB Banking ZBFH: ZH 11300.00 - 11300.00 - - - - 0.04 19,796.54 Zeco Industrials ZECO: ZH 3.31 - 3.31 - - - - 0.00 15.34 Zimpapers Consumer Services ZIMP: ZH 400.00 435.00 435.00 50,000 217,500 35.00 8.75 80.28 2,505.60 Zimplow Industrials ZIMPLOW: ZH 2800.00 3000.00 3000.00 100 3,000 200.00 7.14 76.47 10,337.41 ZHL Financial Services ZHL: ZH 900.00 900.00 909.65 105,700 961,500 9.65 1.07 73.27 16,539.43 TOTAL 12,688,600 2,269,017,996 3,209,960.20 ETFs Cass Saddle Agriculture ETF CSAG.zw 225.00 225.00 225.00 1,620 3,645 - - 25.00 81.45 Datvest Modified Consumer Staples ETF DMCS.zw 157.45 163.00 160.08 34,376 55,030 2.63 1.67 2.62 112.91 Morgan&Co Made in Zimbabwe ETF MIZ.zw 130.00 134.00 134.00 69,500 93,130 4.00 3.08 17.80 3,203.95 Morgan&Co Multi-Sector ETF MCMS.zw 2500.00 2500.00 2500.00 100 2,500 - - 8.70 3,216.83 Old Mutual ZSE Top 10 ETF OMTT.zw 833.34 900.00 887.75 59,079 524,472 54.41 6.53 37.85 1,275.03 FINSEC Old Mutual Zimbabwe Financial Services OMZIL 13500.00 - 13500.00 - - - 3.85 11,206.58 VFEX (US cents) US$m BNC Mining BIND:VX 2.14 - 2.14 - - - - -6.96 27.24 Caledonia Mining CMCL:VX 1300.00 - 1300.00 - - - - - 8.06 NatFoods Consumer Goods NTFD:VX 181.00 - 181.00 - - - - 1.32 123.80 Nedbank Financial Services NED:VX 1150.00 - 1150.00 - - - - - 1.84 Padenga Consumer Goods PHL:VX 28.65 - 28.65 - - - - 25.00 155.17 SeedCo International Consumer Goods SCIL:VX 26.00 - 26.00 - - - - -13.19 99.18 Simbisa Brands Consumer Goods SIM: VX 43.00 43.00 43.00 70 30 - - 17.49 241.74 TOTAL 70 30 657.02 REITs Tigere REIT TIG.zw 5062.00 5061.00 5061.00 9,026 456,806 -0.01 -0.02 23.50 64,413.00 Index Close Change (%) Open YTD % Top 5 Risers Price Change % YTD % ZSE All Share 29,944.34 +1.06 29,631.00 +53.61 CBZ 16500.00c +2000.00c +13.79 +22.22 Top 10 19,085.82 +1.28 18,844.57 +55.03 Ecocash 7819.78c +763.42c +10.82 +95.10 Top 15 21,136.88 +1.27 20,871.15 +57.31 Zimpapers 435.00c +35.00c +8.75 +80.28 Small Cap 518,724.23 +1.43 511,401.70 +14.75 Edgars 1085.00c +85.12c +8.51 +14.21 Medium Cap 55,596.86 +0.40 55,373.79 +51.73 Nampak 1860.00c +135.00c +7.83 +106.44 Top 5 Fallers Price Change % YTD % RTG 1020.00c -180.00c -15.00 +14.99 Ariston 412.38c -38.47c -8.53 +1.72 Willdale 272.14c -25.33c -8.52 +51.19 SeedCo 23082.22c -835.44c -3.49 +209.74 Mash 700.10c -9.18c -1.29 -24.29 Friday, 10 February 2023 A MEMBER OF FINSEC & THE ZIMBABWE STOCK EXCHANGE Price Sheet MORGAN & COMPANY has issued this document for distribution to its clients. It may not be reproduced or further distributed in whole or in part for any purpose. This document is not and should not be construed as an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase or subscribe to any investment. MORGAN & COMPANY has based this document on information obtained from sources it believes to be reliable but which it has not independently verified; MORGAN & COMPANY makes no guarantee, representation or warranty and accepts no responsibility or liability as to the accuracy or completeness of its content. Tel: (+263) 08677008101-2 | Email: [email protected] | Address: 14165 Sauer Road, Gunhill, Harare Batanai Matsika: [email protected] | Tafara Mtutu: [email protected] | Gabriel Manjonjo: [email protected] SALES & TRADING: Davide Muchengi: [email protected] | Lungani Nyamazana: [email protected] | Precious Chagwedera: [email protected] RESEARCH: NewsHawks Issue 118, 10 February 2023

Analysts said the setting up of the VFEX also helped increase the pool of assets one can invest in United States dollars and enhance currency diversification while reporting in hard currency would also make analysis easier, given Zimbabwe’s high inflation levels. The VFEX also offered tax incentives for shareholders that included a 5% withholding tax on dividends and no capital gains tax on share disposal. Shareholders would be able to retain more of their earnings compared to the ZSE. As companies began migrating to the VFEX, research firms penned several analyses on this exodus, warning that the ZSE would soon become a club for midcaps and penny stocks. Analysts predicted that   the last remaining players to use primarily the Zimbabwe dollar on the ZSE would be local pension funds, the asset managers, stockbrokers, administrators and of course their regulators, Insurance and Pensions Commission, Securities and Exchange Commission of Zimbabwe and the ZSE, all of whom receive the bulk, if not all, of their fees and revenues in local currency. Shelton Sibanda, chief investment officer at Imara Asset Management, told captains of industry that despite announcing several incentives for moving to the VFEX register, the new bourse had attracted few new listings. “Our biggest concern is that these have not been new listings; they have been coming from the ZSE. The level of cannibalisation of the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange was quite high,” Sibanda said. “To attract foreign investors is not easy and the competition out there is quite hectic. There are a lot of things that we will need to do and we have to do them properly. “Issues around policy consistency are important as well. Just last week — in the monetary policy statement — one of the incentives which had been created in order to attract companies on the VFEX which was the retention of 100% on your incremental export incentive was scrapped off so this means we will struggle to sell our story out there. We will struggle to attract foreign investors, we will struggle to attract foreign listing on the VFEX. So it is all those issues that are within our control that we will need to handle well.” Official figures show that despite a 30% odd rally in Zimbabwe dollar terms towards the end of the fourth quarter, the ZSE remained cheap in US dollar terms — worth only 40% of full-year 2021 numbers, while underlying business fundamentals have remained solid. Victor Bhoroma, an economic analyst at the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries, said the promulgation of several statutory instruments suggested that the government is regulating markets through reactionary instead of wellthought-out policy. “Remember by nature statutory instruments are emergency laws but if our country there is an increased number of laws and regulations, it means that we are more less being reactionary than being long term,” Bhoroma said. “Companies were lured to the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange by the fact that they could keep 100% of their export earnings and a few months down the line that particular policy has changed. So obviously we could do a lot by ensuring that our policies are more or less long term in nature.” Rufaro Zengeni, an investment analyst, said discrepancies between the official and parallel market rates created problems for exporters. “For me what is broken is not the retention percentage. I actually do not care whether its 40%, 25%, 1% or 100%. As long as the rate of conversion is market determined,” Zengeni said in a post MPS [Monetary Policy Statement] analysis shared on YouTube by local market intelligence research firm ZFN. “In South Africa, for example, everybody who exports is subject to 100% retention. The moment your hard currency hits your account, it's converted to rand at the prevailing rate on the day and nobody complains about this because nobody thinks that the rate is prejudicing me.” For Mangudya, reducing the threshold was a delicate balancing act for a net importer like Zimbabwe. “The foreign currency retention thresholds on exports and domestic FCAs are key to influencing export earnings and the build-up of foreign currency reserves for the country,” Mangudya said in his MPS. “The Bank always strives to set the thresholds at levels that strike a balance between the promotion of production of exports and export earnings, and the accumulation of foreign reserves. “Given these two objectives, export retention shall be increased and standardised at a level of 75% across all sectors of the economy, including firms listed on the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange (VFEX), with effect from 1 February 2023. Given this positive development, the incremental export incentive scheme is suspended for ease of administration.” BERNARD MPOFU THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)'s decision to cut foreign currency retention on export proceeds generated by companies listed on the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange (VFEX) has laid bare the country’s policy inconsistencies which may spook investors, analysts and market players have warned. Zimbabwe has over the past two decades been lagging regional peers in attracting foreign direct investment due to bad policy, corruption and red tape, among other factors. To reverse this trend, President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration announced a few policies aimed at luring capital to Harare, but some sceptics have doubted the government’s sincerity. The devaluation of Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) stocks in United States dollar terms has over the past few months triggered an exodus of listed firms from the bourse to new equities markets such as the Victoria Falls Exchange (VFEX) as companies and shareholders sought capital preservation and better returns. As a sweetener to entice more listings on the foreign currency-denominated VFEX, the government issued Exchange  Directive RV 177/2020 which attracted a handful of ZSE-listed firms to cross the floor in anticipation of rich pickings at a time the Zimbabwe dollar was fast losing value. Less than three years after the directive was announced, the central bank appears to have changed goal posts and what lies ahead may soon be a mystery for most market watchers. In his Monetary Policy Statement (MPS) announced last Thursday, RBZ governor John Mangudya said the honeymoon is over. The apex bank cut the threshold to 75% from 100%. Market watchers and economic analysts say this decision will not only retard the “great trek” to the VFEX but will make foreign investors fret. Ordinarily, exporting firms like Padenga and Seed Co migrated while mining companies like Caledonia also found it prudent to list on a platform where 100% of incremental export proceeds would be retained. Apart from the full retention of proceeds, VFEX was also widely modeled as a platform with lower trading costs compared to the ZSE. Economy paying price for policy inconsistency Page 32 News Analysis Finance and Economic Development minister Mthuli Ncube NewsHawks Issue 118, 10 February 2023

The Big Debate Page 33 Presentation of the petition on the hiking of candidate nomination fees and cost of accessing electoral information by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) with approval from the ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, submitted to the Parliament of Zimbabwe on 2 September 2022. Presented before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs on 9 February 2023. 1st Speaker-Merjury Mhlanga (IYWD-Alliance of Community Based Organisations Coordinator) The Institute for Young Women’s Development (IYWD) is an organisation founded in 2009 and is committed to mobilising and strengthening young women and women's voice and power to challenge injustice and reconstructs alternative societies centered on openness and equality. Based in Mashonaland Central province, our work is at a local, national and regional level. We have a current registered membership of over 10000 active Young Women and Women (YWW). We are here as the face of and representing these Young Women and Women we work with in Zimbabwe who are concerned about the hiking of nomination fees and the cost of accessing electoral information (maps and the voters' roll). Honourable Members of Parliament, allow me to appreciate our gratitude for the opportunity to share oral evidence on our petition regarding the hiking of nomination fees and access to the voters roll and electoral maps fees for election candidates effected by Zec and the ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs through a basket of statutory instruments, Statutory Instrument 144 and of 2022 respectively, gazetted on the 19th of August 2022. • In the office of the president, aspiring candidates  must pay US$20 000; 1 900% increase from US$1 000 • Similarly, aspiring constituency Members of Parliament must now pay US$1 000, a 1 900% increase from US$50 – including yourselves honourable MPs, should you consider to run again • Proportional Representation (PR) party lists for parliament and Provincial Councils must pay US$100. The hiking of such fees disproportionately disadvantages Young Women and Women by increasing the cost of exercising their constitutional rights to participate in electoral and decision making processes. Such a development retrogresses policy and practice progress made since the liberation struggle and grossly violates the Sadc protocol on Gender and Development, Sadc Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections, The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, The African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance to which Zimbabwe is a signatory to. Furthermore, the provisions of the Statutory Instruments are against our own CONSTITUTION. The fees are exorbitant and excludes women and PWDs [people with disabilities], a development which this grossly violates section 56 of the country’s constitution which enshrines the right to Equality and Non-Discrimination and defeats the 2030 Agenda of Leaving No one Behind. These astronomical nurture of the fees hinder access to information rights, this violates section 62 of the constitution. They further widen the existing inequalities and they can encourage corruption or yield captured leaders and further capitalism. 2nd Speaker-Kudakwashe Munemo, IYWD knowledge management, documentation and advocacy coordinator Honourable Members of Parliament, when we learnt of the gazetting of Statutory Instruments 144 and 145 respectively we came up with a Policy Commentary to ascertain the situation in other countries and conduct a comparative analysis. From a sample of 9 countries, Zimbabwe now ranks highest in terms of nomination fees required for one to stand as a candidate for the position of President. It is almost 4 times that of Zambia which is the 2nd highest and is almost 10 times that of Kenya, which is the 3rd highest, a position which shows that the gazetted nomination fees for Zimbabwe are beyond average and unreasonable given that the economy of Zambia and Kenya are performing far much better than itself. Worthy to note is the progressive nature of the nomination fees for Zambia, Kenya and Malawi which are youth, disability and gender sensitive compared to their peers despite those of Zambia still remaining in the high end. Swaziland, Angola, Mozambique, South Africa and Botswana do not require nomination fees for the presidency due to the nature of their electoral systems which allows for election of the president from parliament and/ or requires endorsement by a huge number of nominees for one to qualify as a candidate. Zimbabwe also ranks highly in terms of the required nomination fees for one to stand as a constituency Member of the Parliament, followed by Zambia, with a marginal difference. Zambia, Malawi and Kenya provide gender, youth and disability sensitive nomination fees even though Zambia and Malawi have relatively higher fees compared to Botswana and South Africa. Should you require to run for office as constituency MPs again, Honourable Members, you shall be obliged to pay US$1 000 as well. In terms of nomination fees for local government elections, Kenya, Malawi and Botswana do not require a nomination fee, to include Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe’s position on this is progressive and if adopted for the presidency, constituency Member of Parliament and proportional representation seats, will be a huge milestone in entrenching constitutional democracy and promoting participation of all, without leaving anyone behind on any aspect. The prevailing and deteriorating economic situation in the country, characterised by currency woes, paltry remuneration for those working, inflation and high levels of unemployment among others, places the gazetted nomination, voters’ roll and maps access fees beyond the reach of the majority, especially young women, men, women and PWDs who are already largely excluded from accessing, owning and controlling economic resources. Increasing the cost of participation may only yield apathy, resistance and has potential to escalate the already alarming levels of corruption and capture of policy makers and state institutions by the few elite capitalists at the expense of the general populace. From a political economy point of view, the purpose of taxation, Zec chairperson Priscilla Chigumba Young people challenge Zec's unreasonable fees NewsHawks Issue 118, 10 February 2023

Page 34 The Big Debate which is very high in Zimbabwe is to generate Revenue for use by the government, Reprice products with a negative bearing on the society, Redistribute wealth in a way that ensures young women, men, women and Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) among other citizens have access to descent socio-economic and political services and ensure their Representation by granting them the right to elect their representatives and be elected, enshrined in Section 67 of the constitution. Zimbabweans are already directly and indirectly contributing to the financial well-being of the country through the different taxes levied by the government and it is such funding which should be utilised to significantly subsidise electoral processes. Zimbabwe is a constitutional and representative democracy, governed by the constitution with elected public office officials representing the needs and aspirations of the electorate. Section 3 of the country’s constitution, Founding Values and Principles, embraces gender equality, an electoral system based on universal adult suffrage and equality of votes, free, fair and regular elections and adequate representation of the electorate and recognition of the rights of vulnerable groups to include young women, men, women and Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) among others. It is impossible to fulfil the aforementioned values and principles if the requirements for one to exercise their rights effectively takes that right away. Section 2 of the country’s constitution provides for supremacy of the constitution and renders void any law, practice, custom and conduct inconsistent with it, to the extent of the inconsistency. Therefore, setting nomination fees which may only be afforded by people in certain social classes and of a sound economic status grossly violates Section 56 of the country’s constitution which enshrines the right to Equality and Non-Discrimination and is thus constitutionally devoid. Regarding the fees to access the voters’ roll and maps, the IYWD is of the view that these will hinder the access to information rights which are provided for by the country’s constitution in terms of Section 62 and also supported by an act of Parliament, the Freedom of Information Act No. 1 of 2020. Restriction on the access to information rights limits young women’s ability to demand accountability and transparency, enjoy and defend other rights. We therefore sought to indulge the Parliament of Zimbabwe because it is endowed with the responsibility to uphold the Supreme Law of our country ensuring that the legal framework is reviewed in compliance with the provisions of the Constitution as it relates to equal representation in elected and appointed positions. Our Prayer: It is our proposal that for now, the Statutory Instruments be reversed and we revert back to the previous figures used in 2018 (US$1 000 Presidency, US$50 Constituency Member of Parliament and $0 for local authorities), subject to consultation as we have not seen any significant changes in terms of livelihoods for Young Women and Women and until we see changes in livelihoods such proposals may be then made. This PPC must ensure that any set amounts are affordable, gender, youth, and disability sensitive. We implore you to share this adverse position on the hiking of the fees in the spirit if ensuring that there is justice, in a way that allows Young Women and Women to fully exercise and enjoy their constitutional rights. Adequate funds must be appropriated to Zec in a way that totally removes or ensures that prospective candidates pay a minimal affordable fee. It is our fervent prayer and hope that this Portfolio Committee on Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs will ACT on this petition for the benefit of young women and women, youth, and Persons with Disabilities 3rd Speaker-Vongai Zimudzi, Prospective Member of Parliament and #VoteRunLead Alumni Honourable Members of Parliament, I must say that l feel so great to be here, the place l envisage to be and represent my fellow young women and women. According to Zec, I was the youngest candidate in the 2018 elections when I campaigned at the entry age of 21. Since then I have and still continue to serve my community and constituency at large. It was my hope to contest in this year's election, but the Statutory Instruments passed by Zec which dictates a US$1 000 charge for members of parliament aspirants is a hindrance. Zec is setting a precedence. A precedence that when citizens decide to exercise their constitutional rights to stand for public office, they would rather avoid the logistical nightmare of ballot paper printing by penalising us with high charges for nomination fees. At this rate if more people decide to stand for election, 2028 Zec will issue another SI pegging nomination fees at US$20 000 for MPs. What could stop them when they have done this before. This is an indication that there is no sincerity from Zec to actually uphold and support constitutional provisions. Zec through this SI is bidding our national leadership to the highest financial bidders. Capitalising our democracy really. What happens to us the majority of the populace which is unemployed even those who are employed, how many can actually afford to raise and part with US$1 000? What of those who are in the deepest parts of our rural areas but aspire to be public leaders, mari yacho inobvepi? This SI is in direct contravention of the President's vision of Agenda 2030 of not leaving anyone behind. Questions and Comments by MPs Honourable Misheck Mataranyika Politics is not a kids’ game, you might be surprised that these Honourable Members of Parliament are comfortable paying those fees. In your submissions you outlined a number of regional treaties to which Zimbabwe is a signatory. Does any of those mention a specific amount that is considered to be reasonable? You also mentioned that they are not reasonable. To you what constitutes a reasonable fee? Why is it that you are now castigating the fees for being exorbitant now and yet over the past years, you never came to us to say they are too low and must be increased? Is it because they are now beyond those of other countries? In addition, we would not want to have a situation whereby we have a whole lot of speculative candidates who may position themselves to join platforms like Polad like we saw in 2018. Advise us on how best we may avoid such a situation should we reduce the fees and costs. Response from the IYWD Presenters-Kudakwashe Munemo Honourable chair, it would be unethical for public leaders to just pass practices that benefit the now whilst compromising not only our much-cherished democratic principles but also the future of national leadership. The mentioned regional treaties to which Zimbabwe is a signatory do not mention a specific figure. A reasonable fee is subjective and, in our view, it is one which takes into account key indicators such as the economic realities that the country finds itself in, consultations and input from the general populace and do not hinder young women and women from fully exercising their rights. Since 2018, there has not been any significant economic development to warrant the increases. When the previous fees were reasonable, we actually applauded such a position as we have done regarding the local authorities' election nil fees which we have qualified as progressive and must be spread across in order to entrench democracy. The issue of many political candidates is a constitutional issue. The constitution provides for multi-party democracy and participation. However, there are other methods used in countries like Mozambique, where the basis for ensuring candidates are committed to the process is through the number of nominees and not necessarily on financial grounds. Honourable Wellington Chikombo: I totally agree with the petitioners, their issue has been an issue of concern since the gazetting  of the statutory instruments last year and does undermine our democracy given people had to be engaged in a protracted liberation struggle just to ensure that there is the right to vote and be voted for. Given your clear analysis, evidence and facts, l would want to inquire if you have approached the courts. Response from the IYWD presenter Vongai Zimudzi: Honourable Chikombo, yes we have approached the courts, but unfortunately the matter has been put on hold, an indication which doesn't inspire much confidence, especially with the limited timeframes. Thus we are coming to you as the last resort. Honourable Dubeko Sibanda: I would like to concur with the petitioners, they have a strong case before us. Firstly, let me invite them to come to Binga North and identify young women and women to stand as candidates. Do you think that your prayer may be acted on before the elections, in particular your call for a Gender Equality Act. Response from IYWD presenters Kudakwashe Munemo: Thank you, honourable. For the invite, we are there and we will continue to work in Binga and hopefully you will provide a conducive environment for young women and women to participate. It is my pleasure to share with you, Honourable Members, that we took a progressive step way back, consulted our membership and developed a Model Gender Equality Bill which we would be pleased to share with yourselves to inform and influence policy formulation. It might not be yesterday or today but we are convinced that in our lifetime, near lifetime, it is very possible if we all invest in this. Honourable Innocent Gonese: I note that you have a number of prayers, what specific task do you want us to deal with as Parliament, what aspect of the Electoral Act must we amend? Response from IYWD presenter Merjury Mhlanga: Honourable Members of Parliament, our prayer is for you to issue an adverse report and facilitate repeal of Statutory Instruments 144 and 145 of 2022 respectively, given that the ministry of Justice , Legal and Parliamentary Affairs which Zec worked with is within your purview. Honourable Misheck Mataranyika (chair): At this point, we would like to thank our petitioners, the Institute for Young Women’s Development (IYWD). We will have a discussion as a committee and come up with a report and we will keep you updated on the developments. NewsHawks Issue 118, 10 February 2023

Critical Thinking Page 35 ZIMCODD THIS week, the minister of Finance, Professor Mthuli Ncube, revealed through General Notice 131B of 2023 that the government of Zimbabwe entered into a loan agreement with Fossil Mines (Pvt) Ltd on 6 December 2021. The two parties signed an US$88 million loan for the sole purpose of funding the construction of the Mbudzi Interchange and Divergence Routes Road Infrastructure project. This loan has a grace period of nine months with the final maturity date 6 June 2025 and a loan interest rate using the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor) plus 5% per annum. According to the General Notice, the loan financier (Fossil Mines) shall oversee the implementation of the Project and disburse funds directly towards the implementation of the Project. As is usual, questions and concerns have risen around the Project including the cost, parallel funding through the International Monetary Fund Special Drawing Rights, contractors involved, parliamentary involvement (orlack thereof) and value for money (VFM) audits. Of concern The project cost The idea of the Mbudzi Interchange was mooted after years of disturbing traffic congestion at the intersection of major roads High Glen, Simon Mazorodze and Chitungwiza. As such, the project was long overdue to remedy the dire situation. However, its cost has raised pertinent questions in the public domain when it is compared to the cost of other regional interchanges of great magnitude than the Project. In defending the price tag, the government highlighted that the quoted US$88m comprises US$65m for the project structure and US$23m for works including costs of relocation, creation of detours, geo-tech surveys, royalties and professional fees. While one needs more information to dispute the project cost, overcharging of the government by its contractors and suppliers is not a new phenomenon in Zimbabwe. Prevailing weak public financial management systems are fuelling corrupt activities and solidifying price distortions. To note as below, in 2022 all government road rehabilitation projects in the Midlands province were put on hold pending value-for-money audits due to this crisis. Value for money audits The government confirmed that the project had followed the dictates of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act which include value for money, integrity, fairness, competitiveness, accountability and transparency. However, it is difficult to presume the project had considered maximisation of value for money for taxpayers, given that a sister company of the project financier, Fossil Contracting, is part of the TEFOMA Consortium working on the project. Also, it is alleged that the project financier is linked to Kudakwashe Tagwirei, who is on the United States sanctions list on the accusation of capturing the government and profiteering on illegal government tenders. As such, it is difficult to rule out economies of affection in the awarding of the tender for this project. Parliament involvement The constitution of Zimbabwe and the Public Debt Management Act toMurky Mbudzi Interchange deal raises lots of questions gether with other statutes provide for the full involvement of Parliament in the contraction of debt by the Treasury. However, over the years, the august House has been relegated by the executive branch and is failing to perform it is constitutional mandate. For instance, it was revealed in 2021 that Treasury incurred a cumulative budget overrun of over ZW$100 billion in 2019 and 2020, expenditures that occurred outside parliamentary approval. It is highly unlikely that Parliament was consulted when the government entered into a loan agreement with Fossil Mines. The mere fact that the General Notice has been publicised over a year after the contraction of this debt is an indicator of that impunity in itself and that exclusion of Parliament has become the norm. For instance, in 2002 the government mortgaged about 22 million ounces of platinum reserves in exchange for a US$200m loan from China. These details were revealed by Treasury in 2022. Special Drawing Rights When the country received over US$960m worth of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) from the IMF in 2021, Treasury promised and delivered their SDR funds draw-down plan. The plan had shown that all of the US$144m SDR funds set aside for the transport sector were fully withdrawn in 2021. Intriguingly, the Mbudzi Interchange project was part of the cost centres for the Transport ministry. Now the General Notice has shown that the deal between the government and Fossil Mines occurred in December 2021. This raises questions about the authenticity of the details in the notice. If it is the case that the Mbudzi Interchange project ended up being crowded out by other demands at the Transport ministry, at least the public should have been notified for the sake of transparency and accountability. There is a need to audit the use of SDR funds to ascertain if these funds were used for the government’s intended purposes listed on a plan which was shared with Parliament. Interest payment The grace period of the loan of nine months given to the government is lucrative. A grace period can be defined as a period after the due debt during which payment may be made without a penalty. During this grace period, no penalties are charged and the delay cannot result in default or cancellation of the loan. Nevertheless, forgetting the principal repayment totalling a staggering US$88m to be paid at maturity in 2025, the loan interest to be paid per annum alone is fiscally unsustainable. At the current Libor rate of about 5.4% “plus 5%”, it means that the loan interest rate for 2023 is effectively 10.4% (US$9.2m). Over a fouryear tenure, Treasury will likely pay Fossil Mines at least US$35m as loan interest. This is a huge amount that could otherwise transform the dilapidating social sector. It should not go unnoticed that the government is expecting to float a US$100m domestic bond, an external loan facility from Afreximbank of about US$400m, and ZW$82.8 billion Treasury Bills to help fund the projected 2023 budget deficit. These loans will also carry an interest rate. Reality of public debt As stated above, Fossil Mines is guaranteed to make a minimum of US$35m over four years. Pending provision of full details by the government on how the SDR facility and Fossil loan are both financing the project, concern over the interest rate and consequent losses are valid. What could US$35m do for citizens? In a country struggling to provide basics such as paracetamol in hospitals, it could go a long way. Zimbabwe has five radiotherapy machines and all are not functional right now. The cost of one is between US$2m to US$3m. Hence, this amount could purchase more than 10 life-saving machines. Sinking a borehole costs an average of US$2 500. ...Continued on next page The idea of the Mbudzi Interchange was mooted after years of disturbing traffic congestion at the intersection of major roads High Glen, Simon Mazorodze and Chitungwiza. NewsHawks Issue 118, 10 February 2023

Page 36 Critical Thinking From previous page The Mbudzi project amount could sink 14 000 boreholes, solving the water crisis for rural populations. Following, there is a need for government to do the needful on the murky details of this debt as the burden to pay back lies with citizens. Conclusion Zimbabwe has debt in arrears which are attracting interest and penalties despite the government's efforts to extend token payments to creditors. Treasury debt figures show that as of the end of September 2022, the total debt stock stood at about US$17.6 billion inclusive of US$6.32 billion in arrears and penalties. Zimbabwe's public debt is rising at a time the global financial markets are tightening as major central banks have declared war on inflation. Consequently, the rising interest rates will exert enormous pressure on borrowing and debt servicing costs. The debt burden will probably plunge Zimbabwe into debt default, thus forcing the nation to use its minerals for loan repayment. This happened when the government mortgaged its gold and nickel to pay a US$226m Trafigura fuel debt. With the financier already in the mining sector, the government may be tempted to offer mining concessions to settle its loan at maturity. This promotes unsustainable mining activities which disproportionately affects mining host communities through forced displacements and invasion of farms and communal land. Debt audit Zimbabwe’s current official public debt standing (US$17.6 billion) is unsustainable. The thorn in the side, however, is that citizens are unaware of who borrowed and for what use. There is a need for an audit to ascertain where the money went and, where it is illegitimate, those responsible must account. Parliamentary oversight There is growing impunity in debt contraction shown by the sidestepping of Parliament’s right to oversee the executive. This upset of democratic checks and balances has a cost in monetary terms and lived livelihood realities of citizens. Parliament should diligently increase its oversight role on behalf of citizens starting with punitive measures for ministries/ministers sidelining this necessary constitutional dictate. Mandatory value-for-money audits The government’s track record on public deals is worrisome and presents serious losses to the fiscus. Mandatory value-for-money audits should be conducted on all projects, especially the "mega deals". *About the writer: The Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (Zimcodd) is a socio-economic justice coalition established in February 2000 to facilitate citizens' involvement in making public policy more pro-people and pro-poor.  Murky Mbudzi Interchange deal raises lots of questions REMADJI HOINATHY LEADERS of East African countries meeting in Burundi’s capital Bujumbura on 4 February again called for an immediate ceasefire in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) conflict. The region was plunged into violence after the M23 rebel group relaunched its offensives in March 2022. As diplomatic relations between neighbouring countries worsened, the East African Community brokered the Nairobi Process in November 2022. It is one of two recent efforts to address the crisis — the other being the Luanda Process. The two initiatives have different but complementary formats. While Nairobi focuses on armed groups, Luanda addresses the DRC-Rwanda political dimensions — a reminder of the 2013 Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework for the DRC and the region, which has not been implemented. The Nairobi Process calls for an immediate ceasefire, the repatriation of foreign militaries, and adherence by local armed groups to the newly established Disarmament, Demobilisation, Community Recovery and Stabilisation Programme. It authorises the deployment of a regional force in eastern DRC to confront those who do not heed the disarmament call. The November 2022 Luanda mini-summit was attended by the presidents of Angola, the DRC and South Sudan. Rwanda’s representation by its foreign affairs minister instead of president Paul Kagame could have been interpreted as a lack of prioritisation by that country. Luanda endorsed the Nairobi decisions and demanded an end to hostilities by 25 November 2022, the withdrawal of M23 and other armed movements, and the deployment of the East African regional force. The meeting also insisted on ending support to rebels and normalising diplomatic relations. Before this, the July 2022 Angola, DRC and Rwanda tripartite  summit  had signed the Luanda roadmap for peace in eastern DRC. Most of the points later adopted in Nairobi and Luanda were discussed at the July meeting, indicating a flurry of resolutions with not enough follow-through. As negotiations continued, so did the fighting. M23 gained more territory, with little resistance from the Armed Forces of the DRC (FARDC). Apart from M23, many other groups remain active and are used as proxies by the DRC and its neighbours. Given Rwanda’s alleged  support  of M23, and the challenges facing DRC’s defence forces, a ceasefire in the immediate future isn’t likely. Since November 2022, atrocities committed by various groups have continued in North and South Kivu and Ituri provinces. Reports of Eastern European  mercenaries complicate the volatile situation. The Kenyan contingent of the East African force was deployed to Goma as planned. Occupied areas in Rutshuru are also anticipated to come under its control. Some 600 Burundian troops are in place, while 750 South Sudanese are expected. Rwandan officers are also part of this force — and not surprisingly, the DRC has demanded their immediate withdrawal. Despite the initial Kenyan deployment, the situation in the east remains volatile. Although M23 said it would withdraw from Kibumba town in December 2022 and the Rumangabo military camp (Rutshuru territory) on 5 January, there are signs that it remains. The 4 February Nairobi communiqué confirms that the regional troops will, if necessary, use force to guarantee the withdrawal of M23 and other negative forces. But on the ground, there has been no military pressure on the armed groups, prompting three days of civil society protest. This echoes the frustrations of citizens who criticise the United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Monusco) for not improving security in over a decade. One issue hampering the East African force’s effectiveness is its controversial composition. The DRC government was publicly opposed to Rwanda’s participation. Some Congolese politicians are sceptical about Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi’s involvement due to their past record in the DRC. In Uganda’s case, that includes being ordered by the International Criminal Court to pay reparation for crimes committed in the DRC. South Sudan’s participation is also questionable as the country faces recurrent internal security threats and dire economic problems. Mobilising troops and finance for their deployment abroad is a challenge. So for locals and some DRC politicians, the East African force lacks legitimacy. Even more complex is the force’s collaboration with Monusco. The UN faces a legitimacy problem manifested in local hostility towards it. At the same time, the DRC government has used local and foreign rebels, providing Rwanda with an excuse to support M23. The situation shows the limits of both the Nairobi and Luanda processes. Apart from perennial implementation challenges facing East African initiatives, neither military pressure nor the proliferation of peace deals will solve the region’s problems. Ad hoc solutions are also not the answer. All this questions the achievements of DRC peacebuilding processes over the past two decades — particularly on security sector reform. And it raises doubts about the ability of organisations such as the East African Community, an economic bloc, to mediate and resolve conflicts. The DRC’s complex conflicts are deeply rooted in historical, local, national and regional grievances. The current crisis requires immediate responses that are well-coordinated and aligned. The African Union, United Nations and other key external partners must help the East African Community to find peace. The international community should re-evaluate the DRC’s security sector reform and the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration processes. Most important — pressure must be put on the DRC government to break ranks with armed groups, and on the Rwandan government to end its support of M23. Monusc also has a role to play, according to its mandate that was renewed in December 2022. — ISS. *About the writer: Remadji Hoinathy is senior researcher on Central Africa and the Great Lakes at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) in Pretoria, South Africa. How the eastern DRC peace processes falter Kenya's President William Ruto launches the third inter-Congolese dialogue in Nairobi. Deteriorating security in the Democratic Republic of the Congo raises questions about the Nairobi and Luanda processes. NewsHawks Issue 118, 10 February 2023

Critical Thinking Page 37 the scheme has its galaxy of challenges caused by lack of adequate medical consumables. Gandure (2009) remarked that shortage of all categories of medical drugs including inadequate vaccines for the six child killer diseases is the major drawback for the programme. This is probably so because of insufficient government funding.  Weighing in on the inadequacy of this programme, World Health Organisation (2019) argues that the shortage of doctors and medical drugs including inadequate vaccines for children makes free treatment orders an ineffective social protection service for orphans and vulnerable children seeking medical help. Moreover, the number of undeserving cases has been rising showing that the system is subject to abuse and manipulation. These free treatment measures are not in any way beneficial to members of the African independent churches (AICs) in general and the Johanne Marange Apostolic Church (JMAC) in particular, because they tend not to visit these institutions. The JMAC theology vehemently teaches against secular treatment in favour of their Labauma, varapi, meaning, men assigned by the church to provide faith-healing. The concept of faith-healing is at the core of the JMAC teaching that its congregants are mandated to take a vow popularly known as chitsidzo that under whatever circumstance or illness, they will never visit a hospital. Under this oath, guardians pledge not to send their children to hospital and in order to find solace in the death of their children, children are defined as zvidhinha, meaning bricks. They are bricks in the sense that if it breaks, one throws it away and moulds another. Parents are not allowed to cry over the death of their minors resulting in underlying conditions like post-traumatic disorders, blood pressure and lack of self-esteem. These is no universal application of government programmes, especially on closed societies like AICs and the JMAC in particular. In accordance with children’s rights as enshrined in the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No 20) Act of 2013, children have the right to shelter. Children have specific needs and failure to meet them jeopardizes their development and deprives them in their capabilities (Sen: 1999). Shelter is one of the key areas that need to be addressed for children to be effectively protected. As such, the government of Zimbabwe through the Department of Social Welfare provides financial support and accommodation for the maintenance of disabled, homeless and delinquent Free treatment orders and global treaties MATTHEW MARE THE right to health is recognised by international treaties as well as other declarations as articulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to which Zimbabwe is a signatory. Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights provides for the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health conducive to living a life of dignity (Unicef: 2018). This means that healthcare facilities, goods and services have to be available in sufficient quantity and must be physically and economically accessible to everyone (Chikova: 2017). This obligation requires that the state facilitates and implements legislative and other measures to ensure everyone has access to health. The state is also obligated to formulate a national health policy with detailed plans on how to achieve the health for all goal. Taking heed to its obligation, the Zimbabwean government through the Ministry of Health and Child Care, ensures that everyone’s right to healthcare services, including reproductive healthcare, is realised. As such, in 2012 the government introduced the Free Treatment Orders as a way of ensuring that citizens are subjected to equal opportunity in enjoying the highest attainable level of health. Free treatment order is assistance waiver or voucher issued to poverty-stricken persons to facilitate access to intermediate and tertiary health services such as provincial or national government hospitals. The fund is there to provide free medical services to the economically deprived children. Unicef (2018) states that Zimbabwe has addressed the right of children to health through Free Treatment of Children in public hospitals through antenatal care for pregnant mothers and the provision of free immunisation of children in schools for such diseases as tuberculosis, human papilloma virus, measles, rubella (eight mandatory immunisation’s). Immunisation protects children from exposure to pandemics that are globally common to children. This enables children to have increased chances of survival, establishing the right to life and right to health. Assessment of the need is done by the Department of Social Welfare in collaboration with a qualified government social worker. The voucher covers the cost of treatment in hospital and subsequent check-ups for a period whose duration varies depending on the nature of illness (Chikova: 2017). Health institutions receive grants from the ministry of Labour and Social Services to settle claims for all assisted treatment orders redeemed at the Department of Social Welfare to facilitate health delivery for the very poor. However, it is worth noting that children. The government through the Department of Social Welfare provides financial support to children in institutions that are registered by the Department of Social Welfare in terms of Part V of the Children`s Act (Gandure: 2009). It is the duty of the Department of Social Welfare to enrol, supervise and administer these institutions. Children to be housed in these institutions are selected on a needy basis as well as recommendations by the courts as they are regarded as the upper guardian of all minors. The study noted that children in JMAC are overcrowded and without enough essential needs. Some children in JMAC live like they are in squatter camps, especially those poor families with big families of perhaps 80 children all living in one compound. With the government seeking to achieve a middle-income economy by 2030, the livelihoods concern in JMAC must be addressed as a matter of urgency. While the government had put in place measures meant to alleviate the rights of children through an array of programmes, the impact of such is yet to be felt in AICs and JMAC in particular. The ministry of Social Welfare is only dealing with children who are formally registered with them. Most of the children in JMAC do not have birth records as JMAC members shun hospitals and its related entities. The government must put in place measures to make it mandatory for a child to have a birth record and any theology that teaches contrary messages must be repealed at the instigation of the state. The other challenge relates to the laws governing public funds which demand accountability, monitoring and evaluation, yet these are not possible when dealing with closed societies. This exposes the limitations of some government initiatives in that they are not sector specific and grounded. The government as the steward of children’s rights is yet to deal with errant churches that put in place doctrines that bar vulnerable children from benefitting from government programmes.  Churches in the past used to be places where social security of children and the vulnerable was guaranteed, especially Western-founded churches. With the rise in wayward behaviour by churches, the government must closely monitor the activities of the church. Churches ought to be agents for development and social protection and not subjects of human rights violations, as is the case in JMAC. *About the writer: Matthew Mare is a Zimbabwean academic who holds two bachelor’s degrees, five master’s qualifications and a PhD. He is also doing another PhD and has 12 executive certificates in different fields. Professionally, he is a civil servant and also board member at the National Aids Council of Zimbabwe. NewsHawks Issue 118, 10 February 2023

Reframing Issues PROSPER S. MAGUCHU THE Corruption Perception Index (CPI) released this week by global anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International delves into the correlation between corruption and insecurity, and ranks states on their performance in 2022. In the CPI analysis of regional trends, sub-Saharan Africa has once again retained its position as the most corrupt region in the world. The majority of the countries in Africa (precisely 44 out of 49) in this year’s index fall below the midpoint of the CPI scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). The regional average is a paltry 32 against the global average score of 43, indicating endemic corruption in the continent’s public sector. Low-scoring countries (orange and red in the map below) by far outnumbered top-scoring countries in yellow, an indication that African citizens face the tangible effect of corruption on a daily basis. Another survey, this time by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, of the armed conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa provides insights regarding salient regional dynamics of the top 10 countries most affected by conflict and insecurity all in Africa. A number of coups were staged from 2020 to 2022, with multiple regional and identity-based conflicts taking place elsewhere in the continent. Moreover, the socioeconomic and fiscal fallout of the coronavirus pandemic and the geopolitical and geoeconomic ramifications of the war in Ukraine threaten food security on the continent, further complicating the regional outlook for peace. When seen through this lens conflicts become one dimensional, when in reality they are a messy and complicated mix of political, social, economic, and cultural factors. International dimension of African conflicts  Before we condemn Africa as the black sheep of the world, it is important to understand the international dimension of conflicts on the continent and examine Western rationales that drive it. I have no sympathy for African despots: treasuries are treated as a personal piggy bank, public officials take bribes and elections are rigged. This is publicly known. This opinion acknowledges a strong interface between corruption and conflict. Nonetheless, for a number of reasons, this relationship must be understood within the continuing context of geopolitics. There is a concerning trend in sub-Saharan Africa of the internationalisation of internal armed conflicts, including civil wars. Over the past decade, the region has become fertile terrain for geopolitical competition among great powers and for further penetration by middle powers. For instance, 12 so-called internationalised-internal conflicts (civil wars with external intervention by a state) were recorded in the two decades between 1991 and 2010. In the following 11-year period (2011–21), 27 such conflicts were recorded. Most of these conflicts were recurring. In 2021, there were 17 internationalised civil wars in sub-Saharan Africa — more than twice the number of internal conflicts without external intervention. Most African states have lost the capacity to decide when they wage or end wars, and recurring rebellion and large-scale banditry now defines a state of chronic instability and insecurity rather than war. And yet wars may be intentionally prolonged by belligerents through corrupt practices related to defence contracts and through corruption. Need for deeper analysis  That conflict and insecurity can cause corruption is common knowledge. And while the link between African conflicts and international actors is only slowly starting to unravel, it remains less obvious how those states that are involved in conflicts in Africa can maintain their places high on the list of clean countries on indexes such as the CPI. Western states involved in African conflicts (with the exception of Russia and Turkey already involved in their own conflicts with Ukraine and the Kurds respectively) have earned higher ranking status on the CPI. The United States, United Kingdom, France and Italy were perceived favourably in the CPI. Some scholars believe the CPI, although presented with an aura of impartiality and ostensibly as an apolitical project, masks a series of deep and abiding controversies and debates relating to the proper place of social and cultural factors in the international anti-corruption industry. Beyond the controversies and critical discourse of the CPI, the second factor key to understanding the reason Africa is perceived as the most corrupt continent is found in the notion of conflict itself. While this year’s CPI report treats conflict as a time-bound rapture, it does not look at the deep and complex political and historical roots of conflict. For instance, how the absence of corruption on the rebelling side can foster its capacity and popular support (for example, the Eritrean Tigray People’s Liberation Front at its beginning). Nor does it take into consideration conflict between those enjoying the status quo and those who want reforms. An example would be the ongoing backlash against French soldiers in Mali and Burkina Faso, which can also be understood as an antidote to corruption given that six decades have passed since most of France’s African colonies gained their independence. And yet France has intervened militarily more than 50 times on the continent, including dispatching troops to protect dictators.  The roots of the conflict lie in the historical argument that economists  Adam Smith  and  Edmund Burke  put at the forefront — colonial expansion as the very source of corruption. But also as academic Bartolomé  Yun-Casalilla  declared as recently as 2021, the early-modern Spanish empire serves as a good case in point: traditionally seen as one of the most corrupt empires of the period, it is argued that — in reality — all empires encountered the same phenomenon in one form or another. It would be useful to have a deeper analysis of conflict, violence and corruption.  Key takeaway The principal contention of this opinion is that if the dynamics that produced conflict and insecurity in Africa are poorly understood, creating a distorted narrative of the corruption-conflict nexus that relegates the role of international actors to the background, may in turn limit and skew the range of policies imagined to be necessary to address the problem. Grounding the fight against corruption in such misconceptions would be one way of helping to push the scepticism against corruption measurement indices. And that the leading instrument for asserting the state of corruption or non-corruption, the CPI, should be subjected to scholarly scrutiny, deconstruction and critical analysis. There is an urgent need to decolonise the anti-corruption policy and the socalled anti-corruption industry. — Mail & Guardian. *About the writer: Dr Prosper Maguchu is currently  visiting associate professor at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the Netherlands. He is the international coordinator for the Anti-Corruption Act Southern Africa. Previously, he worked as a senior projects lawyer with the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum. Sub-Saharan Africa world’s most corrupt region, but conflict and corruption are linked Page 38 NewsHawks Issue 118, 10 February 2023

CRAIG MOFFAT DURING a previous African Governance Architecture meeting, the African Peer Review Mechanism chief executive, Professor Eddy Maloka, called for the continent to be robust and frank when dealing with governance matters. He shared his concern about the deteriorating trend in governance in Africa and called on the African Union (AU) to find ways to address this serious matter.  According to  studies, Africa is grappling with democratic backsliding. In 1985 there were only three democracies while there were 42 authoritarian regimes on the continent. By 2015, the number of democracies had reached 22. However, democratic backsliding saw the number shrink to 18 democracies compared with 19 authoritarian regimes and 13 hybrid ones in 2020. This trend appears to have gained a footing in some countries as certain presidents have sought to manipulate their prescribed term limits and alter their constitution to extend their term in office. This is unfortunate as it threatens to undermine the expansion and promotion of democracy and good governance across the continent. The expansion of democratic norms has been a positive trend that has taken root in many African countries. While most African countries have presidential term limits crafted into their constitutions, this has not deterred some presidents from seeking to manipulate the legal process. According to data from the Open Society for Southern Africa (Osisa), between April 2000 to July 2018, term limits were changed 47 times in 28 countries, with at least six failed attempted changes. In 23 cases, spread over 19 countries, the changes strengthened term limits by introducing or imposing stricter temporal boundaries on presidential mandates, but in 24 instances in 18 countries, the temporal restrictions on holding presidential office were removed or loosened. Term limits remain crucial for the promotion of democracy and good governance as they are important safeguard measures to prevent tyranny and to guarantee the peaceful political transition from one elected president to the next. This safeguarding measure and peaceful political transition are the cornerstones for any healthy democratic state. Results from an  Afrobarometer  survey  found that citizens are in favour of presidential term limits.  Across 34 countries, an average of 76% favour limiting their presidents to two terms, including a majority (54%) who “strongly” support this rule. Presidential term limits manipulation in action Nevertheless, changes in term limits on the continent have been executed in four different ways which include:  Firstly, the amendments extended the length of presidential terms of office: from five to seven years as is the case in Guinea (2001), the Democratic Republic of Congo (2002), Rwanda (2003) and Burundi (2018); and from five to six years in Chad (2018). Presidential terms were also extended in instances of intra-state conflict and capacity problems when elections were postponed in South Sudan (2015 and 2018) and the DRC (2016).  Secondly, changes increased the number of terms a person may hold presidential office, from two to three terms in the DRC (2015).  Thirdly, changes were made to reset the presidential term clock for the incumbent president, as seen in Zimbabwe (2013), the DRC (2015) and Rwanda (2015), where the incumbents had reached their absolute term limits but could argue that a new or revised constitution allowed them to start with fresh mandates unrestricted by previous constitutional limits.  Fourthly, term limits were removed altogether in Guinea (2001), Togo (2002), Tunisia (2002), Gabon (2003), Chad (2005), Uganda (2005), Algeria (2008), Cameroon (2008), Niger (2009) and Djibouti (2010). Continental responses and way forward Criticism  has been levelled at the AU that the organisation does not do enough when presidents tamper with term limits. However, the AU in a pre-emptive measure to deter authoritarian leaders from attempting to alter their term limits, formulated the  African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance.  The Charter, after much campaigning and support from civil society, came into existence in 2012 after the required number of countries ratified it. The document is important as it has comprehensive provisions for the promotion of the rule of law, the respect for human rights and the holding of democratic elections “to institutionalise legitimate authority of representative government as well as democratic changes of government”. Additionally, it binds signatories to best practices in the management of elections; and crucially acknowledges that unconstitutional changes of government are “a threat to stability, peace, security and development”. The AU should be commended for committing AU member states to refrain from the “amendment or revision of the constitution or legal instruments, which is an infringement on the principles of democratic change of government” as one of the “illegal means of accessing or maintaining power” by having these phrases included in the Charter. Nonetheless, some critics have argued that this approach was a compromise following the rejection of a proposal to specifically impose a twoterm limit across the continent. If the Charter is to be a true benchmark for African governance, adopted by member states, the AU and the African leaders should be firm and decisive in their response to malevolent leaders who attempt to, and succeed, in altering their constitutions to remain in power after their term has been completed. The adoption of the Charter has been  described  as “a new dawn for democracy and the rule of law in Africa”, but if it is to fulfil this mission more should be done in formulating adequate response measures towards leaders seeking to alter their term limits. For this to be the true benchmark for African governance, the AU as the continental governance custodian and its member states should be more proactive, when necessary, in calling leaders who change their constitutions to stay in power to account. This article has attempted to respond to Maloka’s call by encouraging frank and robust discussions on some of the governance concerns affecting the continent. Evidently there is a need for deeper analysis and the formulation and implementation of relevant collective policy responses aimed at promoting democracy, good governance, and respect for human rights.  The following are some considerations for African policymakers: Policy considerations With several African countries set to head to the polls in 2023, protecting civil rights and democratic processes should be treated as a critical issue by member states and regional organisations in upholding Africa’s democratic gains.   AU member states should be cautioned against manipulating public crises as a political means to extend their stay in office.  Sanctions on leaders who unconstitutionally extend their stay in office should be decisive to avoid mixed messages that may inadvertently encourage others to do the same. The AU should be firm on response measures to presidential term abusers with the support of the RECs and member states. — Mail & Guardian. *About the writer: Dr Craig Moffat is head of the Governance Delivery and Impact programme at Good Governance Africa, a non-profit organisation focused on researching, advocating and improving governance across the continent. African Peer Review Mechanism chief executive Professor Eddy Maloka Africa democracy regression alarming NewsHawks Reframing Issues Page 39 Issue 118, 10 February 2023

JUKKA PIRTTILÄ/ MARI KANGASNIEMI OVER  half  of Zambia’s population lived below the national poverty line in 2015. In rural areas, where 89% of households are engaged in agriculture, the poverty rate was even higher, at 77% of the population. The government runs several programmes of financial support for farmers. Some provide agricultural inputs directly to households. Agricultural input subsidies can encourage adoption of modern inputs like fertilisers, improved seeds or agro-chemicals, by making them more affordable. Input subsidies can be price-based, packages of inputs or input vouchers provided at a subsidised cost to eligible farmers. There is a vast body of  research  showing that these policies can raise farm outputs and incomes. But there are also reservations concerning their effectiveness. Low and middle-income countries, including in Africa, also have other transfer policies that may be more effective in reaching the poor. They can also lead to improved agricultural production, as is the case with social cash transfer programmes. Agricultural input subsidies represent a transfer of income to the targeted households. But eligibility criteria – such as requiring minimum farm sizes or membership of farming cooperatives – may reduce the likelihood of such support reaching the poorest farmers. Price-based subsidies offer the greatest benefit to people who farm on a bigger scale. Tax instruments are needed to fund inputs provided to farmers and cash transfers to households. But they, too, have impacts on poverty and inequality. That is why a comprehensive assessment of agricultural policies as a part of the broader tax-benefit system is needed. Our study To fill this gap, we used  tax-benefit microsimulation   to assess the distributional impacts of agricultural policies in Zambia. The tax-benefit microsimulation model for Zambia,  MicroZAMOD, enables policymakers and researchers to analyse and compare the effects of different benefit policy scenarios on poverty, inequality and government revenues. The earlier version of the model was expanded by us to better capture the main impacts of agricultural policies on household incomes. The results show that Zambian agricultural policies reduce the share of households whose consumption falls below the poverty line by 3–5 percentage points. Although this does not solves the poverty problem in the country, it is still a sizeable effect among developing countries. The magnitude of poverty reduction depends on whether only the policies’ direct impacts are considered, or also behavioural impacts that lead to changes in agricultural production. We also examined whether it was possible to reach similar poverty Page 40 Reframing Issues Direct support to small-scale farmers reduces poverty — What Zambia govt is doing right Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema reduction at a lower cost to the government. Farming interventions in Zambia The Zambian government has three key agricultural programmes: • Farmer Input Support Programme • Food Security Pack • Food Reserve Agency  purchase programme. The Farmer Input Subsidy Programme, introduced in 2002, represents farm input subsidies, or subsidised input vouchers or packs. It provides e-vouchers or input packs through direct distribution. This is subject to the farmer’s own contribution. The aim is to enhance smallholder farmers’ incomes, and food security at the household and national levels. The Food Security Pack, established in 2000, is a social protection programme aimed at vulnerable, but viable, smallholder farmers. It consists of a package of inputs and a part of the crop is recovered by the community as a pay back. The Food Reserve Agency buys farmers’ produce at set prices. This provides market access and stabilises prices. Its core aim is to manage strategic food reserves. There have been a number of impact studies of these programmes. But, until now, there has been no systematic assessment of the agricultural policies as a part of the entire tax-benefit system in Zambia. In our analysis, we wanted to capture how these policies affected poverty. We took into account their productive impacts, established by earlier studies. We simulated the impacts of extending the number of beneficiaries of the Food Security Pack. The value of the package to a farmer is about 2,400 Kwacha (about US$130). Beneficiaries are households whose heads are not employed. They must also belong to categories of vulnerable households. These include being headed by females, children, terminally ill persons, unemployed youths or old people. Eligibility also requires them to be cultivating between 0.5 and 2 hectares of land, and having adequate labour. Until around 2020, the coverage of Food Security Pack was very low. In 2020 we modelled it to have 55,000 recipient households. In the 2022-23 farming season, the government goal is to reach 290,000 recipients, having already expanded the programme to 263,000 households in 2021-22. The results of our simulations indicate that expanding the coverage of the package to 292,000 beneficiaries would reduce Zambia’s poverty headcount ratio by 0.9 percentage points, in comparison to the lower number of recipients (55,000). Part of the reduction in poverty stems from the benefit’s impact on households’ agricultural production. The Gini index, which measures income inequality, is also slightly reduced. This means lower inequality as a result of the package’s expansion. The cost of extension is estimated to amount to about 430 million Kwacha. Because of the targeting criteria, the household beneficiaries are mostly rural, agricultural households cultivating less than five hectares of land. Female-headed households and households with elderly members benefit relatively more. The Food Security Pack is, therefore, effective in reducing rural poverty and inequality in Zambia. It shows that provision of inputs to vulnerable households is more cost effective in achieving these impacts compared to the Farmer Input Support Programme that targets smallholders with less focus on vulnerability. In the light of these findings the Zambian government’s decision to expand the programme further is advisable. Tax-benefit microsimulation is a useful tool to examine the economy-wide impacts of the entire taxation and social protection system. We have broadened its use with a more detailed analysis of agricultural policies. As the Zambian application shows, a joint analysis of agricultural and social support is key when designing well-targeted poverty reduction policies. — The Conversation. *About the writers: Jukka Pirttilä is professor of public economics at the University of Helsinki in Finland. Mari Kangasniemi is a social protection officer in the Inclusive Rural Transformation and Gender Equality Division in the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. NewsHawks Issue 118, 10 February 2023

Page 41 LAUREN JOHNSTON IN recent years, there has been a huge, rising demand for donkey hides in China, where they are used to make an ancient health-related product called ejiao.  Ejiao  is made from collagen  that has been extracted from donkey hides mixed with herbs and other ingredients to create medicinal and health consumer products. It’s believed to have  properties that strengthen  the blood, stop bleeding and improve the quality of both vital fluids and sleep. Ejiao sells for about US$783 per kilogramme and the Chinese market for it has increased  from about US$3.2 billion in 2013 to about US$7.8 billion in 2020. This recent rise in demand is driven by several factors, including rising incomes, popularisation of the product via a television series, and an ageing population (age is a key demographic driving demand). In addition,  ejiao  is sometimes prescribed by doctors and the cost can newly be covered by health insurance. The demand for  ejiao  has led to a shortage of donkeys in China and increasingly worldwide. Countries in Africa have been particularly affected. Africa is home to the highest number of donkeys in the world: about  two-thirds  of the estimated global population of 53 million donkeys in 2020. Exact figures on how many hides are exported to China are not available due to a growing illicit trade, but there are indications. A study of South Africa’s donkey population, for instance, suggests that it went from 210 000 in 1996 to about 146 000 in 2019. This was attributed to the export of donkey hides. In a  recent paper  I examined the trends, issues and prospects for the Africa–China donkey trade. My information came from interviews, literature and news reviews in English and Chinese. My findings are that the scale of the donkey trade, both illicit and legal, poses a challenge for many countries in Africa, especially in terms of its impact on the most marginalised communities. Besides donkey welfare, a big part of the challenge is how affordable donkeys are locally. Donkeys have a valuable, ancient role as a workhorse and losing access to them creates a huge problem for poor households. The other part of the challenge is regulatory. Only when the donkey hide trade is fully regulated — and export numbers are able to be very limited — might the trade work without adverse consequences for the poor. This was also highlighted by a recent survey of the East African Community which found that the region was not ready for the mass slaughter and unregulated trade of donkeys. Millions of vulnerable East Africans rely on donkeys for a living and are at risk of losing out through the donkey skin trade. Value of donkeys Donkeys are  estimated to support about 158 million people in Africa. In rural areas, the presence of a donkey in a household helps to alleviate poverty and frees women and girls from China’s demand for Africa’s donkeys is rising. Why it’s time to control the trade household drudgery. Donkeys are one of the simplest, most sustainable and affordable means of transporting people, goods and farm inputs and outputs from home to farm to market and vice versa, as well as to water wells and other places. Even in harsh environments donkeys can travel long distances with a heavy load, limited fluids, and without showing signs of fatigue. They are a durable household asset. Donkey ownership increases productivity and lessens hard work by, for example, reducing the loads women must otherwise carry themselves. In Ghana, for instance, owning a donkey was  found to save  adults about five hours of labour a week, and children 10 hours a week. The presence of a donkey also freed girl children to go to school. Donkeys can also carry heavy loads of firewood and water. This means people need to make fewer trips. This frees up labour and time for other income generating activities, such as sowing someone’s farm for money. The value of having a donkey in the household is evident. The loss of a donkey to a household in rural Kenya is associated with an increased risk of poverty – children drop out of school, and there’s less water security and more economic fragility. This makes the donkey trade a sensitive topic. Government responses Rising Chinese demand for donkeys has elicited a variety of responses by governments across Africa. Tanzania, for example, attempted to create a formal donkey industry and trade. But, in 2022,  authorities banned it because legal supply could not keep up with demand. Female donkeys typically produce only a few foals each in a lifetime. In Kenya, public outrage — largely due to the rise of donkey prices and diminishing supply — led to a ban on exports in February 2020. Kenya’s donkey exporters, however, took their case against the ban to Kenya’s High Court in June 2020, and won. Elsewhere, countries such as Botswana, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Tanzania banned donkey exports. Others, such as South Africa, banned or limited the donkey trade with requirements for established slaughterhouses and related quotas. However, the implementation of donkey bans varies according to the strength of the regulatory capacity in each country - and how easy it is to smuggle things across borders. In South Africa’s case, export quotas have merely sent the trade underground. This leads to more donkey theft. Illicitly traded hides from South Africa are typically from donkeys that are slaughtered inhumanely in the bush or in sub-standard slaughterhouses in Lesotho. Then they are exported to China. Poverty also fosters the trade, which in turn can lead to further impoverishment. Donkey owners, needing a short-term income windfall, will  sell their animal. It may then be slaughtered and traded illegally and lead to diminished income-earning opportunity in the medium and long run. What needs to be done A recent  Pan-African Donkey Conference  called for a  15-year continent-wide moratorium  on the trade to allow supply to recover and regulatory capacity to be enhanced. The ejiao industry in China is well organised and resourced. A handful of major firms and one province dominate the industry in China, and they are represented by the Shandong Ejiao Industry Association. A China-Africa donkey hide trade may be possible if African countries get organised, form associations and establish a dialogue with the Shandong Ejiao Industry. The aim would be to work out sustainable mechanisms, prevent damage to local interests and help to counter the illicit trade. In parallel to this, it would be important for animal welfare agencies in China to raise awareness of the illicit and damaging impact of the illicit donkey hide trade. For now, I believe that the trade is premature. Better regulatory standards are needed by China’s ejiao industry such that illegally traded and stolen donkey hides are not part of the industry. Deeper cooperation across African countries would also help to preserve the ancient role of the donkey in supporting trade and the continent’s most vulnerable and geographically isolated groups. — The Conversation. *About the writer: Lauren Johnston is a senior researcher at the South African Institute of International Affairs. NewsHawks Reframing Issues Issue 118, 10 February 2023

Page 42 Africa News GODFRED AMANKWAA UNOVERSAL, safe and reliable water access is a pressing need in the global South.  One-quarter  of the world’s population do not currently have access to clean drinking water. In Ghana, about  5 million  people out of a total population of about 31 million lack access to clean, safe water. One person in ten has to spend more than 30 minutes to get drinking water. Problems are particularly acute in off-grid communities. These are the low-income, rural and peri-urban locations that aren’t connected to municipal or main centralised water supply. The private sector and other non-governmental providers are getting increasingly involved in filling the gap, sometimes in partnership with the government. Some private water service providers have turned to innovations like “water ATMs”. These automated standpipes are popping up as a way to expand affordable water services. Powered by solar energy, most water ATMs are designed to operate 24 hours a day. They are low-cost, self-contained, automated water vending machines that store clean water and are most often connected to a water purifying plant that uses groundwater. Customers buy water from the ATMs using a water card, which is topped up with credit via mobile money. In my recent  study, I set out to explore how water ATMs were working in low-income, peri-urban or off-grid locations in Ghana. I found that water ATMs delivered relatively limited operational-level value. And they were changing the water access landscape – not always for the better, from users’ point of view. Impact of water ATMs on water access The research was conducted in Yawkwei, a peri-urban community in the Ashanti region of Ghana. Here, off-grid households have the choice of using water ATMs or not, but can also rely on other sources such as other private standpipes and community boreholes. Water ATMs were introduced in Ghana - and are changing the way people can access this vital resource A Kenyan woman, left, is shown how to fetch water from one of the ATM-style water dispensers installed in the Mathare slums in Nairobi, Kenya. The system uses a smart card which are being issued to the locals, aims to provide cleaner and cheaper water to resident of the slum. The water ATMs were operated by Safe Water Network, a non-profit organisation dedicated to developing and implementing small, financially viable water initiatives. They were installed at six water standpipes, five with a single ATM and a main station with two ATMs, together serving about 2 000 people. Water ATMs were installed incrementally and used the existing physical, institutional and financial infrastructure in the community. This was done to reduce the cost and the chance of resistance or rejection of the innovation. It relied on what was already in place, such as mobile phones, Safe Water Network’s standpipes, and community actors like water station operators and mobile money agents. The study found five main ways in which water ATMs were changing the water access landscape. Improved water reliability and access:  Water ATMs provided more reliable, flexible and convenient (time-saving) access than former or competing types of off-grid water provision in the community. For instance, people spent on average 15 minutes for a round trip, from home to water ATM and back, compared to 29 minutes at two non-ATM boreholes in the community. Also, people could collect water outside the station caretaker’s or vendor’s hours of business. Collection could fit in around other livelihood activities instead of disrupting them. Cost and changes in water practices: Water ATMs brought the relation between costs and water more to the fore for users. Users became more cautious at the point of water collection, since they would be paying for any water spilt. Also, despite the technology not changing water prices or tariffs (20 litres for 10 pesewas), some users claimed they were effectively being charged more because they didn’t get the same volume of water for their money. A water ATM user said: (…) see, this pipe (water ATM point) is closer to me but the prices of late make me visit the other standpipe by the store. When I use this same container (a 40-litre bucket), a Ghana cedi (GH₵1) purchase guarantees five times of that container from other vendors. But instead of getting five times, I only sometimes get four times at same amount when I use the water ATMs. I prefer to walk that distance if I can get an extra container of water. Changes in the everyday social relations at the standpipe: Some of the former informal, social aspects of water access, such as an exchange of gossip, views and concerns during water collection, were reduced. Roles and power shifts: New actors became an essential part of water collection. Some were community-based (mobile money agents), others at the national level (the mobile operator MTN) and overseas (eWaterPay). They benefited from consumer payments and use of mobile money related services. Government should collaborate with private water providers to incrementally adopt digital water technologies. First they should put in place risk management mechanisms to help prioritise and reduce risks threatening the sustainability of existing infrastructure and for safe and affordable water delivery. — The Conversation. *About the writer: Godfred Amankwaa is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Manchester in Britain. NewsHawks Issue 118, 10 February 2023

Africa News Page 43 PHILLIP VAN NIEKERK Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s trips this week to Bamako and Khartoum, putting a diplomatic veneer on alliances forged on the ground by Wagner mercenaries, have raised the stakes in what is now seen as the second front in its war with the West. WAGNER, In the words of the renowned French historian Gerard Prunier, is eating the carcass of Francafrique, France’s declining neo-colonial empire. Just last week, French troops were ordered out of another former stronghold, Burkina Faso. The United States is growing edgy as it sees Wagner potentially morphing into a genuine geopolitical threat — a swathe of anti-Western regimes under military rule bisecting Africa from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea. The US Department of the Treasury on 27 January designated Wagner a “transnational criminal organisation”, arguing that it has been operating  “a systematic network of summary executions, rape, torture and other physical violence” in Mali and the Central African Republic (CAR). The US is trying to get Wagner expelled from Libya, where it fought on the side of rebel General Khalifa Haftar, and Sudan, where it has allied with the number two in the junta,  General  Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as “Hemeti”, in mining operations and cross-border warfare. There is a  growing realisation in Washington that Wagner is more than just a pack of adventurists fighting jihadis and exploiting minerals. It is Russia — as exemplified by Lavrov’s second African safari this year (although Lavrov’s Africa travel schedule also reflects the fact he is no longer welcome in the global capitals he used to frequent). Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin is now a warlord on three continents (if you add Syria), a once small crook has now been propelled to great heights of power and celebrity by his brutal willingness to take the fight to the enemy by feeding tens of thousands of convicts into the Ukrainian meat grinder. Some believe he could even become the big boss in the Kremlin, or at least the kingmaker should Vladimir Putin meet a nasty end. Pope Francis has just concluded a visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan, two countries afflicted by endemic conflict. What a turnout he got — more than a million people gathered in Kinshasa to hear his message of peace. Pilgrims walked for eight days to receive the blessing of the Holy Father in Juba. These are societies where the Catholic Church remains the only organisation with credibility, national reach and a message of hope — together with the Anglicans in South Sudan. The Pope won the hearts of the people, but as the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin quipped when he was urged by Winston Churchill to seek the Vatican’s input on the Allied carve-up of post-war Europe: “How many divisions does the Pope of Rome have?” Which might be the point. Wagner is winning because it brings guns and helicopters and military manpower to parts of Africa where civil order is collapsing and old colonial borders are defunct, leaving a void that is being filled by jihadis and bandits. ‘Kill the French zombies’ Wagner’s attack on the French in Africa is accompanied by a propaganda and social media campaign fanning hatred against the former colonial power by depicting the French as predatory invaders out to steal Africa’s riches and enslave its people. One video widely circulating on social media and Russian telegram shows a giant snake wearing the French tricolour announcing it wants to conquer all of Africa while creepy skeletons declare themselves to be demons sent by French president Emmanuel Macron. Wagner’s valiant combatants come to rescue African soldiers from this terrible fate. Alongside his “private” army and his legendary St Petersburg dining hangout for mobsters and oligarchs that earned him the sobriquet "Putin’s chef", Prigozhin is the proprietor of the Internet Research Agency (IRA), a troll farm that has been responsible for sending fake news into more than a dozen African countries. He was indicted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller for gaslighting the 2016 US election on behalf of Donald Trump. The propaganda offensive is proving effective, especially amongst the youth in West Africa, because it is not without foundation. It dredges up atrocities committed by the French decades ago but not forgotten in Africa. Speak to any French-speaking West African intellectual these days and you will soon hear about the murder of former Burkinabe president Thomas Sankara in October 1987, allegedly with French complicity, or the 1968 coup in Mali that toppled the socialist Mobido Keita, who died in prison. Even the comically awful “Emperor” Jean-Bedel Bokassa of the CAR witnessed his father being beaten to death for opposing French forced labour in the forests and his mother starving herself to death as a result. In recent years bitterness has resurfaced over the fate of the  tirailleurs, African troops who fought in the trenches for France in the First World War but were largely forgotten when the war ended. The French CFA monetary zone is commonly condemned as a vestige of imperialism. But Russia’s information warfare while preying on this history is also pumping out conspiracy theories that have created a widespread belief that Islamist terrorists in West Africa are being sponsored by France and the US. It is rich that an organisation like Wagner, which styles itself on the most primitive features of colonial exploitation and has committed well-documented atrocities against African villagers, can claim the moral high ground. This is a group that filmed, and released on social media, one of its own members being executed with a sledgehammer. What it does mean, however, is that France is on the retreat. The troops evacuated from Mali were given sanctuary by President Mohamed Bazum of Niger, who is himself under pressure, and unwilling to accommodate fresh refugees from Burkina Faso. Wagner’s propaganda seems to indicate that its next target is Cote d’Ivoire, the economic powerhouse of French-speaking Africa, where President Alassane Ouattara will be term-limited out in 2025. Wagner is also courting Denis Sassou Nguesso in Congo Brazzaville. A step into either place would move Wagner from the Sahel down to the Atlantic coast, closer to the oil riches of the Gulf of Guinea. France’s scramble to keep pace with this onslaught has led to a search for new allies, including President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, an old enemy who accused France of enabling the 1994 genocide. President Macron is going to Kigali in the next few weeks. Rwanda can offer a disciplined African force that has had success in combating jihadi terrorism — and would thus negate Wagner’s biggest selling point. Can Kagame be persuaded to take the gap in Burkina to keep Wagner out after the French depart? As one astute African academic observed: “Prigozhin is badass. But there is one bigger badass in Africa.” Sudan at the crossroads As a prize, Sudan is a step up from the embattled countries of the Sahel: an Arab nation at the crossroads between Central Africa, the Horn and the Middle East, and a critical partner of Egypt. In October 2021, the civilians who were moving the country towards democracy were kicked out by a military junta which is now divided between its leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who leans towards Egypt and the US, and its deputy leader Hemeti, who is allied with Wagner and the United Arab Emirates. Hemeti is a former camel trader who  commands a militia known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), an offshoot of the Janjaweed militias from Darfur. He has been in the thick of recent fighting over access to diamond mines in the Central African Republic (CAR). The RSF is a bit like Wagner: alongside its fighters, it does business and makes a lot of money. RSF have crossed the CAR border with Wagner forces and are now seen to be threatening Chad, which is undergoing a rocky transition since the killing of its leader Idriss Déby in 2021. All of this has led to an intense round of diplomatic wrangling. The leaders of Chad, CAR and Sudan met last week to discuss the deteriorating situation on the tri-border area where Western Sudan (Darfur), Chad and the CAR meet. Item number one on the agenda was whether to involve Wagner. Sudan’s Military Intelligence Chief Mohamed Subir, a supporter of Burhan, was in Washington in January, meeting with members of Joe Biden’s team to deliver a warning about Hemeti and Wagner. This was followed by the US demand that Sudan should expel Wagner. Egypt’s president Abdel Fattah El-Sisi travelled to Khartoum on 21 January. Even the Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen was there last week, though he did meet with a token protest. Now comes Sergei Lavrov to Khartoum, looking to open a naval base. You can bet that none of these discussions were about human rights or restoring democracy. It really does start to smell like the Cold War again. — Daily Maverick. *About the writer: Phillip van Niekerk is editor of  the new weekly Daily Maverick newsletter, Africa Unscrambled. As Russia’s Wagner mercenaries expand over the continental Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (left) shaking hands with Mali's Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diopand (right), during a press conference in Bamako, Mali on 7 February, 2023. (Photo: EPA-EFE/Russian Foreign Ministry Press service) Africa air smells of Cold War again NewsHawks Issue 118, 10 February 2023

Page 44 Reframing Issues World News DARA MASSICOT THREE months before Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine,  CIA director William Burns and United States ambassador to Russia John Sullivan met in Moscow with Nikolai Patrushev, an ultra-hawkish adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Burns and Sullivan informed Patrushev that they knew of Russia’s invasion plans and that the West would respond with severe consequences if Russia proceeded. According to Burns, Patrushev said nothing about the invasion. Instead, he looked them in the eye, conveying what Burns took as a message: the Russian military could achieve what it wanted. Once home, the two Americans informed US President  Joe Biden  that Moscow had made up its mind. Not long after, Washington began publicly warning the world that Russia would attack Ukraine. Three months ahead of the invasion, the Kremlin knew that the United States had discovered its war plans and that the world would be primed for an assault — yet Putin decided to deny his intentions to Russia’s own troops and most of its senior leaders. They did not learn of the invasion until several days or even hours before it began. The secrecy was a mistake. By orchestrating the attack with just a small group of advisers, Putin undercut many of the advantages his country should have had. These strengths were substantial. Before the invasion, Russia’s military was larger and better equipped than Ukraine’s. Its forces had more combat experience than did Kyiv’s, even though both had fought in Ukraine’s eastern territories. Most Western analysts therefore assumed that if Russian forces used their advantages wisely, the Ukrainians could not withstand the attack for long. Why Russia did not prevail — why it was instead stopped in its tracks, routed outside major cities, and put on the defensive — has become one of the most important questions in both U.S. foreign policy and international security more broadly. The answer has many components. The excessive internal secrecy gave troops and commanders little time to prepare, leading to heavy losses. Russia created an invasion plan that was riddled with faulty assumptions, arbitrary political guidance, and planning errors that departed from key Russian military principles. The initial invasion called for multiple lines of attack with no follow-on force, tethering the military to operational objectives that were overly ambitious for the size of its forces. And the Kremlin erroneously believed that its war plans were sound, that Ukraine would not put up much resistance, and that the West’s support would not be strong enough to make a difference. As a result, Russia was shocked when its troops ran into a determined Ukraine backed by Western intelligence and weapons. Russian forces were then repeatedly beaten. But as the war drags on into its second year, analysts must not focus only on Russia’s failures. The story of Russia’s military performance is far more nuanced than many early narratives about the war have suggested. The Russian armed forces are not wholly incompetent or incapable of learning. They can execute some types of complex operations — such as mass strikes that disable Ukraine’s critical infrastructure — which they had eschewed during the first part of the invasion, when Moscow hoped to capture the Ukrainian state largely intact. The Russian military has learned from its mistakes and made big adjustments, such as downsizing its objectives What Russia got wrong and mobilizing new personnel, as well as tactical ones, such as using electronic warfare tools that jam Ukrainian military communications without affecting its own. Russian forces can also sustain higher combat intensity than most other militaries; as of December, they were firing an impressive 20 000 rounds of artillery per day or more (although, according to CNN, in early 2023, that figure had dropped to 5 000). And they have been operating with more consistency and stability since shifting to the defensive in late 2022, making it harder for Ukrainian troops to advance. Russia has still not been able to break Ukraine’s will to fight or impede the West’s materiel and intelligence support. It is unlikely to achieve its initial goal of turning Ukraine into a puppet state. But it could continue to adjust its strategy and solidify its occupied holdings in the south and east, eventually snatching a diminished variant of victory from the jaws of defeat. Too much and not enough Before the war in Ukraine began, the Russian military had several known structural problems, each of which undermined its ability to conduct a large invasion. Over a decade ago, Moscow deliberately dismantled its army and turned it into a smaller force designed for rapid response operations. The transformation required massive changes. After World War II, the Soviet Union maintained an enormous force designed to wage protracted, vast conflicts in Europe by conscripting millions of soldiers and creating a huge defense industry to menace NATO and enforce communist rule in allied states. The Soviet military suffered from endemic corruption, and it struggled to produce equipment on par with the West’s. But its size and sprawling footprint made it a formidable Cold War challenge. When the Soviet regime collapsed, Russian leaders could not manage or justify such a large military. The prospect of a land battle with NATO was fading into the past. In response, starting in the early 1990s, Russia’s leaders began a reform and modernization process. The goal was to create a military that would be smaller but more professional and nimble, ready to quickly suppress flare-ups on Russia’s periphery. This process continued, on and off, into the new millennium. In 2008, the Russian military announced a comprehensive reform program called “New Look” that intended to restructure the force by disbanding units, retiring officers, overhauling training programs and military education, and allocating more funds — including to expand the ranks of professional enlisted soldiers and to acquire newer weapons. As part of this process, Russia replaced sizable Soviet divisions designed to fight major land wars with less-cumbersome brigades and battalion tactical groups (BTGs). Moscow also worked to reduce its dependence on conscripts.  Russia’s military modernization efforts failed to root out corruption. By 2020, it seemed as if the military had met many of its benchmarks. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu declared that 70% of his country’s equipment was new or had been modernized. The country had a growing arsenal of conventional precision munitions, and the military possessed more professional enlisted personnel than conscripts. Russia had conducted two successful operations, one in Syria—to prop up the regime of Bashar al-Assad — and another to take territory in eastern Ukraine. But the 2022 wholesale invasion of Ukraine exposed these reforms as insufficient. The modernization effort neglected, for example, the mobilisation system. Russia’s attempts to build better weapons and improve training did not translate into increased proficiency on the battlefield. Some of the ostensibly new gear that left Russian factories  is seriously flawed. Russia’s missile failure rates are high, and many of its tanks lack proper self-defense equipment, making them highly vulnerable to anti-tank weapons. Meanwhile, there is little evidence that Russia modified its training programs ahead of its February 2022 invasion to prepare troops for the tasks they would later face in Ukraine. In fact, the steps Russia did take to prepare made proper training more difficult. By deploying many units near the Ukrainian border almost a year before the war and keeping equipment in the field,  the Russian military deprived its soldiers of the ability to practice appropriate skills and conduct required equipment maintenance. Russia’s modernization efforts also failed to root out corruption, which still afflicts multiple aspects of Russian military life. The country’s armed forces frequently inflated the number of prewar personnel in individual units to meet recruiting quotas, allowing some commanders to steal surplus funds. The military is plagued by missing supplies. It generally has unreliable and opaque reporting up and down the command chain, which possibly led Russia’s leadership to believe its forces were better, quantitatively and qualitatively, than they really were at the start of the invasion. Modernisation may have helped Russia in its smaller, 2014 invasion of Ukraine and its air campaigns in Syria. But it does not appear to have learned from its operational experience in either conflict.  In both, for instance, Russia had many ground-based special forces teams to guide incoming strikes, something it has lacked in the current war.  Russia also had a unified operational command, which it did not create for the current invasion until several months after it began. In at least one case, the modernization effort was actively incompatible with high-intensity warfare. As part of its scheme to cultivate trust with the Russian population after its wars in Chechnya, the Kremlin largely prohibited new conscripts from serving in war zones. This meant that Russia pulled professional soldiers from most units across the country and deployed them as BTGs to staff its Ukraine invasion. The move was itself a questionable decision: even a fully staffed and equipped BTG is not capable of protracted, intense combat along an extended frontline, as many experts, including US Army analysts Charles Bartles and Lester Grau, have noted. On top of that, according to documents recovered from the invasion by the Ukrainian military, plenty of these units were understaffed when they invaded Ukraine. Personnel shortages also meant that Russia’s technically more modern and capable equipment did not perform at its full potential, as many pieces were only partly crewed. And the country did not have enough dismounted infantry or intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance forces to effectively clear routes and avoid ambushes. The resulting failures may have surprised much of the world. But they did not come as a shock to many of the experts who watch the Russian military. They knew from assessing the country’s force structure that it was ill suited to send a force of 190 000 personnel into a large neighboring state across multiple lines of advance. They were therefore astonished as the Kremlin commanded the military to do exactly that. – foreignaffairs.com *About the writer: Dara Massicot is a senior policy researcher at the RAND Corporation. Before joining RAND, she served as a senior analyst for Russian military capabilities at the Department of Defence. Nikolai Patrushev, adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Can Moscow learn from its failures in Ukraine? NewsHawks Issue 118, 10 February 2023

JONATHAN MBIRIYAMVEKA HE could have been anywhere in the world doing what he enjoys most, but Babongile Sikhonjwa chose Harare. Like most talented artistes from Bulawayo, including dub poet Albert Nyathi and the then Afrika Revenge duo, Babongile has set his sights on changing the entertainment scene in Harare. The 47-year-old popular show business personality and Bulawayo’s finest has trekked north to the capital after landing a job at the newly established nrtv headquartered in Harare’s Milton Park suburb. An ecstatic Babangile said it was a long time coming. “I believe this is the right time for me to come to Harare. I am now based here after Tich Mataz (nrtv official) head hunted me,” he told The NewsHawks. Asked what his new job is, the outspoken Babongile said he was appointed producer/presenter with the television station. “Well, I guess I will be doing a lot including producing and presenting. “What I can tell you is that just watch out for my shows, you will be surprised with the amount of energy and exuberance on the set.” Asked further to explain his job, Babongile said he was happy to be doing what he wanted in a long time. “You see, way back I would pitch up at ZBC TV and all my proposals were turned down. But the one good thing I enjoy most about working with the likes of Tich Mataz is that they let you do what you do best. And so far, all the shows I proposed were given the green light.” He has done it all, from emceeing, comedy to deejaying Babongile is simply the life of the party. Babongile is well known not only in Bulawayo but also in Zimbabwe’s showbiz scene in general for his comedy, emceeing, radio presentation and entertaining. He has been a permanent feature in the entertainment circles of Bulawayo. Babongile started out during his high school days at Umzingwane and Milton high where he used to organise shows and dramas. A staunch Highlanders Football Club supporter with aspirations to become vice-chairperson, Sikhonjwa was born at Marondera Polyclinic in Bulawayo on 20 June in 1976. He says Zimbabwe’s first Health minister, Dr Herbert Ushewokunze, was the one who delivered him. “Growing up, the path that I always found myself on was entertainment. If there were variety shows, I would be there singing, playing instruments, cracking jokes and emceeing. Anyone who went to school with me will attest that where I am right now, I’m not lost,” he once said. STYLE TRAVEL BOOKS ARTS MOTORING Porsche just got angrier Being a Fashion Model Life&Style Page 45 Issue 118, 10 February 2023 Babongile Sikhonjwa relocates to Harare!

Poetry Corner Title: A Lamentation and Half Poet: Tawanda Chigavazira I was pure; I was a virgin! No finger of a man had felt my body. All men venerated me. I was the cradle of self-esteem for my society. Then along came a wolf in sheep’s skin, And defiled my sanctity with the callousness of a devil. Took away my treasure and never looked back. Never bothered to patch up the wounds and bruises. It was mission accomplished, no need for damage control. You saw no reason for social responsibility. As long as my priceless jewel was, but sparkling in your hand. You robbed me and my kinsmen You left us all empty-handed. I was their only hope out of Egypt to Canaan. I was, but their sacred oasis in a desert. I was, but the pristine plains of Chiyadzwa diamond fields. I was, but Mucheka wakasungabeta, the mountain-range of gold. I was but, their everything! Yet today; I am, but the worst whore ever, who betrayed their trust. I am, but the dumpsite which reeks with stinking fetid I am, but the ‘Pool of Death’ at Epworth – a threat to humanity. I am, but the painful reminder of their robbed treasures. A lasting memory of exploited resources! ***************************************************** Title: Shedding Light On Shedding And Sheds Poet: Ndaba Sibanda Not in the dark, wondering that there's load shedding? I'm here to pour furious facts forth in drops, I'm no duck's plumage shedding watery rocks, I'm here not to please but to seize a moment, & jog memories, since l see no development, their promises were countless : like we'll construct sheds or shelter, yet it's all hell! have the souls been shedded from distress? no, they steal & smile, shed blood & supress, people are put or housed in handcuffed shame, they can't tame it, l proclaim: the economy isn't lame, have you seen shedlike structures they have built since they usurped offices, or you wince at their rot or mince? it had nothing to do with national development or protection, but a divide of land: their shed, interests, a lust for accumulation, understand that shedding can simply be a casting off of natural covering like a caterpillar shedding its skin, yet it's still a caterpillar window-dressing! shed your illusions & inhibitions since companies are shedding jobs and incomes, shed tears for the jobless like pathologists shedding viruses in the feces & dirty dams ***************************************************** Title: A Question Of Space Poet: Obey Chiyangwa It is an issue of confusing colours, In a crowded grave without fairness, Where the brave remain fearless, While all the slaves remain spineless, Where corpses snarl at each other in broad darkness. The title to this piece is colourless too, Lost in mists and mired in shadows of homeless smoke, Of dust that rises from the pit of an old grave, And filters through cracks and crevices to taint the air of peace. I wonder what colour the haunting corridors of death are, What hue? What aura? What mien? Tandi was buried sitting bold upright, On the broken shoulder of his dethroned crown, Him who had over-stayed a position of coerced might. Could the corridors of compromised death be a blinding black, Or a dazzling white torturing the sight of the long dead? Could they be a dreary grey that frightens the courage of the newly dead? If only he could tell me how experienced he is in death, Tandi. Was he right to have his grave-bound crown garlanded in glittering all white? The hope of resurrection? The hope of restoration? Where does death store her hordes of rotting corpses? For the graveyard in our village has been robbed by bandits. How does death keep her space from over-crowding? How does she live unopposed in the corridors of blood-coated power!! And refuse to trade-in seething wrath for genuine peace. I shudder to imagineUpon daylight's pretended show of sorrowHow a corpse weeps over the demise of fellow corpses. How the dead mourn the desuetude in grave silence. Like the wicked preaching peace to a crown of demented witches. Parliament building was almost burnt to ashes by such. Wisps growing fat while living hidden upon the roofs of secreted graves. What blood are they still sucking when the corpse has since run dry? When the corpse is an ashen faced aura of ancient death. Blood-shot eyes threaten to burn holes through the skin of a frightened nation, Threaten to wring the emaciated throat of peace and drink the blood. ************************************************ Title: Baby dumping Poet: Patrick Hwande Leaving the wailing ailing dying, In Intensive Unit Care, As we hold placards in streets, To me, it's tantamount to baby dumping. Young innocent souls reel, In dark curves of ignorance, As we march in streets, When tables are tabled for a discourse, To me its baby dumping. Displaying despondency is legitimate, But we ought to weave ways to bring butter, Without breaking bridges, Misplaced indignation is dangerous, After antagonism we reap a bumper harvest of crises. *********************************************** Title: In God's acre Poet: Andy Kahari I am a lost straw of dust Standing last in the midst of dying graves, And in the hurling of the wind of their death Shoved is my withered being ever and anon. In the chaos of the delirium of this unknown drum song I hear a song in a grave with no song, And that song has a dry gong of a wreath; A falling bouquet pollinating more wraith, And in its blooming, I see more booming wrath Looming with more rot for the living; Who all are comprehending; They too hear, a voice in God's acre with no voice; For when they do hear the "good" echo, Which they cannot hear; I am thus certain, I too hear all called away here, to these desolate catacombs. *********************************************** Page 46 NewsHawks Issue 118, 10 February 2023

People & Places Page 47 Thousands displaced after heavy rains hit Mozambique Heavy rains have marooned more than 30 000 people in Mozambique’s Boane district, 30 kilometres from the capital Maputo. NewsHawks Issue 118, 10 February 2023

Page 48 NewsHawks Issue 118, 10 February 2023 BRENDON KNOTT SOUTH AFRICAN Tourism (SA Tourism) is reported to be planning to spend US$52 million (about R900 million) to sponsor UK football team  Tottenham Hotspur  over three years. The proposal gives the country branding on the club’s kit, backdrop branding in interviews, advertising on match days, partnership status, local training camps and access to tickets and stadium hospitality. Football has a massive TV viewership and can attract big spending and big eyeballs. But is it an effective way to market a country? And is it money well spent? Brendon Knott researches nation branding and football. We asked him four questions. Is this a good idea for nation branding? Sponsorship of a sport team, event, or of individuals is an accepted and proven marketing communication tool. As countries, regions and cities are increasingly competing in the global marketplace for the attention of potential customers — in this case tourists — some destinations have also embraced sport as a marketing medium. Typically, destinations promote themselves through associating with a sport event or team within their geographic location. In Spain, for example, Visit Catalunya sponsors Spanish club FC Barcelona. It’s less common for a destination to use a more strategic approach to connect with a desired audience in another location. Can it help tourism? We need to understand that tourism destinations are “brands”, which compete against other brands for attention. SA Tourism therefore has a mandate and a budget to attract global tourism. There are a number of ways to promote a brand or engage with a target audience. Sport sponsorship has grown in favour as a marketing tool as it has shown an ability to break through the advertising clutter and get customers’ attention. It reaches them in a place where they are generally relaxed and can be engaged through a common passion for sport. A sponsorship can achieve various objectives for a brand. Most commonly, the organisation seeks greater awareness of the brand, by making it visible on the players’ jerseys and signage around the stadium. This is most helpful for new or relatively unknown brands in a market, or to keep a brand top-of-mind among consumers in that market. The second major objective is to enhance or change the brand image among a target audience through the association with a sport team. Brands typically benefit from a more favourable perception by fans of the team being sponsored. This is why the global sport sponsorship industry was estimated at US$77.69 billion in 2022 and is projected to grow at a rate of 8% over the next few years. From what has been  shared  by SA Tourism, it appears that their objective is to reach the global audience that follows the football  Premier League, and particularly reach the key UK tourism market. However, it is debatable whether this high profile, high cost approach is the best way to spend their marketing budget to boost international tourism. Are there any precedents for this approach? Two other high profile examples of destinations sponsoring football clubs in the past decade are Malaysia  sponsoring  UK team Cardiff City in a US$3.6 million deal in 2013; and Rwanda’s US$12 million a year sponsorship of UK team Arsenal FC, where “Visit Rwanda” is emblazoned on the sleeve of the team kit. Signed in 2018, the Rwanda agreement has been particularly  slammed  as an attempt at “sportswashing”. This refers to the covering up of human rights abuses within the African nation by trying to garner goodwill through the sponsorship. local public support for this initiative. Instead of viewing this as a good marketing opportunity that could bring in tourism revenue, there is the view that the government money could be spent better — either on sponsorship of local sports or on other projects altogether. Destinations should not aim to boost their “external” brand at the expense of the valuable “internal” brand strength. The examples of Rwanda and Qatar, in particular, indicate that the negative media associated with perceived sportswashing diminishes the anticipated benefits. In the case of South Africa, it may appear as an attempt to counter the damaging global media coverage relating to the power crisis  and other high profile challenges experienced in the nation. SA Tourism has given conditional  approval  to the plan, which is expected to go ahead in the next few months despite a growing backlash. — The Conversation. *About the interviewee: Brendon Knott is associate professor at Cape Peninsula University of Technology in South Africa. South Africa Tourism to sponsor Tottenham Hotspur Football Club — Is it a good idea? Tottenham striker Harry Kane. Sport

subject in different social forums across the nation. After seeing how Houghton has transformed our white-ball cricket in a short space, many were wondering how the 65-year-old was going to transform the way this country play Tests, not having featured in this premier format for 18 months. In the first innnigs of this past Test against the Windies, Zimbabwe made a sporting declaration that almost changed the trajectory of the match from becoming a boring draw. Besides possessing one of the best cricket brains in Zimbabwe, Houghton is also a good storyteller. He told me a story about his chat with Martin Crowe, the Kiwi legend, after that Test match at BAC in 1992. “We sat down one night talking about that game,” Davie said to me here in Bulawayo. “He (Crowe) said to me, you will learn nothing by drawing matches. You have proved that you can draw matches but if you play 10 matches, draw nine and lose one, you have learnt nothing. But if you play 10 and you lose nine and win one, you would have learnt a lot.” Looking back at the events of Tuesday, it is easy to understand Houghton’s philosophy and the value of his presence in that Zimbabwe dressing room which has young coaches like his assistant Stuart Matsikenyeri and interim fielding coach Erick Chauluka. They are all feeding off Davie’s brains. The bold declaration by Zimbabwe got the cricketing world THE first Test between Zimbabwe and West Indies was affected by rain and about 90 overs were lost, the first couple of days it was a stop-start affair. The way the game went brought back so many memories for a keen cricket historian like myself. In November 1992, Zimbabwe hosted New Zealand in their second Test match at Bulawayo Athletic Club (BAC) and the weather was just as bad that it affected that match. A very rare Test match venue indeed in Zimbabwe. Did you know that this country has hosted a Test outside the traditional venues – Harare Sports Club and Bulawayo’s Queens Sports Club? This makes “Skies” the place in Zimbabwe to have provided the country with more than one venue for Test cricket. Back to that match three decades ago: Bad weather ruined the Test and a couple of days of cricket were lost in the process. The highlight of that match, from a Zimbabwe perspective, was Kevin Arnott scoring a hundred. The Test ended in a draw. This Tuesday, many were surprised when Zimbabwe declared their first innings on 379-9 against the West Indies, 68 runs behind the tourists’ first innings total. Remember, this Zimbabwe team that had boldly declared with a first inning deficit is the same team that was losing matches under former coach Lalchand Rajput. So what had changed in a space of seven month? It is an unconceivable lesson in the value of leadership. Former national team captain Houghton has brought in a different kind of leadership that has allowed players to take more responsibilities, in terms of playing “positive cricket” as the cliché goes. And the turnaround has been quicker than many thought. Houghton will not solve all of Zimbabwe’s problems in a flash, but the direction the team is taking has brought many fans back to the stadiums in both Bulawayo and Harare. Cricket is now a topical Sport Page 49 King David and the value of leadership Brian Goredema HawkZone Dave Houghton NewsHawks Issue 118, 10 February 2023 talking. Especially in this era when all the talk is about positive cricket and “going for it”, the Brendon McCullum effect on Test cricket. Houghton did not stop just at that declaration – the composition of his batting side left many pundits wondering. With Zimbabwe missing the services of some of their experienced players like the regular Test captain Sean Williams and talisman Sikandar Raza, you would have expected the team to play an extra batter, but that is not the Davie way. He chose to go with six batsmen, three of them (Tanunurwa Makoni, Innocent Kaia and Tafadzwa Tsiga) on debut and this allowed Zimbabwe to play two specialist spinners and three fast bowlers. In his pragmatic sense, he knew that getting 20 wickets on the flat Queens Sports Club surface was always going to need an extra bowler if his team aspired to win the match. In the end, the three debutants batted well, and played their part to keep the hosts in the match. With the way Zimbabwe has started playing Test cricket in Houghton’s second stint as coach, we are in for quite a few more surprises, I dare say. Zimbabwe’s bold declaration sent a message to West Indies that the Chevrons are not afraid and, given a chance, Houghton’s men would rather lose trying to win the game, rather than over-respecting the opposition. The biggest takeaway for Zimbabwe from the past seven months – and this first Test against West Indies – is the incredible lesson in the value of leadership, giving people responsibilities and leaving no room for excuses. *Debuting guest columnist Brian Goredema is an experienced Zimbabwean cricket broadcaster and journalist. He is independently covering the twomatch Test series in Bulawayo between host Zimbabwe and the West Indies.

ters most.” Matsikenyeri knows Mavuta well, he has coached him on a training attachment in England as a teenager, and he is not the first person to call him a fighter. Steven Mangongo, the legendary development stalwart, piled on the praise when a then 21-year-old Mavuta bowled admirably well on a receptive surface to take 4-21 on his debut as Zimbabwe beat Bangladesh by 151-runs in 2018 to record the Chevrons’ first away Test win in 17 years. “This boy has the heart of a lion,” Mangongo said back in 2018. “When he captained the Under-19s in the World Cup (in 2016), he was always up for it and led from the front. There is a mature head on that youngster.  Without a doubt, I expected Brandon to be a star performer sooner or later. He has instinctive fighting spirit, a born fighter. What was amazing back then was his desire to win.” Mangongo, Zimbabwe’s coach in that Under-19 World Cup seven years ago, backed Mavuta to fine-tune his leg-spinning art as his career progresses. “I’m sure he will get better and better,” said Mangongo. “He is a ripper, a genuine turner of the ball and he has a googly.” A strict disciplinarian, Mangongo revealed backed then, following Mavuta’s winning Test debut in Bangladesh, that he used to show “tough love” to his protégé, who moved to Harare’s Kuwadzana township as a teen so that he could attend Churchill Boys High School. “Brandon was always the first player at training, mind you he was coming all the way from Kuwadzana with kombis whilst the well-to-do kids would be dropped at Harare Sports Club by parents,” said Mangongo. “Amazingly, being a Kadoma boy, he would forgo going home to see his parents during school holidays so that he could attend training. My guy, that’s commitment at that tender age. So his early success does not surprise me at all.” Mavuta is being reunited in the Zimbabwe squad with Matsikenyeri, who was one of the coaches when a specially selected squad of young players – named Rising Stars Academy – spent months in the UK on a programme meant to acclimatise the emerging players to different conditions. The trip was the brainchild of former Zimbabwe captain Tatenda Taibu, the country’s chief selector at the time. “Like all the other (Rising Stars Academy) boys, the boy has talent,” Taibu remarked back then. “But with him, the biggest weakness was temper and the management team in the UK did well to make sure that it didn’t come in the way. I hope he is still doing well in that regard.” On Monday, after his five-wicket haul on return to the Zimbabwe Test side, Mavuta, like fellow spinner Masakadza 24 hours earlier, was beaming with expectation when he addressed the scribes. “It’s all about realising that it’s Test cricket,” he said. “It’s about patience and persistence, and today it paid off.” Patience he has shown for the past five years, to come back and play the way he did in the first Test. Persistence is what will define his career from here on out. ENOCK MUCHINJO IN BULAWAYO GOOD banter was swirling around the conference area on Sunday after the second day of the first Test against the West Indies, when Zimbabwe left-arm spinner Wellington Masakadza came down to face the reporters. Following two rain-affected days, not much had taken place for the hosts on the lifeless surface of Queens Sports Club, save of course for Windies double centurion Tagenarine Chanderpaul and fellow opener Kraig Brathwaite’s history-making first wicket stand for the Maroons. So the local media, on day two, were keen on extracting something from Masakadza to file good copy back to newsrooms. He gladly put on quite a show, all smiles — optimistic for the Test — a newfound spirit of sureness now a feature of this team under Dave Houghton. It was however former England batsman Gary Ballance who grabbed the headlines for Zimbabwe in the drawn contest, with a century on Test debut, becoming the first player in the history of the game to hit a ton in the longest format for two different countries. Ballance’s milestone aside, it was also the heroic return of Brandon Mavuta, who had last played Test cricket five years ago away in Bangladesh, amidst much hype over the young leg-spinner. Taking a five-for when West Indies batted first, Mavuta would then go on to stake his first claim as an all-rounder with a crucial half-century that, alongside Ballance’s hundred, clawed Zimbabwe back into the match and put the host in a position to dare to dream. Being on the sidelines for so long after a glorified debut has clearly made Mavuta want it even more and many in the Zimbabwe side, including assistant coach Stuart Matsikenyeri, reckons the 25-year-old from Kadoma will become a consistent performer in the side with both ball and bat. “Brandon has always been a hard worker, he’s a fighter,” Matsikenyeri told reporters after the final day. “His first job is to take wickets. We are just pleased that over the years he is a guy who has taken wickets and scored runs for the teams he has played for. It’s good to see him stand up when it mat50c PRICE SPORT Zim Cricket launches Premier League NEWS $60 Covid tariff for visitors & tourists CULTURE Community radio regulations under review @NewsHawksLive TheNewsHawks www.thenewshawks.com [email protected] Thursday 1 October 2020 WHAT’S INSIDE ALSO INSIDE Finance Ministy wipes out $3.2 Billion depositors funds Zim's latest land controversy has left Ruwa farmer stranded Story on Page 3 Story on Page 8 Story on Page 16 Chamisa reaches out to Khupe Unofficial president calls for emergency meeting +263 772 293 486 Friday 10 February 2023 ALSO INSIDE King David and the value of leadership Sports Mandela’s grandson in African football political row at Chan opener Pull up your socks, it’s no more business as usual A happy team, and return of a ‘lion-hearted fighter’ Brandon Mavuta bowls on his way to take a five-for on his return to the Zimbabwe team.