EDITOR — The Harare City Council (HCC) is at it again making sure that councillors are given unrealistic packages. Why should councillors be given stands in their area of residence? Most of them am sure have stands but this goes to show that when this decision was made it had nothing to do with the ratepayers but to enrich the councillors themselves.
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According to a story published recently, HCC has decided to award councillors residential stands, barely six months into the job.
The availing of residential stands was made effective by a ministerial directive issued in 2011 which allowed sitting chairperson and mayors to access residential stands in their or adjacent wards.
Even the ministerial directive should be evaluated.
My question is why do these councillors need to be given stands. Only recently the council was talking of selling land or stands in foreign currency to citizens. To make matter worse there are some councillors who have been in council for the last 10 years one wonders how many stand they have now.
I do not foresee HCC giving only new councillors and leaving out the older ones. It would have been more understandable if the city fathers had said the councillors have not been paid but for them to be given stands for being just in council is improper.
This looks more like a self-enrichment scheme than anything else.
Hararian.
ZIMBABWE has accumulated a gigantic debt which is creeping towards US$20 billion but with very little to show for it.
A huge portion of that debt went into consumptive spending, with meagre amounts supporting infrastructure development and the productive sector.
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A significant component of the domestic debt (US$9,5 billion) was incurred not so long ago through Treasury Bills that were dished by the ministry of Finance like confetti at a wedding to fund Command Agriculture and the ruling party’s election preparations.
Whenever our leaders embark on foreign trips, their mission has always been to accumulate more debt never mind the flowery catchphrases used — facility, credit line, re-engagement etc.
They even plead with those whom we owe to advance more credit to be repaid using borrowed funds.
But once their request is granted, they never bother to repay which is why Zimbabwe now has a national debt and poor credit worthiness.
No serious lender wants to deal with us anymore and yet not so long ago our leaders were the darlings of multilateral lenders and donors, some of whom pity us for their role during colonialism.
What our leaders seem to forget is that those whom they look up to for bailouts have an immediate obligation to their citizens who do not countenance serial loan defaulters with atrocious governance issues in their backyards. Hardly do our leaders — who should be ashamed of gallivanting with a begging bowl; cap in hand — ask themselves the following pertinent questions: What other options are there besides begging? What are we borrowing for? Does it help us to produce more in future? Are we effectively and efficiently using our own internally-generated resources?
Even in their personal capacities, our bureaucrats do not honour their debts, including electricity and water bills. Because of their enormous influence on home soil, they are not even ashamed to ride roughshod over Parliament or the central bank to compel the State to assume their debts.
It’s usually after they have left office that utilities and banks are able to close in on them. Zimbabwe needs a new crop of bureaucrats who disavow handouts and who appreciate the fact that the moment the role of donors goes beyond mitigating catastrophes such as earthquakes it demonstrates leadership failure.
A mind-set change is therefore required in reclaiming our dignity.
We cannot delegate our destiny to citizens of other countries who should not pay the price for our mistakes.
If we don’t take responsibility for our actions, who then will? No one owes us a living.
MEDICINES Control Authority of Zimbabwe (MCAZ) director-general Gugu Mahlangu yesterday said government needs to invest more in local pharmaceutical manufacturing and in research and innovation to improve medicinal manufacturing and supply in the country.
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Speaking before Parliament’s Health and Child Care Committee yesterday Mahlangu revealed that MCAZ continues to license few locally-manufactured medicines even though they have reduced registration fees for local companies to register with the regulator.
“The majority of 249 medicines that we registered in 2018 are for infectious diseases followed by heart and BP medicines, then miscellaneous then ARVs, cancer, pain control, digestive system, brain and nervous system
“Of the 249 registered in 2018, 96 percent where imported from outside and outside Sadc, two percent came from Sadc countries only and two percent were locally produced,” she said.
While the committee quizzed Mahlangu as to what was causing the low registrations and applications by locals, the MCAZ boss said that there is lack of innovative research in the country citing the current economic challenges.
As an independent regulatory authority, MCAZ issues out licences and carries out quality control of medicines and medical testing devices before they are rolled out to the market. “The registration fees for locals are even lower than international applications…”
“In 2018 only four products were received from local manufacturers,” Mahlangu added.
She further noted that this was also despite the measures instituted to promote ease of business, speeding the review and issuance of licences by the regulator. Zimbabwe’s pharmaceutical sector has not been developing significantly owing to low capital and investment.
Coupled with this, the sector which relies largely on imports has been failing to meet local demand for medicine owing to shortages foreign currency in the country.
Medicine accounts for a big chunk of Zimbabwe’s import bill.
An estimation of US$85 million is needed to procure medicines annually. Mahlangu revealed that 1 443 import permits were issued in 2018 an enormous difference from 95 export permits issued in the same year.
This means that Zimbabwe’s import bill continues to mount above the export bill. The independent medicines regulator in the same period also licensed more than 700 pharmacies, about 100 wholesale dealers and less than 20 manufacturers.
Local manufacturers on the other hand have been incapacitated by the economic marsh which has lasted for almost two decades causing the pharmaceutical industry to lag behind Coupled with this, MCAZ revealed that the number of institutions applying for licences has also declined from about 1089 in 2017 to 507 in 2018.
Apart from that, MCAZ also recorded a sharp increase in the number of Section 75 applications for prescriptions for “medicines from other sources” – these may be medicines not necessarily registered under MCAZ. Mahlangu also revealed that over 10 000 prescriptions had knocked their doorstep for licensing mainly owed to the drug shortages in the country.
“Our traditional medical practitioners do not seem keen to bring their medicine for registrations. “We now have a new avenue, a new regulation that relates to complementary medicines, so they would fall under complementary medicines,” she said.
She, however, highlighted that at least one traditional medicine manufacturer who was licensed last month under the Complementary Medicines regulation is set to attract more to register.
On Aguma, the herbal supplement which Walter Magaya claims has medicinal properties against cancer, HIV and Aids Mahlangu said: “Aguma did not come through us, it came through the back door.
“Apparently it’s from a root that is indigenous to the country but the studies, the prophet claims were done elsewhere, he hasn’t given us the studies yet so we are still waiting, but we were involved in that whole saga because obviously he was making claims on a product that had not been tested.”
LUPANE - SIX Lupane State University (LSU) Students Representative Committee (SRC) members were recently arrested after staging a demonstration against the tertiary institution’s decision to bar those failing to pay registration fees.
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LSU banned students who have not paid registration fees from attending lectures and accessing the university’s facilities.
The university is demanding $350 upfront in order for them to be granted access into the institution.
SRC president Silas Mukusha led a demonstration in protest against the university’s decision and was arrested alongside five other students. Zimbabwe Republic Police confirmed the arrests saying the students are awaiting trial.
“We have arrested six students from LSU for disorderly conduct. They will appear in court soon,” Bulawayo deputy police spokesperson inspector Abednico Ncube said. National Association of Youth Organisations (Nayo) in Zimbabwe has angrily reacted to the arrests suggesting that the students should be allowed to exercise their right to a peaceful demonstration.
“The freedoms of assembly, association and expression (Sections 58 and 61) tied with freedom to demonstrate (Section 59) must not only exist in the Constitution. Nayo notes with concern this development in Lupane,” the statement read.
“Zimbabwe is a land with milk and honey just like any other land, just that the taste is different, Section 61 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe allows for freedom of expression yet most activists including students in Zimbabwe have been arrested.”
In a video that was circulating on social media, police officers chained Mukusha to a traffic light before dragging him to Bulawayo Central Police. The university reportedly gives students a two weeks’ grace period to register and regularise their relationship with the university.
Once the given period lapses, students are allegedly barred from accessing the university’s premises as a way of encouraging them to register as students. Efforts to get comments from the university were fruitless.
Last year, 50 students from the National University of Science and Technology (Nust) were also arrested after their protest over buses threatened to turn ugly. Students had, for a long time, been at loggerheads with the institution’s administration accusing them of mismanagement of buses.
The university buses ferry staff members to and from the city centre and students are not allowed on them. The students, however, argued that they had the right to use the buses saying they were bought using their funds.
Students allegedly pay bus levy every semester but most of them finish their degrees without using the buses.
BULAWAYO - Resident in Bulawayo have called for urgent intervention measures to address the exorbitant pricing in pharmacies, as the sector has shunned the official rate of 1:2,5 to the United States dollar.
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Members of the public who spoke to the Daily News yesterday said government should come to their rescue as the prices in most pharmacies were out of their reach in these trying economic times.
“I am expected to buy a monthly supply of BP tablets, but of late I have failed due to the pricing.
We don’t know how we are going to survive; these pharmacies are fleecing us,” said an elderly woman, who indicated that she needed about US$38 per month for one of the five pills that she takes for her condition. Contacted for comment, Pharmaceutical Society of Zimbabwe (PSZ) president Portifah Mwendera said it was unfortunate that the sector had to apply the rate of between 1:4 and 1:4,5 in order to cushion itself in the unfavourable economic context.
“Unfortunately, the prevailing rate in most pharmacies is between 1:4 and 1:4,5. In the Monetary Policy Statement that was presented, the medicines sector is part of the reserve bank’s priority list for foreign currency allocation but this has not been the case. We last got an allocation in October last year and the sector has been sourcing foreign currency through trade,” he said.
“The major problem is that the pharmaceutical society is not getting any funding from the RBZ, such that we can have price parity so that people don’t have to say they are being fleeced. Unfortunately, the exchange rate on the parallel market is unregulated; we don’t know how they calculate their rates.”
Mwendera said the pricing in the pharmacies has for a while been determined by the mode of payment required by the suppliers.
“Pharmacies have been charging according to how they are accessing their medicines from the supplier. If the supplier is accepting payment in bond notes then they will be comfortable to sell in the same currency and if they are purchasing in the US dollar then they will also sell in that currency,” he said.
“When pharmacies are selling medicines, they sell with an anticipation to replace or restock what has been sold, hence the attempt to cushion themselves from the unstable exchange rates.”
In this harsh economic phase, patients have continued to walk in and out of pharmacies empty handed as most of the medicines are out of their reach.
Pharmacies have for months maintained a three-tier pricing system with a seemingly self-enriching motive.
BULAWAYO - School authorities should ensure a safe environment for pupils, as they may be answerable for negligence, former Education minister David Coltart has said. This follows an unfortunate incident last Friday where 59 Grade 4 pupils at Sigombe Primary School in Bulawayo’s Nkulumane suburb were hospitalised after eating poisonous Jatropha fruits.
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Coltart said depending on the circumstances, the school’s authorities were liable for negligence. “I have not read much into the details of the incident but depending on the circumstances, the school authorities may be answerable for negligence. Jatropha is a plant that grows over a long time and it should have been noticed. A headmaster is responsible for ensuring that the children in his care are in a safe environment,” he said.
The pupils were rushed by ambulances to Mpilo Central Hospital last Friday after they had eaten the poisonous fruit.
According to reports, Mpilo Clinical director Solwayo Ngwenya said all the affected children had been treated over the weekend and were safe.
The doctor said Jatropha is a multi-purpose tree which can be used to produce soap, lubricants, bio-diesel and also helps in soil conservation. He said ingesting the seeds results in severe vomiting, loose stools and abdominal pain which can be fatal, which is the reason why the children had to be closely monitored to ascertain the level of poisoning.
Ngwenya also noted that institutions, especially those dealing with children, should not plant Jatropha as it is harmful and puts the young lives at risk. Education authorities in the Bulawayo Province indicated that this was the second incident involving the hospitalisation of pupils after eating Jatropha.
A similar incident reportedly occurred at Manondwane Primary School in Bulawayo’s Nketa suburb a couple of years back and there was need for the parent ministry to engage schools to teach children about the harmful effects of some wild fruits.
FORMER Technology minister Supa Mandiwanzira wants the Constitutional Court to hear his graft case arguing he was being persecuted over an administrative decision that saved NetOne.
Mandiwanzira appeared before Harare regional magistrate Elijah Makomo yesterday represented by Thembinkosi Magwaliba. He said he had the blessings of former president Robert Mugabe’s office in the transaction.
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He is being charged with criminal abuse of office for corruptly engaging Megawatt for consultancy services rendered to NetOne Pvt Ltd and had argued that the charges were misplaced because the telecommunications company was not a procuring entity but the application was thrown out.
“I feel not prosecuted but persecuted as I am being hauled before the courts for doing the right thing. I feel horrible that I may actually be sent to jail for something which I did that was correct
“I actually contacted my principals through one-on-one meetings recorded by officials from then president’s office where the green light was given.”
Mandiwanzira said he had to seek authority to give information deliberated during Cabinet meetings when the deal was entered.
“I may have to get approval to testify, in camera, details of how the issue was handled,” he said. According to the State papers, Megawatt is jointly owned by Liu Xiadong and Blue Nightingale where Mandiwanzira is a director.
It is alleged that Mandiwanzira subsequently engaged Megawatt to review pricing made by Huawei without going to tender.
The court heard that Megawatt did the work it had been contracted for although there was no contract between the two entities.
“The engagement of Megawatt was on the basis that no payment would be made by the Government of Zimbabwe or NetOne for the services. The payment of $4 000 000 was a success-based fee recoverable from Huawei Technologies if it was found to have overpriced,” Mandiwanzira had argued.
“As at the date on which the procurement is alleged to have taken place, that is February 2015, NetOne was not bound to follow the procurement procedures set out in the Act and its regulations. It could therefore procure services without going to tender.”
HARARE - MDC Harare West MP Joana Mamombe will have to languish in remand prison after the court dismissed her application challenging placement on remand in a subversion case. She will be back in court on March 19.
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Mamombe was being represented by Obey Shava who had made the application on the basis that his client was not fully advised of the treason charges at arrest, 48 hours had lapsed by the time she appeared in court and that there was no reasonable suspicion for the offence she was being charged for.
However, Harare magistrate Rumbidzayi Mugwagwa dismissed the application. “Although the arresting officer who testified in court was not eloquent, clearly the accused person was advised of her charge upon arrest. “This is so because after being arrested she even had time with the speaker of Parliament,” Mugwagwa ruled.
“The accused person was in court before lapse of the 48 hour provision but her matter only had to wait because the court was overwhelmed with other cases.” Mamombe said before her arrest, her mother was put under house arrest by unidentified security agents who demanded to know her whereabouts.
“I had gone for a Media and Parliamentary Workshop in Nyanga and around midnight of February 25 my mother called saying she was in trouble because six men were at the house looking for me. The second call was from one of the men who was at my mother’s house and he told me that I was in hot soup,” she said
Her lawyer argued that the 48-hour provision had been breached. Shava also claimed that one of the arresting details Dennis Muroyiwa was a bogus cop who had been sent by the army to execute Mamombe’s arrest. Muroyiwa claimed to be a member of CID law and order but failed to name his superiors or appreciate basic police procedures.
“You do not know anything about police structures; you do not even know your previous boss nor the department where you are supposedly based. Who is making you masquerade as an officer and when are you going to return to the barracks?” Shava queried.
Allegations against Mamombe emerged on January 14, 2019, when she held a presser at Civic Centre, Marlborough in Harare in her capacity as MDC MP.
The court heard that Momombe together with members of her constituency planned to join hands with other trade unions to coerce and invite them to overthrow president Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government. It is further alleged that the 25-year-old legislator urged members of her constituency to resort to civil disobedience and demonstrations to shut down Zimbabwe in response to public outcry over fuel price hikes, shortages and high cost of living.
The court heard that between January 14 and 16, 2019 and in response to Mamombe’s presser, members of the opposition, various trade unionists, pressure groups, youth forums and members of the public engaged in violent protests across the country.
As a result property was destroyed, lives were lost, several police officers and members of the public were also injured.
HARARE - A War veteran from Mashonaland Central Province who went berserk late last year and savagely assaulted 116 pupils at a local primary school for alleged indiscipline has been jailed.
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Solomon Samu was handed a three-year sentence by magistrate Tendai Muchena who suspended one-year and left him to serve an effective two years behind bars. It was the State’s case that Samu, who hails from Kanyemba Village under Chief Dotito in Mount Darwin, confronted the school’s deputy headmaster, Paddington Musake, in October last year demanding the “right” to beat up all the children at the school because they had “ill-discipline”.
As Samu made the bizarre demand, a fearful Musake felt powerless to stop him, as the seemingly deranged war veteran moved quickly to beat the learners, beginning with Grade Seven pupils who were about to write their final exams.
In passing judgment Muchena said the former freedom fighter had acted unlawfully in violating children’s rights hence he deserved a deterrent punishment. “The accused had the intention to harm all the children at the school and it is hard to imagine a country where an individual approaches a school from nowhere and demand the right to assault children,” Muchena said.
In mitigation, Samu through his lawyer Elaton Bonongwe pleaded for leniency saying he was old and had two school-going children who still needed to be taken care of. Samu also argued that he had been severely affected by the war and had not been treated for the trauma he suffered.
He also said he was suffering from a backache resulting from fragments of a grenade that hit him during the war. But Muchena pointed out that it was difficult to believe that nearly 40 years after the war, Samu was still suffering from the war effects that he did not know the effects of having to assault a whole school.
According to the State’s case after beating the Grade Seven pupils in the full view of their stunned teachers, Samu allegedly called on the Grade six and five learners, whereupon he meted on them the same punishment. He only stopped the beatings when Musake and the other teachers eventually gathered the courage to threaten to call police to deal with him.
Despite the incident happening in October last year, and school authorities immediately filing a formal complaint with police against the war veteran, he was only arrested last week after the intervention of parents and the Social Welfare department.
HARARE - Nestle Zimbabwe is slowing growing stocks of its Infant Formulas (IF) after they had gone off the market for nearly one month owing to a foot and mouth outbreak in South Africa (SA). Nestle’s corporate communications and public affairs officer Yamurai Zhou told the Daily News that because of a ban on SA dairy products the production of the formula was affected.
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This also comes at a time when Cerelac has also been in short supply on the local market owing to limited foreign currency to import raw materials for its manufacture. “We are fully aware of the supply constraints currently in the market and the discomfort it has caused our consumers and customers.
As an organisation we are working round the clock to minimise the impact on our consumers and customers. “Nestlé Zimbabwe does not manufacture IF locally. We source our formula from our sister company Nestlé South Africa, which produces the IF that we require in line with local regulations governed by the ministry of Health and Child Care.
“Our supply was affected for close to a month by a foot and mouth disease outbreak in South Africa. Authorities in South Africa and our own local authorities put in place temporary measures banning all export and importation of live animals and their products,” Zhou said.
Zhou added that although our products are 100 percent safe for consumption and were not impacted by this outbreak, IF being a milk-based product was inevitably part of the ban. Zhou emphasised the ban has since been lifted but the situation had created supply gaps to their market and they were gradually rebuilding their stocks.
A survey conducted by the newspaper showed that major retail shops had limited stocks of both IF and Cerelac while some did not have IF completely. Shops that still had small quantities of IF had products that were manufactured in July and August 2018 only.
Cerelac retails for around $11 in most shops while IF products such as Nan and Lactogen range between $10 and $15.
While health practitioners advise to breastfeed exclusively until a baby is six months, IF is beneficial for children with working mothers and has also been fortified with nutrients found in breast milk for maximum benefit.
HARARE - United States president Donald Trump has dealt a huge blow to President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s re-engagement efforts with Washington and other Western powers — after he extended America’s sanctions against Zimbabwe by another year.
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This comes after Mnangagwa and his senior government colleagues were recently given a stay of execution by the European Union (EU), which last month decided against hitting the country’s under-pressure ‘‘new dispensation’’ with fresh sanctions.
It also comes after Trump had last year raised hopes that his government could finally end nearly two decades of frosty relations between the USA and Zimbabwe — after he sent a powerful delegation to Harare to engage with Mnangagwa, ahead of the country’s historic elections.
“On March 6, 2003, by Executive Order 13288, the president declared a national emergency and blocked the property of certain persons, pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701-1706), to deal with the unusual and extraordinary threat to the foreign policy of the United States constituted by the actions and policies of certain members of the Government of Zimbabwe and other persons to undermine … democratic processes or institutions.
“These actions and policies had contributed to the deliberate breakdown in the rule of law in Zimbabwe, to politically motivated violence and intimidation in that country, and to political and economic instability in the southern African region.
“The actions and policies of these persons continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the foreign policy of the United States. “For this reason, the national emergency declared on March 6, 2003, and the measures adopted on that date, on November 22, 2005, and on July 25, 2008, to deal with that emergency, must continue in effect beyond March 6, 2019.
“Therefore … I am continuing for 1 year the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13288,” Trump said on Monday.
In April last year, Trump dispatched to Harare members of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, including influential US Senators Jeff Flake and Chris Coons — who met with Mnangagwa moments after he had returned from a week-long state visit to China, amid indications then that Washington was ready to consider ending nearly 20 years of Zimbabwe’s isolation by the international community if it held free and fair elections.
Both Flake and Coons had introduced a new Bill to amend the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (Zidera), which meted out punitive sanctions against former president Robert Mugabe personally, as well as against many of his senior officials and some State entities.
The new Bill, the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Amendment Act of 2018, contained conditions which were specific to Mnangagwa’s administration — which Trump said on Monday had mostly not been met thus far.
Mnangagwa, who was feted like a king when he replaced Mugabe in November 2017, initially lifted the mood of crisis-weary Zimbabweans who were hopeful at the time that he would turn around the country’s economic fortunes.
However, the post-July 30, 2018 election shootings — which left at least six civilians dead when the military used live ammunition to quell an ugly demonstration in Harare’s central business district (CBD) — and dozens of deaths during this year’s fuel riots, as well as the subsequent vicious clampdown of dissenting voices — are seen as having dented his international image significantly, in addition to harming his chances of getting financial support from Western countries.
In January this year, police and soldiers were engaged in running battles with protesters who flooded the streets of Harare, Bulawayo and other towns — to protest the steep fuel price hikes which were announced by Mnangagwa ahead of his tour of Eastern Europe.
Property worth hundreds of thousands of dollars was also destroyed and looted in the mayhem which ensued, after thousands of workers heeded a three-day strike call by labour unions. At the same time, security forces unleashed a brutal crackdown against the protesters, the opposition and civil society leaders, in a move which received wide condemnation in the country and around the world.
Political analysts told the Daily News yesterday that Mnangagwa and his government had themselves “to blame” for the extension of the USA’s sanctions — “because Trump had given them ample time” to demonstrate that they were different from Mugabe.
“The renewal of the sanctions … against individual Zimbabweans and entities by the US was inevitable in the circumstances.
“No effort, beyond a resuscitated choreography about how unfair these measures are, and the damage they have rendered, has been made to see what might be done to demonstrate why these measures should not be in place.
“Government needs to move beyond posturing and propaganda and should adopt a more proactive and pragmatic approach to these issues, as well as the serious potential obstacles that could be invoked through Zidera in terms of potentially accessing preferential lines of credit once it has settled its arrears payments.
“Indeed, why is the government not seeking real dialogue and engagement on these issues? “The AU (African Union) and Sadc’s calls (for lifting of sanctions) were symbolic gestures of solidarity, albeit misplaced ones ... as this sidesteps having to comment on the primary challenges to the economy,” Piers Pigou, a senior consultant at the International Crisis Group, said.
“Sadc and the AU could play an important and constructive role in exploring what can be practically done to navigate the way forward.
“If they truly believe that the Mnangagwa administration is walking its reform talk, then they need to demonstrate this to support their arguments.
“This would only have traction if the government was actively making such a case for them to support. “They have not done so, which really shows you how substantively important this issue is. Indeed, it appears to retain more political importance for domestic and regional propaganda and solidarity purposes.
“The government has not taken this route, and it is clear that the kind of reform progress report it released at the end of February is not adequate in this regard,” Pigou added.
VIVO Energy Plc (Vivo) has concluded the takeover of Engen Holdings (Engen) operations in a number of countries including Zimbabwe in a transaction worth $62 million.
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The transaction also involved an issue by Vivo of 63,2 million new shares, resulting in Engen holding a circa 5,0 percent shareholding. Christian Chammas, the Vivo chief executive officer, said the transaction adds operations in eight new countries and 230 Engen-branded service stations to Vivo Energy’s network, taking its total presence to over 2 000 service stations, across 23 African markets.
“The new markets for Vivo Energy are Gabon, Malawi, Mozambique, Reunion, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Engen’s Kenya operation, where Vivo Energy already operates is the ninth country included in the transaction,” he said.
Vivo is a downstream petroleum company with its headquarters in Netherlands. It is the company behind the Shell brand in Africa and is jointly owned by Vitol, Helios Investment Partners and Shell. In 2014, Engen Zimbabwe had 55 service stations. In December 2017, Vivo agreed to buy the operations of Engen in 10 African nations.
Chammas said the cash element of the consideration was funded by a draw down on Vivo Energy’s multi-currency facility. He added that on the basis of information provided by Engen, Vivo believes that the 2018 financial performance of the target group will be similar to 2017. “Increased fuel volumes, driven by the commercial segment, are expected to have been offset by lower margins,” Chammas said.
He noted that in Vivo’s first seven years, the company invested to grow the business, increasing service station network and adding new and refurbished convenience retail and quick service restaurant offers.
“We have an opportunity to replicate this successful business model to drive growth and profitability in our new markets. We must seize this in order to benefit all our customers, deliver value for our shareholders, and move closer to achieving our goal of becoming Africa’s most respected energy business,” Chammas said.
Zimbabwe's platinum output slipped two percent to 10 000 ounces during the fourth quarter of 2018 due to work in progress material processing in 2017, a new study has revealed.
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According to the World Platinum Investment Council (WPIC) latest report, platinum output from Zimbabwe and Russia is expected to remain stable at 470 000 ounces and 675 000 ounces respectively.
“Supply from Zimbabwe fell by 14 percent year-on-year (-20 000 ounces) to 120 000 ounces, with the prior year period boosted by processing of WIP material,” WPIC said.
Zimbabwe has the world’s second biggest known platinum deposits after its neighbour South Africa. One of Zimbabwe’s three largest platinum producers is Zimplats ? the other two are Mimosa and Unki. The council said global platinum demand is expected to increase by five percent to 7,7million ounces this year, owing to a significant increase in investment demand, which should offset weaker demand in the automotive, jewellery and industrial segments.
Supply would also likely increase by five percent this year, widening the market surplus, from 645 000 ounces in 2018, to 680 000 ounces. During the year 2018, total platinum supply fell marginally to eight million ounces, owing to lower mining supply and a modest increase in recycled platinum.
Refined production was down one percent to six million ounces, with notable decreases in Zimbabwe and Russia while South African production increased one percent year-on-year as a result of a low level of disruptions.
Platinum demand contracted by five percent to 7,3 million ounces, which resulted in a surplus of 645 000 ounces.
Low levels of demand were attributed to declines in jewellery, automotive and investment demand, which outweighed improved industrial demand.
WPIC said the 2019 forecast now foresees a 680 000 ounces surplus versus the prior estimate of 455 000 ounces, due to temporary higher refined production in South Africa and supply growth elsewhere more than offsetting increased demand in 2019.
Total demand in 2019 is forecast to rise five percent this year, compared to 2018.
Lancashire Steel, a subsidiary of Ziscosteel, is set to resume operations after a new investor Whinstone Enterprises agreed to inject fresh capital.
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Lancashire Steel, which used to produce wire among other steel products, closed in 2010 as a result of shortage of supply after its mother company Ziscosteel suspended operations. However, there could be light at the end of the tunnel after Lancashire Steel and Whinstone Enterprises — under the Lancashire Joint Venture (LJV) vehicle — yesterday called for former staffers to apply for jobs at the Kwekwe-based steel maker.
LJV said it was looking forward to assembling a new team and beginning operations. “… All long service employees of Lancashire Steel who served in various divisions in the plant section (must) submit their CVs and job profiles as a matter of urgency to the plant offices in Kwekwe,” the company said.
This comes as the Indian partner raised a stink last year after it emerged that the company was being investigated in Botswana for corruption. According to local media reports, the deal will give Whinstone Enterprises 50 percent ownership of the Kwekwe-based steelmaker after five years, and 90 percent of profits, but fails to specify how much the company is supposed to invest in the deal, which analysts say was a case of corporate raiding of a national resource.
Lancashire Steel — which stopped operations in 2010 — entered into a five-year partnership with Whinstone Enterprises, owned by the Verma family, which was implicated in the closure of Pula Steel in Botswana under a cloud.
The Verma family, which owned 17 percent of Pula Steel, while 52,3 percent was held by the Botswana government through Bamangwato Concessions, was under investigation in the neighbouring country after the company closed in 2016.
Ranvir Kumar Verma, who owns Whinstone Enterprises, was Pula Steel chief executive at the time it was hit by allegations of corruption and forced to close. Reports by Botswana’s Mmegi newspaper indicate that Ranvir has no experience in steel manufacturing and was allegedly behind the employment of illegal Indian immigrants.
Since the deal between Lancashire Steel and Whinstone Enterprises was signed on July 27, 2018 insiders said there has been no movement amid reluctance by the Indians to pour money into operations. “Lancashire Steel looked for an investor because they didn’t have money, but then the investor came and says you have been down for long, don’t expect to be up and running soon.
He can’t even pay electricity bills and, instead, wants us to pay through sales of scrap metal,” a source said.
Ezekiel Machingambi who was acting managing director at the firm last year confirmed that production had not started and could not say when it would.
HARARE - Another MDC legislator Charlton Hwende was yesterday remanded in custody after appearing in court on subversion charges.
Hwende’s arrest came immediately after Harare West MDC MP Joana Mamombe was sent to remand prison on Tuesday over the same allegations that the opposition leaders incited Zimbabweans to overthrow President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
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He was represented by Harrison Nkomo and advised to apply for bail at the High Court since treason is a third schedule offence whose bail consideration can only be done in the upper courts.
According to Nkomo, police officers that arrested Hwende flagrantly violated his rights.
The court issued an order to investigate the complaints against the arresting details. “My client was arrested while on board flight SW411, Air Namibia, as soon as it touched the ground. His passport was taken away from him by the police officers and technically he has not entered Zimbabwe because he was not given a chance to regularise with Immigration,” Nkomo said.
“I wish to have this on record in case the State might want to charge him with violating the Immigration Act later. He was detained from 10:45 am to 17:30pm without being advised of the reason for his arrest in violation of constitutional provisions.
“The State papers do not disclose any offence and these are issues we shall address the court on the next remand date.”
The matter was remanded to March 20.
Prosecutor Charles Muchemwa alleged that between December 28, and 31, last year Hwende allegedly posted on his Twitter handle messages that could incite people to revolt against the government.
It was alleged that Hwende’s posts encouraged people to engage in mass protests and hooliganism.
According to the State, Hwende wrote that “2019 should be the year of the final push to a new Zimbabwe. We cannot continue on this trajectory of failure and kwashiorkor of leadership. Enough is enough. In January citizens must organise themselves for a complete shutdown of the country.
Stay at home no one will shoot you…2019 is the year of rolling mass action against the illegal regime of @edmnangagwa. We voted for @nelsonchamisa and we must be prepared like the thousands of gallant liberation struggle heroes to die defending our right to choose the president of our choice #2019Chamisamuoffice.”
The court heard that between January 14 and 16, 2019 and in response to Hwende’s exhortations, members of the opposition, various trade unionists, pressure groups, youth forums and members of the public engaged in violent protests across the country.
As a result, property was destroyed, lives were lost, several police officers and members of the public were also injured.
Nelson Chamisa’s MDC Alliance yesterday angrily reacted to the incarceration of its deputy treasurer-general and Kuwadzana East MP Charlton Hwende on charges of attempting to subvert a constitutionally-elected government, saying holding divergent views does not constitute treasonous conduct.
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Several MDC Alliance MPs including Amos Chibaya and Joanna Mamombe are facing the same charge. Bekithemba Mpofu, the MDC deputy spokesperson, said the charges expose a failure to break from the past by Zanu PF. “In any case the military government is not a constitutionally-elected government,” Mpofu said.
“During the many years of their political apprenticeship, the leaders of the military government were party to a process which accused political rivals of treason. “They charged Dr Joshua Nkomo, Lookout Masuku, Dr Dumiso Dabengwa, Dr Morgan Richard Tsvangirai, Prof Welshman Ncube and Hon Tendai Biti among others.
The new leaders on the list are just a continuation.”
Mpofu said “persecution of MDC leaders and members must stop, mass and fast-tracked trials, denial of due process and violations of people’s rights must stop forthwith.”
Suspended University of Zimbabwe vice chancellor Levi Nyagura, who is accused of corruptly awarding a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) to former first lady Grace Mugabe, has lost his bid to approach the Constitutional Court (Con-Court) directly to challenge his prosecution by a Special Anti-Corruption Unit set up by President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
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The Con-Court yesterday upheld a decision by Harare magistrate Lazini Ncube barring Nyagura to approach the highest court in the land. In the application, Nyagura had cited Ncube, Prosecutor-General Kumbirai Hodzi, and the Unit’s prosecutors Tapiwa Fresh Godzi and Michael Chakandida, as respondents.
“There is discordance between what happened and the relief sought. The relief sought is based on the allegation that there was refusal by the court a quo to refer the constitutional questions to the court. There was no refusal. There was a determination of the constitutional questions on merits.
“The decision terminated the controversy between the parties on the question whether the authority to prosecute was lawfully given to the third and fourth respondents (Godzi and Chakandida), by giving victory to the prosecutor-general.
“The applicant was bound by the decision of the court a quo and had to stand trial,” the court said. Chief Justice Luke Malaba in a judgment agreed to by other Con-Court judges Tendai Uchena and Vernanda Makoni, said Nyagura invoked a wrong remedy in a bid to redress the magistrate’s ruling.
The judges said if Nyagura felt the ruling was wrong, he should have filed an appeal to redress the decision. “A wrong judicial decision does not, however, give rise to a ground for an alleged violation of the right to equal protection of the law.
“No law provides protection to a litigant against the possibility of a judicial officer making a wrong decision. In the result, it is ordered as follows: the application be and is hereby dismissed with no order as to costs,” the court said.
Nyagura argued in his court papers that according to Section 260 (1) of the Constitution, a public prosecutor is intended to be independent, impartial and not subject to the direction or control of anyone. He said people who assist the prosecutor-general have to be employed by a board of the National Prosecuting Authority.
“They (the unit) have been placed under the president, their salaries are paid by the president, and they are bound by the Official Secrecy Act.
“They have both investigative and prosecuting rights. They serve at the pleasure of the president who can remove them from office at any time,” he argued. Allegations against Nyagura are that sometime in 2011 he single-handedly accepted and approved Mugabe’s application to study for a PhD in Sociology without the knowledge of the department Board and Faculty of Higher Degrees Committee.
The court heard Nyagura then appointed two professors to supervise Mugabe’s thesis without the board’s approval. Nyagura is further accused of usurping the powers of the UZ senate by single-handedly appointing examiners for Mugabe’s research in violation of the UZ Act chapter 25:16 and Ordinance 1998/99.
Sometime in 2014, Nyagura allegedly led supervisors and examiners to Mugabe’s Mazowe Estate where the defence oral examination was purportedly done without knowledge and approval of the academic committee.
According to State papers the oral examination is supposed to be done at UZ premises.
MUTARE - Mutare City Council’s corrupt officials sold stands in low density suburbs for as little as 60 cents per square metre with high density stands going for as high at $20 per square metre, the Daily News can reveal.
According to a critical forensic land audit report in our possession covering 2007 to March 2018 there was rampant corruption in the valuation of stands in the local authority with low density stands generally going for far much less than high density stands.
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“The stands in low density areas were being sold at an intrinsic cost price ranging from $0,75 to $3,20 per square metre whilst stands in high density areas were sold at prices ranging from $0,53 to $20 per square metre depending on the individual status of the beneficiary,” the report revealed.
The audit noted that there was no uniformity in the valuation of stands even in the same area as the stands were being sold off at below market prices.
This was clear in Hospital Hill where an infill was created and stands were sold at prices ranging from $3,20 to $7 according to the audit findings.
Mutare mayor Blessing Tandi has dismissed an audit report which revealed that councillors — him included, bought 52 undervalued stands prejudicing council of over $80 000 which needs to be recovered.
Thirty-one of the stands are still to be paid for by the 19 Zanu PF and 12 MDC councillors. The forensic land management audit that exposed the anomaly blamed the under-pricing of the stands on the “ineffectiveness by council management in carrying out their responsibilities”.
Councillors got the land at give-away prices some as low as $600 after they were charged 40 percent of the intrinsic land value instead of the market value which would also encompass development costs prejudicing council of $80 842.46.
The audit recommended that council should comply with the ministry of Local Government’s circular number 12 of 2016 that requires 40 percent of the full purchase price to be charged and therefore demand that the councillors pay the difference.
“I would like to place it on record that contrary to suggestions in some sections of the media that my council was dismissive of the audit findings we have taken note of the undervaluation and we commit to pay whatever is owed,” Tandi said.
He, however, said the problem was partly with council management on whom the audit also laid the full blame.
The MDC Alliance will hold its primary elections on May 24-26, Nelson Chamisa said yesterday — a vote he promises will be free and fair with a democratic and rigorous process where candidates will be nominated by the lower party structures.
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Chamisa, who seized power after founding MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai lost his valiant battle against cancer of the colon on February 14 last year, counts on the election to bolster his legitimacy as the party’s ambitious secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora expresses his desire to challenge him in a contest that could make or break his political career.
Chamisa told a news conference at the Morgan Richard Tsvangirai House MDC HQ in central Harare that as a democratic party, the MDC-Alliance will not hold back anyone who wishes to challenge him. Chamisa’s statement comes as vice president Elias Mudzuri is also being tipped to run for president.
At least 10 top MDC officials, anxious to get started on their quest to capture the VP post, are said to be lining up to launch campaigns in what is quickly becoming a crowded field of vice-presidential contenders. The theme of the congress is “Defining a new course for Zimbabwe”.
“We have said this congress is about positions which are going to be availed. In terms of the actual positions to be contested, through an election and some to be appointed, is something to be determined by the national council at our last meeting before the congress and that will guide the course,” Chamisa said.
“In terms of our constitution, we are supposed to have the presidium being open to contestation, the chairperson’s position as well. There is still debate on the secretary-general’s position being open but that is a product of our internal democratic processes. We will be very clear on which positions to be contested at the appropriate time,” he said.
“The congress is important because we will have a full team of effective leadership to take over government in a democratic and constitutional manner. It also gives us a chance to have a solid team of people of substance.
“Those there, are faces of substance, but they have to be renewed and this is why I said I will be the first one to congratulate and celebrate the one who is going to emerge out of this glorious act.
“I know they may not have shown their interests because in our party it is not allowed by the constitution to show interest — you are deployed as a cadre.
People choose you to belong to a particular position, you do not just say you want. You have to be wanted by the people. It is a process which is rigorous and very democratic where people are nominated by the lower structures to say who they want.”
He said people were free to pick anyone they felt was the right candidate and welcomed any primary challenger.
“Chamisa is not the first born of this party and he’s also not the last born. There was Morgan Tsvangirai who groomed me, but he also did the same with a lot of you in the party and we know that this movement will be in safe and capable hands.
We have proved to Zanu PF that by killing Tsvangirai, they made a mistake,” Chamisa said. “The party is going to new levels and we will not collapse. The party is energising and recalibrating.
“We do not want to see tyranny and violence in our structures. Those are qualities we see next door.
We cannot be a carbon copy of Zanu PF where factionalism is a national religion and corruption is the DNA,” the pastor and lawyer said.
Some local consumer prices marginally fell this week for the first time in months as declining costs for foreign exchange offset rising prices after the central bank ditched the fanciful greenback bond note peg.
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This comes after Zimbabwe’s quasi currency known as bond notes was no longer deemed 1:1 with the trade-weighted US dollar, with the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) devaluing the bond notes and allowing the market to decide what the prevailing market rate should be.
In his first Monetary Policy Statement release for 2019, the RBZ governor John Mangudya announced that he will establish “an inter-bank foreign exchange market in Zimbabwe to formalise the trading of real-time gross settlement (RTGS) balances and bond notes with US dollars and other currencies on a willing-buyer willing-seller basis through banks and bureaux de change.”
This week, the price of 2kg rice dropped from around $7 to $6,50, a bottle of 500ml of still water is now pegged at $0,85 from $1,05, while 500ml fizzy drinks now range around $1,80 from an average of $2.
Other prices have remained stable. In the past months, prices spiralled out of control, leaving most
Zimbabweans unable to afford basic commodities such as bread, mealie-meal, and rice. Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) president Sifelani Jabangwe attributed the slight decrease in prices to the access that retailers now have to foreign currency in banks.
“Some of them have managed to get foreign currency from banks which is going at a rate of 1:2,5 and are importing some goods.
“With access to foreign currency, eventually prices are bound to go down and this will make positive contributions towards the economy,” Jabangwe said. Veteran economist John Robertson said reductions could cause Value Added Tax (Vat) collections and company profits taxes to go down as well.
“Importers who were paying up to RTGS$4 and are now paying only RTGS$2,5 for each US$ will certainly be passing on lower costs, but the higher fuel prices and the 2 percent tax are also reducing the consumers’ disposable income.
“We will see the evidence in the tax revenue figures for the next few months, but we must also expect some wage levels to rise.
“Of special importance is whether tobacco prices are going to be high enough to cover tobacco growers’ higher expenses,” Robertson said.
This comes as Mangudya said prices should remain at their current levels and or should start to decline in sympathy with the stability in the exchange rate given that the current monetary balances have not been changed.
Mangudya said the RBZ will commit all its efforts to use instruments at its disposal to maintain stability of the exchange rate.
“This is essential to restore the purchasing power of RTGS balances through safeguarding price stability by neutralising pressures emanating from pass- through effects of exchange rate movements,” he said.
Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers president Denford Mutashu said the decrease in prices was due to a decline in consumer demand. He however, admitted that this decline slows the rate of stock turnover against constant or rising costs like employment costs and rentals.
“Price stagnation and in some instances, decline, is due to weakening consumer demand. In some cases, you have someone with a full tank of fuel but failing to afford the daily basics as speculation on fuel availability takes its toll on spending,” Mutashu said.
The retailers’ president added that the introduction interbank market is a welcome development as it plays a critical role in their line of business. “There is optimism that it will improve access to foreign currency as the market will allocate based on demand and supply.
“If the RBZ can be allowed to play its lender of last resort role, the better, as it brings stability to the financial sector and the economy at large,” he said.
