http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
August 4, 2012 in News
Staff
Writer
PILOTS and flight attendants of beleaguered national carrier Air
Zimbabwe
face a bleak future as they have gone for months without pay and
cannot seek
alternative employment because their licences expired in January
when the
airline stopped operating.The airline suspended all international
and
regional flights and is currently only servicing the
Harare-Bulawayo-Victoria Falls route.
The Boeing 737 is only flying three
hours a day, which is far less than the
minimum 10 hours it must do to
operate viably.
Disgruntled pilots and flight attendants say they last
received full
salaries in July last year, consequently they are finding it
difficult to
make ends meet.
“We last received payment in May and that
was only a third of our normal
salaries,” said a flight attendant. “Some of
us are currently roaming the
streets and that includes pilots.”
One pilot
told the Zimbabwe Independent that lack of flying time in the 2012
calendar
year has made it hard for them to look for employment elsewhere
because
flying hours are pre-requisites.
Air Zimbabwe marketing and public relations
executive, Shingai Taruvinga,
acknowledged the airline was not generating
enough income to meet most of
its obligations, including salaries.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
August 3, 2012 in News
THE Zimbabwe
Independent, which has over the years been investigating the
goings-on at
Marange diamond fields, carries the fifth instalment of the
latest Global
Witness report Financing A Parallel Government? which makes
interesting
revelations about Chiadzwa. This week the report by the UK-based
non-governmental organisation which campaigns against natural
resources-related conflict, corruption and associated environmental and
human rights abuses, looks at Anjin’s shareholding records it describes as
“revealing” in that Matt Bronze, which owns shares in Anjin, is suspected of
being a front for the Zimbabwean Ministry of Defence, military and police.
The Global Witness report sheds light on activities unfolding at Marange
diamond fields.
Canadile soon collapsed and its concession was taken
over by Marange
Resources (Pvt) Ltd, wholly-owned by the parastatal Zimbabwe
Mining
Development Corporation (ZMDC). Press reports indicate that the new
chair of
Marange Resources is retired colonel Tshinga Dube, head of Zimbabwe
Defence
Industries (ZDI) (an entity which is on the EU and US sanctions
lists).
More recent concessions include Sino-Zimbabwe Development (Pvt) Ltd
(who are
reported to have left their concession, and whose activities are
described
in more detail in annex 1); Diamond Mining Corporation, a joint
venture
between the ZMDC and Pure Diam, a company registered in Dubai,
United Arab
Emirates; and Anjin Investments (Pvt) Ltd.
There
are now four companies mining diamonds in earnest in Marange: Mbada,
Marange
Resources, Diamond Mining Corporation and Anjin. These are
established
operations using up to date technology, with modern security
protocols.
Anjin is ostensibly a joint venture between Matt
Bronze (Pvt) Ltd and a
Chinese construction company. Anjin is a joint
venture between Matt Bronze,
a previously unknown Zimbabwean firm, and Anhui
Foreign Economic
Construction Group (AFEC(G)), a large Chinese construction
company.
In Zimbabwe AFEC(G) is building a new National Defence College. The
deal is
financed by a US$98 million loan from the Chinese state-owned Exim
Bank and
it has been reported in the press that the terms of the loan
include a
provision for repayment of the debt using revenues from
Anjin.
Global Witness has visited the Zimbabwean company registry to look at
the
records for Matt Bronze. The directors there are listed as Shelton
Wandai
Kativhu and Pennelope Rujeko, two individuals who have no public
profile in
the mining sector. The company was incorporated on April 24 2008,
and
records its address as the 9th Floor, Travel Centre, Corner of 3rd St
and
Jason Moyo Avenue, Harare.
Other directors, shareholders and
beneficial owners of Matt Bronze are not
recorded. The following paragraphs
set out the reasoning for our belief that
Matt Bronze is a front company for
the Zimbabwean Ministry of Defence,
military and police.
The company
records for Anjin itself are revealing. Anjin’s directors are
listed at the
registry as Jiang Zhaoyao, Chen Qing, Peng Zheng, Li Zhongqi,
Huang Xianjue,
all with Chinese nationality. The only Zimbabwean director
listed is the
company secretary and principal officer, Brigadier-General
Charles
Tarumbwa.
An affidavit records a resolution making Anjin a joint venture
between Matt
Bronze, the principal officer of which is Tarumbwa, and
AFEC(G). The
agreement was signed by Peng on behalf of AFEC(G) and Tarumbwa
for Matt
Bronze. The company register also states that Anjin’s share capital
is made
up of US$2 000, consisting of 2 000 ordinary shares, which are
shared
equally between Tarumbwa and Peng.
So who is this
Brigadier-General Tarumbwa, who owns half of Anjin? In 2006,
the United
Nations listed Tarumbwa as Judge Advocate General at the Ministry
of
Defence. In 2011, theInternational Committee of the Red Cross records his
identity as a military lawyer at the Ministry of Defence. Tarumbwa is listed
on the current EU sanctions list because he was “directly involved in the
terror campaign waged before and during the elections” in Manicaland and
Mutare South.
Tarumbwa played a role in a past attempt to set up a
military-owned joint
venture. He is also the company secretary for RussZim
Mining, a company
registered in 2006. Company records for RussZim Mining
includes
correspondence from ZDI registering RussZim as a joint venture, and
appointing retired colonel Dube (head of ZDI) to sign articles of
association with RussZim.
The records also include a letter from TK
Maphosa, Permanent Secretary in
the Ministry of Defence at the time of
RussZim’s incorporation, advising
that a waiver of registration fees has
been granted.
Anjin’s executive board is partly controlled by the Zimbabwean
police,
military, and Ministry of Defence. The Chinese members of the
executive
board are, namely, Jian Qingde, Jiang Diaru, Tian Shiyue, Jiang
Zhaoyao, Li
Renfu, Zhang Shibin and Lu Qingxia.
The Zimbabwean executive
board members of Anjin are Martin Rushwaya, the
Permanent Secretary in the
Ministry of Defence; Oliver Chibage, a
commissioner in the Zimbabwe Republic
Police (ZRP); Nonkosi M Ncube, a
commissioner in the ZRP; Munyaradzi
Machacha, a Zanu PF director of
publications; Mabasa Temba Hawadi, a
director of Marange Resources, a
subsidiary of the ZMDC; Morris Masunungure,
a current or retired officer in
the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF); Romeo
Daniel Mutsvunguma, a retired
colonel in the ZDF alleged by Human Rights
Watch to have participated in
violence in 2008.
We wrote to Anjin to give
them a chance to comment on the make-up of their
board. Anjin’s (Chinese)
general manager replied that: “Zimbabwean members
of the executive board of
Anjin Investments (Pvt) Ltd are appointed by
Zimbabwean government. Chinese
side (sic) pays close attention to the
operation management and partner’s
co-operation of the company, as for the
status and political background of
Zimbabwean members, it is not reasonable
for us to investigate or research.
Please kindly understand.”
At the occasion of the granting of the
mining licence Anjin executives met
President Robert Mugabe and Minister of
Defence Emmerson Mnangagwa. It is
possible that the Marange concession was
granted to Anjin by the Defence
minister Emmerson Mnangagwa, a front-runner
to succeed President Mugabe
It has been alleged by an MDC parliamentarian
that Anjin’s mining concession
was granted by Mnangagwa when the Mines
minister was on leave and Mnangagwa
was acting Mines minister. Mnangagwa is
one the front runners to succeed
88-year-old Mugabe as the leader of Zanu
PF, and recently declared that he
was “ready to rule”. Global Witness has
not been able to independently
confirm that it was Mnangagwa who granted the
licence, but he was present
when Anjin was granted its mining
licence.
Global Witness put this allegation to Anjin, who said instead Mugabe
granted
the concession: “We hereby explain that Anjin Investments (Pvt) Ltd
was
awarded a concession in the Marange diamond fields, the concession was
issued by Ministry of Mines and granted by His Excellency President Mugabe
personally by legal procedures.”
— To be continued next week.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
August 4, 2012 in
Politics
Faith Zaba
BATTLE LINES are drawn over the latest Copac
draft constitution, with Zanu
PF trying to force wholesale amendments to the
document while the two MDC
parties endorsed it without changes.
In a move
that threatens to further derail the troubled constitution-making
process
that has so far gobbled more than US$45 million and is about two
years
behind schedule, Zanu PF has rejected many sections of the draft and
is
pushing to rewrite certain clauses to ensure presidential powers remain
largely intact.
In some sections Zanu PF is pushing for changes that will
introduce new
issues and in other areas where presidential powers have been
diluted it
wants them restored.
The MDC parties have made it clear the
draft is a negotiated document which
won’t be revised.
While the parties
are battling with internal divisions over the draft, the
struggle will also
be fought amongst the parties at principal level, the
second stakeholders’
conference and in parliament.
The parties will also face-off with civil
society groups that have
criticised the process, arguing it was not
inclusive and inherently flawed.
Civil society is demanding an explanation as
to why Zanu PF and the two MDCs
wasted US$45 million on an outreach
programme only to negotiate the document
and plagiarise the rejected 2000
draft, Kariba draft and the current
constitution, among others.
President
Robert Mugabe and his allies, through the politburo, are demanding
far-reaching changes to the draft constitution, which include the preamble,
national objectives and foundations, the history and legacy of the
liberation struggle, public administration, public finance, tiers of
government, devolution and appointment of provincial governors.
They also
want to force changes in the establishment of the constitutional
court,
deployment of defence forces outside the country, proposed
restructuring of
the Attorney-General’s Office, the exclusion of traditional
chiefs from the
Judicial Services Commission, and introduction of term
limits.
There was
also heated debate since last week on vice-presidents, the
provision of
running mates in presidential elections, maintenance of the
office of the
public protector which had been removed following the adoption
of the Human
Rights Commission, media, war veterans, Zimbabwe’s obligations
under
international law, citizenship, death penalty, anti-corruption, and
foreign
policy.
There are fears gay rights might be sneaked in through the backdoor
via
international instruments and they want the proposed National Peace and
Reconciliation Commission abolished.
The politburo met on Wednesday for
the third time in two weeks for a total
more than 24 hours to discuss the
draft constitution.
It is expected to finalise discussions next week and
announce the party’s
position on the Copac document.
Politburo members,
who spoke to the Zimbabwe Independent, said yesterday
they agreed to push
for amendments on clauses which undermine the president’s
sweeping executive
powers.
The meetings saw rival factions led by Vice-President Joice Mujuru,
Defence
minister Emmerson Mnangagwa and hardliners led by outspoken
politburo
member, Jonathan Moyo, come together in support of amendments to
the draft.
Hardliners pushing for the rejection of the draft which they view
as a
systematic weakening of state institutions and unmitigated onslaught on
the
executive.
In contrast, the two MDC formations endorsed the draft at
their separate
national executive meetings, arguing it represented an
incremental gain in
the democratisation process.
MDC president Welshman
Ncube said: “We have endorsed the draft constitution
and we expect it to be
taken to the second stakeholders’ conference, then
parliament before we go
for a referendum.
“It is not possible to renegotiate or alter anything
without collapsing the
whole process. We as a party will not accept any
attempt by anybody to
renegotiate any aspect of this draft. We will not
accept any forum for some
people to veto or alter the agreed
document.”
MDC-T concurred. Its spokesperson Douglas Mwonzora said his party
was
satisfied with the draft constitution.
He said some of the positive
aspects include dual citizenship, establishment
of stronger checks and
balances on the executive, provision of a strong and
accountable president,
creation of independent commissions, freedom of the
press, devolution of
power to the provinces, establishment of the National
Prosecution Authority
and Constitutional Court and an expanded Bill of
Rights.
“The party
resolved that the people of Zimbabwe must be given opportunity to
decide on
the draft through a referendum,” he said.
Fissures have not only emerged
between the coalition parties, but also
within the political parties over
the draft.
Zanu PF is currently divided into three groups –– an anti-draft
faction led
by Moyo, another defending it which includes negotiators, and a
third which
is neutral.
In the MDC-T some national executive committee
members have expressed
disappointment with certain clauses the party
endorsed.
MDC-T national executive sources said divisions are mainly centred
on
compensation and justice for victims of state-perpetrated atrocities and
devolution.
“There was not much debate on the matter (draft constitution)
at the last
national executive meeting in the mistaken belief that the draft
had been
agreed by all parties,” a source said.
“However, Zanu PF’s calls
for amendments to the draft have infuriated
officials from Matabeleland
mainly over devolution.”
MDC-T Bulawayo provincial chairperson Gorden Moyo
conceded there were
reservations among party members on issues such as
devolution while sources
said MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai was now having
second thoughts on the
clause on presidential election running
mates.
Divisions at various levels — including within and among parties,
civil
society and the public — have left battle lines on the draft drawn
ahead of
key stages such as the stakeholders’ conference, parliament and
referendum
that will decide the fate of the document.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
August 4, 2012 in Politics
Staff
Writer
THE draft constitution has failed to instil much-needed investor
confidence
in the agricultural sector and investors will “continue to adopt
a cautious
approach until it is clear that land can be leveraged as security
and has
real market value,” a farming group has said.
Charles Taffs,
president of the Commercial Farmers’ Union of Zimbabwe, said
on Tuesday an
opportunity has been missed to inject sound legal framework
that would clear
contentious issues around land.
“Many questions regarding the specifics of
secure tenure to agricultural
land, effectiveness of a new land commission,
the limitations of state
powers as regards 99-year leases and so on, remain
unanswered by this
draft,” said Taffs.
“Agricultural investors and
financiers of agriculture will therefore
continue to adopt a cautious
approach until it is clear that land can be
leveraged as security and has a
real market value.”
He said the draft constitution would ensure the proposed
audit by the unity
government is avoided and the status quo is
entrenched.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
August 4, 2012 in Politics
Faith
Zaba
A ROW is brewing over potentially corrupt selection of architects
for major
government public works projects, amid allegations that plum
contracts are
mostly being given to Zanu PF-aligned consultants.
In
interviews with Zimbabwe Independent, local architects accused the
ministry
of public works and other government departments of favouring a few
individuals connected to Zanu PF when selecting architects to design and
supervise major government projects.
However, senior officials in the
ministry of public works dismissed
allegations of corruption in the awarding
of contracts, saying the
nomination of consultants was done on merit, not
cronysm.
But a Harare-based architect said: “There are about 30 to 40 black
architects in the country, but government works programmes are being given
to just a few people. One person who has benefitted the most is JB (Joel
Biggy) Matiza, when there are so many other architects who can also do the
job.
“This has always been a big issue among local architects. Matiza has
a big
advantage over other architects because he is an MP and he gets to
know
about state projects before us.
“We have always been advocating the
equitable distribution of public
programmes. One way of making the process
more transparent and accountable
would be to subject the process to design
competitions. This way, the best
company wins and it also deals with
corruption.”
Some of the big projects which Matiza’s Studio Arts company
designed include
the first proposed parliament building which was supposed
to be constructed
in the Kopje area but has since been shifted to Mount
Hampden; the
unfinished Central Registry offices; Interpol offices; the
Social Security
Centres; Bulawayo, Victoria Falls and Kariba airports;
Zimdef building in
Bulawayo; and the Bindura, Chinhoyi, Lupane and Masvingo
state universities.
The most recent contract awarded to Matiza is the
Victoria Falls United
Nations World Tourism Organisation conference project,
expected to cost US$1
billion, involving the construction of two hotels, a
shopping mall,
convention centre and a golf course.
Architects are paid
6% of the total cost of the project, while quantity
surveyors get 3% and
engineers 5%.
However, Public Works permanent secretary Engineer George Mlilo
said Matiza
was awarded the contracts on merit.
He said a consultant is
usually chosen from a pool of architects depending
on the project.
Mlilo
said they consider the architect’s track record and his or her company’s
ability to design and supervise the project.
“We know all the consultants
and we know their performance and their track
record and from that we then
decide who to commission to do the design and
supervise the project,” he
said.
“Some of these architects don’t supervise to our satisfaction. Some of
them
don’t perform; they don’t have the staff to supervise and monitor the
projects and this comes out in their reports. We choose the ones that have a
reputation to deliver, which Matiza has.
“He designed the proposed
parliament building and this has not been
implemented and I am not sure if
we even paid him for that project.
Normally, we don’t pay fully until the
project is implemented. University
jobs are a repeat job.”
Mlilo said
there are 520 government capital projects, which are at a
standstill because
of lack of funding. These range from hospitals, to
decentralised registry
offices and clinics.
“These projects are spread across local architects. Our
aim is to finish up
the projects that we started because we are losing our
investment on these
projects the longer we take,” he said.
Another top
official in the ministry pointed out that “just like you, you go
to the best
doctor, you don’t just go to any. We choose the best person for
the job. We
can’t give everyone. Matiza is a very good architect and he is
very
enterprising. We look at company profiles as well”.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
August 4, 2012 in Politics
Staff
Writer
WHILE most top Zanu PF officials are embroiled in the district
co-ordinating
committee dissolution drama, Mines minister and party
vice-presidential
aspirant, Obert Mpofu, is firmly focused on building his
political influence
in the Matabeleland region.
Mpofu has been
officiating at most state functions in Matabeleland ranging
from graduation
ceremonies, pass-out parades, and launches of various
projects,
overshadowing his more senior party colleagues Vice-President John
Nkomo and
rival Simon Khaya Moyo.
Mpofu and Moyo are locked in a bitter race to succeed
Nkomo who is
reportedly suffering from cancer.
Nkomo is rarely seen in
the region while Moyo makes frequent visits to his
home village of Bulilima
where he is vying for a senatorial seat.
Moyo has also launched a number of
projects in Bulilima and Plumtree,
resulting in traditional leaders
declaring him their preferred candidate for
the senatorial seat in the next
elections.
Mpofu has made several trips to his Umguza constituency where he
distributed
maize to villagers and donated computers to schools.
Mpofu
declared his ambitions when he challenged Nkomo in the race to succeed
the
late Joseph Msika in 2009. He was blocked by party stalwarts who argued
that
Nkomo was the most senior Zanu PF official in the region.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
August 3, 2012 in Business
Clive Mphambela
RESERVE
Bank governor Gideon Gono has said the reduction in GDP growth
forecasts
from between 9,4% to 5,6% was closely linked to the critical
liquidity
situation in the country.
He said there was need for a concerted effort to
rein in imports and reduce
the negative balance-of-payments position
draining liquidity from the
economy.
Presenting his mid-term monetary
policy statement earlier this week, Gono
said the liquidity challenges
currently dogging the economy could not be
solved by the central bank alone,
saying stakeholders must understand that
liquidity sources were limited and
the central bank could not print other
countries’ currencies.
Gono said
although exports performance had improved, the country’s
balance-of-payments
position was projected to remain under considerable
pressure in
2012.
“While exports are expected to register a 13,2% growth from US$4,49
billion
in 2011 to US$5,09 billion in 2012 (or 45% of GDP) on the back of
increased
gold, diamond and platinum production, as well as increased
capacity
utilisation realised by the major ferro-alloys producers and better
tobbaco
exports, the country continues to absorb disproportionately huge
imports to
bridge attendant supply gaps in the economy,” he said.
The
country’s imports grew significantly by 46,5% from US$5,162 billion in
2010
to US$7,562 billion in 2011.
Growing import dependence has gained prominence
on the backdrop of low
industrial capacity utilisation, which is currently
estimated at around 50%.
The country’s import bill is projected to rise
further by 8% to US$8,215
billion in 2012, a figure representing 75% of GDP,
on the back of
drought-induced food imports. This, coupled with net service
and income
outflows, will culminate in the incurrence of an unsustainable
current
account deficit projected at US$3,1 billion in 2012, a figure
representing
26% of the country’s GDP.
“I am not by any means or by any
stretch of imagination suggesting a return
of the Zimbabwe dollar. Export
earnings are a critical source of liquidity
and it is important that
whatever we do, we bear that in mind,” Gono said.
“There is a misnomer that
because we are trading in US dollars, there is no
need to earn export
earnings.”
He said that diaspora remittances, offshore credit lines, foreign
direct
investment (FDI) and portfolio investment flows were also important
contributors of liquidity and more than the efforts of the central bank
alone were required to engender confidence in the economy.
“I was
suggesting to my board that Zimbabwe needs a new kind of liquidity,
which I
can call confidence liquidity, that is liquidity which is aligned
to the
confidence that is in the economy, either it flows out or it flows
in. We
need confidence liquidity in the economy and without it export
earnings can
be made, but will flow out as soon as they come in,” he said.
“Efforts to
improve the country’s liquidity conditions should thus place
great
prominence on improving confidence in the banking sector and any
actions
that end up undermining that confidence in the banking sector will
meet with
stiff criticism and brutal opposition from the central bank.”
He said
improved confidence was usually accompanied by increased investment
inflows,
which in turn, supports key productive sectors.
This, he said, would result
in improved liquidity conditions which support
sustained economic
growth.
“In an environment where companies are closing day in day out, and
there are
no exports but there are huge imports , particularly of
consumptive goods,
the day of reckoning is not far,” Gono warned.
The
central bank chief said the country was projecting imports of about US$8
billion this year and a current account deficit of 26% or US$3,1
billion.
“That is serious and to the extent that 75% of these imports are
consumptive
spending this should give us some sleepless nights,” he
added.
He said the huge import bill comprising mainly consumptive imports was
undermining the economy by draining liquidity from the economy.
“Why are
we turning ourselves into a licence economy, a briefcase economy,
allowing
people to import tomatoes, potatoes, undermining our mothers and
fathers in
Mutoko and Nyanga where we used to get these things,” Gono
queried.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
August 3, 2012 in Business
Paidamoyo
Muzulu
CHAOS in the Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality over preparations
for the
United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) General Assembly
to be
jointly hosted by Zimbabwe and Zambia in Victoria Falls next year
claimed
its first scalp in Sylvester Maunganidze, axed as permanent
secretary for
allegedly disseminating misleading
information.
Maunganidze was transferred to the Public Service
Commission pool on Tuesday
after being accused of giving parliament the
wrong impression about the
joint Zimbabwe/Zambia winning
bid.
Maunganidze made stunning revelations to lawmakers that Zimbabwe
was so
desperate to win the coveted right to host the premier tourism indaba
that
the bid officials lied to impress the UNTWO
board.
Maunganidze said he was embarrassed to have lied that national
carrier Air
Zimbabwe was flying normally, yet most of its fleet is
grounded.
He said the impression was given that the country’s “peacock
project” which
proposes massive transformation of the tourism hub by
constructing a new
convention centre and expansion of the Victoria Falls
Airport to allow
bigger planes to land would be completed in time for the
convention.
However, the Zimbabwe/Zambia bid — in possession of the
Zimbabwe
Independent — simply promoted the idyllic Victoria Falls as a
destination
with world standard facilities and warm people. The bid also
estimated the
cost of hosting the assembly at US$6 million that would be
equally shared by
the two countries.
“Hosting the UNWTO General
Assembly has been estimated by the two countries
to cost them about US$6
million. This amount will cover hotel accommodation,
airfares, allowances,
fees for interpreters and translators, administration
expenses and a
contingency provision,” reads slide 68 of the bid document.
The bid
took into consideration the 1 500 bonafide delegates and their
spouses. It
also looked at their upkeep in both countries for the duration
of the
week-long conference.
An official in the Ministry of Tourism told the
Independent that the
“peacock project” was not part of the bid, but one of
the country’s
long-term planning strategies for hosting large international
conferences.
“The ‘peacock project’ is the ministry’s grand plan to
make Zimbabwe capable
of winning and hosting large international conferences
in future,” said the
official. “It proposes enlarging the Harare and
Victoria Falls international
airports and the construction of a 5 000-seater
convention centre in the
environs of the tourist town.”
Tourism
and Hospitality minister Walter Mzembi showed the Independent a copy
of the
UNWTO executive council meeting document showing the body was happy
with the
country’s preparations as presented in the bid document.
The UNWTO
executive council congratulated both Zimbabwe and Zambia for their
“excellent coordination and efficient progress towards an extremely
successful session of the general assembly in Africa”.
Mzembi
said treasury had provided enough funding for the successful hosting
of the
general assembly scheduled for August 24-29, 2013.
“Treasury has
provided adequate funding for the project and this takes into
consideration
the US$150 million concessionary loan from China Exim Bank,”
said
Mzembi.
The event is likely to become the coalition government’s
marque after more
than a decade of international isolation of Zimbabwe by
the European Union
and United States.
The EU last month suspended
part of its sanctions on Zimbabwe for the next
year on condition the country
holds both a credible constitutional
referendum and general
elections.
The UNWTO Zimbabwe/Zambia joint bid highlighted the
following:
Victoria Falls resort as an international heritage site.
Good
hotel and private accommodation with capacity for 3 000 single rooms
at
Rainbow Tourism Group Hotels, ZimSun
Hotels and private lodges in the
immediate environments.
State-of-the-art mobile hospital theatre in
partnership with Premier
Service Medical Aid Society (Psmas).
Mobile and
medical air rescue services.
Outdoor activities, among others air-rides of
the mighty falls, visiting
the rainforest, bungee jumping and white water
rafting.
State-of-the-art international airports and ground
transfers.
Provision of bottled water to all delegates for the duration of
the general
assembly.
Construction of two-tent marques with a capacity
to seat 5 000 delegates on
the grounds of the Victoria Falls Hotel for the
official opening and closing
ceremonies.
The “Peacock Project”
proposes:
Construction of a giant 5 000-sitter convention centre in Victoria
Falls.
Construction of two new three-star hotels within the vicinity of the
convention centre.
Construction of a state-of-the art
hospital.
Expansion of the Victoria Falls International Airport so that it
can safely
accommodate landing of large planes such as Airbus.
Expansion
and refurbishment of Harare International Airport through
completion of the
second runway.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
August 3, 2012 in Business
Staff
Writer
PLATINUM producer Zimplats reported an 11% drop in the June
quarter revenues
from US$128,21 million to US$114,43 million in March.
Performance was also
22% lower than the corresponding June quarter last
year.
In a statement accompanying the company’s financial results, the group
said
its financial performance did not mirror a 13% increase in volume of
metals
sold due to depressed metal prices, with gross revenue per ounce of
the
group’s metals 21% lower than the previous quarter.
Mining production
was 4% above the previous quarter. Head grade was,
however, 2% lower than
the prior quarter owing to poor ground conditions
encountered in some
sections of the mines, the company said.
Tonnage milled was 8% higher than
the previous quarter due to improved plant
availabilities in contrast to the
previous quarter when plant running time
was affected by major plant
maintenance shutdowns.
Platinum Group Metals in matte production was 11%
above the previous quarter
in line with the higher milled tonnage, while the
smelting of concentrates
stockpiled in the previous quarter when the smelter
was down for scheduled
periodic maintenance.
Operating profit was down
52% in the period to US$24,884 million from the
March’s US$51,855 million.
The amount is also a 62% fall from the comparable
June quarter in
2011.
Operating costs were 17% above the previous quarter in line with the
higher
sales volume.
In addition, the first tranche of US$3,3 million
was paid to the Community
Share Ownership Trust in terms of an undertaking
to make US$10 million
available to the trust over a three year
period.
The group said royalties continued to be accounted for at higher
rates set
in terms of the Finance Act whilst the company awaits resolution
of the
dispute currently before the courts.
The company’s local spend
(excluding payments to government and related
institutions) was at US$65
million or 54% of total payments.
Zimplats’ US$23 million contribution to the
fiscus, in direct and employee
taxes, for the quarter was 25% lower than the
previous one mainly due to
lower royalties following the full payment of the
disputed royalties in May
2012 as well as the weakening of metal
prices.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
August 3, 2012 in Business
Clive
Mphambela
INTERFIN Banking Corporation could come out of curatorship and
re-open its
doors to the banking public, as it emerged this week the central
bank wanted
to re-open the institution.
While it was not immediately
clear if the curator had secured an investor
for Interfin or if some of the
bank’s depositors had accepted an offer to
convert their funds trapped in
the bank into equity, Reserve Bank of Zimbabe
governor Gideon Gono said
Interfin would recover in a short while.
However, people with exposure to
Interfin told businessdigest this week they
had rejected an offer to convert
their millions locked in Interfin into
equity.
“We have rejected the
debt-to-equity conversion deal as we are creditors who
purchased banker’s
acceptances and are not depositors,” a creditor with an
exposure to the bank
said this week.
Asked to comment on whether he was aware of Gono’s plans to
reopen Interfin,
the creditor said: “We were told the very day Interfin was
put in
receivership that they would open the bank soon, once a few things
are done.
I have no idea what is happening behind the scenes.”
Another
institution affected by the Interfin debacle also said it had also
rejected
the same offer.
This comes at a time National Social Security Authority
(Nssa) has expressed
strong reservations against engaging in another
debt-equity swap after
entering a similar deal with Renaissance Merchant
Bank (RMB) early this
year.
Sources close to the developments at Interfin
said it was unlikely that Nssa
would agree to a transaction similar to the
one used to save RMB.
“When one looks at Nssa’s decision to take over RMB, it
was predicated upon
the institution realising there was value in Afre. The
business is closely
allied to Nssa’s operations and the property investment
portfolio is sound,”
the source said.
But Gono told delegates at the 43rd
edition of the Institute of Bankers’
Annual Winter Banking School held in
Nyanga two weeks ago there was a plan
to re-open the bank.
However, he
did not give details on whether an investor had committed funds
to the bank,
which has a negative capital position of US$105 million
according to the
central bank’s investigations which led to the institution
being placed
under the “recuperative” care of a curator.
Gono made the remarks in
responses during a plenary session of the school in
which delegates asked
whether the country was not going to experience a new
wave of bank failures
reminiscent of the 2004 scenario.
The central bank chief was also asked
whether or not the deposit protection
mechanism under the recently enacted
Deposit Protection Act was appropriate
and sufficient to compensate
depositors of recently-failed institutions such
as Genesis Investment Bank
and Interfin.
“To the extent that you have used Genesis bank as an example,
if I zero-in
my response on it, you will find that the situation at Genesis
was ok
because at the time they surrendered their licence, the total deposit
base
was about US$1,5 million which was less than 0,0001% of the total
deposits
in the banking sector. So it was systemically insignificant,” Gono
said.
“But if you analyse the make of the liability you find that 80% was
owed to
two institutions; Nssa and another bank. The remaining 20% was owed
by way
of deposits to a hundred or so depositors. The highest depositor had
a
deposit of around US$1 000 and that was a member of the Affirmative Action
Group.”
Gono said the bank had exited the banking sector in an orderly
way.
“Two banks have been placed under recuperative curatorship. That was a
signal to the curator to say you are going in there to resuscitate this bank
so that it becomes operational again. So as you know Renaissance was placed
under curatorship last year and has since emerged from the situation and is
now trading. Interfin Bank will soon be up and running and so forth,” he
said.
“What was required is that there ought to be surgeons of a
sufficient depth
and knowledge and the surgical tools to carry out the
surgical work required
to resuscitate the bank. So just like some take
longer and others take a
short while, I have every confidence that the one
bank that is under
curatorship right now will recover in a short
while.”
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
August 3, 2012 in Business
THE RBZ will seek
to raise around US$25 million when it introduces
short-term money market
instruments in the next two weeks at market rates,
governor Gideon Gono
said.
Gono said this while presenting his monetary policy statement. He said
the
short-term paper would help eliminate attendant interest rate
distortions in
the money and capital markets, reduce high bank charges,
facilitate
interbank trading and provide a benchmark interest
rate.
However, analysts say that it is too late to introduce paper as banks
do not
have excess liquidity to buy the paper. They say, this would have
worked
well if it was a tool to mop up excess liquidity and manage interest
rates.
Gono said that the paper would have a 90-365-day tenure. He said once
government paper was issued, bank charges would be streamlined while,
lending rates would normalise and the lender-of-last-resort window could
function smoothly with requisite collateral.
The bank has been advocating
the issuance of government paper in the form of
Treasury bills, which will
also be used as security in the inter-bank market
as well as under the
lender-of-last-resort function.
According to Gono, the lack of investment
instruments on the domestic money
market, has forced banks to hold
significant balances either in cash or RTGS
accounts. Reflecting the lack of
activity in the money market, surpluses in
the form of idle RTGS balances
had risen from US$120 million in January,
US$243 million in February and
were US$300 million in June 2012.
Finance minister Tendai Biti announced in
the July 2012 mid-term fiscal
policy review Statement government’s intention
to issue short-dated
instruments as a bold step in the right
direction.
The issuance of government paper will resuscitate the
non-functional money
market and re-activate the interbank market while at
the same time resolving
the government’s seasonal cashflow challenges.
In
the same vein, government converted the outstanding statutory reserve
obligations of the Reserve Bank, amounting to US$83,4 million, into stocks
of two, three and four years, at coupon rates of 2,5%, 3% and 3,5%,
respectively on March 1 2012. The first coupon payment on the government
stocks amounting to US$1,268 million was made on July 2, 2012.
The
Reserve Bank recognises the progress that has been made in laying the
groundwork for the re-activation of the lender-of-last-resort facility in
view of short-term liquidity challenges being faced by some banks.
In
addition, the simultaneous issuance of the short-term instruments will
assist in the proper functioning of the facility, while acting as a guide on
the interest rate structure in the economy.
A functioning
lender-of-last-resort facility plays a pivotal role in the
provision of
liquidity to banks experiencing short-term liquidity
challenges. As such,
the Finance minister in the mid-term review statement
announced that
government had approved the establishment of a US$150 million
Lender-of-Last-Resort Fund, under which, private investors are expected to
contribute US$120 million.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
August 3, 2012 in Opinion
Erich
Bloch
THERE are many obstacles to the operational viability of Zimbabwe’s
manufacturing sector. These range from gross undercapitalisation (ever since
the erosion of their capital resources during the 2008 hyperinflation era)
to diminished productivity and an unaccommodating regime of customs duties
which enables unfair competition from imports from the Far East, among
others. However, amongst the principal obstructions to manufacturing
viability is the unreliability of essential
utilities.
Industrial operations are dependent upon availability
of diverse utilities,
but that has not been the case for Zimbabwe for many
years. Major among the
hurdles to viability of manufacturing operations are
electricity outages.
Although the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority
(Zesa) periodically
issues schedules of intended power cuts, adherence to
such schedules
infrequent, with unscheduled load-shedding worrisome.
Moreover, the
schedules have little regard, if any, for industry’s need for
a continuous
power supply.
Lately, there has been increasing frequency in
power cuts over extended
periods of time. On various occasions the power
cuts last the entire day,
causing manufacturers to halt production and, in
some cases, inputs being
processed are damaged. Factory workers are forced
to be idle as their dutie
are disrupted. Over and above these major losses
firms still reel from high
costs of wages to which workers remain entitled,
notwithstanding the absence
of production. Companies also have to pay fixed
overheads such as rents,
local authority charges, administrative salaries,
and much more. Frequently,
inability to effect timeous production results in
inability to effect
timeous delivery of products to customers, which often
causes not only order
cancellations, but also customer reluctance to
continue dealing with the
manufacturer.
As if the unreliability of energy
supply is not burdensome enough for
manufacturers, many have to contend with
frequent non-availability of
essential services. All-too-often, local
authorities (especially Bulawayo
and Harare) fail to provide reliable
supplies of water, or to collect
refuse.
Little
reliance can be placed upon the National Railways of Zimbabwe to
effect
timeous delivery of inputs from suppliers to industries, or of
finished
products to customers. Similarly, Air Zimbabwe is no longer
available to
air-transport goods, or even to enable manufacturers to meet
customers and
suppliers. To a considerably lesser extent, Zimbabwe’s
telecommunication
services are often unreliable. While TelOne’s services are
frequently
satisfactory, sometimes it is impossible to complete
long-distance calls, be
they national, regional, or international, and
internet connections suffer
frequent interruptions. The consequence is yet
further negative impact upon
essential communication between suppliers and
customers.
Delivery of all
these essential services is so inadequate that numerous
other obstructions
to industrial viability are compounded to the extent that
some manufacturing
ventures are downsizing, while others cease operations.
Tragically, while
government recognises the reality of the circumstances, it
does not have the
capacity to solve the problems. It lacks both fiscal
resources and the
skills to achieve substantive transformation of
parastatals. That this is so
is not unique to the Zimbabwean government,
for, worldwide and for more than
a century, very few governments have shown
the ability to on parastatals
effectively on a consistent basis. However,
rarely have any governments
allowed their parastatals to consistently
provide declining service quality
to the extent characteristic of most
Zimbabwean
parastatals.
If providers of essential utility services
are to stop bleeding the fiscus,
they must be privatised as a matter of
urgency. This will enable them to
receive considerable funding to upgrade
their operational infrastructure,
much of which is now long past operational
life. Privatisation will also
accord enterprises the ability to access
skilled management and employees
essential for viable
operations.
The revival and development of Zesa, NRZ, Air
Zimbabwe, TelOne, and many
other essential enterprises (including Zinwa) is
crucial if comprehensive
economic recovery is to be achieved. That revival
and development cannot be
achieved by a government which is bankrupt, and
there is virtually no access
to state-of-the-art
technology.
Transparent transfer of parastatal ownership
to international investors with
requisite financial and technological
resources would bring about a
relatively expeditious metamorphosis of the
essential service-provider
enterprises. It is long past time for Zimbabwe to
face up to reality, and to
expedite substantive privatisation of its
parastatals.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
August 3, 2012 in Opinion
Qhubani Moyo
THE
draft constitution produced by Copac after negotiations by its
management
committee to align a number of issues is now out and is being
subjected to
microscopic scrutiny by Zimbabweans in preparation for the
Second
Stakeholders’ conference and the referendum.
Debate on the draft has
progressively shifted from the glaring inadequacies
of process to the issues
of content. The vibes among many involved in the
public discourse is that
the process itself leaves a lot to be desired but
now it is the content that
should be put to debate. This is a rational
expectation of members of the
public and all those who were not directly
involved in the
constitution-making process and producing the result
draft.
It is however the inconsistency and duplicity of
Zanu PF that is a grave
cause for concern. Their current machinations and
new demands — which are
wide in terms of range and scope — effectively
amount to an attempt to
rewrite the whole draft. Contrary to Justice
minister Patrick Chinamasa’s
claims that 97% of the draft has been approved,
Zanu PF’s demands for change
and amendments to the draft signal an attempt
to overhaul the proposed new
constitution or alternatively force the process
to grind to a halt.
This raises suspicions about the
motive and agenda behind these new demands
which they should have tabled
much earlier during the process. It also
raises questions as whether Zanu PF
wants a new constitution in the first
place or they participated in this
process in response to irrestistible
pressure exerted through the Global
Political Agreement (GPA).
Zanu PF’s new demands — which span the
preamble to the schedules — suggest
many sinister motives coming from a
cabal in the party’s politburo which
wants to throw spanners into the works
in service of narrow political and
electoral agendas.
The
behaviour of the party’s senior politburo officials, quite clearly
backed by
their party leader, shows that Zanu PF might not be interested in
a new
constitution after all. It now seems its participation in the process
was
out of pressure and a strategy to buy time to reorganise and resuscitate
their inexorably declining party.
Certainly, there is a lot going
on behind the scenes in Zanu PF than meets
the eye. It is strange for the
party’s negotiators to append their
signatures to the draft constitution and
then a few days down the line turn
around demanding revision of half of the
clauses in the same draft. This is
difficult to understand given that their
negotiators were supposed to have
been in touch with their political party
leadership and principal during
negotiations.
There were many
shifts and changes in party positions and by negotiators in
a bid to find
common ground. They eventually found ways of accommodating
various party
demands without necessarily compromising people’s views and
the national
interest.
So the new demands from Zanu PF suggest at least three
things: that party
negotiators were in touch with their leadership and
principals but
misrepresented them or did not represent them at all,
negotiators were in
touch with their leadership but got conflicting
instructions which they
ignored or were simply not in touch with their
bosses.
Whichever way, the problem is in Zanu PF and should not be
transferred to
the constitution-making process and preparations for
elections. If the party
and its negotiators failed to negotiate that cannot
be a problem of other
parties, Copac or the people.
Besides, Zanu
PF, as recent as June, came with a series of new demands
contained in a
29-page document and the negotiators found ways of
integrating most of those
views to allow for a workable compromise to
emerge. When they brought these
demands it was understandable and acceptable
given that the parties were
still trying to find common ground.
The understanding as already
indicated was that the parties were in touch
with their leadership and even
before they signed the document they would
have put it to their principals
and made the proposals for further debate
where necessary.
But
once they appended their signatures, it officially reflected statements
of
confirmation and commitment that all the parties have read the document,
understood the contents and approved it on behalf of themselves, their
respective parties and their principals as per their mandate.
So
the new Zanu PF demands simply show the party lacks leadership, cohesion
and
vision. This is not new, but its behaviour on the draft constitution
provides further evidence to this.
Questions must inevitably be
asked on this issue to understand what is going
on here. How would the Zanu
PF chief negotiator Nicholas Goche, who has an
intelligence background, and
a senior cabinet minister and influential
member of the politburo have
signed the draft without his principal’s
permission?
Similarly,
how would Chinamsa, a lawyer, Minister of Justice and a politburo
member,
have signed the document without applying his mind to it in line
with his
party’s position and principal’s briefings and guidelines?
Besides,
those demanding new changes are the very same people who brought
the 29-page
document recently after Copac had almost finished its job. Now
again they
are back with new demands — which came through the politburo as
the earlier
ones — showing they are either not serious or have a sinister
agenda to
derail, sabotage or disrupt the constitution-making process unless
they get
their way.
No doubt the process and the draft might have had their
weaknesses, but the
behaviour of a certain clique in Zanu PF — which is
badly worried about the
trimming of presidential powers and the impact of
that on the party’s
electoral prospects — is becoming disruptive and even
intolerable to people
who want progress towards free and fair
elections.
These events confirm Zanu PF as a party that engineers
chaos because it only
thrives in anarchy. It is however important for
Zimbabweans to realise that
the country cannot grind to a halt because of
interests of individuals or
one political party trying to use national
processes to resolve internal
problems.
The draft agreed to and
signed by the three parties is the most workable
document in the
circumstances. Zanu PF has never wanted a new constitution
and sabotaged the
1999-2000 constitution-making process. Now they are at it
again.
However,
so much has changed since 2000.
Now parties involved in the
current constitution-making process must
understand there are new prevailing
circumstances. The current process
witnessed extreme and entrenched
positions based on party and public
submissions, but negotiations produced a
workable compromise.
It would thus be retrogressive to throw away the
current draft and once
again start on ground zero. No party should be
allowed to reverse the
compromises made and impose new demands on other
stakeholders. The reality
is that all the parties in the GPA need each
other. The draft is product of
a GPA process, itself a
compromise.
We now need seriousness, maturity and vision to put
the national interest
above party positions to take the country forward.
Finding the middle
ground, not unilateral political demands and self-serving
impositions, is
the name of the game.
Moyo is the director of
Policy and Research Co-ordination in the MDC led
by Professor Welshman
Ncube. E-mail: mdcpolicyguru@yahoo.co.uk
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
August 2, 2012 in Opinion
Derek
Matyszak
THE theme of succession, both of the state presidency and the
leadership of
Zanu PF, increasingly bedevils all matters relating to the
political
stability of Zimbabwe and any form of transition to
democracy.
The constitutional issues related to the death (or infirmity) of
the
president have been dealt with in several reports by Research and
Advocacy
Unit (RAU). In these reports it was noted that there are arguably
two valid
interpretations of the provisions in the state constitution in
this regard:
one is that a nominee “of” Zanu PF is simply appointed as the
successor to
President Robert Mugabe, the other is that both houses of
parliament sit
together as an electoral college and elect a nominee “of”
Zanu PF as
successor.
But providing that the nominee is “of” Zanu
PF rather than “by or from” the
party opens the door to several
possibilities as to the nature of the
nominee, including that the nominee
may be “of” Zanu PF but not a member of
that party.
This presents
various possibilities and difficulties which may face the
Clerk of
Parliament who effectively plays the role of a nomination court.
However, if
Zanu PF is to select the nominee in terms of its own
constitution, further
problems need to be considered. The party constitution
is not well-known and
only recently has a copy of the full, detailed
constitution been available
for independent analysis.
Using this copy, the structure of Zanu PF
can be outlined, together with the
powers, duties, and responsibilities of
every structure within the party. Of
particular importance are the powers
related to elections and amendments of
the party constitution. It is evident
that there are a number of grey areas
in respect of election to the office
of any of the four posts in the Zanu PF
presidium, including the post of
president and first secretary. The clarity
of the procedures leaves much to
be desired and is a fertile area for
dispute.
With an
understanding of the applicable provisions, rules, and the powers of
the
various structures within Zanu PF, the question of election to the
presidium
can be analysed, and the important role of the Provincial
Coordinating
Committees (PCCs) described. The Zanu PF constitution
stipulates that any
candidate receiving nomination by six or more of the 10
provinces will be
directly “elected” to the presidium, by the national
people’s congress. It
is unclear what happens if the congress refuses to
“elect” the nominee
chosen by the PCCs. It is also unclear what happens in
the event of multiple
nominations and splits between the PCCs.
More topically,
the role of the DCCs (District Co-ordinating Committees) is
outlined, with
the understanding that the chairs of the various now
dissolved DCCs
comprised part of PCCs.
Hence, the dissolution of the
DCCs has implications for the electoral
process for the presidium, since,
without the DCC chairmen represented on
the PCC, any decision could run the
risk of being legally challenged on the
basis of that the body is improperly
constituted.
This can have knock-on effect. Improperly
constituted PCCs cannot make legal
decisions, including nominating persons
for election to the presidium. The
difficulties (and the above is one
example) become amplified in the
situation where the Zanu PF constitutional
and electoral machinery must
conclude its processes within the 90 day or a
shorter time-frame required by
state constitution for voting in a
parliamentary electoral college following
the death or infirmity of the
president. It seems that this would create a
well-nigh impossible deadline
for the internal Zanu PF procedures.
Although the national
succession problem has yet to occur, there have been
problems of succession
within Zanu PF over the years, and these are analysed
with respect to the
Zanu PF constitution, especially the events related to
deaths of previous
members of the presidium — that of Joshua Nkomo in 1999,
Simon Muzenda in
2003, and Joseph Msika in 2009.
The manner in which the
replacements to posts in the presidium were made is
considered as a possible
indicator as to what might happen when the next
vacancy in arises. Each of
these deaths led to considerable internal
conflict over succession, and,
following the death of Muzenda, to the
remarkable events of the “Tsholotsho
Declaration” in 2004. The consequence
of all of these events has led to an
increased centralisation of power in
the hands of the politburo, and the
marginalisation of the democratic core
of the Zanu PF
constitution.
Nominations to the Zanu PF presidium have,
to date, been determined, in the
face of considerable resistance, by a
process of “guided democracy” on
instructions issued by a politburo
controlled by Mugabe.
The question thus arises as to what will
happen when the post to be filled
is that of the “guide” — Mugabe himself.
Several scenarios suggest
themselves, and are considered.
The
first is that the democratic processes set out in the Zanu PF
constitution,
and sidelined by Mugabe, will be reinvigorated and activated.
However, as
noted earlier, these very processes have been altered
significantly by
Mugabe, who facilitated the constitutional amendment to
change the
provincial electoral colleges from the 44 member provincial
executive
committee to the 100 plus PCCs. Since these later committees are
made up of
several other elective bodies, those structures will need to be
in place
before a PCC can be said to be properly convened.
The costs and
logistical difficulties of bringing such a large number of
delegates
together on short notice, and the legal complexities around the
disbandment
of the DCCs, may well present grounds for procedural objections,
already, as
noted, a weak spot of this electoral process.
Following
nominations, the elaborate process of endorsement by the national
people’s
conference and “election” by congress may need to take place. All
will need
to be completed within the timeframe for the parliamentary
electoral college
established by the state constitution.
In view of these
difficulties, a second scenario may arise where the central
committee
exercises its power to amend the Zanu PF constitution and
establishes an
expedited method of nomination.
Thirdly, the politburo may
continue to arrogate to itself powers it does not
have, as it has done under
Mugabe, and direct the nomination procedure. In
these latter two instances,
none of these bodies is likely to speak with one
voice and the process may
be susceptible to legal challenge or, worse,
extra-juridical conflict. These
issues have already been raised as
difficulties in the nomination
process.
Matyszak is a former University of Zimbabwe law lecturer,
constitutional expert and researcher with RAU.
— To be continued next
week
