CRUELTY TO ANIMALS BY ZIMBABWE POLICE CONTINUES AT NYAMANDHLOVU

S•A•C•F•A

Southern African Commercial Farmers Alliance

Police on Monday afternoon cut the power supply to Highfields Farm in Nyamandhlovu thus cutting off the water supply to Gary Godfrey’s 10 000 laying hens, 130 penned cattle and 260 sheep also penned.  At least one of the cattle has already died.  In addition 35 settler homesteads are also without water and hundreds of cattle belonging to five settler villages which used to drink at a water trough supplied by the farm’s irrigation pumps are also without water.

All Highfields Farm’s staff, some of whose families have been living and working on the farm since the early 1900s, have been told by the police to discontinue work immediately and are to summarily remove themselves from the property.  They have of course nowhere else to go nor have they access to food as they have not yet been paid.  So no one was able to feed the livestock either.

Yesterday the SPCA was refused access to the livestock by the police guards.  They were however allowed to remove the farm dogs from the homestead.  Today they are to make another attempt to have the livestock watered and fed, this time accompanied by the State Veterinarian Dr. Dube stationed at Nyamandhlovu.  Dr. Dube’s office telephone number is +263 287 297 and his cell phone number is +263 712 969876.  We should appreciate it if concerned people could telephone and encourage him in his endeavours to ensure that the livestock is treated humanely.

Gary, being a South African citizen, has his investment covered by the recently signed and ratified “AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA AND THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF ZIMBABWE FOR THE PROMOTION AND RECIPROCAL PROTECTION OF INVESTMENTS”.  Gary is right now endeavouring to telephone the South African Embassy in Harare to have them enforce a little bit of this “reciprocal protection”.  Without it the Treaty is quite worthless.

To ensure that the power remains cut off Assistant Inspector Monyera, acting Officer in Charge of Nyamandhlovu Police Station has stationed two armed police at the homestead where the main switch board is situated.  These men, fearing the wrath of the waterless settlers who by now after three days are exceedingly annoyed, have taken the keys and padlocks from the staff and locked themselves inside the security fence.  Monyera’s cell phone number is +263 712 599676.  His direct line to his office is +263 287 304 and that to the Nyamandhlovu charge office is +263 287 306.

Monyera can only be acting in terms of instructions from Matabeleland Provincial Police Commissioner Edmore Veterayi stationed at Hwange Police Station whose telephone numbers are +263 81 32222 and 32431.

The farm truck and trailer were stopped from loading eggs on Monday.  The police do not seem to understand that egg production in Zimbabwe, like everything else, is a fraction of what it used to be.  The shortfall was being made up with imports from South Africa and Botswana but these have been stopped, so as allegedly to help prevent the spread of Rift Valley Fever.  This insane policy of destroying food production can only result in starvation.  There is insufficient foreign currency in this country to import all the food needed to feed the entire population.

Yesterday afternoon lawyers attempted to deliver an urgent spoliation application to the High Court in Bulawayo.  They failed as all of Zimbabwe’s civil servants had been given leave of absence to watch (of course providing their television sets happened to have an electricity supply) a friendly warm-up football match in Harare in which Zimbabwe was beaten 3 - 0 by Brazil.  Another attempt will be made to deliver the papers this morning.

On Kennellys Farm nearby staff have only been confined to their quarters and a few are being allowed to look after the farm’s 3000 laying hens and an unknown number of cattle.  They are not allowed to collect the eggs, nor water nor reap the tomatoes, onions, cabbages and potatoes; but they are allowed to mill maize for the chickens.  Two armed policemen have also been left to arrest the owner Nigel Fawcett (also a South African citizen who should be protected by the BIPPA) and his manager Russell McCormack should they return to the property.  Could it be that the difference in treatment between the two farms is that the owners of Highfields appealed to the SADC Tribunal and the owners of Kennellys did not?

Here the SPCA were allowed to retrieve the farm dogs but were not allowed to remove Russell’s two parrots, one of which has already died.

We understand that numerous settlers and war vets have gathered at the Nyamandhlovu Police Station today and are demanding an end to what they can now see is a dead end policy leading nowhere and impoverishing us all.

CM JARRETT – CHAIRMAN

SOUTHERN AFRICAN COMMERCIAL FARMERS ALLIANCE – ZIMBABWE

3 June 2010

Zimbabwe's Warriors express pride in testing Brazil

By Steve Vickers,  BBC Sport, Harare Zimbabwe tested Brazil but were comfortably beaten Zimbabwe striker Knowledge Musona says playing Brazil in only his second international was 'unforgettable'. The 19-year-old was the Warriors' outstanding player as they went down 3-0 to the South American giants in Harare on Wednesday. Musona, a striker who plays for Kaizer Chiefs in South Africa, produced some of Zimbabwe's best chances but was unable to score. "We had good chances but luck was not on our side," he told BBC Sport. "I was nervous because it was my first time to play a big game like this, but I'll get used to it as time goes on." Musona's senior international debut was in a friendly against South Africa in Durban in January. Taking on the top side in the world was an entirely different proposition, with Zimbabwe ranked 109 places below the South Americans. "It was a good match and it's a great honour to play the world's number one team," he said. "I didn't think I'd get this chance to play against the likes of Robinho and Kaka and all the Brazilians, so I'm very happy." Brazil's final game before the World Cup will be a friendly against Tanzania in Dar es Salaam, and after the experience of facing the Samba Boys, Musona has a few words of advice for the Taifa Stars. "Tanzania have to be disciplined in their tactical movements - they must create space and not let Brazil enter through the middle. "But if they allow them to get in through the middle they're going to be killed."

India suffer second one-day loss to Zimbabwe

BBC Sport

Origin of Zimbabwe museum artifact sparks debate

British scholar Tudor Parfitt (center) briefs visitors to the National Museum of Harare, Zimbabwe, on his theory that a 700-year-old bowl-shaped

artifact he found in the museum's storeroom could be a replica of the Ark of the Covenant that once belonged to a lost tribe of Jews that settled in Africa. (Associated Press)

By Angus Shaw ASSOCIATED PRESS

9:37 p.m., Wednesday, June 2, 2010

HARARE, Zimbabwe | Tudor Parfitt has spent years chasing a theory that a lost tribe of Jews wound up in southern Africa. But his latest leap has landed him in a minefield.

The subject at hand is this British scholar's contention that the remains of a 700-year-old bowl-shaped relic that he tracked down in a Zimbabwean museum storeroom in 2007 could be a replica of the Ark of the Covenant that carried the Ten Commandments.

According to African legend, white lions of God and a two-headed snake guarded the "drum that thunders" in a cave in southwestern Zimbabwe's sacred Dumbwe Mountains.

Mr. Parfitt's theory has sparked fierce reactions from some Zimbabwean scholars, who suspect a plot to superimpose foreign origins on what is purely a product of African culture.

Having long disappeared from public view since its discovery in the 1940s, the artifact is on display at the Harare Museum of Human Sciences. It is about 45 inches by 24 inches in diameter and 27 inches tall, with a pattern of shallow engraving on the outside that could have held gold threads. Scorch marks on the base inside were possibly left by primitive gunpowder.

Mr. Parfitt, a professor of modern Jewish studies at the University of London's prestigious School of Oriental and African Studies, says he first heard of the vessel during his two-decade search for Jewish tribes lost in Africa.

At the center of that research is a southern African ethnic group variously called Lemba, Remba or waLemba. Mr. Parfitt says 52 percent of them carry a Y chromosome known as the Cohen Modal Haplotype (CMH) — unique to ancient priestly Jewish communities and raising the possibility that they are descended from Aaron, Moses' brother. Other groups in Zimbabwe have no CMH.

The waLemba also are set apart from other tribes by such Jewish customs as observing a weekly Sabbath, practicing circumcision, shunning pork and slaughtering animals by methods similar to Jewish kosher rules.

Mr. Parfitt acknowledges that theories counter to his are "wholly plausible," and the museum is careful not to take sides. The materials accompanying the exhibit, which opened this year, outline both theories behind the relic.

One says the original Ark of the Covenant may have been destroyed when the Babylonians invaded Jerusalem in 586 B.C., that several copies likely were made and that one was taken to Ethiopia by Prince Menelik, the son of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Another could have found its way to ancient Zimbabwe, the exhibit says.

The other theory posits that it is a purely African relic that, according to legend, was made by waLemba craftsmen for royal elders to give them magical powers.

In the Zimbabwean Shona language, the artifact is called "Ngoma Lungundu," the "drum that thunders," while the waLemba call it "the voice of God."

Mr. Parfitt says that according to oral tradition, the waLemba could have been among peoples who left Judea in biblical times and migrated through Yemen to east Africa, Ethiopia and beyond, bringing the ark with them.

Eminent Zimbabwean historian Rob Burrett disputes Mr. Parfitt's theories.

"He is on the wrong track. Wooden drums — ceremonial drums and war drums with great powers similar to those attributed to the ark — are an integral part of African culture," Mr. Burrett said.

The genetic test "doesn't prove anything," he said, noting that early European explorers of the east African coast found a strong presence of Arab and Jewish traders moving into the African interior.

"These people were certainly not celibate and would have created mixed-blood communities along the way," Mr. Burrett said.

African traditionalists believe the Ngoma is a royal drum so powerful that it imploded and was rebuilt on the original wooden base 700 years ago. Indeed, a splinter from the top of the artifact has been carbon-dated to about 1300, making it probably the oldest surviving wooden object in southern Africa.

Only carbon dating of the entire object, including its scorched base, would resolve the debate, but Zimbabwe authorities are reluctant to let that happen. In a nation striving to eradicate tribalism, a result favoring Mr. Parfitt's claims might stir tribal divisions by implying the waLembas' origins are not truly African.

"Everyone has placed this object in a context of their own," conceded Giles Mutsekwa, co-minister of home affairs, the body in charge of archives and antiquities.

One context that arouses anger in Zimbabwe is race. During the colonial era, Europeans defended white-supremacist ideas by arguing — wrongly — that Africans could not have built advanced civilizations such as the massive citadel of stone houses called Great Zimbabwe.

Harald von Sicard, the Swedish-German missionary who discovered the Ngoma, theorized in the same vein — that the artifact couldn't have been crafted by Africans. Mr. Burrett describes von Sicard as "an old-fashioned, Old Testament" preacher whose views bordered on racism.

Mr. Parfitt says he spent weeks living in a waLemba community looking for clues about the ark and getting nowhere. He says he was about to give up when he met a retired train driver in a bar in the southern city of Bulawayo. The man said he recalled hauling a boxcar of artifacts 275 miles from Bulawayo to the capital, Harare, for safekeeping during the country's war of independence.

Mr. Parfitt searched the Harare museum in 2007, and there it was — in a dusty storeroom littered with mouse droppings. But after he published his findings a year later, controversy flared.

"Some people thought it was all a sinister plot and I was interfering. There was open hostility," he said.

© Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. 

Fresh wave of farm invasions hits Zimbabwe

Gulf Times

DPA/Harare

White farmers and their lawyers are struggling with a new wave of violent invasions of what is left of the embattled community’s farms, agricultural union officials said yesterday.

Arrests, abductions and illegal seizures of land in the last two weeks have come in spite of reported undertakings by President Robert Mugabe to South African president Jacob Zuma not to allow lawlessness that could disturb the smooth running of the World Cup in Zimbabwe’s neighbour.

The country’s once flourishing commercial farming community of about 5,000 farmers has been decimated by a campaign of violent seizures unleashed by Mugabe since 2000.

The seizures triggered the collapse of the country’s agriculturally-based economy, and drove 3mn workers - more than double the number of people purportedly resettled - into homelessness and penury.

Farm unions estimate there are perhaps 400 white farmers are still operating, but under constant harassment.

In the Bubye district in the western province of Matabeleland North, six farmers were evicted at gunpoint, arrested and forced to spend several nights in jail after state security agents seized their farms, officials of the Southern African Commercial Farmers Association said in a statement.

All of them were accused of illegally occupying state land seized for resettlement although all had court orders stating that the parts of their farms they occupied were exempt from seizure.

Two of the farmers, kidney transplant patient Goff Carbutt and 78-year-old Ed Grenfell-Dexter, were eventually freed after intervention by a South African diplomat on the grounds that they were both South African citizens and their farms were protected by a bilateral investment treaty signed by the two countries last week.

However, they were ordered by Bulawayo High Court Judge Mafios Cheda not to return to the farms, on pain of re-arrest. Farm union officials said two weeks ago Cheda had been allocated another farm in the district from which the owner was instantly evicted.

Other evictions happened in the Shamva district, about 100km north of Harare, Marondera, an area 80km from the capital and in the Karoi region.

The tempo of violence and threats against legitimate commercial farmers is increasing, the SACFA spokesman said.

“It is with dismay that we note over a year after the inauguration of the power-sharing government, this criminal behaviour is allowed to continue with impunity,” he said.

Pro-democracy Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who partners the Mugabe in Zimbabwe’s coalition government, has no powers over the police and omnipresent secret police, and has failed to ensure any action is taken to halt the land-grab.

Zimbabwe is appealing for about a million tons of food aid this year, after productive farms were left mostly in the hands of senior Mugabe cronies and fell into disuse, according to aid agency officials.

Mugabe must regularise judges’ appointments — PM

Zimbabwe Independent

Thursday, 03 June 2010 20:29

PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai (pictured) speaks to his Newsletter on a wide range of issues, including the stalemate over inter-party talks, the unstable inclusive government and mounting threats facing it. The Zimbabwe Independent carries excerpts.
Q: Do you think there has been any improvement in the lives of the people 16 months into the transitional government?

PM: Sixteen months into the transitional government one sees stagnation in a number of areas. For instance, on the economy we haven’t seen lines of credit significantly being channelled into industry. This in itself is a limiting factor.The initial burst of enthusiasm of the transitional government has largely been affected by some of the policies announced like the indigenisation regulations which have sent wrong signals about the practicality and intention of the policies, not about the principle.

We have also seen a slow pace in fully operationalising the commissions that have been set up to do their work. We still hear of incidences of interference with, for instance, the constitutional reform process and intimidation. But despite all this, I think there is general goodwill towards the direction we have taken. It maybe stagnating but certainly moving towards an ideal environment.

Q: What is causing this stagnation?
PM: These are matters that the principals have to deal with. Unfortunately for the last two or three months the principals have not been regularly meeting because of absence from the country on government business. I’m hoping that we are now going to do that so that we deal with the final report of the negotiators. We must also look at government to assess what is working and what is not working.

Q: What is the status of the indigenisation regulations?
PM: Well the minister (Saviour Kasukuwere) has been given time to review the indigenisation regulations and bring them back to cabinet for discussion on their substantive content and to allow for consultation with various sectors of the economy. The draft revised regulations were presented to cabinet last week.

Q: You have been accused of blocking indigenisation, what do you say to that?
PM: Not at all. I think there is national convergence on the principle of citizenship empowerment. The only difference was on the methodology and modalities of implementing empowerment programmes.

Q: Can you comment on reports that President Mugabe is already considering candidates for appointment on the Land Commission? Have you been consulted on this?
PM: I have not been consulted on that. In fact I would be the first to know.

Q: This brings us to the appointments of judges, can you comment on that?
PM: It is very clear in the law and in the GPA when it comes to the question of senior appointments like that. I’m sure that the minister (Patrick Chinamasa) responsible for the appointments of these judges is part of the negotiating team and he knows what should have been done.

Q: What is your stance then?
PM: I believe the appointments should be regularised in terms of the law so the appointments become regular otherwise it will be an unconstitutional act.

Q: Does it mean then that since they were already appointed you will just be asked to rubberstamp these appointments?
PM: Not at all. Just like we have appointed all these other commissions, it was not a mere rubberstamping exercise. It’s a very serious process of examining the merits of the individuals and the position on offer. In this case the Judicial Services Commission should have made submissions to the leadership to consider whoever was suitable for appointment.This matter is still subject for discussion. I hope people realise that there is something irregular about the appointments and that it needs to be rectified.

Q: Prime Minister, violence has erupted in some parts of the country, will this not affect the constitutional reform process?
PM: We hear incidents of interference with the public consultation, the intimidation and the frog-marching of people to take certain positions. That will undermine the legitimacy of the exercise and I hope that politically we will be able to remove that kind of fear so that people can freely express themselves.

Q: Harare City councillors have produced a damning report which names Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo and other politicians as being involved in illegal land deals. The councillors have made a report to the police but nothing has been done and yet on the other hand the councillors have been charged with criminal defamation. What’s your comment?
PM: Well that was intimidation of the highest order. In fact criminal defamation is an intimidation tool to try to bully people into silence. I want to encourage all councillors to deal with the issue of corruption because it is within their mandate to uncover graft when they see it. This is not a witch-hunt.

Q: How can you competently fight corruption when the Anti-Corruption Commission has still not been constituted?
PM: There was a small delay which was extended by the Principals not meeting regularly. The Standing Rules and Orders Committee has considered the names and what is remaining now is a date for their swearing in.

Q: When is Senator Roy Bennett going to be sworn in?
PM: I’m going to meet the president on that because now that he has been cleared he should be sworn in.

Q: Prime Minister, are we going for elections next year?

PM: Elections will be held after the constitutional reform process. You cannot talk about a date for the elections when the constitutional reform process has not been carried out. You will be putting the cart before the horse.

Q: Have you considered a Cabinet reshuffle?
PM: No, I have not considered that. Should it be necessary we will make the necessary changes. But for now I don’t think we will do that.

Q: Could you describe your relationship with your civil society partners?
PM: We have tried to initiate regular contact with our civil society partners. I’m sure that they cannot complain that we have totally ignored civil society participation in this democratic struggle.

Q: Some independent daily papers have been registered by the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) as part of your efforts to free the media. How do you see the media environment going forward?
PM: That’s positive. The thing is the more newspapers we have, the more open the
media space becomes and more voices reflected in the newspapers the better for this country.

Q: If any of the commissions do not carry out their mandate, do you have the power to summon them?
PM: I have the power to summon the ZMC and indeed any other commission.

Zimbabwe mining: Mugabe (really) wants your bucks

Mine Web

"Recapitalisation of the mining industry remains an immediate imperative"; partners in power are also wanted.

Author: Barry Sergeant
Posted:  Thursday , 03 Jun 2010

JOHANNESBURG  - 

A fortnight ago, when Impala Platinum quietly announced that it's to move ahead with the Phase 2 expansion at 87%-held Zimplats, at a cost of USD 500m, more than a few investors scratched their heads. Phase 1 has been a roaring success, including its ranking as one of the lowest cost platinum producers in the world, sitting, to boot, on huge reserves.

A few weeks later, Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe told the annual general meeting of the Zimbabwe Chamber of Mines that "government has no intention of expropriating the mining industry. No mine has been nationalised since independence". On the contrary, Mugabe, one of the continent's more belligerent leaders, infamous for land grabs, declared that "recapitalisation of the mining industry remains an immediate imperative".

No doubt more than a few investors will continue scratching their heads, but Mugabe is apparently bending over in several directions to reassure investors. Government is exploring, says Mugabe, "the path of profitable partnerships and joint venture initiatives with foreign investors in the mining sector. It is our belief that this situation has the potential for a sustainable win-win partnership . . . "

Aquarius Platinum is also well-established as a miner in the country; several more platinum projects owned by other operators are moving towards mine builds. A number of Zimbabwean politicians, assisted by various promoters, are increasingly keen to draw a line between Zimbabwe's realities, and perceptions of those realities.

One reality is that dozens of mines - gold was discovered in the 1880s - across a richly endowed landscape are in tatters, on a combination of power shortages, huge shortfalls in foreign currency, logistical failures, shattered infrastructure, and plain neglect. But opportunities there are aplenty.

The key to unlocking the opportunities lies in flexibility, now patently adopted by Zimbabwe, in legislation. In his speech, Mugabe said that government has "accepted the principle of empowerment credits" as an integral component of the 51% equity that Zimbabwean citizens are required, on the face of it, to hold in enterprises where foreign investors are present.

Mugabe said he was "amazed by the rush of negative publicity towards this policy of indigenisation when in fact the regulations provide for flexibility where necessary".

So-called credits are initiatives that, if recognised, allow the foreign investing mining company to claim against the 51% requirement. Mugabe said that "premier initiatives that qualify for empowerment credits" include the areas of (local) procurement, capacitating industries, and fostering new companies owned by indigenous persons.

Further credits can be claimed for corporate social investment in communities, which "creates a visible platform for local empowerment, thus achieving broad based and transformative empowerment". Credits are also available for initiatives such as construction of dams and irrigation schemes, and approved scholarship and skills development programmes.

Mugabe cited Zimplats's social investment of building roads, schools, clinics and the fiber optic link to Norton and Ngezi. Victor Gapare, president of the Zimbabwe mines chamber, explains that the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment regulations Gazetted in January 2010 "states that in return for achieving certain socially and economically desirable objectives, a business may be allowed to have indigenous ownership at a lower percentage than 51%".

There are already case studies available from recent transactions. On 19 May, Rio Tinto Zimbabwe (RioZim), a unit of transnational mining giant Rio Tinto, announced the decision to proceed, at a cost of around USD 300m, with the expansion of the Murowa diamond project.

This followed a restructuring of shareholdings; Rio Tinto will now own a direct 78% interest in the Murowa diamond project; RioZim will become an independent Zimbabwean controlled company owning the remaining 22% of Murowa.

Rio Tinto will cease to be an ordinary shareholder in RioZim, but will retain a reduced cash participation in RioZim's assets, other than the Murowa diamond project, for a period of ten years. Clearly, Rio Tinto was satisfied that the landscape was sorted before these announcements.

Meanwhile, there is firm evidence that Zimbabwe is taking serious action to stamp out the wild, substantial, and illegal flow of diamonds from Marange, in the east of the country. The deposit is held, nominally, by London-listed African Consolidated Resources; its interests span Zimbabwe, in gold, platinum, nickel, and rock phosphates.

Zimbabwe's formal mining sector employs some 45,000, contributes around 50% of exports, and comprises nearly 20% of GDP. Mining is, therefore, argues Mugabe, "deservedly a key sector providing impetus for growth and economic development".

Mugabe left no uncertainties about government's painful knowledge that recurring power outages continued to impact heavily on the whole economy. "I wish to inform this meeting that several power projects requiring new investors are pending, including the Hwange power Stations 7 and 8, Kariba and Batoka. In addition, government will institute the necessary energy sector reforms required for attracting new investment in that sector".

Exiled tycoons face arrest: AG

Zimbabwe Independent

Chanakira fails to finance demerger

Zimbabwe Independent

Thursday, 03 June 2010 22:03

KINGDOM Bank founder Nigel Chanakira has failed to pay US$22,5 million to Meikles Ltd in order to finalise the demerger of Kingdom Meikles Africa Ltd, prolonging one of the most bitterly fought corporate fights, a top Meikles Ltd official has said.
Meikles Ltd CEO Brendan Beaumont told the Zimbabwe Independent that Kingdom Financial Holdings Ltd had not paid his group US$22,5 million that would have resulted in Chanakira regaining control of the financial group.

Beaumont said as a result KFHL would remain a “subsidiary” of Meikles Ltd after a deadline for formal demerger passed on Monday with no sign of payment from Chanakira, one of Zimbabwe’s celebrated success stories

“Until the de-merger’s condition precedents have been met and the de-merger has been implemented Meikles shall remain Kingdom’s controlling shareholder and it follows that Kingdom currently remains a subsidiary of Meikles Ltd,” said Beaumont.

“The Board of Directors had undertaken to report to shareholders on the Kingdom Financial Holdings (Kingdom) de-merger by 31 May 2010, following the failure by Kingdom to fulfil the de-merger’s condition precedents as approved by shareholders on 22 June 2009 and the lapse of the shareholder agreement on 21 April 2010,” he said.

KFHL merged with Meikles Africa Ltd in November 2007 to form KMAL, to create an empire that spanned hotels, banking, retail and agricultural sectors.

But the business marriage went sour after John Moxon, a former KMAL chairman, attempted to eject three directors appointed by Chanakira from the board early last year.

After Moxon and Chanakira’s relationship soured, the two resolved to de-merge KMAL on condition that Moxon would let go of his KFHL shares to Chanakira.  In return, Moxon demanded US$22,5 million that his company had advanced to KFHL to meet central bank minimum statutory capital requirements for its three subsidiaries –– Kingdom Bank, Kingdom Asset Management and then Discount Company of Zimbabwe (DCZ).  But after DCZ returned its licence to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, KFHL used only US$13,5 million of that amount to fund working capital requirements.

A statement issued by KFHL yesterday said the banking group was “keen” on finalising the de-merger but accused Meikles of spurning at least two offers to date.

“The KFHL Board has been consistent on this objective and in November 2009, the Group requested the approval of a new shareholder to inject equity of $10 million, which would have fulfilled the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe capitalisation requirements and the demerger conditions precedent,” read the statement, in response to queries from the  Independent.

According to KFHL, Meikles declined the US$10 million offer.

“Subsequently, KFHL restructured the Group and surrendered its Discount Company of Zimbabwe (DCZ) licence, and this together with the reduction of regulatory minimum capital requirements for asset management companies, allowed KFHL to offer Meikles $10 million repayment by way of ceding back a portion of its deposit at the RBZ. Meikles again rejected these funds as it did not want part payment of the $22,5 million,” KFHL said.

Beaumont confirmed receiving offers from KFHL. He said Meikles received three proposals just this week
Last night, he dismissed the offers as “not making sense”

“There is no deal on the table. It is incorrect to say we rejected an offer from KFHL. There has been no offer that makes sense to the board from them. We still have a 100% shareholding in Kingdom and have been trying to find an amicable way to solve this issue.”

KFHL told the Independent that it was working on raising money and said it had since March this year made significant progress in its discussions with potential investors.

“The Group will finalise the process with Meikles through an Annual General Meeting that is scheduled to be held this month,” said KFHL.

The de-merger of KMAL would result in Moxon and his family exiting KFHL while Chanakira will leave Meikles.

The Moxon family has a 43% stake in KFHL while Chanakira’s Valleyfield Investments has 6% Meikles Ltd.  Chanakira will exchange his 6% shareholding in Meikles with 43% stake in KFHL.

This will leave Chanakira with a 24% stake. Moxon will sell his remaining 25% to Chanakira for US$10 million.

Paul Nyakazeya

Indigenisation stalls BIPPA negotiations

Zimbabwe Independent

Thursday, 03 June 2010 19:52

INDIGENISATION and property rights issues have become the centre of Zimbabwe and Botswana’s Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPPA) negotiations that are supposed to result in a deal by year-end.
Diplomatic sources in Harare told the Zimbabwe Independent that the Botswana government and investors were seeking clarity on the controversial indigenisation regulations that compel foreign owned companies valued at US$500 000 or more to cede majority stake to black Zimbabweans.

Negotiations between the two countries stalled seven years ago following concern over Zimbabwe’s land reform programme, under which thousands of white farmers were evicted, often violently, from their farms unlawfully and without compensation.

Botswana has interests in property development, tourism, food processing and joint venture projects with manufacturing companies.

“The two governments are expected to sign the agreement by year end,” said the source. “The negotiations were on hold since 2003 over a number of issues that included the upholding of property rights. We expect the investment relations between the two countries to improve after the signing.”

Permanent secretary in the Ministry of Economic Planning and Investment Promotion Desire Sibanda was in Botswana last week as part of the negotiations, according to sources. Sibanda and his minister Elton Mangoma could not be reached for comment. The Botswana embassy did not return questions to them on Wednesday.

Botswana early this year pledged a US$70 million line of credit to help Zimbabwe’s recovery on condition that the transitional government fully implemented the Global Political Agreement.

Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce president Obert Sibanda said yesterday that the deal was expected to strengthen ties between the two governments. ZNCC and its Botswana counterpart last year signed a memorandum of agreement seeking to improve trade relations between the two governments.

Bernard Mpofu

White farmers living in ‘constant fear’

Zimbabwe Independent

Thursday, 03 June 2010 19:09

The few remaining white commercial farmers say they are living in constant fear after repeated legal and political overtures failed to stop violent evictions, farmer representatives have said.
Charles Taffs, the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) Vice President told the Zimbabwe Independent that the eviction of white farmers had intensified over the past 10 days, further threatening Zimbabwe’s fragile food security.

Zimbabwe was producing less than 10 000 tonnes of wheat –a third of national requirements — because of lack of security of tenure caused by evictions and electricity blackouts, Taffs said.

“The pressure on the farmers is countrywide and it is very well planned with even the police themselves largely involved in the evictions. Farmers are living in constant fear for their lives due to the harassment,” said Taffs.

“The only thing we can do is to put pressure through the courts. We have tried to negotiate with the GNU but this has failed. We are appealing to the principals that we need to put Zimbabwe back on track, the situation is absurd.”

Chairman of Southern African Commercial Farmers Alliance, Christopher Jarrett said police last week arrested Nyamandlovu farmer James Taylor and his son Matthew for remaining on his Cedor Park Farm which was allegedly acquired by the government.

Jarrett said this was despite an interim High Court order for the occupier of the farm, only identified as H Chiguru, to vacate the property until a final determination on the matter.

Jarrett said Taylor gave up his Shirville Farm alongside Cedor Park for resettlement and in return the notice under the Land Acquisition Act to acquire Cedor Park was withdrawn by the acquiring authorities.

Jerry said: “It therefore does not qualify as “State Land” in terms of Constitutional Amendment 17 which in any event has been struck down as illegal in terms of the rules of the Southern African Development Community Treaty.”

“Nevertheless the farm was invaded some months ago by one H Chiguru who proffered an offer letter which “authorised” him to occupy Shirville Farm.
He said Chiguru, who is occupying the farm, was in violation of an interim order that ordered him to vacate the property.

Police Superintendent Ngerazi and Assistant Inspector Monyera are accused of harassing Taylor and his son demanding to know why they have not vacated his farm as instructed by the police.

In Inyathi, farmers Goff Carbutt and 78-year-old Ed Grenfell Dexter were arrested last week and later taken to the Attorney-General’s office in Bulawayo where they were released without charge. The state said it could summon them to court later. They were however told they would not be allowed to return to their farms.

Jane Sharp, a Shamva farmer, and her husband were arrested and detained overnight at Shamva Police Station immediately after winning a court case allowing them to return to their farm and collect movable property.

In Marondera, a group of about 40 Zanu-PF youths allegedly looted and trashed the homestead of Helen Newmarch, who runs a small farm, seven kilometres from the Mashonaland East provincial capital.
“Commercial agriculture will never resuscitate itself under the current regime. No one will come and invest any money in agriculture with this instability that is happening,” Taffs said.

Wongai Zhangazha

MDC-T MP Madamombe dies

Zimbabwe Independent

Thursday, 03 June 2010 19:51

MDC-T MP for Mabvuku/Tafara Shepherd Madamombe (pictured) has died, bringing to 15 the number of vacant Senate and House of Assembly seats.
Madamombe (47) died on Wednesday at Parirenyatwa Hospital, an official from his party said yesterday. He was elected to Parliament in the 2008 elections.

Madamombe joined the MDC at its formation in 1999 and stayed with party leader Morgan Tsvangirai during the 2005 split that created the MDC-T and MDC-M factions.

His profile with the Parliament of Zimbabwe describes him as a small-scale farmer in Seke communal lands as well as a self employed transporter.

The constitution requires that a by-election be held within 90 days of a parliamentary seat falling vacant. Shortages of money and a gentlemen’s agreement by coalition government parties have resulted in a moratorium on by elections.

Staff Writer.

Muckraker:‘How Zim won the World Cup’

Zimbabwe Independent

Thursday, 03 June 2010 18:53

YOU have to admit that was a great heading in the Sunday Mail last weekend (right). It was of course totally false and misleading but a great heading none-the- less.
Zimbabwe is not in the running for the World Cup. But it did manage to lure Brazil into a very expensive warm-up friendly here in Harare. That’s the closest we will get.

It is just rather sad that our so-called public media had to resort to smoke-and-mirrors acts of this sort. And with it went the pretence that this encounter on the soccer field had somehow put to rest all the “lies about Zimbabwe not being a safe destination”.

“The prophets of doom have been proved wrong,” the Sunday Mail cheered.
“All the nonsense about security concerns and all the hogwash about a bad Zimbabwe will be exposed and disproved.”
We certainly hope so. But as this comes from those folks that brought us the “bad Zimbabwe” in the first place, we will have to wait and see!

There are of course precedents. In the late 90’s after Zimbabwe had won the bid to host the Africa Cup of Nations, the Herald weighed in with the headline “Zim wins Africa Cup of Nations”. The article carried the byline of the editor himself. Unfortunately Zimbabwe was dropped as the venue for the continental competition due to slow progress in renovating stadiums. Last November when the World Cup roadshow came to Harare, we were treated to more delusion by the Herald. This time it was: “Zim lifts World Cup”. What exactly do subs at the paper do?

Much has been written recently on the appointment of judges with many commentators saying the president was entitled to appoint who he pleased. The only requirement for consultation was with the Judicial Service Commission, we were told.

This may indeed be the case. But while the president may be under no obligation to consult his partners in the coalition government, good sense surely dictates that he does so. The whole success of the GNU project rests upon consultation and confidence. The reason we are failing so badly as a society is because those around Mugabe refuse to consult and are actually working against reconciliation and reform.

Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson was perfectly correct when he said Zanu PF officials were hindering democracy, harassing the MDC and failing to honour their GPA obligations.
Isn’t that exactly what’s happening? And then, when Zanu PF doesn’t like the truth, it has its not-so-clever diplomats make absurd and childish remarks about house slaves.
Zimbabwe will never be an American colony, Ambassador Machivenyika Mapuranga proclaimed.
Do the Zimbabwean authorities really think they will garner international respect with this sort of undergraduate posturing? The other African ambassadors at this Africa Day event were embarrassed, we gather.

It is not surprising. Zimbabwe has become an embarrassment to its friends.
And its diplomats are part of the last-ditch defence the regime is mounting against so-called regime change.
Still with the judges, wouldn’t it be healthier for the judiciary if judges were to be appointed on the basis of consensus rather than partisan preferment?
We are sure judges would prefer not to be consumed by political acrimony of the sort that has transpired over the past few weeks.
Meanwhile, we are still keen to know what transpired in the five weeks that it took the ZEC to announce an election result in 2008!

On Monday the Herald led with a story, “AirZim retrenchees lied under oath”.
This concerned evidence former airline workers reportedly gave to the parliamentary portfolio committee on Transport and Communications.
Their evidence on cronyism and poor administration, if true, was damning.
But the Herald was told by an anonymous member of the committee that it was an offence for an individual to lie under oath in giving evidence.

Indeed it is. But who said the evidence of the AirZim workers was false? We never got to hear who the newspaper’s source was. What we do know is the story was designed to rubbish inconvenient allegations that place yet another inept parastatal in the spotlight.
And did you see the way all the party loyalists rushed to the defence of Air Zimbabwe? Some of these guys spend their time writing opinion pieces for the state media.
And a question for Dr Peter Chikumba. If you could see that Air Zimbabwe was “bleeding” on its Dubai and China routes, why did it take you so long to discontinue them?

So Jabulani Sibanda wants to change businesses with English names that remind him of the colonial era.
The Manica Post quoted him saying he was disturbed to learn that some businesses had names such as London Store which stirred in him the bitter memories of the colonial era.
“I was in Mutasa yesterday (last Friday) and I was shocked to see a shop called London Store. London Store in Zimbabwe, I wonder? It is really a shock. “We have to change all those names which remind us of the colonial era,” he said.
Sibanda was addressing war veterans and Zanu PF supporters during a meeting to do with the constitution-making process.

Is this Sibanda’s contribution to the constitution-making process? Has anybody bothered to tell him that his masters in Zanu PF including the Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces and his family had become very fond of visiting London until they were slapped with a travel ban to Western capitals?
What else reminds Sibanda of the colonial era?  Maybe Harare suburbs like Highfield? This was of course emblematic of the nationalist struggle. But following its defection to the MDC it may be in for the chop? As for Sibanda we have a name for him: “Demagogue”.

Talking of demagogues, what is Julius Malema up to?
The controversial ANC youth leader has caused ructions within the African National Congress and Zanu PF.
Now he has reportedly spread the mayhem to Botswana.
The ruling Botswana Democratic Party is the latest victim and President Ian Khama is not taking this kindly. He has chastised Malema as an “ill-disciplined boy” responsible for factionalism in his party.
The Mmegi newspaper in Botswana reported that President Khama had said Malema was “ill-disciplined” and “I was wondering why they do not take action against him.”
A Botswana councillor had mentioned that a rebellious faction in Khama’s ruling party has befriended Malema.

The ANC youth leader visited Botswana earlier this year and told a rally that the country needed a “strong leader”, a statement which was viewed as an attack on Khama.
In Zimbabwe, Zanu PF’s politburo –– a powerful organ –– has clashed over  whether or not it was advisable to support Malema publicly.

In South Africa, Malema appears to be blackmailing Jacob Zuma, who the ANC youth wing wants to challenge to stop his “risky” sex life.
But if the latest reports are anything to go by then Zuma is not the only president in South Africa to engage in nefarious sexual antics.

South Africans may have come to terms with Zuma’s infidelity, but a new book to be released next month about Nelson Mandela, claims the country’s first democratic president was no saint either.
Titled The Young Mandela, the book by David James Smith –– an extract of which appeared in the London Sunday Times –– shows another side of the former president, including allegations of womanising, wife-beating and at least one love child.
But whatever he may have been up to, Mandela surely can’t beat Zuma’s record.
Zuma is expecting his 21st child with his second wife, MaNtuli. This comes amid reports that their marriage is on the rocks.
Weekend media reports in South Africa splashed a possible presidential estrangement on their front pages.

The Herald on Tuesday carried an upbeat picture of visiting Chinese politburo member “Cde Wang Gang” at the Zanu PF headquarters. Zanu PF and the Communist Party of China renewed a memorandum of understanding, we are told, which included exchanging notes on “ruling experiences”. 
Zanu PF national chairman SK Moyo (not Jonathan Moyo as Xinhua reported) was quoted bleating about sanctions and how they “impacted negatively on ordinary people”.

SK Moyo said China had pledged to “work with us to ensure they are removed forthwith”.
Exactly how they would do that was not explained. China recently refused to condemn North Korea’s torpedo attack on a South Korean warship. It is not in any position to seek concessions from the US or anybody else on sanctions.

And we hope Morgan Tsvangirai explained during his session with the Wang Gang that it was not so clever of the Chinese to place themselves in a five-year alliance with the losing party in Zimbabwe’s elections.

Have the Chinese not considered the implications of backing a party that was firmly rejected by Zimbabweans in the 2008 polls? Can you imagine Tsvangirai flying to Beijing and placing his support firmly behind the Tibetans in their struggle for freedom? 
“Cde Wang” said: “We oppose interference in other countries’ affairs.”
So what’s he doing here?

Reports that a “naughty intelligence officer” (the reports said “intelligent” officer!) found his way into the hotel room where Abbey Chikane, the Kimberley Process monitor, was staying, sound like a serious off-side.
The state media was happy to carry news reports that documents stolen from Chakane’s hotel room had revealed a conspiracy between the KP monitor and the Americans to block Zimbabwe’s Chiadzwa diamonds from international markets.
The state media was not at all bothered that the actions of this “naughty intelligent officer” may have far-reaching consequences for the country’s desperate bid to woo foreign tourists.
Chikane made sensational re-
velations about how state security agents managed to open his bag without his consent and photocopy e-mails which were later published in the state media.
If a distinguished international visitor to the country like Chikane is not safe in his hotel room what about ordinary visitors?

Muckraker enjoys the occasional joust with commentators in the state media who mislead their readers with claims that are wide of the mark.

We had one example of this in the People’s Voice this week where editor Ladislus Ndoro had a go at the Zimbabwe Independent because we published a story from our editor, who was visiting Australia, on remarks made by Foreign Affairs minister Steven Smith.
Ndoro appears to think that because Queen Eizabeth is head of state of Australia as well as Britain, “hence there is no difference between Australia and Britain”. Australia is just an extension of Britain, he argues.

Queen Elizabeth is also head of state of Canada, Jamaica, Belize and the Bahamas. Is it seriously suggested those countries are extensions of Britain or that their foreign policies are dictated from London?
More serious is the People’s Voice’s claim that President Mugabe won the election in June 2008 and that we should all accept that.
As the South Africans and Sadc didn’t accept it, why should we? Why is there a government of national unity if Mugabe won the election so convincingly?

Elections now without delay

Zim Independent

Thursday, 03 June 2010 18:59

THERE is no better way to resolve conflict between political parties aspiring to be in government than through elections where a population chooses people freely to represent them. Zimbabwe is ready for elections even before the end of the year. If an election was held in a highly-charged environment in Rhodesia in May 1979 and less than a year later in February 1980 then I don’t see why another election cannot be held in 2011.
The election in 1980 worked wonders because in a matter of days there was peace. There was no need for peacekeepers, electoral or media reforms. The elections were held with the Rhodesian police and army present while Zanu and Zapu externally based members were coming to assembly points.
Even war-ravaged Afghanistan had an election a few months ago and so why can’t we have an election in Zimbabwe?

There is nothing sober about Arthur Mutambara’s stance on elections. His stance is no more than a self-preservation exercise. He dreams of some peacekeeping force and something called national healing –– whatever that is. There will not be any peacekeeping force because Zanu PF will never agree to that. Everyone goes on about national healing –– what animal is that? What exactly is national healing? People have to be real here –– Zimbabwean society is deeply divided into two irreconcilable, disparate camps, the untouchable “comrades” and non-“comrades”. It is like oil and water.

This is why the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (Zidera) sanctions should remain in force until there are free and fair elections. At the moment we have got a dysfunctional so-called inclusive government which is going nowhere fast.

Let’s get the elections out of the way first and then the victors can concentrate on economic recovery when Zidera sanctions are then lifted.

Time is of the essence here. The longer it takes to have an election the worse the situation will be because Robert Mugabe and his acolytes will continue to institute ruinous economic policies, unilaterally appointing cronies to important posts to serve Zanu PF interests and the only way to stop them is to oust them forthwith in an election. As things stand it doesn’t look like there will be a full economic recovery because all donors are reluctant to pour in money as long as Zanu PF is part of government.

Chinhakwe,
Harare.

Despecified Mawere speaks out on future

Zimbabwe Independent

Thursday, 03 June 2010 18:53

The government last week despecified Mutumwa Mawere (MM), a Zimbabwean-born businessman who is now a South Africa citizen, along with James Makamba and John Moxon. Before his specification Mawere owned a chain of companies in mining, finance and agriculture which were put under the control of a government-appointed administrator. The Zimbabwe Independent’s Pau Nyakazeya (PN) this week interviewed Mawere on this and his future plans.

PN: How many companies did you lose after being specified?

MM: In total 26 companies. You will be aware that SMM Holdings Private Limited (SMM); FSI Agricom Holdings Private Limited (FS); CFI Holdings Limited (CFI) and Zimre Holdings Limited (Zimre) were specified at the same time. After failing to extradite me in May/June 2004, the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, (Patrick) Chinamasa specified me on 9 July 2004 under the Prevention of Corruption Act and this was followed by the specification of companies deemed to be under my control on 26 August 2004. Mr Samson Mangoma, Assistant Commissioner of Police, and Mr Reginald Saruchera were appointed as investigators of me and the companies respectively.

In September 2004 an administrator, Mr Afaras Gwaradzimba, was appointed pursuant to a decree promulgated by the president using a false premise that SMM was indebted to the state notwithstanding the fact that when the company was specified barely a month earlier, there was no question of state indebtedness.

My case is unique in that my assets ought to have been protected by the investigator and yet a new law was passed subsequently allowing the state and its agents to take the very same assets that were supposed to be protected.

The courts have ruled in all the cases brought before them that I had no authority to defend my interests on account of the specification meaning that if I had no such authority then no one including the administrator has such authority without the permission of the investigator.
The facts of the matter confirm that no such authority was sought and granted by the investigator allowing for the Reconstruction of State Indebted Insolvent Companies Act to take precedence over the Prevention of Corruption Act.

PN: What is the market capitalisation your companies that were taken today and when they were seized?
MM: The companies were seized in 2004 and were valued at about US$400 million employing about 22 000 people. Having been alienated from the companies for the last six years, I would not know what the value is as of today.

PN: How much have you used in legal fees as you tried to reclaim your assets as well as fighting the specification?
MM: The legal costs are estimated at about US$5 million.

PN: How are you going to fight for the return of your assets?
MM: The only route for reclaiming the assets that were put outside my control by virtue of the operation of the Prevention of Corruption Act is to ask the Co-Ministers of Home Affairs to recover such assets as required by law. The Prevention of Corruption Act has no provision for expropriation and now that the investigations have been completed and the co-ministers have made a determination, it is important that the law takes its own course. I have no right of audience to the court to litigate on matters that took place when I was legally disabled.

PN: What is your view with regards to the way Mr Gwaradzimba administered your firms?
MM: To the extent that Gwaradzimba is a creature of statute, I should like to believe that he was acting for and on behalf of a principal. We all know to whom he reported and any loss that is occasioned by his actions has to be the responsibility of the state that appointed him. What is striking is that he was the auditor of the very companies that he was appointed to administer. The conduct of Gwaradzimba can hardly suggest that he has tried to be independent and unbiased, if anything, he is now part of the story.

PN: If you were to meet Gwaradzimba today what would you tell or ask him given the derelict state of some of your firms such as Shabanie Mine?
MM: I have nothing personal to say to Gwaradzimba. It is up to his masters to deal with him.  I should like to believe that his masters are quite happy with the manner in which he has discharged his responsibilities. If the aim was to destroy the so-called Mawere empire then the evidence shows how efficiently this has been done over a short period of time.  I guess that must please the people who deemed fit to appoint him.

PN: Do you fear the police could still pursue you?
MM: You will be aware that the specification route was only pursued after the South African court had dismissed the extradition application. If I was extradited as expected then I should like to believe that it would not have been necessary to specify me. The facts that purportedly supported the extradition application were the same as the facts that allegedly led the minister to make a decision to specify me. You may not be aware that the co-ministers asked the investigator to meet with me in South Africa in February of this year. The investigations were then completed as the investigator had taken the view commonly taken that I had run away which is not the case. The investigator in my case was a policeman and, therefore, your question would not arise. The co-ministers are responsible for the police and I should like to believe that if there were anything outstanding they would have taken note of it before making a ruling that there were no grounds to specify me.

PN: What do you make of the rule of law in Zimbabwe?
MM: My case is not unique but many were and continue to be affected by actions of state actors that seem to suggest that there is no appreciation of the link between the existence of the rule of law and national progress. The executive drove the actions that were taken against me. That left me with no choice but to approach the courts in the belief that an independent judiciary would see what was at play. Regrettably after more than 23 court cases in Zimbabwe, I have come to the conclusion that we need to examine whether our institutions are the best guarantors of the constitution.

WINNER OF 2010 BUCKMINSTER FULLER CHALLENGE

ALL SIX FINALISTS DEMONSTRATE SIGNIFICANT POTENTIAL TO
SOLVE SOME OF HUMANITY’S MOST PRESSING PROBLEMS

JUNE 2, 2010, WASHINGTON, DC — Operation Hope, a solution combating one of the major causes of climate change has been named the winner of the 2010 Buckminster Fuller Challenge. At its core the winning strategy transforms parched and degraded Zimbabwe grasslands and savannahs into lush pastures with ponds and flowing streams, even during periods of drought. Operation Hope was awarded $100,000 to further develop its work at a ceremony today at the National Press Club in Washington DC.

The Buckminster Fuller Challenge is the premier international competition recognizing initiatives which take a comprehensive, anticipatory, design approach to radically advance human well being and the health of our planet's ecosystems. The 2010 finalists are providing workable solutions to some of the world’s most significant challenges including water scarcity, food supply, and energy consumption. The Challenge is sponsored by the Buckminster Fuller Institute, which is accelerating the development and deployment of whole-systems solutions which demonstrate the potential to solve some of the world’s most significant challenges. 

Operation Hope is a project of the Africa Centre for Holistic Management in Zimbabwe and its sister organization the Savory Institute in Albuquerque, NM. Its successful approach to land management contradicts accepted practice and theories of resting land from animal grazing. Instead, Savory’s holistic management process re-establishes the symbiotic balance between plant growth and the behavior of herding animals, returning unusable desert back into thriving grasslands, restoring biodiversity, bringing water sources back to life; combating global climate change, and increasing crop yields to ensure food security for people. The approach is currently being practiced and producing results on over 30 million acres world wide.

“Our work proves that we do have the ability to simultaneously better mankind’s experience while bettering the Earth,” said Allan Savory, founder of the Africa Centre for Holistic Management and the Savory Institute. “We are thrilled that the Buckminster Fuller Challenge exists to recognize and support work such as ours, and thank the jurors for this honor.”

Berlin-based Watergy was named runner up of the Challenge. Watergy has developed and implemented a closed system greenhouse that provides extremely efficient farming capabilities in water-scarce communities. The approach, being demonstrated in Almeria Spain, allows a dramatic shift in resource efficiency for the supply of water, food and renewable material, and can be deployed across urban and rural conditions.

The other four finalists were:
• Barefoot College, which teaches illiterate, rural women in India and Africa to be solar engineers within their communities, providing energy to their communities, catalyzing their local economies and improving their quality of life;
•Brooklyn-based BK Farmyards, a leading model in the urban agricultural movement, which is creating a web-based crowd-sourcing platform to advance urban farming as a viable business and food source for local communities;
• UrbanLab, which has re-conceived the Chicago street-grid as a holistic Bio-System that captures, cleans and returns 100% of the city’s wastewater and storm-water to the Lakes, ensuring constant regeneration of that natural resource while producing added economic, energy, social, and environmental benefits; and
•The Living Building Challenge, which has developed the most advanced green building rating system in the world. Living Buildings are virtually self-sustaining, generating their own power, using renewable sources, and capturing and treating all their own water.

“My grandfather believed that we have the ability to apply transformative strategies based on whole systems thinking, Nature's fundamental principles, and an ethically driven worldview to better the world and our own experiences. He called this approach comprehensive anticipatory design science,” said Jamie Snyder, Buckminster Fuller’s grandson and co-founder of the Buckminster Fuller Institute with his mother, Allegra Fuller Snyder. “I’m proud that the Institute is supporting the creative pioneers who are bringing this vision to light, and thankful to our partners who sponsor the Challenge and work with us to fulfill our mission.”

The Buckminster Fuller Challenge originated in 2007 and awards $100,000 annually. Support for the program has been provided by the Atwater Kent Foundation, The Civil Society Institute, The James Dyson Foundation, The Highfield Foundation; The Jewish Communal Fund, and the members of The Buckminster Fuller Institute

Founded in 1983 and headquartered in New York, The Buckminster Fuller Institute is dedicated to accelerating the development and deployment of solutions which radically advance human well being and the health of our planet's ecosystems. BFI’s programs combine unique insight into global trends and local needs with a comprehensive approach to design. BFI encourages participants to conceive and apply transformative strategies based on a crucial synthesis of whole systems thinking, Nature's fundamental principles, and an ethically driven worldview. By facilitating convergence across the disciplines of art, science, design and technology, BFI’s work extends the profoundly relevant legacy of R. Buckminster Fuller. For further information visit: bfi.org