http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 21 July 2012 19:40
BY
PATRICE MAKOVA
POLITICAL parties should gear up for more internal
fissures as they hold
primaries to select candidates in preparation for
polls in 2013 and possible
by-elections in 38 vacant seats soon, analysts
have warned.
They said although primary elections were meant to show
a culture of
internal democracy, which should replicate nationally,
questions were
increasingly being asked as to whether they are the best way
to select
candidates.
In the past, primaries have caused
serious divisions, with the process being
manipulated, meaning that it is
not always the best candidate who wins.
Even President Robert Mugabe a few
months ago admitted that imposition of
candidates and squabbles,
particularly in Manicaland, cost Zanu PF 20 out of
the 26 contested seats in
the province during the 2008 elections.
Political commentator,
Blessing Vava said although primary elections might
be a good way of
selecting candidates, the country had witnessed primaries
being abused,
especially by those with money who engaged in vote buying.
He said
there should be other ways of identifying the most popular
candidates
without necessarily going for primary elections which have been
won of
unpopular candidates.
“Free and fair ground rules need to be clearly laid out
on the conduct of
primary elections, to make sure that those with resources
or power will not
abuse and buy the electorate,” Vava said.
He
said divisions and squabbles, particularly in Zanu PF and MDC-T, were
likely
to worsen with primary elections, considering the factionalism that
was
currently tearing apart the two parties.
Innocent Kasiyano of the
Election Resource Centre said although primary
elections were meant to
establish party representatives and avert a crisis
of multiple candidates,
the reality was that many of those barred and losers
subsequently fielded
themselves without the blessing of their parties.
“The result is
either double or multiple fielding of candidates by a single
political
party,” he said. “In this regard, primary elections have failed to
unite
party supporters; instead they have created multiple headaches to an
extent
that if it is not dealt with, parties can split.”
Kasiyano said the
2008 harmonised elections proved a thorn in the flesh of
the three main
political parties in the country when it came to concluding
their candidate
selection process, with the MDC-T being the worst hit.
The party lost
a number of seats in Midlands province after the late senator
Patrick
Kombayi sponsored parallel candidates in a number of
constituencies.
“Subsequently, the failure of internal democracy and
its pillars
precipitated into parties fielding what was referred to as
parallel
candidates in the same constituency. This in some instances
prejudices the
party fielding two or more candidates through splitting of
the vote,” said
Kasiyano.
He said the imposition of candidates,
usually at the behest of top
leadership, had resulted in the masses even
demonstrating against such
practices.
“At times their cries land on deaf
ears as the imposed candidates proceed to
contest the respective elections,”
said Kasiyano.
Primary elections divisive but still relevant,
says Hamauswa
University of Zimbabwe political science lecturer,
Shakespeare Hamauswa,
said although primary elections were divisive, parties
rallied behind the
selected candidate when it was time for
elections.
“Supporters of a losing candidate are usually whipped into
line as they are
told to look at the bigger picture and rally behind the
winner, even if he
or she was imposed on them,” he said.
Hamauswa
said technocrats may fall by the wayside during the primary
elections as
they usually found it difficult to get elected compared to
career
politicians who could win through unorthodox means, including
violence and
throwing mud at opponents.
“If the technocrats are already in
government, they will be judged by their
previous performance, but it is the
new contenders who may find the going
tough because the electorate may not
know them, even if they are potentially
good performers,” he said.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 21 July 2012
19:34
BY NQOBANI NDLOVU
BULAWAYO — Zimbabwe police are the worst
abusers of prostitutes, a recent
survey covering six nations on how policing
practices against sex workers
impact on HIV prevalence has
shown.
The survey, conducted by the UK-based Open Society Foundation,
was released
last week and covered Zimbabwe, South Africa, Russia, Namibia,
United States
and Kenya.
The survey says the police rank
top in terms of “harassing and abusing
physically sex
workers”.
“These actions have dire consequences for sex workers’
health and their
clients,” the 36-page report titled Publication of the
Sexual Health and
Rights Project of the Open Society Foundations
reads.
Local police ranked top as 85% of the prostitutes surveyed
confirmed to have
been physically and sexually abused by the law enforcement
agents. South
Africa and Russia stood at 80%, United States at 52% while
Namibia and Kenya
both recorded 50%.
The report coincided with
last week’s march by women activists, vendors and
sex workers in Harare
protesting police harassment. The protesters accused
police of making
arbitrary arrests on women walking in the streets at night
on suspicion of
loitering or soliciting for prostitution.
The police were accused of
demanding bribes and sex in exchange for freedom.
Women’s rights
campaigner, Tsitsi Dangarembgwa, said they would submit a
petition to Home
Affairs co-minister Theresa Makone calling for an immediate
end to arbitrary
arrests of women suspected of engaging in sex work.
Harare provincial
police spokesman, Chief Inspector James Sabau last week
said that unless
prostitution was legalised, arrests of the women would
continue.
The Open Society Foundation report said police used
condom possession and
suspicion of being a prostitute to justify detaining
or arresting women on
charges related to prostitution.
“Police
harass and abuse sex workers and use the threat of arrest to extort
and
exploit them,” says the report. “Some sex workers opt not to carry
condoms
because they fear police harassment and detention, thus increasing
their
risk of exposure to HIV and compromising their health and the health
of
their sexual partners.”
The report recommended that “lawmakers should
pass legislation
decriminalising sex work and removing administrative
sanctions on sex work.
“As a first step, justice officials or
representatives from other
responsible government agencies should present to
legislators a draft law on
decriminalisation of sex work, with accompanying
explanation about the role
of decriminalisation in reducing the spread of
HIV, violence, and other
health risks,” the report advises.
should
prostitution be legalised?
Bulawayo legislator, Tabitha
Khumalo has already come out in the open in
support of legalising
prostitution.
Khumalo has threatened to expose colleagues using the services
of
prostitutes if her campaign is not supported in Parliament.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 21 July 2012
19:26
BY CHARLES MAZORODZE
THE current occupants of Mbare hostels must
be vetted before the flats are
demolished to determine the rightful owners
as some landlords were evicted
from their properties by Zanu PF youth
militia for political reasons, the
Harare Residents Trust (HRT) has
said.
Several suspected MDC-T members were evicted from their homes in Mbare
during the violent 2008 elections by the Zanu PF militia group, Chipangano,
to make way for supporters of the former ruling party.
“Our
demand is that the council thoroughly vets the occupants in those flats
and
determine whether they are the legal occupants or if they are illegals
who
evicted the legal tenants using their political muscle,” said HRT in a
statement.
“Once they have a comprehensive and legitimate list of
tenants, then they
must check with the waiting list to ensure that they also
benefit from land
designated for that purpose of accommodating those to be
displaced by such a
costly exercise.”
The hostels targeted for
demolition include Nenyere, Matapi, Shawasha, Mbare
and Matererini, where at
least three families share one room, making it
possible unfor 21 people to
stay in each room.
The residents trust said, without vetting, the
Minister of Local Government,
Rural and Urban Development, Ignatius Chombo
could push the council to
undertake an exercise that would only benefit
certain political actors, and
not genuinely address a housing
crisis.
The trust said there were no concrete plans from either the
Local Government
ministry or the City of Harare to suggest that they have
intentions, in the
short-to-medium term, to refurbish the
flats.
Chombo recently said the hostels would be demolished to enable
the
construction of modern accommodation as the flats had outlived their
purpose
of housing single black migrant labourers during the colonial
era.
But Harare Mayor Mucha-deyi Masunda differed with Chombo saying
they must
revert to single occupancy.
More than 56 000 people,
mostly the poor, live in the apartments, implying
that if they are reserved
for singles, only 5 697 people would be
accommodated.
The HRT has
urged the Harare City Council and the government to put concrete
modalities
in place to accommodate the inhabitants when the decongestion and
refurbishment exercise is eventually done.
The government has a
history of evicting vulnerable residents from their
dwellings since 1990 to
2005 as depicted by the evictions at the Porta Farm,
Churu and Operation
Murambatsina, which left thousands of people ho-meless.
“The HRT
considers the situation as more delicate than the mere movement of
people,”
said the trust in a statement.
“It requires the council’s Housing and
Community Services Department, the
Department of Urban Planning Services and
the Finance and Development
Committee, and also the Environment Management
Committee, to carry out
detailed feasibility studies that assess the social,
political and economic
impact of the intended move.”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 21 July 2012 19:24
BY
PROBLEM MASAU
CHIPINGE — They might be a nuisance to small grain farmers but
quelea birds
are a delicacy and have become a source of livelihood to many
villagers in
Chipinge and Chimanimani districts.
Many villagers
harvest the birds for sale to make ends meet in the
drought-stricken areas
of the Lowveld, where farmers complain that the birds
are devouring huge
quantities of their ripe crops.
At Tanganda junction,
Chakohwa bus terminus, Wengezi and Birchenough Bridge
Growth Point, scores
of people, mostly women, jostle for customers selling
the “little chicken”,
which are popular with most beer drinkers.
Olivia Muyambo is one such
vendor making a living from selling the
grain-eating birds, which move
around in millions.
She said the birds, popularly known as ngozha,
have changed her fortunes
since the time she ventured into the business a
few years back.
“We use nets to catch large quantities of birds and in some
instances we
catch more than 500 birds to sell at the shops at Tanganda
Halt,” said
Olivia Muyambo, a vendor. “I get more than US$15 a day, which is
quite a
substantial amount of money here.”
Every evening Muyambo
joins the great trek to Gunura village, over five
kilometres away, where the
birds are trapped using wide nets and glue
(urimbo) and sold to
vendors.
Some of the birds are trapped along Save River during the
night.
“After buying the birds, women then roast them in hot cooking
oil and pack
10 in each packet to sell to patrons in local beer halls and
travellers,”
said another vendor, Grace Sithole.
On average, each
pack comprising 10 quelea birds costs US$1.
“I tasted the delicious
birds while we were on a bus and from that day I
have never stopped picking
a packet each time I pass through Tanganda,” said
Arnold Mazodze from
Chipinge town.
A local councillor, Hardwork Masaiti said quelea birds
had proved to be a
“blessing in disguise” to the impoverished rural
women.
“This is an arid region and selling the birds has proved to be
an income
generating project for most women,” he said. “Some are able to
send their
children to school from the money they get from selling the
birds.”
Godknows Hangari, a senior agricultural consultant said
farmers had been
trying to control the birds using pests for decades without
success. They
have also used poisonous spray, which also proved fruitless as
the birds
reproduce rapidly.
“If people could get income from the
troublesome birds, the better. They
should turn their activities into a
commercial scale, I am sure markets are
there throughout the country because
of the birds’ delicacy,” he said.
Quelea birds are
destructive
For several years, the birds have wreaked havoc in
the Lowveld and other
areas countrywide where they consume huge quantities
of small grains such as
sorghum, wheat and millet.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 21 July 2012
19:18
BY SILAS NKALA
BULAWAYO — An employee with the Ministry of
Agriculture, Veterinary Field
Services Department here was recently slapped
with a five-month jail term
for stealing about US$3 973 from the
ministry.
Fredrick Tafadzwa Chivige (25) of Northend in Bulawayo
pleaded guilty to
theft charges when he appeared before Bulawayo magistrate
Tawanda Muchemwa.
The magistrate sentenced him to 19 months in
jail.
Four months were suspended for five years on good
behavior. A further 10
months were suspended on condition that he restitutes
the ministry the sum
of US$3 266 which he stole.
The court heard
that between July 26 and October 6 2010, Tafadzwa was
employed by the
Ministry of Agriculture, Veterinary Services Department as
an accountant
based in Bulawayo provincial offices at Steeldale Road.
He received
various amounts of money totalling US$3 266 on behalf of the
ministry.
Instead of banking all the money, he only banked part
of it and converted
the rest to his personal use.
Trying to cover
up the theft, he altered figures on the deposit slip.
An internal
audit conducted established that about US$3 973 could not be
accounted for.
A report was made to the police leading to the arrest of
Chivige.
The
money has not been recovered.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 21 July 2012 19:14
BY
MOSES CHIBAYA
PLATINUM mining giant, Zimplats, has so far drilled 32
boreholes in the
Mhondoro-Ngezi and Chegutu districts, which are set to
benefit 4 000
families as part of the company’s social responsibility
programme.
Six other boreholes are expected to be sunk before the end
of the year to
improve water, sanitation and hygiene (Wash) in the
areas.
Speaking at a ceremony to handover the boreholes
recently, Zimplats Chief
Operating Officer, Stanley Segula said the drilling
of the boreholes was
made possible because they have developed an effective
Private-Public
Partnership programme.
He said Zimplats, a member
of the South African Impala Group of Companies,
provided the materials while
the District Development Fund (DDF) chipped in
with the technical support to
drill the boreholes.
“We will continue working with DDF to ensure
that boreholes are maintained
and that the community is trained on their
usage,” said Segula. “We hope
that by the end of the year, we would have
drilled another six boreholes.”
He added: “We have spent US$2 million
on infrastructural development in this
community as part of our corporate
social responsibility so we can address
the needs of the
community.”
Before the boreholes were drilled, the villagers used to
walk several
kilometres to fetch water from unsafe
sources.
Zimbabwe’s water supply and sanitation services have
suffered a major
collapse in both rural and urban areas due to years of
under-investment.
Although some progress has been made in
rehabilitating water infrastructure
in urban areas, rural populations
continue to bear the brunt of poor water
and sanitation in the
country.
Zimplats’ main focus
Zimplats’ community
investment programme mainly focuses on the areas of
health, education and
infrastructural development.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 21 July 2012
19:13
BY SILAS NKALA
BULAWAYO - A 26-year-old woman was last week
slapped with a 12-months jail
term for kidnapping her employer’s
three-year-old child.
The maid detained her at a house in Nkulumane
suburb for 13 days.
Sifiso Dube of Pumula North in Bulawayo
pleaded guilty to kidnapping charges
when she appeared before Western
Commonage court magistrate, Richard
Ramaboea last week.
Ramaboea
convicted and sentenced Dube to 18 months in jail.
Six months were
suspended for five years on condition of good behaviour.
The court
heard that Dube was employed as a maid by Talent Moyo (52), a
teacher at
Pumula East Pre-school. On June 15 this year, Dube took the
three-year-old
girl without Moyo’s consent.
She went with the child to Nkulumane at
house number 431, where she detained
the child for 3 days.
Moyo made a
report to the police. A follow up to the house by the police led
to the
arrest of Dube and recovery of the child.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 21 July 2012 19:13
BY OUR
STAFF
A swimming pool complex that is being used as a school for
disadvantaged
children in Arcadia is only a temporary home, says Graham
Stewart, the board
chairman.
He said there were community-driven
initiatives for the return of the Early
Learning Centre to the residents of
Arcadia, which is currently occupied as
accommodation by City of Harare
workers.
Stewart allayed fears that the pool where pupils
were learning may pose a
danger to the schoolchildren.
“The water
in the pool is as a result of the last rains and poses no direct
risk to the
children who are always supervised. There have been no pool-
related
incidents during the eight months we have been there,” he said.
“We
currently have 22 children drawn from the suburbs of ward 2 but we are
limited by resources to assist more children even though there is a greater
need. Progress with their studies has not only been encouraging but also
quite gratifying.”
He said although children came from difficult
backgrounds, they had all been
properly brought up.
He thanked
the support of well-wishers, donors and a dedicated team of
“teachers” and
trustees who have been invaluable to their success.
“So while a lot of
progress has been made, there still remains much to do
and so we would like
to invite any interested persons to contact us, with a
view to partnering in
this noble cause.”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 21 July 2012
19:07
BY NDAMU SANDU
GOVERNMENT plans to enforce a 100% ownership of
diamonds, among a raft of
measures designed to leverage on the country’s
mining sector.
The move is set to plug leakages and ensure that the
country benefits from
its natural resources. The move is likely to set
government on a collision
course with investors already operating in the
diamond industry.
In his mid-term fiscal policy review on
Wednesday, Finance minister, Tendai
Biti, said government had approved a
diamond policy to enforce government’s
100% ownership of
diamonds.
Biti said government had also approved the enactment of the
Diamond
Exploration Act that issues a directive to prohibit the exportation
of
unpolished or uncut diamonds.
He said there would be immediate
separation of diamond mining from
marketing.
The Finance minister
added that the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) would
be placed in the
entire value chain, from diamond mining to marketing.
“In the Finance Bill,
we propose to amend the Revenue Act to ensure Zimra is
connected to the
entire value chain, not only diamonds but other minerals,”
Biti
said.
Clause 10 of the Finance bill gazetted on Friday states that
Zimra officers,
authorised by the Commissioner General can at anytime enter
any mining
location in Zimbabwe to inspect such location and examine
prospecting or
mining operations.
Officers can examine and make
copies of or take extracts from books,
accounts, vouchers and documents,
among others.
Officers can also examine security systems at mining
locations.
Officers can secure that any royalties or taxes payable in
relation to the
minerals mined in question are paid and
collected.
Any person who bars officers from carrying out their
duties would be guilty
of an offence and would pay a fine or face
imprisonment for a period not
exceeding six months.
In the six
months to June, revenue from diamonds contributed US$41,6
million.
Diamonds, particularly those from Marange fields, have
been the source of
bickering in the inclusive government.
Biti
said Treasury had not been getting enough and accused Anjin of not
remitting
anything to the fiscus.
Anjin — a company in which Chinese are
partnering soldiers — hit back in May
saying that it had remitted US$30
million to Treasury. Four companies —
Anjin, Mbada, Marange Resources and
Diamond Mining Corporation (DMC) — are
mining in Marange.
Marange
Resources is wholly owned by government.
The Zimbabwe Mining
Development Corporation (ZMDC) has 50% in Mbada and is
partnering Pure Diam
of Dubai in DMC.
The reforms, if implemented, would be victory for civil
society
organisations and Biti, who have been accusing some individuals of
benefiting at the expense of the country.
Mines ministry unaware of
Biti’s claim: Mupazviriho
However, Prince Mupazviriho, Mines and
Mining Development permanent
secretary, said on Friday as the custodians of
the mining policy, the
ministry had not made the
announcement.
Told that Biti had announced far- reaching reforms in
the mining sector,
Mupazviriho said: “The issue has not been raised by the
Ministry of Mines,
so you have to go back to the minister who raised
that.”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 21 July 2012
19:04
BY NDAMU SANDU
RAINBOW Tourism Group (RTG) shareholders have
reached common ground on the
appointment of the directors and the new-look
board holds its inaugural
meeting on Tuesday.
The board meeting comes
after months of haggling among shareholders, after
Nicholas van
Hoogstraten’s nominees did not garner enough votes at a stormy
meeting of
shareholders last year.
Financial advisory firm, Corporate
Excellence, brokered the meeting.
Corporate Excellence was tasked
last year with reaching out to the
shareholders and fostering a common
understanding after shareholders had
intensified their fight for the control
of RTG, the country’s largest
hospitality group by market
capitalisation.
In written responses, van Hoogstraten said the
National Social Security
Authority (NSSA) and the Hamilton Group (his family
vehicle) had agreed to
appoint three directors each on the
board.
He said appointment of the new CEO and finance director were
matters for the
board.
Van Hoogstraten would be represented by
Shingirai Chibanguza, Ian Haruperi
and EFE Securities boss, Edgeton Tsanga,
on the RTG board. Haruperi and
Chibanguza failed to garner enough votes to
sit on the board during last
year’s AGM.
NSSA general manager,
James Matiza, told Standardbusiness the parties were
yet to reach common
ground but confirmed the meeting.
“Corporate Excellence is panel
beating the appointments. They have been in
touch with us and Mr van
Hoogstraten. We have not yet finalised on our side
and hope that by Tuesday,
our nominees would have been finalised,” Matiza
said.
However,
Standardbusiness was told that NSSA had already nominated Joseph
Kanyekanye,
Shadreck Vera and Rosa Dube.
Matiza referred further questions to
Corporate Excellence’s boss, Batanayi
Chingwena.
Chingwena said
there were positive developments happening, adding that he
could not say
much as he was bound by ethics to not reveal dealings with his
clients.
The new board comes after the resignation of the old
board, led by Econet
executive, Tracy Mpofu.
Mpofu was one of the
directors representing Econet alongside Chris Chirairo
and John Gould, but
was asked to stay put on the board to allow shareholders
to reach
consensus.
Econet eventually pulled out its nominees on the board.
The remaining
directors also resigned, meaning RTG was operating without a
board of
directors.
The previous board had drawn the ire of van
Hoogstraten after the
hospitality group’s money was locked in the then
ReNaissance Merchant Bank,
following the placement of the institution under
curatorship last year. At
an AGM last year, van Hoogstraten said the money
“shouldn’t be with Mickey
Mouse people in the first place”.
RTG
started accessing the money in March after the bank was removed from
curatorship, following NSSA’s acquisition of controlling
shareholding.
The convening of the board means shareholders can raise money
to
recapitalise the hospitality group.
RTG requires US$15
million, which would be raised through the sale of one of
its properties for
US$10 million and the remainder, from existing
shareholders.
RTG
has been a theatre of fights as shareholders flex muscles at the
detriment
of the group, which is failing to capitalise on the stable
political
environment to grow its business.
Other than looking for money from
shareholders, the group is disposing of
non-core assets.
In
August last year, the group announced that it was disposing of its
interest
in non-core assets such as Touch the Wild Private Limited, Hathanay
Investments Private Limited and Zimbabwe Mauritius Tours and Travel Private
Limited, trading as Tourism Services Zimbabwe.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 21 July 2012 19:01
BY
NDAMU SANDU
FINANCE minister Tendai Biti’s proposal for the country to go
back to basics
and swallow the medicine of austerity cannot happen without
political will
from the leadership, analysts warned last week.
In
his Mid-Term Fiscal Policy review, Biti announced austerity measures that
included a chop in revenue projections, freeze on recruitments and reforms
in the mining sector to raise more revenue.
He said the
reforms, if implemented, would move the economy from a winter of
despair
into a summer of recovery.
While lauding the measures, analysts said
without the backing of political
leadership, the reforms would not fly,
moreso, in an inclusive government
where decisions are aligned to political
inclinations.
Biti announced a cut of revenue to US$3,4 billion due
to the
underperformance of diamonds among others.
In the 2012
budget, diamonds revenue was projected to contribute US$600
million. In the
six months to June, revenue from diamonds was US$146
million.
Yet
there is a paradox. Diamond production has been revised upwards to 12
million carats from the nine million carats earlier projected. “If revenue
has been revised downwards, how come production is on the increase? It’s a
black hole,” an economist with an international bank said on
Thursday.
Analysts say inasmuch as Treasury can assign the Zimbabwe
Revenue Authority
(Zimra) to be aggressive in revenue collection, it has to
be mindful that
the tax collector can reach a certain
point.
“Zimra is trying as hard as possible to collect revenue, but
revenue is a
function of economic activity and there are certain
limitations,” an analyst
said, adding that the country had to look outwards
for salvation in the form
of foreign direct investment
(FDI).
Biti acknowledged Zimra’s constraints saying: “One of the
things that we
fear is that it is possible that our revenuehad now reached a
plateau, so
whatever you do, unless you are able to expand the economy by
attracting
further income, you have got a problem.”
Biti also
proposed a freeze on recruitments saying such a move would only
take place
with the blessings from Treasury and Public Service Commission.
Analysts are
wary that Biti would be by-passed in new recruitments. On
Wednesday, Biti
said government had recruited 9 000 employees on the first
half of the year
notwithstanding the freeze on recruitments.
In 2009, Biti announced
that government had set aside US$6 million to pay
off account holders. The
process was not done amid revelations some accounts
had allegedly fattened
overnight in preparation for the “windfall”.
This means that there is
no good news to account holders, the majority of
them pensioners, who have
been waiting for the resolution of the case since
2009. Biti provided new
investors with relief saying they are exempted from
complying with the 51%
rule of indigenisation to lure foreign investors.
Since the gazetting of the
regulations governing empowerment, prospective
investors are
sceptical.
While Biti said it was government policy to exempt new
investors, analysts
say enforcing it would not be easy as the nation gears
for elections.
Indigenisation has been Zanu PF’s trump card and analysts say
only gullible
investors would buy the ruse.
“Which investor would
pour money into a country that does not respect
agreements? Essar tried it
and government is now shifting goal posts. Biti
said it is government policy
but the question is how many policies have been
adhered to? Zero,” the
analyst said.
Essar snapped up a controlling shareholding in Zisco
last year.
However, government is now insisting the Indian firm
should have 49% to
conform to the empowerment
legislation.
Biti blames lack of policy
implementation
Biti blamed the slow pace of reforms as inhibiting
the growth of the
economy.
“Important decisions and policies have
been taken by cabinet but
implementation has been zero. The economy, thus,
continues to be weighed
down by lack of reform and lack of leadership,” he
said.
Yet the minister himself had not adhered to policies set. Three
years after
the country embraced multi-currencies, the issue of Zimbabwean
dollar
balances has not been resolved.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 21 July 2012 19:00
BY MOSES
CHIBAYA
MOBILE operators say the use of generators to run base stations
during power
cuts had increased operational costs, affecting their profit
margins.
The country is experiencing debilitating power cuts as demand has
outstripped the generation capacity. The power utility is generating 1 100MW
against the required 2 200MW.
Giving oral evidence before the
Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Media,
Information and Communication
Technology last week, Econet CEO, Douglas
Mboweni, said the US$0,20c per
minute tariff offered was arrived at after
factoring in all the costs
involved. Mboweni said the major cost that was
driving their tariff up was
fuel, used to run generators.
“Electricity is a huge cost to us, the
cost of generators and the cost of
refilling is estimated at over US$15
million per year,” Mboweni said.
The Econet boss said about 72% of
the network at any given time would be
running on generators.
In
a separate presentation interview before the same committee, Telecel
chief
executive officer, Francis Mawindi, concurred with Mboweni and also
bemoaned
electricity woes as the major barrier.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 21 July 2012
18:56
BY NQABA MATSHAZI
SOUTH Africa has been accused of frustrating
plans to create a regional
customs union and instead preferring to bolster
the South African Customs
Union (Sacu), where it holds sway.
A customs
union is a trade agreement by which a group of countries charge a
common set
of tariffs to the rest of the world, while granting free trade
among
members.
Regional Integration minister, Priscilla
Misihairabwi-Mushonga, said there
was a feeling that South Africa wanted to
use Sacu as its basis to form a
regional customs union, instead of working
towards creating a new one.
“What we see is that South Africa wants
to use Sacu as the basis for forming
a regional customs union and sometimes,
this is viewed as having a big
brother mentality,” she
said.
Misihairabwi-Mushonga said, for this reason, negotiations
towards a holistic
Sadc customs union had not gone very
far.
Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland and South Africa make up
Sacu, with
the four countries having benefited by aligning themselves to
South Africa,
Africa’s largest economy. A Sadc customs union would involve
the 15
countries of the region, instead of Sacu, which is considered
narrow.
But Catherine Grant, the head of economic diplomacy at the
South African
Institute of International Affairs, reckons the smaller
nations in Sacu,
like Lesotho, may be opposed to Sacu morphing into a
regional customs union.
“This will be opposed by other Sacu members,
not necessarily just South
Africa, as this (Sacu) is not just a trade
agreement, but involves a broader
range of economic issues,” she
said.
“Up to 60% of the Lesotho budget is Sacu revenue, so the vested
issues,
whether Sacu is the basis of a customs union, are not just South
African.”
Grant felt that it was impossible to expand Sacu in its current
form, as it
would cost South Africa too much and would dilute the resources
that were
meant for other projects.
The head of the trade and
policy think-tank said instead, South Africa
preferred to see the
implementation of a free trade area (FTA) as a first
step, since customs
union negotiations were usually lengthy and
time-consuming.
“The
preference is to first channel scarce resources to existing commitments
and
trying to make them as beneficial as possible,” she explained.
Grant
said while South Africa was the dominant player in the region, hence
engendering a feeling that it was imposing itself as the big brother, the
country was actually holding back from taking a leading role and this cost
the region.
“Sometimes South Africa holds back because they are
conscious of not being a
big brother and that could be detrimental to the
region,” she explained.
However, Grant said energies should be directed
towards the conclusion of
negotiations to set up the Tripartite Free Trade
Area (TFTA), which includes
the Common Market for East and Southern Africa,
the East African Community
and Sadc.
“The TFTA will resolve some
of the overlapping issues that can be difficult
to solve when it comes to a
customs union,” she said.
Since Zimbabwe adopted multicurrencies in
2009, there has been a call that
the nation either join Sacu or push for the
formation of a regional customs
union.
Zimbabwe remains wary of
joining Sacu, as it fears for its economic
independence, yet negotiations
for a regional customs union are moving at a
snail’s pace.
Sacu
was established in 1910, making it the world’s oldest customs union. It
consists of Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland.
