Category: zimbabwe

Source: Govt takes bilharzia treatment to schools, hotspots -Newsday Zimbabwe

THE Health and Child Care ministry says it has taken bilharzia treatment to schools and other hotspots to reduce the burden of the disease by at least 80%.

Ministry spokesperson Donald Mujiri said Zimbabwe was prone to neglected tropical diseases (NTD), especially bilharzia.

Other NTDs include schistosomiasis, intestinal worms, elephantiasis or lymphatic filariasis and blinding trachoma.

“These treatments have reduced NTDs burden by over 80% across the country, leading close to elimination of these. The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education is part of the NTDs elimination stakeholders and has contributed immensely in this agenda of elimination,” Mujiri said.

“Of note, baselines surveys done showed that 56 out of 63 districts are endemic to Bilharzia and intestinal worms, and after treatments the burden has been reduced by 80%.

“Other activities needed for NTDs elimination is strengthening Safe water and hygiene, health education among populations and good agricultural practices.”

The Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) said there shold be renewed focus on eliminating bilharzia and other NTDs through awareness campaigns.

“There is a need to carry out health education and community awareness campaigns on NTDs, especially on the common conditions such as bilharzia that is still prevalent among school children,” CWGH executive director Itai Rusike told NewsDay.

Bilharzia, sometimes known as snail fever or schischosomiasis, is caused by waterborne snails carrying parasites that penetrate the skin and can cause distended bellies, malnutrition, and if untreated, can damage women’s reproductive organs, tripling the risk of HIV.

Source: Local Govt director, developer in land scam -Newsday Zimbabwe

The director State land in the Local Government and Public Works ministry, Mlindeli Sayi, appeared in court yesterday for allegedly transferring a residential stand that had been paid for to another client.

Sayi, who is jointly charged with Arosume Property Developers, had filed a notice challenging their placement on remand, saying the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) had no authority to interfere on civil agreements.

The parties appeared before magistrate Stanford Mambanje, who granted them free bail and postponed the matter to next Thursday.

According to the State, on June 7, 2007, the Local Government, Public Works and Urban Development ministry, Sally Mugabe Housing Co-operative and Arosume entered into a tripartite partnership agreement for the development of 154 residential stands in Carrick Creagh.

According to the agreement, the ministry had the role of facilitating title survey, issuing of title deeds and to assist the developer in obtaining access to the necessary infrastructure facilities and utilities.

It is alleged in 2006, the complainant, Absolom Muchandiona, applied for a residential stand through the ministry and in May 2008, was allocated Stand No 74 Carrick Creagh, Borrowdale, Harare, measuring 7 010 square metres.

On the same date, he signed a lease agreement and made an initial payment. He later paid all the required development fees.

On May 31, 2021, Sayi connived with Arosume and tried to transfer the stand to one Abraham Murwira alleging that Muchandiona owed US$236 633,46 in outstanding development fees.

The accused parties are arguing that Zacc failed to investigate how the complainant, a private person, was allocated the stand reserved for civil servants.

Source: Our investment puts Zim on global map: Chinese firm -Newsday Zimbabwe

INTERNATIONAL lithium miner, Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt says its investment in Zimbabwe has put the southern African country on the global map of renewable energy and technology value chains.

The Chinese firm acquired the Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe (PLZ) asset in 2021 for about US$378 million.

It then began building one of the world’s most sophisticated plants for the processing of hard rock lithium mineral resource.

The plant was completed in January this year.

“Our investment in Zimbabwe thrusts the country on the global map of renewable energy and technology value chains,” PLZ chairperson George Fang said in a speech to mark the company’s first anniversary yesterday.

“As a member of the global Huayou family, we are keenly aware of our mission of becoming a market leader and fit within the overall philosophy and ethic of the company.”

Huayou was founded in 2002 and over the past two decades, the company has become a multinational corporation with a revenue base of more than US$48 billion and market value of more than US$100 billion, ranking among the top 500 enterprises in China.

It consists of an integrated industrial structure comprising resource, smelting, material recycling and constructed an operation of overseas resources, domestic and global manufacturing.

The company has become a leading enterprise in the global cobalt industry and new energy lithium ore industry.

“Our operation here makes us part of this global matrix. We are happy that as Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe we carry the spirit and values of Huayou,” George said.

He added that their “modest investment” would help government and the people of Zimbabwe to realise their development aspirations.

“As an investor and corporate citizen, we are ready to join hands with you all in building this great country for the benefit of its wonderful people and posterity.

“Finally, we are glad to announce that our celebration of this one-year milestone coincides with the conclusion of construction work of the plant, and we are ready for production. We look forward to the commissioning of our plant in due course and officially commence the task of production.”

The Huayou boss said their project employed about 1 000 people during the construction stage, and was set to employ hundreds more when production went full scale.

PLZ general manager Henry Zhu said even though the company was ready to commence operations, they were worried about the international market prices of lithium which have gone down significantly in the last few months.

“Work is being done on the ground for the company to start exporting products in the near future,” he said.

Source: Former RBZ economist wins High Court appeal –Newsday Zimbabwe

FORMER Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) senior economist, Philton Makena has won a High Court appeal where he was challenging his suspension on charges of leaking the apex bank’s de-dollarisation strategy.

Makena was suspended in 2021.

The document indicated that RBZ was planning on a roadmap to phase out the use of the United States dollar over five years.

In 2022, a Harare magistrate ordered him to perform 240 hours of community service after being found guilty of leaking the document to unauthorised persons.

He appealed the sentence at the High Court.

High Court judges Justices Pisirai Kwenda and Benjamin Chikowero then ruled in his favour.

In his appeal, Makena, through his lawyers, argued that the State had failed to prove that he was guilty.

Makena also argued that he could not be charged for sharing a document which was in the public domain.

 “It also logically follows that when information is already in the public domain, section 60 of the Act does not apply because the information would have ceased to be confidential or secret already,” he submitted.

“To extend or stretch the import of section 60 to information which is already in the public domain will be an interpretation which is grossly unreasonable within the import of section 38 (1) (a) of the High Court Act and will also be contrary to the presumption that the legislature never intended an unreasonable result.

“This is particularly so because when information is in the public domain, the bank no longer has control on it and the purpose to have such information a secret would have ceased or been defeated.”

Source: Cabinet approves lithium ore policy –Newsday Zimbabwe

Monica Mutsvangwa

CABINET has approved the lithium ore policy as a way of fostering the country’s beneficiation capacity and maximising earnings from the strategic mineral.

Speaking during a post-Cabinet briefing on Wednesday, Information minister Monica Mutsvangwa said a statutory instrument (SI) would be issued to give legal effect to the policy.

The SI will highlight that any individual or entity owning a lithium concession can mine lithium ores for either processing at its own approved processing plant (APP), or for sale to those with APPs locally.

Mutsvangwa also indicated that any individual and/or entity wishing to process lithium ores would be required to construct an APP locally.

Movement permits for lithium ores will only be issued where such ores are destined for a local APP.

“Lithium ores can only be stored at the mining site where such ores were mined, or at an approved local processing plant; an entity will require a lithium ore purchase licence to buy ores from miners. A local approved processing plant will be a condition for obtaining the lithium ore purchase licence,” Mutsvangwa said.

All players in the lithium sector, whether miners or holders of APPs, shall submit a summary of monthly reconciliations of ore movements to the Mines ministry.

For any material to qualify as a concentrate for approval for export, it shall meet the minimum set technical specifications and the minimum selling price as set by the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe on a regular basis.

Government declared that lithium-bearing ores could only be exported with a formal authorisation from the Mines and Mining Development minister on December 20, 2022.

The clause permitted free movement of rocks intended for international assay of lithium ore, the market worth of which would have been established by reference to a credible metals exchange.

Exporting raw lithium is prohibited in order to promote investment in regional processing plants.

Zimbabwe is one of two emerging lithium producers on the global market.

Fitch Solutions, an American financial services company, in September 2022, predicted that output would double between 2022 and 2031.

Due to the mineral’s importance as a crucial component in EV batteries at a time when EV sales throughout the world are surging, interest in lithium has increased.

Leading lithium miners in Zimbabwe are Chinese firms Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, Sinomine Resource Group, and Chengxin Lithium Group, whose combined investment is over US$600 million.

According to statistics, Zimbabwe produced 1 200 tonnes of lithium in 2021, making it the world’s sixth-largest miner after Brazil, which produced 1 900 tonnes.

The other biggest producers are Argentina (6 200 tonnes), China (14 000 tonnes), Chile (26 000 tonnes), and Australia (55 000 tonnes).