Zim News Blog -NEWS NETWORK

Source: Dlamini-Zuma talks up Zim’s economic prospects | Sunday Mail (Top Stories)

Victoria Ruzvidzo in DURBAN, South Africa

Former African Union (AU) Commission chairperson and South Africa’s Minister in the Presidency Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has expressed confidence that Zimbabwe will soon turn the tide and become the regional powerhouse it has always been.

In an interview on the sidelines of the Forbes Woman Africa — Leading Women Summit here on Friday, Dr Dlamini-Zuma said Zimbabwe was richly endowed with human and natural resources which could be leveraged to transform the economy, adding Government efforts would soon bear fruit.

“The Zimbabweans have certain advantages. They are educated and the quality of the education is excellent. Zimbabwe has all sorts of minerals, so if you put all these together — the skills and the mineral resources — you have a good combination to revive the economy.

“Zimbabwe will certainly turn the corner soon,” she said.

Dr Dlamini-Zuma said it was critical that infrastructure such as roads and energy be revamped to allow for a more robust transformation process.

It was also important that Zimbabweans work together in rebuilding the country.

Her voice adds to those that have registered a vote of confidence to the recovery and  growth trajectory initiated by President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his team under the Transitional Stabilisation Programme (TSP) launched last year.

The country endeavours to become an upper middle-income economy by 2030.

“Zimbabweans are a resilient people. The country will be a big contributor to Sadc. The people of Zimbabwe all need to work together to ensure that they transform their country,” she said.

Her sentiments also come ahead of the Zimbabwe-South Africa Bi-National Council Summit on Tuesday, during which the two countries will sign new agreements and review existing ones to take their relationship to a new level.

Preparatory meetings are already underway.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected in the country tomorrow.

South Africa is Zimbabwe’s largest trading partner.

Dr Dlamini-Zuma said Zimbabwean women, who make up 52 percent of the population, had a critical role to play in restoring the economy.

“Zimbabwean women are educated, strong and determined. They must just make sure that the strength is utilised for their benefit and that of their families and country.

“Women, where they participate, they multi-task,  in corporates . . . at the top. They become very competitive. They use 70 percent of their income for family as opposed to men who use just 30 percent of theirs for family.”

Zimbabwean women and those in other developing countries have rescued their families and countries in times of great need by engaging in projects such as cross-border trading.

Women’s entrepreneurial skills have been identified as critical to Zimbabwe’s growth and development.

The African Union Avenue 2063 – launched under the leadership Dr Dlamini-Zuma — also emphasises the role of women in Africa’s socio-economic development.

Dr Dlamini-Zuma, who made a strong showing in contesting for the ANC presidency, said it was also critical for African women to participate in politics to foster development.

“It’s important that women participate meaningfully in the politics of their respective countries. They need to be encouraged and it must be the responsibility not just of women alone, but men too, to encourage the women.

“We should not just be voters but we must vote and be voted into power too.”

The Forbes Woman Africa-Leading Women Summit ended here on Friday with renewed hope and commitment that African women would lead in developing new ways of creating wealth.

About 500 women leaders, scientists, chief executive officers, medical doctors, women from the academia, the media and many others from across the continent convened in South Africa’s third-largest city.

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Source: Sweeping constitutional reforms begin | Sunday Mail

Lincoln Towindo

A team of senior Government officials has been tasked to work on an omnibus Constitutional Amendment Bill that will deepen civil liberties, individual rights, scrap the death penalty, extend the women’s quota system and entrench political and electoral reforms.

In crafting the political and electoral reforms, the team, which is working under the aegis of the Inter-Ministerial Taskforce set up last week, will feed off from recommendations made by the various election observer missions during last year’s harmonised elections, the Motlanthe post-election violence report and input to be generated from the ongoing inter-party dialogue.

Justice Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi told The Sunday Mail last week that the envisaged Bill will be comprehensive as it will also cover devolution and the political rights of chiefs.

“I chair a committee on Political and Electoral Legislative reforms and we are working to come up with a Constitutional Amendment Bill that takes care of all the constitutional amendments that we might want to do,” said Minister Ziyambi.

“This involves issues to do with devolution, where we have this idea of MPs not sitting in Provincial Councils.

“We are also looking at issues to deal with the idea of extending the women’s quota in Parliament.

“We will also initiate debate around the death penalty, and we will also initiate debate on political rights of traditional chiefs.

“We have conflicting provisions, where Section 67 gives everyone political rights but we also have another provision which says chiefs should be apolitical; we will look at ways of harmonising this.

“We will definitely have to amend the Constitutional, but we want to bring all the provisions under one Bill,” he said.

Minister Ziyambi, who chairs the taskforce, is deputised by Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Dr Sibusiso Moyo.

The high-level team will also fast-track legislation will enhance the ease of doing business and repeal laws that are inconsistent with the Constitution or previous court judges.

Already, Cabinet has approved the repeal of the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) and the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA).

The repeal of AIPPA will give rise to three legal instruments — the Access to Information Bill, the Zimbabwe Media Commission Bill and the Protection of Personal Information/Data Protection Bill.

Similarly, the Maintenance of Peace and Order Bill will substitute POSA.

Last month, political parties that fielded Presidential candidates during the July 30 harmonised elections convened to establish a framework for inter-party dialogue, which platform will also be used as a conduit for recommending political and electoral reforms.

Interestingly, the MDC-Alliance, which has been clamouring for political reforms, has elected not to participate in the dialogue, while four parties – the Alliance of People’s Agenda, United Democratic Alliance, Build Zimbabwe Alliance and People’s Progressive Party of Zimbabwe – have since dropped out.

Minister Ziyambi also said the team is not prioritising the creation of a formal “Office for the Leader of the Opposition”, but will only consider it when it is recommended.

“We have not discussed that as a committee.

“When our working-party committee has done its job, it recommends that it be created at that stage; that is when we will look into that.

“It is something that we have not been pushing in earnest and if it comes up, it will need an amendment to the Constitution, but at the moment, we are still discussing.”

Government, he said, is lagging behind the legislative schedule owing to delays in confirmation of election results.

After the July 30 harmonised elections, the Constitutional Court made a ruling dismissing the election petition made by the MDC-Alliance on August 24.

Last year, President Mnangagwa laid out the legislative agenda that contains at least 27 Bills that are expected to be brought before the Ninth Parliament.

Ten Bills have either been approved by Cabinet or have since been tabled before the august House.

Added Ziyambi: “We have to finish the alignment process this year, so the flurry (of Bills being gazetted) is a result of the fact that we have agreed to finalise the remaining pieces that need to be aligned.

“Also because of our political and economic agenda in terms of the TSP (Transitional Stabilisation Programme) and Vision 2030, if we don’t act fast, it means our Agenda 2030 and TSP will be derailed.

“So we need these pieces of legislation to be done expeditiously in order to realise our goal. . .

“We are really under pressure to make sure that all the legislation to do with the ease of doing business to support our TSP and Vision 2030 is in place much earlier.”

Other members of the taskforce include Ministers Monica Mutsvangwa (Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services), Professor Mthuli Ncube (Finance and Economic Development), Cain Mathema (Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage), Mangaliso Ndlovu (Industry and Commerce), Owen Ncube (Minister of State for Security in the President’s Office) and Attorney-General Mr Prince Machaya.

 

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Source: Investors pour US$400 million into CSC | Sunday Mail (Top Stories)

Dumisani Nsingo
Bulawayo Bureau

The Cold Storage Company (CSC) has secured a US$400 million lifeline in yet another milestone in the Second Republic’s bid to revive companies that had become dormant in the last two decades.

The new investor, Boustead Beef Zimbabwe, has also invested in state-of-the-art equipment as part of efforts to bring the meat processor and marketer back to its feet.

Last year, President Emmerson Mnangagwa toured CSC Masvingo where he underscored his administration’s determination to revive the company.

Boustead Beef Zimbabwe managing director Mr Nick Havercroft said his company had entered into an agreement with the Government to invest into CSC.

He said machinery worth at least US$16 million had also been procured and awaited delivery to CSC’s headquarters in Bulawayo.

The company is also repairing infrastructure at CSC’s ranches.

Mr Havercroft said the US$400 million would be spread over the next five years.

“Over the first five years, we were (initially) focused on US$130 million, but we have secured more markets and we are (now) focusing way over US$400 million over the next five years, a lot of that is obviously for securing the beef,” he said.

“We have good finance, very good off-takes for the beef export orders. Our focus is going to be higher than what we had actually planned, so our investment is going to be bigger than what we had anticipated.”

Boasted Beef Zimbabwe is being financed by various equity investors from the United Kingdom, United States, Switzerland, Hong Kong and Australia.

Mr Havercroft said the company would also install US$3 million state-of-the-art worth of technological equipment.

CSC’s Bulawayo complex is the largest meat-slaughtering facility in Africa and only trails Botswana Meat Commission in terms of the latest technologies.

The company plans to purchase a new fleet of trucks for the business.

CSC, Mr Havercroft said, will run all branches and abattoirs in Chinhoyi, Marondera and Masvingo including iother divisions such as the beef canning factory, leather processing plant and Wet Blue Industries.

The company will takeover CSC’s legacy debt.

“The deal was we will take over the debt, which we have done and we are now in the process of beginning to contact those creditors and we have offered them a repayment schedule for between now and the next four years,” he said.

The meat processor’s debt is believed to be close to $100 million.

Mr Havercroft predicted that CSC would swing into profits within the next 18 months.

Speaking after a tour of the CSC’s complex in Bulawayo last week, CSC director of marketing Mr Isaiah Machingura confirmed that the investor had already procured part of the machinery for refurbishing the factory.

He said the investor has started paying full salaries to employees since February.

“Wages are being paid as of February onwards and there won’t be any stopover. More people are going to be employed for all the CSC branches,” said Mr Machingura.

“In terms of operations, we will be talking of slaughtering about 500 to 600 animals a day. It really needs a command of labour.

“We are talking of a lot of by-products that are going to be produce here; for instance, we have tallow, which will benefit local soap manufacturers instead of them importing,” he said.

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Source: IMF hails Zim’s monetary framework | Sunday Mail

Kuda Bwititi
Chief Reporter

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has backed Zimbabwe’s recent monetary policy, describing the framework as a ‘step in the right direction’.

The policy measures announced by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), last month created an interbank exchange rate determinable by market forces of demand and supply of foreign currency and local RTGS dollars.

Addressing the media at an international press briefing last week, IMF spokesperson Mr Gerry Rice said the global financier’s preliminary assessment of Zimbabwe’s monetary policy statement was that Harare had struck the rights chords.

“Our initial evaluation of that which has been announced by the Zimbabwean authorities recently is that it’s a step in the right direction to address distortions.

“Its success, of course, the currency reforms’ success, will depend on the implementation of an effective overall monetary policy framework supported by market-determined interest and exchange rates, together with prudent fiscal policies.”

Mr Rice said the IMF was “engaged with them (Zimbabwe Government) on how we can help them as much as possible.” With regard to the Transitional Stabilisation Programme (TSP), which is Government blueprint for economic reform, Mr Rice the IMF was fully behind the TSP.

“We continue to have discussions with the authorities to assist them in implementing the economic reforms contained in their transitional stabilization program, which… is a wide ranging stabilization and reform program aimed at addressing what is clearly a deep macroeconomic imbalance challenge, as well as a broader set of social and economic challenges.

“We are engaged. The discussions are certainly continuing.”

Mr Rice said while the IMF currently did not have a financing programme for Zimbabwe, it was “looking to be as supportive as it can” to the country.

The IMF spokesperson also revealed that Finance Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube, who was in the United States last week met IMF managing head Christine Lagarde and briefed her on Zimbabwe’s ongoing economic reforms.

Zimbabwe cleared its arrears with the IMF in October 2016, after paying US$108 million.

The Southern African country had been in arrears with the IMF since 2001.

The country however does not qualify for financial programme from the IMF owing to the pari-passu rule which requires that Zimbabwe to settle its commitments with other global financiers such as the World Bank and the African Development Bank.

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THE FAMILY of a man, who was previously reported to have died from an alcohol binge, is seeking justice, as it has emerged that he could have been murdered under unclear circumstances. Police have since launched an investigation into the case, where they say Zulu Maseko was allegedly killed in cold blood. In a statement, […]