Zim News Blog -NEWS NETWORK

Source: What new Monetary Policy Statement means to average Zimbabwean | Herald (Opinion)

Prof Mthuli Ncube Path to Prosperity
As we work to put Zimbabwe’s economy back on its feet, recovery is the word.

The Zimbabwean financial situation, its industry, its businesses, have all been in a state of stagnation for far too long.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL MONETARY POLICY  STATEMENT 

Recent moves have been jolting to some, but this jump-start treatment is precisely what is needed for this patient to recover, to put this stagnation behind us.

Therefore, last week’s moves should be seen in this light.

The Monetary Policy Statement (MPS), which reverberated around the world, seeks to remove the various distortions which had been preventing efficient functioning of the foreign exchange market, with dangerous consequent distortions on the rest of the economy.

In any basic economy, exchange rates must be formalised and transparent.

The people of Zimbabwe deserve to know how much their savings are worth; how much their pensions are worth; and when and how they can transfer and exchange currency.

The introduction of the RTGS dollar will go a long way to help remove the multiple pricing system which had become prevalent in the economy.

Having goods and services being priced in bond, RTGS and USD is inefficient, confusing, and is not a long-term answer to our conundrum.

The previous situation had led to an unregulated and out of control black market.

This illegal alternative market was leading to runaway exchange rate premiums of as high as US$1:4 and even higher in some cases, which in turn pushed up prices beyond the reach of the majority.

This situation was unsustainable. We have a duty to the people of Zimbabwe.

We must commit to provide price stability and we must continue to keep inflation under control.

As a result of the unregulated black market trading, year-on-year inflation had soared to 57 percent by January 2019, thereby undermining overall confidence in the economy.

We had to step in. As I noted in last week’s essay “Taking the air out of inflation”, responsible economic measures have brought month-on-month inflation under control.

The new MPS now sets a robust market-based framework for determination of the exchange rate, that way facilitating financial sector stability, containing of inflationary pressures and building of confidence. And confidence is good for business.

Confidence brings in investors, and investors bring in jobs!

The new policy finally liberalises the country’s foreign currency market, and discards the fixed 1:1 exchange rate peg between the US$ and the bond note, which was at the centre of various foreign exchange price distortions.

This was not an easy decision to make, but the market demanded stability. But the 1:1 exchange rate was prejudicing exporters and subsidising importers. It was fuelling distortions in the economy and hurting export competitiveness.

The new policy specifically introduces the RTGS dollar, which includes electronic balances in banks and mobile platforms, bond notes and coins.

The RTGS dollar, therefore, becomes a new reference for the purposes of pricing of goods and services and accounting; a benchmark for all.

Crucially for all, under the same arrangement, the FCA Nostro accounts introduced in October 2018 are ring-fenced and secured. So how does it all work? In order to facilitate trading on a willing buyer, willing seller basis, the policy established an Inter-Bank Foreign Currency Market, which comprises banks and bureaux de change, providing a broad-based formal platform for efficient foreign currency trading within the economy.

It sounds complicated, but it is rather simple. Zimbabwe will have a regulated, transparent, shared platform; a foreign currency market.

We have made a good start. Implementation of the new MPs is already underway, giving rise to a new reference exchange rate of US$1:2,5 RTGS dollars.

This implies the maintenance of prevailing prices, but maintains the scope for price reductions, especially as prices were previously calculated at the alternative market exchange rates of around US$1:4.

As we move forward, crucially, the RBZ will continue to strengthen the above arrangement by focusing on containing money supply growth, which also supports the fiscal measures contained in the 2019 Budget on macro-fiscal stabilisation, including inflation containment.

In conclusion, this is about allowing the market to work for all.

This is about liberalisation and transparency. This is about allowing the recovery to take place and enabling industry to thrive.

Since the decision, we have seen relative stability prevailing in the alternative exchange rate market.

With the introduction of the free market exchange of forex, the parallel market premiums are expected to shrink significantly.

What does this mean for the average Zimbabwean?

First, stability in the economy. Second, this development is expected to translate into availability of foreign currency, and its efficient allocation to support productive sectors. And finally, with stability and clarity for businesses and industry, combined with responsible economic and fiscal discipline from Government; investors will return. And with investors, comes jobs and opportunities.

The road to recovery is not a straight path. There are sharp turns, bridges, and obstacles on the way.

But it is these big decisions which will help put Zimbabwe’s economy firmly back on its feet.

The writer is the Minister of Finance and Economic Development. He writes weekly for The Herald on Thursday

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Source: GMB bosses face fresh fraud charges – NewsDay Zimbabwe February 28, 2019

By Desmond Chingarande

Three top Grain Marketing Board (GMB) officials, who allegedly defrauded the parastatal of $1 million, were yesterday advised that they will be charged with eight more counts of money laundering.

Korbs Kobie Mutandiro, Basilio Sandamu and Taona Munzvandi, who appeared before Harare magistrate Lucy Mungwari, were told by the State that police officers could charge them anytime soon.

However, prosecutor Michael Reza unsuccessfully applied for postponement of the trial to facilitate the recording of the accused persons’ statements, but magistrate Mungwari ruled that the State should have charged the trio within 90 days and ordered the trial to proceed.

The trio, who had their application for exception to the charges dismissed, are accused of duping their employer of over $1 million in a botched land deal.

“The accused will in fact be charged with eight more money laundering counts. The police are hunting them down and the charges the State intends to prefer against them link with the current charges. We are trying to avoid unnecessary splitting of charges,” Reza said.

But the defence, represented by Obey Shava, declined prosecution saying it was wrong to charge them as individuals.

The magistrate then dismissed Reza’s application and ordered that the trial should start right away.

“The accused’s defence outline is already before the court. Besides that, the State was given a longer remand of 90 days. The arrest should have been done within those 90 days. Postponing this case will not cure the State’s wishes,” Mungwari said.

It is the State’s case that in the late 1990s, government embarked on the land reform programme which involved compulsory acquisition of land for redistribution.

In terms of the Land Acquisition Act Chapter 20:10 and through an extraordinary Government Gazette general notice 591 of 2001, a notice was given to acquire Romany Farm under deed of transfer number 5421.

It was registered under Romany Farm (Pvt) Ltd measuring 197,37 hectares. The court heard that on April 30, 2013, Munzvandi, in connivance with Mutandiro and Sandamu, hatched a plan to defraud the GMB Pension Fund.

It is alleged that Munzvandi and Mutandiro entered into an agreement-of-sale of the said farm to the GMB Pension Fund for $2,5 million knowing that the farm had been acquired by the State.

Acting on the misrepresentation, the GMB Pension Fund allegedly transferred $1 040 000 into Organs Resources (Pvt) Ltd’s Standard Chartered Bank corporate account where Mutandiro is the director and signatory to the bank account.

Nothing was recovered.

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Source: Man breaks into Zimra server, steals $2,3m – NewsDay Zimbabwe February 28, 2019

BY DESMOND CHINGARANDE

A 34-YEAR-OLD unemployed man yesterday appeared at the Harare Magistrates Court charged with unauthorised access to a computer linked to the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) Paynet server where he allegedly paid himself $2 385 073, through a fraudulently registered company.

Manase Manjovha was not asked to plead when he appeared before magistrate Rumbidzai Mugwagwa, who remanded him to today for bail application.

The complainant, Zimra was represented by its information communication technology security manager Ebrahim Makunganya.

The State alleges that sometime in April last year, Manjovha and an accomplice Stephen Moreka, who has since been arrested, opened three bank accounts with POSB Bank in the name of Talent Mandebvu 4 of Mandebvu village, Chief Mashayamombe, Mhondoro.

The duo also allegedly opened two corporate bank accounts in the name of bogus companies called Limpstone Investments and Del Computers (Private) Limited.

It is alleged on May 4 last year, Manjovha, working in connivance with Moreka, remotely accessed the Zimra Paynet server and uploaded three files into the paynet system with a total value of $2 385 073,20 without authority and then cleared all server logs to cover the trail.

After accessing the Zimra server, they allegedly paid out $2 385 073, 20 to the accounts.

Manjovha is also facing another charge of acquiring a fake birth certificate. It is alleged that on January 2 this year, Manjovha went to the United States Embassy while misrepresenting as Sean Chiyangwa born on April 22, 1985 and applied for a visa to the US.

The State alleges that upon verifying the particulars he had tendered, it was established that Manjovha had fraudulently acquired a birth certificate, which he used to obtain the passport in the name of Sean Chiyangwa and was red-flagged on the Interpol wanted list. He was arrested on February 25.

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Source: Zim in fresh global labour cross-hairs | Newsday (News)

BY RICHARD CHIDZA

PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government, desperate for international respite regarding the country’s image and human rights record, was yesterday thrust into the global limelight after a visiting top international labour unionist was arrested before being released several hours later.

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) reacted angrily to attempts by the government to deport International Trade Union Confederation (ITU)-Africa secretary-general Kwasi Adu Amankwa, who was dragged from his hotel room yesterday morning.

Information ministry secretary Ndavaningi Mangwana said authorities had been carrying out verifications before Amankwa was released.

“We have released him. Government was doing verification and it’s important for national security,” Mangwana said.
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights member, Obey Shava also confirmed that Amankwa had been released.

“He has been released and I am with him now. We, however, have gone ahead and filed a chamber application seeking an order to have his detention declared unlawful,” Shava said.

“We also want to set the record straight and make sure that if ever the ZCTU invites other trade unionists, they will not be treated in this manner.”
Shava said no reason had been given for Amankwa’s arrest.

Amankwa was in the country for an international solidarity meeting with the ZCTU, whose leader, Peter Mutasa said arrangements had been made for the unionist to meet Labour ministry officials.

“His papers are in order and we had actually made arrangements for him to meet government officials. It seems there was an order to deport him from somewhere after having allowed him in,” Mutasa said.

The ZCTU president, who is currently facing treason charges over the January violent protests that left 17 people dead, reportedly at the hands of the army, warned that human rights activism in Zimbabwe was under siege.

“We are in trouble. The regime has gone back to default settings. This means one thing. Nothing has changed since (former President Robert) Mugabe. We had hoped things have changed, but alas, we were wrong,” Mutasa told NewsDay. Earlier in the day, Mangwana defended the move, arguing that Zimbabwe had a right to deport elements seen to pose a national security threat.

Amankwa was reportedly part of a three-member ITUC fact-finding delegation that was set to have first-hand information of what transpired in January.

According to the ZCTU boss, government had also denied visa to ITUC deputy secretary-general Mamadou Diallo, who was also due to travel from Brussels to Harare.

The post Zim in fresh global labour cross-hairs appeared first on NewsDay Zimbabwe.

The post Zim in fresh global labour cross-hairs appeared first on Zimbabwe Situation.

Source: Zim's prophets under spotlight | Daily News

HARARE – The shocking video of a popular South African pastor, Alph Lukau, ostensibly bringing a “dead” Zimbabwean man back to life during a church service in Johannesburg, has reignited intense debate about the country’s ubiquitous charismatic preachers and self-styled prophets, the Daily News can report.

During the service — as recorded in the sickening video which has gone viral around the world on social media — the coffin of the supposedly dead man’s body is seen being removed from the hearse as hordes of Lukau’s adoring followers gather around it.

A woman who claims to be the “dead” man’s landlady then tells Lukau, of Alleluia Ministries, that the “deceased” got sick and started coughing on Friday last week, which prompted her and others to take him to the hospital.

“That is where he died in my hands,” the supposed landlady gushes — at which point Lukau begins to pray for the body, which was said to have come straight from the mortuary, and prompting the “dead man” to sit up in the coffin with his mouth and eyes wide open.

This dreadful story comes after another popular and self-proclaimed prophet, Shepherd Bushiri, was recently arrested by South African police on serious charges of fraud and contravening Pretoria’s Prevention of Organised Crime Act.

In addition, many of Bushiri’s congregants now claim that they handed over to him millions of rands after the “prophet” promised them huge and fast returns on their hard-earned money through a “commodity investment opportunity” that failed dismally.

Emails and other documents in the possession of South African weekly newspaper, the City Press, show that investors were promised a 50 percent return within 30 banking days of placing their investments of between R100 000 and R1 million with the preacher.

Needless to say, the congregants are yet to receive a cent from the church, a year after Bushiri’s promises of mega returns on their cash.

“We have called, sent emails and SMSed the numbers they provided during the investment, but no one is responding. I went to their offices in Sandton, but they referred me to the church.

“At the church, no one knows who is responsible for handling our issues. They just act as if nothing has happened and this makes me sick. I am still repaying the loan I took for the investment and the interest, and I know many people who are going through the same problem,” one congregant complained bitterly at the weekend.

Although Lukau and his Alleluia Ministries have since tried to walk back on the resurrection story on the back of the scathing criticism that they received, analysts and leaders of mainstream churches who spoke to the Daily News yesterday said Zimbabweans also needed to be more careful when dealing with self-proclaimed prophets and other like-minded charlatans who were making a lucrative business out of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Lawyer and politician Obert Gutu said while the country’s Constitution allowed freedom of conscience among other freedoms, the proliferation of dubious churches led by so-called prophets called for a review of some enabling regulations.

“Section 60 of the Constitution guarantees freedom of conscience by stating that every person has the freedom to propagate and give expression to their thought, opinion, religion or belief — whether in public or in private, and whether alone or together with others.

“It would appear that this fundamental human right and liberty has been routinely abused by criminals masquerading as genuine pastors and prophets,” he said.

“The fact of the matter is that millions of unsuspecting and gullible people are being hoodwinked and swindled by these latter-day ‘prophets’ and crooks. Zimbabweans should be on the lookout for these crooks who masquerade as ‘prophets’ when in actual fact they are philanderers, murderers, pathological liars and in some cases, serial rapists.

“I strongly advocate for the regularisation of churches in tandem with the provisions of the supreme law of the land in order to protect innocent Zimbabweans from these marauding crooks and criminals,” Gutu added.

Zimbabwe Council of Churches secretary-general Kenneth Mtata said “there has been a rise in people given different titles in the past decade and who have redefined conventional Christians at a number of levels”.

“They claim to have special knowledge about God … because of the special insight allegedly given to them by God … and since they have some special knowledge, their followers must depend on them for decisions, be it in business, politics and family life.

“It is this group of people who have found a way of manipulating many people who are desperate … and have managed to tap into the African Traditional Religion where the understanding among Africans is that for someone to succeed there must be some supernatural influence from outside, and if someone is not succeeding it means that there is some negative supernatural forces that must be overcome,” Mtata said.

“So, there is an interesting syncretism that has developed in the last 15 or so years, and this kind of Christianity is the one we are seeing manifesting in different forms of chicanery and manipulation and the miracles that are purported to have been performed as we have seen. Regulating religion is very difficult especially if your Constitution allows the freedom of religion and worship, and so to put restrictions on religion will be against the Constitution.

“What could be put as a requirement is that all churches should affiliate to one of the mother bodies, so that there is mutual accountability. This is what I think could address the problem,” Mtata added.

Ilana van Wyk, a lecturer in Social Anthropology at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, said the prosperity gospel — as a religious movement — had exploded in popularity and prominence in Africa over the past two decades, despite stirring up controversy globally for more than 40 years.

“Today it’s the fastest growing religious movement in South Africa. While precise statistics are lacking, scholars agree that prosperity gospel followers rival, if not exceed, the numbers of so-called mainline churches,” she said.

Explaining the power and tenets of the prosperity gospel, Van Wyk said it typically viewed poverty and illness in terms of sins against God, specifically the withholding of tithes.

“It also ascribes such ‘bad luck’ to the work of demons engaged in a spiritual war against God’s kingdom. Converts typically renounce their past lives and their old churches. They embrace ‘spiritual technologies’ which include offerings in church, paying tithes, praying strongly and exorcising demons … that promise to secure miraculous health and wealth directly from God. They also follow preacher-prophets who they believe have special powers to fight against the ‘spirit of poverty’.

“Many believers are strengthened in this faith through the persistent testimonies of those who had been ‘blessed’ with jobs, houses, cars and healing in church. These testimonies are delivered from church pulpits and in person, and are endlessly repeated in church publications and on radio, television and the Internet,” Van Wyk said.

And contrary to false beliefs that such prophets and their churches attracted mostly poor people, Van Wyk’s research had showed that prosperity gospel preachers attracted people from all walks of life and a variety of educational backgrounds.

“These churches also count significant numbers of professionals, business people and increasingly politicians in their ranks. I often struggle to convince people that those who subscribe to this gospel are not simply credulous dupes,” she said.

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