Zim News Blog -NEWS NETWORK

Former Finance Minister Tendai Biti reacts to the new monetary policy announced by Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Dr John Mangudya.

Source: Former finance minister Tendai Biti reacts to new monetary policy – VIDEO – Nehanda TV

The post Former finance minister Tendai Biti reacts to new monetary policy – VIDEO  appeared first on Zimbabwe Situation.

A TOP prison officer who was fired in 2015 after allegedly calling then First Lady Grace Mugabe a dog, has lost an appeal against his dismissal at the High Court. Before the dismissal, Ruben Zimondi was a superintendent with the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) and officer-in-charge of Mutare Remand Prison. According to court […]

Source: Anti-corruption officials accused of theft | Newsday (News)

BY KENNETH NYANGANI

THREE Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) officials have been hauled before the courts on allegations of stealing cash and groceries belonging to a Mutare court official.

The trio, Tawanda Tandara (33), Pardon Chitembwe (42) and Farai Kambarami (32), who work as ZACC peace officers in Harare, appeared yesterday before Mutare magistrate Perseverance Makhala, who granted them $200 each and remanded them to March 6.

The complainant in the matter is Confidence Pasipatorwa (33), who is employed as an interpreter at Mutare Civil Court.

According to prosecutor Fletcher Karombe, the three accused persons approached the complainant at Bigbyte downtown shop on January 8, 2019 just after midnight.

Pasipatorwa was in the company of her brother Given, Tawanda Dongonda and an unidentified lady they had offered a lift to Dangamvura high-density suburb.

The three accused persons introduced themselves as officials from the anti-graft unit and they were on a mission to curb illegal smuggling of goods in Mutare.

Chitembwe allegedly asked Pasipatorwa to produce her declaration forms for the groceries they were off-loading and she complied.

The court heard that they then asked to see Given’s passport since he was the one who had brought the groceries from South Africa.

After opening the passport, Chitembwe came across R350, which he allegedly took away.

The accused persons then instructed the complainant to accompany them to Mutare Central Police Station saying they were under arrest for smuggling goods, and they complied.

The complainant entered into the accused persons’ vehicle along with Tandara and Kambarami, who was driving.

Chitembwe, Given, another unidentified lady and Tandara boarded a commuter omnibus, which was being driven by Tandara.

On their way to Mutare Central Police Station, Tandara asked for the complainant’s ID, who said she had left it at home.

Tandara then told Kambarami that they should go and collect it.

They went to Pasipatorwa’s home and on arrival, Tandara escorted her into her bedroom under the pretext that he wanted to check for other smuggled goods in the house, which he did and found nothing.

He, however, saw US$230 on top of a drawer and took it, claiming that she was illegally dealing in forex.

The accused then left the house and told the complainant to follow him outside.

When she followed him moments later, she found them gone.

Fortunately, the unidentified woman, who was in the commuter omnibus, had managed to scribble down the registration numbers of the accused persons’ vehicle before it disappeared.

She then handed the registration numbers to Pasipatorwa, who made a police report on January 10.

The accused persons were arrested on February 19.

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Source: Chamisa seeks meeting with Ramaphosa | Newsday (News)

BY RICHARD CHIDZA

OPPOSITION MDC leader Nelson Chamisa is reportedly seeking to meet South African President Cyril Ramaphosa when he arrives in Harare for a State visit on March 12, NewsDay has learnt.

MDC insiders said Chamisa, who late last year claimed he had written to Ramaphosa seeking his intervention in Harare’s developing political crisis, will take advantage of the South African leader’s impending State visit to “door-step him” into a meeting.

“He is working out a plan to approach Ramaphosa for a meeting. It’s highly unlikely because Ramaphosa is coming here to meet (President Emmerson) Mnangagwa in his capacity as leader of Zimbabwe and specifically for business. The other thing is Ramaphosa has already taken a position and it’s almost a waste of time to think he will shift,” a top MDC source said on condition of anonymity.

Ramaphosa’s International Relations minister Lindiwe Sisulu, in announcing the visit, said South Africa was demanding the unconditional removal of sanctions against Harare to “allow development and reforms”.

Sisulu was echoing Ramaphosa’s stance made at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, recently at which the South African leader said the world needed to give Mnangagwa’s administration a chance to implement its reforms and development agenda.

Chamisa’s spokesperson Nkululeko Sibanda seemed to confirm an attempt to talk to Ramaphosa will be made.

“President Chamisa has the utmost respect for His Excellency, The Right Honourable President Ramaphosa. He has communicated with regional leaders at every turn and will continue to take every opportunity to engage with the region and especially the South African President His Excellency Ramaphosa,” he said.

Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Khusela Diko was not available for comment.

South Africa’s ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mphakama Mbete, said he was not aware of Chamisa’s planned meeting with Ramaphosa.

“I have not been made aware of their (MDC) wish (to meet Ramaphosa). I can’t speak on behalf of my President regarding this issue,” he said.

Chamisa, Sibanda added, is concerned about the political, economic and social implosion that is worsening in the country, “and hopes that regional engagement would concentrate efforts on solving the problems that are within Zimbabwe’s control”.

“We surely can rebuild our country by dealing with the scourge of corruption, the inhumanity of human rights abuses, the indignity of a militarised State and the indecency of electoral impropriety,” the opposition leader’s spokesperson said.

“The president (Chamisa) will, with due respect, not engage in any diplomatic work using public media. If there are or were to be any communication with President Ramaphosa on his visit to Zimbabwe, the publicisation of the same would be subject to diplomatic protocols.

“President Chamisa always wants to balance public interest and support the work of the media with the need to respect diplomacy.”

Chamisa late last month rejected Mnangagwa’s call for a meeting to discuss the framework for possible dialogue among political actors in the country, instead demanding the release of activists arrested following deadly protests in January.

He has also demanded a neutral convener for such an indaba.

Other losing presidential candidates attended Mnangagwa’s meeting.

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Source: Banking sector stable, but assets quality deteriorates – NewsDay Zimbabwe February 22, 2019

BY MISHMA CHAKANYUKA

ZIMBABWE’S banking sector remained generally stable and adequately capitalised during the year ended December 2018, but the quality of assets deteriorated as reflected by the increase in the average non-performing loans (NPLs) to total loans ratio, the central bank has revealed.

The country has 19 banking institutions, which include commercial banks, building societies and a savings bank.

Presenting the Monetary Policy Statement on Wednesday, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mangudya said the banking sector’s aggregate core capital had increased by 15,32% to $1,58 billion as at December 31, 2018.

“The banking sector remained adequately capitalised, with average tier one and capital adequacy ratios of 23,84% and 30,27%, respectively,” he said.

Profitability across the sector increased from $241,94 million in the prior year to $389,85 million for the year ended December 2018.

Total loans and advances increased by 11,05% from $3,8 billion as at December 31, 2017 to $4,22 billion.

Bank asset quality, however, deteriorated during the period under review, as the sector experienced an increase in the average NPLs to total loans ratio from 5% in the prior year to 8,39% in 2018.

“The increase in NPLs is largely a reflection of forward-looking credit risk management tools adopted by banks in line with the IFRS [International Financial Reporting Standards] 9 accounting standards, resulting in improvement of the banks’ risk controls and provisions coverage,” Mangudya said.

Total banking deposits increased to $10,32 billion from $8,48 billion in the comparative year.

But the loans to deposit ratio decreased from 44,81% to 40,1% over the year ended December 31, 2018, reflecting low lending levels.

Mangudya said the $10,3 billion deposits are constituted of $2,5 Treasury Bills, $2,5 billion in savings bonds, $3,8 billion loans and advances leaving at least $2 billion RTGS in circulation.

The number of corporate RTGS foreign currency account (FCA) depositors was 214 094 holding $8,67 billion, while individual RTGS FCA depositors was 3,24 million holding $894,54 million.

Of the 3,24 million individual depositors, 95,98% held deposit balances of less than $1 000 each, with an average balance of $80, accounting for a total $213,42 million.

As at December 31, 2018, total nostro FCA deposits amounted to $673,81 million, representing 6,53% of total deposits.

The nostro FCA deposits are dominated by corporate deposits, which amount to $654,77 million and represent 97,17% of total nostro FCA deposits.

Demand deposits largely funded the sector, accounting for 64,94% of total deposits as at December 31, 2018.

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