Zim News Blog -NEWS NETWORK

EFF President, Julius Malema spoke on the recent Xenophobia attacks in South Africa during his address at an EFF rally in Eastern Cape today. Said Malema, We are all Africans. We must love one another. Showing love to those who come from Mozambique, showing love to those who come from Guinea, from Egypt, from Nigeria […]

Source: Call to rebuild Idai-hit businesses | Herald (Top Stories)

Ellen Chasokela Herald Reporter
Industry and Commerce Minister Mangaliso Ndlovu has urged Government and the private sector to work together and rehabilitate businesses that were destroyed by Cyclone Idai in Manicaland. The cyclone destroyed infrastructure, livelihoods, livestock, forestry and wildlife. In most areas, repairs and maintenance are no longer possible and there is need for complete reconstruction.

A management team comprising experts to oversee the reconstruction of Chimanimani and other affected areas is being put in place.

“The reality is that most business centres were washed away by Cyclone Idai and people’s sources of income were wiped away in the process,” said Minister Ndlovu. “While the exercise to assess the actual loss is in process, I believe there is need for us all  —Government and the private sector — to come together and help to rebuild businesses in the affected areas, so that livelihoods are speedily restored.”

Minister Ndlovu said it was important to continue upholding business ethics in times of disaster.

“We unfortunately need to make this call against the tendency by some insensitive people among us who want to profiteer at the expense of the very people that we are setting out to serve and save,” he said.

“Let me also highlight that Government, in conjunction with development partners, the corporate world, churches and individuals, has worked tirelessly to restore normalcy in the affected areas.

“Government has itself availed funding in excess of RTGS$100 million in addition to other interventions, and this should come in handy in rehabilitation work.

“As you may be well aware, the call to help is ongoing and assistance is still required because of the magnitude of the devastation. But I wish, on behalf of Government, to thank all those who have made contributions towards helping our people.”

Minister Ndlovu said Cyclone Idai provided concrete evidence that climate change and its effects were real.

“While the cyclone’s movements were monitored and experts advised of its impending drift into Zimbabwe, we were nevertheless caught not adequately prepared for the kind of magnitude we experienced,” he said.

“Coming on the back of the El Nino weather phenomenon and the resultant poor harvests that it caused this agricultural season, this presented us with added challenges which will affect the whole country, requiring our collective efforts to proactively deal with such alterations in our weather patterns.

“I am sure we have all learnt and are learning valuable lessons from all this, but am at the same time encouraged by President Mnangagwa’s assurance that no one will go hungry, as Government is putting the necessary measures to ensure adequate grain supply.”

The post Call to rebuild Idai-hit businesses appeared first on Zimbabwe Situation.

Source: Zimbabwe’s Black-Market Rate Jumps as Dollar Squeeze Worsens – Bloomberg

• Gap between official and parallel exchange rate widens
• ‘Desperate buyers’ flock to black market, says local analyst

The southern African nation’s currency, known as the RTGS$, fell to 4.2 per U.S. dollar Wednesday, its weakest level in more than five months, according to marketwatch.co.zw, a website run by analysts in Harare. That took its decline in March to 18 percent.

The losses came even as the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe devalued the official rate to 3 per dollar for the first time. The regulator has allowed it to fall from an initial price of 2.50 since formal trading of the unit began last month, after officials stopped insisting it had the same value as the greenback.

Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa is battling the nation’s worst economic crisis in over a decade, with a scarcity of foreign exchange causing shortages of food and fuel and a surge in inflation to almost 60 percent. Cyclone Idai, which hit Mozambique’s coast earlier this month, may worsen the situation because it devastated of the port city of Beira, which is a vital conduit for landlocked Zimbabwe’s gasoline and wheat imports, according to Texas-based risk-analysis firm Stratfor.

Also, the low supply of dollars on the interbank market is pushing Zimbabwean businesses into the black market. Trading volumes over the past three weeks were $45 million, according to Harare-based NewsDay newspaper, which cited central bank Governor John Mangudya.

The parallel market is “mainly comprised of desperate buyers and few sellers,” said Welcome Mavingire, a managing partner at Intellego Investments Consultants in Harare.

The post Zimbabwe’s Black-Market Rate Jumps as Dollar Squeeze Worsens appeared first on Zimbabwe Situation.

Source: I'm ready: Mwonzora | Daily News

MDC secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora, says he has the capacity to lead the country’s biggest opposition political party if the structures nominate him to contest for that position at the MDC congress to run from May 24 to 26.

It will be the first congress since the death of the MDC founding leader Morgan Tsvangirai who died of colon cancer on February 14, last year.

Tsvangirai’s death saw one of his three deputies, Nelson Chamisa emerge as MDC leader, albeit under controversial circumstances.
Going into the elective congress, Chamisa is touted as the front runner.

He faces competition from one of his three deputies, Mwonzora.
In an interview with the Daily News yesterday, Mwonzora threw down the gauntlet, saying he has previously scored more wins than losses — a feat he said makes him more than suitable for any position within the party.

Asked if he has what it takes to be the party’s president, Mwonzora said: “I have been a leader in the MDC at various levels. Having started as the treasurer for Nyanga District, I was elevated to secretary for Local Government for Manicaland Province. In 2008, I was elected to represent Members of Parliament in the national council of the party. In 2011, I was elected as the national spokesman of the party at congress. In 2014, I was elected as the secretary-general of the party. I think I served well in my positions”.

He went on further to give a detailed account of how he joined politics as early as 1989, while he was still a law student.
Mwonzora was instrumental in the formation of the National Constitutional Assembly, which fought for a new democratic people-driven constitution.

He also said among other major roles he was involved in the drafting of the current Constitution.

“I therefore do not think that I lack capacity at all,” Mwonzora said.
Mwonzora is being accused of working with Zanu PF to destroy the MDC from within.
The MDC secretary-general believes that these allegations have not been proven and are only meant to frighten and dissuade him from contesting certain positions.

“Those people who say that I am weak and will not be difficult for Zanu PF don’t seem to notice that I have a history of success against Zanu PF. The electoral reforms, the fight for a new Constitution and the fight against partisan political party funding are just examples. I have been part of every MDC demonstration. I have been arrested and detained on more occasions than most of my peers but I have not given up on my key beliefs.

“Maybe some people think that for one to look strong they must be rude and rough to the opponent. That is wrong. You can be very strong without being uncivil. Mahatma Gandhi was soft spoken but he had an unfathomable inner strength. I believe in planning, strategising and bringing results,” said Mwonzora.

“…I believe that I am a friendly but difficult opponent. Unlike many people I have duelled with Zanu PF in difficult rural constituencies and won both as a member of the National Assembly and as a senator,” Mwonzora said.

As the party’s congress slated from May 24 to 26 draws closer, there has been a lot of mudslinging and jostling within the party, with allegations of intimidation, assaults and imposition of candidates being reported across the country.

While Chamisa is seen as the favourite to become the substantive MDC leader after the May gathering, some insiders are tipping Mwonzora to cause an upset — just like he did in 2014.
Then, Chamisa was defeated by Mwonzora for the secretary-general’s post — even though at the time the latter was considered as a rank outsider in those elections.

Chamisa then held the powerful post of MDC organising secretary, a position which was said to have given him the opportunity to revamp party structures in his favour — and which structures were expected to give him an overwhelming victory against Mwonzora who was the party spokesperson at the time.
Mwonzora scored a shock and unexpected crushing victory over Chamisa — which saw him getting 2 464 votes against his rival’s 1 756.

This subsequently left Chamisa as an ordinary card-carrying member, before he was rescued by Tsvangirai who appointed him to the MDC national executive as secretary for policy and research.

There were even unconfirmed suggestions at the time that a stunned Chamisa, unwilling to stomach the results of those internal polls, was even contemplating resigning from the MDC altogether — which never happened.

In an ironic turn of fate, Chamisa was to later assume the reins of the country’s main opposition party ahead of his rivals, following the death of Tsvangirai last year.

Don’t miss the full interview with Mwonzora in the Daily News on Sunday.

The post I’m ready: Mwonzora appeared first on Zimbabwe Situation.

Source: Tobacco price row: Mthuli plays arbitrator | The Herald 30 MAR, 2019

Finance and Economic Development minister Mthuli Ncube, Tobacco Industry Marketing Board (TIMB) board chairperson Monica Chinamasa and TIMB chief executive officer Andrew Matibiri tour Tobacco Auction Floors in Harare yesterday.-(Picture by Munyaradzi Chamalimba)

Elita Chikwati Senior Reporter
Government has assured tobacco farmers and merchants that it will look into issues affecting them to ensure a smooth marketing season, Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube has said.

He toured the tobacco auction and contract floors yesterday and said farmers expressed disappointment at the low prices they were getting, while contractors were concerned with tax rates. Prof Ncube said he was impressed with the organised tobacco marketing system.

“Farmers are concerned about the prices which they feel at this stage are low,” he said.

“The prices always start a bit low, but improve with time. The delays in the delivery of the crop for sale may be a strategy to maximise their returns. Prices will get better and farmers should hang in there. I think they will have a good season considering the current exchange rate on the market.

“The earnings should be good in domestic currency for farmers.” The interbank exchange rate yesterday was at US$1:3,012 RTGS.

“The farmers have also made it clear that they do not want the two percent tax to affect their earnings and I have accepted quickly and have removed the tax because we want the maximum benefit to go to farmers as they are our foreign currency earners,” said Prof  Ncube.

“This will go a long way in putting that extra dollar in the farmers’ pockets.”

Minister Ncube said farmers were getting their money in RTGS and getting 50 cents per kilogramme cash for the RTGS and 10 cents per kilogramme hard cash. Prof Ncube said contractors were complaining about the entire merchant tax and the Value Added Tax (VAT).

Contractors complained of payment process complexity and farmers’ access to foreign currency.

They said exporting companies were availed a lower corporate tax structure based on the percentage level of exports with those exporting above 51 percent given a corporate tax rate of 15 percent.

Northern Tobacco managing director Mr Glen Youngs said some of the tobacco merchants in their industry outsourced the processing of their tobacco to third party processing plants on a toll manufacturing basis.

“The tobacco merchant retains ownership of the tobacco and once processed or manufactured, the tobacco merchant exports well in excess of 51 percent of the manufactured tobacco,” he said.

“We have engaged ZIMRA in this regard and have been advised that only tobacco merchants that own the tobacco processing plants are entitled to the special rate of income tax. It is on this basis that we appeal for tobacco merchants that outsource the processing of their tobacco to retain ownership of the processed tobacco which is exported to benefit from the special rates of income tax for the above special rates of income tax or exporting manufacturing corporates,” he said.

Prof Ncube said they should put their grievances in writing and promised to look into them.

The post Tobacco price row: Mthuli plays arbitrator  appeared first on Zimbabwe Situation.