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Source: Editorial Comment: Zimbabwe needs genuine dialogue – The Standard February 24, 2019

Editorial Comment

The dialogue between some of the political parties that took part in last year’s disputed presidential elections is fast turning into a farce because of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s determination to forge ahead despite lack of consensus on the way forward.

Mnangagwa early this month invited candidates that took part in the disputed July 30, 2018 presidential elections to a meeting that was meant to set the framework for the dialogue, but his strongest opponent in those polls, Nelson Chamisa, refused to attend.

Chamisa argues that any genuine dialogue must be convened by a neutral person and should address the election dispute.

On the other hand, Mnangagwa insists that his legitimacy should not be part of the agenda.

Last Friday, a second meeting was convened and another two candidates, Noah Manyika of Build Zimbabwe and Daniel Shumba of the United Democratic Alliance, announced that they were pulling out of the talks.

Manyika demanded a “neutral and credible convenor” for the dialogue and also pointed out that the absence of the country’s main opposition party — Chamisa’s MDC Alliance — in the negotiating table rendered the talks pointless.

Shumba also described the dialogue as a circus. He was not happy that Mnangagwa did not bother to attend last Friday’s meeting or to apologise for his absence.

The parties that remain committed to the dialogue do not have any significant representation in Parliament or local governance structures except for Zanu PF.

Any agreements that might be reached in these negotiations would not do anything to end the polarisation that has arrested Zimbabwe’s economic progress and deepened divisions among the people.

The invitation extended by Mnangagwa to the presidential candidates raised hopes among longsuffering Zimbabweans that politicians were finally prepared to put the country first.
However, the two meetings held so far have exposed the dialogue as an exercise in futility.

The need for genuine dialogue between the main protagonists in the political contest — Mnangagwa and Chamisa — can never be over-emphasised.

Zimbabwe cannot afford to be in a perpetual election mode like it was the case during Robert Mugabe’s reign, a situation that cost the economy dearly.

Mnangagwa, as the president, has a responsibility to show leadership and create an environment conducive for genuine dialogue.

The efforts the president is putting in place to attract investment and end Zimbabwe’s isolation from the international community will go to waste as long as citizens are pulling in different directions.

It will take leadership for Mnangagwa and Chamisa to realise that the dialogue is not about egos and point-scoring, but an inescapable route to pulling Zimbabwe from the abyss.

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Source: Masuka dies | The Standard (Local News)

By Moses Mugugunyeki

Zimbabwe-born veteran jazz musician Dorothy Masuka has died.

She was 83.

Details of her death were still sketchy at the time of going to print last night. However, thousands of fans, politicians and prominent artistes from across the globe took to social media to convey their condolences to the Masuka family following the announcement of the world-renowned jazz singer’s death last night.

Masuka was born and raised in Bulawayo, where her music talent was discovered at a tender age before she left the country for South Africa.

She became a household name in South Africa because most of her music was inspired by the lives of people living in the townships in the 1950s. This did not go down well with the apartheid regime and she fled the country and had brief stints in Malawi, Tanzania and the UK before she returned to the then Rhodesia.

She did not stay much in Rhodesia as a result of her political inclination, which compelled her to flee the country to Zambia, from where she relocated to Zimbabwe, a year after independence in 1981. She only moved back to South Africa after Nelson Mandela was released from jail in 1990.

Aunty Dot, as she was popularly known, released several songs, including hits such as Pata Pata, Ma-Gumede, Khauleza, Nhingrikiri and Lendaba, among others.
She was staying in Johannesburg with her grandchildren.

The post Masuka dies appeared first on The Standard.

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Source: Fairly priced goods by April | Sunday Mail

Kuda Bwititi
Chief Reporter

Government is presently developing the framework for providing basic commodities at fair and affordable prices within the next two months.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has already given his blessings to the programme, which is expected to cushion consumers against extortionate and punitive prices.

The envisaged programme will begin in rural areas before spreading to urban centres.

Industry and Commerce Minister Mangaliso Ndlovu told The Sunday Mail last week that Government is working on the best possible way of making the project operational.

“We are putting a framework in place where we will be able to assist the public in the access and provision of basic commodities at affordable prices. We want to make this initiative a very successful programme, so we are looking at all angles and strategising how best the programme can be made operational. So it is work in progress and we will be able to give finer details as the programme becomes clearer,” said Minister Ndlovu.

Selected parastatals such as the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) are reportedly being primed to work in public-private partnerships with business to create a sustainable platform for supplying and retailing the commodities.

It is understood that Government will leverage on GMB’s commercial arm– which will be duly capacitated – to guarantee the supply of products such as mealie-meal, rice and flour under the Silo brand.

Government tentatively expects the programme to take off by April.

Minister Ndlovu said: “In terms of the actual timeframe, it is still early to tell, but we are trying to coordinate the core activities that we need to take part in and the main players that we need to work with. I can say maybe in two months we will be done, but it could even be earlier than that, so I don’t want to give a specific date.”

After successfully introducing a mass public transport system through Zupco (Zimbabwe United Passenger Company), which helped tame runway transport fares, Government also intends to act as arbiter in the market by controlling predatory prices by unscrupulous businesses.

“We are going to work with industry, but the programme entails giving them enough support so that the products are readily available and they reach the end-user at affordable prices.

“Cabinet is worried about the issue of prices and inflation; that is why we are looking at alternative means to protect the consumers and ensure that they do not always have to bear the brunt of an increase in prices.”

The new political administration has become increasingly accommodative to businesses.

Last week, firms that were affected during the January 14 to January 16 violent demonstrations begun accessing the $30 million Business Emergency Relief Fund from Government.

Through the emergency relief, businesses would receive concessionary loans to help them rebuild and restock.

“Cabinet approved the fund, which is known as the Business Emergency Relief Fund. Business that suffered losses in the violent incidents will receive loans at very low rates of 2 percent to 4 percent. The loans also cover those that not only want to restock or rebuild their businesses, but also those who seek to buy new equipment that might have been lost during those disturbances.”

Addressing a Meet the People Rally in Rutenga last weekend, President Mnangagwa said he had given the go-ahead for the basic commodities programme to be implemented.

“We are aware that some basic commodities have gone up in recent times and we are going to make interventions that protect the general public. Very soon, we are going to launch a programme for the provision of basic commodities at reasonable prices. The days of wantonly raising prices will become a thing of the past once this programme is in place,” the President said.

Over the past few months, prices of basic goods have shot up, and in most cases the inflationary adjustments were considered to be unjustified.

Last week, Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube declared war on inflation, saying Government planned to bring it down to single-digit levels by year-end.

 

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Source: Multi-billion coal-to-fuel project on track | Sunday Mail

Sharon Munjenjema

GOVERNMENT and a Canadian investor have completed setting up a special purpose entity — Vectol Zimbabwe — to spearhead the much anticipated US$5,2 billion coal to fuel project in Lisulu, Hwange.

Information obtained by The Sunday Mail shows significant progress on the deal with offices for the joint venture company having been secured.

Government and Nkosikhona — a South Africa based front for Canadian engineering firm, Magcor International — signed the deal that is expected to see processing of coal into liquid fuels.

In an interview, Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Minister Professor Amon Murwira said a Chinese technical partner had also been secured for the venture.

“We formed the joint venture company which we have now registered in the name of Vectol Zimbabwe. It is a joint venture between Verify Engineering and Magcor Consortium. Offices have been secured in Borrowdale (Harare),” he said.

Prof Murwira said a subsidiary of Vectol Zimbabwe — Vectol Mining —had also been formed to conduct the actual mining.

He said the project now awaits full funding from the investor.

Prof Murwira said contrary to claims in certain quarters, the project was on track.

“As far as we are concerned, the project is on track and we are still within stipulated timelines,” he said.

“This is a long term venture which is self-financing and it is not practical to suggest we will get fuel, for example, in six months.

“That is not possible and we never made such promises, scandalous talk will not help our country.”

Like most Government projects in the second republic, the coal to fuel deal is premised on a Build-Operate-Transfer model.

Prof Murwira said the project was within the confines of Government’s newly adopted heritage-based innovation which will also result in infrastructure development.

“We have designed this project in such a way that it also provides 700 kilometres of tarred road every year,” he said.

“This idea stems from the fact that Zimbabwe has 26 billion tonnes of coal and this could easily be used to make fire or electricity only.

“We are saying coal as a hydro carbon is much more useful than that.

“We want to produce our own fuel from coal just like what Sasol does.

‘‘It reduces our import bill and increases our capability to be self-sufficient.”

The project is envisaged to produce about eight million litres of various forms of liquid fuels daily.

The country is estimated to be consuming around five million litres of various fuels daily.

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Source: Council to cancel solar street lighting contracts | Sunday Mail (Local News)

Carren Mushonga

HARARE City Council (HCC) is set to cancel tenders awarded to companies to install solar-powered streets lights in both the Central Business District and residential areas.

The Sunday Mail has gathered that five companies won the bid to set up street lighting in 2016, but only one company – Prime Media Advertising has met its contractual obligations. However, there are concerns that most of the lights are not working.

It is understood that some of the contracted companies – MED Lighting, Sonic Ray, AXA Holdings and Satewave have failed to install the solar street lights, prompting HCC to cancel the deals.

Harare Mayor Cllr Hebert Gomba said the local authority had set in motion processes to sever ties with the companies.

“The cancellation of the agreement is already underway and the process may take up to two months to finalise,” he said.

“HCC is not happy as the programme is now of no value since the solar street lamps are not working, yet the companies are still getting advertising revenue as part of the deal.”

According to Cllr Gomba, the deal required the companies to deliver solar street lighting in exchange for advertising rights. The Mayor indicated that the project could be taken over by the local authority.

“There is no specific time as to when we will resume the programme, but as soon as we are done with cancellation of the existing agreement, we will have a clear picture on how we will be proceeding,” said Cllr Gomba.

“We will carry on with the project using our own engineers and also find ways to improve security on the lighting equipment. Thieves have been causing problems on the progress of this project.”

The solar-street lighting programme began three years ago as part of HCC’s quest to make Harare a world-class city by 2025.

At least 10 000 solar street lamps were set to be introduced in the Central Business District and surrounding areas under the programme.

However, there have been concerns that over 90 percent of the solar lights installed so far are non-functional.

 

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