Zim News Blog -NEWS NETWORK

ABUNDANT Life Revival Mission International is appealing for funds to fly a woman to South Africa or India for severe dog bite surgery after she was recently savaged by her landlord’s dogs in Bulawayo’s West Somerton suburb. Ms Cherish Muchegwa (25) is being treated at the United Bulawayo Hospitals after the five dogs tore off flesh from her arms, legs and behind two weeks ago, leaving her

Source: Low confidence affecting insurance uptake: Ipec | Daily News

THE Insurance and Pensions Commission (Ipec) says low confidence levels have led to low uptake of insurance and pensions fund by individuals.

Josphat Kakwere, IPEC’s head of pensions, said the regulator has observed that the low confidence is related to legacy issues.
“We have noted that legacy issues have led to low confidence levels.

“As long as an individual has a short term view for insurance then it is difficult to have confidence. This is for both insurance and pensions,” he said. This comes as the insurance sector is suffering from a confidence crisis emanating from the hyperinflationary period.

However, IPEC has in the past indicated that although poor claims settlement remain one of the reasons behind low confidence in the insurance sector, the regulator increased the minimum capital requirement so that insurers can have adequate reserves.

Low confidence has seen a 13 percent growth in Gross Premium Written (GPW) reported by direct life assurers for the nine months ended September, 30 2018 to $300,69 million from $265.95 million recorded in comparative period.

IPEC said the growth in GPW was mainly driven by funeral assurance and fund business as confidence in other type of life assurance products remained low. “The industry players are encouraged to devise ways to pass on some of the profits to policyholders as a way of cushioning the same policyholders against inflation thereby building confidence in the insurance industry,” the regulator said in its latest report.

Kakwere said fragmented regulation, poor corporate governance, foreign currency shortage, high pension contribution arrears and high expense ratios for some pension funds remain some of the major challenges for the sector.  Zimbabwe’s insurance penetration rate, which reached a high of 10 percent in the early 1990s, has been declining over the last two decades, with official figures showing that it dropped to a low of 1,5 percent in 2015.

Meanwhile, Ipec executive Cuthbert Munjoma said about $30 million is lying idle in unclaimed pensions as close to 50 000 pensioners have not been collecting their monthly pension pay-outs.
“We also have about 50 000 pensioners and beneficiaries who have not been claiming their pension benefits to the tune of $30 million. Such beneficiaries of the unclaimed benefits could be living in poverty yet they have money lying idle at the pension funds,” he said.

He added that the regulator has over half a billion in pension contribution arrears, posing a risk on benefits.
“We have over $600 million in pension contribution arrears meaning that if the trend continues like that, those who are contributing may not get their pension benefits at retirement, as the pension fund would not have received such contributions,” he said.

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Source: Immigration officials in trouble | Daily News

TWO Victoria Falls immigration officials who allegedly issued instant visa documents to three Bangladeshi nationals are in trouble.
The alleged move was in violation of the country’s immigration policies which state that Asian nationals must go through a vetting process before being allowed entry via the country’s borders.

The duo Lizzie Mupfururi, 32, and Ruvimbo Pedzisa, 29, both stationed at Victoria Falls Airport appeared before Victoria Falls magistrate Lindiwe Maphosa facing charges of criminal abuse of office. Mupfururi faces two counts while Pedzisa faces one.

The two were not asked to plead and were remanded out of custody. They will be back in court next week. According to court papers, the duo committed the alleged crime on the February 12. Mupfururi allegedly gave instant visas to Bangladesh nationals Uddin Miraj and Yeasin while aware of the laid down process that they should have applied for visas before being allowed to enter the country.

As part of the same plot, Pedzisa issued Feroz Kazi of Bangladesh a visa without prior application. The court further heard that the two immigration officials deliberately omitted scanning passports of three Bangladesh nationals.

According to the court, the two accused person’s duties involved among others, examining travellers’ particulars on entry and exit, scanning passports, and capturing data of travellers in the border management system, collecting and receipting appropriate visa fees and issuing visa stickers.
The offence came to light last week when officials at the immigration department at the Airport noticed anomalies in the computerised system. This led to an investigation leading to the arrest of the two.

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Source: ZRA reduces water for power generation | The Herald 25 MAR, 2019

Sydney Kawadza Mash West Bureau Chief
The Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) has reduced water allocated for power generation at Kariba Hydro-Power Station due to falling water levels in the lake shared by both Zimbabwe and Zambia.

The reduction in water allocation means power generation for both Kariba North and South will be reduced from the current 1 476MW to 890MW.

In a statement,  ZRA also said all spilling activity is suspended this year.

“Owing to the obtaining below normal rains recorded to date, the inflows into the lake have been below average leading to the lake level at Kariba dropping by over three meters from October 2018 to February 2019,” ZRA said.

“The Lake level is currently 5 metres above the minimum operating level when it should be 8 metres above the minimum operating level at this time of the year.

“The meteorological projections are that most of the Kariba catchment is likely to continue experiencing below normal rains for the remainder of the 2018/2019 rainfall season.”

The Zambezi River Authority’s December 2018 hydrological update indicated a reduction in water allocated for power generation at Kariba Dam in 2018 from 45 billion cubic metres of to 38 billion cubic metres for the year 2019.

“This was as a result of the forecasted normal to below normal rainfall for the period October 2018 to December 2018 by the SADC Climate Services Center, the meteorological departments of Zambia and Zimbabwe and the Southern Africa Regional Climate Outlook Forum No. 22 (SARCOF-22).

“As a result, Zambezi River Authority wishes to announce a further reduction in the water allocated for power generation at Kariba from 38 billion cubic metres to 36 billion cubic metres for 2019,” the statement said.

ZRA also said it will continue to monitor the hydrological situation and ensure continued availability of water for power generation at Kariba Dam.

Meanwhile, the Joint Operations Technical Committee in a Weekly Hydrological Bulletin for March 6 said flows into the Zambezi River have continued to rise, though at a reduced pace due to reduced rainfall activities in the basin.

The technical committee is made up of ARA Zambezi (Mozambique), HidroElectrica de Cahora Bassa (Mozambique), Water Resources Management Authority (Zambia), ZRA, Zimbabwe National Water Authority and the Zimbabwe Power Company.

The committee further noted that inflows into Kariba and Kafue Gorge Upper Reservoirs are lower than the outflows and the reservoirs storage is decreasing.

ZRA early this year reduced power generation to around half capacity at their power stations at the Kariba Dam as water levels in the reservoir fell.

Power generation on both the Zambian and Zimbabwean sides had been restricted to 500MW each from total capacities of around 1 000 MW.

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Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) has cancelled the $133 million tender for the repowering of Munyati Power Station awarded to an Indian company, Jaguar Overseas, after the firm failed to secure funding for the project, four years after winning the bid. The Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PRAZ) has since granted ZPC the nod to approach the next bidder in line with the Public