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Source: State applies for Kasukuwere’s property forfeiture – NewsDay Zimbabwe March 15, 2019

By Desmond Chingarande

The State yesterday formally filed an application to have the property of former Local Government minister Saviour Kasukuwere forfeited to the State, arguing that he was now a fugitive from justice after being issued with a warrant of arrest on January 17 this year.

Anti-corruption special prosecutor Zivanai Macharaga told magistrate Hosea Mujaya that he was applying for the forfeiture of Kasukuwere’s property in terms of sections of the Criminal Evidence and Procedures Act.

Macharaga said it was clear that Kasukuwere was not admitted in hospital, but was visiting his doctor from home.

“The accused person is enjoying his loot in South Africa fully knowing that nothing will happen to his properties. This court must declare the accused person’s property forfeited to the State. We will not dispose his property if he appears in court within 90 days of the order,” the prosecutor said.

“Even if he is sick or in good health, we are undertaking to delay forfeiture until he appears in court.”

But Kasukuwere’s lawyer Advocate Thembinkosi Magwaliba opposed the application, saying the State had not led evidence in support of his client’s health condition.

Magwaliba further argued that the notice of application by Macharaga was misplaced. He further told the court that his client was issued with a warrant of arrest in January and the State must have applied for the forfeiture of the property during that period, saying the latest application would appear as having two orders on one case.

However, the magistrate reserved the ruling on the application to today.

Late last year, Kasukuwere applied for the release of his passport, saying he wanted to seek medical attention in South Africa.

He got the document in January this year.

The former minister is accused of criminal abuse of office after he allegedly illegally allocated State land to former First Lady Grace Mugabe’s sister Shuvai Gumbochuma.

He went to South Africa just after his application for review of his application for exception at the High Court had been dismissed.

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Source: Zimbabwe miners to pay 80% wage increase | Fin24

Zimbabwe mining companies – which include units of Anglo Platinum, Impala Platinum and Caledonia Mining – are to award a wage increase of just under 80% to mine workers, with the salary for the lowest-paid worker in the industry rising to about 480 RTGS dollars* per month.

At current rates, this amounts to approximately US$192 or R2 800.

Protracted negotiations between the Associated Mine Workers Union of Zimbabwe (AMWUZ) and the Zimbabwe Chamber of Mines resulted in the salary adjustment for employees in the industry. The cost of living in the country rose dramatically after inflation for January surged to above 50%.

“Following extensive negotiations between the AMWUZ and the Zimbabwe chamber of mines, we managed to cobble out an agreement of 80% wage/salary increase for the mining industry covering the period January to December 2019,” Tinago Ruzive, president of the mine workers’ union, said Thursday.

Hardships

This effectively raised the minimum wage for the industry from 262.32 to 468.58 RTGS dollars at a time other companies in Zimbabwe have been introducing allowances to cushion workers from the current economic hardships Zimbabwe is experiencing.

These include price increases and unavailability of basic commodities, while transport costs have also risen, after President Emerson Mnangagwa instituted a hike in the price of petrol which sparked protests in January.

“This (mine workers’ salary) increase is based on the dollar value increase for those mines who may be paying above the minimum due to various reasons…therefore no employee shall fail to get an increase,” added Ruzive.

Some Zimbabwean miners are said to be paying their workers in foreign currency, although others have been struggling to secure forex earnings from the Reserve Bank.

Zimbabweans have been facing foreign currency shortages and the continued devaluation in the local RTGS dollar unit.

Mining executives at mining groups such as Metallon Corporation and Zimplats say they are still studying the impact of new currency directives from the central bank, which devalued the country’s local currency and directed that bank accounts earning local funds and those earning forex be separated.

According to Zimplats, the demand for foreign currency – which is necessary for its operations and business capital requirements – tends to fluctuate.

To this end, the company – controlled by Implats – continues “to engage the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe where necessary to ensure that our operations are not interrupted”.

*Real-time gross settlement dollars have effectively been the new currency of Zimbabwe since mid-February 2019. According to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, the average US$/RTGS$ exchange rate on Thursday 14 March was 2.71, meaning one US dollar buys 2.71 units of the new Zimbabwean currency. 

The post Zimbabwe miners to pay 80% wage increase  appeared first on Zimbabwe Situation.

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