Zim News Blog -NEWS NETWORK

Source: Harare to name, shame defaulting churches | Daily News

HARARE City Council is threatening to name and shame churches that owe council millions in unpaid rates and lease fees amounting to more than $10 million.

Council corporate communications manager Michael Chideme told the Daily News on Sunday that the move was necessitated by the huge debt that the churches owe. The last time council published the debtors from schools and churches was in 2017 when collectively the institutions owed over $8 million.

“Council will soon publish the names of church organisations whose unpaid rates and lease fees have accumulated over the past few years. The publication of the debtors list will help show which church organisations are using free land and not contributing towards service delivery,” Chideme said.

The council spokesperson said since the last list was published the churches did not even attempt to clear their arrears or make any payment plans. “Council hopes the churches will appeal to their conscience to avoid any inconveniences and pay or risk having their lease agreements cancelled.”
In 2017 the city published a long list of churches, schools and other institutions that owed council various amounts.
Celebration Church led the pack owing $846 564, Apostolic Faith Mission $682 231, Seventh Day Adventist $615 964 and Salvation Army $309 511.

According to the list of debtors Moffat Primary School owed council $406 056, Herentals College $411 529, Churchill Boys High School owed $265 880, Allan Wilson $342 839, Morgan High School $206 847, Admiral Tait $118 939, Vainona High $109 941, Cranborne Boys High $123 398 and Prince Edward $88 491.
Harare Polytechnic owed council $252 614, while Belvedere Teachers College had a debt of $109 413, Blackiston Infant $102 848, Selbourne Routledge $133 437, Denmark College $237 820,

TelOne Telecoms College $144 470 and Speciss College $165 402.
Topping the list of defaulting hotels was Dawson Hotel at $463 296, Cresta Lodge $388 986, Ambassador Hotel $360 215, Courtney $346 733, Meikles Hotel $208 188 and Budget Hotel $231 047.

Other defaulters were Dawn Properties $1,7 million, Knight Frank $962 605, Robert Roots $355 100, Mining Industry Pension Fund $117 060, First Mutual $140 928, Croco Motors 244 626 and Bard Real Estate $68 016.

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Source: Expect no bailout. . . as SA leader jets in | Daily News

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, pictured, arrives in the country today to co-chair the Bi-National Commission (BNC) with President Emmerson Mnangagwa whose administration is desperate for a cash injection to jump-start the country’s stuttering economy.

Those close to the South African presidency told the Daily News yesterday that Harare should not expect a bailout from its northern neighbour, which is facing a tricky election this year.

Ahead of the visit, South Africa’s minister of International Relations and Cooperation Lindiwe Sisulu said ending sanctions against Zimbabwe will top Ramaphosa’s agenda.

Ramaphosa’s arrival comes hard on the heels of another high-profile visit by the President of Botswana Keabetswe Masisi, who signed several memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with Mnangagwa.
Masisi disappointed his host by refusing to extend a $600 million loan to Zimbabwe, only providing $94 million for businesses in Botswana to invest in the troubled country.

In a statement, Pretoria said the two heads of State will review the bilateral cooperation between their countries as well as review progress made with the implementation of bilateral agreements.

“To date, the two countries have signed 45 agreements, which cover a wide range of fields, including trade and investment, health, labour, migration, defence, taxation, tourism, scientific and technological cooperation, water and environment,” reads part of the statement.

When Zimbabwe and South Africa last held the BNC they were led by Robert Mugabe and Jacob Zuma respectively but both men were pressured to resign before completion of their terms.

The men who succeeded them are bosom buddies and will be seeking to cement ties between their two countries.
Ramaphosa will be accompanied by a high-powered business delegation.
Several senior South African officials have been in the country since last week ahead of the structured BNC, first established in 2015.

Zimbabwe and South Africa share a lot in common from their liberation history, cultural linkages and the commonality of their people.
The neighbouring country keeps the largest number of Zimbabweans, estimated at over three million.
Its companies are the biggest investors in Zimbabwe.
South Africa ranks as Zimbabwe’s second export destination after China (US$844 million), with exports into that country amounting to US$189 million.

The neighbouring country tops the list of imports origins at $2,01 billion, followed by China at $442 million, India ($149 million), Zambia ($133 million) and Hong Kong ($57,8 million).
The BNC comes as Zimbabwean businesses are fragile and in desperate need of protection in their recovery phase.
After countries such as China chose to keep their wallets closed after approaches from Harare, those in the corridors of power expect South Africa to give Zimbabwe the much-needed lift.
But Zimbabwe also has a lot of work to do to convince that there has been adequate progress on addressing its financial and governance delinquency challenges.

The permanent secretary in the ministry of Information Nick Mangwana said that the BNC comes on the heels of another engagement with Botswana is a vindication of their engagement policy.
“We can’t be a country pushing for great relationships with countries afar when we have poor relations with those countries with which we share so much including borders,” he said.
“Regarding MoUs or bailouts, let’s not be pre-emptive about the outcomes of the interactions between our countries’ leadership. Announcements will be made in their due season”.

Mangwana, however, said Zimbabwe is not in the business of receiving bailouts but seeks to have mutually beneficial relations with its neighbours, the nature of which will be revealed after negotiations have taken place.
Ibbo Mandaza, a political analyst, said the whole hullabaloo was about nothing.
He said: “These are routine meetings so it is nothing out of the ordinary.”
Another analyst, Stephen Chan, said Ramaphosa cannot be seen to be bailing out an unpopular regime in an election year.

Chan said the Zimbabwean economy needs fundamental restructuring, not just a kick-start from its neighbour.
“The South Africans have already made it clear they have not much to give. It’s Ramaphosa’s election year. He can’t be seen by his voters to be giving billions to Zimbabwe when the South African economy itself needs a kick-start,” said Chan.

International Crisis Group consultant Piers Pigou said while Africa’s biggest economy may be in a position to help improve liquidity through the extension of credit facilities or even lend its weight to support efforts to build the refinancing necessary to cover debt arrears, South Africa has limited options and other priorities in terms of available funds.

“It provides an opportunity for Ramaphosa to see how best South Africa could help move reform and recovery options forward. But this requires Ramaphosa excavating the full picture, not a selective sanitised version of developments, as evidenced from minister Ncube’s recent reform progress report to the IMF,” said Pigou.
Political analyst Maxwell Saungweme believes it’s significant as South Africa said the visit is timely as Zimbabwe is in an economic and political bedlam.
He said Ramaphosa is also likely to encourage dialogue to get a solution to the political logjam.
“He is likely to talk to both Mnangagwa and (Nelson) Chamisa. Whatever his intervention will be, at the end solutions to our problems are found from within.

“He is a neighbour; he can only recommend but will never solve our problems. We have to sort out our mess.”
Lawyer Obert Gutu said Ramaphosa’s visit to Zimbabwe is more important in more ways than one.
“Ramaphosa is Mnangagwa’s ally. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to appreciate that both leaders enjoy a cosy political relationship. Africa doesn’t want to be perceived as a puppet of either the West or the East. As such, solidarity amongst key African countries is crucial in modern international relations,” said Gutu

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The Postal and Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (Potraz) has started consulting cellular service providers on tariff increases after the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe floated the exchange rate last month. Potraz customer service’s manager Mr Phibion Chaibva told journalists on the side lines of the authority’ outreach programme at Chinotimba Shopping Centre in Victoria Falls on Saturday […]

Source: NCA member collapses, dies during workshop | The Herald March 11, 2019

Nqobile Tshili Chronicle Correspondent
A MEMBER of Professor Lovemore Madhuku’s National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) collapsed and died on Thursday at a Bulawayo hotel while attending a Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) organised workshop.

The name of the deceased has been withheld because his next of kin may not have been informed. The NCA member, who is suspected to have been diabetic, is said to have collapsed at about 2pm and rushed to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
ZESN executive director Ms Rindai Vava declined to officially confirm the tragedy.

“We are following the right protocols before we go public. And I think it won’t be fair for the family to see it coming from us. But he collapsed and he was picked by the doctors who took him to the hospital,” said Ms Vava.

“We are still to get the official report from the hospital. We are not able to speak officially on those issues; we are still waiting for the right protocols to be followed. We are going to issue a statement by tomorrow and we need to get the permission of the family if we are to speak about what happened.”

She said Prof Madhuku was the right man to comment about the issue.

“He belongs to the National Constitutional Assembly and the best person to speak on this is Professor Madhuku. He was seconded by Prof Madhuku so we can’t speak on participants who were seconded by organisations. He is the right person to be quoted on this,” she said.
“He is not a member of my family. These are sensitive issues if you are asking about the conference I was going to respond.”

Prof Madhuku could not be reached for comment on his cellphone. Sources said the death came as a shock to most participants at the workshop.

“Actually some of us did not see anything and we can’t even put a face to the name. It happened during the lunch break so most of us were not in the building when he collapsed,” said a source.

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Source: JUST IN: Cellular services charges to go up | The Herald March 11, 2019

Potraz

Walter Muchinguri in Victoria Falls
The Postal and Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (Potraz) has started consulting cellular service providers on tariff increases after the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe floated the exchange rate last month.

Potraz customer service’s manager Mr Phibion Chaibva told journalists on the side lines of the authority’ outreach programme at Chinotimba Shopping Centre in Victoria Falls on Saturday that while he was not privy to the increases proposed by cellphone service providers, he was aware that consultations were underway.

He said that the authority was going to decide on the increases using costs submitted by service providers.

“What I know is Potraz’s approval of tariffs is cost based. Our regulations say it should be supported by documents of what it costs providers to provide their service and their mark up,” he said.

The review in tariff comes as the cost of goods and services has been going up. Mr Chaibva said as an authority they were keen to ensure that subscribers get the best service and value from providers. He said the most common complaint that they have been getting during their road show was that of subscribers losing their credit without making a call. He said some of the issues pertained to lack of communication on billing.

“Service providers should continuously engage their clients on billing so that they will make the right decision on their spending patterns,” he said.

Mr Chaibva also said their roadshows were also targeting children to raise awareness of dos and don’ts when using the internet.

“We are saying that the internet is good and children should access it but parents have a duty to monitor the sites that their children visit and the people they engage because some of them are very dangerous. The child might assume that he or she is talking or communicating with another child yet it’s someone who wants to harm them,” he said.

In terms of uptake, he said the country’s mobile penetration was at 94 percent.

“Our market uptake is almost mature. We are nearly there almost everyone is connected,” he said.

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