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Source: Binga RDC in dilemma over illegal settlers | Newsday (News)

BY RICHARD MUPONDE

BINGA Rural District Council has lost millions of dollars in revenue after failing to deal with illegal settlers who invaded local safari concessions over 10 years ago, a council official has revealed.

Reports indicate that illegal settlers invaded six wards in the districts namely Sinakoma, Sinansengwe, Sinampande, Siabuwa, Chunga and Kabuba wards. The local authority now wants them evicted.

The move to evict them was unanimously endorsed by councillors in 2014 after hunters threatened to leave their concessions because of illegal settlers’ activities.

Council got an order to evict the settlers, but the settlers appealed to the High Court where the case has become dormant.

Binga RDC chairperson, Wilson Siampolomba on Friday confirmed the dilemma they have with the illegal settlers.

“The settlers have stayed put in the safari concessions. We got a ruling to evict them from these areas and eviction letters were issued out. They appealed to the High Court where the matter is still unresolved. We are supposed to evict them, however, we are still faced with the same problem,” Siampolomba said.

Binga council relies mainly on taxing hunting concessions for its revenue.

A quick check with the High Court revealed that the matter was struck off the roll, giving the illegal settlers a reprieve to continue occupying the land.

A court official who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed that the matter was struck off the roll years back.

“The matter has been dormant for some time now. It was struck of the roll around 2015 and up to now it remained static. There is no one pursuing it,” he said.

However, the council said it was eager to see the illegal settlers evicted so that it starts collecting revenue from safari concessions to boost its coffers.

The post Binga RDC in dilemma over illegal settlers appeared first on NewsDay Zimbabwe.

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Source: Chamisa warns Mutare councillors | Newsday (News)

BY KENNETH NYANGANI

MDC leader Nelson Chamisa has read the riot act on local authorities led by his party to stop engaging in corrupt activities, claiming that members implicated in the vice face the chop.

He made the remarks in Mutare on Saturday while addressing party supporters at a thank you rally.

A recently released forensic land audit report by the Local Government ministry from 2007 implicated MDC Alliance councillors in double allocation of stands. The audit also showed that stands sold to the councillors were not correctly valued.

“Our economy is not moving well because of corruption. Corruption is now a religion in this country. As the MDC party we need to be exemplary and this should not be part of our culture,” he said.

“No one from my party should engage in corrupt activities. We don’t want the culture of corruption in our party. I am warning our local authorities to desist from such activities,” he said.

“I am told that some of our councillors are engaging in corrupt activities. We are warning you, we will not fear to drop you. We are going to stab you with our arrow.”

Corruption has been costing the country millions of dollars.

Several top government officials have been arraigned before the courts on corruption charges while others, who are well-connected, have not been brought to book.

The post Chamisa warns Mutare councillors appeared first on NewsDay Zimbabwe.

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Source: Editorial Comment: High time govt acted on Harare, Bulawayo water – NewsDay Zimbabwe March 11, 2019

Editorial Comment

THE country’s largest cities of Harare and Bulawayo have sent out chilling messages that they are running out of water. Normally, at this time of the year, the country should be experiencing widespread rains as the rainfall season passes its climax.

Dams should be spilling, but this year the heavens have not been that kind to us as the climate change phenomenon takes its toll.

The fact that Harare and Bulawayo have started to ration water before the rainfall season has ended spells doom and gloom because it is going to be another seven to eight months before the next rains.

Weather forecasters warned us as way back as last year that the country would receive poor rainfall. However, as usual, our government completely ignored the early warnings of a major drought coming our way. Even citizens largely ignored the early warnings. The majority simply put their hope and faith in the mighty power of God and failed to act cautiously by harvesting the little water that fell this rainfall season.

What makes our hapless situation even most untenable is the fact that we keep failing to plan. Failure to plan, as a country and people, is increasingly becoming our hallmark and the calamitous water situation facing Harare and Bulawayo highlights the country’s poor levels of planning bordering on the apparent lack of seriousness on the part of our government.

Harare and Bulawayo have had recurrent water problems and solutions were put forward as far back as well before Zimbabwe’s 1980 independence. Water solutions for both major cities were identified at Kunzvi and the Zambezi River for Harare and Bulawayo, respectively. But three decades have since passed without anything tangible taking place. Feasibility studies have been done and people displaced to make way for new dams to supply the two cities. Now with the climate change phenomenon bringing in new complications, the water situation for, not only the two major urban areas – but for all other sprawling urban settlements, threatens to trigger a humanitarian crisis of enormous proportion.

For decades, government has paid lip service to its promises to build the Kunzvi Dam to supply water for the capital Harare. Government has also acted lackadaisically on plans to draw water from the mighty Zambezi River to quench the ever thirsty City of Bulawayo. While government has clearly shown insincerity over plans to provide reliable water supplies for the two cities, populations have been ballooning, resulting in the demand for water more than quadrupling.

If our government had acted soon after independence when donors, other nations and financial institutions were still eager to see the country succeed, we should have avoided this situation.

It is high time our government and people take water issues seriously because it seems everyone has grown to forget that water is life. If this year’s drought does not act as a wake-up call, then we are doomed as a people. It’s high time our government acted on Harare and Bulawayo’s debilitating water situation.

The post Editorial Comment: High time govt acted on Harare, Bulawayo water appeared first on Zimbabwe Situation.

Source: IMF puts caveat on Zim currency reforms – NewsDay Zimbabwe March 11, 2019

BY FIDELITY MHLANGA

THE International Monetary Fund (IMF) says the success of currency reforms will depend on the implementation of an effective monetary policy framework supported by market-determined interest rates and prudent fiscal policies.

According to an IMF Press briefing held last week after Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube met IMF director Christine Lagarde in Washington DC, government’s removal of the 1:1 parity that existed between the bond currency and US dollar last month is a step in the right direction that potentially can address distortions that were compromising the economy.

“Our initial evaluation of that which has been announced by the Zimbabwean authorities recently is that it’s a step in the right direction to address distortions that have significantly impaired those macro-economic outcomes,” said IMF director of communications, Gerry Rice.

“Its success, of course, the currency reforms’ success, will depend on the implementation of an effective overall monetary policy framework supported by market-determined interest and exchange rates, together with prudent fiscal policies. So it’s the major set of challenges facing Zimbabwe. The IMF is trying to help. We’re engaged with them on how we can help them as much as possible.”

“Zimbabwe has no financing programme with the IMF, but we’re looking to be supportive as we can, and so stay tuned for further developments,” he said.

Ncube was in Washington DC where he briefed Largade and other financiers about the economic developments in the country.

Ncube is canvassing for support for a plan to clear some $2 billion in arrears owed to the World Bank and the African Development Bank (Afdb) as part of the 2015 Lima plan, critical to secure fresh lines of credit and restore confidence in the market.

“As we said in the statement that we issued, the minister briefed Madam Lagarde on economic developments in Zimbabwe and the reforms that you refer to that have been implemented since they last met. As you know — well, maybe people don’t know — but the fund does not have a financing programme with Zimbabwe, though we continue to have discussions with the authorities to assist them in implementing the economic reforms contained in their transitional stabilisation
programme, which is a wide ranging stabilisation and reform programme aimed at addressing what is clearly a deep macro-economic imbalance challenge, as well as a broader set of social and economic challenges. So the discussions are on — we’re engaged. The discussions are certainly continuing,” said Rice.

Ncube is working on a Transitional Stabilisation Programme which seeks to undertake reforms, such as improving the ease of doing business,
improving competitiveness, opening the country to international investors and financiers.

The post IMF puts caveat on Zim currency reforms  appeared first on Zimbabwe Situation.

Source: Govt ramps up ICT expansion | Newsday (News)

BY BLESSED MHLANGA

GOVERNMENT is ramping up infrastructure development in Information Communications Technologies (ICT) in the face of fast-paced advancements, which will see the world embrace 5G technology by April.

ICT ministry secretary Sam Kundishora said through the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (Potraz), government was aggressively ensuring that Zimbabwe was not left behind in technological advancement by investing in infrastructure development to ensure that the country has 100% internet and mobile telecommunications coverage.

“We are looking at all the pockets that don’t have network coverage and plugging them. I am sure you are aware that the President [Emmerson Mnangagwa] will open the TelOne Harare-Beitbridge fibre connection next week,” he said.

Potraz has so far built 20 base stations in marginalised areas using the Universal Service Fund, with plans to build 250 more.

Kundishora could not provide the exact figures used so far, but said they ran into millions of United States dollars.

Zimbabwe — hosting the World International Telecommunications Union (ITU) conference in Victoria Falls, which began on March 4 and runs until the 14th — relies heavily on mobile money owing to cash shortages.

Kundishora said ITU delegates were impressed by the infrastructure put up in the country which is supporting the conference.

ITU director Chasub Lee said the conference was looking into the future of ICT’s, especially the introduction of 5G technology, which could bring massive benefits to the economy.

“I chair the United Nations IT development, which develops technical standards. We are looking at many ideas, especially in Zimbabwe. Our programme is that of the future network 2030. We are looking at the 5G for fixed networks and also cloud and also quantum-based communication technology,” he said.

Lee, who spent Sunday touring the mighty Zambezi River and Victoria Falls, said he was happy with the infrastructure government and independent network providers had provided to support the conference.

ICT minister Kazembe Kazembe and Lee will today officially open the conference, which closes on Thursday.

The post Govt ramps up ICT expansion appeared first on NewsDay Zimbabwe.

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