Zim News Blog -NEWS NETWORK

Source: ED to headline Midlands devolution conference | Sunday Mail (Local News)

Norman Muchemwa

President Emmerson Mnangagwa is expected to grace a conference to discuss devolution in the Midlands province on March 18, as provinces continue to line up their ducks in a row in preparation of the new governance architecture that will result from the imminent transfer of power from central Government.

The conference – running under the theme “Position yourself at the heart of the devolution revolution for 2030” – will consider the advantages that are likely to accrue to the province, including the funding mechanisms for the programme.

Minister of State for Midlands Provincial Affairs Mr Larry Mavhima told The Sunday Mail recently that the conference will lay the foundation for devolution in the province.

“The idea on devolution conference is actually brainstorming so that we can give input to Government on how we believe the enabling legislation can be crafted.

“Since devolution is something new, we want to discuss what we really want to see being done and implemented through devolution in the province – how it will be funded, as well as advantages and disadvantages.

“We will also get our experts on devolution from both the public and private sectors so that we gather enough information,” said Minister Mavhima.

The province will further interrogate how various clusters in mining, construction, manufacturing, agriculture, local and urban authorities can contribute in shaping and making the programme successful.

He said provinces also have the onus to ensure that they responsibly exercise delegated power and authority while guaranteeing that Zimbabwe will remain a unitary State.

Added Minister Mavhima: “We are not going to have a situation where Zimbabwe will be a federal State, where provinces will be independent.

“So this conference will pave way on the direction we will take going forward with devolution while waiting for enabling legislation to direct us on what we should do as a province.

“The legislation will govern us on certain issues and tell us that this we can do and this we cannot do.”

Devolution naturally involves decentralising basic service delivery.

There is a realisation that members of the public from various provinces of the country are unnecessarily inconvenienced by seeking services that can ordinarily be provided by various districts across the country.

“If someone is in Mberengwa, he or she must apply for a passport there and wait to collect it there — that is all devolution is all about,” said Minister Mavhima.

Midlands is highly mineralised as it has almost every mineral found in the Zimbabwe.

Mining experts say over a third of the country’s platinum is found in the province.

It also accounts for 40 percent of gold that is mined and sold in Zimbabwe.

In addition, 52 percent of all the country’s cotton is harvested from the province.

 

The post ED to headline Midlands devolution conference appeared first on Zimbabwe Situation.

Source: Batoka construction work to begin this year | Sunday Mail (Top Stories)

Lincoln Towindo

Construction of the Batoka Gorge Hydroelectric Power Station is set to begin by year-end after the selection of the winning contractor in six months’ time.

An extraordinary Council of Ministers (COM) of the Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) held in Zambia a fortnight ago agreed on an implementation roadmap.

The high-level meeting, which brought together finance and energy ministers from Zimbabwe and Zambia, also made a resolution to ask for request for proposals from the three shortlisted contractors — Salini Impregilo of Italy; a joint venture of China Three Gorges Corporation, China International and Water Electric Corporation and China Gezhouba Group Company Limited; and another consortium of US-based General Electric (GE) and Power Construction Corporation of China.

A request for proposals essentially requires companies to place bids for a project’s completion.

Nine contractors had initially expressed interest in the project.

The shortlisted contractors will be furnished with the relevant preparatory study reports — which include the Engineering Feasibility Study; the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA); and Legal and Financial Transaction Advisory Services (LFTA) — next month.

Energy and Power Development permanent secretary Engineer Gloria Magombo told The Sunday Mail last week that once negotiations with the contractor are completed, construction will begin in earnest.

She said: “We have been meeting as the Zambezi River Authority, looking at the progress on the implementation of the project and as you are aware, any project has developmental stages.

“The first stage is project preparation, where you do the feasibility studies, engineering studies and the environmental impact assessments, and that is the stage that we have been working on.

“This phase also comes with the procurement of the project developer.

“So the meeting we had in Zambia was to apprise the ministers from both countries, which is the Council of Ministers, where the ministers of energy, their finance counterparts, the attorney-generals and permanent secretaries from both countries meet with the Zambezi River Authority.

“The meeting was to apprise the principals on progress before they then made the decision to proceed with the projects.”

Some of the key preparatory works are expected by the end of this month.

Construction will only begin after the selection of the project developer by September this year.

“So we did the evaluation and it was agreed that now we go to the next stage, where they will go through request for proposals for the full bid for the final procurement of the project developer.

“For that to happen, they need the feasibility studies, the environmental studies to have been completed, and we expect the reports for these to come in March.

“With the reports coming in March, we should then issue the request for proposal in April, and we expect to be going into the appointment of the developer in August and go into negotiations by September.

“After that process of negotiation with the development partner, we then expect the partner to start moving to the next stage, which will now be construction and then commissioning,” said Eng Magombo.

Zimbabwe was represented at the high-level meeting by Energy and Power Development Minister Dr Jorum Gumbo and his Finance and Economic Development counterpart Professor Mthuli Ncube.

Zambia’s Minister of Energy Mathew Nkhuwa and Zambia’s Treasury chief Margaret Mwanakatwe represented their country.

Batoka will generate 2 400MW of electricity to be shared equally between the two countries.

The project is expected to create nearly 1 200 direct jobs and 552 indirect jobs.

Currently, the two neighbouring countries jointly own Kariba Dam, which produces 1 050MW for Zimbabwe and 1 080MW for Zambia.

The post Batoka construction work to begin this year appeared first on Zimbabwe Situation.

Source: Zim adopts new rate on imported products | Sunday Mail (Top Stories)

Africa Moyo
Senior Business Reporter

The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) has begun using the market-determined rate to calculate duty on imported products after the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) made a decision to float the exchange rate.

Last month, monetary authorities established an interbank foreign exchange market through which foreign currency could be easily traded.

By the end of last week, the RTGS dollar — which bundles together bond notes and electronic RTGS balances – was trading at 2,5:1 to the US dollar.

Zimra Commissioner-General Ms Faith Mazani told The Sunday Mail last week that the taxman was simply complying with the provisions of the new monetary policy.

“We are just using the interbank rate. People bring in their products, which they bought in US dollars, and we calculate value for duty purposes using the interbank rate of 1:2,5,” said Ms Mazani.

Zimra released a statement on Friday saying: “Following gazetting of Statutory Instrument 32 of 2019, a new currency, Zimbabwe RTGs Dollar (ZWR), has been created in ASYCUDA World.

“The new currency affects clearance of designated goods as follows: (1) the current balance in the Nostro FCA prepayment account will be converted to ZWR at the prevailing exchange rate with the USD; (2) all foreign currency payments will appear on the payment receipt or prepayment receipt as ZW RTGs dollars; (3) clearance of designated goods will continue to be done using the ‘F’ prepayment account and (4) all values on the bill of entry and Form 49 will be reflected in RTGs Dollars though payment would be made in forex as per legislation.”

Market watchers believe that floating the exchange rate will cut imports and make local producers competitive.

Buy Zimbabwe chief executive officer Mr Munyaradzi Hwengwere recently noted that the central bank’s intervention will make local products competitive since the currency peg (1:1) was driving the consumption of foreign goods.

Buy Zimbabwe is a lobby group for local companies that promote local goods and services.

“The 1:1 rate made it lucrative to import finished products than to produce locally. We were now punishing exporters and pushing them towards the brink.

“Last year, manufacturers were given up to $1,2 billion, but they only managed to bring in only $200 million, and that money was coming from tobacco and mining, which brought in around $3,5 billion.

“We had a situation where a gold producer would only receive 45 percent at 1:1 when costs had gone up by 300 percent.

“What the new measures do is that they restore sanity,” said Mr Hwengwere.

Through floating the exchange rate, he said, local manufacturers would, therefore, have to buy the US at a premium, which means imports would not be cheap as they used to be under the old exchange-rate regime.

“In the same vein, exporters now have more incentives to export given that they get their money in US dollars at prevailing market rates.

“It means that the export industry does not collapse through subsidising someone else, including manufacturers.

“The beauty of the (monetary policy) statement is that it seeks to sanitise the production cycle,” he said.

Buy Zimbabwe is now pushing for the new measures to be aligned to the Local Content Policy in order to enhance local competitiveness. On average, the local manufacturing sector is operating at below 50 percent capacity due to aging equipment, foreign currency shortages and competition from cheap imports.

The post Zim adopts new rate on imported products appeared first on Zimbabwe Situation.

Source: Ambassador Mothobi burial set for Tuesday | Sunday Mail (Local News)

Africa Moyo

Ambassador Buzwani Donald Mothobi, who died at his Harare home on Wednesday following a protracted battle with cancer, is set to be buried in Bulawayo on Tuesday.

He was 79.

Procurement Authority of Zimbabwe (Praz) CEO Nyasha Chizu told The Sunday Mail yesterday that Ambassador Mothobi would be buried at Lady Stanley Cemetery in Bulawayo on Tuesday.

“We will travel to Bulawayo on Monday (tomorrow). In Bulawayo, mourners will gather at Domba Castle in Malindela.

“A church service will be held in Bulawayo on Tuesday, March 5, at Njube Church at 8.30am, followed by burial at 11am at Lady Stanley Cemetery,” said Mr Chizu, who worked with the late Ambassador Mothobi during his time as Praz deputy board chairperson.

The late diplomat was born in Nyamandlovu district on August 22 1939.

He held several top posts in both the private and public sector.

Before independence, between 1976 and 1977, he lectured in the department of political science at the then University of Rhodesia (now University of Zimbabwe).

In 1980, he became director (Research and Planning) in the Ministry of Manpower Planning and Development before he was subsequently engaged as deputy secretary for vocational and technical training (1980-1982) in the same ministry.

Thereafter, he was permanent secretary for Transport (1982-1984).

However, between 1984 and 1985, he rejoined the Ministry for Labour, Manpower Planning and Social Welfare as permanent secretary.

He then worked as permanent secretary for National Supplies in 1987.

His career in the diplomatic service began in 1994 when he had a four-year stint as Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to Japan and Republic of Korea,.

He became High Commissioner to Kenya and Uganda between 1998 and 2001. During his time in Kenya, he was also permanent representative to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Commission on Human Settlements/Habitat in that country.

He  resigned from his position as Praz deputy chairperson in September last year. He is survived by his wife and three children.

The post Ambassador Mothobi burial set for Tuesday appeared first on Zimbabwe Situation.

Source: Christian women urged to join politics | Sunday Mail (Top Stories)

Debra Matabvu and Thandiwe Garusa

WOMEN from religious backgrounds such as the church should actively participate in national politics to instil Christian values that help mould a strong country and economy, a Cabinet minister has said.

Speaking at the World Day of Prayer in Harare yesterday, Minister for Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Dr Sithembiso Nyoni said women in church were an integral part of the nation and should be included in all facets of the economy.

She also commended organisations such as Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) for economically empowering young women countrywide.

“One way to serve your country is to become a politician. You have the responsibility, ladies of the church, to produce women to lead this country with values of the church,” said Dr Nyoni.

“If you do not build them, we will be led by immoral people, and this country will go to the dogs, because the objectives of the politicians will be those of lining their pockets using State funds.

“But if you nurture women, the way YWCA nurtured us, this country will have women who will bring out what this country really needs.

“I remember Angeline Makwavarara, the then president of YWCA soon after independence, was sent to the Government with some documents on recommendations and resolutions from women in the church. She later became the first secretary of the Ministry of Women Affairs.”

Dr Nyoni also commended Christian civil society organisations that  have partnered Government on initiatives to empower women.

YWCA national general secretary, Mrs Muchanyara Mukamuri said women played an important role in praying for peace in society.

The World Day of Prayer is an international movement organised by women from different Christian denominations and is celebrated annually on March 1.

This year’s event was held under the theme: “Come – Everything is Ready!”, with Slovenia being the host for the main prayer. Zimbabwe will host the main event next year.

The post Christian women urged to join politics appeared first on Zimbabwe Situation.