Zim News Blog -NEWS NETWORK

Source: Curtain comes down on eventful ZITF – The Standard

EU ambassador Jobst von Kirchmann receives an award from King Mswati (left) as Busisa Moyo, chairperson of the ZITF board looks on. Picture: KB Mpofu

THE Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) is an annual event that brings together business leaders, innovators, policymakers, and investors from across the globe together.

This year’s trade showcase held under the theme: “Continuous innovation, global competitiveness,” came to an end yesterday.

Over 20 countries participated, an increase from 13 registered last year.

These include Angola, Belarus, Botswana, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Netherlands, Nigeria, South Africa, Sweden, Tanzania, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA) and Zambia.

The UK, European Union (EU) and USA made a return after an extended absence.

The EU was the biggest exhibitor, taking up 33 square metres of exhibition space, according to ZITF Company chairman, Busisa Moyo.

The second largest exhibitor was Econet Zimbabwe.

The fair provided a platform for business leaders to showcase their products and services, network, and explore new business opportunities.

It also provided a unique opportunity for policymakers to engage business leaders and investors, understand their needs, and create an enabling environment for economic growth.

The programme was jam-packed with a vast range of events, from harnessing the power of technology to creating a future-fit labour force, to collaborative innovation as the bedrock of intra-Africa and international trade.

Finance minister Mthuli Ncube took advantage of a business conference held during the ZITF to warn companies against engaging in parallel market activities.

He threatened to hike Zimbabwe’s policy rates beyond 200% if companies continue to dabble in such activities, which have been blamed for affecting economic growth.

Last year, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) earned the tag of the ‘world’s most aggressive’ central bank, after authorities hiked the policy rate to 200%.

The rate was reduced to 150%, before a further slash to the current140%.

But firms say at those levels, accessing loans from banks becomes extremely expensive.

While officially opening the Connect Africa Symposium, Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga said African countries should not be used as proxies in foreign conflicts by any country.

Instead, the continent should preserve her interests, particularly her resources, he said.

“Gone are the days when foreign powers come to our meetings and try to override our own agendas. No,” Chiwenga said.

“The agenda must be written by Africans for Africans.

“We see repeated attempts of hectoring Africa into answering to issues that are peripheral to its interests.

“That must end.

“We also see attempts by bigger powers to fight over our resources which they want to control and to detect partnerships for us. We know our interests.

“We do not need to be lectured through hypocrisy.”

He added: We must put our foot down as a continent, look to ourselves and assess partnerships for how well they serve us now and in future.

“That is the Africa we want and seek to build.”

King Mswati III of the Royal Kingdom of Eswatini, who officially opened the fair on Friday, called for greater trade and investment cooperation between his country and Zimbabwe, stressing that the two countries’ existing trade and investment remain negligible.

His call for greater trade and investment cooperation between his country and Zimbabwe is a reminder of the potential that lies in fostering stronger relationships between nations.

Despite the existing trade and investment being negligible, there is an opportunity for growth and development through mutual partnerships, he stressed.

“I further note that Eswatini imports over US$2 billion worth of goods per annum (from Zimbabwe) while Zimbabwe imports over US$5,6 billion worth of goods per annum from Eswatini,” he said.

“However, trade and investment between the two countries remains insignificant compared to our respective  economic connectivities with the rest of the world.

“I, therefore, would like to call for closer trade and investment collaboration between Eswatini and Zimbabwe.”

To address the challenges associated with the low levels of intra Africa trade, Mswati said African countries must make a conscious effort to do business with each other.

“This will go a long way in creating jobs for our economies and eradicate poverty in Africa,” he said.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa told journalists after touring the stands at ZITF that he was excited about the presence of  European nations, the United States of America, and the United Kingdom.

“So this engagement and re-engagement policy is bearing fruits. Perhaps, they heard that the Majesty is coming. That’s why they’re here,” he said.

Industry minister Sekai Nzenza said ZITF had seen an increase in international participation of up to 30% compared to last year.

In terms of local participation, 65% of the confirmed exhibitors were from Harare while Bulawayo-based companies account for 21%.

Representation from other cities around the country is 14%.

There are 533 exhibitors, taking up 46 631 square metres of the exhibition space, which converts to 97% of available exhibition space.

This compares favourably to last year’s closing total space occupied which was 45 786 square metres.

 To cater for the increased demand, organisers converted previously unused areas to exhibition sites.

 These include the Gate 7 car park as well as sections of selected boulevards.

As the world is changing at an unprecedented pace, Chiwenga urged businesses and countries to adapt and innovate in order to stay competitive.

“We must be at the forefront of innovation and driving change, if we are to succeed in achieving our aspirations of an empowered and prosperous middle-income economy by 2030,” he said.

Source: NGO empowers Apostolic women – The Standard

A FAITH-BASED organisation that pushes for gender inclusion and equality in apostolic communities has embarked on programmes to empower women in Shurugwi with support from Unki Mine.

The Apostolic Women Empowerment Trust (AWET) is implementing the community health and sanitation programmes in wards 18 and 19.

AWET said the project comprises two components, which are sanitation and health.

Under the sanitation aspect, the project is meant to address adequate sanitation at both household and community levels, especially at apostolic shrines.

On the other hand the health programme is meant to improve health services uptake when it comes to HIV and maternal as well as sexual reproductive health issues.

AWET is working with the Health and Child Care ministry and partners such as Zvandiri, National Aids Council, NGOs, and other government ministries,

It is targeting adolescent girls and young women from the apostolic churches and other religious groups, artisanal miners, pregnant women and people living with HIV and Aids.

Hope Dunhira, the AWET head of programmes, said they were implementing the programmes through behaviour change facilitators (BCFs), who were mostly from apostolic churches.

“We used the ideology of setting a thief to catch a thief, which is why 80% of the BCFs are apostolic church members, so that they can easily reach out to fellow church members and as a result there is an increased uptake of health services,” Dunhira said.

“More apostolic women are now coming for institutional delivery leading to a decline in home deliveries.

“Under 95-95-95 all pregnant women booked for antenatal clinics (ANC) first get an HIV test, if they test positive they are put on antiviral treatment under the test and treat notion.”

She said adolescent girls, who after being referred by BCFs for HTS or ANC, are sent to Zvandiri Community ART Treatment Support for psychosocial support under the support groups of enhanced adherence.

AWET said it had bought 30 straight singer sewing machines and two heavy duty overlocking machines as part of the project to empower women in the community.

It also trained adolescent girls and young women under the empowerment programme on reusable sanitary pad- making for personal use to boost self-esteem and for resale to earn a living.

Source: Briefs: Ngarivhume to appeal sentence – The Standard

TranSform Zimbabwe leader Jacob Ngarivhume will this week approach the High Court seeking to overturn his conviction for inciting people to revolt against President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government.

Ngarivhume was on Friday jailed for an effective three years by Harare magistrate Feresi Chakanyuka for incitement after a 2020 post on Twitter encouraging Zimbabweans to protest against corruption.

Chakanyuka suspended one year of the sentence.

The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights yesterday said Ngarivhume’s defence lawyers had been given instructions to “file an appeal against both conviction and sentence, which should be done by Wednesday 3 May.”

The lawyers also expect to file an application for bail pending appeal this week.—STAFF REPORTER

Man forces wife to sleep in car

An Epworth woman is sleeping in a car outside her house after she was chased away from her matrimonial home by her husband who infected her with HIV.

The woman, who cannot be identified for her own protection, told Harare magistrate Tamara Chibindi that she was no longer enjoying the comfort of her bed since last year after her husband of 18 years ejected her from their home in a case of domestic violence.

She told the court that her husband was abusive and does not want to see her inside the house, forcing her to sleep outside.

 “I have decided to approach the court because all along, I have avoided suing him, but I am now tired of the continuous harassment,” she submitted.

 “He infected me with HIV and staying in the car has affected my health.”

The husband, however, said he divorced the complainant eight months ago.

“We are no longer married and I told her family that I do not want her anymore because she was seeing other men,” he said. —REJOICE PHIRI

Woman wants court to stop cheating hubby

A Harare woman on Friday accused her husband of causing her to suffer from hypertension and other health complications by engaging in extramarital affairs.

Martha Mazvure pleaded with Harare magistrate Tamara Chibindi to order her husband Stewart Chara to stop emotionally abusing her.

“My husband knows that I am a BP patient and I am not supposed to be stressed, but he continues doing things that stress me daily,” she submitted.

“Sometimes he comes home wearing clothes with face powder stains.

“He is sleeping with different women and now he has infected me with a sexually transmitted disease.”

Chibindi asked Mazvure how her husband was disturbing her peace, and she failed to answer.

She said she only wanted the court to order her husband to stop cheating. —REJOICE PHIRI

Cop dodges paying maintenance

A Harare  police officer was ordered to bring his payslip and bank statement to court after he refused to disclose his salary to avoid paying maintenance.

Hillary Nyamande was offering US$40 maintenance to his estranged wife, Petronella Mawoyo towards the upkeep of their two children.

Nyamande told magistrate Sharon Mashavira that he earned $32 000 and a US$200 allowance.

He also said he had remarried  and had  another child.

 Mawoyo dismissed his claims.

“He also does not have any other children except the two he has with me,” she said.

“The children that he is referring to are actually two and they are not his biological children, they are his wife’s children.”

Mashavira ordered Nyamande to bring a bank statement and payslip after postponing the matter.—REJOICE PHIRI

Source: Zimplats sinks US$373,6 million into projects – The Standard

PLATINUM mining giant, Zimplats Holdings Limited

PLATINUM mining giant, Zimplats Holdings Limited (ZHL), sunk US$373,6 million into its projects and committed nearly US$479 million to expand the investments during the first quarter ended March 31, 2023.

During the quarter, ZHL spent money on exploration and expanding operations at its existing mines to scale up its mineral production.

In a quarterly update for the period ended March 31, 2023 ZHL said mined tonnage decreased by 4% from the prior quarter mainly due to a decrease in the number of operating days, from 92 in the prior quarter to 90.

The prior year’s performance, the firm explained, was impacted by lower availability of trackless mining equipment at Mupfuti Mine, which has since been addressed.

Hence, ZHL has been seeking to scale its operations to improve tonnage.

“US$2,3 million was spent on exploration drilling during the quarter and US$3,6 million was committed as at 31 March 2023,” ZHL said in a statement attached to its first quarter report for the period under review.

“The exploration activities related mainly to surface diamond drilling to upgrade the group’s mineral resources, geotechnical assessments of the rock mass properties in support of current and future mining operations in ML37 and in support of technical studies currently ongoing in ML36. A total of 21 047 metres were drilled as part of the exploration work during the quarter.”

ZHL said the development of Mupani Mine and the upgrade of Bimha Mine progressed as planned during the quarter.

“These projects replace Rukodzi Mine, which was depleted in FY2022, and the Ngwarati, and Mupfuti mines, which will be depleted in FY2025 and FY2028, respectively. Cumulatively, a total of US$295,3 million has been spent on these projects, with an additional US$73,5 million committed, against a project budget of US$468 million,” ZHL said.

“A total of US$4 million was spent on the Ngezi third concentrator plant during the quarter, bringing the project-to-date expenditure to US$101,1 million, with a further US$3,0 million committed as at end of the quarter, against a project budget of US$104,1 million.

“The plant operated at design production capacity throughout the quarter.”

ZHL also said that they were going through with the implementation of its US$521 million smelter expansion project and the SO2 abatement plant project which both remained on track.

“The project progressed well during the quarter. A total of US$66,6 million has been spent on the project to date, with a further US$342,5 million committed. Execution of the 35MW solar plant project at the Selous Metallurgical Complex progressed as planned during the quarter, with a total of US$0,8 million spent and US$35,8 million committed, against a budget of US$37 million,” ZHL said.

“This is the first of the project’s four project implementation phases. The final phase is scheduled for completion in FY2027, at a total project cost estimate of US$201 million. Implementation of the base metal refinery refurbishment project progressed well during the quarter. A total of US$4,6 million has been spent to date, with a further US$20,2 million committed, against a budget of US$189,9 million.”

If all the figures that were recorded as spent and committed amounts are added, respectively, the totals come to US$373,6 million and US$478,6 million.

Miners have often complained that daily power cuts and challenges in securing foreign currency have negatively impacted the firm’s ability to scale operations with ZHL being no exception.

ZHL said due to power outages in the final month of the quarter and fewer operating days, ore milled dropped 3% to 1,88 million tonnes. The miner added that the inclusion of tonnes milled at Ngezi’s third concentrator plant, commissioned in September 2022, increased milled volumes year-over-year.

“6E head grade decreased by 3% from the prior quarter and was 4% lower year-on-year, largely due to an increase in tonnes milled from lower-grade stockpiles, dilution from mining across geological structures and mining larger construction excavations,” ZHL said.

ZHL reported 6E metal in final product dropped 8% from the prior quarter due to reduced 6E head grade, concentrator recoveries, and milled volumes, each of which dropped by 3%.

“Year-on-year 6E metal in final product remained at similar levels as the 10% increase in tonnes milled was offset by lower head grades and recoveries, and the prior quarter benefited from a larger release of concentrate inventory,” ZHL said.

As a result of this performance, total operating cash costs decreased by 5% from the prior quarter, mainly due to lower production volumes, to US$124,37 million. ZHL, who specialises in the platinum group metals such as platinum, palladium, rhodium, iridium, ruthenium, and osmium, is owned by South African miner, Impala Platinum Holdings Limited.

Six years ago President Emmerson Mnangagwa promised to transform Zimbabwe’s politics, which he said “had become poisoned, rancorous and polarising”. After being sworn in to replace long time ruler Robert Mugabe following a military coup in 2017, Mnangagwa declared: “My goal is to preside over a polity and run an administration that recognises strength in […]