Listed brewer, Delta Corporation Limited (Delta) says its production and distribution operations were disturbed by the dearth of electricity, fuel and foreign currency.

BY MISHMA CHAKANYUKA

Delta is the largest company listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange in terms of market capitalisation.

“Our production and distribution operations were disrupted by the shortages of electricity and fuel, which in themselves are a manifestation of the limited availability of foreign currency. The sourcing of imported goods and services remains constrained by the shortages of foreign currency, particularly in view of the backlog in settling past due obligations,” said Delta chairman, Canaan Dube in a statement accompanying the group’s financial results for the period ended September 30, 2019.

“Zimbabwe shifted from the multi-currency trading and reverted to the Zimbabwe Dollar (ZWL) as the sole trading currency at the end of June 2019. The policy changes have led to a surge in inflation and a fast depreciating exchange rate. Consumer spending remains low as incomes have lagged the escalation in prices of goods and services.”

Dube added: “The company has been adversely impacted by shortages of potable water, electricity and fuel. Volume performance is thus constrained and significantly below last year across our product offering”.

As such, Delta’s lager beer volumes declined 48% compared to the same period last year, sorghum beer volumes declined 15% while sparkling beverages volumes were down 56%.

The volume performance at the National Breweries PLC in Zambia, where Delta owns a controlling stake, was also down 20% for the period.

“Volume was 20% down on last year which is partly due to higher pricing on the back of a steep increase in maize prices and the depreciation of the Kwacha. Consumer acceptance of the recently launched returnable pack has been encouraging,” Dube said.

“Product supply is constrained by capacity and power supply disruptions. Chibuku Super and Shake Shake were the dominant packs.”

The performance of the local African Distillers where Delta has a 50,1% stake was also down 41%, due to limitations in accessing and the high cost of foreign currency.

These decreased volumes saw Delta register a 2% decline in total revenue to $1,53 billion in the period under review from a 2018 comparative of $1,57 billion.

Despite the decline in volumes, Delta registered earnings before interest and tax of ZWL$464 million during the period which was 53% above prior year driven by replacement cost pricing in response to inflationary pressures.

This saw profit after tax increasing by about 45% to $382,42 million for the period under review from a comparative 2018 figure of $262,93. Also adding to this was the group earning an additional $731,66 million in other comprehensive income for the period under review.

Earnings per share rose 35% to 28,69 cents during the period under review from 21,30 cents over a similar period in 2018.

Assets grew 25% to $4,68 billion in the period under review from a 2018 comparative of $3,75 billion. This was largely due to the company rebasing its assets in Zimbabwe dollars.

“The implied average fair market exchange rate for the period of ZWL10 to US$1 has been applied to uplift the values of its property, plant and equipment and other long-term assets while foreign liabilities are recorded at the closing exchange rate,” Dube said.

Going forward, the company will manage the emerging risks while striving to capture all available opportunities.

AS the year 2019 ended yesterday, the creative industry had no kind words for the Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation minister Kirsty Coventry who they say has failed to live up to expectation — transforming the arts and culture sector robustly.

BY WINSTONE ANTONIO

In separate interviews with NewsDay Life & Style yesterday, some creatives labelled Coventry the worst sector’s minister, who has failed to show them that she has an understanding of the arts and culture sector.

Blessing Vava

“The arts industry is facing funding challenges, issues of intellectual property, royalties and piracy just to name but a few and I think these are some of the immediate issues that she has failed to address or even attempted to deal with,” he said.

Joe Njagu

“As filmmakers we have not had the privilege to meet or engage her. For me, it’s sad how they don’t realise the power that film has to propel agendas forward from tourism to selling the image of this country,” he said.

“The rule of filmmaking is ‘show it don’t tell it’, so they could take advantage of our trade and instead of saying most stuff they could just show it using film. Imagine a live story movie set in Victoria Falls or an epic movie set at Great Zimbabwe. We are all afraid of America as a super power because we have all seen Arnold Schwarzenegger going to Colombia on his own to kill the whole army, or Bruce Willis saving the whole world in Armageddon. Anyway, one day they will know.”

Plot Mhako

“I am one of the people who celebrated the appointment of Coventry, but I am not convinced by her performance since she took office. There has been a lot of the usual talk and less action on the artistic and cultural part. A lot of what needs to be done does not require money, but new imagination and innovation supported by a huge diaspora artistic community,” he said.

“She is in charge of possibly the most important ministry in the country, a ministry that deals with the Youths, Sports and Culture and the youth constitute the bigger population and equally possess untapped creative potential that could help create jobs, transform the national narrative, foster a new sense of pride, provoke new imagination and enhance tourism, but sadly the creative sector is struggling.

Nigel Nyamutumbu

“It seems that the Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation minister Kirsty Coventry either has misplaced priorities or is completely clueless on the needs of the arts industry. Her ministry has not made any meaningful attempt to engage with stakeholders in the industry to at least establish a common vision or policy thrust,” he said.

“Countries that have thriving cultural industries to the extent of successfully exporting their art bank a lot on the government support. Our artists lack that support and are subjected to a toxic operating environment and the minister seems to be blind to this reality,” he said.

Tinashe Muchuri

“If I were to rate performances of the ministry, I would go for the departments which were in touch with artists’ challenges not the minister who is only less than a year and half working with the art sector,” he said.

“The other issue to consider is to look at the arts department budget allocation. Artists’ needs are catered for by different ministries for example Home Affairs has the censorship board and the monuments, film is under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services were also musicians face censorship under Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe. It is, therefore, not easy to rate Coventry under these circumstances.”

Benjamin Nyandoro

“It is a very difficult call, given that I can’t feel what she is doing. Maybe, it is just a poor communication system at the ministry that is not sharing the good work she has done.”

Eddie Ndlovu

“I admire her (Kirsty) since the days of her swimming career, but personally I feel as the film industry we have been neglected. I do believe we fall under the arts banner, but our voices deserve to be heard by such offices,” he said.

“I would rate her five out of 10, but if she plays her role well as the Arts minister (not only focusing on athletics) she can do wonders.”

Edith WeUtonga

“Considering she (Kirsty) has been an athlete, we expected that she would know the behind the scenes of the arts and culture sector and be quick to act on matters affecting us in the sector, but we were wrong,” she said.
Diana Samkange

“As an advocate of gender balance, I am quite pleased with her (Kirsty) inclusion in the Cabinet. I applaud her for all she has done so far in terms of bettering the arts industry, however, my plea to her is to maintain that and go the extra mile once again in implementing working policies in the arts sector for the betterment of the arts industry.”

Cde Fatso

“After joining President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government, her (Kirsty) silence when our artists are attacked by the State is unacceptable. Why was she silent about the abduction of Gonyeti (female comedian) and Platinum Prince (dancehall singer)? What action has she demanded to find the perpetrators?”

HAPPY New Year Zimbabwe, I say this as a compliment that is expected of all men of goodwill, but the chaos on the horizon means the country has to hold candid talks between and among its citizens on how the economic malaise should be addressed.

Zimbabwe over the past two years has been toying with the idea of a corporatist State, a classic textbook implementation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) economic structural programmes. IMF policies are generally broken down into three main issues – privatisation, stabilisation and liberalisation – euphemisms for State leaving issues to private players and markets (capital).

The IMF has since 1970 dumped the currency/economic stabilisation function that it was created to perform at the end of World War 2. The institution has been stealthily taken over by the Chicago Boys – former Chicago School of Economics students – a group that was trained by Milton Friedman a neo-liberal economist who believes in deregulated economies and free market economics.

In other words, the IMF dumped the Keynesian mixed economics that left room for States to control certain sectors of the economy to protect vulnerable groups that capital has no regard for except chasing profits.

To understand how the IMF has changed one can get a lot of insight from Naomi Klein book: The Shock Doctrine, the Rise of Disaster Capitalism. This is a book that dissects how the IMF since the 1970s under control of the Chicago Boys has moved from Keynesian economics (pro-development) to unpopular free-market economics using the shock doctrine – a combination of military force or currency destabilisation – leaving the population in a state of shock and resigned to fate.

The shock doctrine has been implemented with disastrous consequences in South America – Chile, Brazil, Bolivia and Argentine, in Asia – Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and South Korea during the 1998 financial crises, China after the Tianmen Square massacre, Poland in 1989, Russia under Boris Yelstin, United States after September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and Iraq in 2003.

All these countries taking the IMF medication – privatisation, stabilisation and liberalisation – have spawned hundreds of billionaires who bought privatised State enterprises, driving most of the middle class into poverty and leaving their economies vulnerable to the whims of capitalists who could move their money across borders without any regulations.

Since President Emmerson Mnangagwa assumed power via a November 2017 coup and appointed Mthuli Ncube as Treasury boss, Zimbabwe has undergone some form of shock doctrine and structural adjustment without resistance from a shocked country. Following the July 30, 2018 elections, the military went onto the streets to quell protests by mainly opposition supporters demanding the early release of presidential vote results. Six people were killed in cold blood and as soon as the Cabinet was announced Ncube did not miss the opportunity to unleash austerity to a shocked people.

People lost their savings after Ncube floated the bond note and separated the nostro-accounts from general savings accounts, igniting hyperinflation and stagnant incomes. The citizens tried to come out in January 2019 after a 150% fuel increase and a more brutal treatment awaited them, 17 lost their lives, hundreds were left maimed and women raped.

Zimbabweans were thrown into deep shock. They have no will to resist. The currency change went ahead and privatisation of State-owned enterprises was hastened. The unions are weak, civil society and opposition are emasculated and cannot organise protests against their own impoverishment.

The capitalist vultures are circling, like in South Korea then, to get bargains in the energy, transport and communication sectors. With a falling Zimdollar against the greenback and further limited fiscal space the family silver would be sold for a song, creating a new breed of billionaires feeding on State-owned companies.

This would not be the end, like in Asia, Europe and United States after the 2008 global recession due to deregulation and capital’s unrestrained power – Zimbabwe would remain in peril despite some temporary respite as the country would be powerless in driving the economy. It will be at the mess of capital.

It is time that Zimbabweans robustly discuss the economic future of the country. Should it be left to the Washington Consensus (Chicago Boys) or we can go back to Keynesian developmental economics? Or alternatively try the Chinese or Malaysian model where the State keep certain sectors under its control despite pressure from the IMF. A laissez faire approach to economics does not work and will not work as has been exposed by past IMF interventions across the world.

Zimbabwe needs new leadership, but the old is refusing to die and the new to be born.

A leadership that cares about the working class and the poor, a leadership that does not worship capital and knows that the State needs to have control of important sectors like energy, transport, health, water and education.

Probably it is time to show the Chicago Boys the exit door.

Paidamoyo Muzulu is a journalist and writes here in his personal capacity. He can be contacted on muzulu.p@gmail.com

THE Emmerson Mnangagwa administration is facing challenges, fuel shortages, an unprecedented price hikes of basic commodities, forex scarcity, and drug outages, doctors’ strike, which it has so far failed to deal with.

NewsDay Comment

It is over two years since Mnangagwa grabbed power from the late Robert Mugabe in a military coup. He was initially celebrated for ending the 38 years of a brutal regime which ruthlessly silenced all opposition and muted any divergent views.

But the ululations are slowly being replaced by wailings which grow louder as the Zanu PF government blunders and fumbles for solutions to the biting economic crisis.

The praises are turning to ash as it becomes more apparent that the more things change, the more they remain the same.

Most companies have shut down and the manufacturing industry on which our hope was premised is not opening any time soon.

As the country sinks into the doldrums, the mantra ‘Zimbabwe is open for business” is now a mockery in the face of so much suffering. What sort of leader presides over a country which does not have a single functional public hospital?

While in Zambia, Edgar Lungu is now aiming for worldclass medical facilities with state-of-the-art equipment, our own hospitals are struggling to remain open.

We pile the blame on the leader, who has not only failed the country, but refuses to acknowledge the people’s suffering. It is quite obvious now that his team is as clueless as their President and the honourable thing would have been to step aside or allow for meaningful talks and not the charade dubbed Polad.

As we go into 2020, parents are seized with extortionate school fees, exorbitantly priced uniforms and rentals in United States dollars.

The festive season was subdued as many could not afford even a decent meal. Many will remember Mnangagwa for all the bad things that are happening.

Families of those who were shot on August 1 have no kind words for the government which allowed soldiers to open fire on civilians. They repeated the trick in January, killing 23 people and injuring others. What an affront to human rights and freedom of expression and human decency.

What makes it all sadder is that the government is not paying heed to what the international community is saying or even the regional watchdogs.

The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission in its report for 2019 strongly condemned the use of live ammunition and excessive force against unarmed protesters. But those concerned do not care and it will become one of the reports from “detractors”.

Surely all this overwhelming narration of failures warrants action, but are there any more tricks in Mnangagwa’s bag or we are dealing with a tired system that is comfortable regurgitating yesteryear solutions that never worked.

MDC president Nelson Chamisa said his party will turn on the heat in 2020 to ensure a lasting solution to the current challenges bedevilling the country is found.

BY MOSES MATENGA/NIZBERT MOYO

Chamisa said the socio-economic crisis in Zimbabwe was political and a solution should be found before it’s too late as millions face starvation.

The opposition leader painted a gloomy picture of the situation on the ground saying nothing was functional in the country, particularly in the villages.

“We are called upon to ensure that no one is left behind to make sure that we protect the weak, poor and vulnerable. Poverty should not be used as a tool for oppression. The crisis in Zimbabwe is man-made,” Chamisa said to NewsDay.

“Parents cannot afford to take their children to school. Teenage pregnancies are increasing; crops in the fields are wilting and dying. Food continues to be used as a political weapon to sow divisions, hate and instil fear. Clinics have totally collapsed,” he added, while speaking of his recent visit to the village during the Christmas holidays.

“There is no money and no food. This can’t continue. The solution to this crisis is political. It’s time for real change and reform. We will roll out plans and action aimed at restoring dignity, promoting development and pushing for real change in Zimbabwe, particularly in the rural areas. In 2020 we must leave no stone unturned. We will turn on the heat in the fight for freedom and a decent life for every Zimbabwean.”

Zimbabwe’s problems have been described by many, including the South African government as political and there have been calls for dialogue between the country’s political leaders, President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Chamisa.

However, hope for the proposed talks seem to be fading as the key political protagonists continue to clash and making demands on each other.

Mnangagwa wants Chamisa to submit himself to the Political Actors Dialogue (Polad) while Chamisa has vowed never to be part of Mnangagwa’s “machine” insisting on the need for genuine dialogue.

Meanwhile, Chamisa has implored fellow countrymen to tell transformative stories by responding to the welfare of the elderly to inspire future generations.

The MDC donated bread, flour, rice and soap among other groceries to Ekuphumuleni Geriatrics nursing home in Bulawayo on Saturday.

Nkululeko Sibanda told NewsDay that recent donations to the needy by Chamisa are influenced by his concern for the welfare of the elderly and underprivileged in society.

“Chamisa is encouraging our country to take its responsibility of providing basic amenities and welfare to those in need. The donation is not about us, the era of giving for a show off must end. He is doing this to inspire our future generations that our primary duty is to serve and to be grateful to those who saved us before,” Sibanda said.

“Chamisa has raised tens of thousands of dollar value donations through appeals to Zimbabweans in the diaspora and other able Zimbabweans in the country. He will be picking a city every year where he will provide his public effort and this year he was putting much emphasis on Bulawayo because this is where he spent the festive season.”

He said Chamisa instructed his teams not to only provide the elderly with food but also to spend “some quality time” such as they did at Ekuphumuleni Geriatrics Nursing and Old People’s Home on Saturday before visiting Cabatsha residents in ward 2 in Bulawayo.

Ekuphumuleni administrator, Sukoluhle Hobe said: They are very thankful. “We received a lot of groceries from MDC representatives. We are a nursing home for those above 65 years if donations prop up we are very thankful we need assistance most of the time.”

LAWYERS representing the incarcerated estranged wife of Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga, Marry Mubaiwa, have said she was “too ill” and her hands were “too swollen to attempt to kill” the former army general who was admitted at a South African hospital.

BY MOSES MATENGA

This came out during the bail application hearing at the High Court in Harare yesterday where Mubaiwa’s lawyer, Taona Nyamakura said the State was failing to prove its attempted murder case.

Nyamakura said there was nowhere in the State case that proved the accused attempted to kill her husband, adding that the inclusion of a blood-stained T-shirt as evidence was “laughable”.

“The charge is attempted murder but nowhere does the State say the accused intended to kill her husband. What is there is just an allegation that she came to hospital to cause harm,” Nyamakura said, adding that the State case was too weak.

The lawyer said alleging that Mubaiwa dragged “a fully grown man” before trying to flee and disappeared from the scene, given her state, made the attempted murder claims “nonsensical”.

Nyamakura was later asked to withdraw the word “nonsense” in describing the nature of the allegations.

He said there was a medical report to prove that Mubaiwa was sick at the time the offence was allegedly committed and said it was not, therefore, possible for her to drag a fully grown man and disappear from the scene.

When Mubaiwa appeared at the Harare Magistrates Court on Monday for routine remand, her swollen hands were bandaged.

She was remanded to January 14.

Photographs to prove Mubaiwa’s illness were shown to the court.

The lawyer said the provision of a medical report as evidence that Chiwenga was in hospital in South Africa did not show that there was an attempt on his life, as it remained a “notorious fact” that the former army commander was indeed hospitalised.

Mubaiwa denies attempting to kill Chiwenga, saying even after the date she was said to have tried to kill him, they travelled together to China and spent time together, she added that at one point, President Emmerson Mnangagwa facilitated her trip and upkeep while in the Asian country at the instigation of the former top soldier.
Nyamakura argued that given her state of health, it would be punitive to deny her bail as it required that she got constant monitoring.

The State opposed bail saying there was “overwhelming evidence” to prove that the former top model tried to kill the former top soldier.

Asked why there were not providing the “overwhelming evidence” the State said they had no directive from the Prosecutor-General Kumbirai Hodzi to do so.

The State argued that Mubaiwa was a woman of means and had properties outside the country hence there was strong possibility that she could relocate.

Justice Pisirai Kwenda reserved judgment.

On the money-laundering charge, the defence team, led by advocate Silvester Hashiti, argued that it was the company, and not an individual that ought to be charged, if any crime was committed at all.

Mubaiwa’s father, a Harare businessman, offered his properties as surety after it emerged the property she had forwarded for bail was co-owned with the Vice-President.

The former model has been in custody since December 14.

In an interview, Hashiti said: “We had two matters in the court, an appeal against the decision of the Magistrate that denied her bail. The second was a bail application on the attempted murder charge.”

“On the first one, we argued that all charges do not show how she was personally involved. All charges point to a company having been involved so on that basis, there is little that links her to the offence.”

“She is not a flight risk she has personal circumstances that allow her to face trial in Zimbabwe if need be and there is nothing that stops anyone from ensuring her availability for trial. The other matter for attempted murder is a completed matter. The offence as alleged by the State has already been completed. There is nothing that stops her from appearing in court and stand trial over that issue and all the witnesses the State seeks to rely on are high-powered individuals and she will not interfere with them (and) in any event they are protected by the State.”

Justice Pisirai said he would issue judgment soon as currently, most of the court typists were on vacation.

FOR decades, humankind has been under attack, not from physical forces as one might quickly assume, but from stress, anxiety and depression.

BY LORRAINE MUROMO

This is because life situations are increasingly getting in the way of livelihoods as a result of a growing global population against increasingly shrinking resources.

Worsening matters further is the fact that at the start the new decade, people who are dealing with the adverse effects of shrinking resources are mostly bottling up their feelings.

The reason why this is happening is because even if they share their feelings, the harsh reality is it won’t stop global resources from shrinking and Zimbabwe is no exception to this truth.

With the country having faced its worst drought in over a decade in 2019, coupled with austerity measures that have significantly impoverished the nation, unemployment, an increasingly autocratic government as well as fuel, water, electricity, and cash shortages, Zimbabweans are more depressed.

Sure, they attempted to deal with this through comedy from notable characters such as Gonyeti, Mai Titi, Madam Boss and the comic Pastor, but the only problem is autocracy has reduced this space.
As such, Zimbabweans may need to turn to poetry.

First and foremost, it is of the essence to understand what poetry is all about as briefly as possible. It can be defined as a form of writing that formulates a concentrated imaginative awareness of experience in a language chosen and arranged to create a specific emotional response through meaning, sound and rhythm.

We currently live in a time whereby everyone claims to be okay but in actual truth, people are not okay. People turn to alternatives to find relief from stress, but there is nothing that beats the world of art.

It is liberating to put words on a piece of paper, poetry is healing, and it is therapeutic.

Poetry has the ability to reach deep down into the soul and restore long-time wounds. It is basically a safe zone, a reservoir of unsaid words, a channel through which one can let out toxic emotions.

It has the ability to let an individual speak to situations, bullies and intangible sensations that we cannot deal with physically.

Renowned poet, Leonard Takudzwa Mukwenga fondly known as Hey Hey in poetic circles seems, to agree.

According to him as human beings we have a common goal despite differing on a lot of things. We are all constantly searching for something be it love, a job, a supreme being or a better life, the point is people are nomadic.

“I look at life as a negotiation and for someone to access the things they need requires one to have a sound and a clear mind which is a challenge as many of us are not aware of our mental state of mind,” he said.

“Some suffer from anxiety, depression and several other mental disorders and they are not sure why they are not being effective, the mind is in pain and definitely needs something to distract it from whatever it is going through.”

Mukwenga said further that buying a journal and start writing poems can come across as a crazy idea but it is definitely healthy to keep a record of your emotional state.

That way the mind becomes relatively fresh and even the human emotional intelligence tends to get a nitrous boost.
Poetry is indeed a powerful tool as an outlet to channel out all toxic emotions and thoughts. For example why is it that most people tend to regret their actions after they have already committed a deed?

If only one would have found a way to deal with it before everything else went out of hand, writing down and expressing oneself through poetry is efficient.

Poetry provides the space to say all the hurtful words and think the most negative thoughts without hurting the next person, isn’t it a beautiful way of tackling verbal abuse?

Isn’t it a wonderful way of escaping reality for a moment and dealing with emotions before coming back to deal with reality?

There is the beauty of sobering up and thinking rationally after expressing oneself through writing down on a piece of paper.

That is how therapeutic it is, it gives one peace of mind and one will find that life is actually easier to deal with if only they could take it one step at a time and learn to express themselves more.

Without a doubt poetry is a powerful form of expression, liberating and a healthy way of living.

Biodiversity — the variation in all living organisms — is one of Africa’s richest assets. As a result, its genetic material is coveted by scientists, biotechnology companies and research institutes globally. For decades, there has been a flow of data and biosamples from the African continent to the global north. This has often been in the absence of legitimate participant consent, community engagement or data or material transfer agreements.

Biopiracy – the act of directly or indirectly taking undue advantage of research participants and communities in global health research – has a long and contentious history in Africa. A recent case occurred during the West African Ebola outbreak between 2014 and 2016 when thousands of biological specimens left the continent without consent. Very often there is minimal benefit sharing.

The issue has been in the news again in South Africa. Accusations have been levelled against the Wellcome Sanger Institute in the UK for allegedly attempting to commercialise data obtained from various African universities. This has reignited questions around models of consent in research, donor rights, biopiracy and genomic sovereignty.

The latest revelations show that legislation as well as academic research governance bodies have failed to adequately safeguard the rights of vulnerable participants in genomics research.

One missing piece of the puzzle is the limited empirical data on the views of people whose biosamples are taken in the name of research. This would include issues of ownership, future use, export, benefit-sharing and commercialisation.

In 2011 and 2012, we surveyed participants to better understand their views. We recruited participants who had experience with research, the consent process and use of biological samples. They were engaged in studies at academic research units attached to public hospitals and private research centres.

Our findings remain relevant today as many of the issues raised by the people we spoke to have still not been addressed.

The issue of consent

Our study was conducted over a 10-month period from September 2011 to June 2012. We sampled 200 participants in the Western Cape and Gauteng provinces in South Africa. Participants who had already consented to use of their blood for research were asked several questions including the following: how they felt about their samples being stored for future use and about them being sent abroad to foreign countries, as well as the possibility of future commercialisation.

Most participants were supportive of research. But many expressed concern about export of their blood samples and data out of South Africa.

For their part, researchers viewed the biosamples as donations. But participants believed they had ownership rights and were keen on benefit-sharing. Almost half of the participants were not in favour of broad consent delegated to a research ethics committee. Their preference was to be contacted again for consent in the future.

The legitimacy of using broad consent models for genomic research and biobanking occupies a contested space among bioethicists and researchers globally. Broad consent allows researchers to use biosamples and data indefinitely for future research.

Usually, with broad consent, future research must be approved by a Research Ethics Committee (a diverse group of experts from different research, medical, legal and ethics disciplines) and it is then not necessary to contact donors and ask for their permission to conduct research with their samples or data again.

But this type of consent is particularly contentious in resource depleted countries. This is because research participants often don’t understand the complex scientific jargon used in consent documents or processes, especially where use of their samples or data in the future is concerned. This includes commercialisation.

Strong privacy protection legislation and other similar laws require specific consent. This means that individual participants need to consent to use of their data in a specific project or disease category. This makes it challenging to understand how broad consent (delegated to a research ethics committee) for unspecified future use can be legally obtained in research.

This is particularly concerning where future commercialisation may be included in broad consent models without being explicitly discussed with participants. The language used to explain commercialisation is often vague and not fully comprehensible by vulnerable populations.
South Africa also has protocols in place. For example, clear, explicit, voluntary informed consent is required for all use of data and samples belonging to research participants. If data or samples are to be transferred to other researchers in South Africa or abroad, participants ought to be aware of this and can then consent or decline. However, this is not always what happens.

In addition, if data is to be shared with another institution, a data transfer agreement or material transfer agreement must be signed prior to the transfer. This too does not always happen.

Reform is needed

South Africa needs to up its game and reform governance around research ethics. This is particularly necessary in the context of international collaborative research. Good governance needs to incorporate transparency, fairness and honesty.

— The Conversation

 Keymanthri Moodley is the director of The Centre for Medical Ethics & Law, Stellenbosch University, SA.

THE Ogygia is a notorious Yemen prison in Season 5 of an American television series Prison Break. In this facility former structural engineer and fictional main character Michael Scofield is incarcerated in a period when there is an impending and inevitable ISIS takeover.

The storyline depicts a failed State whose thin line of military buffer is only holding ISIS a few miles away from the Ogygia where apparently some ISIS kingpins are being held.

All the principles of bureaucracy are already falling apart, typical of failing and failed States. It is at this point when Scofield’s brother Lincoln Barrows is faced with an uphill task to rescue his brother before the total collapse of the Middle East State.

I and my two colleagues were at Chikurubi Maximum Prison a few weeks ago, visiting a friend incarcerated at the super-max facility, the short trip out of the city centre only reminded me of many other signs of a failing State. Cry the motherland.

Just like in Prison Break, where the prison is eventually taken over by corrupt warlords who line their pockets through bribery and extortion, Chikurubi also smells of lots of greedy officers who seek bribes from visitors.

A quick chat with my friends will give you a confirmation that at least three times we were asked for bribe in return for varying kinds of “favours”, including something as petty as permission to handover cigarettes to an inmate. We found this despicable.

Certainly, the officers are not warlord equivalent of the Yemenis, but there are sufficient ingredients of a vigilante takeover in the event of a not-far-fetched implosion.

The corrupt gatekeeper behaviour we saw at Chikurubi, however, is a reflection of a deeper problem; It is indeed a tip of an iceberg. One of the bribes Barrows had to pay included letting go of his US passport, the middleman purporting to broker a deal for the release of Scofield equated the document to gold.

Harare’s Makombe Building aptly reflects a gold equivalent of a document in respect of the Zimbabwean passport.
At the Registar-General’s Office, bribery begets bribery, corruption begets corruption and chaos begets chaos. George BN Ayittey in Africa in Chaos locates this kind of chaos in the failure by the former liberators to reconcile the two Africas, one modern and one ancient.

In the motherland, crocodile liberators are not only dwelling in the past, but they also thrive in chaos, they are like catfish they muddy the waters before hunting for prey in the murky pool.

They look away while chaos continues and pretend to solve the problem by worsening it, half the time tinkering with the deck while the titanic is sinking.

Quack revolutionaries deny any State of fragility yet fragility is already brewing State failure, but who cares the so-called leaders are Swiss bank socialists whose friends were even fingered in Panama papers. If the worst happens they will fly with their diplomatic passports to the safe havens and enjoy their lives sipping the best of wines and tiger fishing off their offshore accounts.

Far-fetched or alarmist or exaggerated some would say, but the benefit of hindsight is the highest level of wisdom.

On November 14, 2017 tanks and guns were brought to the street of Harare. Some would say it was not a military coup, others said it was a military-assisted transition and many rely on what the Generals said, Operation Restore Legacy, while some would rely on Justice George Chiweshe’s pronouncement that everything was done above board.

If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and flies like a duck then it is a duck. More importantly, once soldiers bring their tanks and guns to the streets of the capital, it is just a matter of time before they come back again.

Our brothers in Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and other parts of Africa will confirm this thesis. Coups beget chaos, they breed warlords and eat into the soul of modern civilian civilisation and construct.

In a country like ours where ammunition is uncounted for by the government’s own account, the Libyan crisis is a possible risk, patriotism would mean active policy scenarios of creating a buffer against an implosion.

Just look at how Mashurugwi are wreaking havoc in the motherland, the notorious machete-wielding gangs are a menace, they have just claimed the life of an innocent sacrificial cop (think of his family).

Five poor policemen deployed to contain machete-wielding thugs compared to a whole SWAT-like brigade deployed against unarmed civilian demonstrators. Something is fundamentally wrong with the thinking.

Only a failing State allows a vigilante group of Mashurugwi’s ilk to make consistent headlines of invincibility.

Even worse, what sort of chaos can they breed in the event of an implosion?

The masses are agitated, social indices have collapsed, the centre is no longer holding and the economy is in constant decay. It is a dog’s breakfast and recipe for extremist reaction, a temptation for unconstitutional means of redress. Just like in failed States, there is a shocking over-reliance on donors and international development agencies, it is utter chaos.

The State has been captured by a very dangerous group of people, national institutions are emasculated for personal benefit, serving selfish personal interests some as petty as mere divorce disputes.

The State has been reduced to an arena of self-aggrandisement in which the political elites are using patronage to enrich themselves, their friends and clans at the expense of everyone else just like what Ayittey says.

Bread occasionally disappears from shelves, electricity blackouts are a norm, fuel is usually unavailable, there is a satanic return to days of hyperinflation and living costs have gone beyond the reach of many.

There is a unpalatable suffering of the ordinary folk, a majority are living in abject poverty while the elites continue to fly Swiss jets urging the masses to endure the pain for never to be seen better days.

To all intents and purposes the economy is far from recovery. The underlying assumptions point to the contrary while structural challenges compound the problem.

Inflation is the second highest in the world, there is no plan to resolve the debt crisis both domestic and sovereign, stock of Treasury Bills continue to rise, deficit financing continues — all these are accompanied by an incoherent fiscal policy and a chaotic self-contradictory monetary policy.

Put simply it is a long ball, kick and rush approach to economic management.

One with no respect to principles of public finance management, US$3 billion can just disappear in the middle of a transfer from one ministry to another and nobody takes responsibility neither is anyone arrested.

The rulers are now patrons, everyone else in the system is a client unable to question criminality, in any case they are enablers waiting for their share from the patron’s feeding trough.

There are no consequences of any form, society is lethargic, non-State actors seem radarless, the church is a captured community and the citizen is on retreat, watching while the motherland straddles from one crisis to another.

Think of Somalia, a government just as powerful as the end of Mogadishu, is that not motivation enough to do something, reclaim Zimbabwe from the hijackers or at least hold them to account. When the time comes, our children will spit on our graves for at the very least being complacent, but in the main aiding and abetting State failure in the motherland.

This is 2019 ending on a cusp of fragility and State failure.

 Farai Gwenhure is a journalist based in Harare. He writes in his personal capacity.

Premier Soccer League giants Dynamos and Caps United are embroiled in an interesting transfer battle as the two clash over signatures of some freebies on the market.

BY TAWANDA TAFIRENYIKA

The two have gone head to head for signatures of some of the finest players in the league, who will officially be free agents today.

Marksman Evans Katema, who spent the second half of the season at Dynamos after signing from Mushowani Stars, is a subject of a tug-of-war between the rivals who have also tabled offers for Hwange goalkeeper Taimon Mvula.

DeMbare have, however, stolen the match in the Mvula battle as they are on the verge of sealing a deal.

Caps are also understood to be eager to sign the Hwange goalminder amid reports that goalkeeper Prosper Chigumba is likely to move away, having been overshadowed by Tonderai Mateyaunga in the second half of the season.

The bitter rivals are also targeting Chapungu pacey forward Ian Nyoni and Triangle’s Trevor Mavhunga.

Dynamos chairperson Isaiah Mupfurutsa said they were looking to beef up the squad with quality players and were hoping to retain their best players from last season.

Already Dynamos have sealed deals with former captain Partson Jaure who was on the books of Manica Diamonds, Nkosi Mhlanga – a midfielder, who has been playing for Yadah and two Prince Edward High School products Tanaka Chidhobha and Lennox Mutsetse.

The Glamour Boys are also looking to retain goalkeeper Simbarashe Chinani whose deal with the club has expired, although the player has been linked with a move to South Africa.

DeMbare only have a verbal agreement with the player for him to extend his stay as he waits for other offers that might materialise.

“We are giving our coach all the necessary support. We have sealed deals with some of the players the coach wants and we will be signing more high-profile players in the coming weeks,” Mupfurutsa said.

“Our target is to be done with signing players by mid-January so that the focus shifts to preparations. We laid a base already during our rebuilding in the past year and now we want to add more quality players to our side. While we want to compete next season, we are looking at life after 2020 so we are blending youth and experience. You are going to see a different and strong Dynamos squad in 2020.”

Caps have already signed rising stars Tatenda Tumba from Harare City and Leeroy Mavhunga from Yadah as they seek to emerge stronger again after a largely disappointing campaign which saw them surrendering the championship to FC Platinum despite having been on top of the league table for much of the campaign.

The Green Machine are, however, battling to extend contracts of several players.

Some of the players, whose contracts have run out include reigning Soccer Star of the Year Joel Ngodzo, defender Justice Jangano, midfielder Kudzanai Nyamupfukudza, striker Newman Sianchali, Valentine Ndaba, Dominic Chungwa, John Zhuwawo, Method Mwanjali and Dominic Mukandi among others.

Caps are also understood to be preparing to offload some of the players whom they feel were now surplus to requirements.