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Zimbabwean economists query China’s friendship

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By Daniel Itai – The Zimbabwe Daily

Harare, Zimbabwe – Some of the country’s economists have raised their eyebrows with regards to China’s debt cancellations in Africa which were revealed earlier on this week.

China’s cancellation of debt towards relevant African countries in the form of interests free government loans that are due to mature by the end of 2020 and a further extension of the period of debt suspension is not sitting well with economists such as Eddie Cross and Terrence Zimwara.

“Africa’s debt to China is massive, Kenya alone owes China US$50 billion. The suspension of payments of debt will make a huge contribution to many countries, including Zimbabwe.

However, we should never borrow from anyone if we cannot pay the debt back. China itself has borrowed massively from the developed world to get where she is today and her debt is equal to 250 percent of her GDP, but she pays her interest and repays the loans on maturity, that is the key.

In Aftica, we borrow for consumption and not production and we do not have the discipline to service our debts.

Regardless, we have to be more self-reliant and careful, read the small print on every loan agreement as well as watching prices and costs of Chinese contractors and demanding maximum local interests,” said Cross.

Zimwara also said Africa needed to start standing on its own two feet to avoid unprecedented boomerangs.

“Africa needs to unshackle itself from this inferiority complex. We have to realize that there is no multilateral lender or donor country that will cancel debts or reduce interest on loans without gaining something bigger in return.

Therefore, because we choose expediency we now see fellow countries deep in debt to China. Angola, Ethiopia and Kenya are some countries that owe billions to China and they are now growing fears these countries will surrender key national resources to pay off the debts.

However, to avoid these devastating scenarios, learning to live within means is one practical way of doing this. When they say austerity, it has to be for everyone. There should be no sacred cows.

Moreso, as Africa, we need to make long term plans and follow them through. It does not matter that fruits of this will be enjoyed by later generations. One generation must make the ultimate sacrifice for the next one to have a better chance,” said Zimwara.

Mozambique insurgency getting out of control

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Daniel Itai – The Zimbabwe Daily

Cabo Delgado, Mozambique – There are now continued fears that Islamist insurgency in Mozambique could spread to neighbouring Southern African Development Community (SADC) states.

Attacks by Ansar al-Sunna, now identified as part of Islamic State, have claimed over a thousand lives in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique’s northernmost province.

“There is an increase of Islamic insurgency activities currently in the province of Cabo Delgado, Mozambique, and these have the potential to spread to other provinces and neighbouring Southern African Development Community states, there are challenges with Mozambique,” said South Africa’s Minister of Defence, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula.

In May, SADC urged its members to support Mozambique in efforts to overcome terrorists and armed groups in Cabo Delgado.

SADC’s head of politics, defence and security co-operation, President Emmerson Mnangagwa, has called on the bloc to support Mozambique in its fight against terrorists and armed groups and also condemned terrorist and other armed attacks as per the SADC declaration on terrorism and the African Union (AU) Convention on the Prevention and Combating of Terrorism.

Zambia nabs Health Minister

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Zambia nabs Health Minister

Daniel Itai – The Zimbabwe Mail

Lusaka, Zambia – Zambia’s Health Minister, Chitalu Chilufya is facing a five year prison sentence following yesterday’s  arrest.

The Minister was arrested and charged with four counts of possession of property reasonably suspected of being the proceeds of crime.

However, the Minister was later released after posting bail and is expected to appear before the Lusaka Magistrate’s Court on the 9th of July.

“The arrest follows investigations the Commission has been conducting against the Minister in relation to the allegations of being in the possession of property reasonably suspected of being the proceeds of crime,” said Jonathan Siame, spokesperson of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

Earlier on this week, many youths in the country issued out a statement against corruption through their formulated Zambian Youth Charter.

In the Charter, the youths stated that they were heavily concerned with the increased levels of unemployment, grand corruption and infringement on human rights, among other issues currently affecting the country.

“We refuse to tolerate the abuse of public resources when a number of young people are starving in public universities for lack of money and we continue to see and hear corruption allegations among top government leaders but no tangible results or actions to curb this evil,” read some parts of the Charter.

Record unemployment rate for South Africa

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By Daniel Itai – The Zimbabwe Daily

Pretoria, South Africa – According to the quarterly national statistics revealed by Statistics South Africa (StatsSA), the national unemployment rate is now at 30.1 percent.

Yesterday’s revelation is based on a survey conducted by StatsSA before the country went into lockdown on the 27th of March this year.

This relatively means that over 18 million South Africans are now unemployed, with youths and women being hit the hardest.

Some economists have even predicted that by the end of the year, the southern African country could be having an unemployment rate of over 40 percent.

Companies in the aviation, construction, entertainment and hospitality sectors have indicated plans to cut jobs because of heavy losses experienced in the past three months.

“For a country which was already facing an unemployment crisis and weak economic growth, difficult decisions and difficult days lie ahead,” said Cyril Ramaphosa, the country’s President.

The Bureau of Economic Research (BER) also noted that there was going to be a major deficit in the country’s budget primarily due to the diversion of funds which are now assisng in the fight against COVID-19.

“The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has already indicated that, relative to the February budget, revenue in the 2020/21 fiscal year could be a massive R285 billion (approximately US$16.5 billion) below the projection at the start of the year, based on this, one can infer that Treasury expects a main budget deficit of about 14 percent of the GDP in the 2020/21 financial year,” the BER said. 

Unions slam at Zimbabwean government

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By Daniel Itai – The Zimbabwe Daily

Harare Zimbabwe – Some teachers Unions in Zimbabwe have slammed at the proposed US$36 COVID-19 allowance by the government which will take effect this month.

The allowance which is expected to last for three months has been viewed as a joke by Unions such as the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) and the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ).

“Issues of COVID-19 allowances and salary issues are separate issues as such, the government must not act as if COVID-19 allowances are a form of a salary.

Any poor citizen qualifies for  COVID-19 allowances and teachers fall in that bracket, the only biggest question is that how could the government limit the allowance to three months only while COVID-19 has spanned for more than four months now and it is still going on,” said Nation Mudzitirwa, (ARTUZ)’s national spokesperson.

Dr. Takavafira Zhou, chairperson of PTUZ also lambasted at the proposed COVID-19 allowance, “the US$36 grant falls far short of teachers’ expectations given their qualifications and responsibilities, worse still it is a one armed banditry offer without proper engagement and that’s unacceptable.

What teachers want is the restoration of their salary’s purchasing power parity or payment of US$550 that teachers used to earn before October 2018 and a risk allowance of US$150. Anything less than this is callous, blatantly unfair labour practice and palpably unjust.”

Germany extends helping hand to Namibia

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Daniel Itai – The Zimbabwe Daily

Windhoek, Namibia – The Germany embassy has decided to pitch in the fight against COVID-19 by distributing food packages in the areas of Gobabis, Witvlei and Okahandja. 

The food packages are being distributed to the community members by the German Evangelical Lutheran Association of Okahandja-Gobabis (ELCIN – GELC) in cooperation with the Okahandja Community Forum.

“We are glad to be able to support the church and the Okahandja Community Forum in their efforts to serve those in need.

In times like these, it is particularly important to help each other in the spirit of humanity and christian charity,” said Ellen Gölz, Chargée d’Affaires a.i. of the German Embassy.

Although Namibia has relatively low COVID-19 confirmed cases at just under 60, the country is finding it hard to balance between COVID-19 and its economic well-being.

However, Namibia is slowly opening up its entire economy so as to try and mitigate the effects of COVID-19 but with its largest trading partner, South Africa still on a nationwide lockdown the road to economic recovery is a bit gloomy.

MDC tensions spill into the Youth league

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By Daniel Itai – The Zimbabwe Daily

Harare, Zimbabwe – Zimbabwe’s main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is continually being gutted down by in-house divisions.

Since its inception in the political spectrum more than two decades ago, the party has now close to ten factions which include, MDC-N, MDC-T, MDC-99, MDC-Mao, MDC-M, MDC-Alliance and many more.

This has relatively contributed in the MDC failing to fully acquire the 51 percent threshold which enables them to be the ruling party.

Former co-founder and leader of the MDC, Morgan Tsvangirai’s unfortunate passing in 2018 has now created more chaos than conformity as the party’s “elders” battle for the captaincy of the party.

Earlier this year, the country’s Supreme Court ruled in favor of Dr.Thokozani Khupe as the legitimate leader of the opposition party something which is not going well with the party’s 2018 Presidential candidate, Nelson Chamisa.

The battle of supremacy has now made its way into the Youth league with some youths vying for Dr. Khupe and some for Mr.Chamisa.

Yesterday, MDC Alliance’s Youth Assembly Chitungwiza North secretary, Tryvine Musokeri was arrested for threatening another Youth leader, Yvonne Musarurwa on Facebook but was later released after the former apologized something which the MDC Alliance’s national Youth spokesperson, Stephen Chuma commended.

“In a very rare show of leadership, forgiveness and tolerance, MDC Alliance Youth Assembly Chitungwiza North Secretary, Tryvine Sox Musokeri issued an apology to Yvonne Musarurwa who has since withdrew charges against the former.

The burying of hatchet between the duo is a classic case that young people can work together for the good.

As progressive young social democrats, we have a bigger task at hand of taking the illegitimate and corrupt regime head on.

Any sideshows and regressive bickerings can only elongate our suffering as a generation, the country is burning.

Corruption and looting has become rife under Emmerson Mnangagwa’s watch hence, as a young generation we can not afford any sideshows than to unite and fight the junta,” said Chuma.

Although the next Presidential election is three years away from now, many political analysts have already tipped the ruling ZANU-PF as the ultimate winner due to the squabbles within the main opposition party.

Namibia running out of COVID-19 equipment

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Daniel Itai – The Zimbabwe Daily

Walvis Bay, Namibia – With just 55 confirmed COVID-19 cases, the country is now batting with accessing COVID-19 equipment.

Walvis Bay, which has become the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic in Namibia, is short of 600 beds for quarantine purposes.

“The team is seriously hindered by logistical challenges and urgently needs the assistance of the stakeholders to effectively respond to the COVID-19 outbreak in Walvis Bay district,” said Dr. Martha Ntinda, the acting senior medical officer at the Walvis Bay State Hosptial.

Namibia has now reported 19 recoveries and 36 active cases, out of a total of 7 009 samples tested.

The southern African country is also looking at opening most of its economic sectors within the next coming weeks.

101 590 COVID-19 cases in South Africa

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By Daniel Itai – The Zimbabwe Daily

Pretoria, South Africa – South Africa has now surpassed the 100 000 mark in the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases.

In the last 24 hours the southern African country has now recorded 101 590 COVID-19 cases with 1 991 fatalities making it the country with the highest number of COVID-19 cases on the continent.

The country is currently on lockdown alert level three which has resulted in almost the re-opening of the country’s whole economic sectors.

However, this has relatively contributed to the high numbers of COVID-19 cases with the country’s Western Cape province constituting more than 50 percent of the country’s entire COVID-19 cases.

“Some epidemiological models, including the National Covid-19 Epi Model (NCEM) which is relied on by the national government for forecasting, have estimated that the province will experience its peak soon.

While we cannot pinpoint the exact date at which we will reach this peak, we are experiencing increased pressure in our hospitals.

At the same time, the economy is opening up further, now is therefore the time to be extra vigilant to slow the spread.

If you are over the age of 55 or you have an underlying illness, you are at higher risk of becoming seriously ill or dying, it is therefore important that you take extra precautions and stay home wherever possible.

Those who are healthy should assist those at higher risk with tasks like shopping or errands that require them to leave the house.

Our data however, has shown that age and underlying illnesses including diabetes and high blood pressure present the greatest risk for becoming seriously ill or dying,” said Alan Winde, Premier of the Western Cape.

Globally there are now 9 million COVID-19 confirmed cases with the United States of America constituting 25 percent of the global cases followed by Brazil.

Chamisa’s youth firewall a possible game changer

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Chamisa’s youth firewall a possible game changer

Opinion by Taruberekera Masara in Pretoria 

The rise of Nelson Chamisa’s political stake owes much to his popularity with young voters. His message of generational consensus is perceived as truly viable.

This is opposed greatly to the notion held by his adversaries in and outside MDC, that the youth brigade that follows him is brainwashed and is coercively bandwagoned into rooting for him.

It is really an affront to the youth, their right to choose, political assembly and commonly held belief that Zimbabwe is an educated nation. How educated people become brainwashed boggles the mind.

By and large as he was coming into the crowded field of competitors for the 2018 race, though, repeat success was not necessarily a foregone conclusion, Chamisa’s success with the youth now looks durable.

Those who follow him know what they want.

Chamisa is still leading the opinion polls, he remains influential and many youth-led progressive organizations like ZINASU endorsed the democratic socialist for president. 

The youths have a justification for following him. It is only because Zanu PF is such a visceral assault on the sense that people have forgotten the power of voting for something as opposed to voting against something.

Even today with waning prospects at the political bank the source of Chamisa’s youth appeal appears to be much the same as it was in 2018. Student-debts in tertiary education, escalating health-care costs are still significant burdens for young people, unemployment, lack of empowerment opportunities and lack incremental solutions to the problems affecting the economy and the society.

The youth themselves are clearly saying he is the best candidate to carry their hopes.

Young adults themselves are clear about the case for Chamisa. “Nelson is not our political saviour. It is the movement behind him that will change this country. We are not electing a saviour; we are electing a political opponent who we will hold accountable to meet our demands”, the Generational Consensus leaders explained on their Facebook page. 

Youths in Zimbabwe do not have the luxury of gambling with their vote, because they represent families and children who depend on their choices to carry them through a country that is heavily divided, unequal and a corrupt society.

Youths who are raising young families have no luxury because they are raising children who are exponentially and systematically affected negatively by institutional structures designed to limit their opportunities to achieve their dreams.

It is with such a background that the youth becomes a firewall for Chamisa’s political project.

Chamisa in his campaign trial has repeatedly claimed that, as president, he would ‘build a great Zimbabwe’. Generational Consensus in its statement said “we hope we’ll get the opportunity to hold him accountable to that” 

They must vote the choice that has the best chance to keep up with the issues they wish, the choice that keep their freedom and maybe progress.

And for young women they have to get a choice that fight for them to have a normal life, fight with them for their dignity, ring fence the issues around sexual reproductive health, maternal health care services and to have a gender sensitive national resource allocation.

The electoral field is still swollen, and there are few ways for candidates to carve out a realistic path to the top office. With so many candidates competing for votes, a committed, cohesive bloc of young adults could make a real difference for Chamisa in his quest for the state house occupancy. In most years, youth voters might not have been numerous enough to deliver Chamisa on their own strength, but youth voters are now amongst the key voters in Zimbabwe. 

Young voters do not historically turn out in high numbers, at least not compared with seniors, but 2018 proved to be a different year and a new chapter. Chamisa’s youth support has implications for the general election. A record number of youths registered and casted their votes.

Research and Advocacy Unit (RAU) noted that there was a marked improvement in registration by the youth compared to 2013, and especially urban youth.

There is a 77% increase in urban youth registering and the ratio of rural to urban youth under 35 years has declined from 3:1 to 2:1. 

A total of 5,524,188 registered Voters (as of Aug. 8, 2018) average turnout was 45.67%.

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