BY court REPORTER

TWENTY-FIVE Malawian illegal immigrants are languishing at Chipinge Prison awaiting a Chewa interpreter after they were arrested on Thursday night when a bus which was smuggling them to South Africa was intercepted at a police roadblock in Middle Sabi.

The immigrants, all of Muzimba village, were not asked to plead to contravening section 29(1)(a) of the Immigration Act (Alien shall not enter, be in or remain in Zimbabwe without presenting himself to immigration, or not being in possession of a permit) when they appeared before Chipinge provincial magistrate Poterai Gwezhira.

There was a separation of trial between them and a colleague, Jim Rukere, who understood English, who was convicted on his own plea of guilty.

He was sentenced to six months in prison wholly suspended for five years on condition he does not, within that period, enter Zimbabwe illegally.

In mitigation, Rukere told the court that he committed the offence because he wanted to skip the border into South Africa for greener pastures.

“I appeal for leniency when arriving on your sentence, Your worship. I committed the offence in desperation as I wanted to go to South Africa to look for better opportunities as I was suffering back home in the village,” he said.

However, his co-accused were remanded in custody to November 14 waiting for the State to provide a Chewa interpreter as they all indicated that they did not understand English.

Prosecutor Sesedzai Mayera told the court that on Thursday around 11pm, the illegal immigrants were aboard a Malawi-registered bus travelling along the Tanganda-Ngundu Highway.

They were stopped by police officers at the 255km peg at a roadblock in Middle Sabi.

Police discovered that the 25 had not gone through immigration processes on entering the country and did not have valid permits to be in Zimbabwe, leading to their arrest.

BY FARAI MATIASHE

Southern Africa Telecommunications Association executive secretary Jacob Munodawafa has urged information and communication technology stakeholders to push policymakers to speed up regional internet exchange points (RIXPs) and regional internet careers (RICs) projects as Africa is paying billions of dollars to overseas carriers to exchange continental traffic on its behalf.

The RIXPs and RICs projects are aimed at increasing the number of people using the internet in least developed countries and landlocked developing countries, where access and use was low by reducing the costs and increasing the internet speed.

“We are paying billions of dollars to overseas carriers. We should not be paying much. We need to push our policymakers so that we take it up to Sadc and then take it up to the world,” Munodawafa said, while speaking at a Sadc capacity building workshop on RIXP project organised by the Postal and Telecommunications Regulation Authority (Potraz) in Harare yesterday.

He said internet was for free as nobody owns the internet, but countries should only pay a reasonable fee when connecting to the world.

Speaking at the same event Information Communication Technology deputy minister Jenfen Muswere said part of the IXP would be located in a host country, where traffic between at least two other countries is exchanged via public or private network.

“African internet exchange system (AXIS) project aims to keep Africa’s internet traffic by providing capacity building and technical assistance to facilitate the establishment of national internet exchange points and RIXP in Africa. Increasing efficiency of regional traffic is an area that has this far not been addressed, resulting in a slow and expensive exchange of African inter-country traffic via overseas hub. The AXIS project was meant to address costly as well as inefficient way of handling inter-country exchange of internet traffic by providing capacity building to member states to facilitate the establishment of RIXP and RICs,” he said.

Muswere said by setting up RIXPs the exchange of the traffic generated in the region would remain in the region and hence reduce the traffic load on upstream providers and reduce latency for inter-country exchange of traffic and enhance internet development.

He said lowering communication costs by establishing AXIS would help reduce the cost of financing trade and ultimately the prices of goods and services.

“Affordable and accessible bandwidth will encourage regional trade integration and new ‘think work’ industries like business process outsourcing and call centres will emerge and create employment, reduce poverty and generate wealth,” Muswere said.

Potraz director-general Gift Machengete said the 2019 statistics on internet usage show that if local content were to be kept local, developing countries would save almost US$1 million.
“In terms of time, almost 700 000 hours of video footage is watched within an internet minute, while in terms of spending, a whopping US$997 000 worth of data is spent every minute. If local content were to be kept local and regional content, regional — then that figure of almost US$1 million on data would drastically fall, thereby saving countries like ours, in the Sadc region, a lot of money,” he said.

BY JAMES MUONWA

THE Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) has noted that a significant number of children born to alien parents are undocumented, thereby hindering their enjoyment of fundamental rights such as education and health.

Speaking at a Press briefing at Chinhoyi University of Technology yesterday, ZHRC deputy chairperson Ellen Sithole said accessing national documents such as birth certificates was a huge challenge countrywide, affecting many people, particularly in mining and farming communities.

“Access to documentation is a fundamental human right guaranteed by the Constitution of Zimbabwe which facilitates the enjoyment of other human rights,” she said.

“Lack of access to birth certificates by a significant part of our population is of great concern to the commission from a human rights perspective.”

Sithole said main personal documents which people were failing to get in Mashonaland West province were birth certificates, citizenships, identity cards, and to a lesser extent, passports and death certificates.

She highlighted that challenges in getting birth certificates affected mainly children, but were also experienced by adults of foreign descent.

Sithole said there was a significant population of children, born to parents originally from Mozambique, Zambia and Malawi with alien status, who did not have birth certificates.
“Most of the children born to parents with this status do not have birth certificates or any other documents.”

Added Sithole: “Birth registration is documentary proof of nationality. The importance of nationality is to prevent statelessness. Therefore, a person who is not registered does not legally exist, is not officially recognised as a citizen of the country and runs a substantial risk of falling outside the reach of government’s protective measures towards him or her.”
She reiterated that undocumented people find it difficult to access basic human rights such as health, education, social protection, housing, travel documents and political rights.

In Mashonaland West, other reasons hindering easy access to personal particulars were the cumbersome requirements at the Registrar-General’s office, inaccessibility of registration centres due to exorbitant transport costs, lack of access to birth records, unavailability of witnesses to authenticate births or paternity and lack of knowledge on the importance of the documents.

The ZHRC was in Chinhoyi conducting an inquiry on access to documentation in Zimbabwe. Similar exercises have been held in eight other provinces.

BY PRAISEMORE SITHOLE

THE Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) has announced plans to embark on an ambitious project to produce “affordable” bread for Bulawayo residents who cannot afford the commodity.

The ex-combatants will unveil their bread-making machine at their Entumbane high-density suburb offices today, the Southern Eye was told.

ZNLWVA Bulawayo spokesperson Christopher Sibanda told Southern Eye that the bread-making project was aimed at alleviating the plight of residents who are failing to purchase the commodity.

“We cannot disclose the prices of the bread yet, but what we can assure residents is that our prices will be reasonable and affordable in comparison with other local prices,” Sibanda said.

The price of bread, like other basic commodities and services, has been skyrocketing as producers cite inflation and a harsh operating environment.

It was only last week when Bakers Inn reduced the price of the commodity from $15 to between $14.

The ZNLWVA bread-project comes two months after more than 100 residents, including war veterans, underwent training on how to make bread in Bulawayo using Dutch ovens as part of Zanu PF’s empowerment projects.

Party supporters also underwent training in confectionery, petroleum jelly-making, shoe and floor polish-making, building of Dutch ovens and the making of dust ovens.

The trainings were held at Zanu PF’s Bulawayo Davies Hall offices.

Zanu PF bread making projects where party supporters are seen using pit ovens have been ridiculed by critics as primitive and unsustainable.

Meanwhile, Sibanda also revealed that the ex-combatants had also sunk a borehole in Entumbane suburb to aid residents who are going for days without the precious liquid after council introduced a 72-hour water rationing programme.

“The borehole was finished about four to five days ago. There is plenty of water that can supply the rest of Entumbane,” Sibanda said.

“Both the oven and the borehole were our idea, what we only did was to ask advice from specialists on how we can partake the project.”

BY MISHMA CHAKANYUKA

Listed clothing retailer Edgars Stores Limited says consumer spending was suppressed in the interim period to July 7, 2019 owing to eroded purchasing power.

Zimbabwe has been experiencing frequent price hikes of basic goods and services since the beginning of the year, against stagnant salaries. This has continued to erode workers’ incomes, weakening consumer purchasing power.

“Consumer spending was suppressed, and continues to slow down, due to depressed salaries’ purchasing power. The prevailing liquidity challenges impact negatively on our stocking and growth initiatives while decimated consumer salaries continue to suppress demand,” Edgars chairman Thembinkosi Sibanda said in a statement accompanying the company’s financial results.

Sibanda said the group’s units declined by 17%, recording encouraging performance in terms of units only in April and May, while in June, it was negatively affected by the introduction of a mono-currency regime.

Profit-after-tax for the period was $13,6 million, a 594% improvement from $1,9 million recorded in the same period last year.

Revenue increased from $32,1 million posted in 2018 to $62,85 million.

Edgars chain profit to sales ratio increased to 36,8% from 23% in 2018. Turnover improved by 93% to $37,6 million out of 25 stores from a 2018 comparative of $19,5 million despite units sold for the year decreasing by 25%.

Jet chain profit to sales ratio increased by 30% in the period under review from 16,7% in 2018. Total sales grew by 91% to $23 million from a 2018 comparative of $12 million, despite units sold being down 17% to $870 000 from $1,048 million in 2018.

The group’s manufacturing division posted a profit of $1,9 million while 6% of the sales were exports.

The micro-finance business revenue increased from $500 000 to $1,8 million, making a profit before tax of $1 million while loans to customers stood at $5,9 million.

Sibanda said Edgars would remain committed to providing compelling ranges to their customers at competitive prices and convenient locations.

He added that the group plans to open two new Jet stores in Banket and Chegutu as well as re-open the Edgars Kadoma store before year-end.

In May 2019, South African retail giant, Edcon, which owns a 41% stake in Edgars Zimbabwe through its wholly-owned investment vehicle, disposed of its shareholding in Bellfield Limited to Mauritius-based company, SSCG Africa Holdings.

BY PHYLLIS MBANJE

PREVENTIVE medicine for tuberculosis (TB) should be more accessible to a greater number of people as this would contribute immensely to reducing TB incidence, deputy director for the Aids and TB unit in the Health ministry, Charles Sandy, has said.

Speaking on the sidelines of the recently held lung conference in India, Sandy said reports that the price of the anti-TB drug, rifapentine, had been reduced was a welcome development.
“Making preventive medicine more accessible to more people will contribute towards reducing incidence of TB,” he said.

Leading global biopharmaceutical company Sanofi, together with Unitaid and the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, signed a pact which saw the drug price being lowered by close to 70%.

“Rifapentine is used in combination with isoniazid and the combination is of shorter duration and taken once a week for three months,” he said.

The dose of isoniazid is taken once daily for a period ranging from six months to two years. The period is inconveniently longer and some may default.

Said Sandy: “This (price reduction) is good in terms of convenience for the client and should lead to better adherence.”

Many people have latent TB (when a person is infected with mycobacterium tuberculosis, but does not have active tuberculosis) and so if they take rifapentine it will halt progression to full-blown TB.

In the absence of any intervention, a substantial percentage of this population will develop active TB.

Meanwhile, access to diagnostic services for children remains a major challenge to TB programmes around the world.

This was highlighted at many of the sessions at the conference with concerns that routine screening of children was not being prioritised.

Hollywood film and television actress Claire Forlani, ambassador for The Union, made a clarion call for local interventions using simple tools for active screening and diagnosis to end the epidemic among children.

Of concern as well was the incidence of asthma and pneumonia. While these two diseases are the biggest causes of illness and death in young children, they are avoidable.

Millions of children and adults succumb to these diseases annually, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where inequalities in access to affordable and high quality care is a barrier to diagnosis and adequate treatment.

“There have been highly effective asthma controlling treatments available for decades, and yet children die from asthma in LMICs because of the difficulty in diagnosing and treating them,” said Innes Asher, University of Auckland professor and Global Asthma Network chair.

business reporter

Prospect Resources, the ASX-listed firm developing Arcadia lithium mine at Goromonzi, says its ultra-low iron petalite product has progressed through the initial qualification process with two of the world’s largest glass-ceramic manufacturers, both based in Europe. Prospect provided both manufacturers with samples for laboratory testing and analysis. “The outcomes from their analysis is that the ultra-low iron petalite meets the glass-ceramic market’s stringent technical specifications,” the company said in a notice on Monday.

In the glass-ceramics market, ultra-low iron petalite is a key lithium ingredient in dark glass, comprising up to 90% of the inputs. The next steps in the product qualification process are the development of a pilot trial manufacturing product in a large kiln and a full test in the production kiln.

Prospect expects larger volumes of the product in 2020 after the pit is opened up and the pilot plant is constructed.

“This plant will continuously test future ores before they reach the production plant to ensure process efficiencies are implemented prior to ore being delivered to the plant. All customers have requested additional samples to continue their testing programmes, to further enhance their mix-designs for feed products,” Prospect says.

Prospect anticipates being one of only two mines in the world capable of producing ultra-low iron petalite. Demand for ultra-low iron petalite is expected to be spread equally between Europe and Asia, with a supply deficit expected to remain. The company also reported that its ultra-low iron petalite product has met specification testing for ceramic production in Japan and China.

“A key attraction from customers to Prospect is that the Company can provide a long-term reliable supply of product both in terms of monthly volumes and consistent product quality, underpinned by Arcadia being a lowest quartile operating cost producer,” said the firm.

In August, Prospect announced that a report by Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, an independent market analysis firm, forecast that Prospect will supply 10% of low iron lithium over Arcadia’s 12-year life of mine. Beyond petalite, Prospect last December shipped Africa’s first battery-grade lithium carbonate, a compound that is in high demand for use in batteries.

The 100kg samples were produced at Prospect’s pilot plant in Kwekwe, which the company is reconfiguring to manufacture lithium hydroxide. Lithium hydroxide, used in the manufacture of battery cathodes, fetches a higher price than lithium carbonate as it is higher demand on the world electric energy market than the carbonate. In its latest quarterly activity report, Prospect said it was in talks with a number of entities, including African development banks, to fund the development of Arcadia.

“Prospect has screened a number of the potential financial partners and is progressing detailed discussions with a select group that we believe are appropriate financial partners for the project. The company believes that these proposals are currently incomplete and require further development before they would be able to be announced, although they indicate there is appetite for financing tier one greenfield lithium mining projects in Africa,” said Prospect. — newZWire

By Freeman Makopa

Tennis Zimbabwe coach Martin Dzuwa says they are impressed by the level of performance displayed by the junior team which represented the country at the ITF/CAT African Junior tournament for the 14-and-under held in Mauritius recently.

The tournament took place from November 1 to 4.

Takura Muhwandagara lost 6-2, 6-4 in the finals against Verbard Boris of Reunion, while in the girls category, Tanyaradzwa Midzi settled for third place after beating Mabrook Hana Moataz of Egypt 6-3, 6-4.

“Takura Muhwandagara and the other guys played well just that the conditions were not that good as it was too windy. Takura was trying to be a little bit aggressive and started to make errors, but he played very well. His serves were not that good and his opponent took advantage of that, but it was a good match. He did well to get to the finals and it was not an easy tournament.

“Tanyaradzwa Midzi also did well in the girls category. She was solid at the back and she managed to withstand the rallies but she could not beat the Egyptian and settled for third position,” Dzuwa said.

Takura proved powerful in the first round, beating Andrianavalona Mihaja of Madagascar 6-0, 6-0 to progress to the next round where he clashed with Lam Wai Yam, thrashing him 6-0,6-1 and later faced Rabarijoana Tefy Ranja of Madagascar who he beat 7-6,6-2.

He continued with the same form to outclass Noor Al Din of Egypt 6-0,6-1 which was his ticket to the finals where he found the going tough against Boris.

Dzuwa said they were looking forward to impress in the next competition which started yesterday at the same venue.

“Yes, we are looking forward to do more in the next competition and we hope this time we will be more successful,” he added.

BY TERRY MADYAUTA

Caps United coach Darlington Dodo (pictured) believes that his side’s recent dip in form is a product of complacency that has crept into the camp.

The Green Machine have picked one point from their last three matches which has flung the title race wide open with five matches left in the season.

On Sunday, Caps were handed their eighth defeat of the season when they fell to relegation-threatened TelOne at Ascot Stadium in Gweru.

Their defeat came after title rivals and second-placed FC Platinum had also lost to Bulawayo Chiefs the previous day.

An opportunity had presented itself for Caps to restore a five-point cushion on FC Platinum at the top, but Dodo’s side floundered and left their fans a frustrated lot.

Caps’ next assignment will be against ZPC Kariba, who now feel they are still within touching distance as they are six points behind the stuttering log leaders.

And Dodo is already ruing the chances his side blew away as the title race reaches the crescendo.

“The last few games have not been so good to us. Let’s hope we won’t live to regret these two opportunities because as it stands, the race is still open to any of the top four teams,” Dodo said.

He, however, believes that his side has what it takes to recover and continue with the push for the main prize.

“For us, it has been a matter of failing to utilise the chances that come our way perhaps because of complacency. We are still in it and I believe the boys are mentally strong to finish off this season.”

Chicken Inn are a more pleased side with the way things went at the weekend, even though they were not involved.

They have played a match less than Caps and FC Platinum and could close the gap on the Green Machine to two points in their outstanding match against Triangle.

While Caps are counting their losses, TelOne are rejoicing after easing their relegation woes which saw them climb out of the drop zone.

Their battle to beat the drop is far from over, but the three points they picked were crucial.

Bulawayo Chiefs, who were in the drop zone for the better part of the season, are now looking a good bet for survival as they are one of the in-form sides of the top division.

They have recorded three wins in their last five matches, with one draw and a defeat during that period.

The fight for survival is as topsy turvy as it is at the top with about nine teams in danger of finishing among the bottom four.

Mushowani Stars are in a spot of bother with just three points from their last five matches, while Yadah are still stuck at the basement of the table despite their win over Chapungu on Sunday.

BY HENRY MHARA

HIGHLANDERS vice-chairman Modern Ngwenya believes that winning the Chibuku Super Cup would turn what has been a below par season so far into a successful one for the Bulawayo soccer giants.

Bosso were yesterday drawn against ZPC Kariba for the tournament’s semi-finals.

The other semi-final will see Ngezi Platinum facing off with the winner of the match between Harare City and Triangle who are playing their quarter-final match at Rufaro Stadium tomorrow.

This quarter-final match was delayed because of Triangle’s involvement in the Caf Confederation Cup competition.

Of the teams that remain in the competition, it is Highlanders who look favourites to land the country’s biggest cup competition. They have vowed to win it to make up for what has been an underwhelming season for them this term.

They have, until recently, endured a miserable campaign in the league where they have failed to mount a title challenge. Bosso flirted with relegation at some point.

But since the arrival of coach Hendrikus Pieter de Jongh, things have been looking up for Highlanders in both the league games and the Chibuku Super Cup.

The Dutchman is unbeaten in seven matches in all competitions, including wins over Dynamos and FC Platinum in the Chibuku Super Cup.

Ngwenya, who represented his club at the draw ceremony, said: “It’s a very fair draw. We don’t underrate any PSL team these days because all teams are strong. There are no minnows anymore. We respect ZPC Kariba and we hope to continue with our trajectory of winning games with style and flair. These days we are playing with aplomb and the team is a marvel to watch. Our objective is not only to win games but to play scintillating football and entertain the fans. Our boys are up to scratch with that.”

Highlanders are seventh on the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League log and seemingly out of the title race.

Chibuku Super Cup, thus, presents them with their only chance of winning some silverware this year.

“For us, winning the Chibuku Cup is possible. We are a bit way off when it comes to the championship race. But the Chibuku Cup is within our control. Right now, we cannot worry about the league championship which is beyond our control. Chibuku Cup is the one we are worried about, and we are looking forward to a very interesting match.

“Highlanders is a very big institution and every game is a cup final. We don’t expect to lose or draw games because our supporters come to the stadiums to see the team win. Each time we lose, it’s a heartbreak, but each time we win it’s song and dance.”

The semi-final games are on this weekend, but the venues will be announced later in the week.

“We can play anywhere even in Bindura or Mutoko and win games. We are not affected by where we will play, but hopefully, I pray that we play at Barbourfields Stadium because the pitch is in a good state,” Ngwenya said.

This is the second time that Highlanders and ZPC Kariba will be facing each other in a space of two weeks after their clash in the league at Nyamhunga a fortnight ago ended in a 1-1 draw.

Bosso star striker Prince Dube was red-carded in that match, and after serving the suspension in the team’s last two matches, he returns to face the Kariba-based side.