ASPIRING designer Tadiwa Chimhowa is set to hold a solo three-day academic art exhibition on November 11-13 at Harare’s Netone headquarters under the theme: A New Dawn.
“The general definition of new is to recreate, to bring something fresh, unseen and unheard. Dawn is a day’s break which symbolises the start of a fresh day with fresh activities,” he said.
Chimhowa said she was inspired by everyday challenges, which she used to give new life to objects deemed useless.The Creative Art and Industrial Design student at Chinhoyi University of Technology said everything started with a design.
She said the exhibition, meant to usher her into the real world of design, was part of the practicals for her programme.The exhibition will bring together artworks of the different courses done since the beginning of my degree programme.
The designer said she exposed to various areas of art which helped inspire the artworks that are to be revealed in this exhibition.
THE Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) has hit out to insurers who are not remitting insurance commission tax collected from freelance agents.In a statement published last week, Zimra said there were also insurers who are collecting commissions from unregistered short-term insurers.
“The commissioner-general of the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority has noted that some insurers are not withholding and remitting Insurance Commission Tax from freelance insurance agencies.
It has also been noted that there are insurance brokers and agents receiving commission from short-term insurers who are not registered for tax,” Zimra said.
“Freelance insurance agents are insurance agents or brokers who are not registered employees, of the insurer they transact with, for the purposes of collecting PAYE (Pay As You Earn),” Zimra clarified.
Zimra said the tax rate should be 20% of the commission collected by the insurers.“Insurers are required to withhold insurance commission tax from the commission paid to the agents or brokers. The insurance commission tax is calculated at the rate of 20%.
“For example, insurer VYT Ltd pays commission to a freelance agent Mr BD Hama of $1 000. The insurer is required to withhold 20% of $1 000 which is $200,” Zimra warned.
Zimra said the tax should then be remitted to Zimra by the 10th of the next month and that a REV5 Return from Withdrawal Taxes form must be completed and submitted to Zimra on the same date.
“A certificate should be issued to the agent or broker showing the name, address and BP Number of the insurer, commission paid and the tax withheld,” Zimra said.
Zimra also added that freelance brokers and agents were obliged to pay the commissioner general insurance commission tax in a situation whereby the insurer did not withhold or recover the tax as per request and register for tax purposes to get a business partner number.
Freelance brokers are also required by Zimra to submit income tax returns for each year of assessment by the due date advised by the commissioner in a public notice.
“Freelance brokers or agents are obliged to pay the commissioner-general insurance commission tax in instances where the insurer has not withheld or recovered the tax from him in the manner outlined under the obligations of the insurer.
“The freelance agent or broker should register for tax purposes and get a Business Partner number. He should submit the income tax returns for each year of assessment by the due date as maybe advised by the commissioner in the public notice,” Zimra said.
Zimra added that short-term insurers and life insurers who were registered in terms of the Insurance Act were exempted from Value Added Tax (VAT) on the insurance business they supply.
“Insurers registered in terms of the Insurance Act are exempt from VAT on the insurance business they supply. This applies to both the short term insurers and life insurers.
Freelance insurance brokers and agents are required to register for VAT and to charge VAT for the agency or brokerage service they render. A freelance agent or broker is required to register for vat where the value of their commission earned from short-term insurance is $60 000 or more in any period of 12 months. Once registered, the agent or broker must charge VAT on commission charged to short term insurers,” Zimra said.
A TOP economist has said corruption was the biggest economic sanction obstructing the country’s development and urged government to introspect on its commitment to tackle graft.
Senior researcher at the Labour and Economic Development Research Institute of Zimbabwe, Prosper Chitambara, made the remarks in Gweru on Friday last week during a discussion with local journalists.
“Corruption is the biggest sanction in Zimbabwe and if we are to go back, you will realise that between 1980 and 2013, the country lost close to $50 billion through corruption,” he said.
“Corruption has increased the cost of doing business in Zimbabwe by 20%. Most of our problems are internal and not external and we continue blaming others for our (economic) failures. We cannot economically develop.”
Government has been accused of being half-hearted in dealing with corruption in the public and private sectors, a situation that has exacerbated the outflow of critical financial resources necessary to resuscitate the ailing economy.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration, however, maintains that sanctions imposed by the West are stifling economic growth.But Chitambara said any country had potential to grow even under sanctions provided it advocates for macro-economic policies that speak to socio-economic rights of its citizens.“Our economic challenges are largely self-inflicted,” he said.
Chitambara said Zimbabwe could use its relations with friendly countries to bust sanctions, but those countries could not even trust the government because of its poor record of fiscal discipline.
“We lack financial credibility as a country. We last received financial support from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in 1998 because of our problems of settling external debts,” he said.
“Even the Chinese and Russians (whom Zimbabwe consider friendly) can’t trust us with their money.”
MATABELELAND Cultural Awards Trust last week hosted a successful cultural awards event at Amakhosi Township Square in Bulawayo to honour individuals and groups that made significant contributions to the preservation of culture.
The Umthwentwe Cultural expo came at a time the trust is preparing for the cultural expo expected to be held in Bulawayo early next year.
The trust’s chief executive Philani Ncube told NewsDay Life & Style that the event was graced by film directors, actors and authors who represented different cultures.
“We had 17 different categories of culture and I would like to thank those who supported the event,” he said.The cultural awards, were graced by Botswana traditional group, Dikgosi, which provided entertainment.
The trust promised to host the expo exhibition next year.“We are inviting exhibitors to come and showcase their cultural products and these include traditional dishes, traditional dances. Also those who can make traditional artifacts such as mats and especially local languages authors must come and revel their works,” he said.
United Nations (UN) resident co-ordinator in Zimbabwe, Maria Ribeiro has encouraged government to make use of the country’s available human capital to reduce the high unemployment and develop the economy.
Speaking at the Launch of the Atlas Convention in Harare last week, she said government should assist and encourage young innovators to make use of their creativity for economic development.
The Atlas Convention is an integrated national-technology and economic transformation initiative that brings together government, private sector and academia to drive innovation with a global perspective that will help Zimbabwe attain world class industry standards.
“There is a very high unemployment rate in the country particularly among the young people and it is no longer like many other countries where going to university guarantees you a job afterwards.
“So the government should make a commitment to engage with those young people so that they can find and make innovative contributions to the development of the country and be able to sustain their families,” Ribeiro said.
“Let us encourage the young people to be ambassadors of innovation and creativity, for the development and improvement of Zimbabwe’s economy,” she added.
Ribeiro urged government to sponsor research programmes for young people to come up with practical solutions to the economic problems which the country is facing.
“Countries have problems and we all know that. Zimbabwe has several problems from climate change, drought, but they also come from the economic situation due to a legacy of economic policies which perhaps have not yielded the kind of economy that we have all wished.
“We see the challenges in terms of the high unemployment rate, the health service and the food security in the past two years due to the climatic shocks like El Nino, Cyclone Idai,”
“So, we would very much encourage the innovators to look at these challenges and find out how practically they can solve these problems. The government should support research on practical innovations that can help solve these challenges, particularly in the health sector and food security,”
She also added that government should be transparent in the use of its vast resources.“Zimbabwe has many resources like minerals, its agricultural tradition and it is also a very beautiful country that attracts many tourists and it should make good use of them for the development of the economy through creativity and innovation.
“However, the government should be transparency in the use of these resources in a most sustainable way possible and in an inclusive way,” she said.
PARLIAMENT has recommended that the struggling State broadcaster Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) must be supported through the fiscus and that it must be paid for outside coverage of national events at a rate of $102 000 per event by Treasury.
The recommendation was made by the chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Media, Prince Dubeko Sibanda on Saturday last week in Victoria Falls during the 2020 pre-budget seminar.ZBC has often covered live State and Zanu PF events amid reports that such coverages were not paid for.
“ZBC must be a grant-aided institution and must be supported by the fiscus so that it effectively plays its role as a public broadcaster,” Sibanda said.
“The corporation humbly requested other government departments and ministries to pay ZBC for broadcasting services invoiced and rendered, and a budgetary allocation for coverage of national events may be made available on a cost recovery basis of $102 000 per event through Treasury.
“Currently, ZBC is owed over US$16 million for services provided to other government departments and ministries,” he said.
Information minister Monica Mutsvangwa said she had discussed with Finance minister Mthuli Ncube about the problems at the State broadcaster, including salary arrears.
Sibanda added that whenever Parliament proceedings are screened live on ZTV, it must also have a budget to pay the State broadcaster $102 000 per session for it to be viable so that journalists there get paid a decent salary.
Additionally, the Information and Media committee report said US$2,2 million ($33 million) is needed to purchase a fleet of 60 cars and 13 mini buses for the State broadcaster.
“These vehicles are required for content generation for the 24-hour news channel and the proposed five additional TV channels and 13 mini buses for content generation crew and licence collection operation for the digitisation programme. Two high definition OB (ouside broadcasting) vans are needed to enhance content gathering processes so that they change quality of programming on the single television channel currently running,” Sibanda said.
The committee said a preliminary report by the African Union Election Observer Mission noted that there was need for the State broadcaster to guarantee equal access to all political parties and contestants during elections so that there is balanced reporting and a pluralistic media.
“However, these recommendations were not implemented. The media environment still remains largely polarised. Additionally, Zimbabwe’s public institutions are still far from fulfilling their roles as holders of information that should be released upon request and in the public interests. This risks the Zimbabwe is open for business mantra as business invests and thrives in an environment where relevant information is readily available,” Sibanda said.
The committee said there was need for changes in legislation, technological advancements that will match with the fast evolving digital technology and the need to deal with uncertainties brought by cyber security threats and the welfare of journalists and viability of media houses at a time inflation is fast eroding capital and incomes.
LEGAL think-tank Veritas says that all prisoners, even those incarcerated for the most heinous crimes, have constitutional rights to be treated by a medical practitioner of their choice as well as rights to an inquest to find out the causes of their deaths should they so die in prison.
In their latest Bill Watch online publication, Veritas said even the recent tragic death of vendor, Hilton Tamangani at Harare Remand Prison cells on October 18 after allegedly being beaten up by the police must go through a public inquest so that the causes of his death are exposed.
“Whatever the cause of Tamangani’s death, the events surrounding it show a deplorable disregard for his constitutional rights as a prisoner,” the Veritas report read.
“Section 50(5) (c) of the Constitution provides that anyone who is detained has the right to communicate with, and be visited by, their relatives, their chosen religious counsellor, their chosen lawyer and their chosen medical practitioner.
“The right to be visited by all these people is important, but it is particularly important for prisoners to be allowed to see their medical practitioners, as Tamangani’s case so tragically demonstrates.”
The legal think-tank said when prisoners are in custody, it means that the State is responsible for ensuring their health and wellbeing.
“If medical facilities in prisons are inadequate – and it is notorious that they are basic at best and rudimentary or non-existent at worst – then the prison authorities must take prisoners to hospitals outside their prisons or allow them to receive care and treatment from their own medical practitioners,” the report read.
The think-tank’s statement also comes at a time Parliament is in the process of crafting the Coroner’s Office Bill which will provide for the establishment of the Coroner’s Office, responsible for investigating all deaths that come about as a result of unnatural causes.
“The office will be responsible for carrying out through independent investigations into deaths in hospitals, prisons, police cells and any other places that are not due to natural causes. The office will further investigate into circumstances surrounding unnatural deaths like homicide, infanticide, suicides and accidents,” the Coroners Bill read.
Veritas said prisoners, as human beings, can also be in poor health, so they need their own medical practitioners to treat them not prison doctors.
“Prisoners who claim they have been assaulted by the police or prison authorities may need to be examined by their own doctors in order to establish their claims. Above all, prison authorities must remember that prisoners have rights. Prisoners are deprived of much of their freedom of movement – they cannot leave their prison whenever they want to – and they may be deprived of other rights and freedoms so far as it is necessary to prevent them escaping and to maintain discipline in prisons,” Veritas noted.
“But apart from that they have all the fundamental human rights and freedoms guaranteed them by 50(5)(c) of the Constitution. Even prisoners who have been found guilty of the most heinous crimes remain human beings entitled to their basic human rights. And it must be remembered that Tamangani was an awaiting trial prisoner who had not been tried for, let alone found guilty of, any crime at all,” Veritas added.
PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa’s top ally and fuel mogul, Kuda Tagwireyi, is once again on the spotlight after Parliament recommended that a forensic audit should be done on the controversial Command Agriculture programme, which has been marred by reports of corruption and misuse of billions in public funds.
BY VENERANDA LANGA
This was said in Victoria Falls on Thursday by the Felix Mhona-led Budget and Finance Parliamentary Portfolio Committee during the ongoing 2020 pre-budget seminar.
The Command Agriculture programme has since 2017 enjoyed billions of dollars in public funding, which has largely not been accounted for.
Auditor-General Mildred Chiri’s audit reports revealed that in 2017, US$2,1 billion was allocated to the programme without Parliament approval and supporting documents from the Finance ministry and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
In 2018, another US$1,5 billion was also allocated to the programme without Parliament approval in breach of the Public Finance Management Act.
“To restore stakeholder confidence in the Command Agriculture programme, and its credibility, the 2020 national budget must provide for a forensic audit of the programme with the aim of weeding out corrupt elements and recovering misused and abused resources,” the Budget and Finance Committee report presented during the pre-budget seminar read.
“There is need to build credibility for the Command Agriculture programme by abiding by the undertaking that selection of beneficiary farmers and suppliers will be done in a transparent manner and targets farmers with a good track record of honouring obligations,” the report said.
This year, government announced that it will splash an additional $2,8 billion for the Command Agriculture programme, which targets the production of maize and soya beans.
While government has denied reports that the Command Agriculture funds were abused, the murky deals to finance agriculture were benefiting mostly Tagwireyi through his Sakunda Holdings.
Despite billions of US dollars and local currency splashed into the programme, Zimbabwe continues to import maize at an inflated price of US$600 per tonne from Tanzania and the country has also failed to end food deficits.
The Budget and Finance Committee report showed that several people had raised concerns on funding of the Command Agriculture programme through the fiscus.
Some suggested that the Presidential Input Scheme must be the one supported by the fiscus.
“Government must subsidise agricultural inputs at producer level. The Presidential Input Scheme should also be availed timeously and in the right mix to make meaningful impact,” the committee said.
The committee also urged Finance minister Mthuli Ncube to adhere to the provisions of the Maputo Declaration of 2003 on Agriculture and Food Security, which stipulates that expenditure on land, agriculture, water and sanitation must be at least 10% of the national budget.
A FEW months ago, a clash between Dynamos and Highlanders would have generated very little interest. The country’s oldest, biggest and most supported clubs were going through their most difficult times in years.
BY HENRY MHARA/FORTUNE MBELE
Results were hard to come by for both teams who were struggling at the wrong end of the log standings. Their supporters, often known to be passionate and fanatical, were losing any interest, and the attendance numbers at the two teams’ matches were dwindling.
The poor start to the season cost the two club coaches their jobs.
First to go was Dynamos’ affable Lloyd “Mablanyo” Chigowe and later to be followed by Madinda Ndlovu who stretched his fans’ patience.
Chigowe was replaced by Tonderai Ndiraya in April, and remarkably, results began to come.
Since his appointment, Dynamos has only lost once in the league, against Highlanders, and at one point looked like they would fight for the title. They have been recording draws of late, a lot of them for that matter. They have recorded seven draws in a row, but their supporters are not really complaining. The supporters argue that their team’s style of play is refreshing, and pleasing to the eye.
For Highlanders, its resurgence since the arrival of coach Hendrikus Pieter de Jongh has been even more dramatic.
The Dutchman arrived when the Bulawayo giants were struggling in the relegation zone, and facing a real possibility of getting demoted at the end of the season.
In the six matches that he has been in charge, Highlanders have won four and drew two. Add the victories over Dynamos and FC Platinum in the Chibuku Super Cup matches to that.
From relegation strugglers, Bosso are now somewhere near where they should be on the log standings. Following their 3-1 win over Yadah on Thursday, they moved to sixth on the log standings, and their fans are dreaming once again.
More importantly, De Jongh has brought enthusiasm and gusto back in the Highlanders squad. It looks blissful in their camp, and their fans are happy again.
“Morale is high in camp. We are in the right direction,” de Jongh said ahead of the two teams’ clash at Rufaro Stadium tomorrow afternoon.
“We are hoping to end the season in a good position. I have said before that a top four or five is looking possible or even if we finish top eight we would have done a good job,” reckons the Dutchman.
De Jongh has already tested the feeling of being in the dugout for Highlanders versus Dynamos, arguably the biggest match on the local football calendar.
His first game in charge of Highlanders was against Dynamos in the Chibuku Super Cup match at the end of September, a match his team won 1-0.
He felt in love with the atmosphere, which he has likened to the El Classico, the battle royale between Spanish powerhouses Barcelona and Real Madrid.
“I know how this is like. It is a big match for the two clubs and the fans. This one looks like a Barcelona and Real Madrid clash or Bayern Munich against (Borussia) Dortmund. The second game might not be like the first that we won but anything is possible. We go there for one result (which is to win) but it is not going to be easy,” De Jongh said.
The two teams are currently tied on 39 points, and the winner will likely move into the top four. So besides the bragging rights that go with winning this clash, getting all three points would be massive in the context of the movement on the log standings.
Highlanders will go into the match without their star striker Prince Dube, the man who scored the only goal of the game the last time these two teams met.
He is out due to suspension. While De Jongh would have liked his star forward to be available, it’s highly unlikely that he would miss him that much.
In Dube’s absence on Thursday against Yadah, Highlanders still scored three goals with Mbongeni Ndlovu, Godfrey Makaruse and Tinashe Makanda all on the score sheet.
RECENT social media pictures of President Emmerson Mnangagwa helping himself to mazondo in an airjet and another of a sumptuous breakfast that the majority of Zimbabweans can only partake in in their dreams have become part of the enduring image of the leadership ineptitude and failure that he has become associated with.
NewsDay Comment
The fact that these images found their way onto the President’s social media pages at a time the country is facing a myriad of seemingly insurmountable problems depict a leader who either does not care about the situation on the ground or has no capacity to steer this ship out of the tumultuous waters.
One would have thought after the many years he walked with the late former President Robert Mugabe, he would have learnt some valuable lessons, but it appears he did not learn anything or learnt very little. Or perhaps in his attempts to completely dissociate himself with Mugabe’s legacy, he has transformed into something worse. Quite clearly, that long association appears not to have prepared him for the presidency.
What is obtaining on the ground appears to suggest that the November 2017 coup that ushered Mnangagwa into power was never about Mugabe’s perceived failures, but was a personal project to preserve Mnangagwa who was likely going to be jailed after he was fired from the post of Vice-President just before the coup.
The President does not inspire confidence that he or his government have solutions to the problems confronting this nation. If his responses or lack thereof to these problems, are anything to go by, then one gets the impression that he himself is equally stunned by the scale of problems the country is battling.
It is quite shocking that the doctors’ strike, for instance, has gone on for over a month, and yet the government, which is reluctant to meet the doctors’ demands, was quite eager to pump out a lot of money for a useless anti-sanctions march. Ever since Mnangagwa came to power, his government has not hesitated to pay huge amounts of money to international public relations companies to spruce up its image.
Just to show how inept this government is, it is quite clear, and they know what they are supposed to do because they made those very promises ahead of last year’s elections. One does not require any public relations whitewashing to fulfil their own pledge. And anyone with a little sense in their head would know that.
The government has not even shown any appetite to deal with corruption beyond a little tokenism that has however not fooled anyone. Once it implements the necessary political and economic reforms, everything will fall into place like the right pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.
