Acting Tourism and Hospitality Industry minister Mangaliso Ndlovu has urged the government to allocate adequate funds in next year’s budget to resuscitate the tourism industry which suffered a 3% decline in the first half of the year.

By Nokuthaba Dlamini

Speaking at a pre-budget meeting in Victoria Falls yesterday, Ndlovu said tourism hubs like Victoria Falls needed adequate water supply, proper sanitation and uninterrupted electricity supplies.

“We need to establish an enabling tourism business environment with modern technologies, modern ports of entry, water and sanitation and energy so that in the process of rebranding our country, all systems are put in place,” he said.

MDC Mashonaland West proportional representation MP, Concillia Chinanzvavana said on top of providing adequate resources, there was need to make tourism destinations more affordable.

“The visa system remains partially computerised. Government needs to expedite the whole system so that our visitors spend less time queueing to enter the country as this impact negatively on the visitor’s experience,” she said.

“There is also need to reduce the average time taken to process a tourist visa by opening more processing counters. The e-visa platform still faces teething challenges and needs upgrading so that it is easily accessed by tourists from different source markets.”

Chinanzvavana said foreign visitors were finding it difficult to buy goods and pay for services due to shortage of cash.

“Curio market vendors do not have international point of sale (POS) machines. This implies that we are limiting tourist expenditure into the economy. The government through the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe needs to ensure cash availability in bureaus, especially in our tourism hubs. The RBZ should also improve the availability of international POS machines,” she said.

“Fuel shortages affect the tourism operators’ ability to offer all-inclusive packages within the destination. Statutory Instrument 212 of 2019 is making it difficult to charge for future bookings to locals due to the inflationary environment while commissioning of the Zimdollar is not yet internationalised to allow for the conversion to other currencies.”

Hospitality and tourism establishments reportedly pay for 22 licences administered by 13 different agencies, hence the need to harmonise and reduce duplication.

“Government must create a one-stop shop for the multiple licensing and decentralise taxes and permits within the sector. The current system contradicts the ease of doing business and is expensive, thus government should consolidate a myriad of taxes that are making the destination uncompetitive,” Chinanzvavana said.

“Hotels are being charged individual television licences as per the Broadcasting Services Act (Chapter 12:06). All this, coupled with excess power outages in the country are heavily impacting negatively on business operations in terms of overhead costs and inconveniences which are creating negative perceptions about the destination.”

Chinanzvavana said Victoria Falls International Airport facilities must be upgraded continually to increase access to Zimbabwe by international airlines.

DOCTORS have come out guns blazing after President Emmerson Mnangagwa accused them of being sponsored by foreign hands to destabilise his government through strikes.

BY BLESSED MHLANGA / RUVIMBO MUCHENJE

The striking doctors also for the second time yesterday snubbed disciplinary hearings conducted by the Health Services Board over their failure to report for duty.

Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association (ZHDA) said its members were not playing politics and did not need third parties to tell them they were suffering.

“The statements are unfortunate. It is clear that government is turning a purely labour issue into a political issue. That is sad. We do not need anyone to tell us that the money we are earning is not sufficient to pay for rentals and buy food. Nobody has to come and tell me that I am struggling to pay fees for my children because my salary is insufficient, doctors are not fools,” ZHDA said.

Mnangagwa, while addressing Zanu PF youth league on Thursday, said he was aware that some doctors were actually being paid by foreign donors to stay away from work.

He said his government was investigating the issue.

But ZHDA denied the allegations, saying if doctors were getting money, they would go to work instead.

“The people who go to government hospitals are our relatives, parents and sisters. Even fellow doctors come to public hospitals. We would, therefore, want to see those hospitals fully manned by motivated doctors so that we create hope for the people,” ZHDA said.

“Not going to work also affects and delays our graduation process. We therefore want to state clearly that we want to go to work. We can only do that when government capacitates us.”

Acting Health minister Monica Mutsvangwa said government remained open to talk to doctors as soon as they come back to their senses.

“We encourage dialogue. We have always said doctors should go back to work while we talk. They should be saving lives. Human life is important,” she said.

ZHDA secretary Tawanda Zvakada said doctors also wanted dialogue, but it had to be done on fair grounds.

“You talk when conditions are right. Government said come let’s talk. When we were getting ready to talk, they abducted our leader. When he was found, we said the conditions are right now let’s talk, then they bring a court order, then letters for hearings. That is not creating a platform for talking,” he said.

ZHDA president Peter Magombeyi was allegedly abducted on September 14 from his Budiriro high-density home and found a week later in Nyabira, about 30km north-west of the capital.

The HSB confirmed that doctors boycotted yesterday’s disciplinary hearings while dismissing reports of massive firing of the striking medical personnel.

“They didn’t turn up for the hearings, but as HSB chairperson, Dr Paulinus Sikosana alluded to yesterday, we are following the right procedure, which provides for going ahead with disciplinary hearings whether the doctor is present or not,” the HSB said.

“The outcomes of the hearings are confidential, hence we will communicate to individuals.”

Local Government minister July Moyo has set up a commission of inquiry to look into the affairs of the City of Gweru, including service delivery and reports of corruption.

By Brenna Matendere

The development comes two days after suspended town clerk Elizabeth Gwatipedza appeared before an independent tribunal to answer corruption charges.

Mayor Josiah Makombe yesterday confirmed the development, but was coy on divulging its mandate.
“Yes, there is an investigation team that is coming, but it is not true that they want Gwatipedza to be back in office,” he said, commenting on reports that the inquiry was meant to find ways to reinstate the suspended town clerk.

“The team has got its own terms of reference and, as council, we see nothing bad in that.”

Makombe also revealed that he had a discussion with Moyo about the commission.

However, sources told NewsDay Weekender that the tide could be turning on the councillors over the suspension of the town clerk.

“The position of a town clerk is a very powerful portfolio and the government of the day would want to protect it through a person loyal to them. While the MDC controls Gweru, it is Zanu PF which formed government and so it looks like the ruling party is moving to fight back the suspension of the town clerk,” said a source.

However, Makombe allayed the fears.

“Actually, I was aware of such a team coming because we discussed that with the minister before,” he said.

Asked whether the coming of the commission will not set a parallel process in the handling of the issue of the town clerk who is already under investigation, Makombe said: “I don’t think so, but we will see.”

In August 2015, the government, through then Local Government minister Saviour Kasukuwere dispatched a commission to Gweru led by former Masvingo town clerk Tsungai Mhangami.

There was, however, an outcry from residents that the commission looted council resources by awarding themselves hefty allowances and packages.

THREE elderly members of an Indian family have been arrested on charges of defrauding a British citizen of £67 400 in a travel scam.

By Harriet Chikandiwa

Musa Ahmed Yousaf (83), former director of Carefree Travel, Musa Akil Yousaf (51), Yousaf Aisha Musa (80), former managing director of Carefree Travel, as well as Rutendo Berejena (44), who is also a director of the company, appeared before Harare magistrate Victoria Mushamba, who granted them $1 000 bail each.

They were remanded to November 27 for possible trial.

The complainant is British-based Mohammed Ahmed.

Allegations are that sometime in September 2017, the accused persons allegedly misrepresented to Ahmed that Carefree Travel was in need of capital injection in order to finance a facility which they claimed to have with Emirates Airlines.

It is alleged that Emirates would enable Carefree Travel to buy tickets at discounted prices for resale to its customers, yet in actual fact they knew that no such facility
existed.

Because of the misrepresentation, Ahmed injected £67 400 into Carefree Travel, which he lost and nothing was recovered.

ANCHORED on public pre-budget consultations, the process to formulate the 2020 National Budget Statement is underway. Public participation during budget formulation is fundamental. Citizens and civil society must grab the opportunity to influence how public revenues are generated and allocated to address the stubborn challenges posed by inequality and poverty.

Obviously, citizen participation must not be restricted to budget input, but across the whole value chain of service delivery. This entails public participation in processes which determine how public resources are raised, allocated, disbursed, spent and accounted for to ensure progressive realisation of socio-economic rights embodied in the Constitution.

The nation is quite plugged in on the increasingly domineering role of mining in the economy.

Therefore, it is critical for civil society organisations like the Zimbabwe Environment Law Association (ZELA) to give input on how the budget can hinge more on mining potential on domestic resource mobilisation.

An input harvested through multi-stakeholder engagement meetings which feed into the provincial and national alternative mining indabas. Primarily, the focus on such indabas is to push for conducive policy and practise reforms to have grip for the slippery sustainable development dividend from mining. Recently, government launched its strategy to realise a US$12 billion mining economy by 2023.

Given this significant development, it is imperative to influence the budget formulation to ensure the national budget is primed to capture a fair share of revenue from this anticipated remarkable growth.

Below are key pointers of how the 2020 National Budget Statement must enhance mining fiscal linkages by ensuring greater transparency and accountability. Essentially, the pointers raised here are not new; resource rich communities have made such demands for years, with mixed success.

Deliver transparency reforms

Six years have passed now since the new Constitution was adopted in 2013, but mining sector transparency reforms as required by the new Constitution remain a mirage.

The Constitution requires an Act of Parliament to guide negotiation and performance of mining agreements to ensure transparency, honesty, cost-effectiveness and competitiveness, Section 315 (2) (c). With the launch of a strategy to realise US$12 billion contribution from the mining sector by 2023, more mega mining deals are in the pipeline. The secrecy around how these deals are negotiated must be ended as required by the Constitution. Further, existing and new deals must be monitored to ensure mining growth is not unhinged from national budget contribution. As such, the budget must set the context for Parliament to review the fiscal terms of past, new and prospective mining mega deals.

Public financial management principles embedded in the Constitution under Section 298 requires transparency and accountability in all financial matters among others. The budget, therefore, must put in place tangible steps to harness low hanging fruits to deliver mining tax revenue transparency reforms. Low hanging fruits include the disclosure of mining sector performance across each revenue head and the revenue performance of key mining sectors like gold, platinum, diamonds, chrome and coal, for example. Already, the country’s tax collector, the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra), is disclosing quarterly and annual tax revenue performance reports per revenue head. Such revenue heads include corporate income tax (CIT), customs duty, royalties, withholding tax, Pay As You Earn (Paye) and Value Added Tax (Vat).

There is room to fine tune such reports to track the performance of the mining sector.

The Budget can also borrow inspiration from how the Intermediated Mobile Money Transfer Tax is handled in order to improve mineral revenue transparency. This can be done by earmarking a portion of mining revenue, 50% for instance, towards human development and infrastructure programmes.

Further, billboards can be erected to show clinics, schools, roads and dams being funded by revenue from diamonds, platinum, gold and other minerals. By doing so, the budget can send the message to citizens that the depletion of the country’s mineral reserves through mining is not a plunder of resources, but a catalyst for sustainable development.

Another milestone which the upcoming budget must deliver is disclosure of the tax incentives. That is, tax revenue forgone to attract investments in the mining sector. Disclosure of tax incentives is fundamental to fulfil the promise made in the 2019 National Budget Statement on monitoring and evaluation of tax incentives.

The 2020 budget must give a clear update on funding for modernising the mining title administration system; a computerised mining cadastre. The current mining cadastre is outdated, a source of claim ownership disputes and a corruption enabler. It is critical that the budget addresses perennial nagging challenges associated with funding for computerising the cadastre mining system.

In the medium term, focus should be on adoption and implementation of the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) to enable open and accountable governance of the mining sector. Remarkably, the 2020 pre-budget strategy paper embraces EITI. Concreate steps, such as the creation of a multi-stakeholder grouping and budgeting for implementation of EITI, must be included in the budget.

Review platinum royalties

A commitment was made in the 2018 National Budget Statement to review platinum royalties by August 2019. A result of the lowering of platinum royalty rate from 10% to 2,5% is to ensure equity and fairness among all platinum players.

Prior to this arrangement, ordinary platinum lease holders, Mimosa specifically, was paying a 10% royalty rate while special lease holders like Zimplats and Unki mine were paying a 2,5% royalty rate. Given that the Midterm Budget Review in August failed to review platinum royalties as promised, it is critical for the 2020 National Budget to review platinum royalties upwards to increase mining tax revenue contribution.

As it stands, platinum royalty rates are now half the rate of the gold sector and higher than those for base metals by 0,5 percentage points.

Share the wealth

Previous budget instruments are responsible for dismantling the indigenisation and economic empowerment framework, in the process removing legal backing for Community Share Ownership Trusts (CSOTs).

We now need a vehicle tailored to hinge sustainable local economic and social development on mining. The right of communities to benefit from resources in their localities is a Constitutional issue through Section 13 (40 of the Constitution.

Therefore, the Budget must embrace mineral revenue sharing arrangements between the central government and local governments. For instance, 20% of mineral royalties must be ploughed back to areas from where the resources are extracted. That way, CSOTs will have a sustainable revenue stream to finance local development.

The road ahead

Policy coherence is an important ingredient for government to spearhead sustainable and broad-based socio-economic development. Now that the Ministry has a strategy to realise a US$12 billion mining economy by 2023, the national budget must clearly speak to the mining fiscal linkages hinged on this remarkable projected growth.

The journey towards EITI must be marked with clear road signs which are to be benchmarked with constitutional requirements, tax and contract transparency. It is imperative that a budget which dismantled legal backing for CSOTs should come up with measures to ensure communities benefit from resources in their areas, as required by the Constitution. In this regard, government must consider mineral revenue sharing arrangements with communities from where resources are extracted.

 Mukasiri Sibanda is an economic governance officer at the Zimbabwe Environmental Lawyers Association. He writes in his personal capacity

A LOCAL energy company has urged Zimbabwe to turn to solar as hydro-power was becoming more expensive and vulnerable to the vagaries of nature.

BY PRECIOUS CHIDA

Speaking on the sidelines of the launch of its new branch in Guruve yesterday, Zonful Energy chief executive officer William Ponela said there was need to ensure that every household generates its own energy.

“If you look at the cost of hydro power over solar, hydro has become too high and it doesn’t make sense for us to continue using it,” he said.

“Our solar panels are now wireless unlike the traditional way of solar connections. It has become cheaper so you can see that the conversions in technology have made it easier for people to move to solar.”

Ponela said the organisation was targeting to power 20 000 households in Guruve district and one million countrywide by 2025.

Energy minister Fortune Chasi commended Zonful for bringing clean and affordable energy to rural communities.

“At least, 80% of the rural population in Zimbabwe is off-grid which means these areas have no grid connections and they are using unsafe energy sources. I, therefore, commend the Zonful Energy team for its unwavering efforts to bring clean and affordable energy to both the peri-urban and the rural communities of Zimbabwe,” he said.

Zonful donated solar lights and other gadgets to traditional leaders and pupils at primary schools.

THE government is failing to properly explain its on-going austerity measures, resulting in most people looking at the current establishment as a failure, Defence and War Veterans deputy minister Victor Matemadanda has said.

By Rex Mphisa

Matemadanda, who is the ruling Zanu PF party commissar, said to achieve economic stability, the new dispensation led by President Emerson Mnangagwa, embarked on financial discipline and other measures to boost government coffers.

This, he said, was bound to cause suffering, but had long-term positive effects.

“The last dispensation did not have financial discipline that resulted in printing of unsupported bond notes. President Mnangagwa embarked on austerity measures to re-rail the economy, but these have not been properly communicated to the people,” he said.

Matemadanda said Mnangagwa was clear that the recovery path would be an uphill task.

“These (austerity measures) have to be packaged well such that everyone knows where we are going and what we are going through,” he said.

Matemadanda was addressing war veterans, war collaborators and widows of liberation war heroes in Beitbridge on Thursday.

“(The late former President Robert) Mugabe’s dispensation bled the economy. Zimbabwe is like a person being treated of extreme blood loss whose recovery is painful,” he said.

Zimbabwe has of late been witnessing a wave of fuel price hikes and other commodities which has left people believing Mugabe was better that his successor who assumed power following a coup.
Matemadanda said war veterans had a role to explain the austerity measures to people in their areas.

He urged war veterans to resist regional politics and elect party officials on merit rather than connections.

“We are holding our district co-ordination committee elections countrywide and you must elect people according to performance, not who they know,” he said.

Matemadanda said his visit to Beitbridge brought him face-to-face with the drought and he would advise the President on the urgent need to bring food relief for both humans and livestock in the district.

More than 1 000 cattle have succumbed to effects of the drought in Beitbridge.

MEDIA defence lawyer Chris Mhike has said President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government was similar to that of the late former President Robert Mugabe in terms of committing violence against journalists.

BY FARAI MATIASHE

Speaking during commemorations to mark International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists in Harare yesterday, Mhike said he was concerned about the rise in cases of harassment and assault of journalists in the country.

The day is commemorated on November 2 every year.

“We also want to take note of the fact that the statistics of violence against the media leave a lot to be desired. There have been too many arrest of journalists and assaults. We have seen journalist also being threatened by all sorts of players, not just government,” he said.

“As a legal defence attorney, I have been extremely busy, particularly in the period 2018-2019.

The incidents of harassment of journalists have been rising phenomenally and we are constantly referring to the second republic doing things differently.

“We will not be able to achieve that dream to differentiate the second republic from the first republic, with the recent statistics that we have been hearing in the past months or in the past two years in particular.”

Mhike said it was the duty of the State to safeguard the safety of journalists as required by the Constitution.

“The most important role in terms of protection of journalist lies with the State. The State wields power in protection of journalists. The government is placed at a vantage point in terms of making sure that violations come to an end and that journalists do enjoy the rights that are given to them under the Constitution,” he said.

Mhike called on the State to hold accountable perpetrators of violence against journalists.

National Peace and Reconciliation Commission commissioner Geoffrey Chada said working in peace was a human right, thus journalists should not be harassed.

Information ministry director for international communication services, Ivanoe Gurira, said journalists should wear vests labelled Press so that it is easier for security services to distinguish them from the people they would be covering, especially during demonstrations and protests.

But in a statement, Media Institute of Southern Africa-Zimbabwe Chapter said some of the cases involving the assaults or unlawful arrests of journalists have reportedly been perpetrated by the police and other State security agents, the very same agents that are supposed to protect journalists and the citizens in general.

Recent cases include the assault of Ruvimbo Muchenje, a journalist with Alpha Media Holdings, who sustained injuries after the police assaulted her with batons during running battles between the cops and vendors in Harare’s central business district last month.