BY VENERANDA LANGA

THE central bank yesterday said it would introduce new currency notes and coins in the next two weeks, as it moves to restore the domestic currency which fell victim to hyperinflation and was dumped in 2009.

The new money, comprising $5 notes and $2 coins, will be introduced gradually to ease shortages of the bond note while ensuring that it does not drive up inflation, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mangudya said.

It will circulate alongside the bond notes and coins introduced in 2016 as a surrogate of the US dollar, which the country was then mainly using in-lieu of
its own currency.

The central bank unexpectedly reintroduced the Zimbabwe dollar on June 24, ending a decade of dollarisation.

“We thought of being conservative (in introducing low denomination notes and coins) and we will graduate with time,” Mangudya told journalists after a two-day Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Harare.

It was the first meeting of the MPC since its appointment by Finance minister Mthuli Ncube last month.

Zimbabwe is grappling with its worst economic crisis in a decade, marked by shortages of foreign exchange, fuel and medicines, three-digit inflation and 18-hour daily power cuts.

The central bank boss also confirmed that the economy is expected to shrink by 6,5% this year, while month-to-month inflation will be between 10% and 12% by year end.

While year-on-year inflation was at 353,32% in September, government suspended in August publication of the figures when it topped 176%.

Mangudya, however, declined to give the name of the currency, only opting to say it would be nameless and would complement the already existing bond notes and coins in order to increase the cash circulation.

“We already have bond coins and notes in circulation, as well as $2 and $5 bond notes, but now we are going to have the already circulating bond coins and notes and the $2 new currency coins and $5 new currency notes,” Mangudya said.

“They are going to be used interchangeably at 1:1 rate and the new currency will not be in our bond notes (form), they will be called $2 or $5,” he said.

Asked to produce the specimens for the new $2 coins, and $5 notes, Mangudya said there were some legal processes that needed to be satisfied first before the specimens were made public.

“We shall give you the specimen later because whatever new currency you are introducing needs to be first gazetted through a statutory instrument (SI), and then after gazetting we do the necessary advertising. We cannot do that before the legal instruments are put in place. We need the legal reforms first,” he said.

Mangudya said he would increase the cash supply and revise the withdrawal limits upwards so that people do not have to pay premiums for their cash.

“Precisely, I would say that within the next two weeks, we will be having the cash — and cash does not mean increase in inflation,” he said.

Asked to explain why he was introducing small denominations of notes in an economy already hit by cash shortages and inflation, Mangudya said: “For now we will do the $2 notes, $5 notes and $2 coins so that they do not depreciate as soon as possible.”

Mangudya said the MPC had noted that the increase in reserve money by 80% during the first eight months of 2019 compared to December 2018 position had triggered instability in the exchange rate and resulted in the increase of prices of most goods and services.

He said there was need to contain money supply growth within levels that will ensure exchange rate stability and inflation reduction.

Last week, Mangudya was quizzed by Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, led by Tendai Biti, on revelations that about 10 individuals in the country controlled the US dollar market in the country.

Yesterday, he, however, said 50% of the country’s deposits were owned by 50 corporates.

“So 50% of the $19 billion money supply is in the hands of 50 corporates and so it means we are predominantly a poor country,” he said.

“We must not allow such a thing to happen because at the end of the day, prices will affect everyone in the economy. We are not targeting individuals, we are targeting those with sufficient energy to influence the market.”

On curbing illicit financial deals and massive profiteering by EcoCash agents, Mangudya said the RBZ’s Financial Intelligence Unit had already been deployed, adding that the behaviour of bureaux de change would also be monitored.

On reports that the Chinese government had expended funds for the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport expansion after he released money to Sakunda Holdings on a 1:1 rate to the US dollar, Mangudya said the issue was based on hearsay.

The RBZ governor said the total harnessed funds since he introduced the interbank exchange rate towards the end of last year was US$1,3 billion, being purchases by customers.

He said most of the money was being channelled towards purchases of fuel, adding that the equilibrium in the interbank exchange rate would be a level of 5 to 8 to the United States dollar.

Mangudya said the MPC has noted with concern the continued inflationary pressures in the economy, projected to recede in the outlook period as attested by the recent decline in monthly inflation from 39,26% in June 2019 to 18,07% in August and further to 17,72% in September 2019.

— Additional reporting by Reuters

By Harriet Chikandiwa

Flamboyant businessman Wicknell Chivayo, who is facing a charge of bribery after his company, Intratrek, transferred $10 000 to former Zimbabwe Power Company board chairperson Stanley Kazhanje’s personal bank account to try to influence the outcome of a tender process, is set to stand trial on November 18, 2019.

Chivayo and Kazhanje appeared before Harare provincial magistrate Francis Mapfumo, who remanded them to November 18 for trial.

Allegations are that in September 2013, ZPC invited bids for the construction of the Gwanda solar project and Chivayo, through Intratrek Zimbabwe, expressed interest.
In October 2015, the ZPC board held a meeting with Kazhanje as board chairperson.

During the meeting, Kazhanje allegedly directed that the ZPC management should award the tender to Intratrek.

It is averred that in the same month, the contract was signed between ZPC management and Intratrek without the latter providing a bank guarantee.

Chivayo then reportedly transferred $10 000 bribe money from an Intratrek bank account to Kazhanje’s account.

The prosecution alleged that Kazhanje received the money knowing fully well that it was bribe money to influence the ZPC board into picking Intratrek for the project.

BY PHYLLIS MBANJE IN HYDERABAD, INDIA

RESEARCHERS at the tuberculosis (TB) conference in India have unveiled an experimental new vaccine which could protect millions of people from getting infected.

Dubbed a game-changer by the researchers, the initiative conducted by GlaxoSmithKline, gives fresh hope to the fight against TB, which remains one of the worst infectious diseases in the world.

The experimental vaccine results showed 50% protection for the candidates who took part. Studies were carried out in Kenya, South Africa and Zambia.

“We are one step closer to a vaccine for TB,” International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), scientific director Paula Fujiwara said yesterday. The Union is convener of the 50th Union World Conference on Lung Health.

Fujiwara said a vaccine is the ultimate prevention tool and urged stakeholders to move the trial into its final phase. “We simultaneously need to be doing all we can to prevent tuberculosis with medications that we already have at our disposal.”

TB is a preventable, treatable and curable, yet last year it killed 1,5 million people. It is also estimated that a quarter of the global population has latent TB infection, of whom approximately 10% will develop active pulmonary TB disease.

Currently, multi-drug resistant strains of TB are emerging and spreading globally, and the only available TB vaccine, BCG, does not provide proven and consistent protection in adults in TB-endemic countries.

Without a more effective vaccine, it will not be possible to achieve the World Health Organisation target of decreasing the number of new cases by 90% and the number of TB deaths by 95% between 2015 and 2035. Zimbabwe is among countries with a high TB burden.

Speaking on the sidelines of the conference, The Union Zimbabwe director Christopher Zishiri said currently the country is giving the BCG vaccine to newborn children to prevent tuberculosis. “This has been ongoing for a long time. It prevents severe forms of TB such as that which affects the brain and the whole blood system in children.” Zimbabwe has done well on universal coverage of all children with BCG.

Newsday

PROPHET Passion Java is a man mired deep in controversy; his life is a bewildering case of extreme ironies that make many people question whether he fits the moral compass of a cleric.Snippets of him dancing, singing along to dirty lyrics and partying with non-Christians have inundated the internet of late.

However, despite all the mysterious activities, one thing has become clear and that is the fact that the showy prophet has a profound interest in the arts and music in particular although it is uncertain why.

Two weeks ago, in scenes fit for a Hollywood script, he stormed Harare from the United States for the local leg of his 32nd birthday celebrations and as anticipated, the welcome event was attended by celebrities from across the spectrum including Chillspot Records.

In turn, the man, who has been influencing a lot of pop culture including street lingo, did not disappoint as he splashed cash in what was to become the hallmark of his presence during his brief stay in the country.

While in Harare, he hosted Twabam Nyama, a music concert where revellers got to watch different Zimdancehall acts, ate free meat and drink all sorts of liquids for free at Alex Sports Club. Not a single word from the Bible was shared. Instead, the event ended in chaos.

He may have made up for it on the next day when he held a night of worship at 7 Arts Theatre with Zimpraise Choir singing before he took to the podium to preach.

That is the schedule of a man strangely enjoying the best of both worlds, that is, Christianity and the secular side.Whatever his intentions, Java’s interest in Zimdancehall has started raising eyebrows and that is because he seems too vested for someone not benefitting anything.

Recently, he shot down reports that he had given Chillspot a hefty pay out to sign star chanter Enzo Ishall under his Passion Java Records (PJR), but the lie failed to hold after it later emerged that he also signed South Africa-based Buffalo Soulja.

When questioned over his benevolence to artistes, Java claimed that he was just offering a helping hand, but it is the publicity around the assistance that has made many view the man as a culture vulture seeking to amass prominence by associating with famous names in music circles.

Further fuelling this insinuation is the anomaly of having a perceived man of the cloth not only dining with artistes pursuing a secular message but also bankrolling them.
“I don’t like church people, I don’t like people who pretend to be holy, I don’t want people who try to walk like a god, I want people who are themselves,” says Java in a YouTube video posted in 2015.

While launching PJR back then, he said the label, which came as a God-inspired vision in 2003, was meant to “remove all these things” caused by secular music.
“One thing about Passion Java Records, I met Lil Wayne in Brooklyn in the States and I told him I am opening a recording company that is going to remove all these things that you are doing because Jesus Christ is taking over,” he said.

“With Passion Java Records we are taking over, it might be in hip hop, sungura (and) in whatever music.”Back then he worked with hip hop’s renowned producer Take Fizzo and gospel rapper Mudiwa Hood among others, but now he has switched to Zimdancehall chanters who have proved more popular among urbanites.

If done in a sincere manner, this indeed could be a masterstroke for the man of the cloth.However, his current approach where they sing him praises raises more questions than answers as he now appears to have immersed himself too deep into the culture, ostensibly aborting the soul winning mission.

“How can you get them to where you are if you are not where they are? You have to be wise like a snake and be gentle like a dove in order to win souls for Christ,” he told journalists at Twabam Nyama.

“The first miracle Jesus performed was changing water into wine so that he could attract drunkards and preach to them. People need to understand that times are changing. We used to hold crusades with tents outside but things have changed and people have to follow the season,” Java said.

While it may be very hard to state exactly what Java’s end goal is, some clerics like Walter Magaya and T Freddy have been accused of using musicians to attract attention to their projects.

The former is said to attract more people to his church through live music shows while the later jump-started his gospel career after funding artistes.
Ultimately, only time will tell if Java is just a culture vulture or a genuine man on a divine assignment of soul winning.

BY FIDELITY MHLANGA

ZIMBABWEan chartered accountants (CAs) are in a fix as to which data to use for hyperinflation financial reporting (IAS 29) following the suspension of inflation data by government.

As such accountants are now considering the use of exchange rate in place of the general price index in the restatement of financial statements or both.

This follows a communique from the Public Accountants and Auditors Board (PAAB) a fortnight ago allowing preparers of financial statements to exercise professional judgment in considering the presentation of historical financial information as supplementary information which would be inflation-adjusted in terms of the requirements of IAS 29.

The IAS 29 lists factors that indicate an economy is in a hyperinflationary cycle. One of the indicators of hyperinflation arises when cumulative inflation over a three-year period approaches, or is in excess of 100%.

Presenting at the hyperinflation reporting workshop yesterday Chartered Accountants Academy chief executive Anesu Daka highlighted the pros of using the general price index which include that it is understood to be linked to inflation and also reflects change in general purchasing power.

Daka pointed out that delays in publishing monthly data, suspension of year-on-year inflation figures militate against the use of general price index.He further opined that prices of goods and services were not moving at the same rate as inflation as such it was difficult to employ the index.

According to Daka, using the exchange rate was noble as data is available on a daily basis, as well prices in Zimbabwe move in line with the exchange rate.He, however, said practitioners were wary of using the exchange rate as an index as it was not commonly used in normal cases.

“The ministry of finance said it will not be publishing year-on-year inflation. So what will happen? In one sentence of your financial statement you will say the finance ministry has stopped announcing year-on-year inflation figures. And them on another hand you say from my own calculation year-on-year inflation is like this. While government has stopped announcing figures people are using the month-on-month to calculate the year-on-year inflation,” Daka said.

Icaz past president Martin Makaya proposed that the profession develop a more comprehensive framework detailing how to arrive at the ideal index to use for reporting.
“We are a complex market for that reason we suggest to have the profession lead us in calculating the adjustment factor to use. Our institute should develop some comprehensive framework to use and say this is what we have developed ,” he said.

Another accountant concurred with Makaya on the need for the profession to come with up a proper index to use in the restatement of financial statements.

“We want to believe that as professional bodies we should sit down and come up with an index that we use. You guys need to stop to be political,” he said.

Another accountant weighed in saying there was need to use a common index across the board to allow policy consistency. “If you working on a listed company on the stock exchange, for instance Edgars cannot use price index and Truthworths use the exchange rate. It’s not good for investors,” he said.

Zimbabwe is listed on countries with projected three-year cumulative inflation rates exceeding 100% by the International Practices Task Force of the Centre for Audit Quality that monitors the status of “highly inflationary” countries. The Task Force’s criteria for identifying such countries are similar to those for identifying “hyperinflationary economies” under IAS 29.

This is not the first time Zimbabwe has adopted hyperinflation reporting standards. In 2008 it resorted to the same before abandoning it after the adoption of the multi-currency system. Zimstats stopped publicising the inflation data then due to none availability of price information.

NewsDay

Asa Resources has concluded the sale of its controlling interest in Bindura Nickel Corporation (BNC), the country’s largest nickel producer said in a statement yesterday.
BNC said the buyer of Asa’s controlling 74,13% stake is “a Zimbabwean based mining entity with interests in the mining and production of ferrous metals, non-ferrous metals and precious metals”.

While BNC does not disclose the buyer, reports have suggested that one of the leading bidders was Sotic International, a company linked to businessman Kuda Tagwireyi, who already holds interests in Africa Chrome Fields and has been involved in bids for ferrochrome producer Zimbabwe Alloys.

“Shareholders are referred to the Cautionary statement published on 1 October 2019 advising that the ultimate holding company of BNC, Asa Resource Group plc (currently under administration), has entered into a sale and purchase agreement with a third party in relation to the 74,73% shareholding in BNC,” BNC said in a cautionary.

Landela Mining Venture, another subsidiary of Sotic International, has recently emerged as the local joint venture partner in Great Dyke Investment, the Russia-Zimbabwe platinum project being developed near Darwendale.

BNC: good time to buy?

The new owner of BNC is making the buy at a good time for nickel prices, but also a time the company needs a large injection of capital to ramp up production.

Nickel prices rose to US$18 850 per tonne in September after Indonesia, the world’s largest producer of the metal, announced it would ban ore exports. Indonesia’s nickel miners agreed on Monday to stop nickel ore exports immediately.

BNC’s buyer will need to invest additional capex into the business, if it is to increase output.The company suspended a project to revive its smelter, which is 83% complete, because nickel prices were too low to justify the investment. Since the project began in 2015, nickel prices have averaged US$12 000 per tonne, according to the company’s last earnings report. For the smelter to make sense, BNC has said it needs a nickel price of US$16 200 per tonne.

While prices are expected to ease – some believe the metal is now overpriced – nickel is already above BNC’s forecasts of US$12 000 per tonne this year, US$13 000 per tonne up to March 2020, and US$16 625 per tonne by March 2021.

According to BNC chairman Much Masunda, the company needs at least US$500 million of capex to raise production. But, he said, Zimbabwe’s poor credit score and isolation means the company cannot access that money from global markets.

In 2017, Asa had planned to incorporate the Trojan mine into the Bindura complex, but missed its deadlines due to weak nickel prices and rising costs.
The battle for Bindura

The latest BNC sale adds to dramatic ownership changes at the mine.BNC was founded in 1966. In 2004, Mwana Africa, owned by businessman Kalaa Mpinga, acquired 53% of the asset from Anglo American Corporation for US$8 million. Mpinga, however, lost control of the company in 2015, after a hostile takeover by China International Mining Group Corporation, an Asa associate, which had invested US$21 million in 2012 to rescue Trojan Mine.

Asa gained control of 74,3% in BNC and 85% in Freda Rebecca gold mine. But claims of fraud and externalisation soon crippled Asa. In 2017, warrants of arrest were issued on chief executive Yat Hoi Ning and financial director Yim Kwan over allegations that they had illegally shipped out ore and stolen US$4,3 million from the company.

Asa was soon after placed under the administration of Duff and Phelps in London, who immediately began talks with various suitors to sell-off the company. Asa then faced a hostile takeover from Rich Pro, a Chinese firm allegedly tied to the sacked executives.

In June 2018, a year after it was suspended from the AIM board over the fraud, Asa cancelled its London listing after delays in fixing a deep cash flow crisis.

In 2018, London and Johannesburg-listed Pan African Resources announced that it was in “exclusive negotiations with the joint administrators of Asa Resource Group” for the acquisition of “certain of the assets and liabilities of the (Asa) group”. The talks were cancelled early
2019. — newZWire

Paidamoyo Muzulu

FIDEL Castro’s Cuba and Ian Douglas Smith’s Rhodesia remain etched in the United States psyche as two countries that survived to tell the tale after sanctions were imposed on them.

Sanctions are the US’s first priority to deal with those it disagrees with, but they have not been successful when applied to countries that had good and ideologically grounded leaders.

The newly-established communist republic of Cuba, just 90km off the coast of Miami, was the first to deal with American wrath, but has lived to tell the tale 59 years later.

The Rhodesians too survived the United Nations economic onslaught for a good 15 years and left a decent economy at independence in 1980. It is interesting to look into how both Castro and Smith sustained their countries despite the hanging sword of Damocles.

The two, Castro and Smith, had nothing in common, except by a slight hand off chance that the Rhodesian premier’s private residence was next door to the Cuban embassy in Harare.
Castro was clear in his mind and actions that he was communist. His policies were thus geared towards redistribution of State resources to develop his country. On that path, Castro stuck and strove until he relinquished power due to health problems.

In his over four decades in power, Castro built some of the most admired health and education systems in the world.Yes, at given opportunities he would rant against the imperialist US, but he always rolled his sleeves and worked for his country and his people.

The former Cuban leader knew that he had to take sides and he went to bed with the Russians until the fall of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1989. Castro may have badly negotiated some of the deals with Russia, but he was clever enough to know when to renegotiate for the best of his people.

In his speech in Venezuela in 1999, at the 40th anniversary celebration of Cuban revolution titled A Revolution Can Only be Born From a Culture of Ideas, Castro said: “Sadder still: I have seen how they have put many of our countries to compete with one another by favouring who offer more advantages and tax exemptions to investment. They have put many third world countries to compete with one another for investments and free trade zones.”

Castro did not lose his stride in attacking neo-liberalism adding: “There are countries – I know them by name – enduring such poverty and unemployment that they have had to establish dozens of free trade zones as an option within the established world order. It is this or not having free trade zone factories and jobs with certain salaries, even if these mount to only 7%, 6%, 5% or less of the salaries the owners of those factories would have to pay in the countries they come from.”

The former Cuban leader had foreseen the danger of free-trade zones and to whose benefit they were being put up in the first place.“We stated this at the World Trade Organisation, in Geneva, several months ago. They want to turn us into a huge free-trade zone, yes, that precisely, then with their money and technologies they will start buying everything. It remains to be seen how many airlines will remain national property, how many shipping lines, how many services will remain the property of the people or nations,” Castro said.

Thousands of kilometres away in Rhodesia, Smith was having his own revolution. He had just made the Unilateral Declaration of Independence from Britain and was set to create and sustain his racist Rhodesian State.

In fighting US and United Nations sanctions, Smith turned to what he could control, Zimbabwe’s natural resources and the creation of State-owned enterprises to manufacture the things that Rhodesia could no longer import. Under sanctions, the Rhodesian economy grew by double digits for 10 consecutive years. He established Harare’s Msasa, Graniteside, Workington and Southerton industrial areas to be his bulwark in import substitution.

On the educational front, Smith established polytechnics across the major urban areas to offer skills that were needed in the industry. He further established the Agriculture Finance Corporation (now Agribank) to fund commercial agriculture.

While he may have allowed the development of a national bourgeoisie, Smith was clear that State-owned enterprises would give guarantee and comfort to his ambitions and not be held to ransom by rapacious capitalists. By 1978, the 85 parastatals were contributing 40% of Rhodesia’s gross domestic product.

It may be far-fetched, but both Castro and Smith may have read Frantz Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth, particularly where he writes on the creation of a national bourgeoisie that would not be swayed to close shop if things went awry.

These are the hard lessons President Emmerson Mnanagagwa may have missed in his policy of opening Zimbabwe to capitalist vultures, who have no attachment to the country except to make quick profit and leave the country.

The situation has been further compounded by Finance minister Mthuli Ncube, who, as part of the solution to Zimbabwe’s economic problems, wants to sell parastatals, create free-trade zones and obtain loans to pay off international arrears.

I wonder why he has not learnt from Smith, who simply defaulted under sanctions and used the meagre resources to build the Rhodesian economy?
Without reading from history, Mnangagwa and his regime will fail dismally if they see Zimbabwe’s recovery through neo-liberal solutions such as privatisation and leaving the State with no role in the economy.

NewsDaY

London — When Joel Stransky dropped the winning goal in the World Cup final in Johannesburg in 1995, Tendai Mtawarira did not have a clue the game was going on. He was 1 127km away in Harare and more interested in football.

“I was just a primary school kid in Zimbabwe back then,” recalled the veteran Springbok loosehead, who will pack down opposite Kyle Sinckler in Saturday’s World Cup final. “I didn’t watch rugby. I was playing soccer.

“In 2007, though (when South Africa beat England in the final in Paris), I did watch and it was amazing, inspirational stuff.

“To be part of a World Cup final is a dream come true for me. I have worked hard throughout my whole career to get here and I want to make it count.”

Mtawarira – or “Beast” as he is universally known – will be one of South Africa’s key players on Saturday. Aged 34, he may no longer be the physical specimen he once was. The rampaging runs have slowed a bit. The shouts of “Beeeaaast” as he drives over the gain line with two or three defenders hanging off him marginally less frequent.

But there is a reason Rassie Erasmus, the head coach, keeps on picking him. Mtawarira weighs well over 114kg, he is hugely powerful and technically gifted, more than capable of giving Sinckler nightmares if the England tighthead is not on his game.

Just ask Phil Vickery. Mtawarira had only converted from the back row to prop a couple of years before the British and Irish Lions toured South Africa in 2009, having been spotted playing for Zimbabwe Under-19s by the Natal Sharks.

Beast won the first Test at Kings Park almost single-handedly, becoming something of a cult figure in the process. A decade on he has made 116 appearances for his country.

Erasmus’s plan will be to use his heavy front row of Mtawarira, Bongi Mbonambi and Frans Malherbe to sap England’s energy before sending on his finishers.

Mtawarira says he will give his opposite man the respect he deserves on Saturday, Sinckler having emerged as one of the world rugby’s best tightheads in the past two years.
But he will not be in the least bit fazed by facing a front row of Mako Vunipola, Jamie George and Sinckler.

“They’re playing great rugby,” he said. “Mako and Kyle have really been performing well. They’ve definitely formed a great combination. It will be exciting to go up against them.”

Mtawarira said the extra day off England enjoyed following their win over New Zealand on Saturday, before South Africa defeated Wales on Sunday, would “not make a massive difference”. But he did reckon that the comprehensive manner of England’s victory over the world champions made them marginal favourites.

“I’d probably say so,” he said. “They’re playing really well. Their performance was brilliant. Maybe we’re the underdogs. We are going to have to be at our best. They outplayed a really good team (in New Zealand).

“We’re going to have to be very physical. I think it’s going to be a game for the big moments. It’s all about who takes charge of those big moments.”

Mtawarira will certainly not be taking a backward step. Born and raised in Harare, his was a circuitous route to the top – via a full scholarship to renowned rugby nursery Peterhouse Boys’ School, before, in quick succession, Zimbabwe Under-19s, the Natal Sharks and then the Springboks. — The Telegraph

NewsDay

HARDLY halfway through its first five-year term, the so-called new dispensation has fared dismally on the ease of doing business front with two major projects that could have really shored up its profile having fallen through.

First to bite the dust was the US$400 million Diaspora Infrastructure Development Group (DIDG)/Transnet deal that had been flaunted as the best thing that had visited the rundown National Railways of Zimbabwe this century. Government cooked up some very funny excuses to cancel the deal and has retendered it in a move that has seriously dented its image.

Now we hear the same government has aborted the dualisation of the 971-kilometre Chirundu-Harare-Beitbridge highway and has opted to instead widen it, starting with the 580-km Harare-Beitbridge Highway stretch. Transport minister Joel Biggie Matiza tells us that government has “decided to start by upgrading the road as a first phase, and … then go to the second phase which is dualisation. We expect work to upgrade and widen to be complete by 2023. We are using local contractors and we expect to create employment during construction.

We are using local engineers who are just as competent. The road will be 12,5 metres wide and we have five different companies working on segments of the road. We resorted to local companies to save foreign currency.”

While Matiza tries hard to sound meek in the hope of making us believe that he and his colleagues have made a very logical and prudent decision, the decision is again a serious indictment on President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s regime. Matiza is taking everyone, including the business community, for fools. Was this project being sponsored by government or whoever was given the tender was responsible for raising the funds to dualise the road? Were we not made to understand that the highway would be dualised on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) or build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) arrangement?

BOT or BOOT project financing means that a private entity receives a concession from the private or public sector to finance, design, construct, own and operate a facility stated in the concession contract; in this case it was the Chirundu-Harare-Beitbridge Road.

According to the Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe (IDBZ) – albeit the website post being a little outdated, the 971-km project toll involved “the dualisation, upgrading and tolling of the highway.

The road will be divided into three sections namely; Beitbridge-Harare: 570km (8 toll plazas), Harare-Chirundu: 342km (6 toll plazas) and Harare ring road: 59km (3 toll plazas)”. So what foreign currency is Matiza saving when the entire project was supposed to have been sponsored by the company that won the tender? Should we remind Matiza that the same government cancelled, in May last year, a tender to Geiger International to dualise the same highway after it failed to raise the funds to do the job? Should we also remind the minister that the company that was later given the tender to dualise the highway, Chinese firm Anhui Foreign Economic Construction Group Limited, told us only last month that it was still mobilising funds for the road? So who, in God’s name, is Matiza trying to fool?

If government was serious about all these projects, the highway would have to be completed by 2022. But now because of their tomfoolery the project and half of it for that matter, will be done in time for the 2023 general elections. Some of these things are simply not adding up. It appears the highway will now be used as campaign material for the 2023 general elections. Can government be serious.