The World Food Programme (WFP) has said it will give assistance to the country’s urban poor and food insecure households under its cash transfer programme to alleviate hunger.
This comes as the latest food situation assessment in urban areas observed that an estimated 2,2 million urbanites — haunted by poverty, unemployment and the spiralling costs of basic commodities — are food insecure just like the rural folk.
WFP country director Eddie Rowe said currently the cash transfer programme was having a dry run in Epworth where they are piloting it with 20 000 people.
“According to the urban assessment of food situation three weeks ago, an additional 2,2 million people are food insecure. It is coincidental that of the 2 million that we plan to assist, the US has provided us with resources to cover one million from now to April. Had it not been for the resources, we would be struggling. We would not have had the resources, we expect to be able to support the most vulnerable and chronic food insecure households across the country,” Rowe said.
“So yes, we are looking at providing the cash benefit in towns. Mobile money transfers are easy in urban areas and also the goods are available than in rural areas. What we will be careful about is the price fluctuations. We prefer cash transfer in urban areas.”
He said they are targeting to reach 200 000 urbanites by January next year.
“We will be doing the cash transfer program for the urban poor. Currently, we are carrying a pilot programme in Epworth for 20 000 people where each is getting US$13. We plan to reach 200 000 residents in eight urban areas by January next year,” he said.
Rowe said the government’s ban on the use of the United States dollars and disbanding the multi-currency regime had taken a toll on the WFP’s cash transfer programme.
“We are very much affected (by the ban on the use of the US dollars). In fact, one of the obvious impacts was our ability to continue with the cash transfer programme,” he said.
“In the interest of the beneficiaries to ensure that we maintain the same ration, we made the decision to switch to in-kind (giving them foodstuffs) because even if we give them cash, they could not get the same amount of goods they would get if given foodstuffs.”
Zimbabwe is sitting on a time bomb that can explode anytime because of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s poor governance.
This was said yesterday by Movement for Democratic Change Alliance (MDCA) president Nelson Chamisa.
Speaking in an interview with The Standard, Chamisa said the country was degenerating into deeper crisis every day and its people were in such pain it now posed a serious threat to national security.
“Zimbabwe is a ticking time bomb. We are sitting on a time bomb,” Chamisa said.
“Zimbabwe is suffering; it is in serious crisis that runs the risk of imploding soon. We have a hungry population, a nation that is in pain. No citizen is without a charge sheet against government: pensioners, vendors, women, youths, the unemployed, nurses, doctors, teachers and workers in the private sector among them, and this is a fact.”
He added: “As I speak, there is hunger in the townships, villages, farms, police posts and police camps, there is hunger everywhere. Hunger knows no wall. It does not pay respect to political party affiliation or tribal belonging of clan. It is a common threat to survival.”
Zimbabwe is experiencing serious economic hardships characterised by hyperinflation. The bond note is losing value, and shortages and high pricing of critical commodities such as fuel, bread are increasing on the backdrop of poor unchanging salaries, among other life challenges.
Above all though, is the high risk of getting sick in a country whose health delivery system has been crippled by mass job action by health workers and non-availability of medicines.
Mnangagwa has constantly blamed sanctions for the economic meltdown and on Friday sought to highlight this through a national protest march which flopped spectacularly due to poor turnout.
The European Union and the United States, which imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe close to two decades ago, have since hit back, accusing high profile corruption in government, lack of rule of law and gross human rights abuses as the causes of the country’s economic woes.
Referring to Mnangagwa’s sanctions blame, Chamisa said: “We can’t specialise in treating symptoms ignoring the real problem, which is governance and corruption. We use violence to transact our political problems, we victimise each other. We are too polarised and can’t even celebrate our diversity.
“We must be attacking and correcting the real problems. We are fighting the wrong wars; the real issue is governance and legitimacy. There is a political crisis in the country and a general lack of confidence in those who claim to be in leadership. The social contract is broken.”
He added: “The nation is in a precarious position. There is no definition of failure beyond what we have experienced with Mnangagwa’s leadership. There is high unemployment and the unemployed youth are a threat to national security.”
Referring to corruption, Chamisa said: “We have two countries in one, rich people looting national resources and the very poor people. The national cake is not shared equally. Freedom was never about Zanu PF, but all Zimbabweans, the liberation war was not fought for one party; but we have a de facto one party state. That is why they want to label MDC as enemies, terrorists.”
Chamisa said the affairs in the country pointed to a boiling point and was hopeful the end of Mnangagwa was coming close.
“Zimbabwe is headed in the wrong direction. The country is on a wrong path, a path to nowhere.
“But I have good news and they will see it very soon. A national drumbeat has informed me that the end is nigh. Many cannot see the end that is so near, but it is coming.”
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has been dealt yet another blow with US President Donald Trump on Friday adding his close ally, State Security minister Owen Ncube, to the sanctions list.
Ncube who hails from Mnangagwa’s home province of Midlands and is one of his ardent long-time supporters is being punished for alleged human rights crimes. The US accuses Ncube of being involved in the state-sponsored violence on civilians that saw several people being shot dead by soldiers, while many others sustained injuries from beatings and other forms of brutalisation by the military and other suspected state agents. There were also incidents of abductions and torture reported since Ncube was appointed State Security minister.
US secretary of state Michael Pompeo said on Friday the US had credible information that Ncube was involved in gross violations of human rights under his ministry. The announcement coincided with the anti-sanctions march held in Zimbabwe on Friday with the support of Sadc.
The event was, however, a huge flop owing to poor subscription despite the government providing free transport and offering free goodies such as chicken and chips meals and T-shirts. Mnangagwa addressed a largely empty 60 000-seater National Sports Stadium and called for the unconditional removal of sanctions.
“We are deeply troubled by the Zimbabwean government’s use of state-sanctioned violence against peaceful protestors, and civil society, as well as against labour leaders and members of the opposition leaders in Zimbabwe,” Pompeo said.
“We urge the government to stop the violence, investigate, and hold officials responsible for human rights violations and abuses in Zimbabwe.”
Ncube, popularly known as “Mudha”, will no longer be allowed to enter the US, according to a statement by Pompeo, as the world’s super power intensifies its restrictive measures on Mnangagwa’s government despite a push by Sadc countries for the lifting of the controversial measures.
“Today (Friday), the Department designates Owen Ncube under Section 7031(c) of the FY 2019 Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act (Div. F, P.L. 116-6), as carried forward by the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2020 (Div. A, P.L. 116-59) due to his involvement in gross violations of human rights,” Pompeo said.
“Section 7031(c) provides that, in cases where the Secretary of State has credible information that foreign officials have been involved in significant corruption or a gross violation of human rights, those individuals is ineligible for entry into the United States and may be publically or privately designated as such by the Secretary of State.”
The US slapped Zimbabwean officials and companies with sanctions in 2001 under the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (Zidera).
The regional bloc, Sadc, at their last summit in Tanzania declared the 25th of October as the day to unite and campaign for an end to sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the US and the Western countries.
Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF party blames the sanctions imposed by the US in 2001 and renewed by US President Donald Trump early this year for the economic woes that have brought Zimbabwe to its knees.
But Pompeo said US sanctions targeted only those who engaged in corruption, violated human rights, and undermined democratic institutions or processes. He said state-sanctioned violence created a culture of impunity for human rights abusers.
Last week, Brian Nichols, the US ambassador to Zimbabwe denied that sanctions were hurting the Zimbabwe economy, saying corruption was Zimbabwe’s biggest undoing. On Friday when Mnangagwa was leading the anti-sanctions march, the embassy was busy on social media denying his claims while listing various examples of alleged corrupt activities, including the command agriculture where $3 billion reportedly went missing, among others to prove that sanctions were not the cause of the deteriorating situation in the country.
Ncube is alleged to have deployed the military to clampdown on protesters in January this year when Zimbabweans took to the street over Mnangagwa’s decision to hike fuel prices. The clampdown resulted in the death of 17 people. Most of them died from gunshot wounds but the military claimed that soldiers were firing their guns into the air and not at fleeing people.
During that same clampdown which continued for several days, several women reported that they were raped by soldiers while hundreds of people were arrested and tortured. Also during that clampdown, Ncube issued a directive to shutdown internet services throughout the country resulting in the blockage of social media communication.
Ncube’s name has also been associated with the notorious gangs of artisanal miners known as maShurugwi, who have killed and injured many people in machete attacks and fights for gold across the country, but mostly in the Midlands province.
United Nations special rapporteur Clément Nyaletsossi Voule also raised concern over State sanctioned human rights violations in his summary report in September. Information ministry permanent secretary Ndavaningi ‘Nick’ Mangwana yesterday told The Standard that the US sanctions on Ncube were unjustified.
“These so-called ‘lists’ have just become a farcical and a form of hegemonic arbitrary justice,” Mangwana said.
“Somebody is placed on these lists based on what exactly? Social media chatter? Where is the justice in that? The US brands itself a fair country but everything we have seen regarding the sanctions issue has been stubborn arrogance. And to ominously announce it on the day Sadc spoke, betrays a paramount attitude towards African states.” He said US’s move had become clear that the sanctions being imposed on Zimbabwe were beyond travelling bans.
Zanu PF spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo said the sanctions were targeting individuals in government and his party.
“It’s not about Owen Ncube but it’s about all these illegal sanctions. They must remove all the sanctions which are illegal. That’s why we had the anti-sanctions day. We are saying they must go. They are not targeting individuals,” he said.
However, Southern Africa Political Economy Series (SAPES) trust director, Ibbo Mandaza said the flopped anti-sanctions march had no impact on the US’s stance on Zimbabwe. This was demonstrated by the inclusion of Ncube on the list the day the country was marching against the embargoes.“Wasn’t the march a flop nationwide? If so, why should it have any impact, both nationally and vis a vis the US?”
“The implications are very serious for ED (Mnangagwa), in particular, his government and those touted as advisers and sympathisers of the regime: egg on their faces, in the first instance; and growing pressure from an international community which has lost all confidence in this government. In this regard, even the region and African Union alike have abandoned a sinking sheep,” he said.
University of Zimbabwe political science lecturer Eldred Masunungure said the Mnangagwa-led government should focus on implementing Zidera conditions for sanctions to be removed and not focus on anti-sanctions marches.
“The US is very consistent in its approach and requirements. The sanctions under Zidera and even its amendment by Trump this year, they are sending a clear message to Zimbabwe. The message [is the same], notwithstanding who is in power, either Democrats or Republicans. The conditions clearly stipulated in Zidera must be fulfilled first. The anti-sanctions march to me was irrelevant,” he said.
He said by adding Ncube to the sanction list, the US was sending a clear message to Zimbabwe that it was not moved by the anti-sanctions march but the conditions in Zidera should be fulfilled before sanctions could be considered for lifting.
Opposition MDC leader Nelson Chamisa said the poor attendance at the anti-sanctions march should serve as a huge sign to Mnangagwa.
“There was a big sign in the stadium. If Mnangagwa is choosing to ignore these signs, he will be victim, like the biblical Pharaoh. We are seeing the signs. He can come with Sadc or roll on a false war, but the message was huge and only an ignorant and arrogance leader can ignore that. But, I know him; wisdom is not his regular visitor due to arrogance. Ignorance and arrogance are twins,” Chamisa said.
HOME Affairs minister Cain Mathema says approximately 100 000 passport applicants should have their documents by year-end.
Addressing journalists in Harare yesterday, Mathema said increased passport production hinged on his ministry being able to settle debts and ensure supplies of consumables for passports production.
“I would like now to advise that the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, on a monthly basis, has allocated resources to retire the outstanding debts in relation to technical expertise and supplies of consumables and paper. At this rate, we expect that by April 2020, significant progress would have been made to resolve that matter,” Mathema said.
“While the impact of the measures taken so far is considerable, in that, about 100 000 people who applied for passports will take delivery of such documents by end of December, with the arrival of additional material at the end of November 2019 or early December 2019, we expect to double the number of those getting passports within two months of taking delivery.”
Passport production in the country has been lagging behind, with a staggering backlog of about 370 000 booklets, some of the applications dating back to 2018.
Production had recently been limited to 750 passports per day for emergency situations.
He also said his ministry, in collaboration with Foreign Affairs and International Trade ministry, had agreed to create a platform for Zimbabweans in the diaspora to apply and pay for passports without necessarily having to travel back home.
“On a more permanent basis, we have agreed with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade that the ministry should regularise the movement of the diplomatic bags to allow people in the diaspora to apply and pay for passports at the embassies closer to them,” he said.
A GROUP of war veterans yesterday formed a splinter group, accusing Zanu PF, President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) of failing the country through corruption and fanning political violence.
The war veterans, led by Wilbert Sadomba, a former Christopher Mutsvangwa-led ZNLWVA secretary for education, said they had now formed a new apolitical war veterans association, the Zimbabwe Liberation Platform (ZLP).
The original ZLP was the brainchid of the late liberation war stalwart, Wilfred Mhanda, whose Chimurenga name was Dzinashe Machingura.
“This is what we have realised that as long as we remain subservient to a political party, it has got its own ideologies, its own leadership that if we try to be critical, it has to take the practices and culture of that political party and we won’t be able to actually play our role as an overseer of the liberation objectives,” Sadomba said.
He was accompanied by Abraham Tsikwa, Karen Kazingizi, Patrick Makombe and Abel Marimo.
The war veterans, most of them who played a huge role under the ZNLWVA in the ouster of the late former President Robert Mugabe to pave way for Mnangagwa, also accused the incumbent of monopolising the liberation war into a party project for personal gain.
They argued that the liberation struggle did not belong to Zanu PF and, therefore, it was wrong for ZNLWVA to be an arm of a political party.
The new outfit said Zanu PF had been hijacked by people who don’t understand the ethos of the liberation struggle, a group of people who are in their posts because of Mugabe’s political gamesmanship to retain power.
They also cast aspersions on Mnangagwa’s liberation war credentials, claiming that when he was released from jail, he went straight to study law, and not joint the liberation struggle.
He was brought back into the fold by Mugabe, the ex-fighters claimed.
Sadomba said it was time for the nation to be brave and speak out against corruption and challenge bad things regardless of who was behind them, saying Mutsvangwa’s ZNLWVA had failed.
“We did not fight the war so that we can have political violence or corruption. We fought for democracy and to get out of oppression in the hands of Ian Smith, but not to continue under the same in a Zanu PF government. The Zanu PF we knew during the war is not the same we know now,” he said.
Sadomba added that war veterans operating under the confines of Zanu PF cannot stand up against the rot that has rocked the revolutionary party, referring to the alleged missing of US$15 billion diamond revenue and US$3 million Command Agriculture funds.
Kazingizi said real war veterans had been sidelined and replaced by opportunists.
She also lifted the lid on Mnangagwa’s liberation war credentials.
“Cde Emmerson was taken out of jail, according to the history I know, and when he left prison, he did not go to the war. He went to study law. After finishing law, he was taken by Mugabe after the former President had removed all the real comrades. The people who had chosen Mugabe to lead the war at the Mgagao declaration, he had finished them all, and replaced them with newcomers,” Kazingizi said.
In 2008, war veterans led a violent and bloody Zanu PF campaign against the opposition MDC after the late MDC leader and presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangirai had won the first round of presidential elections.
Kazingizi said they now wanted to exorcise the ghost of violence by stepping out of Zanu PF.
“If a true war veteran did that (beat up people in violent election campaigns), they must come forward and confess, because during the war, we saw them being shot if they killed unarmed civilians,” she said.
The war veterans said they were working to rebrand themselves.
The ZLP leaders said political violence and corruption have become so entrenched under the watch of Zanu PF, in the process dividing the nation and leaving a trail of poverty and empty national coffers, which are being looted by a few.
THE government is leaning towards pegging the Zimbabwe dollar currency to the South African rand, with Finance minister Mthuli Ncube saying this would make the local currency more competitive in the region.
Ncube made the disclosure to NewsDay on the sidelines of the anti-sanctions march at the National Sports Stadium on Friday, while responding to a question on whether the loss of confidence in the Zimbabwe dollar was behind skyrocketing prices.
“As of now, the Zimdollar is trading 1:1 with the South African rand, so the Zimdollar is competitive in the international market and other currencies in the region like the Botswana pula, Namibian dollar and Mozambique metical,” Ncube said.
The southern African nation merged its electronic dollars and surrogate bond notes into a transitional currency called the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) dollar in February, and also scrapped the highly controversial 1:1 peg to the United States dollar.
In June, it then made the RTGS currency the country’s sole legal tender and renamed it the Zimbabwe dollar, ending a decade of dollarisation.
Government is currently printing new notes for the new currency, which it hopes to have by end of the year.
But the local currency has seen its value sliding against the greenback, from 2,5 to the dollar on the official interbank market when it was introduced on February 22 this year to 15,59 yesterday.
On the black market yesterday, it traded at 22 to the US dollar, while the Old Mutual Implied Rate, used by international companies, was at 24,01.
Ncube said he was more concerned with stabilising the local currency so that it maintains parity with the rand and other currencies in the region.
“What we need to do now is to stabilise it to a level where it is competitive with other currencies in the region,” he said.
“To maintain the value of the new currency as government, we make sure that the budget deficit is under control because if we lose control, we end up printing more money to fund government activities.
“We also have to make sure that money supply is kept under control to make sure that it does not rise. We should raise productivity to improve on exports to gain more foreign currency.”
Ncube did not say if government was considering joining the Common Monetary Area (CMA), which links South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho and Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) into a monetary union anchored by the rand.
The rand is legal tender in all the four countries, although Namibia, Eswatini and Lesotho have their own currencies.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa early this year said Zimbabwe had in 2008 failed to meet conditions for admission into the CMA.
In September, after a massive sell-off of the local Zimbabwe dollar that saw the exchange rate fall from 11 to 23 to the US dollar on the black market, and the interbank market desperately trying to catch up, the central bank swiftly abandoned the idea of letting the market determine the exchange rate on September 27 through exchange control directive RU131/2019, adopting, instead, a managed floating exchange rate.
It has maintained the exchange rate between 15,3 and 15,59 to the US dollar since then, tracing the rand’s performance against the greenback.
Despite the lack of confidence in the local currency, which has seen businesses pegging prices in US dollars, Ncube was adamant that Zimbabwe needed its own currency to revive its economy.
“There is no country that can develop using other countries’ money without its own currency and that is why we have decided to have our own currency. We should all support it because it is very important. As citizens, you should trust us on this,” he said.
“The point is to bring more cash through the new notes. It is not really new currency because we already have a currency, it is just cash that we are bringing about to solve the cash crisis. We are just going to convert the RTGS into cash so that the money supply does not rise.”
Zimbabwe abandoned its local currency after inflation topped 500 billion percent in December 2008, and adopted a basket of foreign currencies anchored by the United States dollar in February 2009.
The country then briefly enjoyed economic stability, characterised by stable prices and deflation.
But since 2016, the country has suffered shortages of cash, and the reintroduction of a local currency has led to fears of a return to the hyperinflation era, with inflation at 353,32% last month.
THE Revelation Church of God on Saturday said, unlike other modern churches, it was working well with traditional healers.
The church made the revelations at its health walk and family day at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair in Bulawayo in a bid to promote healthy living, Africanism and family unity.
The church, founded by South African Samuel Radebe, is an indigenous church based on African spirituality and is structured to restore and recall indigenous people to their spiritual roots.
One of the leaders, “Mholi” Nkululeko Zondo said the church taught congregrants the importance of ubuntu and not to abandon their African spiritual identities.
“We are urging congregants to look back where they came from in terms of African traditional religion as many have totally deserted their cultural backgrounds,” Zondo said.
He added that they worked hand in hand with African traditional healers to balance African and Christian religions.
“Our church is open to anyone, be it from Zion or Apostolic churches. We do not discriminate. Our doctrine is that we are not here to judge anyone, hence you will find that we also worship together with sangomas and traditional healers,” he said.
He said it was key that people retain their African heritage and identity.
“The roots of a black person are not white, they are black…there is no nation with no religion or culture, hence we should not put more focus on Christian religion only,” Zondo said.
He said many people were now Eurocentric at the expense of African traditions and religion.
“You will find out that most countries in Africa are called Christian countries because we practise Christianity which is a colonial religion. We need to be selective of what we adopt from the West as Christianity came with missionaries to replace African religion and culture,” Zondo said.
“We do not need only politicians to build Africa, we need all the spiritual guidance that we can to lead. Politicians need to work with spiritual guidance to lead Africa,” he said.
Zimbabwe International Traditional Healers Association leader David Mabhiyani Ngwenya said he appreciated Radebe’s efforts to bring traditional healers into the church.
“I am very thankful that Radebe has recognised us and we are very happy that we are given the platform to perform during church services,” Ngwenya said.
OVER 800 Binga residents who had no birth certificates and national identity cards were documented by the registry department on Friday last week.
Hundreds of villagers thronged Tyunga and Luunga wards in Binga North constituency for registration which was done under the theme Sport for Registration.
The mobile registration exercise was facilitated by a Binga non-governmental organisation Basilwizi Trust working in conjunction with the Ministry of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation.
Tyunga and Luunga wards are in the remotest parts of Binga which do not have telephone or mobile network and has a bad road network which contributed to a higher number of undocumented villagers as transport to either Binga which is 160km away or Siabuwa is expensive.
Speaking at the occasion, Basilwizi Trust director Christopher Mweembe said it was good that traditional leaders were at the forefront of mobilising their subjects to come for the exercise.
“It’s very encouraging that traditional leaders were at the forefront in mobilsing people to come for this exercise so that they get documentation. We are happy that they know the importance of documentation to their subjects,” Mweembe said.
Chief Sinakatenge also said as traditional leaders they were happy about the programme which made it easy for their subjects to be documented.
“We are happy for the efforts and as traditional leaders it’s a cause for concern to lead a community whose identity is unknown,” Chief Sinakatenge said.
The exercise comes after Basilwizi Trust recently helped 300 villagers in other wards who had never obtained birth certificates since birth to get them from the registry offices, with the eldest being over 60 years.
The project was held under the theme The Citizens Campaign for Birth Identity Documents.
BULAWAYO City Council has extended its water rationing period beyond the published schedule in some parts of the city due to reduced electricity supply to the pump stations.
Town clerk Christopher Dube, said the local authority yesterday started closing water supplies to areas supplied by Magwegwe, Criterion and Tuli reservoirs outside the normal water rationing programme in a bid to normalise the reservoirs
“The City of Bulawayo would like to advice stakeholders and the residents that water supplies have been closed for areas supplied by the Magwegwe, Criterion and Tuli reservoirs outside the normal water rationing programme in a bid to normalise the reservoirs,” Dube said.
“The reservoirs have depleted beyond the critical level due to high consumption levels in the city, pumping challenges as a result of Zesa load-shedding and high temperatures affecting delivery of raw water to the city.”
Last week, Bulawayo mayor Solomon Mguni indicated that raw water buffer level continued to decrease and that power supply challenges and pump breakdowns at Inyankuni and Umzingwane dams were exacerbating water problems.
Mguni said to mitigate the challenges being experienced with regards to water provision, council was engaging Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company for a solution. Council advised residents that water rationing remained in force and encouraged them to adhere to stipulated limits to avoid penalties.
“The city is in the process of rehabilitating all broken down boreholes (38) citywide and the contractor is on the ground as of today. The boreholes are expected to assist in augmenting water supply for the residents during this period,” Mguni said.
GOVERNMENT has not yet formally communicated to the Diaspora Infrastructure Development Group (DIDG) concerning the termination of the US$400 million deal meant to revive the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ), an official has said.
Government recently cancelled the US$400 million deal with DIDG-Transnet consortium, claiming the group had failed to comply with contractual timelines as well as to show it had the financial backing to complete the project.
But two weeks since the deal was cancelled, government is yet to inform the affected parties, according to DIDG director of corporate affairs Vimbayi Kanyonganise.
“We have not received any formal communication at all,” Kanyonganise told NewsDay in emailed responses.
The DIDG/Transnet consortium won a bid to partner NRZ in the US$400 million recapitalisation project in August 2017.
The deal involved the rehabilitation and renewal of plant, equipment, rolling stock, signalling and telecommunications infrastructure and the supporting information technology systems.
It also targeted to repair and rehabilitate infrastructure and equipment such as locomotives, wagons and coaches, as well as phased modernisation of train control systems.
Asked how much the company had incurred since negotiations started, Kanyonganise said: “Yes, we have incurred a lot of costs over the past two years, as expected when executing a transaction, but the issue here for us is not about costs incurred but about seeing the project through.”
Commenting on Zimbabwe’s open for business mantra, she said “we are Zimbabweans first, so at the end of the day Zimbabwe will always be open for business for us. It’s important that we can operate in our home country as we only have one.”
Efforts to get a comment from the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services hit a snag as both the minister Monica Mutsvangwa, her deputy Energy Mutodi as well as permanent secretary Ndavaningi Mangwana did not answer their phones.
DIDG hinted that it could take legal action to challenge the cancellation of the deal.
