THE Zimbabwe Diamond and Allied Minerals Workers’ Union (Zdamwu) says workers in the mining sector should be paid in United States dollars since the sector is one of the top foreign currency earners in the country.

BY MTHANDAZO NYONI

Zdamwu general-secretary Justice Chinhema told NewsDay Business that mining workers should be given US$790 per month as salary, and not the ZWL$486 they are currently getting.

“If you go around Zimbabwe, the mining industry is one of the lowest paying industries despite us producing the foreign currency which government is crying for,” he said.

“This 80% increase is nothing to us. The mining industry must pay equivalent to what the employers are retaining from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe after selling the gold to Fidelity (Printers and Refiners).”

Workers in the mining industry were recently awarded an 80% salary increment following collective bargaining agreement between the National Employment Council (NEC) for Mining Industry and unions.

But Chinhema said a number of mining companies had approached NEC asking for exemptions.

“So, we are saying the minimum wage of the mining industry must be commensurate to the mineral that we are mining. It must also reflect, if the employer is retaining 80% in US$, that should also be the salary and the minimum wage must be in line with the poverty datum line, which is US$790 (and) not ZWL$486,” he said.

“We are not in agreement with ZWL$486. The 80% increment that came through NEC is not a proper wage to an employee with a family of five.

“So the mining workers must be earning US$ component equivalent to what the employer retains after selling their minerals. That’s the benchmark we are talking about and it should be US$790, which is the poverty datum line from the central statistics agency.”

Chinhema said working conditions in the sector were poor.

“This is slavery and mining industry employers are enjoying free labour because salaries that they are paying are pathetic,” he said.

“Remember, mines are found in the remote areas of this country. Basic commodities in those areas are pegged at three or five times what they cost in cities like Bulawayo and Harare. That ZWL$486 is not even equivalent to the ZWL$486 being earned by a person living in Harare because they are in remote areas. The prices there (remote areas) are double.”

TOBACCO sales are down 44% at $292,8 million after 53 days of trade, compared to $523,5 million achieved last season, data from the industry regulator Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) shows.

BY FIDELITY MHLANGA

Deliveries are down 12% at 157,7 million kg from 180,3 million kg delivered in the same period last year.
The price being offered for the crop is also lower than last year at an average of $1,85 per kg, down from $2,87 per kg.

So far, the highest price fetched at the auction floors is $4,66 per kg, down from the $4,99 last year.
Zimbabwe Tobacco Association chief executive Rodney Ambrose said despite the challenges, this year’s target of 220 million kg was still attainable.

“We still have at least one and half months to complete selling,” he said.

In 2018, the country produced a record 252 million kg of flue-cured tobacco, generating at least $1 billion in forex.

THE wife of a jailed MDC councillor romped to victory to retain the seat for the opposition party in a by-election, where Zanu PF supporters allegedly attacked voters in a bid to stop them from taking part in the poll.

BY NUNURAI JENA

Svorai Chiwara was declared the winner of the ward 2 by-election with 782 votes against 381 for Lloyd Nyambo of Zanu PF.

Michael Gore, Chiwara’s husband, is serving a four-year jail term for torching Zanu PF Kadoma offices during fuel riots in January despite his claim that he was out of town at a funeral when the incident occurred.

Violence erupted at Rimuka 1 School after suspected Zanu PF members tried to bar people from casting their votes.
One of the MDC members and Kadoma deputy mayor, Tendayi Kokera, was assaulted and he accused Zanu PF members and State security agents of trying to rig elections by preventing people from voting at a polling station in an area the opposition party had a huge following.

“I was beaten by Zanu PF youths with sjamboks. They were also wielding machetes. I reported the matter to the police. The security agents were involved, because I saw some of them in suspicious vehicles,” Kokera said.

Chiwara said she dedicated her victory to her husband who worked so hard in the ward.

“I want to dedicate this victory to my husband who was jailed following January protests,” she said.

But Nyambo said violence was caused by Gore, who was released on bail on Friday. He claimed Gore tried to campaign at a polling station.

“The violence you are talking about was caused by Gore who was released on Friday and he came to vote, thereby instigating violence at the polling station,” the losing Zanu PF candidate said.

MEMBERS of the public have condemned the Maintenance of Order and Peace Bill (MOPA) for its oppressive clauses, one of which will compel conveners of public demonstrations or gatherings to give their addresses to the police in their applications to hold the gatherings.

BY VENERANDA LANGA

Last Friday, Parliament through its Portfolio Committee on Justice and the Thematic Committee on Peace and Security held public hearings on MOPA in Harare and Chitungwiza, where the majority of people rejected the Bill which is going to replace the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) and the Law and Order Maintenance Act (LOMA).
A member of the Thematic Committee on Peace and Security, Douglas Mwonzora, explained some of the clauses in MOPA, where he said section 5 of the Bill stipulates appointment of conveners and deputy conveners of the gathering or demonstration.

“Any organisation which wants to carry out a demonstration or public gathering has to appoint a convener to sign for the notice himself and he has to be present during the demonstration,” he said.

“The name and address of the convener and deputy convener must be given, and the police must be given details of the structure of the organisation and who will attend the gathering.”

But Harare residents who attended the public hearing said the clause made MOPA worse than POSA because giving the law enforcement agents the address of the convener might result in victimisation and increased cases of some people being abducted, beaten and left for dead.

A latest incident was that of Amalgamated Rural Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) leader Obert Masaraure, who was allegedly abducted from his place of residence in front of his wife and children and severely tortured and beaten.

Zimbabwe Centre for Equal Opportunities president Paddington Japajapa described the clause as very intimidatory.

“Usually, demonstrations are done by organisations or political parties and we do not see why the names of the convener and his deputy must be given to the police. It is intimidatory because the moment anything goes wrong, the person will be victimised. Only the address of the organisation which will hold the public gathering or demonstration must be given,” he said.

Another clause in MOPA which people said would render it more oppressive than POSA is the one which gives magistrates powers to give sentences of up to 20 years for contravening MOPA. People said it was tantamount to a death sentence, given the conditions of Zimbabwe’s prisons.

Mwonzora said section 12 of MOPA would stipulate that if a convener fails to give notice, they are liable for death or injury, or destruction of property during the demonstration and besides imprisonment of even up to 20 years, the convener might be required to compensate.

Public lawyer Veronica Zano said the civil liabilities imposed by MOPA were oppressive and meant to deter people from demonstrating.

“This is meant to deter people from demonstrating and these are criminal war liabilities in a way. The limitations in MOPA are more than what is required in a democratic society because it curtails freedoms enshrined in the Constitution,” she said.

One of the participants, Gift Dzorai, said if MOPA stipulates that conveners must compensate for damages, then it should also stipulate that protesters that are killed by law enforcement agents during demonstrations must be compensated as well and the law enforcement agents responsible must be charged.

PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa and his government urgently need to start turning rhetoric into visible action if they want to attract meaningful foreign investment, a senior Germany official has said.

By Kennedy Nyavaya in Berlin, Germany

Stefan Oswald, the director-general for Sub Saharan Africa in the German Federal Ministry for Economic Co-operation and Development (BMZ), on Thursday told journalists attending the International Journalists Programme winter school that the current administration has done little on the ground to prove commitment to policy reforms that they preach.

“The lyrics of the new Zimbabwe government are perfect, but what counts is to move from lyrics to action. Otherwise I cannot convince anybody over here to re-engage with Zimbabwe, and that is something which is really important,” Oswald said.

Mnangagwa’s economic restructuring agenda has been anchored on the “Zimbabwe is open for business” mantra since taking the reins from former President Robert Mugabe through a coup in November 2017.

However, not much has been done to enforce ease-of-doing business as well as nipping corruption in the bud.
According to Oswald, Germany is ready to have meaningful developmental co-operation with the southern African country if the government embraces good governance principles that promote democracy, rule of law and human rights, among other fundamentals.

“In principle, the programmes presented by the President and his new Cabinet are good, but making it happen to convince us also that they are really serious about it is the difference we can talk about,” he said while suggesting that Mnangagwa needs to cut ties with the army.

“You can write nice papers, but if the political will is not there to really make it happen, there is a problem. The President has to go into discussion with those who brought him into power because the military is having a strong rule and they are not reform-minded.”

His sentiments come at a time Zimbabwe’s economy is in desperate need of foreign investment.

Efforts to engage the international community, particularly the West, appear to have hit a snag, owing mostly to the country’s failure to repay debts, abuse of human rights and political instability, which Oswald said could be reversed by opening “a multiple democratic space”.

“We think bit by bit, one has to create more openness for other political forces, otherwise things are not going to move forward,” he said.

Germany is one of the countries that Zimbabwe is highly indebted to, with a debt of close to a billion euros.

WORKERS have threatened to take their war to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) for unilaterally declaring a new currency, the RTGS dollar, effectively eroding the value of their salaries that were pegged in United States dollars.

BY BLESSED MHLANGA

The workers are demanding that they be paid in US dollars as reflected on their contracts of employment.

Through the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), the workers are preparing a legal suit against the central bank “for illegally imposing itself on our contracts of employment”.

ZCTU president Peter Mutasa confirmed the development, saying workers would take the war to the central bank demanding their salaries be paid in US dollars.

The workers claim their salaries were illegally converted into ZWL$ by the central bank.

“The contracts that are in existence were signed as US$ contracts,” Mutasa said.

“These contracts are between the employer and employees, but the RBZ then illegally came in and altered these contracts after introducing the RTGS$. We believe that this is illegal and that we have a chance at winning this battle.”

Midlands State University law lecturer Valentaine Mutatu said the labour body could have a very good chance at winning the case because the law is clear that government policy has no effect on personal contracts.
“There is sense in their case because I understand there is a judgment made by Justice Happias Zhou, which says all obligations that were there in US$ are still in US$, but the judgment has since been appealed to, so they have sense,” he said.

Mutatu said government has also made a law which empowers it to collect revenue in hard currency from those selling in US$ or importing vehicles from outside the country, yet it was paying civil servants in the local currency.
“Government is saying, for instance with Zimra [Zimbabwe Revenue Authority], if you sell in US$, you pay tax in US$ and also duties are being paid in US$. So I believe they have a case,” he said.

In introducing the RTGS$ through Statutory Instrument 33 of 2019, through the temporary presidential powers, the RBZ converted all assets and debts at a rate of 1:1 to the US$, effectively allowing the employer to continue paying salaries in RTGS$.

ZCTU said workers had suffered immensely through the illegal actions by the RBZ and should, therefore, have it reversed and workers paid in US$.

“You have businesspeople selling their products in US$, but paying workers in RTGS$. This should also stop. The RBZ has no power or legal standing to alter contracts of employers and employees without the consent of the two parties. In our view, workers should continue earning the currency denominated on their contracts,” he said.
Salaries have been significantly eroded, with most employees now earning below US$100 after the local currency took a massive beating on the parallel market, while the interbank rate has also suffered, climbing from 1:2,5 and now trading at 1:5,5 although availability and access remains problematic.

Government employees, including teachers, have demanded that their salaries revert to US$ to restore value.
Already, the market is pushing towards re-dollarisation, with most goods and services now being accessed through hard currency or alternatively, at the prevailing interbank rate.

An expert in the financial industry yesterday claimed government tried to meet the legal requirements through the various statutory instruments and the debate should revolve around whether the climate was conducive for the RBZ monetary policy to be sustainable.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa said on Friday that government was working on abandoning the multi-currency regime altogether and introduce the country’s own currency before year-end.

AN estimated 21 000 people are dying every year in the country due to effects of air pollution.

BY RICHARD MUPONDE

The situation has had ripple effects on the attainment of sustainable development goals, a Cabinet minister said on Friday.

Approximately seven million people succumb to pollution worldwide each year.

Speaking at a provincial clean-up campaign and World Environment Day commemoration on Friday in Plumtree, Matabeleland South Provincial Affairs minister Abednego Ncube called on citizens to take positive steps to combat air pollution.

“This year, we commemorate the day under the theme Air pollution, a silent killer – clean air, my right, my responsibility. The theme for the world Environment Day 2019, is a call for action to combat one of the greatest environmental challenges of our time.

“The theme invites us all to consider how we can make changes in our everyday lives to reduce the amount of air pollution we produce and stop its contribution to global warming and its effects on our health,” Ncube said.

He said the United Nations Environment Programme has urged governments across the globe to deal with this silent killer by adopting the 4Rs — reduce, recycle, reuse and recover — through their national policies.

“Ninety-one percent of early deaths occur in the low and middle income countries of which Zimbabwe is among those. Let’s embrace the 4Rs of waste management as a matter of policy as symbolised by the launch of the Presidential Clean-Up day by President Emmerson Mnangagwa in December 2018. Let’s form and support community initiatives aimed at embracing the results of the 4Rs of sustainable solid waste,” he said.

Addressing the same gathering, Industry and Commerce minister Nqobizitha Mangaliso Ndlovu, in whose constituency the event was being held, said Plumtree Town Council should tighten by-laws to punish litter bugs.

“It should not only be a clean-up campaign to pick up litter from the streets, but also cleaning our minds against throwing litter everywhere. I implore our town fathers to enact strict by laws to punitively deal with those who litter the environment. At the moment our by-laws are lax against litter bugs.

“We should ask ourselves what kind of Plumtree we want. Let’s keep the town clean, because it is the entry point into the country, to project a good image of the country,” he said.

The event was sponsored by Plumtree Bakery and attended by all government departments representatives, businesses and the Environment Management Agency.

ZIMBABWE has been urged to build a recycling plant to deal with solid waste which is contaminating water bodies and polluting the environment.

BY SHINGIRAI VAMBE

A week-long workshop on climate change, co-ordinated by the United Nations Development Programme in partnership with the Russian government, saw different stakeholders converging in Harare to try and find solutions to issues affecting the nation.

Local authorities and communities are facing challenges of solid waste disposal in the wake of limited space for dumpsites, compounded by poor collection methods in urban centres.

Trust Nhubu a doctoral student on waste management from the University of South Africa, told NewsDay that it was high time Zimbabwe had its own recycling plant to mitigate pollution and greenhouse gases mostly caused by poor disposal methods such as burning of garbage.

“It is a business that needs an integrated approach, which can create employment while improving living standards for the people of Zimbabwe. Local authorities are failing to manage solid waste in Zimbabwe, Harare in particular. There is need for more research to be done because the project requires a lot of resources and capacity issues should also be looked into,” Nhubu said.

Some countries are said to be exporting solid waste to Rwanda and Dubai for recycling. In Rwanda, they recycle electrical waste including computers. They remove components to rebuild computers for schools and organisations, while in Dubai they recycle plastic waste to manufacture plastic products.

Because Zimbabwe generates about 1,6 million tonnes of solid waste annually, some participants at the workshop proposed that research be conducted to see viability of a recycling plant.

Nkanyiso Ndlovu, a senior environmental officer for Bulawayo City Council said: “Currently we are collecting refuse in Bulawayo in partnership with our community, looking forward to working for the future generation, building a recycling plant in Zimbabwe might not help today, but by 2030, its purpose will be seen,” Ndlovu said.

Roger Mpande, from Zimbabwe Regional Environment Research Centre, and a member of the Presidential Advisory Council told journalists that the Climate Change Department and Environmental Management Agency should align themselves with new government policies.

Mpande applauded President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s call for a clean environment as well as use of clean energy.

THE opposition MDC party has vowed to drag President Emmerson Mnangagwa to the negotiating table kicking and screaming through civil disobedience, international pressure and other constitutional means of protest. In the frontline, the party’s youth assembly will play a crucial role in mobilising people. Senior reporter Blessed Mhlanga (ND) spoke to recently elected Youth Assembly deputy chairperson Cecillia Chimbiri (CC) on how the MDC will execute its plans.

ND: Firstly, congratulations on your recent election, but what does your election to the position of vice-chairperson of the youth assembly in the MDC mean to you?

CC: Thank you very much, my election as the first ever woman deputy chairperson of the youth assembly in MDC’s 20 years means carrying the responsibility of all the young people in Zimbabwe and carrying all their burdens. We are all suffering, our country is on an economic meltdown. We are all unemployed and we are suffering at the hands of Zanu PF and the Mnangagwa government. So, being the national youth vice-chairperson means I have to be on the frontline to make sure that we deliver the young people of Zimbabwe into a new Zimbabwe led by Nelson Chamisa, who will led a government by the people and for the people.

ND: But the people went to vote in 2018 and they elected Emmerson Mnangagwa as President. So, what do you mean when you say a government by the people?

CC: Mnangagwa was not elected by the people. I still believe Zec (Zimbabwe Electoral Commission) rigged the election. The people chose Chamisa and for me what it means is Mnangagwa is an illegitimate President, he had no clue as to what he was going to do with Zimbabwe because he was only concentrating on how to rig an election. So for us, the young people now rely on us to make sure that we correct what was done. We have not forgotten that they stole our election. We are still going to defend our vote by making sure that we do the right thing and we get the people of Zimbabwe respected by making sure that the person that they voted for and the government that they want to see in power to represent them is what will come out

ND: This will be in the next election in 2023?

CC: We are not waiting for an election in 2023. We are going to confront Mnangagwa. In fact, we want Mnangagwa to resign. We can’t continue like this, we wake up we go to the stores to buy mealie meal at ridiculous prices, cooking oil for ZWL$30. We cannot wait any longer, we want ED gone, we want Zanu PF gone and we want to usher in a new life for the Zimbabweans.

ND: What do you mean confronting, how do you want to go about that?

CC: It’s not criminal to demonstrate and voice your concerns; voice what we are saying are the main problems. It’s a national crisis and as you can see, besides me as a politician speaking, there is a wave out there. Any young person you meet or just randomly pick will tell you that the Zimbabwe we have versus the Zimbabwe the people want are totally parallel. We have a national crisis. So, for me confronting the system means the streets will be my second home we will make sure that we demonstrate peacefully and make sure we mount the necessary pressure. You can see that the people do not want ED anymore, so we will put pressure so that he steps down and gives a chance to those people who want to fix the country, the people who want to represent the people.

ND: The system or the President of this country said that the MDC is the one that is fanning violence and that your demonstrations, that you call peaceful demonstrations, always turn out violent and destroy people’s property. What do you say to that allegation?

CC: Even if you catch a thief stealing in your house they will refuse, they will always have a way to defend themselves. I am sure we have all seen how Zanu PF have destroyed this country with their own hands. I don’t think this is a new dispensation that they have been grandstanding about and they accuse the opposition for causing violence, to want to subvert the government etc, and so many things that they talk about. But what is of importance right now is to clearly look at the lives of Zimbabweans. Who in your view can afford a day in Zimbabwe, who can afford life in Zimbabwe right now? Nobody can, a mere civil servant can’t even afford to pay for the house that they rent. So, for me it’s not about what Mnangagwa says, but about what the people are saying because he also purports to represent the people. So, when the people are saying they don’t want him and they are suffering and they need change, then that’s the route that we are going to take when the people send us to represent them we will simply direct them in a direction that will make us deliver.

ND: On August 1, 2018 six people died of gunshot wounds. In January, 17 more people were shot dead. Aren’t you afraid that this will replicate itself in what you say is going to be your second home in the streets?

CC: I do not think we have to fear, for the most part, what we have to fear is fear itself. Mnangagwa was a young person at some point and they took a decision that they were going to stand against colonial rule. So, it’s the same decision and that we are simply taking — there will be causalities. They will try to kill us, but they can’t kill the whole country. They can arrest and kill individuals, but you can’t arrest an idea whose time has come. The people are tired; the people want a new government ushered in. So, we are simply going to try and make sure we copy what our liberation war icons left for us. They fought their part of liberating us from the then colonial masters. We have to fight our own part of delivering political freedoms and economic freedom in our lifetime

ND: Some believe that the MDC is a party of violence and thuggery. Do you subscribe to this thought?

CC: I do not subscribe to the thought of violence and thuggery, but I also don’t subscribe to being passive when I am being attacked because then what it means is it’s war when one Mnangagwa sends State agents to go to people’s houses, abduct people who are voicing their concerns in a constitutional manner, those people are beaten, dumped and left for dead. Then one asks me to remain silent – that will not happen.

ND: We have reported on your former youth leader Happymore Chidziva and a number of his colleagues being arrested running away from their homes. Are you prepared to face this kind of threat to your personal life?

CC: Well, I thought about it when I decided that I want to be on the frontline and I also knew what the consequences would be, seeing that we have a government that is paranoid, desperate, that is fearful of its people that they might revolt. People don’t revolt. People raise their concerns, but if you are a leader who listens all you need to do is have it corrected. The illegitimate President is shouting the mantra “new dispensation” there is nothing new about this dispensation. They have failed in the politics of the day. There is nothing new about the political dispensation and the economic dispensation. So, you know sometimes you make sacrifices on behalf of others, like I always say and like I said just now. I will always take to the example of when they decided they were going to war against white colonial rule; we are going to war against stolen elections, corruption, poverty and looters of national resources posing as our liberators. I am saying they took a bold decision and they knew not all of them would come back, but some of them were going to remain in the bush. So, we are not afraid, we are simply doing what is right and I would love probably on my tombstone to have an epithet written that at least I died trying to do something that is right for the young people of Zimbabwe. For how long shall we suffer at the hands of a government that does not listen to us? No one is going to come and give us freedom, we are going to get it ourselves, no one is going to come and say, the economy has been fixed, we have to take the necessary steps to make sure that we liberate ourselves as the young people for posterity.

ND: Why did you choose to belong to the MDC?

CC: Because the MDC is a safe space. First of all, I subscribe to the social democracy ideology, but the MDC also provides a safe space for me as a young woman to participate freely. It’s not a space that is marred by violence. It’s a space where you are groomed and you are taught the ideology of solidarity, equality and freedom. I actually decided to join politics because when I joined the MDC on attachment I found out that they were few young women participating in politics. I wanted to find out why they were not participating and the only way I was going to find out was also being part of the leadership. So, I joined the structures and I rose through the ranks and I found out why politics is a game of tags for women. We are still in a patriarchal society, we have people who still believe that women who are in politics are of loose morals. We are coming from that background and we are still in the same situation where politics is a game of violence, especially to the opposition. I think our leaders in this country want us to be a one party State. So, it inspired me a lot to inspire others. So, I had to join politics to raise a voice to make sure that the voice of the young woman is also heard.

ND: So, where do you see your future in politics?

CC: I see myself somewhere big. I see myself leading the women one day. I see myself being part of a great leadership. Everyone has an ambition, but for now I really want to concentrate on where we are taking the young people of this country, especially young women. I am very passionate about gender activism. I am very passionate about the fight for democracy. So right now from where I am sitting I really want to see the people of Zimbabwe liberated.

ND: There are some who believe that the MDC is not sensitive to the women; it has been mostly men who are running the show. From an insiders’ perspective and as a young lady, has it been difficult for you to rise to this level?

CC: I have always known that the gender fight, gender activism, the gender fight would be a process we were not going to achieve it in one decade or one night, but at least, the MDC is moving towards achieving gender equality and making sure that women are participating in decision-making. As we came out of congress, this is the first youth management which is balanced, we have five males and five females in the management of the MDC. We have three vice-presidents two males and a female. We look forward to appointments where women also get appointed to powerful positions. We are also going to do the same in the youth assembly. We have already asked the provinces to make sure that when they submit the names of their national representatives they make sure that one of those people is a woman. So, I think it’s a process and I am glad that we are moving towards balanced leadership in terms of gender.

ND: Have you had the problem in terms of your chosen career path as a politician?

CC: I wouldn’t have had such problems because I am coming from a family of politicians, my great grandfather was a politician though he was coming from a party of that time and my father was also a politician.

ND: Which party of that time?

CC: Zanu PF, and my father in 1999 when the MDC was formed was the chairman of Mashonaland Central province. As a young girl I used to see how my father was brave and how my father would still continue being resilient and even at the hands of [Robert] Mugabe dictatorship, torture and abductions. I was a very young girl and you know how girls relate with their fathers. He was my role model. I really wanted to understand what made him resilient, but I knew he had a passion for representing people and seeing the people of Zimbabwe free. So, I took the same footsteps that my forefathers and my father took. So, for me I never had problems with my family. I think the problem comes when our mothers are fearful because sometimes the mentality that because maybe you are a woman, you are more prone to the abuse, you are prone to the violence, comes to her mind. So, she is always fearful you get messages like be careful, don’t do this in public, don’t just be, don’t speak out too much, but you know that’s how our mothers are, but I have never had problems with my family as to why I am active in politics.

ND: Zanu PF has described MDC leader nelson Chamisa as childish and a person who is not supposed to be anywhere near State power. What is your view about the leadership qualities of your president?

CC: I respect my president, I see him as the president of Zimbabwe. I see him as the Joshua, when I read the Bible I relate to the exodus of the people from the land where they were captured and the land that was flowing with milk and honey and when I see president Nelson Chamisa, I see that kind of a leader. It’s only that Zanu PF is fearful of such a young president of ours and the president of Zimbabwe Chamisa. But when you look at even how he even advances the issues that you are asking me about — the issue of gender. How he is moving with the modern trends of how to do politics and his democracy works. You will find that with Chamisa, we have a leader who represents the people. Chamisa respects from your elderly to the newborn child and he cares about everyone. He is a democratic father who subscribes to the same ideology that I was talking about, social democracy. So, for me I wouldn’t want to really dwell much on what Zanu PF says about him because they are threatened by him.

ND: And lastly, what is your message to the young people of Zimbabwe?

CC: My message to the young people of Zimbabwe is that we need to soldier on. Nothing is going to be given to us on a silver plate. We don’t complain from the terraces, we need to take action now, we need to go out in our numbers occupy the streets and do it peacefully and we will get there. There is no suffering that will last for the rest of our lives. We are going to be liberated, but we also need to take a stand and take a stance. We are tired and enough is enough and we want to usher in a new government. My message to the generality of the young people, young women and young men in Zimbabwe is that let us soldier on.

It’s clear that the world has a packaging problem. Plastic pollution, one of the most visible challenges of our time, is too big for any government, company or community to solve on their own.

By Bruno Pietracci / Jacques Vermeulen

However, we believe it is one we can conquer if we work together and each take responsibility for our part in the chain.

While food and beverage packaging is an important part of our modern lives, like many companies that make products we all love, The Coca-Cola Company recognises that our packaging has contributed to this global challenge.

Because our business relies on bottles and cans, we share a responsibility to help ensure that the world has a more sustainable packaging system in place.

The United Nations Environment Programme recently issued a report Legally Plastic: Regulatory Approaches to Controlling Single-Use Plastic.

The UN conducted research on national regulatory frameworks concerning plastic bags, single-use plastics and microbeads.

The 2018 analysis of 192 countries included bans and restrictions; taxes and levies; and waste management measures.
While the report is helpful in evaluating the effectiveness of certain regulations in various parts of the world, it does not explore the effectiveness of voluntary extended producer responsibility (VEPR).

As a global business, The Coca-Cola Company operates in countries which don’t have regulations or taxes in place regarding plastic packaging, however, we have taken it upon ourselves, with our bottling partners, to collect and recycle a can or bottle we sell by 2030 as part of a vision called World Without Waste. And we are doing this in many parts of southern and east Africa.

We recognise that PET plastic is a big driver for the circular economy and is used in many other products besides bottles, including cars, textiles and carpets.

To establish the basis for a sustainable circular economy, we’re designing, collecting and partnering to enable recycling to turn our bottles into valuable resources, which will create more jobs and drive a greener economy.
Our VEPR for our plastic packaging revolves around three pillars: Design, partner and collect.

We’re designing our packaging to be 100% recyclable across our expanding portfolio by 2025, and by 2030, all our packaging will contain 50% recycled materials within it.

Currently in South Africa, all Coca-Cola PET packaging is made with at least 15% recycled PET.

Across southern and eastern Africa, we are partnering with local communities, non-governmental organisations, industry and consumers to collect packaging, helping to ensure that it doesn’t end up where it doesn’t belong.
Earlier this year in April, we helped to launch the African Plastics Recycling Alliance.

The alliance brings companies such as Diageo, Unilever, Nestle and The Coca-Cola Company to promote innovation and collaboration on solutions to improve plastics collection and recycling, which in turn is expected to create jobs and commercial activity.

Companies will also engage with the investment community and policymakers to accelerate the development and financing of waste management infrastructure and systems.

By acting as a catalyst to bring together partners along the value chain to enable recycling, The Coca-Cola Company and Coca-Cola Beverages Africa have been instrumental in kickstarting VEPR systems to improve collection rates — first in South Africa and now leveraging these learnings to other countries in southern and eastern Africa.
In South Africa, The Company and its bottlers got together with other manufacturers to form the PET Recycling Company (PETCO) in 2004.

This not-for-profit organisation collects a voluntary recycling fee from converters and importers of PET resin, the main material in plastic beverage bottles.

The fee is then channelled to local recycling partners for every kilogramme of post-consumer PET that they buy from collectors, helping to sustain the recycling sector by increasing the value of collected PET.

As a result of the PETCO system in South Africa, the recycling rate of PET in South Africa has rocketed from just 14% in 2005 to over 65% of total PET volumes in 2018.

This puts South Africa ahead of developed markets, such as the European Union (2016: 60%) and the United States (2016: 28,4%) when it comes to PET collection rates.

In 2018, The Coca-Cola system in South Africa collected more PET than it put into the market — 114% to be precise.
Over the past decade, the recycling ecosystem in South Africa has grown into a thriving R250 million/year industry, providing income opportunities for more than 64 000 people, and creating small, entrepreneurial waste collection businesses along the value chain.

Building on this experience in South Africa, The Coca-Cola Company, CCBA and the Kenya Association of Manufacturers, launched PETCO in Kenya, as a voluntary industry, extended producer responsibility scheme in Kenya in June 2018.

This scheme will also be introduced in Ethiopia and Tanzania this year.

Meanwhile in Uganda, working with the government and community stakeholders, Plastics Recycling Industries (PRI), a CCBA subsidiary, has extended its recycling operations.

In 2018, PRI collected and recycled 2 300 tonnes of plastic waste; as of May 2019 the facility has doubled its monthly collection and recycling rate and on track to exceed 5 000 tonnes of recycled plastic waste for the year, leading the way in eastern Africa.

In Namibia, Mozambique, Zambia and Botswana, we have contracted local collectors and recyclers to accelerate collection and recycling.

Of course, voluntary systems such as these require ongoing financial support from all industry players to remain sustainable.

The Coca-Cola Company provides support in the form of a voluntary recycling fee and an annual grant paid to PETCO, but we also purchase between 9 000-10 000 tonnes per year of recycled material for use in new bottles, worth an estimated R160m per annum.

Our packaging vision of a World Without Waste is the next step in our ongoing sustainability efforts.
These initiatives are part of our larger strategy to grow with conscience by becoming a total beverage company that grows the right way by creating and supporting a circular economy.

 Bruno Pietracci is president of the Southern and East Africa business unit of The Coca-Cola Company and Jacques Vermeulen is the chief executive of Coca-Cola Beverages Africa, Coca-Cola’s largest bottling partner in Africa.