THE San community in Makhulela area in Plumtree have for the first time benefited from the government’s irrigation mechanisation programme after the intervention of First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa last June.
The San were the first Bantu people to occupy present day Zimbabwe yet they have lived as aliens for the past century, suffering at the hands of other tribes.
San people are found in Matabeleland North’s Tsholotsho district and Plumtree in Makhulela village in Matabeleland South.
The Makhulela San community, who previously survived on hunting wildlife and gathering plants in the Mabhongwane Game Park, were removed in the mid-1990s by the government of former President Mugabe and settled in Makhulela village.
They were allocated land about four kilometres from Ndolwane Business Centre in the boundaries of the game park near the border with neighbouring Botswana.
Faced with the dilemma, the San community which numbered about 45 families became a source of cheap labour for the Kalanga people who employed them for domestic chores in return for food.
For years, the San Community in Makhulela wallowed in poverty living from hand to mouth.
Touched by the San’s plight, the First Lady, through her Angel of Hope Foundation, visited the remote area in June last year and promised to set up a solar-powered irrigation scheme for the 45 families.
A year later, the promise was fulfilled after the department of irrigation finished setting up the equipment and now awaiting commissioning of the project soon.
One of the beneficiaries Kgotso Moyo said their lives have been made easier by the setting up of the irrigation scheme a year after another donation of a borehole by the First Lady.
“She has shown us much love which has been rare. Last year, she donated a borehole and she came and commissioned it. We now have two boreholes with the other being solar-powered. This will help us have a sustainable horticulture project which will improve our food security,” Moyo said.
Another villager, Tjilisani Ncube said no one, even government, has done such a massive project for them.
Her sentiments were echoed by Bulilima West legislator and former disc jockey Dingimuzi Phuti in whose constituency the San community is domiciled.
He said the First Lady was the only high-profile person who has since independence remembered this vulnerable community.
In the report, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) acknowledges the commitment by President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government to stabilise Zimbabwe’s economy.
The fund also reveals that the IMF-Zimbabwe Staff Monitored Programme (SMP) — which entails close technical collaboration on the country’s economic reform, but without funding — will run for a year, starting on May 15, 2019.
The latest report has some 23 000 words and includes a Press release from the IMF, a staff report, a letter of intent jointly signed by Finance minister Mthuli Ncube and Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mangudya, as well as a memorandum of the government’s economic and financial policies.
“The economic policies of the ‘new administration’, as described in the Transitional Stabilisation Programme (TSP) and detailed in the attached letter of intent, constitute a comprehensive stabilisation and structural reform programme meant to address Zimbabwe’s deep macroeconomic imbalances.”
IMF staff report, May 30 2019
Here is what you need to know about the report:
What is an SMP?
An SMP is a programme agreed between the IMF and a memberState to co-operate in the implementation and monitoring of the said country’s economic reforms. SMPs are at the member state’s request.
In Zimbabwe’s case, the IMF will collaborate with the country as it pursues its 18-month TSP, which will run until the end of 2020.
Embarking on an SMP does not mean a member-State gets IMF funding. However, the programme seeks to assist Zimbabwe build a track record of sound economic management and restore macroeconomic stability, ultimately leading to the unlocking of international capital for the country.
The SMP will monitor Zimbabwe’s economic performance on a quarterly basis.
Which period does the latest report cover?
Given the economic volatility in Zimbabwe, which means conditions change rapidly, the timing of assessments of the economy is an important consideration. The latest report is largely based on discussions held by an IMF staff team with the Zimbabwean authorities between April 1-5, 2019. The report was, however, completed on May 21, 2019 and circulated to the IMF executive board on May 22, 2019.
What does the IMF say?
Zimbabwe has deep macroeconomic imbalances arising from excessive spending, particularly between 2016-2018, financed by Treasury Bills and borrowing from the RBZ.
The President Emmerson Mnangagwa-led government is significantly reforming the economy, chiefly through cutting spending, removing distortions caused by a fixed exchange rate and seeking to promote investment in pursuit of a private sector-led economy.
Economic reforms will be difficult to implement due to political and social considerations.
The IMF projects the economy to contract by 2,1% in 2019 due to the impact of the ongoing fiscal consolidation as well as a poor farming season. The Fund, however, expects a rebound in 2020, with gross domestic product (GDP) forecast to expand by 3,3%.
“A rebound in economic activity is expected in 2020 and over the medium term, as uncertainty declines, distortions from multiple exchange rates are removed, and relations with external creditors normalise,” the fund says.
The IMF expects headline year-on-year inflation to remain high throughout 2019, averaging 81%. Monthly inflation is, however, forecast to start coming down from mid-2019.
The IMF says while the Zimbabwean authorities realise that interest rates have to go up to stabilise the money and forex markets, they were reluctant to do so for fear of the potential impact on economic activity as well as public debt. In his February monetary policy statement, Mangudya left rates unchanged, but said he planned to introduce a bank rate — the rate at which banks borrow from central bank — as a guide for rates to the market.
Amid a clamour by banks for the central bank to remove a cap on rates introduced in 2017, the IMF warns that any further delay on the interest rate decision could further undermine confidence.
The IMF recommends that the RBZ gradually replace its savings bonds, whose maturity ranges from one year to five years, with short-term instruments of up to seven days. Export retentions and the interbank market
The IMF advises the authorities to take measures to increase the supply of forex in the market.
The fund urges the RBZ to allow exporters to retain all their earnings, on condition that they sell directly on the interbank market what they are currently required to surrender to the central bank. The IMF believes this would allow for an effective price formation.
“Existing exchange controls, which limit FX purchases in the official interbank market for current account transactions, would continue to control demand for FX, but the sanctioning and enforcement framework would be applied transparently and uniformly,” says the IMF. The IMF also advises that any subsidies for specific goods or sectors, such as fuel and medicine, be channelled through the budget, not through administered exchange rates.
In talks with the IMF, the Zimbabwean authorities said they envisage gradually eliminating exchange controls to eventually allow for a full unification of the exchange rate.
High Court judge Justice Nyaradzo Priscilla Munangati-Manongwa has dismissed an application by ailing former Finance minister Ignatius Chombo to have his passport back after it was seized by security agents at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport last month.
The judge ordered Chombo to go back to the magistrates’ court and exhaust alternative remedies, including seeking contempt of court charges against the clerk of court, who is reported to have refused to release the passport despite an existing court order.
The former Cabinet minister’s travel document was last month seized and surrendered back to the Harare Magistrates’ Court under unclear circumstances moments after he had checked-in for a South African-bound Fastjet flight. Chombo had obtained his travel document on a temporary basis to enable him to travel to South Africa for medical treatment
However, the clerk of court refused to give it back and a Harare magistrate declined to entertain his application, citing lack of jurisdiction. Chombo then filed an urgent application at the High Court, seeking enforcement of the magistrates’ court order.
But Justice Munangati-Manongwa dismissed his application, saying Chombo had not exhausted alternative remedies for him to approach the High Court.
“The court notes that there are alternative remedies which can still achieve compliance. The magistrate’s court can still stamp its authority by ensuring compliance of its orders. It is not for the High Court to enforce the orders granted by the magistrates’ court,” the judge said.
“Where a clerk of court refuses to obey a court order when called upon to do so amounts to contempt of court, it does not require a superior court to enforce compliance with an extant court order. Courts must ensure compliance with their own orders and not expect the High Court to ‘play big brother’ where there is neither a review nor an appeal.
“Given the foregoing, the court finds that there are alternative remedies open to the applicant (Chombo) at the magistrates court to achieve the relief it seeks.”
THE Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers has warned that unjustified profiteering by retailers would invite the full wrath of the government which is threatening to introduce the unpopular price controls.
Speaking during a meeting between retailers and members of the Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe (GMAZ) in Mutare recently, CZR president Denford Mutashu said price distortions were not being helpful to retailers.
“The government is worried with the behaviour of some retailers. It seems every time l meet a government minister, he will be asking about the conduct of some retailers. If retailers continue unjustified pricing on their goods then we are inviting the full wrath of the government because we don’t want price controls,” he said.
“Some retailers need to be responsible and fair on their pricing; it is the distortions in their pricing that we are worried about. It is good for the world to know that we don’t defend mediocrity and we don’t defend businesses who misbehave,” he said
“We are actually working together with the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe and we will go across the country together educating the consumers as the most critical stakeholder and in order to give them the right information so that they are not short-changed.”
Mutashu said CZR was aware that the costs have been rising on the part of the retailers, but it was also a fact that many of them were taking advantage and charging exorbitant prices especially in areas where there were shortages.
“Our plea goes to the manufacturers who are demanding foreign currency. Retailers are selling to consumers who have no capacity to buy in foreign currency,” he said
The government only managed to recover US$50,2 million from the command agriculture facility for the 2016 to 2018 cropping season, Finance and Economic Development minister Mthuli Ncube has revealed.
The government in 2016 launched a US$500 million command agricultural programme under which it intended to produce two million tonnes of maize from 400 000 hectares of land, a move meant to ensure food security and to reduce dependency on imports.
But the programme, designed to mobilise sustainable and affordable funding for agriculture so as to ensure food security and eliminate imports of food, was prone to abuse by top government officials and military chiefs.
Appearing before the Parliamentary Committee on Budget and Finance, Ncube told legislators that the amount recovered for the season 2016 to 2018 was $50,2 million.
“Basically, the amount recovered for the season 2016 to 2018 is, out of 44 617 farmers, $50,2 million. For the season 2017 to 2018 for maize again, we had 35 756 farmers and the amount recovered was $19,7 million,” Ncube said.
“Then for the wheat planting season of 2017, we have 2 270 farmers and what was recovered is US$13,7 million. Then for the wheat planting season for 2018, we have 74 847 farmers. Then for soyabeans added for the season 2017/2018 from 2 041 farmers, it is US$1,5 million,” he added.
The command agriculture contracts were entered into by government and Sakunda Holdings.
The programme included farmers receiving seed, fertilizer and chemicals, with the proviso that they would sell part of their crop to the State as repayment.
Meanwhile, Ncube revealed that the budget deficit between January and August 2018 was US$2,5 billion, broken down as follows: January 2018 ($26 million); February 2018 ($61,5 million); March 2018 ($146 million); April 2018 ($264,6 million); May 2018 ($361,4 million); June 2018 ($402,1 million); July 2018 ($593.8 million) and August 2018 ($600 million).
On the question regarding the amount of money borrowed and from where, during the same period of January and August 2018, Ncube said the total borrowed during that period in terms of the Reserve Bank overdraft facility was $929,09 million and the amount borrowed by the central bank directly was $55,96 million, while other loans amounted to $174,17 million.
“The total Treasury Bills issued for the period under review is $2,5 billion and was issued for budget financing, capitalisation of government institutions and for dealing with legacy debts. The holders of these instruments are banks, insurance companies and pension funds,” he said.
“The split of that $2,5 billion in terms of budget financing is $343,39 million. It was used to deal with legacy debts of about $1,5 billion. Capitalisation and re-capitalisation of State institutions stood at $643,14 million, bringing the total to $2,5 billion.”
Ncube also revealed that central bank loans were $623 million, while loans from the private sector amounted to $188 million.
GOVERNMENT plans to set up a horticulture department within the Ministry of Lands and Agriculture as part of efforts to boost the agricultural sector.
Speaking during a Seed Co vegetable mega field day held in Harare yesterday, Agriculture secretary, Ringson Chitsiko said the move from subsistence to commercial farming was key in development of the rural economy.
“The shift from subsistence to commercial farming is fundamental in the development of the rural economy on our way to achieve sustainable inclusive economic growth,” said Chitsiko.
Seed Co has a number of high-yielding vegetable hybrids and improved varieties conducive for local conditions.
The company’s agronomy and extension services manager, John Bhasera said vegetable farming can help farmers raise revenue when major crops are not in season.
“You cannot have a smoothly-run farming business without having several income streams. Farmers need to grow vegetables in order to spread cash revenue on the farm. This will help supplement income on the farm,” he said.
He also said venturing into farming business helped in spreading the risk in the farming business, especially with issues to do with climate change.
“Climate change is a real problem farmers cannot control, making the business a risk. Therefore, farmers can reduce the risk through vegetable farming,” he said.
Jay-Z once rapped “I’m not a businessman, I’m a business, man.” Turns out he was right.
The superstar rapper is also a fashion trendsetter, a streaming music mogul, a sports management company owner and Mr. Beyonce Knowles.
All that has helped him to become the first billionaire rapper, according to Forbes.
“Less than a decade later, it’s clear that Jay-Z has accumulated a fortune that conservatively totals $1 billion, making him one of only a handful of entertainers to become a billionaire—and the first hip-hop artist to do so,” Forbes’ Zack O’Malley Greenburg writes.
The media company ticked through the various businesses that Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, either owns or has a stake in, including:
a $70 million stake in Uber
his ownership of the streaming service Tidal
his $70 million art collection
his ownership of the Roc Nation sports management company
$50 million in assorted real estate holdings and his music catalog.
And being married to uber-superstar Beyonce, worth an estimated $355 million herself, doesn’t hurt.
Jay-Z, who grew up in a Brooklyn housing project, rose to fame in 1996 with his debut album “Reasonable Doubt.” His sixth album, 2001’s “The Blueprint,” was added to the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry — reserved for albums that are “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” — earlier this year.
He’s also been more involved in political advocacy, campaigning for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and launching a prison reform organization with fellow rapper Meek Mill this year.
Back in 2014, music mogul Dr. Dre claimed he was hip-hop’s first billionaire after he sold Beats Music, the high-end headphones and streaming music service, to Apple. But it’s estimated that while that blockbuster deal pushed Dre’s net worth to about $1.1 billion, state and local taxes ultimately nudged it to just below the $1 billion-dollar mark.
A French court has sentenced an imam to two years in prison for helping migrants try to cross the English Channel in inflatable boats.
The 39-year-old Iranian national was accused of arranging several crossings from northern France to England.
A 29-year-old Senegalese man who attended the mosque where the imam preaches also stood trial.
He was given nine months in jail and was banned from visiting Nord and Pas-de-Calais for three years.
The imam, who has not been named in French media, fainted upon hearing his sentence.
The men admitted providing six or seven dinghies after they were arrested in April, French newspaper Le Figaro reported.
The investigation started in late March when life jackets, wet pullovers and a rubber dinghy were discovered on a beach in northern France.
According to the prosecution, the imam was in contact with organised gangs of traffickers and took a commission on the sale of each boat.
Police found two boats, three outboard engines and life jackets in the imam’s house. The two men confessed to buying seven boats between December 2018 and April 2019.
The imam claimed he visited a shop in Deulemont, on the border with Belgium, to purchase dinghies for a person he identified only as Kamal.
Both defendants claimed they only realised later that the boats were being used for illegal Channel crossings.
“When I learnt that, I thought of the children on board and I told myself there could have been deaths,” the Senegalese man told the court. The imam said he was “ashamed”.
Prosecutors said their explanations “did not reflect reality” and that the Iranian national was often in the areas where the boats were discovered.
There has been a recent spike in the number of migrants trying to cross the Channel in boats, despite the risk of dangerous currents, cold waters and collisions.
Sudan’s military on Tuesday announced that elections will be held within nine months, adding that it had decided to cancel all that had been previously agreed with protesters about the country’s transition.
General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan’s announcement came the after Sudan’s military forcefully broke up a weeks-long sit-in outside Khartoum’s army headquarters calling on the country’s ruling generals to hand over to civilian rule, leaving more than 30 dead.
“The Military council decides on the following: cancelling what was agreed on and stopping negotiating with the Alliance for Freedom and Change, and to call for general elections within a period not exceeding nine months,” Burhan said in a statement broadcast on state television early on Tuesday.
The Military council decides on…cancelling what was agreed on and stopping negotiating with the Alliance for Freedom and Change.
Burhan added the election would take place under “regional and international supervision”.
The Transitional Military Council ousted president Omar al-Bashir in April after months of protests against his authoritarian rule.
What had been agreed with protesters
It had agreed a three-year transition period for transferring power to a civilian administration and that parliament be composed of 300 members for the transition, with around two-thirds from the protest alliance and the rest drawn from other political groups before talks broke down on May 20.
Thousands of people remained camped outside the military headquarters calling for the generals to cede power before security forces used force to break up the sit-in, leaving some 30 people dead and hundreds wounded, according to doctors close to the protesters.
It drew sharp international criticism, with both the US and the UN condemning the breaking up of the sit-in.
The UN Security Council will meet behind closed doors on Tuesday to discuss Sudan, after Britain and Germany requested the talks, diplomats said.
The Alliance for Freedom and Change had announced “the end of all political contact and negotiations with the putschist Council” following the deaths.
Burhan said that the military council would order an investigation into it.
“The military council promises an investigation into today’s events and invites the general prosecutor to take that over,” he said in the address.
Caster Semenya will not need to take testosterone-reducing medication to compete after a Swiss court temporarily suspended a new IAAF ruling.
The Olympic 800m champion, 28, last month lost her challenge to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) against the implementation of a restriction on testosterone levels in female runners.
The ruling would have affected women competing from 400m to the mile.
“I hope following my appeal I will once again be able to run free,” she said.
“I am thankful to the Swiss judges for this decision.”
Following the decision by Cas, the South African took her appeal to the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland, citing the need to defend “fundamental human rights”.
Her legal representative Dr Dorothee Schramm said: “The court has granted welcome temporary protection to Caster Semenya.
“This is an important case that will have fundamental implications for the human rights of female athletes.”
In a statement to BBC Sport, the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland said it had “super-provisionally instructed the IAAF to suspend the application of the ‘Eligibility Regulations for the Female Classification for athletes with differences of sex development’ with respect to the claimant, until the decision on the request for issuance of provisional measures”.
It added: “At present, it is not known when the Swiss Federal Supreme Courts will issue an interlocutory order concerning these provisional measures.”
The IAAF said it had yet to receive notification of the new decision from the Swiss court.
In its initial judgement Cas found that the new rules proposed by the IAAF – athletics’ world governing body – for athletes with differences of sexual development (DSD) were discriminatory, but concluded that the discrimination was “necessary, reasonable and proportionate” to protect “the integrity of female athletics”.
31 July 2009: 18-year-old Semenya runs fastest 800m time of the year to win gold at the Africa Junior Championships.
August 2009: Semenya undertakes a gender test before the World Championships in Berlin. She is unaware of the purpose of the test, with Athletics South Africa president Leonard Chuene telling her it is a random doping test.
19 August 2009: Semenya wins 800m world gold, breaking the world-leading mark she set in July. After her victory, the news of Semenya’s gender test is leaked to the press.
November 2009: There are reports that Semenya’s test has revealed male and female characteristics. The results are not made public.
6 July 2010: Semenya is cleared by the IAAF to compete again.
22 August 2010: Semenya wins the 800m at an IAAF event in Berlin.
11 August 2012: Semenya wins 800m silver at the 2012 London Olympics. This is later upgraded to gold after Russian winner Mariya Savinov is given a lifetime ban for doping violations. Semenya is also upgraded to 2011 world gold.
July 2014: India sprinter Dutee Chand, 18, is banned from competing after a hormone test shows natural natural levels of testosterone normally only found in men.
23 March 2015: Chand begins a legal challenge against the IAAF’s so-called gender tests.
27 July 2015: Chand is cleared to compete; the Court of Arbitration for Sport suspends, for two years, the introduction of an earlier version of IAAF rules requiring female athletes to take testosterone-suppressing medication.
20 August 2016: Semenya wins 800m gold at the Rio Olympics, but the decision to allow her to compete is questioned by other athletes.
4 July 2017: Research commissioned by the IAAF finds female athletes with high testosterone levels have a “competitive advantage”.
26 April 2018: The IAAF introduces new rules for female runners with naturally high testosterone.
19 June 2018: Semenya says she will challenge the “unfair” IAAF rules.
18 February 2019: Semenya’s legal hearing begins at Cas.
1 May 2019: Semenya loses her challenge.
29 May 2019: Semenya to make new appeal to Swiss federal supreme court.
3 June 2019: Swiss court temporarily suspends new IAAF rules, says her legal team.
