BY CNN

Lagos, Nigeria— More than 150 children — some as young as 11 — were among 220 people rescued from sex and labor trafficking rings in West Africa, Interpol said.

Most of the victims were beaten, subjected to abuses and told they would never see their families again by their traffickers, said Interpol.

They came from West African countries including the Republic of Benin, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, and Togo.

Local police working with Interpol rescued some of the victims from places where they were forced to become sex workers, and the majority were working as servants in markets in both countries.

One of the children was found wheeling bags of rice weighing up to 40 kilograms between the borders of the Republic of Benin and Nigeria, a spokesman for the agency said.

“Many of the children are shipped actually into these markets to carry out forced labor. These are organized crime groups who are motivated by making money…. They don’t care about the children forced into prostitution, working in terrible conditions, living on the streets, they are all after the money,” Interpol’s Director of Organised and Emerging Crime Paul Stanfield said in a video posted on the agency’s website.
Forty-seven people were arrested following the raid, the agency said.

The months-long operation begun in 2018 and involved local law enforcement officers and anti-trafficking agencies in Republic of Benin and Nigeria — countries identified as hotspots for child labor trafficking, Stanfield said.

Trafficking is a significant challenge facing many African countries, where thousands of people, mainly children, are sold into prostitution rings and labor camps by human smuggling networks.

More than 20,000 Nigerian girls were forced to into prostitution rings in mining camps and hotels in Mali by traffickers who promised them employment in hotels in Malaysia, according to the country’s National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons in January ( NAPTIP).
Victims rescued in this operation were handed to local officials in the Republic of Benin and Nigeria.

20,000 Nigerian girls sold to prostitution ring, trafficking agency says
Some were reunited with their parents, and others have transferred to shelters in both countries, the international police agency said.

“Nobody belongs in the markets or on the streets as slave laborers,” said Hounde Seidou from Benin’s anti-trafficking agency said, adding that law enforcement officers must apprehend offenders especially in cases involving children.

Eighty-five children were rescued in Sudan in another Interpol raid in September last year from gold mines in Khartoum, where they were forced to work with dangerous chemicals.

BY BBC

Cyclone Fani has slammed into India’s eastern coastline, according to the country’s Meteorological Department.

Heavy rain has been reported in the eastern state of Orissa, also called Odisha, which is directly in the path of the storm.

The tourist town of Puri and neighbouring areas are experiencing winds with a speed of 175 km/h (108mph), which may go up to 200 km/h.

Officials say there are no casualties.

However flooding has been reported from several areas, and reports are coming in of trees falling and roofs of buildings being destroyed.

More than a million people have been evacuated from Orissa and moved to shelters while several neighbouring states have also been put on high alert.

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The cyclone is expected to hit 15 districts in Orissa, apart from Puri, which is home to the 858-year-old Jagannath temple.

Numerous flights and train services in and out of the state have been cancelled, while schools and government offices are shut. Operations at three ports on India’s eastern coast have been shut down.

The state and federal governments have swung into action – naval warships and helicopters have been moved to the state and are on standby with medical teams and relief material. The country’s National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has also sent several teams there.

Cyclone Fani will be the fourth storm to hit India’s east coast in the last three decades.

In 2017, Cyclone Ockhi killed more than 200 people and displaced hundreds. In October last year, officials in Orissa evacuated hundreds of thousands of people when another cyclone struck.

The state’s most deadly cyclone on record took place in 1999, killing almost 10,000 people.

Which areas will be affected?

India’s National Disaster Management Authority has warned people along the east coast, especially fishermen, not to go out to sea because the conditions are “phenomenal”.

The agency said the “total destruction of thatched houses” was possible, as well as “extensive damage” to other structures.

The cyclone is expected to move towards Chittagong in Bangladesh in a weaker form on Saturday.

The cyclone coincides with high tides in Bangladesh which may exacerbate potential flooding issues there.

The port city of Cox’s Bazar, where hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees live in camps with minimal shelter, is also on alert. But the cyclone is currently not expected to hit the camps unless it changes path, which is not thought likely.

In February the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) began distributing tarpaulins ahead of the region’s “cyclone season” – but warned that if a deadly storm rolls in, shelters made of battered bamboo and shredded plastic would offer little protection.

How has India prepared?

The navy, the coast guard and the National Disaster Response Force have all been prepared for deployment. It has also stationed two ships with divers and doctors at the southern port cities of Vishakapatnam and Chennai (formerly Madras), an official told local media.

Local media report that about 81 trains travelling to and from coastal cities have been cancelled.

India’s electoral commission has relaxed its rules about what the government can do during election periods so that the authorities can carry out relief work.

The country is in the middle of a multi-phased election which started last month.

Under normal circumstances the incumbent government has certain powers suspended, so that it can’t announce new schemes or take new decisions during the voting period.

Although the election will continue until the end of May, Orissa has already voted.

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BY CNN

The diary of Eva Heyman begins innocently enough. It is her thirteenth birthday, and she writes about her dreams of becoming a journalist and marrying an Englishman.

The Hungarian Jewish teenager began her journal in February 1944, just one month before Nazi forces invaded Hungary. Its pages soon became a young girl’s account of her world transforming around her.

“Dear Diary, you are the happiest because you cannot feel the great misfortune that happened to us,” she wrote on March 19.

Her journal was published decades ago but, until now, had received scant attention, apart from a small memorial in the town of what is now Oradea, Romania.
Anti-Semitism never disappeared in Europe. It’s alive and kicking
Eva’s journal covers a period of only 108 days. She writes about many of the incremental moments that lead to the inevitable.

On March 31, 1944, she wrote: “Today an order was issued that from now on Jews have to wear a yellow starshaped patch. The order tells exactly how big the star patch must be, and that it must be sewn on every outer garment, jacket or coat. When Grandma heard this, she started acting up again and we called the doctor.

Eva has never had the name recognition of Anne Frank, whose diary is required reading in many schools around the world. But now her story has been brought back to life on Instagram.

Beginning on Wednesday afternoon — which marks the start of Holocaust Memorial Day in Israel — through Thursday, Eva’s diary is being re-enacted and posted as short Instagram video stories, intended to engage and educate a younger audience. Once complete, “Eva’s Story” will remain online in perpetuity.

The videos were created by father-daughter pair Mati and Maya Kochavi from Haifa, Israel. “We were looking for a way to deal with (Holocaust) memory and manage this memory in a way that is going to be relevant for a younger generation today,” says father Mati, a 57-year-old tech entrepreneur whose ventures include founding the media company Vocativ.

They brought in dozens of actors, with hundreds of extras, and created Nazi-era scenes in Lviv, Ukraine for the project, then recorded everything — as a teenager might — on an iPhone.

Father-daughter pair Mati and Maya Kochavi brought in dozens of actors to recreate Nazi-era scenes, and recorded everything on iPhone.
Father-daughter pair Mati and Maya Kochavi brought in dozens of actors to recreate Nazi-era scenes, and recorded everything on iPhone.

“One of the strongest ways to really convey what happened in the Holocaust is to speak to a survivor who went through it,” says 27-year-old Maya Kochavi. “We have to think of more creative and stronger ways to convey the horrors of the Holocaust to the newer generation that won’t have the chance to speak to a survivor.”

Each day from Eva’s diary has been turned into a new Instagram story added to the account. On May 10, 1944, she wrote in her journal, “I have no idea how it will be later, I always think this is the worst, then I realize on my own that everything can become even worse, actually much worse. Until now, there was food to eat, now we won’t have any.”

Eva Heyman at 13.
More than 70 years later, memories of the Holocaust are preserved in documents and museums. Israel’s Holocaust museum, Yad Vashem, has put the last letters of Holocaust victims online so that the public can read the powerful personal notes.
Not everyone has been thrilled with the social media lesson. “The path from ‘Eva’s Story’ to selfies at the gates of Auschwitz-Birkenau is short and steep,” wrote civics teacher Yuval Mendelson in a column in the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz.
“At the end gather all the tongue-clickers and head-shakers, and each in turn will tell us about our lost and disconnected youth, devoid of values and shame.”

The project’s creators reject that criticism. “Social media, especially Instagram, is shallow, especially if you’re looking for content that is shallow,” says Maya Kochavi. “And if you’re looking for content that is powerful and has magnitude and can cause revolutions even, you will easily find it there.”

Netanyahu joins world leaders in lamenting results of CNN poll on anti-Semitism
On May 30, she wrote her final entry: “Dear Diary, I don’t want to die, I still want to live, even if it means that only I remain behind from this entire district.”

Three days later, Heyman was deported from Hungary, then to Auschwitz, according to Yad Vashem. She died in a gas chamber on October 17, 1944.

As the number of living Holocaust survivors dwindles, the Kochavis hope that Eva will become a fresh face for those memories of the event that no one wants to remember, and the world should never forget.

BY CNN

China is continuing to modernize its armed forces in order to transform its military into a major global power and using espionage to steal cutting edge technology for military purposes, according to a newly released Pentagon report on China’s military.

“China uses a variety of methods to acquire foreign military and dual-use technologies, including targeted foreign direct investment, cyber theft, and exploitation of private Chinese nationals’ access to these technologies, as well as harnessing its intelligence services, computer intrusions, and other illicit approaches,” the Congressionally mandated Department of Defense report said.

“China obtains foreign technology through imports, foreign direct investment, the establishment of foreign research and development (R&D) centers, joint ventures, research and academic partnerships, talent recruitment, and industrial and cyberespionage,” the report added.

US intelligence warns China is using student spies to steal secrets
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph Dunford, recently warned Congress that US companies that did business in China were often indirectly benefiting the Chinese military, citing Google as an example.
The report said that China had used these techniques to acquire sensitive, dual-use, or military-grade equipment from the United States, including aviation and antisubmarine warfare technologies.

Beijing is also exploiting its citizens and foreigners of Chinese descent living abroad to further the aims of the Chinese Communist Party the report says, saying that a “cornerstone of China’s strategy includes appealing to overseas Chinese citizens or ethnic Chinese citizens of other countries to advance CCP objectives through soft power or, sometimes, coercion and blackmail.”
Beijing developing advanced weaponry

Some of the more advanced technology China is developing includes hypersonic missiles, weapons that travel at least five-times the speed of sound.

“China has tested hypersonic glide vehicles. In August 2018, China successfully tested the XINGKONG-2 (Starry Sky-2), which it publicly described as a hypersonic waverider vehicle,” the report says, referencing a missile that can travel close to the water to avoid detection and missile defense.

The report also details the growth in China’s defense budget and its military capabilities, saying “China’s defense budget has nearly doubled during the past 10 years.”

Much of that money is being spent on beefing up the Chinese navy, with the report saying that China commands “the region’s largest navy, with more than 300 surface combatants, submarines, amphibious ships, patrol craft, and specialized types.”

Top US general says Google ‘is indirectly benefiting the Chinese military’
The report calls the Chinese navy an “increasingly modern and flexible force,” saying that the “modernization of China’s submarine force remains a high priority.”

It says China’s total submarine force “will likely grow to between 65 and 70 submarines by 2020” and that China will field a new guided-missile nuclear attack submarine “by the mid-2020s” providing Beijing with “a more clandestine land-attack option.”

China’s first domestically built Aircraft carrier will also “likely join the fleet by the end of 2019” and its second domestically built carrier is projected to be operational by 2022.

Beijing is also rapidly building up its Coast Guard to help enforce its claims over disputed islands in the South China Sea, according to the report.

Since 2010 the Chinese Coast Guard has doubled its fleet of large patrol ships and now commands some 130 large vessels, “making it by far the largest coast guard force in the world and increasing its capacity to conduct simultaneous, extended offshore operations in multiple disputed areas.”

The report also says China uses its People’s Armed Forces Maritime Militia, a reserve force of civilians available for mobilization, “to achieve China’s political goals” in the South China Sea without fighting.

China has attempted to increase its control over the features and waterways of the South China Sea where some 78 percent of its oil imports and 16 percent of natural gas imports sails.

“In the South China Sea, China has continued militarization. Anti-ship cruise missiles and long-range surface-to-air missiles have been deployed to Spratly Islands outposts, and China’s strategic bombers have conducted take-off and landing drills on Woody Island in the Paracel Islands,” the report said, adding that the missiles deployed to the Spratly Islands in 2018 are the “most capable land-based weapons systems deployed by China in the disputed South China Sea.”

“China states that international military presence within the South China Sea is a challenge to its sovereignty. China has continued to escalate coercive tactics to enforce its claims within the South China Sea,” it added.

BY OBEY MANAYITI/BLESSED MHLANGA

THE stage has been set for a bruising fight in the Nelson Chamisa-led MDC as almost all candidates nominated for top positions in the party’s standing committee have accepted and are now reaching into their war chests to mount rigorous campaigns ahead of congress this monthend.

Party bigwigs, who include vice-president Elias Mudzuri and secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora face an unsavoury prospect of walking out of the MDC’s elective congress as ordinary card-carrying members. The congress is the first since the death of the opposition party’s founding president Morgan Tsvangirai, who succumbed to cancer of the colony early last year, five months before the July 31 elections.

This comes as the High Court is set to hand down a judgment on Wednesday next week in which a Gokwe-Sasame MDC secretary Elias Mashavira challenged Chamisa’s legitimacy as interim party leader.

Mashavira wants the court to order the party to go for an extra-ordinary congress as opposed to the elective congress slated for May 24 to 26 in Gweru.

If granted the order, the party could be forced to abandon congress preparations, despite the nomination process having been completed.

Mashavira’s lawyer, Ashel Mutungura said: “Judgment is going to be handed down in a motion court on Wednesday. So today (yesterday) was just that notification.”

Chamisa, who was jettisoned to power through a national council resolution, appears set to win the top post after bagging all 13 provincial nominations.

Apart from Chamisa, who appears to be safe, there will be fierce contests for the posts of vice-presidents, secretary-general and treasurer-general, which have received an overwhelming number of nominations for strong contenders.

Few positions are now up for grabs following a resolution to empower Chamisa to appoint other portfolios.

Leading contender for the vice-presidency, Morgen Komichi called for responsible campaigning, adding that the party must emerge stronger from the congress.

Komichi will square off with former secretary-generals Tendai Biti, Welshman Ncube, and Mudzuri. “Yes, I have accepted the nomination,” Komichi said.

“I look forward to a peaceful campaign. I don’t want to see some campaign teams denigrating other candidates. We must be professional in our approach. We have relationships beyond the congress, we have a party beyond congress and I am aware that the campaign teams sometimes go into overdrive and end up attacking other candidates personally,” he said.

Komichi said campaigning ahead of congress should not create fissures in the party and instead must ensure that the party comes out stronger and united.

Although Biti and Ncube were not picking up their phones, NewsDay is reliably informed that they have accepted their nominations, while Mudzuri was evasive, saying he would not respond to questions on the matter because he was travelling to Buhera for Tsvangirai’s memorial service.

Three women will now battle it out for one vice-presidential post, which was last week ring-fenced by the national council as the MDC seeks to have women in its presidium.

Leading contenders for the post are Lilian Timveos, Lynnete Karenyi-Kore and Tracy Mutinhiri all having confirmed that they have accepted nomination, while Paurina Mpariwa has now decided to stand as women’s league chairperson.

“In line with the forthcoming MDC congress whence I received nominations for both the position of vice-presidency and women’s assembly chairperson, I will have to pave way for my fellow women cadres to contest in the VP post. I have opted to contest for the women assembly’s chairperson. This was motivated by the advices I received from a number of respected people in the struggle,” Mpariwa wrote on her campaign Facebook page.

Chalton Hwende, a close aide to Chamisa will face Daniel Molokele and possibly Mwonzora for the secretary-general post.

Close sources said Mwonzora was itching to retain his post although he could not immediately confirm that he was still interested after receiving one nomination.

After throwing in the towel in the race for the presidency, Mwonzora said he was aiming to keep his current position. Yesterday, Hwende insisted that the position was almost his after getting the majority of the nominations.

“I have accepted the nomination, I cannot betray the nine provinces that nominated me. The nominations will give you some guidance into what people want and in politics you must follow what the people want,” he said.

David Coltart said he was ready for the elective congress after accepting nomination for the treasurer-general position for which he received nominations from seven provinces and will face-off with Tapiwa Mashakada.

“Yes, I have accepted nomination from the seven provinces. Obviously, I will be subjected to election and congress and I am ready,” he said.

Party chairperson Tabitha Khumalo, who is looking to retain her post, faces a challenge from Gabbuza Joel Gabuza. Khumalo said she was ready to face her challenger. “I humbly accept the nominations and will be ready for a healthy competition with my peers,” she said.

BY Brenna Matendere

Dialogue between President Emmerson Mnangagwa and MDC leader Nelson Chamisa over the disputed 2018 presidential elections is the only way to rescue the country from the worsening economic gridlock, a top opposition official has said.

The southern African country is facing its worst economic crisis in a decade underlined by shortages of foreign currency, fuel and medicines while a drought has left over five million people in need of food aid.

Speaking at Mkoba Stadium in Gweru on Wednesday during Workers’ Day commemorations led by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), MDC vice-president Welshman Ncube said the issue of legitimacy will haunt Mnangagwa throughout his term unless he sits down and talk to Chamisa.

“I understand this year’s theme for the ZCTU on this Workers’ Day urges people to unite and fight neo-liberalism and austerity. However, I want to tell you that all these small fights will not yield your desired results. The nation must just unite to fight a single battle which is the illegitimacy crisis of the current government led by Mnangagwa,” Ncube said.

“To that end, I want to reiterate that Mnangagwa’s all other efforts to restore economic prosperity will not succeed as long as the legitimacy crisis of this country that was given birth by stolen elections last year is not resolved. Mnangagwa must set aside all the other efforts and sit down with Chamisa to resolve this illegitimacy crisis. That is the only way things can start moving and that is the only way the other hardships, especially the economic problems can be put to rest.”

Mnangagwa, who was voted into power after long-time ruler Robert Mugabe was overthrown in November 2017, is superintending over a country with deep macro-economic imbalances, large fiscal deficits and distortions in foreign currency exchanges that are hampering the economy and responsible for regular price hikes and fuelling inflation.

When government raised the fuel prices in January, it sparked protests across the country during which 20 people were killed and nearly 200 were left nursing gunshot wounds, according to human rights groups. The country is also struggling to respond to the devastation from Cyclone Idai which killed nearly 400 people and affected 270 000 others, according to aid agencies.

Ncube called on workers to confront the government and demand an end to the hardships they were facing on a daily basis.

“Zanu PF supporters are suffering, just like any other person in this country. Their colleagues say ED pfee during the day, but go back home to face tables without food in the evening.
So I am saying to Zimbabweans, please set aside your party affiliations and join hands to fight the bad governance – it does not matter whether you are Zanu PF or MDC,” Ncube added.

But Zanu PF spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo said the issue of legitimacy was now water under the bridge after the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) confirmed Mnangagwa as the winner of last year’s presidential polls.

“I do not know why some people just want to confuse the nation. That issue of legitimacy was resolved by the ConCourt. We have to move on. What dialogue on legitimacy can there be when the highest court has decided?” he asked.

Khaya Moyo said dialogue between Chamisa and Mnangagwa can only happen inside the already running platform which includes other opposition parties.

“However, if Chamisa wants special treatment, he must write to the President saying so. But I don’t know what the President will say. All I can say is that the President cannot meet all the other party leaders this week and then meet Chamisa next week, who is he?” Khaya Moyo added. The Zanu PF spokesperson blamed the economic crisis on Western economic sanctions which he said were “invited by the MDC”.

BY XOLISANI NCUBE

President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Zanu PF has issued a chilling warning to MDC leader Nelson Chamisa and the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) leadership over their threats to unleash demonstrations over the deteriorating economic situation.

Addressing a Press conference in Harare yesterday, Zanu PF spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo said Chamisa and the ZCTU leadership’s utterances should not be tolerated because they could lead to anarchy and disorder.

“These careless statements are not taken lightly, especially coming from the pronouncements by Home Affairs and Culture Heritage minister Cain Mathema which disclosed the ulterior motives and intentions by these regime change agents who are bent on making the country ungovernable,” Khaya Moyo said.

During his address at the May Day celebrations organised by ZCTU on Wednesday, Chamisa and the labour leaders warned that poverty and the worsening economic crisis will push people onto the streets to demonstrate against Mnangagwa’s administration.

Chamisa said since time immemorial, protests by the labour unions were an early warning system to the incumbent government.

But Zanu PF said people should be patient with Mnangagwa’s administration as he had a correct prescription to the economic crisis facing the country.

“The law will indeed take its course on those found wanting in that regard. Zanu PF will not stand and watch innocent citizens being used for political expedience under its watch. The party also calls upon the nation to be patient as the government put its shoulder to the wheel as it tackles the economic quagmires of the day with a view of ushering in a better Zimbabwe during our lifetime and for our posterity,” Khaya Moyo said.

Zimbabwe has been experiencing endless challenges, largely driven by hikes in prices and closure of companies due to a collapsing economy.

The opposition has threatened to take to the streets like what happened in January when Mnangagwa announced hikes in fuel prices.

The three-day national stay-away turned violent after the State unleashed armed military personnel on civilians, resulting in the death of 20 people while hundreds others were arrested.
The opposition and labour accuse Mnangagwa’s government of being blanketed by corruption and has shown no clear agenda to revive the economy.

The ZCTU and MDC have all demanded that workers be paid in United States dollars because the local RTGS dollar-denominated salaries had been eroded by inflation and endless price hikes.

Costa Nhamoinesu

BY KEVIN MAPASURE

Defence stalwart Costa Nhamoinesu dropped a bombshell on Wednesday evening, announcing that he had called time on his Warriors career at a time that the technical team of the Zimbabwe senior men’s national football team was finalising on the training squad for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) finals.

Nhamoinesu, who had been ignored in the qualifiers after he fell out with the technical team, was in the frame for a recall to the side ahead of the finals that will be played in Egypt, starting on June 21 and ending on July 19.

The Sparta Prague captain used his Twitter handle to announce that he had quit the Warriors.

“Calling it a day at international level. Thank you God for the opportunity. Thank you Zimbabwe,” he wrote.

The tweet attracted several responses from Warriors fans, with a number expressing shock, while others pleaded with him to walk away only after the Afcon finals.

Others thanked Nhamoinesu for his time with the Warriors and the effort that he put in.

Mathew Rusike, who played with Nhamoinesu in the national team, paid tribute to the defender via Twitter.

“Thank you for your service. Your leadership. Your guidance. Most of all, your patriotism,” he tweeted.

Warriors team manager Wellington Mupandare was as shocked as anybody by the bombshell and was by yesterday afternoon making frantic efforts to get in touch with the player.

“I think somebody must have misinformed him that he is not part of the squad that is going to the finals, because the timing of the move is quite surprising. I cannot say whether he was part of the squad or not, but what I can say is that he is one of many players that the coaches were considering as they draw up their squad,” he said.

“It seems he has already made his decision and it seems it’s final, but as a manager, I will try to speak with him. He never told us that he no longer wants to be considered for the national team. We also read it that he had quit.”
The defender played a key part in the Warriors qualification to the 2017 Afcon finals that were staged in Gabon.

But since that tournament, he has not featured for the Warriors after he failed to make the trip back home for the first 2019 Afcon qualifier against Liberia in Harare due to injury.

FC Platinum coach Norman Mapeza was in charge.

Nhamoinesu is reported to have fallen out of favour with the current technical team after he declined to travel by road to South Africa for the Cosafa Cup tournament last year.

The tournament was staged in Polokwane and Zifa decided that the team travels by bus, as opposed to flying to Johannesburg then making a road trip back to Polokwane.

Following his snub, Nhamoinesu has not been called up to the Warriors, but after qualifying for the finals, the technical team had a change of heart, considering the steely defender.
Zimbabwe will face Egypt in the opening match of the tournament in June and will also face the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.

A friendly match against the Super Eagles of Nigeria has already been confirmed, while there is also a possibility of playing Ghana or South Africa, or even both.

BY MTHANDAZO NYONI

CEMENT producer PPC Zimbabwe has, in the last five years, spent over US$140 million in plant refurbishments and it aims to invest some of its dividends in government bonds to increase local procurement.

The company’s general manager for sales and marketing Nkosana Mapuma told a business meeting in Bulawayo recently that the cement maker was committed to the country’s economic development.

“We have an asset base which is quite huge. In terms of refurbishment, it’s actually world-class because we have spent, in the last five years alone, over US$140 million refurbishing our plants and also building a brand new factory in Harare,” Mapuma said.

“We believe that we are still the market leader in Zimbabwe with a highest capacity to produce over 1,4 million tonnes of cement per annum . . . We have a product portfolio which is quite huge, currently with six products and very soon we will be launching a seventh product which I am sure the engineering community is going to benefit a lot from,” he said.

“We are aiming also to invest some of our dividends in government bonds so that at least we can lobby them in there and increase local procurement, and also increase our exports.”

Mapuma said they had managed to secure sources of clinker from outside Zimbabwe, to add to their capacity.

PPC operates three plants in the country, including the new $82 million plant in Harare, which was commissioned in 2016 and produces 700 000 tonnes of cement per annum.

The other two plants are in Bulawayo and Colleen Bawn near Gwanda, with a combined annual production of 700 000 tonnes, bringing the total annual production of the company to 1,4 million tonnes of cement per year.

“We have been exporting into Malawi, a little bit into Mozambique and also Zambia and Botswana. Currently, 60% of our exports in the last financial year went to Malawi from the factories in Bulawayo and Harare.”

“Seventy percent of our inputs now are being sourced locally, so we are really moving towards achieving imports substitution and also trying to create jobs locally,” he said.