1.10.2019 13:39
Before I begin my address, I kindly request the August House to observe a minute of silence in honour of the late Founding Father of our country and Former President, His Excellency, Cde R. G. Mugabe who passed on, on the 6th of September 2019.
It’s not pleasant to begin the week on bad news, but Zimbabweans are getting accustomed to it.
For the past four or so months, new fuel prices are announced every Sunday evening. Sometimes the announcement comes as late as 11pm. Last week was no exception, as many Zimbabweans woke up on Monday to the news that they would be paying 11% more for fuel.
Zimbabweans have lost count of the number of times fuel has gone up this year. All they know is that they now pay roughly 775% more than they paid in January 2019. The year started with petrol at $1.31 (local bond notes) and diesel at $1.26.
Water runs dry
Zimbabwe is facing its worst drought in almost four decades, in addition to cyclone-induced floods and economic collapse, which have left Zimbabwe on the verge of its worst-ever famine, Bloomberg recently reported.
To add to the challenges faced by the southern African nation, a bailout was required to address water supply issues in the capital, Harare.
“Harare City Council has run out of key water treatment chemicals….and if no urgent bailout is given between today and Tuesday, management will be forced to shut down Morton Jaffray Water Treatment Plant,” the City of Harare tweeted last Monday. A million people were left without water when the plant was shut down.
The city council said it was “stretching the little available amounts to treat limited supplies of water”.
According to the municipality, it buys “foreign currency on the runaway interbank exchange market against a stagnant and inflexible budget”. Like water, local dollars to buy foreign currency had also “run dry”, it said.
Government recently released $37.4m (Zimbabwe dollars) plus an undisclosed amount of foreign currency towards interventions to improve water access and waste water treatment in Harare. Zimbabwe faced a severe cholera outbreak in 2018, and inadequate facilities to treat water increases the risk of another outbreak.
Spiralling data tariffs
As if this were not enough, the country’s biggest mobile network operator, Econet, was also a bearer of bad news last week, noting that it would be reviewing bundle prices for data and SMSes. Daily data bundles increased in a range of 20 – 38.5%, the third tariff increase this year.
“The argument is simple; all costs have gone up, primary currency has weakened but real tariffs have remained the same,” said a senior official with Econet, who requested anonymity as he is not allowed to speak to the press.
It previously hiked data tariffs twice in the space of a month.
Plummeting exchange rate
Despite the spiralling costs of daily living, Zimbabweans are not facing a corresponding increase in income. Despite government workers recently being offered a 76% pay hike, recent reports across Zimbabwe have indicated that in many important economic sectors, struggling employers are paying wages that fall below the total consumption poverty line (TCPL).
Most of Zimbabwe’s troubles are, however, coming from the plummeting exchange rate.
Officially, Zimbabwe’s local dollar has lost more than 80% of its value since February – but the black market rates show an even larger decline.
Earlier in the month, President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government froze bank accounts belonging to the country’s biggest fuel supplier, as well as the largest car dealership.
Speaking at a meeting with a group of supporters in New York, where he was attending the United Nations General Assembly, Mnangagwa said his government had acted on “smart people” hurting the currency.
“We have people who find ways to fight that and undermine (the currency), but yesterday we also became smarter than their being smart, so we took some action,” Mnangagwa said.
“We have now arrested the galloping rate, which had gone up to about 20, 23, 24. By the time we left it had come down to about 15 and it’s still coming down, because we had put up some measures,” Mnangagwa told party supporters.
This was of little comfort to importers as they still had to pay 40 cents more on the following Monday than they had on the Friday.
Losing hope
In another demonstration of how desperate things are for Zimbabweans, the country’s statistics agency, Zimstat, last week released data saying a family of five needed to earn $1 827 in local currency in order not to be deemed poor. This compares unfavourably to the salaries of government workers, where the lowest paid earn $1 023.
All Zimbabweans want is better livelihoods, to put food on the table, to have running water, to have electricity, and medical care. But all these things remain elusive. The hope that many had when President Mnangagwa assumed office is fading fast.
And unless he deals decisively with corruption, improves the ease and cost of doing business, gets skilled farmers on the land and gives them tenure, then the misery of unemployment and hunger will continue unabated.
Post published in: Featured
EcoCash
In what analysts have described as a major blow to the advent of mobile money and financial inclusion, the Zimbabwean central bank has banned mobile money agencies from facilitating cash withdrawals or deposits with immediate effect.
Zimbabwe is going through a serious cash crisis, with very few banks being able to provide depositors with physical cash. To get cash, Zimbabweans have been resorting to mobile money agencies who were illegally selling cash at a premium which reached 60% recently.
This facility of accessing cash through mobile money agencies has, however, now been banned, with the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe saying in a statement: “Some economic agents are engaging in illegal activities, abusing the cash-in, cash-out and cash-back facilities thereby compromising the public interest objectives of national payment systems in the economy.”
It added: “Notable activities include the buying and selling of cash through mobile money agents at high rates above the approved charges for cash-in and cash-out with some economic agents not banking cash sales under the disguise of cash-back services.
“The charging of commissions outside the approved framework adversely affects the smooth operation of payment systems and have the negative effect of distorting pricing of goods and services.”
The central bank directed all mobile payment system providers and merchants to discontinue cash-in and cash-out with immediate effect.
“Banks, mobile payment system providers and other economic agents are reminded of the need to ensure that the entire ecosystem operate within the confines of law and enforce compliance,” said RBZ deputy director financial markets and national payment systems, Josephat Mutepfa.
Analysts, however, described the move as firefighting, saying the central bank is dealing with symptoms and not solving the real problem, which is limited availability of cash.
“We have approximately $600m in circulation against $15bn in money supply, so there is a serious mismatch. We need to print physical notes,” said Harare-based analyst Walter Mandeya of Trigrams Investment.
Post published in: Business
In this photo taken Sept. 13, 2019, Associated Press journalist Andrew Meldrum poses for a photograph at the entrance to State House in the capital Harare, Zimbabwe. After 16 years in journalistic exile, Meldrum returned to Zimbabwe, the country where he worked as a journalist for 23 years until he was expelled by former president Robert Mugabe’s government. For the past week he reported on the mourning period for Mugabe. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
NOEL KING, HOST:
The family of Zimbabwe’s former leader Robert Mugabe buried him this weekend. He was in power there for almost 40 years. And after he died, people hoped for a new start. But life in Zimbabwe hasn’t gotten any better. Last week, city officials cut off tap water in the capital city Harare.
Andrew Meldrum is Africa editor for The Associated Press. Sixteen years ago, he was expelled from Zimbabwe. Recently, he went back to look around at the country that he’d covered for decades. Meldrum told me the water shut-off in Harare is the result of both drought and economic crisis.
ANDREW MELDRUM: There’s no water going through the pipes. People were lining up to pump water from wells to wash their clothes in brackish streams or ponds. So we’re seeing a city and a country that is really suffering from huge problems from an economic downturn, as I say – you know, no electricity in the capital for as much as 19 hours a day, no water. This is something that was just unthinkable when I was living there.
KING: I would imagine, having spent so many years in Zimbabwe, you have lots of friends there. What are the differences in their lives since you’ve been away?
MELDRUM: Well, those of my friends who are still in Zimbabwe, they have experienced a rollercoaster. Since I was expelled, they have experienced hyperinflation of more than a billion percent…
KING: Oh, wow.
MELDRUM: …Inflation. Yeah. And also, they experienced something – you know, surprises in political situation. They saw Robert Mugabe fall from power. And there was a tremendous amount of optimism and excitement to think that things were going to get better. And now two years later, at the death of Robert Mugabe, they’re saying – well, actually, things aren’t better at all. And the government under Emmerson Mnangagwa has not achieved economic growth or an improvement in things. So they’re disappointed.
KING: So the big question is, why not? I mean, I remember the optimism – people saying the country will be more free; the country will develop economically. It’s Mugabe, essentially, many people said, that’s been holding us back. And then you’re saying – but in two years, nothing’s happened. Well, why not?
MELDRUM: Well, Robert Mugabe left. But the same party, ZANU-PF, and the same military are running the show. And they are not making the kind of substantial fundamental changes in the way the country is run that will improve things for the average Zimbabwean.
One thing that was interesting that I’d like to highlight was a doctor who was calling for a strike to get higher wages. He was abducted, he was tortured, and he has now been released because there was an outcry amongst the medical community and throughout Zimbabwe. And of course, it’s great that he has been released, but it was one of a series of abductions of government critics in recent months. So it shows that there is a level of political repression still in Zimbabwe.
KING: What do you think happens next in Zimbabwe? Is there some political leader or political party waiting in the wings that has the potential to turn things around?
MELDRUM: I don’t see that political leader waiting in the wings.
KING: Huh.
MELDRUM: It might be further in the wings than I can see at this point. You know, things are going to come together so that the country returns to the kind of prosperity that I saw it. But I think it’s going to take quite some time.
KING: Andrew Meldrum, thank you so much for being with us.
MELDRUM: Thank you, Noel.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
KING: Andrew Meldrum, the AP’s Africa editor, joined us on Skype from Johannesburg.
When raising capital, a company must comply with securities laws. As previously discussed, all offerings of securities, must either be registered with the SEC or exempt from such registration. Rule 506(b) is the most commonly used securities exemption for private companies. Even after complying with the basics of this exemption, there are many nuanced requirements that, if missed, can jeopardize qualifying under the exemption. Failure to comply with Rule 506(b) can subject an issuer and its officers and directors to various penalties. The SEC and state regulators can institute investigations and administrative and civil actions, enter various orders, and impose significant monetary penalties, and can transmit evidence to the U.S. Attorney General, who can bring criminal proceedings. In addition, violating securities registration requirements entitles the purchasers to rescission rights under federal and state laws. This blog post compiles some of the best practices for conducting a 506(b) offering in a bullet-pointed list for easy reference.
Remember that you shouldn’t engage in any securities offerings without retaining a lawyer experienced in such areas, so the below pointers are not meant to be, or take the place of, legal advice.
Who Should Conduct the Offering. Only the directors, officers, and employees of the company issuing securities or a registered broker-dealer should conduct the offering. Beware of people unaffiliated with a broker-dealer who claim they can raise money for your company if they are paid a fee. Doing so can legally jeopardize you and your company.
Offerees. Offers to invest may be directed only towards people or entities that meet both of the below requirements…
It is very important that you avoid the following:
Observe the following procedures in order to preserve the availability of the Rule 506(b) exemption for your offering and have appropriate documentation in the event of an audit by a regulator:
This post was written with extensive help from Jennifer Wilson.
This article is for general information only. The information presented should not be construed to be formal legal advice nor the formation of a lawyer/client relationship.
Here are the comments that I filed in response to the California Task Force’s Proposals on Access to Justice Through Innovation of Legal Services. I took the time because it’s so important for solo and small firm lawyers to weigh in – there are enormous opportunities here. Speaking on behalf of the MyShingle constituency, MyShingle supports the Task Force approach – though we are concerned that it will take too long to implement. Thus, we have offered short-term changes that can be adopted today and that will pave the way for the longer-term reform. Here’s an executive summary of my comments which you can read in all of their 22–page glory HERE.
Please share your thoughts on the Task Force proposal below.
Subscribe and get breaking news, commentary, and opinions on law firms, lawyers, law schools, lawsuits, judges, and more.
We will never sell or share your information without your consent. See our privacy policy.
We’d like to express gratitude to our fantastic sponsors here at Above the Law:
If you’re interested in advertising on Above the Law or any other site in the Breaking Media network, please download our media kits or email advertising.
—ADVERTISEMENT—
We will never sell or share your information without your consent. See our privacy policy.
The right-wing press is all agog, and if it’s being honest a bit dizzy and disoriented: A man it has been taught—and teaches—to fear and loathe, a man whose very existence is anathema to them, a man who is in more or less open warfare with its second-favorite (maybe third now that Boris Johnson’s in No. 10?) world leader, a man who has turned the seemingly admirable phrase “open society” into a code word for “secret world government” to it, a man who dares to be worth an order of magnitude more than the president, a man who embodies the International Jew it hates, has said something nice, however qualified, about Donald Trump. Worse, he’s playing its racist and nativist tendencies like the collapsing pound, positioning himself to the right of the president on China and warning that our deal-obsessed leader, having shed himself of his uncompromising, war-obsessed National Security Adviser, might not grind the Middle Kingdom to dust. And he’s done it in the pages of its house organ, the Wall Street Journal editorial page.
The greatest—and perhaps only—foreign policy accomplishment of the Trump administration has been the development of a coherent and genuinely bipartisan policy toward Xi Jinping ’s China. The administration rightly declared Beijing a strategic rival and placed Huawei, China’s multinational telecommunications giant, on the Commerce Department’s so-called “entity list” as a national-security threat…. The current situation strongly favors the U.S. However, President Trump may soon undermine his own China policy and cede the advantage to Beijing…. In my view, he wants to arrange a meeting with President Xi Jinping as the 2020 election approaches and make a trade deal with him, and he wants Huawei’s status on the table as one of his bargaining chips.
You can see the dilemma faced by the likes of Fox News and the Washington Examiner, caught as they are between two ironclad principles: that everything George Soros says and believes is wrong, that indeed his whole existence is essentially a crime, and that every rare word of praise uttered by a celebrity, no matter how minor, about the president must be played up as much as possible. As it turns out—and much to the president’s satisfaction, one must imagine, the latter proves the more important standard. As Soros himself says, there’s an election next year.
Will Trump Sell Out the U.S. on Huawei? [WSJ]
Soros calls Trump’s China stance his ‘greatest’ foreign policy achievement, warns on Huawei [Fox News]
George Soros praises Trump’s China policy but urges hard line on Huawei [Washington Examiner]
(Photo by Thos Robinson/Getty Images for USO of Metropolitan New York)
During WWII, what Biglaw founding partner served as the president of the National Jewish Welfare Board — one of the six institutions that ultimately founded the USO?
Hint: He also served on the National Advisory Panel to Study Juvenile Delinquency, an executive board member of the Boy Scouts, and a member of the New York State Commission Against Discrimination.
See the answer on the next page.