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* Sadly, it looks like they won’t be making a TV series based on the movie Lincoln Lawyer. Maybe they can just work plot lines into those car commercials with Matthew McConaughey. [Deadline]
* Megan Markle is facing setbacks in her privacy litigation against a British tabloid. [NBC News]
* A lawyer is in hot water after writing a will that named himself the primary beneficiary of a $1.7 million estate. That attorney could use an ethics refresher… [Washington Post]
* If you are looking on LinkedIn for legal freelance opportunities, be sure to check out this article. [Silicon Valley Business Journal]
* Microsoft is facing a class action lawsuit alleging that some XBox controllers are defective. Gamers should receive damages for pain and suffering, gaming is a welcome diversion from COVID-19. [Screen Rant]
* Michael Cohen has been denied early prison release after indicating he will publish a “tell-all” book about President Trump. Guess Cohen doesn’t need to worry about confidentiality since his disbarment… [Business Insider]
Jordan Rothman is a partner of The Rothman Law Firm, a full-service New York and New Jersey law firm. He is also the founder of Student Debt Diaries, a website discussing how he paid off his student loans. You can reach Jordan through email at jordan@rothmanlawyer.com.
Cross-border traders bring goods from abroad to resell in Zimbabwe, and the informal trade ripples through the country’s economy, providing jobs and lowering the cost of staples. Now this industry – and the nation – must reckon with a closed border.
He had just returned from South Africa. He knew it would be his last journey for a while: The border was closed soon after thanks to the spread of the coronavirus.
“I am stressed because I survive wholly from money I earn through driving cross-border traders to and from South Africa,” Ncube says.
The border between the two countries was shut on March 26 after South Africa reported 709 cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, and Zimbabwe had five reported cases and one death. While the closure was for the sake of public health, it also cut off the livelihood of Zimbabwean cross-border traders, who purchase goods in South Africa for resale in Zimbabwe, and their drivers.
Zimbabwe has 34 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and four deaths as of May 2. Following the closure of the border, the government instituted a nationwide lockdown on March 30, restricting movement to essential trips and services.
Even before the coronavirus outbreak, Zimbabwe was already in an economic crisis with runaway inflation, an unstable currency policy and wide-scale unemployment. Zimbabwe’s exact unemployment rate is unknown, but some estimates put it as high as 90%. Many Zimbabweans have turned to informal employment, including cross-border trading. The industry also supports other professions, including drivers like Ncube.
Zimbabwe’s cross-border traders are an important part of the country’s economy. They supply cash-strapped consumers with goods at a lower cost than in formal supermarkets. Cross-border trading is also a good source of income, with the average cross-border trader earning about 12,000 South African rand (ZAR) ($639) a month in sales, according to a 2017 Southern Africa Migration Programme report.
I am stressed because I survive wholly from money I earn through driving cross-border traders to and from South Africa.
Before the closure, Ncube would make four or five trips a month, earning about 1,500 ZAR ($80) each time. But now he’s left with no choice but to stop driving – and give up his income.
“We have to obey the law,” he says.
Ithiel Munyaradzi Mavesere, an economics lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe, says the cross-border trading industry has the most workers in the informal sector, with many traveling both within the region and farther abroad.
Killer Zivhu, president of the Zimbabwe Cross-Border Traders Association, agrees, adding that cross-border trading is an important income source for the country.
“Many earn a living through this trade,” Zivhu says.
The spread of the coronavirus quickly shuttered cross-border trading here, though many were hesitant to believe the scope of the pandemic.
Patson Chiva has been a cross-border trader for five years. He says he initially ignored reports of the coronavirus, believing it would not affect people here, who have recently seen cholera and typhoid outbreaks. Misconceptions about who could become infected were prominent, he says.
“I thought as a black person I was immune to this disease,” he says. “But I later realized that this is something different.”
Like Ncube, cross-border trading is Chiva’s only source of income, which he uses to support a family. But with the border shut, he has no way to provide for them.
“I have three children and parents who are in the rural areas who depend on me for survival. If this lasts, I do not know how I will be surviving and taking care of my dependents,” he says.
Zivhu says the coronavirus has put many cross-border traders in a dire situation. Many live a hand-to-mouth existence and must sell goods to earn money, he says. Closing the border with South Africa has left the traders and workers who support them vulnerable and without money to pay for rent, school fees or even food. Zivhu likens it to a natural disaster.
“It’s like they have been affected by floods and left in an open space,” he says.
Gamuchirai Masiyiwa, GPJ, translated some interviews from Shona.
He was speaking at State House while accepting donations for the fight against the coronavirus (see: https://www.chronicle.co.zw/better-the-economy-dies-than-our-people-president-mnangagwa/).
Mnangagwa later went on to extend the lockdown and announce a massive US $720 million stimulus for the economy (see: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-zimbabwe-idUSKBN22D5SJ).
But where is the money coming from? The Vigil’s guess is that it will come as usual from bleeding the people through massive inflation. Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube is earlier reported to have warned that if Zimbabwe didn’t get a big bailout it would again have to resort to printing money.
The respected London-based magazine Africa Confidential said Ncube had written to the international financial institutions based in Washington appealing for money to save the country from disaster.
The magazine says it has seen a copy of the letter, which warned that the situation in Zimbabwe is so bad that it could cause an implosion of the state and threaten security in neighbouring countries.
It quoted Ncube as acknowledging ‘recent policy missteps’ which had seen inflation soar to over 500%. He said that without help the government would have to revert to printing money, risking a return to hyper-inflation and the crash of the Zimbabwe dollar.
In the letter Ncube asks for the rescheduling or cancellation of Zimbabwe’s foreign debt arrears and US $ 200 million to fight the coronavirus. He promises in return to introduce a market-determined exchange rate and end the Reserve Bank’s ‘quasi fiscal operations’.
Africa Confidential observes: ‘this according to finance officials in Washington is code for saying conditions are so horrendous that Ncube has been given the political cover to promise a crackdown on grand corruption at the heart of government’.
The magazine says that neither the World Bank not the International Monetary Fund have responded officially to Ncube’s letter, nor do they intend to do so despite him following up with phone calls. An official is quoted as saying: ‘Zimbabwe is a political, not an economic policy crisis and . . . Without credible change on that level nothing else will move’.
The magazine sums it up: ‘Senior finance officials in Washington say that grand corruption and state violence have to go before they resume economic co-operation with Zimbabwe (see: https://www.africa-confidential.com/article/id/12945/Government_close_to_collapse_as_it_sends_plea_for_cash).
So dust off your old trillion dollar notes!
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Post published in: Featured
The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum and Media Monitors join the world in commemorating World Press Freedom Day under the theme – Journalism without fear or favor. World Press Freedom Day was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in December 1993 and provides an opportunity to celebrate the fundamental principles of press freedom and calling for an environment that is open and safe for journalists to perform their critical role in society.
The Forum and Media Monitors pay tribute to journalists who have braved quarantine conditions to fearlessly and dutifully serve the world with critical updates on the COVID-19 pandemic as well as media practitioners who risk arrest, death or abduction in the line of duty or for speaking truth to power. Journalists like Itai Dzamara, abducted by suspected state security agents on the 9th of March in 2015 remain unforgotten.
As Zimbabwe has been under lockdown from 30 March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, at least 12 journalists have been detained and harassed by the police for conducting their duties without current accreditation cards despite a statement by the Zimbabwe Media Commission that “All journalists with such expired cards are free to conduct their duties without hindrance…” Journalists play a critical role in society as they provide an essential service as acknowledged in Section 2J of Statutory Instrument 83 of 2020. State security agents are implored to appreciate the role played by the media in emergency situations.
The Forum and Media Monitors encourage Zimbabwe’s authorities to be mindful of the fate of journalists as they reform the country’s media laws. It is critical for state authorities to put in place mechanisms that allow journalists to freely exercise their journalistic privilege. This will empower media practitioners to serve Zimbabwean citizens with accurate and balanced information which will in turn dilute the impact of the scourge of fake news that has corrupted society’s perception of reality.
Freedom of expression and access to information are enshrined in Zimbabwe’s Constitution (Section 61 and 62) as well as other regional and international conventions. Journalists play a critical truth-telling role, which is important for a democratic society based on openness, justice, human dignity, equality and freedom, as proclaimed by the Constitution.
The Forum and Media Monitors call on the government to observe the following guidelines for providing safety for journalists and other media practitioners provided under principle 20 of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa:
● To guarantee the safety of journalists and other media practitioners.
● To prevent attacks on journalists and other media practitioners, including murder, extra-judicial killings, torture and other forms of ill-treatment, arbitrary arrests and detention, enforced disappearances, kidnapping, intimidation, threats and unlawful surveillance undertaken by State and non-State actors.
● To raise the awareness and build the capacities of journalists and other media practitioners, policymakers and other stakeholders on laws and standards for ensuring the safety of journalists and other media practitioners.
● To investigate, prosecute and punish perpetrators of attacks against journalists and other media practitioners.
● To ensure the safety of female journalists and media practitioners by addressing gender specific safety concerns, including sexual and gender-based violence, intimidation and harassment.
Post published in: Featured
Mthuli Ncube
Zimbabwe’s finance minister, Mthuli Ncube, has issued an impassioned plea to international finance institutions, laying bare the country’s battered economy and saying it faces “catastrophe” if it does not access critical bailout funding to fight the combined impact of crippling drought and the coronavirus pandemic.
In a leaked letter, the authenticity of which has been confirmed by a senior government official, Ncube wrote to the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other international institutions, saying the country faced record poverty levels.
Ncube said without a transformative arrears clearance and re-engagement plan, Zimbabwe could “suffer a health and economic catastrophe” and the economy could contract by as much as 20%.
“This is a massive contraction with very serious social consequences,” that could “raise poverty to levels not seen in recent times,” reads part of the letter.
Zimbabwe, which cleared its debts with the IMF, still owes other international lenders more than US$9 billion, and has, since 2009, struggled to restructure these debts.
No support forthcoming
The debt arrears have contributed to Zimbabwe being unable to access any global funding to combat the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
At this year’s spring meetings, IMF Director: African Department, Abebe Aemro Selassie, told a press conference that Zimbabwe was not eligible for international support.
“Unfortunately, Zimbabwe continues to have arrears to the World Bank and AfDB which is a constraint on our ability to lend to the country,” Selassie said.
Not enough money locally
In his letter, however, Ncube said domestic resources to mitigate the impact of the pandemic were insufficient.
This is at a time the Covid-19 pandemic is expected to have a devastating health, humanitarian and economic impact on Zimbabwe, he added.
Ncube said there was simply no fiscal space to intervene, meaning there could be a drastic increase in already-unmanageable inflation rates, and the exchange rate could be destabilised.
Promise of reforms
In an unexpected move, he acknowledged that there are necessary reforms President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government must undertake, including contentious political reforms.
In return, Ncube is hoping for a debt rescheduling of 15 years, or cancellation of all official bilateral arrears.
The eventual normalisation of financial relationships will make Zimbabwe eligible for various support facilities available to fragile countries.
Post published in: Business
FILE PHOTO: A man is tested by a healthcare worker during a nationwide lockdown to help curb the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at a mass screening centre, in Harare, Zimbabwe April 30, 2020. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo
The southern African nation first announced a three-week lockdown in March and then extended that, prior to the latest extension. The lockdown has shuttered an economy struggling with acute shortages of foreign currency, food, electricity and medicines.
Informal markets – where more than 80% of Zimbabweans earn their living – will remain shut, while big businesses will reopen under supervision.
Mnangagwa said public gatherings of more than 50 people and the use of public taxis remain suspended, while schools will remain closed.
He said the 18 billion Zimbabwe dollar stimulus package ($720 million), which is just more than a quarter of this year’s national budget, would also benefit smaller businesses which are hardest hit by the lockdown.
Mnangagwa did not say how the package would be funded.
“The package is proportionate to the disruption the virus has caused to the national economy,” he said in a televised speech.
Health workers would not be taxed for the next six months to boost their earnings, the president said.
Zimbabwe has recorded 40 cases of the new coronavirus and four deaths so far.
Post published in: Business
If We Can’t Trust Judges…: It’s terrifying that we needed a letter to tell judges to do the right thing.
New York Bar Exam Not Making Any Friends: Out-of-state law schools aren’t pleased.
Settle In: The head of the biggest law firm in the world doesn’t see an immediate end to working from home.
Ed. note: Welcome to our daily Trivia Question of the Day feature.
Which Am Law 100 firm shocked the Biglaw world when it decided to implement austerity measures due to the coronavirus crisis?
Hint: The firm is ranked within the top 5 firms of the 2020 Am Law 100 and is a member of the billion-dollar club.
See the answer on the next page.
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.
As part of its copyright reform, South Africa plans to bring in a fair use right. Despite the fact its proposal is closely modeled on fair use in American law, the copyright industry has persuaded the US government to threaten to kill an important free trade deal with South Africa if the latter dares to follow America’s example. If you thought only US copyright companies were capable of this stunningly selfish behavior, think again. It seems that the European copyright industry has been having words with the EU, which has now sent a politely threatening letter to the South African government about its copyright reform (pdf). After the usual fake compliments, it gets down to business in the following passage:
we once again regret the foreseen introduction in the South African copyright regime of provisions relating to fair use in combination with an extensive list of broadly defined and non-compensated exceptions. This is bound to result in a significant degree of legal uncertainty with negative effects on the South African creative community at large as well as on foreign investments, including the European ones.
Invoking “uncertainty” is a standard ploy, already used back in 2011 when the UK was considering bringing in fair use. It is manifestly ridiculous, since the US provides a shining example of how fair use does not engender any terrible uncertainty. America also offers a rich set of legal and commercial experiences others can draw on when they implement a fair use right. Here, “uncertainty” is just a coded way of threatening to withdraw investment in South Africa. It’s an empty threat, though, since US history shows that fair use encourages innovation, notably in the digital sector, for which investors have a huge appetite. The EU letter goes on to tip its hand about who is behind this whining:
The European right holders continue expressing their concerns to us in this regard as they have done during the consultation period. All creative sectors in the EU, film industry, music and publishing industry have pointed to the possibility of revisiting their investment plans in South Africa due to these concerns. Other sectors, such as those which are high- technology based, could also suffer as a result of legal uncertainty created by the new regime.
That last sentence is revealing. If the digital sector had actually expressed its fears about “uncertainty”, you can bet that the EU would have mentioned it as a serious issue. Since it is framed as “could also suffer as a result”, we know that this is just the EU’s hypothetical. It is an attempt to get around the awkward fact that high-tech companies love fair use in general, since it gives them far more scope to try out exciting new ideas. It’s sad to see the EU slavishly doing the bidding of copyright’s digital dinosaurs, and joining with the US in the unedifying spectacle of bullying a small nation trying to modernize its laws.
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