Category: News Feeds

HARARE (Xinhua) — Zimbabwe will explore ways of boosting the country’s exports to China at the forthcoming China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo.

Established under the framework of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation as a new mechanism for economic and trade cooperation between China and African countries, the expo is scheduled for June 27-29 in central China’s Hunan Province.

James Manzou, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, told Xinhua in an interview that the southern African country is looking at forging strong economic and trade ties with China, particularly anchored on its vast potential in the agriculture, mining and tourism sector, the mainstay of the country’s economy.

He said there were opportunities for cooperation with China on growing some of the crops in the country for export.

“We have agricultural products that China can grow here because we have a beautiful climate which is very good for agriculture,” he said.

China has been the biggest buyer of Zimbabwe’s tobacco for several years, and has also been a major funder of the production of the crop through contract farming.

Manzou said there were also other potential areas of trade and economic cooperation between the two countries, including in mining and tourism.

“There are a number of Chinese companies already operating in our mining sector but tourism is also a low hanging fruit as you saw with the recent visit of Chinese tourists that came to Zimbabwe,” he said.

Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce chief executive Takunda Mugaga said the trade expo was important for Zimbabwe to showcase its trade and economic potential.

“A platform like the expo is important for Zimbabwe in particular, knowing the infrastructure deficit the country is currently facing,” he said.

He noted the dearth of foreign direct investment into the country due to frosty ties with multilateral financial institutions requires Zimbabwe to fully exploit trade opportunities with China.

“I think it’s a very good platform to try to attract very good investors, especially from the infrastructure side of the Chinese,” Mugaga said.

The African Union Commission also hailed the expo and said it will present huge trade and economic opportunities especially for Africa which was moving towards a single, integrated free trade zone through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) which entered into force in May this year.

“The Chinese investors can come and scout for opportunities in the AfCFTA. They can come and produce goods in Africa for the African market and the rest of the world,” senior expert in the African Union Commission’s Department of Trade and Industry Khauhelo Mawana told Xinhua.

Said Adejumobi, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) Southern Africa Office director, hailed the launch of the expo as a platform that will further boost trade and economic ties between the two sides.

He told Xinhua that the expo will provide Zimbabwe and other African countries with an opportunity to explore trade and economic opportunities in the vast Chinese market.

“It’s an opportunity to expose the goods and services. It’s an opportunity to broker networks, form partnerships and to really be able to learn lessons from the Chinese experiment,” Adejumobi said.

He said Zimbabwe should also clamor for more Chinese investment in the manufacturing sector, especially the textile industry.

Trade between China and Zimbabwe stood at 1.3 billion U.S. dollars in 2018, with Zimbabwe enjoying a trade surplus of 445 million dollars with the Asian country.

Chinese ambassador to Zimbabwe Guo Shaochun said the country wishes to expand trade scale with Zimbabwe and help Zimbabwe reconstruct its economy.

“We hope Zimbabwe can actively participate in the first China-Africa trade expo. It’s a great opportunity for Zimbabwe to show the advantages of its products to Chinese buyers,” Guo said.

Post published in: Business

“The stocks are from natural attrition of those animals,” he said on Monday at a two-day meeting of regional leaders being held in the resort town of Victoria Falls, on Zimbabwe’s border with Zambia. If given permission to sell the stockpiles, the money raised “would be able to finance conservation efforts for the next two decades.”

Zimbabwe has threatened to withdraw from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species because the organization won’t allow it to sell its stockpiles. The country is struggling to revive its economy after almost two decades of isolation and is considering seeking help from the International Monetary Fund.

While Zimbabwe currently remains committed to CITES rules, “we are gravely concerned by the one-size-fits-all approach where the banning of trade is creeping into the organization,” Mnangagwa said. “We call upon the institution not to be a policy-making institute, but to be one that promotes all wildlife resources.”

The summit in Victoria Falls is being attended by leaders from Namibia, Zambia and Botswana as well as Angola’s environment minister.

The instrument can be viewed on the Veritas website [link].

The effect of the instrument is that from today only RTGS dollars, whether in the form of bond notes or coins or electronic currency, are legal tender in Zimbabwe.  All other currencies ‒ the instrument specifically mentions US dollars, British pounds, South African Rands and Botswana Pula ‒ are no longer legal tender.

The instrument states that it is not intended to affect nostro FCA accounts and the use of foreign currency in those accounts to make payments overseas, nor does it affect the obligation to pay duties and taxes in foreign currency where required under the Customs and Excise Act and the Value Added Tax Act.

Effect of the SI

The SI is not so far-reaching as its makers perhaps intended.  As we pointed out in our Bill Watch 15 of the 21st March 2019:

“Legal tender” means a currency which, if offered in payment of a debt, discharges the debt unless the creditor and the debtor have specifically agreed otherwise.  So if a debtor owes a creditor $20, say, the debtor can normally repay the debt by offering $20 in RTGS dollars (because they are legal tender).  If however the parties have agreed that the debt should be repaid in US dollars, then the debtor must repay it in those dollars.  There is no law in Zimbabwe which invalidates a contract that stipulates payment in a foreign currency.  Similarly there is no law in Zimbabwe that requires prices to be marked up in legal tender or accounts to be drawn up in legal tender.

The new instrument does not specifically forbid contracts that require payments to be made or calculated in a foreign currency, so if shopkeepers mark their prices in US dollars, say, or insist on payment in that currency there is nothing to stop them doing so.

The instrument has all the hallmarks of a hastily concocted measure to stop the downward spiral of the RTGS dollar against other currencies.  Whether it will have any such effect remains to be seen.

Veritas makes every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot take legal responsibility for information supplied.

Post published in: Featured

IN THE LONG RUN, WE’RE ALL DEAD: I know this is a site about law, but Jesus Christ, we’re close to starting a wag-the-dog war.

ATTORNEY CLAIMS FORGERY WAS A MISUNDERSTANDING: Who among us hasn’t accidentally forged a judge’s name on a court order?

KAGAN IS NOT IMPRESSED: The conservative revolution continues.

I GUESS SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE NEED TO FIND JOBS TOO: Apparently, we had some guy write an entire column for us about helping former clerks get jobs. Because, you know, these are the people whose futures I’m supposed to be very concerned about.

WIFE CHARGED IN PARTNER MURDER: She hasn’t entered a plea yet, but her attorneys maintain her innocence.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/48109680708/sizes/m/

The persistent distortion of the truth by the Herald, Chronicle and ZBC must be changed if we are ever to have anything like an honest debate in Zimbabwe.

At issue is an interview Mbeki gave to the SABC. The Herald makes out that he entirely supported Mnangagwa’s position on talks with other parties. Nowhere in their version is there a hint of any criticism of Mnangagwa (see: https://www.herald.co.zw/mbeki-speaks-on-zim-dialogue/).

But looking at other reports of the interview it is clear that the Herald totally ignored Mbeki’s comment about a neutral mediator: ‘They (MDC) agree in principle to that get-together, but (say) let it be convened by somebody else. So, I’m saying that I hope that’s going to happen, it’s something that should happen.’ (See for instance: https://news.pindula.co.zw/2019/06/17/mbeki-backs-chamisa-tells-ed-its-not-enough-to-win-an-election/).

Unpalatable to government media was Mbeki’s implicit criticism of Mnangagwa for continuing the charade of talks without the MDC. Mbeki, who helped to establish the government of national unity, knows full well that Chamisa is ready for talks under a neutral convenor and Mbeki accepts that this is the way forward.

As he says: ‘For us who are trying to develop our countries, you need maximum unity in order to address a number of national challenges. So it can’t be enough to say, ‘I won elections and that’s it’. I’m saying an initiative such as has been taken in Zimbabwe is correct, and I hope Zimbabweans will indeed be able to come together including the MDC. The MDC must be part of that process. It’s important that as a continent we deal with this matter in that way.’

Even Zanu PF is not united behind Mnangagwa’s hard line. Speaker of the National Assembly Jacob Mudenda says stability can only be guaranteed if another government of national unity is established. Speaking at the funeral of Morgan Tsvangirai’s eldest daughter he said: ‘We enjoyed serenity of politics during the GNU. That spirit must come back. It must come back.’ He appealed to political leaders ‘to find each other for the good of the nation’ (see: https://www.newzimbabwe.com/mudenda-pleads-for-gnu-calls-on-ed-and-chamisa-to-find-each-other/).

Other points

• The Chinese man who is alleged to have assaulted a Mashonaland West traditional leader Chief Chivero when he visited his company has apparently been deported. Zimbabweans like Zambians are increasingly unhappy at the ways of Chinese management of local enterprises. The situation in Tanzania has gone further with President Magufuli suspending plans for what would have been East Africa’s largest port. He said: ‘The conditions set by the investors amount to selling Tanzania to China.’ (See: https://www.constructionkenya.com/3128/bagamoyo-port-construction/.)
• The local authority responsible for the Zimbabwe Embassy area has made it much more attractive by installing large plant containers with flowers around the four maple trees where we gather for the Vigil.
• Thanks to those who came early to help set up the front table today and put up the banners: Happy Chazuza, Beaulah Gore, Isabell Gwatidzo, Jonathan Kariwo, Alice Majola, Rosemary Maponga, Lucia Mudzimu, Tapiwa Muskwe, Mary Muteyerwa, Tsitsi Nyirongo, Hazvinei Saili, Ephraim Tapa and Bridget Zhakata. Thanks to Rosemary, Tsitsi and Dambudzo for looking after the front table, to Hazvinei, Alice and Bridget for handing out flyers, to Mary and Margaret for drumming and to Jonathan for photos.
• For latest Vigil pictures check: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/. Please note: Vigil photos can only be downloaded from our Flickr website.

FOR THE RECORD: 29 signed the register.

EVENTS AND NOTICES:

• ROHR fundraising dinner. Saturday 29^th June from 6 pm till late. Venue: Zazas, 108 Whitechapel Road, London E1 1JE. Contact: Esther Munyira 07492058109, Fungisai Mupandira 07468504393, Sipho Ndlovu 07400566013, Patricia Masamba 07708116625, Simbarashe Jingo 07787870888, Pamela Chirimuta 07762737339, Sikhumbuzule Sibanda 07912210225, and Farai Muroiwa 07365431776.
• ROHR general members’ meeting. Saturday 6^th July from 11.30 am. Venue: Royal Festival Hall, South Bank Centre, Belvedere Road SE1 8XX. Contact: Ephraim Tapa 07940793090, Patricia Masamba 07708116625.
• ROHR sponsored walk. Saturday 27^th July. Contact: Esther Munyira 07492058109, Sipho Ndlovu 07400566013, Patricia Masamba and Farai Muroiwa 07365431776. More information as plans progress.
• The Restoration of Human Rights in Zimbabwe (ROHR) is the Vigil’s partner organization based in Zimbabwe. ROHR grew out of the need for the Vigil to have an organization on the ground in Zimbabwe which reflected the Vigil’s mission statement in a practical way. ROHR in the UK actively fundraises through membership subscriptions, events, sales etc to support the activities of ROHR in Zimbabwe. Please note that the official website of ROHR Zimbabwe is http://www.rohrzimbabwe.org/. Any other website claiming to be the official website of ROHR in no way represents us.
• The Vigil’s book ‘Zimbabwe Emergency’ is based on our weekly diaries. It records how events in Zimbabwe have unfolded as seen by the diaspora in the UK. It chronicles the economic disintegration, violence, growing oppression and political manoeuvring – and the tragic human cost involved. It is available at the Vigil. All proceeds go to the Vigil and our sister organisation the Restoration of Human Rights in Zimbabwe’s work in Zimbabwe. The book is also available from Amazon.
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Post published in: Featured

A proposed marriage law being discussed in Zimbabwe doesn’t adequately protect women’s property rights at divorce. Without legal protection, many women could be left homeless or without a means of income after their marriage ends or if their husband dies.

In Zimbabwe, laws surrounding marriage and divorce don’t fall in line with the country’s constitution, which provides that spouses have equal rights and responsibilities. This can mean that women don’t always get what they have the right to following the end of a marriage or death of a husband, especially when it comes to property.

The Marriages Bill, introduced in January 2017, is seen as a long-awaited chance for parliament to reconcile the country’s marriage laws with its constitution. But parliament needs to broaden the scope of the law to make sure women get a genuinely equal deal when it comes to property rights both during marriage and after divorce, separation, or the death of a spouse.

Currently, Zimbabwe has a separate law governing dissolution of marriage, the Matrimonial Causes Act, that allows for equitable distribution of property between spouses at divorce, considering direct and indirect contributions such as raising children and caring for the family and household. But even under this act, the realities of life haven’t reflected the law. Many women lose their property when a marriage ends or husband dies while men and men’s families keep everything.”

Without specific protections for women’s property rights, this bill for “equality” rings hollow.

By some estimates, at least 70 percent of women living in rural areas of Zimbabwe are in unregistered customary unions. This bill seeks to expand protection of marriage laws to more partnerships and would extend rights to civil partnerships of long-time cohabiters, and increase the minimum age of marriage to 18.

Extending more and equal protections to more women in different types of unions is a good step, but the proposed law cannot fully provide protection without detailing marital property rights. Parliament should ensure real equality for spouses both during marriage and at its end.

Post published in: Featured