Category: News Feeds

The latest move in the country’s long-running dispute between the Government and its bureaucracy came when the Apex Council, representing all PS employees except those in the security and health sectors, delivered the ultimatum to President, Emmerson Mnangagwa.

It comes at a time when junior doctors at Government hospitals are already on strike, demanding a review of their salaries in line with the prevailing interbank exchange rate.

The doctors say their current fixed salaries are too quickly eroded by inflation, which the International Monetary Fund has estimated is running at 300 per cent annually.

The Apex Council said the notification of inability to work did not amount to a strike, but nevertheless urged the Government not to victimise any worker who failed to report for duty due to lack of money for transport.

“This declaration is meant to protect those of our number, who are the majority, that at any one time they may find themselves unable to proceed to work because they have no money for transport, food and accommodation and more,” the Apex Council said.

It stressed that Government workers should not borrow money for transport as it was the responsibility of their employer to adequately provide such funds.

The Apex Council statement noted that inflation had eroded the average PS employee’s salary from A$730 in 2018 to A$58 today — “and it is declining further every day”.

“We are the only people carrying the burden of austerity … our salaries are first taxed by the employer, then the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and more steeply by mobile money agencies,” the Apex Council said.

“We cannot bear the burden of austerity on our own.”

In August the Government suspended publication of annual inflation figures until February 2020, arguing the move was meant to avoid miscalculation of the country’s inflation rate.

In what is being seen as an attempt to appease PS employees, the Government has announced it will pay them full end-of-year bonuses pegged on gross income — a departure from last year, when the so-called thirteenth cheque was based on pensionable salaries.

There was widespread anger last year after the bonuses workers were paid reflected only the basic salary without allowances being factored in.

Post published in: Business

The last round of fuel price hikes on Oct. 5. saw prices rise 27% and was followed by a 320% increase in the cost of electricity, triggering a spike in the cost of basic goods such as sugar, maize meal and milk.

Petrol will now cost 16.67 Zimbabwe dollars ($1.07) a litre while diesel will cost 17.47 Zimbabwe dollars, the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Agency said.

The latest hike has failed to ease nationwide shortages, with most of the fuel pumps in the capital still dry.

With prices surging, economists examining the official monthly data put inflation in September at 380%.

Hopes that the economy would quickly rebound under President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who took over after the late Robert Mugabe was deposed in a coup in 2017, have dimmed fast as ordinary people grapple with economic hardships.

The southern African nation is experiencing its worst economic crisis in a decade, seen in the triple-digit inflation, 18-hour power cuts and shortages of U.S. dollars, medicine and fuel that have evoked the dark days of the 2008 hyperinflation under Mugabe.

Mnangagwa, who critics accuse of lacking commitment to political reforms and using his predecessor’s heavy-handed tactics to stifle dissent, has pleaded for time and patience to bring the economy back from the “dead”. (Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Alison Williams)

Post published in: Business

What Biglaw firm recently announced their new managing partner (effective January 2020) would be a woman for the first time in the firm’s 183-year history?

Hint: The Am Law 200 firm was founded in 1836, and currently has offices in New York; Washington; Los Angeles; Chicago; Stamford; Parsippany; Houston; San Diego; and Brussels.

See the answer on the next page.

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Passed more than a year ago, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) goes into effect on January 1, 2020. It is considered the most comprehensive privacy law in the United States to date. If corporate legal operation professionals have not taken steps to comply with these new privacy and data protection rules, it is essential to now focus intently on getting your organization ready.

The CCPA was passed in response to growing consumer concern about data protection and privacy and to provide residents of California some level of control over the personal information that companies collect. In mid-October, the California Attorney General’s Office also published proposed regulations designed to help implement the new law and clarify some of the law’s requirements

What is your organization doing to comply? Below is a summary that may prove helpful.

For-profit companies doing business in California that collect the personal information of consumers are required to comply with the CCPA. It is worth noting that your organization need not be headquartered in California to be subject to the law. The CCPA applies to businesses operating in California for which any of the following are true:

• Annual gross revenues over $25M;
• Annually buys, receives, sells, or shares personal information of over 50,000 California consumers, households, or devices; or
• Derives at least 50 percent of its annual revenue from selling California residents personal information.

Clearly, Facebook and Google are implicated here. But companies — even those outside of the Golden State — need to evaluate whether they fall within these parameters.

The protections that the CCPA grants to consumers are fairly broad in scope. California residents will now have the right to know the “what, who, and why” of their personal information, including:

• The categories of information collected, shared, or sold;
• The sources from which their personal information was collected, with whom it was shared, and to whom it was sold; and
• The specific personal information that has collected about that consumer and why it was collected.

California consumers will also be able to request that a company delete the personal information it has collected about them. And residents will also be able to direct a company to not sell their personal information to third parties.

Most regulatory schemes like the CCPA are enforced by the government. But the CCPA also creates a private right of action to consumers. Any consumer may bring an action under the law.

In many companies, legal operations professionals are likely to be asked for input to lead the CCPA compliance efforts. Compliance could also fall to information governance professionals.

In order to meet the obligations of the CCPA, companies will need to begin by (1) analyzing the requirements of the CCPA; (2) identifying the scope of the impact on existing and new processes; (3) assigning specific stakeholders to own the new process; (4) creating a project plan for complying with the law and the new regulatory requirements identified by each organization; and (4) implementing monitoring processes to ensure compliance.

Penalties for noncompliance with the CCPA will range from civil penalties of up to $7,500 per violation to be imposed by the government or $750 per consumer violation for breach of the law in a private action.

The CCPA has been amended to provide a grace period for businesses to come into compliance. The California Attorney General cannot bring an enforcement action until six months after publication of that office’s regulations, or July 1, 2020, whichever comes first. This grace period does not apply, however, to the private right of action consumers can bring under the CCPA.

Earlier this month, the California AG’s office proposed clarifying regulations that mostly outline procedural issues for consumers and the manner in which businesses affected by the law will need to provide notice, respond to consumer requests, and comply with the CCPA.

It would be prudent for companies doing business in California to assess whether they understand the data they are collecting and their internal ability to respond to data subject requests that will inevitably flow from the CCPA. Better yet, perhaps now organizations will begin to evaluate the data they have, why they collect it, and whether they may be able to dispose of it sooner.

There are additional amendments to the CCPA that are still pending in the California legislature. Readers will need to stay tuned to see exactly what the final law looks like.

Mike Quartararo is the managing director of eDPM Advisory Services, a consulting firm providing e-discovery, project management and legal technology advisory and training services to the legal industry. He is also the author of the 2016 book Project Management in Electronic Discovery. Mike has many years of experience delivering e-discovery, project management, and legal technology solutions to law firms and Fortune 500 corporations across the globe and is widely considered an expert on project management, e-discovery and legal matter management. You can reach him via email at mquartararo@edpmadvisory.com. Follow him on Twitter @edpmadvisory.

HARARE, Zimbabwe

Touting for customers, 26-year-old Tenson Javangwe pushes a cart, stopping now and then in the midst of heavy traffic in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, wearing a waist pouch loaded with U.S. and Zimbabwean dollars.

“I make money, my brother. I’m not in Harare to play,” he brags as he gleefully shows off his pouch brimming with mostly U.S. one dollar bills.

Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he said he works extremely hard to earn his own money as a vendor, a job he claims to have started when he was 16.

As Zimbabwe’s economy teeters on the brink of collapse, entrepreneurs like Javangwe are thriving, even as the Poverty Reduction Forum Trust (PRFT) in July this year said an average family of six needed at least 1,685 Zimbabwean dollars to sufficiently secure food and non-food items.

The PRFT is a Zimbabwean civil society organization which seeks to influence the formulation of ‘pro-poor’ policies by conducting research on poverty-related issues and engaging with policymakers.

Although a 2017 report by the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZIMSTAT), a semi-autonomous agency under the Ministry of Macro-Economic Planning and Investment Promotion, pointed out that 71% (over 10 million) of the country’s population lived in poverty, vendors like Javangwe claim otherwise.

“I make 80 U.S. dollars every day and I have my own home because of vending using my cart. People see me like a mad person. But I tell you, those are the same people who are crying, saying Zimbabwe’s economy has destroyed them. Yet I have pounded the same harsh economy with my bare hands,” he said.

High unemployment

Although he is no longer among the ranks of Zimbabwe’s poverty-hit, Javangwe is one of millions of unemployed Zimbabweans.

According to labor unions like the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), 90% of the country’s roughly 14 million people are jobless.

Other entrepreneurs like Artwell Hungoidza and Trymore Mdzipurwa are also among the few apparently making strides amid the nation’s comatose economy.
Like Javangwe, they have swum against Zimbabwe’s economic tide, where month-on-month inflation has averaged 17% since February this year, according to civil society organizations like PRFT.

Hungoidza runs a number of market stalls in Mbare Township in Harare, where his business is thriving.

Dollar magic

“I have ditched accepting the Zimbabwean dollar, opting for the U.S. dollar — a true store of value — and people love it because my prices are low and don’t just change overnight, unlike Zimdollar prices,” Hungoidza told Anadolu Agency.

Boasting of employing 70 salespeople at his market stalls dotted around several locations in Harare, he said on a good day, he takes home approximately US$800, meaning on average, he earns US$24,000 a month before deducting rental costs and employee wages.

As such, Hungoidza is one of Zimbabwe’s unsung entrepreneurs who have silently surmounted the country’s economic hardships despite the government imposing a ban this year on the use of all foreign currencies.

Enduring a hostile economy

Even as Zimbabwe’s economy teeters, indigenous entrepreneurs, most of whom are young people, are having to make do with the harsh economy.

Zimbabwe’s annual inflation rate soared to nearly 300% in August, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Despite this, Mdzipurwa, who has invested in events management, has made a mark within two years after starting his business.

Not a crybaby anymore like many in Zimbabwe who daily bemoan the country’s faltering economy, Mdzipurwa is now a topnotch events manager and owns an events company called Kimstan Enterprises Private Limited.

In a country with approximately five million people involved in indigenous businesses, according to the government, of which Mdzipurwa now stands out, he said on average, he makes approximately US$400 at the minor events he secures weekly.

“I started my events company in 2017. It was not easy for me to penetrate the market, as it was already dominated by great people by the time I joined the industry. I would ‘play for free’ during some events to endear myself to the market,” he said.

Where do you go when the ATM runs out of cash? Has your bank ever failed to provide your requested withdrawal amount? Zimbabweans today continue to endure the complicated relationship their government has with money. The current recession in this southern African nation has highlighted the government’s inability to seize control of its crippling economy. Since the mid-2000s, the rise and fall of Zimbabwe’s inflation has been met with desperate attempts to save the country’s currency and address overwhelming cash shortages. Encapsulating the severity of the situation, Zimbabweans once carried banknotes labeled “Twenty Billion Dollars,” which amounts to an inconceivable $0.00008. Moreover, the depreciated value of their former 100 trillion dollar bill ($0.40) could not even pay for a few groceries. The financial hyperboles in Zimbabwean banknotes were counteracted by a move to solely accept foreign currencies for local transactions. Unfortunately, this multi-currency practice proved unsustainable, leaving Zimbabwe under the will of US pricing, which further spiked inflation. However, in a recent attempt to revive the economy, the government announced plans to return to its original currency—the Zimbabwean dollar (Zimdollar). This reintroduced sovereign currency will soon be the only acceptable currency for future transactions. In enacting such a bold, fiscal move, one must consider the consequent implications.

In December 2018, I became keenly aware of the financial peril Zimbabweans are facing during a simple trip to the supermarket. As an American traveling in Zimbabwe, I was privileged to have US currency on hand to complete local transactions. At the time, the US dollar was among the acceptable currencies in the country, along with the euro and South African rand. Unaware of the high consumer costs, I begrudgingly handed the cashier $20 for five apples, four bananas, two pastries, and one cup of yogurt. Astonished by the high total, I had no choice but to pay the amount due to scarce food sources in the immediate region. Exiting the grocery store, I became a target for people attempting to sell unusable Zimbabwean currency. One man pleaded, “Look! A $250,000 bill! Please use this as a souvenir.” The impending future of the reinstated Zimdollar must not be reduced to a souvenir of its pastime.

In these situations, consumers are left wondering whether Zimbabwe’s economic reform will be restricted to the mere liberation of financial institutions. Will regard to citizen livelihood, like the cost of living, also be taken into account? For Zimbabweans, addressing the devaluation problem could be a way to address broader economic problems.

Economic reform is no easy mountain to climb. During the 2009-2019 abolishment of the Zimdollar, strides in reformation came in the form of Ecocash—Zimbabwe’s mobile-money system for electronic transactions. Hyperinflation was the root cause of the abolishment and has remained an unfortunate trend in Zimbabwe as the inflation rate experiences dangerous periods of escalation. The landlocked nation suffers poor monetary policy, making it exceedingly expensive to produce goods.

Therefore, many local businesses opt to import foreign goods at the expense of affordability. According to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) recent data, Zimbabwean currency experienced a striking sub-200 percent inflation in August 2019. This is considered the highest inflation rate in the world. Zimbabwean financial journalist, Chris Muronzi reports, “This is not the first time Zimbabwe has experienced high inflation. Government figures show Zimbabwe’s peak inflation rate was 79.6 billion percent month-on-month and 89.7 sextillion percent year-on-year in mid-November 2009.

Hyperinflation only ended the following year with the adoption of the US dollar.” The value of the Zimdollar consistently plummets compared to other currencies. The drastic differences have stimulated a growing black market of exchange for foreign currencies. Muronzi adds, “…it took 20 Zimdollars to buy one U.S. dollar hard currency note on Harare’s (capital of Zimbabwe) black-market exchanges.” A debilitated currency coupled with an unstable black market stimulates the rising consumer costs of goods. What Zimbabwe needs is adequate IMF assistance void of interest loans, the absolve of foreign debt, and reformed economic policies, which will stifle the growth of the currency black market.

Financial assistance, though not the sole solution to Zimbabwe’s troubles, is a starting point for tackling the fiscal deficit. November 2019 will mark the re-debut of the Zimdollar in banknote form. Zimbabwe’s Monetary Policy Committee predicts that this debut will resuscitate the economy. Financial sustainability must be a priority moving forward in economic reform to prevent a further downward spiral. Zimbabwe currently owes foreign countries over $8 billion in arrears. It is evident that these debts will not be settled any time soon. Therefore, absolving foreign debts is necessary despite donor countries experiencing their own financial shortfalls. To recover what is left of Zimbabwe’s economy, foreign leaders must impart charitable judgement on this occasion. Sustainable economic change is impractical with a black market consisting of foreign currency. Any structural reform needs to encourage both public and private sector growth. The viability of IMF support in Zimbabwe is unclear as the global economy continues to battle its separate, yet related challenges. Challenges such as global poverty, economic development inequalities, and adverse impacts of global corporations are felt on a universal scale. As Zimbabwe continues to undergo trial-and-error processes, one hopes that this new path to economic liberalization comes with rewards.

Post published in: Business

This week’s discussion of law firm growth trajectories never gets to happen as Elie’s irritation with Trump’s lawyers spills into the entire show. Becoming a bag man for the Ukraine deal raises ethical concerns, but is merely representing Trump an ethical problem? More to the point, is it something bar disciplinary committees should really be looking into?