The Government, United Nations, donors and Non-Governmental Organisations convened today to launch a revised Humanitarian Flash Appeal to include response to Cyclone Idai requesting for an additional USD 60 million, bringing the total amount to USD 294 million required by humanitarian partners to complement national response efforts to drought, economic challenges and Cyclone Idai in…
Rwanda will host Africa50’s fourth Annual General Shareholders Meeting (GSM) in Kigali, Rwanda, on July 9-10. Africa50 CEO, Alain Ebobissé, led a delegation to Kigali from March 25-27, for meetings with Rwandan President Paul Kagame and several ministers, on the sidelines of the Africa CEO Forum, to discuss the GSM and progress on the institution’s…
Vimbai Kamoyo Specialists in debt management, the Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt Development (ZIMCODD), have urged journalists to hold the government accountable over public debt. This came out at a media training conducted recently to inform media practitioners on the implications of public and publicly guaranteed debt on human rights, poverty, inequality and macroeconomic performance. Speaking…
The United States Government has provided an additional contribution of US$2.5 million to respond to emergency needs in Zimbabwe following Cyclone Idai. The contribution, provided through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Office of Food for Peace, will support immediate food needs in the most affected areas of Manicaland Province. USAID will work through…
Children’s rights proponent, Nyaradzo Mashayamombe has said the new Education Bill that the government of Zimbabwe recently gazetted provides hope for the more than 27% children of school going age who are currently out of school. Mashayamombe said the chief reason for children failing to go to school is the inability by their parents or…
Gender Links (GL) has said it is delighted to welcome Magdeline Madibela, former head of UNWomen in Botswana and of the SADC Gender Unit for a decade before that, as Regional Director of Programmes. “I am very excited to join GL, a regional organisation with giant footprints in ensuring that there is gender equality and…
The Africa Women Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum (AWIEF) (www.AWIEForum.org), which will celebrate its 5th year anniversary in 2019, has announced the dates for its prestigious annual conference and awards, which will take place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC), 29-30 October 2019. The conference theme this year is, Enhancing Impact: Digitalisation, Investment and Intra-African Trade. The…
Fans will be treated to two back-to-back matches on the eve of Independence day 17 April at The Machinery Exchange Stadium, Harare Sports Club Zimbabwe is all set to host four group B fixtures of the 2019 edition U20 Barthés Trophy in Harare, fans will be treated to two back-to-back matches on the eve of…
This week look into the villains of the past seven seasons NOTE this is a major spoiler alert for those that are still trying to catch up on the series prior to the premiere of the 8th and final season of Game of Thrones. DStv subscribers can catch up on the past seven seasons on…
Courtesy of NetOne’s quest to improve people’s livelihoods through availing a habitable environment, today a new and trendy looking Sunningdale Community Hall was unveiled. Officially unveiling the new look building, Mr. Lazarus Muchenje, the Chief Executive Officer of NetOne, in a speech read on his behalf by Dr. Eldrette Shereni, the Head of Public Relations,…
WhatsApp today announced another protection for users in an effort to clamp down on the spread of fake news and misinformation. Through a new feature, users can control who has permission to add them to groups. The company says this will “help to limit abuse” and keep people’s phone numbers private. Related to this, the…
The Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) has moved away from a fixed model for determining the various tariffs for telecommunications operators to a flexible model. The new model is meant to improve sustainability of the local telecoms firms’ businesses by taking into account their need for viability and customers’ need for affordable…
The Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators in Zimbabwe has launched a public sector accounting qualification that is designed to strengthen the capacity of public sector accounting professionals in Zimbabwe. The qualification is open to senior executives in the public sector with appropriate working experience in institutions that include state-owned enterprises, parastatals, schools, universities and…
Top Zimbabwean private companies yesterday announced the launch of an initiative called Reboot Fund, aimed at raising at least RTGS$100 million (about US$35 million) to assist in the rebuilding and reconstruction in areas that were devastated by Cyclone Idai three weeks ago. The tropical cyclone, which originated from Mozambique and passed through Zimbabwe, left a…
The Zimbabwe Achievers Awards UK (ZAA UK) have released the much anticipated list of nominees for the 9th Anniversary ZAA UK event set for Saturday 25 May 2019 in London at The Millennium Gloucester Hotel, London, 4-18 Harrington Gardens, Kensington, London SW7 4LH. The list features nominees from the fields of academics, business, sport, entertainment…
Following the devastation in Zimbabwe caused by Cyclone Idai, the European Union has contributed €250,000 (US$ 281,035) to UNICEF to provide vital water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) supplies to vulnerable children and families in flood-affected districts. The cyclone affected some 270,000 people (half of them children) in the districts of Chimanimani and Chipinge, in Manicaland Province, creating…
Dare to dream, and be brave enough to take opportunities when they come your way.’ This is the advice of gospel singing sensation, Mkhululi Bhebhe, who is fast making a name for himself abroad and proving that despite obstacles, Zimbabweans are successfully pursuing their dreams. The 34-year-old’s breakout opportunity came on DStv’s Idols Africa show back in…
Liquid Telecom has confirmed that it has completed the US$180 million sale of an 8 percent stake to the British government Sovereign Wealth Fund for developing countries known as Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC). The company said in a statement through the Irish Stock Exchange that all conditions precedent to a deal that was announced in…
By IAS Governing Council On behalf of the International AIDS Society (IAS), we, the officers and Regional Representatives of Asia and the Pacific Islands of the IAS Governing Council, express our grave concern regarding the anti-gay laws in Brunei Darussalam. From 3 April 2019, Brunei Darussalam will impose death by stoning as punishment for gay…
By Byron Mutingwende Cognisant of the drug abuse problem rampant among street children, millionaire Sekuru Banda has entered into a partnership with boxing legend Mosquito Alphonso Zvenyika. The partnership seeks to keep the young people busy through learning boxing so that they would find an occupation and leave the streets in which drug abuse is…
The European Union’s Managing Director for Africa, Mr Koen Vervaeke, has encouraged Zimbabwe to continue on the path of reform and engagement in order to enhance not only relations between Brussels and Harare, but also the livelihoods of Zimbabweans. Speaking after an intense working visit in Zimbabwe’s capital over the weekend, Mr Vervaeke said: “Based…
By Farai Chirimumimba Nature abhors a vacuum, and MDC has become a giant vacuum machine, sucking the air out of opposition politics and leaving the government to roam the centre ground at will. One obvious consequence is that ZANU-PF is not being constantly challenged and made to justify their decisions at such a crucial time…
The European Union in Zimbabwe has launched a new call for proposals aimed at strengthening Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to meaningfully contribute to governance and development processes in Zimbabwe In total, the EU is providing EUR 5 million (approximately USD 5.5 million) for projects that enhance the capacity of civil society organisations to constructively participate…
The MDC said it has received a number of concerns raised by the public pertaining results of a By-Election held in Cowdry Park over the weekend.One of the major issues raised was that a loss of a seat in traditional MDC territory is unacceptable and that there must be no excuses about it. The biggest…
By Obert Masaraure – ARTUZ President Amalgamated Rural Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe, ARTUZ notes the strides made by government in modernising our education system through the education act amendment bill of 2018. We note the thrust of improving accessibility of education through the emphasis of state funded basic education. We however noted gaps in addressing…
Marthe Frieden is the medical team leader in MSF’s emergency response to the destruction caused by tropical Cyclone Idai, which hit Zimbabwe’s mountainous Manicaland province on the night of 15 March, causing flooding and deadly landslides, particularly in Chimanimani District. Before Idai hit, Martha was working on an MSF pilot project for managing diabetes and…
EcoCash, has set aside RTGS$5 million for small businesses in the country’s cyclone-hit areas. The funding is meant to help rebuild the economy in areas such as Manicaland and Masvingo. In a statement, Econet said the initiative named ‘Project ReBoot Livelihoods (PRL),’ is a brainchild of the company’s founder Mr Strive Masiyiwa. It will see…
Civil society under the banner of the Sustainable and Inclusive Debt Management Framework is worried about Zimbabwe’s ballooning domestic and external debt currently hovering between US$17 to $18 billion. The CSOs said the above official statistics is a result of a combination of factors spanning from inherited colonial debt; perennial budget deficits, fiscal indiscipline and…
The United States Embassy culminated their Women’s History Month celebration on March 28, 2019 by honouring women who fought against injustice, discrimination and partiality during the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. The screening of the film, The Secret Lives of Bees, a film based on Sue Monk Kidd’s novel, headlined the event in…
By Charles Dhewa Not much research is needed to prove that financial systems in most developing countries do not work for the majority of people and for the environment. To the extent that financial systems are fundamentally urban ecosystems, more than 60% of the populations that live in rural areas are not part of mainstream…
As part of its comprehensive efforts to observe the local authority by-election in Ward 28 of Bulawayo’s Cowdray Park, the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) deployed 37 polling station based observers and a ward collation centre observer. In addition, ZESN had two mobile teams assessing the political environment outside the polling stations. Observation Methodology The…
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) handed over to Government today some 80 MT relief items, including family tents, plastic tarpaulins, mosquito nets, sleeping mats, solar lamps and kitchen sets to support 10,000 Zimbabweans affected by cyclone Idai. “The devastating cyclone has left people in dire need of humanitarian support,” said UNHCR Country…
It’s been one year since access to social media platforms and messaging apps, including Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and Viber, was blocked in Chad’s latest example of internet censorship. Initially, mobile operators attributed the problems to technical issues, but have since disclosed that the block was ordered by the government led by President Idriss Déby, according to observers. Leading…
For over a decade, the German-African Energy Forum has attracted thousands of participants from over 50 countries The African Energy Chamber (https://EnergyChamber.org) congratulates the German Government and the African-German Business Association (Afrika-Verein der deutschen Wirtschaft) on the success of the 13th German-African Energy Forum that took place in Hamburg on March 27 and 28, under…
By John Wilson Dear All – a reflective letter from Zimbabwe after a very difficult week It has been a very emotional week here in this part of the world. Cyclone Idai has wreaked havoc, as you will have seen in the news. The scenes from Mozambique via news and personal testimonies that are coming…
Following a trail of destruction left by the ravaging Cyclone Idai, many international and local organisations and governments are coming with relief and aid but mobile telephony giant, Econet, is leading from the front. Led by Econet Wireless Zimbabwe’s Chief of Staff who is part of Higher Life Foundation, Mr. Lovemore Nyatsine, the mobile telephony…
CAS welcomes a partnership with the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency ahead of the second instalment of the ZIMDABA investment conference, scheduled for April 9th-11th, 2019 in London. The esteemed Royal Geographical Society (RGS) is the setting for the second ZIMDABA, an investment conference aimed towards culturing investment opportunities between businesses in Zimbabwe and the…
The Ministry of Environment, Tourism and Hospitality Industry has condemned the high level of rates purportedly being charged by some accommodation providers in Bulawayo for the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair. Permanent Secretary in the Tourism Ministry, Mr Munesu Munodawafa said the unpopular reaction to some of the charged rates calls for intervention by the authorities…
As part of its hyper-local focus and ongoing commitment towards bringing the best in locally-produced content to audiences in Southern Africa, Zambezi Magic will move to DStv channel 162 on Monday, 1 April 2019. The switch to a new channel number will make Zambezi Magic available to a wider footprint across Southern Africa to enable audiences…
By Tatenda Mugabe The National Social Security Authority of Zimbabwe (NSSA) is a far cry from meeting the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Social Security Standards number 102 of 1952. NSSA was created to offer Pension and Other Benefits scheme (POBS) to the formal sector employees. The ILO minimum standards range from unemployment benefit, medical care,…
By Byron Mutingwende Calls have been made to put to proper use foreign direct investments (FDIs) to ensure the revival of the Zimbabwean economy. The Southern and Eastern Africa Trade Information and Negotiations Institute (SEATINI) has noted that within the current government, Zimbabwe has entered a new political dispensation characterised by high expectations, overdrive to…
An increase of 12-20% in tax collection can raise up to $400bn and go a long way in funding $600bn financing gap Africa faces Africa’s needs to build more resilient economies if it is to have the resources to meet its development goals and targets over the next few decades. This requires the continent to prioritise domestic revenuemobilisation…
The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has announced the donation of $1.5 million to support the relief effort in aid of the victims of Tropical Cyclone Idai which devastated the southern African countries of Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi recently. Afreximbank President Prof. Benedict Oramah said that the relief package was approved by the Bank’s Board of…
EcoCash has set aside $5 million for small businesses in the Cyclone affected areas in Zimbabwe which include Manicaland and Masvingo as part of an initiative to help rebuild the economy of their areas. The initiative, named ‘Project ReBoot Livelihoods (PRL)’ by Econet Wireless founder Mr Strive Masiyiwa, will see EcoCash, working with its sister…
Capital Markets Evaluator Akribos Research Services (Akribos) says Econet Wireless Zimbabwe (EWZ)’s shares are currently undervalued resulting in low trading activities. This comes as Cassava Smartech Zimbabwe (Cassava), which demerged from the telecommunications giant in December 2018, is experiencing increased trade activity on the local stock exchange and its shares have for the most part…
