Headlines

Ecofarmer: Technology playing a powerful role in empowering women

Econet’s innovation, Ecofarmer, a mobile-based insurance services programme epitomises the important role that technology can play in achieving gender equality. Ecofarmer is a mobile technology solution, which delivers weather-based insurance, real-time, location-based weather information and farming tips via cellphone, that is helping producers to combat the effects of climate change. Statistics show that Zimbabwe is…

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Socioeconomic Implications of the Monetary Policy Measures – Statutory Instrument (SI) 142/2019

By ZIMCODD On 24 June 2019, the government abolished the 10-year-old multi-currency regime in the country making the Zimbabwe dollar the sole legal tender. The Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD) bemoans the apparent policy inconsistency and premature knee jerk reaction. The need for a local sovereign currency is not disputed, however the government…

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Court ends Obert Masaraure’s malicious incarceration, dismisses Mutasa and Mawarire’s challenge of delay of subversion trial

By Kumbirai Mafunda Harare Magistrate Barbra Mateko on Tuesday 25 June 2019 dismissed the State’s bid to revoke the bail granted to Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) President Obert Masaraure and to commit him to prison for allegedly violating his bail conditions. The State had petitioned the Harare Magistrates Court seeking to revoke…

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Government, European Union, UN launch Spotlight Initiative to end violence against women, girls

The Government of Zimbabwe, the European Union and the United Nations today launched a multi-year Spotlight Initiative to assist women and girls realise their full potential in a violence-free, gender-responsive and inclusive Zimbabwe. Delivering a keynote at the launch, President Mnangagwa in a statement read on his behalf by Hon. Minister Prof. A Murwira said,…

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Zimnat and Sanlam continue to assist cyclone victims

Zimnat, together with Sanlam, with which Zimnat is associated, last week donated roofing materials to yet another Chimanimani school affected by Cyclone Idai, Muchadziya Primary School in Ngorima. This follows a similar donation to Gatsi Primary School in Tamba village in Mutasa District barely a week earlier. The cyclone lifted the roof off a classroom…

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AfDB approves USD 24.7 million for Water and Sanitation Development in South Sudan

The Strategic Water Supply and Sanitation Improvement Project will support the rehabilitation of approximately 50km of the Juba town distribution network and related works The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org) on June 20, 2019, approved a proposal to commit $24.7 million to finance the South Sudan Strategic Water Supply and Sanitation…

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New features and unparalleled line-up to drive programme for Africa Oil Week 2019

Over 1500 delegates, including a record-breaking number of 16+ government ministers will attend the event in Cape Town As the leading event for Africa’s upstream, Africa Oil Week (Africa-OilWeek.com) is committed to staying at the cutting-edge of developments in oil and gas. Over 1500 delegates, including a record-breaking number of 16+ government ministers will attend…

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Gendered Corruption Mostly Affecting Women: TIZ

By Tatenda Mujeyi Transparency International Zimbabwe (TIZ) is engaging in a research on the implications of corruption from a gender perspective. This emerged at a breakfast meeting the organization held today in Harare. The gendered challenges of corruption are argued to be affecting mainly women as the patriarchal nature of Zimbabwean society guaranteed male participation…

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Afreximbank Introduces Tunisia-Africa Trade and Investment Promotion Programme

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the Central Bank of Tunisia have signed an agreement for a $500-million Tunisia-Africa Trade and Investment Promotion Programme which will be used for providing financing aimed at promoting and expanding trade and investments between Tunisia and the rest of Africa. Under the terms of the agreement sign in Moscow on 22 June, Afreximbank will…

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False start in Mawarire, Mutasa subversion trial as Masaraure endures third night in prison

By Kumbirai Mafunda The trial of two pro-democracy campaigners charged with plotting to overthrow President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government got off to a false start on Monday 24 June 2019 after the State indicated that it was not yet ready to commence with trial despite undertaking to do so at the last remand proceedings. Pastor Evan…

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AfDB welcomes EUR40 million energy investment from the European Commission

The announcement was made to energy sector stakeholders at a sideline event held during the Africa Energy Forum, which took place in Lisbon, Portugal The African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org) announced a EUR 40 million investment from the European Commission for the Facility for Energy Inclusion (FEI), a new platform for financing small-scale renewables in Africa. The…

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Pregnant girls should be allowed to re-enter school: Katswe Sistahood

By Tatenda Mujeyi Non Governmental Organisations led by Katswe Sistahood, at their Harare office, have lobbied for the institution of an education policy that considers re-entry of impregnated students to school. The NGOs argue that education is a human right that is guaranteed by the constitution and sustainable development goals that should be guaranteed. “Recognising…

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Return of the Zimbabwe dollar

By Alex Magaisa The most significant news from Zimbabwe today is the dramatic return of the Zimbabwe dollar. Zimbabweans woke up to the news of a legal instrument, Statutory Instrument 142 of 2019, which reintroduces the Zimbabwe dollar and ends the multi-currency regime. The purpose of this note is not to assess the legality of…

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Zimbabwe Makes Better Strides In Up-Lifting Nutrition Management

By Nevson Mpofu Zimbabwe has been encouraged and pushed forward to increase its National Budget on Nutrition from 0, 45% to 3%. An Expert in Nutrition Kudakwashe Zombe of Zimbabwe Civil Organisations Society Scaling Up Nutrition Alliance (ZCSOSUNA) speaking in Harare highlighted the need to consider Nutrition Health as the only way-forward to eradicate or…

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How consumers use their buying patterns to signal priorities

By Charles Dhewa As buying patterns signify ordinary people’s priorities, developing countries should invest more in finding pockets of opportunity from micro-markets than pursuing mega deals. In most African countries, much of the overlooked growth is within open food markets from which the majority get food and income. An outside observer may see open markets…

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Africa Oil & Power to Honour Senegal President as “Africa Oil Man of the Year”

The President will be presented the award during the conference, during which he will also present the keynote address Africa Oil & Power (https://AfricaOilandPower.com) will present the award to H.E. Macky Sall at its annual conference in Cape Town; H.E. Macky Sall is renowned for his efforts to revive Senegal’s economy and create an attractive…

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Untapped market for digital services to transform African agriculture worth up to €2.3 billion

Digital ventures already have more than 33 million registered users, according to study by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) and Dalberg Advisors. More than 90 per cent of the market for digital services that support African smallholders remains untapped and could be worth more than €2 billion (US$2.26bn), according to a…

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Afreximbank Approves $69 million Dividend Pay-out as Annual Meetings Conclude in Moscow

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) will pay a total of $69 million to its shareholders as dividend from its 2018 earnings, according to decisions reached during the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (AGM) of the Bank which ended in Moscow yesterday. The shareholders also appointed one new member to its Board of Directors and decided…

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Steam to Stop Supporting Ubuntu Linux Over 32-bit Compatibility

If you’re a Linux gamer who prefers Ubuntu, you might want to look for another distribution in the near future. Valve is dropping official support for Ubuntu in Steam as of the operating system’s upcoming 19.10 release, which will cut 32-bit x86 components. The Steam crew aims to “minimize breakage” for existing Ubuntu users, according to Valve’s Pierre-Loup Griffais,…

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Two Bills passed in Parliament, progress made on two others

By Veritas Both the National Assembly and the Senate sat last week and this week.   Two Bills were passed and progress made on two others. Bills Passed Consumer Protection Bill Following the announcement of the PLC’s non-adverse report on the extensive Committee Stage amendments made previously,  the National Assembly passed the amended Bill on 13th June. …

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Afreximbank Donates $1.5 Million to Support Tropical Cyclone Idai Relief Efforts

Africa’s Output Grew by 3.4% in 2018, Afreximbank’s Africa Trade Report 2019 Shows

Africa’s output grew by 3.4 per cent between 2017 and 2018 despite the slowdown in global growth during that period, a new report by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has shown.   The African Trade Report 2019: African Trade in a Digital World, launched today in Moscow during the 26th Afreximbank Annual Meetings, states that Africa’s total merchandise trade in 2018 had…

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Positive step taken: Misheck Gondo told on launch of ‘The Terrible Heatbreak’

By Byron Mutingwende   Eminent Zimbabweans have heaped praises on human rights defender and peace advocate Misheck Gondo on the launch of his inaugural novel, “The Terrible Heat-break” at a colourful event in Harare on Thursday.   Prominent businessman and President of FreeZim Congress party, Joseph Makamba Busha, who was Guest of Honour at Gondo’s…

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African football affairs: CAF attack on press freedom

Another attempt to control the news regarding African football affairs In another attempt to control the news regarding African football affairs, the journalist Nazim Bessol, working for Algerian newspaper Botola, has seen his accreditation for the African Cup of Nations revoked. Initially Bessol received a confirmation approval letter with accreditation number 1206. However yesterday Bessol…

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AfDB, MFW4A and German Cooperation Host International Workshop on Africa’s Trade Finance Market

The workshop, themed: “The Consolidation of International Correspondent Banking Relationships in Africa,” was attended by representatives of the main correspondent banks operating in Africa he African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org), Making Finance Work for Africa (MFW4A) (www.MFW4A.org) and the German Cooperation (BMZ/GIZ) held a two-day international workshop in Frankfurt, Germany, to improve participants’ understanding of trade…

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GetBucks to raise additional capital of up to RTGS$47 million

By Tatenda Mujeyi Microfinance bank GetBucks has held an extraordinary general meeting to notify on resolutions the bank has taken to raise additional capital of up to RTGS$47 million through right issues in Harare today. “At a meeting of Shareholders held this morning, GetBucks Microfinance Bank Limited (GetBucks) shareholders approved resolutions that would allow the…

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Zimnat and Sanlam bring relief to Cyclone Idai affected school

Zimnat, in association with Sanlam, has donated roofing materials worth more than RTGS $60 000 to Gatsi Primary School in Chimanimani, which was left reeling with an accommodation crisis after Cyclone Idai swept through the area. Zimnat donated 60 roofing sheets, 320 units of roofing timber and 30kg of roofing nails to repair the roof of teaching…

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New version of Market Access Map provides boost to transparency in trade

The International Trade Centre (ITC) today unveiled a new version of Market Access Map, its popular online trade analysis tool. The revamped portal will further enhance market transparency and facilitate the analysis of trade-related policy issues. Market Access Map responds to users’ specific needs depending on their profile and will continue to provide free and user-friendly access to…

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Pan-African Parliament joins global parliamentary consultations on topical issues

26th annual Inter-parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy begins its work in Tbilisi The Pan-African African Parliament (PAP) is among international Parliamentary organisations invited to take part in the 26th Inter-parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (I.A.O) currently underway in Tbilisi, Georgia. The Assembly is being held from 19 to 23 June 2019 under the theme: “The contribution of…

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ACFTA Conference ends with multiple recommendations

By Tatenda Mujeyi The Africa Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA) conference held in Harare ended yesterday with multiple recommendations that Zimbabwe can employ to better the free trade process. Recommendations that the conference made on the Free Trade agreement include capacity building, effective communication, transparency, information flow, renewable energy promotion, improvements on macro-economic environment and…

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EcoSure moves to preserve client value, introduces USD packages

Cassava Smartech Zimbabwe’s EcoSure has unveiled US dollar denominated packages that will give Zimbabweans the opportunity to get insurance cover without worrying about the challenges of value erosion on their policies brought about by economic volatility and currency fluctuations.   Announcing the move, Cassava Smartech Zimbabwe CEO Mr Eddie Chibi said the new packages would…

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RTGS$25,3 million First Quarter Revenue for Zimpapers

By Tatenda Mujeyi Zimbabwe’s only integrated media house, Zimpapers, is experiencing positive first quarter performance, Chief Executive Officer, Pikirayi Deketeke announced at the company’s Annual General Meeting in Harare today. The profits were broadly attributed to the diverse business lines the company operates despite classifying the Newspaper division, radio and the television network ZTN as…

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Life-saving maternal health program transitions to local ownership

After more than a decade of success and nearly 2,200 maternal deaths prevented, international partners mark handover of program After more than a decade of incredible success, preventing over 2,200 maternal deaths, the international partnership behind the Maternal and Reproductive Health Program in Tanzania held a handover ceremony today in Kigoma, marking the final transition…

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Commissions of Inquiry in Zimbabwe – no action no gain, a waste of resources

By Farai Chirimumimba It has become clear that power is vested with the people. Therefore let the people and not resource sucking commissions of inquiry take responsibility. The Zimbabwe propensity to rely on commissions of inquiry that sadly never resolve crises, redress gross mismanagement and punish wrongdoers is no longer sustainable as it never worked….

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Thembi Moyo elected president of regional railway body

Beitbridge-Bulawayo Railway chief executive Thembi Moyo was yesterday (Wednesday) elected president of the Southern African Railways Association at the first SARA board meeting of 2019. Namibian railway TransNamib chief executive Johny Smith was elected vice-president. Transport and Infrastructure Development Minister Joel Biggie Matiza, in a speech read on his behalf by his human resources director,…

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