HARARE, Feb 17 (Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwe&#8217;s central bank left its benchmark interest rate at 35% on Monday, citing moderating inflation, as it looks to print more local currency and limit the use of foreign currencies.



Zimbabwe is struggling through its worst economic crisis in a decade, with prices of basic goods soaring and shortages of medicine, fuel and electricity worsening. Hopes of a quick recovery under President Emmerson Mnangagwa are fading.



The worsening poverty is upsetting the fragile calm that&#8217;s prevailed since the 2017 coup that toppled long-time ruler Robert Mugabe.



After suspending publication of annual inflation data, which economic analysts put at 525% in December, authorities will resume printing the figures next month.



Governor John Mangudya was bullish on inflation, projecting that annual price growth would dip below 50% by the end of the year. Monthly inflation fell in January to 2.23%



&#8220;Our task is we stabilize inflation and stabilize the exchange rate. We expect month-on-month inflation will continue to come down until the end of the year,&#8221; Mangudya said.



&#8220;Most of the inflation is caused by non-monetary factors. That is expectations &#8211; that &#8216;I lost money in 2008&#8217;,&#8221; Mangudya said. &#8220;This is a once-beaten, twice-shy scenario. These are things that shape inflation in Zimbabwe.&#8221;



Zimbabweans have little confidence in monetary policy after pensions and savings were wiped out at the height of hyperinflation, which reached 500 billion% in 2008 and forced the country to dump its local currency.



Last year in June, Zimbabwe ended a decade of dollarisation, which fuelled inflation. Mangudya said it would take up to five years to completely wean Zimbabwe from using the U.S. dollar in local transactions.



Seeking to reassure investors, the governor said foreign currency accounts held by companies, donors and individuals were safe, while businesses like mines would continue to receive a portion of their export earnings in dollars.



To ease shortages of cash, the bank will feed higher- denomination Zimbabwe dollar notes into the economy while increasing transparency on foreign currency trading to stabilise the exchange rate.



The central bank governor said he still saw economic growth at 3% in 2020, citing improved rainfall since mid January. 



(Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe, writing by Mfuneko Toyana; editing by William Maclean, Larry King)

Zimbabwe central bank leaves rates unchanged, bullish on inflation, what you need to know…

HARARE, Nov 4 (Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwe police have given public sector workers permission to march for better pay on Wednesday in what is widely seen as a test of President Emmerson Mnangagwa&#8217;s willingness to tolerate dissent.



A notice received from police by the Apex Council of public sector unions said the protest could go ahead but also warned that police would stop the march if it turned violent.



&#8220;The regulating authority still reserves the right to stop the gathering should it turn out to a public order threat or violent. Police will monitor,&#8221; Oscar Mugomeri, police commander for Harare central district, wrote in the letter.



Mugomeri could not be reached for comment on Monday.



Unions say Mnangagwa&#8217;s government has not responded to demands for U.S. dollar-indexed salaries to cushion public sector workers against inflation that economists say reached 380% in September.



Daily life in Zimbabwe is getting harder, with prices of basic goods, fuel and electricity rising as hope fades for a quick economic recovery under Mnangagwa, who took power after the late Robert Mugabe was ousted in a coup in 2017.



Mnangagwa has banned several opposition protests and faces accusations that he is using Mugabe&#8217;s heavy-handed tactics.



Police have been on high alert since January, when fuel protests turned violent and at least a dozen people were killed during a security crackdown.



Unions want the lowest government employees paid the equivalent of $475 (7,251 Zimbabwe dollars) a month compared to the 1,023 Zimbabwe dollars they earn now.



Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube, who projects the economy to contract by 6.5% this year, has said the government cannot meet the workers&#8217; demands.



Charles Chinosengwa, spokesman for the Apex Council, which represents 230,000 workers &#8211; excluding the health and security sectors &#8211; said unions were mobilising members from across Zimbabwe.



&#8220;This is strictly a labour issue. We don&#8217;t need support from politicians, we are saying hands off to politicians,&#8221; he said.



Shortages of foreign currency, fuel and power are among the most visible signs of a crisis that has revived memories of 2008, when hyperinflation wiped out savings and forced the government to abandon its currency.



Mnangagwa says Zimbabweans should be patient while his government pursues economic reforms, including gradually cutting subsidies on fuel and electricity and the re-introduction of the domestic currency.



$1 = 15.2654 Zimbabwe dollars 



(Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe, Editing by Timothy Heritage)

Zimbabwe police give unions green light for public sector protest, what you need to know…

HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; Phelekezela Mphoko, a former deputy to ousted Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe, was charged on Wednesday with criminal abuse of office, his lawyer said, in the latest move by the new anti-corruption commission.



The court freed Mphoko on bail. He denies all the charges, his lawyer Zibusiso Ncube said.



Mphoko lost his vice presidential post when a military coup forced Mugabe to resign in 2017 after 37 years in power and led to presidential elections won by longtime Mugabe associate Emmerson Mnangagwa.



Ncube said Mphoko was being accused of using his position to force police to release from their custody suspects who were facing corruption charges in 2016. The ex-vice president also faces a lesser charge of obstructing justice, Ncube said.



A new Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission appointed in July was given the power to arrest suspects, but critics question whether it will be effective.



A previous anti-graft agency failed to tackle corruption among the political elite and many Zimbabweans believe those behind corruption are politically connected and may not be touched.



The commission last month charged a sitting cabinet minister, Prisca Mupfumira, with corruption involving $95 million. Mupfumira was early this month fired from her tourism ministry job.



Mupfumira was the first senior government official to be interrogated by the commission, which was appointed by Mnangagwa after he promised tough action against graft.



Mphoko could be jailed up to 15 years, with an option of paying a fine, if found guilty of criminal abuse of office.



He was granted 1,000 Zimbabwe dollars ($98) bail and ordered to surrender his passport with the court. He will return to court on Sept. 4 when state prosecutors will decide whether they are ready to proceed to trial.



Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo and Mark Heinrich

Zimbabwe charges former Mugabe deputy, here’s why

HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwe’s Tourism Minister Prisca Mupfumira has been detained for questioning by a newly formed Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC), it said on Thursday.



Mupfumira is the first senior government official to be detained by the commission which was appointed by President Emmerson Mnangagwe on July 15 after he promised tough action against graft.



Transparency International says corruption costs Zimbabwe’s economy at least $1 billion annually.



“We can confirm that the minister of tourism is currently in our custody for questioning and possible due processes,” the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) said in a brief statement. It did not give any details.



Mupfumira, a senior member of the ruling ZANU-PF party, was previously labour minister who oversaw the $1 billion state pension fund. ZACC has said an audit report into the fund implicated several high profile officials for abuse of funds.



Mupfumira did not respond to calls for a comment.



The anti-corruption commission was given the power to arrest suspects, but critics question whether it will be effective.



The opposition cast doubt on Mnangagwa’s decision to appoint High Court Judge Loice Matanda-Moyo as the commission’s chair, alleging a potential conflict of interest because she is married to Foreign Affairs Minister Sibusiso Moyo, the retired army general who announced the November 2017 coup against former leader Robert Mugabe.



Matanda-Moyo has promised to tackle corruption without fear of favour.



Reporting by Nelson Banya; Editing by MacDonald Dzirutwe and Raissa Kasolowsky

Zimbabwe’s tourism minister has been detained, here’s why

HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwe hiked fuel prices on Monday for the second time in a week but most pumps remained dry, with no end in sight to shortages that are helping drive inflation rapidly higher and which have led to protests about the cost of living.



The Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority said a litre of petrol would now cost 7.45 Zimbabwe dollars, up 22% from 6.10 dollars. Diesel now costs 7.19 a litre, a 23% rise.



With inflation soaring, economic analysts say increases in fuel prices are adding to price pressures, especially as rolling electricity cuts are forcing businesses to use expensive diesel generators to power their operations.



Diesel and petrol prices have gone up by 456% this year, in line with a slide in the value of the local RTGS currency, renamed the Zimbabwe dollar last month.



The biggest fuel price hike in January, a 150% increase, triggered violent protests by Zimbabweans. More than a dozen people were killed when the army clamped down on the unrest.



On July 13, fuel prices were hiked by up to 16% after finance minister Mthuli Ncube said fuel was considerably cheaper than in neighbouring countries. Ncube has said he would like to see the price increase to the equivalent of $1 a litre. [nL8N24E05Q]



The Zimbabwe dollar was trading on Monday at 8.88 against the greenback on the official interbank market, little changed from last week. On the black market, $1 fetched 10.5 Zimbabwe dollars.



Reporting by Nelson Banya, Writing by MacDonald Dzirutwe, Editing by Catherine Evans

Zimbabwe increases fuel prices again, what you need to know

HARARE, June 25 (Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwe’s largest labour body on Tuesday threatened protests over the government’s decision to ban the use of foreign currencies and make the interim currency the sole legal tender.



President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government said the move on Monday to abandon a multi-currency system was an important step towards removing economic imbalances.



But many Zimbabweans are distrustful after a long succession of failed economic interventions.



“If the government does not reverse this ruinous policy immediately and announce U.S. dollar salary payments, we will immediately mobilise workers for mass action,” Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) president Peter Mutasa told a news conference.



“The ZCTU has not moved from its position that the short-term solution is to dollarise and, as such, we are going into the tripartite negotiating forum (with government and business) to demand U.S. dollar salary payments,” Mutasa added.



In January, the ZCTU led nationwide protests against a 150% fuel price increase, triggering a violent crackdown by the army and police, which left at least 12 people dead, according to rights groups.



Mnangagwa replaced longtime leader Robert Mugabe after an army coup in November 2017, but a hoped-for economic turnaround has not materialised.



In February, Mnangagwa’s government introduced the RTGS dollar as a transitional unit before relaunching the Zimbabwean dollar. 



(Reporting by Nelson Banya; Writing by Alexander Winning; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Alison Williams)

Labour group in Zimbabwe threatens protests over ban on foreign currencies

HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwe and the European Union began political talks on Wednesday aimed at turning the page on hostile relations during Robert Mugabe’s rule, a step that could enable a resumption of direct financial aid for the ailing economy.



During Mugabe’s four-decade rule until 2017, he would routinely blame European “colonialists” for Zimbabwe’s problems, and snarled at EU and U.S. sanctions for rights and vote abuses.



The EU has only kept sanctions on Mugabe, his wife and the state arms manufacturer, but is yet to resume direct funding to the new government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, preferring to channel money through local charities and U.N. agencies.



With the economy afflicted by dollar shortages, fuel queues, power-cuts, and soaring prices, Mnangagwa has said restoring ties with the West and multilateral lenders like International Monetary Fund is one of his major priorities.



At the start of the open-ended talks between diplomats and officials in Harare, EU Zimbabwe delegation head Timo Olkkonen said they would discuss issues including economic development, trade, investment, rights, rule of law and good governance.



The government has already signed up to an IMF monitoring programme where it has committed to political and economic reforms in a bid to set a track record of fiscal discipline that could earn it debt forgiveness and future financing.



At a separate event in a Harare hotel, Mnangagwa signed a new bill creating a tripartite negotiating forum intended to bring labour, business and government together to shape policy.



The 76-year-old leader is under pressure to deliver on pre-election promises and wants to avert a repeat of violent protests over a steep fuel price hike in January.



Later on Wednesday, the government is expected to start wage negotiations with public sector unions, who say a pay rise of up to 29% they received in April had already been eroded by inflation, now at a 10-year high of 75.86 %.



Mnangagwa has promised to break with his predecessor and says his “open for business” mantra will woo foreign investors. But critics say under his rule the economy shows no signs of improving while security forces have continued to crush dissent.



Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne

What you need to know about Zimbabwe and EU’s political talks to ease tensions created in Mugabe-era

HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwe expects to raise $350 million from selling shares in five state-owned telecommunications companies and a bank, as part of economic reforms being pursued by the government, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said in a statement.



The southern African nation’s economy is experiencing a severe dollar crunch and faces more headwinds from a drought this year that has wilted crops and left up to 5.3 million people in need of food aid, according to a U.N. humanitarian agency.



Ncube said on Tuesday the government would dispose of shares in its two mobile phone operators NetOne and Telecel Zimbabwe, the country’s sole fixed line telephony company TelOne, postal services Zimpost and state-owned savings bank POSB.



“Work is already under way to identify transaction advisers. Government projects to realise over $350 million from this initial process,” Ncube said in a statement, without giving a timeline.



Ncube was not immediately available to comment but he said in October selling state firms, known locally as parastatals, was one of the ways to reduce government spending.



The government has targeted selling some or all shares in 43 of its companies, most of them loss-making and which have relied on state bailouts over the years.



Rebuilding the troubled economy is the biggest challenge to President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was re-elected in a disputed vote last July and is seeking to pivot away from some of the disastrous policies of his predecessor Robert Mugabe.



Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Alison Williams

Here’s how Zimbabwe plans to raise $350 million

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Zimbabweans reacted with outrage after President Mnangagwa raised the price of fuel by 150 per cent, this as the country faces its worst economic meltdown in a decade, with continually cash shortages, power outages and the recent internet shutdown. Joining CNBC Africa to talk on the Zimbabwe crisis is former Zimbabwe Minister of Industry and International Trade, Politician, Economist Dr. Nkosana Moyo.

Why Nkosana Moyo has no confidence in #Mnangagwa to turn around Zim’s economy

HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; President Emmerson Mnangagwa will retain John Mangudya for a second term as governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, a state-owned newspaper reported on Thursday.
The announcement follows speculation this week that the bank chief, who was first appointed for a five-year term in May 2014, would lose his job in the face of a worsening dollar crunch.
But the president’s spokesman George Charamba told the Herald newspaper that Mnangagwa would keep Mangudya in his job.
“The President is very clear on the Reserve Bank Governor’s tenure and his performance. Not only is he there to stay but the President is about to renew his contract for a second tenure,” Charamba was quoted as saying.
Charamba declined to comment further when contacted on Thursday.
Two years ago, after the country was rocked by hyperinflation during the rule of former president Robert Mugabe, Mangudya introduced the surrogate “bond note” currency, supposedly pegged to the U.S. dollar.
Dollar shortages have caused prices of basic goods, taxis and medicines to rise in recent weeks.
The central bank chief has defended the use of bond notes, which have lost value against the dollar on the black market. He says a government budget deficit of 11.1 percent of GDP and a high import bill are the main causes of the U.S. dollar shortages.
Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by James Macharia and Andrew Roche

What you need to know about Mangudya’s second term as Zimbabwe’s central bank governor

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CNBC Africa’s Karabo Letlhatlha speaks to Zimbabwean billionaire Strive Masiyiwa, Founder &#038; Chairman of global telecommunications group Econet about the state of governance in Africa, Zimbabwe&#8217;s political and economic problems and why he won’t stop investing despite political troubles.

Strive Masiyiwa optimistic about Mnangagwa, calls for removal of sanctions

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/robert-rotberg-171817">By Robert Rotberg</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/harvard-university-1306">Harvard University</a>
When President Emmerson Mnangagwa <a href="https://theconversation.com/zimbabwes-first-mugabe-free-election-mnangagwa-promises-western-cash-but-little-else-99228">campaigned</a> in July for Zimbabwe’s presidency, he promised to be a business friendly leader, and to return his country’s economy to twentieth century times of plenty and prosperity.
But Mnangagwa has already shown himself incapable of jettisoning the state centrist, rent-seeking predilections of his predecessor. A “big-bang” sharp break with Zimbabwe’s recent past is essential to reassure consumers and capitalists. Yet Mnangagwa and his cronies have so far rejected anything forward-looking and sensible.
Mnangagwa’s administration is struggling to overcome the national <a href="https://www.iol.co.za/news/africa/shops-shut-doors-as-zimbabwe-financial-crisis-deepens-17414862">economic destruction</a> wreaked on Zimbabwe over two decades under Robert Mugabe. This included profligate spending, immense debt pileup, colossal corruption, and ravaging of the country’s once immensely productive agricultural sector.
As a result, Zimbabwe now lacks foreign exchange with which to buy petrol and ordinary goods to stock the shelves of its supermarkets. In the last few weeks many shops – such as Edgars, a long-time clothing store; Teta, an eatery; KFC, a fast food outlet – have simply <a href="https://www.iol.co.za/news/africa/shops-shut-doors-as-zimbabwe-financial-crisis-deepens-17414862">shut their doors</a>. Queues for petrol stretch for miles.
<a href="http://nehandaradio.com/2018/10/13/zimbabwe-currency-crisis-no-cash-no-bread-no-kfc/">Banks have no US dollars</a>, or South African rands or Botswana pulas (the notional national currency), and therefore cannot supply stores or customers with the funds to carry on business as usual.
The locally created <a href="https://zwnews.com/latest-us-dollar-zimbabwe-bond-note-trgs-exchange-rates-today-9-october-2018/">Zimbabwe bond note</a> which is officially supposed to trade 1 to 1 with the US dollar, has been trading as high as 10 to 1 on the Harare black market according to unconfirmed local shopping experiences. In its October 20th edition The Economist reported that the bond note, known unofficial as <a href="https://www.news24.com/Africa/Zimbabwe/zimbabwes-bond-notes-being-traded-outside-borders-report-20170516">the zollar</a>, was trading for as little as 17 cents, or roughly 6-1.
The new administration has naturally resorted to <a href="https://www.iol.co.za/business-report/international/zimbabwes-currency-crisis-shows-little-sign-of-abating-17052960">printing</a> its own faux money. That inevitably has led, as always, to hyperinflation and monetary collapse.
China may yet help Mnangagwa – but in exchange for multi-years worth of precious minerals and Virginia tobacco at discounted prices. With Zimbabwe’s leadership so thoroughly tainted by decades of peculation and mendacity, and devoid of any real notion of “the public interest,” Mnangagwa’s regime is otherwise unlikely to clean up the prevailing fiscal mess because of its refusal to break sharply with the fiscal derring-do of the Mugabe era. Its principals continue to profit from Zimbabwe’s economic mayhem.
<h2>What went wrong</h2>
Zimbabwe’s economic weaknesses are unsustainable. Governments in such parlous straits would turn, even now, to the International Monetary Fund, for a bailout – as <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/south-asia/article/2168507/pakistans-khan-slams-imf-then-seeks-bailout-why-change">Pakistan</a> has just done. But Zimbabwe is already in arrears to the international lending institutions and has very few helpful friends left.
Government is running a hefty overdraft. And it’s been unable to collect as much as it needs from the national tax base. Its now attempting to impose a <a href="https://www.fin24.com/Economy/Africa/zimbabwe-slaps-catastrophic-tax-on-electronic-transactions-20181001">2% tax </a> on internal electronic financial transactions. This only shows desperation. If implemented, it could yield twice as much revenue as is derived annually from VAT. But that losing manoeuvre has already helped drive commerce underground. It has also undermined what little confidence consumers and financiers have in their current rulers.
The Mnangagwa government has also reimposed import and <a href="http://businessdaily.co.zw/index-id-national-zk-38015.html">exchange controls</a>, thus creating additional incentives to avoid regular channels of commerce. Those controls also permit officials to allocate “scarce” resources and licenses to import, export, and so on. These are well-known occasions for corruption and for giving rent-seeking opportunities to cronies.
It wasn’t always this bad. Despite the massive loss of formal employment that occurred under Mugabe, the informal sector flourished and Zimbabwe’s poor probably benefited. This was partly because under the unity government of 2009-2013, when Tendai Biti of the Movement for Democratic Change was finance minister, there were no such controls and there were plenty of US dollars and no questionable bond notes and Treasury bills. Hard currency (the US dollar) permitted Zimbabwe to start growing economically after the long Mugabe slide, and individuals and businesses to prosper. The country ran a budgetary surplus.
But this all came to an end when the government of national unity <a href="https://pindula.co.zw/Government_of_National_Unity">collapsed</a> in 2012.
<h2>What needs to happen</h2>
To begin to restore the economy, the government needs to acknowledge corrupt dealings and repatriate the huge amounts of cash that have fled the country as laundered money.
The regime could also try to take <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/17/robert-grace-mugabe-missing-millions-money-zimababwe">ill-gotten gains</a> away from Mugabe and Grace Mugabe, as <a href="https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2018/0703/Former-Malaysian-leader-arrested-for-theft-money-laundering">Malaysia’s new government</a> is doing to its previous kleptocratic prime minister and his wife.
Gestures in that direction would help to begin to restore confidence, a step towards eventual prosperity. So would promises to restore the rule of law. Investors might also return if a sound currency was likely. But that would only follow shedding of ministers, civil service layoffs, military reductions, and many other indications that Mnangagwa and his minister of finance were serious about reducing the debt hangover.
Cutting some sort of deal with the IMF would also be worthwhile, but that could mean giving control over the Treasury to foreign advisors. Zimbabwe is and, since Biti’s day, has been, a basket case. It’s time to acknowledge that fiscal reality and to do something about it.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/104960/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/robert-rotberg-171817">Robert Rotberg</a>, Founding Director of Program on Intrastate Conflict, Kennedy School, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/harvard-university-1306">Harvard University</a>
This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/zimbabwes-economy-is-collapsing-why-mnangagwa-doesnt-have-the-answers-104960">original article</a>.

Why Mnangagwa doesn’t have the answers to Zimbabwe’s troubled economy

HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; The World Bank and IMF have endorsed Zimbabwe’s road map to clear more than $2 billion in foreign arrears at a meeting in Indonesia on Wednesday, the finance minister said, adding that the lenders had also backed his two-year economic recovery plan.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has promised to revive the struggling economy, pay foreign debts that the country has defaulted on since 1999 and restore ties with West after becoming a pariah under Robert Mugabe’s near four-decade rule.
Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube, who is attending the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank meetings in Bali, Indonesia, said in a statement his plans to clear the arrears to the World Bank, African Development Bank and European Investment Bank had been accepted.
“All the cooperating partners and creditors present uniformly expressed their support for Zimbabwe and its arrears clearance Road Map,” Ncube said.
The lenders and Western donors also urged Ncube to “judiciously” implement his two-year economic recovery plan announced last Friday.
Ncube’s plan will see cuts on spending and the government’s wage bill and privatisation of loss-making state-owned firms.
Zimbabwe, which adopted the U.S. dollar after hyperinflation left its own currency worthless in 2009, is gripped by acute shortages of cash dollars. Prices of basic goods and medicines have risen in the last few days.
Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by James Macharia

World Bank, IMF support Zimbabwe’s plans to clear more than $2 billion in foreign arrears, what you need to know

HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwean opposition lawmakers walked out of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s state of the nation address to parliament on Tuesday, signalling their lingering bitterness after losing a disputed July 30 presidential and parliamentary election.
Members of Parliament from the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) that is led by Nelson Chamisa heckled Mnangagwa when he started reading his speech before filing out.
Chamisa &#8211; who is not a member of parliament and lost a court challenge to Mnangagwa’s win last month &#8211; maintains that he was cheated of victory by the electoral board and says the 76-year-old president lack legitimacy.
After leaving parliament, the MDC lawmakers broke into song denouncing the ruling ZANU-PF party. “As the MDC we cannot sit there and be addressed by a person who does not even respect the rule of law,” MDC national chairperson Tabitha Khumalo told Reuters.
ZANU-PF’s chief whip in parliament Pupurai Togarepi described the lawmakers’ conduct as unfortunate, adding: “We hope that over time they will come to their senses, it’s not about grandstanding but building the country together.”
Mnangagwa, who has previously called for unity among political parties to help rebuild the shattered economy, said the elections were now in the past.
“The election period is decisively behind us. It is now time for us as members of parliament and political leaders to exert our efforts towards delivering promises we made to the electorate,” Mnangagwa said in his speech.
The president promised to bring a series of bills to parliament, including on giving more power to Zimbabwe’s 10 regions, revamping the process of registering companies and creating a one-stop investment agency.
A mining amendment bill passed by parliament in June, which removed clauses requiring foreign mines to list their shares on the local stock market, would be brought back to the assembly to fix “inadequacies” and provide for online registration of mining rights and titles.
Mnangagwa, who came to power in November after Robert Mugabe was removed in a coup, faces the huge task of ending Zimbabwe’s international pariah status and fixing an economy afflicted by high unemployment and foreign currency shortages.
He told lawmakers that his government had negotiated $500 million in foreign credit facilities, some of which would be disbursed to companies this week.
Mnangagwa, however, said the country would not immediately re-introduce its own currency that was dumped in 2009 after it was made worthless by hyperinflation of 500 billion percent.
Editing by James Macharia and David Stamp

Here’s why Zimbabwean opposition lawmakers walked out of President Mnangagwa’s #SONA

WASHINGTON (Reuters) &#8211; The U.S. government will not lift sanctions against Zimbabwe until the new government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa demonstrates it is “changing its ways,” a senior U.S. economic official told a congressional panel on Thursday.
Manisha Singh, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs, told a House of Representatives hearing there were 141 entities and individuals in Zimbabwe, including Mnangagwa and former president Robert Mugabe, that are currently under U.S. sanctions.
“Our pressure on Zimbabwe remains in place. We are trying to use this pressure to leverage political and economic reforms, human rights observations,” Singh said.
“We want to see fundamental changes in Zimbabwe and only then will we resume normal relations with them,” she added.
Mnangagwa was sworn in as Zimbabwe’s new president on Aug. 26 after the Constitutional Court confirmed his July 30 election victory, dismissing a challenge by opposition leader Nelson Chamisa.
Mnangagwa has called for the lifting of U.S. sanctions against officials from the ZANU-PF ruling party, top military figures and some government-owned firms, which were imposed during Mugabe’s rule for it called violations of human rights and democracy.
The EU lifted most of its sanctions in 2014, but has maintained those against Mugabe and his wife Grace.
The July ballot was touted as a crucial step toward shedding the pariah reputation that Zimbabwe gained under Mugabe as well as securing international donor funding.
Rep. Karen Bass, a Democrat from California, said Zimbabwe was “trying to reach out to us now and I want to know where we are with that.”
“We are always open to conversations. We are open to a demonstration from the government that it is changing its ways, that it is observing human rights,” Singh added.
Reporting by Lesley Wroughton, editing by G Crosse

U.S. will not lift sanctions against Zimbabwe until the African country does this…

By <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/experts/landry-signe/">Professor Landry Signé</a>, David M. Rubenstein Fellow in the Global Economy and Development Program and Africa Growth Initiative at the Brookings Institution and <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/author/chido-munyati/">Chido Munyati</a>, Global Leadership Fellow, World Economic Forum.
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This July, Zimbabwe held its first post-Robert Mugabe era presidential election, nearly four decades after his accession to power. The ruling ZANU-PF party won the 69 percent of the 210 seats in parliament after winning rural voters by large margins. In the presidential vote, Emmerson Mnangagwa, the ZANU-PF party candidate and the incumbent president, emerged victorious from a 23-candidate field, winning 50.8 percent of the vote. The main opposition, the MDC Alliance, challenged the election results, and today the constitutional court upheld the outcome.
Free, fair, and credible elections are preconditions for sustainable peace and democratic development, as well as for attracting new investment and other support from international financial institutions and foreign governments. While most election observers have acknowledged improvements in this election, they have not considered them sufficient. They highlighted “inclusive participation rights and a peaceful vote” but also noted a “lack of trust in the process.” Two U.S. based groups, the International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute, highlighted “numerous incidents of food and agricultural assistance and extreme media bias” in favor of President Mnangagwa. The Southern African Development Community largely considered the election successful, noting that people had the “opportunity to exercise their constitutional right.”
Support for democracy is strong in Zimbabwe. According to the latest Afrobarometer Survey, 75.2 percent of people “prefer democracy” and an additional 4.7 percent “sometimes prefer democracy.” Additionally, 78.5 percent of citizens think that they should choose leaders in their country through regular, open, and honest elections. Finally, 67.8 percent of people believe that the constitution should limit the president to serving a maximum of two terms in office.
Zimbabwe seems to be regaining the trust of international investors and foreign governments. The country has attracted an estimated $16 billion in investments since Emmerson Mnangagwa took over in November 2017. Development partners are also collaborating again. The Indian government will provide a $310 million soft loan for the rehabilitation of the Hwange Thermal Power station and the CDC and Standard Chartered will provide $100 million in lending to new businesses.
Despite these advancements, there is still a lot to do to bring the country back to sustainable development:
IMPROVE GOVERNANCE TO REPEAL INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC SANCTIONS, ADDRESS INTERNATIONAL DEBT, AND DELIVER BETTER PUBLIC SERVICES 
Recently, the U.S. government renewed the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZIDERA), which requires that the country make credible progress towards holding free and fair elections, restore the rule of law, and ensure military subordination to the civilian government. The Government of Zimbabwe needs to increase accountability and accountable governance, and convince the U.S. government to repeal ZIDERA. With the sanctions bill in place, Zimbabwe cannot access loans or guarantees from international financial institutions without the approval of the U.S. government.
The renewed legislation also requires that U.S. representatives at multilateral organizations not support any efforts to address Zimbabwe’s debt situation. As of February 2018, Zimbabwe still had debts of $1.15 billion at the World Bank, $601 million to the African Development Bank, and $3 billion to Paris Club countries.
The government needs to re-engage diplomatically to get the sanctions lifted as they restrict business, its ability to borrow from international organizations, and resolve its debt situation. Zimbabwean officials continue to look to engage U.S. officials with the Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister, Dr. Sibusiso Moyo, telling reporters that “we are determined to continue in the re-engagement with the U.S. administration, as we together seek to restore our bilateral relations to normalcy.” In order to regain access to international capital markets Zimbabwe must repay its debt arrears to major foreign lenders.
Other necessary reforms include repealing the chilling media laws—including the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and the Public Order and Security Act (POSA)—which restrict the media environment and promotes self-censorship. Additionally, the government must align current laws with the constitution.
IMPROVING THE MACROECONOMIC CONTEXT AND POLICY DELIVERY
Resolve the chronic cash shortage in the short-term, and create its own currency in the long-term 
Addressing the cash shortages must be a priority for the government. Zimbabwe desperately needs an influx of foreign cash to resolve the currency crises and spur economic growth. The country has not had a currency of its own since it dollarized in 2009 because of hyperinflation.
In the long term, Zimbabwe needs to have its own currency. In 2016, the Reserve Bank introduced “bond notes”, a substitute currency that locally has the same value as the U.S. dollar. Bond notes were meant to alleviate the shortage of U.S. dollars in the system—this, however, had the opposite effect by further increasing the demand for U.S. dollar.
Implement economic and civil reforms domestically 
As highlighted earlier, President Mnangagwa has attracted significant new investment to Zimbabwe since last year. However, the country continues to face chronic cash shortages that are holding back economic growth. In recent months, businesses raised prices as they struggled to find U.S. dollars to conduct business.
Beyond reforms, President Mnangagwa can send positive signals to foreign lenders and investors by tackling corruption, and appointing reputable and accountable technocrats to manage the economy. Indeed, the window of opportunity has narrowed considerably since the post-election violence that followed a peaceful vote. President Mnangagwa said there would be an independent investigation into the post-election violence. Some hope and goodwill remains; however, actions taken in the next few months will determine whether Zimbabwe is breaking with the past.
By <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/experts/landry-signe/">Professor Landry Signé</a>, David M. Rubenstein Fellow in the Global Economy and Development Program and Africa Growth Initiative at the Brookings Institution, distinguished fellow at Stanford University’s Center for African Studies, World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, and author of “Innovating Development Strategies in Africa: The Role of International, Regional and National Actors,
and <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/author/chido-munyati/">Chido Munyati</a>, Global Leadership Fellow, World Economic Forum.

OpEd: Is Zimbabwe regaining the trust of international investors?

HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe has said he now accepts President Emmerson Mnangagwa as the country’s legitimate leader after initially accusing him of leading a “disgraceful” de facto coup that ended his near four-decades rule last year.
On the eve of the July 30 vote, Mugabe said he would vote for the opposition to remove Mnangagwa’s “military government”, as the 94-year-old leader expressed bitterness and turned against his one-time allies in the ruling ZANU-PF party.
But at a funeral wake of his mother-in-law, Mugabe said Mnangagwa’s victory, which is still disputed by his main opponent Nelson Chamisa, made him a legitimate president, the privately-owned NewsDay and state-owned The Herald newspapers reported on Friday.
“The wrong that happened last November has been erased by his victory in the July 30 elections. We now have a government born out of the constitution. I now accept his leadership and he now deserves the support of every Zimbabwean,” Mugabe said, looking frail in video footage on an online television site.
“Before the elections, I did not support him because he came through illegal means which violated our liberation values that politics lead the gun,” added Mugabe, likely ending the feud between the new president and his former mentor.
Mugabe’s forced resignation divided ZANU-PF and created mistrust between the army on one side and the police and intelligence agency on the other, but the rapprochement could help overcome those differences and rally others behind Mnangagwa.
The military last year intervened after expulsions of ZANU-PF officials that were sympathetic to Mnangagwa, then Mugabe’s deputy, and to stop the presidential ambitions of the wife of the veteran former leader.
Mugabe’s wife Grace and a ZANU-PF faction known as G40 had been resisting Mnangagwa’s rise to power. Mugabe again denied that he had planned to install Grace as his preferred successor, NewsDay and The Herald reported on Friday.
At the wake Grace also said people should pray for her husband, who she said was not feeling well. The couple have travelled to Singapore several times this year for Mugabe’s medical treatment.
Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg

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