<p>Zimbabwe&#8217;s tax agency ZIMRA said on Thursday it failed to meet its 2016 revenue target by 4 percent, as the economy stalled and weak global commodity prices hit mineral royalties.</p>
<p>The southern African nation&#8217;s economy stagnated last year while its budget deficit exploded, putting political pressure on long-serving President Robert Mugabe&#8217;s government.</p>
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<p>ZIMRA chairman Willia Bonyongwe said in a statement the agency collected $3.46 billion in taxes between January and December 2016 compared to a target of $3.61 billion.</p>
<p>&#8220;The failure to surpass revenue targets in 2016 is largely due to the prevailing harsh economic conditions,&#8221; Bonyongwe said.</p>
<p>She did not give the agency&#8217;s revenue target for 2017 but said the tax authority would automate its revenue collection operations and deploy other measures to improve revenue.</p>
<p>Bonyongwe said mining companies paid $63 million in mineral royalties, far below the ZIMRA target of $110 million and blamed weaker mineral commodity prices for below par collections.</p>
<p>Zimbabwe holds the largest reserves of platinum deposits after South Africa and mining, mostly gold, platinum and nickel, generate more than half of the country&#8217;s export revenue.</p>
<p>Individuals and Zimbabwean companies owed the tax agency $2.7 billion at the end of December compared to $2 billion at the start of 2016, Bonyongwe said, adding that this was because most people were not meeting their tax obligations.</p>
<p>Zimbabwean businesses say they are struggling with a lack of cheap capital and shortages of foreign currency which have made it hard to pay for imports and external obligations.﻿</p>
<p> </p>


Zimbabwe tax agency says misses 2016 revenue target

<p>Zimbabwe has reversed a decision to impose a drastic increase in mobile phone data charges, which provoked an angry response from customers and critics who accused President Robert Mugabe&#8217;s government of trying to curtail the use of social media.</p>
<p>Last year activists used the Internet to mobilise the biggest anti-government protests in a decade, bypassing traditional opposition parties as anger grew over Mugabe&#8217;s handling of the economy.﻿</p>
<p>Econet Wireless, the southern African nation&#8217;s largest mobile telephone company, raised data charges by a multiple of 25, in line with new regulations from the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe.</p>
<p>But Information Communication Technology Minister Supa Mandiwanzira said in a statement on Friday that the tariff increases were &#8220;shockingly high&#8221; and blamed mobile phone companies for &#8220;gluttonous corporate greed&#8221;.</p>
<p>Mandiwanzira said that the new prices had been proposed to the regulator by mobile phone companies.</p>
<p>Econet did not immediately respond to emailed questions.</p>
<p>&#8220;I have directed the immediate suspension of the tariff increases that were effected two days ago to the dismay of many mobile phone users,&#8221; Mandiwanzira said.</p>
<p>Econet&#8217;s cheapest data package, which came into effect on Wednesday night, gives users 10 megabytes of data for $1, compared with 250 megabytes per dollar previously.﻿</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>


Zimbabwe reverses telecoms price hike after public backlash

<p>A bizarre story has recently come out of Zimbabwe. Grace Mugabe, the politically powerful wife of the ageing president Robert Mugabe, has come up with a plan to settle <a href="http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/zimbabwark-to-settle-mugabe-debt-vww9ctqrb">a debt to China</a> with 35 young elephants, eight lions, 12 hyenas and a giraffe. The debt was incurred in 1998 when Zimbabwe sent troops and bought equipment from China to help President Laurent Kabila in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Kabila needed help fighting off a rebel movement backed by Uganda and Rwanda.</p>
<p>Zimbabwe’s use of live wildlife as a commodity is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/dec/23/zimbabwe-ships-live-elephants-to-wildlife-parks-in-china">nothing new</a>. And it’s not the only country to do so. It is quite common for southern African states to sell what they consider to be surplus animals to zoos or safari parks outside Africa.</p>
<p>In January 2016, the US Fish and Wildlife Service gave the go ahead for Swaziland to export 18 elephants to <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/01/160122-Swaziland-Elephants-Import-US-Zoos/">zoos in the US</a>. Between 2010 and 2014 an estimated 500 white rhinos and 20 elephants were exported from <a href="http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2016/09/28/live-elephant-and-rhino-trade-debated-at-wildlife-convention/">African range states</a>.</p>
<p>Animals are also exported to restock parks or reserves elsewhere on the continent. <a href="https://www.theindependent.co.zw/2016/05/20/overpopulated-conservancy-seeks-ship-excess-lions/">Zimbabwe’s Bubye Valley Conservancy</a>, for example, is arranging to send 8-10 lions to Malawi, Rwanda and Zambia. The aim is to help them re-establish prides in areas depleted of lions.</p>
<p>The sale of live animals is <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/12/141217-zimbabwe-china-elephants-zoos-tuli-botswana-south-africa/">highly controversial</a>, but not illegal as long as rules established by <a href="https://www.cites.org/">CITES</a> are followed. These require that live exports only be between two CITES members and that both parties’ management authorities for CITES ensure that the export permits are valid.</p>
<p>The authorities need to ensure that “the export of the animals would not be detrimental to the survival of the species in the wild” and would be taken to “to appropriate and acceptable destinations”.</p>
<p>But the removal of young elephants from their herds – as happened in Zimbabwe – is highly damaging to the animals and to the herd as a whole. This form of removal has been called a <a href="http://www.news24.com/Africa/Zimbabwe/grace-mugabe-pays-military-debt-to-china-with-35-zim-jumbos-report-20161227y">“a mad act of cruelty”.</a></p>
<p>The Zimbabwean embassy in China has denied the reports of the sale and there has been no word from the environment minister in Harare. The story will be embarrassing for China at a time when it is basking in praise over its announcement of a coming ban on <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/12/china-ban-ivory-trade-2017-161230183540915.html">ivory working and retail sales</a>.</p>
<h2>Why selling live elephants is a problem</h2>
<p>At the CITES Conference of the Parties in Johannesburg last year members of the <a href="https://cites.org/eng/news/Current_rules_commercial_international_trade_elephant_ivory_under_CITES_Proposals_CITES_CoP17_200716">African Elephant Coalition</a> – a 29 member grouping of African states opposed to any trade in ivory or the export outside the continent of live elephants – attempted to get the CITES regulation changed to limit exports to relocation inside Africa and to ban exports to other continents. It was opposed by southern African states and China and did not get sufficient support to go to a vote. Instead a US compromise proposal was passed tightening the export regulations and attempting to ensure that ivory or horn from exported live animals did not enter the illegal trade system.</p>
<p>One of the concerns raised by NGOs and wildlife activists about the export of live elephants to China is that they will at some stage be farmed and their ivory harvested to be sold at a huge profit. <a href="http://www.news24.com/Africa/Zimbabwe/grace-mugabe-pays-military-debt-to-china-with-35-zim-jumbos-report-20161227">This fear was expressed by conservationists</a> when news about Zimbabwe’s most recent debt-settling plan emerged.</p>
<p>There is also concern that animals go to zoos with <a href="http://varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk/index.php/2012/01/animal-performance-china/">poor welfare records</a> or where cruel methods will be used to make the animals into little more than circus performers.</p>
<h2>Zimbabwe’s justification</h2>
<p>Zimbabwean ministers and wildlife officials have for years defended the regular sale of elephants and other wildlife to China. They have justified it by saying they need to reduce pressure of numbers in over-stocked reserves and raise funds for conservation. But there is no proof that the money raised goes back into conservation and clearly using elephants to settle military-related debts does little for conservation.</p>
<p>The official Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority <a href="http://www.zimparks.org/index.php/mc/176-live-sales-of-elephants">website</a> justifies live exports as a means of sustainably supporting conservation and reducing pressure of numbers on eco-systems. Over-population of elephants, in particular, can damage habitats, put pressure on other vulnerable species and lead to conflict with local communities, whose crops may be damaged or destroyed.</p>
<p>But while a conservation case may be made quite cogently for limiting numbers, the export of live animals seems more related to profit than sustainable use conservation. And the fate of live animals exported is also being questioned. There are <a href="http://traveller24.news24.com/Explore/Green/shockwildlifetruths-zim-baby-elephants-heading-for-chinese-zoo-20161107">reports</a> that, when the young elephants were being captured in Zimbabwe, 37 were caught but only 35 were sold to China because two died soon after capture.</p>
<p>The Zimbabwean Minister of the Environment, Water and Climate, Oppiah Muchinguri-Kashiri strongly advocates the sale of animals to raise money. But she doesn’t appear to have a strong grasp of the facts of conservation and the trade in animals or their products. This is evident in how adamant she was that Zimbabwe could sell its ivory stockpile to China despite the CITES decision.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, Zimbabwe is forging ahead with planned sales to raise desperately needed cash. Reports from the <a href="http://savetheelephants.org/about-elephants-2-3/elephant-news-post/?detail=cecil-the-lion-family-might-be-targeted-for-zimbabwe-export-to-china-zoo">Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force</a> in September last year said that the Zimbabwe Wildlife Department was capturing animals to meet an order from China for 130 elephants and 50 lions.</p>
<p>In <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-35233259">January last year</a> the minister defended past sales and said they would be continued. In the previous six months Zimbabwe had sold 100 elephants to Chinese zoos at a cost of $40,000 each.</p>
<p>It is very clear that Zimbabwe’s environment minister and wildlife authorities have no qualms about the questionable trade in live animals. They are willing to sell animals to Chinese zoos and safari parks, some of which have less than <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/09/150925-elephants-china-zimbabwe-cites-joyce-poole-zoos-wildlife-trade/">spotless records for animal welfare</a> and are <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2861424/Is-cute-cruel-Activists-fear-treatment-animals-Chinese-wildlife-park-home-biggest-population-koalas-outside-Australia.html">barely distinguishable from circuses</a>.</p>
<p>One destination for Zimbabwean elephants is the huge and widely criticised <a href="http://varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk/index.php/2012/01/animal-performance-china/">Chimelong Wildlife Park</a>, which includes a circus and stages a variety of dubious performances and stunts involving its animals.</p>
<p>It is hard to draw a clear line to show where justifiable sustainable-use and sheer exploitation for profit begins. But it is clear that Zimbabwe and China have crossed that line.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/70873/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" width="1" height="1" alt="The Conversation"/></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/keith-somerville-275605">Keith Somerville</a>, Visiting Professor, <em><a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-kent-1248">University of Kent</a></em></p>
<p>This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-zimbabwes-use-of-elephants-to-pay-off-old-debt-to-china-is-problematic-70873">original article</a>.</p>


Why Zimbabwe's use of elephants to pay off old debt to China is problematic

<p>Zimbabwe&#8217;s biggest banking group CBZ Holdings has suspended the use of Visa cards for local transactions due to high costs and cash shortages, its chief executive officer said on Monday.</p>
<p>The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe last November introduced a &#8220;bond note&#8221; currency to ease chronic cash shortages, but long queues have remained at banks, which have continued to impose stringent limits on cash withdrawals.</p>
<p>Nyevero Nyemudzo said CBZ clients should from Jan. 15 use local cards only valid in Zimbabwe and reserve Visa cards for online purchases and when travelling abroad.</p>
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<p>&#8220;We have told our clients it is cheaper for them because the charges by Visa are very high and that is compelling enough for out clients to restrict the use of the Visa card,&#8221; Nyevero said.</p>
<p>Zimbabwean businesses, including mines, are struggling to make payments for foreign imports due to the cash shortages.</p>
<p>The central bank says it has to date released $79 million in bond notes, which it has hailed as a success.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>(Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Joe Brock)﻿</p>


No to local Visa card transactions – Zimbabwe's largest bank

<p><em>This article first appeared in Forbes Africa and is republished with its permission. Subscribe today by contacting Shanna Jacobsen <a href="mailto:Shanna.Jacobsen@abn360.com">Shanna.Jacobsen@abn360.com﻿</a>﻿</em>﻿</p>
<p>Call him unlucky or dodgy, whichever way you look at it, Zimbabwean financier and moneylender, Frank Buyanga, can fight.</p>
<p>He was trapped in his adopted country, South Africa, after Interpol issued him with a so-called ‘red notice’ in February 2012. This is issued to a person subject to an arrest warrant or one who is required to serve a sentence. He fought,  using the law, to clear his name. He is now free to travel and do business at home.</p>
<p>At the root of it all was his money-lending business in Zimbabwe. Buyanga’s borrowers secured their loans with their homes. Every now and again, defaulters refused to give up their houses, leading to litigation and growing disgruntlement. The government called the loans a sham.</p>
<p>“The police made sure I was absent by arresting me. By me being absent, all these complainants were able to go and lie to the courts, police and judges. To some extent, they were successful because I wasn’t around to defend my position because I was busy fighting a criminal case. There was no element of criminality in any of my transactions,” says Buyanga.</p>
<p>His lawyer Nick Kaufman fought tooth and nail for the matter to be resolved.</p>
<p>“Frank is a colorful character. People don’t like success stories, especially from people who show their wealth,” said Kaufman, an international lawyer who has represented Muammar Gaddafi’s children and the Democratic Republic of Congo leader, Jean-Pierre Bemba, against war crimes, when interviewed by FORBES AFRICA in 2012.</p>
<p>“It’s a serious defamation of character, when you have somebody who is presumed innocent then his photograph appears with the likes of Osama bin Laden and his henchmen, then that in itself has an effect on a legitimate businessman who is trying to conduct activities,” he said.</p>
<p>Kaufman argued that the red notice offends the Interpol constitution in that it was tainted by political motives and offended the rules of Interpol in that it was essentially designed to coerce a resolution to what was effectively a civil case.</p>
<p>They won.</p>
<p>Buyanga says he later received a two-page letter, signed by the chief law officer in the attorney general’s office, Chris Mutangadura, reversing the notice.</p>
<p>“There was a lot of pressure from my side for the issue to be resolved. The National Prosecuting Authority was incorrectly advised in terms of how they came to the decision of putting me on the Interpol red notice. I think they realized that,” says Buyanga.</p>
<p>Able to travel freely, Buyanga continued with business in the country of his father’s birth.</p>
<p>“If I had it my way, I would sell all my businesses in Zimbabwe and go on holiday for the rest of my life. The problem is that, in that country, nobody can afford my businesses&#8230; I wouldn’t be sticking around there for these headaches,” he says.</p>
<p>In a limping economy, short of hard cash, people are reliant on lending; but problems that caused his red notice still persist.</p>
<p>As you read this, Buyanga has an arrest warrant out for him in Zimbabwe. He also has more than 200 cases before the courts brought forward by people who borrowed money from his company, Hamilton Finance. Most of these are him against “squatters”, as he calls them, living in his properties. He has been labeled a “loan shark” by some, yet others defend his business principles.</p>
<p>“We live in Africa which is still developing… whenever you do something that has some sort of relevance; people automatically look at you like a crook…,” says Kaufman.</p>
<p>Buyanga, the son of a former Zimbabwean civil servant, who was born in London, owns a Rolls Royce, Lamborghinis, an Aston Martin DB9 and others. He lives in a luxury flat at the Michelangelo Towers, in the heart of Sandton, near Johannesburg, and rubs shoulders with celebs, like former Liverpool and England footballer John Barnes.</p>
<p>“Four years ago, I was driving to Durban and my friend and I were following each other driving Lamborghinis. Police stopped us on the [highway] and said ‘can you put me in whatever you are doing, I know you are doing drugs’… this is the perception of people. Sometime ago, I was driving to Harare in an Aston Martin and a cop stopped me and said ‘I am not going to search you, tell me what you are carrying because you probably have gold in there. It’s a mental illness among our people,” he says.</p>
<p>Buyanga has been a subject of investigation for the past 25 years but has never been found guilty for any crime. Yet, if you google him, hundreds of articles of fraud pop up, including an arrest warrant for failure to attend court for conspiracy to fraud in the UK.</p>
<p>“I am not wanted in the UK, because my lawyers have been dealing with that issue. I don’t even know what the merits of the case in the UK are… My lawyers have asked for the Crown Prosecution in the UK to provide them with a file for the facts of that matter which they haven’t done. I have problems even here in South Africa. It doesn’t matter where you are… I follow the constitution in every country I am a resident at,” he says.</p>
<p>“I make sure we pay our taxes, we create employment. Persistence, drive, initiative is the only way I survive in Zimbabwe.”</p>
<p>The entrepreneur says he had his first company, in the UK, when he was 18 years old and he is not about to let anything pull him down.</p>
<p>“My dad and I started Summit Trading, a company that traded commodities. In 1999, I started Fercl Trading, an exporting company to the Middle East and Africa from the UK, at 19 years old,” he says.</p>
<p>In 2000, property was cheap in Zimbabwe because of the political unrest and economic downturn; Buyanga took advantage of this.</p>
<p>“I started buying property because it was cheap at the time. I used to go to auctions and buy and now I have hundreds of properties.”</p>
<p>He is also invested in business in South Africa in mining, finance, infrastructure, and consultancy. He also does business across the continent.</p>
<p>Lawsuits are breathing down his neck, but Buyanga lives to fight another day.﻿</p>


The tale of a Zimbabwean entrepreneur who has seen it all

<p>MASVINGO, Zimbabwe(Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe was confirmed on Saturday as his party&#8217;s sole candidate for the next presidential election in 2018, when he will be 94.</p>
<p>Supporters at a party conference sang a song titled &#8220;Mugabe should rule until eternity&#8221; as the veteran leader rose to give a speech in which he called for an end to infighting within the ruling ZANU-PF over his eventual successor.</p>
<p>&#8220;We came with our problems, which we heard. We also came knowing we had differences. We agreed our differences should end and fighting should stop,&#8221; said Mugabe, who has faced unprecedented protests this year.</p>
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<p>Mugabe, the only ruler that the southern African nation has known since independence from Britain in 1980, has come under pressure from a deteriorating economy, corruption and cash shortages that have seen the central bank introducing a new &#8220;bond note&#8221; currency in November.</p>
<p>In July, he was deserted by some of his once stalwart supporters, war veterans that have backed him in previous elections.</p>
<p>Still, Mugabe retains unrivalled support in ZANU-PF, which is grappling with factional fights as party officials manoeuvre for advantage in a post-Mugabe era.</p>
<p>ZANU-PF&#8217;s various entities, including the youth and women&#8217;s wings, confirmed him as the sole candidate to contest the 2018 election at the end of a two-day conference on Saturday, which was held in Masvingo town, 300 km (186 miles) south of the capital, Harare.</p>
<p>That means potential successors who wish to challenge Mugabe for the leadership of the party would have to wait for the 2019 party congress when ZANU-PF chooses its leaders.</p>
<p>There are two camps vying to succeed Mugabe, with one with faction supporting Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa while another backs first lady Grace Mugabe.</p>
<p>In one of its resolutions, the ZANU-PF Youth League said presidential term limits should be abolished and Mugabe should be declared life president.</p>
<p>Under the constitution adopted in 2013, Mugabe can only serve one final term.</p>
<p>Political analysts say Mugabe runs an effective patronage system that rewards supporters and punishes those who seek to challenge his rule, as happened to his former vice president of 10 years Joice Mujuru in 2014.</p>
<p>(Editing by Helen Popper)﻿﻿</p>
<p> </p>
<p>﻿</p>
<p> </p>


"Zimbabwe's Mugabe should rule until eternity", sing supporters

<p>Almost 40 years after its independence, land reform remains at the heart of Zimbabwe’s political and economic challenges. But perhaps more than any other issue in Zimbabwe, it has historically been met with inertia from government and the international community.</p>
<p>Governments throughout the world have found difficulty devising economically successful land tenure models that <a href="https://www.rienner.com/title/Class_Dynamics_of_Agrarian_Change">incorporate landless populations</a> meaningfully into food and cash crop production. Zimbabwe is no exception.</p>
<p>In Southern Rhodesia, the development of the settler agricultural economy was based on the widespread expropriation of land and the forced removal of native populations to reserves. Settler populations maintained access to the best land in the colony, where land holdings were based on colour and ethnicity.</p>
<p>Southern Rhodesia’s Land Apportionment <a href="http://afraf.oxfordjournals.org/content/XXXIV/CXXXVI/296.full.pdf">Act</a> of 1930 reserved 50% of the land in the country for white settlers, 30% for Africans, and 20% for commercial companies and the colonial government. This set the stage for future President Robert Mugabe’s childhood and the <a href="http://www.worldhistory.biz/sundries/39661-zimbabwe-second-chimurenga-1966-1979.html">second Chimurenga</a>.</p>
<p>The end of settler colonialism and the coming of majority rule in Zimbabwe did not change skewed land ownership patterns. This was despite the fact that Mugabe came to power largely on the promise of <a href="https://penguin.com.au/books/dinner-with-mugabe-9781742286235">redistributing land to the rural poor</a></p>
<h2>Independence and commercial agriculture</h2>
<p>Under the <a href="http://sas-space.sas.ac.uk/5847/5/1979_Lancaster_House_Agreement.pdf">Lancaster House Agreement</a>, Mugabe’s government could only acquire land on a “willing seller, willing buyer, fair market” basis for the first ten years of independence. This undoubtedly stalled land reform. Only about 50,000 households were settled in the first decade of independence.</p>
<p>Mugabe blamed the slow pace of reform on Britain, which cancelled its promised funding of the program in the face of corruption allegations. Critics accused Mugabe of awarding tracts of land to government ministers and party loyalists.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Land-Reform-Zimbabwe-Thomson-ebook/dp/B004MPRV56/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1481121113&amp;sr=8-5&amp;keywords=land+reform+zimbabwe">slow pace of land reform</a> continued after the end of the Lancaster House Agreement. This was in part due to subsequent land acts that protected commercial agricultural production. These continued Lancaster House’s willing seller, willing buyer, and fair market compensation principles, thereby protecting settler commercial agricultural production.</p>
<p>But the government was also constrained by the need to maintain the commercial agricultural sector, its ties to the local economy, and its important export earnings. To a government consolidating power in the country, it became more important to maintain the status quo and keep export earnings rather than to challenge largely white commercial farming interests. In the first decade after independence, <a href="http://www.academicjournals.org/article/article1380553915_Maiyaki.pdf">agriculture provided 45% of the country’s exports, 60% of the raw materials used by Zimbabwean industry, and 70% of employment for the population</a>.</p>
<p>It was also important to maintain good relations and attract foreign investment, notably from the UK, which maintained strong ties with the settler agricultural sector.</p>
<h2>The difficulty of reforming the commercial sector</h2>
<p>When Mugabe came to power in 1980, his government inherited an agricultural sector that was dependent on subsidies and government support. Through continued government intervention from 1980-1985, <a href="http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/y4632e/y4632e0y.htm#TopOfPage">the smallholder sector developed rapidly</a>, providing maize and cotton largely for local use.</p>
<p>In 1986, the government decided to create incentives for export production, including foreign exchange and marketing subsidies, making commercial production more profitable. As a result, many large-scale and smallholder farmers moved to the commercial production of cash crops such as tobacco and maize for export. But by 1990, the government could no longer sustain subsidies. Instead it embarked on a <a href="http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/y4632e/y4632e0y.htm#TopOfPage">program of deregulation</a>.</p>
<p>Declines in the value of the Zimbabwe dollar, coupled with increases in the prices of fertilizer, feed, and transport, rendered commercial farming an expensive endeavor. As a consequence, large-scale commercial farming of more profitable crops such as tobacco increased. <a href="http://www.fctobacco.com/index.php/about/history-of-tobacco">Tobacco became the country’s single largest foreign exchange earner</a>.</p>
<p>But small-scale farmers generally did not benefit from increases in tobacco production. They did not enjoy economies of scale. They also lacked access to capital, markets, technology, and extension services. Small-scale farmers therefore focused on other less profitable crops including maize, cotton, and groundnuts. Still, in the first two decades after independence, small-scale and resettlement farmers were <a href="http://www.fao.org/docrep/006/y4997e/y4997e0k.htm">not able to compete</a> with large-scale farmers without continued subsidies and increased market access.</p>
<p>There were other constraints. Investor confidence is largely based on the maintenance of the status quo of the agricultural sector in countries such as Zimbabwe. Prior to the end of the 1990s the Zimbabwe government did not want to send mixed signals to the investment community and jeopardise its investment profile or potential. As such tthe government was loath on embarking on large-scale subsidy and asset nationalisation schemes to develop small-scale commercial agriculture.</p>
<p>In the absence of donor funding to develop training, extension services, credit facilities, and market access, the Zimbabwe government had few economic options available to incorporate smallholders into the agricultural sector without scaring away much needed capital.</p>
<h2>Fast track to land reform</h2>
<p>As internal discontent increased, and external funding for land reform dried up, Mugabe threatened to expropriate white-owned farmland without compensation. In 1997 the government published a list of <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/030570700108351">1,471 farms that were to be expropriated and resettled</a>. It demanded that the UK provide funding for the endeavour. The UK did not heed the call. Corruption, coupled with the gazetting of white-owned farms, threatened remaining donor funding. In 1999 the International Monetary Fund <a href="http://news.trust.org//item/20130607220313-9eqtm/">suspended its funding</a> to Zimbabwe.</p>
<p>As the 1990s drew to a close, persistent drought, a failed structural adjustment program, rampant inflation, and lack of foreign exchange created a challenging environment for the Zimbabwean government and population. Hungry for land, Zimbabwe African National Union-People’s Front (ZANU-PF) supporters, some of whom were war veterans, <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/667621.stm">invaded white-owned farms</a> with the government’s approval in early 2000. This took place before parliament passed a bill that changed the constitution to legalise the expropriation of white-owned farms without compensation. Once the change was voted in, “fast tracking” land reform for resettlement became policy.</p>
<p>As opposition movements grew, ZANU-PF became increasingly willing to adopt programs aimed at fast tracking land reform to landless, discontented, yet voting, populations.</p>
<p>Violence and continued government threats left the majority of white farmers with little choice but to abandon their land or discontinue cultivation. By 2004 the government-controlled newspaper indicated that farmers only used <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/200412230052.html">a quarter of the arable land</a> in the country that season. Agricultural production plummeted and the country went from a net food exporter to a net importer.</p>
<p>Zimbabwe continues to face extreme food shortages which have only been exacerbated by drought. Today, about 5 million of the country’s population of 14 million are estimated to be in need of <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/05/zimbabwe-drought-million-face-food-shortage-160516142445157.html">food assistance</a>.</p>
<h2>Four decades later it’s still about land</h2>
<p>It undoubtedly remains challenging to integrate local populations meaningfully into the agricultural sector as producers of food and cash crops. This is partly a result of harsh economic realities, including economies of scale and market access. But, as can be seen throughout Zimbabwe, <a href="https://boydellandbrewer.com/zimbabwe-s-land-reform-pb.html">newly settled populations thrive</a> when they are given training and investment that supports the production of food and cash crops.</p>
<p>This is the policy that needs Zimbabwean and international support post-Mugabe to address the country’s rural hunger, and perhaps employment, challenges. This is at the heart of the second Chimurenga, and Mugabe’s almost 40 year old promise to the population of Zimbabwe.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/69524/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" width="1" height="1" alt="The Conversation"/></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/beverly-l-peters-313972">Beverly L. Peters</a>, Director and Assistant Professor Measurement &amp; Evaluation School of Professional and Extended Studies, <em><a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/american-university-1187">American University</a></em></p>
<p>This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-zimbabwe-has-failed-to-sate-the-yearning-for-land-and-to-fix-rural-hunger-69524">original article</a>.</p>


Zimbabwe has failed to sate the yearning for land and to fix rural hunger, this is why

<p>Zimbabwe held its first ever public interviews for the vacant post of Chief Justice on Monday, reflecting President Robert Mugabe&#8217;s reduced authority under a constitution adopted three years ago in the southern African country.</p>
<p>In the past, Mugabe had sole authority to appoint the head of the judiciary, but the 2013 charter requires candidates to be interviewed by the Judicial Services Commission (JSC), a panel of mostly senior judges and lawyers.</p>
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<p>Mugabe then chooses from three names submitted by the JSC.</p>
<p>A University of Zimbabwe law student last week asked the High Court to stop the interviews, arguing the process was not transparent since the candidates were colleagues of, and known to, the interviewing panel.</p>
<p>The High Court on Sunday ruled in favour of the student, who also wanted Mugabe alone to appoint the Chief Justice. The government says it plans to change the constitution to give Mugabe that sole responsibility.</p>
<p>But the JSC, which employs all judges and magistrates, appealed the decision at the Supreme Court, automatically setting aside the High Court ruling.</p>
<p>The JSC decided early on Monday to hold the interviews, which were broadcast live on state television.</p>
<p>Three candidates were interviewed: deputy chief justice Luke Malaba, Paddington Garwe, a Supreme Court and Constitutional Court judge, and Rita Makarau, chairwoman of the Electoral Commission and secretary of the JSC.﻿</p>
<p> </p>


Zimbabwe holds first public interviews for Chief Justice

<p>Zimbabwe expects its 2016 fiscal budget deficit to widen to $1.18 billion, nearly eight times more than it forecast a year ago, Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa said in a budget speech on Thursday.</p>
<p>Chinamasa had pencilled in a deficit of $150 million in November 2016, equivalent to 1.1 percent of GDP, and said it would be financed via domestic borrowing.﻿</p>
<p><strong>Zimbabwe halves 2016 growth forecast, budget deficit widens﻿﻿</strong></p>
<p>Zimbabwe&#8217;s economy will grow by 0.6 percent in 2016, half the previous forecast, but will recover next year, Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa said in a budget speech on Thursday.</p>
<p>Chinamasa said the budget deficit for the 2017 fiscal year was estimated at $400 million, equivalent to 3 percent of GDP, up from 1.1 percent in this year.</p>
<p>The southern African nation is grappling with a devastating drought that has left more than 4 million people facing hunger, while the worst financial crisis in seven years has fuelled some of the biggest anti-government protests in a decade.﻿</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>


Zimbabwe sees 2016 budget deficit nearly 800 pct higher than forecast

<p>Zimbabwean riot police used water cannon on Wednesday to scatter 20 activists protesting at the introduction of &#8220;bond notes&#8221;, a new domestic currency they say could touch off uncontrolled money printing and a return to hyperinflation.</p>
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<p>The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe launched the notes on Monday with the goal of easing chronic cash shortages and supplement the dwindling U.S. dollars in circulation. Intelligence briefings seen by Reuters said if the notes&#8217; value crashed, President Robert Mugabe&#8217;s 36-year grip on power could unravel.</p>
<p>In Harare, 20 youths from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) tried to march through the streets waving placards saying &#8220;No to Bond Mugabe&#8221; and &#8220;No to fake money&#8221;, but were met by a phalanx of riot police.</p>
<p>Water cannon salvoes ensued, quickly dispersing the demonstrators. No arrests were reported.</p>
<p>Having failed to stop the launch of the bond notes, which many Zimbabweans fear will erode U.S. dollar savings, some people have tried to undermine the physical integrity of the $2 notes and $1 coins.</p>
<p>Mobile phone videos have circulated online of people rubbing the bright green $2 bond note against a sheet of white paper to leave a green smudge that they say demonstrates the poor quality of the ink and printing.</p>
<p>A Reuters experiment with a note also left green smears.</p>
<p>Critics in Zimbabwe&#8217;s small but vibrant social media community have pounced on the smudges as symbolic of the real value of the &#8220;bollars&#8221;. They are officially exchangeable at 1:1 to the U.S. dollar but many people believe they will quickly start to depreciate.</p>
<p>&#8220;We are currently witnessing one of the biggest scams in history &#8230; Who just prints paper and determines its value?&#8221; tweeted ClaudeJrK. </p>
<p>The Reserve Bank has asked the public to report people who deface, disfigure or illegally exchange the bond notes.</p>
<p>Although it hopes the bond notes will ease shortages of cash, bank queues lengthened on Wednesday as workers and government employees sought to withdraw monthly salaries.</p>
<p>At independence from Britain in 1980, Zimbabwe was regarded as one of Africa&#8217;s most promising prospects. But its economy has nearly halved since 2000 after the violent seizure of white-owned commercial farms and disastrous printing of money.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>(Editing by Ed Cropley/Mark Heinrich)﻿</p>
<p> </p>


Water cannon soaks Zimbabwean "fake money" protest

<div>
<p>HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwe launched a &#8220;bond notes&#8221; currency which held its value against the U.S. dollar on Monday, despite warnings that it could cause hyperinflation and suggestions it could bring down President Robert Mugabe.</p>
<p>The bright green bond notes, introduced by the southern African nation&#8217;s central bank to try to ease a shortage of dollars, were accepted by most businesses and black market traders.</p>
<p>At the Road Port bus station in the capital Harare, an informal foreign currency market, traders said the $2 bond notes were trading, as planned by the central bank, at 1:1 with the dollar.</p>
<div class="teads-inread">
<div class="teads-ui-components-label">That will provide some relief for Mugabe as many Zimbabweans fear the bond notes will quickly lose value and some have staged protests. Internal intelligence briefings seen by Reuters also raise the possibility that the bond notes, if they crash, could spell the end of the 92-year-old leader&#8217;s 36-year rule. [nL8N1DP34W]</div>
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<p>Undeterred by a heavy downpour, illegal currency dealers swarmed round a Reuters correspondent&#8217;s car offering to exchange bond notes for South Africa&#8217;s rand or U.S. dollars, Zimbabwe&#8217;s currencies since the local dollar was scrapped in 2009 during a battle against hyperinflation.</p>
<p>&#8220;For now it is the same rate whether it&#8217;s bond or U.S. dollar, my brother. We will see in the next few days whether it changes,&#8221; said Tatenda, a currency tout who declined to give his surname.</p>
<p>His business card, which gave only his first name and mobile number, summed up the lot of most of Zimbabwe&#8217;s 13 million people since the multi-billion percent inflation of eight years ago wiped out the nation&#8217;s savings.</p>
<p>&#8220;Hustlers for life, if you can&#8217;t beat them, join them,&#8221; the card read. &#8220;Money don&#8217;t change us, but we are money changers.&#8221;</p>
<p>Formal businesses were told they had to accept the notes as legal tender. Most did so though Zimbabweans circulated one cellphone video clip of a teller at South African supermarket chain Pick n Pay refusing to accept a $2 bond note.</p>
<p>There was no immediate comment from the company.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>&#8220;ILL-CONCEIVED&#8221;</p>
<p>At independence from Britain in 1980, Zimbabwe was regarded as one of Africa&#8217;s most promising prospects. But its economy has nearly halved since 2000 after the violent seizure of white-owned commercial farms and disastrous printing of money.</p>
<p>The secrecy of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) around the release of the notes, including its failure to publish security features or say where they are being printed, has heightened fears it will print more than a stated $200 million issuance limit.</p>
<p>On Sunday, before the notes were introduced, pictures of them were already circulating on social media.</p>
<p>The RBZ first announced plans to introduce the bond notes in May to address the chronic cash shortages and supplement the dwindling U.S. dollars that have been in circulation for the past seven years. [nL8N1DP34W]</p>
<p>However, the announcement was followed by a run on the banks as Zimbabweans tried to empty their accounts of hard currency.</p>
<p>&#8220;People are sceptical because of what happened to our old currency in the past when the money lost its value. That is why they think it could happen again,&#8221; said 36-year-old street hawker Tennison Tigere, after withdrawing $50 of bond notes.</p>
<p>On Monday, Prosper Mkwananzi, spokesman of social media movement #Tajamuka, which has organised some of the protests against Mugabe, was arrested while speaking to journalists about the bond notes.</p>
<p>&#8220;We believe that it is ill-conceived and will not resolve the crisis in the country. It is actually daylight robbery,&#8221; said Mkwananzi, before being whisked away by a dozen anti-riot police at an open space in central Harare.</p>
<p>Even if they do not depreciate in value, many economists say the bond notes will serve only as a sticking plaster for an economy with a $250 million-per-month trade deficit.</p>
<p>In addition to weak exports, Zimbabwe has had to deal with a devastating drought that has left millions facing hunger and boosted the need for food imports.</p>
<p>Zimbabwe is $1.6 billion in arrears to the World Bank and African Development Bank, outstanding debt that prevents Harare from securing any extra financing from the two institutions or the International Monetary Fund.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>(Editing by Timothy Heritage)</p>
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<p class="copyright">© Thomson Reuters 2016 All rights reserved﻿</p>
<p> </p>


Zimbabwe launches "bond notes"

<p>In Zimbabwe, where worthless $100 trillion notes serve as reminders of the perils of hyperinflation, President Robert Mugabe is printing a new currency that jeopardizes not just the economy but his own long grip on power.</p>
<p>Six months ago, the 92-year-old announced plans to address chronic cash shortages by supplementing the dwindling U.S. dollars in circulation over the past seven years with &#8216;bond notes&#8217;, a quasi-currency expected at the end of November.</p>
<p>According to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), the bond notes will be officially interchangeable 1:1 with the U.S. dollar and should ease the cash crunch. The central bank also promised to keep a tight lid on issuance.</p>
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<p>After a 2008 multi-billion percent inflationary meltdown caused by rampant money-printing, many Zimbabweans are sceptical. The plan has already caused a run on the banks as Zimbabweans empty their accounts of hard currency.</p>
<p>Internal intelligence briefings seen by Reuters raise the possibility that the bond notes, if they crash, could spell the end of Mugabe&#8217;s 36 years in charge.</p>
<p>A Sept. 29 Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) report revealed the powerful army was as unhappy as the rest of the population with the new notes and had told Africa&#8217;s oldest leader to &#8220;wake up and smell the coffee&#8221;.</p>
<p>&#8220;Top security officers have told Mugabe not to blame them if Rome starts to burn,&#8221; the report said.</p>
<p>Reuters was unable to determine the author of the report. It is also unclear if Mugabe has seen the report, whose final audience is not specified. Mugabe&#8217;s spokesman did not respond to requests for comment, nor was the CIO available.</p>
<p>But the report offers a rare glimpse into the thinking of Mugabe&#8217;s security forces &#8211; the backbone of his power – and their concerns about the implosion of what used to be one of Africa&#8217;s most promising economies.</p>
<p>&#8220;Mugabe was openly told that the bond notes are going to cause his downfall,&#8221; the report said.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>WAITING FOR THE DROP</p>
<p>The notes&#8217; first test will come in the informal foreign exchange markets on the streets of Harare.</p>
<p>If they fall heavily in value, they are likely to unleash an inflationary spiral that could bleed the banking system of its last few dollars and wipe out Zimbabweans&#8217; savings for the second time in less than a decade, economists say.</p>
<p>The same happened in 2008: powerful individuals with access to dollars at the official 1:1 rate were able to buy bond notes at a discount on the unofficial market and then convert them back to dollars at face value.</p>
<p>&#8220;You start with one dollar, then you&#8217;ve got 10, then you&#8217;ve got 100, then you&#8217;ve got 1,000 – and it&#8217;s not even lunchtime,&#8221; said John Robertson, one of Zimbabwe&#8217;s most respected private economists.</p>
<p>In Harare&#8217;s chaotic Road Port bus station, the main terminus for those heading to and from South Africa, Zimbabwe&#8217;s biggest trading partner, some bus operators are fearing the worst.</p>
<p>Required to pay nearly all their expenses &#8211; fuel, road tolls and police bribes in Zimbabwe and South Africa &#8211; in hard currency cash, they are particularly exposed.</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s like being on death row. You don&#8217;t know when the hangman is going to open your cell door,&#8221; said ticket-seller Simba Muchenje, pulling a wad of worthless 2008 Zimbabwe dollars from his briefcase and tossing them onto the counter.</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s just taking us back to the bad old days.&#8221;</p>
<p>In interviews, none of eight money-changers trading South African rand and U.S. dollars said they would accept bond notes at their $1 face value because of fears of immediate depreciation. The rand and the U.S. dollar have become Zimbabwe&#8217;s currencies since the local dollar was scrapped in 2009</p>
<p>&#8220;The banks may say 1:1, but here we say 2:1. We can&#8217;t afford to pay the same as the banks. I&#8217;m running a business, not a bank,&#8221; said Patience, a 32-year-old money-changer.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>REASSURING WORDS</p>
<p>Given Zimbabwe&#8217;s recent history of hyperinflation, the RBZ is keen to allay fears the printing presses are about to go into overdrive, and that the bond notes are a roundabout route to a new Zimbabwe dollar.</p>
<p>&#8220;The introduction of bond notes does not mark the return of the Zimbabwe dollar through the back door,&#8221; it said in a statement on its website.</p>
<p>Instead, the bank has presented the notes as a 5 percent &#8220;export incentive&#8221; &#8211; a top-up added by the central bank to the accounts of those receiving foreign exchange either from overseas remittances or via farming, manufacturing and mining exports.</p>
<p>They will also be backed by a $200 million &#8220;loan facility&#8221; from Afreximbank, a Cairo-based lender owned by the African Development Bank and dozens of African governments and central banks. Afreximbank declined to comment.</p>
<p>Given monthly exports of roughly $250 million, the 5 percent &#8216;top-up&#8217; suggests a monthly liquidity injection of just $12.5 million, or $1 for every Zimbabwean.</p>
<p>In public statements, the RBZ has given assurances it will not exceed the $200 million issuance ceiling.</p>
<p>But it has not clarified how bond note balances will be recorded in U.S. dollar accounts, nor how ATMs will distinguish between greenbacks and bond notes when they issue cash.</p>
<p>&#8220;Upon withdrawal, banks have an option to pay in any one of the legal tenders,&#8221; the RBZ said.</p>
<p>RBZ Governor John Mangudya missed a scheduled interview with Reuters and did not respond to emailed questions.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>NO DOLLARS, NO FUN</p>
<p>Few Zimbabweans interviewed believed the RBZ would stick to the issuance limits, especially while a large current account deficit continues to suck dollars out of the country.</p>
<p>After the bond notes’ announcement, #ThisFlag and #Tajamuka, social media campaigns targeting the new system, drew the biggest anti-Mugabe protests in a decade before being crushed by riot police and the CIO.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, tens of thousands across the country queue through the night to empty their accounts the moment their pay or pensions arrive, exacerbating the liquidity crunch. Banks have responded with daily withdrawal limits: $100 one day, $50 another, none another. Customers have no idea until the banks open their doors at 8 a.m.</p>
<p>&#8220;Sometimes you get to the end of the queue and there&#8217;s no money,&#8221; said industrial fitter Edmund Panganai, 40, outside a CABS building society branch in Harare. Every month, it takes him at least seven nights of queuing to get his hands on his pay.</p>
<p>In Harare, where most U.S. dollar bills are stained deep brown with grime, a crisp 2009-edition $100 note is now worth as much as $115.</p>
<p>Conversely, the plastic and mobile money introduced to ease physical cash shortages is depreciating, forcing vendors to charge a 10-15 percent premium.</p>
<p>One prostitute, who had been relying on e-wallet payment systems such as Ecocash, run by mobile firm Econet Wireless, said she and other sex workers were turning away customers without hard cash.</p>
<p>&#8220;Ecocash? No thank you. Dollars, dollars, dollars,&#8221; said Patience, a 22-year-old working a Harare street corner. &#8220;No dollars, no fun.&#8221;</p>
<p> </p>
<p>ARMY RATIONED</p>
<p>Combined with unemployment at 90 percent and a government budget crunch that has seen delays in payment of state wages, the discontent is also pervading the army.</p>
<p>The Sept. 29 CIO report said soldiers had applauded the social media protests because they had led to an improvement in daily rations.</p>
<p>&#8220;Before the demonstrations government had stopped supplying them with breakfast. At lunch they were being fed with sadza (maize meal) and cabbage without cooking oil. Mugabe instructed for the army officers to be given descent [sic] meals so they will rally behind him,&#8221; the report said.</p>
<p>Other intelligence reports from late September and early October suggested Mugabe was having doubts about the bond notes. Reuters was unable to confirm this.</p>
<p>&#8220;The issue of the bond notes is giving Mugabe sleepless nights,&#8221; one said. &#8220;Mugabe is serious [sic] thinking of delaying the introduction of the bond until January next year.&#8221;</p>
<p>Another report said army officers were frustrated with pay delays and withdrawal limits.</p>
<p>&#8220;They are very angry as they are failing to access their money from the banks and do not want to be issued with bonds,&#8221; it said.</p>
<p>&#8220;These junior and middle-ranked officers reckon that Mugabe has failed, hence he needs to step down for new blood to replace him.&#8221;</p>
<p> </p>
<p>VETERANS AT WAR</p>
<p>In July, veterans of the 1964-1979 liberation war that brought Mugabe to power broke ranks, accusing him of &#8220;dictatorial tendencies&#8221; and blaming him for the &#8220;serious plight&#8221; of the economy and discord in the ruling ZANU-PF party.</p>
<p>&#8220;We are dedicated to stop this rot,&#8221; they said in a statement.</p>
<p>As fears over the bond notes have grown and the battle to succeed Mugabe has intensified, they have continued to flex their muscle.</p>
<p>&#8220;Once you go wrong with us, you automatically go wrong with the whole state apparatus,&#8221; veterans leader Chris Mutsvangwa told Reuters.</p>
<p>The veterans enjoy warm ties with the army and security services, and want Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa, a former security chief nicknamed &#8220;The Crocodile&#8221;, to take over from Mugabe, political analysts say. On the other side is a faction attached to Mugabe&#8217;s 51-year-old wife, Grace.</p>
<p>Mugabe responded to the growing pressure on Nov. 19 with an address in which he admitted fallibility and gave a rare hint at retirement.</p>
<p>&#8220;If I am making mistakes, you should tell me. I will go,&#8221; he said, before adding: &#8220;Change should come in a proper way. If I have to retire, let me retire properly.&#8221;﻿</p>


As Zimbabwe's money runs out, so does Mugabe's power

<p>Zimbabwean human rights lawyers asked the High Court on Tuesday to strike down a decree by President Robert Mugabe allowing the introduction of &#8220;bond notes&#8221;, which have raised fears of a return to a local currency.</p>
<p>Mugabe used his presidential powers on Oct. 31 to amend the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Act, designating bond notes as legal tender that will be equivalent to the U.S. dollar.</p>
<p>Zimbabwe scrapped its own currency in 2009 after inflation hit 500 billion percent, wiping out savings.</p>
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<p>The central bank says bond notes are meant to ease crippling cash shortages, but this is stoking concerns it could open the door to rampant printing of cash, as happened in 2008.</p>
<p>In a court application, the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights {ZLHR) asked the court to set aside Mugabe&#8217;s decree arguing that the veteran leader had no authority to do so.</p>
<p>ZLHR lawyer Dzimbahwe Chimbga said presidential powers were only used in emergencies and the bond notes law was not an emergency since the government first announced their introduction in May this year.</p>
<p>&#8220;He usurped the powers of parliament by making himself the lawmaker and in any event the Presidential Powers Act does not allow him to act in a manner that he did,&#8221; Chimbga said.</p>
<p>The High Court is expected to hear the case this week.</p>
<p>Zimbabwean banks are limiting daily withdrawals to between $40 and $100 due to cash shortages, which has also seen some firms struggle to repatriate dividends and pay foreign debts.</p>
<p>Memories are still fresh of the hyperinflation considered by the International Monetary Fund as the worst for any country not at war.</p>
<p>The crisis led to the release of the 100 trillion dollar Zimbabwean dollar note &#8211; the single largest known bill to be printed by any central bank. Shoppers carried stacks of money in plastic bags as prices changed several times daily.</p>
<p>The introduction of the U.S. dollar as the official currency in 2009 halted the sky-high and accelerating inflation.﻿</p>
<p> </p>


Zimbabwean lawyers take Mugabe to court over bond notes

<p>The International Monetary Fund has removed remedial measures against Zimbabwe after the country settled its overdue financial obligation to the Fund&#8217;s Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust last month, the IMF said on Monday.</p>
<p>The move by the IMF&#8217;s executive board lifts a declaration that Zimbabwe is not cooperating with the organization, ends a suspension of technical assistance to Zimbabwe and restores Zimbabwe to the list of countries that are eligible to benefit from the trust.</p>
<p>Zimbabwe restored about $107.9 million in arrears on Oct. 20, ending more than 15 years of arrears to the trust.</p>
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<p>The board decision is another step towards normalizing relations with the Fund. But the IMF has said it cannot consider a new IMF loan program for Zimbabwe until the country clears more than $1 billion in World Bank arrears and another $600 million-plus owed to the African Development Bank, as well as any arrears to bilateral lenders and private creditors.﻿</p>
<p> </p>


IMF lifts censures against Zimbabwe

<p>Zimbabwe&#8217;s military has no say on who should take over from President Robert Mugabe, the country&#8217;s army commander said, as tension mounts within the ruling party over who will succeed Africa&#8217;s oldest leader.</p>
<p>Mugabe, 92, has held power since the country gained independence from Britain in 1980. But he is increasingly looking frail, stoking a scramble in ZANU-PF to succeed him.</p>
<p>Local media say some top military generals and a group within ZANU-PF are backing Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa to succeed Mugabe. Another faction is widely believed to be manoeuvring to impose Mugabe&#8217;s wife Grace as a possible successor.</p>
<p>Lieutenant-General Valerio Sibanda, the Zimbabwe National Army Commander, told the state-owned Sunday Mail newspaper that the military should not get involved.</p>
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<p>&#8220;In Zanu-PF the military has no role to play in terms of succession politics, and that is the long and short of it,&#8221; he said, in his first comments on the succession issue.</p>
<p>Last year in December, Mugabe warned against the country&#8217;s military generals and other security services supporting different candidates, saying it could ruin ZANU-PF.</p>
<p>Opposition parties accuse military commanders, who fought in the 1970s independence war, of working hard to ensure ZANU-PF remains in power.</p>
<p>On the eve of presidential elections in 2002 and 2008, military generals said they would not salute a leader who had not fought in the battle for independence. This was seen as an attack on main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who did not participate in the liberation struggle.﻿</p>
<p> </p>


Zimbabwe's military has no say in Mugabe successor – Army Chief

<p>Zimbabwe&#8217;s government is holding 321,000 tonnes of maize in strategic reserves, just over half of its optimal requirements and enough to last three months, the agriculture minister said on Tuesday.</p>
<p>More than 4 million people require food aid this year after the southern African nation experienced its worst drought in a quarter century, which has worsened economic woes.</p>
<p>Joseph Made, the agriculture minister, said in a statement that farmers delivered 207,000 tonnes of the staple maize worth $81 million to the Strategic Grain Reserve (SGR), with the balance made up of imports.</p>
<p>The SGR, which is managed by the government, should hold 500,000 tonnes of maize at any given time but the country has struggled to meet the target over the last decade as yields fell and farmers opt for higher value crops like tobacco.</p>
<p>Zimbabwe consumes on average 100,000 tonnes of maize every month, according to the Grain Millers Association.</p>
<p>&#8220;The current SGR has 321,000 tonnes of maize which gives a substantial support. In terms of maize and wheat stock, if we include the private sector, then we have reasonable supply,&#8221; Made said.</p>
<p>The El Nino-induced drought that hit southern Africa has been particularly bad for Zimbabwe, where dam levels have fallen to 42 percent, forcing the two biggest cities, Harare and Bulawayo, to start scheduled water cuts. [nL8N1CY5M]</p>
<p>Zimbabwe is importing maize from South Africa, Zambia and Argentina, straining scarce foreign currency resources and one of the reasons the central bank blames for causing a severe shortage of cash in the economy.﻿</p>
<p> </p>


Zimbabwe says has 321,000 tonnes of strategically reserved maize

<p>A Zimbabwean cabinet minister has accused President Robert Mugabe&#8217;s deputy of using state institutions to try to arrest him and further his own attempt to eventually become president in the most direct attack in the deep rivalry over the country&#8217;s future leadership.</p>
<p>Mugabe is 92 and Africa&#8217;s oldest ruler who has held power since the country gained independence from Britain in 1980.</p>
<p>But he is increasingly looking frail, stoking a scramble in his ruling ZANU-PF party to succeed him.</p>
<p>One faction is widely believed to be manoeuvring to impose his wife Grace as a possible successor, another backs Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who has the support of war veterans.</p>
<p>While the two sides have traded barbs for months, Tuesday&#8217;s comments by Jonathan Moyo, an outspoken higher education minister who is linked to the G40 group behind Grace, are the most overt attack on the man assumed to be her biggest rival.</p>
<p>Moyo, a senior ZANU-PF official, said in a public statement that Mnangagwa was illegally using the anti-graft commission to further his political career. Mnangagwa could not be reached for comment, and his aides said he was busy in meetings.</p>
<p>Moyo said the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission had on several occasions tried to arrest him on false graft charges at Mnangagwa&#8217;s behest.</p>
<p>He said this was part of a plan &#8220;intended to secure that the political ends currently being pursued by the vice president are advanced in relation to what has become public knowledge about the desire to secure a front foot in succession politics&#8221;.</p>
<p>The commission said last month it wanted to question Moyo on suspicion of abusing government funds, allegations the cabinet minister denies and says are a political plot against him.</p>
<p>The commission said it would study Moyo&#8217;s statement and respond appropriately when it was ready, without specifying when that would be.</p>
<p>Political analysts say Mugabe has manipulated Zimbabwean politics to set himself up as a president for life but fear the country could suffer instability if he dies in office before the matter of his successor is resolved.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>(Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Alison Williams)﻿</p>
<p> </p>


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