Zanu-PF to lodge counter-challenge as MDC alleges Watergate-style break in; Tungsten mine set to reopen after owner receives assurances over indigenisation requirement; and more
Welcome to Zitamar’s daily Zimbabwe briefing for 15 August, 2018.
After two public holidays at the start of this week, today is another slow news day. Zanu-PF lawyers should now submit their defence to the MDC Alliance’s appeal of the election result; the real newsflow will start again when the Constitutional Court reaches a decision.
There is an interesting story for investors today - Premier African Minerals says it has received assurances regarding indigenisation requirements which will allow it to move ahead with reopening its tungsten mine. But the Zimbabwe government has scored too many own goals since last month’s elections to be able to hope for a rapprochement with the international community any time soon, according to an Op-Ed in The Source.
Today’s Headlines:
Zanu-PF to lodge counter-challenge as MDC alleges Watergate-style break in
Tungsten mine set to reopen after owner receives assurances over indigenisation requirement
Zimbabwe govt’s ‘own goals’ leave re-engagement process on shaky ground
Columnist says NewsDay published a fake op-ed under his name
Zanu-PF to lodge counter-challenge as MDC alleges Watergate-style break in (NewsDay, NewsDay, Daily News)
Zanu PF’s legal team is set to file its papers at the Constitutional Court today, opposing MDC Alliance’s appeal against the election result. Zanu-PF’s lawyers tried to file their application on Monday, but found the Court closed for the public holiday.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s lawyers say they already have a legal opinion prepared on the MDC’s appeal; the MDC’s lawyers allege that Zanu-PF agents must have broken into their lawyers’ offices, and/or hacked their computers for this to be the case. The lack of a formal complaint to police suggests they don’t have any evidence that that happened.
Zanu-PF’s lawyers have attracted ridicule for attempting to file on Heroes’ Day on Monday, but it could be a deliberate attempt to demonstrate a) that they had their case ready in the time allowed, and b) that they are not in cahoots with the judicial system.
Tungsten mine set to reopen after owner receives assurances over indigenisation requirement (Chronicle)
AIM-listed Premier African Minerals aims to bring its tungsten mine in Zimbabwe back into production in the next few weeks. Premier stopped operations at the mine in Matabeleland North towards the end of last year, citing of cash flow constraints, but since the government has confirmed that it no longer needs to hand over 51% of the business to locals, the company has decided to get it up and running again.
Zimbabwe govt’s ‘own goals’ leave re-engagement process on shaky ground (The Source)
Restoring access to international finance is still months if not years away, and will involve stark austerity that the Zimbabwean people are not prepared for, economics professor Anthony Hawkins writes in The Source today. What is more, “a series of own goals” by the government - the violent put-down of protests, the heavy-handed break-up of Chamisa’s post election press conference, and the arrest and subsequent release of Tendai Biti - “undid the positives achieved on polling day itself” and have made a rapprochement with the international community as remote as ever.
What is more, Zimbabwe has to clear $2bn in debts before it can start talking to the IMF about a new programme - and even then, the US will vote against it thanks to the ZIDERA act which was renewed last week.
Even if all those obstacles can be overcome, Hawkins says, “re-engagement will be far less growth-friendly than officials and ministers believe. It will involve a sharp cutback in government spending, laying off thousands of people from the public sector, privatising parastatals, (more redundancies), a steep devaluation of the currency – perhaps as much as 50% – higher interest rates and increased taxation.” A structural adjustment programme in the early 1990s broadly failed when the government balked at its implementation, Hawkins says; and “almost 30 years later, the economic and social climate is far worse than it was then, meaning that the reform medicine will be even more unpalatable.”
Columnist says NewsDay published a fake op-ed under his name (NewsDay, Twitter)
Zimbabwean Blogger and political commentator, Blessing Vava, says independent paper NewsDay has published a fake op-ed in his name, endorsing Mnangagwa’s victory. Vava tweeted this morning: “I am utterly disgusted by the conduct of the NewsDay after publishing an article written under my name with my picture on it claiming ED won the popular vote. For the record, i never wrote that article it's fiction and meant to damage my reputation.”
The past few weeks have not been good for NewsDay. They recently published a story on the MDC-Alliance filing their court application, when they had not. They later said they were misled by their sources. This morning they were also pulled up for publishing a photo of Solomon Madzore to illustrate an article about Happymore Chidziva.
Tweet of the Day
Families & friendships are among casualties of recent elections. So much at stake, the fallout has been endemic. Our complex history means few families or groups are “one party states”. We are struggling with multiparty democracy even at this micro-level. Many stories out there!
August 14, 2018Happening today
Families & friendships are among casualties of recent elections. So much at stake, the fallout has been endemic. Our complex history means few families or groups are “one party states”. We are struggling with multiparty democracy even at this micro-level. Many stories out there!
August 14, 2018Zanu-PF files opposing papers against Nelson Chamisa’s election petition