Author: Albert Nangara

The distinctive Zimbabwe Granite is a much sought-after dimension stone in the world. The resource is considerable and there is potential for investment by both local and foreign companies.

Reports indicate that the Royal Library in Copenhagen, Denmark was built with black granite from Zimbabwe. It’s just one of many examples of how the prized stone is used around the world.

Currently, 75% of the country’s black granite is produced in Mutoko, Mashonaland East Province. Companies such as Southern Granite, Dingmao Mining, Quarrying Enterprises, Zimbabwe International Quarries, and Natural Stone Exports are in the business of Granite Value Addition.…

mRNA-1644 utilizes Moderna’s messenger RNA (mRNA) technology to deliver a specific class of B cells needed to develop broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) to fight HIV infection. Inducing bnAbs is considered the primary goal of an HIV vaccine, and this requires B-cell activation.

The primary trial endpoints are safety and immunogenicity. The IAVI-sponsored clinical trial, IAVI G003, will test the safety and efficacy of vaccination with the HIV immunogen eOD-GT8 60mer, delivered via Moderna’s mRNA platform. eOD-GT8 60mer was developed by IAVI and Scripps Research teams and was initially tested in phase 1 clinical trial IAVI G001.

According to Contagion Live, IAVI G003 is expected to enroll 18 healthy, HIV-negative adults. The participants will receive 2 doses of eOD-GT8 60mer mRNA, which contains a portion of the viral sequence but cannot cause HIV infection. They will be monitored for safety for 6 months after their second dose, and their immune responses …

Zimbabwe allows for 100% ownership of medicinal cannabis investments, allows for farming on private land, and has put in an added layer of protection called the Investment Stability Agreement.

Recently, Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa commissioned a US$27 million Swiss Bioceuticals Limited Medicinal Cannabis Farm and Processing Plant in Mount Hampden, Mashonaland West Province.

Farmers Review Africa on May 12, 2022, said Swiss Bioceuticals limited constructed a state-of-the-art medicinal cannabis processing plant, fitted with the first line of medicinal cannabis oil processing. It is also equipped with a cannabis oil processing line aimed at stimulating bio-medical solutions and pharmaceutical products for both local and international markets.…

Copper production is set to resume at Alaska Mine in Chinhoyi after a US$6 million capital injection by Chinese investors in partnership with the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC). The total capital injection required is US$12 million and so far, a Chinese investor, Grand Sanyuan Copper Resources has poured in half the amount.

As far as June 10, 2021, ZBC News said the majority of the funds will be channelled towards the construction and refurbishment of a flotation plant, a smelter, and an electrolysis refinery, with an environmental impact assessment completed.

The Alaska Copper smelting plant has been closed since 2000, but has now been resuscitated and is expected to be fully operational by July this year with a target to produce 300 tonnes of copper per day.…

Stavros Nicolaou, a Senior Executive at Aspen Pharmacare Group said in the absence of orders or commitments, Aspen is considering the repurposing of two COVID-19 production lines for the manufacture of other products.

“The continent would lose its only existing COVID vaccine manufacturing capacity, It would be a massive setback for Africa’s plans to localize and reduce its dependency on imported vaccines,” he said.

John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, said global health security would be undermined if companies like Aspen were not backed.…

The president announced in a May 7 televised speech that banks had been banned from lending in a bid to stem the precipitous decline of the local currency inter alia increasing capital holding tax, banning third party transactions on the local bourse, and increasing Intermediated Money Transfer Tax (IMTT).

The move came as the local currency had been depreciated against the United States dollar. This is amid high demand for the greenback which is seen as a store of value.

An executive at an agro-processing firm, name with-held, told NewZimbabwe that his company can’t borrow what it needs to pay 500 farmers for the soy and sugar beans. It contracted them to grow, or fund the purchase of inputs such as fertilizer for the next season’s crop.…

Jurisdictions and stock exchanges have their own rules for what circuit breakers entail when they kick in, and for how long they are in place. Circuit breakers are triggered based on slightly different parameters on various exchanges, with trading suspended anywhere between 5 minutes – as is the case on the Hong Kong exchange – or an entire day.

New York Stock Exchange President Stacey Cunningham told CNBC that circuit breakers are a precautionary measure that can slow down for a minute.

The circuit breakers “are designed to slow trading down for a few minutes, to give investors the ability to understand what’s happening in the market, consume the information and make decisions based on market conditions,” she said.

A circuit breaker functions in the trading world the same way it does for electrical circuits in a home. When things get overloaded, it kicks in and shuts down the circuit.…

President Mnangagwa said his Government is convinced that the recent exchange rate movements were driven by negative sentiments by economic agents as opposed to economic fundamentals.

“These negative sentiments have been propagating adverse expectations on future inflation and exchange rate movements, thus giving rise to artificially high demand for foreign currency as economic agents hedge against expected high inflation,” he added.

The Government listed measures that are expected to restore macroeconomic stability, support the current robust economic recovery trajectory, boost economic confidence, increase the appeal of the local currency, preserve value for depositors and investors and deal with market indiscipline.…

The Zimbabwean government introduced a transportation system that has the Zupco taking lead in ferrying passengers across the nation. For now, the major part of the ZUPCO fleet remains the private bus and commuter omnibus operators under the franchise agreement.

However, the busses on the ground are not enough and this has led to the rise of the ‘Mushika-Shika’ system (private cars illegally ferrying passengers to and from work). Operators who are not under the franchise have of late been taking advantage of the shortage of buses to offer transport to commuters at higher fares than those charged by Zupco.

The police at the moment is running a ‘No Mushika-shika’ operation and this has made movement extremely difficult in Zimbabwe. Police mounted roadblocks on all major roads, arresting motorists carrying more than three people in their vehicles. According to New Zimbabwe, commuter omnibuses that are not registered with the ZUPCO …

After a decade the Government launched the Presidential e-Learning Programme of 2011 which aimed to strengthen the use of ICTs for teaching and learning. In an article published by the Herald on March 28, 2012, former President Mugabe said the projects brought on board e-learning software solutions to complement the benefits of the Presidential Computerisation Programme launched 10 years back.

“Encouraged by the Presidential Computerization Programme, the first successful step of transforming Zimbabwe into an information society, we have now decided to go a gear up and add value to the initial programme by introducing a new dimension to it, this time, in the form of an e-learning Programme,” he said.

The Connect a School Connect a Community Project was launched in 2013, it provided disadvantaged schools with modern technology. Afterwards, Zimbabwe drafted through the Ministry of ICT, Postal, and Courier Services a National ICT Policy that acknowledges a role …