Author: Albert Nangara

At the dawn of his administration, President Mnangagwa promised to address the country’s record on human rights, targeting those that oppress political activists and opposition, political party supporters, during elections. He also said his government would introduce economic policies favouring foreign investment. His mantra was ‘Zimbabwe is Open for Business. In its quest to kick-start itself to its former glory, the Zimbabwean government came up with economic policies such as the Look East Policy, and Indigenization, but they failed to yield results.

Mnangagwa’s administration has been rallying anti-sanctions sentiments, embarking on a re-engagement policy and the ‘Zimbabwe is Open for Business mantra. But, the sanctions have remained in place.

According to Afrobarometer, Mnangagwa has managed to mobilize support against the sanctions. In October 2019, leaders of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) agreed to campaign for the removal of the sanctions, arguing that they destabilize Zimbabwe’s economy and adversely affect …

A report published by Lexology on January 18, 2022, Zimbabwe’s economy is largely driven by the mining, agriculture, and tourism sectors. However, because of Zimbabwe’s foreign currency shortages, there is a significant focus on export-oriented and foreign currency-generating activities.

This allows investors, businesses, and the government to retain value and meet the country’s forex needs. Zimbabwe’s main exports are minerals, agricultural produce, and soft commodities. She also has large reserves of chromite, coal, gold, and iron ore, among others. The country is also one of the world’s largest growers of tobacco.

According to research by Mordor Intelligence, Zimbabwe is a signatory of several bilateral and international agreements (MIGA, OPIC, ICSID, and UNCITRAL) that protect the investments of the companies in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe has cheap educated, and competitive labour, well-developed infrastructure, and easy access to regional and global markets through its membership in AU, COMESA, SADC, COPAC, and CISSA. Zimbabwe offers …

• Zimbabwe to introduce electronic courts early next month, with all the partners trained and geared to embrace the development.
• President Emmerson Mnangagwa is to officially commission the newly-established Commercial Court division of the High Court the same week.
• The theme for 2022, as announced by Chief Justice Luke Malaba is Use of Technology to Enhance Efficiency and the Rule of Law in the Judiciary.

Zimbabwe is set to introduce electronic courts (e-courts) starting May 1, 2022. E-courts will be introduced in line with new technologies and the need for efficiency in the delivery of justice with consistency and collective effort by all justice delivery players. The key advantages include bringing in a justice serving mechanism that is transparent, efficient, affordable, time-saving, protects the interests of witnesses, reduces the backlog of pending cases, and most importantly reduces the number of unscrupulous activities. The announcement was made through Statutory Instrument (SI) 78, …

Biological Oxidation is the latest technology that ensures better processing of gold ores with high Sulphur content. Ores at Cam and Motor gold mine have high Sulphur concentration increasing cyanide consumption during the leaching process.

The technology uses bacteria to reduce Sulphur content before cyanidation. The mine is reported to have received 20 litres of bacteria from neighbouring South Africa and has developed enough to feed the three tanks. This innovative solution for the treatment of ores significantly reduces cyanide consumption, therefore reducing operating costs.

The BIOX plant is one of the key projects expected to get the firm’s turnaround strategy back on track. According to RioZim’s abridged press circular, recent geological and metallurgic test work revealed that with the current technology and the grades of ore, Cam and Motor can produce significant amounts of gold at a competitive cost of production.…

Bilateral relations between the two countries improved after the UAE showed its benevolence. This was by sending aid in response to the Cyclone Idai storm in March 2019. Planeloads of humanitarian assistance were sent to Zimbabwe, which went a long way in helping victims and mitigating the impact of the cyclone. UAE also assisted the Southern African country’s fight against Covid-19 with a consignment of required medical drugs.

Early March, the new dispensation approved the establishment of a commercial consulate in the commercial hub of Dubai. Economic and trade attachés will operate in the consulate. This is an effort to complement investment promotion being done by Zimbabwe’s embassy in the UAE.

In a cabinet briefing published by The Herald on March 17, 2022, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Ambassador Frederick Shava said the development created an environment conducive to doing business.…

• Zimbabwe Stock Exchange profiles the Agriculture and Exchange Traded Fund indices introduced on April 1, 2022.
• The Introduction of sectoral indices followed the adoption of the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS).
• The settlement base values for both indices were  placed at 100 but ZSE ETF index back-test to January 1, 2022.

The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) has profiled two more sector indices, the Agriculture and Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) indices. The profiles of the indices are with effect from April 1, 2022. This brings the total number of sectoral indices to ten while total market indices add to fifteen. The Agriculture index, tracks the performance of companies in the agricultural sector. The ETF index is tailor made to measure the trading performance of the three listed ETFs. In separate announcements, the ZSE said that the base value for the two indices was 100, but the ETF index back-test to January …

The company was struggling following a significant decline in the late 90s. In a related article published by ZBC News at its utmost, the giant used to employ over 4,500 people thereby making it one of the country’s biggest employers.

Further, in addition to beef production, the company also produced a large variety of by-products such as hides, neat’s foot oil, ox gall, edible offal’s, tallow and dripping, canned meats, ham, blood meal, meat and bone meal and pork sausages among others. The institution is the lifeblood of livestock farmers and the leather value chain.

The government is targeting the revitalization of the institution under the National Development Strategy One (NDS1). The government in May 2019, signed a US$400 million joint venture farming Concession Agreement with Boustead Beef Zimbabwe, a United Kingdom-based investor. The venture was reportedly based on a Concession Agreement under Rehabilitation, Operate and Transfer (ROT) Terms.

The …