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ZIMBABWE, banking on mining to end two decades of economic stagnation, plans to list Kuvimba, the company in which it has placed state mining assets, to raise cash to meet government obligations. Late last year, the government created Kuvimba Mining House, in which the State pension fund and sovereign wealth fund hold 65% shareholding, to house its holdings in platinum, gold and nickel. “In the next two years, it will be a highly profitable group,” Finance minister Mthuli Ncube said in an interview. “When we eventually list, government will offload some of its shareholding.” The creation of Kuvimba is the latest attempt by the government to kickstart its mining industry. While companies were deterred by local ownership requirements and a frequently changing currency regime, investors from Russia, Cyprus and Nigeria are now exploring having platinum mines in Zimbabwe, which has the world’s third-biggest reserves of the metal. In addition to partnering Russian investors in a platinum venture, Kuvimba plans to rehabilitate aging mines and develop new ones. The company will likely be listed on the dollar-denominated stock exchange that was established in the resort town of Victoria Falls last year, Ncube said. The rest of the company is owned by a consortium headed by David Brown, the former chief executive officer of South Africa’s Impala Platinum Holdings, he said, without giving details about the arrangement. “We are looking for international skills, skills with a track record and he has a track record,” Ncube said. Money from Kuvimba will be used to back entrepreneurs, compensate people who lost the value of their bank deposits when the local currency crashed, bolster funding for veterans of the 1970s liberation war and provide seed capital for a new government workers’ pension fund, he said. It will also be used to compensate white former farmers. Zimbabwe’s initial refusal to compensate white farmers soured Zimbabwe’s relations with multilateral lenders and the West. Now the country plans to appoint advisers to help it raise the US$3,5 billion it has agreed to pay. “With Kuvimba, the government has put something on the table, it has skin in the game,” Ncube said. “Everything now hinges on concluding the appointment of the adviser and then the work of fund raising will begin in earnest.”— Bloomberg
South Africa is one of the hardest-hit countries in Africa with over 740,000 infections.
The country recorded 60 more virus-related deaths on Wednesday, bringing the death toll to 20,011.
Retail group says its revenue for April-June declined by 17.2%. Trading in next 18 months looks ‘constrained’.
The Western Cape government wants the Covid-19 travel \"red list\" scrapped because it is killing international tourism.
BY MOSES MATENGA THE World Health Organisation (WHO) has poured cold water on government’s recent decision to suspend by-elections citing COVID-19 fears, saying elections could safely be held during pandemics as long as “proper measures are in place”. Addressing a virtual Press conference on Wednesday, WHO executive director for health emergencies programme Michael Ryan said there was nothing to stop elections from taking place as they were an “essential part” of people’s lives. He also said the world health body was ready to offer advice to countries going into elections to minimise risks of spreading the pandemic. “It is possible to hold safe elections if the proper measures are put in place. Elections do many things. They are an essential part of our lives, and they are absolutely central to how many societies live, survive, and thrive,” Ryan said. The utterances came as government has been taken to court for suspending parliamentary and council by-elections which were due in December this year, citing COVID-19 fears. Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga, who also doubles as Health minister, last week gazetted Statutory Instrument 225A of 2020 which indefinitely suspended the holding of by-elections to replace 15 MDC Alliance legislators and over 80 councillors who were recently recalled by the Thokozani Khupe-led MDC-T party. Khupe recalled 32 MPs. Some of the recalled MPs are party list legislators, and her party has since taken over the 15 slots, while she has landed the post of opposition leader in the House. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission also endorsed government’s decision to suspend the by-elections, but the move was widely condemned by the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission and other non-governmental organisations which felt the move violated the Constitution. “They (elections) are very important parts of the cycle of life. However, they do tend to bring people together. We’ve seen many examples over the last nine months where elections have actually been held very safely and with appropriate measures and have been straightforward enough to manage and implement,” the WHO boss added. “We do offer them advice on how to reduce those risks if in-person elections are the way forward. In fact, we are working right now and finalising specific guidance for countries that choose in-person elections, learning from the last eight, nine months as to what has worked in those circumstances. We will be issuing that guidance in the coming days.” Malawi recently held its elections despite COVID-19 fears and other countries such as the United States, Ivory Coast and Tanzania are set to go to the polls soon. “It takes effort. We have worked very closely in the past in the same way we have done for all types of mass gatherings. We have worked on a risk management approach. You cannot reduce the risk to zero, but what you can do is identify and manage those risks, especially where in-person voting is the choice of the country. We don’t specify to any country what the proper choice is for the type of election they need to run,
Tens of millions of people in Africa could become destitute as a result of COVID-19 and its catastrophic impact on fragile economies and health systems across the continent, human rights chiefs from the United Nations and the African Commission warned on Wednesday.
As of 19 May 2020, COVID-19 had reached all 54 African States, infecting 88,172 people
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, and Chairperson of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Solomon Dersso, issued a joint call for urgent measures to mitigate the ripple effects of COVID-19 on the most vulnerable.
As of 19 May, COVID-19 had reached all 54 African States, infecting 88,172 people – 16,433 of them in South Africa, which recorded the highest number of cases.
Ms. Bachelet and Mr. Dersso called for equitable access to COVID-19 diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines, urging creditors of African countries to freeze, restructure or relieve debt.
“It is a matter of human rights necessity that there must be international solidarity with the people of Africa and African Governments,” they said.
By MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — An enigmatic painting from Renaissance master Sandro Botticelli will go on auction next year and art watchers will be seeing if it fetches more than its eye-watering $80 million estimate, despite the pandemic. Botticelli's 15th-century portrait of a nobleman in 'Young Man Holding a Roundel' is the highlight of Sotheby's Masters Week sale series in New York in January. 'Just the sheer beauty of this has been a joy,' said Christopher Apostle, who has for more than three decades handled Old Masters and is now head of the division. 'I […]
The post Portrait by Renaissance master expected to soar past $80M appeared first on Black News Channel.
UNCONSCIOUS BIAS training is to be scrapped for civil servants in England, as the Government...
The post Unconscious bias training to be scrapped in civil service appeared first on Voice Online.
[allAfrica] As of December 3, the confirmed cases of Covid-19 from 55 African countries have reached 2,201,303. Reported deaths in Africa have reached 52,581 and recoveries 1,866,301.
The USA begins consulate launch in disputed Western Sahara in spite of the United Nations-planned self-determination referendum for the region.
CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago’s police superintendent said Monday that he plans to flood the city’s streets with additional officers during the long July 4 weekend in an effort to avoid a repeat of particularly bloody recent weekends and despite pressure to keep officer overtime to a minimum.
“We didn’t do it last weekend and the Memorial Day weekend,” Superintendent David Brown said of the two weekends that ended with a combined total of 111 people being shot, 24 fatally.
“We’re pleading (with the court system) to keep them in jail for the weekend,” he said, explaining that the people arrested for dealing or buying drugs on street corners may not be charged with violent crimes, but that such activity often leads to gun fights between violent gangs.
There is no doubt that the July 4 weekend stands as the biggest test for Brown since he become superintendent two months ago, largely because the bloodshed over the long Memorial Day weekend — when 49 people were shot, including 10 who died — was widely viewed as a failure in his first major test on the job.
While mayors are typically reluctant to criticize superintendents so early in their tenure, Mayor Lori Lightfoot didn’t mince words after Memorial Day weekend, though she has since maintained that she still has confidence in Brown.
The President's supporters held celebrations overnight in Bangui despite opposition concerns about the election result
[The Herald] There was a time in the past when the approaching hum of helicopter blades menacingly hovering over defenceless communities or the thud of boots on the ground, would inspire dread and conjure up images of death and destruction.
Mwea Ngurubani County, Kenya — Whether volunteering at local high schools in her community, educating boys about the importance of speaking out and building self-confidence or taking a summer course at Oklahoma State University in the United States as a 2019 Mandela Washington Fellow – Kenyan social entrepreneur Joyce Kamande is passionate about supporting farmers and young people in rural areas.
The vision of Safi Organics is to be the leading converters of farm waste to high-quality carbon-negative fertiliser that increases farmers yields.
What they don't know is that they increase their yields from more robust, locally made carbon-negative organic fertiliser produced by farm waste from companies such as Safi Organics.
In Kenya and other African countries, unreliable and sometimes nonexistent agricultural extension services lead to poor farming practices, which can result in turn to low yields for smallholder farmers in many parts of Africa.
We applied for the grant as Safi Organics to offer capacity building to the youth on sustainable farming and launching demonstration farms for our farmers.
By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — With Election Day approaching and the pandemic ongoing, Oprah Winfrey is setting aside her usual book club recommendations and instead citing seven personal favorites, ranging from James Baldwin's landmark essays in 'The Fire Next Time' to Mary Oliver's poetry collection 'Devotions.' Winfrey is calling her choices 'The Books That Help Me Through,' works she values for 'their ability to comfort, inspire, and enlighten.' 'It's a mix of fiction, poetry, non-fiction and spirituality, books I know and trust and revisit time and again,' she said in a statement Monday. Her new […]
The post `The books that help her through': Winfrey suggests seven appeared first on Black News Channel.
Jubilation at the Makala prison in Kinshasa Friday as Congolese president Felix tshisekedi pardons at least 26 men, who were convicted for planning the assassination of ex-president Laurent Kabila in 2001. They include Colonel Eddy Kapend, a prominent figure et al.
By Everson Mushava A new international association has been formed to advocate for science-based ways of reducing the harm caused by tobacco smoking. The International Association on Smoking Control and Harm Reduction (SCOHRE), formed virtually last week at the end of the Third Scientific Summit on Tobacco Harm Reduction, will provide stakeholders with science-based information on the effects of nicotine, an addictive substance often blamed for smoking related mortality. A group of scientists, medical doctors, policy experts, behavioural experts, academics and other professionals from 21 countries across the globe attended the two day summit on September 24 and 25 that endorsed the new association. The summit noted the innovative approaches towards potentially safer alternatives to cigarettes for people resisting giving up smoking. This follows the launch of a new product, IQOS, by tobacco giant, Philip Morris International (PMI) that reduces risks of tobacco smoking and allows for smokeless consumption. PMI’s innovation has been described as a ray of light for African countries that rely on tobacco as the mainstay for their economies such as Zimbabwe and Malawi. The electronic IQOS device generates a nicotine-containing aerosol by heating tobacco-filled sticks wrapped in paper, specifically Marlboro Heatsticks, Marlboro Smooth Menthol Heatsticks and Marlboro Fresh Menthol Heatsticks, all brands owned by the American giant. The innovation was acknowledged by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) who in July gave PMI the greenlight to market its IQOS in America. While PMI cannot claim that this product is safe, according to the FDA approval, other countries and public health organisations have supported its research and innovation. According to the summit, information presented by members on the international health situation regarding cigarettes and high rates of tobacco related diseases, there is need for urgent action. “Despite knowing the harmful health effects of smoking for decades, still more than one billion people globally smoke and more than seven million die prematurely every year from smoking-related disease…,” part of the statement released by the summit after the formation of SCOHRE read. “We believe that smoking control strategies should be reshaped to include harm reduction through alternative potentially lower risk products use, besides the traditional smoking cessation and smoking prevention measures.” Despite the obvious advancements, the association said, tobacco harm reduction advocates were still facing a lot of resistance from key organisations, including policy and regulatory entities. “We need to find a way of establishing a constructive dialogue to discuss concerns and challenges,” the association added. SCOHRE will provide scientific evidence, including sharing and publicising the latest scientific data, identifying research gaps, independent verification of the industry data as well as focus on understanding the needs of smokers and those who want to quit smoking, as well as how to effe
WASHINGTON, DC, United States (AFP) - The US State Department rescinded an award for a Finnish journalist who reported on Russian disinformation after spotting her social media postings critical of President Donald Trump, an internal review said yesterday.
