In a shocking development, Cabinet on Tuesday approved the revised implementation plan for the 100 megawatts (MW) Gwanda solar project by Intratrek Zimbabwe. Intratrek Zimbabwe is a company owned by Wicknell Chivayo. Under the revised implementation plan, Intratrek Zimbabwe pledges to deliver the first 10MW within six months. The project will be done in two phases, 10MW first and then 90MW by 2022. The Gwanda solar project has been the subject of court battles after Intratrek Zimbabwe failed to deliver within agreed timelines. The contract was signed in 2015, Energy and Power Development Minister Advocate Fortune Chasi confirmed to The Herald that Cabinet had approved the project to go ahead even though Zesa and Intratrek Zimbabwe are still negotiating to ensure compl
Khupe recalls more senators aligned to Chamisa In a not so surprising development, Thokozani Khupe has recalled more senators from Nelson Chamisa’s MDC Alliance. Khupe who leads MDC-T, recalled the senators on the basis that they no longer represented the party’s interests. The recall follows online reports that Khupe would recall more MDC Alliance Senators from the House of Senate. At the same time the MDC Alliance tried to appoint a new leader of the opposition in parliament and a new chief whip. The National Assembly sat last week, then adjourned until 7 July. The Senate resumed sitting today. Before the recalling of the eight senators today, Khupe had recalled a total of 13 MPs and Senators whilst some had switched sides. The latest senators to be rec
“It’s Not Sanctions, It’s Corruption and Lack of Reform,” writes American ambassador Brian Nichols as he articulates how corruption, LOOTING and Mnangagwa’s refusal to implement Political Reforms have destroyed Zimbabwe into a basket case. Thieving daily by ZANUPF elites and their side kicks has made the ordinary citizens victims of abject poverty Blessed with abundant mineral resources, rich farmlands, ideal weather, stunning national parks, and a well-educated, industrious people, Zimbabwe should be the economic powerhouse and the breadbasket of southern Africa, and even more popular as a tourist destination and business investment opportunity, as it once was. What then, is holding Zimbabwe back? It’s not sanctions. There ar
Nelson Chamisa says he will not attend Khupe’s Zanu PF congress. He was speaking in an interview with a South African news television channel Sunday. Chamisa has seen his political fortunes take a turn for the worse after the Supreme Court ruled recently his ascendancy to the helm of the main opposition on the back of founding leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s 2018 death violated the MDC constitution. Embattled MDC Alliance President Nelson Chamisa says he will not be part of the Thokozani Khupe led MDC-T’s extra-ordinary congress set for September this year. The courts have reinstated Khupe, Tsvangirai’s only elected, of the three deputies at the time, to assume the reins and prepare for an elective extra-ordinary congress to replace the ex-Prim
Spotlight.news Itai Mushekwe in BERLIN– Vice President, Rtd General Constantino Chiwenga, is now reportedly being prepared to takeover the presidency from President Emmerson Mnangagwa, by the country’s military on a transitional term, to finish Mnangagwa’s remaining first term, Spotlight Zimbabwe, has been told. High ranking officials inside the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC), aware of the fresh unfolding developments, said army generals do not want another putsch and expected Mnangagwa to resign peacefully and leave the stage for VP Chiwenga. However another faction of the army with hardline elements, is said to be open to using force to push Mnangagwa out, should he attempt to dilly-dally with tendering his resignation. Mnangagwa came to power
Ecocash is responding to the ban of thier service and all mobile money services in Zimbabwe. Ecocash is defying the ban claiming ther are regulated by the reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and they will stop services only from orders from the reserve bank.
The Government has suspended mobile money platforms EcoCash, One Money and Telecash among others as well as trading on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange until further notice.Government said the move was to curtail what it claimed was economic sabotage perpetrated by the “wolves in sheep skins amongst our populations”. Government has accused the mobile platforms of facilitating the skyrocketing of rates in the markets. In a statement seen by Nehanda Radio, government through the Information Ministry confirmed the development adding that the measures would subsist until the the mobile platforms are reformed. “Government has with immediate effect undertaken a series of prudent and coordinated interventions to deal with malpractices, criminality and economic sabotage perpet
Sex workers in Zimbabwe have cried foul over the skyrocketing prices of condoms in the country warning that this could lead to a rise in the number of infections of HIV and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs). The sex workers have called on the government to scrap import duty on the condoms or to subsidize them. This comes after the price of a pack of Durex Condoms shot up to between ZWL$107 and $119. To put these prices into perspective, the government recently gazetted that the minimum wage for domestic workers is ZWL$900 per month. Some of the sex workers who spoke to local publication, HealthTimes, said that the new condom prices posed a risk to their profession and the health of many people. Shamy, a Chemical Engineering Student with the Harare Institute of Technology (HIT)
The price of bread has gone up yet again in Zimbabwe, a day after the country abandoned the fixed foreign currency exchange rate and introduced the foreign currency auction system. According to information reaching iHarare, a standard loaf of bread from Proton Bakeries is now retailing for ZWL$87 in some supermarkets in the capital. The is an increase of ZWL$26 from the previous price of ZWL$61. This price increase translates to a massive 40 per cent price increase. This also means that a loaf of bread is now going for US$1.50 using the official foreign currency exchange rate established at yesterday’s first foreign currency auction system. According to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe foreign currency auction system held yesterday, the official rate of one United States Dollar
Zimbabwe conducted its first weekly foreign currency auction on Tuesday with the local dollar trading at an average of 57.3582 to the U.S. dollar, ending a fixed exchange rate of 25 in place since March. The southern African country reintroduced its local currency last year after a decade of official use of the U.S. dollar in the economy. But the local currency rapidly lost value, sending prices rocketing and raising fears of renewed hyperinflation. Since the end of dollarisation, the government has flirted with a managed float exchange rate, which it announced on March 11, before fixing the exchange rate at 25 Zimbabwe dollars to the U.S. dollar on March 26, citing the need to support the economy against the COVID-19 pandemic. The new foreign currency auctions were announced last
