News Update as @ 1530 hours, Monday 04 May 2015

Feedback: bh24admin@zimpapers.co.zwEmail: bh24feedback@zimpapers.co.zw

Exiting Lafarge FD to be replaced by Zimbabwean in the DiasporaBy Tawanda Musarurwa

HARARE-The finance director post at Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe that has been vacated by Mr Farai Matan-hire with effect from the end of last month, will be taken up by a Zimba-bwean who has been based outside the country, the company has said.

"We can confirm that a replacement for Farai Matanhire has since been appointed. He is a Zimbabwean working outside the country who has decided to return," said the compa-ny's public relations manager Mrs Precious Chitapi, skating identifica-tion of the new FD.

Mr Matanhire's exit is one of several management changes at Lafarge over the last couple of years, includ-ing the replacement of Mr Johnathan Shoniwa by an expatriate Mr Amal

Tantawi as chief executive officer. This has raised concerns, especially with the Affirmative Action Group (AAG), that Lafarge has "virtually fired all black managers and has replaced them with white managers."

However Lafarge has responded by saying that no manager has been fired."Lafarge has never fired any of its top management. Those who have left, did so, on their own accord or negotiated their way out, to pursue personal interests."

Mrs Chitapi on the departure of Mr Matanhire said:"(Mr) Matanhire is an active member of the executive com-mittee team whose contribution will always be appreciated. After work-ing for the business for ten years, he decided to leave Lafarge to pur-sue personal interests. His departure from Lafarge was mutually agreed

and he leaves the organisation with a negotiated package. Discussions relating to his departure have been ongoing since November 2014...," she said.Contrary to allegations by the AAG, Lafarge said it maintains a largely indigenous executive man-

agement structure, with five of the eight current executive managers being Zimbabwean.

The French-headquartered Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe was established in the country in 1956.●

BH24

3

By BH24 Reporter

HARARE-Embattled Telecel Zim-babwe's employees have said the decision by the Postal and Telecom-munication Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) to close the operations of the mobile network operator will hinder them from ben-efitting from the mobile telecoms operator's proposed indigenisation plan.

Last week, POTRAZ revoked Telecel's licence and ordered them to cease operations "within 30 days".

The company's employees have now come out and said POTRAZ's rejec-tion of Telecel's indigenisation plan will hurt them.

"It has also come to our attention that POTRAZ in coming up with a determination to cancel the Licence, has rejected Telecel Zimbabwe’s indi-genisation plan of ceding a 11 per-cent shareholding to an Employee Share Ownership Trust (ESOT) as a way of regularising the shareholding structure.

"As native Zimbabwean employees,

we will be severely affected by this decision to immediately close the operations with no tangible rem-edy being provided to workers by POTRAZ," said the employees in a statement today.

In terms of the proposed indigeni-sation plan, it is believed that par-ent company, Vimpelcom had pro-posed to transfer 11 percent of the company to Telecel's Zimbabwean

employees.The employees said beyond the rejection of the indige-nisation plan, Telecel's closure will have an impact on them in terms of job losses, and could have wider repercussions with respect to down-stream players.

"We therefore would like to appeal to the Government of Zimbabwe to seriously re-consider the decision to cancel Telecel Zimbabwe’s Licence.

"It is common cause that such a decision will have a profound neg-ative impact not only on Telecel’s +/-1000 employees but also on the nation as jobs, business, and revenue to the fiscus will be lost if this decision is seen through," they said."Downstream our business partners, suppliers, airtime vendors, airtime dealers, agencies and the social projects we support will also be adversely affected."●

POTRAZ's rejection of Telecel indigenisation plan damaging: Employees

BH24

4 BH24

5 ANALYSIS5 NEWS

BH24 Reporter

Harare-Zimbabwe Platinum Holdings (Zimplats) has appointed South Africa's former Minister of Safety and Security Dr Sydney Mufamadi as a non-executive director on its board, with effect from the beginning of this month.

Dr Mufamadi has also held the post of SA's Minister of Provincial and Local Gov-ernment."Zimplats Holdings Limited is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Sydney Mufamadi as a non-exec-utive director of Zimplats Holdings Lim-ited with effect from 1 May 2015," said

the company's CEO Mr Alex Mhembere in a statement last week. Dr Mufamadi was initially appointed as an independ-ent non-executive director of Zimplats' SA-headquartered parent company, Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd, on 5 March 2015.Dr Mufamadi holds an MSc Degree and a PhD Degree from the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies.

"He distinguished himself in various leadership positions that he has held in the past, including being the Minister of Safety and Security as well as the Min-

ister of Provincial and Local Government in the Republic of South Africa," reads the statement.

Currently, Dr Mufamadi is the director of the School of Leadership at the University of Johannesburg.

He serves on the subsidiary boards of the Barclays Bank Africa Group in Mozam-bique and Tanzania.

And he is renowned for his mediation and conflict resolution skills as well as his expertise in bilateral and multilateral diplo-macy.●

Zimplats appoints ex-SA minister to board

Dr Sydney Mufamadi

6 BH24

7 NEWS7 NEWS

Zim urged to fast-track establishment of Special Economic Zones

Harare– The Government should hasten the establishment of Spe-cial Economic Zones (SEZs) to aid industrial revival and economic growth, a senior Government offi-cial has said.

Economic Planning permanent sec-retary Dr Desire Sibanda said the Government should move swiftly to establish the economic zones.

“We have talked a lot about it (establishment of SEZs) and it is now time for action. The budget presented by the Minister of

Finance Patrick Chinamasa actually gives us a deadline to have put in place the SEZ Act by mid-year,” he said.

Dr Sibanda said without the ena-bling Act, it would be difficult to attract investors.

“So we hope by the time of the deadline, we would have put the Act together,” he said.

The Government has identified the establishment of SEZs as a strat-egy to boost economic growth and

development under its five-year economic policy the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Eco-nomic Transformation (ZimAsset).

SEZs are designated geographical areas that operate under different economic rules from the rest of the economy. The Government has identified the second largest city, Bulawayo among the first SEZs to be established in the country.

Analysts have commended Zim-babwe for initiating the process to establish SEZs, saying these would assist in improving the invest-ment climate. African Countries that have used the SEZs strategy include Mauritius, Zambia, Algeria, Nigeria and Ethiopia.

The regions, which could be in the form of free trade zones, indus-trial parks and free zones, could be used as starting points for national development. However, key challenges faced in most Afri-can SEZs include infrastructure, zone management and continuity in instances where governments had changed.- New Ziana●

Dr Desire Sibanda

BH24

HARARE - The ZSE's industrial index extended losses by a addi-tional 0.14 (or 0,09 percent) to close at 156.26 as volumes con-tinue to be subdued .

Retail giant OK Zimbabwe dropping a cent to close at 10 cents, while ZBFH led the top fallers slipping 16,39 percent to 2,50 cents.

Heavyweights beverages producer Delta and telecoms firm Econet traded unchanged at 105 cents and 49 cents, respectively.

On the upside, clothing retailer Tru-worths' stock bumped 0,70 cents to trade at 1,80 cents, while RTG gained 0,30 cents to 1,50 cents. Dairibord Zimbabwe moved up 0,20 cents to close at 8 cents.

Although volumes traded thin, trades in Seedco, Old Mutual and Econet propped up the market,

pushing the value of trades to $206 628. Meanwhile, the local bourse has announced that Astra Indus-tries - which obtained approval from the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange and the Securities Commission of Zimbabwe to be delisted - will be removed from the ZSE official list

with effect from 1600 hours today.

The mining index was flat at 42.93 points as Bindura, Falgold, Hwange and RioZim all maintained previ-ous trading levels at 4 cents, 0,40 cents, 3,50 cents and 6 cents, respectively. - BH24 Reporter●

9 ZSE REVIEW

Equities end short week on low

REGIONAL NEWS 10

The rand ended a two day los-ing streak on Monday, although downside risks were in focus after China, a key importer of South African commodities, released weaker than expected manufac-turing data.

By 0655 GMT the rand traded at 12.0400 against the greenback, 0,12 percent stronger than its Fri-day close in New York.

Government debt prices fell, with the yield on the benchmark instru-ment maturing in 2026 adding 4.5 basis points to 8 percent.

Traders and analysts said the local unit was likely to turn weaker -- extending last Thursday and Fri-day's losses -- after data showed China's factory activity suffered

the fastest drop in a year in April.

"The rand and local bonds remain under considerable pressure from the run on global bonds and the

risk is for a further sell-off this week in what is likely to be vol-atile trade," RMB market analyst John Cairns said. - Reuters●

South Africa's rand slightly firmer

11 ZSE

ZSEMOVERS CHANGE TODAy PRICE USC SHAKERS CHANGE TODAy PRICE USC

AFDIS -20.00 40.00

RTG -20.00 1.20

DAWN -6.25 1.50

NATFOODS -5.06 300.00

MEIKLES -3.33 8.70

INNSCOR -0.01 59.00

INDICES

INDEx PREVIOUS TODAy MOVE CHANGE

INDUSTRIAL 156.26 155.38 -0.88 POINTS -0.56%

MINING 42.93 42.93 0.00 POINTS 0.00%

Stocks Exchange

TODAY

PREVIOUS

12 DIARy OF EVENTS

The black arrow indicate level of load shedding across the country.

POWER GENERATION STATS

Gen Station

24 April 15

Energy

(Megawatts)

Hwange 442 MW

Kariba 614 MW

Harare 30 MW

Munyati 29 MW

Bulawayo 26 MW

Imports 0 MW

Total 1153 MW

4 May 2015 - Zimplow Holdings' Sixty Fifth Annual General Meeting of shareholders; Place: Zimplow Holdings Head Office, Northend Close, Northridge Park, Borrowdale; Time: 10:00 hours

THE BH24 DIARy

European bonds fell, extending last week’s selloff, and the euro weakened from near a three-month high. Chinese shares climbed as a bigger-than-esti-mated drop in a private manu-facturing gauge spurred stimu-lus speculation.

The yield on 10-year notes from Spain surged 13 basis points by 9:14 a.m. in Frankfurt, while the rate on Italian bonds added 11 basis points and similar German bunds paid 0.376 per-cent. The euro weakened 0,3 percent and the Stoxx Europe 600 Index was little changed. The Shanghai Composite Index climbed 0,9 percent as the final April Purchasing Managers’ Index from HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics fell to 48.9, the lowest in a year. Gold climbed 0,4 percent. US oil was little changed.The euro capped its sixth advance in seven weeks Friday as bonds from the region slumped, sending yields soaring on signs that European Central Bank asset purchases

may be helping to quell disinfla-tion. Property stocks led gains in Shanghai amid speculation the government will increase monetary stimulus, with a com-mentary in the China Securities Journal saying second-quarter economic growth will slow to 6,8 percent.

“Basically, this all points to more easing ahead,” said Helen Lau, a metals and mining ana-lyst at Argonaut Securities Ltd. in Hong Kong. “The slow-ing growth in China is going to weigh on growth elsewhere. Restructuring is still going on, so the recovery will not be immediate.”

Equity Losses

About $501 billion was wiped from global equity markets last week. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slipped 0,4 percent in the five days through Friday and the Stoxx Europe 600 Index plunged 3,4 percent, the big-gest such drop this year.

More than half the indus-try groups on the Stoxx 600 climbed today. Syngenta AG surged 9,7 percent after people familiar with the matter said the company has been approached by Monsanto Co., the world’s largest seed company, about a takeover.

China’s factory reading missed the median estimate of 49.4 in a Bloomberg survey and was lower than the preliminary reading of 49.2. Numbers below 50 indicate contraction. The deterioration contrasts with the official manufacturing PMI for April that suggested a stabili-zation.

Manufacturing gauges for Tai-wan, South Korea and Indone-sia showed contraction Mon-day, while an index from India signaled a slower expansion. A Swedish PMI rose more than estimated, while other Euro-pean gauges are also due. Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, India and the UK are closed for holidays. - Bloomberg●

13 INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Europe bonds extend drop as Euro slips

Southern African leaders have approved a strategy and roadmap to promote industrialisation in the region in a move meant to ensure member states harness the full potential of their vast and diverse natural resources.

The Southern African Develop-ment Community (SADC) Extraor-

dinary Summit said the Industri-alisation Strategy and Roadmap is anchored on three pillars, “namely Industrialisation, Competitiveness and Regional Integration.”

“Summit approved the SADC Industrialisation Strategy and Roadmap and reaffirmed the importance of industrial develop-

ment in poverty alleviation and the economic emancipation of the people of the region,” read a com-munique issued at the end of the summit held in Harare on March 29.The message from the summit was clear — southern Africa has the capacity to become a domi-nant force in global affairs if the region adds value to its vast nat-

ural resources before exporting them.

President Mugabe said the strat-egy will ensure that the SADC region fully benefits from its vast natural resources. At present, SADC member states are getting very little in return since their resources are usually exported in their raw form, with most of the value-addition and beneficiation taking place outside the region, thus benefiting other countries.

“Our region is endowed with abundant and diverse natural resources,” said President Mug-abe, who is the SADC chairperson, adding that the mineral sector, for example, contributes about 55 percent of the world diamond pro-duction while the platinum group of metals contribute about 72 per-cent.

“But alas, despite the rich and diverse endowments of our region, about 70 percent of our people continue to live below the poverty datum line,” he said.

14 ANALYSIS

Huge step towards economic liberation as SADC approves industrial strategy

14 ANALySIS

15 ANALYSIS15 ANALySIS

He said it is, therefore, impera-tive for the region to address this disparity to allow SADC countries to use their natural resources to finance socio-economic develop-ments in the region.

“It is only through adding value to our products that we can make the first step. If we continue as net exporters of raw materials, we are sure to remain trapped in the jaws of underdevelopment, while those who add value on our behalf flourish at our expense,” he said.

The strategy, whose drafting was spearheaded by a team of regional and national consultants appointed by the SADC Secre-tariat, covers the period 2015-2063, and aims to provide the framework for major economic and technological transformations at the national and regional lev-els within the context of deep-ening regional integration.“I am confident that the strategy, if implemented effectively, has the potential of unlocking opportuni-ties beyond our borders, leading to sustained economic growth and development,” President Mugabe

said.

He noted that during the imple-mentation phase, it will be impor-tant for the region to focus more on key enablers such as infra-structure development, energy, as well as research and develop-ment to enhance the effectiveness of the strategy.With regard to the financing model for the strategy, it is imperative for SADC to work out an effective mechanism to fund the action plan, President Mugabe said.

“We cannot expect those who benefit from our status as export-ers of raw materials to fund our efforts to wean ourselves from the unequal relationship, a relation-ship in which they have the pre-rogative of dictating the terms of trade,” he said.

“Just as we were our own liber-ators from the colonial bondage and oppression, we have to find the resources to free ourselves from economic bondage. In short we have to fund our industrialisa-tion strategy.”

SADC Executive Secretary Dr

Stergomena Lawrence Tax con-curred, saying that it was criti-cal for all stakeholders to work together in implementing the strategy.She said it is encouraging that the private sector has already shown its commitment to support governments to boost socio-eco-nomic development in the region.

“I am happy to inform you that the private sector is already gear-ing itself up to walk the journey of industrialization of the region with a conference that is taking place in the margins of this summit. Such efforts are commendable and encouraged,” she said.

“I am hopeful that with this spirit, the region has been set on the right path for growth and development. We look forward to continued commitment by mem-ber states in the creation of an enabling environment, including the provision of the necessary resources and capacities as criti-cal success factors for the imple-mentation of our strategy.”

She said development of the strat-egy has been instructive in final-

izing the Revised Regional Indic-ative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP), which was also approved by the extraordinary summit.

The RISDP is a 15-year strategic plan approved by SADC leaders in 2003 as a blueprint for regional integration and development.

The plan has been under review as part of efforts to realign the region’s development agenda in line with new realities and emerg-ing global dynamics, and has now taken into account issues of industrialisation.

The SADC Extraordinary Summit is a follow-up to 34th SADC Sum-mit held in August 2014 that man-dated the Ministerial Task Force on Regional Economic Integration to develop a strategy and roadmap for industrialisation in the region.

The theme for the 34th SADC Summit was “SADC Strategy for Economic Transformation: Lev-eraging the Region’s Diverse Resources for Sustainable Eco-nomic and Social Development through Beneficiation and Value Addition.” - Sardc.net●