Zimbabwean billionaire Strive Masiyiwa has lost over half a billion dollars as a result of a drop in the value of his stake in Econet Wireless Zimbabwe (Econet Zimbabwe) in less than a month. The news comes not long after a staggering US$1.7-billion surge in his net worth above the US$4-billion mark earlier this year....

The Zimbabwe dollar today shed $32.35 to average $290.8876 against the United States dollar down from $258.5404 last week. The local currency has lost $124.90 in the past three weeks but remains way off the black market rate though the gap with the interbank rate has narrowed. The interbank rate today was $295.6945. The black...

After several weeks of being ranked as Southern Africa’s second-richest Black billionaire, Patrice Motsepe has staged a comeback, recouping wealth losses and surging ahead of Zimbabwean telecom billionaire Strive Masiyiwa. Motsepe now, once again, wears the crown among the region’s richest Black businesspeople. An exclusive report by Billionaires.Africa nearly three months ago confirmed that Masiyiwa...

In a few days, we shall be celebrating Africa Day to mark the founding of our Continental Body, the Organisation of African Unity, OAU, now African Union (AU) far back in 1963 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Then, only a handful of African countries had attained sovereign Independence, with the greater part of Africa yet to...

The United States is the world’s largest enabler of financial secrecy, surpassing notorious tax havens like Switzerland, the Cayman Islands and Bermuda, according to an analysis by the Tax Justice Network released last week. For the first time, the US tops the biennial Financial Secrecy Index, TJN’s global ranking that measures how much each country’s...

Sinomine, the Chinese lithium company that is buying Bikita Minerals, says it plans to invest an initial US$200 million to build a new plant and expand existing operations. Bikita is Zimbabwe’s oldest miner of lithium-bearing minerals, but has only so far produced petalite, which is used mainly in the glass and ceramics industry. Sinomine now...

Zimbabwe cannot stabilise its local currency the way Zambia or Uganda or Tanzania did because their situation was different. This was said by Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube in response to questions in the Senate on Thursday. “Zambia was never in our situation, which is a situation where you have debt arrear, sanctions, whichever way you...

Some 20.8 million Nigerians, more than the entire population of Zimbabwe smoke mbanje according to the Global Cannabis Report for 2019. Zimbabwe has an estimated 14.9 million people but the actual population will be known within the next three months following the national census carried out last month. Nigeria has a population of about 206.1...

Zimbabwe Home Affairs Minister Kazembe Kazembe says there are only two ways to end corruption in Zimbabwe. Responding to a question from Senator Watson Khupe who wanted to know what the Ministry of Home Affairs was doing to curb corruption after a study said Zimbabwe police were the most corrupt government department, Kazembe said, the...

A British lord yesterday said the United Kingdom had signed an agreement with Zimbabwe to accommodate refugees deported from Britain but this had never been published. It was only the agreement with Rwanda that went public after the UK signed a £120 million economic deal that could see thousands of migrants sent to the African...

The suspension of loans by banks announced by President Emmerson Mnangagwa on 7 May was a big hammer but it was needed, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube told the Senate yesterday. Responding to questions, Ncube said the impact was that it had halted the parallel market somewhat. “It was a big hammer but it was needed. ...

As the US crosses the grim milestone of 1 million deaths from Covid-19, US billionaires have seen their combined wealth rise over US$1.7 trillion, a gain of over 58 percent during the pandemic. This troubling juxtaposition underscores the story of unequal loss and sacrifice during the worst pandemic in a century. While billionaires have seen...

Not now because the country is under sanctions. It cannot therefore access concessional loans that are essential for infrastructure development. The country is, however, using its own resources to upgrade the Harare-Beitbridge road as well as the Mbudzi interchange to ease congestion into the capital. This was said by Transport Minister Felix Mhona when he...

Opposition legislator, Anele Ndebele of Magwegwe says President Emmerson Mnangagwa should appoint a second Vice-President if he is committed to upholding the 1987 Unity Accord as well as implementing his “living no one and no place behind” policy. Zimbabwe has had only one Vice-President, Constantino Chiwenga, since 1 March 2021 when Vice-President Kembo Mohadi resigned...

Zimbabwe legislator for Nkayi South Stars Mathe yesterday bemoaned escalating prices in the country saying that when she picked up an item from a shop it was priced at $899 but when she got to the till she was told it cost $1 400. Zimbabwe has been experiencing a price influx over the past few...

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has come out guns blazing following the release of a paper by the country’s leading organisation representing industry, The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries. But what had the CZI said? Here is the paper in full and the RBZ response. 22 APRIL 2022 URGENT ENGAGEMENT PAPER ON THE DETERIORATING CURRENCY SITUATION...

                                The name Robert Mugabe needs no introduction. However, when it comes with the suffix “junior” it’s about his chosen heir to the name and son, aptly known as “Tino”, which is short for Tinotenda (thank you), who describes himself...

Zimplats, one of the biggest platinum mining companies in Zimbabwe, has been ranked one of the most valuable companies in Sub-Saharan Africa by market capitalization, way ahead of blue chip Econet. According to Business Insider Africa, Zimplats was placed 13th way ahead of Econet which was at number 29. Zimplats is listed on the Australian...

                              It’s complicated. On Tuesday, 21 April, Zimbabweans woke up to the news that the price of a loaf of bread had risen to above US$2. NewsDay reported on 21 April that this means that Zimbabwe now has the world’s most...

A total of 3 257 businesses got foreign currency from the auction system in March alone according to figures released by the Reserve bank of Zimbabwe. The businesses were allotted US$184.1 million withUS$151.9 million going to 886 large companies and US$32.2 million going to 2 137 small and medium enterprises. The auction has so far...

The Zimbabwe dollar could be under pressure because the foreign currency auction system which is supposed to address foreign currency problems in the country only accounted for 22% of the foreign payments in the first quarter of this year. The auction system is supposed to stabilise the local currency but 76% of the payments were...

Zimbabwe has suspended three financial institutions- Metbank, Rolink Finance and Innbucks- for exchange control violations. Metbank was suspended from conducting any foreign currency dealing pending full investigations. Rolink Finance was suspended from operating as a bureau de change and was fined US$120 000 for exchange control violations. Innbucks was ordered to stop operating as a...

The Zimbabwe dollar today fell by $4.93 to average $155.1419 against last week $150.2157 but what was more interesting was the gap between the offers with the lowest offer at $140 and the highest at $200. The parallel market ranges from $300 to $345. More than 1 500 bids were approved today and were allotted...

Zimbabwe now has less than 1 000 coronavirus cases but it continues to urge caution among citizens especially in view of the outbreak of a new variant in neighbouring Botswana. The country recorded 66 new cases and no deaths yesterday but 174 people recovered resulting in active cases dropping to 946. All provinces have less...

Zimbabwe’s State enterprises and parastatals are bogged down by governance issues as most have not yet aligned their practices and policies to the provisions of the Public Entities Corporate Governance Act, Auditor-General Mildred Chiri says in her latest report. “Out of one hundred and forty-six (146) issues I am reporting; one hundred and twenty (120)...

There has been heated debate about the proposed Private Voluntary Organisation Amendment Bill with some churches and civil society saying it will scare away donors and is aimed at shutting down some PVOs, also known as NGOs. Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi, however, argued that the bill was aimed at bringing sanity within charitable organisations as...

The Zimbabwe dollar today shed $4.34 to average $150.2157 against last week’s $145.8721. A total of US$32 million was today allotted to 1 379 businesses with US$3.7 million going to 989 small businesses and US$28.3 million to 389 large companies. Offers ranged from $135 to $160 while the black market ranged from $260 to $320....

It was first posted by a Hosia Mviringi and retweeted by Presidential spokesman George Charamba. But was it just a crude joke on Hopewell Chin’ono or there was something more to it? (360 VIEWS)

Britain says the by-elections held in Zimbabwe on 26 March were largely peaceful but it was concerned about incidents of political violence and restrictions on political gatherings in the lead-up to the elections. The by-elections most of which resulted from the recall of Movement for Democratic Change Alliance legislators by the MDC-T, saw the Citizens...

Any African who has ever tried to visit South Africa will know that the country is not an easy entry destination. South African embassies across the continent are almost as difficult to access as those of the UK and the United States. They are characterized by long queues, inordinate amounts of paperwork, and officials who...

The Midlands is now down to three coronavirus cases with Zimbabwe as a whole at 1 177 active cases. Only 15 new cases and no deaths were recorded yesterday and 83 people recovered but Zimbabwe insists the pandemic is not over yet and is encouraging people to get vaccinated. Zimbabwe has so far used less...

Several Zimbabwe commentators have interpreted recent by-elections as raising the possibility that ZANU-PF’s 42-year-long grip on power is loosening and, come the 2023 general elections, opposition leader Nelson Chamisa’s Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) will defeat ZANU-PF and President Emmerson Mnangagwa. But these commentators sometimes repeat Chamisa statements in this regard and seem to forget...

After years of public scrutiny for undemocratic decision-making, the Seattle-based Gates Foundation—one of the wealthiest and most powerful private philanthropies in the world—made headlines earlier this year when it expanded its board of trustees. In spite of an emphasis on diversity, all the new trustees have close financial ties with the Foundation and share a...

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which resulted in a surge in global prices of food, gas, oi and related products, was a wake-up call to Zimbabwe that it must find home grown solutions to its problems but, more importantly, that it must be food secure. This was said by President Emmerson Mnangagwa in his...

Zimbabwe is now down to 1 279 coronavirus cases after 562 more people recovered from the pandemic in Mashonaland East which now has only 420 cases but is still the highest in the country. 422 recovered in the same province on Thursday. There were only 55 new cases and two deaths with 605 people recovering....

The outrage over the killing of Elvis Nyathi in Diepsloot, South Africa, and the debate that is raging on in Zimbabwe, blaming each other for the killing, has reminded me of a series that I wrote nearly a decade ago entitled: Are we too poor or too stupid. Instead of looking at who is really...

The outrage over the killing of Elvis Nyathi in Diepsloot, South Africa, and the debate that is raging on in Zimbabwe, blaming each other for the killing, has reminded me of a series that I wrote nearly a decade ago entitled: Are we too poor or too stupid. Instead of looking at who is really...

The International Monetary Fund has confirmed that Zimbabwe’s current account surplus is real, saying it averaged 4.7% of gross domestic product per year from 2019 to 2021. In its report released today, the IMF said the surplus was due to increased mineral exports, foreign exchange restrictions, lower global oil prices and a surge in remittances...

A petition to put pressure on South African police to arrest those who killed Zimbabwean Elvis Nyathi in cold blood in Diepsloot on Wednesday has been launched. The petition, launched by Yvonne Nyathi, says: “Elvis Nyathi spent his last moments pleading for mercy all because he did not have his passport. A group of angry...

Mashonaland East which had become the epicentre of coronavirus saw 422 people recovering from the pandemic yesterday with active cases dropping to 975. There were only 67 new cases and two deaths with active cases across the country dropping to 1 831. Mashonaland East still accounts for more than half the cases in the country...

Zimbabweans without national identification documents can now get them without proof of parentage, Justice Minister Ziyambai Ziyambi said yesterday. Responding to a question in Parliament on how those who parents had been killed during the civil disturbances of the 1980 now known as Gukurahundi would get national documents because proof of parentage was required, Ziyambi...

Zimbabwe has allowed banks to set their own rates for exchanging US dollars in transactions of up to US$1 000, as it seeks to ease pressure on weekly currency auctions and to tame a runaway parallel market. Lenders can now use “a willing-buyer, willing-seller basis” rather than being restricted to the official exchange rate for...

Zimbabwe will not dollarise and will continue to use its local currency but it has been forced to pay civil servants part of their salaries in United States dollars because its currency is under attack, Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi who is also leader of government business in Parliament said yesterday. Responding to a question from...

RBZ has raised interest rates by 20 percentage points, as it battles the growing threat of inflation. The main bank policy rate has gone up from 60% to 80%, the bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC) said. Central bank says this is necessary due to rising inflationary pressure and the recent movement on the parallel forex...

South Africa is now one of the most unequal countries in the world with the top 10% earning 60 times more than the bottom 50%, according to the latest World Inequality Report. The report says while the richest South Africans have wealth levels broadly comparable with those of affluent Western Europeans, the bottom 50% in...

The Zimbabwe dollar today fell by $3.45 against the United States dollar to average $145.8721 down from last week’s $142.4237. A total of 1 349 bids were allotted US$32.8 million with US$5.3 million going to 987 small and medium enterprises. The lowest offer was $135 and the highest $156. The Zimbabwe dollar has fallen by...

The answer is YES. But what is not clear is the size of the stake or the vehicle that he used to invest in Zimbabwe’s largest mobile phone operator and financial powerhouse. A shareholder analysis of Econet shows that Econet Global Limited is the company’s biggest shareholder with 38.4% of the shares as of February...

Zimbabwe has hiked its key interest rate from 60% to 80% with immediate effect to curb rising inflation which has partly been worsened by the Russia-Ukraine war which has seen the prices of oil gas, fertilisers and other related products going up. Inflation which was down to 50.2% in August last year has since risen...

Nearly 1.5 million people were vaccinated during the two-week blitz that kicked off on 21 March and ended yesterday with a whopping 1 098 823 getting the first dose, 116 607 the second, and 268 403 the third. Vaccination uptake had slowed down significantly over the past few months raising fears that more than 22...

The United States dollar is steadily losing its dominance as the world’s reserve currency but the decline has not benefitted three other reserve currencies that make up the Big Four, namely the Euro, the pound sterling and the Japanese yen. Instead it has benefitted non-traditional reserve currencies which include the Chinese renminbi, the Australian dollar,...