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Justina Crabtree
Source: <a href="http://https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/14/nigeria-is-leading-on-pan-african-free-trade-bank-chief-says.html">Nigeria is leading on pan-African trade, despite not even signing up to the deal: Bank chief</a>
<ul>
<li>Nigeria is in a position of leadership on a pan-African trade deal despite not signing up, the managing director of Ecobank Nigeria told CNBC.</li>
<li>The African Union is proposing a continent-wide trading bloc that would result in the largest free trade area in terms of participating countries since the formation of the World Trade Organization.</li>
<li>Kenya and Ghana ratified the agreement last week, while Ethiopia&#8217;s Prime Minister has said that his country is ready to follow suit.</li>
</ul>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cdn.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/14170224/105205401-GettyImages-511145528.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="George Osodi | Bloomberg"/>
Nigeria is in a position of leadership on a proposed Africa-wide trading bloc despite not having signed up to the agreement, the managing director of commercial lender Ecobank Nigeria told CNBC.
Nigeria has &#8220;shifted the balance of power,&#8221; and &#8220;put itself in the situation where they now have the call,&#8221; Charles Kie said in an interview Friday.
In March, <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/105076688?__source=cnbcafrica|inline|story|&amp;par=cnbcafrica &amp;doc="> 
44 members of the 55-nation African Union signed up to the Continental Free Trade Area 
</a> (CFTA), an agreement which proposes a common market across the African continent. The new bloc would result in the largest free trade area in terms of participating countries since the formation of the <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/104412796?__source=cnbcafrica|inline|story|&amp;par=cnbcafrica &amp;doc="> 
World Trade Organization 
</a>.
But Nigeria and South Africa, the region&#8217;s two largest economies, did not get on board, <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/105094579?__source=cnbcafrica|inline|story|&amp;par=cnbcafrica &amp;doc="> 
citing concerns over safeguarding jobs and cheap Chinese goods flooding the market 
</a>.
The summit took place in the Rwandan capital of Kigali. Rwanda&#8217;s President Paul Kagame is also chair of the African Union for 2018. Meanwhile, Nigeria&#8217;s President Muhammadu Buhari did not attend the event.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cdn.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/14170229/105205415-GettyImages-924096960.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="Stefan Heunis | AFP | Getty Images"/>
&#8220;When you are the largest economy on the continent, and it&#8217;s a tiny, small country like Rwanda who is leading the conversation on the CFTA, there&#8217;s a very simple question that you ask yourself: &#8216;Where is your leadership?'&#8221; Kie said.
By initially turning down the deal, Nigeria has the &#8220;leverage&#8221; to &#8220;get some of the conditions that they think are critical for the economy to now be put on the table,&#8221; Kie explained. &#8220;They (won&#8217;t) just absorb the impact of the decision that was taken, but they&#8217;re also part of the solutions that are going to come.&#8221;
&#8220;I&#8217;m just making a pure and basic analysis of the powers in presence, and I&#8217;m looking at what it entails,&#8221; he said. &#8220;All of this is political, it&#8217;s the heads of state that sign these agreements.&#8221;
Kie was confident that Nigeria would eventually subscribe to the deal.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t have any doubt that Nigeria will join&#8221; the free trade agreement in its own time, he said. &#8220;Nobody will doubt the interests of this for the continent.&#8221;
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cdn.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/14170234/105205434-GettyImages-648352552.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="Frederic Soltan | Corbis | Getty Images"/>
Kenya and Ghana, both African economies boasting strong fundamentals, ratified the agreement last week. Ethiopia&#8217;s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who leads the east African powerhouse economy which has seen double-digit GDP (gross domestic product) growth as recently as 2017, said on Monday that his country is ready to follow suit.
Intra-African trade currently comprises less than 20 percent of the continent&#8217;s total, with countries often focussed on exporting commodities to former colonial powers instead. It is hoped that the new free trade deal will shift emphasis away from this and towards manufacturing.
The African Union posits the agreement as uniting a market of 1.2 billion people with a combined gross domestic product of $2.5 trillion.
&#8220;We have to make sure that the rules of engagement when it comes to the free trade area are clearly defined,&#8221; both in terms of protecting national economies and establishing their manufacturing capacities, Kie said. &#8220;It&#8217;s not going to come overnight.&#8221;

Nigeria is leading on pan-African trade, despite not even signing up to the deal: Bank chief

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Kellie Ell
Source: <a href="http://https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/09/vodafone-liberty-deal-is-a-total-win-for-consumers-says-liberty-ceo.html">Liberty Global CEO: $21 billion asset sale to Vodafone is start of mobile consolidation in Europe</a>
<ul>
<li>British-based Vodafone will buy some European assets of U.S. cable company Liberty Global for $21.8 billion.</li>
<li>Critics argue that the deal with hinder competition and regulators may not approve. </li>
<li>Fries calls the deal a &#8220;premium valuation,&#8221; with a return rate of 11.5 times the 2017 EBITDA. </li>
</ul>
Liberty Global CEO Mike Fries said his company&#8217;s $21.8 billion asset sale to Vodafone is just the start of mobile consolidation in Europe. 
On Wednesday, British-based VodafoneVOD-GB struck a deal to buy some European assets of U.S. cable company Liberty GlobalLBTYA, a move the CEO said will benefit both investors and mobile users. 
&#8220;It&#8217;s all about scale,&#8221; Fries told CNBC&#8217;s &#8220;<a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/15838342?__source=cnbcafrica|inline|story|&amp;par=cnbcafrica &amp;doc="> 
Power Lunch 
</a>&#8221; on Wednesday. &#8220;This transaction is about creating a national challenger with converged scale, meaning fixed and mobile scale. It&#8217;s a natural combination. I think you&#8217;re going to see that continue, in Europe in particular, both mobile and mobile.&#8221;
Vodafone, the world&#8217;s second-largest mobile carrier, operates in Europe , <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/15917233?__source=cnbcafrica|inline|story|&amp;par=cnbcafrica &amp;doc="> 
Asia 
</a>, Africa and Oceania. In the deal, Vodafone is buying Liberty Global&#8217;s businesses in Germany, Hungary, Romania and the Czech Republic. 
But, critics argue that the deal with hinder competition and regulators may not approve. Deutsche TelekomDTE-DE is the largest competitor in Europe. 
Fries, however, isn&#8217;t worried. 
&#8220;We absolutely anticipate regulatory approval of this deal,&#8221; said Fries, who also serves as vice chairman of Liberty Global. &#8220;It will be approved at the EU level. Not necessarily in Germany or any of the individual markets. That&#8217;s an important distinction.&#8221; 
The CEO pointed out that Deutsche TelekomDTE-DE — &#8220;who we know [in the U.S.] as T-MobileTMUS&#8221; — already dominates the German market, with 50 percent of the country&#8217;s broadband customers. 
And the German market, he said, &#8220;has been screaming for consolidation and a real national challenger. So together, Vodafone and our business, Liberty Global, will present a great opportunity for consumers. They&#8217;re going to see innovation, investment. All kinds of benefits over the long haul.&#8221; 
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cdn.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/15010224/104515248-GettyImages-683741212.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="Daniel Leal-Olivas | AFP | Getty Images"/>
The strategy will be the same: focus on leveraged equity growth and shareholder return. He calls the deal a &#8220;premium valuation&#8221; with a return rate of 11 ½ times 2017 EBITDA. 
&#8220;Which, when you see the cable stocks trading at 7, is certainly a nice valuation for businesses we&#8217;ve owned and built for a decade or more,&#8221; Fries said. 
He also noted that a move like this is not new for the company. 
&#8220;This is not the first time we&#8217;ve rebalanced or reshaped our platform to sort of optimize growth and optimize shareholder return,&#8221; Fries said. 
&#8220;It&#8217;s a total win for consumers,&#8221; he said.

Liberty Global CEO: $21 billion asset sale to Vodafone is start of mobile consolidation in Europe

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By Justina Crabtree
Source: <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/03/zimbabwe-opposition-leader-wants-to-give-china-investors-the-boot.html?__source=Facebook">Zimbabwe opposition leader reportedly wants to give Chinese investors the boot</a>
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Chinese investors are &#8220;busy asset-stripping&#8221; Zimbabwe&#8217;s resources, the country&#8217;s main opposition leader said in a speech this week, according to reports.
&#8220;I have seen the deals that (Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa) has entered into with China and others, they are busy asset-stripping the resources of the country,&#8221; Nelson Chamisa said at a May Day rally on Tuesday, as reported by the <a class="inline_asset" title="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-43973908" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-43973908">BBC</a> and <a class="inline_asset" title="https://www.herald.co.zw/ill-boot-out-chinese-chamisa/" href="https://www.herald.co.zw/ill-boot-out-chinese-chamisa/">local press</a>.
Chamisa is leader of Zimbabwe&#8217;s main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
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&#8220;I have said (that) beginning September when I assume office I will call the Chinese and tell them the deals they signed are unacceptable and they should return to their country,&#8221; he added.
CNBC was not able to independently translate Chamisa&#8217;s speech.
On Wednesday, the MDC published a <a class="inline_asset" title="http://www.mdc.co.zw/index.php/meda/news/373-correction-of-the-herald-story" href="http://www.mdc.co.zw/index.php/meda/news/373-correction-of-the-herald-story">statement</a> on its website addressed to Zimbabwean state-owned newspaper The Herald. The statement accused the newspaper of publishing &#8220;malicious falsehoods&#8221; about Chamisa, although it did not specify what these were.
The &#8220;gist and essence&#8221; of Chamisa&#8217;s May Day speech was that his party &#8220;will not allow the mortgaging of this country for political expedience,&#8221; it said, attributed to Luke Tamborinyoka, presidential spokesperson and director of communications.
An MDC government &#8220;will audit all business deals and those that fail the national interest will be reviewed,&#8221; it said.
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<a class="enlargeThisImage" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/03/zimbabwe-opposition-leader-wants-to-give-china-investors-the-boot.html?__source=Facebook#"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://fm.cnbc.com/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/editorial/2018/04/03/105105656-GettyImages-941323932.530x298.jpg?v=1522762992" alt="Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa (L) shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, on April 3, 2018." width="530" height="298" data-enlarged-image="https://fm.cnbc.com/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/editorial/2018/04/03/105105656-GettyImages-941323932.1910x1000.jpg?v=1522762992" /></a>
<div class="caption">Zimbabwe&#8217;s President Emmerson Mnangagwa (L) shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, on April 3, 2018.</div>
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&#8220;Chamisa&#8217;s comments will play well with the MDC&#8217;s political base, who see Chinese loans as being fundamental for helping keep the former Mugabe regime afloat,&#8221; William Attwell, practice leader for Sub-Saharan Africa at emerging markets advisory firm Frontier Strategy Group, told CNBC on Thursday. &#8220;His comments seek to tap into growing frustration in Zimbabwe that Chinese investment has brought very little in terms of material benefits for locals.&#8221;
Mnangagwa&#8217;s nascent presidency has been characterized by his intention to revive the country&#8217;s economic fortunes through building bridges with both the East and the West. He initially came to power after former leader <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/id/105070327">Robert Mugabe</a>, under whom Mnangagwa served as vice president, was ousted in a military coup in November.
Mnangagwa&#8217;s first visit outside the African continent was to China last month, with attracting foreign investment high on the agenda. China has described itself as an &#8220;<a class="inline_asset" title="http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-04/18/c_136217738.htm" href="http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-04/18/c_136217738.htm">all-weather friend</a>&#8221; of Zimbabwe.
Zanu-PF, the party of Mnangagwa and Mugabe, is to release its election manifesto on Friday.
Mnangagwa has pledged &#8220;free and fair&#8221; elections to be held in July of this year, and has said that he will invite international observers.
Attwell said that it was unlikely that Chamisa would be able to deliver on his pledge, should he win the upcoming vote.
&#8220;The raw fact is the Zimbabwe needs Chinese investment,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Whoever wins the July election is going to need as much funding as possible — from China and the West — to rebuild the country&#8217;s decaying infrastructure.&#8221;
</div>
</div>

Why Zimbabwe’s opposition leader reportedly wants to give Chinese investors the boot

Justina Crabtree
Source: <a href="http://https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/03/zimbabwe-opposition-leader-wants-to-give-china-investors-the-boot.html">Zimbabwe opposition leader reportedly wants to give Chinese investors the boot</a>
<ul>
<li>Nelson Chamisa, Zimbabwe&#8217;s main opposition leader, has reportedly vowed to tell Chinese investors in Zimbabwe that their deals are &#8220;unacceptable,&#8221; should he win the country&#8217;s July election.</li>
<li>Chamisa&#8217;s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said in a statement on Wednesday that it &#8220;will audit all business deals and those that fail the national interest will be reviewed.&#8221;</li>
<li>Anti-China sentiment speaks to the MDC&#8217;s political base, an expert said.</li>
<li>Zimbabwe&#8217;s President Emmerson Mnangagwa has pledged &#8220;free and fair&#8221; elections this summer, the first in decades without ousted former leader Robert Mugabe on the ticket.</li>
</ul>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://media.cnbc.com/i/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/editorial/2018/05/03/105180673-GettyImages-953359776.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="Jekesai Njikizana | AFP | Getty Images"/>
Chinese investors are &#8220;busy asset-stripping&#8221; Zimbabwe&#8217;s resources, the country&#8217;s main opposition leader said in a speech this week, according to reports.
&#8220;I have seen the deals that (Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa) has entered into with China and others, they are busy asset-stripping the resources of the country,&#8221; Nelson Chamisa said at a May Day rally on Tuesday, as reported by the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-43973908">BBC</a> and <a href="https://www.herald.co.zw/ill-boot-out-chinese-chamisa/">local press</a>.
Chamisa is leader of Zimbabwe&#8217;s main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
&#8220;I have said (that) beginning September when I assume office I will call the Chinese and tell them the deals they signed are unacceptable and they should return to their country,&#8221; he added.
CNBC was not able to independently translate Chamisa&#8217;s speech.
On Wednesday, the MDC published a <a href="http://www.mdc.co.zw/index.php/meda/news/373-correction-of-the-herald-story">statement</a> on its website addressed to Zimbabwean state-owned newspaper The Herald. The statement accused the newspaper of publishing &#8220;malicious falsehoods&#8221; about Chamisa, although it did not specify what these were.
The &#8220;gist and essence&#8221; of Chamisa&#8217;s May Day speech was that his party &#8220;will not allow the mortgaging of this country for political expedience,&#8221; it said, attributed to Luke Tamborinyoka, presidential spokesperson and director of communications.
An MDC government &#8220;will audit all business deals and those that fail the national interest will be reviewed,&#8221; it said.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://media.cnbc.com/i/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/editorial/2018/04/03/105105656-GettyImages-941323932.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name=""/>
&#8220;Chamisa&#8217;s comments will play well with the MDC&#8217;s political base, who see Chinese loans as being fundamental for helping keep the former Mugabe regime afloat,&#8221; William Attwell, practice leader for Sub-Saharan Africa at emerging markets advisory firm Frontier Strategy Group, told CNBC on Thursday. &#8220;His comments seek to tap into growing frustration in Zimbabwe that Chinese investment has brought very little in terms of material benefits for locals.&#8221;
Mnangagwa&#8217;s nascent presidency has been characterized by his intention to revive the country&#8217;s economic fortunes through building bridges with both the East and the West. He initially came to power after former leader Robert Mugabe, under whom Mnangagwa served as vice president, was ousted in a military coup in November.
Mnangagwa&#8217;s first visit outside the African continent was to China last month, with attracting foreign investment high on the agenda. China has described itself as an &#8220;<a href="http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-04/18/c_136217738.htm">all-weather friend</a>&#8221; of Zimbabwe.
Zanu-PF, the party of Mnangagwa and Mugabe, is to release its election manifesto on Friday.
Mnangagwa has pledged &#8220;free and fair&#8221; elections to be held in July of this year, and has said that he will invite international observers.
Attwell said that it was unlikely that Chamisa would be able to deliver on his pledge, should he win the upcoming vote.
&#8220;The raw fact is the Zimbabwe needs Chinese investment,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Whoever wins the July election is going to need as much funding as possible — from China and the West — to rebuild the country&#8217;s decaying infrastructure.&#8221;

Zimbabwe opposition leader reportedly wants to give Chinese investors the boot

Pasona Group’s Tokyo Office | Office Envy

Facebook <a class="inline_asset" title="https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/05/clear-history-2/" href="https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/05/clear-history-2/">said Tuesday</a> it will start telling users which websites track them across the web — and offer them the option to delete the personal data from their accounts.
The social media site collects information on Facebook users and non-Facebook users from third party websites that use Facebook&#8217;s services, like the &#8220;Like&#8221; plug-in or Facebook &#8220;pixels,&#8221; which are pieces of code that track what people do off of Facebook.
The feature, called &#8220;Clear History&#8221; — which will roll out in upcoming months — will essentially let users see and clear the information Facebook knows about their browsing history.
&#8220;To be clear, when you clear your cookies in your browser, it can make parts of your experience worse. You may have to sign back in to every website, and you may have to reconfigure things. The same will be true here. Your Facebook won&#8217;t be as good while it relearns your preferences,&#8221; CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a <a class="inline_asset" title="https://www.facebook.com/zuck" href="https://www.facebook.com/zuck">post to his personal account</a>.
&#8220;But after going through our systems, this is an example of the kind of control we think you should have,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It&#8217;s something privacy advocates have been asking for — and we will work with them to make sure we get it right.&#8221;
The new feature is another effort to give users more control over their data in response to widespread data mishandling by research firm Cambridge Analytica.
The firm was accused in recent months of improperly accessing the personal user data of as many as 87 million Facebook users. The allegations have set off a firestorm of governmental probes and privacy concerns — causing Facebook to publicly address and, in some cases, tweak its privacy policies.
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Facebook will still collect and store aggregate data from third party websites, the company said, but it will disassociate the information from user profiles.
&#8220;You&#8217;ll even be able to turn off having this information stored with your account,&#8221; Zuckerberg said.
Here&#8217;s the <a class="inline_asset" title="https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/05/clear-history-2/" href="https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/05/clear-history-2/">full statement</a> from Facebook&#8217;s Erin Egan, chief privacy officer:
<blockquote>The past several weeks have made clear that people want more information about how Facebook works and the controls they have over their information. And today at F8 we&#8217;re sharing some of the first steps we&#8217;re taking to better protect people&#8217;s privacy.
We&#8217;re starting with a feature that addresses feedback we&#8217;ve heard consistently from people who use Facebook, privacy advocates and regulators: everyone should have more information and control over the data Facebook receives from other websites and apps that use our services.
Today, we&#8217;re announcing plans to build Clear History. This feature will enable you to see the websites and apps that send us information when you use them, delete this information from your account, and turn off our ability to store it associated with your account going forward. Apps and websites that use features such as the Like button or Facebook Analytics <a class="inline_asset" href="https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/04/data-off-facebook/">send us information</a> to make their content and ads better. We also use this information to make your experience on Facebook better.
If you clear your history or use the new setting, we&#8217;ll remove identifying information so a history of the websites and apps you&#8217;ve used won&#8217;t be associated with your account. We&#8217;ll still provide apps and websites with aggregated analytics – for example, we can build reports when we&#8217;re sent this information so we can tell developer if their apps are more popular with men or women in a certain age group. We can do this without storing the information in a way that&#8217;s associated with your account, and as always, we don&#8217;t tell advertisers who you are.
It will take a few months to build Clear History. We&#8217;ll work with privacy advocates, academics, policymakers and regulators to get their input on our approach, including how we plan to remove identifying information and the rare cases where we need information for security purposes. We&#8217;ve already started a series of roundtables in cities around the world, and heard specific demands for controls like these at a session we held at our headquarters two weeks ago. We&#8217;re looking forward to doing more.</blockquote>
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<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/sara-salinas/"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" title="Sara Salinas" src="https://fm.cnbc.com/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/editorial/2017/10/17/104778204-20171013-2296-2499.60x60.jpg?v=1508258333" alt="Sara Salinas" width="60" height="60" /></a>
<div class="reporter-info"><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/sara-salinas/">Sara Salinas</a></div>
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Facebook will start telling users which websites track them

Justina Crabtree
Source: <a href="http://https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/01/zimbabwe-mass-strikes-trouble-president-mnangagwa-ahead-of-election.html">Mass strikes in Zimbabwe trouble the new president ahead of keenly watched election</a>
<ul>
<li>Zimbabwe has been plagued by a succession of strikes in recent weeks.</li>
<li>In mid-April, 16,000 nurses were fired by the Zimbabwean government following a multi-day walkout over unpaid wages.</li>
<li>Government workers were taking advantage of new President Emmerson Mnangagwa&#8217;s &#8220;less authoritarian leadership&#8221; and recognized that civil satisfaction would be under the spotlight as the country gears up for elections in July, an expert said.</li>
</ul>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://media.cnbc.com/i/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/editorial/2018/05/01/105173372-GettyImages-949116972.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="Jekesai Njikizana | AFP | Getty Images"/>
May 1 might be celebrated as International Workers&#8217; Day across the globe, but in Zimbabwe government employees have rallied together in protest in recent weeks by staging a series of strikes.
On Friday it was announced that members of the Zimbabwe Teachers&#8217; Association would strike on May 8 when schools re-open after the holidays. The 44,000-member group cited stagnant pay and restrictive annual leave as reasons for the action.
&#8220;No amount of threats or illegal declarations from individuals in government will stop or intimidate teachers from exercising their constitutional and legal right to participate in industrial job action,&#8221; said a statement by the Zimbabwe Teachers Association Monday, addressed to the Education Ministry.
In mid-April, 16,000 nurses were fired by the Zimbabwean government following a multi-day walkout that began on April 16 over unpaid wages. The strike took place just one day after a month-long walkout by junior doctors ended.
Vice President Constantino Chiwenga described the nurses&#8217; strike as &#8220;politically motivated.&#8221;
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://media.cnbc.com/i/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/editorial/2018/05/01/105173405-GettyImages-948122764.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="Jekesai Njikizana | AFP | Getty Images"/>
The present wave of striking reflects malcontent that has &#8220;long simmered under (former President Robert) Mugabe&#8217;s leadership,&#8221; Charles Laurie, director and head of politics at consultancy firm Verisk Maplecroft, told CNBC Monday.
Zimbabwe&#8217;s workforce has &#8220;seen a rot in their earnings under generally inhospitable investment conditions,&#8221; he explained. Government workers were taking advantage of the &#8220;less authoritarian leadership under (new President Emmerson) Mnangagwa,&#8221; and recognized that civil satisfaction would be under the spotlight as the country gears up for elections promised by the president in July.
Laurie described the &#8220;contagious effect&#8221; of the succession of strikes as different groups of government staff attempted to improve their working conditions.
Mugabe was ousted in a military coup in November last year after nearly four decades of rule. He was replaced by his deputy Mnangagwa, who has pledged &#8220;free and fair&#8221; elections this summer and pushed the mantra that &#8220;Zimbabwe is open for business&#8221; in an attempt to revive the country&#8217;s economy.
But, &#8220;the man on the street has not benefited from the positive changes that are slowly taking hold in the country,&#8221; Samir Shasha, chief executive of Zimbabwe-focused investment firm Cambria Africa, told CNBC Monday. &#8220;The promised investments by visiting entrepreneurs will only bring long-term benefits,&#8221; he added.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://media.cnbc.com/i/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/editorial/2018/05/01/105173398-GettyImages-948137814.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="Jekesai Njikizana | AFP | Getty Images"/>
Zimbabwe&#8217;s economy infamously suffered from hyperinflation in the 1990s and 2000s under Mugabe. Shasha referenced the decline in the purchasing power of money as a possible reason for the dissatisfaction which caused the strikes.
Zimbabwe&#8217;s bloated civil service — an attempt to create jobs in the country — means that the government struggles to meet its wage bill every month, Laurie said.
Unemployment figures for Zimbabwe vary widely. The <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/10000939?__source=cnbcafrica|inline|story|&amp;par=cnbcafrica &amp;doc="> 
World Bank 
</a> has measured the figure at 5.2 percent for 2017, though above 90 percent has been cited by other sources. This is down to the extent of Zimbabwe&#8217;s informal economy, and the prevalence of subsistence farmers.
In December 2014, Zimbabwe&#8217;s late opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai accused Mugabe&#8217;s government of creating a &#8220;poor nation of vendors; a country where everyone is trying to sell something to someone.&#8221;
Laurie said that Zimbabwe&#8217;s workforce was currently looking ahead to its brightest future in decades given the recent governmental upheaval. &#8220;Politicians need to be more receptive to their demands,&#8221; he added. But, striking workers &#8220;need to be careful of settling for unrealistic promises from politicians that are ultimately unsustainable,&#8221; he warned.

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