HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; Public sector workers in Zimbabwe on Tuesday rejected a government offer of 180 million Zimbabwe dollars ($21 million) in added pay for the July-December period as inadequate in the face of soaring inflation, a union official said.



Zimbabweans are angry as a year-on-year price jump of around 100% has eaten the value of their wages and savings, recalling the horrors of hyperinflation in 2008. Hopes that living standards would soon improve under President Emmerson Mnangagwa have not been realised.



Daily power cuts lasting up to 17 hours and severe shortages of U.S. dollars, fuel, bread, and medicines are bedevilling citizens who had hoped the end of Robert Mugabe’s rule after a 2017 coup would herald a new economic dawn.



Thomas Muzondo, deputy chairman of the Apex Council, a group of public sector unions, told Reuters the government’s offer would see each of the 309,000 civil servants receiving only an additional 97 Zimbabwe dollars ($11.28) a month.



That amount would buy less than 20 litres of petrol at a service station. The lowest paid government worker earns 430 Zimbabwe dollars a month, enough to buy a vehicle tyre.



“We totally rejected that offer so they (government negotiators) will go back to their principals for further consultations,” Muzondo told Reuters.



“It was a total waste of time.”



He said the full Apex Council would meet in the capital Harare on Wednesday to decide its next step.



Civil Service Commission chairman Vincent Hungwe was not immediately available for comment.



Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube told business leaders on Monday that Mnangagwa’s government was ready to raise civil servants’ pay for the second time in three months, citing inflation. [nL8N2491TY]



The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions threatened “mass action” last month after the government made the RTGS dollar the sole legal tender and renamed it the Zimbabwe dollar.



Ncube has said the government is running monthly budget surpluses since January, the first time in years that state finances have not been in the red, and a sign that authorities have cut down borrowing.



Ncube previously promised to cut the budget deficit this year to 5% of GDP from 11% in 2018.



The finance minister told reporters after a cabinet meeting that the national treasury had on Tuesday carried out its first public auction of Treasury Bills since 2008 to test market appetite for the bills.



Five banks had participated in the auction and made bids totalling $20 million for 90-, 180- and 360-day Treasury Bills.



“The purpose of the auction was to test the market in terms of TB (Treasury Bill) appetite and to also enable us to work out a yield curve,” Ncube said.



Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Mark Heinrich

Why Zimbabwe public workers have rejected government’s $21 million pay rise offer

NIAMEY (Reuters) &#8211; African leaders met on Sunday to launch a continental free-trade zone that if successful would unite 1.3 billion people, create a $3.4 trillion economic bloc and usher in a new era of development.



After four years of talks, an agreement to form a 55-nation trade bloc was reached in March, paving the way for Sunday’s African Union summit in Niger where attendees will unveil which nation will host the trade zone’s headquarters, when trading will start and discuss how exactly it will work.



It is hoped that the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) &#8211; the largest since the creation of the World Trade Organization in 1994 &#8211; will help unlock Africa’s long-stymied economic potential by boosting intra-regional trade, strengthening supply chains and spreading expertise.



“The eyes of the world are turned to Africa,” Egyptian President and African Union Chairman Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said at the summit’s opening ceremony.



AfCFTA “will reinforce our negotiating position on the international stage. It will represent an important step.”



Africa has much catching up to do: its intra-regional trade accounted for just 17% of exports in 2017 versus 59% in Asia and 69% in Europe, and Africa has missed out on the economic booms that other trade blocs have experienced in recent decades.



Economists say significant challenges remain, including poor road and rail links, large areas of unrest, excessive border bureaucracy and petty corruption that have held back growth and integration.



Members have committed to eliminate tariffs on most goods, which will increase trade in the region by 15-25% in the medium term, but this would double if these other issues were dealt with, according to International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates.



The IMF in a May report described a free-trade zone as a potential “economic game changer” of the kind that has boosted growth in Europe and North America, but it added a note of caution.



“Reducing tariffs alone is not sufficient,” it said.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">&nbsp;DIVERGENT INTERESTS</h3>



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Africa already has an alphabet soup of competing and overlapping trade zones &#8211; ECOWAS in the west, EAC in the east, SADC in the south and COMESA in the east and south.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;But only the EAC, driven mainly by Kenya, has made significant progress towards a common market in goods and services.



These regional economic communities (REC) will continue to trade among themselves as they do now. The role of AfCFTA is to liberalise trade among those member states that are not currently in the same REC, said Trudi Hartzenberg, director at Tralac, a South Africa-based trade law organisation.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The zone’s potential clout received a boost on Tuesday when Nigeria, the largest economy in Africa, agreed to sign the agreement at the summit. Benin has also since agreed to join. Fifty-four of the continent’s 55 states have signed up, but only 25 have ratified.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; One obstacle in negotiations will be the countries’ conflicting motives.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;For undiversified but relatively developed economies like Nigeria, which relies heavily on oil exports, the benefits of membership will likely be smaller than others, said John Ashbourne, senior emerging markets economist at Capital Economics.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Nigerian officials have expressed concern that the country could be flooded with low-priced goods, confounding efforts to encourage moribund local manufacturing and expand farming.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In contrast, South Africa’s manufacturers, which are among the most developed in Africa, could quickly expand outside their usual export markets and into West and North Africa, giving them an advantage over manufacturers from other countries, Ashbourne said.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The presidents of both countries are attending the summit.



The vast difference in countries’ economic heft is another complicating factor in negotiations. Nigeria, Egypt and South Africa account for over 50% of Africa’s cumulative GDP, while its six sovereign island nations represent about 1%.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“It will be important to address those disparities to ensure that special and differential treatments for the least developed countries are adopted and successfully implemented,” said Landry Signe, a fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Africa Growth Initiative.



Regulations governing rules of origin, removal of non-tariff barriers and the development of a payments and settlements system are expected to be unveiled at the summit.



Reporting by Boureima Balima, Alessandra Prentice; Additional reporting by Alexander Winning and Edward Mcallister; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Edward Mcallister and Dale Hudson

African leaders launch free-trade zone, what you need to know about this potential economic “game changer”

By Gary van Staden, Senior Political Analyst, NKC African Economics



Parties
that want to contest national and provincial elections in October have until
the end of July to submit their list of candidates to the national electoral
commission (CNE). Meanwhile, the armed opposition Mozambican National
Resistance (Renamo) party continues to squabble over its leadership.



The
submission of candidate lists opened this week, July 2, and will end on August
1 ahead of the elections scheduled for October 15. A total of 39 parties and
coalitions have registered with the CNE to take part in the national and/or
provincial polls. 



Realistically,
only the ruling Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo) party, Renamo, and the
Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM) that stunned Renamo last time out by
winning some seats in its backyard have any prospect of success. 



Frelimo
is expected to emerge victorious once again and Renamo is likely to claim fraud
and contest the outcome once again. 



Renamo’s
performance in the central and northern regions will be a key test of its
electoral appeal. Changes to the constitution will allow Renamo to select the
regional governor in those provinces where it obtains a majority, if any. 



Meanwhile,
local media reported in early July that a new group of Renamo fighters based in
Funhalouro district in the Inhambane interior have threatened to block the
demobilisation and disarmament process until the party’s leader, Ossufo Momade,
resigns. 



The
call comes after accusations that Mr Momade had removed those who did not
support him at the party&#8217;s congress earlier in the year. 



A
spokesperson for the Funhalouro group told media that there were 280 armed men
in the district – a claim likely to be unreliable given the total absence of
Renamo activity in the region for some time. 



The
new threats follow those made to media by Renamo dissidents in the central
province of Sofala in June when Major General Mariano Nhongo threatened that
dissidents would kill Mr Momade unless he resigned. The dissident fighters have
been labelled deserters and criminals by the Renamo leadership and their credibility
is in question. 



Their
claims that Brigadier Josefa de Sousa was executed on Mr Momade&#8217;s orders were
proved false when the “dead” brigadier appeared at a press conference to say
claims of his death had been exaggerated.



With
electoral season now underway, there is a heightened possibility of renewed
dissident Renamo conflict in parts of the country, coupled with localised
Islamist fundamentalist activities in the Tanzania border regions that are
likely to attract media attention. 



We
do not believe that these activities pose a serious threat to overall stability
in the country. But given the proximity of the elections, they could prove
disruptive at times and closer to the polls, there is an increased prospect of
violence. 



Frelimo
remains the most likely winners of the polls, but we anticipate Renamo will
once again reject the outcome, allege widespread rigging, and possibly provoke
more short-term conflict. 



Dissident
Renamo activities are unlikely to have a major impact on stability or on
Renamo, as their numbers remain small and they are isolated.

Op-Ed: Mozambique’s parties line up candidates for October polls

(Reuters) &#8211; Old Mutual said on Friday it intends to file court papers in response to former Chief Executive Peter Moyo’s plans to drag the South African insurer to court after he was fired following a row over an alleged conflict of interest.



Old Mutual said it would deliver a full response to Moyo’s allegations in court on July 16, adding that, business was not affected by the former CEO’s claims.



The company said in June it had terminated his employment following unsuccessful attempts to engage with him.



The dispute between Moyo and the company relates to dividend payments made by NMT Capital, an investment firm Moyo founded, where he was a non-executive director and in which an Old Mutual subsidiary is the only institutional investor.



Reporting by Sangameswaran S in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty

Old Mutual threatens legal action against former chief Moyo, what you need to know

PRETORIA (Reuters) &#8211; South African state defence company has asked the government for a 2.8 billion rand ($200 million) cash injection to help it emerge from a financial crisis and secure lucrative export deals, its chief executive said.



Denel, a cornerstone of the country’s once-mighty defence industry, is one of several state firms whose finances were damaged by years of mismanagement during former President Jacob Zuma’s tenure.



CEO Danie du Toit, appointed late last year to oversee a turnaround plan, said recovery efforts were progressing well and Denel could win 30 billion rand of deals in the next two years if it received help to overcome acute liquidity constraints.



Denel produces military equipment from ammunition and armoured vehicles to missiles and attack helicopters for the South African armed forces and for export.



“We have an excellent return on investment potential on recapitalisation,” he said in an interview at Denel’s offices outside Pretoria.



He said he hoped the cash injection would be announced this month and that the funds would arrive in September or October.



He added that Denel would not sell equity in any of its divisions to Saudi Arabia’s state defence firm SAMI, which made a $1 billion bid last year for a broad partnership with Denel.



Under current President Cyril Ramaphosa, public finances are stretched by the need to rescue other ailing state firms such as loss-making power company Eskom and South African Airways, which have both already received cash injections.



($1 = 14.0450 rand)



Reporting by Alexander Winning and Joe Bavier; editing by Jason Neely

Why South Africa’s Denel asked government for $200 million cash injection

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; Mining company Vedanta said on Thursday that it is seeking an urgent court order in South Africa to prevent Zambia’s mining investment arm ZCCM from winding up its disputed Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) business.



Vedanta is locked in a dispute with the Zambian government, which accuses KCM of breaching the terms of its licence.



Vedanta denies that KCM has broken the terms of its licence and says it will defend its assets in Zambia, Africa’s second-biggest copper producer.



The case has intensified concerns among international miners about resource nationalism in Africa.



A ZCCM spokeswoman was not immediately available for comment.



Vedanta said in a statement that it had obtained a temporary order in South Africa’s High Court allowing it to make an urgent request on July 16 for an injunction against ZCCM and a provisional liquidator at KCM.



Vedanta holds a majority stake in KCM, with ZCCM holding a minority stake.



“Vedanta will seek an interim court order declaring that ZCCM has breached the KCM shareholders’ agreement by pursuing winding-up proceedings against KCM in Zambia, and directing ZCCM to withdraw those proceedings,” the statement added.



Vedanta applied to the South African court because the KCM shareholders’ agreement makes provision for arbitration in South Africa.



Reporting by Alexander Winning, editing by Deepa Babington

What you need to know about Vedanta’s appeal to South African court to protect Zambian business

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The Zondo Commission into state capture and the commission of inquiry into the Public Investment Corporation has become a familiar serial for many South Africans as corporate corruption takes centre stage. The South African Business Ethics Survey for 2019 has sited that the ethics of organisations should filter from the top down but in South Africa there is a major loss of ethical behaviour amongst various levels of management. Joining CNBC Africa for more is Paul Vorster, Senior Research Specialist at the Ethics Institute.

The state of corporate corruption in South Africa

HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; A Zimbabwe human rights lawyer asked the High Court on Tuesday to overturn a government decision to ban the use of foreign currencies, a move that could potentially derail plans for a new currency if the court finds in his favour.



The government has introduced an interim currency, the RTGS dollar, in a bid to end a decade of dollarisation. On June 24 it renamed the new currency the Zimbabwe dollar and declared it Zimbabwe’s sole legal tender.



For many Zimbabweans, the name Zimbabwe dollar brings unpleasant memories of 2008, when the local currency was wrecked by hyperinflation of 500 billion percent, which wiped out pensions and savings and forced authorities to adopt the U.S. dollar and other foreign currencies the following year.



Godfrey Mupanga, a member of the group Zimbabwe Lawyers For Human Rights, petitioned the court to reverse the decision to ban other currencies.



In his court application seen by Reuters, Mupanga said the decision by the national treasury and central bank was “grossly unreasonable” and should be declared unconstitutional.



The court did not immediately set a date for a hearing.



In banning foreign currencies, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube used regulations under emergency presidential powers, which lapse in six months unless parliament passes a substantive law.



Ncube told a parliamentary committee on Monday that dollarisation was throttling an economy grappling with shortages of U.S. dollars, fuel and bread, and 15-hour daily power cuts.



Many businesses had resorted to selling goods in U.S. dollars to protect them against near triple-digit inflation as the RTGS dollar was fast losing value before the government’s surprise intervention.



Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe

Zimbabwe challenged in court for banning the use of foreign currencies, what you need to know

<figure>
 <img decoding="async" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277727/original/file-20190603-69055-139n8j4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&#038;q=45&#038;auto=format&#038;w=754&#038;fit=clip" />
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 Aerial view of Kariba dam.
 Dmitriy Kandinskiy/Shutterstock
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/tafadzwa-makonese-750988">Tafadzwa Makonese</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-johannesburg-1275">University of Johannesburg</a>

Zimbabwe’s government has announced its facing critical power shortfalls. The country’s anchor power producer, Kariba Dam, might <a href="https://www.fin24.com/Economy/Africa/zimbabwe-to-approach-eskom-for-help-as-kariba-dam-levels-drop-20190603">have to stop</a> production in weeks due to dropping water levels. Tafadzwa Makonese spoke to Moina Spooner from The Conversation Africa about what can be done.

What are the main challenges facing Zimbabwe’s energy system?

Zimbabwe has a severe energy crisis because its major sources of electricity are struggling to keep up with demand. 

Kariba power plant dam – where Zimbabwe gets <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/304021888_Renewable_energy_in_Zimbabwe">57% of its electricity</a> – has low water levels due to poor rains last year. At the moment the dam, which sits on the border of Zimbabwe and Zambia, is producing <a href="https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/zimbabwe-darkness-eight-to-ten-hour-load-shedding/">just 34%</a> of what it usually can. If Kariba stopped producing Zimbabwe would <a href="https://www.fin24.com/Economy/World/power-production-on-the-verge-of-shutdown-at-zims-kariba-dam-20190531">lose about 358 MW daily</a>, that’s about 300 000 homes without power. 

On top of this, Hwange colliery – which provides <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-02/hwange-of-zimbabwe-coal-output-to-surge-on-underground-mining">almost all</a> of Zimbabwe’s coal for power generation – is producing less <a href="https://www.fin24.com/Economy/World/power-production-on-the-verge-of-shutdown-at-zims-kariba-dam-20190531">because of</a> old and deteriorating infrastructure. 

Currently Zimbabwe <a href="https://af.reuters.com/article/africaTech/idAFL8N237276">produces</a> 1100 MW of power against a national demand of 1500 MW. This leaves a supply gap of 400 MW. The deficit is catered for <a href="https://www.fin24.com/Economy/zim-looks-to-sas-eskom-to-help-stave-off-load-shedding-20190512">by imports</a> from Mozambique and South Africa. 

But payments for these imports aren’t easy to keep up with. For the past 10 years Zimbabwe has been going through a <a href="https://world-news-monitor.com/money/finance/2019/05/31/zimbabwe-strikes-imf-deal-to-boost-new-currency/">currency crisis</a> caused by hyperinflation. This has severely eroded the power of local currency, leaving the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority in a financial quagmire. They <a href="https://www.fin24.com/Economy/Africa/zimbabwe-to-approach-eskom-for-help-as-kariba-dam-levels-drop-20190603">currently owe</a> Eskom, South Africa’s power utility, over $33million.

Because of these challenges, any drop in national production means the government has to ration electricity. The government recently started a load shedding plan <a href="https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/zimbabwe-darkness-eight-to-ten-hour-load-shedding/">to prevent</a> the collapse of the country’s power grid.

What are the short to medium term solutions?

One short-term solution could be small solar power systems that are rolled out while the government works to improve national power generation through additional hydropower plants, solar and wind farms. 

Small solar systems are an effective source of electricity in off-grid communities or they could be set up as mini-grids in communities that constantly suffer from power-cuts. Zimbabwe <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0973082614000787">has enough</a> solar power to support these.

These solar systems could be made cheaper through the introduction of subsidies and tax incentives. Even better, the government could waive taxes on all certified systems coming into the country. 

And more needs to be done to publicise the use of gas in urban and rural households. Gas is underused in Zimbabwe, partly because it is more expensive compared to other energy sources including kerosene. The government could look for investments through private partnerships to build gas mines. Zimbabwe <a href="https://www.herald.co.zw/zim-to-set-up-own-gas-mines/">has over 40 trillion</a> cubic feet of potentially recoverable methane gas in the Lupane-Lubimbi area. Considering the cost of building infrastructure to transport the gas from the production sites, it would be significantly cheaper to exploit these than to import from Mozambique. 

Industries that need to cope with power cuts should turn to energy storage. In Johannesburg, South Africa, some industries <a href="https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/energy-storage-a-viable-solution-to-load-shedding-2019-04-05">have integrated</a> energy storage into their micro-grids – the solar energy <a href="https://www.altenergymag.com/article/2019/02/energy-storage-microgrids/30388/">is stored</a> in batteries that are used when the grid fails. 

Are there experiences from other countries, in fixing a dilapidated electricity system, that Zimbabwe can draw lessons from?

Nepal and Bangladesh are good examples. 

In 2014 Nepal was experiencing up to 12 hours of power cuts for the residential and industrial sector. This was <a href="https://kathmandupost.ekantipur.com/news/2018-05-14/entire-country-is-now-free-of-loadshedding.html">finally stopped</a> in 2017. Nepal invested heavily in run-of-the-river micro-hydropower plants. These are hydroelectric systems that harvest the energy from flowing water to generate electricity in the absence of a large dam and reservoir – as opposed to conventional hydroelectric power plants which rely on the power of water falling a large distance. 

It all paid off when water levels in major rivers rose and power could be generated. By 2018 the country <a href="https://www.intechopen.com/books/renewable-hydropower-technologies/hydropower-development-in-nepal-climate-change-impacts-and-implications">produced</a> 1000 MW from 782 MW in 2016.

Zimbabwe relied heavily on the Kariba Dam power station, without establishing more hydropower plants elsewhere. It <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1876610217354486">has huge</a> small-hydro potential. 

Bangladesh meanwhile shows how energy-saving behaviour – like turning off lights in unused rooms, use of solar water geysers, and use of energy efficient home appliances – under its national energy efficiency and conservation master plan <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40095-019-0302-3">reduced demand</a> by up to 51%.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118209/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important" />

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/tafadzwa-makonese-750988">Tafadzwa Makonese</a>, Senior Research Fellow, Sustainable Energy Technology and Research Centre, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-johannesburg-1275">University of Johannesburg</a>

This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/quick-fix-solutions-to-zimbabwes-huge-electricity-crisis-118209">original article</a>.

What are the short-term solutions to Zimbabwe’s huge electricity crisis ?

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; Steinhoff International said on Tuesday it had started legal proceedings against former Chief Executive Markus Jooste and ex-finance chief Ben La Grange to recover certain salary and bonus payments they got prior to 2017.



The South African retailer’s CEO Louis du Preez told lawmakers in March that Jooste, la Grange, along with six other people, were involved in inflating Steinhoff profits and asset values over several years, forcing the firm to restate years of financials.



Steinhoff first flagged holes in its accounts in December 2017 — leading to the exposure of a more than $7 billion accounting fraud — shocking investors who had backed its rise from a small South African outfit to a discount furniture retailer straddling four continents.



Steinhoff, which is also listed in Frankfurt, said it launched the legal proceedings on June 19 in the Cape Town High Court. Jooste’s lawyer, Callie Albertyn, could not be immediately reached for comment. La Grange’s lawyer was also not available for immediate comment.



In its delayed 2017 annual report, the owner of Mattress Firm in the U.S. and furniture retailer Conforama in France, said that Jooste received a bonus payment of 2.1 million euros ($2.37 million) in March and May 2017. It said 500,000 euros of that amount was neither proposed by the human resources and remuneration committee nor approved by the supervisory board.



Steinhoff also said it received summons on June 21 from Barents &amp; Krans on behalf of Hamilton B.V, initiating legal proceedings against the retailer and others “for declaratory relief relating to currently unquantified damages arising from alleged wrongful acts”.



($1 = 0.8856 euros)



Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; editing by Jason Neely and Emelia Sithole-Matarise

What you need to know about Steinhoff seeking to recoup payments made to ex-CEO

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Pleasure Mnisi from Exxaro&#8217;s Business Optimisation unit joins CNBC Africa to talk about how technology is transforming South Africa’s mining industry.

The future of mining in South Africa

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With plans to expand into more than 15 African countries, this cryptocurrency platform is catching onto the digital currency craze. Luno&#8217;s GM for Africa, Marius Reitz joins CNBC Africa to unpack the global Bitcoin rally and what this means for growing interest in emerging markets.

Naspers-backed Luno outlines growth plans for Africa

Edward Kieswetter on rebuilding Sars, targeting tax delinquents

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EOH plans to sell a 70 per cent stake in its subsidiary EOH Mthombo to German listed company RIB’s subsidiary RIB Software SE for R444 million. According to its statement EOH’s remaining 30 per cent holding of CCS will add to the company’s growth trajectory Joining CNBC Africa for more is Megan Pydigadu, CFO, EOH.

EOH offloads part of EOH Mthombo to German company

HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwe’s government expects to pay $10 million to South African state power firm Eskom by the end of Monday, Zimbabwean Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said.



Zimbabwe, which is grappling with severe power shortages, imports power from neighbouring South Africa. But Eskom cut back power exports to Zimbabwe because of unpaid debts of around $33 million.



Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; writing by Alexander Winning; editing by Jason Neely

Zimbabwe plans to pay $10 million to South Africa’s Eskom by the end of Monday

By <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/festival-godwin-boateng-686321">Festival Godwin Boateng</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/rmit-university-1063">RMIT University</a>

It’s a sadly familiar image in several developing countries’ media reports: people frantically searching the rubble of a collapsed building for survivors.

The data is disparate and scattered. But what is known confirms what the images tell us: building collapses are a common, tragic occurrence in developing countries’ cities. In Kampala, Uganda, <a href="http://ebooks.iospress.nl/publication/38227">one study</a> counted 54 building collapse deaths and 122 injuries between 2004 and 2008. <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284082610_Contemporary_Issues_in_Building_Collapse_and_Its_Implications_for_Sustainable_Development">Another study</a> identified 112 cases in Lagos, Nigeria from December 1978 to April 2008. Between February and May 2019, 29 deaths and 76 injuries <a href="https://allafrica.com/stories/201906030071.html">were recorded</a> from 13 building collapse incidents across Nigeria. 

<a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Festival_Godwin_Boateng/publication/317291061_The_Collapse_of_Buildings_in_Cities_in_Ghana_Reasoning_Beyond_'Scientism/links/5930aeb245851553b67f297b/The-Collapse-of-Buildings-in-Cities-in-Ghana-Reasoning-Beyond-Scientism.pdf#page=14">Ghana</a> and <a href="http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.871.2870&amp;rep=rep1&amp;type=pdf">Kenya</a>, too, have recorded a number of fatal incidents in recent years.

This isn’t a uniquely African problem, though. It <a href="https://www.icevirtuallibrary.com/doi/abs/10.1680/jfoen.17.00019">occurs</a> in the rapidly urbanising parts of Asia as well.

I <a href="https://www.icevirtuallibrary.com/doi/abs/10.1680/jmuen.17.00033">set out to understand</a> this rather under-researched phenomenon of building collapse in developing countries’ cities. I wanted to know the range of agencies, motivations and causes that propel the widespread creation of unsafe buildings in cities in developing countries. I also wanted to know why so many of these buildings collapse. 

This is important because of how quickly cities in the developing world are filling up. Today <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/06/Africa-urbanization-cities-double-population-2050-4%20ways-thrive/">around 40%</a> of those in Africa live in cities – that’s around 500 million people. This is <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/06/Africa-urbanization-cities-double-population-2050-4%20ways-thrive/">projected to rise</a> to more than 1.4 billion people in the next few decades.

<a href="http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/326581468337788007/Building-regulation-for-resilience-managing-risks-for-safer-cities">Urbanisation is here to stay</a>. It’s up to authorities to make sure that the people arriving in their cities don’t end up suffering such incidents.

<h2>The “pathology” of cities</h2>

Studies suggest that the social problems experienced in cities usually have a uniquely <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Pathologies-Urban-Processes-Kingsley-Haynes/dp/9518480222">“urban” dimension</a>. In this way of thinking, urbanisation processes – the concentration of people and socioeconomic activities in cities – affect the extent to which problems occur and the particular forms they take in those places. Studies of this nature are classified under the broad term <a href="https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/sswa_facpubs/442/">“urban pathology literature”</a>. 

I drew on the ideas and methods of urban pathology literature to explore the phenomenon of building collapse in cities in developing countries. To do this, I reviewed contemporary and historic documents on housing and construction, media, scholarly and investigative reports on building collapses and other cognate materials on the growth and development of cities.

Here’s what I found.

The more people come to a city, the more demand for buildings is amplified. People need accommodation, offices, or both. This demand creates pressure from which a range of agencies, motivations and causes arise. And that often encourages shoddy construction and building use practices. Buildings are hastily built. Those which already exist are hastily converted for uses that weren’t built into the original design. Extra floors are added atop old buildings.

Usually, city authorities would step in to enforce safe building regulations and guard against these practices. But too often in the developing world, institutional cultures like corruption and political interference undermine authorities’ responsibilities. Add to that a dearth of building inspectors or other resources, and unsafe building practices multiply. 

In the end, huge stocks of unsafe buildings are created, sometimes in hazard-prone locations. This, then, can lead to disaster.

<h2>Understanding context</h2>

All of this means that building collapses in cities are a pathological feature of urbanisation. 

One insidious dimension of the problem relates to how socioeconomic inequalities associated with urbanisation processes impede poorer people from finding safe, sturdy accommodation. This exposes them to <a href="http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/326581468337788007/Building-regulation-for-resilience-managing-risks-for-safer-cities">tremendous risk</a>, forcing them to either rely on or undertake construction practices that are inherently unsafe. Two issues could be addressed to ease this problem: the high cost of urban land and unfavourable mortgage and credit schemes that lock people out of accessing building or accommodation finance.

Essentially, unless conscious efforts are made to address the building needs of Africa’s urban poor, the creation of unsafe (illegal) buildings in hazard-prone areas cannot be prevented.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118423/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important" />

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/festival-godwin-boateng-686321">Festival Godwin Boateng</a>, PhD Candidate, School of Global Urban &#038; Social Studies, RMIT University-Australia, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/rmit-university-1063">RMIT University</a>

This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/knowing-what-leads-to-building-collapses-can-help-make-african-cities-safer-118423">original article</a>.

Identifying the causes of building collapses can help make African cities safer, here’s how

In this narrow, bad tempered, age of nationalism and petty
racial tension it is heart-warming to see an independent African nation honour a
man born on the other side of the world for sharing its values and its struggle
for freedom.



This happened on June 25 2019 as Mozambique celebrated 44 years of independence by making Scottish-born journalist Iain Christie an honorary citizen in the land he believed in and spent 25 years  of his life living with tight knit family in Maputo.



Christie came to Africa to work on newspapers in Dar es
Salaam, the capital of Tanzania, in 1970. Here, he reported on the many
liberation movements using Tanzania as a base: including FRELIMO, the
liberation army led by Samora Machel. &nbsp;The two got on like a house on fire and
friends for life. Decades later, the first picture you saw when you entered the
Christie home was that of the first president of Mozambique in army fatigues
with rifle; when the two met, in Machel’s days of power, there would be a :
“Hey, Christie!” followed&nbsp; by a
presidential bear hug. 



“I liked the party because I thought it approached
liberation and socialism in a very interesting way,” he once told me in a long
chat about politics in his lounge in Maputo.



In 1975, the Portuguese government had given up its military
rear guard action against majority rule in Africa after the remnants of the
late President Antionio Salazar’s right wing Estado Novo was kicked by a
peaceful coup by the socialists in 1974. It ushered in rapid change as Portugal
rushed to hand back its so- called “overseas provinces” in Africa, from Cape
Verde to Mozambique, within a year, after more than 400 years of colonial rule.



The flamboyant former medic turned military commander Machel
decided to march through Mozambique to spread his message of Liberation among
the people. He invited journalist Christie to go with him and the Scotsman went
every step of the way made Mozambique his home. The two would spend hours,
under the stars ,talking into the African night of a brighter tomorrow. 



In later years, Christie recalled the trip to me as a
magical experience where the villagers would cook food and stage plays for
their new president.



In Maputo, Christie set up the English service of the
Mozambique News Agency and later trained journalists and broadcasted on The
Voice of Zimbabwe, a radio station broadcasting from Maputo as the next door
neighbours inched towards independence.&nbsp; Whatever
his reservations, in latter years, he was firm in his belief that Mozambique
was better off for achieving liberation.



The fact that Mozambique remembers Christie’s
enthusiastic&nbsp; contribution to the country,
with his pen, is commendable – if not just a little nostalgic for brighter,
better, days of hope.&nbsp;

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EOH offloads part of EOH Mthombo to German company

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Identifying the causes of building collapses can help make African cities safer, here’s how

Mozambique honours the Scot who stood for freedom

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Southern Africa

Why Zimbabwe public workers have rejected government’s $21 million pay rise offer

African leaders launch free-trade zone, what you need to know about this potential economic “game changer”

Op-Ed: Mozambique’s parties line up candidates for October polls

Old Mutual threatens legal action against former chief Moyo, what you need to know

Why South Africa’s Denel asked government for $200 million cash injection

What you need to know about Vedanta’s appeal to South African court to protect Zambian business

The state of corporate corruption in South Africa

Zimbabwe challenged in court for banning the use of foreign currencies, what you need to know

What are the short-term solutions to Zimbabwe’s huge electricity crisis ?

What you need to know about Steinhoff seeking to recoup payments made to ex-CEO

The future of mining in South Africa

Naspers-backed Luno outlines growth plans for Africa

Edward Kieswetter on rebuilding Sars, targeting tax delinquents

EOH offloads part of EOH Mthombo to German company

Zimbabwe plans to pay $10 million to South Africa’s Eskom by the end of Monday

Identifying the causes of building collapses can help make African cities safer, here’s how

Mozambique honours the Scot who stood for freedom

News Tips

Advertise With Us

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