HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa cast his vote on Monday in the first election since the removal of Robert Mugabe, rejecting claims made by his former mentor a day earlier that the election would not be free.
Mnangagwa, a 75-year-old former intelligence chief, is facing off against Nelson Chamisa, a 40-year-old lawyer and preacher who is vying to become Zimbabwe’s youngest head of state.
Reporting by Joe Brock; Editing by Angus MacSwan

Zimbabwe’s Mnangagwa rejects claims by Mugabe that elections will not be free

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CNBC Africa is joined by Wilf Mbanga, Editor of The Zimbabwean to speak about Zimbabwe’s 2018 elections, the first withought the ousted long-time leader Robert Mugabe.

Zimbabwean voters ready for a possible change

HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; Former President Robert Mugabe said he would vote for Zimbabwe’s opposition in Monday’s election, turning on one-time allies in the government ahead of the first vote since they ousted him in a de facto coup.
The election will see 75-year-old President Emmerson Mnangagwa, a long-time Mugabe ally, face 40-year-old Nelson Chamisa, a lawyer and pastor who is vying to become Zimbabwe’s youngest head of state.
Polls, which are unreliable, give former intelligence chief Mnangagwa only a slim lead over Chamisa, making a runoff on September 8 a possibility.
Mugabe, whose 37-year rule came to an end when he was forced to resign in November, told reporters at his mansion in Harare on Sunday that Mnangagwa’s government was unconstitutional and ruled by the gun.
“I hope the choice of voting tomorrow will throw, thrust away the military government and bring us back to constitutionality,” said a frail looking Mugabe, in a rambling off the cuff speech that lasted almost an hour.
“I said I can’t vote for those who have caused me to be in this situation &#8230; so there is Chamisa left.”
Mugabe, one of the last “Big Men” of African politics, still looms large over Zimbabwean politics and he may yet influence the first vote without his name on the ballot paper since the country gained independence from Britain in 1980.
Though he became increasingly unpopular with most Zimbabweans as mismanagement and corruption sent the economy into decline, he retains support in his rural heartland where supporters remain bitter about the manner of his removal.
Mnangagwa, known as “the crocodile”, an animal famed in Zimbabwean lore for its stealth and ruthlessness, was removed as vice president by Mugabe last November to make way for his wife, Grace, to seize power, analysts say.
This was too much for army generals who rolled military vehicles through the streets of Harare and kept Mugabe under house arrest until he resigned facing imminent impeachment.
VIOLENCE FEARS 
Mugabe on Sunday said it was “total nonsense” that he wanted his wife to succeed him and claimed that he was preparing to resign at a ZANU-PF congress in December.
Such is the draw Mugabe retains even seven months after stepping aside, he became the focus of questions at a parallel press conference held by Chamisa.
“Mr. Mugabe’s wishes are his wishes. I am going to accept any voter with open hands. The more the merrier,” Chamisa said in response to a question about Mugabe’s endorsement.
Elections under Mugabe were often undermined by violence, rigging and voter intimidation.
Chamisa’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has already cast doubt on the election process, accusing the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) of bias.
There have been reports of intimidation and coercion, and state media is biased towards the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF). But there is consensus that the process has been better than before.
Mnangagwa has welcomed in foreign media and international observers from the EU, United States and the Commonwealth, while opposition parties have been freely allowed to campaign.
If Chamisa disputes the result or no one candidate gets more than 50 percent and there is a runoff, there are fears of street protests and possible violence.
Dozens of people were killed in the lead up to a runoff in 2008 between Mugabe and MDC founder Morgan Tsvangirai, who died in February. Tsvangirai pulled out of the contest before the vote in an effort to end the bloodshed.
“A run-off election is becoming more probable, which also increases the risk of violence as it has in previous election cycles,” said Robert Besseling, analyst at EXX Africa.
“Although an outbreak of widespread violence as in 2008 is not expected &#8230; incidents of localised violence are increasing in frequency and intensity.”
Reporting by Macdonald Dzirutwe; Writing by Joe Brock; editing by Mark Heinrich, William Maclean

Why Zimbabwe’s Mugabe is endorsing Chamisa

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Old Mutual has come home after nearly two decades of doing business in London and they wanted everyone in Africa to know it. There has been a simultaneous listing in Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa. There was music, Vuvuzelas, a former finance minister and ceremony. CNBC Africa&#8217;s Rofhiwa Madzena filed this report.

Old Mutual simultaneously lists across three Southern African bourses

HARARE, June 26 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) &#8211; With increasingly extreme weather taking a toll on farming and incomes, Zimbabwe has released a trio of climate change policies designed to make the country more resistant to climate pressures and help it meet its international carbon-cutting pledges.
The Child Friendly Climate Policy is designed to educate school children about climate change and promote climate-friendly practices, such as protection of forests and wetlands and broader use of low-emissions technologies.
A new Climate Smart Agriculture Policy, meanwhile, focuses on ensuring farmers and agricultural advisers adopt climate-hardy farming practices.
And the country’s first overall National Climate Policy aims to help Zimbabwe put in place the legal structures needed to guide businesses on becoming greener to meet its emissions-cutting promises under the international Paris Agreement, said Washington Zhakata, climate change management director in the Ministry of Environment, Climate and Water.
“The National Climate Policy is the first step towards achieving this,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in an interview.
<h3>ADAPTING TO LESS WATER</h3>
Tirivanhu Muhwati, a climate scientist with the Ministry of Environment, Climate and Water, said the national policy will also focus heavily on adaptation to climate pressures, as most of the country’s communities are rural and depend on agriculture even as droughts intensify.
“The policy has a thrust towards promoting adaptation because, as a developing country, our scope for mitigation or reducing emissions is limited because we are not all that industrialised compared to the developed world,” he said.
Approximately 80 percent of Zimbabwe’s rural people depend on rainfed agriculture for a living, making them highly vulnerable to more extreme weather associated with climate change, said Environment, Water and Climate Minister Oppah Muchinguri Kashiri, at the launch of the policies this month.
According to the country’s submissions to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, most of Zimbabwe’s climate-changing emissions come from burning fossil fuels for energy, from agricultural production, and from waste handling and industrial processes.
The new climate change policy aims to help cut emissions by industry, energy producers, agriculture, and deforestation, among other sources.
Muhwati described the Child Friendly Climate Policy as a version of the national climate change policy meant to help students understand climate change issues and also to promote climate friendly practices among young people.
The policy comes on top of other recent efforts to add climate change issues into the new national school curriculum, said Muhwati.
The Climate Smart Agriculture Policy, meanwhile, aims to help university professors and agriculture extension advisers pass on up-to-date information on agricultural practices capable of standing up to climate threats, from worsening drought to flooding.
“It aims to introduce a wholesome change in the way we do our agriculture. The best way to do this is through our agricultural colleges and universities,” Muhwati said.
<h3>PUT TO WORK?</h3>
Peter Makwanya, a communications lecturer at Zimbabwe Open University and a writer on climate change communications issues, said all the three policies could help the country better deal with climate change – but only if they are actually put into practice.
“Climate smart agriculture is a noble idea if implemented sufficiently well but this is an area with lots of challenges, considering how our country manages, monitors and implements agricultural activities,” he said.
“All the three policies can take the country somewhere if implemented properly &#8211; but Zimbabwe is very good at formulating blueprints and very poor on implementation,” he stressed.
Zhakata, however, said the policy was different from past policies that may have been shelved, if only because so many people now recognise that climate change is a problem and require effective guidance to ensure they can adapt.
Shephard Zvigadza, chairman of the Climate Change Working Group-Zimbabwe, a civil society organisation, said he believes the new policies should be combined with Zimbabwe’s 2014 Climate Response Strategy into a national climate change law, with binding provisions for action.
But he said Zimbabwe will require sustained financial and technical support to help it adapt to growing climate pressures.
The national government has said it intends to establish a National Climate Fund that would use 10 percent of the national budget to finance action on adapting to climate change and curbing emissions.
The money would also support efforts to win funding from international climate funds, according to the new National Climate Policy.
The government has said it would also consider a small tax on industry profits to support green growth.
Besides worsening droughts and flooding – which have destroyed roads and schools over the past year – Zimbabwe faces climate pressures including flare-ups in malaria as temperatures rise and rainfall becomes more erratic. (Reporting by Tonderayi Mukeredzi ; editing by Laurie Goering : (Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, climate change, resilience, women&#8217;s rights, trafficking and property rights. Visit <a href="http://news.trust.org/climate">news.trust.org/climate</a>)

Hit by extreme weather, Zimbabwe takes action

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Old Mutual has come home after nearly two decades of doing business in London and they wanted everyone in Africa to know it. There has been a simultaneous listing Zimbabwe, Namibia and Johannesburg. There was music, Vuvuzelas, a former finance minister and ceremony. CNBC Africa&#8217;s Rofhiwa Madzena was at the listing and spoke to CEO, Peter Moyo about the company’s prospects in Africa.

Old Mutual reaffirms its commitment to Africa

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Old Mutual has come home after nearly two decades of doing business in London and it wanted everyone in Africa to know. On Tuesday it simultaneously listed in Zimbabwe, Namibia and Johannesburg. CNBC Africa takes a look at the history of Old Mutual in Africa.

The story of Old Mutual

Both Zimbabwe&#8217;s President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Ethiopia’s new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed are safe after explosions rocked rallies where they were present in their respective countries.
Mnangagwa escaped unhurt after an explosion rocked a stadium where he was addressing a political rally on Saturday, a month before the country is due to hold its presidential elections.
However, vice presidents Constantino Chiwenga and Kembo Mohadi and a minister sustained minor injuries following the blast at the White City Stadium in the second city of Bulawayo.
Ahmed escaped a grenade attack on Saturday at a rally in the capital that killed one person and left scores wounded, officials and witnesses said.
The attack was launched by an unidentified assailant moments after 41-year-old prime minister, a former soldier who took office in April, finished his speech to tens of thousands of people gathered in the centre of Addis Ababa.
A witness saw Abiy whisked away by guards. Another witness told Reuters the assailant with the grenade had been wrestled to the ground by police before it exploded.
Health Minister Amir Aman said one person was killed and 154 were wounded, with 10 of them in critical condition.
Zimbabwe 
“There has been an incident at Bulawayo where the president was addressing a rally. This is now a police issue but the president is safe at Bulawayo State House,” spokesman George Charamba told Reuters.
“We are still to get information on what exactly happened as we understand that some people could have been injured as this happened in the VIP tent.”
National Police spokeswoman Charity Charamba said she did not have details on the incident.
Several security personnel were also injured, the state-owned Herald newspaper said.
Footage from Zimbabwe state television showed the explosion took place near Mnangagwa as he waved to supporters. He was later seen in pictures circulating on social media visiting Chiwenga’s wife in hospital.
Mnangagwa was speaking at his first rally in Bulawayo, an opposition stronghold where the ruling ZANU-PF has not won in national elections since 2000.
Zimbabwe holds its presidential election on July 30, with 75-year-old Mnangagwa and 40-year-old Nelson Chamisa, the leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, the main contenders.
The vote next month is the first since Robert Mugabe’s downfall after a de facto military coup last November.
Unlike previous elections which were marred by violence, mostly against opposition members by ZANU-PF supporters, the run up to this year’s vote has been relatively peaceful.
Mnangagwa has promised a free and fair vote and if it is endorsed by international observers who are in the country for the first time since 2000, it could help Zimbabwe secure funding from international institutions for the first time in two decades.
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<div class="container_2dHIN dp-slot-inline_eUPBt">Mnangagwa said last August, then the vice president, that he had been poisoned at a rally outside Bulawayo and spent weeks receiving medical treatment in neighbouring South Africa.</div>
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Zimbabwe last had blasts at rallies in the 1980s, which had targeted Mugabe.
Ethiopia 

Addressing the nation on television shortly after the blast and still wearing a green t-shirt he was handed at the rally, Abiy said the attack was an “attempt by forces who do not want to see Ethiopia united.”
Abiy had promised the crowd in his speech in Addis Ababa’s Meskel Square that he would bring more transparency to government and reconciliation to a nation of 100 million people that has been torn by protests since 2015.
Eritrea, which has long been at loggerheads with Ethiopia over a border row that Abiy has sought to resolve, condemned the incident, as did the European Union and the United States.
Abiy took office after his predecessor, Hailemariam Desalegn, resigned in February following protests in which hundreds of people were killed between 2015 and 2017.
Emergency law was temporarily imposed to quell the unrest and was lifted this month.
Despite boasting one of Africa’s fastest growing economies, opponents say the benefits have not been shared fairly between ethnic groups and regions in the country, which has been run by the same ruling coalition for more than quarter of a century.
Abiy has travelled around the nation, promising to address grievances and address political and civil rights.
After Saturday’s blast, the prime minister’s chief of staff wrote on Twitter: “Some whose heart is filled with hate attempted a grenade attack.”
“All the casualties are martyrs of love &amp; peace. HE PM sends his condolences to the victims. The perpetrators will be brought to justice,” Fitsum Arega wrote.
The U.S. embassy in Addis Ababa said: “Violence has no place as Ethiopia pursues meaningful political and economic reforms.”
<h3>PEACE INITIATIVE</h3>
Rally organiser Seyoum Teshome told Reuters he saw five people injured in the blast. “It was a grenade. Someone tried to hurl it to the stage where the prime minister was,” Seyoum said.
As well as promising economic reforms, Abiy stunned Ethiopians this month by saying he was ready to fully implement a peace deal with Eritrea that was signed in 2000 after a two-year war. For years, Ethiopia refused to implement the deal, saying it wanted more talks.
The stalemate led to a military build up and sporadic clashes on the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea, which seceded from Ethiopia in 1991 after a long war of independence.
Under the 2000 peace deal, Ethiopia is required to cede the border town of Badme to Eritrea. But war veterans in Badme and ethnic Tigrayans along the border oppose the peace initiative, with some town residents saying they will not leave the town.
Eritrea’s ambassador to Japan, Estifanos Afeworki, wrote on Twitter that his nation “strongly condemns the attempt to incite violence” in Addis Ababa, calling the rally a “demonstration for peace”.
Ethiopia’s ruling EPRDF is made up of parties representing the country’s four major ethnic groups. Abiy hails from the Oromo ethnic group, making up roughly a third of the population.
Oromos, along with the Amhara ethnic group, led street demonstrations against the government since 2015 that began as protests against a development plan around the capital and which opponents said the state was using to grab land. Protests broadened to cover other political and economic demands.
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In another of Abiy’s major policy shifts, the prime minister has said Ethiopia would open its state-run telecoms monopoly and state-owned Ethiopian Airlines to private domestic and foreign investment, both moves would loosen the state’s grip.

Zimbabwe’s President Mnangagwa, Ethiopian prime minister escape unhurt after blasts at rallies

Forget about the World Cup African Business News – the company that owns CNBC Africa and Forbes Africa – scored a satisfying hat trick in journalism at a glittering gathering of the finest financial journalists on the continent.
For the third year in-a-row ABN won the best newcomer award at the Sanlam Awards in South Africa.
This feat is a tribute to the academy of journalism that ABN is becoming; that idea of bringing up talent, mentoring the fire of youth and passing on skills. This has turned our proud operation here in Stella Street, Sandton, into a seed bed for future journalists.
This was a modus operandi I pioneered, as editor, at the birth of Forbes Africa way back in 2011 and I continue to this day at CNBC Africa. It always gives me a swell of pride to hear some of those I trained, training others. At this company we believe not in giving the hungry a fish, but teaching them how to fish. There is a lot of nonsense talked about inspiring the youth, but success boils down to the simple inculcation of hard work and effort.
The young hopefuls themselves, play a full part in pouring their youth and idealism into the career in journalism that lies at their feet – if they can apply themselves.
One factor that unites our young talent is that they had to make a concerted leap off the bottom rung of the ladder.
This tale is told by the way into the newsroom at ABN made by our hat trick of winners.  Our first winner, in 2016, was Ancillar Mangena a determined young woman who will win many more awards yet. She cut her teeth on a free community newspaper in Johannesburg writing about pot holes and school sports days. One morning I opened her newspaper and saw her many by-lines and wondered what wonders she could do on a magazine like Forbes Africa. I telephoned her and the next morning she came in, with a thumbed copy of the magazine in hand, and put her case. There followed years of intense journalism.
In 2017, it was the turn of Aviwe Mtila to accept the best newcomer award. In the last three years he has come a long way in more ways than one. His route to the ABN newsroom was overnight, on a bus, from East London, merely for an interview for an internship. Later that day, he went back overnight home. Within a year, Aviwe had got the hang of TV reporting and was soon dodging bricks at university riots and covering the chaos at the South Africa-Zimbabwe border. Mentorship and opportunity are his best friend.
This year it was Melitta Ngolonkulu who picked up the award with a trio of well executed and written stories on Ponzi schemes, the death of retail and the coffee industry. Her sacrifice was door knocking in search of scarce jobs for young journalists. For a year, she rang me every month, or so, from Port Elizabeth as part of her long and soul destroying search for a job. I eventually came to appreciate her tenacity and gave her an internship.
Three young African journalists to watch in a great African newsroom.

ABN: A seed bed for future journalists

So that is it then. There’ll be a summit on July 7, followed by a few last minute tweaks, then, the South African government will have fulfilled its obligations to the people for the next five years. For the country’s hard pressed mining houses the hard work will have only just begun.
The third version of the Mining Charter – a voluntary agreement between state and industry to promote black ownership – is a well-meaning document that seeks long stability by giving the majority a stake in one of Africa’s most lucrative industries. In a nutshell it promises to increase black ownership from 26% to 30%; give a slice of mining right ownership to communities living with the dust of the mines and the workers who dig them. All has to be complete in five years.
The Mining Charter plans to transform the image of the industry for so long seen as an exploitative colonial operation where poorly paid black workers risk their neck deep underground for the wealth that Johannesburg was built on. It will not only benefit the workers, but also ensure that 50% of all mining boards are black so change has a chance to trickle down from the top.
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In many ways this document is a compromise. It fights shy of the 51% black ownership beloved of many other independent African countries further north. It also concedes to the “once empowered, always empowered” principle that the mining companies have fought for. This means that previous transactions on the way to 26% will be recognised even if the black shareholder sells his stake back into white hands at the end of the lock in period.
Yet mining companies are going to find it very difficult and expensive to comply with all of the above in five years at a time when the mines are struggling against rising costs and falling productivity. The empowerment transactions will carry a heavy cost.
Foreign investors are likely to look at the new mining regulations with caution. Capital is coward and it will always go where there is least risk. Long-term stability and righting the wrongs of the past ring hollow to the investors of New York and Moscow who merely want to do business. They just want to do business as quickly and cheaply as they can. If they can’t navigate the mining codes of South Africa they are likely to look elsewhere. Spending on capital projects in South Africa have been falling for the last five years.
&nbsp;
&#8220;We hope the changes from the summit will not be too massive,&#8221; the new mining minister Gwede Mantashe said on the release of the new regulations in Pretoria.
&#8220;This amended mining charter will bring no new investment, nor jobs, to the industry in South Africa,&#8221; says Peter Major, a mining analyst with Cadiz Corporate Solutions in Cape Town.
&#8220;If this goes ahead South Africa risks becoming like struggling mining nations like the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia and Zimbabwe for the next 30 years.&#8221;
Food for thought ahead of the last minute changes on July 7.

Op:Ed: SA’s new Mining Charter too radical or good for investment?

Justina Crabtree
Source: <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/15/zimbabwe-election-23-candidates-including-mnangagwa-chamisa.html">A record-breaking 23 people want to be the next president of Zimbabwe</a>
<ul>
<li>23 candidates have put themselves forward to contest Zimbabwe&#8217;s election on July 30.</li>
<li>Among those who will be on the ticket is incumbent President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who took power last November after long-term leader Robert Mugabe was ousted in a coup.</li>
<li>Mnangagwa has pledged that the vote will be free and fair. A delegation from the European Union will be present.</li>
</ul>
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A record-breaking 23 people have put themselves forward to lead the southern African country of Zimbabwe in the country&#8217;s historic election next month, the highest number of candidates since the country gained independence from the U.K. in 1980.
Among those signed up to contest the presidency is incumbent President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who took power in November last year after long-term leader Robert Mugabe was 
ousted in a coup 
. Mnangagwa is Mugabe&#8217;s former deputy, and represents Zimbabwe&#8217;s ZANU PF party.
Also with his name on the ticket is Nelson Chamisa, the young leader of Zimbabwe&#8217;s main opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change.
The large number of candidates &#8220;is likely to work in Mnangagwa&#8217;s favor by splitting the opposition vote,&#8221; William Atwell, practice leader for Sub-Saharan Africa at emerging markets advisory firm Frontier Strategy Group, told CNBC via e-mail.
The election, to be held on July 30, is momentous because it will be the first without Mugabe on the ticket in nearly four decades. Mnangagwa has pledged that the vote will be free and fair, and has invited western observers. 
A delegation from the European Union 
 will be present.
Attwell added that he expected Mnangagwa to be re-elected, &#8220;albeit not with a thumping majority.&#8221; The sitting president could benefit from his incumbency, and has sought to present himself as a reformer.
Mnangagawa has pushed reform in Zimbabwe in an attempt to heal the economic wounds left from previous decades of mismanagement, which resulted in hyperinflation. He has 
courted foreign investors 
, and when launching the ZANU PF manifesto in early May, said that $11 billion had been committed.
Zimbabwe has also applied to re-join the Commonwealth, a bloc of former U.K. colonies which could bear economic fruit.
Earlier this week Mnangagwa hosted the China-Zimbabwe Business Forum in the capital Harare, at which he presented Chinese investors with an array of areas in which to put their money.
&#8220;The fact that we have 23 presidential hopefuls indicates that there is an opening of political space following the fall of former autocrat Robert Mugabe,&#8221; Attwell added.
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A record-breaking 23 people want to be the next president of Zimbabwe

HARARE, May 30 (Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwe will hold a general election on July 30, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said on Wednesday, a vote he has pledged will be free and fair with international monitoring after the ouster of 94-year-old strongman Robert Mugabe.
Mnangagwa, who took power after the November military coup against Mugabe, counts on the election to bolster his legitimacy as he pursues a promised break with Mugabe’s repressive policies while urging foreign investors to return to Zimbabwe.
Missing from the July ballot for the first time in 20 years will be Zimbabwe’s foremost political gladiators, Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, the longtime opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader who died of cancer in February.
Mnangagwa has invited the Commonwealth to monitor voting in Zimbabwe for the first time since 2002 when Harare was suspended from the group over accusations of rigged elections. He has applied for Zimbabwe to rejoin the Commonwealth. [
Should the election be certified by international monitors, it could be a key step to a resumption of financial aid by foreign lenders for the first time in two decades.
The vote is being cast as a fight between the old guard of Zimbabwe’s 1970s independence war and a younger generation.
Mnangagwa’s main challenger is 40-year-old Nelson Chamisa from the MDC, who has energised the party, drawing huge crowds at rallies in some of the ruling ZABU-PF party’s rural redoubts.
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Sixty percent of the 5.4 million voters on the new register are under 50 years old, according to official data.
Separately, the Constitutional Court dismissed an application by Zimbabweans living abroad to be allowed to vote. The court did not immediately give a reason.
In a brief statement in an official government gazette, Mnangagwa said that he had fixed July 30 “as the day of the election of the president, the election of members of the national assembly and election of councillors.”
Prospective candidates will be registered on June 14.
A presidential run-off vote is set for Sept. 8 if no candidate gets the 50-plus-one percent mark required to win.
For the 75-year-old Mnangagwa, victory would accord him democratic legitimacy after taking power following the coup.
Nicknamed “Crocodile” for his secretive and insular demeanour, Mnangagwa goes into the election with the advantage of incumbency, allowing him access to state resources for his campaign.
Crucially, Mnangagwa enjoys the backing of the army, which analysts say remains averse to a leader lacking a pedigree from the independence war against Britain.
“Though the election looks like it will go to the wire, the greater likelihood, based on cold-blooded analysis, is that experience, depth and state incumbency will triumph over youthfulness,” said Eldred Masunungure, a professor of political science at the University of Zimbabwe.
Critics say Mnangagwa was Mugabe’s most loyal acolyte and blame him for a government crackdown on rebels loyal to political rival Joshua Nkomo in the mid-1980s that rights groups say killed 20,000 civilians.
Mnangagwa has denied the charges and says political freedoms have improved under his short tenure and that he is repairing frosty relations with the West. (Editing by James Macharia and Mark Heinrich)

Zimbabwe’s election date announced, here’s what you need to know…

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Big Time Strategic Group CEO and founder Justice Maphosa is confident about Zimbabwe’s economic recovery. The man who is credited of giving a helping hand to Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa when his life was under threat in November 2017 spoke to CNBC Africa’s Karabo Letlhatlha about investing in Zimbabwe, economy and the current threats upon his life and business.

Mnangagwa rescuer Justice Maphosa confident about Zimbabwe’s economic recovery

VICTORIA FALLS, Zimbabwe, May 18 (Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwe needs up to $11 billion to modernise its mines and boost production to maximum capacity over the next five years, the head of the country’s Chamber of Mines said on Friday.
Foreign investor interest in the southern African nation is growing after the fall of longtime leader Robert Mugabe following a de facto military coup last November but projects are still constrained by lack of funding.
Batirai Manhando, Chamber of Mines president, said with the exception of platinum producers, all other mines, including those of gold, nickel, cobalt and coal were operating below their installed capacity.
Mining generates more than half of Zimbabwe’s export receipts — last year it earned $2.8 billion — but industry executives say it has the potential to earn more with increased investment.
“The local mining industry is currently operating below capacity on the back of capital shortages,” Manhando told an annual meeting of the mining chamber.
“At the beginning of the year the capital intensive industry required $7 billion for both ramp-up and sustenance capital. The figure has lately been revised upwards to $11 billion with renewed interest in our sector,” Manhando said.
Zimbabwe holds the second largest deposits of platinum and chrome after South Africa and has lately seen increased interest from lithium investors, who however say funding still remains a hurdle.
Manhando said mining companies in Zimbabwe faced problems that included high costs of electricity, labour and royalty fees when compared to other jurisdictions. There had also been little exploration in the country since 2000, he added.
Equipment at most mines was more than 50 years old, severely undermining efficiency and cost effectiveness of the sector, said Manhando.
Mines Minister Winston Chitando said the government would announce a new “mining vision” at the end of June and projected that the output of gold could rise to 85 tonnes in five years.
Output of gold, the biggest mineral by earnings, is expected to rise to 30 tonnes this year from 23 tonnes in 2017, according to Ministry of Mines data. (Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe Editing by Keith Weir)

Why Zimbabwe wants $11bn for its mines

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

Justina Crabtree
Source: <a href="http://https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/01/zimbabwe-mass-strikes-trouble-president-mnangagwa-ahead-of-election.html">Mass strikes in Zimbabwe trouble the new president ahead of keenly watched election</a>
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<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>
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<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;
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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.

Mass strikes in Zimbabwe trouble the new president ahead of keenly watched election

HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwe is considering issuing between $2.5 and $3.5 billion in sovereign bonds after elections set for July and will use some of the money to clear arrears to foreign lenders, Deputy Finance Minister Terrence Mukupe said on Tuesday.
Mukupe, whose comments were broadcast on state television, said the southern African nation would use export receipts from tobacco, gold and horticulture to repay the bond.
“The position that we have is that post election we should be able to put in place a sovereign or export-related bond and we think we should be able to raise between $2.5 to $3.5 billion,” Mukupe said.
During a speech in London on Monday, Foreign Minister Sibusiso Moyo said his country was committed to clear about $1.8 billion in arrears with the World Bank and the African Development Bank before it taps other sources of financing.
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Zimbabwe has not received funding from the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and African Development Bank since it defaulted on its debt in 1999.
Under President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who succeeded Robert Mugabe last November, Zimbabwe is trying to mend ties with the West, including rejoining the Commonwealth.
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Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Ed Stoddard
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