Cameron Stevens, founder and CEO of Prodigy Finance was an INSEAD graduate who experienced difficulties financing an international MBA &#8211; his response was to start Prodigy Finance in the UK before he brought it back home to South Africa.
His international fintech platform that has developed the world’s first borderless credit model, just raised R3.19 billion or $242 million. This includes a R532 million Series C equity round led by venture capital firm <a href="https://www.indexventures.com/">Index Ventures</a>, with participation from <a href="http://balderton.com/">Balderton Capital</a> and <a href="http://www.alphacode.club">AlphaCode</a>; and a R2.66 billion debt facility led by a global investment bank.
The company, which has 126 staff across offices in London, Cape Town, and New York, offers loans to postgraduate students accepted into business, engineering, law and public policy degrees at the world’s top universities, such as Harvard, Oxford, INSEAD and the University of Cape Town. Since it was established in 2007, the company has provided more than 7,100 students over R4.32 billion in funding. The business expects to lend to 20,000 customers by the end of 2018.
<iframe loading="lazy" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_j5trRkV3TA" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
This fundraise marks the firm’s tenth anniversary, and will help the UK-headquartered company expand its operations and create highly skilled jobs in its subsidiary locations – Cape Town and New York offices.
Prodigy Finance’s unique global credit model assesses applicants based on projected earnings rather than historical credit, allowing the company to provide funding to students without collateral, a cosigner or guarantor. To date, more than 80 per cent of its borrowers have had no alternative access to financing. It also enables qualified investors, and the alumni of top schools, to help fund students from their alma mater or home country, while earning a financial return.
Stevens hails from Cape Town. He noticed that students from emerging markets were particularly disadvantaged in financing their education at leading universities, and that banks were unable to assist.
Stevens said: “We’re excited about this investment as it will help us double the size of our student portfolio. We saw a market failure in international lending and have spent the last decade rectifying this problem. Our business model and the schools we work with have also allowed us to build a talented team of experts, including our tech professionals and programmers in Cape Town. We believe in financial inclusion and talent mobility, and look forward to continuing to help international students break the funding barrier and further their education at a top school.”
Farai Mwamuka, a Zimbabwean who worked for a number of years in South Africa, needed funding for his 18-month MBA at London Business School, which costs almost R1.28 million in tuition fees alone. He cites the exchange rate as a major issue affecting his budget.
Mwamuka explains: “It’s tough to get financing especially for MBA courses of this magnitude. Prodigy Finance fills a gap that students from developing countries need.”
Dominique Collett, Head of AlphaCode, the fintech investment arm of <a href="http://rmih.co.za/">Rand Merchant Investment Holdings</a>, said: “Prodigy Finance has a truly differentiated business model solving a real customer need, and is powered by a talented team – it is one of the leading lights of international fintech.”
<ul>
<li>With additional reporting by Prodigy Finance</li>
</ul>

This South African just raised over R3bn in a fintech funding round

Gerhard Kemp | Stellenbosch University
Grace Mugabe, the wife of President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, is accused of assaulting a young woman while on a visit to South Africa. A week after the incident in a hotel in Sandton, Johannesburg’s upmarket central business district, a South African government minister announced that she had been granted diplomatic immunity. She has subsequently returned to Zimbabwe without any attempt by the South African Police Service to arrest her.
The incident has sparked a furious debate about whether she should have been granted immunity, and what this means for the victim of the alleged assault.
At the time of the alleged assault Grace Mugabe was on a private, not official, visit to South Africa. She wasn’t granted immunity before her visit and it’s not clear on what basis she’s now been granted it. Normally diplomatic immunity is granted to an individual envoy by prior agreement, or by the Minister of International Relations if it is in the interests of a country.
Since it is conceivable that Grace Mugabe might visit South Africa again in future it’s worth reviewing the rules, considerations and implications of diplomatic immunity.
<h2>Rules governing diplomatic immunity</h2>
Grace Mugabe was neither a visiting head of state or government, nor a diplomat representing her country – both of which would have qualified her for diplomatic immunity.
There is no basis in customary, conventional international law or domestic law for the spouse of a head of state to claim – as a right or entitlement – some form of immunity when visiting a foreign state.
A foreign state – in this case South Africa – can, of course, grant immunity. But there’s a legal framework that governs this. In her case, as the spouse of a foreign head of state, she could be granted immunity from the criminal and civil jurisdiction of the courts in South Africa if, for instance, she was on a visit as an envoy of her country to attend an international conference, or if she was accompanying her husband on an official visit. The fact that she happens to be an important person isn’t a good enough criterium.
In other words, it’s not status that serves as a basis for granting immunity. Rather, it’s the nature of the person’s visit.
South Africa’s Diplomatic Immunities and Privileges Act gives the minister of International Relations and Cooperation the power to grant immunity to foreign visitors who represent their countries on official business. The act sets out how this must be done. If there’s no prior agreement that already covers the visit, a notice must be published in the Government Gazette.
What’s clear is that the spouses of foreign heads of states, members of foreign royal families, international celebrities and the like, can’t be granted immunity on a whim. There are laws, protocols, and procedures to be followed.
Formalities aside, it’s also important to keep in mind the underlying rationale of diplomatic immunity in international law and international relations. Diplomatic immunity is a principle with ancient roots and forms an integral part of international relations. At the heart of it is the idea that diplomats – or others representing their countries or international organisations – must be able to pursue their official duties free from interference by the host state.
Foreign envoys who are granted immunity therefore enjoy immunity from the criminal and civil jurisdiction of the courts of the host country.
<h2>What about justice for the victim?</h2>
Diplomatic immunity can indeed be seen as a shield against accountability for criminal conduct or civil obligations. The abuse of diplomatic immunity can therefore lead to impunity.
If a person who enjoys diplomatic immunity is accused of a crime, and their immunity isn’t waived, it’s normal practice for the host country to declare the person to be persona non grata. They are then expected to leave the country. But that also means there is no justice for the victim of the crime.
Nevertheless it’s important to remember that the immunity initially granted to the diplomat or envoy does not attach to that person in his or her personal capacity. It would have to have been granted in one or other other official capacity.
The right to institute a prosecution for most crimes (including assault) lapses only after 20 years. There are exceptions. This right never lapses in the case of serious offences such as murder, rape, robbery with aggravated circumstances, and the atrocity crimes of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
It’s conceivable that a person who once enjoyed diplomatic immunity, but who no longer benefits from it, will face justice at some future date. This assumes that they find themselves back in the country in which the alleged crime took place.
It would be hard to justify continued immunity for someone accused of a crime given that criminal conduct, including assault, is not normally associated with official business between two sovereign states.
That’s not to say that the victim can easily get justice. Diplomatic immunity conferred on visiting envoys and representatives means immunity from prosecution and civil action. This means that a victim will be frustrated in their quest for justice in the courts.
However, that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. Taking into account the rules around the prescription of the right to institute prosecution of crime, and the underlying rationale of diplomatic immunity as a tool to facilitate official political and commercial relations between sovereign states, it can be argued that diplomatic immunity isn’t the impenetrable shield of impunity imagined by some.
This article was published in The Conversation.

Op-Ed: Grace Mugabe – why diplomatic immunity isn’t always an ‘out of jail’ ticket

South Africa is planning to grant diplomatic immunity to Zimbabwe&#8217;s first lady Grace Mugabe, allowing her to return to Harare and avoid prosecution for the alleged assault of a 20-year-old model, a government source said on Friday.
South African police have put border posts on &#8220;red alert&#8221; to prevent Mugabe fleeing and said she will not receive special treatment, after Gabriella Engels accused Mugabe of whipping her with an electric extension cable.
But a senior government source said there was &#8220;no way&#8221; Mugabe, 52, would be arrested because South Africa would weigh the need to seek justice against the diplomatic fallout.
&#8220;There would obviously be implications for our relations with Zimbabwe. Sadly the other countries in the region are watching us and how we are going to act,&#8221; the source said, asking not to be named.
&#8220;What is likely to happen is that she will be allowed to go back home, and then we announce that we&#8217;ve granted diplomatic immunity and wait for somebody to challenge us.&#8221;
The source acknowledged the view widely held by legal experts that Mugabe is not entitled to diplomatic immunity because she was in South Africa for medical treatment, and said her immunity might be challenged in court at a later date.
Rights group Afriforum, which is advising Engels, said it would be illegal for Pretoria to give Mugabe immunity and branded the plans a &#8220;disgrace&#8221;.
Harare has made no official comment on the saga, which erupted on Monday, and requests for comment from Zimbabwean government officials have gone unanswered.
Zimbabwe&#8217;s 93-year-old President Robert Mugabe arrived early in Pretoria for a regional southern African summit this week to help resolve his wife&#8217;s legal problems, the source said.
Grace Mugabe is expected to attend the summit as part of a &#8220;first spouses&#8221; programme.
<div class="DPSlot_container_2dHIN DPSlot_inline_1oeo6 in-article-tag"></div>
Engels said she was assaulted by Mugabe on Sunday evening as she waited with two friends in a luxury Johannesburg hotel suite to meet one of Mugabe&#8217;s adult sons.
A lawyer for Mugabe identified by Reuters refused to comment.
<div class="Attribution_attribution_o4ojT" data-reactid="52">
Writing by Joe Brock; editing by Andrew Roche
</div>

South Africa to grant Grace Mugabe diplomatic immunity

Zimbabwe is more than doubling its issuance of &#8220;bond notes&#8221;, a domestic quasi-currency, to $500 million, its central bank governor said on Wednesday, stoking fears of a slide towards the rampant money-printing and hyperinflation of a decade ago.
Harare has used U.S. dollars and South African rand since 2009, after the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) printed so many Zimbabwe dollars that inflation hit 500 billion percent, rendering the notes worthless.
But a dwindling supply of cash dollars has led to banks limiting daily withdrawals to as little as $50. Companies are struggling to pay for imports and foreign investors cannot repatriate dividends or profits.
The RBZ introduced the bond notes in November, initially printing $200 million worth, as an antidote to the cash shortages. On Wednesday, RBZ governor John Mangudya said the bank would inject an additional $300 million into circulation.
The bond notes have been trading at a discount to their official 1:1 face value to the dollar since they were launched but have not collapsed in value as some had feared, largely because they too have been in scarce supply.
Injecting more liquidity risks undermining that rarity value. &#8220;If the scarcity goes away, it&#8217;s a threat to that value,&#8221; Harare-based independent economist John Robertson said.
To try to allay the fears of Zimbabweans terrified of a back-door return to the Zimbabwe dollar, Mangudya said foreign currencies would remain in use until the southern African nation&#8217;s moribund economy picks up.
This included having reserves equal to one year&#8217;s import cover, a sustainable budget and &#8220;right&#8221; consumer and business confidence, he told a news conference.
&#8220;The multi-currency system is here to stay up until the fundamentals of our own currency have been achieved,&#8221; the central bank governor said.
Nearly everything in Zimbabwe is priced in U.S. dollars, although the absence of cash means nearly all transactions, including payment of state wages, are electronic, either via domestic payment cards or mobile phones.
Mangudya said Harare was negotiating with the Cairo-based Afreximbank to underpin the $300 million bond note issuance. The development bank, which is partially owned by the RBZ, issued a guarantee for the first $200 million, according to the RBZ.
Afreximbank has refused to confirm this and the terms of the guarantee have not been published. It has declined to comment on Mangudya&#8217;s desire to increase bond note issuance.
Mangudya said that at the end of June local banks were holding $75 million owed to foreigners who have invested in the stock market, and that the central bank would set up a portfolio fund to help them repatriate dividends and profits.
&#8220;The fund is essential to re-establish confidence on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange by demonstrating that there is a pathway for foreign investors to realise their gains,&#8221; Mangudya said.
<div class="Attribution_attribution_o4ojT" data-reactid="52">
Additional reporting and editing by Ed Cropley and Catherine Evans.
</div>

Zimbabwe central bank warms up ‘bond note’ printing presses

A Zimbabwean poultry farm has reported a second outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N8 bird flu, two months after it first occurred, the state-owned Herald newspaper said on Monday.
Lanark farm, a commercial poultry producer 25 km (15 miles) south of the capital Harare, was hit again by the flu virus last week after it was first reported on June 2.
Josphat Nyika, acting principal director for veterinary services, said all the affected birds were destroyed and the farm would remain under quarantine for three months. Highly pathogenic among fowl, the strain poses little risk to human health.
In June, Zimbabwe indefinitely banned poultry products from South Africa, which had announced an outbreak of avian flu.
<div class="Attribution_attribution_o4ojT" data-reactid="34">
Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; editing by Ed Stoddard and Jason Neely
</div>

Zimbabwe poultry farm reports second avian flu outbreak

HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwean First Lady Grace Mugabe on Thursday challenged her president husband Robert to name his preferred successor to end deepening divisions over the future leadership of the ruling ZANU-PF party, state television said in an online report.
Africa&#8217;s oldest leader, Mugabe, 93, has ruled the former British colony since independence in 1980 but has insisted that ZANU-PF, and not him, will choose his eventual successor when the time comes.
But at a meeting of ZANU-PF&#8217;s women&#8217;s wing in the capital Harare, Grace Mugabe contradicted the veteran leader, who also attended the meeting, saying he should name a successor.
&#8220;The First Lady and Zanu PF Secretary for Women&#8217;s Affairs has challenged the President to name his successor saying this has been the trend in other countries,&#8221; ZBC said online.
&#8220;The First Lady said there is nothing wrong with Mugabe naming his successor, saying the move will enable all members to rally behind one candidate.&#8221;
Mugabe did not speak at the meeting.
Fighting over leadership of a post-Mugabe ZANU-PF has intensified in the last three years, with two distinct camps emerging, one supporting Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the other rooting for Grace Mugabe.
Mugabe is ZANU-PF&#8217;s presidential candidate for the 2018 election, his last under the constitution. He will be 99 years if he wins and completes the five-year term.
Elections are due after July 21 next year, according to the constitution, but political analysts say Mugabe could call for an early vote, citing his frail health, and that he may want to take advantage of divisions within opposition ranks.
http://cnbc.africa/news/2017/05/26/frequent-flier-mugabe-racks-air-miles-dollars/
<div class="DPSlot_container_2dHIN DPSlot_inline_1oeo6 in-article-tag">An early election would require parliament to vote to dissolve itself, which is highly possible given ZANU-PF&#8217;s commanding majority in parliament.</div>
Zimbabwe has since independence always held elections in March, with the exception of 2000 and 2013, both years when elections were delayed by a constitutional referendum.
<div class="Attribution_attribution_o4ojT" data-reactid="49">
Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Robin Pomeroy
</div>

Zimbabwean First Lady Grace Mugabe urges husband to name successor

<div style="display: block; position: relative; max-width: 640px;">
<div style="padding-top: 56.25%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; top: 0px; bottom: 0px; right: 0px; left: 0px;" src="//players.brightcove.net/1571595826001/default_default/index.html?videoId=5520420728001" allowfullscreen="" border=0 frameborder=0></iframe></div>
</div>
Zimbabwe&#8217;s economy may not be in the best shape. But investors seem to be ignoring weak economic fundamentals, if the bull-run on the stock market is anything to go by.

ZSE’s Bull Run defies weak economy

Zimbabwe&#8217;s budget deficit shot up to $1.4 billion, or 10 percent of national output, in 2016, above previously revised estimates, its finance minister said on Thursday.
Patrick Chinamasa told parliament the shortfall arose from unbudgeted subdidies to farmers, food imports following a devastating drought and support for loss-making state-owned companies in the southern African state.
The deficit increase far exceeded an initial projection of $150 million, Chinamasa told parliament. In his annual budget address last December, he said the deficit had risen to $1.18 billion but on Thursday he revised the figure upwards again.
The government initially set aside $66 million to finance farmers last year but ended spending $615 million, with most of the money borrowed from domestic banks and the central bank, according to Chinamasa.
This year&#8217;s deficit, earlier forecast at $400 million, is also expected to increase by nearly $120 million this year due to a maize subsidy, Reuters calculations show &#8211; a scheme that critics of President Robert Mugabe say will be open to abuse and saddle a troubled economy with more debt.
Chinamasa reiterated that a rebound in agriculture would see the economy grow by 3.7 percent in 2017 while revenues, at $3.7 billion, are expected to be in line with the budget forecast.
&#8220;The outlook for 2017 is very positive,&#8221; he said in a half-year budget review statement to parliament.
The IMF has urged Zimbabwe to slash public sector wages, now at more than 90 percent of the national budget, reduce farm subsidies, improve transparency in the mining sector and reach an agreement on the compensation of white farmers as a precursor to new funding from foreign lenders.

Zimbabwe budget deficit rose to $1.4BN in 2016

By Rejoice Ngwenya
Thanks to much-celebrated African nationalists, I am politically independent but in desperate need of freedom. Some would argue that, despite glaring income and standard of living disparities, those living in South Africa, with its world class infrastructure and liberal constitution, are better off than other Africans.
If freedom was that simple, I would be one hell of a happy Zimbabwean. As it stands, I am at a loss as to what extent South Africans are ‘free to choose’, given the vice-grip that the ANC ruling party has on the country’s political system and stuck with a populist president burdened with all manner of accusations. But I have my own country to worry about.
Robert Mugabe and his coterie of grateful cronies have good reason to deliberately confuse independence with freedom. To them, it is a pastime fraught with gainful patronage. They may fool themselves, but they cannot fool me, or even other progressive Africans.
Ironically, we often concur that independence has strong strains of self-determination, devolution, self-rule, and self-governance. The point of departure depends on where we position ourselves on the ideological spectrum because, with even a limited knowledge of liberalism, anyone will know that communism, socialism, authoritarian dictatorship, popular leftist zealotry and ‘executive’ monarchy would not offer, by any stretch of the imagination, a morsel of true freedom.
<h4>Post-colonial nationalist dictatorship</h4>
Zimbabwe labours under the yoke of post-colonial nationalist dictatorship which pretends to allow citizens to play, worship, learn and move at will. Yet looks can be deceiving. True freedom has nothing to do with anarchy or constitutionalised multi-party democracy. Freedom is when the state keeps clear of my life; allowing constitutional institutions meant to safeguard my personal liberties to do their work, unimpeded.
Mugabe, like his counterparts in Zambia, Mozambique, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Lesotho, Swaziland, and, to a lesser extent, South Africa, epitomises this poisonous conflation of independence and freedom. It is impossible to be an executive president for 37 uninterrupted years in a free country.
When institutions and processes that govern electoral independence have been perverted with patronage and cronyism, citizens like me cannot approach the polling station with an open mind. When state media, the police, the army and traditional leaders are contaminated with patronage, designed and paid only to sing praises to an incumbent president and the ruling party, that is not freedom.
<h4>Depriving citizens of true freedom</h4>
When those like me with opposing political views cannot access public media institutions; cannot gather in public spaces to preach the alternative view without attracting the wrath of the police, that is not freedom. Even in the case of South Africa, State Capture deprives citizens of true freedom.
Is it freedom when close to three million Zimbabweans have been hounded out of a country that cannot sustain their professional and economic interests? Is it freedom when 80% of employable adults are etching subsistence livelihoods from vending stalls and underdeveloped crop fields? What about thousands of teachers who struggle on pittance salaries; thousands of civil servants who cannot afford decent shelter and food; or thousands of sick people marooned in public hospitals with no drugs – would that be our version of African freedom?
I could tell you about Mugabe’s cronies who siphon millions of dollars from diamond mines; continue to haemorrhage state companies and benefit from state tenders to line their own pockets. Would I assign that to my freedom?
<h4>How free am I?</h4>
Tell me about a justice system that confines innocent political activists to uninhabitable prisons; allows ruling party politicians to buy votes as thousands of their supporters access food relief – is that freedom? How free am I when I drive on roads that are filled with pot holes and inundated with police check points, while Mugabe squanders millions of dollars on numerous international flights? What about a defunct railway system and electricity supplies that are routinely interrupted – is that freedom?
Besides, these so-called nationalist governments have perpetrated the most heinous crimes on their fellowmen, in the name of sovereignty. Imagine if Ian Douglas Smith had murdered 20,000 white Rhodesians, would he not have been classified as a modern-day Adolph Hitler?
In the fight for independence, Mugabe’s ZANLA forces inflicted the most callous acts on thousands of villagers they labelled sell outs. These acts of unwarranted violence were never documented. The momentum of murderous retribution on political opponents was carried over to Entumbane, Gukurahundi, commercial farm invasions, Murambatsvina and the 2008 elections in the so-called ‘era of freedom’.
<h4>Human rights activists continue to be harassed</h4>
Even as you read this, hundreds of human rights activists continue to be harassed while private citizens are denied independent radio and television broadcast licences.
There is no true freedom that impoverishes its citizens, decimates industry and sends millions of young citizens into exile. There is no true freedom that rigs elections and compels villagers to vote for a party they do not support. There is no freedom that allows party deployees to monopolise state institutions to frustrate local governance.
There is no freedom that deprives a country of its own local currency and allows millions of citizens to spend cold nights outside banks queuing for $50 in coin withdrawals.
That is why I insist: thank you Mugabe and your fellow nationalists for independence but, for crying out loud, show me my freedom.
Author: Rejoice Ngwenya is a writer and head of COMALISO (Coalition for Market and Liberal Solutions) in Zimbabwe.

Op-Ed: Mugabe, thanks for independence #ShowMeMyFreedom

<div style="display: block; position: relative; max-width: 640px;">
<div style="padding-top: 56.25%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; top: 0px; bottom: 0px; right: 0px; left: 0px;" src="//players.brightcove.net/1571595826001/default_default/index.html?videoId=5512478040001" allowfullscreen="" border=0 frameborder=0></iframe></div>
</div>
Zimbabwe&#8217;s capital city is looking to tap the capital markets to raise $100 million dollars this year to build new homes, to end the housing shortage in Harare. Tadiwa Mangwengwende, Economist, Women&#8217;s University in Africa joins CNBC Africa for more.

Zimbabwe’s capital city plans $100mn housing bond

Zimbabwe collected $1.8 billion in taxes during the first six months of this year, exceeding its target by 8 percent, while its full-year forecast has been revised up on better economic growth prospects, the tax agency said on Thursday.
President Robert Mugabe&#8217;s government is relying on the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) and local banks to fund its national budget since it cannot borrow from foreign financial institutions due to arrears dating back to 1999.
Company tax collections, which underperformed last year, exceeded forecasts by 36 percent due to higher profitability in the banking sector and better use of tax monitoring technology, ZIMRA board chairman Willia Bonyongwe said in a statement.
At $34 million, mining royalties were 23 percent above target, thanks to firming global commodity prices. More than 50 percent of Zimbabwe&#8217;s export earnings come from minerals like gold, platinum and nickel.
Bonyongwe said ZIMRA was revising up its full-year target to $3.4 billion from an initial $3.2 billion due to higher than expected economic growth of 3.7 percent this year. [nL8N1J51R7]
The ZIMRA board chairman, however, said the tax agency was owed $3 billion at end of June, from $2.67 billion in January.
U.S. dollars are fast disappearing in Zimbabwe, forcing banks to limit cash withdrawals.
The central bank said on Wednesday it wanted to issue more &#8220;bond notes&#8221; beyond its stated limit of $200 million, in comments likely to stoke fears the country is returning to the era of money printing and hyperinflation. [nL8N1K339G]
<div class="Attribution_attribution_o4ojT" data-reactid="38">
Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Joe Brock
</div>

Zimbabwe says tax collections beat target, raises FY forecast

Nelspuit born Ray Phiri (70) a South African jazz legend has died after suffering from lung cancer. Born on 23rd March 1947 Phiri shot to fame in 1985, when Paul Simon asked him and Ladysmith Black Mambazo to join his Graceland project. Phiri,  who was a founding member of the Cannibals and the world celebrated group &#8211; Stimela, penned the piece below for <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/">Forbes Africa</a> in April 2015 on his deep spiritual connection with Bob Marley. Forbes Africa asked him to write it in commemoration of Zimbabwe&#8217;s 1980 independence day.
Bob Marley’s song Zimbabwe has a deep spiritual connection with me. I fell in love with Marley’s music in the late 1970s as a producer on the RPM label that distributed his music in South Africa.
Zimbabwe, though set to a laid back groove, is a potent, revolutionary and uplifting piece of poetry that I can never tire of hearing. It is a call to action for Africans to liberate themselves. Zimbabwe was host to me and many South Africans in exile and a champion for our own independence in South Africa. When Marley brought these elements together, live at Rufaro Stadium in Harare in 1980, it was inspirational.
Bob Marley opens and closes with the line Every man got a right to decide his own destiny. What a powerful statement for a black man to make in 1980. Back then, Cold War politics saw major powers pay little attention to the right of the African to exercise proper self-determination. It was a time of puppet masters, mercenaries and assassinations. In one line, Marley asserts a notion similarly enshrined in the 1776 American Declaration of Independence – ‘that all men are created equal’ and whose rights include ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’. When Marley says in this judgement there is no partiality and brother you’re right, you’re right, you’re right, so right he is affirming the concept that the African not only has inalienable rights but is justified in the right to determine and assert them as he sees fit – even if it means fighting back.
I love Marley’s use of Jamaican patois in the chorus to toast Zimbabwe’s independence. I can see the African in him digging deep within the soul of his vernacular to express himself beyond the confines of the English language. Lively expressions like Natty Dread it (let your hair down/shake those locks free – be black and proud of it), set it up (live it up), mash it up (raise the roof), and dub it (get down), all conjure up images of people having a good time, united in a colorful celebration. It is not just celebrating Zimbabwe’s independence but celebrating that Africans have brought that liberation about. Marley’s wit and optimism shines in the repetition of the oxymoron little trouble/little struggle – almost poking a finger up at the establishment by demeaning the barrier they represented to African independence.
Marley does not shy away from the sobering realities of the struggle for independence. We gon’ fight, we have to fight, fight for our rights resonates strongly with me as this became our reality in South Africa. By 1980, many young people in apartheid era South Africa and Ian Smith’s Rhodesia had answered that call to go arm in arm with arms to fight this struggle. When many of our leaders were imprisoned or gagged by the state, we as artists and civic leaders stepped up and became the inspirational voices and ‘real revolutionaries’ Marley is referring to. Our words became metaphoric arms, arming our people’s consciousness to fight back. When I say, Don’t be afraid, don’t whisper in the deep. Speak out your mind, stand up! and I’m inspired. I cannot understand hate in Whispers in the Deep I am channeling Marley’s call to action. I am encouraging our people to take a stand against everything apartheid stood for.
Marley also sketches a blueprint for post-apartheid South Africa with the call to come together to overcome, challenge the divide and rule legacy and find humanity in each other (in every man’s chest there beats a heart). We could not be passive, hoping naively that apartheid would end. We took Marley’s inspiration to fight, and then cast aside our internal power struggles to build a new society founded on peace, love and harmony. We wrote songs to encourage our people to examine themselves, unite, keep fighting and awaken the world to our plight – songs like Singa Jindi Majita by Stimela, Asimbonanga by Johnny Clegg and Savuka, and Weeping by Bright Blue. When we took our music abroad, we gave a voice to the anti-apartheid movement and challenged the propaganda war of Pik Botha’s government. We encouraged boycotts and protests. We united across racial lines to form plural organizations like the UDF in 1983 and, as artists, the South African Musicians Alliance in 1986. These movements crystalized social reform, contributing to the end of apartheid and laying the foundations for the democratic South Africa we live in today.
[bc_video video_id=&#8221;5503874306001&#8243; account_id=&#8221;1571595826001&#8243; player_id=&#8221;default&#8221;]
I believe Bob Marley’s messages in Zimbabwe of African emancipation, self-determination and renaissance are still relevant 35 years later. At a forum at the African Union in Addis Ababa, I worked with other African artists to forge the vision of an African Renaissance by 2063. Echoes of I don’t want my people to be contrary and Every man got a right to decide his own destiny were in the dialogue and actions of these determined and united Africans.
That spirit lives on. Marley was truly a prophet of our time.

Jazz legend Ray Phiri’s deep spiritual connection with Bob Marley

HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is in Singapore for medical treatment, in his third such visit this year, a newspaper reported on Sunday.
Read: <a href="http://cnbc.africa/zdnl-mc/2017/07/04/angolan-leader-back-spain-month-medical-trip/">Angolan leader back in Spain a month after medical trip &#8211; CNBC Africa</a> 
<a href="http://cnbc.africa/news/2017/05/29/nigerias-president-absent-deputy-warns-economy-biggest-challenge/">With Nigeria’s president absent, deputy warns economy is “biggest challenge”</a>
Africa&#8217;s oldest ruler at 93, Mugabe was last in Singapore in May for what his spokesman George Charamba said then was treatment for eye problems.
The Standard said he had left again for Singapore on Friday for more medical treatment. Information and Broadcasting Services Minister Chris Mushohwe told the newspaper Mugabe was in Singapore but declined to confirm the reason for the visit.
The ruling ZANU-PF party said on Saturday it had cancelled a youth rally scheduled for July 14 due to be attended by the president because he would be out of the country.
Charamba and Mushohwe did not respond to calls and messages to their phones for comment.
Despite growing concerns about his health, Mugabe has taken more than ten trips abroad this year and wants to seek another five-year term in office in 2018.
He has ruled the southern African nation since independence from Britain in 1980.
The government has denied he falls asleep in meetings, saying in response to television footage appearing to show him doing so that he is resting his eyes.
Mugabe has racked up more than 200,000 air miles since the start of 2016. He spent $53 million on foreign trips last year, more than double the initial budget of $23 million, according to government data.
(Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; editing by John Stonestreet)
© Thomson Reuters 2017 All rights reserved

Like Angola, Nigeria’s President – Zimbabwe’s Mugabe overseas for medical treatment

HARARE, July 3 (Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said on Monday he was donating $1 million to the African Union (AU), hoping to set an example for African countries to finance AU programmes and wean it off funding from outside donors.
For years, about 60 percent of AU spending has been financed by donors including the European Union, World Bank and governments of wealthy non-African countries.
Mugabe, who has held power in Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980, has said reliance on foreign funds allows big powers to interfere in the work of the AU.
The 93-year-old Mugabe told an African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, he had auctioned 300 cattle from his personal herd in May to fulfil a promise made to the continental body two years ago.
&#8220;Africa needs to finance its own programmes. Institutions like the AU cannot rely on donor funding as the model is not sustainable,&#8221; Mugabe said in comments broadcast on Zimbabwe&#8217;s state television.
&#8220;This humble gesture on Zimbabwe&#8217;s part has no universal application but it demonstrates what is possible when people apply their minds to tasks before them.&#8221;
The African Union&#8217;s 2017 budget is $782 million, increasing from $416.8 million last year. African leaders in July 2016 agreed in principle to charge a 0.2 percent levy on some exports to help finance AU operations.
Zimbabwe, whose economy was devastated by a drought last year, does not disclose its contributions to the AU. The top five African contributors are Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Nigeria and South Africa. (Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by James Macharia and Andrew Roche)

Zimbabwe’s President Mugabe donates $1mn to the African Union

<div style="display: block; position: relative; max-width: 640px;">
<div style="padding-top: 56.25%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; top: 0px; bottom: 0px; right: 0px; left: 0px;" src="//players.brightcove.net/1571595826001/default_default/index.html?videoId=5485630388001" allowfullscreen="" border=0 frameborder=0></iframe></div>
</div>
Namibia, Zimbabwe and Botswana have suspended poultry imports from South Africa with immediate effect following outbreaks of the highly contagious avian flu. This is the first outbreak ever of bird flu in South Africa.

SA’s neighbours ban poultry imports over bird flu

HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwe&#8217;s government has signed a $478 million agreement with an energy company and three banks to finance the 2017/18 summer farming season in a push to improve food security, a state-owned newspaper said on Monday.
The southern African nation has since 2001 relied on imports and foreign donors to meet demand for the staple maize. Drought, lack of financing and President Robert Mugabe&#8217;s seizures of land from white farmers that hit commercial agriculture have been blamed for low grain production over the years.
The Herald newspaper reported that the government and local energy company Sakunda Holdings had signed an agreement that would see three banks provide the capital to mainly fund production of maize and soya.
Sakunda, which imports and distributes fuel, runs a logistics business and operates a 200 megawatt diesel power plant, will work with CBZ bank, Barclays and the local unit of Ecobank to provide the money.
The newspaper did not give details on the funding.
CBZ Chief Executive Never Nyemudzo and Sakunda boss Kudakwashe Tagwirei did not answer their mobile phones when contacted. Officials from Barclays and Ecobank could not be reached for comment.
After a devastating drought last year, Zimbabwe received above normal rains during the 2016/17 farming season and expects to produce 2.1 million tonnes of maize, its highest since 1996, according to official figures.
The Herald said the government would start delivering seed, fertiliser and crop chemicals to farmers around the country between July and September, ahead of the planting season that begins in November.
Farmers would be required to sell their crop to the state grain agency as repayment. Nearly 70 percent of Zimbabwe&#8217;s population is rural and survives on agriculture.
(Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe, editing by Louise Heavens)

Zimbabwe secures $478 million funding for agriculture: state newspaper

Life’s unexpected moments of insight can come from anywhere. It could be a chance conversation in an airport, a magazine article that grabs your attention or simply a moment of clarity when you think about something from a different perspective. My own personal insight about tackling neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) wasn’t one of these instant lightning-bolt experiences. Instead, it slowly crystallised into view over a series of months. It began with the Higher Life Foundation’s support for a mass drug administration (MDA) in rural Zimbabwe and culminated in a breakfast at the World Economic Forum sanctioned side event that was organized by private philanthropic initiative, the <a href="http://www.end.org/">END Fund</a>.
READ: <a href="http://cnbc.africa/news/special-report/2017/02/17/africas-neglected-disease/">Africa&#8217;s neglected disease 
</a><a href="http://cnbc.africa/news/special-report/2016/12/14/eradicating-neglected-tropical-diseases/">Why this Nigerian multi-millionaire is working hard to eradicate neglected tropical diseases in Africa</a>
In November 2015, I joined the board of the <a href="https://www.higherlifefoundation.com/">Higher Life Foundation</a>, a hands-on philanthropic education initiative created by the founders of Econet Wireless. My job was to help shape its growth strategy. I hadn’t yet made the connection in my mind between the kind of education we were focused on providing and the simple knowledge and information that was needed to battle NTDs. But it was Econet’s part in a public private initiative as the communications partner in an MDA that provided the answer.
Over 500 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa at risk of, and need, treatment for NTDs. These diseases include intestinal worms, schistosomiasis, lymphatic filariasis, blinding trachoma, and river blindness. Debilitating symptoms such as blindness, severe pain, and fatigue result in adults being unable to work and children unable to attend school. Without access to education it’s harder to learn about, let alone change behavior that breaks the cycle of these pernicious diseases which reinforce the link between poor health and poverty.
For communities this is a tragedy, but for economies it’s a serious impediment to growth. The latest figures show the profound influence NTDs have on prosperity, with sub-Saharan Africa predicted to save US$52 billion in purchasing power parity by 2030 if it meets the World Health Organization’s 2020 control and elimination goals for the five most common NTDs.
To frame the challenge, how could we combat NTDs to begin the process of protecting people whilst setting the economy on the road to a brighter future? The issue of how to deliver the available treatment to a country’s entire population through an MDA seemed to depend on logistics. But part of the solution for Zimbabwe in this case lay in information, in educating people about what simple steps they needed to take to be rid of these diseases and that it was as easy as turning up to get the free medicine.
Econet enabled its mobile network to be used, via a donation of millions of SMS messages, as part of a larger public private partnership for MDA with the government, NGOs, and pharmaceutical companies. SMS messages letting people know when drugs would be available in hundreds of districts were sent out on a huge scale, supporting other communications about the MDA. Without this means of educating people simply around a few key facts, it would have been hard to reach the 4 million people who ended up being treated.
I recounted this story at a table with leaders from government, the church, the pharmaceutical industry and philanthropy. I was there to represent Higher Life at the END Fund’s World Economic Forum breakfast event. My role was to help everyone present grasp the power of public private philanthropic partnerships in tackling NTDs.  It was in that retelling that I clearly grasped another truth – the importance between education, health, and communication. If we can only keep the channels open, we can help people learn what they need to know to bring about the END of NTDs. If it can start with something as simple as turning up to take a pill in a mass drug administration, then a little bit of knowledge in this case, can be a very good thing indeed.

Zimbabwe

This South African just raised over R3bn in a fintech funding round

Op-Ed: Grace Mugabe – why diplomatic immunity isn’t always an ‘out of jail’ ticket

South Africa to grant Grace Mugabe diplomatic immunity

Zimbabwe central bank warms up ‘bond note’ printing presses

Zimbabwe poultry farm reports second avian flu outbreak

Zimbabwean First Lady Grace Mugabe urges husband to name successor

ZSE’s Bull Run defies weak economy

Zimbabwe budget deficit rose to $1.4BN in 2016

Op-Ed: Mugabe, thanks for independence #ShowMeMyFreedom

Zimbabwe’s capital city plans $100mn housing bond

Zimbabwe says tax collections beat target, raises FY forecast

Jazz legend Ray Phiri’s deep spiritual connection with Bob Marley

Like Angola, Nigeria’s President – Zimbabwe’s Mugabe overseas for medical treatment

Zimbabwe’s President Mugabe donates $1mn to the African Union

SA’s neighbours ban poultry imports over bird flu

Zimbabwe secures $478 million funding for agriculture: state newspaper

What you don’t know can hurt you: Why Africa can no longer ignore these diseases…

News Tips

Advertise With Us

Zimbabwe

This South African just raised over R3bn in a fintech funding round

Op-Ed: Grace Mugabe – why diplomatic immunity isn’t always an ‘out of jail’ ticket

South Africa to grant Grace Mugabe diplomatic immunity

Zimbabwe central bank warms up ‘bond note’ printing presses

Zimbabwe poultry farm reports second avian flu outbreak

Zimbabwean First Lady Grace Mugabe urges husband to name successor

ZSE’s Bull Run defies weak economy

Zimbabwe budget deficit rose to $1.4BN in 2016

Op-Ed: Mugabe, thanks for independence #ShowMeMyFreedom

Zimbabwe’s capital city plans $100mn housing bond

Zimbabwe says tax collections beat target, raises FY forecast

Jazz legend Ray Phiri’s deep spiritual connection with Bob Marley

Like Angola, Nigeria’s President – Zimbabwe’s Mugabe overseas for medical treatment

Zimbabwe’s President Mugabe donates $1mn to the African Union

SA’s neighbours ban poultry imports over bird flu

Zimbabwe secures $478 million funding for agriculture: state newspaper

What you don’t know can hurt you: Why Africa can no longer ignore these diseases…

News Tips

Advertise With Us

Newsletters