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



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



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



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



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



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



“It was a total waste of time.”



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Mark Heinrich

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

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Ministry of finance permanent secretary George Guvamatanga joins CNBC Africa to talk about what the government is doing to turn around the country’s economic fortunes.

George Guvamatanga on why Zimbabwe’s economy is turning the corner

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe

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

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 Aerial view of Kariba dam.
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/tafadzwa-makonese-750988">Tafadzwa Makonese</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-johannesburg-1275">University of Johannesburg</a>

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What are the short to medium term solutions?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nepal and Bangladesh are good examples. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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



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

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

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Individuals will be allowed to withdraw cash U.S. dollars from foreign currency accounts but companies will be limited, Zimbabwe’s Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube told lawmakers in parliament. Zimbabwe made its interim currency, the RTGS dollar which is the country’s sole legal tender, ending a decade of dollarization and taking another step towards relaunching the Zimbabwean dollar. Batanai Matsika, Head of Research at Morgan and Co joins CNBC Africa for more.

Zim finmin Mthuli Ncube changes mind on currency

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South African cement maker, PPC reported its full year numbers which shows revenues in Zimbabwe dropped by 20 per cent to R1.4 billion. The cement producer also has invested over R300 million into the Zimbabwean economy. CNBC Africa’s Fifi Peters spoke to Tryphosa Ramano, Chief Financial Officer at PPC and asked how confident PPC is in getting that money back.

Why PPC is bullish about Zim, DRC but worried about SA

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In the battle of Zimbabwe versus the world, foreign currencies have been banned for all local transactions. The announcement made by Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube officially put an end to Zimbabwe&#8217;s multiple currency regime. Who stands to gain or lose the most? Economist, John Robertson joins CNBC Africa for more.

Why this economist thinks Zim’s foreign currency ban is a premature move

HARARE, June 25 (Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwe’s largest labour body on Tuesday threatened protests over the government’s decision to ban the use of foreign currencies and make the interim currency the sole legal tender.



President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government said the move on Monday to abandon a multi-currency system was an important step towards removing economic imbalances.



But many Zimbabweans are distrustful after a long succession of failed economic interventions.



“If the government does not reverse this ruinous policy immediately and announce U.S. dollar salary payments, we will immediately mobilise workers for mass action,” Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) president Peter Mutasa told a news conference.



“The ZCTU has not moved from its position that the short-term solution is to dollarise and, as such, we are going into the tripartite negotiating forum (with government and business) to demand U.S. dollar salary payments,” Mutasa added.



In January, the ZCTU led nationwide protests against a 150% fuel price increase, triggering a violent crackdown by the army and police, which left at least 12 people dead, according to rights groups.



Mnangagwa replaced longtime leader Robert Mugabe after an army coup in November 2017, but a hoped-for economic turnaround has not materialised.



In February, Mnangagwa’s government introduced the RTGS dollar as a transitional unit before relaunching the Zimbabwean dollar. 



(Reporting by Nelson Banya; Writing by Alexander Winning; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Alison Williams)

Labour group in Zimbabwe threatens protests over ban on foreign currencies

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Zimbabwe is currently facing immobilising power cuts with businesses and households facing 18 hours a day without electricity. According to Zimbabwean power utility ZESA, the low water levels at the Kariba Hydro Station, generation constraints at the other facilities and limited imports of electricity from South Africa and Mozambique is the issue of the supply of power. However, the solution to this crisis may be designed by the CEO and Founder of Invest Solar Africa, Ainos Ngadya. His renewable energy company focuses on generating renewable energy projects to aid Africa’s power supply crisis. Ainos Ngadya, Co-founder and CEO of Invest Solar Africa joins CNBC Africa for more.

Solar businessman talks Zim’s currency ban, power

Content supplied 



By Magdi Amin, an Investment Partner with <a href="http://www.omidyar.com/">Omidyar Network</a> 



Africa’s digital revolution is transforming our economy at a record pace. Africa is home to the 10 fastest growing cities in the world,<a href="#_ftn1">[1]</a> and for nearly a decade, we’ve had the world’s fastest rate of internet adoption – gaining 20 percent more users in the last year alone.<a href="#_ftn2">[2]</a> This expanded access has given rise to a powerful digital economy—one that’s expected to grow by more than US$300 billion by 2025.<a href="#_ftn3">[3]</a> But all this change begs the question: How do we ensure that Africa’s transformative technology fulfills its promise as a force for good?



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As Africa’s economy moves online, so do the people who engage with it. And in this digital age, we need a modern way of proving that we are who we say we are, establishing trust, and transacting from afar. Increasingly, we will access a common digital market with our “digital identities,” often via a finger scan or a digital wallet.  



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The African Union (AU) has recently recognized digital identification systems as essential infrastructure to unlock access to profound new social and economic opportunity, such as education, employment, financial services, mobile communication, travel, and voting. Sixty percent of Africans believe their governments will introduce new or revamped identity systems in the next two years, in part to support the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and to deliver public goods and services more effectively.<a href="#_ftn4">[4]</a> 



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Studies show that Africa
stands more to gain from the adoption of digital identity than any other region
in the world; it also risks a lot if the systems are designed without
safeguards. How we treat our identity data will determine if digital identity
empowers or exploit Africans. 



Will we have choices? Will we
be required to submit so much information, including DNA, that it puts our
privacy and security at risk? Will we be consulted to ensure everyone is
included, especially the 500 million Africans who do not have a foundational form of ID today?<a href="#_ftn5">[5]</a>
Does the digital identity system design reflect the rights and protections
afforded by law? Will our data be shared with foreign companies or governments,
and if so, will the rights I enjoy in my country with respect to my data still
protect me?



Human and digital rights groups have raised these questions in response to recent ID-related decisions in Kenya, Zimbabwe, and Nigeria. On April 1, Kenya’s High Court suspended some of the contentious design decisions, such as making ID mandatory for public services, pending a hearing. When ID is mandatory, we have seen less pressure on governments and businesses to ensure the system is useful, safe, and trusted by individuals.



Digital identity is a complex
task with many moral, economic, political, and technological choices. The AU, <a href="https://medium.com/positive-returns/why-we-invested-un-economic-commission-for-africa-c55b824f09f3">UN Economic Commission for Africa</a>, Smart Africa, Internet
Society, Africa Digital Rights Hub, the World Bank and others are actively equipping
governments, businesses, and civil society with tools and training that can
lead to good outcomes for people. 



For example, they are helping
all 54 AU governments define and implement a shared set of principles for Good
Digital Identity in Africa. The principles convey an African view on inclusion, data
ownership, interoperability across borders, compatibility with existing
systems, privacy, security and safeguards, governance, neutrality, and
accountability. Building on both the AU Data Protection Guidelines and the
Principles on Identification for Sustainable Development, the framework also
addresses exclusion, discrimination, surveillance, consent, and other key
issues of our time. 



As technology shapes the very
notion of identity and introduces new risks and dilemmas, civil society,
businesses, and other stakeholders should engage in this conversation. It’s up
to all of us to help ensure governments and companies deliver solutions that
protect and empower citizens. 



It’s an opportunity Africans cannot
afford to miss. Digital identity systems could unlock as much as 6 percent GDP
growth,<a href="#_ftn6">[6]</a>
and up to 50 percent of that economic value can go straight into the hands of
citizens. But those gains are possible only if digital identity is implemented equitably
with trust, transparency, and accountability.<a href="#_ftn7">[7]</a>




If we truly want to escape from hunger,&nbsp;disease,&nbsp;illiteracy,&nbsp;gender
inequality,&nbsp;and&nbsp;other global
challenges,&nbsp;everyone must have equitable access to engage in the
daily transactions that power societal and economic progress. And they must be
able to do so fearlessly—with privacy, security, and individual control. A good
digital identity will lay the foundation for the future we want.&nbsp;&nbsp; 



Africans must ask for all ID
to be Good ID. They must trust that ID and, therefore, use it voluntarily
because it empowers without putting them at risk. Without this, Africans will continue to suffer from
unequal access to employment and educational opportunities; health and
financial services; and many of the critical social
protections they need to succeed. Good ID provides a framework to improve the quality of our
digital identities with important safeguards embedded in technology, policy,
and practice while helping millions of Africans participate in and benefit from
today’s digital economy. 



With Gambia’s ratification,
the AfCFTA has drawn enough signatures to go into operation. This milestone
makes Africa the world’s largest free trade area. And with increased connectivity,
shared government platforms, entrepreneurship, and skills, our digital economy
is building to become a powerful force for good. Now, our challenge expands
beyond keeping pace with the digital revolution—we must enable Good ID to
thrive by placing the interests of Africans at the center of our social and
economic future. 



Transparent, accountable, and
trust-building practices lead to Good ID. System planners, technologists,
program managers, policy makers, and investors can either build or erode trust
with digital ID holders with every choice they make. An emphasis on privacy,
inclusion, user value, user control, and security will ultimately create the
foundation for impact and mitigate most risks of digital identity. 



Magdi Amin is an Investment Partner with <a href="http://www.omidyar.com/">Omidyar Network</a>, focused on digital identity. Prior to joining the
Omidyar Network, he worked for the World Bank Group for over two decades –
living and working across Africa, East Asia and MENA. He led the development of
the World Bank’s Africa Digital Economy strategy and recently spearheaded
Omidyar Network’s first investment in digital identity in Africa, in
collaboration with the Economic Commission for Africa. 



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<a href="#_ftnref1">[1]</a> United Nations Department of Economic and
Social Affairs: <a href="https://population.un.org/wup/Publications/Files/WUP2018-KeyFacts.pdf">2018 Revision of the World Urbanization Prospects</a>



<a href="#_ftnref2">[2]</a> We Are Social &amp; Hootsuite: <a href="https://digitalreport.wearesocial.com/">Digital in 2018 Report</a>



<a href="#_ftnref3">[3]</a> McKinsey Global Institute: <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/high-tech/our-insights/lions-go-digital-the-internets-transformative-potential-in-africa">Lions go Digital: The Internet’s Transformative
Potential in Africa (2013)</a>



<a href="#_ftnref4">[4]</a> ID4Africa: <a href="https://www.biometricupdate.com/201804/id4africa-survey-shows-near-universal-support-for-biometrics-elections-among-african-identity-community">2018 survey</a>



<a href="#_ftnref5">[5]</a> World Bank: <a href="https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/dataset/identification-development-global-dataset">2018 ID4D Global Data Set</a>



<a href="#_ftnref6">[6]</a> McKinsey Global Institute: <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/innovation-and-growth/the-value-of-digital-id-for-the-global-economy-and-society">Digital Identification: A Key to Inclusive Growth</a>



<a href="#_ftnref7">[7]</a> McKinsey Global Institute: <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/innovation-and-growth/the-value-of-digital-id-for-the-global-economy-and-society">Digital Identification: A Key to Inclusive Growth</a>

As more Africans go online this is what needs to be done to protect their identities

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Batanai Matsika, Head of Research at Morgan and Co joins CNBC Africa to look at movements shaping the Zimbabwean market space.

Why this analyst thinks a new currency is a bad idea for Zimbabwe

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, June 3 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) &#8211; A fter Thomas Gumede’s father died in April, the Zimbabwean bus driver could not afford an expensive funeral. So, he applied for a burial plot through the local municipality.



He never expected he would end up burying his father halfway across Bulawayo, a city in southwest Zimbabwe.



“There are no cemeteries near where I live,” said Gumede, 39, whose father’s burial plot is about 25km (15 miles) from his home.



“Imagine the transport costs,” he lamented. Each time he visits his father’s grave, he spends “at least $20 on petrol”.



As demand for housing continues to drive Bulawayo’s growth into surrounding rural areas, the city is struggling to find enough space to bury its dead, said Emmanuel Ndlovu, coordinator of the Bulawayo Progressive Residents’ Association.



World Bank figures show about one-third of Zimbabwe’s 16 million people live in urban areas, and that its urban population is growing around 2 percent annually.



“The truth is, the municipality has run out of land, as it cannot keep expanding and encroaching into rural districts,” said Ndlovu, whose organisation lobbies the local municipality on behalf of residents.



With cemeteries in and around the city full to capacity, local authorities are encouraging citizens to consider alternatives to traditional burial.



But attempts to promote cremation, double burials or even recycled graves are coming up against long-held cultural and spiritual beliefs.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">‘UNAFRICAN’</h3>



When Gumede was asked if cremation could be an option for his family, he rejected the idea outright by invoking “ubuntu,” the southern African philosophy that says a person is who they are because of their connectedness to all of humanity.



“We did not even consider (cremation) as a family. It’s unheard of in our ubuntu as Africans,” he said.



Early this year, the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) held public meetings to try to convince residents of the benefits of cremation, but the idea was roundly rejected as “unAfrican”, said Ndlovu.



According to BCC spokeswoman Nesisa Mpofu, the city of about 1.5 million people has had fewer than 30 cremations since the start of the year.



Searching for other solutions, the local government has started suggesting people bury two family members in the same plot, Mpofu told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in emailed comments.



But, like cremation, the idea has met resistance among residents.



“I have never heard of any such thing as a double burial,” said Lloyd Tshuma, a secondary school teacher.



Tshuma planned to avoid the stress of finding a cemetery space in the city by being buried in his family’s traditional plot in the countryside.



“I will be buried in my rural (area), as has my whole family,” he said.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">TWO NEW CEMETERIES</h3>



Bulawayo municipality has also considered reusing old graves, a practice that is becoming more common in many parts of the world, as a growing number of countries find themselves low on space to bury the dead.



But Gibson Banda, a member of the Bulawayo United Residents’ Association, another organisation representing residents’ rights in the city, said families are not ready to bury loved ones in other people’s graves.



“There is a problem there because we believe people’s spirits linger in their graves,” Banda said.



“Imagine, then, your relative being buried among unknown spirits.”



BCC spokeswoman Mpofu noted that there are two new cemeteries planned for the city, but construction for both has been delayed.



But, once the two new cemeteries are finished “projections are that these will be enough burial space for all in the foreseeable future,” Mpofu said.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">A CRISIS OF SPACE</h3>



Bulawayo’s efforts to make space for the dead mirrors its struggles to find affordable housing for the living.



According to Mpofu, the city has a housing waiting list of about 115,000 applicants and a target to provide homes for 3,000 people every year.



But as people continue to migrate into cities from rural areas, meeting housing targets has proven difficult across the country.



According to the finance ministry’s 2019 Infrastructure Investment Plan, the country has a backlog of more than one million who need housing.



About 400 kilometres north of Bulawayo, the capital Harare is also expanding at a rate faster than the municipality can cope with, according to city officials.



In April, minister of state Oliver Chidawu told state media that land shortages in the city were largely due to what he called “weak” government institutions that had allowed developers to buy up council-owned land, including plots that had been earmarked for cemeteries.



The Harare municipality office did not reply to several requests for comment.



In Bulawayo, council officials are stressing the urgency of finding enough cemetery space.



At a city council meeting in March, councillor Mlandu Ncube warned that the city needs “more graves than houses”.



The city’s ongoing shortage of burial sites has Gumede worried about the choices his family will face when he dies.



As he mourned his father, he hoped to take comfort in the idea that he could be near him again in death. Now, he fears that chance has gone.



“By the time I die, I have no idea where I would be buried,” he said.



&#8220;I would have loved to be buried next to the old man, but it&#8217;s clear that won&#8217;t happen.&#8221; (Reporting by Marko Phiri, Editing by Jumana Farouky and Zoe Tabary. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women&#8217;s and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, property rights, and climate change. Visit&nbsp;<a href="http://news.trust.org/">news.trust.org</a>)

Zimbabwe has a grave problem

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe (Thomson Reuters Foundation) &#8211; On a sunny morning in the central business district of Zimbabwe’s second city Bulawayo, 14-year-old Tapiwa is basking in the sunlight on a busy pavement.



After running away from his abusive stepmother last year, Tapiwa turned to sex work to earn a living on the streets.



He is one of the rising number of homeless children in a nation crippled by a cash crunch that has led to shortages of fuel and price hikes of basic necessities.



Child rights’ groups said the sexual abuse of underage girls was widely discussed but to date little attention had been given to the boys caught up in the sex trade to survive.



Gay sex is illegal in Zimbabwe, carrying a prison sentences of up to three years, but non-governmental organisations (NGOs) said reports of rising numbers of underage boys selling themselves on the streets were rife.



“There is a brothel on 12th Avenue here in the city where my friends and I solicit for sex in exchange for money,” Tapiwa told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, adding his clients usually paid $10 for 30 minutes.



Zimbabwean parliamentarian Ncube Siphiwe, a senator for Bulawayo Metropolitan province, said the authorities were aware of this trend, with abandoned beer halls converted into unofficial venues for sex work.



“Of course, we know what is happening in the city &#8230; we don’t support this as leaders and parents because it makes children lead a bad life,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.



Bulawayo City Council spokesman Nesisa Mpofu confirmed the authority has leased unused beer halls to the community for businesses and had no say on how tenants ran those places.



“We are not aware of the 12th Avenue brothel but that should be reported to the Zimbabwe Republic Police,” she said, adding that this would now be investigated.



Sikholiwe Ncube, programmes officer at the Bulawayo-based Thuthuka Street Children’s Home, said the nation’s economic crisis has forced more children onto the streets, leaving them vulnerable.



After suffering from decades of decline, Zimbabwe is also facing a drought and devastation from Cyclone Idai that has further dashed hopes that the economy will quickly recover in the wake of the downfall of Robert Mugabe in a coup in 2017.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">MORE LIVING ROUGH</h3>



Historic data on the number of children living rough is scarce but the Social Welfare Department estimated Zimbabwe in 2017 had more than 4,700 children working and living on the streets of major cities Harare, Mutare, Bulawayo and Beitbridge.



“This year the number of children living on the streets of Bulawayo has risen due to the economic meltdown in the country. Children as young as 10 years are on the streets,” Ncube said.



Thuthuka Street Children’s home estimated there were between 150 and 250 street children in Bulawayo’s city centre, eking out a living mainly by begging while some engaged in criminal activities and others ended up in the sex trade.



This put them at risk of HIV with the southern African country having one of the world’s largest HIV epidemics, with about 13% of 15-to-49-year-olds and 57% of sex workers living with the virus in 2017, according to UNAIDS.



Yet Bulawayo residents in the central business district have little sympathy for street children.



“They are a nuisance,” Nigel Matupire, a local shop owner told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “Every day I clean up their mess in front of my shop door.”



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">SEX FOR MONEY</h3>



Selling sex has become a daily reality for Munashe, 15, from Mberengwa District in Zimbabwe’s central heartlands.



“I come from a very poor background and I lost both parents then I decided to come to Bulawayo to look for a better life,” Munashe told the Thomson Reuters Foundation on a street corner.



Initially, he travelled to South Africa where he said he lived under a bridge until someone told him about the sex trade.



“I laughed at the idea that men pay for sex with us until he one day (took) me to his clients. But life was tough at that point,” he said.



He said he moved back to Bulawayo after the South African police started to crackdown on homeless people and at first begged before moving into the sex trade.



“I get a lot of money from the sex trade to survive in the streets,” Munashe said.



Danai Chirawu, a lawyer at the Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association (ZWLA), said children under 16 cannot consent to sex under the law but there were some grey areas.



Heterosexual sex between a man over the age of 16 and a girl between the ages of 12 and 15 is legal if the girl consented while sexual intercourse between a girl below the age of 12 and a man aged over 16 is automatically classified as rape.



Sex between men or boys – of any age – is illegal but prosecutions are rare, according to a British government report that found authorities more commonly harassed LGBT+ people for loitering, indecency and public order offences.



Bulawayo’s Chief Inspector Precious Simango said there had not been any reports of underage boys in the sex trade but every police station had a special “Victim Friendly Unit” for such cases to be recorded if they did come up.



However, the Sexual Rights Centre (SRC), a non-profit organisation that supports marginalised vulnerable groups such as sex workers and the LGBT+ community in Bulawayo, said there had been an increase in the number of children in the sex trade.



“As an organisation we see that as child exploitation,” said Mojalifa Mokoele, SRC programmes officer.



&#8220;It is not sex work, it is exploitation of minors and children into sex work. This is something that we speak against as an organisation.&#8221; (Reporting by Lungelo Ndhlovu @Luxy58; Editing by Hugo Greenhalgh and Belinda Goldsmith. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters that covers humanitarian news, women&#8217;s and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, property rights, and climate change. Visit&nbsp;<a href="http://news.trust.org/">news.trust.org</a>)

How homeless boys in Zimbabwe are fighting for survival in an economy in crisis

HARARE, June 7 (Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwe must have a new currency by the end of the year, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said on Friday, arguing this would help stabilise prices after inflation hit a 10-year high.



The southern African nation in February removed an unrealistic peg for its electronic dollars and surrogate bond notes and merged them into a transitional currency called the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) dollar.



The unit, which started trading at 2.5 to the dollar on the official interbank market when it was introduced on Feb. 22, was pegged at 5.9 on Friday, bringing its devaluation to 57.6 % to date. The currency has devalued by 49.4 % on the black market during the same time.



Most businesses are now pegging their prices in U.S. dollars and use black market rates to calcuate RTGS dollar prices.



“As a country we must have our currency by the end of this year, we have started that journey,” Mnangagwa said at a gathering south of the capital Harare.



Prices of basic goods from sugar to maize meal have spiked in the last month as the RTGS dollar has lost value.



Mnangagwa said price hikes were unjustified.



Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said in January that Zimbabwe, in the grip of a severe dollar crunch that has caused shortages of fuel and medicines, would have a new currency in the next 12 months.



Zimbabwe abandoned its own currency in 2009 after it was wrecked by hyperinflation and adopted the greenback and other currencies, such as sterling and the South African rand.



As physical dollar supplies started dwindling, the central bank introduced the bond note in 2016 at par to the dollar while the amount of electronic dollars increased, plunging the financial system into disarray. (Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe, Editing by William Maclean and Gareth Jones)

Zimbabwe to have new currency by end of 2019 – Mnangagwa

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Batanai Matsika, Head of Research at Morgan and Co joins CNBC Africa to look at a Zimbabwean market as the economy continues to battle with currency issues.

Crocodile industry offer investors value for money in Zimbabwe

HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwe and the European Union began political talks on Wednesday aimed at turning the page on hostile relations during Robert Mugabe’s rule, a step that could enable a resumption of direct financial aid for the ailing economy.



During Mugabe’s four-decade rule until 2017, he would routinely blame European “colonialists” for Zimbabwe’s problems, and snarled at EU and U.S. sanctions for rights and vote abuses.



The EU has only kept sanctions on Mugabe, his wife and the state arms manufacturer, but is yet to resume direct funding to the new government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, preferring to channel money through local charities and U.N. agencies.



With the economy afflicted by dollar shortages, fuel queues, power-cuts, and soaring prices, Mnangagwa has said restoring ties with the West and multilateral lenders like International Monetary Fund is one of his major priorities.



At the start of the open-ended talks between diplomats and officials in Harare, EU Zimbabwe delegation head Timo Olkkonen said they would discuss issues including economic development, trade, investment, rights, rule of law and good governance.



The government has already signed up to an IMF monitoring programme where it has committed to political and economic reforms in a bid to set a track record of fiscal discipline that could earn it debt forgiveness and future financing.



At a separate event in a Harare hotel, Mnangagwa signed a new bill creating a tripartite negotiating forum intended to bring labour, business and government together to shape policy.



The 76-year-old leader is under pressure to deliver on pre-election promises and wants to avert a repeat of violent protests over a steep fuel price hike in January.



Later on Wednesday, the government is expected to start wage negotiations with public sector unions, who say a pay rise of up to 29% they received in April had already been eroded by inflation, now at a 10-year high of 75.86 %.



Mnangagwa has promised to break with his predecessor and says his “open for business” mantra will woo foreign investors. But critics say under his rule the economy shows no signs of improving while security forces have continued to crush dissent.



Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne

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Zimbabwe

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

George Guvamatanga on why Zimbabwe’s economy is turning the corner

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

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

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Zim finmin Mthuli Ncube changes mind on currency

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Labour group in Zimbabwe threatens protests over ban on foreign currencies

Solar businessman talks Zim’s currency ban, power

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Zimbabwe has a grave problem

How homeless boys in Zimbabwe are fighting for survival in an economy in crisis

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