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Quest Motors production capacity below 1pc
1. By Tawanda Musarurwa
HARARE â Line ministries
and Government departments
have developed innovative
ways to circumvent the 2002
Presidential directive that
all Government institutions
should buy their vehicles
locally, which has left the
sector reeling.
The directive was introduced
to support the local industry
and conserve scarce foreign
reserves, but local motor
vehicle manufacturers claim
that the directive has not
been adhered to.
Appearing before the Par-
liamentary Portfolio Com-
mittee on Transport and
Infrastructure Development,
Quest Motors CEO Mr Tarik
Adam said the firm has had
to significantly cut down
its production as uptake for
locally manufactured vehicles
has been decimated by high
level of vehicle imports â not
least in Government.
âMy factory, when it was
working at full capacity on
a single eight-hour shift we
were producing between 12
000 and 15 000 vehicles a
month, and was employ-
ing close to 15 000 people.
Today, my production level
is below 1 percent, I am
employing 150 people.
âWe have tried at times to
kick-start it ending up with
12 000 vehicles sitting in my
plant and without being able
to pay the suppliers for it, it
has created major problems.
News Update as @ 1530 hours, Monday 04 April 2016
Feedback: bh24admin@zimpapers.co.zwEmail: bh24feedback@zimpapers.co.zw
Quest Motors production capacity below 1pc
......as Govt defies 2002
Presidential directive
2. And the irony of it is we have
had the vehicles sitting there
but Government departments
have continuously imported
vehicles - even the models
that we are manufacturing,â
said Mr Adam.
In a circular published in the
Government Gazette on Octo-
ber 11 2002, then secretary
to the president and cabinet,
Mr Charles Utete, declared:
"It is hereby notified that in
terms of Section 20 of the
Procurement Act chapter
(22:14), the president has
given the following directions
to the SPB (State Procure-
ment Board) to conserve
the nation's scarce foreign
currency resources; (and)
promote development of the
domestic automotive industry
and provide support thereto
at a time of considerable
challenge for that industry.â
He alleged that the Govern-
ment departments and para-
statals were using âunscrupu-
lousâ means to skate around
buying locally manufactured
vehicles. The latest problem
is that we started producing
the Foton Tunland at Mutare
last year, and Government
has imported 600 units from
China. They could have said
letâs get the kits and get
Quest to go and build it.
âNow when I say Government
I must be honest we have
had extremely strong support
at the highest level, and by
that I mean the 2002 Pres-
idential directive. The 2002
directive was worded that it
closed all the loopholes....we
were also given the dispen-
sation that they (Government
departments, parastatals
and all institutions) could go
through the tender board,
but they could come directly
to us to get prices and that
the tender board would
consider those and give the
greenlight.
âThey were also told to put
their specifications according
to the peers being manu-
factured. We manufacture
pick-up if itâs a 2.5 Diesel,
the departments would say
we want to 2.8 Diesel. When
we do a 2.8 Diesel, they say
we want to 2.5 Diesel, or
they would say they want a
2.2 Petrol engine or particu-
lar product that has got to be
imported.
âThe directive was not only
given but it was gazetted as
law, but it has been totally
ignored by the various line
ministries and parastatals.â
Mr Adam also claimed that
some Government depart-
ments were coming to get
quotations from Quest or
Willowvale, then get a State
Procurement Board (SPB)
number, which they would
then use to import vehicles.
We have the capacity to run
a three-shift, we could be
producing between 20 000
to 30 000 vehicles a year at
Mutare, which would take
care of the countryâs require-
ments and drive up the com-
panyâs employment figures.â
2 news
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5. By Funny Hudzerema
HARARE -Tobacco farmers have
earned $ 761 029 from the
sale of 518 255 kilogrammes of
Virginia tobacco sold during the
first two days of the selling sea-
son which began on Wednesday
last week, the Tobacco Industry
and Marketing Board has said.
TIMB statistics show that the
volumes sold on the second day
this season increased by 41,
47 percent from the 366,348
kilogrammes of the crop worth $
542,345 sold during the corre-
sponding period last year.
This season tobacco vol-
umes are expected to decline
by 20 percent due to the El
Nino induced drought which
affected the crop. Average
prices declined from $1,48 per
kg offered last year to $1,47
this year. A total of 4 541 bales
were laid at the three auction
floors Tobacco sales Floor, Boka
Tobacco Floors and Premier
Tobacco Floors during the period
under review and of these, 3
887 went under the hammer
which compares favourably with
the 7 451 bales that were laid
and 5 926 sold during the same
period last year.
Tobacco Industry and Mar-
keting Board public relations
manager, Mr Isheunesu Moyo
said sales went well during the
first two days of the selling
season although there were
some challenges with some
farmers who wanted to resist
the new payment method. This
season, farmers will not be
paid cash but will have their
money deposited into their bank
accounts.
âSales went well on the first
and second days and growers
were paid through their bank
accounts. Most growers who did
not have accounts managed to
open them at the auction floors.
However payments on the first
day were delayed because some
farmers were not compliant with
regulatory requirements such as
registrations, submission of esti-
mates and opening of accounts,â
he said.
Mt Darwin farmer, Mr Brighton
Samson said he was hoping
that his crop would fetch a good
price for him to be able to cater
for his family and return to the
field.
âThis crop is our only hope.
We are hoping that prices will
continue firming to as high as
$5 per kg at the auction floors,â
he said.
Agriculture has remained the
mainstay of the economy which
is projected to grow by 3,4 per-
cent in 2016, mainly anchored
by tobacco production.â
5 news
Tobacco sales off to as good start
7. BH24 Reporter
HARARE âThe Reserve Bank
of Zimbabwe has called on
all stakeholders to reduce
the importation of foreign
products to reduce the level
of money exported on yearly
basis.
RBZ Deputy Governor Dr
Kupukile Mlambo said sup-
porting the domestic market
can reduce the importation
of money and this will reduce
the cost of production of
local products which are
expensive on the interna-
tional market.
âEvery year we are exporting
cash up to $3 billion dollars
through importation of goods
from other countries and that
is the major reason we donât
have cash in the economy,â
he said.
âSome of the things we
import like water and cereals
are not necessary because
they are being manufactured
here. There is need to do
things which brings money
in the country than things
which send money out. We
also need to support the
domestic market to ensure
that our foreign currency
continues to circulate in the
economy,â he said.
Currently the country is
importing products which are
manufactured here because
of low prices and high prices
in local produced goods.
âWe need to deal with
domestic cost of produc-
tion or internal devaluation
because a bottle of water
is costing 35cents while
the imported one cost $0,
15 each. We need to clean
up the business sector by
looking back at our policies,
legal instruments and regu-
latory conditions that govern
business in this country,â he
said.â
7 news
RBZ calls for imports reduction
Dr Kupukile Mlambo
9. HARAREâCBZ Holdings Lim-
ited has announced the Mr
Elliot Mugamu as its incom-
ing chairman, following the
retirement of Mr Richard Vic-
tor Wilde as board chairman.
The appointment will take
effect on May 1, 2016
Prior to this new appoint-
ment, Mr Mugamu was an
independent non-executive
deputy chairman of CBZ
Holdings since April 2012 and
an independent non-execu-
tive chairman of CBZ Bank
Limited since February 2014.
He is presently, the MD of
Owik Fit Motor Center.
âElliot, a Rotarian and entre-
preneur with hands on expe-
rience at executive direc-
tor level of over 30 years,
brings strong board oversight
responsibilities and expertise
in strategic business man-
agement and corporate gov-
ernance,â said CBZ Holdings
in a statement.
A PHD Candidate at the Uni-
versity of Lusaka in Zambia,
Elliot holds, among other
qualifications, a Bachelor of
Arts in Accounting from the
University of South Pacific
(Fiji Islands), a Post grad-
uate Diploma in corporate
strategy and marketing and
a Master of Business Admin-
istration from Thames Valley
University (UK).
He also is a fellow Member
of institute of Chartered
Secretaries and Adminis-
trators having satisfied the
educational requirements
for associate membership in
December 1981 with the New
Zealand division. His inter-
ests includes public Sector
reforms in particular, pri-
vatization and performance
management of state owned
enterprises.
Mr Richard Victor Wilde - a
non-executive director of
the company - has provided
notice of retirement from the
position of board chairman as
well as from membership to
the boards of CBZ Holdings
Limited. He will not put put
forward his name for re-elec-
tion at the upcoming Annual
General Meeting April 28.
Meanwhile, the elevation of
Mr Mugamu has also seen
CBZ Holdings appointing Dr
Ruvimbo Mabedza-Chimedza
as a chairperson of the CBZ
Bank Limited board.
This will also take effect on
May 1, 2016.
Prior to this appointment, Dr
Mabedza-Chimedza sat on
CBZ bank limited board as an
independent non-executive
director since May 1, 1998.
She holds - amongst other
qualifications - a Bachelor of
Arts in international Devel-
opment and Master of Arts
in international Development
from Clark University (USA)
a Postgraduate Diploma in
Agricultural economics from
the University of Reading
(UK) an MSc in Agricultural
Economics from Oxford Uni-
versity and a PHD in agricul-
tural economics and Exten-
sion from the University of
Zimbabwe.â
9 news
Board changes at CBZ
10. HARARE -The mainstream
industrial index opened the
week on a low note losing
0.08 to settle at 97.72 as
trading activity continued to
be low.
Giant insurer Old Mutual
eased $0,0025 to close at
$2,2000, while Barclays lost
$0,0010 to trade at $0,0270
and Ariston decreased by
$0,0007 to $0,0045.
On the upside, two counters
traded in the positive terri-
tory. Seed producer SeedCo
gained $0,0050 to close at
$0,6450 while construc-
tion firm Masimba edged up
$0,0001 to trade at $0,0071.
The mining index opened
the new week flat at 19.53
as Bindura, Falgold, Hwange
and RioZim all maintained
previous price levels at
$0,0100, $0,0050, $0,0300
and $0,1040 respectively.
.- BH24 Reporter â
ZSE10
Industrials open week in bearish form
02 03
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12. 12 DIARY OF EVENTS
The black arrow indicate level of load shedding across the country.
POWER GENERATION STATS
Gen Station
04 April 2016
Energy
(Megawatts)
Hwange 519 MW
Kariba 460 MW
Harare 30 MW
Munyati 15 MW
Bulawayo 25 MW
Imports 0 - 400 MW
Total 1255 MW
Upcoming AGM
⢠Falgold, KPMG Building, Corner 14th Avenue/Josiah Tongogara Street, Bulawayo,13 April, 1000hrs
THE BH24 DIARY
13. CONAKRY â Guinea and
Burkina Faso are taking back
hundreds of unused min-
ing permits for re-auction,
ministers said this week, as
governments try to reignite
interest in the sector amid a
downturn.
Permits awarded in recent
years that are not being used
for exploration or production
should be made available to
other companies, the two
West African countries said
in separate statements this
week.
Both countriesâ mining min-
istries said that the changes
were brought about to clean
up their outdated land reg-
istries. But they also come
as resource-rich African
countries struggle to attract
investment amid a global
slump in commodities prices.
In Guinea, Africaâs largest
bauxite producer, 142 of 2
500 permits covering baux-
ite, gold, diamond and ura-
nium prospects were recently
made void, the Guinean
minister of mines Abdoulaye
Magassouba said on Wednes-
day.
The companies that held the
licenses had been informed,
one source in the ministry
said. They include some
bauxite blocks abandoned
by major miner BHP Billiton
in Boffa in the west of the
country, the minister said.
BHP was not available to
comment.
"This is a normal process
when we see that licensees
do not put them to use after
a time defined by the law.
This also helps give way to
other companies," Magas-
souba said.
In gold-producing Burkina
Faso, the ministry of mines
has published a list of 356
permits that have become
available to lease, some dat-
ing back years.
"To be able to update the
register, it is important that
we have a clean register
from the beginning with valid
research and exploitation
permits," Alpha Omar Dissa,
Burkina Fasoâs minister of
mines and energy, said on
Thursday- Reutersâ
regioNAL News13
Guinea and Burkina Faso to auction unused mining permits
14. PARIS â An explosive leak of
11,5-million tax documents on
Sunday exposed the secret off-
shore dealings of aides to Rus-
sian President Vladimir Putin,
world leaders and celebrities
including Barcelona forward
Lionel Messi.
An investigation into the docu-
ments by more than 100 media
groups, described as one of the
largest such probes in history,
revealed the hidden offshore
dealings in the assets of about
140 political figures â includ-
ing 12 current or former heads
of states.
The vast stash of records was
obtained from an anonymous
source by German daily Sued-
deutsche Zeitung and shared
with media worldwide by the
International Consortium of
Investigative Journalists (ICIJ)
(Panama Papers).
The investigation yielded
11,5-million documents from
about 214 000 offshore enti-
ties, the ICIJ said. The leaked
documents came from Mossack
Fonseca, a Panama-based law
firm with offices in more than
35 countries.
Though most of the alleged
dealings are said by the ICIJ to
be legal they are likely to have
a serious political impact on
many of those named.
Among the main claims of
the ICIJ investigations:
⢠Close associates of Mr Putin,
who is not himself named in
the documents, "secretly shuf-
fled as much as $2bn through
banks and shadow companies",
the ICIJ said.
⢠The files identified off-
shore companies linked to the
family of Chinese President Xi
Jinping, who has led a tough
anticorruption campaign in his
country.
⢠In Iceland, the files allegedly
show Prime Minister Sigmundur
David Gunnlaugsson and his
wife secretly owned an off-
shore firm holding millions of
dollars in Icelandic bank bonds
during the countryâs financial
crisis.
⢠The law firm of a member of
Fifaâs ethics committee, Juan
Pedro Damiani, had business
ties with three men indicted
in the Fifa scandal: former
Fifa vice-president Eugenio
Figueredo, as well as Hugo
Jinkis and his son Mariano who
were accused of paying bribes
to win soccer broadcast rights
in Latin America.
⢠Argentine football great
Messi and his father owned a
Panama company, Mega Star
Enterprises, a shell company
that had previously not come
up in Spanish investigations
into the father and sonâs tax
affairs.
Also in the world of football,
Francetvinfo named UEFA
president Michel Platini as the
beneficiary of a Panama-based
tax company, adding however
that no illegal activity was
alleged.
Mr Platiniâs communications
service said in a statement
"all of his accounts and assets
are known to the tax authori-
ties in Switzerland, where he
has been a tax resident since
2007".
At least 33 people and com-
panies in the documents were
blacklisted by the US govern-
ment for wrongdoing, such as
North Korea and Iran, as well
as Lebanonâs Hezbollah, the
ICIJ said.
The leaked data from 1975
to the end of last year pro-
vides what the ICIJ described
as a "never-before-seen view
inside the offshore world".
Names also figuring in the
leak included the president
of Ukraine, the king of Saudi
Arabia and the prime minister
of Pakistan.
"These findings show how
deeply ingrained harmful
practices and criminality are
in the offshore world," said
Gabriel Zucman, an economist
at the US-based University of
California, Berkeley, cited by
the consortium.
The leaked documents were
reviewed by a team of more
than 370 reporters from more
than 70 countries, according to
the ICIJ. The BBC cited Mos-
sack Fonseca as saying it had
operated "beyond reproach"
for 40 years and had never
been charged with any criminal
wrongdoing.
It was not immediately clear
who was the original source of
the leaked documents.-AFPâ
internatioNAL News14
Explosive tax haven document leak exposes world leaders
15. By Frik Els
Against expectations and in
some instances seemingly
in defiance of fundamentals,
commodities managed to
climb a wall of worry during
the first quarter of 2016.
While nervousness returned
to the sector with a venge-
ance this week, many metals
and minerals have clung to
year-to-date gains.
It's down sharply from an
insane 19 percent jump in
a single day to above $60 a
tonne, but iron ore remains
the top performer for Q1
2016. The steelmaking raw
material arguably has the
biggest oversupply prob-
lems of the lot, but despite
many bear calls have stayed
firmly above $50. Iron
ore's rebound is even more
impressive considering it's
up 44 percent from its near
decade low hit in December.
Gold held onto 15 percent
gains in the first quarter (its
best showing going back to
the 1980s), but the pullback
today is re-awakening fears
of a replay of Q1 2015 when
the price briefly topped $1
300 an ounce only to spend
the rest of the year sliding
towards triple digits. This
time around ETF investors
appear more convinced of the
robustness of the gold rally
however, snapping up more
tonnes during the quarter
than left funds in 2014 and
2015 combined.
Bellwether copper is in
danger of wiping out its
gains for the year, but the
red metal can still boast of
double digit gains from near
six-year lows below $2 a
pound struck mid-January.
Today's drop in oil puts the
commodity back to square
one for 2016, but like iron
ore crude's been swinging
wildly â the dip to $26 on
February 11 already seems
like ancient history.
Among industrial metals
tin is the clear winner and
while the metal has been
drifting lower recently is up
15,5 percent for 2016 and
up 26 percent since hitting
multi-year lows of $13 300
a tonne in January. Nickel,
last year's worst performer,
showed signs of a revival but
in February crashed through
$8 000 a tonne. The come-
back since that 13-year low
has been less than convinc-
ing and it's astounding to
think that the volatile metal
peaked at $51 780 a decade
ago.
Returning to a six month
high this week, coking coal
has enjoyed some support
from iron ore's advance,
but thermal coal's long term
decline looks inevitable. Ura-
nium, last year's strongest
performer â
that is, showing the smallest
decline â is being demol-
ished this year. Friday's spot
price of $27,30 a pound
is pushing U3O8 towards
its lowest in a decade on
a weekly basis. â Mining.
comâ
15 analysis15 analysis
Mining's Q1: The best it's gonna get?