A digital copy of the Business News 24 (21 July edition). Zimbabwe's premier business news free sheet published by the Zimpapers Newspapers Group (1980) Limited and available every week day from 1530hrs to give a summary of the day's business news.

1. News Update as @ 1530 hours, Monday 21 July 2014
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By Rumbidzayi Zinyuke
Government and the Zimbabwe
Stock Exchange stockbrokers have
reached an agreement to kick-start
the demutualisation process of the
bourse.
This clears the overdrawn battle for
ownership of the exchange and paves
way for the creation of a private lim-
ited company. The ZSE is has been in
the process of transforming itself into
a company limited by shares and at
the same time updating its member
rules and Listing Requirements to
synchronise them with the Securities
Act.
Speaking at the signing of a memo-
randum of understanding between
the two parties, Finance minister
Patrick Chinamasa said government
understands that the establishment
of the stock exchange was market
driven mainly through stock bro-
kers’ contribution through proprietary
rights.
“As such, the exchange is jointly
owned by government and the mem-
bers of the exchange. The agree-
ment between government and the
members of the exchange states that
government owns 32 percent of the
exchange and stockbrokers control
68 percent,” he said. He said after
demutualisation, government and
stockbrokers are expected to reduce
their shareholding to 16 percent and
34 percent respectively for the bourse
to have a diversified shareholding
structure. The remaining 50 percent
will be shared among private institu-
tions and individuals.
Minister Chinamasa added that the
conditions of the demutualisation
stated that no holder of shares in
the exchange can hold more than 10
percent of total voting shares. “The
ZSE has been operating as a mutual
society where members enjoy rights
of ownership, decision making and
trading. Thus the essence of demu-
tualisation is to separate ownership
from management and participation
through adherence to internationally
accepted code of corporate govern-
ance,” he said.
He also said the obligation to form
and incorporate the public listed com-
pany will fall on the exchange while
government will make the legislation
to remove the exchange from being
a statutory body and morph it into
a listed company. ZSE stockbrokers
representative Edward Mapokotera
also said the demutualisation will
improve governance of the bourse
and help to raise funds.
“This will allow the ZSE to raise
capital both locally and internation-
ally and raise our profile both as an
exchange as well as a country,” he
added. Once demutualisation is com-
plete the exchange can democratise
and create a second-tier exchange or
more exchanges. Globally, all major
stock exchanges operate on the basis
of demutualisation. •
Govt, ZSE stockbrokers sign demutualisation agreement

2. BH24

3. 3 NEWS
By Lynn Murahwa
Zimbabwe's first National Tourism
Policy is set to be launched this week
with forecasts that it will boost tourism
earnings to $5 billion per annum by
2020, Tourism and Hospitality Industry
Minister Engineer Walter Mzembi has
said
TheNationalTourismPolicyistobeoffi-
cially launched on Thursday in Harare.
Speaking at a press conference this
morning Minister Mzembi said the
Tourism Policy is set to make the sector
the first one to sponsor itself in reach-
ing its targets.
“The tourism sector is set to be the
first sector to sponsor itself in terms of
revenue target setting of $5 billion per
annum by the year 2020,” he said.
Mzembi said a large consultation from
every sector was taken into account
before the approval and implementa-
tion of the policy.
“The policy is the work of team tour-
ism which is a tripartite consisting of
the Tourism and Hospitality Industry,
the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority and
the Zimbabwe Council of Tourism.
Our consultation went beyond these
three parties, we consulted very widely
across all sectors to gather input into
the policy,” he said.
He said the new policy will emphasize
the role of the Government and private
sector in tourism as well as introduce
a new range of tourism products, the
need for Special Tourism economic
zones and hope for an open air policy.
“Our new National Tourism Policy
emphasizes the fact that Tourism is
Government led, private sector driven
and community welfare orientated.
The policy seeks to introduce a new
range of tourism products to diversify
our products including religious tour-
ism, agro tourism, industrial tourism
and the list is endless.
“It underlies the need to create Spe-
cial Tourism economic zones in order
to create investment opportunities in
areas where tourism offers compara-
tive advantages. It also addresses bot-
tlenecks to travel such as air connec-
tivity and restrictive visa regimes which
restrict the enjoyment of the tourism
product,” said Mzembi.
“We have successfully designed an
incentive travel holiday scheme for civil
service which we have handed over to
the Civil Service Administration. We
believe that every civil servant should
take at least one holiday a year starting
with our own employees,” he said.
He added that the sector has partners
outside of the country who are willing
to put in seed capital into the Tourism
Special Economic Zones.
“We have people in the Diaspora who
are willing to inject money into these
zones and right now I can say they are
mobilising millions into the zones, at
least 3 million pounds of seed capital,”
he said. •
National Tourism Policy ready
Minister Engineer Mzembi

4. 4 NEWS
BH24 Reporter
Three of the world diamond industry
leaders have confirmed their partic-
ipation at the second edition of the
Zimbabwe Diamond Conference this
November.
These include World Federation of Dia-
mond Bourses president Ernie Blom
andCIBJOpresidentGaetanoCavalieri.
Also in attendance will be Eli Izhakoff,
who is an honorary president of three
world diamond organisations, namely
the World Diamond Council (WDC),
World Federation of Diamond Bourses
(WFDB), and the Confédération Inter-
national de la Bijouterie, Joaillerie,
Orfèvrerie des Diamants, Perles et
Pierres (CIBJO or the World Jewellery
Confederation).
WFDB's role is to promotion of world
diamond trade and to encourage the
establishment of bourses (today there
are 28 bourses worldwide), while the
CIBJO represents the interests of all
individuals, organisations and compa-
nies earning their livelihoods from jew-
ellery, gemstones and precious metals.
CIBJO is the oldest international organ-
isation in the jewellery sector.
The global diamond industry leaders
believe that Zimbabwe is well poised
to become a key player on the interna-
tional diamonds market.
WFDB president Ernie Blom said Zim-
babwe's diamond output can step in to
cover supply gaps in global diamonds
trade.
“Zimbabwe, with its vast mineral
resources is well positioned to take
advantage, as a major supplier of
rough diamonds, in a world market
that has seen challenges with current
supply lines,” said Blom.
WDC Honorary President Eli Izhakoff
said Zimbabwe is a significant diamond
producing country and can evolve into
an important trading center.
The conference, which is penciled for
November 6 and 7, will be moderated
by diamond industry analyst and presi-
dent of Tacy Ltd Chaim Even-Zohar.
Meanwhile, an auction of almost one
millioncaratsofdiamondsfromZimba-
bwe is currently underway at the Dubai
Diamond Exchange (DDE).
Expectations are that the two-week
sale will generate an average price per
carat of $100 per carat compared to
thepreviousaveragesetof$76.Mbada
Diamonds, Anjin, Jinan, Diamond Min-
ing Corporation, DZT-OZGEO, Marange
Resources and Kusena submitted par-
cels totaling 960,000 carats.
The sale will be the third this year, fol-
lowing a January auction which led to
total sales of $70 million, and an auc-
tion in March with $29,2 million gener-
ated from sales of 400 000 carats. •
World Diamond industry leaders set for Zimbabwe Diamond Conference

5. BH24

6. By Elita Chikwati
•... as mop-up sales disappoint;
TIMB hints at possible side-mar-
keting of auction crop
Flue cured-tobacco deliveries for the
2014 selling season have surpassed
the revised target of 210 million kilo-
grammes as farmers continue to sell
their crop at the contract floors.
The Tobacco Industry and Marketing
Board statistics reveal that 211 mil-
lion kg of flue cured tobacco worth
$672 million have been sold com-
pared to the 160 million kg that had
been sold same period last year.
The bulk of the crop has been sold
though the contract floors where
buyers are offering higher prices than
those offered at the auction floors.
About 51 million kg of tobacco worth
$137 million were sold thorough the
auction floors while 160 million kg
worth $534 million. Currently buyers
at the contract floors are offering an
average price of $3,32 per kg while
auction floors closed at an average
price of $2,69 per kg.
TIMB chief executive, Dr Andrew Mat-
ibiri said the mop up sales that were
carried out last week showed that
most farmers had sold their crop by
the time auction floors closed. “Only
two auction floors, Boka Tobacco
Floors and Premier Tobacco Floors
received tobacco for the mop up sale.
“This may also be an indication that
some farmers are side-marketing
their crop and selling through the
contract floors where prices are firm,”
he said.
Tobacco production has been on the
increase for the past years due to the
favourable marketing system. •
6 NEWS
Revised tobacco target surpassed

7. Textile giant National Blankets Limited
requires $3,5 million working capital
to bring back production to competi-
tive levels, an official has said.
The firm, which was placed under
judicial management in 2012 was
now debt- free and has started
addressing working capital con-
straints again sourcing funds from
the Distressed Industries and Margin-
alised Areas Fund (Dimaf).
Last year, the firm secured $500 000
from Dimaf and the loan facility was
directed at facilitating operational
existence of the company as well as
buying raw materials. “We still have
not raised the cash that we require.
The figure is still the same. We
require $3,5 million to have mean-
ingful production. “We are going
back to the funder who gave us the
Dimaf cash and we will send those
papers to them; the shareholders
are going back into their pockets to
raise the money with their own other
resources,” said National Blankets
judicial manager, Philip Ndlovu in an
interview last week.
As part of National Blankets re-capi-
talisation efforts, the firm received a
$500 000 loan facility from CABS and
this was directed at facilitating oper-
ational existence of the company as
well as buying raw materials.
Although National Blankets was debt-
free, the Bulawayo-based company
was still operating below capacity.
“Employment level hasn’t changed
as capacity is still running far short of
what is required. “We cannot meas-
ure that (capacity utilisation) because
we have no base, all we can say is
how many people do we have com-
pared to last year and the number
is still the same. I know people talk
about it (capacity utilisation) increas-
ing by five percent but I don’t know
how they measure it and I don’t have
the statistics.”
Added Ndlovu: “It’s not only funding
that will make it happen at National
Blankets. There should be buying
capacity from the market and the
overall liquidity situation should
improve in the whole economy
because the product is given to the
same buyers who have no cash; so
it’s not only one side of the story. But
it combines a number of factors.” He
said the company also required skills
basetocarryitforward.Thecompany,
which was on the road to recovery in
December last year announced that it
had raised $2,6 million from the sale
of Industrial Plot Number 39 to the
National Social Security Authority.
Part of the proceeds amounting to $1
944 035 were transferred to Capital
Bank as a means of liquidating the
debt owing to the bank. The remain-
ing balance from the proceeds net of
statutory costs, taxes and Bulawayo
City Council’s rates were made availa-
ble for distributions to other creditors.
Recently stakeholders in the cloth-
ing and textile industry have raised
concerns over the influx of cheap
imported products mainly from the
Far East saying the products were
bringing unfair competition thus kill-
ing viability of local companies. Asked
about how cheap imported textile
products have impacted on National
Blankets viability, Ndlovu said: “We
cannot measure that because at the
moment we cannot fully supply the
market so, we cannot go around
and say we’re having competition
from outside. . . ”At its peak, the tex-
tile manufacturer used to export to
regional countries that include South
Africa, Botswana and Namibia. ―
Chronicle •
7 NEWS
National Blankets requires $3,5m for re-capitalisation

8. BH24

9. AdM-DI156506-
BH24

10. The equities market remains top-
sy-turvy, dipping by a marginal 0.11
percent in today's trades to offset
marginal gains recorded on Friday.
The industrial index lost 0.21 points
to close at 185.72 points on the
back of depressed performances by
a number of heavyweight counters.
Giant telecoms Econet dropped 1.50
cents to trade at 72.50 cents whilst
Fidelity Life, OK Zimbabwe and TSL
slipped 0.50 cents each to close at
7.50 cents, 17.50 cents and 26.10
cents respectively.
Seedco was marginally lower by 0.01
cents to close at 78 cents. The losses
were partially offset by gains in TA
Holdings which was 6 cents solid to
trade at 16 cents. Giant insurer Old
Mutual added 0.40 cents to close
at 258 cents following reports that
group chief executive officer Jonas
Mushosho said the insurance group is
in the process of setting up infrastruc-
ture and agriculture funds to support
fiscal activity as the group sees eco-
nomic rebound in the country.
Pearl Properties gained 0.30 cents
to 2.90 cents and construction firm
Masimba was up 0.10 cents to trade
1.90 cents.
The mining index retreated 0.39
points (or 0.67 percent to close 57.44
points after Riozim shed a cent to
close at 20 cents. Bindura, Falgold
and Hwange were unchanged at
previous trading levels. ― BH24
Reporter •
10 ZSE REVIEW
Stocks start week in the red

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BH24

12. The Infrastructure Development Bank
of Zimbabwe (IDBZ) is set to issue
a $100 million housimg bond for the
construction of 20 000 low-cost hous-
ing units around Zimbabwe.
This is certainly a positive move that,
ideally, should go some way in eas-
ing the country's housing deficit and
help those people with low disposable
income.
When we talk of low cost housing in
Zimbabwe civil servants and other
lowly paid employees in the private
sector always come to mind as the
right beneficiaries.
We think they, more than anyone else
deserve a chance to own a home for
the simple reason that their salaries
cannot afford them the chance to buy
ordinary houses.
But we have noted that in Zimbabwe,
low cost housing is not for the low
income earner but for the middle and
high income earners some of whom
already have two or more houses to
their names and want to grow their
investment portfolios.
According to Wikipedia, low cost hous-
ing refers to “housing deemed afforda-
ble to those with a median household
income as rated by country, province,
region or municipality by a recognised
Housing Affordability Index."
But there is a significant difference
between theory and reality.
Reality on the ground is that very few
projects being carried out by these
huge banks fall under the affordable,
or low-cost housing category.
The cost of purchasing these houses
is usually beyond the reach of many, if
not all, low-income earners.
A snap analysis of residential prop-
erty advertisements indications are
that the cost of such low-cost hous-
ing financing schemes are beyond the
reach of many.
For example a fully serviced 180
square meter residential stand is
going for around $13 500 cash with
an option for six monthly instalments
after a 50 percent deposit.
Let's be realistic, not many people can
afford such terms. The 50 percent
deposit in particular tends to certainly
kill the hopes of any aspiring home
owner.
The question is then: should low-in-
come housing projects be carried out
by banks? Especially as banks are
business and always see the impera-
tive for making huge profits.
It is these huge profits that contribute
to the high cost of these 'low-income
houses' rather than actual costs being
incurred in the housing projects con-
struction as in some cases costs are
just a third of expected revenue.
With the majority of the working pop-
ulation earning far less than the pov-
erty datum line of US$511 per month
the dream of owning a house remains
a pie in the sky.
It follows then that those with the
financial muscle locally or those based
in the Diaspora tend to take advan-
tage of these low-cost housing to
amass properties.
There is definite need for Zimbabwe
to redefine the concept of low-cost
housing. Better still, the Government
should legislate on the matter to set
reasonable standards. •
12 BH24 COMMENT
Do we really have low-cost housing in Zimbabwe?

13. BH24

14. Anglo American Platinum, the world’s
largest producer of the metal, said it
may sell some mines after first-half
profit dropped 88 percent because a
five-month strike in South Africa dis-
rupted mining.
Amplats, as the Johannesburg-based
unit of Anglo American Plc is known,
is putting four mines and possibly
two joint ventures up for sale, it said
in a statement today. It will retain the
Mogalakwena open-cast operation, the
company’s largest, three other mining
assetsandfourstakesinjointventures.
“We will create a company that deliv-
ers the majority of its production from
mechanized mines” and “operates in
the lower half of the cost curve,” it said.
The strike by more than 70,000 miners
at Amplats, Impala Platinum Holdings
Ltd. And Lonmin Plc cost the compa-
nies 23.9 billion rand ($2.2 billion) in
revenue and workers 10.6 billion rand
in wages by the time it ended of June
24.
The stoppage pushed South Africa’s
economy into contraction in the first
three months of this year as mining
output plunged in the country that
accounts for more than two-thirds of
the mined production of the metal.
Amplats said in January 2013 it
planned to sell the Union mine, north
ofRustenburg.Thecompanyhasyetto
find a buyer for the asset.
It will also exit its three Rustenburg
operations and its Pandora joint ven-
ture, it said today. It will possibly sell
its stake in the Bokoni JV with Atlatsa
Resources Corp.
Earnings per share excluding one-time
items fell to 60 South African cents
in the six months, from 5.14 rand a
year earlier, Amplats said. Net income
dropped to 157 million rand from 1.3
billion rand in 2013, it said.
Platinum sales decreased to 1.04 mil-
lion ounces from 1.07 million ounces a
year earlier.
Platinum fell 7.1 percent to an average
$1,438 an ounce in the first half com-
pared with a year earlier. ― Bloomb-
erg •
14 REGIONAL News
Anglo Platinum may sell South Africa mines as strike hits profit

15. BH24

16. 16 DIARY OF EVENTS
The black arrow indicate level of load shedding across the country.
POWER GENERATION STATS
Gen Station
14 July 2014
Energy
(Megawatts)
Hwange 421 MW
Kariba 750 MW
Harare 45 MW
Munyati 29 MW
Bulawayo 0 MW
Imports 0 MW
Total 1245 MW
23 -25 July - Mine Entra, Place: Zimbabwe Inter-
national Exhibition Centre, Bulawayo
24 July - OK Zimbabwe Thirteenth Annual Gen-
eral Meeting Place: OKMart Functions Room,
First Floor, OKMart, 30 Chiremba Road, Hillside, Time:
15:00 hours.
1 August - Sixteenth Annual General Meeting
of the members of Econet Wireless Zimbabwe
Limited, Place: Econet Park, 2 Old Mutare Road,
Msasa, Harare, Time; 10.00am
THE BH24 DIARY

17. BH24

18. 18 zse
ZSE
Movers CHANGE Today Price USc SHAKERS Change TODAY Price USc
TA 60.00% 16.00 Fidelity Life -6.25% 7.50
Pearl 11.53% 2.90 Riozim -4.76% 20.00
CBZ 8.33% 13.00 OK Zim -2.77% 17.50
Masimba 5.55% 1.90 Econet -2.02% 72.50
Old Mutual 0.15% 258.00 TSL -1.87% 26.10
Seedco -0.01% 78.00
Indices
Index Previous Today Move Change
Industrial 185.93 185.72 -0.21 points -0.11%
Mining 57.83 57.44 -0.39 points -0.67%
Stocks Exchange

19. BH24

20. 20 AFRICA StockS
Botswana 8,664.65 -11.96 -0.14% 12July
Cote dIvoire 246.37 +2.18 +0.89% 07Mar
Egypt 7,949.60 -75.68 -0.94% 06Mar
Ghana 2,357.65 -12.86 -0.54% 15July
Kenya 4,889.99 -12.31 -0.25% 15July
Malawi 12,662.47 +0.00 +0.00% 07Mar
Mauritius 2,074.51 -3.51 -0.17% 07Mar
Morocco 9,544.10 +21.01 +0.22% 07Mar
Nigeria 43,030.27 +58.71 +0.14% 16July
Rwanda 131.27 +0.00 +0.00% 24Oct
Tanzania 2,018.97 +25.40 +1.27% 07Mar
Tunisia 4,624.39 -39.32 -0.84% 07Mar
Uganda 1,503.90 +0.81 +0.05% 10Sep
Zambia 4,242.74 +14.95 +0.35% 10April
Zimbabwe 186.08 -0.04 -0.02% 16July
African stock round up Commodity Prices
Name Price
Crude Oil 1,300.91 -0.21%
Spot Gold USD/oz 1,292.63 -0.26%
Spot Silver USD/oz 19.38 -0.46%
Spot Platinum USD/oz 1,421.25 -0.33%
Spot Palladium USD/oz 798.50 -0.64%
LME Copper USD/t 6,770 -0.18%
LME Aluminium USD/t 1,780 -1.17%
LME Nickel USD/t 18,230 -1.73%
LME Lead USD/t 2,095 -1.41%
Quote of the day — "In life, as in
a football game, the prin-
ciple to follow is: Hit the
line hard." -
Theodore Roosevelt
Globalshareholder.com

21. BH24

22. The euro regained more ground on
the dollar in Asia on Monday, having
rebounded from a five-month trough,
but trading was anything but energetic
thanks to a holiday in Japan and amid
concernsthatgeopoliticaltensionscould
flare up at any time.
The common currency drifted up 0.2
percent to $1.3546, extending Fri-
day's bounce from a five-month low
of $1.3491. Solid support is seen at
$1.3460/80, an area that had provided
aflooronseveraloccasionsforthecom-
mon currency in the past 10 months or
so.
"The Japanese holiday has quietened
things in Asia," said Mitul Kotecha, head
of FX strategy at Barclays in Singapore.
"There is not a great deal of first-tier
data either and investors have one eye
ongeopoliticalevents,allofthatisarec-
ipe for generally lackluster trading." The
downing of a Malaysian airliner in east-
ern Ukraine last week and fighting in
Gaza continued to dominate the head-
lines, although markets were becalmed
for now. "Our sense remains that at
least for the moment, markets will likely
continue to treat geopolitical events as
localized risks and not "macro" desta-
bilizing events," analysts at JPMorgan
wrote in a note to clients.
The dollar index eased 0.1 percent to
80.431, continuing to pull back from a
one-month peak of 80.687 set on Fri-
day.Thecalmermoodkeptthesafe-ha-
ven yen pinned down. The greenback
was at 101.22 after pushing up from
a one-week low of 101.09. The euro
stood at 137.10 yen, off a five-month
trough of 136.71.
Sterling was none the worse for wear at
$1.7099,havingrecoveredfromafallto
a three-week low of $1.7037 on Friday.
Barclay's Kotecha said he is still gener-
ally bearish on the euro. "Overall, we
still believe the euro is going to face
more downside pressure. The chances
are we're going to see more aggressive
actionfromtheECBincomingmonths,"
he said. "We prefer selling the euro ver-
sus the yen and sterling." The Antipo-
dean currencies also recovered some of
their recent losses, with the New Zea-
land dollar popping above 87 U.S. cents
from Friday's low of $0.8649.
The kiwi had suffered its biggest weekly
fallinaboutsixmonthsandmarketsare
turning just that bit cautious ahead of
a widely expected interest rate hike on
Thursday.
New Zealand's central bank is widely
expected to lift its cash rate to a 5-1/2
year high of 3.5 percent.
The market is divided on whether the
bankmightsignalapausegiventhehigh
currency, restrained inflation and falling
dairy prices. Any sign of an extended
hiatuscouldpromptkiwibearstorenew
their attack, traders said.
There are no major data out of Europe
on Monday, leaving the focus on flash
PMI reports due on Thursday. In Britain,
minutes of the Bank of England's July
meeting,retailsalesandsecondquarter
gross domestic product data will take
center stage later in the week. ― Reu-
ters •
22 INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Euro stays afloat in tentative trade amid geopolitical concerns

23. By Munetsi Madakufamba
The first major challenge for SADC
economies, as is the case with most
African states, is a development model
that is driven by consumption and pri-
mary commodity exports.
The limitations of this kind of an eco-
nomic growth path were severely
exposed during the recent global
economic crisis when the region’s
economic performance was severely
jolted.
Further, the regional integration model
in Africa has tended to focus too much
on trade at the expense of the develop-
ment of the industrial sector.
SADC has not been an exception. In
fact, its successive development blue-
prints have identified trade as the main
development priority.
Although SADC policy documents have
consistently recognised the need to
develop the industrial sector to accom-
pany emphasis on trade, the industrial
policy framework document has not
been in place until recently. The SADC
Industrial Development Policy Frame-
work was approved by the Committee
of Ministers of Trade in November 2012
and endorsed by the Council of Minis-
ters in February 2013 and is yet to be
implemented.
The policy document identifies three
sectors for initial focus in the medium
term: agro-processing, mineral benefi-
ciation and pharmaceuticals.
This will be a key issue for discussion at
the 34th SADC Summit, to be hosted
by Zimbabwe in Victoria Falls next
month under the theme, “SADC Strat-
egy for Economic Transformation: Lev-
eraging the Region’s Diverse Resources
for Sustainable Economic and Social
Development”.
A growing industrial sector is key to
sustained overall economic as well as
human development of a country due
to the multiplier effect insofar as it pro-
motes value-addition and employment
generation.
A second challenge relates to econo-
mies built on a weak economic infra-
structure base, including poor road,
rail and air networks, and power short-
ages. Third, lack of access to appropri-
ate modern technologies has limited
industrial competitiveness and ability
to engage in value-addition and ben-
eficiation.
Fourth, the majority of the countries
lack access to affordable capital for
investment in industrial development.
Finally, when operating individually,
most SADC economies are too small to
enjoy the competitiveness that comes
with economies of scale, particularly
when dealing with any of the other
challenges stated above.
These challenges can in fact present
major opportunities when looked at
from another angle. First, SADC is rich
in natural resources, and simply needs
to turn this into a competitive advan-
tage through value-addition and ben-
eficiation.
A related opportunity is presented
by Africa’s demographic dividend.
Whereas other parts of the world are
losing their demographic dividend,
Africa boasts of a young population,
with the proportion of youth in some
countries as high as 65 percent under
the age of 35 years.
Second, due to Africa’s resource
endowment, the continent is receiv-
ing greater attention from major eco-
nomic powers — China, Europe and
the United States. To be continued
tomorow
23 Analysis
Prospects for industrial development in SADC

24. On the way to work this morning Mob-
ster couldn't help but eavesdrop on a
conversation by a couple of anony-
mous Hararians (who cares who they
are? They may as well be you and me).
Anonymous Hararian 1: 'Can you
believe it, we haven't had water since
Thursdaylastweek.'AnonymousHara-
rian 2: 'You too? I only thought it was
my area. We haven't had a drop since
Thursday as well.'
Just then a middle-aged (I think) man
edged closer. It wasn't hard to discern
that he lived on the street. He waded
himself into the matter: 'The problem
is that the water treatment plant at
Morton Jaffray services too many areas
around Harare and there have been
no additional water plants to meet the
growing demand from the expanding
suburbs.' I'm guessing your shock is
a good as Mobster's. This man simply
needs to take over at Town House.
The 'engineers' there right now have
been employed for long, and they have
become too toxic to rehabilitate. They
need to go. Anyone will do right now.
But levity aside, it's a sad situation
because for a moment there Mobster
actually believed that this man, this
street dweller who recked of years of
un-bath and whose hair was so rugged
itresembledsomeroughmountainter-
rain somewhere, could easily replace
someone at Town House.
And do a better job of it. He would
probably have a solution too for the
horrifically ugly and certainly brainless
'urban' settlements sprouting all over
the capital city. Every open space any-
where is being parceled out, an indica-
tion of a myopic vision.
On the issue of wrong people in the
right places, Mobster would like to
apportion a significant amount of the
blame for the country's present eco-
nomic predicament to one man. Some
philosophical perspectives follow that
whatever is in existence at any one
time is a residual manifestation of past
actions and decisions. To this extent,
and this extent alone Mobster blames
our economic tribulations to the good
'Dr' Munyaradzi Kereke. I mean what
solid advice could this man have pos-
sibly supplied to the other good Dr?
Especially when he seems unable to
run carry through his own business
visions.
It's disheartening to read about the
collapse of his Fortress Hospital, with
reports about unpaid workers for
months on end and of the hospital hav-
ing to operate with a single registered
nurse.
Mobster is not disheartened by the col-
lapse of Fortress Hospital. She cares
not a bit. It's the fact this man was
onceanadvisortoTHEnationalbanker.
(Mobster is a Zimbabwean philos-
opher who has an opinion on just
about anything. She however has
a particular liking for business
and economics stuff. However her
opinions are not necessarily rep-
resentative of this platform. You
can send your feedback to her on
mobsterzim1980@gmail.com) •
24 MOBSTER’S MONDAY MUSINGS
Wrong people in the right places