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1. By Tawanda Musarurwa
HARARE – The Govern-
ment – through the Mines
and Minerals Amendment
Bill – has come up with a list
of strategic minerals in line
with contemporary devel-
opments and global best
practices, Mines and Mining
Development Minister Walter
Chidhakwa has said.
It is expected that the
declaration of the strategic
minerals will enhance the
country’s benefits from the
mining sector.
“Zimbabwe currently pro-
duces under 60 minerals,
and some of these minerals
are mined commercially and
hence they are making a
commercial contribution to
the economic development.
But overtime we have seen
minerals graduating, moving
from non-commercial min-
erals to becoming commer-
cial minerals depending on
what is happening on the
international scenario or the
News Update as @ 1530 hours, Monday 14 March 2016
Feedback: bh24admin@zimpapers.co.zwEmail: bh24feedback@zimpapers.co.zw
Govt identifies 19 strategic minerals
Minister Walter Chidhakwa

2. development needs of that
particular mineral,” he said.
Minister Chidhakwa added
that the declaration of stra-
tegic minerals will benefit
mines such as Kamativi,
which previously was essen-
tially a tin producer.
“For instance tantalite, we
know that Kamativi hosts not
more than six different type
of minerals and the main
mineral that was mined in
Kamativi was actually just tin
and the others were looked
at as by-stander minerals
that were just there because
there was no big demand for
them internationally, but as
the international economy
was growing particularly the
electronics sector you begin
to see lithium, for example,
becoming critical for national
economic development
According to the Mines and
Mining Development Amend-
ment Bill, the following
minerals have been declared
as strategic minerals: coking
coal, natural gas or coal-bed
methane, iron ore, uranium,
chrome, platinum group met-
als, phosphate ore, beryl-
lium, lithium and tin.
The other strategic minerals
also include: tantalite, rare
earths elements, natural
graphite, magnesite, tung-
sten, antimony, manganese,
fluorspar and caesium.
But these will not be fixed in
stone, so to speak.
According to the Govern-
ment, “in the interests of the
development of the mining
industry in Zimbabwe” it can
“designate any other mineral
to be a strategic or non-stra-
tegic mineral in terms of this
section (5A).
“The world over, countries
have defined resources that
are of a strategic nature to
them. This includes some
OECD member groups that
do not have minerals them-
selves have defined them
but us as a country with
abundant mineral resources
we have for a long time not
defined minerals that are
strategic to us,” said Minister
Chidhakwa.
The Mines and Minerals
Amendment Bill, along with
the Minerals Exploration and
Marketing Corporation Bill
and the Pan African Min-
erals University of Science
and Technology Bill are
expected to be tabled before
Parliament in the “next few
weeks.”●
2 news

3. BH243

4. BH244

5. By Funny Hudzerema
HARARE– At least 33 South
African companies will par-
ticipate at the Zimbabwe
International Trade Fair as a
commitment to cement busi-
ness relationships between
the two countries.
In a speech ready on his
behalf during the 6th Invest-
ment and Trade Initiative
conference Deputy Minister
Department of Trade and
Industry for South Africa
Mzwandile Masina said
Zimbabwe and South Africa
have got business relations
which must be strengthened
through joint-ventures part-
nerships.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, it is
in this vein that we return to
Harare, Zimbabwe's leading
financial, commercial, and
communications hub. South
Africa remains committed to
partnering with Zimbabwe in
the realisation of our joint
economic aspirations.
“This commitment has been
translated into tangible
initiatives over the years as
evidenced by the five pre-
vious investment and trade
initiatives undertaken,” he
said.
He added that a further
attestation of South Africa’s
commitment can be displayed
in our ongoing participation
in the Zimbabwe Interna-
tional Trade Fair attended by
23 South African exhibitors
last year.
“We return this year with a
business delegation com-
prising of 33 companies
representing diverse sectors
including Agro-processing,
Mining, Health Care, Infra-
structure and ICT amongst
others.
Currently 75 percent of the
ZITF exhibition space has
been taken up with the event
running from April 26 to the
30th.
“We need to utilise our
resources as African coun-
tries to stimulate growth of
our countries because they
will be utilised by other con-
tinents that are capitalising
us.
“The African continent
loses over 40 percent of its
competitiveness because of
the absence of or poor and
inefficient infrastructure,” he
said.
Officially opening the event
Industry and Commerce
Deputy Minister Chiratidzo
Mabuwa said there should
be a balance in trade rela-
tions between Zimbabwe and
South Africa for them to be
beneficial to both countries.
“The trade balance is skewed
in favour of South Africa for
example in 2014 Zimbabwe
exported $2 051 498 612 to
South Africa and imported
$2,7 million worth of goods
from South African resulting
in a trade deficit of $684 023
204.
“You will agree with me
that there is need to bal-
ance our trade flows and we
can achieve this by seeking
South African investment in
Zimbabwe’s productive sec-
tor,” she said. In his remarks
during the same event South
African Ambassador to Zim-
babwe Vusi Mavimbela said
South Africa’s president will
visit Zimbabwe to assess
progress on business part-
nerships which the two coun-
tries signed some time ago.
“President Jacob Zuma will
visit Zimbabwe before the
end of this year to access
developments on business
partnerships we have signed,
so these projects must be
taken seriously,” he said.●
5 news
33 SA companies for ZITF

6. BH246

7. BH247

8. HARARE – The Government
rejected a proposal by the
country’s mobile telecommunica-
tion companies to ban the use
of over the top services (OTTs)
such as WhatsApp which they
say are eating into their profits,
a cabinet minister has revealed.
Zimbabwe’s mobile networks
have in the past generated the
bulk of their revenues from pro-
vision of calling and messaging
services which cost around 24
cents per minute and eight cents
per message respectively.
But introduction of OTTs which
allow mobile phone users to
communicate at far less charges
than the mobile phone opera-
tors are levying while riding on
their very networks, saw hard
pressed consumers opting for
the cheaper alternatives.
As a result WhatsApp, Viber and
Skype are among applications
referred to as OTTs that have
taken over the communications
landscape at the expense of the
networks.
Realising that their profitability
had been compromised, the
operators last year approached
government seeking to have the
OTTs banned or stifled, Informa-
tion Communication Technology,
Postal and Courier Services Min-
ister, Supa Mandiwanzira said.
“Sometime last year, the
telecommunication players
approached the ministry con-
cerned about the loss of revenue
that networks were experienc-
ing as a result of over the top
services such as Skype, Whats
App Calling, Viber and the like,
they wanted Government to
look at the possibility of either
banning or stifling these opera-
tions to ensure that they would
continue to be profitable,” Min-
ister Mandiwanzira said at the
recently concluded E-Tech Africa
symposium.
“We did mention that as a
progressive government, which
promotes access to technology,
we were averse to the idea of
stifling these technologies or
banning them.”
He said Government told the
operators to look at the devel-
opment as an opportunity to
facilitate young Zimbabweans
to develop applications suitable
for local and global use than can
rival those coming from abroad.
In line with this idea, the minis-
ter said Government has set up
an innovation fund that will be
funded by the mobile network
operators to finance innovations
by Zimbabweans.
“We agreed with industry that
one percent of the revenue of
telecom companies which they
generate out the use of telecom-
munications services will now
go into this specific fund for the
promotion of the development
of platforms, applications by
Zimbabweans,” Minister Mandi-
wanzira said.
Government is expecting to
mobilise up to $25 million in
contributions for the fund in the
next two years, he said - New
Ziana●
8 news
Government rejects WhatsApp proposal ban -Minister

9. BH249

10. BH2410

11. BH24 Reporter
HARARE -Farmers have
called on Government to pro-
vide conducive environment
for wheat production this
season to boost national food
security and reduce imports.
Zimbabwe Commercial
Farmers Union president, Mr
Wonder Chabikwa yesterday
said most farmers were no
longer willing to produce
wheat because of the viabil-
ity challenges.
He said by encouraging farm-
ers to produce wheat this
season, Government may
reduce import costs and at
the same time increase food
availability.
“Government came up with
an irrigation scheme that
benefitted most schemes and
A1 farmers. These farm-
ers can produce wheat if
they are given appropriate
resources.
“Government should take it
upon itself to avail soft loans
to farmers and ensure they
have undisturbed electric-
ity supply. We do not want
free handouts but affordable
loans and there will be no
excuse for not producing,”
he said.
Mr Chabikwa said some dam
water levels had improved in
11 news
Government should provide conducive environment for wheat production- farmers

12. 12 news
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some parts of Mashonaland
and could be used for wheat
production.
Zimbabwe Indigenous Women
Farmers Association Trust,
Mrs Depinah Nkomo said
farmers were willing to
produce food crops but they
were facing challenges.
“This has resulted in most
farmers turning to tobacco
production where contrac-
tors offer inputs and higher
prices. We should not be
importing food when there
are farmers with fertile
soils,” she said.
Wheat production has been
on the decline since 2008.
Agriculture, Mechanisation
and Irrigation Development,
Deputy Minister responsible
for crops and mechanisation,
David Marapira said 60 261
tonnes of wheat where pro-
duced last year.
“The decline is largely attrib-
uted to intermittent power
outages, high cost of produc-
tion and inadequate finan-
cial resources. An average
area of 16 342ha has been
planted to wheat over the
past seven years,” he said.
Deputy Minister Marapira
said the country had been
importing 185 000 tonnes of
wheat per year since 2009.
Zimbabwe requires 400 000
tonnes of wheat.
“The costs of inputs are too
high. Seed and fertiliser
costs are high. Wheat is an
expensive crop because of
the low yields produced by
farmers. Electricity charges
are still high and this dis-
courages many farmers from
producing the crop. By pro-
ducing wheat locally, Govern-
ment can reduce the import
bill,” he said.
He said importation of flour
was also another challenges
affecting the wheat sector.
He said if flour imports were
stopped local millers could
buy from farmers at viable
prices.●

13. BH2413

14. HARARE - The equities
market slipped back into
negative territory as the
mainstream industrial index
retreated 0.79 to settle at
99.02 as two counters lost
ground.
Cigarette manufacturer BAT
shed a significant $0,3972
to close at $10,7500 while
giant telecoms shifted down
$0,0190 to trade at $0,2310.
But on the upside giant
insurer Old Mutual rose by
$0,0800 to close at $1,9000
and Starafrica went up
by a marginal $0,0002 to
$0,0095.
Activity was limited to eight
counters.
The mining index was flat
at 19.14 as Bindura, Fal-
gold, Hwange and RioZim
maintained previous
price levels at $0,0095,
$0,0050, $0,0300 and
$0,1040 respectively- BH24
Reporter ●
ZSE14
Market opens week in the red

15. Movers CHANGE Today Price USc SHAKERS Change TODAY Price USc
Old Mutual 4.39 190.00 Econet -7.59 23.10
Starafrica 2.15 0.95 BAT -3.56 1,075
Index Previous Today Move Change
Industrial 99.81 99.02 -0.79 points -0.79%
Mining 19.14 19.14 +0.00 points +0.00%
15 zse tables
ZSE
Indices
Stock Exchange
Previous
today

16. 16 DIARY OF EVENTS
The black arrow indicate level of load shedding across the country.
POWER GENERATION STATS
Gen Station
14 March 2016
Energy
(Megawatts)
Hwange 406 MW
Kariba 285 MW
Harare 17 MW
Munyati 0 MW
Bulawayo 18 MW
Imports 0 - 400 MW
Total 1172 MW
•Thursday 24 March 2016 - Annual General Meeting of Willdale Limited; Place: Boardroom, Willdale Administration Block,
19.5km peg Lomagundi Road, Mount Hampden; Time: 1100 hours...
• Upcoming AGM - TSL, Head office, 28 Simon Mazorodze Road, Southerton, 16 March, 1200hrs
• Analyst briefing - Old Mutual Zimbabwe, Steward Room, Meikles Hotel, March 30, 1430hrs
THE BH24 DIARY

17. ABUJA — MTN Group has
offered $1,5bn to settle a
much larger fine from Nige-
rian regulators for missing
a deadline to disconnect
unregistered SIM card users,
a document shows.
Africa’s biggest mobile phone
group has been in talks with
Nigerian authorities to have
the $3,9bn penalty reduced
and last month made a "good
faith" payment of $250m
towards a settlement.
In a letter to the Nigerian
government from MTN’s law-
yer, former US attorney-gen-
eral Eric Holder, the com-
pany proposed a 300-billion
naira ($1,5bn) settlement
to be paid through a combi-
nation of government bond
purchases, cash instalments
and network access to the
Nigerian government.
Mr Holder said in the letter,
dated February 24, the offer
"ultimately is in the best
interest of the FGN (Federal
Government of Nigeria) and
MTN Nigeria."
MTN said on Friday talks
with the Nigerian govern-
ment were ongoing.
"MTN has previously advised
shareholders not to make
decisions based on press
reports, and MTN again
urges its shareholders to
refrain from doing so," it
said.
Nigeria’s telecoms ministry
had no immediate comment.
In its annual results last
week, MTN said it had put
aside $600m to cover a deal
over the fine, which was
originally set at $5,2bn on
the basis of charging $1 000
for every unregistered SIM
card.
Nigeria imposed a deadline
on mobile operators to cut
off unregistered SIM cards,
which MTN missed, amid
fears the lines were being
used by criminal gangs,
including militant Islamist
group Boko Haram.
The fine, equating to more
than twice MTN’s annual
average capital expenditure
over the past five years,
came months after Nige-
rian President Muhammadu
Buhari swept to power after
an election campaign that
pledged tougher regulation
and a fight against corrup-
tion.
Shares in MTN, which
makes about 37 percent of
its sales in Nigeria, were
little changed at 147,53 at
8.39am GMT, after ris-
ing more than 2 percent
shortly after the market
opened.-Reuters●
regioNAL News17
MTN offers $1,5bn to settle fine imposed by Nigeria

18. BRUSSELS-The Federal
Reserve won't raise inter-
est rates this week, but
will likely make clear that
as long as US inflation and
jobs continue to strengthen,
economic weakness overseas
won't stop rates from rising
fairly soon.
That will be a big change
from the last time the Fed
met, when uncertainty over
the impact of slower growth
in China and Europe drove
policymakers to signal it
would stay on hold until it
could make a better call on
the outlook.
That in turn was a setback
from just a month earlier,
when the Fed raised rates
for the first time in nearly a
decade and seemed ready to
move four more times this
year.
This week, fresh forecasts
from the Fed's 17 officials
released after the meeting
will almost certainly signal
a retreat from that pace, to
perhaps two or three rate
hikes this year, economists
predict and Fed officials
themselves have suggested.
But the expected downgrade
may largely reflect the drag
from the oil and stock mar-
ket slide in January and the
Fed's decision then to put
policy on hold, rather than
mounting worries over the
US or global outlook.
Indeed, since the last Fed
meeting US inflation has
shown signs of stabilising,
with one measure published
by the Dallas Fed rising to
1,9 percent, its closest to
the Fed's 2 percent goal in
2-1/2 years. Meanwhile, the
US unemployment rate held
at 4,9 percent in February,
near the level many Fed offi-
cials believe represents full
employment.
The European Central Bank's
decision last week to ease
policy further may help add
to confidence that action
has been taken to underpin
growth in Europe, helping
ensure a stalling of global
growth drag on the US.
That could mean another US
rate hike by mid-year and,
depending on economic data,
more to come after that.
"June seems certainly like
a possibility" for the Fed's
next rate hike, said former
Minneapolis Fed President
Narayana Kocherlakota,
whose own preference is for
the Fed to take out "insur-
ance" against a recession by
cutting rates back to near
zero. Market-based inflation
expectations have improved
somewhat since the Fed's
last meeting, he said, "a real
positive" development. -
Reuters●
internatioNAL News18
Fed to sit tight on rates at March meet, hint at hikes to come

19. By Hilary Joffe
WHEN Old Mutual CEO
Bruce Hemphill presented
his maiden set of financial
results on Friday, he did
something pretty unusual: he
announced plans to get rid
of the company that he took
charge of only four months
ago.
"I won’t have a role by
2018," he told journalists,
as he explained Old Mutual’s
plans to separate its four
underlying businesses from
each other in the next two
to three years, after which
Old Mutual’s £80m-a-year
head office will no longer be
required.
This reflects how finan-
cial services have changed
since 1999, when Old Mutual
demutualised, moving its
head office to London and
locating its primary listing
there.
A big part of the rationale for
the London listing was that
Old Mutual needed to access
a much larger pool of capital
than was available in SA to
fund its demutualisation,
which saw it switch from
ownership by policyholders
to a listed company owned
by shareholders.
The group raised a large sum
of capital, with pressure to
spend on expansion. That it
did, making some costly mis-
takes along the way.
The financial crisis not only
showed up the fault lines in
some of the group’s ques-
tionable investments, but
also put question marks over
financial conglomerates.
The concentration of risk
across and within aspects
of financial services — such
as banking and insurance —
led to the crisis. Regulators
responded, globally and in
SA, by trying to reduce that
concentration, forcing those
holding more risk to hold
higher levels of capital, mak-
19 analysis19 analysis
No sacred cows as Old Mutual splits structure

20. 20 analysis20 analysis
ing it ever more costly to be
complex.
Mr Hemphill’s predecessor,
Julian Roberts, had done
much to fix and streamline
the group, which last week
reported a strong perfor-
mance in its underlying
businesses, with strong cash
flows and capital ratios. But
its structure was unsustain-
able.
The "managed separation"
plan emerged from a com-
prehensive, three-month
strategic review in which Old
Mutual and subsidiary Ned-
bank worked with regulators
to explore about 30 different
options.
It concluded that this was
the right way to go, and
the group will separate out
Johannesburg-based Old
Mutual Emerging Markets
— which holds its insurance
and wealth businesses in
SA and Africa, as well as its
controlling stake in Nedbank
from listed Nedbank by 2018,
listed US institutional asset
manager Old Mutual Asset
Management and the group’s
unlisted UK wealth manage-
ment business.
The regulatory burden was
not the main driver. The
strategic review concluded
that synergies between the
four businesses were not suf-
ficient to justify the costs of
supporting the group struc-
ture.
Dismantling the structure
means that the underlying
businesses can be rated rel-
ative to their peers, remov-
ing the conglomerate dis-
count, which some analysts
estimate at as much as 20
percent.
The group has changed its
dividend policy, paying out
less than before in anticipa-
tion of the four businesses
needing to be self-sufficient.
That may disappoint inves-
tors, and some analysts
are disappointed too at the
dearth of detail about how
the managed separation will
be implemented.
Mr Hemphill emphasises that
consultation with a wide
range of stakeholders will be
needed before the group can
finalise the details.
That includes the holders of
Old Mutual’s debt, which it
plans to reduce "materially",
regulators in several coun-
tries and others.
For Nedbank, the announce-
ment brought long-sought
clarity about its ownership.
Old Mutual will distribute
the shares to shareholders,
but will keep an "appropriate
strategic minority stake" in
Nedbank, which Mr Hemphill
says will probably be 15 to
20 percent.
Much work is still needed on
how best to effect the distri-
bution, with several options
being considered. Unbun-
dling shares to Old Mutual
shareholders would create a
significant overhang in Ned-
bank’s shares because of the
number of Old Mutual share-
holders who could not keep
them, or would not want to.
About 25 percent of Old
Mutual’s shares are in the
hands of index trackers that
track the FTSE index, in
which it is included. They will
have to sell, as will funds
with mandates requiring
them to invest in FTSE or
UK-domiciled stocks.
Fortunately perhaps, more
than half of Old Mutual’s
shares are in South Afri-
can hands — which reflects
some of the confusion that
has weighed on the group’s
value. Many domestic inves-
tors have probably been
happy to hold the share for
its rand-hedge qualities, as
well as its exposure to SA
Inc.
Mr Hemphill emphasised the
plan is not about bringing
Old Mutual home, but rather
bringing value to sharehold-
ers.
The next few years will show
whether, in returning its
business units to more natu-
ral investors, the group can
unlock the value it promis-
es.-BDLive●