Vol 4 (AAC) No 4 | ZIMBABWECHINA Platinum-bottomed deals 28th February 2011 Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi wants strengthened relations with China’s ‘good brother’ Zimbabwe but conditions on the latest deals are tougher Beijing is offering its biggest financial deal yet in Zimbabwe but the cash-strapped,power-sharing government may yet turn down the investment. For all President Robert Mugabe’s enthusiasm for China,...
Vol 4 (AAC) No 4 | ZIMBABWE The Great Dyke anomaly 28th February 2011 Platinum output for 2011 is projected, in the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s recent mid-term review, to have almost doubled in volume to 12 tonnes since 2009. The RBZ...
Vol 4 (AAC) No 4 | ZIMBABWEINDIA What’s mine is mine 28th February 2011 In November 2010, India’s Essar group (through its Mauritian subsidiary) announced it would take a 54% stake from the government of Zimbabwe in its long-troubled iron and steel...
Vol 4 (AAC) No 4 | ZIMBABWE Mthuli Ncube 28th February 2011 Chief Economist, African Development Bank At the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos from 25-29 January, Mthuli Ncube welcomed Chinese investment but cautioned that Chinese and African governments should ensure local partners share...
Vol 4 (AAC) No 2 | ZIMBABWEASIA Rust never sleeps 27th December 2010 After much stalling, the first privatisation deal with the Zimbabwe government has finally been sealed. An estimated 53% of the country’s largest public company, the Zimbabwe Iron and...
Vol 4 (AAC) No 1 | ZIMBABWEASIA Doing the Charamba 18th November 2010 One consortium gains, another loses: ministers will decide which lucky locals can partner with international investors in the indigenisation scheme George Charamba is President Robert Mugabe’s official spokesman and information supremo. The job description is not well defined and Charamba feels free to ennunciate what he thinks policy...
Vol 51 No 25 | ZIMBABWE The wiles of a crocodile, the memory of an elephant 17th December 2010 The Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front will put on a show of unity and loyalty to President Mugabe at this week’s congress in Mutare. Despite the protestations, the party is divided over who should succeed eventually Mugabe as leader. Most activists support Vice-President Mujuru but the securocrats back Defence Minister Mnangagwa. Mugabe, however, knows that he will be the party’s presidential candidate yet again in the 2011 elections. The Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front has assembled in Mutare in full battle array for its annual party congress on 15-18 December. General mobilisations, once started, take on...
Vol 51 No 25 | ZIMBABWE One farm good, four farms better 17th December 2010 The 2011 elections are billed as the fourth and final Chimurenga (revolutionary struggle) to consolidate the gains of the revolutionary process. Nowhere have the gains been more substantial...
Vol 51 No 24 | ZIMBABWE Cranswick and Marange 3rd December 2010 A key player in the Marange diamond fields dispute, businessman Andrew Cranswick, has been declared bankrupt in Australia after failing to pay a tax demand of Aus$1.1 million (US$1.07 mn.). Cranswick...
Vol 51 No 23 | ZIMBABWEDIAMONDS A multi-faceted business 19th November 2010 Intrigue over the ownership and profits from the rich Marange diamond fields is causing dissension in State House The growing political crisis over the management of the rich Marange diamond fields shows how important this huge new revenue source is for President Robert Mugabe, politically and...