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Hwange shareholders turn down share option scheme

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A digital copy of the Business News 24 (30 June 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.
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News Update as @ 1530 hours, Monday 30 June 2014 Feedback: [email protected] Email: [email protected] By Lynn Murahwa Hwange Colliery Company Ltd (HCCL)'s shareholders have turned down the company's proposed share option scheme in what could be interpreted as a victory for Nick van Hoogstraten who once turned down the scheme. Van Hoogstaten owns a 30 percent shareholding in the company. Hwange introduced a share option scheme in 2005 for a period of 10 years to 2014, but in 2007 van Hoogstraten blocked the scheme after workers had already exercised their rights on the options that year. But a special business resolution at today's AGM sought to recommend the board of directors to approve compen- sation to workers for monies paid for the 2007 share option scheme. The recommendation was, however, turned down this morning. Speaking to journalists after the AGM, managing director Thomas Makore said the resolution to refund the respective 2 315 beneficiaries a fair amount for the shares that they paid for has been denied by the HCCL shareholders as they feel the share allocation was very low and would be favourable to the employees. “The share option scheme dating back to 2007 which has been long outstanding was not approved by the shareholders. The share option scheme was not approved because shareholders feel share allocation hap- pened after expiry date and that it was very low and favourable to employees,” said Makore According to Makore, the company owes a combined $32 million to employees and creditors. “We are in default of payments of salaries to staff up to $19 million as well as creditors that have taken us to court to the tune of $13 million,” he said. He said currently the company is oper- ating with a negative working capital and is attempting to pay off its debts. “We have a negative networking capital which means our current liabilities are exceeding our current assets. Another issue is that we have a big interest burden because of legacy debt. In the past 24 months the company has paid in excess of $35 million to service that legacy debt,” he said. Makore added that the large debt is making it difficult for the company to access credit lines from financial insti- tutions but they are working to convert Government debt into equity. “Because of this legacy debt and our negative working capital, financial insti- Hwange shareholders turn down share option scheme
Transcript
Page 1: Hwange shareholders turn down share option scheme

News Update as @ 1530 hours, Monday 30 June 2014Feedback: [email protected]: [email protected]

By Lynn Murahwa

Hwange Colliery Company Ltd (HCCL)'s shareholders have turned down the company's proposed share option scheme in what could be interpreted as a victory for Nick van Hoogstraten who once turned down the scheme.

Van Hoogstaten owns a 30 percent shareholding in the company. Hwange introduced a share option scheme in 2005 for a period of 10 years to 2014, but in 2007 van Hoogstraten blocked the scheme after workers had already exercised their rights on the options that year.

But a special business resolution at today's AGM sought to recommend the board of directors to approve compen-sation to workers for monies paid for the 2007 share option scheme. The

recommendation was, however, turned down this morning.

Speaking to journalists after the AGM, managing director Thomas Makore said the resolution to refund the respective 2 315 beneficiaries a fair amount for the shares that they paid for has been denied by the HCCL shareholders as they feel the share allocation was very low and would be favourable to the employees. “The share option scheme dating back to 2007 which has been

long outstanding was not approved by the shareholders. The share option scheme was not approved because shareholders feel share allocation hap-pened after expiry date and that it was very low and favourable to employees,” said Makore

According to Makore, the company owes a combined $32 million to employees and creditors. “We are in default of payments of salaries to staff up to $19 million as well as creditors

that have taken us to court to the tune of $13 million,” he said.

He said currently the company is oper-ating with a negative working capital and is attempting to pay off its debts. “We have a negative networking capital which means our current liabilities are exceeding our current assets. Another issue is that we have a big interest burden because of legacy debt. In the past 24 months the company has paid in excess of $35 million to service that legacy debt,” he said.

Makore added that the large debt is making it difficult for the company to access credit lines from financial insti-tutions but they are working to convert Government debt into equity.

“Because of this legacy debt and our negative working capital, financial insti-

Hwange shareholders turn down share option scheme

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2 NEWS

By Tawanda Musarurwa

Zimbabwe Stock Exchange-listed com-posite financial house Zimre Holdings (ZHL)'s shareholders have approved a repurchase of its stock.

In terms of the share buyback the maximum number of shares will not exceed 10 percent of the company's issued ordinary share capital.

ZHL chairman Benjamin Kumalo told

the company's AGM this afternoon that it was in a strong financial position and were expecting positive feedback from the market in terms of the buyback.

"The company is in a strong financial position and will in the course of busi-ness be able to pay back its debts as the assets of the company will be in excess of its liabilities," he said.

Giving a trading update, management says it is content with the performance of the company in the first quarter of the current year. Said group chief exec-utive Albert Nduna:

"The group performed reasonably well. For the three months period to March 31, 2014, the gruop recorded a Gross Premium of $24 million which, though 9 perecnt below same period last year, was within expectations. "Gross Pre-mium for the regional businesses was in line with budget and was ahead of last year. Local Reinsurance business,

however, was below last year as it pur-sues its strategy of writing colelctable and profitable business," he said.

Nduna also said they are confident of a "turnaround" in the fortunes of agro-business, CFI Holdings.

"There are positive developments in the status of some of its land and efforts are underway to unlock value. Capital raiosing initiatives coupled with some internal re-organisations will see value being created for shareholders in the short-term,' he said.

Meanwhile, the AGM saw the share-holders adopting the audited annual financial statements for the year just ended, re-election of the company's directors and approval of the remuner-ation of the directors and that of the auditors for the past year. BDO Zimba-bwe has been retained as auditors for the current year. •

ZHL shareholders approve share-buyback

tutions view us as high risk therefore when we discuss and negotiate credit lines they are not favourable because they see us as having a weak balance sheet. “To address the legacy debt we want to convert Government debt to

equity and that’s an initiative that is being discussed with the Government and we anticipate to should reach agreement in the short term,” he said.

“The director’s remuneration of $476 352 for the year ending 31 December

2012 was not supported by the share-holders.”

Currently HCCL is working on recapi-talisation plans to boost productivity to their target of 300 thousand tonnes per month. •

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BH24

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By Rumbidzayi Zinyuke

Mobile network operator Telecel Zimba-bwe is seeking $200 million to increase its third generation (3G) network cov-erage and grow subscriber base to 5,5 million by year end.

Telecel is the second largest operator in Zimbabwe after Econet with more than 4,7 million connected subscribers and 2,35 million active subscribers.

Giving oral evidence to the parliamen-tary portfolio committee on Commu-nication, technology, postal and cou-rier services, Telecel general manager Angeline Vere said negotiations with banks were already underway. “Our network coverage is not where we would want it to be so we are looking at a further investment of $200 million.

This investment should take us to a 5,5 million subscriber network. our switch-ing capacity at the moment is 5 million and by the end of the year we should be at 5,5 million. By end of year we are anticipating that our active subscriber base will be at 3,3 million. We are also looking at increasing our 3G reach work on our fibre optic connectivity is progressing,” she said. She said Tele-cel currently has 299 3G base stations across the country and the company

would expand the 3G reach to more centres not already covered while working on the 4G network.She added that mobile operators were losing reve-nue to traffic thieves who re-route calls to gadgets specifically created for that purpose.

“These people buy sim cards from all operators and use a system called a Sim box which allows them to work as a mobile operator. So when someone calls from South Africa, instead of that call going to Telecel, it is directed to that Sim box first then rerouted to Telecel. To us it reflects a local number calling another local number so it is charged at that rate and these people get to keep the rest of the money that should have been charged for international calls,” she said. She said the individuals involved were working with other unli-

censed operators in different countries who helped them to steal traffic. “We need to set up a taskforce that includes the police and unmask these people because not only are they stealing from mobile network operators but they are also stealing from the country since they do not pay any fees or taxes,” she added.

Speaking on the issue of infrastruc-ture sharing among operators, Vere said Government should put in place legislation that compels mobile phone operators to share their infrastructure.

“Government should make it compul-sory for us to share the infrastructure. We feel it should be done on a com-mercial basis where the person who put up the infrastructure benefits more from their investment but allows other players to benefit from it as well,” she said.

She added that companies were wast-ing money importing the same equip-ment which they can easily share on agreed terms. “There is nothing stop-ping us sharing infrastructure, the only problem is that if we put a small tower then the load on that tower will be too much. •

4 NEWS

Telecel seeking $200m for network expansion

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BH24

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AdM-DI156506-

BH24

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7 NEWS

Norupiri re-elected ZNCC president

THE Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) president Hlan-ganiso Matangaidze was last week re-elected the chamber’s president for another one year term.

His vice-president Davison Norupiri was also re-elected as the chamber’s vice president at the industrial body’s annual general meeting in Victoria Falls.

The ZNCC annual general meeting was held before the business organisation’s

congress.

“As is the norm, normally the president and vice president are nominated at branch level for submission at national level. All the four regions namely Mash-onaland, Manicaland, Matabeleland and Midlands unanimously re-elected Hlanganiso Matangaidze as president and Davison Norupiri as vice presi-dent for another one year term,” said Norupiri.

He said they would work towards

addressing issues that have been tabled at the congress.

“We are going to engage the govern-ment on issues of corruption and good corporate governance.

We will keep on engaging the author-ities on issues of education and come up with Memorandum of Understand-ing with tertiary institutions that we are yet to sign the MoU with,” he said.

Norupiri said they would also address issues of capacity utilisation for the manufacturing sector and advocate for policy consistence to attract foreign direct investment.

He said ZNCC would also work with government on the implementation of the Zimbabwe Agenda for Socio-eco-nomic Transformation (Zim-Asset).

This, he said, was in line with the con-gress’ theme.

Commenting on their previous tenure at the helm of ZNCC, Norupiri said: “It has been challenging since the Gov-ernment was realigning itself following the end of the Government of National Unity and coming out of elections.” ―Chronicle •

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BH24

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The equities market has started the week on downward trend maintaining last week's streak as only one counter traded positively.

Today, the industrial index lost 0.52 points (or 0.28 percent) to close at

186.56 points.

Natfoods dropped 5 cents to close at 210 cents whilst Innscor and PPC went down 2 cents each to trade 79 cents and 225 cents respectively.

Fidelity Life eased 1.30 cents to 8.70 cents and CBZ shed a cent to trade at 13.50 cents.

In the positive giant telecoms Econet picked up 0.10 cents to settle at 67 cents.

The value of trades was at $1.1 million, boosted by trades in Econet, Innscor and Fidelity.

The mining index also went down 0.39 points (or 0.63 percent) to close 61.32 points after Riozim traded at 20 cents. Riozim had higher bid at 21 cents before settling at 20 cents on today’s session.

Bindura, Falgold and Hwange main-tained previous trading levels. — BH24 Reporter •

9 ZSE REVIEW

Equities maintain bearish trend

Page 10: Hwange shareholders turn down share option scheme

The recent move by the Agricultural Marketing Authority (AMA) to float $55 million bills to raise money to fund the purchase of close to 250 000 metric tonnes of grain for the 2013 to 2014 will come as a relief to producers who have been struggling to sell their crop.

AMA is a statutory body established in terms of an Act of Parliament (CAP 18:24) with a broad mandate to reg-ulate the participation in production, buying and processing of agricultural products in Zimbabwe.

But what is its role exactly? Is it a buyer? Is it a facilitator? AMA is on record saying that it will use the $55 million to re-capitalise the Grain Mar-keting Board (GMB) If this is the case, then this is a positive to the extent that the GMB has been facing financial con-straints to purchase maize. This is key since Zimbabwe is trying to build up its Strategic Grain Reserve.

As at the beginning of the year, the SGR is estimated to have had around 30,000 metric tonnes compared to the 500 000Mt of maize required. The Grain Marketing Board was only allo-cated $96 million to boost the SGR against a requested $355 million. But

then it is important to also appreciate that grain is no longer a controlled commodity, meaning that private play-ers can purchase the maize crop.

What is the role of AMA in the selling of maize to private buyers? Especially as earlier this year, AMA established a grain producer registry that formalises and traces links between maize and wheat commercial farmers to interna-tional buyers. This grain producer reg-istry acts as a conduit for farmers and buyers of the crop annually much in the same way as the Tobacco Industry Marketing Board. The key question that comes to the fore is: is Zimbabwe cur-rently producing enough of the maize crop to be selling to outside buyers? The 2013-2014 season saw Zimbabwe producing 1,6 million tonnes of maize. This is against the country's basic

annual requirement of between 1,8 million and two million metric tonnes of maize annually to meet human and livestock requirements. This means that Zimbabwe is already in a deficit of between 200 000 and 400 000 tonnes of maize that needs to be supple-mented by imports.

In view of the established grain pro-ducer registry, there is no clarity on

whether the 250 000 tonnes of maize that AMA is seeking to purchase through the $55 million will all go to the GMB, or whether some of it (or a significant portion) will be purchased by private, albeit foreign buyers.

Maize and is key crop in Zimbabwe and considering that the country is not pro-ducing enough there is need to curb its externalisation. •

10 BH24 COMMENT

Need for clarity on AMA role in maize trade

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BH24

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Ghanaian Finance Minister Seth Terk-per said food inflation will slow this year as rains bring better harvests and a natural gas project bolsters economic growth in the fourth quar-ter.

“We are coming out of the reces-sion, the power situation is improv-ing, cocoa is doing very well and gold prices have stabilized,” Terkper said yesterday in an interview in the cap-ital, Accra.

Ghana’s first-quarter growth of 6.7 percent from a year earlier was below target though “better than IMF pre-

dictions,” he said. The central bank of Africa’s second-largest gold producer has said it is ready to act to tame price increases that are at a four-year high.

The International Monetary Fund said economic growth will ease this year as investors worry about the plunge in the cedi, power shortages and inflation. Inflation quickened to 14.8 percent in May and produce prices

rose 33.1 percent. Moody’s Investors Service cut Ghana’s credit rating to B2 last week from B1, citing a rising debt ratio, increasing financing costs and vulnerability to external shocks.

The 30 percent decline in the cur-rency against the dollar this year is boosting the price of everything from sugar to fuel.

The electricity and fuel shortages plaguing the country will ease once Ghana's gas processing plant begins operations later this year, Terkper said.

“The gas project is coming up and will give us reliable and cheaper power to boost productivity,” he said. ―Bloomberg •

12 REGIONAL NEWS

Ghana’s Terkper sees food inflation slowing as rains help crops

enjoy the CAIO ride!

Minister Terkper

Page 13: Hwange shareholders turn down share option scheme

13 DIARY OF EVENTS

The black arrow indicate level of load shedding across the country.

POWER GENERATION STATSGen Station

30 June 2014

Energy

(Megawatts)

Hwange 518 MW

Kariba 750 MW

Harare 38 MW

Munyati 32 MW

Bulawayo 20 MW

Imports -50 MW

Total 1360 MW

30 June - TA Holdings 79th Annual General Meeting of the ordinary members Venue: Miti Room, Sango Conference Centre, Cresta Lodge, Harare, Time: 1400 hours

30 June - ZIMRE 16th Annual General Meeting of members, Venue: NICOZDIAMOND Auditorium, 7th Floor Insurance Centre, 30 Samora Machel Avenue, Time: 1230 hours

THE BH24 DIARY

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BH24

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15 ZSE

ZSEMOvERS CHANGE TODAY PRICE USC SHAKERS CHANGE TODAY PRICE USC

FIDELITy LIFE 25.00% 10.00 EDGARS -5.38% 12.30

TA 14.28% 8.00 ECONET -4.42% 66.90

LAFARGE 1.61% 63.00 MEIKLES -0.54% 19.99

MASH 0.41% 2.42

IndicesINDEx PREvIOUS TODAY MOvE CHANGE

INDUSTRIAL 188.37 188.07 -1.29 POINTS -0.68%

MINING 61.71 61.71 +0.00 POINTS +0.00%

Stocks Exchange

Previous

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BH24

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17 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 2,370.33 +2.46 +0.10% 25June

Kenya 4,856.35 +10.75 +0.22% 26June

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 41,729.59 -257.96 -0.61% 26June

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 188.37 -1.22 -0.64% 26June

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 —"OppOrtuni-ties multiply as they are seized." - sun tzu

Globalshareholder.com

Page 18: Hwange shareholders turn down share option scheme

BH24

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China's top banks accounted for almost one-third of a record $920 billion of profits made by the world's top 1000 banks last year, showing their rise in power since the financial crisis, a sur-vey showed on Monday.

China's banks made $292 billion in aggregate pretax profit last year, or 32 percent of the industry's global earn-ings, according to The Banker mag-azine's annual rankings of the profits and capital strength of the world's big-gest 1,000 banks.

Last year's global profits were up 23 percent from the previous year to their highest ever level, led by profits of $55 billion at Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC). China Construc-tion Bank, Agriculture Bank of China and Bank of China filled the top four positions.

Banks in the United States made aggregate profits of $183 billion, or 20 percent of the global tally, led by Wells Fargo's earnings of $32 billion. Banks in the eurozone contributed just 3 percent to the global profit pool, down from 25 percent before the 2008 financial crisis,

the study showed. Italian banks lost $35 billion in aggregate last year, the worst performance by any country.

Banks in Japan made $64 billion of profit last year, or 7 percent of the global total, followed by banks in Can-ada, France and Australia ($39 billion in each country), Brazil ($26 billion) and Britain ($22 billion), The Banker said.

The magazine said ICBC kept its posi-tion as the world's strongest bank,

based on how much capital they hold - which reflects their ability to lend on a large scale and endure shocks.

China Construction Bank jumped to second from fifth in the rankings of strength and was followed by JPMor-gan, Bank of America and HSBC.

ICBC, which took the top position last year for the first time, was one of four Chinese banks in the latest top 10. Wells Fargo has this year jumped to

become the world's biggest bank by market value, after a surge in its share price on the back of sustained earnings growth. Its market value is $275 bil-lion, about $75 billion more than ICBC.

The Banker said African banks made the highest returns on capital last year of 24 percent - double the average in the rest of the world and six times the average return of 4 percent at Euro-pean lenders. ―Reuters •

19 INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Global bank profits hit $920 billion as Chinese lenders boom

Page 20: Hwange shareholders turn down share option scheme

An opportunity has arisen to enable HelpAge Zimbabwe to facilitate the implementation of the Rural WASH project, to improve water, sanitation and hygiene in Bubi District

1. Carry out an assessment of the WASH related health risks and needs within - General Bookkeeping- Cash book and petty cash management the targeted population and make recommendations for actions which are - Order and control office stationery consistent with agreed guidelines and protocols. - Liaise with project staff in procurement and maintenance of project stocks

2. In conjunction with the local authority and relevant government departments records make recommendations regarding HelpAge Zimbabwe response to unmet - Preparation of Donor Financial reports needs. - Bank reconciliations

3. Facilitate the implementation of SafPHHE in conjunction with the WASH - Filing all office documentsofficer and/or other stakeholders. - Financial and programmes reports, vouchers, program and office meetings

4. Involve affected populations in assessment of the situation and in planning minutes activities and the design of water and sanitation facilities. - Monitoring and securing adherence to organization and donor administrative

5. Identification and training of ward based SafPHHE facilitators and health club processes facilitators. - General Office Administration

6. Write regular reports adhering to HelpAge Zimbabwe and donor reporting

formats as required.

- Degree in Accounting or equivalency and/or accounting

- Computer knowledge 1. Degree in Environmental Science or other relevant qualification

- Knowledge in Pastel/accounting package 2. Knowledge of public health and one or more other relevant areas (e.g. health

- Skills to manage own work and meet deadlines promotion, community development, education, community water supply).

- Clean Class 4 driver's licence 3. The post holder should have at least two years` practical experience in

appropriate community health programmes. 4. Experience and understanding of community mobilisation in relation to water

Send CV and an application letter to [email protected] sanitation activities. Deadline for application 30th June, 2014.5. Sensitivity to the needs and priorities of disadvantaged populations.

6. Demonstrated experience of integrating gender and diversity issues into public health promotion.

7. Good oral and written reporting skills. 8. Good communication skills and ability to work well in a team. 9. Ability to work well under pressure and in response to changing needs. 10. Ability to travel at short notice and to work under difficult circumstances 11. Good written and spoken English and Ndebele are essential.

2. Vacancy: Administration Assistant

Station: Bubi District

Key Result Areas Job Description

Qualifications and Person Specification

SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES

To Apply

- 2 years` experience in office administration

1. Vacancy: Participatory Health and Hygiene Education Officer

TLM-DI

159207

-T26

Two vacancies have arisen in HelpAge Zimbabwe.

BH24

Page 21: Hwange shareholders turn down share option scheme

By Bhekinkosi Ngubeni

After what seemed like a lifetime, South Africa's Association of Mine workers and Construction Unions suc-cessfully negotiated a settlement with employers promising to triple entry level mining wages over the next 3 years. On paper, the happy ending should boost household spending but the reality suggests otherwise.

The award is the making of an imper-fect labour market. Salary shocks naturally imply a lower rate of return for investors prompting them to look elsewhere for profitable projects and South's Africa neighbours, including Zimbabwe, can take advantage of labour price inflexibility.

In the past, post the Second World War, a similar wage dispute scenario was observed in 1946. Capitalists (FDIs) scared by the possibility of high wages formed the basis of a massive out-flow of capital as investors looked for alternative outlays away from the then Union of South Africa.

Interestingly, this action directly ben-efited Rhodesia. From about 1947, funds earmarked for SA were rechan-neled to Zimbabwe. The upshot was a remarkable increase in the number of Zimbabweans in gainful employment. Workers doubled within 10 years from 377,000 in 1947 to 676,300 by 1956.

Fast forward 2014, a matching scenario is developing. Notwithstanding the tragic events in Marikana and South Africa's ill-famed inequality rates, a 200% increase in remuneration has a negative impact not only on the min-ing sector but right through SA's labour market wage dynamics. It sets a toxic precedent; workers across all sectors

will certainly be encouraged to make similar demands.

Key rating agencies S&P and Fitch sub-sequently downgraded South Africa's economic outlooks and credit worthi-ness following recent events. In the past, I made the same point on Zim-babwe's civil servant wage demands , highlighting the hazards of unsustaina-ble pay demands.

Enter Zimbabwe; there is a real pos-sibility of a future re-enactment of the above in regards to transferable events. Zimbabwe today is a different animal altogether but recent develop-ments coupled with increasing benefi-ciation costs in South Africa - Zimba-bwe's platinum reserves are closer to the surface, hence cheaper to mine - mean investors might be forced to revise portfolio allocations. The prevail-ing conditions could possibly alter credit flows towards Zimbabwe.

In light of this, the government should actively flash its natural resource cleav-age to the highest bidder. Indigenisa-tion has been effectively watered down

into a public-private partnership. Inves-tors will be allowed to recover their ini-tial capital investment, an appropriate return on investment and operational costs before the sharing of produc-tion outputs or profits de-risking, to a degree, the nation's risk profile.

I am cheer-leading and encouraging more wage action preventing the effi-cient allocation of capital in South Africa for the sole reason that Zimbabwe will be the ultimate beneficiary.

Of the various factors of production, labour is the largest. The wage differ-ential between the two countries within the mining sector is one that is to be fully exploited. Apart from wages, addi-tional extraction of wealth from the private sector would come in taxes and rents. A competitive labour mar-ket, one that is self-regulating and free from excessive labour union distortions will drastically improve current liquidity challenges. - NewZimbabwe

• Bhekinkosi Ngubeni is qual-ified economist, email him on [email protected]

21 ANALYSIS

SA's wage rise a sneaky win for Zimbabwe

Page 22: Hwange shareholders turn down share option scheme

Now Mobster is absolutely fas-cinated by the passive nature of Zimbabwean investors.

They are the quintessential 'yes-men'. Now Mobster is just com-ing from one company's annual general meeting and cannot quite bring together the timidity, nerv-ousness and depression of the top table as they outlined the "bright" prospects of the compa-ny's future.

Something was just not tallying there. If Mobster was a share-holder in this company she would

have surely asked the manage-ment if they themselves were convinced of what they were say-ing. Zimbabwe must be a great place to do business if you are in the upper echelons of manage-ment. What with all these fawn-ing affirmations of a million syc-ophants.

Now an AGM has several pur-poses, but it offers a great oppor-tunity for the shareholders to ask any questions regarding the direc-tion(s) the business will take in the future. So it's certainly amaz-ing how 'shareholders', let's use the word 'investors' are made to swallow drivel wholesale.

Then there was this other AGM where a clearly tired old man, as close to his death bed as imagi-nably possible without actually being on it, queried why the com-pany was not declaring a dividend having finally posted a profit after so many years. Having received the unimposing response that the company needed to re-capital-ise for the 'future', the old man

uneasily sat back in his chair, shaking with anger. The only thing the old man could have said for his point to hit home was: "whose future?" As all other resolution went unquestioned, the time soon came that the company's share-holders were now being called upon to approve the stalling of a dividend.

Mobster thought the old man would be among the brave few that would 'nay' the decision. But alas, his hand was the first one up to second the motion.

Aren't we just an extra-accommo-dating people? Ok, maybe Mob-ster doesn't understand this busi-

ness stuff, she should just stick to her philosophy.

Mobster used to wonder why Zim-babwean companies both in the public and private sectors seem to lack innovation and ideas.....not anymore.

(Mobster is a Zimbabwean phi-losopher 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 represent-ative of this platform. You can send your feedback to her on [email protected]) •

22 MOBSTER’S MONDAY MUSINGS

Zimbabwe's yes-men


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