#President Emmerson Mnangagwa

[cajnewszim]

China, Zimbabwe repel renewed onslaught by the West

China, Zimbabwe repel renewed onslaught by the West

by SIMBARASHE RUSHWAYA HARARE, (CAJ News) – CHINA has defended its solid relations with Zimbabwe amid alleged smear campaigns against the ties and sanctions on the African country, both by Western nations. The Sino-Zimbabwe relations date back to the liberation struggle against colonialism by Britain. Zimbabwe attained independence in 1980. China has made massive investments in the Southern…

[zvaigzdelasas]

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa signed a law that prohibits citizens from criticizing the government, a month before the southern African nation holds elections.

Mnangagwa’s assent to the so-called Patriotic Bill was announced in a government notice published in the capital, Harare, on Friday. The law lists as an offense “willfully injuring the sovereignty and national interests of Zimbabwe” by citizens calling for military intervention and sanctions against the country. Zimbabwe will hold presidential elections on Aug. 23.

[The Herald is Zimbabwe State Media]

According to Clause 2 (3) of the new Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act: “Any citizen or permanent resident of Zimbabwe who, within or outside Zimbabwe, intentionally partakes in any meeting, whose object or one of whose objects the accused knows, or has reasonable grounds for believing involves the consideration of or the planning for the implementation or enlargement of sanctions or a trade boycott against Zimbabwe (whether those sanctions or that boycott is untargeted or targets any individual or official, or class of individuals or officials), but whose effects indiscriminately affect the people of Zimbabwe as a whole, or any substantial section thereof, shall be guilty of wilfully damaging the sovereignty and national interest of Zimbabwe . . . ”[...]

The clause provides penalties that include a fine not exceeding level twelve or imprisonment for a period not exceeding 10 years, or both. Other proposed penalties include termination of the citizenship of the convicted person if that person is a citizen by registration or a dual citizen, prohibition of being a registered voter for a period ranging between five and 15 years and prohibition of standing for a public office for a prescribed period.

14 Jul 23

[lboogie1906]

Zimbabwe has one of the richest histories of any nation in southern Africa, and first became a major trade route in the 11th century. During its late iron age, the Gokomere, the Bantu people who would become the ethnic Shona, built the vast city-state of Great Zimbabwe. Built on a wealth of natural resources, Great Zimbabwe flourished financially and culturally from the 14th to 15th centuries, becoming a mercantile powerhouse that controlled the gold, ivory, and copper trades with the Swahili coast and various Arab and Indian states. From there, the powerful Kingdom of Zimbabwe was established, followed by the Rozvi, Mutapa, and Mthwakazi empires. The Shona and Ndebele peoples, among others, had shaped Zimbabwe into a prosperous and strategically important region when Europeans began to colonize the area in the 1800s.

The British South Africa Company of Cecil Rhodes first demarcated the present territory in 1890 when they conquered Mashonaland and in 1893 Matabeleland after fierce resistance by the Matabele people known as the First Matabele War. Company rule ended in 1923 with the establishment of Southern Rhodesia as a self-governing British colony. In 1965, the conservative white minority government unilaterally declared independence as Rhodesia. The state endured international isolation and a 15-year guerrilla war with Black nationalist forces; this culminated in a peace agreement that established universal enfranchisement and de jure sovereignty as Zimbabwe on April 18, 1980. Zimbabwe joined the Commonwealth of Nations, from which it was suspended in 2002 for breaches of international law by its government under Robert Mugabe, and from which it withdrew in December 2003.

Robert Mugabe became Prime Minister of Zimbabwe in 1980 when his ZANU–PF party won the elections following the end of white minority rule; he was the President of Zimbabwe from 1987 until his resignation in 2017. Emmerson Mnangagwa has since served as Zimbabwe’s president.

Zimbabwe is a member of the UN, the Southern African Development Community, the African Union, and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[stele3]

[kneedeepincynade]

China has become a secure port for Africa in spite of the west effort to sabotage and impoverish the continent and will continue to be so for centuries to come

The post is machine translated

Translation is at the bottom

The collective is on telegram

😘 合作共赢 | PROMUOVERE L'AMICIZIA TRA CINA E ZIMBABWE, PER UNA COOPERAZIONE A MUTUO VANTAGGIO 🥰

🇨🇳 Ad agosto, ad Harare, Capitale della Repubblica dello Zimbabwe, il Colonnello Yonglong Zhu - Addetto alla Difesa dell'Ambasciata Cinese, dichiarò che l'Esercito Popolare di Liberazione era pronto a rafforzare la Cooperazione l'Esercito Nazionale dello Zimbabwe:

💬 «La tradizionale Amicizia tra l'EPL e le Forze di Difesa dello Zimbabwe è stata promossa dai padri fondatori dei due Paesi negli anni '60, ed è sempre stata amata e promossa dalle due parti» 💕

❤️ Negli ultimi anni, aveva dichiarato il Compagno Yonglong Zhu, il Rapporto Fraterno tra Cina e Zimbabwe si è ulteriormente rafforzato con scambi amichevoli, raggiungendo una cooperazione fiorente in tutti i campi 💕

❤️ Il 03/09, su invito del Governo dello Zimbabwe, il Compagno Zhou Qiang - Vice-Presidente del Comitato Nazionale della Conferenza Politica Consultiva del Popolo Cinese, si è recato ad Harare, per partecipare alla Cerimonia di insediamento del Presidente Emmerson Mnangagwa 🇿🇼

😘 Durante l'Incontro, il Compagno Zhou Qiang ha trasmesso le calorose congratulazioni del Presidente Xi Jinping al Presidente Mnangagwa, dichiarando che la Cina è pronta a lavorare con il Governo dello Zimbabwe per promuovere un ulteriore sviluppo del Partenariato Strategico 🤝

🇿🇼 Il Presidente Mnangagwa ha affermato che lo Zimbabwe è disposto a lavorare con la Cina per approfondire la Cooperazione in settori-chiave, come le infrastrutture, l'agricoltura, l'estrazione mineraria e l'istruzione, nonchè per spingere le Relazioni Bilaterali ad un livello più alto 💕

🔍 Approfondimenti sul Tema Cina - Africa:

💕 Presidente del Burundi: «La Cina promuovere Cooperazione e Prosperità Comune» 🤝

🐲 Le menzogne occidentali sulla falsa «Trappola del Debito» 😡

💕 Cina e Sud Africa: Amici, Compagni e Fratelli 💕

🌸 Iscriviti 👉 @collettivoshaoshan 😘

😘 合作共赢 | PROMOTING FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN CHINA AND ZIMBABWE, FOR MUTUAL BENEFIT COOPERATION 🥰

🇨🇳 In August, in Harare, Capital of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Colonel Yonglong Zhu - Defense Attaché of the Chinese Embassy, ​​declared that the People's Liberation Army was ready to strengthen the Cooperation of the National Army of Zimbabwe:

💬 «The traditional Friendship between the PLA and the Zimbabwe Defense Forces was promoted by the founding fathers of the two countries in the 1960s, and has always been cherished and promoted by the two sides» 💕

❤️ In recent years, Comrade Yonglong Zhu declared, the Fraternal Relationship between China and Zimbabwe has further strengthened with friendly exchanges, achieving flourishing cooperation in all fields 💕

❤️ On 03/09, at the invitation of the Government of Zimbabwe, Comrade Zhou Qiang - Vice-President of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, went to Harare, to participate in the inauguration ceremony of President Emmerson Mnangagwa 🇿🇼

😘 During the Meeting, Comrade Zhou Qiang conveyed President Xi Jinping's warm congratulations to President Mnangagwa, declaring that China is ready to work with the Government of Zimbabwe to promote further development of the Strategic Partnership 🤝

🇿🇼 President Mnangagwa said that Zimbabwe is willing to work with China to deepen cooperation in key sectors, such as infrastructure, agriculture, mining and education, as well as to push bilateral relations to improve a higher level 💕

🔍 Insights on the theme of China - Africa:

💕 President of Burundi: «China promotes cooperation and common prosperity» 🤝

🐲 Western lies about the false «Debt Trap» 😡

💕 China and South Africa: Friends, Comrades and Brothers 💕

🌸 Subscribe 👉 @collectivoshaoshan 😘

[beardedmrbean]

HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Monday hailed recent elections as a sign of the country’s “mature democracy” and a victory over Western adversaries, as he took an oath of office following a vote whose credibility was questioned by both Western and African observers.

Mnangagwa, 80, won disputed polls held on Aug. 26, garnering 52.6% of the vote ahead of main opposition leader Nelson Chamisa’s 44%. His ZANU-PF party, which has ruled the tiny nation of 15 million people since independence from white minority rule in 1980, also retained a parliamentary majority.

“There are no losers but victory for the people of Zimbabwe against the neo-colonial tendencies of our country’s detractors and those who believe that might is right. … We have shamed our detractors,” he said before jubilant supporters, many of them bussed to pack a 60,000-seater Chinese-built stadium in the capital, Harare.

“Counter revolutionaries and their proxies will never prevail in Zimbabwe,” said Mnangagwa, who routinely accuses the opposition of being puppets of the U.S and other Western nations that placed sanctions on the country two decades ago over alleged human rights violations.

The elections are the second since the ouster of longtime autocratic ruler Robert Mugabe in a 2017 coup. Mnangagwa, a close Mugabe ally for years, became president following the coup. He undertook to thaw icy relations with the West after taking power.

He even applied for Zimbabwe to rejoin the Commonwealth, a bloc of mainly former British colonies that Zimbabwe left in 2003 after it became apparent that the organization would extend a suspension imposed a year earlier following elections marred by allegations of violence and rigging.

But criticism over his rule by the West has seen Mnangagwa strengthening ties with traditional Mugabe allies such as China and Russia. He hosted Iran’s president Ebrahim Raisi in July, months after a visit by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, and talked up coalitions against U.S sanctions.

Mnangagwa also won disputed presidential elections against Chamisa in 2018. The country’s constitutional court rejected Chamisa’s challenge of the election result.

The 45-year-old opposition leader did not approach the court this time despite describing the poll as a “blatant and gigantic fraud” and calling for fresh elections supervised by the country’s neighbors.

Observers from regional blocs the Southern African Development Community and African Union as well as the Carter Center and the European Union said that although voting day was largely peaceful, an atmosphere of intimidation had characterized the runup to the polls.

Mnangagwa did not directly address Chamisa’s concerns or those of the observers during Monday’s speech, but he described the elections as “peaceful, free, fair, transparent and credible” and criticized Western sanctions as “illegal” and “heinous.”

Credible elections were viewed by many as a key step toward ending Zimbabwe’s international isolation and setting the stage for the recovery of a once prosperous economy in a country with rich agricultural land and vast mineral resources.

Zimbabwe has Africa’s largest deposits of the highly sought-after battery mineral lithium that has attracted interest from China.

Mnangagwa in his inauguration speech promised to use the country’s minerals that include gold and diamonds to drive economic growth. He touted developments in roads and dam construction and a rebound in the agricultural sector as evidence of his record.

A carnival atmosphere engulfed the stadium, with thousands dressed in the ruling party’s green, yellow and red colors dancing to live music. Helicopters and planes from the country’s air force flew in formation and neatly dressed security forces slow marched, among other displays that included a 21-gun salute. The presidents of Mozambique, South Africa and Congo attended the event.

But the situation was muted in much of the capital, Harare, an opposition stronghold where street vendors teemed the streets. About two thirds of the country’s working age population survives on informal trade such as street hawking after the collapse of many formal industries over the past two decades, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Mnangagwa promised a new era of freedom, democracy and economic prosperity after replacing Mugabe, yet many say they don’t see much change.

“There is nothing to celebrate, it’s going to be another five years of suffering and repression,” said Onismo Mweda, pushing a cart from where he sold fruits and vegetables in the capital’s central business district.

[pasparal]

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko poses with Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa at the State House in Harare on January 31, 2023 Photographer: Tsvangiray Mukwazhi

[newsbites]

[Lukashenko’s Press Secretary, Natalya] Eismont said the visit to Harare was an in-road into Southern Africa.

“There are also things that we are interested in in Southern Africa. I can give you an example: when speaking to journalists at a press conference, our president mentioned Mozambique. This is the country we are already entering, with the help of Zimbabwe.

“This is something that is already happening. Food security issues are also very important there. We can participate in that country’s projects. It is already a very concrete discussion. Our focus is on cooperation with the entire Southern Africa.

[thefrnews]

Uebert Angel, the man of God accused of money laundering

Uebert Angel, President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s envoy and ambassador at large to Europe and the Americas, is portrayed as a central figure among powerful gold smugglers from Zimbabwe to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in Al Jazeera’s ‘Gold Mafia’ documentary.

Born Uebert Mudzanire, the 44-year-old British-Zimbabwean appears to be close to Mnangagwa’s wife Auxillia and his niece Henrietta Rushwaya who is also the president of the Zimbabwe Miners Federation.

‘Opportunist’

Angel boasts of being close to Mnangagwa and his family to the extent of even calling him on a private and secure line.

Using his diplomatic passport, Angel says he can smuggle any amount of US dollars cash in and out of Zimbabwe in his bag which is protected and cannot be searched.

With the powers vested in him by Mnangagwa, Angel can sign deals with individuals and companies abroad on behalf of the Zimbabwean government without anyone from the cabinet or executive objecting.

“I am the second-largest diplomat in the country. Do you know I can carry him in a bag, and nobody is allowed to search? Right now, I can have a bag like this with $1.2bn. And put a red tape written diplomat. That’s it,” said Angel while speaking to undercover journalists in the documentary.

“Mr. Angel is one of the most cunning, greedy and controversial businessmen and televangelists of our time,” says Tapuwa O’bren Nhachi, a Zimbabwean social scientist.

“Remember his departure in Zimbabwe was mired in controversy so has been his lifestyle and prophetic industry,” he adds.

Mystery and controversy

His appointment as ambassador at large also raised eyebrows and his actions in the documentary summed up who he is, says Nhachi, who has worked with civil society groups in the extractive industry before.

“I can also safely say he is an opportunist whose end is to make himself wealthier than he is,” he says.

Angel asks businesspeople to pay thousands of dollars for his services of just facilitating a meeting with the President, who is referred to as the “king” in the documentary.

This confirms allegations that government officials and businesspeople close to Mnangagwa secure meetings for investors with the President for huge sums of money.

“We have done maybe for two hundred million or three hundred million [dollars]. But we have not done for one billion [dollars] per see,” said Angel while speaking to undercover journalists in the documentary on how he could help them smuggle cash into Zimbabwe.

There was a public outcry in Zimbabwe and abroad following the appointment of Angel as a Presidential envoy and Ambassador at large in March 2021.

‘Thieves and smugglers’ Angel’s whole life has been shrouded in mystery and controversies.

To many, the appointment was not a surprise given that Mnangagwa associates himself with controversial people like Ewan MacMillan and Kenyan-born businessman Kamlesh Pattni – both men feature widely in the documentary – who have opaque reputations.

Gold is smuggled from Zimbabwe with the help of Rushwaya, officials of Fidelity Printers and Refiners, the sole buyers of gold owned by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and immigration officers at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport, according to Al Jazeera‘s investigation.

The dirty money is cleaned through a system called Hawala – an informal way of moving money outside the formal banking channel without detection which will see the money declared as clean in both Harare and Dubai.

In Al Jazeera‘s documentary, Pattni’s couriers are accused of flying gold to Dubai and bring back US dollars to Zimbabwe.

In 2021, CNRG released a report titled ‘Zimbabwe’s Disappearing Gold: The Case of Mazowe and Penhalonga’ which exposed how politicians linked to President Mnangagwa are smuggling the country’s natural resources outside the country.

Illicit financial flows in the artisanal mining sector in Zimbabwe are responsible for leakages of an estimated 3trn of gold, valued at approximately $157m every month, according to the CNRG report.

Zimbabwe trades in $2bn worth of gold per annum.

Small-scale miners produce about 50% of the southern African nation’s gold but Mnangagwa’s cash-strapped government does not have enough money to buy it, thus the smugglers, with the help of Angel, buy it for the bank, per Al Jazeera‘s investigation.

In 2020, Rushwaya was arrested and charged with attempting to smuggle 6kg of gold from Zimbabwe to Dubai. In 2021, her former driver was exposed when he tried to smuggle to Dubai gold worth more than $670,000.

‘Thug masquerading as a man of God’ Angel was born and raised in a Christian family in Zimbabwe.

His journey to preaching goes back to 1996 when he established a small group that conducted its affairs at his home, which later grew into a church known as the Spirit Embassy in 2007. The self-styled prophet is not apologetic about his sermons, based on how his congregants can become rich.

He has authored several books on how to make money and he has a theology institution that charges for its services and he takes offerings, hosts conventions and sells different faith products online.

Today, based in the UK, Angel presents himself as a powerful ‘man of God’ who owns satellite-broadcasting channels, Miracle TV, GoodNews TV and Wow TV, which air his church services.

He once clashed with Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor Gideon Gono who accused him of money laundering after he performed what’s known as ‘miracle money’, whereby he produces money and other valuables like diamonds and gold.

Angel lives a lavish life with luxury cars, private jets and expensive homes. He was accused of money laundering and fraud by a former member of his church in 2014.

His other scandals include sexual misconduct allegations from one of his female congregants.

Zimbabwean elite society is a complex web of high political, economic – both legal and illegal – interactions and mutual dependencies, says a professor of World Politics at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), Stephen Chan.

“The foundation of multiple Christian churches that do not exactly preach Jesus’s message of poverty gives all of this a fig leaf of riches and power being a donation from God. Angel is simply one example of this syndrome of interaction where politics, economy and worship have all become corrupt,” he says. “Jesus did say that it is easier for a camel to enter a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Rich angels too, no doubt.”

“Angel represents a breed of thugs that hide behind the church whilst making money through illegal means,” says Nhachi.

“If you look at the top 10 richest people in Africa, it is dominated by people in the church business. So you wonder whether such wealth is from congregants or there is an illegal side hustle as was shown by Angel and Pattini,” he adds.

‘Angel is untouchable’ In April, the government froze the financial assets and bank accounts of individuals implicated in the documentary including Angel, Pattni and Simon Rudland to pave the way for investigations.

By May, the government had reversed its move saying investigations had stopped as there was no wrongdoing.

Parliament Speaker Jacob Mudenda also blocked legislators from conducting their own independent investigations. After pressure from civil society groups in the UK, authorities in London opened an investigation.

Many well-connected people in Zimbabwe were implicated in the documentary and are close to Mnangagwa, Chan says. “To punish one without punishing all the others would be selective. To punish all would be to cause huge tensions in Zimbabwean high society,” he says.

“Angel does not represent the best of Zimbabwe, nor imbue a sense of trust,” says Piers Pigou, a Southern Africa Programme head at the Institute for Security Studies in South Africa.

“He and his sidekicks reinforce perceptions that criminal enterprise is thriving under [Mnangagwa’s administration],” he adds. That has been the case with Zimbabwe’s ruling party Zanu PF that those with serious criminal activities are not brought to book, Nhachi says.

“I feel Angel knows too much. His appointment was not beneficial to the country but to certain individuals,” he says, adding: “The fact that Angel is based in the UK makes him more dangerous if they try to bring him down.”

Speaking at a press conference in Harare in April, Angel’s lawyer Lovemore Madhuku denied the allegations.

“My client wants it to be put right across on record that he has never ever done anything on behalf of the President, no deal on behalf of the President, no activities on behalf of the President,” he said.

“My client wants to make it clear that he has no relationship whatsoever with members of the President’s family. He only has a relationship with the President. He actually has never met the First Lady.”

Madhuku added that Angel had never been involved in any criminal activities.

“More particularly, he would like it to be stated that he has not been involved in any form of gold dealing or gold smuggling nor has he ever engaged in money laundering. The insinuations in the Al Jazeera documentary are wholly baseless.”

Madhuku said after realising that the investors in the documentary were not real, Angel decided to play along.

“The actions in the documentary are consistent with a classified national intelligence operation which was meant to see how far they would go. […] In the documentary, there was no call which was made. There was no call to the First Lady for example. There was no call to Henrietta Rushwaya.

[goldbroker]

Uebert Angel – Man of Gold or Man of God with double identity?

In different meetings with undercover reporters who identified themselves as Chinese criminals seeking to wash dirty money through the Zimbabwean economy, waxing lyrical, self-styled prophet and Zimbabwe government official, Uebert Angel who was caught on hidden cameras in the Al Jazeera investigation named ‘Gold Mafia’ assured them, they were in safe hands because unofficially, he is the number two man in Zimbabwe and has the full blessings of the president to sign agreements on behalf of Zimbabwe.

When they told him they wanted to launder over a billion dollars, Angel told them he has laundered several millions before, but never done billions, however, he could launder their billions, with his diplomatic red tape and the money would be delivered directly to his home and nobody would touch it.

He also assured them that they would have no problem at all freely buying and selling gold from Zimbabwe in the money laundering schemes.

The 40-something-year-old flamboyant British-Zimbabwean has always had controversies around him. Born Uebert Mudzanire, he lived in the UK before moving back to Harare to establish the headquarters of his church, Spirit Embassy.

Double ID cards

When in  March 2021 he was appointed Presidential Envoy and Ambassador-at-Large by President Emmerson Mnangagwa, issues came up in the news about his double identity.

News sources in Zimbabwe dug out his two national ID cards. The first ID card has the registration number 83-099297X83, and was reported to have been issued at the Zaka registry offices in Masvingo in 1996. The second card with the registration number 29-195587H83, was said to have been issued in Gweru in the Midlands a year later.

The date of birth on both cards is the same, September 6, 1978, but the card numbers are different.

The report indicated that he used the 1997 ID to secure a Zimbabwean passport with the number ZE 306043.

However, the news reports pointed out that his British passport, number 464932598 which was issued on November 6, 2009, had a different date of birth from the one on his Zimbabwe national ID cards. The British passport has March 4, 1972 as his date of birth.

The reports further said on March 9, 2021, he appeared before a Harare lawyer, Tichavona Mutebere, and made an application to change his name from Uebert Mudzanire to Uebert Angel Snr claiming he was born on September 6, 1978, a birth date inconsistent with his British one but consistent with his two Zimbabwean national IDs.

Interestingly, Angel’s biological brother, Samson Mudzanire, with national ID number 83-066977R83, was born on April 14, 1972. The reports are wondering how his mother, Rose Mudzanire, gave birth to two sons in 1972 within 40 days of each other.

Fake degree

In 2008 the US government published a list containing thousands of names of people who have obtained fake degrees, from Bachelor to PhD degrees from a diploma mill in Spokane, Washington State.

The United States Department of Justice through Operation Gold Seal published the list of fake degrees bought from the phony Saint Regis University, which was eventually shut down.

On the list is the name Uebert Mudzanire and beside it is listed BBA (Bachelor of Business Administration), but Angel has denied buying a fake degree.

On that list were hundreds of people working in the military, government and education sector of the US, and almost 10,000 people who spent $7.3 million buying phony and counterfeit high school and college degrees from the Spokane-based diploma mill.

According to the website spokesman.com that published the list, it included prominent American citizens working for sensitive government agencies. The list it reported included NASA employee Timothy Francis Gorman, who bought an electrical engineering degree using his e-mail account at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to correspond with the diploma mill, and US Department of Health oncology expert Frank S. Govern, who purchased a doctorate in health care administration.

National Security Agency employees David W. Barden and Barry A. Hester both bought degrees. Hester, who was a computer Web trainer and designer for the NSA with top-secret clearance, paid $1,187 for an information systems and technology degree, the list shows.

Eric Gregory Cole, who was a contract employee for the Central Intelligence Agency, paid $3,801 for a degree in information systems management. His top-secret clearance at the CIA was revoked late last 2007, months after his name was forwarded to the Office of Inspector General, according to one source, the report said.

Eight people who set up and operated the diploma mill, including ringleader Dixie Ellen Randock, were indicted and convicted of federal crimes. Randock, a 58-year-old high school dropout, was sentenced to three years in prison, according to the report.

The World Bank overview of Zimbabwe

In its overview of Zimbabwe last updated on March 30, 2023, the World Bank notes that Zimbabwe has strong foundations for accelerating future economic growth and improving living standards. 

The Bank admits that the economy has excellent human capital, comparable to that of upper-middle-income economies in Sub-Saharan Africa, although some skill shortages are emerging in some sectors. It also notes that, Zimbabwe possesses abundant mineral and natural resources that, if well managed, can support the country’s development objectives.

The Bank however states that Zimbabwe’s economic development continues to be hampered by price and exchange rate instability, misallocation of productive resources, high informality, low investment, and limited structural transformation. Economic growth has been volatile over the past decade. High inflation, multiple exchange rates, and unsustainable debt levels have increased the cost of production, reduced incentives for productivity-enhancing investment, and encouraged informality.

The Bank adds that high unsustainable debt and arrears to international financial institutions (IFIs) limit Zimbabwe’s growth potential. 

It indicates that real GDP growth is estimated to have slowed to 3.4% in 2022 from 8.5% in 2021 on the back of worsening agriculture conditions and macroeconomic instability. Due to low rainfall, agricultural output contracted by 14%, after growing at double digits in 2021. Triple-digit inflation constrained private sector demand, while fiscal austerity limited growth of government demand and investment. Among other things the Bank points out that mineral exporters benefited from high global prices and, together with tourism, contributed the most to overall economic growth.

“Inflation returned to triple digits, albeit declining since August 2022, fueled by broad money expansion and a surge in global prices. The war in Ukraine, through high food and energy prices, has exacerbated domestic inflationary pressures that emanated from loose monetary policy and quasi-fiscal operations. Annual inflation returned to triple digits in May 2022 and reached 244% in December 2022. However, monetary tightening, including sharp hikes in interest rates, and fiscal policy measures brought inflation down to 230% in January 2023. Despite still high inflation, the Central Bank reduced the interest rate from 200% per annum to 150% in February 2023,” the Bank said.

The Gold Mafia

The Gold Mafia undercover investigation by the AL Jazeera Investigative Unit, shows how deeply the ruling elite in Zimbabwe, working with money launderers, are destroying state institutions, and personally benefitting from the country’s natural resources.

So far two episodes of the four-part investigation have been released, two more to be released in the coming weeks.

[southafricareporttimes]

Zimbabwe: Uebert Angel, the man of God accused of money laundering

Uebert Angel, President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s envoy and ambassador at large to Europe and the Americas, is portrayed as a central figure among powerful gold smugglers from Zimbabwe to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in Al Jazeera’s ‘Gold Mafia’ documentary.

Born Uebert Mudzanire, the 44-year-old British-Zimbabwean appears to be close to Mnangagwa’s wife Auxillia and his niece Henrietta Rushwaya who is also the president of the Zimbabwe Miners Federation.

‘Opportunist’

Angel boasts of being close to Mnangagwa and his family to the extent of even calling him on a private and secure line.

Using his diplomatic passport, Angel says he can smuggle any amount of US dollars cash in and out of Zimbabwe in his bag which is protected and cannot be searched.

With the powers vested in him by Mnangagwa, Angel can sign deals with individuals and companies abroad on behalf of the Zimbabwean government without anyone from the cabinet or executive objecting.

“I am the second-largest diplomat in the country. Do you know I can carry him in a bag, and nobody is allowed to search? Right now, I can have a bag like this with $1.2bn. And put a red tape written diplomat. That’s it,” said Angel while speaking to undercover journalists in the documentary.

“Mr. Angel is one of the most cunning, greedy and controversial businessmen and televangelists of our time,” says Tapuwa O’bren Nhachi, a Zimbabwean social scientist.

“Remember his departure in Zimbabwe was mired in controversy so has been his lifestyle and prophetic industry,” he adds.

Mystery and controversy

His appointment as ambassador at large also raised eyebrows and his actions in the documentary summed up who he is, says Nhachi, who has worked with civil society groups in the extractive industry before.

Angel asks businesspeople to pay thousands of dollars for his services of just facilitating a meeting with the President, who is referred to as the “king” in the documentary.

This confirms allegations that government officials and businesspeople close to Mnangagwa secure meetings for investors with the President for huge sums of money.

“We have done maybe for two hundred million or three hundred million [dollars]. But we have not done for one billion [dollars] per see,” said Angel while speaking to undercover journalists in the documentary on how he could help them smuggle cash into Zimbabwe.

There was a public outcry in Zimbabwe and abroad following the appointment of Angel as a Presidential envoy and Ambassador at large in March 2021.

‘Thieves and smugglers’

Angel’s whole life has been shrouded in mystery and controversies.

To many, the appointment was not a surprise given that Mnangagwa associates himself with controversial people like Ewan MacMillan and Kenyan-born businessman Kamlesh Pattni – both men feature widely in the documentary – who have opaque reputations.

Gold is smuggled from Zimbabwe with the help of Rushwaya, officials of Fidelity Printers and Refiners, the sole buyers of gold owned by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and immigration officers at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport, according to Al Jazeera‘s investigation.

The dirty money is cleaned through a system called Hawala – an informal way of moving money outside the formal banking channel without detection which will see the money declared as clean in both Harare and Dubai.

In Al Jazeera‘s documentary, Pattni’s couriers are accused of flying gold to Dubai and bring back US dollars to Zimbabwe.

In 2021, CNRG released a report titled ‘Zimbabwe’s Disappearing Gold: The Case of Mazowe and Penhalonga’ which exposed how politicians linked to President Mnangagwa are smuggling the country’s natural resources outside the country.

Illicit financial flows in the artisanal mining sector in Zimbabwe are responsible for leakages of an estimated 3trn of gold, valued at approximately $157m every month, according to the CNRG report.

Zimbabwe trades in $2bn worth of gold per annum.

Small-scale miners produce about 50% of the southern African nation’s gold but Mnangagwa’s cash-strapped government does not have enough money to buy it, thus the smugglers, with the help of Angel, buy it for the bank, per Al Jazeera‘s investigation.

In 2020, Rushwaya was arrested and charged with attempting to smuggle 6kg of gold from Zimbabwe to Dubai. In 2021, her former driver was exposed when he tried to smuggle to Dubai gold worth more than $670,000.

‘Thug masquerading as a man of God’

Angel was born and raised in a Christian family in Zimbabwe.

His journey to preaching goes back to 1996 when he established a small group that conducted its affairs at his home, which later grew into a church known as the Spirit Embassy in 2007. The self-styled prophet is not apologetic about his sermons, based on how his congregants can become rich.

He has authored several books on how to make money and he has a theology institution that charges for its services and he takes offerings, hosts conventions and sells different faith products online.

Today, based in the UK, Angel presents himself as a powerful ‘man of God’ who owns satellite-broadcasting channels, Miracle TV, GoodNews TV and Wow TV, which air his church services.

He once clashed with Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor Gideon Gono who accused him of money laundering after he performed what’s known as ‘miracle money’, whereby he produces money and other valuables like diamonds and gold.

Angel lives a lavish life with luxury cars, private jets and expensive homes. He was accused of money laundering and fraud by a former member of his church in 2014.

His other scandals include sexual misconduct allegations from one of his female congregants.

Zimbabwean elite society is a complex web of high political, economic – both legal and illegal – interactions and mutual dependencies, says a professor of World Politics at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), Stephen Chan.

“The foundation of multiple Christian churches that do not exactly preach Jesus’s message of poverty gives all of this a fig leaf of riches and power being a donation from God. Angel is simply one example of this syndrome of interaction where politics, economy and worship have all become corrupt,” he says. “Jesus did say that it is easier for a camel to enter a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Rich angels too, no doubt.”

“Angel represents a breed of thugs that hide behind the church whilst making money through illegal means,” says Nhachi.

“If you look at the top 10 richest people in Africa, it is dominated by people in the church business. So you wonder whether such wealth is from congregants or there is an illegal side hustle as was shown by Angel and Pattini,” he adds.

‘Angel is untouchable’

In April, the government froze the financial assets and bank accounts of individuals implicated in the documentary including Angel, Pattni and Simon Rudland to pave the way for investigations.

By May, the government had reversed its move saying investigations had stopped as there was no wrongdoing.

Parliament Speaker Jacob Mudenda also blocked legislators from conducting their own independent investigations. After pressure from civil society groups in the UK, authorities in London opened an investigation.

Many well-connected people in Zimbabwe were implicated in the documentary and are close to Mnangagwa, Chan says. “To punish one without punishing all the others would be selective. To punish all would be to cause huge tensions in Zimbabwean high society,” he says.

“Angel does not represent the best of Zimbabwe, nor imbue a sense of trust,” says Piers Pigou, a Southern Africa Programme head at the Institute for Security Studies in South Africa.

“He and his sidekicks reinforce perceptions that criminal enterprise is thriving under [Mnangagwa’s administration],” he adds. That has been the case with Zimbabwe’s ruling party Zanu PF that those with serious criminal activities are not brought to book, Nhachi says.

“I feel Angel knows too much. His appointment was not beneficial to the country but to certain individuals,” he says, adding: “The fact that Angel is based in the UK makes him more dangerous if they try to bring him down.”

Speaking at a press conference in Harare in April, Angel’s lawyer Lovemore Madhuku denied the allegations.

“My client wants it to be put right across on record that he has never ever done anything on behalf of the President, no deal on behalf of the President, no activities on behalf of the President,” he said.

“My client wants to make it clear that he has no relationship whatsoever with members of the President’s family. He only has a relationship with the President. He actually has never met the First Lady.”

Madhuku added that Angel had never been involved in any criminal activities.

“More particularly, he would like it to be stated that he has not been involved in any form of gold dealing or gold smuggling nor has he ever engaged in money laundering. The insinuations in the Al Jazeera documentary are wholly baseless.”

Madhuku said after realising that the investors in the documentary were not real, Angel decided to play along.

“The actions in the documentary are consistent with a classified national intelligence operation which was meant to see how far they would go. […] In the documentary, there was no call which was made. There was no call to the First Lady for example. There was no call to Henrietta Rushwaya. These were decoys that were put in an intelligence operation. Even the statements that you hear, they are not real.”

[zvaigzdelasas]

Zimbabwe on Tuesday summoned the United States ambassador to Harare to protest against Washington’s alleged interference in the country’s forthcoming elections. Elaine French, the US acting ambassador to Zimbabwe, was called by the Foreign Affairs ministry after her embassy made several Twitter posts encouraging Zimbabweans to “register to vote and make sure your voice is heard.”[...]

In a statement, the ministry said Ms Chikava told Ms French that President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government was concerned about the “election related-social media posts, bordering on activism and meddling in Zimbabwe’s internal affairs.” The government said the embassy had deviated from conventional diplomatic norms and values enshrined in the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961), the formative treaty on the conduct, privileges and limits of ambassadors abroad.[...]

President Mnangagwa’s spokesperson George Charamba had earlier tweeted that Zimbabwe might bar American observers during the general election expected in August.[...]

Zimbabwe and the US have had frosty relations that go back two decades after Washington imposed sanctions on the regime of the late Robert Mugabe for alleged human-rights violations and electoral fraud. President Joe Biden’s administration has maintained the embargo, as it accuses Mr Mugabe’s successor of failing to implement economic and political reforms that he promised after the 2017 military coup. On the other hand, Zimbabwe says it is being punished for implementing a land reform programme that displaced thousands of white commercial farmers at the turn of the millennium.

Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu-PF party regularly accuses Western countries of supporting local opposition parties to push for a regime change.

31 May 23

[reviewnews24]

African Union taps Zimbabwe preacher Uebert Angel despite gold smuggling claims

The African Union’s choice of prosperity gospel preacher Uebert Angel to help mediate conflicts across the continent creates its own set of tensions amid swirling allegations of ill-gotten wealth.

The self-styled British-Zimbabwean “prophet” has been appointed the Pan-African Parliament’s ambassador for Interfaith Dialogue and Humanitarian Affairs, a top post aimed at uniting communities riven by xenophobia, ethnic clashes and religious intolerance. The head of the parliament, an advisory body to the AU, is defending the choice of the charismatic church leader who brands himself as the “godfather of the modern-day prophetic movement” despite reports of alleged illegal activity.

The Zimbabwe-born, UK-based Angel was a key figure in an Al Jazeera investigation into gold smuggling in southern Africa earlier this year. He is accused of using his connections with top officials, including President Emmerson Mnangagwa, to help launder dirty cash in exchange for smuggling gold out of the sanctioned country.

Wasn’t me

But speaking at a press conference in Harare in April, Angel’s lawyer Lovemore Madhuku denied the allegations. “My client wants it to be put right across on record that he has never ever done anything on behalf of the President, no deal on behalf of the President, no activities on behalf of the President,” he said.

“My client wants to make it clear that he has no relationship whatsoever with members of the President’s family. He only has a relationship with the President. He actually has never met the First Lady.” Madhuku added that Angel had never been involved in any criminal activities.

“More particularly, he would like it to be stated that he has not been involved in any form of gold dealing or gold smuggling nor has he ever engaged in money laundering. The insinuations in the Al Jazeera documentary are wholly baseless.”

Mnangagwa tapped Angel to be his presidential envoy and Ambassador-at-Large to Europe and the Americas in 2021.

The parliament’s president, fellow Zimbabwean Fortune Charumbira, also dismissed the gold smuggling allegations as hearsay that doesn’t negate Angel’s purported good works in his home country.

Angel was evaluated “on his accomplishments and his ability to contribute to the organ’s goals rather than solely focusing on allegations made by outside sources with limited knowledge of Africa’s plight,” Charumbira tells The Africa Report.

[thetimes-sa]

Zimbabwe: Uebert Angel, the man of God accused of money laundering

Uebert Angel, President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s envoy and ambassador at large to Europe and the Americas, is portrayed as a central figure among powerful gold smugglers from Zimbabwe to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in Al Jazeera’s ‘Gold Mafia’ documentary.

Born Uebert Mudzanire, the 44-year-old British-Zimbabwean appears to be close to Mnangagwa’s wife Auxillia and his niece Henrietta Rushwaya who is also the president of the Zimbabwe Miners Federation.

‘Opportunist’

Angel boasts of being close to Mnangagwa and his family to the extent of even calling him on a private and secure line.

Using his diplomatic passport, Angel says he can smuggle any amount of US dollars cash in and out of Zimbabwe in his bag which is protected and cannot be searched.

With the powers vested in him by Mnangagwa, Angel can sign deals with individuals and companies abroad on behalf of the Zimbabwean government without anyone from the cabinet or executive objecting.

“I am the second-largest diplomat in the country. Do you know I can carry him in a bag, and nobody is allowed to search? Right now, I can have a bag like this with $1.2bn. And put a red tape written diplomat. That’s it,” said Angel while speaking to undercover journalists in the documentary.

“Mr. Angel is one of the most cunning, greedy and controversial businessmen and televangelists of our time,” says Tapuwa O’bren Nhachi, a Zimbabwean social scientist.

“Remember his departure in Zimbabwe was mired in controversy so has been his lifestyle and prophetic industry,” he adds.

Mystery and controversy

His appointment as ambassador at large also raised eyebrows and his actions in the documentary summed up who he is, says Nhachi, who has worked with civil society groups in the extractive industry before.

“I can also safely say he is an opportunist whose end is to make himself wealthier than he is,” he says.

Angel asks businesspeople to pay thousands of dollars for his services of just facilitating a meeting with the President, who is referred to as the “king” in the documentary.

This confirms allegations that government officials and businesspeople close to Mnangagwa secure meetings for investors with the President for huge sums of money.

“We have done maybe for two hundred million or three hundred million [dollars]. But we have not done for one billion [dollars] per see,” said Angel while speaking to undercover journalists in the documentary on how he could help them smuggle cash into Zimbabwe.

There was a public outcry in Zimbabwe and abroad following the appointment of Angel as a Presidential envoy and Ambassador at large in March 2021.

‘Thieves and smugglers’

Angel’s whole life has been shrouded in mystery and controversies.

To many, the appointment was not a surprise given that Mnangagwa associates himself with controversial people like Ewan MacMillan and Kenyan-born businessman Kamlesh Pattni – both men feature widely in the documentary – who have opaque reputations.

Gold is smuggled from Zimbabwe with the help of Rushwaya, officials of Fidelity Printers and Refiners, the sole buyers of gold owned by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and immigration officers at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport, according to Al Jazeera‘s investigation.

The dirty money is cleaned through a system called Hawala – an informal way of moving money outside the formal banking channel without detection which will see the money declared as clean in both Harare and Dubai.

In Al Jazeera‘s documentary, Pattni’s couriers are accused of flying gold to Dubai and bring back US dollars to Zimbabwe.

In 2021, CNRG released a report titled ‘Zimbabwe’s Disappearing Gold: The Case of Mazowe and Penhalonga’ which exposed how politicians linked to President Mnangagwa are smuggling the country’s natural resources outside the country.

Illicit financial flows in the artisanal mining sector in Zimbabwe are responsible for leakages of an estimated 3trn of gold, valued at approximately $157m every month, according to the CNRG report.

Zimbabwe trades in $2bn worth of gold per annum.

Small-scale miners produce about 50% of the southern African nation’s gold but Mnangagwa’s cash-strapped government does not have enough money to buy it, thus the smugglers, with the help of Angel, buy it for the bank, per Al Jazeera‘s investigation.

In 2020, Rushwaya was arrested and charged with attempting to smuggle 6kg of gold from Zimbabwe to Dubai. In 2021, her former driver was exposed when he tried to smuggle to Dubai gold worth more than $670,000.

‘Thug masquerading as a man of God’

Angel was born and raised in a Christian family in Zimbabwe.

His journey to preaching goes back to 1996 when he established a small group that conducted its affairs at his home, which later grew into a church known as the Spirit Embassy in 2007. The self-styled prophet is not apologetic about his sermons, based on how his congregants can become rich.

He has authored several books on how to make money and he has a theology institution that charges for its services and he takes offerings, hosts conventions and sells different faith products online.

Today, based in the UK, Angel presents himself as a powerful ‘man of God’ who owns satellite-broadcasting channels, Miracle TV, GoodNews TV and Wow TV, which air his church services.

He once clashed with Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor Gideon Gono who accused him of money laundering after he performed what’s known as ‘miracle money’, whereby he produces money and other valuables like diamonds and gold.

Angel lives a lavish life with luxury cars, private jets and expensive homes. He was accused of money laundering and fraud by a former member of his church in 2014.

His other scandals include sexual misconduct allegations from one of his female congregants.

Zimbabwean elite society is a complex web of high political, economic – both legal and illegal – interactions and mutual dependencies, says a professor of World Politics at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), Stephen Chan.

“The foundation of multiple Christian churches that do not exactly preach Jesus’s message of poverty gives all of this a fig leaf of riches and power being a donation from God. Angel is simply one example of this syndrome of interaction where politics, economy and worship have all become corrupt,” he says. “Jesus did say that it is easier for a camel to enter a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Rich angels too, no doubt.”

“Angel represents a breed of thugs that hide behind the church whilst making money through illegal means,” says Nhachi.

“If you look at the top 10 richest people in Africa, it is dominated by people in the church business. So you wonder whether such wealth is from congregants or there is an illegal side hustle as was shown by Angel and Pattini,” he adds.

‘Angel is untouchable’

In April, the government froze the financial assets and bank accounts of individuals implicated in the documentary including Angel, Pattni and Simon Rudland to pave the way for investigations.

By May, the government had reversed its move saying investigations had stopped as there was no wrongdoing.

Parliament Speaker Jacob Mudenda also blocked legislators from conducting their own independent investigations. After pressure from civil society groups in the UK, authorities in London opened an investigation.

Many well-connected people in Zimbabwe were implicated in the documentary and are close to Mnangagwa, Chan says. “To punish one without punishing all the others would be selective. To punish all would be to cause huge tensions in Zimbabwean high society,” he says.

“Angel does not represent the best of Zimbabwe, nor imbue a sense of trust,” says Piers Pigou, a Southern Africa Programme head at the Institute for Security Studies in South Africa.

“He and his sidekicks reinforce perceptions that criminal enterprise is thriving under [Mnangagwa’s administration],” he adds. That has been the case with Zimbabwe’s ruling party Zanu PF that those with serious criminal activities are not brought to book, Nhachi says.

“I feel Angel knows too much. His appointment was not beneficial to the country but to certain individuals,” he says, adding: “The fact that Angel is based in the UK makes him more dangerous if they try to bring him down.”

Speaking at a press conference in Harare in April, Angel’s lawyer Lovemore Madhuku denied the allegations.

“My client wants it to be put right across on record that he has never ever done anything on behalf of the President, no deal on behalf of the President, no activities on behalf of the President,” he said.

Madhuku added that Angel had never been involved in any criminal activities.

“More particularly, he would like it to be stated that he has not been involved in any form of gold dealing or gold smuggling nor has he ever engaged in money laundering. The insinuations in the Al Jazeera documentary are wholly baseless.”

Madhuku said after realising that the investors in the documentary were not real, Angel decided to play along.

“The actions in the documentary are consistent with a classified national intelligence operation which was meant to see how far they would go. […] In the documentary, there was no call which was made. There was no call to the First Lady for example. There was no call to Henrietta Rushwaya. These were decoys that were put in an intelligence operation. Even the statements that you hear, they are not real.”