RBZ to reward whistle blowers
THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has introduced a five percent reward to whistle blowers who report individuals and businesses involved in cash hoarding, selling or engaging in illicit dealings.
In a statement, RBZ Governor Dr John Mangudya said information provided to the bank would be kept in confidence between the whistle blower and the bank.
“To promote and enforce compliance with best practice and anti-money laundering rules and regulations, the bank is pleased to advise that it has established dedicated hotline numbers for the public to report individuals and firms or traders that may be involved in cash hoarding, selling or abusing or externalising of cash, or any related misdemeanour,” he said. “A reward equivalent to five percent of the reported and recovered cash amount will be offered by the bank.”
Since April last year, the country has been faced with cash shortages and as such long winding queues have become common at banks especially during month-ends.
The central bank has blamed the cash crisis to externalisation among other illicit dealings. In light of the cash shortages, the monetary authority has encouraged the transacting public to use plastic money and electronic payment systems such as Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) and mobile money transfer platforms.
Dr Mangudya said the central bank was pleased to note that the economy was recovering on the backdrop of a good agricultural outturn and the turnaround of the mining sector.
He said foreign exchange spin-offs from the above critical sectors have started driving the revival of the industrial sector, particularly those sub-sectors benefiting from the provisions of Statutory Instrument 64 of 2016.
SI64/2016 was introduced by the Government to control imports thereby promoting consumption of locally produced products. INDUSTRY lobby body, the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI), has partnered local academic institutions to do a research on the state of Midlands industries.
The findings of the research and the recommendations, which are being done by Gweru and Kwekwe Polytechnic Colleges, will be presented to the office of Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
The research has been prompted by company closures in the province which used to boast many heavy industries mainly linked to the mining sector. The capacity utilisation of the few remaining companies has also plummeted.
CZI Midlands interim chamber president Mr Allan Manhanga said: “We have enlisted the services of Gweru Technical College as well as Kwekwe Polytechnic College to assist in the survey on the state of industry in the province. The field work has already started and after that they will compile a report, which will be presented to the (CZI Midlands) chamber.
“We will review the report and then present the report to the office of Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa. At our next meeting, which should be the third week of May we will have an update on the progress they would have made”.
Figures by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce shows that the province faced 13 major company closures since 2009, which saw more than 4 000 workers losing their jobs. Some of the closed companies are Ziscosteel, Zimglass, Mike Appel and Lancashire Steel.
Captains of Industry in the province have blamed the closure of companies to high power tariffs, liquidity challenges and the uncertainty in the local business environment.
There are, however, some positive developments witnessed recently such as the take over of Anchor Yeast by Lesaffre Group, the coming in of Africa Chrome Fields, which has invested in ferrochrome production and Portnex International, which is leasing three furnaces from Zimasco.
Advance Africa is setting up a plastic bottle manufacturing plant in Kwekwe and an industrial park while Lifetouch wants to venture into cement manufacturing in Redcliff.
Big companies in the province such as Bata Shoe Company, Sino Zimbabwe Cement Company, Midlands Metals, Dendairy and Steelmakers have recently raised capacity utilisation to an average of 75 percent.