WEEKLY NEWS ROUND-UP

Monday

POLITICAL parties that are trying to resurrect their sinking fortunes through the church disguised negotiation forums should wait for the 2023 elections as President Mnangagwa is presently focused on developmental issues, his spokesperson Mr George Charamba has said.

The church-initiated dialogue also comes at a time when the country’s opposition parties are in a state of disarray due to infighting, something that Mr Charamba said exposes the initiative as a scheme to give a kiss of life to the MDC

Alliance led by Mr Nelson Chamisa.

Tuesday

Outgoing Germany Ambassador to Zimbabwe Dr Thorsten Hutter has hailed the Second Republic under President Mnangagwa over its commitment to re-engage and learn from past mistakes.

This comes as Zimbabwe’s re-engagement efforts with the rest of the world, on equal footing, continue to bear fruits as countries and companies that were reluctant to do business with Zimbabwe are now stepping in with multi-million investments.

Wednesday

US$ and Government pensioners their US$ 30 tax-free Covid-19 relief allowances, and the money has been transferred to banks.

Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube said the arrangements for bank accounts to be created and shops to be able to receive payments were now in place.

Thursday

The Zimbabwe National Road Administration (Zinara) is working on a supplementary budget for road authorities following the recent increase in tariffs, board chairman Engineer Michael Madanha has said.

Tolling tariffs have been pushed up to $45 from $10 for light motor vehicles and the improvement of road infrastructure is now being prioritised. The Beitbridge-Harare-Chirundu Highway will get the biggest chunk of the funds to enable its rehabilitation.

Friday

Under the use-it-or-lose-it policy, 213 mining concessions will be repossessed in the first phase while 21 000 hectares of mining land have been reclaimed following failure by owners to pay inspection fees.

This is part of efforts by Government to ramp up measures to achieve a $12 billion mining industry by 2023.