| Zimbabwe
currency speculators burn fingers |
Namibia to import cereal |
Businessmen speculating over the
state of the Zimbabwean dollar
are facing huge losses as the
government continues to hold out
against demands to devalue the currency.
Those speculating have in recent
months taken advantage of low interest
rates to borrow and buy foreign currency
from the formal and informal market
in anticipation of a devaluation of the dollar. For some time now, Zimbabwe’s
tobacco
farmers and |
manufacturers have
been demanding a devaluation. But the
government has ruled out devaluation,
leaving speculators with large amounts
of foreign currency they may be forced
to sell back at a loss.
The Zimbabwe government devalued the dollar in April 2000 after tobacco
farmers threatened to withhold their
crop from the market. (PANA) |
Namibia will have to import 208,500
tonnes of cereal this year after
late rains cut crop production in
the country.
In its latest bulletin, the Namibia Early
Warning and Food Information System
(NEWFIS) forecasts domestic cereal
supply at a mere 90,700 tonnes this
year due to late rains in the commercial
cereal-producing area commonly known
as the “Maize Triangle” (Grootfontein,
Otavi and Tsumeb).
Namibia has a domestic cereal utili-zation
requirement of 299,200 tonnes.
Cereal-producing areas received above
normal rainfall in October, but the sub-sequent
three months were marked by
below normal rainfall.
In February, the rainfall pattern
changed for the better when the areas
recorded normal rain and the favourable
conditions continued up to the middle
of March.
NEWFIS said that as a result of the
late rainfall, planting of crops in December was below average and in several
places no planting took place at all. (The
Namibian) |
| Mozambique
acts against racism |
The Mozambican authorities have
taken measures to end racist practices
by foreign tourist operators
(mostly South African) in some of the
country’s resorts, Tourism Minister Fernando
Sumbana announced recently.
Speaking in the Mozambican parliament,
the Assembly of the Republic, in
response to a question from deputies of
the ruling Frelimo Party, Sumbana said
that his ministry had ordered the removal
of one particularly offensive sign that
a South African tourist operator had
placed on a Mozambican beach - which read, in |
English, “Local children not
allowed.”
His ministry was also demanding
that all hotels and other tourist accommodation must accept reservations from
Mozambicans — they cannot reserve
their facilities solely for visiting South
Africans.
Nor was it acceptable for signposts
and other tourist information to be written
only in English. Sumbana said that
the country’s official language, Portuguese,
must be used, with an English
translation where appropriate. (AIM) |
| South
Africa acquires more shares in ADB |
Mauritian firm to upgrade Tanzania sugar plant |
South Africa will increase its
shareholding
in the African Development
Bank from 0.88 percent to 4.1
percent of the bank’s total shares.
The board of directors of the Abidjan-
based bank approved requests by
South Africa and other shareholders to
increase their holdings in the ADB. Following
the decision, South Africa will
become the fifth largest shareholder in
the ADB after Nigeria, U.S., Japan and
Egypt. (PANA) |
A
Mauritian company and a consortium
led by Barclays Bank
have agreed to finance the rehabilitation
of a sugarcane plantation and
its factory in northern Tanzania.
Under a financing agreement, signed
recently in Port Louis between Consolidated
Investment Enterprise Ltd (CIEL)
and the bank consortium, the Tanganyika
Planting Company, located in the foot-hills
of Mount Kilamanjaro, will be rehabilitated at a cost of US$15 million. CIEL
officials said the sugar company was |
bought in September 2000 by the
Sucrerie
des Mascarareignes Ltd whose main
shareholders are Mauritian sugar company
Deep River Beau Champ (60 per-cent)
and Quartier Francais (40 percent)
from nearby Reunion.
Production at Tanganyika Planting
Company, one of the main sugar plants
in Tanzania, would be around 40,000
tonnes this year, but the target is to pro-duce
72,000 tonnes a year as from 2006.
It was nationalized by Tanzania in 1979
and privatised in 2000. (PANA) |
| Regional media awards launched |
Annual media awards starting this
year have been introduced by
SADC for journalists excelling in
reporting regional issues.
The competition is coordinated by
the SADC Culture, Information and Sport
Sector and is open to journalists practising
within the region.
Themes of the entries relate to such
SADC activities as regional integration
efforts. “Entries for the awards should have
been published in a |
recognized media
agency between June of the previous
year and the end of February of the year
of the awards,” says the Zambian
Ministry of Information and
Broadcasting Services, who have
already started running adverts for the
awards in their country.
Prizes at stake are: US$5,000 for the
first prize; US$3,000 for second; and US$2,000 for the third, and a certificate. |
Member states have to set up national
adjudication committees, to receive
entries from their respective countries
and verify eligibility.
The committees will then send submitted
works to the regional adjudication
committee for final selection. Prizes
will be awarded at a ceremony to take
place during the SADC Summit in Malawi
on 6-14 August 2001. |
