By Tawanda Musarurwa

HARARE - Zimbabwe Plat-inum Holdings has spent $12,2 mil l ion on the on the refurbishment of the Selous Metallurgical Complex base metal refinery project as the miner moves to comply with the Government's beneficia-tion policy.

The project is expected to be completed at a total cost of $100 mil l ion.

"A total of $12,2 mil l ion was spent on the refurbishment of the Selous Metallurgical Complex base metal refinery project and $9,9 mil l ion was committed as at 31 Decem-ber 2015," said Zimplats in its second quarter to Decem-

News Update as @ 1530 hours, Monday 01 February 2016Feedback: bh24admin@zimpapers.co.zwEmail: bh24feedback@zimpapers.co.zw

Zimplats commits $12,2 million to refinery project

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ber 31 report.

Beneficiation is one of the four main clusters under ZimAsset, with more than $3 bil l ion required to complete a fully f ledged strategic and crit ical precious metals refin-ery for the country.

Zimplats currently sends platinum concentrate to South Africa for processing, a development economic experts argue has prejudiced the country of potential rev-enue and jobs.

The country exports raw

platinum despite the fact that it has the second big-gest platinum reserves after South Africa, which process the precious metal produced in Zimbabwe.

Meanwhile, for Q2 Zimplats sl ipped to a $1,8 mil l ion net loss an after tax profit of $6 mil l ion in the previous quar-ter.

Management attributed the dip in performance to weak international mineral prices.

The Impala Platinum subsid-iary's ore production and 4E

production during the period were one percent up respec-tively, revenue declined 11 percent to $96.3 mil l ion.

“Revenue decreased by 11 percent from the previous quarter, mainly due to the drop in metal prices com-pounded by a two percent decrease in 4E sales vol-ume,” said Zimplats.

“Operating costs were well managed and only marginally increased in comparison to the previous quarter.”

And the fal l in international

commodity prices compelled the miner to put on hold some of its capital expansion projects.

For Q2, Zimplats paid to gov-ernment royalties amounting to $2,3 mil l ion down from $2,7 mil l ion in the previous quarter.

The platinum producer said re-development of its biggest underground operations at Bimha Mine, which collapsed in late 2014, was “progress-ing well” and expected to reach full production as planned in Apri l.●

BH243

HARARE – The National Social Security Authority (NSSA) said on Friday it has appointed an expert to scru-tinise all of its future invest-ments after it lost mill ions of pensioners funds in botched deals.

The move is part of a raft of restructuring efforts being carried out by the new board, chaired by chartered accountant Mr Richard Vela, appointed by Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Priscah Mupfumira, last year.

Mr Vela said in an update the board had appointed Zimba-bwean, Mr Fungai Ruwende as the pension fund’s invest-ment expert with effect from December last year.

“All decisions of the Invest-ment Committee that do not carry the Investment Expert’s favorable opinion will be explained in writing,”

Vela said.

Mr Ruwende is a former mem-ber of the Public Investment Corporation of South Africa’s Investment Committee for Africa, which manages funds in excess of $100 bill ion and a former partner at emerging markets equity firm Actis, which manages funds of over $7 bill ion.

He holds an MBA from Har-

vard Business School and is also an electrical engineer-ing graduate from the Univer-sity of Zimbabwe.

Mr Vela said the restructur-ing exercise, which has seen five top managers being retrenched was targeted at improving corporate govern-ance, reducing operational costs, improving transpar-ency, service delivery and

accountability at NSSA.

“The board remains commit-ted to its promise to take back the Authority to its members. This means putting members first through man-aging funds responsibly and making decisions in the best interests of our members, stakeholders and the nation at large,” he said.

The pension fund, he said, had enlisted the services of an international firm to audit its assets and confirm its balance sheet and was also engaging firms in which it is invested to ensure they per-formed and delivered value for pensioners.

NSSA is one of the cash rich government institutions and has seen some of its previous managers being dismissed for abusing pension funds for personal benefit and failing to re-invest the funds for its growth and benefit of mem-bers. - New Ziana●

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NSSA appoints investments expert, engages international firm to audit assets

BH245

By Munesu Nyakudya

HARARE - Local FMCG player Probrands group says it will this year expand into long-life milk production.

In an interview last week, Probrands Co-founder and managing director Mr Calum Philp said the multifaceted agribusiness company was targeting to enter the long-life milk production market.

We already have got a big focus into manufacturing and this year we are entering into the long life milk category,” Mr Philp said.

Probrands currently manufac-tures a number of products including, value rice, pre-mium rice and the superior rice range (basmati, jasmine, par boiled, 100% thai rice and brown rice), milk pow-der, sweetened milk powder and tea and coffee creamer, candles and maize meal (both refined and roller).

The company also produces pasta (spaghetti and mac-aroni), sugar beans,snacks - popcorn & korn kurlz, kap-enta, salt, 100% fruit juices and cultured milk (masi)

Mr Philip said that their com-pany now rank in the top 10 suppliers to most of the retail

chains.

“Our target is to achieve $30 million in sales this year."

Probrands was established in 2007 as Prostores, down packing basic commodities for NGOs and private organ-isations wishing to provide foods for their employees

during the hyperinflationary period, pre-2009.

In 2009, it was renamed Pro-brands and started operating on a commercial scale. Pro-brands covers procurement, down-packing and manu-facturing, with a capacity of over 2 500MT.●

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Probands ventures into long-life milk production

BH24

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By Funny Hudzerema

HARARE –The European Union (EU) has remained a significant consumer of Zim-babwean peas with Nether-lands has purchased $1, 8 million worth of the produce between 2010 to 2014.

This is according to the lat-est Zimbabwe Farmers Union Weekly Market Guide.

“The European Union is the biggest market for peas with Netherlands being the lead importer of locally grown peas.

“Netherlands has imported $1, 8 million in value of peas from Zimbabwe between 2010 and 2014,” said ZFU.

The $1,8 million worth of locally produced peas exported to the EU - specifi-cally Netherlands - compares

with the $1,8 million worth of Zimbabwean peas exported to the rest of the world during the same period.

Although the EU typically has some rather 'stringent' requirements for fruits and vegetables coming into its

market, Zimbabwe seems to have made some strides in tapping into that market.

The EU indicates that fruits and vegetables which are intended to be sold fresh to the consumer may only be marketed if they are sound, fair and of marketable quality and if the country of origin is indicated.

To tap into the EU peas mar-ket, suppliers need to adhere to these classes of marketing standards; quality require-ments, maturity require-ments, tolerance and mark-ing.●

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Netherlands tops as Zim peas importer

BH24

MANYAME RURAL DISTRICT COUNCIL

TENDER INVITATION

Tenders are invited from registered companies for the tenders listed below:

TENDER NO. DESCRIPTION TENDER COST

HRD 1/2016 Service of computers, printers, laptops and photocopiers $50

HRD 02/2016 Tender for delivery, Management of Wide Area Network, Internet services, Website and $50

Manyame Domain

FIN01/2016 Insurance $50

RW01/2016 Vehicle Service tender $50

RW02/2016 Earthmoving Equipment service tender $50

Tenders must be enclosed in sealed envelopes and clearly endorsed on the outside with the advertised tender number. Tender documents

can be obtained at Manyame RDC Beatrice offices upon payment of a non-refundable tender fee of $50.

Manyame Rural District Council does not bind itself to accept the lowest or any tender and reserves the right to accept the whole or part of any

tender.

Tenders should be accompanied by the following:

Ÿ Company Profile

Ÿ Certified Copy of Current VAT Clearance Certificate and Certified VAT Registration certificate

Ÿ Physical and Postal address

Ÿ Proof of registration with State Procurement Board

Ÿ Certified copy of Certificate of Incorporation

Ÿ CR14

thYour submission should be hand delivered to the following address by 0900hours on 29 FEBRUARY, 2016.

The Chief Executive Officer Manyame Rural District Council

Manyame Rural District Council Beatrice Head Office

P. O. Box 99 54km along Harare/Masvingo Road

Beatrice

OR

TARI-D

I353390-D2

9

HARARE -The local bourse opened the week lower today with the mainstream industrial losing 0.30 to 102.74.

Contributing to the down-turn in the market was cement producer PPC, which lost a signifi-cant $0,0625 to close at $0,8975, while Simbisa

eased $0,0085 to $0,1500.

Conglomerate Innscor shed $0,0070 to trade at $0,2000 and TSL was $0,0025 weaker at $0,1350.

On the upside, NMBZ added $0,0024 to close at $0,0384 and bever-ages giant Delta jumped

$0,0011 to settle at $0,5300.

The mining index was flat at 19.53 as Bindura, Fal-gold, Hwange and RioZim all maintained previous price levels at $0,0100, $0,0050, $0,0300 and $0,1040, respectively

- BH24 Reporter ●

ZsE10

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BH2411

MovERs CHANGE TodAy PRiCE UsC sHAKERs CHANGE TodAy PRiCE UsC

NMBZ 6.66 3.84 PPC -6.51 89.75

DELTA 0.20 53.00 SIMBISA -5.36 15.00

INNSCOR -3.38 20.00

TSL -1.81 13.50

iNdEx PREvioUs TodAy MovE CHANGE

INDUSTRIAL 103.04 102.74 -0.30 points -0.29%

MINING 19.53 19.53 +0.00 POINTS +0.00%

12 ZsE TABlEs

ZsE

iNdiCEs

stock Exchange

BH2413

14 diARy oF EvENTs

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

PowER GENERATioN sTATs

Gen Station

01 February 2016

Energy

(Megawatts)

Hwange 428 MW

Kariba 285 MW

Harare 30 MW

Munyati 27 MW

Bulawayo 23 MW

Imports 0 - 300 MW

Total 1259 Mw

—10 February 2016 - Nampak Zimbabwe Annual General Meeting: venue 68 Birmingham Road, southerton, Harare: Time 12:00

—18 February 2016 - 70th Annual General Meeting of the members of CAFCA ; Place: Boardroom at the company’s registered office at 54 lytton Road, workington, Harare; Time: 12:00 hours

—23 February 2015 - 38th Annual General Meeting of the members of Powerspeed Electrical limited; Place: Powerspeed Board-room, Gate 1, Powerspeed Complex, Corner Cripps Road and Kelvin Road North, Graniteside, Harare; Time: 1100 hours

25 February 2016 - Extraordinary General Meeting (“EGM”) of the shareholders of Radar Holdings limited; Place: Tanganyika House, 6th Floor Boardroom, Harare; Time: 0900 hours...

25 February 2016 - The 49th Annual General Meeting of Mashonaland Holdings limited; Place: The Boardroom, 19th Floor, ZB life Towers, 77 Jason Moyo Avenue, Harare; Time: 1200 hours...

THE BH24 diARy

JoHANNEsBURG - South Afri-ca’s rand firmed on Friday to trade below the psychological level of R16 to the dollar for the first time since January 7, as South Africa posted its biggest trade surplus in four years.

The rand gained 18c to R15.9928 per dollar by 5pm, breaching a barrier that traders say could help the currency firm further.

“It’s a combination of improved global risk sentiment, and the currency also received an addi-tional boost from the 50 basis point interest rate increase yesterday,” said ETM Analytics economist Jana van Deventer.

The rand’s rally came in the wake of the SA Reserve Bank pushing up interest rates on Thursday in a bid to stem infla-tion after the rand fell by nearly 14 percent since December.

A shock decision by the Bank of Japan to cut interest rates sparked a rally in emerging markets.

December saw the biggest trade surplus as factories cut back on imports of machinery and equip-ment during the year-end holi-

day period. The trade surplus widened to R8.2 billion from a revised R0.7bn in November, the SA Revenue Service said. The consensus expectation was for a surplus of R4.9bn.

“December usually delivers a surplus largely driven by the seasonal slump in imports,” Car-men Nel, an economist at Rand Merchant Bank, said. “Some of it relates to the slowdown in domestic demand, which should curtail imports, and also the lag impact of the lower oil price.”

Imports plunged by 13 percent to R80.6bn in the month, led by a 16 percent drop in machin-ery purchases and 35 percent decline in equipment compo-nents. Exports fell by 5.1 per-cent to R88.8bn, mainly due to a 28 percent plunge in vehicle shipments.

short-lived

The improvement in the trade figures may be short-lived though. Reserve Bank gover-nor Lesetja Kganyago said on Thursday that the deficit on the current account, the broad-est measure of trade in goods and services, might widen

as commodity prices fall and food imports climb because of drought.

The deficit widened to 4.1 per-cent of gross domestic product in the three months to Septem-ber. “The financing of the defi-cit will also be more challenging in an environment of persistent capital outflows from emerging markets,” Kganyago said. The monthly trade figures are often volatile, reflecting the timing of shipments of commodities such as oil and diamonds.

Kamilla Kaplan, an economist at Investec, said: “That exports grew 3.8 percent year on year despite the marked deprecia-tion in the rand exchange high-lights that deteriorating global demand dynamics served to limit the potential growth of exports.”

Credit demand rose at the fast-est pace since 2009 in Decem-ber, expanding to 10.3 percent from a year ago and compared with 9.4 percent in Novem-ber. While there was marginal improvement in mortgage lend-ing, borrowing by businesses contracted, reflecting weak growth. The Reserve Bank’s

latest hike may further put a brake on any recovery in credit demand.

Nedbank economists Dennis Dykes and Busisiwe Radebe said the stronger private sector credit extension numbers were unlikely to be sustained as inter-est rates were on an upward swing and economic activity was still expected to be subdued.

“In such a low growth environ-ment, corporates are unlikely to borrow and consumers will find it difficult to increase their bor-rowing.”

The value of outstanding household mortgage balances increased to R864.6bn in the 12-month to the end of Decem-ber, recording growth of 4.4 percent year on year, compared with growth of 2.3 percent at the end of 2014, said Jacques du Toit, a property analyst at Absa Home Loans.

“The higher lending rates will contribute to further financial strain for consumers, with the view that households’ credit bal-ances, including mortgages, are to remain in single digits this year.” - iol/Bloomberg●

REGioNAl NEws 15

surprise trade surplus buoys the rand

Gazprom PJSC, the Russian natural gas producer preparing to meet investors in New York and London this week, seeks to increase supplies to Europe to record levels.

The Moscow-based exporter, which provides about 30 per-cent of the European Union’s gas needs, plans to boost flows to Turkey and the EU bar the Baltic States by 2 percent this year to a record, with further growth through 2018, accord-ing to its non-public budget obtained by Bloomberg. That is more ambitious than public statements by the company to maintain supply.

Russia, which relies on pipe-line gas sales outside the for-mer Soviet Union for more than 10 percent of its total exports, has increased its dominance in Europe as crude’s 30 percent decline over the past year made Gazprom’s oil-linked prices more attractive. The company will Monday hold an annual Investor Day in New York for the first time since 2014 after last year seeking to woo bond and shareholders in Asia.

The gas exports to most of

the EU and Turkey are seen at 162.6 billion cubic meters (5.7 trillion cubic feet) this year, up from 159.4 billion in 2015 and above a record 161.5 billion in 2013, the budget shows. Sup-plies are seen at 166.1 billion cubic meters in 2017, with 166.3 billion in 2018. Most of the increase is seen in flows

through the Nord Stream gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea to Germany.

Gazprom’s press service declined to comment. The com-pany has scheduled an investor meeting in London for Feb. 4

Gazprom budgeted its gas output at 456.7 billion cubic

meters this year, up from about 420 billion in 2015, a record-low level for the company. Its dividend payments set in the budget match last year’s level of 7.2 rubles a share and are in line with public statements made by Gazprom executives over the past months- Bloomb-erg●

iNTERNATioNAl NEws 16

Gazprom meets investors as it prepares record exports to Europe

The influx of migrants has exposed the anti-demo-cratic bias and the admin-istrative uselessness of the EU

By Janet daley

History offers up another of its ironies. The Soviet Union collapsed when great masses of people simply walked away from it. You may recall the blissful faces of those crowds who strolled peacefully into West Berlin, and then pro-ceeded to tear down the wall which had imprisoned them for two generations. Now the European Union is about to collapse because great masses of people are walking into it: very little ecstasy this time, just lawless despera-tion. But by sheer numbers, their progression is as inex-orable and politically dest-abilising as that miraculous exodus which brought down the great Communist empire without a shot being fired.

If the principle of cooperative benevolence, which Europe

designed in response to the terrible nationalist crimes of the last century, cannot deal with a humanitarian disaster at its doors, what on earth is it for?

Forget the pantomime "nego-tiations" over the past week-end over an emergency brake - which can’t be used without prior universal agreement (rather like a fire alarm that can’t be activated without an international committee being convened), or the tor-tuous new wording of empty promises. That isn’t even a sideshow. It is deliberately deceptive nonsense.

The only plausible explanation

for this absurd displacement activity is that the Govern-ment now believes we must stay in a failing enterprise so that we can help to man-age its closure. There may be something in this. Perhaps if the British are there to help shut down the shop, it will be done more sensibly and fairly. But as a political strategy this is dangerous and profoundly cynical. The country is about to be presented with a know-ingly dishonest choice: it is not a question of leaving or remaining in a “reformed” EU.

The logic of the whole project – the Union as it has been, and stil l is, conceived – is unsustainable. Its contradic-

tions and the consequences of its failure to live up to the grand unifying ideals of its founders, have now become so glaring that no one is even attempting to gloss them over. It is, of course, the great mass walk-in – the migration crisis – which has made this so inescapably clear. The EU was clearly incapable of cop-ing in any rational and organ-ised way with this phenome-non, even when its staggering growth had become entirely predictable.

If the principle of cooperative benevolence, which Europe designed in response to the terrible nationalist crimes of the last century, cannot deal with a humanitarian disaster at its doors, what on earth is it for? The EU’s calamitous inability to agree on anything has actually exacerbated the problem: the failure to estab-lish regularised, systematic ways of coping with the influx has created total chaos in which a new form of interna-tional crime (people smug-

17 analysis17 ANAlysis

Why the migration fiasco spells doom for Project Europe

18 analysis18 ANAlysis

gling) has become entrenched in a way that will be almost impossible to root out.

The unilaterla suspension of established rules on asylum by Germany, arguably the EU’s most politically powerful member, produced an ava-lanche of incomers with which poorer member states could not cope, thus creating a furi-ous backlash against both the migrants and the EU authori-ties. In the vacuum left by EU institutions, the voluntary, charitable efforts to give aid and sustenance were outside of any properly administered control, so they inadvert-ently added to the problem by encouraging more migration.

Now there is an understand-able demand for unaccom-panied children to be given asylum and generous provi-sion. But if it becomes known that unaccompanied children will be offered unconditional entry, or that they are the ticket to families gaining entry down the line, then there will be ever-growing

numbers of children exposed to the terrifying danger of a journey alone. Then there is the plan to quarantine Greece and turn it into a hermeti-cally-sealed refugee camp, because it was unable to pro-cess the thousands who man-aged to land on its scattered islands. Poor Greece. You might have thought it had suffered enough in the euro crisis.

If the EU had been united in its intentions, it might not have turned an emergency into a tragedy.

The migrant problem should not have been insoluble. The numbers involved may have been daunting but, in truth, they were not unmanageable as a proportion of the whole EU population. Had the situa-tion been addressed properly from the outset, and rigorous mechanisms put in place for assessment and re-settle-ment, this might have been a success story for Europe: the humane and fair-minded han-dling of a painful dilemma.

But it wasn’t – and the rea-sons for that go right to the heart of what will cause the EU to collapse. Each member state came to this with its own economic limitations, its own historical memory and its own political culture. When it came to confronting the sight of those endless marching columns of strangers, every country dealt with the expe-rience in its own way – not as one small part of an Ever Closer Union, but as Hungar-ians or Poles only recently liberated from the Warsaw Pact, or as Danes or Swedes who took pride in their liberal traditions but were now feel-ing uncharacteristically alien-ated.

In the emergency created by migrant pressure, the EU simply became visibly what it should always have been understood to be: a con-federation of different peo-ples whose varying experi-ences and attitudes cannot be homogenised. The gov-ernments of those differ-

ing nations have taken it in turns to be berated by EU officialdom: Hungary for its impromptu barbed-wire bor-ders, the UK for taking too few refugees from Calais, and Denmark for its plan to con-fisticate valuables from ref-ugess who will be receiving state support. Each one of those governments is, in fact, doing what its own electorate demands – which is exactly what democratically elected governments are supposed to do. Unless the EU abolishes democratic accountability altogether, this must continue to be so.

Even those national leaders who had apparently seized the moral high ground on migration were acting out of self-interest. Angela Merkel knows that Germany, with its ageing population, needs a mass injection of younger workers to sustain its econ-omy. Her action made prac-tical sense, even if it ended in a shambles. - The Tele-graph●