R530 for 2kg chicken, R160 000 for a laptop - Zim govt balks at tender prices

Zimbabwe News 22 September 2022

• The Zimbabwean government has slammed suppliers which charged it prices based on the street-value of the Zimdollar. 
• These suppliers are blamed for a free-fall in the local currency, which fuelled inflation.
• The government has stopped paying suppliers.

The Zimbabwean government has slammed suppliers which charged it US$30 (~R530) for 2kg packs of chicken priced, as well as laptops for as much as US$9 000 (~R160 000) each and 50kg bags of cement priced at US$18 (~R320).

It has halted payments to these suppliers, which Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube now blames for a spike in the exchange rate.

The Zimdollar has been in free-fall, plunging to as much as ZWL850 to the US dollar last month on the streets of Harare, where it traded in multiples above the official exchange rate.

The street exchange rate it used by businesses to determine prices – contrary to government’s directive that they should only use the official exchange rate.

Government contractors are mostly paid in local currency but used "speculative" street exchange rates for pricing.

"It had become common practice over the years that you charge government multiple times over the actual value because government pays after lengthy delays," a Zimbabwean treasury official told News24 Business. "It had become acceptable and was being condoned across the spectrum because that was one way of getting contracts done."

The official says that tenders were often awarded without due regard to price checks.

Meanwhile, some government contractors told Fin24 that the tendering process had “become a preserve of well-connected runners for government officials” or their relatives whose tenders "were guaranteed" contract awards.

Government suppliers, who "fell over each other to secure contracts" according to sources, used contracts with prices benchmarked against speculative parallel market exchange rates "some as high" as $1:ZWL2000.

Ncube highlighted a tender for laptops which purportedly cost close to USD10 000, as well as cement priced at USD18 per bag on some construction projects.

In reaction, the Zimbabwean treasury stopped payments to government and parastatals suppliers in recent weeks, noting that procurement management units of government entities "have not been exercising due diligence, especially regarded the value for money" in terms of pricing.

Zimbabwe’s Treasury said that rampant overpricing spiked from June this year.

Treasury said that by paying for goods priced on forward speculative exchange rates, President Emerson Mnangagwa’s administration was actually fuelling inflation. Ncube also blamed the overpriced government tenders for the falling Zimbabwean dollar and the rampant inflation.  

Inflation shot up to 285% as prices chased the street exchange rate movements. In response to this, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe hiked interest rates to 200%.

Treasury says it has started blacklisting companies involved in the practices of overpricing tenders while others will “not be allowed to participate in government tenders” and contracts. 

www.samigration.com

 

 

 

Why South Africa is losing out on the tourism boom

City Press – 22 September 2022

 

Empty recliners are seen on the popular Camps Bay beach in Cape Town as numbers of international tourists decline following Covid-19 travel restrictions. The country is simply not doing enough to cash in on tourism dollars. Photo: Reuters

 

Tourism in South Africa only accounts for 3.2% of the country’s GDP. For a country with unique wildlife, white sand beaches and exceptional biodiversity, this is a missed opportunity, experts say.

According to the latest report from the World Tourism Council, South Africa is the third-lowest on a list of 20 countries in terms of travel and tourism’s contribution to the economy. Only South Korea (19th) and Indonesia (20th) rank below South Africa.

In the report, titled Economic Impact 2022: Global Trends, research was conducted among 185 countries and 26 regions in the world to determine to what extent the tourism sector in these countries had recovered from the negative effects of the Covid-19-induced lockdowns and movement restrictions.

In 2020, there were 62 million job losses in the sector worldwide.

There were signs of recovery last year, but it was slower than expected due to sporadic outbreaks of, especially, the Omicron variant of Covid-19.

However, the World Tourism Council is optimistic that, by the end of next year, the sector will be back to 2019’s pre-pandemic levels. The industry is also expected to create 126 million extra jobs by the end of the decade.

In the report, South Africa was singled out as a country where tourism grew by a modest 8.4% last year. This was because of the effect that the Omicron variant and the resulting travel bans in South Africa’s source markets had on foreign tourism in particular.

Income from tourism by local travellers in South Africa increased by 47.2%. In sharp contrast to that, income from international tourists plummeted by more than 40%. The South African tourism sector is expected to do significantly better this year and 37.2% growth is envisaged.

Last week, after the publication of the GDP figures for the second quarter, Hugo Pienaar, chief economist of the Bureau of Economic Research at the University of Stellenbosch, said that more foreign tourists arriving in South Africa should boost economic growth in the second half of the year.

Although this is still lower than before Covid-19, the trend is upwards. A very good summer season is foreseen thanks to accumulated demand for a summer holiday among Europeans who want to travel to warmer climes, Pienaar said.

Recovery in the tourism sector will also benefit employment in the tourism and hospitality industries.

While doing research for her PhD thesis, Sue Snyman, economist and tourism analyst from the University of Cape Town, showed that, for every night a tourist stays in a luxury lodge in the country, 14 people from the surrounding community benefit. Many staff working at lodges send their money home. Additionally, the money circulates in rural communities, helping to grow the local economy.

Tourism is widely seen as a sector that can generate immediate job creation and income. However, there are numerous factors that contribute to South Africa not reaching its potential.

Professor Peet van der Merwe, senior lecturer and researcher of tourism management at North-West University, says it is worrying that tourism’s contribution to the country’s GDP has gradually decreased since 2013 from more than 8% to 6.9% in 2019.

Some of the biggest impediments to inbound tourism are the risks to safety in South Africa, as well as political instability. Foreign tourists are very sensitive to this, he said.

Gilda Swanepoel, tour operator and owner of Eenblond Tours, agrees: 

South Africa has an incredibly negative reputation: crime, the lack of electricity, the looting in July last year. The lack of domestic flights doesn’t help either.

Swanepoel takes foreign tourists on tours of Soweto. The market is recovering, but slowly, she said.

“Last year was a nightmare. At least it’s a little better now. Most of our customers are now Americans, but I miss the busy European, British and Australian tourists from before Covid-19.”

One thing Swanepoel would especially like to see is government helping small tour operators with financing, or a platform for attracting overseas tourists.

Rosemary Anderson, national chair of the tourism body Fedhasa, told City Press that it is encouraging that government said at the recent tourism conference at Sun City in North West that the industry should list their problems and President Cyril Ramaphosa would pay attention to them.

“There is so much goodwill in the tourism sector and we want to be part of the solution,” she said.

However, there are many different obstacles in play, Anderson cautioned.

“The investment environment in South Africa is unstable and this deters investors. In a stable environment, there is the certainty of service delivery: clean streets, effective policing and, of course, water and sanitation – not a situation where raw sewage ends up in our inland dams and rivers and in our oceans.”

Government’s promise that it is working on solutions also remains to be seen – such as the implementation of e-visas and visas for digital nomads who want to live and work in South Africa for a longer period of time. None of this has yet been realised, says Anderson.

Van der Merwe says the shortage of flights worldwide and in South Africa is also hampering tourism.

“There is chaos at many airports overseas. There are also very few direct flights to South Africa now. We are a long-haul destination. Once you’re in the country, it’s cheap, but it’s expensive and difficult to get here.”

South Africa’s flawed public transport system and crumbling infrastructure, such as the poor condition of roads, also deters would-be foreign tourists, according to Van der Merwe.

 

Home Affairs is working with the UN to clear refugee applications backlog - Motsoaledi

IOL – 22-09-2022

Pretoria - Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi told the portfolio committee on Tuesday that the country's refugee and asylum-seeker system needed a complete overhaul as it failed to provide permits based on economic reasons.

Motsoaledi was presenting progress made in addressing the backlog of more than 130 000 appeals against the refusal of refugee permits, which was the major cause of backlogs.

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He said most appeals were from those who fled their countries due to economic collapse.

Speaking to eNCA, Motsoaledi said the department is working with the United Nations high commissioner for refugees to fix the backlog.

“There has been a large number of people who rushed to South Africa after the world economic collapse, especially the collapse of the economy in Zimbabwe in 2008. By 2009 many people came to South Africa.

“Many did not qualify for asylum, they were rejected by the refugee status determination officers and appealed.

“So the appeal process created a backlog and we are working with the United Nations to clear that backlog,” Motsoaledi rold eNCA.

Motsoaledi added that the UN has donated funds in order to hire more experienced staff to assist with the backlog.

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“The UN gave us R143m over a period of four years to hire more people. Now with this money, we will be able to hire 36 members who are all lawyers to help clear the backlog.”

On the issue of foreigners burdening the country’s health system, Motsoaledi said he doesn’t want to defend anybody, however, he indicated that figures and numbers don't lie.

“Just go to the hospitals and check… It’s not a matter of who says this, who says that, go to the hospitals and ask for statistics and check, that’s where you’ll get your answer.”

www.samigration.com

 

 

Immigrants less likely to commit crime, more likely to create jobs for South Africans, report finds

News 24 – 16  September 2022

• A report has found that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than South Africans.
• Making up only 6.5% of the population, it is impossible for immigrants to be straining government services such as healthcare, the report has found.
• It has cautioned that anti-foreigner sentiment appears to be growing in South Africa.

Immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than South Africans, the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) has found in a report.

The new report explored the claims fuelling anti-foreigner sentiment, which has seen immigrants blamed for a range of social and economic problems in South Africa and reinforces xenophobic sentiment.

The ISS report found that the immigrant population is much smaller than commonly believed and does not place a burden on government services such as healthcare and education. In addition, the report found that instead of taking jobs from South Africans, as is widely believed, immigrants are more likely to create jobs.

"South African socio-economic problems are not caused by immigrants, but by poor governance and corruption. Many politicians, public officials, and other high-profile people regularly make anti-immigrant statements that fuel xenophobia. The number of migrants in South Africa is grossly exaggerated," the ISS report found.

Since 1994, anti-foreigner sentiment has been growing in South Africa, and 936 violent xenophobic incidents have been recorded, according to the report. The attacks killed 630 people, displaced 123 000, and saw 4 800 shops looted.

The report read: 

During 2019, statements that fuelled xenophobic sentiment were made by a number of politicians from mainstream political parties while campaigning for the national and provincial elections held that year.

"In 2020, various community-based groups started to mobilise around an anti-immigrant agenda. These include Operation Dudula, which started in Soweto and has since opened branches across the country, and the unrelated Dudula Movement, based in the Johannesburg township of Alexandra."

Both groups blame immigrants for a range of socio-economic challenges, including high levels of crime and unemployment.

Limpopo Health MEC Phophi Ramathuba recently sparked a storm of controversy after the emergence of a video showing her telling a woman that migrants from Zimbabwe were a "huge strain" on the provincial healthcare system.

Similar sentiments were expressed by Patriotic Alliance leader Gayton McKenzie.

The South African Social Attitudes Survey (SASAS) for 2021 found that almost half of the population believed there were between 17 and 40 million immigrants in the country.

However, there were less than four million immigrants in the country, which made up 6.5% of the population. This percentage was in line with international norms.

The report found that this population group also positively contributed to the country. They had a positive impact on the government's fiscus because they generally paid income and value-added taxes, the report found, and contributed about 9% to the GDP.

In addition, there was no evidence to suggest that immigrants took employment opportunities away from South African workers.

"Rather, there is evidence that the opposite is true – that immigrants often create employment for South Africans," the report found.

Immigrants were generally more likely to be self-employed, and each immigrant generated around two jobs for locals, according to a World Bank study. Immigrants also make up only 5% of the labour market, according to Statistics South Africa data. Around a third of immigrants were employed in the informal sector.

Limpopo Health MEC Phophi Ramathuba has sparked a storm of controversy after the emergence of a video showing her telling a woman that migrants from Zimbabwe were a "huge strain" on the provincial healthcare system.

Another common rhetoric around immigrants is that they contribute to crime in South Africa. However, the report found that immigrants were less likely to commit crimes than South Africans.

According to the Human Sciences Research Council's (HSRC) SASAS data, two-thirds of South Africans believed that immigrants increased crime.

"There is no statistical relationship between international migration in South Africa and crime. There is also no evidence that most immigrants commit crimes or are responsible for most crimes in the country," the report found.

Based on data provided by the Department of Justice and Correctional Services, immigrants made up only 8.5% of convicted cases in 2019, and 7% in 2020.

Only about 2% of inmates incarcerated per year are undocumented foreigners. The report found that immigrants were less likely than South Africans to be convicted of serious crimes such as murder and rape, yet they were disproportionately targeted in police operations and caught for minor crimes such as drug possession or use.

The report also tackled the assertions that immigrants were a burden on government services.

The report found:

Immigrants account for about 6.5% of the population. It is thus statistically impossible for immigrants to be responsible for the healthcare system's failings. Continued claims of 'hordes' of immigrants flooding South Africa's public healthcare facilities dominate the national discourse and promote 'medical xenophobia'. However, in the short run, immigrants tend to be healthier than locals

It also found that although the blame for overpopulated and overwhelmed schools was incorrectly placed on immigrant children, it should rather be assigned to "the poorly managed education department".

"While politicians often publicly denounce and condemn violence against immigrants and prefer to link it to criminality, not xenophobia, there are no effective mechanisms in place to address it.

"This lack of political will to address the scourge is most likely because it is easier to blame others for governance failures," the report said.

www.samigration.com

 

SA keeps the brakes on foreign visa applications

16 September 2022 – Business Day

Billions in foreign investment are at risk as processes in home affairs remain stalled

While long overdue, the current efforts to tackle corruption and shortcomings in the department of home affairs are welcome. But as the cleanup is carried out processes within the department remain stalled, affecting thousands of people and putting foreign investment at risk, among other negative fallout.

Former director-general of home affairs Mavuso Msimang has been deployed to help deal with issues and review processes in the department, a mammoth task. This is expected to be backed soon by a multidisciplinary team to investigate anomalies in issuing permits and visas issued since 2014.

People around the world who have suffered the effects of delays and irregularities now have the hope of resolution of their applications and appeals — eventually. But with years in backlogs and a limited staff in place to work through them, lives continue to be disrupted by these delays and foreign investment remains in jeopardy.

In our experience, civic services are working smoothly, with SA passport applications being processed within two to four weeks, but few if any temporary residence and permanent residence visa and/or applications for foreigners. To want to “clean house” and put the right people in place imply that home affairs issues are being taken seriously, but at the same time the department continues to make it virtually impossible for foreigners to invest, work, live and study in SA.

Scores of investors and wealthy applicants who are ready and able to pay the R120,000 net worth fee for SA permanent residence permits are being ignored and rejected for no valid reason. Wealthy foreigners wanting to retire and spend their fortunes in SA are being turned away. As we have noted previously, adjudication needs to be done consistently, fairly, and in line with the relevant laws.

Behind the delays

With applicants waiting up to three years for adjudication, patience has worn thin. The suspension of most services during the pandemic stalled the applications of thousands of people. Since March 2021 temporary residence visa applications regardless of categories could take 10 to 12 months to process, and while it seems that the department is dealing with the backlogs, they are so significant that many temporary residence visa applications remain pending a year later.

A blanket waiver issued in December last year and a number of times since then may have been intended to handle the problem, but it doesn’t solve the challenge faced by people from visa-restricted countries such as India, Iran or Lithuania. While these people may use the waiver to leave SA without being banned, once they are in their countries of origin they cannot return without a visa. And these can take longer than a year to obtain.

Anyone applying for a visa at a foreign mission faces inconsistent treatment and lengthy delays — even a 90-day visa, which used to take five days, now takes up to nine months to issue. The personnel posted at foreign SA missions are not well trained, nor particularly friendly to foreigners, and are not particularly efficient in their relations with management at the department’s head office in Pretoria. Often one finds glaring gaps of information and knowledge between foreign missions and the department’s head office, giving rise to all kinds of anomalies, substantive mistakes and delays as a consequence. 

The centralisation of adjudication of long-term visa applications, now reversed following a flurry of complaints, worsened the delays. Centralising adjudication to Pretoria at the beginning of the year meant further frustration and delays for foreign applicants, some of whom have been waiting for up to three years for visas and/or permits based on skills, net worth or retirement.

In addition, about 250,000 Zimbabweans working in SA — and their employers — face an uncertain future over contradictory statements around Zimbabwe exit permits. The Helen Suzman Foundation recently noted that the director-general’s position demonstrated there was no genuine intention to give individual exemptions.

Meanwhile, foreign businesspeople have warned that they could reassess or move their investments in SA to other African countries where it is easier to do business. One multimillionaire in Germany who applied for permanent residence in 2016 based on net worth recently had his application rejected on grounds related to an entirely different applicant. Inconsistent and flawed outcomes continue to result in appeals and court cases — in our practice we have close to 30 high court cases in 2022 alone.  

In an interview recently French Trade Advisors in SA chair Jean Claude Lasserre noted that despite promises by the authorities to support international investments in SA, delays issuing working visas were preventing skilled international managers, engineers and other employees from running French investments in SA. He said more than 300 French companies, employing more than 65,000 direct employees, were already present in the country, and French businesses had committed to invest a further R50bn in SA during a recent investment conference.

Lasserre has urged action on new intracompany and critical skills work visas for international staff, their families and all professors of the French School, and the renewal of working visas for existing top managers and experts driving French companies in SA.

The old saying “the more things change, the more they stay the same” appears to apply here. While efforts are clearly being made to clean up home affairs, in practice the department’s processes remain fraught with the same delays and inconsistencies people have complained about for years

www.samigration.com