THE STATE OF HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT |ZIMBABWE I 2017 Lack of Transparency in Public Borrowing – Section 298 of the Constitution requires that public borrowing and all transactions involving the national debt must be carried out transparently and in the best interests of Zimbabwe. Section 300 (3) provides that within 60 days of entering a loan agreement, the terms of the agreement must be published in the Government Gazette. Twice a year, the Minister responsible for finance must report to Parliament the performance of such loans. Many so-called mega deals have been entered into by government without meeting the requirement of the Constitution. From 2016 to 2017, the Executive has evaded Parliamentary oversight over financial agreements. In 2015, the government signed the Lima Agreement intended to resolve the country’s foreign debt and unlock fresh capital. There has been no transparency regarding the source of the funds used to service the debt. The debt management plan has not been disclosed in reports to Parliament in line with Constitution. Introduction of Bond Notes – On 28 November 2016, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) introduced bond notes which the RBZ Governor alleged where export incentives and would operate at 1:1 with the United States Dollar. The RBZ said in a statement that the bond notes were anchored to a US$200 million facility from the African Export and Import Bank (Afrexim Bank) . 65 The details of the facility were never made public and Parliament was not informed of the loan as required by the Constitution. Afrexim Bank never acknowledged the facility. Clearly, the people of Zimbabwe were not told the truth and the Constitutional provisions on accountability were violated. Externalised Funds – Former President Mugabe has previously stated that over US$15 billion dollars from diamond revenue could not be accounted for. This matter has remained shady with no clear information as to what process reached at that figure and what leaks existed to cause such a loss. Political statements have been made around the figure but without details that show a serious approach to truth recovery and accountability. Upon assumption of office in November 2017, President Emmerson Mnangagwa issued a 90 days amnesty for the return of externalised funds. The state media later reported that over US$1 billion has been returned. There was not transparency regarding these claims. It was not revealed how these funds were repatriated and were they were housed. Debt Assumption – Following the passage of the RBZ Debt Assumption Bill in 2015, the government has gone on a spree of debt assumption for non-performing parastatals. On the cards for 2017 was the ZISCO Steel Debt Assumption Bill ultimately gazetted in January 2018. Most parastatals including Air Zimbabwe and the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) have also queued in tow with their own debts to be assumed. These entities have been victim to wholesale looting by government officials. Transferring such debts to the taxpayer is making the ordinary person pay for the corruption that government officials have committed Following the assumption of power by the Mnangagwa government, several high-ranking officials have been arrested and brought before the courts on allegations of abuse of office and corruption. These include the former minister of Finance Dr. Ignatious Chombo, Gudyanga and Dr Walter Chidhakwa However, observers have argued that the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission seemed to be targeting only members of the deposed G-40 faction. See RBZ statement on this link http://www.rbz.co.zw/assets/press-statement-on-the-introduction of-bond-notes.pdf 65 51