Zimbabwe: Audit damns land reform

Published Jun 11, 2014

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ZIMBABWE

Audit damns land reform

An audit of Zimbabwe’s controversial land reforms had revealed that children as young as 10 were allocated farms seized from white people, state media reported yesterday. The audit found that policy regulations had been flouted by some people who acquired more than one farm and registered them in their children’s names. “You know our policy. We do not give somebody land who is less than 21 years, but we are getting people with 10 years, 12 years,” The Herald newspaper quoted Lands and Resettlement Minister Douglas Mombeshora as saying. He said the fraudulent allocations came to light during an interim audit to determine farm ownership and productivity on the farmland. “Some people acquired farms on behalf of their children,” Mombeshora said. – Sapa-AFP

NIGERIA

Chevron tops up donations

Chevron plans to nearly double its donation to Nigerian social projects over the next five years, part of a choreographed plan to improve the local economy and bolster the company’s supply chain in its second-largest source of crude oil. Chevron is donating $40 million (R428m) to the Niger Delta Partnership Initiative (NDPI), a non-profit organisation it helped form in 2010 with $50m in seed money. The second round of funding would make NDPI the largest recipient of Chevron donations in the company’s history, executives said. The NDPI works with local organisations in the Niger River Delta to help reduce HIV transmission rates, teach cassava farmers marketing techniques and connect catfish breeders with feed suppliers, among other projects. “Our objective is for peace in the Delta. And the best way we can contribute to peace, in our view, is the way we’re participating in NDPI,” said Rhonda Zygocki, Chevron’s executive vice-president of policy and planning. – Reuters

KENYA

Mumias Sugar fires managers

Kenya’s Mumias Sugar had sacked two top managers who were suspended in April while the firm investigated the company’s sugar sales and distribution, the company said yesterday. Chairman Dan Ameyo said in April that managing director Peter Kebati and commercial director Paul Murgor had been suspended pending the investigations into what he called “questionable sugar sale and importation transactions”. Mumias said the board had been presented with an audit by KPMG, which investigated the issue. A statement, issued by Ameyo on Monday, said the probe “indicates that management made misrepresentations on a number of key facts to the board. The board after careful consideration of the involvement of members of the management has… decided to terminate the services of the employees involved.” – Reuters

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