Temporary legal status for Zimbabweans

Zimbabweans who have entered South Africa seeking political asylum and employment will be given a "special dispensation" permit, the Department of Home Affairs said today.

"The permit confers on them the right to stay in South Africa for a period of six months, it confers on them the right to schooling or education, it confers on them the right to work and access to basic health care," said Home Affairs director general of Immigration Services, Jackie MacKay.

"We have taken an important decision which acknowledges that migration patterns between South Africa and Zimbabwean have probably changed permanently," said Home Affairs Deputy Minister Malusi Gigaba.  Zimbabweans will need to apply for the permit at Home Affairs and provide proof of their nationality. If they do not have official identification, they will go through testing.

Reforms spur Zimbabwe’s gold industry

By William MacNamara in London

Published: March 29 2009 20:39 | Last updated: March 29 2009 20:39

Zimbabwe’s gold trade could be reviving, making gold the first industrial sector to benefit from recent economic reforms in the country.

Mwana Africa, a mining group listed on London’s Aim market, plans to reopen the Freda Rebecca gold mine, one of Zimbabwe’s largest, by September.

It has been closed for the past three years, a period that was “impossible” for gold producers, one sector analyst said, as the central bank bought gold but failed to pay producers in either foreign currency or increasingly worthless Zimbabwean dollars.

Today’s buoyant gold price, above $900 an ounce, was an important factor in the decision to reopen the Freda Rebecca mine, said Kalaa Mpinga, Mwana chief executive.

More important, however, was a series of economic reforms starting with the “dollarisation” of the economy – or substitution of foreign currency as a medium of exchange – sanctioned by the central bank in January, he said.

• © Copyright The Financial Times Ltd 2009. "FT" and "Financial Times" are trademarks of The Financial Times Ltd. 

African leader hails G20 progress

By William Wallis, Africa Editor

Published: April 2 2009 23:26 | Last updated: April 2 2009 23:26

On paper at least, African leaders appear to have emerged from the G20 summit with most of what they wanted.

Meles Zenawi, the Ethiopian prime minister, who is officially representing the continent, had urged the International Monetary Fund to sell part of its gold reserves to finance a $50bn (€37bn, £34bn) rescue package for low-income countries. The summit approved the plan.

Poor countries should also benefit from a $250bn increase in the IMF’s special drawing rights, the fund’s reserve currency, about 7 per cent of which could accrue to Africa.

“I think we made a very surprising level of progress,” Mr Meles told the Financial Times.

• © Copyright The Financial Times Ltd 2009. "FT" and "Financial Times" are trademarks of The Financial Times Ltd.

WORLD REALISATION DAY

You were born with it!
For many thousand years the secret has been known only by a few! There is a force within and you, YOU were born with it! They call it K U N D A L I N I. And it is curled up in your Sacrum Bone at the base of your spine. When the Kundalini is awakened it raises through your spinal cord and up above your Fontanelle Bone area where you can feel it as a cool breeze. No other force is able to transform your conciousness.
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The Mystical Pearl of Africa

Experience the Mighty Victoria Falls
The Mystical Pearl of Africa

Mosi oa tunya... The smoke that thunders...!!

Welcome to the Victoria Falls Travel Guide - our aim is to guide you with our local knowledge and experience on everything there is to know and do at this magnificent holiday destination...one of the seven natural wonders of the world.