John Mangudya, CEO of the Mutapa Investment Fund (MIF), said that ZESA Holdings had productive talks with Indian firm Jindal Africa Investments over a US$350 million joint venture.
Mangudya told the <a href="https://www.theindependent.co.zw/local-news/article/200037346/hwange-power-rehab-talks-successful">Independent</a> that the Jindal Africa Investments team recently visited Zimbabwe.
The partnership aims to refurbish six units at the Hwange Thermal Power Station. Said Mangudya:
<blockquote>
Yes, the team from Jindal was in the country to finalise on the rehabilitation agreement of Hwange Units 1 to 6 with ZESA. The meetings were successful.
</blockquote>
The Independent reported sources as saying that the team met with MIF, power utility ZESA, and the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency (ZIDA).
In 2024, MIF approved the joint venture deal, which will be implemented under a rehabilitate, operate, and transfer (ROT) framework.
This investment is expected to add approximately 400 megawatts (MW) of electricity to Zimbabwe’s national grid, offering some relief as the country continues to grapple with severe power shortages.
In 2023, President Emmerson Mnangagwa commissioned Hwange Power Station’s Units 7 and 8, adding 600MW to the national grid. This project, undertaken by Chinese firm Sinohydro, cost US$1.5 billion.

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An Indian company called Jindal Africa Investments will work with Zimbabwe's ZESA to fix six units at the Hwange Thermal Power Station. The CEO of Mutapa Investment Fund, John Mangudya, says the talks were successful. This joint venture will cost US$350 million. It is expected to add 400 megawatts (MW) of electricity to Zimbabwe's power grid. This will help with the country's severe power shortages. In 2023, Chinese company Sinohydro also added 600MW to the grid at Hwange Power Station.

US$350M Hwange Power Station Refurbishment Talks "Successful" - Mangudya

Former Finance Minister Tendai Biti says the Mutapa Investment Fund (MIF), previously known as the Sovereign Wealth Fund of Zimbabwe, has been used to covertly privatize the country’s most important parastatals.
The MIF is a state-owned investment fund established to manage and invest surplus funds generated from Zimbabwe’s natural resources.
Created through the Sovereign Wealth Fund Act in 2014, it was renamed in 2023 via Statutory Instrument 156.
The fund manages assets from various state-owned enterprises, including NetOne, National Railways of Zimbabwe, Air Zimbabwe, TelOne, and others.
Biti criticized the “privatization” of these parastatals, saying it was carried out without proper valuations or parliamentary oversight. Below are Biti’s comments on the MIF:
<blockquote>
The Mutapa Fund has essentially been a back door privatization of 40 or so of the country’s biggest and most important parastatals that include Hwange, NRZ, IDC and NetOne.
The process was done without individual valuations of the different parastatals and parliamentary scrutiny.
The Mutapa Fund now controls a huge chunk of the country’s balance sheet and yet it is not accountable to Parliament or a line ministry.
It is a huge Asset Management Fund, privately controlled, yet it houses State Assets. This kind of arbitrage and theft is a national threat.
The repeal of section 22 of the Sovereign Wealth Fund Act which prevents the Mutapa Fund from securitising the shares of parastatals it now controls is proof of arbitrage on steroids.
This regime has no limits, nor elasticity, no shame. The Mutapa Fund and those who control it are a national threat to the country’s sovereignty.
A country can’t be run on the philosophy and polity of looting for the sake of looting. The class of 2017 is a cabal, a ruthless brood whose only interest is to loot Zimbabwe dry. Self-respecting decent wananchi should say NO.
</blockquote>
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Former Finance Minister Tendai Biti says the Mutapa Investment Fund (MIF) was used to secretly sell important state-owned companies in Zimbabwe. The fund was created in 2014 to manage money from natural resources, but it now controls assets like NetOne, National Railways of Zimbabwe, and Air Zimbabwe. Biti criticized this sale, saying it was done without proper checks. He called the fund a threat to the country's independence and accused the people in charge of only wanting to steal from Zimbabwe. This needs to stop, according to Biti.

Biti Says Mutapa Fund Used For Secretive Privatisation Of Parastatals

Zimbabwe’s sovereign wealth fund, the Mutapa Investment Fund (MIF), manages assets valued at US$16 billion, according to CEO John Mangudya.
According to the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds, which monitors such funds globally, Ethiopian Investment Holdings is Africa’s largest sovereign wealth fund, with assets under management of US$150 billion.
The Ethiopian fund holds over 30 state companies, including flagship enterprises such as Ethiopian Airlines and Ethio Telecom.
In an interview with <a href="https://www.sundaymail.co.zw/mutapa-assets-valued-at-us16bn">The Sunday Mail</a>, Mangudya said that MIF completed a “comprehensive diagnostic assessment” of its portfolio which established that as of the end of June 2024, the market value of the assets managed by the fund stood at US$16 billion. He said:
<blockquote>
The Mutapa Investment Fund has been able to undertake a comprehensive diagnostic assessment of all the portfolio companies under its ambit over the past five months.
On the basis of the assessment, the fund came up with six clusters of these entities for ease of management and for tracking performance.
</blockquote>
The Mutapa Investment Fund holds state-owned interests across various sectors, including mining, agriculture, ICT, transport, banking, real estate, energy, and trading.
Companies under the Mutapa umbrella include the National Railways of Zimbabwe, Air Zimbabwe, TelOne, Cottco, and Defold Mine, which now oversees mining assets previously managed by the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation.
MIF controls key entities such as the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe, Petrotrade, POSB, ZESA, Fidelity (the country’s sole gold refinery), the Zimbabwe Power Company, PowerTel, Allied Timbers, Telecel, and Hwange Colliery.
More: <a href="https://www.pindula.co.zw/">Pindula News</a>

The Mutapa Investment Fund in Zimbabwe has assets worth $16 billion, with interests in mining, agriculture, ICT, and more. This makes MIF one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in Africa. The fund oversees companies like National Railways, Air Zimbabwe, and TelOne. John Mangudya, the CEO, said that MIF has analyzed its portfolio and grouped companies for better management. Some of the key entities under MIF are the National Oil Company, ZESA, and Telecel. Ethiopian Investment Holdings is Africa's largest sovereign wealth fund with assets worth $150 billion.

Mutapa Investment Fund Assets Valued At US$16 Billion - Mangudya

Zimbabwe’s new sovereign wealth fund, the Mutapa Investment Fund, reportedly paid a “grossly inflated” US$1.6 billion, which is 5 per cent of GDP, for shares in Kuvimba Mining House.
According to the latest The Sentry report, the secretive payment of US$1.6 billion was made to unknown private individuals to buy their shares in the mining conglomerate with recent links to Kudakwashe Tagwirei, a presidential adviser and ZANU PF donor.
The Sentry is a US-based investigative organisation that tracks corruption.
In a report published on Wednesday, The Sentry said US$1.6 billion in public debt was used by the Mutapa Investment Fund (formerly known as the Sovereign Wealth Fund of Zimbabwe), to purchase shares in Kuvimba, which owns about a dozen gold, lithium, nickel and platinum mines. It said:
<blockquote>
The Sentry’s analysis suggests that Mutapa paid a grossly inflated price for the shares.
</blockquote>
The report stated that until recently, the state had owned 65% of Kuvimba and private investors had held 35% of the shares. Said The Sentry report:
<blockquote>
A $1.6-billion price tag for a 35% stake would value Kuvimba at US$4.6 billion overall — triple the $1.5-billion valuation given to Kuvimba by the government in 2022. This would raise serious questions about whether Mutapa has grossly overvalued the shares.
A $4.6-billion valuation would also be much more than the amount that Tagwirei’s firms spent in 2019 on acquiring the mines before they transferred the assets to Kuvimba in 2020.
</blockquote>
Rising gold prices since 2020 might explain some of the increase in Kuvimba’s value. Said The Sentry:
<blockquote>
However, a $4.6-billion valuation seems distinctly frothy given that Kuvimba’s other mines have had mixed fortunes: Declining lithium prices have caused stockpiling, and the firm’s platinum and nickel projects are either inactive or loss-making.
</blockquote>
Tagwirei has denied links to Kuvimba, but previous reports have linked him to the mining conglomerate. Said The Sentry report:
<blockquote>
In 2021, The Sentry revealed how Tagwirei was a secret owner of up to 35% of Kuvimba. Tagwirei and Kuvimba deny he owns the shares, but authorities refuse to identify who received the US$1.6 billion payment for the 35% stake.
</blockquote>
The secretive payment of US$1.6 billion to undisclosed private individuals poses a threat to Zimbabwe’s debt restructuring negotiations, exacerbating the country’s liabilities.
Zimbabwe currently faces debt distress, impeding its ability to secure affordable loans from development banks due to previous defaults and significant arrears.
The African Development Bank (AfDB) is actively guiding Zimbabwe and its creditors toward a structured debt restructuring process.
According to The Sentry report, lenders may find little reassurance in the fact that Zimbabwe’s debt has surged to $21 billion, especially considering that new debt equivalent to 5% of GDP seems to have been issued to compensate shareholders in Kuvimba, potentially linked to a politically connected businessman. It said:
<blockquote>
The point of sovereign wealth funds is to preserve and grow wealth to benefit Zimbabwean citizens. If the report of $1.6 billion paid to Kuvimba’s private investors is true, Zimbabwean taxpayers — who will have to repay this debt — should be angry that one of the first acts of their new sovereign wealth fund may have been to allocate wealth from the many to the few.
</blockquote>
More: <a href="https://www.pindula.co.zw/">Pindula News</a>

US$1.6 Billion Paid To Mystery Shareholders By Mutapa Investment Fund

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has expanded the Mutapa Investment Fund by adding seven additional parastatals.
The announcement was made through Statutory Instrument 51 of 2024, which was published in the Government Gazette on Friday, March 15.
The State shareholding in the following companies has been included in the Mutapa Investment Fund:
1. Aurex Private Limited
2. Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of Zimbabwe (Private) Limited
3. Fidelity Gold Refinery (Private) Limited
4. HomeLink Private Limited
5. HomeLink Finance (Private) Limited
6. ZESA Holdings Private Limited
7. ZESA Enterprises Private Limited
These additions were made in accordance with section 14(6) of the Sovereign Wealth Fund of Zimbabwe Act [Chapter 22:20] (No. 7 of 2014) and after consultation with the Mutapa Investment Fund board.
Notably, the Mutapa Fund will be led by outgoing Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor, John Mangudya, who will assume the role of chief executive officer.
Additionally, President Mnangagwa’s amendment to the Sovereign Wealth Fund of Zimbabwe Act (SI 56 of 2023) facilitated the transfer of the government’s shareholdings in 20 entities to the fund.
More: <a href="https://www.pindula.co.zw/">Pindula News</a>

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