CLAIM: Richard Stone, the Political Analysts (sic) shared his views on the policies spearheaded by the Second Republic for the past 5 years.  Give credit where it is due.

SOURCE: Twitter

VERDICT: Misleading

A ‘political analyst’ breaks down the successes of President Mnangagwa’s last six years in office in a video on TikTok. He introduces himself as Richard Stone and professes his initial skepticism on the administration’s successes and how he has now been converted. He looks quite solid. Male, white and smartly dressed – maybe someone you could trust to give you an honest analysis of the situation to help you make an informed decision.

If you search for him on Twitter, you might even find a few exact same names.

He says, “As a political analyst, my role involves questioning, scrutinising and forming evidence backed conclusions’.

He lists the achievements of the administration:

• The Gwayi-Shangani Dam;
• The Beitbridge border post;
• Agricultural output
• RGM Airport upgrade; and,
• Kazungula border bridge upgrades.

A ghost account with the username @SimbaMakoni23817 tweeted that, ‘This is a neutral and very factual analysis by Mr Richard Stone of what the President Cde ED Mnangagwa and his Government has done for the good of Zimbabwe.

#EDWORKS’.

So, what’s wrong with this picture?

Richard Stone is not who he says he is or who he appears to be. He is a what. An AI generated face. .

Videos and images that seem lifelike enough can rapidly spread misinformation.

As one user on Twitter says, ‘AI disinformation has become a worldwide challenge, especially in an election period. As AI disinformation continues, blurring the lines between fact and fiction, it is going to be increasingly difficult to tell the difference between accurate information and AI disinformation.’

How to spot AI generated person

Amid all-time high levels of misinformation circulating on social media, AI is making fake news harder to fact-check than ever before. Whereas seeing was believed, now the lines have been blurred. Here are a few tips to spot A1 generated faces:

Asymmetrical facial features 

Zoom in  in and look carefully

Many images generated by AI look real at first glance.

The first tip is to look closely at the picture. To do this, search for the image in the highest-possible resolution and then zoom in on the details.

Enlarging the picture will reveal inconsistencies and errors that may have gone undetected at first glance.

And even if the images look deceptively genuine, it’s worth paying attention to unnatural shapes in ears, eyes or hair, as well as deformations in glasses or earrings, as the generator often makes mistakes.

Use AI image detectors

While not always accurate, AI image detectors can serve as useful tools to spot fakes when paired with the other methods mentioned in this list. Maybe’s AI Art Detector is a great place to get started.

Conclusion

The video and the claim are both misleading as they give the impression that ‘Mr Richard Stone’ is a real political analyst who is giving an honest opinion, which is deceiving. Since ‘Mr Richard Stone’ can not think for himself, it means that he is reading from someone else’s script.

Fact checked by FACT CheckZW ( www.factcheckzw.org )

(a) Is HR being locked on done deals?
(b) What is the role of HR when it comes to corporate restructuring?

By Shadreck Zangairai

Corporate restructuring is often undertaken in response to extreme financial crisis and the organisation’s survival if it’s at stake. However, more generally firms restructure even in good economic times to improve their financial performance or exploit new strategic opportunities, the core reasons would to attain profit and sustainability. Whatever the reason and circumstances, Simmons (2015) argued that human resources practitioners must deal with certain issues that arise from these events and actions by management. Human resources practitioners can help management by providing information on the options for restructuring, the methodology for the selection of employees in the restructuring process, costs and payments that can be expected in restructuring, the timing of restructuring, potential litigation and claims assessments, obtaining effective releases and the retention and motivation of the remaining workforce.

a) Is HR being locked on done deals?
Yes, to a lager extent HR is being locked on done deals when it comes to corporate restructuring in Zimbabwe. HR is not or in many instances never involved in determining whether to restructure of not, and that is the reality in Zimbabwe. For instance, in public organisations in Zimbabwe, it is even worse because most of critical decisions especially on restructuring are made by the Executive, Board of Directors, the permanent secretary of the responsible ministry and the responsible Minister where there is less or no representation of Human Resources. For example, the Minister of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services at one point indicated that ZBC was overstaffed and as a turnaround strategy to resuscitate the Corporation he recommended retrenchment of five hundred workers in his capacity as the responsible Minister. The Minister in his capacity also said that ZBC managers were too many and need to be reduced from fort-three to twenty-five even though there was much ignorance on the operations of the national broadcaster. HR at ZBC in this situation were only being used as a tool for implementing the restructuring decisions which they did not participate in. There was no stage in this process where ZBC HR was consulted or involved to determine the process of restructuring. Therefore, basing on the above, HR was locked in a done deal and was only used as an instrument to implement the restructuring process which they did not participate.
Looking at another example, in 2015, the Daily News of 14 April reported that the Minister of Finance and Economic Development in Zimbabwe announced that the civil servants performance bonuses has been suspended for the year 2015 and 2016 and was to be revised in 2017. This decision followed the government’s intention to tame its ballooning wage bill and create fiscal space. The government’s salary bill was by then standing at a staggering US$260 million per month. Earlier on the Minister had indicated his intension to downsize the government workers (civil servants) due to lack of funds which had left the government struggling to pay salaries. A close look into this intended decision is that it’s a political-economist’s decision that does not take human capital as strategic partner for economic development. In this case, HR was only involved in the process of retrenching the workers since it was not represented at highest levels. Therefore HR was locked in a done deal. Instead of being a strategic partner, HR is used as an administrative instrument to implement decisions not agreed to.
In addition, the Ministry of Health and Childcare also impacted on a restructuring exercise that did not involve the HR practitioners but the same was now tasked with implementing the process. This demean the functionality of the HR department. Why HR is not included in the planning process is of great concern and this has led to unsuccessful exercises which might not solve the intended purpose. Hence in most restructuring processes, HR are being locked on done deals.
However, it is not always like that since in some organisations HR is involved in deciding whether to restructure, especially Human capital restructuring. For example, the City of Harare was represented by the Director of Human Resources who sits in executive meetings and in their 2014 retrenchments, HR was not locked in a done deal because there was representation at the highest level.
b). Role of HR in restructuring
In restructuring processes, human resources practitioners provide management with some options besides the termination of employees in connection with a need to reduce costs. For instance, human resource professionals can suggest reduction in non-personnel expenses, reductions in pay or hours, work sharing, holidays, freeze on recruitment and forced vacations, whether paid or unpaid. As an example, before a forced reduction occurs, a voluntary exit incentive is often worth considering. However, human resources professionals must be careful how voluntary exit incentives are structured and communicated to avoid claims of constructive discharge, especially by older workers. While management often wants to move very quickly, one of the key factors to consider is the “decision window.” It is good practice to provide a decision window for employees to consider a voluntary exit incentive.
Human resources practitioners also assist in explaining and documenting the basis for reducing the workforce. Management may have the operational skills to cut payroll and keep the business running, but often management is not able to express what otherwise would be a legitimate business reason for reducing the workforce. Human resources practitioners as experts help management to handle the restructuring process in a manner that avoids litigation since inconsistent explanations from various members of management can create an increased risk in litigation. The starting point in a workforce reduction is to determine the business reason that drives the need for the reduction. Once business reason has been determined human resources help with the identification of the sections of the organization that will be affected, the categories of the jobs that will be affected, the timing and the types of selection criteria that will be used for the identification and selection of the affected employees.
It is important to begin as early as possible in the planning process to determine the business reason for reducing the workforce and it is important that human resources practitioners be involved in this process. Early planning will aid in determining any bargaining obligations and strategy if a union represents affected employees and will further aid in anticipating any notice obligations under the Labour Act of Zimbabwe. Early determination of the business reason for a reduction-in-force will also aid in maintaining consistency in the decision-making process. Once a decision has been made that the workforce must be reduced, the method must be selected. Some obvious first questions to be asked would then be how many employees must be terminated and can this be accomplished by attrition along with a hiring freeze or a voluntary incentive program (termination for package). If these options cannot achieve the needed result, then the focus must turn to an involuntary retrenchment.
A common question that human resources experts must address is how managers should go about selecting the employees to be retrenched. There are several different options human resources professionals can recommend to management, such as the least important jobs with least needed skill sets, the lowest productive or those workers with discipline problems. Whatever the selection criteria, human resources authorities must act as gatekeepers to ensure that the criteria are legal and are applied fairly and consistently.
Simmons (2015) indicated that a key process in preparing for downsizing the workforce is to analyze whether the proposed reduction will cause a significant risk for litigation and exposure to an adverse judgment. Human resources practitioners therefore conduct the assessment themselves or facilitate in obtaining a litigation risk assessment by engaging expert risk assessors. Simmons further emphasised the use of statistics if workforce reduction involves retrenching a large number of workers. It is the responsibility of Human Resources to ensure compliance to legal requirements as stipulated under sections 12C and 12D of the Labour Act Chapter 28:01.
When downsizing the workforce by retrenchments, it is the responsibility of human resources practitioners to ensure that the retrenchment packages are negotiated peacefully and fairly. Also Human Resources is responsible for advising on all available options of calculating exit packages and to ensure that the packages are well communicated to employees in clear language and when the pay-outs would be paid. If there is a collective bargaining agreement in place, HR should ensure that the terms of that agreement are followed unless the union agrees to something else. Further, depending on the reason for downsizing the workforce, the employer may have to bargain over the decision to have a workforce downsizing.
In a nutshell, in some cases, HR is taken as a strategic business partner where it is represented at high levels of management and make strategic decisions. In some instances, HR is not strategic but just play an administrative role of just implementing decisions made by others. If HR does not occupy a strategic position in decision making, then it is likely to be locked in done deals where it works only as an operative or administrator and not as strategic thinkers. The recognition of HR as a strategic partner in the development of an organisation is the solution to this challenge. HR should be positioned at a strategic position in the structures of organisation such that it influences some restructuring decisions by providing expert experience where employees are seen from a human resources eye.

Disclaimer: Shadreck Zangairai is the Principal Human Resources Officer at Masvingo Provincial Hospital. He writes in his personal Capacity
(shadreckzanga@gmail.com)

CLAIM: Police block more Zanu PF gatherings than opposition

SOURCE: The Herald

VERDICT: False

The Herald newspaper published a story headlined ‘Police block more Zanu PF gatherings than opposition’ on July 25.

The story was also published on Afro Gazette here.

The article reported that ‘Police have blocked 86 gatherings of the ruling Zanu PF party between January 1 and July 10 as compared to 65 from its main rival CCC in the same period despite claims by the opposition party that the police were biased against it in approving its public gatherings.’

This was based on remarks by Home Affairs and Cultural Affairs permanent secretary, Dr Gerald Gwinji when addressing Diplomatic missions accredited to Zimbabwe and Observer missions. In a video posted by radio station ZiFM, he said, ‘The police has received a total of 1 437 notifications from the Zimbabwe  African National Union Patriotic Front – ZANU PF. Of  these 1 351 were compliant whilst 86 were not compliant. As a result they could not proceed. The Citizens Coalition for Change -CCC, filed 410 notifications. 345 of these were compliant whilst the remainder 65 were not.’

The conclusion drawn by the Herald that the secretary’s statistics mean that the police blocked more Zanu PF gatherings than opposition’s is faulty. The Herald conclusion is based on the simplistic deduction that 86 is more than 65.

However, this comparison is faulty because the two parties did not make the same number of notifications to the police. To get a better comparison would be to calculate the percentage of gatherings blocked. In the case of ZANU PF, the police blocked 86 out of 1 437 meetings – translating to about 6% of gatherings blocked. For CCC, 65 gatherings were blocked out of 410 – making it about 16% of gatherings blocked.

Conclusion

The claim by the Herald newspaper that the police have blocked ‘more Zanu PF gatherings than opposition’ has been rated as false because it is built of a faulty premise. The figures given by Dr Gwinji actually show that the police have blocked 16% of CCC gatherings as compared to 6% of gatherings for the ruling party.

Fact checked by FACT CheckZW ( www.factcheckzw.org )

VICE–PRESIDENT Constantino Chiwenga, while addressing Zanu PF supporters in Stoneridge, Harare South constituency, highlighted several achievements that he said have been achieved by the current administration for the past five years it has been in power.

The claims were carried by newspapers here and here.

These two claims have been made previously by other government officials and fact checked before, namely the Information minister Monica Mutsvangwa here and President Emmerson Mnangagwa here.

CLAIM 1: We are the most literate State in Africa.

VERDICT: False. The literacy rate is defined by the percentage of the population of a given age group that can read and write. The adult literacy rate corresponds to ages 15 and above, the youth literacy rate to ages 15 to 24, and the elderly to ages 65 and above. It is typically measured according to the ability to comprehend a short simple statement on everyday life. Generally, literacy also encompasses numeracy, and measurement may incorporate a simple assessment of arithmetic ability. The literacy rate and number of literates should be distinguished from functional literacy, a more comprehensive measure of literacy assessed on a continuum in which multiple proficiency levels can be determined. The latest UNESCO Institute for Statistics ( UIS ) have Zimbabwe at  88.7 percent, Seychelles at 96 and South Africa at 95.

CLAIM 2: We have the fastest GDP (gross domestic product) growth, not only in southern Africa but worldwide.

VERDICT: The Zimbabwe government has projected that the economy will grow by 3.8% in 2023, after growing by an estimated 4% in 2022.

This is lower than other countries in the region.

For example, the Africa Development Bank estimates that the Zimbabwe economy grew by 3% in 2022. This is lower than Zambia’s 3.1%, Mozambique’s 3.8%, and Botswana’s 4.2% for the same year.

The AfDB expects the Zimbabwe economy to grow by 2.9% in 2023. It forecasts Zambia to grow by 4.2%, Mozambique by 6.5%, Malawi by 3%, Botswana by 3.8% this year. Zimbabwe will however grow faster than South Africa, which AfDB expects to grow by 1.6%.

The IMF, on the other hand, estimates that the Zimbabwe economy grew by 3% last year. IMF says Zambia grew by 3.4% last year, Tanzania by 4.7%, and Botswana by 6.4%. IMF believes Zimbabwe will grow by 2.5% in 2023, lower than other regional economies; this year, Zambia is forecast to grow by 4%, Botswana by 3.7% and Mozambique by 5%. Zimbabwe is expected to do better than 2.4% in Malawi and South Africa’s 0.1%.

In 2021, Zimbabwe had one of the highest GDP growth rates in the region, when it grew by 8.5%, per IMF and Zimbabwe government, or 7.2%, according to AfDB. However, even that strong growth rate was slower than that of Botswana for that year, which was above 11% according to the Africa Development Bank and the IMF.

Vice President Chieenga’s claim that Zimbabwe has the fastest GDP growth rate is false. Available data from various sources shows that Zimbabwe still lags behind some of its neighbours in economic growth, let alone the whole world.

Fact checked by FACT CheckZW (  www.factcheckzw.org )