The Sunday Mail
ZIMBABWE recently hosted the 41st Shelter Afrique Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Victoria Falls. The meeting, which drew participants from 25 African countries, deliberated on sustainable ways to fund housing projects in Africa. The Sunday Mail’s Tanyaradzwa Rusike (TR) spoke to Shelter Afrique’s managing director and chief executive officer Mr Kingsley Muwowo (KM)on how they are financing member states and other important issues.
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TR: There are plans to set up Shelter Afrique’s offices in SADC, specifically Zimbabwe, how far have you gone with this?
KM: Yes, Shelter Afrique (SHAF), as part of its revised strategy, plans to set up regional offices in all its key markets with the objective of efficiently and effectively serving its clients. We need to be closer to our clients if we are to offer quality and customer-centric service delivery. In this regard, we have mapped out key regions as Southern Africa, East Africa, West Africa, Central Africa and North Africa. We need to be on the ground in all these regions with regional branch offices. Accordingly, Zimbabwe is interested in hosting the SHAF Southern African office upon fulfilment of all conditions precedent, including board assessment and approval.
TR: What was the process that led Zimbabwe to win the hosting rights?
KM: It’s Zimbabwe’s desire to host SHAF and we are grateful for the interest, and, as I said, this will be subject to necessary protocols and securing necessary approvals.
TR: How much has Shelter Afrique released to fund housing projects in Zimbabwe?
KM: So far we have invested a modest US$58 million in Zimbabwe addressing the demand side by availing lines of credit to first-tier commercial banks and building societies to lend to mortgagees. We now need to intervene on the supply side by financing developers, including the Government, to build housing units.
TR: Are you convinced that the money is being put to good use?
KM: Yes, we are convinced proceeds of our loans were properly utilised because we do have a strict monitoring mechanism through our Portfolio Management function. Besides, these are credible institutions well-governed and regulated by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
TR: What is your assessment of housing development in Zimbabwe?
KM: Zimbabwe has a clearly defined national housing policy, as was ably articulated by Honourable Daniel Garwe, Minister of National Housing and Social Amenities, with yearly delivery targets averaging 200 000 and credible developers to deliver social and affordable housing units. In addition, Zimbabwe has skilled workers in the sector who are plying their trade in the SADC region and beyond.
TR: You mentioned plans to finance your member states through sovereign loans, how far have you gone?
KM: Yes, sovereign loans are a new product offering specifically designed projects to scale-up the impact and number of units to be delivered through social housing. Only governments can deliver social housing schemes, therefore, they need to be capacitated through sovereign loans to be delivered by establishing smart Public-Private Partnership (PPP) frameworks with our member states. All member countries are eligible for sovereign loans and the criteria is to demonstrate viable housing programmes with clear off-take schemes. Zimbabwe has already availed the Term Sheet in this regard, which is at negotiation stage.
TR: Zimbabwe has assumed chairmanship of Shelter Afrique, what does that mean to the bureau?
KM: We are delighted for Zimbabwe’s assumption to the Shelter Afrique Bureau Chair because it only testifies to the solid support the Government of Zimbabwe has for Shelter Afrique to deliver on its mandate. And, on a personal note, we believe Honourable Daniel Garwe has the stature and leadership to steer SHAF to the next level given the respect and confidence African Housing Ministers have for him.
He brings on board both private- and public-sector experience as well as leadership. Therefore, we are confident and excited that the SHAF Bureau, board and management will tap into his wisdom and thus provide value to shareholders.
TR: Africa has a backlog of 56 million housing units while Zimbabwe has 1,5 million which is due to lack of funding. Kindly explain your plans to address the deficit?
KM: SHAF’s focus is on delivering affordable housing, however, the new strategy has recognised we need to go beyond that by financing social housing through sovereign loans directly to governments by way of smart PPPs.
In this way, we shall deliver scale and impact through financing of many units aimed at addressing the deficit crisis of over 50 million in addition to providing hard money, which is necessary. But the sufficient condition is also to provide intellectual capital by way of advisory services to our member states through our Centre of Excellence (CoE) desk.
We need to harness sustainable finance through Green Bonds and from Multilateral Development Financial Institutions (MDFIs) such as the African Development Bank, among others, to lend to our esteemed private sector developers, mortgage banks and sovereigns. That way, we shall begin addressing the crisis we face. And it’s achievable given the shareholders support to SHAF demonstrated at the 41st AGM.
TR: Any last words?
KM: Lastly, hats off to Hon Minister Garwe and his team for organising a wonderful and successful AGM, which was officially opened by Vice President (Constantino) Chiwenga on behalf of President ED Mnangagwa.
