By A Correspondent- Addressing a Rally in Tshovhani Stadium in Chiredzi the president thanked the political actors who are part of the dialogue and said those who were not part of the dialogue should wait for 2023 elections.
Said the President:
“We said all parties should come on the table for dialogue.There are some who did not come on the table for the dialogue. Most parties have come on board and we discuss with them on how we can move forward. Elections are held once in every five years. After five years, we go back to our political parties and seek a new mandate from the people.”
POLAD last week headlined for resolving to take the anti-sanctions calls to the western community and the UN and setting aside an $88 Million budget.
By A Correspondent- In a statement released Sunday 10 November, Zacc said, “The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission would like to advise its stakeholders and the general public that Investigations Officer, Mr. Augustine Mahwana aka Chigadzamabwe National Registration Number 26-108754-E23 0772108005 has been suspended and relieved of his official duties with effect from 1 November 2019 until further notice.
“Stakeholders and the general public are advised not to deal with him on any matters concerning the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission.”
The anti-graft body did not state the reason why Chigadzamabwe was suspended.
By A Correspondent- Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has signed a waiver that allows foreign children to enter the country without carrying additional supporting documents such as birth certificates and consent letters, the department said on Sunday.
The waiver has been applicable since Friday, after the minister’s signature, it said in a statement. This improvement in our admissions policy builds on the work the department has been doing to contribute to economic growth and investment.
As of Friday, 8 November 2019, foreign children can enter and depart the country without being required to provide birth certificates, consent letters, and other supporting documents relating to proof of parentage,” Motsoaledi said in the statement.
The department had communicated the changes to immigration officials at ports of entry and to the airline and maritime industries.
South African children were still required to provide supporting documents, in line with the requirements of the Children’s Act.
The same applied to unaccompanied foreign children, he said. Foreign children who required a visa for South Africa did not need to carry the supporting documents for inspection at a port of entry, as these would be processed together with their visa applications.
“It is significant that we have completed the policy changes in the week in which President Cyril Ramaphosa hosted the second investment conference. We anticipate that this change will have a positive impact on tourism as we approach the holiday season,” Motsoaledi said.
By A Correspondent- A four year old girl who was snatched away from her home in Bulawayo’s Emganwini suburb by a stranger has been reunited with her family after she was found in Tsholotsho.
Nosipho Ndlovu went missing on October 30 from her grandmother’s home after a destitute, Simphiwe Mlilo (21), took her on the pretext that she wanted to buy her some chips.
Mlilo was arrested on Friday after she was found with the girl in Tsholotsho.
In an interview, the mother of the girl, Ms Simelinkosi Ncube, confirmed that her child was safely back home though she could not give further details.
“We are happy she is back home and I am still traumatised by the whole incident. However, I am not at liberty to make any comments as there are some family formalities that we have to follow,” said Ms Ncube.
“We are also trying to do investigations and map a way forward and only then can we open up and share the story with members of the public”.
The family approached the state media last week seeking assistance in locating the girl who was reportedly found with no injuries.
“I’m deeply humbled by their support and thank all of them from the bottom of my heart. I sent alert messages to all the borders and contacted the police force everywhere in Zimbabwe and it worked.”
According to former ZBC DJ Ezra Sibanda, the girl’s return was a collective effort from all members of the public.
“We contacted Police Chiefs in Bulawayo, Matabeleland North and South. Three Officers under Lupane-Tsholotsho, namely, Constable Nyoni, Sergeant Sibanda & Constable Mpofu took up the case.
“On Friday afternoon they found the woman who stole the child, recovered the young girl but the woman ran away though she was finally caught.”
Narrating the family’s ordeal to the state media last week, Nosipho’s grandmother Mrs Moli Nkomo said they did not suspect that Mlilo could disappear with her grandchild.
“Simphiwe came to my house last week on Wednesday looking for Nosipho’s mother, Simelinkosi Ncube. However, she was not around.
“We know Simphiwe as she was staying with my daughter-in-law who had found her stranded in town. When she arrived here, she asked to go with Nosipho to buy airtime so that she calls her mother, I did not suspect anything. She told my granddaughter that she was going to buy her chips and she agreed to accompany her,” said Mrs Nkomo.
HARARE – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says his government will fast track visa applications for foreign doctors and nurses – opening new opportunities for over 500 Zimbabwean doctors facing the sack for demanding improved pay.
Johnson, who faces a general election next month, said the scheme would enable the National Health Service (NHS) to continue to attract the finest medical staff after Britain has left the European Union.
The Conservative Party’s new “NHS visa” will ultimately form part of the party’s planned points-based immigration system to be introduced after Brexit.
The move reflects concern within the health service that it will struggle to attract the staff it needs when Britain is outside the EU.
Under the scheme, the cost of a visa for health professionals would be halved from £928 to £464, while applicants would be guaranteed a decision within two weeks.
Applicants going to work in the NHS would receive preferential treatment with extra points under the points-based system, and no cap on numbers entering through the NHS route.
They would also be able to pay back the cost of the immigration health surcharge through their salary if the charge is not already covered by the NHS trust offering the job.
The Conservatives have already announced a fast-track visa route to attract specialists in science, engineering and technology.
Home Secretary Priti Patel said an Australian-style points-based system would allow Britain to control the numbers coming into the country while remaining open to essential professions such as nursing.
“That means the best of both worlds – attracting talent from around the world so our NHS continues to provide brilliant service while ensuring that it isn’t put under strain by opening Britain’s borders to the entire world,” she said.
Zimbabwe faces a health services calamity after the government last week sacked 211 doctors, set to rise to over 500 – a third of doctors working in public hospitals.
A strike over pay which has been ongoing since September 3 has paralysed public hospitals for two months.
The country is in the grip of a major downturn that has provoked biting shortages of fuel, medicine, and currency as well as surging prices, which doctors’ unions have said means their members are struggling to afford even the cost of transport to work.
State doctors say the value of their pay shrank 15-fold over the past year.
The doctors last month defied a court order to return to their wards, rejecting a pay rise offered by the government that they said failed to meet everyday costs.
With the government playing hardball with the doctors, an exodus that would leave Zimbabwean hospitals in a parlous state could be on the horizon, with the United Kingdom the likely destination.
Last year, Britain cancelled 79,000 operations because of staff shortages and equipment failures, according to official data. Vacancies continue to put the health service under strain, with the NHS reporting last year it was short of 100,000 staff including, 10,000 doctors and 35,000 nurses.
By A Correspondent- The National roads administrator has shown 30 cashiers the door on fraud and theft allegations.
The cashiers were all allegedly involved in scams involving 4 tollgates and the supervisors and police officers manning those tollgates are reportedly involved in the scams.
The ZINARA CEO confirmed the story to a local publication and said:
The dismissed cashiers have been using various methods to steal from the organisation, which included punching registration numbers of exempted vehicles on non-exempted ones.
They would punch details of exempted cars on any other vehicles without exemption. The system would automatically record that an exempted car has passed, when cameras showed that it was actually another vehicle not on exemption.
However, during the congestion moment, cashiers would be collecting cash from motorists by opening the boom gate manually. This allowed some vehicles to just pass through without being issued with receipts,
ZINARA is suspecting that it might have lost millions due to activities similar to this which may never be unearthed. However, ZINARA has been rocked with scandals of different nature in the past few years.
By A Correspondent- A teacher at Premier High School in Bulawayo has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for rap_ing a 12-year-old pupil that he was coaching English extra lessons.
Shadreck Kantsholo (47) from Pumula South suburb rap_ed the minor at her home.
Kantsholo pleaded not guilty to a rap_e charge before Western Commonage magistrate Ms Sibongile Marondedze who convicted him due to overwhelming evidence.
The magistrate sentenced Kantsholo to 15 years in prison and suspended five years on condition that he does not commit a similar offence within the next three years.
Kantsholo said: “I’m so shocked that I’m being charged with rap_e of all things imaginable! When the police came to arrest me, I thought it’s for some relish that I didn’t pay for. I never rap_ed the girl; I just went to their home to teach her English.”
For the State, Ms Samantha Gubede said the teacher committed the crime on September 22 at around 1PM.
“While the complainant’s parents had gone to church, during an English lesson, the accused person went behind the minor, stretched his arms and f0ndled her brea_sts and pressed her against a table,” she said.
The court heard that he undressed and ordered the minor to take off her clothes. He rap_ed her but stopped after noticing that the door was open.
Ms Gubede said when the teacher was about to rap_e her again, the minor bolted through the front door and alerted neighbours who came to her rescue.
The minor was referred to Mpilo Central Hospital for examination.
The complainant’s father reported the matter to the police leading to Kantsholo’s arrest.
Correspondent|Zimbabwe has suspended imports of livestock and meat from South Africa for the second time this year after an outbreak of foot and mouth in the north of South Africa the agriculture ministry said on Friday.
The agriculture ministry said in a statement that it had been notified by South African veterinary services that the latest outbreak had been identified at a farm in Limpopo province, close to the border with Zimbabwe. Importation of live cattle, goats, sheep and pigs and related products have been suspended as authorities seek to identify the virus strain and extent of the outbreak. “The suspension of imports from South Africa is a precautionary measure designed to prevent the spread of the infection into Zimbabwe,” the ministry said.
Zimbabwe joins Botswana and Eswatini in suspending meat imports from South Africa following the outbreak of the highly contagious foot and mouth disease.
State Media|HIGHLANDERS’ man-of-the-moment Prince Dube returned from suspension to score a beautiful curler as the resurgent giants stormed into the Chibuku Super Cup final.
Bosso will face Ngezi Platinum Stars in the final.
Bosso were under siege for the better part of the first half, but scored on their first attempt at goal in the 35th minute when ZPC Kariba switched off.
A quick counter attack saw Dube receiving a pass from Tinashe Makanda on the right wing, cut inside and bend the ball with his weaker left foot, beating a diving ZPC Kariba goalkeeper Takabva Mawaya.
It was a quality goal by Dube; something for the archives, almost reminiscent of yesteryear goals by Arsenal legend Thierry Henry.
When referee of the day Hardly Ndazi blew the final whistle, multitudes of Bosso fans, who braved the light rain, were in a joyous mood and took the party to the city centre as well as amusement spots.
For Highlanders’ coach Hendrik Pieter de Jongh, whose stock continues to rise with each game, it was a sweet victory, something that the club deserved.
“We deserve to be in the final,” De Jongh declared boldly.
To the Dutchman, it didn’t matter that Highlanders had to grind victory, as they played second fiddle to their opponents.
“I’m very happy that we are in the final. It doesn’t matter that we didn’t play that good because what we wanted was to be in the final. We scored at the right time, at the perfect time,” said De Jongh.
“We deserve to be in the final because we beat Dynamos away in the first round (1-0) and also beat FC Platinum (3-0) in the quarter-finals.”
Dube has scored in every stage of the tournament, getting the solitary goal against Dynamos, chipping in with another when they eliminated FC Platinum.
“That goal is something we do at training. We practice to score from outside the box,” De Jongh said.
Highlanders had survived early scares from ZPC Kariba, who got four free-kicks from the edge of Bosso box in the opening 15 minutes, but Munyaradzi Kunyarimwe and Talent Chamboko took turns to waste the set pieces.
ZPC Kariba did well to suffocate Highlanders’ midfield, with former Chicken Inn holding midfielder Brian Juru bossing the middle of the park, ably supported by Collen Muleya, Daniel Chakupe and Godwill Gwara.
The electricity generators pinned Highlanders in their own half, but failed to trouble Bosso keeper Ariel Sibanda.
To their credit, Highlanders defended well, with Peter Muduhwa keeping veteran forward Tawanda Nyamandwe under lock, while the midfield trio of Nqobizitha Masuku, Adrian Silla and Brian Banda tried to keep up with their opponents.
Dube and Makanda tried to run into the visitors’ defence, but the weakest link in Highlanders’ starting 11 was Denzel Khumalo, who failed to justify his selection as he overworked his teammates, while lazing around on the pitch.
A minute into the second-half Talent Chamboko shot straight at Sibanda after being set up by Nyamandwe.
Muleya blew a golden opportunity to draw level in the 59th minute by shooting wide, with acres of space in front of him inside the box.
Makanda then rattled the cross bar in the 75th minute, with Mawaya beaten.
Then came a moment of madness by ZPC Kariba’s Ian Nekati, who elbowed Highlanders’ winger Godfrey Makaruse in a desperate effort to stop the speedster. Ndazi showed him a straight red card.
ZPC Kariba coach Godfrey Tamirepi said: “In all fairness we gave a really good account of ourselves in this game. I think from the onset my guys did very well in all aspects of the game. In the first half, Highlanders came at us, but they did not create many chances. But we had a lapse in concentration in the switch of play and were caught napping and Highlanders capitalised on that.”
Teams
ZPC
Kariba:
Takabva Mawaya, Ian Nekati, Munyaradzi Kunyarimwe, Boid Mutukure, James Marufu, Brian Juru (Tinotenda Chiunye, 71st minute), Daniel Chakupe (Tsepo Ranthokoane, 61st minute), Collen Muleya, Tawanda Nyamandwe, Godwill Gwara (Kinga Nasama, 61st minute), Talent Chamboko
Highlanders: Ariel Sibanda, McClive Phiri, Mbongeni Ndlovu, Andrew Mbeba, Peter Muduhwa, Nqobizitha Masuku, Adrian Silla, Brian Banda, Denzel Khumalo (Godfrey Makaruse, 80th minute), Prince Dube, Tinashe Makanda (Bukhosi Sibanda, 90th minute)
Correspondent|CONSTRUCTION of a mausoleum at the National Heroes Acre in Harare which was meant for the burial of former President Robert Mugabe is currently underway.
Construction work started in September, as a special honour to the country’s founding President, who has already been buried at his rural home Kutama, Zvimba, at the insistence of his family. At the time of Mugabe’s burial on September 28, Government had started working on a mausoleum the family had earlier requested.
The former President’s two sons, Robert Jnr and Chatunga, were part of those who went to identify the site. Government conferred special honour on Mugabe and decided to construct the mausoleum at the hilltop at the National Heroes Acre.
In an interview yesterday, National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe (NMMZ) executive director Dr Godfrey Mahachi confirmed construction of the project was currently underway.
“The construction of the mausoleum at the national shrine is currently underway, but we do not have much details pertaining to the project, since it is still under the Department of Public Works.
“There were people on site yesterday (Saturday), meaning the construction of the mausoleum is on course.
“I talked to our curator who works at the National Heroes Acre this morning and he advised us that the Department of Public Works is handling all issues to do with the project,” said Dr Mahachi.
In addition, Dr Mahachi said the mausoleum will only be handed over to National Museums and Monuments once complete.
“After the project has been completed it will then be handed over to the National Museums and Monuments department. This is what we have been advised by the Department of Public Works,” he said.
A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people.
John Cena says he chose to embrace Sho Madjozi’s hit song.
TimesLive|American wrestler John Cena has been praised for embracing SA rapper Sho Madjozi, after he apparently refused to sue the star for making a song named after him.
The star recently appeared on A Little Late With Lilly Singh, where he spoke about the song’s success.
When asked how he knew about it, he said he had learnt about it through social media and messages from people concerned that she was mocking him or using his name for clout.
“So I woke up one day, flooded with messages like, ‘man, you need to check out this link, you need to check this out right now. This girl is singing about you.’ I said, ‘that’s great’, and they said, ‘no it’s not, this girl is making fun of you, she’s using you in a song, you’ve got to stop this’.”
John said while there were calls for him to take legal action against Sho for copyright infringement, he was impressed with her.
“So, it’s two schools of thought. Yes, she’s mentioning my name and referencing what I do for a living, and I could easily be like, ‘yo, that’s IP copyrighting’ or I could say, ‘wow, she is a South African artist and my contribution at WWE has sparked creative inspiration to someone halfway across the world’. She can do whatever she wants.”
John said he doesn’t take himself too seriously and, to show support for Sho, posted her picture on his Instagram account to acknowledge her and her work.
“WWE kind of wanted me to issue a statement about it, but I didn’t want to take away her efforts and I didn’t want to make it about me. So I posted a picture of her basically saying I see you and I won’t interrupt your flow here. You have a great song and just know that I am watching you and I’m grateful.”
The wrestler also announced that the song will be featured in his new film, Playing With Fire, as part of his character’s early-morning ritual.
The endorsements came just hours after he surprised the star during her performance of the song on The Kelly Clarkson Show, sending her into a fit of excitement.
Meanwhile, fans were over the moon with John’s decision to celebrate Sho and flooded social media TLs with praise for the star.
Paul Nyathi|ZANU-PF recorded an outright victory in the Tsholotsho and Hwedza Rural District Council by-elections held at the weekend.
The ruling party retained council seats in Tsholotsho Rural District Council’s Ward 16 and 20.
In Ward 20 Zanu PF candidate Tshoni Mkandla polled 414 votes beating MDC Alliance’s Mazithulela Khupe who came a distant second with a paltry 21 votes.
In Tsholotsho’s Ward 16, Zanu-PF’s Isaac Moyo polled 623 votes to beat his rival Soul Ncube from the opposition MDC Alliance who got 147 votes.
The party also won a council by-election held on the same day in Wedza, Mashonaland East.
The ruling party’s Matabeleland North chairperson, Richard Moyo, commended the party leadership in the province, saying the victory was a show of confidence in President Mnangagwa’s leadership.
“Our victory in the two wards in Tsholotsho is a clear sign that the electorate still has confidence in our President and the party despite the economic challenges in the country. However, we would like to assure our people that the Zanu-PF led Government is people oriented and we are in the process of addressing the challenges facing the nation,” he said.
MDC Alliance’s Matabeleland North provincial deputy chairperson Jabulani Hadebe accused the ruling party of vote buying and intimidation.
The Tsholotsho by-elections were called after Zanu-PF expelled the sitting councillors on charges of embezzling Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources (Campfire) funds.
Matabeleland North Provincial Elections Officer Mr Mark Ndlovu said the by elections in the two Tsholotsho council wards were conducted in a peaceful manner.
The latest victory for Zanu-PF in by-elections held post the 2018 harmonised elections, comes barely three months after the ruling party retained the Mangwe, Lupane East National Assembly seats, two wards in Bubi and Nkayi districts and Masvingo North Ward 1 council seat.
The ruling party has also won in Nyanga, Bikita, Bulawayo and Masvingo, with MDC Alliance managing to win only the recently held Glen View South National Assembly by-election.
Cain Mathema tying the knot with a college student
Paul Nyathi|Newly appointed Education Minister, Cain Mathema is faced with am immediate dilemma of solving the issue of high students drop out from schools, particularly girls, throughout the country.
Mathema whose appointment to the Education Ministry has been highly condemned by critics is himself a victim of dicing with girls still of school going age.
He hit headlines in 2016 when he married 23 year old Bathabetsoe Nare his current wife while she was a university student who was an intern at his offices.
Mathema reportedly left his first wife for a house helper, whom he married customarily in 2009. The maid was only 20-years-old at the time. He later left her for Nare after her met her while she was on attachment at a government complex in Bulawayo in 2014.
About 20 400 pupils in the country dropped out of primary school in 2018, some after being married off, statistics by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) have shown.
The Government has since put in place measures to ensure every child has access to education.
Reasons for dropping out vary but the most dominant are financial constraints and absconding, which accounted for 15 919 drop outs. “Reasons for dropping out include absconding, death, expulsion, illness, marriage, pregnancy and financial constraints. A total of 9 200 pupils absconded school under unclear circumstances and 6 717 dropped out due to financial challenges,” read the report.
“About 1 154 pupils died during the same year and 2 164 dropped out due to other reasons which were not specified during data capturing. A total of 112 students were expelled while 180 dropped out of school due to early and unintended pregnancy and an additional 231 dropped after they were married off.”
According to Unesco, 624 primary school pupils dropped out of school due to illness.
“According to the statistics, about half the boys who dropped out had just absconded from school compared to girls. Of the total figure of pupils who dropped out of primary school in 2018, boys accounted for 11 070,” read the report.
In an interview, former Primary and Secondary Education Minister Professor Paul Mavima said Government was already working towards addressing the challenge.
“First, I believe some pupils end up dropping out because of the ignorance of their parents and guardians. According to Government policy, no child should be excluded from school due to non-payment of school fees and we have since reinforced that in the new Education Amendment Bill,” said Prof Mavima.
He reminded members of the public that the Government runs the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM) which is still operational to help the less privileged.
“It’s the duty of every parent and guardian to ensure that less privileged children have access to free basic education. School heads are also obligated to ensure that no child is sent home for non-payment of fees as we have programmes like BEAM to cater for those with challenges,” the Minister said.
According to Prof Mavima, the countrywide school feeding programme was rolled out so that children do not drop out due to hunger or poverty challenges.
“The Government has since provided resources to cater for the protein component of the feeding scheme which includes beans, soya chunks and cooking oil. Yes, we were having challenges with the programme due to grain shortages but it is improving and we are happy that some schools are sourcing the grain through various partnerships,” he said.
Prof Mavima urged schools to use their resources to source grain while Government works on providing resources so that pupils have enough food during lessons.
He said schools that afford to roll out the feeding programme without assistance from the Government should go ahead so that the number of drop outs is reduced.
“Besides these programmes, we recently launched a programme meant to end early and unintended pregnancies as these account for a lot of drop outs in both primary and secondary schools. Together with our partners we are confident that when these projects are fully implemented, the number of drop outs will go down,” said Prof Mavima.
At least four people were seriously injured at Morgan Tsvangirai House, the MDC headquarters in Harare, in a suspected ugly intra-party violence on Saturday.
Property worth thousands of dollars, including a vehicle belonging to party National Executive Member Douglas Mwonzora, was damaged.
The violence took place while the party’s Standing Committee, chaired by President Nelson Chamisa, was holding a meeting at the headquarters.
Sources within the party yesterday said the fight erupted after supporters aligned to Mr Mwonzora came to the head office after they got wind that youths sympathetic to Mr Chamisa wanted to stop the former secretary-general from attending the crucial meeting.
Mr Mwonzora has been in the eye of a storm within the party for his outspokenness and calling for an extraordinary congress to select new leadership after the High Court nullified the appointment of Mr Chamisa and Engineer Elias Mudzuri as co-vice presidents three years ago.
This follows an application by the party’s Gokwe district organising secretary, Mr Elias Mashavire, challenging the decision by the late MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai to unilaterally hand-pick party leadership ahead of others in the contest to succeed him.
Since then, Mwonzora has been accused of working with former vice president Dr Thokozani Khupe, who is now leading a splinter party — MDC-T.
At least three party activists and a passer-by were left injured at Harvest House and filed reports of assault with the police.
Police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi confirmed the skirmishes and said investigations were in progress.
“We have received reports on intra-party political violence at Harvest House on Saturday. Youths aligned to different factions clashed and left some injured. We have four people who have filed reports of assault including a passer-by who was caught in the crossfire,” said Asst Comm Nyathi.
“We have one Bernard Nyaika, aged 35, who made a report of assault. Other people who filed reports are Neighbour Login Masale and one Blessed Mushonga, and a passer-by who was caught in the crossfire. As police we are carrying out thorough investigations to establish what took place on the day in question.”
Last week, Mr Mwonzora launched a scathing attack on the party leadership accusing them of paying youths to issue “irresponsible statements”.
Showbiz Reporter| The man who together with Jah Prayzah have us the 3 million hit “Mweya Mutsvene Nditakure” has done it again and this time with a blasting Chamunyurududu.
Announcing the heavy sound, Sebastian Magacha, had the following to say:
“Today is an exciting and emotional day for me.
“So much has happened but I am so grateful to God because he has remained faithful in my life.
“I know many of my fans and followers have kept me in prayer and you have been patient while I took some time off, thank you, you are loved and appreciated.
“I am pleased to present to you my new song CHAMUNYURUDUDU and the official video available on my VEVO account MagachaSabastianVEVO.
“This is the first of many amazing songs and videos that my team and I have been working on over the last few months! I can safely say, Sabastian Magacha is officially back! Please Check it out, Share and Subscribe! “
Chamunyurududu is available on iTunes, please see link below!
Tell Zim|MDC national vice chairperson Job Sikhala, who is battling subversion charges and last week had his case moved from the Bikita Magistrates’ Court to Masvingo High Court, has said he will not be cowed into silence by President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration.
The fiery opposition leader said his party will take the offensive to Zanu PF leader Emmerson Mnangagwa’s doorstep.
Sikhala, who addressed an impromptu rally outside the Bikita Magistrates’ Court after his court appearance last week, said he knew the law very well and was convinced he did not commit any crime.
He claimed that what he is alleged to have said about removing Mnangagwa from power was within his rights.
“I am not just the accused person but I am one of the best and most brilliant lawyers in this country. I am not bothered at all about this process. In authoritarian and tyrannical systems that are founded on abuse of the rule of law and constitutionalism, this is very common.
“There is nothing to be surprised about because our regime, like its sister regimes of the past, try to survive on the use of various institutions of the State to thwart any form of perceived or real threat to their grip on power,” said Sikhala.
Sikhala declared that Zanu PF could silence any other person but not him, saying he was prepared to die fighting for the freedom of the people of Zimbabwe.
“You can silence other people but not Job Sikhala. A person like me will never be silenced, there will be blood. We are prepared to die for the freedom of the people of Zimbabwe.
“Just like the great military commander Josiah Tongogara, who died fighting for the freedom of our people, Job Sikhala is prepared to die. This generation of today has its own liberation fighters in the form of Advocate Nelson Chamisa and Job Sikhala.
“If they think they will cow us into submission, they are mistaken because this is the beginning and we are now coming for them. Hokoyo Mnangagwa! We will never be afraid. We shall keep demanding the freedom of our people. As long as our people are suffering we will never be silenced,” said Sikhala.
He said Mnangagwa did not care about the suffering masses as he lives an extravagant lifestyle hiring private jets from Dubai to fly him even on local trips to the tune of millions of dollars.
“We have relatives who are teachers whose salaries cannot even buy underwear but we have a President who spends millions hiring private jets. People have no jobs and we will not be silent about it.
“The use of the judiciary for purposes of settling political scores has never been a sustainable strategy in several jurisdictions including our own during the period of Ian Smith. Command justice is only applied by people who lack confidence on how to manage the state of affairs.
“Since the coup in November 2017, we noticed excessive use of military and police power to abuse citizens of our country. We will keep fighting for our people. Even Smith never thought one day he would be removed from power but it happened,” said Sikhala.
Sikhala rallied people to throng the Masvingo High Court on January 27 to send a message to President Mnangagwa that he will not subvert the will of the people.
“We need to flood the High Court on January 27. We need thousands of our supporters to come and make a statement that we stand with our leaders when they are demanding our freedom and our liberation. Musi wa27 hakudyiwi kuMasvingo,” said Sikhala.
Sikhala found himself in trouble with the law in July while campaigning for the Bikita East Ward 30 local authority by-election when he allegedly said that he would remove President Mnangagwa from power.
MDC national youth secretary for information and publicity Steven ‘Sakorzy’ Chuma said the Zanu PF government needed to be removed from power ‘because it has caused immense suffering in the country’.
State Media|THIRTY Zimbabwe National Road Administration (Zinara) cashiers have been fired for fraud and theft .
This comes after the authority uncovered systematic scams at four tollgates involving cashiers, supervisors and police officers manning the gates.
The loot was shared with everyone involved, from the supervising tollgate controllers down to the cleaners on an agreed hierarchy scale.
Fourteen of the fired cashiers were based at Skyline tollgate along the Harare-Masvingo Highway, while the other 16 were from Dema, Shurugwi and Shamva tollgates.
Investigations are now moving to other tollgates.
At the Shamva tollgate, the stupidity of a cashier made discovery easy.
This crook used the registration number of an exempt diplomatic car to let another 46 vehicles through in just one week, pocketing the $460 in fees paid by unsuspecting drivers.
But records show that the diplomatic car went through the gate one-way 46 times, and never returned in the opposite direction, raising suspicion and making detection easy.
Zinara now suspects it might have lost millions of dollars over the years if fraud was as widespread and as sophisticated as is feared.
Even some police officers deployed at tollgates for security reasons were sucked into the scam.
On a “good day” a cashier and a police officer could each pocket more than $200.
In the latest disciplinary actions, some cashiers have only been transferred to other tollgates, possibly because there was inadequate proof.
It is only recently that Zinara has installed systems that allow proper auditing of tollgates.
Investigations by The Herald showed that the cashiers were sold out by the sophisticated control system which showed videos and registration numbers for all vehicles that pass through the gates daily.
A mismatch between the punched registration numbers and the plates on the actual vehicles that passed through the gate, were noted by the system, prompting the security company to compile reports for Zinara’s attention.
The previous leadership reportedly did not act on the reports, but that changed with the new board chaired by Mr Michael Madanha, who acted on the report.
Zinara’s acting chief executive officer Mr Suston Muzenda confirmed the corrupt activities by employees.
“The dismissed cashiers have been using various methods to steal from the organisation, which included punching registration numbers of exempted vehicles on non-exempted ones,” he said.
“They would punch details of exempted cars on any other vehicles without exemption. The system would automatically record that an exempted car has passed, when cameras showed that it was actually another vehicle not on exemption.”
Mr Muzenda said cashiers also took advantage of busy times of the day where they manually opened boom gates as a way of “easing” traffic congestion.
“However, during the congestion moment, cashiers would be collecting cash from motorists by opening the boom gate manually. This allowed some vehicles to just pass through without being issued with receipts,” he said.
One of the fired cashiers, who was based at Skyline tollgate (name withheld), narrated how they milked Zinara using the manual payment system.
He disclosed that each cashier would contribute a fixed amount, which will be shared among other workers like police officers and cleaners who had no access to cash.
“All cashiers were instructed through their senior cashiers from the tolling controller that they had to subscribe on daily basis and the proceeds were to benefit everyone providing manpower at the tollgate.
“At the end of every shift, each cashier would contribute money, which could have been left by motorists.
Cashiers also contributed money from Point of Sale (POS) machine settlements which would not have been receipted.”
The senior cashier, according to the report, would get $25 from each cashier, pocketing $100 a shift. The tolling controller would also get $25 from each cashier every shift and he would control three toll gates at once.
Drivers and cleaners would get $5 and $3 respectively from each cashier.
In August, the Government increased toll fees and other traffic related fees, light motor vehicles now pay $10 from $2, mini buses $15 from $3, buses $20 from $4 heavy vehicles $25 from $5 and haulage trucks $50 from $10.
“However, following the fees increase, subscriptions were also increased with senior cashiers pocketing $300 per shift and the tolling controller getting at least $600 per shift,” reads the report.
The Shamva cashier (name withheld) who used an exempt diplomatic vehicle’s details on 46 occasions in a short space of time, ran out of luck when the system captured pictures and videos of the actual vehicles that passed.
In most occasions, the cashier would record details of the diplomatic vehicle yet a haulage truck would have passed, and then she would pocket the $50 per passage.
A similar case of abuse of exempt registration numbers was detected at Shurugwi tollgate, and the report was handed over to Zinara.
Allegations also arose that supervisors who have been trained to observe odd tolling transactions from the back office at every site seemed to be compromised in executing their duties.
The Herald visited the security company, Univern Enterprises, where the organisation’s chief executive officer Mr Phil Mushosho confirmed that the system picked anomalies and the rot at various toll gates.
He said various mechanisms are being put in place to plug loopholes.
“Our system is capable of picking up these anomalies. It can also report back information which can be used for auditing purposes.
“We are aware that these cashiers have been using various methods to pocket Zinara money. They were actually caught on camera,” he said.
Mr Mushoshe said there was need to ensure efficient back-up power supply for continuity even during power cuts to avoid manual operations, prone to abuse.
Paul Nyathi|The biggest question on most motorists’s mouths at the moment is how much they will be parting with by festive season to buy a litre of fuel.
Fuel was selling at $1.05 at the beginning of the year and has been going up almost on a weekly basis surging towards the $20 per litre terrifying price.
The Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) yesterday announced fuel price increases of 11 cents and 10 cents for petrol and diesel, respectively.
The price of petrol which was at $16,66 per litre is now $16,77, while diesel is now $17,53, up from $17,43 per litre.
According to the authority, the price changes are due to the FOB (Free on Board) price movement and the revised duty regime.
Zera said operators may, however, sell at prices below the cap depending on their trading advantages.
ZRP Anti Riot officers attending the accident scene
Paul Nyathi|Anti Riot police in full gear were yesterday dispatched to attend an accident scene involving a contracted ZUPCO Bus and a train in Harare.
Pictures from the accident scene show members of the police Support Unit in their anti riot head gear with button sticks attending to the accident scene not officers from the Traffic Section within the police force.
20 passengers onboard the overcrowded bus contracted to ZUPCO were critically injured after the bus was hit by a train at Lytton Road rail crossing in Harare.
The injured people were ferried to Harare Hospital where no doctors were not available to attend to them.
Government last week fired over two hundred doctors following a sixty day industrial action.
State run Sunday Mail revealed details on the accident in an official Tweet on Sunday.
A bus contracted to ZUPCO which plies the City – Southlands route was hit by a train after the driver failed to stop at the Lytton Road rail crossing in Harare. The bus was overloaded and over 20 passengers were injured and ferried to Harare Hospital – Pictures by Kuda Hunda pic.twitter.com/7Ex7vpqtwg
The bus which plies the City –Southlands route collided with the train after the driver failed to stop at the rail crossing. Most of the old buses contacted to ZUPCO visible look road unworthy.
Finance ministry permanent secretary George Guvamatanga
Finance ministry permanent secretary George Guvamatanga has revealed that the government is not considering removing the 2% tax on mobile transactions despite criticism that it is fuelling inflation.
The government collects an average of $100 million every month through the tax, which was declared illegal by the High Court in September.
Guvamatanga (GG) told Alpha Media Holdings chairman Trevor Ncube (TN) on the platform In Conversation with Trevor that assessments by the government had shown that assertions that the tax was causing price instability on the market were not true.
The former banker also spoke about the state of the economy, command agriculture and the austerity measures, among other issues. Below is an excerpt from the interview.
TN: You have moved from the private sector as the managing director of Barclays Bank, being the president of the Bankers’ Association of Zimbabwe, you are now in government, how has that transition been to you?
GG: Actually, it is just over a year since I crossed over from the private sector to government, and it has been a very good experience, which is quite different from a narrow view within the banking sector where all you need is to create value for one or a couple of shareholders.
The difference now is that in government, you need to make value for 14 million shareholders and that’s the biggest difference.
So you are not only looking at one issue, aspect or one sector.
There is need to take full consideration that there are over 14 million shareholders whom you have to please all the time — that is the difference. TN: What’s been your biggest surprise coming into this job?
GG: My biggest surprise is everything that you hear about people in government not working.
You need to carry an extra jacket on your chair so that when you leave your office to your other activities, it would appear that you were in the office.
People actually work and there are lots of professional individuals in government, who are highly qualified, dedicated and committed people.
There is actually better structure in government than you would find in the private sector in terms of governance and guidance.
You have the executive, legislature and Parliament and that is why at times you will find, when things are not well sometimes we have to answer to Parliament.
This is very different from the private sector where you sit with your board and sign a resolution and you are done.
Government is very different as the structure that is there is much more pronounced than in the private sector.
For me that has been a great surprise when I noticed that there is much better structure, more policies, guidance and most of the leadership is not discretionary. So the room for discretion in government is very narrow than what you would find elsewhere.
TN: You are filling big shoes really where there has been big men before you like the late Charles Kuwaza and the late Elisha Mushayakarara. These were men that were feared and were bigger than life. I hear whispers that you are the same. People are scared of George, is that true?
GG: I wouldn’t say that I am feared or that my preference is to be feared. My preference is to be supported.
However, what people are supposed to understand as well is that I am the treasurer of the country.
Technically, I could be the de facto financial director for the country. If you are a CEO and you find that your finance director is liked by everyone, then he is not doing the job because he would have to manage very limited resources and manage them well and there are various conflicting and competing demands.
Sometimes there comes a delegation of 20 and I would have said 10 and it will be 10.
Something comes and we believe that it is not the best value for the use of government resources and we say no, this is not the way we are going to deal with this. You, therefore, become unpopular. But you see it is not a populist contest.
I have said that if you are sitting on a budget and I need departments and ministries who are saying they are the best men who have to control the budget, I think we have got a problem.
TN: Let’s move on to the Transitional Stabilisation Programme (TSP), is it still on track?
GG: I will say largely it is still on track by understanding what we want to achieve with the TSP. The major achievement we wanted was fiscal consolidation. We wanted to be able to control deficit. We were running deficits, which were in double figures and government sometimes could pay the civil servants two months late.
So we needed to address those issues and make sure that we lived within our means.
We also wanted to contain the trade deficit or trade gap that was also running away.
Those were two of the major objectives of the TSPs to say how do we stabilise the economy and we have managed to achieve that.
The budget deficit for 2019 will definitely come in single digits and we have narrowed the trade deficit from around $1,7 billion or $1,8 billion previously to around $300 million to $400 million, which to us were the major objectives of the TSPs.
The other major objectives of the TSPs was actually to slowly deal with structural issues that were there in the market.
Some subsidies that we were running in the market like for fuel, power and grain, much as we are aware that these reforms are very difficult on our people, it does not necessarily mean that this is the wrong thing to do, but actually the right thing to do.
We are particularly cognisant of the impact on our people and how do we then alleviate the difficulties and the challenges facing our people?
That is why we have come up with various social protection nets to make sure that while we carry out reforms, we make sure that we do protect the more vulnerable members of society.
TN: Then tell me about fuel. Are you no longer subsidising fuel as a fact?
GG: With the move of the last price change on Monday, oil companies buying fuel are doing so at the interbank rate.
The subsidising rate is gone, so there is no longer any subsidy.
Anyone who is saying that people are benefitting and there is cross movement of money, that is gone and we have dealt with that.
TN: The other issue you raised were the social safety nets. Which are the key social safety nets that you have come up with so that people deal in a sort of comfortable way with the austerity that they have to face?
GG: We have sort of always run a harmonised cash transition programme to identify vulnerable groups in our society.
We have also run other programmes like (the Basic Education Assistance Module) Beam, which is really to support in the education sector. In the past we used to run into arrears but we have made sure that given the difficulties that people are facing, the expense on the social side is always met. People might actually be surprised that government pays out cash to certain members of society.
That amount would range from anything from about $85 upwards per person.
On the global figure what we have spent on the protection excluding grain and everything else goes in excess of $543 million, an amount as government we have spent to make sure that we protect the vulnerable members of society.
It is also part of our (Staff Monitoring Programme) SMP where there is a social protection target, which we have met.
TN: You said that the TSP has largely succeeded, then what have been the failures?
GG: The failures have been around inflation. We are out of the inflation target and we are also out of our reserve money target.
The growth of money supply has been much larger than what we expected or planned for.
Those two areas have actually been failures and we now need to go back on track and deal with those as well.
TN: What have been the reasons for those two failures?
GG: When we came up with the TSP we did not factor in the drought, we still believed that we would have a good season.
We did not factor in Cyclone Idai and we did not even consider that because our power is largely generated off water and that if you have a drought then you do not have water at Kariba Dam, which is currently at 19% capacity.
Because of that the electricity generation also went down and when it did, productivity came down.
So we have had to deal with three major shocks and trying to manage those shocks also created its own challenges and then resulted in certain aspects and TSPs getting off target.
TN: Finance minister Mthuli Ncube has spoken about command agriculture becoming smart agriculture. Explain to us what the difference is between the two.
GG: I will also link that to the TSP because one of the elements is that we talk about a market-led economy where we want to reduce government’s involvement in the market. When we talk about the market-led economy despite the price madness that we are seeing now, government has never come in with price controls even when we have seen how wild market players have been.
As part of the TSP we sincerely believe that the market should lead the economy.
The transition or the movement from how we now fund agriculture is that rather than government funding directly through injection of money and treasury bills, we have said to the banks, we will give you guarantees. Play your traditional role as banks.
We are working with CBZ, Women Empowerment Bank and we are working with Agribank and all the others that are now coming on stream.
TN: There is always a question to ask, why those banks?
GG: Those were the first ones to react and the others wanted to get a feel of how this would look and now that they have seen it is working because to date working with the partners that I have already alluded to we have enrolled and funded half the contracted hectrage for 2019 and 2020.
TN: What is the quantum in terms of the money that the government has provided?
GG: At the moment, our partners have actually disbursed money off their liquidity while we finalise on the numbers.
To date, we almost have a billion disbursed into agriculture through smart agriculture.
We have got another scheme and there is always confusion around agriculture schemes, we have got the command agriculture, where people actually have to borrow and have to repay and they do repay.
I was looking at the numbers for the 2018-2019 season, we have actually had the highest repayments despite the fact that we have a drought and I will explain why this is so.
We have already received about $105 million to $120 million of repayments from last season, which account for about 20-25% of the total disbursement.
As a banker, 25 % is still not good enough but it is better than nothing and, therefore, it is not a free scheme because people have to repay and there is now an understanding that why did people repay faster this season, it is because now we have moved to the banks and they do not lend money to people who do not pay back.
I think all the farmers had to make the call on whether they are called or labelled a defaulting farmer and be unable to access funding from the participating bank or I pay whatever I owe now and be able to access a bigger loan for the season of 2019-2020.
TN: Clarify to this, is the traditional command agriculture dead?
GG: Yes, traditional command agriculture is dead. It is gone.
TN: No politicians behind the scenes?
GG: There is no way you can come in as a politician. There is no way because for one to be able to access the inputs, you have to go to the banking partners, open an account and be credit rated and then one is given an electronic voucher you take wherever you pick up the inputs, so you cannot go as a politician to the partners and say “I am Guvamatanga the secretary and I need money,” because you need to have a voucher and you need to have signed to the money being used.
It’s very easy for us now to reconcile the inputs distributed against the voucher because there is no room in that process for anyone to ask for money and inputs.
Command agriculture in its traditional form as we said in the TSP, is dead even in our budget as well.
TN: Let’s move on to how much, the numbers have been bandied all over, how much has been disbursed towards command agriculture — the traditional one under your watch?
GG: Under my watch, I came in when there was an outstanding amount from the previous season, which was around $71 million and that is what I signed off and it was paid. Let me explain that since inception in 2016, the total for command maize, wheat and soya is just over $900 million.
So when people come here and sit and talk amounts of $3 billion, I do not know where they are getting those figures because it’s not more than a billion since inception.
We have got another programme, which targets vulnerable members where they get 20kg of seed, 50kg of fertiliser and a little bit of chemicals — that one is not paid back.
It is for the people in the deep rural areas to secure themselves in terms of food and that has also run from 2016 up to date and it accumulated approximately $600 million since inception. For this season we have contracted over $200 million for that scheme.
TN: Who handles that amount, is it Treasury or you have contracted a company to handle that as well to give the money and seeds to the vulnerable people?
GG: In terms of the contracting and so forth we obviously have the Ministry of Agriculture taking a position and then they come to Treasury for funding and then we fund them and that is how government works.
I know there is also a name that is always thrown around. Sakunda does not participate in the presidential scheme in any way or form. In the presidential input scheme there is cotton as well in there which is actually the bigger part of that scheme, which is managed by the Cotton Company of Zimbabwe.
TN: So we have the United States ambassador making allegations around Sakunda being given $300 million, so you are basically dismissing those allegations.
GG: That’s not correct, there is an issue that is there of the legacy debt owed to Sakunda and let me explain. When we had all these schemes, government was also making a commitment with all of the suppliers that would provide them with foreign currency because what we were issuing was local currency.
For anyone who wanted to import like the fertilisers and chemicals imported and some of the equipment is imported as well and so for all of those suppliers, whether it is FSG, Sakunda e.t.c., there is not one single contractor in all these schemes. They then have to import the inputs and we had promised as government from 2016 that we would provide foreign currency and we never provided that enough foreign currency and we do have issues that we are dealing with at the moment for various players and most people are affected by what we are calling legacy debts.
As government we had unsettled foreign obligation with Sakunda. We then had to design a mechanism to settle the debts.
The issue for Sakunda became more urgent because we also wanted assistance from them.
TN: How much did you owe Sakunda?
GG: I think what we owed for the legacy debt was just over $150 million that we had not settled. We gave them the local [part], but the $150 million, they had to use their own resources and their own bankers to fund. So their own bankers were now coming to them and saying we are not giving you inputs for 2019. We are not giving you fuel because within their partners, there are also suppliers of fuel and that was going to create a grid lock and so we had to find a mechanism of bridging while we finalised on the overall legacy debt issue with them.
TN: Thank you for clarifying the issues around Sakunda. Let us move on to the spectacular collapse of the local currency end of August and September. What is your understanding of what caused that?
GG: There are various reasons, which would actually cause a currency to collapse. But let me give you facts and figures. As of today we are sitting on over US$650 million in foreign currency accounts. The money is here. We have about $150 million in cash with banks and I am not talking about cash in people’s pockets, mattresses and various other corners.
We are already on US$800 million. Then we do have over half a billion dollars of United States dollars sitting offshore for export proceeds that have not been repatriated to Zimbabwe.
If you check the trends, we normally sit on US$200 million because that is an acceptable number, as you export the money comes in, but US$500 million starts to show you a developing trend.
In total officially we are sitting on US$1,3 billion that should have come into the market but is being held for one reason or the other.
So when you now start to be holding that money to increase what you are holding, it means that what you are feeding into the market is reduced and when you reduce supply and there is demand then the rates will go up.
Let me explain another phenomenon, traditionally when we were in our best years, Zimbabwe’s currency always moved in October and November.
In fact, when I was a trader at the bank that is how I used to make money because I would create my cash flow so that in October, November and December that is when all my cash flows would actually come through because you then have your tobacco, which is one of the major sources of foreign currency in the country drying up and as you get into November and December, it will start to affect mining activities, mines flood and the mining output is reduced, but we had the impact of reduced power, which also affected gold production and we started to feel the impact during the same period.
We then have a reduction in gold, tobacco going away and an increase in demand, which normally comes from the need to fund agriculture.
We need to change that model and we are in the process of doing so. What is very interesting is that we want to fund our agriculture in August and September in foreign currency requirements during our worst foreign currency infill period.
Our best is April to July, which means that if this is an agricultural economy, we should be able to pay for our agricultural inputs.
TN: Are we changing into that now?
GG: We will be changing it. That increased demand and reduced supply naturally you would find that the rates increase because everyone will now panic and say there is no foreign currency, but foreign currency is there.
TN: We saw after that the RBZ freezing certain accounts, Sakunda being one of them. The impression given being that these entities were playing the market, is that a fact?
GG: The central bank will always deal within normal banking systems. If there is increased activity in an account, you would normally want to see what is happening within that account.
There were several accounts that were frozen by the RBZ, but the freezing of accounts does not necessarily mean that there is a problem.
Every day all the banks in this country report to reserve bank and all the transactions that are considered to be suspicious or abnormal, and every bank as part of the regulation now is supposed to have someone called an anti-money-laundering officer, which is now a requirement. We will soon be requesting that even the mobile operators have the same officer.
TN: Is there anything concrete happening in the mobile payment system and monitoring of them to ensure that there is no money laundering happening. Is there a concrete bill coming up?
GG: We are now also considering having anti-money-laundering officers within the mobile money operation systems because there has been an increase in activities there and we need to make sure there is monitoring and these things happen from time to time but they are never reported.
TN: So your answer basically is that these guys were not playing the market.
GG: No, they were not playing the market.
TN: Let’s move onto the monetary policy committee, which met last week and it looks like the interbank market is still being fine-tuned to use your words. Why is it taking so long to do this thing and why don’t we just go to the ideal situation?
GG: The ideal situation is really transparent and you need an electronic system that cannot be manipulated for you to monitor the system and that is what the RBZ governor announced. That we are actually moving to a real trading system that cannot be manipulated because there is real time.
As the market is trading, the exchange rates are monitored.
What we have heard now is that the market is trading at some kind of rate whilst the RBZ is reporting another.
Once we have an electronic platform to trade, this will increase the level of transparency, but at the moment there is so much information asymmetry in the market and that is really a recipe for inefficiency and abuse, which is what we have actually seen.
TN: Any specific time as to when the Reuters system is going to start operating?
GG: I think the central bank is working towards a time that is before the end of this year.
TN: Let us move on to whether there is a new currency that is coming out?
GG: We already have a new currency, which is specified by the law called the Zimbabwean dollar with a simple ZWL, which is the local currency. So there is no new currency that is coming in. We brought in the new currency when we introduced the local currency. What we are now simply doing is to alleviate the problem and challenge of notes and coins because when the new currency was introduced it was not supported by its own notes and coins and we adopted the bond notes and coins as a form of the physical cash to support the new currency and we are saying that the time is right to bring in notes and coins, which support the currency that is already there.
So that is what we are now simply doing by bringing in notes and coins, which are proper money. TN: So the ZWL is going to be a note that is not going to look like a bond, but will look like a new note, which formalises what has already been put in place.
GG: Yes, we will then expect that those who were trading in cash that their business is going to die and those who were actually working on having one price for cash and another one for electronic money and mobile money transfer, that will no longer work because the cash will be available in the bank, on ATMs and we want to normalise the situation again.
TN: Obviously you are not going to be telling the viewers when this is going to happen otherwise there is going to be a stampede.
GG: No, I think if there is going to be a stampede this time around, it is going to be a good one because the one that can happen now is one that as government we will be happy to see. We will be happy to see everyone now going under their mattresses and bringing our bond notes back into the banking system.
The bond note will still be working though. So I am not saying rush in buying or using it.
Initially the bond notes and the new notes will be working side by side and they will be having the same value. At some point we will cut them off and we will not tell you when we will be removing them. At some point we will decide to just to remain with the new notes and coins. We are ready for that stampede.
TN: Let us move on now to the IMF staff monitored programme, my understanding is that the scheme that was there in September is being recommended to the new managing director that the SMP should be suspended, which could be dire for this country. Is that your understanding as well?
GG: That is not my understanding of that situation. We had a team in Washington during the annual meetings, which had extensive discussions with the IMF. I think in terms of the targets, which are also public, most of them according to the SMP are on course as we have met those targets. But we were off when it comes to the inflation, reserve money and the discussions we were having with IMF were around how we can recalibrate and get back on track, but our view actually is that we want to continue with the plan as it was.
TN: So you are comfortable with the plan that you have said is on course?
GG: We are comfortable with the plan. If we need to recalibrate, it may be one or two targets but everything else we do not want to change.
We want to remain on course and continue with the SMP. The point I am making — the SMP is not some secret document, it is there on the IMF website and obviously in due time they can make an announcement in terms of how we have fared. When it comes to the performance and we do acknowledge that there were some mistakes, which the IMF was concerned about, but when you look at the overall programme if you were going to mark it, I think it’s a pass.
TN: The minister of Finance has said that austerity is behind us and that now we should brace ourselves for growth. What are some of those changes that some of us are not seeing?
GG: We have been given the weather forecast for the 2019-2020, which seems to indicate that we will have from normal to below normal rainfall in certain areas. I think that Zimbabwe being an agricultural economy, we have taken adequate measures that there is availability of inputs so that people can grow crops. We should be able to grow our food and feed ourselves for starters.
At the moment we have been derailed because we had to import food and that required forex that we could have been using for other developmental issues within the economy. So with a good rainfall and agricultural preparation, we then expect that agriculture would pick up.
But we are also then saying on power generation, which is critical for production, we are now questioning where we are going to find power on a realistic level to say even if we have good rains, Kariba can only go back to normal levels of power generation around June/July because of the inflows, which will take time.
So if that is the case, where do we get additional power so the Ministry of Energy has been working hard to make sure that we have additional power, which can support both mining and agriculture?
Once we have taken care of those issues we believe we would have created a stable platform for growth and productivity.
A commentator, Ken Mufuka, has advised Foreign Affairs minister Sibusiso Moyo against picking up a needless fight with United States of America President Donald Trump.
The remarks come after Moyo used language towards the US Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Brian Nichols, that “has been associated with Zanu PF apparatchiks, who visit opponents by night”. Wrote Mufuka:
“Trump loves a fight. If Moyo lives on planet earth, he would know that the world does not owe Zimbabwe anything and that Trump is a street fighter.
“Trump’s reaction is unpredictable. Trump is like a drunken Irishman, who joins a street fight without knowing what the fight was for. Trump can easily cut off food aid to the eight million starving Zimbabweans.
“There is really nothing called illegal sanctions. If the US refuses to trade with Zimbabwe and cuts off Visa, MasterCard and American Express Services, there is nothing we can do about it.”
Minister Moyo issued a strong-worded statement railing Nichols for blaming Zimbabwe’s economic crisis on a kleptocratic ruling elite rather than the so-called illegal sanctions.
Paul Nyathi|Two Bills, the controversial Maintenance of Peace and Order Bill (MOPA) and the Companies and Other Entities Bill are ready and now await President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s signature to start functioning.
The controversial and highly condemned MOPA seeks to repeal the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) and provide mechanisms to regulate the conduct of demonstrations.
The bill which the ruling ZANU PF party claims to open up the maximum democratic space has been tagged a reincarnation of POSA, as it still heavily limits the people’s right to demonstrate and be heard by government.
The Companies and Other Entities Bill will make business much easier by modernising the 1951 legislation.
Parliament has sent the two Bills passed by both Houses, plus the Micro-finance Amendment Bill, to the President for his assent, before they become law.
The Micro-finance Amendment Bill reduces the types of institutions that can do this business to credit-only micro financiers and deposit-taking micro financiers, omitting money-lenders.
The three Bills were passed in the last session of Parliament.
Meanwhile, President Mnangagwa on Friday conferred immunities and privileges to foreign nationals employed by the United Nations Office for Project Services.
The conferment of the privileges and immunities to the UNOPS and its foreign employees exempts them from lawsuits and legal processes and taxes and rates and other taxes on the importation of goods as is accorded to the government of any foreign State, among other benefits.
The President’s conferment of the privileges and immunities as stated in General Notice 2021 of 2019 was published in Friday’s Government Gazette in terms of the Privileges and Immunities Act (Chapter3:03).
The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission has suspended one of its investigations officers.
In a statement released Sunday 10 November, Zacc said, “The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission would like to advise its stakeholders and the general public that Investigations Officer, Mr. Augustine Mahwana aka Chigadzamabwe National Registration Number 26-108754-E23 0772108005 has been suspended and relieved of his official duties with effect from 1 November 2019 until further notice.
“Stakeholders and the general public are advised not to deal with him on any matters concerning the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission.”
The anti-graft body did not state the reason why Chigadzamabwe was suspended.
Paul Nyathi|Women’s Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Minister Dr Sithembiso Nyoni says her ministry is not recruiting, contradicting her earlier sentiment that they were failing to get people to recruit as ward development coordinators in Matabeleland North Province because the people there didn’t have the minimum five O’Level five subjects passes.
The ministry came under heavy attack after principal director in the Ministry, Air Commodore Evan Dumba (Retired) reading a contribution on her behalf told legislators during the 2019 pre-Budget seminar in Victoria Falls last week that they advertised for jobs in July and were failing to get people with just 5 O’level passes from the province.
However, Members of Parliament criticised the ministry for failing to execute its mandate.
In a statement, Minister Nyoni disassociated herself with the statement saying that there was a job freeze, hence her ministry was not recruiting as claimed by the senior official in a speech attributed to her.
“The Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development wishes to advise the public that there is currently a national recruitment freeze for the above posts.
“Treasury has not given concurrence to fill up the posts. The recruitment falls under the remit of the Public Service Commission (PSC) not the ministry. Until such concurrence has been given the posts remain frozen,” said Minister Nyoni.
Infiltration and destabilization of the people’s party will be resisted.
The MDC Youth Assembly is deeply disturbed by the provocative moves of what is visibly state sponsored violence on our party headquarters and its leadership.
While our national leaders from all the provinces were busy discussing possible solutions to the national crisis, we were all shocked that some 25 hired individuals working in cahoots with state actors attempted to divert our NEC meeting by bringing placards to demonstrate urging the party to support Zanu pf in the call for the removal of sanctions.Curiously, the hired individuals were chanting slogans calling for the readmission of Khupe into the party.
As MDC Youth Assembly we would like to give a clear warning that being the last line of defense of the party we are not going to fold our hands while our leadership and party headquarters is under attack.
Conspicuous by their absence during the skirmishes was the police who always park their vehicle adjacent to our headquarters.
As such we have every reason to believe that yesterday’s attempted attack on our party had traces of state involvement written all over.
We also have it on good authority that a NEC member working in cahoots with political renegade Rhino Mashaya organized a clandestine meeting somewhere near Africa Unit Square to ambush and attack our leadership while in a NEC meeting.
This is not the first time when this NEC member has proven beyond any doubt that he is a threat to the stability of the party, we are very much tolerant but our tolerance must not be taken for granted.
The presence of The Herald photographers embedded in company of some hired rogue youths whom we later discovered were borrowed from ZANU PF is a clear pointer that the whole thing was preconceived and pre-planned to soil the image and name of the party in the event of a respond by our youths.
As MDC Youth Assembly, we would like to make it clear that we are not going to treat those who betray in our midst with kids’ gloves. In this regard, we demand that Mr. Mwonzora be investigated on these allegations.
We also want to categorically make it clear that the leadership question within the party was resolved at our 5th elective Congress held in Gweru.
We will remain resolute in defending the party and its values.
Just like the 2018 elections, the subsequent by-elections have been marred by serious electoral malpractices.
Regrettably, several attempts by the MDC to engage ZEC, have not surprisingly, failed to any positive results.
Indeed, it is evident to the MDC, that both the by-elections in Tsholotsho and Wedza have not been spared.
Intimidation of voters through village heads continues.
A declaration of resettlement areas as no go areas for the MDC continue to stuff out right to campaign as well the right of citizens to make political choices in line with section 67 of the Constitution.
We therefore place it on record that the election environment is still characterised by closure of democratic space and abuse of state entities to the benefit of ZANUPF.
ZEC continues to look the other way where complains are raised.
Clear electoral fraud, bribery and criminal abuse of office by Obadiah Moyo was ignored, resultantly ZANUPF has found an incentive to continue on that path.
The run up to today’s by- elections at Tsholotsho was full of abuse of State institutions to ZANUPF’s advantage including biased distribution of food aid.
The long and short of it is that the by-election results will without doubt reflect a dividend of lack of holistic electoral reform.
ZEC had no capacity to run a credible election it must be disbanded, reconstituted and allow Zimbabwe to be on a new path towards a cure of the crisis of legitimacy which is causing unpalatable suffering of the masses.
It is no longer an MDC issue, but a national one; electoral reforms are urgent.
This also explains why the MDC, through its RELOAD strategy, is insisting that until comprehensive reforms are conducted; elections results will never be a true reflection of the Zimbabwean voters.
Kaizer Chiefs stand-in skipper Willard Katsande, who led his side to an entertaining 3-2 win over bitter rivals Orlando Pirates at the FNB Stadium today, says the derby comes out to who wants it more and they did.
Amakhosi beat their arch-rivals in the league for the first time since 2014 and the Zimbabwean midfielder praised his teammates for a job well-done.
Speaking to SuperSport TV after the tension-filled encounter, Katsande said:
“Derbies are always difficult, they are not based on the previous game, you can do the profiling but at the end of the day it comes down to who wants it more.”
“We did slip up a bit, conceding two goals after leading 2-0. We knew they were going to throw everything at us in search of the winener, but we kept our balance,” Katsande said.Soccer24
The MDC is totally unimpressed and unmoved by the Cabinet reshuffle. Worse still, the reshuffle means Zimbabwe now has a useless and expensive bloated Cabinet that will only prove to be a real waste of hard earned tax payers money.
It is our strong and unequivocal stance that no matter how many times the Cabinet maybe reshuffled; this will in no way make any difference to end the crisis in Zimbabwe.
Indeed, the crisis in Zimbabwe is much bigger than a mere Cabinet reshuffle.
The crisis in Zimbabwe is clearly a crisis of political legitimacy and continued bad governance as demonstrated by the ever rising high levels of corruption in the country. Zimbabwe will remain in perpetual crisis because it has a lack of visionary leadership that is derived from a popular mandate from the long suffering masses of Zimbabwe.
The people’s party remains clear and resolute in its stance that as long as the head of the Cabinet is not a popularly elected President; no amount of reshuffles will be able to turn the dire Zimbabwean situation around.
In line with its RELOAD strategy document, the MDC is very clear that the first step towards the restoration of normalcy in Zimbabwe will only happen once there is unconditional acknowledgment that there is real need of a genuine or credible all inclusive national dialogue facilitated by a neutral convenor.
The same dialogue process must also be able agree on a transitional mechanism that will facilitate the implementation of comprehensive reforms. Once this is all done, free and fair elections will then be held, that will enable Zimbabwe to have an undisputed popularly elected President.
As such, unless and until that happens first; no Cabinet reshuffle will be able to end the crisis in Zimbabwe.
MDC@20: Celebrating Courage, Growth and the People’s Victories
Daniel Molokele
National Spokesperson
Movement For Democratic Change
The MDC is totally unimpressed and unmoved by the Cabinet reshuffle. Worse still, the reshuffle means Zimbabwe now has a useless and expensive bloated Cabinet that will only prove to be a real waste of hard earned tax payers money.
It is our strong and unequivocal stance that no matter how many times the Cabinet maybe reshuffled; this will in no way make any difference to end the crisis in Zimbabwe.
Indeed, the crisis in Zimbabwe is much bigger than a mere Cabinet reshuffle.
The crisis in Zimbabwe is clearly a crisis of political legitimacy and continued bad governance as demonstrated by the ever rising high levels of corruption in the country. Zimbabwe will remain in perpetual crisis because it has a lack of visionary leadership that is derived from a popular mandate from the long suffering masses of Zimbabwe.
The people’s party remains clear and resolute in its stance that as long as the head of the Cabinet is not a popularly elected President; no amount of reshuffles will be able to turn the dire Zimbabwean situation around.
In line with its RELOAD strategy document, the MDC is very clear that the first step towards the restoration of normalcy in Zimbabwe will only happen once there is unconditional acknowledgment that there is real need of a genuine or credible all inclusive national dialogue facilitated by a neutral convenor.
The same dialogue process must also be able agree on a transitional mechanism that will facilitate the implementation of comprehensive reforms. Once this is all done, free and fair elections will then be held, that will enable Zimbabwe to have an undisputed popularly elected President.
As such, unless and until that happens first; no Cabinet reshuffle will be able to end the crisis in Zimbabwe.
MDC@20: Celebrating Courage, Growth and the People’s Victories
Daniel Molokele
National Spokesperson
Movement For Democratic Change
The new bank notes and coins that are set to be introduced into the market tomorrow are expected to ease cash shortages and save the transacting public from being charged extortionate premiums by mobile money operators when getting hard cash, President Mnangagwa has said.
The President said there is no going back on the ban of the multi-currency system.
He said no country can develop without its own currency.
The Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces made these remarks at his first anti-sanctions rally at Tshovani Stadium here yesterday.
The rally follows the Sadc-initiated anti-sanctions campaign that saw the region resolving to set aside October 25 as a day to send a message to the United States that the embargo is no longer necessary.
“Right now people are being pained by the ever increasing prices in shops, it is because we are in a transition.
“We are transitioning from the low levels and we need to resuscitate our economy.
“We have no choice but to resuscitate our economy. ln that process, we have some people who want to take advantage to profiteer.
“You were not getting money from the banks, but on Monday (tomorrow) we are going to inject more money in the banks until we reach a level where you lose appetite to go and get cash from EcoCash.
“You will simply go to the bank if you have money in your account and withdraw it to buy what you want. Right now, we are told that if you want $100 bond you should transfer $150 into an agent’s
account.
“You are losing the other $50 for nothing.
This is because there are cash shortages in the banks. We are now injecting money in the banks to correct that.”State media
The new bank notes and coins that are set to be introduced into the market tomorrow are expected to ease cash shortages and save the transacting public from being charged extortionate premiums by mobile money operators when getting hard cash, President Mnangagwa has said.
The President said there is no going back on the ban of the multi-currency system.
He said no country can develop without its own currency.
The Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces made these remarks at his first anti-sanctions rally at Tshovani Stadium here yesterday.
The rally follows the Sadc-initiated anti-sanctions campaign that saw the region resolving to set aside October 25 as a day to send a message to the United States that the embargo is no longer necessary.
“Right now people are being pained by the ever increasing prices in shops, it is because we are in a transition.
“We are transitioning from the low levels and we need to resuscitate our economy.
“We have no choice but to resuscitate our economy. ln that process, we have some people who want to take advantage to profiteer.
“You were not getting money from the banks, but on Monday (tomorrow) we are going to inject more money in the banks until we reach a level where you lose appetite to go and get cash from EcoCash.
“You will simply go to the bank if you have money in your account and withdraw it to buy what you want. Right now, we are told that if you want $100 bond you should transfer $150 into an agent’s
account.
“You are losing the other $50 for nothing.
This is because there are cash shortages in the banks. We are now injecting money in the banks to correct that.”State media
Farai Dziva|The four-year-old girl who was kidnapped by unknown assailants has been found.
This was announced by former Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation radio and television presenter Ezra Thsisa Sibanda.
See full statement below :
The 4 year old girl snatched from her house in Emganwini, Bulawayo on the 30th of October 2019 has been found well and alive in Tsholotsho.
Working with the family we unleashed a wave of searches using social media, amazing Chronicle Newspaper helped by carrying out the story and local radio presenters all sent alert messages. Im deeply humbled by their support and thank all of them from the bottom of my heart.
I sent alert messages to to all the borders and contacted police forces everywhere in Zimbabwe and it worked.
It was a collective effort from everybody and its clear when people work together, we can solve crime.
Emganwini Police were not eager to take up the case, let alone investigate but only interrogated the parents and did nothing. We contacted Police Chiefs in Bulawayo, Matabeleland North and South.
3 Officers under Lupane-Tsholotsho, namely, Constable Nyoni, Sergeant Sibanda & Constable Mpofu took up the case.
Late Friday afternoon they found the woman who stole the child, recovered the young girl but the woman ran away. She was finally caught this afternoon and remains in police custody.
Once again thank you so much for your prayers.
The big job is to help the child with proper checks from doctors, counselling and integrating her back to the same place where she was snatched.
The mother has arrived in Tsholotsho and united with her daughter. They are heading back to Bulawayo tonite. Im so relieved and excited. God is great!!!
By A Correspondent- Angry axed-security guards disrupted train travelling from Mamelodi to Tshwane station by barricading the railway line on Friday.
The guards used concrete pillars and different rubbles to prevent trains from transporting commuters to their destinations.
The disruptions affected mostly commuters using trains from Pienaarspoort in Mamelodi to Tshwane station and Joburg.
The security guards and cleaners started picketing on Monday at Pretoria Station in Tshwane demanding their jobs back after their contracts were terminated.
South African Cleaners, Security and Allied Workers Union national organiser, Andries Potsane said the security guards need their jobs back because most of them were breadwinners.
“They need their jobs nothing else. Their children suffering and struggling to cope. You can’t take some else job when you know that jobs are scarce in South Africa” he said.
He said please no one should touch other people’s jobs without having something else for them.
Potsane blamed Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) for everything that the security guards were going through.
He said that since the picketing started other security guards have failed to write their exams.
“We blame you PRASA as our leaders who should think for us,” he said.
General Industries Workers Union of South Africa’s shop steward, Lawrence Phora said they are in solidarity with the workers who lost their jobs.
“As ordinary workers, PRASA should provide alternative because members have been left unemployment,” he said.
According to PRASA’s spokeswoman, Nana Zenani the contract with the security company ended on 31 October this year.
She said the contract was found to be irregular by a special investigative unit report.
Metrorail spokeswoman, Lillian Mofokeng said the money owed to security companies was paid on Thursday.
“We apologise for the delay,” she said.
Mofokeng said she heard their grievances and will escalate them to the superiors.
“Give us a chance to take your grievances to our bosses,” she said.
By A Correspondent- President Emmerson Mnangagwa says that beginning on Monday, Zimbabweans who are hard-pressed for cash will start withdrawing their cash from the banks with no problems at all.
Mnangagwa made the commitment which might soon come back to haunt him while he addressed a so called anti-sanctions rally at Tshovani Stadium in Chiredzi on Saturday.
Further, the President said there is no going back on the ban of the multi-currency system. He said no country can develop without its own currency.
Said President Mnangagwa at the rally: “Right now people are being pained by the ever increasing prices in shops, it is because we are in a transition.
We are transitioning from the low levels and we need to resuscitate our economy. We have no choice but to resuscitate our
economy. In that process, we have some people who want to take advantage to profiteer.
“You were not getting money from the banks, but on Monday (tomorrow) we are going to inject more money in the banks until we reach a level where you lose appetite to go and get cash from EcoCash.
“You will simply go to the bank if you have money in your account and withdraw it to buy what you want. Right now, we are told that if you want $100 bond you should transfer $150 into an agent’s account.
“You are losing the other $50 for nothing. This is because there are cash shortages in the banks. We are now injecting money in the banks to correct that.”
THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) will tomorrow release the new Zimbabwe dollar notes and coins into the market, with depositors set to start withdrawing limited amounts when banks open in the morning.
The new notes come in $2 and $5 denominations while $2 bond coins will also be released into circulation concurrently.
Banks started exchanging part of their electronic balances for the new notes with the RBZ at the weekend ahead of their planned release into the market. Our Harare Bureau understands that the Central Bank will during the course of the week announce new daily and weekly withdrawal limits, which it says will be in line with best international practice.
Authorities plan to gradually drip feed around $1 billion of cash into the market over the next six months that will take the amount of physical cash in circulation to around 10 percent of total money supply. Zimbabwe has about $19 billion in circulation, with only 4,5 percent being cash.
The RBZ Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is also set to meet on Friday to assess the market’s reaction to the new notes, and if necessary, prescribe appropriate interventions.
RBZ Governor Dr John Mangudya told our Harare Bureau that release of the new notes will neither be inflationary nor raise money supply.
“Banks will this weekend begin exchanging their RTGS balances for physical cash with the RBZ before they are released to the public on Monday.
“We will make sure that we drip feed the physical cash into the market in order to ensure that there is sufficient cash in the economy. What we are doing will not increase money supply because we are just substituting existing electronic money with physical cash. The goal here is to create convenience for the transacting public and also offering them a choice of either using electronic money or cash.
“We believe this will also help in eliminating queues at the banks where people spend countless hours of productive time queuing for cash.
“The fears that people are expressing on social media are a legacy of the hyperinflation era, but we rest assure them that there will be no repeat of that because there will be no increase of money supply; there is absolutely nothing to fear.”
Economist and member of the RBZ Monitory Policy Committee, Mr Eddie Cross said concern over inadequate security features, prevented the introduction of higher denomination notes. He said introduction of the new notes would drive down premiums being charged for cash. Premiums of up to 60 percent are being charged for bond notes with coins pegged at 40 percent.
“The primary objective is to bring sufficient cash into the market, to do away with queues at the banks and ATMs and to bring cash into free supply without any premium. The new cash which will be introduced next week (this week) and will be sold to commercial banks on a 1:1 basis for RTGs dollars. There will be no impact on money supply or inflation. We are not creating new money, we are replacing existing money with cash — so it won’t have any impact on the national macro-economic fundamentals.
“If this injection is not enough to solve the problem, we will introduce more currency. The reason for the relatively small notes — the $5 and $2 notes and coins — is because we were concerned about the security features. The security of these notes is not adequate and if we introduce a higher value note there will be counterfeits notes produced.”
The Central Bank is seeking to eliminate cash shortages, which the country has experienced since 2016 as well as huge premiums being charged for cash. The Zimbabwe dollar was reintroduced in June this year following the outlawing of the multi-currency system.
THREE police constables who were off duty but hatched a plan to extort money from illegal diamond dealers in Chiadzwa, disguised as detectives from the minerals section, have been arrested together with a civilian accomplice they worked with to commit the crimes.
The quartet — identified as constables Chuma, Muteti, another Chuma and a civilian Norest Magurei — were exposed after one of the three complainants tipped off police officers stationed at a nearby base in Marange about the covert operations of the suspects who were moving around with a Toyota Sprinter.
They were quickly arrested and investigations carried out by the arresting officers revealed that the three constables, who work at Dangamvura and Mutare Central police stations, were off duty but travelled to Marange to dupe the complainants abusing their positions.
Officer Commanding Manicaland Police Commissioner Dr Wiklef Makamache said apart from the criminal trial the officers were facing at the courts following their arrest, the force had also instituted disciplinary action against them.
“They have been suspended from active police work till the finalisation of the disciplinary hearings we are going to conduct,” he said.
“The position of the President of the country is that of zero tolerance against corruption and our Commissioner-General has echoed the same sentiments. We have thus reactivated and reconfigured our systems within the police force so that we sweep clean our rank and file of all traces of corruption.
“The arrest of these three officers who abused their duties as peace officers and also abused the system for their own personal gain shows the seriousness we have in fighting corruption. We are re-branding as the ZRP and in so doing we are eliminating rough elements within our midst.”
Dr Makamache said in the morning of November 2, the suspects who were driving a Toyota Sprinter approached the first complainant and threatened to arrest him accusing him of being an illegal diamond dealer.
The complainant who feared to get arrested gave the suspects US$60.
Moments later the suspects approached another complainant in the same area. Using the same modus operandi they were given US$30 after they threatened to arrest the complainant saying they were detectives from the minerals section.
Satisfied that their plan was working well, the suspects approached another complainant who only gave them US$10. Soon after handing them the money, the complainant went to nearby police and made a report.
On Monday the accused persons appeared in court facing criminal abuse of duty and extortion charges.
They were each granted $100 bail and the case will go to trial on November 22.
A Bulawayo man left a court in shock with his claims that he fathered 25 children with three different women in an apparent bid to avoid paying more in maintenance for his four-year-old child.
Thembelihle Ngwenya revealed his bed-hopping antics at the Bulawayo Maintenance Court after one of his alleged mistresses Sheila Sibanda applied for an upward variation following countrywide price increases.
In a bid to evade an increase in maintenance from $50 to $400 per month towards the upkeep of his four-year-old child he had with Sibanda, Ngwenya who is employed by Brooklyn Express as a conductor claimed he was the most in-demand dad in Bulawayo with 25 other children he sired with three different women.
This was after Sibanda claimed the $50 per month that was granted in November 2017 was no longer sufficient to take care of the child’s needs.
“The respondent (Thembelihle Ngwenya) was on 8 November 2017 asked to make a monthly contribution of $50 towards the upkeep of the child we had together.
“The money is however no longer enough to take care of the child’s needs and I am therefore applying for an upward variation from $50 to $400 per month,” Ngwenya’s claim reads in part.
In response, Ngwenya pulled a shocker when he argued that he could not afford to pay more than $50 as he was no longer employed and had 25 other children to look after.
“I am unable to contribute that much. I have three wives and 25 other children. I am also no longer employed after my contract was terminated on 14 October 2019,” said Ngwenya before he offered to pay between $30 and $40 per month.
Sibanda, however, shot down her ex-lover’s claims saying he was still employed and that he didn’t have those children in question he claimed to have sired with his three wives.
That prompted Bulawayo provincial magistrate Enias Magate who presided over the case during its initial appearance on 29 October to postpone it to 5 November to allow Ngwenya to bring birth certificates of “his” children and proof that he was no longer employed by Brooklyn Express.
Fearing the humiliation of a trial, Ngwenya who had initially ranked his performance in the bedroom as incredible didn’t come to court leading the provincial magistrate to grant an order in his default which compels him to pay $100 per month with effect from the end of this month.
The ruling was also after Sibanda had obtained a letter from Brooklyn Express confirming that Ngwenya was still employed as a conductor and earning $70 per week.
Another bread price increase looms after the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) hiked wheat price by about 67 percent, millers and bakeries have said.
Millers were previously purchasing wheat from GMB at $3 548 per tonne and the price is now pegged at around $5 900 per tonne.
Zimbabwe consumes about 38 000 tonnes of wheat monthly in the production of bread, confectioneries and other flour-related products.
Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe (GMAZ) media and public relations manager, Mr Garikai Chaunza said millers could not absorb the steep hike, hence the price will be passed down to consumers.
“We see the margin increase as being high, whose costs we cannot afford to absorb,” said Mr Chaunza.
A standard loaf of bread currently retails at around $15 with in-store bakeries charging between $10 and $12. National Bakers Association of Zimbabwe president, Denis Wala said bakeries have no option but to increase the prices of all wheat or flour-based products.
“If there is a movement in the cost of raw materials it means that the price of bread is also likely to increase.
“When we are looking at the issue of raw materials we are not only looking at flour but there is also issue of electricity and we all know that Zesa recently reviewed their tariffs.”
In a terse response, Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement Deputy Minister Vangelis Haritatos said: “The past week has seen the reduction in the price of bread. I think it is still early to comment, let us wait to hear what the respective associations say in the coming week.”
Infiltration and destabilization of the people’s party will be resisted.
The MDC Youth Assembly is deeply disturbed by the provocative moves of what is visibly state sponsored violence on our party headquarters and its leadership.
While our national leaders from all the provinces were busy discussing possible solutions to the national crisis, we were all shocked that some 25 hired individuals working in cahoots with state actors attempted to divert our NEC meeting by bringing placards to demonstrate urging the party to support Zanu pf in the call for the removal of sanctions.Curiously, the hired individuals were chanting slogans calling for the readmission of Khupe into the party.
As MDC Youth Assembly we would like to give a clear warning that being the last line of defense of the party we are not going to fold our hands while our leadership and party headquarters is under attack.
Conspicuous by their absence during the skirmishes was the police who always park their vehicle adjacent to our headquarters.
As such we have every reason to believe that yesterday’s attempted attack on our party had traces of state involvement written all over.
We also have it on good authority that a NEC member working in cahoots with political renegade Rhino Mashaya organized a clandestine meeting somewhere near Africa Unit Square to ambush and attack our leadership while in a NEC meeting.
This is not the first time when this NEC member has proven beyond any doubt that he is a threat to the stability of the party, we are very much tolerant but our tolerance must not be taken for granted.
The presence of The Herald photographers embedded in company of some hired rogue youths whom we later discovered were borrowed from ZANU PF is a clear pointer that the whole thing was preconceived and pre-planned to soil the image and name of the party in the event of a respond by our youths.
As MDC Youth Assembly, we would like to make it clear that we are not going to treat those who betray in our midst with kids’ gloves. In this regard, we demand that Mr. Mwonzora be investigated on these allegations.
We also want to categorically make it clear that the leadership question within the party was resolved at our 5th elective Congress held in Gweru.
We will remain resolute in defending the party and its values.
DOCTORS' UPDATE We note with concern the continued job dismissals of our members. We are expecting even more doctors to be fired because almost all doctors are incapacitated. https://t.co/bNFPSFY6IV
A man from Nkayi District clobbered his neighbour with a hoe, stabbed her on the neck and went on to drink the blood that was oozing from the lifeless body.
This was revealed when Christopher Sibanda (28) of Sikhobokhobo Village appeared before a Bulawayo judge, Justice Thompson Mabhikwa during a Hwange High Court circuit which sat on Friday.
Sibanda, however, escaped the death penalty after a special verdict was passed due to his insanity.
Justice Mabhikwa found Sibanda not guilty of murder arguing that he could not be held to account as he was a mental patient.
He commuted him to Mlondolozi Mental Institution.
According to a statement of agreed facts between the State led by Mrs Martha Cheda and defence counsel, Mr Daniel Ncube of Legal Aid Directorate, on 27 June 2018 at around 3pm, Sibanda met Ms Sibusisiwe Sigauke along a footpath in Sikhewu village.
He was carrying a hoe handle, an adze, knife, black satchel and black pot.
The court heard that Ms Sigauke was coming from Kana Business Centre on her way home.
Without warning or provocation, Sibanda struck the deceased several times on the head with a hoe handle before stabbing her on the neck with a knife.
She died on the spot.
A passerby, Leonard Masuku who was using the same path found Sibanda sitting on top of deceased’s body and was sucking blood which was oozing out of the wound on her neck.
He rushed back to Kana Business Centre where he reported the matter to the police.
Upon his arrest police recovered a blood-stained knife and hoe handle which was broken into three pieces as a result of the attack.More in Home
Following his arrest Sibanda was taken to court before being referred to Mlondolozi Prison for psychiatric evaluation where he was found to have been mentally unstable at the time of commission of the offence.
The State and defence counsel submitted that the court retain a special verdict to the effect that Sibanda be found not guilty of murder because of insanity as guided by section 29 (2) (a) of the Mental Health Act.
Just like the 2018 elections, the subsequent by-elections have been marred by serious electoral malpractices.
Regrettably, several attempts by the MDC to engage ZEC, have not surprisingly, failed to any positive results.
Indeed, it is evident to the MDC, that both the by-elections in Tsholotsho and Wedza have not been spared.
Intimidation of voters through village heads continues.
A declaration of resettlement areas as no go areas for the MDC continue to stuff out right to campaign as well the right of citizens to make political choices in line with section 67 of the Constitution.
We therefore place it on record that the election environment is still characterised by closure of democratic space and abuse of state entities to the benefit of ZANUPF.
ZEC continues to look the other way where complains are raised.
Clear electoral fraud, bribery and criminal abuse of office by Obadiah Moyo was ignored, resultantly ZANUPF has found an incentive to continue on that path.
The run up to today’s by- elections at Tsholotsho was full of abuse of State institutions to ZANUPF’s advantage including biased distribution of food aid.
The long and short of it is that the by-election results will without doubt reflect a dividend of lack of holistic electoral reform.
ZEC had no capacity to run a credible election it must be disbanded, reconstituted and allow Zimbabwe to be on a new path towards a cure of the crisis of legitimacy which is causing unpalatable suffering of the masses.
It is no longer an MDC issue, but a national one; electoral reforms are urgent.
This also explains why the MDC, through its RELOAD strategy, is insisting that until comprehensive reforms are conducted; elections results will never be a true reflection of the Zimbabwean voters.
The inclussion of Knowledge Musona in the Warriors provisional squad for the two AFCON 2021 Group H qualifiers against Botswana and Zambia has generated a lot of debate in the local football arena.
Musona, who has not featured for his Belgian side RSC Anderlecht or at least appear in the match day squad this season under two different coaches, was included by interim coach Joey Antipas in the squad, which came as somewhat a surprise to many considering his lack of both game time and match fitness.
The man whom many credit for Musona’s success as a player, Aces Youth Academy Director and coach, Marc Duvillard, belives the decision to include the 29-year-old in the Warriors setup, is a weird one.
“Maybe he has been called because he is the captain, maybe he will be on the bench and come in and play 20 minutes or so,” Duvillard told The Sunday Mail.
“To put him in the starting eleven might not help. Psychologically, he is not in a good condition.
His club coach says he doesn’t want him. One moment he goes on loan, he comes back and says he will fight for the jersey but still he doesn’t play.”
Kaizer Chiefs stand-in skipper Willard Katsande, who led his side to an entertaining 3-2 win over bitter rivals Orlando Pirates at the FNB Stadium today, says the derby comes out to who wants it more and they did.
Amakhosi beat their arch-rivals in the league for the first time since 2014 and the Zimbabwean midfielder praised his teammates for a job well-done.
Speaking to SuperSport TV after the tension-filled encounter, Katsande said:
“Derbies are always difficult, they are not based on the previous game, you can do the profiling but at the end of the day it comes down to who wants it more.”
“We did slip up a bit, conceding two goals after leading 2-0. We knew they were going to throw everything at us in search of the winener, but we kept our balance,” Katsande said.Soccer24
Emmerson Mnangagwa has reportedly sworn he will make further changes to his Cabinet after last Friday’s mini-reshuffle that saw some ministers being redeployed and new deputies appointed, it has emerged.
Mnangagwa appointed Kazembe Kazembe as the new Home Affairs minister to replace Cain Mathema, who was moved to the Primary and Secondary Education portfolio.
Paul Mavhima, who was the Primary and Secondary Education minister, was appointed Public Service and Social Welfare minister to replace Sekesai Nzenza, who was shunted to the Industry and Commerce ministry, a portfolio previously held by Mangaliso Ndlovu.
Ndlovu replaced Prisca Mupfumira in the Environment, Climate Change and Tourism ministry after she was fired for alleged corruption.
Mnangagwa created a new ministry of National Housing and appointed an additional five deputy ministers.
Zanu-PF insiders said the reshuffle was meant to deal with growing concerns in the ruling party that Mnangagwa had concentrated power in the Midlands.
Mnangagwa was also under pressure to pacify Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga’s supporters, and those in the military, the sources said.
What has angered the military are a few points of irritation which involve the appointing of personal friends and own family members to senior positions in government. Mnangagwa cushioned himself with smiling yes men and women. Since 2018 elections, he hadn’t reshuffled his cabinet, apart from the duo – Prisca Mupfumira, and Joram Gumbo “shake up.”
In addition to this, below are some of Mnangagwa’s controversial appointments:
– Local Govt Minister July Moyo is Mnangagwa’s uncle.
– CIO minister Owen “Mudha” Mcube is Mnangagwa’s nephew.
– Fortune Chasi. He has been Mnangagwa’s lawyer, financier and also his deputy.
– Ziyambi Ziyambi is Mnangagwa’s sekuru (cousin). The Ziyambis come from Dambudzo’s village (located between Shurugwi and Zvishavane). He has a farm in Zvimba but his farm is in Shurugwi. (It is 40km from Shurugwi to Dambudzo village.
– Mthuli Ncube used to run a bank called Barbican in which Mnangagwa was a silent Director and he (Mnangagwa) was given a huge loan which led the bank’s sudden collapse. The bank was closed down by former RBZ governor Gideon Gono on the basis of a liquidity failure. During that time Mnangagwa shielded Mthuli Ncube from arrest and Mthuli Ncube flew out of the country together with his family. When Mnangagwa became President after the removing former president Robert Mugabe, he ended up appointing Mthuli Ncube in order to pay him back.
– Mnangagwa’s sister married to another Moyo(not related to July), the husband of the sister’s older brother is Obadiah Moyo (now appointed minister of Health). Obadiah Moyo has no parliamentary constituency, and yet he was unceremoniously handpicked by Mnangagwa.
– Mnangagwa’s mother is a Hungwe (sister to the former Masvingo Minister Josiah Hungwe). The Chairman of the Public Service Commission is another Hungwe.
The Matemadanda Factor.
The military is irked by the appointment of Victor Matemadanda. They say he was just a taxi driver during the war, he was just a runnser boy for Mnangagwa. Matemadanda was Mnangagwa’s father’s taxi driver. They allege he was appointed a war veteran by Mnangagwa on the mere basis of proximity with Mnangagwa.
Mnangagwa has removed a top military general who is a flying academic, Engelbert Rugeje, to replace him with a mere taxi driver. Is the army happy with this? Mnangagwa has stepped onto the military’s tail, it is said.
Then Comes in the Auxillia Irritation.
When Mnangagwa became President, he created an office for his wife, Auxillia, meaning she becomes a paid civil servant by virtue of her husband’s appointment. That is not constitutional. Auxillia travels in government cars, and she has an office at state house. She has become a top civil servant who can walk into any office and demand… She went to the government parastatal, Natpharm and harrassed workers there. She went to pharamacists. She also went to the Ministry Of Justice and harrassed officers there complaining why they are not arresting people who are corrupt. .
Auxillia is the one said to have gotten politburo member, Prisca Mupfumira arrested in September this year. The latter was arrested “on instruction” of Auxillia following the below interview with ZimEye.
It is without doubt Auxillia has been given too much power and her presence has continued as an irritation to both the military and the intelligence.
Meanwhile the sources claimed that the second reshuffle expected anytime will see Mnangagwa dropping some ministers from his Cabinet and reassigning others.
Presidential Affairs minister Jorum Gumbo, who is being investigated by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission over the botched Zimbabwe Airways deal and other scandals is said to be one of the bigwigs facing an uncertain future.
“The changes are motivated by the president’s desire to consolidate power and do tribal balancing more than performance,” the source said.
“There are a lot of political reasons why three people from Mashonaland East, Chiwenga’s home province were appointed.”
Mnangagwa appointed Murehwa North MP Daniel Garwe as the National Housing and Social Amenities minister, Hwedza North MP David Musabayana as the new Foreign Affairs deputy minister and Hwedza South MP Tinoda Machakarika as the new Youth and Sport deputy minister. They all hail from Mashonaland East.
Chiwenga, who is in China where he has been receiving treatment for several months, is said to be leading a faction in Zanu-PF and is angling to take over from Mnangagwa.
The faction is said to be unhappy about the fact that most ministers in the Cabinet appointed by Mnangagwa after last year’s elections were either from Midlands or Masvingo provinces.
Besides ministers, a number of permanent secretaries and directors appointed after Mnangagwa took over from the late Robert Mugabe following a coup in 2017 are from the Midlands.
“Mnangagwa is realising that most of the people he has been appointing are from the Midlands,” another source added. “He now wants to decentralise power to balance in preparation for his re-election campaign in 2023.”
Mnangagwa’s spokesperson George Charamba yesterday said the president had the prerogative to appoint people he feels suit his vision.
Charamba said there was no way the president could make changes that weakened him.
He quipped, “So they expect the president to dismantle [his power]?”- Byo24/Additional reporting
Afro Jazz musician Nox Guni’s wife speaks after her husband was touched repeatedly by two women while on stage in the early hours of Sunday morning. Tallyn speaks to ZimEye outside the venue in West Yorks
The MDC is totally unimpressed and unmoved by the Cabinet reshuffle. Worse still, the reshuffle means Zimbabwe now has a useless and expensive bloated Cabinet that will only prove to be a real waste of hard earned tax payers money.
It is our strong and unequivocal stance that no matter how many times the Cabinet maybe reshuffled; this will in no way make any difference to end the crisis in Zimbabwe.
Indeed, the crisis in Zimbabwe is much bigger than a mere Cabinet reshuffle.
The crisis in Zimbabwe is clearly a crisis of political legitimacy and continued bad governance as demonstrated by the ever rising high levels of corruption in the country. Zimbabwe will remain in perpetual crisis because it has a lack of visionary leadership that is derived from a popular mandate from the long suffering masses of Zimbabwe.
The people’s party remains clear and resolute in its stance that as long as the head of the Cabinet is not a popularly elected President; no amount of reshuffles will be able to turn the dire Zimbabwean situation around.
In line with its RELOAD strategy document, the MDC is very clear that the first step towards the restoration of normalcy in Zimbabwe will only happen once there is unconditional acknowledgment that there is real need of a genuine or credible all inclusive national dialogue facilitated by a neutral convenor.
The same dialogue process must also be able agree on a transitional mechanism that will facilitate the implementation of comprehensive reforms. Once this is all done, free and fair elections will then be held, that will enable Zimbabwe to have an undisputed popularly elected President.
As such, unless and until that happens first; no Cabinet reshuffle will be able to end the crisis in Zimbabwe.
MDC@20: Celebrating Courage, Growth and the People’s Victories
Daniel Molokele
National Spokesperson
Movement For Democratic Change
The MDC is totally unimpressed and unmoved by the Cabinet reshuffle. Worse still, the reshuffle means Zimbabwe now has a useless and expensive bloated Cabinet that will only prove to be a real waste of hard earned tax payers money.
It is our strong and unequivocal stance that no matter how many times the Cabinet maybe reshuffled; this will in no way make any difference to end the crisis in Zimbabwe.
Indeed, the crisis in Zimbabwe is much bigger than a mere Cabinet reshuffle.
The crisis in Zimbabwe is clearly a crisis of political legitimacy and continued bad governance as demonstrated by the ever rising high levels of corruption in the country. Zimbabwe will remain in perpetual crisis because it has a lack of visionary leadership that is derived from a popular mandate from the long suffering masses of Zimbabwe.
The people’s party remains clear and resolute in its stance that as long as the head of the Cabinet is not a popularly elected President; no amount of reshuffles will be able to turn the dire Zimbabwean situation around.
In line with its RELOAD strategy document, the MDC is very clear that the first step towards the restoration of normalcy in Zimbabwe will only happen once there is unconditional acknowledgment that there is real need of a genuine or credible all inclusive national dialogue facilitated by a neutral convenor.
The same dialogue process must also be able agree on a transitional mechanism that will facilitate the implementation of comprehensive reforms. Once this is all done, free and fair elections will then be held, that will enable Zimbabwe to have an undisputed popularly elected President.
As such, unless and until that happens first; no Cabinet reshuffle will be able to end the crisis in Zimbabwe.
MDC@20: Celebrating Courage, Growth and the People’s Victories
Daniel Molokele
National Spokesperson
Movement For Democratic Change
Liverpool’s quest to end a 30-year wait to reclaim the domestic crown that once took almost permanent residency in Anfield’s trophy room reaches a defining moment on Sunday.
If Jürgen Klopp’s side beat Manchester City it will give them a nine-point advantage over the reigning champions at the top of the table, and put them eight clear of both Leicester and Chelsea.
That would effectively mean a Liverpool side that has lost only one of their past 50 league games would need to lose at least three of their next 26 to let City back in.
The new bank notes and coins that are set to be introduced into the market tomorrow are expected to ease cash shortages and save the transacting public from being charged extortionate premiums by mobile money operators when getting hard cash, President Mnangagwa has said.
The President said there is no going back on the ban of the multi-currency system.
He said no country can develop without its own currency.
The Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces made these remarks at his first anti-sanctions rally at Tshovani Stadium here yesterday.
The rally follows the Sadc-initiated anti-sanctions campaign that saw the region resolving to set aside October 25 as a day to send a message to the United States that the embargo is no longer necessary.
“Right now people are being pained by the ever increasing prices in shops, it is because we are in a transition.
“We are transitioning from the low levels and we need to resuscitate our economy.
“We have no choice but to resuscitate our economy. ln that process, we have some people who want to take advantage to profiteer.
“You were not getting money from the banks, but on Monday (tomorrow) we are going to inject more money in the banks until we reach a level where you lose appetite to go and get cash from EcoCash.
“You will simply go to the bank if you have money in your account and withdraw it to buy what you want. Right now, we are told that if you want $100 bond you should transfer $150 into an agent’s
account.
“You are losing the other $50 for nothing.
This is because there are cash shortages in the banks. We are now injecting money in the banks to correct that.”State media
Liverpool’s quest to end a 30-year wait to reclaim the domestic crown that once took almost permanent residency in Anfield’s trophy room reaches a defining moment on Sunday.
If Jürgen Klopp’s side beat Manchester City it will give them a nine-point advantage over the reigning champions at the top of the table, and put them eight clear of both Leicester and Chelsea.
That would effectively mean a Liverpool side that has lost only one of their past 50 league games would need to lose at least three of their next 26 to let City back in.
It is not inconceivable as Liverpool had a 10-point lead over Pep Guardiola’s side last season after they had played 20 games, although City had played a game fewer.
This season, however, Liverpool seem propelled by an unstoppable momentum.
For all the mind games, the downplaying of expectations and consequences, Klopp’s side have an opportunity to strike what could be a decisive blow in the title race.
Liverpool have had near misses before, notably when Steven Gerrard’s fateful slip against Chelsea let City in at the end of the 2013-14 season, but win on Sunday and they will feel an irresistible force is with them, even as early as November.BBC
Liverpool:
There are two incredible attacks but I would take Liverpool’s front three in a heartbeat.
What sets them apart is the way they are able to change positions: I think any one of them can play capably as a No 9, while Mané and Salah can play on either side and Firmino drops into midfield.
Firmino is unselfish and still underrated, and the other two are irresistible – Salah, even below his best this season, has scored eight goals in 16 games.
The way they can change positions and angles of attack makes them so hard for the opposition to deal with, and the whole personality of the Liverpool team is based on them. Agüero is one of the greatest No 9s the Premier League has seen but I think Liverpool’s attack is more complete.
Jamie Jackson: Liverpool
This is a toughie: plump for the front-three of Sterling-Agüero-Bernardo Silva who were pivotal in Manchester City’s two consecutive Premier League titles and domestic clean sweep or the Mané-Firmino‑Salah trident that helped Liverpool become European champions.
Salah (with 22 goals), Mané (22) and Firmino (12) registered 56 league strikes last season for Liverpool. For Agüero (21), Sterling (17) and Silva (7), there were 45.
Even though in the Champions League the count was 13 in total to the Liverpool three, 15 to City, the choice here is based on numbers, as this is what finishing is all about, scoring as many goals as possible. So it is Salah‑Firmino‑Mané for me.
Barney Ronay: Manchester City
Only two of City’s front three, Sterling and Agüero, are constants.
But both sum up the best parts of any Guardiola project: high-level players, both already in place when he arrived, coached to become even better, to find new angles, new rhythms, new gears. Agüero might have drifted off under Pep. Instead he has hit a late-career high. Sterling has gone from scattergun left-winger to fluid and adaptable world‑class forward.
There is so such to admire in Liverpool’s front three, in the way less celebrated – and indeed less expensive – players have defined the system at a Champions League-winning team. But for sustained, exhilarating quality City’s trio, with Riyad Mahrez and Bernardo Silva in the mix, are the best in the world.
Paul Wilson: Manchester City
While both teams are blessed with enviable attacking quality, it is possible that City can claim the most reliable goal threat.
Agüero is simply one of the most deadly finishers the Premier League has seen and along with Sterling he is currently ahead of any Liverpool player in the goal charts. I fully accept that all of Liverpool’s front three can be unplayable at their best, though there are also occasions when their individuality does not stand out and they can be marked out of a game.
City have a good mix of clever players who are still improving in Sterling and Bernardo Silva and an established match-winner in Agüero. Plus they get to play ahead of the peerless Kevin De Bruyne.The Guardian
By A Correspondent- The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has revealed that the new banknotes which are set to be released tomorrow have very poor security features.
Because of this, the monetary authorities will only be releasing $2 and $5 bond notes because they are worried that counterfeiters will take advantage of the poor security if they produce notes with bigger denominations.
In addition, the central bank is also supplementing with a $2 bond coin which was minted in 2018.
According to the state-controlled Sunday Mail, this startling information was revealed by economist and member of the RBZ Monitory Policy Committee, Eddie Cross.
Speaking at a press conference, Cross said:
“The primary objective is to bring sufficient cash into the market, to do away with queues at the banks and ATMs and to bring cash into free supply without any premium.
The new cash which will be introduced next week (this week) and will be sold to commercial banks on a 1:1 basis for RTGs dollars. There will be no impact on money supply or inflation.
We are not creating new money, we are replacing existing money with cash — so it won’t have any impact on the national macro-economic fundamentals.
If this injection is not enough to solve the problem, we will introduce more currency. The reason for the relatively small notes — the $5 and $2 notes and coins — is because we were concerned about the security features. The security of these notes is not adequate and if we introduce a higher value note there will be counterfeits notes produced.”
RBZ governor John Mangudya however reassured the public saying that they should not panic as the central bank has everything under control. Mangudya said:
“The fears that people are expressing on social media are a legacy of the hyperinflation era, but we assure them that there will be no repeat of that because there will be no increase in money supply; there is absolutely nothing to fear.”
We are kindly looking for the details of @MthuliNcube wife. We want to beg her to talk to her husband on behalf of civil servants. As a mother she might appreciate the pain and suffering we are going through. She may convince her husband to either pay us or resign. DM details.
— Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe,ARTUZ (@ARTUZ_teachers) November 8, 2019
We have received some information. The wife is an engineer. We still appeal for contact details. Phone number, Email, twitter handle, facebook page etc. We are a desperate people on the verge of losing our humanity. Please help us.
— Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe,ARTUZ (@ARTUZ_teachers) November 8, 2019
Thanks to all citizens who are searching for Prof Mthuli's wife. We are receiving good leads.
— Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe,ARTUZ (@ARTUZ_teachers) November 8, 2019
We have received physical address but still searching for contacts. We will be formally writting to her. Our members have also expressed a keen interest to beg her to intervene. A collective message and individual messages will be send.
— Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe,ARTUZ (@ARTUZ_teachers) November 9, 2019
By A Correspondent- President Emmerson Mnangagwa has revealed that government is committed to protecting all vulnerable Zimbabweans through social safety nets that will leave no one behind.
The state media reported that speaking in Bulawayo on Friday where he commissioned 76 new buses, under the Zupco franchise, Mnangagwa vowed to ensure that the public transport company’s bus fares would remain subsidised in order to cater for the poor.
“This programme attests to my Government’s commitment and determination to improve the quality of life of the ordinary people in line with our vision to become a middle-income society by 2030.
In this regard, we are determined to ensure that our developmental programmes leave no one behind.
In line with my Government’s commitment to provide social safety nets for vulnerable groups and after the realisation that our commuting public has often fallen victim to unscrupulous operators who are charging exorbitant bus fares, we resolved to recapitalise Zupco.”
By A Correspondent- The price of bread is set to go up any day as the GMB hiked the price of wheat.
The GMB increased the price of wheat from $3548 to $5900 per tonne an increase that is set to change the price of bread soon.
National Bakers Association,’s Mr Denis Wala however, said the imminent price hike is due to an increase in the cost of many raw materials not only wheat:
When we are looking at the issue of raw materials we are not only looking at flour but there is also issue of electricity and we all know that Zesa recently reviewed its tariffs.
This comes barely a week after bakeries reduced the price of bread by a small margin.
By A Correspondent- The National Aids Council has announced that selected teams will conduct a survey on HIV and AIDS by visiting homes and testing people.
The survey is aimed at assessing how far the country has moved towards the 90-90-90 UNAIDS targets.
Speaking to the state media, Nac Bulawayo Provincial manager Mrs Sinatra said:
“Selected teams will go to households to test people and those found HIV-positive are going to be linked to care.
Then those that are already on ARVs are going to have their viral load tested so that we check our viral suppression in the community.”
HIV and AIDS are among the top killer diseases in the world.
By A Correspondent- A bus contracted to Zupco which plies the city – Southlands route was hit by a train after the driver failed to stop at Lytton Road rail crossing in Harare.
The bus was overloaded and over 20 passengers were injured and ferried to Harare Hospital.
This is a developing story. Refresh this page for latest updates.
By A Correspondent- The Doctors at the hospital have dismissed reports that Mpilo Hospital is doing OK despite the Doctors’ strike. Speaking to Sunday News the Doctors responded to Mpilo Hospital Clinical Director Dr Ngwenya ‘s reports that 71% of the physicians were reporting for duty.
Said the ZSHDA doctors in a statement:
“Contrary to peddled reports, the situation at Mpilo is critical. Lifesaving equipment is in a state of despair, essential drugs and sundries are unavailable, while hospital staff cannot afford to come to work.
We are incapacitated as highlighted by ZSDA members across the country and we demand that the situation be treated with the urgency it deserves.”
Farai Dziva|The four-year-old girl who was kidnapped by unknown assailants has been found.
This was announced by former Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation radio and television presenter Ezra Thsisa Sibanda.
See full statement below :
The 4 year old girl snatched from her house in Emganwini, Bulawayo on the 30th of October 2019 has been found well and alive in Tsholotsho.
Working with the family we unleashed a wave of searches using social media, amazing Chronicle Newspaper helped by carrying out the story and local radio presenters all sent alert messages. I’m deeply humbled by their support and thank all of them from the bottom of my heart.
I sent alert messages to to all the borders and contacted police forces everywhere in Zimbabwe and it worked.
It was a collective effort from everybody and its clear when people work together, we can solve crime.
Emganwini Police were not eager to take up the case, let alone investigate but only interrogated the parents and did nothing. We contacted Police Chiefs in Bulawayo, Matabeleland North and South.
3 Officers under Lupane-Tsholotsho, namely, Constable Nyoni, Sergeant Sibanda and Constable Mpofu took up the case.
Late Friday afternoon they found the woman who stole the child, recovered the young girl but the woman ran away. She was finally caught this afternoon and remains in police custody.
Once again thank you so much for your prayers.
The big job is to help the child with proper checks from doctors, counselling and integrating her back to the same place where she was snatched.
The mother has arrived in Tsholotsho and united with her daughter. They are heading back to Bulawayo tonite. Im so relieved and excited. God is great!!!
By A Correspondent- President Emmerson Mnangagwa is mulling making further changes to his cabinet after a mini-reshuffle on Friday.
The second reshuffle will see some ministers being dropped from the cabinet while others will be reassigned.
Last Friday’s mini-reshuffle was meant to pacify Vice President Chiwenga’s supporters as well as to deal with growing concerns in the ruling party that the president had concentrated power in his home province, the Midlands. The publication quotes a party insider as saying:
The changes are motivated by the president’s desire to consolidate power and do tribal balancing more than performance.
There are a lot of political reasons why three people from Mashonaland East, Chiwenga’s home province were appointed.
Another party insider told The Standard that Mnangagwa has realised that most of the people he had been appointing are from the Midlands and he now wants to decentralise power in preparation for the 2023 elections.
Last week’s reshuffle saw Kazembe Kazembe being appointed as the new Home Affairs minister to replace Cain Mathema, who was moved to the Primary and Secondary Education portfolio, among several other changes.
By A Correspondent- Zanu PF Masvingo provincial youth leaders recently ejected Gutu District Development Coordinator (DDC, formerly known as DA) Mellody Jiri Mafukidze from a Gutu Rural District Council (RDC) full council meeting accusing her of committing various misdemeanours.
Munyoro was in company of party colleagues Mafio Baster, Bare Trust and Josphat Sarukore.
They accused her of ‘playing games’ in the district influencing councillors not to respect their local leaders including chiefs and Members of Parliament (MPs).
They also took the keys from her office and handed them over to Gutu Police Station saying the police should keep them safe until a new DDC could be found.
When contacted for comment, Munyoro said that they had several reports from different wards that Mafukidze was influencing councillors not to respect their local leaders.
“We decided to take this action because we have heard several reports that she is badly influencing our councillors and we do not know maybe she wants to recruit her own local leadership but that will not happen.
“We also heard that at her work place, she has monopolised power and does not allow other administration officers to perform their own duties. We wonder how such a scenario will help our district to develop. We are aware she is just new in this district and she does not know much about the district. In light of that, how will our district develop if she centralises all functions in her own hands,” Munyoro complained.
He warned that the youths did not want to use violence but were resolute in their demands for their concerns to be addressed as a matter of urgency.
Munyoro said they reported the matter to the Minister of State for Masvingo Provincial Affairs Ezra Chadzamira who promised them that the Provincial District Coordinator (PDC) Fungai Mbetsa will deal with the matter.
When contacted for comment, Mafukidza chose to play hardball, saying she knew nothing of the incident.
“What are you talking about? As you may know, I am in my office right now and nothing of that sort ever happened. I don’t know about the issue you are talking about,” Mafukidze curtly responded before hanging up the call.
Some sources told TellZim News that the police were afraid of arresting the youth leaders although there were sufficient grounds to prefer criminal charges against them.
“Mafukidze is not as pliable as the previous DA whom they used to do all their political dirty work. The new DA knows her powers and responsibilities as provided for by her job description so they have become very frustrated by her. On many occasions, she has refused to be used to further their political agendas and has worked to restore the political neutrality of the office,” said the source.
Other sources said Munyoro and company were not alone in their games as they were only being used by bigger political names not happy with the DDC’s resoluteness.
Though no charge was laid against the Zanu PF youths, internal police communications show that the matter had shaken top police bosses and was due to be tabled before the next Joint Operations (JOC) district meeting.
Zimbabwe AIDS Network (ZAN) is noting with concern the slow pace in addressing the health workers’ strike, which inadvertently is affecting an already fragile public health delivery system.
As a result, ZAN is observing the gradual disappearance of Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, Adolescent Health and Nutrition (RMNCAH+N) services.
Ironically, these sad developments are emerging at a time the country recently committed the global call for Universal Health Coverage (UHC) at the United Nations High Level Meeting on UHC (UNHLM) on UHC.
In view of this, we express our solidarity with health workers who work tirelessly in the interests of their patients’ health and well-being, as part of their commitment to realising their patients’ human rights, including the right to health.
Health is a fundamental human right enshrined in the section 76 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe and everyone must enjoy this right.
Over the past two months, health workers have downed tools protesting over the unavailability of medicines, equipment and other sundries to assist patients.
ZAN supports the suggestions made by civil society organizations for the government to make a swift response through the Minister of Health to end this “endemic crisis by widening the participation of stakeholders in the development and implementation of policies for better health and developing innovative and new approaches in management and delivery of services in ways which enhance access, community satisfaction and local accountability”.
We thus urge the following:
Acknowledgement that the health situation is gradually degenerating into a social protection emergency issue.
Respond as a matter of urgency to the demands being made by the Human Resource for Health
Institute measures to ensure that citizens continue to access quality public health care
The on-going fiscal policy development place public health delivery as an investment priority through meeting the Abuja and SADC commitments of allocating at least 15% and 11.3% of the national budget to health.
By A Correspondent- President Mnangagwa capped 2 652 students at the National University of Science and Technology (Nust)’s 25th graduation ceremony.
Among those who graduated were the leader of Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association (ZHDA), Dr Peter Magombeyi, who was however, not present.
The graduates were drawn from the Faculties of Applied Sciences, the Built Environment, Commerce, Communication and Information Science, Engineering, Science and Technology Education and Medicine.
The colourful ceremony began shortly after 10AM when President Mnangagwa, who is the Chancellor of all State universities, led the academic procession into the Nust Sports Grounds where the graduands, their friends and relatives were waiting.
Out of the 2 652 students who graduated, six were holders of Doctoral degrees, 678 Masters’ degrees and 1 968 undergraduates in different disciplines.
Of the 1 968 undergraduate recipients, 1 063 (54,01 percent) were male while 905, which translates to 45,99 percent, were female.
At Masters level there were 373 males and 305 females while those who graduated at PhD level, four were males while two were females.
In his report, the university’s Vice Chancellor, Professor Mqhele Dlodlo, said Nust remains one of the key centres of educational excellence in the country and regionally as evidenced by collaborations with universities from other neighbouring countries in various areas of partnerships.
He said despite numerous challenges, the university made great strides in redirecting Nust to the realisation of its mandate as a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) university.
“We are in the process of enhancing the design of the main campus. In addition to that, we are also increasing our footprints throughout the Sadc and further afield by way of affiliations and associations with STEM biased institutions led by like-minded institutional leadership. To top it all, if the other Vice Chancellors in the convocation were to enumerate the achievements of their alumni, we would all be awe-stricken, to say the least. That simply points to Zimbabweans and our education system as next to none,” said Prof Dlodlo.
The university has since its inception in 1991 expanded its basket of distinguished offerings to 45 teaching departments in seven faculties along with institutes, centres of excellence, a graduate school of business in support of its entrepreneurial thrust as a university and affiliate institutions both within and outside the country.
Collectively, Nust offers 50 undergraduate and 48 post graduate degree programmes.
“Our mostly young research community is unbelievably vibrant, as shown by our diverse products of research. Buttressed by a robust staff development programme and research and innovation office with an internationalisation portfolio, academic departments have been steadily increasing the number of PhD holders in their establishments,” said Prof Dlodlo.
By A Correspondent- Two Bulawayo men were robbed of R8 850, RTGS$40 and other valuables by six unidentified suspects, who attacked them with axes and machetes, after their vehicle developed a flat tyre along the Bulawayo-Beitbridge highway on Friday.
National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi confirmed the incident.
“Two Bulawayo men lost cash amounting to R8 850, RTGS$40 and various properties after they were robbed along the 292km peg on the Bulawayo-Beitbridge Road. They were traveling from South Africa, when their vehicle, a Toyota Hiace developed a flat tyre. They decided to park on the side of the road and wait until morning to seek assistance,” said Asst Comm Nyathi.
He said they were then approached by six people armed with machetes and axes who pounced on the vehicle and smashed the front passenger window.
“They assaulted the victims with fists and open hands before searching them. Four of the suspects then force-marched the complainants into a nearby bush, while two others ransacked the vehicle in search of valuables,” said Asst Comm Nyathi.
He said police were investigating the matter and urged motorists to move away from dark spots in case their vehicles broke down.
Meanwhile, in an unrelated incident police in Plumtree arrested three suspects in connection with four robbery cases which took place last month at Nyabane Business Centre in the border town.
“The three suspects who were armed with knives targeted shop owners and workers before forcing entry into homes, shops, stabbing victims with knives and demanding cash. They will soon appear in court,” said Asst Comm Nyathi.
The American Gene Technologies believes it has found a cure for HIV-AIDS through a gene therapy that will eradicate the disease “once and for all”, said the Maryland pharmaceutical company, which filed a 1,000-page application to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
It claimed the single-dose drug will improve “people’s living by relieving suffering and increasing their lifespan”. According to the Centre for Disease Control (CDC), at least 1.1 million people in the United States have currently been living with HIV or AIDS. A few anti-retroviral therapies (ART) since the 1980s have been able to restore the quality of life to a person living with HIV by making it further untransmutable, but the infection has so far found no cure.
The AGT’s lead HIV program called AGT 103-T involved culturing and expanding an individual’s cells outside the body and then reintroducing it back into the donor. The treatment of HIV patients currently contains at least three drugs at one time every day for the rest of their lives. Scientists have, however, got the cocktail that converts HIV from a death sentence to a life sentence by taking that toxic chemotherapy.
The company in a statement claimed their single-dose drug had “a simple purpose to eradicate HIV once and for all” so that those infected could live a quality life. The researchers said if successful the program could restore the body’s natural immunity to HIV, resulting in people’s immune systems countering the disease like any other.
“We need to move these people from anti-retroviral control to permanent immunity and we think this project may be able to do that,” said AGT CEO Jeff Galvin, adding that phase one clinical trials could begin in January if their application was approved.
The company, however, said it still could be several years before the drug final appeared in the market. About 37.9 million people across the world have been living with HIV, with nearly 20 million having access to antiretroviral treatment, the World Health Organisation said.
PrEP – a crucial preventative pill for HIV — empties the pockets of those in need, with a year’s supply costing an American around $20,000 a year, activists warn, urging researchers and healthcare facilities to do more in slashing treatment prices and increasing education around the disease.
By A Correspondent- A man from Nkayi District clobbered his neighbour with a hoe, stabbed her on the neck and went on to drink the blood that was oozing from the lifeless body.
This was revealed when Christopher Sibanda (28) of Sikhobokhobo Village appeared before a Bulawayo judge, Justice Thompson Mabhikwa during a Hwange High Court circuit which sat on Friday.
Sibanda, however, escaped the death penalty after a special verdict was passed due to his insanity.
Justice Mabhikwa found Sibanda not guilty of murder arguing that he could not be held to account as he was a mental patient.
He commuted him to Mlondolozi Mental Institution.
According to a statement of agreed facts between the State led by Mrs Martha Cheda and defence counsel, Mr Daniel Ncube of Legal Aid Directorate, on 27 June 2018 at around 3pm, Sibanda met Ms Sibusisiwe Sigauke along a footpath in Sikhewu village.
He was carrying a hoe handle, an axe, knife, black satchel and black pot.
The court heard that Ms Sigauke was coming from Kana Business Centre on her way home.
Without warning or provocation, Sibanda struck the deceased several times on the head with a hoe handle before stabbing her on the neck with a knife.
She died on the spot.
A passerby, Leonard Masuku who was using the same path found Sibanda sitting on top of deceased’s body and was sucking blood which was oozing out of the wound on her neck.
He rushed back to Kana Business Centre where he reported the matter to the police.
Upon his arrest police recovered a blood-stained knife and hoe handle which was broken into three pieces as a result of the attack.
Following his arrest Sibanda was taken to court before being referred to Mlondolozi Prison for psychiatric evaluation where he was found to have been mentally unstable at the time of commission of the offence.
The State and defence counsel submitted that the court retain a special verdict to the effect that Sibanda be found not guilty of murder because of insanity as guided by section 29 (2) (a) of the Mental Health Act.
By A Correspondent- The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) will tomorrow release the new Zimbabwe dollar notes and coins into the market, with depositors set to start withdrawing limited amounts when banks open in the morning.
The new notes come in $2 and $5 denominations while $2 bond coins will also be released into circulation concurrently.
Banks started exchanging part of their electronic balances for the new notes with the RBZ at the weekend ahead of their planned release into the market. Our Harare Bureau understands that the Central Bank will during the course of the week announce new daily and weekly withdrawal limits, which it says will be in line with best international practice.
Authorities plan to gradually drip feed around $1 billion of cash into the market over the next six months that will take the amount of physical cash in circulation to around 10 percent of total money supply. Zimbabwe has about $19 billion in circulation, with only 4,5 percent being cash.
The RBZ Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is also set to meet on Friday to assess the market’s reaction to the new notes, and if necessary, prescribe appropriate interventions.
RBZ Governor Dr John Mangudya told our Harare Bureau that release of the new notes will neither be inflationary nor raise money supply.
“Banks will this weekend begin exchanging their RTGS balances for physical cash with the RBZ before they are released to the public on Monday.
“We will make sure that we drip feed the physical cash into the market in order to ensure that there is sufficient cash in the economy. What we are doing will not increase money supply because we are just substituting existing electronic money with physical cash. The goal here is to create convenience for the transacting public and also offering them a choice of either using electronic money or cash.
“We believe this will also help in eliminating queues at the banks where people spend countless hours of productive time queuing for cash.
“The fears that people are expressing on social media are a legacy of the hyperinflation era, but we rest assure them that there will be no repeat of that because there will be no increase of money supply; there is absolutely nothing to fear.”
Economist and member of the RBZ Monitory Policy Committee, Mr Eddie Cross said concern over inadequate security features, prevented the introduction of higher denomination notes. He said introduction of the new notes would drive down premiums being charged for cash. Premiums of up to 60 percent are being charged for bond notes with coins pegged at 40 percent.
“The primary objective is to bring sufficient cash into the market, to do away with queues at the banks and ATMs and to bring cash into free supply without any premium. The new cash which will be introduced next week (this week) and will be sold to commercial banks on a 1:1 basis for RTGs dollars. There will be no impact on money supply or inflation. We are not creating new money, we are replacing existing money with cash — so it won’t have any impact on the national macro-economic fundamentals.
“If this injection is not enough to solve the problem, we will introduce more currency. The reason for the relatively small notes — the $5 and $2 notes and coins — is because we were concerned about the security features. The security of these notes is not adequate and if we introduce a higher value note there will be counterfeits notes produced.”
The Central Bank is seeking to eliminate cash shortages, which the country has experienced since 2016 as well as huge premiums being charged for cash. The Zimbabwe dollar was reintroduced in June this year following the outlawing of the multi-currency system.
By A Correspondent- Over 1000 pupils at Chakomo Primary School in Dotito, Mt Darwin, on Thursday escaped death after a whirlwind blew off rooftops of two classroom blocks, destroying property worth over $200 000.
Only one pupil was reported injured when the roof fell in while he was in one of the classrooms. About 12 solar panels used to power the computer room were also destroyed.
Pfura Rural District council chief executive officer, Stanslous Nyachowe said he was yet to get a full report of the incident as he was attending a meeting in Mazowe.
Ward 8 councillor, Lonwell Chipikiri yesterday confirmed the damage to the school.
“It happened shortly before 2pm, when a whirlwind hit the school, destroying roofs of two classrooms and completely damaging 12 solar panels, which were used to run the computer room. We later learnt that the damages needed $230 000 to repair according to a quotation we got,” said Chipikiri.
He said the pupils were not in the classrooms because it was still lunch hour.
Chipikiri appealed to well-wishers and the corporate world to chip to help restore the damaged property.
By A Correspondent- Statistics availed by the National Aids Council show that S_TI cases in Bulawayo have surged from 2344 to 2574 in the second quarter of 2019.
The publication said those mainly affected were between the ages of 25 and 49.
Bulawayo Provincial Aids Coordinator Mrs Sinatra Nyathi speaking to the publication lamented the fact that people knew the dangers of unprotected s_x but still engaged in it.
Said Mrs Sinatra:
“In Zimbabwe more than 90 percent of the population have information on how to protect themselves from S_TIs and HIV but the issue is that they do not translate it to positive behaviour therefore we plead with the members of the community to make informed decisions when it comes to s_ex.
We are educating people about STIs and they now have abundant information but the problem is that they are failing to put that knowledge into practice and this increase in S_TIs shows that people are still having unprotected se_x because if one is using condoms, they will not contract S_TIs.2
By A Correspondent- As power cuts rage on, it’s not rocket science that the food industry is one of the industries hit the hardest by the power outages as meat and other perishables are not lasting long.
A local publication carried an investigation and discovered the following gimmicks being used either to preserve or to make meet look fresh:
The scam involves the use of formalin, a chemical mixture of preservatives used on corpses, which is sprinkled on meat products to make them look fresh and to extend their shelf life.
Sodium metabisulfite, a white chemical, is mixed with water and sprayed on the meat to maintain its reddish hue and create the impression that it is fresh.
Other crooked vendors are injecting steroids that build muscle into both living animals and packed meat in order to increase their weight.
Read the report:
“… sick cattle are being slaughtered, with some found to contain antibiotics in their blood, which is a health hazard.
… sprinkles soda water on the meat to maintain its reddish colour.”
By A Correspondent- The Mining Business Confidence Index had plunged to 2.2% in 2019, down from 8% in 2018 and 21.9% in 2017.
This has been mainly due to power cuts, forex shortages and policy uncertainties the state media reports.
However, according to UZ’s Prof Makochekamwa, who presented the findings of the survey, the survey forecasted that mining executives were confident about 2020.
Said the Professor:
“Survey findings show that mining executives are slightly more confident about investment plans for 2020, with 60 percent of the respondents indicating that they are planning to inject fresh capital into their businesses in 2020.”
Zimbabwe is currently going through an economic crisis that has seen inflation soaring to 300% by the end of August. The mining sector in a normal functional system contributes 65% of all export receipts.
By A Correspondent- Treasury has reportedly released $22 Million to compensate the 400 commercial farmers that were affected by the infamous land reform program.
The $22 million is part of the $52 Million that Mthuli set aside for that specific purpose in the 2019 budget.
Commercial Farmer’s Union President spoke to a local publication and said the farmers agreed that the money should better be spread among many farmers as most of them were struggling financially.
Said Mr Gilpin:
In the National Budget, an amount of $52 million was set aside for compensation,.
Farmer representatives requested that instead of this money being used to settle a few claims, it would be better to spread it amongst many.
This is because there are many elderly ex-farmers who are struggling financially.
Farmers received the first $RTGS 55000 sometime during winter in 2019.
By A Correspondent- The Zimbabwe Anti Corruption Corruption has officially opened a case against the Harare City Council’s road work scandal Sunday Mail reports.
Zacc is investigating the falsification of roads works progress figures that resulted in influence contracts extension.
While the ZACC probe is going on the council has suspended one of its director of works to pave way for Investigations,
A letter dismissing engineer Chawatama one of the directors for works fingered in the scandal, Town clerk said:
It has come to my attention that your department is facing some operational challenges that has necessitated an investigation in order to establish the facts on the ground. For purposes of transparency, it is necessary that you be given absence of leave to pave way for this investigation..
The council’s roadworks scandal made headlines a few weeks ago when it emerged that council paid for some services which were never received.
A man from Nkayi District clobbered his neighbour with a hoe, stabbed her on the neck and went on to drink the blood that was oozing from the lifeless body.
This was revealed when Christopher Sibanda (28) of Sikhobokhobo Village appeared before a Bulawayo judge, Justice Thompson Mabhikwa during a Hwange High Court circuit which sat on Friday.
Sibanda, however, escaped the death penalty after a special verdict was passed due to his insanity.
Justice Mabhikwa found Sibanda not guilty of murder arguing that he could not be held to account as he was a mental patient.
He commuted him to Mlondolozi Mental Institution.
According to a statement of agreed facts between the State led by Mrs Martha Cheda and defence counsel, Mr Daniel Ncube of Legal Aid Directorate, on 27 June 2018 at around 3pm, Sibanda met Ms Sibusisiwe Sigauke along a footpath in Sikhewu village.
He was carrying a hoe handle, an adze, knife, black satchel and black pot.
The court heard that Ms Sigauke was coming from Kana Business Centre on her way home.
Without warning or provocation, Sibanda struck the deceased several times on the head with a hoe handle before stabbing her on the neck with a knife.
She died on the spot.
A passerby, Leonard Masuku who was using the same path found Sibanda sitting on top of deceased’s body and was sucking blood which was oozing out of the wound on her neck.
He rushed back to Kana Business Centre where he reported the matter to the police.
Upon his arrest police recovered a blood-stained knife and hoe handle which was broken into three pieces as a result of the attack.
Following his arrest Sibanda was taken to court before being referred to Mlondolozi Prison for psychiatric evaluation where he was found to have been mentally unstable at the time of commission of the offence.
The State and defence counsel submitted that the court retain a special verdict to the effect that Sibanda be found not guilty of murder because of insanity as guided by section 29 (2) (a) of the Mental Health Act.
HARARE – Some of the fired doctors in Zimbabwe say they’ve accepted their fate and don’t regret their actions.
This week the Zimbabwean government fired over 200 doctors and promises to expel more.
The doctor were dismissed for protesting terrible working conditions and poor salaries.
Prince Butau is one of the doctors fired for striking.
Like other doctors, he was on strike for over 60 days demanding better salaries.
Butau says he doesn’t regret the expulsion and plans to leave the country to seek better opportunities, in other countries.
“So this is the letter which they slipped under my door this letter shows that I have been charged from absenteeism without due course,” Butau said.
“I am supposed to evacuate this hospital apartment 30 days from effect of the date I was given it, that’s 5 November. So by 5 December I should have evacuated otherwise there are going to evict me from here.”
Butau says he only feels sorry for the majority of poor ordinary Zimbabweans.
He says they don’t have access to better medical services because of poor government administration.
“I have been standing for what I believe is right and for what I think is right,” Butau said.
“I am proud to have been fighting what I believe is the oppression that we are facing currently not only as doctors, but as the rest of civil servants. I feel very sorry for the Zimbabwe population at large which are the one who are losing the expertise and services that we are supposed to offer them as doctors.”
Zimbabwean doctors currently earn less than $100 (R1,400) a month.
It’s uncertain if government will be replacing the fired doctors.
The country is facing its worst economic crisis in a decade, power cuts and medicine and fuel shortages
State workers marched in the capital Harare demanding better working conditions and salary increments but the protests were blocked by police.
Migrating to the UK will soon be easier for health professionals from countries such as Zimbabwe as the United Kingdom plans to introduce a new fast-track visa scheme for health professionals.
Home Office UK Visas and Immigration HQ (UKBA) Lunar House in East Croydon.
Under the National Health Service (NHS) visa scheme, application fees would be halved to 464 pounds from 928 pounds at present. In addition, medical professionals joining the NHS would receive extra points and applicants would be fast-tracked under the plans with preferential treatment and faster decisions.
The plan to relax rules for NHS staff comes after Britain said in August it would relax immigration rules to attract more scientists as it prepares to leave the European Union (EU).
“These measures are part of our plan for an Australian-style points-based immigration system that allows us to control numbers while remaining open to vital professions like nurses,” Home Secretary (interior minister) Priti Patel said in a statement.
She said that the UK wants to attract talent from around the world so that the NHS continues to provide brilliant service while ensuring that it isn’t put under strain by opening Britain’s borders to the entire world.
The special visas will make it easier for UK’s National Health Service to recruit doctors and nurses from other countries after Brexit.
Commenting on the developments, journalist Hopewell Chin’ono says countries with poorly remunerated medical professionals like Zimbabwe will be the biggest losers as brain drain is set to begin on a large scale. The Zimbabwe government announced that it had fired 211 junior doctors for absenteeism after they ignored a Labour Court ruling to return to work.
“Zimbabwe has lost several Urologists to Britain in the past few weeks. We are going to lose more doctors and nurses. The exodus has started as it did with pharmacists in 2006,” said Chin’ono, writing on social media.
He added: “As Britain prepares to exit the EU, it will no longer be tied to EU restrictions. It will hire professionals from around the world. Our Government should have known this before foolishly firing the country’s doctors. Recruiters from Britain are now at work going through CVs.”
Zimbabwean public hospital doctors have been on job action for the past three months and insist they want a salary tied to the interbank exchange rate, something treasury says will not happen as it has no money.
About 153,000 of 1.2 million health workers in the UK are non-British. About 52,000 of current NHS staff are Asian nationals including those from India.
The UK government said the new NHS visa would allow it to control immigration while ensuring there would not be a skills shortage for the health service.zimvoice
Afro Jazz musician Nox Guni’s wife speaks after her husband was touched repeatedly by two women while on stage in the early hours of Sunday morning. Tallyn speaks to ZimEye outside the venue in West Yorks
Senior doctors demand the Government to immediately reinstate fired junior doctors. This follows Health Service Board’s announcement that 211 junior and middle-level doctors were relieved of their duties.
“For the way forward the punitive disciplinary hearings must stop forthwith and those dismissed must have this decision reversed. A livable wage must be dispatched “Robust dialogue in good faith should take place with key stakeholders to help direct the capacitation and of the workers and the public health institutions.
“These must be given timelines to yield results,” the Zimbabwe Senior Hospital Doctors Association said in a statement. ZSHDA claimed some of the junior and middle level doctors were fired as collateral damage while on marternity leave. The association also said training of both undergraduate and postgraduate doctors has been severely impacted by lack of clinical teaching “Senior doctors remain incapacitated and hospitals drugs and equipment remain inadequate. No meaningful service is being offered at central hospitals.
“Flexi-hour system remains in place as policy. This has greatly affected quality continuity of patient care. Junior and Middle level doctors have been dismissed from work for not being able to report for duty due to incapacitation. Some on maternity leave andsome who are training outside the country have also been served with letters accusing them of absenteeism,” said ZSHDA.
Added ZSHDA, “We continue to seek dialogue to resolve this impasse and restore services. However, we have been shocked and dismayed at the decision taken by the employer to dismiss the junior doctors who have clearly stated their desire to come to work but are incapacitated. These dismissals will neither capacitate the remaining workers nor improve service delivery.
“We wish the same zeal and energy being displayed in punishing doctors could have been applied to see to the welfare of beleaguered hospitals and workers. It is in the public domain that the purchasing power of health workers salaries has fallen by more than 1500% since October 2018. In addition, most have not been paid for 2 months. The Government acknowledged that indeed health workers are incapacitated and proceeded to offer some reprieve via measures which could not be extended to doctors.”
State Media|As the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe releases $2 coins into circulation tomorrow ahead of the introduction of $2 and $5 Zim-dollar notes, Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube is convinced all fundamentals are now in place to ensure a stable local currency.
The finance chief said in two years, the US dollar overhang among individuals and businesses will be over as measures put in place will stabilise the Zimbabwean dollar, thereby making it the currency of choice.
He said that the new coins and notes are not a new currency as misconstrued by some sections of the media and society. Rather, a new currency was introduced in June when Government outlawed the use of multi-currencies.
The $2 coins as well as the $2 and $5 notes will be interchangeably used at par with existing bond notes and coins.
Minister Ncube said austerity, which has run its course, had delivered what it was meant to deliver, that is a balanced budget. The new thrust is now on consolidating the gains and job creation.
He said the issuance of the paper money completes the monetary sector reforms, which saw Government introducing a raft of measures to rein in Zimbabwe’s economic woes.
The Finance Minister stressed that Government is committed to currency stability and is aware that cash unavailability has been instrumental in pushing prices up, hence the need to bring in the new notes and coins, albeit in a non-inflationary way that will see RTGS balances being swapped with the cash.
Prof Ncube was speaking to the media in the capital on Wednesday.
“This is how we are declaring that this era of intense tough reforms and austerity is over. We are now switching over to productivity and job creation,” he said.
Speaking on the twin deficits that have plagued Zimbabwe’s economic reforms for a long time, Prof Ncube said Zimbabwe is on course to reduce its budget deficit to 4 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by year-end.
“We have been running surpluses. We know that by year-end, we are going to be in deficit. The twin deficits are now under control, you have no reason to worry. The current account and fiscal deficit needs to be contained so that we can support stability. If you have problems with those two areas, that will contribute to currency instability for sure.”
Zimbabwe has met its critical target of dealing with the fiscal and current account deficits, with the first half of the year recording consistent fiscal surpluses and a substantial improvement in the current account balance.
For the first time since 2009, the country’s current account registered a surplus of $196 million in the first quarter of the year.
However, the twin deficits are not the sole panacea for currency stability.
Government has therefore also managed to stop the central bank’s quasi-fiscal operations such as providing direct funding for projects. It has also managed to rein in several of its own expenses.
“Our target has been not to touch the RBZ overdraft window. We have not borrowed a single cent from the RBZ. We are not interested, give the RBZ its independence, we do not use the RBZ as a cash box,” declared Prof Ncube.
Government’s financial discipline has enabled it to embark on major infrastructural projects through locally generated resources.
Since the declaration of the state of disaster on our roads in 2017, Government has been on a blitz to spruce up both urban and rural roads, including the Lupane-Nkayi Highway, the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Road and the Kamativi-Binga Road, among many others.
Among other social protection programmes that are again funded from the local purse, Government has acquired buses for the mass public transport system and more are on their way. On Friday, President Emmerson Mnangagwa commissioned 79 new Zupco buses to add on to the fledgling fleet.
It is particularly important to note that all these developments are taking place as the country is smarting from the effects of a devastating drought as well as Cyclone Idai, which ravaged some parts of the country earlier this year.
Prof Ncube further said the 2 percent intermediated trnasfer tax, which he said will be maintained as it continues to avail funds for the aforementioned projects, medical drugs and fertilisers. The 2 percent tax has also solved compliance issues with regards to defaulting corporates and those in the informal sector.
For proper functionality, an economy requires cash in circulation to be between 10 and 15 percent of the broad money supply. Currently, the cash in circulation is significantly lower at about 4 percent of the money supply, hence the RBZ’s move to gradually increase the supply.
“The circulation target is about 15 percent but we can’t get there in one year. We have to control the gap in money supply,” said Prof Ncube.
RBZ Governor John Mangudya has said injecting the cash will be done gradually over the next six months.
The new notes and coins are expected to thwart the growth in cash premiums that have been eroding the value of electronic money.
Meanwhile, the Finance Minister has said good times lie ahead.
“On the prices, please be patient. I know that prices are not very stable and the wages are not where we would want them to be. But we have to bear in mind that we have tried to do currency reforms at high speed, we therefore should expect bumps.
“But Government finances are in good hands, that I can assure you. The bumps will ease soon.”
Prof Ncube will present the 2020 National Budget on Thursday. He is expected to prescribe a host of policies that will give oomph to the economy and build the local populace’s confidence in the new currency.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) will tomorrow release the new Zimbabwe dollar notes and coins into the market, with depositors set to start withdrawing limited amounts when banks open in the morning.
The new notes come in $2 and $5 denominations while $2 bond coins will also be released into circulation concurrently.
Banks started exchanging part of their electronic balances for the new notes with the RBZ at the weekend ahead of their planned release into the market. Our Harare Bureau understands that the Central Bank will during the course of the week announce new daily and weekly withdrawal limits, which it says will be in line with best international practice.
Authorities plan to gradually drip feed around $1 billion of cash into the market over the next six months that will take the amount of physical cash in circulation to around 10 percent of total money supply. Zimbabwe has about $19 billion in circulation, with only 4,5 percent being cash.
The RBZ Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is also set to meet on Friday to assess the market’s reaction to the new notes, and if necessary, prescribe appropriate interventions.
RBZ Governor Dr John Mangudya told our Harare Bureau that release of the new notes will neither be inflationary nor raise money supply.
“Banks will this weekend begin exchanging their RTGS balances for physical cash with the RBZ before they are released to the public on Monday.
“We will make sure that we drip feed the physical cash into the market in order to ensure that there is sufficient cash in the economy. What we are doing will not increase money supply because we are just substituting existing electronic money with physical cash. The goal here is to create convenience for the transacting public and also offering them a choice of either using electronic money or cash.
“We believe this will also help in eliminating queues at the banks where people spend countless hours of productive time queuing for cash.
“The fears that people are expressing on social media are a legacy of the hyperinflation era, but we rest assure them that there will be no repeat of that because there will be no increase of money supply; there is absolutely nothing to fear.”
Economist and member of the RBZ Monitory Policy Committee, Mr Eddie Cross said concern over inadequate security features, prevented the introduction of higher denomination notes. He said introduction of the new notes would drive down premiums being charged for cash. Premiums of up to 60 percent are being charged for bond notes with coins pegged at 40 percent.
“The primary objective is to bring sufficient cash into the market, to do away with queues at the banks and ATMs and to bring cash into free supply without any premium. The new cash which will be introduced next week (this week) and will be sold to commercial banks on a 1:1 basis for RTGs dollars. There will be no impact on money supply or inflation. We are not creating new money, we are replacing existing money with cash — so it won’t have any impact on the national macro-economic fundamentals.
“If this injection is not enough to solve the problem, we will introduce more currency. The reason for the relatively small notes — the $5 and $2 notes and coins — is because we were concerned about the security features. The security of these notes is not adequate and if we introduce a higher value note there will be counterfeits notes produced.”
The Central Bank is seeking to eliminate cash shortages, which the country has experienced since 2016 as well as huge premiums being charged for cash. The Zimbabwe dollar was reintroduced in June this year following the outlawing of the multi-currency system. – Sunday News
POWER struggles continue to rock the Apostolic Faith Mission in Zimbabwe (AFM) church with congregates at Bulawayo’s Nkulumane branch at loggerheads.
According to sources privy to goings on at the church, it all started with alleged differences between church leaders at national level, Pastors Aspher Madziyire and Cossam Chiangwa who were president and deputy president of the Apostolic Faith Mission in Zimbabwe (AFM). The tiff between the two led to divisions in church, as congregates took sides with their preferred leaders. The divisions have split the lower rungs of the church, with even the smallest branches within the city engaging in petty fights.
Church members at Nkulumane are fighting over the use of the church building, as they have split into two groups.
“As old members of the church we decided to find another place of worship since we no longer wanted Pastor Chigeda as our shepherd. We had our church services there for about three months but we saw it fit to go back to our rightful house of worship because where we were we used tents and it was too far from our houses.
“Elder Gobvu wrote a letter to Pastor Chigeda asking him to allow us to worship with them in the church building but on different time slots. Since they start church at 10.30am we asked for the pastor’s permission to start at 8am. He refused but we went there anyway since we all built the church. That is when all the drama and name calling started,” said the source.
The source added; “There was an incident when the pastor locked the church so that we do not get inside so we had to worship under the tree and he called the police claiming that we were causing havoc at church but police found us worshipping peacefully.”
The church secretary, Briton Tembo, however, said claims made against the “old members” were not true.
“What I know is no one was attacked or got beaten at church. So all the claims being spread on social media are not true. On the issue of sharing the church, by right according to the court ruling on September 4, Pastor Chigeda and his team are not AFM hence they are not even supposed to use the church, but we do not have a problem with sharing the building with them as long as they will not disturb us,” said Tembo.
When contacted for comment, Pastor Chigeda said he was too busy to talk to the media.
Paul Nyathi|President Emmerson Mnangagwa says that beginning on Monday, Zimbabweans who are hard pressed for cash will start withdrawing their cash from the banks with no problems at all.
Mnangagwa made the commitment which might soon come back to haunt him while he addressed a so called anti-sanctions rally at Tshovani Stadium in Chiredzi on Saturday.
Further, the President said there is no going back on the ban of the multi-currency system.
He said no country can develop without its own currency.
Said President Mnangagwa at the rally: “Right now people are being pained by the ever increasing prices in shops, it is because we are in a transition. We are transitioning from the low levels and we need to resuscitate our economy. We have no choice but to resuscitate our economy. In that process, we have some people who want to take advantage to profiteer.
“You were not getting money from the banks, but on Monday (tomorrow) we are going to inject more money in the banks until we reach a level where you lose appetite to go and get cash from EcoCash.
“You will simply go to the bank if you have money in your account and withdraw it to buy what you want. Right now, we are told that if you want $100 bond you should transfer $150 into an agent’s account.
“You are losing the other $50 for nothing. This is because there are cash shortages in the banks. We are now injecting money in the banks to correct that.”
THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) will tomorrow release the new Zimbabwe dollar notes and coins into the market, with depositors set to start withdrawing limited amounts when banks open in the morning.
The new notes come in $2 and $5 denominations while $2 bond coins will also be released into circulation concurrently.
Banks started exchanging part of their electronic balances for the new notes with the RBZ at the weekend ahead of their planned release into the market. The Central Bank will during the course of the week announce new daily and weekly withdrawal limits, which it says will be in line with best international practice.
Authorities plan to gradually drip feed around $1 billion of cash into the market over the next six months that will take the amount of physical cash in circulation to around 10 percent of total money supply. Zimbabwe has about $19 billion in circulation, with only 4,5 percent being cash.
The RBZ Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is also set to meet on Friday to assess the market’s reaction to the new notes, and if necessary, prescribe appropriate interventions.
RBZ Governor Dr John Mangudya told state media that release of the new notes will neither be inflationary nor raise money supply.
“Banks will this weekend begin exchanging their RTGS balances for physical cash with the RBZ before they are released to the public on Monday.
“We will make sure that we drip feed the physical cash into the market in order to ensure that there is sufficient cash in the economy. What we are doing will not increase money supply because we are just substituting existing electronic money with physical cash. The goal here is to create convenience for the transacting public and also offering them a choice of either using electronic money or cash.
“We believe this will also help in eliminating queues at the banks where people spend countless hours of productive time queuing for cash.
“The fears that people are expressing on social media are a legacy of the hyperinflation era, but we rest assure them that there will be no repeat of that because there will be no increase of money supply; there is absolutely nothing to fear.”
Economist and member of the RBZ Monitory Policy Committee, Mr Eddie Cross said concern over inadequate security features, prevented the introduction of higher denomination notes. He said introduction of the new notes would drive down premiums being charged for cash. Premiums of up to 60 percent are being charged for bond notes with coins pegged at 40 percent.
“The primary objective is to bring sufficient cash into the market, to do away with queues at the banks and ATMs and to bring cash into free supply without any premium. The new cash which will be introduced next week (this week) and will be sold to commercial banks on a 1:1 basis for RTGs dollars. There will be no impact on money supply or inflation. We are not creating new money, we are replacing existing money with cash — so it won’t have any impact on the national macro-economic fundamentals.
“If this injection is not enough to solve the problem, we will introduce more currency. The reason for the relatively small notes — the $5 and $2 notes and coins — is because we were concerned about the security features. The security of these notes is not adequate and if we introduce a higher value note there will be counterfeits notes produced.”
The Central Bank is seeking to eliminate cash shortages, which the country has experienced since 2016 as well as huge premiums being charged for cash. The Zimbabwe dollar was reintroduced in June this year following the outlawing of the multi-currency system.
The MDC national executive met today for seven hours and spent the better part of the meeting deliberating on the deteriorating situation in the country, particularly the worsening plight of the ordinary citizens. The executive, a key organ of the party, discussed and charted the way forward on the following key national issues.
1.The national situation
The national executive deliberated on the deteriorating political, economic and social situation in the country. In particular, the executive noted the rising cost of basic commodities as well as the slow genocide in the country’s hospitals, where the illegitimate regime has fired yet another batch of doctors for raising legitimate concerns about their wages and working conditions. They haven also raised issues about lack of medicines and other medical consumables to enable them to save lives.
2.Food insecurity
About 8,5 million people in the country are food insecure and the party noted with serious concern that the illegitimate regime had begun politicizing food in the rural areas. The party resolved to do all within its remit to stop the abuse of a key livelihood issue such as food.
3.Legitimacy crisis
The executive affirmed that the economic governance crisis in the country and the challenges facing the nation are symptomatic of the legitimacy crisis arising out of the stolen election of 2018. Unless and the until the legitimacy crisis is resolved, there will be no reprieve on the dire national situation as the people running government do not have the requisite confidence and mandate from the people.
The executive noted that the legitimacy crisis has led to the breaking down of the social contact, particularly between the leading and the led.
4.Elections
The party’s continued participation in by-elections has exposed the dire need for prudent electoral reforms. A compromised election management system, the murkiness around voting material, the abuse of traditional leaders and the use of food as political weapon continues to be rampant in the countryside, justifying the need for genuine electoral reforms. To this end, the party’s parliamentary caucus will table an alternative Electoral Bill that guarantees the holding of credible and legitimate elections that do not breed contested outcomes.
5.Increasing brutality against citizens and the leadership
The party noted the increasing brutality against the citizens and the people’s leadership and affirmed that the illegitimate regime of Mr. Mnangagwa will not succeed to break the collective spirit of the MDC in prosecuting the democratic struggle. The party stands in solidarity with citizens and leaders that are being persecuted.
The party resolved to set aside a day every year to remember and salute all survivors of political violence, living or dead, who have been victims of State-sanctioned brutality.
6.Parliament
The party deliberated on developments in parliament, particularly Zanu PF’s attempt to reverse the democratic gains enshrined in the Constitution. The national executive resolved that the people’s deployed to the August House must use the arena of Parliament to table alternative Bills as well as pro-poor motions that further citizens’ rights, widen democratic space and further the people’s democratic agenda. The party resolved to continue pressing for alignment of laws to the Constitution, and not amendment of the Constitution, itself made and affirmed by the people themselves in a referendum.
7.Dialogue
The party reiterated its commitment to a sincere, honest and credible dialogue process. The dialogue must unlock the impediments that have stood in the way of credible, free and plebiscites. As such, any honest and credible dialogue process, under a mutually agreed convener, must focus on a comprehensive reform agenda to ensure the security and freedoms of citizens as well as ensuring a free, fair and credible election that must yield a people’s government.
Local government
The executive noted the challenges faced by MDC-led councils and bemoaned the fact that in most of these councils are MDC-led but are not MDC-controlled. Zanu PF has centralized most of the key operations of local authorities, such as procurement. The party noted that Zanu PF has usurped key operations of councils in a manner that has curtailed the autonomy and the full independence of local authorities, in the process grossly interfering with service delivery. The party resolved to continue supporting the local authorities that it runs to ensure that they deliver prudent and affordable services to the people.
9.Resolving the national crisis
The party resolved to stand on the side of the people. The party will continue mobilizing locally and internationally for a cogent and robust #FreeZimbabwe campaign that must eventually yield a legitimate people’s government.
Permanent secretary in the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting, Nick Mangwana, has indicated his boss, Emmerson Mnangagwa is grooming a young successor.
Writing at the weekend, Mangwana said Mnangagwa believes that a young leader should succeed him. He said Mnangagwa believes the next President “leadership of Zimbabwe should be younger in age compared to the leadership the country has had so far.
“It is with this in mind that he has taken the bold step of infusing young leadership in the government as deputies to learn the ropes.
Mnangagwa who became head of State in 2017 has said he will still be leading ZANU PF in 2030. He will be 92 when he will be due for re-election. Still however, Mnangagwa insists he is determined to hand over to a younger mentee.
THE Meteorological Services Department (MSD) has predicted heavy rains accompanied by violent thunderstorms with possible flash floods with effect from this evening.
The announcement comes at a time when the country has been eagerly waiting for the rainy season to commence after months of hot weather and drought which has resulted in more than 9 000 cattle dying.
“Relief is on the way as the Meteorological Services Department (MSD) has forecast significant rainfall and slightly lower temperatures in most parts of the country during the coming week,” said the MSD in a statement.
The department said significant rainfall is expected across the country with effect from tomorrow until November 16, 2019.
“During storms, avoid metal objects and tall isolated trees.
Where possible stay indoors. Motorists are advised to be vigilant when driving through storms. Take caution on the road as flash flooding and gushes of water may lead to treacherous road conditions. Visibility may also be compromised during heavy downpours.”
The MSD said the heavy rains, which are a result of a cloud band from Botswana and Zambia, are expected to start affecting the Western parts of the country starting on November 10, 2019.
The wet conditions should move eastwards covering the whole country by Monday which should result in moderate to heavy rains across the country.
The rains should persist in most areas for much of the week, with localised heavier falls (in excess of 50mm in 24 hours) being highly likely in some places.
“The public is advised that the combination of this moisture together with heat can trigger violent storms which will be accompanied by lightning, hail and wind,” said the MSD.State media
