A FOUR-YEAR-OLD girl from Bulawayo’s Emganwini suburb is missing after she left with a woman suspected to be from Tsholotsho who the family was taking care of after finding her stranded in the city.
Nosipho Ndlovu went missing on Wednesday from her granny’s home in the same suburb after Simphiwe Mlilo (21) took her on the pretext that she wanted to buy her “chips.”
In an interview, 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 and 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.
She said that was the last she saw Mlilo and her granddaughter. Mrs Nkomo said the family is worried over the whereabouts of Nosipho.
“We have even reported the matter to the police and we are appealing to anyone with information on the whereabouts of the two to contact us or the police,” she said.
Bulawayo police spokesperson Chief Inspector Precious Simango said the matter is being treated as a kidnapping.
“We are investigating a case where a four-year-old child disappeared with a woman aged 21 on October 30. The child was last seen wearing a red dress with white dots,” said Chief Insp Simango.
She urged members of the public not to entertain strangers at their houses.
“We urge members of the public not to entertain strangers at their houses,” she said.
Anyone with information that might lead to the arrest of the accused person should contact any nearest police station.
Paul Nyathi|The Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association (ZIMTA) has issued a statement that its teachers will only report to work on Mondays and Fridays per week considering that their salaries are only sufficient for two working days per week.
Rural Teachers representing body ARTUZ also recently declared that its members will be at work for only two days a week.
ARTUZ Media Statement|The Amalgameted Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, ARTUZ, yesterday joined other unions and associations in the street demonstration called for by the Apex Council. Protesters sang and danced with talking placards in the 100m stretch road. Speech after speech and contented labour slogans were order of the day.
The all -day long protest kept the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) armed -to -the teeth side on feet throughout the day. ARTUZ notes with great disgust over the deployment of armed security who were equivalent to the demonstrators, the abuse and sanctioing of the demonstration by the ZRP. The demonstration was a result of poor living conditions of the government employees as a result of employer’s failure to handle the untouchable hyperinflation which has subsequently eroded civil servans’ salaries.
All goods and services have since adopted the inter-bank pricing system but the salaries remained stagnant. It’s disappointing that the workers who fund the country’s revenue are disassociated from the economy at one end. Workers are suffering on the input side and the situation worsening at the output part. The malpractices by irresponsible Mnangagwa led government and captured Mthuli Ncube have already sent a heat wave of oversized prices on underaged salaries.
We’re, therefore, still warning the ZRP to be non-partisinal in discharging their duties. We’re all civil servants who will benefit from the struggle of a living wage. We don’t have guns but our right to demonstrate and deliver pettition to the employer. To the government, we’re merely your employees who are not power hungry, unarmed and don’t have any knowledge on to conduct a coup. We’re just fighting for a living wage: politics dzedumbu- incapacitation is on the increase.
Long live the struggle of a living wage Shunga mushandi.Qina musebenzi.
ARTUZ MASH EAST INFORMATION DEPARTMENT
*0774149766/ *0719149766*
Celebrated local traditional healer Sekuru Banda born Kamwelo Banda has made a surprise entry on the list of Zimbabwe’s richest squad joining the likes of Phillip Chiyangwa, Strive Masiyiwa, Kudakwashe Tagwirei among others
According to Trumpet, a local version of Forbes, compiled by Switzerland based Jefferson Oswald, a thorough investigation into the lifestyles of famous and rich Zimbabweans revealed that the internationally recognised spiritual leader was among the elite club of billionaires.
“Sekuru Banda has business interests in the oil rich Arab countries, so when we calculated his net worth in United States dollar value, he is among the richest.
“One can not tell the man’s wealth because he chooses to remain humble and down to earth,” Oswald said.
He added that Sekuru Banda has interests in gold mining and commodity broking in some European countries
“All the above enterprises exclude his greatest gift as a traditional healer where he attracts people from all walks of life who come to him for spiritual help to grow businesses, to restore broken marriages, to restore lost goods and property and to be treated of various ailments like sexually transmitted diseases, cancer and TB among others,” added Oswald.
Farai Dziva|Aaron Ramsey and Douglas Costa’s goals ensured that Juventus get the better of Lokomotiv Moscow 2-1 in a UEFA Champions League tie.
Robert Lewandawski and Irvan Perisic powered Baryen to a comfortable 2-0 victory over Greek side Olympiakos.
Real Madrid thrashed Turkish-side Galatasaray 6-0 at the Santiago Berbaneu.
Brazilian starlet Rodrygo scored a hat-trick for Zinedine Zidane’s men while Karim Benzema and captain Sergio Ramos completed the rout.
In the same group, Paris St Germain edged Belgian outfit Club Brugge 1-0 in Paris. Mauro Icardi’s solitary first half strike doing the business for the French champions.
10-men Manchester City were held to a 1-1 draw by Atlanta while Tottenham Hotspur ran riot, thumping Crvena 4-0.
Atletico Madrid lost 2-1 to 10-men Bayer Leverkursen, Alvaro Morata’s late strike proving to be just a consolation.
Farai Dziva|Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson might miss Sunday’s top-of-the-table clash against EPL leaders Liverpool after he was taken off at halftime in their Champions League 1-1 draw with Atalanta in Milan on Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters after the game, coach Pep Guardiola said the keeper sustained a muscular problem and is not yet sure if he will feature over the weekend.
“It’s a muscular problem,” he said.
“It was a risk so we took him off as he was feeling it late in the first half.
“We don’t know (whether Ederson will be fit to face Liverpool).”
Manchester City are already missing the services of defenders Aymeric Laporte and Oleksandr Zinchenko, while David Silva has a thigh problem ahead of the visit to Anfield.
Farai Dziva|ZIFA is surprised by Bulawayo City Council’s statement concerning its decision on the change of venue for the upcoming AFCON qualifier between Zimbabwe and Botswana, the association’s spokesperson has said.
The Warriors and the Zebras were initially scheduled to clash at Babourfields Stadium on November 15 but ZIFA changed the venue to the National Sports Stadium in Harare citing floodgates issues at Emaghumeni, something that the City of Kings authorities vehemently denied via a statement yesterday.
The Bulawayo City Council insist the Felton Kamambo-led adminstration never officialy booked Babourfields and Gwesela said they were shocked by the statement.
“We don’t want to be seen to be fighting. But we are surprised with the statement, honestly,’’ ZIFA spokesperson Xolisani Gwesela told The Herald.
“We have a letter from their office and what they are saying in their statement and what is in the letter are different.
“What we just did is that we took the letter from BCC to CAF and the authorities at CAF made a decision based on that letter.
“There were no definite guarantees in that letter and we don’t blame them. But CAF don’t take chances.’’ he added.
A DZIVARESEKWA man reportedly drank rat poison and died after finding his girlfriend between the sheets with another lover.
The deceased Robert Gibson
Robert Gibson, 35, died around 3am yesterday and a neighbour at the girlfriend’s house Abel Musabe said he found the deceased naked crying out for help on his doorstep.
The now deceased Robert is said to have premeditated suicide last week after he struck his grandmother with a fist on the jaw and threatened to beat up his mother who was discouraging him from seeing his girlfriend named Lisa.
The deceased’s mother, Chenai Gibson, told H-Metro that she invited her mother-in-law to help her talk Robert into leaving his girlfriend Lisa after she allegedly infected him with an STI but he became violent.
“We tried by all means to stop him from seeing that no good woman but she (Lisa) even dared to come here yet she infected my son with a disease.
“Robert went to the extent of beating up my mother, he struck her on the jaw with a fist and she is yet to recover.
“He even threatened to beat me up also, destroyed a toilet seat and last week he said he wanted to drown rat poison and accused me of ill-treating him but I’m the one who took him to the clinic to get treatment for STI,” said the mother.
H-Metro spoke to the girlfriend Lisa who denied all the accusations laid on her from the Dzivaresekwa community who accused her of bedding men while she was dating Robert leading to his death.
“Akauya achipopota achiti ndakamuzadza siki asi ndakamuti chindisiya kana uchipomera izvozvo, so maybe that’s what has led to his death and I have nothing to do with this.
“Yes, he was my boyfriend but I woke up to the news from a neighbor Musabe who then told me Roby had drowned rat poison, otherwise I’m not sure why he decided to take his own life, maybe it’s because he beat up his grandmother, I don’t know,” said Lisa.
A woman at the scene who preferred anonymity told this publication that Lisa often beds a lot of men around the suburb.H-Metro
Zimbabwe National Army director of public relations Lieutenant Alphios Makotore has condemned an army officer who shot and killed his wife and injured his mother-in-law in the same incident.
Aaron Taurai Mlambo visited his now-deceased wife and mother-in-law around midnight last weekend in Chitungwiza where he opened fire on the duo and later on committed suicide using his service pistol. In a statement, Lt Col Makotore said:
The Zimbabwe National Army categorically condemns the actions of the member and violence associated with the incident.
The Commander Zimbabwe National Army, Lieutenant General Edzai Absalom Chanyuka Chimonyo, generals and senior officers, officers, men and women of the Zimbabwe National Army regret this unfortunate incident and would like to offer heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family and wish a speedy recovery to the injured mother-in-law.
Mlambo was attached at Kaguvi Barracks (formerly Old Cranborne Barracks) but based in Masvingo.
He had visited his wife Evelyn Madawo (24) at her 41-year-old mother Nomari Madawo when the tragic incident occurred.State media
Farai Dziva| Henrietta Rushwaya was involved in a terrible crash along the Kwekwe-Harare highway.
The accident happened a few hours after she had accused Zanu PF bigwigs of corruption in the mining sector.
Rushwaya is the president of the Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF).
The accident happened as she was coming from Gweru where she had attended the organisation’s Annual General Meeting on Wednesday.
According to The Herald, one person died on the spot while the former football administrator is reported to be in a stable condition.
Rushwaya was appointed the ZIFA CEO in 2007 and held the post until 2010. Her time at the helm was, however, marred by maladministration and was also involved in the Asiagate and later in the Limpopogate match-fixing scandals.
A DZIVARESEKWA man reportedly drowned rat poison and died after finding his girlfriend between the sheets with another lover.
The deceased Robert Gibson
Robert Gibson, 35, died around 3am yesterday and a neighbour at the girlfriend’s house Abel Musabe said he found the deceased naked crying out for help on his doorstep.
The now deceased Robert is said to have premeditated suicide last week after he struck his grandmother with a fist on the jaw and threatened to beat up his mother who was discouraging him from seeing his girlfriend named Lisa.
The deceased’s mother, Chenai Gibson, told H-Metro that she invited her mother-in-law to help her talk Robert into leaving his girlfriend Lisa after she allegedly infected him with an STI but he became violent.
“We tried by all means to stop him from seeing that no good woman but she (Lisa) even dared to come here yet she infected my son with a disease.
“Robert went to the extent of beating up my mother, he struck her on the jaw with a fist and she is yet to recover.
“He even threatened to beat me up also, destroyed a toilet seat and last week he said he wanted to drown rat poison and accused me of ill-treating him but I’m the one who took him to the clinic to get treatment for STI,” said the mother.
H-Metro spoke to the girlfriend Lisa who denied all the accusations laid on her from the Dzivaresekwa community who accused her of bedding men while she was dating Robert leading to his death.
“Akauya achipopota achiti ndakamuzadza siki asi ndakamuti chindisiya kana uchipomera izvozvo, so maybe that’s what has led to his death and I have nothing to do with this.
“Yes, he was my boyfriend but I woke up to the news from a neighbor Musabe who then told me Roby had drowned rat poison, otherwise I’m not sure why he decided to take his own life, maybe it’s because he beat up his grandmother, I don’t know,” said Lisa.
A woman at the scene who preferred anonymity told this publication that Lisa often beds a lot of men around the suburb.H-Metro
A New Jersey man who was charged with the death of a 19-year-old woman allegedly told police she passed out while he was choking her during rough s_ex.
Michael T. Gaffney, 21, and Francis Victoria Garcia, 19, were reportedly attending a loud Halloween party on the 14th floor of a high-rise in Hackensack, New Jersey, on Friday night.
Garcia was found dead in a car that was parked in a detached parking lot of the building at 2am on Saturday after medics rushed to the scene following a 911 call.
Gaffney, of Maywood, New Jersey, was charged with reckless manslaughter Saturday, following an autopsy which determined the death of Garcia, of Bloomingdale, New Jersey, as ‘compression injuries to her neck,’ officials said.
The 21-year-old told officials they were having se_x for around 20 minutes before he put his hands around her neck. She then reportedly lost consciousness, according to NJ news, citing the probable cause affidavit.
Gaffney told police he contacted a friend nearby to tell them Garcia was not breathing who came to the car and said her lips had turned purple. Gaffney also allegedly told police that they had taken prescription medication prior to the incident.
It was not clear whether had died from a bout of rough car se_x or a drug overdose.
Either way, her death had been deemed ‘suspicious.’
But the autopsy later found she had died of injuries to the neck.
A law enforcement source told the Daily Voice that Garcia had bruises on her neck consistent with Gaffney’s claim.
– DailyMail
In most cases, kidney failure is caused by other health problems that have done permanent damage (harm) to your kidneys little by little, over time.
When your kidneys are damaged, they may not work as well as they should. If the damage to your kidneys continues to get worse and your kidneys are less and less able to do their job, you have chronic kidney disease.
Kidney failure is the last (most severe) stage of chronic kidney disease. This is why kidney failure is also called end-stage renal disease, or ESRD for short.
Diabetes is the most common cause of ESRD. High blood pressure is the second most common cause of ESRD. Other problems that can cause kidney failure include:
Autoimmune diseases, such as
lupus and IgA nephropathy
Genetic diseases (diseases you are born with), such as polycystic kidney disease
Nephrotic syndrome
Urinary tract problems
Sometimes the kidneys can stop working very suddenly (within two days). This type of kidney failure is called acute kidney injury or acute renal failure. Common causes of acute renal failure include:
Heart attack
Illegal drug use and drug abuse
Not enough blood flowing to the kidneys
Urinary tract problems
This type of kidney failure is not always permanent. Your kidneys may go back to normal or almost normal with treatment and if you do not have other serious health problems.
Having one of the health problems that can lead to kidney failure does not mean that you will definitely have kidney failure.
Living a healthy lifestyle and
working with your doctor to control these health problems can help your kidneys work for as long as possible.
Return to top
Symptoms of chronic kidney disease
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) usually gets worse slowly, and symptoms may not appear until your kidneys are badly damaged.
In the late stages of CKD, as you are nearing kidney failure (ESRD), you may notice symptoms that are caused by waste and extra fluid building up in your body.
You may notice one or more of the following symptoms if your kidneys are beginning to fail:
Itching
Muscle cramps
Nausea and vomiting
Not feeling hungry
Swelling in your feet and ankles
Too much urine (pee) or not enough urine
Trouble catching your breath
Trouble sleeping
If your kidneys stop working suddenly (acute kidney failure), you may notice one or more of the following symptoms:
Abdominal (belly) pain
Back pain
Diarrhoea
Fever
Nosebleeds
Rash
Vomiting
Having one or more of any of the symptoms above may be a sign of serious kidney problems.
If you notice any of these symptoms, you should contact your doctor right away.Kidneyfund.org
If you have kidney failure (end-stage renal disease or ESRD), you will need dialysis or a kidney transplant to live. There is no cure for ESRD, but many people live long lives while on dialysis or after having a kidney transplant.
There are just a few options for treating kidney failure, including kidney transplant and several types of dialysis. Your doctor can help you figure out which treatment is best for you.
Starting dialysis often means creating a new normal for yourself and your family. There’s a lot to think about, from choosing a treatment option, to finding new ways to enjoy your favorite activities, to managing a new diet.
The
FIRST30 program is all about helping you through this period of adjustment. Here, you’ll find videos featuring people like you, who once were new to dialysis, as well as a checklist of important questions to ask your health care team.
Learning that you have kidney failure can come as a shock, even if you have known for a long time that your kidneys were not working well.
Having to change your lifestyle to make time for your treatments can make coping with this new reality even harder.
You may have to stop working or find new ways to exercise. You may feel sad or nervous. All is not lost. You can get help to feel better and have a fulfilling life.
Learn more about adjusting to living with kidney failure.Kidneyfund.org
Zimbabwe is being punished in various ways, including the imposition of sanctions by its Western detractors, for having a huge mineral resource base, President Mnangagwa has said.
The President said this while addressing delegates at the inaugural Artisanal and Small-Scale Miners Conference organised by the Zimbabwe Miners’ Federation (ZMF) in Gweru.
He said the current economic hardships were engineered by Western detractors keen on exploiting the over 40 different minerals in the country.
“This country, which is between Zambezi and Limpopo rivers, is so blessed. We are rich in minerals; we have a number of minerals including rare earth minerals,” he said.
“Only China is the second country to have rare earth minerals. But being rich in these minerals is the reason why we are in serious trouble with our detractors.”State media
A livestock herder in Kezi, Matabeleland South, has been slapped with a mandatory nine-year jail term for stealing a villager’s beast worth $4 000.
Bukhosi Nyoni (20) pleaded not guilty to a stocktheft charge when he appeared before Kezi resident magistrate Arafat Kozanai on Thursday last week. The magistrate convicted him after overwhelming evidence was tendered against him by the State represented by Smart Tafireyi.
The magistrate then slapped him with a nine-year jail term.
The court was told that on October 1 this year, Nyoni together with his accomplice (name withheld as he is a juvenile) approached Nkosilathi Dube, a butcher at Maphisa indicating they were selling an ox.
They said the ox must be transported at night, which raised Dube’s suspicions and he reported the matter to the police.
It is the State’s case that on October 4, Nyoni and the juvenile arranged with Dube to ferry the beast from Montana Vista Farm, Kezi. Dube alerted police officers who set a trap.
On arrival, Nyoni loaded the beast into Dube’s truck. Police officers, who were watching from a distance, arrested Nyoni.
Farai Dziva|Emmerson Mnangagwa has blamed western countries for “engineering economic hardships in the country.”
Below is an article published by a state run publication -in which – Mnangagwa vowed to block “western detractors” from plundering Zimbabwe’s natural resources:
Zimbabwe is being punished in various ways, including the imposition of sanctions by its Western detractors, for having a huge mineral resource base, President Mnangagwa has said.
The President said this while addressing delegates at the inaugural Artisanal and Small-Scale Miners Conference organised by the Zimbabwe Miners’ Federation (ZMF) in Gweru.
He said the current economic hardships were engineered by Western detractors keen on exploiting the over 40 different minerals in the country.
“This country, which is between Zambezi and Limpopo rivers, is so blessed. We are rich in minerals; we have a number of minerals including rare earth minerals,” he said.
“Only China is the second country to have rare earth minerals. But being rich in these minerals is the reason why we are in serious trouble with our detractors.”State media
By Tatelicious Karigambe| When someone does good lets all pay some amours and show some sense of appreciation.
I’m not a fan of this lady but she moved my heart and soul today.
As someone who have witnessed my own sisters being physically abused by their husbands,I really related to what this woman did for the lady who was badly physically attacked and bashed by her Ex Husband.
Like it or not,man are generally stronger than women so when it comes to the physical stamina the man in most cases overpowers women.
Lets all #Stand_Against_Women_Abuse and say #No_To_Domestic_Violence.
Well done to this woman in the picture for standing up for the vulnerable and being a voice to the voiceless.
Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) president Ms Henrieta Rushwaya who is also a close ally of President Emmerson Mnangagwa was involved in an accident just outside Kwekwe on her way from the organisation’s Annual General Meeting in Gweru last night.
One person died on the spot while Rushwaya is reported to be in a stable condition.
Mnangagwa has completed the clanisation of national intelligence by shunting out Aaron Nhepera from the CIO, where he was deputy director general to Isaac Moyo, who is the director general with Owen Mudha Ncube as minister. National intelligence is now clan intelligence! pic.twitter.com/Dik8ZmJ8nE
By A Correspondent| The lawyer representing presidential affairs minister Joram Gumbo said that his client was never arrested, contrary to what has been reported in the media.
Selby Hwacha told a local publication that Gumbo was summoned by officials from the Zimbabwe Anti-corruption Commission (ZACC) on Monday and after the interview, he was told to go home.
Said Hwacha:
Zacc officers went to his house on Friday and saw his wife who advised them that he was in Victoria Falls. They phoned him, advising him that they wanted to interview him and left their numbers.
He came on Sunday earlier than his scheduled departure. After that, he advised the officers that he was in town and asked if he could visit their office, but they told him to come on Monday around 9 am. He went there and they interviewed him and told him to go back home. Is that arrest?
Hwacha added that on Tuesday, Gumbo was taken to court and when they appeared at the Harare Magistrates Courts they were told to go back home.
ZACC has laid criminal abuse of office charges against Gumbo and reports indicate that the anti-graft body will press more charges against him.
By Own Correspondent| The Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council (ZNFPC) has revealed that the country is facing an acute shortage of contraceptives, with current stocks likely to run out next month.
ZNFPC director Munyaradzi Murwira told a local publication that male and female condoms are the only forms of contraception that are adequate.
He said:
“There is an acute shortage of family planning pills, Depo Provera and Implanon, but we, however, have adequate male and female condoms.
Murwira also revealed that ZNFPC is working with donors and suppliers to expedite shipments with some commodities expected in the coming weeks.
Zimbabwe has a contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) of 67% and an unmet need of 10% that is the proportion of women aged 15-49 using family planning. This is a significant improvement from 2010 when it was at 59 per cent.
By Patrick Guramatunhu| “During a post cabinet briefing held on Tuesday, Information Minister, Monica Mutsvangwa said government does not dispute the need to give a cost-of-living adjustment to workers but it was faced with various competing national demands which include payment of annual bonuses that will take a significant portion of resources,” reported Bulawayo 24.
“In addition, said Mutsvangwa, government is putting measures to “contain loss of the workers purchasing power and request worker representatives to provide three nominees to attend a Tripartite Negotiating Forum Technical Committee workshop.”
“The workshop is aimed at coming up with a Social Contract that is aimed at bringing the parties to a common position.
“This may result in the freeze of incomes and prices,” said Minister Mutsvangwa.
What good will it be to the worker whose salary has increased by a misery 50% in the last 12 month given that prices have surged upward by a staggering 350% in the same period. Freezing the wage and prices will be tantamount to the worker accepting a 300% wage cut! Worse still, most of the workers were being paid far below the US$650 poverty datum line to start with.
Zanu PF rigged last year’s elections and was cocksure the party would deliver economic recovery too. Well the regime must now admit that it has failed to revive the economy and, more significantly, the party must now step down.
By blatantly rigging last year’s elections Mnangagwa confirmed that Zimbabwe was still a pariah state ruling by corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous thugs. No one like to do business in a pariah state – have all should know this by now after all Zimbabwe’s economic nose dive has lasted these last 20 years after Mugabe confirm Zimbabwe was a pariah state.
The only sure way to end Zimbabwe’s pariah state is for Zanu PF to step down so the nation can appoint an interim administration whose primary task would be to implement the democratic reforms leading to the holding of free, fair and credible elections. Zimbabwe needs a fresh start!
Both Zanu PF and MDC leaders cannot be appointed in the interim administration because they were the key players in the 2008 to 2013 GNU which failed to implement even one meaningful democratic reform. Not one!
The people of Zimbabwe have suffered and many have died since Zimbabwe gained her independence in 1980 all because the country failed to establish a healthy and functional political system. The nation’s top priority right now is to end the tragic human suffering and lose of lives.
The country has another golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms designed to dismantle the dysfunction de facto one-party dictatorship and replace it with a democratic system of government. It would be unforgivable to fail the nation once again all because we sort to appease the corrupt and tyrannical ruling elite!
Zanu PF must step down, the party rigged last year’s elections and is, per se, illegitimate. That is not negotiable!
President Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday pledged to descend heavily on perpetrators of machete violence, reiterating that deterrent sentences must be imposed on those found in possession of the weapons.
He was speaking at the Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) annual conference in Gweru.
“We always read in the newspapers that there are people causing lawlessness through the use of violence,” Mnangagwa said
“Your president (ZMF president Henrietta Rushwaya) told me that the people involved are not real miners. They are people who do not have mining papers. So what I am saying is that anyone found with machetes must be jailed.”
Several senior government officials, including State Security minister Owen Ncube, have been accused of protecting artisanal miners who commit violence using machetes, and are never arrested.
Terror groups from Kwekwe and Shurugwi have been a menace in several parts of the country, with residents in areas like Bindura and Mazowe complaining that they commit the crimes with impunity due to their links to senior government officials.
Mnangagwa also pledged to reduce mining claims of big conglomerates that are lying idle and distribute to needy artisanal miners, popularly known as makorokoza.
“We hear that there are companies established 1 000 years or 800 years ago which own mines that are lying idle. Are the companies still in existence? We are going to be cutting the numbers of such claims owned by these big companies,” he said.
Mnangagwa also promised to come up with a law that will address concerns of artisanal miners so that government achieves a target of US$12 billion revenue from mining by 2023. Currently, mining revenue per year in the country is $3 billion.
“We need to come up with a law that addresses challenges faced by miners. The broader goal is that we must reach the US$12 billion milestone by 2023. This is the vision that we have set. All miners must work hard to achieve this vision,” Mnangagwa said.
Meanwhile, Zanu PF officials yesterday turned the miners’ indaba into a party function after mobilising resources to bus hordes of supporters from different parts of the Midlands province to the event.
Earlier on while Mnangagwa was in a closed-door meeting with ZMF officials, Zanu PF supporters clad in party regalia entertained themselves at the main venue dancing to songs that glorify the President such as ED Pfee and Kutonga Kwaro.
Some of the supporters could be heard chatting welcoming each other “to the rally”, unbeknown to them that it was a business conference. Mnangagwa also chanted party slogans.
Rushwaya boasted that she had managed to fill the venue with people and had, therefore, not “embarrassed the President”.
She said the federation was committed to serving the nation and would play its part in the economic turnaround of the country if it got full support from government.
According to sources, Gweru and Kwekwe were allocated 2 000 litres of fuel to ferry party supporters to the event.
Some ZANU PF officials who are reportedly involved in underhand dealings are said to have been shaken by the anti-corruption campaign that has so far seen the arrest of two senior government officials who were previously considered sacred.
These remarks follow the arrest of former Ministers of Tourism and Transport, Priscah Mupfumira and Joram Gumbo, respectively, over corruption allegations.
The duo was considered very close allies of President Emmerson Mnangagwa and many thought they would always be protected. Speaking to the Daily News, an unnamed source said:
“Many compromised chefs (bigwigs) are alarmed by the arrest of two senior ministers so far who were considered untouchables until now … and it hasn’t helped matters that both were on the contentious list of alleged corrupt party officials which was announced by the youth league in June.”
Reports suggest that Mnangagwa recently met with the ZANU PF Youth League and resolved to make a move on more senior government and party officials who were involved in underhand dealings.
Meanwhile, some analysts say that the arrests are not enough as the accused would soon be released after the state “fails to present supporting evidence”.
One of Bulawayo City supply dams at its lowest level.
Bulawayo City supply dams are running dry, and if the rains do not fall in the next few weeks, the water situation in the city will become dire, mayor Solomon Mguni has warned.
Mguni advised residents to use water sparingly.
“Our overall dams’ percentage is now at 37,76% as of Friday November 1, 2019. May I also take this opportunity to remind residents to conserve water. We need to be good stewards of the water in the city as it is a finite resource,” Mguni said at the city’s annual civic service anniversary on Sunday.
“This year, we celebrate our 125th anniversary under the theme Re-imagine Bulawayo, as we are spearheading a Bulawayo with a redefined course and new actions. We are praying for and building a Bulawayo that is focused on being a leading city in local governance.”
Mguni urged residents to clear debts on time.
“Let us pay our bills timeously, protect our environment and infrastructure, put litter in bins, but most importantly be polite, loving residents,” he said.
He said Bulawayo was probably the only city in the country which had a complete tourism package, with its own culture and heritage, eco-tourism and urban tourism sites.
“Bulawayo’s history and its growth into a great industrial centre and one of the country’s main attractions shows the residents’ desire and commitment for ensuring growth and development of the city,” Mguni said.
“The City of Bulawayo is proud to celebrate 76 years as a city and 125 years as a town. The Bulawayo which started as a small pole and mud settlement years ago has grown from these humble beginnings of 1894 to the modern city.”
Bulawayo was declared a city on November 4, 1943 and every year a civic service to commemorate the declaration is held on a Sunday close November 4.
Today in History.. State Media 07/11/2017: PRESIDENT Mugabe yesterday fired Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa with immediate effect over allegations of, among other things, disloyalty, disrespect, deceit and unreliability.
Announcing the decision at a press briefing in Harare, the Minister of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services, Cde Simon Khaya Moyo, said Cde Mnangagwa’s discharge of duties had become inconsistent with his official responsibilities.
The sacking of Cde Mnangagwa follows calls by Zanu-PF structures to relieve him of his duties following an incident of heckling by Cde Magure Charumbira and some youths of the First Lady Dr Grace Mugabe during the 9th Presidential Youth Interface Rally in Bulawayo last Saturday.
The First Lady accused VP Mnangagwa of abusing his authority to target Zanu-PF Politburo member Professor Jonathan Moyo and National Political Commissar Cde Savior Kasukuwere who did not support his ambition.
General Constantino Guvheya Chiwenga’s troops marched into Harare and overthrew Mugabe adminstration 8 days after the sacking of VP Mnangagwa.
Below is a copy of the original letter that sacked Mnangagwa
Paul Nyathi|The impending return of Vice President Retired General Constantino Guvheya Nyikadzino Chiwenga from his medical pilgrimage in China is a non-event and will do little to shake the Harare administration an MDC activist has said.
Speaking on the background of media reports that Chiwenga is expected in the country in a few days immediate former MDC Youth organising Secretary for Bulawayo Province, Shephard Dube, “I have read many predictions that say Chiwenga’s highly anticipated return from China will shake the powers in Harare and I have laughed at them.
General Chiwenga has been out of the political scene for long enough to be detached from any serious political plotting against his current Boss.
“If anything Chiwenga will come home take a rest and await to fully recover and start attending the monthly cleanup campaigns as has been his nature. For those who have an insatiable appetite for a coup they must know that nothing of sorts will happen and they must be alive to that reality.
Chiwenga’s allies were exiled to become Ambassador during his absence so all the command he had in the army has fizzled into nothingness and he now exists as a former army Boss who derives respect from that former position.” Dube added that only ZANU PF can implode itself if it is to be removed from power.
“Those wishing for the repeat of the November 2017 drama must only pray that the government implodes through a mass uprising arising from the suffering masses who are finding life difficult and unbearable otherwise they must forget, this is just another November full of increasing prices and squashed protests that is all.” President Emmerson Mnangagwa is yet to issue a statement on Chiwenga’s health.
Nelson Chamisa|Sad to note the passing on of a veteran in the great Chinja family, Mbuya Murwira (aged 90)or Mai Chipo as they call her in Glen Norah.She will always remind us that the demand for change is by all ages..and not just the young!This is a people’s struggle! Rest In Peace Gogo!
Tendai Ruben Mbofana|To say that I was petrified listening to the Deputy Minister of Information Energy Mutodi speaking last night (5 November 2019) on the Voice of America’s Studio 7, would be the understatement of the year, but was utterly shocked and dumbfounded, when he suggested that low salaries for workers were positive for the economy, as they attracted foreign direct investment (FDI), since companies preferred countries with cheap labour.
Energy Mutodi
I could not believe my ears. Then it dawned on me – of course, that explained a whole lot on why the government seemed intent on depriving its workers, and citizens in general, of decent wages and livelihoods, despite the fact that it was clear that the vast majority of them had become incapacitated, as they could hardly afford their daily commute to and fro their work stations.
Thus, was the Zimbabwe government deliberately impoverishing its own citizens in a warped and obviously skewed bid to attract investment? Was this part of its questionable and schizophrenic economic policies, especially propagated by Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube?
Would they rather we became slaves, as long as investors opened their businesses in the country, whilst abusing us as cheap labour, as well as firing us willy-nilly – as such an attitude by government signals to the very real and frightening prospects of the enactment of a plethora of anti-workers and anti-people legislation?
It surely appears so, further highlighted by the authorities’ apparent obsession with pleasing international institutions at the expense of the long-suffering and long-betrayed people of Zimbabwe – proven by the introduction of the 2 percent tax on electronic transactions, which they know are the only remaining backbone of citizen’s ability to trade in a cash-starved economy – as a way of placating the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Additionally, in its hurried attempt to realise a budget surplus – for exactly the same ‘blue-eyed boy’ agenda – the government has deprived the suffering people much needed genuine cushioning policies against the torture and torment of this economic turbulence.
As much as it is common knowledge that, indeed, any investor would strive to maximise his or her profits – and would obviously consider such dynamics as labour costs in choosing where to plant his or her money – but, for a government, which is normally expected to protect its own citizens from predatory forces, to find itself at the forefront of concerted efforts to disenfranchise them of their right ‘to be paid a fair and reasonable wage’ (as promulgated in Section 65 (1) of the country’s constitution), is not only cruel but unbelievably evil.
Similarly, the administration’s readiness to sell out the citizens of Zimbabwe, in a desperate attempt to attract FDI, may actually turn out to be nothing more than mere pipe dreams, as it takes far much more than just cheap labour for a company to invest in a country. This government’s catastrophic economic and political policies have already led to massive company closures – as such, why risk people’s welfare for investment that is not even guaranteed?
Such has exposed the deceitfulness of Zimbabwe authorities who have always touted themselves as champions of the people’s welfare – as witnessed by their incessant vitriolic attacks against businesses they accuse of profiteering at the expense of a suffering populace (no matter how insincere, considering that the government’s own continual fuel and electricity tariff increases and tragic economic policies are largely responsible for ever-increasing prices of basic and essential goods and services) – living the ordinary person all the more vulnerable.
What further raises suspicions that Mutodi’s comments were not isolated nor an individual’s personal opinion, but actually government policy, is the nonsensical explanations proffered by the administration as to why they can not afford to meet its workers demands.
Firstly, government workers have been on record countless times reiterating that they are not requesting a salary increment, but merely demand their earnings to be pegged at their October 2018 values – when they were in United States dollars – to the local ever-devaluing Zimbabwe currency at the prevailing interbank exchange rate, since a 24 June Statutory Instrument 142 of 2019 re-introduced the Zimbabwe dollar and outlawed the multi-currency system that had been in force since 2009.
Therefore, if a worker was earning US$500 in October 2018, and the prevailing interbank exchange rate is US$1 to ZWL$15, then his or her current salary should be ZWL$7,500. However, what we are witnessing is that such an employee would probably be getting ZWL$1,000.
So, what would have happened to his or her ZWL$6,000? Did it just vanish into thin air?
That is where government’s explanations that it does not have enough money to pay its workers what they are demanding makes no sense at all.
If the Zimbabwe authorities were quite capable of paying their workers, for instance, the US$500 in October 2018, why then suddenly do they not have the money today to simply covert this same amount at the prevailing interbank rate? They would not even be expected to add a single cent – as all they need to do is simply avail the same US$500 they were paying last year, and the bank will convert it using the prevailing exchange rate, thus the worker will receive the real value of his or her salary.
Furthermore, would the people be wrong in also concluding that the abrupt re-introduction of the Zimbabwe dollar – after the crazed introduction of the RTGS dollar, and liberalization of the exchange rate from the previous 1:1 against the Greenback, only a few months prior – was a well-calculated ploy to ensure that ordinary citizens had their monies, including salaries, spectacularly lose value literally overnight?
Is this not clear evidence that the government is doing this in a crude deliberate effort to create their fancied ‘cheap labour’?
The government has some serious explaining to do to the people of Zimbabwe, as what they have been doing is tantamount to stealing its own citizen’s hard-earned monies. The very height of the corruption they purport to be fighting!
Who can ever forget the early to mid 2000s when our fathers and mothers again lost all their savings, pensions and insurance benefits, due to similar brazenly atrocious economic policies – where the then currency lost value in fairy tale fashion?
Who can ever forget the trauma of watching one’s own mother uncontrollably weeping, as she could not believe that all her lifetime savings and investments (accumulated over a period of 46 years of employment) – which she had eagerly anticipated to see her through a comfortable retirement – had simply vanished, and she had been left high and dry as if she had never worked her entire life?
Today, this so-called ‘new dispensation’ has proven beyond any reasonable doubt that, indeed, old habits die hard – considering that, save for a very few new faces, the real power-brokers are the same from the then ousted late president Robert Gabriel Mugabe era – who supported his equally poisonous policies (both political and economic) without any qualms.
As such, who is truly benefiting from this ruinous and wretched state of affairs? Are the real beneficiaries the cartels, that somehow always manage to secure all the foreign and local currencies that are ostensibly in short supply, but freely abound traded openly on the streets?
What is even the real purpose of the injection of the ZWL$1 billion in new notes into the economy? Considering this administration’s history, who will truly benefit? Will these new notes – just as the Bond Notes, which were introduced a few ago under the same pretext of easing cash shortages – end up, not in banks and ordinary people’s hands, but with the cartels that the government seems intent on protecting, whilst implementing sham and scandalous ‘punitive measures’, that have never seen any real action taken?
It is about time that the government ceased playing dangerous and hurtful games against the people of this country. Have we not suffered enough? Is this administration run by sadistic people who attain some perverted gratification from making us suffer, moan and even die?
Would they genuinely be so eager to fulfil their ‘Zimbabwe is open for business’ mantra by sacrificing its own citizens at the altar of expediency and self-aggrandisement? Would they truly prefer seeing us turned into glorified slaves, just as to attract foreign direct investment – investment of which is not even guaranteed as government’s own treacherous policies have, in fact, led to company closures? Indeed, it does certainly appears so.
Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice activist, writer, author, and speaker. email: [email protected].
Own Correspondent|The Zimbabwe Senior Hospitals Doctors Association has condemned has issued a statement informing the public to disregard reports published by state media that Mpilo hospital was functioning well and the patients were getting proper access to health care.
In a statement on Tuesday the SHDA said the outpatient department unit has been shut down for 2 months and no patients were being treated and no patients are being treated at the moment.
The doctors said the situation in Mpilo is critical and any attempt to view it as normal would be tantamount to propagating a genocide.
Own Correspondent |Speaking openly for the first time during a diamond security indaba at Holiday Inn Mutare, Chief Marange yesterday openly told the government owned ZCDC company it is abusing the people.
This was during a morning meeting at Holiday Inn , Mutare.
VIDEO STREAMING BELOW.
Meanwhile, earlier on, the Marange Diamond fields community leader, Moses Mukwada told ZimEye, of the meeting- he is “attending the Diamond Security Indaba organised by ZCDC. It is held 3 times a year at Holiday Inn Mutare. The event [started] last year, with the intention to discuss issues surrounding the protection of diamonds illicit deals and other issues. To my judgement after attending a number of these meetings, it has yielded nothing rather than eat and drink in hotel for a day. Popular diamond dealers who we have pointed out by name … have never been arrested [or charged. Syndicates of popular individuals continue to be accommodated since… big political chiefs [bosses] are in it.”
Paul Nyathi|A Kenya Airways plane that was headed to Nairobi from Johannesburg is said to have turned back in what was alleged to be a stowaway incident.
According to the Aviation Herald, KQ761 was midair when the pilot was notified of the presence of a maintenance engineer aboard the aircraft.
”While leveling off at FL310 the crew turned around and returned to Johannesburg,” the Aviation Herald reported on Tuesday.
The plane had left Oliver Tambo Airport at 12:10 South African time.
30 minutes later, the aircraft was back at the airport.
Reports indicated that the maintenance engineer was discovered safe and sound.
“He’s here and conscious!” Aviation Herald quoted the crew said.
The Boeing 787-8 plane is said to have stayed at the airport for almost an hour before resuming the journey to Nairobi.
Kenya Airways however did not affirm the claims of the stowaway only stating that: “….we had an air-turn back due to operational reasons, however the same flight left Johannesburg at 1335Hrs.”
In July of this year, a dead stowaway was discovered to have been on a Kenya Airways flight from Nairobi to London.
The body of the unidentified male dropped from the plane into a garden in Clapham, South London.
It is believed that he died inside the landing compartment where he had hidden himself.
“UK police also discovered a bag containing food and some clothing at the rear left landing gear of the plane,” the Kenya Airports Authority later revealed.
A photo of the man was released in October but his identity is yet to be verified.
In this Oct, 27, 2019, photo, the carcass of a buffalo lies on the edges of a sun baked pool that used to be a perennial water supply in Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe. Elephants, zebras, hippos, impalas, buffaloes and many other wildlife are stressed by lack of food and water in the park, whose very name comes from the four pools of water normally filled by the flooding Zambezi River each rainy season, and where wildlife traditionally drink. The word “mana” means four in the Shona language. (Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/Associated Press)
MANA POOLS — Weak from hunger and thirst, the elephant struggled to reach a pool of water in this African wildlife reserve. But the majestic mammal got stuck in the mud surrounding the sun-baked watering hole, which had dramatically shrunk due to a severe drought.
The carcass of an Elephant lies on the edges of a sun baked pool that used to be a perennial water supply in Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe. AP
Eventually park staff freed the trapped elephant, but it collapsed and died. Just metres away lay the carcass of a Cape buffalo that had also been pulled from the mud, but was attacked by hungry lions.
Elephants, zebras, hippos, impalas, buffaloes and many other wildlife are stressed by lack of food and water in Zimbabwe’s Mana Pools National Park, whose very name comes from the four pools of water normally filled by the flooding Zambezi River each rainy season, and where wildlife traditionally drink. The word “mana” means four in the Shona language.
At least 105 elephants have died in Zimbabwe’s wildlife reserves, most of them in Mana and the larger Hwange National Park in the past two months, according to the Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority. Many desperate animals are straying from Zimbabwe’s parks into nearby communities in search of food and water.
Mana Pools, a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its splendid setting along the Zambezi River, annually experiences hot, dry weather at this time of year. But this year it’s far worse as a result of poor rains last year. Even the river’s flow has reduced.
The drought parching southern Africa is also affecting people. An estimated 11 million people are threatened with hunger in nine countries in the region, according to the World Food Program, which is planning large-scale food distribution. The countries of southern Africa have experienced normal rainfall in only one of the past five growing seasons, it said.
Seasonal rains are expected soon, but parks officials and wildlife lovers, fearing that too many animals will die before then, are bringing in food to help the distressed animals. The extremely harsh conditions persuaded park authorities to abandon their usual policy of not intervening.
Each morning, Munyaradzi Dzoro, a parks agency wildlife officer, prays for rain.
“It’s beginning to be serious,” he said, standing next to the remains of the elephant and buffalo. “It might be worse if we fail to receive rains” by early November. The last substantial rains came in April, he said.
An early end to a “very poor rainy season” has resulted in insufficient natural vegetation to see the animals through, said Mel Hood, who is participating in the Feed Mana project, which is providing supplementary feeding.
Most of the animals in Mana Pools “are more or less confined to the barren flood plains,” where temperatures soar to 45 degrees Celsius, she said.
Separated from neighboring Zambia by the Zambezi, the region’s once reliable sources of water have turned into death traps for animals desperate to reach the muddy ponds. Like the elephant and buffalo, many other animals in the park have gotten stuck in the clay while trying to reach Long Pool, the largest of the watering holes at 5km long.
The animals were pulled out by rangers, but they could not survive predators on the pounce for weak prey.
“The carnivores attacked it from behind,” Dzoro said of the buffalo. The elephant carcass had been there for almost a week and emitted a strong stench as flies feasted on it.
At just 5% of its normal size, Long Pool is one of the few remaining water sources across the park’s plains. On a recent day, hippos were submerged in some puddles to try to keep their skin from drying out in the extreme heat while birds picked at catfish stranded in the mud.
Two others of Mana’s pools have completely dried up, while the third is just 20% to 30% of its usual size and dwindling, Dzoro said.
There are more than 12,000 elephants roaming Mana’s flood plains as well as an abundance of lions, buffaloes, zebras, wild dogs, hyenas, zebras and elands. The animals are visibly affected by the drought. Some impalas show signs of skin mange. In addition to the land animals, the park has 350 bird and aquatic species, according to the parks agency.
In other parts of Mana, park authorities are pumping water from deep boreholes, but the supplies are barely enough, he said.
“We used to say nature should take its course,” Dzoro said of the park’s normal policy of not intervening and allowing the ecosystem to find its own balance.
“We are now forced to intervene, which is manipulative conservation, because we are not sure when and how we will receive the rain. To avoid losing animals we have to intervene to maintain population sizes,” Dzoro said.
With the acacias, other indigenous trees and grasses that provide the bulk of food for herbivores like elephants and buffaloes also decimated by the drought, authorities began supplementary feeding in July.
Trucks and tractors ferry hay to various locations in the 2,196 square kilometre park. In some spots, elephants, buffaloes and zebras are fed next to each other. The Feed Mana project has so far trucked 14,000 bales to the park, said Hood, the animal welfare campaigner.
The group has been appealing for “urgent” donations of items such as soy bean hay, grass and cubes made of nutritious grains and molasses.
“Although it may not be enough to stave off all the hunger pangs, it is certainly giving these animals a chance to survive until conditions improve,” Hood said.
Zimbabwe has an estimated 85,000 elephants and neighboring Botswana has more than 130,000. The two countries have the largest elephant population in the world. Zimbabwe says it’s struggling to cope with booming numbers of wild elephants and is pushing to be allowed to sell its ivory stockpile and export live elephants to raise money for conservation and ease congestion in the drought-affected parks.
Other African countries, especially Kenya, are opposed to any sale of ivory. And earlier this year the meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species voted to continue the ban on all ivory sales.
At Mana Pools, saving the animals is a challenge and officials say Zimbabwe is severely affected by climate change that has changed weather patterns.
In past years, Mana Pools would get up to 600 millimetres of rain per year, said Dzoro, the wildlife officer. Now it’s lucky to get half that.
With such a dramatic reduction, “we can’t have perennial sources to sustain animals and some of the perennial springs have dried up. Climate change is affecting us. That’s why the manipulative way now is the only way to rescue our fauna,” Dzoro said.
“Climate change is real for sure, we are witnessing it,” he said.
Paul Nyathi|What could be wrong with former president Jacob Zuma. He’s claiming he’s too ill to appear before the state capture inquiry next week.
During his first appearance earlier this year, Zuma also claimed he wasn’t well. But he was more than able to make serious allegations against senior leaders in the ANC, claiming some were apartheid spies.
From day one, Zuma told the inquiry that he wasn’t in good health. He even alleged that he survived assassination attempts.
“I have survived attempts to kill me, people looking to poison me or being instructed by their handlers to do so and finally poisoned with very dangerous poison,” he told the Zondo Commission. It’s not clear what’s wrong with Zuma this time around.
His legal counsel refused to speak to eNCA. New dates for when Zuma will next appear at the inquiry will be communicated later.But for now, the former number one is evading the hot seat in front of Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo
Seretse Ian Khama (L) shakes hands with president Mokgweetsi Masisi
The Conversation|Mokgweetsi Masisi’s decisive victory in the recent Botswana elections over a coalition backed by his former boss, Ian Khama, is the culmination of an astonishing 10 year political career.
Morphing from an obscure first-time MP in 2009 to a surprise vice presidential appointment in 2014, and then president in 2018, the man affectionately known as “Sisiboy” (a play on his surname) has wrested control of Botswana from the powerful Khama family. This he has achieved using tireless campaigning and “the rebirth of the Botswana Democratic Party” (BDP).
The Khama lineage has dominated Botswana’s politics since the 1870s, right through the modern presidencies of Sir Seretse Khama (1966-1980) and Ian Khama (2008-2018). But they are now a discredited, spent force with Ian Khama’s new party having won only 5% of the vote.
The prosecution of Khama’s security chief, Isaac Kgosi, and presidential secretary, Carter Morupisi, following his assumption of power in 2018, showed that Masisi was no longer willing to tolerate the widespread corruption that flourished under his predecessor. Investigators continue to uncover allegations of shocking malfeasance.
Masisi, 58, is on a mission to restore Botswana’s reputation as a beacon of clean governance on the continent, and is pouring resources and energy into that effort.
His ascent and success have surprised everybody. Even Khama admitted
I have come to realise that I have maybe misjudged him.
The early days
My own acquaintance with Masisi goes back to childhood, when we attended the same schools and played tennis at the same club. The last time I saw him was at a now defunct laundromat in northern Gaborone, in 1994. He was his usual friendly, well-mannered self, inquisitive and loquacious. Recently returned from completing his master’s degree in education at Florida State University, he was one of the co-owners of this faltering business.
Prior to going to Florida State, Masisi had worked on revamping Botswana’s social studies curriculum for its secondary schools, which he continued to do in the 1990s under the sponsorship of UNICEF. Knowing that the curriculum was a disaster (having no Botswana history at all and being full of outdated colonial and Bantu Education myths), I doubted he could make meaningful changes. Whether he ever did or not, his early career in pedagogy undoubtedly led him to confront government dysfunction head on.
Gaborone in the 1970s and 80s was a small, intimate place, and Masisi grew up there surrounded by the families of the Botswana bureaucratic and business elite. Despite this somewhat privileged milieu and education, nothing about him then suggested that he would go on to become such an influential national politician.
Although his father, Edison, was a senior cabinet member, Masisi did not display the charisma of a Sir Seretse Khama, the first president of independent Botswana. Neither did he show the technocratic brilliance of a Quett Masire, who succeeded Seretse Khama as president in 1980; nor the emotional oratory of a Daniel Kwelagobe, the BDP chairman. Although Masisi today compares favourably to any of these political legends, none of this seemed evident in his youth.
He has always been easy to underestimate. Although a prefect at Gaborone’s Thornhill and Maru A Pula private schools, he was not a standout personality. Strong in humanities rather than the sciences, he was a middling student. Similar things could be said about his teenage sports career, during which he never showed the same tenacity and killer instinct on the tennis court that he has shown in politics.
The ‘priest’
Masisi’s greatest moment in his young life was when, at 20, he was cast as the umfundisi (priest) in a 1983 Gaborone theatrical adaptation of Alan Paton’s “Cry the Beloved Country”. Playing a much older man with grey hair, a shuffling gait, and a quavering voice, Masisi turned in a powerful performance that brought him a standing ovation from Paton himself and President Masire.
The young Mokgweetsi Masisi. Mokgweetsi Masisi FB page
While his acting career ended after a role in a highly forgettable straight-to-video feature, his portrayal of the priest nevertheless presaged key themes of his future political life.
After leaving UNICEF in 2003 Masisi entered politics, but failed to win his father’s old seat in Moshupa, the family home 41km northwest of Gaborone. He then endured a period of “failure, illness, unemployment, being seen as unfit for certain things, scorn and ridicule”. He relied on his newly-wed wife Neo’s salary for a time. He nevertheless persevered and built up a following, while also welcoming the birth of his daughter, Atsile.
Masisi managed to win the governing BDP’s primary and general election, landing in parliament in 2009. Within two years he was in the cabinet. In 2014, President Ian Khama, looking for an inexperienced and pliable deputy, appointed him vice-president.
Like the priest in Paton’s story who went to Johannesburg seeking his sister and son only to find a degraded and desperate situation, so Masisi found the central government and cabinet unrecognisable from the institutions that his late father had served so well in the past. With the BDP having been taken over by a coalition of Khama lackeys and “tenderpreneurs” – business people who enrich themselves, often dubiously, through government tenders – even the party’s founder, former President Masire, disowned it for lacking the values and discipline of the original.
Masisi’s role as vice-president was to serve as a short-term stopgap for Ian Khama’s Fredo-like brother, Tshekedi. His looming appointment as Khama’s successor was highly unpopular inside and outside the party.
Ever since 1998, the BDP has transferred power from the president to the vice-president a year before the next general election. Masire did this for Mogae in 1998, who then did the same thing for Ian Khama in 2008.
Outmanoeuvring the Khamas
It is clear that former President Khama (66), like many others, underestimated his young vice-president. Masisi took advice in secret late-night sessions with former presidents Masire and Mogae as well as other veterans who despised “the New BDP” that Khama led.
Using their counsel, he attended party meetings across the entire country to build up his own constituency. Masisi described his years as vice-president] as “brutal hell”, adding that
I was the most abused vice-president.
Once Khama handed power to Masisi in April 2018, “Sisiboy” moved quickly onto the attack, arresting the despised Isaac Kgosi and installing his own supporters in key positions. Once the Khama brothers defected to the opposition ahead of the 2019 election, they and their supporters were thoroughly outworked by Masisi’s relentless campaign organisation.
The full story of how the underling Masisi prosecuted his silent war with Khama is one we must wait for. Ultimately, it is his energetic campaigning and his desire to bring back the forgotten ethos and policies of the early BDP – of Seretse Khama and Masire – that won over the voters despite the defection of the Khamas.
Masisi now vows to reinvigorate Botswana’s stalled economy. In this regard his supporters expect him to show no less stamina than he did in the election.
The love for beer has landed a Victoria Falls man behind bars after he was sentenced to five months in prison for using a forged Ecocash message to buy a crate of opaque beer.
Wonderful Muzamba (30) of Mkhosana approached a bar lady Ms Jennifer Tshuma at a local night club and showed her a counterfeit message purporting that he had paid RTGS$157 for 12 by 1,25 litres of opaque beer.
Muzamba was arrested before leaving the nightclub after Ms Tshuma phoned her superior inquiring if the transaction had gone through and was told that it had not.
Muzamba pleaded guilty to fraud when he appeared before the Victoria Falls magistrate Ms Rangarirai Gakanje yesterday.
He told the court that a friend of his had done the transaction on his behalf and he only presented the phone to the bar lady to confirm the message.
The magistrate slapped Muzamba with an effective five months in prison.
For the State Mr Japhinos Tavengwa said Muzamba went to the bar with the intention to defraud the bar lady.
“On the 22nd of October 2019 around 11.30PM and at G-Spot Night Club, Muzamba made a misrepresentation to Ms Tshuma that he had paid for 12 by 1,25 litres of beer worth RTGS$157. Ms Tshuma verified with the owner who told her that no transaction had gone through to his Ecocash number,” said Mr Tavengwa.
A report was made to the police leading to Muzamba’s arrest.
Investigations showed that Muzamba had presented a fake message. Recently, five other Ecocash fraudsters were sentenced by the same court.
Bhekinkosi Ngwenya, Mlungisi Mpala, Mqondisi Mpofu, Gracious Tshuma all from Jambezi outside Victoria Falls and William Masuku (32) of Mkhosana suburb committed the offences between April and last month.
They were each sentenced to 10 months in jail of which two months were suspended on condition of good behaviour while th remaining eight months were commuted to community service.
A SPURNED man from Plumtree who allegedly fatally attacked his 51-year-old neighbour in a fight over a woman, yesterday appeared in court.
Methuseli Moyo (36) of Mabungwe village in Bulilima district allegedly struck Chrispen Ncube with a log and knobkerrie several times all over the body until he lost consciousness.
He then dragged Ncube’s body to his homestead where he dumped it before he fled.
Moyo yesterday appeared before Bulawayo High Court judge, Justice Maxwell Takuva, facing a murder charge.
Prosecuting, Mr Khumbulani Ndlovu said on April 18 in 2017 at about 6PM, Ncube armed himself with a stick and went to his girlfriend, Ms Siphilisiwe Sibanda’s homestead to confront her over a relationship she had with Moyo, but he failed to locate her.
Ncube met Moyo walking with his girlfriend as he was going back to his homestead resulting in an altercation.
“When he arrived at Ms Sibanda’s homestead, the deceased failed to locate the woman. He left the homestead and on his way back home, Ncube met Ms Sibanda in the company of Moyo and an altercation ensued between the two men,” said Mr Ndlovu.
“Moyo struck Ncube with a log and knobkerrie on the head, both legs and on his back. Ncube sustained serious injuries as a result of the attack.”
Moyo then dragged Ncube who had lost consciousness, to his homestead and left him in his bedroom hut where he later died. Moyo fled from the scene and went into hiding at a friend’s homestead.
He was arrested four days later following a tip off.
Mr Ndlovu said police found Ncube’s body in Moyo’s bedroom hut when they went to his homestead intending to arrest him for destroying a door at Ms Sibanda’s homestead.
When Ms Sibanda took to the witness stand yesterday, she told the court that they had an altercation with the deceased after she dumped him and started a new relationship with Moyo.
“The deceased came to my homestead and insulted me using foul language. He threatened to assault me for dumping him and I had to flee and sought refuge at a neighbour’s homestead where he followed me and assaulted me,” she said.
Ms Sibanda said on the fateful day, she had gone to fetch Moyo from his place so that he could defend her from the deceased.
She said two weeks before he was killed, Ncube had threatened to burn her to death in her bedroom hut for dumping him.
Ms Sibanda told the court that Ncube was furious as he kept demanding reconciliation with her.
“On the fateful day, I left the two men arguing and proceeded to my neighbour’s homestead to collect my daughter. I later heard the deceased screaming as he was being assaulted by Moyo,” said Ms Sibanda.
She said when she arrived home, she discovered that her bedroom door had been damaged. In his defence through his lawyer Mr Dixon Abraham of Tanaka Law Chambers, Moyo denied the charge.
A WOMAN from Bulawayo has been arrested for allegedly causing the death of her 10-year-old daughter whose three siblings are battling for life at Mpilo Central Hospital after they were burnt in an explosion.
Lydia Mbadzi (44) from Gwabalanda suburb who was also burnt, allegedly poured paraffin into melting wax to make floor polish, which caused an explosion and burnt four of her children aged four,10, 17 and 19.
Mbadzi had previously indicated that she had ordered five litres of paraffin from a backyard dealer to make floor polish but was given petrol. The court heard one of her children, Nokuthaba Mbadzi (10) died from burns she sustained.
Mbadzi pleaded not guilty to negligently causing serious bodily harm and culpable homicide charges before Western Commonage magistrate Ms Gladmore Mushove.
She was remanded out of custody on $200 bail to November 15 for continuation of trial.
For the State, Mr Chief Muteve said Mbadzi committed the offence on October 20 this year.
“Mbadzi unlawfully caused her three children to sustain burns by pouring paraffin into melting wax which led to an explosion,” he said.
“The accused person also unlawfully and negligently caused the death of Nokuthaba Mbadzi who died from burns sustained following the explosion,” said Mr Muteve.
CITY of Bulawayo have accused the Zimbabwe Football Association of not telling the truth on the issue of moving the Warriors Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Botswana to Harare.
In a press statement sent out on Wednesday, City of Bulawayo senior public relations officer, Nesisa Mpofu said they were not involved in the decision of the venue for the encounter, nor were they engaged in the proposal for the fixture to be played in Bulawayo.
Mpofu stated that all they got was communication from a Zifa official enquiring about floodlights at Emagumeni, of which they were told that the lights were in good working condition. Zifa were however informed to engage the engage Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission Distribution Company seeing the precarious power situation in the country.
“The City of Bulawayo did get communication from a representative from Zifa asking about the floodlights at Barbourfields Stadium and they were duly advised through a letter after tests that the lights were in a good working condition.
“Council however explained that there was need for Zifa to further engage Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission Distribution Company taking into consideration the high power outages in the country. Zifa was also advised that as per norm, applicants intending to use the stadium should pay for floodlights in advance and equally meet the hire costs for the stadium,’’ Mpofu said.
According to the council spokesperson, no booking was made for the stadium since no payment was made. She stated that in any case, the local authority usually makes available a standby generator that has the capacity to power the floodlights in case of a power outage.
BCC made it clear that with Zifa having not booked Barbourfields, the issue of a venue switch does not even arise.
Zifa on Tuesday claimed that they were moving the match between the Warriors and the Zebras set for 15 November from Bulawayo to the National Sports Stadium in Harare because there was no certainty on the Barbourfields lighting system because the floodlights at the facility were last used in 2017.
Paul Nyathi|President Mnangagwa yesterday condemned violence and lawlessness among artisanal miners, saying perpetrators of mining-related crimes will face the full wrath of the law. There have been numerous reports of violence among artisanal miners who invade mining claims while attacking competitors with machetes.
Some have since been nicknamed “Mashurugwi” or “Vemabhemba” as reports of violent clashes over the control of mining claims continue to be reported across the country.
President Mnangagwa’s home province, the Midlands is the headquarters of the armed thugs reportedly sponsored by politicians to wreak havoc with impunity.
A four-month long investigation carried out by Information for Development Trust (IDT), revealed that the police have largely failed to stop or control the violence.
The police openly admitted their helplessness — and fear too — as they implicitly blamed ruling Zanu PF politicians who have become the godfathers of most of the militias.
“I am not at liberty to comment on those issues (gang violence) due to their political nature,” said Midlands police spokesperson. Inspector Joel Goko.
The Anti-Corruption Trust of Southern Africa (ACT-SA) that operates from the Midlands mining town of Kwekwe, which also happens to be Mnangagwa’s hometown, fears that the violence may be hard to manage.
“As a country, we are nursing a problem that will be very difficult to contain. Already we have so many victims, including deaths due to machete attacks,” said Obert Chinhamo, the ACT-SA director.
The armed violence has spun out of Kwekwe to neighbouring rural and urban centres such as Silobela, Kadoma and as far as Gwanda, according to Chinhamo.
The church is alarmed too, with the Interfaith Council for Justice and Peace Trust (ICJPT) that also operates from Kwekwe last February releasing a statement in which it said it was “gravely concerned that…Kwekwe and surrounding areas are no longer safe”.
The several armed terror gangs that operate in urban and rural areas are well-known to the authorities, said ICJPT.
According to ACT-SA’s Chinhamo, they “operate from mines either owned or have been forcefully taken over by politically connected persons”.
President Mnangagwa who was addressing delegates attending the inaugural Artisanal and Small-Scale Miners Conference hosted by the Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) in Gweru said such violent clashes should stop forthwith.
“We have heard through the media about the lawlessness from among artisanal miners, some invading other people’s mines while armed with machetes. The president of the Zimbabwe Miners Federation has (Ms Henriata Rushawaya) has, however, distanced the artisanal miners from these crimes saying they were not the ones involved in such clashes. She said these were the works of some rogue elements bent on tarnishing the artisanal miners’ name.
“We have said we don’t want this, anyone found in possession of these dangerous weapons should be arrested and jailed,” said President Mnangagwa.
The President said Government was prepared to give artisanal miners financial support if they were organised.
“We have mobilised $20 million which is meant to empower artisanal and small-scale miners, but you need to organise yourselves into groups,” he said.
President Mnangagwa said Government was in the process of identifying idle mining claims owned by big companies.
He said such mining claims will be redistributed to small-scale miners for production.
“We introduced a use it or lose it policy. Under this policy Government is repossessing mining claims that are owned by big companies, but were not being utilised.
“We urge the Zimbabwe Miners Federation to send such mining claims to the responsible ministry if they have them in their books,” he said.
ZANU PF leader, Emmerson Mnangagwa has hired the former CIO – central intelligence organisation, boss, Aaron Nhepera, to the post of permanemtn secretary in the Home Affairs ministry.
Mnangagwa has reshuffled some senior officers and perm secs.
Nhepera was the CIO boss during the few weeks after the November 2017 coup that removed former President Robert Mugabe.
Mnangagwa invoked section 205 (1) of the Constitution in reshuffling and reappointing eight senior officers to different ministries and the Office of the President and Cabinet.
In a press statement issued by the Chief Secretary to the President and cabinet, Dr Misheck Sibanda on Wednesday, the former Chief Executive Officer of the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe(NOCZIM), Zvinechimwe Churu, is the new Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National housing replacing George Magosvongwe.
Churu’s appointment is effective from December 1 as Magosvongwe will be assigned to another ministry.
Aaron Nhepera is now the new Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage.
“Nhepera also joins the Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage at a time when there are renewed calls to combat crime and corruption in our country. The appointment is with immediate effect,” read the statement.
Nhepera replaces Melusi Matshiya who has been re-assigned to be the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development.
“Ambassador Chitiga who was the Secretary has been moved to the Office of the President and Cabinet while awaiting his new reassignment in due course.”
Ambassador Chitsaka Chipaziwa leaves the ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade to become the new Chief of Protocol in the Office of the President and Cabinet, to give urgency to the ongoing efforts to engage and re-engage the international community in pursuant of National Development.
Chief Director for multilateral affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Ambassador Raphael Faranisi, leaves the post to head the President’s secretariat in the Office of the President and Cabinet. – state media
State Media|President Mnangagwa has appointed new permanent secretaries to three ministries, a new Chief of Protocol and a head of the President’s Secretariat, both in the Office of the President and Cabinet. In a statement last night, Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Dr Misheck Sibanda said President Mnangagwa approved the appointments in terms of his constitutional powers in Section 205(1) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
Ambassador Chitsaka Chipaziwa is the new Chief of Protocol in the Office of the President and Cabinet.
He holds qualifications in development and business administration and is an accomplished career diplomat who rose through the ranks in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and served Zimbabwe with distinction as a diplomat in Sweden, Australia, South Africa, Malaysia and Brunei.
Ambassador Chipaziwa leaves the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade to join the OPC to give urgency to ongoing efforts to engage and re-engage the international community in pursuit of national development.
Ambassador Raphael Faranisi becomes Head of the President’s Secretariat in the OPC.
He is a career diplomat with experience in senior level administration, diplomacy and protocol services.
He is a former Director of Protocol and served as a diplomat in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana and Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) during which time he also served as Head of the SADC Group of Ambassadors.
Ambassador Faranisi’s last post was as Chief Director for Multilateral Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.
He is expected to lead a team of high-level technical and administrative personnel that constitutes an intelligent interface between the Office of the President and all national stakeholders and international partners.
Mr Zvinechimwe Churu has been appointed Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing.
“Mr Churu has more than 25 years of experience in public administration and management specialising in economic policy formulation and implementation, domestic and international finance, and budget and expenditure management with a pointed focus on national economic development.
“He also possesses private experience as a former chief executive officer of the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (NocZim),” said Dr Sibanda.
Mr Churu joins the local government sector from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development when there is renewed national interest in supporting inclusive and sustainable economic growth and development in the context of institutional devolution.
His appointment is effective from December 1, 2019, when he takes over from Mr George Magosvongwe who will be assigned to another ministry.
A top intelligence official, Mr Aaron Nhepera, has been appointed Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage. He joins the ministry from the security and intelligence sector.
Mr Nhepera holds qualifications in accountancy and business management, and “possesses requisite experience in security and intelligence administration which competencies are key to deepening and expanding safety and security of persons, property, infrastructure and national institutions in the broader context of creating an enabling environment for and promoting ease of doing business in Zimbabwe”, said Dr Sibanda.
He joins the Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage when there are renewed calls to combat crime and corruption in Zimbabwe. His appointment is with immediate effect.
Mr Melusi Matshiya has been appointed Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development.
He has been moved from the Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage where he was Permanent Secretary.
The appointment is with immediate effect.
The former Women’s Affairs Secretary, Ambassador Dr Rudo Chitiga has been moved to the OPC while awaiting reassignment.
Benni McCarthy’s agent Rob Moore has revealed that the gaffer is looking for a job in Europe.
McCarthy was sacked at Cape Town City on Monday following a string of poor results. He was immediately linked with a return to his former club Orlando Pirates and a couple of team in the ABSA Premiership.
In an interview with SowetanLive, Moore said the former Bafana Bafana star is looking for opportunities closer to his family in Scotland‚ which puts paid to speculation he could be headed to Orlando Pirates.
“The immediate aim would be for him to get a job in Europe‚” said the agent.
“Obviously with his family in Scotland‚ this is the best option.
“It has been hard for him to be in Cape Town and his family in Edinburgh so far away‚ especially with a new-born son.
“The good thing for him is that he has a very good name in the UK‚ from his playing days at Blackburn Rovers.
“We won’t be ruling out opportunities in Europe as well‚” Moore added.
McCarthy‚ who turns 42 in a week’s time‚ previously had a spell as an assistant coach at the Belgian club St Truiden.
“As far as South Africa is concerned‚ Benni’s ambition is to one day coach his country‚” Moore said.
“Now would have been a good time but the South African Football Association have their solution in place already (new coach Molefi Ntseki).”Soccer 24
RT- Govt could pay 1000 doctors a salary of US$1,300 per month for the next year if it chose to divert the US$16 million it wants to use to buy luxury cars for ministers to healthcare.
We have the money, our priorities are just wrong: 2 months no doctors, no nurses in hospitals https://t.co/GUygMlmZPQ
Zimbabwean midfielder Willard Katsande delivered a man-of-the-match performance and lead high-flying log leaders Kaizer Chiefs to a 2-0 victory over Chippa United at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium today.
Dumisani Zuma’s double was all the Katsande-captained Amakhosi needed to ensure that the the Chilli Boys’s barren spell in the ABSA Premeirship continues.
Amakhosi coach Enrst Middendorp rested some players for the clash, as last weekend’s penalty shootout hero Daniel Akpeyi, as well as Colombian striker Leonardo Castro were not in Chiefs’ starting eleven, which also did not have Khama Billiat due to fitness issues.
The two sides went into the break goalless but Zuma finally broke the deadlock in the 67th minute, fiinishing off a brilliant move by Amakhosi.
Zuma put the final nail on the Chippa United coffin when he scored his and Chiefs’ second in time added-on.
The win sees Chiefs open a seven-point gap at the summit of the table, ahead of Mamelodi Sundowns, who played out a goalless draw with 10-men Baroka today.
Chippa on the other hand, are still the only side yet to register a win in this league campaign and tonight’s loss sees them justiably earning the title of relegation candidates.Credit:Soccer24
THE Political Actors Dialogue (POLAD) has resolved to engage the United Nations, International Monetary Fund, World Bank and the international community over the need to urgently remove illegal Western sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe nearly two decades ago.
Addressing a press conference today at the closure of a two-day workshop on ZIDERA and sanctions here, POLAD co-convener and National Peace and Reconciliation Commission chairperson Justice Selo Nare said sanctions were a threat to life.
POLAD is an assembly of 17 political parties that participated in harmonised elections last year. POLAD also came up with nine other resolutions.State media
The state owned telecoms operator, TelOne, yesterday increased its tariffs by 200 percent citing escalating operating costs and the need to maintain quality digital services.
In a statement yesterday, TelOne said the increase has been approved by the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz).
“Please be advised that as per approvals granted by the Potraz, Telone rates will be increased by 199,35 percent effective 6 November 2019,” it said.
“This increase has been necessitated by our continued desire to provide world- class connectivity and digital solutions to you our valued customers”.- state media
Over 7 000 delegates are expected to attend next month’s 18th Zanu-PF Annual People’s Conference at Goromonzi High School in Mashonaland East Province. Speaking after assessing the venue and state of preparedness, Zanu-PF secretary for Administration Dr Obert Mpofu said the technical teams have covered nearly 80 percent of the work.
“The facilities and service providers seem to be on course and the parking space, main arena and roads to the venue are almost complete. “We are quite excited about this development.
“We are looking at not more than 7 000 delegates for this conference, but from our experience, we will accommodate more people.
“We want to thank the technical team for Mash East for working together and ensuring that the venue is ready for the conference,” said Dr Mpofu.
At least 2 000 foreign delegates had also confirmed their participation by yesterday. “ZANU-PF is a mass party and we end up getting more people because of the popularity of the event.
“We will, however, not allow people who are not delegates into the conference venue. We also have quite a number of invited guests from parastatals, embassies and Government.”
Chairperson of the technical committee Mrs Terrence Mapengo said they were working on finalising the preparations.
“We have been looking at roads, water provision, health and communication. Overall, I can say we are almost done, and what is left is reticulation of the main arena,” she said
The party’s Mashonaland East provincial secretary for finance Cde Munyaradzi Kashambe said they were mobilising enough resources for the conference to ensure delegates were well-catered for.
“We have secured 60 cows, 40 goats and financial resources. Our provincial chairperson, Cde Joel Biggie Matiza, has mobilised us to raise in excess of $150 000 as a province,” said Cde Kashambe.
He said the province would introduce a business expo to run concurrently with the conference.
“As the New Dispensation, we want to be business-oriented people and we are, therefore, going to introduce a business expo which will be administered by the national executive to avoid confusion.
“Any companies that wish to advertise during the conference are free to book their stands for between $50 000 and $100 000 depending on the space.”- state media
Farai Dziva| MDC leader Nelson Chamisa has condemned the firing of medical doctors by Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government.
Chamisa described the move as “a silent genocide. “
“It surprises me that the Mnangagwa regime would fire medical doctors instead of simply paying them a living wage.
These are fruits of illegitimacy. There is a silent genocide taking place in Zimbabwe as our hospitals have been shut down for 2 months now. Pay doctors a living wage,” tweeted Chamisa.
A spurned man from Plumtree who allegedly fatally attacked his 51-year-old neighbour in a fight over a woman, yesterday appeared in court.
Methuseli Moyo (36) of Mabungwe village in Bulilima district allegedly struck Chrispen Ncube with a log and knobkerrie several times all over the body until he lost consciousness.
He then dragged Ncube’s body to his homestead where he dumped it before he fled. Moyo yesterday appeared before Bulawayo High Court judge, Justice Maxwell Takuva, facing a murder charge.
Prosecuting, Mr Khumbulani Ndlovu said on April 18 in 2017 at about 6PM, Ncube armed himself with a stick and went to his girlfriend, Ms Siphilisiwe Sibanda’s homestead to confront her over a relationship she had with Moyo, but he failed to locate her.
Ncube met Moyo walking with his girlfriend as he was going back to his homestead resulting in an altercation.
“When he arrived at Ms Sibanda’s homestead, the deceased failed to locate the woman. He left the homestead and on his way back home, Ncube met Ms Sibanda in the company of Moyo and an altercation ensued between the two men,” said Mr Ndlovu.
“Moyo struck Ncube with a log and knobkerrie on the head, both legs and on his back. Ncube sustained serious injuries as a result of the attack.”
Moyo then dragged Ncube who had lost consciousness, to his homestead and left him in his bedroom hut where he later died. Moyo fled from the scene and went into hiding at a friend’s homestead.
He was arrested four days later following a tip off.
Mr Ndlovu said police found Ncube’s body in Moyo’s bedroom hut when they went to his homestead intending to arrest him for destroying a door at Ms Sibanda’s homestead.
When Ms Sibanda took to the witness stand yesterday, she told the court that they had an altercation with the deceased after she dumped him and started a new relationship with Moyo.
“The deceased came to my homestead and insulted me using foul language. He threatened to assault me for dumping him and I had to flee and sought refuge at a neighbour’s homestead where he followed me and assaulted me,” she said.
Ms Sibanda said on the fateful day, she had gone to fetch Moyo from his place so that he could defend her from the deceased.
She said two weeks before he was killed, Ncube had threatened to burn her to death in her bedroom hut for dumping him.
Ms Sibanda told the court that Ncube was furious as he kept demanding reconciliation with her.
“On the fateful day, I left the two men arguing and proceeded to my neighbour’s homestead to collect my daughter. I later heard the deceased screaming as he was being assaulted by Moyo,” said Ms Sibanda.
She said when she arrived home, she discovered that her bedroom door had been damaged.
In his defence through his lawyer Mr Dixon Abraham of Tanaka Law Chambers, Moyo denied the charge.- state media
As if fattened with a reward for her crimes, the former ZIFA President found guilty of match fixing, Henrietta Rushwaya, is now the president of the Zimbabwe Miners’ Federation (ZMF).
This emerged as her statements became public telling Government that it should speed up the implementation of the “Use-It-or-Lose It” policy to boost gold production and enhance the extracting industry in the country.
She made the remarks while addressing delegates during the first day of the ZMF Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the Gweru Convention Centre on Tuesday.
Her remarks, quoted by the state media, come at a time when Government has acknowledged that the 40 tonnes target for gold set for this year is unlikely to be achieved. Gold deliveries stand at 22 tonnes with only one month left, a far cry from last year’s record breaking 33,2 tonnes.
Ms Rushwaya said the quick implementation of the use it or lose it policy will not only help in the formalisation of the artisanal and small scale mining industry but will go a long way in boosting the extractive industry.
“We seek the revolutionarisation of the ASM sector via its formalisation. The implementation of policies will help the facilitation and the proper formalisation of the sector,” she said.
Ms Rushwaya said small-scale miners could not access mining claims held under EPOs for speculative purposes.
“The implementation of policies like use it or lose it policy, the Draft Chrome Policy as well as the gold and semi-precious policy recommendations will go a long way in boosting not only gold production but also other minerals,” she said.
Ms Rushwaya also called for the immediate realignment of Section 3 of the Gold Trade Act which criminalises possession of gold.
“Section 3 should be realigned. When it comes to production, we are a darling but when it comes to possession, we become an enemy. This should be revised as it has caused gold deliveries to dwindle at Fidelity,” she said.
Mineral royalties, she said, should be channelled towards developing infrastructure and rehabilitation of roads within districts where the minerals are being mined.
“In line with devolution, the royalties should be channelled towards the districts within which the minerals are being extracted so that people beneft from their natural resources,” she said.
Speaking at the same occasion, Midlands Provincial Affairs Minister, Larry Mavima said small-scale miners play a critical role and as such should be given the respect they deserve.
“Small-scale miners account for about 60 percent of gold deliveries. This makes them a major player in the economic development. This is why His Excellency never thought twice about coming to meet you so that you can share your challenges with him and I am sure he will be able to provide solutions,” said Minister Mavima. – state media
Chibuku has attracted condemnation from Highlanders FC supporters of the use of a wrong logo in an advert for a match between Highlanders and ZPC Kariba to be played on the 10th of November.
Umahlekisa Comedy Club Director Ntandoyenkosi Moyo said, “So a whole Chibuku PR or Marketing Department didn’t see the error? Such butchering of a logo of the Biggest team in the land should get someone fired benza ngabomo , bet uzezwa sekuthiwa it was leaked yeah yeah khonapho this Cup is milking all the mileage it can from the Bosso Community.”
Veteran broadcaster Ezra Tshisa Sibanda said the mutilation of the logo by Chibuku was deliberate.
“Yikho ukudelela khonokho, kwenziwa ngabomu.
Chibuku has been in football for decades and Bosso has won this cup before and to act like a monkey and pretend that is a mistake is pure barbaric.” Sibanda added his voice on the matter.Credit:Bulawayo 24
Riot police yesterday blocked demonstrating civil servants intending to march and present their perition to their employer. Below were the live scenes in Harare-
Farai Dziva|The lawyer representing Thokozani Khupe, Lovemore Madhuku has said the legal wrangle between his client and Nelson Chamisa is not over.
Speaking to ZimEye, Prof Madhuku said the case is one of two. He said,
“that case you are referring to, it is an old case, it is a last year where she was challenging her expulsion from parliament where she was expelled from parliament so she took the speaker of parliament to the constitutional court. So the matter was between her and parliament. It was not between her and the other MDC. So when this matter was not heard before the election, because it was only set down for hearing after the election, I am sure it’s around August or so, I think it was around December last year, I will check that.
“Then the concourt decided not to deal with the matter on the bits at hand, it was overtaken by events, because parliament had already been dissolved, so we sought to argue that even though parliament had been dissolved, they should still determine whether her expulsion from parliament had been properly done, so what was decided today was the court refusing to hear that argument on the basis that they thought it was no longer relevant to hear it and determine.
“That is the judgement that was issued today. It’s not a judgement issued on the merits on anything. It was an old case, relating to her having been recalled from parliament.”
Farai Dziva|The lawyer representing Thokozani Khupe, Lovemore Madhuku has said the legal wrangle between his client and Nelson Chamisa is not over.
Speaking to ZimEye, Prof Madhuku said the case is one of two. He said,
“that case you are referring to, it is an old case, it is a last year where she was challenging her expulsion from parliament where she was expelled from parliament so she took the speaker of parliament to the constitutional court. So the matter was between her and parliament. It was not between her and the other MDC. So when this matter was not heard before the election, because it was only set down for hearing after the election, I am sure it’s around August or so, I think it was around December last year, I will check that.
“Then the concourt decided not to deal with the matter on the bits at hand, it was overtaken by events, because parliament had already been dissolved, so we sought to argue that even though parliament had been dissolved, they should still determine whether her expulsion from parliament had been properly done, so what was decided today was the court refusing to hear that argument on the basis that they thought it was no longer relevant to hear it and determine.
“That is the judgement that was issued today. It’s not a judgement issued on the merits on anything. It was an old case, relating to her having been recalled from parliament.”
The state owned ZBC has alleged saying Zimbabweans across the political divide are crying for the Zim dollar.
ZBC says people are bemoaning the two-tier pricing system in which shops are openly charging different prices for cash and electronic payments.
The rest of the report reads:
Cash strapped consumers in Mount Darwin are paying through the nose for retail goods as shops are charging dual prices and service stations are blatantly refusing to accept payments other than cash.
One supermarket clearly displayed different prices for cash and swipe, with consumers expressing displeasure over the move.
“We are suffering because of these high charges. We don’t have sources of cash but shops demand cash,” a resident said.
Residents chronicled their plight at the mercy of two-tier pricing system.
“If we try to get cash we are rated by Ecocash agents so we have to use electronic money but the shops charge us more,” one resident explained.
The three fuel stations in Mount Darwin are also blatantly refusing to accept electronic money with the worst affected being the surrounding farming community and employees who say they only get paid through electronic transfers.
“I wish the new currency comes as soon as yesterday because I have had enough of these profiteering shops.
“For us farmers who get transfers it is particularly difficult to get cash,” a farmer expressed his ordeal.
The impending hard cash injection into the economy appears to be the only end in sight to the challenges facing consumers.
Farai Dziva|Pressure group ZIMUCU has described Emmerson Mnangagwa as a notorious human rights abuser.
Said ZIMUCU in a statement :
EMMERSON DAMBUDZO MNANGAGWA
has no regard for human lives and is a notorious human rights abuser. He doesn’t respect the rule of law but encourages constitutional violations.
Dambudzo must be rejected and ejected from the State house.
Farai Dziva|Pressure group ZIMUCU has described Emmerson Mnangagwa as a notorious human rights abuser.
Said ZIMUCU in a statement :
EMMERSON DAMBUDZO MNANGAGWA
has no regard for human lives and is a notorious human rights abuser. He doesn’t respect the rule of law but encourages constitutional violations.
Dambudzo must be rejected and ejected from the State house.
By A Correspondent| A 17 year old juvenile from Makoni is in trouble with the law after he allegedly poisoned his one-year-old son following a domestic dispute with his wife.
The father, who cannot be named since he is a minor, allegedly injected a poisonous tobacco chemical into his son’s body using a syringe.
Manicaland police spokesperson Inspector Tavhiringwa Kakohwa confirmed the incident.
“The juvenile wife aged 15 came back from the river and found her son with froth coming out of his mouth. She rushed him to Rusape District Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival,” he said.
The father was subsequently arrested and he confessed to administering the posion.
“We are urging members of the public to seek professional counseling when faced with pressing domestic issues than solving the issues on their own,” he said.
By A Correspondent- Striking doctors here have accused government of negotiating in bad faith arguing that the decision to fire 77 doctors yesterday was not only ill timed by further worsened the already dire situation in most public hospitals.
In an interview with ZimEye at Parirenyatwa hospital Wednesday, Dr Tapiwa Mungofa said:
“Disciplinary hearings are still ongoing and they are being conducted by the Health Services Board……. but we maintain, we are still incapacitated to attend them.
By firing the 77 doctors, our position has not changed that we think that in doing so, government must know that we have not committed any crime by being broke and asking for a decent wage.
As it is now we remain incapacitated and we expect that all doctors will be fired. We had already been fired.. even at the beginning of the year, we had already been fired because our living wages are pathetic.
The already few doctors have been fired and this affects mostly the patients. We eagerly wait to see how this move which defies all common sense will serve as a solution to the already strained healthcare system. We are going nowhere.
The way forward is to be suggested by the health services board. It depends with them, us as doctors we are just ordinary citizens and we are even patients like you.
Nothing has been done to improve the welfare of doctors and hospitals working environments therefore doctors nationwide remain incapacitated
The doctors have been on strike for 64 days and yesterday the govt decided to fire 77 striking doctors as a disciplinary measure.
By A Correspondent- Zimbabwe state workers today went ahead with a street protest in the capital after government failed to give in to their demand for US dollar-indexed salaries to cushion them against soaring inflation.
Police initially gave the Apex Council of public sector unions permission to march for better pay in what was widely seen as a test of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s willingness to tolerate dissent after banning recent protests.
Police however moved in to block the workers from carrying on with their march.
Watch the video loading below for this and more…
Workers are enduring Zimbabwe’s worst economic crisis in a decade, with triple-digit inflation, unemployment above 90%, acute shortages of foreign exchange, fuel and medicines and rolling power cuts that have hit mines and industry.
Workers expected government to at least make a new wage offer at Tuesday’s meeting. Government says it cannot afford dollar-indexed pay, which would see the lowest paid worker earn 7,293 Zimbabwe dollars ($475) a month from 1,023 Zimbabwe dollars now.
“The employer brought nothing to the table, completely zero,” Apex Council said in a statement signed by chair Cecilia Alexander and organising secretary Charles Chinosengwa.
The union said government reneged on its earlier offer to pay all workers’ annual bonuses in November and would now stagger payments between this month and December.
Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa told reporters government did not dispute the need to raise salaries but state spending was under pressure to import grain after a drought and fund the summer farming season, among others.
Mutsvangwa said government tried to discourage the Apex Council going ahead with Wednesday’s protest.
“The budget is ending and is difficult to get additional resources from the current budget. A review in the cost of living is definite in 2020,” Mutsvangwa said during a post-cabinet briefing.
Junior and middle level doctors at state hospitals have been on strike for two months pressing for higher pay and Mutvangwa said 77 of them were discharged after disciplinary hearings.
Mnangagwa is under pressure to deliver on promises made during last year’s election campaign to revive the economy by pushing through economic reforms, attracting foreign investment to create jobs and rebuilding collapsing infrastructure.
By A Correspondent- An off-duty police officer saved the life of an approximately 14 months old infant he found throttled with synthetic hair and left for dead in Bulawayo’s Luveve suburb on Monday night.
Constable Masias Marozva stationed at Luveve Police Station, turned hero when he applied lifesaving skills that he learnt in the police force on the “dying” baby at around 11pm.
Bulawayo police spokesperson Chief Inspector Precious Simango yesterday confirmed the incident, describing it as shocking.
“Police in Bulawayo are investigating an attempted murder incident that happened in Bulawayo’s Luveve suburb on Monday night. One of our off-duty police officers who was walking home at about 11pm, spotted an approximately one-year and two months old baby girl who was throttled using braids.
The baby’s throat was swollen. The officer spotted the dumped baby after a vehicle passed him and flashed lights in the direction of the infant,” she said.
“The police officer rushed to the scene and untangled the infant who was struggling to breathe due to the braids that were tied on her neck.”
Chief Insp Simango said the officer took the child to Luveve Police Station for processing.
“The child whose identity has not been established was rushed to Mpilo Central Hospital where she is recovering. We are therefore investigating the matter and trying to locate the child’s parents.
We are appealing to members of the public who might be missing a child of the same age to report to the nearest police station.
“We also to appeal to residents who might have information on parent/s who might have a missing child of the same age to also report to us. Anyone who might have information that would lead to solving this case should report to the nearest police station,” said Chief Insp Simango.
She said police were shocked that someone would attempt to kill an innocent child.
“We know that a lot could be happening in families but that does not justify the killing of an innocent child. It’s actually a miracle that the police officer spotted the infant in the darkness. Let’s all be responsible towards children and take care of them,” she said.
By A Correspondent- The trial of former health and childcare minister David Parirenyatwa suffered a false start yesterday as the magistrate who was supposed to preside over the case did not turn up..
According to both the state and the defence, Elijah Makomo, the magistrate in question‘s whereabouts are not known.
The prosecutor’s submissions to postpone the trial revealed this development as they read in part:
We have not been in a position to get hold of magistrate Makomo. He advised us that he was in a meeting. In the circumstances, we request the court that the matter be postponed to November 19. May I also seek the court’s indulgence to liaise with magistrate Makomo and secure his attendance.
Parirenyatwa is facing criminal abuse of office charges for the time he was a cabinet minister. His case has been postponed once and this is the second postponment.
By A Correspondent- The striking doctors have said the government is negotiating in bad faith and clearly doesn’t care about the healthcare system of the country.
Dr Tapiwa Mungofa said:
“Disciplinary hearings are still ongoing and they are being conducted by the Health Services Board.
In doing so we maintain that we have not committed any crime by being broke by asking for a liveable wage.
As it is now we remain incapacitated and we expect that all doctors will be fired. We had already been fired.. even at the beginning of the year, we had already been fired because our living wages are pathetic.
The already few doctors have been fired and this affects mostly the patients. We eagerly wait to see how this move which defies all common sense will serve as a solution to the already strained healthcare system. We are going nowhere…
The way forward is to be suggested by the health services board. It depends with them, us as doctors we are just ordinary citizens and we are even patients like you.
Nothing has been done to improve the welfare of doctors and hospitals working environments therefore doctors nationwide remain incapacitated
The doctors have been on strike for 64 days and yesterday the govt decided to fire 77 striking doctors as a disciplinary measure.
By A Correspondent- The ruling party’s national congress held every year will this year be held at Goromonzi High school and preps for the congress have begun, the state media has revealed.
According to the national broadcaster:
Zanu PF Secretary for Administration, Obert Mpofu, accompanied by Politburo members, Dr Sydney Sekeramayi and Dr David Parirenyatwa toured facilities at Goromonzi High School, the venue for the Zanu PF’s 18th National People’s conference to be held in December. Dr Mpofu expressed satisfaction with the progress made so far.
By A Correspondent- Government does not dispute the need to pay civil servants a cost of living adjustment hence its decision to provide them with annual bonuses inclusive of their allowances, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said yesterday.
She said during a Post-Cabinet meeting Press briefing held in Harare that while civil servants’ concerns were genuine, Government cannot at the moment accede to all their demands due to other national demands such as providing food relief to drought-hit communities.
The civil servants’ body Apex Council had earlier announced plans to stage a protest today over low salaries.
“Government does not dispute the need to give a cost of living adjustment to its workers but was facing various competing national demands. These include payment of annual bonus that will take a significant portion of resources and due to restricted revenue inflows would be staggered between November and December 2019. Also, the need to import grain to supplement grain reserves.
Those are some of the various competing national demands,” she said.
Minister Mutsvangwa said the Government was also providing several safety nets including the Presidential agricultural inputs for farmers as well as subsidised transport for commuters under the Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (Zupco) scheme.
The Minister said Government also bought additional buses to increase the fleet of Zupco buses.
Minister Mutsvangwa said Government would be able to review the cost of living in the next three months but employees should in the meantime take solace in that they will get bonuses with allowances.
“The budget cycle was coming to an end and that was difficult to get additional resources from the current budget and therefore a review in the cost of living was certainly going to happen in 2020. The Government indicated that it would be able to provide cushion through the payment of the annual bonus which will be paid inclusive of allowances, contrary to the previous year where it was paid based on basic salary alone,” said Minister Mutsvangwa.
She said Government has also invited Apex Council to select three members to join a tripartite negotiating forum technical committee which will be meeting in Kadoma next week to try and to come up with a lasting social contract to arrest price increases among other pressing issues.
The Minister noted that yesterday’s National Joint Negotiating Council (NJNC) meeting did not yield positive results as civil servants insisted on demonstrating.
In a statement, Apex Council said their demonstration would proceed as planned today describing yesterday’s indaba as fruitless.
“The much-anticipated Apex Council demonstration set for tomorrow Wednesday, 6 November 2019 will go ahead as scheduled following a fruitless NJNC meeting held today 5 November 2019.
According to the Government workers negotiating team, the employer brought nothing to the table, completely with zero offer, zero cushion and no interbank rate being applied,” reads Apex Council statement.
“To add insult to injury, Government has gone back on its earlier offer to pay all bonuses in November, confirming instead that they will pay over two months meaning some civil servants will get inflation blighted bonuses. Government workers are demanding inter-bank rate salaries. Accordingly, Apex Council protest will proceed as scheduled.”
National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi yesterday said he was not aware of the civil servants planned demonstration.
“At the headquarters we are not aware maybe the concerned regulating authority should shed light,” said Asst Comm Nyathi.
By A Correspondent- Controversial businessman Wicknell Chivhayo has forked out $16K to help a Gwanda man who needs the cash to undergo a lifesaving surgery.
Wicknell posted the news on social media and accompanied the post with receipts for his generous donation.
Tweeted Chivhayo:
Thank you for all the tweets. Gwanda town is my second home , my work , my passion and my future so I had to also chip in. His CABS and POSB accounts could not accept the the payment so I located his Doctor . Wishing Mr Phiri a successful operation and may God bless him
The beneficiary of Wicknell’s generosity, Tamson Phiri is suffering from a rare form of cancer and needs surgery and subsequent facial reconstruction.
By Sibanengi Dube|A government that ceases to provide water, electricity, medication and leadership to citizens has not only collapsed but decayed. This Zanu PF has stopped providing governance to Zimbabwe. The gorillas have surely breached their contract with citizens.
Sibanengi Dube is a Zimbabwean journalist based in South Africa
This government was at one moment described by the late former Zimbabwe Unity Movement (ZUM) president, Edgar Tekere, as being rotten before its death. This time the once rotten but living government has died.
Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government has almost terminated delivery of services to citizens. There are no meaningful attempts by the government whatsoever to bring back to sanity to Zimbabwe. Life is a curse in Harare. Even rights to life, safety and security are not guaranteed.
Just imagine that all Zimbabwean employees are on a slave’s wage except for chaps with access to public funds. The entire nation is unemployed because the few who are still clinging on to their jobs have to engage in callous deals to keep their heads above the water.
The paltry RTS$400 public servants salaries can no longer take them home. Basic food necessities like salt, sugar, milk, bread, meat, meal-mealie and rice have been elevated to superfluity status. They are beyond everyone’s reach except for members of the ruling elite and their friends.
Electricity is now a sanctuary for the opulent as it has become both scarce and expensive. Citizens will soon be billed for free and natural solar power provided by the sun. At this rate it won’t be surprising if the government changes laws to give themselves powers to bill citizens for borehole water. Major cities including Harare are without clean water to drink.
This is courtesy of the tug-of-war between the government and MDC run municipalities who are being punished for kicking out Zanu PF from town constituencies.
A crippling strike by nurses and doctors currently underway has sentenced Zimbabwean patients to inevitable death. There is no solution in sight since no one is in charge. The medical health professionals are requesting salary adjustments to cushion them against steep hikes in living expenses. How is such a legitimate and genuine request not understood by the government?
Schools are only operating due to private arrangements between teachers and parents. The government only steps into schools to issue suspension or dismissal threats whenever teachers request for salary adjustments.
The government’s only solution to requests for a solution by civil servants is dismissal. This is the challenge when one has a hammer only, everything starts looking like nails.
Roads criss-crossing Zimbabwe’s townships have now collapsed into gullies due to neglect. Everything is scarce in Zimbabwe except for corruption and abductions.
One wonders what exactly the rulers of this land are doing in their offices if they can’t invest a minute of their time in sourcing painkillers, thermometers and bandages. If this is not a priority to them, what then forms part of their precedence?
A father without capacity or willingness to provide shelter, food, security and guidance to his family would ordinarily cease unceremoniously to be the head of the family. The children will seek refuge in more stable families and the wife might even divorce such a bane and marry a more responsible man.
The government is not even in an auto-pilot mode anymore. Something on auto-pilot mode would move on its own, but this time the government is stagnant and sinking, that is if it has not sunk to the bottom already. The plummeting has now reached terrifying and choking levels.
Citizens ironically expect those who deliberately sunk Zimbabwe to such cosmological levels to ultimately bring the country back to the surface. This will not happen. The sinker has neither capacity nor willingness to do so. It is business as usual for the few sinkers when everything is unusual for 16 million Zimbabweans.
What cannot be missed is the fact that those in power do not seem to understand that they occupy public office at the pleasure of the electorate. The ruling elite is seemingly not obliged to deliver services to citizens. Overt looting of state resources is unquestionably the major business of the members of ruling elite.
It is only in Zimbabwe where three planes with their long wings, can disappear from a parastatal without any trace. The looting at NSSA, Airzim, Chiadzwa Gold mines and Command Agriculture purse by identified former or current cabinet ministers are symptoms of how everything has gone rascal in Zimbabwe in the full view of the citizens.
Exposed fuel cartels in Zimbabwe run by shady characters connected to ED serve to confirm that Zimbabwe was being held at ransom by a few individuals.
The loaded and tense situation in Zimbabwe in unsustainable. Citizens can no-longer afford the luxury of folding their hands as their destiny gets bleak by every minute. The Zimbabwe government has only two options: to shape up or ship out. This something of instant urgency.
Chief Justice Luke Malaba will be added five more years in office after the Minister of Justice announced that it will be introducing an omnibus Constitutional Amendment Bill before Christmas.
The state media recently reported that a proposal is being made to raise the retirement age for Supreme Court and Constitutional Court judges, including the Deputy Chief Justice and Chief Justice from 70 years to 75 years.
Malaba has been unpopular with the opposition after the Constitutional Court judgement that pronounced President Emmerson Mnangagwa as the President of the country.
State Media also reported that Cabinet recently approved principles of the proposed constitutional amendments, which essentially give the Attorney-General’s Office leeway to begin drafting the envisaged provisions.
Government also intends to enact constitutional provisions that create the Office of the Public Protector and house the Office of the Chief Secretary to the President in the country’s supreme law.
The wisdom of creating the Public Protector’s Office, Minister Ziyambi told the state media, was to provide a remedial avenue for individuals or entities who feel aggrieved or affected by the administrative inefficiencies of the Executive and or arms of the State.
Commenting on the matter Professor Jonathan Moyo, “It beggars belief that justice minister Ziyambi thinks amending the Constitution to give Mnangagwa powers to appoint the Prosecutor General alone and to raise Chief Justice Malaba’s retirement age is a REFORM PACKAGE. Weird!”
Recently elected members of Zanu-PF District Coordinating Committees (DCCs) in Harare should start working towards ensuring that the party has a membership of 5 million supporters by 2023.
Speaking at the graduation of DCCs who went through a symposium at Herbert Chitepo School of Ideology, in Harare today, the party’s National Political Commissar Victor Matemadanda said the party has a mobilisation strategy which the DCCs should work towards achieving.
“We have a mobilisation strategy as a party for mobilisation of 5 million member supporters by 2023 so do not bring excuses but work towards making sure that the target is reached.
“We are now sending you to go and mobilise masses and ensure that people are well aware of the party’s ideas, we are now sending you to mobilise those people that were traditionally perceived to be people we cannot work with.
“Mobilisation for the party should start earnestly,” said Matemadanda.
Matemadanda urged the DCC members to effectively fight corruption in order to consolidate the party’s vibrancy.
“First there are many issues that will emerge, you act on those and the task that has always been there is to make sure that the party is vibrant again, make sure that the party has gotten rid of corrupt tendencies and that the party is taken back to the people,” he said.- State Media/Herald
I have received a number of inquiries from countless members of the press, colleagues, sympathisers and friends about my attitude towards my indictment for trial from 27 January to 30 2020 at the Masvingo High Court on subversion charges.
Outspoken opposition MDC MP and lawyer Job Sikhala
Some of the concerns are genuine whilst some are bordering on the fear of the unknown. Firstly, I would like to say that 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, it is common.
There is nothing to be surprised about because our regime like its other sister regimes of the past, that is, the Apartheid SA regime, Idi Amin administration, Mobutu Sese Seko’s autocracy, Sani Abacha’s dictatorship they try to survive through the use of various institutions of the State to thwart any form of imaginary or real threat to their grip of power.
The use of the judiciary for purposes of settling political queries has never been a sustainable strategy in several jurisdictions including our own during the period of Ian Douglas Smith.
Command Justice is only applied by individuals 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 witnessed dragnet arrests of citizens who committed no offense.
We know through my network that Emmerson Mnangagwa is such a wicked man who sometimes directly phones Public Prosecutors and Magistrates to act as per his instructions. On my case, I don’t care. Phone whoever is going to preside over it and instruct what you want.
I will not lose a glimpse of sleep. Dictators do as they please, so be it. Why should people bother themselves about someone who has an appetite for injustice, cruelty, wickedness and frowns on anything that does not go his own way.
There are many people who have political disputes with Emmerson Mnangagwa who are currently suffering in prison without any crime they committed. Dickson Mafios, of the famous “tinokutendai President nokutitandanisira Dambudzo, Dambudziko, Border Jumper”, is currently under incarceration at Chikurubi Maximum Prison on false allegations if inciting public violence in Bindura during the January 2019 citizens protests, when in actual fact he was at his farm. The allegations being he went to his farm to hide away from his role of incitement which he did the previous day.
Even those who encourage cowardice from me, my message should be heard loud and clear, I will never ever leave my country because of the wicked regime of Emmerson Mnangagwa. Africa is still where it is today because good men and women were cowed out of their countries by the evil ones, leaving them to destroy their country to Stone Age.
Good men and women kept quiet when their countries were going the drain. Silence has been the greatest commodity dictators reaped from their shaken subjects.
People became prisoners in the country of birth. They allowed themselves to be abused in silence. Cowardice is their refugee. On 13 January 2003, I was heavily tortured and left for dead but the mind to play coward never visited me and it will never visit me.
On whether I have got confidence on our judiciary to dispense justice in conformity with the tenets of the rule of law, we leave issues of prophesying to those who have been given such gifts by God.
I am an officer of the Court. I have appeared before a number of judicial officers both in the lower Courts and in the Superior Courts. I have never encountered a miscarriage of justice on all the matters I appeared before the Courts.
The only threat to the rule of law and constitutionalism in Zimbabwe is this wicked character who tries to manipulate the institutions of the State to suit his interests. He might as he successfully did on Dickson Mafios’ case to throttle whoever will handle my case to acquire his desired result.
But this will not discomfort me at all. Results of fighting an evil and wicked character is that, the wicked one plans to fix while the victim will be in search of a competent administration of justice. The wicked one applies manipulation, coercion, overt and covert threats, barbarism and transparent stupidity while the victim will wait for the truth to manifest itself.
It is not the end of the world after all. The determination of a few souls to see a just society and a free country where citizens will celebrate their creation and creative can not be defeated by evil. No matter how much arm twisting tactics are employed, the day shall come.
Even Mugabe died not believing that he was gone. He could not swallow nor contain it. Bitterness was born out of refusing to accept the reality of life.
Zimbabwe will remain after all of us are gone and the true foundation of a happy future is not built on the grounds of oppressing others but on the basis of knowing and realizing that people are the appropriators of this beautiful country called Zimbabwe.
Own Correspondent|Bulawayo Mayor His Worship Solomon Madlala Mguni has called upon the Members of Parliament to reject the 2020 budget if it does not spell out how the more than 100 years old Zambezi-Water project is going to be achieved. We are in this together.”
In April this year Government gave back ownership of the Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project (MZWP) to Matabeleland Collective (MC) and its technical partner, the Matabeleland Zambezi Water Trust (MZWT).
In a passionate plea on Facebook Mguni said, “We appeal to all our Members of Parliament of Zimbabwe, (National Assembly and Senate) from Matabeleland region, not to pass the 2020 National Budget if it does not speak to the long-awaited Gwayi-Tshangani Dam and/or the Matabeleland -Zambezi Water project that has been on the cards since 1924. Time to unite. Water crisis knows no political affiliation.
The government took over the MZWP from the Dumiso Dabengwa-led MZWT in 2012 in line with a Cabinet decision made in 2004. However, former Harare Mayor Ben Manyenyeni said the demand by Harare and Bulawayo for a water solution was wrongly timed.
Read his response to Mguni below:
Fantastic call Mayor, but the timing could have been co-ordinated better! If the 2 major hubs are going to demand the same big-ticket thing same time what are the realistic chances especially for a choked government.
If Harare and Bulawayo are going to cry for the same costly water solutions same budget three days apart are we expecting Finance Minister Ncube to perform miracles when he has battled with standard stuff?
I would beg the 2 metros to be more national in outlook even if one has to lose out. What’s Bulawayo’s next big item on the wish list and what’s Harare’s?
If the two metro cities are likely to choke the Minister do a tripartite – sit under a tree and share the spoils depending on collective affordability. If Bulawayo is going to demand big-capex then Harare must go for lower option eg $100m to $200m pipe replacement or pollution control.
Your Worship – a WhatsApp chat with Mayor Gomba can package something which you BOTH can inbox Minister Ncube. Because quite frankly neither of you Metro Cities is asking for mere taps and gate-valves.
By Business Reporter| Speaking openly for the first time during a diamond security indaba at Holiday Inn Mutare, Chief Marange today openly told the government owned ZCDC company it is abusing the people.
This was during a morning meeting at Holiday In , Mutare.
VIDEO STREAMING BELOW.
https://youtu.be/jfdCI846N_k
Meanwhile, earlier on, the Marange Diamond fields community leader, Moses Mukwada has told ZimEye, of the meeting- he is “attending the Diamond Security Indaba organised by ZCDC. It is held 3 times a year at Holiday Inn Mutare. The event [started] last year, with the intention to discuss issues surrounding the protection of diamonds illicit deals and other issues.
To my judgement after attending a number of these meetings, it has yielded nothing rather than eat and drink in hotel for a day. Popular diamond dealers who we have pointed out by name … have never been arrested [or charged. Syndicates of popular individuals continue to be accommodated since… big political chiefs [bosses] are in it.”
OPPOSITION leader Nelson Chamisa says he will on Friday give increasingly weary Zimbabweans the signal on the course of action the country will take in the next few months to end the present crisis.
Chamisa, through his spokesperson Nkululeko Sibanda, said the time had now come to draw the line through his Hope for the Nation Address (HONA) that will give the signal to his increasingly restive supporters who are agitating for demonstrations.
“The president is looking at the issues that affect the citizens and drawing the line towards where the solutions will be found.
“He is also going to talk about the challenges that the nation faces and find solutions, he will give Zimbabweans the signal on the way forward because he believes that the time for action has now come,” said Sibanda.
Zimbabwe state workers today went ahead with a street protest in the capital after government failed to give in to their demand for US dollar-indexed salaries to cushion them against soaring inflation.
Police initially gave the Apex Council of public sector unions permission to march for better pay in what was widely seen as a test of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s willingness to tolerate dissent after banning recent protests.
Police however moved in to block the workers from carrying on with their march.
Workers are enduring Zimbabwe’s worst economic crisis in a decade, with triple-digit inflation, unemployment above 90%, acute shortages of foreign exchange, fuel and medicines and rolling power cuts that have hit mines and industry.
Workers expected government to at least make a new wage offer at Tuesday’s meeting. Government says it cannot afford dollar-indexed pay, which would see the lowest paid worker earn 7,293 Zimbabwe dollars ($475) a month from 1,023 Zimbabwe dollars now.
“The employer brought nothing to the table, completely zero,” Apex Council said in a statement signed by chair Cecilia Alexander and organising secretary Charles Chinosengwa.
The union said government reneged on its earlier offer to pay all workers’ annual bonuses in November and would now stagger payments between this month and December.
Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa told reporters government did not dispute the need to raise salaries but state spending was under pressure to import grain after a drought and fund the summer farming season, among others.
Mutsvangwa said government tried to discourage the Apex Council going ahead with Wednesday’s protest.
“The budget is ending and is difficult to get additional resources from the current budget. A review in the cost of living is definite in 2020,” Mutsvangwa said during a post-cabinet briefing.
Junior and middle level doctors at state hospitals have been on strike for two months pressing for higher pay and Mutvangwa said 77 of them were discharged after disciplinary hearings.
Mnangagwa is under pressure to deliver on promises made during last year’s election campaign to revive the economy by pushing through economic reforms, attracting foreign investment to create jobs and rebuilding collapsing infrastructure.
Watch video of the incident in Harare today downloading below.
Delta Lager beer sales plummet by 40%. Zimbabwean drinkers are feeling the pinch of economic difficulties as they are failing to purchase their beverages of choice, it has emerged. Zimbabwe’s biggest beverage maker, Delta Corporation (Delta), says it recorded a 40 per cent decline in lager beer volume in the second quarter to September 30 on the back of inflationary pressures and shrinking disposable incomes.
“The company has had to implement modest but frequent price increases in response to the inflationary pressures while taking into account the affordability issues affecting consumers,” Delta said in a trading update for the second quarter. The company said lager beer volumes for the quarter were down 40 percent compared to last year.
Usually a good performer, sorghum beer also recorded a 29 per cent decline in volume for the quarter with consumers migrating to lower-priced alternatives. Volumes were also subdued for sparkling beverages, with a 36 per cent decline being recorded for the quarter and 56 per cent for the six months. Meanwhile, the beverages maker did not provide the usual revenue figures as there will be a delay in the publication of the half-year interim report.
The report has been deferred pending clarifications from the Public Accountants and Auditors Board (PAAB) on the implementation of International Accounting Standard (IAS) 29: Financial Reporting in hyperinflationary economies.
Lawyers representing pro-democracy activist Mfundo Mlilo will engage Prosecutor –General (PG) Kumbirai Hodzi before going to court after the lapse of a seven-day ultimatum within which they demanded the prosecution of Finance minister Mthuli Ncube over a litany of charges, including abuse of office.
Jacob Mafume of Mafume Law chambers told the Daily News that the PG had failed to respond to their request and they were going to engage him before going to court.
This comes after Mlilo an affidavit before Hodzi, arguing that Ncube has committed criminal misconduct by imposing the two percent tax on all electronic money transfers in the country.
“Ncube, as a public officer whose duty it is to observe provisions of the Constitution of Zimbabwe and in particular section 134(a), the principle of separation of powers and all operational statutes, allegedly unlawfully and intentionally acted contrary to his duty aforesaid by arbitrarily imposing a two percent Intermediate Money Transfer Tax on electronic money transactions of $10 and above, thus altering the lawful and operative 5 cents tax per transaction, in breach of section 22G of the Finance Act (Chapter 23:04) as read together with section 36G of the Income Tax Act and thereafter confirmed those measures with effect from 13 October, 2018 by virtue of invalid Finance (Rate and Inci- dence of Intermediated Money Transfer Tax) Regulations S.I 205 of 2018 (which regulations have since been declared invalid by the High Court of Zimbabwe judgment number HH-605-19) thereby showing disfavour to the people of Zimbabwe from whom he unlawfully pilfered an average of USD$80 000 000-00 per month for a cumulative period of 10 months.”
This comes after Mlilo made a successful application in the High Court, which saw the two percent declared illegal.
However, Ncube told the nation that the judgment had no effect.
The Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) wishes to advise the public and all stakeholders that the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier between Zimbabwe and Botswana initially scheduled for Barbourfields Stadium in Bulawayo on November 15 has been moved to the National Sports Stadium in Harare.
Kick off for the match is 1800hrs.
The decision to move the match follows communication from the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) on the issue of floodlights at Barbourfields Stadium where they could not guarantee their good working order as they were last put to use in 2017 during the Cosafa Women’s Championship.
In the absence of such a guarantee and in pursuit of conformance with their minimum requirements, CAF has switched the match to the National Sports Stadium to avoid potential of flood light failure during the match-a situation that could trigger security risk to the fans, players and officials.
ZIFA had pleaded with the continental mother body to move the match to 1500hrs on the same day, but CAF could not grant the request as all qualifiers, across Africa, will be played at 1800hrs.
We wish to unreservedly apologise to all football lovers and stakeholders in Bulawayo and surrounding areas for the inconvenience caused.
The ZIFA Executive Committee commits to host the next international match which is to be played during day light at Barbourfields Stadium and that we remain committed to a rotation system that will allow all fans an opportunity to support their team in flesh and blood.
Gate charges are Rest of the Ground: $20, Bay 15-18 $50, VIP $120. Advance online tickets are available on www.clicknpay.africa.
Government workers clashing with police in Harare on Wednesday
Paul Nyathi|Government is considering freezing incomes and prices as it battles to contain runaway inflation which has eroded household incomes and left many employees unable to afford transport costs to get to work.
Zimbabwe’s month-on-month inflation stood at 17.7% in September 2019 while year-on-year inflation, which is no longer officially published, is estimated to have reached 353% in the same month.
At the last official count, year-on-year inflation stood at 175.6%, before Finance and Economic Development Minister Mthuli Ncube banned publication of annual inflation figures saying they were not a true reflection of prices on the ground.
The Zimbabwean government abandoned the currency peg of the local currency to the US dollar, a move that has seen the Zimbabwean dollar lose 85% of its value in 9 months.
Retailers and service providers are however resisting the move away from the multi-currency system and when they are not charging in US dollars, they are pegging their prices at the unofficial, going exchange rate.
As prices continue to skyrocket, government workers today spent much of the day running battles with police who were blocking them from going on a demonstration over their depleted wages.
In a statement issued on Tuesday and signed by the public sector union Apex Council chairperson, Cecilia Alexander and organising secretary Charles Chinosengwa, the government workers union said government had “brought nothing” to a “fruitless” meeting between the two parties earlier in the day.
“The employer brought nothing on the table. It was a zero offer, zero cushion and no interbank rate being applied. To add insult to injury, government has gone back on its earlier offer to pay all bonuses in November, confirming instead that they will pay over two months, meaning some civil servants will get inflation blighted bonuses,” according to the statement.
During a post cabinet briefing held on Tuesday, Information Minister, Monica Mutsvangwa said government does not dispute the need to give a cost-of-living adjustment to workers but it was faced with various competing national demands which include payment of annual bonuses that will take a significant portion of resources.
In addition, said Mutsvangwa, government is putting measures to “contain loss of the workers purchasing power and request worker representatives to provide three nominees to attend a Tripartite Negotiating Forum Technical Committee workshop.”
“The workshop is aimed at coming up with a Social Contract that is aimed at bringing the parties to a common position.
“This may result in the freeze of incomes and prices,” said Minister Mutsvangwa.
Farai Dziva|Norman Mapeza’s Chippa United’s face a stern test when they welcome in-form log leaders Kaizer Chiefs at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.
The Chilli Boys are the only side in the South African top division yet to win a league game this campaign and even though they put up a spirited performance against Sundowns in the Telkom Knockout penalty shootout defeat on Sunday, they are still bottom-placed, with speculation of relegation rife.
Kaizer Chiefs on the other hand are flying; on the back of wins over Masandawana (league) and Soweto rivals Orlando Pirates (Telkom Knockout) and will be looking to consolidate their place at the top of the table with a win in Port Elizabeth.
Mapeza will come against familiar faces, Khama Billiat and Willard Katsande, having coached the duo during his days as Warriors coach.
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