Controversial Zion Christian Church (ZCC) leader Bishop Nehemiah Mutendi has described MDC leader Nelson Chamisa as a puppet of the West who are using him as a front to recolonize the country.

Mutendi also anointed President Emmerson Mnangagwa as the rightful king chosen by God.

Speaking during the Chief Nhema senatorship festival recently, Mutendi said there is a difference between a king and a rightful king saying the latter comes from God.
Mutendi, whom many questioned whether his message was coming from the spiritual realm or his head, said that Chamisa still has a long road to travel to be the rightful king for the country as he lacks the merits of a true leader.

“The whites are still bitter that we took our country from them. They have for long tried to make their way back into the country but have failed so they have now devised a new strategy to retake our country using a puppet Chamisa.

“Do not be fooled with the opposition because they are being used by the whites who have a hidden agenda. They know they will not be able to have their way in this country with Zanu PF in power which is why they have chosen Chamisa.

“This is why we have sanctions and all these problems which are being caused by Chamisa. Do not blame the government because it is trying to better the lives of its people though it will not happen overnight,” said Mutendi.

Mutendi said the people of Zimbabwe have faith in the ruling Zanu PF party and have shut out Chamisa because they know he is not right for the country.

“The people of Zimbabwe know that MDC is a project of the West which is why they fail to win elections. The people do not want Chamisa to rule the country because they know the whites will come back and occupy our land.

“For person to be a right king, he should learn first the history of the country and appreciate it from those in power. Chamisa does not know the history of this country and cannot be the right king,” said Mutendi.

Mutendi said the reason why the opposition has failed to take over power from Zanu PF is because no man can fight what God has chosen and be successful. Credit : TellZim News

By A Correspondent- National Family Planning Council (ZFNPC) has stepped up efforts to combat unwanted pregnancies in Manicaland by offering free jadelle insertion to those between 10 and 24 years.

ZNFPC embarked on the drive on Wednesday at their clinic.

The drive ended on (Friday).

ZNFPC Manicaland provincial manager Mr Dyson Masvingise said:

“We have made it known to the clinics and hospitals in the city that from October 30 to November 1 we will be inserting jadelle for free. We will also be training doctors and nurses at ZNFPC.

“The drive intends to reduce unwanted pregnancies and at the same time we are training our nurses and doctors in a bid to capacitate our staff so that we become a centre of excellence. We are also training doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other health promoters in family planning sector so that they give correct information and informed counselling services to clients. ZNFPC also conducts work place sexual reproductive and health rights and HIV health education, training and community health education programmes in the province.”

“We are not only focusing on people in the urban areas but are also reaching out to those people in remote areas so that they can access the contraceptives,” he added.

Jadelle is a set of two small, plastic capsules containing one hormone called progesterone and the capsules are implanted in the upper arm and slowly release hormones into the blood.

“This family planning method which was once named (the implant norplant) usually lasts for five years and begins taking effect 24 hours after it is inserted.

“It can be removed at anytime if one decides to have children,” he said.

-ManicaPost

By A Correspondent- A teacher at Coghlan Primary School in Bulawayo allegedly hanged herself in her bedroom.

Ms Sibhekinkosi Moyo (35) from New Magwegwe suburb was found hanging from a roof truss by her father on Thursday.

Sources close to the incident said yesterday that Ms Moyo had not been feeling well for some time and had been on sick leave.

She recently suffered a stroke.

According to a close family source Ms Moyo told her daughter a day before she was found hanging that she would leave and not come back.

“She told her daughter on Wednesday that she was leaving and was not coming back” said a close family member on condition of anonymity.

The source said on the fateful day Ms Moyo woke up in the morning and did household chores without showing any signs of distress.

At around 9AM Ms Moyo’s father was shocked to find her hanging from a roof truss in her bedroom. He immediately alerted neighbours before reporting the matter to the police.

Ms Moyo is survived by two children.

Bulawayo police spokesperson Chief Inspector Precious Simango confirmed Ms Moyo’s suspected suicide by hanging.

Teachers at Coghlan Primary School declined to comment on the issue and referred the news crew to the Bulawayo Provincial Education Director Mrs Olicah Kaira. Mrs Kaira confirmed that Ms Moyo who lived with her father, two siblings and her two children, was not feeling well.

She said increasing cases of suicide by teachers and pupils was a cause for concern and urged those facing challenges to seek counselling.

“We received two cases of suicide in the city in one week and I urge those suffering stress or depression to seek counselling,” said Mrs Kaira.

-Statemedia

By A Correspondent- He keeps glancing from side to side as the brief interview progresses and it’s clear from his demeanour that Sabelo Mlilo is certainly not at ease but is trying hard to put up a brave face. 

It’s at the corner of Herbert Chitepo Street and Sixth Avenue near the makeshift commuter omnibus terminus that services Bulawayo’s western suburbs where Mlilo sells oranges and bananas from his pushcart.

“I have to be on the lookout for Makokoba (Bulawayo City Council municipal officers) both on foot or in a city council van because once they catch me selling here, they will confiscate everything including the pushcart,” Mlilo speaks as he serves an elderly woman and at the same time looking around to ensure he is safe from oMakokoba.

He is not alone in this cat and mouse game that vendors and municipal officers engage in on a daily basis. 

Thousands of vendors are in the same predicament as they try to eke out a living from selling an assortment of wares. They are constantly on the lookout for the men and women in blue who do not only arrest them but also confiscate their wares and pushcarts. 

Thousands of former workers have turned to vending to fend for their families following the closure of many companies in the city. An estimated 20 000 workers lost their jobs as a result of company closures and it is these former workers who are now on the streets selling different wares to eke out a living.

“What choice do I have, there are no jobs and the only way I can take care of my family is by selling oranges and bananas. When business is good I take home more than $150 but the biggest threat to my business are the municipal police officers. Just last week, a friend of mine who also sells fruits just up the road lost his stuff after they raided us in the morning,” said Mlilo.

He said his worst fear is losing the pushcart to the municipal police officers as they demand a fine to release it.

“I hire the pushcart for a fee of $30 a day and if I lose it to the municipal police officers I will be made to pay a fine to get it back. We are however not given back the confiscated bananas and oranges so once raided one has to raise fresh capital. Frankly speaking, it’s not easy in this business but I’ve no choice but to come here every day and take my chances with oMakokoba,” said Mlilo. 

In 2017 the city council indicated that Bulawayo had more than 6 000 vendors in the Central Business District with only a handful having heeded the local authority’s calls to register and legalise their operations. 

The number of illegal vendors has most likely ballooned in the past few years as more people find themselves out of formal employment. 

Rumbidzai Makoni sells Kapenta (dried fish) and just like Mlilo, she is always on the lookout for municipal police officers. 

“If one of us spots them, she or he alerts others and we run away to avoid arrest. Normally I just push my stuff under a parked taxi because the municipal officers have no time to search under vehicles. Their raids are always very swift because they are also scared of being assaulted if they stick around for too long,” said Makoni. 

Scenes of vendors’ running battles with municipal police officers are an almost daily occurrence in the streets of Bulawayo and in some instances the raids turn nasty. 

In 2016 six municipal police officers came under fire for allegedly handcuffing a vendor, beating him up and stomping on his head until he became unconscious.

The cops had been carrying out routine raids on unlicensed vendors when they allegedly savagely attacked Mark Chibanda before angry vendors retaliated and chased them away. The vendors later besieged the Large City Hall and pelted the building with stones.

Chibanda of Old Pumula suburb lay on the pavement for almost an hour before he was rushed in an ambulance to the United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH).

A few months earlier four council cops were rushed to hospital after vendors assaulted them. Witnesses said a fight broke out between the illegal vendors and the municipal police officers who had confiscated their goods.

The men and women in blue were again caught in the eye of a storm in 2017 for assaulting a Bulawayo man whom they mistook for a vendor. 

The cops swooped on Brighton Madegwe (25) of Kingsdale suburb as he disembarked from a commuter omnibus with his mother and brother, beat him up with rubber truncheons until he lost consciousness.

He was later hospitalised.

The Government recognises the informal sector as a major player in the economy contributing significantly to the Gross Domestic product (GDP) and the International Monetary Fund says that Zimbabwe has the second biggest informal economy in the world.

-StateMedia

By Nomusa Garikai- The dishonest way Zanu PF has continued to hold the sanctions debate is an outrage!

“The impact has been severe and anyone who thinks that sanctions are not harming the economy is surely not telling the truth. We have had many companies directly affected and the examples are too many to mention, like Olivine which had a loan intercepted through the United States’ Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). In the financial sector, banks such as Standard Chartered Bank and CBZ have lost money directly as a result of sanctions. We can go on-and-on,” Said Minister Mthuli Ncube.

This is just a foolish debate in that the minister is being penny wise but billions of dollars foolish!

There was nothing to stop Olivine getting the loan from China, South Africa and one hundred one other countries, for example. 

In 2016, former President Mugabe admitted that Zimbabwe was “swindled out of 15 billion dollars in diamond revenue alone”. When Mnangagwa took over from Mugabe, he promised “zero tolerance to corruption”. The regime has failed to arrest even one swindler!

For all his boastful posturing on how he was going to get Zimbabwe’s economy back on track, Minister Ncube has taxed the poorest poor and yet he has yet to get one dollar of the billions of dollars from the swindlers. 

Government has failed to explain what happened to US$3 billion of Command Agriculture funds. Our egotistic Minister has had no comment to make on that and many other cases of gross mismanagement and corruption! None! But, surprise, surprise has many, many things to say about sanctions! 

‘We’re going to improve lives of our people,’ says Mthuli Ncube. 

Zimbabwe has been in economic decline for the last 39 years and throughout that period, without failure, Zanu PF has promised the nation a better tomorrow. When the economic recovery has failed to materialise, the party has never admitted failure but focused, instead, on the mirage in the distance. 

Minister Ncube’s vision 2030 middle income status is yet another mirage!

What Zimbabweans must focus on now with renewed energy and resolve is why the country has failed to remove Zanu PF from office after 39 years of corrupt and tyrannical rule? 

We all know the answer: Zanu PF has blatantly rigged elections for the last 39 years. The party blatantly rigged last year’s elections. 

What is worse, seemingly upright citizens like Professor Mthuli Ncube, Kirsty Coventry, etc. knew the country was stuck with a corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship; and yet they have again and again agreed to work for the illegitimate regime and propping it up. 

It is high time that these seemingly upright citizens, hypocrites who have shamelessly promised the long suffering ordinary Zimbabweans a mirage, are held to account. Since Zanu PF rigs elections, one way of holding the hypocrites’ legs to the fire is to add them to the sanctions list!

Leader of Kingdom Embassy church, Prophet Passion Java, who grabbed headlines several years ago when he flighted an advert in the press claiming that he was the ONLY prophet who could “prophesy” anyone’s date of birth and ID number has sensationally claimed that he has seen a vision of South Africa based Prophet Shepherd Bushiri dying in December.

“I am still praying for Prophet Shepherd Bushiri but I saw him dying in the month of December. It’s all in my book, if you have not downloaded it, its called ‘I have already told you’. I prophesied what will happen January to December. There are things that I reversed for January.

“I could not even put them in the book because I had already reversed them. But Prophet Bushiri is a great man. So I needed more grace, so when I met Melchizedek (priest in Biblical times) now, I was given certain powers. Praying and I’m actually fasting some of the days to reverse it so that it does not happen because there are souls that need him because his assignment is great and big,” the Zimbabwean prophet, who is now based in United States says while allegedly prophesying.

The so called prophesy did not go down to well with the founder of Enlightened Christian Gathering Church (ECG), Prophet Shepherd Bushiri who did not have kind words for his fellow ‘tradesman’. Bushiri was so infuriated that he flatly declared Prophet Java a fake prophet!

“Trying to prophecy about about my death… some, some attention seekers, looking for attention to become popular and fame using some peoples’ names… and trying like oh I saw it in the spirit, he’s gonna die… just, just for attention. We are around, we are not going anywhere…. Powerful… My God….,” says part of his response as he breathes fire.

“And I won’t even mention his name, because that’s what he wanted to say… when I say, Major One will say my name… Um, I’m not saying his name because he is fake. That’s fake. I’m not dying, ” he added before his congregation broke into ululation and celebration.

“It’s not right, it’s not, it’s not even Godly to be using some people’s names…. you don’t play with words of death. That’s a serious issue. Just to become popular you wanna, you wanna use somebody’s name,” the visibly shaken and traumatised prophet Bushiri says in conclusion.

Prophet Passion Java, who is now popularly known as “Twabam” in Zimbabwe, following his controversial Youtube video where he was showing off some of his belongings and assets, while mentioning the word ‘twabam’ throughout his ‘presentation’, was once a spiritual son to another equally controverial Zimbabwean prophet, Uebert Angel, who is now based in United Kingdom.

Interestingly, Prophet Bushiri and Prophet Java were both introduced to the prophetic ministry by the same man – Prophet Uebert Angel. However, the ‘spiritual alliance’ between Prophet Passion Java and Prophet Uebert Angel collapsed two years ago. So bad was the fallout that Prophet Java, who had named his son after Uebert had to change the young boy’s name and birth certificate too.More in News

Apart from changing his son’s name, the bad blood between the two prophets is also seen by how prophet Passion has now turned out to American preacher Bishop Noel Jones as his spiritual father. It is further interesting to note that Uebert Angel’s first spiritual father was Prophet Victor Kusi Boateng, of Ghana, who also happens to be Prophet Emmanuel Makandiwa’s spiritual father. However, when Uebert Angel – born Uebert Mudzanire – broke up with his then best friend, Emmanuel Makandiwa – born Shingirai Chirume – Uebert divorced his spiritual fatherProphet Boateng and replaced him with a Nigerian televangelist, Pastor Chris Oyakhilome.

Prophet Passion Java, who is the founder of Kingdom Embassy church, also grabbed headlines in 2015 when he divorced his wife, Yasmin whom he had been in holy matrimony with for four years. When the two got married, Yasmin’s family did not approve of their marriage since they are from a Muslim background. That eventually became the backbone of their divorce, four years later.

CelebGossip.co.za reported several years ago that Yasmin’s grandmother was at one time breathing fire, claiming that Prophet Passion had ‘snatched’ Yasmin without following the proper lobola process. In fact, the elderly grandmother said Prophet Passion was co-habiting with her grandchild.

Prophet Java, who never ran short of surprises throughout his ‘career’, once pulled a shocker when he celebrated his 24th birthday for THREE SOLID DAYS and closed Harare’s First Street where his church was situated before the landlord evicted him. He was doing it the P-Diddy way. He held THREE colourful birthday celebrations AT THREE VENUES and on THREE DIFFERENT DAYS – exactly the P-Diddy style, from Friday morning till Sunday night.

One needs counter book to write all the shocking headlines Prophet Passion Java once grabbed. At one time he shocked many when he allegedly conducted a miracle abortion. In February 2013, H-Metro reported that Prophet Passion allegedly prayed for a young woman who was pregnant and wanted to terminate her unwanted pregnancy. The tabloid reported that at the instigation of the man of God’s prayer, the pregnancy allegedly disappeared.

“I was four months pregnant and as you can see my tummy is now flat to show that I am no longer pregnant, I was impregnated by my boyfriend four months ago but he has dumped me so I wasn’t prepared to look after the child because I am currently unemployed so I came here expectant of my miracle,” she said.

– CelebGossip.co.za

By A Correspondent- Zanu Pf is targeting civil servants in its new recruitment drive and wants government workers to be given posts in the ruling party structures, a senior official has said.

Speaking to war veterans, war collaborators, liberation war heroes’ widows and Zanu-PF youths in Beitbridge last week, Zanu-PF commissar Victor Matemadanda said party functionaries must target civil servants and other workers in a new recruitment drive.

Matemadanda said leaving out civil servants was a mistake because they ended up not up to speed with political developments and felt alienated from government functions.

“We must give them posts because they are part of us. We must work with them and involve them because they work amongst us,” he said.

“Where they show leadership potential, we must give them posts.

“For us to say they should not participate in politics when they already do is a joke.

“We must also work hand in hand with civil servants deployed in our areas so that they feel at home.

“Provide them with water, give them drought relief packages and make every effort to make them feel comfortable because they are within us to work for us.”

Government regulations bar civil servants from participating in political activities.

Junior civil servants are, however, permitted to participate in political activities, but must be politically neutral in the exercise of their duties.

Matemadanda said it was a joke to believe civil servants do not participate in politics.

Some civil servants unions and workers bodies have been linked to the opposition parties as their alliances.

Matemadanda, who is also the War Veterans deputy minister, asked the now old men and women that participated in the liberation struggle and are regarded as the backbone of Zanu-PF to warm up to the civil servants or risk losing them to the opposition.

“Rural teachers should be assisted and be made comfortable because they teach our children,” he said.

Asked by journalists about the party’s renewal policy considering they faced the MDC led by a youthful Nelson Chamisa Matemadanda said he was a new political commissar and that showed renewal.

“Of course I know you mean we have been fishing from the same pond in terms of some positions,” he said.

“We are looking at that as well. “You heard what we said about district coordination committees and that is renewal.”

Turning to the opposition MDC Alliance Matemadanda told his party members to keep their eyes on the ball and not listen to Chamisa.

He said Chamisa was an attention seeker, who allegedly wanted to derail the Zanu-PF government.

Matemadanda asked Matabeleland regions to support Finance and Economic Development minister Mthuli Ncube, whom he described as the best head of treasury ever.

He chastised former president Robert Mugabe for turning his back on Zanu-PF, a party he had led for decades.

“He was too old and when we asked him to rest he said he would vote Chamisa. It’s a wrong investment we made in him,” Matemadanda said.

By A Correspondent- Hundreds of families in Glenview South are furious at some City of Harare workers for allegedly invading their small urban farming plots near Feroworks Paddocks.

Senior citizens, 70-year-old Gogo Elizabeth Seumeni and 80-year-old Sekuru Thomas Makuvaza are among many other elders who came to express their dissatisfaction over council workers who are reported to have invaded their land at Harare’s Feroworks Paddocks.

The elderly citizens say their only source of livelihood where they practice urban farming is being illegally snatched away from them.

“I have been growing maize here for the past twenty years and surprisingly after buying my inputs and finishing preparations for this year, the City Council workers have come to invade our land, this is where we used to survive from, this is not fair, does this mean that if you are a council worker you have the right to invade our plots,” a disgruntled Gogo Seumeni said.

A fuming Sekuru Makuvaza had this to say, “we used to fend for all the vulnerable elders and their dependents but this paints a gloomy picture, we want this issue to be resolved as we have a gentlemen’s agreement with the City Council. For years we have been growing our maize in this land, how come individual council workers now want to dislodge us?”

ZANU PF shadow Member of Parliament for Glenview South Mr. Offard Muchuwe appealed for the council to investigate the alleged scandal involving its workers and take a holistic approach towards the plight of these senior citizens and the vulnerable.

“I have seen these people till this land for over 10 years, and such humiliation and ill-treatment by council workers is worrisome. Abuse of office should not go unchecked,” said Mr. Muchuwe.

Asked to comment on claims by the city workers that the land belongs to them, Harare Town Clerk Engineer Hosiah Chisango refuted the claims.

He said the City of Harare does not have any law that gives power to its workers to takeover urban farming land from residents.

-StateMedia

By A Correspondent| Bertha Mtawarira, the mother of Zimbabwe-born Tendai “The Beast” Mtawarira who plays for the Springboks of South Africa was ecstatic as South Africa overcame England to win the Rugby World Cup, again.

Speaking to the state media, Bertha said Tendai had made the family and nation proud. She also thanked God for the victory saying all things were possible through Him.

She said:

I spoke to Tendai briefly this morning (Saturday) and he told me how nervous and excited he was.

I encouraged him to go for it. I was confident they would win. He played very well, in fact the entire team played well.

The Beast as Tendai is popularly known was England’s main tormenter and when he was substituted three minutes into the second half, he had already done great harm from which England never recovered.

South Africa has so far won three World Cup trophies, after every 12 years since 1995 following their second Cup in 2007.

This recent victory saw a first black Springboks Captain, Siya Kolisi lifting the trophy, something that was unheard of previously since rugby was regarded as a white-elite sport.

-StateMedia

THE late former President, Cde Robert Gabriel Mugabe, continues to be an enigma in death after revelations his memorial was held privately on 19 October — minus some family members and traditional chiefs from the Gushungo clan.

Cde Mugabe died on 6 September in Singapore and was buried 22 days later at the family rural home in Zvimba, Mashonaland West Province. Just as the nation was left waiting on where and when the late founding father of Zimbabwe would be buried after his death, there were equally questions on when the memorial service would be held.

However, it has since emerged that the former First Family actually held a secret memorial mass in Zvimba and distributed Cde Mugabe’s clothes in accordance with traditional custom.

“Yes, we had the memorial service two weeks ago, on October 19, but it was a private family function. Why are you interested in knowing who attended the memorial service, is there anyone who comes to you asking details of those attending memorials at your own family events?” said Mr Walter Chidhakwa, the family spokesperson.

“You have been talking to Leo (Mugabe) all along, why are you coming to me now?”

Earlier in the week, the former President’s nephew, Mr Leo Mugabe, had told our Harare Bureau that preparations for the memorial were underway.

“There are some preparations going on concerning memorial for Gushungo. At the moment, preparations and consultations are still at family level and dates of the memorial will be announced in due course. I do not want to jump the gun . . . but like I said before, dates and the programme line-up will be announced in due course,” said Mr Mugabe.

When confronted with details of the recent event, he stuck to his guns, saying the family only distributed the deceased’s clothes.

-State Media

Senator Douglas Mwonzora, the former Secretary-General of the opposition MDC has said that no party member can remove him from the party as the party does not belong to individuals.

Mwonzora denied allegations purporting that he initiated the court process which sought to nullify the Nelson Chamisa’s leadership in May this year saying that he is actually the victim.

Speaking to the Daily News, Mwonzora said:

It was in fact me who was wronged by being dragged to the Supreme Court. The people who dragged me there came to their senses in the Supreme Court and withdrew the application against me.

They even offered to pay me over this. The party does not belong to individuals. I will defend myself. Anybody who thinks that I am going to be their victim must think again… I dare them to try it.

Mwonzora added that he had observed that members who were loyal to the late party founding father, Morgan Tsvangirai were being persecuted.

He urged party leaders to focus on uniting the party and making sure that the party performs well in elections instead of paying youths to harass him.

Source: Daily News

By Own Correspondent| Former Mamelodi Sundowns legend, Roger Feutmba has said that Zimbabwean international, Khama Billiat has already shown his worth at Kaizer Chiefs.

The Cameroon international further observed that Kaizer Chiefs might not have won a silverware last season when Billiat joined them because of the quality of players surrounding the magnificent Khama.

He said:

I believe with the quality that Billiat has, the environment at Sundowns suited him best since he was around players that complimented him well. In football, you need to have a collective element going before you even talk about the brilliance of the individuals.

I don’t believe that Chiefs have the type of players and philosophy that Sundowns have. Billiat has already proven that he is a fantastic player.

His remarks come when some Kaizer Chiefs faithful have said that the Warriors forward needs to win something for the Amakhosi this season saying that his first season when he scored 9 goals and made 11 assists was a bad season for him.

Kaizer Chiefs fans want Billiat to replicate the form he displayed at Sundowns where he would score crucial goals as well as assist his teammates.

The embattled national flag carrier is expecting 2 new aircrafts this year the Minister of Transport has revealed. This was revealed by ZBC which qouted the Minister who said the aircrafts were already paid for they were just awaiting delivery:

In his presentation at the ongoing 2020 National Budget Seminar in Victoria Falls, Transport and Infrastructure Development Minister, Joel Biggie Matiza said the two Boeing 777-200 ER planes which have since been paid for by treasury are now expected to be delivered into the country before year end.

The airline’s other operational aircraft which was said to be undergoing refurbishment will be operational by mid-November bringing the number of operational aircraft to 2 at the moment.

More: ZBC

Ministry of information, publicity and broadcasting services has sought to exonerate itself from a message posted on its Twitter platform which mocked the striking doctors as satanic.

In a poorly calculated move the Information ministry handle noted that followed what they said as compromise to their online security, they have since changed password after the deleting the message that caused so much noise online.

Posting on Twitter, the ministry said;

Yesterday the ministry Twitter handle posted the message below…

Zimbabwe Finance minister Mthuli Ncube and Reserve Bank governor John Mangudya were in the firing line this week as opposition legislators took them to task about their roles and decisions in trying to kickstart the economy.

At the 2020 prebudget seminar held at Victoria Falls, legislators emphasised the need to direct more financial resources towards health, education, agriculture, manufacturing, mining and infrastructure.

The MDC Alliance’s Lilian Timveos, of the Midlands province, said Ncube was out of touch with reality as he was failing to create jobs, fight corruption and hunt illgotten wealth.

“The pace you are running this economy at is not at a point of yielding any jobs,” she said.

“People are suffering, yet when someone is caught stealing money there is no statutory instrument which stipulates they return that money. Some people have helicopters, huge properties. Why are you are not targeting them? You look at the informal sector that sells goods not of value like vegetables and you say you want to go after them on top of the 2% being taxed from them.

“How are you going to manage the doctors to at least give them a decent salary to save lives? Minister, you cannot say you are handling the national purse well and I am sorry to say you have really done a bad job.”

The MDC Alliance’s Tapiwa Mashakada, of Hatfield constituency in Harare, said austerity without growth was bad for the country.

“People are dying in hospitals due to a lack of drugs and hunger. I expected you to address that because it doesn’t have to be austerity alone without growth,” he said.

But Ncube defended his performance by giving figures on his attempts to feed the hungry.

“We are currently feeding 1million rural households and an additional 2.5million people in the urban areas. We are also doing cash transfers to these vulnerable individuals and their families, so I can assure you that every week it’s one of the first agendas in the cabinet as to how many people were fed that week,” he said.

Mashakada also asked why Ncube and Mangudya opposed market forces towards dollarisation as other legislators bemoaned the government’s policy inconsistencies.

“The economy is redollarising as we must not ignore what’s happening on the market,” said Mashakada.

“Let’s have a conversation of why people continue to dollarise. Their mindset has dollarised and we don’t know how this budget will inspire confidence when people’s minds have changed.”

Ncube told legislators that politics was harming the economy.

Caston Matewu, from the MDC Alliance area of Marondera Central, suggested that the Reserve Bank should be divorced from the government, just like in SA.

“There is one big elephant in the room, which is politics. You mentioned that there was 19.7% growth in 2010 when there was political stability, so in line with politics in economics, one thing we are calling for is the independence of the central bank.

“What can be done to ensure its independence, which will stop the Finance Minister writing to the central bank to command them to issue Treasury bills which is something that has brought the economy to its knees in the past few years?” he said.

Reserve Bank governor Mangudya had a tough time explaining why there was a cash crisis yet a lot of it was circulating on the black market.

“This economy is made up of 61% informal employment and that money moves from the bank, and once this money is outside the bank it stays there.

“That’s why we need to formalise this economy so the money goes to the bank. Due to its scarcity this is why we are bringing the new notes to close that gap,” Mangudya said.

Binga North MP Prince Dubeko (MDC Alliance) said Mangudya and Ncube “wilfully violated the laws of borrowing”.

“How do you expect an investor to have confidence when you can wilfully violate the laws of the country, and how do you speak about productivity when the interest rate is running at above 70%?”

Ncube is expected to present the 2020 budget later this month. –The Sunday Times

The late former President Robert Mugabe’s memorial service was reportedly held privately on 19 October minus some family members and traditional chiefs from the Gushungo clan.

Mugabe died on 6 September in Singapore and was buried 22 days later at the family rural home in Zvimba after a lot of back and forth between the government and his family.

It has since emerged that the former First Family actually held a memorial mass in Zvimba and distributed Mugabe’s clothes in accordance with traditional custom.

“Yes, we had the memorial service two weeks ago, on October 19, but it was a private family function. Why are you interested in knowing who attended the memorial service, is there anyone who comes to you asking details of those attending memorials at your own family events?” said Mr Walter Chidhakwa, the family spokesperson.

“You have been talking to Leo (Mugabe) all along, why are you coming to me now?

Paul Nyathi|The Warriors have received what could be a boost ahead of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, following assurances from authorities that players who have been struggling to obtain passports will be issued with the documents which will enable them to play for the Warriors.

Headlining the players who were battling to secure Zimbabwean passports due to the country’s complicated dual citizenship laws is in-form Charlton Athletic forward Macauley Bonne.

The Ipswich-born striker has scored five goals in eight Championship games for Charlton so far this season.

He has featured three times for Zimbabwe in international friendly matches since 2014, but is yet to make a competitive debut for the Warriors due to difficulties in obtaining a Zimbabwean passport.

Also likely to be issued with Zimbabwean citizenship are Bolton Wanderers defender Adam Chicksen, Bournemouth youth player Jordan Zemura and Swansea City defender Tivonge Rushesha, who have all been included in the Warriors provisional squad for the matches against Zambia and Botswana.

The head of the Zimbabwe registrar office Clemence Masango gave assurances that the players will have their passports before the Afcon qualifiers commence.

“Players who applied for passports will get their passports in time for them to be eligible to represent the nation in matches against Botswana on 15 November (Home) & Zambia (Away) on 19 November,” the Zimbabwe Football Association announced on social media quoting Masango as saying.

Zimbabwe will kick off their Afcon qualifiers at home against Botswana on November 15, before facing Zambia away four days later.

The Botswana match would be the Warriors’ first game since being eliminated from Afcon finals in June, having been inactive during the September and October Fifa international periods.

VIDEO LOADING BELOW…

Controversial Zion Christian Church (ZCC) leader Bishop Nehemiah Mutendi has described MDC leader Nelson Chamisa as a puppet of the West who are using him as a front to recolonize the country.

Mutendi also anointed President Emmerson Mnangagwa as the rightful king chosen by God.

Speaking during the Chief Nhema senatorship festival recently, Mutendi said there is a difference between a king and a rightful king saying the latter comes from God.
Mutendi, whom many questioned whether his message was coming from the spiritual realm or his head, said that Chamisa still has a long road to travel to be the rightful king for the country as he lacks the merits of a true leader.

“The whites are still bitter that we took our country from them. They have for long tried to make their way back into the country but have failed so they have now devised a new strategy to retake our country using a puppet Chamisa.

“Do not be fooled with the opposition because they are being used by the whites who have a hidden agenda. They know they will not be able to have their way in this country with Zanu PF in power which is why they have chosen Chamisa.

“This is why we have sanctions and all these problems which are being caused by Chamisa. Do not blame the government because it is trying to better the lives of its people though it will not happen overnight,” said Mutendi.

Mutendi said the people of Zimbabwe have faith in the ruling Zanu PF party and have shut out Chamisa because they know he is not right for the country.

“The people of Zimbabwe know that MDC is a project of the West which is why they fail to win elections. The people do not want Chamisa to rule the country because they know the whites will come back and occupy our land.

“For person to be a right king, he should learn first the history of the country and appreciate it from those in power. Chamisa does not know the history of this country and cannot be the right king,” said Mutendi.

Mutendi said the reason why the opposition has failed to take over power from Zanu PF is because no man can fight what God has chosen and be successful. Credit : TellZim News

Controversial Zion Christian Church (ZCC) leader Bishop Nehemiah Mutendi has described MDC leader Nelson Chamisa as a puppet of the West who are using him as a front to recolonize the country.

Mutendi also anointed President Emmerson Mnangagwa as the rightful king chosen by God.

Speaking during the Chief Nhema senatorship festival recently, Mutendi said there is a difference between a king and a rightful king saying the latter comes from God.
Mutendi, whom many questioned whether his message was coming from the spiritual realm or his head, said that Chamisa still has a long road to travel to be the rightful king for the country as he lacks the merits of a true leader.

“The whites are still bitter that we took our country from them. They have for long tried to make their way back into the country but have failed so they have now devised a new strategy to retake our country using a puppet Chamisa.

“Do not be fooled with the opposition because they are being used by the whites who have a hidden agenda. They know they will not be able to have their way in this country with Zanu PF in power which is why they have chosen Chamisa.

“This is why we have sanctions and all these problems which are being caused by Chamisa. Do not blame the government because it is trying to better the lives of its people though it will not happen overnight,” said Mutendi.

Mutendi said the people of Zimbabwe have faith in the ruling Zanu PF party and have shut out Chamisa because they know he is not right for the country.

“The people of Zimbabwe know that MDC is a project of the West which is why they fail to win elections. The people do not want Chamisa to rule the country because they know the whites will come back and occupy our land.

“For person to be a right king, he should learn first the history of the country and appreciate it from those in power. Chamisa does not know the history of this country and cannot be the right king,” said Mutendi.

Mutendi said the reason why the opposition has failed to take over power from Zanu PF is because no man can fight what God has chosen and be successful. Credit : TellZim News

By A Correspondent| The Monica Mutsvangwa led Ministry of Information has on Twitter posted and then deleted a statement which some have described as heartless.

VIDEO LOADING BELOW….

The tweet was in response to Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association (ZHDA) acting spokesperson, Dr Mthabisi Bhebhe’s tweet which expressed concern over the dismissal of 81 doctors over the snub of a hearing.

Bhebhe had said:

Our Principals have no respect for medical doctors in Zimbabwe because their doctors are in China & Singapore.

Yesterday they summarily dismissed 81 doctors for demanding a living wage.

We have been called STUDENT DOCTORS, LABOURERS, MHESVAMIKONO for asking a fair wage

In response, the Ministry of Information allegedly said:

Zvanzwa butter zvima doctor izvozvo (those doctors have been given what they deserve). Let those killer doctors go and work for the equally satanic @usembassyharare. We don’t want any heartless doctors near our hospitals. Good riddance.

By A Correspondent| Finance Minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube has expressed optimism over the economy saying that the necessary foundation for resuscitating the economy had already been put in place.

He said that the government achieved a lot in one year also under restraining conditions.

Watch the video below for more.

Controversial Zion Christian Church (ZCC) leader Bishop Nehemiah Mutendi has described MDC leader Nelson Chamisa as a puppet of the West who are using him as a front to recolonize the country.

Mutendi also anointed President Emmerson Mnangagwa as the rightful king chosen by God.

Speaking during the Chief Nhema senatorship festival recently, Mutendi said there is a difference between a king and a rightful king saying the latter comes from God.
Mutendi, whom many questioned whether his message was coming from the spiritual realm or his head, said that Chamisa still has a long road to travel to be the rightful king for the country as he lacks the merits of a true leader.

“The whites are still bitter that we took our country from them. They have for long tried to make their way back into the country but have failed so they have now devised a new strategy to retake our country using a puppet Chamisa.

“Do not be fooled with the opposition because they are being used by the whites who have a hidden agenda. They know they will not be able to have their way in this country with Zanu PF in power which is why they have chosen Chamisa.

“This is why we have sanctions and all these problems which are being caused by Chamisa. Do not blame the government because it is trying to better the lives of its people though it will not happen overnight,” said Mutendi.

Mutendi said the people of Zimbabwe have faith in the ruling Zanu PF party and have shut out Chamisa because they know he is not right for the country.

“The people of Zimbabwe know that MDC is a project of the West which is why they fail to win elections. The people do not want Chamisa to rule the country because they know the whites will come back and occupy our land.

“For person to be a right king, he should learn first the history of the country and appreciate it from those in power. Chamisa does not know the history of this country and cannot be the right king,” said Mutendi.

Mutendi said the reason why the opposition has failed to take over power from Zanu PF is because no man can fight what God has chosen and be successful. Credit : TellZim News

By A Correspondent| Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce, Rajeshkumar Indukant Modi (MP) has dismissed as lies corruption accusations by ZANU PF Youth League Deputy Secretary, Lewis Matutu.

Matutu had posted on Twitter on Saturday morning saying that Modi demands US dollar payments at his businesses and also that he was paying kickbacks to police in Zvishavane to keep his underhand dealings off the radar.

In response, Modi expressed shock over the allegations saying that he did not know why Matutu was coming after him. He said:

I do not own any business in Zvishavane and I certainly don’t charge in US dollars at my businesses in Bulawayo.

The allegations that I am paying off police are totally false and I just don’t know where this is coming from.

Matutu has been at loggerheads with some senior ZANU PF and government officials over his anti-corruption crusade which saw him “naming and shaming” some individuals purportedly participating in underhand dealings to “sabotage President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s efforts to revive the ailing economy”.

He has since been slapped with a $10 million lawsuit by Zanu PF secretary for administration, Obert Mpofu after he accused the former Mines Minister of corruption.

-Standard

By Own Correspondent| The National Social Security Authority (Nssa) has approved a pension payout of more than 200 percent that will be paid this month but backdated to October.

According to a notice from the authority gleaned by the state media, pensioners will now receive a minimum monthly payout of $240 up from $80 while the maximum payout has been increased to $6 041,97 from $2 013.99.

According to the schedule, a pensioner’s widow/er will now receive a minimum $159,99 from $53,33. The maximum payout in the category has been increased from $1 498 to $4 494.

Although Nssa could not readily confirm the adjustments, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Mr Simon Masanga, confirmed the increase but referred questions to the Minister, Dr Sekai Nzenza.

“They are being revised upwards but the minister will give you more details in regards to that. They are revised as from October 2019 but effective from November. Nssa on the other hand has been sensitive to the plight of the pensioners and they will get an increment,” he said.

Dr Nzenza also confirmed the increase but said it was awaiting approval from the Treasury.

“I am currently reviewing the board proposal for pension’s increments. I will then consult Treasury. I am positive that we will have an increase in Nssa pensions before end of the month,” she said.

The schedule, also showed that dependants’ payouts will be increased from a minimum allowance of $17 to $51 while the children’s allowance has been increased from $15 to $45.

Constant Attendant Allowance will be 80 percent of minimum pension. Nonetheless, despite the 200 percent increase, the lower end of payouts still remain significantly low for pensioners due to continued increase of prices of basic commodities. Before the increase some of the pensioners had stopped travelling to towns to access the money because it was no longer enough even to cover for transport costs.

Meanwhile, as part of continuously cushioning the aged and vulnerable members of the community, the Government has stepped up efforts to increase food distribution in urban areas.

Last week, food distribution commenced in Mahatshula, Bulawayo where people were given 50 kilogrammes of maize. The programme is being spearheaded by the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare.

The state media reported that initially such programmes were targeting rural people but the Government discovered that thousands of people were food insecure in urban areas. 

Dr Nzenza said that the programme was targeting a total of 25 237 beneficiary households collectively, disaggregated as 12 968 and 12 269 beneficiaries in Bulawayo and Harare, respectively.

Priority, she added, is being given to high-density suburbs that have a “high concentration of poverty” according to the country’s poverty map. Government childcare workers are identifying vulnerable children from vulnerable households in schools.
-StateMedia

By A Correspondent| The Ministry of Information has on Twitter posted and deleted a statement which some have described as heartless.

VIDEO LOADING BELOW….

The tweet was in response to Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association (ZHDA) acting spokesperson, Dr Mthabisi Bhebhe’s tweet which expressed concern over the dismissal of 81 doctors over the snub of a hearing.

Bhebhe had said:

Our Principals have no respect for medical doctors in Zimbabwe because their doctors are in China & Singapore.

Yesterday they summarily dismissed 81 doctors for demanding a living wage.

We have been called STUDENT DOCTORS, LABOURERS, MHESVAMIKONO for asking a fair wage

In response, the Ministry of Information allegedly said:

Zvanzwa butter zvima doctor izvozvo (those doctors have been given what they deserve). Let those killer doctors go and work for the equally satanic @usembassyharare. We don’t want any heartless doctors near our hospitals. Good riddance.

Local power utility, ZESA has announced that it is now implementing Stage 2 of load shedding following tripping of three generator units at Hwange Power Station.

Posting on Twitter, ZETDC, a subsidiary of ZESA said:

#PowerAlert Three Generator Units tripped at Hwange Power Station in the early hours of this morning leading to a loss of 251MW from the National Grid. Load shedding has increased significantly and we now implementing it at Stage 2.

The country was already producing insufficient power due to alleged shrinking of water levels at Kariba Dam which supplies the main power producer in the country, Kariba South Hydro Power Station.

ZESA also attributes the decline in power production to ageing equipment at Hwange Power Station.

Resultantly, Zimbabwe is importing some of its power from neighbouring South Africa and Mozambique, but the power is not enough for households and industry.

A Zanu PF youth leader has accused a deputy minister of sabotaging President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s economic reforms by refusing to embrace the local currency, in yet another sign of widening rifts in the ruling party.

Lewis Matutu, the deputy secretary for youth affairs and close ally of Mnangagwa from the Midlands, claimed Industry deputy minister Raj Modi’s businesses were charging in foreign currency. Matutu also accused Modi of corrupting police officers in Zvishavane.

“Deputy minister of industry and commerce demands US dollar payments at his businesses, pays police officers for protection and police in Zvishavane are making a lot of money out of it, no to corruption,” he tweeted early yesterday morning.

“The vision of the president is simple, no to corruption and that for us to have a strong economy we need our own currency and all government ministers and party members especially leaders should support that.”

The government last month outlawed the use of foreign currency in local transactions.

This was after Zimbabwe in June ended a decade of dollarisation and began the process of reintroducing a local currency.

Matutu has been on a warpath against senior Zanu PF officials, whom he accuses of sabotaging the economy by fuelling the foreign currency parallel market and engaging in corruption.

Modi, however, said his businesses were not charging in foreign currency and that he had no business interests in Zvishavane.

“I do not own any business in Zvishavane and I certainly don’t charge in US dollars at my businesses in Bulawayo,” he said.

“The allegations that I am paying off police are totally false and I just don’t know where this is coming from.

“I don’t know what will be going on in his mind as he makes those allegations or what is motivating him, I am not sure why he is after me.”

Zanu PF secretary for administration Obert Mpofu is suing Matutu for $10 million after the youth leader accused the former minister of corruption.

Mpofu’s name was included in a list of alleged corrupt government and ruling party officials that was released by Zanu PF youths led by Matutu early this year.

On Friday, Mnangagwa seemed to be backing Matutu when he said the issues must be resolved internally.

Zanu PF has set up a committee to investigate allegations that some of its senior officials are corrupt and are behind the forex black market.

Standard

SPECIMENS for new notes and coins to be introduced later this month will start being circulated as from tomorrow to give members of the public enough time to familiarise themselves with the money.

Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Dr John Mangudya last Tuesday announced that he will be issuing new $5 notes and $2 coins, to cushion citizens who are being fleeced of their hard-earned money by unscrupulous retailers who charge premiums on other forms of payment other than cash. In an interview on Friday, Dr Mangudya said the specimens will be out soon after the gazetting of the Statutory Instrument by Government which will give the green light to the introduction of the new notes and coins. 

“We will start having them (specimens) on Monday,” he said.

A Statutory Instrument 231 of 2019 has since been issued by the Government paving way for the introduction of the new notes and coins. The SI details the designs of the news notes. “The design of the two dollar and five-dollar banknotes shall be as follows, 

a) On the front side of both the two and the five dollar note, the dominant feature shall be the logo of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (three balancing rocks) with the visually impaired recognition feature to the left, latent image showing the denomination, optical variable ink with colour shift from gold to green, security thread with the inscriptions “RBZ” and see through of the Zimbabwe Bird looking to the left in the perfect register, as secondary features.

b) In respect of the two dollar note, on the backside there shall be an impression of the Parliament of Zimbabwe Building and the Eternal Flame. c) In respect of the five dollar note, on the back side shall be an impression of the three giraffes and three trees.”

Dr Mangudya added the new coins and notes will address the cash problem. “As we have said many times there is shortage of cash here and people are selling cash through these agents. This is not debatable; I don’t know why people want to debate that one. What I did is needful and it is the requirement, that is the role of the Central Bank to make sure that we have assessed the amount of money in the economy and put it there,” he said.

Dr Mangudya said the introduction of the new notes and coins was a response to normalise the economy which was now being distorted even on the pricing front. Goods sold in cash are cheaper compared to those sold in plastic money, a situation that has resulted in the sprouting of cash shops in many major urban areas.

People, including pensioners, are also being forced to sleep in bank queues to access cash. Some banks in Bulawayo have gone for about three weeks without disbursing cash to clients. Dr Mangudya is also set to announce new cash withdrawal limits which are currently pegged at $300 per week for individuals.

The new two and five Zimbabwe dollar notes that are set to be introduced into circulation by mid-November will have the same appearance and features as bond notes of the same value that are already in circulation, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development has said.

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) announced on Tuesday it will by mid-this month introduce new bank notes as it moves to end long running cash shortages in the economy.

Reports indicate up to $1 billion will be gradually injected into the market over time to avoid fuelling inflation.

In a government gazette published late yesterday, the Ministry of Finance said the new $2 and $5 notes will be green and purple in colour, the same as the bond note denominations of the same value in circulation.

The Zimbabwe dollar notes and bond notes will also have the same value, 1:1.

“On the front side of both the two dollar note and five dollar note, the dominant feature shall be the logo of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, three balancing rocks, with the visually impaired recognition features to the left, latent image showing the denomination, optical variable ink with colour shift from green to gold, security thread with the inscription “RBZ”, watermark highlighted inscription “RBZ” and see-through of the Zimbabwe bird looking to the left in perfect register, as secondary features,” the Ministry of Finance said.

The two Zimbabwe dollar note, like the $2 bond note, will have the Parliament of Zimbabwe building and the eternal flame as main features on the backside.

On the other hand, the five Zimbabwean dollar will have an impression of three giraffes and three palm trees on the backside, which is the same as the $5 bond note.

The injection of new bank notes will come as a relief to Zimbabweans who have endured cash shortages for years, a situation that led to the birth of a thriving parallel market cash selling business at premiums of up to 50 percent of the value of a physical bank note.

In addition, the shortage also led to the creation of a multi-tier pricing system in the economy, depending on the mode of payment.

This pushed up the cost of goods and services, and ultimately stoked up inflation in the country.

The shortages became particularly acute early this year when the government scrapped the use of the multi-currency system which had been in place for 10 years, dominated by the United States dollar, and re-introduced the Zimbabwe dollar as a mono-currency.

But it did not immediately introduce a new replacement local currency, but instead retained the surrogate bond notes that were in circulation in conjunction with the multi-currencies.

Specimens of the new Zimbabwe dollar bank notes are likely to be made public this coming week.- New Ziana

Standard|The government has suspended for two years customs and excise duty on spares and equipment imported by the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) in a move that is set to bring relief to the struggling power utility.

Zesa, which is choking under the weight of huge foreign debts, has been failing to maintain most of its ageing thermal power stations at a time the country’s main source of power — the Kariba Hydro Power Station — is operating at a third of its installed capacity due to a severe drought.

According to the latest government gazette, Finance minister Mthuli Ncube suspended duty for “power equipment, critical spares and transformer components imported by Zesa for a period of two years with the effect from June 1, 2019.”

Zesa subsidiaries that will benefit from the duty waiver are Zesa Enterprises, Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution company (Zedtc) and the Zimbabwe Power Company.

Some of the power equipment covered under the duty waiver includes electricity meters, liquid meters, signal generators, fuses, motor control panels, overhead travelling cranes on fixed support, test benches, thermostats, manostats and oil and petrol filters, among others

Zetdc recently said it was owed $1,2 billion and it was targeting to recover the money from mining, agriculture commercial and domestic users.

The power utility has to contend with obsolete coal-fired electricity generators, which constantly break down.

On Friday, Zesa was generating 472 megawatts (MW) of electricity, which is less than half the country’s peak demand.

The Bulawayo and Munyati thermal power stations were not producing anything as a result of breakdowns. Kariba was generating only 81MW, while Hwange was pushing 376MW and Harare contributed 15MW.

Zimbabwe is importing about 400MW from South Africa and Mozambique but the electricity is still not sufficient to keep the lights on and industry running.

Since June the country has had to endure the long hours of load shedding, which is crippling households and industrial operations.

Earlier this month, Zetdc increased electricity tariffs by 320% in order to meet the cost of power imports.

In the effort to acquire more foreign currency, Zesa opted to price electricity for the mining industry in United States dollars, at a cost which is slightly lower than the pricing structure prior to the recent monetary devaluation.

Zesa said it had intensified its revenue collection and will use the money to import electricity, improve, local power generation and import spares for network maintenance.

POWER company Zesa, has recorded its lowest power generation capacity at Kariba in years amid fears that the country’s main source of electricity could be decommissioned this month.

According to statistics posted at Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) website on Friday, Kariba Power Station was producing just 81 Megawatts out of the installed capacity of 1 050 MW. The other power stations were also at below capacity with Harare producing 15 MW while Hwange is only generating 376 MW bringing it to a total of 472MW. Bulawayo and Munyati are off.

In an interview, Zesa Holdings acting group chief executive officer Engineer Patrick Chivaura said there were fears that the Kariba Power Station could be decommissioned due to low water levels. Eng Chivaura said Kariba has dropped to maximum of 190 MW from its designed capacity of 1 050 MW.

Eng Chivaura said provided the rains come early then the power station might not be decommissioned.

“We received good rains a few days back and if we continue to have good rains our hope is that the station will not be decommissioned,” he said.

Zimbabwe is importing supplementary power from South African power utility, Eskom and Mozambican power utility Hydro Cahora Bassa (HCB).

Meanwhile, Zesa has continued to assure customers that its billing system has not changed, saying that charges do not differ and will remain the same at any given day of the month.

“The correct position is that customers can buy the first 50 units at 41 cents, the next 150 units (51-200) at 91 cents and any other purchases beyond the 200 units are charged at $3,87,” read part of the statement, stating that charges apply at any day of a given month.

Last Friday, hundreds of Bulawayo residents thronged the Zesa revenue halls in the city in the mistaken belief that the power utility had a promotion to sell electricity at discounted tariffs on the first day of every month.

State Media|FINANCE and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube says Government will this year pay its workers the 13th cheque right on time, this month, because public finances are now in a healthier state than before thanks to austerity measures.

He said previously reckless Government spending through the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe overdraft window and Treasury Bills wasted resources, creating the surplus electronic dollars within the market that increased demand for and caused the acute shortage of US dollars.

Zimbabwe does not print US dollars and must export to generate significant inflows of any hard currency, which the economy currently has constrained capacity to do although fundamentals remain good, apart from other sources.

The Treasury chief said this during a presentation to parliamentarians during a National Budget seminar with the lawmakers, at Elephant Hills in Victoria Falls, ahead of the presentation of the 2020 fiscal plan, which is scheduled for November 14.

Minister Ncube said under expenditure management, being done in terms of the Transitional Stabilisation Programme (TSP), a lot had been done to contain Government expenditure, enabling the Treasury to plan and time its financial obligations with a lot more ease than before.

“You remember there was a time when civil servants didn’t know when they would get paid, they didn’t know. Now, they know they will get paid on such-such a date, it is published and we will stick to that date.

“Also there was a time when civil servants didn’t know whether they will get a bonus or not, but now they will get a bonus every November as promised and that is what will happen at the end of this month.

“We have a biometric system, which is clearing up all the ghost workers. We are cleaning all of that up, and we are containing Government waste.

“On the revenue collection front, again our (revenue) collection systems are getting better every day; we are tightening up every day. Zimra is working hard to make sure our systems get better and all of this has resulted in better finances. That’s what austerity for prosperity has achieved; that is what it was designed to achieve,” he said.

Minister Ncube said between January and August this year, Treasury had consistently operated in surplus position, however, pointing out that after August the public finances entered some deficit position.

Nonetheless, the minister expressed strong conviction that with about two months still to go before year-end, the public finances were expected to end the year in a surplus and healthy state.

“We will still end the year on target within 4 percent of GDP in terms of our deficit target, so I can assure you Mr Speaker Sir and colleagues the (Government) finances are well managed and they are sound.

“I also confirm that we have stopped using the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe window; you recall at the end of 2018 in the last Budget we had an exposure of about $3,5 billion that central Government, through Treasury, was borrowing from the central bank.

“That era is over. Since January 2019, we have not borrowed a cent from the central bank and it should be like that and that also gives the central bank a bit more independence,” Minister Ncube said.

While the fiscal deficit was now under control, Minister Ncube said the external position of the country, defined in terms of the state of the current account, was equally under control, which augurs well for efforts to stabilise the Zimbabwe dollar.

“The external deficit, which is your current account and so forth, is also under control. So what has happened is that the gap between exports and imports (trade deficit) has narrowed, if you compare 2018 and 2019 and the previous years.

“You need that when you are reforming. Why? Because if your deficit on the external front is huge it becomes an additional risk to your currency.

“It means you are living beyond your means in terms of demanding other people’s goods other than your goods and exporting to them and that is not healthy.”

He said because austerity measures had achieved their objective, it was now time to transition to productivity across all sectors and overall economic growth.

The Treasury chief pointed out that the containment of public expenditures and the declining current account deficit was what gave authorities the confidence to re-introduce the local currency.

“Those were key risks to introduction of a domestic mono-currency; that gave us confidence to do so,” he said. “Zimbabwe first introduced local currency, under the multi-currency regime, in February this year through Statutory Instrument 33 of 2019 and then totally removed the foreign currencies on the 24th of June through SI 142 of 2019.

“But, in doing that we also realised that we had a challenge in terms of store of value for ordinary citizens, including myself, so we needed to allow the citizens to retain the foreign currency accounts.

“Those foreign currency accounts should not be touched by the Government. We have to make that commitment; we have made that commitment,” he said.

Philanthropic works by First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa, which have spread across the length and breadth of the country, have helped to shine a light on living conditions of most Zimbabweans, prompting Government to intervene to complement her efforts in some cases, President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said.

Addressing guests at State House on Friday during an appreciation dinner hosted by the First Lady for partners who worked with her philanthropic arm, Angel of Hope Foundation, the President said he was “touched” by some of the work that the foundation has done so far.

President Mnangagwa, who chairs the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Co-operation, spent the better part of Friday in Botswana to witness the inauguration of that country’s fifth President, Mokgweetsi Masisi.

“My dear wife said I should attend. I was in Botswana and had to rush here soon after landing. Looking at the audience here, I feel very much touched by the work Angel of Hope is doing. It is only slightly more than a year since it was founded,” said President Mnangagwa.

“When my wife discussed with me about it, I have a principle in my life that you do not stand in the way of ideas by people — good or bad. It turned out that this was something else. Possibly, she must have chosen a good team also,” he said.

The First Lady, he said, always had a passion for philanthropic work and within a short space of time, her foundation has been to places where he, as a politician, had never visited before.State media

A memorial service for the late former President, Mugabe, was secretly held on October 19 by a section of his family, but many of his close relatives, including his sons, did not attend.
The majority of chiefs from the Gushungo clan snubbed the event.

The former president died on September 6 in Singapore and was buried 22 days later at the family rural home in Zvimba, Mashonaland West Province.

Just as the nation was left waiting on where and when the late founding father of Zimbabwe would be interred, there were equally questions on when the memorial service would be held.

However, it has since emerged that the former First Family actually held a memorial mass in Zvimba and distributed Mugabe’s belongings in accordance with traditional custom.State media

A 42-YEAR-OLD man – suspected to be mentally challenged – allegedly murdered his father for failing to prepare his meal on time so that he could take his prescribed medication.

The accused, James Mandeya, of Yorkshire 7B, Headlands struck his father Collius James Mandeya (73) with a hockey stick several times on the head, leaving him bleeding profusely on the ground.

Manicaland provincial spokesperson Inspector Tavhiringa Kakohwa confirmed the death of Mandeya.

“I confirm that the late Collius Mandeya was brutally assaulted on October 25, 2019 at his homestead and later died at Rusape General Hospital,” he said.

James Mandeya appeared before Rusape magistrate Mr Gift Manyika on Saturday facing murder charges.

He was not asked to plead and was advised to apply for bail at the High Court.
Mr Binoni Makuwire prosecuted.

Mr Makuwire told the court that the accused assaulted his father seven times on the head with a hockey stick, accusing him of failing to prepare food on time.

“The late Collius Mandeya had an argument with his first born son James, who wanted his breakfast so that he takes his medication, but was told to wait until the meal was ready.

“Out of rage, James picked up a stick and repeatedly smashed his father with it on the head until he was unable to move and ran away.

Headman Kwanda, who was passing-by Mandeya’s homestead, heard him screaming for help and rushed to investigate. He arrived when Mandeya was motionless on the ground and called others villagers for help. They took him to the hospital,” said Mr Makuwire.

Members of the public are urged, especially those living with mentally challenged relatives, to help them take their medication on time to avoid such incidents. The matter was remanded to November 11, 2019.Manica Post

SOMVUBU High School headmaster Khumbulani Sibanda thought he had saved a life when he responded to a sudden call for help to ferry a collapsed player to Mpilo Central Hospital using his personal car only to be told the devastating news that the 18-year-old promising star had long died when they arrived at the health institution.

The player was Mpopoma High School pupil Cedric Dube who at the time of his collapse was playing for Talen Vision in a Zifa Bulawayo province Division Three league match against Bulawayo City at Barbourfields Stadium’s outside grounds.

“Cedric was chasing the ball and he just fell and there were calls for me to assist carry the boy to the hospital since I was the only spectator with a car close by.

I drove my car to the centre of the field and together with team manager Jacqualine Ngwenya and one Khulekani Siziba we carried the boy and put him in my car,” said Sibanda.

He said he quickly drove to Mpilo Central Hospital where upon arrival they asked for a stretcher as they frantically tried to save a young life.

“At that moment I was convinced the lad would soon be with us again. We were attended to by a female doctor with a Moyo surname and after a few moments, she came back with the most devastating news.

She told us that she tried all she could but the boy was already dead when we put him on a stretcher from my car. Inyembezi zendoda ziphelela esifubeni but that day it wasn’t the case with me. It didn’t matter that the boy was not my relative as I was only a spectactor because of my love for the game but surely why would he die just like that. I thought of his peers, his parents who at that time knew nothing of the tragic turn of events,” said Sibanda.

He said Ngwenya later called Talen Vision bosses and the now deceased’s mother using his mobile phone since they had left theirs at the ground.

“I also could see sympathy in the eyes of the young doctor who probably thought she will be blamed for failing to save a life but it was clearly not her fault. The boy was gone and I was to later learn that he was also a student at Mpopoma High School and was their Under-20 captain,” said Sibanda.

Nicknamed Spoonky, Dube was recruited to the Highlanders Under-14 side by Dumaza Dube before crossing the floor to join Talen Vision. At the beginning of the year, he trained with the Bosso developmental side that is coached by Melusi Mabaleka Sibanda but his grandfather Caleb Sibanda advised him to stay in junior football for another year before he could further his football career.

It was never to be.
Dube was laid to rest last Wednesday at Athlone Cemetery at a moving funeral attended by scores of people who included high profile soccer personalities and pupils from different schools.
— Herald

A TEACHER at Coghlan Primary School in Bulawayo allegedly hanged herself in her bedroom.

Ms Sibhekinkosi Moyo (35) from New Magwegwe suburb was found hanging from a roof truss by her father on Thursday.

Sources close to the incident said yesterday that Ms Moyo had not been feeling well for some time and had been on sick leave.

She recently suffered a stroke.
According to a close family source Ms Moyo told her daughter a day before she was found hanging that she would leave and not come back.

“She told her daughter on Wednesday that she was leaving and was not coming back” said a close family member on condition of anonymity.

The source said on the fateful day Ms Moyo woke up in the morning and did household chores without showing any signs of distress.

At around 9AM Ms Moyo’s father was shocked to find her hanging from a roof truss in her bedroom. He immediately alerted neighbours before reporting the matter to the police.

Ms Moyo is survived by two children.
Bulawayo police spokesperson Chief Inspector Precious Simango confirmed Ms Moyo’s suspected suicide by hanging.

Teachers at Coghlan Primary School declined to comment on the issue and referred the news crew to the Bulawayo Provincial Education Director Mrs Olicah Kaira.

Mrs Kaira confirmed that Ms Moyo who lived with her father, two siblings and her two children, was not feeling well.

She said increasing cases of suicide by teachers and pupils was a cause for concern and urged those facing challenges to seek counselling.
“We received two cases of suicide in the city in one week and I urge those suffering stress or depression to seek counselling,” said Mrs Kaira.

On Tuesday, a Form Two pupil at Maranatha High School in Bulawayo’s Nketa suburb was found hanging at his home in Nketa 7 in a suspected case of suicide.

Nqobile Lusinga (15) allegedly hanged himself from the roof trusses of the family’s bedroom in the afternoon after his teachers questioned him about money and a cell phone that he had brought to school.

It is suspected that Nqobile stole $100 from his aunt and bought the cell phone.
When his parents were summoned to the school, he was sent home to collect the rest of the money.
Instead of returning to the school, he allegedly committed suicide.
— Chronicle