The MDC is appealling for solidarity for both our national Organising Secretary Amos Chibaya and his Deputy Sibusisiwe Bhuda Masara.

The two people’s movement leaders are due to appear at the Harare Rotten Row Magistrates courts on Tuesday 8th October morning at 8:30am.

The duo are already out on bail.

They were both arrested on the clearly politically motivated charges of failing to comply with a police prohibition order banning our Free Zimbabwe March on 16th August 2019.

The MDC is once again urging all our leaders and members to turn out in their large numbers in active solidarity on Tuesday morning.

MDC: Celebrating 20 Years of Courage, Growth and the People’s Victories

Daniel Molokele
MDC Spokesperson

By A Correspondent- National University of Science and Technology (NUST) students expected to graduate on November 8 have protested against exorbitant graduation fees.

In a memo sent to their administration, the graduants petitioned their leaders by saying:

We the undersigned Nust graduands would like to express our discontentment following the unanticipated 700% increase in the graduation fee.

We are not unmindful of the current economic downturn, but our parents are peasant and they haven’t had complementary increases in their salaries.

We are appealing to your higher office to bid a commendable farewell to the future leaders and afford families and friends to celebrate the academic successes of their own by reviewing downwards the graduation fee to a reasonable and justifiable amount, which is a reflection of what other State universities are charging under the same economic hardships,

-Newsday

By A Correspondent- Police in Bulawayo have intensified stop and search patrols in the central business district (CBD) and in the residential areas following a surge in violent robberies.

A Bulawayo-based milling company was however recently left seething with anger after police on night patrol arrested and detained overnight its employees coming from a night-shift after accusing them of being thieves.

However, police spokesperson, assistant Inspector Nomalanga Msebele said police were not taking chances, hence the intensification of the night patrols to eradicate crime in the city.

“We have witnessed a lot of robberies in the city. As a result, we have intensified stop and search patrols in our fight against crime and we urge residents to carry with them identity particulars,” Msebele said.

Directors of Rite Price Foods milling company, Alex Goosen and Abednico Bhebhe, however, were not amused by the arrest of their employees who spent Thursday night at Bulawayo Central Police station holding cells after they were nabbed during the police stop and search operation.

They were arrested on their way from work in the CBD and only released yesterday morning following the intervention of their employers.

“The arresting officers and the one who detained them violated the police charter. The very essence of the charter that allows for investigations before arrest was violated,” Bhebhe said.

“We want those cops punished because that kind of behaviour cannot be tolerated…we will be pursuing court action against the police if there is no disciplinary action against the arresting officers.”

Goosen added: “I had to bring the company time book to show that indeed they were coming from work to facilitate their release. Their arrest is not only shocking, but is also a violation of their rights to work.”

-Newsday

By A Correspondent- First lady Auxillia Mnangagwa’s family fun day at Chipadze Stadium in Bindura on Saturday was marred by low attendance, amid fears that the event could have fallen victim to Zanu PF factional fights for control of Mashonaland Central province.

The programme, which had been scheduled to start at 10am, started three hours later with mostly schoolchildren and a few bussed Zanu PF supporters in attendance.

According to ruling party insiders, the First Lady took almost two hours grilling Mashonaland Central Provincial Affairs minister Monica Mavhunga and chairperson Kazembe Kazembe behind closed doors, accusing them of failing to properly mobilise people for her event.

“Mnangagwa was not happy with the attendance and she took Mavhunga and Kazembe to task for failing to mobilise supporters to her event. She allegedly fumed as she compared her poorly attended events with those of the former First Lady Grace Mugabe which were fairly attended,” the source said.

Both Mavhunga and Kazembe could not be reached for comment after the event. President Emmerson Mnangagwa has on two occasions cancelled his scheduled rallies in the province and has not visited the province since last year’s general election, amid reports of wide rifts emerging within the party’s top leadership.

In her brief address, the First Lady said the event was meant to promote economic development through sport tourism and diplomacy.

-Newsday

By A Correspondent- Kwekwe City Council is set to demolish a block of houses in Mbizo 7’s single quarters and build better housing units.

This was revealed by acting Kwekwe Town Clerk Lucia Mkandla in a telephone interview with a local publication.

She said:

There is an ongoing project to upgrade Mbizo 7 whereby the council will demolish some rooms there and build better structures.

Those who will be affected by the operation shall be relocated to other areas where we are building houses for them.

Meanwhile, Mbizo 7 residents are not pleased by the council’s failure to inform them of its plans. The residents said that they learnt of the looming “Operation Murambatsvina” through social media.

-StateMedia

By A Correspondent- Jealousy Mawarire, the spokesperson of the National Patriotic Front Party (NPF), believed to have been linked to the late former President Robert Mugabe alleges that President Emmerson Mnangagwa rejected advice from the Presidential Advisory Council (PAC), calling his own advisors “alarmists”.

Mawarire says a meeting between Mnangagwa and PAC was held on 30 September 2019 where the advisors appraised him of the dire economic conditions prevailing in the country. 

Writing on Twitter, Mawarire said:

After meeting PAC on 30 Sept 2019, President Emmerson Mnangagwa accused PAC [Presidential Advisory Council] members of being “alarmists” after the group gave him an appraisal of the dire economic conditions.

PAC members were shocked by his reaction and are convinced he doesn’t appreciate hardships faced by people or he doesn’t care.

The Presidential Advisory Council is a group of individuals brought together by President Emmerson Mnangagwa to advise him after violent mass protests in January 2019 and a violent crackdown on Zimbabweans by the military and police that followed.

It includes notable individuals in business and religious leadership such as Natalie Jabangwe (leader at EcoCash), Shingi Munyeza (outspoken cleric), Kudakwashe Tagwirei (established entrepreneur) and Trevor Ncube owner of AMH.

Paul Nyathi|Zimbabweans have overwhelmingly declared ZANU PF government as pathological liars regarding targeted sanctions imposed on the Southern Africa country by the world giant.

In a poll conducted by ZimEye.com online, 74% of those who expressed their opinion felt ZANU PF was lying that the so called sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe are crippling the nation.

The USA this week declared that ZANU PF has been misinforming its citizens on the kind of sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe.

Below is how the online voting proceeded.

An ARTUZ member crafted this ahead of 14 October.

INFLATION AND SALARY FIASCO

Civil servants’ salaries have never been hit by inflation. How can inflation have an effect on something that is not there? Civil servants’ salaries have long been scrapped by austerity measures and not even a resemblance has been left.

ln its place a SLAVE WAGE took form. It will only be a mere waste of time trying to explore and explain the effects of something on another thing that is not in existence.

A soccer commentator can’t spend ninety minutes of commenting on a match declared walkover owing to the failure of another team to show up.

The bottom line is inflation is just making a walkover on civil servants’ salaries which have been stolen by austerity measures.

COME OCTOBER 14 I’M WITHDRAWING MY SERVICES
I WANT MY STOLEN SALARY BACK
A BIG NO TO SLAVE WAGES!!!!!!!

Paul Nyathi|First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa’s family fun day at Chipadze Stadium in Bindura was poorly attended amid fears that the event could have fallen victim to Zanu PF factional fights for control of Mashonaland Central province.

The programme, which had been scheduled 10am, started three hours later with mostly schoolchildren and a few bussed Zanu PF supporters in attendance.

According to ruling party insiders, the First Lady took almost two hours grilling Mashonaland Central Provincial Affairs minister Monica Mavhunga and chairperson Kazembe Kazembe behind closed doors, accusing them of failing to properly mobilise people for her event.

“Mnangagwa was not happy with the attendance and she took Mavhunga and Kazembe to task for failing to mobilise supporters to her event. She allegedly fumed as she compared her poorly attended events with those of the former First Lady Grace Mugabe which were fairly attended,” the source said.

Both Mavhunga and Kazembe could not be reached for comment after the event.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has on two occasions cancelled his scheduled rallies in the province and has not visited the province since last year’s general election, amid reports of wide rifts emerging within the party’s top leadership.

In her brief address, the First Lady said the event was meant to promote economic development through sport tourism and diplomacy.

“Mnangagwa was not happy with the attendance and she took Mavhunga and Kazembe to task for failing to mobilise supporters to her event. She allegedly fumed as she compared her poorly attended events with those of the former First Lady Grace Mugabe which were fairly attended,” the source said.

Both Mavhunga and Kazembe could not be reached for comment after the event.

Paul Nyathi|The Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) has announced that a national strike has been called for the 14th of October.

The date clashes with the start of the Zimsec October – November examination leaving the sitting of examinations in doubt.

Artuz is demanding a fair living wage that is equivalent to the United States Dollar interbank rate.Currently teachers are paid a salary less than USD$100. 

In a statement ARTUZ said, “The 14 October job action is protected by the law. We feel duty bound to defend our salaries within the confines of the law. We therefore urge all teachers to join this job action which is protected by the laws of the country.”

Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe leader Raymond Majongwe said the government seems not willing to engage the workers.

“Our demand to be paid in USD or the equivalent at the interbank rate still stands. Teachers out there are demanding that we join the Doctors in demanding for a living wage. Government is not even keen to engage its workers. The pressure is building.”

MDC Media Statement|Fuel prices went up over the weekend, triggering price hikes of basic commodities and further worsening an economic calamity whose roots lie in a legitimacy crisis arising out of the stolen election of July 2018.

Mr Mnangagwa must disembark from his high horse of arrogance and engage for dialogue with the people’s President, Advocate Nelson Chamisa. Morale is at a low ebb in all private and public institutions especially schools and hospitals.

Villagers, urban dwellers, the old, school children and the vulnerable can barely make ends meet in the current crisis where prices and transport fares are going up several times in a single week.

This regime continues to bury its head in the sand even as fuel prices increase every week, further straining the lives of ordinary citizens who are surviving on barely US 30 cents day.

So dire is the national crisis that the president who came from the courts must urgently engage the President who came from the people.

That dialogue must be aimed at scaffolding the country upon the firm foundation of a sincere, meaningful and genuine dialogue process that must address the unfinished business of 2018.

As we state in our RELOAD document, the dialogue must ensure that the country breaks away from the vicious cycle of disputed elections through an agreed national transitional mechanism whose mandate will be to implement a raft of comprehensive reforms that must culminate in a free, fair and credible election as the only way to return the country to legitimacy.

Arrogance and pride will not help because people are suffering. It does not help that Mr Mnangagwa seeks to re-engage the world when he is not engaging nationally with a key national player who has over two million supporters in the country, even by ZEC’s rigged figures.

Mnangagwa must not hoodwink himself through his constant rhetoric on dialogue that is not backed by any substantive action on the ground.

His political soliloquy as evidenced by the self-serving political actors’ dialogue (POLAD) process is inconsequential as he is essentially speaking to himself because all the so-called political actors are a choir that is singing in agreement with him. The POLAD platform is essentially a monologue as it is not dialogical.

The deteriorating national crisis is crying out for a meaningful dialogue process and Mr Mnangagwa must take the national situation seriously before the people peacefully and constitutionally stampede him onto the dialogue table. It is their democratic right.

MDC@20: Celebrating courage, growth and the people’s victories

Luke Tamborinyoka
Deputy National Spokesperson

Paul Nyathi|As the fallout resulting from the burial of former President Robert Mugabe at his rural home village continues, his widow Grace has been accused of grabbing a project donated to the country by the Chinese and personalising it.

According to the Zim Morning Post, Grace allegedly grabbed the US$7 million Mazowe Orphanage project which had been donated by the Chinese and turned it, into her own despite the fact that the project had been donated to the country of Zimbabwe. Grace was only supposed to be the patron of the project and not the owner. However, Grace is alleged to have grabbed the project which was meant to cater for orphans and turned it into her own sumptuous state of the art private schools.

A source close to President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government who spoke to the Zim Morning Post said,

“This project is the same project with the Defence College of Zimbabwe where the National Army was brought in this deal as an implementing partner and after its completion, it was handed over to Government that is what Grace was supposed to do.”

However, when reached for comment, the government insisted that all questions regarding the issue will be better answered by the police and the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC).

Deputy Information minister Energy Mutodi distanced Mnangagwa’s government from the matter saying,

“This is just grapevine, the executive does not investigate anyone rather this is done by the police and the anti-corruption commission

“It is from these institutions that you can get an indication if an investigation has been opened against Grace Mugabe.

“Government is not a law unto itself. The law operates separately through institutions mandated to administer it.”

The Mnangagwa government has been accused of allegedly targeting Grace Mugabe because she refused to give in to their demands for Robert Mugabe to be buried at the National Heroes Acre.  Just days after the burial of Mugabe at his home village in Zvimba, the Mnangagwa government was accused of unleashing gold panners at the Mugabe family’s farms in Mazowe.

Source: Zim Morning Post

Chinese businesses are taking advantage of the rising demand for renewable sources of energy in Africa to dump substandard solar panels on the continent’s market, energy experts say.

In Zimbabwe, Nobert Mataruse, an engineer with the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA), recently warned people to be cautious about substandard products.

“In recent months, we have witnessed an influx of solar products which are not appropriate,” said Mataruse, as cited by the government-owned newspaper The Herald.

Zimbabwe, like many countries in Africa, is facing an energy crisis, and the government is advocating for the wider use of solar energy. But many products entering the market are not meeting local standards.

Failing Products

A vast majority of the currently failing and defective solar panels can be traced back to Chinese manufacturing plants, Tawanda Chitiyo, an energy expert based in Zimbabwe, told The Epoch Times.

“The growth of the local market has resulted in high inflows of PV [photovoltaic] products in the country. That’s resulted in many substandard products finding their way into the market, with negative consequences for consumers,” said Chitiyo, who is also the director of Tawanda Energy.

Tawanda Energy operates in the energy, biofuel, petrochemical, and related industries, utilizing community-scale bio-refineries to produce diesel, natural gas, electricity, and bio-char from sewage sludge and waste plastic.

Chitiyo said the lure of a bargain is strong, and saving hundreds or even thousands of dollars is an attractive proposition, especially when the quality deficits of lower-priced panels aren’t immediately apparent, making Africa a dumping ground for cheap and defective solar panels.

“Like all manufactured goods, solar panels and other solar energy system components degrade and gradually generate less electricity over time. But the rate of failure of Chinese solar panels is now a great concern. There are no industry-wide figures about defective solar panels; no one is sure how pervasive the problem is,” he said.

Counterfeit solar products in the marketplace are now a key challenge facing solar energy in the country, Chitiyo said.

“Products from such suppliers often suffer from uneven performance and low power output, and do not perform according to specifications written on their data plates. Another problem is low-quality components and fittings, which sometimes lead to the complete failure of solar panels,” he said.

Solar panels, he said, are relatively uniform in appearance and have no moving parts, so it’s difficult—if not impossible—for the average consumer to gauge a particular panel’s quality when compared to another, even side by side.

“Most suppliers offer a 25-year warranty, but malfunctions and failures usually surface a few months from purchase, especially solar lighting systems, leading to losses,” he said.

Chitiyo said these issues have also created a new problem of how to dispose of these solar panels, resulting in environmental problems since there is insufficient expertise in the safe disposal of solar panels.

Innovation and Regulation

Tawanda Energy is collaborating with European technology providers, including Danish company infinityPV, and is in the process of setting up innovative proprietary processes that will enable them to manufacture and deliver leading-edge solar products while cutting the cost.

“We plan to start the local production of organic solar cells. These solar cells are a third-generation printed solar photovoltaic technology for energy production in small-scale niche applications to large-scale installations such as building-integrated photovoltaics,” Chitiyo said.

He said the government and vocational training institutes in Zimbabwe must invest more in local research and development in the production of photovoltaic panels.

“We need more solar technology programs at our training institutes to generate reliable solar experts. We are also advocating for the local manufacture of solar panels and products, a move that would enable the majority of Zimbabweans to purchase the equipment at cheaper prices and in the local currency compared to imported solar products,” he said.

Chitiyo said the government through ZERA should inspect all solar products at points of entry and should start conducting impromptu inspections to seize all substandard solar products sold in retail shops.

He called on local entrepreneurs to establish independent testing labs that will be able to track the quality of panels.

“Lack of suitable environment, lack of affordable funds, lack of awareness, and lack of capacity building seems to sum up the barriers to PV penetration and thus explain the Zimbabwean and African PV paradox, whereby the best-served countries in terms of solar radiation are the lowest in terms of PV installations,” he said.

By A Correspondent- In an interview with ZimEye Monday, Health Services Board Chairperson Dr Paulinus Sikosana dispelled claims that doctors are on strike and are not reporting for duty saying doctors are at work.

Commenting on the doctors’ letter signalling that they had pulled out of the Health Apex Council which was submitted today morning at the HSB offices, Dr Sikosana said the pull out pointed to the need in changing the current legislation which governed the negotiating forum between the doctors and their employer.

He said:

“….The negotiating forum that is there is governed by certain legislation. For them to exit and get another negotiating forum, we need to change the legislation and its not a day’s thing.”

Responding to a question on how long this process to change the legislation will take, Dr Sikosana revealed that he did not know.

He said:

“For the process to be completed, I would not know.”

When quizzed on the way forward following the doctors rejection of the 60 percent salary increment that was announced by government, Dr Sikosana dispelled reports that doctors are not at work.

He said:

“They are at work. They are at work.”

Watch the video below for this and more….

Mthwakazi Liberation Organisation Leader Paul Siwela who was a top aide to the late Dumiso Dabengwa has sensationally alleged that the late national hero was poisoned during the November 2017 coup that ended 37 years of Robert Mugabe’s rule.

According to Siwela, who worked close to Dabengwa in the revival of ZAPU, before going Mthwakazi way, Dabengwa was poisoned by the same group of people who also poisoned ailing Vice President Constantino Chiwenga.

Posting on Facebook siwela said, “I can not resist the feeling that our national hero cde Dumiso Dabengwa was poisoned either towards , during or immediately after the 17th November 2017 military coup in Zimbabwe that toppled the long time dictator Robert Mugabe from power. The same person or group of persons is the same that poisoned Gen Constatino Chiwenga.”

Dabengwa was buried in Ntabazinduma after snubbing heroes acre burial.

Siwela further claimed that Joana Mafuyane the wife of the late Father Zimbabwe Joshua Nkomo was also poisoned for revealing that former First Lady Grace Mugabe was a daughter to Stephen Nkomo.

“Mrs Joana Nkomo, nee Mafuyana was also poisoned for revealing that Mrs Grace Ntombizodwa Mugabe was the daughter of cde Stephen Jeqe Nyongolo Nkomo, the young brother to cde Joshua Nyongolo Nkomo and so was Maurice Nyagumbo and many others in zanupf. The next guys who need to be very careful is Obert Moses Mpofu and Jacob Mudenda and one of the two may not be successful. Watch this space.”

The Nkomo family is yet to respond to the allegations.

The ruling Zanu PF party has declared that government will only give jobs to its supporters only.

The ZANU PF National Secretary for security, Lovemore Matuke made the declaration when he was addressing his party’s Masvingo Provincial Coordinating Committee (PCC) meeting held in Masvingo town recently.

The free speaking Matuke told the party members that Zanu PF faced a security threat if it’s youth remain unemployed and will be made worse if opposition MDC youths are seen in government employment at their expense.

“We have a new security threat; when our youths are not employed it’s a threat so we want to make sure that our people are employed.

“We were in China recently and they told us that they needed a lot of teachers so we need to make sure that our degreed youths get are given that opportunity. However, they have to be taught the party ideology and those who do not want will not benefit because we have to make sure that when they go they will serve our interests,” said Matuke, who is also the Deputy Minister of Public Service Labour and Social Welfare.

Matuke also claimed that the MDC Alliance rigged the 2018 elections by issuing fake identity documents to people who were under the legal age of voting.

Matuke claimed that since the Zanu PF security department picked intelligence to that effect, the party was now doing a follow up with the office of the registrar general.

“In 2018, thousands of young people below the age of 18 were issued with fake IDs that allowed them to register to vote. You would see that this person is too young to vote but when you check the ID, you see that he/she is eligible to vote

“We then did some investigations and noticed that some people were given IDs but they are not in the registrar general’s data base,” said Matuke.

He warned against complacency in terms of voter registration saying the opposition had intensified its voter registration programmes for next election.

“The opposition has intensified its voter registration programmes and most of the young people registering to vote now belong to MDC and we should do more than them. Let’s make sure that our people are registering as we prepare for 2023 elections,” Matuke said.

Speaking at the same event, politburo member Josaya Hungwe claimed that the MDC used the same strategy to rig the elections in 2008.

He claimed the MDC had connived with the Masvingo provincial registry for the issuance of fake IDs to people sympathetic to the opposition party.

Hungwe also said they should go and investigate the recent Zaka East election and find out where the over 1000 people who voted for the MDC ‘came from’.

“Go to Zaka and find out the villages of the people who voted for the opposition so that when we go to 2023, those people will be accounted for,” said Hungwe  

Zanu PF national political commissar Victor Matemadanda warned MPs against marginalising President Emmerson Mnangagwa in their 2023 election campaigns.

“We will need a list of people who got more votes than the President’s and unless we are told that they have reformed, we will not allow them to contest in 2023 election. In 2023 we are targeting five million votes and we can get them by making sure that each one of us recruits one new voter because last time we got 2.5 million votes,” said Matemadanda.

Farai Dziva|Auxillia Mnangagwa came face to face with Zanu PF factional fights when ruling party members snubbed her Family Fun Day at Chipadze Stadium in Bindura at weekend.

The event was marred by low attendance, amid fears that the event could have fallen victim to Zanu PF factional fights for control of Mashonaland Central province.

The programme, which had been scheduled to start at 10am, started three hours later with mostly schoolchildren and a few bussed Zanu PF supporters in attendance, according to NewsDay.

Farai Dziva|Lead president Linda Masarira has accused USA of plotting to attack Zimbabwe.

“We are trying to show the world that even if
@ZANUPF_Official
is failing our call is like that of America.

Zimbabwe first. No war will be fought on Zimbabwean soil. Our clarion call as @LEAD_2019 is ” Let’s unite and rebuild our country for prosperity and posterity.

” The justification they are looking for is a civic uprising of the people. This is where MDC comes in, to psyche the people to revolt,” Masarira tweeted.

“When we demonstrate against Sanctions we are trying to make sure that public upheaval does not happen. We need to fix Zimbabwe together.

Sanctions have nothing to do with the well being of Zimbabwe but about the American interests in Zimbabwe. We know that America’s next move is an all out military attack. America cannot attack without justification,” she added.

Farai Dziva|MDC leader Nelson Chamisa is a gifted preacher in his own right.

Chamisa was invited to minister as a guest preacher at Shammah Worship Centre.

“Amazing..Just finished preaching at a church where I was invited as a guest preacher by bretheren at Shammah Worship centre.

Oh,the anointing was so strong…the Holy Spirit leads! It’s all about Jesus.

Shared from John 4.The theme being.. ‘Jesus Christ -The Well of wells’,” said Chamisa.

A 33-year-old se_x worker from Gweru’s Mkoba suburb has been slapped with a six-month imprisonment term after she stole money and cellphone from her client.

The self confessed thigh vendor, Constance Mhango pleaded guilty to theft when she appeared before Gweru magistrate Mrs Phathekile Msipha.

Mhango stole $600 and a Samsung S6 cellphone from her client, Philemon Muzenda, who had hired her for an all-night se_x service.

In her plea, Mhango told the court that she wanted to use the money to pay school fees for her two children.

“Your Worship, I admit that l stole from my client. I desperately needed the money to pay school fees for my children. I deeply regret what l did, and may this honourable court be lenient towards me as l still need to fend for my children since l am a single mother,” she said.

Mrs Msipha dismissed Mhango’s plea saying she was only sorry because she had been caught.

She sentenced Mhango to six months in prison and two months were suspended on condition that Mhango restitutes Muzenda $600 and his cellphone.

It is the State’s case that on August 8, Muzenda asked to spend a night with Mhango and he was charged $20.

The two went to a lodge and Mhango was paid for her services upfront. The accused, however, took advantage of Muzenda who was drunk and stole from him, before fleeing from the scene. Muzenda woke up and found himself alone. He cried like a baby.

Muzenda reported the matter to the police leading to Mhango’s arrest.

Gracious Rongai prosecuted.

-State Media

NATIONAL University of Science and Technology (Nust) students, who are expecting to graduate on November 8, have petitioned their administration over exorbitant graduation fees which they described as more like punishment for learning at the institution.

Nust has pegged the graduation fees at $600 from $85, excluding graduation gown and food. In a petition dated October 1 and signed by the students representative council president Dennis Mwashita and his deputy Billy Muchiphisi, the graduands said the graduation fees were exorbitant.

“We the undersigned Nust graduands would like to express our discontentment following the unanticipated 700% increase in the graduation fee,” read the memo.
“An amount of $600 is ludicrous, unbearable and was established without the consultation of the students.”

“We are not unmindful of the current economic downturn, but our parents are peasant and they haven’t had complementary increases in their salaries. We are appealing to your higher office to bid a commendable farewell to the future leaders and afford families and friends to celebrate the academic successes of their own by reviewing downwards the graduation fee to a reasonable and justifiable amount, which is a reflection of what other State universities are charging under the same economic hardships.

For instance, the University of Zimbabwe $240, Chinhoyi University of Technology $300, Great Zimbabwe University $350 and Midlands State University $300,” read the memo.
“We recommend that, in your planning for the big day, eliminate unnecessary costs which are burdening your resources.”

The students said if their plea is ignored, they would demand that the event be postponed.Contacted for comment, Nust spokesperson Felix Moyo said he was busy and asked Southern Eye to send questions on his WhatsApp account, but had not responded by the time of going to print.

-Newsday

PROPORTIONAL Representative legislator Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga (MDC-T) has welcomed plans by President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government to impose stiffer penalties on rap_ists as part of efforts to deal with the crime.

In his speech during the official opening of the Second Session of the Ninth Parliament on Tuesday, Mnangagwa announced that laws would be brought before Parliament to protect children and women from various injustices.

“The Prisons and Correctional Services Bill, the Child Justice Bill and Mandatory Sentencing for Rap_e and Se_xual Offences Bill, must incorporate acceptable customary norms, human rights standards and international best practice,” Mnangagwa said.

In previous parliamentary sessions, female MPs advocated for stiffer sentences of up to 30 years or more, with some even suggesting castration. Misihairabwi-Mushonga described this as one of the most positive moves Mnangagwa has taken.

“For me, what struck me most during the President’s speech was the issue of se_xual offences around mandatory sentences for rap_e. If that Bill is brought before Parliament, it will solve one of the fundamental issues around violence against women,” she said.

“Some of us (legislators) are about to leave Parliament and if the issue of mandatory sentences for rap_e is imposed, that will be part of our legacy if this is our last term because we have been advocating for that for a long time.

“We have been waiting for this for years and nothing was happening. We proposed the issue of mandatory sentences for rap_ists during the late former President Robert Mugabe’s time and the law never saw the light of the day given the male-dominated systems of Parliament.”

Chief Fortune Charumbira also commended efforts being made to address the cash crisis in the country. Mnangagwa announced that his government was pursuing removal of arbitrage in order to address the cash situation.

“We are impressed with the delivery made by the President because he touched on core issues and measures that the Executive is taking to ensure that issues of the exchange rate that have been causing problems in the country are addressed,” Charumbira said.

He then castigated the stance taken by the main opposition MDC to walk out of Mnangagwa’s speech, saying problems in the country cannot be solved by demonstrations.

“Problems cannot be solved by fighting. We attained peace by putting guns down and they must not play to the public gallery. Political parties should respect the President,” Charumbira said.

— NewsDay

A TOP government official has accused some Cabinet ministers of often painting a rosy picture and falsifying reports of their achievements when they present progress reports to President Emmerson Mnangagwa, resulting in a monitoring unit being created.

Speaking during a tour of a cattle fence constructed along the Beitbridge-Bulawayo Highway last Friday, Minister of State for Presidential Affairs and Monitoring of Government Projects Joram Gumbo said: “Some ministers do not tell the truth when they are reporting to the President and it is my role to monitor their work. I have been touring government projects in Matabeleland to see if the reports we receive are factual.”

“Ministers report what they did not do,” Gumbo said, confirming the general feeling among Zimbabweans that Cabinet ministers just pay lip service to their duties.

Gumbo, who once served as both Transport and Energy and Power Development minister during and after the late former President Robert Mugabe’s tenure, said the $170 million cattle fence was expected to reduce animal-induced road accidents.

He also said most government projects were being derailed by Cabinet reshuffles, adding that his transfer from the Transport ministry disturbed flow of work on the dualisation of the Harare-Beitbridge Highway.

“When I was head of that ministry, we had already segmented the road and moving towards allocating it to contractors to start work, but then I was moved to another ministry and a new minister will have his own approach,” Gumbo said.

“This results in delays in implementing the projects because you start planning again and this becomes a problem. At times, it takes up to five years to fine-tune a project and if you are moved, it means all that planning is time lost.”

Several companies, including Geiger International, were awarded the contract to dualise the Harare-Chirundu Road, but the contracts were terminated under unclear circumstances.

A Chinese firm was recently awarded the contract, but is yet to begin work after indicating that it was still scouting for finances for the project.

— NewsDay

A HEALTH disaster is looming in Masvingo town in the wake of reported unhygienic disposal of medical waste by staff at Masvingo General Hospital.

This is emanating from the health institution’s failure to access coal, a major fuel used to incinerate the waste.The hospital is also supposed to offer incineration services to Population Services International.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source said the hospital has now resorted to piling the waste outside the hospital, where a Ministry of Health truck, registration number GHCW 1257, is being used to dump the refuse.

“What is happening at the hospital is pathetic, it indeed is a health hazard, especially to the person responsible for incineration of waste at the institution who has to resort to using latex gloves instead of heavy duty gloves for handling the waste,” the source said.

The untanable situation at the hospital is said to have begun in January this year.Efforts to get a comment from authorities were fruitless as personnel contacted over the issue kept referring NewsDay to the provincial medical director (PMD) Amadius Shamhu.

Shamhu is said to be overally in charge of the province with the final say in any health-related issue.“I really cannot give a comment on this, but I can only refer you to the PMD for a proper comment over the issue,” said an official who declined to be named.

Efforts to get a comment from Shamhu since Monday last week have been fruitless as he kept giving flimsy excuses and when further contacted by the time of going to print yesterday, he told NewsDay to contact him today.

“You can get in touch tomorrow morning,” Shamhu said in a WhatsApp message.In many clinics and hospitals across developing countries, all medical and non-medical waste is often mixed together and burned in incinerators.

The World Health Organisation defines medical waste as “waste generated by health care activities, including a broad range of materials, from used needles and syringes to soiled dressings, body parts, diagnostic samples, blood, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and radioactive materials.”

-Newsday

By A Correspondent| Chief Johannes Karigamombe was involved in a road accident this morning.

The chief, who was in the company of his wife is currently at Chinhoyi general hospital where his condition could not yet be established.

However, he reportedly sustained serious head and leg injuries after the car he was travelling in was involved in a head on collison with a truck.

This is a developing story. More details to follow.

Refresh this page for latest updates.

By Own Correspondent| Hwedza South MP  Tinoda “Tinmac” Machakaire has challenged several government ministers to make follow ups on projects that are dotted
around the country as a way of fostering development in communities.
He was speaking at an event where he donated four ECD blocks in his
constituency.

Machakaire said most ministers play mick mouse games when approached
by MPs and he threatened to name and shame them if they fail to
cooperate.

“We ask these ministers to foster several projects in our communities
but they play mick mouse games yet our people need development. Gone
are the days when politicians just go and make empty promises to their
constituencies because this is new dispensation,” he fumed.

Machakaire is one of the few MPs who have worked to develop their
constituencies.

Chief Svosve hailed the young MP for his love for the constituency.
“We have never seen this before in this constituency, this young man
has done more than good for us. We are grateful,” he said.

Over the weekend he invited primary  and Secondary education minister
Paul Mavima who then donated books and fees for 10 children at St
Mary’s Makanda Primary.

Mavima said government was constructing schools in different parts of
the country and would work to have some in Mashonaland East.

He said this year they will finish 70 schools and next year their target is 100.
Mavima also highlighted that donors are not willing to fund heritage
studies in Zimbabwe and the government was looking for money to fund
the studies.

A form 4 student Clemence Makanga a dancehall singer emerged the
biggest winner at the event as he got sponsorship for his fees and
members of the Young Achivers promised to facilitate a collaboration
with dancehall musician Soul Jah Love.

NATIONAL University of Science and Technology (Nust) students, who are expecting to graduate on November 8, have petitioned their administration over exorbitant graduation fees which they described as more like punishment for learning at the institution.

Nust has pegged the graduation fees at $600 from $85, excluding graduation gown and food.In a petition dated October 1 and signed by the students representative council president Dennis Mwashita and his deputy Billy Muchiphisi, the graduands said the graduation fees were exorbitant.

“We the undersigned Nust graduands would like to express our discontentment following the unanticipated 700% increase in the graduation fee,” read the memo.
“An amount of $600 is ludicrous, unbearable and was established without the consultation of the students.”

“We are not unmindful of the current economic downturn, but our parents are peasant and they haven’t had complementary increases in their salaries. We are appealing to your higher office to bid a commendable farewell to the future leaders and afford families and friends to celebrate the academic successes of their own by reviewing downwards the graduation fee to a reasonable and justifiable amount, which is a reflection of what other State universities are charging under the same economic hardships.

For instance, the University of Zimbabwe $240, Chinhoyi University of Technology $300, Great Zimbabwe University $350 and Midlands State University $300,” read the memo.
“We recommend that, in your planning for the big day, eliminate unnecessary costs which are burdening your resources.”

The students said if their plea is ignored, they would demand that the event be postponed.Contacted for comment, Nust spokesperson Felix Moyo said he was busy and asked Southern Eye to send questions on his WhatsApp account, but had not responded by the time of going to print.

THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)’s decision to tighten regulations on withdrawals of foreign currency by Zimbabweans who earn their salaries in foreign currency faces litigation, while analysts warned the move would result in people spiriting away their money to offshore accounts.

A leaked FBC Bank instruction circular at the weekend indicated that the RBZ will, from today, be demanding written requests from people who earn in US dollars for
them to withdraw their money while banks will also be ordered to convert all unutilised bank balances not withdrawn in one’s nostro foreign currency account within 30 days from day of deposit to local currency using prevailing interbank rates.

RBZ governor John Mangudya at the weekend confirmed the new rules, saying the document would deal with funds from exporting companies.

Former Finance minister Tendai Biti has, however, blasted the move, describing it as illegal and in contravention of section 71 of the Constitution.

“Government and the RBZ cannot be experts in doing lawless things because all these are desperate actions by a desperate, despicable regime. You cannot have a government that generates the suffering of its people on a day to day basis,” Biti said.

“Besides, this issue is unlawful and unconstitutional because a salary is protected by section 71 of the Constitution and no one has a right to appropriate anyone’s salary as this will simply force companies and employees to relocate their accounts offshore to countries like Botswana, Zambia and South Africa.”

Section 71 of the Constitution speaks on property rights, which includes pensions, annuity, gratuity, and similar allowances, and it states that any person anywhere in Zimbabwe has a right to acquire, hold, occupy, use, transfer, hypothecate, lease or dispose of all forms of property, either individually or in association with others.

Biti added: “This is foolishness being done by government which is desperate for foreign currency and they are now trying to grab every dollar of forex. We are generating about US$5 billion from our exports and so the issue is that the money is being spent by thugs and crooks.

“The issue is how government is using the foreign currency. Actually, forex must be credited to the Consolidated Revenue Fund and Parliament must be the one to distribute foreign currency through the Appropriation Account.”

Economist Kipson Gundani weighed in, saying: “Clearly, we have got a monetary regime which is transitioning from a dollarised environment into a mono-currency environment of the Zimdollar and what the authorities are then trying to do is to avoid a big-bang approach, where you overhaul things and overnight there is an effect.

“They are now trying to give precedence to bonafide United States dollar earners, but it distorts the market. If one is to access the US dollar and they access it through the banks, then they will be tempted to open off-shore accounts. These are some of the unintended effects that will happen if at all this is operationalised.”

Another economist, who preferred anonymity, said if the RBZ implemented this, then it would be a drastic measure with serious consequences.

“If it is real, then we can brace up for a fight because it will affect a lot of businesses and people. The effect is that foreign currency will be externalised and the RBZ will whip away the little confidence and trust remaining,” the economist opined.

The economist also described the RBZ move as synonymous to what happened in 2008 during former RBZ governor Gideon Gono’s era when he raided foreign currency accounts belonging to private businesses and foreign aid organisations to help sustain troubled government ministries.

In the year that followed, many then opted to stash their forex abroad and in 2017, an adviser to government on the ease-of-doing business, Ashok Chakravarti, called for an investigation into the externalisation of funds, as it had emerged that US$5 billion could have been siphoned out of the country since dollarisation in 2009.

The money was said to have been taken out and deposited into offshore accounts, thus depriving the country of the much-needed foreign currency.This subsequently plunged the country into serious financial crisis.

-Newsday

The current bank exchange rates for the ZWL$ today are as follows:

USD = ZWL$15.2701
ZWL$ = RAND0.9881
Data according to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe

Black Market Rates:

USD = ZWL$17.80 zimrates
USD = ZWL$17.50 zwl365
USD = ZWL$17.00 bluemari
USD = BOND11.60 zimrates

More: Marketwatch

WATCH VIDEO BELOW…

WATCH VIDEO BELOW

WATCH VIDEO BELOW

THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)’s decision to tighten regulations on withdrawals of foreign currency by Zimbabweans who earn their salaries in foreign currency faces litigation, while analysts warned the move would result in people spiriting away their money to offshore accounts.

A leaked FBC Bank instruction circular at the weekend indicated that the RBZ will, from today, be demanding written requests from people who earn in US dollars for
them to withdraw their money while banks will also be ordered to convert all unutilised bank balances not withdrawn in one’s nostro foreign currency account within 30 days from day of deposit to local currency using prevailing interbank rates.

RBZ governor John Mangudya at the weekend confirmed the new rules, saying the document would deal with funds from exporting companies.

Former Finance minister Tendai Biti has, however, blasted the move, describing it as illegal and in contravention of section 71 of the Constitution.

“Government and the RBZ cannot be experts in doing lawless things because all these are desperate actions by a desperate, despicable regime. You cannot have a government that generates the suffering of its people on a day to day basis,” Biti said.

“Besides, this issue is unlawful and unconstitutional because a salary is protected by section 71 of the Constitution and no one has a right to appropriate anyone’s salary as this will simply force companies and employees to relocate their accounts offshore to countries like Botswana, Zambia and South Africa.”

Section 71 of the Constitution speaks on property rights, which includes pensions, annuity, gratuity, and similar allowances, and it states that any person anywhere in Zimbabwe has a right to acquire, hold, occupy, use, transfer, hypothecate, lease or dispose of all forms of property, either individually or in association with others.

Biti added: “This is foolishness being done by government which is desperate for foreign currency and they are now trying to grab every dollar of forex. We are generating about US$5 billion from our exports and so the issue is that the money is being spent by thugs and crooks.

“The issue is how government is using the foreign currency. Actually, forex must be credited to the Consolidated Revenue Fund and Parliament must be the one to distribute foreign currency through the Appropriation Account.”

Economist Kipson Gundani weighed in, saying: “Clearly, we have got a monetary regime which is transitioning from a dollarised environment into a mono-currency environment of the Zimdollar and what the authorities are then trying to do is to avoid a big-bang approach, where you overhaul things and overnight there is an effect.

“They are now trying to give precedence to bonafide United States dollar earners, but it distorts the market. If one is to access the US dollar and they access it through the banks, then they will be tempted to open off-shore accounts. These are some of the unintended effects that will happen if at all this is operationalised.”

Another economist, who preferred anonymity, said if the RBZ implemented this, then it would be a drastic measure with serious consequences.

“If it is real, then we can brace up for a fight because it will affect a lot of businesses and people. The effect is that foreign currency will be externalised and the RBZ will whip away the little confidence and trust remaining,” the economist opined.

The economist also described the RBZ move as synonymous to what happened in 2008 during former RBZ governor Gideon Gono’s era when he raided foreign currency accounts belonging to private businesses and foreign aid organisations to help sustain troubled government ministries.

In the year that followed, many then opted to stash their forex abroad and in 2017, an adviser to government on the ease-of-doing business, Ashok Chakravarti, called for an investigation into the externalisation of funds, as it had emerged that US$5 billion could have been siphoned out of the country since dollarisation in 2009.

The money was said to have been taken out and deposited into offshore accounts, thus depriving the country of the much-needed foreign currency.This subsequently plunged the country into serious financial crisis.

-Newsday

Paul Nyathi|The price of fuel went up again on Sunday, this time by more than 25%, the latest blow in a country battling out-of-control inflation.

The Zimbabwe Energy Regulation Authority (ZERA) announced the price of diesel would immediately rise to 16.64 Zimbabwe dollars (about US$1), while gasoline would go up to 14.97 Zimbabwe dollars for Harare motorists with other areas paying a lot more.

At those prices, a full tank of fuel costs more than a month’s salary for an average government worker and more than half a month’s salary for a doctor.

The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) condemned the move in a tweet Sunday.

The government was piling more misery on to already suffering Zimbabweans, MDC said. “Surely this madness must stop.”

Already in January, the government almost tripled fuel prices and has regularly increased the prices since then.

The January announcement sparked violent protests that were put down by the security forces. When troops opened fire on the demonstrators they killed 17 people and wounded dozens more.

Zimbabwe, once known as the bread basket of southern Africa, has been trapped in a financial and economic crisis for nearly two decades now.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa,who took over from longtime ruler Robert Mugabe after he was forced from power at the end of 2017, has promised to revive the economy, but so far without results.

Zimbabwe is shackled by a devalued currency, mass unemployment, runaway inflation, and shortages of essential items including fuel, electricity, and water.

According to the International Monetary Fund, prices had risen by nearly 300% year-on-year in August. Analysts at the Bloomberg agency put inflation at 900%.

On Tuesday last week, tickets for the state bus company ZUPCO doubled in price to one Zimbabwe dollar. 

THE South African Communist Party (SACP) has come out guns blazing and accused the Zimbabwe government of pursuing anti-people policies through unleashing of violence against the people instead of concentrating on resuscitating a ‘dead’ economy.

Speaking at the launch of the party’s ‘SACP Red October Campaign 2019-2020’ launch in Mthatha, South Africa, the SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande, also castigated the repression by the State of trade unionists in Zimbabwe.

He said the repression and the economic challenges that Zimbabwe was going through had forced thousands of its citizens into forced migration in search for means of livelihoods or fleeing political repression.

“The best way to deal with this situation is to build solidarity with the victims, in essence ‘economic and political refugees’, and confront the causes and driving forces behind the push factors resulting in forced migration,” Nzimande who is also South Africa’s Higher Education Minister told thousands of SACP members at the launch.

He said he once confronted senior Zanu PF officials over the political repression in Zimbabwe and was told the government was dealing with agents of imperialism.

“I told them; ‘but they are the same people who were with you in the trenches’,” said Nzimande in reference to the liberation struggle that brought independence to Zimbabwe.

“It is a problem with you as Zanu PF.  We cannot have solidarity on the basis of wrong things.  The SACP strongly condemns the violence by (Eswatini King) Mswati’s dictatorship and repression of trade unions in both Swaziland and Zimbabwe.  Over and above the economic collapse, the State in Zimbabwe is still having the tendency to unleash violence against sections of its people.”

Nzimande said former liberation heroes had become the new oppressors of the people adding the SACP strongly condemned those fighting against the victims, and called for solidarity to tackle looting and repression in Africa, and drive the African revolution.

He also called for democratisation and development of the Sadc region.

“In order to succeed, this African revolution must be intensified to uproot the domestic looting class, the predatory elite, tyrannies and repressors in every African country. They have digressed from the African revolution and are complicit in forging post-colonial predatory states.

“Associated with all of these is the rise of the securocrat features of the predatory State, unleashing repression against sections of the people.  We need to unite, forge peaceful co-existence and together carry out the African revolution to fix and develop our region and continent,” the tough talking Nzimande said.

The SCAP leader said the challenge of African leaders in failing to run the economies of their countries had left South Africa battling to feed the whole continent.

“Now unlike prior to 1994, labour from the rest of Southern Africa is occupying the very same informal settlements occupied by South Africa’s largely unemployed labour, as a shared social reproductive space. It is also to be found in overcrowded spaces in major cities,” he said.

This, Nzimande said, had pitted the poor against the poor, and the working class against the working class.

“This has increased pressures on housing, schools and the public healthcare sector, among other areas of government services and programmes. Increasing forced economic and political migration from other parts of Africa and elsewhere is also adding its own impact.

“This is deepened by the tendency of many unscrupulous employers who are exploiting migrant workers as a source of super-cheap labour, by paying them absolutely close to nothing, taking advantage of the situation that forced them out of their respective countries,” he said.

All Africa.com

Paul Nyathi|Amalgamated Rural Teachers of Zimbabwe have said that the time was now conducive for citizens to stand against austerity measures. The statement comes after the government has put in place austerity measures which it says are meant to kickstart the collapsed economy. See ARTUZ’s statement below.

Time to take a stand against austerity.

The teachers of Zimbabwe are earning less than US$ 50 per month, a big slash from the US$ 500 of the pre austerity measures era. The teachers are living in extreme poverty and all efforts to demand a living wage have been thwarted by the use of extreme violence by the State. The State has further sponsored divisions through yellow Unions.

The current teacher salary is not enough to secure basic needs for our hard working civil servants. Healthcare, education, shelter, transport, food and all other basics are now beyond our reach. A teacher’s salary cannot afford to buy 20kg of maize seed. Traditionally our teachers have engaged in subsistence farming to supplement their meagre earnings. This farming season teachers are totally excluded from farming. The rest of our peasant farmers will certainly fail to take to the fields further threatening the food security of our people.

The austerity induced economic crisis is set to deepen as production is being halted across sectors. The value addition chains have been disrupted and worse days are coming.

We have to take a stand as a people.

In August 2019 the Amalgamated Rural Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe, ARTUZ warned government that if they fail to address the salaries crisis we will be forced to disrupt examinations. We were patient in August and September as we received the worst eroded salaries ever. We gave them a long rope but they chose to tie themselves.

We have concluded our nationwide consultations and our members will be indefinitely withdrawing their labour beginning 14 October 2019. We will not be reporting back for duty until we receive an interbank equivalent of our former US$ salaries.

We have written to other Unions inviting them to participate in this job action.

The teachers are suffering and we have to take a stand.

We warn Prof Mthuli Ncube to urgently address the salary crisis or risk collapsing the Civil Service.

The Zimbabwean government, which is facing a crippling industrial action by doctors working in state hospitals, is planning to haul hundreds of doctors before the Labor Court in an effort to end the 35-day strike initiated by junior doctors, earning less than US$200, who are demanding better salaries and improved working conditions.

The strike has been joined by some specialists, senior and middle-level doctors that are making similar demands. According to Dr. Paulinus Sikosana, chairperson of the Health Service Board which employs doctors, their move to walk away from negotiations following a state offer of a 66 percent cost of living adjustment, prompted the Ministry of Health to take the matter to the Labor Court.

In an interview, Dr. Sikosana said the Labour Court has to make a determination by Tuesday on the legality of the doctors’ industrial action.

“In terms of the labor law that governs health worker employees, if they are not at work for more than five days we have to take the legal action in terms of the Labor Act and the Minister of Public Service, Labor and Social Welfare has already issued a show cause order and there will be a hearing Tuesday which will determine whether the job action is legal or illegal and we will take it from there in terms of the provisions of that Labor Act …

“We have been negotiating since last year. The rest of the civil service, the rest of the health workers have conceded … This is an interim agreement in which the government offer has been accepted by all the health workers on the condition that this is not the end of all negotiations of cost of living adjustments and the agreement is premised on fact that we will continue with the negotiations. We can’t say it’s an unfriendly way of resolving the issue that concerns the doctors.”

Dr. Sikosana said all striking doctors are expected to report for work Monday.

“Negotiations at the time being have been concluded. We have a collective bargaining agreement with the health workers during which negotiations the doctors decided that they would unproceedurally walk out of the negotiations before they were concluded. So, the issue now, the way forward is that there is an agreement all health workers are expected to be back at work by tomorrow 8 oclock.

“The majority of the workers are at work. All the consultants and the specialists at the United Bulawayo Hospitals are at work, all the consultants at Mpilo Central Hospital are at work and have been at work. The consultants at Harare Central Hospital who had been put on the duty rosters, they were at work. The problem that we have been having is specialists and senior doctors at Parirenyatwa Hospital. In terms of the middle management and middle doctors and junior doctors, interns who are just from the universities they have continued not to come to work.”

Asked if this is the correct route to take in order to stop the crisis, Dr. Sikosana said, “The rule of law basically … We have been negotiating since last year. The rest of the civil service, the rest of the health workers have conceded and we continue, this is an interim agreement in which the government offer has been accepted by all the health workers on the condition that this is not the end of all negotiations of cost of living adjustments and the agreement is premised on fact that we will continue with the negotiations. We can’t say it’s an unfriendly way of resolving the issue that concerns the doctors.”

He noted that junior doctors are not supposed to engage in industrial action as they are still undergoing training in state hospitals.

“You must recall that junior doctors are on contract and that contract actually prohibits them, they are still in training, you should be aware of that … A person in training decides that they will walk away from their responsibilities, how do you expect the employer respond when they have been given an opportunity for negotiations. Its only last week that we had an engagement with them, we met with them. So, I don’t know what you expect the employer to do at the end of a month when your employees are not coming to work while they are opportunities for negotiations which they refused to participate in.”

But Dr. Masimba Ndoro, spokesperson for the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association, said the government does not need to take this matter to the Labor Court.

“It’s up to them to take such action but that’s not the best way of doing things. As far as we are concerned we have not yet reached any agreement with the government over our call allowances, salaries and other issues.”

Some patients are being turned away at government officials with a large number of patients having serious ailments.

Dr. Sikosana said in the face of this crisis in hospitals, some of the institutions have merged certain wards that deal with related conditions in order to take care of patients’ needs.

Former first lady Grace Mugabe fears that the government will go after her husband’s sprawling empire that consists of commercial farms and a mansion in Harare, it has been revealed.

Grace had a serious fallout with President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government after she insisted on honouring Mugabe’s wish not to be buried at the Heroes Acre in Harare.

Mugabe died in Singapore on September 6 and his death triggered an ugly fight for his corpse between his family and the government.

He was eventually buried in his rural home in Zvimba on September 28 when Mnangagwa was out of the country.

Mnangagwa assured Grace that she would not lose the Blue Roof mansion and another house in Harare’s Mt Pleasant after this publication revealed that they were registered under Zanu PF and that some government officials had tried to use the issue of title to arm-twist the family to change plans for Mugabe’s burial.

The government, however, last week made the first moves to repossess four of the farms linked to Mugabe and his widow in the mineral rich Mazowe area. They are Manzou Farm, Smithfield, Arnold and Foyle Estate.

Mugabe’s Gushungo Holdings is housed at Foyle Estate. Last week Grace reportedly made frantic efforts to meet government officials to discuss the status of the farms to no avail.

She is also said to be considering approaching regional leaders that had close ties with Mugabe in an effort to sAVE the former Zanu PF’s leader’s sprawling empire.

“The former first lady had been trying to stop the impending takeover of the farms, but it seems she is fighting a losing battle,” a Mugabe family insider said. Standard

The National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) has allegedly been rocked by divisions with some commissioners said to be unhappy over the government’s lack of commitment in addressing past human rights abuses and conflicts.

Commissioners that spoke on condition of anonymity said the NPRC was financially handicapped and said they feared the constitutional body was becoming “a talk-show platform with nothing to show for its existence”.

The NPRC has already lost six years of its 10-year lifespan as it was not operational from 2013 as expected after the promulgation of the new constitution due to lack of an enabling Act to operationalise it.

It has a backlog of cases. In February, MDC Alliance proportional representation legislator Concillia Chinanzvavana had to take President Emmerson Mnangagwa to the Masvingo High Court, seeking a ruling forcing him to extend the tenure of the NPRC by 10 years from 2018.

Justice Joseph Mafusire ruled in Chinanzvavana’s favour, meaning the NPRC will be operational until 2028, but to date, its lifespan has not been extended and is set to expire in 2023.

The NPRC was allocated

$1,7 million in the 2019 national budget against its $4,7 million bid, a figure dismissed as grossly inadequate at the time to fund its operations.

In December, the NPRC appeared before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs and Senate’s Thematic Committee on Human Rights and pleaded incapacitation because of inadequate funding from the Treasury.

In August, Finance minister Mthuli Ncube allocated an additional $125,5 million to the NPRC which was too be shared with the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec), Zimbabwe Gender Commission (ZGC), Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC), Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) and the Zimbabwe Judiciary Services Commission (ZJSC).

“There is a big challenge when it comes to funding the operations of the NPRC, and it all appears to be deliberate,” said a disgruntled commissioner.

“For example, we are supposed to be going to rural areas for various work, but to date there is no funding and other resources for that and we have to do with a shoe-string budget.

Another commissioner claimed that the NPRC was being destabilised from within.

“There are some even amongst us in the NPRC who are also clearly sabotaging NPRC programmes, they are a stumbling block to frustrate the NPRC and one is left questioning whose interests they are representing, the state or the commission?

“There is no political will, hence the NPRC has nothing to show for it besides being more of a talk-show body,” the disgruntled commissioner lamented.

NPRC chairperson Justice Selo Nare, however, brushed aside the allegations claiming that the commission has been working very hard to fulfil its mandate.

“We are working so hard,” he said. “We have been having meetings and so forth and on Monday. We are on the ground on Monday (tomorrow). We will be meeting members of the Ukuthula Trust in Bulawayo.”

Bulawayo-based Ukuthula Trust is an independent body of forensic archaeologists and forensic anthropologists that has carried exhumation of the Gukurahundi victims, the last being the bodies of Justin Tshuma and Thembi Ngwenya in Tsholotsho’s Enkwalini community in May who were killed by the Fifth Brigade in March 1983.

Government officials have sought to stall the exhumations and re-burials of Gukurahundi victims with Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage deputy minister Mike Madiro saying they should be stayed until a policy on carrying out the process is crafted.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa opened dialogue on the 1980s mass killings holding the first meeting with the clergy and Matabeleland civic groups under the banner Matabeleland Collective and then traditional leaders at State House in Bulawayo.

He has announced a cocktail of measures in addressing the issue such as facilitating exhumations and reburials.

However, little or nothing has taken place since the March meeting at Bulawayo State House despite several commitments.

“The government is not sincere at all when it says it wants to address the Gukurahundi atrocities. It’s just talk and delay. It has not been walking the talk on this one. If it had been sincere, it would have turned the talk into practical solutions on the ground by now,” said Effie Ncube, a Bulawayo-based political analyst.

Paul Nyathi|Doctors have responded to the government’s order which directed them to return to work on my Monday 7 October without fail.

We present below the doctors’ full statement.

VIDEO LOADING BELOW…

THE Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (Zera) on Saturday hiked fuel prices, a development which, the public fear, is likely to trigger price increases of other commodities.

In a statement, Zera said for Harare the maximum pump price per litre is $15,64 for diesel while blend is $14,97 from an average of $12,42 and $11,76 respectively.

It attributed the fuel price increase to factors in the international market. 

“The changes in the fuel prices are due to FOB (Free on Board) price movement and revised duty regime (SI161 OF 2019). Operators may however, sell at prices below the cap depending on their trading advantages,” reads the statement.

In August, Zera announced that fuel would have different prices per area factoring in transportation costs, a development which has seen the commodity’s prices in Matabeleland region being much higher.

In Bulawayo yesterday diesel was selling for $16,01 per litre at most fuel stations while blend was being sold between $15,31 and $15,41 per litre.

Motorists and members of the public said the fuel prices were having a direct effect on prices of other goods.

Paul Nyathi|At least 10 people died on the spot, including both drivers, while several others were injured when two buses – Govasburg and Mandeep Tours – collided head-on just before Kwekwe River along the Gweru-Kwekwe road on Sunday morning.

Officer Commanding Kwekwe District, Chief Superintendent Conrad Mubaiwa, who was at the scene of the accident, confirmed the disaster.

He said the number of the deaths could rise.

“We have 10 people who died on the spot including the two bus drivers but we are still at the scene.

“We will do a follow up on those who were rushed to Kwekwe District Hospital,” he said.

State Media|THE Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) has intensified its efforts to recover ill-gotten wealth from the country being stashed in foreign lands by engaging with SADC members in the fight against corruption.

President Mnangagwa is on record as saying the Government will put stringent measures towards recovering of the illegally externalised funds and assets and declared graft the country’s number one enemy.

In an interview, ZACC chairperson Justice Loice Matanda-Moyo said in a bid to recover ill-gotten assets outside the country, ZACC is set to sign Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with Botswana and Zambia to facilitate the process.

“Yes, we are focusing on investigations for purposes of prosecutions and investigations for purposes of asset recovery. As you know, when I was appointed, I made it a point and stressed that the new ZACC will concentrate on asset recovery.

“People should not benefit from the proceeds of crime.

We have also been busy with coming up with agreements with other countries.

“In two weeks’ time, I will be signing a Memorandum of Understanding with Botswana. I should be signing one again with Zambia soon, so that it will be easier for us to recover assets across the borders and internationally as well,” said Justice Matanda-Moyo.

ZACC, she said, was committed to recovering all wealth acquired illegally.

“So we want to make sure that we recover everything that was stolen from the nation. So right now we are also concentrating on, apart from the criminal investigations, linking evidence to the properties that were purchased with a view to recovering those properties whether in Zimbabwe or outside,” she said.

Last year, President Mnangagwa named individuals who failed to return nearly US$1 billion they had externalised in the past years.

Justice Matanda-Moyo said investigations are being made to recover externalised funds.

“We are investigating on our own. We have got our own list. Once we do criminal investigations and there is evidence of looting of some funds, we then try to track those funds, wherever they are.

“We are in the process of also signing agreements with international institutions who are going to help us in tracing and tracking those funds so that where know where the funds are then we recover those funds,” she said.

Justice Matanda-Moyo said: “In terms of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, I am glad to say these countries have got an obligation to actually cooperate with member states to recover those funds illicitly siphoned outside the country. “Therefore, it should be easy because it is mandatory for those countries to cooperate with member states,”.

TEN people died on the spot while several others were seriously injured when the buses they were travelling on collided head-on at the 232km peg along the Harare-Bulawayo Highway, between Kwekwe and Gweru, yesterday.

Midlands Minister of State for Provincial Affairs Larry Mavima confirmed the accident which occurred around 4:30am when a Gokwe-bound cross-border bus, Mandeep Tours, collided head-on with a Govasberg coach that was going towards Gweru.

It is understood that on approaching the 232km peg, the Mandeep driver dozed off and lost control of the bus, which encroached onto the right lane ahead of an oncoming Govasberg bus, resulting in the crash.

Mavima said 10 people died on the spot.
“I can confirm that 10 people died in an accident when two buses collided head-on between Kwekwe and Gweru,” he said.

“It is suspected that the driver of the bus which was coming from South Africa going to Gokwe slept and the bus veered to the right while there was an oncoming bus going towards Gweru resulting in the collision.
“Police are still gathering facts and we are yet to ascertain the actual number of people that were aboard each bus as most of them were rushed to Kwekwe General Hospital.”

Mavima also said they were yet to assess the condition of those that had been hospitalised.

The deceased were taken to Kwekwe Hospital mortuary.
Minister Mavima said the province has approached the Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, Cde July Moyo, to declare the accident a State of Disaster.

“We have informed Minister Moyo, who is in charge of the Civil Protection Unit, to declare the accident a national disaster. Their families will get assistance.
“It is unfortunate that we lost lives this way; we would want to urge all drivers to value life and exercise caution. This accident was caused by human error and it could have been avoided,” he said.
National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi also confirmed the accident saying police would release the names of the victims once their next of kin were informed.

“I can confirm that there was an accident this morning (yesterday) at the 232km peg along the Harare-Bulawayo Highway. We are still to find out the actual number of passengers that were on the buses. One of the buses was coming from South Africa and the other one was going towards Gweru. The names of the victims will be released once their families are informed,” he said.
A survivor of the horror crash, Mrs Mollen Ngara, who was in the Govasburg bus, said the accident could have been caused by fatigue on the part of the Mandeep bus driver “who swerved and encroached onto our lane resulting in the accident”.State media

This week on a day like Sunday when most Zimbabweans seek mental and soul purity, a whole deputy Minister by the name Energy Mutodi chose to misdirect his energy on a wrong cause.

While the majority of ordinary citizens are grappling with astronomical prices of basic commodities, a misdirected bundle of Energy chose to sink so low by equating a generational success (Nelson Chamisa) to a hill while plummeting a heap of hubris (Emmerson Mnangagwa) to a mountain.

When one takes into account that Mutodi is just but a failed Ndombolo musician and not a politician, it becomes easier to see a desert of deep thoughts in Mnangagwa’s disastrous Deputy Minister.

Surely it does not need a political scientist to differentiate a mountain of mediocrity that Emmerson Mnangagwa has become and a hill of excellence that Nelson Chamisa is gravitating towards!

That a whole deputy minister can equate a failure who has successfully presided over shortages in electricity, water and food a success and mountain glaringly exposes the deficiencies of leadership running the affairs of our motherland!

At this point in time Zimbabweans across the political divide are yearning and craving for excellence in service delivery and not some cheap bootlicking to please political godfathers.

Stephen Sarkozy Chuma
MDC Youth Assembly National Spokesperson

I write to you with a profound sense of shame proffering my most sincere apologies for the deplorable manner in which your kind gesture of honouring the legacy of the late revolutionary icon, President Robert Gabriel Mugabe has been maligned and abused by Emmerson Mnangagwa’s regime.

As a Zimbabwean, I feel obligated to apologise and take responsibility for the bad behaviour of Mnangagwa and his band since they are my compatriots.

The objective of the abuse and disparagement is to deflect attention from how Mnangagwa’s regime and its associated entities hounded and tormented President Mugabe into his death in exile. Mnangagwa has tried to bully and threaten President Mugabe’s family into burying him at Heroes Acre.

He failed. After failing, Mnangagwa continues on a programme of retribution against President Mugabe’s widow and family. They have set illegal panners onto the family farm.

It is appalling that the Mnangagwa government owned and controlled Sunday Mail newspaper has been consistently abusing you for honouring the memory of President Mugabe.

Mnangagwa’s media is pushing a blatantly false narrative that President Mugabe anointed Honourable Saviour Kasukuwere for president in a bid to downplay President Mugabe’s respect for democratically electing leaders.

These narratives are then taken on by state-run social media ghost accounts that seek to further undermine President Mugabe by stoking tribalism.

It is also unfortunate that some individuals have also given hostage to fortune by injudiciously seeking to publicise the so-called Zimbabwe Generation 40 political party as being associated with some of us who are labelled as G40 stalwarts.

Whilst I acknowledge that individuals have a right to harbouring and furthering their own personal political ambitions, I also have a right to dissociate myself from such ambitions as I hereby do.

Apart from which, I am still mourning and grieving for my uncle, President Robert Gabriel Mugabe, to engage myself in such political shenanigans.

Asante Sana. Iwe Neni Tine Basa. Umsebenzi lo Umkhulu.
Yours comradely
Patrick Zhuwao