By A Correspondent- The managing director of Fertiliser, Seed Grain (FSG) Steve Morland denounced officials from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development for lying to Parliament that they advanced more US$400 million for Command Agriculture fertiliser to his company.
Morland appeared before the parliamentary portfolio committee on Agriculture chaired by Gokwe Nembudziya MP Justice Mayor Wadyajena on Tuesday.
He said:
The funding we received is a total of just over 400 million in RTGS and Treasury Bills. I can categorically state that we never received even US$1 from government and we can prove that because we have all the documentation.
A few months ago Ministry of Finance principal director Zvinechimwe Churu and director of budgets and capital expenditure Fidelis Ngorora told the Tendai Biti-led portfolio committee on Public Accounts that FSG had been advanced the amount. They also said the firm had no known address or contact person.
By A Correspondent- Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals has dismissed as fake a Laboratory Technician training advertisement circulating on social media platforms. In a statement, the hospital said:
Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals wishes to advise the public that there is a fake laboratory technician training intake circulating on social media platforms.
The advert is purporting to end on 31 October 2019. Members of the public are hereby informed to disregard the fake advert.
Below is the fake advert in question:
PARIRENYATWA GROUP OF HOSPITALS
LABORATORY TECHNICIAN TRAINING– JANUARY 2020 INTAKE
Applications are invited from interested candidates for a 3yr Laboratory technician Training programme
QUALIFICATIONS
*A minimum of 5 O Levels at Grade C or better including English Language, a Science subject and Mathematics (IN NOT MORE THAN TWO SITTINGS) (Fashion and Fabrics, Woodwork, Metal Work, Building and Technical Graphics are not acceptable
*Applications to be accompanied by certified copies of birth, O Level, A-Level and National Identity certificates
Age 18-40 yrs
No Hand post Applicants to submit 2 contact telephone numbers Applications should be addressed to The Group Chief Executive Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals PO Box CY198 Causeway Harare Attention: Principal Tutor -Courses applied for should be clearly indicated on the envelope
Paul Nyathi|CIMAS, a medical aid society and one of the largest health insurance organisations in Zimbabwe has announced that with effect from the 1st of November this year, over the counter medicines will no longer be paid for nor covered as a benefit.
The statement follows an increase in contributions that was effected by the society just a couple of weeks ago. CIMAS also said that it will be suspending all overdue accounts on a monthly basis.
Pharmacies and Chemists in Zimbabwe have been increasing the price of medication and drugs almost on a daily basis and most of them are demanding for foreign currency payments.
Government health institutions are completely grounded as they do not have adequate medicines and equipment.
Paul Nyathi|An entire Zimbabwean family and members of a Kwazulu Natal family were all killed in horrific head-on collision shortly after 10pm on Saturday night (October 12) just outside Ladysmith, KZN in South Africa.
The collision, between a Porsche SUV and a Fortuner SUV, took place on a bend and caused one of the vehicles (the Porsche) to burst into flames.
All four occupants in the Porsche were burnt beyond recognition, causing delays in removing the bodies.
Emergency services responding to the scene included Ladysmith Public Safety, Ladysmith Fire Brigade, SAPS, RTI, KwaZulu-Natal Emergency Medical Services (KZN EMS) and mortuary services.
The occupants of the Fortuner included two young children as young as five years old.
The bodies were cut free using the jaws-of-life.
The names of the Zimbabwean family and the South Africans have since been released.
South African police released a media statement on Tuesday saying that the Zimbabwean family had been identified as: Tonderai Godfrey Sithole (38) – Driver, Faith Sithole – Wife (36), Shalom Sithole – Female (10), Shekinah Sithole – Female (5).
The names of the South Africans were: Dheeraj Sureshchand Singh – Driver (41), Ronithah Singh – Wife (40), Suman Singh – Male (21) and Sanjana Singh – Female (16)
Ward councillor Zakhele Myende said the area where the accident occurred was notorious for speeding vehicles.
They had had roadblocks to try to address the issue. “We don’t often have such accidents, but are aware of the issue of cars speeding at the spot where the accident happened.
“There are a lot of trucks going in and out of Ladysmith towards Newcastle, and motorists often speed to try to overtake these trucks. We have reports that there are lots of speeding tickets issued on that part of the road,” he said.
Transport, Community Safety and Liaison MEC Bheki Ntuli said he was saddened at the continued loss of life and extended his condolences to the families of the dead. He pledged the support of the department.
“I’m deeply saddened at the continued loss of lives, particularly as we just laid to rest six people who died in another accident last week in Peacevale.
“What is most worrying is that it seems as though motorists are not adhering to our road rules and speed limits, which in the main is leading to these accidents.
“I’ll be meeting Road Traffic Inspectorate officials to see how we can increase our visibility particularly in the hot spots over the weekend. We’ll also continue using our October Transport Month programmes to preach road safety ,” said Ntuli.
Police spokesperson Nqobile Gwala said circumstances surrounding the incident were being investigated.
The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport is assisting the relatives of two families with the bereavement. Traffic officials worked around the clock with the assistance of SAPS to find out who the owner of the Porsche is as the car had no registration.
“Losing an entire family in just one accident is such a great tragedy. In this particular accident we have lost two families. We once again extend our heartfelt condolences to the families of the deceased and our officials will continue supporting the families as the make arrangements to bury their loved ones,” said Ntuli.
Air Canada is changing its onboard announcement policies to refer to passengers as “everybody” instead of the gender-specific “ladies and gentlemen.”
The policy is “part of our commitment to respect sexual identity, diversity, and inclusion,” the company said in an internal memo published by La Pressenews site.
The Canadian government recently started allowing non-binary citizens to mark their gender as “X” rather than male or female.
US airlines including American, United, and Southwest have also introduced the “X” option on boarding passes.
Air Canada flight staff will no longer greet passengers by calling them “ladies and gentlemen,” the company announced, in an effort to include all genders.
Instead of the gender-specific “ladies and gentlemen” (or French “mesdames et messieurs”), flight attendants are to address passengers as “everybody” or “tout le monde” instead.
The announcement was made over the weekend, according to the country’s CTV News and La Presse . The airline has not specified when the change will be implemented, and has not yet responded to Business Insider’s request for comment.
“The change will be reflected in the transmission of the Onboard Announcement Manual as part of our commitment to respect sexual identity, diversity, and inclusion,” La Presse cited an internal memo as saying.
A spokesperson for the company also told CTV: “We work hard to make sure all employees feel like valued members of the Air Canada family, while ensuring our customers are comfortable and respected when they choose to travel with us.”
The policy change came four months after Canadian authorities started to allow non-binary citizens to mark their gender as “X,” rather than male or female, on their passports.
Many airlines have taken steps to recognize gender neutrality in recent months.
Earlier this year, US airlines represented by the Airlines for America trade group including American, United, and Southwestannounced that they would add an “X” option for non-binary passengers on their boarding passes from June 2019.
In March, United Airlines also became the first in the US to launch non-binary gender options for customers booking flights it now offers the gender-neutral title “Mx” alongside “Mr” and “Ms.”
Paul Nyathi|Zimbabweans were this morning caught by a huge surprise with the price of bread hiked to RTGS$15.75 from $9.50.
Though the new bread price is slightly above US$1.00 at the interbank market rate, in real terms it is staggering considering that less than a year ago a loaf of bread was priced at less than RTGS$0.90.
The new price officially declares bread as a luxury in the country as the salaries of the majority of workers does not come close to matching the new price.
Paul Nyathi|ZBC allegedly banned Leonard Dembo’s Dambudzo Watinetsa song and Zimbabweans have responded with fury to the banning but incidentally reviving the old song’s popularity.
The song talks about a problem that has caused severe pain to the people. So we think the song has been banned due to the critical conditions we are facing in the country and being given that our president goes by the same name which was used in the song some decades back.
If you don’t know about the song well, here is the song below
Takura Zhangazha|Like any other non-state organization, the Zimbabwe Heads of Christian Denominations (ZHOCD) is entitled to its own opinion on the state of affairs in the country. Except that its opinion is generally expected to be considered.
Its most recent one is borderline ridiculous and evidence of a misplaced messianic streak of undemocratic political overreach. Or even an assumption that with the limited levels of a critical national consciousness, Zimbabweans will probably forget the democratic principle of the separation of the Church from the State. Or to quote Jesus, giving unto Caesar, what belongs to Caesar.
To quote from the statement, the ZHOCD proposes what it refers to as a Sabbath that would be ‘ national seven year Sabbath period for the purposes of establishing an emergency recovery mechanism to address the national situation’.
This ‘national situation’ according to the ZHOCD would therefore require “the suspension of the constitutional provision of elections” that would, wait for it, be determined by a referendum. The lack of logic in the suggestion is laughable. The ZHOCD wants the country to vote against voting.
The leaders of the ZHOCD probably prayed about issuing this statement. Unfortunately the signal that they got from God or elsewhere is patently undemocratic that even St Augustine would be raising questions at their political theology.
If the ZHOCD had ended there, it would have been a little less ridiculous. In stating the problem and an anticipated result of the suspension of elections via a referendum, the clergypersons propose no actual mechanism as to who or what governs the country in the seven year electoral ‘Sabbath’. That will be determined by some sort of consultative process which assumedly, the church itself would lead. Though it does not say so in the statement.
I am sure one of the main reasons why the ZHOCD has reasoned this way is because it knows itself to be an organization whose voice will reach the ears of the most politically and economically powerful in the land. And because it has great societal reach, it also knows that is almost untouchable. With millions of worshippers flocking to its affiliate churches every weekend, it can with relative ease influence public opinion in its favour.
But to influence public opinion in this way, by asking for and actively willing an unconstitutional suspension of elections, is an abrogation of the churches responsibility of ensuring peace, progress and stability in modern day nation states. It is also probably as bad as shouting ‘fire’ in a cinema, causing a stampede, and claiming afterwards, that one was just expressing an opinion.
There are therefore a number of reasons why progressive Zimbabweans must be able to talk back to the ZHOCD undemocratic statement. Not only as a learning curve for that organization but a re-affirmation of a now long standing democratic value of the principle of the separation of religion from the state. Together with the necessity of a stubborn insistence that democracy overrides religion. All the while guaranteeing freedom of worship.
In another instance it would be useful to assist ZHOCD to recall that various religious doctrines have played important roles in our liberation struggles, they did not come to define these same said struggles. Indeed some may have been used to justify the necessity of liberatory armed struggles, others as a counter- narrative but religion remained firmly on the periphery of what in the final analysis were secular struggles. Statements such as the one issued by the ZHOCD are a rather a vainglorious attempt to place Christianity at the centre of what should essentially be secular struggles. Almost in messianic fashion.
Nowhere in their statement do they mention the political economic mess that has been wrought on by the ideology of neoliberalism. Their vague generalisations about ‘healing’ without reference to structural causes of why we find ourselves where we are is not the stuff one would expect from the clergy. But then again, who wants to argue against the massive wealth that these churches preside over, their own internal dictatorships, their fraternization with the wealthy and powerful to curry favour and in this age of millennial capitalism, the devastating effect of their prosperity gospels.
The ZHOCD is however lucky. The current Zimbabwean president uses religion as a political backstop. Ever since taking over power from Mugabe and retaining it in the 2018 elections, Mnangagwa makes it a point to pop up at huge gatherings of religious worshippers. And he makes many material promises to the leaders of these churches.
Opposition political party leaders have also taken on the dogmatic approach to Christianity and politics. Weighing in on a fervent Pentecostalism, various politicians have put on both robes of not only being trained clergypersons but also politicians. While it remains their democratic right to do so, the end effect is that actual church leaders at orgainsations such as the ZHOCD begin to think they and their religious inclinations are now the raison d’etre for the existence of the Zimbabwean state.
It is not Zimbabwe that must take nay sabbatical from democratic electoral processes. It is the Zimbabwe Heads of Christian Denominations that needs a long political sabbatical.
*Takura Zhangazha writes here in his personal capacity (takura-zhangazha.blogspot.com)
Paul Nyathi|Yet to be confirmed reports just received from MDC sources in Bulawayo indicate that party spokesperson Daniel Molokele has resigned from his position.
The sources indicated that Molokele tendered his resignation to MDC Secretary General Charlton Hwende after he got frustrated of being side-lined as prominence is being given to his deputy, Luke Tamborinyoka.
The resignation by Molokele is said to have been acknowledged and accepted by Hwende who is said to have already made some moves to appoint Tamborinyoka as the new national spokesperson.
Vice president, Professor Welshman Ncube is reported to be against the resignation as he wants Molokele to retain the position for regional balance. Professor Ncube persuaded Molokele to withdraw the resignation
The sources revealed that Hwende has strongly refused to reverse the resignation despite a directive to do so by party leader Nelson Chamisa.
Efforts to get a comment from both Hwende and Molokele were not successful at the time of writing.
NewsDay|TWO of the 70 employees suspended by Mimosa Mining Company over a salary scandal have appeared at the Zvishavane Magistrates Court facing fraud charges. Two months ago, the platinum miner suspended 70 workers for allegedly altering their time sheets and making fictitious acting allowance claims.
The mine was allegedly prejudiced of over US$500 000 by a syndicate of workers from the mining and accounts sections who allegedly manipulated signatures that authorise overtime and acting allowances.
Prosper Vundurai (40) and Lazarus Madziva (51) are the prime suspects in a scam that saw over 70 employees, including management losing their jobs, after an internal audit revealed that some workers were earning extra allowances that did not tally with their grades.
Appearing before Zvishavane magistrate Achy Wochiunga, Vundurai and Madziva denied the charges and the matter was set for trial on October 24.
According to prosecutor Faith Mwale, during the period extending from June 6 2017 to January 26, 2018, Madziva was employed by Mimosa Mine as a magazine master and his duties were to order, receive and distribute explosives for the mine, while Vundurai was a mining clerk responsible for time sheets.
During the course of his work, Madziva and several other employees connived with Vundurai to raise fictitious acting allowance forms purporting, for instance, that one acted in the capacity of mine captain (managerial position) for a series of shifts.
It is alleged that Vundurai would then send the fictitious forms to the mine pay office for payments and he would get a certain percentage of the earnings.
Mimosa Mine is being represented by chief security officer Pagaravanhu Rwatirera.
Paul Nyathi|President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s spokesperson, George Charamba, is the talk of social media after he shared graphic pornographic stuff on his exposed Twitter account before deleting the account in disgrace.
Charamba was using the Twitter handle @jamwanda2 which he confirmed to be his last week when he posted pictures of President Mnangagwa eating sadza and mazondo during a flight from France.
The tweet that stirred controversy was, “Mouth-Watering MILF Org_sms” and was accompanied by a video of a naked white woman touching her g_nitals.
The controversial tweet was posted around 11 PM on Tuesday and soon after, Charamba posted again:
“Whoever does this is despicable, and I suggest it stops immediately. I am disgusted.”
His followers, however, would have none of that and continued to bombard him accusing him of having shared the pornographic material he had been drooling on, to the site without realising.
“… zvaiwana ngwarati!! Of course, my good friends will enjoy this intrusion and milk it to the last ounce!! Meanwhile, Aluta Continua!!!, one of his followers said.
After several of his followers poked fun at him, Charamba eventually deleted the account.
Paul Nyathi|ZANU-PF is set to hold an Extraordinary Session of the Politburo today at the party headquarters in Harare. It however remains uncertain what the party will discussing that has forced for an urgent meeting after the Politburo met just days ago.
In a statement yesterday, ruling party secretary for Information and Publicity Simon Khaya Moyo said: “The Secretary for Administration, Cde Dr O. M Mpofu wishes to advise all Politburo members that there shall be an Extraordinary Session of the Politburo tomorrow, 16 October 2019 at the party headquarters. All members are to be seated by 11.30 AM.”
— Ministry of Information, Publicity & Broadcasting (@InfoMinZW) October 15, 2019
Update on the roll-out of the Expanded ZUPCO Mass Transit System
The Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing briefed Cabinet on progress made on the roll-out of the expanded ZUPCO Mass Transit System.
This is a strategy by Government to further cushion the commuting public from the prevailing rising costs of public transport services.
The expanded ZUPCO Mass Transit System incorporates commuter omnibuses, and more significantly will extend the ZUPCO bus service to rural areas.
The minister informed Cabinet that an assessment exercise undertaken by ZUPCO indicated that a total of 923 conventional buses are required to fully satisfy demand.
The current deficit of 415 conventional buses will thus be covered by the 1 000 commuter omnibuses, which are now being incorporated under the ZUPCO Mass Transit System. The additional buses and omnibuses will be allocated to all cities and some rural routes on a proportional basis.
Furthermore, another 99 conventional buses have been identified to boost the ZUPCO Mass Transport Fleet.
To enhance public convenience, Government is already working with the private sector to construct appropriate shelters at bus stops and to improve security at such points through the installation of solar-powered lighting systems and surveillance cameras.
All the buses and commuter omnibuses shall be using the tap-card system, which does not require the payment of cash on all ticketing systems within ZUPCO.
Strategy for Coordinating the Planned Development of Critical Economic Infrastructure
Cabinet considered and adopted an integrated Strategy for the Development of Critical Economic Infrastructure, which was presented by the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development as the chairman of the Cabinet Committee on Utilities and Infrastructure Development.
The strategy seeks to ensure that, going forward, the development of the country’s infrastructure and utilities is done in a more coordinated and integrated manner in line with the country’s envisaged development trajectory.
This will be achieved primarily through the formulation of an integrated National Infrastructure Development Master Plan covering the requirements of the various sectors of the economy.
The master plan targets to have an infrastructure base which can support an upper middle-income economy by 2030, and will ensure that, henceforth, infrastructure and utilities development is undertaken based on an economically justified, environmentally sustainable, integrated and multi-sectoral approach, instead of responding to impromptu demands, as is the case currently.
To carry out this programme, Cabinet has resolved that a technical team of officers from key Government ministries and agencies supported by appropriate experts from the country’s professional bodies and tertiary education institutions be urgently instituted to drive the process.
Ratification of the Eastern and Southern Africa-United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (ESA-UK) Economic Partnership Agreement
Following presentation by the Attorney -General, Cabinet approved ratification of the Eastern and Southern Africa-United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (ESA-UK) Economic Partnership Agreement.
The agreement seeks to ensure the maintenance of existing market access to the UK by ESA Signatory States which comprise Zimbabwe, the Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, the Seychelles and Zambia.
In terms of the agreement, the UK will grant duty-free and quota-free market access for all goods exported by the ESA countries to the UK, except for arms and ammunition.
On their part, the ESA states will continue to gradually liberalise 80 percent of their trade imports from the UK covering capital, raw materials and intermediate goods up to 2022.
Zimbabwean products to be excluded from the liberalisation process are: products of animal origin, cereals, beverages, paper, plastics and rubber, textiles and clothing, footwear, glass and ceramics, consumer electronics and vehicles.
Memorandum of Understanding between the Republic of Zimbabwe and We Care Solar on the Expansion of the Solar Suitcase Programme in Zimbabwe
Cabinet approved the Memorandum of Understanding between the Republic of Zimbabwe and We Care Solar on the Expansion of the Solar Suitcase Programme in Zimbabwe as proposed by the Minister of Health and Child Care.
We Care Solar is a non-profit organisation registered in the United States of America, which designs and installs solar electricity systems for lighting maternal health facilities.
Under the agreement, We Care Solar will now expand its operations to all districts and target maternal services institutions which lack access to conventional grid electricity.
The Solar Suitcase Programme, which has already installed solar lighting equipment at 90 health facilities in Zimbabwe, will help save lives during childbirth and ,thereby, contribute to the reduction of maternal mortality.
The situation regarding the strike by doctors
The Minister of Health and Child Care briefed Cabinet on the job action by medical doctors at public hospitals.
The strike action disregards the significant efforts demonstrated by Government in its unwavering commitment to address their concerns.
Such efforts include the recent upward review of their salaries and allowances, which should be in their accounts before the end of this month. The doctors, by continuing with the job action, are also in flagrant defiance of the court order which ruled their strike as illegal and ordered them to return to work forthwith.
Government continues to appeal to the striking doctors to return to work and to constructively engage with Government while at work.
Doctors should value the sanctity of human life above all else and offer their critical services to patients.
Government wishes to thank all the other categories of health personnel who continue to prioritise the saving of human life.
The SADC Anti-Sanctions Solidarity March
Government received a preliminary report on preparations for the upcoming SADC-sponsored Anti-Sanctions Solidarity March scheduled for October 25, 2019.
On this day, the whole of SADC will be in solidarity with Zimbabwe in calling for the removal of the illegal and unjustified sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by some Western nations.
In Harare, the march will be towards the National Sports Stadium, where Government, business, religious leaders, the academia, civic society and various other social groups will call for the unconditional removal of the sanctions.
The proceedings at the National Sports Stadium will culminate in the staging of the Anti-Sanctions Musical Gala by various artistes. Similar events shall also be held in all provincial capitals and district centres throughout the country.
We call upon Zimbabweans from all walks of life to join hands and call for the removal of the sanctions which have and continue to cause untold suffering for the rank and file of our people.
Introduction of the e-Cabinet and the Electronic Executive Dashboard
Cabinet was briefed by the Minister of Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services regarding migration to the holding of e-enabled paperless Cabinet meetings as well as the introduction of the Executive Electronic Dashboard to monitor the implementation of priority Government Programmes in real time.
These two innovations are part of the broader e-Government programme which seeks to transform Zimbabwe into a digital and knowledge-driven society in line with Vision 2030.
In terms of the progress already made, it is projected that Cabinet meetings will go paperless by early February, 2020.
In preparation for the Executive Electronic Dashboard Monitoring System, Cabinet members were issued with the relevant tablets which will be used by the Presidency, Government ministers, and senior Government officials to track progress in the implementation of Government programmes by ministries and Government agencies in keeping with His Excellency President E.D. Mnangagwa’s clarion call to prioritise actual implementation of policies.
State Media|Government on Tuesday fired a salvo on the local NGO report questioning the independence of the Judiciary and described it as “tired and old rhetoric” that should be smoked for its inequity.
Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi was reacting to the report; “State of Human Rights Report Zimbabwe 2018”, prepared by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum launched in the capital yesterday.
The report claimed widespread misgivings over the independence of judges, magistrates and prosecutors.
Minister Ziyambi picked holes in the report and dismissed it as biased in light of the progress so far made in the reforms which President Mnangagwa’s administration has undertaken since July 2018.
“I think it’s a tired and old rhetoric that the Judiciary is captured,” he said.
“We have several judgments against the State and who had captured them when they ruled against the State?
“I as Minister of Justice have never issued any directive pertaining to any case before our courts and as Government we strictly respect our Constitution and the separation of powers principle.”
According to the report, judges and magistrates were not free from the tentacles of the Executive, especially on matters with a political bearing.
It also claims that the members of the Judiciary and prosecution are beholden to the Government for receiving farms and other lucrative benefits and outright corruption.
Further the report claims that the courts and National Prosecuting Authority seemed to operate under third party instructions in certain cases, particularly those viewed as politically-sensitive or involving certain individuals.
But Minister Ziyambi said both the Judicial Service Commission and National Prosecuting Authority derive their independence from the Constitution.
As the Executive, he said, they uphold the Constitution.
“Every Zimbabwean who wanted a farm benefited from the agrarian reform programme and magistrates and judges also have ancestors who had their land stolen so were entitled to get what was rightly theirs,” he said.
The minister said election petitions are disposed according to the dictates of the Electoral Act and the question of Executive capture does not arise.
State Media|Businessman and legislator Mr Justice Mayor Wadyajena has withdrawn a $3,6 million suit against fellow businessman Mr Kudakwashe Tagwirei over some fuel tankers’ rental debt that had spilled into the High Court.
Mr Wadyajena had sued Mr Tagwirei, accusing him of being an extortionist.
He also accused him of illegally using fuel tankers from his company, Mayor Logistics.
Mr Tagwirei, who was cited along with Sakunda Energy (Pvt) Ltd and Sakunda Logistics, responded with counter accusations that Wadyajena was trying to extort him.
The two businessmen have found each other, culminating in Mr Wadyajena withdrawing the suit with the consent of Mr Tagwirei.
“Take notice that the action having been orally withdrawn with no order as to the costs and with consent of the first, second and third defendants at a pre-trial conference hearing before the Honourable Justice (Felistus) Chatukuta on 10 October, 2019, plaintiff hereby formally withdraws this action with no order as to costs,” read the order endorsed by the High Court yesterday.
When the suit was brought to court, Mr Tagwirei, who was being represented by his lawyer Mr Wilson Manase, strenuously opposed the claim, arguing that the action was an attempt to run an extortionist cartel to fleece genuine businesses.
Mr Tagwirei said he entered into an agreement with Mr Wadyajena and had paid everything agreed on.
To strengthen his defence, Mr Tagwirei produced agreements entered into between him and Mr Wadyajena, including evidence of payment of $1 883 666 to the legislator in May last year, through his lawyers.
Mr Tagwirei also filed a copy of a memorandum of agreement showing that the two would not to sue each other made on April 24, 2017.
However, in his action, Mr Wadyajena insisted he was owed money for the use of the four fuel tankers belonging to his company without his consent.
He claimed this resulted in a $3,6 million loss in business and that each truck suffered damages of $14 812,12 per month.
Paul Nyathi|Following the collapse of the government Public Sector Investment Programme, PSIP, where government was seconding funding for capital development to local authorities, the MDC run Harare City Council has decided to go it alone to raise funds for the projects through its business community.
The city is mulling a new tax under which all registered businesses in the capital will contribute a certain percentage for capital development.
This came out yesterday when Harare Mayor Councillor Herbert Gomba, town clerk Engineer Hosiah Chisango and acting finance director Mr Stanley Ndemera, appeared before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and Economic Development on Financial Devolution.
The committee is chaired by Chikomba Central legislator Felix Mhona.
“We are also looking at other taxes that are charged by business which we don’t have access to. We are expecting to say if some reforms can be made to say that a percentage of the actual business that is done by businesspeople in Harare, there is a tax that automatically comes to the city so that we can then develop infrastructure and also other services so that we can build our city,” said Eng Chisango.
It was not immediately ascertained what percentage the council was aiming to collect.
Eng Chisango further said the current property tax they were collecting was way too low for them to engage in meaningful development.
He pleaded for the city to be permitted to follow the United States model where central government collects revenue and allocates a certain percentage to the provincial local authority.
Eng Chisango requested that central Government should fund council’s capital projects.
“We are looking at issues of infrastructure and issues of investment where we are saying we are behind on water and roads infrastructure,” he said.
As City of Harare moves into the budget process for this year, he said, it had restricted itself to looking at essential issues.
“We are just looking at water, sanitation and roads issues to work on the infrastructure, to see if we can catch up, but we also need assistance at national level in terms of these budgets.
“We are looking here at sources of water, new water sources that we have been talking about, Kunzvi and Musami dams, which can bring relief to Harare and sister local authorities of Chitungwiza, Ruwa and Norton.”
Paul Nyathi|Government has indicated that public workers who claim to be failing to report for work on claims that transport costs have shot beyond their capacity should instead use the government subsidised ZUPCO buses and report for duty.
Speaking at a post cabinet meeting briefing on Tuesday, Minister Mutsvangwa said Cabinet had been briefed by Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister July Moyo on progress made on the roll-out of the Expanded ZUPCO Mass Transit System which was set up to cushion cushion the commuting public, including civil servants, from the prevailing rising costs of public transport services.
Civil Servants including health workers have warned government that they will be failing to report for duty because of the high transport and other costs that their income can not sustain.
Mutsvangwa explained that the government run rapid transport system under ZUPCO is undergoing major expansions to help cushion the civil servants.
“The expanded ZUPCO Mass Transit System incorporates commuter omnibuses and more significantly, will extend the ZUPCO bus service to rural areas,” she said. “The Minister (Cde Moyo) informed Cabinet that an assessment exercise undertaken by ZUPCO indicated that a total of 923 conventional buses are required to fully satisfy demand.
“The current deficit of 415 conventional buses will thus be covered by the 1 000 commuter omnibuses, which are now being incorporated under the ZUPCO Mass Transit System.”
In an interview with State Media on the sidelines of the briefing, Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Dr Sekai Nzenza said Government was keen to continue engaging the National Joint Negotiation Council (NJNC) to discuss civil servants’ welfare.
“A number of consultations with the Apex Council through the NJNC have to take place,” she said. “Once a figure has been agreed upon, we then seek Treasury concurrence.
“The price hikes continue to affect the purchasing power. I am hoping that the bonuses will help ease the burden of rising costs, especially of basic commodities.”
Minister Nzenza’s intervention followed a statement from the Apex Council yesterday that said “civil servants are severely incapacitated” and may struggle to report for work.
Apex said the 76 percent of cost of living adjustment (COLA) negotiated last month has been eroded by inflation.
Paul Nyathi|Health and Child Care Minister Dr Obadiah Moyo has gone down on his knees begging striking doctors and other health workers to return to work while negotiations on their demands are on going with government.
He said this yesterday while fielding questions from journalists during the 36th Cabinet decision matrix in Harare on Tuesday.
“I want to appeal to doctors that our doors are always open,” said Dr Moyo.
“We are open to dialogue until we get solutions, but let us dialogue while we are at work.”
On the 60 percent salary adjustment offered by government during collective bargaining on which the doctors demanded more, Dr Moyo said: “That approval stands. Government is guided by the law. That is why we went to the courts. We are following what the law states and we shall follow the law. There is no way we will go against what the law says.”
Further, Government was unequivocal that it was unable to pay health workers in United States dollars, nor in local currency at the interbank rate, but would implement the percentage-based increment agreed during the negotiations.
Dr Moyo said all provisions of the law will be pursued in an effort to locate permanent solutions to challenges bedevilling the health sector.
While Moyo was pleading with the doctors, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa was not in the mood to plead claiming that the doctors have not been fair by disregarding efforts made by Government this far.
“The strike action disregards the significant efforts demonstrated by Government in its unwavering commitment to address their concerns,” she said.
“Such efforts include the recent upward review of their salaries and allowances, which should be in their accounts before the end of this month.
“The doctors, by continuing with the job action, are also in flagrant defiance of the court order which ruled their strike as illegal and ordered them to return to work forthwith. Doctors should value the sanctity of human life above all else and offer their critical services to patients.”
Ossufo Momade, presidential candidate of Mozambique’s main opposition party Renamo ,said he “will never” accept “rigged election results,” pointing out that the denial of popular will has led the country to military hostilities in the past.
“If these are manipulated results, we can never accept [them] and we are determined to do anything whatsoever that the people indicates,” said Ossufo Momade, when asked by journalists, whether he will accept a possible defeat in Tuesday’s general elections across the country.
The candidate spoke after voting in his homeland on the Island of Mozambique, Nampula Province, Northern Mozambique, just minutes before 9 a.m. local time.
Momade showed journalists two ballot papers allegedly “caught” in the possession of a ruling party member of the Mozambican Liberation Front (Frelimo) as alleged evidence that the scrutiny is already being tampered with.
“I wanted to present this to you here. A citizen was caught with these ballot papers. This is no democracy here, this is what has provoked military hostilities in the past,” he said.
Ossufo Momade called on the President of the Republic and Frelimo candidate, Filipe Nyusi, to accept a possible defeat and to persuade his party’s militants to refrain from practising acts that jeopardise the transparency of the elections.
“[I am] Calling on my brother Nyusi, the commander in chief of the Defence and Security Forces, to respect what is the will of the people,” he said.
The Renamo leader also urged the electorate to “not be intimidated by the military apparatus” set up throughout the country, in order to ensure the security and serenity of the electoral process.
Previously, works at the polling station on the island of Mozambique where Momade was about to vote, were at a standstill for some time due to a physical fight between its members, local media reported.
Images from Mozambican television channels, broadcasting live from the venue, showed staff at the polling station throwing punches inside the polling place while voters crowded at the entrance.
The chairman of the polling station told journalists that he demanded the replacement of the delegate of the candidacy of Renamo, the main opposition party, accusing him of “causing riots”.
At the same time, a person interviewed by Mozambican public television station TVM accused polling station staff members of favouring voting by members of the Mozambican Liberation Front (Frelimo) over members of the opposition.
A total of 13.1 million Mozambican voters were on Tuesday eligible to vote to choose the President of the Republic, 250 parliamentarians and, for the first time, ten provincial governors and their provincial assemblies.
The sixth general election of Mozambique has four presidential candidates: Filipe Nyusi, Ossufo Momade, the leader of the Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM), Daviz Simango, and the candidate of the extra-parliamentary party Action of the United Movement for Integral Salvation (AMUSI), Mario Albino, the latter with a campaign limited to some points in Nampula, northern province.
The legislative and provincial elections see 26 parties competing, but only the three parties with parliamentary seats in the country (Frelimo, Renamo and MDM) compete in all the 11 constituencies of the national territory, which extends over 2,000 kilometres, plus two diaspora circles ( Africa and the rest of the world).
MDC-T has confirmed its participation in the call for the unequivocal removal of sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the West, saying the party has realised the embargo is bleeding the economy. The 39th Ordinary Summit of the Heads of State and Government of SADC resolved in Tanzania in August that all member states should hold various activities on October 25 to call for the lifting of sanctions to allow Zimbabwe to grow its economy which has immensely suffered in the last two decades. MDC-T president Dr Thokozani Khupe told The Herald yesterday that they have decided to join other citizens and the rest of SADC in denouncing the illegal sanctions because they have crippled the economy.
“As the MDC-T, we would like to join SADC and the rest of the country in calling for the removal of sanctions which were imposed on Zimbabwe in 2002 and 2003 because we have realised that these sanctions are affecting ordinary Zimbabweans,” she said.
“If you look at when these sanctions were imposed, the lives of Zimbabweans have gotten worse, so we are therefore calling for the removal of these sanctions so that Zimbabwe is also able to get credit lines to improve the lives of Zimbabweans.”
The biggest gathering to protest against the sanctions will be held in Harare at the National Sports Stadium.State media
POPULAR actor Lazarus Boora yesterday underwent surgery for an appendix rupture at CitiMed Hospital in Chitungwiza.
The actor, who rose to fame following his hilarious role as Gringo in the yesteryear local drama series “Gringo” was admitted to hospital last Thursday due to the life-threatening illness.
Gringo’s sister, Linda Boora, told The Herald Arts and Culture yesterday at around 5pm that they were yet to ascertain his condition as the actor was still undergoing the surgery.
“My brother was first diagnosed with tesnel obstruction, but after having some scans, a specialist indicated that he might have ruptured his appendix. “The appendix rupture caused his intestines to swell,” she said.
Appendix rupture is a life-threatening condition which requires immediate surgery to remove and clean the abdominal cavity. Linda said Gringo had been suffering from abdominal problems they suspected to be stomach ulcers for a long-time.
She also suspected that the stomach problems Gringo had been experiencing for long time were linked to the current health problems he was diagnosed with.
“He has been in a lot of pain that left him bedridden since Thursday last week. We are praying for the surgery to go well,” she said.
Linda has appealed for well-wishers to assist Gringo in paying his medical expenses.
“We have covered most of the expenses except for payments of the surgeon. “His sickness is something that came at a time when things were not well financially.
“We were not expecting him to undergo surgery and we are appealing to well-wishers to assist in any form, so that my brother can fully recover and settle the medical expenses,” she said.State media
Zanu-PF Masvingo Province has ramped up preparations for the Sadc anti-sanctions march slated for October 25.
The date was set by the regional body at its last meeting in Tanzania where a resolution was made to undertake various activities in all Sadc countries calling for the lifting of sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by Western counties.
President Mnangagwa will preside over the main event at the National Sports Stadium in Harare. Masvingo Minister of State for Provincial Affairs Ezra Chadzamira told the Herald yesterday that the province was geared for the event.
“This is an important date set by Sadc after realising the extent of the damage that sanctions were inflicting on the people of Zimbabwe. We are mobilising our people to come out in their numbers supporting this noble initiative.
‘‘The Provincial State Occasions Committee had already planned for this event and we are going to have local activities in the province but we are also going to send some buses to Harare to support the main event to be addressed by His Excellency the President ED Mnangagwa.
“This is not a party programme because the sanctions are not affecting members of one political party.
“Thus I call upon all progressive Zimbabweans to support this event. We have received overwhelming support from Sadc and as Zimbabweans we should also show our commitment in fighting this albatross on our necks.”
Chadzamira said Zimbabwe had lost two decades of potential economic growth as a result of the sanctions adding that it was high time the sanctions lifted unconditionally.State media
Possible benefits of drinking water range from keeping the kidneys healthy to losing weight.
To function properly, all the cells and organs of the body need water.
Here are some reasons our body needs water:
It lubricates the joints
Cartilage, found in joints and the disks of the spine, contains around 80 percent water.
Long-term dehydration can reduce the joints’ shock-absorbing ability, leading to joint pain.
It forms saliva and mucus
Saliva helps us digest our food and keeps the mouth, nose, and eyes moist. This prevents friction and damage.
Drinking water also keeps the mouth clean. Consumed instead of sweetened beverages, it can also reduce tooth decay.
It delivers oxygen throughout the body
Blood is more than 90 percent water, and blood carries oxygen to different parts of the body.
It boosts skin health and beauty
With dehydration, the skin can become more vulnerable to skin disorders and premature wrinkling.
It cushions the brain, spinal cord, and other sensitive tissues
Dehydration can affect brain structure and function. It is also involved in the production of hormones and neurotransmitters. Prolonged dehydration can lead to problems with thinking and reasoning.
It regulates body temperature
Water that is stored in the middle layers of the skin comes to the skin’s surface as sweat when the body heats up. As it evaporates, it cools the body. In sport.
Some scientists have suggested that when there is too little water in the body, heat storage increases and the individual is less able to tolerate heat strain.
Having a lot of water in the body may reduce physical strain if heat stress occurs during exercise. However, more research is needed into these effects.
7, The digestive system depends on it
The bowel needs water to work properly. Dehydration can lead to digestive problems, constipation , and an overly acidic stomach. This increases the risk of heartburn and stomach ulcers.
It flushes body waste
Water is needed in the processes of sweating and removal of urine and feaces.
It helps maintain blood pressure
A lack of water can cause blood to become thicker, increasing blood pressure.
The airways need it
When dehydrated, airways are restricted by the body in an effort to minimize water loss. This can make
asthma and allergies worse.
It makes minerals and nutrients accessible
These dissolve in water , which makes it possible for them to reach different parts of the body.
It prevents kidney damage
The kidneys regulate fluid in the body. Insufficient water can lead to kidney stones and other problems.
It boosts performance during exercise
Dehydration during exercise may hinder performance.
Some scientists have proposed that consuming more water might enhance performance during strenuous activity.
More research is needed to confirm this, but one review found that dehydration reduces performance in activities lasting longer than 30 minutes.
Weight loss
Water may also help with weight loss, if it is consumed instead of sweetened juices and sodas. “Preloading” with water before meals can help prevent overeating by creating a sense of fullness.
It reduces the chance of a hangover
When partying, unsweetened soda water with ice and lemon alternated with alcoholic drinks can help prevent overconsumption of alcohol.
Kidney damage
Water helps dissolve minerals and nutrients, making them more accessible to the body. It also helps remove waste products.
The kidneys play a key role in balancing fluid levels.
These two functions make water vital to the kidneys.
Every day, the kidneys filter around
120-150 quarts of fluid.
Of these, approximately 1-2 quarts are removed from the body in the form of urine, and the rest is recovered by the bloodstream.
Water is essential for the kidneys to function.
If the kidneys do not function properly, waste products and excess fluid can build up inside the body.Medical News Today
A man from Mwenezi who separated from his wife in August 2018 caused drama at Matava Village under Chief Maranda when he impounded and drove away two beasts he paid as lobola after finding out that his wife was not at her parents’ home.
Kabalika Mukupe had come to reconcile and take his wife and children back home when he was told that his wife had since left and no one knew where she was.
Killion Dube, the father in law brought the matter before resident Magistrate Honesty Musiiwa claiming that his son in law drove away the cattle without his consent knowing that they now belonged to him since he paid them as bride price.
Mukupe’s mother in law said the two separated in August 2018 and the husband never bothered to follow his wife and settle their differences until their daughter went to an unknown place in December that same year.
Mukupe decided to come and claim his wife and children on February 20, 2019 and he was told that she was not there.
He demanded that they give him back his cattle but Dube told him to come with a go between.
It is alleged that, the accused opened the kraal and went away with the cattle without anyone’s consent. Dube tried to stop him to no avail.
The matter will be heard again next week.
– Mirror
Blood pressure is the force of your blood as it flows through the arteries in your body.
Arteries are blood vessels that carry blood from your heart to the rest of your body. When your heart beats, it pushes blood through your arteries. As the blood flows, it puts pressure on your artery walls. This is called blood pressure.
High blood pressure (also called hypertension) happens when your blood moves through your arteries at a higher pressure than normal. Many different things can cause high blood pressure. If your blood pressure gets too high or stays high for a long time, it can cause health problems. Uncontrolled high blood pressure puts you at a higher risk for stroke, heart disease, heart attack, and kidney failure.
There are 2 types of high blood pressure.
Primary hypertension. This also is called essential hypertension. It is called this when there is no known cause for your high blood pressure. This is the most common type of hypertension. This type of blood pressure usually takes many years to develop. It probably is a result of your lifestyle, environment, and how your body changes as you age.
Secondary hypertension. This is when a health problem or medicine is causing your high blood pressure. Things that can cause secondary hypertension include:
kidney problems
sleep apnea
thyroid or adrenal gland problems
some medicines.
Contact+27743199418
The article in the Herald Sports news of the 15th of October, carries serious distortions and outright lies accorded to Mr Marshall Gore as someone ‘hugely and largely ‘ responsible for the scouting of Darikwa, Mudimu, Muskwe and other professional footballers with Zimbabwean roots, to represent their country in international tournaments.
Firstly, Mr Gore is well known for social football across the width and breadth of UK where his project under the Team Zimbabwe UK flagship only operates during summertime and is highly staffed with retired footballers of mature advanced age groups that engage in fun related activities.
We neither condemn this thrill nor dilute their enthusiasm in these social programs that they undertake, but to overtly insinuate that such gatherings gave Mr Gore some ‘midas touch’ of proscribing and projecting a ‘vision ‘ for recruiting young talents from Zimbabwean backgrounds to the current status quo where we have many such athletes who are willing to represent their country- is mischievous, reckless and extremely opportunistic in stealing our creativity and intelligence that pervades all seams of the planning processes that we undertook more than ten years ago when I engaged the then Technical Director (Mr Nelson Matongorera), to possibly embark on this tough task.
The agenda to start coaching, scouting and recruiting young talented Zimbabwean players gathered momentum in 2009 when I was appointed to work under the TD and this undertaking had no financial support or any treasury allocation from the finance ministry in Zimbabwe.
I scouted Tendayi Darikwa when he was 16 and straight away linked him with the TD who then initiated moves for Tendayi to come and play for the national teams but the former CEO Henrietta Rushwaya demanded money and the whole thing collapsed. I scouted Tendayi in 2009 in Garforth when he played for Chesterfield FC against Garforth Town FC which was under the Brazilian Soccer Schools where my son was training as an U10.
Secondly, I was the first African scout at Leeds United in 2006 and this opened many opportunities for young players to get invited for trials and slowly, most parents soon realised the importance of representing their country if such an opportunity prevailed.
The most serious attempt was pursued by former U23 Coach Callisto Pasuwa who asked me through the then acting TD Takaendesa Jongwe to compile a full list of young players in Europe who could be interested in playing against Morocco in Rabat.
Munyaradzi Mbanje, Macaulay Bonne and David Moyo all agreed.
Charlie White and Ndaba Nyathi also playing a major part as they were heavily involved in the grassroots development programs that aimed to improve young players so that at some point in their professional career they can represent Zimbabwe national teams.
It seems Mr Gore has this sordid deliberate attempt to down play, dilute and erase our ingenuity in this complex trajectory of junior football development that is not part of his domain, but an alter-ego voyeuristic pursuit and flight of frenzy.
Thirdly, Mr Gore has never been associated with any junior players at any stage and as such, we find his media pronouncements as simply false, damaging on his ‘integrity’ and an extreme fabrication of events that he is highly ignorant of.
Fourthly, when I approached Zifa through a German based instructor to enrol local coaches for further training and coaching under UEFA B licence- Mr Gore’s name appeared in our communique much to our suprise, as we are well aware that he doesn’t represent the work we do at grassroots level in UK and Europe but, he is mostly involved in a social boozer football program that ended travelling to Zimbabwe as some ‘talented young players from UK’.
Lastly, we are not going to allow Mr Gore to reap where he didn’t sow by grabbing our creativity and intelligence, he needs to bring a robust and comprehensive document that is far detailed and inspiring, rather than hoodwink people with lies and distortions.Concerned Scout
The Head of SADC Electoral Observer Mission to Mozambican elections Hon. Oppah Muchinguri Kashiri today visited a number of polling stations in Maputo City, Katembe and Matola where she observed the opening of polling stations and the voting process. pic.twitter.com/6RTn0VUo4W
— Ministry of Information, Publicity & Broadcasting (@InfoMinZW) October 15, 2019
Farai Dziva|Outspoken Buhera South MP Joseph Chinotimba has reflected Chivi South MP Killer Zivhu’ s sentiments on dialogue between Emmerson Mnangagwa and Nelson Chamisa and political observers are wondering whether he will be suspended.
Chinotimba accused Zanu PF honchos of blocking dialogue between Emmerson Mnangagwa and Nelson Chamisa.
According to Chinotimba dialogue between the two politicians will save the country from further chaos.
“I see nothing wrong with a dialogue between @edmnangagwa
and @nelsonchamisa
to save the country.
Farai Dziva|Outspoken Buhera South MP Joseph Chinotimba has said there is nothing wrong with the much anticipated dialogue between political rivals Emmerson Mnangagwa and Nelson Chamisa.
According to Chinotimba dialogue between the two politicians will save the country from further chaos.
“I see nothing wrong with a dialogue between @edmnangagwa
and @nelsonchamisa
to save the country.
Farai Dziva|Outspoken Buhera South MP Joseph Chinotimba has accused Zanu PF honchos of blocking dialogue between Emmerson Mnangagwa and Nelson Chamisa.
According to Chinotimba dialogue between the two politicians will save the country from further chaos.
“I see nothing wrong with a dialogue between @edmnangagwa
and @nelsonchamisa
to save the country.
We have always said Sanctions should go. In our political party we believe there is a basket which contains things that we are experiencing in the country. If you go to that basket there will be Sanctions. This is why we will be part of those calling for their removal on 25/10 pic.twitter.com/kCF4TMhh10
We have always said Sanctions should go. In our political party we believe there is a basket which contains things that we are experiencing in the country. If you go to that basket there will be Sanctions. This is why we will be part of those calling for their removal on 25/10 pic.twitter.com/kCF4TMhh10
By A Correspondent| Simon Khaya Moyo, the spokesperson of the ruling ZANU PF has notified members of the politburo of an extra-ordinary meeting scheduled for Wednesday 16 October at the party’s headquarters in Harare.
The Meeting is being held when government workers have declared incapacitation and intentions to “withdraw services until their situation has been adequately dealt with”.
Public health institutions are without medicines, equipment and personnel as both doctors and nurses are on industrial action over unsustained remuneration and poor working conditions.
The country is also facing a huge power deficit, water shortages, cash crisis, and food shortages which demand the government’s undivided attention.
The meeting is also held when there are incs=reasing calls, even from the ruling ZANU PF for president Emmerson Mnangagwa and opposition MDC leader, Nelson Chamisa to have a dialogue over the deteriorating state of affairs.
The issues above are expected to top the agenda of the meeting.
The helmet police scum sting operation against the MDC has exposed the uncouth and partisan nature of ZRP and how they are used by Zanu PF against citizens. Such a police force with no dignity doesn’t deserve citizen trust and respect.
CITE|Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has called for the reinstatement of former ward 3 councillor Tinashe Kambarami as the city`s deputy mayor pending his Supreme Court appeal.
In August, the Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Thompson Mabhikwa, nullified Kambarami’s election as councillor for Ward 3 and the city’s Deputy Mayor following an application by political pressure group, 1893 Mthwakazi Restoration Movement Trust.
In a letter addressed to Bulawayo Mayor, Solomon Mguni, dated 14 October 2019, MDC Alliance Bulawayo Provincial Secretary, Ernest Rafamoyo said Kambarami must be reinstated as deputy mayor with the same conditions, privileges and benefits until the appeal is finalised by the Supreme Court.
“After taking into consideration all the developments around the above specifically the High Court ruling, the Supreme Court appeal, communication and interpretation from Councillor Kambarami’s lawyers, the challenge from Umthwakazi Republic Restoration Movement and the opinion from the Council Lawyers.
“The position of the party in consultation with National Leadership is that Councillor Kambarami remains the Deputy Mayor with the same conditions, privileges and benefits until the appeal is finalized by the Supreme Court,” said Rafamoyo.
1893MRM had argued that Kambarami was unfit for public office due to his criminal record.
Kambarami was in July 2018 convicted of theft by Bulawayo Provincial Magistrate, Sharon Rosemani for stealing an extension cord from an electrician he had hired to work at his office.
However, Kambarami’s lawyers appealed to the Supreme Court arguing that the High Court had no jurisdiction over the matter since the application was an election petition which was supposed to be heard by the electrical Court.
Councillor Kambarami’s lawyers had also written to the City Council’s attorneys saying it cannot prohibit their client from reporting for duty.
State Media|LOCAL cricket heaved a huge sigh of relief yesterday after the International Cricket Council (ICC) reinstated Zimbabwe as a full member of the global cricket family, ending its three-month banishment.
The ICC said Zimbabwe had complied with all conditions for reinstatement, which included the reversal of the decision by the Sports Commission to suspend the ZC board.
ICC chairman Shashank Manohar was particularly impressed by the commitment by Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation Minister Kirsty Coventry.
She led a delegation that also included ZC chairman Tavengwa Mukuhlani, and SRC chairman Gerald Mlotshwa.
“I would like to thank the Zimbabwe Sports Minister for her commitment to the reinstatement of Zimbabwe Cricket,’’ Manohar said.
“Her desire to work in support of Zimbabwe Cricket was clear and she has unconditionally complied with the conditions set down by the ICC Board.
“Funding to Zimbabwe Cricket will continue to be on a controlled basis as part of a collective effort behind getting the game in Zimbabwe back on an even keel.’’
Zimbabwe was suspended in July following boardroom bickering which resulted in the suspension of the ZC board by the Sports Commission on the back of a number of allegations.
The ICC ruled that the SRC were in breach of their statutes regarding “government interference” and voted unanimously to suspend Zimbabwe until the decision was reversed.
Zimbabwe national teams, players and officials were barred from taking part in all ICC sanctioned events.
Funding was also stopped.
Players, officials and staff have not received salaries since June while both men and women senior national teams were kicked out of the 2020 T20 World Cup qualifiers.
However, ZC and Sports Commission have since found each other with the help of Coventry.
The SRC lifted the suspension of the ZC Board and its acting managing director Givemore Makoni on 8 August 2019.
While the decision has come a little late for the Chevrons and Lady Chevrons, who were kicked out of next year’s T20 World Cup qualifiers, Zimbabwe will now be able to take up their place in the ICC Men’s Under-19 Cricket World Cup in January.
The Chevrons will also take part in the ICC Super League in 2020.
“So glad to see this and, above all, relieved that this tough phase is behind us,’’ posted Chevrons all-rounder Sikandar Raza.
‘’Can’t wait to start playing cricket again. Looking forward to domestic cricket with @tuskerscricketZ. ALHAM DU LILLAH (Thank GOD).’’
Former captain, Brendan Taylor, said the decision was a huge relief to the nation.
“Thank you @ICC. There (are) a lot a relieved people in Zimbabwe. Thank you to @ZimCricketv Chairman the @ZimbabweSrc Chairman and the Honourable Sports Minister @KirstyCoventry for their combined efforts throughout this process,” posted Taylor.
The Alistair Campbell High Performance Centre also hailed the decision as “brilliant news.”
The Lady Chevrons team manager, Samu Nkiwane, was elated by the move which will see the women getting back into the international trenches.
“Obviously, we are very happy with this decision because this is what we have been making all the noise for.
‘’We wanted a positive outcome so that we continue playing cricket as Zimbabwe.
“Unfortunately, for us the women, we missed out a lot on the cancelled Ireland tour, the Netherlands tour and the T20 World Cup Qualifiers.
“We hope to come back strongly because we haven’t stopped playing despite the setbacks. Now that the suspension has been lifted, we can plan for the future with renewed hope,” said Nkiwane.
ZC chairman Mukuhlani also extended his organisation’s appreciation to Coventry and the SRC for their efforts in ensuring actions regarding the administration of cricket were made in the best interests of the game.
“We are elated to get our membership restored and this marks the beginning of a new, exciting chapter for our cricket, with ZC’s focus now fully back on ensuring our game is thriving, sustainable and financially stable.
“This would not have been possible without the steadfast support of the ICC and our colleagues from other member boards and we are very grateful to them,” Mukuhlani said.
Lessons must have been been learnt from this sad episode.
The Lady Chevrons’ were forced to cancel tours of Ireland and Netherlands after the suspension.
They were also barred from competing in the World T20 qualifier which took place in August and September and replaced by Namibia.
A group of four players and their coach Adam Chifo were denied the opportunity of joining the ICC Women’s Global Development Squad in England.
The men’s side also forfeited their place at the World T20 qualifying event which starts this Friday in the United Arab Emirates.
Nigeria have since taken their place.
They have also lost out on the opportunity for international cricket after their home series against West Indies that had been scheduled for this month was called off.
Zimbabwe were also scheduled to tour India early next year but the hosts have since replaced them with Sri Lanka.
The ICC are also set to resume funding for Zimbabwe after having withheld the funds until normalcy returned.
Zimbabwe are due US$94 million over an eight-year period.
Nepal have also been reinstated on a conditional basis following their 2016 suspension for breach of the ICC regulations which prohibit government interference and require free and fair elections.
Election of a 17-member Central Working Committee for the Cricket Association of Nepal were completed earlier this month and paved the way for the re-admittance of the CAN.
“Given the progress made in Nepal, a transition plan will now be developed for the Cricket Association of Nepal to support full compliance with Associate Membership criteria, which will also involve controlled funding,” said the ICC chairman.
DESPITE vigorous denials at the time – which even resulted in journalists at The Financial Gazette being charged and incarcerated for criminal defamation for reporting the fact – it has now been confirmed that the late former president Robert Mugabe married Grace in 1992 and not in 1996, the Daily News on Sunday can reveal.
Close family members corroborated this yesterday – in the wake of the recent death of the nonagenarian – revealing further that Mugabe used his nephew Leo to cover up the marriage at the time, after his first wife Sally had died earlier in the year after battling a serious kidney ailment.
After the 1992 traditional marriage, Mugabe later had a white wedding with Grace on August 17, 1996 – about four-and-a-half years after Sally died. The much-loved Ghanaian was interred at the National Heroes Acre in Harare.
These revelations come as damaging details are also emerging that Mugabe and Grace had experienced serious marital problems – amid allegations of infidelity, and with former vice president Joice Mujuru apparently intervening on numerous occasions to save the marriage.
Mugabe died on September 6 at a top-notch Singaporean hospital, and was buried at his Zvimba homestead in Mashonaland West on September 29 – at the insistence of Grace and in opposition to the wishes of the larger Mugabe family and traditional chiefs that he be interred at the National Heroes Acre.
Controversially, Grace chased away close family members on the day of Mugabe’s burial in a tamper-proof coffin, while also barring mourners from viewing the body, which raised eyebrows and suspicions at the funeral.
The close family members who spoke to the Daily News On Sunday confirmed that Mugabe had used Leo as a smoke screen to marry Grace towards the end of 1992, after the ex-president had carried out an adulterous relationship with her for years while Sally was battling illness – which resulted in the birth of Bona in 1988. The family members also confirmed that Grace initially conducted her relationship with Mugabe while she was still married to a soldier, Stanley Goreraza – with the two only divorcing officially in the mid-1990s, after Mugabe had already paid lobola to her family.
“An impression was created that Leo had married Grace for himself … but Sally was not fooled and confronted Leo about this,” one of the relatives said. Leo is the son of Mugabe’s late sister Sabina, a national heroine who is also buried at the Heroes Acre.
Presented with the irrefutable evidence, a coy Leo confirmed that he had played a key role, along with his late brother Innocent, in paying lobola to Grace’s family – the Marufus. “The story is that I was sent by sekuru (Mugabe) to go and marry Grace in Chivhu. Indeed, most people believed I had married Grace for myself. I was sent by sekuru to marry her.
“I was accompanied by my late brother Innocent. Sekuru told me to use my cattle to pay the lobola, with the promise that he would replace them.
“Later, sekuru declined to replace my cattle, arguing that my father had not paid lobola fully when he married our mother. Still, I was happy for sekuru when he married Mbuya Grace, as he wanted children,” Leo said.
Mugabe, who was a strict Catholic, admitted years later that he had had an adulterous relationship with Grace – claiming that Sally, who could not bear him children because of health complications, had allegedly approved of the affair. Speaking to stunned mourners during the funeral of his mother-in-law in September last year, Mugabe confessed: “Yes, we got involved when Sally was still alive. I had to”.
“Grace and I never dated. I was just introduced to her and I said to myself she is a beautiful girl. So she came as a secretary and there were many of them.
“I just looked at them and then it was love at first sight with Grace. Then I said to her one day ‘I love you’ and she didn’t respond. “I then grabbed her hand and I kissed her. She didn’t protest or refuse, and then I said to myself now that she has accepted to be kissed, it means she loves me,” Mugabe said then. Talking further about Grace, some of Mugabe’s relatives said they had crossed paths with her many times because of the manner in which she used to treat them and the former president.
“Our problems with her started over stories of abuse … she was said to be abusing him (Mugabe). When the family tried to intervene, that is when relations turned sour,” one of the family members said.
Over the years, another relative said, reports of infidelity started to emerge – with Mugabe, at one point, allegedly pushing to divorce Grace.
“There were marital problems that emanated from infidelity. At some stages, Mai Mujuru had to intervene to stop the collapse of the marriage,” the close relative said.
“A few years later, Mugabe used this wise counsel from Mai Mujuru to stop the marriage between an army general and his wife from breaking up.
“It was public information within the security circles that it was not all roses in the late president’s marriage,” the relative added.
Paul Nyathi|Founding leader of the Kingdom Embassy Ministries, Prophet Passion Java has revealed that he is spending a massive $320 000 to celebrate his 32nd birthday.
According to the flamboyant “Man of God”, God has been good to him and he wants to show his appreciation by having month-long birthday celebrations across 6 cities in three different continents.
In an interview with local publication, H-Metro, Java said,
I am excited about my birthday. God has been so good to me and I want to celebrate my 32nd birthday in a big way this year.
I have already started the celebrations and I am yet to go to other countries but most of the money will be spent in Zimbabwe because we are going to have two big events there.
According to the Prophet, the two events which are being staged in Zimbabwe are the ‘Night of Passion’ celebrations and the Twabam Nyama to be held in Avondale. Java revealed that $24 000 has been budgeted for the meat alone which will be consumed at the Twabam Nyama as he expects 7 000 people to attend the event.
Continuing Java said that he was going to fly his ‘spiritual sons’ from across the world to attend the festivities.
I’m not coming alone. Some of my spiritual sons are coming and I am the one meeting their travelling expenses as well as hotel bookings. They will fly first class and I will book the best hotels. That alone will take a lot of money from the budget.
So far I have already spent a lot of money because I bought a helicopter which was meant to take some of my guests from different States here in America to come for the celebrations. The helicopter is also a birthday present that I have bought for myself and I am excited.
The birthday celebrations which started in Washington D.C, USA will continue to Johannesburg, Cape Town, Los Angeles and Dubai after the Zimbabwean edition.
Paul Nyathi|IT’S been seven years since Tankiso has been competing with a tokoloshe in bed, and he’s now tired.
Now the Mokones need help to get rid of the tokoloshe.
Tankiso (56) said at first his wife woke up wet and told him something poked her at night.
“I thought she was lying and was dreaming about another man,” said Tankiso.
He said this became a regular thing.
“It became worse because she’d sometimes wake up with a painful punani,” he said.
“I’m getting poked like nobody’s business. I can’t take it anymore” He said they consulted various sangomas, who confirmed a tokoloshe poked his wife.
“They all promised to help and gave us muthi, but the tokoloshe rests for a week and comes back with a bang,” he said.
Tankiso’s wife Nomvula told Daily Sun she had run out of ideas.
“I’ve prayed about it, looked for medical help and went to various sangomas, but I’m still getting poked like nobody’s business. I can’t take it anymore,” she said.
SHOCK AT TWIN’S FUNERAL!
Sangoma Ntombifuthi Dabulamanzi said she never had a problem with removing tokoloshes, but this one was stubborn.
“We’ve been trying to get rid of it for months. I’m running out of ideas myself,” she said.
Mozambicans vote today in an election that holds no surprises.
Reuters|The brutal murder of an election observer ahead of Mozambique’s 15 October poll is the jagged point of faultlines that run deep into the country’s history.
Mozambicans go to the polls today in a largely two-horse election that pits the ruling party, Frente de Libertação de Moçambique(Frelimo), against its erstwhile foe, Resistência Nacional Moçambicana(Renamo).
The 2019 elections take place against a difficult backdrop: a new religious extremist conflict, a fragile peace accord with Renamo, a crippling economic crisis exacerbated by a devastating grand corruption scandal by the ruling party, and public disenchantment over the government’s handling of Cyclone Idai and its aftermath.
High stakes, high expectations
After many decades of war between the Frente de Libertação de Moçambique(Frelimo)-led government and the apartheid-backed rebel movement Renamo – then led by enigmatic guerrilla leader Afonso Dhlakama – the Roman Catholic church successfully brought the parties together and pushed them to make peace.
Peace ushered in elections in 1994, in which Renamo shocked the country and the world by garnering almost 40% of the vote.
The result put paid to the notion of an unpopular rebel movement sustained only through the financial and material support of the Boers. It suggested the popularity not just of Renamo but of what it stood for.
The resource curse
For years the peace held. Then the country discovered minerals. Lots of them and all in the north, Dhlakama’s stronghold. With minerals came foreign investors –large ones including Brazilian coal giant Vale and Australian equivalent Rio Tinto, who swooped in on coal concessions in Tete Province.
In Wild West style, mining deals were cut with little regard to the welfare and benefit of local communities, who were forcibly moved hundreds of kilometres away without infrastructure or adequate compensation. More discoveries brought further dispossession and exploitation, driving resentment and in time a resurgence of the conflict.
As avaricious politicians in Maputo grew stronger, cutting deals for mining and large-scale agricultural investments with the Chinese, so too did the resentment. It was no surprise, therefore, when the war restarted. By then Dhlakama was sick, old and dying, but the sense of injustice and exploitation remained fresh.
New threats
In 2014, the elections reflected growing resentment and frustration with Frelimo, which lost in the northern province of Tete and western province of Sofala – but still retained its majority in what some observers called fraudulent elections.
It was therefore always a question of time before Frelimo faced a far more acid test. In 2018, Dhlakama died in the jungle – igniting a succession battle within his movement.
Despite this wrangling, following months of negotiations another peace deal was struck early this year. Although it was immediately denounced by a faction of Renamo, it was welcomed by many as an opportunity for peace. It was seen as crucial to secure peace, as a larger and more ominous enemy had emerged in the north: violent Islamic extremism.
Driven south by Tanzania’s war on terror, extremist groups started attacking people and villages in the north in 2014.
Ignored and unacknowledged by a government with historically little interest, desire or presence in the north, the attacks grew in number and scale until they could not be ignored.
By this time, they also threatened financial and economic interests in mining and tourism. A largely absent government and security sector flailed, with two wars in the north and two different, archetypal enemies.
Masterminded by bankers at Credit Suisse and VTB, the deal enabled the country to borrow money it did not need, which, instead of benefiting Mozambique, ended up in the private bank accounts of senior government officials and connected relatives.
The scandal sparked an international criminal investigation which has resulted in the arrest and imprisonment of the Swiss bankers and prosecution of a Lebanese fixer.
At the request of the United States of America, the former Mozambican minister of finance, Manuel Chang, was arrested by the South African authorities and faces an extradition trial this week in the High Court in Johannesburg.
Implicated in this dirty deal is the son of the former president and other unnamed senior government officials. The scandal has led to the withdrawal of external financing for the country and triggered an economic crisisamidst a commodity bust which set it in motion several years ago.
Cyclone Idai’s bitter taste
Compounding this is the aftermath of Cyclone Idai, which devastated the eastern and northern part of the country in February.
The government faces accusations – which it argues are false – of not having been ready for the storm despite some advance warning, not taking timely preventive action to save lives and property or acting to help communities recover, especially from the equally devastating health crisis and cholera outbreak that ensued.
It does not help that the most devastated regions also happen to to be those where the opposition is most popular.
Ghost voters in Gaza?
The first major signs of trouble in these elections came during the voter registration process. When the national electoral commission, the Comissão Nacional de Eleições (CNE), announced the registration results for Gaza province, Mozambicans were shell shocked.
The voter numbers far exceeded those of the national census board, prompting it to challenge and then denounce then. But the electoral commission stood fast in defending its figures. The Gaza registration sparked fears of widespread manipulation of the voter registration process to load numbers in favour of Frelimo, which the CNE denied.
The denials failed to assuage concerns about the credibility of the voter register. Left with no choice, local electoral observers developed counter-measures. They would carefully monitor elections in these red-light provinces to ensure that these were real voters. It was this approach that triggered a devastatingly violent response by the security services.
Murder in Gaza
Last Monday, whilst leaving a training session for electoral observers in Gaza Province, the head of the local observer group Sala da Paz (Peace Room), Anastácio Matavel, was gunned down by an elite police unit in broad daylight.
The assailants would have got away with it had they not failed to manoeuvre their vehicle and been involved in an accident which killed some of them and injured others, enabling their capture.
The point of this brutal attack was all too clear: to prevent electoral observation in Gaza. The deadly warning and fatal attack on Matavel seems to have been calculated to mask the evidence of the grossly fraudulent voter’s roll in Gaza.
With panic having set in amongst observers and many having fled, polls in Gaza will now likely proceed unmonitored. This will ensure – to the advantage of Frelimo – that all the questions and suspicions regarding the dubious voter numbers remained unresolved.
Northern chaos
The cowardly murder of Matavel is not the only attempt to manipulate the election using violence or threats of violence.
Opposition candidates and supporters in Gaza and elsewhere have been intimidated and sometimes beaten. In the northern province of Cabo Delgado – a hotbed of religious extremist violence – the CNE has not been able to make arrangements for people to vote.
As polls open today thousands of people there have no idea not only of where they can vote, but whether they will vote at all.
The high cost of flawed elections
Despite the challenges, elections will proceed in most parts of the country. Aided by a range of factors including the questionable voters’ roll, an incumbency advantage, fractures in Renamo and the powerful effect of violence, Frelimo is likely to win.
But the way it wins will generate questions and challenges about the legitimacy of the outcome.
These questions are likely to haunt the government going forward. As we speak, Malawians remain on the streets protesting an outcome from May’s elections. Zimbabwe continues to spiral into deeper political and economic crisis stemming from electoral legitimacy questions. Lesotho is unable to find stability due to shaky electoral coalitions.
All these examples show that it matters how an election is conducted and won. Unfair, flawed and fixed elections come at a very high cost to countries. This is a lesson Mozambique should have learnt from its neighbours.
In a fire incident that was recorded in a Harare, a gas tank exploded and caught fire destroying household property in the process. We urge members of the public to adopt safety measures when using gas stoves and to ensure that the equipment is properly serviced. @HMetro_
NewsDay|Lawyers have urged Chief Justice Luke Malaba to remove the presidential immunity clause from the country’s statutes to ensure that a sitting President is not insulated from criminal proceedings.
The call was made when Malaba was giving a public lecture at Great Zimbabwe University last Friday when lawyers called for the amendment of section 98 of the Constitution which insulates a sitting President from civil or criminal trials.
But Malaba said the section cannot be scrapped off without a referendum as the supreme law of the land was a product of the people. He said the best Zimbabweans can do about the clause is “to debate about it”.
“The question of immunity, I do not want to interpret it. It is a constitutional question, I hope you understand what I mean. It (the clause) cannot go beyond something, it cannot be taken away when it’s legislated by the Constitution itself,” Malaba said.
“We must accept that the people of Zimbabwe who are the midwives of the Constitution, decided that. They then decided we will have this situation for us as Zimbabweans. Whether it applies in South Africa or somewhere else, they are not interested.”
He added: “So who am I, being under the Constitution and not being above the law, who am I to say no, this is wrong? I cannot. It is an important question, but I think it is a philosophical question. I think the best we can do is to debate it until there is an amendment.”
Section 98 reads: “(i) While in public office, the President is not liable to civil or criminal proceedings in any court for things done or omitted to be done in his personal capacity. (ii) Civil or criminal proceedings may be instituted against a former President for things done or omitted to be done before he or she became President or while he or she was President.”
Paul Nyathi|National Patriotic Front Spokesperson Jealousy Mawarire has urged President Emmerson Mnangagwa to apologise for the ritual killings happening in the country caused by a group of people called Mashurugwi who are illegal gold panners or resign.
In a Twiiter thread on Tuesday Mawarire said President Mnangagwa must emulate South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa who apologised for xenophobic attacks that recent took place in that country.
Read the full thread below:
Issue of machete armed Mashurugwi who have become a law unto themselves should be tackled now! It’s a fact these murderers have support from high offices and are spilling blood as part of planned, government supported rituals, otherwise why the nonchalant approach to combating this evil?
If ED can’t deal with this menace, he should leave office now! These Mashurugwi have killed more Zimbabweans , in more brutal ways, than the xenophobic attacks in SA, yet
Mnangagwa has done nothing about it, not even apologizing for his ineptitude in dealing with these murderers.
While Cyril Ramaphosa has apologised to Zimbabweans after 6 Zimbabweans were butchered during the last xenophobic attacks in SA, Mnangagwa hasn’t said a word, let alone apologize, for the actions of his fellow Midlanders (Mashurugwi) who have murdered hundreds in the past months.
These ritual killings by Mashurugwi should end. Zimbabweansd should hold Mnangagwa accountable. What kind of a President who doesn’t care when citizens are being butchered in broad daylight? Pamberi nekuzvitonga! Pasi nemhondi dzemabhemba!! Pasi nevanodzituma! Pasi nen’anga dzavo!
Mashurugwi are the worst kind of sanctions imposed upon Zimbabweans by a bloodthirsty, ritualistic, rogue regime that is spilling blood of innocent citizens thru some voodoo practices to wade off growing loss of popularity. Let’s say no! no! no! to these ritual killings.
Paul Nyathi|POLICE yesterday questioned Mitchel Chibwe in connection with the Zimbabwe Republic Police anti-riot and city council helmets which were recovered in the basement of Robinson House on Saturday night.
Chibwe’s lawyer Mr Kudzai Rangarirai of Mtisi Law Chambers confirmed that his client was invited to Harare Central Police Station for questioning and later released without any charges.
“He (Chibwe) bought the helmets at ABC Auctions, however by the time we went to the police we did not have the receipts and the police instructed us to bring them as soon as possible.
“The police were satisfied with our clarification and my client was released unconditionally.”
But did it really have to take so much of a fracas for police to deliberately forget that they auctioned their helmets? In the first place how do they get to auction such security equipment? Don’t they see the risk of the equipment being misused against their name?
Police national spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said investigations into the matter were still in progress.
“Investigations into the helmets which were recovered in the basement of Robinson House are ongoing.”
Police recovered 210 anti-riot and 46 municipal police helmets after they pursued a group of thugs that had attacked a police officer who was reportedly waiting for his sister at the building.
When the hooligans saw that they were now being overpowered, they ran into the basement with the officers in pursuit. It was during the chase that they came across the helmets stashed in one of the rooms in the basement. At least 12 people have since been arrested in connection with the violent incident.
It was during the chase that they came across the helmets stashed in one of the rooms in the basement.
At least 12 people have since been arrested in connection with the violent incident.
We have always said Sanctions should go. In our political party we believe there is a basket which contains things that we are experiencing in the country. If you go to that basket there will be Sanctions. This is why we will be part of those calling for their removal on 25/10 pic.twitter.com/kCF4TMhh10
Paul Nyathi|Government workers in Zimbabwe can’t afford to go to work and may be forced to stay at home after surging inflation slashed the value of their pay by more than 90%, the main public-sector union said.
Zimbabwe is grappling with galloping price increases and a plunging currency that have spawned shortages of fuel and food. A currency devaluation earlier this year means that state employees who previously earned an average of $500 a month now earn $40, the Apex Council Chairwoman Cecilia Alexander said in a statement on Tuesday.
As a result, some workers have become incapacitated and are having to borrow money for transport to get to work, Alexander told reporters in the capital, Harare.
“The council officially served government with a notification of incapacitation,” which may mean staff won’t be able to get to work, the council said. “We want to keep the system running, but we are urging government to create an enabling environment.”
The government in September offered workers a 76% cost-of-living adjustment to offset the impact of inflation, which has not been eroded by price rises, the council said. It proposed that salaries be adjusted in line with inflation.
Prices climbed 17.7% in September from a month earlier, the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency said earlier on Tuesday. While the country has suspended the publication of annual data, that rate is estimated in a range of 230% to 570%.
The article in the Herald Sports news of the 15th of October, carries serious distortions and outright lies accorded to Mr Marshall Gore as someone ‘hugely and largely ‘ responsible for the scouting of Darikwa, Mudimu, Muskwe and other professional footballers with Zimbabwean roots, to represent their country in international tournaments.
Firstly, Mr Gore is well known for social football across the width and breadth of UK where his project under the Team Zimbabwe UK flagship only operates during summertime and is highly staffed with retired footballers of mature advanced age groups that engage in fun related activities.
We neither condemn this thrill nor dilute their enthusiasm in these social programs that they undertake, but to overtly insinuate that such gatherings gave Mr Gore some ‘midas touch’ of proscribing and projecting a ‘vision ‘ for recruiting young talents from Zimbabwean backgrounds to the current status quo where we have many such athletes who are willing to represent their country- is mischievous, reckless and extremely opportunistic in stealing our creativity and intelligence that pervades all seams of the planning processes that we undertook more than ten years ago when I engaged the then Technical Director (Mr Nelson Matongorera), to possibly embark on this tough task.
The agenda to start coaching, scouting and recruiting young talented Zimbabwean players gathered momentum in 2009 when I was appointed to work under the TD and this undertaking had no financial support or any treasury allocation from the finance ministry in Zimbabwe.
I scouted Tendayi Darikwa when he was 16 and straight away linked him with the TD who then initiated moves for Tendayi to come and play for the national teams but the former CEO Henrietta Rushwaya demanded money and the whole thing collapsed. I scouted Tendayi in 2009 in Garforth when he played for Chesterfield FC against Garforth Town FC which was under the Brazilian Soccer Schools where my son was training as an U10.
Secondly, I was the first African scout at Leeds United in 2006 and this opened many opportunities for young players to get invited for trials and slowly, most parents soon realised the importance of representing their country if such an opportunity prevailed.
The most serious attempt was pursued by former U23 Coach Callisto Pasuwa who asked me through the then acting TD Takaendesa Jongwe to compile a full list of young players in Europe who could be interested in playing against Morocco in Rabat.
Munyaradzi Mbanje, Macaulay Bonne and David Moyo all agreed.
Charlie White and Ndaba Nyathi also playing a major part as they were heavily involved in the grassroots development programs that aimed to improve young players so that at some point in their professional career they can represent Zimbabwe national teams.
It seems Mr Gore has this sordid deliberate attempt to down play, dilute and erase our ingenuity in this complex trajectory of junior football development that is not part of his domain, but an alter-ego voyeuristic pursuit and flight of frenzy.
Thirdly, Mr Gore has never been associated with any junior players at any stage and as such, we find his media pronouncements as simply false, damaging on his ‘integrity’ and an extreme fabrication of events that he is highly ignorant of.
Fourthly, when I approached Zifa through a German based instructor to enrol local coaches for further training and coaching under UEFA B licence- Mr Gore’s name appeared in our communique much to our suprise, as we are well aware that he doesn’t represent the work we do at grassroots level in UK and Europe but, he is mostly involved in a social boozer football program that ended travelling to Zimbabwe as some ‘talented young players from UK’.
Lastly, we are not going to allow Mr Gore to reap where he didn’t sow by grabbing our creativity and intelligence, he needs to bring a robust and comprehensive document that is far detailed and inspiring, rather than hoodwink people with lies and distortions.Concerned Scout
The Head of SADC Electoral Observer Mission to Mozambican elections Hon. Oppah Muchinguri Kashiri today visited a number of polling stations in Maputo City, Katembe and Matola where she observed the opening of polling stations and the voting process. pic.twitter.com/6RTn0VUo4W
— Ministry of Information, Publicity & Broadcasting (@InfoMinZW) October 15, 2019
Farai Dziva|Outspoken Buhera South MP Joseph Chinotimba has reflected Chivi South MP Killer Zivhu’ s sentiments on dialogue between Emmerson Mnangagwa and Nelson Chamisa and political observers are wondering whether he will be suspended.
Chinotimba accused Zanu PF honchos of blocking dialogue between Emmerson Mnangagwa and Nelson Chamisa.
According to Chinotimba dialogue between the two politicians will save the country from further chaos.
“I see nothing wrong with a dialogue between @edmnangagwa
and @nelsonchamisa
to save the country.
A man from Mwenezi who separated from his wife in August 2018 caused drama at Matava Village under Chief Maranda when he impounded and drove away two beasts he paid as lobola after finding out that his wife was not at her parents’ home.
Kabalika Mukupe had come to reconcile and take his wife and children back home when he was told that his wife had since left and no one knew where she was.
Killion Dube, the father in law brought the matter before resident Magistrate Honesty Musiiwa claiming that his son in law drove away the cattle without his consent knowing that they now belonged to him since he paid them as bride price.
Mukupe’s mother in law said the two separated in August 2018 and the husband never bothered to follow his wife and settle their differences until their daughter went to an unknown place in December that same year.
Mukupe decided to come and claim his wife and children on February 20, 2019 and he was told that she was not there.
He demanded that they give him back his cattle but Dube told him to come with a go between.
It is alleged that, the accused opened the kraal and went away with the cattle without anyone’s consent. Dube tried to stop him to no avail.
The matter will be heard again next week.
– Mirror
Farai Dziva|Outspoken Buhera South MP Joseph Chinotimba has said there is nothing wrong with the much anticipated dialogue between political rivals Emmerson Mnangagwa and Nelson Chamisa.
According to Chinotimba dialogue between the two politicians will save the country from further chaos.
“I see nothing wrong with a dialogue between @edmnangagwa
and @nelsonchamisa
to save the country.
Farai Dziva|Outspoken Buhera South MP Joseph Chinotimba has accused Zanu PF honchos of blocking dialogue between Emmerson Mnangagwa and Nelson Chamisa.
According to Chinotimba dialogue between the two politicians will save the country from further chaos.
“I see nothing wrong with a dialogue between @edmnangagwa
and @nelsonchamisa
to save the country.
By A Correspondent- Gweru Town Clerk Ms Elizabeth Gwatipedza has been suspended on allegations of mismanagement as the fight for the control of council affairs continues.
Ms Gwatipedza was served with a suspension letter yesterday afternoon.
In an interview, Ms Gwatipedza confirmed that she has been suspended.
“Yes I have been suspended,” she said.
Mayor Councillor Josiah Makombe said the matter would be made public today during a Press conference which he has called.
“This and other issues will be dealt with during a Press briefing tomorrow (today),” he said.
Sources said Ms Gwatipedza was served with a suspension letter by the mayor at around 4PM when she was chairing a management meeting.
The sources said Clr Makombe accompanied by council police then ordered her to pack her belongings and locked her office.
“She was suspended at around 4PM when she was busy chairing a management meeting which the chamber secretary — Mr Chikwekwe — was also part of.
The mayor then ordered that she removes her belongings from the office before he locked the door and took away the keys. Even Ms Gwatipedza’s secretary was told to leave her office,” said the source.
“The mayor accused her of failure to supervise departments and mismanagement. This is about politics as she is thought to be Zanu-PF working in an MDC Alliance led council.
“Initially it was the chamber secretary who was supposed to be suspended on allegations of abusing a council fuel facility but they decided to go for the town clerk first.”
In July, Bulawayo Town Clerk Christopher Dube was also suspended by the town’s deputy mayor Tinashe Kambarami but the suspension was subsequently lifted by council.
The town clerk later approached the courts which ruled that the suspension had been unlawful.
By A Correspondent- Two elderly women from Bulawayo allegedly stole US$17 160, R4 800 and RTGS$14 000 from their burial society.
Dorcas Machengo (72) and Evelyn Chapepa (78) from Magwegwe suburb allegedly betrayed the trust bestowed on them by Thandanani Burial Society.
Machengo was the secretary while Chapepa was the chairlady and treasurer.
They pleaded not guilty to theft of trust property before Western Commonage magistrate Mr Stephen Ndlovu.
The duo was remanded out of custody on free bail to October 18 for continuation of trial.
Machengo, however, said: “Ukuthatha sibili ngiyavuma kodwa angithathanga yonke, ngathatha i$1 400 kuphela,’ (I admit that I took some money but I didn’t take all of it, I just took $1 400.”
The State represented by Mr Tony Kamudyariwa said the matter came to light in December 2018 when some bereaved members of the group approached them seeking money for funeral expenses.
“Society members contributed money in foreign currency which was kept by the accused persons. The members’ contribution increased from US$3 to US$5. During that same month members needed money for funeral expenses but Machengo and Chapepa failed to produce the money,” he said.
Mr Kamudyariwa said an audit was carried out and it was discovered that part of the money was missing from the coffers.
He said Machengo and Chapepa had promised to return the money but failed and members reported the matter to the police leading to their arrest.
We have always said Sanctions should go. In our political party we believe there is a basket which contains things that we are experiencing in the country. If you go to that basket there will be Sanctions. This is why we will be part of those calling for their removal on 25/10 pic.twitter.com/kCF4TMhh10
We have always said Sanctions should go. In our political party we believe there is a basket which contains things that we are experiencing in the country. If you go to that basket there will be Sanctions. This is why we will be part of those calling for their removal on 25/10 pic.twitter.com/kCF4TMhh10
Blood pressure is the force of your blood as it flows through the arteries in your body.
Arteries are blood vessels that carry blood from your heart to the rest of your body. When your heart beats, it pushes blood through your arteries. As the blood flows, it puts pressure on your artery walls. This is called blood pressure.
High blood pressure (also called hypertension) happens when your blood moves through your arteries at a higher pressure than normal. Many different things can cause high blood pressure. If your blood pressure gets too high or stays high for a long time, it can cause health problems. Uncontrolled high blood pressure puts you at a higher risk for stroke, heart disease, heart attack, and kidney failure.
There are 2 types of high blood pressure.
Primary hypertension. This also is called essential hypertension. It is called this when there is no known cause for your high blood pressure. This is the most common type of hypertension. This type of blood pressure usually takes many years to develop. It probably is a result of your lifestyle, environment, and how your body changes as you age.
Secondary hypertension. This is when a health problem or medicine is causing your high blood pressure. Things that can cause secondary hypertension include:
kidney problems
sleep apnea
thyroid or adrenal gland problems
some medicines.
Contact+27743199418
By A Correspondent- Government workers have said that they are now incapacitated to carry out their duties and responsibilities as a result of the erosion of their salaries.
The Apex Council which represents government workers observed that on average, workers used to receive US$500 but now are getting an average of US$40 and the salary is continuously losing value.
They say that the government has been neglecting and or failing to address their grievances for too long and as a result of incapacitation, they are now suspending their services until their situation has been adequately dealt with.
Their declaration of incapacitation comes at a time when health workers in public medical institutions have since the 3rd of September been on industrial action as a result of incapacitation.
The Apex Council said that government workers are the ones carrying the burden of austerity measures which the government introduced alleging that they will quick- start the economy.
Possible benefits of drinking water range from keeping the kidneys healthy to losing weight.
To function properly, all the cells and organs of the body need water.
Here are some reasons our body needs water:
It lubricates the joints
Cartilage, found in joints and the disks of the spine, contains around 80 percent water.
Long-term dehydration can reduce the joints’ shock-absorbing ability, leading to joint pain.
It forms saliva and mucus
Saliva helps us digest our food and keeps the mouth, nose, and eyes moist. This prevents friction and damage.
Drinking water also keeps the mouth clean. Consumed instead of sweetened beverages, it can also reduce tooth decay.
It delivers oxygen throughout the body
Blood is more than 90 percent water, and blood carries oxygen to different parts of the body.
It boosts skin health and beauty
With dehydration, the skin can become more vulnerable to skin disorders and premature wrinkling.
It cushions the brain, spinal cord, and other sensitive tissues
Dehydration can affect brain structure and function. It is also involved in the production of hormones and neurotransmitters. Prolonged dehydration can lead to problems with thinking and reasoning.
It regulates body temperature
Water that is stored in the middle layers of the skin comes to the skin’s surface as sweat when the body heats up. As it evaporates, it cools the body. In sport.
Some scientists have suggested that when there is too little water in the body, heat storage increases and the individual is less able to tolerate heat strain.
Having a lot of water in the body may reduce physical strain if heat stress occurs during exercise. However, more research is needed into these effects.
7, The digestive system depends on it
The bowel needs water to work properly. Dehydration can lead to digestive problems, constipation , and an overly acidic stomach. This increases the risk of heartburn and stomach ulcers.
It flushes body waste
Water is needed in the processes of sweating and removal of urine and feaces.
It helps maintain blood pressure
A lack of water can cause blood to become thicker, increasing blood pressure.
The airways need it
When dehydrated, airways are restricted by the body in an effort to minimize water loss. This can make
asthma and allergies worse.
It makes minerals and nutrients accessible
These dissolve in water , which makes it possible for them to reach different parts of the body.
It prevents kidney damage
The kidneys regulate fluid in the body. Insufficient water can lead to kidney stones and other problems.
It boosts performance during exercise
Dehydration during exercise may hinder performance.
Some scientists have proposed that consuming more water might enhance performance during strenuous activity.
More research is needed to confirm this, but one review found that dehydration reduces performance in activities lasting longer than 30 minutes.
Weight loss
Water may also help with weight loss, if it is consumed instead of sweetened juices and sodas. “Preloading” with water before meals can help prevent overeating by creating a sense of fullness.
It reduces the chance of a hangover
When partying, unsweetened soda water with ice and lemon alternated with alcoholic drinks can help prevent overconsumption of alcohol.
Kidney damage
Water helps dissolve minerals and nutrients, making them more accessible to the body. It also helps remove waste products.
The kidneys play a key role in balancing fluid levels.
These two functions make water vital to the kidneys.
Every day, the kidneys filter around
120-150 quarts of fluid.
Of these, approximately 1-2 quarts are removed from the body in the form of urine, and the rest is recovered by the bloodstream.
Water is essential for the kidneys to function.
If the kidneys do not function properly, waste products and excess fluid can build up inside the body.Medical News Today
Farai Dziva|
In what could be a sign of bad omen, a windstorm hit Bulilima district last week and destroyed solar panels at a San community irrigation project funded by First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa.
According to NewsDay the panels were used to run a water pump to water vegetables tendered by the San people.
The windstorm, which hit Bulilima last Wednesday afternoon, left a trail of destruction in the area, including the solar panels sourced by Mnangagwa’s Angel of Hope Foundation.
A team led by District Development Fund officials went to the scene on Thursday to assess the damage and make repairs.
Bulilima district coordinator (formerly district administrator) Nyasha Majonga yesterday confirmed the damage, but said the problem had since been rectified.
“Yes there was some blowing off of solar panels, but as I speak to you, the problem has been rectified and it is business as usual,” Majonga told NewsdayNewsDay.
BREAKING – JACOB MUDENDA HUMILIATED AFTER SENDING SERBIAN POLICE TO CHASE AWAY JOURNALIST AFTER BEING CONTRONTED OVER MENTALLY TORTURING MDC MPs AND 1 AUG VICTIMS, WHICH WAS DONE TO CHANGE 2018 ELECTION RESULTS | FULL STORY TO FOLLOW pic.twitter.com/RQwnMVX86m
By A Correspondent- Mbongeni Nxumalo (27) from Nketa suburb wept as he begged the court to grant the order and save him from further abuse.
“Your Worship, please save me from this evil woman. I now fear that she might end up killing me because she once stabbed me with a broken bottle. She was aiming at my neck and I blocked her with my hands. My two fingers are now gone,” he said tearfully.
Mr Nxumalo told Western Commonage magistrate Mr Urgent Mvundla that his ex- girlfriend Ms Mercy Zhou (23) was bitter that he ended their relationship.
He said Ms Zhou was in the habit of jumping over the precast wall to gain entry to his home to assault him and he has since lost two fingers.
Mr Nxumalo said he was living in fear because of his ex- girlfriend’s violent nature and was also afraid that she might kill him.
“I beg the court to shield me, we are having sleepless nights as she comes making noise and disturbing everyone. She also insults me whenever I meet her and she embarrasses me in front of my friends. I wish to live peacefully,” said Mr Nxumalo.
Last month Mr Nxumalo dragged Ms Zhou to court after she allegedly hit him with a brick on his face. He said he had told her that he no longer loved her and this did not go down well with her.
“She became violent shouting at me asking why I had cut ties with her. I told her that I no longer loved her. She pushed me to the ground and got on top of me holding a brick and attacked me with it. She also punched me all over my face,” said Mr Nxumalo.
Mr Vundla granted the peace order.
He warned Ms Zhou against verbally and physically abusing Mr Nxumalo and told her to move on.
Zanu PF youth league deputy secretary Lewis Matutu has been sued for defamation by businessman, Frank Buyanga.
In summons filed with the High Court last Friday, Buyanga says Matutu named him on a list of corrupt individuals who had manipulated the country’s “land acquisition process.”
“The publication referred to the fact of the plaintiff (Buyanga) being on the list of fraudsters of the land acquisition process. The aforesaid publication wrongfully and maliciously, with injurious intent stated of the plaintiff that: the plaintiff has prejudiced the general public by manipulating and defrauding the country’s land acquisition process thereby portraying the plaintiff as a fraudster and an unethical businessman,” Buyanga’s lawyers Rubaya and Chatambudza Legal Practitioners said in court papers.
The allegations were according to the businessman, published in the media on August 7.
Buyanga says that the story also insinuated that he is “an individual who has benefitted from alleged lack of accountability in the (late) Robert Mugabe-led government and owns multiple farms acquired during the land reform programme.
“Furthermore, the allegations published as aforesaid, in the context of the story, were wrongful and defamatory to the plaintiff in that they were intended and understood by the readers to mean that the plaintiff is cruel and a dishonest individual who unjustifiably grabbed vast pieces of land at the expense of the generality of Zimbabweans,” the lawyers said.
Buyanga wants Matutu to retract his utterances by publishing an apology, as well as paying him $4 million for defamation.
Popular actor Lazarus Boora who rose to fame in the Gringo drama series is seriously ill and is set to undergo a surgery at a Harare hospital this afternoon.
His sister Linda Boora said Lazarus had an appendix rapture.
Controversial businessman Wicknell Chivhayo has roped in a United Kingdom based lawyer Advocate Adrian Phillip de Bourbon to fight his Zimbabwe Power Company case.
By A Correspondent- It’s been seven years since Tankiso has been competing with a tokoloshe in bed, and he’s now tired.
Now the Mokones need help to get rid of the tokoloshe.
Tankiso (56) said at first his wife woke up wet and told him something poked her at night.
“I thought she was lying and was dreaming about another man,” said Tankiso.
He said this became a regular thing.
“It became worse because she’d sometimes wake up with a painful punani,” he said.
“I’m getting poked like nobody’s business. I can’t take it anymore.”
He said they consulted various sangomas, who confirmed a tokoloshe poked his wife.
“They all promised to help and gave us muthi, but the tokoloshe rests for a week and comes back with a bang,” he said.
Tankiso’s wife Nomvula told Daily Sun she had run out of ideas.
“I’ve prayed about it, looked for medical help and went to various sangomas, but I’m still getting poked like nobody’s business. I can’t take it anymore,” she said.
SHOCK AT TWIN’S FUNERAL!
Sangoma Ntombifuthi Dabulamanzi told the People’s Paper she never had a problem with removing tokoloshes, but this one was stubborn.
“We’ve been trying to get rid of it for months. I’m running out of ideas myself,” she said.
By A Correspondent- Acting spokesperson for the Zimbabwe Hospitals Doctors Association (ZHDA), Dr Mthabisi Bhebhe, said that doctors will stay at home until the government pays them what they are owed.
Writing on microblogging site Twitter, Dr Bhebhe said that as doctors, they did not take oaths to be slaves.
He wrote:
Day 44. Hospitals remain desolate and without doctors across the country.
We shall remain in our homes no matter how long it may be until Dr Obadiah Moyo and his Ministry pay what is owed to us.
No doctor in Zimbabwe or any part of the world has ever taken an oath to be a slave.”
Doctors have been on strike since September 3 this year demanding salaries that are in line with the rate of inflation.
On Friday, the Labour Court ruled that the doctors’ strike was illegal and gave them 48 hours to return to work, a directive which the doctors refused to comply with.
Jesus Christ was able to conduct his Mission to the World in 3 short years. One of the most memorable incidents of this time, took place when he led his Disciples across a large lake.
Eddie Cross is an economist and a former opposition MDC MP for Bulawayo South
Anyone who has owned a boat on Kariba knows very well how quickly a flat dead body of water can become a raging storm on a lake. The waves are not like those at sea, the tops of each wave are close together and the water can get very rough, very quickly. It was a small boat and although all on board knew the lake well, they were terrified that they would not survive.
Jesus had no such qualms and he slept in the boat, oblivious to the storm and the waves. Eventually, even though they knew he was tired, the Disciples got up their courage and shook him awake with the question ‘Lord, do you not care that we might perish in this storm?’
The Bible says he woke up, looked about him and then rebuked the wind and the waves and there was instant calm. The Disciples watched in awe and their reaction to this extraordinary event, was to ask among themselves in a whisper ‘Who is this man that the wind and the waves obey his instructions?’
Small boat, small sea, major lesson.
Zimbabwe is a tiny country with a GDP less than a third of the garbage collection budget of New York. This is both a weakness and a strength – storms come up fast, but they can fade away just as quickly. Because we are such a small country, it does not take much to change things.
The other lesson for me from the above story is that we are all in the same boat, no point in yelling at the wind and the rain, wake up the boss and get him engaged in trying to fix the problem. It would help of course if the ‘Boss’ was the Son of God and had unlimited power, but the principle still applies – solutions take leadership.
In the past month, after a brief respite and some stability, the exchange rate and the rate of inflation has suddenly exploded. Those of us who watch the situation closely and monitor statistics and events were taken by surprise, both by the speed of the changes and their magnitude. Suddenly we were in a storm, in a small boat and it looked as if we were all going to have to swim.
Just what happened and how do we restore calm so that we can make progress and reach the shore in one piece?
The first thing is to understand what happened in the years leading up to 2018. During the short time from the collapse of the GNU to 2018, we lived a lifestyle that was actually unsustainable – the things that made this so were in two main areas; one was the massive transfer of wealth and value from our exporters to consumers in the form of subsidies created by the false exchange rate being paid to exporters for their hard currency.
The second was the creation of vast sums of money by the Reserve Bank which they claimed was USD. By 2018 this mountain of false currency – in essence electronic air, reached 23 000 000 000 ‘dollars’.
We have had a program called ‘Command Agriculture’ for three years. To fund this program, the Reserve Bank has printed money – large sums of money, which have been used to buy inputs and then finance our new farmers – all one million of them so that they can become more productive.
The program has been only partly successful – in 2017/18, we saw agricultural output rise strongly and everyone thought this was the solution to chronic food shortages. But at a cost and less than 30 per cent of all farmers paid back their loans. Many just took them and used them for lifestyle maintenance.
But from a macroeconomic point of view they got away with it because they called the money so created ‘US dollars’ even though it was just credits created on a computer. It just added to the mountain of debt that was to haunt the new Minister of Finance in 2018. Because we had faith in the US dollar we lived as if this fountain of currency would never dry up.
Then the new Minister came into office and said that the currency mountain was not US dollars – it was not even closely related. What was it? It was air, no more, no less. When he did that the whole mountain collapsed and in 4 months we went from having US$23 billion in our accounts to the equivalent of US$4 billion. Was even that sum its real value? No one knew, and because there was no market for the stuff, value discovery was anyone’s guess.
So we get the ‘willing seller, willing buyer’ adage in February 2019 along with the ‘Interbank Market’ for hard currency. We all breathed a sigh of relief – now we had a real market which would show us just how rich or poor we are. The problem was that the market was never formalised and all the mechanisms used for many years to artificially establish exchange rates remained in place.
Eventually some sort of market emerged but so narrow it was easily influenced by small changes in supply and demand. But it was beginning to work. Business reported they could buy their foreign exchange needs off the market and our export industries, that had been going broke up to 2018, saw a dramatic turnaround in their fortunes.
The problem was that when it came to planting time again – the spectre of Command Agriculture put its head up and demanded to be fed – as had happened in previous years. As the regime dilly dallied, the deadline for planting drew ever closer, eventually they took the plunge and printed several billion dollars in RTGS dollars and transferred this flood of new money to those who had managed Command in previous years.
The problem was, the whole system had changed and there was no safety net to maintain the market value of the currency, which then simply crashed. In economic terms we refer to the correlation between different elements – in our case any increase in money supply has an immediate and direct impact on the exchange rate and this then in turn is translated to an increase in prices. One, two, three whammies, all in tandem and close behind each other.
The impact was immediate, after the first few breathes of wind, the wind picked up and in a very short space of time we were in a raging sea with all of us hanging onto the side of the boat and wishing we were elsewhere.
A few individuals went forward and shook awake the Minister of Finance and the President. We said you have to take some action or else this whole boat will sink. Action was taken and immediately the storm quietened down – rates fell back from 20 to 1 to 15 and stabilised – but it’s the stability of the aftermath of a storm at sea and we are all evaluating where we are and how much damage has been done. It is not pretty. We are all asking how long to landfall?
Several lessons come to mind about the miracle in the boat with Christ. The first is that we need faith, we need to think that if we go forward and shake his shoulder and get Him awake, He will do something. In my own life I have discovered what a Professor at Cambridge once described after his conversion to Christianity when he wrote a book about it and called it ‘Good God, it Works’.
The second is that we need to recognise that we are all in this boat together and we sink or swim, together. We need to work as a Nation to find our way forward and to solve our problems – right now is not the time for squabbles and fights, we need to discover each other and put our country first.
The third lesson is do not be surprised if things come back to normal much faster than we think possible. I still think we are on the right track, the fundamentals are all in place and because we are such a small boat, our problems can be solved relatively easily. But to get to the shore, we need to row together.
By Simba Chikanza| We have the best opportunity in national history since 1980 to not only show the world the truth of how Zimbabweans are suffering, but stop the abuses, once and for all. I am due to leave Serbia in 24 hrs. Help get me to stay longer here in Serbia so we together expose the abuse of Zim state resources to kill civilians by parliament itself. So far Speaker Of Parliament Jacob Mudenda has in an interview admitted the military was used to change 2018 election results (filmed LIVE at the IN Hotel, Belgrade 13th Oct). There is more that is needed to be done so that the IPU here discovers that even the fake police helmets were planted by ZANU PF to oppress civilians of whom 12 people so far have been arrested. On Sunday morning we got backing from the Serbian Police when Mudenda tried to cut the interview (click here to participate)…
Watch video below. ..
BREAKING – JACOB MUDENDA HUMILIATED AFTER SENDING SERBIAN POLICE TO CHASE AWAY JOURNALIST AFTER BEING CONTRONTED OVER MENTALLY TORTURING MDC MPs AND 1 AUG VICTIMS, WHICH WAS DONE TO CHANGE 2018 ELECTION RESULTS | FULL STORY TO FOLLOW pic.twitter.com/RQwnMVX86m
NewsDay|THE November 2017 coup brought new dreams and hopes among the citizens, many who believed the new regime would knock corruption off very high perch. However, after ad infinitum calls against the corruption cancer and no practical action, citizens’ hopes are fast fading away.
Corruption continues to hurt the economy, slowing down development and the fight against poverty is going off rails. It can only take a competent leadership and political will to stem corruption – and all that is in short supply in Zimbabwe at the moment.
Since coming to power through a coup, President Emmerson Mnangagwa has been waxing lyrical about fighting corruption. In his quest to fight the scourge, Mnangagwa established a special anti-corruption unit in his office and dissolved the disgraced Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc). The President then appointed a new Zacc board, chaired by Loice Matanda-Moyo, after the previous Zacc body was accused of corruption and lacking the “teeth to bite”.
Last year, Mnangagwa gave us a long list of individuals and companies accused of externalising nearly US$1 billion. The list provided fodder for Zacc to start investigations and bring the culprits to book, but it seems the case has suffered a still-birth. In July, Matanda-Moyo said the commission had received Auditor-General (AG) Mildred Chiri’s report and investigations had commenced in respect of ministries, parastatals and State entities involved in corruption and misappropriation of funds. Chiri’s report revealed that the government last year had a $2 billion budget overrun without parliamentary approval, when parastatals, State entities and local authorities unashamedly flouted accounting procedures. According to the AG’s report, the government was supposed to spend $4,6 billion from the Consolidated Revenue Fund, but ended up spending $7,1 billion.
The Zacc boss said the report was fodder for investigations into corruption, theft, misappropriation of funds and abuse of power and or any other improper conduct committed in the public sector, adding that Zacc had received at least 38 corruption reports since assuming duty, of which a dozen were high-profile cases.
While we have not witnessed many arrests or convictions, other than catch-and-release shows, last week we were told Zacc was casting its nets wider to recover ill-gotten wealth stashed in foreign lands by engaging regional governments in the fight against corruption. Have we exhausted the AG’s report? What has happened to the externalisation list? What has happened to 15 top Zanu PF and government officials, including Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mangudya, Cabinet ministers and business leaders who were accused by the ruling party youth league of running illegal foreign currency rings?
This lackadaisical approach is corruption in itself – it’s self-defeating. What Zimbabweans are expecting is action, not sloganeering and posturing. There is no excuse because evidence of corruption is readily available. What is now needed is for Matanda-Moyo to bite the bullet and descend on the big fish in high offices, not herrings.
This gung-ho approach in fighting corruption will not help the Zimbabwean cause. What we have seen so far is not a genuine anti-corruption campaign, but a pursuit of personal and political agendas and vendettas disguised as zero tolerance to graft.
A handful of people who have been arrested on corruption charges are either in the wrong basket or small fish. Former Tourism minister Priscah Mupfumira is a good example. A fish rots from the head. The anti-corruption fight has gone to the dogs. At this rate, no one, including those in his inner circle, still take Mnangagwa’s anti-graft rhetoric seriously. It’s a case of all bark, no bite!
Zimbabweans must have a buy-in and own the fight against corruption. The fact that small fish and a few people perceived to be anti-establishment are the ones the corruption dragnet has caught raises questions. The command “ugly-culture” is one vehicle that well-to-do and connected individuals have been using to loot and self-enrich. This programme should be disinfected.
If he wants to be believed, Mnangagwa must urgently confront dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery, fraud and theft, as well as other criminal activities. What is needed is political will to tackle corruption in all its various manifestations. Granting Zacc prosecutorial powers will yield nothing if not accompanied by political will.
The judiciary is the last frontier in the fight against corruption with growing calls for this arm of government, charged with implementing the law, to be reformed.
In South Africa, judicial officers are performing much better than their counterparts in the region. Prosecution and trials of accused persons is conducted as quickly as legally permissible. Judges are expected to hand down written judgements that are automatically loaded online within 30 days of concluding a case. Zimbabwean courts can learn something from their colleagues from across the Limpopo River. They have to start delivering judgments soon after trials are concluded, not the current scenario where full judgments are only made available in many instances nearly two years later.
How does this help? Making full judgments available helps dispel the notion that the bench is captured or influenced as more often than not everyone can read for themselves the reasoning behind the judge’s decision. This would go a long way in making justice transparent and people could judge for themselves if justice is being done.
It seems Matanda-Moyo is biting more than she can chew. While Zacc has not hit the ground running on the local front in terms of recovering the local loot, she is already talking about recovering illegally-acquired assists in Sadc countries. Madam Matanda-Moyo, charity begins at home. Common criminals are occupying government offices, driving posh cars, building mansions in leafy suburbs, while the anti-graft body is engaging in catch-and-release shows. It is either the teeth that Zacc got have fallen off or the commission is now captured or both.
Paul Nyathi|The ruling ZANU PF party has gone to the mountains claiming that opposition MDC has been planning a major insurgency against President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s failing government this after over 200 anti riot police helmets were found at a private building across the opposition party’s headquarters in Harare.
Police shockingly expressed ignorance of the huge loot of their own equipment.
The whole saga raises fears that ZANU PF might be going back to its old ways where it effected a brutal one sided war against then powerful opposition PF ZAPU led by Joshua Nkomo after claiming that the opposition party was hiding arms of war meant to destabilise the then Robert Mugabe government.
According to the Zanu-PF narrative of Zimbabwe’s post-independence history, the discovery of dozens of arms caches in early 1982 was the major event that led to the deployment of a “crack force” of the army – the Gukurahundi – in Matabeleland during 1983.
A year later, Zanu announced dramatically that Zapu and its leader, Joshua Nkomo, were at it. They had been caught red-handed, caching arms on strategically located properties as part of an elaborate coup plot.
The reality was different. The only secret plan in play was Zanu’s, and the “crisis” was a myth, an event staged by Mugabe as part of his bid for absolute power.
On 6 February 1982, Emmerson Mnangagwa convened a press conference in Bulawayo, telling journalists gravely that he felt “very low” about a statement he had to make: the government had discovered around 60 arms caches in Matabeleland, half of them at Gwaai, the main base of Zapu’s military wing, Zipra, and another 30 at a farm owned by a company connected with Zapu.
Over the next 10 days, a torrent of reports in the official media sought to portray Zanu-PF as having thwarted a colossal and imminent threat to state security.
The reports repeatedly emphasised the scale of the caches, and almost daily there were stories of new finds by the police, army and Central Intelligence Organisation.
Mugabe raged against “these people” who were “planning to overthrow and take over the government”. Zapu and “other elements who wanted to start a civil war … would be dealt with”.
As for Nkomo, he was like a “cobra in the house” – the “only way to deal effectively with a snake is to strike and destroy its head …
Nkomo and three of his party colleagues were dismissed from cabinet and – in an operation personally directed by Mugabe and Mnangagwa – senior members of Zipra and Zapu’s former intelligence wing were arrested. The government of national unity that Mugabe had created in April 1980 was practically dead from this point. (It was nominally revived in late 1987, though this second iteration was more a consequence of mass murder and political rape than it was a matter of unity.)
The arms caches “crisis” was undoubtedly a critical juncture in Zimbabwe’s turbulent early years, with the already dire relationship between Zanu and Zapu plunging yet further, accelerating towards the abyss.
Others condemn the indiscriminate violence wrought by the Gukurahundi – and lament the gigantic, festering wound it has bequeathed to the nation – but blame Zapu for producing (or contributing to) a situation in which Zanu was bound to react.
The problem with this view is that it is founded not on the truth but on Zanu-PF propaganda.
Many were fooled by the subsequent media blitz, including the South Africans. In a demonstration that the apartheid regime had little to do with the affair, South African intelligence assessments reflected surprise and deemed the Zimbabwean government’s statements to be largely accurate.
However, others who knew more about the political context and the disarmament process concluded that the crisis was a manipulation by Zanu-PF.
Mugabe himself put the matter beyond doubt a few weeks later when he told the visiting British foreign secretary, Peter Carrington, that “the last straw … had come when he mentioned his ideas regarding a one-party state to Nkomo, who refused even to talk about them”.
It was, then, not a further act of subversion by Nkomo that contributed to the unleashing of the Gukurahundi a year later, but his refusal to come to Mugabe on bended knee, seeking “unity” on Zanu’s terms.
The arms caches crisis was a cynical stunt, nothing more. As was so often the case during Zimbabwe’s early years, the most accurate guide to reality was to be found in turning Zanu-PF propaganda on its head.
Years later, well experienced Mnangagwa appears to be taking exactly the same lane he took with his erstwhile mentor Mugabe and could very well be taking the route to unleash another Gukurahundi blaming the non violent and non militant MDC for the possession of the police equipment.
A man from Mwenezi who separated from his wife in August 2018 caused drama at Matava Village under Chief Maranda when he impounded and drove away two beasts he paid as lobola after finding out that his wife was not at her parents’ home.
Kabalika Mukupe had come to reconcile and take his wife and children back home when he was told that his wife had since left and no one knew where she was.
Killion Dube, the father in law brought the matter before resident Magistrate Honesty Musiiwa claiming that his son in law drove away the cattle without his consent knowing that they now belonged to him since he paid them as pride price.
Mukupe’s mother in law said the two separated in August 2018 and the husband never bothered to follow his wife and settle their differences until their daughter went to an unknown place in December that same year.
Mukupe decided to come and claim his wife and children on February 20, 2019 and he was told that she was not there. He demanded that they give him back his cattle but Dube told him to come with a go between.
It is alleged that, the accused opened the kraal and drove away with the cattle without anyone’s consent. Dube tried to stop him to no avail.
Paul Nyathi|In yet another very embarrassing incident for First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa, villagers in President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s farming area of Sherwood in Kwekwe declared that they did not know who she is.
Mrs Mnangagwa got the shock of her life from the villagers on Monday where she was the guest of honour at the launch of the Midlands Province Integrated Environment in the Sherwood farming community where President Emmerson Mnangagwa owns a huge farming and mining area
Midlands Provincial Affairs Minister Larry Mavhima tried to introduce Mrs Mnangagwa before she could address the gathering saying that Auxillia was a well known individual in the farming block since she was a parliamentarian in the area before becoming First Lady.
“The person I am introducing to you is not new in this area. She has been working very hard for this community both as an MP and also as the First Lady.
“Our First Lady’s work ethic and hard work has earned her not only plaudits in the country but also accolades across beyond the borders that she was recently rewarded for being hardworking First Lady in America.
“Our First Lady is not new to any of us, is there anyone who doesn’t know her?” Mavhima asked.
But a section of the villagers said they did not know her.
“We don’t know her…” some villagers who were part of the programme responded, back leaving Mavhima amazed.
The First Lady however had a few words for the women who said they did not know her.
“I think those who said they did not know me are the newly married ones in this area because this is my community and I have worked for this community for a very long time.
“I can take those who did not know me as my new daughters-in-law who must start performing their customary duties and bring some water for me as their mother-in-law,” she said, tongue-in-cheek.
“You may be new in the area where you are married but where you come from you are taught manners to recognise and respect your mother-in-law and father-in-law,” she said.
Auxillia Mnangagwa, was early this year left with egg on her face when she was booed by a crowd of bystanders in Masvingo central business district.
The incident happened as she entered and exited a supermarket in the city.
She had visited Masvingo to assess the drugs situation at Masvingo General Hospital in her role as an ambassador for the Ministry of Health and Child Care.
Last week, Mrs Mnangagwa was turned into another mockery when ruling party members snubbed her Family Fun Day at Chipadze Stadium in Bindura.
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,
allafrica.com|Daviz Simango, the leader and presidential candidate of the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), has claimed that he can solve, within 90 days, the problem of the self-styled “Renamo Military Junta”.
The Junta is a breakaway from the main opposition party, Renamo, which claims Renamo leader Ossufo Momade is “a traitor”, and does not recognise the peace agreement he signed with President Filipe Nyusi on 6 August. The Junta claims that its leader, Mariano Nhongo, is the true President of Renamo.
Gunmen loyal to the Junta are believed to have carried out a series of ambushes against vehicles in the central provinces of Manica and Sofala.
Speaking in Beira, at a rally marking the end of his election campaign, Simango criticised the Nyusi-Momade agreement, claiming that it did not take into account the integration of Renamo’s armed men back into society
“Our brothers need to be integrated”, he said. “It is not enough to sign agreements just for the sake of signing them. If the MDM wins the elections we shall solve the problem of those men within 90 days”.
He said that the MDM, once in government, will also work to bring to an end the lengthy and contorted process of fixing pensions for veterans of the independence war, and other demobilised troops. “The MDM will not discriminate against anybody”, pledged Simango.
He attacked what he called “the bad policies of the government in education, health and agriculture”, stressing that, if the MDM is victorious, it will prioritise those sectors, since they form “the triangular base for the country’s development”.
In education, he said, the problem persists of children studying in the open air, or in classrooms built out of flimsy materials. In many cases, the children in these classrooms have no desks and sit on the floor.
Teachers, he said, work under extremely difficult conditions. “We want to improve the living and working conditions of teachers, of health staff, and of public employees in general”, said Simango.
He claimed there is still no real democracy in Mozambique, because “there is a great deal of exclusion of various kinds”
“The MDM will work to ensure opportunities for all, on all fronts of economic and social life”, Simango pledged.
Paul Nyathi|Polling opened across Mozambique on Tuesday, with 13 million voters registered to cast ballots in presidential, parliamentary, and provincial elections seen as key to consolidating peace in the southern African nation.
A ceasefire was signed in August between the government and the opposition Renamo rebels after years of skirmishes following a civil war, and acceptance of the election results is a key test of the agreement.
The ruling Frelimo party, which has governed since Mozambique’s independence from Portugal in 1975, is expected to be returned to power and President Felipe Nyusi, who voted as polls opened, is expected to win a second term in a vote where insecurity and political tensions might keep some people from the polls.
Watch video downloading below:
Renamo’s candidate and new leader Ossufo Momade is expected to benefit from Renamo’s popularity, particularly in the countryside. Also seeking the presidency is opposition MDM candidate Daviz Simango, who is mayor of Beira city, which suffered badly in the devastating Cyclone Idai earlier this year.
The southern African nation of nearly 30 million people on the Indian Ocean was hit by Cyclone Idai which also hit eastern Zimbabwe and, weeks later, Cyclone Kenneth, raising fears about what climate change would bring to the country’s sprawling coastline in the decades to come.
Insecurity also poses a threat. At least 10 polling centers were not opening in northernmost Cabo Delgado province as Mozambique’s election authority said it cannot guarantee safety from attacks by shadowy Islamic extremists. That means some 5,400 people will not be able to vote.
More than 400 people have been killed by the insurgents over the past two years.
Vote counting will start after polls close at 6 p.m. local time and preliminary results are expected Wednesday, with full provisional results before the end of the week.
A runoff similar to the one provided for under Zimbabwean laws will be held if no presidential candidate wins a majority of the vote.
For the first time Mozambicans are also electing provincial governors, a key concession to Renamo. Previously all governors were appointed by the ruling party.
In 10 of the country’s 11 provinces, the governor will be the lead candidate of the party or list which wins the most votes in the provincial assembly election. Maputo, the 11th province and the capital, is both a city and a province and it was decided not to add a governor to the elected mayor.
However, Frelimo has established a new management layer, a provincial secretary of state, which will be appointed by the president and take on many of the powers that governors have had up to now.
Zimbabwe in its capacity as chair of Sadc’s Organ on Politics Defence and Security leads the regional body’s observer mission to oversee the elections.
Defence and War Veterans, Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri is the leader of the SEOM to Mozambique during the period 2nd to 22 October 2019 as mandated by President Emmerson Mnangagwa who is chairing the SADC organ.
Paul Nyathi|South African Law lecturer and Helen Suzman Foundation researcher Arvitha Doodnath, who led a campaign destined to President Cyril Ramaphosa against gender violence at the Vaal University of Technology, was shot dead in Johannesburg at the weekend.
Doodnath, who started the campaign after last month’s killing of UCT student Uyinene Mrwetyana, was killed on Jan Smuts Avenue in Parkview, near the Johannesburg Zoo, on Saturday night in a suspected hijacking. Her car, a Ford Figo, was found at the scene.
The 30-year-old was on her way home from a dancing event at the Hindu Temple in Mayfair, Johannesburg.
The Helen Suzman Foundation (HSF) on Monday said its workers were devastated by the murder of one of its fellows.
Law lecturer at Vaal University of Technology Arvitha Doodnath was found dead inside her car in Parktown on Saturday in what appeared to be an attempted hijacking. Doodnath was a research fellow at the HSF. Police were investigating a case of murder.
HSF director Francis Antonie said Arvitha joined the foundation as a legal researcher in 2015, and her passion for health policy reform quickly saw her take over the HSF’s health desk.
Paul Nyathi|President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s immediate next rival, G40 leader, Saviour Kasukuwere has charmed South African ANC supporters after he led the singing of Jacob Zuma made popular song Umshini Wami.
Watch video downloading below:
The self exiled former Cabinet Minister charmed members of South Africa’s African National Congress during a Robert Mugabe lecture series which was delivered by former President Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Mhlanganyelwa Zuma recently.
After the lecture, Kasukuwere took to the podium and sang Zuma’s signature song Umshini Wami.
Kasukuweere and Patrick Zhuwao have been instrumental in keeping the memory of Mugabe alive by organising lecture series in South Africa. The initial one was organised by the Economic Freedom Fighters and delivered by Julius Sello Malema.
Team Pachedu, a social media group of activists critical of the government has questioned how the ruling party owns more cars than ambulances at the country’s hospitals.
POLICE in Bulawayo have arrested a murder suspect on their wanted persons list moments before his release from prison for another crime after discovering that he had been in jail while they searched for him thinking he was on the run.
The suspect skipped the country in 2013 after allegedly brutally killing a security guard at a flea market in the city centre with two other accomplices who are now serving life sentences.
Ignatius Mehluli Mhlanga (25) allegedly killed Vengai Murisi with Timothy Mathema and Isaac Nyakurerwa.
They brutally attacked him at his work place at a flea market by tying his hands, legs and neck using a wire coat hanger before strangling him to death using a jacket draw-string.
Mathema (30) and Nyakurerwa (35) were sentenced to life in prison for murder with actual intent and they implicated Mhlanga who had fled to South Africa.
Mhlanga was on the run for six years but came back to the country and was arrested and jailed for nine months for another robbery he committed upon his return.
However, police continued to search for him for killing the security guard while he was in fact in prison serving time for the robbery charge.
Mhlanga was arrested on Saturday at Bulawayo Prison moments before being released from jail after serving nine months for the robbery.
“The suspect together with two other accomplices allegedly killed a security guard at a flea market in 2013. His co-accused were arrested and sentenced to life in prison. The accused skipped the country to South Africa where he stayed and returned recently when his mother fell ill,” he said.
Insp Ncube did not provide the exact time when Mhlanga returned to the country.
He said during the time he was in the country, Mhlanga committed a robbery crime and was sentenced to nine months in prison.
“During the time he was serving in prison, police got a tip off that he was part of the trio that allegedly killed a security guard in 2013 before he skipped the country for South Africa. He was arrested on Saturday at Bulawayo Prison and was charged with murder and armed robbery,” said Insp Ncube.
“His arrest should serve as a strong reminder to criminals that the long arm of the law will catch up with you no matter how far you run. You can run but certainly you can’t hide forever.”
In convicting Mathema and Nyakurerwa last year, Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Martin Makonese said the two had killed Murisi in a callous manner and should be permanently removed from society.
“The deceased was brutally killed by the accused persons in furtherance of a crime of robbery. Under normal circumstances the two deserved capital punishment since the murder was committed in aggravating circumstances. However, this court notes that Mathema was affected by anti-social disorder at the time of commission of the offence,” ruled Justice Makonese.
“The accused persons must be permanently removed from society in order to make our society safer. For this heinous crime, the accused persons are accordingly sentenced to life imprisonment,” Justice Makonese.
NewsDay|A GROUPING of civic groups, under the banner Matabeleland Collective (MC), has threatened to disrupt nurse training lessons at Mpilo and United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) to force government to address reports of unfair recruitment of student nurses at the two institutions.
This comes amid reports that at Mpilo, 20 out of the 24 trainee nurses recruited last week were not from Matabeleland. The same reads for United Bulawayo Hospitals where only four out of the 27 nurse trainees are from Matabeleland.
Mpilo clinical director Solwayo Ngwenya, who also heads the school of nursing, reportedly claimed that the selection process was done in Harare after the introduction of an online nurses’ application portal.
The MC said the move by the Health ministry flies in the face of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s promises, as outlined in the implementation matrix produced after the March engagement at the Bulawayo State House.
Mnangagwa, under the social services cluster, pledged to ensure that government devolves such processes by giving locals first preference in job training or in filling vacant posts.
“MC pledges to shut down some of these training centres if government does not intervene to reverse these unfair practices from these nursing training institutions. MC also urges government to immediately implement devolution of power in order to curb these unfair structural practices that favour other regions over the other,” the MC said in a statement.
On Sunday, Vice-President Kembo Mohadi, while promising redress, condemned the questionable nurse training recruitment at Mpilo and UBH.
“We are not happy and as government, we will address this issue. Government policy is that the recruitment must be done equitably. We don’t want bias in that regard.
“We are going to look into it so that it is rectified,” Mohadi said after a de-briefing on the issue by Bulawayo Metropolitan Affairs minister Judith Ncube at Zanu PF’s Bulawayo Davies Hall provincial offices. Ncube last week also threatened to force the reversal of the “unfair” nurse trainee selection process.
Full Statement By The Collective:
Matabeleland Collective Press Statement on tribal recruitment of student nurses in Matabeleland.
Matabeleland Collective strongly condemns the unfair, tribal motivated recruitment of student nurses at Brunapeg, Mangwe, Gwanda, only one student at St Lukes, over 95 % of student nurses at Mpilo School of Nursing and is disappointed and taken aback by glaring Institutionalised Discrimination in the Ministry of Health and Child Care. Matebeleland Collective is shocked by findings revealed by the Chronicle Newspaper that UBH only recruited one student each from Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South but 10 from Harare. Only four are from Bulawayo and Midlands also contributed.“St Anne’s Hospital in Brunapeg, Mangwe recruited no students from Matabeleland South or North provinces. Gwanda hospital also in the same region recruited zero students from Matabeleland South where it is located just like St Luke’s Hospital. The mission hospital in Lupane only got one student from Matabeleland North,” Matebeleland Collective calls for an investigation for this scandal that was also confirmed by Mpilo clinical director Dr Solwayo Ngwenya who also heads the school of nursing confirmed that this time around, the selection and interviews were done from Harare and none of them from Mpilo of Nursing was consulted. He told state owned Chronicle Newspaper of 06 October 2019 that they received the 24 names of the student nurses who started on Monday and all these were a recommendation from the head office in Harare.
The move by the Ministry of Health and Child Care also flies in the face of what President Mnangagwa promised in the Implementation Matrix produced at the 21 March engagement meeting. The Head of State in number 9 – Social Services pledged to ensure that his government will devolve government processes by prioritising local businesses in the awarding of local tenders and GIVING LOCALS FIRST PREFERENCE WHEN FILING POSITIONS” This is also a violation of: Section 3 (f) recognition of the equality of all human beings (Founding Principles), Section 13 (4) “The State must ensure that local communities benefit from the resources in their areas.” Section 18 (2) reads” The State and all institutions and agencies of the State and government at every level must take practical measures to ensure that all local communities have equitable access to resources to promote their development.” Section 56 (3) Every person has the right not to be treated in an unfairly discriminatory manner on such grounds as their nationality, race, colour, tribe, place of birth, ethnic or social origin, language, class, religious belief, political affiliation, opinion, custom, culture, sex, gender, marital status, age, pregnancy, disability or economic or social status, or whether they were born in or out of wedlock.” Section 264 (d) to recognise the right of communities to manage their own affairs and to further their development; (e) “To ensure the equitable sharing of local and national resources;..” Matabeleland Collective pledges to shutdown some of these training centres if government does not intervene to reverse these unfair practice from these nursing training institutions. Matabeleland Collective also urges government to immediately implement devolution of power in order to curb these unfair structural practices that favour other regions over the other.”
Matebeleland Collective also invite legislators and other political players from this region to take note of such divisive actions/ discrepancies and assist in the broader collective to nip them in the bud.”
File Picture of zanu pf members marching in Harare
State Media|The ruling ZANU PF party says that it has finalised arrangements for the October 25 SADC initiated anti sanctions day where they will hold marches throughout the country against sanctions imposed on some ZANU PF leaders by the Western countries.
Harare hosting the biggest protest that will culminate at the National Sports Stadium where President Mnangagwa is expected to give an address.
After President Mnangagwa’s address, there will be a soccer match between some of the biggest football clubs in the country, and an all-night musical gala where top musicians will perform.
The events follow the declaration of October 25 by SADC as solidarity day against the illegal sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe, with member states pledging to conduct various activities in their own countries to resoundingly call for the immediate removal of the embargo.
Director of Media Services in the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Dr Anywhere Mutambudzi said yesterday that all was set for the day.
“The march will start at the Africa Unity Square where people from all walks of life are expected to start gathering as early as 6am, they will then embark on the march around 8am heading to the National Sports Stadium,” he said.
“We expect that other people who will not be able to join the march from the city centre will make their way from their areas to the stadium for this important event.”
Dr Mutambudzi said other activities around the anti-sanctions day will include a schools competition in poetry and drama on the theme of the removal of the sanctions.
He said academic papers will also be presented as part of the call against the sanctions.
“We are calling on musicians and artists to join a competition for composing the best anti-sanctions song that will get a prize,” said Dr Mutambudzi.
Zimbabwean university graduates demonstrate against non employment by playing soccer in the streets of Harare in their academic gowns.
Paul Nyathi|President Emmerson Mnangagwa with a battalion of advisers says that he has only just recently discovered that just about ten percent of graduates produced at the country’s institutions of Higher Education are absorbed into formal employment.
Accordingly, Mnangagwa has asked his lieutenants to organise probably the most hostile gathering he will ever have, where he has instructed the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare to call for an indaba between him and the unemployed graduates.
The Deputy Minister of Public Service Labour and Social Welfare Lovemore Matuke confirmed the development.
“We have been sent by the President to compile a database for unemployed graduates countrywide.
“The President has realised that every year he goes around capping graduates at tertiary institutions, but only about 10 percent manage to secure employment.
“Now we are coming up with a programme around Zimbabwe of mobilising graduates from certificate level to honours degrees from all tertiary institutions,” said Deputy Minister Matuke.
