The real location of Robert Mugabe’s corpse has remained a mystery the nation might have to endure for a thousand years. The late 95 year old’s nephew, Leo, says Mugabe ‘s is a chief whose resting place and its dating cannot be known. Everything is meant to confuse and upset both his close family and the nation at large. The development comes as usually reliable sources told reporters Mugabe was secretly buried in Zvimba last week, linking well with several video recorded statements by the Mugabe family spokesman, Leo who clearly said that at the heroes acre, the government will bury something else that is not his bosy. They even provided photographic evidence of the burial site. So confusing is the matter that Leo Mugabe himself acknowledged, leading to him altogether cancelling the government imposed heroes burial function previously slated for the 15th Sept 2019. In other interviews he categorically announced that the public would never know either when or where Mugabe’s remains will be interred. The Mugabe burial site and its dating should thus be just like that of King Lobengula whose remains since the 1890s, have remained a mystery. Is the latest twist a deliberate pile up to the confusion, so people will be forever continue in derision? Reporters are investigating.

Former first lady Grace Mugabe has petitioned the City of Harare to have Mugabe buried at the Blue Roof. Where do you think Mugabe should be buried?

— ZimEye (@ZimEye) September 25, 2019

By A Correspondent- In a move to tame the foreign exchange black market the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe is reported to have frozen another group of bank accounts linked to Kuda Tagwireyi and Traverze Travel which is owned by Ginimbi’s Ex Wife.

Zodwa Mkandla is the Founder and Managing Director of Traverze Travel, one of the leading leisure and corporate travel management companies in Zimbabwe.

This is the second time in less than a week that the RBZ’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has frozen bank accounts.

Last week the FIU froze another set of bank accounts belonging to Kuda Tagwirei, a close ally of President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Vice President Constantino Chiwenga.

In the latest action taken by the FIU, the accounts which have been frozen are as follows.

By A Correspondent- Speaker of Parliament, Advocate Jacob Mudenda has said that he will engage Foreign Affairs Minister, Dr Sibusiso Moyo over alleged abuse of diplomatic passports by some legislators.

Mudenda told Parliamentarians that the red passport carried a huge responsibility.

He said:

The holding of a diplomatic passport carries with it some heavy responsibility.

It’s a privilege and, therefore, cannot be abused, especially in international relations.

I shall therefore have to converse with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (Dr Sibusiso Busi Moyo) and deal with the matter accordingly.

Mudenda was responding to a report by Chimanimani West legislator, Joshua Sacco who had said that there were people who were speaking badly about both president Emmerson Mnangagwa and the country yet they possessed the red passport.

For Sacco, denigrating the President and the country constituted treason.

-StateMedia

By A Correspondent- Zanu-PF secretary for Information and Publicity, Simon Khaya Moyo, has said that the ruling party was disturbed by Malema’s recent attack on the government.

Malema had come to Zimbabwe to pay his last respects to the late founding leader of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe whose body lies in state at the Blue Roof Mansion.

Malema described government officials as “chancers” and also attributed the high unemployment rate in the country to the leadership, not business.

Khaya Moyo said Malema’s comments were not appropriate at a funeral as they do not embody the spirit of ubuntu.

He added:

“Whilst it is everyone’s democratic right to mourn and pay respect on the sad note of the founding father former President Robert Mugabe, including the restless and careless South African opposition party EEF leader Julius Malema, it is an abomination and unAfrican to use such a platform to denigrate virtues which define Ubuntu.

In that regard, the party finds it reprehensible for Mr Julius Malema to use such a solemn occasion to spew political propaganda and score cheap political mileage.

Zanu-PF Secretary for War veterans, Douglas Mahiya, said that Malema was being used by the Generation 40 party to insult the government.

He added that Malema was a “small boy” who does not understand regional politics and will “never rule South Africa”.

Malema recently invited members of the Generation party, including Saviour Kasukuwere and Jason Zhuwao to Mugabe’s memorial service that was held in Soweto, South Africa.

At the same event, he remarked that it was not outrageous for Kasukuwere to have succeeded former President Mugabe.

By A Correspondent- The real location of Robert Mugabe’s corpse has remained a mystery the nation might have to endure for a thousand years. The late 95 year old’s nephew, Leo, says Mugabe is a chief whose resting place and its dating cannot be known. Everything is meant to confuse and upset both his close family and the nation at large. The development comes as usually reliable sources told reporters Mugabe was secretly buried in Zvimba last week, linking well with several video recorded statements by the Mugabe family spokesman, Leo who clearly said that at the heroes acre, the government will bury something else that is not his body. They even provided photographic evidence of the burial site. So confusing is the matter that Leo Mugabe himself acknowledged, leading to him altogether cancelling the government imposed heroes burial function previously slated for the 15th Sept 2019. In other interviews he categorically announced that the public would never know either when or where Mugabe’s remains will be interred. The Mugabe burial site and its dating should thus be just like that of King Lobengula whose remains since the 1890s, have remained a mystery. Is the latest twist a deliberate pile up to the confusion, so people will be forever continue in derision? Reporters are investigating. Traditional leaders from Zvimba were on Friday reportedly kicked out of the late former President Robert Mugabe’s Blue Roof mansion by the ex-leader’s widow Grace as the feud over the final resting place of her husband rages on.

Highly-placed family sources told NewsDay that Grace was livid after it emerged that it was the Zvimba chiefs led by Chief Zvimba who approached President Emmerson Mnangagwa pushing for Mugabe to be declared a national hero and interred at the national shrine.

“There was a stand-off after it became clear that the chiefs were pushing their own interests and prepared to alter Mugabe’s deathbed wishes not to be buried at the National Heroes Acre, but at his boyhood village in Kutama,” the source said.

The source said the chiefs who had camped at the Blue Roof since Mugabe died early this month were reportedly given their marching orders on Thursday night after a meeting between the traditional leaders, Grace’s sisters and Mnangagwa. They then left the lofty home on Friday morning.

Grace has not set foot at the national shrine where government is constructing a mausoleum for her husband, whose body was claimed to be still holed up at the family’s imposing mansion in Borrowdale.

She has allegedly refused to let the veteran nationalist’s body lie in state at One Commando Barracks or at private mortuaries, a development which has further strained her relations with other family members.

“What I know is that it’s the Zvimba chiefs who marked that grave (mausoleum) and Grace has not even set her foot there, so clearly that feud is not a lie. The people who have been taking the lead are Zvimba chiefs and they have not been at Blue Roof since weekend,” a government source said.

“If she can’t allow them to keep the body and preferring to stay at home with her dead husband, what makes you think she will let them bury him at the National Heroes Acre where the army and his enemies in government have access?” a close family member asked.

Contacted for comment yesterday, Mugabe family spokesperson Leo said: “Ummm, I am not aware of any stand-off. I am currently at my farm. I hope most of the people have gone back to their homes or farms. As far as I know, there are no changes. We are waiting on the government to finish working at the Heroes Acre,” he said.

Mugabe died in Singapore on September 6 after being pushed out of power in a coup in November 2017, and replaced by his former long-time aide, Mnangagwa.

Shortly before his death, Mugabe reportedly told his close family members that he did not wish to be buried at the national shrine and for his “tormentors” to pontificate over his demise.

On Friday, South Africa’s opposition Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema visited the Mugabe family home to pay his condolences where he urged Grace to stand firm and resist attempts to force her to defy her late husband’s deathbed wishes.

“We respect the last wishes of President Mugabe and that in our African tradition the words of the deceased cannot be undermined by anyone it doesn’t matter how powerful you think you are,” Malema said.

“If the current dispensation believes in President Mugabe, they should protect his legacy. Part of protecting his legacy is first and foremost respect his last wishes and the wishes of his family.

“It’s an absolute nonsense that you think declaring a person a national hero takes away the right of the family over the deceased. The family, especially the surviving spouse, has got the last word. It doesn’t matter whether you have declared a person a national hero; whether you are doing a State funeral, every little detail of what you want to do around the dead body should be consulted with the family, particularly when we are African and there is a very strong surviving spouse here who is not easily shaken by arrivalists, so they ought to really respect her and respect the wishes of this family,” he added.

— NewsDay

By A Correspondent- Scores of supporters of the MDC-T led by Dr Thokozani Khupe are reportedly seeking readmission into the MDC-A led by advocate Nelson Chamisa.

MDC A Matebeleland North Provincial organising secretary, Goshen Zhou, who is also Victoria Falls councillor for ward 11, said that they have since received phone calls from those who wanted to defect. Zhou said:

We have received a number of calls from MDC-T supporters who want to defect from the party to MDC Alliance. They have expressed their desire to come back.

Some of them have approached the provincial leadership begging to be allowed back into the party. We have requested that they put their applications in writing and we are still waiting for their letters.

News Day reports that some highly placed sources claimed that those who wanted to desert the party were citing lack of direction and the party’s participation in President Mnangagwa-led political dialogue, POLAD.

The claims have however been refuted by MDC-T national chairman, Abednico Bhebhe, who described them as blatant lies. Bhebhe said:

“The first mistake, have they shown you the letters of those people whom they are claiming to be joining MDC Alliance? Two, who are those people? Three, they must be celebrating that Zanu PF, the party that has caused us all problems are joining them, not another opposition party.”

-Newsday

The ZRP is aware of social media reports referring to the results of the medical examination carried out on Dr Magombeyi, some of them stating that he is wheelchair bound and others stating that he is unable to walk as a result of severe torture to sensitive parts of his anatomy.

The ZRP would like to ensure the public that whilst the results of his examination cannot be published on the grounds of the observance of the doctor/patient confidentiality and the fact that investigations are still in progress, these reports are mischievous, false and baseless. Consequently, they should be disregarded.

The ZRP is still carrying out investigations into this matter and members of the public with information that they consider relevant to this investigation are invited to approach the police with their evidence.

In the meantime, Dr Magombeyi has unfettered access to his family, friends, and a plethora of lawyers and he enjoys the full protection of the Zimbabwe Republic Police.

Paul Nyathi|Late former President Robert Mugabe family spokesperson Leo Mugabe has failed to explain categorically the uncultural continuous changing of caskets that have been seen as carrying Mugabe’s body.

Mugabe’s body arrived from Singapore in a wooden casket and it lied in state at Rufaro and National Sports Stadium in the original casket.

When the body was finally taken to Mugabe’s rural home mourners were shocked to discover that the casket had been changed.

“That is not the casket that we saw on Saturday at the National Sports Stadium,” said one of the mourners.

“This is something we have never seen. How can a coffin be changed. There must be something happening.

This week, pictures of South African opposition party Julius Malema showed him purportedly “viewing” Mugabe’s body in a completely different casket.

“I cannot answer that particular question. The safety of the corpse was taken into cognisance,” was all that Leo Mugabe could say.

Leo Mugabe further failed to commit on the current situation around the body of his late uncle following revelations that the former statesman was actually buried a couple of days ago.

Speaking to state run online media ZTN on Tuesday night, Mugabe said his last knowledge of the body was on Thursday last week when it was scheduled to leave Zvimba for Harare.

Initially, the Mugabe family announced the body would be preserved at a private mortuary after public parades in the capital, Harare, and the former leader’s rural home, Zvimba. This was to allow the body to await its purported burial inside a mausoleum at the National Heroes Acre.

Mugabe told ZTN News on Tuesday that he was specifically not aware where the body is at the moment though indicating that it had been extensively embalmed in Singapore to last a while before burial.

“When I left Harare on Thursday (last week after returning with the body from Zvimba), the general understanding was that the body would be taken to a mortuary or a place to be preserved.

“However, I have since been told that the preservation process was done in Singapore and the body can last for a month without going to the mortuary.

Leo Mugabe further hinted at a possibility that Mugabe may have indeed been buried as a cultural chief whose body needs to be dried extensively before burial which is what the embalming in Singapore could have achieved.

“If a chief were to be buried in a cave, for instance, they would have to be dried up first. Can you imagine how long it would take for the person to dry up? It is not a day’s job.

“So, culturally, they would have to spend days with the body. So, I don’t see a problem there myself. But, in any case, the fact is that we are waiting for the mausoleum to be finished. (Therefore), we still have to keep the body.”

ZimEye.com has been on top of the current situation around Mugabe’s burial with highly placed family members confirming in confidence that Mugabe was indeed buried in a cave in his rural Zvimba home as suggested by Leo Mugabe on his dicing answers on the body’s whereabouts.

According to a close relative of the Mugabe family, the late veteran politician was laid to rest last week, during a night burial ceremony at a hidden location in Zvimba only known to traditional chiefs, his wife Grace and immediate family.

“The whole thing about a mausoleum construction was a tactical diversion,” said the relative, who also served in Mugabe’s administration at one point.

“The president made it clear that he wanted to be buried in his rural home, and that his body be interred by chiefs in the area, at a location only known to them and his immediate family.

“Yes, there shall be a private event at Heroes Acre in Harare, when the mausoleum is complete, but it’s all going to be symbolic. That is not Mugabe’s final resting place, but as a founding father of our country, it made sense to have a mausoleum built for him on top of the hill at the national shrine.” 

Paul Nyathi|Zimbabwe Republic Police have refuted claims that the acting president of the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association, Peter Magombeyi was “electrocuted”, “wheelchair-bound” and “unable to walk”.

The police said that Magombeyi could actually walk.

The police statement released on Wednesday reads as follows:

The ZRP is aware of social media reports referring to the results of the medical examination carried out on Dr Magombeyi, some of them stating that he is wheelchair bound and others stating that he is unable to walk as a result of severe torture to sensitive parts of his anatomy.

The ZRP would like to ensure the public that whilst the results of his examination cannot be published on the grounds of the observance of the doctor/patient confidentiality and the fact that investigations are still in progress, these reports are mischievous, false and baseless. Consequently, they should be disregarded.

The ZRP is still carrying out investigations into this matter and members of the public with information that they consider relevant to this investigation are invited to approach the police with their evidence.

In the meantime, Dr Magombeyi has unfettered access to his family, friends, and a plethora of lawyers and he enjoys the full protection of the Zimbabwe Republic Police.

Magombeyi’s actual condition remains unclear after the state on Tuesday refused to let him leave Avenues Hospital albeit against a court order claiming that he was “unfit to travel”.

Watch video of police refusing to release Dr Peter Magombeyi from hospital on Tuesday evening.

Paul Nyathi|The State yesterday shocked the world when through its lawyer, Nathaniel Chigoro filed an application at the High Court seeking to legalise the illegal hostage of the acting president of Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association, Peter Magombeyi at the Avenues Clinic.

The state argues in its application that the Court ought to consider that there were reports suggesting that Magombeyi was abducted. Therefore, the state would like to ensure that the doctor, like any Zimbabwean citizen, was safe and that could be done when he is within Zimbabwe.

Full script of the state outline below:

Paul Nyathi|President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Monday held talks with Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland as the country presses ahead with efforts to re-integrate itself into the global family of nations after two decades of isolation.

Zimbabwe pulled out of the Commonwealth, a 53-nation group of mainly former British colonies, in 2002 after sharp differences with London over its land reforms.

Britain strongly opposed the reforms, under which excess white-owned farmland was compulsorily acquired to resettle landless blacks, and led an international campaign to diplomatically isolate its former colony in a bid to force the southern African country to relent on the issue.

Zimbabwe stuck to its guns, and pressed ahead with the land reform program. But shortly after taking office in 2017, Mnangagwa made overtures to the country’s friends and foes alike, including the Commonwealth, with an offer to re-open a new page in relations.

It sought to re-join the Commonwealth, and Monday’s talks between Mnangagwa and Scotland – on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York – are part of the re-admission process.

After the talks, the Commonwealth chief said the negotiations were proceeding smoothly, and expressed optimism that the country could re-join the club soon, state news agency New Ziana reported Tuesday.

Before withdrawing, Zimbabwe was one of the Commonwealth’s key members in Africa, and hosted its summit in 1991.

“We had a very good discussion. We were looking at the issues that are still outstanding. There is a process and the process is underway, it is by no means complete. There are some really interesting areas which we are going to continue to discuss. It was a good meeting,” Scotland said.

She said the Commonwealth has a laid down process which every applicant has to go through.

“So this is a process which is being accelerated as quickly as possible. If you look at our process, it is a step by step and Zimbabwe is going through all the steps just like any other country,” she said.

She said there are a number of areas where Zimbabwe has made real reforms.

Last weekend, President Mnangagwa said the quest to return to Commonwealth would be underpinned on the basis that they had not been expelled from the club of former British colonies.

Addressing Zanu-PF supporters from Canada and the US, President Mnangagwa said it was high time that Zimbabwe rejoined the Commonwealth since the reason that led to Harare withdrawing was now behind it.

He said Zimbabwe had withdrawn from the Commonwealth over issues to do with the land reform programme which had since been a completed.

Paul Nyathi|MDC @20 party deputy spokesman Luke Tamborinyoka speaks on the journey the Late Morgan Tsvangirai to Chamisa right here on The Situation Now with Blessed Mhlanga.

NewsDay

Paul Nyathi|Acting Herald Editor Tichaona Zindoga has alleged that the late Zimbabwean strongman Robert Mugabe funded South Africa’s Julius Malema with some 1 Million worth of an unnamed currency.

Zindoga was commenting after Malema launched an attack on President Emmerson Mnangagwa for seeking to hijack the burial of Mugabe.

Said Zindoga, “How much has the moribund G40 paid Malema for recent Mugabe funeral histrionics here & in SA? By the way, a sore point with ANC cadres I met in SA in the immediate aftermath of Malema breakaway is how he was funded by Mugabe some cool million or so.”

How much has the moribund G40 paid @Julius_S_Malema for recent Mugabe funeral histrionics here & in SA? By the way, a sore point with @MYANC cadres I met in SA in the immediate aftermath of Malema breakaway is how he was funded by #Mugabe some cool million or so. @rangamataire

— Review & Mail News (@ReviewandMail) September 23, 2019

The Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage, Ambassador Cain Mathema says the Registrar General’s Department is now targeting to surpass the production of passports from 800 per day to a much bigger figure as government continues on its drive to improve access to the document.

Source – zbc

State Media|THE Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) says it will conduct another diamond auction before the end of the year targeting to sell between 400 000 and 500 000 carats.

Two weeks ago, MMCZ conducted its third auction this year, which saw 316 000 carats being auctioned.

The value of diamond sold under the third auction is yet to be established as reconciliation is still in progress.

MMCZ general manager Mr Tongai Muzenda said they anticipate better returns in the short-term on account of the level of pricing systems that would prevail in the market.

“We are looking forward to conducting another diamond auction where we are targeting to sell between 400 000 and 500 000 carats by the end of November,” he said.

The country expects to produce 4,1 million carats of diamonds this year, up from 2,8 carats last year. At the peak of production in 2012, Zimbabwe’s output was 12 million carats.

Presently, Zimbabwe only has two diamond producers — Murowa and the State-owned Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC), which was formed in March 2016 after Government evicted all diamond mining firms in the Chiadzwa fields following the expiry of their licences.

In June this year, the country invited seven international buyers to participate in a private sale of nearly two million carats.

Under a private sale arrangement, selected buyers are invited for valuations of diamond parcels available for sale. The price the buyer offers will then be compared with the valuations that would have been done by the producer.

And if there is a variance in what the producer is asking for and what the buyer is prepared to pay, the parties negotiate.

If the parties fail to reach consensus, the parcel will be rolled over and other buyers will be invited.

Private sales are a new model since consolidation of the diamond industry.

In the past, the marketing of diamonds was only done through scheduled auctions where buyers were publicly invited.

Zimbabwe, which has in the past not realised expected earnings since the formalisation of diamond mining operations in Manicaland, is ramping up output and negotiations are ongoing with some global investors.

In July this year, the Government signed a joint venture agreement with one of the world’s top diamond producer by volumes, Alrosa Overseas for the exploration, extraction and marketing of Zimbabwe’s diamonds.

NewsDay|DOZENS of MDC-T supporters in Victoria Falls have reportedly crossed the floor to Nelson Chamisa’s MDC Alliance.

The Matabeleland North party leadership yesterday claimed the defectors were citing lack of direction in the former MDC vice-president and ex-Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe-led party.

The supporters backed Khupe after the split of the MDC following the death of its founding president, the late Morgan Tsvangirai, in February last year.

MDC Alliance provincial organising secretary Goshen Zhou, who is also Victoria Falls councillor for ward 11, yesterday confirmed the new development. 

“We have received a number of calls from MDC-T supporters who want to defect from the party to MDC Alliance. They have expressed their desire to come back,” he said.

“Some of them have approached the provincial leadership begging to be allowed back into the party. We have requested that they put their applications in writing and we are still waiting for their letters.”

A source close to the matter said the supporters were planning to leave Khupe’s party en masse after being irked by the party’s “lack of direction” and participating in the President Emmerson Mnangagwa-sponsored dialogue, which they said would not bring any meaningful results.

“They said the dialogue by Mnangagwa and other small parties has failed to change anything because the situation has been deteriorating with each passing day. Their hope is in MDC Alliance, which they view as a party which has the medicine to heal the ailing economy,” the source said.

He said MDC-T structures were now in shambles in the province.

“Many people are disgruntled with the direction the party has taken which they said was a departure from the opposition politics of wanting to bring food on the tables of the suffering masses. The leaders have been accused of now waiting for crumbs from Mnangagwa’s table,” the source added.

Khupe joined Mnangagwa’s dialogue with other leaders of fringe opposition parties which participated in last year’s harmonised elections, but Chamisa has boycotted the process.

State Media|Government has taken over Morton Jaffray Waterworks to ensure residents access potable water after Acting President Kembo Mohadi yesterday facilitated the clearance of water treatment chemicals at the border while the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) and District Development Fund (DDF) chipped in with technical assistance.

Pumping of water at Morton Jaffray was expected to resume by midnight following Government’s intervention, with Acting Harare Mayor Councillor Enock Mupamawonde also announcing that the city had secured seven days’ supply of water treatment chemicals from a local company.

Addressing journalists in Harare yesterday, Acting Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi said Government had lost faith in Harare city fathers as they have failed to provide basic services that led to the cutting of water supplies for the entire Harare metropolitan area yesterday.

Minister Ziyambi said the Government set up a committee of technocrats that will assist council in handling the $37,4 million that was availed by Treasury last week for capital projects, amid reports thatprevious grants and loans were grossly abused.

“The Government has facilitated priority clearance for the lorry carrying chlorine gas from South Africa. The consignment should arrive within the next 36 hours. The council has secured enough calcium hypochlorite granules, also known as HTH, for the next 36 hours.

“We met with the Acting President and immediately we set up mechanisms to ensure that South African and Zimbabwe revenue authorities expedite the clearance of those chemicals so that they can arrive within the next 36 hours.

“Morton Jaffray Waterworks commenced operations earlier today. The conveyance of the water in trunk lines will commence anytime now and people can start to expect water in their taps around midnight. A further 35 tonnes of HTH has been secured to provide a stockpile to ensure that this shut down of the water works does not recur,” he said.

Minister Ziyambi warned not to get into council in order to secure deals for themselves without providing services.

“We are giving them money for capital projects, but what we have decided to do is to have a committee to support them, we no longer trust them, we have in the past given them monies, loans and they bought vehicles so we want this money to be used for the specific purpose it has been released hence we are setting up this committee to assist them do that.

“We believe that Harare City Council is not doing its job and Government cannot continue bailing out the city. It used to be one of the richest councils and in fact they prioritise other things as opposed to service delivery and we are now demanding that they become accountable to residents and we are going to ensure that happens and be strict in terms of the way they conduct themselves,” he said.

On technical experts, ZINWA acting chief executive officer Engineer Taurayi Maurikira said the team was already on the ground working at Morton Jaffrey which was reopened yesterday after getting some local supplies of chemicals.

“Under the section 5(e) and (i) of ZINWA Act it is empowered to intervene when there are challenges in local authorities. We hold the mandate to supply water but it is the local authorities that that have the powers to distribute it.

“We are part of the technical committees set up by Government that are looking at Morton Jaffrey by providing technical knowledge from the production line to the distribution water points,” he said.

District Development Fund (DDF)’s Water Supplies and Maintenance director Mr Edwin Toriro said it was in process of drilling more boreholes in Harare to alleviate the water crisis after Government allocated $60 million for projects.

“Government allocated $60 million for this year which is meant to cover borehole drilling and installation, irrigation development, small scale irrigation scheme, small piped water system rehabilitation and hand pumping rehabilitation,” he said.

The Government’s agency recently drilled 15 boreholes in Glen View.

Paul Nyathi|ZANU-PF yesterday made yet another rhetoric on South Africa opposition leader Mr Julius Malema’s visit to mourn with former first lady Grace Mugabe this time claiming that he is a hypocrite seeking to use former President Robert Mugabe’s funeral for political mileage.

Malema who leads the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) was in the country on Monday to pay condolences to Mugabe’s family following his death early this month.

The EFF leader went on a tirade accusing Sadc and African Union of not serving their members’ interests. He further blasted President Emmerson Mnangagwa for tormenting the late former President Robert Mugabe after taking over government from him through a military coup.

Zanu-PF national spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo said Mr Malema’s desperation had pushed him to use Mugabe’s death for political relevance. 

“While the late Cde RG Mugabe has always been the national, regional and continental and globally esteemed revolution icon, who relentlessly fought the machinations of the oppressor, it is sad to have a puppet of the same colonisers Cde RG Mugabe fought, in the form of Malema demeaning all that he solidly stood for. It would be interesting to all and sundry if they would replay Malema’s past where he vilified the same late Cde Robert Gabriel Mugabe he now wants to befriend in death,” said Khaya Moyo.

He said the late former President needs no charlatans and controversial figures to uphold his legacy as his life speaks volumes for his Pan Africanist beliefs even at death.

Khaya Moyo said it was sad that Mr Malema wanted to use a funeral to gain political relevance. 

“In our African culture it is taboo for anyone despite their station in life to use the occasion of a funeral to demean fellow African brothers and sisters. In that regard, the party finds it reprehensible for Julius Malema to use such a solemn, sombre occasion to spew political propaganda and to score cheap political mileage,” said Khaya Moyo.

“Malema needs to be reminded that his illusion to equate youthful exuberance and verbosity for wisdom and grounded intellectuality exposes him for the political novice which he is. That Malema is now a decorated stooge at the mercy of our yesteryear colonisers is now a public secret as exhibited by his constant verbiage against African leaders and their respective countries. It is sad that he used Zimbabwean soil, the bastion of revolutionary mantra and the fortress of black conscientiousness to lampoon the regional body, Sadc leadership and its ethos.”

He said Mr Malema should take his attention seeking antics elsewhere.

Khaya Moyo said instead of attention seeking, he and his party should seek to convince the South African electorate that has continuously rejected them.

Khaya Moyo’s sentiments come after his fellow ZANU PF spin doctor Energy Mutodi went wayward claiming that Malema was being too nice to Grace Mugabe to probably win him into a relationship.

Julius Malema was foul-mouthed when he visited Zimbabwe. It’s unfortunate he tried to impress the former First Lady Grace by denigrating President Mnangagwa. Grace still looks young & is filthy rich & Malema decided to take a dig on the government in order to impress her..

— Dr Energy Mutodi (@energymutodi) September 24, 2019

Source: State Media

Paul Nyathi|Late former President Robert Mugabe family spokesperson Leo Mugabe has failed to commit on the current situation around the body of his late uncle following revelations that the former statesman was actually buried a couple of days ago.

Speaking to state run online media ZTN on Tuesday night, Mugabe said his last knowledge of the body was on Thursday last week when it was scheduled to leave Zvimba for Harare.

Initially, the Mugabe family announced the body would be preserved at a private mortuary after public parades in the capital, Harare, and the former leader’s rural home, Zvimba. This was to allow the body to await its purported burial inside a mausoleum at the National Heroes Acre.

Mugabe told ZTN News on Tuesday that he was specifically not aware where the body is at the moment though indicating that it had been extensively embalmed in Singapore to last a while before burial.

“When I left Harare on Thursday (last week after returning with the body from Zvimba), the general understanding was that the body would be taken to a mortuary or a place to be preserved.

“However, I have since been told that the preservation process was done in Singapore and the body can last for a month without going to the mortuary.

Leo Mugabe further hinted at a possibility that Mugabe may have indeed been buried as a cultural chief whose body needs to be dried extensively before burial which is what the embalming in Singapore could have achieved.

“If a chief were to be buried in a cave, for instance, they would have to be dried up first. Can you imagine how long it would take for the person to dry up? It is not a day’s job.

“So, culturally, they would have to spend days with the body. So, I don’t see a problem there myself. But, in any case, the fact is that we are waiting for the mausoleum to be finished. (Therefore), we still have to keep the body.”

ZimEye.com has been on top of the current situation around Mugabe’s burial with highly placed family members confirming in confidence that Mugabe was indeed buried in a cave in his rural Zvimba home as suggested by Leo Mugabe on his dicing answers on the body’s whereabouts.

According to a close relative of the Mugabe family, the late veteran politician was laid to rest last week, during a night burial ceremony at a hidden location in Zvimba only known to traditional chiefs, his wife Grace and immediate family.

“The whole thing about a mausoleum construction was a tactical diversion,” said the relative, who also served in Mugabe’s administration at one point.

“The president made it clear that he wanted to be buried in his rural home, and that his body be interred by chiefs in the area, at a location only known to them and his immediate family.

“Yes, there shall be a private event at Heroes Acre in Harare, when the mausoleum is complete, but it’s all going to be symbolic. That is not Mugabe’s final resting place, but as a founding father of our country, it made sense to have a mausoleum built for him on top of the hill at the national shrine.” 

Leo Mugabe further failed to explain categorically the uncultural continuous changing of caskets that have been seen as carrying Mugabe’s body.

Mugabe’s body arrived from Singapore in a wooden casket and it lied in state at Rufaro and National Sports Stadium in the original casket.

When the body was finally taken to Mugabe’s rural home mourners were shocked to discover that the casket had been changed.

“That is not the casket that we saw on Saturday at the National Sports Stadium,” said one of the mourners.

“This is something we have never seen. How can a coffin be changed. There must be something happening.

This week, pictures of South African opposition party Julius Malema showed him purportedly “viewing” Mugabe’s body in a completely different casket.

“I cannot answer that particular question. The safety of the corpse was taken into cognisance,” was all that Leo Mugabe could say.

State Media|Two new members of the National Assembly were yesterday sworn in following their victories in by-elections held last month.

The two are Zanu-PF’s Hlalani Mguni, who won the Mangwe seat that fell vacant following the death of her husband Obedingwa Mguni and Vincent Tsvangirai who won the Glen View South by-election, replacing his late sister, Vimbai Tsvangirai-Java.

The new MPs took their oaths before Clerk of Parliament Mr Kennedy Chokuda in terms of Section 128 (1) of the Constitution.

Obedingwa Mguni, who was Zanu-PF’s deputy chief whip, died from diabetes complications, while Mrs Tsvangirai-Java succumbed to injuries sustained in a road accident in May.

Speaker of the National Assembly Advocate Jacob Mudenda yesterday notified the House that Zanu-PF selected Dingumuzi Phuti, the representative of Bulilima West to replace the late Mguni as the party’s Deputy Chief Whip.

Meanwhile, Government has reviewed the Constituency Development Fund allocated to MPs for developmental projects in their constituencies.

“Following the Budget Review Statement and Supplementary Budget presented by Honourable Minister of Finance and Economic Development Professor Mthuli Ncube, I wish to inform honourable members that the CDF for 2019 has been reviewed upwards from $80 000 to $175 228,” said Adv Mudenda.

He urged parliamentarians to present their project proposals for funding.

Paul Nyathi|Renowned Harvard University is facing immense pressure to rescind a title of “honorary ambassador” given to Auxillia Mnangagwa, the wife of Zimbabwe’s president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, for “exemplary work” in the field of public health.

In a release last week, the Global Health Catalyst programme, which fights cancer and other diseases through outreach, collaboration and high-profile international initiatives, announced it was honouring the Zimbabwean first lady for her work in increasing access to cancer prevention and control and would organise a major conference in the former British colony.

Zimbabwe’s first lady founded a charity last year dedicated to public health work. Its website says it is “a foundation built of the strong African traditional and Christian values of love and unity.”

Some media outlets in Zimbabwe reported the award would lead to investment in Zimbabwe’s health sector and had been prompted by cancer-screening programmes that had benefited thousands of women.

However the university’s decision has surprised some observers.

In addition to a poor human rights record and allegations of electoral malpractice, Zimbabwe’s public health service is suffering an acute lack of investment while an economic crisis, blamed by many analysts on the policies of the ruling Zanu-PF party, has led to acute medicine shortages.

Members of the political elite are routinely treated overseas.

In a letter addressed to the director of global health catalyst at Harvard medical school, Prof Wilfred Ngwa and more than a dozen former US diplomats, including several former ambassadors to Zimbabwe, have expressed their “profound concern over [the] decision to honour the first lady of Zimbabwe”.

They wrote: “To be blunt, your well-intentioned work in these areas are tainted by the affiliation with Ms Mnangagwa and her direct personal connection to an increasingly corrupt and abusive administration in which tolerance for dissent is non-existent and democratic rights are violently denied.

“In light of the concerning situation in Zimbabwe, we implore your institution to … consider rescinding this honour to first lady Mnangagwa … Too often, repressive regimes will use prestigious international institutions, like Harvard University, to launder their oppressive practices and reputations.”

Mnangagwa took power in 2017 when the late veteran ruler Robert Mugabe was forced to resign after a military takeover in November 2017. He promised to bring foreign investment to avert a deepening economic crisis, overhaul government and rehabilitate the former British colony’s international image.

Zimbabwe is crippled by massive debts incurred during Mugabe’s rule and needs a multibillion-dollar bailout to prevent economic collapse. However, the continuing repression and a lack of tangible political reform means there is little chance of international institutions offering major aid packages.

THE revolutionary party, Zanu-PF, has warned South African opposition Economic Freedom Fighters leader Mr Julius Malema to stop interfering in Zimbabwe’s internal politics.

Zanu-PF secretary for Information and Publicity Simon Khaya Moyo said Zanu-PF was disturbed by Mr Malema’s provocation.

“Whilst it is everyone’s democratic right to mourn and pay respect on the sad note of the founding father former President Robert Mugabe, including the restless and careless South African opposition party EEF leader Julius Malema, it is an abomination and unAfrican to use such a platform to denigrate virtues which define Ubuntu,” said Khaya Moyo.

In the African culture, said Khaya Moyo, it was taboo for anyone, despite their station in life, to use the occasion of a funeral to demean fellow African brothers and sisters.

“In that regard, the party finds it reprehensible for Mr Julius Malema to use such s solemn occasion to spew political propaganda and score cheap political mileage,” he said.

Khaya Moyo said Mr Malema needed to be reminded that his illusion to equate youthful exuberance and verbosity for wisdom and grounded intellectuality exposes him for a political novice which he is.State media

The appropriate exchange rate between the Zimbabwean dollar and the United States dollar should hover around US$1:ZWL$5,6 based on “founded quantitative estimates”, Finance and Economic Development Minister Mthuli Ncube, has said.

While acknowledging the prevailing speculation and attendant exchange rate distortions in the market, Minister Ncube, in a public notice on exchange rate determination, suggested that the devaluation of the local currency was being exaggerated by unscrupulous elements.

As a result, this has seen exchange rate level spike above US$1: ZWL$20 within a few days last week, compared to a stable ratio of between 1:8.5 to 1:10 on the interbank market, since the re-introduction of the Zimbabwean dollar in June this year.

The Treasury boss said a lower exchange rate was appropriate for Zimbabwe but noted several limitations exist, both conceptual and concerning the availability of data when trying to establish the appropriate exchange rate level for the country.State media

Farai Dziva|Zanu PF youth league official Tendai Chirawu has described Deputy Information Minister Energy Mutodi as a liability to government and the nation.

“I repeat once again,@energymutodi is not only a liability to Government but a liability to his own country.

It’s unfortunate that the supposed to be energetic Minister has energy to discredit his own institutions.He is supposed to be a promoter of Zim institutions …

The comments quoted by this publication are indeed mine. I did not study at MSU but at UZ. MSU has produced some of the best brains. I can not mention all of them by name,” charged Chirau.

Mutodi responded :For Tendai Chirau, ranking an institution and giving it its proper position is unpatriotic. I don’t know why the ruling party continues to rely on these dunderheads. Probably explains why we have failed in urban constituencies. The youth league is full of crap.”

By A Correspondent- An ugly fist fight broke out during service inside St Agnes Anglican Church in Mutare on Sunday, pitting Masvingo Provincial Development Co-ordinator Mr Fungai  Mbetsa, on one side and Mr Tinotenda Magada on the other.

St Agnes Anglican Church for a while has been a hotbed of factional fights and on Sunday a normal praise and worship session came to a halt as members from feuding factions clashed.

Video scenes typical of a nightclub brawl have since gone viral on social media depicting chaos that rocked the church service on Sunday with members insulting, pushing and shoving each other.

Mr Mbetsa concurred that the church session did not come to a logical conclusion because of “political issues in the Anglican church”.

“I only attended a church service as usual. The church session did not end well because of many reasons which I cannot reiterate. I did not see any problem with me attending the service because I was born an Anglican and will remain one. These political issues in the Anglican Church started long back and we are even trying to end them, which is however becoming so difficult for us,” he said.

A congregate, who requested anonymity fearing victimisation, said the violence occurred when Mr Tinotenda Magada tried to block Mr Mbetsa from putting an offering and this angered the later to the extent that he attacked Mr Magada.

“This ignited a fight between the two as fists were exchanged in the church without any of them respecting the place of worship. It is now a policy in Anglican that there should be one service under two different reverends and two different offering bowls.

Mr Magada, who was also among the congregants, could not give a comment when he was contacted but referred this publication to his lawyer who was not reachable at the time of going to print.

-ManicaPost

By A Correspondent- South African opposition leader, Julius Malema, on Monday, castigated Zimbabwean politicians he accused of trying to ride behind the late former President Robert Mugabe’s legacy while they tormented him to the last day.

Though Malema did not mention names, his utterances have been interpreted as having been directed at his successor President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Malema was speaking to journalists at the Mugabe family Blue Roof Mansion in Borrowdale, Harare after a long meeting with Mugabe’s widow, Grace Mugabe and close relatives.

Said Malema:

We are here to tell her (former First Lady Grace Mugabe) in person that we are very proud of her and she serves as an inspiration to a lot of us and that she must protect ex-President Mugabe’s legacy with everything against any form of opportunism which will want to ride behind the legacy of President Mugabe even when they tormented him to the last day.

The firebrand Commander in Chief of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) spoke against the military coup that ousted Mugabe from power in November 2017.

He said:

“These types of interventions, if they are allowed, they may become an unacceptable phenomenon for the region of Sadc. We shouldn’t allow a situation where the military interferes with political affairs.

He also lambasted the regional bodies, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union (AU).

He said:

“There is no such thing (as) Sadc, there is no such thing. AU, there is no such thing. It’s a group of old people who protect each other. They don’t protect the interests of their people. It’s a club. It’s a gentlemen’s club.

They don’t care, they don’t call each other out. They are unable to say ‘you are wrong here, you are wrong there, therefore, this is how we are able to fix it.”

The MDC is in solidarity with Dr Magombeyi and his family who are going through severe persecution in the hands of the Zanu PF regime and its functionaries.

The contemptuous behavior by the police to defy the order of the High Court is a clear indicator that there is no rule of law in Zimbabwe and human rights are continuously violated.

The MDC is disgusted by the continued violations of the Rule of Law by the so called new dispensation regime of Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Justice Happias Zhou handed down a Ruling allowing the young doctor to go to South Africa to access specialist treatment in South Africa but there are disturbing reports that the police are frustrating the Ruling in typical mafia style.

We thought that the days of flagrant defiance of Court Orders had died with the overthrow of Robert Mugabe but alas this Regime has no shame and the pretence that it’s a new dispensation has all but vanished with the perpetuation of the strong arm tactics reminiscent of the dark old days.

The hospitalization of the Doctor and his observation by both government and private doctors amidst reports that he was tortured clearly shows the desirability of him getting access to the best treatment.

After all our health institutions have been destroyed to the extent that all the top leaders seek treatment abroad at the slightest hint of the need for medical care.

It is therefore in this context that while we hold no brief for anyone we in the MDC are gravely concerned by this disdain and contempt for court orders and the callousness of this Regime.

Its bad enough that the Matemadandas and Mutodis of this world have been pontificating about fake abductions when there are clear cases of the state’s hand in previous incidents like the Jestina Mukoko case. Now we have a situation where law enforcement agencies are not only defying court orders but also violating rights.

We call upon the State to come to its senses and stop scoring own goals and then embark on the blame game. They must do the decent thing and allow Dr Peter Magombeyi access to the best medical attention and thereafter the truth of what transpired will be revealed.

Innocent Gonese
MDC Secretary for Justice and Legal Affairs

By A Correspondent- A member of the Zimbabwe Republic Police has appeared before the courts for obstructing justice after he reportedly assisted Chinese nationals to escape after they were found in possession of ivory.

Wonder Tawanda Kwaramba, appeared before a Chiredzi Magistrate for allegedly facilitating the escape of seven Chinese nationals who were on bail for the unlawful possession of 20 kg of rhino horns.

The accused is now facing three charges, defeating the course of justice, smuggling (after he illegally imported a Toyota Hilux) and fraud.

The state alleges that detectives from the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Victoria Falls were informed by reliable sources that the accused was dining with the Chinese nationals.

The detectives made investigations and realized that the Chinese nationals had not reported at CID Victoria Falls as per their bail conditions and had vacated their premises.

They tracked the Toyota Hilux which the Chinese nationals were using and discovered that Kwaramba had driven it through Gonarezhou checkpoint before heading to Sango border post.

The state also alleges that at Sango border post, Kwaramba assisted the Chinese nationals to cross the border into Mozambique.

Kwaramba was arrested on his way back from Sango border post.

The accused was denied bail and remanded in custody to 4 October.

-Newsday

By A Correspondent- President Emmerson Mnangagwa has expressed hope of pushing the country’s agenda globally following his meetings with Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg and Commonwealth Secretary General Patricia Scotland.

Said Mnangagwa who is attending the 74th UN General Assembly Meeting:

“Excellent day yesterday at the UN, including productive meetings with Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg and Commonwealth Secretary General Patricia Scotland.

Now beginning another busy day as we push for the interests of the Zimbabwean people on the global stage.”

Harare City Council has found contingent supplies of chemicals to resume water production 3 hours from now.

The suppliers of the chemicals have been paid. The other quantities are coming from Bulawayo and are expected to arrive this evening.

Pumping to residents will be progressive from one area to another. Western suburbs will begin to receive water 8 hours from
production start while the CBD and Mbare, Highfield/Sunningdale will access water after 12 hours/midnight.

The secured quantities will only last seven days during which period other quantities will be secured. We are currently engaging all stakeholders that include Government to find lasting solutions.

By A Correspondent- A war of words has erupted between Zanu PF youth league official Tendai Chirau and deputy minister of Information Energy Mutodi with the former described Mutodi as a liability to government and the nation.

Said Chirau:

“I repeat once again,@energymutodi is not only a liability to Government but a liability to his own country.

It’s unfortunate that the supposed to be energetic Minister has energy to discredit his own institutions.He is supposed to be a promoter of Zim institutions …

The comments quoted by this publication are indeed mine. I did not study at MSU but at UZ. MSU has produced some of the best brains. I can not mention all of them by name,” charged Chirau.

Mutodi however immediately responded to Chirau and said:

“For Tendai Chirau, ranking an institution and giving it its proper position is unpatriotic. I don’t know why the ruling party continues to rely on these dunderheads. Probably explains why we have failed in urban constituencies. The youth league is full of crap.”

By A Correspondent- The ruling ZANU PF party has been angered by the opposition MDC’s calls to the United Nations (UN) to declare President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his party a terrorist organisation for killing civilians during protests.

In a statement on Monday, Zanu PF spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo hit back at the MDC, saying the opposition party has declared war on ZANU PF. He said:

The offensive pronouncement by the MDC party as reflected in the so-called independent media, that they intend to submit a petition to the UN during its 74th General Assembly sitting that Mnangagwa and the revolutionary Zanu PF be declared terrorists ‘for the killing of civilians during public protests’ is shameful.

This is a very serious allegation which borders on the declaration of war on Zanu PF and its revered leader.

The security services were found guilty of killing 6 unarmed civilians on 1 August last year by the Kgalema Motlanthe Commission. Though the Commission recommended that those found guilty should be punished, nothing has been done by the authorities.

Again, in January, more than a dozen people were killed after riots broke out across the country following an unprecedented fuel price hike. This was followed by a spate of abductions and torture of doctors, union leaders, comedians and human rights activists.

-Newsday

By A Correspondent- Female students on industrial attachments are reportedly subject to se_xual harassment, the Ministry of Women Affairs, Small and Medium Enterprise Development has noted.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Beijing +25National Validation Workshop Meeting held in the capital yesterday, Deputy Director Human Resources in the Ministry of Youth Sports Arts and Recreation Maureen Dhliwayo said that the current situation is causing the female student to opt for se_xual abuse to benefit money.

“Considering the current situation, things are too expensive for them and when they come to workplaces for attachment, they are being abused to get money.

“Most of these attaches are not being paid and some are getting as little as RTGS100 which ends up having most of them being se_xually harassed but not noticing it,” said Dhliwayo.

She also noted that some of the students were being abused in return for petty favors.

“Some of these students are being abused and se_xually harassed because they are offered lunch by male counterparts.

“When these girls are being harassed, they don’t come forward because they think it’s correct, which is not correct,” she said.

Dhliwayo added that female students on attachment have a mentality that they are above 18 and are now adults but they are putting their lives in danger.

“It’s really difficult and challenging but we are not going to stop talking about it.

“We will keep on encouraging workshops to stop se_xual harassment and the issue of gender based violence,” she said.

She added that they will start working with the Ministry of Women Affairs, Small and Medium Enterprise Development to stop gender violence and se_xual harassment among students on industrial attachment.

By A Correspondent- A 34-year-old man from Zvishavane landed in hot soup after allegedly impreg_nating a minor related to the First Family.

According to the Newsday, Aleck Nyoni from Chief Masunda’s area recently appeared before the courts for impreg_nating a 13-year-old Grade 7 pupil (name withheld to protect her identity).

Nyoni pleaded guilty when he appeared before presiding Magistrate Achy Wochiunga.

In mitigation, the accused told the court that he had not been aware that the complainant was a juvenile as she had features of an adult woman.

He sensationally told the court that he was willing to take the child as his wife.

”The girl’s appearance deceived men as he is all grown up,” said Nyoni.

The court heard that on a date unknown sometime last year, Nyoni met the Juvenile at a river, proposed love and she consented. Over a short space of time, their relationship escalated and reportedly had se_xual interc0urse several times.

The matter only came to light in July after the grandmother discovered that the minor was preg_nant, leading to a report being lodged with the Zvishavane police.

Prosecutor Tinashe Maponde prosecuted the case.

The matter is set for ruling tomorrow.

— NewsDay

The MDC leadership led by the Secretary General Hon. Chalton Hwende and Local Government Secretary, Engineer Elias Mudzuri today held a crisis meeting with the acting Mayor of Harare and a team of his councilors to appreciate the water crisis in the capital city as well as the decision to shut down water supplies to residents.

The party was satisfied with the explanation given by the leadership of council that the city had run out of chemicals and could not afford to pump dirty water to the residents without risking a disease outbreak.

The acting mayor and councilors also assured the party that they had run around and secured some reprieve for the residents when they accessed some chemicals which are already on site to ensure that water supplies resume immediately, at least for a few days while a permanent solution is being worked out. 

Currently, water treatment has begun at the city’s water works and the precious liquid is expected to start trickling into residents’ homes by end of day today.

It emerged from the meeting that central government is at the centre of the current water crisis bedeviling the capital city.  Government is the biggest debtor to the Harare city council while there has been no movement in the past 20 years in terms of the construction of the Kunzwi dam, which is expected to provide a permanent solution to Harare’s dire water situation.

The Kunzwi dam project has been Zanu PF’s campaign issue in every election since 1995 but to date, nothing has been done. It also emerged that government has centralized the procurement of water chemicals and every day, council awaits to get the trinkets in terms of water chemicals as and when the scarce foreign currency becomes available at the central bank.

The other challenge is that Harare City Council’s 2019 budget was pegged in US dollars and the government‘s decision to ban the use of hard currency has distorted the budgeted pricing system. The move also ensured that the little funds now available in RTGS to council can hardly sustain critical operations such as water supplies, among other key obligations of council.

So dire is the situation in Harare that council collects$15 million RTGS every month against a projected monthly expenditure of $45 million for water treatment chemicals alone. The $15 million RTGS is inadequate for water treatment chemicals, let alone other key obligations of council.

The MDC is happy that the Harare City council is working hard under the circumstances to ensure that residents get water, including ensuring that water bowsers are provided in the communities and that the boreholes in the various wards of the city are working so that at any given moment, here is constant water supply to the residents.

The MDC hopes that government will play its part in alleviating the crisis bedeviling the capital city by clearing its huge debt owed to council as well as providing a permanent water solution by ensuring that the Kunzwi water project becomes more than an election message that is bandied about ahead of every election.  

Luke Tamborinyoka
Deputy National SpokespersonMovement For Democratic Change

By A Correspondent- The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) has suspended at least 36 officers implicated in lifestyle audits while processes are underway at the High Court to forfeit ill-gotten wealth.

Zimra Commissioner General Mrs Faith Mazani said the taxman was working with the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) who are handling cases where internal investigations would have pointed to corruption.

Com Gen Mazani said Zimra was not only targeting its staff but the investigations also cover some taxpayers whose incomes will be questionable.

“Between January and June this year, a total of 36 officers were suspended pending investigation following lifestyle audits.

“Where criminality is detected, we hand over the cases to the police or other investigating arms,” she said.

“Already processes are underway to recover ill-gotten wealth,” she said.

Com Gen Mazani said lifestyle audits carried out in terms of the Zimra code of conduct revealed unjustified wealth.

“We have a code of conduct which is applicable to our staff. One of the things that we did was to carry out lifestyle audits.

“Where we feel they have assets beyond the income that we are aware of, we then ask them to explain the source of the income.

“That is when we found out quite a number of cases where our officers are building houses, going on holidays and buying cars beyond their expected lifestyles,” he said.

Com Gen Mazani said the asset forfeiture which was being done in terms of the Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime Act would not spare corrupt tax-payers.

“We are doing the same thing with taxpayers. When we approach taxpayers, we look at their assets and we ask them to explain how they acquired them and the sources of their income.

“We discovered that people were getting lots of income without declaring it,” she said.

Meanwhile, Zimra, through the National Prosecuting Authority’s Assets Forfeiture Unit, has since applied to forfeit mansions purchased by its former accounting officer Tapuwa Evans Chidemo.

Chidemo reportedly siphoned US$1 239 083 from the taxman’s bank account and splashed it on property.

He risks losing two mansions in Glen Lorne, Harare, a flat in Harare city centre and a top-of-the-range vehicle.

The State wants to forfeit the following properties:

Number 215 Folyjon Crescent, Glen Lorne.

Number 3036 Shawasha Hills, Glen Lorne.

Flat 19, Derwent Lodge, No. 9 Josiah Chinamano Avenue, Harare.

Stand Number 2800, 12th Parklane Court (Pvt) Ltd.

Mercedes-Benz E-Class (ADN 5756) 

Another ex-Zimra officer, Kennedy Nyatoti is in trouble after it emerged that his lifestyle did not match his earnings as a revenue officer.

NPA has since approached the High Court seeking to have his suspected unlawfully acquired assets and wealth forfeited to the  State.

It is alleged that Nyatoti was employed by Zimra for only two years but he managed to buy an expensive stand in the upmarket Mabvazuva suburb and managed to build a world class house, all worth over US$150 000, yet his total earnings for the period he served as a revenue officer is around US$44 000.

Nyatoti is also said to have bought vehicles for his wife, Tatenda Chisadza who was cited as the Second Respondent in the court application, his sister, Portia Nyatoti and his mother using State funds.

The State is also working on another application to forfeit suspected ill-gotten assets worth $762 000 from a couple formerly employed by Zimra.

The couple — Tapfumaneyi Zunguza and his wife Cathrine Laji — were employed by Zimra as revenue supervisor and revenue officer, respectively.

The State questioned the couple’s acquisition of residential stands number 3807 and 3808 in Mainway Meadows, Waterfalls, Harare in 2009.

During the same year, they bought another stand in Helensvale measuring 2 200m² and construction commenced in 2011 and was completed in 2013.

They also bought a Mazda BT50 twin cab for $40 000, but as per requirement with their employer, they were supposed to declare the assets from time to time.

According to NPA, during the time which the couple acquired the property, their lawful income amounted to $60 053,13 collectively.

-StateMedia

Doctors’ union leader Peter Magombeyi was assaulted while in his hospital bed and in the corridor by a police officer only identified as Constable S. Zvinogona as tried to make his way out of the hospital on Tuesday afternoon following a court order clearing him to go.

Surprisingly the police officer was not known by any of the 16 officers who were at the scene.

The mysterious figure aggravated an injury on Magombeyi’s arm that was hurt during his alleged abduction, landed blows to his back and could have fractured his neck according to lawyers.

His father, Kingstone Magombeyi confirmed this.

“I saw it. I was there. It happened when we were making efforts to have him discharged.

“The person refused to identify himself. He is not the one who I was given by the police and what troubled me was who this was since I also saw the message he received on August 28 saying he will be taken away by a whirlwind,” said Magombeyi.

Added Magombeyi’s father: “I am more worried about this person who has refused to have my son go for further treatment. Peter is just representing other workers.”

According to Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association (ZHDA), Magombeyi’s liver is worsening because of suspected poisoning by his captors.

“Now he is under hospital arrest at Avenues Clinic,  missed his flight whilst his LFTs continue to deteriorate from the suspected poison from perpetrators. He needs your assistance,” the ZHDA said in a statement late Tuesday.

The MDC leadership led by Secretary General Hon. Chalton Hwende and Local Government Secretary, Eng. Elias Mudzuri today held a crisis meeting with the acting Mayor of Harare and a team of his councillors to appreciate the water crisis in the capital city as well as the decision to shut down water supplies to residents.

The party was satisfied with the explanation given by the leadership of the council that the city had run out of chemicals and could not afford to pump dirty water to the residents without risking a disease outbreak.

The acting mayor and councillors also assured the party that they had run around and secured some reprieve for the residents when they accessed some chemicals which are already on site to ensure that water supplies resume immediately, at least for a few days while a permanent solution is being worked out.

Currently, water treatment has begun at the city’s water works and the precious liquid is expected to start trickling into residents’ homes by end of the day today.

It emerged from the meeting that the central government is at the centre of the current water crisis bedevilling the capital city.

Government is the biggest debtor to the Harare city council while there has been no movement in the past 20 years in terms of the construction of the Kunzwi dam, which is expected to provide a permanent solution to Harare’s dire water situation.

The Kunzwi dam project has been Zanu PF’s campaign issue in every election since 1995 but to date, nothing has been done.

It also emerged that government has centralized the procurement of water chemicals and every day, council awaits to get the trinkets in terms of water chemicals as and when the scarce foreign currency becomes available at the central bank.

The other challenge is that Harare City Council’s 2019 budget was pegged in US dollars and the government‘s decision to ban the use of hard currency has distorted the budgeted pricing system.

The move also ensured that the little funds now available in RTGS to council can hardly sustain critical operations such as water supplies, among other key obligations of council.

So dire is the situation in Harare that council collects$15 million RTGS every month against a projected monthly expenditure of $45 million for water treatment chemicals alone.

The $15 million RTGS is inadequate for water treatment chemicals, let alone other key obligations of the council.

The MDC is happy that the Harare City council is working hard under the circumstances to ensure that residents get water, including ensuring that water bowsers are provided in the communities and that the boreholes in the various wards of the city are working so that at any given moment, there is constant water supply to the residents.

The MDC hopes that government will play its part in alleviating the crisis bedevilling the capital city by clearing its huge debt owed to the council as well as providing a permanent water solution by ensuring that the Kunzwi water project becomes more than an election message that is bandied about ahead of every election.

Luke Tamborinyoka
Deputy National Spokesperson

VIDEO LOADING BELOW…

JUST IN –

UPDATE- Contrary to denials by @PoliceZimbabwe commissioner Gen Matanga that he does not know what is going on, the ZRP has infact just filed an appeal against the Judge Zhou's order. The @ZLHRLawyers is preparing a response. WATCH LIVE on https://t.co/RMz9FsvEJW

— ZimEye (@ZimEye) September 24, 2019

BREAKING: We are right now interviewing ZRP Commissioner Matanga on officers blocking @DMagombeyi from leaving Zimbabwe and leaving the Avenues Clinic. Gen Matanga is promising to return to us shortly. WATCH LIVE ON https://t.co/eY98GsdO0a @ZLHRLawyers

— ZimEye (@ZimEye) September 24, 2019

The United Kingdom embassy in Zimbabwe has expressed concern over reports that Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association President Dr Peter Magombeyi was being barred from leaving for South Africa to seek specialised treatment.

Posting on Twitter, the UK Embassy said;

Concerned at reports that Dr Magombeyi is being prevented from leaving hospital. This seems to be against the order from the High Court this afternoon.

— UKinZimbabwe ?? ?? (@UKinZimbabwe) September 24, 2019

Deputy Information Minister, Energy Mutodi has castigated South Africa’s opposition politician, Julius Malema for the remarks he made on his visit to offer condolences to the late former President Robert Mugabe’s widow, Grace on Monday.

Malema attacked the government of Zimbabwe for denying the Mugabe’s family’s wishes as well as trying to ride on the late national hero’s legacy while they are mere arrivalists who had mistreated Mugabe.

Malema’s comments did not go down well with Mutodi:

“Julius Malema was foul-mouthed when he visited Zimbabwe.

It’s unfortunate he tried to impress the former First Lady Grace by denigrating President Mnangagwa.

Grace still looks young and is filthy rich and Malema decided to take a dig on the government in order to impress her…

Julius Malema was foul-mouthed when he visited Zimbabwe. It’s unfortunate he tried to impress the former First Lady Grace by denigrating President Mnangagwa. Grace still looks young & is filthy rich & Malema decided to take a dig on the government in order to impress her..

— Dr Energy Mutodi (@energymutodi) September 24, 2019

BREAKING: We are right now interviewing ZRP Commissioner Matanga on officers blocking @DMagombeyi from leaving Zimbabwe and leaving the Avenues Clinic. Gen Matanga is promising to return to us shortly. WATCH LIVE ON https://t.co/eY98GsdO0a @ZLHRLawyers

— ZimEye (@ZimEye) September 24, 2019

The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) has deployed an anti-riot unit at the Avenues Clinic in Harare to block the previously missing Dr Peter Magombeyi from leaving the hospital for South Africa to seek further medical care.

ZimEye has spoken to the family who are in distress over the matter. A LIVE program is shortly commencing.

The deployment is in contempt of High Court judge Justice Happias Zhou who ruled that Dr Magembeyi should be allowed to leave for South Africa.

Below is a short print out showing the of terms the court issued today interdicting ZRP from directly or indirectly preventing Dr Magombeyi from travelling to South Africa. It reads in part:

The respondents or any person or officer acting through them or on their behalf be and are hereby interdicted from preventing directly or indirectly, Peter Gabriel Magombeyi from leaving Zimbabwe for purposes of accessing medical services in the Republic of South Africa.

THE body of a victim of xenophobia attacks of South Africa arrived in Bulawayo yesterday with relatives noting that the man was stabbed, assaulted and burnt first before his body was dumped in a stadium in Johannesburg.

The body of Muziwandile Mhlanga arrived at the family home in Magwegwe were relatives narrated how the man met his death at the hands of the South African mobs.

An aunt to the deceased, Mrs Senzeni Tshuma said her nephew went missing for two days before he was found dead.

“What happened is last Thursday he went out towards end of day and never returned. When his friends he lived with realized that he was not coming back they called his mother to tell them that they couldn’t find him.

“He went missing for two days and on the third day he was found thrown into a security guardroom at a stadium already dead with his phone and shoes stolen,” she said.

She said what pains the most is that he was still young trying to make a living in South Africa.

“My nephew was only 21 years old, he had only been there for seven months and had recently found a job and moved out from his parents’ place to live with his friends,” said Mrs Tshuma.

The body was later taken to Lupane for burial today.

“He is going to be buried tomorrow in Lupane at Shurudunku where we come from as a Mhlanga family,” she said.

“What pains me is that we are all Africans and when they come here we treat them well and accommodate them so what we are asking from them is that when they no longer want Zimbabweans in their country they should depot them rather than showing such kind of brutality.”

Speaking during the service, Zanu-PF Central Committee Member and Bulawayo Senator Molly Mpofu said she was pained to see how Zimbabweans were being treated.

“It is painful to see how our children are being treated in a fellow SADC country where they go in order to find a better living.

“We are pained as the leadership of this country when such things take place so we want to appeal to the President of the country (South Africa) to have pity on our children because as I speak today this is the second body which arrived of a person killed in xenophobic attacks,” she said.

“He should teach his people not to take the law into their own hands,” said Sen Mpofu.

The late Bishop Barry Dambaza’s 90-year-old mother died on Monday a few hours after the clergyman’s apparent suicide in Central Harare.

Bishop Dambaza, who was a senior pastor at the Pentecostal Assemblies of Zimbabwe (PAOZ) Upper Room Ministries, fell four floors to his death at a car park along Rezende Street in Harare on Monday afternoon.

On Tuesday, PAOZ refuted social media rumours claiming that Bishop Dambaza committed suicide after catching his wife with another man. The church’s spokesperson, Reverend Craig Ndoro said:

Those rumours are entirely and wholly untrue. They are malicious and extremely regrettable.

Yesterday, when this tragic incident happened involving the bishop, his wife was actually at home nursing the bishop’s mother, and we have just received terrible news that she has also died.

In short, Bishop Dambaza’s wife of over 30 years was not cheating on him, and no, he did not find her in a compromising position in the office.

We’re not sure who has been generating these rumours and spreading them. They are very hurtful not just to the family but the church as well.

Bishop Dambaza touched many lives in Zimbabwe and internationally, perhaps that’s why we have rumours flying quicker than facts.

But those that know him, his wife and children know that no such issues are true, and that gives us a bit of comfort.

The late Bishop’s wife, Sithembeni is reported to have been traumatised from losing her both husband and mother-in-law in such a short space of time and had to be admitted to a hospital.

As at the time of this breaking news article, uniformed and plain clothed members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police were at the Avenues Clinic, in Harare preventing Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association leader Dr Peter Magombeyi from leaving the medical facility to board a plane to South Africa to access specialist medical care in defiance of a High Court order issued earlier in the day by Justice Happias Zhou.

High Court Judge Justice Zhou on Tuesday interdicted Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) from preventing Magombeyi, from leaving Zimbabwe to access medical services in South Africa.

ZRP had on Monday Dr Magombeyi from travelling to South Africa to access urgent health care services that are not locally available in Zimbabwe after deploying some law enforcement agents to man the entrance at a local clinic, where Dr Magombeyi is detained.

This was in defiance of the recommendation by his doctors, who noted that he had suffered possible physical harm and psychological trauma which warranted that further functional brain imaging and further toxicological evaluation, which is not available in Zimbabwe, be conducted on him.

But Justice Zhou on Tuesday granted an application filed by Dr Magombeyi’s father, Kingstone Magombeyi, who in his court petition, protested against the ZRP’s actions and argued that the law enforcement agents’ actions were not authorised by law as Dr Magombeyi is a victim of abduction and enforced disappearance and has not been placed under arrest and has also not been accused of committing any offence.

In his ruling, Justice Zhou ordered the Officer-In-Charge of Criminal Investigations Department (Law and Order Section) at Harare Central Police Station only identified as Chibaya, ZRP Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga and Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Minister Hon. Cain Mathema, who were cited as respondents, not to prevent directly or indirectly Dr Magombeyi from leaving Zimbabwe for the purposes of accessing medical services in South Africa.

The ruling Zanu PF party has hit back on opposition MDC’s calls to the United Nations (UN) to declare President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his party a terrorist organisation, saying the opposition was declaring war on the liberation party.

The MDC Northern America held protests outside the UN headquarters in New York on Saturday night, and vowed to hand over a petition to the UN for the body to declare Mnangagwa and Zanu PF a terrorist organisation for killing protesters during public demonstrations in Harare last year and this year.

“The offensive pronouncement by the MDC party as reflected in the so-called independent media, that they intend to submit a petition to the UN during its 74th General Assembly sitting that Mnangagwa and the revolutionary Zanu PF be declared terrorists ‘for the killing of civilians during public protests’ is shameful,” Zanu PF spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo said in a statement in Harare yesterday.

“This is a very serious allegation which borders on the declaration of war on Zanu PF and its revered leader.”

He said the MDC must halt their petition immediately as it was an insult to Zimbabwe, adding that such “selloutism was unheard of and represents evil conduct”.

Moyo said his party was ready to defend itself against such provocation.

He accused the opposition of calling for the government to be placed under sanctions at a time Mnangagwa is making efforts to have sanctions removed by the West and put Zimbabwe on an economic recovery path.

Six civilians were killed and dozens were injured after the army fired live ammunition during protests over delays in announcing presidential elections on August 1 last year, according to a commission of inquiry appointed by Mnangagwa.

The 150% fuel price hike in January triggered violent protests, with 17 people killed when the army clamped down on the unrest.

The MDC’c call comes at time the Zanu PF youth league boss Pupurai Togarepi told parliamentarians that a law should be crafted which would see people who call for the imposition of sanctions on the country to be declared terrorists.

-Newsday

By CHRA| This is how CHICKEN SLICE located at Long Cheng Plaza are disposing of their chicken boxes after doing business .

Residents of Belvedere have raised concern over the issue and as CHRA we will engage authorities to ensure this is corrected. 

By A Correspondent- An ugly fist fight broke out during service inside St Agnes Anglican Church in Mutare on Sunday, pitting Masvingo Provincial Development Co-ordinator Mr Fungai  Mbetsa, on one side and Mr Tinotenda Magada on the other.

St Agnes Anglican Church for a while has been a hotbed of factional fights and on Sunday a normal praise and worship session came to a halt as members from feuding factions clashed.

Video scenes typical of a nightclub brawl have since gone viral on social media depicting chaos that rocked the church service on Sunday with members insulting, pushing and shoving each other.

Mr Mbetsa concurred that the church session did not come to a logical conclusion because of “political issues in the Anglican church”.

“I only attended a church service as usual. The church session did not end well because of many reasons which I cannot reiterate. I did not see any problem with me attending the service because I was born an Anglican and will remain one. These political issues in the Anglican Church started long back and we are even trying to end them, which is however becoming so difficult for us,” he said.

A congregate, who requested anonymity fearing victimisation, said the violence occurred when Mr Tinotenda Magada tried to block Mr Mbetsa from putting an offering and this angered the later to the extent that he attacked Mr Magada.

“This ignited a fight between the two as fists were exchanged in the church without any of them respecting the place of worship. It is now a policy in Anglican that there should be one service under two different reverends and two different offering bowls.

Mr Magada, who was also among the congregants, could not give a comment when he was contacted but referred this publication to his lawyer who was not reachable at the time of going to print.

-ManicaPost

By A Correspondent- President Emmerson Mnangagwa has expressed optimism of pushing the country’s national interests on the global stage following his meetings with the Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg and Commonwealth Secretary General Patricia Scotland.

Said President Emmerson Mnangagwa who is attending the UN General Assembly:

“Excellent day yesterday at the UN, including productive meetings with Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg and Commonwealth Secretary General Patricia Scotland.

Now beginning another busy day as we push for the interests of the Zimbabwean people on the global stage.”

Harare City Council has found contingent supplies of chemicals to resume water production 3 hours from now.

The suppliers of the chemicals have been paid. The other quantities are coming from Bulawayo and are expected to arrive this evening.

Pumping to residents will be progressive from one area to another. Western suburbs will begin to receive water 8 hours from
production start while the CBD and Mbare, Highfield/Sunningdale will access water after 12 hours/midnight.

The secured quantities will only last seven days during which period other quantities will be secured. We are currently engaging all stakeholders that include Government to find lasting solutions.