By A Correspondent| A reader here has claimed that Zimbabwe’s foreign affairs minister Sibusiso Moyo was sprinkled with water that had urine by protestors during his visit to London last month.

Moyo, was sprinkled with water by a Zimbabwean woman in the UK, who was part of a group of protestors at Zimbabwe House in London.

Watch the video below for this and more.

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Farai Dziva|A declared Zanu PF apologist, Jones Musara has claimed that Zanu PF’ s popularity emanates from its ability to serve the electorate.

“Voters want tangibles not parables…Zanu PF delivers tangibles..zvinowoneka, zvinobatika uye zvinodyika.. Ava veMDC deliver jecha of which jecha haridiwi nemavoters that’s why MDC can not win Elections in Zimbabwe.”

“…And their leader is proving to be a bubblegum. Not even his presence in Lupane East could lure the voters there,” tweeted Musara.

Farai Dziva|MDC secretary for elections, Jacob Mafume, has said the weekend by-elections were characterized by intimidation and vote buying.

“On behalf of the party I would like to thank those who voted against all odds.

National and provincial leaders showed biblical resilience in the face of Pharaoh.Dedication is unparalleled.lessons are invaluable.Let’s free our pple street by village by village,” Mafume wrote Twitter.

“Intimidation is ever present.Reminders are awash of the abuse that will follow an opposition victory.It’s a wild process.

State institutions are an actor in the elections- favouring ZANU PF .The CIO, Police all Parastatals are headed by losing Zanu PF candidates and sympathisers.

They donate and provide resources to ZANU PF.

They need to desist from this behaviour.

Food distribution happens during voting processes .This clearly an abuse of state resources .All reports about it are ignored,” added Mafume.

Parliamentary Committee on Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs has promised to deal with rampant child prostitution in Chiredzi and other areas following a petition by a Chiredzi resident Marko Shoko.

According to Shoko, the upsurge in child prostitution in Chiredzi is attributed to relocation of Tugwi-Mukosi victims to Chingwizi Transit Camp in 2014, an area with poor living conditions and no source of income.

Chairperson of the Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Portfolio Committee Misheck Mataranyika says parliament is to deal with rampant child prostitution in Chiredzi and other areas following a petition raised by Chiredzi resident Marco Shoko. (1/2) #ZiFMNews

— ZiFM News (@ZiFMNews) August 5, 2019

THERE is no vacancy in the Presidium and elements covertly jostling for the top positions must stand guided, Defence and War Veterans Affairs Minister who is also Zanu-PF chairperson, Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, has said.

She made the remarks yesterday while addressing the Manicaland War Veterans inter-district conference at Bezel Bridge in Zimunya-Marange.

Muchinguri-Kashiri said the era of the old dispensation which was characterised by divisions, slandering of war veterans, senior Government officials and unbridled ambition for the Presidency, was over.

“For 37 years we were in the old dispensation and you know how it ended. Some elements in the old dispensation had captured the State and we were being insulted and slandered. War veterans were mistreated and abused publicly but we united with our security sectors and embarked on Operation Restore Legacy and in the process restored our dignity that had been stolen,” said Muchinguri-Kashiri.

She said history was repeating itself with some elements angling for the Vice Presidency and the Presidency as if the positions were vacant.

“We still have ambitious individuals that are angling for posts in the Presidium. Be warned. It is not that easy. We should lead by example as war veterans and check the direction that the nation is taking,” said Muchinguri-Kashiri.

She called for selflessness.

“We must not think about ourselves but the majority of Zimbabweans. Some people want the Presidency. There is no vacancy, there is no vacancy, there is no vacancy. Make sure you are playing your role where you are. We do not want divisions,” said Muchinguri-Kashiri.

She said President Mnangagwa was preaching unity all the time.

“The President is saying unity, unity, unity, less politics. Let us build the future of our children. Let us build our country. This is what the President is saying,” said Minister Muchinguri-Kashiri.

“We do not want people that push us from the way we are being shown by President Mnangagwa. During Operation Restore Legacy, it’s you war veterans that stood strong and also went for the march to restore the legacy we had lost. New dispensation has restored our dignity as war veterans.”

Muchinguri-Kashiri said President Mnangagwa remembers the journey he walked with war veterans and ex-detainees and will not forget them.

Government, she said, was working on ensuring issues to do with the welfare of war veterans and affiliate organisations were addressed.

“You deserve better,” said Muchinguri-Kashiri.

She said the national Constitution recognises the role played by war veterans and dignifies them yet some people were looking down upon them.

Muchinguri-Kashiri said respect for war veterans must start in the party.

“You sacrificed for everybody. Some people forget the past because they are now comfortable. Some even refuse to carry war veterans in party vehicles they now drive. I just want you to understand that small things like that add up to give war veterans dignity. Charity begins at home, in the party,” she said.

-State Media

The country’s biggest mobile money company, EcoCash has announced an increase in tariffs in yet another dose of bad news for struggling cash strapped Zimbabweans.

EcoCash which is now under Cassava Fintech also increased transaction limits.

Below are the new charges and limits:

POLICE have launched a manhunt for a 33 year-old Masvingo woman who allegedly fatally struck her husband’s second wife with a cooking stick following a dispute over household chores.

The suspect, whose name was not given, is wanted in connection with the death of the 21-year-old woman from Mkwasine area in Masvingo.

The deceased’s name was also not mentioned.

In a statement, national police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner, Paul Nyathi confirmed the incident, saying the woman is still at large.

He said the incident occurred on Wednesday last week at around midday.

“The suspect allegedly struck the deceased on the back of the head with a cooking stick after the two had a disagreement over laundry,” he said.

The deceased was taken to Mashoko Hospital in Masvingo where she died upon admission.

In an unrelated incident which occurred on the same day at around 9PM, two men allegedly torched three huts belonging to an 85-year-old woman before they fatally attacked her on allegations of witchcraft.

“Nochance Madzima (33) and Norest Tsonjora (27) of Village 9, Chikuti in Chinhoyi allegedly struck and burnt an 85-year-old woman resulting in her sustaining severe injuries. The suspects accused the woman of bewitching their friend who was the victim’s son,” said Asst Comm Nyathi.

He said the two men are on the run.

“The suspects who are from the same village, set three huts on fire and when the woman went out to investigate, they struck her on the forehead and she fell down.

“They burnt the victim using thatching grass and she sustained burns which led to her death upon admission to Chinhoyi Provincial Hospital,” he said.

Asst Comm Nyathi said they were appealing to members of the public who might have information leading to the arrest of the two suspects to report at any nearest police station.

He also condemned the use of violence in settling disputes, saying members of the public must seek counselling in resolving disputes.

— Chronicle

CHAIRPERSON of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Justice Misheck Mataranyika has said the whipping system in Parliament must be repealed from Parliamentary Standing Rules and Orders because it stifles open debate and reduces debate on important Bills and motions to partisan stances by MPs.

Addressing delegates on Thursday last week in Kariba at an ActionAid stakeholders’ workshop on the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, Mataranyika, who is also MP for Makoni South (Zanu PF) said Parliament is a place where debate must be robust and free for MPs in order for them to effectively play their legislative roles.

The whipping system is practiced by Parliaments when passing or amending laws or debating a motion where MPs are “whipped” or instructed by their political parties to follow a certain line of debate. It can compromise the quality of Bills and motions debated in Parliament.

“Personally, I feel that the whipping system is very deterrent on MPs because legislators always have to be mindful of their political party’s positions, which is also contrary to their other role as representatives of the people,” Mataranyika said.

“I would prefer that the whipping system be repealed because it affects open debate and, as MPs, we are between a rock and a hard surface when it comes to the whipping system because we are not free to debate contrary to political party positions,” he said.

On the issue of recall of those MPs that do not play their mandate well, Mataranyika said the Constitution already has a clause which provides for a political party to recall an MP who no longer serves their interests.

He said section 129 (1) (k) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe stipulates that MPs can be expelled “if the MP has ceased to belong to the political party of which he or she was a member when elected to Parliament and the political party concerned, by written notice to the Speaker or the President of the Senate, as the case may be, has declared that the MP has ceased to belong to it”.

Mataranyika said at the moment, there was no provision in the Constitution for voters to recall their MP if he or she is not performing.

In terms of compliance to the principles in ACDEG, Mataranyika said Zimbabwe was in the process of aligning a gamut of laws to the Constitution, adding that his committee was seized with conducting public hearings on several pieces of legislation.

Some of the laws that are before Parliament include the Marriages Bill, the Maintenance of Peace and Order Bill (Mopa) and several media related laws which include the Freedom of Information Bill to replace the oppressive Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act. Mataranyika said the Parliamentary Legal Committee was also playing its role well in ensuring that good laws were passed, and recently they produced an adverse report on some of Mopa’s provisions deemed unconstitutional.

-Newsday

State Media: Zanu-PF Secretary for Administration Dr Obert Mpofu said the party’s victory shamed the country’s detractors.

“The results dispel all beliefs and perceptions that are being floated around the globe and within the country that the people of Zimbabwe are in a worse situation than they were before,” said Dr Mpofu.

Instead, he said, what Zimbabweans were experiencing were birth pangs of a prosperous country as President Mnangagwa’s administration implements new policies and ideas meant to turn around the economy.

“We have been saying that whatever is happening, there is no Government in this world which can come up with policies which are meant to demoralise the people, so everything that Government is doing is meant to better the people’s lives,” he said.

Dr Mpofu said while turning around the country’s fortunes was never going to be an overnight thing, the Government was implementing policies to reverse the damage the country suffered over the years under the old dispensation.

“The people are very clear on what they want, they are very clear on the policies of the party, policies decided by the ruling party at their congresses and conferences, so we are going to continue winning these elections whenever there is a by-election. The MDC should know that they won’t win anything,” said Dr Mpofu.

“The people are giving the Government a chance to deliver on its promises, which is what has happened. MDC was there in its full force headed by their leader but people said they cannot be associated with a party which has no clear policies hence they stuck to the ruling party which is commendable and we are really excited about it.”

Dr Mpofu said the elections also served to prove the falsehood of MDC -Alliance leader Mr Nelson Chamisa’s claims that he won the 2018 elections.

“The victory by Zanu-PF in the local government and parliamentary by-elections is a clear indication to Chamisa, who has been lying to the world that he won the elections. These by-elections show what people think about him. In Lupane you can imagine the number of (MDC-Alliance) top leadership that was here and led by him, but the people have said no, we don’t want you and this rhetoric that he won is founded on no grounds at all. It is just wishful thinking, which is not realistic,” he said.

Zanu-PF Secretary for Information and Publicity Cde Simon Khaya Moyo said the party was emboldened by the victory.

“The sweeping trend which continues to be registered by the party in all previous elections does not only testify to the confidence which the electorate has in Zanu-PF policies and programmes, but it also loudly speaks to the existing umbilical bond between the party and the general masses of Zimbabwe which is rooted to the days of the liberation struggle,” said Cde Khaya Moyo.

“Clearly, the revolutionary train is well oiled and is on the unstoppable trajectory towards delivery of the people’s wishes and aspirations as espoused in the 2018 winning people’s election manifesto.”

Cde Khaya Moyo said the elections were held in a free, fair and credible manner, calling on all participants to respect the will of the people.

Zanu-PF Matabeleland North provincial chairperson Cde Richard Moyo paid tribute to all party structures that were involved in the campaign.

By A Correspondent| There was pandemonium last Saturday in God Miaha village when a man believed to be dead appeared at his own funeral.

Mourners and residents who had gathered to bid their loved one farewell took to their heels when Kennedy Ogweno appeared for the burial ceremony at Ramba location in Rachuonyo East, Kenya.

Ogweno, 38, had not visited home for the last 20 years and on the few occasions he got in touch with his family, he told them he worked as a fisherman along the beaches of Lake Victoria.

A month ago, Ogweno’s relatives got information that he had died in Mbita town after falling sick.

The family was also told that his body was taken to Homa Bay County Referral Hospital mortuary.

Family members then went to the mortuary, identified the said body and registered their details as next of kin.

The kinsmen returned home and scheduled his burial for Saturday. On Friday, they went to the mortuary, got the body and took it home.

But with less than an hour before the body could be interred the next day, Ogweno appeared and started greeting the mourners.

There was confusion. Residents ran away from the homestead after mistaking Ogweno for a ghost. His efforts to convince the mourners that he was still alive fell on deaf ears.

Chief Joseph Ndege said Ogweno’s appearance deterred people from eating the food the family had prepared for mourners.

“A lot of food had been cooked for mourners but many people did not eat upon Ogweno’s appearance. Even those who had begun eating had to stop and run away from the home,” Mr Ndege said.

Judith Atieno, Ogweno’s sister-in-law, said it was only by coincidence that she met him on a beach in Rachuonyo as they were making funeral arrangements.

“I had gone to Alum beach and I found him. I told family members in Ramba on phone not to bury the body before they could confirm whether the man I had met was Ogweno,” Atieno said.

The body that the family was preparing to bury was taken back to the mortuary.-StandardMedia

Jane Mlambo| Opposition MDC-T vice President Obert Gutu has lashed at the main MDC saying they will never get to power through the back door, adding that dialogue should not be about power-sharing or national transitional authority as proposed by Nelson Chamisa.

Posting on Twitter this morning, Gutu said the dialogue they are having at the POLAD platform is aimed at building the country and not power-sharing as demanded by the MDC led by Chamisa.

Dialogue isn't about power-sharing or about this strange, funny creature called a national transitional authority. Getting into power through the back door doesn't cut. At POLAD, we don't discuss power-sharing, we robustly discuss nation-building.

— Obert Gutu (@GutuObert) August 5, 2019

By A Correspondent- EIGHTEEN families in Reigate, a few kilometres outside Bulawayo, have been rendered homeless after Umguza Rural District Council (RDC) razed homes they occupied for more than 20 years.

Although officials from the council were not readily available for comment yesterday, some of the affected residents told a local publication that they had been raided by the authority without prior warning.

School-going children, whose families have been affected, were being housed at nearby homes to enable them to attend school.

Dingani Ndlovu (67) told a local publication he had lived in the area since 1988.

“I worked for the Umguza RDC for 27 years. I joined the council in 1988 and retired in 2016.

“Since that time, I have been paying rentals to the council for the stand on which my house was built. I have never stayed here for free. I had been advised by council that since I was paying rentals, this stand would become mine.

I was shocked when I was told that I had to vacate, but there were no reasons given,” Ndlovu said, adding that some of the residents had occupied houses that had been left by former council workers who had since moved on.

“Some of the people here occupied these houses after buying them. These were houses that council employees sold to the new occupants – something the council blessed because it was realising revenue from the occupants,” Ndlovu added. Another affected villager, Simangaliphi Ncube said there had been efforts by the council to evict the residents without success.

“We have been fighting legal battles with the council for some years now. They tried to evict us earlier, but they were stopped by the High Court after we obtained an order against the eviction.

“Despite that intention, we have been paying monthly rentals to the council, in some cases as much as $220 a month. We were surprised to be told that we have to leave despite all the money we have paid to these people,” Ncube said, revealing that council had misled them into believing they would assume full ownership under a home scheme after paying rentals for more than 10 years.

“Council told us that the home ownership scheme would kick in after some 10 years. Instead of processing that home ownership, we saw council officials and vehicles coming to destroy our houses and we wondered why the sudden change of heart,” Ncube said.

Frank Moyo, who was also affected by the demolitions, said the move to evict them was illegal as there was no court order giving council the right to evict them.

“When these council people came here, they brought us a paper written Messenger of Court. They refused to show us the copy, but said the matter had been finalised and we had to leave. Unfortunately, we are not leaving this place with nowhere else to go. The council itself has to find us alternative accommodation,” he added.-Newsday

By A Correspondent- The New York Post reports that a Russian sugar daddy has confessed to the murder of an Instagram influencer whose body was found stuffed in a suitcase, officials said.

Maxim Gareyev — who claimed he gave Ekaterina Karaglanova money on dates — said he lashed out because she told him that he wasn’t attractive, according to authorities. “She told me that I was ugly and that even plastic [surgery] would not help me,” Gareyev reportedly said. “I could not stand it.”

Karaglanova — who boasted more than 87,000 Instagram followers — was discovered Friday, days before her 25th birthday, in her apartment with her neck slashed, according to BBC.

Following the slaughter, Gareyev claimed that he stripped her naked and stuffed her body inside a large suitcase, Moscow newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets reported. Gareyev appeared Thursday in court, where he apologized to her parents and told reporters that he was “ashamed of myself.”

It is just over a year since activists took to the streets of the Zimbabwe capital Harare to protest delays in announcing the results of presidential elections. The army was called in to crush the protests, and six people were shot dead.

As the country remembers that tragic day, some family members of victims have been speaking out.

In a video posted on Twitter, Alison Charles recalls how on 1 August 2018, she had to go and identify the body of her brother, Gavin, one of six people shot dead in the security crackdown.

She found her brother’s body lying face down in a metal coffin on the back of a police pick-up truck.

“I identified him by his dreadlocks and the shoes he was wearing because his face was down,” said Alison Charles, her voice breaking with emotion.

“Like a dog off the road!”

“They threw him like a dog off the road into that coffin,” she said, adding that her brother was shot while trying to help a badly wounded person.

Activists have this week visited the graves of some of those killed, and the Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum on Friday held an event to remember the day using the hashtag #Wehavenotforgotten.

While memories of the crackdown are still vivid, state media says police have undergone retraining to bury the “ghost of 1 August”.

“Part of that retraining has focused on human rights-related aspects of policing and law-enforcement,” Foreign Minister Sibusiso Moyo said on Thursday.

The training is in line with recommendations made by the Motlanthe Commission of Inquiry into the killings. The commission recommended that the police be given the skills and capacity to deal with rioters, and be trained to be non-partisan.

Army to operate under police command

Moyo said in future, using the army to quell unrest should be avoided.

A new draft security law states that if the army is called in, soldiers have to “operate under the command structure of the police,” he added.

But observers say the draft law — the Maintenance of Peace and Order Bill — has just been given an “adverse report” by the Parliamentary Legal Committee because some of its clauses are deemed unconstitutional.

“If the Bill is not revised extensively it will have a chilling effect on freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and the right to demonstrate, all vital to a democratic society and all guaranteed by the Constitution,” notes parliamentary watchdog Veritas.

No soldier has yet been prosecuted for the 1 August killings, and the EU delegation to Harare has called for those responsible to be “held accountable to end impunity”.

On Thursday the US State Department said it was placing a former top Zimbabwean army commander and his wife on its targeted sanctions list for what it called “gross violations of human rights”. The official is Anselem Nhamo Sanyatwe, who was the commander of the Presidential Guard that led the 1 August crackdown.

By Own Correspondent| The Housing Corporation Zimbabwe (HCZ) has noted the release of the final Report on the Forensic Investigation into the Affairs of the National Social Security Authority (NSSA) conducted by BDO Zimbabwe Chartered Accountants (BDO). The report contains several falsehoods as regards to HCZ.

These untruths are attributable to the incompetent manner in which BDO conducted its forensic investigation and in arriving at its conclusions. The absence of an in-depth probe includes ignoring critical information that would have assisted the investigation with accurate facts.

Therefore, in the interest of transparency, the management of HCZ is considering, inter alia, taking the following actions;

• Instituting legal proceedings to seek relief against areas of the report that are not truthful and are harmful to the reputation of HCZ and its management.
• Providing the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) with a dossier detailing the process leading up to the signing of the housing off-take agreement between NSSA and HCZ.
• Submitting grievance statements to the relevant regulatory and oversight bodies within the Chartered Accounting and Audit profession on the conduct of BDO during the investigation.

In rejecting the untested claims of impropriety in securing the NSSA off-take agreement, HCZ would like to clarify the following;

• All the appropriate governance protocols were followed ahead of signing the off-take agreement as approved by the investment committee and the full board of NSSA.
• At best BDO, failed to comprehend, the NSSA procurement policy provisions that clearly differentiate between off-take agreements, which are investment decisions taken differently from the procurement of services in the ordinary course of organisational operations.   
• Contrary to the assertion that no investment appraisal was performed, an extensive investment memorandum was submitted as part of the proposal to NSSA which informed the negotiations and subsequent due diligence processes that were undertaken.
• NSSA did not suffer any price prejudice as claimed in the report. In this regard, NSSA have in their possession an independent expert assessment from ABACUS Construction Cost Consultants (Pty) Ltd, which affirmed the appropriateness of the price charged per unit. BDO failed to appreciate the variance in specifications and project scope that totalled the costs per unit when comparing against other housing projects.
• Due to the restrictive indigenous laws that were applicable at the time, as evidenced by the NSSA Board resolutions, Housing African Corporation (HAC) as a Mauritian entity was required to incorporate a local entity, in this regard, a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) through which the project would be managed and delivered.
• Thus, HCZ was set up as an SPV with licensed franchise rights obtained from HAC, as an owner of the  intellectual property of systems and methodology for the construction of

large-scale housing projects and having extensive experience in delivering  housing developments across the globe.

• The Caledonia Housing Project was compromised – not because of any action or inaction by HCZ, not because alleged procurement processes were not followed – but because of NSSA’s own failure and inability to manage the project. It was NSSA’s repeated material breaches of the off-take agreement which entitled HCZ, to legally terminate the agreement and claim damages. In arbitration, these repudiatory breaches by NSSA justified an award to HCZ as an entitlement to damages suffered.
• 57 Units had been completed prior to the contract termination, while 53 were at varying levels of completion.   

The management of HCZ supports the government’s efforts in fighting corruption. However, anti-corruption measures must not be used as a tool to malign individuals and their business operations. The HCZ is a customer focused company that is driven by its passion and the commitment to integrity and responsibility in the service of communities.      

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The United Kingdom has called on President Emmerson Mnangagwa to deliver on “genuine” political reforms that he committed to do in order to ensure a brighter future for the troubled country.

The UK’s newly-elected Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, also pleaded with Mnangagwa to implement recommendations by the Motlanthe Commission, which was set up after soldiers shot and killed demonstrators in 2018.

According to the statement by the UK released through their embassy in Harare, they urged the Mnangagwa to also deliver on the economic reforms.

“A year after Zimbabwe’s elections, we reiterate our call to the government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa to work on delivering the genuine political reforms that it has committed to alongside the economic reforms needed to pave the way to a better future for all Zimbabweans,” read the statement.

This comes at a time when Mnangagwa’s administration is seeking to mend relations with the country’s former coloniser.

“…Three times in South Africa Thursday, Friday and Saturday, I saw a vision somebody was pointing a gun at me and I was being shot. And I was dying in that vision and then I was seeing myself dying…”

By Dorrothy Moyo| The Harare based populist street preacher, Talent Chiwenga yesterday for the first time spoke concerning the alleged assassination attempt on his life in the accident that happened 2 months ago and which killed his wife and two church aides.

He gave fresh details on his allegations strongly pointing to the CIO and or the Zimbabwe national army.

As he held his first ever sermon, he said he saw in a vision (dream) a gunman opening fire at him.

Speaking during a church service, Talent Chiwenga said, ” I had a friend in Eugene Kanyuchi. I am sure many of you you know him. He served me in the work of Christ in the protocol department. And I had Mai Vhurumuko, and I think you all know her, you all knew her. VIDEO ( The story continues below)…

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“I faced death with those 2 people for as long as they were in the ministry. A week before we drove to South Africa I sat down with both of them and I said to them- you are following me everywhere I am going, I am in danger because in those three weeks before the accident we had a lot of incidents where death threats continued to come.

“I am sure you still remember at First Street when there was a message that came: run away they are going to come to kill you. And I said I am not going to run. Because I cannot run away from death death is something that nobody can run away from. So I sat with her husband and Mai Vhurumuku, and Baba Vhurumuku is not here, he works outside the country, and I told them there is death that is imminent; we knew about it it, we wrote a letter to president Emmerson Mnangagwa.

“And I told them that I was going to deliver that letter. The two of them, they volunteered to go with me, and I said if I don’t come back what happens to you?

“They said we will then not come back all of us. Vari vaviri, Baba Kanyuchi naMai Vhurumuku, ndaiti ndakavaudza kuti Vhangeri iyi ine vavengi vakawanda, ichasvika panguva yekuti tichafanirwa kuifira, vaiti, ” we are ready to die for the gospel.”

“Hapana anga aine rwendo rwekuenda kuSouth Africa pahu two hwavo. They volunteered to go with me. Three times in South Africa Thursday, Friday and Saturday, I saw a vision somebody was pointing a gun at me and I was being shot. And I was dying in that vision and then I was seeing myself dying when I was standing on the other side, and I told Baba Kanyuchi, I told Mai Chiwenga, this is what is going to happen, I am not comfortable something is about to happen. And they said let the will of the lord prevail.

“Our greatest challenge is when that time comes in our lives are we going to be holding our faith like they did? That is why we cannot count their departure, as a loss, it is not them that lost, it is us who lost. We lost an opportunity to go in good time, murikundinzwa here vadikani? Takashaiwa mukana wekuenda, zvichakanaka. So I just want to remind you that the people that do not believe do not understand their level, their carnal level, their corruptible level, their crooked level, we know what you are aiming for, we know the Lord, we know the Lord is coming. We know we shall be vindicated. We know we shall be justified. We know the gospel is going to go on. We know nobody is going to stop the gospel. We know nothing is going to stop the gospel.

“Not even the murderers, not even the politicians. Not even the CIO, not even the army, they will not stop this gospel. They can kill me today but they can’t kill the gospel.

“Tell your neighbour: they can kill me today but they can’t kill the gospel. The gospel cannot be killed because not even a bullet can reach close to the gospel. It is spiritual it is not physical.

“The AK47 kana CZ Pistol, inogona kuuraya nyama, asi mweya haigone kuuraya. So we just want to observe a moment of silence, but I want us us to first of all read this whole passage, in Phillipians chapter 1, let me read it up to verse 30. And then we observed a moment of silence to remind ourselves that there is a burden that lies squarely on our shoulders, to uphold the faith and to the very end, like our comrades did. They are our comrades, they are our heroes. They are heroes of faith, they stood firm for the gospel, and we have got to do the same. If we walk away from the faith, we are disappointing them. Hallelujah, Jesus is counting on us to stand firm unto the very end. For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

A British diplomat has denied claims that she bribed African authorities in order to adopt a Zimbabwean child, flouting adoption rules.

Catriona Laing, 55, British High Commissioner to Nigeria, is alleged to have paid a large sum of money to Zimbabwe’s ex-social welfare minister Prisca Mupfumira, reports The Sun.

Ms Laing adopted three-year-old daughter Anya from a children’s home in 2017 when she was acting as British ambassador in Zimbabwe.

The family moved to Nigeria after Ms Laing was appointed British High Commissioner there last year.

Now claims from another Zimbabwean MP have emerged, alleging that Anya’s Zimbabwean family want her back – the country’s social services are investigating the claims.

A corruption inquiry is already ongoing surrounding Mupfumira, she faces charges of abuse of office after allegedly siphoning money from the National Social Security Authority in scams totalling £78 million.

Ms Laing’s spokesman told The Sun: ‘These allegations are categorically untrue. All the proper legal processes were followed and no money was paid.’

A source told The Sun that no money had changed hands during the adoption, which took two years to complete as rules were followed so carefully.

In August last year Ms Laing faced criticism after she was said to be ‘cosying up’ with Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa by wearing his trademark scarf, bearing the country’s flag, while posing outside Downing Street.

Mr Mnangagwa is rarely seen in public without the scarf and it has become the emblem of his leadership.

Ex-Zimbabwean cabinet minister Jonathan Moyo accused Ms Laing of wearing a ‘dictator’s voodoo scarf’ and endorsing a ‘mass murderer’.

An ally of defeated candidate Nelson Chamisa told The Mail on Sunday: ‘Putting lipstick on a crocodile shouldn’t work, but it didn’t stop the ambassador trying.

‘Everyone who has cosied up to this monster should be ashamed after his narrow win. He could have lost if more powerful people had stood up to him.’

Ms Laing dismissed criticism of her scarf as ‘absurd conspiracy theories’. It was a ‘Christmas present from the designer’ and she ‘had it long before anyone else’.

The Sun

The National Social Security Authority (NSSA) was prejudiced of US$88 million due to poor investment appraisal, inflated costs, mismanagement and inefficiencies, the forensic audit report released last week has revealed.

The report was tabled in Parliament by Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Dr Sekai Nzenza on Thursday.

According to the report, the authority acknowledged in its 2016 annual report that it had erred in constructing Beitbridge Hotel without requisite management skills resulting in it spending US$49 million instead of the US$3 million which was budgeted for.

“The report highlighted the following key issues and weaknesses on the project; the proposal from Rainbow Towers Group (RTG) did not have a bill of quantities and basis of the estimated costs; there was no evidence of NSSA performing an investment appraisal for the project, no action was taken on abnormal variance between tender amount and actual cost, abnormal consultation fees which were not budgeted for were not queried,” reads part of the report.

Run by RTG, the hotel was closed in 2016 after two-and-a-half years of operations after the hospitality group made approximately US$2 million in losses.

The auditors also noted that NSSA management had not learnt anything from the weaknesses cited in the Beitbridge Hotel debacle.

“Almost all the off-take housing projects in progress have similar weaknesses and challenges. These are likely to result in financial losses if corrective action is not taken.

“Due to some of these weaknesses, the authority ended up writing off US$88 million of investment properties through fair value adjustment during the period investigated.

“Based on our review, other NSSA forensic and internal audit reports, we noted that of the US$88 million, US$78 968 365 was established to be a result of mismanagement, inefficiencies, absence of investment appraisal and inflated costs,” reads the report.

NSSA lost US$42 611 852 on Beitbridge RTG Hotel, US$23 072 231 on Metbank debt swap properties, US$11 806 385 on Celestial Park, US$889 897 on Gateway Investments properties, US$464 000 on Ballantyne Park property and US$124 000 on Nyanga Chalets.

The audit also questioned the integrity of the NSSA database after noting a number of anomalies.

It noted that 371 000 records did not have contact phone numbers which are necessary for communication purposes, 989 000 records did not have contributors’ monthly salaries which are used to calculate pensions with most of them having 723 822 as a default telephone number.

Apart from that 880 000 records had no employee numbers which is a prerequisite when applying for and claiming a pension while 79 000 did not have national identity numbers.

More than 4 00 records had a total service period of 75 years yet NSSA has only been in existence since 1994 making 25 years the period equivalent to commencement of NSSA contributions.

At least 35 000 records did not have social security numbers.

ZANU-PF yet again used its dirty tactics to win the Lupane East Constituency and two wards in Bubi and Nkayi districts in Saturday’s by-elections.

The ruling party used their usual vote buying tactic and intimidation to win the by elections they ordinarily will not have won.

ZANU PF through government flooded Lupane district health centres with medication and drugs for the first time in years. Food aid was intensified in the weeks running to the election which saw a driver of a heavily loaded truck die in accident due to fatigue from the non stop delivery of maize grain.

Wide spread reports of intimidation were of voters were also made as the ruling party youth league militia threatened villagers of the return of Gukurahundi of ZANU PF lost the by-election.

The Zanu-PF candidate in Lupane East, Mbongeni Dube, prevailed over eight other candidates, garnering 6 369 votes while the MDC-Alliance candidate, Mr Dalumuzi Khumalo, polled 4 505 votes.

The rest of the results were as follows: Nelson Mkandla (National Action Party) 51 votes, Gezekile Mkhwebu (Zapu) 52 votes, Given Ncube (MDC-T) 363 votes, Morgen Ndlovu (Labour Economists and African Democrats Party) 18 votes, Ms Alice Sibanda (National Constitutional Assembly) 27 votes, Njabulo Sibanda (National Patriotic Front) 39 votes and Mr Andrew Tshaba (Mthwakazi Republic Party) 81 votes.

Spoiled or rejected votes were 155.

The ruling party also retained Ward 22 in Bubi with Thandekile Dube beating other contenders while Qhubani Nyoni romped to victory in Ward 23, Nkayi District.

Zanu-PF Secretary for Administration Dr Obert Mpofu said the party’s victory shamed the country’s detractors.

“The results dispel all beliefs and perceptions that are being floated around the globe and within the country that the people of Zimbabwe are in a worse situation than they were before,” said Dr Mpofu.

Instead, he said, what Zimbabweans were experiencing were birth pangs of a prosperous country as President Mnangagwa’s administration implements new policies and ideas meant to turn around the economy.

“We have been saying that whatever is happening, there is no Government in this world which can come up with policies which are meant to demoralise the people, so everything that Government is doing is meant to better the people’s lives,” he said.

Dr Mpofu said while turning around the country’s fortunes was never going to be an overnight thing, the Government was implementing policies to reverse the damage the country suffered over the years under the old dispensation.

“The people are very clear on what they want, they are very clear on the policies of the party, policies decided by the ruling party at their congresses and conferences, so we are going to continue winning these elections whenever there is a by-election. The MDC should know that they won’t win anything,” said Dr Mpofu.

“The people are giving the Government a chance to deliver on its promises, which is what has happened. MDC was there in its full force headed by their leader but people said they cannot be associated with a party which has no clear policies hence they stuck to the ruling party which is commendable and we are really excited about it.”

Dr Mpofu said the elections also served to prove the falsehood of MDC leader Nelson Chamisa’s claims that he won the 2018 elections.

“The victory by Zanu-PF in the local government and parliamentary by-elections is a clear indication to Chamisa, who has been lying to the world that he won the elections. These by-elections show what people think about him. In Lupane you can imagine the number of (MDC-Alliance) top leadership that was here and led by him, but the people have said no, we don’t want you and this rhetoric that he won is founded on no grounds at all. It is just wishful thinking, which is not realistic,” he said.

Zanu-PF Secretary for Information and Publicity Simon Khaya Moyo said the party was emboldened by the victory.

“The sweeping trend which continues to be registered by the party in all previous elections does not only testify to the confidence which the electorate has in Zanu-PF policies and programmes, but it also loudly speaks to the existing umbilical bond between the party and the general masses of Zimbabwe which is rooted to the days of the liberation struggle,” said Khaya Moyo.

“Clearly, the revolutionary train is well oiled and is on the unstoppable trajectory towards delivery of the people’s wishes and aspirations as espoused in the 2018 winning people’s election manifesto.”

Khaya Moyo said the elections were held in a free, fair and credible manner, calling on all participants to respect the will of the people.

Zanu-PF Matabeleland North provincial chairperson Richard Moyo paid tribute to all party structures that were involved in the campaign.

POWER utility ZESA, will in the next few weeks, embark on a massive debt collection exercise and will disable meters from defiant debtors nationwide.

The move is targeted at recovering more than $1 billion the parastatal is owed by industrial and domestic customers.

In an interview with The Sunday Mail, Energy and Power Development Deputy Minister Dr Magna Mudyiwa said the power company would also institute legal proceeding against some debtors.

“About $1,1 billion is owed (to Zesa) by customers. Disconnection of defaulting customers will begin within the next few weeks once the necessary logistics have been put in place, such as fuel (for the teams conducting the exercise),” she said.

“Those that remain defiant will be referred for legal actions. They also risk permanent disconnection.”

Dr Mudyiwa said customers who have prepaid meters and had a legacy debt will not be affected since they were already paying what they owe whenever they top-up their electricity.

She said any variations for debtors with prepaid meters will be considered separately.

Farai Dziva|Apostle Talent Chiwenga is back after being involved in a horrific accident.

Speaking during a Sunday service Chiwenga said :
“Tell your neighbour: they can kill me today but they can’t kill the gospel. The gospel cannot be killed because not even a bullet can reach close to the gospel. It is spiritual it is not physical.

“The AK47 kana CZ Pistol, inogona kuuraya nyama, asi mweya haigone kuuraya. So we just want to observe a moment of silence, but I want us us to first of all read this whole passage, in Phillipians chapter 1, let me read it up to verse 30. And then we observed a moment of silence to remind ourselves that there is a burden that lies squarely on our shoulders, to uphold the faith and to the very end, like our comrades did.”

“They are our comrades, they are our heroes. They are heroes of faith, they stood firm for the gospel, and we have got to do the same. If we walk away from the faith, we are disappointing them. Hallelujah, Jesus is counting on us to stand firm unto the very end. For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

VIDEO LOADING BELOW..

Farai Dziva|Linda Masarira has claimed those who think western countries care for Zimbabweans are lost.

“If you think that those western funders funding the training of rebels and acts of sabotage in Zimbabwe care for our country, think again.

As for me and the LEAD family we declare that Zimbabwe will never be a colony again. We are working on Zimbabwean solutions to fix the Zimcrisis,” claimed Masarira.

Farai Dziva|Outspoken MDC deputy president Obert Chaurura Gutu has claimed Mthuli Ncube is one of the best Finance Ministers ever to occupy the hot seat.

“POLAD isn’t going to stop simply because a dog has barked or is barking.

POLAD is irreversible. POLAD is a Game Changer.

POLAD on Friday, August 02, 2019. Robust and engaging debate with : Min of Finance and Economic Development, Professor Mthuli Ncube (fine economist and arguably one of the best Finance Ministers ever) and Min of Industry and Commerce, Mangaliso Ndlovu,”tweeted Gutu.

By A Correspondent| The last born son to the late musician Chinx Chingaira, Saglaw has died.

Saglaw was a victim of a hit and run accident along Lomagundi road.

Said a notice announcing his death:

Sad News

We have lost Saglaw the last born son of the late cde Chinx Chingaira around 3am in the morning.

It is believed that he was a victim of a hit-and-run around Greencroft area probably crossing Lomagundi from De Castilla Bar.

Mourners are gathered at number 17 Takeley Drive Sentosa.

Funeral arrangements will be announced in due course.

TWO university students, a male and a female, leisurely walk along a street before entering a house located near their college campus in Harare.

Moments later, another pair follows the same route and make their way into the run-down house.

Although the students are not married, they are living together as couples at a house that has been turned into an illegal students’ hostel.

For university and college students, co-habitation, which is living together as a couple and having sexual relations before marriage, has become widely accepted.

Unbeknown to their parents and guardians, some tertiary education students are living as couples, a conduct that is despised by many religions.

For university and college students, co-habiting has far-reaching negative effects such as illegal termination of pregnancies, unwanted babies and the transmission of sexually transmitted infections, among other effects.

Co-habiting by college and university students, which is being beautified as “campus marriage”, is a growing cultural trend in Zimbabwe.

Pastor Winston Fundira, a marriage counsellor and founder of the Jehovah Shammah Ministries, said any form of co-habiting is not only highly immoral but also unsafe.

“The Bible is very clear on this one. Living together and having sexual relations before marriage is sexual immorality and has its associated risks. Under whatever circumstances, unmarried couples should not live together as husband and wife,” Pastor Fundira said.

In traditional Shona culture, co-habiting, which is known as kuchaya mapoto, is considered indecent. Co-habiting couples often do not practice safe sex, thereby inviting dangers such as illegal termination of pregnancies and transmission of STIs.

The high demand for emergency contraception pills, commonly known as “morning after pills”, in areas near universities and colleges, proves that most tertiary students do not practice safe sex.

A study produced by the Bulawayo Polytechnic’s Department of Adult and Continuing Education titled “Cohabitation among Tertiary Education Students: An Exploratory Study in Bulawayo” revealed that co-habitation is common at tertiary institutions.

According to the study, co-habiting has been associated with a number of problems, including sexually transmitted diseases, abortions, sexual abuse and violence, low academic performance, increased cost of medical care and unwanted pregnancies.

The study noted that co-habiting is mostly caused by lack of accommodation, problems with room mates, lack of privacy and the need to be close and intimate with one’s lover.

Furthermore, the study noted that co-habitation exposes students to premarital sex, unwanted pregnancies and abortion. The Sunday Mail Society spoke to a number of college students, with the majority of them defending co-habitation. Some of them argued that as adults, students are free to choose their lifestyles.

“We are moving with the times. I do not want to marry and settle down with a total stranger. For the three years that I have been living with my girlfriend, I got to know her better and this has cemented our relationship,” said a university student only identified as Stan.

Apart from unwanted pregnancies and academic under performance, some tertiary students have landed in hot soup because of co-habiting.

Early this year, a Masvingo Polytechnic student was jailed an effective five years after he stole a car and tried to sell it to raise money for the upkeep of his demanding lover, who was studying at the same institution.

Darlington Sagia (21) was convicted on his own plea of guilt when he appeared before Masvingo regional magistrate Mrs Dambudzo Malunga facing theft charges.

He said his live-in girlfriend was always pestering him for money to pay rentals and other household needs, yet he was still a student without a reliable source of income.

College students co-habiting often take nude pictures of themselves and cases of revenge porn are common.

A college student reportedly committed suicide after her former live-in boyfriend leaked her nude pictures.

Apart from co-habiting, some of the vices that are associated with college students are excessive drinking, wild parties and the sneaking of guests into college premises. Some female students are also in the habit of dating older men who are commonly referred to as “blessers” while male students also date older women known as “cougars”.

To curb co-habiting, the aforementioned study recommended that tertiary education students should be enlightened about the dangers of the vice during orientations. Parents are also encouraged to visit their children and find out where they live while at college as well as their room mates.

The study recommended that accommodation on campus should be made affordable to students so that they are not vulnerable to various kinds of exploitation, including co-habitation.-StateMedia

…Three times in South Africa Thursday, Friday and Saturday, I saw a vision somebody was pointing a gun at me and I was being shot. And I was dying in that vision and then I was seeing myself dying…”

By Dorrothy Moyo| The eloquent street preacher, Talent Chiwenga held his first ever sermon today in which he spoke of the events leading to accident that killed his wife and two other people. He said he saw in a vision (dream) a gunman opening fire at him.

Speaking on Sunday afternoon, Talent Chiwenga said, “And I had Mai Vhurumuko, and I think you all know her, you all knew her. VIDEO ( The story continues below)…

VIDEO LOADING BELOW…

I faced death with those 2 people for as long as they were in the ministry. A week before we drove to South Africa I sat down with both of them and I said to them- you are following me everywhere I am going, I am in danger because in those three weeks before the accident we had a lot of incidents where death threats continued to come.

I am sure you still remember at First Street when there was a message that came: run away they are going to come to kill you. And I said I am not going to run. Because I cannot run away from death death is something that nobody can run away from. So I sat with her husband and Mai Vhurumuku, and Baba Vhurumuku is not here, he works outside the country, and I told them there is death that is imminent; we knew about it it, we wrote a letter to president Emmerson Mnangagwa.

“And I told them that I was going to deliver that letter. The two of them, they volunteered to go with me, and I said if I don’t come back what happens to you?

“They said we will then not come back all of us. Vari vaviri, Baba Kanyuchi naMai Vhurumuku, ndaiti ndakavaudza kuti Vhangeri iyi ine vavengi vakawanda, ichasvika panguva yekuti tichafanirwa kuifira, vaiti, ” we are ready to die for the gospel.”

“Hapana anga aine rwendo rwekuenda kuSouth Africa pahu two hwavo. They volunteered to go with me. Three times in South Africa Thursday, Friday and Saturday, I saw a vision somebody was pointing a gun at me and I was being shot. And I was dying in that vision and then I was seeing myself dying when I was standing on the other side, and I told Baba Kanyuchi, I told Mai Chiwenga, this is what is going to happen, I am not comfortable something is about to happen. And they said let the will of the lord prevail.

“Our greatest challenge is when that time comes in our lives are we going to be holding our faith like they did? That is why we cannot count their departure, as a loss, it is not them that lost, it is us who lost. We lost an opportunity to go in good time, murikundinzwa here vadikani? Takashaiwa mukana wekuenda, zvichakanaka. So I just want to remind you that the people that do not believe do not understand their level, their carnal level, their corruptible level, their crooked level, we know what you are aiming for, we know the Lord, we know the Lord is coming. We know we shall be vindicated. We know we shall be justified. We know the gospel is going to go on. We know nobody is going to stop the gospel. We know nothing is going to stop the gospel.

“Not even the murderers, not even the politicians. Not even the CIO, not even the army, they will not stop this gospel. They can kill me today but they can’t kill the gospel.

“Tell your neighbour: they can kill me today but they can’t kill the gospel. The gospel cannot be killed because not even a bullet can reach close to the gospel. It is spiritual it is not physical.

“The AK47 kana CZ Pistol, inogona kuuraya nyama, asi mweya haigone kuuraya. So we just want to observe a moment of silence, but I want us us to first of all read this whole passage, in Phillipians chapter 1, let me read it up to verse 30. And then we observed a moment of silence to remind ourselves that there is a burden that lies squarely on our shoulders, to uphold the faith and to the very end, like our comrades did. They are our comrades, they are our heroes. They are heroes of faith, they stood firm for the gospel, and we have got to do the same. If we walk away from the faith, we are disappointing them. Hallelujah, Jesus is counting on us to stand firm unto the very end. For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

VIDEO LOADING BELOW…

By A Correspondent- A University of Zimbabwe political science professor, Eldred Masunungure, has said the Zanu-PF government is not sincere about fighting corruption in Zimbabwe and that the recent arrests are a pretext to deal with political opponents within Zanu PF.

His comments follow the recent arrest of Minister Tourism, Prisca Mupfumira, on corruption allegations

Speaking to a local publication Masunungure said:

Corruption has been the biggest problem in the country. It has become systemic, from the public sector to private sector organisations … It has become a way of life.

We cannot compare the impacts of corruption and sanctions, as the impact of sanctions is limited. It is clear that corruption has been the main cancer that is hindering Zimbabwe’s economic growth.

For people who think that the government is going to nail those who are being named in corruption, that’s wishful thinking.

They just want to remove political garbage. This is being targeted on certain individuals. Indeed, if you are in the wrong basket you will be nailed.

Mupfumira was arrested for alleged corruption crimes commited while she was the Minister of Labour and Social Welfare. The recent release of a forensic audit report of NSSA implicates several other individuals.-DailyNews

“…Three times in South Africa Thursday, Friday and Saturday, I saw a vision somebody was pointing a gun at me and I was being shot. And I was dying in that vision and then I was seeing myself dying…”

By Dorrothy Moyo| The eloquent street preacher, Talent Chiwenga held his first ever sermon today in which he spoke of the events leading to accident that killed his wife and two other people. He said he saw in a vision (dream) a gunman opening fire at him.

Speaking on Sunday afternoon, Talent Chiwenga said, ” I had a friend in Eugene Kanyuchi. I am sure many of you you know him. He served me in the work of Christ in the protocol department. And I had Mai Vhurumuko, and I think you all know her, you all knew her. VIDEO ( The story continues below)…

VIDEO LOADING BELOW…

I faced death with those 2 people for as long as they were in the ministry. A week before we drove to South Africa I sat down with both of them and I said to them- you are following me everywhere I am going, I am in danger because in those three weeks before the accident we had a lot of incidents where death threats continued to come.

I am sure you still remember at First Street when there was a message that came: run away they are going to come to kill you. And I said I am not going to run. Because I cannot run away from death death is something that nobody can run away from. So I sat with her husband and Mai Vhurumuku, and Baba Vhurumuku is not here, he works outside the country, and I told them there is death that is imminent; we knew about it it, we wrote a letter to president Emmerson Mnangagwa.

“And I told them that I was going to deliver that letter. The two of them, they volunteered to go with me, and I said if I don’t come back what happens to you?

“They said we will then not come back all of us. Vari vaviri, Baba Kanyuchi naMai Vhurumuku, ndaiti ndakavaudza kuti Vhangeri iyi ine vavengi vakawanda, ichasvika panguva yekuti tichafanirwa kuifira, vaiti, ” we are ready to die for the gospel.”

“Hapana anga aine rwendo rwekuenda kuSouth Africa pahu two hwavo. They volunteered to go with me. Three times in South Africa Thursday, Friday and Saturday, I saw a vision somebody was pointing a gun at me and I was being shot. And I was dying in that vision and then I was seeing myself dying when I was standing on the other side, and I told Baba Kanyuchi, I told Mai Chiwenga, this is what is going to happen, I am not comfortable something is about to happen. And they said let the will of the lord prevail.

“Our greatest challenge is when that time comes in our lives are we going to be holding our faith like they did? That is why we cannot count their departure, as a loss, it is not them that lost, it is us who lost. We lost an opportunity to go in good time, murikundinzwa here vadikani? Takashaiwa mukana wekuenda, zvichakanaka. So I just want to remind you that the people that do not believe do not understand their level, their carnal level, their corruptible level, their crooked level, we know what you are aiming for, we know the Lord, we know the Lord is coming. We know we shall be vindicated. We know we shall be justified. We know the gospel is going to go on. We know nobody is going to stop the gospel. We know nothing is going to stop the gospel.

“Not even the murderers, not even the politicians. Not even the CIO, not even the army, they will not stop this gospel. They can kill me today but they can’t kill the gospel.

“Tell your neighbour: they can kill me today but they can’t kill the gospel. The gospel cannot be killed because not even a bullet can reach close to the gospel. It is spiritual it is not physical.

“The AK47 kana CZ Pistol, inogona kuuraya nyama, asi mweya haigone kuuraya. So we just want to observe a moment of silence, but I want us us to first of all read this whole passage, in Phillipians chapter 1, let me read it up to verse 30. And then we observed a moment of silence to remind ourselves that there is a burden that lies squarely on our shoulders, to uphold the faith and to the very end, like our comrades did. They are our comrades, they are our heroes. They are heroes of faith, they stood firm for the gospel, and we have got to do the same. If we walk away from the faith, we are disappointing them. Hallelujah, Jesus is counting on us to stand firm unto the very end. For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

By A Correspondent| Opposition MDC Deputy National Chairperson Job Sikhala has implored citizens regardless of their political affiliation to come together and confront President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration over a failing economy.

Sikhala said this Sunday at a rally held in Chitungwiza.

He said:

“….In January 2019, Zanu Pf committed another Murambatsvina just behind those shops and destroyed people’s livelihoods.

Even Zanu Pf supporters who were wearing party regalia had their stands demolished in that Murambatsvina….

What I want to tell citizens is that the time to confront the beast called Zanu Pf is now.

Poverty knows no political party affiliation. Zanu Pf supporters, join us and let’s fight this regime.”

Watch the video below for this and more.

Video loading below..

By A Correspondent| Passengers Association of Zimbabwe president Tafadzwa Goliati has called on the city fathers to ensure that public toilets in the Central business district are functioning in order to avoid and reduce the spread of diseases.

Goliati said non functioning public toilets has seen the commuting public relieving themselves all over the city in a development which threatens citizens’ health.

He said:

“The scene above, is at 4th Street in Harare where a man is seen urinating on an NRZ fence.

This is due to a shortage of public toilets, which is further worsened by water shortages and public toilets that are non functional.

Passengers Association of Zimbabwe protests against the derelict public ablution system and the fact that commuters and other members of the public end up relieving themselves all over the place, leading to threats of communicable diseases.”

A BULAWAYO businessman, who is facing charges of defrauding an unsuspecting land seeker of US$1,4 million in a botched property deal, is in deep trouble after it emerged that he allegedly swindled more victims to bring his ill-gotten gains to close to US$2 million after managing to win their trust. 

Ismail Moosa Lunat, who is being tried in Harare and is out on $5 000 bail, allegedly sold the land that he had already sold to someone else three years ago for US$1,4 million to Mr Mohamed Patel, a Bulawayo businessman. 

According to the documents signed, Lunat stated that he was selling the property on behalf of one of his companies called Converging Investments (Pvt) Limited. It is alleged that Lunat showed Mr Patel an original copy of the title deeds and CR14 Forms before the agreement was signed. Upon signing the agreement, Mr Patel made a down payment of US$1 million. 

Lunat allegedly advised Mr Patel that he must settle the balance of US$400 000 on or before 15 December 2018. Mr Patel paid the balance on 14 December 2018 before being given the original copy of the title deeds to the property. A follow-up with the Registrar of Deeds revealed that the property was in fact, registered in the name of Mr Timothy Mafuka Nkomo. Mr Nkomo had purchased the said property from Lunat in 2015.

The State’s case against Lunat, also a bookkeeper and accountant, seems to be the tip of the iceberg as investigations revealed an alleged scam that goes beyond Bulawayo. He is alleged to have struck a number of business deals with various businessmen, but failed to honour his obligations after receiving payment. 

In a matter not related to the court case, Lunat was some time last year allegedly given a loan of US$384 177 by the same Mr Patel. Lunat was also made to sign an acknowledgement of debt document but Mr Patel has not received a dime of that money back. The matter is at the Bulawayo High Court. Contacted for comment Mr Patel refused to comment.

“Where did you get that information? Sorry I am not comfortable discussing matters that are now in the hands of the courts. I am a private citizen and I expect your newspaper to treat me as such,” said Mr Patel before abruptly cutting his phone.

Mr Adam Horton, a Harare businessman, allegedly lost US$390 400 to Lunat. Lunat was arrested and detained at Harare Central Police Station some time in November 2018. He was made to sign an affidavit acknowledging the debt. To this day he has not paid a cent to Mr Horton. 

Documents that this paper has in possession show that Lunat had undertaken to pay back “on or before the 14th of January 2019, the sum of US$390 400 in full and final payment of the dispute between the parties.”

The agreement of payment of debt was crafted by Venturas and Samukange Legal Practitioners and it refers to Mr Horton as “Adam” and Lunat as “Ismail”. The written agreement goes on to state that the amount was to be deposited into Mr Horton’s lawyers account (account name and account number supplied). 

The agreed settlement saw Mr Horton withdrawing his “pending criminal complaint against Lunat. Mr Horton also agreed not to “make any further criminal complaint against Lunat arising from the transaction and dispute between the two parties”. 

But to this day Mr Horton has not been paid back his money.  Mr Horton confirmed that Lunat owes him US$390 400.

“Where did you get that information? You want to put my name in the newspaper without my permission, you don’t have my permission. Anyway I know he owes a lot of people money including myself. But I don’t know where and how you got that information,” Mr Horton said. 

A Mr Vikash from KDV Bedding was allegedly made US$116 765 poorer after he struck a deal with Lunat. Mr Vikash’s botched deal was allegedly brokered and guaranteed by a Mr Hitesh ‘‘Hitler’’ Patel. 

However, Mr Hitesh Patel vehemently dismissed the allegations that he acted as a broker despite the fact that he acted as a witness to the agreement. 

“I am not involved in that and I have nothing to do with that. I am not involved in any way,” he said. 

Lunat had made an undertaking to pay US$10 000 a month, starting in January 2019, until the whole amount was paid off. Mr Vikash has not received any payment despite Lunat acknowledging in an affidavit dated 11 December 2018 that he owes Mr Vikash US$116 765.

Mr Vikash was not as forthcoming as he did not entertain questions when asked if Lunat had swindled him.

“He did not,” said Mr Vikash, before he abruptly hung up his phone. Attempts to get in touch with him again proved fruitless as he did not answer calls. 

Some of the cases mentioned above were reported to the police in Harare under the criminal investigation department’s commercial crimes division.

Contacted for comment last Wednesday Lunat said, “Can I have your number and I will get back to you with a comment.” However, he did not call or respond to WhatsApp messages. He has not been answering this reporter’s calls ever since. 

On Thursday a shady character called with an offer of a bribe so that the story is not published, but this reporter flatly turned it down. 

Standard|A Bulawayo High Court judge has quashed the conviction of a Binga businessman who was jailed for allegedly fishing in the Lake Kariba basin without a permit.

Justice Nokuthula Moyo ruled that Binga magistrate Talent Phiri erred in ordering the four month incarceration of Taurai Marava.

Phiri had also ordered the forfeiture of Marava’s two fishing rigs to the state and had ordered the Zimbabwe Republic Police to auction them while the businessman was in prison.

Marava (46) and two of his rig captains, Dumezweni Munenge (31) and Davie Chagwambala (37) of Zewula village, Chief Siabuwa in Binga and Dumbula village, Chief Mola in Kariba, respectively, pleaded not guilty to the offence, but were convicted by Phiri.

The captains were fined $100 each.

Marava accused Phiri and prosecutor Bruce Maphosa of soliciting for a bribe and argued that the magistrate wanted to fix him.

After his release from jail, the businessman filed for a review of the trial proceedings and Justice Moyo ruled in his favour.

A BULAWAYO businessman, who is facing charges of defrauding an unsuspecting land seeker of US$1,4 million in a botched property deal, is in deep trouble after it emerged that he allegedly swindled more victims to bring his ill-gotten gains to close to US$2 million after managing to win their trust. 

Ismail Moosa Lunat, who is being tried in Harare and is out on $5 000 bail, allegedly sold the land that he had already sold to someone else three years ago for US$1,4 million to Mr Mohamed Patel, a Bulawayo businessman. 

According to the documents signed, Lunat stated that he was selling the property on behalf of one of his companies called Converging Investments (Pvt) Limited. It is alleged that Lunat showed Mr Patel an original copy of the title deeds and CR14 Forms before the agreement was signed. Upon signing the agreement, Mr Patel made a down payment of US$1 million. 

Lunat allegedly advised Mr Patel that he must settle the balance of US$400 000 on or before 15 December 2018. Mr Patel paid the balance on 14 December 2018 before being given the original copy of the title deeds to the property. A follow-up with the Registrar of Deeds revealed that the property was in fact, registered in the name of Mr Timothy Mafuka Nkomo. Mr Nkomo had purchased the said property from Lunat in 2015.

The State’s case against Lunat, also a bookkeeper and accountant, seems to be the tip of the iceberg as investigations revealed an alleged scam that goes beyond Bulawayo. He is alleged to have struck a number of business deals with various businessmen, but failed to honour his obligations after receiving payment. 

In a matter not related to the court case, Lunat was some time last year allegedly given a loan of US$384 177 by the same Mr Patel. Lunat was also made to sign an acknowledgement of debt document but Mr Patel has not received a dime of that money back. The matter is at the Bulawayo High Court. Contacted for comment Mr Patel refused to comment.

“Where did you get that information? Sorry I am not comfortable discussing matters that are now in the hands of the courts. I am a private citizen and I expect your newspaper to treat me as such,” said Mr Patel before abruptly cutting his phone.

Mr Adam Horton, a Harare businessman, allegedly lost US$390 400 to Lunat. Lunat was arrested and detained at Harare Central Police Station some time in November 2018. He was made to sign an affidavit acknowledging the debt. To this day he has not paid a cent to Mr Horton. 

Documents that this paper has in possession show that Lunat had undertaken to pay back “on or before the 14th of January 2019, the sum of US$390 400 in full and final payment of the dispute between the parties.”

The agreement of payment of debt was crafted by Venturas and Samukange Legal Practitioners and it refers to Mr Horton as “Adam” and Lunat as “Ismail”. The written agreement goes on to state that the amount was to be deposited into Mr Horton’s lawyers account (account name and account number supplied). 

The agreed settlement saw Mr Horton withdrawing his “pending criminal complaint against Lunat. Mr Horton also agreed not to “make any further criminal complaint against Lunat arising from the transaction and dispute between the two parties”. 

But to this day Mr Horton has not been paid back his money.  Mr Horton confirmed that Lunat owes him US$390 400.

“Where did you get that information? You want to put my name in the newspaper without my permission, you don’t have my permission. Anyway I know he owes a lot of people money including myself. But I don’t know where and how you got that information,” Mr Horton said. 

A Mr Vikash from KDV Bedding was allegedly made US$116 765 poorer after he struck a deal with Lunat. Mr Vikash’s botched deal was allegedly brokered and guaranteed by a Mr Hitesh ‘‘Hitler’’ Patel. 

However, Mr Hitesh Patel vehemently dismissed the allegations that he acted as a broker despite the fact that he acted as a witness to the agreement. 

“I am not involved in that and I have nothing to do with that. I am not involved in any way,” he said. 

Lunat had made an undertaking to pay US$10 000 a month, starting in January 2019, until the whole amount was paid off. Mr Vikash has not received any payment despite Lunat acknowledging in an affidavit dated 11 December 2018 that he owes Mr Vikash US$116 765.

Mr Vikash was not as forthcoming as he did not entertain questions when asked if Lunat had swindled him.

“He did not,” said Mr Vikash, before he abruptly hung up his phone. Attempts to get in touch with him again proved fruitless as he did not answer calls. 

Some of the cases mentioned above were reported to the police in Harare under the criminal investigation department’s commercial crimes division.

Contacted for comment last Wednesday Lunat said, “Can I have your number and I will get back to you with a comment.” However, he did not call or respond to WhatsApp messages. He has not been answering this reporter’s calls ever since. 

On Thursday a shady character called with an offer of a bribe so that the story is not published, but this reporter flatly turned it down. 

By A Correspondent| A Zanu Pf legislator is seeking to donate a car to one lucky person on Twitter who hates him the most.

Chivi South legislator Killer Zivhu said he wants to donate the car to anyone on Twitter who hates him because God says love and forgive your enemies.

He posted:

“I want to donate this car to anyone on Twitter who hates me. God says love and forgive your enemies. It’s (the car) still new only 10 000 kilometres just inbox me I really mean it.”

Standard|FAST foods giant Simbisa Brands Limited lost ZWL$780 000 due to power cuts last month as the business sector begins to count the costs of crippling power shortages.

Zesa in June started implementing a punishing 18-hour load-shedding schedule after it was forced to significantly reduce power generation at the Kariba Dam hydro power plant.

Zimbabwe is also struggling to pay money owed to Mozambican and South African power producers that have responded by suspending electricity supplies.

Simbisa said it now had to spend more on diesel to run generators across the company’s 209 outlets. The power crisis came at a time when the company had lost

35% of its revenue last month after the government ended dollarisation.

Simbisa said the setback had severely affected its plans to roll out 21 outlets by year end.

“It has been an extremely difficult task,” the company’s MD Warren Meares said in an interview.

“We have got backup generators throughout the country at all our outlets and we have even now bought mobile generators for the down time when you have to

service the generators.

“We have put three generators on trailers so that when we get a problem with a certain generator we have a backup generator within the hour to support the branch that has a power cut.”

Meares was speaking after the launch of a Nandos outlet in Harare’s Borrowdale suburb on Friday. He said Simbisa would be forced to slow down its expansion drive due to the erratic power supplies.

“Our expenses have gone up by about $780 000 per month from all outlets,” he added.

“We spent about $780 00 on diesel last month to run the generators’ and we have decided we need to have a relook at our strategy to see whether we are going

to continue on the trajectory that we had planned.”

Meares said from the 21 outlets they had originally planned for this year, only six might eventually be opened.

He said if that happens, they would only be able to hire half of the planned 500 new employees.

In February, Simbisa announced it would invest about US$10 million in setting up the 21 new outlets.

Simbisa operates Chicken Inn, Pizza Inn, Baker’s Inn, Creamy Inn, Fish Inn, Rocomamas, Steers, Nando’s and Galito’s outlets.

State Media|Former Finance Minister Tendai Biti allegedly abused his position to direct the National Social Security Authority to sink $20 million into troubled Capital Bank (formerly Renaissance Merchant Bank) despite indications that the project was not viable, legislators heard yesterday.

NSSA general manager James Matiza told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Public Accounts that they turned away two attempts by Renaissance Financial Holdings Limited’s major shareholder, Patterson Timba – brother to MDC-T secretary for external relations Jameson Timba – to get the authority to invest in his project.

Matiza was responding to findings by the Comptroller and Auditor-General Mildred Chiri in her 2012 report, which unearthed several irregularities in NSSA’s financial affairs.

Matiza said NSSA eventually invested $30 million in Capital Bank after Biti directed the authority to bail out the troubled institution.

MDC leader Nelson Chamisa has reportedly forced Bulawayo Mayor Councillor Solomon Mguni to issue a public apology together with his embattled deputy, Councillor Tinashe Kambarami for the humiliation caused to the city’s Town Clerk Mr Christopher Dube last month.

Clr Mguni is reportedly forced to issue the apology when he, was in fact not part of the circus, but came in to pacify the raging differences between Mr Dube and Clr Kambarami. Clr Kambarami, working with his sidekick Clr Silas Chigora attempted to violently and unprocedurally eject Mr Dube from office last month. Mr Chamisa reportedly gave the directive after meeting stakeholders and the councillors at a local hotel last Saturday. 

He is reported to have directed Clr Mguni and Clr Kambarami to issue a joint public statement apologising to Mr Dube and further dispelling a reported rift between the two city fathers which has seen the local authority being divided into two rival camps.

Clr Kambarami is out on bail after the Town Clerk filed assault charges against him and Clr Chigora. Mr Dube also approached the High Court to declare the attempted suspension as null and void. MDC-A Bulawayo provincial chairperson and Makokoba MP, Alderman James Sithole said the party was now waiting for the two to apologise.

He said the party had realised that residents had since lost confidence in the councillors owing to the incident surrounding the move to suspend Mr Dube hence the need for both the Mayor and his deputy to reassure residents that they were working together to restore sanity in the council chambers.

“The issue is that events leading to the attempted suspension of the Town Clerk have led most people to allege that there was a possible rift within council chambers hence the realisation that the two should issue a joint statement reassuring residents that there was sanity within the council chambers.

“Further there is a need for both the Mayor and his deputy to update residents on a number of service delivery matters which we discovered have been grossly misrepresented in the public sphere hence the need for this joint statement. I am in contact with both of them and I can assure you that the statement will be made in the next coming few days,” said Ald Sithole.

Contacted for comment Clr Mguni also confirmed the move revealing that they will be issuing the joint statement on Wednesday before the full council meeting.

“Yes we will be calling you as journalists before the full council meeting to issue this joint statement. However, it is not only an issue about the Deputy Mayor and myself, it is an issue of our key stakeholders so they know what transpired and where we are going as a local authority.

“Without pre-empting the statement, I can, however, assure our residents that we have moved on from what transpired and most importantly learnt from it. Councillors are now more united going forward and raring to do the duties they were elected to do, that is foster service delivery in the city,” said Clr Mguni.

Clr Kambarami said as leaders they must foster unity, learn from their past mistakes and work together for the cause of the city.

“The issue is that we have to work together as city leaders hence the need for us to assure our stakeholders on our commitment to both unity and the need to foster real issues, these being people issues. It is now all about uniting and remembering that we were all elected to lead and push for service delivery within the local authority. What I should emphasise is the need to learn from our mistakes going forward and unite for one cause,” he said.

The past month has seen the local authority rocked in controversy following the infamous attempts to eject the Town Clerk from office, this resulted in the Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, July Moyo dispatching a commission of inquiry to investigate circumstances surrounding the matter.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his two deputies Vice Presidents Constantino Chiwenga and Kembo Mohadi are not safe and will not be safe unless they fix they country’s bitter past.

This is a warning that was delivered by fierce government critic and cleric, Bishop Ancelimo Magaya. Bishop Magaya warned that he once gave the same advice to former President Robert Mugabe who ignored it at his peril.

Speaking at a Harare memorial church service for the six victims of the August 1, 2018 Massacres, Bishop Magaya is quoted by New Zimbabwe as saying,

President Emmerson Mnangagwa Dambudzo is not safe, he is not safe!

Unless there is clear denunciation, clear disassociation, clearly laid out declared regrets over the past, he (Mnangagwa) is not safe. Sooner rather than later, a rebellion will ensue.

Chiwenga is not safe, I wish him a speedy recovery, Mohadi is not safe.

On 28 June 2016, I addressed the press at Media Centre and I warned the nation that the people who were committing violence were not safe.

I said Jonathan Moyo (then a cabinet minister and Zanu PF strategist), the promulgator of the notorious legislation, in as much as he is in parliament or even if he is a minister, he was not safe.

I said sooner rather than later he will be a victim. I also said Kasukuwere is not safe. I then said, even President Robert Mugabe is not safe.

After Mugabe was ousted from power by the military in November 2017, Moyo and Kasukuwere fled into exile fearing retribution.

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Farai Dziva|Outspoken MDC deputy president Obert Chaurura Gutu has claimed Mthuli Ncube is “one of the best Finance Ministers ever to occupy the hot seat.”

“POLAD isn’t going to stop simply because a dog has barked or is barking.

POLAD is irreversible. POLAD is a Game Changer.

POLAD on Friday, August 02, 2019. Robust and engaging debate with : Min of Finance and Economic Development, Professor Mthuli Ncube (fine economist and arguably one of the best Finance Ministers ever) and Min of Industry and Commerce, Mangaliso Ndlovu,”tweeted Gutu.

“We’re going to negotiate transfer of power.Are you hearing me? I am giving ED 2 weeks from now, for him to pick chiphone chake and call Adv Chamisa our Pres, to say I want to negotiate…failure [which], you know the results,the people are speaking here in their thousands…”

@JobWiwa gives Mnangagwa 2 weeks to telephone Chamisa and negotiate transfer of power: https://t.co/AvhdTwqBGq

— ZimEye (@ZimEye) August 4, 2019

https://youtu.be/MQ6ntACcwCc

Sikhala @JobWiwa : "Transfer of power…I am giving @edmnangagwa 2 weeks from now for him to hold the phone and call Pres Adv Nelson Chamisa and say, come I want to talk to you. " pic.twitter.com/aocopqoFyR

— ZimEye (@ZimEye) August 4, 2019

Standard|Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) chairperson Justice Loice Matanda-Moyo has only been in the job for a month, but already two high profile government officials are behind bars facing corruption charges.

Matanda-Moyo says she is determined to lead an effective fight against graft, which she said has become entrenched in various institutions.

Zacc has in the past been described as a tool used to fight Zanu PF factional wars.

However, Matanda-Moyo (LMM) told Alpha Media Holdings chairman Trevor Ncube (TN) in an exclusive interview on the platform: In Conversations with Trevor, that processes were already underway to restore confidence in Zacc.

She also vowed to investigate cartels that allegedly control Zimbabwe’s fuel industry. Below are excerpts from the interview.

TN: Justice Loice Matanda-Moyo, welcome to In Conversation with Trevor.

LMM: Thank you Trevor

TN: You have been on the hot seat for less than a month. How hot is the seat?

LMM: The seat is quite hot Trevor.

TN: Try and unpack that for us, what it means.

LMM: What it means is that when I came on to that seat the public had lost confidence in Zacc and coming in to such a seat has always been hot and the public

have so many expectations from Zacc and therefore the seat becomes hot.

TN: Are you intimidated? Are you frightened?

LMM: Not at all.

TN: Tell us about that.

LMM: I am not frightened.

TN: How confident are you, that you are going to meet the public expectations?

LMM: I am quite confident, looking at my background. I have come from a very long way. I rose through the system.

I joined the system as a public prosecutor. I have prosecuted before.

From prosecution I moved to the civil side of the law and I was in the civil division of the Attorney General’s office and I rose up to the ranks up to the director of the civil division for some time then I moved to be the director of public prosecutions before moving to the bench.

TN: So that answers the question who is Loice Matanda Moyo. Well, let me get into the matter, you are married to the Foreign Affairs minister. You have got a lovely family. Do you want to share with us, how many kids you have?

LMM: Well, we have got two children of our own. Two boys and one has just graduated this year with a degree in software engineering.

So we are quite excited. The other one is doing Lower 6 at the moment.

Two boys, but I have got a sister who passed on in 2004, she left two children.

I have taken those in as well. So they are our children, again we are looking after them. And the girl last year she had 9As at O Level.

TN: Congratulations!

TN: You are a mother, a wife, you are a judge.

LMM: Yes I am a mother and a wife.

TN: That is a busy life. People talk about work, life balance? Do you have that?

LMM: Yes I have got time to go to my sons’ schools. I look at their books.

I talk to the teachers. I have got time to cook for my family; I prepare the meals once in a while. We have meals together.

TN: What’s your favourite meal?

LMM: Traditional, for my family. My husband is traditional. He likes zviyo sadza and everything, but the boys will not take that. Road runner, nyevhe, that sort of stuff.

TN: I must ask, I am struck by the double barreled surname Matanda-Moyo. What is the meaning of that?

LMM: Well, Matanda is my maiden name and Moyo is the married name.

Why I put a double barrelled name is to show my independence. I am my own person.

I don’t want people to feel that I am owned by anybody that is why the double barrelled name. My father’s name and husband’s name. So that’s it.

TN: You are stating that you are independent. And in a way answering people who say you are married to the minister of Foreign Affairs. Does that hinder you or help you in your every day job?

LMM: Being married to a minister I think it’s actually a positive thing because most people have been intimidated by ministers and people of high profile but because I have been married to one, I am not intimidated by people of high office.

So, I look at corruption from a corruption perspective and not from a point of who is involved. So that actually helps me a lot.

TN: So you are telling us that there won’t be any sacred cows.

LMM: Not at all.

TN: So, you will follow the paper trail?

LMM: I will follow the paper trail. And once there is evidence of corruption those people will be brought to book.

TN: Your pronouncements since you came into this job have, I think, have given the public some idea that you mean business. How are you going to do things

differently?

LMM. You see when I took over from the former Zacc (chairperson0, the office was not well-resourced.

So, I am going to make sure that the office is well-resourced so that it is able to carry out its mandate.

I am going to have the personnel trained so that the personnel themselves are able to deal with the matters that come before them. And we are not going to be

given any instructions from anywhere. We are our own people. We are going to ensure that Zacc is as independent as expected. That’s how we do our job differently.

TN: You’re sounding confident that you don’t expect political hurdles coming in your way to stop you from doing your job?

LMM: I don’t expect any and I also believe that by appointing a judge, the political leaders do not want to interfere with Zacc.

TN: Let’s go to the issue that you have raised to do with resources. What is your budget at the moment?

LMM: Well, we haven’t received any budget allocation, but we are requesting what we want to work with and so far the government is actually coming to assist us and giving us what we want.

TN: What do you want?

LMM: Computers. We want to computerise our docket system.

We want to manage dockets with computerisation because as you see trying to manage dockets using the manual system is quite difficult. Papers can be lost through the way, but once you have papers computerised then our job will be easier and our evidence more secure.

TN: So granted this is the first month that you are in your job. Going forward where do you see the biggest need for financial resources arising from as far as your work is concerned?

LMM: The biggest will be the investigation department and the asset recovery department. That’s where we want to put most of our resources in because that is where our mandate is. So in order to fulfil our mandate we really need to put resources in that department.

TN: Tell us about how you handle a case from start to finish. Tell us in brief. Who is the complainant? Who brings the case to you and then investigation?

LMM: Anyone can bring a matter, [complainant] can be a member of the public it can be employees from that company.

It can be from the executive or political leaders.

So once we receive a case we then open a report book that we have received this type of report and that matter is allocated investigative officers.

They then find out whether there is evidence indeed and while there is evidence we compile that evidence and then put it into a docket system and put in witnesses’ statements. We want the documentary evidence of any other evidence that will assist in bringing the person to book or in recovering the assets.

When that’s done, we look into the evidence itself and see whether any crime has been committed and then we formulate our charges and then bring the person fora warned and cautioned statement, if it is criminal in nature. If not criminal in nature and its only civil, our legal department will then bring the matter for suing in the civil courts.

TN: We have had instances prior to your coming where high level politicians have been arrested and the cases have been to court and nobody has been actually toprison for crimes that they allegedly committed and that kind of thing. That has affected the public’s confidence in Zacc’s ability to carry out its work. Has

this now changed with you coming in?

LMM: Yes, with my coming in I have actually insisted in thorough investigations. The investigation department will investigate the matter. Before it goes

anywhere it is vetted by our legal department here.

And then the legal department looks at all the other legal elements where they have been proven in the dockets and once they are satisfied that docket will be

taken to the NPA (National Prosecuting Authority).

Again at the NPA before the docket is taken to court, they also look at the evidence and if they feel that there is anything missing, they refer it back for

investigation. So that’s the system that we have put in place.

TN: So you are assuring the public that the investigative side has been sharpened. That we are not going to have these cases like what is now popularly known

as catch and release. So this is the end of catch and release?

LMM: That is the end of catch and release.

TN: We have got a high level case at the moment, I the one before the courts. There is confidence that the evidence that has been unearthed is sufficient to

get the prosecution and determination in court.

LMM: Yes, according to us the evidence that we are getting will be enough to secure a conviction though we can’t go into details of the matter because the

matter is sub judice.

TN: Let’s go to the issue of capacity within you. How comfortable are you with all aspects of capacity within Zacc. The investigation capacity and all the

deliverables that are required to get prosecution successfully?

LMM: At the moment it’s out of reach, but what we have done is we are making synergies with our local universities. We are coming up with training modules and then we are going to be training our officers. I am happy to say that training has already started, i.e in-house training.

We carried out a lot of in-house training for our investigators and our legal officers on what is expected of them and how to conduct their work. So, I am

quite confident that the skills bit will be there in a short piece of time. Give us about three months, we should be talking of a different story.

TN: There is a lot of unsubstantiated allegations about a lot of cases. We have seen party associated youths come up with allegations, which were not tested.

Does that kind of behaviour, help your work in anyway?

LMM: That kind of behaviour does not help anybody. As I have said in my press statement. You cannot deal with corruption at a press conference. Corruption must

involve evidence. It is not about tarnishing the image and people’s names. People have got rights too. You see. So, if you do not have any evidence against

anyone of corruption, there is no reason to do a press statement and then list people as corrupt. As Zacc we do not support that.

We actually call upon anyone who has got allegations of corruption to report the matters for proper investigations and not to go about it at a press

conference.

TN: Are you going to act against those guys that went on to announce multitudes of allegations against people without any evidence?

LMM: Yes we have called those people to come forward with the evidence they have and so far they have not come forward with the evidence and if they continue

we will be forced to take action. As Zacc we don’t want to look like we are following somebody. To me it looks like they are trying to frustrate our work as

Zacc and I am not impressed by that at all.

TN: It’s tragic in a way because they are minimising something, which is very important that society is dealing with in a big way, which society finds is

affecting the quality of our life and for people to go out and make allegations without quoting evidence is a culture that we should try to discourage.

LMM: Yes, we should discourage that culture. We shouldn’t fight corruption politically. Corruption is a crime and has nothing to do with politics and anyone

can commit corruption irrespective of political affiliation.

So let’s not try and politicise the fight against corruption. Let’s fight corruption as a nation. Let’s come together as nation to fight corruption that’s why

my message is quite clear to Zimbabwe. Let’s come on board as Zimbabweans and assist each other and fight corruption. Let’s not politicise it because once we

politicise corruption, we trivialise the matter.

TN: Corruption is not partisan.

LMM: It is not partisan at all.

TN: It’s colour blind.

LMM: It’s colour blind

TN: Corruption drives away investors. We have heard of cartels in the fuel industry, cartels in the forex, in the market distorting the market, making people’s

lives difficult, crippling the economy. Are you looking into that and if you are, what progress are you making?

LMM: Yes, we are looking into that. We want to leave no stone unturned because our investigators are quite busy investigating. We have had it in our

intelligence department, which is going ahead with investigations. So we are still waiting for those reports to come through and once we look at those reports,

we then take the matters to our investigation unit and they will come up with dockets. We really want to break those cartels because if we want to move on as a

country, those cartels need to be broken.

TN: People are going to say you are a judge married to the Foreign Affairs minister, how are we to believe that the judge won’t have sacred cows when it comes

to dealing with corruption?

LMM: I am only married to one person, it’s the Foreign Affairs minister and it’s not the whole executive. And I do not have any relationship with the

executive. I do not move in their circles and I am not close to the executive, so I am not going to be influenced by somebody and being a judge I understand

what it means to be independent. I take my oath of office seriously. And if you check my record I have never favoured anybody in my dealings and I have been

dealing with those cases as a judge on the bench.

TN: So you will be able to push against the political interests?

LMM: Yes, I can.

TN: Justice, what will be the key three or so things that you think will be important for you to be successful in your office.

LMM: For me to be successful in my office I need support from the public. I will need the legal framework in place like a Whistleblowers Act as I have been

saying it is a very crucial piece of information. You can’t fight corruption without the witnesses. This corruption is happening at work places, for example.

So, once somebody comes over with some information, basically they will receive a backlash from the organisation that they will be working for. Some will even

be fired. Some will even be suspended. We have seen it in the past. And it’s very crucial that we get the legal framework to fight corruption.

TN: What’s the status of that legal framework?

LMM: It’s in the Attorney General’s office.

TN: Do you expect any improvement in your work once the whistleblowers’ protection and the witness protection is in place?

LMM: Definitely, people will be brave to come forward. They will be confident to bring their matters knowing that no repercussions will come their way.

TN: When you look back let’s say five years back, what would success look like to you five years down the line when you are writing your reports. What would

success look like?

LMM: Success to me will be a reduction in the corruption incidences in the country where we have strong institutions. We need strong institutions like our

judiciary, NPA [and] police force.

We all need them to be strong so that they will be able to deal with whatever comes their way, to deal with the scourge of corruption so that our country will

even be prosperous and we start seeing investors coming in, as corruption scares away investors. So we will have a better country five years down the line,

once we start fighting corruption.

I am hopeful that we are going to get there.

TN: The job we have got is a tough job.

LMM: Yes it is.

TN: It’s a dangerous job.

LMM: Yes, indeed

TN: Do you feel safe?

LMM: I feel safe. I am very prayerful. I actually believe in God. I want to believe that I am not here accidentally, that this is divine appointment.

And I am not afraid of anybody and I want to believe that Zimbabweans generally are not violent people.

What we are simply trying to do is to remove the scourge of corruption from the country but I know corruption fights back. It’s a dangerous job.

TN: Corruption can be well resourced. Are you ready for that? It fights back.

LMM: It fights back. That’s why we want to be resourced and we will need to also backup on our security side.

TN: If we are to be candid with ourselves, corruption has become a sub-culture. It affects the politicians. It’s the police who are corrupt, judiciary there

is corruption, your common citizens are paying bribes for drivers’ licences and all sorts of things. Where do you start? One would go to the extent that we are

all corrupt, where are you gonna start?

LMM: Exactly, corruption has actually become a way of life in our country.

It’s actually sad, but what we have done here we have departmentalised Zacc.

We have got the awareness and publicity department and it’s going right into the communities to make people aware of the dangers of corruption and how

corruption can destroy a nation and we are also coming up with preventative methods to try and prevent the occurrence of corruption.

So whilst we want to punish corruption which has happened in the past. It is also our interest to prevent future corruption.

So, we are working on all those things at the same time.

TN: How big is that, the interface with the public, educating the public?

LMM: I think so far it has about 30.

TN: With the staffing level?

LMM: We are coming up with an organogram where we want to decentralise in the regions so that we will communicate our message faster and we will be with people in those regions.

As you are also aware the Judicial Service Commission have opened anti-corruption courts in Mutare, Masvingo, Gweru and Bulawayo.

So it’s us who are lagging behind and we are not in those cities.

TN: How do you interface with your anti-corruption courts?

LMM: We are supposed to be feeding into the anti-corruption courts.

TN: And the ZRP anti-corruption unit, is there a link between you and them?

LMM: Yes we want to ensure that we do not duplicate our functions because if we don’t interface then there is a possibility for us investigating the same

matter.

So we are interacting with the police anti-corruption unit.

TN: If the police is involved Justice, why do you want arresting powers?

LMM: The police are the police and we are an independent unit.

Zacc was established after Zimbabwe ratified the UN Convention against corruption and it’s a requirement under article 5 that there be an agent which fights

corruption.

So it is a requirement within the UNGAC and the Sadc protocol that there be independent agents to fight corruption.

The police cannot handle corruption at the moment seeing they are also investigating murders, robberies, theft. Just think of any other crime.

TN: So having arresting powers is an international best practice. Is that what you saying?

LMM: Yes, and some in the world have gone further to prosecute their own matters. In other countries they actually prosecute their own matters.

TN: Can we expect that in the country. Do we have that capacity? Is that what you want?

LMM: Yes, in future but right now we don’t have capacity, right now we will feed into the NPA. Yes and see how it goes.

TN: Let’s go the National Society Security Authority (NSSA) report, which you have looked at. I wish I was you having seen what’s in there. We have got

(Tourism) minister Priscah Mupfumira, who is in remand prison at the present moment. Are we to expect any other bombshells?

LMM: Yes, from the NSSA report more people will fall.

TN: And you cannot tell who they are?

LMM: Yes of course I won’t tell you because I am bound by ethics.

TN: But there is going to be more shocks coming?

LMM: Yes.

TN: Any timelines like when is this going to happen?

LMM: We are still investigating because before arrest we want to be sure that the persons are likely guilty.

We don’t want to harass people who are innocent.

TN: And also you have a peep in the Auditor General’s report, which was shocking, been shocking over the past many years and nothing had happened to anybody.

Can we expect something different thus time. Are we to expect you to take action following the current Auditor General’s report?

LMM: Yes, we have started following up on the AG’s report. I think last week we had convictions of persons who were selling drugs from hospitals because we

really thought that was at the people’s hearts to find that at Parirenyatwa Hospital, for example, they do not have drugs yet some people are stealing those

drugs and selling them on the black market.

So those people are now being convicted and are awaiting their sentencing.

So we are following up on the AG’s reports. What we have done is we have gone through the reports and we are isolating them into criminal and civil.

Where its civil we just want to refer them to our asset recovery unit so that we recover those monies from organisations and persons mentioned.

TN: No catch and release?

LMM: Yes no catch and release. I promise the nation on that.

TN: Crime becomes sophisticated and I am delighted to hear you talking about requesting technology. How ready are you to be able to track high level

corruption, corruption that might involve international cartels. How ready are you to deal with that?

LMM: We are still working on that. What we have done at the moment is that we are coming up with memoranda of understanding with other countries.

One with Botswana is ready for signatures. We are just waiting for Botswana to tell us when. We have requested a date.

And with Zambia we are drafting an MOU. We have actually also engaged the international communities to do tracking.

And they are keen to come on board to help us track where our monies ended up in.

So once we find out that we have got monies let’s say in Dubai or in UK we engage those countries to see how we can recover those assets.

TN: Is it really helpful?

LMM: Yes it is. So helpful.

TN: I asked you about what success is going to look like in five years. As you sit here you are sounding very confident, passionate, you are ready for the

job. Reality is there may be some pushback, will that weigh you down?

LMM: Not at all. I am passionate to fight corruption. I have been in the field for a long time. And so I will not be worn down.

TN: Tell us about the transition being a judge on the bench and you headed to Zacc. How is that?

LMM: It’s just coming to the other side of the world. My work is going to be tried by other judges there.

So, yes its quite tough time. It will give me pressure because my colleagues will have to weigh my work. So I will try to give them the quality that they look

for.

TN: Justice, Zimbabweans are watching you, they are expecting so much from you. I am going to give you an opportunity now to address Zimbabweans. What are you

going to tell them concerning corruption and what are you going to do?

LMM: Yes, I want to tell them that I am ready to fight corruption but I cannot do it alone.

I want Zimbabweans to come on board so that we fight this corruption together.

If we fail to get there as a nation and if we succeed as a nation.

So if Zimbabwe is not supportive, if you don’t come along and we fight this corruption, then we lose together. So I want to tell the people of Zimbabwe that

this is their war but I have come as their leader.

I am just leading the process and I will need followers. I can’t fight it alone. So come through and fight this together I won’t let you down

TN: What do you expect from the public?

LMM: From the public I expect cooperation, I expect those with information to come with the information.

I expect the witnesses to come up and testify in court and testify boldly so that we get those convictions that we want.

We want to recover the assets from those persons who have robbed the nation of the much wanted resources that we want.

I want those members of the public with that information to come forward so that they help me with that evidence so that we recover what is owed to the nation

and we put the assets back to public space.

We also have the mandate combat corruption in the private sector and I also want the private sector not to offer bribes to the public sector because it takes

two to tango and you find that sometimes it’s the private sector, which actually comes to government and start offering these percentages in companies they say

give me this and I will give you 5%.

The private sector must stop offering bribes. We must go back to having corporate governance and being accountable, so that we actually nip this corruption in

the bud.

TN: Any messages to politicians?

LMM: Politicians do not interfere with us. We want to do our job independently and may we also stop being corrupt and go into politics because we want we want

to serve the nation.

Don’t go into politics because you want to line up your pockets.

So it’s time to reassess yourselves and if you got into politics to align your pockets with ill-gotten wealth get out of politics.

Zanu PF has retained the Lupane East constituency after Mbongeni Dube garnered 6 369 votes during the bye-election conducted yesterday.

Lupane East constituency elections officer, Mr Joseph Moyo, declared Dube the winner with Mr Dalumuzi Khumalo of MDC Alliance recording 4 505 votes.

Other results saw Nelson Mnkandla of NAP getting 51 votes, Given Ncube of MDC 363, Gezekile Mkhwebu of ZAPU 52, Morgen Ndlovu of LEAD 18, Alice Sibanda of NCA 27, Njabulo Sibanda of NPF 39 and Andrew Magodla Tshaba of MRP 81.

155 votes were spoilt in an election that had a 56.9 percent poll turn-out.

The seat fell vacant following the death of Sithembile Gumbo in April this year.

Meanwhile, Zanu PF Secretary for Information and Publicity, Ambassador Simon Khaya Moyo said winning of the Lupane East constituency by the revolutionary party shows that Zanu PF is a people’s party which continues to answer to their aspirations through its policies.

Farai Dziva|Linda Masarira has claimed those who think western countries care for Zimbabweans are lost.

“If you think that those western funders funding the training of rebels and acts of sabotage in Zimbabwe care for our country, think again.

As for me and the LEAD family we declare that Zimbabwe will never be a colony again. We are working on Zimbabwean solutions to fix the Zimcrisis,” claimed Masarira.

Farai Dziva|Apostle Talent Chiwenga is back after being involved in a horrific accident.

Speaking during a Sunday service Chiwenga said :
“Tell your neighbour: they can kill me today but they can’t kill the gospel. The gospel cannot be killed because not even a bullet can reach close to the gospel. It is spiritual it is not physical.

“The AK47 kana CZ Pistol, inogona kuuraya nyama, asi mweya haigone kuuraya. So we just want to observe a moment of silence, but I want us us to first of all read this whole passage, in Phillipians chapter 1, let me read it up to verse 30. And then we observed a moment of silence to remind ourselves that there is a burden that lies squarely on our shoulders, to uphold the faith and to the very end, like our comrades did.”

“They are our comrades, they are our heroes. They are heroes of faith, they stood firm for the gospel, and we have got to do the same. If we walk away from the faith, we are disappointing them. Hallelujah, Jesus is counting on us to stand firm unto the very end. For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”Watch video below :

Jane Mlambo| Apostle Talent Chiwenga has returned to the pulpit for the first time since he was involved in a tragic accident that claimed his wife.

Preaching before his congregation in Harare today, Chiwenga said he foresaw the tragic event that turned fatal.

“Three times in South Africa, Thursday, Friday and Saturday I saw a vision somebody was pointing a gun at me, I was being shot and I saw myself dying and standing on the other side, I told mai Kanyuchi, I told mai Chiwenga that I am not comfortable that this is what is going to happen and they said let the will of God prevail,” said Chiwenga.

Manica Diamonds FC has announced the departure of team coach Luke Masomere from the club.

The club did not state the reasons behind ‘Vahombe’ departure.

Below is the official statement from the club.

POWER utility, ZESA has paid an additional US$890 000 to South Africa power company Eskom, as it steps up efforts to clear its debt and pave way for new power exports from the neighbouring country, an official confirmed last night.

In an interview, Zesa Holdings acting group chief executive officer Engineer Patrick Chivaura said the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) released US$890 000 to Eskom on Monday. Eng Chivaura said Eskom had set certain conditions for the country to start getting power and Zesa has since met all of them and is expecting to provide a bank guarantee by Tuesday, which will initialise the process of power supply to the country by the South African power utility.

“RBZ paid US$890 000 to Eskom for the liquidation of the debt that we have. Eskom asked us to meet certain conditions before the resumption of power supply to the country. I am happy to announce that we have met the conditions and we are looking forward to provide a bank guarantee by Tuesday. This will initialise the process of power supply by Eskom. I am very confident that the deal will materialise by next week,” he said.

Eng Chivaura said the new development will result in significant reduction in load-shedding.

“Once the deal materialises, we are expecting it to significantly reduce load-shedding. We will have power for more hours than we are having now,” he said.

Eng Chivaura said Zesa was also engaging Mozambican power utility, Hydro Cahora Bassa (HCB) to also start providing power to Zimbabwe. If that materialises, it will provide huge relief for the country which has already seen its generation capacity at Kariba North and South going down drastically due to reduced water levels in Lake Kariba.

“We are also engaging HCB to see if we can liquidate their debt and also to see if we can import more electricity from them. We owe them a lot of money and we want to see how best we can settle that debt and start getting more power from them,” he said.MORE IN HOME

Last week Energy and Power Development Minister Fortune Chasi confirmed that the South African government was considering a proposal put forward to increase power exports to Zimbabwe after high level talks between the two countries’ energy ministers.

Zimbabwe owes Eskom US$27 million, this is after a payment of US$10 million, which it made last month as part of its commitment to pay its debt. Additional power imports from South Africa will ease the prevailing power shortages, which have seen the country embarking on a daily 18-hour electricity load-shedding schedule.

— SundayNews

A SELF-CONFESSED prophet from Johanne Masowe weChishanu raped a woman using a condom which burst during the act before taking the condom which he mixed with “holy water” and then instructed the woman to bath and dispose of it.

This emerged when Marryward Marara (36) of Maglass suburb in Zvishavane appeared before Gweru regional magistrate Mrs Phathekile Msipa facing rape charges last week. He pleaded not guilty but was found guilty following a full trial.

He was sentenced to an effective 15 years in jail of which three were suspended on condition of good behaviour. In his defence, Marara told the court that he was in a relationship with the woman and they had consensual sex.

“The complainant was my girlfriend and she consented to sex, l did not rape her. She filed rape charges after we broke up because she could not stomach the break-up,” said Marara.

The woman whose name cannot be revealed for ethical reasons told the court that she met Marara a day before the rape, after being referred to him by her aunt.

“I had never met the accused before and I was not in a relationship with him as he is alleging. I met him a day before he raped me after my aunt had referred me to get some prayers from him. The day we met he told me that I was poisoned and he prayed for me before he told me that he had removed the said poison from my stomach. He told me to return to his shrine for prayers the following day,” she said.

Mrs Msipha castigated Marara for his behaviour saying he deserved a custodial sentence that will deter would-be rapists.More in Home

“This court finds you guilty as charged and a custodial sentence is suitable so that we send a clear message to would-be rapists. You are hereby sentenced to 15 years in prison, three years are suspended on condition of good behaviour,” said Mrs Msipha.

It is the State’s case that on 31 January around 9am, Marara was allegedly praying for people when the complainant arrived at his shrine. The court heard that Marara told the woman that she needed prayers conducted in a bush near Shabanie Mine dump.

In the bush, the court heard, Marara instructed the woman to kneel down before he pushed her to the ground and raped her once. Marara allegedly used a condom which burst during the rape.

He allegedly took the condom and placed it in the bottle containing “holy water” before ordering the complainant to go bath with the water and dispose of the bottle in a sewage pool. The complainant reported the matter leading to the arrest of Marara.

Mr Talent Tadenyika appeared for the State.

— SundayNews

SEVEN senior soldiers have been detained for the past three months without trial after they were accused of stealing donations meant for victims of Cyclone Idai and food rations for army recruits, it has emerged.

Lieutenant Colonel Chivhima, Major Kativhu training coy, Major Masembura, Captain Ncube, Woll Dzoma and a S/Sergeant Madzore are being held at the Harare Remand Prison under military supervision.

There are allegations that they are being kept in leg irons and at times are denied access to bathing facilities.

According to a letter written by their lawyers Chiturumani and Zvavanoda Law Chambers to the Zimbabwe National Army’s legal department dated August 1, the

soldiers are contemplating approaching the High Court to fight for their freedom.

The lawyers want the army to explain why the soldiers were denied bail during a court martial.

“We have been favoured with instructions by seven accused persons currently undergoing a court martial/ military court trial for theft and abuse of office charges kindly note our interest,” the lawyers wrote.

“Our instructions are to demand within the next seven days from today (01/08/19) the availing of those reasons denying them bail to us or at your clerk for our convenience.”

Chivhima is accused of stealing 200 litres of fuel in Chimanimani, which was meant for Cyclone Idai relief efforts.

He was also charged together with Kativhu, Masembura, Ncube, Dzoma and Madzore on allegations that they stole rations at the Zimbabwe Commando regiment stores.

The rations included mealie meal, rice, cooking oil, eggs, vegetables, meat, fruits, potatoes and sausages, among other items.

Chivhima would allegedly demand rations from Madzore who in turn raised fake invoices before sending a barman employed by the Defence ministry. The barman used a wheelbarrow to move the loot.

The senior soldier would also allegedly instruct Madzore to issue extra rations to Kativhu, who is responsible for the training of recruits at the Wafawafa camp.

It is alleged Chivhima and Kativhu would exchange the rations with fish they got from fish mongers.

The stolen food rations were valued at RTGS288 714 and nothing was recovered.

Kativhu is also accused of demanding bribes from commando recruits.

-The Standard

A coterie of businessmen linked to Zanu PF allegedly imported over 100 cars duty free under the pretext that they were meant for President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s office in a case that could prove to be a big test to the government’s resolve to fight corruption.

According to impeccable sources, the alleged scam is already being investigated by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc).

Zanu PF MP for Hwedza South Tinomudaishe Machakaire was last week summoned by Zacc in connection with the case, insiders revealed.

Former director of state residences Douglas Tapfuma, who last week was accused of importing 82 vehicles using the same modus operandi has been linked to the scandal.

Tapfuma is in remand prison awaiting trial on charges of abuse of office.

Some of the cars imported by the businessmen were allegedly donated to Zanu PF while others were sold.

“When he was asked by investigators as to who helped him import the vehicles and why he did not pay tax, Machakaire claimed that the vehicles were a donation to the president,” he said.

“But some of the vehicles were later donated to Zanu PF and some were sold.”

Zacc investigators are also seeking to establish if the businessmen that include one of Mnangagwa’s advisors Kuda Tagwirei did not use the same modus operandi to import luxury cars for their personal use.

Machakaire confirmed that he had been summoned by Zacc but refused to disclose the reasons for the interrogation.

“If you are asking about the vehicles, I donated them to the party,” he said. “That is all I can say. I am not a criminal but a youthful Zanu PF member with businesses.”

Zac sources, however, revealed that at least 10 vehicles that were being kept at the premises of a Harare car dealer had been seized.

They said the businessman claimed the vehicles were being kept at a bonded warehouse while money to pay duty was being raised.

“Zanu PF secretary for finance Cde (Patrick) Chinamasa has been making frantic efforts to pay duty for the vehicles so that they don’t form part of the investigations,” said a Zacc source.

“The issue is that these guys imported top of the range vehicles, latest SUVS, which they are driving while some were sold and they did not pay duty.

“They used letters from the Office of the President and Cabinet to evade tax. Some of the vehicles have since been impounded.

“They were found at various car dealers and when asked, the suspects claimed that they were bonded and duty would be paid.”

Zanu PF spokesperson Simbo Khaya Moyo referred questions to Chinamasa and the party’s secretary for transport.

“Talk to Cde Chinamasa or Cde July Moyo, they can help,” he said.

Chinamasa did not pick calls while Moyo was unreachable.

Zacc chairperson Loice Matanda-Moyo could neither confirm nor deny the investigations.

“The problem that we have is that you media people are always ahead of us, it is not good,” she said.

“You make our work so difficult. Please don’t rush us.

“When we are ready to inform the nation on anyone whom we are investigating, we shall do so at the appropriate time. Please give us space and time to do our work.”

Last year, senior Zanu PF officials —mostly ex-cabinet ministers now fully based at party headquarters — took delivery of top of the range vehicles and at the time, the party claimed that the vehicles were donated by well-wishers.

-The Standard

By Obert Mpofu|THIS series is informed by a wide-range of issues which have emerged from the last two articles I submitted in this paper.

The major lesson from the on-going debate emanating from my previous writings on the topical Gukurahundi subject is that we need to continuously draw ourselves to conversations which unite us regardless of our dissenting standpoints. There is no doubt that the issue of Gukurahundi has an obese emotional effect — much of which is a product of a single-sided perspective with a disintegrating effect to the current efforts to unite our people.

This facilitates the need for an alternative account which draws us more to our common interests and shared aspirations. As such, this instalment and other articles to follow will cement the idea of the positive engagement aimed at redirecting us to the path we must take in shaping the future as united people. This arises from the need to value every idea which cuts across the common limits to truth-telling by both victims and alleged perpetrators. Beyond victimhood and instigations of violence we need to regenerate a new narrative of belonging which binds us towards peace, national healing and reconciliation.

Truth be told, Zimbabwe’s transitional political landscape presents us with an opportunity to evaluate our past and how we can construct ideas which sustain enduring national values beyond the positives of temporary, narrow and self-serving interests. Taking this direction calls for absolute sacrifice of essentialist limitations to defining our national identity. It requires genuine introspective commitment to auditing our sources of conflict and how we can produce a new and lasting consciousness of nationhood which is built on the foundation of unity, peace and prosperity. On this basis, this paper traces the origins of our divided memories, emotions and aspirations of being a people and a nation at large.

To this end, this submission critically examines other constructs of divisions which have sustained the conversation on Gukurahundi. The discursive framing of Gukurahundi also calls us to locate the role of the academia, the press and geo-politics in carving notions of nation-building. Beyond, the critical overview of the representation and misrepresentation of the past, mainly around the Gukurahundi and its dilemma to the national question, this submission unpacks the path that has been initiated by the Government to address this ticklish matter. It is in this vein that this paper categorically analyses the historical stagnations to resolving the Gukurahundi issue; at the same time exploring the merits of the path taken by President Emmerson Mnangagwa in providing a pro-national healing policy direction.

The Constructions of a “crisis” and the perversion of national belonging

Philip Barclay (2011), a former British diplomat, posits that Zimbabwe is a country whose ontological overview can be understood within a context of history. In his epochal and yet personal delineation of the so called “Zimbabwean crisis”, he claims to have been a witness of “Years of Hope and Despair”. This conclusive and yet contested linear depiction of the First Republic carries with itself the burden of polarity, a monologue underpinned on diplomatic and sometimes a selective characterisation of what being Zimbabwean means. Of note, is that this memoir was produced at a time the construction and deconstruction of Zimbabwe’s diplomatic identity was densely characterised by hostility to those opposed to the then sought decolonial direction.

At the apex of Zimbabwe’s antagonist priority catalogue was Britain. The friction between Zimbabwe and Britain was accentuated by the unsolved land question which saw revolutionary justice being implemented to realign property relations by the land-hungry masses. The peasants and the war veterans in the countryside mobilised to reclaim land and reassign the struggle for the birth-right through land expropriation with no compensation (the Fast-Track Land Reform Programme/ Hondo yeminda/ Third-Chimurenga/ Umvukela Wesithathu).

It was in this outgrowth of circumstances that Zimbabwe faced economic sanctions in the face of a mushrooming opposition and a vigorously corroborating civil society with a clear agenda to collapse the prominence of the ruling party in what some sections of the academia have referred to as the “regime-change” agenda. One wonders if this was a coincidence that when the land question was revisited there was an increased force to change the order of power from the opposition to the ruling. Could it have been a coincidence that the launch of the land reform under the auspices of consolidating the liberation goals was also accompanied by radical nuances of re-imagining the citizenship?

This comes after a series of academic debates centred on rethinking belonging and nationhood in Zimbabwe. One of the most prolific propositions of dispelling our nationhood after the land reform include a co-edited volume by Amanda Hammar, Brian Raftopolous and Stig Jensen (2003) titled Zimbabwe’s Finished Business: Rethinking Land, State, and Nation in Zimbabwe in the Context of a Crisis. This is one of the many academic submissions whose existentiality has been associated with an anti-establishment awakening to override the then key attributes of the state with regards to its revival of the nationalist discourse in galvanising a post-colonial delink from neo-colonial hegemony.

While the state continued to harbour dedicated commitments to promoting social cohesion through intense liberation memory recollections and locating the agenda of economic indigenisation within the broader spectrum of enduring national values derived from the liberation legacy, there was a propensity to undermine this ideological direction. This, in Terence Ranger (2004)’s view, was a race essentialist route by the establishment to manipulate the nationalist historiography in bid to acquire political capital. Narrow as this view is, one is alarmed by an absolute dismissal of the existence of Zimbabwe as a nation in the work of one of our accomplished second generation of historians, Prof Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni (2011). He asks. Do Zimbabweans Exist?

In an attempt to address the phenomenal interrogation of Zimbabwe’s existence as a nation, he explores the country’s dark past of post-independence tensions, particularly the Gukurahundi history and unpacks the divided political memory it had conceived and how that mapped the contours of disharmony and hence dichotomous nationhood.

These and more cites of the archives validate the notion of “the nation as an imagined community” perceived to be the creative genius of men and women of letters. Writing on the relationship between literature and the nation, Huxley (1959:50) claimed that: “nations are to a very large extent invented by their poets and novelists.” Indeed, writers do “play a role that is confirming of the nation as a political or cultural entity, (emphasising) its uniqueness and its right to a state of its own”.

Understandably, Corse (1997:24) states that “national literatures have become essential characteristics of a nation-state”. In addition to the positive potential contribution of literature to the nation, like identity creation, national consciousness, shared memory and loyalty; “literature can be used to deconstruct, or even subvert, a national project in favour of an alternative . . .” (Suleiman 2016:2). According to Mangena (2015:6), “major Zimbabwean writers write against both colonial oppression and the challenges of the Zimbabwean post-colony.”

Having grounded this presentation on a clear conceptual premise it is now imperative to dissect what our past- as constructed in our political and literary realities provides in navigating a new consciousness of national belonging. This follows the establishment of the New Dispensation in November, 2017 as a precursor of the Second-Republic which was born out of the 30 July plebiscite.

The Second-Republic as a fulfilment of a close to four decades aspiration for democratic maturation provides an opportunity for us to revisit the residual points of tension emanating from grotesque episodes of past particularly successive vices of electoral violence, punitive politics and of course the Matabeleland and Midlands disturbances of 1982 to 1987 which constitute the centre of our discussion.

Gukurahundi: A past buried or a past with us?

The past will always have a way to haunt us if its depravities are not dealt with. In our lifetime, the land reform programme has clearly sustained that truth. It was a recurrence of history that visited the face of our politics as a redress to the structural imbalance of the past. This was because we initially misconstrued the edits of post-independence reconciliation as the ultimate source of generating cohesion and yet our other counterparts wanted to perpetuate their monopoly.

In the same manner, even after the signing of the Unity Accord in 1987 some fault-lines of the nation-building have given prominence to selective reflections on the past and in the process, the Gukurahundi has been manipulated to expose the selective reality of our tensions. Sadly, this narrative has been largely packed as an electoral concern than it has been presented as a valid national question.

Over the years, the Gukurahundi issue has been used to relegate the ruling party’s political prominence in a bid to validate the opposition. However, election outcomes in some parts of the Southern-Region which are characterised as epicentres of these disturbances have given electoral allegiance to the ruling.

As a result, this shows that affected communities have been naturalised to the initial edits of reconciliation which were spelt out in the Unity Accord signed in 1987 between the late Vice President of Zimbabwe, Dr Joshua Nkomo and the President of the First Republic, Robert Gabriel Mugabe. The post-Unity Accord electoral patterns in Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South reflect an organic prevalence of cordial and narrow antagonism between the Southern-Region and the ruling party.

Clearly, the notion of tension is a by-product of academic and civil-society constructions of the Zimbabwean reality. However, the challenge embodied in this inclination is that it deliberately ignores that what happened in Matabeleland and Midlands was far beyond ethic essentialism, but rather it was a clear evidence of the consequences of the splits of the nationalist movement in 1963 and how the later part of the fight for freedom and pronounced divided political lines along ethnicity.

Again, the rise of Frolizi further widened the rifts of the nationalist movement in a manner which enabled Western hegemony to pierce into the divided camps of the nationalist movement. This then gave the British an opportunity to manipulate these seemingly ethic fall-outs in the nationalist movement to then crush Zapu’s pro-Eastern European leaning which was an antithesis of Britain’s fronted Western supremacy.

On that note, the Gukurahundi must be understood as a deliberated target on Zapu’s influence in giving prominence to communism.

This is because Zapu’s alliance to the ANC in waging resistance to the apartheid system was treated as a threat to the spread of the third wave of liberal democracy.

To be continued

The Author Obert Mpofu is the ZANU PF Secretary for Administration.

LEAD party leader Linda Masarira has said their participation in the Lupane East by-election was a learning curve as they look to build a winning team ahead of the 2023 general elections.

Masarira’s party fielded a candidate in the just concluded Lupane East constituency which was eventually retained by the ruling Zanu PF.

LEAD candidate garnered a paltry 16 votes.

Congratulations to the ward 22 winning councillor and Lupane East MP. We learnt a lot of lessons as @LEAD_2019 on our two maiden campaigns in the two areas. As a party we are definitely going to use the lessons learnt to build a winning team for the national 2023 elections.

— Linda Tsungirirai Masarira (@lilomatic) August 4, 2019