A CONSORTIUM of General Electric and Power Construction Corporation of China has been awarded the tender to develop the Batoka Gorge Hydro Electric Scheme (BGHES) under a Build, Operate and Transfer funding model between Zimbabwe and Zambia.
A special Zambezi River Authority Council of Ministers meeting held in Lusaka, Zambia, on Friday resolved to bring forward the selection of the contractors given the power shortages afflicting the two countries.
Initially the contractor was supposed to be selected in September. The COM consist of ministers responsible for energy and finance portfolios in Zimbabwe and Zambia.
Energy and Power Development Minister Advocate Fortune Chasi and his Finance and Economic Development counterpart Professor Mthuli Ncube signed the communique on behalf of the Zimbabwean Government while Zambian Energy Minister Matthew Nkhuwa and his Finance counterpart Margaret Mwanakatwe signed on behalf of the Zambian government.
Negotiations with the consortium will commence immediately.
A communiqué released following the extraordinary meeting confirmed the development. “The Council of Ministers (COM) noted the commendable progress made on the programme for the development of the BGHES which was in accordance to plan,” reads the communiqué in part.
“The COM, however, noted that the Republics of Zambia and Zimbabwe were currently facing a power crisis which was worsened by the 2017-2018 hydrological season where the rainfall received was below normal.
“As a result of this abnormal rainfall pattern of the current season coupled with the uncertainty associated with future rainfall patterns for the region, factors of which spell out the need to fast track measures to establish additional water storage and power generation infrastructure, there was, therefore, need for the two Governments to ensure that the implementation of the BGHES was expedited.
“In order to mitigate the current power crisis within the shortest possible time, the Governments of the Republics of Zambia and Zimbabwe have reached an emergency decision to award the development of the BGHES to the consortium of Power Construction Corporation of China and General Electric on a build, operate, transfer (BOT) financial model.
“This is in order to ensure the future energy security of the two nations.”
The communiqué further states that the COM resolved to implement measures that will ensure the power utilities in Zambia and Zimbabwe remain sustainable.
Batoka will generate 2 400MW of electricity to be shared equally between the two countries.-StateMedia
By A Correspondent- The Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (Zupco) will release 47 new buses this week, which will grow its fleet to 427, as Government’s drive to reduce the burden for the commuting public gathers momentum.
The new buses were recently acquired from South Africa and China.
Delivery of an additional 500 new buses from Belarus, which will be supplied as knocked-down kits, is expected after a team from the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing that is already in Minsk, receives training on assembling the coaches.
Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister July Moyo told The Sunday Mail Government was working on establishing a reliable mass public transport system.
“We have bought 47 buses from China and South Africa and they are already in (the country) and they will be commissioned very soon.
“In terms of the Belarus buses, we have now come up with a special arrangement where we have sent designs which suit our local terrain and they will send in knocked-down kits, which will be assembled here in Zimbabwe and create employment,” said Minister Moyo.
“It is already work in progress and we have sent a team which will be taught how to assembly the kits and they will come and assemble the kits here in Zimbabwe.
“We also want to concentrate on the rural areas, which is also President Mnangagwa’s desire. We will continue with the urban areas, but we want to concentrate on the rural areas.”
The special arrangement for Belarus to supply Zimbabwe with buses was agreed on during President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s State visit to Minsk in January.
Zupco has 380 buses servicing both rural and urban areas, of which 221 are contributed by the private sector.
Harare is serviced by 194 buses, while Bulawayo — the country’s second largest city — has 76.
Mutare has 34, Masvingo 13, while Gweru has eight.
Chinhoyi only has two buses.
Zupco’s acting chief executive officer Mr Evaristo Madangwa said some of the new buses will be channelled to rural areas.-StateMedia
RELOAD
ROADMAP TO ECONOMIC RECOVERY, LEGITIMACY,
OPENNESS AND DEMOCRACY
MOVEMENT FOR DEMOCRATIC CHANGE
CONTENTS
FOREWORD 01 DEFINING A NEW COURSE FOR ZIMBABWE 02 THE MDC’s ROAD TO LEGITIMACY AND DEMOCRACY 04 THE MDC’s FIVE POINT PLAN TO RESOLVE THE ZIMBABWEAN CRISIS 07 GUARANTEES AND SCAFFOLDING THE PROCESS 09
SECTION A 10 INTRODUCTION 10 REIMAGINING A NEW ZIMBABWE 13
SECTION B 15
SUMMARY OF THE 5 POINT PLAN 15
ANCHOR A: THE RETURN TO LEGITIMACY AND RESPECTING THE WILL
OF THE PEOPLE AND THE ELECTORAL PLAYING FIELD 15
ANCHOR B: COMPREHENSIVE REFORM AGENDA 16
ANCHOR C: NATIONAL HEALING AND RECONSTRUCTION 23
TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE AND NATIONAL HEALING 24
RESTORING TRUST, CONFIDENCE AND THE SOCIAL CONTRACT 25
ANCHOR D:THE ECONOMY AND SOCIAL AGENDA 26
ANCHOR E: INTERNATIONAL ENGAGEMENT 28
RE- ENGAGEMENT AND FOREIGN POLICY 28
SECTION C 29
IMPLEMENTATION MECHANISM 29
The Inclusive National Transitional Authority 29
Functions of the NTM 29
THE STRUCTURE OF THE NTM 30
THE LEGALITY OF THE NTM 30
CONCLUSION 32
It is with great pleasure, that we present, our roadmap, and signpost for the democratisation of Zimbabwe and for the construction of a sustainable Zimbabwe following our successful congress that was held in may 2016.
It has become so clear to us that Zimbabwe is burning. That Zimbabwe is in the throes of a serious political and social economic crisis.
Under these circumstances it is important that we provide the necessary leadership to talk our country forward.
I have no doubt in my mind that Zimbabwe is heading for an implosion. To avoid this implosion, we must take bold steps. To avoid this implosion, we need a new paradigm, a new narrative and a anew discourse involves pressure, it involves dialogue, it involves the implementation of a comprehensive reform agenda.
01
On the 24-27th of May 2019 the MDC held its watershed congress in Gweru under the theme Defining A New Course for Zimbabwe. It is in the context of defining a New Course for Zimbabwe that the MDC, took it upon itself to pursue need and obligation of a major paradigm shi t in the struggle for democracy and emancipation.
We seek to RELOAD the Zimbabwean struggle for democratization to ensure that we create a shared national vision, one in which there is a national consensus, agreement tolerance and inclusive politics.
We seek once and for all to build strong, sustainable and truly independent institutions that will be the bedrock of a progressive Ethical State, a Democratic Developmental Zimbabwe.
More importantly because we recognize our unity and di ferences, it is important to rethink the State, to our manage diversity and create a functional modern Zimbabwe.
DEFINING A NEW COURSE FOR ZIMBABWE
We face one fundamental crisis. The crisis of legitimacy. The crisis of governance. The crisis of confidence. The crisis of leadership. In essence, a political crisis. Zimbabwe has a huge trust deficit.
This crisis manifests itself in three main forms.
The first is the challenge of State capture, that is the complete dominion control and appropriation of the State and its institutions by an unelected and unelectable elite that directly and indirectly controls the State in the shadow of darkness through the abuse of state apparatus.
The second challenge is indeed the economic meltdown caused by the crisis of governance, patronage, evasive corruption, incompetence, cluelessness, policy inconsistencies, lack of capacity and self-induced policy distortions.
The third challenge is that of poverty and underdevelopment. Almost four decades a ter independence, our people wallow in huge poverty with 83% of the same, surviving below the poverty datum line on less that US$0.35 per day. The majority is unemployed and the majority survive in the margins.
02
Given this reality, it is therefore important to redefine, the new agenda for our people, a new dialogue that seeks to create a new shared vision, and new set of reciprocal obligations in order to create sustainable Zimbabwe.
In order to create this New Zimbabwe we re-imagine, the transition needs to be controlled managed and directed.
In managing our transition RELOAD thus presents our roadmap, and signpost for a future Zimbabwe. The road map entails five key sign posts which are the following;
Pressure (Political and Diplomatic): Advocacy and mobilization of all progressive and democratic forces to build national consensus on the resolution of the national crisis.
National Dialogue: credible, bankable, legitimate process of dialogue fully guaranteed by the international community with specific deliverables, benchmarks and timelines through a mutually agreed and acceptable facilitator.
National Transitional Mechanism(NTM): Agreement on an implementing a framework on the agreed positions. This should be done through a national transitional mechanism whose terms in detail are to be agreed.
Comprehensive Reform Agenda: The implementation and rolling out of a comprehensive agenda, on the Five Point Plan detailed below.
Free and Fair Elections: Under International Supervision: Electoral reforms are so key to break the vicious cycle and troop of hugely contested elections we must hold free, fair, legitimate, credible and sound elections under international supervision. The people of Zimbabwe are su fering and therefore it cannot be business as usual. The RELOAD is the only agenda and roadmap that can create a so t landing for Zimbabwe. 03 The Case for Urgency The resolution of the Zimbabwean crisis more than ever has become urgent. It is clear that a so t landing has to be created for Zimbabwe to avert an impending and inevitable implosion. Two things, are the drivers of the urgency: 1.1 The betrayal of the people, through a stolen election and a rigged mandate. Indeed there is unhappiness uncertainty, fragility anger and tribulation faced by the citizens of Zimbabwe. The crisis generate anger and tribulation, making it inevitable and foreseeable that the masses will exercise their constitutional right to protests as provided in Section 59 of the Constitution leading to an inevitable collusion with an overzealous and trigger happy executive. THE MDC’s ROAD TO LEGITIMACY AND DEMOCRACY: 1.2 The economic meltdown.
The State is unstable. It is clearly fractured with obvious signs of internal implosion. It is being overwhelmed by the internal contradictions that created it. The events of January 2019 prove beyond reasonable doubt that Zimbabwe faces a new challenge of securitization of the State and indeed the absence of Constitutionalism, the rule of law, unmitigated human rights violations, commission of international crimes against humanity, extra-legal killings, rape and mass trials and convictions. In short one can rig an election but not rig the economy. However, a ter January of 2019 it has become self-evident that connected to the crisis of legitimacy is now the key challenge of the militarization of the State, State capture and the absence of constitutionalism and the rule of law and more importantly the 04 unmitigated violations of human rights, the commission of international crimes against humanity particularly extra judicial killings, rape and mass trials. Events of January 2019 were triggered by Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa’s announcement of a sharp 143 percent fuel price increase which led to a shutdown led and called for by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions. In the days that followed, State security agents moved into the townships at the great cost of to civil and political liberties. Zimbabwe’s own Human Rights Commission made the following findings in respect of the January violence: The findings reveal that in the a termath of the 14th of January 2019 disturbances, armed and uniformed members of the Zimbabwe National Army and the Zimbabwe Republic Police instigated systematic torture. The torture was organized in that they targeted men who stay near areas where barricades had been placed and near areas that were torched by protestors or looted. They also targeted shared homes where they would round up many men in one homestead. In some instances it was also noted that those aligned to the Movement for Democratic Change were also specifically targeted for example Members of Parliament, Councilors and other active members. Amnesty International In its report titled” Open for businesses, Closed for dissent states the following “The crushing of dissent and crackdown on protests in Zimbabwe has continued, despite the first change of leadership in 2017. During and a ter a national stay-away in January 2019, at least 15 people were shot and killed by security forces, over 78 were treated for gunshot wounds, over 1000 were arbitrarily arrested and hundreds have been prosecuted in fasttracked trials on charges of public violence or subverting a constitutional government. Civil society and political party activists have been targeted for exercising their right to freedom of expression, peaceful protest and 05 assembly. Some women have been raped and children incarcerated a ter being abducted and detained in dragnet arrests across the country. This has resulted in fear gripping Zimbabwe, with many civil society leaders going into hiding for their protection.” In this detailed report Amnesty also finds the following:
Unlawful killings and excessive use of force by the police and the military
Torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment
Mass and widespread arbitrary arrests
Unconstitutional deployment of the military
Civil society leaders targeted
Targeting of opposition mdc members
Threats to the national human rights commission
Arbitrary restriction on public assembly
Suspension of the internet and suppression of information In the context of this, it cannot be business as usual. The MDC plan, RELOAD, recognizes the urgency of resolving not only the crisis of legitimacy. The need to ensure that constitutionalism and the rule of law are upheld in particular an urgent and sure return to democracy. There is also need to ensure that the military remain in barracks and police cantonments performing their constitutional mandate and not encroaching on the rights of citizens on the political front. 06 The MDC’s Road to legitimacy and democracy recognizes that at the epicenter of the Zimbabwe’s crisis is the crisis of legitimacy. That being so, the MDC calls for urgent national dialogue based on the following five anchors to legitimacy. RELOAD also recognizes the importance of the demilitarization of the country, the return of the rule of law constitutionalism, the need to protect the security of the person as well as upholding, the constitution. THE FIVE POINT PLAN (1) The return to legitimacy, demilitarization and agreement on a roadmap to such a change (2) Agreement on a comprehensive reform platform and agenda (3) Agreement on resolution of the economic and humanitarian crisis (4) Resolution on the agenda of nation building, national healing and the resolution of the social contract. THE MDC’S FIVE POINT PLAN TO RESOLVE THE ZIMBABWEAN CRISIS (5) International reengagement and ending Zimbabwe’s isolation and the integration in the international community. The above issues need urgent resolution in view of the continued reproduction of contestation con lict and attrition in Zimbabwe. The State is in crisis. The Zimbabwean State is captured by parasite and predatory political elite. The Zimbabwean state is characterized by the following, illegitimacy, militarization, violence and absence of the rule of law, patronage, capture, a collapsed economy and elite rapture. In short for all intends and purposes, the Zimbabwean State has gone rogue and predatory. Thus in RELOAD, the return to legitimacy must not only involve dialogue on the above angles but also on the following; 07
Pressure (Political and Diplomatic)….: Advocacy and mobilization of all progressive and democratic forces to build national consensus on the resolution of the national crisis.
National Dialogue: credible, bankable, legitimate process of dialogue fully guaranteed by the international community with specific deliverables, benchmarks and timelines through a mutually agreed and acceptable facilitator.
National Transitional Mechanism: Agreement on an implementing a framework on the agreed positions. This should be done through a national transitional mechanism whose terms in detail are to be agreed.
Comprehensive Reform Agenda: The implementation and rolling out of a comprehensive agenda, on the Five Point Plan detailed below.
Free and Fair Elections: Under International Supervision: Electoral reforms are so key to break the vicious cycle and troop of hugely contested elections we must hold free, fair, legitimate, credible and sound elections under international supervision. 08 The above agenda and roadmap must be anchored on three critical imperators a) Inclusivity and involvement of the people of Zimbabwe through the key organizations that represents them these include political parties and civic society organizations. b) The sca folding of the entire process, including of the guaranteeing and underwriting of the same by the international community c) Agreement on determined timelines and sunset clauses to ensure that the agreement is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time framed(SMART) IMPLEMENTATION MECHANISM If there is agreement on the above, we propose that there be an implementation mechanism known as the National Transitional Mechanism (NTM). The NTM will address the following issues; GUARANTEES AND SCAFFOLDING THE PROCESS I. Political and Institutional Reforms- Political, institution and structural reforms ii. Nation building and national reconstruction; iii. Dealing with securocratic state and demilitarization ii. Restoration of the socio-contract including attending to the agenda of national healing and transitional justice; iii. Stabilizing the economy including resolution of the debt crisis; iv. Constitutional reform v. Legal reform and harmonizing the country’s laws to the constitution vi. Electoral reform vii. Media reform viii. Dealing with state capture and the independence of institutions including the judiciary ix. Implementing and executing devolution in Zimbabwe x. Attending to the challenges of international re-engagement xi. Attending to the social and humanitarian agenda focusing on vulnerable and marginalized groups. This is the solution to the Zimbabwean crisis. 09
In nearly four decades a ter independence, Zimbabwe remains trapped in serious structural crises of legitimacy, under development poverty and political uncertainty.
Over these years, the Zimbabwean State has remained one driven by the self-serving agenda of patronage, coercion and capture.
November 2017, o fered a great opportunity for reversal of decades of years ofstranded growth, inertia and authoritarianism.
Regrettably, months down the line, it is self-evident to all that Zimbabwe has remarkably regressed and now has new challenges including that of elite rapture and elite discohesion which make inevitable the real possibility of another implosion.
The November 2017 military involvement brought to the fore, the fresh challenge of legitimacy and internal contradictions within the State which all right thinking Zimbabweans thought would be resolved by the election held on the 30th of July 2018.
The July 2018 election, did not resolve the crisis of legitimacy. It exabated it. It was an election that did not pass the timeless scrutiny of legitimacy and has rightly been rejected by virtually all international election observers. Key statements of rejection having been made by various international organizations including the Common Wealth Observer Mission, the European Union Observer Mission and the US-Zimbabwe Election Observer Mission (ZEOM).
Since that election, it is clear that the economy has collapsed and is in the process of an unprecedented meltdown.
This is in the backdrop, of a State that is now so blatantly violent and predatory.
The events of the first of 1st of August 2018 wherein the military killed 6 citizens and indeed the events of January 2019 where 19 people were killed and many raped show beyond reasonable doubt that the Zimbabwean State will use violence and every legal and extra-legal means to pursue the agenda of power retention.
Those events show beyond reasonable doubt that Zimbabwe has sunk back to the old days of the 1980s, where crimes against humanity were committed against an unarmed civilian population with impunity and without a response from a large section of the regional community.
It is now self-evident that resolving the Zimbabwean crisis must go beyond formal civilian reform including the media reforms and mundane aspects that can be found in a reasonably stable and democratic country. Zimbabwe is not normal. The events of January 2019 prove beyond reasonable doubt that Zimbabwe is a militarized State.
Thus the required reform must cut deep to ensure that the security of the citizen is secured, democracy is guaranteed, constitutionalism and the rule of law are upheld. Most importantly to ensured that the Zimbabwean citizen can have the right to choose a government of their choice.
The MDC through this document proposes an urgent solution to the current crisis.
It is one that is focused on dialogue, comprehensive dialogue to address the following issues:- (i) The crisis of legitimacy and years of cycles of rigged and stolen elections. (ii) The capture of State institutions and indeed the emasculation of bodies that protect the rule of law, the Constitution and constitutionalism. (iii) The blatant and open securitisation of the State. (iv) The use of violence, and fear as a political weapon and the constant attacks on the MDC leadership, and the continuous closure of political space in the country. (v) Patronage, and the emergency of neo-patrimonial State where a few elites, sit on the commanding heights of corruption infrastructure in this country particularly the control and corruption around minerals (diamonds, chrome, gold, platinum, the massive fuel industry and foreign currency and Command Agriculture as a vehicle of patronage, the use and abuse of State enterprises as vehicles of corruption. (vi) Control and abuse of the State and wanton over expenditure in the State (vii) Systematic economic collapse and the huge meltdown accelerated deeply a ter 1 October 2018. (viii) Accelerated poverty and impoverishment of the Zimbabwean people.
As the MDC we therefore propose that there be discussion on dialogue on the five key issues:- (i) The challenge of legitimacy, militarization and agreement on a roadmap to legitimacy. (ii) Agreement on a comprehensive reform platform and agenda (iii) Agreement on resolution of the economic crisis (iv) Agreement on the agenda of nation building, national healing and the ready establishment of the social contract (v) Ending Zimbabwe’s isolation and reintegration in the international community
Should there be agreement on the above, then there must be an implementation mechanism.
In this regard, we propose the setting up of the National Transitional Mechanism that should oversee the reform agenda in a meeting from the discussions.
The National Transitional Mechanism will derive legitimacy from all corners of Zimbabwe and will have the mandate of governing the country to the next election whilst attending to the reform agenda and most importantly preserving the peace and order of Zimbabwe to avoid yet another implosion. REIMAGINING A NEW ZIMBABWE
There is a crisis in Zimbabwe. That crisis has existed for nearly four decades.
In our view, it cannot be business as usual. The State and its citizens, must find a way of reconstructing and repacking the narrative from one of politics of patronage and violence to one of transformation, renewal, restoration and reconstruction of Zimbabwe.
In our 2018 election blueprint, SMART, we argued for the rethinking of the Zimbabwean’s State.
In rethinking the State, we propose to provide an alternative people driven leadership and strategic direction of our country.
We propose to fundamentally alter the governance of our country.
We are committed to creating a new Zimbabwean’s State in which power was shared and devolved through the country.
We proposed to create a tolerant competent and consulting State in which power is accountable to the citizens. In this regard, we propose the following:- (a) Restoration of the rule of law and respect of property rights (b) Restoring the social contract (c) Creation of a consensus and Consulting State (d) Implementation of devolution and decentralization of the State (e) Rebuilding the country’s economy, (f) Urbanization of rural areas, development of urban areas (g) Addressing social justice and social deliverance (h) Protecting citizen’s rights, minority interest and vulnerable groups (i) Reconstruction and remodeling of the country’s infrastructure.
We believe that the imperator of rethinking Zimbabwe, redefining Zimbabwe and setting Zimbabwe on a trajectory of economic upli tment and transformation, democratization, constitutionalism and rule of law, remains the most important goal of every Zimbabwean.
This is why in our SMART document our national vision was captured as follows:- “tomake Zimbabwe an inclusive, socially just, prosperous, tolerant, transformative, modern, advanced, e ficient and democratic developmental state in which people have equal opportunities to pursue happiness”
We however recognize that the above vision, given the reality of the present moment, requires, a transitional phase in respect of which major reforms are carried out before Zimbabwe is on a sound footing of transformation, modernization, democratization and upli tment.
ANCHOR A: THE RETURN TO LEGITIMACY AND RESPECTING THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE AND THE ELECTORATORAL PLAYING FIELD.
At the epicenter of the crisis in Zimbabwe is the issue of legitimacy. Since independence in 1980, virtually every election that Zimbabwe has gone through has been contested. Elections have become a sore point, election have become a point of division, elections have become a basis for exclusion
The events of November 2017 brought to the fore the challenge of legitimacy. A ter November 2017, we had a regime that was now governing Zimbabwe but did not derive its mandate from the people of Zimbabwe through elections. Regrettably the July 2018 election did not resolve the legitimacy challenge. A country can never be run without the popular consent of its citizens.
Where there is no consensus and agreement on those that are governing a country, there can never be state e fectiveness.
To bring the country to legitimacy and normalcy key steps have to been taken.
A. Recognition of true outcome of the 2018 General Elections B. An Inclusive National Transitional Mechanism
C. Implementation of comprehensive reform agenda and key election milestones.
Legitimacy is derived from the governed. That the nation is sure and confident that the results announced by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission do not resemble the true outcome of the election is the source of illegitimacy.
In order to move the country forward, Mr. Mnangagwa has to recognize that he did not win the election as purported by ZEC but instead, that the MDC leader Advocate Nelson Chamisa won the Presidential election.
That dialogue on how the current state of a fairs can be normalized can only be pursued within the context of truth and reconciliation.
ANCHOR B: COMPREHENSIVE REFORM AGENDA
Political Reform
Dialogue must address political reform. Some of the challenges the country faces derive from the political system. Although the 2013 Constitution introduces mechanisms to enhance representation at national and local level. The state still needs to be democratized and aligned with constitutional principles of accountability, transparency and good governance. A few questions still need to be addressed.
(a) Key issues for political reform
i. Develop an inclusive National Vision accepted by all stakeholders ii. Actualising, enforcing and fulfilling the Constitution to ensure that not only does the country have a Constitution but Constitutionalism
iii. Implementing devolution and decentralization of the state iv. Ensure the independence key State Institutions in particular the Judiciary and Chapter 12 institutions specifically the Human Rights
Commission, Anti-Corruption Commission, the Gender
Commission
v. Creating a consensus State in respect of which the citizen is not living in fear and leaders are held accountable.
vi. Dealing decisively with the infrastructure of violence and intolerance that permeates the Zimbabwean political landscape.
vii. Implementing and executing a program of National Healing, Transitional Justice, Reconciliation and Truth telling.
viii. Reconsider the size and restructure the country’s governmentix. Renaming the country’s provinces
x. Reconsider size and e fectiveness of Parliament xi. Reconsider the role of traditional leaders
xii. Consider the role of the o ficial opposition xiii. Fostering political tolerance xiv. Inclusive governance xv. Reconsidering the electoral system
xvi. Reorient the political system in line with the constitutional dispensation xvii. Role definition and role clarity for security agents.
xviii. Reorienting intelligence service towards national development and enacting on enabling law for the intelligence services in line with the Constitution.
Legal Reform
The 2013 Constitution of Zimbabwe brought much expectation for constitutionalism. This particularly targets the legislative reform agenda that has thus far been neglected. Constitutionalism requires that all law or conduct be aligned to the Constitution. Dialogue must address a comprehensive legislative agenda that aligns all laws with the Constitution. The list of the laws that require alignment is quite long.
a) Key legislative reform areas
i. Harmonizing Zimbabwe’s laws to the Constitution ii. Comprehensive Electoral reforms
iii. Enactment of a comprehensive law dealing with devolution and decentralization of the State
iv. A comprehensive law dealing with the land question and actualizing the issues raised in Chapter 16 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
v. Transforming the security sector through enactment of a law dealing with the National Security Council, the depoliticisation of the military, the transparency of the intelligence agency and the establishment of the complaints mechanism defined in the section 210 of the Constitution.
vi. Dra ting a people and rights centred public order to replace POSA.
vii. Enacting a comprehensive media law replacing the various media laws including the Broadcasting Services Act and AIPPA.
viii. Revisiting the Traditional leaders Act
ix. Enacting social legislation dealing with rights of women, children, minorities and people living with disabilities.
Institutional reforms
The Constitution creates a number of institutions to strengthen democracy and implement constitutional governance. However, most of the institutions are either incapacitated or captured to fully discharge their mandate. All the Chapter 12 & 13 institutions must be strengthened and the implementation of devolution of power must be urgent to ensure even development with decision making vested in devolved tiers and spheres.
a) Target institutions for reform
i. Judiciary ii. All Commissions iii. Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe iv. Security Sector v. Public Media vi. State Enterprises vii. Parliament viii. Traditional leaders ix. Local authority structures
Political, legal and institutional reforms are key in delivering sustainable good governance.
a) Reforms Key Milestones Towards Free, Fair and Credible Elections
Free, fair and credible elections are the primary basis for legitimacy and the only formula to return the country to normalcy. However, elections must meet certain key constitutional and international standards.
(i) Constitutional Standards
The Zimbabwean Constitution in Section 156 on the conduct of elections and referendums states that:
“At every election and referendum, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission must ensure that –
(a) Whatever voting method is used, it is simple, accurate, verifiable, secure and transparent;
…
(c) Appropriate systems and mechanisms are put in place-
(i) To eliminate electoral violence and other electoral malpractices; and
(ii) To ensure the safekeeping of electoral materials.
Section 155 (2) (c) clearly states that;
“(2) The State must take all appropriate measures, including legislative measures, to ensure that e fect is given to the principles set out in subsection (1) and in particular, must-
(c) Ensure that all political parties and candidates contesting an election or participating in a referendum have reasonable access to all material and information necessary for them to participate e fectively”
Whilst Section 62(1) is unambiguous and it states;
“(1)Every Zimbabwean citizen or permanent resident, including juristic persons and the Zimbabwean media, has the right of access to any information held by the State or by any institution or agency of government at every level, in so far as the information is required in the interests of public accountability”
Our supreme law clearly envisages a simple, accurate, verifiable, secure and transparent election.
Malpractices in the 2018 general election
The 2018 general elections were marred by a series of electoral malpractices by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. Among other clear violations we observed and lagged are –
I. Various illegalities around candidate nomination
II. ZEC refusal to distribute the BVR Voters Roll
III. Absence of proper ballot printing observation and inspection
IV. Illegal, manipulated and biased ballot paper design V. Wanton lies by ZEC around ballot printing process
VI. Shambolic postal voting
VII. Sharing of confidential voter information between ZEC and Zanu–PF
VIII. Clear indications that someone else and not ZEC was in charge of the election
IX. ZEC refusal to a ford candidates an audience
X. ZEC lack of transparency and sheer arrogance
XI. Partisan behavior by the ZEC Chairperson
XII. ZEC’s incapacity to ensure compliance by all candidates
XIII. Abuse of state resources for campaign
XIV. Unregulated samples of ballot papers found before elections
XV. Failure to a fix a copy of the polling station return on the outside of the polling station
XVI. Irregular collation and verification of results at National Command Centre
XVII. Irregular announcement of presidential results
XVIII. Mixture of harmonized election residue
Proposed Reforms
i. The disbanding of the current Zimbabwean Electoral Commission (ZEC), including the dismissal of all current Commissioners as well as all the retiring of all members of
Sta f under the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission Secretariat consequence the negotiation and agreement on a new Zimbabwe Electoral Commission including the Commissioners and the sta f.
ii. Amending the Electoral Act if not the Constitution to ensure that the date of the election is more or less fixed in the law, for instance, the election could be held in the last Monday of the month of July a ter every 5 years. iii. The creation of an authentic biometric voters’ roll properly audited and signed o f by all stake holders
iv. The introduction of modern automated biometric voting and the automation of all electoral processes.
v. Consensual, negotiated and agreed process on
delimitation to avoid gerrymandering and manipulation of boundaries. vi. Agreement on all election material including on the nature and quality of the ballot paper, the printers thereof and the numbers to be printed. vii. Advance release of polling o ficers names for transparency purposes and to avert planting. viii. Agreement on the ink to be used, where it will be sourced and test for indelibility. ix. Election residue, in the event of an election, should be kept in separate boxes for President, House of Assembly and Council.
x. Full disclosure of the printers and print run of the ballot paper.
xi. Amending the electoral act on the issue of presence of police o ficers inside polling stations as well as the issue of assisted voters.
xii. Amending the Electoral act to ensure that all election results are announced forthwith and in any event no later than 48 hours from the date of the vote.
xiii. To complete de-securitization of election institutions and the electoral process, including the exclusion of Zimbabwe’s security sector from managing Zanu-PF’s election campaign. xiv. Provision for Zimbabweans residing in the Diaspora to vote in the election.
xv. Media reforms allowing for equal access to public media by all contenders in the election.
xvi. The enactment of major amendments to the Electoral Act and the repealing of restrictive laws such as: the Public Order Security Act (POSA); Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA); the Broadcasting Services
Act (BSA) xvii. Allowing entry of international monitors and supervisors at least 3 months before the 2018 election and provision for the SADC and the United Nations to supervise the poll
xviii. Absence of violence and intimidation before, during and a ter the election
xix. Political impartiality of traditional leaders, including abolition of politicized food aid in election campaigns.
ANCHOR C: NATION BUILDING, PEACE BUILDING (NATIONAL HEALING, RESTORATION AND RECONSTRUCTION)
SHARED NATIONAL VISION
It is important for Zimbabwe to have a shared national vision that becomes the glue of the nation State, Such a shared national vision must be based on the need to create a Martenalistic State, an ethical State in which there is responsibility accountability and most importantly reciprocal obligations.
The share national vision must also be developmental taking into account the huge levels of poverty and under development in Zimbabwe.
The vision must be one of upli tment of the masses of Zimbabwe that live in poverty.
Nation Building
Any stable nation is united in its diversity by a set of core values, principles, traditions, traits, and characteristics that transcend culture and geography. Nationhood encapsulates the collective imagination of a people, united by common values, desires and aspirations.
It was this collective imagination that spurred thousands of Zimbabweans to participate in the national liberation project, culminating in independence in 1980. The tragedy is that having led the liberation struggle, the nationalists failed in the nation-building project. Instead, they preached unity while pursuing narrow agendas that divided people on class, racial, tribal, gender, cultural, religious and other grounds.
Instead of building a nation, the founding fathers privatized the State. Many citizens, including the Diaspora, so-called “aliens” and the poor feel excluded and unwanted.
Despite attempts to articulate some principles and values in the 2013 Constitution, there is still a lot of work to be done to integrate them into society so that they are an essential part of the social fabric.
The MDC will push for the nation to embark on a comprehensive on a comprehensive and broad-based nation-building project based on unity, diversity, tolerance, recognition and correction of past injustices and the pursuit of social and economic progress for all.
TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE AND NATIONAL HEALING
Con lict, attrition and intolerance have contributed to the erosion of the Zimbabwean economy. To reclaim Zimbabwe, mechanisms must be created that eradicate political violence. There have been so many injustices over the years, the wounds of which have never healed. Topdown approaches have suppressed the voices of survivors and victims. In order to move forward, wrongs of the past must be corrected, but in an inclusive, just and non-vindictive way. The future must not be a prisoner of the past, but equally so, past grievances must not be sacrificed at the altar of future dreams.
The MDC identifies six key periods of violations:
i. The Liberation Struggle
ii. The Gukurahundi
iii. Violence and dispossession associated with the Land Reform iv. Operation Murambatsvina (2005 Clean out operation)
v. Political Violence associated with all our elections including in particular the 2008 elections.
vi. Post November 2017 violence including August 2018 and January 2019.
A comprehensive Programme of Transitional Justice and National Healing based on the following principles:
i. Victim-centered approach
ii. Comprehensive, inclusive, consultative participation of all stakeholders, particularly survivors and victims. iii. The duty and obligation on the State to apologize for all atrocities. iv. The establishment of confessions, truth telling and truth seeking. v. Acknowledgement of wrong doing. vi. Justice, compensation and reparations. vii. National healing and reconciliation viii. Non-repetition (NEVER AGAIN). ix. Gender equity and gender sensitivities. x. Transparency and accountability.
xi. Nation building and reintegration.
RESTORING TRUST, CONFIDENCE AND THE SOCIAL CONTRACT
The lack of confidence and trust in the State, and, of course, the failure of the State itself to meet its social obligations to its citizens, results in the majority of its citizens operating outside the ambit of the State.
Equally, trust among citizens has been eroded. This is the case even at the family level, in religious institutions, social organisation and civic society.
Zimbabwe’s economic collapse has triggered a rise in social decay at various levels. Challenges at the family level are re lected by the high number of cases of divorce, domestic violence and peace orders that are being granted by the courts. Levels of tolerance are low, whilst hatred and disa fection on social media spaces lourish.
Seemingly, as Zimbabweans, we cannot manage our di ferences and the slightest di ference can easily degenerate into verbal tirades and even violence.
Poverty has also exacerbated the problems. Crimes of necessity and substance abuse are on the increase especially among young and the unemployed youths.
Ultimately, total confidence in the State will be restored when we build a shared and inclusive Zimbabwe based on transformation and the opening of opportunities for prosperity.
ANCHOR D: THE ECONOMY AND THE SOCIAL AGENDA
The economic crisis has worsened a ter the 2018 elections a continuation of the trend synonymous of the Mugabe era, the post-coup era or even worse.
The pursuit of a confused monetary policy that has shi ted from the regime of multiple currencies, the introduction of the Bond Note, the introduction of the Nostro FCA’s in October 2019, the partial liberalization of the currency in February 2019 and eventually the dedollarisation in June 2019 have all created a concoction that have paralysed ordinary Zimbabwe’s business and indeed the international community.
An expansionary fiscal policy is still the order of the day, the liquidity crisis continues all this is coupled by centralized monetary confusion.
ZANUPF has failed to inspire confidence beyond the promises of mega deals.
More disturbingly international financial institutions in particular the International Monetary Fund, continue to pay a blind eye to the economic chaos in Zimbabwe and on the contrary have become a choir boy for the economic cannibalism and sabotage being pursued by the authorities in Zimbabwe.
At the same time there is massive poverty and deligitimisation of the ordinary Zimbabweans in the absence of safety nets and a programme that deals with the social sectors particularly in the areas of education, health, environment and vulnerable sectors such as people living with HIV/Aids, people living with disabilities, widows, orphans and the aged.
Zimbabwe has also su fered from the vicissitudes of climate change, cyclone IDAI and other previous cyclones and indeed the droughts that are wrecking havoc in Zimbabwe.
We propose therefore that the NTM deals with the following issues as a matter of urgency.
i. Producing and implementing an emergency economic recovery plan. ii. Macroeconomic stability and sound governance of the economy.
iii. Demonetizing the bond note, reverting to the multicurrency regime and in the long term join the rand monetary union. iv. Liberalization of the capital account.
v. Supply side solutions including Industrialization,
Productivity, Savings and Foreign Direct Investments. vi. Dealing with the debt question once and for all. vii. Laying a foundation for agro – industrial transformation.
viii. Changing the accumulation model from extraction to beneficiation.
ix. Gross capital formation.
x. Expediting State Owned Enterprise (SOE) Reform.
xi. Ring fencing social services, creating social safety nets including cash handouts as well as mobilizing a strategy and resources against the pervasive climate change.
In order to do this, the NTM should ensure the establishment of stabilization fund and a sovereign world fund
ANCHOR E: INTERNATIONAL ENGAGEMENT
RE-ENGAGEMENT AND FOREIGN POLICY
The MDC NTM must pursue a foreign policy in respect of which Zimbabwe remains non-aligned and will seek to make friends with every decent State in the world that shares its values of democracy, Constitutionalism, socially just transparency, openness and inclusivity.
In this regard we suggest the following:
i. Strengthen our membership of the AU and the SADC
ii. Seek for the strengthening ,modernization and institutionalization of the
AU and SADC
iii. Strengthen our membership as a responsible citizen of the UN. iv. Re-join the Commonwealth of Nations.
v. Pursue African integration through the establishment of a customs and monetary union. vi. Pursue strong relations with the EU within the context of the EU/ACPmatrix.
vii. Ensure that Zimbabwe plays a role in con lict prevention, and peacekeeping missions across the world.
The Inclusive National Transitional Mechanism
The path to Zimbabwe’s total recovery requires the inclusive participation of all relevant stakeholders. The Inclusive National Transitional Mechanism will be responsible for implementing the key milestones towards the holding of free, fair and credible elections in line with the Constitution of the country and in the meantime stabilize the economy and the political environment.
Functions of the NTM
i. Implementing the comprehensive reform agenda ii. Nation building and national reconstruction;
iii. Restoration of the socio-contract including attending to the agenda of national healing and transitional justice;
iv. Stabilizing the economy including resolution of the debt crisis; v. Constitutional reform vi. Legal reform and harmonizing the country’s laws to the constitution vii. Electoral reform
viii. Dealing with state capture and the independence of institutions ix. Implementing and executing devolution in Zimbabwe
x. Attending to the challenges of international re-engagement xi. Dealing with the securocratic state and demilitarization
The NTM must be in o fice for an agreed period of time. To avoid the mistakes made during the time of the GNU, the duration of the NTM, must be to allow, all the agreed reforms to be fully implemented and actualized. Any premature revisiting of the NTM without reforms being done will only set up Zimbabwe for failure.
At the end of the NTM there must be a general elections to be held under international supervision.
THE STRUCTURE OF THE NTM
The NTA must be an inclusively negotiated process, that being so, the MDC cannot and will not prescribe a structure of an NTA.
Save to state that the NTA will assume the roles of the executive defined in Chapter five of our constitution during its tenure.
This therefore means that all Executive Wings of the state including the security apparatus will totally be subordinate to the NTA.
Furthermore it is our view that the NTA should be composed of competent and credible leadership, leaders of a good standing.
The leaders of the NTA must be drawn from all walks of life including industry, the Diaspora, churches, social movements, labour and organised civil society with women’s movement and the youth movement as the youth who make up the at least 65% of the population. .
All these must take oaths of o fice and pledge that they will not seek political o fice for a minimum period of 10 years during and a ter the expiry of its term of o fice.
The NTA must be in o fice for a maximum period of 2 years, where-a ter elections shall be held, under its supervision.
The creation of the NTA will require national consensus among all stakeholders.
In addition to the above, SADC and AU must help in the negotiations on the setting up of the NTA and at the same time must provide a guarantor and play an oversight role over the same.
THE LEGALITY OF THE NTM
To the extent that the NTM is an inclusive negotiated settlement, the dominant parties in Parliament namely ZANU PF and the MDC, agree on a legal framework to actualize the same.
Once the support of all stakeholders is obtained an amendment to the constitution in the form of a schedule will easily set up an NTM.
NTA Roadmap
For the NTA to be a reality, the citizen plays the biggest role.
It is the citizen that possesses the power to demand from the failed authority the establishment of the NTA.
The MDC will also put pressure, the international community must also encourage those in power who must also make the right decision
As such, the following happen:
CONCLUSION
Dialogue is a critical solution to the current political impasse. Such dialogue however should be based on key issues that address the challenges currently faced by Zimbabwe. It is a dialogue of issues and not personalities. It is a way by which stakeholders can come together and address national concerns in the spirit of nation building. Dialogue must be based on the urgent return to legitimacy and normalcy; national healing and nation building; a comprehensive reform agenda; an end to international isolation; and resolving the national humanitarian and economic situation. The MDC is prepared to engage all stakeholders and Zimbabweans across the political divide in a sincere and honest dialogue to address these issues for the common good.
By A Correspondent| Zanu Pf Central Committee member for Midlands province, Timothy Gandire-Mhuri, has died.
He was 88.
Gandire-Mhuri succumbed to kidney failure at a private hospital in Borrowdale yesterday morning.
Midlands Central Committee member Emmanuel Fundira said the provincial executive committee has since written to the Politburo requesting that he be declared a national hero.
“We have written to the party requesting national hero status for one of the pillars of the province who played a pivotal role during the liberation struggle,” said Fundira.
He described the late Gandire-Mhuri as a good listener and down-to-earth person who had an open-door policy.
“Those remaining in the province and party should continue uniting people, fighting for development and providing corrupt-free leadership, which he typified for more than 60 years.
“He provided good and mature leadership. He was the most senior both in the district and province. He was a source of wisdom and advice for the party.
“He remained committed to the party before and after independence,” he said.
Born in Shurugwi on October 2 1930, Gandire-Mhuri did his primary and secondary education at Vugwi before training as a mechanic at Ndweleni Technical College in South Africa.
Upon his return, he joined Zanu-PF in 1952 and later moved to Zambia to open a transport business.
However, he remained devoted to the liberation struggle.
While in Zambia, he provided liberation fighters with accommodation and transportation and became a target of Zambian and Rhodesian colonial governments.
He worked with senior party leaders such as Herbert Chitepo, Enock Dumbutshena and President Mnangagwa.-StateMedia
Dr Obert Mpofu|The independence of many African States in the continent signalled the gradual end of a century of oppressive white colonial rule over socio-political systems and skewed monopoly over the means of production which alienated the black majority from accessing wealth and property.
Although this came with real joy for Africa and fulfilled the core mandate of the Organisation of African Unity, (now African Union), some of these African countries unfortunately plunged into ethnic and tribal conflicts which witnessed massive displacements, loss of lives and other psychological injuries on their population.
This was to be the paradox of many African countries — the end of suffering as a result of the end of colonial rule but also the beginning of suffering as a result of ethnic and political divisions.
In fact the Cold War politics had resulted in the capitalist block deliberately destabilising communist or socialist inclined countries in Africa.
As if that was not enough, newly independent African countries had inherited nations that were divided along ethnic lines by the colonial system as a method of ensuring perpetual control, that is the divide and rule strategy.
For many former colonisers, destabilisation was to act as a calculated foreign policy position for reasons of continuously having access to the abundant resources and to send a strong message that the black majority could not rule over themselves.
Zimbabwe attained its independence in 1980 after a gruesome and painful struggle which stretched over one-and-a-half decades.
The decades of war probably exacerbated the ethnic and political divisions which were planted by the white settler government in order to ascertain their grip over the country.
Like the fate of many African countries, the independence quickly resulted in a sharp ethnic and political division. The hallmark of this was the escalation of this deep rooted ethnical and political division into a sharp crisis which became known as Gukurahundi.
Faced by the reality of becoming a fragile of failed State, the Government responded by deploying troops in areas where dissidents mainly operated from, that is, Matabeleland and Midlands Provinces.
These areas specifically include Matabeleland North’s Tsholotsho, Umguza and Lupane, Matabeleland South’s Filabusi, Ntepe, Guyu and Midlands’ Gokwe, Silobela and Lower Gweru.
Unfortunately, like any other crisis or disturbance of this nature, a considerable number of people lost their lives, their livelihoods and their psychological and physiological well-being.
This was despite ethnic and political affiliations.
Although there was a Unity Accord in 1987 to signal a deliberate effort towards peace building, reconciliation and ultimately an end to artificial ethnic or political divisions, over three decades later many actors still push for this issue to be part of the broader policy agenda setting in the country.
This has raised many questions about the sincerity of this agenda.
It is however, prudent that we explore the causes of the crisis, the outcome both immediate and long term, the actors involved and their interests.
The Matabeleland crisis in perspective
In his thesis, Healing the Wounds of Gukurahundi, Ngwenya (2014) submits that there were various challenges between Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (ZPRA) and Zimbabwe African Liberation Army (Zanla) which saw tensions escalating in areas surrounding the freedom fighters holding camps in many parts of the country. At times this degenerated into serious direct confrontations such as that at Entumbane in 1981.
In addition there were sporadic outbreaks of direct confrontation emanating from the freedom fighters Assembly Points (APs) countrywide. Such outbreaks began after independence and continued throughout the early 1980s CCPJ Report, (1997).
The causes of these conflicts were complex and the net result was that by early 1982, Zimbabwe had serious security problems in various parts particularly in the western half.
Bands of dissidents were causing massive harm to civilians and property in the country.
Statistical Analysis
The common narrative by the CCPJ is that Gukurahundi claimed the lives of at least 20 000 people, some buried in shallow graves while others in mass graves. However, after a detailed analysis, this paper holds that there is no definite or agreed statistical standpoint on the lives claimed. Below are some of the statistics presented by scholars.
– According to the British Military Advisory Training Team (BMATT) who were on the ground, the crisis resulted in the death of between 10 000 and 20 000 people. Cameron (2018)
– Depending on who one talks to, from 1982 to 1987, between 10 000 and 40 000 people lost their lives in the Matabeleland Provinces around Bulawayo Hill (2011)
– According to Bagnetto (2019), although some reports indicate that 2 000 people lost their lives during Gukurahundi in the 1980s, primarily in Matabeleland, a number of reports put the number of victims at 20 00 of higher.
– Conservative estimates put the number of civilian deaths at around 8 000, but affected Ndebele sources insist it was closer to 20 000 or 30 000.
What the statistics show is that the figure is not definite and probably this is the reason why the data of people who lost their lives per district is not known.
Causes of Gukurahundi
Suspicion among freedom fighters
From the 1960s onwards, the people of Zimbabwe were involved in a civil war to get rid of the oppressive colonial Government of Ian Smith.
This civil war intensified during the 1970s where there was the Rhodesian army on one side and the two armies of Zanla and ZPRA on the other side. Zanla was the armed wing of Zanu, the Zimbabwe African National Union, and ZPRA was the armed wing of Zapu, the Zimbabwe African People’s Union.
The two armed wings competed with each other for territory and support and frequently confronted each other even before independence. This meant that there were suspicions of each other even after independence.
The legacy of colonial rule
The legacy of colonial rule also contributed greatly to the outbreak of Gukurahundi. Repressive legislation can be dated back to the beginning of colonialism, with various pass laws, tax laws, land laws and a myriad of other racially biased laws, all of which served to ensure the economic and educational supremacy of a small white elite, which was never more than 6,2 percent of the population, at the expense of the black majority.
One of the results of 90 years of colonial rule was that ordinary blacks came to see the law as their enemy and after independence some sections of the black community did not feel that the new black Government was impartial which also triggered dissident activity.
Apartheid South African
Destabilisation Policy
Apartheid South African Destabilisation Policy of Zimbabwe equally contributed to the outbreak of Gukurahundi. As countries in southern Africa began to gain independence from 1975 onwards, white ruled Apartheid South Africa began an increasingly coherent policy of destabilising these nations in order to prolong its power.
Independent nations most notably affected by South African destabilisation in the early 1980s were Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Lesotho.
During South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission progresses in the democratic South Africa, it was explicitly unearthed that the then Apartheid government had a deliberate policy to destabilize the Frontline States all in the vain hope to continue repressing black South Africans.
To them accentuating Gukurahundi was a strategy to breed and sustain despondency in Zimbabwe.
Super Zapu
As part of the external efforts to destabilise newly independent African states, Apartheid South Africa implemented “Operation Drama” which was the South African code name for the undercover support of Zimbabwean dissidents. It was carried out under the direction of Col Moeller and Col Breytenbach.
The operation’s primary role was the formation and funding of Super Zapu.
This was a small band of dissidents, recruited from refugee camps in Botswana and trained in four camps in the Transvaal. Super Zapu operated in southern Matabeleland in 1983 and 1984, exacerbating the security situation already in existence.
Precise numbers of Super Zapu and the degree of material support offered by South Africa to Zimbabwean dissidents remain largely conjecture, although it is clear the Zimbabwean operation was far less extensive than those in Angola and Mozambique which operated concurrently.
The dissidents’ perspective
One contributing factor to escalating dissident numbers, according to the dissidents themselves was the Zimbabwe National Army’s (ZNA) initial failure to successfully integrate Zanla and ZPRA into one army. The task facing the ZNA at independence was unprecedented as it had to integrate three armies, all of which had long standing differences towards each other, and form one army with a conventional military background.
From the time of the negotiated ceasefire in Zimbabwe, ex-freedom fighters were held in Assembly Points (APs) throughout the country from where they were gradually integrated into the army or demobilised.
Many ex-freedom fighters from both sides resisted entering the APs, fearing the consequences or rejecting the negotiated outcome to the war. In the APs after independence there were several minor conflicts between Zanla and ZPRA forces in different parts of the country.
In February 1980, The Chronicle allegedly reported that approximately 200 freedom fighters were roaming the North West, campaigning for Zapu and committing crimes. In Nkayi and Gokwe, in Northern Matabeleland there was a group of ZPRAs operating under a man called “Tommy” who was renowned for refusing to obey the ZPRA High Command structure in the 1970s.
In addition there was a group of ZPRAs in Tsholotsho who refused to enter the APs as they rejected ceasefire.
In May and June 1980, 400 ZPRA freedom fighters were rounded up in Northern Matabeleland and taken to Khami Prison near Bulawayo. Zanla had its share of challenges.
It is alleged that Zanla was involved in armed conflicts in Mutoko, Mt Darwin and Gutu. Both sides were involved in the concealing of weapons outside the APs. (To be continued)
The author Dr Obert Mpofu is the Zanu-PF Secretary for Administration and member of the Politburo.
Zodwa Wabantu has come out to slam the double standards of South Africans who idolise people such as Rihanna and Serena Williams for their nude outfits but seem to have a problem with hers.
The entertainer, who wore her most revealing dress yet at the recent Vodacom Durban July, has been dominating the social media timeline since Saturday with many attempting to body shame her and slam her nudity.
“South Africans are funny. People like Rihanna and Beyoncé can run around in revealing clothes or even be naked and they will be praised. They are still respected and nobody ever accused them of being a bad role model to kids or being prostitutes, but when I do it is a problem…” Zodwa told TshisaLIVE.
Zodwa’s outfit at the July was similar to a dress Rihanna wore 2014 for the CFDA Fashion Awards red carpet in NYC. The musician’s sheer, nude dress set tongues wagging with her dress but received more praise than criticism.
Zodwa said SA had to pick a side and stick to it because if they love, respect and even celebrate people like RiRi as a fashion icon, nothing should stop them from doing the same for her.
She posted the snaps on her Instagram to remind them.
Mzansi actress and musician, Samkelo Ndlovu, revealed that she had once turned down SA comedian, Trevor Noah.
Samkelo Ndlovu revealed that she went to high school with Trevor Noah in an interview with MacG. She also hinted that Trevor Noah once hit on her when they worked together on her first feature film. Trevor was not as famous back then. Samkelo said rejected dating Trevor at the time because she was too young.
“I was too young and oh, and I was dating Thomas (Gumede). He wasn’t ‘Trevor’ yet. I was straight out of college. My life was taking off. He was just a sweet guy, always cracking jokes and wanted this film made. We lived in the same area code. Sometimes he’d pick meup so that we’d go to set together, so he was a sweetheart,” said Samkelo.
The actress added that her boyfriend at the time, Thomas Gumede, was not happy when he found out that Trevor offered Samkelo lifts to work. “My boyfriend hated it at the time. When he found out he was like, ‘What, he picked you up?… I was like we’re working on the same set… no Trevor was a sweetheart,” said Samkelo.
But Samkelo quickly shut down MacG’s suggestions that she could have been in Hollywood with Trevor. She made it very clear that she doesn’t think it would have worked out between the two of them.
Zanu PF moles are celebrating their party victory in the Bikita and Nyanga by-elections scoffing at the MDC which they claim is losing ground and grassroot support.
ZANU PF romped to victory in the Bikita Ward 31 by-election beating MDC by over 700 votes and also grabbed the Nyanga ward previously held by the opposition party.
The two victories have given Zanu Pf bragging rights on Twitter with former Herald EDitor Ceasar Zvayi saying the party which wins by-elections cannot be overthrown, a jibe possibly targeted at incarcerated MDC deputy chairperson Job Sikhala who was arrested on charges of subversion after he told party supporters in Bikita that they will overthrow Mnangagwa.
BULAWAYO Ward 5 Councillor Felix Mhaka was yesterday savagely attacked by rogue youths while other councillors were held hostage at the City Hall as tempers flared over the aborted suspension of Town Clerk Mr Christopher Dube.
A clique of Bulawayo councillors led by Deputy Mayor Tinashe Kambarami “suspended” Mr Dube on Thursday after charging him with mismanagement.
Clr Kambarami and his crew’s decision to suspend the Town Clerk was however rescinded by the city’s Mayor Clr Solomon Mguni yesterday.
However, Clr Mguni’s decision did not stop some suspected rogue Mthwakazi Republic Party (MRP) activists from attacking some of the city fathers.
The councillors were supposed to hold a special full council meeting at 4:30pm to discuss Mr Dube’s issue.
The meeting was aborted but this did not stop suspected MRP activists, who had already mobilised their members, from attacking some of the councillors.
First, the activists barred the councillors from exiting the City Hall threatening to unleash violence.
Between 4:30PM and 5PM councillors were held hostage at the City Hall with the activists becoming human shields in barricading the building.
Clr Mhaka exited the building just after 5PM and the mob pounced on him accusing him and his colleagues of trying to destabilise council operations.
The violent youths alleged that the bid to remove Mr Dube from council was motivated by tribalism.
They punched and kicked Clr Mhaka as he fled from the City Hall to seek refuge at the Chronicle building, two streets away.
His pair of trousers was torn on the knees as he had fallen several times during the savage beating.
He told the Chronicle he was not the only councillor who was beaten up.
“About 15 councillors were held hostage by these rogue criminals who only understand the language of violence. I don’t know whether my colleagues are safe because we were scattered all over,” he said.
Clr Mhaka said those who attacked him were not a representation of Bulawayo residents but a violent group that wanted to sow divisions in the city.
He said instead of resorting to violence, the public should allow due processes to be followed where allegations are levelled against an official.
Clr Mhaka lost his car keys and had to wait for nearly an hour at the Chronicle building waiting for the situation to calm down.
Acting Bulawayo police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Nomalanga Msebele said her office had not yet received a report on the matter.
She urged the residents not to resort to violence when they have misunderstandings.
Zanu PF members in the UK have described as barbaric the attacks on government officials led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Retired Lt. Gen. Dr Sibusiso Moyo in London yesterday, urging the opposition MDC’s leadership to stop encouraging its supporters to commit acts of terror.
In a statement, the members of the revolutionary party said the government should not lose focus in light of the provocation by members of the opposition MDC, which they said was meant to derail the government re-engagement efforts.
“As Zanu PF members based in the UK, we condemn these barbaric attacks on government officials by these MDC people who are seeking to derail the country’s re-engagement efforts by provoking the government and Zanu PF members to react to this provocation. We will not be baited but rather we will stand firm and focused on that which we want to achieve, a well-developed Zimbabwe through a revived, strong economy,” read the statement.
The Zanu PF members said they have no problem with fellow Zimbabweans in opposition holding peaceful protests but are concerned by the way and timing of the protests.
“Time and again, we have known and seen that MDC members have never been peaceful protestors. What they have done in the UK now is just bringing their violent behaviour to London. It is very sad to witness our own fellow Zimbabweans going to this length just to scupper economic revival efforts that the government has embarked on for selfish reasons,” the statement also read.
The Zanu PF members said the culprits should be made to account for their idiotic behavior, adding that the MDC leadership should condemn these appalling actions by their followers.
Minister Moyo and the Zimbabwean Ambassador to the UK, Mr Christian Katsande were saluted for their sterling work in promoting Zimbabwe as destination of choice for British investors and also Zimbabweans in the UK.
In his keynote address at Chatham House yesterday, Dr Moyo said Zimbabwe is not only open for business but is now in motion towards being an upper middle-income economy by 2030.
He urged all Zimbabweans to speed up that process by maintaining peace, working together for the development and success of the country.
The charge relates to a 2014 car crash that resulted in the death of Phumzile Dube. The Zimbabwean woman died after Zuma’’s Porsche crashed into a minibus taxi on the M1 highway in Johannesburg. He pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Duduzane Zuma, the son of former president Jacob Zuma, has been found not guilty of the charge of culpable homicide in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court. While delivering his judgment on Friday, Magistrate Tebogo Thupaatlase said the court was mandated to find out whether Zuma was driving negligently or not.
Thupaatlase said on a charge of culpable homicide state should prove whether the driver of a vehicle was supposed to have seen a possible death. He said negligence must be evaluated in the circumstances of each case.
He said the evidence before the court had established that the weather conditions were bad and that had been confirmed by a climatologist who took witness stand.
No evidence
Thupaatlase said there was no evidence on record that showed what speed Zuma should have driven on the day that would have avoided the crash. He said three witnesses had testified that aquaplaning could have happened even at low speed.
“There is no evidence that the accused should have foreseen the puddle… There is no evidence showing what steps he should have taken to avoid aquaplaning,” he said. He said the state failed to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt
Zuma said he was travelling from Fourways to Saxonwold and had joined the highway from William Nicol Drive. He told the court that there was heavy rain and poor visibility.
He also told the court that he had been driving at a speed of about 120km/h and had hit a puddle of water, which resulted in his vehicle losing control and spinning.
Submitting closing arguments in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court in June, Zuma’s advocate Mike Hellens said, if the court took into consideration the evidence submitted by all parties, on the balance of probabilities, it would find Zuma not guilty.
While prosecutor Yusuf Baba argued that Zuma was not a careful driver on the day of the crash, Hellens asked: “What could he have done?” Baba had submitted that Zuma could have prevented his car from aquaplaning on the day.
Forensic engineer and accident reconstruction expert Konrad Lotter had also corroborated Zuma’s defence argument that he had lost control of his Porsche 911 after it hit a puddle of water.
He said it was possible the vehicle lost control due to aquaplaning. It was not necessary that it would have done so at an excessive speed, Lotter had testified.
A CONSORTIUM of General Electric and Power Construction Corporation of China has been awarded the tender to develop the Batoka Gorge Hydro Electric Scheme (BGHES) under a Build, Operate and Transfer funding model between Zimbabwe and Zambia.
A special Zambezi River Authority Council of Ministers meeting held in Lusaka, Zambia, on Friday resolved to bring forward the selection of the contractors given the power shortages afflicting the two countries.
Initially the contractor was supposed to be selected in September. The COM consist of ministers responsible for energy and finance portfolios in Zimbabwe and Zambia.
Energy and Power Development Minister Advocate Fortune Chasi and his Finance and Economic Development counterpart Professor Mthuli Ncube signed the communique on behalf of the Zimbabwean Government while Zambian Energy Minister Matthew Nkhuwa and his Finance counterpart Margaret Mwanakatwe signed on behalf of the Zambian government.
Negotiations with the consortium will commence immediately.
A communiqué released following the extraordinary meeting confirmed the development. “The Council of Ministers (COM) noted the commendable progress made on the programme for the development of the BGHES which was in accordance to plan,” reads the communiqué in part.
“The COM, however, noted that the Republics of Zambia and Zimbabwe were currently facing a power crisis which was worsened by the 2017-2018 hydrological season where the rainfall received was below normal.
“As a result of this abnormal rainfall pattern of the current season coupled with the uncertainty associated with future rainfall patterns for the region, factors of which spell out the need to fast track measures to establish additional water storage and power generation infrastructure, there was, therefore, need for the two Governments to ensure that the implementation of the BGHES was expedited.
“In order to mitigate the current power crisis within the shortest possible time, the Governments of the Republics of Zambia and Zimbabwe have reached an emergency decision to award the development of the BGHES to the consortium of Power Construction Corporation of China and General Electric on a build, operate, transfer (BOT) financial model.
“This is in order to ensure the future energy security of the two nations.”
The communiqué further states that the COM resolved to implement measures that will ensure the power utilities in Zambia and Zimbabwe remain sustainable.
Energy secretary Engineer Gloria Magombo told The Sunday Mail yesterday that negotiations with the consortium will commence immediately.
“What we will do now is enter into negotiations with the consortium to thrash out the finer details as to how the project will be undertaken,” she said.
“It is being done under a BOT arrangement and this will guide the negotiation process.
“Dates of commencement will crystallise when negotiations are complete.”
The development comes as an international firm contracted to carry out an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) on the Batoka project has concluded that implementation of the project will not pose adverse effects on human settlement along the Zambezi River.
Batoka will generate 2 400MW of electricity to be shared equally between the two countries.
A self-proclaimed traditional healer from Gweru, Godknows Respect Mugumi, also known as Sekuru Ndunge, who claims to be son of the late famous Chipinge traditional healer Sekuru Ndunge has come under the spotlight after he was arrested for allegedly taking a client’s car in exchange for a goblin.
It is alleged that Mugumi, of Mkoba 13 in Gweru, who is a traditional healer was approached by Ms Portia Dhambuza (27) on 3 July to give him a goblin so that she would raise US$90 000 and would give him US$20 000. Mugumi allegedly told Ms Dhambuza to give him advance payment for him to give her the goblin.
It is alleged that Ms Dhambuza gave Mugumi an undisclosed amount of money and a Toyota Noah together with its registration book as collateral. Mugumi, however, took the car to Rusape where he was involved in an accident prompting Ms Dhambuza to report him to the police for allegedly using her car without consent. He was subsequently arrested.
In his warned and caution statement, Mugumi alleged that Ms Dhambuza had given him the vehicle together with its registration book, which he produced as evidence to the police. Mugumi was yesterday arraigned before Gweru magistrate Mr Thomas Gurajena for car theft. He pleaded not guilty and was remanded out of custody to 25 July on $100 bail.
For the State, Mr Bernard Nyoni alleged that Mugumi drove Ms Dhambuza’s car without consent and went to Rusape.
Mr Nyoni alleged that on a date unknown to the prosecutor but in the month of July, Dhambuza left her car in the custody of Mugumi. He said Mugumi drove the car to Rusape without Ms Dhambuza’s consent.
The car was later spotted by Ms Dhambuza’s relative in Mvuma who gave her a tip-off. Mr Nyoni said Ms Dhambuza reported the matter to the police leading to Mugumi’s arrest. The vehicle valued at $29 000 was recovered by police.
Zimbabwe’s energy regulator has raised petrol and diesel prices by up to 16%, the fourth increase this year, after the finance minister said fuel was considerably cheaper than in neighbouring countries.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa announced the biggest fuel price hike in January, a 150% increase, which sparked deadly protests by financially struggling Zimbaweans that left more than a dozen people dead after an army clampdown.
The Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority said late on Friday that effective Saturday, petrol would cost 6.10 Zimbabwe dollars ($0.70) a litre, up from 5.26, while the price of diesel had been increased 13% to 5.84 Zimbabwe dollars.
Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube was quoted in a daily newspaper on Thursday as saying he would be happy if the price of fuel was equivalent to $1 per litre.
While Ncube wants fuel prices to reflect import costs, many Zimbabweans can barely afford to pay them when the unemployment exceeds 80% and the entry-level wage for a government employee is about $49 a month – enough to buy a car tyre.
But with no sign of an end to rolling power cuts in the southern African country, demand for fuel has risen as businesses resort to more expensive diesel-powered generators.
Analysts say this is increasing the price of doing business, with companies likely to pass the cost to consumers, who are already grappling with inflation of nearly 100%.
There were long queues at service stations selling fuel early on Saturday.
Hopes that living standards would soon improve under Mnangagwa, who came to power after Robert Mugabe was removed in a coup in 2017, have not been realised. Instead, Zimbabweans are frustrated by daily power outages lasting up to 17 hours and severe shortages of U.S. dollars, fuel, bread, and medicines. $1 = 8.75 Zimbabwe dollars.
Josphat Ngulube in one protest action in Makokoba last year.
SEVEN people, including an entertainment promoter-cum-DJ, alleged to have taken part in the violent January protests this year, which saw three cars belonging to Zanu-PF Bulawayo provincial Women’s League chairperson, Eve Bitu being burnt, as well as her house being damaged have been acquitted.
Marshal Mpofu (37), the entertainment promoter-cum DJ, Esther Mbewe (53), Fortune Masuku (29), Angeline Mwemba (41), Minenhle Mahlangu (28), Mwale Chifufu (34) and Duduzile Amisi (39), were all acquitted and discharged after the State found no evidence linking them to the crime.
The seven were discharged by Bulawayo magistrate Mr Tinashe Tashaya last Friday.
Five other suspects, who include Bulawayo South losing independent candidate Josphat “Mzaca” Ngulube (34) are expected to appear in court next week, where they will be put on their defence.
The other four are Melusi Moyo (32), Lavender Moyo (66), Thabisani Ngwenya (32) and Otilia Sibanda (34).
The 12 who were arrested in February this year, appeared in court before being granted bail.
The State’s case is that the accused persons, acting in connivance with 100 others, unlawfully blocked free movement of traffic at an intersection along Sizinda Road and Nketa Drive.
They allegedly engaged in acts of violence.
They went to Bitu’s residence and threw stones and destroyed a precast wall to gain access to the yard.
They destroyed window panes before torching her three cars, a Ford Ranger, Nissan NP 300 and a Toyota Vitz.
“They also damaged roofing sheets and the complainant managed to escape uninjured together with her family,” said Ms Grace Zhou, prosecuting.
The court heard that the accused persons proceeded to Tshabalala Housing Office and clinic where they allegedly stoned the buildings.
BULAWAYO Deputy Mayor Tinashe Kambarami and Ward Four councillor, Silas Chigora have been arrested for allegedly assaulting the city’s Town Clerk, Mr Christopher Dube during a fracas that ensued when they tried to forcibly remove him from his office last week.
The duo yesterday appeared before Bulawayo magistrate, Mr Franklin Mkwananzi, facing charges of assault.
They were released on $100 bail and the matter remanded to 22 July.
Mr Mkwananzi also ordered the councillors to reside at their given addresses and not to interfere with witness until the matter is finalised.
The councillors were represented by Mr Maqhawe Mpofu of Mlaudzi and Partners.
The court heard that on Thursday last week at the council’s offices at the City Hall, Kambarami and Chigora unlawfully, with the intent of causing bodily harm to Mr Dube assaulted him with fists, open hands and booted feet all over the body despite the fact that there was a real risk or possibility of causing bodily harm.
It was heard that on the day, at about 2.30pm, Kambarami and Chigora approached the town clerk at his office at the City Hall with the intention to serve him with a letter of suspension from his official duties.
The accused persons were in the company of other councillors, Felix Mhaka, Clayton Zana, Tawanda Ruzive, Pilate Moyo, Lillian Moyo, Batirai Dube and Frank Jabangwe.
The court heard that during the process of serving Mr Dube, an argument ensued between the two parties as Mr Dube refused to be served with the suspension letter by the deputy mayor and his colleagues.
During the argument, Kambarami and Chigora allegedly teamed up and assaulted Mr Dube all over the body using fists, open hands and booted feet.
The other named councillors joined in, pushing and shoving Mr Dube out of his office before locking the door and inserting a key blocker.
Mr Dube sustained some injuries due to the assault and was referred to hospital where a medical report was compiled and can be produced in court as an exhibit.
Mr George Rufumoyo prosecuted. The suspension of Mr Dube has since been lifted by the Mayor, Councillor Solomon Mguni. Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Cde July Moyo also condemned the councillors for failing to follow laid down procedures.
Meanwhile, Ward Five Councillor Mhaka, who was allegedly attacked by some rouge youths and held hostage on Friday as tempered flared over the aborted suspension of Mr Dube said he did not report the matter to the police.
“I did not report the matter to the police, and I have resorted to dialogue, sooner or later this whole matter will be investigated. I managed to get my car keys but lost US$60 in the skirmishes,” he said yesterday.
Clr Mhaka was part of a group of councillors who had gathered to hold a special full council meeting to discuss Mr Dube’s issue on Friday.
Meanwhile, MDC-Alliance Bulawayo province spokesman Mr Swithern Chiroodza refused to comment on the behaviour of his party’s councillors in their attempt to suspend the town clerk.
However, the party’s national spokesperson Mr Daniel Molokele said they supported the return to normalcy in the city as evidenced by the reinstating of the town clerk. He promised to issue a comprehensive statement on the matter.
State Media reports indicate that there is an increase in underhand dealings at the passport offices, with desperate applicants parting with as much as US$200 to apply for the travel documents through middlemen.
Over the past year, the Registrar General’s (RGs) office has scaled down the issuance of passports owing to shortages of consumables, with daily levels now around 250 against a national demand of 3 000.
In an interview, Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Minister Cain Mathema said the country is facing challenges in securing raw material to process the travel documents.
He, however, urged the citizens not to panic as modalities are being put in place by Government to rectify the situation. The assurance comes as US$600 000 has since been availed by Treasury towards the purchase of passport printers.
“The public should not panic (over the passport issue),” said Minister Mathema.
“There is shortage of the special imported paper, ink and other raw materials used for passport printing.
“We are working on it. Yes, we have been facing some challenges, but I would want to assure passport applicants that we will overcome this challenge.”
An investigation conducted by State Media at the RG’s office in Harare showed that people are sleeping in queues in order to apply for the travel documents.
However, only 12 people, on average, are being assisted daily in Harare.
Information gathered also shows that some people who applied for the travel documents last November are yet to get them.
In most cases, the passports that are being processed are for emergency purposes and for people seeking medical attention outside the country as well as those on diplomatic or national duty.
ZANU-PF Central Committee member for Midlands province, Timothy Gandire- Mhuri, has died.
He was 88.
Gandire-Mhuri succumbed to kidney failure at a private hospital in Borrowdale yesterday morning.
Midlands Central Committee member Emmanuel Fundira said the provincial executive committee has since written to the Politburo requesting that he be declared a national hero.
“We have written to the party requesting national hero status for one of the pillars of the province who played a pivotal role during the liberation struggle,” said Fundira.
He described Gandire-Mhuri as a good listener and down-to-earth person who had an open-door policy.
“Those remaining in the province and party should continue uniting people, fighting for development and providing corrupt-free leadership, which he typified for more than 60 years.
“He provided good and mature leadership. He was the most senior both in the district and province. He was a source of wisdom and advice for the party.
“He remained committed to the party before and after independence,” he said.
Born in Shurugwi on October 2 1930, Gandire-Mhuri did his primary and secondary education at Vugwi before training as a mechanic at Ndweleni Technical College in South Africa.
Upon his return, he joined Zanu-PF in 1952 and later moved to Zambia to open a transport business.
However, he remained devoted to the liberation struggle.
While in Zambia, he provided liberation fighters with accommodation and transportation and became a target of Zambian and Rhodesian colonial governments.
He worked with senior party leaders such as Herbert Chitepo, Enock Dumbutshena and President Mnangagwa.
Soon after independence, he returned from Zambia and was appointed a Central Committee member, a position he held until his death.
Mourners are gathered at the family farm in Gweru, with burial tentatively scheduled for Wednesday.
Gandire-Mhuri is survived by seven children and eight grandchildren.
State Media|The Sunday Mail stands by its story published last week, “Magaya bombshell. Yes, he abused us”, in which Charity Dlodlo and Sarah Maruta made startling revelations against Prophet Walter Magaya.
Several women have come forward in the past week to make similar sexual allegations whilst others were still weighing the options of coming out.
Some were alleging that they remain vulnerable if they come out as the police has taken time to investigate the sexual allegations. And in some instances, they said dockets have gone missing.
When reached for comment Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi, the police spokesperson said he would need to speak to relevant police stations first, saying he would do so during the course of this week.
On the other hand, questions sent to the spokesperson for Magaya and PHD Admire Mango, were also not responded to. He was not picking his calls.
The Sunday Mail last week gave prophet Magaya the right of reply but the offer was not taken up. Within hours of this publication hitting the streets last Sunday, Sarah Maruta was trending on social media, in a video in which she insinuated that she had been coerced by this publication to make sexual allegations against Prophet Walter Magaya.
She even said some of the words that she said in the interview were put into her mouth by this publication. However, The Sunday Mail stands by its story, the women voluntarily came to the Sunday Mail newsroom and narrated their ordeal.
On Thursday the paper visited 15 Wadham Road, Borrowdale, where Maruta alleged the two rape encounters by Magaya took place.
A caretaker at the house said Magaya was no longer staying there. If words were put into her mouth, as she alleges, how did The Sunday Mail know of the existence of the Borrowdale address, or that Magaya used to stay there?
Charity Dlodlo, the first one to come to The Sunday Mail newsroom and volunteer information on allegations of sexual harassment against Magaya, appeared on social media on Friday apologising to Magaya, for soiling his name.
She apologised for “soiling his name” and never said what she had alleged was false.
The somersaults by the two, Sarah Maruta and Charity Dlodlo, had the same fingerprints as the denial by Chenai Maenzanise, a weekend earlier, in which she refuted the allegations that had been made by her mother, that she had been sexually abused by Magaya, resulting in a baby being born.
In the rebuttal video, Chenai she said she was happily married — and had not been raped at any time by Magaya.
The move by the Maenzanise parents had emboldened women across the divide who have allegations of a sexual nature against the prophet.
It is against this background and in the aftermath of the Dlodlo and Maruta exposes that more women were keen on narrating their sexual ordeals at the hands of the prophet.
They said they were only holding on because of fears for their personal security, as the “royal guards”, a grouping of security personnel for the prophet, have a reputation for eliminating “enemies” of the prophet.
Even former church members, some of them male, are prepared to volunteer inside information about the sexual allegations against the prophet.
The Sunday Mail was inundated with calls and visits by some of them.
While some are considering their personal security, others said they were pulling together credible evidence which they said would stand in a court of law.
One of the girls, alleged to have had a four-some with the prophet, refused to go on record, arguing that this would destroy her “marriage”.
But as Sarah narrated in the unsolicited three-hour interview she had with this publication on July 4, she said it was common practice by the prophet to arrange marriages for girls that he would have sexually abused.
Mostly unknown to the girl, the “husband” from the church would have been given money by the prophet for lobola as well as for upkeep, to keep the girl on a leash as well as to buy her silence.
Sarah told this paper that Chenai Maenzanise could have been paid off by Magaya to shame her own mother.
What baffled the mind, though, is that she made her Sunday somersault fully aware that she had been recorded the previous Thursday by The Sunday Mail. Was she threatened into making the rebuttal video? Was she paid off? Only she can answer these questions.
When The Sunday Mail released its version of recording in mid-week, the court of public opinion was divided, with the majority saying the prophet had failed the moral test, as his standing, socially and spiritually, precluded him from having conjugal liaisons with his flock.
Others, most of them women, dismissed the rape allegations by Sarah Maruta, arguing that she was nothing but an extortionist. Others sat on the fence, waiting for the justice system to move into motion.
But Dlodlo claimed that she had laid several police charges against the man-of-cloth, and the dockets had mysteriously disappeared. She even moved from making her reports at Waterfalls police station to Harare Central police station, in the hope that justice will be delivered but to no avail.
Even Maruta claimed that when she approached the Law and Order police officers, she found out later that the police were siding with the prophet and persuaded her to settle out-of-court.
She claimed that she even went to Parirenyatwa Hospital with the police officers, as they wanted to verify her forced abortion story.
At the hospital, the accountant who attended to them said he was puzzled why Maruta had incurred “theatre fees” when she had been admitted as an attempted suicide patient.
She claimed she went to the hospital with the officers because she was getting SMS’ from the hospital asking her to pay off the hospital bills that she had accrued when she had been admitted there.
When the police officers demanded the hospital bill statements,the accountant refused, saying the hospital could only release them if they brought a warrant from the magistrate’s court.
For her part, Dlodlo claimed that after making reports against Magaya to the police, she started receiving death threats, and she took one of the “royal guards” to court on charges of intimidation.
She lost the court case, “because it was my word against his, and I didn’t have evidence to back up my claim that he had threatened me”.
Interestingly, when the second rape encounter occurred on Maruta, she claims she was asked to go to the house in Borrowdale, the same venue she had been raped previously, and she had the sense to carry on her some condoms.
Chipo Chakanyuka, Petronella Donhodzo, Angela Charakupa, Nomsa Ruvazhe, Charity Dlodlo and Sarah Maruta — at least these are the women who have come out in the open to allege that they were sexually abused.
State Media|The Sunday Mail stands by its story published last week, “Magaya bombshell. Yes, he abused us”, in which Charity Dlodlo and Sarah Maruta made startling revelations against Prophet Walter Magaya.
Several women have come forward in the past week to make similar sexual allegations whilst others were still weighing the options of coming out.
Some were alleging that they remain vulnerable if they come out as the police has taken time to investigate the sexual allegations. And in some instances, they said dockets have gone missing.
When reached for comment Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi, the police spokesperson said he would need to speak to relevant police stations first, saying he would do so during the course of this week.
On the other hand, questions sent to the spokesperson for Magaya and PHD Admire Mango, were also not responded to. He was not picking his calls.
The Sunday Mail last week gave prophet Magaya the right of reply but the offer was not taken up. Within hours of this publication hitting the streets last Sunday, Sarah Maruta was trending on social media, in a video in which she insinuated that she had been coerced by this publication to make sexual allegations against Prophet Walter Magaya.
She even said some of the words that she said in the interview were put into her mouth by this publication. However, The Sunday Mail stands by its story, the women voluntarily came to the Sunday Mail newsroom and narrated their ordeal.
On Thursday the paper visited 15 Wadham Road, Borrowdale, where Maruta alleged the two rape encounters by Magaya took place.
A caretaker at the house said Magaya was no longer staying there. If words were put into her mouth, as she alleges, how did The Sunday Mail know of the existence of the Borrowdale address, or that Magaya used to stay there?
Charity Dlodlo, the first one to come to The Sunday Mail newsroom and volunteer information on allegations of sexual harassment against Magaya, appeared on social media on Friday apologising to Magaya, for soiling his name.
She apologised for “soiling his name” and never said what she had alleged was false.
The somersaults by the two, Sarah Maruta and Charity Dlodlo, had the same fingerprints as the denial by Chenai Maenzanise, a weekend earlier, in which she refuted the allegations that had been made by her mother, that she had been sexually abused by Magaya, resulting in a baby being born.
In the rebuttal video, Chenai she said she was happily married — and had not been raped at any time by Magaya.
The move by the Maenzanise parents had emboldened women across the divide who have allegations of a sexual nature against the prophet.
It is against this background and in the aftermath of the Dlodlo and Maruta exposes that more women were keen on narrating their sexual ordeals at the hands of the prophet.
They said they were only holding on because of fears for their personal security, as the “royal guards”, a grouping of security personnel for the prophet, have a reputation for eliminating “enemies” of the prophet.
Even former church members, some of them male, are prepared to volunteer inside information about the sexual allegations against the prophet.
The Sunday Mail was inundated with calls and visits by some of them.
While some are considering their personal security, others said they were pulling together credible evidence which they said would stand in a court of law.
One of the girls, alleged to have had a four-some with the prophet, refused to go on record, arguing that this would destroy her “marriage”.
But as Sarah narrated in the unsolicited three-hour interview she had with this publication on July 4, she said it was common practice by the prophet to arrange marriages for girls that he would have sexually abused.
Mostly unknown to the girl, the “husband” from the church would have been given money by the prophet for lobola as well as for upkeep, to keep the girl on a leash as well as to buy her silence.
Sarah told this paper that Chenai Maenzanise could have been paid off by Magaya to shame her own mother.
What baffled the mind, though, is that she made her Sunday somersault fully aware that she had been recorded the previous Thursday by The Sunday Mail. Was she threatened into making the rebuttal video? Was she paid off? Only she can answer these questions.
When The Sunday Mail released its version of recording in mid-week, the court of public opinion was divided, with the majority saying the prophet had failed the moral test, as his standing, socially and spiritually, precluded him from having conjugal liaisons with his flock.
Others, most of them women, dismissed the rape allegations by Sarah Maruta, arguing that she was nothing but an extortionist. Others sat on the fence, waiting for the justice system to move into motion.
But Dlodlo claimed that she had laid several police charges against the man-of-cloth, and the dockets had mysteriously disappeared. She even moved from making her reports at Waterfalls police station to Harare Central police station, in the hope that justice will be delivered but to no avail.
Even Maruta claimed that when she approached the Law and Order police officers, she found out later that the police were siding with the prophet and persuaded her to settle out-of-court.
She claimed that she even went to Parirenyatwa Hospital with the police officers, as they wanted to verify her forced abortion story.
At the hospital, the accountant who attended to them said he was puzzled why Maruta had incurred “theatre fees” when she had been admitted as an attempted suicide patient.
She claimed she went to the hospital with the officers because she was getting SMS’ from the hospital asking her to pay off the hospital bills that she had accrued when she had been admitted there.
When the police officers demanded the hospital bill statements,the accountant refused, saying the hospital could only release them if they brought a warrant from the magistrate’s court.
For her part, Dlodlo claimed that after making reports against Magaya to the police, she started receiving death threats, and she took one of the “royal guards” to court on charges of intimidation.
She lost the court case, “because it was my word against his, and I didn’t have evidence to back up my claim that he had threatened me”.
Interestingly, when the second rape encounter occurred on Maruta, she claims she was asked to go to the house in Borrowdale, the same venue she had been raped previously, and she had the sense to carry on her some condoms.
Chipo Chakanyuka, Petronella Donhodzo, Angela Charakupa, Nomsa Ruvazhe, Charity Dlodlo and Sarah Maruta — at least these are the women who have come out in the open to allege that they were sexually abused.
Government is set to put in place social media abuse laws amid revelations that there is an upsurge in internet abuse and the proliferation of illegal websites.
This comes on the back of a rise in mobile broadband penetration, which has powered cybercrime and the establishment of websites that promote online prostitution as well as circulation of explicit content.
Information Communication Technology and Courier Services Minister Kazembe Kazembe said his ministry is currently working on the Cyber Crime and Cyber Security Bill (2019). The bill seeks to address social media abuse, which includes the proliferation of websites that promote online prostitution.
“Part IV of the bill provides for offences relating to electronic communications and materials such as transmitting of messages that may cause harm. We are looking at messages that may be detrimental to peace and in light of websites that promote online prostitution, we are saying such websites are a threat to the society,” said Minister Kazembe.
After enactment into law, this act will regulate social media usage, curb social media abuse, cyber bullying and deliberate transmission of false data.
Minister Kazembe said dating websites are illegal, adding that the bill will control such websites under Part IX, which provides for judicial control of information stored in websites.State media
President Emmerson Mnangagwa says “in 2030 I will still be here”.
The statement has been taken to mean that he wants to be President well beyond the 2-terms presidential limit as his second term (if he’s elected) ends in 2028.
Said Mnangagwa during a speech on HIV and AIDs targets:
…We therefore need to work together for the attainment of global goal of zero new infections by 2030. 2030 I’ll still be here so I’ll see if we have attained that goal or not.
Mnangagwa has been criticised and accused of harbouring ambitions to be president beyond the current terms dictated by the constitution of Zimbabwe.
This is in resonance with what he said in June 2018. Back then, he said that he was confident he would still be the president of Zimbabwe in 2030, adding that his economic vision for the country is not a mistake. He said:
“I chose 2030 and it’s not a magic year, but I believe I will still be there. I would want to command the Buy Zimbabwe team which has continued to work closely with both private and public sectors to drive the buy local message and encourage the purchase of local products and services so that local business can thrive, thereby, stimulating economic growth and creating decent jobs for us to be a middle-income country by 2030.” -ZIMUCU
US companies involved in a potential arms sale worth US$2,2 billion to self-ruled Taiwan will face sanctions, China said, warning Washington “not to play with fire”.
Taiwan on Saturday defended the weapons purchase, saying it will strengthen Taiwan’s self-defence in the face of a growing military threat from China.
“The national army will continue to strengthen its key defence forces, ensure national security, protect its homeland, and ensure that the fruits of freedom and democracy won’t be attacked,” the defence ministry said in a statement.
The planned weapons sale, the first transfer of big-ticket US military gear to democratically governed Taiwan in decades, came as ties between Washington and Beijing are already strained by a trade war.
“The US arms sale to Taiwan has severely violated the basic norms of international law and international relations,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said in a statement on Friday.
“In order to safeguard national interests, China will impose sanctions on US enterprises participating in this sale of weapons to Taiwan,” he said.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi, during a visit to Hungary, asked the US to “recognise the gravity of the Taiwan question”.
China, which views Taiwan as part of its territory, bristles at any country that lends the island state any diplomatic support or legitimacy.
Even though Taiwan, which split from China following a civil war in 1949, doesn’t have diplomatic ties with the US, Washington provides Taipei with military and other support. Beijing regards this as interference in its internal affairs.State media
After watching another horror show from a very poor Dynamos that huffed and puffed at the Nationals Sports Stadium yesterday, Tonderai Ndiraya says if rules permitted, he would have loved to bring in more than five new players during the on-going transfer window.
In fact, DeMbare could have lost this one had referee Munyaradzi Majoni and his assistant Thomas Kusosa not conspired to deny Black Rhinos what appeared like a clear penalty in the 88th minute.
With the score tied at 1-1, Black Rhinos’ tricky winger Edgar Chigiji went down inside the box and assistant referee Kusosa, who was closer to the action, immediately waved his flag to signal a foul.
Referee Majoni went to the touchline to consult with Kusosa but the controversial official surprised everyone, even the Dynamos players, when he signalled a free-kick, which was subsequently taken from outside the box.
It was DeMbare who went in front after 26 minutes when substitute Jarrison Selemani, who had come in five minutes earlier for injured skipper Edward Sadomba, connected with a cross from newboy Evans Katema.
Rhinos responded from the spot five minutes later through Moses Demera who sent Simba Chinani the wrong way after referee Majoni had penalised Dynamos’ centre back Jimmy Tigere for a high boot on the lively Leeroy Murape.
It was a Rhinos show from then on as the army side dictated the proceedings with Dynamos players chasing shadows for most of the match.
The Dynamos midfield was disjointed, Godfrey Mukambi was totally off form while Selemani tried too much but with little success.State media
President Mnangagwa has challenged Zimbabweans to work hard to ensure the country prospers.
Addressing thousands of St Noah Taguta-led Johanne Marange followers at Mafararikwa Village in Bocha during their Passover ceremony yesterday, the President said Zimbabwe was endowed with bountiful resources, including wildlife, and has the sovereign right to determine how they are managed.
He was attending the event for the second year running since he assumed power.
“You are supposed to work hard at family level and in your areas and when such efforts extend to the national level our country prospers.
“We had a United Nations meeting recently (AU-UN Wildlife Economy Summit held in Victoria Falls) where leaders from other countries tried to lecture us on how to manage our wildlife. Vakadya mhuka dzavo dzikapera. Zvose zvavakapihwa naMwari havachina. Ndokuchiuya kuno kuzoti lecture nezveshumba, nenzou, nenyathi, voda kutipa mitemo hanzi musadayi musadayi. Dzenyu dzakaendepi? ” he said. President Mnangagwa said he told the foreigners to mind their own business.
Zimbabwe, the President said, was God-given and it was up to Zimbabweans to determine how they manage their resources.
He urged churches to preach the gospel of love and respect. Only God appoints national leaders and without his endorsement and blessings, such onerous responsibility is denied, he said.
The Head of State and Government reiterated his commitment to servant leadership and pledged to listen to people’s grievances.
“Leadership comes from God. No one gets such responsibility against God’s will, but once chosen to lead one must serve the people and not oppress them merely because God has favoured them to lead.State media
President Mnangagwa has challenged Zimbabweans to work hard to ensure the country prospers.
Addressing thousands of St Noah Taguta-led Johanne Marange followers at Mafararikwa Village in Bocha during their Passover ceremony yesterday, the President said Zimbabwe was endowed with bountiful resources, including wildlife, and has the sovereign right to determine how they are managed.
He was attending the event for the second year running since he assumed power.
“You are supposed to work hard at family level and in your areas and when such efforts extend to the national level our country prospers.
“We had a United Nations meeting recently (AU-UN Wildlife Economy Summit held in Victoria Falls) where leaders from other countries tried to lecture us on how to manage our wildlife. Vakadya mhuka dzavo dzikapera. Zvose zvavakapihwa naMwari havachina. Ndokuchiuya kuno kuzoti lecture nezveshumba, nenzou, nenyathi, voda kutipa mitemo hanzi musadayi musadayi.
Dzenyu dzakaendepi? ” he said. President Mnangagwa said he told the foreigners to mind their own business.
Zimbabwe, the President said, was God-given and it was up to Zimbabweans to determine how they manage their resources.
He urged churches to preach the gospel of love and respect. Only God appoints national leaders and without his endorsement and blessings, such onerous responsibility is denied, he said.State media
Harare magistrate Mrs Barbra Mateko yesterday dismissed an application for refusal of further remand by MDC-Alliance legislator for Kuwadzana East Chalton Hwende. Hwende is charged with subverting a constitutionally-elected Government.
His lawyer, Mr Reginald Mutero, submitted that the State would suffer no prejudice if his client was removed from remand. He told the court that the State was failing to furnish a trial date on time, thereby violating his client’s constitutional rights.
Mr Mutero said the State could just call Hwende back to court by way of summons. “The State cannot use the remand process to violate the accused person’s rights,” he said.
Mr Mutero said according to the Constitution, his client has the right for a speedy trial.
The State opposed Hwende’s application, arguing that he was facing a very serious offence which requires vigorous investigations and formalities before he could be furnished with a trial date.
In dismissing the application, Mrs Mateko said Hwende was facing a serious offence. She said investigations in the matter could not be taken lightly since it was not a simple case.
“Four months cannot be taken as a delay considering the complexity of the matter,” said Mrs Mateko. “The court is satisfied by the progress made by the State so far, therefore the application is dismissed.”State media
MISUSE of farming inputs by some criminal elements, insufficient seed and lack of proper machinery have rendered most prison farms idle with little production that is insufficient to feed the ballooning prison population.
A number of Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) staffers have over the years been arrested and prosecuted for diverting farming inputs either to their farms or to the parallel market.
The country’s prisons have a carrying capacity of 17 000 inmates but, currently, close to 20 000 are in languishing jail.
ZPCS, which has failed to sustain itself, now relies on Treasury funding to feed the inmates.
Ideally, ZPCS with all the cheap labour, land and farming expertise is expected to produce enough food for inmates all year round plus surplus for sale, but the production has been extremely poor over the years.
Prisoners are gobbling almost close to $2,5 million monthly in basic foodstuffs like mealie-meal, cooking oil and sugar.
Daily the prisoners require 11 560kg of mealie-meal, 7 706ml of cooking oil, 9 633kg of sugar, vegetables and other foodstuffs.
ZPCS Commissioner-General Retired Major-General Paradzai Zimondi lamented the underutilisation of the farms.State media
The five Michael Chimukuze (45), of 2386 Chinzanga Township, Mutoko, Paidamoyo Nemusasa (28), of 4774 Unit J Seke, Chitungwiza, Tsvuura Tsvuura (36), of Newlands, Zengeza 4, Chitungwiza and William Mazambani (33), of Mutekede Village, under Chief Rusambo, Rushinga appeared before magistrate Mr Farai Gwitima, facing an assortment of armed robbery and unlawful entry charges.
The gang, which had become notorious for its blunt use of firearms and other deadly weapons, pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The five Michael Chimukuze (45), of 2386 Chinzanga Township, Mutoko, Paidamoyo Nemusasa (28), of 4774 Unit J Seke, Chitungwiza, Tsvuura Tsvuura (36), of Newlands, Zengeza 4, Chitungwiza and William Mazambani (33), of Mutekede Village, under Chief Rusambo, Rushinga appeared before magistrate Mr Farai Gwitima, facing an assortment of armed robbery and unlawful entry charges.
The gang, which had become notorious for its blunt use of firearms and other deadly weapons, pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Prosecutor Mr Gift Bikita successfully opposed bail arguing that the suspects would interfere with investigations and skip the country, among other transgressions.
“The court should deny all the accused persons bail because they may jeopardise investigations. There are also chances that the accused may skip the country once freed from prison custody, therefore bail is opposed,” he said.
Mr Gwitima concurred with the State, and remanded the matter to July 18 for trial.
Mr Bikita said on May 28, the gang, which was armed with two pistols, iron bars and knives, pounced at a Mapuranga homestead posing as police officers.
“They posed as police officers and demanded to see Jacob Mapuranga. During the commotion they pointed the firearms at the victims and demanded cash. They assaulted everyone at the homestead and ransacked the house in search of cash. The gang took a bag containing various clothing items worth about $750,” he said.
Mr Bikita said pursuant to their mission, the gang organised another robbery on June 10, 2019.
“The gang approached the Zivachako homestead at Kondo Business Centre. They jumped over the precast wall and manhandled two male adults who were sleeping on the veranda. The gang then manhandled the premise proprietor Pamela Penyakufa and force marched her into her bedroom. They took US$24 000, R44 200 and RTGS$2 859 from her and vanished from the scene,” he said.
Mr Bikita said the gang went on to commit another robbery the following week at Chibuwe Business Centre.
“On June 28, the suspects pounced on Samuel Maadza’s homestead stole R186, 000 and RTGS$17, 000,” he said.
Mr Bikita said the detectives intercepted one of the culprits William Mazambani, who was driving a Toyota Chaser which was used to commit some of the crimes.
“A manhunt was carried resulting in the arrest of the criminals following a violent exchange of gunfire with detectives. The ring leader Tsvuura was shot on the left leg during the gun exchange. Their arrest led to the recovery of a Toyota Harrier, a pistol charged with seven rounds of live ammunition and a toy pistol,” he said. Manica Post.
Barcelona have signed France striker Antoine Griezmann from La Liga rivals Atletico Madrid after paying his 120m euros (£107m) buyout clause.
The Frenchman will sign a five-year deal, the club announced on Friday.
“Barcelona has paid the 120 million euro buyout clause to release Antoine Griezmann from Atlético Madrid,” reads a statement on Barca’s official website.
“The player will sign a contract with his new club for the next five seasons, through to 30 June 2024, with a buyout clause of 800 million euros.”
Griezmann made 257 appearances at Atletico, scoring 133 goals. He won a Spanish Cup, Europa League and UEFA Super Cup with the club.State media
A NUMBER of pupils who have not paid school fees at Barham Green (BG) Primary School in Bulawayo were yesterday chucked out of class while others wrote end of term examinations.
The pupils were put in separate classrooms or asked to play outside while others remained for the examinations.
It is against Government policy to send pupils home or punish them for failing to pay school fees or levies. Pupils whose parents fail to pay school fees and levies, according to the policy, should be allowed to attend classes while school authorities take measures to force defaulting parents to pay.
A Chronicle news crew arrived at the school and witnessed some of the pupils playing outside while others were in the classrooms writing examinations.
Parents condemned the practice which they said started on Tuesday when examinations commenced. “My child in Grade 6 was not allowed to write the end of term examinations since Tuesday because I have not been able to pay his school fees,” said one of the parents.
Parents were in disagreement with the act, saying the school authorities were infringing on their children’s rights to education.
They further expressed concern over the economic situation which hindered them from paying school fees on time.
Acting Bulawayo Provincial Education Director (PED) Mrs Olicah Kaira said school authorities are not allowed to chase pupils from school due to non-payment of fees.State media
A 13-year-old boy from Bulawayo who was part of a gang that looted and burnt shops during violent protests in January has told a Bulawayo magistrate that he was instructed to do so by an older accomplice.
The minor, who cannot be named for ethical reasons, said his accomplice Bhekani Mpamba (29) ordered him to burn down a supermarket in Old Pumula suburb.
The minor pleaded guilty to charges of unlawful entry and theft before Bulawayo magistrate Mr Mafios Moyo.
Mpamba pleaded not guilty. “I was not there when all this happened, accused 2’s family has issues with me because my donkey’s names are the same as theirs,” he said.
Mpamba was remanded in custody while the minor was remanded out of custody to July 24 for continuation of trial.
Prosecuting, Mr Simbarashe Manyiwa said on January 14, the duo together with other co- accused persons who are still at large went to a supermarket owned by Mr Antony Chikwata in Old Pumula at around 10PM armed with stones.
“The mob threw stones at people and broke into the shop. They took groceries and stationery before setting the shop on fire. When police officers arrived at the scene, the boy fled but was seen by one of the residents who made a report at Pumula Police Station,” he said.
The minor was brought to the police station by his mother.- state media
1/@ZANUPF_Official forget when @edmnangagwa was in trouble they were quiet. In Parly&Central Committee they said naught, they were for RGM. Its people like myself&others outside that were vocal&active. That’s why I keep reminding them it’s not them that put @edmnangagwa in power
— Sabhuku Temba P. Mliswa (@TembaMliswa) July 13, 2019
3/ @ZANUPF_Official hierarchy is riddled with fickle cowards & lacking stalwart foot soldiers. It’s not a desirable working structure. Lest we forget……
— Sabhuku Temba P. Mliswa (@TembaMliswa) July 13, 2019
News coming from Zimbabwe is very sad. 100 families evicted from Bromley Farm. I briefly lived there as a child @UNZimbabwe please can there be a safeguarding strategy meeting for babies, toddlers and children subjected to this cruelty. We must safeguard and protect children. pic.twitter.com/hq753lYTBS
— Muzvare Shonga Betty Makoni (@MuzvareBetty) July 13, 2019
By A Correspondent| Following media pressure concerning the welfare and protection of the Zim Netball team, the situation has improved.
ZimEye is authoritatively told the issue of shoes for the players has been resolved. Other matters such as food to eat appeared also dealt with by Saturday evening. Watch the below update-
By Own Correspondent- Finance Minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube, has said that when he got appointed as the Minister of Finance, he thought his job was purely financial and detached from politics. He said that it has however since dawned to him that he had to balance between politics and finance.
Speaking during an interview with the chairman of Alpha Media Holdings, Trevor Ncube, the minister said:
Initially, I thought it’s a finance job. Very quickly, it became a finance-political job and most of the times it’s a political job.
He also said that it was imperative to recognise that finance in government follow politics and certain devices are political.
The Minister added that the manifesto of the party in power has to be in sync with the policies of the finance ministry or vice versa.
He added that sometimes he would implement some projects which sound very political in nature. For him, what matters is that the development initiatives in question address the issues affecting the people.-
By Own Correspondent | In a statement yesterday, the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services said such a violent conduct exhibited by protestors at Chatham House in UK against Foreign Affairs minister SB Moyo “forces the security services to act”.
Said the ministry of Information:
“Government condemns the violent attacks against the delegation by a group of opposition protesters outside Chatham House in London.
It’s tragic that the sceptre of violence during protests, witnessed in Zimbabwe, which forces the security services to act, has reared its ugly head in foreign land, discrediting not the Government, but the hoodlums themselves and embarrassing peace -loving Zimbabweans.”
At a time when hospitals are struggling with drug shortages, the minister of health has written releasing medicines for use at ZANU PF party rallies. FULL TEXT:
Dear Hon. Matemadanda RE: REQUEST FOR ASSISTANCE IN RESPECT OF THE LUPANE EAST BY-ELECTION CAMPAIGN Your letter of the 2. July 2019 requesting for medicines for Lupaka, Gomoza, St Pauls, Lake Alice, Lusulu and Lupanda Clinics refers. I have instructed the Permanent Secretary Dr Mahomva to activate NatPharm to supply the clinics mentioned with medicines. Regards,
Hon. Dr Obadiah Moyo (MP) MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD CARE cc. Permanent Secretary for Health and Child Care —-DrA; Mahn Managing Director, NatPharm – Mrs F. N. Sifeku Director Pharmacy Service, – Mrs R. Hove fie'”
News coming from Zimbabwe is very sad. 100 families evicted from Bromley Farm. I briefly lived there as a child @UNZimbabwe please can there be a safeguarding strategy meeting for babies, toddlers and children subjected to this cruelty. We must safeguard and protect children. pic.twitter.com/hq753lYTBS
— Muzvare Shonga Betty Makoni (@MuzvareBetty) July 13, 2019
By A Correspondent- President Mnangagwa yesterday capped a record 6 977 graduates at the 19th Midlands State University (MSU) graduation ceremony in Gweru.
Of the 6 977, 3 348 were female and 3 629 male.
A total of 989 graduated with Masters degrees and three were awarded Doctor of Philosophy degrees.
In his address, MSU Vice Chancellor Professor Victor Muzvidziwa said the event is by far the largest graduation gathering in the history of MSU.
“Among those graduating today are 100 international students drawn from Namibia, Botswana, Swaziland, South Sudan and Mozambique. This is evidence that we have gradually spread our wings in our internationalisation effort,” he said.
Prof Muzvidziwa said resource constraints remain a challenge but the university continues to explore avenues of increasing income from entrepreneurial activities, especially in agriculture, research and innovation.
He said one of the MSU’s key strategic objectives is to be “a technologically-driven research intensive university and to generate problem-solving innovations for commercialisation and industrialisation”.
The MSU VC said its researchers are committed to cutting-edge research.
“In this vein, our researchers have secured competitive domestic and international research grants. We have a total of 15 active international grant funded research projects. Some of these include, Future Leaders – African Independent Research (FLAIR), Global Challenges Research Fund UK, United Nations Development Programme,
Transparency, Responsiveness, Accountability and Citizen Engagement (TRACE), Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA),” he said.
“The awarding of research grants by international agencies to our academics is evidence of their intellectual energy and courage, which we continue to celebrate. In particular, Your Excellency and Chancellor, Dr Gift Mehlana’s work on a grant- funded project has led to his subsequent selection by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry and the International Younger Chemists’ Network to represent Californium on the Periodic Table of Young Chemists.
This is a strong endorsement of the international impact of our research in applied science. Dr Gift Mehlana’s name will be etched on the periodic table of young chemists for the next 100 years.
I would have wanted to present Dr Mehlana to you Your Excellency today. He is, however, in Europe to receive an award.”
Prof Muzvidziwa said MSU is always seeking to excel in quality research, innovation and technology transfer.-StateMedia
By A Correspondent- Chipinge villagers are having sleepless nights after a pride of lions suspected to have escaped from the Save Conservancy, killed cattle and other livestock.
In Chibuwe and Middle Sabi, the lions reportedly killed 30 cattle.
There are fears that the lions may soon attack humans, especially school-going children.
A villager from Chipinge’s Ward 20, Abort Jeza, told Manica Post that he lost his cattle on Monday.
He said:We have a serious problem of stray lions from the Save Conservancy which are roaming in Chibuwe and Middle Sabi areas. The lions are wreaking havoc in these areas, killing livestock.
We are left with no option on where to graze our cattle. The whole area along the Save River, which encompasses our communal grazing land, has been invaded by lions.
The lions are breeding and their numbers continue swelling. The predators are no longer returning to the game park because they have tasted our cattle, which are easy prey.
He said:
We are living in perpetual fear as some of the villagers have been attacked while looking for their cattle. These lions also draw closer to our homes during the night, killing our goats.
Another villager revealed that over 1 000 domestic animals have been killed by lions since the perimeter fence at the Save Conservancy was vandalised.
The villager urged the government to consider compensating farmers whose livestock was killed by the lions.-ManicaPost
By Sports Correespondent| Zimbabwe has beaten Sri Lanka and on the second day, lost to Australia.
There are several reasons why Zimbabwe lost to Australia at the Netball World Cup on Saturday, but there are a few that cannot be whisked away without mention.
Key of these is: the one of failure to utilise the tall human resources inside the Zim camp. The second one is on the lack of sports shoes, and lack of motivation.
Watching the match with Australia, it was apparent that the opponent’s team was at an advantage due to the factor of height. Australia has several tall, fit players, while Zimbabwe has only one, Joice Takaidza.
But there were several tall Zimbabwean players sitting idle in the bench (3), some clad in thick green suits, meaning that even if called for duty, they would not be ready to play. Why were these left out? This is one question the coach will have to answer.
Some of the Netball Team players who are on reserve
It is true and established that into Friday, the Zim Gems did not have the appropriate professional shoes for the slippery surface in the Netball Arena at Liverpool.
Later on Friday, they were given £40 each. A professional level Asics pair of shoes costs £79. Following the media coverage by ZimEye, sponsors rushed around late Friday to buy shoes for the girls.
Even then, there was little cooperation from the organisers and two other sponsors, Gibbs Manonga and Suku McKenzie found it difficult to assist on the purchasing of new shoes as players walked away visibly fearing reprisals, punishment, for talking to members of the public, something they said they are barred from doing. For days, relatives have told ZimEye the players have been in deep fear of communicating their plight.
On Wednesday morning the Netball President, Leticia Chipandu said donors concerned about the players’ welfare should “go to hell.” She said this is because she is answerable only to the government of Zimbabwe.
The netball players’ fund is down by $39,000.
While the latest official comment was sought at the time of writing, a staffer with the visiting Zim delegation told ZimEye: “the girls had 4 pairs of brand new shoes bought from Zimbabwe.”
However, the staffer could not confirm that the shoes that the girls had were the recommended ones.
This exposed that none of those shoes are appropriate for the slippery surface of the Echo Arena Netball premises.
Footing experts told ZimEye, for netballers to make it, they need at least the Asics.
By Wednesday evening, at least 3 players had been injured, and sources reveal this was to do with lack of the right shoes. They needed the Asics.
Expert reviews list the Asics as the most affordable among the range of quality shoes for the game. The below ranking by the respected UK Independent paper, put Asics on number 1 for affordability, and number 2 on quality.
The review reads in part: Asics are a great first pair for someone looking to elevate their footwear to enhance their game. The high sides mean these are very comfortable and supportive, especially on ankles, which can be a player’s weak spot. The gel system is based on a special kind of silicon that enables optimal shock absorption, meaning jumping in these trainers is a breeze. The natural bounciness of the sole helps you to feel light on your feet. The extra-ribbed sole provides essential grip, which results in good performance on slippery outdoor courts as well as indoors.
Given the harrowing experiences they went through the Zim Gems should be commended for putting up a strong fight.
Meanwhile, checking on the players on Saturday evening, the situation appeared to have improved. ZimEye will continue to monitor for their welfare.
By A Correspondent- A 13-year-old boy from Bulawayo suspected to have been part of a group of people who looted and burnt shops during the January #ShutDownZim protests said that he was instructed to burn a shop by an elder.
The minor told Bulawayo magistrate Mafios Moyo that his accomplice Bhekani Mpamba (29) ordered him to burn down a supermarket in Old Pumula suburb.
The juvenile pleaded guilty to charges of unlawful entry and theft while Mpanda pleaded not guilty.
Said Mpamba:
I was not there when all this happened, accused 2’s family has issues with me because my donkey’s names are the same as theirs.
Representing the State, Simbarashe Manyiwa said on January 14, the duo together with other co-accused persons who are still at large went to a supermarket owned by Antony Chikwata in Old Pumula at around 10 PM armed with stones;
The mob threw stones at people and broke into the shop. They took groceries and stationery before setting the shop on fire. When police officers arrived at the scene, the boy fled but was seen by one of the residents who made a report at Pumula Police Station.
The minor was remanded out of custody while Mpamba was remanded in custody to July 24 for the continuation of trial.-StateMedia
By Own Correspondent- A Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) officer was gored to death by a hippopotamus while on patrol on the banks of the Limpopo River on Friday.
The soldier was identified as Pelious Moyo from Tongwe. He was declared on arrival at Beitbridge District Hospital.
The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) confirmed the serviceman’s passing away.
National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said:
We confirm the unfortunate death of the member (of the ZNA) who was on patrol at the time of the attack. Police are investigating the circumstances.
Moyo was part of soldiers stationed at a checkpoint between Zimbabwe and South Africa.
Reports indicate that he was attacked at dawn as the animal was headed to the river from grazing.-Newsday
The MDC notes with serious concern the developments within Bulawayo City Council where the Town Clerk has been suspended.
The MDC believes in Constitutionalism, due process, the rule of law and zero tolerance to corruption. The party leadership has directed that the status quo ante be upheld, in other words that the town clerk be reinstated pending a full investigation into the allegations being raised against him.
The MDC prioritises service delivery to the people and the directive the party has given is meant to ensure that the council continues offer prudent services to the ratepayers.
However, in line with the party’s directive, the allegations leveled against the Town Clerk must be fully investigated within the confines of due process, constitutionalism and fair hearing.
Hon. Daniel Molokele
National Spokesperson
Movement for Democratic Change
Diary The Ministry of Industry and Commerce in conjunction with Alpha Media Holdings (AMH) are hosting a Breakfast Meeting on the State of Industry in Zimbabwe.
Time: 0800 hours
Date: Monday 15 July 2019
Venue: Rainbow Towers
— Ministry of Information, Publicity & Broadcasting (@InfoMinZW) July 13, 2019
By A Correspondent- A Mutare man escaped death by a whisker but sustained severe burns on his face and both arms after a container of petrol he was holding caught fire.
Tatenda Maorera (19) of Munyarari Village, 22 Miles under Chief Zimunya in Mutare district is admitted at Mutare Provincial Hospital following the incident.
Maorera told the Weekender that everything happened so suddenly that is not sure how the fire started.
He said:
It all happened when I wanted to go and buy a birthday present for my child. I decided to take 10 litres of petrol from the 20 litres that I was keeping in my house.
As you are aware, we are having fuel challenges so I was keeping the 20 litres for emergencies.
As I was emptying the 20-litre container, I suddenly saw myself in a ball of fire.
I sustained injuries on both my arms as well as the face. It is painful and I just hope I will be fine soon.
Maorera said that the accident was not a result of domestic violence.
He said:
My wife was very helpful when it happened. She was not the one who caused the fire. I am not sure how the petrol ignited but I am sure that she is not the one to blame.
In fact, she is the one who is assisting me since the day this happened. I know people talk a lot after such incidents but it is very much unfair to say my wife is to blame.-Manica
Facebook is set to be fined a record US $5 billion in the United States following an ongoing investigation over bad privacy practices.
The country’s Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted 3:2 to approve a $5 billion settlement with Facebook to end the investigations into the companys privacy practices. The amount is the largest penalty ever assessed against a tech company that broke a past promise to the government to improve its privacy practices.
Follow the approval vote, the matter will go to the US Department of Justice to finalise the settlements. There is a possibility of the fine being rejected but this has reportedly rarely happened.
Said a former director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection:
It’s quite a substantial amount of money, and it sets a baseline [for] the Googles and Microsofts and Apples and the Twitters of the world.
Matt Stoller, a fellow at the Open Markets Institute who specializes in monopoly power said the fine is not significant at all and the equivalent of a parking ticket to the social media giant:
This isn’t a fine, it’s a favor to Facebook, a parking ticket which will clear them to conduct more illegal and invasive surveillance. Congress should start defunding the FTC and move the money to state enforcers like Karl Racine who believe in enforcing the law.
The news sent the company’s share price jumping more than 1%. Facebook had more than $15B in revenue in the first three months of 2019.-Washington Post, Guardian
By Own Correspondent- Opposition MDC leader Nelson Chamisa has warned that the country faces a bleak future, which could end in turmoil if the current economic crisis characterised by biting shortages of fuel, electricity and basics such as bread and water is not urgently addressed.
Said Chamisa:
“The resolution of this crisis, more than ever before, has become a matter of extreme urgency and emergency. It’s clear that soft-landing the crisis has to be done by creating a Zimbabwe that we want to avert this impending and inevitable implosion,” he said.
“I have no doubt in my mind that Zimbabwe is heading for a disaster. It’s facing an abyss. A dark cloud hangs over this nation, but to avoid this implosion, we must take bold steps that will avoid the catastrophe that we are going to face.”
The MDC is calling upon the church, war veterans and other non-political players to join in the move to pile pressure on President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government to act.”We must build political and diplomatic pressure on this administration to realise the need for peaceful change,” Chamisa said.
“To assure ourselves that our victory is secured, we believe in non-violent democratic action for peaceful change. We will be radically peaceful in terms of the Constitution. Let this be a collective action, it can’t be an MDC issue. There is need to escalate the Zimbabwean crisis so that it becomes an international crisis and build a global solidarity network.”
Chamisa said while the MDC would not take up arms to forcibly remove Mnangagwa’s government, it was important to create a platform that solved the problems of the country without loss of life.
Zanu-PF national political commissar Victor Matemadanda has warned would-be protesters that the army will be readily deployed to quell any political unrest, saying if that happens; the use of maximum force should be expected.
Addressing a Zanu-PF Provincial Coordinating Committee (PCC) meeting in Masvingo recently, Matemadanda, who is also Defence and War Veterans deputy minister, said government would not be intimidated by violent demonstrations.
“You can play with the police but not with the army. The police get trained to use minimum force but in the military, it is a completely different story. The army is trained to use deadly force whenever it gets deployed.
“I am not threatening anyone but all I am saying is let us work to build our country and not destroy it. Regular protests are dealt with by the police who will pick you up and throw you into a car when you misbehave – that is child’s play – but when you start destroying property, the army is constitutionally mandated to step in,” said Matemadanda.
Matemadanda said he was surprised that people tried to make an issue of who deployed the army in times of trouble like the August 01, 2018 demonstrations which saw six people being shot dead and 35 more being injured in Harare.
“We hear people asking about who deployed the army but the answer is right in the country’s constitution. The army is mandated to step in to help the police when they are overwhelmed and from that moment, it will be deadly force. So I am warning people to desist from engaging in violent protests because violent protests will be dealt with violently.
“We had been complaining of potholes on our roads for a long time. Now when those roads are being fixed, someone comes with a tyre and burns it to create new potholes. Do you then expect us to fold our hands and do nothing?
“We have faced bigger threats before and many people paid the ultimate price and we are here today because of that,” Matemadanda said.
He said it was high time President Mnangagwa stopped being a listening President and started ‘biting’.
“President Mnangagwa is a listening President but people have abused that. He should stop listening and start biting. I was angered by one Mkwananzi (Tajamuka/Sesjikile leader Promise Mkwananzi) who said there would be a blood bath in Harare yet he is in South Africa, what a coward. Whose blood is he talking about? Whose child’s blood? He should come here and lead from the front and not mislead people into harm’s way while he remains safe in South Africa. When we said ‘It Can’t’, we did not go out of the country. We were here and we even forgot that we had passports,” said Matemadanda, referring to his campaign of defiance against former president Robert Mugabe’s alleged plans to set up his wife Grace as his successor.
Matemadanda warned that Zanu-PF will never surrender power to ‘people who burn tyres on the streets’, saying that would disappoint even the dead party cadres who fought in the liberation struggle.
“If the heavens were to open up one day and our departed comrades like Hebert Chitepo asked us what became of the country they fought for, and we told them that the country was taken from us by people who burnt tyres…ahhh,” said Matemadanda to loud applause.
Earlier on, Zanu-PF secretary for security in the politburo, Lovemore Matuke had given a summary of his department’s national outreach work, warning that the party will not allow ‘shutdowns’.
“We have been going around the country briefing the people on government programmes. We are asking the people to accept the new Zimbabwe dollar introduced by government and not engage in misguided shutdowns. We will not sit around and let provocateurs mobilise our people for shutdowns,” said Matuke, who is also Labour and Social Welfare deputy minister.
President Mnangagwa has set September 7 as the day for National Assembly by-elections in Mangwe, Matabeleland South and Glen View South in Harare that fell vacant following the deaths of Obedingwa Mguni of Zanu-PF and MDC-Alliance’s Vimbai Tsvangirai Java, respectively.
The proclamations were published in yesterday’s Government Gazette.
The President made the proclamations in accordance with Section 39 (2) of the Electoral Act. “The Speaker of Parliament notified me on 24th June, 2019 in writing of a vacancy which has arisen by reason of the death of Honourable Obedingwa Mguni on 1 8th June, 2019 who was elected member of the National Assembly for Mangwe Constituency.
“Now therefore, under and by virtue of the powers vested in the President as aforesaid, I do, by this proclamation (a) order a new election for the constituency of Mangwe (b) fix Friday the 26th July 2019, as the date on which the nomination court shall sit, commencing at 10 o’clock in the morning at Magistrates’ Court, Fifth Avenue Gwanda for the purpose of receiving nomination of candidates for election as a member of the National Assembly constituency for Mangwe and (c) fix Saturday the 7th of September 2019, as the day on which a poll shall be taken if a poll becomes necessary in terms of Section 46 (17) (c) of the Electoral Act,” the said in the proclamation.
For Glen View South, the nomination court will sit at Magistrates Court at Rotten Row on July 26 at 10am. Mguni collapsed at Parliament and was pronounced dead at West End hospital following diabetes-related complications. Mrs Tsvangirai Java died from injuries she sustained in an accident just outside Kwekwe in May on her way from Bulawayo.
SOUTH AFRICA-based Advocate Sheillah Kanyangarara has criticised the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) for burdening aspiring High Court judges with a written examination before participating in public interviews.
Sixteen nominees were selected for the public interviews after passing closed-door examinations which involved the writing of a judgment. The public interviews took place on Monday and Tuesday. There were 43 nominees short-listed to undergo the public interviews in terms of the country’s Constitution.
However, the bulk of the aspiring judges could not break the first hurdle of closed-door examinations, which Adv Kanyangarara said were not part of the Constitution.
Those who failed the written examinations were allowed to exercise their constitutional right to participate in the public interviews.
Adv Kanyangarara and Zvishavane-based lawyer Mr Tichaona Chivasa, who both failed the pre-test, chose to exercise their rights to participate in the public interviews and appeared before the nine-member JSC panel.
When her turn to face the panel came, Adv Kanyangarara raised her concern over the manner in which the JSC had allegedly breached Constitutional provisions.
After Chief Justice Luke Malaba reminded her that she did not perform well in the first stage of the interviews by the JSC, Adv Kanyangarara said the process was not constitutional.
“We keep the results confidential unless you want this commission to disclose to you here or in the course of the interview what you scored, otherwise we keep the result confidential,” said Chief Justice Malaba.
Adv Kanyangarara said she had earlier approached the JSC seeking reasons for judgment and her transcript, but was told it was the property of JSC. She told the commission that judges are supposed to be public and for her to be told of her score during the interviews was tantamount to embarrassment and grossly unfair, wrong and unjust.
Adv Kanyangarara said she made a decision to come before the panel to raise concern at the lack of transparency in the way the examination was conducted.
Newsday|Mutare Magistrate Court should be given the thumbs up and heartily congratulated for fast-tracking the trial and sentencing of one maid who stole US$25 000 from Information minister Monica Mutsvangwa.
We just hope that magistrate Nortilda Muchineripi was not under any undue pressure to fast-track the case because there are so many serious cases that are taking forever to just get a trial date. Many people are languishing in remand prison or out on bail as their cases take ages to be concluded.
While the court has done its bit to bag this case, we wish to awaken the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) on this US$25 000 that most likely tempted the poor maid to help
herself to it. The owner of that money was, of course, not the minister Mutsvangwa, but her relative. Our curiosity on this money arises from the fact that the owner of the money is not
employed and is this, by any chance, not a starting point for Zacc to sniff around under its “explain your wealth” mantra.
Can the owner of this money convincingly explain to Zacc how she happened to raise all that money when we understand that she is actually unemployed? We are sure it is perfectly in
order for someone to be curious. We are pretty certain that, under the country’s supreme law, it’s not a crime to be curious, or even to suspect someone of something.
What emboldens us most to boldly raise our concern over this US$25 000 is what Zacc chairperson, Justice Loice Matanda-Moyo has been telling us ever since she took over the reins of
this very critical institution mandated to fight corruption in all its forms and guises.
She has said: “The courts on their own will not be able to root out and stem corrupt activities without active public participation. It is everyone’s duty to resist and report
corruption whenever and wherever encountered. This is because corruption is so endemic that it now exists at every level of human endeavour… The challenge, therefore, today not only us, but to each player, is that justice must not only be done, but must be seen to be done. From the highest office to the lowest citizen, Zimbabwe is thirsty for justice in corruption-
related matters. Integrity has to be a culture if we are to win the war against this vice…I can confirm that the economic challenges being experienced in this country are mainly as a
result of corruption. Once we join hands in fighting corruption, we will win and our economic challenges will disappear,”
So we are sure it should be okay to ask Zacc to investigate this US$25 000 issue, just to clear the air, specifically to find out how this unemployed lady managed to raise all this
money in a country that is failing to raise enough to import key essentials for its hospitals. After all, someone is innocent until proven guilty. We are merely pointing out to Zacc an instance where it can sharpen its investigation skills. They are being paid to investigate, aren’t they?
Social media has been trending with the latest images showing Foreign affairs and international trade minister SB Moto on his current European tour. The minister is trying to get support for the country’s ailing economy.
Amongst his travels the minister had occasion to meet up with Zimbabwean entrepreneur William Sachiti, who is based in the U.K. Sachiti has an impressive c.v and at only 34, he has won several top awards in science and technology. Sachiti serenaded the minister at his stand and showed him how is own invention, the first ever self driving delivery car.
The minister was amazed at the technological breakthrough, worse still,by someone from back home. Sachiti relocated to the U.K at the age of 16. The driverless cars is called the Kar-go. It basically is able to drive itself to anyone’s doorstep if they make an order.
Sachiti is one of the young minds from Zimbabwe who have managed to penetrate the global tech market and impress.He assured the minister that he was still committed to his country and had already carried out studies on what he could do in Zimbabwe.
Sachiti started off his business ambitions at a tender age of 19. He appeared on the BBC investment programme Dragon’s den for his project on solar bins. He did not get the 65 000he was asking for.
The young dreamer did not give up. He founded a digital holiday platform called mycity venue in 2013. It received more than 1.6 million users and he decided to sell it to U.K holiday company secret escapes.
Sachiti went on to study Artificial intelligence in Wales prompting him to invent a librarian robot and subsequently the Kar-Go. Sachiti has a list of awards including the Zim Achievers Award in business innovation in 2013, the Aberystwyth InvEnter price cargo in2017 and the Top 35 under 35 entrepreneurs in Wales in 2017. He is married to an Italian wife.
There was drama at Charge Office rank in Harare when a man claiming to be a member of the Central Intelligence Organization (CIO) refused to pay $3 kombi fare saying he was on duty and had been sent to board that kombi for security reasons.
He was unfazed despite numerous efforts by touts and conductors threatening to beat him up.
He claimed that President Mnangagwa had planted him in the commuter omnibus to monitor security.
A conductor who plies Chitungwiza route only identified as Tino said this was not the first incident the man had done this.
Said Tino:
“In fact it is now more of a lifestyle rather than a habit.
I ferried him last month and he made similar claims refusing to pay bus fare claiming to being a CIO member. I later let him go as l suspected him to have been under the influence of drugs.”
However, the “CIO” was taken to the police station by infuriated touts who wanted justice.-ZIMUCU
Following an attack on Foreign Affairs Minister, Sibusiso B Moyo, the government released a statement condemning the violence. We present the statement in full text below.
The Zimbabwean delegation to the Global Conference for Media Freedom in London had great engagements with different stakeholders.
Government condemns the violent attacks against the delegation by a group of opposition protesters outside Chatham House in London. It is tragic that the sceptre of violence during protests, witnessed in Zimbabwe, which forces the security services to act, has reared its ugly head in foreign land, discrediting not the Government, but the hoodlums themselves and embarrassing peace loving Zimbabweans.
The attacks have not, however, disrupted Minister S.B. Moyo’s successful engagements in the UK in any way. Undeterred, his programme continued with fruitful meetings with the Secretary General of the Commonwealth and investors. The programme ends tonight with engagements with a progressive Zimbabwean Diaspora and other key stakeholders, whose support for Zimbabwe’s economic and political reform efforts remains steadfast.
The Government of Zimbabwe remains committed to peaceful dialogue with all parties, with a view to building the country around shared values, including the principles of respectful disagreement and non-violence. Government affirms the right of Zimbabweans to protest, but to do so peacefully.
OPPOSITION LEAD president Linda Masarira got her son, Kudakwashe Mhlanga (19), arrested by the police for allegedly stealing her mobile phone, a charger and headphones worth $650.
According to the charge sheet, on July 3 this year, Masarira and her husband left home for a driving licence road-test drive and left Mhlanga at home.
It is alleged that when Masarira returned home, she did not see Mhlanga.
She also failed to locate her phone.
She filed a report at Marlborough Police Station and later found her son at Greencroft Shopping Centre.
Mhlanga allegedly tried to escape, but was caught and taken to Marlborough Police Station.
The police officers then searched him and found the stolen properties on his person.
AN explosive indaba is expected at the Highlanders club house tomorrow when the fading Bulawayo giants’ members meet for an annual mid-year review meeting.
Members will demand honest answers on what really caused the industrial action that saw players deserting pre-season camp in the hills of Matobo.
The pre-season strike saw Highlanders kicking off badly, with unwanted results despite entertaining performances.
With 13 matches played, Bosso find themselves just above the relegation bracket with a mere 15 points and a paltry seven goals to their credit, presenting one of their worst starts to a season in living memory.
There is also still the hot issue of the suspension of vice-chairman Modern Ngwenya and secretary-general Israel Moyo from holding any leadership position at the club for two years.
Tomorrow, the Bosso board chaired by Luke Mnkandla comes face to face with members who will demand answers and tempers are likely to flare.
The other issue involves chairman Kenneth Mhlophe’s attempt to take his son as one of the three Highlanders’ supporters to cheer the Warriors at the Africa Cup of Nations tournament.
Mhlophe withdrew from the trip after being lampooned on social media for allegedly abusing his position to favour his son.
The Bosso chairman told our sister paper Sunday News recently that he decided not to proceed to Egypt because his son, whom he said is a Highlanders’ life member, was distressed by the hullabaloo created on social media. He said he was paying for his son’s travel, contrary to reports on social media.
Mhlophe’s decision to abort the trip deprived Bosso of potential synergies and twinning possibilities with well-established clubs in Africa and beyond.
Also set to be discussed tomorrow is the issue of the club’s junior coaches who are reported to be unhappy with their conditions of service which saw Gift Lunga Jnr packing his bags, while Bosso 90 coach Melusi ‘Mabaleka’ Sibanda is also on the verge of turning his back on the club. Siza Khoza is also reportedly on his way out and has been linked with Mainline from Plumtree.
FORMER Zifa vice-president Omega Sibanda has described as clownish claims by Zifa that he was part of disgruntled former executive committee members that contributed to the Warriors’ embarrassing Africa Cup of Nations campaign in Egypt.
Zifa president Felton Kamambo made the sensational claims on Wednesday and also named his predecessor Phillip Chiyangwa and journalist Hope Chizuzu as some of the people that were responsible for the toxic environment in the Warriors’ camp in Egypt that saw players revolting now and again over allowances.
“I don’t give credence to such clownish comments which come from people who know what they were expected to do before and during the tournament. I am a complete football administrator, I know football statutes in and out,” said Sibanda yesterday.
He said he will comment comprehensively after the Sports and Recreation Commission’s inquiry, as doing so now might jeopardise the commission’s work.
“I will give you a full answer to these frivolous and clearly litigious allegations of how I feel after our reputable SRC has exhausted its inquiry,” said Sibanda.
Zifa has written to Cosafa informing it of its decision to recall Chiyangwa from the presidency of the regional football body over a litany of charges.
The association also slapped executive committee member Chamu Chiwanza with an indefinite suspension over a number of allegations, including influencing the Warriors’ Afcon games.
Chiwanza is also being accused of presenting fake credentials in the run-up to the 2018 Zifa executive committee elections in which he claimed to have the requisite five years football experience as prescribed in article 32 (4) of the Zifa constitution.
He is also alleged to have leaked confidential, exaggerated and inaccurate information to the public, including to some social media bloggers.
Suspended Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) committee member Chamu Chiwanza has promised to expose what he labelled as ‘theft’ at the country’s football governing body following his suspension on allegations of sabotage at AFCON 2019.
Chiwanza is part of the individuals, whom ZIFA accuse of sabotaging them by destabilising the Warriors at the continental showpiece, together with former president Philip Chiyangwa.
He (Chiwanza) however insists that he will reveal how exactly funds at ZIFA were handled.
“I am going to respond at the right time, but what I can promise now is that when I respond (to the ZIFA allegations), I will bring the temple down on their heads,” Chiwanza told NewsDay Sport.
“It’s coming very soon. Thieves will be exposed. People will see who the real thieves are. It’s going to be big; it’s going to be biblical.” he added.
Zimbabwe’s Foreign Minister SB Moyo has responded following reports of him being humiliated outside London’s Chatham House thinktank premises yesterday.
Writing on Sunday, SB Moyo said, “
Resulting from numerous inquiries from those who love Zimbabwe, I am glad to report that I am safe and sound, my security is guaranteed!
Asante Sana ??”
To this Prof Jonathan Moyo replied saying, “Ok. Your security is guaranteed & protected from heckling & sprinkles of bottled water. How about the security of Zimbabweans? Is it also guaranteed. Are they protected from cold-blooded murder in the streets, torture & rape in their homes by #ZDF soldiers deployed by Mnangagwa?”
There was drama at Charge Office rank in Harare when a man claiming to be a member of the Central Intelligence Organization (CIO) refused to pay $3 kombi fare saying he was on duty and had been sent to board that kombi for security reasons.
He was unfazed despite numerous efforts by touts and conductors threatening to beat him up.
He claimed that President Mnangagwa had planted him in the commuter omnibus to monitor security.
A conductor who plies Chitungwiza route only identified as Tino said this was not the first incident the man had done this.
Said Tino:
“In fact it is now more of a lifestyle rather than a habit.
I ferried him last month and he made similar claims refusing to pay bus fare claiming to being a CIO member. I later let him go as l suspected him to have been under the influence of drugs.”
However, the “CIO” was taken to the police station by infuriated touts who wanted justice.
An ex-footballer’s wife lost half of her ear and sustained a deep gush on her forehead during a bar brawl in Mzilikazi suburb in an alleged altercation over money and beer.
The place — Sizalabo Sports Bar — where the incident took place is known for periodic bar brawls and other unacceptable public behaviour.
Nomqhele Mguni, a 32-year-old woman married to one of the famous Ngodzo brothers — Petros — will live with a permanent reminder of a scarred left ear as a result of a savage attack by a 26-year-old man, Nkosinomusa Ndlovu last Saturday.
Ngodzo is a product of Mzilikazi High School and played for the Highlanders juniors and Chapungu.
Ndlovu and Mguni are said to have met at Sizalabo Sports Bar while imbibing last Saturday night and Ndlovu allegedly demanded his money from the married woman.
He allegedly proceeded to make unwanted sexual advances on Mguni in addition to grabbing her buttocks.
“On the day in question I was drinking beer at Sizalabo Sports Bar.
It was around midnight and the bar was about to close when Nkosinomusa confronted me and started accusing me of owing him some money.
“I told him to stop pestering me and in a fit of rage he struck me with an empty beer bottle on the forehead resulting in me falling down,” said a dejected Mguni.
She said when she was still lying helplessly Nkosinomusa went on to bite off part of her left ear.
The missing part was reportedly discovered the following day by a local man, McBath Scott, who is employed to clean shops next to the bar. Scott said he picked up a piece of the ear a few metres outside the drinking spot the following day.
“The guy (Ndlovu) must have bitten off the ear and spit it out outside the bar but it was in a bad state to be stitched back on her.
He is a quiet guy that I have known for a long time and I don’t know what got over him to attack a woman like that,” said Scott.
Scott added that if it wasn’t for other bar patrons who restrained Ndlovu from hitting Mguni with a metal bar, she could have sustained serious injuries from the assault.
B-Metro tracked down Ndlovu to his Mzilikazi home in Section U.
He blamed his actions on alcohol but also insisted that Mguni owed him money and must pay back.
“Yinto zotshwala mfowethu kodwa mina ngifuna imali yami nje (I blame alcohol but she must pay back my money,” said Ndlovu.
He, however, declined to state if the money owed to him by Mguni was a loan or not.
Meanwhile, Ndlovu who is now facing an assault charge was arraigned before Bulawayo magistrate Franklin
Mkhwananzi on Tuesday. He was, however, not asked to plead and was remanded out of custody to 17 July.-B Metro
There was drama in New Magwegwe suburb when a jealous woman left residents shocked after she assaulted her ex-lover’s wife with an electric cable.
Briana Sibanda is reportedly angry about her ex-lover Jonathan Dhonsa’s new relationship with Queen Lindumisa Dube so she has resorted to making the couple’s relationship hell.
It is reported that soon after Sibanda found out that Dhonsa had moved on and married Dube she has been in the habit of insulting Dube every time they cross paths.
According to sources close to the issue what sparks Sibanda’s anger is that Dube was her neighbour and she would often see her with her Dhonsa.
“Sibanda is angry because she believes Dube was strategising on how to snatch her man.
After having slight quarrels with Dhonsa, he shocked Sibanda when he dumped her and revealed that he was now in love with Dube,” said a source who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Quarrels between the two women escalated to the extent that Sibanda ended up assaulting Dube.
It has been gathered that when Dube was assaulted by Sibanda with an electric wire she resorted to seeking justice at the courts.
“I am applying for a protection order against Sibanda who assaulted me with an electric cable because I was having an affair with her former boyfriend Dhonsa who is currently my husband.
Her behaviour has been very traumatising because she also insults me every time she sees me and I am four months pregnant,” said Dube.
When asked if she had committed the offence Sibanda pleaded guilty. In his ruling Western Commonage magistrate Urgent Vundla ordered Sibanda to refrain from assaulting and insulting Dube.-B Metro
Harare City Council workers have declared a deadlock with their employer over a cost of living adjustment in the wake of recent spates of price hikes.
Minutes of the joint finance and human resources committees approved last week reveal that talks by the two sides reached a deadlock, with the matter now before an arbitrator.
Council had offered workers a 5% increment on top of the 2,5% arbitral award they won for a pay rise beginning January 2019.
“The 2018 collective bargaining agreement and the 2019 hardship allowances were both before the arbitrator, following deadlocks on both sides. The acting human capital director (Mathew Marara) also highlighted that council had a backlog of the collective bargaining agreement negotiation increment of 2,5% for the year 2017, which would be effected from March 2019 and backdated to January 1, 2019,” the minutes read.
Council owes its workers salaries backdated to February 2019 and this has been attributed to declining revenue collection.
“This has been necessitated by the recent rise in the general cost of living in the country. Council, however, was also incapacitated because of budgetary constraints,” read the minutes.
After a lengthy debate, council tasked its representative to the works council to engage the workers for the 5% offer, while new revenue streams were being exploited.
The bid for a salary hike comes as service delivery has dwindled and revenue collection is at its lowest ebb due to the negative economic phase the country is passing through.
By Blessing Vava| The November 2017 military coup which forced tyrant Robert Mugabe from power is still haunting Zimbabwe almost 18 months down the line. The remnants of the coup and its footprints will not disappear sooner than we expected.
After topping Mugabe, Mnangagwa had an enormous task facing him trying to please his erstwhile conspirators by appointing them into the cabinet. He also attempted to cure the coup and legitimise his power through the elections.
With almost 18 months after the coup, Zimbabwe has been faced with political and economic instability and the country is literally seating on a knife-edge. It seems the cart is slowly wheeling off towards the cliff, thus signalling a not so good-looking future.
While there have been arguments that the coup managed to address ZANU PF internal political contradictions at the time, the passage of time has disproved that thesis.
Already, the ugly head of factionalism is rearing its head and the statements of the ZANU PF Youth and Women’s league are the tell-tale signs. Already, the ground is becoming fertile for another ruction and begs again if this would not be from the barracks. But the real question would be from which section of the Barrack
ED’s Missed Opportunities
Mnangagwa has missed opportunities to “cure the coup”, particularly the failure to create stable transitional mechanisms. Mnangagwa and his co-conspirators unwittingly attempted to “cure” the coup through a manipulated “election” and this strategy have backfired and the sooner they come to terms with reality the better.
Unbeknown to Mnangagwa was that the ball was in his court and he had many options to redeem himself as a unifying leader. However, his lack of foresight has exposed him as a greedy person with no strategy of moving Zimbabwe forward.
One of the simplest and many options available to him at the time was calling for a genuine national dialogue of all stakeholders, not for the purposes of power-sharing but rather to chat the way forward for Zimbabwe towards political and economic reforms to address the 37-year rot created by Mugabe.
This kind of dialogue would have come out with clear timelines on fundamental reforms at the same time as one of the main steps in curing the coup. It would have also helped to cool down the political temperatures and depolarise our politics. However, that did not happen, as Mnangagwa became consumed and intoxicated by power, allegedly building his power around a partisan and parochial tribal agenda.
Mnangagwa has been busy focussing on consolidating his power at the expense of building a nation, forgetting Lord Acton’s warning: “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”.
A Regime in Fear
The unfortunate and terror events of 1st of August 2018 and 14th-16th of January 2019 exposed the true colours of the Mnangagwa administration. It became apparent that the military is the underwriter and as such when their power was threatened, they resorted to their real character: violence; murder and impunity.
Their actions since November 2017 typifies of a lot that is living in fear, the fear not from the opposition but amongst themselves and particularly the men in uniform.
The fact that they are constantly reshuffling the command within the security forces is a testament to the heightening levels of insecurity. More so, the alleged reports indicating that the government gave soldiers RTGS$400 cushioning allowances versus RTGS$97 allocated to the rest of civil servants indicates a divide and rule strategy that seeks to pacify the army.
The reasoning is all apparent to everyone: buying loyalty of the gun as a hungry soldier cannot be trusted. But the question is whether the strategy is sustainable in the long run.
The Achilles’ Heel of Coups
The coup plotters justified their action of overthrowing President Mugabe’s government in November 2017 being necessitated by the need to address the economic and political crisis facing the country then. However, fast forward to Mid-2019, the situation has moved to another new level as workers’ and ordinary citizens’ earnings, pensions and savings have been eroded and withered by inflation and currency devaluation.
The worsening economic conditions will most likely lead us to squabble within the cockpit as opportunities for arbitrage decline, thus creating ripe conditions for another coup. McBride and Coulier in their 2004 paper “Crises, Coups, and Entry-deterring Reforms in Sub-Saharan Africa’’, in their analysis of coups in Africa advance reasons that generally lead to military intervention: personal greed; hope to extract once they gain power or directly control the state.
This fits well in our case, as military chiefs have now become an economic class with its own distinct interests. A reading of Jabusile Shumba’s book “Zimbabwe’s Predatory State: Party, Military, Business” and Richard Saunders and Tinashe Nyamunda’s book “Facets of Power: Politics, Profits and People in the Making of Zimbabwe’s Blood Diamonds” give a some glimpses and insights on how this military business class has become embedded in the economy.
Therefore, it is not without doubt that the coup was a ‘military class project’ with a personal accumulation thrust. The soldiers are now openly and actively involved in the control of the country’s mines, and other strategic points of economic interest.
The military assisted transition in Zimbabwe seems to have failed to bring any meaningful change in people’s livelihoods and this is not unique, and Decaldo argues in his 1986, ‘African Studies and Military coups in Africa’ that, “the military has not been able to generate economic development”.
The military assisted transitions always come on the backdrop of well-meaning rhetoric but always fall short on action. It is fast becoming clear for everyone that apart from personal accumulation and self-enrichment, the current administration is as clueless in so far as economic development is concerned.
For instance, the sucking in of the Minister of State Security in the Gaika Mine in Kwekwe despite a standing court order barring the mine invaders point to a bleak economic future. The recent ambush and guerilla-style re-introduction of the Zimbabwe Dollar and the banning of the multi-currency regime are alleged to have been done as a strategy to pacify the men and women in uniform who had started to demand being paid in American dollars to cushion them against dollarisation.
The drastic measures on currency reforms have been described by the Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt Development (ZIMCODD) as policy inconsistencies and premature reaction on the part of the government. In their statement, ZIMCODD said instead there was a need for addressing the root cause of the current currency crisis which is, “rampant corruption, mismanagement of public finances and impunity being enjoyed by those that are fuelling the crisis through arbitrage and resource bleeding.’’
Dealing with corruption and arbitrage means taking the feeding trough away from the wannabe military capitalists and creating ructions in the cockpit; yet, not doing so, means ripening the polity for revolt.
Hence, I argue that without proper reforms and a different way of doing things Zimbabwe is destined for another military coup, but this time not from the top brass but the junior ranks. There is a need for inclusivity and genuine dialogue of all stakeholders, with the genesis of all being to address the political reform agenda to boost confidence in the economy. Political reforms are essentially the roadmap to curing the coup and any short cut will have disastrous consequences.
There is a dark cloud of uncertainty and fear not only amongst Zimbabweans but largely amongst those who plotted the coup, no one really knows what tomorrow is in store for them. The economic meltdown is in itself a ticking time bomb that when it explodes the whole country will be burnt.
Historically, coups in their very nature do not just end without another one occurring if their initial fundamental causes are not addressed. The economy remains the Achilles’ heel, and it will just take one daring junior officer and the rest can be history.
Forewarned is Forearmed!
It is clear that the current trajectory by the Mnangagwa administration in dealing with the political and economic crisis facing the country will most likely lead us to another ‘military assisted transition’. The conditions that led to the November 2017 coup seem to be multiplying exponentially as each day passes and this is creating a ticking time bomb.
If things are left unresolved one may not rule out another coup happening as history has shown us that if coups are not cured, they are bound to happen again. There is a need to cure the coup by embarking on drastic and genuine political and economic reforms that will enable the economy to be on its feet again.
Blessing Vava is a blogger based in Chipinge. He can be contacted on [email protected]
13 July 2019 – The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) has deployed polling station-based observers to observe and report on the Nyanga Rural District Council (RDC) Ward 26 and Bikita RDC Ward 31 by-elections. ZESN observers are covering three of the four polling stations in the Nyanga by-election and two of the five in the Bikita by-election. This statement is based on reports received from ZESN so far and is specific to the polling stations where ZESN has observers.
Opening and set up of polling stations
ZESN observers have reported that polling stations opened on time with procedures being adhered to including showing the ballot boxes to be empty before polling started. All the materials needed for polling such as ballot boxes; indelible ink; the stamp to mark ballot papers; and ballot papers were reported to be available at all observed polling stations.
Political environment
So far, the environment in both Wards has been reported to be peaceful. No incident or electoral malpractice has been reported.
Party agents
ZANU PF and MDC Alliance deployed their party agents at all polling stations where ZESN has observers, however, NCA did not deploy polling agents at Chikaka and Mandadzaka Primary Schools in Bikita where the party is contesting. The NCA is not contesting in the Nyanga by-election.
Assisted voters
As of midday, the number of assisted voters was high at some polling stations and low at others. For example, 19 people had been assisted to vote at Chikaka Primary School and 20 had been assisted at Mandadzaka Primary School in Bikita. Most of the assisted voters were assisted on account of illiteracy. Other polling stations recorded low numbers of assisted voters, for example only three voters and one voter at Erin forest and Selborne polling stations in Nyanga.
Voter turnout
Turnout was generally low as of midday at the polling stations in both by-elections where ZESN had observers. It was fairly high at Mandadzaka Primary School in Bikita where 197 out of 463 registered voters had voted and at Erin forest in Nyanga where it was above 200. Turnout was lower at the other polling stations.
Turned away voters
Some polling stations had recorded rather high numbers of turned away voters. For example, 13 voters had been turned away at Erin forest polling station in Nyanga for not being on the voters’ roll and producing the wrong identity documents. Seven had been turned away at Chikaka Primary School in Bikita.
Redirected voters
The number of redirected voters differed at polling stations in the by-elections. At Selborne polling station in Nyanga, six voters had been redirected to other polling stations, of whom two contended that they voted at the same polling station in the harmonised elections. Only one person had been redirected as of midday at Chikaka polling station in Bikita.
By Own Correspondent- The woman, who has been identified as Maria Gwanju of Gweru’s Mtapa surburb, was captured on video stripping naked during a church service and the video has since gone viral on social media.
In the video, the woman who is standing next to two police officers is seen shouting before the two officers dramatically fall down while she strips naked and takes off.
Contacted for comment, the church’s prophet Jameson Mutambudzi popularly known Madzibaba Learnmore of the “back to sender fame” said he prophesied during a church service that Gwanju was in the habit of using juju to sleep with her son-in-law.
“She came to my church the other day and l warned her to stop sleeping with her daughter’s husband. She denied it and went to file a police report. She returned to the shrine with two police officers who wanted to arrest me.
“Before getting into the shrine, I warned the officers to remove their shoes but they refused thus they fell down as the spirit was not pleased with such level of disrespect. Just after that, Gwanju stripped naked and started running around before women from church gave her cloths to cover her body,” said Madzibaba Learnmore.
Domboremhikidzano Apostolic Church has taken Gweru by storm as hundreds of people flock to the shrine to get spiritual assistance. Madzibaba Learnmore is believed to be able to tame witches, to bring back lost love, to fix marriage-related problems and to bring back stolen property.
THE Nelson Chamisa-led MDC has urged the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) to guard against all electoral malpractices, including vote rigging during the Bikita ward 31 by-by-election set for today, claiming the opposition party will romp to victory if the playfield is level.
The by-election is to fill the council seat left vacant following the death of Zanu PF councillor Patrick Marozhe on April 15 this year.
MDC is being represented by its Bikita district chairperson Moses Maphosa, while Thomas Mataga will stand for Zanu PF.
In an interview with Southern Eye yesterday, MDC secretary for elections Jacob Mafume said his party was confident of winning the poll.
“We have done two rallies there and our teams worked throughout last weekend to drum-up support. We are confident that if Zec is impartial, independent and does not allow people to be intimidated, does not allow people to be bought, (does not allow) assisted voters to multiply, food to be distributed on election day, then we will win the Bikita by-election,” he said.
MDC held the seat from 2008 to 2013 when it lost it to Zanu PF.
Mafume said the party had done its homework and is set to win back the seat.
“Previously (2013 elections), it was affected by double candidates. Now, we have a single candidate. We have got our own agents who are trained. They are ready to stop any mischief,” he said.
Mafume claimed that the opposition had become more popular due to Zanu PF’s bad policies.
“It is now clear to all and sundry that Zanu PF has failed. They no longer allow those in rural areas to sell their maize. There are no jobs. There is no education, and there is no electricity; there is also no good healthcare. With all this, no person in their right mind can vote for Zanu PF,” he said.
MDC organising secretary Amos Chibaya also expressed optimism the party will win the seat.
“Prices of basic commodities continue to skyrocket. There is no shop that sells cheap things to Zanu PF supporters. We all buy in expensive shops. So, even Zanu PF supporters are also feeling the pain. They want change,” he said.
“We won the seat before, so we are taking it back. In fact, we have plans to win all the other by-elections in future.”
Zanu PF spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo poured cold water on MDC’s assertions.
“If the MDC is arguing the bad economy will make Zanu PF lose, let them win if they are saying so. What they think is not what we think. We are prepared to win,” he said.
By Own Correspondent- Three Zhombe men failed to control their sexual appetite and were caught red handed taking turns to quench their thirst on a donkey.
The owner of the donkey, Moses Chigumbu, reportedly caught the trio busy with his donkey in a nearby bush in Zhombe.
Upon realising they had been caught in the act, two of the men escaped while Evidence Siziva was apprehended by angry villagers and handed over to the police.
He was hauled before Kwekwe magistrate Mr Storey Rushambwa facing bestiality charges.
According to State papers, on 15 June Siziva and his accomplices went to a nearby bush and caught one donkey which they took turns to have sexual intercourse with.
One villager who was looking for firewood in the same bush saw the trio busy with the donkey and quickly alerted Chigumbu.
Chigumbu then summoned fellow villagers and they surrounded the three but managed to apprehend Siziva after the others made good their escape.
He was later handed over to the police and appeared in court.
In mitigation, Siziva denied the charges saying he was implicated by one of the villagers who disliked him.
“One of the men who reported me does not like me because he knows I am having an affair with his daughter,” said Siziva.
He was remanded out of custody to Friday for commencement of trial.-B Metro
A 78-year-old Gwanda man allegedly axed his wife for refusing to have sex with him.
According to Chronicle, Bishop Sibanda (78) of Zhokwe Village allegedly axed his estranged wife Mrs Agnes Sibanda before he force-marched her to their matrimonial home following their separation.
Sibanda pleaded guilty when he appeared before Gwanda Provincial magistrate, Mr Lungile Ncube.
Sibanda was charged with assault.
In mitigation, Sibanda told the court that he had committed the offence because he was sexually starved.
Sibanda was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment.Hovever the sentence was wholly suspended for five years.
The girls beat Sri Lanka. They are representing Zimbabwe way better than SB Moyo but Moyo travels in a convoy, achidya mapron achimwa zvinematombo echando, these girls have are being paid $3.86 (ZWD$30) a day. Thats what pains me!
The Zimbabwe gems have won their first match against Sri Lanka and lost against netball powerhouse Australia.
They are in Liverpool at the same time foreign affairs minister Sibusiso Moyo is also on a global offensive that saw him being heckled and assaulted by diasporans outside the Chatman House.
Dear editor- Chivaka polling station: 102 out of 251 voters by 1159 reports indicate ZANU PF has ordered people to vote in the afternoon.
Mandadzaka A polling station by 1217, 218 people had voted out of 461.
Chivaka and Mandadzaka A and B are MDC strongholds and we hope to win the three polling stations
Mandadzaka B
1230
Out of 601, 301 voters had voted at Mandadzaka B polling station.
Voter turn out at Chikuku polling station @1258 was 250 out of 500 registered voters. 10 voters were assisted and 3 voters turned away. The assisted were elderly people. During the harmonised elections reports indicate more than 50 were assisted and today the number is lower which is highly commendable
ZANU PF thuggish members have destroyed most of our posters near Chikuku polling station.
At Mandadzaka we managed to register our concerns about the people who had voted but were still converging within the 300 meter radius. We managed to disperse the people.
Pafungeyi Gore- MDC Youth Assembly Masvingo Province Information and Publicity
By A Correspondent- A 23-year-old self-styled prophet recently appeared in court facing allegations of murdering his own father for a Mazda 323 motor vehicle after he was tricked by another prophet into writing a confession of the murder.
It is alleged that on some day in 2018, Chitakatira took the now deceased to his shrine for spiritual cleansing where they prayed and fasted for three days. On the last day, Chitakatira gave his father poisoned water as part a ‘cleaning process’ but the concoction killed him.
The matter came to light after the accused consulted a prophet in Burma Valley asking for spiritual protection and cleaning. Chitakatira allegedly told that other prophet that he was responsible for the death of his father and wanted spiritual cover as he feared the deceased’s spirit will haunt him.
The prophet told him to write a letter confessing the criminal act as a precondition for spiritual help but he then called the deceased’s relatives from Burma Valley and showed them the confession. The matter was later reported to police station leading to Chitakatira arrest.
Government yesterday slammed an attack by opposition protesters on a Zimbabwean delegation in London led by Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Dr Sibusiso Busi Moyo, who is on a four-day re-engagement programme to strengthen ties and lure investors.
In a statement, Secretary for Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Service Mr Nick Mangwana, who is part of the delegation, described the attack as tragic and embarrassing to peace-loving Zimbabweans.
“The delegation in London had great engagements with different stakeholders. Government of Zimbabwe condemns the violent attacks against the delegation by a group of opposition protesters outside Chatham House in London. It’s tragic that the sceptre of violence during protests we see in Zimbabwe forcing the security services to act has reared its ugly head in foreign land discrediting, not the Government, but the hoodlums themselves and embarrassing peace-loving Zimbabweans,” said Mr Mangwana.
“The attacks have not, however, disrupted Minister SB Moyo’s successful engagements in the UK in any way. Undeterred, his programme continued with fruitful meetings with the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, investors and tonight we end with engaging a progressive Zimbabwean Diaspora and other key stakeholders, whose support for our country’s economic and political reform efforts remains steadfast.
“The Government of Zimbabwe remains committed to peaceful dialogue with all parties, with a view to building our country around shared values, including the principles of respectful disagreement and non-violence. We affirm the right of Zimbabweans to protest but to do so peacefully.”
Minister Moyo was attacked by placard-waving protesters who were demanding the release of MDC-Alliance national deputy chairperson Mr Job Sikhala who has been arraigned before the courts for allegedly trying to subvert a constitutionally-elected Government.
The charges stemmed from a rally in which he addressed opposition supporters in Bikita last weekend where he called for the overthrowing of President Mnangagwa before 2023 when his current term officially ends.
In a video clip that went viral on social media, Minister Moyo is seen battling to get into his waiting official car with aides pushing away his attackers who were mostly women donning the Zimbabwean flag.
The paltry crowd could be seen showering the delegation with bottled water and calling the delegation names.
On Thursday, Minister Moyo had lunch with the powerful Westminster Africa Business Group in London where he invited them to grab investment opportunities that were abound in Zimbabwe.
The Westminster Africa Business Group, which brings together politicians and businesses in the interests of the UK and Africa, has been doing that since 1947.
Yesterday, Minister Moyo addressed business leaders at the Royal Institute of International Affairs also known as Chatham House.
Chairman of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Mr Kindness Paradza said it was a shame that the MDC thugs had allowed to be used by the country’s detractors to scuttle the re-engagement programme.
“It is very unfortunate that our citizens allowed themselves to be used by those who don’t want to see this administration succeeding. What they fail to understand is that the very same minister whom they attacked and abused is currently pushing to avail to all our citizens in the Diaspora, primary documents such as birth and death certificates, identification cards and passports, through our embassies that are dotted around the world.
“Actually, London had been identified as one of the venues to launch this program. Both Minister SB Moyo and his Home Affairs Minister counterpart (Ambassador) Cain Mathema had committed themselves to preside over the launch.
“But because of this hooliganism, which we strongly condemn as Parliament, my fear now is that London may miss this opportunity,” said Mr Paradza.
He added that his Committee, which is championing the Zimbabwe Investment and development Agency Bill, had made provisions to include incentives for Diasporans wishing to invest back home, and the agenda was being pushed by Minister Moyo.
“Shame on you all those who took part in this criminal act,” said Mr Paradza.
Outspoken Norton legislator, Temba Mliswa has condemned the incident that happened in the United Kingdom yesterday in which foreign affairs Minister Sibusiso Moyo was humiliated by diasporans who assaulted and poured water on him as he arrived at Chatman House.
Mliswa said the incident is deplorable adding that its a reflection of the healing that Zimbabwe needs for people to find each other.
What happened with Foreign Affairs Minister SB Moyo is deplorable and also what is happening with Job Sikhala is bad. It’s a reflection of the healing that is needed. How we need to find each other despite our differences.
— Sabhuku Temba P. Mliswa (@TembaMliswa) July 13, 2019
We will be giving you Updates from Bikita East ward 31 as election progresses now we are having Network challenges. However voting process is in progress @mdczimbabwepic.twitter.com/pFEgUjxCyn
— Masvingo Province (@Citizens4Chamis) July 13, 2019
