By A Correspondent- A 32-year-old man from Gondo Village in Gokwe under Chief Nemangwe brought a hooker to his home and forced his wife to watch him have sex with the thigh vendor on their matrimonial bed.
After the deed, he instructed his wife to prepare food for the “girlfriend”.
The matter was heard when Tafara Mzembe was dragged by his wife Atalia Sibanda to Chief Nemangwe’s traditional court. A source who spoke on condition of anonymity said Mzembe who is an artisanal miner, was in the habit of buying sex from sex workers at Gondo Business Centre.
“He is a miner and as such he usually has lots of money that he usually spends on sex workers at the growth point.
On the fateful day, he hired the services of a certain hooker called Betty Masamba and he decided to take her home.
“Upon arrival in the wee hours, he woke his wife up and forced her to watch him bed the hooker on their bed saying he wanted her to learn various sex positions from Masamba,” said the source.
After the deed, Mzembe who was heavily intoxicated ordered his wife to prepare Masamba a meal as she had complained of hunger.
“After having sex with the hooker, he instructed Sibanda to go to the kitchen and prepare a meal for the ‘visitor’ as a token of appreciation for showing her sex positions,” said the source.
Contacted for comment, Chief Nemangwe under whose jurisdiction the area falls under, confirmed the matter saying he ordered Mzembe to pay three cows to his wife for disrespecting her in such a manner.
“I can confirm presiding over such a matter and l ordered Mzembe to pay his wife three cows. He abused his wife and we do not tolerate women abuse in this area.
“When l inquired why he was sleeping with hookers yet he has a wife, he said his wife had lost sexual flavour,” said Chief Nemangwe.-BMetro
GOVERNMENT’s devolution agenda has taken off in earnest, as provinces begin to utilise development funds under the $310 million facility set aside by Treasury.
Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube said the amount will be increased in the next cycle.
Government allocated the funds to be shared among the 10 provinces based on a number of factors such as poverty levels in all rural districts, quality of infrastructure and size of population.
The state media reported that most provinces had started using the funds for construction of schools, clinics and roads, among other projects aimed at facilitating development.
Addressing the third Rural District Council Chairpersons’ Indaba in Victoria Falls recently, Prof Ncube said Treasury was considering increasing the amount being allocated, but would not do so until provinces and local authorities utilise what was allocated to them last year.
He said he had a poverty map for the country and knew all projects taking place under devolution.
By A Correspondent- Zimbabwe versatile cricket player, Solomon Mire, has announced his retirement from international cricket with immediate effect following International Cricket Council’s decision to suspend Zimbabwe.
Fears abound that more players would follow in the footsteps of the 29-year-old. Zimbabwe was recently suspended by the ICC over allegations of government interference in the sport.
In a statement on his Instagram account, Mire said that it was with a heavy heart that he was making the decision.
By A Correspondent- ZANU PF Member of Parliament for Chakari Constituency, Andrew Nkani, has appeared before the court for allegedly defrauding 100 teachers of $63 000 in a land scam.
Nkani is jointly accused with the Ministry of Small to Medium Enterprises which introduced Nkani to the teachers.
Nkani is appearing before Harare magistrate, Yeukai Chigodora after he allegedly squandered $63 000 from 100 teachers.
The teachers reportedly formed a Housing cooperative after Nkani had assured them that he can allocate them residential stands.
The State alleges that the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe Housing Cooperative chairman, Andrew Karongo, formed the cooperative with other 99 teachers in 2011.
The cooperative was issued with a registration certificate and was also introduced to Nkani who was said to be an auditor who had a running project with the city of Harare.
Nkani then revealed to the cooperative that he had 100 stands in Budiriro which would demand that each member pays $8000. PTUZ reportedly paid $63 000 to the accused.
The accused allegedly failed to deliver the stands as he was supposed. He, however, demanded an additional $2 000, $5000 and $4000 for a land development permit, drawing of sewer and water diagrams and offer letters respectively.
PTUZ allegedly exerted pressure on Nkani who only availed 40 stands of which 5 were double allocations.-263Chat
By A Correspondent- Government takes the diaspora community as a critical sector that cannot be left out in the country’s turnaround strategy and achievement of Vision 2030.
Addressing Zimbabweans living in Birmingham, England during her visit last week, Environment, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister, Prisca Mupfumira, said Zimbabwe’s re-engagement and re-construction as guided by the Transitional Stabilisation Programme and Vision 2030, will be difficult to attain without the participation of the diaspora community.
The Minister’s re-engagement train started in London, straddling Glasglow, Liverpool, Huntingdon and Manchester.
At each step of the way tourism authorities have been urging Zimbabweans to come back home and invest in the economy especially within the tourism sector.
Minister Mupfumira, who led the engagement drive, shared with delegates and ordinary Zimbabweans in Birmingham on the synergies available and encouraged Zimbabweans to take part in development and joint venture initiatives under the new dispensation.
“Since the ushering in of the Second Republic, Zimbabwe has been generating renewed confidence and interest throughout the world as a result of a vibrant re-engagement strategy and the Zimbabwe is open for business mantra,” she said.
“We are already working with business partners including airlines that will ease your travel back home to enjoy what the country has to offer.
“This will be made possible, for example, through the introduction of special fares and packages for Zimbabweans in the diaspora. This in our view will not only reduce your travel costs but also make tourism packages relatively affordable.”
The engagements were being held on the back of the tourism sector recording an increase in tourist arrivals and growth in the number of investment inquiries from both local and foreign prospective investors.
“The unprecedented growth on the backdrop is riding on a number of factors that include aggressive marketing efforts, political transition ushering in a new political dispensation, harmonised elections, traffic boom, increased air seat capacity and Government’s new marketing mantra “Zimbabwe is open for business”. Indeed Zimbabwe is open for business,” said Minister Mupfumira.
“In this positive trajectory, as Government we feel it would be amiss for us not to pay attention to you, the Zimbabwe diaspora, in this quest of rebuilding our beloved country. You are a very important and special constituency, which we cannot do without.
“Apart from contributing to tourism expenditure you are critical to boosting both domestic and international tourist arrivals. This is especially important given that conservatively we have more than four million of our people in the diaspora”.
By A Correspondent- Vice President Constantino Chiwenga is now heading to China for treatment, Presidential Spokesperson George Charamba has revealed.
The state media reports that the decision to transfer Zimbabwe’s Vice President follows the decision by Zimbabwe and China to allow Chinese experts to join fellow experts in Zimbabwe, South Africa and India in attending to the Vice President.
VP Chiwenga has been recovering in South Africa with President Mnangagwa last week confirming that the Vice President’s health was improving.
Last week, President Mnangagwa said VP Chiwenga was now able to do physical exercises on his own, an indication that he was on the road to recovery.
In a statement on Monday, Presidential Spokesman, George Charamba confirmed the latest developments.
“Following last week’s Presidential statement on Vice President CGDN Chiwenga’s health and recovery status, the Office of the President and Cabinet wishes to inform the nation that the Vice President this week left for the People’s Republic of China where he is set to undergo further medical tests.
“His relocation to China, which builds on the satisfactory recovery progress he has been making, follows weekend discussions at the highest level between Governments of Zimbabwe and China at which a decision was taken to allow Chinese medical experts to join their counterparts from Zimbabwe, South Africa and India in attending to the Vice President.
“The Office will keep the nation updated on the progress the Vice President continues to make towards full recovery,” said Charamba.
Vice President Constantino Chiwenga has left South Africa for China for further medical tests.
This follows the decision by Zimbabwe and China to allow Chinese experts to join fellow experts in Zimbabwe, South Africa and India in attending to the Vice President.
VP Chiwenga has been recovering in South Africa with President Mnangagwa last week confirming that the Vice President’s health was improving.
Last week, President Mnangagwa said VP Chiwenga was now able to do physical exercises on his own, an indication that he was on the road to recovery.
In a statement on Monday, Presidential Spokesman, Cde George Charamba confirmed the latest developments.
“Following last week’s Presidential statement on Vice President CGDN Chiwenga’s health and recovery status, the Office of the President and Cabinet wishes to inform the nation that the Vice President this week left for the People’s Republic of China where he is set to undergo further medical tests.
“His relocation to China, which builds on the satisfactory recovery progress he has been making, follows weekend discussions at the highest level between Governments of Zimbabwe and China at which a decision was taken to allow Chinese medical experts to join their counterparts from Zimbabwe, South Africa and India in attending to the Vice President.
“The Office will keep the nation updated on the progress the Vice President continues to make towards full recovery,” said Cde Charamba.
President Mnangagwa’s clarification is set to pour cold water on some sections of the media who have been publishing speculative stories on VP Chiwenga’s health.—The Herald.
By A Correspondent- The government of Zimbabwe has reportedly started working on the Diaspora Strategy. The strategy is premised at creating synergies between Zimbabwe and the diaspora community.
This was revealed by the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority Acting Chief Executive, Mrs Rita Likukuma, who was addressing the Diaspora Community in the UK. Likukuma said:
There is strong thinking and realisation that Zimbabwe cannot turn around its economy and without the participation of its huge diaspora community. We want the Diaspora community to easily visit home and invest.
There has been realization that Zimbabwe cannot easily achieve Vision 2030 that of creating an upper-middle-class economy without the full participation of its Diaspora community.
We have therefore, started working on a Diaspora Strategy to enable us and our people living abroad to work together, trusting each other.
Lukukuma added that the strategy also provides for the protection of investment. She noted that there were some diasporans who previously tried to invest back home only to be duped by those on the ground.
She added:
We are aware of how some people who have tried to invest back home have ended up being cheated and losing everything or part of their investment.
In that strategy is the need to protect investments of our Diaspora Community, and we might float a bond to ring-fence those investments because we are aware of many people having been cheated of their investments in the past.
She added that the problems Zimbabwe is facing needed concerted efforts by all stakeholders including diasporans. -Statemedia
Kenya’s finance minister has surrendered himself to the police after the chief prosecutor ordered his arrest over allegations of corruption.
Henry Rotich is accused of flouting procurement procedures in awarding a contract worth over $450m (£405m) for the construction of two dams to the Italian company CMC de Ravenna.
In March Mr Rotich denied any wrongdoing in a large newspaper advert.
The company has also denied the accusations.
Director of public prosecutions Noordin Haji is also investigating how the tender was awarded for $170m more than was in the original contract.
“It was established that the conception, procurement and payment process for the dam projects were riddled with massive illegalities,” he said.
He has ordered the arrest of more than 20 other people accused of being involved in the contract, including other top officials and the directors of CMC de Ravenna.
Earlier this year, local media reported that files from the investigation revealed purchases that didn’t appear to make sense for a dam construction project, including at least $38,000 that had allegedly been spent on bedding.
Mr Haji told the BBC’s Ferdinand Omondi that “the contracts that were entered into and the loans that were taken were not in the interests of Kenyans but were serving other interests” and “the country has lost quite a bit of money”.
More than $200m has already been spent on the dam projects – yet the dams do not exist yet.
Members of Advocate For People’s Right And Justice on peaceful a protest in Abuja in April 2015, over xenophobic attacks on Nigerians in South Africa.
A Nigerian teenager, Chinonso Dennis Obiaju, 17, has been shot dead in Johannesburg.
This is coming a month after Mrs Obianuju Ndubuisi-Chukwu, a Nigerian Insurance chief, was murdered in South Africa on June 13 in her hotel room.
The President of the Nigerian Union in South Africa, Mr Adetola Olubajo, who confirmed the killing said the deceased high school student lived in Roodeprt, with his guardian.
Olubajo told NAN on the telephone that, “Chinonso went to buy from a shop with his friend and someone chased and opened fire on them, killing him.’’
He added that the family would be burying him in South Africa, noting that the union’s leaders in Johannesburg would be contacting him on developments.
Olubajo said they were going to the Police on Monday to finalise on the registry and provision of his papers.
“He was born here I learnt and the Mother is in the U.S.
He implored the Federal Government to urgently protect Nigerians in the Diaspora.
More than 200 Nigerians has been killed in xenophobic attacks between 2016 and this year.
According to unofficial sources, up to 800,000 Nigerians, mostly young people reside in South Africa.
As is often the case in South Africa, there seem to be two completely incompatible narratives regarding the recently released report by the public protector, which found President Cyril Ramaphosa guilty of having violated the constitution and misled parliament.
Both of these schools of thought appear to be advanced by people who have watched too many Hollywood movies, and so assume that this is a clear-cut situation involving a good guy and a bad guy.
Those on the pro-Cyril side of things see the gains he’s made in the fight against corruption, and either think this means any wrongdoings on his part must be overlooked or that they are entirely fabricated.
The public protector’s supporters, extremely vocal on social media, allege there’s a plot by white monopoly capital, Pravin Gordhan (who advancers of this agenda believe is the real president of South Africa), and of course Ramaphosa to silence Busisiwe Mkhwebane so the “Thuma Mina” brigade can capture the state.
Who is right? Neither, or, more accurately both – albeit only a tiny bit.
The pro-Mkwhebane narrative sees a strange truce – or more than this, a collaboration – between the so-called “Zuma faction” in the ANC and the EFF, who were once sworn enemies.
The Zuma loyalists – both in the ANC and in more marginal breakaway parties such as the African Transformation Movement (ATM) and Black First Land First (BLF) – believe that Zuma is innocent, that the influence of the Guptas and their alleged capture of the state was at best overstated and at worst completely fabricated, and that Ramaphosa’s presidency represents the fight-back of those who oppose radical economic transformation and support big business – often taken to mean white – interests.
The EFF’s take is slightly different. According to them, the Guptas and Zuma did indeed capture the state, but that the same thing is now happening under Ramaphosa, with party leader Julius Malema going so far as to say going that what is happening now is the “real fight” and that their earlier battle against Zuma was nothing in comparison.
These theories, doused as they are in paranoia, conspiracy and bias, make it tempting to believe those who seem to think that the sun – to use the crudest analogy – shines out of the backsides of Ramaphosa and his allies.
Those on this side of the spectrum seem to see any criticism of Ramaphosa as necessarily tied into the pro-Zuma/EFF/public protector narrative.
What this does, sadly, is obscure the genuine questions that should be asked about the donations hugely controversial company Bosasa – and others – made to the CR17 campaign which led to Ramaphosa becoming president of the ANC.
It’s not that these questions aren’t being asked, it’s that they are being drowned out by those who have already convinced themselves of who is right or wrong. So allow me to amplify some.
The Citizen’s print edition carried a lead story this morning by Sipho Mabena, who spoke to advocate Paul Hoffman, director and founder of Accountability Now.
According to Hoffman, Mkhwebane’s finding that Ramaphosa was required to declare donations to his ANC presidential campaign, as he was a member of parliament at the time, is correct.
Hoffman also said that some of Ramaphosa’s arguments, advanced at a press briefing where he announced that he would seek a judicial review of the report, were flawed.
These include that Mkhwebane lacked the power to probe funding to his CR17 campaign or make findings, as her powers are limited to issues concerning public administration and the improper exercise of public or statutory powers, and that the campaign and its fund-raising operations did not concern the public.
According to Hoffman, these arguments do not take away from the fact that Ramaphosa’s “funding has to be disclosed”.
He added, however, that Mkhwebane’s finding regarding her suspicions of money laundering was simply incorrect, and that the part of the report relating to disclosure of funds is the only part he agreed with.
On eNCA political analyst Prince Mashale said that, at Ramaphosa’s press briefing yesterday, the president “failed to answer critical questions about him and his relationship with Bosasa”.
He added that this didn’t necessarily mean Mkhwebane can be trusted.
And on both Twitter and his 702 show, Eusebius McKaiser argued that Ramaphosa’s answers to questions from journalists following the briefing were not convincing.
McKaiser acknowledged both the flaws of Mkhwebane’s report – such as her flip-flopping regarding whether Ramaphosa had “deliberately” or “inadvertently” misled parliament, as well as her credibility issues, but said neither of these factors prevented the president from frankly answering political and ethical questions surrounding disclosure of funding.
He also said that the flaws in Mkhwebane’s report appeared to be used by Ramaphosa to obscure the fact that he may have genuine questions to answer – the “lawfare is convenient” for him, as McKaiser puts it.
“Because the public protector report isn’t watertight, he can focus on her and the urgent review,” McKaiser added, but as citizens “we must frame this as being about the links between money and political power in our society”.
These concerns can’t cease to matter because the guy in charge is the one we like.
Things aren’t looking good for the public protector, following the ConCourt finding that she must personally pay 15% of legal costs incurred by the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) after her report involving them was overturned, and not just from a financial perspective – our apex court found that Mkhwebane was dishonest, acted in bad faith and even “put forward a number of falsehoods” in court, “including misrepresenting under oath”.
This ruling will only make it easier for those who have picked sides to advance their agenda – that either the president or the public protector are being targeted.
It must be comforting to believe that one of these two characters is the good guy and one the bad.
But unlike in an action movie, the truth probably lies somewhere closer to the middle.
Zanu-PF Youth League Political Commissar Godfrey Tsenengamu addressing party supporters in Wedza 20 July 2019
The ruling Zanu-PF party has embarked on an intensive drive to persuade the nation to give President Emmerson Mnangagwa a chance to “prove his capabilities” as the country’s economic woes continue to mount.
The youth league national political commissar, Godfrey Tsenengamu told Wedza villagers over the weekend that Mnangagwa’s policies might be tough but will eventually bear fruits.
This comes as prices of basic commodities continue to shoot on the backdrop of fuel prices increases, which have become regular in recent weeks.
Tsenengamu said, Mnangagwa, unlike former President Robert Mugabe, will not force business owners to reduce prices in their shops as this will cause total industry collapse.
He said the Mnangagwa government is aware of the people’s plight and he is “working around the clock” to rectify the challenges.
“We have to be very patient with President Mnangagwa’s policies because they are taking the country in the right direction. He will not get in shops to control prices but he is doing all his best to make sure everything is in its rightful place,” he said.
“If Mnangagwa goes around controlling prices, investors will stay away and we will continue to suffer,’ Tsenengamu said.
Ironically, when Mnangagwa came into power, his promise was premised on bringing in investors who would channel in funds which would see the reopening of industries which have been lying idle for years.
After the 2018 election, there was hope that Mnangagwa’s promises would bear fruits but the brutality at the hands of the military post-election and in January when citizens protested against fuel prices and a shrinking economy, has hampered chances of him attracting the much needed foreign direct investment.
With the current acute power shortages, the remaining functional companies have been threatened as the business has been slow.
Tsenengamu said the citizens have a right to demand a good life from a sitting President since they voted for him but he said the job ahead needed a collective effort.
“We are used to a President who interferes with business, but he is one a person who will not do so. President Mnangagwa will do the right thing but he needs your support for the economy to function,’ said the youth leader.
Wedza South Member of Parliament, Tinoda Machakaire said people should be patient with President Mnangagwa’s austerity measures saying there are good for the country.
He bemoaned the high levels of starvation in his constituency saying all focus should be on finding solutions to the challenges people are facing.
“Our people are hungry, there is drought in Wedza, our ordinary people do not afford these exorbitant prices charged here. I have since approached relevant authorities to deal with such issues,” he said.
Machakaire donated several tonnes of rice saying it will cushion villagers from exorbitant charges.
Vice President Constantino Chiwenga who has been in South Africa for the last couple of weeks was earlier today flown to China for further medical attention after the Zimbabwean government engaged its Chinese counterparts to help rescue the ailing former army commander.
According to a press statement by presidential spokesman George Charamba “his relocation to China, which builds on the satisfactory recovery progress he has been making, follows weekend discussions at the highest levels between the governments of Zimbabwe and China, at which a decision was made to allow Chinese medical experts to join their expert counterparts from Zimbabwe, South Africa and India in attending to the Vice President.”
The Spotlight Zimbabwe website has previously claimed that Chiwenga was poisoned during a private lunch meeting with President Emmerson Mnangagwa at a luxury hotel in Harare last year.
This article first appeared on Spotlight Zimbabwe.
LONDON – President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s presidential exit is all but sealed amid reports that China will likely help in his removal from office, after he recently allegedly angered Beijing by giving exclusive diamond exploration and mining rights to Russia ahead of the Asian powerhouse, Spotlight Zimbabwe, has been told.
Mnangagwa’s tenure in office is already hanging by a thread, as a faction in the military close to Vice President, Rtd General Constantino Chiwenga, wants him to voluntarily resign and make way for Chiwenga, after he has dismally failed to resuscitate the country’s economy, which is now nearing total collapse in the face of the worst and unseen power outages in the nation’s history of up to 18 hours a day, growing fuel and water shortages, a wave of extortionate taxes by his regime, and uncontrollable price escalations.
According to diplomatic sources in the capital, diamond company executives and an official in the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC), who survived Mnangagwa’s purges after former leader, President Robert Mugabe’s ouster in November 2017, China is upset with the ruling Zanu PF leader, and she is reportedly about to play a hidden hand in his removal from power, as Mnangagwa has reneged on a political deal to give China unlimited and preferential access to Zimbabwe’s vast diamond deposits.
Last week Mnangagwa’s administration gave Russian diamond exploration and mining giant Alrosa, a massive 70 percent stake in a joint venture with government owned Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC) in Manicaland with a contract provision for possible expansion across the territory of the whole country. Alrosa is the world leader in diamond mining, accounting for over 25% in the global diamond production in terms of carats.
Russia is the world’s biggest diamond miner, while China is the world’s second biggest diamond consumer market after the US.
Prior to Alrosa’s Zimbabwe entry, China had enjoyed access to mining diamonds in Marange, which is thought to be home to the globe’s biggest diamond find carats wise in more than a century, with plans by Beijing to explore other deposits in the country, before it’s flagship diamond mining firm in the area, Anjin Investments, had it’s licence controversially terminated by Mugabe in 2015 over accusations of diamond looting and corruption.
Anjin is a joint venture between a Chinese company, Anhui Foreign Economic Construction Co. Ltd., and Matt Bronze Enterprises, which was formed by the Zimbabwe Defense Ministry and the Zimbabwe Defense Forces through an intermediary company.
“China though they might say otherwise actually removed Mugabe over the fallout in Marange diamonds mining,” said one of the envoys last week. “From what we understand in our circles your new leader made a political deal with the Chinese, to grant them exclusive diamond mining and exploration rights in Zimbabwe post-Mugabe, as they had facilitated his passage to becoming president. However he appears to have reneged on the pact, and has decided to choose Russia over China, now that’s a very dangerous game and they (China) will help remove him (Mnangagwa), because their economic interests in your country are increasingly coming under threat, from the Russians and the West. China is the one keeping Zimbabwe running, and they will make sure that a leader who protects their interests is in power.”
China has over the years and before his dethronement, funded Mugabe’s presidential campaigns and Zanu PF’s power retention agenda, through the direct intervention of the Chinese Communist Party, and financial support said to have topped US$1 billion from diamonds alone, according to news organisation 100Reporters.
A diamond company executive based in the port city of Antwerp, in Belgium, with close links to a former presidium member, yesterday in a telephone briefing told Spotlight Zimbabwe that, Mnangagwa had courted Alrosa and favoured them with diamond mining in Zimbabwe instead of China, because he wanted political and financial support from Russia in his bid to run for a second term as president in 2023, but the whole strategy will backfire.
“The Chinese have written Mnangagwa off and are not interested in funding his stay in office anymore,” said the executive. “He has courted Alrosa with the intention to receive funding and support from Russia, in his remote bid to remain president and run again as Zanu PF’s 2023 presidential candidate, because China stopped to bankroll the ruling party when Mugabe chased their companies away from mining diamonds in Marange. It’s going to backfire, and he’ll soon be desposed as leader. China made his presidency, and they’re now going to annul it over the war on Zimbabwe diamonds with Russia.”
The OPC official said the recent Alrosa joint venture with ZCDC in Manicaland, and another US$3 billion platinum project with Russia in Darwendale, has won Mnangagwa invitation to the inaugural Russia-Africa Summit in October in Sochi, but he might not be in office or it will be his very first and last Russia-Africa Summit, as he was definately leaving the presidency in 2020, whether he liked it or not.
“The Chinese are not happy with Mnangagwa because of the diamonds saga,” said the OPC staffer. “Even communication channels are no longer direct, these days. President Mugabe always had a direct line to speak with the Chinese leader, but now we have to go through the Chinese Embassy, that tells you that all is not well. He’s definately leaving the presidency in 2020, whether he likes it or not, but you already know that.”
Outspoken Independent legislator for Norton, Temba Mliswa, last month warned that Mnangagwa faces the danger of either being captured or removed by Chinese nationals operating various businesses in Zimbabwe.
Speaking in parliament on a point of privilege, Mliswa accused the Chinese of disrespecting the laws of Zimbabwe.
“Government must review relations with China. I was kidnapped yesterday (Wednesday) in my constituency. Chinese have no respect for the laws of this country. Today it is Mliswa but next it will be the President (Mnangagwa) Mr Speaker Sir,” Mliswa said.
China has previously been accused of orchestrating Mugabe’s removal via a military coup, but has vehemently denied any involvement, calling such speculation “complete nonsense, and purely fictitious”.
It’s embassy in South Africa during the time said in a statement: “Some people are trying to link China to the political crisis that is taking place in Zimbabwe in order to drive a wedge between China and Africa and to undermine China’s image.” Such allegations were “illogical, inconsistent and filled with evil motives”.
“China has long enjoyed friendly relations with Zimbabwe. When Zimbabwe was facing isolation and sanctions from the west, China stood firm on its principles and remained by Zimbabwe’s side, developing mutually beneficial cooperation, which brought benefits to both countries and peoples.”
Alrosa says it has targeted various areas for further diamond exploration. The company’s chief executive officer Sergey Ivanov told State media last week, that: “We expect to have more than four spots in Zimbabwe where we see potential and where we need to invest in exploration. We hope to get discoveries in all these. We see some exploration perspectives on the border with South Africa, the border with Botswana, (the) border with Mozambique; we see that there are some promising geological data and perspectives for new discoveries,” Ivanov was quoted.
They have been reports of recent diamond deposits and discoveries in the Sese area of Chivi, Masvingo Province, Chihota in Marondera West and Penhalonga just outside Mutare.
Information minister, Monica Mutsvangwa, whose husband is a former Zimbabwean Ambassador to China, was not reachable for comment last night, while the Chinese Embassy was closed.
The senior national netball team had a commendable Netball World Cup.
The South African national netball team players will be smiling all the way to the bank after it emerged that they would share a R1‚2-million bonus from sponsors SPAR for finishing fourth place at the World Cup in England on Sunday.
The supermarket chain had initially promised the players a share of R1m for winning the tournament‚ R750‚000 for second place‚ R500‚000 for finishing third and R200‚000 for reaching the semifinals.
But Netball South Africa president Cecilia Molokwane announced that the 12 Proteas players would be rewarded with R1.2 million in appreciation for their sterling effort in the tournament.
South Africa lost 58-42 to hosts England in the third and fourth play-off match that was followed by the New Zealanders being crowned champions after a narrow 52-51 win over Australia on Sunday.
Proteas veteran wing defence Karla Pretorius was named Player of the Tournament.
“I feel honoured to have been named the best player of the World Cup‚” Pretorius said in appreciation of the effort of her teammates.
“You are only as good as those around you and the team did so well at this World Cup‚ and even though we won’t return home to South Africa with a medal I know that we all put our hearts and souls into each and every game in Liverpool and can hold our heads high.
“This good run obviously was what inspired me to play as well as I did and I am grateful to have been recognised by the tournament and given this very special award.”
The last South African to win this award was Erin Burger at the 2011 Netball World Cup in Singapore and ironically‚ she was Pretorius’ roommate in England.
“When Erin won the award eight years ago it really inspired me‚” said Pretorius.
“I have always believed that we can compete with the best in the world even though we don’t play as often as we would like against the top nations.
“Me winning this award shows that South Africa have the talent‚ players and team to go to the top. I am excited about the future of the Proteas.”
Pretorius returned to Australia on Monday to rejoin her team Sunshine Coast Lightening team for the remainder of the Super Netball League.
By Itai Mushekwe| LONDON – President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s presidential exit is all but sealed amid reports that China will likely help in his removal from office, after he recently allegedly angered Beijing by giving exclusive diamond exploration and mining rights to Russia ahead of the Asian powerhouse, Spotlight Zimbabwe, has been told.
Mnangagwa’s tenure in office is already hanging by a thread, as a faction in the military close to Vice President, Rtd General Constantino Chiwenga, wants him to voluntarily resign and make way for Chiwenga, after he has dismally failed to resuscitate the country’s economy, which is now nearing total collapse in the face of the worst and unseen power outages in the nation’s history of up to 18 hours a day, growing fuel and water shortages, a wave of extortionate taxes by his regime, and uncontrollable price escalations.
According to diplomatic sources in the capital, diamond company executives and an official in the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC), who survived Mnangagwa’s purges after former leader, President Robert Mugabe’s ouster in November 2017, China is upset with the ruling Zanu PF leader, and she is reportedly about to play a hidden hand in his removal from power, as Mnangagwa has reneged on a political deal to give China unlimited and preferential access to Zimbabwe’s vast diamond deposits.
Last week Mnangagwa’s administration gave Russian diamond exploration and mining giant Alrosa, a massive 70 percent stake in a joint venture with government owned Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC) in Manicaland with a contract provision for possible expansion across the territory of the whole country. Alrosa is the world leader in diamond mining, accounting for over 25% in the global diamond production in terms of carats.
Russia is the world’s biggest diamond miner, while China is the world’s second biggest diamond consumer market after the US.
Prior to Alrosa’s Zimbabwe entry, China had enjoyed access to mining diamonds in Marange, which is thought to be home to the globe’s biggest diamond find carats wise in more than a century, with plans by Beijing to explore other deposits in the country, before it’s flagship diamond mining firm in the area, Anjin Investments, had it’s licence controversially terminated by Mugabe in 2015 over accusations of diamond looting and corruption.
Anjin is a joint venture between a Chinese company, Anhui Foreign Economic Construction Co. Ltd., and Matt Bronze Enterprises, which was formed by the Zimbabwe Defense Ministry and the Zimbabwe Defense Forces through an intermediary company.
“China though they might say otherwise actually removed Mugabe over the fallout in Marange diamonds mining,” said one of the envoys last week. “From what we understand in our circles your new leader made a political deal with the Chinese, to grant them exclusive diamond mining and exploration rights in Zimbabwe post-Mugabe, as they had facilitated his passage to becoming president. However he appears to have reneged on the pact, and has decided to choose Russia over China, now that’s a very dangerous game and they (China) will help remove him (Mnangagwa), because their economic interests in your country are increasingly coming under threat, from the Russians and the West. China is the one keeping Zimbabwe running, and they will make sure that a leader who protects their interests is in power.”
China has over the years and before his dethronement, funded Mugabe’s presidential campaigns and Zanu PF’s power retention agenda, through the direct intervention of the Chinese Communist Party, and financial support said to have topped US$1 billion from diamonds alone, according to news organisation 100Reporters.
A diamond company executive based in the port city of Antwerp, in Belgium, with close links to a former presidium member, yesterday in a telephone briefing told Spotlight Zimbabwe that, Mnangagwa had courted Alrosa and favoured them with diamond mining in Zimbabwe instead of China, because he wanted political and financial support from Russia in his bid to run for a second term as president in 2023, but the whole strategy will backfire.
“The Chinese have written Mnangagwa off and are not interested in funding his stay in office anymore,” said the executive. “He has courted Alrosa with the intention to receive funding and support from Russia, in his remote bid to remain president and run again as Zanu PF’s 2023 presidential candidate, because China stopped to bankroll the ruling party when Mugabe chased their companies away from mining diamonds in Marange. It’s going to backfire, and he’ll soon be desposed as leader. China made his presidency, and they’re now going to annul it over the war on Zimbabwe diamonds with Russia.”
The OPC official said the recent Alrosa joint venture with ZCDC in Manicaland, and another US$3 billion platinum project with Russia in Darwendale, has won Mnangagwa invitation to the inaugural Russia-Africa Summit in October in Sochi, but he might not be in office or it will be his very first and last Russia-Africa Summit, as he was definately leaving the presidency in 2020, whether he liked it or not.
“The Chinese are not happy with Mnangagwa because of the diamonds saga,” said the OPC staffer. “Even communication channels are no longer direct, these days. President Mugabe always had a direct line to speak with the Chinese leader, but now we have to go through the Chinese Embassy, that tells you that all is not well. He’s definately leaving the presidency in 2020, whether he likes it or not, but you already know that.”
Outspoken Independent legislator for Norton, Temba Mliswa, last month warned that Mnangagwa faces the danger of either being captured or removed by Chinese nationals operating various businesses in Zimbabwe.
Speaking in parliament on a point of privilege, Mliswa accused the Chinese of disrespecting the laws of Zimbabwe.
“Government must review relations with China. I was kidnapped yesterday (Wednesday) in my constituency. Chinese have no respect for the laws of this country. Today it is Mliswa but next it will be the President (Mnangagwa) Mr Speaker Sir,” Mliswa said.
China has previously been accused of orchestrating Mugabe’s removal via a military coup, but has vehemently denied any involvement, calling such speculation “complete nonsense, and purely fictitious”.
It’s embassy in South Africa during the time said in a statement: “Some people are trying to link China to the political crisis that is taking place in Zimbabwe in order to drive a wedge between China and Africa and to undermine China’s image.” Such allegations were “illogical, inconsistent and filled with evil motives”.
“China has long enjoyed friendly relations with Zimbabwe. When Zimbabwe was facing isolation and sanctions from the west, China stood firm on its principles and remained by Zimbabwe’s side, developing mutually beneficial cooperation, which brought benefits to both countries and peoples.”
Alrosa says it has targeted various areas for further diamond exploration. The company’s chief executive officer Sergey Ivanov told State media last week, that: “We expect to have more than four spots in Zimbabwe where we see potential and where we need to invest in exploration. We hope to get discoveries in all these. We see some exploration perspectives on the border with South Africa, the border with Botswana, (the) border with Mozambique; we see that there are some promising geological data and perspectives for new discoveries,” Ivanov was quoted.
They have been reports of recent diamond deposits and discoveries in the Sese area of Chivi, Masvingo Province, Chihota in Marondera West and Penhalonga just outside Mutare.
Information minister, Monica Mutsvangwa, whose husband is a former Zimbabwean Ambassador to China, was not reachable for comment last night, while the Chinese Embassy was closed.- Spotlight
Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Ziyambi Ziyambi is reported to have late this afternoon been admitted a private hospital in Harare.
According to highly placed sources, Ziyambi is believed to be suffering from acute high blood pressure.
This comes a few hours after Vice President Constantino Chiwenga was hurriedly airlifted to China also in a critical condition.
ZESCO United has signed Zimbabwean midfielder Thabani Michael Kamusoko from Tanzanian giants Young Africans on a three-year deal.
And Zesco Limited has appointed new office bearers for the club.
Club Chief Executive officer Richard Mulenga confirmed in an interview that the club concluded the deal for Kamusoko who is now a Zesco player for three years.
“Yes, Kamusoko has signed for the club. We have concluded the deal. It is a three-year deal and we are hoping for the best services from him,” Mulenga said.
The 31-year-old Kamusoko was on the cards of Young Africans since 2015 but has also played for Platinum and Dynamos of Zimbabwe as well as Underhill and Njube Sundowns.
Joice Takaidza of Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe v Sri Lanka. Liverpool, UK – 12 Jul 2019
Opinion By Michael Kariyati|”The national team is the pride and display window of the nation. There is nothing that can thrill the nation more than the success of their national team when playing international games,” remarked former Bayern Munich coach Rudi Gutendorf.
That is exactly what is happening in Zimbabwe and that thrill has been brought about by the Zimbabwe national netball team — the Gems — which has made the whole world sit up and take notice after splendid performances at the 2019 Netball World Cup.
Even some who do not follow sport now know that there is a Zimbabwe team called the Gems while those in foreign lands now know that in Zimbabwe there is a formidable national netball team.
“When I heard people saying Gems, Gems, at first, I thought people were talking about diamonds. Only to realise later what exactly it was, the Zimbabwe netball team,” says football follower, Oliver Musongoro, who supports Dynamos football club.
Unfortunately, the ordinary Zimbabwean does not know Ursula Ndlovu, Perpetua Siyachitema, Mercy Mukwadi, Joice Takaidza, Sharon Bwanali, Patricia Maoladi or the names of the players who make up the Gems otherwise those names would have become the talk of the streets rights now.
Whatever it is, what the Gems have done will be talked about for as long as there is a country called Zimbabwe, and for the likes of team captain Siyachitema and her colleagues, what they have done will remain in their lives forever.
More importantly is the fact that this team has an average age of 25 years, which makes qualifying for the next World Cup to be held in South Africa a strong possibility.
Yet this is a team that was completely forgotten even after qualifying for the World Cup — the pinnacle of any sport on the planet. In fact, the team’s finances only got intact a few days before departure for Liverpool after begging through a video that circulated on social media.
That is the tragedy of Zimbabwean sport that those who really need help do not get it and then when success comes, everyone wants to be associated with them as was the case with three Cabinet ministers accompanying the team to Liverpool.
Everyone agrees that the Gems were fantastic and what even made their achievement sweeter was the fact that it came through the hands of women, who over the years have recorded the best sporting achievements for Zimbabwe but without getting the recognition they deserve.
It is on record that Zimbabwe’s first ever Olympic medal came courtesy of the women’s hockey team at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. This was followed by the seven medals that Kirsty Coventry won at the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games and the Zimbabwe women soccer team’s qualification for the 2012 Olympic Games in Brazil.
Sadly, though, the achievers have not received the sort of respect they deserve as upon return from the Olympic Games in 2012, the Mighty Warriors received an insulting $5 thank you from the authorities, while the Gems’ preparations were not the best due to inadequate funding..
Ironically, at the same time, the Zimbabwean government was busy mobilising financial support for the men’s soccer team, the Warriors, who were going to a far much less important tournament, the Africa Cup of Nations.
It is a matter of debate what could have been of the Gems had they not been neglected and received the sort of support in their preparations as happened to the other 15 teams that made the journey to Liverpool for the netball festival.
Their success, and worldwide acclaim, however, could force a rethink in the manner women’s sport is perceived in the small southern African nation. What the
Gems have done should be a lesson for the government and Zimbabweans at large that all national teams are important, be it a women’s or men’s team, a football or a hockey team.
What remains now is for the government to set a good example by rewarding the Gems handsomely for painting good Zimbabwe’s name on the international front.
Money is important, but not the most important, and the girls need something they will in their lives, reflect on and say: “This is what I got for doing Zimbabwe proud at the 2019 Netball World Cup.”
That will help to spur other sportsperson to strive to do even better than what the Gems have done. The whole world saw what the Gems did and they are watching
what will happen to the team when they get back home.
Farai Dziva|
A Mutare man was shocked beyond beyond belief when he caught his wife in bed with her boyfriend in their matrimonial home.
According to The Manica Post, Ishmael Madhochi of Sakubva, Mutare, unexpectedly came back home from Harare around 3 am on Tuesday, only to find his wife Faith in bed with her lover Livingstone Gwandura.
Ishmael managed to contain himself and did not assault the lovebirds but called his relatives instead to witness the shameful act.
One of Ishmael’s sisters who spoke to The Manica Post publication said:
It was around 3 am when we heard about the incident. My brother alerted us saying he caught his wife with a boyfriend.
We are worried because our brother is a caring and loving husband. We are shocked that this woman had to do this.
This is disgraceful. Our daughter-in-law (Faith) is a disgrace to the family. We were shocked by the incident and we are now about to deliberate on the way forward. We are glad that at least our son Ishmael did not injure the boyfriend or do anything that he would regret later.
Ishmael came back home after a tip-off and we are glad that it came to light.”
Zimbabwe Gems’ star shooter Joice Takaidza did the country proud as she was among the Top 10 Tournament Top Scorers at the just concluded Vitality Netball World Cup 2019 in England.
The Australian-based Takaidza finished the tournament with 198 goals, good enough for 9th place as the Gems finished 8th at their first-ever Netball World Cup.
MDC Youth Assembly is highly incensed and riled by the stinking corruption scandals largely traceable to ZANU PF linked cartels.
As overtly laid bare by the Auditor General’s report, there is some worrisome, saddening and disheartening reports on how ZANU PF officials swindled the nation of a sum large enough to be the country’s annual budget hiding under Command Agriculture rhetoric.
The recent 3 billion corruption new comes hot after another 15 billion diamond money that went missing some years ago.
Just like in the past where Robert Mugabe was at the center of the missing diamond money, this time around Emmerson Mnangagwa is the epicenter of the Command Agriculture corruption scandal since he was the main man in charge of program.
That the corruption scandals are unfolding at a time when the country is hard hit by continuous rising prices, fuel shortages and electricity blackouts only aid in adding salt to the wounds of suffering masses.
Amidst the crisis, ZANU PF’s carefree attitude towards the debilitating economic crisis and corruption only but helps to sow seeds of discontentment on the masses.
The ordinary people have been pushed too far and for long!
At this rate, a civil unrest of magnitude proportions is on the horizon and is sure to happen.
This regime’s carelessness on critical issues that affect citizens is a cause for concern as far as national peace is concerned.
As young social democrats and peace-loving Zimbabweans, we urge the illegitimate Emmerson Mnangagwa to do the honorable thing by resigning to pave way for a pro-people leadership.
It is becoming increasingly clear that only a leader with a good social contract with the masses, which in this case is Nelson Chamisa, can move the country forward.
Stephen Sarkozy Chuma MDC Youth Assembly National Spokesperson
MDC Youth Assembly is highly incensed and riled by the stinking corruption scandals largely traceable to ZANU PF linked cartels.
As overtly laid bare by the Auditor General’s report, there is some worrisome, saddening and disheartening reports on how ZANU PF officials swindled the nation of a sum large enough to be the country’s annual budget hiding under Command Agriculture rhetoric.
The recent 3 billion corruption new comes hot after another 15 billion diamond money that went missing some years ago.
Just like in the past where Robert Mugabe was at the center of the missing diamond money, this time around Emmerson Mnangagwa is the epicenter of the Command Agriculture corruption scandal since he was the main man in charge of program.
That the corruption scandals are unfolding at a time when the country is hard hit by continuous rising prices, fuel shortages and electricity blackouts only aid in adding salt to the wounds of suffering masses.
Amidst the crisis, ZANU PF’s carefree attitude towards the debilitating economic crisis and corruption only but helps to sow seeds of discontentment on the masses.
The ordinary people have been pushed too far and for long!
At this rate, a civil unrest of magnitude proportions is on the horizon and is sure to happen.
This regime’s carelessness on critical issues that affect citizens is a cause for concern as far as national peace is concerned.
As young social democrats and peace-loving Zimbabweans, we urge the illegitimate Emmerson Mnangagwa to do the honorable thing by resigning to pave way for a pro-people leadership.
It is becoming increasingly clear that only a leader with a good social contract with the masses, which in this case is Nelson Chamisa, can move the country forward.
Stephen Sarkozy Chuma MDC Youth Assembly National Spokesperson
By Own Correspondent| A philanthropist and a farmer have hauled Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement Minister Hon. Perrance Shiri and the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) to court challenging the restrictive measures banning the sale of maize grain in the country and giving the state-run Grain Marketing Board (GMB) a monopoly over trade in the commodity.
In an application filed in the
High Court recently, Hon. Allan Markham, a philanthropist and Clever
Rambanapasi, a farmer, argued that Statutory Instrument 145 of 2019 Grain
Marketing (Control of Sale of Maize) Regulations, 2019, which was recently
gazetted by government had made GMB the sole trader of maize in the country and
made it illegal for people to trade in maize among themselves and banned the
transportation of more than five bags of maize grain except in situations where
one is delivering to the state-run body.
The regulations also empowered
Zimbabwe Republic Police officers to seize maize grain suspected of being moved
without authority and compliance with the law.
But through their lawyer Tendai
Biti of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, Hon. Markham, who is a
philanthropist who buys and sells maize in communities to support many charities
and Rambanapasi, a farmer based in Murewa in Mashonaland East province,
protested that through the regulations, Hon. Shiri had set up a monopoly and a
dangerous one which bars anyone who trades in grain whether he or she is a
buyer or seller to only do so through the GMB and at a fixed price.
Hon. Markham and Rambanapasi
charged that the consequences and effect of the restrictive regulations and of
declaring a product a controlled one is drastic as it affects the contractual
right of farmers and traders of buying grain from any party or individual and
has a serious effect on livelihoods especially in rural communities where
communal farmers produce subsistence maize.
Rambanapasi, who runs a small
piggery project in Murewa, argued that maize is an essential ingredient in pig
production and he buys the grain from rural communities in various villages to
feed his pigs while Hon. Markham, who as a philanthropist supports some
charities in the country, said he buys maize from communal farmers, which he uses
to feed vulnerable communities in high density suburbs.
The duo said the regulations had
affected people who engage in barter trade in communities and had also affected
the freedom to contract and freedom to trade as professional millers, retailers
and other organisations and individuals, who previously had the right to buy
maize everywhere could no longer do so except from GMB.
Hon. Markham, who is also the
legislator for Harare North constituency and is an entrepreneur with extensive
interest in the agriculture sector and Rambanapasi said the restrictive
regulations has an effect on due process rights protected under Section 56 of
the Constitution of Zimbabwe of which both procedural and substantive due
process requires that one has notice, and one has choices and opportunities,
which have been taken away by Statutory Instrument 145 of 2019 Grain Marketing
(Control of Sale of Maize) Regulations, 2019.
The regulations on grain, Hon.
Markham and Rambanapasi said, has the effect of depriving one of his property
and appropriating the same to the GMB at a price that is already fixed and does
not make economic sense.
Hon. Markham and Rambanapasi want
Statutory Instrument 145 of 2019 Grain Marketing (Control of Sale of Maize)
Regulations, 2019 to be declared as ultra vires the Constitution in particular
Section 56, 58, 64 and 71 of the Constitution.
The philanthropist and farmer
also want Part V and Part VI of the Grain Marketing Board Act particularly
Section 29, 33,34,35 to be declared ultra vires Section 56, 58, 64 and 71 of
the Constitution.
Farai Dziva|
Medical experts in China will examine Constantino Chiwenga as the government steps up efforts to secure treatment for the former army general.
Below is a statement released by government on Chiwenga’s health:
Following last week’s President Statement on Vice President CGDN Chiwenga’s health and recovery status, the Office of the President and Cabinet wishes to inform the Nation that the Vice President this week left for the People’s Republic of China where he is set to undergo further medical tests.
His relocation to China, which builds on the satisfactory recovery progress he has been making, follows weekend discussions at the highest level between Governments of Zimbabwe and China, at which a decision was taken to allow Chinese medical experts to join their expert counterparts from Zimbabwe, South Africa and India in attending to the Vice President.
The office will keep the Nation updated on the progress the vice President continues to make towards full recovery.
Jane Mlambo| Government has announced that the ailing vice President Constantino Chiwenga has been flown to China for further ‘medical tests’.
Chiwenga whose boss, Emmerson Mnangagwa described as terribly unwell, has not been seen in public for over two months now is according to government recovering and his trip to China is to allow the eastern giant’s medical experts to also attend to him.
There has been widespread speculation that Chiwenga was in a South African hospital while other sources who tracked a flight which he was reportedly using hinted that he was in India and government could have made the decision to shed light on his whereabouts to undo rumor mills around his condition.
Below is the full government statement on Chiwenga:
Following last week’s President statement on Vice President CGDN Chiwenga’s health and recovery status, the Office of the President and Cabinet wishes to inform the Nation that the Vice President this week left for the People’s Republic of China where he is set to undergo further medical tests. His relocation to China, which builds on the satisfactory recovery progress he has been making, follows weekend discussions at the highest level between Governments of Zimbabwe and China, at which a decision was taken to allow Chinese medical experts to join their expert counterparts from Zimbabwe, South Africa and India in attending to the Vice President.
Farai Dziva|The government has said Constantino Chiwenga is set to undergo further medical tests in China.
See Press Statement below :
Following last week’s President Statement on Vice President CGDN Chiwenga’s health and recovery status, the Office of the President and Cabinet wishes to inform the Nation that the Vice President this week left for the People’s Republic of China where he is set to undergo further medical tests.
His relocation to China, which builds on the satisfactory recovery progress he has been making, follows weekend discussions at the highest level between Governments of Zimbabwe and China, at which a decision was taken to allow Chinese medical experts to join their expert counterparts from Zimbabwe, South Africa and India in attending to the Vice President.
The office will keep the Nation updated on the progress the vice President continues to make towards full recovery.
Cooking oil maker Surface Wilmer’s Chairman Somani talks to Deputy Trade Minister @RModiByoSouth & exposes @MthuliNcube’s comical talk of a surplus. He explains that he sends home 300 workers bc of power cuts. Finally, he says #Zimbabwe’s inflation figures are fake pic.twitter.com/5QZOlrd8ch
Jane Mlambo| Government has announced that the ailing vice President Constantino Chiwenga has left for China for further ‘medical tests’.
Chiwenga who has not been seen in public for over two months now is according to government recovering and his trip to China is to allow the eastern giant’s medical experts to also attend to him.
There has been widespread speculation that Chiwenga was in a South African hospital while other sources who tracked a flight which he was reportedly using hinted that he was in India and government could have made the decision to shed light on his whereabouts to undo rumor mills around his condition.
Below is the full government statement on Chiwenga…
Following last week’s President statement on Vice President CGDN Chiwenga’s health and recovery status, the Office of the President and Cabinet wishes to inform the Nation that the Vice President this week left for the People’s Republic of China where he is set to undergo further medical tests. His relocation to China, which builds on the satisfactory recovery progress he has been making, follows weekend discussions at the highest level between Governments of Zimbabwe and China, at which a decision was taken to allow Chinese medical experts to join their expert counterparts from Zimbabwe, South Africa and India in attending to the Vice President.
Jane Mlambo| Government has for the first time shed light on Vice President Constantino Chiwenga’s condition.
According to a pres statement, government said Chiwenga left for China where he is set to undergo further medical tests.
Below is the full statement signed by George Charamba…
Following last week’s President statement on Vice President CGDN Chiwenga’s health and recovery status, the Office of the President and Cabinet wishes to inform the Nation that the Vice President this week left for the People’s Republic of China where he is set to undergo further medical tests. His relocation to China, which builds on the satisfactory recovery progress he has been making, follows weekend discussions at the highest level between Governments of Zimbabwe and China, at which a decision was taken to allow Chinese medical experts to join their expert counterparts from Zimbabwe, South Africa and India in attending to the Vice President.
The office will keep the Nation updated on the progress the vice President continues to make towards full recovery.
Farai Dziva|A Zanu PF official has claimed that “agents of regime change” are plotting to destabilize the peace in the country.
Agents of regime change come under the guise of human rights activism as they seek to unseat Government, claimed Zanu PF Politburo member, Munyaradzi Machacha.
Machacha is also the Principal of Chitepo School of Ideology.
Machacha made the remarks at a symposium at Lupane State University.
“This is a training symposium for Zicosu members in Bulawayo and Matabeleland North to become better informed Zanu-PF cadres who appreciate the prevailing socio-economic and political challenges.
“We are saying patriotic Zimbabweans should be wary of agents of regime change masquerading as human rights activists.
These activists are crisispreneurs who don’t have the interests of the people of Zimbabwe at heart.
They are only interested in dislodging Zanu-PF government from power so they replace it with a puppet government which they will use to reverse the gains of the liberation struggle.
Their tactics include causing unrest through violent demonstrations and abuse of social media to spread alarm and despondency,” said Machacha.
The National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) is finalising a strategy on dealing with the Gukurahundi issue that is expected to be completed next month and will, among issues, address the processes around public hearings, exhumations and reburial of victims.
This was said by NPRC Commissioner Patience Chiradza in an interview with The Herald.
She said the Commission had identified three areas that needed to be dealt with from past experiences, although the Gukurahundi era would be prioritised.
“We have a programme that our healing and reconciliation committee is working around in dealing with issues from the past,” she said.
“When we did our consultations, three epochs became clear— the pre-independence era which culminated in the liberation struggle, then the Gukurahundi era, which is about between 1983 and 1985, and then the electoral violence that started around 2000.
“So, those are going to be the three focus areas and I think we are clear as a commission that Gukurahundi has its priorities given the dynamics that are there. Given the issues that have been raised in Matabeleland North and South and Bulawayo, Gukurahundi becomes a central theme.”
Commissioner Chiradza said the commission had been conducting consultations on the issue before the actual hearings begin.
“So, as a commission we have been doing a lot of work around that issue because before you get into that space you need to make sure that you have a proper strategy of how you are going to do the hearings,” she said.
“We have regulations that guide us. What are we going to do in public (and) what are we going to do in camera? Secondly, we are putting in mechanisms for witness protection because the NPRC Act obliges us to make sure that witness are protected.”
Commissioner Chiradza said they also wanted to ensure that there were measures to provide social-psycho support to people that may appear before the committee during the hearings.
“Thirdly, victim support, because if people come for the hearings they may have emotional breakdowns and need social-psycho support,” she said. “Do we have those mechanisms? So, what we are doing at the moment is working with partners so that when we kick-start the hearings we will have those mechanisms in place.
“So, the strategy we are finalising in dealing with the past is a strategy that will work for all the three epochs although we are set to give a special programme around Gukurahundi because we have issues traditional leaders are raising currently in their engagements with Government and what the Matabeleland Collective have raised in their engagements with the President.
“We are taking into account all those, in addition to our own special consultations.”
On the issue of exhumations and reburials, Commissioner Chiradza said the strategy will also explain how the processes would be done taking into account the laws of the land.
“We will have our programme . . . the strategy, it will explain how our exhumations are going to be done because we have to comply with the laws,” she said. “We have to engage with the police. We have forensic experts not only in civil society, but also within the police, so we are doing all those engagements.
“That’s why I said once that programme is finalised we will share it with the people so that people will know if you want reburials to be done with the commission, how do you go about it.
“We will have our own programme because inasmuch as we are doing our consultations . . . how do you want the reburials to be done, how do you want the exhumations to be done? There are issues of evidence that can be around that (so) we are consulting so that when we launch our programme people are clear of what the strategy is.
“So, I think by mid-August that programme should have been finalised.”
President Mnangagwa has decriminalised and encouraged discussions of issues around Gukurahundi and has met traditional leaders and civil society organisations under the banner of the Matabeleland Collective to hear the concerns.
Farai Dziva|Warriors fan Alvin Zhakata lost his passport in Egypt.
Zhakata lost the passport during the 2019 AFCON final between Algeria and Senegal.
Zhakata needed the passport in order to get into the game, as he did not have the Fan ID card.
“Fortunately, the passport was found by Senegal supporters in Alexandria, about 220km away, and it will be brought back to Alvin today,” said legendary soccer analyst Steve Vickers.
Farai Dziva|
Caps United head coach Lloyd Chitembwe is happy with his side’s draw with perennial arch rivals Dynamos.
The Green Machine settled for a 1-1 draw against city rivals Dynamos at Rufaro Stadium.
Joel Ngodzo broke the deadlock in the 45th minute but the Glamour Boys responded quickly with an equaliser in added time through new signing Simba Nhivi.
“I thought it was a very good game, especially for those that were watching,” said Chitembwe in his post match presser.
“Congratulations to both sets of players, I thought they really applied themselves. They gave the fans what they always want.
“The hunger was there. It meant so much for them and from that perspective I am very happy.
“I thought my team gave a very good performance. Our build-ups in the first half were precise and our ball retention was very good.
“A lot of things about our game today were very good save for the fact that we could not get a winner.”
Farai Dziva|The level of political polarization has reached astonishing levels in Zimbabwe.
MDC Secretary General Charlton Hwende has claimed that his party was denied a biller code by NetOne.
Hwende said NetOne turned down their request to have a biller code for the party.
Hwende tweeted: “Last year MDC introduced an electronic card system and approached Mobile operators for a similar service now extended to
@ZANUPF_Official by @NetOneCellular.
We were denied this service I will be sending someone again this week to see if we can now use thisplatform…”
Farai Dziva|The MDC has written a letter to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission expressing concern at the high incidence of vote buying by Zanu PF.
Below is MDC Secretary for Welfare, Maureen Kademaunga’s statement on the matter:
MDC Secretary-General Charlton Hwende has written to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), raising concern over the politicisation of State institutions after Zanu PF instructed NatPham to disburse medicine in Lupane East constituency ahead of the upcoming by-election.
Early this month, Zanu PF commissar Victor Matemadanda wrote to Health minister Obediah Moyo asking for medicines to beef up their campaign in Lupane East. In turn, Moyo instructed his permanent secretary to act on the request with NatPham.
The move has drawn widespread condemnation among various stakeholders, who felt the abuse of State institutions must not have a place in modern times.
By A Correspondent- AN illegal gold panner raided a tuckshop in Matobo district at night and axed the shop owner to death while his wife watched helplessly before robbing the couple of US$248.
Nhlanhla Mlalazi (29), a gold panner at Syndicate Mine in Matobo district found Mr Vusumuzi Mhlanga (46) and his wife, Ms Dorothy Nduna (48), sleeping in their tuckshop.
He axed Mr Mhlanga before robbing him of the money.
Mlalazi appeared before Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Thompson Mabhikwa on Friday facing a murder charge in connection with Mr Mhlanga’s death in 2016.
Prosecuting, Mr Kudakwashe Jaravaza said on September 20 in 2016 at around 11.55PM, Mr Mhlanga was sleeping in his tuckshop with his wife, Ms Nduna and their employee Ms Sibonokuhle Nyoni when the accused person came to his shop armed with an axe.
The court heard that Mlalazi destroyed the tuckshop door using the axe to gain entry.
“While inside the shop, the accused person found the deceased and other occupants already up after they were awakened by the sound of the door which was being chopped,” said Mr Jaravaza.
Mlalazi allegedly struck the deceased twice on the forehead and upper limb using the axe. He then allegedly robbed the deceased of a bag containing US$248 and fled from the scene.
A report was made to the police leading to Mlalazi’s arrest.The deceased was rushed to the United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) where he later succumbed to the injuries.
According to a post mortem report, the cause of death was due to brain abscess, skull fracture and post assault head injury.
In her testimony, Ms Nduna, narrated how she witnessed her husband being brutally attacked by the accused person while she and their employee, Ms Nyoni, watched helplessly.
“We were sleeping in our tuckshop when we heard a loud bang on the door. My husband woke up first so that he could investigate and he switched on the lights. The accused person chopped off the door and stormed into the shop and started demanding money before striking my husband with an axe on the forehead and upper limb,” she said.
Ms Nduna said although the accused person was wearing a hat, she managed to positively identify him by a scar on his face.
“The accused person took a bag containing US$248 and disappeared but fortunately I managed to identify his face,” she said.
Mlalazi, in his defence, denied the charge saying he was not at the scene of the crime on that particular day. He also accused one Simba Shoko of having misled Ms Nduna into falsely incriminating him.
“There is bad blood between myself and Simba Shoko following a long standing dispute over a mining claim. I believe he is the one who misled Ms Nduna into making a false police report so that he gets an opportunity to take over my mining claim once I am incarcerated,” he said.
Mlalazi is being represented by a lawyer from T Hara and Partners Legal Practitioners.
Farai Dziva|Bulawayo based prophet, BS Chiza, has said God is ready to release the much awaited solution to the crisis in Zimbabwe.
Read Chiza’ s full statement below:
PROPHECY FOR ALL ZIMBABWEANS
A HEAVENLY CALL FOR ZIMBABWEANS TO SERIOUSLY PRAY:
ZIMBABWE, ZIMBABWE!Greetings to all wonderful people of Zimbabwe. God gave me series of accurate visions about current Zimbabwe economic situation since 2018. The Lord says; “Time has come for Zimbabweans to engage into serious United Prayer of Agreement.”
It’s not much about who is leading but togetherness.
The Agreement Prayer is the most powerful prayer and it unlocks the Heavens Matthew 18:19-20.
God wants to release solutions to Zimbabwe situation. God showed me that if we don’t rise up to pray, and just watch things happen, we will continue experiencing poverty and lack. We now need to consult the CREATOR seriously in prayer 2Chron 7v14. Is there anything too hard for God?
Can anyone fight God & win? After much prayer as a man of God I felt an impression that Saturday 27 JULY 2019 is the day all Zimbabweans, Black, White, Ndebele, Shona, Small, Great, Believer or Non Believer must Fast and Pray for our nation.
It’s up to us as Zimbabweans to decide to pray as a united team or not to. The Lord said; “if they pray, I Shall hear from heaven and release solutions to Zimbabwe situation.
After we pray unitedly, you shall all see what shall start to happen in Zimbabwe. The heavenly shakings, the surprises & the solutions. Have faith & Believe. God bless you Amen. Please pass this message to all Zimbabweans…
By A Correspondent- REGISTRAR-General Mr Clemence Masango has issued a stern warning to officials in his department who are capitalising on the challenges in the issuance of passports by demanding kickbacks from desperate citizens intending to acquire emergency travel documents.
Desperate Zimbabweans are parting with huge sums of money to pay bribes in order to obtain passports as the Registrar General’s office is battling an acute shortage of special paper and ink used to make passports, resulting in a huge backlog for travel documents.
In an interview, Mr Masango said Government officials should desist from taking advantage of the people’s desperate situation through taking bribes.
“Government policy as pronounced by His Excellency President Emmerson Mnangagwa including our Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage (Cde Cain Mathema) reiterates the same point, which is zero tolerance to corruption. We therefore appeal to everyone, our clients, citizens and officials to desist from corruption,” he said.
Mr Masango said those caught engaging in corrupt activities would face the full wrath of the law.
“Corruption is a punishable offence and the cases that we will be able to detect will be dealt with by law enforcement agents and consequences will follow. Our position as a department is that when it comes to corruption there is no excuse and officials caught accepting bribes from clients will face the full wrath of the law,” he said.
“As civil servants we are already paid for the job that we are doing and there is no reason to extort or solicit for bribes. They (civil servants) are supposed to be content with the remuneration they are getting from the Government, if they feel the money is too little they should find elsewhere to go.”-StateMedia
Caller says: "I dont think Chiwenga will ever recover. It's a sad situation, because we needed someone to keep ED in check. @edmnangagwa doesn't care about anyone, all he knows is looting."
Farai Dziva|Zimbabweans have yet again been confronted by another wave of fuel price hikes at a time the government has predicted a phase of economic turnaround.
The Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) has hiked the price of fuel yet again with effect from Monday 22 July 2017.
The price of diesel has been raised to ZWL$7.19 while that of petrol has been increased to ZWL$7.47.
This is the second time the prices of fuel have been hiked in the past 10 days.
Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube has claimed that the country’s economy has entered the “recovery mode.”
Parliament will (Monday) question the Zimbabwe Nationals Road Administration (Zinara) over the state of affairs at the parastatal which has, of late, hogged news headlines because of corrupt practices.
When Transport minister Joel Biggie Matiza appeared recently before Parliament to answer on issues to do with corruption at Zinana, he admitted that the road authority lost millions of dollars to corruption and several malpractices in tender and job contracts.
Matiza promised the Tendai Biti-led Public Accounts Portfolio Committee, which expressed dismay over massive corruption at Zinara, that heads would roll at the institution, where managers enjoyed excessive allowances while the country’s roads were in very bad shape.
There was misuse of $71 million earmarked for special projects; awarding of millions worth of contracts to the same companies, for example, Univern without going to tender — prejudicing the country of millions of dollars through contracts that were poorly negotiated with Univern; and the $8 million graders tender scam and several issues of mismanagement, including hefty salaries and allowances for Zinara officials.
“The law is taking its course and some people are paying bail now for such rotten work at Zinara, and the new Zinara board, chaired by former deputy Transport minister Michael Madanha, has put in place a programme to ensure that there is financial probity at Zinara and the results will be foreseeable in the future and I can assure you that you will soon see things unravelling,” Matiza told MPs recently.
Meanwhile, the Defence, Home Affairs and Security Services Portfolio Committee, chaired by Umzingwane MP Levi Mayihlome, will also question Police Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga and the immigration department on the challenges faced by their departments at Zimbabwe’s points of entry, where millions of dollars are said to be getting lost through smuggling.
The Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Parliamentary Portfolio Committee will also hear teachers concerns over poor salaries after the Zimbabwe Teachers Association and the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe raised concern that teachers’ salaries had been eroded by inflation.
They demanded that part of teachers salaries, $200, be paid in United States dollars, but government then introduced Statutory Instrument 142 of 2009, which re-introduced the use of the Zimbabwean dollar as the sole legal tender in Zimbabwe, effectively quashing the teachers’ demands.
Farai Dziva|A man from Chipinge committed suicide over his wife’s infidelity.
According to state media reports, Ben Muyambo (44), of Jongwe village, Chipinge, was found hanging from a tree near his homestead after an altercation with his wife over alleged infidelity.
Police in Manicaland confirmed the incident.
According to The Herald, Muyambo confronted his wife Patricia Simango over adultery allegations.
Simango then denied having an extra-marital affair, and instead counter-accused Muyambo of being jealous and a control freak.
It is alleged that Muyambo could not take it and left home to visit his cousin, Taurai Mashava, in Kaguvi village in the same area.
He wanted to seek counselling following the fallout between him and his wife.
Mashava failed to provide a lasting solution to Muyambo’s problems.
Villagers found Muyambo’s body in the bush and rushed to inform Mashava.
Jane Mlambo| Opposition MDC Youths Assembly leader Obey Tererai Sithole has vowed to send President Emmerson Mnangagwa packing threatening that his administration will not last long as they are keen to put Section 59 into practice.
Section59 of the Constitution states that “Every person has the right to demonstrate and to present petitions, but these rights must be exercised peacefully.”
“Mnangagwa will not last long, we will definitely send him packing. We will put Section 59 into practice till Freedom,” said Sithole.
By Own Correspondent- The National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) is finalising a strategy on dealing with the Gukurahundi issue that is expected to be completed next month and will, among issues, address the processes around public hearings, exhumations and reburial of victims.
This was said by NPRC Commissioner Patience Chiradza in an interview with a local publication.
She said the Commission had identified three areas that needed to be dealt with from past experiences, although the Gukurahundi era would be prioritised.
“We have a programme that our healing and reconciliation committee is working around in dealing with issues from the past,” she said.
“When we did our consultations, three epochs became clear— the pre-independence era which culminated in the liberation struggle, then the Gukurahundi era, which is about between 1983 and 1985, and then the electoral violence that started around 2000.
“So, those are going to be the three focus areas and I think we are clear as a commission that Gukurahundi has its priorities given the dynamics that are there. Given the issues that have been raised in Matabeleland North and South and Bulawayo, Gukurahundi becomes a central theme.”
Commissioner Chiradza said the commission had been conducting consultations on the issue before the actual hearings begin.
“So, as a commission we have been doing a lot of work around that issue because before you get into that space you need to make sure that you have a proper strategy of how you are going to do the hearings,” she said.
“We have regulations that guide us. What are we going to do in public (and) what are we going to do in camera? Secondly, we are putting in mechanisms for witness protection because the NPRC Act obliges us to make sure that witness are protected.”
Commissioner Chiradza said they also wanted to ensure that there were measures to provide social-psycho support to people that may appear before the committee during the hearings.
“Thirdly, victim support, because if people come for the hearings they may have emotional breakdowns and need social-psycho support,” she said. “Do we have those mechanisms? So, what we are doing at the moment is working with partners so that when we kick-start the hearings we will have those mechanisms in place.
“So, the strategy we are finalising in dealing with the past is a strategy that will work for all the three epochs although we are set to give a special programme around Gukurahundi because we have issues traditional leaders are raising currently in their engagements with Government and what the Matabeleland Collective have raised in their engagements with the President.
“We are taking into account all those, in addition to our own special consultations.”-StateMedia
This was announced by the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority which said the new prices of fuel will start Monday 22 July 2019.
In the statement on Monday ZERA said, “Please be advised that the fuel prices effective Monday 22 July 2019 are as follows; maximum pump price diesel $7.19 and blend $7.47.” FULL TEXT BELOW-
By A Correspondent- ZIMBABWE’S social protection interventions lack coordination and are generally under-financed as a result of the poor performance of the economy, a new report has shown.
A report titled: Action Research on Social Protection in Post-Independence Zimbabwe 1980-2019 prepared by Labour and Economic Development Research Institute of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, European Union, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Economy Associations, details how the county has failied to come up with a proper policy to address social protection programmes in Zimbabwe.
“Social protection interventions are generally under- and irregularly financed as a result of the poor performance of the economy. In the National Social Protection Policy Framework (NSPPF), the target was to consider as eligible for all forms of social assistance in the short to medium term all the 500 000 households which are deemed to be below the Food Poverty Line (FPL),” reads part of the report.
“On the basis of the budget (National Budget) allocated for social welfare in 2018, each household would get a meagre US$38,60 per year and US$70,55 in 2019. On the basis of the 415 900 vulnerable children to be reached with educational support as indicated in the Blue Book, the US$23 485 000 allocated to child welfare in 2018 works out at US$56,47 per child per year for 2018, while the US$31 592 000 allocated for child welfare yields a support level of US$75,96 per child per year.”
Challenges include a fragmented application of the instruments without a proper guiding structure; inadequacy and exclusionary nature of available services; and the lack of predictability, consistency, transparency and durability in most cases.
The report also found that social protection in Zimbabwe lacks a proper centralised coordination leading to incoherent and sector driven social protection under various ministries.
The report questions decision making processes in the ministries of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education and the Ministry of Health and Child Care, which often create bureaucratic, complex situations.
Other weaknesses include a lack of mutually supportive and clear policy objectives leading to disjointed approaches, lack of awareness by people of what services they can access, their rights and entitlements, weak monitoring and evaluation systems, and the existence of various pieces of Zimbabwean laws and policy statements that may not be mutually supportive of each other.
“In view of the weaknesses highlighted earlier, there is need for an overarching social protection policy that can provide a guiding framework for social protection in the country. The need for a coherent social policy framework has become more pronounced in recent years given the high levels of poverty in the country which are associated with rising unemployment, underemployment, rapid de-industrialisation and informalisation of the economy,” reads part of the report.
“This social protection policy should also mitigate the problems of fragmentation and duplication discussed above. In addition, it should be designed in such a manner that it enhances predictability, consistency, transparency and accountability.”-Newsday
DISAPPOINTMENT, despair and heartbreak. These are the words Sikandar Raza used to describe the mood among his Zimbabwe teammates, as they frantically called each other and exchanged messages in the minutes following the International Cricket Council (ICC)’s decision to suspend Zimbabwe with immediate effect over “government interference”.
Raza said his teammates’ emotions were similar to the way they felt after the World Cup Qualifier last year, when their defeat to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) cost them a place in the 2019 World Cup.
But the situation was a lot worse, he said, as players remain in the dark over their immediate and foreseeable future. Zimbabwe are scheduled to play a T20 tri-series in September in Bangladesh, against the hosts and Afghanistan, in the lead-up to the Men’s World T20 Qualifier in October in the UAE.
While Zimbabwe remain suspended, representative teams will not be allowed to participate in any ICC events, making their presence in the Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier in August and Men’s World T20 Qualifier highly unlikely.
Effectively, Zimbabwe Cricket has to get its house in order by the next ICC meeting in October. Raza said the ICC could have applied the same conditions, but at least allowed them to play cricket.
“We are all pretty heart-broken at the moment” Raza told ESPNcricinfo. “We are still in shock to be honest, seeing how our international career can come to an end like that. Not just for one player, but for the whole country. I am not coming to terms with it so easily, and I am sure my team-mates feel the same way.
Where do we go from here? Is there a way out?
“I don’t know what is the way out. We have been told that we have been suspended, but not told for how long. [A] two-year [suspension] could basically bring an end to a lot of careers. I don’t know the conditions, but to totally suspend us from playing cricket, while you allow whoever is responsible to get our house in order, you basically stop cricket in Zimbabwe. I don’t know how one can do that but it has happened to us now.”
Raza feared it may be time for Zimbabwe players to think of alternative careers. Raza, himself, is a software engineer, and had also attended the Air Force College in Pakistan.
Although he picked up cricket as a profession later than most players, he has quickly built himself into a solid batting all-rounder in international cricket, and has picked up gigs in many of the T20 leagues around the world .
“If we miss the World T20 qualifiers, we will miss the T20 tri-series in Bangladesh [in September]. What if the house [ZC] is not in order? Is the ICC going to recognise the interim committee or the old committee? What is happening?
“I don’t know where we go as international cricketers. Is it club cricket or no cricket for us? Do we just burn our kits and apply for jobs? I don’t know what we have to do right now.”
Raza said that if the ICC had directly overseen the Zimbabwe Cricket elections in June, they may have quickly recognised why the government’s Sports and Recreation Commission dismissed the board in the first place.
“I genuinely thought that it would have been ideal if one member of the ICC had come and overseen the election process, for the reasons SRC dismissed the board, while we continued to play cricket. I thought that would have been a very good quick fix,” he said.
Last year, while accepting the Player of the Tournament award at the World Cup Qualifier in Harare, Raza had voiced his disappointment at the ICC’s decision to limit the number of teams in the 2019 World Cup. He maintained a similar stance regarding cricket’s decision-makers
“As much as I want to say, there’s nothing to say. Our cricket and livelihoods have been taken away from us,“ he said. “Whatever I say now will mean nothing. It will fall on deaf ears. I just thought the motto was to grow the game, and it keeps on shrinking.”
By A Correspondent- MDC secretary for economic affairs, Tapiwa Mashakada has said as long as the State was involved in the illegal market, the vice would continue unabated.
Said Mashakada:
“Under normal circumstances banks and bureaux de change sell or buy forex on a willing-buyer, willing-seller basis, provided the forex is available. In the case of Zim, the official forex market (interbank market) is dry, hence buyers and sellers go to the parallel market, where they can get forex.
“It is alleged that government is the main driver of the parallel market because questions are raised when new bond notes are traded on the black market. It is illegal, but in this case, it is the only reliable source of forex. No country has managed to completely eliminate the parallel market. It can only be minimised.”
The Zanu PF youth league last month named senior Zanu PF officials and some top government officials, who they said were involved in illegal forex deals, including the son of Information minister Monica Mutsvangwa, Neville.
Mnangagwa promised to set up a commission of inquiry to probe the allegations. But the commission is yet to be set up.-Newsday
By A Correspondent- THE Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc), headed by Justice Loice Matanda-Moyo, has instituted investigations into the operations of the Lands Commission in Marondera.
The probe comes after reports that the latter has become a cartel through which some government officials are seizing land from vulnerable farmers and fraudulently selling it for personal gain.
This followed a report by Goromonzi farmer, Richard Mandiranga, whose offer letter for Subdivision 2 of Dana A Farm in Goromonzi District of Mashonaland East province, was unceremoniously revoked without notice and the farm handed over to one Jannet Choto under unclear circumstances.
Mandiranga was issued with an offer letter for the piece of land in May 2012, but in December of the same year he received a letter of withdrawal. In February 2013, the same piece of land was offered to Choto.
Last week, Zacc officials visited the farms in dispute and after investigating the issues, made a report which is expected to be deliberated on before further action can be taken against the offenders.
“The Ministry of Lands, Marondera office, issued a revocation letter to Richard Mandiranga over his farm situated in Goromonzi. The revocation letter was issued without the issuance of a notice to revoke. The farm was given to Jannet Choto, who is the child to Bernard Choto, who is believed to have bribed the personnel of the Ministry of Lands so that his child would obtain the farm,” the report read.
On September 24, last year, Mandiranga wrote a letter of complaint to Lands minister Perrance Shiri, which was copied to Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga, raising issues against the Lands Commission arguing its decision in resolving the farm dispute between himself, and his neighbours Bernard Choto and one Gwarada, was unjust, unfair and biased against him.
After receiving a copy of the letter of complaint, Chiwenga then ordered Zacc to investigate the matter.
According to Mandiranga, when the issue of the revocation of his offer letter by the lands office in Marondera was brought to the Lands Commission’s attention, the latter did not address the concerns raised by Mandiranga, but instead ruled that he had encroached into somebody’s farm and had been occupying the farmhouse unlawfully.
“I feel I have been treated unfairly and have not been offered satisfactory assistance from the ministry in protecting my rights over a subdivision of Dana A Farm situated in Goromonzi, which subdivision I acquired by way of an offer letter …,” Mandiranga said in his letter of complaint to Lands Commission chair
“What is, however, shocking and mindboggling is the manner in which the Ministry of Lands (Agriculture, Water, Climate) and Rural Resettlement has handled the matter. As opposed to bringing clarity into the situation the ministry has brought more confusion into what started as a simple matter.”
Mandiranga further said although he did not receive a favourable response from the Lands Commission, the issue involving the fraudulent revocation and issuance of offer letters was brought to the attention of the Zimbabwe Republic Police in Marondera, where inspector Ngoma instructed Constable Nyengera to investigate the matter, but the same died a natural death.
“I, therefore, wish to appeal to you honourable minister and attach hereto my earlier letter of complaint against Choto and one Gwarada, which was not taken into consideration or made reference to in the Commission’s deliberations. I believe honourable minister that it is your sincere intention to see to it that justice is done,” he said.
Mandiranga said he employs at least 20 workers at the farm, who are all paid on a monthly basis and has also been operating a butchery and an abattoir since 1984.-Newsday
PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa says his administration has no immediate solution to dealing with illegal foreign currency trade despite admitting its role in the economic crisis.
Last week, official figures showed that inflation nearly doubled to 175,66% in May from 97,85% in the previous month, revealing an economy already in hyperinflation, a situation last experienced in 2008.
Government suddenly outlawed the use of foreign currencies on June 24 in favour of the re-introduced Zimbabwe dollar in part to catch out foreign currency speculators, which it blames for price volatility.
After liberalising the interbank market, the official exchange rate has shot up to $8,86 to the greenback compared to $10,1 on the parallel market which has persisted despite a crackdown by law enforcement agents.
Prices remain high because much of Zimbabwe’s economic activity takes place in the informal sector, where costs are set based on the higher parallel market rate.
In the case of large retailers, prices are set based on internal inflation tracking, which invariably is higher than the official rate.
Addressing a Zanu PF women’s league national assembly at the party’s headquarters last Friday, Mnangagwa said he did not have an immediate response on how he intends to deal with them.
“You have mentioned the issue of money changers selling our money to the people; yes, we see that on TV and we are still asking ourselves what we can do to deal with that. It is something that we are still looking at,” Mnangagwa told the party supporters.
Before his address, the women’s league boss, Mabel Chinomona, had pleaded with Mnangagwa to deal with the money changers, who she accused of fuelling price increases of basic goods and services.
“President, you said no more to money changers, but we have seen them coming out in their numbers and now they are using cars near the post office. Our people are going there looking for money, our own local currency is being sold there. The question is who is giving those people that money. You find them with new notes and the question we want to know is: Who is funding these people?” Chinomona asked
But the opposition has charged that Mnangagwa had no capacity to deal with illegal money changers because his administration was involved and driving the illegal market.
MDC secretary for economic affairs, Tapiwa Mashakada said as long as the State was involved in the illegal market, the vice would continue unabated.
“Under normal circumstances banks and bureaux de change sell or buy forex on a willing-buyer, willing-seller basis, provided the forex is available. In the case of Zim, the official forex market (interbank market) is dry, hence buyers and sellers go to the parallel market, where they can get forex,” Mashakada said.
“It is alleged that government is the main driver of the parallel market because questions are raised when new bond notes are traded on the black market. It is illegal, but in this case, it is the only reliable source of forex. No country has managed to completely eliminate the parallel market. It can only be minimised.”
The Zanu PF youth league last month named senior Zanu PF officials and some top government officials, who they said were involved in illegal forex deals, including the son of Information minister Monica Mutsvangwa, Neville.
Mnangagwa promised to set up a commission of inquiry to probe the allegations. But the commission is yet to be set up.
By A Correspondent- Government has moved to decriminalise wilful transmission of HIV to a partner after it gazetted the Marriages Bill that seeks to repeal a legal provision that makes it an offence.
The Marriages Bill, which was gazetted last Friday, decriminalises the transmission of HIV and AIDS to another partner, as Government seeks to keep abreast with international standards.
The Bill is now set to be tabled before Parliament for debate.
Section 53 of the Marriages Bill repealed Section 79 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act which makes it an offence to transmit HIV to a partner.
Section 79 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act (Chapter 9:23) titled “Deliberate transmission of HIV” states that, “(1) any person who
(a) Knowing that he or she is infected with HIV; or
(b) realising that there is a real risk or possibility that he or she is infected with HIV; intentionally does anything or permits the doing of anything which he or she knows will infect, or does anything which he or she realises involves a real risk or possibility of infecting another person with HIV, shall be guilty of deliberate transmission of HIV, whether or not he or she is married to that other person, and shall be liable to imprisonment for a period not exceeding twenty years.”
Early this year, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi told Parliament that the global thinking was that the law stigmatised people living with HIV and AIDS.
He said initially when the law was enacted, the thinking was that it would help to fight the spread of the disease by criminalising those that transmit it to partners willingly.
Accused persons that have been charged under the law were alleged to have unprotected sex with their spouses knowing that they were infected with HIV.
Proponents who argued for the abolishment of the law argued that at present medical evidence did not determine which of the adult partners was infected first if one was not a virgin at the point of the alleged transmission.
In the past, those charged under the law have challenged the constitutionality of Section 79 of the Criminal law, arguing that their right under Section 23 of the Constitution not to be discriminated against on any basis including HIV and AIDS status was being violated.
They also argued that their right to protection of the law under Section 18 was being violated because the offence in question was so wide, broad and vague. The challenge to the constitutionality of this offence was focused on the species of this offence requiring only that when the accused had sex with another person, the accused realised the real risk or possibility that he or she was infected with HIV and that there was a real risk that the other person will be infected.
Counsel for the applicants argued that this formulation of the offence violated the constitutional right to protection of law as it was conjectural and vague. They contended that innocent persons were in danger of being convicted under this provision.-StateMedia
By A Correspondent- More than 1,3 million Zimbabweans living with HIV and Aids and on antiretroviral treatment might fail to access the life-saving drugs due to government’s failure to mobilise US$6 million required to unlock donor funding.
This was revealed in a petition handed over to Parliament last week by the Zimbabwe Aids Network on the failure by government to pay its annual contribution of US$6 million to the Global Fund in order to access US$400 million from the International Health Fund to buy antiretroviral drugs.
According to the petition, government has failed to mobilise funds for procurement of the life-prolonging drugs at a time US$1 million was allegedly spent by President Emmerson Mnangagwa on travel alone in under 30 days.
Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, Tsitsi Gezi, told parliamentarians on Thursday that the pressure group had raised the alarm over the looming crisis and the matter has since been referred to thematic and portfolio committees on HIV and Aids and Health and Child Care, respectively for urgent attention.
But MDC MP and chair of the Health Committee, Ruth Labode, said the situation was now dire and government should act swiftly to arrest the looming health crisis.
“This issue has been raised here twice and the minister (of Finance Mthuli Ncube) gave a response last time that he will respond and pay. Those were his words. He said he will pay and right now, we are about to lose almost US$400 million because we cannot pay US$6 million,” she said.
“Madam Speaker, twice I have raised on a point of privilege that Zimbabwe committed itself to be part of the Global Fund. Right now, we are lobbying to get $20 billion to control HIV, Malaria and TB from that US$20 billion. Our share as Zimbabwe has been US$400 million. One of the things we committed ourselves to do is that we will meet our own counterpart in order for us to be able to get that US$400 million. We will produce our own share as a nation to show political commitment towards the fund, which was US$6 million,” Labode said.
“Here we are now, we are desperate. I know there is a letter which has been written to the Speaker from the National Aids Council requesting something to be done as a matter of urgency. We have over two million people on HIV drugs and we do not spend not even one cent as a nation on HIV drugs, tinongomapiwa (we just get them for free). We desperately need to do something, US$6 million ngaitsvagiwe (it must be sourced),” Labode said Gezi then demanded that the leader of the House, who is also Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi, responds to the question.
In his response, Ziyambi said so far only US$2,9 million has been mobilised.
“On Tuesday, I had an occasion of speaking to the Minister of Finance with my counterpart, the Minister of Health (Obadiah Moyo) and he indicated that he had paid US$2,9 million, but we then indicated that it is not sufficient.
What is required is to pay the US$6 million so that we can access the benefits. If we do not pay, it means that we will not be able to get the ARVs as is being alluded to by Honourable Labode. He promised that he was going to look into it and pay the amount. I will follow up and advise accordingly,” Ziyambi said.
The development comes as HIV activists and people living with HIV complained about shortages of ARVs and antibiotics in health centres around the country, with Mashonaland West province being the most affected. Patients also raised concern over issuance of expired drugs.
Early this year, then Health permanent secretary Gerald Gwinji also warned that government was expecting a deficit in ARV drugs between now and 2020 due to an increase in uptake of the HIV and Aids treatment programme.
Gwinji revealed that 8 000 new patients access ARVs monthly.
Government plans to reach the United Nations-set 90–90–90 ambitious treatment target to help end the Aids epidemic by 2020 will be scuttled if Treasury fails to release the US$6 million contribution
To fight HIV and Aids, tuberculosis and malaria, the Global Fund allocates additional resources in the form of grants to countries to support their national initiatives.
As a condition of the grant, countries are required to contribute a minimum percentage of the value of the grant as counterpart financing depending on their rankings as low, middle or high income countries.
According to this policy, if a country fails to meet the counterpart financing obligation, the Global Fund shall reduce the value of the grant by 15%.
Zimbabwe is considered as a low-income country and is required to contribute 5% of the value of the total grant as counterpart financing.
The current grant (2018-2020) is US$483 980 512. Therefore, the minimum required counterpart financing is US$24 199 026 over the three-year period.-Newsday
By A Correspondent- A Gwanda man, who raped a 59-year-old woman until she soiled herself, has been slapped with a 15-year jail term by the Beitbridge regional magistrate.
Zivanai Ndlovu (28) of Tshanyaugwe denied the charge when he appeared before Beitbridge regional magistrate, Crispen Mberewere.
The magistrate, however, convicted him and sentenced him to 15 years in jail after the State proved that there was overwhelming evidence that he committed the offence.
Prosecutor Munyonga Kuvarega told the court that on February 22, the woman, who can not be named for ethical reasons, retired to bed.
Later at night, Ndlovu broke in and raped the woman for a long period until she soiled herself.
The victim reportedly smeared her waste on his clothes with the intention of dissuading him from continuing, but he did not budge.
She only escaped when he asked her to change position, which allowed her to scream and alert her son.
The son gave chase and apprehended Ndlovu about 200 metres from their homestead, with the help of villagers, who were at a church gathering nearby.
By Nomusa Garikai- “THE Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) is next month set to initiate a pilot project of displaying the voters’ roll outside a polling station during three by-elections to be held in Matabeleland North province,” reported a local publication.
ZEC is going
to display the voters’ roll which is failed to produce for verification, which
denied 3 million Zimbabwean in the diaspora a vote, etc., etc. To what end and
purpose, one has to ask, especially now after the elections were rigged and ZEC
played a major role in the rigging?
“The electoral
commission lacked full independence and appeared to not always act in an
impartial manner,” stated the EU Mission final report.
“The final
results as announced by the Electoral Commission contained numerous errors and
lacked adequate traceability, transparency and verifiability. Finally, the
restrictions on political freedoms, the excessive use of force by security
forces and abuses of human rights in the post-election period undermined the
corresponding positive aspects during the pre-election campaign. As such, many
aspects of the 2018 elections in Zimbabwe failed to meet international
standards.”
Last year’s
elections were not free, fair and credible as the process was full of flaws and
illegalities it is nonsense to suggest such a process can ever produce a legal
and legitimate result. Utter nonsense!
Zimbabwe does
not have a legitimate government with the people’s democratic mandate to
govern. The Zanu PF government is illegitimate and hence the reason the country
is a pariah state.
As long as
Zimbabwe remain a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and vote rigging thugs
the country will never achieve any meaningful economic recovery. No investor
wants to do business with thugs!
Zanu PF has
rigged elections in the, insisted the elections were free and fair, declared
itself the winner and legitimate government and presented the nation and the
world at large with a fait accompli. Rigging the elections, ipso facto
confirming the country it’s pariah state status, was the easy bit. With
investors shying away, the regime has to “rig” economic recovery too – clearly
a bridge too far!
Zimbabwe’s
economic meltdown has pushed unemployment to nauseating heights of 90%,
millions now live in abject poverty and basic services such health care have
all but collapsed. The country has a chronic shortage of fuel, food, medicine,
etc.
In a futile
attempt to “rig” economic recovery the regime has prematurely abolished the use
of the multi-foreign currencies as legal tender unleashed the scourge of
hyperinflation. Inflation was 97% when the regime imposed the Z$ as the only
legal tender a month ago; it has since surged to 175%. Last time inflation
soared to 500 billion % and the economy was left in ruins; we are clearly set
for a repeat!
As much as
Zanu PF would like to pretend otherwise, Zimbabwe is not a democracy and the
country is in serious economic trouble and the situation is getting worse, not
better!
As stated
above, as long as the country remains a pariah state; the economic situation
will only get worse. The only way out is for Zanu PF to step down so the nation
can appoint an interim administration tasked to implement the reforms and end
this curse of rigged elections and pariah state. There is no other way out!
So ZEC will
display unverified voters’ roll but will not do what it is required to do by
law such as to produce verified voters’ roll; display on each polling station
the V11 forms, summary of votes cast for each candidate; etc.; etc. In any case
this will do nothing to get the country out of the political and constitutional
crisis of having a pariah state because last year’s elections were rigged!
Senior officials at the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing head office have been nailed for interfering with the allocation of land in favour of their cronies in the lucrative Mt Hampden area, where Government is constructing the New Parliament Building and intends to establish a new city.
Former Zvimba Rural District Council chief executive officer Mr Peter Hlohla revealed the alleged fraudulent allocation and distribution of land in the area when he appeared before the Commission of Inquiry into Urban State Land since 2005.
The commission, which is in Mashonaland West, held the inquiry at the Chinhoyi University of Technology Hotel on Thursday last week.
Chaired by Justice Tendai Uchena, the commission started its public hearings in Mashonaland West on Wednesday last week, with officials from various Government departments and councils revealing massive interference from senior officers from the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing.
While other officials where evasive and failed to name the alleged perpetrators, Mr Hlohla, who resigned from his post two weeks ago, gave the names of some of the alleged culprits.
He fingered principal director responsible for rural authorities Mr Christopher Shumba and principal director of physical planning Mrs Ethel Mlalazi, among senior Government officials, for manipulating the system in favour of cronies.
Mr Hlohla said Mr Shumba flouted Government procedures in favour of Delatfin Investments whose partnership with the council had been cancelled over a number of procedural deficiencies
Delatfin Investments is owned by Engineer Felix Munyaradzi and had gone into partnership with the Zvimba RDC to develop low-density stands at Haydon Farm in Mt Hampden.
Mt Hampden is where Government intends to move its offices when construction of the new Parliament Building is completed.
“Sometime in 2011, the Zvimba RDC resolved to partner a developer in servicing the land at Haydon Farm prior to the acquisition of the same,” said Mr Hlohla. “The farm initially sat on 744 hectares, which is also the description purposes of the available land.
“Council, in partnership with Delatfin, produced a layout plan covering 266 hectares which was land available after we realised that the other area was for the jatropha project measuring 295ha and other land reserved for Mr (Lovemore) Kurotwi.
“The land reserved for Mr Kurotwi included 70ha for Cornway College and the Diamond Processing Centre (30 hectares). After the agreement was reached with Delatfin, we came up with a plan with about 1 000 low-density stands with other amenities, two institutional stands, one for primary and secondary school.”
The partnership also saw the opening of a bank account which had two signatories from both parties.
“The account was opened with about $4 000 to $5 000, but nothing was ever deposited into that account and nothing is known about what happened to that account,” said Mr Hlohla.
He indicated that Delatfin had initially been overlooked for the project when it went to tender because it had no proof of equipment to sustain the project, while it also had offshore accounts.
“The order to go into partnership with them came from above (head office),” said Mr Hlohla. “However, when we went into the project, the partner failed to deliver, raising curiosity from council.
“The partner also approached council for the right to dispose of his share of stands so that they can service the land and again council was not amused by this.”
Delatfin had a 60 percent stake in the partnership, with the other going to council and stands reserved for commonage.
“Eng Munyaradzi wanted to dispose of his share of 60 percent, but he ended up developing a certain area where he had allocated and collected money from some of the beneficiaries,” said Mr Hlohla.
He alleged that Delatfin grabbed 120ha of land that was not part of the project without the approval of the Zvimba RDC, resulting in a protracted dispute.
Mr Hlohla told the Commission that Delatfin developed and allocated stands on an area reserved for the schools, escalating its dispute with the council.
“In March last year, a meeting was convened at the ministry’s boardroom in Harare to address the allocation of land at Haydon Farm with a view of correcting the anomaly,” he said.
“However, the meeting irregularly recommended that the Department of State Land should write a formal letter to Delatfin Investments and regularise the allocation of the disputed 120 hectares.”
Among the officials who attended the meeting, according to Mr Hlohla, were Mr Shumba, Mrs Mlalazi and acting deputy director State Land Department Ms Kristina Koswa Chikotera.
Mrs Mlalazi has since left her position in the ministry.
Mr Hlohla was challenged by the commissioners on the basis of his allegations, but insisted that council, as the custodians of the land, was in charge of the area, not officials from head office.
“Zvimba RDC recommends the plans and designs that come through their partners, but in this case Mrs Mlalazi insisted that everything was above board on the recommendations of her officers in her office,” he said.
“Mr Shumba also showed some interest in the matter, while presiding over cases which were not under his jurisdiction. In normal circumstances, council recommends approval of all plans.
“In this instance, council had resolved to cancel the partnership with and allocation of land to Delatfin, but our head office reversed that decision.”
Mr Hlohla alleged that Eng Munyaradzi enjoyed a cordial relationship with senior officials in Harare with unabated access to information from Mr Shumba’s office.
“I even heard of my pending suspension from council way before the letter arrived, through people who claimed to have received information from Eng Munyaradzi,” he said.
Mr Hlohla revealed how two councillors were dismissed after they were bribed with vehicles and a stand each by Eng Munyaradzi.
He told the commission that Mr Shumba derived his power from his political position, while he was a former provincial administrator in Mashonaland West province.
In her submissions to the commission on Wednesday last week, Mashonaland West provincial physical planning officer Mrs Sekai Vivian Matimba revealed how orders were, in some instances, directed from Harare to fast-track applications.
Justice Uchena had sought clarity on whether or not the provincial office originated the documents when Mrs Matimba said her office was ordered to submit their approval for documents originating from Harare.
“The normal procedure is to submit the plans through the province,” she said. “If it’s a local authority or a private developer, they submit to the province and then we submit it to head office for approval.
“But in this case we were told that the submission and technical input that is normally done at provincial level had already been done by head office.”
All parties to the dispute are expected to appear before the commission.
President Mnangagwa appointed the commission following the mushrooming of illegal settlements in most urban areas, most of which were products of the illegal sale of State land by land barons.-StateMedia
By A Correspondent- The opposition MDC has lamented the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC)’s reluctance to create a level playing field in the holding of elections as shown recently during the Nyanga and Bikita ward by-elections.
MDC secretary for elections Jacob Mafume said that his party is going to use the courts to pile political pressure on ZEC.
He said:
Zec has not implemented any of the reforms that were put down by observer missions and stakeholders after last year’s elections.
They still allow vote-buying, where food is distributed within the area of elections on voting day.
There is a letter from Health minister (Obadiah Moyo) directing that medicines be distributed in an area where there is a pending election in order to favour Zanu PF. Zec is, however, silent in all this.
… They (Zec) are determined to run elections in a way that favours Zanu PF. The State media is also still a closed space for us. We are going to use the courts and pile political pressure to correct these anomalies”.-Newsday
The
Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) board led by Tavengwa Mukuhlani has taken note of the
International Cricket Council (ICC)’s decision to suspend Zimbabwe over
government interference.
As a
result of suspension, ICC funding to ZC has been frozen and representative
teams from Zimbabwe will not be allowed to participate in any ICC events.
The
ICC has directed that the elected ZC board, chaired by Mukuhlani, be reinstated
to office within three months, and progress in this respect will be considered
again in October.
The
government-run commission had replaced the elected board with an interim
committee last month, but the ICC viewed it as government interference, which
is against the world body’s rules.
Although
the sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe were inevitable, we believe the devastating
consequences of suspension should jolt all the parties involved into setting
differences aside in an effort to find amicable solutions that will avert
expulsion and the total demise of the game.
As
things stand, Zimbabwe will be barred from participating in both the women’s
and men’s ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier 2019 tournaments, respectively scheduled
for Scotland in August-September and Dubai in September-October.
The
ICC had also awarded Zimbabwe the right to host another global qualifier event
next, but that now hangs in the balance.
To
exacerbate matters, ZC will not be able to stage its domestic competitions nor
to fulfil its Future Tours Programme and other international obligations,
including the tour to Bangladesh for a T20 triangular series that also includes
Afghanistan in September.
In
all this, players and staff are bearing the brunt of the standoff and they
might be forced to go for months or forever without their salaries and match
fees.
We
would like to see our teams playing again as soon as possible and the ZC board
is ready to cooperate with the SRC and other stakeholders to get Zimbabwe back
to operating within the confines of the ICC statutes again.
The
board is committed to ensuring our game is financially stable, thriving and of
a world-class standard.
And
in light of the allegations that have been peddled, we are appealing to the SRC
to release the findings of a forensic audit that the government-run body
recently conducted into the affairs of ZC.
The
ZC board would also welcome the ICC to conduct another audit should the world
cricket authority so wish.
By Wilbert Mukori- “As you continue to suffer, your representatives in parliament and government are preparing to receive brand new cars. Is this what you vote them in to office for? To live large in the face of crisis?” twittered Dr Nkosana Moyo’s APA Zimbabwe.
What a foolish remark!
Zanu PF blatantly rigged last year’s elections, how many times must one say this before it finally sinks in?
“The electoral commission lacked full independence and appeared to not always act in an impartial manner,” stated the EU Zimbabwe Election Mission final report.
“The final results as
announced by the Electoral Commission contained numerous errors and lacked
adequate traceability, transparency and verifiability. Finally, the
restrictions on political freedoms, the excessive use of force by security
forces and abuses of human rights in the post-election period undermined the corresponding
positive aspects during the pre-election campaign. As such, many aspects of the
2018 elections in Zimbabwe failed to meet international standards.”
There is no denying that
Zanu PF blatantly rigged last year’s elections. Worst of all you, Dr Moyo, and
you APA Zimbabwe, Nelson Chamisa and his MDC and the rest of the 23
presidential candidates and 130 political parties who contested last year’s
elections KNEW the elections would be rigged. ZEC failed to produce something
as basic to free, fair and credible elections as a verified voters’ roll; it is
nonsense to suggest anyone missed that!
If the opposition KNEW all
along the elections process was full of flaws and illegalities; why then did
they participate? Simple – greed.
In his Book, The Struggle Continues 50 years of tyranny in Zimbabwe, former MDC – Ncube Senator and Minister of Education in the
2008 to 2013 GNU, David Coltart, gave a detailed account of how Zanu PF was flouted
the electoral rules and how it was clear to him and the nation at large that the
upcoming 2013 elections would not be free and fair. It was obvious to all that
they should not participate in the elections and yet they did participate
regardless!
“The worst aspect for me
about the failure to agree a coalition was that both MDCs couldn’t now do the
obvious – withdraw from the elections,” he explained in the Book.
“The electoral process was
so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step was to withdraw, which would
compel SADC to hold Zanu PF to account. But such was the distrust between the
MDC-T and MDC-N that neither could withdraw for fear that the other would
remain in the elections, winning seats and giving the process credibility.”
After the blatant cheating
and wanton violence of the 2008 elections resulting in the humiliating GNU, as
far as Mugabe and Zanu PF were concerned, Mugabe learned that he could still
rig elections and get away with it if he allowed the opposition to win a few
bait seats. It worked; it was these few bait seats the opposition was after
that compelled them to participate is flawed elections.
Before the 2018 elections
three of the main MDC factions formed the MDC Alliance coalition and still they
participated in the flawed and illegal elections for the same reason, greed –
proof that Coltart’s excuse participating in 2013 election because the two MDC
factions had failed to unity was a lie!
Dr Nkosana Moyo and many
other opposition parties and candidates joined the rat race and contested last
year’s elections knowing fully well Zanu PF would rig the elections for the
same reason – greed!
What is worse, by
participating in these flawed and illegal elections the opposition are giving
the rigged elections some modicum of political credibility as Coltart
acknowledged. In other words, Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF regime are illegitimate
because the election process was flawed and illegal, the regime does not have
the people’s mandate to govern. The regime clinging on to power on the basis
that the opposition participated.
As long as Zanu PF assures
the opposition of winning a few seats, we can be certain Dr Nkosana Moyo and
the rest in the opposition camp will contest the elections regardless how flawed
and illegal the process. If Zimbabwe is ever to hold free, fair and credible
elections then it is up to us, the long-suffering electorate to demand that
this illegitimate Zanu PF regime steps down so the nation can appoint an
interim administration to implement the reforms.
Both MDC, Zanu PF and all
those who participated in previous elections cannot be in the interim
administration for the simple reason that we cannot trust them. Greed got the
better of them forcing them to participate in flawed and illegal elections in
the past; greed will get the better of them again.
“Did you vote MPs to live
large in the face of crisis?” Dr Nkosana Moyo is adding insult to injury; the
elections were rigged and he and his opposition friends helped Zanu PF rig the
elections!
ZANU PF’s, The Patriot Magazine|THE country’s senior men’s national soccer team, the Warriors, embarrassingly bowed out of the ongoing 32nd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament in Egypt.
Time and again we have had to go back to the drawing board but, as we pick up the pieces, the compelling reality is that there is now absolutely nothing to draw from that board.
Our team is hopeless and now is the time to come to terms with the reality.
But before we do a thorough prognosis of the disaster in Egypt, it is important to unravel certain things about this country and how these have affected so many things.
There are many things in this country we have simply glossed over in order to make it look all rosy and beautiful; creating a fool’s paradise with a false sense of bravado.
For instance, when Government introduced Statutory Instrument (SI) 142 which outlawed the multi-currency system, there was an outpouring of ‘anger’ by so-called political gurus and economic ‘analysts’ who suddenly fell in love with the argot ‘fundamentals’ in dismissing the new measures.
Suddenly these experts start telling us that the new currency will not work unless Government addresses fundamentals like production.
They forget that they were the ones who were lamenting high costs of production during the multi-currency regime.
We will deal with this issue on another day.
We have been told by MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa that he has the keys to unlock the country’s potential but as we are now seeing, that is one huge lie replete with innuendos aimed at taking him and his stuttering party to State House.
We have been told by one Tendai Biti that he brought stability to the country’s economy when all that he did was to suffocate the potential of resettled farmers and artisanal miners.
If anything, and when the truth is told, it was in fact former Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa who brought in the much touted multi-currency regime in January 2009.
We have also been told that the Land Reform and Resettlement Programme of 2000 was initiated as a result of the coming on board of the MDC on September 11 1999.
Again that is a lie.
The truth is, between 1980 and 1990, the Government of Zimbabwe was hamstrung by the infamous Lancaster House ‘willing-buyer willing-seller’ 10-year clause which inhibited buying land from white commercial farmers.
Because no one was willing to sell land, Government managed to resettle
75 000 families out of the targeted 162 000 families.
Government needed 8,3 million hectares to resettle people who had been displaced by the war of liberation but managed to acquire only 2,6 million ha.
Disappointed by the slow pace in the implementation of the programme, Government introduced the Land Acquisition Act in 1992.
The Act allowed for compulsory acquisition of land with ‘little compensation and limited rights of appeal to the courts.
As expected, white commercial farmers launched lawsuit after lawsuit challenging the law and compulsory acquisition of what they said was ‘their’ land.
The bench which comprised mostly white judges, like the then Chief Justice Anthony Gubbay, David Bartlett, Fergus Blackie, George Smith and Michael Gillespie, was accused by former President Robert Mugabe of taking sides with the white farmers and seeking to derail the Land Reform and Resettlement Programme.
In September 1998, a Land Donor Conference was held at the then Sheraton Hotel (now Rainbow Towers) in Harare where the Government of Zimbabwe made passionate pleas for international donors to honour their Lancaster House pledges of funding the Land Reform and Resettlement Programme.
But those pleas fell on deaf ears as the British Government, under the bellicose Tony Blai,r reneged on its earlier pledge to support the programme through funding.
Now, from the foregoing narration of events, it is difficult to locate how the MDC played any part in the implementation of the programme.
On the contrary, they were, in fact, vehemently opposed to that programme; a position that they have studiously held on to for more than two decades now.
It is important to keep these issues in mind when unpacking the Warriors’ horror outing in Egypt.
The media stupid!
Glaring fault lines from the technical department have for some time been there for all to see but, time and again, and because we have an excitable media that glosses over mediocrity, we are where we are now.
How the media found glory in the Warriors’ defeat by Egypt is indicative of our penchant for glorifying incompetence.
The Warriors were off colour against the unconvincing Pharaohs and if we had sound technical minds, we could have easily walked out of that match with at least a point.
Fine, we went down fighting as the local media claimed, but what they forgot to tell us was that there are no points for going down fighting.
Musona and Chipezeze’s fault?
Not at all!
It would have been an insult if the Warriors had qualified for the next round of the tournament given how clueless the technical bench was.
We are talking of people who lost their jobs at their respective clubs for failing to produce results and those same people are given the honour of carrying the nation’s hopes!
We have FC Platinum coach Norman Mapeza; one of the finest minds in local football and a coach who has just had a dance on the continental stage being snubbed by an incompetent ZIFA.
We will not even waste our time on ZIFA because we all know they are incompetent.
When all is said and done, we will have to face the reality that it will take us a while to move from this fiasco.
The Warriors are a national disaster and not even an apology can undo the damage they have caused to the nation.
By A Correspondent- President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s presidential exit is all but sealed amid reports that China will likely help in his removal from office.
The development comes after he recently allegedly angered Beijing by giving exclusive diamond exploration and mining rights to Russia ahead of the Asian powerhouse, an online publication has reported.
Mnangagwa’s tenure in office is already hanging by a thread, as a faction in the military close to Vice President, Rtd General Constantino Chiwenga, wants him to voluntarily resign and make way for Chiwenga, after he has dismally failed to resuscitate the country’s economy, which is now nearing total collapse in the face of the worst and unseen power outages in the nation’s history of up to 18 hours a day, growing fuel and water shortages, a wave of extortionate taxes by his regime, and uncontrollable price escalations.
According to diplomatic sources in the capital, diamond company executives and an official in the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC), who survived Mnangagwa’s purges after former leader, President Robert Mugabe’s ouster in November 2017, China is upset with the ruling Zanu PF leader, and she is reportedly about to play a hidden hand in his removal from power, as Mnangagwa has reneged on a political deal to give China unlimited and preferential access to Zimbabwe’s vast diamond deposits.
Last week Mnangagwa’s administration gave Russian diamond exploration and mining giant Alrosa, a massive 70 percent stake in a joint venture with government owned Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC) in Manicaland with a contract provision for possible expansion across the territory of the whole country. Alrosa is the world leader in diamond mining, accounting for over 25% in the global diamond production in terms of carats.
Russia is the world’s biggest diamond miner, while China is the world’s second biggest diamond consumer market after the US.
Prior to Alrosa’s Zimbabwe entry, China had enjoyed access to mining diamonds in Marange, which is thought to be home to the globe’s biggest diamond find carats wise in more than a century, with plans by Beijing to explore other deposits in the country, before it’s flagship diamond mining firm in the area, Anjin Investments, had it’s licence controversially terminated by Mugabe in 2015 over accusations of diamond looting and corruption.
Anjin is a joint venture between a Chinese company, Anhui Foreign Economic Construction Co. Ltd., and Matt Bronze Enterprises, which was formed by the Zimbabwe Defense Ministry and the Zimbabwe Defense Forces through an intermediary company.
“China though they might say otherwise actually removed Mugabe over the fallout in Marange diamonds mining,” said one of the envoys last week. “From what we understand in our circles your new leader made a political deal with the Chinese, to grant them exclusive diamond mining and exploration rights in Zimbabwe post-Mugabe, as they had facilitated his passage to becoming president.
However he appears to have reneged on the pact, and has decided to choose Russia over China, now that’s a very dangerous game and they (China) will help remove him (Mnangagwa), because their economic interests in your country are increasingly coming under threat, from the Russians and the West. China is the one keeping Zimbabwe running, and they will make sure that a leader who protects their interests is in power.”
China has over the years and before his dethronement, funded Mugabe’s presidential campaigns and Zanu PF’s power retention agenda, through the direct intervention of the Chinese Communist Party, and financial support said to have topped US$1 billion from diamonds alone, according to news organisation 100Reporters.
A diamond company executive based in the port city of Antwerp, in Belgium, with close links to a former presidium member, yesterday in a telephone briefing told Spotlight Zimbabwe that, Mnangagwa had courted Alrosa and favoured them with diamond mining in Zimbabwe instead of China, because he wanted political and financial support from Russia in his bid to run for a second term as president in 2023, but the whole strategy will backfire.
“The Chinese have written Mnangagwa off and are not interested in funding his stay in office anymore,” said the executive. “He has courted Alrosa with the intention to receive funding and support from Russia, in his remote bid to remain president and run again as Zanu PF’s 2023 presidential candidate, because China stopped to bankroll the ruling party when Mugabe chased their companies away from mining diamonds in Marange. It’s going to backfire, and he’ll soon be desposed as leader. China made his presidency, and they’re now going to annul it over the war on Zimbabwe diamonds with Russia.”
The OPC official said the recent Alrosa joint venture with ZCDC in Manicaland, and another US$3 billion platinum project with Russia in Darwendale, has won Mnangagwa invitation to the inaugural Russia-Africa Summit in October in Sochi, but he might not be in office or it will be his very first and last Russia-Africa Summit, as he was definately leaving the presidency in 2020, whether he liked it or not.
“The Chinese are not happy with Mnangagwa because of the diamonds saga,” said the OPC staffer. “Even communication channels are no longer direct, these days. President Mugabe always had a direct line to speak with the Chinese leader, but now we have to go through the Chinese Embassy, that tells you that all is not well. He’s definately leaving the presidency in 2020, whether he likes it or not, but you already know that.”
Outspoken Independent legislator for Norton, Temba Mliswa, last month warned that Mnangagwa faces the danger of either being captured or removed by Chinese nationals operating various businesses in Zimbabwe.
Speaking in parliament on a point of privilege, Mliswa accused the Chinese of disrespecting the laws of Zimbabwe.
“Government must review relations with China. I was kidnapped yesterday (Wednesday) in my constituency. Chinese have no respect for the laws of this country. Today it is Mliswa but next it will be the President (Mnangagwa) Mr Speaker Sir,” Mliswa said.
China has previously been accused of orchestrating Mugabe’s removal via a military coup, but has vehemently denied any involvement, calling such speculation “complete nonsense, and purely fictitious”.
It’s embassy in South Africa during the time said in a statement: “Some people are trying to link China to the political crisis that is taking place in Zimbabwe in order to drive a wedge between China and Africa and to undermine China’s image. Such allegations were “illogical, inconsistent and filled with evil motives”.
“China has long enjoyed friendly relations with Zimbabwe. When Zimbabwe was facing isolation and sanctions from the west, China stood firm on its principles and remained by Zimbabwe’s side, developing mutually beneficial cooperation, which brought benefits to both countries and peoples.”
Alrosa says it has targeted various areas for further diamond exploration. The company’s chief executive officer Sergey Ivanov told State media last week, that: “We expect to have more than four spots in Zimbabwe where we see potential and where we need to invest in exploration. We hope to get discoveries in all these. We see some exploration perspectives on the border with South Africa, the border with Botswana, (the) border with Mozambique; we see that there are some promising geological data and perspectives for new discoveries,” Ivanov was quoted.
They have been reports of recent diamond deposits and discoveries in the Sese area of Chivi, Masvingo Province, Chihota in Marondera West and Penhalonga just outside Mutare.
Information minister, Monica Mutsvangwa, whose husband is a former Zimbabwean Ambassador to China, was not reachable for comment last night, while the Chinese Embassy was closed,-SpotlightZimbabwe
The Zimbabwean football fan who travelled from Cape Town to Cairo in an epic road trip to watch the Africa Cup of Nations has lost his passport in Egypt.
This is just the latest mishap and adventure which has seen Alvin “Aluvah” Zhakata become a celebrity.
Sadly, he did not get to see the Zimbabwe Warriors play in their first match. He did, however, get a ticket to see Friday’s final – a special present from the head of African football – which saw Algeria beat Senegal 1-0.
That, though, may have been Zhakata’s undoing as he lost his passport at the match while supporting Senegal.
Luckily someone did find it, but the passport somehow made its way to Alexandria, 220km (137 miles) from Cairo.
Zhakata should get it back in Monday.
His philosophy is that you need to be “patient and strong” while pursuing your dream – no doubt that has come in handy in the latest drama in his adventure.
By A Correspondent| Based on the same news report that Netball President, Leticia Chipandu in an interview on Sunday dismissed as false, the Netball Team yesterday afternoon received a donation of training equipment from a British donor.
This was in response to the same news report by the British Telegraph which Leticia Chipandu said was false. The Telegraph’s report quotes the Zim coach Lloyd Makunde saying he has only £30 in his hands for the whole team and wants to purchase training equipment, and that paltry £30 is from his own pocket.
Thousands of donated funds were squandered on airfares and allowances for government officials leading to the Netball team struggling for basics like food, and an official government audit shows that the fund was already short by $39,000 (alone) by the time of leaving Zimbabwe earlier in July.
Leticia Chipandu was asked to provide answers on these and other matters yesterday afternoon. She was also asked to explain why she refused to provide ankle support shoes as requested by the players. Even as late as yesterday, she told ZimEye’s Simba Chikanza, “the Asics shoes are not necessary.”
WATCH THE BELOW VIDEO AND ALSO, THE PICTURES OF THE DONATIONS.
NewsDay|PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa says his administration has no immediate solution to dealing with illegal foreign currency trade despite admitting its role in the economic crisis.
Last week, official figures showed that inflation nearly doubled to 175,66% in May from 97,85% in the previous month, revealing an economy already in hyperinflation, a situation last experienced in 2008.
Government suddenly outlawed the use of foreign currencies on June 24 in favour of the re-introduced Zimbabwe dollar in part to catch out foreign currency speculators, which it blames for price volatility.
After liberalising the interbank market, the official exchange rate has shot up to $8,86 to the greenback compared to $10,1 on the parallel market which has persisted despite a crackdown by law enforcement agents.
Prices remain high because much of Zimbabwe’s economic activity takes place in the informal sector, where costs are set based on the higher parallel market rate.
In the case of large retailers, prices are set based on internal inflation tracking, which invariably is higher than the official rate.
Addressing a Zanu PF women’s league national assembly at the party’s headquarters last Friday, Mnangagwa said he did not have an immediate response on how he intends to deal with them.
“You have mentioned the issue of money changers selling our money to the people; yes, we see that on TV and we are still asking ourselves what we can do to deal with that. It is something that we are still looking
at,” Mnangagwa told the party supporters.
Before his address, the women’s league boss, Mabel Chinomona, had pleaded with Mnangagwa to deal with the money changers, who she accused of fuelling price increases of basic goods and services.
“President, you said no more to money changers, but we have seen them coming out in their numbers and now they are using cars near the post office. Our people are going there looking for money, our own local currency is being sold there. The question is who is giving those people that money. You find them with new notes and the question we want to know is: Who is funding these people?” Chinomona asked
But the opposition has charged that Mnangagwa had no capacity to deal with illegal money changers because his administration was involved and driving the illegal market.
MDC secretary for economic affairs, Tapiwa Mashakada said as long as the State was involved in the illegal market, the vice would continue unabated.
“Under normal circumstances banks and bureaux de change sell or buy forex on a willing-buyer, willing-seller basis, provided the forex is available. In the case of Zim, the official forex market (interbank market) is dry, hence buyers and sellers go to the parallel market, where they can get forex,” Mashakada said.
“It is alleged that government is the main driver of the parallel market because questions are raised when new bond notes are traded on the black market. It is illegal, but in this case, it is the only reliable source of forex. No country has managed to completely eliminate the parallel market. It can only be minimised.”
The Zanu PF youth league last month named senior Zanu PF officials and some top government officials, who they said were involved in illegal forex deals, including the son of Information minister Monica Mutsvangwa, Neville.
Mnangagwa promised to set up a commission of inquiry to probe the allegations. But the commission is yet to be set up.
Vincent Tsvangirai, younger brother to the late Vimbai Tsvangirai Java is reported to be eyeing the Glen View South National Assembly seat left by his sister.
The Daily News on Sunday reports that Vincent has declared his interest in contesting MDC primary elections.
Nine prospective candidates will contest in the MDC primary election, the publication was told.
Among the contenders are the secretary for Education Fadzai Mahere and former representative of the constituency Paul Madzore.
Glen View National Assembly seat fell vacant following the death of Tsvangirai Java who succumbed to injuries that she sustained following a car accident on her way from Bulawayo.
Meanwhile, the by-elections for Glen View South and Mangwe constituencies are slated for September 7.
The Mangwe constituency fell vacant following the death of Obedingwa Mguni (ZANU PF) who succumbed to diabetes.
EcoCash has raised the minimum amount of airtime you can buy through the mobile money platform from $1 to $2.
Screen shot of a failed $1 airtime purchase
At the time of writing, EcoCash haven’t announced the change which comes on the back of a system wide network blackoutthat affected a large portion (if not the entire) Econet network.
South Africa’s anti-corruption watchdog has said President Cyril Ramaphosa “misled” parliament about a 500,000 rand ($35,900) donation he received for his campaign to lead the African National Congress (ANC).
Ramaphosa, who replaced former President Jacob Zuma last year and then went on to win a presidential election by pledging to tackle corruption, had denied knowledge of the donation when he was asked about it in parliament in November.
Ramaphosa initially told lawmakers that the payment was to his son, Andile, for consultancy work for Bosasa, now known as African Global Operations. He later admitted that it was a donation towards his campaign to become ANC leader.
Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane, who investigates allegations of wrongdoing by state officials, told reporters on Friday that Ramaphosa had violated the constitution and breached the executive code of ethics in his parliamentary reply.
In a report released on Friday, Mkhwebane said: “Although President Ramaphosa may have justified to correct the earlier statement on erroneous or incomplete information at his disposal, he indeed misled parliament”.
She said the president “should have allowed himself sufficient time to research a well-informed response,” before responding to a question from the main opposition Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane.
“I therefore find that President Ramaphosa’s conduct … although ostensibly in good faith, to be inconsistent with his office”.
Al Jazeera’s Fahmida Miller, reporting from Pretoria, said Mkhwebane has referred her report to the ethics committee of parliament, which is likely to investigate further.
“Their findings will determine what happens next, but this also doesn’t stop members of parliament applying for a motion of no-confidence to the speaker,” she added. “It’s not certain that that will happen but it’s certainly an option, at this point.”
The public protector also found that the manner in which the donation was channelled through several accounts, including the account of the Ramaphosa campaign, raised suspicions of money laundering.
A crack police team is investigating whether former footballer Marc Batchelor was killed in a revenge hit for his apparent role in the theft of a ton of cocaine smuggled into SA late last year.
This is the same team of detectives from the organised-crime unit that has been looking into the murder of Serbian national Ivan Djordjevic, who was shot dead in a similar manner at his Bryanston home in April.
Last year Djordjevic went into business with Batchelor, who ran a debt-collection company. The two, say police crime intelligence sources involved in investigating drugs smuggled through South African ports, were allegedly involved in the theft of the cocaine. The drugs came into SA via Port Elizabeth and Cape Town harbours in December last year, from Brazil and the Netherlands. They had been dispatched by an Eastern European crime syndicate.
The Sunday Times understands the specialised team is looking at links between the Djordjevic and Batchelor murders, which could be in revenge for the alleged theft.
Batchelor’s brother Warren Batchelor this week declined to comment on the investigation, but the slain man’s fiancé, Cheré Gray, admitted Batchelor had “enemies in the underworld”. Police have also confirmed that “an element of organised crime may be a possibility”.
Batchelor was gunned down on Monday in the driveway outside his Olivedale, Johannesburg, home by two gunmen armed with semiautomatic assault rifles and riding a white motorcycle.
The crime intelligence officers said two consignments, which Djordjevic and Batchelor were allegedly supposed to distribute, disappeared shortly after their arrival in Cape Town and Port Elizabeth in December. Three weeks later, the Hawks seized R700m worth of cocaine at Port Elizabeth’s Coega container depot, suspected to be part of the initial shipment.
Private security sources said detectives are also looking into debt collected on outstanding drug money and loans. Batchelor is believed to have recently got on the wrong side of an Israeli businessman after failing to pay over a R3.5m collection he made on the businessman’s behalf early in July.
Gray told the Sunday Times she was in the house and had just finished talking to Batchelor on the phone when she heard the gunfire. Running outside, she found him still breathing. “He was trying to say something, but I could not make anything out.”
Gray said she believes those behind the shooting carried out a “personal vendetta”.
“They came on a mission, clearly having a task to complete. People do things for money. It’s the work of the underworld, which involves gangsters, shady business dealings and debt-collecting. Marc was involved in debt-collecting, which, while an unsavoury business, serves a purpose. We began working together in January. I ran the investigations side and he did the collecting.”
Gray said the shooting was a sign that Batchelor had made enemies.
“In the underworld everyone has enemies. I have my opinion of those who were involved, but I won’t drop names.”
She said Batchelor had had run-ins with people, but he was not one to go to the police.
“The way we handle things among ourselves in this world is through diplomatic means. I don’t know why this could not be resolved in a diplomatic way,” she said.
Batchelor was returning home with his gardener, who has requested anonymity, and his dog, when the gunmen, which neighbourhood CCTV footage shows tailed him for several kilometres, stopped next to his white BMW X5 and opened fire.
Seven bullets were fired through the driver’s window, and one through the door. At least six struck Batchelor in the chest, with his body riddled with bullets.
“He was my everything. My enigma, my hero. Yes, he had a temper, but he was quick to forgive. We were best friends and our hearts were destined for each other,” said Gray as she described how she found love.
Gray grabbed headlines last year when her then lover, Andrew Turnbull, was videotaped violently assaulting her. Turnbull was arrested in October last year for the assault, but died in a horrific car crash in May outside the Eastern Cape town of Port Alfred.
He was out on bail of R10,000 at the time. An emotional Gray told the Sunday Times she and Batchelor had recently got engaged.
“The night he died we were going to announce it. We were waiting for friends of ours to arrive that night from overseas. This has just ripped me apart.”
She said they met through mutual friends and business associates. “We became best friends and partners, planning to marry before the end of the year and build a home together. This has been a heart-wrenching event in our lives. We, being friends and family, are absolutely gutted.”
Gray said Batchelor had an incredible sense of humour, and knew how to make others laugh, no matter what.
“He took my kids in as though they were his. He was an amazing guidance for them.”
Batchelor’s brother Warren said he was devastated. “Like all brothers we had our ups and downs. We had been estranged for two years because of a silly dispute. We had begun chatting to each other and were due to meet this coming week to reconcile.
“Then this tragedy strikes. What I saw when I walked to the car was horrific. Noone should see that. I waited there until 1am. I was finally able to touch and kiss his forehead. It was then that I knew everything was fine and we were reconciled.”
Batchelor said they planned on giving his brother the send-off he deserved, “one which will celebrate his life and show what an incredible person he was”.
Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Minister Professor Amon Murwira
State Media|GOVERNMENT has re-introduced grants for students in State institutions, which were stopped several years ago due to non-repayment, to boost access to higher and tertiary education and empower people, especially the youths.
Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Minister Professor Amon Murwira yesterday said the facility was re-introduced after a realisation that many deserving students were failing to access loans, as the institutions were giving stringent conditions.
He said during the past year, students were raising concerns over accessing education and conditions given by private players.
Only 15 000 to 20 000 were accessing the loans, while many deserving students could not meet the conditions.
The students loan scheme is established in terms of Section 14 of the Manpower Planning and Development Act [CAP: 02] in consultation with the Minister of Finance and Economic Development.
The student loan scheme, which is meant to assist needy and deserving students, is administered by CBZ Bank and will be accessed through the institutions of higher and tertiary learning.
“We are trying to improve access to higher and tertiary education,” said Prof Murwira. “This is a loan which must be paid back to enable the sustainability of the critical intervention.
“We are now very strict, this is a commercial arrangement and students will have to pay. Government used to have this facility, but it collapsed during the 90s due to non-payment.
“We cannot continue to be careless and we will follow up on beneficiaries. We want to support and empower the next generation
“If assessed and approved, the beneficiaries will pay as they go. The payments will differ according to beneficiaries’ capacity. The system will be tailor-made to the capability of the individual.
“Sincerity was a challenge, we are sincere. People should own the country and take care of it, facilities that ensure higher and tertiary education become an opportunity to prosper.”
Students are expected to start collecting application forms from their respective institutions with effect from August 26.
“This date will enable institutions of higher and tertiary learning and CBZ to have made necessary preparations,” said Prof Murwira. “Terms and conditions apply.”
Dear editor- A Trip Transport bus driver was crushed to death by his own bus in Mutare today(yesterday).
The Bus was being driven by the conductor and driver tried to get onto the bus while it was in motion zviya zvekuita hang on to the door hwindi style but unfortunately missed his grip, slipped and fell under the bus. His head was crushed by the bus’ back wheels and he died instantly.
By Pettina Gappah| I expressed some misgivings here about having economic players on the Presidential Advisory Council. When Mthuli Ncube first floated the idea last year, it was to be an international advisory council of “eminences gris”, a board of retired grey-headed men and women with no attachment to Zimbabwe beyond the expertise and vast experience they could provide as Zimbabwe made its transition from an inward looking economy with an isolationist foreign policy.
It was replaced by UNDP’s proposal of a 15 or less member board. In fact, when the first 15 members were appointed, they accepted on the understanding of who else was to be on the board.
Imagine their surprise when their number was expanded by the OPC bureaucracy to about 26 and an announcement made without further consultation. It put them in the invidious position of agreeing to something they had not agreed to, and then, because it was announced without them being consulted, possibly embarrassing the executive by declining. Some decided to make what they could of this eminently flawed process. I salute them.
Two of the appointees found an elegant way to decline without offending. I salute them too.
But the place we are in is not the same place at the date of the announcement. Because my prediction has come to be: what we have now is a bloated board full of players who are by and large, active in the economy, who either have ongoing economic interests or who want to expand their portfolios. They are unpaid, true, but access is the highest priviledge, an access they get from their proximity to the executive. The conflicts of interest are simply glaring.
The PAC has done some good work, and that is without a doubt. I am especially grateful for the support on ZIDA. But any further good work will be cast in the shade as the focus moves to their many conflicts of interest.
If I were on the PAC right now, I would suggest its immediate disbanding so that we start afresh. I believe this disbanding should come from the PAC itself.
Don’t get me wrong: this is nothing personal. I like many of these persons as individuals, three are actually good friends, and as I have said, I have worked well with them, particularly on ZIDA, but collectively?
They are a classic case of conflict of interest. The new Zimbabwe deserves better.
Botswana’s President Mokgweetsi Masisi has survived a potential helicopter crash in the country’s second largest city Francistown after his chopper ride was aborted following an engine fire.
Botswana Defence Force and the Office of the President has issued a statement stating that the presidential helicopter was forced to make an immediate precautionary landing while taxiing at Francistown airport upon arrival from Mathangwane.
“While taxying for landing at Francistown Airport, the pilots reported an engine fire indication where upon they promptly executed an engine shut down and landing on runway 13 at the airport,” said the statement, adding that the emergency response at Francistown Airport also responded to provide assistance with fire retardant foam.
The statement further said all five passengers including Mokgweetsi Masisi and the three aircrew members are safe and without injuries.
“The BDF wishes to assure the nation that all required maintenance and safety procedures are taken to assure the safe passage of His Excellency the President as well as any other principles in their care.
The same care is taken for the safe operation of all BDF flights regardless of who is on-board.”the statement said.
Full Statement by the Botswana Defence Forces reads as follows:
PRESS RELEASE ON BDF PRESIDENTIAL HELICOPTER
The office of the President and the Botswana Defence Force wishes to inform the public that a BDF presidential helicopter carrying His Excellency the President was forced to make an immediate precautionary landing while taxiing at Francistown airport upon arrival from Mathangwane at 1730hrs today 20th July 2019.
While taxying for landing at Francistown Airport the pilots reported an engine fire indication were upon they promptly executed an engine shut down and landing on runway 13 at the airport.
The emergency response at Francistown Airport also responded to provide assistance with fire retardant foam.
All five (5) passengers and the three (3) aircrew members are safe and without injuries.
The BDF wishes to assure the nation that all required maintenance and safety procedures are taken to assure the safe passage of His Excellency the President as well as any other principles in their care.
The same care is taken for the safe operation of all BDF flights regardless of who is on-board.
With regard this incident the Commander BDF has ordered an investigation through a Board of Enquiry to determine the cause of the engine fire the actions of the aircrews and all other circumstances surrounding this incident.
State Media|Government has moved to decriminalise wilful transmission of HIV to a partner after it gazetted the Marriages Bill that seeks to repeal a legal provision that makes it an offence.
The Marriages Bill, which was gazetted last Friday, decriminalises the transmission of HIV and AIDS to another partner, as Government seeks to keep abreast with international standards.
The Bill is now set to be tabled before Parliament for debate.
Section 53 of the Marriages Bill repealed Section 79 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act which makes it an offence to transmit HIV to a partner.
Section 79 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act (Chapter 9:23) titled “Deliberate transmission of HIV” states that, “(1) any person who
(a) Knowing that he or she is infected with HIV; or
(b) realising that there is a real risk or possibility that he or she is infected with HIV; intentionally does anything or permits the doing of anything which he or she knows will infect, or does anything which he or she realises involves a real risk or possibility of infecting another person with HIV, shall be guilty of deliberate transmission of HIV, whether or not he or she is married to that other person, and shall be liable to imprisonment for a period not exceeding twenty years.”
Early this year, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi told Parliament that the global thinking was that the law stigmatised people living with HIV and AIDS.
He said initially when the law was enacted, the thinking was that it would help to fight the spread of the disease by criminalising those that transmit it to partners willingly.
Accused persons that have been charged under the law were alleged to have unprotected sex with their spouses knowing that they were infected with HIV.
Proponents who argued for the abolishment of the law argued that at present medical evidence did not determine which of the adult partners was infected first if one was not a virgin at the point of the alleged transmission.
In the past, those charged under the law have challenged the constitutionality of Section 79 of the Criminal law, arguing that their right under Section 23 of the Constitution not to be discriminated against on any basis including HIV and AIDS status was being violated.
They also argued that their right to protection of the law under Section 18 was being violated because the offence in question was so wide, broad and vague. The challenge to the constitutionality of this offence was focused on the species of this offence requiring only that when the accused had sex with another person, the accused realised the real risk or possibility that he or she was infected with HIV and that there was a real risk that the other person will be infected.
Counsel for the applicants argued that this formulation of the offence violated the constitutional right to protection of law as it was conjectural and vague. They contended that innocent persons were in danger of being convicted under this provision.
Standard|The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) yesterday said its general council had resolved to mobilise workers for a mass stayaway to protest against the deteriorating economic situation.
A stayaway called by the ZCTU in January turned violent and President Emmerson Mnangagwa deployed the army in urban areas and human rights groups say soldiers killed 17 people and raped several women.
ZCTU leaders were charged with treason and last week the labour centre said its officials had received death threats.
Peter Mutasa (PM), the ZCTU president, told our senior reporter Obey Manayiti (OM) in an exclusive interview that the January events and the alleged death
threats would not deter them from calling for the stayaway.
Below are excerpts from the interview.
OM: The economic situation has not changed since the ZCTU organised a two-day mass stayaway in January and the plight of workers continues to get worse. Do you
have any concrete data that can illustrate the condition of the worker in Zimbabwe at the moment?
PM: Yes, the situation is now worse than January 2019.
It is also much worse than what we experienced with former president Robert Mugabe in late 2017.
We are currently collating data about some of the issues arising like job losses, non-payment of wages, levels of salaries erosion, pension losses etc.
OM: How are ordinary workers surviving in the face of the economic challenges?
More in Home
Copper output down 4%
Hope Masike readies new album
Meikles registers 705% increase in profits
Chiri bemoans poor funding
Can Bosso’s Prince rise again?
PM: Workers are the hardest hit because despite earning almost nothing, they still have to continue reporting for work. As a result, many workers are borrowing
money for transport and some are walking to work. Due to ill-advised policies, prices of goods and services are pegged in US$, while salaries have remained in
valueless RTGS.
This has resulted in a serious disequilibrium that is hurting workers and the poor citizens.
A lot of workers’ families are starving as their salaries are barely sufficient to cater for a oneweek food basket.
Most families are now affording only one decent meal a day.
Schoolchildren are going to school hungry and many without adequate winter clothing.
Workers and their families are dying in homes or in public hospitals because they can no longer afford medical care.
Drugs are expensive and medical aid schemes are now dysfunctional.
A visit to a doctor requires one to borrow a loan for consultation alone because it now costs two or three months’ salary.
Many schoolchildren are dropping out or will do so due to failure by their parents to pay school fees. In short, we have a humanitarian crisis of gigantic
proportions.
OM: The ZCTU has been threatening another round of mass stayaways for some time. Are the delays an indication that you are developing cold feet?
PM: Not at all. We experienced barbaric state brutality in January and we need to ensure that this time around we put in place measures to prevent the same.
Part of the delay is, therefore, informed by the need to have conversations with workers on how we can collectively navigate these areas.
Again, due to the ever-changing policies and environment, we must carry out wide consultations with workers so that we have a common understanding of the
material conditions affecting workers.
Some trade union leaders, as we witnessed with some celebrating the reintroduction of the Zimbabwe dollar, had a narrow understanding of the situation.
They thought once the Zimbabwe dollar was introduced all the problems of the workers would disappear.
In fact, some were now more of government spokespersons promoting a policy that hurts workers and that was promulgated without consultations.
We, therefore, needed more time to convince the generality of workers, including those being deceived by some leaders, that these policies won’t work for them.
Now the majority agrees with our position because of the hardships they are facing.
Again all our projections about the effects of these policies on workers and the poor have been confirmed.
Thus any delay we have is necessary for our action to be effective.
OM: There have been reports of ZCTU leaders allegedly receiving death threats. Have you established where those threats are coming from and the motive?
PM: We are witnessing what we never witnessed even with the Mugabe regime. It is sad that all the hope for a better Zimbabwe we had in November 2017 has been
turned into a big disappointment.
We now rue the moment we sided with those in power in their factional fight with Mugabe.
It is now clear that there was nothing for ordinary citizens, let alone workers, in the events of November 2017.
We received threats against us and our families and one can’t believe that this is happening in a supposedly independent Zimbabwe. This, in a much hyped “new
dispensation”?
At least I am a trade unionist by choice and understand the risks associated with standing up for the poor against brutal regimes. Not that any trade unionist
must be harmed, but more fundamentally our families are not involved in any of our duties. How can someone sane threaten to harm our kids? This is unimaginable
in any modern civilised society.
We demand that the state must guarantee our security.
The threats had all the hallmarks of state operations and we put full responsibility on the state on whatever will happen to us or our families.
We also call on the international community to ask the state to guarantee the security of all trade union activists.
These threats are real, for we have seen other trade unionists like Obert Masaraure being abducted and tortured.
We, therefore, take these seriously, but will continue with our lawful duties and put everything in the hands of our Lord Jesus Christ. If He allows that they
kill us, what can we do? We are here on earth at His will.
The motive is not hidden. The government is aware that its policies are failing dismally and that the socio-economic situation is unbearable.
The government is aware that its policies are not accepted by the generality of the citizens, hence it has no consent of the citizens.
These threats are, therefore, meant to silence workers and the poor citizens from airing their grievances as provided for in the constitution. This is
unfortunate because there can only be positive change if there is effective public engagement.
OM: What guarantees can the ZCTU give that its planned protests would be peaceful?
PM: We have always had peaceful activities.
We believe that in most instances where there was violence, it was infiltration by those who will be building a case against us.
In some cases it was clearly false flags that were strategically activated in order to justify the brutality.
However, in other cases it was a matter of poorly managed public order policing.
We are, however, learning from some of these experiences and will make clear messages emphasising that workers must remain in their homes. We will also urge
the police to use internationally recognised policing standards.
OM: Do you think Zimbabweans will heed calls for protests or stayaway given the brutal way the military responded to the January protests?
PM: We are actually being pushed by the workers who feel that they have no choice than to protest in order for their voice to be heard.
Many citizens are suffering and despite the brutality would like to raise their grievances peacefully.
Look at how the energy crisis, for instance, is affecting every citizen, the transport situation, the cost of living, poor health services and many other
factors.
Citizens are ready to peacefully raise their concerns. We urge the government to take this as a positive engagement and listen to the concerns of the workers
and citizens.
We are not enemies of the state, but citizens raising genuine grievances that must be addressed.
OM: In your view, what should the government do to address the economic problems facing the country and address the plight of workers?
PM: The first issue is that it must recognise that it cannot foist policies unto citizens and use force to support the policies.
The government must ensure that it gets the consent of the citizens. It must use the various provisions of the constitution and other legal frameworks to
effectively engage the public.
There is need for government to aim for a new social contract, which ensures that there is ownership of democratically formulated policies.
In addition, the government has to be transparent, accountable and responsive to the needs of the citizens. It cannot go it alone.
Without facilitating a shared national vision and robust national cohesion, the government is doomed to fail.
The government also must realise the folly of following disastrous neo-liberal policies like austerity measures that have failed to stimulate economic recovery
everywhere around the globe.
It must understand that its corporate welfarist approaches like the mantra “Zimbabwe is Open for Business” that seeks to redistribute wealth from the poor to
the rich will not lead to economic recovery, but economic and social disasters.
Above all, there is need for serious political, governance, economic and social reforms.
We need to build independent institutions, respect people’s freedoms, end state repression and genuinely fight corruption, not the half-hearted and factional
riddled jokes we see currently.
We need to acknowledge the economic structure we have and not hound the informal and rural economies, but support and use them as engines of economic growth.
We must immediately ditch the externally imposed economic policies and democratically craft an auto centric development agenda that is a clear alternative to
neoliberalism.
This needs to be pro-poor and focused on satisfying the needs of the people first.
We also need serious social policy reforms such as redirecting government efforts away from corporate welfare to social welfare, building resilient and
sustainable social security and protection frameworks.
It is a mammoth task that requires a government that is not focused on power retention like we currently experience, but one aiming for nation building.
OM: What are your views on increasing calls for dialogue between President Emmerson Mnangagwa and opposition leader Nelson Chamisa as one of the ways to
address Zimbabwe’s economic problems?
PM: Zimbabwe is not going to get out of its problems without a political settlement of some sort.
However, we are for dialogue that takes into account the socio-economic political forces along.
We, therefore, recognise the centrality of the two protagonists President Emmerson Mnangagwa and MDC president Nelson Chamisa, but also make it clear that the
dialogue must carry on board other stakeholders’ interests such as labour, youths, women, those with disabilities, rural communities, business etc.
It must be broad-based and clearly developmental and not just sharing political power.
We must learn from the failures and successes of the GNU and improve.
OM: One of the country’s leading teachers’ trade unions – Zimbabwe Teachers Association (Zimta) pulled out of the ZCTU citing the alleged links between you and the MDC. What is your reaction to that move?
PM: Zimta was never in ZCTU for a long time. We also understand its political inclinations and how difficult it was for it to be in a truly independent federation that has no permanent friends but permanent interests. If one considers the way it announced the move, one will clearly see the political nature of
the withdrawal.
It was timed well for the International Labour Conference, where the ZCTU had a serious case against the government of Zimbabwe based on continued repression
and brutality against trade unions.
The only defence of the state against the well-documented cases was that the ZCTU was pursuing political goals.
Thus Zimta’s move was well-timed to aid this narrative.
We, however, managed to successfully present our case and the government was found to be in violation of convention 87 in many ways.
There is no other explanation for Zimta’s decision to go to all radio and television stations before it even formally pulled out.
All the decisions we made were made democratically in our general council with full participation of Zimta representatives.
It could not turn around and make the unfounded allegations without even raising them with fellow comrades in the General Council.
OM: What is your reaction to arguments that your close ties with the MDC compromises your ability to effectively represent workers?
PM: These are made by people who do not understand who we are, our history and how we make our decisions.
We are completely independent from any political forces and do not have any unhealthy relationship with the MDC. Unions are supposed to relate with many social, economic and political stakeholders and we are also not an exception.
In other countries unions actually have formal relationships with political parties.
Look at South Africa and the United Kingdom. For as long as unions remain independent and can make independent decisions, there is no harm.
However, for us despite forming the MDC and providing early leaders, we did not create a formal relationship.
We,therefore, are independent and have workers from all political parties.
Our general council has trade union leaders who support different political parties.
Unfortunately, our country’s problems are more political in nature for example the endemic political corruption, shrinking democratic space, repression, lack
of constitutionalism etc.
When we raise these issues that are also raised by the opposition we are branded an extension of the opposition.
However, we cannot stop raising these issues because these are some of the root causes of the workers problems.
OM: What are your views on the ongoing wage negotiations between the government and civil servants? Do you think the government has the capacity to give its
workers what they are asking for?
PM: The government has capacity to pay decent salaries to the civil servants.
That is if it deals with endemic corruption, closes leakages such as illicit financial flows, pillaging of our natural resources, uneconomic mega deals,
carrying of ghost workers etc.
We also need to destroy the parasitic cartels that are holding the country at ransom. We have the resources but no stewardship.
The negotiations are a big joke. The government through SI 33 and SI 142 of 2019 allowed corporates to peg prices in United States dollars but disallowed
workers’ salaries to also be pegged on US dollars.
This means workers’ salaries have been eroded by up to 10-fold.
Any negotiations that do not seek to remedy this by either ensuring that workers get US dollars or the equivalent using the exchange rate is a useless
process.
Such negotiations seek to cement the oppressive and exploitative internal devaluation agenda of the International Monetary Fund that is being carried out here
as an experiment. Its effects have been disastrous and any sound trade unionist must not accept that.
So the government has to correct the effects of SI 142 by giving back workers the value of their salaries lost through these policies before it tries to
VISITING Mushowani Stars collected their first set of three points on the road when they beat TelOne FC 2-0 in a Castle Lager Premier Soccer League encounter played at Luveve Stadium yesterday.
The victory was a boost for the debutants, who are in a fight to survive the relegation chop.
Amon Kambanje shot the visitors into the lead 62 minutes into the game with a powerful strike inside the box. Substitute Paul Chiramba got the visitors’ second when he nodded home a Clemence Zimondi corner kick in the 77th minute.
Mushowani Stars coach Newman Mashipe was ecstatic with the victory. “We are more than happy with the result today. We played well and managed to score two goals and keep a clean sheet. This is a motivating factor for the players, we must now aim for consistency as we move forward,” said Mashipe.
His opposite number Jairos Tapera said his side had failed to turn up on the day.
“We had a bad day in office, everything we did today was wrong. Now we have to look at where we are getting things wrong and fix the problem. For now we go back to the drawing board.
We still have the confidence that results will come our way. We will be adding three more players in the coming days hopefully they will give us what we are lacking,” said Tapera.
AN illegal gold panner raided a tuckshop in Matobo district at night and axed the shop owner to death while his wife watched helplessly before robbing the couple of US$248.
Nhlanhla Mlalazi (29), a gold panner at Syndicate Mine in Matobo district found Mr Vusumuzi Mhlanga (46) and his wife, Ms Dorothy Nduna (48), sleeping in their tuckshop.
He axed Mr Mhlanga before robbing him of the money. Mlalazi appeared before Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Thompson Mabhikwa on Friday facing a murder charge in connection with Mr Mhlanga’s death in 2016.
Prosecuting, Mr Kudakwashe Jaravaza said on September 20 in 2016 at around 11.55PM, Mr Mhlanga was sleeping in his tuckshop with his wife, Ms Nduna and their employee Ms Sibonokuhle Nyoni when the accused person came to his shop armed with an axe.
The court heard that Mlalazi destroyed the tuckshop door using the axe to gain entry.
“While inside the shop, the accused person found the deceased and other occupants already up after they were awakened by the sound of the door which was being chopped,” said Mr Jaravaza.
Mlalazi allegedly struck the deceased twice on the forehead and upper limb using the axe. He then allegedly robbed the deceased of a bag containing US$248 and fled from the scene.
A report was made to the police leading to Mlalazi’s arrest.The deceased was rushed to the United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) where he later succumbed to the injuries.State media
FORMER Zimbabwe national team coaches Norman Mapeza and Callisto Pasuwa are set to clash in this year’s Caf Champions League.
Their teams FC Platinum and Nyasa Big Bullets of Malawi were drawn to face each other in the preliminary round.
The platinum miners, who reached the group stages for the first time in the previous edition, will begin their campaign away when they travel to Malawi first next month.
The first leg matches are set for 9-11 August and the return matches will take place two weeks later from 23-25 August.
The winner will then face either Simba of Tanzania or UD Songo of Mozambique in the first round.
Taurai Mangwiro’s Triangle were also given a fair draw ahead of their debut in the Caf Confederation Cup after they were handed a date with fellow lightweights Rukinzo of Burundi.
If they progress, Triangle are set to face either Tanzania’s Azam or Mekelle of Ethiopia in the battle for the group stage.State media
ZIMBABWEANS should be wary of agents of regime change who come under the guise of human rights activism as they seek to unseat Government.
This was said by Zanu-PF Politburo member Munyaradzi Machacha, who is also the Principal of Chitepo School of Ideology, while addressing students from five tertiary institutions at a symposium organised by his college at Lupane State University.
The three-day workshop started on Friday and ended yesterday evening with about 200 students from the National University of Science and Technology (Nust), Lupane State University (LSU), Bulawayo Polytechnic, Hillside Teachers’ College and United College of Education (UCE) attending.
The students were drawn from the Zimbabwe Congress of Students Union (Zicosu).
Machacha said the programme is an orientation exercise by the Chitepo School of Ideology targeting all patriotic Zimbabweans including party supporters and ordinary citizens who care and love their country to defend its heritage.
The orientation develops some basic fundamental knowledge, skills and attitudes for youths so they can explore the socio-economic and political future.
“This is a training symposium for Zicosu members in Bulawayo and Matabeleland North to become better informed Zanu-PF cadres who appreciate the prevailing socio-economic and political challenges.
“We are saying patriotic Zimbabweans should be wary of agents of regime change masquerading as human rights activists. These activists are crisispreneurs who don’t have the interests of the people of Zimbabwe at heart. They are only interested in dislodging Zanu-PF government from power so they replace it with a puppet government which they will use to reverse the gains of the liberation struggle.
Their tactics include causing unrest through violent demonstrations and abuse of social media to spread alarm and despondency,” said Machacha.State media
VICE President Kembo Mohadi said there is a need for Zimbabweans at all levels to engage each other and find common ground to bring to finality the issue of Gukurahundi which affected people in the Midlands, south-western and Matabeleland provinces.
Meeting chiefs from the Midlands Province, consulting them on national healing, peace and reconciliation mechanisms as part of efforts to address issues of Zimbabwe’s fractious past in Gweru last Wednesday — the Vice President said Gukurahundi was a topical issue which needs to be talked about openly.
This follows President Mnangagwa’s policy to open up and resolve historical conflicts like the 1980s’ civil disturbances in the Midlands, south-western and Matabeleland provinces, commonly referred to as Gukurahundi.
Vice President Mohadi said talking about Gukurahundi openly is going to assist in healing wounds and finding a lasting solution for the country to prosper adding that peace (ukuthula/runyararo ) has been and remains a permanent ideal and aspiration as well as a right and duty for Zimbabweans.
VP Mohadi has already been to four provinces — Mashonaland Central, Matabeleland North, Mashonaland East and Matabeleland South — consulting all chiefs in their areas of jurisdiction on how to build and sustain peace in the country as well as how to resolve conflicts that arise from time-to-time.
“We had Gukurahundi; it happened here in the Midlands and Matabeleland provinces. We can only talk about it because there is a need to find a lasting solution for the benefit of the country. We can’t afford not to talk about it (Gukurahundi).
As leaders we must go out there and promote peace for each other and for our country. This is a topical issue,” said VP Mohadi.State media
THE National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) is finalising a strategy on dealing with the Gukurahundi issue that is expected to be completed next month and will, among other issues, address the processes around public hearings, exhumations and reburial of victims. This was said by NPRC Commissioner Patience Chiradza in an interview.
She said the Commission had identified three areas that needed to be dealt with from past experiences, although the Gukurahundi era would be prioritised.
“We have a programme that our healing and reconciliation committee is working around in dealing with issues from the past,” she said.
“When we did our consultations, three epochs came clear; the pre-independence era which culminated in the liberation struggle, then the Gukurahundi era which is about between 1983 and 1985 and then the electoral violence that started around 2000.
“So, those are going to be the three focus areas and I think we are clear as a commission that Gukurahundi has its priorities given the dynamics that are there. Given the issues that have been raised in Matabeleland North and South and Bulawayo, Gukurahundi becomes a central theme.”
Commissioner Chiradza said the Commission had been conducting consultations on the issue before the actual hearings begin.
“So, as a Commission we have been doing a lot of work around that issue because before you get into that space you need to make sure that you have a proper strategy of how you are going to do the hearings,” she said.State media
