Robin Takunda Goremucheche: These young guys lack strategic planning.

1.A stay away needs to outline the goals/ aims to which the action is being taken. We need to be very clear about what we want to achieve.

2) You need to take into consideration the environment/ circumstances in which you intend achieve your objective. It will help you deduce the parameters/ limits to which u can push those that intend to participate.

3) Leadership has to be clear for the purposes of communication. During the liberation struggle leaders & a chain of command was known. Tajamuka shld be serious if they want to take/play this role.

Now with our economic environment were the majority live from hand to mouth it’s not strategic to have an indefinite stay away, it will fail & when it fails pple will lack interest. It’s wiser to organize 2 day stay aways with the masses being advised well in advance to stock up food and essentials.

1 day stay aways are not effective and neither is anything beyond 2 days. You will need to work with these, and be strategic as to how often pple stay away and which days of the week and month.

Just a piece of advice.

Teela Bruce Gopito: That’s a cowardly move “Stay home until Munangagwa resigns from a position he gained from a coup” THAT’S COWARDLY

Tafadzwa Emm: Ivo vanopihwa mari nema ma donors. Iwewe company yako inoti hauna kushanda haubhadarwe kana kuti inoto broker yovhara. Apa ED wacho wont resign and they know it ana Promise vacho

President Emmerson had a rude awakening after the Chiefs from Midlands and Matabeleland bluntly told him that their people need a national apology preceded by truth telling about what happened during the Gukurahundi genocide. The Chiefs who submitted a joint presentation said the state was to blame for the murder pf more than 20 000 Zimbabweans in Midlands and Matabeleland.

They told Mnangagwa that as the Head of State he must apologise on behalf of the state.

Read the summary below:

The state committed the atrocities and therefore the state should assume responsibility for the atrocities and issue an official apology and, in our constitutional architecture, the state is represented in the office of the Head of State. Your Excellency, it is important to distinguish between an official apology and a personal apology. Personal responsibility is irrelevant when considering an official apology. It is not you apologising for your personal acts or omissions but the state apologising for the actions of its agencies. It is irrelevant whether the Head of State is in any way personally responsible for the atrocities. It is irrelevant whether or not he was even there at the time of the commission of the atrocities. An apology is a moral obligation of the occupant of the office of the Head of State where atrocities or wrongs of one form or another are committed in the name of government or state and not necessarily an admission of personal responsibility on the part of the Head of State as a person.

Your Excellency, lest we be accused of making a bald and wild allegation on the responsibility of the State, it is important to say we have assumed that the state is culpable for Gukurahundi atrocities because the perpetrators were employees of the state, were paid and housed by the state, were funded by the state, were transported by the state, carried state-issued weapons and ammunition, flew the Zimbabwean flag in their bases and offices, were promoted after the atrocities, are earning retirement benefits from the state, and were not arrested or in anyway punished by the state for the crimes they committed, and, most importantly, the state did not at the time and since that time distance itself from the crimes. The state, as a unit, is therefore liable and should be held responsible for the actions of its employees unless it demonstrates on evidence that the crimes committed were solely the actions of specifically named individuals or unless a truly independent body has determined otherwise. As far as we know, at all material times, the government of the day had the right, ability and duty to control the actions of those who committed Gukurahundi atrocities on the ground because they were acting in its name and were accountable to it. It chose not to exercise this power.

The truth telling process, for example, enables victims and survivors to know about the circumstances of gross violations of their human rights, to know the fate of their disappeared loved ones or at least know the circumstances under which they disappeared or were killed. It also serves to inform the nation about what happened to their fellow citizens. Acknowledgment of the occurrence of the deaths, injuries, rape and related suffering that took place during Gukurahundi is therefore key to closure. When one reads Section 252 (c) of the Constitution, it is clear that truth telling is contemplated in pursuit of justice, healing and reconciliation. Truth telling is not important only for victims but also for perpetrators. They too need to be freed from the tremendous bondage of the burden of unacknowledged injurious conduct in respect of having killed, raped, tortured, starved and disappeared fellow citizens directly or through the agency of someone else.

By Own Correspondent| Opposition MDC’s Secretary for Education, advocate, Fadzayi Mahere has questioned the rationale behind president Mnangagwa’s purported plans to set up a Corruption Commission.

Mahere believes that the Auditor General, Mrs Mildred Chiri already did a splendid job in exposing corruption within government.

The advocate believes that the government should now be contemplating or instituting arrests.

She said:

Dear @edmnangagwa, With respect, why set up a commission of inquiry to address corruption yet the nation has a most competent Auditor-General who has brought to light deep-seated corruption, backed by evidence? Surely, we should be speaking of arrests & prosecution now?

Her remarks come after president Mnangagwa promised the ZANU PF youth league that he would set up a commission of enquiry to investigate individuals the league implicated in underhand dealings.

His pledge came after ZANU PF politburo had offered to investigate the matter. The youth league, however, rejected the offer saying that there would be a conflict of interest. Resultantly, Mnangagwa said an independent commission comprising individuals who are not linked to the party will be set.

The list contained names of people the ZANU PF youth league was accusing of choking president Mnangagwa’s efforts to revive the economy. The list which contained business and political bigwigs suggested that most of them were engaging in illegal foreign currency trading and corruption.

ALMOST all overpasses in Harare, commonly known as flyovers, have developed structural faults due to lack of maintenance, posing harm to the public if remedial action is not taken urgently.

Investigations have revealed that the overpasses, which are found along Simon Mazorodze, Rotten Row and Lyton roads, have been defective since 2006.

Some of the observed defects include dropping of concrete that has exposed rusted reinforcement steel bars in the beams, a sign experts say, indicates a weakened structure.

The state of affairs was revealed by the Zimbabwe Institute of Engineers (ZIE) president, Engineer Bernard Musarurwa, in a letter to the Office of the President and Cabinet, also copied to Parliament.

Engineer Musarurwa notes that city authorities have been aware of the issue for over a decade, but no action has been taken to address it.

He said an inspection report, by an unnamed engineering firm, at the invitation of Harare City Council in 2006, proposed more detailed investigations to establish the exact nature and extent of the structural faults noted.

However, the recommendations were not implemented by the city, prompting Engineer Musarurwa to launch an appeal with the Office of the President and Cabinet.

“This is the case of the flyovers on Simon Mazorodze interchange with Rotten Row, which bridges were inspected in 2006, and serious structural defects were noted and reported upon, yet no action has been taken to date,” said Engineer Musarurwa.

“Unfortunately, this is not the only case needing urgent remedial action. Other bridges on the national highways have also been inspected and reported upon that remedial action was required.”

Pressed on why the Harare City Council has failed to act on the matter, spokesperson Mr Michael Chideme said the structural repairs for the overpasses were a responsibility of the Ministry Transport and Infrastructural Development.

He, however, acknowledged that the city was now working with the ministry to address the issue.

“We are aware of the issue, but the flyovers are the responsibility of the ministry of transport,” said Mr Chideme.

“That said, we have approached the ministry and we are working together. I can assure you that plans to address the issue are at an advanced stage.”

Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure Development director for road maintenance, Engineer Kudzanai Chinyanga told The Sunday Mail that the Government was aware of the issue and had already taken measures to begin remedial work.

“City of Harare drew our attention to the need to look at those bridges because they are highly trafficked,” he said.

“We had an internal inspection and agreed with the report that we had to do something.

“What we have done now, in terms of the action plan, we have had a discussion with Treasury that we would require funding, but Treasury then came back to us to say; ‘have the inspection done, the remedial proposals and cost’, so that they can finance the remedial work that needs to be done.”

Eng Chinyanga said the ministry has since approached the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PRAZ) on the matter. The whole process of procurement and designing of remedial works is expected to take about eight weeks.

Engineer Chinyanga said after Harare, the Government plans to roll out the programme at national level.

“We intend to have a programme on bridge inspections so that we know which bridge needs inspection, which is still safe and the remedial work proposed so that on an annual basis we have targeted bridges for maintenance and we can bid for funding from Treasury,” he said.

Ordinarily, bridges are supposed to be inspected yearly, but there was a period when Government departments were only doing basic inspections to make sure roads were trafficable.

A government agency was used to siphon thousands of dollars to finance weddings and political rallies during former president Robert Mugabe’s reign, an audit has revealed.

Auditor-General Mildred Chiri exposed the rot at the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA), which she said happened between 2015 and 2016, in her latest audit report detailing abuse of funds and inefficiencies at state institutions.

ZTA made numerous “donations” as well as unauthorised contributions to political rallies believed to be for the ruling Zanu PF.

In 2014 ZTA “donated” $50 000 at weddings, 10 tonnes of maize seed and 50 Singer sewing machines.

Some expenditure is only categorised as “constituency rally sponsorship”.

During the period under review, former ZTA chief executive Karikoga Kaseke’s wife Betty, a former model, campaigned and secured a parliamentary seat as legislator for Kuwadzana on a Zanu PF ticket.

In the report, Chiri also makes note of an undisclosed amount referenced as a donation to an unnamed High Court judge.

In 2015 the authority spent some $4 000 on cellphone bills under the line item “ministry-related expenses”.

“The authority also spent $35 868 in 2013, $154 174 in 2014 and $189 880 in 2015 that was not budgeted for on ministry-related expenses.

“The expenditure is related to repair of (Tourism) ministry vehicles, fuel and traveling costs of ministry officials.”

Another $10 000 was spent on office furniture, but categorised as social responsibility.

The then Tourism deputy minister Anastasia Ndlovu also received $5 000 in holiday expenses.

A trip to Berlin, Germany, gobbled some $8 000 in travelling and subsistence expenses which was not budgeted for.

Several motor vehicles, including a Mercedes Benz S600 valued at $13 333 and a Mercedes Benz S350 with a carrying amount of $134 000, were acquired by the authority but were registered in the names of third parties.

The audit report also notes that the ZTA board led lavish lifestyles and awarded themselves outrageous fees and perks without ministerial authority.

This was all despite the authority’s poor financial capacity.

In 2015 the authority incurred a deficit of $796 000 from $969 000 in the previous year.

As a result, ZTA’s current liabilities exceeded its current assets by $2,3 million indicating a material risk to the authority’s ability to continue operating as a going concern.

For instance, executive directors awarded themselves a monthly fuel allocation of $2 000.

That is equivalent to 1 316 litres of fuel per month, which is enough to cover an average of 13 158km.

An interest-free loan of $20 000 was advanced to one of the board members without the minister’s approval, compromising the oversight role of the board.

The loan was repaid over three years.

“There were expenses incurred in 2013, 2014 and 2015 financial years,which did not appear to be in line with the authoririty’s business and they were also not budgeted for,” reads part of the report.

Meanwhile, Kaseke spent his 13-year stay at the institution without a valid contract of employment.

The audit report says Kaseke’s employment was only effected by a letter from the chief secretary to Cabinet Misheck Sibanda when he was reassigned from the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe in 2006.

No other contract was entered into between Kaseke and the authority, posing a risk to the ZTA as there was no basis for legal recourse in case of disputes.

“There was no contract of employment for the chief executive. The reference point of the conditions of service for the chief executive was his contract of employment with his previous employer,” reads the report.

Throughout his “tenure”, Kaseke, a confrontational figure who was known for berating his staff in public, went on to become the face of the country’s tourism sector which served as a feeding trough for high-ranking officials.

Standard

President Emmerson had a rude awakening after the Chiefs from Midlands and Matabeleland bluntly told him that their people need a national apology preceded by truth telling about what happened during the Gukurahundi genocide. The Chiefs who submitted a joint presentation said the state was to blame for the murder pf more than 20 000 Zimbabweans in Midlands and Matabeleland.

They told Mnangagwa that as the Head of State he must apologise on behalf of the state.

Read the summary below:

The state committed the atrocities and therefore the state should assume responsibility for the atrocities and issue an official apology and, in our constitutional architecture, the state is represented in the office of the Head of State. Your Excellency, it is important to distinguish between an official apology and a personal apology. Personal responsibility is irrelevant when considering an official apology. It is not you apologising for your personal acts or omissions but the state apologising for the actions of its agencies. It is irrelevant whether the Head of State is in any way personally responsible for the atrocities. It is irrelevant whether or not he was even there at the time of the commission of the atrocities. An apology is a moral obligation of the occupant of the office of the Head of State where atrocities or wrongs of one form or another are committed in the name of government or state and not necessarily an admission of personal responsibility on the part of the Head of State as a person.

Your Excellency, lest we be accused of making a bald and wild allegation on the responsibility of the State, it is important to say we have assumed that the state is culpable for Gukurahundi atrocities because the perpetrators were employees of the state, were paid and housed by the state, were funded by the state, were transported by the state, carried state-issued weapons and ammunition, flew the Zimbabwean flag in their bases and offices, were promoted after the atrocities, are earning retirement benefits from the state, and were not arrested or in anyway punished by the state for the crimes they committed, and, most importantly, the state did not at the time and since that time distance itself from the crimes. The state, as a unit, is therefore liable and should be held responsible for the actions of its employees unless it demonstrates on evidence that the crimes committed were solely the actions of specifically named individuals or unless a truly independent body has determined otherwise. As far as we know, at all material times, the government of the day had the right, ability and duty to control the actions of those who committed Gukurahundi atrocities on the ground because they were acting in its name and were accountable to it. It chose not to exercise this power.

The truth telling process, for example, enables victims and survivors to know about the circumstances of gross violations of their human rights, to know the fate of their disappeared loved ones or at least know the circumstances under which they disappeared or were killed. It also serves to inform the nation about what happened to their fellow citizens. Acknowledgment of the occurrence of the deaths, injuries, rape and related suffering that took place during Gukurahundi is therefore key to closure. When one reads Section 252 (c) of the Constitution, it is clear that truth telling is contemplated in pursuit of justice, healing and reconciliation. Truth telling is not important only for victims but also for perpetrators. They too need to be freed from the tremendous bondage of the burden of unacknowledged injurious conduct in respect of having killed, raped, tortured, starved and disappeared fellow citizens directly or through the agency of someone else.

Standard|The government should channel its entire surplus towards cushioning workers in the face of rising costs and declining incomes, economist Ashok Chakravarti has said.

In a wide-ranging interview with Standardbusiness last Friday, Chakravarti, who is also an adviser to government, said the recent monetary measures were welcome, but need to be supported with further actions.

Following the promulgation of Statutory Instrument (SI) 142 of 2019 last week, which ended the multicurrency regime and reintroduced the Zimbabwe dollar as the sole currency, the black market forex rates have been depressed.

But because of the high uncertainty prevailing in the market, retail outlets drastically increased prices while some pharmacies have reportedly taken off high-value medicines from the shelves to preserve their worth.

The price hikes have piled pressure on employers to review salaries across the board.

“For wages, I do believe there has been a significant eroding on wages and, therefore, both the government and the private sector have no choice, but to increase wages significantly,” Chakravarti said.

“You have to cushion the working people and I am 100% in support of that and I will speak for it. In fact, as far as government is concerned, I know that discussions are going on.

“As you know, while we have to maintain some kind of fiscal balance, Hon (Finance) minister (Mthuli) Ncube has said he has got a fiscal surplus.

“So, I would then say to him let us take the entire fiscal surplus and give it to civil servants and police to cushion them and there is nothing wrong with that.

“To the private sector, I say very plainly — let me give you an example of an exporter.

“About 50% of his money was previously being taken by the RBZ (Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe) and still is. But, previously, he was getting 1:1 for that 50%, think of that.

“Today he is getting the market rate for that 50%. So let us say there was a man who is exporting gold and was getting $100 million in RTGS at one to one.

‘Today, at the interbank market rate, he is getting $650 million, the same guy.

“The same amount of US dollars, but is being converted into RTGS when they are converting at the interbank market rate.

“So, export companies have become super-profitable and there is no reason why they cannot share some of that with their workers and they should give them 100% salary increases.”

In order to maintain the value of wages, some analysts have over the years suggested that government must adopt the South African rand, but the market was more inclined to the US dollar, which is stronger and more stable.

However, Chakravarti was of the view that the Zimbabwean market preferred to trade in the US dollar during the multi-currency era.

“You will recall when we first started with the multicurrency in 2009, initially the rand was in primary circulation and it was mostly the rand that was being used,” he said.

“But the people decided otherwise. The US dollar is a very strong and stable currency whereas the rand is a weak and volatile currency.

“So, if I think about it, as the average market agent I will prefer to trade, deal and keep the US dollar rather than the rand.

“That is where all our problems started because a small and weak economy like ours cannot adopt a strong currency and expect that to be the basis for pricing, transactions and for economic growth.

“This electronic money that we have, our ZWL$10 billion, in reality, practical and theoretical terms was and is a local currency.

“People had this idea that somehow this was US dollars and it was not their fault because the government of that time (the one before the current) said this was US dollar so we all thought that, well government is saying it’s USD so it’s USD.

“But, at the time, I explicitly said this was not the USD dollar, this was a local currency created electronically.

“So we have had a local currency for a very long time.

“All that has happened now is that we have officially recognised that these RTGS balances plus this bond note, as the governor of the Reserve Bank (John Mangudya) said, are the family of local currency.”

Chakravarti said the only way to end the confidence deficit would be through concrete actions taken by government, which positively affect ordinary people.

Standard|Zanu PF youth commissar Godfrey Tsenengamu (GT) has told Standard Newspaper reporter Obey Manayiti (OM) that allegations that the youths were pushing a factional agenda in their corruption war were not true.

In an exclusive interview with the reporter Tsenengamu also revealed that another list has been submitted to the Zanu PF leadership pending the investigations.

Below are excerpts from the interview.

OM: Can you tell us about this anti-corruption drive that you are doing as the youth league? What is its basis and what do you want to achieve?

GT: What we are simply doing as the youth league is to make sure that we push for the fulfilment of the party’s manifesto from the 2018 elections.

It was one of the key issues that we pledged to deal with. Remember we had promised to fight corruption and as the youth league we said elections are gone and we need to be working towards the fulfilment of what we promised.

The motivation is that as you look at the current scenario, we have a crop of leadership both in the public and private sectors who have just become so greedy and selfish to the point of taking everything for themselves without taking into consideration that we have other generations to come after us.

It is on this basis that we said as the youth leadership we cannot continue to look aside and be bystanders when we have a few individuals destroying what Zimbabwe stands for and what the party stands for.

OM: You named just a few individuals from Zanu PF and others. Critics are saying those that you named cannot be the only ones driving corruption in the country. They allege that by naming very few individuals, you are just trying to settle scores with those that you named. Are you being pushed by anyone?

GT: It is not true. If you talk of a youth league, you are not talking of an individual, but it’s a structure.

We have structures from cell up to the top and this stance that we have taken is shared by the whole body of the youth league.

We are not pushing any agenda. If you look at the composition of the people who were accused of being corrupt, they are being drawn from the government, party, private sector and others, hence you cannot say there is a vendetta.

We have armchair critics who are bent on criticising what we have done, but remember this thing has to start from somewhere.

Yes, we have not named everyone, but at least we have named certain individuals whom we have concrete evidence against.

We are making a call to every Zimbabwean, not Zanu PF members alone, that they also have a right to expose these people.

It’s not only the duty of the youth league. If people feel that the youth league has not mentioned everyone who is corrupt, they must also come forward and play their part by taking up from where we have left it.

OM: From the time that you released that list, there are some who are saying you deliberately left out some names, including a business tycoon now known as Queen Bee, who have been accused of corruption by people linked to Zanu PF such as Acie Lumumba.

GT: People have to understand that our list was not exhaustive. We have to start from somewhere and if people think Queen Bee fits in the category of people who are corrupt, they are free to suggest that and even to go to the police or to name and shame as we did.

We haven’t exonerated anyone of wrongdoing.

It does not mean that those we didn’t mention are not corrupt, we had to start with people whom we have evidence of their corrupt activities.

If people have the evidence that can be used to nail that Queen Bee, they must come forward.

I don’t think it’s fair to blame the youth league. Let others come on board, either from the main body, women’s league or from opposition to private citizens.

They have a right to fight corruption too and not to blame the youth league. I don’t think it is fair to criticise us yet those critics haven’t done anything to fight corruption.

OM: There are allegations that you are doing Queen Bee’s bidding, especially in targeting Gokwe Nembudziya legislator Mayor Wadyajena of Zanu PF.

GT: It’s not true. We didn’t even exonerate anyone and neither did we even implicate Wadyajena.

Some people are even coming up with other names, but because we didn’t implicate any of them, it means we are not even involved in their fights.

We are trying to be objective and we will not allow ourselves to be swallowed in petty fights involving individuals.

OM: Others are saying this “exposé” is actually a manifestation of factionalism in Zanu PF. Critics say those that you named are from a rival faction, what is your comment on that?

GT: No, the youth league cannot be seen to be belonging to a faction or being a faction.

We belong to the party and I would want people to come forward and say Cde Obert Mpofu belongs to such and such faction or Cde Prisca Mupfumira belongs to this faction or whatever or Cde Joram Gumbo and Tino Machakaire belong to a faction, which the youth league is against.

As long as people don’t say we belong to X faction and the other guys belong to Y faction, then that argument doesn’t hold water.

Of course, you would expect that from people who would have been named and shamed because they will be fighting back and they will throw all sorts of accusations.

The truth of the matter is that we are fighting corruption.

As far as I know we don’t have factions in Zanu PF at the moment and there are no factional fights.

By the way, who is leading those factions? It’s simply not true.

OM: Does the list of the alleged corrupt people which is dominated by people linked to Zanu PF not vindicate those who argue that the ruling party is generally corrupt?

GT: No, it’s not. This simply shows that Zanu PF is serious about fighting corruption.

If we didn’t want to fight corruption we could have just gone quiet and pretended that everything was okay, but because the party doesn’t believe in corruption, we had to come out in the open and say what these members are doing is exactly the opposite of what we stand for.

If you can recall, after the politburo meeting the party spokesperson (Simon Khaya Moyo) said there was a unanimous decision and the agenda is a noble one and it cannot be ignored.

This is the presidium and through the president it has to constitute a commission of inquiry to look into the allegations that we raised against these comrades.

The party doesn’t condone corruption and if you check, the president said it on his inauguration of November 2017.

He was clear that we are going to fight corruption and the youth league has done its part.

However, it must be clear that we are not ending in Zanu PF and this is just the beginning.

Corruption doesn’t only exist in our comrades in Zanu PF, but also even in the opposition, urban councils, parastatals and many other institutions.

Even on our list, we had to pick some people from the private sector and some from the opposition.

OM: Does this mean there is another bigger list of corrupt people?

GT: Cde Simon Khaya Moyo was very clear after the politburo meeting that the youth league was going to raise more allegations.

We were asked by the leadership to provide the full list and like we said before, we are going to release more names.

We have since submitted the names of those people whom we think are corrupt.

OM: Where is that list? Is it also available?

GT: It’s not available for the media. We have submitted it to the leadership, so the findings will come out from the commission of inquiry.

We don’t want to pre-empt what we have submitted to the commission of inquiry.

OM: The opposition says you are trying to divert attention from the economic crisis. What is your reaction to that?

GT: It boggles the mind how the opposition thinks dealing with corruption is trying to divert attention because corruption is one of the biggest threats to the livelihoods of even coming generations.

Any serious political party will hail our efforts and come and join us in fighting this monster called corruption.

For them to say we are trying to divert attention from critical issues is simply out of order.

What other critical thing is there that surpasses corruption? This is justified for us to fight corruption.

We must come together as a generation in fighting corruption. It must not be seen to be a Zanu PF fight, but must be seen as a generational fight where we are fighting for our space and rescue our country from the jaws of corruption.

Everyone must embrace it.

OM: There are also threats of mass protests against the government due to its alleged failure to improve the economy. What is the youth league’s position on that?

GT: Peaceful protests are rights as enshrined in the constitution.

Everyone has a right to protest but peacefully, so we cannot take that away from the MDC and say they are not supposed to protest.

However, I am not sure if their protests are going to change the status of the economy or if it is going to improve the living conditions of our people.

I think the MDC is just being reactionary and not being progressive.

If they have other solutions they must come forward and proffer those solutions.

Those are just political games for them to continue to psyche their supporters ahead of the 2023 elections.

The major question is: What will be the result of those protests?

I mean after the protests, then what and is that going to change the economy?

Those that have alternative solutions must just come forward and share their policies bearing in mind that 2018-2023 is a Zanu PF term.

Even if they go to the streets, it will not change anything, Zanu PF is there and we will not pay attention.

However, in as much they have the right to protest, if they turn violent, Zanu PF will not fold hands as they destroy what (the president) is working hard to restore.

As a party and youth league, we will organise ourselves to protect our properties and investments that Zimbabwe stands for from hooligans that will be trying to destroy what we are working hard for.

OM: On that note, will this not lead to unnecessary confrontation?

GT: I think they are the ones who would have started with a confrontational approach.

For as long as they get to the streets and try to cause problems, then they are the ones who would have started and what will we be expected to do then?

Just to say okay look at these people they are trying to kill us and destroy everything, God come and help us?

No, we will not do that, we have to defend our properties and make sure that our people continue with their businesse

s without any disturbances.

MSN|Zimbabwe’s worsening electricity shortages mean power is often only available for a few hours in the middle of the night — forcing furniture maker Richard Benhura to start work at 11:00 pm.

It is just one aspect of the country’s dire economic difficulties as official inflation nears 100 percent and supplies of daily essentials such as bread and petrol regularly run short.

“If you want to work, you have to be here overnight and start when the electricity comes on until it goes off around 4:00 am,” Benhura, 32, said as he made some wooden backrests for chairs.

At the open-air Glen View furniture market in Harare, Benhura welds steel frames for chairs and grinds off rough edges in the darkness, and then returns to do his manual woodwork in the daylight.

Zimbabwe — where the economy has recently lurched into a fresh crisis — introduced rotational power cuts of up to 19 hours a day earlier this year, forcing many to do their ironing or cooking in the dead of night.

For Egenia Chiwashira, a resident of the poor Harare suburb of Mbare, the outages are a grim burden.

The mother of three in her 40s says she can barely afford to feed her family, let alone pay for a generator.

– ‘We are in darkness’ –

“To cook porridge for my children needs electricity, also for me to prepare myself something to eat,” Chiwashira said, while stoking a fire she had made outside her house to prepare supper.

“We are always in darkness. It’s not easy. Life in the city is tough without electricity. You have to buy firewood unlike in rural areas where you can fetch it in forests.

“I can’t afford to buy both wood and candles, so my children cannot do their schoolwork in the evening.”

Zimbabwe last month introduced rolling electricity power cuts known as “load-shedding” due to low water levels at the Kariba hydro-power station, as well as the country’s crumbling power infrastructure and lack of funds to pay for energy imports.

The ZESA power utility said cuts would be imposed between 5:00 am and 10:00 am and 5:00 pm and 10:00 pm, but they often last longer.

“Last week we had no electricity on Friday, Saturday and Sunday,” Chiwashira said. “We only got supplies back on Monday afternoon.”

Energy minister Fortune Chasi has pledged the outages would be reduced, and urged consumers to pay their bills to enable ZESA to buy more power from neighbouring countries.

“We will be turning the corner pretty soon,” Chasi told a post-Cabinet briefing this week, adding that ZESA had just paid a $20-million debt to neighbouring South Africa.

South Africa’s state-owned energy company Eskom on Friday denied the money had been paid.

– No post-Mugabe upturn –

One of few to see an improvement in business is Simba Vuremu, a stationery shop owner who has added solar lighting units to his stock.

“They are selling and selling fast,” he said.

After Robert Mugabe was ousted from power in 2017, many Zimbabweans hoped that their country’s long economic deline would be reversed under his successor President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Mnangagwa promised to end the country’s international isolation, attract investors and create growth that could fund the country’s shattered public services.

But the economy has declined further, with shop prices rocketing at the fastest rate since hyperinflation wiped out savings and pensions ten years ago.

This week, Zimbabwe in theory ended the use of US dollars and other foreign currencies that have been the official legal tender since the Zimbabwe dollar was rendered worthless in 2009.

The government’s surprise decision fuelled further confusion and uncertainty.

For Caution Kasisi, 45, another furniture-maker in Glen View, the power cuts have only added to his worries.

“We have a small petrol-powered generator which cannot run for a long time,” he said.

“The price of food and other things like school fees are going up and we are not getting much money because we can’t deliver our goods. We have got a problem.”

Promise Mkwananzi the leader of Tajamuka has buttressed the call by #tajamuka movement for Zimbabweans to “shut down Zimbabwe,” on Monday July 1.

During an interview with online Gambakwe Media, Mkwananzi, said Zimbabweans should not report for work nor carry out any economic activities as from Monday until President Emmerson Mnangagwa resigns from the position he grabbed in a military coup from former President Robert Mugabe in November 2017.

Watch the video below:

By A Correspondent| Today marks over a year and a month after Zimbabwe’s founding president Robert Mugabe spoke out for the first time in a broad interview months after he was militarily removed from power.

Speaking at his Blue Roof residence, President Mugabe described his former aide Emmerson Mnangagwa as a lawless man. He said Zimbabwe “must undo this disgrace that we impose upon ourselves.” A year later, Mnangagwa’s tenure charaterised by soldiers shooting civilians in the open streets on state orders, has also seen for the first time the Reserve Bank twisting its banking rules in the space of a few hours. WAS MUGABE TELLING THE TRUTH?

VIDEO:

“We must undo this disgrace.”

Zimbabwe’s ousted former leader Robert Mugabe gives his first interview since he was removed from power in November. pic.twitter.com/HFCArrMtAq

— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) March 16, 2018

PRESIDENT Mnangagwa has expressed his heartfelt condolences to the families of the 16 people who died on Friday morning in the Featherstone road accident which he has declared a national disaster.

He also wished the seven seriously injured people a speedy recovery saying the Government was going to provide support to the affected families and called on thorough investigations to be carried out to ascertain the cause of the accident to avoid a recurring loss of human capital in the country.

In a statement issued by Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Dr Misheck Sibanda, the President said he received the message with sadness and distress.

“His Excellency, President ED Mnangagwa has received the news of the loss of 16 lives and injuries to others in the road accident that took place at Featherstone near Chivhu on the Harare-Masvingo road, with sadness and distress.

“On behalf of the nation, the Government of Zimbabwe and on his own behalf, he expresses his deepest condolences to the bereaved families and those affected. He wishes a quick recovery to those injured,” reads part of the statement.

President Mnangagwa declared the accident a national disaster and directed that resources be availed to assist the affected families in their moment of need and grief.
Meanwhile, National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi yesterday said the death toll has since increased to 19 after three more people died from injuries sustained in the accident.State media

MORE than 200 residents including school children in Empumalanga’s DRC suburb in Hwange were on Thursday and Friday taken ill following a diarrhoea outbreak suspected to have been caused by a sewage leak into the water system.

Officials suspect that 3 000 more residents could be exposed to the water borne infection. An emergency Civil Protection Committee was hastily arranged on Friday to try and deal with the problem.

Speaking at the meeting, Hwange Local Board Environment Health technician, Mr Nqobile Mabhena said they suspected the outbreak was a result of cross contamination emanating from a suspected leak in the water pipeline that supplies the area.

“Although Zinwa and council have not pinpointed the source or exactly where this cross contamination took place there is suspicion that it’s at a river crossing where a sewage stream flows. In the suspected area there is a stream of raw sewage from burst pipes that flows over the pipes supplying water to residents in DRC so that could be our cross contamination point.

We suspect that sewage water which would have heavily accumulated in the water supply pipeline is pushed up when supplies are restored. The whole Phase Three has been affected by this and as on Thursday, 53 cases had been reported at our clinic today (Friday) the number had increased to 93. This number excludes the ones that went to seek treatment at other health institutions such as St Patrick’s and Hwange Colliery hospitals,” said Mr Mabhena.

Hwange District Medical Officer Dr Seleman Saidi, however, said they were yet to confirm if the outbreak was caused by diarrhoea.
“We are yet to ascertain if it’s a diarrhoea outbreak and as for the number that have been taken ill we are yet to get confirmation on that. However, for a Press statement contact the PMD,” he said.

Dr Saidi said the number of affected people could increase owing to delays in locating the point of cross contamination.State media

President Emmerson Mnangagwa recently appointed Dr Agnes Mahomva as the new permanent secretary in the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MOHCC).

The sector currently faces a lot of challenges, from shortages of mainline drugs to broken down medical equipment in public health facilities.

The state media had a one on one interview with Dr Mahomva on her plans going forward.

*****

Q: You were recently appointed permanent secretary in the Ministry of Health and Child Care. What is your vision for the ministry?

A: Thank you for asking that very important question. My vision is for the Ministry of Health and Child Care to be a ministry that provides timely high-quality health care for every Zimbabwean, regardless of who they are and where they come from. I feel this is very important. Many times we talk of all sorts of issues and challenges and we end up missing the point. It is about the ministry providing high-quality and timely services for every Zimbabwean.

It does not matter who you are and where you are. I say this because it reminds me of way back when I became a doctor – more than 30 years ago – and my husband had gone away to specialise. I remember telling my children’s nanny that if the child got very sick whilst I was on call and she could not, for some reason, get hold of me or our general practitioner, she should immediately take the child straight to Harare Hospital A2 paediatric outpatients and casualty department. This is because Harare Hospital A2 unit was where the best and timely high-quality paediatric care was at that time. The service was even better than in most private institutions. My vision for our ministry is to get us back there and to do even better . . .

Q: You were in Geneva (Switzerland) recently where you met with global players in the health sector, what were some of the issues that were discussed?

A: When you talk of issues, sometimes people think of challenges. However, it was such a pleasure meeting global players at the recent World Health Assembly in Geneva. They were eager to discuss and learn more about some of the many achievements in our health sector such as our very high immunisation coverages that continue to hover around 90 percent; our reduction of mother-to-child transmission of HIV from about 30 percent in 2000 to now around 6,5 percent; and of course our innovative domestic health funding models such as the health levy (airtime tax). They were very eager to learn from us and help other countries that are challenged as ourselves.

However, in addition to that, they discussed the issues of strengthening our primary health care (PHC), which is something we did very well back then. I think that is why we had strong systems back then. So they wanted to learn and know how we can move that forward, specifically to achieve the universal health coverage (UHC), which was the theme of the assembly.

Global players such as the Global Fund and Global Alliance on Vaccinations and Immunisations (GAVI) were keen to discuss how we are addressing our co-funding challenges for the programmes that they are supporting us on.

We also talked about how to strengthen our health system (all six pillars) in order to support and reach universal health coverage.

We also looked at the human resources aspect, monitoring and evaluation systems.

Q: Most hospitals have been facing shortages of drugs and protective clothing. What short- and long-term measures are you taking to rectify the situation?

A: Whilst we do have some challenges with drug shortages, our support and supervision visits have indicated that these shortages have mostly been a result of suboptimal stock management at various levels.

In other words, drugs are available but have just not reached the beneficiaries due to poor stock management. What we are doing in the short term is providing on-job training, mentorship and additional support and supervision visits on stock management. If you have limited drug quantities, it becomes very important to be able to do proper stock management. For example, if there are five boxes, it is not prudent to take them to one clinic.

The other thing that we are looking at is to strengthen governance at every single level. This will help us to improve how we do our business and hence help stretch the available small amount of foreign currency so that we can import more drugs.

I am glad to say at this high level we were talking of governance and people were saying, ‘you do not have a NatPharm board’, but I am glad to say we now have a board and they will help us with some of the issues such as monitoring that I have been talking about so that we deal with corruption.

We have also mobilised additional domestic and global resources for medicines and other commodities.

The innovative health levy, for example, was specifically set up to help us buy medicines.

At global level, we continue to receive Global Fund, PEPFAR and GAVI funding for drugs, vaccines and other commodities through our grant applications.

We are also exploring Public-Private Partnerships and joint ventures that we hope will give us genuine win-win situations on drug procurement and on long-term local drug manufacturing initiatives.

We have to date signed some MOUs with companies from India, China and Europe, just to name a few.

Q: In 2014, Government put a 5 percent mobile airtime levy, which was ringfenced for the procurement of drugs and medicines. How much has been collected over the years? And how much has been collected this year alone. Why has it been insufficient to boost medical supplies over the years?

A: The mobile airtime levy, also known as the health levy, has been in place since (circa) 2017 and has to date collected about $63 million (RTGS).

Indeed, this levy was ringfenced for procurement of medicines and, yes, the MOHCC has managed to procure medicines using this fund.

I do not think it is fair to say it has not augmented supplies. This innovative way of fundraising has saved us a lot. It has really helped us.

Unfortunately, the current harsh economic situation has seen the foreign currency from this local fund slowly go down.

This has, in turn, made it difficult for us to import the quantities of medicines we had hoped for.

This has, however, not dampened our drive at all.

We are confident we can, and in fact are still able, to reasonably stock up all our health facilities through innovative partnerships such as the recent partnership with India, China, Global Fund and others as highlighted earlier.

We will therefore continue to work on such partnerships.

Q: There have been issues of cartels in the pharmaceutical sector. How is Government going to deal with such malpractices?

A: Good governance at all levels is key and critical. We are reviewing and strengthening our monitoring procedures and processes, as well as taking fast and immediate investigations and appropriate action on any suspected and confirmed cartels.

We are also delighted that as of today, we now have a NatPharm board that has been tasked with paying attention to issues of corruption and issues of ensuring that drug availability at all levels is high. These are people who have been in the industry and also in the private sector.

When we introduced them, there were two issues that the Minister (of Health and Child Care Dr Obadiah Moyo) highlighted – corruption and medicine stocks.

They need to immediately investigate any rumours of corruption and not wait until it is too late.

The other issue the new board was tasked with was to help move the stock of medicines. When we started, not too long ago, the rate of movement stood at 57 percent. It was actually one of our 100-day cycle (targets) and we tasked them move to a higher percentage.

We will also be training and capacitating the staff so that they quickly pick up any corruption and cartels.

Q: Government has been working on inviting investors /partners in the health sector, which partners or countries have you managed to lure to the country’s health sector to date?

A: I am very proud to let you know that the Health and Child Care Ministry is probably one of a few ministries that has managed to attract many partners and donors. These partners and donors include the Indian government that recently donated US$2 million worth of drugs.

Part of the donation was officially handed over to the ministry last week and the rest is expected any time soon.

We are also working with the Indian companies for partnerships on provision of hospital equipment, medicines and construction of health posts.

Several MOUs have been signed with some Chinese companies for joint ventures that include construction of hospitals and provision of medicines and medical equipment.

Health Development Fund (HDF) project partners and donors that include Sweden, EU, UK et cetera are also working with us on programmes that focus on provision of high-quality maternal and child health services.

We are also working on setting up bonded warehouses for medicines, like we are doing with fuel, where we know fuel is already available. We do not need to import the commodity each time it runs out. We need to do that with medicines as well. We have signed a number of memorandums with some of our partners. We are now just trying to make sure we move forward with the incentives.

We think Zimbabwe is well-placed to get a more funding from Global Fund mainly due to our well-documented programme achievement.

In addition to that, we have also paid close attention to our existing partners. We talked about Global Fund which is giving us huge amounts of money. So what we are doing is to strengthen our partnerships. We produce results so that when they are ready to distribute funds for the next round, Zimbabwe is in a favourable position.

We are also working on paying up some of our commitments because at times to get the huge amount of funds, you have to pay something as well. So we are very happy to be working with these partners.

Q: There have been talks of revamping the national pharmaceutical company, how far have you gone with this?

A: Governance structures are being strengthened. A new board has just been appointed and the emphasis was to look at corruption issues and quality of medicines.

In the meantime, we have strengthened our monitoring system by introducing a barcode system that allows us to effectively track all medicines and commodities.

We are completing the upgrading of our recording system from paper-based to an electronic system. This will go a long way in supporting an efficient stock management system.

Regular monitoring and support visits, including spot checks, are in progress.

On-the-job training and mentorship of health care workers is being done to strengthen stock management as mentioned earlier.

Q: How far has Government gone with the implementation of the 2010 National Alcohol Policy draft?

A: A draft policy is indeed in place and will be implemented once it has been approved by Cabinet.

Q: Zimbabwe recently introduced a new HIV/ AIDS drug. Have you started distributing the drug?

A: Yes, Dolutegravir (DTG) rollout started this year with sensitisation of health workers to provide the drug as part of a three-drug combination of ARVs.

Since May this year, health facilities have started enrolling patients on DTG-based regimens. However, we have started with the newly diagnosed HIV positive patients for now. Our plans are to enrol the existing and eligible PLHIV (people living with HIV) on treatment from August 2019, where we expect to have received additional supplies of DTG from our suppliers.

Q: There is also an increase in non-communicable diseases. What measures are you putting in place to fight the scourge?

A: It is very true. We are seeing a lot of high blood pressure, diabetes and cancers and other non-communicable diseases, yet we currently do not have good data on the actual magnitude of this problem for Zimbabwe. Fortunately, we have secured some funds to conduct a scientifically sound national assessment this year. This will help us plan appropriately and enable us to target and use our limited resources efficiently and effectively. In the meantime, we have done quite a lot, including sensitisation of communities on risk factors for NCD such as smoking and sedentary lifestyle (involving little physical activity).

There has also been vaccination against Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), which is associated with cancer of the cervix

We have conducted mass drug administration for bilharzia, a disease that is associated with bladder cancer.

We have introduced vaccination against Hepatitis B, a virus associated with cancer of the liver.-StateMedia

WATCH VIDEO LOADING BELOW…

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2264893853587942&id=150154425045764

The Late Dennis Murira collapsed and died in Harare last week.

The MDC described him as a devoted party cadre who will be fondly remembered for his sacrifice for democracy.

He was buried on Saturday afternoon at his rural home in Mapanzure, Masvingo.

Below are pictures of his funeral and burial.

I personally commend @ZctuZimbabwe @ARTUZ_teachers, and @mdczimbabwe for being vigilant, this Tajamuka is clearly a CIO infiltration seeking to get people killed so to accentuate ED's abuses. Mnangagwa is already going down, if you assist in pushing him, SADC will blame you!

— Simba Chikanza (@schikanza) June 29, 2019

#FAKENEWS:@ARTUZ_teachers is NOT behind this call for a stay away on 1 July. We urge the public to be vigilant in guarding against disinformation campaigns meant to confuse. We’re currently consulting our members and will communicate the way forward through our official channels pic.twitter.com/6r6N6J3uwl

— Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe,ARTUZ (@ARTUZ_teachers) June 29, 2019

By A Correspondent- The Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) has called for the thorough vetting people visiting the Chimoio Shrines in Mozambique as a measure to ensure that the site is not tempered with by mischievous elements.

Speaking at the shrines during a visit by the Minister of State for Manicaland Provincial Affairs Dr Ellen Gwaradzimba, ZNLWVA provincial chairman Gift Kagweda said it was unfortunate that some people were visiting the shrines with ulterior motives.

“We have heard how the spirits of the cadres buried here are very much alive. Strange things happen here and we should not take them lightly. Because of this, we have said everyone who wishes to visit these shrines should be vetted. We cannot have people just coming here to cause mischief,” he said.

Kagweda was speaking after one of the two caretakers at the shrines, Francisco Fernando, had described strange sounds and sights that frequently occur at the shrine.

He said the spirits of the cadres wander around.

“When we started working here, we would lock the gates at night before going home, but the next morning, we would find the gates unlocked and wide open. We have seen one of the graves oozing blood when things in Zimbabwe are not well.

“There is a farmer who once passed-by here and said some bad things about us and the comrades, his car was burnt to ashes right before our eyes. When he tried to bring another car to tow the remnants of his car, it also caught fire,” he said.

The Chimoio Shrines hold several mass graves of thousands of cadres who were massacred by Rhodesian forces on November 23, 1977 in an air force operation code-named “Dingo”.

The Zanla Chimoio camp, which was the liberation army’s military headquarters in Mozambique, was a massive military complex situated about 20 kilometres north-east of Chimoio town.

The Rhodesian forces hit the conglomeration of camps which included “Osibisa”, which was mainly a women’s camp; “Chaminuka”, which was the main Zanla security camp; “Chindunduma” for young schoolchildren; “Percy Ntini”, which was a convalescence centre and a logistics base; and the “Garage” camp where Zanla’s vehicles were serviced and repaired as well as the Takawira Base Two camp, which was the main military training camp for males.

National consultative assembly member Charles Hokoyo, described how after the attack, an excavator was used to push thousands of bodies strewn all over the camp into mass graves.

He said some bodies were still being discovered.

Hokoyo said there was need to continue identifying those buried in shallow graves and accord them decent burials.-ManicaPost

By A Correspondent- Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union Zimbabwe has distanced itself from a poster that is doing the rounds on social media purporting that the organisation is in association with Tajamuka/ Sesjikile in calling for a shutdown.

Tajamuka/ Sesjikile has called for a national stayaway on 1 July 2019 urging workers not to report for duty till the government has addressed several issues some of which include high prices of goods and services, fuel, water and power shortages and the high unemployment in the country.

However, the ARTUZ distanced itself from the posters citing them as partners in the July 1 stay away which also cites other movements such as the ZCTU, ZINASU, vISET and ZISO.

Said ARTUZ:

#FAKENEWS:@ARTUZ_teachers is NOT behind this call for a stay away on 1 July. We urge the public to be vigilant in guarding against disinformation campaigns meant to confuse. We’re currently consulting our members and will communicate the way forward through our official channels pic.twitter.com/6r6N6J3uwl

— Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe,ARTUZ (@ARTUZ_teachers) June 29, 2019

By A Correspondent- A man from Gwanda was found dead in a 20-metre deep mine shaft after an explosion at the mine.

Matabeleland South acting provincial police spokesperson, Sergeant Stanford Mguni, confirmed the incident which occurred at Bina Mine in Gwanda on Wednesday at around 10 PM.

He said Ndabezinhle Mpofu (20) of Thandanani Village was found dead in a shaft by mine workers. Sgt Mguni said the cause of the explosion was yet to be ascertained. “I can confirm that we recorded a mine accident which occurred at Bina Mine in Gwanda on Wednesday at around 10 PM. “Kholwani Mpofu who works at the mine and his other co-workers completed their work on Wednesday at around 8 PM and they retired for bed leaving no one at the mine shaft,” he said.

“While they were asleep at around 10PM, Mpofu and his workmates heard an explosion coming from the mine shaft and they went to inspect. “They found a local Ndabezinhle Mpofu’s body in the 20-metre deep shaft.

“The matter was reported to the police who attended the scene and Ndabezinhle’s body was retrieved from the shaft and taken to Gwanda Provincial Hospital. “Investigations are still underway to ascertain the cause of the explosion.”-StateMedia

By Own Correspondent- Chinese mining firm, San He Zimbabwe, had its property attached by the sheriff after it failed to settle over US$218 970 in salary arrears and non-payment of overtime.

The mine, based in Guruve, had failed to pay workers their full salaries, forcing employees to sue and eventually winning the case.

The award was registered at the High Court, paving way for the attachment of property such as dump trucks, tractors, irrigation equipment
and excavators.

After the attachment, the company, however, applied for stay of execution at the High Court, but lost the case.
“Applicant became aware of draft ruling and felt it was at peace. It was served to appear before the Labour Court, but failed to do so,
thinking it was at peace. (It) was served with application for registration of arbitral award, but did not file notice of opposition,
thinking it was at peace,” part of the judgment read.

“Now that the property has been attached, it wants to cry foul. I uphold the point in limine that this application is not urgent. It is
ironic that applicant only saw the writ of execution, but failed to see other notices of set down. The application is dismissed with costs, and without dealing with the merits,” the judgment read.

Zimbabwe Diamond and Allied Minerals Workers’ Union (Zdamwu), which represented the workers, warned mining companies against labour
malpractices, saying the law would deal with them.

“Chinese chrome mine is in soup over underpayment of wages. We have attached property to recover US$219 000 or RTGS dollars equivalent,”
Zdamwu general-secretary Justice Chinhema said.

“This is a clear message to all violators of labour rights that the law will catch up with them. Zdamwu will fish you out and make you
comply in a painful way. The time for corrupt employers is over. They can bribe a few individuals for protection, but when we reach you,
we fish you and your protector,” he said.

By A Correspondent- Son of the late theologian and Zim’s first president Canna Banana has come out to say, he is working on republishing his father’s work including a case study of his controversial new bible.

Canaan Banana died in 2003, During the time of his career Banana had asked that the Bible be rewritten as a way of solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Middle East. A move that was critiqued and criticized by many scholars in Zimbabwe.

16 years after his death, his son Nathan has come out to say, he will republish his father’s work.

https://twitter.com/Critic58357539/status/1144934856520060929?s=19

By Own Correspondent| Independent legislator for Norton Temba Mliswa has dragged Zanu Pf politburo member Obert Mpofu Down Memory lane reminding him how he bragged about being the former President Robert Mugabe’s son.

Mliswa said:

Obert Mpofu forgets that when RGM (Robert Gabriel Mugabe) was in power, he declared he would never work under @Mnangagwa (President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Mpofu was the self acclaimed “Obedient Son” and his province the last to endorse ED……..”

Obert Mpofu forgets that when RGM was in power, he declared he’d never work under @edmnangagwa Mpofu was the self acclaimed “Obedient Son” & his province the last to endorse ED……

— Sabhuku Temba P. Mliswa (@TembaMliswa) June 29, 2019

By A Correspondent- Government has made an initial $23 million drawdown from the $150 million fund that is meant for infrastructure development at some of the country’s State universities.

The $23 million is earmarked for on-campus accommodation and learning facilities at Midlands State University (MSU) and Lupane University.

Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Minister Professor Amon Murwira said both MSU and Lupane had received their disbursements.

“I am very glad that there is work in progress and so far we have managed to drawdown $23 million from a loan facility of $150 million that we secured from CBZ Bank.

“From the $23 million, we gave $15 million to Lupane and $8 million to Midlands State Universities,” he said.

Government intends to build decent accommodation for students in tertiary institutions.

Prof Murwira said part of the funds will also be channelled towards facilities such as lecture rooms and laboratories.

“Government is concerned with inadequate accommodation at State universities. Over 15 000 of our students do not stay in campus accommodation.

“They are living in unfavourable conditions, hence the ministry has taken a new approach to the issue and we are engaging PPPs (Public-Private Partnerships) to build student housing,” he said.-StateMedia

"We Will Not Accept To Be Divided" President Emmerson Mnangagwa pic.twitter.com/22eEweDGY4

— ZimEye (@ZimEye) June 29, 2019

By Own Correspondent- NATIONAL Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) chairperson Justice Selo Nare on Friday launched the Midlands provincial peace committee to spearhead peace-building initiatives in the province.

The committee will be chaired by Musasa Project executive director and NPRC commissioner Netty Musanhu, while Zanu PF Midlands provincial spokesperson Cornelius Mpereri and provincial police spokesperson Ethel Mukwende will serve as her deputy chairpersons.

Other committee members are Florence Guzha, Titus Mangoma, Tawanda Sibanda and Victoria Koke.

Speaking at the launch, Nare said he was confident that the committee would help maintain cordial relations in the province.

“This province is harmonious and people are going to work well to maintain the cordial relations enjoyed in this region,” Nare said.

“Midlands is diverse, so there is need to include all groups of people in this peace building initiative. The provincial committee should also establish peace committees at district level so that peace building cascades to and from the national, provincial, district and ward levels.”

Nare said the committee should mediate in disputes when they arise in the province to prevent the recurrence of violence and conflict in the future.

Musanhu said major issues the provincial committee would deal with include mining disputes, politicisation of mining activities, politicisation of social services as well as lack of tolerance among political parties and the underdevelopment of the province, given the amount of natural resources in the region.

Musanhu said the committee would also deal with the contentious Gukurahundi issue, since parts of the Midlands province were also affected by the 1980s genocide.-Newsday

1/This is long overdue&I look forward to the meeting happening. Much as I was booed by @MDCAllianceZW when I said it, I can understand where they were coming from. Talk is necessary, it doesn’t make @edmnangagwa any lesser but bigger& @nelsonchamisa part of Nation building pic.twitter.com/2CAVkrchO7

— Sabhuku Temba P. Mliswa (@TembaMliswa) June 29, 2019

2/ No one is bigger than the country & its needs. A new, fresh, passionate team is required to take Zim to the next level

— Sabhuku Temba P. Mliswa (@TembaMliswa) June 29, 2019

GOVERNMENT last year overspent by more than $2 billion without seeking parliamentary approval, while various departments and local authorities flagrantly flouted accounting procedures, Auditor-General Mildred Chiri has said.

Chiri, in a statement yesterday accompanying the 2018 audit reports for line ministries, State entities and local authorities, said according to the 2018 budget, government was supposed

to spend $4,6 billion from the consolidated account, but ended up blowing $7,1 billion.

“The excess expenditure was still to be regularised in terms of section 307 of the Constitution,” Chiri said in her statement.

She exposed a litany of gross accounting malpractices by government departments, parastatals and local authorities that gobbled millions of dollars.

In some instances, goods and services were paid for but remained unutilised for several years.

Chiri cited other cases where goods were paid for, but not delivered.More in Home

“There was no evidence that the ministries had followed up deliveries of the outstanding goods,” she said.

“Ministries processed payments amounting to $7 280 598 and $232 187 526 that were not adequately supported with receipts, invoices goods received notes and competitive quotations and this made it difficult for me to ascertain if these funds

were used for the intended purposes,” Chiri said.

The AG noted that government ministries were slow in debt collection, with the debts ballooning from $133 897 975 in 2017 to $416 852 415 in 2018.

She also noted that of the $100 000 released by Treasury to the Department of Social Welfare to pay old persons, only 39% of the amount was used for the intended purpose, with the bulk of the money spent on administration costs, hotel bookings and officials’ subsistence allowances.

On State entities, Chiri said governance shortcomings continued to dominate her findings.

She singled out entities such as the Zimbabwe Schools Examinations Council (Zimsec) and the power utility firm, Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC), of failing to put to good use public assets acquired.

“Despite acquiring a printing press in 2016, Zimsec was still outsourcing printing services for examination papers and in 2017, the council incurred a total cost of $2 million for the printing of June and November examination papers,” Chiri said.

“For example, Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) has not taken delivery of transformers nine years after making a payment of $4,9 million to Pito Investment. The same contractor was also paid $561 935 in advance by the Zimbabwe Power Company in 2016 and has not delivered. The Grain Marketing Board also made an advance payment for maize worth $1 014 163 in 2016 and to date, this maize has not been delivered,” the statement read.

In the health sector, Chiri said while her asset register for the ministry revealed that it had 282 ambulances across the country, only 134 (48%) were functional and the rest were non-runners.

The government auditor said the Primary and Secondary Education ministry received $6 090 000 for the procurement of books for the Curriculum Development and Technical Services, but the money was diverted for other purposes.

The Harmonised Social Cash Transfer (HSCT), which is an unconditional transfer of cash entitlements to vulnerable households in order to enhance the livelihood of vulnerable children,

saw $9 759 722 being disbursed to the Social Welfare ministry, but the ministry failed to disburse the money, leading to its recall.

She also said ministries were not checking and reconciling the pay sheets against payments, resulting in variances of $3 012 861.

Her report also exposed that Allied Timbers operated eight bank accounts that were not registered in its name.

Turning to local authorities, Chiri said some municipalities, such as Gweru, could not reconcile their books, while Harare was hiring equipment at a cost of $22 950 for road maintenance when they could have spent $159 969 to repair their own equipment.

“Harare council borrowed $32,5 million to fund salaries and terminal benefits of employees without ministerial approval. Only six of the required 32 ambulances were available,” part of her statement read.

The Auditor-General said although most of her recommendations were being taken on board, the pace at which they are being implemented was very slow. She called on parastatals to improve their accounting systems.

“Governance issues have continued to dominate my report constituting 80% of my total findings, although there was a marginal decrease of 16% from 2017. Most governance issues centred on

absence of good stewardship over public resources,” she remarked.

“It is imperative that State enterprises and parastatals embrace provisions of the new Public Entities Corporate Governance Act Chapter 10:31 and incorporate these into existing structures and processes.”

-Newsday

We have noted this Statement from ESKOM @Eskom_SA that they haven't received any payment from Zimbabwe… It's true… Due to the cruel & unjustified @usembassyharare sanctions on Zimbabwe, making such international payments from Zimbabwe is a huge hustle. The money is on the way pic.twitter.com/LcqRjJt2YD

— ?????? ?????? (@KMutisi) June 28, 2019

Dear Zimbabwe:

I have sought correct information regarding this matter.

The correct position is; yes paymemt to Eskom was approved by govt.

RBZ is still sourcing & yet to release forex required to process the transaction.? pic.twitter.com/aj8LlKeD2g

— Windhoek Cables Network ???? (@WindhoekCables) June 28, 2019

Jane Mlambo| A ruling Zanu PF apologist Kudzai Mutisi has blamed the United States of America for delays in paying South African power producer Eskom saying all payments from Zimbabwe are scrutinised by the Donald Trump administration.

Posting on Twitter, Mutisi said payments from Zimbabwe to outside the country are always scrutinised and delayed though he did not state the reasons for so called delays.

Yesterday Eskom went public refuting claims carried in the public media that it had received USD$10 million from Zimbabwe towards the power debt it is owed.

Zimbabas is experiencing the worst load shedding owing to obsolete equipment at its Hwange thermal station coupled with low water levels at the Kariba power station.

Eskom was paid baba…. You all know that US$ payments from Zim are always scrutinized & delayed by the Americans… Even if we didn't have sanctions, it can take 4-5 days for an ordinary international payment to reflect. https://t.co/1bxnWjFfi7

— ?????? ?????? (@KMutisi) June 28, 2019

By Own Correspondent- The 2018 Auditor-General’s Annual report tabled in Parliament on Thursday by Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi has disclosed serious public finance mismanagement by government ministries.

One of the ministries highlighted in the report is the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education.

In the report, Auditor-General Mildred Chiri said:

In the education sector, the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education received funds amounting to US$6 090 000 to procure books for the Curriculum Development and Technical Services but the money was used for other purposes.

I was not able to ascertain how the curriculum was implemented without the required materials.

Some schools, particularly in the remotest of places, are still struggling to implement the new curriculum as they lack proper funding.

When the curriculum was introduced, there were some stakeholders who opposed it citing the unpreparedness of some schools to implement it.

The President of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, Dr. Takavafira Zhou, was on record saying that there was need to first bridge the digital space that existed between the haves and the have nots. He said that it would be unfair to some pupils to be writing the same examinations with those who would have had access to all equipment required by the new curriculum.-StateMedia

THE Public Service Commission (PSC) is negotiating with Treasury for the employment of 5 000 teachers to reduce the deficit of educators in schools which have almost 13 000 vacancies, a Cabinet minister said yesterday.

Primary and Secondary Education Minister Professor Paul Mavima revealed this during a Zimbabwe Congress of Students’ Union (Zicosu) public lecture at the United College of Education in Bulawayo.

The public lecture ran under the theme “Utilising teachers and education in achieving Vision 2030”.

The lecture is part of Zicosu’s thrust to bring Government officials to interact with students and explain how various departments are relevant to President Mnangagwa’s vision of turning the country into an upper middle income economy by 2030.

Prof Mavima said his ministry was committed to improving the country’s education sector and together with the PSC they were lobbying Treasury for the employment of an additional 5 000 teachers.

In January, Treasury gave the PSC the green light to recruit 3 000 teachers.

“So, what else are we doing in order to provide opportunities? The first thing is that we are continuing to push Treasury. Right now together with PSC, we have asked for 5 000 positions to be opened up. The Minister of Finance (and Economic Development Professor Mthuli Ncube) is favourable, but I don’t know when they will give us the green light to recruit the 5 000,” said Prof Mavima.

He said the Government job freeze had resulted in a deficit of about 13 000 teachers.

“So that we solve these issues we must be honest with each other, isn’t it? We had 20 000 unemployed trained teachers until very recently. For a long period of time we have not had massive recruitment even though we have shortages,” said Minister Mavima.

“I think we have shortages within our current schools of about 12 000 to 13 000. But because of the fiscal situation, Government said you can’t recruit.

“We are not the only ministry that is affected. All ministries are affected including Health, there are many nurses who are still not employed. But in January we were given a little bit of a reprieve to say employ 3 000 and we have gone through that process.

“Of course, where you have high expectations from everyone but limited spaces you end up with lot of arguments and even conflicts as to how you go about it. And because of that it took us long to fill those 3 000, but I think the bureaucrats are now left with 500 to fill.”

Minister Mavima said some of the remaining positions are meant for Science and Mathematics teachers who are not available to take up the vacant posts.

-State Media

Voter registration is continuous at all ZEC district and provincial offices. Please register now and participate in Zimbabwe's elections. The upcoming delimitation exercise is also largely informed by the number of registered voters in a particular area, so play your part!!!!!

— Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (@ZECzim) June 28, 2019

Has any newspaper covered the Magaya allegations?

— Zim Media Review (@ZimMediaReview) June 28, 2019

At least, some coverage of Magaya ‘rape’ rape allegations in the mainstream press.
“Efforts to get a comment from Magaya and his spokesperson were fruitless.”https://t.co/Qpg4ekLZN2

— Zim Media Review (@ZimMediaReview) June 29, 2019