By Own Correspondent- Lamborghini proud Gokwe Nembudziya legislator Justice Mayor Wadyajena this morning greeted his critics Hopewell Chin’ono and Norton MP Temba Mliswa sarcastically on his twitter handle triggering backlash from twimbos.
The tweet which triggered debate on social media also exposed a latest development where it is alleged that another “heavy machine” recently landed at Robert Mugabe International Airport.
However, ZimEye established that pictures of the supposed mercedes benz which allegedly landed in Zimbabwe are from Czechoslovakia.
It is morally bankrupt to brag about not paying customs duty for conspicuous consumption. Your duty evasion means that more people will die in hospitals for lack of medication & even bandages. Elderly rural folk will go to bed on empty stomachs bcoz Social Welfare can’t help them
Os it about his wealth or non payment of duty? Poor folk go to SA to buy a fridge for 200$ they pay duty, rich people spend thousands they sail through that is where the issue is. If you can't see that then you are lost.
Mate.Upenyu uhu its what you make it.If you realy know you make money through hard working then be it but if u are one of those its just a matter of time.U will sink
This is not just a stupid tweet but childish and immature. Am saving this tweet for reference sake, some day u will try to delete it but the screenshots will show u flames. Kudzikama hakutengeswe
Farai Dziva|Warriors forward Khama Billiat is keen to use the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations finals as a leeway to secure a move to Europe.
The 28-year-old Kaizer Chiefs man moved to Amakhosi from Mamelodi Sundowns last year at a time when many expected him to make a move to Europe and even rejected an offer from Azerbaijani-outfit, Qarabag FK, in favour of joining the Soweto giants.
Speaking to SABC SPORT in Cairo, Egypt, where the Warriors are preparing for AFCON, Billiat said every African based player uses AFCON as an avenue for moves to Europe and he is no exception.
“It (AFCON) is a good platform for players to go to Europe to get new clubs and even get better contracts,” he said.
“Yes, it is important for all of us. We all play football for that (to secure moves to Europe)” added Billiat.
If offers are to come for the former Ajax Cape Town winger, it will be up to Chiefs to entertain any and according to SABC SPORT, they are likey to, if they meet Amakhosi’s rating of the player.
Farai Dziva|Economist Eddie Cross has urged the government to descend heavily on currency speculators.
” Zimbabwe’s economic fundamentals are now sound and there is no need for speculators to continue with their wayward behaviour on the foreign currency parallel market which is affecting the poor,” said Cross.
Cross said Government should take stern measures to contain the forex parallel market that has brought anguish to the majority.
“The prevailing volatility of the parallel market is blamed on speculators for influencing the exchange rate without economic justification.”
Cross said if macro-economic fundamentals were constant, as the situation on the ground shows, the rates should not exceed RTGS$4 to US$1.
Farai Dziva|The Zimbabwe Warriors drew 1-1 with the Taifa Stars of Tanzania on Sunday in their final preparatory game for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) at El Sekka El Hadid Stadium in Egypt.
The Warriors scored their goal through Knox Mutizwa before Tanzania equalised later in the match through substitute Mbwana Samatta.
Reports indicate that Taifa Stars coach, Emmanuel Amuneke, rested many of the players that started the game against Egypt in which they were beaten 1-0.
Sunday Chidzambga’s men drew 0-0 with Nigeria in their previous international friendly played on June 8 in Nigeria.
Meanwhile, the Warriors open their Africa Cup of Nations campaign against the Pharaohs of Egypt this Friday.
Farai Dziva| In a statement that has received backlash from the football fraternity, Highlanders coach Madinda Ndlovu said his team really needed to win the match against Dynamos as the match has sentimental value to the ‘ Ndebele’ community.
“It’s always good to make your people happy. I am happy they are singing, it helps them to forget a lot of things,” said Ndlovu.
“This game has sentimental value to the Ndebele, to the Highlanders fans and family. Dynamos had dominated us for up to ten years and now we are almost halfway through, trying to cover up that dominance they had.”
Cleopas Kapupurika was the hero for Highlanders scoring the crucial goal in the second half in which he had a good game against his former club.
Although Kapupurika got the important goal that made the difference, Ray Lunga continued to be Highlanders’ trump card, with his rich vein of form. Brian Banda also weighed in with a good performance in the midfield.
The win pushed Highlanders to 14 points and managed to cast away the focus on Ndlovu leaving the club after reports from Botswana suggested that he will be joining Gaborone United in July.
Farai Dziva| A Government Minister has said one million people suffer from mental disorders in Zimbabwe.
Health and Child Care Minister , Obadiah Moyo has revealed that one million people in Zimbabwe suffer from mental and neurological disorders.
“450 million people suffer from mental and neurological disorders worldwide.
One million people in Zimbabwe suffer from mental and neurological disorders.
Despite the availability of treatment, nearly two thirds of persons with a known mental disorder never seek professional help. In most cases stigma, discrimination, neglect and limited knowledge prevent care and treatment from reaching people with mental and neurological disorders, hence the need for awareness campaigns so that communities are empowered and they take an active role in reducing morbidity due to mental ill health,” he said.
Moyo also said that most people suffering from mental illness particularly the children and the elderly can be successfully treated in the comfort of their own homes since they best respond to care in familiar environments.
Farai Dziva| In a hard-hitting statement fearless political analyst Antony Taruvinga has said Emmerson Mnangagwa is a ruthless man who can do anything to maintain his grip on power.
“If you think these accidents are ordinary, you are totally far from knowing ED.
He kills for power and is determined to wipe out a considerable number. We need to change our ways as a people, the struggle for a New Zimbabwe is not an MDC thing, it’s a generational mandate.
United, Zanu PF is actually nothing. United, we can catch Mnangagwa the way Gaddafi was pulled out a hole and paraded without clothes before he met his maker.
These people are nothing, they are only riding on the advantage of a docile divided population, which is our weakness.
The people must unite for the cause of removing Mnangagwa and Zanu PF.”
Farai Dziva|Mrs Auxillia Mnangagwa has said she is inspired by former First Lady Grace Mugabe’s love and humility.
Amai Auxilia Mnangagwa made the remarks in Bulawayo today.
Mrs Mnangagwa visited former First Lady Janet Banana in Southwold and donated groceries before thanking her for the good work that she did for the country.
” I (have) learnt a lot from the former First Lady who has always been a humble and loving person who respected people,” she said.
She also visited war veteran David Moyo in Emganwini and donated groceries before thanking him for his immense contribution to the liberation struggle.
Jane Mlambo| Nurses at public health institutions have reportedly reduced their working week to two days saying they cannot afford the cost of transport in a move that could paralyze an already troubled healthcare system.
Posting on Twitter, veteran journalist Brezhnev Malaba said;
“Nurses at public health institutions say they’re reducing their working week to TWO DAYS with immediate effect. Owing to pathetic salaries, they can’t afford the cost of transport. This could paralyse an already troubled healthcare system.”
Nurses at public health institutions say they're reducing their working week to TWO DAYS with immediate effect. Owing to pathetic salaries, they can't afford the cost of transport. This could paralyse an already troubled healthcare system.
Farai Dziva|Transform Zimbabwe (TZ) leader Jacob Ngarivhume has called for a hunger strike and “picketing” at Parliament against Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government.
Ngarivhume made the call at a meeting that was held yesterday in Harare.
Ngarivhume said the planned hunger strikes would be part of a series of moves TZ will undertake to force president Emmerson Mnangagwa and his government to attend to the problems affecting the country.
With the biting economic situation in the country, the hunger strike is expected to draw a large following especially from his largely Christian following.
The meeting also resolved to approach SADC demanding that the regional body or an independent board be pushed to urgently intervene in the unfolding Zimbabwean crisis.
“After the disastrous Mugabe regime, ED’s government has out-performed Mugabe in destroying this country. That man has no clue whatsoever as to what needs to be done to turn around the fortunes of this country.
His recent ‘State of the Nation Address’ at Capitalk FM exposed his emptiness. His dream that the RTGS is the strongest regional currency is laughable.
Instead of attending to real bread and butter issues, his regime is buying weapons and strengthening its armoury to crack down on democratic movements,” said Ngarivhume.
He added that as a party, TZ was against violent demonstrations noting that ED’s rogue government would not hesitate to butcher protestors as has already been experienced on August 1 and January this year.
” Rather, TZ is calling for a genuine national dialogue of all main stakeholders not the merry-go-round POLAD circus that will not achieve anything.”
Ngarivhume has also called on the church to pray without ceasing for the country especially in this season of increased state sponsored violence.
“Surely for Zimbabwe to work progressively, Zimbabweans must come together and form an acceptable government and we are here to provide leadership,”added Ngarivhume.
Jane Mlambo| President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s election manifesto and commitment to provide adequate power to the country has attracted ridicule after the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) increased its load-shedding schedule.
ZESA announced stage 2 load-shedding last week which saw the country going for over 14 hours without power and this prompted people to share pictures of Mnangagwa’s billboards with messages inscribed, “Kujekesa Nyika Yese Nemagetsi”.
Jane Mlambo| President Emmerson Mnangagwa has breached the Electoral Act after he failed to comply with the 90 day deadline to hold the Lupane East by-election after it became vacant following the death of Sithembile Gumbo in April this year.
According to constitutional watchdog, Veritas, Mnangagwa did not comply with the Constitution as the Lupane East by-election will now be held after the stipulated 90-days.
“Veritas has raised concerns that the President did not comply with the Constitution in calling for the by-election as the election will be held after the stipulated 90 days within which a vacancy has to be filled in accordance with Sections 158(3) and 159, and Section 39 of the Electoral Act,” said ZESN in an update following the close of nomination court on Saturday.
By the time the Nomination Court closed, nine candidates had been dully nominated and therefore the election is expected to be held on the 3rd of August 2019 as scheduled.
Auxilia Mnangagwa signs a condolence book at Dumiso Dabengwa home in Fourwinds Bulawayo.
THe First Lady Amai Auxilia Mnangagwa is today making “surprise” visits to liberation war icons in Bulawayo.
Her first port of call was a visit to the late Dumiso Dabengwa home where she met with his widow Zodwa and signed the book of condolences at the late war hero.
From there she proceeded to visit forgotten war veteran Aaron Ndlovu in Kensington and donated some groceries to him.
She then went on to call on former First Lady Janet Banana in Southwold and donated groceries before thanking her for the good work that she did for the country.
Auxilia Mnangagwa dramatically helps Janet Banda feed.
Amai Mnangagwa said she learnt a lot from the former First Lady who has always been a humble and loving person who respected people.
She also visited war veteran David “Sharp Shoot” Moyo in Emganwini and donated groceries before thanking him for his immense contribution to the liberation struggle.
She’s accompanied by Minister Sithembiso Nyoni, MP Priscilla Misihairambwi-Mushonga, Minister Judith Ncube and Service Chiefs.
Jane Mlambo| Nine candidates will battle for the Lupane East parliamentary seat following the close of the nomination court on Friday last week.
The candidates includes Given Ncube from MDC-T, Dalumuzi Khumalo MDC-Alliance Mbengeni Ncube- Zanu PF and Alice Sibanda the only woman on the list representing Professor Lovemore Madhuku’s National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) among others.
Only one aspiring candidate, Thomas Sibanda of the United African National Council (UANC) had his application rejected because he could not raise the required nomination fee.
The seat fell vacant following the death of Sithembile Gumbo from Zanu PF.
Following the horrific accident which killed three people including Apostle Talent Chiwenga’s wife, a number of religious leaders have been speaking out against the controversial preacher.
Jealousy Mawarire of Emmanuel Makandiwa’s United Family International Church advised Chiwenga to shut up implying that there was something wrong with him mentally while Shepherd Bushiri’s spokesperson Maynard Manyowa called Chiwenga a “moron with an ego” and said that his version of the events was pure “BS”.
The leader of the Johanne Masowe YeChishanu Sect Madzibaba Spenlodge Madenyika has become the latest to add his voice. However, Madzibaba Spenlodge called on Chiwenga to be humble and to stop disrespecting other churches.
In an interview with H-Metro, Madzibaba Spenlodge said,
God has no superstar. No-one has power to judge how much one prays, regardless of the church, one goes to, machechi ose ari kutsvaga Mwari.
The young preacher has tried to politicise God but He is bigger than that. A church leader should have humility.
In one of his sermons, he insulted Apostle Guti who is a leader par excellence and I think if he had issues with him, they should not be ironed out in public.
Accidents happen all the time and people die all the time. However, we send out condolences to him and his family and we wish him a speedy recovery so that he continues with the work of God.
By Own Correspondent- Bodies of two villagers killed by a hippopotamus along the Gache Gache River in Kariba were retrieved at the weekend.
The two were killed by the hippo early Friday morning while tending to their vegetable gardens.
ZimParks Spokesperson Tinashe Farawo confirmed the development and said:
“It is unfortunate that two lives have been lost in Gache Gache and they were killed by a hippo. Our rescue team, including rangers, was on the ground after they were alerted. I can confirm that the body of the second person was retrieved on Sunday morning.”.
He, however, said the rangers put down the problem animal.
“As Zimparks, we value human life and we have killed the hippo. As per our mandate, we will strive in resolving human and animal conflict so that lives are not lost.”
According to sources, the deceased were tending to their vegetable gardens around 2am on Friday when a hippo attacked and pulled them into the river.
Fellow villagers and fishermen alerted authorities including Zimparks and the police.
Gache Gache Fishermen Association chairperson Tichaona Manzungu, who was part of the rescue team, appealed to Zimparks to cull the hippos and crocodiles, whose numbers have grown.
“Culling of hippos was last done in the late 1960s and crocodiles have not been killed by authorities, further putting lives of fishermen at risk,” he said.
In a related case, a 49-year-old Shamva woman on Thursday last week cheated death after she was mauled by a crocodile while fishing at Douglyn Farm in Shamva as cases of human-wildlife conflict rise.
Pondani Emery was casting her nets when she wrestled with the reptile that had bitten into her arm and eventually overpowered it before swimming to safety. She was rushed to Shamva Hospital after the attack, where she is, however, now stranded after the hospital demanded US$59 for treatment.
Mashonaland Central deputy spokesperson Assistant Inspector Petros Masikati said he was yet to receive the report. In an unrelated, case a 16-year-old Chipadze High School boy was yesterday found hanging from a tree branch at Zaoga Prayer Mountain by church members in Bindura.
Police said they are still withholding the name of the deceased until his next of kin are advised.
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema could soon be free to travel to Botswana after reports that the government was preparing to lift restrictions placed on him, reports said on Friday.
According to The Star and the Botswana Standard, the travel restrictions placed on Malema and “Prophet” Shepherd Bushiri will be lifted under the government of Mokgweetsi Masisi.
Peter Magosi, the director general of Botswana’s Intelligence and Security Services, was quoted as saying that there was no evidence that Malema and more than 40 others were a security threat.
This view contradicts that of former president Ian Khama.
News24 reported in 2014 that Malema – as president of the African National Congress Youth League in 2011 – called for regime change in Botswana.
City Press reported that EFF spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi asserted that the refusal of the Botswana government to grant Malema a visa showed that Khama was a dictator.
According to The Patriot, BDP (the Botswana Democratic Party – the governing party of Botswana) has a history of banning people with whom it disagreed.
However, the party was rocked when former president Khama accused Masisi of being an autocrat and threatening the country’s reputation, News24 reported.
Khama later left the party.
The government of Botswana has not yet made any official proclamation on Malema and the others, but IOL said that an announcement was imminent. EDITED BY: News24Wire
Jane Mlambo| Zimbabwe’s annual inflation for May went up by over 20 percent to 97.85% from April’s 75.86 percent, according to latest figures from ZimStats.
“The year on year inflation rate (annual percentage change) for the month of May 2019 as measured by the all items Consumer Price Index (CPI) stood at 97.85 percent, while that of April 2019 rate was 75.86 percent,” reads the report.
Month on month inflation for same month was 12.54% up from 5.52 percent in April.
THE Nelson Chamisa-led MDC party yesterday dismissed threats by Zanu PF youths to counter their demonstrations, saying the ruling party had no mandate to stop their constitutional right to protest.
Zanu PF youths on Thursday threatened to block the opposition party’s planned protests over the rising cost of living. This came at a time the opposition has threatened to call for protests against President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration.
“These youths have got blood on their hands,” MDC spokesperson Jacob Mafume.
He alleged that there were some Zanu PF youths who took part in a clampdown against opposition members and ordinary citizens after the January demonstration, but many of them were let free.
“It is constitutional to hold an anti-government demonstration anywhere in the world and it is dangerous to create a quasi-group of people who threaten to deal with other people. It is dangerous for the State to keep quiet and not deal with those people,” Mafume said.
“The State must deal with those people thoroughly and stop them from making statements which are likely to inflame the situation. They have no right to police anyone or to stop anyone from doing a demonstration against the government.”
Mafume said if Zanu PF youths wanted to stand in solidarity with the government, then they could demonstrate in support of the government, but not to interfere with their plans.
MDC youth leader Obey Sithole dared the Zanu PF youths, claiming they had no capacity to stop them.
“I have come across their claims, but let me categorically state that it is misplaced and misleading for one to think they can stop an idea whose time has come. Zanu PF has no locus standi to stop a people’s demonstration, let alone speak about it,” he said.
“We are definitely unmoved by such threats. We will not betray the people of Zimbabwe; we shall continue pursuing our path to power until freedom comes.”
Meanwhile, Sithole was yesterday summoned by the Zimbabwe Republic Police’s Law and Order Section for interrogation after he recently gave Mnangagwa’s government until month-end to resolve the ongoing socio-economic and political crises facing the country or face mass demonstrations.
“Our leader has been summoned by the ZRP. He will report at Harare Central Police Station today (yesterday) in company of his lawyers,” said MDC youth assembly spokesperson Stephen “Sarkozy” Chuma. He was reportedly warned and released without charge.
Chuma said Sithole never broke any law in his address to journalists, where he issued the ultimatum.
By Own Correspondent- Opening the 27th session of the Junior Parliament of Zimbabwe as part of commemorations of the Day of the African Child, President Emmerson Mnangagwa promised free compulsory basic education for all children, jobs and improved health services.
“The future is ours together. As we celebrate the African Child, we intend to promote children’s rights in all areas of health, education, social responsibilities. We are determined to ensure that matters relating to children are dealt with amicably.
“We are committing to create access to good health, creating employment for our youth. We want to have a culture of innovation and also encourages our youth to adopt a new curriculum in order to build the Zimbabwe we want.”
The Day of the African Child was initiated in 1991 by the then Organisation of African Unity Assembly and they designated June 16 in honour of children who participated in South Africa’s Soweto Uprising in 1976. This year’s theme is: Humanitarian Action in Africa: Children’s Rights First.
Health and Child Care minister Obadiah Moyo said children should discuss issues of s.e.xual health with their guardians before proceeding to the hospital or clinics.
Moyo said the ministry did not want to see a child who had contracted a s.e.xually transmitted disease going to a hospital or clinics unaccompanied.
“We will make sure condoms are available, but as the ministry we encourage abstinence. We say no to early marriages, we are against 12 years as age of consent, but as the ministry we recognise 18 years as the age of legal consent,” he said.
Child President Mukudzeishe Madzivire chronicled challenges distracting children from focusing on their education.
Load shedding is sweeping across the country bringing darkness, frustration and major disruptions to all households.
When the lights dim and electrical appliances shudder to a halt, you know you’ve been struck by the scourge of long hours of ZESA’s stage 2 load shedding.
Productivity stops for hours seriously crippling the economy and leaving citizens in a precarious position. This is all thanks to ZESA, the national power utility, which, through a number of calamitous miscalculations and mismanagement has been unable to meet the country’s electricity demands.
The damage done by load shedding
The ominous reintroduction of Stage 2 load shedding has seriously debilitated the nation, with some unfortunate households being cut from the power grid for up to fifteen hours a day. The effects of these rolling blackouts are far reaching, encompassing financial loss, damage to appliances and a general frustration which is swiftly approaching a fever pitch.
Despite assurances from President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his numerous task teams employed to quell ZESA’s operational incompetence, it seems likely that load shedding will, at the most inopportune moment, continue to disrupt the lives of Zimbabweans for quite some time to come.
Until the situation at ZESA improves, citizens are forced to live with the reality of load shedding, uncomfortable as it may be.
Luckily, there are a few gadgets available on the market which have the propensity to make life a bit more bearable during the severe strain of load shedding. While most citizens would love to get off the power grid altogether, the sheer costs involved in setting up a fully functioning renewable energy system are just too great for the majority of Zimbabweans.
If you’ve got the money to invest in solar panels and diesel generators; go for it. If you’re just trying to see out the dark times on a budget, take a look at the following gadgets; they won’t break the bank, and they’ll be able to get you through a few hours of powerlessness.
Surge protector plug
Ellies High Surge Safe Power Protector
The simplest and cheapest gadget on this list is a must have during these dark times. Electrical appliances take a massive beating from rotational load shedding; the constant on-off drastically diminishes the life expectancy of many appliances.
While you’re advised to turn off all plugs prior to load shedding, for many people and appliances this simply isn’t feasible. Electrical surges, usually experienced when the power comes back online, has the propensity to fry electronics. To better protect your most valuable appliances, you’ll need to get a surge resistant plug.
These plugs ease the electrical load back into your appliances, effectively mitigating the surge of electricity. These plugs are available at most electronic and hardware.
Compact gas stove
Even in darkness, humans still need to eat, and we like our cooked food. Unless you already have an independent gas stove, you’re going to need a source of heat to get the job done. Luckily, compact gas burning stoves – intended for camping trips – are perfect in times of load shedding.
These single burner canister stove can cook and heat up food in minutes. They’re portable and require no electricity.
The cast aluminium burner is robust and includes a variable heat control system. It’s powered by an EN417 approved 220g butane canister, which can be purchased at most hardware stores and garages.
Simple solar lighting system
GOLITE Solar Lighting System
If you’re hit by load shedding at night, which, at Stage 4, is a great possibility, you’ll need some light. While you could invest in battery operated lights, or even rechargeable ones, it’s better to go with a dual-charge solar option for two reasons. One, the dual system allows you to charge the battery pack via the grid, if it’s a particularly cloudy day and, two, the sun won’t charge you for the power you use.
The most common system uses a 9V 3-7W solar panel, which comes with three LED lightbulbs and a torch built in the rechargeable battery pack. Using the solar panel, it takes about 13 hours to charge the battery to full capacity. According to the product suppliers, one full charge will be able to keep things lit for at least eight hours – long enough to see you through a serious bout of load shedding.
The battery pack can also charge cell phones and tablets.
Solar Power Bank
Despite darkness, we need to stay in contact with one another and, as humans, we need to be entertained. That’s a hard task when there’s no electricity – it’s even harder when, in darkness, our cell phone batteries, under increased use, hover in the red zone. There’s only one way to ensure consistent usage through recharging during load shedding and that’s by using a heavy-duty power bank – preferably one that is powered by the sun.
As is the case with most solar systems, the power-bank can be charged via the grid, but that’s not of much use when the grid is offline. The 10000mAh solar power bank can charge two devices simultaneously. Naturally, power banks have a limited lifespan and can only provide a certain amount of charges.
Portable thermo cooler
Load shedding is ruining the food in fridges, infuriating homeowners and driving up grocery bills. If you have a gas fridge-freezer, you’re in luck. For most people, when the electric cuts, defrosting ensues. There is one workaround to ensure that your most valued groceries stay cool.
A portable thermo cooler – originally intended for camping – sips a small amount of electricity, which it can gather from a car input or simple UPS system. Most of these coolers run off of 12V, perfect for plugging into your car.
UPS power supply
It’s the most expensive item on this list but, also, the most versatile. An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system charges off the grid and as soon as the electricity goes off it switches on to power your most valuable electrical appliances.
These battery systems come in various shapes and sizes, yet they all do the same thing. Naturally, more powerful systems – which are able to power more appliances – can be heavy on your pocket. But to keep your laptop and Wi-Fi alive for a couple of hours, you don’t need to break the bank. Work doesn’t need to stop when the lights go down.
A reliable 500VA 300W UPS system can be bought for under a hundred US dollars. It won’t be able to power your television, microwave or fridge, but you will be able to charge your mobile phone and laptop. It can also keep your wireless router going and as long as your line doesn’t go down with load shedding, you should still be able to access the internet.
BAKERIES have cut down on bread production amid shortage of wheat and a massive hike in flour prices following the withdrawal of government support on forex.
Most shops in Harare ran out of bread early yesterday morning with reduced supplies received from Proton and Bakers Inn.
The big retailers like OK and PicknPay have also cut down on instore baking as it is no longer economical to sell it at between RTGS2.80 and $3.50 since the price of flour went up almost three fold early this month.
Empty shelves
For instance, Blue Ribbon hiked price of 50kg plain flour from RTGS78 to 180 and proposals were being made to charge at least RTGS$6 for a loaf.
Consumers had settled for the instore bread as it was cheaper than the previously popular products from the traditional giants –Bakers Inn, Proton and Lobels.
With the Reserve Bank no longer assisting in the provision of foreign currency, millers and bakeries have to source the much needed US$ from the inter-bank market to source wheat from abroad and they have reportedly been struggling to do so.
This has resulted in the dwindling of reserves.
The other challenge has been the current price of a loaf of bread against the cost of the US$ on both the inter-bank market and even black market, which results in operational losses for the bakeries.
So even those that still have flour stocks are reluctant to maintain their usual production levels to minimise the losses and will only review the supply levels once a price hike is sanctioned.
Former South African president Thabo Mbeki has said President Mnangagwa is correct in convening the Political Actors Dialogue (POLAD) despite winning the 2018 harmonised elections, and advised other African countries to follow such a noble initiative.
He expressed frustration that the opposition leader was intransigent despite the outcome of the elections and the Constitutional Court ruling, removing the basis of Mr Chamisa’s claims of the supposed illegitimacy of the winner.
‘‘So, I’m saying that something should happen because what President Mnangagwa has done is correct and I’m saying MDC agreed in principle to this, so let them find a way together because you go through the courts as happened in Zimbabwe and as happening in Malawi to resolve whatever are the contested things, but after that you must address this matter,’’ he said.
Mr Mbeki — who is no stranger to Zimbabwean affairs having mediated the inter-party dialogue that led to the formation of the inclusive Government in 2009 — urged compatriots to come together and work towards a better Zimbabwe.
He said the call for dialogue, as well as unity of purpose shown by President Mnangagwa to resolve political and socio-economic issues affecting the country, was the way to go and every Zimbabwean should be involved.
President Mnangagwa is on record as calling for all peace-loving Zimbabweans to come forward with views and other developmental ideas that can make Zimbabwe a great nation again. Mr Mbeki noted that national issues require collective minds.
“For us we are trying to develop our countries, you need maximum unity to address a number of challenges, so it can’t be enough that I won the election and that’s it,” he said. “So, I’m saying the initiative such as has been taken in Zimbabwe is correct and I hope the Zimbabweans will indeed be able to get together including the MDC.
“The MDC must be part of that process, it’s important as a continent that we deal with this matter.” The political dialogue initiated by President Mnangagwa is being attended by almost all of the parties that fielded presidential candidates in last year’s harmonised elections.
President Mnangagwa said at a meeting to chart the way forward with fellow participants in the dialogue that a few parties that started the process, but later pulled out were coming back knocking to be re-admitted.
At the same meeting, he gave an update on the process, saying the efforts of coming together by Zimbabweans to proffer solutions to problems facing the country were being recognised by outsiders and development partners.
Fellow participants have been appealing for unity, peace and an end to economic sanctions. But Mr Chamisa deliberately seems to broaden the chasm by openly calling for further protests which in the past have led to violence.
He is also a firm supporter of the debilitating sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by some Western countries. Apart from boycotting the political parties’ dialogue, Chamisa is also refusing to acknowledge President Mnangagwa as the legitimate winner of last year’s harmonised polls as announced by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) and confirmed by the Constitutional Court.
Last year, South African opposition leader Mr Julius Malema appealed to Mr Chamisa during an SABC News interview to accept the poll outcome, saying he could not claim to be the winner on the basis of attendance at rallies.
Newsday|The opposition MDC has accused President Emmerson Mnangagwa of being divorced from reality, claiming his views and understanding of the situation obtaining on the ground do no tally with the current situation.
In an interview yesterday, MDC spokesperson Jacob Mafume said Mnangagwa’s radio interview on Friday shows a leader who is out of touch with reality.
Mnangagwa touched on many issues, among them political dialogue, general hardships experienced by many as a result of the increasing cost of living, his government programmes and targets, among others.
He also spoke on the need to fight corruption.
However, Mafume said Mnangagwa skirted important issues, a sign that he was clueless about the situation currently obtaining in the country.
“The man is out of sorts, confuses elementary principles of economics and runs on bus stop theories, most of which were generated by his paid social media trolls,” Mafume said.
“Mnangagwa failed to address the issue of eroded earnings, people are no longer earning anything in real terms and the salaries of civil servants have gone below $100 in real value and that has not been addressed.
“He failed to address the issue of persisting fuel shortages and the increasing prices. He failed to say what he is doing to stop corruption and issues around the economic trajectory. He also failed to address the issue of currency, especially on how the currency will be supported, where will be the support coming from and how will it be kept afloat.
“He kept on talking about being proud of having your own currency without saying how they will create a currency that people will be proud of. He didn’t address issues of reforms, what reform have they done in the past year as media is still largely controlled by the State, police and military still interfere in State affairs.”
Mafume said Mnangagwa’s response to issues around the political dialogue which he initiated were not convincing because nothing has come out of it.
“Never in history has a President spoken for so long without saying anything. He looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights and a man drowning under the weight of sheer cluelessness,” he said.
FRANK LAMPARD will be appointed Chelsea boss after a dramatic day at Stamford Bridge.
And he wants club legend Didier Drogba as part of his backroom staff.
SunSport can reveal Maurizio Sarri turned down an 11th-hour plea to stay after saying he felt “violated” by abusive fans.
Sarri has quit for Italian giants Juventus and Chelsea will use £4million of the £7m compensation to free Lampard from his Derby contract.
He will bring in trusted lieutenant Jody Morris as assistant. He is also talking to Drogba about a role as striker coach and wants Shay Given from Derby as goalkeeper coach.
But there is no place for his former skipper John Terry — coach at promoted Aston Villa — in Chelsea’s new set-up.
Lampard, 40, is understood to have held talks with owner Roman Abramovich before agreeing to take the job.
But he has to resolve the issue over Sarri’s No 2 Gianfranco Zola. The Italian has told friends he will not accept a demotion.
Lampard will satisfy Premier League rules this summer when he is granted his ProLicence.
LAMPS’ BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS
Lampard’s close friends insist he is “fearless” and looking forward to his dream return to Chelsea.
The 40-year-old, who played 13 years at Stamford Bridge is the club’s record scorer with 211.
He also owes a debt of gratitude to incoming sporting director Petr Cech who lobbied Abramovich and CEO Marina Granovskaia to hire him.
Drogba recently told Chelsea fans that Lamps was ready to take charge of the club after just missing out on guiding the Rams to the top flight.
Drogba had lunch with Lampard this week and he believes his pal has shown he has the ability to manage at the Premier League level during one season at Derby.
The Ivory Coast striker, a close confidante of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, said: “Frank has done well with Derby, you know, taking the team to the play-off final.
WANT-AWAY Caps United coach Lloyd Chitembwe was conspicuous by his absence yesterday when the Harare giants were made to work overtime for a point in a Castle Lager Premier Soccer League match against newboys TelOne at the National Sports Stadium.
Chitembwe, who won the championship with the side in 2016, reportedly quit Makepekepe in a huff during the midweek after clashing with one of the club’s directors over team selection.
The Green Machine needed goals from John Zhuwawu, Gabriel Nyoni and Newman Sianchali to tame the inspired Wi-Fi Boys in this see-saw affair, which could have seen more goals had both teams been precise in front of goal.
Elasto Chigora, exciting winger Emmanuel Mandiranga and Blessing Sibanda scored for the visitors in this six-goal thriller.
Veteran coach Nelson Matongorere, who was in charge of the Green Machine yesterday, said it was a point gained after their team had lost the last two games by identical 1-3 scorelines.
“We were down and today we picked up a point so that means we are rising up. If we had lost today, it would have meant we were going down the drain but with a point we can still hold our heads up high,” said Matongorere.
Chigora put TelOne ahead after controlling the ball in the box and beat goalkeeper Tonderai Mateyaunga from close range after six minutes.
Caps United rallied back promptly and took the lead via goals from Zhuwawu’s grounder and Nyoni, who struck from close range following a controversial free-kick inside the opening 17 minutes.
But the Wi-Fi Boys returned from the breather to reclaim the advantage, courtesy of Mandiranga, who benefited from a goalkeeping blunder by goalkeeper Mateyaunga, and Sibanda’s 60th minute header from a kick.
A draw was possibly the fairest outcome as Sianchali bundled home Caps United’s equaliser from a corner by Valentine Musarurwa in the 69th minute.
Teams
Caps Utd: T Mateyaunga, V Musarurwa, V Ndaba, S Masunda, M Mwanjale, P Bhamusi, J Ngodzo, K Nyamupfukudza (B Sarupinda, 62nd minute), G Nyoni (D Chungwa, 88th minute), J Zhuwawu, N Sianchali.
TelOne: R Patisi, M Chigumira, T Chikore, I Zambezi, F Bushiri, J Jam (D Mangesi, 90th minute), E Zinyama, T Hapazari (J Muzokomba, 67th minute), E Mandiranga, E Chigora (F Nkala, 66th minute) B Sibanda
Jubilant Highlanders players salute fans after the match against Dynamos at Barbourfields Stadium yesterday. Bosso won the match 1-0.
State Media|“GO well Madinda Ndlovu.”
This was the icebreaker for a disappointed Dynamos coach Tonderai Ndiraya, who admitted that his side “chased shadows” for the better part of the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League clash against Highlanders at Barbourfields Stadium yesterday.
With news that Ndlovu is leaving Highlanders for Botswana side Gaborone United, the Bosso head coach, who is not interested in entertaining talk of his reported departure, put a smile on multitudes of Highlanders supporters by leading them to victory against old nemesis Dynamos.
Highlanders players celebrate after scoring
Ndlovu capped a fine afternoon with a “lap of honour”, saluting jubilant Bosso fans, with those at the Soweto Bay chanting “sehamba uMadinda, siyabonga Madinda” loosely translated Madinda is leaving, thank you Madinda.
Bosso dominated DeMbare and got their goal in the 72nd minute through winger Cleopas Kapupurika, who ghosted in from the blind side to score and hurt his former paymasters.
Kapupurika, who dumped the Harare giants at the beginning of the year, was full of running and kept DeMbare’s defenders on their toes.
Dynamos’ goalkeeper Simbarashe Chinani was to blame for the Bosso goal, as he fumbled a seemingly harmless Brian Banda free-kick to gift Kapupurika the goal.
The goal was enough to give Highlanders their third league victory.
“We lost fairly. I think we had done well to get a point, but we conceded in a painful manner. I think Highlanders controlled the game. We were chasing shadows for the better part of the game. We were slow on a number of things and was really disappointed with the manner we conceded,” said Ndiraya.
Dynamos hardly troubled Highlanders’ goalkeeper Ariel Sibanda and instead, it was Chinani who had a busy afternoon.
The DeMbare goalkeeper pushed out Ray Lunga’s 15th minute effort for corner before superbly finger tipping Divine Mhindirira’s 24th minute goal bound shot against the upright.
Chinani also denied Prince Dube and Nqobizitha Masuku.
Highlanders had a 24th minute penalty appeal turned down by impressive referee Arnold Ncube from Masvingo, who was ably assisted by Salani Ncube and Edgar Rumeki.
Despite enjoying dominance, Highlanders failed to crack Dynamos, with Chinani a stumbling block until he made the second half howler that gifted Bosso the goal.
Dynamos made two attempts on goal, one on either side of halftime.
In the 19th minute, Junior Selemani went on a solo run after picking up a loose ball in his half, charged towards the Highlanders’ box, but shot weakly at goal after covering acres of space.
In the second half, veteran striker Edward Sadomba broke on the left side in the second half and took a crack at goal, but Sibanda easily saved.
Ndlovu was happy with the result.
“This victory will ease pressure for the next weeks and I’m glad that we managed to make our supporters sing,” said Ndlovu.
Teams
Highlanders: Ariel Sibanda, Andrew Mbeba, Mbongeni Ndlovu, Tendai Ndlovu, Peter Muduhwa, Nqobizitha Masuku, Ray Lunga (Tinashe Makanda), Brian Banda, Prince Dube, Divine Mhindirira (Adrian Silla, 90th minute), Cleopas Kapupurika
About 12 armed robbers raided a meat wholesale company in Belmont yesterday and got away with an undisclosed amount of money after attacking two security guards and shooting at police officers.
The gang is said to have raided Wholesale Beef at about 2AM. Wholesale Beef manager Mr Terrence Hill confirmed the incident.
He could not immediately state how much money the company had lost in the armed robbery.
“Yes there are some armed robbers who pounced at our shop today at about 2AM. I suspect it could have been 12 or more guys. They managed to gain entry, disabled the alarm and cut the safe box. Donnington Police Station was alerted and they attended the scene while the robbers were still at the premises.
“The police however could not apprehend the suspects as the gang shot at them. I don’t think the cops were armed with guns. So there was no exchange of fire. They got away with cash and I can only let you know about the figure tomorrow,” said Mr Hill.
He said the armed robbers also attacked the company’s security guards during the raid and they were left with minor bruises.
Acting Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube could not be immediately reached for comment.
However, police are on record urging members of the public to avoid keeping large sums of money in their premises to avoid being targeted by thieves and robbers.
Two weeks ago, police in Bulawayo recovered US$24 000 and R120 000 cash which had been stolen by a 20-year-old.
State Media|BULK payments service provider, Paynet Zimbabwe, has accused banks of greed in refusing to pay fees in foreign currency for using its payments platform despite pocketing a cumulative US22 million last year.
Paynet Zimbabwe, a subsidiary of financial payments technology service provider Payserve Group, has since suspended banks from the platform, one of major facilities used by for bulk payments, but says domestic financial institutions will not find an alternative at a lower cost.
Paynet provides an outsourced payments transfer platform linking 22 financial institutions and over 1200 corporate institutions in all sectors of the Zimbabwean economy.
Paynet took the decision to suspend service after banks collectively refused to pay and opted for alternative means.
The system was also used by major banks including CBZ, CABS, Nedbank and Standard Chartered, among others, which have been negatively affected. The banks have since instructed their clients to use alternative means, although Paynet contends some may not be able to facilitate bulk payments.
Payserv Group parent company and London Alternative Investment Market (AIM) listed Cambria Plc said, after the introduction of a local currency change in March this year and the simultaneous scrapping of the US dollar and RTGS dollar parity exchange rate policy affected them.
In Zimbabwe, Cambria also operates Millchem, one of Zimbabwe’s leading distributors of industrial solvents and metal treatment products.
Cambria said the contract between Paynet and banks was denominated in US dollar, but banks were refusing to pay US dollar service fees, after the currency changes, despite making huge profits and also paying for similar technology based external services, including software, in forex.
It also said while some banks claimed the Reserve Bank did allow payments to Paynet in forex, a position the company said had since been waived, the local banking institutions would still not play ball.
While the Bankers Association of Zimbabwe (BAZ) said the suspension of the Paynet services will not affect transactions such as RTGS, ZIPIT, mobile payments, internet banking and swift transfers, the facility was one of the major bulk payment platforms and its absence could have serious negative implications.
“This action arose from a dispute whereby the vendor (Paynet) has requested for settlement of local services rendered in United States Dollars,” BAZ said.
Paynet said it had lost over US$170 000 providing services to banks in March and April 2019, adding banks as a result collectively owe US$470 000 for over four million transactions concluded since May 1, 2019. The company said it cannot allow further accumulation of possible losses.
“The company estimates that in 2018 banks netted $5 in profit for each dollar invoiced to them. Collectively in 2018 banks netted over US$22 million in profits via charges to their account holders for services provided by Paynet.
“Despite this highly profitable relationship with Paynet, banks have stonewalled the company’s attempt to maintain the US dollar value of its services following the devaluation of the currency to 5.86:1 USD on the interbank market,” Cambria said.
Cambria Plc said that by refusing to engage the Interbank Operations Committee, through which banks communicated, felt disruption from disconnection would be tolerated by customers.
It also said that banks felt they could find payment alternatives or promote alternative services to Paynet, notwithstanding approval, testing, security, stability, or reconcilability of such alternatives.
Further, Cambria said banks thought Paynet would reverse its position and accept local currency for its May invoice, a US2,6 cents per transaction at interbank exchange rates instead of the contracted average of US 16 cents and that Payserv would not risk cutting off service to banks.
“The worst possible case for Paynet is for its service to be replaced by a robust and immediately available alternative. Such an alternative would in the company’s view neither be cheap nor immediately available and customizable,” Cambria said.
The AIM listed company said the 5 000 plus corporate users of Paynet would find it difficult to switch to a new system, however robust. It said a new system would require the kind of customisation Paynet had provided to each bank at a far lower cost than would be charged by their core system providers.
With Zimbabwe’s economy in shambles and political tensions rising, leaving the country seems the best option for many who are desperate for jobs. But those dreams often end at the passport office, which doesn’t have enough foreign currency to import proper paper and ink.
A passport now takes no less than a year to be issued. An emergency passport can take months amid a backlog of 280,000 applications, never mind recent ones.
Zimbabweans at the main office in the capital, Harare, have taken to sleeping in line for any chance at being served the following day — and that’s just to submit an application.
Several million Zimbabweans already left for neighboring South Africa and other countries during years of economic turmoil under former leader Robert Mugabe. The hardships have only deepened under current President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who took over after Mugabe’s forced resignation in late 2017.
The new government’s slogan “austerity for prosperity” now has a bitter ring.Unemployment is rampant and inflation is at 75%, the highest since 2009, when Zimbabwe’s currency collapsed under the weight of hyperinflation. Rapid devaluation of the local currency against the US dollar — also used as official currency — has seen basic items such as cooking oil changing prices several times a day. The health sector is collapsing, forcing those who can afford it to seek treatment abroad.
People wait in a queue to submit an application for a passport at the main office in Harare. Photo / AP
At the passport office, the desperation to escape is all too clear.
“Guys, it’s either we jump the queue or we will have to jump the border,” one teenager told a group of friends plotting to sneak to the front of the line.
Another teen, 19-year-old Brian Ndlovu, said coming to the office makes him “feel like there is really no way out of this country. We are trapped.”
The teens’ plot to jump the queue failed, in large part because those at the front had camped there for days and knew each other by name.
Emma Chirwa said she only reached the front of the line because she had been sleeping outside the office since June 5.
“I was No. 34 on Friday. They served no one. On Thursday, they served 12 people,” she said, huddled in a blanket on Sunday night.
In the biting cold of the Southern Hemisphere’s winter, dozens of people, including women with toddlers, slept on cardboard boxes or in the dust, holding their places. Around midnight, one man parked his motorbike and joined his wife in blankets on the line. People laughed.
Some huddled around a fire of scrap wood taken from the grounds of an adjacent school. A small enterprise has emerged, with some young men holding places in the line for a fee. Others sell pens, food items and foreign currency while a generator powered a photocopy machine.
By daylight, the line snaked for more than a kilometer and included school children in uniform.
A preacher holding a Bible took advantage of the crowd to deliver sermons about resilience and hope. But for many, the spirit is slipping.
For those seeking an emergency passport, the task requires multiple lines and a week of sleeping outside the office. One applies for an ordinary passport, then waits for a chance to upgrade the application to an emergency passport. Those who are booked for a date in 2020 have to join another line to plead for an earlier date.
The delays are due to a lack of foreign currency to import special paper, ink and other materials, as well as machine breakdowns, according to the national passport agency’s registrar-general, Clemence Masango.
The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, a government body, has described the passport crisis as “a major human rights challenge” and launched an investigation.In response, officials are promising change.
“We have sourced the foreign currency, and the machine is now working, so the backlog will be cleared soon. We have to bring dignity to our people,” Home Affairs Minister Cain Mathema told The Associated Press on Wednesday, vowing “a return to normalcy” in a month.
But for those badly in need of a legal way out of Zimbabwe, such official statements count for little without action.In a busy, cramped corridor, people clutching envelopes waited in yet another line outside what they mockingly called the “mercy office.” It is where they plead with senior officials that their situations are dire enough for their emergency passport applications to be processed in days, not months.
One woman said the date she can upgrade her passport application to an emergency one is May 2020.
“My mother needs an urgent medical operation in India,” she said.
FILE PHOTO: Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir delivers a speech inside Parliament in Khartoum, Sudan April 1, 2019.
KHARTOUM (Reuters) – Sudan’s ex-president Omar al-Bashir appeared in public on Sunday for the first time since he was overthrown, as he was taken out of prison to the office of the anti-corruption prosecutor.
Bashir, wearing traditional white robes and turban, was driven in a Toyota Land Cruiser to the prosecutor’s office in Khartoum, a Reuters witness said.
The military overthrew and detained Bashir on April 11 after 16 weeks of street protests against his 30-year rule. He was being held in prison in Khartoum North, across the Blue Nile from the capital’s centre.
Newsday|NTABAZINDUNA Chief Nhlanhlayemangwe Felix Ndiweni’s case of malicious damage to property was on Wednesday postponed after key witness, former Home Affairs minister Obert Mpofu failed to show up, prompting a subpoena to be issued against him.
Ndiweni (54) and 22 other villagers, represented by a lawyer Dumisani Dube, appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Gladmore Mushove on Wednesday facing charges of malicious damage to Fetti Mbele’s property.
Dube said: “The matter was postponed, Mpofu did not show up as expected. We have subpoenaed him to come on June 25 and we expect him to be there.”
Mpofu’s involvement in the case came following Chief Ndiweni’s testimony in court last year where he claimed that the case emanated from Mpofu’s efforts to “fix” him after he had filed criminal charges against him (Mpofu).
He alleged that Mpofu stole 200 cattle from his late father Chief Khayisa Ndiweni.
He said he had reported the stock theft case to Mbembesi Police Station, but Mpofu used his influence as minister to make the docket disappear.
Ndiweni claimed that politics was at play in the matter, accusing Mpofu of influencing Mbele, his wife and members of the ruling Zanu PF to interfere with his traditional court order.
His lawyer then asked the court to call Mpofu to testify.
Mpofu refused to attend court through an affidavit submitted by his lawyer, Byron Sengweni, saying he knew nothing about the case.
It is alleged that sometime in June 2017, Mbele and his wife had an adultery dispute. Mbele reported the matter to Ndiweni who heard it at his traditional court and it was resolved that Mbele’s wife should vacate the matrimonial home.
However, the couple later resolved their issue and the wife remained at Mbele’s homestead.
Chief Ndiweni and the villagers on July 4, 2017, went to the Mbele’s homestead, accusing him of disrespecting the traditional court’s verdict by keeping his wife after the ruling. They allegedly then destroyed Mbele’s fence and kraal and threatened to destroy his home if he did not vacate the area.
The chief allegedly took from Mbele a cow and a calf as a fine and also took Mbele’s wife to her parents’ home against the couple’s will.
Foreign Currency dealers being loaded into a police truck on Friday.
State Media|POLICE have arrested a number of suspected illegal foreign currency dealers, popularly known as osiphatheleni, in an ongoing operation.
Last Friday, scores of women and men were arrested at the ‘World Bank’ near Tredgold building for engaging in illegal forex deals.
In a telephone interview yesterday, Acting Bulawayo Police Spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube said police were working to bring sanity to Bulawayo streets.
Inspector Ncube could not disclose the exact number of illegal forex dealers arrested in the operation.
“We are still in the streets carrying out our work so I am unable to give the exact number of arrests made but I can just say more women have been arrested than men in this operation,” he said.
Insp Ncube advised people against hoarding cash and keeping large amounts of money at home. “We urge members of the public to desist from keeping large sums of money at home as they may be targeted by robbers and other criminal elements. People must also avoid engaging in conversations mentioning having money in the house as you may never know who is listening,” he said.
Insp Ncube said public support and understanding of police activities in the city was helping in fighting crime as more people were reporting criminal activities.
“We applaud members of the public for their continued support in our work as we strive towards realising a crime free city. Through cooperation with the police, members of the public last week enabled us to crackdown on a drug syndicate which has been supplying toxic substances to the public, mostly our gullible and vulnerable youths. We are looking forward to such engagements as it is the duty of every citizen to ensure that we rid our streets of all sorts of crimes,” said Inspector Ncube.
Former South African president Thabo Mbeki has said President Emmerson Mnangagwa must open up his political parties dialogue to include main opposition leader Nelson Chamisa.
Mbeki was speaking on South Africa’s SABC News last week, where he said the desire for a Zimbabwean dialogue was a good move by both Mnangagwa and Chamisa to solve a disputed election and is a good example for fellow African countries.
Mbeki said Mnangagwa must agree with the MDC proposal to have a mediator in the talks over the current situation where he is running the show himself.
‘‘So, I’m saying that something should happen because what President Mnangagwa has done is correct and I’m saying MDC agrees in principle to this, so let them find a way together because you go through the courts as happened in Zimbabwe and as happening in Malawi to resolve whatever are the contested things, but after that you must address this matter,’’ he said.
Mr Mbeki — who is no stranger to Zimbabwean affairs having mediated the inter-party dialogue that led to the formation of the inclusive Government in 2009 blasted Mnangagwa’s stance that he won the elections and was declared by the constitutional court as not enough ground for him to manipulate the dialogue process.
“For us we are trying to develop our countries, you need maximum unity to address a number of challenges, so it can’t be enough that I won the election and was declared by the constitutional court that’s it,” he said. “So, I’m saying the initiative such as has been taken in Zimbabwe is correct and I hope the Zimbabweans will indeed be able to get together including the MDC.
“The MDC must be part of that process, it’s important as a continent that we deal with this matter.”
With just one airplane, over 100 employees and a full-fledged board plus heavy losses, President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said the appointment of Patrick Chinamasa as Air Zimbabwe board chairman is above board.
In an interview with Capitalk 100.4FM last Friday, President Mnangagwa said he was alive to the fact that Air Zimbabwe was under administration.
Mr Reggie Saruchera of Grant Thornton is the administrator since October last year, after Government issued General Notice 758/2018, which placed Air Zimbabwe under administration.
Some legal practitioners have been insinuating that the appointment of Chinamasa as Air Zimbabwe board chairman last week, was offside since management of the national flag carrier was “thrust in the hands” of Mr Saruchera.
But President Mnangagwa said both the administrator and board have their duties clearly spelt in terms of the law.
“That’s not a problem (Air Zimbabwe being under administration); the board is a board of Air Zimbabwe,” said President Mnangagwa. “The administrator, who is doing reconstruction, has a period which he has been given. I am not ignorant of that. So, I know where we are going, the board must be there.
“Those who get frightened because we have put people who are going to drive things, it’s their own fault. So, there is no conflict at all. The board has its duties spelt out, the administrator has his duties or her duties spelt out. Let him do his duty and let the board do their duty.”
Farai Dziva|Masvingo based NGO, COTRAD has launched a programme meant to eradicate violence and Intimidation in rural and urban communities.
“COTRAD is working with BUSTOP TV to encourage people to report cases of human rights violations to the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) and other relevant institutions without fear.
Every Zimbabwean has the right to walk into a police station or Public Enquiry Counter (PEC) and make a report if he/she feels his/her rights have been infringed upon by some other person.
Members of the public have the right to contact the police through telephone, or various police hotline around the country. The people can also use various suggestion boxes to present complains to the police,” said COTRAD in statement.
A COTRAD official also said: “The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission is national human rights institution established under section 242 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, whose main mandate is to Protect, Promote and Enforce human rights.
The Commission deals with complaints of abuses and violations of rights and freedoms that are enshrined in the Constitution of Zimbabwe and in any international human rights agreements that the country has agreed to sign and any complaints arising from abuse of power or maladministration by the State and public institutions.”
Emmerson Mnangagwa has intervened in a Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) employees’ case by ordering their reinstatement after they were dismissed for being whistleblowers on corruption that was threatening to ground the power utility.
He made the call at the recent launch of the Tripartite Negotiating Forum Act to pave way for the establishment of a platform of social partners — the Government, labour and business — to discuss pertinent issues affecting the economy.
The eight Zesa workers were victimised for exposing a corruption saga during the time of former Zesa chief executive officer Engineer Joshua Chifamba.
The whistleblowers were victimised by management for fighting corruption linking the management and former Minister of Energy and Power Development, Samuel Undenge to a public relations project involving Oscar Pambuka and Psychology Maziwisa.
Some of the issues raised by the workers include the awarding to Wicknell Chivayo of the Gwanda solar project without following laid down procurement procedures and payment of the US$5 million to him without bank guarantees.
The newly appointed Minister of Energy and Power Development Advocate Fortune Chasi has called on Zesa management to do everything to ensure that the $5 million advanced to Chivayo’s Intratek Zimbabwe for the Gwanda Solar Project is recovered.
Among a litany of grievances by the workers included the refusal by management to honour a 2012 two percent salary increment.
The suspended workers are Florence Taruvinga, Gibson Mushunje, Admire Mudzonga, Ackim Mzilikazi, Given Dingwiza, Tariro Shumba, Stephen Moyoweshumba and Joanes Chingoriwo.
Mr Mushunje, who is also Energy Sector Workers’ Union of Zimbabwe secretary general, hailed President Mnangagwa’s call for their reinstatement, but says it is seems there is some resistance from Zesa management.
“The President’s call is a good move for us and even for the country and our families,” he said.
“But it seems the management is undermining the President’s proclamation to reinstate the workers. There is some cartel within the power utility who are allegedly blocking the President’s call.
“We have not yet received the letters confirming our employment status. Instead we have been served with provisional court orders barring us as a union from representing the interest of workers.”
The president of the Energy Sector Workers Union of Zimbabwe Mr Mudzonga said they were waiting for a confirmation letter from Zesa.
“We were victimised for exposing corruption activities at the power utility,” he said. “Currently, the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Sekai Nzenza is in Geneva. We are waiting for her to address our issue.”
Efforts to contact Zesa chief executive officer Engineer Patrick Chivaura were fruitless as he was not answering his phone.
The employees were suspended on 7 March 2018 without pay, charged with unlawful job action, breaching of the Official Secrets Act and insubordination.
The first hearing was conducted on the 4th of April 2018 and concluded in June.
Eng Chifamba’s contract was terminated by the board while on suspension pending investigation into allegations of criminal abuse of office and suspected irregularities around procurement of key electrical equipment imported by two Zesa subsidiaries from India.
He was arrested in October last year in connection with alleged criminal abuse of office in the awarding of a contract involving Zesa units ZETDC, ZENT and Indian firm, PME, for the supply of transformers and other equipment worth $35 million.
Youth Against Corruption (Yac) last year petitioned President Mnangagwa over the plight of the fired workers.- state media
A Good Samaritan on Saturday retrieved over US$100 000 and three pistols which he handed over to a security company whose cash-in-transit vehicle had been involved in a fatal accident near Lupane.
Three Safeguard officials were transporting the money from Victoria Falls to Bulawayo when the driver lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a tree while trying to avoid hitting cattle. One of the guards died on the spot while two others were seriously injured.
One of the injured was rushed to St Luke’s Hospital in Lupane while the other was ferried to the United Bulawayo Hospitals for treatment.
A security source said over US$100 000 was being transported to Bulawayo when the accident occurred.
The money could have easily fallen into wrong hands, but Mr Mlondolozi Mpofu, who witnessed the accident while driving to work in Hwange, stopped and retrieved the cash and weapons.
Mr Mpofu first helped those who were trapped in the security company’s vehicle.
“I was on my way to Hwange after the Lupane 80 sign post when l witnessed the accident. The driver was trying to avoid cattle and he lost control. He swerved left and right. I went there to save lives because l could see that the other security officer was trapped in the car while the other one was thrown out of the vehicle,” he said.
Mr Mpofu said after retrieving the trapped security officer, he realised that there was a cash box and thought of keeping it safe together with three pistols that were scattered in the bush.
“I saw a cash box and thought it wise to keep it safe because l knew that people would come and target it as it is known that such vehicles carry large sums of money,” he said.
Mr Mpofu said he alerted the police and surrendered the firearms but withheld the cash as he wanted to hand it over to safeguard officials to avoid the money changing many hands.
He said when he called the company to alert officials about the accident, he was surprised that he was first asked if the money was safe not the fate of the people who were involved in the accident.
Mr Mpofu said some people who later attended the scene came searching for the money as they knew that the vehicle might have been carrying a lot of money.
“However, l had already secured the money and l made sure that it was safe. That’s why l made sure that l handed it to the hands of Safeguard officers,” he said.
Mr Mpofu said although he had chances to get away with the money since he was the first to arrive on the scene, he valued saving life and being honest.
“The most important thing was to save other people’s lives before thinking of money. Secondly, I was groomed in a family set-up where honesty is our core value. I gain nothing by stealing other people’s money.
Whatever I did was out of humanity and I regret none of my actions. I thank God that the two guys survived. However, I am sorry that we couldn’t save the one who died on the spot,” he said.
Contacted for comment, Safeguard Bulawayo branch could not comment about the accident referring this publication to their Cash in Transit (CIT) Department.
“I heard of the accident but I am not in a position to comment on that or give any detail because I am not authorised. However, try calling the CIT department tomorrow, they can give you finer details. Today they are out of office,” said one of the officials.
Police spokesperson for Matabeleland North Chief Inspector Siphiwe Makonese could not be reached for comment. – Chronicle
The man (ED) is out of sorts, confuses elementary principles of economics and runs on bus stop theories, most of which is generated by his paid social media trolls.
Emmerson Mnangagwa
He is clearly not a listening “President” as he claims but a killing one.
Citizens have been killed in cold blood by guns purchased through tax payer’s money.
Inflation is killing Zimbabweans and destroying people’s capacity to take care of families.
A soft genocide is ongoing in the public hospitals. There are no drugs, doctors and nurses are on the verge of a strike, not even blades and gloves have been procured in the hospitals.
He has killed the dignity of the working people of Zimbabwe, value of wages has been eroded, teachers no longer afford a single day of Admission at a central hospital.
Public servants are one illness away from disaster after a lifetime of hard work. That is not what listening Presidents create.
He has killed employment and all hope for young people who now prefer to find an exit through the borders.
If anyone listened to his interview seeking answers to the crisis, all doubt was removed, solutions are simply not available.
The man believes that the RTGS dollar which he struggles to pronounce is the strongest currency in the region.
He misses the basics about the relationship between exports and imports as the strength behind a currency.
He fails to note that the currency is a reflection of the social contract or it’s absence thereof.
He fails to recognize that the exchange rate is collapsing daily, something which is not happening with the Rand and Pula,the two currencies he makes reference to.
Then, he makes a bizarre argument about the importance of fuel price hikes, arguing that it is the cheapest in the region forgetting that section 43 of the RBZ Act still pegs the fake currency at par with the US dollar and more importantly that civil servants are not earning any forex.
The interview makes more scary revelations and threats on the business community, chilling threats about making their business tough.
The whole interview was a dog’s breakfast.
By refusing calls from the public, it is clear that he knows he has not earned the trust of the public. He is aware he has no solutions to the public and has no grasp of policy issues and the politics of the day.
By Nqobile Tshili| About 12 armed robbers raided a meat wholesale company in Belmont yesterday and got away with an undisclosed amount of money after attacking two security guards and shooting at police officers.
The gang is said to have raided Wholesale Beef at about 2AM. Wholesale Beef manager Mr Terrence Hill confirmed the incident.
He could not immediately state how much money the company had lost in the armed robbery.
“Yes there are some armed robbers who pounced at our shop today at about 2AM. I suspect it could have been 12 or more guys. They managed to gain entry, disabled the alarm and cut the safe box. Donnington Police Station was alerted and they attended the scene while the robbers were still at the premises.
“The police however could not apprehend the suspects as the gang shot at them. I don’t think the cops were armed with guns. So there was no exchange of fire. They got away with cash and I can only let you know about the figure tomorrow,” said Mr Hill.
He said the armed robbers also attacked the company’s security guards during the raid and they were left with minor bruises.
Acting Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube could not be immediately reached for comment.
However, police are on record urging members of the public to avoid keeping large sums of money in their premises to avoid being targeted by thieves and robbers.
Two weeks ago, police in Bulawayo recovered US$24 000 and R120 000 cash which had been stolen by a 20-year-old. – The Chronicle
Farai Dziva|MDC Youth Assembly Secretary General
Gift Ostallos Siziba has said youths have an obligation to liberate themselves from oppression.
Addressing party members in Chipinge yesterday Siziba said:The significance of the Soweto uprising to the present day Political economy is vital.
Students rose against an oppressive racist apartheid regime, a struggle that went down to history. We in Zimbabwe gather against a background of an oppressive regime and we are faced with the task to liberate ourselves as the youth.
In Chipinge youths are suffering but they have diamonds.
We also call upon fellow youths in African to unite and fight for a true egalitarian, democratic African anchored on a socially just economy. “
Farai Dziva|The country’s largest opposition party, MDC, has described Emmerson Mnangagwa’s live radio interview on Friday as a dog’s breakfast.
In a statement the party said:
“If anyone listened to Mnangagwa’s interview seeking answers to the crisis, all doubt was removed, solutions are simply not available.
The man believes that the RTGS dollar which he struggles to pronounce is the strongest currency in the region.
He misses the basics about the relationship between exports and imports as the strength behind a currency.
He fails to note that the currency is a reflection of the social contract or it’s absence thereof.
He fails to recognize that the exchange rate is collapsing daily, something which is not happening with the Rand and Pula,the two currencies he makes reference to.
Then, he makes a bizarre argument about the importance of fuel price hikes, arguing that it is the cheapest in the region forgetting that section 43 of the RBZ Act still pegs the fake currency at par with the US dollar and more importantly that civil servants are not earning any forex.”
“The interview makes more scary revelations and threats on the business community, chilling threats about making their business tough.
The whole interview was a dog’s breakfast.
By refusing calls from the public, it is clear that he knows he has not earned the trust of the public. He is aware he has no solutions to the public and has no grasp of policy issues and the politics of the day.
Farai Dziva|Opposition Party MDC Says Emmerson Mnangagwa is a killing President, not a listening leader.
In a statement the party accused Mnangagwa of hypocrisy.
“The interview kills all hope.
The man is out of sorts, confuses elementary principles of economics and runs on bus stop theories, most of which is generated by his paid social media trolls.
He is clearly not a listening “President” as he claims but a killing one.
Citizens have been killed in cold blood by guns purchased through tax payer’s money.
Inflation is killing Zimbabweans and destroying people’s capacity to take care of families.
A soft genocide is ongoing in the public hospitals. There are no drugs, doctors and nurses are on the verge of a strike, not even blades and gloves have been procured in the hospitals.
He has killed the dignity of the working people of Zimbabwe, value of wages has been eroded, teachers no longer afford a single day of Admission at a central hospital.
Public servants are one illness away from disaster after a lifetime of hard work. That is not what listening Presidents create.
He has killed employment and all hope for young people who now prefer to find an exit through the borders.”
Farai Dziva| Power utility ZESA has claimed that load shedding will end this week.
Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) said that load shedding will be eased this weekend.
ZESA claimed it implemented stage 2 of the load shedding schedule due to a technical fault at the Hwange Thermal Power Plant that had resulted in the loss of significant generation capacity.
The power cuts are expected to ease this week, according to the company.
“ZETDC has started restoring Hwange. One of the small units is now on the grid producing about 80MW tomorrow (Saturday) morning one of the big Units producing 160MW also goes on stream.”
Farai Dziva|The MDC has strongly condemned the harassment and intimidation of its members by state security agents.
The party also denounced the abuse of the police force by Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government.
See the party’s statement below:
The MDC condemns the State’s abuse of the National Police Service in pursuing a narrow political agenda of self-preservation.
Yesterday, the dynamic national youth leader, Obey Sithole, was summoned to the police station to clarify his speech during the funeral of the late hero, Hon Pastor Vimbai Java in Glen View.
For purposes of maintaining a professional outlook, the Police must stick to their conduct outlined in section 208 of the Constitution part of which obligates them to stay away from party politics.
The MDC, it’s members and leaders will never be bullied out of exercising political rights provided for in the Constution.
These include freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, freedom of association, the right to participate in activities of a political party of choice and the right to demonstrate.
All institutions of the State must facilitate the exercise of these rights, not curtail them.
Mnangagwa’s administration must fix the economy or ship out, intimidating dissent is unsustainable.
By A Correspondent- Police in Chinhoyi used live ammunition to fire warning shots in an attempt to arrest forex dealers in the town on Friday, 14 June.
While no one was hurt, the exercise resulted in the arrest of 16 dealers. Police, however, failed to charge them with any exchange control crime due to lack of evidence.
From the report:
It is the firing of warning shots that got people to talk about the heavy-handedness of the police towards civilians.
One of the dealers who wanted to be only identified as Monya, said he was fined $20 for Obstructing movement on the pavement and was released.
“There was no point in firing warning shots in the middle of the crowded CBD as if we’re hardcore criminals” said Monya.-Standard
In his statement during a radio interview this past Friday (14 June) President Emmerson Mnangagwa effectively ruled out the possibility of being succeeded by current Vice President Constantino Chiwenga.
Mnangagwa said that after him,”Zimbabwe needs a young president to take over”.
Chiwenga has long been considered in line to succeed Mnangagwa following his successful execution of one of Africa’s softest coups that deposed former president Robert Mugabe.
The remark is being seen as a huge blow for the old guard in the ruling party, especially for Chiwenga who has previously been tipped to take over from Mnangagwa.
A former army commander, Chiwenga was instrumental in Mnangagwa’s ascendency to power in November 2017 after he led the soft coup that pushed former president Robert Mugabe out of office, ending his 37-year rule.
Despite the show of unity by the Zanu PF leadership during public gatherings, cracks are widening in the party between the Team Lacoste faction which dominates Mnangagwa’s inner circle and former army chefs who are largely loyal to Chiwenga.
To paper over the cracks, Zanu PF provinces have been declaring their undying support for Mnangagwa by campaigning for his candidacy in 2023.
In December last year, while at a rally, Chiwenga maintained that Mnangagwa is the ruling Zanu PF party’s sole presidential candidate for the 2023 polls, saying there is no vacancy for the post.
Despite the declaration, those privy to the goings-on in Zanu PF highlight simmering tensions between Mnangagwa and his deputy
PRESS STATEMENT BY THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION ON IMPLEMENTATION PROCEDURES FOR REBATE OF DUTY ON MOTO VEHCILES IMPORTED BY PUBLIC SERVANTS: CIRCULAR NO. 6 OF 2019.
1.1 This Circular is issued by the Public Service Commission, pursuant to the introduction of rebate of duty on motor vehicles imported by members of the Civil Service and Service Commissions.
1.2 The rebate on motor vehicles has been afforded to members of the Civil Service and Service Commissions as part of a raft of measures that have been introduced by the Public Service Commission to improve on non-monetary benefits.
2.0 Procedures and Requirements for a Member to be Eligible to Benefit from the Rebate
2.1 The member shall submit an application to the Head of Ministry requesting authority to import a vehicle under the scheme.
2.2 The Head of Ministry should assess whether the member meets the following conditions before any recommendation letter is granted: that the member: i) has served at least ten (10) years of continuous service in the Public Service or Service Commissions except in cases approved by the Commission. ii) must have a valid Driver’s Licence and in the case of a member living with disability a valid Driver’s Licence of a designated driver. iii) is not subject to any disciplinary proceedings at the time of application. iv) has not benefitted from this scheme within a period of five (5) years prior to submission of this application.
2.3 If the member satisfies the above criteria, the Head of Ministry shall forward the recommendations together with the relevant copies of Driver’s Licence and current pay slip (original) to the Public Service Commission for clearance.
2.4 Once clearance has been granted, the Public Service Commission shall forward the recommendations to Treasury for concurrence.
2.5 After Treasury concurrence has been granted, the member may proceed to import a suitable vehicle as guided by specifications in item 2.6 below.
2.6 Specifications to be met. i) The vehicle should not be older than ten (10) years from date of manufacture at the time of importation, unless specifically exempted from this requirement by the Public Service Commission in consultation with Treasury. ii) The Government shall grant rebate of duty on a motor vehicle with a maximum import value of USS10 000.00 iii) The vehicle must meet the specifications under the Customs Tariff Codes
2.7 For the rebate of duty on import of a motor vehicle to be processed, a member shall submit the following documents to the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA): i) Recommendation letter from the Head of Ministry. ii) Clearance from the Public Service Commission iii) Treasury concurrence iv) Copy of a valid Driver’s Licence and in the case of a member living with disability, a valid Driver’s Licence of a designated driver v) Commercial invoice and bill of lading vi) Proof of residence vii) Copy of identity card
3.0 Please take note that the grant of rebate of duty on the motor vehicle purchased shall be revoked immediately when a member resigns or is discharged from the Public Service before the expiry of five (5) years from the date when the rebate was granted. Such member will immediately be liable to pay duty for the vehicle.
4.0 The interpretation of this Circular rests with the Public Service Commission.
DR VINCENT HUNGWE CHAIRMAN PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION 14 June 2019
6th Floor, SSC Building, Sam Nujoma/Julius Nyerere Way Tel: 0242-700882-4 1 www.psc.gov.zw E-mail: feedback gpsc.gov.zw Download PSC-ZIM App on Google Play
By A Correspondent- South Africa is not a rosy place and is not the land of milk and honey as many imagine. It is also not a place of easy fortunes, but a land of hard work where you have to toil to eke out a living, lest you are pushed out to survive on crime and other vices.
Even those making an honest living are not spared either as they might find themselves caught up in the crossfire. This sums up the experiences of Zimbabweans who migrate to South Africa but get a reality check when they serve time in prison for serious crimes like murder, fraud and forgery.
One such person is Gift Mbewe (47) of Entumbane in Bulawayo who until last month served 18 years at Johannesburg Correctional Centre and Zonderwater Prison. Johannesburg Correctional Centre is popularly known as “Sun City” and is a notorious maximum security prison which houses hard core criminals serving lengthy sentences to life imprisonment.
The state media caught up with Mbewe where he was in the comfort of his brother’s house in Entumbane suburb just a week after being deported from Lindela Repatriation Centre. Like many others he left Zimbabwe to seek greener pastures.
“I left Zimbabwe in 1994, when I arrived I was still young and was fortunate to find a job the second day I arrived but it was at a bottle store. During that time my life then started to evolve around alcohol, I would drink everyday, things were not very rosy every time.
In 2001 I had a girlfriend that I moved in with and she framed me for Grievous Bodily Harm and I was arrested and eventually won the case and I was not incarcerated,” he said.
After that stint he decided to change his ways and live an alcohol-free life. However, as fate would have it, he relapsed one day at a party.
“In 2002 I visited a friend of mine who had a housewarming party and I was enticed into taking marijuana and alcohol during the party. I don’t know how I left the party and went back home because I was drunk.
A friend followed me home and a fight ensued, in the house was my girlfriend’s child who was aged four by then. So during the fight he was injured, I only realised after my colleague had run away that the child had been hurt so I put him to bed and went out to collect his mother from work in Berea as she was about to knock off,” he said.
He went on: “I arrived 30 minutes earlier so I decided to pass time by the snooker shop near her workplace. I lost track of time and realised after a while that I was supposed to pick her up then I went home as she had knocked off already. I got home to find many people outside the flat so I was drunk and I didn’t know what the people had gathered there for.
“The people said: ‘nangu urasta’ I had dreadlocks by then and the police said they had been waiting for me and I was arrested. I complied as I didn’t understand what was happening and I remember people saying ‘urasta um’bulele’ but I still did not understand,” said Mbewe.
The following day he woke up at John Foster Police Station even more confused as to why he was in a police cell.
“A policeman came, took me and asked what happened. He also said I had killed someone, I was shocked at his utterances and he left.”
Mbewe said he was taken to court and one day managed to see his documents which showed that he was a murder suspect. Another inmate who had been brought in from Hilbrow then told him that he was talk of the town with his murder case.
“He then told me that I had killed my girlfriend’s son, that is when I began to try and recall what had happened. I hated myself for the next two years in prison. Somehow I never thought of suicide as a way out,” he said.
He thought pleading guilty would bring leniency.
“I accepted the charge because I didn’t know what had happened that day, I was drunk. I know for a fact that there was a fight but how the child was hurt I am not too sure, maybe he was caught in the crossfire as we were hitting each other and he succumbed to injuries. This is why I hated myself because I loved the child like my own. I was sentenced to life imprisonment on 13 June 2003.
“The judge said to me ‘Gift, you are going to prison for the rest of your life, you will never see the sun and you will never see the birds in the sky.’ That tore me apart. I was a first time offender and had never been in prison before. I had never committed any crime before. My heart broke,” he said.
Mbewe was later moved to Zonderwater Prison outside Pretoria where he continued serving.
“It was not easy for me either but Gift (himself) deserved to go under; he deserved to be punished as he had been said to have killed a child. It now did not matter how it happened but the fact that an innocent child had been killed while I fought my friend tore me apart. He was someone who could not protect himself or stand for himself,” he said.
Asked on how 18 years behind bars felt, Mbewe said it was hell.
“Prison was hell. There was no place to sleep, I would sleep in the toilet, others slept in the shower, passages and it was not easy. The place was always full. Worse still it was in June when I was convicted; the cold winter nearly killed me as I only had one blanket and no jersey,” he said.
He was to later on accept his fate and that he was going to be in prison for life.
“I went down for it, I had to serve time for this crime despite the difficult circumstances around it and life changed for the better,” he said.
It was one day that an evangelist gave him a Bible and he tucked it under his pillow and it stayed there for a while.
“One night I had a dream, a voice said I must read Psalms 50v15 which reads ‘Call upon me in the day of trouble, I will deliver you and you shall glorify me’. I woke up wrote it down, but I did not know where to find that verse as I had never opened a Bible before but I had to find that scripture. Page by page I flipped until he found the verse. My life changed,” he said.
As the years passed Mbewe was selected for the possibility of parole. It happened that he became a role model in prison, motivational speaker and pastor. He attained a Degree in Theology after years of study and graduated in October 2018.
“Lifers’ (those serving life sentences) were not checked by Parole Boards but by the Minister of Justice, so our names were taken forward, and the minister would decide if we were to be given parole or not.
“The day I was told that I was going to be released I failed to walk back to my cell, the joy was unexplainable. My feet were numb because I could not believe it even one bit, all I could do was praise God. I was finally going to be a free person yet I had been told I was going to be locked away for life.
I was at Lindela from 17 May to 6 June 2019 when I was totally released into Zimbabwe and tasted real freedom. I had been released from prison a month earlier but my paper work was not yet completed for me to be deported back home,” he said.
Mbewe said his time in prison changed him a lot on the way he perceives the world.
“I want to thank God for allowing me to go to prison, as it allowed me to have a new life. I want to thank prison, not that I liked being there but because I attained all that I have by being in prison. If not I would have been wandering in the world doing earthly things but I was removed from there and jailed and made good of myself.
I am now focused, I now acquaint myself with people of correct moral standing and I am wiser now, I think first before I do things now.
“I am back home now and have started a project with a colleague I met at Lindela, GMU Missionaries, we are men on a mission and we want to see a crime free continent, we want to educate the masses that if you are to migrate to any country one must have the correct documentation so that you are not always running away from the police and again you cannot secure a formal job and this then pushes people into crime.”
Mbewe said he has, however, not seen or heard from his girlfriend or friend he fought on that fateful day. Sunday News
By A Correspondent- Deputy Energy minister Magna Mudyiwa has dismissed as false reports that Zimbabwe is in darkness.
Responding to a question from Kwekwe central legislator Masango “Blackman” Matambanadzo, the energy minister said:
“…..The first thing that I would like to say is that, it is not true that Zimbabwe is in darkness, the nation is not in darkness but the challenge is that we do not have enough electricity to cater for our country for 24 hours a day and seven days a week or throughout the day.
This has affected the domestic and industrial use of electricity and culminated to the introduction of load-shedding schedules, especially during peak hours, from 6am to 10pm and from 6pm to 10pm. These are the time frames which require a lot of electricity.
Matambanadzo mentioned the reasons, yes, the Hon. Member knows that the water level or water table at Kariba Dam is critically low. In Hwange, there are supposed to be six units at any given time, however, only five units are working.
The other units are not working properly. They need to be refurbished; for example, today, there are only three units that are working at the Hwange Thermal Station. For that reason, we have increased load-shedding in many places. However, it does not mean that all these places are in darkness, it is not true that they are in darkness.
We are trying our best to make sure that we utilise the energy that we have sustainably, especially in commercial farms, where producers of wheat are irrigating their crop right now. What I wanted to clarify is that, the nation is not in darkness.”
A former Esigodini Agriculture College accounting assistant has been arrested for allegedly embezzling the institution’s funds during his term of office.
Honest Khuphe (32) of Nketa 6 suburb in Bulawayo allegedly converted US$560 which were payments made by students to his own use and went on to forge receipts.
Khuphe was not asked to plead when he appeared briefly before Gwanda magistrate Mrs Lerato Nyathi facing three counts of fraud last week.
He was remanded out of custody to 28 June for trial on his own cognisance. Prosecuting, Mr Silent Shoko said Khuphe stole the money on three separate occasions in 2015.
“On 16 March 2015 Khuphe received US$370 from a college student, Honest Ndirowei and he issued him a top copy of receipt number 447595 without placing a carbon paper. He then made another entry on the duplicate receipt bearing the same receipt number in the name of another student Alice Dube and entered that she had paid US$10 for an application form which she had already paid for.
“Khuphe went on to complete entries on the student ledger card confirming that Honest Ndirowei had cleared his arrears and he converted US$370 into his own use. On 26 June 2015 Khuphe received US$10 from another student but didn’t issue her with a receipt. He went on to update the student ledger card confirming that the student had paid the money and he converted it to his own use,”he said.
Mr Shoko said on 18 December 2015, Khuphe received US$180 from a student Zinhle Moyo and he receipted the money without using a carbon paper.
He said Khuphe made another entry on the duplicate certificate bearing the receipt number in the name of another student Nkosana Ncube and entered that he had paid US$10 for an application form which is a payment that he had already made. Mr Shoko said Khuphe went on to complete entries on the student ledger card confirming that Zinhle Moyo had cleared her arrears and he converted the money to his own use.
“The offence was discovered by auditors who were inspecting school records and the matter was reported to the police. Upon realising that he had been caught Khuphe deposited US$180 on 16 July 2016 into Esigodini Agriculture Institution’s Agribank account. Khuphe defrauded the institution of cash amounting to US$560 and US$180 was recovered. The ledger cards in respect of all the students involved containing details of all the transactions and an auditor’s report can be produced as exhibits,” said Mr Shoko.
HIGHLANDERS suspended executive committee members, Modern Ngwenya and Israel Moyo who have been found guilty on the charges they were facing. The duo now wait for their punishment to be handed down.
Vice-chairman Ngwenya and secretary general Moyo were last Friday formally informed that the tribunal which was handling had arrived at a guilty verdict. In a letter sent to the duo’s lawyer, Byron Sengweni of Sengweni Legal Practice, Matthew Sibindi, the chairman of the disciplinary panel stated that Ngwenya and Moyo were guilty of engaging in acts of disobedience and behaviour that was not in line with the requisites of the club’s constitution.
“At the end of the deliberations, the committee found the 1st and 2nd Defendant guilty for having acted in common purpose in engaging in acts of insubordination and conduct inconsistent with the requirements of the Club’s constitution in performance of their duties,’’ Sibindi said.
The two have been asked to make their submissions in mitigation by end of day tomorrow before their punishment is issued out.
“In view of the above, and to enable the Committee to conclude the process by coming up with an appropriate penalty the Committee is hereby affording the Defendants a chance to submit in writing their submissions in mitigation by close of business by Monday 17 June 209. Once these are received the Committee will then come up with appropriate penalty which will then be incorporated into the Final Determination which will be then availed to you,’’ said Sibindi.
The tribunal chairman expressed their enthusiasm in bringing the matter to an end as soon as possible.
A reliable source however, said the outcome of the case was obvious since the same board that suspended Ngwenya and Moyo formed the tribunal so there was no way they could come up with a not-guilty verdict.
“This verdict was pre-determined because the very Board that suspended the 1st and 2nd defendants form the tribunal. They are not only conflicted but are interested parties so the judgment is baseless — this case will not see the light of the day in any court of law,’’ the source said.
Furthermore, our source feels the Sibindi-chaired tribunal ignored accurate facts presented by Ngwenya and Moyo, instead chose to go with evidence brought by the club’s chairman Kenneth Mhlophe who was proven to be an unreliable witness during the hearing.
“The tribunal totally disregarded the true submissions of the defendants in order to safeguard their ill conceived decision to suspend the defendants based on a false report from a vindictive chairman.”
All is pointing to the sentence being handed down on Ngwenya and Moyo before the end of this week. The two have already indicated their intention to appeal to a higher authority in football, in this case the Zimbabwe Football Association.
CHARISMATIC Prophetic Healing and Deliverance Ministries (PHD) leader Prophet Walter Magaya has offered RTGS$14 000 to pay back US$14 000 to a family of a Bulawayo pastor who allegedly died of stress after investing in the church housing scheme.
Walter Magaya
The late Pastor Ernest Mutasa, who was a pastor at Assemblies of God died in April after allegedly investing US$14 000 into a PHD housing scheme in 2016.
Pastor Mutasa sold a family house and invested in stands and other business ventures that were promised by PHD in Douglasdale under Magaya’s supposed multi-million dollar housing construction scheme.
After media exposed the issue last week, the church summoned Pastor Mutasa’s family where they proposed to pay off the amount but in RTGS dollars.
Pastor Mutasa’s daughter — Miss Bethel Mutasa, who has been fighting for the church to reimburse the family or alternatively secure permanent accommodation for them met with representatives of the church.
“They gave me bus fare to meet them in Harare, after the issue was publicised. It was during the meeting that they laid out their offer, which I declined, as it is valueless.
“They told me during the meeting that they could not make the payment in US dollars, as laws had changed during that period and would only make a payment in RTGS dollars, which is ridiculous. They acknowledged that the payment was made in US dollars but want to give us RTGS, which cannot and will never account for a house,” said Miss Mutasa.
She said she stormed out of the meeting as the church representatives, one Mr Chatambudza and Mr Mhango, would not budge.
She said her family was considering taking the legal route but due to financial constraints they could not afford a lawyer.
“Had we been financially stable we would have taken the legal route. But because we are poor we cannot. We need some assistance from the leaders of the country if at all they hear our plea. This man has taken everything from us and he cannot continue doing this to people,” said Miss Mutasa.
An official with PHD Ministers Mr Clive Musango acknowledged that the church would pay in RTGS dollars.
“What they paid is what they will get. They paid in local currency and it is what they will be paid. We are following all procedures,” he said.
Meanwhile, a group of Bulawayo pastors has planned on engaging Prophet Magaya, over the matter. The pastors said they were saddened in the manner in which one of their own had died due to a stress related illness, caused by the deal and Prophet Magaya had chosen to turn a blind eye over the matter.
“Pastor Ernest Mutasa was a good man. He believed he could turn his family’s fortune around through the investment he had done with Magaya. As time went on and the deal, failing to yield results it affected his health.
“He was very emotional about the issue and approached some of us before his untimely death to consult us about the matter,” said Reverend Frank Mhlanga, who is the provincial chairperson of the Zimbabwe Christian Ministries Association (ZCMA).
He said the late pastor Mutasa on the day of his passing phoned them to inform them that he had suffered a stroke.
“He phoned the church telling us that he had suffered a stroke before passing on a few hours later. Before his death he indicated to us that the man of God, Prophet Magaya had cheated him. He said this had greatly affected his health and mental being. It was so unfortunate that he passed away before we could do anything to assist him,” said Rev Mhlanga.
Dynamos lost 0-1 to Highlanders today at the much-anticipated match between the two football giants. The game was a goalless draw until the 71st minute when Highlanders’ Cleopas Kapupurika broke the deadlock.
By Own Correspondent- After the matter of who — between Chinx’s two wives Patricia and Ntombizodwa — would get the Sentosa house at its handover ceremony in May 2017, the late Chinx is said to have asked his benefactor, Joseph Nyadzayo, a question that still haunts him to this day. “He said to me, ‘Ko Zodwa pane chamamuitirawo here’ (Does Zodwa also get something)?’
“I realised that we had made a blunder, that we had to do something for the younger wife as well,” said Nyadzayo.
Zodwa is a shortened version of Chinx’s wife’s name : Ntombizodwa.
The second wife confirmed Nyadzayo’s claims, adding that her husband was distressed and died a bitter man after a “sudden unilateral decision” was made to give the senior wife the house.
“It had been decided that I should not get a share of the house and he asked Nyadzayo and the others what they would do for me. He did so three times. I could see he was distressed. He died a very bitter man because of that issue,” said Zodwa.
“Remember that house was built with two bedrooms for the comrade’s two wives. Even though we were not going to stay there together, I needed to retain half ownership of the property,” she charged.
But that is not all.
Zodwa claims that at Chinx’s funeral, a certain lawyer showed up claiming that there was a will. However, the same lawyer later “disappeared”.
“A man came and said he was a lawyer. He said Chinx had written down something about his estate. I later tried to contact him but he started acting up. Maybe someone got to him,” she said.
Zodwa insisted that she does not want anything for herself, but for her children.
“Vana havana chavakawana (the kids didn’t get anything). It affected them a lot and in turn it affected me too. I’m the one who has young kids. I believe that something should have been set aside for my kids to finish school and so forth.
“I left the police force on medical grounds in December last year, which means I could use this help. We are managing though.”
And it seems like Zodwa’s children have got the musical genes.
“They are all very talented. The other one plays guitar for the Airforce of Zimbabwe, the other one is a very promising hip-hop artiste while the young girl who is still at school is already appearing on dramas on television,” she said with pride.
Zodwa said to add insult to injury, her children now feel like they are not Chinx’s progeny.
“I’m now being treated like I was his whore, I was his wife. My father in-law and my husband’s sisters are the ones that came to pay lobola to my people. His children are there. The whole world knew that Chinx had two wives. Why was I treated that way?
“Rangu barika ndoo raita sei? Mutemo wakandiregerera. Anga asingazive kuti comrade vane vakadzi vaviri ndiyani? Nyika yakandipandukira (What was so special about our polygamous union? The law let me down. Who did not know that the comrade had two wives? The whole nation turned its back on me).”
Zodwa argued that the Chairman’s Award (the Sentosa house) that Cde Chinx got was a result of his musical exploits, which she was a part of. “I composed music with my husband. We performed together, wrote together. Now even the Zimbabwe Music Rights Association is telling me that I can only get 20 percent of the royalties. It is very absurd,” she said.
She added: “My husband and I are the ones who used to send money to maiguru (the senior wife). It’s just that I come from a good family, I was brought up well. Otherwise I could have caused mayhem from the start.”
Fortunately, it is not all doom and gloom for Chinx’s widow.
Nyadzayo, who has been working on a film based on the life of Chinx since 2012, says all the proceeds will go towards the second wife’s upkeep.
According to Nyadzayo, Chinx died before the film could be concluded but it had already been agreed that the proceeds would go towards his younger wife.
Nyadzayo said Ntombizodwa’s mortgage still needs to be cleared. He pledged to ensure that whatever proceeds are realised from the film will go towards that.
“She stays in a flat and it has some outstanding monies. I wish to pay off that money from proceeds of the film,” he said.
“The film was already in the pipeline. We had been to Chinx’s rural home in Rusape, where we filmed him in his mother’s hut narrating his life story from birth, how he grew up. We had been to Chimoio, Mozambique, retracing the steps that he took to and from the bush war,” said Nyadzayo.
“I’m in good stead with the widows, ma queen amukoma wangu (my brother’s queens). ‘Ma queen angu’ (my queens), that’s what he called them.
“Chinx’s family is my family and I’m going to ensure that I fix this thing. I started it.”
Nyadzayo added: “I’m happy with Chinx’s family the way it is right now. The only thing I’ll have to remind all of them is never to let Chinx’s music die.
“Look, Macheso is grooming his kids and we have seen many other offspring of late musicians carrying on with their departed parents’ legacies. I wish one of Cde Chinx’s children takes up this challenge,” said Nyadzayo.
Zodwa is grateful for all that Nyadzayo has done for their family.
“That man’s heart is golden. I wish him a long prosperous life. He had built the house with his friend’s two wives in mind but his programme was hijacked.
‘‘‘He told me his plans with the film. I hope all goes well,” she said.
Ntombizodwa, a former police officer, is now enjoying her retirement at her home in Norton.- StateMedia
Sunday Times|President Cyril Ramaphosa moved decisively this week to head off an apparent plot by ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule to engineer a “parliamentary coup”.
Magashule’s move could have seen crucial parliamentary committee posts going to loyalists — many of them supporters of former president Jacob Zuma.
Committee chairs wield enormous legislative and oversight powers, controlling how parliamentary committees conduct oversight over ministers and senior government officials.
If successful, the anti-Ramaphosa figures, many of them implicated in state capture and corruption, would have held sway in parliament, potentially frustrating any legislation Ramaphosa might have proposed in his ongoing reform and clean-up drive.
The “coup” attempt is the latest chapter in a saga of defiance in which Magashule has emerged as the principal ANC obstruction to Ramaphosa’s New Dawn.
It comes in the same week that the ANC national working committee (NWC) appointed an investigation into claims that some party leaders, including Magashule, had a hand in forming smaller parties to contest last month’s elections with the aim of reducing the ANC’s majority.
Among Magashule’s choices for top posts in parliament were notorious figures from the Zuma era, including former North West premier Supra Mahumapelo, former communications minister Faith Muthambi and former mineral resources minister Mosebenzi Zwane.
The Sunday Times can disclose that Ramaphosa and other senior party leaders were left stunned when they learnt that Magashule had travelled to Cape Town on Wednesday, planning to announce new portfolio committee chairs, largely drawn from his camp, the next day.
The timing of Magashule’s ANC caucus meeting raised eyebrows as Ramaphosa, his ministers and their deputies were attending a cabinet lekgotla in Pretoria on Thursday.
Well-placed sources said Ramaphosa stopped Magashule in his tracks after his office was alerted by his parliamentary counsellor, Gerhard Koornhof, on Wednesday. He apparently told Ramaphosa that Magashule was set to announce the new chairs of portfolio committees and the whippery on Thursday — even though they had not been endorsed by the national leadership.
The move was seen as part of a fightback by Magashule and his supporters after some of them were overlooked for ministerial and deputy minister positions. In retaliation for their exclusion, Magashule’s supporters in the ANC vowed to “capture parliament”.
Insiders said the proposed list of portfolio chairs was discussed at an ANC top six officials’ meeting on Thursday last week. However, insiders said, the top six had other ideas, and rejected some names on the list.
The top six further decided that consultations with alliance partners should take place before the list was finalised.
However, lobbying for positions continued after the top six meeting. Talk in parliamentary corridors was that even outgoing ANC Youth League (ANCYL) leader Collen Maine had convinced Magashule to include his name.
When Koornhof sounded the alarm on the planned caucus meeting, Ramaphosa’s allies feared Magashule might have tampered with the list proposed by the top six and would table the original names drafted by his allies.
Two sources close to the president and parliamentary insiders said his office ordered ANC chief whip Pemmy Majodina to halt the caucus meeting scheduled for 10am on Thursday.
Some MPs were in buses transporting them to parliament when they received notice of the cancellation.
“There was an impression that he wanted to force through certain names that were not yet agreed upon. Yes, there was a concern people would be slipped in by the secretarygeneral while the president and his deputy
focused on the lekgotla,” said one source.
Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Khusela Diko, said she cannot comment on ANC internal party matters.
Parliamentary insiders said National Assembly speaker Thandi Modise, who also serves on the NWC, was one of the senior figures who cautioned Magashule about proceeding with the announcement.
Modise is also said to have told Magashule that some of the candidates he was pushing were not suitable to lead committees. Modise did not respond to requests for comment.
The Magashule list included Muthambi (justice committee), Zwane (transport) and Mahumapelo (cooperative governance). Also on the list were national executive committee (NEC) member Tandi Mahambehlala as the new chair of chairs, former security minister Bongani Bongo (international relations) and Joe Maswanganyi (public enterprises).
Former deputy finance minister Sfiso Buthelezi was set to head the finance committee, and known Magashule ally Madala Ntombela was to chair the state security committee. The police committee was to be led by Zuma cheerleader Mervyn Dirks.
The Magashule grouping also planned to take over the ANC caucus’s influential political and strategy committees, which give political direction and marching orders to the party’s MPs.
The intention was to populate the political committee with Zuma allies such as Sdumo Dlamini, Bathabile Dlamini and ANCYL secretary-general Njabulo Nzuza. Dlamini quit as an MP this week.
In the previous parliament, the political committee was chaired by Ramaphosa and included prominent figures such as Naledi Pandor, former speaker Baleka Mbete and her successor Modise.
Insiders say instead of Mahambehlala, top ANC leaders had preferred senior MP Cedric Frolick to return as chair of chairs. Mahambehlala’s name was shifted to international relations, Muthambi removed from justice and Zwane placed as the next labour committee chair. The Ramaphosa camp feared that Magashule would not make these changes.
An MP who is also member of the ANC’s NEC said there was a huge fight over who to deploy to lead powerful structures such as the justice committee and the joint standing committee on intelligence.
The source said the Magashule faction wants control of those committees because they fear that the Ramaphosa camp wants to use the state security apparatus to deal with their rivals.
The other reason the Magashule group wants to control the justice committee is to shield public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane from possible impeachment. The plan also includes taking over the finance committee to push for the nationalisation of the Reserve Bank and a change in the Bank’s mandate.
The group wants control of the public enterprises committee to frustrate Ramaphosa’s Eskom plans.
Asked about the cancellation of Thursday’s caucus meeting, Magashule said it was because he had not been ready to make his presentation despite travelling to Cape Town the night before.
“Here, today, there was nothing. I was just consulting because I was not ready. I had to consult the whips,” he said in reference to Majodina and National Council of Provinces chief whip and caucus chair Seiso Mohai.
However, a memo sent to MPs on Tuesday, seen by the Sunday Times, lists the “deployment to portfolio committees and whippery” on the meeting’s agenda.
Majodina denied that she was instructed by Ramaphosa to cancel the meeting. She blamed the postponement on the mass resignations of former ministers. She said these had “disorganised the setup” because some of the people who resigned were chairs, whips and committee members.
“Therefore we could not go ahead when we were supposed to revisit all that was done in the past. We had to manage that properly.” She said the meeting was postponed because they “could not go to caucus with a half-cooked list”.
The matter is expected to be finalised at a special NEC meeting sitting in Cape Town on Tuesday.
Opposition leader Nelson Chamisa has revealed more details on the car accident which occured on Saturday in which Advocate Thabani Mpofu was involved.
Writing on social media, Chamisa said,
So the vehicle veered off the road, rolled once and landed on the side Adv Mpofu occupied. (Advocate Mpofu) was trapped for some time together with his driver who’d lost consciousness. Some injuries, blood, bruises, pain on the chest and ribs. Just spoke to the People’s advocate. He is ok. Thank you, Jehovah!
Standard|The resort town of Victoria Falls has almost completely dollarised due to the volatility of the local currency, but the development has adversely affected residents, it has emerged.
Landlords, tuckshops, vendors, small supermarkets, hotels, hardware shops and other suppliers are now accepting only United States dollars.
The only exception are the big retail chains such as OK, but there are fears that they could go the same route as suppliers are reportedly pushing to be paid using the greenback.
The big supermarkets are, however, accepting bond notes and RTGS, which was trading at 5,6 to the US dollar at the time of going to print.
Even Victoria Falls Town Council is collecting rates in US dollars, despite a recent central government policy decision forcing public entities to accept RTGS and bonds.
Residents are fuming over the council resolution, and during the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency (Zida) parliamentary committee’s public hearings at Chinotimba Hall last week, they took turns to denounce the move.
Last month, council proposed a US dollar-denominated supplementary budget for 2019, but residents rejected it.
Unfazed, council went ahead and publicised the supplementary budget through the government-controlled media on June 2.
During the Zida meeting, the chairperson of the parliamentary portfolio committee for Foreign Affairs, Industry and International Trade, Kindness Paradza, insisted that the US dollar-based budget was illegal.
“Government has made it clear that all government-run offices must charge in local currency.
“What council officials are doing is illegal. We shall take your (residents’) grievances to parliament, but I can confirm that the Local Government minister does not know about that and has not approved it,” said Paradza, an MP.
But Victoria Falls councillors were not amused by Paradza’s remarks.
“Do not deceive people and feed them with lies,” Ward 11 councillor Edmore Zhou charged.
“We buy water chemicals in foreign currency and bond notes are being rejected everywhere.”
Council advised residents that if they had objections, they should visit council offices within 30 days.
The decision by property owners to charge residents in foreign currency is driving tenants out of the town and into peri-urban and rural areas.
A Mosi Oa Tunya Secondary school teacher and a local waiter on the sidelines added that relocating to peri-urban settlements was ideal for them.
“I am a widow and a teacher with children to look after. I was a tenant in Mfelandawonye suburb where there is no electricity and I cannot afford rent anymore.
“I approached Chief Mvuthu last month and he granted me a stand to build a homestead. I have already moved my goods to that new place, even though I haven’t put up permanent structures,” said the teacher.
She was paying US$70 for modest lodgings despite taking home a monthly salary of RTGS$400, which, on the black market, translated to around US$40 as of yesterday.
She commutes to work in Victoria Falls.
Chief Mvuthu confirmed that urban residents were flooding areas such as Monde, Lupinyu, Chidobe and BH28 that are under his jurisdiction.
Tertiary students on industrial attachment face the possibility of dropping out because they also have to pay for their accommodation, goods and services in US dollars.
Owen Zimusi, a Midlands State University intern in Victoria Falls, said basic commodities that included accommodation were too expensive for him and feared that he, like most of his colleagues, might fail to complete his attachment.
Farai Dziva|The MDC has strongly condemned the harassment and intimidation of its members by state security agents.
The party also denounced the abuse of the police force by Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government.
See the party’s statement below:
The MDC condemns the State’s abuse of the National Police Service in pursuing a narrow political agenda of self-preservation.
Yesterday, the dynamic national youth leader, Obey Sithole, was summoned to the police station to clarify his speech during the funeral of the late hero, Hon Pastor Vimbai Java in Glen View.
For purposes of maintaining a professional outlook, the Police must stick to their conduct outlined in section 208 of the Constitution part of which obligates them to stay away from party politics.
The MDC, it’s members and leaders will never be bullied out of exercising political rights provided for in the Constution.
These include freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, freedom of association, the right to participate in activities of a political party of choice and the right to demonstrate.
All institutions of the State must facilitate the exercise of these rights, not curtail them.
Mnangagwa’s administration must fix the economy or ship out, intimidating dissent is unsustainable.
President Mnangagwa has said he wants a young person to take over from him when he leaves office. If you found these three in the ballot box, who would you vote for and explain your reasons in the comments section.
Farai Dziva| Power utility ZESA has claimed that load shedding will ease this week.
Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) said that load shedding will be eased this weekend.
ZESA claimed it implemented stage 2 of the load shedding schedule due to a technical fault at the Hwange Thermal Power Plant that had resulted in the loss of significant generation capacity.
The power cuts are expected to ease this week, according to the company.
“ZETDC has started restoring Hwange. One of the small units is now on the grid producing about 80MW tomorrow (Saturday) morning one of the big Units producing 160MW also goes on stream.”
Farai Dziva|Opposition Party MDC Says Emmerson Mnangagwa is a killing President, not a listening leader.
In a statement the party accused Mnangagwa of hypocrisy.
“The interview kills all hope.
The man is out of sorts, confuses elementary principles of economics and runs on bus stop theories, most of which is generated by his paid social media trolls.
He is clearly not a listening “President” as he claims but a killing one.
Citizens have been killed in cold blood by guns purchased through tax payer’s money.
Inflation is killing Zimbabweans and destroying people’s capacity to take care of families.
A soft genocide is ongoing in the public hospitals. There are no drugs, doctors and nurses are on the verge of a strike, not even blades and gloves have been procured in the hospitals.
He has killed the dignity of the working people of Zimbabwe, value of wages has been eroded, teachers no longer afford a single day of Admission at a central hospital.
Public servants are one illness away from disaster after a lifetime of hard work. That is not what listening Presidents create.
He has killed employment and all hope for young people who now prefer to find an exit through the borders.”
Farai Dziva|The country’s largest opposition party, MDC, has described Emmerson Mnangagwa’s live radio interview on Friday as a dog’s breakfast.
In a statement the party said:
“If anyone listened to Mnangagwa’s interview seeking answers to the crisis, all doubt was removed, solutions are simply not available.
The man believes that the RTGS dollar which he struggles to pronounce is the strongest currency in the region.
He misses the basics about the relationship between exports and imports as the strength behind a currency.
He fails to note that the currency is a reflection of the social contract or it’s absence thereof.
He fails to recognize that the exchange rate is collapsing daily, something which is not happening with the Rand and Pula,the two currencies he makes reference to.
Then, he makes a bizarre argument about the importance of fuel price hikes, arguing that it is the cheapest in the region forgetting that section 43 of the RBZ Act still pegs the fake currency at par with the US dollar and more importantly that civil servants are not earning any forex.”
“The interview makes more scary revelations and threats on the business community, chilling threats about making their business tough.
The whole interview was a dog’s breakfast.
By refusing calls from the public, it is clear that he knows he has not earned the trust of the public. He is aware he has no solutions to the public and has no grasp of policy issues and the politics of the day.
By Own Correspondent- Leader of the MDC Youth wing Obey Sithole has scoffed at Zanu Pf squabbles calling on the party to emulate the MDC in being democratic.
Sithole said this at an event in Highfield Harare where the party’s youth wing is commemorating the Day of the African Child.
By Own Correspondent- Addressing party supporters at the MDC Day of the African Child Commemorations in Highfield Harare, Youth boss Teererai Obey Sithole has given President Emmerson Mnangagwa an ultimatum to arrest the economy and shoot the economy in order to avert imminent crippling demonstrations.
Said Teererai Obey Sithole:
“…..it is a waste of time to arrest us, arrest the poverty and hunger.. It does not make sense to waste money and resources buying guns and bullets.. shoot the economy….. shoot unemployment.”
The MDC Youth Assembly joins the African community and the rest of the world in commemorating the Day of African Child.
On this day commonly referred to as June 16, we honour the heroic efforts of those that participated in the 1976 Soweto Uprising to demand their right to be taught in own language.
This year’s theme for the Day of the African
Child commemorations is: “Humanitarian
Action in Africa: Children’s Rights First”.
It is regrettable that 39 years after Zimbabwe attained independence, children’s rights are still wantonly disregarded.
Sadly the government of the day is part of the perpetrators and not the protector!
From Gukurahundi to Operation Murambatsvina, Operation Makavhoterapapi to August 01 military killings, examples are plenty whereby this monster regime’s actions adversely impacted on children’s rights.
So many children like Itai Dzamara’s are now orphans thanks to the ZANU PF regime!
What of Sylvia Maphosa’s children – that woman who was shot in the back by the military on 01 August 2018!
Not to talk of thousands who die of malnourishment, cholera and at birth due to the economic hellhole and lack of primary health care.
It is not mendacious that the failed ZANU PF government is the author-in-chief of all this rot!
The supreme law of the land, the Constitution of Zimbabwe guarantees the right to basic education, but this right has not been accorded with many parents finding it difficult to pay for the education of their children.
While Zimbabwe joins the rest of world in commemorating the Day of African Child, many children have to celebrate this day in streets.
It is commendable that the MDC Youth Assembly last month spared time to celebrate Chairman Obey Sithole’s birthday with these homeless children often stigmatized as “street kids”.
As the MDC Youth Assembly, we are motivated by the heroic efforts of the gallant 1976 Soweto heroes to confront this inhuman regime for the betterment of young people and future generations.
As such we are not going to watch as the rot continue unabated!
We are the vanguard of our future and its preservation calls for action today and not tomorrow!
As the Assembly, it is our conviction that only a pro-people and young president can safeguard rights of young people and children.
And in Advocate Nelson Chamisa we have do have a rightful candidate to take this nation forward.
Stephen Sarkozy Chuma
MDC Youth Assembly National Spokesperson
By Dr Gus Manatsa|“In a world of conspicuous institutional failure, one entity that still offers some important lessons for the practice of governance is Singapore.” – Kent Calder.
Zimbabwe is experiencing a structural regression, with an acceleration of de-industrialisation and economic informalisation. Whether he denies it or not Mnangagwa has been part of the leadership that led to this economic regression. Worse still, Mr Mnangagwa is presiding over unprecedented confusion, economic meltdown and violence we haven’t seen in as many years. These challenges are caused by difficult economic problems, including infrastructure and regulatory deficiencies, policy uncertainty, and insufficient formal employment.
Gus Manatsa
We can see the glaring mistake done by current President who recently appointed government leadership based on party loyalty, tribal lines or connectedness. Instead, the President should have picked the best citizens to run the country. Unfortunately, we are seeing a bunch of individuals whose combination of financial mismanagement, disrespect of the law and business ignorance can only by their venality. For comprehensive success, Zimbabwe needs exceptional leadership. This means a team lead by an inspirational leader of the second Republic, ably supported by shrewd economic architects and roving philosophers. This exceptional team will implement exceptional policies.
Zimbabwe has massive land and natural resources. But this country has been transformed into a land of villages, rundown urban areas and an endless shortage of basic commodities. Basic economic freedom, which is a very important component of total freedom has been taken away, resulting in an exodus of Zimbabweans into the diaspora. This trend is accelerating at an alarming rate under the current regime.
High taxes, excessive capital restrictions, foreign currency shortages and restrictive immigration policies have made Zimbabwe one of the most unfriendly places on Earth to its diasporans. Unlike most progressive countries, Zimbabwe lacks liberal policies, free trade, low tariffs and non-tariff barriers. While it takes months to start a business in Zimbabwe, one can have a company running in Singapore in three hours and less than a day in New Zealand.
For a complete transformation, Zimbabwe needs a leader who understands the politics of this diverse country and put together the laws that create a stable, peaceful place that makes it a magnet for national, regional and international investors. No amount of publicity stunts will create a shortcut to this rationale. The leader must believe that Zimbabwe’s development and growth is tied to the shared values of its different ethnic, political and religious groups. Unless he changes, Mnangagwa currently has too much baggage to be a uniter and statesman par excellence who can command the respect of all. The “tichingotonga” mantra the President continues to boast about shows that he has failed to transform into a national leader guided by pragmatism.
Pragmatism means that a country does not try to reinvent the wheel or charter expensive planes for endless trips to nowhere. Need good smart researchers in the president’s office. No matter what problem the country encounters, somebody, somewhere, has solved it. Let us copy the solution and adapt it to Zimbabwe. Copying best practices are something any country can do. However, implementing “Honesty” is the hardest thing to do. Corruption is the single biggest reason why most Third World countries have failed. The greatest weakness of Zimbabwe’s founding fathers was that they were ruthlessly dishonest, and this includes ED. They failed and still fail to see that being shrewd and cunning was more than sloganeering.
Transformation dictates that the new leader be willing to keep the government small, efficient and honest—qualities absent and foreign to Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF. With 20 cabinet ministers, 13 deputy ministers and nine provincial ministers, 2 vice-presidents- the size of the executive is nowhere near lean. Compare this to the USA which has 15 cabinet ministers, Germany has 14, Japan has 19, Kenya 20, and China has 26. The USA has a population that is 21 times bigger than Zimbabwe, China is 92.4 times bigger. How then does one justify 29 ministers and 13 deputy ministers? The lean government makes it easy to do business with. I have personally witnessed the nightmare of dealing with a bloated government.
Fatherhood is a responsibility.Fatherhood entails providing & caring for our families. African nations have their leaders as fathers. Some families lack basics, money, fuel, power, jobs,water& peace.Fathers must be more responsible.Happy Father’s Day to all responsible fathers!
So the vehicle veered off e road, rolled once &landed on the side Adv Mpofu occupied.Was trapped for some time together with his driver who’d lost consciousness.Some injuries,Blood,bruises, pain on the chest & ribs.Just spoke to the People’s advocate.He is ok.Thank you Jehovah! pic.twitter.com/x024svyKIU
By A Correspondent- A new legislation that allows lifestyle audits of all public officials to ascertain if their living standards are commensurate with their incomes is set to be introduced, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi has said.
Addressing delegates at the inaugural African Anti-Corruption Forum in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, Ziyambi said legal instrument is being fine-tuned to empower law enforcement agent to seize all properties obtained through unexplained wealth.
He said Government was coming up with laws for protecting whistleblowers and witnesses protection.
“Zimbabwe is implementing policies and legislation that regularises lifestyle audits of all public officers to ensure that their lifestyles are ‘reasonable’ with their levels of income,” said Ziyambi.
“The Finance Act of 2018 has established the Public Finance Technical Response Unit under the Accountant General for the purposes of recovering misappropriated wealth and institution of criminal proceedings in cases where red flags where raised by the Accountant General.
“The Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) (Amendment of Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime Act and Exchange Control Act) Regulations, allows the law enforcement agencies to obtain court orders to seize unexplained properties.
“A new Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime Bill is addressing all recommendations made by the Financial Task Force (FATF) and will be promulgated into law by the end of 2019.”
Ziyambi said Zimbabwe had made great strides in addressing corruption through enacting stringent laws and capacitating all State agencies charged with fighting corruption.
He said Zimbabwe had ratified a plethora of international conventions through several legal frameworks which include the Constitution, the Anti- Corruption Commission Act, the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, Public Entities Corporate Governance Act and Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act.
He Mnangagwa had declared his Government’s zero tolerance to corruption and perpetrators would be dealt with in terms of the laws.
“Our President, has pronounced a “Zero Tolerance” to all forms of corruption and the need to deal with corruption decisively,” said Ziyambi.
“As a result, the Government has developed policies, plans of actions and programmes to boost the fight against corruption in Zimbabwe and these are ready for sharing with other African States as part of external cooperation.
“Government has continued to support the work of the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission to ensure that they discharge their mandate professionally and effectively without any fear or favour.
“The thrust of Government’s strategy is to have coordinated and amplified efforts from all stakeholders which include the law enforcement agencies, the Judiciary, the National Prosecuting Authority, all Government Institutions and Departments, private sector, civil society, media and members of the public.”
He said the establishment of specialised anti-corruption courts was testament to authorities’ seriousness about dealing with corruption.-StateMedia
By A Correspondent- Government is in the process of formulating a renewable energy policy which is set to be published soon, a senior government official has revealed.
Deputy Energy and Power Development minister Magna Mudyiwa told parliament that government would avail land to investors interested in setting up solar energy plants in the country.
Said the deputy minister:
“….Solar energy falls under renewable energy and we have got a policy on renewable energy which will be published very soon. We are encouraging as many people and investors as possible who want to invest energy so that we can add on to our grid wherever possible, particularly now that we are experiencing this shortage of electricity during the day.
We have got plenty of sunshine in Zimbabwe and investing in solar energy will help us as a country to alleviate the shortages that we are experiencing on solar energy.
What happens is that we have so many investors, some who are foreign and some within the country. As long as they have their funds to set up the solar plants, we will assist them to get the land if they do not have the land where they want to set up the solar plant system.
We will also try as much as possible to expedite the process where they are supposed to go to ZERA for licencing and they are also supposed to hold discussions with ZETDC for the tariffs.
Once that is agreed and everything is above board; we also have the EMA to make sure that the environmental impact assessment is done. Then if ZETDC can add on to that grid they have to make that assessment whether it is possible to add their electricity on to the grid and once that is done, we welcome such investors.
So, our policy is that we are encouraging the investment in solar as much as possible. “
