POLICE in Plumtree have smashed a cattle rustling syndicate operating in Bulilima and Mangwe districts that reportedly stole over 200 beasts.
This follows the arrest last week of alleged gang leader Bernard Moyo, leading to the recovery of 61 beasts.
The recovered cattle are being held at Plumtree veterinary department holding pens under police guard.
Most of the stolen cattle are from Matole, Izimnyama, Macingwana, Silima, Tekwane, Diba and Tjankwa areas.
Moyo, who is believed to be the ringleader of the apparently well-oiled syndicate, once worked for a renowned butchery in Plumtree.
The gang reportedly targeted cattle belonging to resettled farmers and transported them to abattoirs around Plumtree for slaughter and some to as far as Bulawayo.
Matabeleland South police spokesperson, Chief Inspector Philisani Ndebele yesterday confirmed the arrest and recovery of the beasts.
“I confirm that we have busted a cattle rustling syndicate operating in Plumtree after the arrest of a suspect, leading to the recovery of 61 beasts. Police investigations are still underway and more beasts are expected to be recovered. However, we intend to travel to Plumtree tomorrow (today) and will furnish you with a detailed report,” Ndebele said.
A source close to the matter said the gang had wreaked havoc with many villagers losing their cattle despite numerous reports being made at Plumtree police.
“The gang had been a headache for farmers. Most of their victims are resettlement farmers on the outskirts of Plumtree town. The gang had been under police surveillance for some time now. We are happy a breakthrough has finally been found,” he said.
The arrest of the suspect comes two weeks after livestock farmers in West Nicholson, Matabeleland South, who had reportedly lost about 100 beasts in the past few months, called on the police to increase patrols in the area to curb cases of stocktheft.
Most of the affected farmers, whose cattle graze at Mashura Ranch, suspect their beasts were being sold to abattoirs in Bulawayo.
-Newsday
EIGHT members of the Zimbabwe National Army reportedly stormed Ceola Mine in Concession, Mashonaland Central province, last week and tried to disarm security guards before stealing gold ore valued at US$150 and fleeing in a military-issue vehicle.
The matter came to light at Concession District Hospital on Friday, where one of the soldiers was admitted after being mauled by guard dogs after failing to jump into their escape vehicle.
Shelton Marerwa (52) was remanded in custody to June 28 while on his hospital bed by Concession resident magistrate Ruth Moyo.
The State alleges that Marerwa, who holds the rank of captain, together with his seven accomplices, stormed at Ceola Mine and identified themselves as being from the President’s Office.
The soldiers, who were armed with three loaded pistols, demanded storeroom keys, alleging that the mine firearms had no licences and, therefore, ordered the security guards to surrender their firearms.
The guards resisted and fought back, before unleashing vicious dogs on the soldiers. The military men fled and left their captain behind, who had been injured in the tussle.
The accused stole a cellphone and some gold ore, before driving away in the military truck.
The soldiers dumped their getaway vehicle after it broke down only a few kilometres from the crime scene.
Police officers towed it to Mazowe Police Station, where it is currently held as exhibit.
-Newsday
The Zanu PF youth league has demanded that government repossesses at least 15 farms allegedly owned by former First Lady Grace Mugabe and redistribute them to youths.
This follows claims by President Emmerson Mnangagwa that the former First Family owns a staggering 16 commercial farms in a revelation that could reignite the public spat between the Zanu PF leader and his predecessor Robert Mugabe.
Zanu PF youth league deputy secretary Lewis Matutu, who is also a member of the party’s politburo, said the ex-Zanu PF women’s league boss should be left with one farm and the rest subdivided and distributed to landless youths.
“Now that it has been revealed that Grace Mugabe owns 16 farms, we are demanding that she chooses one and the other 15 be sub-divided into 10-hectare plots for youths within two weeks,” Matutu tweeted.
Matutu’s boss, Pupurai Togarepi said the farms should be repossessed.
“We want the farms back!” Togarepi stated.
Mugabe, who was toppled in a coup in November 2017 to pave way for Mnangagwa, has repeatedly accused the new administration of hounding his family.
At some point, Mugabe claimed that the Mnangagwa regime was harassing workers at his Blue Roof mansion.
In the build-up to the July 2018 elections, Mnangagwa said he suspected that Grace was behind the White City Stadium bomb explosion that claimed two lives and left many Zanu PF officials injured, including Vice-President Kembo Mohadi and his counterpart Constantino Chiwenga’s wife, Marry.
Mnangagwa was lucky to escape unscathed.
Last year, war veterans petitioned government, demanding that the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport, named after the former leader, be changed as the ex-Zanu PF boss no longer deserved to be honoured because he was now dining with the main opposition, MDC.
The two appeared to have mended their relationship after the government hired an expensive private jet for Grace to come home and bury her mother last year, but Mnangagwa’s revelation that the former First Lady is one of the bigwigs set to lose some farms after the conclusion of the land audit could create tension.
Taking questions on his first radio interview hosted by the State-controlled CapitalkFM on Friday, Mnangagwa disclosed that Grace had 16 farms although he did not mention her by name, but used a pseudonym, “Dr Stop it”.
“The (land audit) is still on-going and results will be made public. The briefing I have received is that only two provinces are left to complete the process. The main issue we have identified is the issue of multiple farm ownership, especially among people in higher offices. For example, I know of one lady who has 16 farms — Dr Stop It,” disclosed Mnangagwa.
Grace became known as “Dr Stop It” at the height of Zanu PF factional wars where she used rallies to admonish Mugabe’s then deputies — Joice Mujuru and Mnangagwa.
She accused the two of trying to usurp Mugabe’s power to enrich themselves. Mujuru was eventually kicked out of government in 2014, while Mnangagwa was fired in November 2017 before he bounced back a few days after the military coup.
Attempts to get a comment from the Mugabes were fruitless, but Jealousy Mawarire, the spokesperson of the National Patriotic Front, a party that was linked to the ex-leader said Mnangagwa had lied.
“That could have been possible had your so-called President not been hallucinating. You are better off sharing his 700 gold mines than non-existent farms,” Mawarire said.
Zanu PF spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo said the youth league was better placed to comment on the matter.
“Let their spokesperson deal with that, we shall deal with it when it is escalated to us,” Khaya Moyo said.
By A Correspondent- President Emmerson Mnangagwa is off to Mozambique to attend the 12th US- Africa Business Summit.
Sources confirmed to ZimEye that Mnangagwa hired his usual Dubai owned private jet for the trip to the country’s neighboring country where several heads of African states are expected to attend.
Hosted by the Corporate Council on Africa and the Government of Mozambique, the summit kicks off today on June 18 until June 21, 2019 in Maputo, Mozambique.
Said the Corporate Council of Africa:
“The Summit will bring together more than 1,000 U.S. and African private sector executives, international investors, senior government officials and multilateral stakeholders.
The Summit will serve as a platform for U.S. and African business and government leaders to engage on key sectors including agribusiness, energy, health, infrastructure, ICT, finance among others and provide them with the opportunity to network with key private sector and government decision makers.
The gathering will also among other issues provide both African and US businesses to explore new business opportunities and meet potential business partners and be an advocacy platform to shape effective U.S.-Africa trade and investment policies.
The Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison in Harare is crumbling at the seams, assailed by overcrowding and a critical shortage of medicines, food and other basics as the economically-crippled country battles to care for its inmates.
Convicts and wardens alike bemoan packed cells where running water is erratic and shortages of food, clothes and bedding prevail.
Basic painkillers and antibiotics are impossible to come by, meaning prisoners risk dying from easily-treatable conditions.
“We don’t have drugs for… ailments like pneumonia and meningitis. We need a functioning X-ray machine. As of now, our machine is down and yet this is a basic tool required for diagnosis,” Blessing Dhoropa, a doctor at the prison hospital, said as lawmakers visited Chikurubi last week.
AFP correspondents saw prisoners wearing threadbare uniforms in the prison’s male and female sections.
Inside the cells, paint flaked off some walls and for bedding, prisoners had thin blankets on bare cement floors.
One complained the cells were infested with lice and other vermin.
Such conditions are common in Zimbabwe’s 46 prisons. They were built to collectively incarcerate 14,000 prisoners, but hold more than 20,000 today.
Chikurubi’s men’s section houses 2,508 inmates instead of the 1,360 it was designed for.
“Our population is much higher than we should hold,” conceded Senior Assistant Commissioner Alvord Gapare, who oversees jails in the Harare province.
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) has condemned such “deplorable” conditions which it said “exposes inmates to illnesses and psychological trauma.”
In 2013, the body said, more than 100 prisoners died of malnutrition-related illnesses.
At Chikurubi, donors provide life-saving anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs for inmates who need it.
“I am HIV positive. Drugs for HIV are available. But other medicines, antibiotics… even the painkiller paracetamol, are not there,” 18-year-old prisoner Chiedza Chiwashira told members of parliament’s child welfare and justice committee on a fact-finding mission.
Another inmate complained there was “no medicine for epilepsy.”
And according to Gapare, Chikurubi’s only ambulance “is down”.
At Chikurubi, prisoners grumble about the staple diet of maize porridge without salt or sugar for breakfast, followed by the same, served with boiled kale, cabbage or beans, for lunch and dinner.
“Our diet is not suitable for people with ailments like diabetes and hypertension,” an inmate of the female section told the official visitors.
Gapare conceded the prison food has little nutritional value.
“We have challenges preparing the food that’s suitable for our prisoners. We cannot follow the dietary scale that we should follow. We serve mostly beans and vegetables,” he said.
In a bid to decongest the country’s jails, President Emmerson Mnangagwa granted amnesty to at least 3,000 prisoners in March last year.
But overcrowding persists as Zimbabwe’s convicts, like the general population, suffer the consequences of a moribund economy that has been in ruins since hyperinflation peaked at 500 billion percent and wiped out savings under former president Robert Mugabe.
Zimbabwe is undergoing another bout of price rises and shortages of fuel and daily essentials. Inflation is at more than 75 percent, putting basic goods beyond the reach of many.
The government is struggling to provide relief for citizens, let alone the prison population.
And the harshness of daily life continues feeding Zimbabwe’s already over-full prisons as many turn to crime to survive.
“Most of the patients are not supposed to be here,” Chikurubi’s deputy director for health services and a consultant psychiatrist, Patrick Mhaka told the lawmakers.
“Some are said to have stolen a loaf of bread and they end up here.”
Lawmaker Daniel Molokela asked prisoners and officials to draw up a list of needs, which he said the government would examine.-AFP
A 44-YEAR-OLD man from Insuza has been fined $50 for burying his mother alone without being authorised or informing relatives.
Mncedisi Mabena lived with his mother at their homestead at Village 4 in Insuza and after she died after a long illness, he rushed to bury her a few hours after her death.
Shocked neighbours reported the matter to the police and Mabena was arrested.
He told investigators that he buried his mother alone as his wife and four children had left him as he was a violent man.
Yesterday, Mabena pleaded guilty to failure to give notice of the death of a person to the Registrar of the District in line with the Birth and Deaths Registration Act when he appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Mr Franklin Mkhwananzi.
He was fined $50. “You are to pay a fine of $50, failure to do so you shall serve an alternative of 20 days in prison,” said the magistrate.
The court heard that Mabena, who is unemployed, buried his mother at their homestead four hours after her death.
When he was asked why he buried his mother alone, he told the court that he had no one to inform.
“My wife and four children left me because of my violent behaviour and I was staying with my mother all along so there was no one I could tell,” said Mabena.
Prosecuting, Mr Mufaro Mageza said on June 20 last year at around 12PM, Mabena’s mother passed away at their homestead after a long illness.
“On the same day at around 3PM, Mabena proceeded to bury the deceased at his homestead alone. Mabena failed to give notice of the death of his mother to the District Registrar,” said Mr Mageza.
He said Mabena’s neighbours reported the matter to the police leading to his arrest.
BBC|Juilus Malema may never be able to shake off the “firebrand” label, but the 38-year-old leader of South Africa’s second largest opposition party can no longer be seen as simply a hot-headed politician.
The “son of the soil”, as he has been styled by his Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), has spent the last six years turning the party he founded into a disciplined force that has set the agenda in some policy areas.
Expelled from the governing African National Congress (ANC) in 2012, Mr Malema, or “Juju” as he is sometimes called, has positioned the EFF as the true inheritor of the ANC’s radical agenda and has exposed the governing party’s left flank.
The relentless focus by the EFF’s commander-in-chief on the inequality in South Africa, and the failure of the ANC to redistribute land from the white minority to the black majority, has cost support for his former party, which led the fight against apartheid.
The EFF took just more than 6% of the vote in 2014 in its first run in a general election, but its influence seems to outweigh that figure.
The 25 MPs dressed in red boiler suits and hard hats in parliament along with their staged walkouts and Mr Malema’s willingness to come out with quotable lines has meant he and his party have grabbed the attention.
Ever since the start of his public life he has not shied away from controversy, offending a wide range of people from women’s rights groups, to white farmers, to his own political bosses.
He has twice been found guilty of using hate speech – in 2010 and 2011 – first for comments he made about the woman that accused former President Jacob Zuma of rape and then for singing the song “Shoot the Boer (Afrikaner)”.
But age does not appear to have mellowed him and neither has studying for an honours degree in philosophy, which he completed in 2017.
When talking to supporters about the land issue in 2016 he warned: “The land will be taken by any means necessary.
“We are not calling for the slaughtering of white people. At least for now. What we are calling for is the peaceful occupation of land and we don’t owe anyone an apology for that.”
In a 2018 interview with Turkish broadcaster TRT World he defended the comments and described anyone who thought that this might sound genocidal as “cry babies”.
But his supporters enjoy the combative rhetoric, and Mr Malema remains an inspirational orator whose aggressive focus on the rights of poor black South Africans has earned him their love.
As a result, the EFF’s popularity has been growing. In the 2016 municipal elections the party won more than 8% of the national vote.
Born in 1981, Mr Malema was raised by his mother Flora, a domestic worker, in Seshego township in the northern Limpopo province.
He says he joined the ANC’s young pioneer movement at the age of nine, where he was trained in armed resistance, and it took him just five years to become the regional head of the ANC Youth League.
He then gained a foothold in the student movement, before eventually becoming national leader of the Congress of South African Students in 2001.
But it was his election as ANC Youth League leader in 2008 that made him a key player in national politics.
His earliest actions as leader were to noisily campaign for Mr Zuma to take over – first as ANC leader and later as president – telling a crowd of supporters that he would “kill for Zuma”.
But Mr Malema’s relationship with Mr Zuma soured soon after the latter became president in 2009. Mr Malema accused his former ally of ignoring the poor voters who had propelled him to power.
And the idea that the ANC has distanced itself from its support base and core values has remained his theme.
In an emotional tribute last year at the funeral for Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, the anti-apartheid fighter and Nelson Mandela’s ex-wife, he addressed her request that he return to the ANC.
Talking to the thousands of mourners in front of President Cyril Ramaphosa and the rest of the ANC leadership he said: “Mama you said to us we must come back to the ANC, we heard you. But which ANC do we go to? Of the same people who sold you out?”
When it comes to the key issue of land ownership the EFF has set the agenda.
In February last year, Mr Malema launched a debate in parliament on land reform saying: “The time for reconciliation is over; now is the time for justice”.
The ANC then backed the EFF’s motion that sought to change the constitution to allow for expropriation of land without compensation. President Ramaphosa has said the issue will be tackled and the ANC admits in its own manifesto that “the land question has not been fully addressed”.
But Mr Malema has also been accused of being a hypocrite.
In 2013, South Africa’s revenue authority said he owed more than $1m (£865,000) in unpaid taxes. There were question marks over where that money came from.
In order to pay the tax arrears, the radical politician had to sell an unfinished mansionin Johannesburg’s upmarket Sandton suburb, which included a cinema room and a cigar lounge.
Mr Malema has also had to face fraud and corruption charges which, after three years, were thrown out of court in 2015 because of lengthy delays in bringing him to trial, a judge ruled.
The accusation related to a government contract but he always denied the charges and said they were politically motivated.
What ever has been thrown at the radical opposition leader over the last decade – and there has been a lot – it has not dented his appeal. Polls suggest that it could gain at least 10% of the vote, ensuring that Mr Malema’s voice will continue to be heard for some time to come.
State Media|SIX suspected armed robbers pounced on a house in Bulawayo’s city centre and brutally attacked four people with machetes, leaving them for dead before getting away with US$6 687, RTGS$1 000, five grammes gold and three digital gold scales, police confirmed yesterday.
The incident happened at around 2AM on Sunday at a cottage along Herbert Chitepo Street and 1st Avenue.
Two of the victims who sustained deep cuts on their hands and legs are admitted at Mpilo Central Hospital while two have been discharged.
The suspects savagely cut them on the soles of their feet as they demanded to know where gold was kept.
The main house is used as an office by Mr Costa Lungisani Ncube where he buys and sells gold.
Mr Blessing Ncube (23), Evidence Ndlovu (17), Mthandazeli Sibanda (15) and Bruce Ncube (18) were sleeping when the armed robbers struck.
Bulawayo acting provincial police spokesperson, Assistant Inspector Nomalanga Msebele, said the suspects are still at large.
Insp Msebele said the suspects proceeded to the offices and opened the door, getting away with a safe with US$6 687, RTGS$1 000 and five grammes gold and three digital gold scales.
When this news crew visited the offices yesterday, the floors and walls were spattered with blood and blankets caked with blood were on a washing line.
A man who identified himself as an uncle to the three males said the family was still in shock because of the incident and they hoped that the police would speed up investigations and apprehend the culprits.
He said the empty safe was found dumped at the Shangani River.
Two guard dogs at the premises, the man said, did not bark at the gang, raising suspicion that they may have been drugged.
He said Bruce had seen one of the suspects in the afternoon at the office, driving a Mazda Familia with registration number ADM3201.
The car is now parked outside Extra City Bus Company along Lobengula Street and it is said that the owner has not shown up to collect it.
This newspaper visited the victims at the hospital and a nurse in charge of the ward where they were admitted said they were in a stable condition, waiting for blood tests and X-ray results.
IF you reckon Piers Morgan celebrated the hardest after his Rest Of The World team won Soccer Aid, you thought wrong.
Captain Usain Bolt and star player Didier Drogba didn’t stop boozing until the time co-manager Piers got up to host “Good Morning Britain.”
The pair, along with a group of close pals, got through £15,000-worth of booze at London club Libertine as they toasted victory against England, who were captained by Sir Mo Farah.
They won 3-1 on penalties in the charity match at Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge after the game had ended 2-2.
A source said: “Bolt hosted an impromptu party at the club. He was in such a celebratory mood after winning Soccer Aid.
“He DJ’d and was talking to fans on the mic as well as drinking Hennessy cognac and Dom Pérignon champagne. He racked up a £15,000 bill with his entourage and they didn’t leave the club until gone 4am.”
Niall Horan, Roberto Carlos and Kem Cetinay who scored the late equaliser, were also part of Harry Redknapp and Piers team.
Soccer Aid has raised a record-breaking £6,774,764 so far — over £1million more than last year’s on-the-night total.
In 2016 Usain boozed until sunrise at a London club after winning three golds for the third Olympics in a row.
Good on him.
Usain Bolt lifts trophy after World XI win Soccer Aid 2019
The Sun UK
A Bulawayo man yesterday broke records when he stood in the road and threw stones at First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa’s motorcade which was on its way out of the city to Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Airport.
The man who witnesses claim to be mentally challenged is reported to have got into the centre of Robert Mugabe Way armed himself with stones and blocked the high security motorcade before hurling the stones towards the vehicles and security details.
He was however strongly pinned down by two police officers who were part of the motorcade before being whisked away in a police vehicle.
Auxilia Mnangagwa was in the second capital on Monday where she had gone to give her condolences to wife of the late National Hero Dumiso Dabengwa at the family home in Fourwinds.
She incidentally went on to visit the widow of former President Canaan Banana and other forgotten liberation war fighters in the city.
Bulawayo provincial police spokesperson Precious Simango would not give media a comment on the issue claiming that she was on leave.
“I am on leave. Please phone Inspector Ncube,” said Simango.
Efforts to contact Inspector Ncube proved futile as his mobile was unreachable. The whereabouts of the man could also not immediately be ascertained.
Mrs Mnangagwa experienced a similar fate in Masvingo recently when she was booed and lampooned by residents of the town as she walked into an OK Supermarket with her huge entourage of security guards.
Mlondolozi Mpofu is the much talked about gentleman who helped injured security guards following an accident along Vic Falls Road has been blamed and ridiculed by so many people for recovering huge amount of money from the Cash In Transit Vehicle and handing it back, with others saying he should have disappeared with both the money and guns.
His colleagues and friends have come to his defence describing who this good hearted, honest and kind person is. Below is the statement from one Mark Ngalulu of Ingalulu transport who is a member of Bulawayo City Club, together with Mlondolozi Mpofu.
“The Good Samaritan, Mr Mpofu is the chairman of City Club Bulawayo which is next to Galen house Josiah Tongogara Str. It comes not as a surprise that he drove the injured to St Lukes hospital before speedily coming to secure cash boxes and their protective weaponry.
As a member of city club I’m very proud of this exemplary deed that very few can manage to execute infact he has been able to uphold Ubuntu be City Club that is made up of Men and Women of great integrity. These members who remain humble in the society include top legal minds such as ADV. Tshuma including Human rights lawyer Sipho Malunga and others attached to UN; labour issues consultants such as Mr Ndumiso Sibanda Top Academics from institutions of high & tertiary education including the pioneers of DNA related solutions in Zimbabwe led by Mr Zeph. Dhlamini (Nust) who recently made a breakthrough in Cattle DNA matching to curb livestock rustling.
Several members that attached to United Nations duties such as Dr Sizo Mhlanga; Current and Ex senior banking Executives including RBZ, Captains of Industry including PPC Zimbabwe top management; affiliates of Rotary club. Top medical practitioners both local and International in most areas of speciality, phamarcists including Dr Geshom Dube. Ambulance operaters; Renouned Farmers that including Nguni brahman breeder Dr Themba Dlodlo; Haulage expects including the ex NRZ MD. Mr A. Mabhena; property developers and plant equipment providers from Aggregate properties led by Bro. Themba Dube who is a member of trustees at this club.
The non exhaustive membership list also includes professionals from the construction industry such as Eng. N. Mlotshwa of Nemark construction; Town and City physical planners, consultants in civil Engineering including the likes of Eng. N DUBE (Scotch), well placed land surveyors that include E Mathe and G Thonye amongst others not forgetting the topical good Samaritan; Current and Ex Directors in Government ministries such as Dr Sikhosana while from our local Authority we have Directors of housing and community services, Engineering services etc, Miners including ex- Hwange colliery management bussiness people in the retail, IT & consultancy industry as well as various political leaders from most political fronts including religious backgrounds, form the diverse membership of City club.”
Its indeed a club of distinguished citizens!
Source Ezra Tshisa Sibanda
NewsDay|ZIMBABWE’S year-on-year inflation rate for the month of May rose to 97,85%, up 21,99 percentage points on the April rate of 75,86% as the country further plunges into economic turmoil.
According to the Zimbabwe Statistics Agency (ZimStat), year-on-year food and non-alcoholic beverages inflation, prone to transitory shocks, stood at 126,43% while the non-food inflation rate was 85,94%.
On a month-on-month basis, the inflation rate in May was 7,02%, up 12,54% from the April rate of 5,52%.
“The month-on-month food and non-alcoholic beverages inflation rate stood at 17,63% in May 2019, gaining 9,78 percentage points on the April 2019 rate of 7,85%. The month-on-month non-food inflation rate stood at 10,12%, gaining 5,67 percentage points on the April 2019 rate of 4,45%,”Zimstat said in an update.
Authorities, however, maintain that by year-end the inflation rate will have been managed within a preferable range of less than 15%.
But chances of achieving that remain highly unlikely as retailers price goods and services in line with the parallel market rate for foreign currency, which remains highly inaccessible despite the introduction of an official interbank market in February.
Shortages of fuel and electricity are also adding to mounting pressures on the fragile southern African country’s economy which experienced a record inflation of 500 billion percent in 2008.
What followed was a sustained period of negative inflation, with the country eventually slipping out of deflation in February 2017.
State Media|Interviews for commissioners of the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) on Friday must be steered by a full Committee on Standing Rules and Orders (CSRO) of Parliament and not subcommittees, the High Court has ruled.
The court also ruled that the interviews should be held non-stop until the last candidate has been interviewed.
This follows an application by Harare lawyer Tinomudaishe Chinyoka, a nominee to the position of Zacc commissioner, challenging the selection process set for June 21.
He was suing Speaker of Parliament Advocate Jacob Mudenda and Senate president Mabel Chinomona, who were listed as respondents.
Justice Benjamin Chikowero granted the application by Chinyoka by consent of both parties’ lawyers — Advocate Lewis Uriri representing Mr Chinyoka and a Mr K. Tundu, acting for the respondents.
“Section 254 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 20) Act, 2013 requires that interviews for the appointment of commissioners of the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission be conducted by the entire Committee on Standing Rules and Orders of Parliament and not subcommittees thereof,” the judge said.
“The respondents shall ensure that all the interviews for shortlisted candidates for the Anti-Corruption Commission scheduled for 21 June 2019 or as may be rescheduled are conducted by a single quorate Committee on Standing Rules and Orders of Parliament of Zimbabwe starting from 8am on that date continuing without adjournment (save for meal breaks) until after the last interviewee has been interviewed.”
At least 38 candidates are set to be interviewed.
Parliament had split the candidates into two groups to be interviewed simultaneously in the National Assembly and Senate Chambers from 9am to 4.20pm.
Chinyoka had argued that the proposed format for the interviews was unconstitutional.
The format which CSRO proposed to use for the interviews meant that in being assessed for their suitability as commissioners, each candidate would only be seen by half of the CSRO.
“This proposed manner of proceeding is against the Constitution, namely that it is the entire CSRO that should send names of possible commissioners to the President, not a sub-committee thereof,” Chinyoka had argued.
It was also Chinyoka’s contention that no criteria had been disclosed as to how particular individuals ended up on either list to be interviewed.
Early this month, Parliament announced the names and dates for interviews of prospective Zacc commissioners who will be appointed by the President.
The development follows the resignation of the Zacc chairperson and commissioners in January this year.
The CSRO carried out an exhaustive analysis of the nominated candidates to ascertain their suitability for consideration to serve on the commission and shortlisted 38 candidates.
Some those to be interviewed are Ms Jessie Majome, Mr Tongai Matutu, Mr Gabriel Chaibva, Mr James Andrew Mushore, Mr Brian Kashangura, Mr Blessing Chebundo, Mr Frank Muchengwa, Retired Major Gibson Botomani, Mr Kennedy Mtombeni, Advocate Michael Majuru and Advocate Wilbert Pfungwadzashe Mandinde.
Members of the public are free to attend and witness the interviews.
President Mnangagwa has since sworn in High Court judge Justice Loice Matanda-Moyo as ZACC chairperson.
Newspaper publisher and member of Presidential Advisory Council (PAC), Trevor Ncube has showered President Emmerson Mnangagwa with praises claiming that the beleagured President has high intentions for the country.
Writing on his Twitter handle, Ncube said President Mnangagwa was the “man of the season”.
“Dear Zimbabwe long before I got into PAC l met ED at least twice, was convinced he was man for the season. The more l have interacted with the guy the more I have realised just how my intuition or gut feel was correct. He means to leave a positive legacy. Thank me later,” reads the tweet.
Ncube has through the years been a top critic of both ZANU PF and its leaders former President Robert Mugabe and his successor Mnangagwa before coming up with his new found love for ZANU PF.
Ncube’s dance with Mnangagwa started in January when he visited First Lady Auxilia Mnangagwa at her alleged offices in Harare. Coming out of the meeting, Ncube torched a storm when he declared building bridges with the Mnangagwas.
After the visit, Ncube went on twitter and wrote, “Alpha Media Holdings COO Kangai Maukazuva and l paid First Lady Mrs Auxillia Mnangagwa a courtesy call at her offices in Harare this afternoon. For a polarised nation like us I believe it is important to mend , build bridges and celebrate each other where possible.”
He was since drafted into the President’s advisory council and that appears to have cemented his change of heart on the ruling party and its leader.
MDC-T vice president Mr Obert Gutu on Saturday went on his usual rantings about the President Emmerson Mnangagwa initiated Political Actors Dialogue (POLAD) claiming that party leaders who opted out of the one sided dialogue are ill advised.
Gutu a former opposition MDC spokesperson claimed that the dialogue launched by President Mnangagwa in February this year was making progress, progress which so far has not been visible to the ordinary Zimbabwean.
Since the dialogue started, the country’s economic and political conditions have been on a severe downfall exposing Zimbabweans to suffering worse than even during former President Robert Mugabe’s era.
Pictures of the dialogue partners feasting with the President at State House and sleeping at top hotels in the capital have been the only visible outcome from the dialogue so far.
Writing on his Twitter handle, Mr Gutu said only “ill-informed” people would not take the dialogue seriously
“We attended a POLAD meeting at State House with President ED on Friday, June 14, 2019. Misguided and ill-informed people think we went for the food. No! We can buy our own food. We raised extremely pertinent & relevant issues that we think ED should urgently attend to,” reads the tweet.
To date, 19 of 23 political parties that took part in the July 31 harmonised elections last year, have joined the dialogue.
Leader of the main opposition, MDC, Nelson Chamisa refused to join the dialogue, setting reasonable dialogue conditions amongst which is the demand for a neutral mediator to preside over the dialogue.
The Daniel Shumba-led United Democratic Alliance (UDA) initially joined the dialogue, but later withdrew also indicating that it was not fair for Mnangagwa to be the one leading the engagement process.
Joice Mujuru (National People’s Party) and Noah Manyika (Build Zimbabwe) have also snubbed the dialogue claiming precisely the same stance that Chamisa has been raising on the talks.
I travelled to Zimbabwe last week. Out of all the things done I will tell you about 2 men I met there: Lovemore Mushaike and Morris Makanyiso. Around Easter time, the two men left for fishing at a river in Silobela. As they were preparing, Morris was grabbed by a crocodile. He was dragged about 50m into the water. Morris was twisted and turned in the water while Lovemore watched.
Instead of running, Lovemore decided to follow both his mate and the crocodile. He took a spear which they always took to their fishing expeditions, and as the crocodile was turning, he managed to strike the crocodile on the chest.
The crocodile splashed water out of its mouth and let go of Morris. As he tried to pull him out and with the spear still on the crocodile, it followed and grabbed Morris once more.
Lovemore pulled the spear from the reptile and struck for the second time then he won the fight. The reptile fled with the spear on it.
Lovemore rescued Morris, got some tree leaves to stop the bleeding and ran home, took a bicycle to take his mate to hospital.
Morris is now slowly recovering but needs further medical attention. Lovemore doesn’t know how he managed to save this life. Morris’s family offered Lovemore a cow as a token of appreciation, but he declined the offer.
This is an unsung hero. I wish Lovemore could get recognition. – Pauline Muzenda
By A Correspondent| Zimbabwe’s foreign minister, Gen SB Moyo allegedly hired another American lobbyst and this one for over $1 mln.
Zimbabwe which pays medical doctors a paltry $100 per month will be dishing out $90,000 per month.
While a comment from the Zimbabwean government was awaited at the time of writing, the US senator Todd Moss announced saying, “Zimbabwe’s foreign minister has signed not one but two US lobbyist contracts. Avenue Strategies for over US$1 million ($90,000/mo) in April 2019 Ballard Group for US$500,000 per year in March 2019 .” – MORE TO FOLLOW
A Good Samaritan yesterday 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 some 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 to 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 I 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.
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, I had already secured the money and I made sure that it was safe. That’s why I made sure that I handed it to the hands of Safeguard officers,” he said.State media
Animal welfare organization, Network for Animals (NFA), is calling for an international ban on the trade of elephants after it uncovered damning video footage of Zimbabwe’s continued imprisonment of baby elephants, despite the country’s denials.
NFA has created a petition to stop the country from its consistent capturing of baby elephants that are being exported to Chinese zoos.
“At first authorities denied that any babies had been captured, then they admitted that 35 babies (which have been kept penned up for months) were supposed to be sent to one of China’s more than 15,000 zoos in March,” says NFA’s chief campaigner, David Barritt.
The NFA team penetrated tight security in the Hwange National Park and found video proof that two more, very young babies, had been captured in the last few days. These babies are destined for Pakistan.
“This is proof that Zimbabwe is still exporting baby elephants to China and elsewhere. These babies are being held separately from the other 35 and are already displaying increasingly aggressive behavior. We seldom see such state-sponsored cruelty but separating baby elephants from their mothers is the worst kind of cruelty,” said Barritt. “They face lives of horror in zoos, where elephants should never be kept.”
NFA, which has been championing the fight against the trade for the past four years – has further learnt that Zimbabwe plans to capture another 20 babies.
“The situation is repulsive – each day that passes makes it more difficult to return the babies to the wild, yet the alternative is even worse; lives of hell in Chinese zoos. Each year, our outrage grows at the terrible cruelty Zimbabwe authorities inflict on these animals,” said Barritt.
“The country continues destroying the lives of baby elephants and this barbaric cruelty needs to be stopped. We need to act now.”
CAPS United club president Farai Jere yesterday said the Green Machine remain one united family and dismissed as speculation news that coach Lloyd Chitembwe was on his way out.
Jere yesterday said Chitembwe was committed to the club’s cause in their quest to win the Premiership title.
The 2016 championship-winning coach was conspicuous by his absence when Makepekepe were held to a 3-3 draw by TelOne at the National Sports Stadium on Sunday.
He was ruled out of the match through sickness, but yesterday he attended a management meeting in which the club’s leadership laid down their plans for the upcoming Premiership break to pave way for the AFCON tournament.
Jere said the recent poor run of results had given way to negative speculations.
“CAPS United is a big brand and when things are not going the way people want, they come up with all sorts of theories so this is one of the theories which people came up with and I can tell you there are many other theories that have been flying around; that players are not being paid their bonuses and that there are problems at CAPS United, which in fact are not there.
“Results have not been coming the way everyone would have liked, but it’s a phase which every team goes through.
“From the beginning of the season to where we are, I can tell you confidently that the league is for us to lose. We have already fought our battle and we have put ourselves in a good position. “We are a point shy of FC Platinum, a position which we have not attained in the last two seasons at this stage, which means we are doing something right and that brought a lot of expectations but this is a competitive league.
Chitembwe last attended CAPS United’s training session on Thursday when he celebrated his 48th birthday with the team but was taken ill with a bout of flu. He is not feeling well.”State media
Colleges and universities have been advised not to raise tuition fees as employers have not increased salaries while indications are that the US$20 million student loan facility being initiated by Government is almost operational.
In an interview after the launch of state-of-the-art Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) infrastructure donated by UNESCO and Republic of Korea at Masvingo Teachers’ College last Friday, Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Minister Professor Amon Murwira said increasing fees in colleges and universities should correspond with an increase in salaries by employers.
He said Government was still committed to addressing students’ plight on fees payment and had already injected US$10 million into banks towards student loans.
“As a ministry, we are conscious of the Government’s austerity measures and we would not randomly increase fees in colleges and universities. We do not want to be part of the problem of fuelling inflation through arbitrary fee hikes,” said Prof Murwira.
“Local banks have agreed on a scheme with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development. The scheme has seen the Ministry injecting US$10 million, as educational loans and it is almost operational. The money has been deposited with banks and it is expected to increase to US$20 million,” he said.
He said the loan facility was flexible and students would be given more time to make repayments.
“The payback time is flexible depending on the capacity of the students plus this will be a revolving fund. So it is when these loans are operational that we can talk of raising fees,” he said.State media
IT wasn’t pretty, but Cleopas Kapupurika got the job done for Highlanders when he scored the only goal of the match to punish his former paymasters, Dynamos at Barbourfields yesterday.
The 1-0 win is Bosso’s third win of the season to ease pressure on Madinda Ndlovu who had a poor start to the season.
Kapupurika, who joined Bosso in January, capitalised to head home when Simbarashe Chinani failed to deal with a Brain Banda free kick in the 72th minute.
DeMbare’s defensive midfielder Tawanda Chisi gave away a free kick at a dangerous position which allowed Bosso to punish them.
Kapupurika was happy to score his first goal of the season and stressed that he is ‘not sorry’ to score against his former team.
“I want to thank God for the goal, which is my first of the season. But I am not sorry to score against Dynamos, I really wanted to score especially on such a big battle. I am now a Highlanders player and I have to make our fans and everyone involved with the club happy.
“I also want to thank the coaches for giving me the chance to play and also my teammates, we worked as a team to get this result,” said Kapupurika.H-Metro
WARRIORS doctor Somani Mudariki expects Khama Billiat to be fully fit for Zimbabwe’s opening 2019 AFCON Group A showdown against hosts Egypt at the Cairo International Stadium on Friday night, despite the influential forward missing three days of training because of a knee injury.
The diminutive forward’s absence from the team’s training programme from Friday, including missing a physical practice match against Tanzania here on Sunday that ended in a 1-1 draw, had triggered fears he could miss the opening battle against the Pharaohs.
But team doctor Mudariki allayed those fears yesterday when he told The Herald Billiat’s absence was just precautionary after he complained of pain in his knee following some brutal treatment he received from the opposition during the COSAFA Cup matches in Durban.
Mudariki said he expects Billiat to be back to full training from today, even though there are concerns surrounding midfielder Tafadzwa Kutinyu, whose leg was in a strap yesterday after suffering a knee injury.
Goalkeeper Elvin Chipezeze, who has been in contention for a place in the starting XI on Friday given that regular number one George Chigova is suspended for that game, suffered a concussion in the practice match against Tanzania on Sunday and will have to be monitored by the medical team.
There are standard procedures related to cases of concussion which the medical staff must follow before clearing a player to feature in a competitive game, although Mudariki said it was encouraging that Chipezeze did not lose consciousness during the clash with a Tanzanian opponent.
The incident led to the goal scored by the Taifa Stars.
“We will have to keep monitoring Chipezeze because there are procedures that we have to follow, but the important thing is that he never lost consciousness after the clash,’’ said Mudariki.State media
PEOPLE in the gallery wept when an 8-year-old girl took to the stand to narrate how her father’s brutal butchering of her mother as she watched shattered her family.
She told Bulawayo High Court Judge Justice Maxwell Takuva, who was on circuit in Hwange in 2017 that she watched her father, Pathukuthula Moyo callously axing her mother repeatedly over infidelity accusations.
She appeared to shudder each time she mentioned the blood that gushed out of her mother’s wounds as her father frenziedly struck her.
“I heard my mother screaming and when I rushed to check she was lying on her stomach in a pool of blood as he struck her. He then stood next to the body holding a blood stained axe. After that he dragged the body into the kitchen and left it,” narrated the emotional minor while trying to get composure.
She appeared traumatised. Moyo believed his wife was seeing another man, and this filled him with deep jealousy. He came up with a plan. The “plan” involved an axe. The murder was premeditated; he had brought the axe to the house with him earlier that morning.State media
SIX suspected armed robbers pounced on a house in Bulawayo’s city centre and brutally attacked four people with machetes, leaving them for dead before getting away with US$6 687, RTGS$1 000, five grammes gold and three digital gold scales, police confirmed yesterday.
The incident happened at around 2AM on Sunday at a cottage along Herbert Chitepo Street and 1st Avenue.
Two of the victims who sustained deep cuts on their hands and legs are admitted at Mpilo Central Hospital while two have been discharged.
The suspects savagely cut them on the soles of their feet as they demanded to know where gold was kept.
The main house is used as an office by Mr Costa Lungisani Ncube where he buys and sells gold.
Mr Blessing Ncube (23), Evidence Ndlovu (17), Mthandazeli Sibanda (15) and Bruce Ncube (18) were sleeping when the armed robbers struck.
Bulawayo acting provincial police spokesperson, Assistant Inspector Nomalanga Msebele, said the suspects are still at large.
Insp Msebele said the suspects proceeded to the offices and opened the door, getting away with a safe with US$6 687, RTGS$1 000 and five grammes gold and three digital gold scales.State media
The Zanu-PF Youth League has said it will expose all corrupt business institutions, associations and individuals who are prejudicing the national economy.
In an interview yesterday, Zanu-PF deputy secretary for Youth Affairs Lewis Matutu said it was time to shame those involved in shady deals at the expense of the majority.
“As the vanguard of the party, the Youth League cannot leave President Emmerson Mnangagwa alone to fight the cartels in the economy,” he said. “We are fully aware of all the corrupt cartels and very soon we will be exposing the rogue elements.”
Matutu said there were some senior Government officials and party members crippling the economy through underhand dealings.
“If people are corrupt they have to be known so that they can be dealt with as soon as possible,” he said. “We cannot leave the President alone to deal with such cases, yet he has other business to work on.
It is our responsibility as young people to support the move that the President has taken. We are going to expose those people involved in corruption.”
Matutu called the business community to toe the line in adhering to Government policy.State media
ZIMBABWE captain Knowledge Musona says his Warriors are relishing the massive challenge of taking on hosts, and favourites, Egypt in the first match of the AFCON finals to show the world how far they have evolved, in the past few years, into a very competitive team.
The talismanic skipper even believes his men can make history at this Nations Cup finals. There has been concern, among some of their fans, that the Warriors have been handed the ultimate toughest assignment where, a comprehensive defeat at the hands of the Pharaohs, could crush their confidence and signal the beginning of the end of their campaign.
The Warriors have never had it easy in the opening match of the Nations Cup finals as they have played the Pharaohs in 2004, Senegal in 2006, Algeria in 2017 and now the same Egyptians in this tournament which gets underway here on Friday night.
They have lost two of those three matches — all those matches, going down 1-2 to the Pharaohs in Tunisia, 2-0 to the Lions of Teranga of Senegal here in 2006 and holding the Desert Foxes of Algeria to a 2-2 draw in Gabon two years ago.
Musona believes his men could not have wished for a better opening match than one against the Pharaohs with the whole world watching.
“If the confidence that I have as the team captain, and also the confidence I have from the players, I think that we can go past the group stages,’’ he told The Herald in an in-depth interview on Sunday.
“It doesn’t matter whom we play in the first game, we know it’s going to be a big game, strong opponents, opening game and they almost never lose at home, we know it’s a tough game.
“But, we are also ready, as underdogs, to show the country, and the world, that we are not here to just make up the numbers but to fight and show what we are capable of.’’State media
THE son of late Pan Africanist and founding member of the December 12 Movement, Coltrane Chimurenga, has commended President Mnangagwa for maintaining peace in the country despite foreign infiltration through civic society organisations.
In an interview in Harare, Camillo Simms said the country was in safe hands under President Mnangagwa.
“There is no better way of safeguarding the country’s legacy than maintaining a peaceful environment, which is a safe destination for investment. People are moving freely doing their business without fear. Yes, they might be some economic challenges, but they will come to pass.
Zimbabwe is a beautiful country which needs to be protected despite some foreign influence especially from hostile nations such as the United States of America and her allies,” said Simms.
My father taught me about the history of Zimbabwe during and after independence, while I was still young.
“We understand there are some opposition parties who are being sponsored by some former colonisers as a way of spearheading regime change agenda.
“Some opposition parties should be wary of the white community that wants to maintain supremacy, while taking black people as an inferior race. These whites will use all means possible to ensure they destabilise the peace that exists in the country.
“They will use all means possible to ensure black people fight against each other.
“Zimbabweans should remain united and defend any infiltration from United States of America and her allies,” he said.State media
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.”
MDC-T vice president Mr Obert Gutu on Saturday said the Political Actors Dialogue (POLAD) launched by President Mnangagwa in February this year, was making progress.
POLAD seeks to bring all parties that participated in last year’s harmonised elections for dialogue as part of wider efforts to cement national healing and nation-building.
Writing on his Twitter handle, Mr Gutu said only “ill-informed” people would not take the dialogue seriously
“We attended a POLAD meeting at State House with President ED on Friday, June 14, 2019. Misguided and ill-informed people think we went for the food. No! We can buy our own food. We raised extremely pertinent & relevant issues that we think ED should urgently attend to,” reads the tweet.State media
Farai Dziva|Mrs Auxillia Mnangagwa has said she is inspired by the former First Lady Janet Banana’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.
Farai Dziva|Zanu PF youth leader Pupurai Togarepi has accused MDC Youth Assembly leader Obey Sithole of plotting to overthrow Emmerson Mnangagwa’ s government.
Said Togarepi: “We hear some are calling for confrontation to achieve selfish political ends.
However we take the treasonous threats to remove a democratically elected President seriously.
Those pushing for confrontation should know that we are very vigilant. We are ready to defend our vote, democracy and peace.
Never, never underestimate us we will react if provoked.
The Zanu PF Youth League will definitely be there to ensure that the will of people is not violated by a few hired charlatans.
We have a duty to defend our leader and venturing into threatening our President creates anger on our part.
Those characters are therefore warned to seek peace always. Musatanga hondo, hondo ineropa – our Great hero Simon Chimbetu told us.”
By Dorrothy Moyo| In the latest development of developments last week, the man who is tasked with overseeing Parliament affairs by ZANU PF’s highest decision-making body, the politburo, has sounded calls for a government of national unity.
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He painted a picture of a Emmerson Mnangagwa Nelson Chamisa unity.
Jacob Mudenda was speaking during a special service for the late Vimbai Tsvangirai last week.
He made these comments while he was being booed down by MDC supporters.
He said, “we enjoyed serenity of politics during the GNU. That spirit must come back. It must come back. I pray to the church, that the church must be on their knees each day of their lives and pray for the unity for the people of Zimbabwe,
“I believe that the spirit of the late Dr Tsvangirai which we celebrate through his daughter today shall be reflected in our national politics.
“Don’t forget that when the Government of National Unity was formed, Dr Tsvangirai did not look at positional politics, he looked at national politics and what that brings to the people of Zimbabwe.”
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.
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.
By A Correspondent| Zimbabwe’s foreign minister, Gen SB Moyo allegedly hired another American lobbyst and this one for over $1 mln.
Zimbabwe which pays medical doctors a paltry $100 per month will be dishing out $90,000 per month.
While a comment from the Zimbabwean government was awaited at the time of writing, the US senator Todd Moss announced saying, “Zimbabwe’s foreign minister has signed not one but two US lobbyist contracts. Avenue Strategies for over US$1 million ($90,000/mo) in April 2019 Ballard Group for US$500,000 per year in March 2019 .” – MORE TO FOLLOW
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|Football unites people across the globe and in Zimbabwe Highlanders is one club that commands a huge following.
Although the majority of Highlanders fans are based in the city of Bulawayo, Bosso also command a huge following from different parts of the country.
Shona speaking Highlanders fans feel coach Madinda Ndlovu’ s remarks about the Bulawayo giants’ victory over perennial arch rivals Dynamos are offensive and derogatory.
Bosso beat Dembare 1-0 courtesy of former Dynamos player Cleopas Kapupurika’s effort.
After the victory, Madinda dedicated the win to the “Ndebele community.”
Commenting on Madinda’ s remarks Valentine Tsvule Kwezera said :”I am a staunch Highlanders fan but I am not part of the Ndebele community.Does it mean I should not celebrate the win?
I think the coach must qualify his statement.”
Bernard Bernard said:”Madinda has missed the point, football is universal in nature and he must withdrawal his statement.”
Victor Darius said :”It is not about the Ndebele community, it is about the Bosso family at large.”
By A Correspondent- Deputy Energy minister Magna Mudyiwa has trashed reports alleging that Zimbabwe is in darkness.
Responding to a question from Kwekwe central legislator Masango 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.”
By A Correspondent| Zimbabwe’s foreign minister, Gen SB Moyo allegedly hired another American lobbyst and this one for over $1 mln.
Zimbabwe which pays medical doctors a paltry $100 per month will be dishing out $90,000 per month.
While a comment from the Zimbabwean government was awaited at the time of writing, the US senator Todd Moss announced saying, “Zimbabwe’s foreign minister has signed not one but two US lobbyist contracts. Avenue Strategies for over US$1 million ($90,000/mo) in April 2019 Ballard Group for US$500,000 per year in March 2019 .” – MORE TO FOLLOW
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Apostle Chiwenga: “On what grounds does Nelson Chamisa open the Bible? We all know he belongs to another political party known as Apostolic Faith Mission. That is the political party that he belongs to. There is no Gospel in AFM. He doesn’t know the gospel.All of them, they are blaspheming our God”
The MDC has learnt with sadness the passing of former Norton Member of Parliament, Hon Edward Musumbu after a short illness.
We join the Musumbu family, the people of Norton and the MDC family in mourning this dedicated democrat in Norton. May his soul rest in eternal peace.
By Own Correspondent| Independent legislator for Norton Temba Mliswa has accused Zanu Pf hardliners and those surrounding President Emmerson Mnangagwa of working against him in a bid to see him fail as the country’s leader.
Mliswa said contrary to assertions that Zanu Pf had turned over a new leaf and the country was in a new dispensation, Mnangagwa’s enemies were still lurking within the rank and file of the party orchestrating his downfall.
Said Mliswa:
“Unfortunately, the new dispensation houses many who would like to see Emmerson Mnangagwa fail. The biggest enemies are within. Bureaucrats were not changed.
Zanu Pf official hardliners still remain. So to give national issues a chance for success, cleansing is needed in government and the party.”
BY Wilbert Mukori: It was the great Greek philosopher Socrates, 2 500 years ago, who said “STRONG MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS, AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS AND WEAK MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE.”
Socrates lived during the golden age of Greece when democracy, science, art and civilization was at its glorious best and Socrates, Plato and other great minds were right at the thick of it. Socrates and his fellow thinkers were never contend with what they saw and heard, they had inquisitive minds always asking questions. Why? When?
“An unexamined life is not worth living!” said Socrates.
To discuss ideas that will help solve problems and change the world one necessarily needs a certain amount of intelligence to accrue knowledge, to sift and refine it through reflection and real-life experience. It is this strong mind, with the refined knowledge, tested and proven facts and religious regard for the truth, that will solve problems and change the world.
It is easier to talk about people because here everything goes, there are no rules and knowledge counts for nothing. Truth, facts, opinion, lies and damned lies are all legal tender to be traded in equal measure, accepted today and rejected tomorrow. No one listens to what they are saying let alone what the others are saying. No one remembers anything, it is impossible to remember something one heard with their ears only; there is no intellect to record anything verbatim let alone process the information and store it as knowledge.
Discussing ideas required train, discipline and effort and for the intellectual couch potato discussing people is the default setting because it requires the least effort. The strong-minded people get their buzz, Eureka moment, from see their ideas work. The feeble-minded people are not so demanding, they will cheer and applaud anything! Anything at all!
“In
Africa, there is a problem of failing to understand the generational
transition. Our old generation is failing to understand the times. They looked
after us when we were children but now it is our turn to take charge,” Nelson
Chamisa, the President of Zimbabwe’s main opposition party, the MDC Alliance.
“(Former President Robert) Mugabe, Mnangagwa you have done your part in
serving this country during the liberation struggle but now pass the button to
today’s generation. Then we will show you how a country is run,” to
deafening applause.
Chamisa’s default setting is to discuss people and his feeble-minded audience were thrilled to bits to hear him wittering about nothing. QED!
With Mugabe and Mnangagwa it was one’s war-time history, political loyalty, gender, tribe, region, etc. that matters the most and intellectual merit matters not at all. It is therefore not surprising that the country has gone to the dogs during their 39 years of corrupt and tyrannical rule.
Zimbabwe is in a real economic mess with unemployment a dizzying 90%, most basic services likes health care have all but collapse and ¾ of the population now live on US$30 or less per month.
Before independence the country was rightly proud to be called the breadbasket of Southern Africa. We produced enough food to feed the nation with surplus to feed our neighbours and still be world leader in producing quality tobacco, cut flowers and other produce. All that is history, today the nation is relying on imported food aid.
We live in the day and age when human ingenuity has turned deserts into blooming orchards. And we are starving in the land that, for all practical purposes, is the Garden of Eden! A damning testimonial to the sheer incompetence and feeble-mindedness of Mugabe and his Zanu PF thugs.
Whilst Mugabe and Mnangagwa elevated those with liberation war record to the status of demigods with rights and privileges galore whilst those with no such records have been denied their freedoms, human rights even the right to live! Chamisa has become obsessed about age; anyone older than him are useless as he/she has gone past their use-by date.
“Young people of Africa this is your time. This is not just a Zimbabwean phenomenon. This is the case in South Africa, Rwanda, Uganda and in Kenya. Young people must stand to rescue our continent,” said Chamisa.
Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta, the President of the ruling party in Kenya, is 51 years old whilst Raila Odinga, president of the opposition Orange Democratic Movement, Chamisa’s natural allay, is 74 years old. So, if it is youth alone that matters Kenya certainly does not need rescuing!
Emmerson Mnangagwa and many other Zanu PF thugs in power today were a lot younger that Nelson Chamisa’s present age of 41 years in 1980 when Zimbabwe gained her independence but their youth did not stop them ruthlessly imposing the de facto one-party state the nation has suffered under these last 39 years.
The youthful MDC leaders failed the nation as their checked political track records shows. Ten years ago, Chamisa and his fellow MDC leaders failed to implement even one democratic reform in five years of the GNU. Not one!
South Africa has had the misfortune of having corrupt and incompetent leaders but there is no doubt that the country has always held free, fair and credible elections. To suggest that the country needs rescuing is to fail to appreciate the virtue of a healthy and functioning democracy.
Yes Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya certainly need rescuing from the curse of rigged elections. These countries need to replace the feeble-minded opposition leaders with the strong-minded ones who will implement the democratic reforms and finally deliver free, fair and credible elections!
Strong-mindedness and likewise feeble-mindedness are a measure of one’s intellectual aptitude and that has nothing to do with incidental and/or biological attributes such as age, sex, tribe, etc. Zimbabwe is in a mess because the country has had the misfortune to have feeble-minded leaders on both sides of the political divide.
Chamisa has no sound ideas to get Zimbabwe out of the mess and he therefore presenting his youth as if it is a proven virtue, as if he, for his part, will never grow old. Only a feeble-mind would dwell on such frivolity especially now when the nation’s future is on a knife edge!
SANDF Soldiers deployed to the Mozambique border have exchanged gunfire with police from the neighbouring state prompting a board of inquiry.
Details of the incident are limited to a brief statement issued by SANDF spokesperson Brig-Gen Mafi Mgobozi.
“The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) can confirm that a shooting incident occurred between the South African soldiers and Mozambican Border Police in the area of Ndumo, east of Farazella along the RSA-Mozambique border on Sunday, 16 June 2019 at about 16:00,” said a statement issued by the SA department of defence on Monday.
“Our soldiers were conducting routine patrol as part of borderline protection when this incident occurred. Details around this incident are still sketchy and reasons for the shooting are not yet known. A Board of Inquiry will be convened to determine causes of the incident.”
The statement did not detail whether anyone was injured or killed during the exchange.
This is a developing story, more details will be published once they are available.
The Department of defence deployed additional troops to the region last year in order to combat cross-border crime which has a significant impact on the economy in Northern KwaZulu-Natal.
The SANDF has their hands full combatting well-organized syndicates responsible for the trafficking of illicit goods across the border. These gangs are reportedly well-armed and it has been alleged that they use young children as lookouts.
Cross-border Vehicle theft is the primary focus of SANDF operations in the area.
The terrain the SANDF operate in along the border is mostly dense bush which provides cover for car thieves, who have intimate knowledge of the area, to smuggle vehicles out of South Africa. In a SABC News reportlate last year SANDF personnel admitted that they achieved mixed results in their operations along the Mozambique border.
Health Services Board Apex Council and the Zimbabwe Nurses Association (ZNA) have from today embarked on a strike following the failure by government to respond to the 14 day ultimatum announced two weeks ago.
In a letter addressed to the Ministry of Health and Child Care, the associations noted that the employer failed to address the grievances of its workers hence their decision to withdraw services.
In an interview with 263Chat, Health workers apex council team leader Panganai Chivese said the money they received this month for salaries is only sufficient for two days.
“The government has failed to address the most important grievances relating to remuneration of health workers vis-a-vis the current economic climate have not been addressed. If the government fails to address our grievances by the 24th we will be forced to stay home because we can no longer afford to go to work,” Chivese said.
Accordingly, the health services board has resolved that all health workers will attend work for only two days between 17 to 23 June 2019.
”Should the remaining grievances remain unresolved by close of day, June 23, all health workers will completely withdraw their labour from June 24,” reads part of the letter to government.
Mbwana Samatta scored to help Tanzania to a 1-1 draw against Zimbabwe in their final preparatory game for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) at El Sekka El Hadid Stadium on Sunday.
The Taifa Stars headed into the encounter on the back of their 1-0 loss to Egypt in their first preparatory game for the continental tournament and were aiming for a morale-boosting victory in the match.
Coach Emmanuel Amuneke rested many of the players that started the game against the North Africans, with Thomas Ulimwengu leading the attack while Vicent Philipo started in defence along with Ally Mtoni and Gadiel Michael.
Knox Mutizwa found the target for Sunday Chidzambwa’s men who played out a goalless draw with Nigeria last time out.
Amuneke introduced the Taifa Stars captain and Genk striker Samatta in the second half of the encounter and he made his presence count, scoring the only goal for his side to help them avoid defeat.
The East Africans will hope for a good outing in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, starting with their opening game against Senegal on June 23.
After their opener, the Taifa Stars will lock horns with Kenya on June 27 before wrapping up their Group C game against Algeria on July 1.
On the other hand, Zimbabwe will compete with the tournament’s host nation, Egypt, DR Congo and Uganda in Group A.
The Warriors will kick off their campaign in the African showpiece against seven-time African champions, the Pharaohs on June 21.
Alvin Zhakata has finally received his Ethiopian visa, five days after he got stuck on the border.
The Warriors fan who is taking a road adventure to Egypt to support the national team at the Afcon tournament confirmed the development on Twitter on Monday evening.
Unfortunately, Zhakata will have to finish his road trip alone after his South African counterpart Botha Msila whom he left Cape Town with a few weeks ago gave up on Sunday after getting frustrated on the Kenyan side of the border.
The Zimbabwean is now expected to reach Cairo on time before the Warriors’ match against the hosts, Egypt this Friday.
COSAFA president, Philip Chiyangwa, arrived here in the early hours of today for various meetings with the continental game’s leadership ahead of the start of the 2019 AFCON finals on Friday.
A photo, showing Chiyangwa in the company of CAF president, Ahmad Ahmad, here in a Cairo hotel, was released today, confirming that the duo had met to discuss a number of issues related to the game.
Fortune Bgwoni, who was part of the Zimbabwe delegation in Addis Ababa when Ahmad shocked Cameroon strongman Issa Hayatou to win the CAF presidency, was also captured in the photo.
It could not be quickly established what Chiyangwa could specifically have discussed with Ahmad and reports today said the Harare business mogul was expected to fly back home tomorrow.
Chiyangwa is part of the CAF Nations Cup committee and could also have been reciprocating a visit by Ahmad to the COSAFA Cup held in Durban last month.
ZIMBABWE international striker Nyasha Mushekwi flew into Cairo this afternoon to join his teammates ahead of the opening 2019 AFCON qualifier against hosts Egypt at the Cairo International Stadium on Friday.
The veteran forward was given permission to leave camp, when the Warriors arrived here last week from an international friendly against Nigeria, after his Chinese club Dalian Yifang pleaded with the team management to allow him to feature for them in a league match on Saturday.
Dalian lost that match 0-1 and Mushekwi was sent off in the second half.
The Chinese officials had promised Mushekwi would be released soon after that match and, today, he flew into the Egyptian capital and was received at the Cairo International Airport by the Warriors head of protocol, Martin Kweza and his protocol counterpart, Martin Marabanyika.
Eddie Chizema, the Minister Plenipotentiary at the Zimbabwean Embassy here, was at also on hand to ensure Mushekwi, whose visa had a single entry when he arrived with the team from Nigeria, would be granted access into this country for the AFCON mission.
“Yes, he is here now and his joined his teammates,” team manager, Wellington Mpandare, told The Herald.
By A Correspondent| The “good Samaritan” who (as the victim says) rescued the street preacher Apostle Talent Chiwenga from the jaws of death in Masvingo- Mvuma road last week, Seviyasi Piki expressed shock when allegations were made by the preacher’s church members that he wanted to hurt the injured.
Church members made allegations that he wanted to hurt the preacher. But this is contrary to what the injured man himself says and believes and in a recorded statement, Talent Chiwenga pours a flood of blessings to Mr Piki saying he did the heroic act of saving him when no one else could.
Speaking to ZimEye.com, Mr Piki said, “I am deeply saddened, how could they say such things about me?”
VIDEO LOADING BELOW
He threatened to never again assist accident victims. ” In that case in the future I will not assist anyone who I see in an accident,” he said.
He also said just after the fatal accident, Talent Chiwenga believed that he had collided against a commuter omnibus, not a haulage truck as was the actual case.
“The one who was saying it is a kombi is Chiwenga, he was saying ‘it is a kombi which confused me,
“I saw a private kombi, it is the one which messed me up,” he said.
Mr Piki also responded to questions on why he left the other victim Mr Kanyuchi behind.
In a statement that might receive backlash from fans, Highlanders coach Madinda Ndlovu says they 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.
263 Chat|In line with the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) constitution, party leader Nelson Chamisa is alleged to walk away $720 000 richer as he is set to pocket 20% of the $3 596 400 which the is expected to get from the Treasury under the Political Parties Finance Act.
The MDC will get the share from the $12 million allocated to political parties by the Treasury while Zanu-PF will get $8 403 600.
This comes of the back of the two political parties being the only one to amassed more than 5% votes in the July 2018 elections, as stated in the budget.
However, party insiders say Chamisa is likely to get 20% of the total amount to be received since the same was done to former president, the late Morgan Tsvangirai from 2015 until the time he succumbed to cancer in 2018.
A source within the opposition movement told 263Chat that during the time that Tsvangirai became ill, the party agreed to give him 20% of the money from the treasury for his upkeep.
“The 20% clause was put for Tsvangirai because he was not feeling well and he was unemployed. When you now have a president who is employed and healthy, the logic goes.
“Tsvangirai did not always get this 20%, he got it because the party did not have money to carter for his medical bills, so it was when he fell ill, and that the party decided to chip in. This was around 2015,” the source said.
However, the party’s secretary general, Charlton Hwende professed ignorance over the allegations saying the party’s constitution does not allow for the money to go to an individual.
“The funds are meant for party programmes. They are not meant for any individual, including the president. There is nothing like that, I’m not aware of any money that was given to Dr Morgan Tsvangirai,” Hwende said.
He said for the first time in the party’s history, the accounts will be audited by private auditors.
This is despite the party’s constitution outlining that there should be yearly reports for audited accounts.
“There is no way the money will be mismanaged because the party has to do political activities,” he said.
Hwende said the late Tsvangirai would foot his medical bills while the whole sum would be channelled into the party’s accounts.
However, another source said the 20% will now be channelled towards the Office of the President which is wholly under Chamisa.
“The 20% clause has not been removed. It’s still there but now it will be channelled towards the office of president Chamisa because it is a very critical office in our party. They are the bedrock of the party as they make sure the president is well taken care of.
“They also have their own programs which they run so it remains to be seen what they will use the money for,” said the source.
The Matabeleland South Provincial Chairperson, Mr Solani Moyo was earlier today involved in a car accident on his way from rural Plumtree, the party has announced.
In their brief statement, they also added that, “he is in a stable condition.” -PICTURE BELOW
President of The African Democrats (TAD) Marco F Machona has called for the compensation of Shona people by the Ndebele for what he Ndebele invasion under the leadership of King Mzilikazi.
Machona who wrote a lengthy piece about the Ndebele-Shona conflict also said Matabeleland should have its name changed to Guruswa.
“As Zimbabwe government calls for compensation of victims of Gukurahundi, TAD is challenging the Zimbabwe govt to compensate victims of Ndebele invasion.”Machona said. “We also call for name change, Matabeleland should be changed to its original name before Ndebele invasion which was Guruuswa.”
Find Machona’s full statement below:
The history of Zimbabwe , even before the Ndebele and British invasion is sad, yet fascinating, triumphal and mesmerizing yet characterized by manipulations, half truths, myths, fabrications and omissions and commissions.
Of more interest to this (T.A. D) writer is the recent call by the Zimbabwe government to open to debates, discussions and compensations of the Gukurahundi atrocities. Excellent. Good for families and victims. But Zimbabwe govt forgot an important piece – the master piece to unite.
This is my case. It is with a heavy heart that not only did the Zimbabwe govt attempt to erase and nullify the relationships and history between the Shonas and the Ndebeles but negates the discussions and compensations of atrocities committed by the Ndebeles on Shonas upon arrival from down South or its open discussion.
It’s my observation that as a nation, this very discussion was also classified. Zimbabwe govt needs to respond to this matter and open up this debate.
It can’t be that only victims of Gukurahundi are honoured at the expense of the first ever Zimbabwe genocide which was that committed on Shonas by the Ndebeles. The Shona tribe suffered at the hands of both the Ndebeles and the British.
Let’s briefly educate our nation, especially the youths about the origin of the Ndebeles and how they ended up in modern day Matabeleland. For sake of your time and mine and our spaces, let’s freeze or condense time.
It’s reported that Shaka Zulu was the undisputed King of the Zulus in KwaZulu Natal and the Ndebeles (SA & Zimbabwe Ndebeles), collectively were / are one and direct cousins and rightful heirs of that Kingdom. UN conducted a Diasporan Summit and all African heads of state descended on Sandton, Johannesburg and I attended.
Where was I, am cleaning the house and its cold while writing this piece of history at the same time…. don’t laugh… as soon as inspired, I write…
During many tribal wars and conflicts, the Ndebeles were defeated, decapitated and almost vanquished but ran up north and never looked back till today NOR are the Zimbabwe Ndebeles interested in talking about the fierce Shaka Zulu and their forsaken and forgotten land in KZN.
The Zimbabwe Ndebeles continued to migrate in the northerly direction, but not before they fought with the Boers, then soldiered on to eventually settle at Matopos as their resting place before stealing Matopos from locals to make it their capital in Matabeleland, Zimbabwe.
One should admit, those bloody defeats made the Zimbabwe Ndebeles warriors of note, sharpened their fighting skills, strategies and hardened their spirits. The Shonas, the VaNambiyans of the Victoria Falls were not an immediate match to the Ndebeles. But time continued to tick – tick -, Shona Uprising was launched against both British and Ndebeles…..then, listen carefully,… fighting the British was a bigger battle than this tribal war, the Shonas and Ndebeles agreed to fight on one side against the British. That was part of the Shona – Ndebele Uprising against Rhodesians. Shonas and Ndebeles put tribal fights aside for emancipation of Zimbabwe . That came to pass….. but not really between Shonas and Ndebeles… did they ever unite… #TAD asked!! This is why I thought of writing this article.
It goes without saying that no women enough left KZN with the Ndebeles, so they Nguni and Shona women became the mothers of Zimbabwe Ndebeles and many were married by exchange between Shona and Ndebele Chiefs, many were subjected to rape, forced marriages and an Ndebele Nation and Kingdom was firmly established in Matabeleland.
It was not only the raids and theft of livestock that sustained the Ndebele Kingdom but first recorded was slavery of the Shonas and other local tribes in Zimbabwe by the Ndebele tribe. With time, massacres of Shonas by the Ndebeles increased as Shona Chiefs and Kings resisted. The Uprising by the Shonas. Against tribal oppression.
Land belonging to the Shonas was stolen. Gold, grain and livestock were taken by the superior tribe. Shonas paid to Ndebeles all kinds of penalties, fines, biased judgements and lost wealth.
The first Shona Uprising was a catastrophic as thousands were massacred by the superior Ndebele nation. These atrocities were never discussed by any Zimbabwe Govt nor was any redress or compensation permitted.
Their land was stolen as millions were later displaced, the Ndebeles expanded and extended, changing names of sacred caves, mountains and places of worship at Matopo. That land is still in Ndebele Chiefs today. Nhasi chaiye – kutaura kuno.
The African Democrats (TAD) is calling for an open debate to this matter, return of stolen land that includes the whole of Matabeleland stretching to Masvingo and Midlands.
Genuine debate in Zimbabwe politics and tribalism should be encouraged in this nation building exercise.
Real debate that should unify and unite, first the Shonas that should be a priority that Shonas unite before uniting with other tribes and nations. These are historical facts not tribalism.
As Zimbabwe govt calls for compensation of victims of Gukurahundi, TAD is challenging the Zimbabwe govt to compensate victims of Ndebele invasion.
We also call for name change, Matabeleland should be changed to its original name before Ndebele invasion which was Guruuswa.
TAD is for ONE Zimbabwe, free of xenophobia, tribalism and Africa without a boarder which is a free trade zone for all tribes. Zimbabwe Ndebeles should join Shonas to build ONE Zimbabwe . Shonas say NO to a subdivided Zimbabwe along tribal lines. No to a separate state – One Zimbabwe For All. Shonas – time to re-build these Ruins. Time to rise and shine.
Marco F Machona
Prince of Great Zimbabwe
President @ TAD.
The crew commander and driver of the Safeguard truck that was involved in an accident near Lupane, in which one crew member died, suffered only minor injuries, Safeguard Security Bulawayo managing director Warren King said today.
“The truck involved in the accident was carrying a small consignment for a private business. The accident is unfortunate and the loss of life regretted. However, we are thankful that the two crew members who survived the accident were not seriously injured,” Mr King said.
“We would like to thank Mr Mlonndolozi Mpofu, who witnessed the accident, for assisting our crew while the ambulance and a Safeguard relief vehicle were on their way.
“Mr Mpofu kindly transported one of the crew members to St Luke’s Hospital in Lupane, where he was treated and discharged. The other crew member was taken by ambulance, together with the body of the deceased crew member, to United Bulawayo Hospitals, where he too was treated and discharged.
“Safeguard management and staff give their deepest condolences to the family of the crewman who passed away. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family at this time,” he said.
By Own Correspondent- The Minister of Defence and War Veterans Affairs, Oppah Muchinguri Kashiri has said that the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) is ready to deal with internal as well as external threats.
Her remarks follow the government’s clampdown on civil society leaders who were arrested recently and charged with treason.
The MDC youth assembly and workers unions have threatened crippling demonstrations over the deteriorating economic situation in the country.
Speaking to the State media recently, Muchinguri said:
“The Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) posture on national defence and security is defensive in nature; hence, the organisation trains to meet both internal and external security threats.
As the security situation evolves, the ZDF trains to ensure that they are ready to deal with any emerging threats.
The state of the country’s situation is, therefore, peaceful in spite of the isolated cases of politically-motivated violence and social media-driven threats.
Judging from the negative private press reports, including adverse social media reports, it is true that frantic efforts are being made by opposition political parties, supported by some non-governmental organisations, to tarnish the good image of the ZDF.”
In August 2018, the government deployed an elite military unit in central Harare to deal with election-related protests resulting in 7 deaths of civilians.
In a related development, in January this year, troops were deployed across Harare and other cities to deal with protests resulting in 17 people were reportedly killed and hundreds seriously injured.
By A Correspondent- Former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe was on Sunday listed among Africa’s prominent liberation fighters who went through Fort Hare University in South Africa as the country celebrated youth day.
He was removed from power in November 2017 through a military coup and replaced by Emmerson Mnangagwa. Addressing the youth day celebrations at eh institution, EFF leader Julius Malema said the selection of the venue was meant to “breathe” the air of Mugabe and other African liberators.
“We are here in the University of ZK Matthews, Govan Mbeki, O.R Tambo, Nelson Mandela, Seretse Khama, Kenneth Kaunda, Julius Nyerere, Kenneth Kaunda, Robert Sobukwe, Chris Hani, and many others. It is not a mistake that we chose this university. This university has got a long history of liberation in southern Africa and the African continent,” said Malema in his address.
“Many ideas which liberated many countries in our continent were generated here in this university. All of you who are attending school here, you are a chosen generation because you are following in the footsteps of the giants and that’s why we wanted to breathe the same air that was breathed by Robert Mugabe and Robert Sobukwe and Chris Hani.
“Maybe when we leave here, we will stop being cowards because we are where Chris hani spent some of his time.” The youth day is a holiday in South Africa on 16 June to commemorate the Soweto uprising of 1976.
A Good Samaritan on Wednesday 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.-StateMedia
By Own Correspondent- A Harare man who thought that he could have a feel of his neighbour’s bre@st while she was breastfeeding realised the error of his actions after he was bashed by the woman’s husband.
The angry husband, Justice Mugabe, 25, slapped Moyo twice after learning what had happened.
Moyo however reported the matter to the police dragging his neighbour, Mugabe before Harare magistrate Rejoice Muchini on assault charges.
Mugabe admitted to the charge and told the court in mitigation:
Your worship he came to my house during my absence and he touched my wife’s breast whilst she was breastfeeding my baby son. I arrived home from the shopping centre only to see my wife shouting at him.
When l asked what had happened, my wife told me that he pretended to play with the baby she was breastfeeding and he touched her bre@st.
I failed to control my temper after l had been told the news and l slapped his face.”
Mugabe was sentenced to pay a $50 fine or spend 10 days in prison if he defaults.
Farai Dziva|Football unites people across the globe and in Zimbabwe Highlanders is one club that commands a huge following.
Although the majority of Highlanders fans are based in the city of Bulawayo, Bosso also command a huge following from different parts of the country.
Shona speaking Highlanders fans feel coach Madinda Ndlovu’ s remarks about the Bulawayo giants’ victory over perennial arch rivals Dynamos are offensive and derogatory.
Bosso beat Dembare 1-0 courtesy of former Dynamos player Cleopas Kapupurika’s effort.
After the victory, Madinda dedicated the win to the “Ndebele community.”
Commenting on Madinda’ s remarks Valentine Tsvule Kwezera said :”I am a staunch Highlanders fan but I am not part of the Ndebele community.Does it mean I should not celebrate the win?
I think the coach must qualify his statement.”
Bernard Bernard said:”Madinda has missed the point, football is universal in nature and he must withdrawal his statement.”
Victor Darius said :”It is not about the Ndebele community, it is about the Bosso family at large.”
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.
Said Wadyajena
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.
The match kicks off at 10 pm (Zimbabwean Time).
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.”
Farai Dziva|Zanu PF youth leader Pupurai Togarepi has accused MDC Youth Assembly leader Obey Sithole of plotting to overthrow Emmerson Mnangagwa’ s government.
Said Togarepi: “We hear some are calling for confrontation to achieve selfish political ends.
However we take the treasonous threats to remove a democratically elected President seriously.
Those pushing for confrontation should know that we are very vigilant. We are ready to defend our vote, democracy and peace.
Never, never underestimate us we will react if provoked.
The Zanu PF Youth League will definitely be there to ensure that the will of people is not violated by a few hired charlatans.
We have a duty to defend our leader and venturing into threatening our President creates anger on our part.
Those characters are therefore warned to seek peace always. Musatanga hondo, hondo ineropa – our Great hero Simon Chimbetu told us.”
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 has met with foreign media correspondents at the state house this morning.
The meeting according to information ministry is part of Mnangagwa’s efforts to open direct communication with everyone.
“Since the advent of the New Dispensation Zimbabwe is open to foreign media reporting on it from within unimpeded,” reads part of the tweet.
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.
