Said Pelandaba Mpopoma legislator Charles Moyo while reading the Fourth Order on adjourned debate on motion on the Report of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission regarding the 2018 Harmonised Elections Tuesday:

“I now move to post election phase that is on page 26.  It is clear here that the board initially announced the results for the top three presidential candidates as Emmerson D. Mnangagwa having 50.8%, Nelson Chamisa having 44.3% and a nonentity Thokozani Khupe receiving 0.9%.  

After the constitutional petition, there was a review of the percentages here whereby Emmerson Mnangagwa was then declared that he gunned 50.6% from 50.8%.  There was a decrease of Chamisa’s vote from 44.3% to 44.39%.  Therefore, ZEC acknowledged that the first set of presidential results was wrong.  How do we then trust either the 3^rd, 4^th or 5^th presidential results which were announced? 

They admitted that there were mathematical or statistical errors –  who knows that there were such errors?  They only know.  Therefore the issue of legitimacy cannot be washed away.  It is very clear because there was such a review.  

There is also an issue that in the court papers that is on page 26 where the ZEC Chairperson conceded that some polling stations may have been counted twice.  How many were counted more than twice, ten, twenty or fifty times?  Therefore we cannot wash away the issue of legitimacy.  This report clearly points out that there is legitimacy crisis in Zimbabwe.  As a country, we must come up with a solution because we are being guided by what is written in the report. 

I can go on and on.  The military was heavily involved.  You can see recommendations on page 33 – 8.3.1 where it says ZDF should refrain from use of live ammunition on civilians during demonstrations and even after elections.  It is clearly written in the report.  It is very clear that the issue of legitimacy is questionable and as a country we must solve this.  I thank you.”

Jane Mlambo| Barely two months after the dreadful Cyclone Idai disaster ravaged Manicaland province, a Germany energy company Little Sun and its local partner Alight Zimbabwe Trust an Alumni association to Plan Zimbabwe have handed over USD$25 000 worthy solar powered lights to Red Cross Zimbabwe for onward distribution to affected communities.

Cyclone idai left a trail of destruction in Chimanimani and Chipinge districts with thousands of residents left homeless forcing the government to relocate most of the victims to safer areas.

In an interview with ZimEye, Alight Zimbabwe Trust (Plan Alumni) Programs and Resources Mobilisation manager Edwin Sithole said ,”the aftermath of the disaster is one critical area where many people ignore as many organisations believe in distributing handouts during the disaster period with the aftermath often ignored.”
Sithole added that they were moved to chii in with assistance after noting the terrible situation in which Cyclone Idai victims have been going through since the disaster.

“We sought assistance from our partner, Little Sun Germany who then donated Solar lamps to us to help the victims of disaster to access clean source of energy,” he added.

“When a disaster strikes, women and children especially girls are victims of darkness and as we are moving forward with the Plan International theme that says #Getting GirlsEqual# we found it very necessary to give Lights to the affected communities but with much emphasis on women and girls,” added Sithole.

Mason Hoffein Little sun Germany Business development Manager for Africa said they pushed to help after noticing how the disaster has caused untold damage to the communities in Chipinge and Chimanimani.
“As a company it is one of our key responsibilities to come to the side of those communities in need of assistance and Chimanimani and Chipinge became our center of attraction.

“We will continue to help Zimbabwe with solar powered energy as we believe that Natural Velux Lights are for Learning, Earning and Learning.

“We hope and trust that this donation will go a long way to helping vulnerable communities especially girls and women in those areas.

Redcross Finance Director Mr Morris Machawira thanked Little sun Germany for remembering the victims of the Cyclone idai disaster.
Light is important in a disaster situation yet more often our target is mostly food, forgetting that light is also a basic necessity, we are thankful and we believe this help will go a long way to helping people in Chiping and Chimanimani to access clean source of energy , Natural Velux lights.”

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions has implored President Emmerson Mnangagwa to urgently convene a Tripartite Negotiating Forum (TNF) meeting to address economic challenges being faced by the nation, saying failure to act would lead to unrest.

The prevailing economic crisis has seen inflation skyrocketing and prices rising beyond the reach of many.

“Your Excellency, the situation on the ground is volatile and the nation is on the edge. Your intervention in this matter is urgently sought,” a letter written by ZCTU president Peter Mutasa to Mnangagwa dated May 29, read.

This is the second time that labour has demanded dialogue with government, saying if the State fails to call for a national TNF, the situation would explode and demonstrations were bound to take place.

“Your Excellency, the rising inflation and prices has had a devastating impact on ordinary citizens incomes for those lucky enough to be in work or to have a pension, (which has been) miserably eroded, condemning many into abject poverty,” Mutasa said.

“Their predicament is worsened by the fact that most people do not have access to foreign exchange, while service providers are demanding payment in hard currency. All of this leaves most people unable to pay for critical services, be it education, housing, healthcare or transport.”

The letter by the country’s largest labour federation follows a resolution of its general council to engage government on the crisis before rolling out demonstrations and other forms of protests to force authorities to act on the economy.

ZCTU said the TNF was a matter of urgency and government needs to engage labour and business to arrest the economic deterioration.

In January, it organised a three-day stayaway after Mnangagwa announced a 150% fuel price hike.More in Home

The stayaway turned violent, with security agents killing 17 people to ruthlessly crush the demonstrations, according to human rights groups.

Hundreds other were injured.

-Newsday

Mystery surrounds the distribution of fuel in Zimbabwe after authorities have established that while enough funds have been availed for players to procure the product, it has not been channelled to the market, resulting in shortages that have been witnessed countrywide.

It has also emerged that for the month of June, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) released letters of credit for the acquisition of 170 million litres against a national requirement of 140 million, raising serious questions about leakages in the industry.

This came out after Energy and Power Development Minister Advocate Fortune Chasi and RBZ Governor Dr John Mangudya met fuel players in Harare yesterday and told them about new measures to curtail leakages in the fuel supply system.

Among the measures will be the renewal of licences half-yearly and cancellation of operating licences for those who flout procedure.

Minister Chasi later appeared before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Energy and Power Development.

He said the measures were expected to instil discipline in industry players and plug leakages amid indications that the RBZ has made provision to acquire 170 million litres of fuel for next month against a requirement of 130 million litres.

“I was in a meeting with players from the fuel industry and this is the second time that I am meeting them since I was appointed. The meeting was occasioned by the queues that we are seeing at the service stations throughout the country.

“The meeting was attended by the Reserve Bank Governor Dr John Mangudya and his staff and I made it very clear that licences are issued when the regulator is satisfied that it’s in the national interest. And so when people begin to misbehave, as we understand from the public because I have been inundated by many complaints from the public, we act,” he said.

Minister Chasi added: “Some say that when fuel is delivered, only a few people a served then they are told that fuel is finished when it’s evidently clear that the fuel was there. There has also been instances where service stations refuse certain types of payments, insisting on US dollars.

“This has occasioned untold suffering on the driving public and as Government we are there to protect the national interests. We are there to make sure that fuel is distributed rationally throughout the country.”

He said he made it very clear during the meeting that this strong element of dishonesty will not be tolerated by Government.

“We have agreed with the industry that all service stations will be wet today (yesterday). So we are expecting that they will be some movements — significant movement — around the issue of availability of fuel.

“I also mentioned that I have just completed work on regulations around penalties for misbehaviour and those regulations will be sent to the Attorney-General for examination and finalisation. We expect them to come into force pretty soon. We need order in this industry.

“I pointed that in order to enhance availability of information to the public, I will be publicising who received what amount of fuel and when, so there is nowhere to hide.

“I also remind them that their licences will be due for renewal in six months. So when that time comes we will look at the conduct and behaviour of each player and it’s our right as government not to renew licences of entities run by devious people.”

Minister Chasi also indicated that they had set up task forces to investigate misconduct by some service stations that are responsible for diverting fuel to the parallel market.

“We learnt that depots are also part of the cause of the problem, fuel is escaping through those depots and we are going to investigate on that,” he told the parly committee after he had been asked what he was doing to end fuel queues.

Dr Mangudya told the same committee that investigations were necessary since the country since the country was procuring more than enough fuel every month.

“As of now we have letters of credit worth 170 million litres of fuel for the coming against 130 million litres required by the nation for the same period,” he said.

He assured the committee that the Central Bank will always avail funds to procure adequate fuel every month.

On fuel pricing, Minister Chasi said the industry pointed out that there was instability in terms of some of the templates that were being used to determine fuel prices.

“I have asked them to go and develop that position, giving us facts and figures. We are due to meet them the week after next, on Thursday so that we can develop the issue they have raised.

“The governor was able to demonstrate to the industry that people accessed money to bring in certain levels of fuel and that there is fuel. This why we are saying the queues must begin to move without delay,” he said.

Minister Chasi said the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) last week announced the fuel price and it had not changed.

Last week ZERA gazetted new maximum retail prices of fuel reflecting average increases of 46 percent for blend petrol and 49 percent for diesel.

ZERA said the new prices were premised on the interbank market rate and will see a litre of blend petrol (E10) retailing at $4,97 while diesel will sell at $4,89 per litre.

ZERA said the new prices were in line with measures taken by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) on fuel procurement, now based on the ruling exchange rate on interbank market where oil marketers now obtain forex to import fuel.

The country has been facing intermittent fuel shortages as a result of a shortage of foreign currency and activities of dealers who are working in connivance with people in the fuel industry especially attendants who have been accused of diverting fuel to the black market.

-Online

According to the Zimbabwe Independent, a large number of police officers are also undergoing rigorous paramilitary training to ensure that they will be adequately prepared to crush the protests. Prices of goods and services have skyrocketed and have gone up sevenfold in some cases since the fall of former President Robert Mugabe, while salaries have largely remained the same.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government is reported to have acquired new weapons and equipment as it prepares to crush the expected protests over the deteriorating economy and standard of leaving. Security sources who spoke to The Zimbabwe Independent said.

About 1050 regular police officers have received the training. In the event of civil unrest, they will be deployed alongside officers from the Support Unit which specialises in crowd control. There is a plan to extend the programme to other provinces because most of the trainees have been from Harare.

The officers are receiving month-long paramilitary training, which is gruelling in nature and has a lot of emphasis on physical fitness. They are being trained in the use of baton sticks, shields and helmets as well as crowd control and crowd dispersal.

They are also being trained to use new weaponry which has been acquired, including Mossberg shotguns, which can be used even within a range of 10 metres unlike the previous ones which could only be used at a range of 75 metres and above, for fear of causing fatalities…the ammunition is less lethal as it disintegrates after being discharged from the guns, but it can cause serious injuries and is good for crowd dispersal.

Another security officer told the publication. If you go to the back of Harare Central, you will officers and some soldiers ready for deployment. The plan though is not to deploy soldiers but the police because of the killings in January and August.

In an ironic development, a Zambian prophet has said that despite Mnangagwa’s confidence that no one can remove him, God included, there will be a ‘mighty uprising’ which will see people turning on Mnangagwa.

-Online

ENERGY minister Fortune Chasi yesterday revealed that water levels in Lake Kariba were so low that current supplies will only be able to generate power for the next 14 weeks, paving way for deeper power cuts in the country.

In a ministerial statement in the National Assembly, Chasi said the power situation was dire.

Earlier, when Chasi appeared before the Gabbuza Joel Gabuza-led Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Energy, he said heads would roll at power utility, Zesa Holdings.

He said those involved in shady energy deals, which saw the country losing millions of dollars to projects such as the Gwanda solar project, would be brought to book.

“The hydrological condition of Kariba Dam is that last week, the dam was 32% full and on Monday, it was 29% full, and if that trend continues, this means that in theory, within 14 weeks, Kariba will not be able to have power,” Chasi said.

“Zimbabwe and Zambia are allowed enough water to generate 358 megawatts (MW) and during the rainy season, they were allowed 418MW.”

Chasi said power usage was expected to rise from 350MW to 600MW during the winter season and this would worsen the situation, adding that load-shedding was here to stay.

“The shortages of foreign currency in the country has had a negative bearing on electricity supplies and the current electricity import bill is $83 million and as a result neighbouring countries are reluctant to supply electricity to Zimbabwe. We export 80MW of electricity daily to Namibia,” he said.

The country is enduring its worst rolling power cuts in three years, and although its mines have been spared so far, analysts say the cuts will hurt economic revival efforts.
Shortages of foreign currency have hampered Zimbabwe’s ability to import fuel, while Zesa is owed $200 million by government, companies and individuals.

Chasi told the Energy Committee that power blackouts lasting up to 10 hours could not be avoided as Zimbabwe is producing 1 100MW a day against a demand of 1 500MW.

The country required $96 million to import more than 200MW from regional suppliers like South Africa’s Eskom and Mozambique’s Hydro Cahora Bassa and Electricidade de Moçambique, said Chasi.

Zimbabwe owed the utilities $70 million for previous imports.

“There is no guarantee that there will be water, what we are seeing is a southward movement in water levels at Kariba. If the trend goes like that, we will probably say just after 14 weeks Kariba will not generate any megawatts,” Chasi said.

Kariba, the largest electricity producer in Zimbabwe with a capacity of 1 050MW, is generating less than a third of its installed capacity due to low water levels caused by a severe drought.

Zimbabwe commissioned an additional 300MW at Kariba last year, its biggest investment in electricity in more than 25 years, but a lack of investment is blamed for the current power shortages.

In a ministerial statement, Chasi said most problems in the energy sector were caused by lack of respect of law, and lack of corporate governance. Chasi said there was need to ensure that each parastatal in the energy sector is manned by qualified boards and management in order to have sustainable energy in the country.

The minister also told MPs that electricity tariffs will not increase as government was financially supporting Zesa. He said Zesa is owed $1,2 billion, with the largest chunk being local authorities owing $300 million and government departments $32 million.

On winter wheat, Chasi said farmers will be supplied with power four days per week.

-Newsday

Government will continue to engage civil servants and adjust their salaries against the prevailing inflation levels not the foreign currency exchange rate, Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube has said.

Responding to questions in Parliament on Wednesday, Prof Ncube said Government cannot benchmark its workers’ salaries on the RTGS dollar exchange rate to the United States currency.

 “First of all, when you think of salary adjustments for the civil servants, we never benchmark to an exchange rate to the USD in which case he’s used a parallel market rate of 1:8. We don’t do that. We try to bench mark salaries to the inflation level and that is how it ought to be done.

“Secondly, should we give civil servants an increase in line with the exchange rate which some Members of Parliament are mentioning? The answer is no. We’ll continue to engage the civil servants and it will be an increase that begins to ameliorate against the current levels of inflation and we’ll continue to engage them so that we can adjust their emoluments both in monetary and non-monetary terms,” said Prof Ncube.

He said Government has surplus revenue in both RTGS and US dollars, which has benefited civil servants and other humanitarian needs such as Cyclone Idai.

“In RTGS currently and cumulatively, our surplus is about RTGS$600 million. If you divide that with the current exchange rate you get about US$$100 million.

“Having a surplus stops growth in money supply which in the long run will contribute towards a stabilisation of inflation. The surplus is being used to cushion civil servants in terms of higher wages. In January, we gave them a cushioning of RTGS$63 and an additional RTGS$400 million from April 1, 2019 to December. 

“We’re also using the surplus for social protection programmes starting with Cyclone Idai. We have allocated $100 million towards that process but also, we are using the surplus for the usual social protection programmes such as the food programme in both rural and urban areas,” said Prof Ncube.

He said the surplus revenue was also being used to support other social services such as the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM). 

“In addition to that we’re going to use the surplus for importing food. We have already issued out a tender through the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) to import additional food to deal with the impact of the drought. So it is being used in these areas,” said Prof Ncube.

Earlier, Parliamentarians had requested Prof Ncube to explain how Treasury was making surplus revenue yet inflation was increasing at an alarming rate.

“In his quarterly address to us, Prof Ncube mentioned that he had received income of 8, 2 percent. In the very next breath, he mentioned that there was 66 percent inflation. How can he claim to have a surplus when all those were figures of collection, 8 percent versus 66 percent?

“For example, if one is receiving a salary of $2 000 and they have got the exchange rate moving by 8, which means their salary is now $250. Now, if you’ve got a surplus, why have you not given the civil servants a very meaningful increase,” asked Harare North MP Allan Markham.

Mutare Central MP, Innocent Gonese asked the Minister if the surplus was of any real benefit to Zimbabweans looking at the standards of living that were deteriorating.

-State Media

By Farai Maguwu| The year was 2000. Robert Mugabe’s ZANU PF lost a constitutional referendum to the opposition and a coalition of CSOs who mobilized people to reject the draft constitution. The White community in Zimbabwe largely voted NO and are alleged to have mobilized financial resources for the No Vote and also for the MDC. The referendum took place only 4 months before a watershed general election and was seen by many pundits as a barometer of things to come. Mugabe had no time to come up with a campaign message that would change people’s minds.

Mugabe transformed himself into a radical anti-white, pan African activist. He became the spokesperson of all black people in the world. He declared war on the white community in Zimbabwe and unleashed thugs on farms. He exploited the historical land imbalance to his advantage and declared 3rd war of liberation which meant sending his supporters to grab farms from whites. His officials, including himself, emerged with several farms each. Mugabe is estimated to have grabbed more than 11 farms. His wife could have grabbed more. A land audit is being fiercely resisted for obvious reasons. A significant number of white Zimbabweans fled the country and settled in neighbouring countries whilst others went to Australia, New Zealand, Britain and other countries.

But what kind of society do Zimbabweans want to build. The answer can be seen in the voting patterns in MDC since 2000 and now remarkably in ZANU PF too. It is very clear Robert Mugabe’s anti-white rhetoric was for political preservation. I also would like to posit that Mugabe hated whites for dumping him for the MDC and he acted like a jilted lover who would rather set himself and his estranged lover alight than see her go with another man.

Since 2000, the Movement for Democratic Change has had a significant number of white politicians being overwhelmingly voted into party structures and also into parliament. Arguably the most prominent of them was the late Roy Bennett, a man with whom I had personal friendship. Roy Bennett had a farm in Chimanimani where he employed hundreds of locals whom he also sometimes supported from his own pocket in difficult times. They nicknamed him Pachedu (among ourselves) or people who have a deep relationship. In 2000 he overwhelmingly won the Chimanimani seat.

In 2004, Roy Bennett was elected MDC Vice Chair Person for Manicaland. Immediately after his election his team, led by Pishai Muchauraya and Prosper Mutseyami called for an all stakeholders conference for all MDC structures in Manicaland and civil society. I was invited. Morgan Tsvangirai was invited too. Bennett spoke fluent Shona. As way back as 2004, civil society had began withdrawing itself from MDC for one reason or another. Bennett reminded us how the MDC was formed and said we are a family, fights do happen but we must find each other. I am sure I speak the truth when I say Manicaland Province was the most organized MDC province under the leadership of these three. Roy Bennett went a step further. He used personal resources to help the party. He was later elected to become the National Treasurer, a position he held with distinction.

I can say with certainty, he loved Zimbabwe and his love for his country didnt go unnoticed by the Zimbabwean people. When he campaigned again for parliament in 2005 he overwhelmingly won and ZANU PF put him in prison. In 2009 the late Morgan Tsvangirai appointed Roy Bennett to the position of Deputy Minister of Agriculture but Mugabe refused to swear him in and eventually forced him into exile. In Mutare his friend, Brian James became mayor of Mutare but again ZANU PF forced him out. As a resident of Mutare, I have heard people on countless occasions saying Brian James was the best mayor in a generation. He started a project of greening Mutare which abruptly stopped when he was forced out. He would visit patients in hospitals and even personally present Xmas presents to them.

In 2010 I spent a night in a police cell with another white MP, Ian Kay of Marondera. He shared with me his dream for a new Zimbabwe. In the following days I also met his wife Kerry, who joyfully stood by her husband throughout his ordeal. There were several other White Zimbabweans, including Eddie Cross, who were elected to parliament on an MDC ticket. And now the MDC structures have elected David Coltart to be the Treasurer General of their party.

But also of great importance, post Mugabe ZANU PF has also started creating room for white Zimbabweans in government and parliament. In Chimanimani Joshua Sacco stood on a ZANU PF ticket and won. President Emmerson Mnangagwa also surprised many when he appointed olympic gold winner Kirsty Coventry to be Minister of Youth, Sport, Art and Recreation.

What do we learn about these developments. Zimbabweans want a multi racial society where both whites, blacks and asians work together to rebuild the country. There are still race issues to be addressed, the land question need to be handled in a non – racial, non political manner, government must put in place sustainable black empowerment projects, the country need healing from its toxic politics of the recent past. Without unity I don’t see how this economic jigsaw puzzle will be fixed.

Politicians must be guided by the people.

ENERGY minister Fortune Chasi yesterday revealed that water levels in Lake Kariba were so low that current supplies will only be able to generate power for the next 14 weeks, paving way for deeper power cuts in the country.

In a ministerial statement in the National Assembly, Chasi said the power situation was dire.

Earlier, when Chasi appeared before the Gabbuza Joel Gabuza-led Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Energy, he said heads would roll at power utility, Zesa Holdings.

He said those involved in shady energy deals, which saw the country losing millions of dollars to projects such as the Gwanda solar project, would be brought to book.

“The hydrological condition of Kariba Dam is that last week, the dam was 32% full and on Monday, it was 29% full, and if that trend continues, this means that in theory, within 14 weeks, Kariba will not be able to have power,” Chasi said.

“Zimbabwe and Zambia are allowed enough water to generate 358 megawatts (MW) and during the rainy season, they were allowed 418MW.”

Chasi said power usage was expected to rise from 350MW to 600MW during the winter season and this would worsen the situation, adding that load-shedding was here to stay.

“The shortages of foreign currency in the country has had a negative bearing on electricity supplies and the current electricity import bill is $83 million and as a result neighbouring countries are reluctant to supply electricity to Zimbabwe. We export 80MW of electricity daily to Namibia,” he said.

The country is enduring its worst rolling power cuts in three years, and although its mines have been spared so far, analysts say the cuts will hurt economic revival efforts.
Shortages of foreign currency have hampered Zimbabwe’s ability to import fuel, while Zesa is owed $200 million by government, companies and individuals.

Chasi told the Energy Committee that power blackouts lasting up to 10 hours could not be avoided as Zimbabwe is producing 1 100MW a day against a demand of 1 500MW.

The country required $96 million to import more than 200MW from regional suppliers like South Africa’s Eskom and Mozambique’s Hydro Cahora Bassa and Electricidade de Moçambique, said Chasi.

Zimbabwe owed the utilities $70 million for previous imports.

“There is no guarantee that there will be water, what we are seeing is a southward movement in water levels at Kariba. If the trend goes like that, we will probably say just after 14 weeks Kariba will not generate any megawatts,” Chasi said.

Kariba, the largest electricity producer in Zimbabwe with a capacity of 1 050MW, is generating less than a third of its installed capacity due to low water levels caused by a severe drought.

Zimbabwe commissioned an additional 300MW at Kariba last year, its biggest investment in electricity in more than 25 years, but a lack of investment is blamed for the current power shortages.

In a ministerial statement, Chasi said most problems in the energy sector were caused by lack of respect of law, and lack of corporate governance. Chasi said there was need to ensure that each parastatal in the energy sector is manned by qualified boards and management in order to have sustainable energy in the country.

The minister also told MPs that electricity tariffs will not increase as government was financially supporting Zesa. He said Zesa is owed $1,2 billion, with the largest chunk being local authorities owing $300 million and government departments $32 million.

On winter wheat, Chasi said farmers will be supplied with power four days per week.

-Newsday

Humanitarian agency, Save the Children, has embarked on infant and young children feeding awareness campaigns in famine-ravaged Binga district, Matabeleland North province to reduce stunting.

The programme is part of Save the Children’s ongoing humanitarian aid programme where about 4 000 mostly vulnerable community members from 947 households are each receiving US$9 monthly to purchase food items to prevent hunger-related deaths owing to drought.

Binga has not been spared the harsh effects of the El Nino-induced drought that swept across the country, leaving over five million people facing starvation, according government and aid agencies.

Save the Children health and nutrition manager Mthulisi Dube said it has roped in traditional leaders to develop community rules on infant and young children feeding to reduce stunting, as well as encourage nutrition behaviour change among communities under the infant and child-feeding educational programmes.

“Traditional leaders will continue to be engaged to share information on gender and culture in infant and young children feeding and promote positive infant feeding at household level. The traditional leaders have positively influenced uptake of growth monitoring and vitamin A supplementation in their respective communities,” Dube told journalists during a tour to one of its programme sites in Chinonge ward in Binga district on Wednesday.

Save the Children is implementing the programme in Binga’s worst drought-affected areas including Chinonge, Ngani, Kariangwe, Siachilaba and Simatelele.

“The traditional leaders will also disseminate important information and develop community rules that encourage male participation in infant and young children feeding programme and discourage neglect. We also have trained a number to be village health workers to provide comprehensive and effective nutrition counselling to mothers. This has resulted in Binga recording the highest vitamin A supplementation and growth monitoring in the country,” Dube noted.

“In addition, 24 830 people from Binga district have indirectly benefited from improved feeding and care practices for mothers, infants and children under two years, improved quality and delivery of maternal, infant and child nutrition services and increased access to maternal, infant and child nutrition and agricultural services.”

The programme is being implemented with assistance from the district administrator Lydia Banda-Ndete’s office which provides the profiling of the most vulnerable communities in the underdeveloped district. Banda-Ndete on Tuesday confirmed the district has been hard hit by the climatic change-induced drought.

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions has implored President Emmerson Mnangagwa to urgently convene a Tripartite Negotiating Forum (TNF) meeting to address economic challenges being faced by the nation, saying failure to act would lead to unrest.

The prevailing economic crisis has seen inflation skyrocketing and prices rising beyond the reach of many.

“Your Excellency, the situation on the ground is volatile and the nation is on the edge. Your intervention in this matter is urgently sought,” a letter written by ZCTU president Peter Mutasa to Mnangagwa dated May 29, read.

This is the second time that labour has demanded dialogue with government, saying if the State fails to call for a national TNF, the situation would explode and demonstrations were bound to take place.

“Your Excellency, the rising inflation and prices has had a devastating impact on ordinary citizens incomes for those lucky enough to be in work or to have a pension, (which has been) miserably eroded, condemning many into abject poverty,” Mutasa said.

“Their predicament is worsened by the fact that most people do not have access to foreign exchange, while service providers are demanding payment in hard currency. All of this leaves most people unable to pay for critical services, be it education, housing, healthcare or transport.”

The letter by the country’s largest labour federation follows a resolution of its general council to engage government on the crisis before rolling out demonstrations and other forms of protests to force authorities to act on the economy.

ZCTU said the TNF was a matter of urgency and government needs to engage labour and business to arrest the economic deterioration.

In January, it organised a three-day stayaway after Mnangagwa announced a 150% fuel price hike.

The stay-away turned violent, with security agents killing 17 people to ruthlessly crush the demonstrations, according to human rights groups.
Hundreds other were injured.

-Newsday

PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa has pledged that his government will grow the economy and improve the lives of poor Zimbabweans regardless of the sanctions imposed on the country by Western countries.

Speaking during an official visit by Tanzanian President John Magufuli, Mnangagwa said although sanctions were slowing down economic growth and hurting the poor, his government had put in place a plan to salvage the comatose economy.

“Our economy was greatly affected by the sanctions imposed on us nearly now close to 18 years. Under the new dispensation, we have said with or without sanctions, we must focus on developing our economy,” Mnangagwa said.

“We will use our own domestic resources to industrialise, modernise and improve our economy. The speed of development is constrained by the question of sanctions, which my brother (Magufuli) is appealing to those who imposed sanctions on us to remove them.”

He said on the back of mining and farming, the economy was projected to grow by 4,5% by end of year, but admitted the journey would be painful calling on fellow citizens to tighten their belts.

“The areas that have given us the pace to grow is the mining sector and when it’s a good season like the last two or three seasons, agriculture also helps us to grow. So the agricultural, mining and tourism sectors are actually growing,” Mnangagwa said.

“Other sectors like industry and commerce are constrained by the fact that we have to retool after 18 years of sanctions now. Most of our industry has obsolete equipment.”

Zimbabwe is facing an economic meltdown characterised by company closures, skyrocketing prices and a failing local currency, which is taking a beating from hard currencies both on the black and inter-bank markets.

Magufuli said Zimbabweans needed to give Mnangagwa a chance and support him as he pushes the reforms agenda.

He said in Mnangagwa, Zimbabwe had a critical and important partner for development.

-Newsday

Own Correspondent|The Joint Operations Command (JOC) led by the Zimbabwe Defence Forces and State Security has officially taken over the burial programme for the late national hero Dumiso Dabengwa and will not allow anyone other than a family representative and a government official probably Vice President Kembo Mohadi to address the gathering.

The move which was strongly emphasised to both ZAPU, the political party Dabengwa led, and his family is believed to be a direct move to screen people who will speak at the burial including opposition MDC leader Nelson Chamisa and officials from ZAPU.

Chamisa is however expected to give a keynote address at Dabengwa’s memorial service to be held at the White City Stadium today.

Minister of State for Provincial Affairs for Bulawayo Judith Ncube yesterday said all solidarity messages will be delivered today at White City Stadium as tomorrow’s burial proceedings will be confined to a State programme.

“Tomorrow’s (today) memorial service will be mainly controlled by the family. It’s a memorial service that we expect to be very big considering Dr Dabengwa’s stature. Those wishing to deliver solidarity messages are expected to speak tomorrow. However, on Saturday, it will be a burial service and we all know that in the burial of a national hero, it’s a closed programme where only the family speaks before the President delivers his speech,” said Ncube.

She said members of the public that intend to share their memories on Dr Dabengwa would be advised to do so at today’s memorial service at White City Stadium.

“So tomorrow (today) those who want to deliver solidarity messages, would be their day. We want to encourage those who will attend the memorial service to be at their best behaviour. We should respect Dr Dabengwa. We are what we are because of his contributions to the nation. We need to give him a huge send-off and I encourage members of the public to come in their numbers for the service. The gates at White City will be opened as early as 8AM,” she said.

Dr Dabengwa’s younger brother, Mr Jabu Dabengwa, said after the memorial service, the national hero’s body will lie in state at his home in Fourwinds suburb before they proceed for burial tomorrow morning.

“Most of the speeches by members of the public among other organisations will be delivered at the memorial service at White City Stadium. In Ntabazinduna where most of our relatives are based, the burial proceedings will follow what is done in the burial of other national heroes. There will be a family speaker and a Government representative. But we have also made a special request that our visitors from South Africa, members from African National Congress (ANC) and Umkhonto WeSizwe could deliver they solidarity messages during the burial as they will only be in the country on Saturday,” said Dabengwa.

Zapu acting president Isaac Mabuka confirmed the development. Burial programmes for national heroes are normally handled by the Ministry of Home Affairs in conjunction with family members.

“Our secretary general Strike Mnkandla is with the JOC right now, finalising the burial programme for our late president. Phone him to ask for more details,” said Mabuka.

Mnkandla also confirmed the development, adding Zapu was expecting a number of foreign dignitaries for the burial at Ntabazinduna.

With outspoken local traditional leader Chief Nhlanhlayamangwe Ndiweni and others including MDC president Nelson Chamisa expected to attend, President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s handlers may want to reduce the risk of the Zanu PF leader being embarrassed if his adversaries are allowed to address mourners.

Chamisa’s spokesperson Nkululeko Sibanda confirmed the MDC leader has plans to attend.

“The president (Chamisa) was very close to the late national hero, Dabengwa and would want to attend his burial.

“There have been changes to the programme but president Chamisa is in constant touch with the family so that he is able to plan with the aim of paying his respects on his passing,” said Sibanda.

Dabengwa died last week in Nairobi, Kenya on his way back home from India where he had gone to seek specialist medical care.

He was declared a national hero but his family requested that he be laid to rest in his rural home as was his wish before he died.

FIVE Harare police officers yesterday appeared in court on allegations of receiving a bribe and stealing money from a suspected illegal foreign currency dealer. Tafadzwa Chidawa (31), Edward Solomani (33), Sydine Mugambiwa (32), Tendai Mangena (37) and Richard Majome (34) were facing criminal abuse of duty as a public officer charges when they appeared before Harare magistrate Mrs Barbra Mateko.

They were granted $100 bail each.

As part of their bail conditions they were ordered not to interfere with State witnesses and to continue residing at their given addresses.

They were also ordered to report once every Friday at CID Homicide.

Mrs Mateko deferred the matter to June 19.

The lawyer representing Chidawa, Solomani, Mugambiwa and Mangena told the court that his clients had complaints against the police who he accused of confiscating their personal savings amounting to US$240 from their homes.

In consenting to bail, prosecutor Mr Sebastian Mutizirwa told the court that the State was not opposing it because all the accused persons are police officers and that they all live in police camps.

The court heard that on May 28 Chiwara, who operates his business as Structured Finance and Commodity Trading together with Minister Monica Mutsvangwa’s Son Neville, went to a block of flats located at the corner of Fife Avenue and Fifth Street, Harare, to meet a friend who had offered him an exchange rate in RTGS transfer for his US$200 000 which he had.

It is the State’s case that Chiwara went to the block of flats in the company of Henry Abraham and Wisdom Hodzi where they started counting the money.

After they finished counting the money which amounted to US$200 000, the five accused persons arrived and informed them that they were under arrest for illegal dealing in foreign currency and were taken to ZRP Harare Central in a BMW 5 Series which belongs to Chidawa while Abraham was ferried in the police vehicle.

Mutsvangwa was not at the location when the raid was conducted and the police arrested his associates Darlington Ndaba Chiwara and Henry Abrahams

The court heard that on their way to Harare Central Police Station, Chidawa and his accomplices told Chiwara that his money would be seized. They emphasised this aspect, prompting Chiwara to suggest that he would leave part of the recovered money in Chidawa’s car and removed money amounting to US$158 400.

It is the State’s case that upon arrival at Harare Central Police Station the accused persons and Chiwara disembarked from the car with a suitcase containing US$41 600 and took it to CID TFC office and left $USD158 400 secured in the locked motor vehicle.

The court heard that whilst at CID TFC offices the accused persons counted the cash to be recorded and seized. They further agreed to remove another US$20 590 left US$21 010 which was to be blocked as exhibit after they said they wanted US$2 000 as a bribe which they took and shared amongst themselves.

The remaining cash which amounted US$21 010 was later taken as exhibit.

It is alleged that Chidawa later gave Abraham the cash which was left in the motor vehicle and the former gave him cash amounting to US$1 000 as a token of appreciation for helping him conceal the cash.

The court heard that Abraham later took the cash which he counted and discovered that it amounted to US$146 400 and US$11 000 was missing.

Tafadzwa Hungwe is representing Majome.

A prostitute who is popular in the Mkoba area in Gweru has been unmasked to be actually male.

Bismark Damba (pictured) has been masquerading as a woman going by the name Cynthia Damba for the past five years, but his lucky finally ran out after he was recently assaulted by his client who discovered that the prostitute was actually a man.

The incident occurred at the popular Mpambadzire night club in Mkoba 6 shopping centre after the man, Bismarck Damba, who was popularly known as Cynthia Damba was exposed.

Patience Moyo, a vendor who witnessed the incident unfolding said everyone was shocked to discover the “woman” they had known for years was a man.

“We have known Cynthia for quite some time now and it is disturbing and shocking to find out that she is a ‘man’. We have known her for more than five years, and we never at any time suspected that ‘she’ might be lying about her identity,” said Moyo.

Tatenda Chiminya who works as a cashier in one of the shops at the shopping centre said it remained a mystery how Damba managed to fool everyone.

“What remains a mystery is how he managed to convince everyone that he is a ‘woman’. How then was he sleeping with clients for the past five years. And in those five years, none of his clients noticed that he is a man pretending to be a woman.

” He was also part of an all-female dance group that always performed in the club. The whole incident feels like a script from a movie,” she said.

A female sex worker who declined to be named and works in the same night club said it was a relief that Damba was finally caught.

“He was taking our clients from us and to us it’s a relief that he has been exposed because our clients will finally come back to us,” she said. — BMetro

State Media|Mystery surrounds the distribution of fuel in Zimbabwe after authorities have established that while enough funds have been availed for players to procure the product, it has not been channelled to the market, resulting in shortages that have been witnessed countrywide.

It has also emerged that for the month of June, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) released letters of credit for the acquisition of 170 million litres against a national requirement of 140 million, raising serious questions about leakages in the industry.

This came out after Energy and Power Development Minister Advocate Fortune Chasi and RBZ Governor Dr John Mangudya met fuel players in Harare yesterday and told them about new measures to curtail leakages in the fuel supply system.

Among the measures will be the renewal of licences half-yearly and cancellation of operating licences for those who flout procedure.

Minister Chasi later appeared before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Energy and Power Development.

He said the measures were expected to instil discipline in industry players and plug leakages amid indications that the RBZ has made provision to acquire 170 million litres of fuel for next month against a requirement of 130 million litres.

“I was in a meeting with players from the fuel industry and this is the second time that I am meeting them since I was appointed. The meeting was occasioned by the queues that we are seeing at the service stations throughout the country.

“The meeting was attended by the Reserve Bank Governor Dr John Mangudya and his staff and I made it very clear that licences are issued when the regulator is satisfied that it’s in the national interest. And so when people begin to misbehave, as we understand from the public because I have been inundated by many complaints from the public, we act,” he said.

Minister Chasi added: “Some say that when fuel is delivered, only a few people a served then they are told that fuel is finished when it’s evidently clear that the fuel was there. There has also been instances where service stations refuse certain types of payments, insisting on US dollars.

“This has occasioned untold suffering on the driving public and as Government we are there to protect the national interests. We are there to make sure that fuel is distributed rationally throughout the country.”

He said he made it very clear during the meeting that this strong element of dishonesty will not be tolerated by Government.

“We have agreed with the industry that all service stations will be wet today (yesterday). So we are expecting that they will be some movements — significant movement — around the issue of availability of fuel.

“I also mentioned that I have just completed work on regulations around penalties for misbehaviour and those regulations will be sent to the Attorney-General for examination and finalisation. We expect them to come into force pretty soon. We need order in this industry.

“I pointed that in order to enhance availability of information to the public, I will be publicising who received what amount of fuel and when, so there is nowhere to hide.

“I also remind them that their licences will be due for renewal in six months. So when that time comes we will look at the conduct and behaviour of each player and it’s our right as government not to renew licences of entities run by devious people.”

Minister Chasi also indicated that they had set up task forces to investigate misconduct by some service stations that are responsible for diverting fuel to the parallel market.

“We learnt that depots are also part of the cause of the problem, fuel is escaping through those depots and we are going to investigate on that,” he told the parly committee after he had been asked what he was doing to end fuel queues.

Dr Mangudya told the same committee that investigations were necessary since the country since the country was procuring more than enough fuel every month.

“As of now we have letters of credit worth 170 million litres of fuel for the coming against 130 million litres required by the nation for the same period,” he said.

He assured the committee that the Central Bank will always avail funds to procure adequate fuel every month.

On fuel pricing, Minister Chasi said the industry pointed out that there was instability in terms of some of the templates that were being used to determine fuel prices.

“I have asked them to go and develop that position, giving us facts and figures. We are due to meet them the week after next, on Thursday so that we can develop the issue they have raised.

“The governor was able to demonstrate to the industry that people accessed money to bring in certain levels of fuel and that there is fuel. This why we are saying the queues must begin to move without delay,” he said.

Minister Chasi said the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) last week announced the fuel price and it had not changed.

Last week ZERA gazetted new maximum retail prices of fuel reflecting average increases of 46 percent for blend petrol and 49 percent for diesel.

ZERA said the new prices were premised on the interbank market rate and will see a litre of blend petrol (E10) retailing at $4,97 while diesel will sell at $4,89 per litre.

ZERA said the new prices were in line with measures taken by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) on fuel procurement, now based on the ruling exchange rate on interbank market where oil marketers now obtain forex to import fuel.

The country has been facing intermittent fuel shortages as a result of a shortage of foreign currency and activities of dealers who are working in connivance with people in the fuel industry especially attendants who have been accused of diverting fuel to the black market.

Farai Dziva|ZIMSEC has sternly warned candidates to desist from cheating as the June examinations commence.

See the ZIMSEC statement below:

Zimbabwe Schools Examinations Council wishes to inform the nation that the June 2019 Ordinary and Advanced Level Examination sessions are scheduled to begin on 3 June.

The examinations will run until 26 June 2019. In that regard, we would like all our valued and trusted stakeholders to be informed on the issues that are related to these examinations.

All candidates must ensure that they attend examination sessions on time. The starting times of the morning and afternoon sessions are clearly stated on the candidates’ examination entry statements.

ZIMSEC urges all stakeholders to ensure that examinations are run according to the set regulations.

Where these are breached, stakeholders should report immediately so that action is taken by ZIMSEC.

Stakeholders have the ability to ensure that examination malpractice is stopped. We wish to let the nation aware of some who change dates on old examination question papers and sell these as current question papers on the Whatsapp platform. Guard yourself against these people.

The ZIMSEC regulations are clear that any candidate found guilty of breaching examination regulations will have their results either withheld, pending an investigation or nullification.

ZIMSEC encourages all stakeholders and members of society to report any such incidents of examination malpractice, unethical business practices and corruption.

State Media|BULAWAYO residents have been urged to give national hero Dr Dumiso Dabengwa a befitting send-off by turning up in their numbers for a memorial service to be held in his honour at White City Stadium today.

The service is expected to start at 9AM before his burial tomorrow in Ntabazinduna, Matabeleland North. Government has provided 11 buses to ferry residents who intend to attend the memorial service.

Dr Dabengwa died last week on Thursday in Nairobi, Kenya, while en-route to Zimbabwe from India where he had been taken for medical treatment. He was 79 and died following a liver related illness that started last year in November.

Minister of State for Provincial Affairs for Bulawayo Judith Ncube yesterday said all solidarity messages will be delivered today at White City Stadium as tomorrow’s burial proceedings will be confined to a State programme.

“Tomorrow’s memorial service will be mainly controlled by the family. It’s a memorial service that we expect to be very big considering Dr Dabengwa’s stature. Those wishing to deliver solidarity messages are expected to speak tomorrow. However, on Saturday, it will be a burial service and we all know that in the burial of a national hero, it’s a closed programme where only the family speaks before the President delivers his speech,” said Ncube.

She said members of the public that intend to share their memories on Dr Dabengwa would be advised to do so at today’s memorial service at White City Stadium.

“So tomorrow (today) those who want to deliver solidarity messages, would be their day. We want to encourage those who will attend the memorial service to be at their best behaviour. We should respect Dr Dabengwa. We are what we are because of his contributions to the nation. We need to give him a huge send-off and I encourage members of the public to come in their numbers for the service. The gates at White City will be opened as early as 8AM,” she said.

Dr Dabengwa’s younger brother, Mr Jabu Dabengwa, said after the memorial service, the national hero’s body will lie in state at his home in Fourwinds suburb before they proceed for burial tomorrow morning. “Most of the speeches by members of the public among other organisations will be delivered at the memorial service at White City Stadium. In Ntabazinduna where most of our relatives are based, the burial proceedings will follow what is done in the burial of other national heroes. There will be a family speaker and a Government representative. But we have also made a special request that our visitors from South Africa, members from African National Congress (ANC) and Umkhonto WeSizwe could deliver they solidarity messages during the burial as they will only be in the country on Saturday,” said Mr Dabengwa.

Bulawayo Provincial Information Officer Mr Farai Makuvaza said 11 buses would pick up residents who intend to attend the memorial service.

He said buses are expected to pick up residents as early as 7AM.

Some of the pick-up points include Mhlahlandlela Government Complex for ward 1, 4, 5 and 6 residents while residents from Ward 2 will be picked from Richmond Spar, Castle Arms, Trenance Hall, Cabatsha, Queens Park West and in Ward 3 residents will be picked from Imbizo Barracks, Fairbridge Bus Stop, Mahatshula and Glengary.

In Ward 7, 8, 9 and 12 a bus will pick passengers at Makokoba’s Efusini, Barbourfields Stadium, Thorngrove Shopping Centre, NocZim, D-Square, Mpopoma High School, Information Centre and Njube Police Station while those living in ward 10, 11, 14 will be picked up from Zothile Shopping Centre, Nhliziyo Shopping Centre, War Vets Office, Entumbane Spar, Emakhandeni, Hall, Woza Shopping Centre, Maunga, New Lobengula Bus Terminus.

For ward 16 and 17 residents their pick up points are Beit Hall, Emangcwabeni Turn, koMaplanka, Magwegwe North Bus Terminus, Lobengula West Turn, Gwabalanda Turn Off while Ward 17, 19 and 27 residents will get free transport in Old Pumula Terminus, Pumula Clinic, Pumula North Terminus, Pumula South Bus Terminus, Intemba Bus Stop, St Peters School, Mazwi Village, Robert Sinyoka School and Methodist Village.

Ward 20, 22, 23 residents will be picked from Tshabalala Garage, Sekusile, Queen Elizabeth Kiosk, Maqhawe Clinic, Nkulumane 12 Bus Terminus, Munyoro Shopping Centre, Manemo Shopping Centre and Bullet Shopping Centre while for Ward 21, 24, 25 dwellers they will be picked at Nketa 7 terminus, Nketa 9 Shopping Centre, Emganwini Flea Market, Khanyisa Shopping Centre, Bumby Lodge, Nketa High School, Nketa Garage, Nkulumane High School, Sidojiwe West Gate, Mbundane SDA Church, Esibhoraneni and Terminus.

For Cowdray Park’s ward 28 residents they will be picked at Emagetsini, Cowdray Park Terminus, Fly-Over Garikai Houses, Caravan Bus Stop, Booster Empompini, Esigodweni, TM, Sign Post while those staying in Ward 18 and 29 will be picked from Magwegwe West Terminus, Pats Hardware/Mabhodoko, Konron, Mountain view, Old Magwegwe Terminus and Caltex Garage.

Meanwhile, Bulawayo based war veterans, civil society organisations and activists who worked with Dabengwa have organised a “toyi – toyi” march to White City Stadium to honour Dabengwa.

The group will march from the Joshua Nkomo statue in the city centre to the stadium.

State Media|Government will continue to engage civil servants and adjust their salaries against the prevailing inflation levels not the foreign currency exchange rate, Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube has said.

Responding to questions in Parliament on Wednesday, Prof Ncube said Government cannot benchmark its workers’ salaries on the RTGS dollar exchange rate to the United States currency.

“First of all, when you think of salary adjustments for the civil servants, we never benchmark to an exchange rate to the USD in which case he’s used a parallel market rate of 1:8. We don’t do that. We try to bench mark salaries to the inflation level and that is how it ought to be done.

“Secondly, should we give civil servants an increase in line with the exchange rate which some Members of Parliament are mentioning? The answer is no. We’ll continue to engage the civil servants and it will be an increase that begins to ameliorate against the current levels of inflation and we’ll continue to engage them so that we can adjust their emoluments both in monetary and non-monetary terms,” said Prof Ncube.

He said Government has surplus revenue in both RTGS and US dollars, which has benefited civil servants and other humanitarian needs such as Cyclone Idai.

“In RTGS currently and cumulatively, our surplus is about RTGS$600 million. If you divide that with the current exchange rate you get about US$$100 million.

“Having a surplus stops growth in money supply which in the long run will contribute towards a stabilisation of inflation. The surplus is being used to cushion civil servants in terms of higher wages. In January, we gave them a cushioning of RTGS$63 and an additional RTGS$400 million from April 1, 2019 to December.

“We’re also using the surplus for social protection programmes starting with Cyclone Idai. We have allocated $100 million towards that process but also, we are using the surplus for the usual social protection programmes such as the food programme in both rural and urban areas,” said Prof Ncube.

He said the surplus revenue was also being used to support other social services such as the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM).

“In addition to that we’re going to use the surplus for importing food. We have already issued out a tender through the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) to import additional food to deal with the impact of the drought. So it is being used in these areas,” said Prof Ncube.

Earlier, Parliamentarians had requested Prof Ncube to explain how Treasury was making surplus revenue yet inflation was increasing at an alarming rate.

“In his quarterly address to us, Prof Ncube mentioned that he had received income of 8, 2 percent. In the very next breath, he mentioned that there was 66 percent inflation. How can he claim to have a surplus when all those were figures of collection, 8 percent versus 66 percent?

“For example, if one is receiving a salary of $2 000 and they have got the exchange rate moving by 8, which means their salary is now $250. Now, if you’ve got a surplus, why have you not given the civil servants a very meaningful increase,” asked Harare North MP Allan Markham.

Mutare Central MP, Innocent Gonese asked the Minister if the surplus was of any real benefit to Zimbabweans looking at the standards of living that were deteriorating.

Said Pelandaba Mpopoma legislator Charles Moyo while reading the Fourth Order on adjourned debate on motion on the Report of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission regarding the 2018 Harmonised Elections Tuesday:

“I now move to post election phase that is on page 26.  It is clear here that the board initially announced the results for the top three presidential candidates as Emmerson D. Mnangagwa having 50.8%, Nelson Chamisa having 44.3% and a nonentity Thokozani Khupe receiving 0.9%.  

After the constitutional petition, there was a review of the percentages here whereby Emmerson Mnangagwa was then declared that he gunned 50.6% from 50.8%.  There was a decrease of Chamisa’s vote from 44.3% to 44.39%.  Therefore, ZEC acknowledged that the first set of presidential results was wrong.  How do we then trust either the 3^rd, 4^th or 5^th presidential results which were announced? 

They admitted that there were mathematical or statistical errors –  who knows that there were such errors?  They only know.  Therefore the issue of legitimacy cannot be washed away.  It is very clear because there was such a review.  

There is also an issue that in the court papers that is on page 26 where the ZEC Chairperson conceded that some polling stations may have been counted twice.  How many were counted more than twice, ten, twenty or fifty times?  Therefore we cannot wash away the issue of legitimacy.  This report clearly points out that there is legitimacy crisis in Zimbabwe.  As a country, we must come up with a solution because we are being guided by what is written in the report. 

I can go on and on.  The military was heavily involved.  You can see recommendations on page 33 – 8.3.1 where it says ZDF should refrain from use of live ammunition on civilians during demonstrations and even after elections.  It is clearly written in the report.  It is very clear that the issue of legitimacy is questionable and as a country we must solve this.  I thank you.”

By Own Correspondent- A Zhombe man who was caught pants down with his uncle’s wife has claimed the woman was a dynamite in bed and has vowed to marry her.

Juda Muketiwa of Village 18 Bobs under Chief Gwesela in Zhombe was caught pants down with the woman in question, Letwin Masvaure, who is wife to his uncle Unity Nduku.

Muketiwa is son to Nduku’s elder sister.

The matter has since been heard before Chief Weight Gwesela’s court where Muketiwa was fined five head of cattle for adultery.

Nduku who is a gold dealer, was shocked when he returned home unannounced only to find his wife and his sister’s son having sex in his matrimonial bed.

Muketiwa is married to another woman with whom he has one child while Masvaure has two children with Nduku.

Chief Weight Gwesela confirmed that his court handled the matter and the man had since been fined.

“It is true we handled such a matter and the man was fined five beasts for the taboo. This is unheard of and we do not condone such activities. We have since fined the man and warned him against such actions,” said Chief Gwesela.

A source who also attended the court session said Muketiwa had since vowed to marry Masvaure whom he claimed was better than his wife in bed.

“He was heard after the court vowing that he was not going to let her go as ordered by the court saying the woman is good in bed. He vowed to pay lobola for the woman,” said the source.

The source said Muketiwa said the fine was a form of lobola and had since cemented their relationship.

“He said now that he has paid the five beasts, the relationship has been legalised and nothing was going to stop him from seeing her anytime he wanted,” the source further revealed.

By Own Correspondent- Police here have named three people who are among eight illegal gold miners who died when an explosive went off at Metallon Gold’s Jumbo Mine on Sunday evening.

They are James Fulakezi (28) of Mazowe Mine, Mbwana Juma (28) of Chegutu and Zorodza Maganga (29) of Mahuhwe, Mbire district.

Speaking at the mine, Kambamura said Metallon Gold has failed to live up to standard and expectations from an investor and Government will take immediate measures to curb the continuous loss of life at Jumbo Mine.

“Jumbo Mine has been under care and maintenance since 2017 but the unfortunate scenario is that employees have gone for more than two years without salaries. “Resultantly many of them have resorted to illegal gold mining,” said Kambamura.

“From January this year we have experienced 16 fatalities at this mine, from May 17 to date we have experienced 12 fatalities and now we have this tragedy. Eleven illegal gold miner went underground and came across another team which was doing secondary blasting.

“They called for permission to enter and got no response. Anticipating that everything was alright they proceeded and passed through a charged area, an explosive went off.

“It unfortunate that owners at this mine have failed to live up to standard and expectation of an investor. We had similar occurrences at Shamva Mine two months ago and two fatalities of people shot underground, running battles with mine security.”

Minister of State for Mash Central Provincial Affairs Senator Monica Mavhunga encouraged people in the province to stop engaging in illegal mining activities especially in disused mining shafts.

By Own Correspondent- Legislators here have raised concern over failure by President Emmerson Mnangagwa to adhere to constitutional provisons which guarantee gender equality in senior government appointments.

The development follows the appointment of only three women as ambassadors among the 18 recently appointed Zimbabwean consulars abroad.

Said Hon Madiwa:

“Thank you Madam Speaker.  I rise on a point of privilege according to Section 69 read together with Section 68 (d).  My point of privilege arises from Section 17 of the Constitution which says the State must promote full gender balance in Zimbabwe’s society and in particular the State must promote full participation of women in all spheres of the Zimbabwe society.  

Madam Speaker, the evidence available shows non-compliance with that Section, more specifically with the recent appointed nine boards.  I have seen very few women representation in the boards.  

To add on to that, the recently appointed Ambassadors, imagine Madam Speaker, of the 18 Ambassadors appointed, we only have three women and this shows non-compliance.”

By Own Correspondent- Harare City Council intends to build walk-up flats to ease accommodation challenges faced by teachers.

The local authority said it was making efforts to upgrade most council-owned facilities. Housing and Community Service director Addmore Nhekairo confirmed that the plan to construct accommodation for teachers was still at the preliminary stage.

“As council, we know and understand some of the challenges being faced by teachers. The major one is that of accommodation and this is the reason why we have decided to come up with this project.

“We are still working on the budget and all other things to be put into consideration on the project,” he said.

Nhekairo also said council would conduct a pilot project in Glen View where the first flats will accommodate 28 teachers.

“Very soon we are going to conduct a pilot project using Glen View 2 Primary school where we have given the school a piece of land to build flats for their teachers.

“We expect the flats to accommodate 28 teachers. It is our intention that once we have learnt some lessons from that pilot scheme we can then replicate it throughout the city so that our teachers are not affected when it comes to securing accommodation,” he said.

Meanwhile, the city is also in the process of building new schools and upgrading other facilities like community halls. Recently, the city, in partnership with NetOne, refurbished Sunningdale Community Hall which houses over 70 pre-school children and more than 2 600 people visit the centre every month.

Early this month the local authority held a ground-breaking ceremony for Kuwadzana 11 Council Primary School.

Farai Dziva|MDC A senator Lilian Timveous has said party members should focus on defeating Zanu PF- instead of jostling for positions.

Senator Timveous who was vying for the post of vice president said she would not be put off by her failure to land the post.

See her statement below :
I congratulate the President of Zimbabwe, Advocate Nelson Chamisa, for being endorsed by congress as The President of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

I also congratulate all the leaders who won at the 2019 MDC Congress.
The President was there throughout the cold nights of Gweru and worked hard to see the success of our Congress
I want to also thank Our people that made huge sacrifices to be at congress, endure the cold nights of Gweru and vote for their favourite candidates.

The provinces, districts and wards did a wonderful job. I was really overwhelmed by the show of confidence. The team spirit and unity of purpose was astounding. Tinotenda hama dzangu (siyabonga zihlobo). Mwari ndiye anogadza vatungamiriri (All leaders are made by God).

I want to Thank Senators, Members of Parliament and Councillors throughout Zimbabwe who assisted in taking care of our delegates, a lot of funding was needed to feed and take care of delegates. … Munogona, Your love and Support always goes unnoticed but it’s very much appreciated, SIYABONGA Bakhokheli bethu’
Let us work hard for the people of Zimbabwe.

I also want to thank all those who put in their own resources to propel my campaign. I am humbled. I have travelled back to Harare because of work and I can say with all confidence that I am safe and sound. I will never sell out the People’s struggle.

I am a loyal member of this Party and a Servant of the People.
NEVER EVER!
ZANU PF MUST GO! SIMPLE.
Thank You and
May God Bless You
Senator Lilian Timveos

Farai Dziva|Prominent political analyst Pedzisai Ruhanya has said the MDC A Congress has ended the hullabaloo surrounding the party’s presidency.

According to Ruhanya , Chamisa’s legitimacy as the MDC leader was resolved at the just ended party congress.

“The nonsense and hogwash about Chamisa’s legitimacy has been put to rest by the people in Gweru.

The MDC leadership problem was a political rather than legal matter and the people have spoken; the court of public opinion. Who can dispute this MDC team after this congress?”Ruhanya argued.

Farai Dziva| ZANU PF Youth League vice chairperson, Lewis Matutu has accused the United States of funding economic saboteurs.

Matutu reacted angrily to a statement by the US Embassy in Harare that castigated the government of Zimbabwe for its harassment and targeted arrests of civil society leaders.

“To hell with you hypocrites and devil of double evil standards, you have imposed sanctions on our country, you are funding economic saboteurs against our country.

You organize midnight meetings plotting to destabilising our country and now you pretend to care, really? Be ashamed,” declared Matutu.

The South African political scene took an interesting turn after the release of a report on how the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) apparently benefitted from the looting of VBS Mutual Bank.
The report was compiled by Scorpio investigative journalist Pauli van Wyk.

The interesting bit is from EFF leader Julius Malema’s threats towards Van Wyk and the party’s deflection from claims of corruption and the party’s sudden spirited defense of the public protector.

EFF Rejects Calls For Removal Of Public Protector pic.twitter.com/7e6iZUaRIU

— Economic Freedom Fighters (@EFFSouthAfrica) May 27, 2019

When the story, titled: “Cruising nicely on VBS: EFF’s Parties, Lies and Looted Money”, was released on Monday night, Malema’s response on Twitter was: “We are still cruising nicely, bana ba baloi [children of witches] are not happy. Go for kill fighters, hit hard.”

We are still cruising nicely, bana ba baloi are not happy. Go for kill fighters, hit hard…

— Julius Sello Malema (@Julius_S_Malema) May 28, 2019

Van Wyk noted: “Money robbed from VBS Mutual Bank funded the EFF’s fourth birthday bash, held at a popular party venue in Umlazi, Durban, in July 2017. This forms part of a chunk of the illegal R16.1 million Brian Shivambu’s company Sgameka Projects received from VBS that was ultimately channeled to the EFF. So far, Scorpio has isolated about R4.13 million in VBS loot paid towards the EFF, SA’s second-biggest opposition party.”

The article contains apparent copies of bank statements which, on the face of it, explain the flow of cash in “a scheme designed to mask the origin and ultimate beneficiaries of the funds.

VBS money flowed through companies over which Julius Malema and Floyd Shivambu have ultimate control.”

Malema responsed to Van Wyk when she asked him about the EFF leadership and treasurer-general Leigh-Ann Mathys, saying: “I won’t be answering any questions from this moloi [witch]; she can write anything she wants to write. I’ve responded to all her questions before and won’t be doing it going forward. I’m not answerable to white madam. She can go to the nearest hell.”

In an attempt to deflect from the VBS Bank matter, EFF deputy president Shivambu compared Van Wyk to a lizard and Pravin Gordhan to a crocodile.

“We really have no time fighting lizards when the crocodiles are the real enemy forces.”

ZANU-PF and State security details have condemned Mandedza High School which had been chosen as the ruling party’s venue for this year’s edition of its annual conference over security reasons.

Mashonaland East was chosen as the host province before its leadership opted for Seke District due to its proximity to the capital.

However, Mandedza High was condemned by security agents who are reportedly wary of the electricity lines that cross over the institution.

This has resulted in the provincial leadership moving to Murape Secondary School, about 15km from the initial venue.

Seke legislator Munyaradzi Kashambe yesterday confirmed the development and said they have identified a new venue.

“It is true the conference will no longer be held at Mandedza High School as announced earlier. This is due to security reasons and we have chosen Murape as the venue subject to confirmation from our superiors,” he said.

Security details reportedly condemned the initial venue on the grounds that the power lines pose danger given that the conference will coincide with the rainy season.

Zanu-PF provincial leaders opted for Seke constituency to host the mega event as it is near Harare where accommodation is readily available.

Meanwhile, addressing party members at a “thank you” rally held in Beatrice on Sunday, Kashambe said Seke Constituency will capitalise on the annual conference to attract development in the area.

“We are honoured to be the host constituency. During the last conference, Zanu-PF chairperson Comrade Oppah Muchinguri said in future, they will ensure that the host area will be developed. This is our time as a constituency to be developed. We are looking forward to improvement of infrastructure and drilling of boreholes among other things,” Kashambe said.

Zanu-PF in Mashonaland East has already started preparing for the annual event.

The Minister of Energy and Power Development Advocate Fortune Chasi has urged Zimbabweans to consider using bicycles and motorbikes  given the dire fuel shortages hitting the country.

Chasi said developed countries like the  United Kingdom and Holland are already using bicycles.

Last year Deputy government Spokesperson Energy Mutodi told Zimbabweans that he has dumped his huge fuel guzzling car and was now using an ex-Japan which consumes less fuel.

He later posted pictures of himself riding a bicycle and urged everyone to dump their cars and use bicycles.

IT guru Robert who commented on the matter said, “Last week the Minister advised people to adopt electric cars in a country with heavy load shedding. .Last month people were urged to consider alternatives for bread.

“I am wondering what’s coming next. Since internet data prices are beyond the reach of many, we will be encouraged to stop using Whatsapp , FB or Email and go back to posting letters. Instead of buying airtime we might be urged to buy postage stamps and use telegram for urgent messages.”

Zimbabwe has been facing fuel challenges since 2017.

Government has been battling to  contain the escalating price of fuel which has led to some garages in Bulawayo to cease selling fuel while waiting for the new prices to be issued by ZERA.

By Emmerson Mnangagwa|Today’s launch of the Procurement Regulatory Authority (PRAZ) is another step in our battle against corruption. I challenge PRAZ to ensure a modern, transparent and cost-effective procurement system that boosts public confidence and facilitates the implementation of government programmes and projects.

For too long, the procurement process has been beset by malpractice and corruption. This must stop. My government will not tolerate criminal and greedy tendencies. All practitioners must forsake the old ways of doing things, which have held us back as a nation.

As we rebuild and reform our economy, our procurement procedures will be characterised by the highest standards of integrity. Let us embrace a new culture to ensure sustainable economic growth leading to improved living standards for all Zimbabweans.

The government has advised motorists to cooperate with law enforcement agents and avoid obstructing the Presidential motorcade.

The government said that two incidents of obstructing the motorcade belonging to the Head of State have been noted in the last seven days, endangering the President’s life.

“In the last week, there have been two incidents where two motorists have obstructed the presidential motorcade, therefore, endangering the principal, the public, the escorting security and themselves.

May we encourage commuting motorists to cooperate with the law enforcement support team.”

The statement follows a video circulating on social media showing a member of the president’s security crushing a motorist’s car window and apparently beating up the driver in the process.

A woman who recorded the video is heard telling her colleague that the motorist did nothing wrong, while the other voice insists that he wouldn’t be beaten if he had done nothing wrong. She concludes by remarking that she does not like the current administration.

The International Board of Amnesty International has suspended Amnesty International Zimbabwe (AIZ) from the global movement and placed it under administration following evidence of fraud and serious financial misconduct.

An extensive forensic audit was conducted in late 2018 which uncovered evidence of fraud and serious financial mismanagement by individuals in AIZ.

National law enforcement agencies were notified of the findings earlier this year and the organization also commenced the legal process of civil recovery in order to recoup lost funds.

Amnesty International’s International Board can give an assurance that, since the allegations first came to light, urgent financial risk management measures have been put in place to ensure anti-fraud and corruption procedures have been adhered to and that donor funds are safe.

However, the decision has been made to take extraordinary measures on AIZ to protect the reputation, integrity and operation of the movement. It is with regret that it is now clear that AIZ has not been able to take the necessary steps in its duty of good governance.

Amnesty International is committed to working hand in glove with the appropriate authorities and is providing full assistance to all current investigations to ensure that any individual found to have been involved in misconduct is held to account.

We are unable to comment or provide further details until all investigations have been completed.

263chat

ZUPCO buses were ground to a halt in Harare on Wednesday after garages ran out fuel. A video that has circulated on the internet shows the buses stranded at a fuel garage.

The person who is taking the video  is heard saying people are stranded waiting for  the buses to come and ferry them to their different destinations.

Ex-MDC youth leader Shephard Dube said the Mnangagwa government was bound to fail when it initiated the idea.

“It was inevitable at the moment when it was introduced that it was bound to fail. You cannot  promise what you can’t deliver. I can bet to you that even the people who initiated this ZUPCO thing expected it to fail.

“Zimbabwe is now being run like a ponzi scheme. It is no difference to the devil promising to take you to heaven.”Dube said.

Watch the video below:

Police here have named three people who are among eight illegal gold miners who died when an explosive went off at Metallon Gold’s Jumbo Mine on Sunday evening.

They are James Fulakezi (28) of Mazowe Mine, Mbwana Juma (28) of Chegutu and Zorodza Maganga (29) of Mahuhwe, Mbire district.

Speaking at the mine, Kambamura said Metallon Gold has failed to live up to standard and expectations from an investor and Government will take immediate measures to curb the continuous loss of life at Jumbo Mine.

“Jumbo Mine has been under care and maintenance since 2017 but the unfortunate scenario is that employees have gone for more than two years without salaries. “Resultantly many of them have resorted to illegal gold mining,” said Kambamura.

“From January this year we have experienced 16 fatalities at this mine, from May 17 to date we have experienced 12 fatalities and now we have this tragedy. Eleven illegal gold miner went underground and came across another team which was doing secondary blasting.

“They called for permission to enter and got no response. Anticipating that everything was alright they proceeded and passed through a charged area, an explosive went off.

“It unfortunate that owners at this mine have failed to live up to standard and expectation of an investor. We had similar occurrences at Shamva Mine two months ago and two fatalities of people shot underground, running battles with mine security.”

Minister of State for Mash Central Provincial Affairs Senator Monica Mavhunga encouraged people in the province to stop engaging in illegal mining activities especially in disused mining shafts.

Own Correspondent|Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services Monica Mutsvangwa’s son has been fingered in a massive foreign currency dealing syndicate which eventually went wrong.

Reports indicate that four police officers were recently arrested for under-declaring money seized during a raid on an illegal foreign currency trading business owned by Neville Mutsvangwa.

Neville is the son of Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa and former presidential adviser Chris Mutsvangwa, who are known to frequent his office.

Detectives Tafadzwa Chidawa, Tendai Mangena, Edward Selemanni and Sydney Mugomba, were set to appear before magistrates on Thursday charged with criminal abuse of office.

The detectives raided number 3 Sanfenand Flats on Fife Avenue in Harare, Neville’s offices on Tuesday and found US$200,000 in cash.

Mutsvangwa was not there but the officers arrested his associates Darlington Ndaba Chiwara and Henry Abrahams on charges of illegally dealing in foreign exchange.

Investigators say the officers then conspired, after taking a bribe from Chiwara and Abrahams, to only seize US$40,000, which later reduced to US$20,000 by the time the money was declared at the police station.

Under tough new laws introduced by President Emmerson Mnangagwa last year, unlicensed foreign currency traders face up to 10 years in jail if convicted and loss of their money and assets.

By Own Correspondent- National police spokesperson, Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi defended the unusually heavy police presence in Harare CBD since Tuesday saying the police were conducting patrols.

This comes after opposition leader Nelson Chamisa promised that his party will have crippling protests nationwide over the unrelenting economic and political crises.

Some social media users were suggesting that the military had besieged president Mnangagwa and were forcing him to sign his resignation.

Nyathi said:

“The police officers were performing their constitutional duties.

The role of the ZRP is to conduct patrols in all parts of the country. We encourage people to co-operate with the police officers on duty.”-Newsday

The International Board of Amnesty International has taken the unprecedented step of suspending Amnesty International Zimbabwe (AIZ) from the global movement and placing it under administration following evidence of fraud and serious financial misconduct.

An extensive forensic audit was conducted in late 2018 which uncovered evidence of fraud and serious financial mismanagement by individuals in AIZ. National law enforcement agencies were notified of the findings earlier this year and the organization also commenced the legal process of civil recovery in order to recoup lost funds.

Amnesty International’s International Board can give an assurance that, since the allegations first came to light, urgent financial risk management measures have been put in place to ensure anti-fraud and corruption procedures have been adhered to and that donor funds are safe.

However, the decision has been made to take extraordinary measures on AIZ to protect the reputation, integrity and operation of the movement. It is with regret that it is now clear that AIZ has not been able to take the necessary steps in its duty of good governance.

Amnesty International is committed to working hand in glove with the appropriate authorities and is providing full assistance to all current investigations to ensure that any individual found to have been involved in misconduct is held to account.

We are unable to comment or provide further details until all investigations have been completed.

Please note: We will NOT be fielding spokespeople for interviews. For any further clarification please contact Robert Shivambu, Media Manager, Amnesty International Southern Africa, on +27 83 437 5732 or [email protected]

Robert Shivambu
Media Manager – Southern Africa
Amnesty International
T: +27 (0) 11 283 6000 ext 276023
M: +27 (0) 83 437 5732

National police spokesperson, Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi defended the unusually heavy police presence in Harare CBD since Tuesday saying that were conducting patrols.

This comes after opposition leader Nelson Chamisa promised that his party will have crippling protests nationwide over the unrelenting economic and political crises.

Some social media users were suggesting that the military had besieged president Mnangagwa and were forcing him to sign his resignation.

Nyathi said:
The police officers were performing their constitutional duties.
The role of the ZRP is to conduct patrols in all parts of the country. We encourage people to co-operate with the police officers on duty.NewsDay

Said President Emmerson Mnangagwa in a statement:

Today’s launch of the Procurement Regulatory Authority (PRAZ) is another step in our battle against corruption. I challenge PRAZ to ensure a modern, transparent and cost-effective procurement system that boosts public confidence and facilitates the implementation of government programmes and projects.

For too long, the procurement process has been beset by malpractice and corruption. This must stop. My government will not tolerate criminal and greedy tendencies. All practitioners must forsake the old ways of doing things, which have held us back as a nation.

As we rebuild and reform our economy, our procurement procedures will be characterised by the highest standards of integrity. Let us embrace a new culture to ensure sustainable economic growth leading to improved living standards for all Zimbabweans.

Farai Dziva| ZANU PF Youth League vice chairperson, Lewis Matutu has accused the United States of funding economic saboteurs.

Matutu reacted angrily to a statement by the US Embassy in Harare that castigated the government of Zimbabwe for its harassment and targeted arrests of civil society leaders.

“To hell with you hypocrites and devil of double evil standards, you have imposed sanctions on our country, you are funding economic saboteurs against our country.

You organize midnight meetings plotting to destabilising our country and now you pretend to care, really? Be ashamed,” declared Matutu.

Farai Dziva|Prominent political analyst Pedzisai Ruhanya has said the MDC A Congress has ended the hullabaloo surrounding the party’s presidency.

According to Ruhanya , Chamisa’s legitimacy as the MDC leader was resolved at the just ended party congress.

“The nonsense and hogwash about Chamisa’s legitimacy has been put to rest by the people in Gweru.

The MDC leadership problem was a political rather than legal matter and the people have spoken; the court of public opinion. Who can dispute this MDC team after this congress?”Ruhanya argued.

Farai Dziva|Prominent political analyst Pedzisai Ruhanya has said the MDC A Congress has ended the hullabaloo surrounding the party’s presidency.

According to Ruhanya , Chamisa’s legitimacy as the MDC leader was resolved at the just ended party congress.

“The nonsense and hogwash about Chamisa’s legitimacy has been put to rest by the people in Gweru.

The MDC leadership problem was a political rather than legal matter and the people have spoken; the court of public opinion. Who can dispute this MDC team after this congress?”Ruhanya argued.

By Own Correspondent- President Emmerson Mnangagwa has appointed Justice Loice Matanda-Moyo as the new chairperson of the Zimbabwe Anti Corruption Commission (ZACC).

Justice Matanda-Moyo is the wife of Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Lieutenant General (retired) Sibusiso Busi (SB) Moyo.

Minister Moyo is the one who made the announcement of the removal of former President Robert Mugabe in the November 2017 military coup.

Justice Matanda Moyo was once touted as a possible candidate to become the chairperson of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) before Justice Priscilla Chigumba was eventually appointed.

Matanda-Moyo’s appointment comes after the entire Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) tendered their resignation in January 2019.

Before the appointment was made, however, critics had questioned the possible appointment arguing that there was a clear conflict of interest. Critics argue that she will be too conflicted to effectively go after any cases which may involve her husband’s cabinet colleagues or even her husband himself.

Before her appointment, Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda defended her shortlisting by Parliament. He actually took out an advert in daily newspapers said critics were “focusing of her marital status while ignoring the fact that she is eminently qualified”

By Own Correspondent- Former Vice President, Joyce Mujuru’s party has urged the President Cyril Ramaphosa to act on Zimbabwe which was on fire calling on the newly elected South African elect leader to help address his counterpart’s dictatorial tendencies.

The National People’s Party said that South Africa could help Zimbabwe to return to normalcy as they share a collective history of fighting white domination.

In a statement, Mujuru spokesperson Gift Ndoro said:

Both countries stood by one another in the achieving of the one man one vote revolutionary ideal. Today, your Zimbabwean neighbour is on fire. Human rights abuses, endemic corruption and militarisation of civilian politics is now the order and normalcy of governance.

As we remain in search of answers for our problems back home South Africa; we shall forever call upon for your support on our quest for good governance when our difficulties as a nation are finally tabled either before Sadc or African Union.

NPP believes that its time neighbouring countries should have strength and courage in telling dictatorial regimes that when they want to eat their children; they should stop behaving like a hyena that blames its children for smelling like goats.

The party applauded the South African government for not coercing the electorate into voting against their will.-DailyNews

Farai Dziva|Zanu PF and MDC A are set to resume their rivalry in a by-election for Ward 31 Bikita.

The council seat became vacant after the death of Zanu PF Councillor Patrick Marozhe in April.

According to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission the Nomination Court is expected to sit on May 31.

Moses Maposa, will represent MDC A while Thomas Mataga will represent Zanu PF.

“The Nomination Court will sit tomorrow in Bikita and everything is in place,” a ZEC official said.

By Own Correspondent- A Chitungwiza man has been dragged to court charged with attempted murder of his unborn child after he allegedly slipped an abortion pill into his girlfriend’s womb.

Tatenda Magombeyi was not asked to plead when he appeared before Harare magistrate Barbra Mateko who released him on $100 bail.

The State led by Sabastian Mutizirwa told the court that Magombeyi was having an extra marital affair with Betha Chindewere which resulted in her getting pregnant.

Magombeyi was unwilling to keep the pregnancy and asked Chindewere to abort it but she refused and was insistent on keeping it.

Chindewere’s insistence caused Magombeyi to insert the abortion pill into Chindewere’s womb without her knowledge with the intention to terminate the pregnancy.

Magombeyi fell ill on March 27 and visited the hospital where a doctor who attended to her discovered a pill that was inserted in her privates.

The matter was remanded to June 9.

Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube on Wednesday faced MPs’ questions on the economy, in a session marked by a new round of heated policy debate with Tendai Biti, a former Finance Minister.

Highlights: Tendai Biti suggests that the solution to ending the currency crisis in Zimbabwe is to ditch the RTGS and return to dollarisation, a proposal that Ncube rejected.
Ncube shoots back at Biti, saying monetary policy was curtailed under Biti, to which Biti says a country can in fact do without a central bank or monetary policy. Biti also demands answers on why Afreximbank continues to lend money to Zimbabwe, and why such loans are not brought to Parliament for approval.

Excerpts below, courtesy of Parliament’s Hansard:

HON. BITI: Hon. Speaker Sir, my question is to the esteemed Minister of Finance and Economic Development. On the 1st October 2018, the Minister of Finance and Economic Development assumed office. He assured the country that within six months, he would have mitigated the economic challenges but ten months later, the economy is on a tailspin and there are many shortages. Given the runaway inflation which is now around 300%, given the serious implosion of the black market rate which I am told that today is trading at 1.1 to 8.2 – why as a matter of policy is the Minister simply not a) demonitising the RTGS dollar and the bond note; b) not reverting to dollarisation and the regime of multiple currencies. Thank you Sir.

THE MINISTER OF FINANCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (HON. PROF. M. NCUBE): Let me begin by thanking the Hon. Member for the question. There are three things in that question. First of all, it is about when I assumed office and secondly, what I promised within six months; 3) demonetising the RTGS dollar and US dollarising by default.

First of all, I did not assume office on the 1st of October. I assumed office on the 7th of September. On the reference to turning things around in six months, the fiscal position of the country has been turned around in six months in the sense that we have eliminated the deficits on a month by month basis. We have surpluses and now we will start focusing on how to deal with social protection issues so as to protect vulnerable members of our society from the vagaries of inflation including the drought and the cyclone – we are beginning to do that.

“(BITI) DESTROYED THIS COUNTRY’S ABILITY TO CONDUCT ITS OWN MONETARY POLICY COMPLETELY…” – Mthuli Ncube, Finance Minister

On the third part of the question pertaining to demonitisation of the RTGS dollar and adopting the US dollar; what happened when the US dollar was adopted, basically as a de facto currency during the time that the Hon. Member was a Minister, what he did is – he destroyed this country’s ability to conduct its own monetary policy completely. So, the Central Bank was taken out of all monetary policy ability and what was left was fiscal policy only. Those are the facts and I have said that from the beginning that we need both legs for macro-economic management, the fiscal and monetary policy legs.

So what we did on the first of October last year was to begin the process of restoring monetary policy as an additional tool in our tool box to deal with macro-economic issues. That is what has gone on. Now, let me explain the issue of the use of the US$ further. Basically, on the US$ we do meet, Mr. Speaker Sir, challenges with transactions in US$ abroad and so forth, and perhaps members are not aware but I should make them aware that, we have had situations where we have been refused supply of US$ into the economy by certain banks who are complying with the US sanctions.

So, it is quite clear that we need to move towards having our own domestic unit account and the RTGS$ is the beginning of that. What is left now is for us to continue to fine tune the interbank market making it more efficient and also putting in place the micro institutions for making sure that monetary policy begins to work. One of the things that we have done Mr. Speaker in order to booster our balance of payment position, is to put in place a US$500 million facility which we have sourced from outside in order to deal with demands for meeting external payments from importers and others. I thank you Mr. Speaker Sir and the Hon. Member for the question.

“YOU CANNOT SAY I HAVE $5 IN THE BANK. YES, I HAVE GOT SURPLUS, BUT YOU HAVE NOT PAID SCHOOL FEES” – Tendai Biti, MDC, Harare East

HON. BITI: Mr. Speaker, there are countries that operate without a Central Bank and without monetary policy, but my real question is – I hear the Minister talk about a surplus each time he opens his mouth. Mr. Speaker, two things to the Hon. Minister. Firstly, you cannot celebrate a cash surplus (cash-at-hand) when international accounting standards are accrual. You cannot say I have $5 in the bank. Yes, I have got surplus but you have not paid school fees. …

THE HON. SPEAKER: What is the question?

HON. BITI: The question is – you cannot celebrate a surplus on a cash basis when debts are accruing every day. So, Hon. Minister, your contention of a surplus is fictitious because you are not using international standards of accrual accounting. Secondly, to the question of the surplus Hon. Speaker, the budget of 2019 was expressed in US$. The accounting of Government from January has been based on the RTGS$ from 20 February, 2019. Are you recording a surplus in US$ terms Hon. Minister?

HON. PROF. M. NCUBE: Again, I thank the Hon. Member for those two, actually its three questions. One; are we using international standards in our accounting procedure; accrual versus accounting standards. Then the surplus, is it fictitious or not? Thirdly, is the surplus; is it in RTGS or US$? Let me go back to the first question. The cash accounting in terms of the budget report is in line with international standards. Those are the facts. What is happening is that there are countries that are beginning to use accrual accounting and what we have started working on is that by 2022, we will move to accrual accounting.

Now, the steps required are as follows; what is required is for us to move towards a four balance sheet accounting, which means we have to value all Government assets and we have started doing that….

THE HON. SPEAKER: Hon. Minister, perhaps in your explanation, if you can simplify the issues so that people can understand what you mean by accrual, otherwise you will be asked the same questions again.

HON. PROF. M. NCUBE: Mr. Speaker, the question as I understood it was not to explain the difference between accrual and cash. The question is on what we are using. At the moment, we are using cash accounting and I can confirm that. Now, as to whether we have got a surplus or not, the answer is yes, we have a surplus in both RTGS and US$. In RTGS currently and cumulatively, it is about RTGS$600 million. If you divide that with the current exchange rate you get about US$$100 million.

“CAN (MTHULI) CLARIFY HOW THE PEOPLE OF ZIMBABWE ARE BENEFITING FROM THIS SURPLUS WHICH HE IS ALWAYS HARPING ABOUT?” – Innocent Gonese, MDC, Mutare Central

HON. GONESE: The Hon. Minister is always harping about this surplus. My question to the Hon. Minister is that of any real benefit to us as Zimbabweans. We look at the standard or cost of living for everyone which is deteriorating on a daily basis and we look at the spending capacity of all the Zimbabweans; it has been adversely affected. We look at the real wages in real terms, they have actually declined and my question to the Hon. Minister is – is that of any real benefit to us or is it something which is just meaningless and not of any meaning to us? Can he clarify how the people of Zimbabwe are benefiting from this surplus which he is always harping about?

HON. PROF. M. NCUBE: The benefits for the surplus are as follows; having a surplus stops growth in money supply which in the long run will contribute towards a stabilisation of inflation. Secondly, the
surplus is being used to cushion civil servants in terms of higher wages. In January, we gave them a cushioning of $63 million from 1st April to December $400 million. Thirdly, we are using the surplus for social protection programmes starting with Cyclone Idai. We have allocated $100 million towards that process but also, we are using the surplus for the usual social protection programmes such as the food programmes in both rural and urban areas. We are also supporting other social services such as BEAM in the education and also, the health sector. In addition to that, we are going to use the surplus for importing food. We have already issued out a tender through GMB to import additional food to deal with the impact of the drought. So it is being used in these areas Mr. Speaker. I thank you.

“WHAT I ASKED IS VERY SIMPLE AND I WOULD LIKE THE MINISTER TO ANSWER IN A SIMPLE WAY” – Rusty Markham, MDC, Harare North

HON. MARKHAM: Mr. Speaker, my question to the Minister on the economy is – in his quarterly address to us, he mentioned that he had received income of 8.2%. In the very next breath, he mentioned that there was 66% inflation. How can he claim to have a surplus when all those were figures of collection, 8% versus 66%? What I asked is very simple and I would like the Minister to answer in a simple way like I asked. If you are receiving a salary of $2 000 and you have got the exchange rate moving by 8, that means your salary is now $250.
Secondly, if you are on the lowest scale and you are getting $300 and you divide by 8, it is less than $40. Now, if you have got a surplus, why have you not given the civil servants a very meaningful increase, $29 is what the average civil servant got not the millions he is talking about. It is $29. Can the Minister answer in simple language for us?

HON. PROF. M. NCUBE; First of all, when you think of salary adjustments, we never benchmark to an exchange rate to the USD in which case he has used a parallel market rate of 1:8. We do not do that. We try to bench mark salaries to the inflation level and that is how it is ought to be done.

Secondly, should we give civil servants an increase in line with the exchange rate which the Hon. Member mentioned – the answer is no. We will continue to engage them, it is an increase that begins to ameliorate against the current levels of inflation and we will continue to engage them so that we can adjust their emoluments both in monetary and in non-monetary terms. I thank you.

HON. BITI asked the Minister of Finance and Economic Development to update the House on the following-
(a) the budget deficit between January and August 2018;

(b) the amount of money borrowed and from where during the same period;

(c) the amount of Treasury bills issued and what they were used to finance;

(d) the amount of money spent on wages and pensions during this period;

(e) the percentage of the total expenditure of the wage bill;

(f) the amount of money spent on loan repayment and interest;

(g) the amount of money borrowed from the Central Bank from 2014 to 2018;

(h) the size of the domestic debt and its breakdown; and

(i) the amount spent on and recovered from Command Agriculture from 2016 to 2018.

THE MINISTER OF FINANCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (HON. PROF. M. NCUBE): I thank the Hon. Member for the question. First of all on the budget deficit between January and August 2018, in US$ is as follows: January 2018, it is $26 million; February 2018, it is negative $61.5 million; March 2018, it is negative $146 million; April 2018, it is negative $264.6 million; May, 2018, it is negative $361.4 million; June 2018, it is negative $402.1 million; July 2018, it is negative $593.8 million and August 2018, it is negative minus $600 and I have broken it month by month. I am sure someone can add up very quickly using a calculator.

On question (b) regarding the amount of money borrowed and from where during the same period of January and August 2018, the total borrowed during that period in terms of the Reserve Bank overdraft facility is $929.09 million and the amount borrowed by the Central Bank directly is $55.96 million and other loans it is $174.17 million. So that is it.

On (c) the amount of Treasury Bills issues and what they were used to finance. The total Treasury Bills issued for the period under review is $2.5 billion and was issued for budget financing, for capitalisation of Government institutions and for dealing with legacy debts. The holders of these instruments are banks, insurance companies and pension funds. The split of that $2.5 billion in terms of budget financing is $343.39 million was used for budget financing for dealing with legacy debts it is $1.5 billion, capitalisation and recapitalisation of State institutions it is $643.14 million and the total is $2.5 billion.

I now move on to (d). The amount of money spent on wages and pensions during the period January to August 2018. The expenditure outlay on employment costs for the period January to August 2018 stood at $2.48 billion and it is broken down as follows: Civil wages bill $1.6 billion, PSMAS $90.6 million, NSSA $23.2 million, funeral expenses $0.3 million, grant aided institutions $317.3, pensions $369 million and the total is $2.48 billion.

I move on to question (e), the percentage of the total expenditure of the wage bill. Employment cost accounted for about 86% of total expenditure and net lending over the eight months ending August 2018, and I repeat, it is 86%. The amount spent on loan repayment and interest, in January 2018, it was $9.7 million, February $9.6 million, March $27.8 million, April $9.7 million, May $717.9 million, June $29.9 million, July $47.1 million and August $33.4 million.

In terms of loans from the Central Bank, we paid interest in May 2018 of $89.8 million, July it was $3.2 million and in August it was $195.8 million. The Hon. Member also has another sub-question pertaining to the amount borrowed from the Central Bank from 2014 to 2018. I thank him for that question and he refers to the overdraft facility. In 2014, it was $126.4 million, 2015 it was $152.4 million, 2016, $663.1 million, 2017 it was $427.5 million and in 2018 it was $929.1 million and it is up to August 2018 as posed.

Then the total domestic debt at the end of August 2018 is $9.5billion and is broken down as follows: for budget financing – $429 million; legacy debt – about $4 million; RBZ debt – $266 million and for capitalisation – $1.4 billion; RBZ recapitalisation – $110 million. Then there were TBs that were authorised for issuance by the RBZ by those who will not follow through and in the end they were cancelled. It is about $38.3 million. Then the arrears -$116 million; overdraft facility cumulative is $2.3 billion, I am rounding off. So, that is the sum of the figures that I gave earlier.

The Central Bank loans – $623 million; loans from the private sector – $188 million and the total is $9.5 billion.
That is the amount spent and recovered from command agriculture from 2016 to 2018.

Basically, the amount recovered for the season 2016 to 2018 is, out of 44 617 farmers is $50.2 million. For the season 2017 to 2018 for maize again, we had 35 756 farmers and the amount recovered was $19.7 million.
Then for the wheat planting season of 2017, we have 2 270 farmers and what was recovered is US$13.7 million. Then for the wheat planting season for 2018, we have 74 847 farmers. Then for soya beans for the season 2017/2018 from 2 041 farmers, it is US$1.5 million. Thank you Madam Speaker ma’am.

HON. BITI: Hon. Speaker ma’am, I would like to ask the Minister, the esteemed Hon. M. Ncube to assure this august House that he is going to bring Bills of condonation and supplementary estimates to cover the budget deficits from 2014 to 2018 – a period where the Government was overspending outside the budget approved by this august House. If so, when is he going to bring those supplementary statements and the Bills of condonation?

Secondly Hon. Speaker ma’am, in respect of the overdraft maintained by the Government with the Central Bank, the law is very clear in terms of Section 11 of the Reserve Bank Act that overdraft should not exceed 20% of the previous year’s revenue and you can see from his figures that the Government has been over-borrowing beyond the statutory limit provided for in the Reserve Bank Act. Can the Minister also assure this august House that he is going to bring a Bill of condonation in respect of that overdraft from 2014 to the present day? I thank you Hon. Speaker ma’am.

HON. PROF. M. NCUBE: I thank the Hon. Member for those two questions. I confirm that I will bring to this august House, Bills of condonation and supplementary statements to basically condone the overspending that took place between the periods 2014 to 2018. I also confirm that I will bring to this House, again Bills of condonation for the violation of the rule for the overdraft facility of 20% of the previous year’s expenditure to this House for condonation. I thank you.

*HON. CHIKWINYA: Thank you Madam Speaker. My supplementary question emanates exactly from the recent answer by the Hon. Minister to the extent that he will bring Bills of condonation and supplementary statements.
My question is – why is Government therefore in a habit of breaking the law? Why is the Minister simply comfortable in breaking the law and not bringing Bills of condonation since 2014? We are almost five or six years down the line with the Minister breaking the law, only to be reminded by Members of Parliament to bring in Bills of condonation. The import of the law Madam Speaker, is not that the Minister must break the law then seek condonation but we must be able to respect our own laws first for us to be able to attract any other FDI if we are going to be serious. Thank you.

HON. NDUNA: On a point of order Madam Speaker. Even though kamba isingavhari nekufa kwe mujoni, the Hon. Member of the National Assembly Hon. Chikwinya, alludes to a period way before the Minister’s appointment. I ask Madam Speaker ma’am that you guide the House accordingly. The man speaks with so much verve and energy and again the Minister has just come into office. I ask that you protect the Hon. Minister from this delinquent behaviour by the Hon. Member who is castigating him with impunity, even aware that the Hon. Minister has just gotten into office. Madam Speaker ma’am, protect the Hon. Minister. I pray that. Thank you.

HON. PROF. M. NCUBE: I certainly have no intention of breaking the law and the Hon. Member is right that we should not break the law. So, I intend to comply with it and bring for condonation before this House a Bill and supplementary statements to deal with the overspending that was incurred between the period 2014 and 2018. Thank you very much.

“IT IS NOT IMMEDIATELY OBVIOUS TO ME THAT WHEN HE WAS MINISTER OF FINANCE, HE BROUGHT EVERY LOAN THAT HE CONTRACTED ABROAD TO THIS PARLIAMENT’S APPROVAL”
Ncube on Biti

HON. BITI: The Minister of Finance has alluded to a loan of US$500 million that they have contracted from the African Export Import Bank (AFREXIM BANK) to ameliorate and mitigate the current economic challenges. We thank him for those efforts, we also thank the RBZ Governor for the efforts too but the law is very clear that you cannot contract a debt with an international organisation which imposes fiscal obligations on Zimbabwe before Parliament has approved. If Parliament has not approved, that debt is invalid. For the avoidance of cdoubt, I will read Section 327 (3) of the Constitution. It says, “an agreement which is not an international Treaty but which (a) has been concluded or executed by the President or under the President’s authority with one or more foreign organisations or entities”, of which Afreximbank is one and “(b) imposes fiscal obligations on Zimbabwe does not bind Zimbabwe until it has been approved by Parliament”. Why does the Government keep on borrowing money from the African Export Import Bank without Parliament approval?

HON. PROF. M. NCUBE: It is not immediately obvious to me that when he was Minister of Finance, he brought every loan that he contracted abroad to this Parliament’s approval, I do not recall that. What I agreed to is that I will bring a report on whatever loans has contracted to Parliament as the law demands.

Let me add a second point to complete the answer that some of these transactions are structured and structured means that certain proceeds of commodities are attached to servicing the loan. So, the risks around the loan are completely ring-fenced and this is a normal loan structure. In fact, it is smart when you do that because you are sure you will be able to pay off the loan. I thank you.

HON. S. BANDA asked the Minister of Finance and Economic Development to state the amount of money owed to the African Import and Export Bank by the Government of Zimbabwe.

THE MINISTER OF FINANCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (HON. PROF. M. NCUBE): When the question was posed, the figure was US$753 million and then you add the other US$500 million so that takes us to US$1.25 billion. I thank you.

HON. BITI: Hon. Speaker once again, we ask the Hon. Minister why Section 327 of the Constitution is not being complied with. These African Export and Import Bank loans, the Afrexim loans; why are they not being brought to Parliament for approval? We also ask the wisdom of why a bank with a balance sheet of $2 billion lends to one country $1.2 billion. What is happening? Are there private deals, incest – and what is so special about the African Import Export Bank?

THE MINISTER OF FINANCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (HON. PROF. M. NCUBE): I thank the Hon. Member Biti for the question. In terms of this, he has already asked this question before, and so have others and I have agreed that these loans in future will be reported in this House so that we comply with the provisions of the law. In terms of how this bank structures loans to Zimbabwe, frankly, that is their business. We do not go into the issues of their balance sheet. They have a CEO, board, processes and they have credit rating agencies that rate them. So, there is governance structures around them and we are not really party to how they make decisions.

Our job as a borrower is to borrow and we can be turned down or accepted. I am happy to say on this occasion, they have accepted our request to lend us and we are very pleased that they were able to do so. This will go a long way in assisting Zimbabwe. I think the Hon. Member will agree with me that this is a most welcome development, given that it is very tough out there to raise funds globally to support the economy, the recovery story, recovery agenda and we should be very pleased as this bank has come forward to assist us in this manner when many will not. I thank you.

Hansard

Tanzanian President John Magufuli called for an end to sanctions on Zimbabwe, saying they hindered development and progress.

“This embargo should be reconsidered and removed, so the people of Zimbabwe can enjoy their life and develop their country,” Magufuli said Tuesday.

The Tanzanian leader is on a two-day visit to the southern African nation where U.S. sanctions against some members of the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front party remain. Magufuli spoke after Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa told reporters that the two countries would place “emphasis on economic and trade cooperation” in future.

-Bloomberg

Jane Mlambo| Government has threatened to name and shame alleged brains behind Zimbabwe’s verdant parallel market which it says was fuelling the spike in the prices for basic goods and services.

Ironically Information Minister, Monica Mutsvangwa’s son Neville is one of the forex dealers who are involved in the practices and is alleged to have been arrested before being released yesterday.

Mutsvangwa told journalists at a post-Cabinet briefing on Tuesday that authorities were aware of who the real buyers of foreign currency on the parallel market were and how they were pushing rates high.

“You think those young people without shoes are the ones who are behind the parallel market? It will be folly to believe that. We know that there are big people behind them. I think it is time we start to deal with that and expose who are these people,” she said.

By Tuesday, the US dollar was selling for ZWL$7,3 on the electronic money transfer platform and ZWL$5,8 for the bond notes.

Mutsvangwa said although the law that criminalises dealing in foreign currency without authority and carrying a 10-year jail sentence was in operation, arresting those on the streets, who she said were just agents, would not end the parallel market.

The run-away exchange rate has sent tremors down government corridors with fears that it could collapse the economy with most traders reluctant to conduct business, while those doing so were demanding hard currency.

Mutsvangwa said dealers were pegging the US dollar rate to the Old Mutual implied rate to determine the exchange rate for the US$ against the RTGS dollar.

“We can’t be pegging the rates against an international multinational group that is in business and has no interest of the people. It is time we look at this issue very carefully and protect our people,” said Mutsvangwa.

This is not the first time that President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s regime has threatened to name and shame who it has termed economic saboteurs.

Last year, politicians and businesspeople who allegedly externalised over $1,3 billion during former President Robert Mugabe’s era were named, but just a few returned the money before the expiry of the set deadline.More in Home

Before the naming and shaming, speculation was rife that ousted allies of Mugabe were among those who externalised funds from the country, with government officials blaming this on cash and foreign currency shortages in the country.

But the list contained largely importing businesses that had not acquitted their import papers with the central bank as well as some Chinese nationals.

After the naming, no one was prosecuted for the alleged acts.

Magufuli praises Mnangagwa for ‘economic transformation’?? What a joke!!
Magufuli had to say that to make ED happy but back home in Tanzania, Magufuli & Chama Cha Mapunduzi laugh at Zanu PF and use it as a reference of how not to rule a country!
????https://t.co/FYuow552Um

— Tafadzwa Gilbért Káys?? (@GilbertKays) May 30, 2019

THE Masvingo City Council has repossessed a 1,9 hectare piece of land from Harare businessman and Zvimba South legislator Philip Chiyangwa after he allegedly violated terms of the agreement by failing to build a proposed hotel within 18 months.

Chiyangwa, through his Pinnacle Properties company, bought the commercial stand in 2008 for ZW$150 billion.

The matter has, however, since spilled into the High Court after Chiyangwa challenged the repossession of the land.

According to the agreement of sale, seen by NewsDay, Chiyangwa was supposed to build a hotel in an 18-month period failure which the local authority would give him 10% of his purchase price and repossess the land.

A recent full council meeting resolved that council repossesses the land because Chiyangwa had failed to honour the agreement.

Sources at the local authority said they feared Chiyangwa was holding onto the land for speculative purposes and could resell it, prejudicing council of thousands of dollars after he bought it during the hyper-inflationary era.

They said he had reneged on the agreement of sale conditions and, thus, the council saw it fit to repossess the land.

Masvingo mayor, Collen Maboke, a lawyer by profession, refused to comment on the matter, saying it was sub judice.

He, however, said council was re-evaluating the cost of the commercial stand.

But the flamboyant businessman, who has other land he is developing in Harare, has since challenged the move.

The case is set to be heard at a later date.

-Newsday

Legendary Revolutionary Musician Tambaoga paid a courtesy visit to the Zanu PF HQ and gave us a teaser on Corruption Jingle‼️@KMutisi @CdeNMaswerasei @PTChimusoro @CharityMaodza @ttgono @nicolehondo @Mavhure pic.twitter.com/fBTVTCYAt1

— ?? ZANU PF PATRIOTS ?? (@zanupf_patriots) May 24, 2019

Newly appointed Energy minister Fortune Chasi has vowed to expose fuel dealers who engage in underhand dealings saying from now going forward, he will make public amounts of money and fuel given to them to avoid corruption in the sector.

Chasi made the remarks after meeting the dealers in Harare today.

He added that fuel sellers will now get six months licenses with those violating regulations risking non-renewal of their trading licenses.

Below is Chasi’s video

Fuel Crisis: After meeting oil industry today, Energy Min @fortunechasi says he will, going forward, make public “who received what amount of fuel and when”.
Licences up for renewal in six months and Govt may not re-license ‘devious people’.
(vid via @LJaymut10/@263Chat) pic.twitter.com/PuZyim9XQz

— newZWire (@newswireZW) May 30, 2019

By Own Correspondent- Analysts have described MDC Congress voters as rational people for voting for capacity.

South Africa-based academic and researcher Pedzisai Ruhanya described the Congress as a reunification of the party that has been splitting lately.

Speaking to a local publication, Ruhanya said:

Well done (Nelson) Chamisa for running a credible congress that produced solid and credible leadership. You have shown the world how to run elections; no shenanigans, manipulation.

This was a reunification. Those who failed and refused to read the calls by MDC supporters were swept aside. MDC Congress voters are rational. They considered capacity, regional balances, past party fissures, gender in electing their leadership. They refused to celebrate mediocrity. Now elected officials must deliver.

Political analyst Maxwell Saungweme said that he is impressed by the composition of the leadership which he said is balanced.-DailyNews

By Own Correspondent- President Emmerson Mnangagwa is this morning officially launching the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PRAZ) at the Harare International Conference Centre.

PRAZ, which was formerly the State Procurement Board has had its function rationalized so that it superintends over procurement entities.

Said PRAZ board chairperson Vimbai Nyemba in her address:

“The new institution came as a result of the enactment of the Public Procurement and State Disposal Act which seeks to ensure that public procurement is done transparently.”

This is a developing story. Refresh this page for latest updates.

By Own Correspondent- Former Mines and Mining Development deputy minister Fred Moyo has lost his family property and estate after the High Court recently ruled in favour of Stanbic Bank which is seeking to recover over US$766 000 it is owed.

The writ of execution against Moyo’s property came about when the former deputy minister and his fellow directors Paul Diamond, Dirk Renier Bewade and Sydney Steyn in a mine called Ox Mining, failed to settle the loan which they had personally guaranteed.

According to the writ of execution, the property attached included a Ford Ranger T6 and a Nissan Hardbody vehicle, six fridges, two sets of sofas, stoves, kitchen unit, computers, tables, microwaves, dressing tables, headboards and solar batteries.

However, when Moyo’s property was attached by the Sheriff of the High Court his wife, Yeyani Moyo, instituted interpleader proceedings, but the application was dismissed.

Later, the bank sought to engage Moyo in a series of meetings with a view to resolve the payment of the debt, but the former deputy minister is said to have failed to co-operate prompting the financial institution to make an application for him to be placed under provisional liquidation.

Moyo is said to have transferred his personal immovable property into a family trust called the Nelundo Family Trust, a move considered by the bank as an act of disposition.

The court heard that it was against this background that the bank sought to have Moyo’s family trust sequestrated as well.

“It is common cause that the respondent (Moyo) transferred an immovable asset into a family trust when it was apparent that his financial obligations were threatening his private estate,” Justice Mushore said.

“The fact of the property being jointly owned by himself and Yeyani is neither here nor there. It is his interest in the property that he sought to protect together with Yeyani’s interest. In my view, it was a transaction which was borne not of philanthropy, but of mendacity and survival…”

The loan agreement between the parties is said to have been entered on August 30, 2012 at which time the bank released the funds. The parties then agreed that Ox Mining would repay the loan with interest, but in breach of the loan agreement, the mine failed to pay the amount, prompting the bank to sue for recovery.-

By Own Correspondent- The United Nations Office for Coordination and Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has released a report alleging that there are increased cases of sexual violence against women and girls by soldiers and aid workers in Cyclone Idai hit areas of Chimanimani and Chipinge.

The report also exposed villagers’ complaints against the continued presence of soldiers in areas affected by Cyclone Idai.

Read part of the report:

“High-level interventions are needed as to the continued presence of the armed forces (ZDF). Though reduced, at school facilities in Chimanimani there are reports of involvement in humanitarian response.

A total of 70 complaints – 32 female and 17 male in Chimanimani and 13 male and 8 female in Chipinge– on GBV (Gender-Based Violence) and sexual exploitation and abuse were received through the safe spaces – bringing the total of received complaints since the beginning of a response to 131.”

By Own Correspondent- Zanu Pf Deputy Secretary for Youth Affairs Lewis Matutu has accused the American Embassy in Harare of fueling economic sabotage, describing the country of being a “hypocrite and devil of double evil standards”.

Matutu was commenting on the Embassy’s call for President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration to respect human rights and cease the brutal crackdown on human rights defenders.

Responded Matutu:

“To hell with you a hypocrite and devil of double evil standards, you have imposed sanctions on our country. You are funding economic saboteurs against our country, you organize midnight meetings plotting on destabilising our country and now you pretend to care, really? Be ashamed.”

The Embassy had issued a statement on Wednesday saying, “Harassment and targeted arrests of civil society leaders damages Zimbabwe’s reputation and economic future. We call on the Zimbabwean government to uphold its constitution, respect rule of law, and foster an environment where all can contribute to the nation’s progress.”

Matutu conceded that Zimbabwe was marred with corruption but insisted that America has no right in policing Zimbabwe as it was one of the architects of the misery that Zimbabweans are experiencing.

“Sanctions have their own effect on our economy, corruption has its own effect on our economy and but that doesn’t mean US Embassy becomes a class monitor when they’re actually the ones making noise in class.”

https://twitter.com/MatutuLewis/status/1133754210586112004

Socialite and comedienne Felistas “Mai Titi” Edwards has opened a new shop at Joina City.

The 34-year-old said the shop had mixed undergarments which are accessible to anyone of different class.

“We have no target group or class, vanhu ngavauye vatenge zvemukati kwamai Titi.

“People must just look good especially women kwete kunaka kunze mukati musina kumira mushe, our prices are very flexible than anyone,” said Mai Titi.

The comedienne said being a public figure has made it easy for her to get sales on daily basis.

“We are making noise, it has been easy getting sales because a lot of people like me.

“Some come wanting to get pictures with me and they end up buying lingerie from my shop, I believe I am a game changer considering the current economic situation,” she said.

The businesswoman said she is looking forward to open as many shops as she can in Harare.

“I’m actually choosy on where to put another shop, decency and class matters because we are setting pace,” Mai Titi.

Mai Titi said it has been difficult trying to manage being a businesswoman, comedienne and musician.

“I come from a business family so handling business is not that difficult to me and I have a schedule that I abide to so it is easy for me handling anything and also being a mom,” she said.

-State Media