By A Correspondent| As if the drama from Monday’s parliament portfolio scuffle was not enough, the boasting self-confessed murderer, the MP for Chegutu, Dexter Nduna has taken his colleague Temba Mliswa to court for calling him a thief in Parliament.
Nduna’s court papers are below and he is suing Mliswa for $10 million : (THIS IS A DEVELOPING STORY)…
https://twitter.com/ZimEye/status/1095353403457392642?s=19
By Nomusa Garikai| “Chawawana batisisa, mudzimu haupi kaviri!” (Make the most of a given opportunity because you may not get another chance!), so goes the Shona adage.
Zimbabwe had its golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms designed to end the corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. We failed to get even one reform implemented in five years and the opportunity was lost and have lived to regret it.
Those Zimbabweans who have been hoping that SADC leaders will give us another chance to end the dictatorship following last July’s rigged elections and Zanu PF resorting to its default setting of using violence to impose its dictatorial rule have been disappointed. SADC leaders are not interested in helping us end the country’s political crisis.
Indeed, if anything, SADC leaders are fighting in Mnangagwa’s corner.
“The SADC Heads of State and Government noted that since coming to power, the new Government of Zimbabwe has continued with concerted efforts to address socioeconomic challenges and transform the economy, particularly through the Zimbabwe Transitional Stabilization Programme (2018-2020), and to consolidate unity and peace in the country,” reads the statement from Dr. Hage G. Geingob President of the Republic of Namibia, and Chairperson of SADC.
“This, notwithstanding, some internal groups, in particular NGOs, supported by external forces, have continued with efforts to destabilise the country.”
What? Are SADC leaders blind? Zanu PF rigged the elections and is now using wanton violence to hang on to power and SADC leaders are siding with the regime!
Following the 2008 to 2013 GNU’s failure to implement even one democratic reforms, it was none other than SADC leaders themselves who advised Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends to postpone the 2013 elections until reforms were implemented.
“In 2013 the Maputo Summit, in June 2013, before the elections, the Maputo Summit was all about having the elections postponed – the SADC summit,” Dr Ibbo Mandaza told Violet Gonda in an interview in 2017.
“I went there. I was there at the Summit and Mugabe pretended to agree to a postponement of the elections. If you recall, the postponement was based on the need to reform at least electoral laws.
“And after that Summit, Morgan Tsvangirai, Tendai Biti, Welshman Ncube, all of them were called to a separate meeting by the Heads of State of SADC in the absence of Mugabe, that same evening. And they were told; I was sitting there outside the room with Mac Maharaj; they were told ‘if you go into elections next month, you are going to lose; the elections are done’.”
Sadly, MDC leaders ignored the SADC leaders’ warning, just as they had ignored the SADC leaders’ many reminders for MDC leaders to implement the reforms. As expected Zanu PF went on to blatantly rig the 2013 elections.
When President Mnangagwa seized power in the 2017 military coup, he promised to hold free, fair and credible elections. He has failed to implement even one reform and blatantly rigged the July 2018 elections.
SADC leaders are ignoring that Mnangagwa rigged the elections and is therefore illegitimate. The regional leaders are, seemingly, ignoring that not even one reform was ever implemented since their June 2013 warning to MDC leaders on reforms and they are ignoring the reports of all the democratic nations who condemned the 2018 elections as flawed and illegal.
Worse still, Zanu PF is using wanton violence to silence those protesting the rigged elections and the worsening economic situation. It is disheartening that SADC leaders should be supporting the regime and not the masses the regime has terrorised all these years.
“The SADC Heads of State and Government further noted that the Government’s efforts to transform the economy and bring about prosperity to the people of Zimbabwe are negatively affected by the illegal sanctions that were imposed on the country since the early 2000,” continued President Geingob.
Ever since 2016 when the then President Robert Mugabe confessed that Zimbabwe was being “swindled” of $15 billion in diamond revenue the Zanu PF regime has all but stopped blaming sanctions for the country’s economic decline . No nation could sustain that level of economic haemorrhage much less Zimbabwe with a GDP of $10 billion.
Both President Mnangagwa and Mugabe have never arrested even one swindler and there is nothing to suggest the wholesale looting has stopped. It is therefore a great shame that SADC leaders should be the ones peddling a discredited Zanu PF propaganda falsehood!
The targeted sanctions have served the purpose of highlighting Zanu PF leaders’ failure to hold free, fair and credible elections. The Americans could not have explained the linkage more plainly than they did before the 2018 elections. All those who know that Zanu PF blatantly rigged last July’s elections and appreciates the importance of ending this curse of rigged elections as the pre-requisite to good governance in Zimbabwe will want the sanctions to remain.
Indeed, sanctions must be extended to included individuals propping the Zanu PF dictatorship like Professor Mthuli Ncube, Minister Kirsty Coventry, the 24 President Advisory Council members. The West must also include the opposition members on the sanctions list; they have continued to participate in flawed and illegal elections against advice not to for the sake of the few gravy train seats Zanu PF throws away as bait.
As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs there will be no meaningful economic recovery. Indeed the economic meltdown will only get worse. With unemployment already a dizzying 90%, basic services such as supply of clean water and health care all but collapse, etc. Zimbabwe is sinking into the abyss.
The only way to save Zimbabwe from this man-made tragedy of economic chaos and political paralysis is to force Zanu PF to step down to create the political spare for the appointment of an interim administration. The administration will be entrusted with the task of implementing the democratic reforms to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship and replace it with a democratic system of government.
It is a great pity that SADC leaders have clearly given up hope of Zimbabwe ever holding free, fair and credible elections after the 2008 to 2013 GNU failed to implement the necessary reforms. Yes SADC leaders have good reason to be angry with the MDC leaders for selling-out during the GNU but nothing will ever justify the regional leaders’ support of the Mnangagwa dictatorship.
“If you go into elections next month, you are going to lose; the elections are done!” SADC leaders warned. Of course SADC leaders know Zanu PF rigged not just the 2013 elections but the 2018 elections too. It is a crying shame that SADC leaders are propping this illegitimate Mnangagwa regime, giving it some modicum of credibility and legitimacy. That is totally unacceptable! – SOURCE: zsdemocrats.blogspot.com
THAT'S RIGHT @edmnangagwa 2,674,032 VOTES FOR REGIME CHANGE @PacheduZW @ZimEye@guardian @AP @BBCWorld @hbaldwin @ZimHRNGOForum @zhrc365 @UKinZimbabwe @AmbCanZimbabwe @usembassyharare @UN @UNWatch @WCOZIMBABWE #FreeAllPoliticalPrisoners introducing the ever silent; @UNZimbabwe pic.twitter.com/nwHWHycM8U
— Thomas Leaman (@ThomasLeaman1) February 12, 2019
A manager at The Kraal Pub and Grill restaurant in Bulawayo has been sentenced to 12 months in prison for stealing more than $2 000 from his employer after he was left in charge of the eatery.
Theunis Botha (39) from Malindela suburb yesterday appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Mr Tinashe Tashaya who convicted him after he pleaded guilty to the charge. The sentence was wholly suspended after Botha restituted his employer the stolen money. The court also considered that Botha was a first offender.
“You are sentenced to 12 months in prison which is wholly suspended on condition that you do not commit a similar offence in the next five years,” ruled the magistrate.
Botha was left in charge of The Kraal Pub and Grill in Ilanda, Bulawayo by his employer Mr Kimba Brookes from Burnside suburb when he left the country to visit his family in Australia.
Prosecuting, Mr Mufaro Mageza said Botha was left in charge of the restaurant from the beginning of January until early February.
“Circumstances are that sometime between January 1 and February 4 this year, Mr Brookes left the country for Australia leaving Botha in charge of the business.
“While Mr Brookes was away Botha took some cash amounting to $2 237 from sales and converted it to his personal use,” said Mr Mageza.
Botha was left in sole control of the business and responsible for ensuring the safe custody of any cash takings made during the period when Mr Brookes was away.-state media
Police have increased deployment of officers in Bulawayo’s western suburbs to fight criminal activities. On Sunday, a message inciting citizens to embark on another stayaway was widely circulating on social media platforms.
However, the message found no takers as residents went about their business. Last month, when the country experienced violent opposition protests, rowdy elements looted and vandalised property worth millions of dollars in western suburbs. Hundreds of them we arrested for participating in the criminal activities and dozens have been convicted and jailed.
The Chronicle has since Monday observed that police patrol teams had been increased in western areas.
A comment could not be immediately obtained from the police on why there has been an increase in the deployment of officers. Bulawayo United Residents’ Association chairman Mr Winos Dube said it was not clear why the police had been deployed in huge numbers.
“We have seen the police officers but we have not been told why they have been deployed. Maybe because of what happened last month they are still monitoring the situation. I’ve driven along Siyepambili Drive to Mpilo Central Hospital where I came across police roadblocks,” said Mr Dube.
“The officers were not doing much. I did not see them stop any vehicle. They just stood there without bothering anyone. Maybe they are waiting to vanquish any potential threats.” Bulawayo Progressive Residents’ Association (BPRA) acting coordinator Mr Emmanuel Ndlovu said the residents’ body had also witnessed heavy presence of cops in western suburbs.
He implored the police to communicate with its stakeholders who include residents when they are doing things out of the norm. -state media
The widow to former MDC Alliance councillor Hapson Ncube is among five party members vying to replace him in the Ward 28 by-election in Bulawayo.
Ms Meliqiniso Sithole together with Ms Nomagugu Sibanda, Mr Pasho Sibanda and Mr Ashton Maphosa and Mr Luke Mapato have submitted their names expressing their interest to contest the vacant seat.
Ncube died in December and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) is soon expected to hold a by-election to replace him. MDC Alliance Bulawayo spokesperson Mr Edwin Ndlovu yesterday confirmed that the five have expressed interest in representing the party in that ward.
“We have received applications from five party members who qualify to represent MDC in the Ward 28 by-election. One of them is the widow to the late councillor Hapson Ncube.
The province has submitted their names to the party’s national elections directorate for consideration,” said Mr Ndlovu.
He said once the national elections directorate has completed the vetting, the party would hold primary elections to identify the ideal candidate.
“We expect that the national elections directorate would deploy members who will come and hold primary elections before the end of this week or early next week,” he said. Last month, Zec revealed that the Nomination Court for Ward 28 by-election would sit on February 22. -state media
By A Correspondent| The Information Minister, Monica Mutsvangwa during the day relegated the issue of the plight of Zimbabwean students are currently stranded in Russia to the Ministry Of Higher Education.
Responding during her cabinet press briefing, minister Mutsvangwa said, “you will have to go to the minister of Higher Education. It wasn’t part of the brief this afternoon, but.. that one it’s a good question, go to the min of Higher Education”
A group of several higher education students during the week revealed that they are now stuck, totally grounded in Russia after the government of Zimbabwe failed to honour payments on their bursaries.
MORE FOLLOWS
The United States remains seriously concerned about the excessive use of force by Government of Zimbabwe security forces since January 14, which has resulted in at least 13 deaths, 600 victims of violence, torture or rape, and more than 1,000 arrests. We extend our condolences to the families and friends of those killed or injured. The Government of Zimbabwe’s use of violence against civil society and imposition of undue internet restrictions betray promises to create a new Zimbabwe.
The United States calls on all sides to come together immediately in national dialogue. The dialogue process must be credible, inclusive, and mediated by a neutral third party. In order for such a dialogue to succeed, the Government of Zimbabwe should end its excessive violence and intimidation, immediately release the civil society activists who have been arbitrarily detained, and hold security force members responsible for human rights violations and abuses accountable. We also reiterate our call for the Government of Zimbabwe to enact promised political and economic reforms.
Zanu PF Deputy Secretary For Youths, Louis Mathuthu has shifted focus to farming after youths league members passed a vote of no confidence in the national leadership.
Mathuthu posted a picture showcasing tomatoes from his farming investment saying that is where he is directing his energy and not factional fights that are threatening to tear the ruling party apart.
Meanwhile Twitter users reminded Mathuthu that Zanu PF has a tendency of using and dumping people, a scheme they said he had fallen victim to.
By A Correspondent| As if the drama from Monday’s parliament portfolio scuffle was not enough, the boasting self-confessed murderer, the MP for Chegutu, Dexter Nduna has taken his colleague Temba Mliswa to court for calling him a thief in Parliament yesterday.
Nduna’s court papers are below: (THIS IS A DEVELOPING STORY)
Murderer who has robbed many of their lives, Dexter Nduna, sues @TembaMliswa $10mln for labelling him a thief. pic.twitter.com/74airH5maO
— ZimEye (@ZimEye) February 12, 2019
DHL’s UNITED. DELIVERED Global Football Tour 2018/19 is set to come to Zimbabwe this weekend.
It all started in July 2017 at the home of Manchester United, Old Trafford. The several of the first team players had a kick around with a very special ball before sending it on a 351,000 km journey around the world with DHL Express. Throughout the 2017/18 Premier League season, DHL connected Man Utd fans in every corner of the globe through the continuous journey of this one football. At each location a set of match equipment was left behind for the players’ ongoing use.
During the course of the tour, the ball visited some 57 countries where it was played with by more than 1,500 Man Utd fans – as well as DHL Express staff at our football regional cups – in 72 matches.
After travelling the world for 10 months, the DHL UNITED. DELIVERED. ball returned to Old Trafford in May 2018. DHL brought two winning fans and their teams to Manchester for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, including watching their Man Utd heroes beat Watford in the final match of the Premier League season; participating in a Man Utd Soccer Schools training session at the club’s AON Training Complex; and then playing the final match of the UNITED. DELIVERED. global football tour back where it all began – on the pitch at Old Trafford!
With a partnership activation as successful as this, how could we fail to do it all again! That’s why we’re excited to announce the delivery of an even bigger and better tour for next season! We will kick-start the global football tour in August and deliver the UNITED. DELIVERED. football to even more fans, matches and locations, aiming for over 100 matches around the world.
As in the last tour, all match hosts will receive a legacy kit from DHL, including replica tour ball, goals, cones and wrist bands. The final prize is still to be confirmed but will be similar to last year’s VIP experience at Old Trafford.
“Seeing the delight on the faces of Manchester United fans around the globe when we delivered the special football and match equipment, made us realize the power of being united together in our love for the club,” says Fiona Taag, Head of Global Sponsorship and Europe Marketing Communications at DHL Express. “It was a no-brainer to launch our Global Football Tour for a second season and deliver to even more passionate fans around the world. Doing what we do best so that fans can play with pride for their club, no matter what football match or where.”
As Official Logistics Partner of Manchester United we’ll be delivering the ball around the globe so that United fans from all corners of the world can play together – and you can be a part of it! Click here if you’d like to host a UNITED. DELIVERED.match and have the chance to win a trip of a lifetime to Old Trafford!
VIDEO LOADING BELOW:
Kingstone Nkhatha has returned to South Africa to join National First Division side Mbombela United.
The striker signed an 18-month contract, having moved to the side as a free agent.
Writing on its official social media sites the club invited members to welcome Nkhatha to the club.
“Mbombela United has added @KingstonNkhatha to their Squad on an 18 months deal following his departure from @DynamosFC at the end of the @online_zifa season.
Join us in wishing Kingston a successful stay in the Tingwenyama camp.”
Nkhatha was with Dynamos in 2018 but his contract was terminated after a fallout with the club’s executive. The 33-year-was suspended along with the other three players.
He had joined the Glamour Boys in August after he was offloaded by SuperSport United.
Own Correspondent|The government through the Ministry of Sport, Arts and Recreation gave thumbs up to the initiative to establish a regional sports museum in the country.
Speaking during the welcome reception for AUSC Region 5 chairman Vetumbuavi Veli and CEO Stanley Mutoya, Minister Coventry said the move was welcome as Zimbabwe has enought resources to house a regional sports museum.
“We’re very excited for the bid for the regional museum. I think we’ve got a pretty big space that you (the AUSC chairman) will be visiting tomorrow, and I’m very excited about this.
“I’ve tasked the team with a little bit more work as I would also like them to look at how we can add a few pieces of our national side in setting up space where our national icons can be recognised within our national sport stadium,” she said.
Minister Coventry also said the museum will be a good housing for artistic products of sport related paraphernalia.
“Not only that, part of the portfolio is art and I think it would be great space for our national artist to highlight some of the work when they have done when they have painted, written music and sculpted some of our local sporting icons,” she said.
Minister Coventry underscored the benefits of sport in the region.
“Sport can be used to rebuild not just a country but a region and also a generation.
“That’s something that’s very important when dealing with young people in sport and you can see with an athlete, someone who is confident because they have done all the hard work and has followed through versus an athlete who is a little bit lost and doesn’t know where he or she should be,” she said.
Minister Coventry, who was a renowned swimmer, said Government will help young people to achieve success in life.
“My goal as a minister is to not only bring medals but to help young people find themselves and also realize that they are important to the success of this country as we move forward to the future,” she said.
The regional sports museum will be stationed at the National Sports Stadium.
Sportsbrief
Own Correspondent|MDC national spokesperson Jacob Mafume has said that his party wished ill Vice President Constantino Chiwenga a speedy recovery, but added that government should invest more in the local health delivery system so that all citizens will benefit.
“It then underscores the need for the nation to invest in health systems as you know we are all human beings; poor health affects everyone, it affects the top of our society, it affects those at the bottom of our society and indeed those are the ones that are affected by our decisions as leaders.
“We need our hospitals to be up to scratch, we cannot visit our hospitals when we want to sweep them when we want to remove dirt, those hospitals need to be equipped to have doctors, they need to have nurses.”
Government officials have admitted that Chiwenga is admitted to an Indian hospital where he is being treated.
Media reports on Monday indicated the Vice President had trouble eating
He had to undergo tests which detected that was having motility problems which are not cancerous. He was advised to see an esophageal surgeon.
By Own Correspondent- Opposition leader Nelson Chamisa has welcomed the release from prison of party cadre and leader Amos Chibaya, whom he says is being persecuted for “his indomitability in the fight for democracy and freedom in Zimbabwe”.
Chibaya, has been languishing in prison together with other MDC stalwarts including Mbizo legislator Settlement Chikwinya and his Redcliff colleague Lloyd Mukapiko following their arrest by the government in the aftermaths of the January 14 fuel protests.
The trio, were together with over hundreds of other civilians arrested during the joint army and police crackdown on civilians and opposition leaders where they were charged with treason, looting and public violence among a host of other charges.
Said Chamisa following the release of the party’s National Organising Secretary:
“So glad to see The people’s Organiser Amos Chibaya in high spirit after being released from prison. It’s all persecution, Chibaya is a peacemaker and hard-worker. The comrade has been targeted because of his indomitability in the fight for democracy and freedom in Zimbabwe.”
I promised this thread thru which I share what I call “coup minutes” which give us an idea why the army took over power in Zimbabwe in Nov 2017 & continue in control up to today.
Before sharing coup minutes, I want to draw attention to a recent article by George Charamba in the Herald of 06 February 2019. Charamba was secretary to the soldiers who staged the coup and his signature is appended to the “coup minutes”.
In the Herald article, Charamba claims “carriers of Operation Restore Legacy (coup) are all Zanu-PF cadres to the bone” & that the coup was “motivated by the need to checkmate the alien G40 in order to rescue the party (Zanu-PF) & its govt”.This is consistent with coup minutes.
Just as Charamba declares in the Herald article of 6 Feb 2019, the soldiers who staged the coup feared takeover of Zanu-PF by G40 would impact on “electability of Zanu-PF in the 2018 elections”. Out of 15 concerns the soldiers had,13 directly had to do with Zanu-PF, the Party.
On this page, the soldiers clearly state that the coup “was meant to prop up the authority of the president & buttress his constitutional roles in running the affairs of the Party, Zanu-PF, & the nation of Zimbabwe.”
Page 7, like many sections of the coup minutes, contains the major reason for the coup, “threatened electability of Zanu-PF in the impending 2018 harmonised elections” which raised “the spectre of an electoral defeat” similar to 2008.
Page 8 tells us that the coup was also meant to enable the military to “reinstate bonafide party (Zanu-PF) processes for legitimate outcomes (at the extraordinary congress in Dec 2017). It was meant to reinstate ED who had been fired.
On page 9, the coupists claim their coup was meant to avert ‘a tribal war,’ “Hondo yemarudzi” which they argued, “posed a real threat to National Security & overall electability of Zanu-PF “.
Page 10 reveals that the coup enabled the military to takeover Zanu-PF & govt so the soldiers could fulfil 2013 Zanu-PF “unfulfilled” election promises because “the command element expressed fears that Zanu-PF faced another election without evidence of real economic recovery”.
Page 11. The coup was a result of the unhappiness the soldiers had over sidelining of war vets from both Zanu-PF & govt. They were angry that “even veteran commissars seconded to the party by the military were dropped or sidelined”.
Page 12 Command element wasn’t happy with the way Zanu-PF National Commissar, Saviour Kasukuwere, “was executing commissariat work”. The army expressed concern over the perceived influence that @ProfJNMoyo had on the Commissar.
The soldiers staged the coup bcaz they were unhappy with what they called “the culture of open disrespect of seniors (@edmnangagwa) in the party” (Zanu-PF) shown at “interface rallies”.
Page 14 shows the soldiers carried out the coup bcaz they were not happy with the “integrity & management of information & decisions of the party” (Zanu-PF) which they said were being communicated through social media.
The command element staged the coup bcaz of “growing anxiety… arising from well-publicised threats of dismissal or arbitrary retirement”. In short, the coup was to save their jobs.
Page 16: The soldiers, whose terms of office had expired, argued that the 2013 constitution “gave everyone occupying such constitutionally abridged posts a new countdown date” hence couldn’t be retired.
Page 17: The soldiers staged the coup caz they were not happy with the collapse of the “National Joint Operation Command” (JOC), allegedly, at the instigation of G40. They blamed Chihuri & Bonyongwe for its collapse.
Page 18 The soldiers threatened a “bloody” war if “a counter-operation led by the police” resisted their coup.
Page 19: The soldiers lied that they were not staging the coup to effect leadership change at the top echelons of Zanu-PF although they argued: “hard decisions… had to be made in the interest of the survival of the party.”
Page 20-21: The soldiers expressed anxiety over who was to succeed Pres Mugabe “should he choose to retire” & claimed “hard decisions had to be made “whilst there is still time “…” for the survivability of Zanu-PF “…”into the future.”
Conclusion: The coup minutes correctly show that the Nov 2017 coup had nothing to do with the welfare of Zimboz but the worry the military had over a seemingly certain 2018 Zanu-PF electoral defeat. As Charamba puts it “the carriers” of Coup are “Zanu-PF cadres to the bone.”
By Nomusa Garikai- “Chawawana batisisa, mudzimu haupi kaviri!” (Make the most of a given opportunity because you may not get another chance!) so goes the Shona adage.
Zimbabwe had its golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms designed to end the corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. We failed to get even one reform implemented in five years and the opportunity was lost and have lived to regret it.
Those Zimbabweans who have been hoping that SADC leaders will give us another chance to end the dictatorship following last July’s rigged elections and Zanu PF resorting to its default setting of using violence to impose its dictatorial rule have been disappointed. SADC leaders are not interested in helping us end the country’s political crisis.
Indeed, if anything, SADC leaders are fighting in Mnangagwa’s corner.
“The SADC Heads of State and Government noted that since coming to power, the new Government of Zimbabwe has continued with concerted efforts to address socioeconomic challenges and transform the economy, particularly through the Zimbabwe Transitional Stabilization Programme (2018-2020), and to consolidate unity and peace in the country,” reads the statement from Dr. Hage G. Geingob President of the Republic of Namibia, and Chairperson of SADC.
“This, notwithstanding, some internal groups, in particular NGOs, supported by external forces, have continued with efforts to destabilise the country.”
What? Are SADC leaders blind? Zanu PF rigged the elections and is now using wanton violence to hang on to power and SADC leaders are siding with the regime!
Following the 2008 to 2013 GNU’s failure to implement even one democratic reforms, it was none other than SADC leaders themselves who advised Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends to postpone the 2013 elections until reforms were implemented.
“In 2013 the Maputo Summit, in June 2013, before the elections, the Maputo Summit was all about having the elections postponed – the SADC summit,” Dr Ibbo Mandaza told Violet Gonda in an interview in 2017.
“I went there. I was there at the Summit and Mugabe pretended to agree to a postponement of the elections. If you recall, the postponement was based on the need to reform at least electoral laws.
“And after that Summit, Morgan Tsvangirai, Tendai Biti, Welshman Ncube, all of them were called to a separate meeting by the Heads of State of SADC in the absence of Mugabe, that same evening. And they were told; I was sitting there outside the room with Mac Maharaj; they were told ‘if you go into elections next month, you are going to lose; the elections are done’.”
Sadly, MDC leaders ignored the SADC leaders’ warning, just as they had ignored the SADC leaders’ many reminders for MDC leaders to implement the reforms. As expected Zanu PF went on to blatantly rig the 2013 elections.
When President Mnangagwa seized power in the 2017 military coup, he promised to hold free, fair and credible elections. He has failed to implement even one reform and blatantly rigged the July 2018 elections.
SADC leaders are ignoring that Mnangagwa rigged the elections and is therefore illegitimate. The regional leaders are, seemingly, ignoring that not even one reform was ever implemented since their June 2013 warning to MDC leaders on reforms and they are ignoring the reports of all the democratic nations who condemned the 2018 elections as flawed and illegal.
Worse still, Zanu PF is using wanton violence to silence those protesting the rigged elections and the worsening economic situation. It is disheartening that SADC leaders should be supporting the regime and not the masses the regime has terrorised all these years.
“The SADC Heads of State and Government further noted that the Government’s efforts to transform the economy and bring about prosperity to the people of Zimbabwe are negatively affected by the illegal sanctions that were imposed on the country since the early 2000,” continued President Geingob.
Ever since 2016 when the then President Robert Mugabe confessed that Zimbabwe was being “swindled” of $15 billion in diamond revenue the Zanu PF regime has all but stopped blaming sanctions for the country’s economic decline . No nation could sustain that level of economic haemorrhage much less Zimbabwe with a GDP of $10 billion.
Both President Mnangagwa and Mugabe have never arrested even one swindler and there is nothing to suggest the wholesale looting has stopped. It is therefore a great shame that SADC leaders should be the ones peddling a discredited Zanu PF propaganda falsehood!
The targeted sanctions have served the purpose of highlighting Zanu PF leaders’ failure to hold free, fair and credible elections. The Americans could not have explained the linkage more plainly than they did before the 2018 elections. All those who know that Zanu PF blatantly rigged last July’s elections and appreciates the importance of ending this curse of rigged elections as the pre-requisite to good governance in Zimbabwe will want the sanctions to remain.
Indeed, sanctions must be extended to included individuals propping the Zanu PF dictatorship like Professor Mthuli Ncube, Minister Kirsty Coventry, the 24 President Advisory Council members. The West must also include the opposition members on the sanctions list; they have continued to participate in flawed and illegal elections against advice not to for the sake of the few gravy train seats Zanu PF throws away as bait.
As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs there will be no meaningful economic recovery. Indeed the economic meltdown will only get worse. With unemployment already a dizzying 90%, basic services such as supply of clean water and health care all but collapse, etc. Zimbabwe is sinking into the abyss.
The only way to save Zimbabwe from this man-made tragedy of economic chaos and political paralysis is to force Zanu PF to step down to create the political spare for the appointment of an interim administration. The administration will be entrusted with the task of implementing the democratic reforms to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship and replace it with a democratic system of government.
It is a great pity that SADC leaders have clearly given up hope of Zimbabwe ever holding free, fair and credible elections after the 2008 to 2013 GNU failed to implement the necessary reforms. Yes SADC leaders have good reason to be angry with the MDC leaders for selling-out during the GNU but nothing will ever justify the regional leaders’ support of the Mnangagwa dictatorship.
“If you go into elections next month, you are going to lose; the elections are done!” SADC leaders warned. Of course SADC leaders know Zanu PF rigged not just the 2013 elections but the 2018 elections too. It is a crying shame that SADC leaders are propping this illegitimate Mnangagwa regime, giving it some modicum of credibility and legitimacy. That is totally unacceptable!
The Zanu PF youth league will on February 21 – the day former President Robert Mugabe turns 95 – march in Harare in show support to President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Addressing about 300 district youth chairperson in Marondera, the party’s National Youth League Political Commissar, Godfrey Tsenengamu, said the solidarity event is meant to send a message to the opposition parties and outside forces that Mnangagwa is a leader who was elected by the people.
The march comes hardly a month after a wave of anti-government protests, and human rights organisations have have produced damning dossiers, narrating how the military fatally shot civilians at point blank, raped women and carried out nocturnal visits at perceived anti-government activists’ homes and brutally assaulted them, oftentimes in front of their families.
But Mnangagwa said the rape reports were fabricated, demanding that the estimated 20 victims come out in the open and narrate their ordeals to police.
Notables attending the meeting are youth league national executive memmbers Tonderai Bosha, Edmore Kandira, Mashonaland West youth league boss Vengai Musengi and Mashonaland East province youth leader Kelvin Mutsvairo.
This is not the first time Zanu PF structures have marched in solidarity with their leadership.
Two years ago, Zanu PF supporters staged a solidarity march in Harare to show support for the then underfire First Lady Grace Mugabe, who was facing allegations of attacking a South African model she found in a hotel socializing with her sons, Mugabe Junior and Chatunga.
In November 2017, the party organised a solidarity march to show its support for Mugabe just days after he fired Mnangagwa.
NewsDay
MDC Organising Secretary Amos Chibaya today received a warm welcome from fellow parliamentarians when he walked into parliament following more than two weeks in detention.
Read tweets below
By Own Correspondent- Zanu-PF Mashonaland West Youth League has endorsed the expulsion of leader, Pupurai Togarepi, his deputy Lewis Matutu and three other National Executive Council members.
Togarepi, Matutu and the three National Executive Council members are accused of incompetence, gross misconduct and disloyalty, among other allegations.
The other three are the Youth League’s national secretary for Administration Tendai Chirau, the deputy national secretary for External Relations Admire Mahachi and deputy national Secretary for Environment and Tourism Mercy Mugomo.
In a statement after a provincial youth executive meeting in Chinhoyi last week, provincial secretary for administration Ability Gandawa called on Zanu-PF’s National Disciplinary Committee to immediately review and conclude the matter.
Said Gandawa:
The Mashonaland West executive calls upon all Zanu-PF members to support the decision made by the national executive of the Youth League to reorganise its structure to suit the aspirations of the party which is to support the President in making Zimbabwe great again. To this end, the executive calls on the National Disciplinary Committee to immediately review and conclude the matter, to discharge members working against the vision of the President.
By Own Correspondent- South Africa’s Home Affairs Department is reportedly investigating self-acclaimed prophet Shepherd Bushiri’s residency in the country.
According to a report by Eyewitness News, Bushiri and his wife Mary, who both lead the Enlightened Christian Gathering Church, have drawn much attention after they were charged with fraud and money laundering.
The Malawian nationals are out on bail and will be back in court in May.
The department says the investigation into Bushiri’s residency is a routine exercise to assist in the ongoing investigation.
The department says that Bushiri first entered South Africa in September 2009 but only acquired permanent residency which would have allowed him to run his church in May 2016.
But his church is recorded to have been active in South Africa already in 2012.
Home Affairs says that the investigation is to establish compliance with the Immigration Act.
Officials say their investigation should be complete by the end of this week
By Own Correspondent| A Harare woman who was in a shop along Bank street in Harare will rue the day she carried a big bag while doing her shopping after council police dragged her into their truck in a blitz targeting vendors.
The woman, who was busy shopping and unaware that a council vehicle was just outside full of council police got the shock of her life after one of the municipal officers dragged her from the shop to the vehicle accussing her of vending and hiding her wares inside the shop.
She tried to explain that she was on a shopping spree and even showed the council police officer a list of items she was buying but the officer would hear none of it.
She was forcibly dragged into their van only to be later released after the intervention of one of the shop keepers.
By Own Correspondent- A pastor with the Family of God (Fog) church in Beitbridge, Henius Muzopa, faces arrest for allegedly bashing a female congregant on Sunday`in a feud which allegedly arose due to factionalism in the church.
It is alleged that Muzopa, responded to a greeting gesture by congregant Thokozile Moyo, with fists when the two met at their church premises in Dulivhadzimo.
Muzopa switched off his phone yesterday when a local publication sought comment.
According to witnesses, Moyo arrived at the church with Gloria Muleya Chimurudze to see an elderly member of the church who was sick.
Moyo held out her hand to greet Muzopa, who is from a rival faction, and he allegedly responded by punching her instead. He kicked her in the back as she turned to flee.
Moyo was briefly hospitalised after the alleged assault and a medical affidavit by Aramu Magodora described Moyo’s injuries as severe, but unlikely to cause permanent disability.
Moyo has since made a formal report under RRB number 3822334 at Beitbridge Police.
Ever since Fog founder Andrew Wutawunashe divorced his wife, quarrels have dominated the church after a provisional court ruling said members should share the churches registered in the couple’s names.-StateMedia
About 31 passengers who were travelling in a Brooklyn bus from Bulawayo to Mussina lost valuables worth thousands of dollars when armed robbers aboard the bus pounced on them Monday night.
According to sources, the incident occurred around 2300 hours near Irsvale Turn Off in Umzingwane district.
The bus is said to have left with 36 booked passengers and did not pick up anyone along way.
However, upon reaching Irsvale one of the armed robbers stood up and fired in the air before ordering the driver to immediately stop the bus.
Four of his other accomplices emerged from the back and ordered the passengers to lie down before robbing them of their values which included phones, money and passports.
After committing the robbery, the five men disappeared into the night.
The bus then proceeded to Gwanda Police Station where a report was made.
The actual value of the goods is not yet known.
Police in Gwanda have referred all questions to the national police headquarters.
The incident comes hard on the heels of an armed robbery which occurred in Beitbridge recently where one person was killed and 3 injured when a Smart bus they were traveling in was attacked by 2 armed robberies.
REGISTRAR General Clemence Masango says the printing of passports could come to a halt within the next two months if government fails to avail forex to import the special paper used to print the much sought-after document.
Masango was giving oral evidence this Monday before to parliament’s Defence and Security Services Committee.
The Registrar general said his office has fallen behind in the issuance of passports with those supposed to take 24 hours now taking a minimum of 3 days while three day passports now take a full week.
-Zimbabwe Star
A Twitter user has come guns blazing against the United Nations in Zimbabwe for blocking him after she questioned why the nations’ body had remained mum while the President Emmerson Mnangagwa administration harassed, killed and arrested opposition activists and supporters during the shutdown protests.
Find the Tweet below;
By Own Correspondent| Zimbabwean author, Tsitsi Dangarembga has said President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s statements that women who claimed to have been raped during the January military and police crackdown on protestors were faking it is not only shocking but insensitive.
Dangarembga revealed that when she was raped, it took her 12 years to open up and reveal the matter.
She said:
Am beyond shocked by the denial of rape by President Mnangagwa. ZRP has publicly said it can take 8-10 years for a rape victim to come forward. In my case, I only faced it after 12 years, and still, don’t know where or how to report. The callousness exhibited here is mindblowing.
In an interview with AFP as reported by South African publication TimesLive, Tsitsi said Zimbabwe needs her #MeToo moment.
She said:
Violence is very much part of the fabric of our society and I believe we have to address this… if we want to overcome it.
I want to talk about my own story of abuse, which really robbed me of eight years of my life. I want to be one of the people in the #MeToo spots.
Tsitsi became famous after she published her book, ‘Nervous Conditions’ in 1988. Her novel was recently named by the BBC as one of 100 stories that shaped the world.
Zimbabwe Students in Russia have written a damning Twitter thread exposing how the government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa has abandoned them in the Eastern European country.
The students who are owed US$600 000 living allowance by the government claim that due to the failure of government to meet its end, female students have resorted to prostitution as a means of survival while males are at times victims of sodomy.
In his visit to Russia recently President Mnangagwa met a representative of the students and instructed Reserve Bank Governor John Mangudya to clear the arrears.
Find the full statement of the students below:
We are Zimbabwean Students under the governmental scholarship in Russia. Below I will list 5 accounts from fellow students here highlighting our plight in this foreign land. Our wish is you help us spread our story out because we are voiceless people no one is hearing our cry.
This scholarship is meant for underprivileged students like those who don’t have parents like us. Our Zimbabwe government promised to take care of us but its not. The weather is more than harsh here, as I write the temperature is 20 degrees below zero and it’s only the start of winter.
We haven’t paid rentals and compulsory medical insurance. There’s no food to eat and warm shoes for this winter. We need money. In Russia, there is no excuse for I don’t have. Why would you promise us that you will take care of us whilst you do the exact opposite?
If you had told us the truth we wouldn’t have accepted these offers from the word go. Why are you making us suffer like this? Girls are now well known for selling their bodies for them to eat and many have actually stopped their studies because the situation is unbearable.
Boys are making shisha in Nightclubs to make ants meat and few unfortunate ones are being sodomised.
The situation is terrible and it needs the government immediate response.
As students in Russia who came to study through the so-called the Zimbabwe-Russian Government bilateral scholarships, we say it’s over. We are tired of lies by the Zimbabwean government and its ministry. We have been patient enough to wait for what you promised.
You published that the government is going to clear the arrears by the end of January 2019, but up to now, you didn’t release any cent. We are starving here, and to my surprise, the government is continuing to call for applications to Russia.
Life in Russia is extremely expensive. On top of that, we are obliged to pay expenses like rent, medical insurance, visa and transport. In the first place, the government has promised to give each beneficiary a stipend of $3000 per year and they made every student sign the forms.
Why can’t you keep the promise? We have spent more than half a year without money making us more vulnerable to hunger and starvation, police arrests and deportation
The Russians kept their promise, as they said in the contract that they will pay tuition fees and they’re doing so. We started a new semester and we need money for registration, hostel fees, medicals and visas and to cover arrears for previous semester that we started without money
Please why did you bring us here in the first place? We could have taken other opportunities, but you lied to us. When we sent emails, you told us to ask for money from our parents and how do you expect a parentless student to beg money from no one?
As a Zimbabwean student studying in Russia, every day I have to choose whether to skip crucial lessons and go to work or sit in class with an empty stomach. Every day I face humiliation at the hands of the school authorities for unpaid rent.
Every day I face humiliation at the hands of the school authorities for unpaid rent. Every day I wonder how I will be able to pay hospital bills if I get sick because I can’t afford medical aid. Our government has completely abandoned its responsibilities.
We live and study at the mercy of the Russian government. As graduation day approaches we are faced with a mountain of arrears accumulated over 5 years because of our government. All we want is for our government to grow a conscience. We try to be good ambassadors of our country.
However every time my stomach growls in class from hunger and every time people see me in tattered clothes, my country’s name is soiled.
The president visited Russia and as a father, we believed he would not come to see his children with open hands. Did I just say see, he even insisted on seeing only student representatives, shall we talk of closed arms too. He had a tight schedule, I understand.
The President promised he has availed something for us and starting January we would receive some money for the upkeep, The Minister of Finance was there agreeing that they do have something ready for us. We couldn’t be any happier, I for one was bubbling with joy!
The ZBC broadcasted that the students have been given their money. That’s assuring our parents with false hope. Now they followed a series of excuses; “the officials who are supposed to bring the money are waiting for their visas and will be coming next week.”
It’s now the third week, we are still waiting. Next week surely never arrives.
In 2016/17 academic year, we didn’t receive anything and we are being told let’s leave the past into the past. I am a student, in a foreign land and not allowed to work.How can I forget that 2016/17 I wasn’t given anything when the debt I incurred is still there? We are simply asking the government to honour its end. We write, we call but it all has been futile.
As John Gottman would say, “Trust between the government and its citizens is built in two ways; transparency through action. Follow through on your promises, the opposite erodes trust”. I will rest my case and hope our whispered shout falls on listening ears, listening government and a listening President.
news365.co.za
By Own Correspondent| Zimbabwean students in Russia through government scholarships have appealed to President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration to honor their financial obligations and ensure that the students lead better lives abroad.
Below is the full text by the students:
This scholarship is meant for underprivileged students like those who don’t have parents like us. Our Zim govt promised to take care of us but it’s not. The weather is more than harsh here, as I write the temperature is 20 degrees below zero and it’s only the start of winter.
We haven’t paid rentals and compulsory medical insurance. There’s no food to eat and warm shoes for this winter. We need money. In Russia, there is no excuse for I don’t have. Why would you promise us that you will take care of us whilst you do the exact opposite?
If you had told us the truth we wouldn’t have accepted this offer from the word go. Why are you making us suffer like this? Girls are now well known for selling their bodies for them to eat and many have actually stopped their studies because the situation is unbearable.
Boys are making shisha in Nightclubs to make ants meat and few unfortunate ones are being sodomised. The situation is terrible and it needs the government immediate response.
As students in Russia who came to study through the so-called the Zimbabwe-Russian Government bilateral scholarships, we say it’s over. We are tired of lies by the Zimbabwean government and its ministry. We have been patient enough to wait for what you promised.
You published that the government is going to clear the arrears by the end of January 2019, but up to now, you didn’t release any cent. We are starving here, and to my surprise, the government is continuing to call for applications to Russia.
Life in Russia is extremely expensive. On top of that, we are obliged to pay expenses like rent, medical insurance, visa and transport. In the first place, the government has promised to give each beneficiary a stipend of $3000 per year and they made every student sign the forms.
Why can’t you keep the promise? We have spent more than half a year without money making us more vulnerable to hunger and starvation, police arrests and deportation.
The Russians kept their promise, as they said in the contract that they will pay tuition fees and they’re doing so. We started a new semester & we need money for registration, hostel fees, medicals and visas and to cover arrears for the previous semester that we started without money.
PLEASE! WHY DID YOU BRING US HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE? WE COULD HAVE TAKEN OTHER OPPORTUNITIES, BUT YOU LIED TO US. WHEN WE SENT YOU EMAILS, YOU TOLD US TO ASK MONEY FROM OUR PARENTS, AND HOW DO YOU EXPECT A PARENT-LESS STUDENT TO BEG MONEY FROM NO-ONE.
As a Zimbabwean student studying in Russia, every day I have to choose whether to skip crucial lessons and go to work or sit in class with an empty stomach. Every day I face humiliation at the hands of the school authorities for unpaid rent.
Every day I face humiliation at the hands of the school authorities for unpaid rent. Every day I wonder how I will be able to pay hospital bills if I get sick because I can’t afford medical aid. Our government has completely abandoned its responsibilities.
We live and study at the mercy of the Russian government. As graduation day approaches we are faced with a mountain of arrears accumulated over 5 years because of our government. All we want is for our government to grow a conscience. We try to be good ambassadors of our country.
However every time my stomach growls in class from hunger and every time people see me in tattered clothes, my country’s name is soiled.
The president visited Russia and as a father, we believed he would not come to see his children with open hands. Did I just say see, he even insisted on seeing only student representatives, shall we talk of closed arms too. He had a tight schedule, I understand.
The President promised he has availed something for us and starting January we would receive some money for the upkeep, The Minister of Finance was there agreeing that they do have something ready for us. We couldn’t be any happier, I for one was bubbling with joy!
The ZBC broadcasted that the students have been given their money. That’s assuring our parents with false hope. Now they followed a series of excuses; “the officials who are supposed to bring the money are waiting for their visas and will be coming next week.”
It’s now the third week, we are still waiting. Next week surely never arrives.
In 2016/17 academic year, we didn’t receive anything and we are being told let’s leave the past into the past. I am a student, in a foreign land and not allowed to work.
How can I forget that 2016/17 I wasn’t given anything when the debt I incurred is still there? We are simply asking the government to honour its end. We write, we call but it all has been futile.
As John Gottman would say, “Trust between the govt & its citizens is built in 2 ways; transparency through action. Follow through on your promises, the opposite erodes trust”. I will rest my case & hope our whispered shout falls on listening ears, listening govt & a listening President.
We are suffering here.
Correspondent|PROGRESSIVE Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) has petitioned the High Court seeking an order to reverse last month’s 150% fuel price hike made by President Emmerson Mnangagwa, arguing that the move was illegal and unconstitutional.
PTUZ filed the urgent chamber application alongside its secretary-general Raymond Majongwe, who filed in his personal capacity, while Mnangagwa, Finance minister Mthuli Ncube, Energy minister Joram Gumbo and the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority were cited as co-respondents.
The move to petition the court followed Mnangagwa’s announcement of new fuel prices on January 12 2019, making the commodity the most expensive in the world.
“This is an application seeking a provisional order and then a final order to set aside all recently ordered fuel price rises on the grounds of being patently illegal and also unconstitutional and of irreparable harm to us and others,” Majongwe said in his founding affidavit.
In his proclamation, Mnangagwa pegged the price of petrol at $3,36 from $1,32 and diesel from $1,24 to $3,11. The fuel increase however, led to violent protests, which resulted in extensive damage to property and looting. A brutal military crackdown, which ensued, resulted in the death of 17 people, torture and arrest of thousands.
“These increases made our fuel the most expensive in the world by a long way overnight, as can easily be confirmed from globalpetrolprices.com. We later found that the Presidential statement on fuel prices was not binding in law, but merely set as a policy. We have also found out that for all law-abiding citizens our fuel prices before the increases were already higher than the fuel prices for all of our neighbours,” Majongwe said.
“We also later found out that two Statutory Instruments (SI) were published in an extraordinary Government Gazette on the same day as the President’s statement. The two SIs were apparently meant to give legal effect to the President’s Press announcement, with the Minister of Finance increasing duty on petroleum products, while the Minister of Energy prescribed new pricing formulae for these.”
Majongwe further said Mnangagwa failed to take into account that some fuel dealers had paid duty at the old rates, which they still had in stock, resulting in them raking excessive profits.
“The price increase the President ordered for petrol also exceeded the combined rises in margins and duty per litre on pure petrol. SI 9 hiked duty on leaded and unleaded petrol by 186 cents per litre from 45 cents to 231 cents. Dealer margins were increased from 12 cents in all under SI 100 of 2015 to 25 cents in all under SI 10 of 2019. This gave a total of 199 cents per litre in increases, if the petrol being sold here as ‘blend’ is in fact entirely imported, yet the president ordered an increase of 207 cents in the petrol price,” he said.
“This application reveals compelling reasons to recognise that the government order to increase fuel prices was manifestly illegal and that the statutory instrument increasing excise duties published by the Finance minister, which underpinned and necessitated the price hikes, was manifestly ultra vires…”
The European Union delegation in Zimbabwe has mocked the state owned Chronicle over its story which suggested that the Western bloc had supported Zimbabwe’s re-engagement plan saying the story smacks of creative journalism.
Posting on Twitter yesterday, EU in Zimbabwe said their statement raised grave concerns over the recent violence in Zimbabwe and not what the Chronicle reported.
The late Zimbabwean Music Icon Dr Oliver Mtukudzi was Sunday night remember by the Recording Academy for his contribution to music.
The legendary musician died on Januray 23 2019 at the age of 66.
He was remembered amongst a host of other artists and industry professionals the music community lost in 2018–2019.
The Recording Academy salutes each individual for their respective talents and contributions to our culture and community.
The 61st GRAMMY Awards telecast on CBS will feature an In Memoriam segment highlighting some of these individuals via a video tribute, and all of these individuals who died prior to Jan. 8, 2019 are included in the official 61st GRAMMY Awards program book.
— Zimbuzz
Government is weighing the option of purchasing vehicles for ministers and parliamentarians from local vehicle assemblers to promote the domestic industry and reduce foreign currency expenditure in line with austerity measures being undertaken.
Local vehicle assemblers say such a move will create thousands of jobs and revive the vehicle assembling sector.
Quest Motors and Willowvale Motor Industries (WMI), which are the country’s foremost vehicle assemblers say they have capacity to produce quality vehicles which match imported Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs).
The vehicle assemblers argue that Government is obliged to implement a directive issued by the Office of the President and Cabinet that compels them to purchase vehicles from local assemblers.
Many developed countries reserve locally produced vehicles for their Government officials; with the case in point being Britain which exclusively produces locally made Jaguars and Range Rovers for its Cabinet ministers.
Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube said in an interview that Government was considering buying the next batch of ministerial vehicles from local assemblers after suspending vehicle imports for the current crop.
“That is a very interesting proposition that we definitely have to consider,” he said. “What is of importance to note right now is that Government has not bought or ordered cars for ministers.
“Most of the ministers and permanent secretaries are driving vehicles that they had in the past or which are pool cars in their respective ministries or parastatals.”
-263Chat
BULAWAYO’s biggest cemetery, West Park, has once again been decommissioned as it has run out of burial space with burials now taking place at Athlone and Luveve cemeteries.
West Park Cemetery was closed in 2016 after running out of burial space, but was later re-opened by the local authority targeting reserved land.
In its latest council report, the Bulawayo City Council said West Park Cemetery was decommissioned in December.
“West Park Cemetery was decommissioned on 18 December 2018 and burials are now taking place at Athlone West Cemetery,” reads the report.
Officials said those individuals who had reserved burial space would not be affected by the new position.
The council report shows that West Park Cemetery recorded an average of 15 burials per day.
Bulawayo has seven cemetery sites, namely Old Luveve, Luveve Extension, Luveve 3, Hyde Park, West Park, Lady Stanley and Athlone Avenue.
Other cemeteries are set to be opened in Marvel Township and Pumula South suburb.
In November, the local authority proposed mandatory cremation for people aged 25 and below as it grappled with a shortage of burial space in the city.
Some councillors mooted the idea of mandatory cremation of young people and double burial in one grave.
The Director of Health Services, Dr Edwin Sibanda, said efforts were being made to encourage residents to consider double burials.
“Once council cremator is available, relevant cremation policies will be formulated” said Dr Sibanda then.
He said children under 12 would be mandatorily cremated when they die.
Councillors were divided on the issue of cremation with some saying that people would never accept cremation but instead be encouraged to bury their loved ones in the rural areas to save space.
Residents have over the years opposed the idea of cremation, saying it was unAfrican.
In Bulawayo, it costs about $63 to cremate a body while conducting burial without a funeral policy costs no less than $1 000.
With cremation, costs of ferrying people to and from cemeteries are by-passed, and the cost of hiring a hearse to take the body to the graveyard is also avoided.
It also saves on land, but council has been facing an uphill task in getting people to understand and consider the rite.
Historian and researcher Mr Pathisa Nyathi is on record as saying that cremation has been practised by some cultures, but not among Africans.
“Such a subject is applicable to all our ethnic groups, Africans in general. People have a tendency of wanting to do things the way they have always been done.
“We have been around for thousands of years and Africans have been burying their dead.
“Africans believe in the dual nature of human beings, the physical and the spiritual. Death to the Africans is not the end but a new beginning and so what the Africans want is to bring back the spirit (umbuyiso).
“The grave becomes important in that rite,” he said in an earlier interview.
State Media
TWO Mutare brothers were punished by the court after they assaulted police officers who sought to arrest one of them over child maintenance arrears.
Ngonidzashe Sithole (30) was jailed for 12 months after he teamed up with his brother, Kudakwashe, and assaulted police officers who wanted to arrest him over maintenance arrears.
Ngonidzashe had four months of his jail term suspended for five years on condition that he does not commit a similar offence within that period.
He will spend eight months behind bars.
Kudakwashe was fined $250 and risks being jailed for four months in the event that he fails to pay the fine. The duo were arrested after they assaulted police officers Andrew Bhungeni and Claris Chinguruve (32) who wanted to apprehend Ngonidzashe as he attempted to evade arrest.
Ngonidzashe and Kudakwashe were being charged with obstructing the course of justice when they appeared before Mutare magistrate Mr Tendai Mahwe.
Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube has trashed claims by MDC-Alliance deputy chairperson and former Finance Minister Tendai Biti that Government will this week introduce a new currency. Mr Biti pontificated yesterday that authorities would, without due diligence, introduce a local currency that he said would be weak.
No official indications have been made to that effect and Prof Ncube has previously given a timeline of 12 months within which to reintroduce the local currency, provided certain fundamentals are in place.
But Mr Biti wrote on micro-blogging site, Twitter: “The regime will this week introduce a new Zimbabwe currency not backed by any #reserves & without the context of structural reforms which is a prerequisite for currency reform. That move is pure undiluted #insanity. An unbanked currency is just the #bond note by another name.”
Addressing the media on the sidelines of a tour of Nestlé, Prof Ncube said Mr Biti was entitled to his own opinion, but Government had set procedures and timelines to deal with the currency matter.
“Well, he is not in Government, but it is up to him to say whatever he wants to say,” he said. “He is free to comment and say anything.
“He is a member of the opposition so that is always welcome. It keeps us on our toes, but we have policies, we will do it when we are ready. But we have a game plan, a roadmap and we will do it when the conditions are right.”
Prof Ncube reiterated that Government would be in a position to clearly enunciate the currency reforms in 12 months.
“I cannot give a timeline, I have always consistently said in 12 months’ time we should have done a lot in reforming our currency and monetary system and I still maintain that,” he said.
Prof Ncube was on record saying Government was working on introducing a currency that would be stable and less volatile.
He said dealing with the fiscal side was the first order towards a stable currency.
State Media
Correspondent|A SUSPECTED protestor who initially told prosecutors during vetting for initial appearance at the Harare Magistrates’ Courts that he was given army uniform at the Zanu PF headquarters, yesterday changed his defence and accused the police officers who arrested him of forcing him to wear a friend’s military gear.
Shepard Magorimbo, who pleaded not guilty to the charges, appeared before magistrate Rumbidzai Mugwagwa, who remanded him in custody to February 25.
While applying for his bail, Magorimbo told the court that he was arrested in the city centre and was taken to his place of residence by police officers who forced him to wear Fungai Makoni’s army fatigue that was in his room.
Magorimbo said the only link to the robbery charge he was facing was the mobile number used to transfer money from the complainant.
Magorimbo’s lawyer Blessing Mupwanyiwa told the court that the State must have brought the arresting officer to testify if it was opposing bail.
But prosecutor Sebastian Mutizirwa opposed bail, saying Magorimbo was arrested by members of the public while wearing army uniform. The prosecutor further said there was overwhelming evidence against Magorimbo and that he was a flight risk.
Mutizirwa said if Magorimbo was released, he would link up with his accomplices, who are still at large.
Magorimbo is facing two counts of robbery.
Meanwhile, Mugwagwa also denied bail to a 29-year-old serving soldier accused of robbing foreign currency dealers in Chitungwiza last week.
Norest Nyasoro of Manyame Airbase was charged together with Tichaona Sosera (27) and Mafeking Tagara (24).
In denying them bail, Mugwagwa ruled that the suspects were positively identified by the witnesses and that might influence them to flee the jurisdiction of court.
Mugwagwa remanded the trio in custody to February 25.
In another matter, MDC Alliance councillor for Epworth, Elias Sithole (45) was yesterday sentenced to five years imprisonment by Harare magistrate Edwin Marecha for participating in public violence. One year was, however, conditionally suspended.
In convicting him, Marecha said Sithole was positively identified by the complainants while leading a group of supporters to attack Epworth Police Station.
Correspondent|OPPOSITION politician and former Vice President of Zimbabwe Joice Mujuru has demanded that President Emmerson Mnangagwa take responsibility for civilians assaulted by State security agents during the clampdown on protesters in January.
Mujuru further said the President should be court marshalled as he was “the one giving orders” to the soldiers.
Responding to the news that soldiers are no longer allowed to wear camuflage in towns and other public places, Mujuru said: “The problem is not about soldiers wearing uniforms outside barracks but it’s about the behavior/the command given to them outside barracks.
“Soldiers follow orders, the one giving orders should be court marshalled, the Commander-in-Chief should take responsibility.”
Her statement came a day after President Mnangagwa in an interview on France24 TV questioned the genuineness of some reported murders and rape cases, as victims never came forward to report.
He said if victims did not trust the police, they could also take their cases to community leaders such as church elders who would find them help.
But Mujuru was not amused.
“Shumba haingarambe kuti haina kuuraya mombe iyo ine ropa paromo zvekuti munhu wese anenge achiona ropa racho.
“Events that happened in Zimbabwe, happened in the public. People saw the events happening , people recorded videos. You can’t cover up such things brought up by citizens.”
Mnangagwa dismissed the reports as stage managed. He told the France24 TV anchor: “It is all stage managed. We are challenging anybody, anybody local or foreign to produce the women so that the world can see them, and say this is what happened. We would want to see those.
“And with regard to the other issue that you have mentioned about the beatings, killings… you say a [extra]judicial killings. This is where the army is directly and purposely killing people… we would want to see evidence; we see all this on social media. But we would want to see evidence where the 17 people were killed. Where were they buried?”
MUKUPE SAYS THE LOOTING YOUTHS ARE ZANU PF HEROES, THEY WERE HERE AT ZANU PF HQ.
Emmerson Mnangagwa’s in law, Terence Mukupe has in a video recorded, confessed that the youths who were injured while looting during the January mayhem, were sent by ZANU PF.
He described them as Zanu PF children dispatched on mission from the ZANU PF headquarters.
Said Mukupe: “Those who are saying the youths were looting, down with them. They didn’t even care to get close to the incidents to see for themselves. How can your own kids be injured, and you fail to rise up to go and find out what has happened?
“And you find out on your own instead of relying on social media. When our children were at headquarters, at ZANU PF HQ. No one bothered to even get there and that is how you see that some people are merely interested in getting positions. So the matter here is, in my own books the youths who were injured Are Heroes to me.
“And I said it at Jekerere. When I said this, they started sending me messages telling me to behave (get back into line). You must support this person (nhingi). We want to pass a vote of no confidence on Emmerson Mnangagwa. If you do not do what we are telling you, you already know what we did to the late Gen. Mujuru.
“And I said that when I joined these things I did not do it in order to seek to breathe. I got in because I have faith in this thing that is called zanu-pf. I did not put my faith in a human being.
“So the issue is the person who is ruling, the person who was chosen by the people I know him. For you to say that you want to burn me inside my house my address I give it all to you. And I am happy that with these words (video ends) “
State Media – Two MDC Alliance MPs Settlement Chikwinya (Mbizo) and Lloyd Mukapiko (Redcliff) accused of inciting public violence during the recent protests, have been released on $300 bail each by the High Court.
The ruling by Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Martin Makonese follows an application for bail pending trial by Chikwinya and Mukapiko, through their lawyer Mr Brian Dube of Gundu Dube and Associates, citing the State as a respondent.
Justice Makonese ordered the two opposition party legislators to reside at their given addresses and report once a week at Kwekwe Police Station as part of the bail conditions.
They were also ordered not to interfere with State witnesses. In granting the two applicants bail, the judge said the assertion by the State that they would interfere with investigations was not substantiated.
“I do not consider that the applicants who have been in custody for nearly two weeks have the capacity to interfere with investigations, which by all accounts must be complete at this stage. Under the circumstances, I do not find merit in the grounds that have been raised by the State in opposing this application for bail. In the result, it is ordered that the applicants be and hereby admitted to bail,” ruled Justice Makonese.
Chikwinya and Mukapiko have been in custody for about two weeks after they were denied bail by Kwekwe magistrate, Mr Story Rushambwa.
The State alleges that they incited public violence during the last month’s protests instigated by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) and the MDC Alliance including affiliate civil society groups.
According to the State, on January 12 at around 9PM, Chikwinya and Mukapiko addressed a public meeting at Red Lion Bar in Kwekwe inciting the general public to engage in violent protests during the stayaway dubbed “National Shutdown.”
As a result of their remarks, various civic society groups and their affiliates went on a rampage committing acts of violence in Harare, Bulawayo, Gweru, Kwekwe and Gokwe.
The pair’s actions led to the blocking of roads and destruction of property in central Kwekwe during which scores of people were injured while shops were looted and torched in some major cities in the country.
Chikwinya is alleged to have posted on his Facebook page a “thank you” message to the people who heeded his call for violent protests.
He is alleged to have encouraged people to continue mounting pressure on Government through violent protests.
The State, which was represented by Mr Trust Muduma, had opposed bail, arguing that there were compelling reasons justifying the two applicants’ continued detention.
Mr Muduma argued that there was not guarantee that if given bail, the two men would not abscond or interfere with State witnesses.
Mr Dube said his clients had no reason to skip trial, arguing that the State had no prima facie case against them.-state media
Two Mutare brothers were punished by the court after they assaulted police officers who sought to arrest one of them over child maintenance arrears.
Ngonidzashe Sithole (30) was jailed for 12 months after he teamed up with his brother, Kudakwashe, and assaulted police officers who wanted to arrest him over maintenance arrears. Ngonidzashe had four months of his jail term suspended for five years on condition that he does not commit a similar offence within that period.
He will spend eight months behind bars. Kudakwashe was fined $250 and risks being jailed for four months in the event that he fails to pay the fine. The duo were arrested after they assaulted police officers Andrew Bhungeni and Claris Chinguruve (32) who wanted to apprehend Ngonidzashe as he attempted to evade arrest.
Ngonidzashe and Kudakwashe were being charged with obstructing the course of justice when they appeared before Mutare magistrate Mr Tendai Mahwe. -state media
RELEASE OUR FRIEND VICTOR MUJAKACHI FROM IMMIGRATION DETENTION NOW.
We are deeply concerned about the safety of our friend. Victor was detained when reporting at Vulcan House, Sheffield on the 11 February. We fear for his safety should he be forcibly returned to Zimbabwe. Victor is an outspoken critic of successive Zimbabwean governments and has expressed worries for his safety, should he be returned, especially given the recent brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters in the country.
Here in Sheffield Victor has distinguished himself for his voluntary work with numerous community, voluntary and Church groups. He is a well respected volunteer at ASSIST Sheffield and has made many friends across the community. In recognition of his contributions he has received several volunteering awards.
Victor came to the UK in 2003 as a postgraduate student. In 2008 a warrant for his arrest was issued by the Zimbabwean authorities, following critical comments he made online about the reelection of Robert Mugabe. His subsequent application for asylum in the UK was turned down, as were two further asylum applications in the following years.
In spite of the uncertainties around his personal situation Victor directed his energy and considerable business acumen from his professional background in corporate banking towards helping others. He is a board member of FURD (Football Unites Racism Divides) and Sheffield Conversation Club, and volunteers for several other organisations, including HARC (Homeless and Rootless at Christmas), the Sunday Centre, City of Sanctuary, and others. In 2017 he was awarded the Nether Edge and Sheffield Community Star Award in 2017, in addition to the South Yorkshire High Sheriff’s Award in 2013.
Victor is an indispensable volunteer at ASSIST Sheffield. He holds various volunteer roles, but his absence will be most dramatically felt at our emergency night shelter. He has been the team leader for the shelter for the past eight years. During this period the shelter has been a lifeline for several hundred asylum seekers who would otherwise have had to sleep rough on the streets of our city. Without Victor, there is a real risk the operations of the night shelter will be severely disrupted in the short to medium term, putting at risk emergency accommodation for dozens of asylum seekers who currently depend on it as their sole emergency accommodation.
Given his continued activism around Zimbabwean politics and vocal criticism of the Mugabe and later the Mnangagwa governments and in light of the recent brutal government crackdown on protesters in Zimbabwe (described by Amnesty International as using ‘the most brutal tactics imaginable’) we are in shock and disbelief that any UK government would even consider deporting anybody to Zimbabwe.
Victor isn’t the only Zimbabwean that has been detained in the last few days.
We ask for no asylum seekers to be deported to Zimbabwe.
We ask for Victor Mujakachi and other detained Zimbabweans to be released from detention immediately.
By Paul Nyathi|Latest reports indicate that Vice President Constantino Chiwenga who is undergoing treatment in India is now failing to eat.
According to online media Zimlive, two weeks ago, Chiwenga visited a hospital in South Africa where he complained that his esophagus was “dry”. He told doctors he was struggling to eat, which would account for his dramatic weight loss.
Chiwenga reportedly underwent esophageal manometry, used to measure the strength and muscle coordination of one’s esophagus when they swallow.
“It was detected that he was having motility problems, but not cancerous. He was advised to see an esophageal surgeon,” a medical source briefed on Chiwenga’s treatment told Zimlive.
Government however tried to undermine the gravity of the illness claiming that Chiwenga is recovering from a minor abdominal ailment.
“The Hon. Vice President CDN Chiwenga is recovering well from some minor abdominal ailment in Delhi, India,” Deputy Information Minister Energy Mutodi said on Twitter.
Over the last year, Chiwenga has been in and out of hospitals suffering from a range of ailments including – according to him and government officials – exhaustion, poisoning and a bullet lodged in his lungs from the war of independence 40 years ago.
Source: Zimlive
By Dorrothy Moyo| The Chegutu MP, Dexter Nduna yesterday declared in parliament that he has killed too many people including some he cannot remember.
He said this as he was threatening the Norton MP, Temba Mliswa. During the heated exchange, Mliswa responded telling him he won’t kill, but castrate him.
Mliswa labelled him a thief, and the latter repeated the pejorative. Nduna stood up and neared up to Mliswa when the latter told him he would floor him in a whim. Nduna only cooled down after titling himself a murderer who has killed many who he cannot remember.
Below were the LIVE scenes:
“It’s amazing how one feels violated by “thief label” but rather feels comfortable with “murderer label” instead. Only in Zimbabwe where one confesses of crimes against humanity and allowed to continue as a parliamentarian. Makorokoto takavhotera vanhu vatakakodzera!” commented a UK community leader.
Attempts by the ZANU PF spokesman Simon Khaya Moyo to distance his party from the youths who looted businesses last month during the mid January riots, have been rubbished by Emmerson Mnangagwa’s in law, Terence Mukupe.
MUKUPE SAYS THE LOOTING YOUTHS ARE ZANU PF HEROES, THEY WERE HERE AT ZANU PF HQ.
Emmerson Mnangagwa’s in law, Terence Mukupe has in a video recorded, confessed that the youths who were injured while looting during the January mayhem, were sent by ZANU PF.
He described them as Zanu PF children dispatched on mission from the ZANU PF headquarters.
Said Mukupe: “Those who are saying the youths were looting, down with them. They didn’t even care to get close to the incidents to see for themselves. How can your own kids be injured, and you fail to rise up to go and find out what has happened?
“And you find out on your own instead of relying on social media. When our children were at headquarters, at ZANU PF HQ. No one bothered to even get there and that is how you see that some people are merely interested in getting positions. So the matter here is, in my own books the youths who were injured Are Heroes to me.
“And I said it at Jekerere. When I said this, they started sending me messages telling me to behave (get back into line). You must support this person (nhingi). We want to pass a vote of no confidence on Emmerson Mnangagwa. If you do not do what we are telling you, you already know what we did to the late Gen. Mujuru.
“And I said that when I joined these things I did not do it in order to seek to breathe. I got in because I have faith in this thing that is called zanu-pf. I did not put my faith in a human being.
“So the issue is the person who is ruling, the person who was chosen by the people I know him. For you to say that you want to burn me inside my house my address I give it all to you. And I am happy that with these words (video ends) “
Chimurenga music legend, Thomas Mapfumo says he is in no hurry to return to his base in the United States of America (USA), citing cold weather that does not permit him to hold shows.
Mukanya who has been in the country since early December last year when he came for the Mukanya peace Tour, highlighted that some members of his team have been pushing for him to stay longer and perform in Zimbabwe while winter in the USA subsides.
“In America, you can only perform and hold shows during summer, and currently they are in winter which makes it impossible to hold shows. Snow affects mobility in a negative way and at the end of the day, you are just confined to your to your home place.
“Some of my band members I came with are even pushing for us to stay a while longer than rush going back to the USA where we will remain idle until winter ends,” said Mapfumo.
The “Nyoka Musango” hitmaker is billed to perform with Sulumani Chibetu at Las Vegas club this Friday.
-263Chat
The Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube has said Government ministers are using cars borrowed from other departments.
Ncube said the state has not authorised the purchase of new vehicles for ministers and MPs.
He said this is due to austerity measures to reduce expenses.
Ncube, quoted by the state media, said, ” : “Ministers are using borrowed cars either from parastatals or other government departments.
“This also applied to Members of Parliament. We’ve all said as ministers and MPs we should meet the people of Zimbabwe halfway and show that we sympathise with them as we go through this reform agenda.
“The situation will get better over time but for now things have to be the way they are. In terms of civil servants we did realise that the sharp increase in prices needed a response and we decided to cushion them between January and March.”
Correspondent|Controversial pastor Shepherd Bushiri returned to his sermons at the Enlightened Christian Gathering (ECG) church at the weekend, telling his followers that nothing can stop the power of God.
Congregants gathered at the Pretoria Show Grounds on Sunday in their thousands to witness the preacher in action.
Bushiri and his wife Mary were released on R100,00 bail each after being arrested on charges of fraud and money laundering.
Fanatical fans promised to interrupt the upcoming elections if their “daddy” was not released.
A video of the sermon has made its way on social media and it showed Bushiri having his congregation anoint themselves.
According to reports, Bushiri preached at his church, the Enlightened Christian Gathering (ECG) church, where he told his congregation nothing can stop the power of God.
The video of the sermon, which was dubbed the “Instant Miracles Sunday Service,” was posted on Prophet Shepherd Bushiri’s Facebook page.
Bushiri returned to the pulpit to preach over the weekend, promising his congregants that he was “here to stay.”
“I’m coming with a testimony. My story is changing. In the name of Jesus Christ. Today is a wonderful day when your past, your present and your future will be together. If you feel like a trip, your problem is over,” he said.
“As you leave this place, you must leave with this information. Major 1 is staying. It is done. It doesn’t matter what people are saying about you. Major 1 has said it is done,” he added.
The Pretoria Show Grounds had an overflow of people as thousands flocked to hear their “daddy” – the name they call Bushiri – preach.
“I anoint you today in this year 2019. You will never be the same again. Put that oil on your head. My father, my father, I anoint myself. I am the word of your prophet,” he said.
However, the pastor has denied the claims against him, with his followers insisting that there is a vendetta against him.
MUKUPE SAYS THE LOOTING YOUTHS ARE ZANU PF HEROES, THEY WERE HERE AT ZANU PF HQ.
Emmerson Mnangagwa’s in law, Terence Mukupe has in a video recorded party address, said that the youths who were injured while looting during the January 2019 mayhem, were sent by ZANU PF.
He described them as Zanu PF children dispatched on mission from the ZANU PF headquarters.
Said Mukupe: “Those who are saying the youths were looting, down with them. They didn’t even care to get close to the incidents to see for themselves. How can your own kids be injured, and you fail to rise up to go and find out what has happened?
“And you find out on your own instead of relying on social media. When our children were at headquarters, at ZANU PF HQ, no one bothered to even get there and that is how you see that some people are merely interested in getting positions. So the matter here is, in my own books the youths who were injured are heroes, to me.
“And I said it at Jekerere. When I said this, they started sending me messages telling me to behave (get back into line). You must support this person (nhingi). We want to pass a vote of no confidence on Emmerson Mnangagwa. If you do not do what we are telling you, you already know what we did to the late Gen. Mujuru.
“And I said that when I joined these things I did not do it in order to seek to breathe. I got in because I have faith in this thing that is called Zanu-pf. I did not put my faith in a human being.
“So the issue is the person who is ruling, the person who was chosen by the people I know him. For you to say that you want to burn me inside my house my address I give it all to you. And I am happy that with these words (video ends) “
A leading Zimbabwean opposition politician accused President Emmerson Mnangagwa of treating opposition supporters like cockroaches that need to be eliminated, evoking language used during the genocide of the Tutsi minority in Rwanda in 1994.
“Mugabe was a restraining force to these bulldogs and the chief of these bulldogs is Emmerson Mnangagwa.”
Tendai Biti, a senior member of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, laid the blame for the most brutal suppression of urban protests in Zimbabwe since independence from the U.K. in 1980 on Mnangagwa.
The former spy chief, known as The Crocodile, replaced Robert Mugabe in late 2017 after a military coup.
A crackdown by the military last month on protests — sparked by the more-than-doubling of fuel prices overnight — left at least 12 people dead. Most of them were shot, marking a departure from the approach taken during Mugabe’s rule, when complaints of beatings, abductions and torture were common, but the use of live ammunition for crowd control was rare.
While the government has blamed the opposition for the demonstrations, which were called by trade unions, the MDC has denied responsibility.
‘Chief Bulldog’
Mnangagwa believes “we are cockroaches that must be crushed,” Biti, 52, said in an interview in Johannesburg on Friday, adding that only Mnangagwa could have been responsible for the deployment of the military. “Mugabe was a restraining force to these bulldogs and the chief of these bulldogs is Emmerson Mnangagwa.”
Biti, a former finance minister, says his family has been intimidated and he himself is facing charges after he said the leader of his party, Nelson Chamisa, won elections last year rather than Mnangagwa.
Shortly after those elections, Biti fled to Zambia. State agents tried to apprehend him while he was between the two countries’ border posts, but he said he was rescued by bus loads of female informal vendors who beat back the agents. Zambia later returned Biti to Zimbabwe in what he says was a breach of international law.
Rape Accusations
Biti says 48 members of parliament from his party, the country’s biggest opposition group, have been harassed since the protests and 1,200 people have been arrested. Reports of women being raped by soldiers are common and “unprecedented” and the military is still deployed across the country.
Six calls to Mnangagwa’s spokesman, George Charamba, weren’t answered and Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa and her deputy were said to be unavailable. The Zimbabwe Defense Forces press office didn’t answer six calls to its Harare office.
Biti, a lawyer by training, dismissed reports of a rift between Mnangagwa and Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, the former commander of the armed forces who led the coup. He said he doesn’t believe the president was genuine when he publicly condemned the use of excessive force by soldiers.
‘Ugly Fingerprints’
“Everything that is happening has the ugly fingerprints of Emmerson Mnangagwa,” Biti said.
The protests come amid an economic collapse, with inflation surging and goods such as fuel and bread periodically scarce. State doctors struck over pay and teachers withdrew their services because of a dispute over salaries. Over the past two decades, up to a quarter of the country’s population has emigrated.
Zimbabwe’s neighbors, the countries that make up the Southern African Development Community, have said little to condemn the protests and Mnangagwa is banking on their reluctance to intervene, he said.
“It’s almost as if the regime is saying to Zimbabweans, and to the international community and to the regional community, we dare you and there’s nothing you can do to us,” Biti said.
Rural Killings
While the number of deaths last month and the six people killed in post-election demonstrations last year are unusual for Zimbabwean urban protests, more brutal crackdowns in rural areas are not. In the mid-1980s, when Mnangagwa was state security minister, 20,000 people from the Ndebele minority were massacred in the rural south and in election-related violence in 2008 the MDC said 300 of its supporters were killed, mostly in rural areas.
The deaths also pale in comparison with Rwanda, where an estimated 800,000 people lost their lives.
Biti has been active in politics since the MDC first competed in elections in 2000. As he left the Johannesburg restaurant where he was being interviewed, an affluent Zimbabwean businessman stopped him and thanked him for “what you have done” for Zimbabweans.
— Bloomberg
Paul Nyathi|Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Magudya has gone all out trying to dismiss revelations by former Finance Minister Tendai Biti that government will be introducing a new currency next week.
Speaking in an interview with the Voice Of America on Monday evening, Magudya dismissed Biti’s information claiming that government is not aware of any such arrangements.
“”Government is not aware of this arrangement and does not have any plans in place to introduce the Zimbabwean Dollar within the nearest future,” Magudya said.
Biti however on the other hand insists that the Zim Dollar is definitely on its way and government has since completed printing the money.
Magudya shockingly also expressed ignorance of Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube’s statement that government will indeed be introducing a new Zimbabwean Dollar before end of this year.
“I can not comment on that as I am not aware of any such arrangements, ” Magudya said. “Best will be to go to the Minister himself and get an answer from him on that issue,” added Magudya.
By Own Correspondent- Opposition MDC leader Nelson Chamisa has said Zimbabwe has effectively moved from a police, to a military State, where members of the army are now being used to maintain peace and order and the police have been reduced to spectators.
In an exclusive interview with a local publication on Friday, Chamisa said while a police State under President Robert Mugabe was bad enough; things had become worse because the military has taken over.
Said Chamisa:
“We have a problem; it’s bad enough to have a police State and when ED [President Emmerson Mnangagwa] came before elections after the November thing, he removed roadblocks, yet it was a decoy, he has even moved the country from a police State to a militarised State. We love our soldiers, we honour our soldiers; they are patriotic; but, honestly, why are politicians abusing our soldiers to draw them into issues that are not supposed to be theirs?-Newsday
Mr Chairman, first I would like to apologise to the Conference, through you, that we in the first place requested that we had some time, as given in our letter, and secondly that we still were late. We apologise for that to the Conference.
Mr Chairman, the Patriotic Front is going to give a statement that represents the Front. Mr Mugabe and myself are presenting this statement on behalf of our group.
The Patriotic Front, deeply conscious of the need to bring an end to racism and colonialism which continue to plague the people of Zimbabwe, welcomes the British Government’s stated aim to assist in this task of decolonisation. We have come to London to attend this Conference in response to the invitation recently extended to us by you, Mr Chairman, on behalf of the British Government.
For us our presence here is by itself an act of immense sacrifice. The scarce material resources we have had to divert and the manpower we must of necessity tie down in London for the duration of this Conference should be enough evidence of our seriousness and good faith. We have always said that we will leave no stone unturned in our struggle for the total liquidation of colonialism in Zimbabwe.
In particular we welcome the fact that the British Government now states that it is prepared to help bring genuine majority rule to our country, Zimbabwe. We are anxious to discover whether that is in fact the intention. Equally we wish to make our position absolutely clear and understood in order to facilitate frank and meaningful discussions.
The unique reality of the situation is that for many years now a major war of national liberation has been raging in our country. This arose from the single tragic fact that Britain failed to meet her decolonisation responsibilities even in the face of the continuing of flagrant illegal acts of the secular minority which challenges the people of Zimbabwe to take up arms and decolonise themselves. Thus we are faced with the task of a peace Conference.
British secular colonisation in Zimbabwe presented special problems which did not disappear by being ignored for decades. The war is an additional special problem and cannot be ignored if it is to end.
To achieve decolonisation comparable to that in other Commonwealth states we must first achieve the basic conditions for the movement to independence which existed in those countries. That was peace, safety and security for all, in the context of which an independent state would be governed according to the agreed constitution by a government elected by a people who were essentitally free and secure when they chose their government.
That essential preliminary situation does not yet prevail in Zimbabwe and even an accepted and agreed constitution will not create it. It is our basic task here to create those conditions.
Mr Chairman, the extent and character of the war of national liberation must be made perfectly clear. Ninety per cent of the country is covered by this war: the towns and cities are surrounded by and often penetrated by the armed struggle. Parts of the country the regime has written off and abandoned: these we term the liberated areas. In other areas the regime can only achieve a temporary daily presence with punitive raids on the villages: these we term the semi-liberated areas. The remaining contested areas include the towns and the citadels of the regime which we are poised to conquer. Thus the Patriotic Front has now responsibilities not only to fight but also to ensure peace, order and good government – the ‘problem of success’ – inside Zimbabwe.
Clearly it is not our purpose in coming to London to betray or abandon any of these victories of the people of Zimbabwe who have partly liberated themselves and are continuing the task precisely because Britain failed to carry out her responsibilities.
This Conference is not only unique in British colonial history because it must achieve peace as well as a future constitution: it is unique because this is the first time that two decolonising forces have to co-operate in this task. The Patriotic Front representing the people of Zimbabwe are here as the effective decolonising factor, while Britain is here asserting her diminished legal authority. In this connection it must be pointed out that Britain, despite its claimed experience in decolonisation has had no success in Zimbabwe or did not give any determined effort.
The task has had to be undertaken by the people themselves. Through their sweat and blood the process is well on its way. The most positive proof of this is the admission of Britain’s agent in the form of the declaration of martial law in over nearly 90 per cent of the total area of the country.
Yet we are more aware than any of the destruction and tragic toll of our struggle, of the regime’s continued ability and increasing determination to wreak havoc and mass destruction. It is thus our vital responsibility to achieve genuine independence, thereby bringing about peace and putting an end to the prevailing anarchy and chaos. This is no longer a solely British responsibility; we must – and our presence here demonstrates our will to do so – work together with Britain.
We have stated before and we repeat the fact that the Patriotic Front and the achievements of the Zimbabwean people are essential factors in the decolonising process. We have to do this together. This is vital.
The task of this peace Conference is to ensure through an indivisible comprehensive agreement the irreversible transfer of power to the people of Zimbabwe. This is one continuous interdependent process. It is complex but does not not lend itself to piecemeal treatment. The critical period leading to independence is as vital as the independence constitution itself. In practice the task of creating a suitable constitution for the crucial transitional period will serve the ultimate task of agreeing a constitutional model for independence for our country and assist us in that undertaking in understanding one another’s constitutional preferences. There must be no doubt about the freedom and fairness of the context of pre- independence elections.
As the recent history of our land so eloquently demonstrates, treachery, tribalism and mass murder is all that can result from a false solution. To accept such a Zimbabwe would be a betrayal of our people, of our principles and quite simply (since dead and detained men can neither canvass nor cast votes) a betrayal of ourselves.
We must remember here that it has always been, and it remains, the basic objective of the Patriotic Front to ensure that government of a genuine free Zimbabwe is based upon free and fair elections. We have said this, Mr Chairman, several times. We were the initiators of the principle of universal adult suffrage in Zimbabwe, in the face of its constant rejection by Britain herself and the minority regime in that country.
Zimbabwe must be a sovereign republic in which the sovereign nation pursues its own destiny, totally unshackled by any fetters or constraints.
The sovereign Zimbabwean people must, acting through their own freely chosen representatives in parliament, be free and fully vested with the power to exercise complete dominion over resources from time to time as need arises. They must be free to reorganise the social, political and economic institutions and structures and be free to shape their own destiny as a nation without having to pander to any racial, ethnic, tribal, religious, social or other interests or differences.
The safety and survival of the republic must be the sacred trust of the Zimbabwean nation, not the pawn in the hands of mercenaries and other alien adventurers and agents. We are irrevocably committed to the position that the Zimbabwean people, by whose blood and sacrifice colonialism was exorcised from the land, must themselves be the perpetual guarantors of sovereignty in the face of all challenges, domestic or foreign. Liberation and the process leading thereto must, once agreed, be irrevocable and irreversible.
We know no other way of ensuring this than strict adherence to the principle that the people and their forces who have toppled minority rule must be entrusted with the task of ensuring that colonialism, under whatever guise, will not return to plague the nation once again.
Justice will not occur by accident in a sovereign Zimbabwe, nor will its administration and dispensation remain in the hands of privileged minority. It must conform to the social and cultural values of the Zimbabwe people themselves.
The socio-economic system must conform to the people’s sense of justice, democracy and fair play.
These and similar goals, cherished vigorously by our people, and for which thousands now lie in mass graves throughout Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique, Botswana and Angola must not be betrayed or compromised. In the past many people present here in Lancaster House, but who are now our antagonists cherished them too. It is personal ambition and greed that propelled them into betrayal and treason. We are sworn not to follow their example.
At this stage, Mr Chairman, having seen both the British proposals and yesterday’s statement by Lord Carrington, we find the British proposals are too vague for us to judge whether they are adequate to our comprehensive task. The British Government must now be prepared to take us into their confidence and show us what their real proposals are. This is very essential if we are to discuss with clarity of mind. The present outline states no more than some of the elements of any constitution but contains also certain aspects which are very different from the normal British pattern and are also seriously retrogressive as compared with earlier British proposals such as the Anglo- American proposals.
It avoids the real issues which should be brought before this Conference and solved. Only by dealing with them can we hope to leave here and return to freedom and the prospect of peace and tranquillity in our country, Zimbabwe.
The essential questions we have posed constantly to ourselves and which we insist must be understood by all seriously concerned with a solution include the following:-
Paul Nyathi|After posting an encouraging Twitter post indicating that his organisation was intervening in the crisis in Zimbabwe and DRC, the SADC Chairman and Namibian President Dr. Hage G. Geingob has issued a shockingly one sided statement on the crisis in Zimbabwe as the official SADC position.
The regional bloc on whose shoulders Zimbabweans rested any opportunities to address the economic and political crisis in the country turned out to be accepting word for word President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s continued rumbling on the situation prevailing in the country.
Below is the official statement issued by SADC:
The Consultative Meeting of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Heads of State and Government, held on 09 February 2019, received a briefing from His Excellency, Mr. Emmerson Mnangagwa, President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, on the current political and socio-economic developments in the country.
The SADC Heads of State and Government noted that since coming to power, the new Government of Zimbabwe has continued with concerted efforts to address socioeconomic challenges and transform the economy, particularly through the Zimbabwe Transitional Stabilization Programme (2018-2020), and to consolidate unity and peace in the country. This, notwithstanding, some internal groups, in particular NGOs, supported by external forces, have continued with efforts to destabilise the country. The SADC Heads of State and Government also noted that in an effort to address the economic challenges in the country, the Government recently increased fuel prices. Unfortunately, violent demonstrators rode on the back of increases in fuel prices, to implement their intention to destabilise the country. The demonstrations resulted in the destruction of property and loss of life. SADC condemns, in the strongest terms, the violence that ensued, and expresses sympathy with the affected families for the loss of their loved ones and their properties.
The SADC Heads of State and Government further noted that the Government’s efforts to transform the economy and bring about prosperity to the people of Zimbabwe are negatively affected by the illegal sanctions that were imposed on the country since the early 2000. SADC expresses its solidarity with the Government and the people of the Republic of Zimbabwe, and calls upon the international community to unconditionally lift all sanctions imposed on the country.
The SADC Heads of State and Government also noted that the Government has commenced dialogue with all stakeholders in the country with a view to strengthening economic transformation, and calls upon all stakeholders to support the process.
Dr. Hage G. Geingob
President of the Republic of Namibia, and Chairperson of SADC
11 February 2019
The escalation of violence in Zimbabwe over recent days has been aggravated by the disproportionate use of force by security personnel. We expect the Government of Zimbabwe to uphold human rights and the rule of law, as enshrined in the Constitution, and ensure due legal process for those detained. Access to medical services should be granted to those in need. It is essential that demonstrations be carried out peacefully; the destruction of private or public property is unacceptable.
Moreover, the shutdown of access to the internet should also be reversed. Access to information is a universal right and should be respected by Government in accordance with its constitutional and international obligations. We also expect the Government to conduct a thorough investigation into the deaths and abuses over the last days.
In this context, the recommendations made recently by the Commission of Inquiry on post-election violence are particularly relevant and require urgent implementation. The Zimbabwean authorities chose to follow the path of reform. To ensure reforms that stand the test of time, an environment ensuring an inclusive national dialogue, through which citizens can exercise their freedoms of assembly, association and expression, is key.
Zimbabwe’s efforts to promote investment and to deepen international partnerships can only be successful if these essential requirements are fulfilled.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has returned back home from his trip to the African Union summit in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, according to the ZBC online.
Mnangagwa who once again hired an expensive Swiss jet has however returned back home empty handed.
Paul Nyathi|The European Union has blasted state media for incorrectly reporting on its stance on possible engagements with Zimbabwe.
The media claimed that the Union had pledge unwavering support for President Mnangagwa while the Union clearly stipulated that the Mnangagwa government needed to execute several reforms before it can be considered for any engagements.
Below is the EU Twitter statement on the state media reporting.
Below is the full report on the engagement as reported by the state run Chronicle newspaper.
THE European Union (EU) has pledged unwavering support to President Mnangagwa’s Government in its re-engagement efforts aimed at repositioning Zimbabwe’s economy on a growth trajectory in line with Vision 2030.
Posting on his official, Twitter page, the EU commissioner for International Co-operation and Development, Mr Neven Mimica, said he met President Mnangagwa in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on the sidelines of the 32nd Ordinary Session of the African Union Assembly and the two had a fruitful discussion.
Mr Mimica pledged to support Zimbabwe in its re-engagement efforts.
“On the margins of the AU Summit, I met with the President of Zimbabwe Emmerson Mnangagwa, a few months after my visit to Harare. We took stock of what has been achieved and agreed that more needs to be done. EU (is) ready to step up its support if conditions are met,” he said.
During his visit to the country last year in April, Mr Mimica said the EU was ready to work with President Mnangagwa’s Government in formulating policies that will enable it to turn around the country’s economic fortunes.
Economic development is at the centre of the Second Republic as evidenced by multi-billion dollars investment commitments which lay the ground for the creation of an upper middle income economy by 2030.
The country’s re-engagement efforts were also buttressed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) which also pledged to help mobilise resources to ensure Zimbabwe’s economy is revived.
UNDP administrator, Mr Achim Steiner, said they would continue to engage Zimbabwe to ensure that its economic recovery is supported from the perspective of an engagement with the international community.
“During the African Union Summit we met with Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa to discuss how UNDP can enhance its support for Zimbabwe’s economic recovery and reforms – including a focus on women and youth,” he posted on his Twitter account.
Last week Kenyan President, Uhuru Kenyatta, through his Twitter account, said his country would continue supporting Zimbabwe on its journey to economic revival and international re-engagement.
He said he was pleased that Zimbabwe is working towards addressing its challenges.
President Kenyatta also condemned the imposition of sanctions on Zimbabwe.
He joins other African leaders who are calling for lifting of illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe imposed by the West.
Recently, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa took the campaign against illegal sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe to the 49th edition of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.
Speaking at an International Labour Organisation (ILO) meeting ahead of the WEF, President Ramaphosa said the sanctions against Zimbabwe were stifling the country’s economic growth.
Zimbabwe has been labouring under illegal Western sanctions which have hurt the economy for about 20 years.
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Dr Sibusiso Moyo on Saturday said Zimbabwe’s re-engagement efforts were on track after President Mnangagwa’s administration briefed the world about the violent demonstrations that rocked the country last month.
Dr Moyo, who is part of President Mnangagwa’s delegation to the 32nd Ordinary Session of the African Union Assembly, said the politically motivated disturbances failed to derail re-engagement efforts.
He said the Government is in contact with the world and many now appreciate the circumstances surrounding the disturbances that the MDC-Alliance and its partners engineered, stoking violent protests that prompted security forces to step in.
The opposition sought to besmirch the image of security forces by alleging that disproportionate force had been used against protesters.
HIGH court Judge Justice Happias Zhou will on Tuesday 12 February 2019
preside over the hearing and determination of an application filed by
a pro-democracy campaigner seeking an order to suspend the imposition
of a punitive tax on electronic transactions.
Justice Zhou will hear the application at 9:AM in Court L at the High Court.
In the application filed in October 2018 by Tendai Biti, a member of
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, Mfundo Mlilo, a pro-democracy
activist, argued that government’s decision, which is now
being implemented by service operators, was made by Finance and
Economic Development Minister Mthuli Ncube without the necessary
backing of the law in particular the amendment of the income tax or
the regulation of the tax in a statutory instrument.
Mlilo argued that although Ncube had on Friday 12 October 2018
belatedly enacted the Finance (Rate and Incidence of Intermediated
Monetary Transfer Tax) Regulation Statutory Instrument (SI205/2018) in
which he sought to legalise and actualise his announcement done on 1
October 2018, the statutory instrument still remained unconstitutional
and a nullity for a Minister cannot in regulations amend an Act of
Parliament.
Mlilo wants the High Court to suspend the decision taken by Ncube on
1 October 2018 to review the Intermediate Money Transfer Tax from 5
cents per transaction to 2 cents per dollar and to also forthwith
suspend the Finance (Rate and Incidence of Intermediated Money
Transfer Tax) Regulations published in SI205/2018.
WINDHOEK: SADC chairperson and Namibian President Hage Geingob on Sunday engaged the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres over the unstable political situations in both Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
A statement released by the Namibian president’s office said Geingob engaged the UN chief on the sidelines of the ongoing African Union meeting in Ethiopia to give him feedback on the ongoing situation in both Zimbabwe and DRC.
“I just concluded this morning talks with the SG of the UN. We discussed the political situation in the DRC, Zimbabwe and wider SADC region. We agreed on the complementary nature of SADC and the UN efforts to improve governance and the quality of life of SADC citizens,” Geingob said.
Zimbabwe is currently experiencing civil strife over skyrocketing cost of living which saw ordinary people taking to the streets to demonstrate against high fuel prices last month.
However the military has been accused of gross human rights abuses although Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa told his counterparts in the region that all is well in his country.
The DRC has been sitting on a political knife edge since the election that saw new president Felix Tshisekedi winning elections in that country however contested the results. — Xinhua
Correspondent|Buhera South legislator Joseph Chinotimba has disowned several social media accounts, including on Twitter and Facebook, under his name that are being used to post offensive messages.
Chinotimba said he did not use social media to communicate with his constituency and attributed the social media accounts to his enemies. Some of the messages posted on those accounts attacked the Zanu-PF leadership, which is not consistent with loyal party cadres.
In an interview on Wednesday, Chinotimba said: “I want the whole nation to know that I am not on Twitter and other social media platforms that are using my name. There are four accounts on Twitter that are using my name to insult people and I want the nation to know that I do not use social media to communicate.
“In any case, I do not even know how to use that Twitter thing. I am an ambassador of happiness and I do not insult people. If I have issues with other politicians, I raise them in Parliament and not on social media.
“I am urging the Minister of ICT (Kazembe Kazembe) to expedite the ICT Bill so that the abuse of social media is dealt with once and for all. I take this as abuse of my name by my enemies.”
Several politicians have fallen victim to the abuse of social media where their names are used to communicate messages that do not emanate from them.
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A Domboshava woman has disowned her own daughter after she was dumped by her husband who is now having an affair with the daughter.
Erita Shumba revealed that she feels completely betrayed that her own flesh and blood, Jane Maketi, has stabbed her in the back by having an affair with her step-father Tichakura Gwachira.
Speaking to H-Metro Erita said
“She is evil. I got to learn about this affair on Wednesday. I have always been suspicious because each time Erita would go to the fields Tichakura would volunteer to go with her, chero kuhuni. All along I thought it was a father-daughter relationship because Tichakura would accuse me of abusing Erita saying she is the only one who is at the fields all the time, working for the family. I am not sure who started the affair, her or Tichakura; she was just supposed to tell me, she is the child.”
An unrepentant Tichakura defended himself saying that Erita was lazy and filthy. He also said that there was nothing wrong with having an affair with his stepdaughter as there was no blood relationship between the tw0.
I am wrong I admit, but the reason why I had to date her daughter is that she is lazy, ane huchapa, after all, it is not a crime because Erita is not my biological daughter, we are not related, we do not share the same blood.
The issue is now being handled at the village court.
H-metro
By Own Correspondent| Acie Lumumba whose real name is William Mutumanje has confirmed former Finance Minister Tendai Biti’s statements that government is set to introduce a new currency soon.
Said Lumumba:
I can confirm its true! New local currency on the way, there is a condition of securing reserves in place but I can confirm to you. It’s coming. Prepare yourself, don’t panic. At best they will delay, most likely not. Let’s wait for official comms.
By Own Correspondent| The former Minister for Higher and Tertiary Education, Jonathan Moyo has teared into President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s statements suggesting that reports of women being raped by soldiers during the January protests were stage-managed.
Writing on social media on Monday, Moyo said:
Mnangagwa has always blamed victims of his brutality as the authors of their misery.
Here he is reading from his #gukurahundi script, claiming that the victims of State atrocities, PRE-PLANNED the atrocities unleashed upon them by the Army, Police, CIO and Zanu-PF gangs in January!
In an interview with a French channel in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where he is attending the 32nd African Union Summit, Mnangagwa said:
With regards to the allegations of rape, we have both through print media, radio and TV appealed to those victims to come forward, report to the nearest police station.
If you are not comfortable to report to the nearest police station you go to the nearest church and report the abuse you underwent. We have only one single case that has come up in Chitungwiza.
The rest, we now know that the women who were paraded was just make up by some organisations and some of the women have now left the country, have been shipped to the United Kingdom.
The few who are still in the country are being moved from house to house and we are trying to track them down. Its all stage managed. We are challenging anybody, local or foreign to produce the women so the world can see them and say this is what happened.
By Own Correspondent| Former Finance Minister ,Tendai Biti has said that the government of Zimbabwe is set to introduce a new currency this week.
Biti, who is also the MDC Alliance national vice-chairperson wrote on Twitter that such a move will be pure insanity.
Said Biti:
The regime will this week introduce a new Zimbabwe currency not backed by any #reserves & without the context of structural reforms which a prerequisite of currency reform . That move is pure undiluted #insanity . An unbanked currency is just the #bond note by another name.
There is no country in the world that has involuntarily dollarized that has ever succeeded in de -dollarizing. Zim will not be the 1st .Whilst a currency is about fundamentals ,ultimately the most important fundamental is confidence There is absolutely no trust in this regime.
Considering the #harm and #damage inflicted on this economy by its Central Bank over the years to now , the question to be posed is, does Zimbabwe really need a Central Bank? In my submission, it can and will do without one.
Biti’s claims that a new currency shall be introduced this week, however, have not been confirmed by the government.
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Own Correspondent|Following a vote of no confidence on ZANU PF Youth league leader Pupurai Togarepi lady week, hype active government information ministry official and party spin specialist Energy Mutodi has rushed to volunteer to be appointed as replacement to lead the ruling party youth league.
Mutodi took to Twitter to disclose his willingness to take over the responsibility claiming that he is committed to reviving the youth wing.
The Zanu PF Youth League National Executive Council passed a vote of no confidence on its leader, Togarepi (55) and four other executive members on allegations of incompetence, gross misconduct and treachery.
The other members are: Deputy National Secretary Youth Affairs Lewis Matutu, National Secretary for Administration Tendai Chirau, Deputy National Secretary for External Relations Admire Mahachi and Mercy Mugomo, the Deputy National Secretary for Environment and Tourism.
THREATS to drag President Emmerson Mnangagwa and some of his top government officials to the International Criminal Court (ICC) over human rights violations will not solve the country’s crises, but only harden those in positions of authority, and prolong the people’s suffering, the Dutch Reformed Church has warned.
This is contained in a position paper compiled by church officials, Braam Hanekom and Llewellyn MacMaster based in South Africa following their recent working visit to Zimbabwe to probe the aftermath of last month’s deadly protests.
Hanekom, a director of the Centre for Public Witness and emeritus moderator of the Dutch Reformed Church in the Western and Southern Cape and MacMaster, a moderator of Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa, met civic society organisations, lawyers, Counselling Services Unit (CSU), academics, former parliamentarians and prominent clergy, including pastor Evan Mawarire during their visit.
In the paper, Hanekom and MacMaster suggested mediation between Mnangagwa and the opposition, which they said should be facilitated by “level-headed” people to create a “win-win” situation.
“Amnesty and assurance that the International Criminal Court will not strike out at senior government officials is important. Otherwise a ‘fight-to-the-end’ scenario is definitely on the table. Traditional opposition politics will not function now.
“Pressure alone, however, won’t work because you are dealing with a military situation that only knows one form of action. What is required is influence by people who do not necessarily want to overthrow a government, but are level-headed and creating a win-win situation,” the position paper reads in part.
“At this stage, we are pleading for intervention from institutions like the office of the Archbishop in Cape Town, the South African Council of Churches, the National Church Leaders Consultation, the South African and international governments.”
South Africa’s opposition Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane has threatened to drag Mnangagwa to the ICC over the military crackdown which claimed 17 lives, leaving over 80 others nursing gunshot wounds as civilians took to the streets to protest a 150% fuel price hike.
NewsDay
By Dorrothy Moyo| Former Finance Minister, Tendai Biti alleges that the Reverse Bank is this week introducing the Zim dollar.
Writing early Monday morning, Advocate Biti said, “the regime will this week introduce a new Zimbabwe currency not backed by any reserves & without the context of structural reforms which a prerequisite of currency reform.”
He added criticising the move saying it is undiluted insanity. He said, “that move is pure undiluted insanity. An unbanked currency is just the bond note by another name.”
A comment from the RBZ was not possible at the time of printing.
Exiled former Zanu PF member, Professor Jonathan Moyo has lashed at President Emmerson Mnangagwa over his recent interview with France 24 on the sidelines of the African Union summit in Ethiopia when he denied that people were raped and killed during the January shutdown.
Moyo said Mnangagwa was reading from the Gukurahundi script in which they blamed the victims who were labelled as dissidents.
ZIFA Central Region Division One Army Soccer side Tongogara has been banned for two years and fined an additional $10 000 after they were found guilty of causing violent scenes after losing their promotional decider against TelOne at Ascot Stadium last year.
The two teams were neck on neck going into the final match of the season with the winner getting promotion into the league.
However, it was TelOne who triumphed on the day. Tongogara fans, players and officials went berserk as a result, beating up the opposition and destroying property.
The unruly behaviour by the army side did not go down well with the Central Region Assembly, who decided to crack the disciplinary whip on the team.
Central Region chairperson Stanley Chapeta confirmed that the decision to ban Tongogara for the next two seasons was made during their annual general meeting held in Gweru over the weekend.
“This decision was passed at our meeting on the recommendation by the disciplinary committee which sat following the disturbances. They (Tongogara) have been suspended from participating in the league for two seasons,” Chapeta said.
“The assembly voted to stamp the suspension. Out of 21 members, 20 voted for the team’s suspension.”
Chapeta also revealed that they have severed ties with the league’s sponsor Zimbabwe General Medical Aid Fund, which he accused of reneging on their financial obligations.
“We had agreed that the sponsorship would last for three years, but the sponsor decided to discontinue the deal without fulfilling some of the obligations.”
Despite the withdrawal of the sponsor, Chapeta said the league, which is set to commence in March, will start as scheduled.
Sixteen teams have affiliated to the league, which welcomes five newcomers Nemudziya, Kwekwe United, Venue Stars, Real BVM and Dendairy.
NewsDay
By Farai D Hove| ZANU PF leader, Emmerson Mnangagwa did not tell the truth when he speaking to France24 news yesterday said that there were no rape cases reported to the police during the military violence in January this year.
Speaking to France24, Mnangagwa said the only rape case reported to the police, was in Chitungwiza.
He also said that the state security is hunting down all the rape complaints because, as he claimed, they all stage managed the act. He boldly suggested that they were sponsored to utter the allegations.
But there were more cases of rape whose victims were filmed by several journalists albeit with covered faces. Others were case numbers: 431/1/19 and 429/1/19 which were reported at Bulawayo Central Police during the same period.
The below is a copy of one of the cases.
Zimbabwe has effectively moved from a police, to a military State, where members of the army are now being used to maintain order while police have been reduced to spectators, MDC leader Nelson Chamisa has said.
In an exclusive interview with NewsDay on Friday, Chamisa said while a police State under President Robert Mugabe was bad enough; things had become worse because the military has taken over.
“We have a problem; it’s bad enough to have a police State and when ED [President Emmerson Mnangagwa] came before elections after the November thing, he removed roadblocks, yet it was a decoy, he has even moved the country from a police State to a militarised State. We love our soldiers, we honour our soldiers; they are patriotic; but, honestly, why are politicians abusing our soldiers to draw them into issues that are not supposed to be theirs?” he asked.
Chamisa, who snubbed Mnangagwa’s meeting to come up with a roadmap for dialogue at State House last week, said the army was being used to further Zanu PF’s stranglehold on power.
His statements followed reports that elements of the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) had taken over policing duties from the police who, since the coup last year, have been treated with suspicion because of their perceived loyalty to Mugabe.
Until last Thursday, armed soldiers had become a common and permanent feature at major roadblocks mounted 24 hours a day on highways, while at some police stations, members of the military had pitched tents where they were now sleeping.
Sources in the police told NewsDay that while the soldiers appeared to be working under instruction of the police, it was the army that was effectively in charge of operations.
“We are as scared of the soldiers as the civilians are. The police is not trusted. As we go out on patrols and roadblocks, we take instructions from the soldiers, this is how the system works because we are viewed as anti the current establishment,” a highly-placed police source said.
The army has since, through Major-General Douglas Nyikayaramba, conceded that they had taken charge after protesters overran police stations.
“They (protesters) overran police stations, burnt police and public transport vehicles and also killed citizens, including a police officer.
They broke into police armouries, stealing weapons and ammunition, which they used to kill people.
“Had the military not come in support of the Zimbabwe Republic Police, one wonders whether the whole country would not have been looted that day. The ZDF (Zimbabwe Defence Forces) however, regrets the loss of life which followed the unnecessary disturbances,” Nyikayaramba said, justifying military intervention.
But MDC spokesperson Jacob Mafume dismissed Nyikayaramba, saying the deployment of soldiers was illegal.
“They are deploying the military not to assist the police, but to prop up Zanu PF, we have become a West African-style military dictatorship, if you remember the military dictatorships of West Africa, of the 1980s and 1990s where the army said that they have to intervene in all sphere’s of civilian life, command agriculture, command justice, command policing, command housing and everything else has to be done through a military dictatorship. It is a model that failed in West Africa and it is a model that will fail
in Zimbabwe,” he said.
Mafume said, in line with the Constitution, the army should only be deployed during an emergency or where police were unable to discharge their duties, not on a daily basis.
“The deployment of soldiers should be a process to assist the police, there should be an emergency or there should be a state were the police are now overwhelmed and cannot carry out their normal duties, it is not every day that soldiers are deployed, that is illegal,” he said.
Police spokesperson Commissioner Charity Charamba requested questions in writing and had not responded after getting questions on Tuesday last week.
NewsDay
THE European Union (EU) has told President Emmerson Mnangagwa that the bloc would only consider extending aid to his government if the Harare administration met certain conditions that include respect for human rights and holding of credible elections.
This followed Mnangagwa’s meeting with the EU commissioner for international co-operation and development, Neven Mimica on the sidelines of the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Saturday where the two discussed developments in Zimbabwe, including the recent military crackdown on fuel protests, which left 17 dead.
Zimbabwe has held disputed elections since 2000 when the ruling Zanu PF party started facing strong opposition from the Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC. The July 30 polls last year were no different.
The disputed elections deepened the economic malaise, while a security crackdown on post-election protests on August 1 last year and another ruthless suppression of demonstrations against fuel price increases of 150% drew comparisons with the dark days of former President Robert Mugabe’s regime.
Mimica, who was in Zimbabwe last year, using his official Twitter account on Saturday, announced the meeting with Mnangagwa who is under pressure over his administration’s reaction to the protests.
“In the margins of the AU summit, I met with the President of Zimbabwe ED Mnangagwa, a few months after my visit to Harare. We took stock of what has been achieved and agreed that more needs to be done, EU is ready to step up its support if conditions are met,” Mimica wrote.
The EU, which had been pressured by Britain to back Mnangagwa, has been pressing for a raft of changes, which include electoral law and security sector reforms. Britain last month said it regretted taking a soft stance on Mnangagwa, and vowed to pressure the African Union to independently probe human rights violations in its former colony.
In the EU’s electoral observer mission report, the bloc noted serious gaps that ranged from a poor legal framework to the role of the electoral commission.
The bloc did not endorse the elections as free and fair and pointed out that the results could not be verified or traced, adding that more needed to be done to create a conducive environment for undisputed polls.
It also condemned the State’s heavy-handedness in dealing with the January demonstrations, and called on Mnangagwa to investigate the violations and bring the culprits to book.
Foreign Affairs minister Sibusiso Moyo confirmed the meeting with Mimica, saying re-engagement efforts by the government were still on track.
“Zimbabwe’s re-engagement efforts are still on track despite politically-motivated violence and the African Union (AU) is fully apprised of recent developments in the country,” Moyo said on Twitter.
Mnangagwa upped his diplomatic engagements ahead of the AU summit, dispatching emissaries to African countries to lobby for support after seemingly being ditched by Britain.
The President dispatched long-time diplomat and ally Christopher Mutsvangwa, with a special message to Zambia, while Agriculture minister Perrance Shiri met Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta ahead of the summit.
Mnangagwa last week missed a Zanu PF “thank you” rally in Mt Darwin and instead reportedly spent the day in office calling African leaders to apprise them about the situation in Harare, according to presidential spokesperson George Charamba.
Zimbabwe churches last Thursday sought to broker talks between the government and its opponents hoping to help the country to shake off its divided past over the political and economic crisis. MDC’s Nelson Chamisa attended, while Mnangagwa skipped the meeting.
Chamisa had the previous day declined to attend a meeting of presidential election candidates in last year’s poll called by Mnangagwa to agree on an agenda for talks. The opposition leader maintained that he won the July 30, 2018 poll and called Mnangagwa an illegitimate President.
NewsDay
Opinion By Andrew Kunambura|Emmerson Mnangagwa, the second executive President of Zimbabwe, is a man of many faces.
One side of him depicts an intimidating and no-nonsense character, while at the same time he appears to be soft as wool, as he often claims. Last week, I was among the four journalists who interviewed Mnangagwa. This offered a rare opportunity for private media journalists to see what sort of a man Mnangagwa is.
Yet, after a two and a half hour meeting with him on Wednesday evening, we were nowhere near understanding the kind of man he is. Not that he is beyond description, not at all. Perhaps owing to his security background, there is an inescapable sense that the man has lived in the shadows for too long, hence the aura of enigma. With the economy imploding and the nation on edge, one would expect to see a man distressed by the pressures of high office.
But as soon as we were ushered into his spacious office at State House in Harare, he got up, unsmiling, and motioned us to the seats, as he relaxed on a luxurious leather seat with his back to a wall.
“You wanted to see me. I am here, let me hear what you want,” he broke the ice, as soon as the introductions were over.
With a sizeable number of people in the room waiting, it was clear there was not much time and we immediately got down to business.
“Do you think the people of Zimbabwe like you at the moment, given the worsening economic hardships?” asked the journalist.
His answer, somewhat arrogant, somewhat frank, was: “I don’t think people can be so happy with the austerity measures we are putting in place, but you don’t become president to please people; you become president to take the country where it ought to be, not where some people want it to go.”
The best moment of the interview, perhaps, was when he was asked if he felt under pressure from the international community over how his administration handled last month’s protests.
Reclining in his seat, his face, which had been grave, suddenly broke into a smile. He blamed the West, saying: “We have had a lot of questions coming from that part of the world, but we said that they are the ones that sponsor the protesters. We have to do what we have to do. We cannot wait unt
il they think we are nice boys.”
The natural follow-up question was whether he thought that the state was heavy-handed in quelling last month’s riots?
In response he said: “They say we are too heavy-handed on handling the rioters, but how else were we supposed to handle it? You can’t go with a Bible to people who are destroying a tollgate and politely say Mr and Mrs so and so, can you please stop what you are doing.”
Interestingly, only days earlier Mnangagwa had expressed deep remorse to families that lost their loved ones at the hands of the military and promised to deal with the marauding soldiers. The smile suddenly disappeared from his face as he explained: “The Western countries don’t care about whether or not you are democratic. It all has to do with their interests. They work with some of the worst dictatorships and monarchs in the world and yet pretend to be champions of democracy. If you read a book called Economic Hitman, you will realise how they operate. They either poison you or they invade the country.”
One of the journalists asked: “Are you not afraid that they may come for you as well?”
He threw up his hand in a dismissive gesture and exclaimed: “Don’t worry about me, I know the game.”
THE trial date of an Airforce of Zimbabwe pilot accused of brutally murdering his Gweru-based girlfriend late last year is set to kick off on February 19 at the Bulawayo High Court.
The trial of Tashinga Musonza (29) was initially scheduled to start on January 28 before Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Thompson Mabhikwa, who was on circuit in Gweru.
The matter was then remanded following an application made by the defence counsel to have the matter referred to the Constitutional Court.
This was after Musonza’s lawyer, Mr James Makiya of Makiya and Partners had made an application to have the matter referred to the Constitutional Court for the purposes of challenging the existence or presence of assessors on the High Court bench.
Musonza allegedly killed Lucy Duve (32) in a crime of passion in November last year.
According to court papers, 16 witnesses are expected to give their testimonies during the trial set to run from February 19-22.
Musonza allegedly fatally assaulted Duve who was working for a local non-governmental organisation (NGO) accusing her of cheating on him with his colleague.
It is the State’s case that on November 25, Musonza went to their lodgings at around 10PM and found Duve asleep.
He allegedly accused her of cheating on him with his colleague.
The two allegedly drove to the airbase since Musonza wanted the matter clarified.
They allegedly woke up Duve’s alleged lover who denied being in a relationship with her.
Musonza allegedly got furious and started assaulting his girlfriend.
His colleague tried to restrain him but was overpowered before he ran away from the scene to seek assistance from colleagues.
Upon their return they found Duve lying unconscious in a pool of blood.
Musonza later drove Duve to Clay Bank Hospital in the company of two of his colleagues and another female who was said to be Duve’s friend.
She was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital leading to the arrest of Musonza.
A post-mortem report showed that Duve had a fractured skull, blood clots in her brain and that her lungs were affected by the attack among other injuries.
The Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Ziyambi Ziyambi, together with the Minister Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, July Moyo, visited the Duve family in Suburbs, Bulawayo, to console them after her death.
Ziyambi said Government doesn’t condone violence against women and also assured Duve’s family that justice would prevail.
State Media
Three men who took part in last month’s looting spree have been convicted by the courts after they were given away by a social media video, a text message and self-rubber-stamped markings on the face, in separate incidents.
The three — Samuel Kapote, Takemore Bhunu and Steven Sango — will spend one, four and three years in jail, respectively.
Kapote, who became a social media sensation when a video of him carrying a beef hindquarter went viral on social media, was identified by a citizen.
Bhunu was nailed by his own text message inviting a friend to come and share the groceries “talooter muChoppies” while Sango and his partners in crime stamped their faces and arms with an official Government rubber stamp after invading a Vehicle Inspection Department depot.
While his co-accused were discharged for lack of evidence, Sango, who dropped his ID at the crime scene, was left to face the music alone.
Kapote, who pleaded guilty, was sentenced to a year in prison by resident magistrate Mr Nyasha Vitorini.
The hindquarter, worth $594, was looted from Choppies Supermarket at Chitungwiza Town Centre.
Mr Vitorini initially sentenced Kapote to two years in prison but suspended a year on condition that he does not commit a similar offence.
Prosecuting, Mrs Ntombikayise Nleya-Mtlongwa proved that on January 14, Kapote, acting in concert with others, invaded Choppies Supermarket and took 60kg of beef.
The matter came to light after the police received an anonymous call from someone who had identified Kapote from the video.
He was arrested at Chimubayira Complex in Unit H where he claimed to have only offered to assist someone to carry the beef which they eventually shared.
Bhunu (27), from Harare, was also sentenced to four years in prison after he was convicted for looting groceries at the same Choppies supermarket during the demonstrations.
Bhunu and Godsave Mukore (25), who were represented by Miss Tinomuda Shoko of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, were charged with public violence and theft when they appeared before magistrate Mrs Blessing Murwisi.
Prosecutor Ms Tendayi Shonhayi told the court that on January 14 at around 11am the two were involved in the vandalism of Chitungwiza’s only traffic light situated at Unit C Junction and looting of groceries at Choppies Supermarket.
Mukore was, however, acquitted after the State failed to prove its case.
Bhunu was convicted and initially sentenced to five years in jail but one year was suspended on condition that he does not commit a similar crime in the next five years.
Ms Shonhayi proved that the accused person and others who are still at large sold some of the looted groceries to passers-by and hid part of the loot along a stream behind Tafa Shopping Centre in Unit D.
After Bhunu was apprehended on January 14, the police only recovered a 2kg pack of flour as the rest of the groceries had been taken away by his accomplices.
A text message found on his mobile phone from the day of the incident where he was telling one Norest to come and collect the looted goods, also gave him away.
It read: “. . . meno kwaari huyai mutore grocery, talooter muChoppies”.
Meanwhile, Sango (24) was slapped with a three-year jail term for committing public violence by Mr Vitorini.
Sango, from Chitungwiza, was initially jointly charged with Sandurai Nyatete (20) and Spencer Mudzingwa (22) but Mudzingwa was discharged at the close of the State case while Nyatete was acquitted after a full trial.
Prosecuting, Mrs Nleya-Mtlongwa proved that on January 14 at around 2pm while a Sergeant Jeko and others were on duty at the VID depot at Makoni Shopping Centre, they came across Nyasha Chiyangwa in the company of Mudzingwa exiting the department’s premises.
The police noticed some rubber stamp markings on their faces and arms but Mudzingwa ran away.
Upon interrogation, Chiyangwa indicated that he had been stamped by Mudzingwa after they broke into the VID offices. He also revealed that they had looted some shops at Chitungwiza Town Centre.
He led the team to Unit F where they located Mudzingwa and arrested him. Mudzingwa then implicated Sango.
Police recovered a swipe machine, desktop computer and some groceries, while Sango’s national identification card was found at one of the offices at the VID depot.
State Media
MUSIC promoter and Entertainment Republic director Max Mugaba, who was promoting Thomas Mapfumo’s Peace Tour shows since December 2018, has denied allegations that he swindled the Chimurenga music legend.
Mapfumo recently alleged that his former publicist Blessing Vava and Mugaba connived to fleece him of proceeds from his shows.
Mapfumo said Vava together with Mugaba “disappeared with the money” after every show. He even threatened to sue Mugaba once he is settled back in America.
Mugaba, on the other hand, is saying that the shows actually made a loss and blamed this on the country’s economic woes.
According to the contract between Mugaba’s Entertainment Republic and Mapfumo’s Chimurenga Music Company (CMC), the two companies would share the ‘net profit with Mukanya due to get 75% and Mugaba 25%.’
The companies would also share the losses in the event that this happened.
Speaking to the Standard, Mugaba said: “From my side, I met all my obligations. I feel for him as a musician who may not understand the management side of events, and I understand there are people who have surrounded him and influenced him to sideline his original band members.
“I was surprised that at the Glen Lorne house where we were renting for him, there were now many people going there, with some even staying there.
“I have great respect for Mapfumo, mudhara wedu [he is our old man]. Remember when he came in April, we did his show and I paid him $55 000 in hard currency, so there is no way I would fleece him, why would I do that?”
The arrangement was that the shows would pay for themselves, and it did not happen as expected because of the economic problems in the country. At one show I had also suggested that they do not continue to perform, realising it would be a loss, but Mudhara insisted.
This was confirmed by Mukanya’s manager Austin Sibanda who told The Standard: “We have the documentation that shows there was actually a loss. We have had a great working relationship with Mugaba and I can confirm that instead, we actually owe him money, not the other way round.”
Standard
The Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Zera) has said the country has enough fuel stocks for the market and Government will not increase its prices in the near future.
As such, there is no need for panic.
This comes as rumours have been circulating that another fuel price hike is looming, triggering panic buying, especially in Harare, resulting in limited supplies and queues re-emerging.
Zera acting chief executive officer Eddingtom Mazambani said the shortages that were experienced last week were a result of supply gaps that have been closed by the fuel supply inflows.
“The fuel supply in the country is stable and the public should not panic based on false statements that the fuel prices are due to be significantly reviewed,” he said.
“Government has put in place enough financial facilities to ensure that there will be enough fuel stocks to cater for current demand.
“There is no need for panic buying. The country has adequate stocks. Zera is constantly monitoring the supply and consumption pattern while financial side is being resolved by the Central Bank.”
Last month, Government reviewed the diesel price to $3,11 from $1,30 per litre, while petrol was increased to $3,31 from $1,40.
State Media
PRESIDENT Mnangagwa yesterday met Estonian President Eesti Vabariigi.
President Mnangagwa and President Vabariigi met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, after attending the official opening of the 32nd Ordinary Session of the African Union Assembly.
President Mnangagwa’s closed door meeting with President Vabariigi lasted close to an hour.
President Vabariigi described the engagement as very fruitful.
“First, he gave me the overall economic development of your country and we have to say it was wonderful to hear about very concrete plans and we tried to see how Estonian experience in digital development could match with what you are doing in your country. Estonia is a country where public services are fully digital. You cannot get married online but everything else in online” she said.
President Vabariigi said Estonian companies had already visited Zimbabwe to explore potential areas of investment and cooperation.
“Our companies have already been to your country and our ambassador as well as been to your country already looking for ways to cooperate and to develop digital services in your country. I think we found a lot of interesting information about each other’s country and we agreed we need to continue to cooperate. In our case we are a small country but we have embraced digital technologies because it is just effective and productive to do things online,” she said.
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Sibusiso Moyo, who also attended the meeting, said President Vabariigi wanted to find out more information on Zimbabwe when she paid a courtesy call on President Mnangagwa.
“The President of Estonia made a courtesy call on His Excellency and her desire was to find out more about Zimbabwe’s challenges and Zimbabwe’s needs and in that regard, she was then given a very detailed background of the history of Zimbabwe’s economy for the past two decades up to today.
“We are a country which is grappling with its economic emancipation without lines of credit and without any balance of payments support. As a result of that, she then made a commitment because they are specialists in digital services. In Estonia everything is digital. You register a baby birth, everything else automates to give a number, to give a health certificate and right across. It is integrated between the private sector and Government. They are one of the countries who have pioneered outside Bill Gates’ Microsoft and also developed the other side of things which is cyber security because as you develop technologically you have got this threat of cyber. They have moved with these two simultaneously. It was a good discussion,” said Minister Moyo.
State Media
By A Correspondent|ZANU PF leader Emmerson Mnangagwa who is on recorded LIVE video saying civilians who cross his path must lose their assets and receive violence, yesterday said it is not true that people were killed by soldiers during the military violence last month, albeit describing the incidents as “violent, very violent demonstrations,”
Speaking in a wide ranging interview with France24 yesterday, Mnangagwa denied that civilians were killed by the military.
Mnangagwa is on previous recorded LIVE video publicly declaring that any civilians who make mistakes must lose their assets and be violently bashed.
Mnangagwa: every civilian who makes mistakes must lose their assets and be violently bashed – ngavarobwe! pic.twitter.com/mvf9p1nzk7
— ZimEye (@ZimEye) February 10, 2019
BELOW IS THE FULL TEXT OF THE INTERVIEW(TRANSCRIBED BY ZIMEYE):
WHAT IS YOUR RESPONSE TO THESE GRAVE ACCUSATIONS AND HOW IS THE SITUATION NOW IN YOUR COUNTRY?
Mnangagwa: It is true that there were violent, very violent demonstrations, from the time that they began the demonstrations on the 14th I think to the 16th of January. They were so violent that they attacked police stations, burnt police motor vehicles, killed a policeman destruction of property, beating of people.
It was so violent that the police was overwhelmed by such violence by these people it showed that it was well organised countrywide; every single town they were coordinated to attack government institutions, in particular police stations and so on.
And we now realise that it was also organised because prior to that day we now hear that some people went around, NGOs went around saying that allow your children to go tomorrow for demonstrations if they are arrested this is the place where to go we are ready to defend you. If you are injured this is where to go.
SO YOU ARE SAYING THERE WAS A PLAN?
Mnangagwa: Total plan, it has (sic) we have now discovered that this was well planned.
I STILL WANT TO GO TO THE CRACKDOWN ESPECIALLY BY THE MILITARY. WE HAVE SEEN ACCOUNTS, OF WOMEN SAYING THEY WERE RAPED. WE’VE SEEN CLAIMS BY NGOs THAT THERE WERE 17 EXTRA JUDICIAL KILLINGS. YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT THE VIOLENCE BY THE PROTESTERS, BUT CLEARLY THERE WAS VIOLENCE BY THE MILITARY, AND THERE WAS SERIOUS VIOLENCE.
Mnangagwa:I will deal with the issues you have raised with regards to the rape allegations of rape. We have both through print media and radio and TV appealed to those victims to come forward to the nearest police station. If you are not comfortable report it to report to the nearest police station you go to the nearest church and report the abuse you underwent we have only one single case that has come up in Chitungwiza. The rest, we now know that the women who were paraded, transitions was just make up by some organisations and some of the women have already left the country shipped to the United Kingdom, the few who are still in the country they are still in the country from house to house we are trying to track them down. It is all stage managed. We are challenging anybody, anybody local or foreign to produce the women so that the world can see them, and say this is what happened. We would want to see those.
And with regard to the other issue that you have mentioned about the beatings, killings… you say a [extra]judicial killings, This is where the army is directly and purposely killing people – we would want to see evidence we see all this in social media. But we would want to see evidence where the 17 people were killed; Where were they buried.
THIS JUST INVENTED?
Yes. You have asked the questions allow me to reply. Let us have the relatives who say I lost a son, I lost a daughter, I lost a cousin, I lost a relative, by the hands of the army. I am not saying that the army did not overstep their powers, it is possible individual, individual Army officers.
ARE THEY BEING PURSUED?
Some have been arrested. Some have been arrested in that regard the police have also arrested so many over 1000 people who have been caught in the destruction of properties and beatings, they are going through judicial system in a country and perhaps over 40 of 50% by now have gone through the judicial processes, fool hearing in the courts. Some of them have been convicted some of them have been discharged. I am aware that the highest sentence that has been meted out by the judiciary, …
AGAINST THE MILITARY?
No. The sentences meted out not by the military, by the civil Courts.
BUT AGAINST MILITARY PERSONNEL AS WELL…THERE HAVE BEEN SANCTIONS AGAINST THEM?
Those who have been arrested; the military are Court marshalled. Those they get court-martialed. But the rest of those who have been arrested go to civil courts and the highest sentence so far is 7 years. The lowest I am aware of so far is about 3 or 4 months. And others are being discharged because they were found innocent, and according to our loss those were under 18 cannot be detained, once you discover that they’re under age they are released to their parents. This is how we do it and the process is going on well.
CALM IS BACK IN ZIMBABWE OR IS IT PRECARIOUS CALM?
No. Total calm has come back to Zimbabwe. We are now so satisfied that this thing was pre-determined pre-planned well oiled by both local NGOs, who are well funded, by also the opposition the MDC Alliance, whose Theme throughout even during the campaign for our general elections last year said that as long as they do not win this election, in Shona they say they will out “Jecha musadza” meaning that they will put sand into the food, so this is consistent with what they have been saying throughout.
YOU CONSIDER THIS AS A COUP ATTEMPT IN A WAY?
Regime change is the better word it is a regime change agenda, which is not new …which has been a phenomenon visiting Zimbabwe throughout the last 18 years.
I WANT TO GET TO SOMETHING THAT YOU HAD TOLD BEFORE THAT IT WAS NOT ONLY NGOs, NOT ONLY THE MAIN OPPOSITION MDC, BUT ALSO FOREIGN POWERS.
I am not aware of the involvement of foreign powers, if they were.
BUT YOU SAID THIS TO SEVERAL PEOPLE…
To whom? If somebody told you, I have never accused any foreign power. I work fully aware of funds that have come to NGOs, operating in our country. I am also now with security intelligence aware of people who came other people to do workshops and training of our people in the opposition.
WHERE WERE THEY COMING FROM THOSE PEOPLE?
We have already submitted the names, add passport numbers to the respective embassies in Zimbabwe, that will come out at the appropriate time we have submitted the names and the passport numbers.
CAN I VENTURE AND FIND OUT IF IT’S THE US FOR INSTANCE. AM IN WRONG IN SAYING THIS?
I can assure you that I will not build a wall against your imagination I will not build a wall you can imagine the way you want, is a democratic country Zimbabwe, but we have to build evidence. The evidence that we have got we have submitted to the relevant authorities and we need a reply from those relevant authorities.
SO YOU HAVE ASKED WESTERN COUNTRIES WHERE THOSE FUNDS AND PEOPLE WERE COMING FROM?
You are now trying to say that are there, it means that you are aware that the Western countries are involved in regime change.
NO I AM JUST TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT YOURE SAYING.
Mnangagwa[laugh laugh laugh]
I have not said so I have not said so we are aware that Zimbabwe has been subjected to regime change throughout we are struggling against sanctions imposed by the west up to today. By the EU and the Americans, those sanctions haven’t been removed.
They are still there.
ON THE CONTRARY IF I FOLLOW WHAT THE BRITISH MINISTER SAID IN RECENT DAYS, 2 THINGS:
1. BRITAIN WILL NOT SUPPORT ZIMBABWE REJOINING THE COMMONWEALTH, THAT’S NUMBER ONE.
2. AND TWO, BRITAIN WISHES THE EU TO EXTEND SANCTIINS AGAINST ZIMBABWE. WHAT IS YOUR REACTION?
When Britain made those points did they consult Zimbabwe? When we apply to join the Commonwealth we don’t apply to Britain. We apply to the Commonwealth secretariat, Britain is just a member of the Commonwealth.
AN IMPORTANT MEMBER OBVIOUSLY.
WHAT IS YOUR REACTION ARE YOU…
The Commonwealth have never told us that they are not considering application the view of one member is not the view of the whole Commonwealth, do you understand
Do you understand? The sanctions are already there, they have not been removed. So what other sanctions are you talking about which have been imposed? We are already suffering under these sanctions, ZIDERA and EU sanctions.
ARE YOU ASKING YIUR AFRICAN PEERS HERE IN ADDIS ABBABA, TO PUSH TOWARDS LIFTING SANCTIONS?
We have been doing that for the last 18 years we are not changing, we will continue to appeal to member states of SADC to assist us have these countries that have imposed sanctions on us to realise that it is hurting our people we have not offended anybody. What we are doing is good for our people is good for Zimbabwe.
WHAT ABOUT THE FORMER PRESIDENT, AND HIS WIFE, I REMEMBER THAT DURING THE CAMPAIGN, THERE WAS AN ATTACK ON THE CAMPAIGN EVENT, AND YOU HAD HINTED THAT GRACE MUGABE AND HER SUPPORTERS WERE BEHIND AN ATTACK AGAINST YOU DURING THE CAMPAIGN?
No, they did not participate in the campaign, Grace Mugabe and the cabal which had surrounded our former president was the result of the cause of what happened which resulted in the stepping down of our former president Robert Mugabe but we have no problem with him. We are looking after him looking after his family.
SO THEY SHOULDN’T BE PROSECUTED FOR ANYTHING?
No no one is above the law if there is any crime, anybody will be prosecuted accept a sitting President in terms of our law. But anybody else will be prosecuted even the president when I leave office I could be prosecuted if I commit any offence.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH PRESIDENT FOR COMING ON FRANCE24, AND ANSWERING ALL OUR QUESTIONS. – Transcribed by ZimEye.com –
A ZIMBABWE Prisons and Correctional Services officer stationed at Khami Maximum Prison in Bulawayo is battling for life in hospital after he shot himself on the chest in an alleged attempted suicide.
Ngonidzashe Mutoti (36), who is admitted at Mpilo Central Hospital, reportedly shot himself once in the chest while he was on duty, manning the prison premises from the tower.
Reasons for the alleged suicide attempt could not be immediately obtained.
The incident occurred at around 1PM last Wednesday.
ZPCS Bulawayo spokesperson Principal Correctional Officer Garainashe Moyo confirmed the incident.
He said they were conducting investigations into the matter.
“I can confirm an officer stationed at Khami Maximum Prison shot himself once in the chest on Wednesday afternoon while he was on duty. He is admitted to hospital where he is being treated.
“Circumstances as to how that happened are yet to be established.
“It is not yet clear whether it was a suicide attempt or if the officer shot himself by mistake. We are still investigating the matter,” said PCO Moyo.
State Media
By Farai D Hove| Emmerson Mnangagwa’s wife, Auxillia has obtained a new title. The latest letter describes her as “Her Excellency.” PICTURE:
Auxillia gets new title "Her Excellency" pic.twitter.com/KpolBiLt6n
— ZimEye (@ZimEye) February 11, 2019
Government is weighing option of purchasing vehicles for ministers and parliamentarians from local vehicle assemblers allegedly to promote the domestic industry and reduce foreign currency expenditure.
Quest Motors and Willowvale Motor Industries (WMI), which are country’s foremost vehicle assemblers say they have capacity to produce quality vehicles which match imported Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs).
The vehicle assemblers argue that Government is obliged to implement a directive issued by the Office of the President and Cabinet that compels them to purchase vehicles from local assemblers.
Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube said in an interview that Government was considering buying the next batch of ministerial vehicles from local assemblers after suspending vehicle imports for the current crop.
“That is a very interesting proposition that we definitely have to consider,” he said. “What is of importance to note right now is that Government has not bought or ordered cars for ministers.
“Most of the ministers and permanent secretaries are driving vehicles that they had in the past or which are pool cars in their respective ministries or parastatals.”
Quest Motors operations manager Mr Tom Sarimani said the company had to scale down its operations owing to a low uptake from its biggest customer, the Government.
“Current manning levels are down to 120 people due to low take up from our previous biggest customer which was the Government and associated departments,” he said.
“Production per eight hour shift is 35 units, maximum output is 100 per day which is 22 000 units per year using current installed capacity. Max employment per shift is 1 500 workers, and 5 000 at full installed capacity.
“Downstream industry jobs that can be created is over 40 000. These facts can be verified by NEC records from that time.”
Sarimani said his company had capacity to supply vehicles suitable for ministers and parliamentarians.
“We have quality vehicles for line ministries and MPs,” he said. “We are not new to this line of business as we used to supply the army, CMED, National Railways, police, etc, in the past.
“We have partnered with some of the biggest brands in China and in some cases the world and the quality of our product has not changed since we began production.
“This is evidenced by the number of units over 30 years old still in service today. In fact, quality has gone up due to investments in new equipment and better training.”
Sarimani implored Government to go back to the drawing board and implement the standing directive from the OPC that encourages local purchase of vehicles.
WMI managing director, Engineer Dawson Mareya, said Government had expressed interest in purchasing locally assembled vehicles from his company and the matter was under deliberation.
“The matter you are referring to is currently under discussion with the relevant stakeholders,” he said.
“Any developments will be communicated. Willowvale Motor Industries has the capacity to meet the country’s automotive requirements given the necessary support.”
Deven Engineering managing director Mr Patrick Munyaradzi implored Government to support local industry in its drive to provide buses for the urban and rural mass transit system.
“The buses being imported must come in kit form for local assembly,” he said.
“Assembly fees will be paid in local currency, which means that we can save on foreign currency imports, while at the same time creating more people in our factories.”
However, on the side enquiries by ZimEye.com have indicated that the local car manufacturers have of late been quoting their vehicles in foreign currency prices.
The companies have through the years battled to make an impact in the industry as imported cars proved to be far much cheaper than their locally produced brands.
Source: State Media
THE Vokola community in Filabusi, Insiza district, Matabeleland South has expressed concern over the “mysterious deaths” of pupils in their local schools in the past month.
Two pupils have died at Mkwabeni Primary School in Vokola area while two have also died at Mkwabeni Secondary School, with three reported to be admitted in hospital.
All the victims succumbed to the same ailment whose symptoms include pain in the hands which spreads to the head, then they nose bleed and die within three days.
Ward 7 councillor Thabani Malele confirmed the deaths of the pupils, saying the community leaders and villagers had requested an urgent meeting today to discuss the matter.
He said villagers also met on Friday and raised concern over the incidents. It was resolved that they meet today with traditional leaders and school authorities to discuss the matter.
“Parents have indeed approached me raising concern over the deaths. They say the incidents are suspicious and they want the cases investigated. I cannot say much at the moment as we are yet to meet and get a full insight,” said Clr Malele.
Vokola area headman, Lovemore Mafika, said the community suspected witchcraft in the incidents as they were too similar and the rate of deaths was alarming.
He said the community did not believe it was a natural ailment as all pupils exhibited the same symptoms and would only be sick for three days before they die, hence an immediate investigation was required.
“Surely, the cause of the problem and solution should be found as soon as possible before more children die. If it was nature, why haven’t any pupils died in the past month in the neighbouring schools?” said Mr Mafika.
Reached for comment, the headmaster of Mkwabani Secondary School, Mr Melusi Zvekureba, said he could not speak over the phone and invited The Chronicle to come down to the area.
The Provincial Education Director (PED) for Matabeleland South, Mr Lifias Masukume, said he had not received a report on the matter.
“This is news to me but we will contact the school and investigate the matter,” he said.
Mpilo Central Hospital Clinical Director, Dr Solwayo Ngwenya, advised the school and community to quickly report the matter to health officials.
He said the case could be an outbreak of a certain disease that should be proven by a clinical test before blaming the illnesses on witchcraft.
In March 2018, a community in Gokwe shut down Kana Mission High School following alleged satanism incidents that had been affecting pupils.
Most of the victims were girls and they had swollen bellies while others lost their voices. Others complained of headaches and backaches.
The pupils allegedly told their parents and school authorities that two female teachers were initiating them into satanism.
State Media
Paul Nyathi|The ruling ZANU PF Aligned Zimbabwe National Teachers Union is on cloud nine declaring vindication after the Zimbabwe Teachers Association and the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe unceremoniously called off the one week teachers strike action late Sunday night.
In an interview with state media on Sunday, Zinatu chief executive officer Manuel Nyawo said they had been vindicated as a union on their clarion call and advice to their colleagues — Zimta and PTUZ — that the strike they had decided to call off yesterday was technically illegal.
“We have been receiving a barrage of attacks and unnecessary onslaught by innocent members of the teaching fraternity on allegations of selling out, yet the truth was that dialogue with the employer had not been exhausted as Government’s doors were and are still open for further and continuous negotiations.
“In terms of rules of procedure, there had not been a duly signed deadlock between the workers’ representatives and Government, making the strike technically offside. However, we wish to plead with Government to consider wavering its decision to punish all the teachers who took part in the illegal strike as they were being misinformed by their leaders. They say to err is human and we further plead that the employer should not apply the ‘ignorance of the law is no defense concept’,” said Nyawo.
Last week the union strongly opposed the call to go on strike claiming that the opposition MDC was leading the other unions to go on strike.
BELOW IS THE FULL TEXT OF ZANU PF LEADER, EMMERSON MNANGAGWA’S INTERVIEW WITH FRANCE24 IN ADDIS ABABA (TRANSCRIBED BY ZIMEYE.COM):
VIDEO AND FULL TEXT LOADING BELOW:
WHAT IS YOUR RESPONSE TO THESE GRAVE ACCUSATIONS AND HOW IS THE SITUATION NOW IN YOUR COUNTRY?
Mnangagwa: It is true that there were violent, very violent demonstrations, from the time that they began the demonstrations on the 14th I think to the 16th of January. They were so violent that they attacked police stations, burnt police motor vehicles, killed a policeman destruction of property, beating of people.
It was so violent that the police was overwhelmed by such violence by these people it showed that it was well organised countrywide; every single town they were coordinated to attack government institutions, in particular police stations and so on.
And we now realise that it was also organised because prior to that day we now hear that some people went around, NGOs went around saying that allow your children to go tomorrow for demonstrations if they are arrested this is the place where to go we are ready to defend you. If you are injured this is where to go.
SO YOU ARE SAYING THERE WAS A PLAN?
Mnangagwa: Total plan, it has (sic) we have now discovered that this was well planned.
I STILL WANT TO GO TO THE CRACKDOWN ESPECIALLY BY THE MILITARY. WE HAVE SEEN ACCOUNTS, OF WOMEN SAYING THEY WERE RAPED. WE’VE SEEN CLAIMS BY NGOs THAT THERE WERE 17 EXTRA JUDICIAL KILLINGS. YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT THE VIOLENCE BY THE PROTESTERS, BUT CLEARLY THERE WAS VIOLENCE BY THE MILITARY, AND THERE WAS SERIOUS VIOLENCE.
Mnangagwa:I will deal with the issues you have raised with regards to the rape allegations of rape. We have both through print media and radio and TV appealed to those victims to come forward to the nearest police station. If you are not comfortable report it to report to the nearest police station you go to the nearest church and report the abuse you underwent we have only one single case that has come up in Chitungwiza. The rest, we now know that the women who were paraded, transitions was just make up by some organisations and some of the women have already left the country shipped to the United Kingdom, the few who are still in the country they are still in the country from house to house we are trying to track them down. It is all stage managed. We are challenging anybody, anybody local or foreign to produce the women so that the world can see them, and say this is what happened. We would want to see those.
And with regard to the other issue that you have mentioned about the beatings, killings… yoy say a [extra]judicial killings. This is where the army is directly and purposely killing people we would want to see evidence we see all this in social media. But we would want to see evidence where the 17 people were killed. Where were they buried.
THIS JUST INVENTED?
Yes. You have asked the questions allow me to reply. Let us have the relatives will say I lost a son, I lost a daughter, I lost a cousin, I lost a relative, by the hands of the army. I am not saying that the army did not overstep their powers, it is possible individual, individual Army officers.
ARE THEY BEING PURSUED?
Some have been arrested. Some have been arrested in that regard the police have also arrested so many over 1000 people who have been caught in the destruction of properties and beatings, they are going through judicial system in a country and perhaps over 40 of 50% by now have gone through the judicial processes, fool hearing in the courts. Some of them have been convicted some of them have been discharged. I am aware that the highest sentence that has been meted out by the judiciary, …
AGAINST THE MILITARY?
No. The sentences meted out not by the military, by the civil Courts.
BUT AGAINST MILITARY PERSONNEL AS WELL…THERE HAVE BEEN SANCTIONS AGAINST THEM?
Those who have been arrested; the military are Court marshalled. Those they get court-martialed. But the rest of those who have been arrested go to civil courts and the highest sentence so far is 7 years. The lowest I am aware of so far is about 3 or 4 months. And others are being discharged because they were found innocent, and according to our loss those were under 18 cannot be detained, once you discover that they’re under age they are released to their parents. This is how we do it and the process is going on well.
CALM IS BACK IN ZIMBABWE OR IS IT PRECARIOUS CALM?
No. Total calm has come back to Zimbabwe. We are now so satisfied that this thing was pre-determined pre-planned well oiled by both local NGOs, who are well funded, by also the opposition the MDC Alliance, whose Theme throughout even during the campaign for our general elections last year said that as long as they do not win this election, in Shona they say they will out “Jecha musadza” meaning that they will put sand into the food, so this is consistent with what they have been saying throughout.
YOU CONSIDER THIS AS A COUP ATTEMPT IN A WAY?
Regime change is the better word it is a regime change agenda, which is not new …which has been a phenomenon visiting Zimbabwe throughout the last 18 years.
I WANT TO GET TO SOMETHING THAT YOU HAD TOLD BEFORE THAT IT WAS NOT ONLY NGOs, NOT ONLY THE MAIN OPPOSITION MDC, BUT ALSO FOREIGN POWERS.
I am not aware of the involvement of foreign powers, if they were.
BUT YOU SAID THIS TO SEVERAL PEOPLE…
To whom? If somebody told you, I have never accused any foreign power. I work fully aware of funds that have come to NGOs, operating in our country. I am also now with security intelligence aware of people who came other people to do workshops and training of our people in the opposition.
WHERE WERE THEY COMING FROM THOSE PEOPLE?
We have already submitted the names, add passport numbers to the respective embassies in Zimbabwe, that will come out at the appropriate time we have submitted the names and the passport numbers.
CAN I VENTURE AND FIND OUT IF IT’S THE US FOR INSTANCE. AM IN WRONG IN SAYING THIS?
I can assure you that I will not build a wall against your imagination I will not build a wall you can imagine the way you want, is a democratic country Zimbabwe, but we have to build evidence. The evidence that we have got we have submitted to the relevant authorities and we need a reply from those relevant authorities.
SO YOU HAVE ASKED WESTERN COUNTRIES WHERE THOSE FUNDS AND PEOPLE WERE COMING FROM?
You are now trying to say that are there, it means that you are aware that the Western countries are involved in regime change.
NO I AM JUST TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT YOURE SAYING.
Mnangagwa[laugh laugh laugh]
I have not said so I have not said so we are aware that Zimbabwe has been subjected to regime change throughout we are struggling against sanctions imposed by the west up to today. By the EU and the Americans, those sanctions haven’t been removed.
They are still there.
ON THE CONTRARY IF I FOLLOW WHAT THE BRITISH MINISTER SAID IN RECENT DAYS, 2 THINGS:
1. BRITAIN WILL NOT SUPPORT ZIMBABWE REJOINING THE COMMONWEALTH, THAT’S NUMBER ONE.
2. AND TWO, BRITAIN WISHES THE EU TO EXTEND SANCTIINS AGAINST ZIMBABWE. WHAT IS YOUR REACTION?
When Britain made those points did they consult Zimbabwe? When we apply to join the Commonwealth we don’t apply to Britain. We apply to the Commonwealth secretariat, Britain is just a member of the Commonwealth.
AN IMPORTANT MEMBER OBVIOUSLY.
WHAT IS YOUR REACTION ARE YOU…
The Commonwealth have never told us that they are not considering application the view of one member is not the view of the whole Commonwealth, do you understand
Do you understand? The sanctions are already there, they have not been removed. So what other sanctions are you talking about which have been imposed? We are already suffering under these sanctions, ZIDERA and EU sanctions.
ARE YOU ASKING YIUR AFRICAN PEERS HERE IN ADDIS ABBABA, TO PUSH TOWARDS LIFTING SANCTIONS?
We have been doing that for the last 18 years we are not changing, we will continue to appeal to member states of SADC to assist us have these countries that have imposed sanctions on us to realise that it is hurting our people we have not offended anybody. What we are doing is good for our people is good for Zimbabwe.
WHAT ABOUT THE FORMER PRESIDENT, AND HIS WIFE I REMEMBER THAT DURING THE CAMPAIGN, THERE WAS AN ATTACK ON THE CAMPAIGN EVENT, AND YOU HAD HINTED THAT GRACE MUGABE AND HER SUPPORTERS WERE BEHIND AN ATTACK AGAINST YOU DURING THE CAMPAIGN?
No, they did not participate in the campaign, Grace Mugabe and the cabal which had surrounded our former president was the result of the cause of what happened which resulted in the stepping down of our former president Robert Mugabe but we have no problem with him. We are looking after him looking after his family.
SO THEY SHOULDN’T BE PROSECUTED FOR ANYTHING?
No no one is above the law if there is any crime, anybody will be prosecuted accept a sitting President in terms of our law. But anybody else will be prosecuted even the president when I leave office I could be prosecuted if I commit any offence.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH PRESIDENT FOR COMING ON FRANCE24, AND ANSWERING ALL OUR QUESTIONS. – Transcribed by ZimEye.com –
By A Correspondent|ZANU PF leader Emmerson Mnangagwa has said soldiers are not tried in the courts of the land.
Speaking in a wide ranging interview with France24, Mnangagwa said soldiers do not go to civil courts.
BELOW WAS THE FULL TEXT OF THE INTERVIEW(TRANSCRIBED BY ZIMEYE):
WHAT IS YOUR RESPONSE TO THESE GRAVE ACCUSATIONS AND HOW IS THE SITUATION NOW IN YOUR COUNTRY?
Mnangagwa: It is true that there were violent, very violent demonstrations, from the time that they began the demonstrations on the 14th I think to the 16th of January. They were so violent that they attacked police stations, burnt police motor vehicles, killed a policeman destruction of property, beating of people.
It was so violent that the police was overwhelmed by such violence by these people it showed that it was well organised countrywide; every single town they were coordinated to attack government institutions, in particular police stations and so on.
And we now realise that it was also organised because prior to that day we now hear that some people went around, NGOs went around saying that allow your children to go tomorrow for demonstrations if they are arrested this is the place where to go we are ready to defend you. If you are injured this is where to go.
SO YOU ARE SAYING THERE WAS A PLAN?
Mnangagwa: Total plan, it has (sic) we have now discovered that this was well planned.
I STILL WANT TO GO TO THE CRACKDOWN ESPECIALLY BY THE MILITARY. WE HAVE SEEN ACCOUNTS, OF WOMEN SAYING THEY WERE RAPED. WE’VE SEEN CLAIMS BY NGOs THAT THERE WERE 17 EXTRA JUDICIAL KILLINGS. YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT THE VIOLENCE BY THE PROTESTERS, BUT CLEARLY THERE WAS VIOLENCE BY THE MILITARY, AND THERE WAS SERIOUS VIOLENCE.
Mnangagwa:I will deal with the issues you have raised with regards to the rape allegations of rape. We have both through print media and radio and TV appealed to those victims to come forward to the nearest police station. If you are not comfortable report it to report to the nearest police station you go to the nearest church and report the abuse you underwent we have only one single case that has come up in Chitungwiza. The rest, we now know that the women who were paraded, transitions was just make up by some organisations and some of the women have already left the country shipped to the United Kingdom, the few who are still in the country they are still in the country from house to house we are trying to track them down. It is all stage managed. We are challenging anybody, anybody local or foreign to produce the women so that the world can see them, and say this is what happened. We would want to see those.
And with regard to the other issue that you have mentioned about the beatings, killings… yoy say a [extra]judicial killings. This is where the army is directly and purposely killing people we would want to see evidence we see all this in social media. But we would want to see evidence where the 17 people were killed. Where were they buried.
THIS JUST INVENTED?
Yes. You have asked the questions allow me to reply. Let us have the relatives will say I lost a son, I lost a daughter, I lost a cousin, I lost a relative, by the hands of the army. I am not saying that the army did not overstep their powers, it is possible individual, individual Army officers.
ARE THEY BEING PURSUED?
Some have been arrested. Some have been arrested in that regard the police have also arrested so many over 1000 people who have been caught in the destruction of properties and beatings, they are going through judicial system in a country and perhaps over 40 of 50% by now have gone through the judicial processes, fool hearing in the courts. Some of them have been convicted some of them have been discharged. I am aware that the highest sentence that has been meted out by the judiciary, …
AGAINST THE MILITARY?
No. The sentences meted out not by the military, by the civil Courts.
BUT AGAINST MILITARY PERSONNEL AS WELL…THERE HAVE BEEN SANCTIONS AGAINST THEM?
Those who have been arrested; the military are Court marshalled. Those they get court-martialed. But the rest of those who have been arrested go to civil courts and the highest sentence so far is 7 years. The lowest I am aware of so far is about 3 or 4 months. And others are being discharged because they were found innocent, and according to our loss those were under 18 cannot be detained, once you discover that they’re under age they are released to their parents. This is how we do it and the process is going on well.
CALM IS BACK IN ZIMBABWE OR IS IT PRECARIOUS CALM?
No. Total calm has come back to Zimbabwe. We are now so satisfied that this thing was pre-determined pre-planned well oiled by both local NGOs, who are well funded, by also the opposition the MDC Alliance, whose Theme throughout even during the campaign for our general elections last year said that as long as they do not win this election, in Shona they say they will out “Jecha musadza” meaning that they will put sand into the food, so this is consistent with what they have been saying throughout.
YOU CONSIDER THIS AS A COUP ATTEMPT IN A WAY?
Regime change is the better word it is a regime change agenda, which is not new …which has been a phenomenon visiting Zimbabwe throughout the last 18 years.
I WANT TO GET TO SOMETHING THAT YOU HAD TOLD BEFORE THAT IT WAS NOT ONLY NGOs, NOT ONLY THE MAIN OPPOSITION MDC, BUT ALSO FOREIGN POWERS.
I am not aware of the involvement of foreign powers, if they were.
BUT YOU SAID THIS TO SEVERAL PEOPLE…
To whom? If somebody told you, I have never accused any foreign power. I work fully aware of funds that have come to NGOs, operating in our country. I am also now with security intelligence aware of people who came other people to do workshops and training of our people in the opposition.
WHERE WERE THEY COMING FROM THOSE PEOPLE?
We have already submitted the names, add passport numbers to the respective embassies in Zimbabwe, that will come out at the appropriate time we have submitted the names and the passport numbers.
CAN I VENTURE AND FIND OUT IF IT’S THE US FOR INSTANCE. AM IN WRONG IN SAYING THIS?
I can assure you that I will not build a wall against your imagination I will not build a wall you can imagine the way you want, is a democratic country Zimbabwe, but we have to build evidence. The evidence that we have got we have submitted to the relevant authorities and we need a reply from those relevant authorities.
SO YOU HAVE ASKED WESTERN COUNTRIES WHERE THOSE FUNDS AND PEOPLE WERE COMING FROM?
You are now trying to say that are there, it means that you are aware that the Western countries are involved in regime change.
NO I AM JUST TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT YOURE SAYING.
Mnangagwa[laugh laugh laugh]
I have not said so I have not said so we are aware that Zimbabwe has been subjected to regime change throughout we are struggling against sanctions imposed by the west up to today. By the EU and the Americans, those sanctions haven’t been removed.
They are still there.
ON THE CONTRARY IF I FOLLOW WHAT THE BRITISH MINISTER SAID IN RECENT DAYS, 2 THINGS:
1. BRITAIN WILL NOT SUPPORT ZIMBABWE REJOINING THE COMMONWEALTH, THAT’S NUMBER ONE.
2. AND TWO, BRITAIN WISHES THE EU TO EXTEND SANCTIINS AGAINST ZIMBABWE. WHAT IS YOUR REACTION?
When Britain made those points did they consult Zimbabwe? When we apply to join the Commonwealth we don’t apply to Britain. We apply to the Commonwealth secretariat, Britain is just a member of the Commonwealth.
AN IMPORTANT MEMBER OBVIOUSLY.
WHAT IS YOUR REACTION ARE YOU…
The Commonwealth have never told us that they are not considering application the view of one member is not the view of the whole Commonwealth, do you understand
Do you understand? The sanctions are already there, they have not been removed. So what other sanctions are you talking about which have been imposed? We are already suffering under these sanctions, ZIDERA and EU sanctions.
ARE YOU ASKING YIUR AFRICAN PEERS HERE IN ADDIS ABBABA, TO PUSH TOWARDS LIFTING SANCTIONS?
We have been doing that for the last 18 years we are not changing, we will continue to appeal to member states of SADC to assist us have these countries that have imposed sanctions on us to realise that it is hurting our people we have not offended anybody. What we are doing is good for our people is good for Zimbabwe.
WHAT ABOUT THE FORMER PRESIDENT, AND HIS WIFE I REMEMBER THAT DURING THE CAMPAIGN, THERE WAS AN ATTACK ON THE CAMPAIGN EVENT, AND YOU HAD HINTED THAT GRACE MUGABE AND HER SUPPORTERS WERE BEHIND AN ATTACK AGAINST YOU DURING THE CAMPAIGN?
No, they did not participate in the campaign, Grace Mugabe and the cabal which had surrounded our former president was the result of the cause of what happened which resulted in the stepping down of our former president Robert Mugabe but we have no problem with him. We are looking after him looking after his family.
SO THEY SHOULDN’T BE PROSECUTED FOR ANYTHING?
No no one is above the law if there is any crime, anybody will be prosecuted accept a sitting President in terms of our law. But anybody else will be prosecuted even the president when I leave office I could be prosecuted if I commit any offence.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH PRESIDENT FOR COMING ON FRANCE24, AND ANSWERING ALL OUR QUESTIONS. – Transcribed by ZimEye.com –
