WATCH VIDEO BELOW…

FORMER President Robert Mugabe is not seriously ill as alleged by President Emmerson Mnangagwa, National Patriotic Front Spokesperson Jealousy Mawarire has revealed.

Mawarire’s statement comes at a time when Mnangagwa told attendees at a rally in Zvimba that Mugabe was wheelchair bound and unable to walk.

President Robert Mugabe is not seriously ill in Singapore, Do not use Emmerson Mnangagwa as a reliable source. You have been in journalism long enough to know ED lies more than he tells the truth. Mawarire said responding to Seasoned journalist Brezh Malaba who had done a comparison between the late George Bush and the allegedly ill Mugabe.

Mugabe was expected back in the country from Singapore on 30 Nomber but there is still no word about him.

Mnangagwa told his Zanu-PF party supporters at a rally that the 94-year-old Mugabe had been receiving medical care in Singapore for the past two months.

“He (Mugabe) is now old. Of course, he now is unable to walk but whatever he asks for we will provide,” Mnangagwa told hundreds of supporters in Mugabe’s home area of Zvimba, about 100km west of the capital Harare.

“We are looking after him. He is the founding father of the nation of Zimbabwe. He is our founding father of free Zimbabwe.”

“He should have been back on October 25 but his health was not yet good,” Mnangagwa said.

“But yesterday we got a message that he thinks he is getting better. He will come back on 30 November.”

WATCH VIDEO BELOW…

ZANU PF leader Emmerson Mnangagwa comes face to face with the party’s enormous demands as discord emerges over the party-state conflation following his ascendancy last November.

A tourist has been attacked by a hippo in Vic Falls. Tourists are encouraged to stay away from wild animals @Zimparks @ZtaUpdates @UKinZimbabwe @larry_moyo @METHI_Zimbabwe @AlexanderRusero @daddyhope @StarFMNews @

— Tinashe Farawo (@FarawoTinashe) December 1, 2018

WATCH VIDEO BELOW

A MARONDERA teenager, who was allegedly caught pants down with a neighbour’s goat, yesterday appeared before a local magistrate, Sharon Mashavire, facing a bestiality charge.

Tawanda Rangwani (18) of Kuwarega village in Masomera, Marondera, pleaded not guilty, saying he was being framed.

The matter was postponed to December 4, for judgment.

According to court papers, the complainant Ndaizivei Mero (48) tied her goat to a tree and left it grazing.

It is alleged the accused untied the goat and took it to a nearby bush where he sexually abused it.

Rangwani was allegedly caught in the act by another villager, Chamunorwa Mhimha and he fled from the scene.

Mhimha pursued the accused and apprehended him before filing a police report. Marvelous Machacha represented the State.

-Newsday

Jane Mlambo| Battle lines have been drawn between opposition MDC leader, Nelson Chamisa and President Emmerson Mnangagwa over the new two percent tax on mobile transactions with the youthful politician saying he will not rest until it is scrapped.

“We are not going to stop protests until that [new] 2 percent tax on mobile transactions is scrapped. It’s thievery; it must go,” he said. “You [government] ask citizens to pay duty in foreign currency, yet they are paid in local currency. All civil servants and everyone must be paid in U.S. dollars,” said Chamisa.

Mnangagwa is adamant the new tax will not go away.

He recently said the country will go through tough times before the economy recovers.

On Thursday, Chamisa rallied his supporters on the streets to protest what he said Zanu PF reluctance to seek common ground with other political stakeholders to solve the legitimacy question.

Jane Mlambo| Opposition Leader, Nelson Chamisa has warned that demonstrations against the Zanu PF Government will not stop until the two percent tax on all electronic transactions is scrapped.

“We are not going to stop protests until that [new] 2 percent tax on mobile transactions is scrapped. It’s thievery; it must go,” he said. “You [government] ask citizens to pay duty in foreign currency, yet they are paid in local currency. All civil servants and everyone must be paid in U.S. dollars.”

This has set the stage for a bruising battle between government and the opposition following remarks by both President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Finance Minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube that the new tax is a necessary evil that will bring results later.

St John’s College has been accused of discriminating against students on racial and religious grounds after a Muslim pupil was barred from attending lessons for refusing to shave his beard.

The school administrators, who have instructed security officers to block the pupil from the school premises, argued that his beard violated the school’s dress code.

This comes after the school torched another storm recently when former deputy head (Sixth Form), Dr Neal Hovelmeier, declared he was gay during school assembly, sparking a public outcry.

Dr Hovelmeier subsequently resigned from the school following a sustained campaign by parents who found the public announcement of his sexual preferences uncalled for and mischievous.

The pupil keeps a full beard as part of his religion.

The barring of the students is despite previous court decisions ordering schools to reinstate students who had challenged “discriminatory and unconstitutional” conduct by the authorities.

“This is an issue between the school and the parent,” he said. “The parent needs to sit down with the leadership of the school and work out an arrangement. All learners are supposed to abide by the school rules.”

St John’s College deputy headmaster Mr Andrew Sakala refused to comment over the phone.

“You need to come to the school and we discuss the matter,” he said. “This is not something I will discuss over the phone.”

The parent expressed anger towards the treatment of his son by the school.

“The boy is traumatised and is being humiliated by being kicked out of school,” he said. “What hurts me the most is he has been at the school since Form 1. He is in the soccer team and his desire is to be a priest and serve the Islam religion.

At one point, the school officials allegedly threatened to ban the learner from writing his exams.

His father had to plead with the school to allow him to write the exams.

There are numurous previous court rulings that chastised schools for barring pupils from attending lessons based on their religion.

In 2014, Batanai Secondary School in Mashava was barred from expelling four pupils for wearing long hair after the Constitutional Court ruled that such a decision was in breach of the girls’ “freedom of conscience”.

The quartet — Melody Svondo, Vimbainashe Matarirano and twins Yolanda and Yonlanda Manyere — were members of the End Time Message Church, and refused to trim their hair citing religious beliefs.

In 2007, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of an eight-year-old Rastafarian schoolboy who was barred from attending Ruvheneko Primary School in Glen Norah because of dreadlocks.

The bench ordered the readmission of Farai Benjamin Dzvova, pointing out that the school had violated the boy’s constitutional rights.

In 2002, a Chitungwiza boy was expelled from Zengeza 4 Primary School because of his dreadlocks.

Justice George Smith ordered the school’s headmaster to permit the 11-year-old Grade Five pupil to continue with his studies at the school.

-State Media

The funeral wake of a Gwanda couple suspected to have been among the people who perished at the West Nicholson bus accident quickly turned into a war zone as their two families got into a fierce fight over a trunk known to have cash and a newly built house’s keys.

The couple Melusi Nyoni and Thenjiwe Sibanda were loan sharks.

However when the two families got to the couples homestead, they found the cash trunk empty resulting in an exchange of harsh words. They all suspect each other of having pilfered the money.

Following threats from some of Sibanda family members, Nyoni’s parents decided to boycott the funeral gathering.

According to local paper, Bmetro, at the couple’s homestead, only Sibanda’s relatives were gathered there now.

Nyoni’s mother narrated the whole ordeal.

“My son and his wife have been staying together for more than 10 years. On the day we got sad news, we travelled to their home.

“When we got to my son’s matrimonial home, our daughter-in-law’s brother started shouting at us and threatened to axe us again. Realising we were not welcome at the funeral gathering, we returned home and reported the matter to headman Sicelo Sibanda,” narrated

On the other hand, Sibanda’s relatives revealed that the main cause of the misunderstanding is the cash trunk and house keys.

“It is so sad that in this whole terrible incident, some people are only worried about money and this newly built house. What if the two did not die since we are still waiting for confirmation.

“We never chased them away, but they just left after we refused to give them house keys as they insisted they needed a cash box which was inside:’ said Sibanda’s aunt Christine Maphosa.

It also emerged that the couple had taken all the money from the cash box as they had travelled to buy property for their newly built house.

B-metro

THE Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans’ Association (ZNLWA) leadership is set to meet in Harare next weekend to deliberate on the possibility of holding an extraordinary congress next year to address factional divisions that have rocked the organisation in the aftermath of the July 30 general elections.

The meeting is reportedly expected to seal the fate of the association’s embattled chairman, Christopher Mutsvangwa, who has fallen out with sections of the membership.

Senior members of the association told the Zimbabwe Independent that the meeting was called by Mutsvangwa’s deputy Headman Moyo and ZNLWVA secretary-general Victor Matemadanda.

The two have been locked in vitriolic verbal exchanges in the past few weeks in a vicious turf war that has assumed factional dimensions.

Fault lines emerged in the association when Mutsvangwa employed his trademark razor tongue to criticise top businessman Sakunda Holdings founder Kuda Tagwirei, who is widely believed to be sympathetic to Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga.

Chiwenga harbours presidential ambitions and is reportedly fighting to wrest power from President Emmerson Mnangagwa. According to ZNLWVA insiders, Mutsvangwa — who calls himself a Mnangagwa loyalist — is now facing ouster from the association, which is being engineered by some of his lieutenants sympathetic to the Vice-President, among them Moyo and Matemadanda.

“There is going to be a meeting of members of the association in Harare next weekend. The main objective is that the association wants to have an examination of the state of affairs. It is too dangerous to leave things as they are. Some are actually proposing that we should bring forward the congress to 2019 from 2022,” a senior war veteran said.

“There are some more militant members of the association who want Mutsvangwa to be immediately removed from the position in a vote of no confidence and be replaced by Moyo. Some are however saying Matemadanda should actually be the chairman,” the ex-combatant said.

Mutsvangwa, who could not be reached for comment over the past week, is resisting the ouster on the basis of a 2016 High Court ruling which pronounced him the legitimate leader of the association until the next congress due in 2022. At the time he obtained the court order, Mutsvangwa was fighting for control of the association with leader of a splinter group Mandi Chimene. But his current nemesis is adamant his days at the association’s helm are numbered.

“Mutsvangwa is definitely going. We know he is banking on the court ruling but he forgets that we were also a party to that ruling. The ruling does not stop us from passing a vote of no confidence or call for an extraordinary congress to solve problems affecting the association as he shall see soon. He can still be removed with due processes spelt out in the association’s constitution. The only person who likes Mutsvangwa now is the President. He behaves like he is the President’s first born child, but the President is for everyone,” a war veteran based in Mashonaland Central province said.

But Mutsvangwa’s backers in the association are not going down without a fight as they are defending him with their lives.

“The association has been affected by Zanu PF factionalism which is being engineered by some corrupt hidden hands. It has been brewing for some time.

Mutsvangwa is with the President, he does not stare quietly at offenders. He can be friends for anyone except for national interests’ threats. Such people have no permanent friends while Matemadanda is, as his name suggests, has an axe and can be in anyone’s hands,” a member of the ZNLWVA national executive said.

Contacted for comment this week, Matemadanda said: “I don’t want to talk about those things at the moment, please spare me.”

Some war veterans are reportedly pushing for the return of the association’s former chairman, Jabulani Sibanda, who is being earmarked to take over as national commissar. The position is currently occupied by Chiredzi-based farmer Francis Nhando, who is reportedly being targeted for ouster for being a Mutsvangwa adherent. Nhando gave a resigned impression when contacted for comment.

“Our term is near completion. What we did was near-impossible when we went against (former president) Robert Mugabe. Having won that battle, we are not best set for the next fight. The comrades will be mistaken if they retain us. Political leadership requires changing and not fighting for survival. If you do not want to be removed, start your own company, not leadership of a national project,” he said.

Mutsvangwa has said that he is fighting a monopoly in the fuel industry because it is benefitting only one person. Mutsvangwa and some of President Mnangagwa’s allies are reportedly planning to construct a second fuel pipeline from Beira in a deal with South African fuel giant Mining, Oil and Gas Service.

The Independent

Zimbabwe must consider buying President Emmerson Mnangagwa a jet since the cost of his foreign trips on chartered planes was too high as compared to his predecessor Robert Mugabe, former Finance minister Tendai Biti said.

“Why do we have to hire a jet for $2 million to $3 million from Switzerland whenever anyone travels?” Biti questioned at an Institute of Chartered Accountants of Zimbabwe (ICAZ) conference to mark the institute’s 100th anniversary in Harare yesterday.

“Mugabe was even better because he abused Air Zimbabwe. It is actually cheaper to buy a jet for Mnangagwa to travel. We have hired a jet to fly to Djibouti, America and other countries. I heard Grace Mugabe saying she had never seen a jet like that (the gulf stream hired for the former first lady to travel for her mother’s funeral). If you hear people like Grace… saying that, it means this has become too much,” Biti said.

Mnangagwa’s skint government has resorted to hiring a plane, especially from the Middle East and Europe, to facilitate the Zimbabwean leader’s regional and
international trips, including to the United Nations General Assembly in late September.

Daily News

PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday challenged parliamentarians to be accountable to the people who elected them into office and help to push forward the country’s vision.

Speaking during the ground-breaking ceremony for the new Parliament building in Mt Hampden, Harare, Mnangagwa also warned MPs against bunking parliamentary sessions as they had a critical role to play in the country’s development.

“I urge all parliamentarians to understand that they have a critical role to play as they enact and pass laws that will propel attainment of our national vision 2030. As such, hard work, diligence and commitment to duty must be embedded in all parliamentarians. In the Second Republic, non-attendance of meetings and dereliction of parliamentary duty should not be tolerated,” he said.

Mnangagwa said it was critical for legislators to ensure the smooth and efficient passage of laws while demonstrating accountability to the electorate.

“In undertaking your duties, I exhort you to be mindful that the law, as an instrument of development, must enable, facilitate and promote development and change. As such, I challenge you to demand urgency to the pace that the various legislative reforms are being implemented,” he said.

“In addition, Members of Parliament must be accountable to the people, both individually and collectively, as they have the onerous burden to truly represent the people that elected them into office.”

Mnangagwa said citizens should hold their legislators to account with regards to their activities in the august House.

The sentiments come at a time when several parliamentarians have been accused of absconding parliamentary sessions and not taking the business of the House seriously.

During a parliamentary workshop held in May last year, Speaker of the National Assembly, Jacob Mudenda, blasted MPs for failure to take Parliament business seriously after they came late to a budget orientation workshop.

“We want to contribute towards the turnaround of the economy, and as a leading institution we have to respect time because Parliament is doing serious business; we are not playing kids’ games, and the title of honourable has to be respected,” he said.

Last week, Mudenda repeated the same sentiments and said Parliament was crafting stringent rules and regulations to deal with legislators who did not behave honourably in Parliament.

This came in the wake of MDC MPs being ejected from the House for refusing to stand up in honour of Mnangagwa during the National Budget presentation. The opposition party has refused to recognise Mnangagwa’s legitimacy

Mudenda warned that in future “unruly” MPs will be barred from Parliament and lose their allowances.

Meanwhile, Mnangagwa said the new building was conceived as government sought to decongest the old Parliament building that had become too small to accommodate the current 350 legislators and a special grant from China had enabled work to begin.

“Chinese President Xi Jinping allowed the release of new funds for Zimbabwe projects after my visit to China in April this year, including funding – the $1,5 billion for Hwange 7 and 8 expansion project, the $153 million Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport rehabilitation, then the third is the grant, not a loan, to build a new Parliament,” he said.

“The new Parliament building will address congestion challenges at the old Parliament building, the project was mooted many years ago, but resource constraints delayed it and relocation of Parliament will be a catalyst for development around Mt Hampden.”

Mnangagwa said the construction of the new Parliament will create employment opportunities for Zimbabweans.

“The majority of workers during construction will be local; they will be partnering those from China,” he said.

The President said the development will see the construction of modern residential areas in line with a world class city. He dared local developers to claim a stake in the project before foreign investors jumped in.

Construction of the new Parliament building is to be undertaken by Shanghai Construction Group and is expected to be completed within 32 months.

Mnangagwa expressed gratitude to the Chinese government for supporting the country’s development programmes.

Senate president Mabel Chinomona, said the new development will help deal with challenges associated with congestion at the current Parliament building.

“Currently, we are having challenges, not a day passes by without the mentioning of the inadequacies of the present Parliament building,” she said.

The proposed 650-seater multi-million-dollar Parliament building will include the Parliament office building, congress hall, a square and roads on the

-Newsday

Own Correspondent|Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation’s live television broadcast went offline on two separate occasions while MDC Alliance leaders gave their respective testimonies to the Commission of Inquiry into the 1 August 2018 killings.

There was no clear explanation given for the downtime experienced during the party’s deputy chairperson Tendai Biti’s testimony as well as during testimony by MDC Alliance president Nelson Chamisa. During both blackouts, which took place on the afternoon and evening of 26 November respectively, the ZBC livestream on their Facebook channel was up and running.

MISA Zimbabwe Position

MISA Zimbabwe takes this opportunity to comprehensively make broader recommendations to ZBC on improving its content, accountability to the public and safeguarding its independence; and guided by its Model Public Broadcasting Framework and the African Charter on Broadcasting, MISA-Zimbabwe calls for the following in transforming ZBC:

Purpose: ZBC must in practice be an independent body corporate, established to serve the overall public interest without interference from any quarter. In its bid to provide broadcasting services, it should ensure full respect for freedom of expression, promote the free flow of information and ideas, assist people to make informed decisions and facilitate and strengthen democracy.

Mandate: As part of its mandate, ZBC should among other key issues:

– Provide universal access to its services with its signal seeking to reach all corners of the country and ensuring and making services available in all the official languages of the country.

– Provide access to a wide range of information and ideas from the various sectors of society and reflect, as comprehensively as possible, the range of opinions on matters of public interest and of social, political, philosophical, religious, scientific and artistic trends;

– Report on news and current affairs in a way that is not influenced by political, commercial, or other special interests.

– Contribute to economic, social, and cultural development in the country by providing a credible forum for democratic debate on how to meet common challenges.

– Provide credible, quality and varied programming for all interests, those of the general public as well as minority audiences, children, women, the youth and the disabled, irrespective of religious beliefs, political persuasion, culture, race and gender;

– Promote and develop local content.

Some of these responsibilities are clearly outlined in the Broadcasting Services Act’s Part 1 of the Seventh Schedule outlining programming requirements for public broadcasters. ZBC should thus uphold the law.

This statutory role was emphasised by Deputy Chief Justice Luke Malaba, as he then was, in the matter of Majome v Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (CCZ14/16) when he said:

“… the public broadcaster is required to act in an independent and unbiased manner in the selection and presentation of television and radio programmes. There is a provision prohibiting the ZBC as a public broadcaster from acting in a manner that favours the viewpoints of one political party whilst shutting out, as a matter of policy, viewpoints of other political parties on matters of national interest.”

Independence: ZBC should have in place policies to ensure its protection from any form of outside interference or attempts to compromise its independence. This is particularly so in matters concerning the content of its output, its editorial policy, the times and manner in which its output is supplied and in the management of all of its other affairs.

Over the years, the monitoring of the public broadcaster by MISA Zimbabwe and other media freedom lobby groups has indicated its lack of editorial independence, partisan coverage or complete censorship of national events, in violation of the broadcasting law in particular part 1(d) of the Seventh Schedule.

It compels ZBC to “provide news and public affairs programming which meets the highest standards of journalism, and which is fair and unbiased and independent from government, commercial or other interests.”

Governance: The governance of ZBC should be vested in a board of governors accountable to the public through parliament. The appointment process must be transparent and open and ensure participation by the public in the nomination of candidates.

The members of the board, when viewed collectively, should be persons who:

(a) represent a broad cross-section of the population of the country
(b) are suited to serve on the board by virtue of their qualifications, expertise and experience in the fields of broadcasting policy and technology, broadcasting regulation, media law, business practice and finance, marketing, journalism, entertainment and education, social and labour issues
(c) are committed to fairness, freedom of expression, the right of the public to be informed, and openness and accountability on the part of those holding public office
(d) are committed to the objectives and principles of the public broadcaster

Persons who are office bearers with the state or political parties or have business interests in the media industry should not be eligible for board membership.

To ensure participation of the public in and transparency of the appointment process:

(a) the parliamentary committee responsible for the broadcasting policy shall advertise the posts, call upon all relevant groups in society as well as individuals to nominate candidates, shortlist nominees and invite them for interviews in public hearings
(b) an appointment panel of public as well as civil society representatives shall assist in the process of selecting members of the board
(c) parliament should strive to reach consensus in order to appoint a board that is not partisan and avoid abuse of majority of one party

The governance of ZBC falls way far short when measured against most of these parameters as the current board appointment process is politically compromised and lacks full public participation.

Public Complaints mechanism In order to attend to such developments, Section 40 of the broadcasting law establishes a public complaints mechanism members of the public can use to raise their grievances with the broadcaster, it is important that ZBC publicises and adheres to its code of conduct. This will restore the public’s confidence in the broadcaster as a credible, ethical and professional source of information.

On the basis of its code, a public complaints unit, set up by the broadcaster, known and accessible to the public, should consider and resolve any complaints by members of the public against ZBC.

Most importantly, ZBC should be seen to comply with the findings of the complaints unit in order to inspire public confidence in the use of the complaints mechanism to address the broadcaster’s shortcomings.

MISA Zimbabwe also reminds media practitioners to employ the profession’s safety and security measures while covering hostile situations. Media practitioners are advised to also utilise the MISA JournoSOS App as well as the MISA Panic Button App in the event of any violations. MISA Zimbabwe staff is also on standby to assist media practitioners injured or arrested in the line of duty. The MISA Hotline is 0784 437 338.

Source: MISA Zimbabwe

Correspondent|PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa has warned parliamentarians that his administration will not tolerate those who do not take parliament business seriously, saying the Parliament of Zimbabwe plays a key role in achieving his vision of a middle income economy by 2030. The President was speaking at the ground breaking ceremony at Mt. Hampden yesterday.

“I urge you all parliamentarians to understand that they have a critical role to play as they enact and pass laws that will propel attainment of our national vision 2030. As such, hard work, diligence and commitment to duty must be embedded in all parliamentarians.

“In the Second Republic, non-attendance of meetings and dereliction of parliamentary duty should not be tolerated,” he said.

President Mnangagwa said it was critical for legislators to ensure the smooth and efficient passage of laws while demonstrating accountability to the electorate.

“In undertaking your duties, I exhort you to be mindful that the law, as an instrument of development, must enable, facilitate and promote development and change. As such, I challenge you to demand urgency to the pace that the various legislative reforms are being implemented,” he said.

“In addition, Members of Parliament must be accountable to the people, both individually and collectively, as they have the onerous burden to truly represent the people that elected them into office.”

The President said citizens should hold their legislators to account with regards to their activities in the august House.

Last week, Mudenda repeated the same sentiments and said Parliament was crafting stringent rules and regulations to deal with legislators who did not behave honourably in Parliament.

This came in the wake of MDC MPs being ejected from the House for refusing to stand up in honour of Mnangagwa during the National Budget presentation. The opposition party has refused to recognise Mnangagwa’s legitimacy.

Mudenda warned that in future “unruly” MPs will be barred from Parliament and lose their allowances.

Meanwhile, Mnangagwa said the new building was conceived as government sought to decongest the old Parliament building that had become too small to accommodate the current 350 legislators and a special grant from China had enabled work to begin.

“Chinese President Xi Jinping allowed the release of new funds for Zimbabwe projects after my visit to China in April this year, including funding – the $1,5 billion for Hwange 7 and 8 expansion project, the $153 million Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport rehabilitation, then the third is the grant, not a loan, to build a new Parliament,” he said.

“The new Parliament building will address congestion challenges at the old Parliament building, the project was mooted many years ago, but resource constraints delayed it and relocation of Parliament will be a catalyst for development around Mt Hampden.”

Mnangagwa said the construction of the new Parliament will create employment opportunities for Zimbabweans.

“The majority of workers during construction will be local; they will be partnering those from China,” he said.

The President said the development will see the construction of modern residential areas in line with a world class city. He dared local developers to claim a stake in the project before foreign investors jumped in.

Construction of the new Parliament building is to be undertaken by Shanghai Construction Group and is expected to be completed within 32 months.

Correspondent|DOCTORS at Zimbabwe’s public hospitals countrywide are planning to go on a nationwide strike due to “severe incapacitation” to perform their duties, low salaries and failure to address previous demands, including the provision of basic health materials in state hospitals.

In a statement dated November 30 and signed by the Doctors National Committee, comprising top doctors in government health institutions, the health workers said President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government needs to take swift action to avoid a prolonged industrial action.

“On behalf of our membership, we hereby bring to your attention that doctors nationwide have agreed to engage into an industrial action as result of severe incapacitation and inability to withstand the current disabling working environment.

“The Ministry is also reminded that a number of concerns have been raised in our letters, dated as back as 22 October 2018, regarding the deteriorating state of the Healthcare system in the country. It is regrettable therefore to note that as a result of failure on the part of the Ministry to urgently attend to these challenges; doctors are now finding it impossible to continue discharging their services in hospitals.”

The doctors, in the statement addressed to the Ministry of Health, said acute shortages of fuel and an increase in transport costs have worsened the situation resulting in the incapacitation of healthcare personnel to urgently attend to their duties.

They said the government should with immediate effect address shortages of vital medicines and basic theatre consumables, private pharmacies’ demands for clients to pay in United States dollars and the rejection of medical aid.

Other issues that need urgent address, said the doctors, includes, “undefined and prolonged working hours, leaving healthcare workers overburdened and fatigued, understaffed work force, inadequate remunerations in Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) in place of United States dollars as stipulated in our previous binding agreements, reevaluation of the vehicle loan scheme to assist healthcare workers with transportation and increase of the on call allowance to 10 USD/hour.

“It is our hope that the above grievances are immediately addressed with all honesty in the shortest period possible to avoid unnecessarily prolonged interruption of life saving services.”

Junior doctors recently went on strike making similar demands and they were joined by nurses and other healthcare workers.

Health Minister Obadiah Moyo was not reacheable on his mobile phone for comment.

Correspondent|PRESIDENTIAL Spokesperson George Charamba has revealed that the late MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai had a secret deal with President Emmerson Mnangagwa which was going to see a power sharing deal being arranged, but Nelson Chamisa jettisoned the arrangement when he took over.

“It was a forward looking agreement, but it appears that the MDC leader was interred with his vision that he had for this country.

“His youthful successor (Chamisa) did not realise that there were certain things that had been struck by the two leaders, which would have carried this nation forward, and forward in amity.

“What you are looking at is …Chamisa did not realise that there was prior dialogue to the structure which he has no assumed leadership of, a dialogue that went ahead of the party, a dialogue that was national in outlook.

“He (Chamisa) jettisoned it. He fouled it. But I would still say better late than never, now that I am seeing he is coming round,” Charamba added.

Charamba explained that the government still has goodwill to have an arrangement with MDC but the condition is accepting Mnangagwa as legitimate President.

“But a key pre-condition is that there must be a recognition of ED as the winner of the 2018 elections … there are no two ways about that,” Charamba said emphatically.

On Thursday Chamisa made a public invitation to President Emmerson Mnangagwa to sit down with him for talks and they find a last solution to the problems happening in the country.

He said he is open to a transitional authority that can see both of them sharing power.

Own Correspondent|President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Friday led the ground breaking ceremony for the construction of the new parliament building in Mount Hampden in the outskirts of Harare.

Several Zimbabweans have however questioned the prioritization of the project at a time when the country is in dire need for money to fund social services delivery like medication and equipment at hospitals.

“A disgraceful vanity project completely unnecessary in this sea of deprivation,” said a social media critic Piers Pigou.

“l wish l could celebrate with you my president on such a massive project but today am tired. l spent the whole day in a bank queue looking for money and from there l started chasing on forex dealers to change my money because the pharmacy won’t take bonds,” said another critic Thandazani Nkomo on Mnangagwa’s Facebook post.

President Mnangagwa had written as follows on his Facebook page:

Today, we laid the foundation stone for the new Zimbabwe’s new Parliament building, a symbol of a new era.

We all look forward to the speedy completion of this very important national project.

Correspondent|MDC deputy national chair Tendai Biti says the main opposition’s peaceful protest Thursday helped strengthen its position that military intervention was not required on matters of maintaining public order in the country.

This follows similar comments he made last week before the Commission of Inquiry into the August 1 post-election disturbances in which his party is fingered for causing violence that ended with six civilians gunned down by what is believed to be soldiers.

Zimbabwean authorities are keen to justify army deployments into central Harare during the fateful day but the opposition has maintained police were capable of handling the situation on their own.

In a Twitter comment, Biti said the peace which prevailed during the Thursday march should serve to convince all and sundry that his party was not associated with any violence.

“We have always maintained that we are a peaceful constitutional people. We have maintained that. Left on its own and free of the politics, the Zimbabwean police can maintain law and order.

“Today was Exhibit A for our decency, lawfulness, maturity, peace and determination,” said Biti.

He added, “Today, just like 5 June and 11 July (during MDC marches) exposes 1 August. The truth is on 1 August, life was lost at the hands of a clique that used the military to unleash live bullets on an unarmed civilian population. 1 August 2018 was a new low for Zimbabwe even by non-existent standards of Zanu PF.

“We thank compatriots for making a bold statement against tyranny, patronage , kleptocracy and the bondage of a mediocre , clueless cruel regime . We thank the citizen for defeating fear and for looking the beast in the eye. God is surely in it.”

Biti, as an individual, was accused of urging party youths to engage in the violence.

He has denied that while the main opposition has also disowned the protesters on the day in question.

The former finance minister said his party has been involved in demonstrations before, all ending peacefully.

The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) has identified the names of people who died in the West Nicholson bus disaster two weeks ago.

In a statement, ZRP spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba said 30 remains were collected from the accident scene and 27 were positively identified through forensic DNA test and these are:

Bekezela Msipa.
Boyd Manhema.
Chiedza Chatikobo.
Fadzai Chaparadza.
Getha Moyo.
Judith Dhliwayo.
Lilian Kundhande.
Linnet Ndavambwa.
Liverson Masunda.
Loveness Ncube.
Maria Chilongo.
Maria Wilson.
Mary Moyo.
Mayibongwe Mhlanga.
Melusi Nyoni.
Mhurai Moyo.
Moment Mpofu.
Precious Chatira Mpofu.
Precious Zulu.
Rutendo Masvina.
Similo Ndlovu.
Sitshengisiwe Nyathi.
Soneni Dube.
Tafadzwa Tomas.
Takudzwa Chaparadza.
Thembelani Nyathi.
Thengiwe Sibanda.

The ZRP is still appealing to members of the public who suspect that their relatives might have perished in the inferno to come forward for the DNA testing process at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) in Bulawayo as three other remains are yet to be identified.

Meanwhile, the police and Registrar General’s office have established a contact point at United Bulawayo Hospital for the processing of burial orders.

State Media

SCORES of families living in the open at a farm outside Marondera are bearing the brunt of heavy rains, with bureaucracy being blamed for failure by both government and well-wishers to come to their assistance.

About 40 families were dumped outside the farm, popularly known as KwaStovhoro, by the Messenger of Court a fortnight ago after losing a court battle to stay at the farm.

The families were former workers at the farm whose white owner left the country at the height of the land reform programme.

Some have secured alternative accommodation, but 25 families are still living in makeshift structures.

Ward 11 councillor Saizi Vilela said he had secured tents from the Red Cross International, but the organisation is yet to deliver them, reportedly due to red tape.

“We approached the Red Cross and they came forward to assist with tents, among other goods. However, there is politics and protocol that is hindering the handover of aid. The victims are still there and there is need for aid,” he said.

The victims are living near Rufaro Dam, a major water source for Marondera, where they are no proper ablution facilities, creating a health time bomb, given the onset of the rains.

Marondera Central legislator Caston Matewo yesterday visited the victims and said he would take the matter to the Local Government ministry. “It is terrible that we have evicted people who are now squatters. There are also children at the squatter camp, and I will take the matter up to the Local Government ministry so that they get assistance,” Matewo said.

Last year, the ex-farm workers were evicted before government intervened, resulting in them returning to the farm. However, government failed to relocate them, leading to the recent evictions.

Mashonaland East Provincial Affairs minister Aplonia Munzverengi yesterday said government was aware of the families’ predicament.

“I am aware of the ex-farm workers’ predicament, but the truth is that we have no land at our disposal for possible relocation. It is noble for the farm workers to relocate to their rural or communal areas if possible. We will try by all means to address the situation, but we need land,” she said.

NewsDay

The trial of Nyanga South National Assembly member and former Information Communication Technology and Cyber Security Minister Supa Mandiwanzira, who is facing criminal abuse of office charges, is set to start on December 10.

Mandiwanzira appeared before Harare magistrate Ms Rumbidzai Mugwagwa yesterday.

He is out on $2 000 bail, and is facing two counts of criminal abuse of office as a public officer during his tenure as a Cabinet minister. Mandiwanzira allegedly handpicked a South African company called Megawatt (Private) Limited to offer services to NetOne without going to tender.

Megawatt was hired to review prices charged by a Chinese firm, Huawei Technologies, for the supply of network expansion and modernisation equipment to NetOne.

Of the fees charged, Megawatt successfully negotiated for a reduction of $30 million.

After the negotiations, Mandiwanzira instructed the then NetOne chief executive Mr Reward Kangai and some board members to pay Megawatt $4 million.

According to the State papers, $1 million was for consultancy, while $3 million was a “success fee”.

NetOne declined to pay Megawatt, arguing that tender procedures had not been followed and that legally, it had no valid contract with Megawatt.

Investigations established that Mandiwanzira was a director of a company called Blue Nightingale, which had shares in Megawatt.

Mandiwanzira is also being accused of irregularly appointing his personal assistant to the board of NetOne.

Mandiwanzira was arrested recently after handing himself over to the police on his return from an overseas trip.

State Media

St John’s College has been accused of discriminating against students on racial and religious grounds after a Muslim pupil was barred from attending lessons for refusing to shave his beard.

The school administrators, who have instructed security officers to block the pupil from the school premises, argued that his beard violated the school’s dress code.

This comes after the school torched another storm recently when former deputy head (Sixth Form), Dr Neal Hovelmeier, declared he was gay during school assembly, sparking a public outcry.

Dr Hovelmeier subsequently resigned from the school following a sustained campaign by parents who found the public announcement of his sexual preferences uncalled for and mischievous.

According to the father of the barred student (name withheld) his son, a Lower 6 learner, had been sent home a number of times “to shave off his beard and to abide by the school rules”.

The pupil keeps a full beard as part of his religion.

The barring of the students is despite previous court decisions ordering schools to reinstate students who had challenged “discriminatory and unconstitutional” conduct by the authorities.

In an interview, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Professor Paul Mavima said the matter needed both parties to sit down and map a way forward.

“This is an issue between the school and the parent,” he said. “The parent needs to sit down with the leadership of the school and work out an arrangement. All learners are supposed to abide by the school rules.”

St John’s College deputy headmaster Mr Andrew Sakala refused to comment over the phone.

“You need to come to the school and we discuss the matter,” he said. “This is not something I will discuss over the phone.”

The parent expressed anger towards the treatment of his son by the school.

“The boy is traumatised and is being humiliated by being kicked out of school,” he said. “What hurts me the most is he has been at the school since Form 1. He is in the soccer team and his desire is to be a priest and serve the Islam religion.

“The school now has people at the gate whose job is to turn him away until he shaves. The minister’s view is respected, but how can I sit down with the school authorities when they do not want to talk to me and they have even blocked me.”

At one point, the school officials allegedly threatened to ban the learner from writing his exams.

His father had to plead with the school to allow him to write the exams.

There are numurous previous court rulings that chastised schools for barring pupils from attending lessons based on their religion.

In 2014, Batanai Secondary School in Mashava was barred from expelling four pupils for wearing long hair after the Constitutional Court ruled that such a decision was in breach of the girls’ “freedom of conscience”.

The quartet — Melody Svondo, Vimbainashe Matarirano and twins Yolanda and Yonlanda Manyere — were members of the End Time Message Church, and refused to trim their hair citing religious beliefs.

In 2007, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of an eight-year-old Rastafarian schoolboy who was barred from attending Ruvheneko Primary School in Glen Norah because of dreadlocks.

The bench ordered the readmission of Farai Benjamin Dzvova, pointing out that the school had violated the boy’s constitutional rights.

In 2002, a Chitungwiza boy was expelled from Zengeza 4 Primary School because of his dreadlocks.

Justice George Smith ordered the school’s headmaster to permit the 11-year-old Grade Five pupil to continue with his studies at the school.

State Media

A MAN from Bulawayo has been arrested for selling “fake broiler chicks.”

Disgruntled residents who bought the chicks said they had weird characteristics that include ravenous appetite, failure to grow and vicious fighting among themselves.

Three customers who bought the chicks from Amadi Nyathi (age not obtained) of Mzilikazi suburb told police that the chicks ate way too much for their size.

“They look and still weigh less than 100 grammes after four and half weeks instead of 1,2kg. They eat more than full grown chickens,” said one of the residents.

The suspect allegedly admitted he sold about 8 000 chicks to unknown clients at $1.60 each.

Bulawayo acting police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube said the suspect was in police custody and assisting with investigations.

About 5 000 out of 8 000 chicks have been accounted for while customers who bought the other 3 000 are expected to come forward and file reports.
Insp Ncube said: “The chicks have turned out to have weird characteristics. They’re way different from broilers. The chicks which are expected to be about four and a half weeks old now, still looking like they are three days old.”

He appealed to members of the public who might have bought broilers in Bulawayo from the suspect to come forward.

“The chicks do not grow but they are hyperactive for broilers. They eat a lot, jump around too much and fight each other fiercely.

Insp Ncube said the suspect first claimed to have acquired the chicks from Chegutu and later said Masvingo.

State Media

PETITION
To: Parliament of Zimbabwe, Speaker of Parliament, Hon Jacob
Mudenda

SADC, Chairperson, HE President Dr Hage G. Geingob

AU, Chairperson, HE President Paul Kagame

Zanu PF President and First Secretary, Emmerson Mnangagwa

THE PETITION ON THE ROADMAP TO
LEGITIMACY AND DEMOCRACY IN
ZIMBABWE (RELOAD)
Date: 29 November 2018
WE THE PEOPLE of Zimbabwe and the Movement for Democratic Change.
ACKNOWLEDGING that the liberation struggle was wedged and many of our
relatives sacrificed their lives in the pursuit of a truly free and prosperous nation
where all citizens can pursue opportunities, prosperity and happiness without
hindrance.
RECOGNISING that as Zimbabweans we aspire to be united in our diversity by
our common desire for freedom, justice and equality, and our heroic resistance to
colonialism, racism and all forms of domination and oppression by whosoever and  howsoever.

CHERISHING the value of freedom, equality, peace, justice, tolerance, prosperity  and patriotism in search of new frontiers under a common destiny.

Bulawayo businessman, Mr Bekithemba Moyo, who used to run Ritz Bottle Store which was very popular in the city, has died.

Mr Moyo (60) who had kidney complications and was on dialysis for several years, suffered a heart failure during treatment on Thursday morning.

His daughter Mrs Sibongile Mpofu confirmed her father’s death yesterday saying the family had lost a pillar of strength.

“My father was on dialysis for the past eight years and his health had greatly improved. He collapsed and died on Thursday while he was going through dialysis. We’re devastated as a family because we have lost a great man who was our pillar of strength.

“He loved everybody and never looked down upon people. He had a warm heart and took care of the whole family including children left by his late brothers. His death is a huge loss to the family and will change our lives forever,” said Mrs Mpofu.

Mr Moyo’s wife Mrs Nondlela Moyo said she had not only lost a husband but a friend who was always there for her.

“He was a great husband and a friend with so much love. I still can’t believe he’s gone. He had a good heart and took care of everybody in the family.

“I remember at one point we were paying school fees for 14 children, including those left behind by his late brothers. I’m still shocked by his death and it will be hard for me to move on because he was a good man who was always in a jovial mood,” said Mrs Moyo.

She said her husband, who was popularly known by friends as Bro T or Manotsha was a man of the people had a warm heart. She said Mr Moyo celebrated his 60th birthday in July.

He was born in Tsholotsho and did his primary education at Mvundlana before doing his secondary education at Speciss College in Bulawayo.

He joined the police force and left in 1983 when he started running Ritz Bottle Store, which became a successful business over the years.

The bottle store was shut down in 2014 and Mr Moyo concentrated on his cattle ranching farm in Umguza.

He is survived by his wife several children and grandchildren. His body will lie in state at his home in Mahatshula tonight and he will be buried tomorrow in Tsholotsho at 12 noon.

Mourners are gathered at Number 12 Mahatshula South, Bulawayo. They will leave Bulawayo for Tsholotsho at 6AM tomorrow. – state media

A cop who allegedly broke into colleagues’ houses and stole assortment of goods and a self-proclaimed inyanga who was recently jailed for rape, have escaped from Hwange Prison.

Maxwell Musariri, a constable and Masimpe Muleya, the self-proclaimed inyanga, allegedly used a piece of steel from a combat boot to drill a hole on a wooden section of the prison cell wall before making good their escape.

Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) assistant principal correctional officer who is also the public relations officer for Matabeleland North Gareth Nkomo said Musariri and Muleya who are both aged 28 escaped on Thursday.

“I can confirm that two inmates escaped from Hwange Prison yesterday and investigations are still underway to establish how they escaped,” he said. Musariri, who lived at number 1559 DRC in Hwange is facing 12 counts of unlawful entry and theft.

He was remanded in custody to December 12 by Hwange magistrate Ms Barbara Phiri .

Musariri allegedly broke into houses of six of his colleagues at Hwange Police Station and Empumalanga suburb and stole a laptop, a TV set, a DSTV decoder, car batteries, cellphones and other such gadgets.

He allegedly sold some of the property in Hwange, Victoria Falls, Gweru, Masvingo and at his rural home in Chirumhanzu in the Midlands province.

Following reports of the thefts at Hwange Police Station Camp, police conducted investigations leading to the arrest of Musariri and recovery of some of the stolen property.

Muleya is an ex-convict who once served a jail term for unlawful entry in Binga.

He was last week sentenced to 18 years in jail for raping an 18-year-old girl in Lusulu, Binga, sometime in February last year.

Muleya who moved around carrying a bag containing a knobkerrie, okapi knife and snuff box which he used to intimidate victims before sexually abusing them, had before the rape conviction, been convicted of attempting to rape another girl in Binga in February this year and senteced to 30 months in prison.

Muleya who evaded arrest for almost a year after raping his first victim, was only arrested this year after attempting to rape his second victim.

Muleya was waiting to be transferred to Khami Maximum Prison in Bulawayo when he escaped. – state media

A hooker, who was being charged with stealing $2 000 from a self-proclaimed man of God in Bulawayo following an early morning sexual romp, has been acquitted.

Tanaka Hove from Sauerstown suburb, who claimed to be a bona fide member of the Lutheran Church, and that it was also his first time to “sample” the services of a sex worker dragged self-confessed sex worker Lyza Sibanda (35) to court accusing her of stealing his money amounting to $2 000.

However, the presiding magistrate Nyaradzo Ringisai dismissed Hove’s story due to lack of evidence.

The court heard that Hove met Sibanda on 8 September at around 4 am along Fort Street, between Second and Third Avenues where he was reportedly scouting for sexual services.
It is reported that Hove engaged Sibanda for sex after negotiating the price of $4 with her for a “short-time”, before they proceeded to the latter’s lodgings situated along Fort Street, between Second and Third Avenues to have sexual intercourse.

At her lodgings, which she shared with other women, it was reportedly busy on the day in question as her roommates had also taken in other men for sex.

It is alleged that while Hove and Sibanda were enjoying sex, Hove started complaining that he was unable to climax owing to the presence of the people in the house.
He then suggested that the sexual act be completed in his car which was parked outside.

Following his suggestion they then proceeded to his car and upon arrival Hove asked Sibanda to unlock it from the passenger’s side claiming it could not be opened from the driver’s side.

While inside ,Sibanda is alleged to have locked herself and stole her client’s money amounting to $2 000 which was in the cabin.

It is reported that Sibanda knew that there was money in the cabin after she had sight of it when Hove paid her the $4 for her services.

After stealing the money, Sibanda is alleged to have disappeared to her room and nothing was recovered upon her arrest.

In her defence, Sibanda through her lawyer said she did not steal the complainant’s money and indicated that Hove was the one who wanted to kidnap her after freely enjoying her services.

The State was being represented by Taurai Hondoyemoto. – B Metro

Correspondent|KIRSTY Leigh Coventry, the Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation is calling upon Zimbabwean youths to fill in the questionnaire attached below.

Five selected youths who would have filled im the form will be invited to have lunch/dinner with her for further discussions.

In a statement accompanying the questionnaire, the Olympic medalist says: “The objective of this survey is to be able to understand what we can do to help young people in Zimbabwe, ages 15-35. This is a critical step to understand what is important to you so your voice can be heard.

“Please kindly help those who do not have access to the internet or data.

“Thank you for participating in this survey. This is entirely voluntary and by submitting this form you agree that all the information can be used for review, sharing and publication – your personal details will remain anonymous.

“Not everyone has access to the internet so please help those who do not so this becomes a truly inclusive questionnaire.”

The closing date for submission is 10 December 2018.

Find the form on the link below:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeUb5pi76bLpK1v5HBAwx8ef04cTWmalullN7d672GFo5FHgQ/viewform

Own Correspondent|PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa today broke ground for the building of a new parliament building complex. The building, which is to be located in Mt. Hampden on farmland north-west of the capital, Harare, will have a total floor area of 33,000 square metres.

According to the Ministry of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services, the New Parliament Building is a China-aid project and a donation to the country.

The site of the new Parliament Building is located on Prayer Hill in the North West of Harare. The project includes the
Parliament Office Building, Congress Hall, a square and roads.

Speaking at the ground breaking ceremony today, President Mnangagwa promised that under the new dispensation, Zimbabwe will meet its obligations to international financial institutions.

Vice President Constantino Chiwenga said China helped Zimbabwe during the liberation struggle and now it helps Zimbabwe to house its democracy.

“The old Parliament building was intended to house a minority whose version of democracy was not inclusive and only served the interests of a few,” he said.

Vice President Kembo Mohadi saidthe new Parliament Building project marks the start of a new settlement, a modern city.

Speaking on behalf of all Parliamentarians, Senate President, Hon Mabel Chinomona highlighted the challenges faced by legislators and other stakeholders at the current parliament building.

She said: “The current Parliament building was intended for 100 legislators, but now it has to hold over 300 representatives.”

In his speech at the ceremony, the Acting Chinese Ambassador, His Excellency Zhao Baogang said that the New Parliament Building project is the largest project aided by the Chinese Government in Southern Africa.

The project’s total completion period is expected to be in 32 months, the envoy said.

When completed it will replace the current parliament building, built in the colonial era, which the government has said is too small to house its more than 200 lawmakers.

The government has released US$60 million this Friday towards the immediate procuring of fuel as the situation remains precarious in the face of the unavailability of the precious commodity which has been in short supply in the past few days.

The unavailability of fuel has seen the emergency of unscrupulous and illegal fuel dealers who are now charging $15 for five litres of petrol and $12 for five litres of diesel.

-State Media

Correspondent|GOVERNMENT is currently looking for land to relocate the over 140 families in Masomera, to pave way for the construction of Causeway Dam about 30km outside Marondera.

Mashonaland East Provincial Affairs minister Aplonia Munzverengi yesterday said the dam project had been stalled by lack of alternative land to resettle the affected families.

“The predicament we are facing is of land. We have 146 families who need to be relocated to pave way for the construction of Causeway Dam. The project was supposed to have been completed by March next year, but has since been stalled because of that. We need land for the affected families,” she said.

Causeway Dam is being constructed along Macheke River and is meant to supply water to Marondera University of Agricultural Science and Technology (MUAST) and neighbouring farms.

About $5 million was set aside for construction of the dam in 2017.

Marondera East legislator Patrick Chidhakwa confirmed that some villagers would have to be relocated.

“I haven’t been on the ground of late, but I hear it (relocation) will be next year. Those affected have been allowed to farm this year. The process will be done smoothly to reduce inconveniences,” he said.

The construction of Causeway Dam is among other government-funded dam projects that include Mutange Dam in Gokwe ($2m), Gwayi-Shangani in Matabeleland North ($3,7m) and Marovanyati in Buhera ($8m).

In 2014, government relocated about 3 000 families to Nuanetsi Ranch in Mwenezi to pave way for the construction of Tugwi-Mukosi Dam.

According to government, 6 000 more villagers should be evicted from the Tugwi-Mukosi area to pave way for the establishment of a mooted town.

The Infrastructural Development Bank of Zimbabwe who are sponsoring the dam’s master plan to the tune of $800 000, said there would be an urban settlement around the big water body that would see the construction of hotels, resorts, schools, churches and a 25 000-hectare irrigation scheme.

NewsDay

SUSPECTED State security agents last week allegedly stopped the holding of a peace-building and reconciliation meeting scheduled for Ntabemnyama area in Esigodini, Umzingwane, in Matabeleland South under unclear circumstances.

The event, organised by the community with support from the United States-based Compassionate Justice International (CJI) independent organisation, was also meant to mark the 31st anniversary of the killing of 16 people, most of them missionaries and their children, by alleged dissidents in the area in the mid-1980s.

Anti-government rebels on November 25, 1987 reportedly killed the victims at New Adam’s Farm — run by the Pentecostal Community of Reconciliation.

A peace-building and reconciliation meeting was supposed to be held on Sunday in the Ntabemnyama area, but the event had to be called off allegedly on orders of State security agents and some unnamed politicians, Southern Eye was told.

CJI executive director Bob Scott and Zimbabwe Christian Alliance (ZCA) leader Useni Sibanda leader confirmed the developments yesterday.

“We intended to do it on Sunday, but they shut us down. I still do not know why. That is absurd. I mean, you have a whole population of people suffering from post-traumatic disorders, who have survived the most painful experiences that any human being could go through and you are telling them you cannot heal,” Scott said.

His organisation focuses on the plight of the oppressed poor, and balancing the scales of justice on their behalf.

“We have to get to the bottom of this because we need space. The government cannot do this (peace and reconciliation), they don’t have the skills set to do that, but what they can do is to give us space to do it. If I listen to the words of the President (Emmerson Mnangagwa), he is speaking of reconciliation and I believe it must be demonstrated on the ground by allowing freedoms to conduct peace-building meetings,” he said.

Joice Dube, one of the organisers of the meeting, also confirmed the development.

“We have to sit down as a community to iron out any issues that could have resulted in the abandonment of the meeting,” she said.

Umzingwane legislator Levi Mayihlome who was reportedly expected to grace the event was unavailable for comment.

NewsDay

A LOCAL clearing company, Morris and Charts Enterprises (Pvt) Ltd, has taken the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) to court after the tax agency allegedly suspended the firm’s account on allegations of improper conduct.

According to the court papers, the clearing agent, which is based in Mutare and conducts its business at Forbes Border Post, is alleged to have cleared petrol which was in transit to Zambia sometime in July 2017, but the commodity was never acquitted as having left the country.

This led to Zimra officials suspending the firm. The agent appealed against the suspension, arguing it had not been accorded the chance to prove its case, but the tax body stood its ground, prompting the court action.

Through its managing director, Morrison Rundogo, Morris and Charts Enterprises filed a court application seeking review of the matter, arguing Zimra officials had failed to properly handle the matter despite proof the said fuel was cleared at Chirundu Border Post.

“The current application for review is being made on the grounds that the first and second respondents (Zimra commissioner-general Faith Mazanhi and Zimra) violated section 3(1) (a) and 3(2) of the Administrative Justice Act, in that they failed to act lawfully, reasonably and in a fair manner,” he said.

“They failed to give applicant (Morris and Charts Enterprises) adequate notice of the nature and purpose of the proposed action, a reasonable opportunity to make adequate representation and adequate notice of any right of review or appeal where applicable. The respondent’s decision is ultra vires section 98E (5) of the Customs and Excise Act.”

Rundogo said the incident leading to the current litigation occurred on August 7, 2017 when Zimra’s shift manager at Forbes Border Post unilaterally and without notice, summarily suspended his firm’s agency account.

“The allegations contained in the letter were to the effect that the applicant had processed a bill of entry, S13510, for petrol in transit and that the applicant had contravened the law as the fuel was consumed in Zimbabwe. In the same letter, the applicant’s account was again suspended with immediate effect,” Rundogo said.

He added that his firm then appealed Zimra’s decision and also highlighted that the tax body had cited a non-existent section of the Customs and Excise Act, and also that it was entitled to a notice of the proposed action as well as reasonable opportunity to respond and make representations.

“On February 3, 2018, the Commissioner Customs and Excise then wrote to the applicant dismissing our appeal…the Commissioner-General (then) in his decision admitted that validation and acquittals were properly done, but, however, insist that the goods that were cleared did not exit Zimbabwe. The first and second respondents alleged the goods did not exit Zimbabwean borders without the proof to back their allegations,” he said.

The matter is pending.

NewsDay

The call by President Emmerson Mnangagwa to intensify the anti-graft crusade seem to be facing obstacles as the National Prosecution Authority (NPA) has proved to be incapacitated and has scant resources to deliver its mandate, the Mail and Telegraph has learnt.

Among a cocktail of abnormalities, the NPA is facing eviction from their head office following the acquisition of the building by Zimbabwe Open University, a senior official has revealed.

The offices are located at Corner House in the capital.

Appearing before a parliamentary portfolio committee on Justice and Legal Affairs on Wednesday, NPA director Solomon Siziva  said the purchase of the building by ZOU was being facilitated by Treasury.

“Let me advise and request this respected committee that the NPA was issued an eviction order to vacate Corner house as from September 2018.

“The building was sold to Zimbabwe Open University by Old Mutual. The purchase is being facilitated by treasury.

“How can an organisation without a head office building, no vehicles for prosecutors to attend circuit courts, no offices to carry out paperwork and finally no computers to type court work perform,” he questioned.

He said the his institution had also approached  Treasury with a request to be assisted in buying the same property but ‘kisses’ went to ZOU and Treasury favoured them ahead of NPA.

Siziva revealed that they owed Old Mutual a total of $638 000 in rental arreas as  they had not paid a single dollar from 2015.

“NPA Head Office is on rented office accommodation from Old Mutual Properties. The NPA was since served with an eviction notice which expired on September 30 2018. We have an outstanding debt amounting to $368 000, the 2018 allocation was not enough to extinguish the debt,” he said

He said this was crippling the operations leading to dockets missing since they had no offices at the courts.

“Without offices, prosecutors cannot meet clients in private, the issue of security   is very serious sometimes dockets go missing because of lack of offices. JSC will say this is our court, we run the courts,” Siziva said.

Siziva said NPA and JSC ware equal but JSC was getting a bigger budget allocation than them.

“The NPA and the JSC are equal in the delivery of justice. The other partner is better resourced than the other (NPA). Even when it comes to the budget the NPA always get half of what its partner gets, for example the 2019 budget (JSC  $26 million and NPA $8.4 million).

“Ladies and gentleman how will the NPA play its part in achieving the President’s vision through the prosecution of crime if not capacitated, JSC was given triple allocation of NPA.

“As the NPA, we appeal to this committee to convince treasury to consider our plight.

“We need capacitation in order to perform, we are unable to chase after development partners like  other departments.

“Our position is unique , we have to safeguard our independence as outlined in the constitution so that we are not conflicted. It is our hope that our position will be clearly articulated,” he lamented.

The incapacitation of NPA is likely to affect the execution of criminal prosecutions.

The body is responsible for instituting and undertaking criminal prosecutions on behalf of the State, promoting a just and fair system for all persons approaching the courts and protecting the rights of the arrested and detained persons as provided for by the Constitution.

If the body is not allocated with adequate resources it will find it hard to execute its mandate thereby militating the call by President Emmerson  Mnangagwa to intensify the anti-graft crusade.

-Mail and Telegraph

Flamboyant businessman Genius Kadungure who is popularly known as Ginimbi is now a free man.

Kadungure was found not guilty in a matter in which he was accused of having duped ZANU PF legislator, Dexter Nduna and Kadoma businessmen Enock and Avon Gatatwa of more than $1 million in a botched mining equipment supply deal.

Harare magistrate Morgan Nemadire ruled that there is nothing linking the flamboyant socialite to the alleged offence and the State failed to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt.

“At law essential elements of fraud is that misrepresentation is made in order to deceive and deprive resulting in prejudice or loss of money to the victim but in this case no deceiving and no prejudice was suffered by the victims pointing to the accused person.

“In fact the prosecution appears to be a failed fish which the state undertook some fishing expeditions when they hauled the accused person and his former co-accused person to court thinking that they will convict themselves in the way,” said the magistrate.

“In this case the person who did the transactions and misrepresented the victims is invisible with the name of one Mukonori and the money just vanished from the complainant’s bank account.

“Evidence presented before this case established the following facts, that the accused never talked to the complainant prior to the commission of the offence, he never made any misrepresentation,” said Nemadire.

“The accused was not involved in any of the rings in the cyber crime and there is no rational connection between him and the complainants and state’s case is like a fishing expedition,” ruled the magistrate before he acquitted Kadungure.

Kadungure landed in the dock after he allegedly influenced two Kadoma siblings Ivon and Enock Gatawa to enter into a mining equipment deal, pretending to be an official from Marange diamonds.

The Gatawa’s fell prey and deposited money into their South African bank account to purchase the required goods through a company allegedly owned by Kadungure.

The company did not buy any equipment but instead delivered four cellphone chargers.

It was alleged that the stolen money was traced back to Kadungure who had used the money to purchase gas.

Kadungure then engaged the Gatawas and paid back some of the money.

The businessman proved that he acted in such a way to avoid bad publicity.

“Haste actions by the accused does not conclude that he committed the offence.

“It is possible that the accused felt bad about unknowingly purchasing gas using stolen money. That sounds possible,” the court ruled.

The magistrate also said it was possible that fraudsters could have manipulated an opportunity that Kadungure  was a frequent buyer in South Africa since it was not his email address which was used to mislead the complainants.

Kadungure was acquitted after a full trial.

His accomplice Wicknell Chivayo also walked out of court a free man at the close of the State case.

Court ruled that nothing linked him to the offence and there was no mention of his involvement by the complainants.

Ephraim Zinyandu appeared for the state.

-Mail and Telegraph

Terrence Mawawa|Winston Chitando is not fit to be a Minister, business and Information Technology expert Ms Miriam Mutizwa has said.

Ms Mutizwa, of late has been digging deeper into the facts and circumstances of the SMM Holdings Limited (SMM) saga and she is now convinced that from what she has been able to establish so far, the inescapable conclusion that she has reached is that Hon Chitando is a liar, and, therefore, not fit to be a Minister or part of an orchestrated scheme to deliberately keeping the truth away from the public.

“Initially, I was tempted to believe that the SMM saga was limited to a dispute, albeit personal, between the then former Minister of Justice, Hon Chinamasa, and the ultimate shareholder of SMM, Mr. Mutumwa Mawere.

However, the more I attempted to establish a simple fact relating to the status of SMM, the more it is becoming clearer that there is something amiss in this whole saga and the truth is clearly the victim. According to Hon. Chitando, SMM is owed by the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) and, therefore, it can no longer be a company under reconstruction.

However, in terms of a finding by Mangota J in a dispute that Mr. Mawere had applied to Court seeking a declaratory order that SMM was a reconstructed company pursuant to the averments made by Hon Chitando’s predecessor, Hon Walter Chidhakwa, in both the House of Parliament and the Senate, to the effect that SMM was in truth and fact, a subsidiary of ZMDC, the Learned Judge ruled that SMM is a company still under reconstruction as set out more fully below,” said Ms. Mutizwa.

“It is clear from the above that according to the Learned Judge, SMM’s status remains as it was established by the then Minister of Justice through the Government Gazette of 6 September 2004.

This finding precludes the existence of an alternative narrative that is now been peddled by Hon. Chitando as fact.

In terms of Mangota J’s ruling, the only way SMM’s pre-reconstruction shareholding can be altered or amended is when the provisions of s 35 of the Reconstruction of State Indebted Insolvent Companies Act 2005 (the Act) have been commenced and completed.

In the premises, it was the Learned Judge’s view that Minister of Mines has no jurisdiction, whatsoever in SMM matters as the correct Minister who should have been cited as a respondent is the Minister of Justice.

I cannot, therefore, find any legal and constitutional basis on which Hon. Chitando derives his purported legal authority in respect of SMM.

The crux of Hon. Chitando’s submission to the Court in 2014 or 10 years after the placement of SMM under the control of the Administrator appointed by the Minister of Mines was that the Applicants, including Mr. Mawere, had cited him incorrectly he had no legal jurisdiction over SMM at all.

Against the above backdrop, it is incredulous that the Minister of Finance, Professor Mthuli Ncube, in his 2019 budget speech boldly referred to SMM as a subsidiary of ZMDC. This can only mean one thing that both Hon Chitando and Ncube are contemptuous of Mangote’s finding to the effect that SMM is a company under reconstruction.

If my reading is correct that the ownership status of SMM has not changed from its pre-reconstruction era, then surely Hon. Chitando falsely and wittingly misled both the Parliament and the public on this issue and, therefore, he is putting President Mnangagwa’s administration into serious disrepute,” observed Ms. Mutizwa.

Below is an extract of an exchange between Hon Chitando and the former Chairman of the Portfolio Committee on Mines and Mining Development, Dr. Daniel Shumba, in parliament:

The above statements were made on 11 January 2018 in Parliament. In addition, an extract of an interview that Hon. Chitando had with a journalist at Shabanie Mine in April is presented below:Mr Stanley Dube, the Station Manager of the www.the1873fm.com radio had this to say: “Here the Minister in his own words speaks on behalf of SMM contrary to the position that his predecessor held that he had no authority to represent or act on behalf of a company that he accepted was still under the jurisdiction of the Minister of Mines.

He talks of restoring SMM to its former glory. However, in response to the journalist’s question about the ownership issue, Hon Chitando states as true and fact that: “The ownership issues of SMM are very clear. SMM is part of ZMDC. It is owned by ZMDC. There have been a number of legal processes which have all been completed and indicate that SMM is part of ZMDC. The shares are held by ZMDC.”

However, when confronted with the question of the shares purportedly allotted to a company called SMMH (UK) that allegedly now holds only 26% of the SMM’s issued share capital, he then grudgingly conceded that there is another shareholder.”

Terrence Mawawa|Yesterday was an important day that saw thousands of Zimbabweans led by the MDC Alliance marching in Harare calling for the establishment of a National Transitional Authority (NTA) to steer the country back to legitimacy, however, Ms. Miriam Mutizwa, an activist believes in pushing for the restoration of the rule of law in her motherland and she asks whether it is time for the NTA or for the Rule of Rule to reign supreme?

A petition was presented to the Speaker of Parliament, Hon Jacob Mudenda, and was copied to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Chairperson, H.E. Hage Geingob of Namibia, the African Union Chairperson (AU) Paul Kagame and President Mnangagwa in his capacity as the President of ZANU-PF.

Mr. Elvis Mugari, the Founder and President of the Combined Restitution Association for Zimbabwean Youths, said that: “It is ironic that the petition is premised on an allegation that President Mnangagwa is not legitimate notwithstanding the fact that all legal and constitutional remedies were exhausted before he took the oath of office.

The 2018 elections are over yet the driving force behind the demonstration seems to be premised on an injury that should have been cured by the Constitutional Court’s ruling.

It is not a secret that the outcome of the 2018 elections does not seat well with many of us. However, being a member of the Friends of SMM (FOSMM) has opened my eyes that instead of focusing on pathways to political office, an urgent investment needs to be made that focuses on active citizenship and the promotion, protection and upholding the rule of law.

I have noted that the constitutional immorality that was characteristic of the First Republic is very much alive in the Second Republic.

The real test of legitimacy has necessarily to be founded on the rule of law test. If we can establish as we have now done that the constitutional mischief is pervasive, then surely any rational President would soon know that he is not fit for purpose.

At this stage, we have managed to expose the fact that the Attorney General, Mr. Prince Machaya, is not the correct person to discharge the duties prescribed in the Constitution.

The mere fact that he would have no problem in publicly pronouncing that a law that divests shareholders and directors of their rights and freedoms is constitutionally sound and get away with this rubbish, suggests that we need to put our eyes on the right price rather than seeking to reverse the clock that has already seen a President being inaugurated.”

Ms. Mutizwa echoed Mr. Mugari’s sentiments by saying: “I also noted that the petition was also directed to SADC and the AU, both institutions that have already recognized the legitimacy of President Mnangagwa. It would be futile to assert an argument that has already been overtaken by events.

We need to subject President Mnangagwa and his administration to the constitutionalism and rule of law tests not because we dispute his legitimacy based on the electoral results but we have serious, legitimate and grave concerns about his attitude in respect of the supremacy of the constitution.

As citizens, we have often deferred to political actors to look after our interests but the reality is that many of them are in politics for egotistic reasons.

Indeed we all many not agree with MSNBC anchor, Chris Matthews, who said that contemporary Zimbabwe resembles a “tribal” form of politics where all the opposition does is say that people who win elections are crooked, that everything’s rigged, everything — nothing’s on the level, there’s no such thing as objective truth, everything is tribal, our side is always right, your side’s always wrong,” but the reality of confirms some truths in this.

It would be great to have the same people who challenge legitimacy of the President to join us in the struggle to protect the rule of law that seems to be the greatest victim of all.

From what I now know, I am gravely concerned that as long as we seek to play the man, we all will suffer because a game of musical chairs will never cure the problem.

I am reminded by someone who said that the absence of the rule of law, will always be poverty, unemployment and inequality.

History of human civilization has shown that no person, however, gifted in thought and deed, will ever deliver the change that we have been waiting for the last 38 years.

We have to wake up to the fact that change that we seek has to start with the provocation of anger at the individual citizen level and not by changing the people in statehouses.”

Own Correspondent|THE wife of a missing retired member of the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) on Wednesday withdrew an application she filed early this week seeking an order compelling Zimbabwean authorities to account for the whereabouts of her husband after he managed to escape from his assailants.

Piki’s wife Sibongile Sarukato had on Monday filed an urgent habeas corpus application on behalf of her husband Retired Lieutenant Colonel Elliot Piki seeking an order compelling the State to do all things necessary to determine his whereabouts after he was abducted by some unknown assailants on Sunday.

Sarukato, who was represented by Jeremiah Bamu and Obey Shava of Mbidzo Muchadehama and Makoni Legal Practitioners, who are members of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), asked the High Court to order the setting up of a team of investigators, to work closely and in conjunction with lawyers appointed by ZLHR to search for Retired Lieutenant Colonel Piki at all places within Zimbabwe as may be reasonably practical, and report on such search to the Registrar of the High Court, on every alternate Friday.

She also wanted the respondents, who included Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Minister, Defence and War Veterans Minister, State Security Minister, Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) Commissioner-General and the Director-General of the Central Intelligence Organisation to be ordered to inquire from, and where necessary obtain any such information as may be necessary for the investigations from mobile service operators to try and locate Retired Lieutenant Colonel Piki through tracing the mobile numbers that were on his person at the time of his abduction as may be provided by his family.

But on Wednesday, Sarukato withdrew the application which had been set to be heard by High Court Judge Justice Sylvia Chirawu as the remedy that she was seeking had since been overtaken by events after Piki managed to escape from his abductors somewhere around Mazowe area, Mashonaland Central province and returned to safety.

Soon after his return to Harare on Tuesday, Piki sought audience with the Commission of Inquiry to go ahead with giving his testimony. However, his request was declined with the officers of the Kgalema Mothlanthe-led probe team indicating that they had completed hearing evidence from all witnesses.

Source: ZLHR

Businessman Genius Kadungure (pictured) has been acquitted after a full trial over an alleged R1.5 million swindle.

Prosecutors had failed to prove their charge of fraud, magistrate Morgen Nemadire ruled on Friday.

Nightclub owner Kadungure had originally been charged with tender businessman Wicknell Chivayo, who was acquitted in the middle of the trial for lack of evidence linking him to the crime.

Nemadire, dismissing the charges, said Kadungure had never directly talked to the two complainants, Chegutu West MP Dexter Nduna and Evon Gatawa, a miner from Kadoma.

“The victims did not act on any misrepresentation by the accused person. The misrepresentation was made by this C. Mukonori of Marange Diamonds. Kadungure was not involved in any of the rings forming this cyber-crime. Evidence is such in a way that the accused is not in any way connected to the offence,” Nemadire said, reading his judgment.

It was the prosecution’s case that sometime in November 2012, Chivayo and Kadungure connived and created a fictitious company called Transco Civil Engineering (Transco) renting computing space at Hetzner (Pvt) Ltd in South Africa. They opened an ABSA bank account in the name of the company.

They allegedly opened an email account [email protected] purporting to be from the procurement of Marange Diamonds, a diamond mining company.

Chivayo and Kadungure, acting in connivance, then allegedly contacted Gatawa, the managing director of Even Mine and Milling Centre in Kadoma and misrepresented that they were buyers at Marange Diamonds – an actual diamond mining company – and were looking for mining pumps.

They allegedly gave Gatawa an order to supply 10 T-90 Transco-Flo Helical Rotor pumps and referred him to Transco, knowing that it was a fictitious company created to carry out a scam.

Gatawa then sent his younger brother, Enock, to deposit R446,900 into the ABSA account on December 4, 2012. A further R600,000 was deposited later the same day in two instalments.

After transferring the money, Gatawa contacted Transco and was told to return to Zimbabwe and wait for delivery of the pumps from DHL within three days. Gatawa got a parcel that had cellphone chargers instead and realised that they had been swindled.

Kadungure, the court heard, used R500,000 to buy gas from Reatile Gas in South Africa and another R500,000 was transferred to Edward Teka’s bank account. Teka, said prosecutors, stated that the money was later withdrawn and handed over to Chivayo and Kadungure.

The total prejudice to Gatawa was R1,046,890.

The two men faced a second count of defrauding Chegutu West MP Dexter Nduna of R535,000 using the same modus operandi.

Magistrate Nemadire said it had been proven that Kadungure received R500,000 of the swindled amount – but he was satisfied that the 34-year-old had no idea it was the proceeds of crime.

The trial heard that Kadungure had paid back $50,000 to Gatawa – but his lawyer argued this was only to protect his reputation after he was linked to fraud. Kadungure had borrowed money from Chivayo and it was the latter who sent him the dirty money, his lawyers argued.

“It is possible that the accused felt bad about using money which belonged to another person to purchase gas and decided to pay back. That sounds possible,” the magistrate said.

“It is possible he was concerned about protecting his reputation by engaging Gatawa and paying back. This court can’t say the State proved its case beyond reasonable doubt. Its case was a fishing expedition. To call the accused a fraudster is next to zero,” Nemadire added.

Kadungure and Chivayo face unrelated legal woes of fraud and money laundering.

THE Commission of Inquiry into the post-election violence of August 1 that claimed six lives in Harare will have its report, public by tomorrow.

John Masuku, the commission spokesperson, confirmed the development, saying copies of the full report had gone for printing and would be presented to Mnangagwa and the public tomorrow.

“Today, the commission presented to the President what we call an executive summary, while the complete report will be presented this Saturday,” Masuku said.

“In short, what I am saying is that, yes, the report is complete, but we have sent it to government printers for printing and binding, and it shall be presented to the President and public this Saturday.”

The commission, which is chaired by former South African President Kgalema Motlanthe, began the hearings in Harare on October 16 and heard testimonies from security officials, including the Zimbabwe Defence Forces commander, Valerio Sibanda; the Presidential Guard and National Reaction Force tactical commander Brigadier-General Anselem Nhamo Sanyatwe; Police Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga and Officer Commanding Harare province, Chief Superintendent Albert Ncube.

Among political figures, opposition leader Nelson Chamisa testified on Monday, along with the MDC deputy national chairperson Tendai Biti, while former Home Affairs minister and Zanu PF secretary for administration Obert Mpofu testified on the final day.

Former Zanu PF Harare provincial youth leader Jim Kunaka testified last week. The committee also heard testimonies in Bulawayo, Mutare and Gweru.

The commission completed its work in under two months, despite being given a three-month deadline to conduct public hearings and report back to Mnangagwa, who set up the seven-member commission at the end of August.

Mnangagwa and his deputy Constantino Chiwenga, whose names repeatedly surfaced in the hearings as the principals who ordered soldiers who allegedly killed the six civilians to quell the protests, were not summoned to testify.

Mpofu, in his submissions, claimed Mnangagwa authorised the deployment of soldiers to help the police which he claimed had been overpowered by the protesters. He claimed there was correspondence to the effect and theorised that unknown elements had posted snipers on the roof to shoot at civilians as part of a smear campaign against government.

In his testimony, Matanga also claimed he had a letter of authority from Mnangagwa to use the military.

However, Chief Superintendent Ncube said members of the military were deployed illegally and violated provisions of the Public Order and Security Act (Posa).

He said although he was the one who had requested for reinforcements, he only got to know that his request had been granted when he heard gunshots in Harare’s central business district.

“I did not know that soldiers were in town by the time they were deployed. I only heard gunshots and on asking my officers on the ground, I then learnt that soldiers were on the ground and that they were shooting,” he said.

Under Posa, any member of the army deployed upon police request was supposed to report to police commanders first and operate under their orders, but this did not happen in this case, and he was unaware of who was commanding the troops.

Sanyatwe told the commission that the soldiers were taking orders from him, in violation of the law.

Chamisa asked the commission to focus its energy on who had deployed the soldiers, who he claimed were behind the shootings, supporting his arguments by video footage.

Biti called into question the credibility of some of the commissioners and queried Mnangagwa’s moral right to appoint the commission.

Kunaka also questioned the presence of Charity Manyeruke, a known Zanu PF official who he claimed was previously behind some of the violence against opposition figures.

This is not the first time the government has appointed a commission of inquiry. The Chihambakwe Commission of Inquiry was set by government as a truth commission to investigate the disturbances that rocked the Matabeleland and Midlands regions between 1983 and 1984.

The disturbances, now known as Gukurahundi, claimed about 20 000 people after then Prime Minister Robert Mugabe deployed the North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade to quash an insurgency. However, the report from the enquiry was never made public.

-Newsday

Intertoll Zimbabwe, a company contracted to collect toll fees on behalf of the Zimbabwe National Road Administration (Zinara) from the nine tollgates it operates on the rehabilitated Plumtree-Mutare highway, transferred more than 72 employees in the past two months, in a move aimed at curbing illicit activities.

Intertoll Zimbabwe is the local unit of Intertoll Africa, a subsidiary of South African engineering firm, Group Five.

Group Five rehabilitated the 800km highway under a $206 million loan from the Development Bank of South Africa.

Sources confirmed the development and said some of the employees were not happy with the transfers and were alleging that they were being forced to stay in hotels with the bills being charged on Zinara’s account.

One of the employees, who preferred anonymity, who was recently transferred alleged that the process required them to stay in hotels before they found their own accommodation.

“The process requires employees to stay in hotels during the relocation period,” said the employee.

“According to the Group Five transfer policy, employees and their spouses are entitled to three nights in a hotel in order to have a look at their new stations, four nights for the purpose of looking for accommodation and seven nights with their whole families on actual relocation.

“Transport cost for relocation is also met by the employer.

“About 72 employees were transferred in the last two months and it cost about $500 000 for hotel bills, another $500 000 in relocation allowances, $350 000 for travel and subsistence allowances and $70 000 to move properties by Stuttafords Removals. The total cost plus two percent was charged to Zinara.”

Another employee who was transferred from Rusape to Kadoma alleged that he was booked at a lodge in Kadoma with his family.

Some of the workers complained that the whole process was frustrating since there was nothing new to learn at places they were being transferred to.

“Some of my colleagues had to move with their school-going children because they cannot leave them alone and they could not be enrolled at some of the schools,” the employee said.

“The company refused to meet the costs of uniforms and school fees saying that they had given us relocation allowances.”

The employees said they had been trying to air their grievances to the company’s senior officials, but to no avail.

In 2016, legislators heard that the entire staff complement of about 25 people manning a toll plaza in Mutare were suspended for stealing toll fees, in a scam that could have been happening at other toll sites.

Last year, Intertoll Zimbabwe had collected $56 million from the nine tollgates it operates on the rehabilitated Plumtree-Mutare Highway on behalf of Zinara over the past four years.

State Media

A Mutoko prosecutor is being sued for adultery after having a child with a married businessman.

Ms Violet Gandashanga, a prosecutor at Mutoko Magistrates’ Court, was last week slapped with a $30 000 adultery suit by the businessman’s wife.

She allegedly had an affair with Mutoko businessman Mr Leonard Gorejena despite the man being in a civil marriage with Ms Rejoice Dzimwasha.

Ms Dzimwasha, through Mugiya & Macharaga Law Chambers, issued summons for adultery against Ms Gandashanga, claiming damages amounting to $30 000 plus interest.

She is also seeking an order for costs of the suit. Mr Gorejena and Ms Dzimwasha, according to the summons, married under the Marriages Act, Chapter 5:11 in 2011.

Ms Gandashanga is said to have had an adulterous affair with Mr Gorejena in the face of a valid civil marriage.

“She started to engage into sexual intercourse with the plaintiff’s husband sometime in March 2017 that led to marital problems between plaintiff and her husband, the consequences of which plaintiff separated with her husband from April 2017 to June 2018,” reads the plaintiff’s declaration.

Ms Dzimwasha stated in her papers the adulterous relationship resulted in the birth of an “illegitimate child”.

It was also stated in the papers that Ms Gandashanga moved into the couple’s matrimonial house with the businessman after the separation.

“Defendant, who is a police officer and a public prosecutor, was aware that plaintiff was married to Leonard Gorejena and was confronted by the plaintiff to stop the adulterous relationship but persisted in her conduct and did not relent,” reads the declaration.

To that end, Ms Dzimwasha is seeking an order for costs on a higher scale.

Ms Dzimwasha wants $15 000 for loss of contumelia as a result of injury, hurt and indignity she suffered.

She also wants another $15 000 for loss of comfort, support, love and affection from her husband at the hands of Ms Gandashanga.

Ms Gandashanga is yet to respond to the adultery claim.

State Media

LEGISLATORS on Tuesday expressed concern over Zesa subsidiary, Zesa Enterprises (Zent)’s failure to repair broken down electricity transformers or replace stolen ones, resulting in some areas going for years without electricity.

MPs raised the issue of vandalism of transformers and lack of replacements or repair when Energy ministry secretary Gloria Magombo appeared before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Energy to speak on the 2019 budgetary allocations to the ministry.

“Some funding has been allocated for transformers because we had about 1 600 transformers that had been vandalised, and currently, we are targeting that 4 000 should have been purchased by the end of the first quarter next year,” Magombo said.

“We have already gone to tender for an additional 2 000 transformers and Zent was going to manufacture the 2 000 transformers,” she said.

Magombo said Zent has the capacity to manufacture 450 transformers per month.

“While we are looking at installing 4 000 transformers, we actually need more than that because we are not looking at the needs for Zesa only, but rural electrification, farming and other communities that need transformers,” she said.

MPs alleged transformers were vandalised or stolen by people with the technical knowhow to dislodge them, particularly Zesa technicians, adding that the Energy ministry was not doing enough to protect its infrastructure like mobile operators whose security was tight.

“We train electricians, but unfortunately, some of them are criminals. We have to ensure there are stiffer penalties for vandalism of infrastructure which is 10 years by putting alarm systems. What we need to deal with is the mindset of our people that they cannot steal a transformer to sell it for $200 when it costs $10 000 to replace,” Magombo said.

She said foreign currency challenges hindered Zent from procuring materials to assemble transformers, but they had the capacity to manufacture them and even export to countries like Mozambique.

NewsDay

GOVERNMENT has abandoned talks with Chinese contractor Anhui Foreign Economic Construction Group Limited (AFECC) for the dualisation of the Beitbridge-Harare-Chirundu Highway, opting for local financing.

AFECC – the second highest bidder when the tender was floated in 2016 – was awarded the contract after government in April terminated its earlier agreement with Austrian firm Geiger International for the dualisation of the road over failure to provide proof of funding and delay in project implementation.

But according to the 2019 infrastructure investment plan, approved on November 22, the road, whose upgrade has been in the works for more than two decades, would now be financed through local resources.

“The total cost of implementing the project is estimated at $1,2 billion, to be funded through mobilisation of resources from issuance of an infrastructure bond guaranteed by government. Zinara (Zimbabwe National Road Administration) revenue streams and fiscal resources would be used to liquidate the bond on maturity,” the plan, drafted by the Finance ministry, read.

In 2019, government targets to mobilise $300 million through issuance of bonds, with Zinara also pouring funds into the road project.

“During 2019, an amount of $300 million will be disbursed to the project, comprising of $50 million in fiscal resources and $250 million proceeds raised through Zinara infrastructure bond,” part of the plan read.

The Beitbridge-Harare-Chirundu Highway facilitates regional trade and the movement of millions of people between Southern Africa and Central, East and North Africa, but the country has, however, failed to repair and upgrade most of its roads whose life-span dates back to the Rhodesian era.

A 2001 Southern African Development Community assessment of the road infrastructure in the region showed that a third of Zimbabwe’s road network was in a parlous state.

The Beitbridge-Chirundu Highway was singled out as one of the roads that urgently needed rehabilitation because of the key role it plays in the region.

However, Zimbabwe has neither carried out any major rehabilitation of the road nor dualised it, despite many public pronouncements and ground-breaking ceremonies.

The tender to dualise the highway, which has been on the drawing board for the past 16 years, was initially awarded in 2002 to ZimHighways — a consortium of local companies — but the company failed to implement the project for over a decade after hyperinflation rendered the local currency worthless.

When government cancelled the deal, the contractor sought recourse at the High Court before dropping the legal battle in 2013, paving way for the Geiger deal, which was finalised in 2016 after talks that dragged on for over four years.

The Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) in 2013, which funded the construction of the Plumtree-Bulawayo-Harare-Mutare Highway, was willing to release about $1,1 billion for the Beitbridge-Chirundu Highway upgrade, given its strategic importance, but the Zimbabwe government was unwilling to award the tender to Group Five.

A report compiled after DBSA’s integrated investment proposals corporate credit committee meeting held on October 13, 2010 shows that the bank felt Zimbabwe’s roads should be given priority as they would benefit southern Africa.

Meanwhile, the government has also opened talks with the Diaspora Infrastructure Development Group for fresh funding of $216 million towards the rehabilitation of rolling stock, track, signalling and information technology systems for the National Railways of Zimbabwe.

NewsDay

Correspondent|THE Dean of St Mary and All Saints’ Cathedral, Harare, in Zimbabwe, the Very Revd Dr Farai Mutamiri, has been named as the next Bishop of Harare, to succeed the Rt Revd Chad Gandiya.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Anglican diocese of Harare, in the Church of the Province of Central Africa (CPCA), announced in a post on Twitter: “It is Dr Farai Mutamiri, Bishop-Elect for Anglican Diocese of Harare! Congratulations!”

Bishop Gandiya has been in office since 2009. Now aged 65, he is due to retire, although his tenure could have been extended by the Archbishop of Central Africa, the Most Revd Albert Chama, for another three years.

Dr Mutamiri was one of two candidates put forward for election by the electoral college of six clergy and six laity, which was facilitated by the Vicar General, Fr Wilfred Kanyemba. The second was Zimbabwe-born Canon Lameck Mutete, who is Rector of Tattenhall with Burwardsley and Handley, in Chester diocese.

The announcement ends months of speculation about a successor to Bishop Gandiya. Precious Shumba, a journalist who runs the Harare CPCA Facebook and Twitter accounts, said: “A lot of clergymen have been attempting to marginalise and exclude Mutamiri from major activities. They fought him as a dean of the cathedral, and they came up with an age restriction of a minimum 55 years for bishops.”

Mr Shumba said that the canons specify only that a candidate should be at least 30 years old. “The idea was to exclude and disqualify Mutamiri from being considered for the position of bishop,” he said.

Two weeks ago, when meeting members of the Zimbabwean Council of Churches (ZCC), including Bishop Gandiya, the Speaker of the National Assembly, Advocate Jacob Mudenda, referred to the Harare Anglican succession process.

“I am aware that when a bishop is about to retire, there is some jostling of succession. In some instances, in a church which I shall not mention, they even forget the Bible and go to n’angas [traditional healers] in order to get that position.

“Leadership wrangle does not give a cohesive stature of the Church; and yet we, the commoners, would look to the Church as the social conscience of good leadership, good service to the people, servant leadership, humility where we do not fight for positions, but walk the path of servant leadership.”

The Harare diocese was a victim of the divisive narrative followed by President Mugabe and his supporters in the later years of his rule. It split the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe between the internationally recognised CPCA, led by Bishop Gandiya, and a breakaway organisation led by the pro-ZANU PF Nolbert Kunonga, then Bishop of Harare, who was elected in 2003 over Bishop Gandiya.

Kunonga seized church property and threatened violence against clergy belonging to the CPCA. He was stripped of his holy orders in 2008, and, in 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that his group must surrender all the property it had acquired.

Another official post on Twitter this week was: “Dr Mutamiri was with us when the rebel Dr Nolbert Kunonga tormented the Anglican Church.”

On Wednesday morning, Mr Shumba said: “The laity is largely satisfied that the will of God prevailed against the will of conniving men hiding behind human qualifications. The bishop belongs to all, and Anglicans have to rally and pray for the success of his ministry.”

Neither Dr Mutamiri nor Canon Mutete was available for comment.

Own Correspondent|Former Cabinet Minister and ZANU PF Political Commissar, Saviour Kasukuwere also known by his moniker Tyson has insisted that he has no criminal case to answer to.

He made an application at the Harare Magistrate’s court for exception of charges on the basis that the charges against him do not constitute a criminal offence as he was ‘clearly’ carrying out his duties as a public official when he gave out land to the Former First Lady’s sister.

However, magistrate Hosea Mujaha dismissed his application on Thursday on basis that the State was holding on to something and the matter will proceed to trial.

Kasukuwere who is facing four charges of criminal abuse of office had made the application through his lawyer Thembinkosi Magwaliba, indicating that there was no criminal offence in giving land to Shuvai Gumbochuma, Grace Mugabe’s sister as there is no clear cut procedure that should be followed when giving land. He said the charges do not have the essential elements to constitute a criminal offence.

“The accused person did not do anything contrary to his duty as a public officer and there is nothing, no reference in the charge sheet or state outline showing what the proper procedure is. The State itself does not know what this so called procedure they are charging the accused person for not following is and in that vain, we pray for an exception and whatever the state is going to do afterwards it is up to them.

“In the previous hearings, the State indicated that the document of the procedure that should be followed when giving land does not exist and yet they are saying the proper procedure is the centre of the charges against the accused person. If the charge sheet does not clearly outline the duties of a public officer, how then can we plead to them.”

Kasukuwere through his lawyer also indicated that he had the onus to issue out land since he was the minister in charge of land and there is no evidence to the effect that he showed any favor to Gumbochuma.

However, the prosecutor from the President’s special prosecuting unit, Zivanai Macharaga opposed to the application on the basis that Kasukuwere was just trying to escape trial.

“This is an unnecessary waste of the court’s time and that it is a way of trying to avoid trial. The accused is obviously admitting that there is a land allocation procedure but it was not only written in papers, which now makes it relevant and it will be central during trial.”

Kasukuwere is facing four charges of abuse of office emanating from the time he was Minister for Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment and that of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing.

In the first count, Kasukuwere is accused of flouting tender procedures when he awarded Brainworks Private Limited — owned by Mr George Manyere — a contract to do brokering services and financial advisory to the Government on indigenisation.

According to State papers, the appointment of Brainworks was inconsistent and contrary with the nature of his duties as a minister.

He is facing three counts of criminal abuse of office as a public officer during his tenure as a Cabinet minister.
He is facing three counts of criminal abuse of office as a public officer during his tenure as a Cabinet minister.

Own Correspondent|ZIMBABWE’S opposition Movement for Democratic Change has called for the establishment of a national transitional authority to steer the country back to legitimacy.

It made the demand in a petition which it said was handed over to the Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda on Thursday and was copied to the Southern African Development Community chairperson Hage Geingob of Namibia, the African Union Chairperson Paul Kagame and Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front leader Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Through in the petition the party said the country needed a transitional authority because its 30 July elections fell short of the minimum standards, all the people the petition was addressed to have accepted the elections as free, fair and credible and recognise Mnangagwa as the legitimate President of the country.

Mudenda kicked members of the opposition out of Parliament last week after they refused to rise when Mnangagwa walked into the House.

Defending his decision to expel the members, Mudenda said: “….. I think it was necessary that where Hon. members cannot respect the Head of State who is the head of everyone; the whole international community has accepted that His Excellency the President, Hon. E. D. Mnangagwa is the Head of State of Zimbabwe, so, no other person, including Hon. members, can be allowed to have a different view all together.”

Other demands that the party made included constitutional reform, demonetization of the bond note, ending Zimbabwe’s international isolation, scrapping of the two percent money transfer tax.

It also called for the liberalization of the exchange rate, something that does not seem to add up if the bond note is removed.

The petition was handed over after the demonstration more or less confirming aspersions made by ZANU-PF officials that the MDC is prepared to form a government of national unity.

Mnangagwa has rejected the idea of a government of national unity on several occasions but has said he is willing to talk to the opposition and is prepared to create the post of Leader of Opposition which will be paid by the State.

His spokesman George Charamba said a “key pre-condition to the talks is that there must be a recognition of ED as the winner of the 2018 elections … there are no two ways about that”.

FORMER MDC senator for Makokoba Constituency, Sibangilizwe Msipha and four other people, two of them Zimbabweans died yesterday when two cars collided head-on in South Africa.

Three other people were injured in the accident that occurred at around 5AM along the N1 highway near Mookgophong in South Africa’s Limpopo province.

According to South Africa media reports, the accident caused a four hour closure of the road.

The reports said the accident occurred when a Toyota pick-up collided head on with a VW Polo vehicle.

“Five people, including the driver of the bakkie (pick-up) and a toddler died instantly and three other people sustained serious injuries. The injured passengers were taken to hospital for medical treatment,” Limpopo province police spokesperson Colonel Moatshe Ngoepe told South African media.

Contacted for further comment by The Chronicle, Col Ngoepe said more details would be released after completion of investigations.

The chairperson of Zimbabwean Community in South Africa Ngqabutho Mabhena said Mr Msipha was among those who died in the accident.

“The accident that happened this morning on N1 claimed the life of Mr Sibangilizwe Msipha. Mr Msipha was a senator for Makokoba from 2005-2008. He died on his way to Johannesburg from Bulawayo. May his soul rest in peace,” Mr Mabhena, wrote on his Facebook page.

In an interview, Mabhena said he had received information that three of those who died in the accident were Zimbabweans.

“The consulate may have more information on the accident as they had been informed but I’m told that of the five people who died in the accident, three of them are Zimbabweans while the other two are South Africans,” he said.

Zimbabwe Consul General to South Africa Mr Batiraishe Mukonoweshuro could not be contacted for comment.

State Media

Own Correspondent|Zimbabwe’s long standing ally, The Republic of China has halted the release of USD $72 million needed to finish the refurbishment of the Morton Jeffrey water works because the Zimbabwean government has failed to pay back millions of dollars’ worth of debt to the Asian country.

The Chinese had committed to paying $144 million for the project which would have seen capacity at the water treatment plants increased.

Harare currently struggles to meet even half of its water needs, and decaying infrastructure coupled with over population have meant that most suburbs receive erratic water supplies, while some go for months or even years without water.

When supplied, the water is often dirty, muddy and unsafe for consumption.

China released half of the earmarked $144 million but have stopped halfway, on account of several unpaid debts.

Harare Mayor, Councillor Herbert Gomba says he was informed by government officials that the reason for the halt was the outstanding debts.

“We had worked on more than 70% of the work using part of the $144 million. Only $72 million has been availed but the project stopped because of debts by the previous government,” he said.

“We were told by government officials that they sought to address the matter. There are discussions between governments on the matter and other matters we are told.”

Gomba also rubbished claims that the council had abused funds.

“The nature of the deal is that we do not have access to any funds. We do not hold anything as the project is supervised by the Office of the President and cabinet and the Ministry of Finance.”

“We are not taking seriously those making baseless allegations of corruption based on illusions or those desperate to make a name through lies yet they themselves are known fraudsters,” he said.