Own Correspondent|Opposition leader Nelson Chamisa and his lieutenants are living in fear of an imminent government crackdown, after army and police chiefs suggested this week that a militant wing in the MDC was responsible for the August 1 killings which left six people dead and dozens others injured, the Daily News can report.

This comes as a Commission of Inquiry appointed by President Emmerson Mnangagwa to probe the deadly shootings — which followed ugly demonstrations in the capital city soon after the disputed July 30 national elections — begins to wind down its investigations.

Appearing before the commission on Monday, the commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, Phillip Valerio Sibanda, and police commissioner-general Godwin Matanga, wholly absolved the army of the cold-blooded killings of innocent civilians.

Instead, they appeared to blame the MDC and Chamisa for the deaths, after suspected opposition supporters clashed with police two days after the polls — culminating in the deployment of soldiers in the Harare CBD to quell the violence.

In ominous remarks, Sibanda said the military would soon be availing evidence showing that the army did not kill people on the day — instead, fingering an outfit called the Vanguard, which is a militant group linked to the MDC youth wing.

“The possibility of the Vanguard, a militant group within the MDC Alliance youth league, having weapons and having used these weapons during the disturbances on that day cannot be overruled.

“There is no hard evidence that the army shot at the civilians, but it is also believed that members of the MDC’s Vanguard could have been armed,” the reclusive general told the commission which is chaired by former South African president Kgalema Motlanthe.

Matanga also told the commission that police had temporarily shelved plans to arrest Chamisa because of ongoing political talks which were aimed at giving the youthful politician a top post in Parliament.

“I still feel that it would be very improper to arrest the leader of the opposition party in the name of Nelson Chamisa because this is a position that was formed by the president.

“I still feel today that the president’s doors are open and (so) I cannot arrest Chamisa. But all the same, I can say crime does not rot like meat and anytime he can be arrested,” he said.

The revelations by both the military and police chiefs came as the opposition leader claimed at the weekend that his life was in danger.

Chamisa narrowly lost to Mnangagwa in the hotly-disputed July 30 election, and went on to accuse the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) of manipulating the results in favour of the Zanu PF leader.

However, Mnangagwa’s victory was upheld by the Constitutional Court which ruled that Chamisa had failed to provide evidence that he had won the election.

Yesterday, Chamisa moved to accuse Mnangagwa’s government of trying to engineer his arrest, as well as his lieutenants.

“I see the effort to nail the innocent, exonerating the guilty. A ploy to weaken and eliminate MDC faces in the democratic alternative. Was briefed of this strategy 3 months ago. Soon you will see vindictive arrests, hired ‘witnesses’ making stories to victimise.

“Yes, we are human and not entirely perfect but violence against citizens and spilling of blood are not some of our imperfections.

“We only carry open palms, not even clenched fists. We have our bare arms, not arms of terror,” Chamisa said on micro-blogging platform Twitter.

On its part, the MDC drew parallels between Sibanda and Matanga’s testimonies on Monday with what ousted former president Robert Mugabe’s government had done to Zapu and its leader late revered leader, Joshua Nkomo, soon after the country’s independence.

Then, arms caches were found on the farms that were owned by Zapu, even though the then opposition party denied ever hiding the weapons — in events that were followed by the Gukurahundi atrocities of the early 1980s, where an estimated 20 000 innocent civilians were killed by government forces.

“It is clear that the security forces intend to harm Chamisa. They have increased their rhetoric in the past few days, like what they did with PF Zapu.

“They are intent on clamping down on the leader and then his supporters. If we are not careful, the international community will start counting bodies very soon,” MDC spokesperson Jacob Mafume warned.

At the same time, the MDC said yesterday that it had disbanded the Vanguard, which has previously been accused of unleashing terror on dissenting party members and the media.

“The MDC categorically states that there is no outfit called Vanguard, an otherwise peaceful and disciplined team of MDC youths which has since been disbanded on the orders of the national council — the party’s supreme decision-making body in between congresses,” Lovemore Chinoputsa, the secretary-general of the MDC Youth Assembly, said.

Meanwhile, the government said yesterday that Chamisa was overrating himself by fearing “an imaginary” crackdown on him and his lieutenants.

“Chamisa must not behave like a prophet of doom unto himself. Government does not see Chamisa as a threat in any way, as he lost in free and fair elections and has no chance of winning in any future elections.

“There is no one planning to arrest him. Only if he commits crime will he face the ugly side of the law and I know he won’t dare do that,” deputy Information minister Energy Mutodi told the Daily News.

On Monday, the MDC said it was fearing for its leader’s life following what it said were attempts to abduct Chamisa at the weekend, as he was coming from Marondera, where he had gone to address a rally at Rudhaka Stadium.

It alleged that suspected security agents had tried to block Chamisa’s motorcade and to seize him in Harare’s Mabvuku suburb.

However, the government robustly dismissed the allegations as “baseless”.

Jane Mlambo| Norton legislator has called for the arrest of serial fraudster, Wicknell Chivayo over his involvement in a bribery case that resulted in the arrest of a Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) employee Nyasha Kazhanje.

Mliswa said Kazhanje was supposed to be arrested together with Chivayo as they both committed a crime.

Whilst Kazhanje (former ZPC Chair) was arrested on allegations of receiving a $10k bribe from Chivayo, isn’t corruption two ways unless it’s a set up? What of the one who proffered the bribe?

— Sabhuku Temba P. Mliswa (@TembaMliswa) November 15, 2018

Chivayo was arrested in connection with a Gwanda solar power station tender he got from ZPC and subsequent abuse of state resources after he received $5 million which he converted to his own use without developing the project that has not seen the light of day to date.

ACTING Prosecutor-General Kumbirai Hodzi has turned down a request by Tendai Biti, an opposition party legislator, seeking the temporary release of his passport to allow him to travel to Uganda to attend a crucial continental meeting convened by the African Organisation of Public Accounts Committees (AFROPAC).

Biti, the legislator for Harare East constituency had through his lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa written to Hodzi applying for the release of his passport to allow him to attend AFROPAC’s 3rd General Meeting and Conference in the Ugandan capital city of Kampala, running from Monday 19 November 2018 to Friday 23 November 2018.

The Clerk of Court at Harare Magistrates Court is currently holding Biti’s passport as part of his bail conditions in a matter in which he was arrested in August 2018 and charged with contravening the country’s electoral laws.

The request for the release of the passport came after AFROPAC invited Biti to attend the meeting and conference in his capacity as Chairperson of the Zimbabwean Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee to which Kennedy Chokuda, the Clerk of Parliament formally accepted the invitation and communicated the list of legislators who would be attending to the Secretary-General of AFROPAC.

As Chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee, Biti will be the leader of the Zimbabwean delegation of legislators attending the AFROPAC meeting and conference.

Mtetwa said as a former Finance Minister during the coalition government, Biti’s attendance at such a crucial continental meeting would be valuable to the Public Accounts Committee that he chairs and would compliment government’s position to zero tolerance for corruption, lack of accountability by public officials and the profligacy that has generally afflicted public sector spending.

But in response to Biti’s request, Hodzi turned down the MDC-Alliance party legislator’s application for the temporary of his passport on the basis that he is facing criminal charges at Harare Magistrates Court, where on Monday 12 November 2018 he challenged the suitability of Michael Reza of the National Prosecuting Authority as the lead prosecutor. Harare Magistrate Gloria Takundwa will on Thursday 15 November 2018 hand down her ruling on Biti’s application.

Hodzi claimed that the NPA was keen to afford Biti a fair and public trial within a reasonable time as provided in section 69 of the Constitution and hence the temporary release of his passport would interrupt his trial and is likely to jeopardise the criminal proceedings in his case as he doesn’t know how long it would take to finalise it.

The resolution of the Mashonaland West provincial executive of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans’ Association (ZNLWVA) to recall national chairman Chris Mutsvangwa will only be ratified by a full national executive meeting, the national war veterans spokesperson said last night.

Responding to news of the Mashonaland West provincial executive decision to recall Mutsvangwa, ZNLWVA national spokesperson Douglas Mahiya said the resolution remains a wish until the national executive sits and ratifies it.

“If it is their desire to recall the national chairman Cde Chris Mutsvangwa, their decision can only be respected if all the other provinces agree. It would have been wiser if they had consulted other provinces. Their desire can only be ratified by a full national executive meeting which the national chairman (Cde Mutsvangwa), who is the only one mandated by our constitution to call for meetings, calls for such.

“It is the prerogative of the national chairman to call for national executive meetings other than those that are already scheduled. As it is now, the Mashonaland West resolution remains wishful thinking. Bear in mind, Cde Mutsvangwa has a High Court order declaring him the chairman of the ZNLWVA until our national congress in 2022 or 2023,” said Mahiya.

He said the war veterans association had learnt of a covert operation to destabilise it.

“There are forces yet to be identified that have gone on the rampage to destabilise and divide the war veterans led by Mutsvangwa. Do not forget it is Mutsvangwa who fought against the dynastic tendencies of former President Mugabe and the G0 cabal. The G40 has not rested. They are trying to destabilise the new dispensation and let me assure you, the war veterans are alert and alive to this,” he said.

Mahiya claimed that some G40 elements had gone a gear up and were using money to destabilise the association and ultimately the Government.

“We are aware of the G40 shenanigans. Something is brewing somewhere, but we will find out. This is a political attack on President Mnangagwa. This issue is meant to destabilise the country and will hurt everybody.”

The Mashonaland West war veterans’ provincial leadership comprising the executive, national members from the province and district chairpersons met in Chinhoyi on Tuesday where the resolution was passed.

ZNLWVA provincial chairperson for Mashonaland West Cornelius Muoni confirmed the resolution, accusing Mutsvangwa of sowing seeds of division.
Mutsvangwa also stands accused of alienating himself from the membership after being appointed President Mnangagwa’s Special Advisor, a position he no longer holds.

Residents have moved to dump commuter omnibuses for commuter trains as privately owned kombis continue to charge exorbitant fees citing increase in cost of living.

This comes as at least 5000 passengers boarded the recently re-introduced City-Cowdray Park commuter train in the first five days of its operation.

The National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) reintroduced the commuter train in response to appeals from the travelling public as kombis were hiking fares to as much as $2 at peak times for a trip into the city.

NRZ spokesperson Nyasha Maravanyika said since the re-introduction of the commuter train, the rail giant has been inundated with requests for the NRZ to offer similar services in other cities apart from their intercity passenger train services.

“We are pleased to note that the travelling public has responded positively to the re-introduction of commuter trains in Bulawayo,” Maravanyika said.

“The commuter train started operating on November 5 2018, running from Monday to Friday with two services daily in the morning and evening.”

The rail entity is charging $0, 50 for a single trip.

NRZ said on the first morning run on November 5, about 309 passengers boarded the train with the number increasing to 350 on the return trip in the evening.

“On Tuesday 532 boarded in the morning and 537 in the evening,” Maravanyika said, adding:

“Wednesday morning attracted the highest patronage of the week with 743 passengers boarding. In the evening the commuter train carried 486 passengers. Thursday saw the morning service recording 618 passengers while 489 were on the evening service. On Friday 607 passengers boarded the morning train compared to 334 on the evening train. The train also managed to maintain right time departures and arrivals, thus sticking to scheduled times.”

The commuter train has seven coaches with each coach having a capacity of 100 passengers.

With 5005 passengers having boarded the train in its first week, the capacity utilisation for the initial five days is 71 percent.

“NRZ is pleased and satisfied with how it has managed to service the route conveniently for its encouraging commuter train patronage,” Maravanyika said.

“It has also noted requests from passengers who work mainly in the industrial sites who would like the train to leave Cowdray Park earlier so that they have ample time to walk to their workplaces.

“However, it should be noted that in coming up with the departure times the NRZ is trying to balance the interests of passengers who start work early and those who start at traditional 0800 Hours as per many companies’ business hours.”

M&T

Own Correspondent|The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) has apparently begun an investigation into various personal transactions carried out by the Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor John Mangudya.

Sources in the RBZ revealed that CID officers have been frequently visiting Mangudya at his office in search of information regarding transactions that go back over a decade.

“They are demanding all of Mangudya’s accounts and a couple of days ago they requested information regarding a transaction dating back to 2007,” one inside source said adding: “Mangudya has since handed over all of his personal accounts so that they can scrutinise them.”

The move comes at a time when the RBZ has flighted a tender inviting external auditors in the wake of recent corruption allegations.

As reported by this publication four senior RBZ officials were suspended indefinitely in October, after a Facebook Live video was posted by controversial political figure William Mutumanje (popularly known as Acie Lumumba).

Lumumba claimed the four were involved in shady foreign exchange deals and were part of a criminal cartel headed by an individual he called “Queen Bee.”

Mangudya went on to suspend the four senior managers as the Central bank instituted an internal audit.

Sources said last week Mangudya also flighted another tender inviting external auditors who are interested in carrying out a forensic audit.

Sources also said the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) has also seconded its own personnel to investigate RBZ especially on the allocation of foreign currency.

Police spokesperson assistant commissioner Paul Nyati said he currently had no knowledge of any investigation into the RBZ governor.

“I am not aware of any investigation on RBZ,” he said.

M&T

Illegal foreign currency traders have changed their tactics to ensure that they can continue doing business while at the same time avoiding arrest.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa recently used the President Powers to set new regulations which will see convicted money changers getting jailed for a maximum of 10 years in prison.

Soon after the new law was gazetted, the money changers have vanished from their usual haunts on the streets. However, most of them have not stopped trading arguing that they need to support their families. They have simply changed how they operate.

A money changer said: “We just have to do what we have to do to survive. We can’t just quit and say there is a new law targeting us.

“Some of us are now operating from our cars to avoid being spotted. Operating from a car allows us to monitor our surroundings and we don’t allow customers in our cars.

“I only deal in cash now. I can’t risk dealing in electronic transfers such as Ecocash transfers. I don’t want to risk having money in my bank account forfeited to the State.”

The police said that that it is aware of the change in tactics and is now working out new ways to go after the money changers.

Bulawayo deputy police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube told the Chronicle: “We are working out ways of dealing with this new challenge of money changers operating from cars and we suspect the upsurge in cases of theft from vehicles in the Central Business District could be as a result of this new development.”

— State Media

Own Correspondent|ZIMBABWE’S main opposition leader Nelson Chamisa insists that little has changed in the country a year after the start of an army takeover that eventually led to the resignation of long-serving Robert Mugabe.

Chamisa tweeted a video of the late opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, who speaking after the 2017 army takeover called for fundamental reforms to the governance structure.

Said Chamisa: “The governance culture is just replacing one individual with another individual. The same character, the same culture.

“So I think it is foolhardy to think that replacing Mugabe with Emmerson Mnangagwa without the fundamental reforms that are needed to transform the institution of governance, then you are wasting your time. You are just served the same perpetuation of the same culture.”

Tsvangirai who was a former Prime Minister in unity government led by Mugabe died on 14 February 2018. He was leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, MDC – Tsvangirai. He had met with then interim president Mnangagwa before his demise.

Mnangagwa at the time a fired vice-president exiled in South Africa returned to the country to takeover from Mugabe after the army took over and the parliament threatened to impeach Mugabe if he continued to hold on to power.

Mnangagwa has since won his first full term as president beating Chamisa in July 2018 elections. The MDC Alliance which garnered over 40% of votes allege that the elections body rigged the process.

A court action to overturn the outcome was dismissed. Chamisa has since launched a defiance campaign stating that the government lacked the legitimacy to run the country. Zimbabwe has been plunged into an economic crisis government is struggling with.

FORMER president of the of the Apostolic Faith Mission of Zimbabwe (AFM), Dr Aspher Madziyire, has been found guilty of causing the death of a pedestrian, Tymon Mangena, in 2014, due to negligence and driving at excessive speeds well outside the limits.

As a result of these finding Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Maxwell Takuva ordered Madziyire to pay the victim’s widow, Melody Mudzingwa more than $82 000 in compensation. Madziyire had been sued by Mudzingwa and her daughter Nomsa Vanessa.

In his ruling Justice Takuva said,

It is ordered that the first plaintiff’s (Ms Mudzingwa’s) claim is hereby granted as per summons against the defendants as follows: US$3 000 being funeral expenses incurred for the burial of the deceased Tymon Mangena, US$67 200 being damages for plaintiff’s loss of support and US$11 816 being damages for second plaintiff’s (Nomsa Vanessa’s) loss of support.

In her court papers, Mrs Mudzingwa had said,

On April 1, 2014, my husband was involved in an accident along the Bulawayo-Gweru road when the defendant negligently knocked him down. The accident was solely due to excessive speed, failure to be on proper lookout for other road users and failing to reduce speed.

She also told the court that Madziyire had only contributed to the funeral costs by buying a coffin and a beast while she spent more than $3 000 dollars. Madziyire unsuccessfully tried to defend himself by claiming that the victim had been negligent because he had not been looking out for cars.

Pastors of the troubled church, the Apostolic Faith Mission in Zimbabwe (AFM) led by AFM deputy president Rev. Cossum Chiangwa passed a vote of no confidence in AFM president Dr Aspher Madziyire, church elder and prominent lawyer Tawanda Nyambirai, general secretary Reverend Amon Madawo, and national administrator Pastor Munyaradzi Shumba. Madziyire, in turn, suspended the rebels.

MDC president Nelson Chamisa and the opposition party’s deputy chairman Tendai Biti, and other opposition leaders implicated in post-election violence will next week be subpoenaed to give evidence before the commission of inquiry into the August 1 shootings, which left six dead and 24 others nursing gunshot injuries.

Ballistic and forensic experts have also been summoned to appear before the Kgalema Motlanthe-led commission, but it was not yet clear if Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga would be asked to testify in view of the recent High Court ruling implicating him in the deployment of soldiers who turned on unarmed civilians on the fateful day.

Secretary to the commission, Virginia Mabiza, said as the inquiry enters its penultimate stages that include public hearings, it would subpoena all people fingered by witnesses as having incited violence, both in pre- and post-election times.

“The commission will be subpoenaing all those who were implicated in inciting violence, pre- and post-election. The law empowers the commission to use legal instruments to bring these people before it so that they can answer to the allegations made against them,” she said.

Chamisa, MDC deputy chairperson Biti and Jim Kunaka, Zanu PF’s Terrence Mukupe, Chiwenga and former Masvingo Provincial Affairs minister Josaya Hungwe have all been accused of inciting violence ahead of the polls.

Chamisa, who faces arrest after Zanu PF, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission chairperson Justice Priscilla Chigumba, the army and the police fingered him and his executive as the main instigators of the violence which unfolded on August 1, will be the main target, according to insiders.

The MDC has taken a decision not to be part to the proceedings of the commission, dismissing it as a farce, set up with predetermined outcomes.

After the army distanced itself from the shootings, the commission, which said it was armed with evidence that soldiers using AK-47 rifles fired live rounds of ammunition into fleeing unarmed civilians, would invite ballistic experts to give evidence.

Head of presidential guard,Brigadier-General Anselem Nhamo Sanyatwe, said the soldiers under his command only fired warning shots and never shot at anyone, leaving the commission grappling for answers on who fired at civilians.

A commissioner, who refused to be named, said the ballistic experts would give evidence on the damage an AK-47 could cause and would also review video footage of military activity on the day.

“The issues that were raised by army commanders, especially that they did not shoot anyone and that the soldier captured on video kneeling while shooting, was firing in the air at 45 degrees, the commission would want to get an expert opinion on the matter so that it arrives at a conclusion as to who shot and killed the six now-deceased,” the commissioner said.

The ballistic expert, according to Mabiza, would be provided by the police, who have openly told the commission that they were still clueless regarding who shot the victims.

“The ballistic expert will give evidence on November 21 before the commission, I don’t have a name now, but the expert will obviously be connected to the police,” the commissioner added.

Journalists who shot the video footage, including South African Thulasizwe Simelane of eNCA, John Ray of ITV News, and the SABC news crew, could also be asked to appear before the commission to give evidence.

Some foreign journalists were reportedly assaulted by soldiers deployed on the streets on August 1 and told of the horror they suffered at the hands of the military. But Sanyatwe insisted that the journalists were only able to do the video footage because they were guaranteed safety.

Mabiza confirmed that the commission had reached out to established media outlets to favour the commission with credible video footage and depending on how it is availed, the journalists who were part of gathering the news could be asked to give evidence.

During the public hearings, commissioner Lovemore Madhuku, who has taken lead in fielding most of the tough questions, said the commission had evidence that the army fired at people.

NewsDay

POLICE say they have instituted investigations into the killing of six civilians during the August 1 post-electoral violence in what could further rile the opposition which claims a government cover up plot of state excesses.

The civilians were killed by what is widely believed to be soldiers deployed on the streets of central Harare on the day to quell wild protests by alleged MDC supporters angered by the erratic announcement of the July 30 election results by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.

Both the military and police have distanced themselves from the killings after President Emmerson Mnangagwa opened an inquiry into the skirmishes.

Now over three months since the widely condemned killings, Zimbabwean police say they have opened their own investigations into the killings, with all the cases treated as murder.

Police investigations only started some three weeks ago, according to Detective Inspector Edmore Runganga of the CID Law and Order Section who was testifying before the Kgalema Motlanthe led Commission of Inquiry into the disturbances.

Runganga said initially, police were using first post-mortem results but second post-mortem results came and showed the victims were shot from a rifle.

“We now have final post-mortem results of the six and these show that victims died as a result of projectiles by fires. We are now investigating cases as murder,” he said.

“For now, we have suspects in connection with the violence but we will charge people in connection with the death of the six as we identify each individual’s case.

“It is part of the investigations on who shot them but there are no dates or time frames on investigations on the murder cases.

“We will try to speed up the investigations.”

The new twist into what has been widely believed to be army shootings on civilians could be a fresh source of worry to the opposition which fears a state backlash as authorities pull all the stops to distance the Zanu PF led regime from the killings while pinning the blame on MDC.

On Tuesday, former MDC legislator and now Zanu PF apologist, Gabriel Chaibva went to great lengths to tell the seven member probe team that his former MDC colleagues were responsible for two of the six deaths that occurred on the day.

Commander of the Presidential Guard, Brigadier General Anselem Sanyatwe also told the Commission that some of the deaths may have been caused by the militant MDC youth group commonly known as the Vanguard in which he claimed were some rogue army deserters.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa is keen to emerge from the investigations cleaner as he tries to convince a skeptical world he was the right man to pull the country out of its bitter past and back on to a peacefull and prosperous one.

Zoom zim

MDC leader Nelson Chamisa says he is unfazed by threats of arrest by the police and will continue to do his party work as usual.

This comes after the acting officer commanding (crime) Harare, Detective Chief Inspector Edmore Runganga early this week told the commission of inquiry into the August 1 shootings led by former South African President Kgalema Motlanthe that the police would soon arrest Chamisa for allegedly inciting his supporters and ordinary Zimbabweans to protest.

Runganga said police were still clueless on who was responsible for the shooting that claimed six lives when members of the Zimbabwe National Army fired live ammunition in a bid to quell post-election violence, but plan to arrest Chamisa for “causing” the demonstrations.

Police Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga also told the commission that the police planned to arrest Chamisa “soon”.
“He can be arrested any time soon. The evidence is there, the documents are there, crime does not rot like meat, he will be arrested,” he said on Monday.

But Chamisa retorted yesterday, telling NewsDay that his hands were clean.

“I have clean and harmless hands. I am, however, equally concerned that police want to link my statements at rallies and calls for electoral reforms to the violence that occurred on August 1,” Chamisa said.

“My statements are known and are in the public domain and they are not in any way related to the unfortunate development of August 1.”

Chamisa’s spokesperson Nkululeko Sibanda also said his principal was not moved by the threats of arrest and would continue with his work as the leader of the party.

“He is not moved. He will continue to do what he knows best,” Sibanda said.

Earlier on while making a presentation at Hudderfield University in United Kingdom on the History and Outcomes of World Tyrants, Sibanda said Mnangagwa would have crossed the Rubicon if he arrests Chamisa.

He said Mnangagwa was one of the many world leaders who have resorted to use of violence, torture and harassment on opposition supporters.

Sibanda said threats to arrest Chamisa all but show that Mnangagwa wants to maintain his position in that “premier league”.

He said Chamisa was briefed three months ago that Mnangagwa was planning to nail innocent people for his political gains.

“Even by Mnangagwa’s own standards that he set throughout his life, of impunity, disrespect of the law, he will be crossing the Rubicon if he decided to arrest president Chamisa,” Sibanda said.

“He will be crossing the Rubicon. He will certainly be visiting no-man’s land to be so reckless as to arrest the leader of the largest opposition political party in the country.”

Sibanda said Chamisa had always committed to dialogue, not violence, and would not be deterred by threats, especially when he knows he hasn’t committed any crime.

-Newsday

 

Correspondent|The government has amended the current Companies Act which was passed in 1951 and gazetted a new Companies and Other Business Entities Bill which seeks to replace and update the law relating to companies and private business corporations.

The present Companies Act was passed in 1951 and some of the new features in this Bill include the introduction of an Electronic Registry for the incorporation and registration of domestic and foreign companies and private business corporations and the substitution of criminal penalties by civil penalties wherever possible.

The bill also caters for the provision for the issuance of shares rather than shares with a fixed value, together with provisions for the valuation of no-par-value shares;

The amendment of the Companies Act is accompanied by two other bills that government has gazetted which includes the Tripartite Negotiating Forum Bill, Companies and the Finance (No. 2).

Two other bills namely Consumer Protection Bill and Forest Amendment Bill are awaiting to be gazetted.

In a statement released by Parliament, the Consumer Protection draft bill has been sent to Printflow while the Forest amendment draft bill has been sent to the Attorney General for proofreading.

According to Veritas, a watchdog of law in the Parliament of Zimbabwe, the Tripartite Negotiating Forum Bill “seeks to establish a Tripartite Negotiating Forum whose mandate is to ensure consultation, cooperation and negotiation on social and economic issues by Government, Organised Business and Organised Labour,”

Another Bill, Finance (No. 2) Bill, 2018 seeks “to confirm SI 205/2018 re Intermediated Money Transfer Tax, this Bill will amend the Finance Act [Chapter 23:04], and the Income Tax Act [Chapter 23:06], to give effect to the new rate of intermediated money transfer tax provisionally enacted (subject to endorsement by the Parliament) by Statutory Instrument 205 of 2018 pursuant to section 3(2) of the Finance Act [Chapter 24:04),” stated Veritas.

It further states that “Draft Consumer Protection Bill, seeks to promote a fair, efficient and transparent marketplace for consumers and business, to promote consumer rights to basic needs (food, shelter, health, education and clothing), to provide for improved standards of consumer information, to prohibit unfair competition, marketing and business practices, to promote responsible consumer behaviour, to provide relief to parties to consumer contracts where the contracts are unfair or contain unfair provisions or where the exercise or non-exercise of a power, right or discretion under such a contract is or would be unfair; to repeal the Consumer Contracts Act [Chapter 8:03], and to provide for matters incidental to or connected with the foregoing.”

Correspondent|The trial of the jailed former Energy and Power Development Minister Samuel Undenge in connection with a case in which Intratrek Zimbabwe was corruptly awarded the Gwanda solar power plant tender by Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) has been postponed.

The matter has been postponed to November 19 on the basis that the last State witness will be travelling and he will only be available on that date.

Undenge who is being represented by Alec Muchadehama, denied the charges indicating that he did not direct the former ZPC Managing Director Noah Gwariro to pay Intratek.

Gwariro already testified in court and submitted that he was directed by Undenge to make a pre-payment of over $5 million to Intratek even after they had failed to produce bank guarantees as per their agreement.

Undenge was released on $1 000 bail with instructions to continue residing at his given address until finalisation of the matter.

Allegations are that Undenge directed ZPC to grant controversial businessman Wicknell Chivayo’s company, Intratrek Zimbabwe, a tender for the Gwanda solar power plant project.

It is alleged the company failed to execute the project despite getting $5 607 814,24 from Government.

Magistrate Barbara Chimboza is presiding over the matter.

M&T

Correspondent|A Harare businessman who shot his worker over $30 has been hauled before the court on charges of attempted murder.

Gladmore Musanhi (51) who has business interest in the Musanhi passenger buses allegedly shot a man he had sub-contracted to do some menial work for him after he paid him $50 instead of an agreed $80 payment.

Musanhi appeared before Harare Magistrate Rumbidzai Mugwagwa and was released on $300 bail coupled with stringent bail conditions.

He was remanded to December 6.

Prosecuting, Sebastian Mutizirwa alleged that on November 12, Callisto Musariri was hired by Musanhi to carry out a menial job of pushing a vehicle engine from within Musanhi garage to the main gate so it would be lifted by a forklift crane into a lorry.

After finishing the job, Musanhi was charged $80.

Musarira and his colleagues finished the job and demanded their payment and Musanhi gave them $50 contrary to the agreed amount leading to a misunderstanding between them.

It is the State’s case that Musariri together with his colleagues blocked the path using drums, stopping the forklift from getting the engine.

It is alleged that Musanhi tried to remove the barricade on his own but was dragged away by the angry workers.

In a fit of rage, Musanhi allegedly left the place only to return moments later armed with a pistol.

He reportedly pointed the firearm at Musarira threatening to shoot him.

Musanhi shot Musarira on the left ear and fled from the scene.

It is alleged that he went and handed himself to the police afterwards.

Musarira was allegedly taken to Harare Central hospital where he was getting medical attention.

M&T

 

Zanu-PF has resolved to recall two Chiredzi Town Councillors for violating the party’s constitution.

The two were found guilty of voting MDC-Alliance councillor as council chair. Zanu-PF controls four wards in Chiredzi town to the MDC-Alliance’s
three, with one more ward under the control of an independent candidate. Zanu-PF candidate Blessing Mazinyane lost the Chiredzi town
council chairmanship to MDC Alliance’s Gibson Hwende by five votes to three.
Zanu-PF Masvingo Provincial Coordinating Committee (PCC) resolved to recall Councillors
Obert Ngwenya (Ward 2) and Josphat Nzombe (Ward 8) after they were found guilty of having violated the party’s constitution by working with the opposition in Chiredzi Town Council. The decision to recall the pair now awaits approval of the Zanu-PF National Disciplinary Committee. If the disciplinary committee upholds Masvingo
PCC’s decision, the party will inform the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, paving way for council by-elections in the two wards.

The African Medallion Group, owned by South Africa-based Zimbabwean businessman Frank Buyanga, has availed nearly $35 million to procure and deliver fuel, pharmaceuticals and other products that are in short supply. This came after Government granted AMG the approval to do so following its request to assist.

AMG chairman Ms Estee Mamman wrote to Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor Dr John Mangudya recently seeking to assist with the procurement. Dr Mangudya on Monday responded to the request and gave AMG the nod.

“The bank appreciates your desire to contribute to the solution to the challenges facing the country and wishes to advise that you directly approach the importers of the proposed commodities. This is due to the fact that the buyers will be using their free funds to pay for the imports,” read part of his letter.

In response, Ms Mamman said the group was now commissioning the process.
“African Medallion Group will immediately begin to engage Zimbabwean entities, including but not limited to African Medallion (Pvt) Ltd Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) and any other necessary bodies in an effort to assist the people of Zimbabwe together with the Government,” she said.

“African Medallion Group will proceed to contact the relevant authorities in Zimbabwe to obtain the necessary approval, import permits and other documentation deemed necessary for the procurement and delivery of fuel, pharmaceuticals, cement, cooking oil and other commodities through a bonded infrastructure.”

She added, “African Medallion Group will avail a ZAR500 million (US$34 800 000) facility to the African Medallion (Pvt) Ltd Zimbabwe entity for the inward procurement of all commodities. The facility will be redeemable in free funds.” Ms Mamman said in line with their transparency policy, they were inviting RBZ agents to supervise AMG in all its endeavours and practice.

“This is a non-profit making initiative. The benefit is mainly for the Government and people of Zimbabwe,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ms Mamman has since requested Zimra to provide them with the necessary import permits to enable them to help address the country’s economic challenges urgently.

“We urge you to assist African Medallion Group with processing of the necessary import documentation expediently so that we can address the needs of the people with the urgency this matter requires. Within seven days we will be commissioning the process,” read part of the letter addressed to Zimra Commissioner-General Ms Faith Mazani dated November 12, 2018.

Ms Mamman said they will be responsible for local logistics and distribution and also invited Zimra agents to supervise the entire process. – state media

At least five boarding schools in Manicaland are seeking permission to either increase boarding fees or close early citing dwindling food supplies due to shortages on the market and high prices on available stocks.

Two of the schools are Marange High and Mutare Girls’ High. Manicaland provincial education director (PED), Mr Edward Shumba, confirmed receiving the requests.

On increasing school fees, he said the schools would need to agree with parents and then send their request to his office for approval.

“Schools should agree with parents first then write a request to my office for approval, but this must be just for the remaining days of the term and not a permanent feature,” said Mr Shumba.
The situation has not spared trust and private schools including Hillcrest, which has since requested parents to top up on school fees.

Hillcrest school head, Mrs Annie Holman, said the increase in prices of food stuffs and other commodities had affected the school budget.

“We have asked for a top up of fees because prices have gone up by at least 60 percent, which has affected our budget and now we are not going to be able to complete the term if we are to maintain our standards, so we had to ask parents to top up fees,” Mrs Holman said.-state media

The High Court has ordered the former president of the Apostolic Faith Mission of Zimbabwe (AFM), Dr Aspher Madziyire, to pay a Gweru widow more than $82 000 for fatally knocking down her husband.

The ruling by Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Maxwell Takuva follows summons filed by Ms Melody Mudzingwa and her daughter, Nomsa Vanessa, through their lawyers Mutendi and Shumba Legal Practitioners, citing Madziyire and Tristar Insurance Company as the defendants.

“It is ordered that the first plaintiff’s (Ms Mudzingwa’s) claim is hereby granted as per summons against the defendants as follows: US$3 000 being funeral expenses incurred for the burial of the deceased Tymon Mangena, US$67 200 being damages for plaintiff’s loss of support and US$11 816 being damages for second plaintiff’s (Nomsa Vanessa’s) loss of support,” ruled the judge.

Justice Takuva also ordered the defendants to pay the legal costs incurred by the plaintiffs.
In papers before the court, Ms Mudzingwa said Dr Madziyire caused the death of her husband, a pedestrian, through negligence and driving at an excessive speed.

The accident occurred in 2014 along the Bulawayo-Gweru road.
“On April 1, 2014, my husband was involved in an accident along the Bulawayo-Gweru road when the defendant negligently knocked him down. The accident was solely due to excessive speed, failure to be on proper lookout for other road users and failing to reduce speed,” said Ms Mudzingwa.
Mangena sustained head injuries and multiple fractures and died on the same day. He was buried at his rural home in Mberengwa.

Ms Mudzingwa said Dr Madziyire only bought a coffin and a beast while she spent US$3 000 on other funeral expenses.

She said she and her daughter were entitled to claim damages for the loss of financial support.

“I wasn’t employed at the time of my husband’s death and I entirely depended on his income for survival. As a result of his death my daughter and I suffered actual pecuniary loss in the form of a loss of support since Mangena was the sole breadwinner in the family,” said Ms Mudzingwa in her summons.

“The current socio-economic environment in the country has seen the closure of most industries leaving most prospective workers who’re employed informally working up to the age of 70. My husband died at the age 20 which effectively means that we’ve lost the expected 50 years of support due to his death.”

Ms Mudzingwa is seeking an order compelling Dr Madziyire or his insurance company to pay her a total of $82 016 compensation for loss of support.

In his defence through his lawyers Calderwood, Bryce Hendrie and Partners, Dr Madziyire said the accident was not solely his responsibility, arguing that the woman’s husband failed to keep a proper look out for vehicles.

“The defendant disputes that he was negligent as alleged by the plaintiffs and avers that the accident was caused solely by the negligence of the deceased in that he made, without any signal, a sudden right U-turn in front of the defendant when it was not safe to do so,” argued Dr Madziyire’s lawyers.- state media

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Battle lines have been drawn in the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) amid indications that party members sympathetic to party President Nelson Chamisa are orchestrating a plan to fire Secretary General Douglas Mwonzora before the next elective congress slated for October 2019.

Reliable sources within the opposition party described Nyanga senator as “an apple of discord allegedly funded by the ruling Zanu PF party to cause confusion in the movement.”

“He is in bed with Zanu PF. All is known and his agenda is to cause chaos within the party as he is aware that he will not make it at the congress next year.

“He is still bitter about how Chamisa rose to power which was anchored on popular support from party followers. So because of his unpopularity and how Chamisa performed in elections, Mwonzora has no chance at all,” the source said.

The sources alleged that Zanu PF is bank rolling Mwonzora’s project to cause confusion in the opposition top ranks a development intended to divert the 40 years old opposition leader Nelson Chamisa from focusing on national issues but on party issues.

“The intention is to divert Chamisa from focusing on national issues and concentrate on party business. Chamisa is mulling a national protest so the state is not happy with that. So they want to support Mwonzora to just cause confusion,” the source added.

Another senior party official fingered Mwonzora and Vice President Elias Mudzuri as part of a scheme revolting against Chamisa’s ascendancy to the leadership of the party following the death of founding President, Morgan Tsvangirai.

“He is waging a revolt. He wants to challenge Chamisa after going to Malaba to apologize for heckling him without the blessing of the party. He is doing this together with Mudzuri,” the source said.

According to the party source, Mwonzora is believed to have roped in Manicaland Provincial chairperson, David Chimhini and other unnamed senior part officials in his project to topple Chamisa.

263Chat could establish from Mwonzora’s side as his mobile went unanswered.

-263Chat

 

 

Matabeleland chiefs have written a petition to President Emmerson Mnangagwa bemoaning their alleged economic marginalisation which they said should be corrected under the new dispensation.

In the petition, Avoca Filabusi Communal lands chief, Vezi Maduna-Mafu, noted that locals in most Matabeleland regions including Hwange, Lupane, and Binga, among others, are excluded in developmental projects which are supposed to benefit them and their communities.

Mafu noted that the marginalisation dates back to as early as 1981 when the Gukurahundi genocide occurred but has now transformed into economic genocide. He urged the president to create a commission that is not the National Peace and Reconciliation commission (NPRC) to look into the Gukurahundi genocide which he feels is the root cause of Matabeleland locals’ problems.

“Appoint a new commission which is separate from the NPRC to specifically handle the 1981 to 1987 Ndebeles’ genocide/Gukurahundi,” Mafu said.

He pointed out that government has been turning a blind eye on the issue yet most people still have unhealed wounds.

The Filabusi leader added that as chiefs, they have been trying to have an interface with Mnangagwa to lodge their complaints but were blocked.

“All these points, if taken into account, make it very difficult to directly engage in dialogue over the 1981 to 1987 Ndebele massacre/Gukurahundi as these points clearly indicate a sign of no sincerity over the past unhealed wounds.

“These points in this petition show a continuation of Ndebeles genocide this time as economic genocide,” Mafu said.

“As an elderly chief in Matabeleland, I have tried three consecutive times to see you privately concerning the above reference, but I have been taken for granted by your inner personnel who blocked me. I was left with no option but to write this letter.”

He rubbished the president’s claims on devolution suggesting that they are not sincere and should be corrected.

The Filabusi chief pleaded with the president to attend to their concerns as doing otherwise is a sign of insincerity towards Matabeleland locals.

“How is the new dispensation treating Matabeleland people after years of suffering from 1981 to 1987 Ndebele genocide (Gukurahundi).

This has been a public talk in every Ndebele community, kindly find time to discuss with me and my delegation the issues raised in this letter,” he noted.

“To me it proves why you have been pushing for economic devolution knowingly that behind our back as chiefs you systematically and secretly took all strategic economic drivers, sites and minerals in Matabeleland.

“Mr President, my son may you please kindly correct immediately what I have raised in this letter for it is proving that you are not sincere in your regional economic devolution in Matabeleland.”

The aggrieved leader also highlighted that there is no one from Matabeleland in the ministries of Local Government, Information, Energy, and Agriculture and in the Public Service Commission to represent the people’s needs.

He called on the president to decentralise power through allowing the Matabeleland North minister and Provincial Administrator to come and occupy offices in Lupane to promote economic development.

-Daily News

WAR veterans in Mashonaland West province have resolved to recall Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association chairperson Cde Christopher Mutsvangwa on allegations of sowing divisions.

Cde Mutsvangwa also stands accused of alienating himself from the membership after being appointed the Special Advisor to President Mnangagwa.

ZNLWVA provincial chairperson for Mashonaland West Cde Cornelius Muwoni confirmed the resolution made at a provincial council meeting in Chinhoyi saying the province was yet to write to Cde Mutsvangwa advising him of the developments.

More to follow…..

-State Media

 

The Beitbridge Bulawayo Railway Company (BBR) is still working on modalities to remove its crashed goods train and repair the damaged track at the rail-road crossing in the border town.

It is Day 4 since the accident.

The locomotives are still at the crash site as a rescue plan is being finalised.

SOS has been sent to experts from Harare and South Africa to come and assist with clearing the site.

According to information, the experts will bring in heavy equipment which includes cranes that have the required capacity for the task.

It is then expected that after the removal of the wreckage, engineers will start working on restoring the damaged rail track which was completely ripped off due to the magnitude of the crash.

This is expected to take a few more days although no fixed timeline has been put in terms of the deadline.

Personnel are, however, at the worksite in different capacities and part of the goods train which fell beyond the crash site has also been toured away.

In the process, a small portion of the rail towards the Bulawayo direction has also been repaired.

The BBR train crashed last Sunday evening after it hit a haulage truck at the road-rail intersection.

BBR is a Build Operate Transfer project that has shortened the distance between Bulawayo and South Africa to 317 kilometres.

Prior to its inauguration, rail service between South Africa and Bulawayo used a route through Botswana that is about 200 kilometres longer.

The shorter line has been used primarily for freight transportation and forms an important trade link between South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The task at hand now is to remove the locomotives which are said to weigh over 112 tonnes each.

The carriers are also estimated to weigh 70 tonnes including the cargo.

Zbc News online

Leading human rights organisation, ZimRights has blasted top army and police officials for taking a defensive stance, denying their involvement in the 1^st of August violence that left six people dead when soldiers fired live bullets on unarmed civilians.

In a statement released today, ZimRights expressed concern on the attitude of state officials saying their conduct is symptomatic of the long-standing contempt, impunity and refusal to be accountable for human rights violations.

“ZimRights is of the position that any process to find redress to these violations needs to be treated with the utmost seriousness, sincerity, transparency and accountability by all holders of public offices, including the security forces.

“It is concerning that government officials and leaders of the security forces have taken a defensive stance as they seek to completely deny basic facts of, involvement in and responsibility for, the unfortunate deaths and injuries.

“Such an attitude flies in the face of the stated purpose of the Commission of Inquiry which is to find the truth.”

Army and police bosses who made their submissions before the Commission of Inquiry on Monday denied shooting at civilians blaming the opposition MDC for inciting supporters to protest against the ruling Zanu PF party.

-Zimbabwe Times

MDC Alliance president Nelson Chamisa says his wife Sithokozile’s car was chased at high speed by unknown people.

The incident is said to have happened on Friday last week. He said this while speaking to the Daily News.

This comes after Chamisa claims that he escaped abduction at the hands of state security agents on Saturday when he was returning from a rally in Marondera.

However, the government has since refuted those allegations that the CIO attempted to kidnap the youthful opposition leader, insisting that Chamisa was involved in a road rage incident after his convoy blocked a Toyota Harrier.

-Pindula

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Own Correspondent|The local contingent of the Warriors squad is set to depart for Monrovia, Liberia via Johannesburg this evening.

The national team will play the West African country on Sunday in the 2019 Afcon Qualifiers, Group G encounter.

The technical team led by coach Sunday Chidzambwa and three players are still in Harare while the advance party left on Tuesday evening. All foreign-based players will fly direct from their bases in Europe and South Africa.

“Eight members of the technical team and FC Platinum duo of Kelvin Moyo and Rodwell Chinyengetere, as well as France-based Tino Kadewere who asked to come home with his family, will leave this evening,” Warriors’ team manager Wellington Mpandare confirmed to ZBC News.

“Travelling to West Africa is not easy as very few airlines fly to Liberia…all foreign-based players are flying from their bases in Belgium, England and SA. We expect everyone to be in Monrovia by Thursday evening.”

Zimbabwe currently lead the group and need at least a draw to book their place at the finals to be held in Cameroon.

Soccer24

Own Correspondent|Self-exiled former Higher and Tertiary Education , Science and Technology Development minister Jonathan Moyo who faced allegations of abuse of power by outright looting of Zimbabwe Manpower For Development (ZIMDEF) funds to the tune of $430 000, has also been accused of splashing $10 000 on high -end cellphones as gifts for his aides and drivers.

According to a report for the financial year ended December 31 2017 by the Auditor General (AG) Mildred Chiri, Moyo used his position as the then trustee of ZIMDEF to go on a cellphone shopping spree for his aides, spending $10 450 on 10 high end phones.

The AG further alleged that the ministry also may have paid an amount of $1 475 229 to several companies for services not rendered using ZIMDEF funds.

Chiri said the fund was for the development of skilled manpower in Zimbabwe.

“According to Section 47 paragraph 2 of the Manpower Planning and Development Act (Chapter 28: 02), the objective of the fund was for the development of skilled manpower in Zimbabwe.

“However, I noted that there were payments made from the fund through the line item contingencies for the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development which were outside the mandate of the fund.

“ZIMDEF purchased 10 Samsung Galaxy S7 edge cellphone handsets worth $10 450 as gifts for the minister’s aides and drivers.

“The procurement was done citing section 48 of the Manpower Planning and Development Act which says “Minister may, in his capacity as trustee of the fund, do any or all of the following, (d) pay to his employees such salary, wages or other remuneration as he may with the approval of the minister responsible for finance; (e) make his employees such gifts , bonuses or the like as he thinks.”

“The beneficiaries were not ZIMDEF employees and there was no approval from the ministry of finance,” the report revealed.

The purchase of these luxurious gifts was not in line with the mandate of the fund.

“Furthermore, the purchase was not inline with the mandate of the fund which is to finance the development of critical and highly skilled manpower in Zimbabwe.

“ZIMDEF paid a number of suppliers for services rendered for STEM. However, there was no evidence to support that the procurement procedures were followed since the directive to pay these suppliers was from the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education.

“An amount totalling $1,475,229 was paid to Troika Design, AB Communications, Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Mortake Management Services, Fuzzy Technologies, Seven Bridges and Tsholotsho RDC.

“Payments may have been made for services not rendered or for services which were not for the benefit of the fund.

“All stamped payments were directives to pay invoices without at least three competitive quotations and comparative schedules in line with procurement regulations,” the report revealed.

The report further revealed that the colleges were no longer getting funds for equipment.

“Visits to polytechnics revealed that the colleges were no longer getting funds for equipment (last received in 2015), consumables (2016) and the Bachelor of Technology allowances for three months were not yet received at Kwekwe Polytechnic by end of March 2017. The lectures were more of theory than practical due to non-availability of consumables,” noted Chiri.

Meanwhile, Moyo is on record for defending himself on the ZIMDEF funds looting allegations. He likened himself to fictional character Robin Hood who robbed the rich to give to the poor.

Ironically, as Chiri also noted, the funds were meant for the development of polytechnics and provide for research, planning and development of human resources as outlined in the Manpower Planning and Development Act (Chapter 28:02).

His former deputy Godfrey Gandawa is on the run and a warrant of arrest was issued for absconding court where he is facing charges of misuse of public funds.

His company Fuzzy Technologies was paid using ZIMDEF funds for ghost supplies of Information Technology equipment.

M&T

Correspondent|EXILED former G40 Kingpin Professor Jonathan Moyo has alleged that President Emmerson Mnangagwa instructed former Minister of ICT Supa Mandiwanzira to transfer $1 million to Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) from the Potraz’s Universal Access Fund.

“A test case of the zero tolerance to corruption mantra as former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa instructed Supa Mandiwanzira to get POTRAZ to pay $1m to ZIFA from the Universal Access Fund. I have V11s!” Professor Moyo has claimed.

The matter came to light after Newsday on Wednesday reported that Cabinet ministers Makhosini Hlongwane (Sport) and Supa Mandiwanzira (ICT) are both set to be summoned to appear before Parliament, where they will be quizzed over loans that were advanced to the country’s football governing body Zifa in 2016 and 2017, but were never repaid.

It is alleged that ZIFA CEO Jonathan Mashingaidze confirmed that they had received $225 000 out of the $1 million that was released by POTRAZ.

“A test case of the zero tolerance to corruption mantra as former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa instructed Supa Mandiwanzira to get POTRAZ to pay $1m to ZIFA from the Universal Access Fund. I have V11s!” Prof Moyo excitedly said.

“This is one of the cases that exposes Mnangagwa s selective prosecution and could open a can of worms about Zimbabwe Anti Corruption Commission s double and corrupt standards. It is a minefield.”

Moyo claims that when he raised a red flag over the issue, Mnangagwa unleashed prosecuting Authorities to hound him.

“When I was in government I did my part and even this issue of 1$m Universal Access Fund from POTRAZ to ZIFA, I raised it in politburo as I did with command agriculture. The result WAS Mnangagwa responded by unleashing ZACC and the National Prosecuting Authority on me. The rest is history!”

@ProfJNMoyo
I did my part & even this issue of 1$m Universal Access Fund from Potraz to Zifa, I raised it in politburo as I did with command agriculture. The result is Mnangagwa responded by unleashing Zacc & NPA on me. The rest is history!

Moyo also said the Zimdef corruption scandal where he was in 2017 investigated and detained by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission was highly politicised and blown out of proportion.

“ZimDef is the only case investigated by a committee led by Advocate Jacob Mudenda. V11s are there. It’s also the only case that has been so politicised that you’d think I was Higher Education minister for 38 years. Was Oppah Muchinguri not a minister there 2014 to 2015? ZICOSU?”, said Moyo.

LEADER of the MDC-T, Thokozani Khupe, has called for unity of purpose among opposition parties and other stakeholders as part of the initiative to restore the country’s struggling economy as the bread basket of Africa.

While her counterpart, Nelson Chamisa the leader of a break-away faction of the MDC Alliance has continued to make noise on the political front, describing President Emmerson Mnangagwa as an illegitimate and failed leader, Khupe – on the other hand – sang from a different hymn book as she spoke of unity.

Khupe – one of the losing presidential candidates in the July 30 elections, has been largely quiet on the developments on the economic and political front.

“I have MPs, which means I have a voice in Parliament, I have had discussions with them to say go and raise issues, issues which are going to move this country forward,” Khupe told Southern News.

“As a party, we are going to continue engaging government and telling them exactly ideas on how to move this country forward,” Khupe said.

This comes as the country has in the past few weeks witnessed a spate of unprecedented price increases for most goods and services after parallel markets rates soared and business reacted to the unpopular two percent tax introduction by Finance minister Mthuli Ncube.

So bad has been the situation that the cost of living has suddenly shot up, leaving many wondering if the Mnangagwa government has what it takes to bring an end to Zimbabweans who have endured decades of suffering.

The former deputy prime minister in the inclusive government of 2009-13 said while there was need for opposition parties not to forget, their fight for electoral reforms, at the moment it was important to prioritise the bread and butter issues.

“But right now, let’s talk about moving the country forward at the same time let’s also talk about reforms. So that by the time we get to 2023, our electoral reforms will be in place.

“Like I said before, 2018 was a better election than all the elections we have had before. We are hoping that by 2023 there will be an improvement but our focus for now must be moving this country forward,” she said.

“People want food on their tables, jobs, hospitals that are functional. We want to get rid of all these negative things that are happening. We want a better Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe used to be the bread-basket of Africa. We want Zimbabwe to go back to where it was.”

She added: “Let us learn as Zimbabweans to put our interests aside and put the people first. Let us put the interest of Zimbabwe first.”

— Daily News

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Party spokesperson Jacob Mafume fingered Zanu PF for setting up MDC leadership against each other by planting false narratives.

In an interview with Newsday, Mafume said;

“We are aware of efforts by Zanu PF to use our congress to put Trojan horses of instability using dirty money. We want to assure our supporters that we are capable of emptying the Trojan horses’ way before they enter our gates at congress,” he said.

Chamisa, through his spokesperson Nkululeko Sibanda, insisted that congress would be held and party members would be allowed to make their choices as they elect officers of congress.

“Our constitution is very clear. Our congress is held after every five years. Our last one was in November and since the upcoming election is not about electing a new leader of the party, it’s not a special congress, but a congress that will elect all officers of congress. It will be held in October,” he said.

Zanu PF spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo distanced his party from the MDC internal fights, saying they were not concerned about their squabbles.

“We are not interested in the fights by those boys. Talk to the people who are allegedly getting funding from us. We are not going to be drawn into their agenda,” he said.

-Newsday

Jane Mlambo| Harare residents are living in fear following the murder of three women by unknown assailants in a space of one week in Harare.

The three women, one was an upcoming author Prudence Gold Madzadzavara, Zaleekhah Khan and another one only known as Samantha were killed under similar circumstances, something that points to targeted murders against women.

Posting on his Facebook page, renowned author and motivational speaker, Rabison Shumba appealed to President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the police to assure the nation that people are safe from targeted murder cases against women.

“Zimbabwe Republic Police – ZRP – We need public statement on this. All within days. We are no longer feeling safe. If one of us dies that’s one too many. This is a call to action. This can’t continue. Who is next? Until when? Families grieving. Communities shaken and terrified. Life is being lost. All citizens are important. We need JUSTICE,” said Shumba.

Former Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) chairperson Stanley Nyasha Kazhanje has been arrested on allegations of receiving a $10 000 bribe from controversial businessperson, Wicknell Chivayo so he does not cancel the 100 megawatt Gwanda solar project which had been awarded to the latter’s firm Intratrek Zimbabwe in unclear circumstances.

Kazhanje (48) was not asked to plead when he appeared before Harare magistrate Elisha Singano, who remanded him to November 27 on $100 bail.

The former ZPC chairperson, who is also a director of Terminal Engineers, a consultancy, was ordered to surrender his passport with the clerk of court and to report once a month to the police.

The State alleges that on October 23, 2015, Kazhanje signed an engineering, procurement and construction contract of a 100 megawatt solar panel station project with Intratrek Zimbabwe, fronted by Chivayo.

It is alleged Kazhanje failed to declare his interests. ZPC paid Intratrek advance payments of $1 236 154 for the implementation of the project. However, Intratrek did not fulfil its obligation and this resulted in ZPC management suggesting termination of the contract.

The State alleges on January 21, 2016, under unclear circumstances, Kazhanje received $10 000 into his Barclays Bank personal account from Intratrek’s CBZ Bank account.

Kazhanje, in his capacity as the chairperson of ZPC board, presided over a meeting in which it was resolved that the power utility pay for services direct to Intratrek subcontractors instead of terminating the contract.

It is alleged this resulted in ZPC paying $4 387 849 as advance payment despite that Intratrek had not fulfilled its obligation.

The State alleges that Kazhanje was influenced by this payment to decide in favour of Intratrek.

According to the State, Kazhanje failed to declare any interest upon his appointment as the chairperson of ZPC. It is alleged he failed to recuse himself from ZPC meetings that held deliberations on Intratrek.

-Newsday

A Forensic auditor engaged by Hwange Colliery to investigate financial impropriety has fingered Mines and Mining Development minister Winston Chitando, who he said was likely in cahoots with shady characters and was stealing coal from the struggling miner.

Reynolds Tendai Muza, a forensic auditor and investigator with Ralph Bomment Greenacre and Reynolds, on Monday asked Parliament to invoke the Prevention of Corruption Act in order to investigate Chitando and Shepherd Tundiya, who was allegedly masquerading as a State spy agent and using President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s name to kidnap and threaten Hwange Colliery board members.

The forensic auditor suspected that Chitando was linked to a company from his constituency in Gutu, which was transporting the bulk of the coal in Hwange.

“There is a company whose head office is in Gutu, and it is probably the largest haulage company ferrying coal to the mine,” Muza said.

“As an investigator, I found that this company, Inducto Save, is doing 68% of its work in Hwange and I wondered why it is based in Gutu. Its directors are named as Solomon Matsa, whose address is given as residing in South Africa, and another director, Shelter Madanhire. And Inducto Save headquarters is PO Box 119, Matsa Stores in Gutu. But further investigations show that these people are based in South Africa.”

Muza said it was shocking that at Hwange Colliery, several companies performed incompatible functions of loading coal instead of the company repairing conveyor belts, which will cost them $2 million and save money.

“Loading of coal is being done by a company called Feel Cool Investments, which is directed by Wilfred Tundiya (Shepherd Tundiya’s brother), and another company that loads this coal using front end loaders on contract called AVIM whose directors are Tundiya (Shepherd) and someone else,” he said.
Muza said Hwange Colliery received directives from Tundiya.

“Feel Cool and AVIM are linked and are doing the lifting of the coal into the trucks and delivering it to other places without using weighbridges. It creates room that while Hwange is mining, someone is eating their produce because the ICT systems at Hwange are not functioning properly, and there is no completeness of records,” he said.

Muza said documentary evidence showed that Tundiya’s companies were looting coal from Hwange.

“Tundiya’s companies are stealing coal. Some of the findings right now is that Tundiya owes Hwange Colliery $481 000 in advance payments for coal that was never delivered,” he said.

“When Tundiya was busy stealing coal at Hwange Colliery, Chitando was still the board chairperson of Hwange. He even passed a board decision that Tundiya must be given more business so that he is empowered to pay back the $481 000 he owes.”

The investigator told MPs that the relationship between Chitando and Tundiya now needed further investigation.

“There is need for a forensic investigation under the Prevention of Corruption Act which will be focused on Chitando and Tundiya, because if the investigation is done under this Act, it can even be focused on their families, as well as the investigations on the death threats to the company secretary Allen Masiye and internal auditor Gilbert Mudenda,” he said.

He alleged Tundiya masqueraded as someone connected to Mnangagwa as well as a CIO to instil fear to Hwange Colliery bosses.

Muza said a lot of coal had been stolen from Hwange Colliery by so-called transporters due to weak ICT and security systems.

“On January 2018 the opening stock of coal was 16 015 tonnes, and then they also mined 48 905 tonnes of coal which means that the mine had not sold anything and they were supposed to have a stock pile of 64 920. However, when the surveyor went to do stocktaking he established that there was only 23 438 tonnes left,” he said.

“Of the coal which was ferried, Inducto Save ferried 68,59% of the coal. Hwange Colliery needs $2 million to repair conveyor belts and $2 million to repair the continuous miner, but it looks like someone was interested in seeing trucks ferrying the coal instead of conveyor belts.”

-Newsday

The government has set up a Road Accident Compensation Fund to relieve the burden on road accident victims and their families in settling medical bills and burial expenses.

This was resolved by Cabinet on Tuesday and it comes as a positive response to incessant calls by the Traffic Safety of Zimbabwe and other stakeholders for government to consider this.

Information minister Monica Mutsvangwa told the Mail and Telegraph on Tuesday night that the fund was vital especially in the face of increase in road carnage.

“The fund is important because it will cater for victims, survivors and reduce the burden on the families who will have lost their loved ones.The Ministry of Transport will implement the policy,” said Mutsvangwa.

Public transport drivers will also undergo tests at two year intervals after President Mnangagwa urged public transport drivers to respect human lives before profits.

Last week , government declared the Rusape bus accident a national disaster after more than forty lives perished.
According to statistics, an accident occurs every 15 minutes and five people are killed daily on the country’s roads.
A majority of the victims struggle to pay for treatment while their relatives face challenges in meeting funeral costs.

M&T

The gloves are off in the opposition MDC as hawks plotting the ouster of leader Nelson Chamisa are reportedly unhappy that the party’s elective congress will be held in October next year, when they would have preferred an early congress to have the leadership mess cleaned up as a matter of urgency.

Highly-placed sources said there was a clique in the opposition pushing for the ouster of Chamisa and replace him with party secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora.

“There are people within the party who are fronting Mwonzora as the next leader of the MDC. These are unhappy that congress has been moved and are now mooting to attack the party leader on social media and paint him as a dictator. We are acutely aware that this is the work of Zanu PF,” a source said.

The fight for the control of MDC appears to be at its peak, with Kuwadzana East legislator Charlton Hwende (MDC), claiming on Twitter at the weekend that MDC members opposed to the party’s elective congress October 2019 date were surrogate candidates sponsored by Zanu PF and war veterans.

“The MDC congress is due in October. This is determined by the date of our 2014 congress. Zanu PF and their surrogate candidate sponsored by the war veterans want an early congress to divert us from the agenda of marching to State House to defend the vote (for) @nelsonchamisa,” the legislator tweeted.

Last week, a letter purporting to have been authored by Mwonzora querying the October 2019 elective congress turned out to be a forgery.

In response, Mwonzora said: “Some political criminals have resorted to forging signatures of MDC officials. They have also been posting fake tweets, with the aim of creating tensions within party leadership and that will not succeed. I did not issue any statement regarding the party’s elective congress at all. The letter circulating on social media is fake.”

Soon after the contested July 30 general elections, Zanu PF showed its hand when war veterans secretary-general and Zanu PF central committee member Victor Matemadanda said the MDC would be in better hands if it was led by Mwonzora than Chamisa, whom they accused of being violent.

Mwonzora distanced himself from the statements, saying he did not need the endorsement of Zanu PF or war veterans, but his latest tiff with his bosses at the party over the expulsions of party members who stood in the polls as independents has set tempers flying.

-Newsday

A FORENSIC auditor engaged by Hwange Colliery to investigate financial impropriety has fingered Mines and Mining Development minister Winston Chitando, who he said was likely in cahoots with shady characters and was stealing coal from the struggling miner.

Reynolds Tendai Muza, a forensic auditor and investigator with Ralph Bomment Greenacre and Reynolds, on Monday asked Parliament to invoke the Prevention of Corruption Act in order to investigate Chitando and Shepherd Tundiya, who was allegedly masquerading as a State spy agent and using President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s name to kidnap and threaten Hwange Colliery board members.

The forensic auditor suspected that Chitando was linked to a company from his constituency in Gutu, which was transporting the bulk of the coal in Hwange.

“There is a company whose head office is in Gutu, and it is probably the largest haulage company ferrying coal to the mine,” Muza said.

“As an investigator, I found that this company, Inducto Save, is doing 68% of its work in Hwange and I wondered why it is based in Gutu. Its directors are named as Solomon Matsa, whose address is given as residing in South Africa, and another director, Shelter Madanhire. And Inducto Save headquarters is PO Box 119, Matsa Stores in Gutu. But further investigations show that these people are based in South Africa.”

Muza said it was shocking that at Hwange Colliery, several companies performed incompatible functions of loading coal instead of the company repairing conveyor belts, which will cost them $2 million and save money.

“Loading of coal is being done by a company called Feel Cool Investments, which is directed by Wilfred Tundiya (Shepherd Tundiya’s brother), and another company that loads this coal using front end loaders on contract called AVIM whose directors are Tundiya (Shepherd) and someone else,” he said.

Muza said Hwange Colliery received directives from Tundiya.

“Feel Cool and AVIM are linked and are doing the lifting of the coal into the trucks and delivering it to other places without using weighbridges. It creates room that while Hwange is mining, someone is eating their produce because the ICT systems at Hwange are not functioning properly, and there is no completeness of records,” he said.

Muza said documentary evidence showed that Tundiya’s companies were looting coal from Hwange.

“Tundiya’s companies are stealing coal. Some of the findings right now is that Tundiya owes Hwange Colliery $481 000 in advance payments for coal that was never delivered,” he said.

“When Tundiya was busy stealing coal at Hwange Colliery, Chitando was still the board chairperson of Hwange. He even passed a board decision that Tundiya must be given more business so that he is empowered to pay back the $481 000 he owes.”

The investigator told MPs that the relationship between Chitando and Tundiya now needed further investigation.

“There is need for a forensic investigation under the Prevention of Corruption Act which will be focused on Chitando and Tundiya, because if the investigation is done under this Act, it can even be focused on their families, as well as the investigations on the death threats to the company secretary Allen Masiye and internal auditor Gilbert Mudenda,” he said.

He alleged Tundiya masqueraded as someone connected to Mnangagwa as well as a CIO to instil fear to Hwange Colliery bosses.

Muza said a lot of coal had been stolen from Hwange Colliery by so-called transporters due to weak ICT and security systems.

“On January 2018 the opening stock of coal was 16 015 tonnes, and then they also mined 48 905 tonnes of coal which means that the mine had not sold anything and they were supposed to have a stock pile of 64 920. However, when the surveyor went to do stocktaking he established that there was only 23 438 tonnes left,” he said.

“Of the coal which was ferried, Inducto Save ferried 68,59% of the coal. Hwange Colliery needs $2 million to repair conveyor belts and $2 million to repair the continuous miner, but it looks like someone was interested in seeing trucks ferrying the coal instead of conveyor belts.”

NewsDay

THE National Prosecuting Authority (NPA)’s bid to revive corruption charges against five Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (Zinara) bosses yesterday hit a snag after the Supreme Court threw out the State’s appeal against their acquittal.

Messrs Precious Murove (director administration and human resources), Simon Taranhike (finance director), Shadreck Matengabadza (finance manager), Stephen Matute (accountant) and Givemore Tendai Kufa (regional engineer) were last year cleared of criminal abuse of office. They were accused of fraudulently engaging third party companies to source foreign currency on the informal market on behalf of Zinara.

The prosecution sought leave to appeal the decision at the Supreme Court, but Justice Mary Anne Gowora yesterday struck the application off the roll.

The prosecution accused the executives of transferring $2 940 558 into the bank accounts of Access Finance (Private) Limited, Grayriver (Private) Limited and Caudless Trading without authorisation from the Zinara board of directors.
High Court judge Justice Amy Tsanga on April 24 this year cleared the five of any wrongdoing.

“All five accused persons are found not guilty of abuse of public office in terms of Section 174 of the Criminal Code and are acquitted,” ruled Justice Tsanga then.
The court found that the five’s actions had the blessings of their bosses.

The boss, Ms Nancy Masiiwa, was blasted for lying to the court that she was not aware of the transactions.
“We are in no doubt that they acted with the full knowledge of their CEO, Mrs Nancy Masiiwa, whose responsibility it was to bring the issue to the full board,” said Justice Tsanga.

“We were satisfied that the finance director did report to the CEO both in her capacity as CEO of Zinara and her concomitant position in Ifralink about the payments that were made which she knew about.

“It was a simple lie that she was not aware of what was happening.”

Justice Tsanga said it was unfair for the State to prosecute the juniors when the superiors were aware of the transactions.

“There is no basis upon which the accused persons should be held to be the ones responsible when what they did was with the full blessings of their ultimate superior under the circumstances where they were acting in good faith.

“Targeting juniors as scapegoats in an alleged fight against corruption lends itself to selective justice and cannot be countenanced.”

The court heard that sometime in 2011, Zinara was granted a loan of $206 million by the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) for the construction and rehabilitation of the 823km-long Plumtree-Mutare Highway.

NMB Bank was nominated by DBSA to facilitate the loan repayment on a quarterly basis and all revenue in hard currency collected from Zinara’s operations was given to NMB Bank, which would remit it to DBSA.

In May last year, Matute, Kufa, Murove, Taranhike and Matengabadza allegedly sourced foreign currency from the parallel market through Access Finance (Pvt) Ltd and Grayriver (Pvt) Ltd directors, after paying them a total of $2,94 million stating that the payment was a reimbursement to DBSA on behalf of Zinara’s part payment of its loan obligation with DBSA.

State Media

FORMER Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) chairperson Stanley Nyasha Kazhanje has been arrested on allegations of receiving a $10 000 bribe from controversial businessperson, Wicknell Chivayo so he does not cancel the 100 megawatt Gwanda solar project which had been awarded to the latter’s firm Intratrek Zimbabwe in unclear circumstances.

Kazhanje (48) was not asked to plead when he appeared before Harare magistrate Elisha Singano, who remanded him to November 27 on $100 bail.

The former ZPC chairperson, who is also a director of Terminal Engineers, a consultancy, was ordered to surrender his passport with the clerk of court and to report once a month to the police.

The State alleges that on October 23, 2015, Kazhanje signed an engineering, procurement and construction contract of a 100 megawatt solar panel station project with Intratrek Zimbabwe, fronted by Chivayo.

It is alleged Kazhanje failed to declare his interests. ZPC paid Intratrek advance payments of $1 236 154 for the implementation of the project. However, Intratrek did not fulfil its obligation and this resulted in ZPC management suggesting termination of the contract.

The State alleges on January 21, 2016, under unclear circumstances, Kazhanje received $10 000 into his Barclays Bank personal account from Intratrek’s CBZ Bank account.

Kazhanje, in his capacity as the chairperson of ZPC board, presided over a meeting in which it was resolved that the power utility pay for services direct to Intratrek subcontractors instead of terminating the contract.

It is alleged this resulted in ZPC paying $4 387 849 as advance payment despite that Intratrek had not fulfilled its obligation.

The State alleges that Kazhanje was influenced by this payment to decide in favour of Intratrek.

According to the State, Kazhanje failed to declare any interest upon his appointment as the chairperson of ZPC. It is alleged he failed to recuse himself from ZPC meetings that held deliberations on Intratrek.

Sheperd Makonde appeared for the State.

NewsDay

FORMER Cabinet ministers Makhosini Hlongwane (Sport) and Supa Mandiwanzira (ICT) are both set to be summoned to appear before Parliament, where they will be quizzed over loans that were advanced to the country’s football governing body Zifa in 2016 and 2017, but were never repaid.

Hlongwane was Sports minister at the time, while Mandiwanzira was Information Communication Technology (ICT), Postal and Courier Services minister, under which the Postal and Telecommunication Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz), which advanced the money to Zifa, fell.

The two will be asked to appear before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on ICT in a fortnight’s time.

Portfolio chairperson Charlton Hwende indicated that his committee would be pursuing the issue, which was first raised in the committee dealing with sport.

“The issue came from one of the sports committees and Potraz was mentioned. We have an official letter from the former chief executive officer of Zifa (Jonathan Mashingaidze) confirming that they had received $225 000, but the $1 million did not reach Zifa,” Hwende said.

“We intend to summon them (Mandiwanzira and Hlongwane) here because, obviously, these are public funds that must be recovered and we would want to find out the circumstances that led to this decision.”

Potraz advanced $225 000 to Zifa, which was used to charter a plane for the Warriors to fulfil their Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifying match against Guinea in Conakry in 2016.

Zifa had failed to raise money for air tickets and there was a possibility that the trip would be aborted.

The Warriors had already qualified for the 2017 Afcon finals in Gabon, but failure to fulfil that fixture would have seen them lose their place.

Just before the team departed for the finals, Potraz again advanced Zifa $1 000 000, which loan has raised a stink over the way it was processed.

It is also alleged that the money never reached Zifa coffers.

It is purported that the decision to advance Zifa the money was not made by the board, as the arrangement is said to have been made between the two former ministers.

Hlongwane is said to have written to Mandiwanzira requesting a bailout and the letter was copied to Potraz board chairperson.

Potraz director-general Kalisto Machengete indicated that the decision to release the money was not made by the board.

“The decision was not made by the board, but it was regularised by the board and the chairperson of the board was informed and copied with the letter,” Machengete said.

Early this year, Machengete told a media engagement workshop in Kadoma that his organisation had bailed out Zifa, but the football mother body had not paid back the loans.

“Let me make it clear here. Zifa, through the Ministry of Sport, approached us for help. We gave them from our own resources as Potraz, not from the Universal Service Fund (USF), but from our money as Potraz. The money is not a grant, but a loan and we entered into an agreement. We are pursuing it,” he said.

Potraz came to the rescue of Zifa after the Warriors had threatened to boycott their trip to Gabon over bonuses and allowances.

Zifa are hopeful that government would take over the debt as their coffers are empty.

Newsday

Own Correspondent|Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube has proposed to rationalise Foreign Service missions in a move aimed at reducing Zimbabwe’s high wage bill which currently stands at over 90%.

Ncube made the submissions at the 2019 Pre-Budget Seminar held in Bulawayo recently.

Ncube’s proposal seems to be a knee-jerk reaction to a report tabled in Parliament recently that embassy employees at various missions were wallowing in poverty and compelled to do extra work (menial jobs) to survive due to late disbursement of salaries.

The finance minister said the country is currently sitting on a 92% wage bill and the government is utilising hefty amounts of its income on salary payment leaving no fiscal space for infrastructure development.

He said rationalisation of foreign service missions simply means cutting down of embassies like having one ambassador for three or four neighbouring countries with one office, a move which will ultimately results in the lowering of the wage bill.

This will mean that there is likelihood of only one ambassador for neighbouring countries like South Africa, Swaziland and Lesotho who are in the same ‘geographical bloc’.

Zimbabwe has more than 20 missions abroad and some legislators have previously called for the shutting down of some arguing that Harare had no meaningful business with most countries.

However, President Emmerson Mnangagwa has been preaching the gospel of re-engagement making foreign missions a necessity.

This might pose a ‘headache’ for the finance minister lest he decides to shut down some foreign missions.

M&T

 

Speaking to The Herald, Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) corporate communications manager, Mrs Marjorie Munyonga, yesterday confirmed water levels for major dams were now on the downward trend.
She however assured the nation saying the water is sufficient for domestic and agricultural use.
Said Munyonga:
Despite this decline, Zinwa wishes to
assure the nation that the water in the dams is sufficient to meet the
country’s domestic and irrigation
requirements. As at November 9, 2018, the national dam level average was 70 percent. Manyame Catchment is at 86,1 percent, followed by Mazowe Catchment 84,3 percent, Sanyati Catchment 76,3 percent, Save Catchment 73,3 percent Mzingwane’s 71,3 percent, Runde Catchment 62,8 percent and Gwayi recording the lowest average of 55,4 percent.
Zimbabwe Farmers’ Union president, Mr Abdul Nyathi, yesterday said the livestock situation is deteriorating in the southern parts especially in
Beitbridge. He also said tere are no pastures and farmers are also facing difficulties feeding their

cattle.The Herald

 

In an interview with The Herald, Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe (MCAZ) spokesperson Mr Shingai Gwatidzo said Walter Magaya has not applied for registration of a herbal supplement Aguma.
Gwatidzo said MCAZ is yet to receive an application from Magaya for Aguma which the cleric claims has medicinal properties against cancer, HIV and Aids. Said Gwatidzo:
There have been some engagements
between Prophet Walter Magaya and
Ministry of Health and Child Care,
however, MCAZ is yet to receive the
application for registration of the
product in question.
Gwatidzo said the process of registering medicines involved submission of technical information detailing development, production,
clinical trials and safety data. He said following the approvals, submission of samples for quality
control testing was required to confirm that quality and safety issues were met. Gwatidzo
said there was a component of inspection of the manufacturing process, whereby officers from the
MCAZ should physically visit the plant where manufacturing was taking place.The Herald