By Own Correspondent| Addressing party stalwarts who gathered at his “Thank You” rally in Gwanda (Sunday), opposition President Nelson Chamisa said for the country to move forward, there is need for President Emmerson Mnangagwa to address governance issues including the credibility of the July 30 harmonised elections.
Chamisa told MDC supporters that because President Emmerson Mnangagwa “stole the people’s victory in the July 30 plebiscite”, the country was at a standstill economically.
Nelson Chamisa in Gwanda
Said Chamisa:
“I know you voted and you voted for change…..Mnangagwa knows he does not have support and in connivance with Chigumba, “akakumba mavhoti edu” meaning he stole our votes….Our economic crisis is emanating from a governance crisis. We are in that scenario where elections are stolen year in and year out hence we are failing to move forward.”
By Own Correspondent| Opposition MDC President Nelson Chamisa has accused President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s clueless administration of stealing from the poor under the guise of the recently introduced 2% per dollar electronic transaction charge.
Addressing hundreds of party supporters in Gwanda (Sunday) at a “Thank You” rally by his party, Chamisa called on government to immediately reverse this tax which he said was criminal.
Said Chamisa:
“There is no level of being criminal which is more than that. We have a clueless government which is stealing from the poor. Citizens must call on the removal of the tax and it must be removed immediately. But they (government) mist not only remove the tax but return what they have already stolen through this tax.”
Terrence Mawawa| While Zanu PF officials are falling over each other in a desperate attempt to demonise MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa, the youthful opposition leader has said the party will forge ahead with preparations for peaceful demonstrations.
Addressing thousands of party supporters at a rally in Beitbridge yesterday Chamisa said the MDC Alliance was in the process of organising a peaceful march that will held this month.
As your leadership, we are in the
process of mobilising Zimbabweans for the march.We are going to give you a signal on how to proceed and the date will be announced soon.However, let us conduct ourselves peacefully as we roll out our plan in line with the provisions of the Constitution of Zimbabwe,” said Chamisa.
Chamisa insists Zanu PF president Emmerson Mnangagwa is an illegitimate leader.
Terrence Mawawa|The ruling party Zanu-PF is set to accredit delegates for the forthcoming 17th Annual National People’s Conference between November 15 and 29.
The Zanu PF Conference will be held at a time the nation is grappling with the current economic crisis.
The ruling party annual conference will further drain state resources at a time the government is failing to address the plight of civil servants.
The conference will be held at Umzingwane Boys’ High School,
Esigodini in Matabeleland South Province.
In an interview with state run daily paper, The Herald Zanu-PF Director for Administration Dickson Dzora said the party would deploy province three teams per province.
“We are having three teams deployed
per province all at once. So the
accreditation begins on the 15th and it will end on the 29th of November. We are having district, provincial
executive, National Consultative
Assembly representatives as well
Central Committee and the Politburo
members plus supporting staff like
security,” said Dzora.
ZANU PF leader, Emmerson Mnangagwa has proceeded to hire outgoing World Bank employee to the post of a technical advisor.
Bvumbe was previously rumoured to be the incoming reserve bank of Zimbabwe governor. But in a sudden turn of events, Mnangagwa changed his mind at the last minute.
The latest development was revealed by his spokesperson George Charamba who said that Andrew Bvumbe, will be a technical advisor to the President and cabinet.
Mangudya’s tenure at the RBZ will now be extended.
In his bold denial, Charamba claimed that Mangudya is even more qualified than Bvumbe. He told the Daily News, “Why is there that misconception that when you come back from the World Bank, you must be landed with the post of the governor?
“This guy is an MSc; Mangudya has a PhD. Which is a higher qualification, what is the point?”
By Own Correspondent| MDC President Nelson Chamisa is in Gwanda where he is set to address a “Thank You” rally.
The rally is one of Chamisa’s nationwide “Thank You” rallies where he said he is meeting the electorate and thanking them for their vote in the July 30 elections, while at the same time telling them of the way forward in the wake of a rigged election.
This is a developing story. Refresh this page for updates.
By Own Correspondent| Government is considering developing a biometric register of its workforce in a move aimed at flushing out ghost workers on the government payroll, President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said.
The move will also reduce government expenditure.
According to a local weekly, it is estimated that more than more than 80% of government revenue is used to pay civil servants in a development that leaves very little capital available for infrastructure development.
Said Mnangagwa:
“A time-lined raft of measures on that front will be announced soon, including an exercise in developing a biometric register of all civil servants on Government payroll which should eliminate leakages through ghost workers.”- StateMedia
A sixty year-old man from Worringham on the outskirts of Bulawayo reportedly suffered a heart attack and died last Thursday after he allegedly had sex with a pig.
The body of Mr Elias Ndlovu was discovered in the morning in the pigsty with his zip down with traces of sperms on his manhood while other suspected sperms were also evident on a pig’s back, sources claimed.
Bulawayo provincial police spokesperson Chief Inspector Precious Simango said they received a report of sudden death, saying they suspected that the man had suffered a heart attack.
“I can confirm an incident of sudden death that occurred at Worringham in Bulawayo.
The body of the deceased was taken to the United Bulawayo Hospital for post mortem but at this stage no foul play is suspect. It is suspected Mr Ndlovu suffered a heart attack after a sexual act with the pig,” said Chief Inspector Simango.
Mr Ndlovu was employed as a night watchman at the Worringham plot and was on night duty on the night in question.
A co-worker at the plot who spoke on condition of anonymity revealed that Mr Ndlovu had been last seen when he was resuming his duties on Wednesday only to be discovered at the pigsty the following morning.
“In terms of personality he was a nice man, who minded his own business, he had no enemies at all. On the night in question I saw him doing his rounds in the evening as he resumed his security duties. We were shocked when we discovered his body in the pigsty the following morning,” said the co-worker.
By Own Correspondent| MDC leader, Nelson Chamisa has revealed that his party is currently mobilising for a peaceful march to be held in the coming days.
Chamisa said this while addressing thousands of party supporters who attended the opposition leader’s “Thank You” rally at Dulivhadzimo stadium Saturday.
The MDC leader told party supporters to be patient and wait for their leadership to “give them a signal”.
Said Chamisa:
“As your leadership, we are in the process of mobilising for the march. We are going to give you a signal on how to proceed and the date soon.
However, I appeal that we conduct ourselves peacefully as we roll out our plan in line with the provisions of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.”- State Media
Correspondent|This is what Strive Masiyiwa recently said about his relationship with Joshua Nkomo, commenting on his Facebook thread.
The late Dr Joshua Nkomo loved me like a dear son. In the last years of his life he would just call for me, like a priest, and I would sit there quietly as he reminisced about his life.
Sometimes I read him tracks from a little Bible I carried in my pocket. I keep a picture of him, in which I’m praying for him.
At times I would go into his bedroom and listen to him as he lay there.
Oftentimes he would fall asleep whilst talking and I would just sit there for however long and wait for him to wake up again. I never left even to go and come back.
He once told me that there were so many things in the Unity Accord [that he signed to end the conflict] that he did not like. He gave me intimate details of his anguish that often led me to tears.
“So why did you sign, baba?” I asked quietly.
“I looked at the suffering of the people. You must always try to do something if you see your people suffering.”
Again he said to me:
“Don’t allow anger or bitterness to cloud your judgment. See I’m working with Mugabe.”
Those words rung in my ears when I rushed to help end Cholera, not once but twice. It is what propelled me to rush to join the campaign to end the Ebola pandemic in West Africa. It propels me when I think of little Leah Sharibu’s plight in the hands of Boko Haram.
As the cycle of his life ebbed to its end, I would often go to the hospital to see him with his wife, known affectionately as “Mafuyana”.
“When he sees your face, he lights up despite the pain,” she told me once. “I can’t understand his love for you.”
We did not come from the same tribe, nor were we related. He taught me everything about love of nation, and the African continent.
And when he died, she made a special request to President Mugabe, which he granted despite the latter’s deep animosity towards me at the time.
I did something at the Heroes Acre to commemorate our special relationship.
Later I set up a scholarship in his memory, that has educated the most brilliant young people from Zimbabwe, and other nations since his death.
Joshua Nkomo is the greatest man I ever had the honor and privilege to know personally. If I can be just 10% to the mentor to you, that he was to me, then my life will be fulfilled considerably.
“I looked at the suffering of the people. You must always try to do something if you see your people suffering.”
President Emmerson Mnangagwa is now distancing himself from his top ally Christopher Mustvangwa amid warnings by the war veterans’ leader that he won’t be silenced after he spoke out against alleged state capture.
Mutsvangwa, who was instrumental in Mnangagwa’s rise that culminated in the ouster of former president Robert Mugabe in November last year, last week claimed Sakunda Holdings owner Kudakwashe Tagwirei was behind state capture.
However, Mnangagwa’s spokesperson George Charamba, in an exclusive interview with The Standard on Friday, referred to Mutsvangwa as the president’s ex-advisor.
He said the outspoken former War veterans minister was resorting to fake politics after failing to penetrate the fuel industry.
Charamba said Mutsvangwa must provide evidence that Tagwirei was behind “state capture” and that he was running a cartel in the fuel industry.
“That is where we differ with our colleagues. Go and provide evidence because culprits are not dealt with by headlines, but they are dealt with by handcuffs, and if he has got some information please can he help the system?” he said.
“It’s not that if you are fronting a rival planning to bring fuel, then you retreat in the political deck because you cannot stand the heat in the boardroom, no, that is not acceptable.”
Charamba said Mutsvangwa was not a whistleblower, but an interested party in the fight for control of the fuel industry in Zimbabwe.
“We have made this information available to you that you draw a line between bona fide whistleblowers and rivals who are trying to fall back on political clout to get the better of competition,” he said.
“We are saying to you the doors are open, the market is open so get in the market together with your people and compete with others just like any other person.
“You get blooded, we say sorry, and you win, we say hallelujah and not try to use fake politics.”
Mutsvangwa, who is said to have links with a South African-based fuel giant Mining, Oil and Gas Service (MOGS), last week insisted he had a three-year contract to be Mnangagwa’s advisor.
He said he still had an office and personal assistant, but had been away for a while because of health reasons.
“Those who say I am fired thought my appointment was tied to me being an MP, that is why they sponsored a rival candidate so that I lose hoping that I would be automatically fired from being an advisor,” he said in a recent interview. “They are sulking bitterly.”
Charamba said the former minister’s criticism of command agriculture sounded like former Higher and Tertiary Education minister Jonathan Moyo’s argument.
Moyo described the programme championed by Mnangagwa as “ugly culture”, saying it was being used to fleece the government.
“We don’t think the former advisor meant it, we don’t think so,” Charamba said when asked about Mutsvangwa’s criticism of the programme.
“Does he really want to share the same argument with (former minister) Jonathan Moyo?
“That is Jonathan Moyo’s argument and I don’t think he wants to because I know he doesn’t want to.”
Meanwhile, Mutsvangwa last night denied that he was a front for MOGS and charged that he won’t be silenced.
“I do not front for MOGS which came to my attention in 2015 from the Ministry of Defence department of business development.
“The (then) head of the unit, General Sibusiso B Moyo, and permanent secretary Martin Rushwaya asked me to lobby for the MOGS in Cabinet,” he said.
“I challenge anyone who has proof of my contractual links to MOGS to publish it. They should provide something beyond sulky assertions.”
Mutsvangwa said Mugabe’s ouster last year ushered in a new dispensation where there was freedom of expression and he would continue speaking his mind.
“I am Zimbabwean and a revolutionary before I am a politician, functionary or whatever.
“All other attributions are subordinate to my democratic rights. After all, November 2017 ushered in an open season of free discourse,” he said.
“The 2013 constitution allows and entrenches free thinking and unfettered open speech.
“My first obligation is to be a democrat. I fought for that side by side with many of my generation. There is no earthly price tag to freedom of speech.”
Mutsvangwa said as things stood, several companies among them Vitoil of Switzerland, ADNOC of Abu Dhabi, OTI of Oman, IPG of Kuwait and a “bevy” of other global hydrocarbon global players from Singapore, Beijing, Moscow and Johannesburg were in Harare to explore market opportunities in the country.
“My sole interest is to see the nation benefit from the lowest fuel price possible from these interested market players, a case which has not been obtained to date,” he said
“For the record, most, if not all, these companies have been to my office. I handled all the same way as MOGS under the banner Zimbabwe Is Open for Business. In Shona, kuvhunduka chati kwata hunge uine katuruke [he who has something to hide panics easily]. Otherwise those who have always hated me should go beyond banal accusations to adduced evidence.”
He refused to comment on Charamba’s claim that he was no longer Mnangagwa’s advisor.
“I will not comment on a matter of public office. Just that it is not an elected office, thus is beyond my purview,” he said.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa and ailing Vice President Constantino Chiwenga appeared together to announce that Australia’s Invictus Energy had found oil and gas deposits in the northern Muzarabani area, showing a united front in the face of widening divisions in the presidium.
Mnangagwa and Chiwenga attempted to paper over their divisions as they addressed the press on Thursday afternoon about the oil find, a discovery which has since been refuted by Australian-listed Invictus Energy which has now said it had not found any oil and gas deposits but there were indications of a “working petroleum system” which could only be confirmed by a planned exploration well.
Despite attempts to present a united front, the two top government figures remained at loggerheads, top officials said.
Chiwenga’s health had improved considerably. He has been receiving medical treatment in neighbouring South Africa for wounds reportedly sustained during the White City bombing.
It also seems Mnangagwa was keen to present a united front when he hosts Indian Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, who was expected in Harare yesterday, the first such high level visit in more than two decades.
The deputy chief secretary to the President and Cabinet responsible for communications George Charamba confirmed that Chiwenga will be part of the team hosting the VP, despite his continuing health challenges.
Asked if Chiwenga is now back on his feet, Charamba said the vice president was fit enough to be part of the team hosting his Indian counterpart.
“He has a long way to go, he is slowly creeping back to work.
“I will tell you what, remember his counterpart from India is coming back and remember this is a counter visit, so we are only trying to bring him up to speed and he is also to be part of the programme,” Charamba said.
Chiwenga’s public appearance is the first since news of divisions in the presidium emerged late last month amid reports that a powerful businessman with links to the VP was formenting divisions in the corridors of power.
In an earlier interview with the Daily News, Charamba dismissed suggestions that the two former allies were fighting, saying “not a single day passes without a conversation between Chiwenga and Mnangagwa.”
Political analysts said the move to wheel out Chiwenga at a time of widening divisions in the presidium was for optics and also meant to quieten speculation over divisions “real or perceived.”
“I think it’s trying to dress the fiasco with a veneer of unity, solidarity and cohesion while we know there are huge rifts between the two and difficult to reconcile approaches to national issues.
“The other prefers civilian approaches while the other prefers military approaches,” political analyst Maxwell Saungweme said.
United Kingdom-based scholar Alex Magaisa said after Mnangagwa and the Zanu PF youth league boss Pupurai Togarepi attacked some senior party leaders in a thinly disguised veil, it was now clear that all is not well in the ruling party.
“It is clear that there are ructions and Mnangagwa has adopted a Grace Mugabe-like approach of attacking party members without naming them,” Magaisa said.
“Like Mugabe, he’s now demanding party members to toe the party line or to leave.
“The youth leader Togarepi also joined in, just like Chipanga before him. It is a sign that things are not well in the camp.
“Chiwenga is trying to manage the situation by presenting himself when he should be recuperating at home.
“It is about keeping and watching the space.
“Note also that Mnangagwa has taken away defence and war veterans and dumped him in procurement and research as areas of supervision.
“That’s a demotion given his previous role, although it will give him a role in tenders since he oversees public procurement,” Magaisa said.
Professor of world politics at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, Stephen Chan, said Zanu PF cannot do with infighting never mind the perilous state of the economy.
“There have been moves and countermoves involving Mnangagwa and Chiwenga.
“It’s in fact far too early for any serious succession talk, but the two most likely candidates are manoeuvring just to ensure they remain in the frame.
“It’s part of a Zimbabwean political disease I’m afraid. People talk of who is in power and no one knows how to use that power to redevelop the economy and the country,” said Chan.
By Own Correspondent| Opposition President, Nelson Chamisa, told party supporters that the MDC is in the process of mobilising a peaceful march to be held in the coming days.
Chamisa said this at Dulivhadzimo stadium Saturday while addressing thousands of his supporters who had gathered at for a “Thank You” rally.
Said Chamisa:
“As your leadership, we are in the process of mobilising for the march. We are going to give you a signal on how to proceed and the date soon.
However, I appeal that we conduct ourselves peacefully as we roll out our plan in line with the provisions of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.”- State Media
By Own Correspondent| Higher and Tertiary Education minister, Professor Amon Murwira has endorsed the controversial two percent tax per every electronically-transacted dollar announced by Finance minister Professor Mthuli Ncube, saying the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe was literally “empty”.
Murwira said the country’s dire economic situation required everyone’s contribution adding that only collective action would resuscitate the ailing economy.
Said Murwira:
“Zimbabwe is like a canoe and everyone should paddle so that we stay afloat. We cannot sink because of one person (who does not want to pay the tax) and we each have to play our part.
The country is a helpless being and if you sleep it also sleeps. The reason why many people cried because of the two percent tax is because they have not been contributing towards nation-building.
We need all hands on deck and the two percent tax is part of the measures to make this country get back onto its feet. You cannot demand good services when you are not paying.”
Murwira said tax should not be an issue of debate as is being done in the country saying other countries world over were doing it.
“In countries like Germany, failing to pay tax is a serious crime which can get you locked up for a long time. Many people have not been paying their taxes and there is no room for that in the new dispensation.
The RBZ is empty and you find people queuing for forex which they did not deposit. Where do you expect the bank to get the forex from if you are not bringing it in?
We need businesses to be export-oriented and target those outside markets. We do not want the situation where people get into the business of selling money like what we are experiencing across the country.”
Business mogul and Econet Wireless founder, Mr Strive Masiyiwa could soon head an International Advisory Council which will advise President Emmerson Mnangagwa on global economic issues and push the re-engagement process.
Masiyiwa who last week dominated local and international media headlines following his call for the removal of sanctions is understood to be one of the key people eyed by Mnangagwa to prop up his in global image, following countless efforts to quote investors hit a brick wall.
According to The Sunday Mail, the team will also assist the country in having the US sanctions law, the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery (Amendment) Act 2018, removed.
Industrialists also proposed establishment of a local advisory council during their interface with President Mnangagwa at State House in Harare last Monday.
President Mnangagwa agreed with the proposal and asked the industrialists to second names of their “best brains” to constitute the grouping.
Last week, Deputy Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet (Presidential Communications) Mr George Charamba said: “We are working on an international advisory team. So we will have a local advisory business team but there is also going to be an international advisory team.
“By now we are in the final stages and in the next two to three weeks, we should have some announcement of sorts. “We are looking at retirees from IFIs; we are looking at persons from America, we are looking at persons from Britain, persons from China; we are looking at characters from Germany, we are looking at characters from South Africa; and we are also looking at eminent Zimbabwean businesspeople.”
Mr Charamba said some of the people were consulted during the 73rd Ordinary Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September, but declined to mention names as consultations were ongoing.
“It worked very well in Rwanda. Rwanda used that to good effect. That business council will not just advise the President on international economic issues, it will also help us in the re-engagement process.
“Essentially, it means helping us develop strategies of rolling back sanctions and also engaging international finance markets for new credit lines,” said Mr Charamba.
At a meeting between President Mnangagwa and Diasporan Zimbabweans in New York in September, Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube — who was part of the Zimbabwe delegation to the General Assembly — said the board would have about ten people.
“This is not an unusual path. Pakistan has announced its international advisory board, it was done by the new Prime Minister Imran Khan. Somalia has just set up a board, Somaliland has a board as well. Rwanda has a board. In Nigeria there used to be a board but I’m not so sure now. But this is common practice, we should get the best minds to assist us,” Prof Ncube explained.
As part of President Mnangagwa’s international engagement and re-engagement drive, his administration is lobbying for an end to economic sanctions on Zimbabwe as well as normalisation of relations with multilateral lenders and development partners.
This is in line with his vision to create an upper middle-income by 2030.
US sanctions direct Americans at IFIs to block extension of credit to Zimbabwe, and Prof Ncube is in January 2019 expected to travel to that country as part of the anti-embargo lobby.
Last week, leading businessman and Econet founder Mr Strive Masiyiwa said, “… sanctions should be removed, there’s no justification for them anymore.
“They should be removed. I’ve always been on record to say the sanctions are not justified and now we’re almost 20 years into the sanctions. You can’t have one country operate with its hands tied behind its back.”
By Paul Nyathi|The Crisis In Zimbabwe Coalition has invited SADC to urgently arbitrate in trying to stabilise the Zimbabwean political and economic situation.
The Coalition met with the current SADC chairperson and provided the statememt below:
Attention: The SADC Chairperson, H.E President Hage Geingob
cc:All SADC Heads of State & Government
30 October 2018
REF: STATE OF AFFAIRS IN ZIMBABWE AND A CALL FOR YOUR URGENT ATTENTION
Background
Your Excellency, we wish to thank you for accepting our request to meet with you and present the current situation unfolding in Zimbabwe.
We seek to share the state of affairs in our country with the hope that SADC as the regional body will take our issues as a matter of urgency.
This engagement is a continuation of our efforts in trying to address the challenges that are bedevilling our country.
In May this year, we engaged the SADC Secretariat in Botswana where we briefed the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security by commending the peaceful environment ahead of the 2018 July 30 election and equally shared our concerns on the political environment and processes preceding the elections.
We also participated at the SADC People’s Summit held at the Windhoek Show Grounds in Namibia from 16 – 17 August 2018 which raised concerns over the situation in Zimbabwe and in particular military involvement in civilian politics which has a potential to deny citizens their right to determine governance and election outcomes through democratic processes.
Conversely, our coming here is also motivated by our engagements and broader consultations as a collective body of civil society organisations representing the different clusters of civil society who recommended that we take these issues to you in your capacity as the Chairperson of SADC.
State of Affairs
We are coming here three months after the holding of our harmonised elections held eight months after the removal of former President, Robert Mugabe through a military intervention named “Operation Restore Legacy.”
It is our view that the democratic process in Zimbabwe must conform to the values and principles of SADC which are: “Promotion, consolidation and maintenance of democracy, peace and security.’’
Equally, the statutes of SADC are clear as espoused by Article 4 of the SADC Treaty which states that member states are guided by the following principles:
(i) Solidarity, peace and security;
(ii) Human rights, democracy and the rule of law;
(iii) Peaceful settlement of disputes.
In light of this, we remain guided by these set principles and guidelines and we believe that the military operation of November 17, 2017 was therefore an alien practise in the SADC community.
Military interventions are a threat to democracy and economic development within the region and the Zimbabwean scenario set a wrong precedence hence the need for security sector reforms.
We need to bring it to your attention, Your Excellency that Zimbabwe made some progress around reforming the electoral field we remain concerned that there was heavy involvement of the military which had captured key state institutions.
We note, however, that the November 2017 military intervention and events that followed are as a result of the unfinished business brought by the Global Political Agreement of 2008 which was facilitated by SADC. However, we acknowledge that the Global Political Agreement was a step forward as it yielded a progressive constitution for Zimbabwe.
This brief seeks to draw your attention to the urgent need for SADC to assist Zimbabwe realise its potential by addressing the political and economic challenges currently facing the country.
Over the past 20 years, Zimbabwe has been facing a prolonged political and economic crisis. Violations of human rights and the collapse of the economy have resulted in the millions of citizens seeking refuge in neighbouring countries and beyond.
We fear that if the situation continues unchecked, there are greater chances of social unrest and instability in Zimbabwe.
We bring to your attention the following:
1.Zimbabwe has not fully implemented the 2013 Constitution. The implementation of the constitution has been slow and there is limited movement in repealing repressive legislation which is in conflict with the constitution. Society continues to call for security sector and media reforms and the non-implementation of recommendations by the SADC Election Observer Mission to facilitate for diaspora voting.
2.There is a perpetual economic meltdown which has resulted in high levels of inflation and an increase in domestic debt which has compromised the government’s capacity for the provision of social services. If left unresolved this has economic, social and security effects at a regional level. We however acknowledge efforts at attracting foreign and local investments.
3.The Zimbabwean society is heavily divided and polarised and there is huge trust deficit characterised by a perpetuation of political polarisation in post-election period.
4.Military involvement in civilian processes. The events of August 01, 2018 in which the military shot 7 unarmed civilians in the full glare of both regional and international media is evidence of the above.
5.The media particularly the state-controlled media continues to be partial perpetuating divisions in society. The SADC Election Observer Mission noted in their preliminary report on the 2018 elections in Zimbabwe that “the public broadcaster and the State-owned newspapers were in favour of one political party, contrary to the relevant provisions of the Constitution, the Electoral Act, and the Revised SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections, which requires State-owned media to be impartial.’’
6.That while Zimbabwe is a signatory to both the SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections and the African Charter on Democracy and Elections, there is limited movement in domesticating and implementing these protocols. We fear that the next elections will be held under undemocratic conditions if this is not addressed.
Way forward
Based on the above background, which should be understood in the context of the ongoing political and economic crisis bedevilling the country, we propose the following urgent interventions:
1) That SADC should consider supporting an internal and inclusive stakeholders’ dialogue in Zimbabwe. It is our conviction that the dialogue process must involve all stakeholders and a national visioning process that has civil society, government, political parties, business, religious groups and labour unions among other critical stakeholders on board. The national dialogue should seek to realise the foundational values and vision of SADC in creating a Common Future, a future within a regional community that will ensure economic well-being, improvement of the standards of living and quality of life, freedom and social justice and peace and security for the people of Southern Africa.
2)SADC should promote and support efforts at arresting the economic downturn in Zimbabwe and encourage Zimbabwe to adopt and implement pro-poor inclusive economic development policies. Efforts at economic transformation, stabilisation and growth should meet the expectations of the SADC objective of achieving sustained ‘Economic Growth and Sustainable Development so that people in the region have better living standards and employment opportunities.’
3)SADC in its endeavour to promote democratic principles in the region, should encourage the Government of Zimbabwe to uphold and guarantee citizens’ rights as enshrined in the Zimbabwean Constitution and other regional and international human rights treaties and statutes. SADC should encourage Zimbabwe to fulfil its obligations as spelt out in the SADC Treaty which designates “solidarity, peace and security; respect for human rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law and peaceful settlement of disputes” as its founding principles.
4)The SADC community in line with its objective of ensuring a democratic ad economically developed region should institute discussions on the situation in Zimbabwe and develop a political and economic rescue package that is predicated on democratic progress.
It is our sincere hope that the issues shared, through this brief will be given urgency.
By Own Correspondent| A 2017 report by the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) has exposed widespread and pervasive corruption by the Zimbabwe Republic Police officers, particularly those managing roadblocks nationally.
The ZHRC report revealed that police details manning roadblocks were perceived by the public as perpetuating lawlessness and indiscipline.
According to the report, presented before parliament (Thursday), corruption reported at public entities and in the private sector highlighted the endemic culture of personal enrichment, political patronage and impunity which crippled service delivery across key sectors of the economy.
Said ZHRC Chairperson Commissioner Elasto Mugwadi:
“This further compromised the protection and fulfilment of human rights to ordinary Zimbabweans.”
Read the report:
“Human rights violations were committed against street vendors who were assaulted and had some of their wares confiscated by the ZRP and municipal police mainly in Harare during operations to clear the streets of vendors and during demonstrations against police heavy-handedness.
There were allegations of some of the vendors and other protesters having been tortured in detention following their arrest.
Efforts by the commission to engage the police following the completion of the Bulawayo (Burombo Flats) and Epworth reports on brutalities committed during the 2016 demonstrations were met with arrogance.”
According to the report, opposition parties appeared to struggle to offer any alternative to help alleviate the deteriorating human rights situation in the country as their calls to authorities to respect human rights went unheeded.
Read the report:
“Perennial disagreements undermined the opposition parties’ widely publicised endeavours to form a grand coalition to contest the 2018 general elections as a united front against the ruling Zanu PF party.” -Standard
Own Correspondent|The Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition on recently met with the SADC Chairperson and President of Namibia, H.E Hage Geingob at State House in Windhoek, Namibia to brief him on the deepening political and economic crisis bedevilling Zimbabwe.
The meeting, came upon a request by the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition and a delegation from the Coalition presented its position to the SADC Chairperson with regards the state of affairs in Zimbabwe.
The Chairperson of Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, Rashid Mahiya led the discussion and called upon SADC to urgently put Zimbabwe on its agenda and find ways of resolving the deepening political and economic crisis in the country.
Briefing the SADC Chair, the Coalition’s Chairperson, Mahiya expressed concern that Zimbabwe has not fully implemented the 2013 Constitution. He said the implementation of the constitution has been slow and there is limited movement in repealing repressive legislation which is in conflict with the constitution. He added that the Zimbabwean society continues to call for security sector and media reforms adding that another issue of concern was the non-implementation of recommendations by the SADC Election Observer Mission to facilitate for diaspora voting.
The Coalition also noted that Zimbabwe has been experiencing a perpetual economic meltdown which has resulted in high levels of inflation and an increase in domestic debt which has compromised the government’s capacity for the provision of social services.
“If left unresolved this has economic, social and security effects at a regional level. We however acknowledge efforts at attracting foreign and local investments,” the delegation warned.
Mahiya also noted that the Zimbabwean society is heavily divided and polarised and there is huge trust deficit characterised by a perpetuation of political polarisation in post-election period. And Military involvement in civilian processes is worrying.
“The events of August 01, 2018 in which the military shot 7 unarmed civilians in the full glare of both regional and international media is evidence of the above,” stressed the full briefing statement shared with President Geingob.
In his response, President Geingob committed to engage the Zimbabwean authorities and bring the concerns raised by the Coalition to the attention of SADC.
The SADC Chairperson reiterated calls for peace and stability in Zimbabwe adding that citizens and civil society should continue playing their part in holding the state to account. President Geingob hailed the initiative by the Coalition and gave assurance that follow up meetings will be conducted as a way of finding common ground with regards to the situation in Zimbabwe.
The meeting is part of the coalition’s regional lobbying efforts and follows previous engagements with the SADC secretariat in Botswana in May 2018.
Other members of the delegation included Okay Machisa (ZimRights), Wadzanayi Vere (NANGO), Rev Useni Sibanda (Zimbabwe Christian Alliance), Sandie Tjaronda Chairperson (Namibian NGO Forum Trust) and Blessing Vava, CiZC Regional Coordinator, Rev Sipho Theys (CiZC SA Board).
President Geingob was accompanied by Martin Andjaba, Minister of Presidential Affairs, Economic Advisor Ms Penny Akwenye and a Permanent Secretary in the Presidency.
Apart from the meeting with President Geingob, the delegation also met with civil society leaders in Namibia operating under the banner of Namibia NGO Forum Trust. The meeting with CSOs sought to mobilise and strengthen people to people solidarity in the SADC region. The CSO leaders resolved to strengthen regional solidarity actions amongst organisations in SADC adding that civil society should consider creating a framework for an internal dialogue on Zimbabwe
The CiZC Regional Information & Advocacy Programme exists to amplify citizen voices into the regional space and provides regional, continental and international lobby and solidarity platforms for Zimbabwean CSOs.
The programme which is being run through the CiZC regional office based in Johannesburg, South Africa and has been key as a one-stop shop for up-to-date information on key developments (political, social and economic) in Zimbabwe and informs various stakeholders’ interventions in promoting democratization in Zimbabwe. The stakeholders include diplomats, solidarity partners and governments in the SADC region and the African Union.
Government will review the two percent transactional tax on electronic money transfers to make it sensitive to the needs of both business and consumers, President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said.
The Head of State and Government said a new law was being drafted to deal with “unexplained wealth and deposits” after which new tax measures would be announced.
In his weekly column in The Sunday Mail, President Mnangagwa said his Government would always listen to business.
“Government took to heart the cry that the two percent transactional tax has compounded the tax burden for both business and for the consumer.
“Once the legal instrument we are crafting against unexplained wealth and deposits is in place, new measures will be announced to review the tax which, among other considerations, had been occasioned by illicit activities in the financial services sector,” said President Mnangagwa.
To ensure greater cohesion, a local business advisory body made up of representatives seconded from industry is being created.
Further, an international advisory body will be formed to keep the President “keyed on international business and investment issues”.
“To narrow the communication gap, I have embraced the idea of a Business Council to advise me and Government. At the Monday meeting (with business representatives at State House, Harare), I requested that business forward names so that such an advisory body is urgently constituted.
“Because we operate in the global market, I have also decided to create another advisory body comprising international experts who will keep me keyed on international business and investment issues.
“The catchment for such a team will be global, both geographically and by way of the range of experience. Zimbabwe must improve her international appeal for FDI,” said the President.
President Mnangagwa said his Government would not consider policies that eroded wealth, wages, savings and pensions.
“A key consideration of both monetary and fiscal policy must be to secure the values of wealth, earnings, wages and savings in the economy. We should never make or allow decisions that erode value, as happened in 2008. On this one matter we stand firm and unmoved. No policy will be entertained whose net effect is to undermine value in the economy.”
Indications are that some of the measures President Mnangagwa is speaking of will be captured in the 2019 National Budget that will likely be presented in late November.
Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube has said he is simplifying the tax structure and coming up with incentives for SMEs to contribute to the fiscus.
Musician Sandra Ndebele, who was reportedly defrauded of her money by a Bulawayo woman, has dismissed claims that she is a cash baron and a runner for someone in Bulawayo.
Sandy, as she is affectionately known, accused the woman identified as Lindiwe Moyo of defrauding her of US$8 330 and $80 000 bond notes. She has
threatened to file a civil suit against Moyo after she failed to honour their agreement that she would return the money in instalments of $1 000 per day.
Moyo, who was travelling from Beitbridge to Bulawayo a fortnight ago with the money stashed in a suitcase, claims she was robbed of the money by two men and a woman when they stopped at Collen Bawn for a recess on their way.
Upon reporting the case to the police, Moyo said Sandy was an illegal forex dealer who is a runner for a top government official.
Speaking to The Standard Style last week, Sandy said Moyo had stage-managed the money disappearance incident.
“From what I see, the whole process was stage-managed. How can one leave such large amounts of money unattended in a car with strangers? she is lying, but I won’t have any of it at all. AlI I want is my money,” she said.
“We agreed that she pays $1 000 per day and she signed an affidavit, but she hasn’t come through. So, I am left with no choice, but to get her arrested.”
Sandy said she was not a forex dealer, but a businesswoman who “makes her own money”.
“I am a professional musician who makes money through music and bookings. I am also a businesswoman in the business of poultry and clothing. That’s where I get money from. I am not a cash baron or a forex dealer.
“I was looking for foreign currency for my travels to Dubai and China where I get some of my stuff. There should be investigations on the disappearance of my money and not where I got my hard-earned money from,” she said.
By Own Correspondent| The Zimbabwe Human Right Commission (ZHRC) has revealed that former President Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace are human rights violators.
According to the 2017 ZHRC report, which was tabled before the National Assembly on Thursday, Zimbabweans were suffering due to corruption, political patronage and impunity.
ZHRC chairperson Elasto Mugwadi said in the 2017 report exposed gross violations of human rights that included the right to life, food and water, education, health, shelter and human dignity.
He said the countrywide Zanu PF youth interface rallies undertaken by Mugabe and Grace when they were still in power were used as a platform to attack and denigrate their perceived political opponents.
“Mugabe and his wife grossly undermined Zimbabwe’s founding constitutional values and principles, including the rule of law and recognition of the inherent worth and dignity of each human being.
Accountability to citizens in relation to fulfilment of many of their rights was eroded as government ministers, senior civil servants and other duty bearers spent most of their time attending political rallies and negating their constitutional and statutory obligations to deliver services to citizenry.”
The ZHRC report said corruption reported at public entities and in the private sector highlighted the endemic culture of personal enrichment, political patronage and impunity which crippled service delivery across key sectors of the economy. It said this further compromised the protection and fulfilment of human rights to ordinary Zimbabweans.
“In 2017, opposition parties appeared to struggle to offer any alternative to help alleviate the deteriorating human rights situation in the country as their calls to authorities to respect human rights went unheeded,” read the report.
“Perennial disagreements undermined the opposition parties’ widely publicised endeavours to form a grand coalition to contest the 2018 general elections as a united front against the ruling Zanu PF party.”-Standard
DODGY investment firm Karo Resources, which was controversially allocated vast platinum claims previously held by Zimplats ostensibly to set up a US$4,2 billion plant — a figure which it later disowned to the Zimbabwe Independent suggesting it was a government fabrication — says the murky project is not yet bankable.
After years of angling to gain control of a portion of the mineral-rich Great Dyke, Karo, owned by controversial busineman Lucas Pourolis, was finally given the green light by President Emmerson Mnangagwa to exploit platinum in Zimbabwe, although details of how the murky project will be financed remain opaque.
Karo has managed to mobilise only US$8 million from Tharisa Plc — a company in which the Pourolis family holds a 42% stake to extract and process platinum strewn across claims stretching over 23 903 hectares.
Tharisa CE Phoevos Pourolis said Karo was now considering taking up an equity partner as one of the financing strategies of the “multi-billion dollar project” which is however yet to be finalised into a “bankable” venture.
“When the company was first linked with the investment in May, there were suggestions the mine and processing facilities would cost US$4,2 billion producing 1,4 million ounces of PGM (platinum group metals) by 2023. The resource has to back up the project. It has 96 million ounces in reserves as per Zimplats’ drill results, but we have to verify that and get the project into a bankable state.
“It is certainly an option (finding an equity partner). We have a lot of synergy and co-operation with all the PGM (platinum group metals) producers, so it is something we would discuss,” Pourolis told a mining publication this month.
In July, Tharisa Plc senior partner Bobby Morse told the Independent on the sidelines of the platinum project ground-breaking ceremony that the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and London Stock Exchange-listed firm was still going through the preliminary stages of the deal and could not yet precisely determine the specific amount of financial resources required to implement the project, triggering questions as to how the US$4,2 billion figure came about.
“That US$4,2 billion is something that the government mentioned, not Tharisa, not Karo; it is a government number, we do not have a number, but it is going to be a few billion, we are at a very early stage,” Morse told the Independent then.
“We have started the drilling, we have drilled one hole, there are many more holes to come, so thereafter once we have actually proven that we have the resource and in the meantime there is also other work streams going on, on how best to build this operation.”
The Pourolis family, which is close to Mnangagwa and is notorious for speculative business schemes, has been making power play moves in Zimbabwe after acquiring significant shareholding in Karo Mining Holdings, in a related inter-party transaction, ahead of the expected investment in chrome exploitation, platinum mining and refining as well as coal exploitation and power generation.
Karo signed the controversial multi-billion-dollar investment deal with government in April. In addition, Tharisa has since acquired three vast special grants to mine chrome and other natural resources along the mineral-rich Great Dyke, effectively giving the family control of vast swathes of some of the most lucrative mineral concessions in Zimbabwe.
The Great Dyke hosts huge ore deposits, including gold, silver, chrome, platinum, nickel and asbestos.
The involvement of the listed Tharisa in the unlisted Karo Holdings allows the Pourolis family to raise funds on the stock exchange to finance its projects in Zimbabwe. The company acquired the stake at a low cost of US$4,5 million from the Leto Settlement, “a related party being an indirect material shareholder in Tharisa” and “has a right to increase its project ownership by way of further project level investments at discounted values through a farm-in option at various economic milestones”.
Karo Holdings is seeking to mine platinum through Karo Platinum on land acquired from Zimplats, as well as refining platinum through a company called Karo Refining. Karo Platinum is an indirect 50%-held subsidiary of Karo Holdings with the remaining 50% to be held by an investment company wholly owned by the government. It will also exploit coal through Karo Coal and generate power through a company called Karo Power.
“In terms of the special grant, Karo Platinum will be entitled to mine PGMs (platinum group metals) situated within the License Area. Karo Platinum will be responsible for the mine development and mining operations which will deliver run-of-mine ore to Karo Refining (Pvt) Limited, (‘Karo Refining’). Karo Refining, 75% owned by Karo Holdings, will build, own and operate the concentrators, smelters, as well as the base metal and PGM refinery,” the company announced this year.
“It is intended that the Project Companies will apply for National Project Status and for the projects to be contained within a Special Economic Zone, which will provide the projects with enhanced economics through concessions granted by the Zimbabwe government.”
Sources privy to the murky deal say the platinum claims which Zimplats was forced to cede to Karo Resources were yet to be explored, casting doubt on whether Karo had capacity to mobilise the investment capital required.
“It will be difficult for Karo to raise money to establish the plant without first undertaking exploration which is equally expensive. Holding onto these unexplored claims for speculative purposes might be the motive, but it will be difficult,” a source told the Independent.
By Own Correspondent| Former Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede who wanted to buy an estate in Vainona for horticultural purposes has been left hanging after council suspended all land sales until the country’s financial situation stabilises, it has emerged.
The motion for the suspension of the land sales, was moved by Mabelreign councillor Denford Ngadziore and was agreed upon by the city fathers.
Mayor Herbert Gomba also agreed with the motion and advised him that the acting chamber secretary Charles Kandemiri had already implemented the suspension.
Gomba said the resolution to stop the sales was exacerbated by the need for council to get value for the commodity they were selling.
Said Gomba:
“We are looking at the leases and sale of council property and land to see whether it is prudent for us to sell them in this particular environment.
While we are reviewing the rates, we have decided that we should stop sales and proceed to lease so that we will be able to review the rates.
This is done to protect the interests of council and to ensure that it gets value from its properties.”- Daily News
A sixty-year-old man from Worringham on the outskirts of Bulawayo reportedly suffered a heart attack and died last Thursday after he allegedly had sex with a pig.
The body of Mr Elias Ndlovu was discovered in the morning in the pigsty with his zip down with traces of sperms on his manhood while other suspected sperms were also evident on a pig’s back, sources claimed.
Bulawayo provincial police spokesperson Chief Inspector Precious Simango said they received a report of sudden death, saying they suspected that the man had suffered a heart attack.
“I can confirm an incident of sudden death that occurred at Worringham in Bulawayo. The body of the deceased was taken to the United Bulawayo Hospital for post mortem but at this stage no foul play is suspect. It is suspected Mr Ndlovu suffered a heart attack after a sexual act with the pig,” said Chief Inspector Simango.
Ndlovu was employed as a night watchman at the Worringham plot and was on night duty on the night in question.
A co-worker at the plot who spoke on condition of anonymity revealed that Ndlovu had been last seen when he was resuming his duties on Wednesday only to be discovered at the pigsty the following morning.
“In terms of personality he was a nice man, who minded his own business, he had no enemies at all. On the night in question I saw him doing his rounds in the evening as he resumed his security duties. We were shocked when we discovered his body in the pigsty the following morning,” said the co-worker.
Correspondent|South African businessman Zunaid Moti, who has been locked up in a prison in Munich, Germany, for two months after he was arrested on the strength of an international warrant of arrest, could walk free as the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) says he is not of interest to them.
A statement issued by the Interpol secretary-general yesterday said Moti was not subject to any notices.
“The general secretariat of the international criminal police organisation hereby certifies that as of today Zunaid Abbas Moti, born on 03 September 1974, is not subject to Interpol notice or diffusion,” said the statement.
Moti was arrested at Munich airport on August 19 when he was leaving Germany after a business trip.
Moti has interests in mining, finance and logistics in South Africa and Zimbabwe, and counts the likes of President Emmerson Mnangagwa and British peer Peter Hain among his friends.
According to Zunaid Moti’s father, Abbas Moti, his son was facing extradition to Russia to face criminal charges. The arrest was connected to a “red notice” after a complaint was lodged against him by Russian businessman Alibek Issaev.
Issaev claimed that Zunaid and his associates, including Abbas, defrauded him of R6,6 million in a sham mining deal in Lebanon in 2013.
But Zunaid has consistently denied having been to Lebanon and claims that Issaev instead stole intellectual property and a R500 million pink diamond from him.
State Media – Government will review the two percent transactional tax on electronic money transfers to make it sensitive to the needs of both business and consumers, President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said.
The Head of State and Government said a new law was being drafted to deal with “unexplained wealth and deposits” after which new tax measures would be announced.
In his weekly column in The Sunday Mail, Mnangagwa said his Government would always listen to business.
“Government took to heart the cry that the two percent transactional tax has compounded the tax burden for both business and for the consumer.
“Once the legal instrument we are crafting against unexplained wealth and deposits is in place, new measures will be announced to review the tax which, among other considerations, had been occasioned by illicit activities in the financial services sector,” said President Mnangagwa.
Mnangagwa claimed that his Government would not consider policies that eroded wealth, wages, savings and pensions.
“A key consideration of both monetary and fiscal policy must be to secure the values of wealth, earnings, wages and savings in the economy. We should never make or allow decisions that erode value, as happened in 2008. On this one matter we stand firm and unmoved. No policy will be entertained whose net effect is to undermine value in the economy.”
Indications are that some of the measures President Mnangagwa is speaking of will be captured in the 2019 National Budget that will likely be presented in late November.
Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube has said he is simplifying the tax structure and coming up with incentives for SMEs to contribute to the fiscus.
GOVERNMENT will soon unveil an International Advisory Council which will advise President Mnangagwa on global economic issues and push the re-engagement process.
The team will also assist the country in having the US sanctions law, the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery (Amendment) Act 2018, removed.
Members of the council, some of whom are linked to international finance institutions, could be announced this month. Econet Wireless owner Strive Masiyiwa who last week went viral praising Mnangagwa looks definitely set to be in that team.
Industrialists also proposed establishment of a local advisory council during their interface with President Mnangagwa at State House in Harare last Monday.
President Mnangagwa agreed with the proposal and asked the industrialists to second names of their “best brains” to constitute the grouping.
Last week, Deputy Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet (Presidential Communications) George Charamba said: “We are working on an international advisory team. So we will have a local advisory business team but there is also going to be an international advisory team.
“By now we are in the final stages and in the next two to three weeks, we should have some announcement of sorts. “We are looking at retirees from IFIs; we are looking at persons from America, we are looking at persons from Britain, persons from China; we are looking at characters from Germany, we are looking at characters from South Africa; and we are also looking at eminent Zimbabwean businesspeople.”
Charamba said some of the people were consulted during the 73rd Ordinary Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September, but declined to mention names as consultations were ongoing.
“It worked very well in Rwanda. Rwanda used that to good effect. That business council will not just advise the President on international economic issues, it will also help us in the re-engagement process.
“Essentially, it means helping us develop strategies of rolling back sanctions and also engaging international finance markets for new credit lines,” said Mr Charamba.
At a meeting between President Mnangagwa and Diasporan Zimbabweans in New York in September, Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube — who was part of the Zimbabwe delegation to the General Assembly — said the board would have about ten people.
“This is not an unusual path. Pakistan has announced its international advisory board, it was done by the new Prime Minister Imran Khan. Somalia has just set up a board, Somaliland has a board as well. Rwanda has a board. In Nigeria there used to be a board but I’m not so sure now. But this is common practice, we should get the best minds to assist us,” Prof Ncube explained.
As part of President Mnangagwa’s international engagement and re-engagement drive, his administration is lobbying for an end to economic sanctions on Zimbabwe as well as normalisation of relations with multilateral lenders and development partners.
This is in line with his vision to create an upper middle-income by 2030.
US sanctions direct Americans at IFIs to block extension of credit to Zimbabwe, and Prof Ncube is in January 2019 expected to travel to that country as part of the anti-embargo lobby.
Last week, leading businessman and Econet founder Strive Masiyiwa said, “… sanctions should be removed, there’s no justification for them anymore.
“They should be removed. I’ve always been on record to say the sanctions are not justified and now we’re almost 20 years into the sanctions. You can’t have one country operate with its hands tied behind its back.”
Open Letter to the RBZ, CIO, The Zimbabwe Defence Forces, and the State House, Harare:
Dear Sirs: Col Mugwisi, Dr John Mangudya, HON Isaac Moyo, Ministry Of Information Perm Sec,
I trust I find you well.
There is an urgent matter needing your attention in the utmost public interest and national security and for which I raise the below questions.
1. On what basis has your office, the entire Central Intelligence (CIO) and the ZDF for several years to date allowed a well known Kenyan Indian criminal, Mr Paul Kamlesh Pattni, the same man who grounded the Kenyan economy, to smuggle foreign gold into Zimbabwe and freely trade it with Fidelity Printers?
It is open public knowledge that Kenya will now take 90 years to recover, all because of this individual who also used to trade with Grace Mugabe and her husband, the former president.
2. How has Mr Kamlesh Pattni been allowed to smuggle out $59 million dollars hard currency stashed in suitcases in Feb to July this year alone?
I have all the records including bank statements, cash books and passport stamps.
3. What safeguards are there to ensure that this imported gold is authentic? Mr Paul Pattni is well known for previously trading in fake minerals and he once grounded the Kenyan economy doing this.
I briefly spoke with him last night at 9pm and he is safe and continues untouched in Zimbabwe. (The investigstion cas carried out LIVE on ZimEye.com)
My impeccable sources are willing to testify in court in Harare and we have piles of hard documentation to prove this investigation’s findings.
As this is a crucial matter of utmost national security I hope to hear from you at the earliest.
Meanwhile, please also see the below trail introducing the investigation covered so far:
A teacher from Camelot High School in Kwekwe, who was allegedly caught red handed trying to write a Mathematics examination paper for a pupil, has vehemently denied the allegations saying although he was caught in possession of the paper, he never intended to write for any pupil.
The teacher, Mr Ian Mhembere, a Mathematics teacher at the Kwekwe-based private school, was reportedly caught in possession of a partly written Mathematics Paper 1 while the exam was underway on 17 October.
Allegations are that Mr Mhembere took the paper with him with the intention of completing it on behalf of an external student who was writing at the school. He was intercepted by Zimsec officials who had visited the school on their routine checks.
He has since been suspended pending investigations being carried out by police and Zimsec. But Mr Mhembere, through his lawyer Mr Davious Mujaya of Mawadze and Mujaya Legal Practitioners, said although he was caught in possession of the paper, his intention was never to write on behalf of the student.
“He is in the School’s Examination Board which he actually chairs. On the day in question, one of the invigilators who was supposed to have presided over the examination was late and he decided to stand in for him.
“While in the examination, the student in question requested another paper as he had made mistakes and he went on to give the student another paper while taking the partly completed one with him,” said Mr Mujaya.
Upon the arrival of the said invigilator, Mhembere mistakenly took the paper with him to his office.
“When the Zimsec officials came they discovered that the papers were missing and my client volunteered to check his office, where he found the paper among some of his books,” said Mr Mujaya.
Mr Mujaya said, if he was guilty, he would have not produced the paper but he knew that he was innocent hence he genuinely volunteered to go and check for the paper. Mr Mujaya said what was worrying was the fact that, two weeks down the line, his client was yet to be charged of any crime.
“He is yet to receive any charge up to now and that shows that both Zimsec and police do not have an issue against my client. Under normal circumstances, the matter should have been taken to court within 48 hours but up to now, he is yet to be charged. It also shows that the school had no case against him as it only issued him with a suspension letter after reading the newspaper article. Why were they not acting all along?” he said.
Zimsec public relations officer Ms Nicki Dlamini said investigations were still ongoing. – state media
A Bulawayo lawyer who defrauded more than $400 000 from 41 clients within a period of two years was on Friday convicted of fraud.
Leslie Bhekimpilo Sibanda who was once employed at Webb, Low and Barry Legal Practitioners was convicted by Bulawayo regional magistrate Mr Joseph Mabeza after a full trial on Friday.
Mr Mabeza remanded Sibanda in custody to 9 November for sentencing. In his defence, Sibanda had claimed that he restituted one of his clients $50 000.
The court has since asked him to produce proof of the restitution. The State’s case is that Sibanda was employed as an attorney by Webb, Law and Barry incorporating Ben Baron and Legal Partners and between 8 January 2014 to 1 July 2016.
Sibanda was allegedly stealing and scamming clients of money that adds up to $404 367. Prosecutor Mr Charles Danda said that Sibanda would allegedly call for and withdraw money out of a client’s trust account.
He would pay part of the money to the client and pocket the difference or he would request for cash from the petty cash account alleging that it was money for transport or other ancillaries on behalf of a client when a client had not given him such instructions.
Mr Danda told the court that Sibanda would also transfer funds from one’s client account by means of a transfer journal into another client’s account when the client’s accounts were not related in any way.
On one occasion he used the law firm as a security to guarantee payment for a loan he acquired from Wilsgrove Enterprise Private Limited.
Sibanda is said to have run out of luck when he moved money from the law firm’s account into a Mr Daemon’s account to settle a debt.
Several lawyers have of late been dragged to court for swindling their clients of thousands of dollars leading to some being de-registered by the Law Society of Zimbabwe.- state media
Advocate Chamisa said he was on a countrywide tour to mobilise party supporters for the “peaceful march” to be held soon.
He spoke at Dulivhadzimo Suburb in Beitbridge at a “Thank You” rally.
“As your leadership we are in the process of mobilising for the march. We are going to give you a signal on how to proceed and the date soon. However, I appeal that we conduct ourselves peacefully as we roll out our plan in line with the provisions of the Constitution of Zimbabwe,” he said.
He said the MDC party was the only party with keys to the international re-engagement process and that there will be no economic recovery in the country unless he is appointed State President. – SEE PICTURES BELOW
There could be more to the rise in the cost and unavailability of medicines than meets the eye.
Although Zimbabwe is going through economic hardships, the way pharmacies are pegging the prices of drugs raises several questions.
A snap survey in Harare last week showed that whilst many the pharmacies are rejecting medical aid cards, there are also shocking disparities in pricing at retail outlets that demand payments exclusively in United States dollars.
In possession of a prescription, we visited pharmacies and asked for the cost of three antibiotics in Harare’s central business district. We also spoke to medical practitioners.
In one pharmacy, a huge notice greeted all who entered with the declaration that all payments were to be made in US dollars.
The three drugs on our prescription were pegged at US$22, US$18 and US$9. Another pharmacy was selective on which medical aid cards it accepts.
The pharmacist then took our prescription and checked with the medical aid society if they would be willing to pay the total bill of US$125 for the three drugs.
After much consultation, the pharmacist informed us that the health insurer was willing to pay US$72, leaving us with a US$53 shortfall.
What was also quite telling was the difference in cost from one pharmacy to the next: a gap of US$76 for the exact same prescription.
It should be noted that at one of the pharmacies we visited, bond note/debit card payments were accepted, with the three drugs priced at a total of $64.
One general practitioner who has a pharmacy at his facility charged US$40 for the medicines.
So why do the prices vary so much from one retailer to the next? Why is it that some pharmacies can do business in bond notes or via debit cards while others say they will shut down if they do not insist on US dollar payments?
Health insurers say foreign currency shortages are behind the rise in the cost of drugs, which have escalated by as much as 70 percent.
Local manufacturers, who rely on imported inputs, are being forced to buy foreign currency on the black market, thereby raising cost of production.
The Association of Healthcare Funders of Zimbabwe, which groups medical aid societies, has said the insistence on US dollar payments is unfair on patients.
Zimbabwe imports around 80 percent of its pharmaceutical needs.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has made greater self-sufficiency in pharmaceuticals one of his Government’s priorities in the health sector.
Writing for The Sunday Mail last week, President Mnangagwa said, “We need foreign currency to import medicines. Foreign exchange earnings are a function of our ability to export.
“Therein lies the challenge. At no time has this turbulent link between the state of the economy and the availability of drugs and other pharmaceutical products in the country been so direct and impactful as in the past weeks during which our economy has registered sharp shocks and challenges.
“Although we are slowly creeping out of this economic trough, the negative impact this bad patch has had on the healthcare sector is still being felt. The drugs supply situation in the country had deteriorated, with many key drugs either unavailable, unaffordable or in short supply.
“In the majority of cases, these drugs which are mostly imported, were now being sold in hard currencies, thus adding an additional burden on the sick. This is unacceptable.”
He said there were things his Government was doing to “check, arrest and reverse these adverse developments”.
President Mnangagwa said these included improving foreign currency allocations to the health sector, dealing with the legacy debt of about US$27 million owed by private importers of drugs, and recapacitating the State’s NatPharm.
“NatPharm requires about US$60 million to stabilise the drug supply situation in the country.
‘‘This will be made available while we mobilise funds to retire the legacy debt so as to reopen relations with foreign suppliers,” the President said.-state media
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe delivers his speech during a live broadcast at State House in Harare, Sunday, Nov, 19, 2017. Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe has baffled the country by ending his address on national television without announcing his resignation. (AP Photo)
November 2018 … Emmerson Mnangagwa
By Simba Chikanza| ANALYSIS| For 125 years running since 1893, something terribly mysterious and shocking has always happened in Zimbabwe in the month of November. The month of November has almost always brought regime change to Zimbabwe.
– in November 1893, the Union Jack was suddenly hoisted for the first time at Bulawayo.
– On 11 November 1965, Rhodesia experienced another regime change when cabinet voted and declared UDI against Great Britain.
– On 15 November 1979, the British government moved to surrender Rhodesia to Zimbabwe at Lancaster and the following day signed the agreement(see the historic picture below).
– On the 15th November 2017 as ZimEye.com reveals, a sudden military coup hit the then government resulting in a new regime.
Now the 15th November 2018 will be exactly 125 years (or exactly 1500 months) since Cecil John Rhodes first hoisted the Union Jack at Bulawayo. It will also be exactly 39 years after Lancaster House and exactly one year after Emmerson Mnangagwa’s military coup that led him to become President. What do you think will happen?
A pastor earlier in the day spoke to ZimEye on what he thinks will happen this month. WATCH BELOW:
– as Zimbabwe approaches the 15th November 2018, what will happen?
From A Correspondent|The Zimbabwe Anti Corruption Commission on Thursday arrested suspend University of Zimbabwe (UZ) Vice Chancellor, Levi Nyagura on twenty seven counts of fraud.
He appeared in court on Friday I the corruption charges which he allegedly committed while he was still the Vice Chancellor at the university.
The court released him on $500 bail.
Nyagura, who was not asked to plead, is being charged together with UZ top officials, Lazarus Mabvira and James Chipendo.
“Sometime between the period 2015 and 2018 at the UZ, the trio connived on various occasions to prejudice the university of substantial amounts of money by ‘dubiously’ awarding tenders for services needed by the university,” read state papers.
Court also heard UZ also received services of cutting down five trees from Tynwald Sawmills, a company that was awarded a tender outside due diligence requirements.
It is alleged that Tynwald Sawmills was paid $9 950 but there was neither security check nor storekeepers’ signature to confirm that the services were rendered.
On another occasion, the trio allegedly connived to split a tender of a single procurement into two purchases each below the competitive bidding threshold of $10 000.
They awarded the two contracts to Tynwald Sawmills without going to formal tender as required by the law.
On November 6, they awarded services to Tynwald Sawmills without solicitation for quotations from at least three competitive bidders as Tynwald and Frenzy were owned by the same people while Bright Tree Cutters was not a registered company.
Mabvira raised a purchase worth $49 950 in favour of Tynwald and he also made a goods received voucher on November 1 2015, acknowledging the services that had been rendered to the university.
On November 13, 2015 the university transferred the money into Tynwald Sawmills’s CBZ account.
Nyagura and Mabvira allegedly did the same thing with the cutting down of trees around the university in which they allegedly favoured Tynwald Sawmills and other companies without soliciting the required amount of quotations in total. They spent more than $200 000 on illegal contacting.
The under fire former UZ CEO also has another case before the court being that of criminal abuse of office after he allegedly awarded a “bogus” PhD to former first lady Grace Mugabe.
The trial has been stayed after he approached the Constitutional Court challenging the authority of special anti-corruption unit to prosecute him.
He will be back in court on December 12 pending trial.
In a bizarre incident, a Gweru prostitute was allegedly raped and murdered by her client before her body was dumped in a water drainage in a bushy area near Mkoba 5 high- density suburb.
Acting Midlands police spokesperson, Assistant Inspector Ethel Mukwende confirmed the incident which occurred on Thursday when Precious Tshuma was allegedly murdered by an unknown client who had hired her for the night.
It is understood that the client first raped her before stabbing her several times on the head.
“Police in Gweru are investigating a murder case where a 23-year-old female was found dead, naked with a deep cut on the head in a bushy area in Mkoba 5 on 31 October. Circumstances are that on 30 October at about 7pm, the now deceased was drinking beer at Mkoba 6 Business Centre in the company of her friends Lillian and Claudius Buzeta. It is alleged that at about 12 midnight Tshuma left the bar in the company of an unknown male adult,” she said.
Asst Insp Mukwende said it is suspected that the two had a misunderstanding resulting in the man killing Tshuma by stabbing her with a sharp object on the head.
“It is alleged that after an hour, Claudius left the bar and proceeded home. While on his way he met the suspect who was heading back to Mkoba 6 Business Centre. The suspect then told Claudius that he had an altercation with Tshuma and he murdered her after she tried to stab him with a broken beer bottle. He force marched Claudius to the scene before releasing him.
“The matter was reported to the police and the suspect is still at large. Tshuma’s body was taken to Gweru Provincial hospital Mortuary,” she said.
A source told Sunday News that it is also suspected that the man first raped the woman before stabbing her, as her body was naked. – state media
By Own Correspondent| Citizens here have taken to social media expressing concern over President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s fruitless engagements which they allege is not bearing fruit for the country’s economy.
On his latest post, Mnangagwa said he had an excellent meeting with India’s Vice President Venkaiah Naidu expressing optimism that engagements between the two countries would create significant benefits for the Zimbabwean people.
Said Mnangagwa:
“I had an excellent meeting with Indian Vice President Venkaiah Naidu this morning. This is the first high-level Indian visit to Zimbabwe in two decades, and a sign of our ever improving relations with one of the largest and most significant economies in the world.
As part of his visit, Mr. Naidu will address the India-Zimbabwe Business Forum, which is being attended by a host of Indian business people who are interested in investing in Zimbabwe.
Our improved relations with the global community will create significant benefits for the Zimbabwean people.”
However, citizens took to Mnangagwa’s facebook page calling on him to concentrate on improving the country’s economy.
Below are some of the comments from citizens:
David Pfaira: Meeting meeting meeting meeting meeting meeting meeting meeting meeting meeting meeting meeting meeting meeting meeting meeting meeting meeting meeting meeting meeting meeting meeting meeting meeting meeting meeting meeting meeting meeting meeting meeting til when we are suffering.
Lazarus Dino Mntwazayo: You always meet the wrong people iwe Mdara.. You need to meet Chamisa and change things not zvenyu izvo.
Trust Muchono: Mr President continue to press that button of economy, no matter how hard is it. You don’t owe anyone in ZANU PF or in Government. Those selfish individuals who thinks they had put you there don’t hesitate to ship them out. Mr President you only owes God who chose you to be our leader. The journey from Egypt to Canaan was never easy in fact it was very successful. You our Moses of today, ” go Moses go”. Fear God all the time sir. Lead us to the promised land. I thank you.
Anthony Cee Jay: The only good thing we can expect from India is their spices????meeting them zvakangofanana nemarovha afurirana kunosangana pa Joina City akapfeka ma suit #hazvichinje_chinhu
Godwills Tinashe Majuta: A Banana republic is An economy whereby a political party has more vehicles than the Police force.. ZANU pf has more cars than ZRP mxm … Mamvemve…
Tau Mashoko: Zimbabwe is cursed. Dzimwe meetings after meeting and mega deals after mega deals asi chabuda hapana. Vamwewo still in election mode rallies week in week out. Dzimwewo lipstick for pple with anemia and HIV Cure… aahh where is my passport ndimboenda kuTijikistan
Tinox Mubaiwa: Will start to listen to and understand this guy panyaya yekugadzirisa apa, kana freezit radzoka pa$0.10, coz izvozvi ice lolo nejolly ndikuzvishaya kunge mauyu anoImportwa!! Kukupisa uku!!
Emmanuel Mutava: A friend of mine once commented that Zimbabwe under the new leadership is being run like a burial society. Munhu wese mu society should know patengwa oil, sugar, fuel including bank & cash balances etc everyone should know kana chairman vakaenda kumusangano. The honest truth is this is a typical Kleptocracy [gov run by the least capable people]….
Cleophas Mugwede: Meetings +multi billion deals + travels = dololo on the ground give us a rest people don’t eat facebook updates.A country needs a leader with action not too much talking
Merit Kurauone: what does this help us .Economically we now screwed salaries reduced to nothimg .i miss Bob honestly
Robert Masocha: Mr President, your efforts are well appreciated.Time has come for Zimbabwe to kip moving.A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step and every step is important.Thank you sir for your updates and not responding to insulting and degrading comments.God bless you.. .God bless Zimbabwe
Chimbidzikai Chirume:
ED if you are really a father figure and a leader.
Urgently engage Chamisa and Biti in an honest and faithful way stop being trapped in a part ideology. Chamisa and Biti have good international relations. If you task them to source funds for the nation. They are well received. They have the capacity to appeal to world bank for debt cancellation.
You loose nothing. But pride will cost you a lifetime fortune. The so called intelligence in Zanu pf is outdated don’t listen to them
No amount of weaponry can fight human intelligence. As long as Chamisa and Biti are active in your government don’t expect better changes. There are so many blind people misleading you in Zanu pf. If the crisis continue with the current pace Zanu pf will swallow you.
The solutions of Zimbabwe crisis is in Zimbabwe. Engage everyone. Engage the opposition to avoid your eminent downfall.
Tawanda Nhubu: Mr president time to be quiet and only act. Political dogma, lavish speeches, promises without results, publicity bla bla bla… We tired sir. Lets feel it, let’s see it, let’s experience it. Do your best to prove Mugabe a failure. Show us you can resurrect Zimbabwe. Study Rwanda, learn from that humble president. Dont fight civilians, stop militarizing the country. Stop using the army to instill fear in the masses. Its an indication of the level of your personal insecurity. Make people appreciate you through works. Live Zimbabwe live.
By Own Correspondent| Zimbabwe and India have signed six memoranda of understanding (MOU) and action plans in various sectors that are expected to expedite the country’s socio-economic transformation and accelerate the pace of engagement with the Asian nation.
The State Media reported that Vice President Kembo Mohadi and his Indian counterpart Mr Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu witnessed the signing of the agreements at a ceremony held at Munhumutapa building (Saturday).
The visiting Indian vice president who is on a three nation Africa tour, paid a courtesy call on Vice President Mohadi at his Munhumutapa offices today.
After a closed door meeting the two vice presidents then attended a signing ceremony of six MOUs understanding between the two countries.
Ambassador Cain Mathema and his Indian counterpart signed an agreement on the reciprocal exemption of visa requirements for holders of diplomatic passports.
The second agreement signed is an action plan on cooperation in information and communication technology (ICT) and was signed by the Acting Minister of foreign affairs, Mathema and a representative from the Indian government.
Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation Kirsty Coventry and a representative from India signed an MOU concerning cooperation in the field of arts, culture and heritage.
Mines and Mining Development Minister Mr Winston Chitando and his Indian counterpart signed a cooperation agreement in the fields of geology, mining and mineral resources.
Health and Child Care Minister Dr Obediah Moyo and a representative from the Indian government signed an agreement of cooperation in the field of traditional systems of medicine and homeopathy.
About 80 percent of medicines used in Zimbabwe are imported from India through the World Bank, UNICEF and other cooperating partners.
Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation Chef Executive Mr Patrick Mavhura and a representative from Prasar Bharat India signed an agreement concerning cooperation and collaboration on broadcasting action plan and cooperation in information and communication technology (ICT).
Prasar Bharati is India’s largest public broadcasting agency and is a statutory autonomous body set up by an act of parliament.
It comprises the Doordarshan Television Network and All Radio Radio, which were earlier media units of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Cde Monica Mutsvangwa and the Permanent Secretary in the mMinistry Nick Mangwana also witnessed the signing ceremony.-StateMedia
By Own Correspondent| Police boss Commissioner Godwin Matanga revealed that the general public no longer respects the law or members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP).
Commissioner Matanga revealed this while officiating at the Zimbabwe Republic Police Staff College 2018 graduation in Harare.
Said Matanga:
“The reason why I was late for the ceremony is because I was briefing my superiors, they were asking me why the police were being harassed by the general public. What’s going on? I could not respond to that question.
The only thing that I could say was that we should also look at the people themselves and see how they are and how they behave. These days, they are colour blind. When they see a red robot, they just proceed.
These days, it does not surprise us to see people drinking while driving, getting involved in an accident while on the phone, that is all I could say. The police are the aides of the king, that is why they are given uniforms.
If you see yourself arguing with the police or beating up the police, then something is not right.”-Newsday
Own Correspondent|Movement For Democratic Change (MDC) Alliance president Nelson Chamisa has labelled the two percent tax on every electronically-transacted dollar an unabashed robbery of the masses.
“I heard him saying we want to move forwad but there is no moving forwad unless we all face the reality of who won the elections. The economy is on its knees,” Chamisa said.
“The riches of the land are being helplessly squandered. You saw the money being forked out by the government, the two percent tax that you have been made to pay for every EcoCash transaction. It is daylight robbery because it is your personal money that is being taken from you by the very same people who keep embezzling government funds.
“What am I talking about? We saw a deficit of treasury bills worth nine billion dollars, $90 million of which went towards supporting Zanu-PF. Now they want to replace the money through deducting the two percent tax from every EcoCash transaction that you make.You try sending money to your relative who has passed away but your money is taken,” Chamisa fumed.
The Ministry of Finance implemented the new tax regime earlier this month ostensibly to widen the nationalfiscal space but critics have slammed the move as an illegal and unfair way of forcing the ordinary citizen pay for government profligacy.
Addressing thousands of supportes who gathered at Gwanzura Stadium for the 19th anniversary of the party’s formation on Saturday last week, Chamisa attacked President Emmerson Mnangagwa as an illegitimate leader who was now being rejected by the economy.
The charismatic leader said he was sure Mnangagwa will not survice the economic crisis and will soon be removed from power by popular revolts.
“We are dying of hunger. You are seeing how patients in hospitals are suffering, in pharmacies BP patients are expected to pay drugs in US dollars and tell me where one can get that forex from. We once told them that bond note is not money, give us real money. If we were in power like now, it could have been a walk in the park. Each one of you would practically be enjoying their money because an economy like this is a reflection of politics that is not in proper shape,” he said.
On the debilitating fuel shortages, Chamisa seemed to agree with the dominant narrative that a powerful cartel was directing the shortages for selfish gain.
“I heard that there is a queen bee but I don’t know that person. However, if there is a queen bee, then there is a king bee who happens to oversee how things are running in this country.These people should be brought to book with all the deals that they are doing with fuel, chrome, gold and diamonds as well as all that they are doing to rob the children of Zimbabwe of their wealth,” Chamisa said.
He told the people to be patient as he maps the way forward on how to take power form Mnangagwa.
“Be still people because we have the programme lined up to go and tell somebody to return what isn’t his and from next week, I will be travelling from place to place urging and strengthening the people that it is time to react. I will be taking over everyone to Canaan,” said Chamisa.
By Farai Maguwu| A major issue we must address together as Zimbabweans is the abuse of our Police force by corrupt, self serving politicians. Yesterday, a big portion of uniformed and plain clothes Police from Mutare Central and Mutare Rural Police, including very senior officers, were all deployed to Marange. There were scores of CIOs too.
This was despite the overwhelming endorsement of the event by the community. But it was very clear some of the Police officers had no intention, whatsoever, to disrupt the event. They were simply on duty. The senior officers present where on the phones most of the time, receiving instructions and giving feedback to their superiors who were also under instruction. It was as if the nation as under attack from an external enemy. Soldiers were roaming the community though they didnt come anywhere close to the tent. But it was clear, some people in Harare with direct cotrol of the Police and the military were dictating proceeds from behind the scenes. I personally felt betrayed. I just felt like we are under an occupation force.
At the boomgate one Police officer was heard telling his colleagues to let the people proceed to the venue, arguing ‘ndezve community izvi, let them pass, ko isu takambowana chii from these diamonds’.
I am aware Police in Marange have been instructed never to arrest ZCDC guards who have been instructed to murder artisanal miners. 2 months ago, Police in Marange quarrelled with ZCDC guards after the later had murdered an artisanal miner and now wanted the Police to carry the body. Police refused to carry the body and told the guards to complete what they had started. And yet the Police could not arrest the murderous guards, fearing to cross the path of vakuru.
I called Sugar Chagonda, ZCDC public relations officer who said he will get back to me, and am still waiting.
Our Police force has been instructed NOT to arrest the Chinese who are terrorising citizens throughout the country. Instead, our Police and army are deployed in Marange in their hundreds, if not thousands, using tax payers funds, to guard thieves robbing our country. All the looting taking place in Marange since 2008 is being done under the watch of our security forces who are also forced into illicit diamond deals because their salaries remain below the poverty datum line.
Leaders must change how they view our natural wealth. its not for leaders. The only role of leaders is to make patriotic decisions that maximize our collective benefits from these natural resources. They must lead to better schools, better road infrastructure, better hospitals and more jobs across all sectors. When that happens the number of artisanal miners will significantly go down- human rights violations in the extractive sector will decrease.
To get to that phase the first step is devolution of power and decision making. If the Manicaland people are allowed to make decisions over Marange diamonds the outcome will be different – and the whole nation will benefit. Its the same with Mutoko over its black granite, Mat North over Hwange, Victoria Falls, Lupane etc. We will develop faster and evenly. This doesn’t mean promoting tribalism. Its about improved governance of natural resources and to ensure people close to natural resources also benefit.
Dynamos has survived relegation after Nichrut who are occupying the last slot fell to Herentals at Ascot Stadium this afternoon.
Nichrut has 33 points and can only manage 39 points should they win their remaining two matches. Dynamos has 40 points.
Nichrut’s chances of surviving the chop suffered a tremendous blow when they lost 0 – 2 to Herentals.
The Students opened the scoring early in the 6th minute courtesy of William Kapumha’s effort. They doubled the advantage on the stroke of full-time after Brighton Majarira capitalised on a howler by the keeper.
The victory puts Herentals in the 5th place with 47 points while Nichrut is still occupying number 15.
Meanwhile, Chicken Inn and Black Rhinos have now gone for four games without a win after the two teams played to a 1-1 draw at Luveve Stadium on Saturday.
The Gamecocks dominated possession in the first half, creating many chances but they went to the break trailing by a goal to nil thanks to Honey Chimutimunzeve’s 32nd strike. The home team continued to command the pace in the second period and finally found their breakthrough in the 70th minute when Clement Matawu got the equaliser.
The game ended 1-1 as Chicken Inn remained in third place while Black Rhinos slumped to number 10.
Elsewhere, Yadah were held to a goalless draw by an already relegated side, Buluwayo City in a match played at Rufaro Stadium. ZPC Kariba moved two places up to 8th position following a 2-0 victory over Chapungu United.
Results:
Chicken Inn 1-1 Black Rhinos
Yadah 0-0 Bulawayo City
ZPC Kariba 2-0 Chapungu
Nichrut 0-2 Herentals
South African beauty, Dineo Kekana claims that former First Lady Grace Mugabe’s son, Russell Goreraza jnr is neglecting his daughter.
“Months have now passed whenever I ask for his help he keeps giving me excuses. He then told me in the later stage (of the pregnancy) that if I decided to keep the baby he’ll run off since he is not a South African citizen it isn’t going to affect him at all.
“I couldn’t speak out about my problem or get any help from anyone before because his family was still in power and they also had a huge influence here in South Africa. If I took him to court my case would just disappear like Gabriella Engels case,” she said in an interview with Zimbabwean state media.
“I still can’t get hold of him now because he’s fled South Africa: he is back home in Zimbabwe. I’ve tried to speak to him on several occasions about everything including getting DNA tests done he has completely chosen to avoid me. ‘I even went as far as sending my parents on my behalf and getting an attorney to contact him, he refuses to respond to them and declines their phone calls.
“My aim isn’t to expose him or embarrass him but I’m disgusted with him and his actions. He is really disrespectful and thinks he can get away with anything. Why did he decide to have sex and can’t own up to his slip up, without sperm a woman can’t get pregnant.”
The two started seeing each other in December of 2016 and later fell pregnant in July last year (2017).
Kekana said Goreraza knew from the very first time she found out she had conceived and he said he’d be part of their lives and suupport, however his behaviour started changing.
Speaking to The Herald on the matter, Kekana said:
Kekana then went further to reveal that Goreraza is getting money from his mother, whom she claims is a kind loving person who would not want her grandchild to suffer but he is not passing that money onto her to fend for the child.
On the other hand Goreraza already has a bomb girlfriend whom he splashes money on and he recently bought her a wheeled beast as part of expressing his love for her.
MDC Alliance President Nelson Chamisa has fired another salvo at Masvingo mayor Collen Maboke, saying the beleaguered city father was a product of some Zanu-PF arrangement and not the party’s choice for the coveted position.
Chamisa told TellZim News over the phone on Tuesday that Maboke was digging for himself a hole in which he would suffocate should he continue on his chosen path of defiance of the opposition alliance’s call to step down immediately.
Chamisa said the party had made itself clear on the kind of arrangement it wanted to see in Masvingo City Council, and would therefore not accept to continue being held to ransom by one man.
“This is a very straightforward one. The party through internal democratic processes, arrived at the candidate who should be mayor, and Maboke is not that candidate. Maboke is a product of some arrangement with Zanu, and we said look, we will not have arrangements that are made without the knowledge of the party. So he has to step aside, if he doesn’t, he faces the risk of being fired if he does not act to the dictates of the party.
“It is a simple one, he has to step aside and give way for a proper arrangement as required by the party. He will be expelled for sure. We can’t allow indiscipline that undermines the strength of the party. He has to step down right away or be expelled,” Chamisa said.
He drew comparisons with what happened in Chegutu and Victoria Falls where mayors were made to step down after landing the positions by contradicting the party’s preferred arrangements.
“It would be good if people are to pull together in one direction rather than remain stubborn while getting lost. We have serious work to do and we can’t be seen to be talking about the same issues every day. This has to come to an end sooner than later,” he said.
Maboke controversially landed the position of mayor at the expense of the party’s then preferred candidate Godfrey Kurauone after striking a secret trade off deal for the position of deputy mayor with Zanu-PF councillors in exchange for their votes for the mayoral position.
With three councillors out of 10, Zanu-PF stood no chance of taking the deputy mayoral position had it not been for the bargain.
In Chegutu, Hillary Muchatibaya was fired last week for defying party orders to step down, with six councillors suspended for voting for him against official orders to vote for Maphios Shumba.
In Victoria Falls, Somvelo Dhlamini was also forced to step down and pave way for Margaret Varley, the party’s chosen candidate.
MDC secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora has flexed his political muscle and nullified all the mass expulsions announced by the party’s provincial executives as the Nelson Chamisa-led opposition outfit prepares for its elective congress early next year.
Several party members were axed for turning rebellious and standing as independent candidates in the run-up to the July 30 polls.
Several heads also rolled after the election with some MDC councillors defying party directives and contested mayoral elections against “anointed” party candidates.
The party is set to hold its elective congress next year following the elevation of Chamisa who succeeded the late MDC founder leader Morgan Tsvangirai in February this year.
According to reports, the purges have caused divisions with the growing disgruntlement seemingly getting out of hand. Mwonzora on Wednesday stepped in calling the suspensions null and void.
“Please take note that all suspensions of party members must be referred to the national organising committee through the secretary-general,” Mwonzora said in a letter dated October 31.
He said the national organising committee has powers to confirm or vary any suspension in terms of clause 3.5.5 and 3.6.5 of the party constitution.
“Further, please take note that the ward, district and provincial executives do not have powers of expulsion of any member of the party. The power to expel any member of the party lies with the national council in terms of clause 5.11 of the constitution or the national disciplinary committee headed by the national chairperson,” Mwonzora said.
“All the lower organs can do is to recommend an expulsion to the national chairperson. Please note that all the purported suspensions and expulsions not done in accordance with these constitutional requirements are null and void.”
However, in an interview yesterday party vice-president Morgen Komichi said their national council resolutions stood and all “rebels” remain expelled.
In Zimbabwe, where an economic meltdown grows worse, businesses increasingly want payments to be made in U.S. dollars. The government has printed its own currency, called bond notes, for the past two years. But Zimbabweans are quickly losing confidence in the bond notes.
Dr. Ahmed Bilal Shah operates a medical center in one of Harare’s poorest suburbs. He needs money to keep going, but cash is hard to find.
“Let’s face realities of the ground,” he said. “I am accepting transfer or bond notes, but the thing is I have to make some solution from that to buy some U.S. dollars to buy some medicine to replace my stock. If I do not replace my stock, after one month I have to close my surgery. Pharmacies do not accept medical aid (insurance) or bond notes. But they are asking for the U.S. dollar. They have their own problems. So this is a question we are stuck up in.”
Zimbabwe abandoned its own dollar in 2009, after years of hyperinflation. Since then the country has been without an official currency and relied on U.S. dollars, the British pound and South African rand to conduct transactions.
In the past three years, however, all three currencies have been hard to find, paralyzing the economy and forcing the country to rely on bond notes.
Shah says if he cannot get U.S. dollars from his patients who have them, he has to turn to the black market.
But that presents problems, too. Over the past few days, police have arrested nearly 200 black market currency dealers, as the government tries to shut down their thriving but illegal business.
But on the black market, a dollar is now worth more than three bond notes.
Gift Mugano, an independent economist, says Zimbabwe’s economy will get worse unless the government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa takes action.
“The only thing to do in my view is to demonetize the bond notes,” he said. “I was one person who was against the bond note from the word go: I was very clear. This bond note will depreciate and will create havoc. The impact of the bond notes is beyond the size of how much bond notes we have. It is about perception. You take away confidence. We need to go back to full dollarization, where we have U.S. dollars, then attract investors because they gave certainty in your currency.”
Zimbabwe has struggled to attract investors for nearly 20 years, after a steep decline in the economy sparked by the policies of former president Robert Mugabe.
President Mnangagwa, who took office after Mugabe resigned under military pressure a year ago, has promised improvement. But so far, Zimbabwe remains struck in the crisis and is facing shortages of not only medicine, but nearly all essential goods.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe delivers his speech during a live broadcast at State House in Harare, Sunday, Nov, 19, 2017. Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe has baffled the country by ending his address on national television without announcing his resignation. (AP Photo)
November 2018 … Emmerson Mnangagwa
By Simba Chikanza| ANALYSIS| For 125 years running in Zimbabwe since 1893, something terribly mysterious and shocking has always happened in Zimbabwe in the month of November. The month of November has almost always brought regime change to Zimbabwe.
– in November 1893, the Union Jack was suddenly hoisted for the first time at Bulawayo.
– On 11 November 1965, Rhodesia experienced another regime change when cabinet voted and declared UDI against Great Britain.
– On 15 November 1979, the British government moved to surrender Rhodesia to Zimbabwe at Lancaster and the following day signed the agreement(see the historic picture below).
– On the 15th November 2017 as ZimEye.com reveals, a sudden military coup hit the then government resulting in a new regime.
Now the 15th November 2018 will be exactly 125 years (or exactly 1500 months) since Cecil John Rhodes first hoisted the Union Jack at Bulawayo. It will also be exactly 39 years after Lancaster House and exactly one year after Emmerson Mnangagwa’s military coup that led him to become President. What do you think will happen?
A pastor earlier in the day spoke to ZimEye on what he thinks will happen this month. WATCH BELOW:
– as Zimbabwe approaches the 15th November 2018, what will happen?
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has repealed Statutory Instrument 96 of 2018 which had been designed to award Vice President Constantino Chiwenga with powers to oversee the defense and war veterans, a move widely seen as calculated to elbow out the powerful former Army General.
According to SI 214 of 2018, “Assignment of Functions (Vice President and Minister responsible) for the Ministry of Defense and War Veterans Affairs) Notice 2018 published in Statutory Instrument 96 of 2018 is hereby repealed.”
Chiwenga who was the key player in a military coup that displaced former President, Mr Robert Mugabe last year had remained in charge of the military and war veterans.
The latest development could be revealing of the fissures within the ruling party and Mnangagwa’s insecurity- hence the decision to make sure his powerful deputy does not continue to handle military issues.
Writing on his Twitter yesterday, United Kingdom based lecturer Alex Magaisa described the SI 214/2018 as significant as it takes away Chiwenga’s control of the military.
“This statutory instrument is more significant than it looks. This is President Mnangagwa’s latest move to completely remove the principal author of the coup (VP Chiwenga) from any official role over the military. VP is down from overseeing the military to “research and procurement,” Magaisa said.
“First he took away the Ministry of Defense and gave it to Oppah. Now he has taken away the Ministry from the areas that Chiwenga oversees. Instead, the VP has been shunted to oversee “procurement and research”. The only sweetener is he will have oversight tenders authority,” he added.
Short lived Communications Taskforce Chair in the ministry of Finance Gerald Mutumanje added that the SI214/2018 reduced Chiwenga’s meaningful powers.
“Essentially President has stripped The VP of any meaningful powers. The President has stripped the Vice President of any meaningful powers! So the question is what power does the Vice President have? None Really. I’m not the one who did it, I just the one who said it,” he said.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has repealed Statutory Instrument 96 of 2018 which had been designed to award Vice President Constantino Chiwenga with powers to oversee the defense and war veterans, a move widely seen as calculated to elbow out the powerful former Army General.
According to SI 214 of 2018, “Assignment of Functions (Vice President and Minister responsible) for the Ministry of Defense and War Veterans Affairs) Notice 2018 published in Statutory Instrument 96 of 2018 is hereby repealed.”
Chiwenga who was the key player in a military coup that displaced former President, Mr Robert Mugabe last year had remained in charge of the military and war veterans.
The latest development could be revealing of the fissures within the ruling party and Mnangagwa’s insecurity- hence the decision to make sure his powerful deputy does not continue to handle military issues.
Writing on his Twitter yesterday, United Kingdom based lecturer Alex Magaisa described the SI 214/2018 as significant as it takes away Chiwenga’s control of the military.
“This statutory instrument is more significant than it looks. This is President Mnangagwa’s latest move to completely remove the principal author of the coup (VP Chiwenga) from any official role over the military. VP is down from overseeing the military to “research and procurement,” Magaisa said.
“First he took away the Ministry of Defense and gave it to Oppah. Now he has taken away the Ministry from the areas that Chiwenga oversees. Instead, the VP has been shunted to oversee “procurement and research”. The only sweetener is he will have oversight tenders authority,” he added.
Short lived Communications Taskforce Chair in the ministry of Finance Gerald Mutumanje added that the SI214/2018 reduced Chiwenga’s meaningful powers.
“Essentially President has stripped The VP of any meaningful powers. The President has stripped the Vice President of any meaningful powers! So the question is what power does the Vice President have? None Really. I’m not the one who did it, I just the one who said it,” he said.
Zimnat, one of the country’s leading insurance and financial services companies, is running an innovation accelerator programme and challenging developers, local hubs and universities with an open call for innovative ideas that will enable it to develop products suited to the 21st Century and beyond.
It is doing this by means of a competition for innovative solutions to challenges in specific areas of its business.
Those who propose the 10 best solutions will be invited to work with Zimnat, with the possibility of joining the group’s business value chain.
“Here at Zimnat we have been ahead of the curve in our industry for the past 71 years. We want to continue to build businesses that will last for the next century,” said Zimnat Group CEO Mustafa Sachak, adding that this required investing in ideas.
There are six areas in which Zimnat is seeking ideas. The first is usage based insurance and insurance products for women. The second is unit trust investments for individuals that makes investing online easy. The third is a customer retention programme.
The fourth area is digital or online products geared for the Millennial and Generation Z generations that are lifestyle relevant. Generation Z is the next generation after the millennial generation, defined as people born from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s. These are basically the young and upcoming consumers
Another area is agent workforce productivity management, skilling, tooling, performance management and staff retention.
The last category is “any other solutions that play in the insurance and technology space”.
Anyone with ideas that fit into these areas or that are disruptive can submit an application for their ideas to be considered. They will present their ideas on an online video. The link to the video has to be attached to the application form.
Within four weeks of the application, those who have submitted their ideas will receive feedback. Those whose ideas are considered to be in the top 25 solutions will be interviewed. Following these interviews the best 10 solutions will be selected.
The application form can be accessed online along with more details on the innovation accelerator on http://www.zimnat.co.zw/innovation-accelerator/. Entries close on November 23.
By Own Correspondent| Communities in Marange have harrowing experiences of how their freedom of movement is being violated by the country’s law enforcement agents as they are required to obtain Persons Access Permits (PAP).
The PAP are issued in Mutare by the Police Provincial Intelligence Officer.
Marange communities told ZimEye that they are not allowed to move around without acquiring and presenting PAP ever since the police launched their operation dubbed “Operation Hakudzokwi”.
Below is a picture of the pass which the communities allege is a requirement for one to move in and around Marange.
Said a man who spoke on condition of anonymity, “This is what we read from the history books that during the Ian Smith era, blacks were required to carry passes to move from one place to the next. We are back in Rhodesia because of the diamonds. My prayer is for the companies to finish taking all these diamonds so that we start living our lives in peace again. We now live in fear because of these diamonds.”
INCUMBENTS Philip Chiyangwa and Omega Sibanda have virtually been retained as ZIFA president and vice-president after their respective challengers Felton Kamambo and Gift Banda reportedly failed the integrity tests yesterday.
It emerged after a meeting of the ZIFA Electoral Committee to vet the eligibility of all the prospective candidates that former board members Kamambo and Banda had been disqualified.
ZIFA electoral committee chairman Vusilizwe Vuma announced the names of the successful candidates in a brief statement at the end of their integrity checks in Harare yesterday.
But Kamambo and Banda’s names were conspicuous by their absence from the list of the successful candidates.
The pair of Ishmael Chibvure and Mlungisi Moyo who were seeking places on the ZIFA board also fell by their wayside after found on the wrong side of the electoral code.
According to the list that Vuma released six candidates who include incumbent board member finance Philemon Machana, businessman Chamu Chiwanza, public relations executive Sugar Chagonda, former referee Brighton Malandule, broadcaster Barry Manandi and Central Region boss Stanley Chapeta, will now battle for the four board member positions.
“The Zimbabwe Football Association electoral committee met on 2 November 2018 to verify credentials of candidates who submitted nomination forms for positions in the executive committee.
“The following candidates were successfully nominated to stand in the elections slated for December 1, 2018,’’ wrote Vuma before listing the names of the candidates.
Vuma also said reasons for the disqualifications had been communicated directly to the affected parties.
Although there was also disqualification of the little known pair of Chibvure and Moyo it is the failure to make the final list of the duo of Kamambo and Banda that somewhat torched a storm around the electoral process, with their campaign teams and their camps crying foul. It was, however, not immediately clear last night whether the cries of foul play on the aspiring presidential and vice-president candidates would translate into appeals by the pair.
Although Vuma was tight-lipped on the reasons, it also emerged from the letters sent to the affected –
CONFUSION swirled yesterday around claims that Zimbabwe had discovered crude oil a day after President Emmerson Mnangagwa addressed a Press briefing announcing exploration of the product would be done in Muzarabani.
While media reports interpreted Mnangagwa’s statement to mean confirmation that there were deposits of oil in the country, the Australian company behind the exploration, Invictus Energy, yesterday sought to play down the claims.
“At no time did President Mnangagwa state that an oil discovery had been made in Zimbabwe, but that the exploration activity being undertaken by Invictus had positive indications and that an exploration well would be drilled to confirm the potential of the Muzarabani prospect,” Invictus Energy said.
While the company’s management attended the Press conference in Harare on Thursday, they did not comment on the issue.
But yesterday, the Australian firm said a discovery could only be confirmed after drilling.
“The company wishes to reiterate that an oil or gas discovery has not been made and the prospective resource estimate for the Muzarabani prospect relates to undiscovered accumulations, which have both a risk of discovery and a risk of development,” the company said.
“Although the Cahora Bassa Basin possesses all the elements for a working petroleum system, a discovery can only be confirmed through drilling of an exploration well.”
Mnangagwa’s spokesperson George Charamba said there was no discord between the Zimbabwean leader and the Australian company.
“Far from discordance, what we are getting from the company is a measured statement which we fully understand. As a matter of fact, the minister will issue a statement because we have realised there is already confusion,” Charamba said.
“This in business terms is called a cautionary statement. They, Invictus Energy, don’t want the market to beat the Press conference, the minister (of Mines, Winston Chitando) said what has been analysed is data accumulated over time by Mobil Oil and could not be interpreted at the time. We now want to link the data to what we will see from drilling that we said will happen in 2020.”
MDC secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora has flexed his political muscle and nullified all the mass expulsions announced by the party’s provincial executives as the Nelson Chamisa-led opposition outfit prepares for its elective congress early next year.
Several party members were axed for turning rebellious and standing as independent candidates in the run-up to the July 30 polls.
Several heads also rolled after the election with some MDC councillors defying party directives and contested mayoral elections against “anointed” party candidates.
The party is set to hold its elective congress next year following the elevation of Chamisa who succeeded the late MDC founder leader Morgan Tsvangirai in February this year.
According to reports, the purges have caused divisions with the growing disgruntlement seemingly getting out of hand. Mwonzora on Wednesday stepped in calling the suspensions null and void.
“Please take note that all suspensions of party members must be referred to the national organising committee through the secretary-general,” Mwonzora said in a letter dated October 31.
He said the national organising committee has powers to confirm or vary any suspension in terms of clause 3.5.5 and 3.6.5 of the party constitution.
“Further, please take note that the ward, district and provincial executives do not have powers of expulsion of any member of the party. The power to expel any member of the party lies with the national council in terms of clause 5.11 of the constitution or the national disciplinary committee headed by the national chairperson,” Mwonzora said.
“All the lower organs can do is to recommend an expulsion to the national chairperson. Please note that all the purported suspensions and expulsions not done in accordance with these constitutional requirements are null and void.”
However, in an interview yesterday party vice-president Morgen Komichi said their national council resolutions stood and all “rebels” remain expelled.
Fresh out of the bliss (or are they shackles) of marriage, former first lady Grace Mugabe’s son Russell by her earlier marriage to Stanley Goreraza is definitely one certain eligible bachelor.
You know him.
Fresh out of the bliss (or are they shackles) of marriage, former first lady Grace Mugabe’s son Russell by her earlier marriage to Stanley Goreraza is definitely one certain eligible bachelor.
He parties like the Great Gatsby and who would not want to be next to him when he rolls into Genius Kadungure’s celebrated Club Sankayi and literally splashing expensive champagne onto his hands as he raises a middle finger to life and its many worries.
His legendary importation of a number of Roll’s Royce’s and Brabus beastly motor vehicles helped reinforce his status as a party animal and socialite even in the dying embers of his day as the first stepson.
The stories resonated here and across the Limpopo!
Yet for all the pomp and fanfare, across the Limpopo, his mother may have to send yet another urgent cable to try and cool down the pain and emotion of a lady who says she has a daughter by Russell and the retired stepson is neglecting the child although he is willing to undergo DNA testing.
Dineo Kekana, a South African national, claims to have conceived after being brought to a luxury pad in Harare where a great time of bliss brought the beautiful little girl into this world before the proverbial type of dung hit the fan when the child was born.
Russell has apparently failed or negated his duty to look after the fruit of his loins and Dineo is struggling with what should be a bundle of joy.
“I got pregnant with Russell Goreraza’s child. We started seeing each other in December of 2016, I fell pregnant in July last year (2017). He knew from the very first time I found out I had conceived, he said he’d be part of our lives and support me but his behaviour soon started to change,” lamented Dineo.
“Months have now passed whenever I ask for his help he keeps giving me excuses. He then told me in the later stage (of the pregnancy) that if I decided to keep the baby he’ll run off since he is not a South African citizen it isn’t going to affect him at all. I couldn’t speak out about my problem or get any help from anyone before because his family was still in power and they also had a huge influence here in South Africa. If I took him to court my case would just disappear like Gabriella Engels case.”
Now the charmer is allegedly a fugitive from her hands which he previously used to cuddle in; “I still can’t get hold of him now because he’s fled South Africa: he is back home in Zimbabwe. I’ve tried to speak to him on several occasions about everything including getting DNA tests done he has completely chosen to avoid me.
‘‘I even went as far as sending my parents on my behalf and getting an attorney to contact him, he refuses to respond to them and declines their phone calls.”
DINEO
She isn’t here with sour grapes, she assures; “My aim isn’t to expose him or embarrass him but I’m disgusted with him and his actions. He is really disrespectful and thinks he can get away with anything. Why did he decide to have sex and can’t own up to his slip up, without sperm a woman can’t get pregnant.
“What pains me is that I know he is getting money from his mother, whom I know is a kind loving person who would not want her grandchild to suffer but he is not passing that money onto me to fend for the child,” said the bombshell from Zimbabwe’s back garden.
She had expected that the party animal at least release $USD500 every month for the child’s upkeep (far less than his champagne spill) but he has since stopped taking her calls and the relationship has taken on a mean face. She has made spirited efforts to get in touch with gogo Grace to perhaps have her knock sense into her child; something she is confident Grace would do.
Not everything is not rosy though. Apparently many of the friends that Russell parties with as he buys expensive alcohol surreptitiously and behind his back make contributions to help her buy basics like disposable napkins and things that baby needs to make her life comfortable.
“They help out because they know this is his child, that he is not taking care of his child and that he is instead spending money on partying.”
But Russell has his own story. The legendary words of Michael Jackson in his 1981 hit single off the Thriller album come to mind when in the song he said “Billie Jean is not my lover, she’s just a girl who claims that I am the one. But the kid is not my son . . . ” or in this case daughter!
DINEO AND CHILD
The only other difference is, it is highly likely Russell may be accused of being slippery by Dineo, but it’s unlikely he can moonwalk like Michael.
He denies paternity and to his credit, says he and his attorney tried getting a DNA test undertaken to ascertain paternity of the child after which he would presumably own up and then they would negotiate on how much needed to be parted with by him.
While he was coy on talking much with attorney related references, he says the beauty was a no show when they were supposed to collect the DNA test results. He thinks that is evidence she is being shady.
Dineo alleges that instead Russell and his attorney had pitched up way earlier and had been disallowed from collecting the results in Dineo’s absence. She suspects he intended to drop many-a-mickle to make a muckle and ensure that he tinkered with the results had they pointed towards his being the paternal parent.
It is a messy affair. Dineo had even wanted to drop the issue fearing for her life. But Russell is no such man, say others close to him.
But she is in emotional pain.
“How do you find it acceptable to walk away from a woman carrying your child? I’m only 22 years old and still at school I can’t take care of the baby on my own and I (was) having complications with my pregnancy due to stress. Ever since we’ve being seeing each other since late 2016 we’ve not used a condom ever! Not even once!! . . . Why then now does he get me pregnant and think it’s all on me? How did he come to the conclusion that it’s my responsibility alone?”
He may come across like a spoilt little brute, but he has a heart of gold and indeed if they can convene on DNA testing, the end result will be an amicable resolution.
“Russell’s mother would want to see peaceful resolutions to her children’s affairs and sadly she is out of the country. Certainly she would quell this fire. Russell himself is quite a warm gentleman and not what the media would portray him as being either,” a gentleman close to First Pensioner President Robert Mugabe’s family said.
Efforts to get in touch with the former first lady, who is out of the country currently hit a snag.
Do you think Russell should help out with the child until paternity is proven or otherwise, or should he sit by the terraces until a DNA proves he is the father or otherwise? Should the former first lady weigh in for the sake of her family?
By Farai Maguwu| A major issue we must address together as Zimbabweans is the abuse of our Police force by corrupt, self serving politicians. Yesterday, a big portion of uniformed and plain clothes Police from Mutare Central and Mutare Rural Police, including very senior officers, were all deployed to Marange. There were scores of CIOs too. T
his was despite the overwhelming endorsement of the event by the community. But it was very clear some of the Police officers had no intention, whatsoever, to disrupt the event.
They were simply on duty. The senior officers present where on the phones most of the time, receiving instructions and giving feedback to their superiors who were also under instruction. It was as if the nation as under attack from an external enemy. Soldiers were roaming the community though they didnt come anywhere close to the tent. But it was clear, some people in Harare with direct cotrol of the Police and the military were dictating proceeds from behind the scenes. I personally felt betrayed. I just felt like we are under an occupation force.
At the boomgate one Police officer was heard telling his colleagues to let the people proceed to the venue, arguing ‘ndezve community izvi, let them pass, ko isu takambowana chii from these diamonds’.
I am aware Police in Marange have been instructed never to arrest ZCDC guards who have been instructed to murder artisanal miners. 2 months ago, Police in Marange quarrelled with ZCDC guards after the later had murdered an artisanal miner and now wanted the Police to carry the body. Police refused to carry the body and told the guards to complete what they had started. And yet the Police could not arrest the murderous guards, fearing to cross the path of vakuru.
I called Sugar Chagonda, ZCDC public relations officer who said he will get back to me, and am still waiting.
Our Police force has been instructed NOT to arrest the Chinese who are terrorising citizens throughout the country. Instead, our Police and army are deployed in Marange in their hundreds, if not thousands, using tax payers funds, to guard thieves robbing our country. All the looting taking place in Marange since 2008 is being done under the watch of our security forces who are also forced into illicit diamond deals because their salaries remain below the poverty datum line.
Leaders must change how they view our natural wealth. its not for leaders. The only role of leaders is to make patriotic decisions that maximize our collective benefits from these natural resources. They must lead to better schools, better road infrastructure, better hospitals and more jobs across all sectors. When that happens the number of artisanal miners will significantly go down- human rights violations in the extractive sector will decrease.
To get to that phase the first step is devolution of power and decision making. If the Manicaland people are allowed to make decisions over Marange diamonds the outcome will be different – and the whole nation will benefit. Its the same with Mutoko over its black granite, Mat North over Hwange, Victoria Falls, Lupane etc. We will develop faster and evenly. This doesn’t mean promoting tribalism. Its about improved governance of natural resources and to ensure people close to natural resources also benefit.
Government will, through the Asset Forfeiture Unit housed under the National Prosecution Authority (NPA), seize all assets accumulated through corruption proceeds in the event of a conviction as the fight to stem out corruption in both the public and private sectors gathers pace.
It is believed that there are huge amounts of corrupt wealth and tainted cash laundering through Zimbabwe’s banks and that much of it ends up in real estate and in other assets such as luxury cars.
The seizure of assets is in line with President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s vow, since assuming office a year ago, to fight corruption in the country.
Mnangagwa has since set up a Special Anti-Corruption Task Force in his office to assist in the speedy prosecution of people suspected of involvement in corruption.
A well-placed source who requested anonymity told Business Times on Wednesday that efforts were underway to make sure government recovered stolen or embezzled money through the seizure of assets mainly accumulated through corruption proceeds. This will be done through the revival and equipping of the Assets Forfeiture Unit.
“Of late, there have been some convictions but nothing was done with regards to government recovering the stolen funds,” the source said.
“However, efforts are underway to fully equip and revive the Assets Forfeiture Unit, which is housed under the NPA. This move will make sure that the government recovers its funds by seizing the assets of people convicted of corruption and selling them in some instances,” the source added.
In his 2019 pre-Budget Strategy Paper, Finance and Economic Development Minister Mthuli Ncube said the fight against entrenched indiscipline and corruption would be dealt with through necessary disincentives and penalties.
“This will include the review of the penalty regime so that persons guilty of corruption are subject to effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties, including empowering the courts, on the application of the Prosecutor General, to grant Civil Forfeiture Orders in respect of property from proceeds of corruption,” Ncube said.
The Special Anti-Corruption Unit in the Office of the President and Cabinet is meant to improve efficiency in the fight against all forms of graft and to strengthen the effectiveness of national mechanisms for the prevention of corruption.
The unit’s terms of reference include collaborating with the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) and the Zimbabwe Republic Police and other such institutions in the fight against corruption.
But according to a source at the NPA, efforts by the Special Corruption Unit have been hampered by the judicial system which has, in some instances, proven to be ineffective in handling corruption cases.
“The other underlying factor has been the lack of capacity to prosecute cases of a commercial nature hence the urgent need to make the Commercial Crimes Court come into motion,” the source said.
Corruption has been blamed for stalling economic development and a cost on business as high-level bureaucrats demand kickbacks before approving projects.
A 2016 report by Transparency International showed that Zimbabwe was losing at least US$1 billion annually due to corruption.
But the wheels of correction have been moving slowly in stemming the canker, with analysts saying the anti-corruption dragnet has so far targeted only small fish and political rivals.
By Farai D Hove| In what was supposed to be a VP to VP convergence between the two nations India and Zimbabwe, ZANU PF leader Emmerson Mnangagwa on Saturday usurped his deputy Constantino Chiwenga’s duties and went ahead to on his own meet India’s Vice, President Venkaiah Naidu.
The development comes against the backdrop of reports that the two coup beneficiaries are on each other throats barely a year after removing their former boss, Robert Mugabe.
Soon after the meeting, Mnangagwa celebrated the visit saying, “I had an excellent meeting with Indian Vice President Venkaiah Naidu this morning. This is the first high-level Indian visit to Zimbabwe in two decades, and a sign of our ever improving relations with one of the largest and most significant economies in the world.
“As part of his visit, Mr. Naidu will address the India-Zimbabwe Business Forum, which is being attended by a host of Indian business people who are interested in investing in Zimbabwe.
“Our improved relations with the global community will create significant benefits for the Zimbabwean people.”
Zifa Chairman Philip Chiyangwa has won another term as the soccer-governing body’s president after he emerged as the only candidate nominated for the post following the vetting exercise by the Electoral Committee which met yesterday.
Chiyangwa and Sibanda’s respective challengers Felton Kamambo and Gift Banda reportedly failed the integrity tests yesterday.
Zifa is set to hold elections for the executive committee on December 1.
Chiyangwa’s deputy, Omega Sibanda, also retains his post, as he was nominated unopposed following the disqualification of Gift Banda, who had offered himself up for election for the post.
Chiyangwa was expected to be challenged by former Zifa board member Felton Kamambo, but the businessman will have it easy this time as he sails through unopposed, that is if the whole process if not challenged.
“The Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) electoral committee met on November 2 2019 to verify credentials of candidates who submitted nomination forms for positions in the executive committee,” a statement by the electoral committee chairman Vusilizwe Vuma read.
“The following candidates were successfully nominated to stand in the elections slated for December 1 2018: president, Hon Dr Philip Chiyangwa, vice-president Hon Sibanda Omega, Executive Committee members, Sugar Chagonda, Chapeta Stanley, Chamunorwa Amos Rodrick Chiwanza, Philemon Machana, Bryton Brito Malandule, Barrymore Manandi.
“For those disqualified, reasons for disqualification will be communicated directly to the concerned individuals.”
The decision by the electoral committee is likely to draw fire from Kamambo and Banda, who were both challenging for the top two positions.
Banda had set himself to challenge Sibanda as he bid to return to mainstream football administration, but his quest hit a snag.
Late yesterday, Kamambo’s phone was unreachable but on Wednesday, he told NewsDay Weekender Sport that he had been denied a supporting letter by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission.
Kamambo encountered frustration when he was denied the nomination form by the Zifa secretariat and accused Chiayangwa of playing dirty games.
Kamambo, who served under Chiyangwa in the Zifa board before he quit together with Piraishe Mabhena arguing that their term of office had expired, was looking to challenge Chiyangwa and had vowed that he would win the election.
Banda’s phone was also unreachable yesterday.
It was not clear yesterday as to who will be challenging Machana in the finance portfolio of the executive committee.
But Chagonda, Chiwanza and Manandi are set to fight it out for the marketing portfolio in the executive committee.
Premier Soccer League chairman Farai Jere as well as a representative from women’s football will take up the other two posts in the board.
Six of the candidates that were named by Zifa yesterday will be tussling for the remaining three posts in the board.
15 people are feared dead from an accident when a fight between the driver of the below bus caught on CCTV went into a fight with a passenger resulting in the vehicle plunging into the Yangtze River. Police say the situation escalated when the passenger missed her stop. WATCH THE DRAMATIC HORROR BELOW(video courtesy of DW):
A bus plunged off a bridge into China's Yangtze River after a fight between the driver and a passenger. All 15 people on the bus are feared dead. pic.twitter.com/nROGYZcWU4
By Farai D Hove| There was wild speculation yesterday that military bigwigs have systematically elbowed ZANU PF leader Emmerson Mnangagwa in what has clearly seen the latter fighting back using youth-interface style arsenals through youths the likes of Pupurai Togarepi and Acie Lumumba.
One source who chose to be identified as Husva, told ZimEye, ” if you look closely at president Emmerson Mnangagwa’s latest press conference concerning the Mzarabani oil, you can see that he is a completely different man behaving in such a strange fashion on camera..
“Now look at the random messages and statements attacking Constantino Chiwenga saying you won’t rule Zimbabwe, it is very clear that the nation has reversed back to the Grace Mugabe days and Mnangagwa is now fighting for survival,” they said.
Below was one such supposed leak on the development, released in a tweet that read: 1/1. I can strongly confirm that Mnangagwa is under state ceisure. He is nolonger incharge but the military under Chiwenga and Tagwirei has taken over Zimbabwe with effect from 1 November 2018. What happened last year to Mugabe is happening again in a different way. Chiwenga and Tagwirei have captured the executive powers as they have given Munangagwa a condition:
Either you play by the rules of the Cartel or you step down by resignation or by military backed public demonstrations. Watch this space, Mnangagwa’s days are numbered. This time Chiwenga is taking over. ”
Correspondent|Villagers from the diamond rich Marange Communal lands will forever live to regret the discovery of diamonds in the area.
In a video below, a villager narrates how President Emmerson Mnangagwa led government through the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamonds Company ZCDC, has unleashed fiery dogs believed to have been imported from China to attack villagers in the area to block them from accessing the diamond fields.
According to the villagers, several people in the area have been mauled to death by the dogs and government has never appeared to be moved by the deaths.
One villager who ZimEye.com sources could not convince to be recorded on camera told that his 94 year old grandmother was early this year brutally attacked by the dogs while sleeping outside her hut. She died a few weeks after and authorities refused to relate the death to the attack by the dogs.
The man in the video below which is was recorded by activists Bekezela Maduma Fuzwayo who visited the area this week tells how he was attacked by the dogs while walking outside the diamonds fields. According to him, the ZCDC guards who are believed to be former police officers pelted him with stones while the dogs continued to make meat of him.
Early this year the villagers went on a mass demonstration demanding for the restoration of humanity in the area only for them to be attacked and arrested by the police.
ZimEye.com efforts to get a comment from authorities at ZCDC were not successful at the time of writing.
Lerato Sengadi’s application to stop the funeral of the late rapper Jabulani ‘HHP’ Tsambo has been denied.
In his judgment, Judge Mokgoatlheng said that HHP and Lerato Sengadi complied with all necessary requirements under the customary law and therefore Sengadi was HHP’s customary wife.
– HHP’s father’s argument that Sengadi was not his son’s customary wife because she was not handed over is not valid as handing over is not a requirement under the customary law act.
– Customary law only recognises three requirements: that both must be over the age of 18; Lobola must be agreed upon and that there must be a celebration.
He said that Tsambo’s argument that because Sengadi was not handed over then she’s not the wife does not stand.
He said that under normal circumstances, as HHP’s customary wife, Sengadi has the right to stop the funeral but based on convenience and the concept of Ubuntu, he is denying the application.
He “implored” Sengadi to attend the funeral taking place in Mafikeng on Saturday.
Lerato Sengadi hauled Tsambo to the South Gauteng High Court to stop him from burying his son HHP, real name Jabulani Tsambo, who was found dead at his home on Wednesday last week.
Sengadi was arguing that she is HHP’s lawful customary wife and that she has full rights to bury her husband.
The Tsambo family released a statement soon after HHP’s death was confirmed in which they said they did not recognise Sengadi as their son’s widow.
In his answering affidavit, Tsambo argued that Sengadi was not his son’s wife as the lobola negotiations were not concluded by the time of the rapper’s death.
He also argued that the mere fact that Sengadi argued to be his customary wife does not automatically grant her the right to bury him.
Tsambo also shot down Sengadi’s argument that she was not allowed at the funeral and said that she could come and attend.
He said the funeral preparations were ready and argued the issue of convenience to the North West government who had declared a “civic funeral” for the late rapper and to those who had already made bookings to attend the funeral.
Sengadi had argued that she was HHP’s customary wife because she was congratulated by the deceased two aunts on becoming his wife.
Tsambo said that there was no handing over ceremony of Sengadi into the Tsambo family since there was no mammal that was slaughtered and culturally this must be done.
Judge Mokgoatlheng said that it is uncommon for the bride and groom to attend lobolo negotiations but the fact that they were there showed that culture is dynamic.
By Own Correspondent| Presidential aspirant in the July 30 harmonised polls, Brian Muteki’s Sekurutau’s Beverages has been awarded a liquor manufacturers license from Zimra for his BrynBrands Kanhu Vodka.
Muteki revealed this on his facebook page expressing optimism that his company is poised to become a multi billion business empire.
Said Muteki:
“BREAKING NEWS…the sky is the limit for fast growing Multi-Billion Dollar Business Empire BrynBrands (Private) Limited Group Of Companies t/a Sekurutau Beverages.
We just got a liquor manufacturers license from Zimra for our BrynBrands KANHU Vodka, KACHIBHODHORO Whisky, BHOZVEKUTI Cane Spirit and KESHTO Brandy.
We also got a Suppliers contract with Metro Peech & Browne Wholesalers and Delivered 4000 cases of our BrynBrands “Mvura” 500ml still purified water.”
Correspondent|Leading accounting firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PWC) has started inviting the suspended Zesa Holdings managers for interviews as the forensic audit as the ongoing investigations gather momentum.
Impeccable sources inside the power utility said PWC has been inviting suspended managers for interviews in regards to the allegations of misappropriation of funds.
15 managers from across the power utility company’s subsidiaries were put on 90 days mandatory leave.
This was shortly after Zesa Group Chief executive officer Josh Chifamba and two other senior managers were charged with criminal abuse of office in October.
This emanated from irregular deals to the tune of $35 million with Indian company, PME.
PWC’s forensic audit seeks to verify information on how tenders were issued, board minutes, procurement documentation, fraud incidents reports as well as all procurement documentation for the Intratek Gwanda solar project.
The auditors are also said to have asked for finance reports of the power utility company for the past three years .
Meanwhile, Zesa board chairman Herbert Murerwa is on record for saying the suspended managers will receive salaries and benefits while on ‘forced’ leave.
Zesa Holdings has been plagued for years by scandals involving corporate malpractice, questionable tender allocation and blatant cases of corruption that have bled the of company millions of dollars.
In 2015 Zesa executives unilaterally donated almost $1,2 million to politicians and various organisations instead of the officially approved $300 000.
In July this year, Former Energy Minister Samuel Undenge was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison after being found guilty of prejudicing Zesa Holdings subsidiary, ZPC of $12,650.
Apart from major scandals, lengthy projects and price escalations on tenders have resulted in the power company straining under $ 1 billion debt and owes its regional power suppliers close to $100 million.
By A Correspondent |ANALYSIS| Flying in the face of Econet boss, Strive Masiyiwa’s claims that Zimbabwe cannot prosper under western sanctions on ZANU PF’s ruling clique, the prestigious Mo Ibrahim Index discussed LIVE on Deutsche Welle Africa, has reported a significant improvement of Zimbabwe on good governance and the economy. The 2018 report strictly relates to the Mugabe era: the MDC (Tsvangirai) Government Of National Unity period and just afterwards, the 2007 to 2017 era.
The report features Zimbabwe significantly rising above the whole of Africa on nearly all fronts on governance, business culture development, and GDP, the latter which sees the Mugabe managed country being one of only four countries who are the largest improvers at the category level over the decade: Kenya, Liberia, Rwanda and Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe was ranked in a small group of successful nations as seen in the printouts provided in this ZimEye news review article.
Improvement in Safety & Rule of Law
Five of the ten most improved countries in Rule of Law – Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Somalia, Tunisia and Zimbabwe – are among the ten most improved countries in Overall Governance, the paper says.
Between the period, Zimbabwe managed to improve on scores in the Safety & Rule of Law category (compared to only 19 over the last decade). The report says 58.5% of Africa’s citizens have experienced improved Safety & Rule of Law over the last five years. SEE GRAPH:
Increase in GDP
Of the ten African countries with the largest percentage increase in GDP in the period 2008-2017, only four feature among the ten largest improvers at the category level
over the decade: Kenya, Liberia, Rwanda and Zimbabwe.
Absence of Restrictions on Foreign Investment
In terms of Absence of Restrictions on Foreign Investment, only seven countries have shown a positive ten-year trajectory: Guinea (+17.3), Swaziland (+6.0), Zimbabwe (+5.9), Morocco (+1.3), Cabo Verde (+0.5), Rwanda (+0.3) and Benin (+0.2). They host less than one tenth of the continent’s population (7.2%).
Reliability of Electricity Supply
Of the 43 countries for which there is data, 25 have improved in the indicator Reliability of Electricity Supply over the decade. This number went up to 29 between 2013-2017. The five largest ten-year improvements are those of Uganda, Senegal, Zimbabwe,
Cabo Verde and Chad (+31.0, +29.6, +28.5, +23.7 and +19.7, respectively). Chad has been the only country to experience yearon-year improvement since the beginning of the time series.
Country groupings according to resources.
Classification taken from: United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
(UNECA) (2017). Economic Report on Africa (ERA) 2017.
According to the ERA, oil exporters are those African countries with oil exports at least 20 per cent higher than their oil imports. They include: Algeria, Angola, Cameroon, Chad, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Libya, Niger, Nigeria and Sudan.
The ERA considers mineral-rich countries as those where mineral exports account for more than 20 per cent of total exports. They include: Algeria, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Guinea, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
For the purpose of this analysis, resource-rich countries are those that feature as oil exporters, mineral-rich, or both in the ERA. They are:
Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Conversely, non resource-rich countries are those that do not feature as oil exporters, mineral rich, or both in the ERA. They include: Burundi, Cabo Verde, Comoros, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Morocco, São Tomé & Príncipe, Senegal, Seychelles, Somalia, South Sudan, Swaziland, Tunisia and Uganda.
There are strong statistical relationships between Rule of Law and Transparency & Accountability measures and performance in other areas of the IIAG. The indicators Property Rights (r=+0.92) and Sanctions for Abuse of Office (r=+0.85) are the first and third most correlated indicators with Overall Governance. The second most correlated indicator with Overall Governance, Civil Rights & Liberties (r=+0.87), is also the most correlated of the 102 indicators in the IIAG with Rule of Law (r=+0.89).
Correspondent|MDC Alliance principal Tendai Biti has rubbished oil discovery claims announced by President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Thursday stating that it was another mega deal that would never materialise.
President Mnangagwa announced the discovery of oil and gas in the Muzarabani area by Australian Stock Exchange-listed company Invictus Energy.
President Mnangagwa said the findings by Invictus Energy, a company that has been licensed to explore the oil in Muzarabani were positive and point to oil and gas deposits in the area.
President Mnangagwa said government would work very closely with Invictus to ensure that the company realises its plans to sink an exploration well by mid-2020.
In an interview Biti said the country was miles away from discovering oil.
“Coming from Mnangagwa, The man just shoots his big mouth off. We have heard of mega deals and mega deals billions and billions of mega deals, nothing has materialised.
“That there is ample justification for exploration of gas and oil in Muzarabani, it does not translate to oil.
“So the contrary that has been given to Invictus to gas and oil exploration, we are miles away from any potential finding of oil,” he said.
Biti said he was concerned with the allocation of resources by government.
“Secondly I am seriously concerned with the allocation of resources, what is the criteria that that we give those contract, this contract that has been given to Invictus what did they pay.
“Where is the transparency, why wasn’t this confession subjected to conduct so I have a problem with the way we allocate national resources without tender, without parliament, without full knowledge of the public so more questions arise than answers,” Biti said.
Biti also went on to social media and tweeted saying the discovery of oil was rubbish.
“It is one thing being clueless and predatory but it is another thing for a Government to lie and to tamper with the truth daily we are inundated with claims of billion dollar mega deals & investments. What hog wash .Now someone says there is oil in Zimbabwe .What a load of rubbish,” Biti tweeted.
Own Correspondent|Former ZANU PF legislator Psychology Maziwisa and veteran broadcaster Oscar Pambuka have approached the High Court, challenging the dismissal of their applications for discharge at the close of the State’s case.
The two seem to have played ‘pulled a fast one’ on the prosecutor as they applied to a higher court without his knowledge- a complete negation of normal procedure.
Prosecuting, Michael Reza fumed in court that the two alleged that the two are trying to make a backdoor exit from the long arm of justice.
“I am just seeing that they made an application challenging the court’s ruling but I was not consulted to sign for this application.
“I will make it a point to understand how an officer at the Prosecutor General’s (PG) signed for the application without my knowledge as the prosecutor in the matter.
The court heard that one J. Chikosha from the PG’s office signed the papers consenting to the application challenging the court’s ruling without communicating with the presiding prosecutor.
The matter has been temporarily stopped awaiting the higher courts ruling on the challenge.
Maziwisa and Pambuka are challenging the ruling made by Harare magistrate Lazini Ncube that they had a case to answer after the close of the State’s case.
They were applying for discharge at the close of the State’s case indicating that they should not have been charged in their individual capacities but that their company should have been charged alone.
The application was rubbished on the grounds that evidence led by the State through the ZPC witness Noah Gwariro incriminates the two.
Gwariro gave testimony to the effect that he now realised that he should not have passed the invoices for payment as it has become apparent to him that the two accused persons had no influence in the production of the news items on ZBC.
The court also ruled that all the three ZBC witnesses corroborated each other that the accused persons had no role to play in the production of the news whatsoever.
The magistrate ruled that there is nothing wrong with the state charging an individual director or employee of a company.
The matter was remanded to November 20 awaiting the High Court’s ruling.
Allegations are that sometime in 2016, Maziwisa and Pambuka took a letter to ZPC from former Energy and Power Development Minister Samuel Undenge directing the firm to work with Fruitful Communications at intervals of six months.
Undenge was jailed for an effective two-and-a-half years for abuse of office after he hand-picked Fruitful Communications to do work for ZPC. He is currently on bail pending appeal.
It is alleged that on February 12, Fruitful Communications hosted a Zim-Asset conference at Meikles Hotel, where Undenge was the guest of honour.
ZBC covered the event, but on March 8, Maziwisa and Pambuka, with the intention of defrauding the company, brought an invoice of $12 650 to ZPC.
They allegedly claimed that they had done a Press conference on power projects in Kariba, Hwange and Batoka.
They also claimed to have done stories for news bulletins aired on Power FM, Radio Zimbabwe and National FM and media watch programme on “Kariba water levels”.
Maziwisa and Pambuka alleged they had done Zim-Asset conference radio interviews on National FM and another Powertalk session on energy and infrastructural development before sending a bill to ZPC.
Acting on the misrepresentation, ZPC paid the money.
By Own Correspondent| In a move aimed at keeping in touch with current local and international trends, Zanu Pf has introduced the Research and Policy Centre within the office of the Secretary of Administration.
In a vacancy notice issued recently, Zanu Pf is seeking the services of 4 research and policy officers to help in the party’s research and policy needs.
By Noah Manyika|As soon as he was appointed Agriculture Minister, retired Chief Air Marshall P. Shiri talked about the need for land to be fully utilized if agriculture is going to be a key driver of our economic turnaround. In the minister’s own words last year:
“In terms of agriculture, we have to ensure there is production. All land has to be fully utilized, and apart from fully utilizing the land, we want productivity to be increased really. We realized that we contribute a lot towards the GDP of the country, wealth creation in the country and foreign currency earning and we just have to live up to the expectation of the nation.”
At a farm an hour’s drive from Harare where much of the reallocated land is lying idle, 12 tobacco barns and over a 100 former farm worker’s homes have been stripped of windows, doors and roofing. Electrical cables and the transformer have disappeared. Much of it happened under the previous government’s watch, but sadly some of it, including the demolishing of barns for bricks by members of the community is happening right now.
In the same area, expensive irrigation equipment on a farm thousands of hectares in size is beginning to weather under the sun from lack of use, while the fields are slowly becoming overgrown. While there are recipients of land that are putting it to good use, the number of former commercial agricultural land in the hands of people who are not making much use of it is unacceptably high.
I have no reason to doubt the Minister’s commitment to ensure that land is fully utilized. It is my understanding that the Minister is himself a very successful farmer. I have personally visited the Ministry offices and been impressed by the staff’s understanding of the problem and their responsiveness to enquiries. We will only succeed however if this not just the minister’s commitment, but ours as a nation.
Villagers must know that destroying infrastructure that could be utilized for the benefit of the community is not how we turn our economy around or win the war on poverty. Those who are holding on to commercial land they are not fully utilizing must demonstrate their patriotism by voluntarily making way for others who have the wherewithal to fully use it.
Just like any other auditing exercise, the land audit currently underway will only tell us the truth about what is actually audited. If the land controlled by influential people (which is the best of our land) is outside the audit’s purview, we will not turn the agricultural fortunes of our country around.
One sure way not to win the war on poverty is by choosing not to believe the obvious truths we see as we drive along our highways that many of what used to be the country’s best farms which are now controlled by influential black Zimbabweans are now failing dismally.
We will not win the war on poverty if we fail to see that the citrus estates in the Mazowe area are no longer what they used to be, or continue to pretend that the non-perfomance of what used to be our most vibrant farms which has resulted in our country importing wheat and cooking oil and hundreds of thousands of farm workers being unemployed, is not a big problem.
We will not win the war on poverty if it doesn’t matter that we used to be a major exporter of flowers to global flower markets, and that our beef slaughtering and dairy facilities were once world class, enabling us to export our meat and dairy products to lucrative global markets.
We will not win the war on poverty if we believe that those who point these things out are “enemies of the revolution” who want to see a reversal of land redistribution.
We owe it to ourselves and to future generations to make sure we make the best use of what in my view is our most important asset: our land. Not only will it employ us if we do, but it will feed us and our children and our children’s children.
Is there not a cause?
Dr. Noah Manyika is the founder and President of opposition Build Zimbabwe Alliance
By Own Correspondent| It never rains but pours for suspended University of Zimbabwe (UZ) vice-chancellor Levi Nyagura who was on Friday hauled before the Harare Magistrates’ Courts facing 27 fresh counts of criminal abuse of office for allegedly awarding a tree-cutting tender to three different companies owned by one person.
Nyagura is being charged along with UZ director of works Lazarus Mabvura (42) and James Chipendo (36).
The trio were granted $500 bail each when they appeared before magistrate Rumbidzai Mugwagwa.
The complainant is the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe, represented by chief executive officer Nyasha Chizu.
UZ, through Mabvura, requested for quotations from tree cutting firms to cut 5 trees in front of the northern wing of Manfred Hodson compound.
On August 23, 2015, three companies, namely Frenzy Investments, Tynwald Sawmills and Bright Tree Cutters, responded by submitting quotations to Mabvura.
The State alleges Frenzy Investments and Tynwald Sawmills are owned by the same directors, namely Morgan Manyemba, Ruzisai Nechipani and Florence Mukundu, while Bright Tree Cutter is not registered.
The State alleges on November 6, 2015, Mabvura connived with Nyagura and awarded the services to Tynwald Sawmills without soliciting for quotations from at least three competitive bidders.
The State alleges the same companies were awarded more than 27 contracts from 2015 to 2018 which were worth thousands of dollars.-Newsday
Correspondent|The magistrates court in Harare on Friday heard of a desperate scramble to destroy evidence before police swooped on PHD Ministries’ founder Walter Magaya’s office in Harare to seize unlicensed medicines he intended to sell as an HIV cure.
“Just before the search, accused persons destroyed some of the exhibits by flushing the Aguma in the office toilets and burning the containers which were however recovered half-burnt. Several Aguma sachets and other torn sachets were also recovered in an office bin next to the Call Centre office,” according to a document prepared by the Criminal Investigations Department’s Drugs Section submitted in court.
Police raided Magaya’s Prophetic Healing and Deliverance Ministries property on Edinburg Road in Marlbrough suburb and found drug-making machines, packaging machines and what police listed as “prescription preparatory medicines”.
The “prescription preparatory medicines” are thought to be approved prescription anti-retroviral drugs, although a full description was not provided in court.
Magaya, who was released on $300 bail by magistrate Elisha Singano, was charged under Section 40(1) also read with Section 40(2a) of the Medicines and Allied Substances Control Act Chapter 15:03 for “distributing or in any other manner whatsoever bringing to the notice of the public or causing or permitting to be published or distributed or to be brought to the notice of the public any false or misleading advertisement of a medicine.”
Prosecutor Sebastian Mutizirwa said Magaya had used his church’s Yadah TV and the website of Aretha Medical to advertise his purported HIV cure called ‘Aguma’.
Police had also recovered 20 travelling bags containing empty capsules, plastic containers and plastic container lids.
By Paul Nyathi|Mines and Mining development Minister Winston Chitando has also issued a statement indicating that no oil has been discovered in Muzarabani area.
Chitando reiterated Australian company Invictus Energy that there is need to drill an exploration well to confirm the presence of oil and gas in Muzarabani
Drilling the well is estimated to cost US$20 million.
Said Chitando in his statements;
“I refer to the statement made by Invictus on the Australian stock exchange and hereby comment as follows – Invictus will only now be releasing their resource statement on Monday morning Australian time, the statement by His Excellency and my technical analysis pointed to the need to drill an exploration well to confirm the indicated resources.”
“The statement further indicated that the current resource estimate to be released on Monday has been signed off by an International Oil Consultant.”
Kwese TV is shutting down their Satellite TV and instead of coming out clear to declare the shutdown, they opted to release a confusing press statement that doesn’t quit explain what is actually going on with the service.
Below is the statememt issued by the media funded by giant communications company Econet Wireless.
In order to maintain its position as a leader in broadcasting innovation in Africa, Econet Media has reviewed its business strategy and service offerings, to align them with the changes in the global digital and satellite broadcasting sector, and growth in access to mobile and fixed broadband on the continent.
The strategy review will see Africa’s leading multiplatform broadcast network focusing on three core services; Kwesé Free Sports (KFS), Kwesé iflix and Kwesé Play. KFS is Africa’s largest free-to-air TV service, Kwesé iflix is Africa’s leading mobile video-on-demand sports and entertainment platform while Kwesé Play is a leading-edge video streaming service with more than 200 sports, entertainment, kids and news channels including Red Bull TV, NBA, YouTube, TED and Bloomberg.
With increased focus on these three services, Econet Media will streamline its direct-to-home satellite television service. This will see the reduction of third-party channels available on the bouquet, as well as the removal of Kwesé branded sports (excluding KFS) and general entertainment channels.
The broadcaster’s new bouquet will carry FTA, religious, and free news channels which will be available to viewers for a minimal fee, as the broadcaster will waive monthly subscription fees. Kwesé subscribers who have already paid their subscriptions for the month of November, or in advance, will receive a full refund.
TWENTY people were injured when an AMBS bus developed a mechanical fault, veered off the road, hit a tree stump and landed on its side at the 125km peg along the Bulawayo-Nkayi Road.
The incident occurred at around 11AM on Wednesday at Gwampa Valley in Nkayi.
The injured were rushed to Nkayi District Hospital where they are receiving treatment.
Mr Joseph Magwenzi (41) of Emganwini suburb in Bulawayo was driving the bus with 31 passengers on board when the accident occurred.
The passengers sustained varying degrees of injuries.
Matabeleland North police spokesperson Chief Inspector Siphiwe Makonese confirmed the accident.
“I can confirm we received a report of a road accident that occurred at the 125km peg along the Bulawayo-Nkayi Road on Wednesday morning.
“The bus which was proceeding to Nkayi with 31 passengers on board developed a mechanical fault. The driver then lost control of the bus and it veered off the road to the right side, hit a tree stump and landed on its left side,” she said.
Nkayi District Administrator, Mrs Matildah Mlotshwa, urged drivers to always exercise caution especially when ferrying passengers and avoid overloading as they risk lives.
“Drivers are advised to always thoroughly inspect their vehicles or buses before setting off for a journey and to regularly service their vehicles,” she said.
Correspondent|The Centre for Natural Resource and Governance (CNRG) has claimed massive harassment of its staff by police and intelligence officials, but vowed to continue exposing gross human rights abuses of people living in the Chiadzwa diamond fields.
In a brief address during the fourth edition of Operation Hakudzokwi commemorations held at Betera Primary School in Marange, CNRG director Farai Maguwu blasted police for attempting to block villagers from attending the event.
He also claimed he had to sneak in and address the gathering after law enforcement agents had denied him entry to the venue.
In his short speech, Maguwu vowed his organisation would take the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company head-on over lack of development in the area.
“I think you are aware that Marange is the richest area in Zimbabwe, but we have some of the poorest people in the country. There is no development in this community,” he said.
“A big percentage should be used to develop the community, like paying school fees, constructing roads. Last year, we wrote a petition to Parliament over lack of development, but nothing has improved.”
Maguwu added: “Every time we want to organise such an event (Operation Hakudzokwi), we receive death threats or we are arrested by the police. Even now I might sleep in police cells because they said I should not be allowed to deliver the speech.”
He said the threats would not deter the organisation from speaking on behalf of the people.
Operation Hakudzokwi was violent crackdown launched in 2008 by security forces to clear the Chiadzwa diamond fields of illegal panners.
Human rights groups claimed that over 200 people were shot dead by police and soldiers manning the diamond fields, while thousands were reportedly maimed and tortured.
Pupils from Maranatha High School in Bulawayo were rushed to hospital after they suffered injuries when the school’s newly constructed double storey building roofing collapsed due to strong winds.
The pupils from the Nketa 7 suburb located Seventh Day Adventist church-run school were rushed to the United Bulawayo Hospitals on Wednesday.
Four were treated for minor injuries while three were treated for shock.
The incident occurred at about 3PM. It drew all the city’s emergency departments while parents also rushed to the scene to check if their children were safe.
In an interview on Wednesday, Bulawayo acting Provincial Education Director, Mrs Olicah Kaira, who visited the scene soon after learning about the incident, described it as a disaster.
She said it was fortunate that most of the pupils had gone home when disaster struck.
“I got a phone call from the District Schools Inspector just after 4PM advising me that the newly constructed science laboratory at Maranatha High School had been blown away by strong winds. The message from the DIS shocked me because I could tell from the tone of his voice that he was also in shock.
“I said to him have we managed to make sure that pupils are safe and he assured me that a number of them had left school but four were injured. Two ambulances rushed them to the United Bulawayo Hospitals. Three others were admitted for shock but the rest were discharged,” said Mrs Kaira.
She said upon her arrival, she found the Bulawayo Fire Brigade Department sifting the debris to ensure no one had been buried beneath.
Mrs Kaira said the roof collapse could have been a result of shoddy work but the Ministry would wait for expert advice as investigations into the matter had commenced.
“This is a new thing where we are encouraging schools to build high rise buildings so that we have adequate classroom space for our learners. We were yet to commission the building and give the school a certificate of occupancy so that the pupils could start using the science laboratory,” said Mrs Kaira.
“I’m not a building specialist myself but my assessment and observation points to poor workmanship. I’m yet to get proper advice and guidance on the way to go from experts but we are launching a full scale investigation with the aid of the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works, National Housing.”
She urged parents to remain calm adding that schools remain safe for their children.
Mrs Kaira said the classroom collapse seems to have traumatised some of the pupils who witnessed the incident and the Ministry would today deploy psychologists to attend to them.
She said due to preliminary investigations happening on site, the school was forced to close for business at 11:30AM with normal lessons on Thursday.
From A Correspondent|The Zimbabwe Anti Corruption Commission on Thursday arrested suspend University of Zimbabwe (UZ) Vice Chancellor, Levi Nyagura on twenty seven counts of fraud.
He appeared in court on Friday I the corruption charges which he allegedly committed while he was still the Vice Chancellor at the university.
The court released him on $500 bail.
Nyagura, who was not asked to plead, is being charged together with UZ top officials, Lazarus Mabvira and James Chipendo.
“Sometime between the period 2015 and 2018 at the UZ, the trio connived on various occasions to prejudice the university of substantial amounts of money by ‘dubiously’ awarding tenders for services needed by the university,” read state papers.
Court also heard UZ also received services of cutting down five trees from Tynwald Sawmills, a company that was awarded a tender outside due diligence requirements.
It is alleged that Tynwald Sawmills was paid $9 950 but there was neither security check nor storekeepers’ signature to confirm that the services were rendered.
On another occasion, the trio allegedly connived to split a tender of a single procurement into two purchases each below the competitive bidding threshold of $10 000.
They awarded the two contracts to Tynwald Sawmills without going to formal tender as required by the law.
On November 6, they awarded services to Tynwald Sawmills without solicitation for quotations from at least three competitive bidders as Tynwald and Frenzy were owned by the same people while Bright Tree Cutters was not a registered company.
Mabvira raised a purchase worth $49 950 in favour of Tynwald and he also made a goods received voucher on November 1 2015, acknowledging the services that had been rendered to the university.
On November 13, 2015 the university transferred the money into Tynwald Sawmills’s CBZ account.
Nyagura and Mabvira allegedly did the same thing with the cutting down of trees around the university in which they allegedly favoured Tynwald Sawmills and other companies without soliciting the required amount of quotations in total. They spent more than $200 000 on illegal contacting.
The under fire former UZ CEO also has another case before the court being that of criminal abuse of office after he allegedly awarded a “bogus” PhD to former first lady Grace Mugabe.
The trial has been stayed after he approached the Constitutional Court challenging the authority of special anti-corruption unit to prosecute him.
He will be back in court on December 12 pending trial.
Own Correspondent|When diamonds were discovered in the Marange area of Manicaland, the community there thought that they had finally reached their Canaan but alas.
Since the first diamond stones were officially discovered in 2008 life for the community in Marange turned to hell on earth.
At the time the rich stones were discovered, government moved in and condoned off the diamond fields. Villagers were forced out of their land in the most brutal manner, worse than what the colonialists would even have done.
In the two weeks of removing the villagers from the diamond fields under a brutal “operation hakudzokwe” the state using the army killed over 400 people who were resisting the forced evictions or would be found sneaking back into the fields to pick up the alluvial diamond.
Fast forward to today, ten years on. The Marange community is living far from being independent people. The brutality and killings on the people have continued though government has deliberately tried to block off information on the life of the people of Marange.
When the villagers were forced off the fields, the government declared much of the area a “no go area” where soldiers, police and some guards have been deployed under an order to shoot to kill anyone found to be illegally within the no go area.
The difficult part for the Marange community is that some of the villages were rounded up inside the protected area zone automatically turning them into captivity.
Villagers who are living within the protected area are now forced to have monthly renewable permits that allow them to be found within the area but never to be found anywhere near the diamond fields where government and its Chinese partners are mining.
The permits are not locally available but have to be sourced from police in Mutare some 125 kilometres away at a transport cost of up to $20.
Any other person wishing to visit their relative in Marange and Chiyadzwa areas must also first go to Mutare and apply for a short term permit to visit the area.
Villagers in the area who spoke to ZimEye.com told scary tales of mass brutality in the hands of hundreds of soldiers and police deployed to man the area.
According to the villagers life in the area is extremely unbearable which has seen some people voluntarily opt to quit their father land and go and start a new life elsewhere away from the eyes of the police and the army.
“Life in Marange is extremely unbearable,” said one villager. “We lived better under smith regime than under our own black government that has turned us into hopeless ants that they can easily crush with their feet without any fuss,” he said.
Early this year, the villagers were thoroughly beaten and some were arrested when they decided to demonstrate against the permits and the presence of the army and police in their district.
By Own Correspondent| Zanu Pf leader and President Emmerson Mnangagwa has warned party members to stop discussing internal issues outside party structures or risk being kicked out of the party.
He said the revolutionary party had a clear channel of airing grievances that should be used by all members who feel aggrieved.
Addressing members of the Youth League during a Young Assembly meeting held at the Zanu-PF headquarters in Harare recently, President Mnangagwa called for dialogue and self-introspection among party members.
Said Mnangagwa:
“Party officials at every level are expected and obligated by the constitution to be faithful and loyal to the ideals, values and principles of the party.
They are further required to strive continuously to raise the level of social, political and economic consciousness and understanding of party policies. If you have a problem with the party, you don’t debate it with the world.
The world is not the party. If you have a problem with the party it must be discussed in the party and not outside it, but if you insist then you are asking us to kick you from the party so that you can freely debate your party outside our party.
In Zanu-PF, we have our ways of airing out grievances from the grassroots to the top. If one says he or she is a member of Zanu-PF, we expect that person to understand party procedures on airing out grievances.
These days we are hearing some voices from the wilderness speaking and splitting the party.
In the Bible, John the Baptist, who was in the wilderness, was speaking holy things relating to the coming of Jesus Christ but the ones we are talking about in our party are saying things meant to destroy the party. They are bringing disharmony in the party.
“We are warning them that no, we are now seeing your nakedness. Dress up and return to the others.”-StateMedia
By Own Correspondent| Finance and Economic Development Minister Mthuli Ncube is trying to replace the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor John Mangudya with top economist Andrew Bvumbe following the expiry of his employment contract with the World Bank (WB) where he worked as executive director for the Africa Group 1 Constituency (AFG1).
Government sources said although Ncube has had good working relations with Mangudya, he is closer to Bvumbe and likes the fact that he has been working at the WB and is connected to international financial institutions.
According to the sources, Bvumbe is supposed to return to his former position as head of the aid and debt management office at the Finance Ministry. The position is currently occupied by an official seconded to the ministry by the RBZ.
Sources said Ncube, who began courting Bvumbe soon after his appointment as Finance minister in September, is fighting to assert total control at the central bank by ensuring senior positions are occupied by people he is comfortable working with.
“Ncube has of late been in talks with Bvumbe and indicated that he would want to work with him once his contract at the WB expires. They first met on the sidelines of the United Nations general assembly meeting in New York in September. They also met in Bali, Indonesia, at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings and held further talks,” a Finance Ministry official said.
“Although there is no bad blood between the two, Ncube appears to be frustrated by Mangudya’s cautious approach to the sweeping changes he sought to introduce when he became Finance minister.”
Senior RBZ officials also told the Zimbabwe Independent that when Ncube arrived at the ministry, he wanted to quickly remove bond notes, but Mangudya, who introduced the surrogate currency in 2016, warned that doing so would be catastrophic.
Ncube’s idea of introducing a local currency was also deemed too hasty by Mangudya, who subtly warned the ambitious minister in his monetary policy statement on October 1 that doing so would be akin to “putting the cart before the horse”.
“Ncube wants to control the RBZ, that’s one area where they are having differences. Mangudya is of the idea that Ncube’s big bang approach would cause mayhem and he favours gradual change.”
Sources said Ncube and Mangudya are currently not operating on the same wavelength as the minister was making decisions without consulting the governor.
“A case in point is that of the controversial communications taskforce which Ncube established. Mangudya knew nothing about the taskforce and, when he found out, he wasn’t comfortable with it at all. Actually, some RBZ officials believe that most of the allegations levelled against directors at the bank are either half-truths or total falsehoods,” another source said.
The short-lived taskforce, chaired by controversial former Zanu PF youth league official William Mutumanje, commonly known as Acie Lumumba, led to the suspension of RBZ directors on corruption allegations: Mirirayi Chiremba, Norman Mataruka, Gresham Muradzikwa and Azvinandawa Saburi.
Ncube was however later forced to disband the taskforce following a major outcry in government and in the ruling Zanu PF. George Charamba told the press yesterday Mangudya’s term of office would be extended once it expires.
‘‘The President is very clear on the Reserve Bank Governor’s tenure and his performance. Not only is he there to stay but the President is about to renew his contract for a second tenure,’’ Charamba said.
Efforts to get Ncube’s comment were unsuccessful.- Zimbabwe Independent
By Own Correspondent| The Registrar General’s Office has expressed concern over the huge number of uncollected passports some of which have since expired before collection.
About 53 000 have remained uncollected at the RG’s office, of which 11 144 have since expired.
Speaking at a media briefing, Registrar General Mr Clemence Masango said his department is highly concerned with the high number of uncollected passports, some of which date back to 10 years ago.
He called on Zimbabweans residing in South Africa who had applied for passports to contact the Zimbabwean consulate in Johannesburg for collection.
Said Masango:
“We therefore encourage all those who applied for passports prior to May 2018 and have not yet collected to come and collect them.”
The Registrar General’s Department is currently experiencing a backlog of 166 240 applications dating back to May 2018.
The department says it has come up with an implementation plan to clear the backlog once the necessary resources are in place with a possibility of a shift system.-StateMedia
nu PF president Emmerson Mnangagwa is an illegitimate leader.
are having district, provincial
There could be more to the rise in the cost and unavailability of medicines than meets the eye.
