Jane Mlambo| Police have for the second time refused to sanction the opposition MDC’s 19th anniversary celebrations slated for Gwanzura Stadium this Saturday citing threats of cholera outbreak.

In a letter to MDC dated 25 September 2018, Officer commanding Police, Harare South District, W Muza urged MDC to postpone the celebrations until the cholera outbreak is declared over.

“Reference is made to your notification to hold MDC 19th anniversary celebrations at Gwanzura Stadium, Harare on 29 September 2018 time from 1000 hrs to 1600hrs
“May I take this opportunity to advice you that the government ban on public gatherings following the outbreak of cholera in Harare is still standing.

“In the interest of public safety and total containment of the cholera epidemic, we direct that the intended celebrations be postponed until the epidemic is declared over.

“Meamwhile, the intended celebration is not sanctioned,” noted Muza.

MDC leader has previously announced that he will use the anniversary celebrations to crown himself the people’s president with government threatening to arrest him should he proceed with his plan.

Jane Mlambo| Government continues to spend money on unnecessary costs following the setting up of offices for the Commission of Inquiry looking into August 1 shootings at Cresta Lodge in Msasa.

According to a press release flighted by the commission soliciting for information from the people, submissions were directed to office number 136 Cresta Lodge, Samora Machel Avenue in Harare.

This is against a background that the commission will operate for three months which could result in a huge bill considering that hotel rates are higher than ordinary offices.

The setting up of offices at Cresta Lodge also raises questions on government priorities at a time the chorus has been to cut unnecessary expenditures as a measure to boost economic confidence.

In 2016, there was so much noise over Former Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko’s continued stay at Rainbow Towers after his appointment.w

Mphoko gobbled in excess of $620 000 in hotel bill during more than a year stay at Rainbow Towers.

A judge in Pennsylvania has jailed US comedian Bill Cosby for three to 10 years for sexual assault.

Cosby, 81, was also categorised as a sexually violent predator, meaning he must undergo counselling for life and be listed on the sex offender registry.

The actor declined to make a statement when offered the opportunity.

At a retrial in April, Cosby was found guilty of three counts of sexual assault for drugging and molesting Andrea Constand in 2004.

Cosby’s request for bail pending appeal was denied. He was also fined $25,000 (£19,000) plus the prosecution costs.

After the sentencing, he was led away in handcuffs from the courtroom. He was then driven to Montgomery County Correctional Facility.

Cosby’s attorney had asked for his sentence to be restricted to house arrest, saying he was too frail for prison.

The actor had been under house arrest since April.

The comedian became a household name in 1980s America when he starred in the Cosby Show TV sitcom, playing the father in a well-to-do African-American family living in Brooklyn, New York.

Such was his popularity that he was dubbed “America’s Dad”.

“This was a serious crime,” Judge Steven O’Neill was quoted as saying by CNN after pronouncing the sentence in the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown.

“Mr Cosby, this has all circled back to you. The day has come, the time has come.”

In June 2017, the former Temple University basketball administrator described how Cosby, whom she had viewed as a “mentor”, had given her pills that left her “frozen” and unable to stop his assault.

In her impact statement , as carried by the National Post, she said: “To truly understand the impact that the sexual assault has had on my life, you have to understand the person that I was before it happened.”

“I was at the top of my game, certain that the groundwork provided by my education and athletic training would stand me in good stead whatever challenges lay ahead…” she said.

“After the assault, I wasn’t sure what had actually happened but the pain spoke volumes. The shame was overwhelming. Self-doubt and confusion kept me from turning to my family or friends as I normally did. I felt completely alone, unable to trust anyone, including myself.”

She wrote that she had stopped eating, sleeping and socialising. Tormented by nightmares, she finally told her mother the truth about what had happened.

“Bill Cosby took my beautiful, healthy young spirit and crushed it,” she said. “He robbed me of my health and vitality, my open nature, and my trust in myself and others.”

“Instead of looking back, I am looking forward to looking forward,” she added. “I want to get to the place where the person I was meant to be gets a second chance.”

Bill Cosby showed little emotion and no remorse during his sentencing. At this defining moment in his life, there were no family members or former cast mates with him for moral support.

The court was filled, though, with several of his accusers who sat in the rows behind Andrea Constand.

Model Janice Dickenson clapped her hands in anticipation and joy, others quietly held hands. Their relief was evident when his sentence was finally read out. This was a moment they never thought possible. And they had front seats to witness it.

BBC

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Jane Mlambo| The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has called on President Emmerson Mnangagwa to reverse the appointment of Registrar General (RG) Clemence Masango.

Former immigration department head Masango recently took over from long-serving registrar general Tobaiwa Mudede who was retired as part of a shake-up of the civil service by Mnangagwa.

ZCTU president Peter Mutasa, described the ex-police officer’s appointment to RG as unfair since sexual harassment allegations raised in his previous role as immigration head have yet to be resolved.

“We regard the appointment or reassignment as lack of judgment by the appointing authority,” said Mutasa.

“While we respect the fact that every accused person is innocent until proven guilty, the elevation is actually a direct interference with the Gender Commission’s investigation.”

Mutasa said Mnangagwa’s promotion of individual who headed an organisation under investigation undermines the Constitutional Commission’s work and trivialises the serious
complaints raised by workers.

This risks frustrating efforts to deal with workplace sexual harassment driven by unions and other social movements.

“… as a result we are going to demand that the appointment be rescinded until investigations are concluded. We will also look at the legal options,” he added

Women’s rights activist Nokhlo Mhluzini said the appointment raises serious concerns.

“Chisango’s appointment as Registrar General raises many concerns and we cannot, with a clear conscience, welcome it as there are serious allegations that have been levelled against him and he has not been cleared by a court of law.

“The appointment is an insult to victims of sexual harassment as it reverses the strides made by women and other campaigners in fighting against all forms of abuse at the workplace,”
she said.

Chisango is embroiled in a nasty fight with former Immigration Department employees who allege that he dismissed them from employment after they rebuffed his sexual advances.
-Newzimbabwe.com

PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa says Harare water is contaminated with raw sewerage owing to dilapidated and obsolete infrastructure, resulting in the frequent outbreaks of waterborne diseases. The President was speaking in New York where he is attending the UN 73rd General Assembly.

“We have an issue of water and sanitation management in the country.

In the area of sanitation which has caused cholera in Zimbabwe, we now understand that the system (water and sewer reticulation) is over 60 years old.

Sewage and water pipes leak and inter exchange quantities resulting in cholera,” Mnangagwa told Zimbabweans living in the United States.

He said his government was ready to roll out a $63 million programme to replace the obsolete sewer reticulation system which he said is failing to cope due to massive population growth in the capital.

“The first front in the fight against cholera is to contain it and the second is to make sure that the entire system is taken out and a new one is put on.

We understand that $63 million is required and I have no doubt we have the capacity to provide that,” he said.

Harare mayor Herbert Gomba has, however, said the city needs between $180 million to $200 million for pipe replacement alone and an additional $1 billion for dam construction so that there is adequate water supply.

Mnangagwa said the country was investing massive capital in infrastructure development to create opportunities for Zimbabweans living in the diaspora who have money, skill and expertise.

“In infrastructure development there are opportunities in the area of roads, rail, ICT. There is vast potential for business in that area because we want to deal with over 4 000km of roads which require either widening or dualisation.

We are opening bids for both domestic and international investment in infrastructure development,” he said.

He said there was need to upgrade the railway infrastructure to avoid derailments which have affected the National Railways of Zimbabwe in the past years.

Mnangagwa is in New York for the United Nations General Assembly.

NewsDay

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Jane Mlambo| Legislative watchdog, Veritas and the opposition have raised a red flag over President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s lack of political will to institute security sector reforms after he failed to include them on the legislative agenda of the Ninth Parliament.

Mnangagwa, however, said re-alignment of some of the country’s laws to the Constitution “remains work in progress”.

Mnangagwa mentioned a number of Bills to be tabled in Parliament as he outlined the legislative agenda of the august House last week.

A number of Bills such as the Provincial and Metropolitan Council Bill are up for re-alignment.

The opposition has for years been calling for security sector reforms. A unity government agreement — which was brokered by Southern African Development Community (Sadc) after the violent 2008 elections — included proposals for security sector reforms, but there has been no movement in that direction.

The Global Political Agreement in Article XIII (13.10) states that organisations and institutions of which the army, police, prisons and the Central Intelligence Organisation are part of, do not belong to any political party and should be impartial in the discharge of their duties.

“Security legislation: No mention is made of the need to align the Defence Act, the Police Act and the Prisons and Correctional Services Act, all of which need further alignment.

The purely token changes that were made in by the General Laws Amendment Act passed by the last Parliament were not good enough,” Veritas said in a commentary.

“Freedom of speech, Press and assembly: There is no indication of an intention to change the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, the Censorship and Entertainment Control Act, the Official Secrets Act, the Public Order and Security Act or the repressive provisions of the Criminal Law Code.”

Defence minister Oppah Muchinguri, however, last week told NewsDay that she would be looking at the reforms.

“I am looking forward also to conferring with the President looking at all these other challenges which you are raising and also if it means that the reforms that you are talking about will be necessary, because this has been an issue raised over and over again, but I am really looking forward to working with my colleagues who are still within the defence sector, and I am willing to learn as much as possible.

“You also need to know that our force is recognised the world over, you know they have served at United Nations level, at African Union level and with the challenges that you are raising I am sure to these agencies they don’t see any problems, but they see excellency in the work performed by our own forces,” she said.

MDC Alliance spokesperson Jacob Mafume and his Zapu counterpart Iphithule Maphosa said the opposition remains worried over lack of political will to institute security sector reforms.

“One of the reasons why we had a coup in 2017 is because of lack of security sector reforms.

We need to put a stop to that kind of military meddling in civilian affairs through security laws that stipulate the proper operations of the army,” Maphosa said.

“We are concerned by the lack of mention of critical reforms to the security sector in the legislative agenda.

The problems we faced in the recently held elections emanated from the lack of security sector reforms where everything is seen in security lenses and lack of accountability in the security sector.”
-Newsday

A South Sudanese doctor who runs an overcrowded hospital with a dimly-lit surgical theatre and no regular supply of general anaesthetics on Tuesday won the UN refugee agency’s prestigious Nansen award.

Evan Atar Adaha’s Maban hospital in the South Sudanese town of Bunj serves more than 144,000 refugees from Blue Nile state in neighbouring Sudan, UNHCR said.

The hospital’s X-ray machine is broken, but Atar and his team perform nearly 60 surgeries per week in a room with just one light, with staff using “ketamine injections and spinal epidurals” instead of general anaesthesia, the agency said.

UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi said Atar’s “profound humanity and selflessness” had saved thousands of lives.

Atar had previously run a hospital in Blue Nile but was forced to relocate when a conflict erupted there in 2011 between the Khartoum government and rebel fighters.

Khartoum unilaterally announced a ceasefire in the area in March.

The Nansen prize, awarded annually, is named for Norwegian polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen, who served as the first high commissioner for refugees during the failed League of Nations.

Last year’s winner was Nigerian Zannah Mustapha, who helped negotiate the release of some of the girls kidnapped by Boko Haram Islamists from their school in Chibok in 2014.

UNHCR said actor and goodwill ambassador Cate Blanchett will deliver the keynote address at the ceremony in Geneva next week. – AFP

Staff Correspondent|The driver involved in a tragic bus accident on the N1 in Limpopo‚ which claimed the lives of nine passengers‚ will remain behind bars‚ police said on Wednesday.

He appeared in court on Tuesday after he was caught trying to flee the country over the long weekend. Colonel Moatshe Ngoepe named the man as George Themba – aged 41. He is from Zimbabwe. Ngoepe said Themba appeared before the Polokwane Magistrate’s Court‚ where he was charged with nine counts of culpable homicide and another charge of reckless driving.

“He was denied bail and his cases were postponed to 2 October 2018 for further police investigations‚” Ngoepe said.

The deadly accident happened last Friday.

“It is alleged that the bus was travelling from the direction of Polokwane towards Gauteng province when the driver lost control and it overturned. The bus was carrying 61 occupants‚ including the driver and the crew. Nine out of 61 were certified dead at the scene. The 52 other injured people including Themba were taken to different hospitals for medical treatment‚” Ngoepe said.

“As the process of intensive investigations by the police was unfolding‚ especially on the possible cause of that accident‚ he disappeared following his discharge from hospital and fled towards the Beit Bridge port of entry. The police were then tipped off‚ they swiftly responded and subsequently‚ the driver was caught hidden inside the goods trailer‚ trying to illegally cross the border to Zimbabwe‚” he added.

Jane Mlambo| The Commission of Inquiry tasked with looking into the 1st of August disturbances in which soldiers fired live ammunitions and killed six people, has flighted a call for information from members of the public on the event that has dented Zimbabwe’ s re-engagement efforts while painting a picture of a country trapped in its past.

In a press release flighted in local newspapers, the commission said the information will assist them to make fair and appropriate findings promising that the submissions will be protected by law and received on a ‘without prejudice’ basis.

The Kgalema Mothlante led commission added that after receiving written submissions, they will proceed to conduct public hearings.

The commission is composed of Mothlante who is the Chairperson, United Kingdom international law expert, Rodney Dixon, former Commonwealth Secretary General Chief Emeka Anyaoku, Chief of Defence Forces of Tanzania Davis Mwamunyange, Professor Lovemore Madhuku, Professor Charity Manyeruke and former Law Society of Zimbabwe President, Vimbai Nyemba.

Jane Mlambo| President Mnangagwa’s creation of a formal “Office of the Leader of the Opposition” is not a personal accommodation for any particular individual, but rather about long-term institution-building in line with the Second Republic’s ethos of strengthening democracy in Zimbabwe.

The Head of State and Government wants to establish an Office of the Leader of the Opposition, which is in line with Commonwealth practices as Zimbabwe edges closer to rejoining that international organisation.

Beyond that, creation of the office is geared towards fostering greater political inclusivity in the country’s governance and enhancing Government’s operations by presenting it with robust checks-and-balances administrative infrastructure.

This was said by Deputy Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet (Presidential Communications) Mr George Charamba in an interview here yesterday, where President Mnangagwa is attending the 73rd Ordinary Session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Mr Charamba said President Mnangagwa had raised the matter of an Office of the Leader of the Opposition in a meeting with United Kingdom Minister of State for Africa Harriett Baldwin at the UN Headquarters on Monday.

Zimbabwe’s leader met the British official for the second time this year as relations between the two countries continue to thaw after nearly two decades of acrimony.

Minister Baldwin congratulated President Mnangagwa on his July 30 Presidential election victory, before the pair proceeded to discuss enhancement of bilateral ties, public and private sector support for Zimbabwe’s economic turnaround, the Lima debt clearance process and security co-operation.

Mr Charamba said, “Another key matter that arose in the meeting between the President and Madam Baldwin was that of Zimbabwe rejoining the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth has already sent an assessment team to check our readiness in terms of political parameters for readmission into the organisation.

“The latest indications are that the team seems positive that Zimbabwe qualifies for resumption of membership.

“The President briefed the minister in terms of efforts aimed at enhancing political inclusion to harmonise our systems with the Commonwealth, including to have the Office of the Leader of the Opposition recognised and incorporated in the governance architecture.

“Let me emphasise this: the President is focused on institution building rather than accommodating an individual. A clear distinction must be made between institution-building for inclusive, sustainable democracy and accommodating an individual, who happens at this point in time to be Nelson Chamisa (MDC-Alliance leader).”

-State Media

The new Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare one Sekesai Nzenza dared to fire the first shot against the working class since the consummation of the so called new dispensation. In an interview with the Zbc the political new comer declared that employers should have the right to hire and fire employees willy nilly. The rookie politician appeared serious and sure as she spewed such dross.

It is obvious that Nzenza was not conveying a personal message but sharing an official government position. This is the position that has been adopted by the militaristic comprador bourgeoisie running the affairs of our country. This is in line with the Zimbabwe is open for business mantra propagated by Mining tycoon now President Emmerson Mnangagwa. It goes without saying that if such a wicked position is adopted we will be violating our own laws and International Labour Organisation regulations.

The working class should urgently convene a national labour forum, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, ZCTU can organize the event. The forum should bring together all labour representatives across all sectors, big and small. The forum should lay out a concrete strategy of fighting back against the impending neo liberal onslaught against the working class. We should not allow the casualization of labour. Unity is key at this juncture otherwise history will judge us harshly as a generation which presided over the erosion of the little gains that had been realized on the labour justice front.

Amalgamated Rural Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe, ARTUZ calls upon Nzenza to urgently come up with a Conditions of Living Adjustment, COLA package for workers in the public service. Our salaries have been eroded by the wave of inflation that hit our country post the November coup and the political stalemate of the 2018 plebiscite.

ARTUZ will be handing an ultimatum to government by week end demanding a COLA or face backlash from the angry Civil Servants.

Victory is certain!

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ARTUZ INFORMATION DEPARTMENT.
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The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) has recorded a 40,9 percent increase in imports of pre-owned vehicles at Beitbridge border post in the last eight months, it has emerged.

Officials statistics from Zimra indicate that the parastatals is collecting $8,5 million from vehicle imports at the country’s and Sadc’s busiest inland port of entry monthly.

Zimra’s acting head of communications Mr Taungana Ndoro said yesterday they were processing an average of 205 imports of second-hand vehicles at Beitbridge alone daily.

These, he said included those cleared under the returning residents rebate facility (Immigrant Rebate).

Second-hand vehicle imports mainly from Japan, UK, Singapore and South Africa are handled at Malindi and Manica Transit shades respectively while new and those which fall under the immigrant rebate are done at the border post.

“We have recorded an increase in vehicle imports at Beitbridge between January and August this year in comparison to the same period in 2017. This year we processed 45 368 import documents for vehicles coming in through South Africa against a total of 26 781 handled last year during the period under review.

According to Statutory Instrument 154 of 2001 — Customs and Excise (General) Regulations, 2001 an Immigrant Rebate is granted to any person who enters the country to take permanent residence or a visitor but remains to take up employment or permanent residence or a diplomat but remains to take up employment or permanent residence or to attend any educational institution; or for the purpose of attending any educational institution.

They are allowed to import household property and vehicles duty free on condition that they satisfy the Zimra Commissioner General that they owned the goods and the same (goods) were fully paid for before or on the first occasion of entry into the country and declaration as an immigrant.

Mr Ndoro said under normal circumstance one motor vehicle should be cleared within five and six hours from the time of submission of the requisite and correct documents.

The Herald is also reliably informed that Government is losing thousands of dollars in potential revenue to syndicates who are abusing the immigrants’ rebate facility (Returning Resident) to clandestinely import vehicles duty free across most ports of entries.

It is understood that the racket is well pronounced at Beitbridge Border Post where most vehicle imports from South Africa are processed.

Statistics from Zimra show that 17 immigrant abuse cases were intercepted between December 2017 and April this year.

Further, a total of 3 256 cars were imported under the Immigrant Rebate facility via Beitbridge border post in 2017. On average a modest vehicle attracts import duty of between $2 500 and $5 000.

Newly sworn in Kwekwe City councillors have declared their individual assets to their party with a pledge to do the same to council.

The council is largely dominated by MDC Alliance councillors who garnered thirteen out of fourteen seats with Zanu-PF claiming the remaining seat.

Speaking to journalists during a MISA-Zimbabwe organised meeting with the city fathers, Kwekwe Mayor Councillor Angeline Kasipo said the move was necessitated by the need to curb corruption at the civic centre.

“As a way of promoting transparency and curb corruption, we have decided to conduct a lifestyle audit led by the declaration of assets by individual councillors,” said Cllr Kasipo.

State Media

Correspondent|THE Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has called on President Emmerson Mnangagwa to reverse the appointment of Registrar General (RG) Clemence Masango until he is cleared of sexual harassment charges raised against him.

Former immigration department head Clemence Masango (pictured) recently took over from long-serving registrar general Tobaiwa Mudede who was retired as part of a shake-up of the civil service by Mnangagwa.

Masango is embroiled in a nasty fight with former Immigration Department employees who allege that he dismissed them from employment after they rebuffed his sexual advances.

The disgruntled women have since appeared before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Public Service, where they told MPs they had resorted to reporting their case to Parliament after then Home Affairs ministers, Kembo Mohadi (now Vice-President), Ignatius Chombo and now Obert Mpofu failed to address it.

The matter is also being investigated by the Zimbabwe Gender Commission.

ZCTU president Peter Mutasa, described the ex-police officer’s appointment to RG as unfair since sexual harassment allegations raised in his previous role as immigration head have yet to be resolved.

“We regard the appointment or reassignment as lack of judgment by the appointing authority,” said Mutasa.

“While we respect the fact that every accused person is innocent until proven guilty, the elevation is actually a direct interference with the Gender Commission’s investigation.”

Mutasa said Mnangagwa’s promotion of individual who headed an organisation under investigation undermines the Constitutional Commission’s work and trivialises the serious
complaints raised by workers.

This risks frustrating efforts to deal with workplace sexual harassment driven by unions and other social movements.

“… as a result we are going to demand that the appointment be rescinded until investigations are concluded. We will also look at the legal options,” he added

Women’s rights activist Nokhlo Mhluzini said the appointment raises serious concerns.

“Masango’s appointment as Registrar General raises many concerns and we cannot, with a clear conscience, welcome it as there are serious allegations that have been levelled against him and he has not been cleared by a court of law.

“The appointment is an insult to victims of sexual harassment as it reverses the strides made by women and other campaigners in fighting against all forms of abuse at the workplace,”
she said.

Source New Zim

Staff Reporter|Zimbabwe’s Head of State and Government Emmerson Mnangagwa will on Wednesday addresses the UN today for the first time since winning the 2018 Presidential elections.

Mnangagwa joined more than 100 fellow world leaders and/or their representatives for the opening of the 73rd Ordinary Session of the United Nations General Assembly, whose theme dovetails with his quest to foster sustainable peace and economic equity at home.

The theme for this year’s General Debate is; “Making the United Nations relevant to all people: Global Leadership and Shared Responsibilities for Peaceful, Equitable and Sustainable Societies”.

President Mnangagwa heads a delegation that comprises Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Dr John Mangudya, Deputy Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Mr George Charamba and other senior Government officials.

TEN National University of Science and Technology (Nust) students in Bulawayo were arrested after their protest over buses threatened to turn ugly.

Students have, for a long time, been at loggerheads with the institution’s administration accusing them of mismanagement of buses.

The university buses ferry staff members to and from the city centre and students are not allowed on them.

The protestors said the buses were bought using students’ funds.

More than 60 students staged a demonstration on Monday, chanting and holding placards that articulated why they want the bus.

Some of the students jumped into one the buses and tried to prevent staff members from using it, a student said. “After failing to dislodge the students, the driver drove the bus to Central Police Station and 10 students who failed to get off were arrested,” said a student.

They were kept in the holding cells for about three hours.

The Zimbabwe National Students Association Nust president Denis Mwashita said they staged the demonstration because they were tired of watching students’ resources being abused by the administration.

“The reason why we decided to demonstrate is because we want our buses to be used appropriately. We can’t be using public transport whilst the university buys buses using our money, to ferry its staff members,” he said. “We pay the bus levy every semester but we are not allowed to use it. The library is located in the city centre but the students pay for public transport to go there. Why can’t they schedule the trips so that we can also use the bus, to and from the campus?”

Mwashita said the student representative committees have sought redress for this issue but the university never responded. He said it was time for student activists to unite and demand appropriate use of resources that are meant for students.

Mwashita said the protest was peaceful but they were taken to a police station without a proper reason.

“To our surprise, the institution decided to get us arrested. We were detained at Bulawayo’s Central Police station for more than two hours. Our lawyer, Advocate Tinashe Runganga negotiated for our release since the police had not yet charged us with anything.”

Contacted for comment, Nust Information and Public Relations officer Mrs Lindiwe Nyoni said the matter had been resolved. “Internal processes are underway and the administration is looking into the matter. It is not only the bus problem being taken care of but other students’ welfare issues,’’ she said.

“The vice chancellor called for a meeting with the students two weeks ago and addressed the students’ welfare issues, promising to prioritise them.”

This is not the first time Nust students have been arrested for staging a demonstration this year.

In February more than fifty were arrested for shutting down the main campus in protest over the administration’s failure to resolve their lecturers’ month-long strike over poor working conditions. Efforts to get police comment were fruitless.

State Media

A POPULAR bishop from the African Apostolic Church died in Bulawayo on Monday in a suspected cholera case.

Bishop Enock Mhambare from the Paul Mwazha-led church also known as Vapositori ve Africa, who was the church’s chairman died at Thorngrove Infectious Diseases Hospital.

The church’s General Secretary Bishop Richard Juru confirmed Bishop Mhambare’s death but declined to give further details.

“Yes we received news of his death but we can’t confirm it’s cholera. We are driving from Harare. We will only confirm it’s cholera when we get the post mortem results,” said Bishop Juru.

Bishop Mhambare ministered at a massive three-day Annual Holy Communion gathering at Irisvale Farm in Umzingwane District which drew an estimated 10 000 congregants from Matabeleland South Province at the beginning of this month.

It is said that Bishop Mhambare had travelled to Botswana and fell ill on his way back as he started to have stomach aches, watery diarrhoea and was vomiting.

“He returned to Bulawayo where he was admitted and the case treated as cholera before he passed on last night (Monday),” said a church member.

Bulawayo City Council director of Health Services, Dr Edwin Sibanda said Bishop Mhambare was admitted to Thorngrove Hospital in a suspected cholera case and died before laboratory results were out.

“The history and clinical presentation including everything was saying cholera but we are yet to receive results from the lab to say definitely it was cholera. But we are treating it as a cholera case until the lab says it’s not cholera,” said Dr Sibanda.

He said Bishop Mhambare who was ordinarily a resident of Budiriro suburb in Harare, fell sick on his way back from Botswana.

“They travelled to Botswana and on their way back on Sunday around border area, he started having diarrhoea and they drove and came here to Bulawayo where he was attended to at one of the medical facilities where he was immediately moved to Thorngrove. He was treated as a cholera patient at Thorngrove and unfortunately passed on before we had conclusive results, “said Dr Sibanda.

He said the burial of Bishop Mhambare would be under supervision of Ministry of Health officials because it is being handled as a cholera case.

“We are preparing to transport and bury the body as a case of cholera.

“The relatives were planning to move the body to Chivhu in Mashonaland East and we have communicated with both the Ministry of Health people in Harare as well as Mashonaland East to tell them that there is a body of that nature coming and they do the right thing. These people are supposed to have a supervised burial,” he said.

Statistics indicate that at least 45 people have been killed by cholera in the past three weeks.
All suspected cases in Bulawayo have so far tested negative.

State Media

THE Minister of State for Bulawayo Provincial Affairs, Judith Ncube, has challenged event organisers to recognise the cosmopolitan nature of the province while conducting national programmes in the city.

She made the remarks during her keynote address at the Miss Tourism Zimbabwe finals held at the Rainbow Hotel car park last Saturday in Bulawayo.

This was after a local DJ had played the national anthem in Shona only, something she said did not represent the cosmopolitan nature of the province.

In most cases, the national anthem is sung or played in the three main languages – Shona, Ndebele and English. Ncube said singing or playing the national anthem in local languages evokes national pride.

“DJ, next time have a national anthem that is in isiNdebele so that people enjoy singing the anthem in their language. Or in actual fact, have the one that has Shona as the first verse, isiNdebele as the second verse and English as the third verse.

“Bulawayo is a rainbow city and that represents its cosmopolitan nature,” said Minister Ncube.

She said singing the national anthem in one’s own tongue gives it more meaning.

“When you sing ‘abakhokheli babe lobuqotho (May leaders be exemplary)’, it sounds better in your own language. When you travel to Harare or other provinces and you see people sing the anthem in their own language, you can see how they’re enjoying every moment of it.

“I wish for such to happen in Bulawayo so that people enjoy singing the national anthem in their language.”

The Minister also said it was high time that people start appreciating the girl child than looking down on her.

“The girl child is looked down upon as a secondary citizen. If you’ve been looking down on the girl child, then you’re doing something wrong.

“Appreciate and admire what the models will be doing on stage, let’s not be bitter,” said Minister Ncube.

She also encouraged newly crowned Miss Tourism Zimbabwe, Tafadzwa Jaricha, from Manicaland to raise the Zimbabwean flag high when she goes to participate at the Miss World contest later this year.

State Media

THE Bulawayo High Court reserved judgement Tuesday in a poll challenge filed by losing MDC Alliance candidate for Kwekwe Central Blessing Chebundo.

Opposition National Patriotic Front (NPF) candidate Masango Matambanadzo’s narrowly won the constituency in the July 30 elections.

Chebundo polled 7,122 votes against 7,578 for the NPF candidate.

Amongst other allegations, Matambanadzo accused of vote buying and using MDC Alliance logo while campaigning for the elections.

Chebundo’s lawyer Tonderai Chitere confirmed the reserved judgement.

“Both parties presented their arguments then the court reserved judgment. It means that the court has postponed the matter to allow it to write judgement,” said the attorney.

Matambanadzo has however said he is not surprised with Chebundo’s petition.

“Of importance to note is the fact that I defeated Chebundo in 2013 both in the election and in court.

“Come the 30th of July 2018, I defeated him again,” Matambanadzo said through his lawyer Liberty Mashanyare.

He added that MDC big wig is notorious for rejecting poll results.

“It is known from history that the petitioner does not accept an election result other than the one in which he is the winner.

“This is not the first time I have won the Kwekwe Central parliamentary seat against the petitioner.

“In 2013 after losing on similar elections the petitioner approached this court in similar allegations but still lost in court.”

On the allegation of using an ambulance for campaigning, Matambanadzo said he did not see how an ambulance with political insignia could influence people’s political choices.

He also added that Kwekwe town clerk Emmanuel Musara had refused to take delivery of the ambulance which he had donated to the local authority.

NewZimbabwe

Ncube had a day to forget in front of the podium at a New York investors conference, getting several details wrong on key economic indicators in an address that has left many puzzled about his grasp of the economy he is superintending.

In a presentation that lasted just over 14 minutes, the minister said the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange’s cumulative return since March 2009 ZSE was 2,000 percent, much higher that the actual 600 percent.

Even for a renowned financial engineer, the variance cannot be easily reconciled.

According to the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency data released last week Monday, the year-on-year inflation rate rose to 4,83 percent in August after gaining 0,54 percentage points from the July rate of 4,29 percent. Ncube said he was happy with Zimbabwe’s inflation which he said had just gone up to six percent, from 4 percent.

Its difficult to assume that the minister does not know that Zimbabwe this year achieved an all time high tobacco output of 250 million kg, because he told his audience that the production, at 25 million kg was a 40-year high.

According to the Chamber of Mines, Zimbabwe’s mineral revenue is projected to reach $2,5 billion this year up from $2,3 billion last year, about 85 percent of total export earnings, not 60 percent as the minister insinuated.

The Zimbabwe Investor Forum was held at last Friday and according to Ncube, was attended by government officials and select US investors which included Morgan Stanley; Merrill Lynch; Bank of America, and JP Morgan executives. It was organized and hosted by investment group, Exotix Capital on the sidelines of the ongoing UN General Assembly.

There are also question marks about how Ncube could confidently say Zimbabwe will be one of the fastest growing economies from 2019 onwards, averaging a growth rate of six percent per annum. This projection is seen as overly ambitious given the challenges the country is facing.

But then, Ncube glossed over the crises at hand — cash shortages; foreign currency shortages along with the attendant black market and pricing shocks it induces; poor infrastructure and a less competitive local industry.
Or maybe he knows more than he is letting on.

The Source

Staff Reporter|At least 45 people have been killed by cholera in Zimbabwe in the past three weeks, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday, describing the strain as “multi-drug resistant”.

It said that an oral vaccine campaign was due to begin shortly with 450,000 people targeted in the worst-affected suburbs of the capital Harare.

About 500,000 doses were due to arrive in the country on Wednesday for Zimbabwe’s first oral vaccine campaign to combat the disease.

“A cumulative total of 6,428 suspected cases, 45 deaths, and 96 confirmed cases have been reported,” a report by WHO and the health ministry said.

Almost all of the deaths have been in Harare, with one other in the eastern district of Makoni and another in the central city of Masvingo.

The report said Harare city council was fixing broken sewers after blocked and damaged pipes left sewage flowing on open ground in all affected areas.

Safe water is being trucked to residents, and police have banned the sale of street food, arresting vendors to try to prevent the epidemic from spreading.

Cholera outbreaks have occurred frequently in Zimbabwe’s cities where safe drinking water and sanitation facilities are scarce.

In Harare, public gatherings have been banned and people discouraged from shaking hands.

Zimbabwe, which was ruled by Robert Mugabe from independence in 1980 until his ousting last year, suffered its worst cholera outbreak in 2008.

A total of 4,000 people died and at least 100,000 people fell ill.

DailyMail

A Grade 7 pupil at a Bulawayo school has been arrested for eight counts of unlawful entry and theft and has blamed a romp with a 64 year old woman for his actions.

The pupil who cannot be named for ethical reasons resides in Mzilikazi suburb and was allegedly stealing groceries and money to give Gladys Sibanda who is his neighbour.
Although sources alleged there was a sexual relationship between the two, the police are yet to get evidence to prove it.

The boy is alleged to have stolen R9 500, P1 050, $249, $31 in bond notes and coins and some groceries with only $68 being recovered.

The boy is accused of systematically committing the crimes between July and September this year. The case was brought to light when Ms Fadzai Makanyangi (31) who was one of the boy’s victims reported a case of theft to the police.

Acting Bulawayo police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Nomalanga Msebele confirmed the case saying both the boy and the old woman will appear in court soon.
The Chronicle yesterday caught up with the teen’s mother who expressed shock that Sibanda used her son to commit crimes.

“I grew up living with Ms Sibanda, I respected her as mother figure. I least expected that she would do this to me. I remember she said my son was adorable not knowing that her intentions were to use him like this,” said the boy’s mother who seemed traumatised by the case.

“I suspect she even used him for rituals as my son went on to give another neighbour some herbs as medication for stomach aches. When l asked him where he got the herbs he indicated that ugogo MaSibanda gave him when he had a stomach ache and he was healed.”

The boy is alleged to have implicated Sibanda after his mother bashed him for stealing.
Sibanda denied sending the child to steal but claimed she only received a few gifts from the boy.

“I only received R10 and mealie-meal as a present from the boy,” she told The Chronicle yesterday.
She declined to give further details on why she accepted gifts from a child who normally should be incapable of even providing for himself.

Asst Insp Msebele said the case had been taken to court but prosecutors argued that it should be brought before a magistrate with Sibanda as an accomplice.

“Between July and September the boy had been stealing groceries and money from his neighbours. It appears he did so after knocking off from school. He would give or sell the goods to the old woman whose docket is being opened and is being charged for theft charges as an accomplice to the crime,” she said.

Asst Insp Msebele said police have not established if Sibanda had physically abused the teenager.
“What we know is that the two claimed that their links were caused by their political interactions. We are told that he boy claimed that he was the Child President,” said Asst Insp Msebele.

She said police are finalising investigations but urged residents to increase security in their homes.
“They should lock their doors and if ever they will be leaving their keys, they should leave them with trustworthy people. Parents should also closely monitor the activities of their children as this can protect them from being involved in criminal activities that will land them in trouble,” she said.-state media

Hon Chinotimba: Corruption Mr. Speaker, everyone is involved in corruption.  Most of us are engaged in corruption in one way or the other.  Some people just want to talk about individuals engaging in corruption but they do not look at themselves.  Corruption is not only defrauding but corruption is also evident if someone says that the vendors or informal traders should continue to sell their wares from the streets.

That is corruption because we are saying it is not healthy but we want them to stay there, that is corruption.  We want to stress that such corruption should end.  Corruption again comes in the sense that when someone is speaking very sensibly and doing good work, you will hear people making noise, like I am doing, that is corruption.

Corruption is not only involved where there is money but also where one is saying a lot of sense and people are booing him.  There is corruption that is evident in demonstration, there is corruption that comes through fraudulent activities.  Even the demonstrations that happened when the President was delivering his Speech and MPs walked out, that in itself is corruption.

Jane Mlambo|Harare magistrate Hosea Mujaya has granted a $3000 bail to former cabinet minister, Savior Kasukuwere.

Kasukuwere has also been ordered to surrender title deeds of a Nyanga property and report twice a day to police among other conditions.

The former Zanu PF Secretary for Administration was arrested yesterday on charges abuse of office during his time as a cabinet minister.

The State represented by Michael Reza and Zivanai Macharaga had argued against Kasukuwere being given bail saying he only  handed himself over to the police following the issuing of a warranty of arrest.

Macharaga argued that the state’s case against Kasukuwere is very strong adding that if he is granted bail, he is likely to abscond court hearings.

However Kasukuwere’s lawyer, Jonathan Samkange argues that charges against his client have been flying since 2017 adding that the accused is not on the run.

“The State is saying the allegations are serious but the seriousness of an offense on its own is not a ground to deny an accused person bail,” argued Samukange.

He added that his client is a man who respects the law further highlighting that denying his client bail will be punishment because the state’s is weak and will not get a conviction.

More details to follow…

Jane Mlambo| Newly appointed Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Professor Mthuli Ncube could have escaped arrest by a mere two weeks following his resignation from Quantum Global where he was Managing Director to take up a cabinet post in Zimbabwe.

Quantum Global, the company behind President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s luncheon with investors in Switzerland early this year had its founder Jean Bastos de Morais and his friend Jose Filomeno dos Santos (son of former Angolan President, Jose Eduardo dos Santos) arrested today over fraudulent transfer of $500 million from Angolan state coffers to an HSBC account.

According to Bloomberg, Angola’s state prosecutor arrested the son of former President Jose Eduardo dos Santos over the alleged illegal transfer of $500 million from state coffers to an HSBC Holdings Plc account in the U.K.

Replying to a Pachedu post on Twitter, Nick Brandson, a journalist with the Economist said Ncube who was the Managing Director and Head of Research Lab at Quantum Global had just left on time to survive an arrest.

https://twitter.com/NHBranson/status/1044566529705226241

Jane Mlambo| Newly appointed United States Ambassador to Zimbabwe Brian Nichols has urged government to fully implement the 2013 constitution if sanctions are to be removed.

Speaking during a question and answer session in Harare today, Nichols said, “If Zimbabwe as a nation fully implements the 2013 constitution, then sanctions issue will be resolved and the Zimbabwe has made a commitment to that,” said Nichols.

USA has recently renewed sanctions against Zimbabwe with President Emmerson Mnangagwa scoffing at the Trump administration decision saying his government remain focused on developing the country and safeguarding peace.

Terrence Mawawa|Respected political analyst Dr Pedzisai Ruhanya has said there is need for a binding social contract between the governors and the governed to enhance democratic processes.

“If there are going to be talks and amendment of laws to accommodate the opposition, the dialogue should be on governance, electoral reforms and a solid SOCIAL CONTRACT between the governors and the governed- it’s not about giving @nelsonchamisa a post,” argued Ruhanya as he responded to a Newsday article on the proposal by President Emmerson Mnangagwa to offer Nelson Chamisa a post in his government.

According to Newsday, Mnangagwa is intending to offer Chamisa a post in his government in a move analysts perceive is meant to wheedle out the youthful opposition leader.

Terrence Mawawa|The city of Harare and mobile telecommunication service provider Econet yesterday held key business discussions in the capital city.

City of Harare mayor Councillor Herbert Gomba said he was optimistic about the signing of mega partnership deals with Econet and its partners.

“Today(yesterday)was a good day in office in terms of service delivery, Myself and Clr’s Kadzombe our EMC chair, Mafume and the Town Clerk received Econet CEO Mr Mboweni and his Liquid counterpart Mr
Makamure who spiced up our 100 day transformational agenda by offering to do pipe replacement of both sewer and Water in Glen View
and Budiriro though Liquid Telecoms.

In addition, Mr Mboweni has also said Econet will assist council in the removal of refuse in Mufakose, Glenview , Budiriro ,Glen Norah and lastly the CBD .

First street is in need of complete refurbishment and as part of our 100 day plan Econet and council
agreed to do massive work to refurbish the street,” said the mayor in a statement.

“I benefited immensely from the Fight of MDC I benefited immensely from the fight in zanu PF… they must continue fighting so that independent candidates continue to thrive…”

The High Court is still to bring to finality jailed former Zanu PF legislator Munyaradzi Kereke’s appeal, after he was sentenced to 14 years for rape in 2016.

Kereke is challenging both his conviction and sentence, in an appeal before High Court judges Charles Hungwe and Neville Wamambo.

The businessman was in 2016 slapped with a 14-year-jail term after being convicted of sexually abusing his relatives’ then 11-year old daughter at gunpoint, but four years of his jail time were suspended on condition of good behaviour.

The complainant’s lawyer Charles Warara yesterday told the Daily News that they were still waiting for the outcome of the appeal.

“We are still waiting for the court’s judgment on the appeal filed by Kereke,” he said.

Since his incarceration, the former Bikita West legislator made several attempts, through bail applications, to seek release from prison on bail pending appeal, but to no avail.

In February this year, Kereke again filed another bail application bid based on changed circumstances, stating the current leadership in government would understand that his incarceration was politically-motivated.

His jail term was cut by three years. This is over and above confirmation that the businessman had also been removed from D class at Chikurubi Maximum Prison to Conmara Open Prison.

The details emerged in Kereke’s application for bail pending appeal based on changed circumstances.

“The Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) has, taking into account applicant’s (Kereke) exemplary behaviour reclassified him from the D class and he now qualifies to be admitted to Conmara Open Prison. That entitles him to occasionally be with his family. The conditions pertaining to the grant of bail have accordingly drastically altered. An applicant who is effectively entitled to serve his sentence at home is surely entitled as well to bail pending appeal.

“The Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services has further cut 40 months of the sentence he must serve through remissions. In reality, applicant has now directly served 18 months, 48 months were suspended on condition of good behaviour, a further 40 months have been interfered with on remission which leaves applicant with 38 percent of his sentence to serve. The risk of him absconding under the circumstances has been diminished to the point of extinction,” Kereke’s lawyers told the court.

He said the new political dispensation has an effect on his political persecution.

“The court was also duty bound to consider the ‘political’ angle set up by applicant. It was consistent with the nub of his defence and was not an afterthought as wrongly concluded by the court,” he said.

DailyNews

VIDEO LOADING…

Jane Mlambo| ZBC has just reported that President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who is currently attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York, is on an offensive holding several meetings with leaders from other parts of the world but the biggest question is will it bring positive results to the country or it is just political posturing aimed at building confidence in his administration.

According to the state broadcaster, Mnangagwa has already met representatives of the Qatar government, President of Estonia Mr Kersti Kaljulaid and many others.
He will hold a series of other bilateral meetings after the official opening of the 73rd Session of the UN General which kicks off today, ZBC added.

Mnangagwa is expected to meet with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, President of Swiss Confederation, the Prime Minister of Belgium and US Secretary of State for Africa.

Meanwhile, the general debate starts this Tuesday and President Mnangagwa makes his contribution to the gathering on Wednesday after lunch.

-State Media

By Own Correspondent| Apostolic Faith Mission is at war ahead of elections to choose the vast church’s leadership this year amid indications that one of the major reasons behind the leadership wrangle includes the church’s finances.

Below is the document in full:

INTRODUCTION

This paper sets out to enunciate the reasons why we believe our church AFM in Zimbabwe has lost compass and has been overtaken by individuals whose motives and objectives are self-serving.

It is a clarion call to the Elders of this great Pentecostal movement to take their rightful place and bring the Church back on course. For too long the Elders of this church have been quiet while watching God fearing saints being coerced and manipulated out of their wealth, by scheming preachers with sweet tongues.

he greatest concern is that gone are the days of evangelism in the church, we last heard of AFM crusades during the days of the late Rev Masiyambiri and the late great general of God Rev Chiweshe, since then the repentance of sinners is no longer a priority of the church but rather the welfare of the Pastor. All we now hear of is the gospel of “Bata Mota Yako”. What happened to the four square gospel preached by John G Lake. Sin is no longer being rebuked in the church.

The Apostolic Faith Mission has lost its missional focus and slowly degenerated into multiple mini ministries within the church.

The Spirit of the Living God is agonisingly calling us out to stop this worldly focus on material things which will perish together with the world itself.

We believe the church has lost its focus due to loose and poor governance systems that have allowed all and sundry to do as they please with impunity.

The church has out grown its systems and is holding on to out-dated systems that have been taken advantage of by selfish individuals instead of jealously guarding the mandate of the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ which made this church into what it is today.

We can’t entirely blame those self-serving individuals that have taken advantage of our poor systems but we should rather take part of the blame as Elders because we never erected the fence in the first place.

We ask the question of whether this is the heritage you would like to leave to your children

In these last days God has stirred up a revolution which is going to start with the AFM and sweep across a number of denominations.

If you are a leader of this church we ask you to pray and hear from God for yourself.

Let it not be said the Church perished in our time and in our hands of leadership.

We will highlight here only three areas that are crying out loudly as we explain why the AFM in Zimbabwe church must reform. These being

Conflict resolution

Resource Allocation

Corporate Governance in the church

REFORM IMPERATIVES – WHY SHOULD AFM REFORM

CONFLICT RESOLUTION AND JUSTICE DELIVERY

The Executive Cannot Deliver Credible and Impartial Judgements

The current scenario where the Apostolic Council members are expected to preside over cases of dispute or discipline is in vain. The Overseers who preside over cases are generally compromised since the next case might be from his Province and another Overseer will have to preside, such an Overseer is compromised from the beginning.

Overseers can choose to ignore determinations made with impunity and currently there is on social media an Overseer claiming on the pulpit that he is not subject to National authorities.

The infamous audio clip of our President and one of Pastors reflected that there are many disciplinary cases that were not seeing the light of day including the overseas escapades of the said pastor. This highlights the injustice within our system as some cases of discipline are tried and judged while others are swept under the carpet. Those whose cases are tried and judged feel unjustly treated as they would be aware of other cases that were never tried at the discretion of the Executive

Those that have gone to court in the secular world will always contend that they did not get justice within the church system. While the majority of church members are never happy when the church disputes are put in the public domain like the High Court or Labour Court. There have been many labour cases in which the Church has been taken to task by disgruntled Pastors whereas justice could have been delivered from within the church.

Our constitution needs to create a judiciary system which is not staffed by the Executive but is filled with Born Again, Competent (skilled and trained in conflict resolution, legal, labour and discipline matters and counselling) and God fearing members from within our church. Paul admonishes the church to have an internal dispute resolution mechanism in 1 Corinthians 6:1-6.

The church is fraught with grievances, labour cases and in some cases High Court cases because we are failing to deliver justice in conflict and disciplinary matters internally. Why? Our system entrusted this to the Executive which is highly conflicted and not independent. What we need is an impartial and independent body to deliver justice and be seen to deliver justice and AFM WON’T BE IN THE NEWSPAPERS again.

RESOURCE ALLOCATION

Allocation between Assemblies:

The settlement patterns that our colonial masters established within the country mean that our communities were divided into economic strata based on income levels.

The rural areas whose incomes are based on subsistence agro economics which is seasonal are in a category of their own, while the urban communities with more consistent monthly salary incomes are in another category.

Within the urban communities there is further segregation based on the level of income into low income, medium income and high income communities.

Our assemblies being community based reflect the income patterns of their communities and can be easily and equally classified into rural, low income, medium income and high income churches.

This is because the current decentralised financial system obtaining in the AFM today, requires that Assemblies remit only 20% of their tithes to the Province (other income streams excluded) and whatever levy that might be charged by the Province or National while retaining the rest implying that Assemblies are retaining more than 70% of the tithe income generated at an assembly plus other incomes as well.

This means that those assemblies that generate much also get to retain much, thus the high income assemblies will have high retention levels. By definition the disadvantaged or low income areas will remain as such while the affluent will continue to blossom.

The church buildings we are constructing and the vehicles we buy at the different assemblies bear witness to this and this means while some worship in air conditioned buildings others are relegated to grass thatch churches.

The church’s financial system currently entrenches and amplifies the segregation and differences of our assemblies by income categories and location.

When you compare our rural assembly church buildings to those of our contemporaries like ZAOGA it leaves a lot to be desired.

Allocation between functions or priorities

It is important to then appreciate that the current financial system that is operating in the church is a loose financial system based on the Constitution which principally requires the payment:

of the Provincial Return (20%), (Section 8.6.1)

any Provincial or National Levy (Section 8.6.2),

of the Pastor’s Pension (Section 8.7.1) and it leaves the rest of the resources (Section 8.8.1) to be used at the discretion of the Local Administration Committee. This constitutes in excess of 70% of the tithe income.

It is therefore a fact that the bulk of the church’s resources >70% are left to discretional spending. This constitution should have given better direction to the use of its resources than leave to committees that can be manipulated.

It is Section 8.8.1 that has led to skewed priorities in terms of resource allocation. Mature assemblies that have already constructed their church buildings and have acquired assets necessary for the running of the assembly are literally at liberty to spend the church’s resources on frivolous expenditure.

The sad reality is that if expenditure analysis is undertaken it will be noted that the church’s resources have not been applied to the purpose of the organisation i.e. the Great Commission. Crusades are no longer being conducted having been replaced with revivals in which the focus is to preach to the saved. The priorities of the church are definitely misplaced because we are spending our monies on non-core activities while the core responsibility is totally ignored.

Pastor’s Remuneration

It is important to see how the financial system envisaged the use of the >70%. In the current constitution the pastor’s remuneration is meant to come from within this. This means for a low income urban assembly generating $500-00 per month in tithes, the pastor’s remuneration and local expenses will be limited to around $350-00 per month while high income urban assembly generating $5,000-00 and there are many such, the pastor’s remuneration and local expenses will be within the $3,500-00 per month. THIS SYSTEM CLEARLY CREATES CLASSES WITHIN OUR PASTORATE.

The remuneration of our pastors has been the source of much anguish to many of our rural assembly pastors. The rural assembly pastor has to live with a promise and hope that one day he will migrate to an urban assembly but this is equivalent to playing the lottery and is a function of the pastor’s relationship with the Overseer, giving serious overtones to corruption and nepotism.

The 2016 Stipend policy then solidified this position that the Pastor took centre stage of expenses at 48% of all tithes collected (60% of the 80% remaining after provincial return).

Those Provinces that refused to implement the stipend policy mainly refused because the stipend policy actually reduced the proportion of the pastor’s costs. There is empirical evidence that there are assemblies were the cost of the Pastor is exceeding 70% and thus wipes out the discretional fund of the assembly and encroaches into the offerings and other sources.

Our financial system has thus created Pastors who are able to send their kids to school in private schools while others can’t even afford the local government or council school in the neighbourhood.

Many of these pastors’ kids are only going to school courtesy of well-wishers like Capernaum Trust, otherwise they were not going to go to school at all.

Such disparities in income has created classes within our pastorate with the rural assembly pastors being viewed as second class citizens to their elite urban counter parts much like Lazarus and the King Luke 16: 19-21. HANA DZEDU HADZIROVI HERE?

Some Provinces have gone the route of centralising (paying remuneration from the Province) these assemblies particularly the rural areas upon realising that the rural income would not be able to sustain a family. Unfortunately skewed priorities in the provincial office have meant these pastors are not being paid either and if they do it is not regular. It is a matter of fact and record that most of our provinces owe rural assembly pastors’ remuneration with no hope of redemption.

Being posted to a rural assembly is viewed as PUNISHMENT within the church and has been used as a disciplinary tool by Provincial leaderships, though there are souls requiring salvation in the rural areas. A rural posting implies starving with no food on the table and kids attending inferior schools.

There is no deliberate attempt to recruit Pastors with various callings but the rural constituency has become a dumping ground for those under punishment or victimisation.

Local Expenses

The current constitution envisages that local expenses of the church will be met from the discretionary >70% that is left to the local leadership.

The tragedy of the system has been that there is an elephant in the shop in the form of the Pastor who crowds out other expenses.

The pastor being a signatory to all payments ensures that his costs are given priority over all other costs.

The evidence on hand is that all 5 Harare provinces of the AFM owe the City of Harare over $800,000-00 for rates and property costs and this was published in the press. There is famous case of an old assembly in Bulawayo that was nearly auctioned off due to debt in 2017 and was only saved by saints pouring in their resources.

One might wonder how the church end up owing so much, but the answer is very simple; it is because of the crowding out effect occasioned by our signatories and the skewed priorities of our financial system.

Other Incomes – Offerings and Fund Raisings

Tithes are not the only source of income in the church because offerings are a significant income stream. The current constitution is silent on the generation of these and more on how it is to be used. This silence has opened floodgates for the crafty to abuse the system

The church has witnessed a plethora of offering names besides love offerings as we have traditionally known. The different labels have been crafted to psychologically coerce the saints into contributing. These fund raising gimmicks have led to the widespread preaching of the Prosperity gospel in the church. The gospel of salvation has been replaced with the prosperity gospel.

The main driver of this offering gospel is the realisation that the offerings funds are not regulated in our Constitution and thus is an easy channel of getting money without accountability. There is even now the development of what we can call off-the-book fund raising where money is raised without going through the church’s official records. Schemes like Pastors’ Partners and Armour Bearers are all designed to beat the official records.

Another abuse due to poor regulation is the commercialisation of the Holy Communion which in some cases is purely used as a fund raising mechanism and is a monthly ordeal so that the Pastor can pocket the offering. INOTO NANGANA NEMONTH END WHEN PEOPLE HAVE BEEN PAID.

The 2018 year opening Ten Days of prayer was greeted with shocking social media notification of a Houghton Park Assembly Prayer Offerings wherein prayers were to be accompanied with significant offerings to guarantee your breakthroughs and these breakthroughs were graded. This being merely an ungodly fund raising scheme.

Appreciation

The introduction of the Appreciation was designed to buttress the incomes of our pastors and the motive was good and honourable unfortunately the beneficiaries have abused the system to a point that it is now a pain to the saints.

Appreciation is a love based gift but we are witnessing outright scheming designed to maximise the collections on the day. Targets are given to Provinces, Assemblies, Cell groups and departments; surely this is coercion and not love. This has simply become a money making scheme without the love of God in it. Some insist on the gifts being made public, so as to create embarrassment for those who contribute little. Other further claim that their intensity of prayers for you is directly proportional to the level of your giving. This is coercion of the saints where they are not allowed to express their free will but give under fear and duress.

These appreciations have taken the pattern of the income stratum of the assembly. It is thus not surprising to hear of Pastors receiving $40,000 per appreciation in an urban high income Harare Assembly while another Pastor in a rural assembly at best received $23 and a few hens within the same church and same Province.

There is open and blatant coercion for people to contribute towards appreciation. Pastors invite their friends to preach during such occasions often twisting scriptures to fleece congregants out of their monies and are generally manipulative in their preaching to induce money from congregants.

Church development programmes are often suspended during the build up to the Appreciation day.

The problem is not with the Appreciation but the lack of a system to regulate this once noble idea. AFM has lagged behind in the development of sound financial systems that ensure proper accountability within biblical principles.

AFM generates a lot of resources and God has surely blessed his saints so that they are able to support the work of God. However as a church we have not done our part to ensure that these resources are properly allocated and in some areas we have left huge, open and uncontrolled spaces only for us to blame those that take advantage of these openings. WHAT IS REQUIRED IS A NEW PARADIGM IN HOW THE CHURCH APPLIES THE RESOURCES THAT GOD HAS ENDOWED IT WITH. WE NEED CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM.

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

The Church has paid very little attention to corporate governance matters and yet they are at the heart of the issues affecting the church.

Corporate governance arises from the fact that the church is a separate and independent persona from its members and officers who act on its behalf.

Arguments around who owns the church always sound misplaced as the ownership clearly vests in the Lord Jesus Christ who established it. It is a matter of fact that the owner of the church is not present in the flesh and he has appointed Agents (legally speaking) to act on his behalf whom he called stewards in the scriptures.

The corporate governance issue arises not from the ownership of the church but from the relationship between the agents (stewards) who act on behalf of the church and consequently on behalf of Christ who is not present in the flesh.

Board and the Pastor

Our current constitution empowers the Local Board of Elders to call a Pastor to become their pastor in what we term the call system.

The Board has the power to call a Pastor and determine his remuneration particularly for those not operating under the Stipend system. This suggests that the Pastor is answerable or accountable to the Board for it is the Board that invited him to be the Pastor and pays his remuneration. (NB the meeting to call him and decide on remuneration is chaired by an Elder).

The irony and contradiction is that the Pastor when he assumes his position as a pastor becomes the chairman of the board to which he is answerable. He is the principal signatory to all expenses and has a say on who should be paid first and what should not be paid. In essence our constitution creates pastors who are accountable to themselves.

This lack of accountability has allowed pastors to create their ministries within the church and some eventually leave after using AFM as a launch pad.

Furthermore the church runs a decentralised system such that the pastor determines his theme for the year and runs his own programmes and is totally independent to a point that some will boycott Provincial and National functions. It is our Constitution that has created these mini ministries within the church.

Our constitution has created “unmovable” pastors in that once he lands a lucrative urban assembly with a value of retentions (>70% of tithes) he will resist any attempts to move him. It is not surprising of pastors having been at one assembly for 17 years. The Constitution has thus created the “UNTOUCHABLES” in almost all our provinces.

Provincial Accountability

Pastors are functionally responsible to Overseers and Provincial Committee but these are ill equipped to enforce compliance to delinquent or errant pastors save to transfer them to a rural posting.

To say Pastors are accountable to the Overseers is a myth which has no substance. Evidence is there that pastors can leave their duty station and go to Tanzania for shopping without the Overseers’ knowledge and or approval.

Cases of pastors mobilising youths against the Provincial Committee are not strange and these have generally come together with newspaper publications.

Overseers are generally incapacitated in enforcing vision implementation as there is always a threat of being de-campaigned at the next elections. This has made the office of the Overseer very weak.

Vision Implementation

We often hear the pastor being called the visionary of the Assembly and this has created challenges because the vision belongs to an individual and not the Board. When a Pastor leaves the Assembly, he leaves with his vision and the next one will come with his new vision.

The vision being implemented at each Assembly has no relation to the overall National goals and objectives. ANGOVA MAZVAKE ZVAKE. This has created AFM assemblies that are so vastly different that a service in another Assembly feels like you have attended or visited another Pentecostal church.

The church cultural issues that have given identity to our church like singing of hymns is so different that we are like different denominations

This visionary disjointing is more prominent in elected offices like that of the Overseer. The infamous “Simbi Dzamira Dzoga” at LWTS is testimony of our poor governance system.

The vision must never belong to an individual but be corporate and since our church uses presbytery it must belong to the Board.

It has become trendy in the AFM right now that church billboard including electronic ones is littered with the Pastor and his wife’s faces. This makes the pastor the centre of attention and not Christ. This shift of focus makes the Assembly look like it belongs to an individual and not to the organisation. The Church logo and emblem is always relegated to some corner and prominence given to the Man of God.

The governance system of our church is responsible for creating ungovernable Pastors and has been the cause of ministries that have come within the AFM. What is required is to have a governance system that ensures accountability and carries checks and balances to ensure fairness and remove victimisation. WE NEED A CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM TO OUR GOVERNANCE SYSTEM

CORRECTING THE CURRENT CONSTITUTION
Highlights of some of the key amendments to the Constitution

CURRENT CONSTITUTION NEW DRAFT
Deacons excluded from the Local Board of Elders, Provincial Workers Council and National Workers Councils A quota is provided for deacons at all levels, Assembly, Provincial and National level

Non accountability of Pastors who execute the vision as the visionary and chairs the Board that has oversight of the vision. Pastor now accountable to the Assembly Board, Overseers to the Provincial Board and President to the National Executive Board

Resource Allocation favouring those on urban assemblies while rural based pastors wallow in poverty Equitable remuneration that doesn’t discriminate against rural assembly pastors

Pastors are creating ministries at assemblies and abandoning their missional mandate Restoring focus on the Great Commission as the purpose of the church

Porous electoral process which disenfranchises other legitimate voters Transparent electoral process

Creation of illegitimate assemblies (mushika shika) to curry favour and manipulate elections. Fair recruitment done at national level with clear processes

Conflicted Executive presiding over conflict and disciplinary cases. Some are tried others swept under the carpet Creation of an Independent arm of the church to deal with conflicts and disciplinary cases

Bulk of the church resources >70% allocated to discretionary non-core activities. Revenues to be centrally controlled and expenditures approved by the National Council.

Relegation of critical departments to untrained personnel like YPU, Ladies and CMD. Trained Pastor to be in charge of all church departments

DISPELLING MYTHS AND LIES ABOUT THE DRAFT

Nyambirai Document

The Constitutional Reform Committee that has drawn this draft was made up of twelve saints who God chose through our Apostolic Council. In terms of the technical competence of the team consisted of five (5) theologians, three (3) human resource experts, three (3) lawyers and two (2) financial experts. Just like when God commanded Moses to build the ark of God, he directed him to bring together competent skilled people. In terms of their roles in the church they are five pastors, five elders, one deacon and one lay person.
It is a myth and a falsehood that this document is the work of one individual but is the composite work of the twelve individuals.

While some members resigned it was after the document was completed and submitted on 21st December 2017, with the first resignation on record being 4th January 2018.

Elders Fighting Pastors

There are those that are peddling falsehoods that Elders are fighting Pastors and we would like to categorically state that Elders are not fighting pastors but would like to remove and change the SYSTEM.

Our problem is with the system and not any individual. The system is loose, porous and prone to abuse and we believe it should be replaced with a more robust SYSTEM.

As Elders we are saying lets go back to the original AFM missional work where outreach programmes were a priority.
We also say let us respect and implement council resolutions that we will have agreed on.

Elders are further saying let us have an equitable resource distribution structure in cognisance being had to the economically marginalised assemblies.

Electioneering

Elders are not campaigning for any Presidential candidate as anti-reformists are claiming. All our conversations and chats have never targeted any individual and in fact it is one of the rules of conduct in our conversation. We believe leaders are chosen and appointed by God and when the time of elections comes God will choose his leadership.
We believe more in prayer for leadership than campaigning unlike what we are currently witnessing.

CRC Creating Positions

While the draft constitution is creating certain new positions these have not been created for the benefit of Reform Committee members. Salaries that shall be paid to anyone employed or elected to a position shall be available for all councillors to see as the draft has a requirement for budgeted expenditure to be tabled before the National Workers Council. Figures being circulated on social media are no less than blatant lies from hell.

Secularising the Church

This has been an argument raised by anti-reformists but it is far from the truth. It must be borne in mind that the Constitutional Reform Committee had in its midst 5 pastors of which one was a former Deputy President and one of the most senior and experienced pastors in the church. Two members were current Overseers and members of the Apostolic Council and then two other pastors. Their role was to ensure that the committee were within the dictates of the scriptures. To assert that the draft is secular is a malicious indictment of their contribution in the committee.

The separation of power between the Executive and the judiciary has been called secular whereas this is the most scriptural aspect of the new draft. In Exodus 18:13–27, Moses is advised by his father in law Jethro to set up a judiciary order which is separate from the Executive represented by Moses.

In fact the Old Testament had the Order of Priest, the Order of Executive represented by Kings, the Order of Prophets, the Order of Judges and the Order of Israel. Of these orders it is the order of kings that was ordained last as God had intended Israel to be a Theocracy rather than a monarchy.

Equating the Pastor to the Aaronic Priest

This doctrine has been responsible for turning the church into a cult. This doctrine denies the universal priesthood of the saints through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on all saints.

It seeks to set the Pastor on a pedestal that is higher than all the other saints. The writer of the book of Hebrews in Chapter 4 highlights that Jesus is the High Priest and he put an end to the priesthood of Aaron.

Any doctrine that equates the Pastor to a Priest moreover the only priest is heresy. Peter further states in 1 Peter 2:9 that we are all a royal priesthood.

The doctrine has been has been buttressed by the doctrine of Fatherhood. This doctrine makes Pastors to be fathers to their congregants.

The principle of the doctrine is that the Pastor is superior and the congregants are subjective to the Pastor the same manner a son is not at the same level with his father. It is this superiority complex that is making it difficult for them to visualise an Elder as a co-worker but rather a subordinate and thus can’t chair a board. Brethren scripture says we are now the sons of God and not of pastors John 1:12.”- H-Metro.

President Mnangagwa agrees with the principle of Zimbabweans living outside the country being allowed to vote and his administration is looking into the logistical issues between now and the next elections in 2023.

The President made this revelation while interacting with Zimbabweans living in the United States in New York on Sunday.

President Mnangagwa indicated a vote for Diasporans may well have been implemented for the recent 2018 elections — which he and his zanu-pf party swept — but his Government had not had enough time to thrash out all the attendant logistical issues.

President Mnangagwa only assumed the helm of Zimbabwean politics in November 2017 when zanu-pf, as the majority in Parliament, nominated him to complete Mr Robert Mugabe’s term of office after the latter resigned following pressure from his own party and from legislators who wanted to impeach him.

Zimbabweans living outside the country have for decades called for the right to vote, which is not captured in existing electoral laws and on Sunday President Mnangagwa said he agreed with them.

“As you are fully aware, every five years we have to submit ourselves to seek a new mandate to govern. So I did proclaim a general election on the 30th of July this year.

“As I went around (different) countries I met . . . our Zimbabweans in the Diaspora who insisted on wanting to have an opportunity to vote.

“I agree with that request, but we were not able, in the time available, to have the logistics put into place to implement that objective. We now have five years where we can work on that objective where we can see whether we can implement it,” President Mnangagwa said.

Zimbabwe’s voting system is polling station-based, meaning people cast ballots at specific centres in their areas of residence in the country.

However, people on Government service abroad can cast postal ballots.

On Sunday, President Mnangagwa also updated the Zimbabwean Diaspora in the US about the recent electoral process.

“Our elections were premised on a platform of non-violence peace unity, love for our country,” he said.

“For the very first time we had a very peaceful campaign and every single political party had the opportunity to exercise their democratic right to campaign and seek support from our people.”

State Media

Jane Mlambo| President Emmerson Mnangagwa plans to amend Zimbabwe’s Constitution to recognise “official opposition” in a move critics say is meant to soothe MDC Alliance leader, Nelson Chamisa, NewsDay can reveal.

Chamisa, who lost a petition challenging the results of the July 30 election at the Constitutional Court (ConCourt), has maintained that he won the poll and that he has a legitimate claim to lead the southern African nation.

He frequently describes Mnangagwa as an “illegitimate” President after rejecting the court ruling that confirmed the Mnangagwa victory although last week he said he was open to talks “to resolve the question of legitimacy”.

Mnangagwa, currently attending the United Nations General Assembly, said during an interview with the US’s Bloomberg TV at the weekend that he was considering officially recognising his political nemeses as an opposition leader.

Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi yesterday said there would be need for a constitutional amendment to accommodate Chamisa once Mnangagwa and his arch-rival reach an agreement.

“It will need that (constitutional amendment) if there is a political agreement given the fact that he (Chamisa) is not an elected MP as things stand. The amendment will need to reflect the agreement, but that is up to the parties,” he said.

“The parties would need to negotiate and agree. Once that is in place, we will then have a look at the Constitution and see what needs to be done to accommodate the new set-up.”

While speaking during the interview in the US, Mnangagwa was quoted as having said: “Under our Commonwealth parliamentary democracy, the opposition is recognised; we recognise the leader of the opposition in Parliament. This is what we are going to do ourselves.”

The Zanu PF leader is seeking to rid the country of its long-held international pariah status gained under former President Robert Mugabe over alleged human rights abuses.

He is also trying to woo investors to kick-start an ailing economy that has been navigating turbulences since the turn of the century characterised by cash shortages and high unemployment.

Zanu PF spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo said the ruling party was now awaiting Mnangagwa’s return for the process to begin.

“The President has made a pronouncement, but he is away. We need to give it time so that on his return, he will need to consult his counterpart in the MDC (Chamisa). Once the consultations are done, the process might then begin in earnest,” Moyo said.

It is understood that no formal communication has taken place between Chamisa and Mnangagwa.

Yesterday, Chamisa’s spokesperson, Nkululeko Sibanda, however, said his boss despised the “mafia-coloured politics, where the gang leader thinks that all problems are solved by the parcelling of perks and positions,” adding Zimbabwe was “bigger than people who believe that they can abuse State coffers to corruptly buy the presidency they lost in an election”.

“Zimbabwe has a crisis of governance and legitimacy,” Sibanda said.

“The current frenzy about an offer from the illegitimate President is misplaced. There is no offer from the illegitimate President Mnangagwa and no dialogue or contact with him. However, with the assumed offer in mind, president Chamisa believes that the struggle is by and for the people of Zimbabwe.”

Mnangagwa won the presidential election by a slim 50,67%, beating Chamisa, who garnered 44,3%, but the opposition party has refused to recognise his victory, saying the ConCourt had foiled his bid to subpoena the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to provide critical proof to bolster his case.

Opposition legislators last week snubbed Mnangagwa’s State of the Nation Address, shouting “thief!” during the official opening of the first session of the Ninth Parliament.
The move by Mnangagwa was important to remove the toxic nature of local politics, an analyst told NewsDay.

Constitutional expert and human rights lawyer, Sharon Hofisi, who is a lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe, said Mnangagwa’s gesture was important in bringing political stability in the country.
He said although Zimbabwe was largely a constitutional democracy, it doesn’t mean it does not appeal to other forms of democracy.

He said there has been a shift even in the West towards progressive democracy and appointing an opposition leader as an official opposition demonstrates an understanding of the influence of domestic policies on the international arena.

“Chamisa is an opposition leader and he should be able to co-exist peacefully with the Zanu PF under the arrangement, but it is subject to his approval,” Hofisi said.

He said that there was nothing wrong about recognising that Chamisa, who as an official opposition leader, serves a constituency.
Such recognition can be enshrined in the Constitution if it serves the greater good of the country.

VIDEO LOADING BELOW –

Delays in the appointment of Harare’s Provincial Affairs minister has led to serious jostling for the top job in the province.

Several names are being bandied around as possible candidates with President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s nephew, Tongai, being a hot favourite for the position.

Tongai, the Member of Parliament for Harare South, is the only elected Zanu PF official in the province.

Several other candidates are also being tipped to land the post, among them businessman Oliver Chidawu, Omega Hungwe, Susan Madziwa and Miriam Chikukwa, who was the Provincial Affairs minister for the province between September 2013 and last month.

Tongai was reluctant to discuss speculation linking him to the position yesterday.

He said: “I cannot comment on those issues. Right now, I am focusing on delivering what I promised my constituency because it’s now time to work for the people.”

Mnangagwa’s nephew is likely to face stiff competition from Chidawu who is believed to be Mnangagwa’s long-time friend.

Efforts to get comment from Chidawu were fruitless as his mobile phone was not available.

Hungwe, Chikukwa and Madziwa could also not be reached for comment at the time of going to print.

Zanu PF insiders said Mnangagwa is facing headaches in choosing the Provincial Affairs minister for Harare because he has already appointed five ministers who are not parliamentarians.

The Constitution does not allow him to appoint more than five ministers who are not MPs.

In terms of section 104 (3) of the Constitution, the president can only appoint a maximum of five Cabinet ministers outside Parliament, based on their special skill.

Out of the country’s 10 political provinces, Mnangagwa has already appointed provincial affairs ministers for Bulawayo (Judith Ncube); Mashonaland West (Mary Mliswa); Mashonaland East (Apollonia Muneverengi); Mashonaland Central (Monica Mavhunga); Manicaland (Ellen Gwaradzimba); Midlands (Larry Mavima); Masvingo (Ezra Chadzamira); Matabeleland South (Abednico Ncube) and Matabeleland North (Richard Moyo).

DailyNews

From A Correspondent|A contingent of 54 officers drawn from the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF), Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade will take part in the SADC peace support operations command post exercise code named: ‘Umodzi,’ which will be held at the Malawi Armed Forces College in Salima.

This comes as SADC is taking over the African Union (AU) standby force roster from ECOWAS beginning January to June 2019 and it is against this background that the formation of SADC standby force to maintain peace in the region is born.

Addressing the contingent at a send off ceremony held at One Commando Regiment in Harare today, ZDF Commander, General Philip Valerio Sibanda urged the participants to go and show high standards of discipline, self motivation, hard work, initiative and commitment, saying Zimbabwean peace keeping personnel have a track record of excelling in the peace keeping mission.

“You are going to participate at the SADC regional level, hence it calls for high standards of discipline, self motivation, hard work, initiative and full individual commitment as your performance will reflect our nation’s level of skills, knowledge and preparedness to preserve peace,” he said.

General Sibanda added that the exercise is unique in that it comprises members from the civilian component.

General Sibanda also challenged the participants to gain as much knowledge as possible by exchanging ideas and learning from other participants from other countries.

The contingent will take part in the exercise which will commence from the 1 st to 16 thoctober this year.

Several churches in Harare yesterday defied a government ban on public gatherings and continued worshiping in the face of a stepped-up campaign to prevent the spread of cholera.

This comes after police issued a ban on all public gatherings and illegal food vending to control the spread of cholera, which has killed over 30 people in the capital, Harare.

Police spokesperson assistant commissioner Paul Nyathi yesterday declined to comment why the ban was not being enforced on churches, referring the matter to Harare City Council (HCC), saying ZRP had concluded the issue already.

HCC corporate communications manager Michael Chideme also declined to comment.

“If you know that the police banned public gatherings, contact the police and not council,” Chideme told the Daily News.

This comes as police have been brutally bashing street vendors in the Harare CBD as a way of enforcing the ban.

Nyathi last week advised that churches were also included in the ban, but those wishing to hold public meetings should get clearance from health inspectors or police.

Various churches, however, without police clearance, proceeded with their Sunday services.

A snap survey conducted by the Daily News crew showed that churches which proceeded with their normal Sunday services include Walter Magaya’s Prophetic, Healing and Deliverance Ministries (PHD), Emmanuel Makandiwa’s United Family International Church and Johanne Masowe Yechishanu among others.

Speaking to the Daily News crew yesterday, Johanne Masowe Yechishanhu elder Philip Makasu said his sect adheres to laws and regulations formulated by authorities but when it comes to conducting their services, they only take orders from the Holy Spirit.

“Our services are structured in such a way that we only listen to the command of the Holy Spirit and God’s Word. If God doesn’t tell us to stop our services, then we do not,” Makasu told the Daily News.

He claimed that amid this cholera outbreak, their church members prayed and received blessings against diseases from the Holy ghost, and were religiously immunised from cholera.

Cholera itself causes diarrhoea and vomiting, leading to severe dehydration.

It can kill quickly but is treated easily through rehydration and antibiotics.

It is an intestinal infection caused by bacteria transmitted through contaminated water or food.

The source of contamination is usually faeces of infected people.

Daily News

Jane Mlambo|The Zanu-PF Masvingo provincial leadership has suspended four recently-elected councillors at Chiredzi Town Council from the party, accusing them of letting down the party by allowing the opposition MDC-Alliance to bag the council chairmanship in the sugar-growing town.

Zanu-PF, which has four councillors in the town, failed to land the chairmanship, which was won by councillor Gibson Hwende (MDC-Alliance).

This sparked outrage as Zanu-PF controls four wards in the town to the MDC-Alliance’s three while the eighth ward is under an independent candidate.

Councillor Hwende bagged five votes to prevail over councillor Blessing Mazinyani of Zanu-PF, who got three votes in the chairmanship race. This means one of the Zanu-PF councillors did not vote for councillor Mazinyani.

The Zanu-PF provincial co-ordinating committee has since issued the four ruling party councillors with prohibition orders after the Chiredzi Town Council chairmanship gaffe.

Party provincial secretary for Information and Publicity, Ronald Ndava, said the ruling party leadership was disturbed by what happened in Chiredzi Town last week.

“The province was briefed about shameful events which saw us (Zanu-PF) lose the chairmanship of Chiredzi Town where we enjoyed a numerical advantage and just wanted our councillors to unite and win the post,” said Ndava.

“We thus resolved to serve the councillors with prohibition orders and they will be called for disciplinary hearings in due course after which we will take the necessary steps going forward.

Prrsident Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday disclosed that he dangled an offer of land in the picturesque Victoria Falls to United States President Donald Trump to build a golf course.

Mnangagwa, who is in the US for the United Nations General Assembly, revealed his offer to Trump at the Zimbabwe’s Investors Forum held in New York yesterday.

Mnangagwa urged the American business community to support Zimbabwe’s rebirth in areas such as agriculture, mining, infrastructural development, tourism, ICT among others.

Zimbabwe and the US have frosty relations dating back to the early 2000s where the latter slapped the Southern African nation with sanctions under Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001 (Zidera) for human rights abuses under former President Robert Mugabe. Mugabe denies the allegations.

The US renewed the sanctions soon after the July 30 elections this year, saying that Zimbabwe had no ‘culture of democracy.’
Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe wanted an new era of relations with the US and pursue economic co-operation between the two countries, adding that he had wanted to meet Trump at the Davos conference held in Switzerland in January.

“When I was in Davos I met staffers from the Trump administration,” Mnangagwa said.

“I had hoped to meet President Trump but I had to leave before he arrived, but I told his people that if President Trump wishes, I will offer him ground in Victoria Falls in the national park.

“We have wildlife national park in Victoria Falls, but I had offered President Trump ground to build a state-of-the-art golf course so that as he plays, he can be able to see the big five,” he said amid cheers from delegates.

Mnangagwa said his government was keen for investments in the form of joint ventures or infrastructure based on the build operate and transfer (BOT) model.

-Newsday

By Own Correspondent| Zimbabwe requires an additional 2 000 schools in order to service its ever increasing population, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Professor Paul Mavhima has said.

In an interview with a local publication, Prof Mavima said there were 1 500 satellite schools in resettlement areas that needed to be formalised into functional schools.

He also revealed that in urban areas, there are about 600 schools that needed to be established in order to decongest the existing schools, some that have resorted to hot seating to accommodate more pupils.

“I was in Chegutu recently and our learners are learning in tobacco grading sheds at a former commercial farm and the sheds are used as classrooms.

Fortunately the private sector came in to help the local authority to build a good school. So we are going through all those schools to formalise them and make them modern.

We estimated in 2015 that we needed 2 056 schools but we realised that we have been building schools as central Government but also communities have done the same.

Looking at what we have done and the continuous growth of population we still need about 2 000 schools.”

Jane Mlambo| Zanu PF in Chipinge district yesterday organized a meeting at Chisumbanje primary where the party leadership urged women to form groups and approach the Women’s Bank for loans.

According to one Zanu PF who attended the meeting, women were told to take advantage of the Women’s Bank to start income generating projects.

“Nezuro paChisumbanje pakaitwa musangano weZanu Pf nemadzimai vaikurudzira madzimai kuti apinde mumagroup azokwanisa kukwereta kuZimbabwe Women’s Bank uye vaiyeuchidzawo vanhu nezveCholera kuti pakaita arwara mukafungira kuti ingangova cholera gadziraiSalt and Sugar Solution muchienda kuchipatara,” said the party member on condition of anonymity.

Staff Reporter|A total of 57 magistrates have been sworn into office at the Harare Magistrates’ court today.

Chief MagistrateMishrod Guvamombe presided over the ceremony.

Of the 57 magistrates being sworn in, 37 are females and 20 are males.

Details to follow……..

FINANCE and Economic Development Minister Prof Mthuli Ncube has said that Zimbabwe will join Africa’s top six fastest growing economies in the next 24 months.

He was addressing delegates at Zimbabwe Investors Forum held on the side-lines of the ongoing United Nations 73rd General Assembly in New York.

“Zimbabwe will be joining the group of six countries which have the fastest growing economies with a growth rate of six percent per annum which comprise Rwanda, Ghana, Tanzania and Ivory Coast,” said Prof Ncube.

“We have a policy direction in terms of our visions. President Emmerson Mnangagwa has launched vision 2030 which will drive the country to a middle-income economy with an income per capita of $3,500 by year 2030 through the pillars of stronger governance transparency, macro stability, inclusive growth infrastructure investment and social development.”

Minister Ncube also revealed that president Mnangagwa will launch the Transitional Stabilisation Program within the next four weeks which will drill down the work plan.

He underscored that the programme’s key pillars are macro policy, institutional arrangement, growth of the services sector and developing human capital.

“Let me remind those of you who may not know anything much about Zimbabwe, the country has an excellent human capital base with a high literacy rate, abundance of natural resources, minerals, good infrastructure, access to power water and sanitation and is favourably located in Southern Africa,” Ncube said.

He noted that government was working on reforms by pursuing a debt relief strategy so that “we catch up with our arrears which will allow us to unlock the flow of capital from the rest of the world”.

However, Labour and Economic Development Research Institute of Zimbabwe director, Dr Godfrey Kanyenze expressed doubt over Ncube’s time frame.

“There are a host hurdles that lie ahead of the nation’s economic reform process,” he said.

Government needs to come up with a debt clearance strategy, deal with emerging issues of Gukurahundi, cut down expenditure, instil expenditure discipline and all this cannot be achieved in twenty-four months.

“Back home, the incumbent president was immersed in a disputed election which saw his party’s winning parliamentarians garnering higher votes and all these issues need resolve to establish a proper foundation for economic growth.

“Even countries like Rwanda did not achieve such rankings in a space of 24 months.”

He noted that basic rules of economics are clear that one does not reap on the same day of sowing while the political economy of the real world has potential to force some delays.

“… how is it possible to save money for debt clearance, implement cut across changes, save towards economic and then join the continent’s group of six in 24 months?” queried Kanyenze.

Another economist, Aeneas Chuma also said that even when fast-tracked, Zimbabwe cannot be a part of the great six in 24 months.

“The country’s economy used to be the second best on the continent and that can certainly be achieved if proper remedies are taken but certainly not in 24 months as there still is need to amend wrong thinking.

“In most cases it is the same government which is holding up the process of economic recovery due to unnecessary procedures and additional costs through licensing fees and taxation and these require time to be phased out.”

New Zim

Jane Mlambo| Zanu PF supporters in Chipinge district have demanded the ouster of party provincial vice-chairperson Dorothy Mabika accusing her of creating parallel structures as political infighting rages on in Manicaland province.

The demand was made in a petition dated September 17, addressed to the Zanu PF national leadership including the party’s national chairperson Oppah Muchinguri, national political commissar, Engelbert Rugeje and secretary for legal affairs Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana, among others.

Former provincial youth chairperson, Tondhlana Sikumbuzo, confirmed handing over the petition to the national party leadership.

“We handed over the petition to the party’s national leadership last week in Harare. We were accompanied by some members from the central committee, women and youth league and the petition was signed by officials from all the five constituencies in Chipinge district,” Sikhumbuzo said.

Part of the petition reads: “A delegation from Chipinge district wishes to bring the following to your attention viewed as a growing crisis in Chipinge district. Institutional harassment, recent mass suspensions and prohibition orders aimed at silencing, harassing and eliminating party supporters who are viewed as having placed unwanted candidates at 2018 party primary elections.”

-State Media

Correspondent|Alliance official Chalton Hwende has sensationally claimed that Vice President Constantino Chiwenga ordered soldiers to be on the street and killed seven suspected opposition supporters.

“Chiwenga is clearly the one who ordered the army to be in the streets on the 1st of August. We all know this but most are afraid to say it. We must fight for justice for Zimbabweans who were killed; The attempt to frame the MDC Leadership will not work. The World is watching,” said Hwende in a tweet.

The fatal shooting killed seven and left dozens injured when the soldiers open fire in Harare on 1 August 2018.

However, President Emmerson Mnangagwa appointed seven member panel to probe the fatal shooting by one of the soldiers.

FORMER President Robert Mugabe was duped by a local potato seed supplier who lied that the seed was imported from neighbouring South Africa and charged him an exorbitant price when in fact, it was locally sourced.

Due to the misrepresentation, Mugabe’s family business, Gushungo Holdings suffered a loss of income in the sum of $428 385, a minimum they expected to earn if they had been supplied with the best quality potato seed.

Mugabe’s company, according to court papers, is now suing Seed Potato Co-op, claiming $712 530 as compensation from the company for the deal that went sour way back in 2015. The company is alleging it was duped into buying substandard seed on the guise that it was quality seed from South Africa.

The overpriced seed, the company said, did not produce the desired yields, leaving Gushungo Holdings facing losses that it is demanding compensation for.

Seed Potato Co-op had earlier sued Gushungo Holdings demanding $174 183 for potato seed supplied in 2015 to the company and not paid for.

A default judgment was entered on July 2 by Justice Joseph Musakwa after Gushungo Holdings failed to defend the litigation filed by the seed company sometime this year.

But last Friday, through its lawyers Messrs Chivore Dzingirai Group of Lawyers, Gushungo Holdings issued summons against Seed Potato which is yet to enter appearance to defend.

In its declaration, Gushungo Holdings said sometime in July 2015, it entered into an oral agreement with the Seed Potato whereby the latter allegedly agreed to supply the former Head of State’s business with quality seed imported from South Africa.

In terms of the said agreement, the seed company was supposed to deliver potato seed worth $752 000 between July 6, 2015 and August 22, 2015.

It was also agreed that the seed company was to deliver “high quality seeds” which were to be imported from South Africa and that the same firm would produce certification or approval of the quality of seed upon delivery to Gushungo Holdings.

“The parties agreed that the seeds to be supplied by the defendant (Seed Potato) were expected to produce a harvest of a minimum of 70 tonnes per hectare. Defendant delivered potato seeds for the value of $382 830 between the period from July 21, 2015 to September 24, 2015,” Gushungo Holdings said.

“The defendant further charged the plaintiff (Gushungo Holdings) the price for imported potato seed and yet it had delivered locally obtained seed. Defendant further breached the contract by failing to produce to the plaintiff any documentation for certification or approval of the seed.”

As a result of the breach, the seed supplied did not produce the expected yield, despite having planted the potato seed with the entire necessary husbandry and consequently suffered huge losses.

“Plaintiff ought to have realised a minimum profit of $428 385 if the defendant had delivered the imported quality seeds as agreed to by the parties. Plaintiff has thus suffered loss of income in the sum of $428 385 due to defendant’s breach,” Gushungo Holdings said.

“Wherefore plaintiff claims for an order for payment of the sum of $284 145 being the loss suffered by the plaintiff after the defendant and in breach of the oral agreement between the parties, delivered defective and substandard quality potato seed …”

The matter is pending.

NewsDay

Jane Mlambo| With rumors of Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor John Mangudya reportedly facing the boot, President Emmerson Mnangagwa May opt for his homeboy, John Mushayavanhu who is th current FBC Chief Executive Officer.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa visited the RBZ unannounced last week, sparking further speculation regarding Mangudya’s future.

The Zimbabwean leader has signalled a fresh thrust at Treasury after removing long-serving permanent secretary Willard Manungo and bringing in former Barclays CEO George Guvamatanga.

Top Zanu PF politician Patrick Chinamasa was also axed as finance minister to be replaced by internationally renowned economist and public policy expert Prof Mthuli Ncube.

And sources said RBZ boss Mangudya would be shown the door too as Mnangagwa looks for new thinking in dealing with the country’s intractable economic problems.

“Mangudya’s days are numbered. It’s highly unlikely he will keep his job and if he does it will only be until his term ends in February next year,” NewZimbabwe.com heard.

Mangudya took over as RBZ chief in March 2014, replacing Gideon Gono who is blamed for the hyperinflationary mayhem of the period up to 2008.

Meanwhile, another career banker and Mnangagwa protégé Mushayavanhu has been tipped to take over should Mangudya be shown the door.

“Mushayavanhu is Mnangagwa’s homeboy and has headed First Banking Corporation in which Mnangagwa is reported to have interests.

“Mushayavanhu has also been linked with Zuva Petroleum where the President is reportedly a shareholder,” another source said.

To complicate matters for Mangudya, sources say he does not see eye-to-eye with Guvamatanga.

“Guvamatanga wanted to be chief executive officer of CBZ Bank when Mangudya left but the RBZ boss blocked the move,” said a source familiar with the developments’

“There is bad blood between the two and it is difficult to see how they are going to work together given Guvamatanga is now effectively Mangudya’s boss.”

Before his appointment as RBZ chief Mangudya, was chief executive at CBZ Holdings.

-Newzimbabwe.com

Jane Mlambo| A Zanu PF Matabeleland South senator, Alma Mkhwebu has sued miner, Ntaten Amon Ndou seeking an order compelling him to vacate a mining claim that she says legally belongs to her.

Mkhwebu filed an application at the Bulawayo High Court last week citing Ndou as the first respondent, provincial mines director Matabeleland South, Tichaona Makuza, assistant sheriff of the High Court, Gwanda, and the officer in charge Collen Bawn police as second to fourth respondents, respectively.

In her founding affidavit, Mkhwebu said she was seeking an order to evict Ndou and his workers from her mining claim known as Sally II (GA 2033) on which Ndou is unlawfully extracting minerals.

“The eviction is sought in pursuance to an extant determination of encroachment made by the second respondent (Makuza)’s predecessor in office,” Mkhwebu submitted.

“I am the registered claim holder of the mining claim known as Sally II (GA 2033) which was registered in my name in September 1999 and is current. The first respondent on the other hand is the claim holder of a Sally 22 registered in October 2013 and is approximately 800m adjacent to my mining claim.”

Mkhwebu said in 2013, Ndou started mining on her claim without her consent, leading her to lodging a complaint with the Mines office.

Mkhwebu said a Ministry of Mines committee was set to investigate the boundary dispute.

“On February 3, 2017 a hearing was duly conceived in which both myself and the first respondent were called upon to make representations. The hearing was not conclusive due to divergent positions of the parties and it was recommended that a site visit with survey department be arranged for the location of the exact positions,” she submitted.

“On January 20, I and first respondent attended the site visit. The field visit was led by the regional mine surveyor and Geologist who were to… determine whether the mining shaft from which first respondent was working on fell within my mining claim. The surveyor carried out a Global Positioning System (GPS) to find the exact co-ordinates from which the disputed shaft was being worked.”

She said the surveyor indicated that Ndou had encroached into her mining claim. She said Makuza’s office then made determination on April 16, 2018 that Ndou was carrying out his mining activities on her claim and ordered him to stick to the confines of his claim. She said instead Ndou sought a court interdict against the determination which was later withdrawn due to lack of merit.

Mkhwebu said on July 11 Ndou was advised by the police to effect the Ministry of Mines determination, but he defied them.

Mkhwebu said the only solution was for Ndou to be evicted.

The respondents are yet to respond to the application.

-Newsday

Jane Mlambo| The controversial Zimbabwe Airways has been merged with the troubled Air Zimbabwe, transport minister Joel Biggie Matiza confirmed Monday.

Simba Chikore, son-in-law to former president Robert Mugabe, took a lead last year in the establishment – using State funds – of Zimbabwe Airways in a murky deal with left many believing the former first family owned the airline.

Plans to establish the airline however, hit headwinds after Mugabe was toppled last November by the military.

Addressing reporters in the capital Monday, minister Matiza confirmed at the two airlines had been merged, adding that Zimbabwe Airways aircraft would service regional and international routes.

“I would like to inform the nation that Zimbabwe Airways is a government entity,” the minister said.

“It is important to know that Air Zimbabwe does not have the adequate aircraft mix, an issue which has forced the airline to operate at a deficit.

“With the new aircraft in place government intends to merge Air Zimbabwe and Zimbabwe Airways to complement one another on local and international routes.”

Asked on why government had set up Zimbabwe Airways in the first place, considering the administration’s failure to capitalise Air Zimbabwe, Matiza said there was nothing wrong with having a second national airline.

“There is nothing wrong with having two national airlines; it (Zimbabwe Airways) was set-up for strategic business but our main purpose right now is to have Air Zimbabwe in the sky,” he said.

Air Zimbabwe is currently reeling under a legacy debt amounting to $341 million.
Meanwhile, Matiza revealed that government is working on setting up provincial airports and aerodromes across the country to stimulate growth of the tourism and related sectors.

-Newzimbabwe.com

Jane Mlambo| Cabinet minister Saviour Kasukuwere was yesterday arrested after he handed himself over to police for questioning on allegations of criminal abuse of office when he allegedly dished state land to former first lady’s sister Shuvai Gumbochuma without following due course.

Kasukuwere, who is being represented by Jonathan Samkange, was last night detained at Rhodesville Police Station and is expected to appear in court today.

The former Zanu PF national political commissar is facing three counts of criminal abuse of office during his tenure as Local Government minister and another count as Indigenisation minister.

Kasukuwere is linked to various fraudulent land deals, among them dishing out vast tracts of land worth over $2 million to former First Lady Grace Mugabe’s sister, Shuvai Gumbochuma, without following due process.

Gumbochuma was arrested over the same matter last week and released on $500 bail coupled with stringent conditions.
-Newsday

By Paul Nyathi|ZimEye.com is reliably informed that the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority, Zimparks has increased charges to view the majestic Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River in Victoria Falls town.

Sources reveal that the authorities started charging the new fares last week. Zimparks have set the gate charges at $40 and $20 for adult and child international tourists. Previously, international visitors paid $20 to visit the Rainforest, whose main attraction is the world-famous waterfall.

Local adults will part with $10 per entry into the Rainforest while kids pay $5, up from $7 and $4 respectively, which is charged on day tourists.

The increases come at a time when the residents of the town have a pending petition with Parliament demanding to retain a percent of revenue generated from the Rainforest and related parks fees charged at various tour activities to develop local schools, clinics and libraries.

The residents also want minors below the age of 15 and the elderly above 65 years to be allowed free entry into the rainforest. Residents of the town allege that 75 percent of children in the resort town have never visited the Rainforest as they cannot afford entrance fees.

Tourists visiting Victoria Falls now have an option for night activities after authorities resolved to open the Rainforest and Zambezi National Park beyond 6PM.

All along game drives, boat cruises, rafting, tour of the Rainforest and other activities were done during the day closing at 6PM.

Now the Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (Zimparks), who are the custodians of natural attractions, have with effect from Friday, September 21, extended closing time to 10PM.

Zimparks said four new activities have been introduced to “improve the visitors’ experience.”

“In its effort to provide diversity, Zimparks has introduced four new tourism products in the Victoria Falls and Zambezi National Parks. These include Rainforest night viewing, Livingstone Statue night bush dinners, Zambezi National Park night game drive and Zambezi River drive picnic,” Zimparks said in a statement.

“In bid to improve the visitors’ experience, we are pleased to inform you that the authority had adjusted the Rainforest opening and closing times with effect from September 21, 2018,” read the statement.

The new development means extra costs for tour operators as they have to acquire a separate operating licence.

During summer, the Rainforest will be opening at 6AM for the day session and closing at 6PM while during winter opening time will be 6.30AM with closing at 6PM.

Bush dinner functions at David Livingstone’s Statue in the Rainforest will be provided to clients on request, added the wildlife authority.

Night game drives will be done in the Zambezi National Park, Chamabondo area.

Operators will have to apply for a separate game drive and guiding permit for the night activities.

It remains to be seen if the new development will entice visitors to spend more time in the resort town.

Victoria Falls residents last year petitioned the government advocating for retention of at least five percent of Rainforest gate charges.

Zoom Zim.