By Own Correspondent| MDC Alliance aspiring legislator for Harare South, and former Grace Mugabe aide,  Shadreck Mashayamombe was reportedly arrested over Stoneridge settlements.

Unconfirmed reports claimed that Mashayamombe is reportedly at Waterfalls police station in Harare.

Efforts to get a comment from the police regarding Mashayamombe’s arrest were futile.

While details of his arrest were still sketchy, Mashayamombe is on record claiming that last week suspected Zanu-PF stalwarts kidnapped him and demanded that he withdraws his candidature from the constituency before taking his Parliament-issued Chevrolet vehicle and dumping it along the Harare-Bulawayo Highway.

According to Mashayamombe, his kidnappers told him to withdraw his candidature in Harare South where he is set to battle it out with President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s nephew Tongai for the legislator post on July 30.

Mashayamombe is also on record revealing that Vice President Constantino Chiwenga is “hounding” him.

Addressing party supporters at a rally in Harare, VP Chiwenga is on record saying government will “go after land barons” adding that their days were numbered.

A former member of Zanu Pf, Mashayamombe was elected into parliament in July 2013 to represent Harare South constituency before he was expelled from the party in November 2017 following a military initiative code named Operation Restore Legacy which saw former President Robert Mugabe’s resignation.

In January of 2018 Mashayamombe was expelled from parliament in terms of Section 129 (1) (k) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe after ZANU-PF informed the National Assembly that he was no longer a member of the party.

This is a developing story. Details to follow.

Refresh the page for updates.

MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa today, Saturday invades Emmerson Mnangagwa home area, Zvishavane.

Zvishavane is the nation’s precious location for asbestos mining, and also where Mnangagwa built for himself a giant mansion among a swarm of poor village houses.

ZimEye will bring our value readers the LIVE coverage from here today. Watch the preparations below:

By Paul Nyathi|Members of a Matabeleland focus social media WhatsApp group called Social Democracy Forum have made contributions totalling over US$1 000 towards funeral expenses of the late Bulawayo socialite and activist Hloniphani Golide Tshuma who died on Tuesday.

Amongst those who contributed towards the funeral expenses through the group are prominent political leaders Priscilla Misihairabwi Mushonga, PDP Deputy President Kucaca Phulu and parliamentarian Jassimine Toffa.

Various prominent persons including Phulu and ZEC Commissioner Dr Qhubani Moyo, Highlanders Football Club CEO Nhlanhla Dube, Mthwakazi Republic Party President Mqondisi Moyo, Zimbabwe Communist Party leader Ngqabutho Mabhena and several high profile persons from the region sent touching condolence messages on Tshuma’s sudden death due to suspected hyper tension.

“Hloniphani was a simple man, with a rare quality of engagement and activism. Although Tshuma was not an MRP card carrying member he was always present in almost all our programs. His input and honest criticism has been fruitful for us,” said MRP leader Moyo in a condolence message.

“His dedication to the best interests of Bulawayo and Matebeleland is beyond question. We have seen in almost every activity that has the best interests of our people. He is our immeasurable giant,” said MDC Youth Secretary General Descent Bajila.

Tshuma who founded the group four years ago and brought together the who is who of Matabeleland personnel from across the board will be buried in Bulawayo on Sunday.

MDC Alliance President, Nelson Chamisa said Zimbabwe needs a new leadership that values the people instead of an old Zanu Pf leadership that violated people’s economic, social and political rights for over 3 decades.

Chamisa said the electorate should not be hoodwinked into giving President Emmerson Mnangagwa another 5 year mandate to govern the country since the party had failed to address the simple bread and butter issues for the past 38 years.

Addressing hundreds of party supporters at Mataga business centre in Mberengwa, Chamisa said Zanu Pf leader President Emmerson Mnangagwa cannot fool Zimbabweans because he is just like his predecessor former president Robert Mugabe.

“Mugabe and Mnangagwa belong in the same whatsapp group. Umwe ndi driver umwe ndihwindi meaning one is the driver and the other one is the conductor,” said Chamisa.

He said it is highly unlikely that Mnangagwa is sincere that he has reformed from his old ways of doing things considering that he was part of Mugabe’s administration which plunged the country into the current economic quagmire.

“Zimbabwe inoda mutungamiriri kwete mutongi meaning Zimbabwe needs a leader and not a dictator.

Hatingapfekedze chembere jojeti tobva tatoti yava mhandara meaning we can not dress up an old woman in the latest fashion and start claiming that they are now young,” said Chamisa.

He called on the electorate to change the country’s fortunes by voting for real change under the able leadership of the MDC Alliance.

It’s three weeks to the elections and Zimbabweans have been raising several questions on the country’s preparedness for the watershed election.

The State owned Herald newspaper Political Editor, Tichaona Zindoga (TZ), sat down with ZEC chairwoman Justice Priscilla Chigumba (PC) to discuss these issues.

The full interview is as follows:

TZ: Can you walk us through the mandate of ZEC and where it derives its power and legality.

PC: ZEC is one of those commissions which were set up in terms of Chapter 12 of the new Constitution which came into place in 2013. ZEC derives it constitutional mandate and the basis of its powers from the Constitution itself which actually stipulates firstly that it shall be an independent commission and gives it the exclusive mandate to deal with the registration, voters and all electoral processes. So basically its mandate is derived from the Constitution and from the Electoral Act and attendant regulations.

TZ: What is the composition of ZEC and its secretariat?

PC: ZEC in terms of its organogram is made up of nine commissioners. There is a chairperson, who is myself, who takes the oath of office in terms of the Constitution. We have a deputy chairperson and other commissioners who among all nine commissioners each superintends one province. I am responsible for Harare Metropolitan Province. As you can see, it’s quite a large province. The secretariat is headed by the chief elections officer and we have other officers, directors in various departments such as voter education, knowledge management, ICT etc.

TZ: How do you respond to allegations that ZEC is militarised, allegations which are of a serious nature and have swirled for some time now?

PC: We take those allegations seriously. We do have former members of the army, Prison Service, ZRP, Central Intelligence, President’s Office officers. When I came in as chairperson I took time to sit and look at those allegations and found out that approximately 13.8 percent of secretariat staff has a security sector background.

I checked all the records and I satisfied myself that of all of them none is currently serving. I would like to emphasise the fact that ZEC actually advertised certain posts and we had of that 13.8 percent of our secretariat, these are the employees of ours that responded to advertisement. They actually went through the interviews and were selected. So when you hear members of the public saying that ZEC is militarised, it gives the false impression that we walked into an army barrack or ZRP and arbitrarily chose certain people to come and work for us. But the truth of the matter is that most of these people, of the 13, 8 percent, actually joined ZEC more than five years ago.

As you know, there has been a freeze on Government posts so we have not been able to recruit anyone. So we have had these employees for quite a while, they are our employees, they were employed in terms of the standard procedures and we have taken the position that there is no law in Zimbabwe which prevents us from employing someone merely because they have retired from the army or police.

Our position is that we intend to keep our employees until such time as there is a law which instructs us or guides us to say as an electoral commission we may not employ such people. But we are an independent commission and we independently recruited these people and they are here to stay.

TZ: Can you elaborate on the concept of independence. How is ZEC as an independent body supposed to work with Government and what is the nature of interaction between the two? Do you take instructions from anybody, let’s say from the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs?

PC: The Constitution guides us on the concept of independence and in a nutshell, the Constitution stipulates that ZEC “shall not” be under the direction or control of anyone. So that means in the discharge of our duties, we have absolute discretion in deciding what to do and how to carry out our mandate and our functions. In terms of our interaction with Government, we report to Cabinet through the Ministry of Justice, and when I say we report I don’t mean we seek permission from them to discharge our mandate.

What we basically do is that on a weekly basis we have a meeting with the Minister of Justice and we advise him of how far we have gone on our preparations for instance if we have had the minister briefed this week. It’s not only ZEC, but also other commissions, the Judicial Service Commission, the Prisons Service, the Attorney-General’s Office, we all meet the minister and we tell the minister that week’s activities.

For example, this week we would have told the minister that we have training for electoral officers in our province and what he simply does with the information is relate it to Cabinet. It’s a constitutional and legal way of actually keepingCcabinet informed about our activities and it benefits us in a way because for instance if we require money from the Treasury and if there is no money we go through the Minister of Justice, ask him to tell Cabinet to avail funds to Treasury. So it’s a reporting structure to keep Government apprised of all of our activities. We don’t seek permission from the Government through the Minister of Justice, he does not come to give us directions to say we should do XYZ, but sometimes he puts questions to us to say for instance, the question around the voters’ roll was raised in Cabinet and they would want to know what is happening with this and we respond to say this is how far we have gone.

TZ: Another important concept or tenet relates to transparency. To what extent is ZEC transparent given complaints for example, now that ZEC has not allowed political parties to participate in certain processes they need to scrutinise?

PC: It is my considered view that ZEC is more than 100 percent transparent and I will say so because of a few basic things. First thing is that we have what we call stakeholders engagements. We invite political parties to sit down with us and discuss. We invite civil society organisations and diplomats. Periodically, we do it at two months intervals. As we draw close to the elections, we will do these stakeholders engagement meetings once a month. We were doing them every two weeks and now we have a weekly chairperson’s briefing with the media where we sit with members of the media and advise them on what we are doing.

With regards to the question of ballot paper printing, what I will say is firstly, ZEC is an independent commission, that means it cannot be directed by anyone to do anything, it means it cannot be controlled by anyone to do anything. How we interpret that as a commission is to say in everything that we do, we must always be guided by the law.

So we start of from saying, what does the law say in regard to the ballot paper printing for instance?

The law explicitly says ZEC has the exclusive and sole mandate to design, print and distribute ballot paper.

So that is the legal position, the law is very clear; there are no grey areas. We have encouraged political parties during the time when the Electoral Amendment Bill was debated in Parliament to say look there is no legislative framework for these requests that you are making to us to be made part of these processes, so kindly go to Parliament and try to get these requests made part of the law. They did go to Parliament, if they want to be honest, they did try to get their requests made part of the law, it was debated in Parliament and the Parliament process, the legislative process itself didn’t work in their favour. And our position was, we must be guided by the law because we cannot be seen to be inventing arbitrary things which are not part of our law.

The basic problem that we are having with certain requests is that, where there is no legislative framework in place, it creates difficulties for us but in the interest of transparency we have said to political parties that, I will give an example. We have 55 political parties who successfully fielded candidates through the nomination courts.

So we have said look, we accept and admit there is no legislative framework, you tried to get the law passed in Parliament you failed, but in the interest of transparency why don’t you sit down as 55 political parties that are going to the election and try and reach consensus.

So we know that there is one particular political party which has concerns, why don’t you table your concerns amongst your peers as 55 political parties? We do have what are called multi-party liaison committees, whose constitutional mandate is to build consensus around disputes pertaining to elections. Those multi-party liaison committees are chaired by Commissioner Doctor Moyo.

So Commissioner Dr Moyo convened a meeting where he was supposed to discuss the modalities with the political parties to say, “What exactly is it that you like to see in the process of viewing the printing of the ballot paper or being included in the process?”

Before he could discuss the modalities, that meeting was disrupted and commissioners actually had to vacate the room because of what was happening there.

So this is now the bone of contention to say that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission was not transparent because it allegedly didn’t consult political parties; but in our defence I would like to say we did set up meetings; but that meeting was disrupted and as a result we then had to proceed with printing because the idea was parties would sit down, discuss modalities and then they could be there when printing started.

The reason why they were not actually there is because that meeting was disrupted but we had a printing schedule which we had to stick to in order to be ready for the election day on the 30th, so we really couldn’t wait for political parties to organise themselves, we started printing.

However, three days into printing, Dr Moyo then sent out invitations to political parties to say ‘Please come’. The parties that are complaining did not avail themselves at the meetings. No modalities were discussed, so the commissioner used his discretion and that is now water under the bridge because we are actually half way through printing.

TZ: There is this issue around pictures on the voters’ roll, which has been subject of controversy. Can you explain how the concept of pictures on the voters’ roll works and what is the legal position regarding that?

PC: Alright, the first thing that I would really like to communicate is that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission should be congratulated for availing a final voters’ roll to Zimbabweans for the first time; a good six weeks before election day. It has never been done before in the history of this country that the electoral management body actually availed a final voters’ roll that Zimbabweans could actually hold in their hands and say ‘This is our final voters’ roll’. So I think that we should be given some merit for doing that.

Now, the second thing that I would like to say is that it is actually not factually correct that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission failed to avail copies of the voters list prior to our availing the final voters’ roll. I will tell you why. The law in 2013, the New Constitution, was the one which actually gave the mandate to us as opposed to the Registrar General to say the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission should start a new voters’ list. That is why we started registering voters afresh using the biometric voter registration system. It’s also a myth that there are ghosts on that voters’ list, because all the people on that voters’ list actually walked up to a BVR machine; they had fingerprints taken, they had photographs taken. That is the second thing.

The third thing of note is that despite the fact that the Constitution gave us the mandate to make a new voters’ list, there is no attendant legislative framework to control access to the data; which we got.

So what we basically have at the moment is we are juggling competing interests. The Constitution guarantees the right to access to information, but that right to access to information is not absolute. The Constitution also guarantees the right to privacy, the right to privacy is also not absolute. When we registered (new) all our voters’ afresh and took their biometric features, we didn’t contemplate a situation where the release of that data in a voters’ list would potentially impinge on the right to privacy.

So initially, as a commission, we had found nothing wrong with releasing the voters’ roll as it was. We were then alerted by legal advice to say you need to be a little bit careful with the data that you release, especially if that data has the potential of being misused or abused; for instance, identity theft; security concerns. We had certain public statements to the effect that people intended to use those pictures to go and knock on people’s doors and ask people to verify whether their faces were actually on the voters’ roll. We found that unacceptable.

Now, the reason why we found that unacceptable is: the Constitution says we must provide a voters’ roll which is in analysable format and which is searchable. Now what that basically means is that in order to analyse a voters’ roll, it must be in a certain format. So, we put it in Excel format, we then put in names, addresses and ID numbers and it is our considered view that the inclusion of people’s pictures is not going to make the voters’ role any more analysable than it already is and moreover, we did open up the voters’ role for inspection for an eleven-day period if you recall and what we did during that eleven-day period is we actually printed hard copies of the voters’ roll and we said to voters ‘Look, all of our designated polling stations we have turned them into inspection centers. We would like Zimbabweans to physically go to inspection centres and take a look at the voters’ rolls’.

If you had gone to your polling station, which was an inspection centre, you could have seen a hard copy of the voters’ roll. You could have actually seen your picture on that voters’ roll because the hard copy which we availed during inspection is similar to the one which will be availed on polling day and that one will have pictures.

So, the criticism that people went to nomination court without benefit of having seen the voters’ role, in our view, is unwarranted because hard copies of those voters’ rolls, polling station-based voters’ rolls, were actually available. So those who wanted to see which of their neighbours they could actually ask to endorse their nomination, could have done that during the inspection period because those hard copies were available.

It is actually not true, I would like to emphasize, that we did not or we failed to avail even provisional copies. So, during the inspection period, the voters’ roll was availed in three forms. It was in hard copy at the inspection centres, which are our polling centres. It was there in soft copy, we had it on a link. It was there at all our provincial centres; at all our district centres and for your information, it’s actually, as we speak, available at all district and provincial centres. You can actually walk in and have a look at the voters’ roll.

So, the underlying thing behind our refusal to provide a voters’ roll with pictures is that we have provided it in searchable and analyzable form despite the lack of pictures and we have withheld the pictures out of legal concerns for the privacy of others. There are no rights in the Constitution which are absolute. Every right is subject to limits in a democratic society, and we believe that we have discharged our mandate to produce and provide a final voters’ roll, which is analyzable and searchable and we have fulfilled our Constitutional mandate at every stage of the electoral process we have availed copies of even the provisional voters’ roll.

TZ: Other concerns, and we have seen this, include people with multiple IDs or an improbable number of people staying at a particular address. How do you respond to such allegations?

PC: I will take that in two parts, let`s deal with the question of a large number of people apparently residing at one place on the voter`s roll. If you recall, when a potential registrant walked up to a BVR kit, there was certain information they were supposed to provide such as proof of residence. A lot of our residents, let`s take one particular case where there were 122 people registered at one place, they all brought sworn affidavits that they resided at that place. Now, we trained our kit operators to check that sworn affidavits were genuine and authentic. As long as there was a sworn statement from a person stipulating that they resided at a certain place, our kit operators would accept those affidavits. In terms of our administrative processes, there is absolutely nothing that we did wrong as a commission in accepting those sworn statements. It might be debatable whether or not those people ought to have been prosecuted for swearing to affidavits but with regards to that particular instance. By the way, (regarding recent reports of 400 people staying at a particular address) it is actually 122 people, it`s a church shrine we understand there are some residences there at the church shrine. It is not 400 or 300, it is 122 and they all brought sworn statements which was in line with our stipulated procedures so we did nothing wrong.

The second part of your question was with regards to identity particulars which appeared to not to be in order. We have been told there is a person who is 150 years old, we have been told that there are people with similar IDs. You will find that those people with ID particulars that were rejected by the system are actually on the exclusion role, not the voters roll. It is something which is beyond our control as a commission, because we actually don`t have a mandate to register citizens, we don’t issue ID. What we basically did with the data that we received is, wherever we flagged similar IDs, similar names or people who appeared to be shall I say to have an abnormal length of life, we referred all those cases to the Registrar General because he has the mandate to keep the register of citizens and he basically then said to us, this person is not in our system.

I do not want to speak for the Registrar General because I don’t have the mandate but basically I understand that there are some people who did some unorthodox things in order to register themselves as citizens of Zimbabwe. That is the mandate of the Registrar General, he is seized with these matters. What we did is that when those people were flagged by our system, we excluded them from the final voters` roll, they may have appeared on provisional voters` rolls but we excluded them from the final voters roll and referred them to the Registrar General for correction and investigation and possible further action which is within the purview of the Registrar General. Yes, we admit people walked up to our machines; they were registered but when they were flagged they were excluded. If you recall, one of the basic requirements of being registered to vote is that one must be a Zimbabwean citizen and we use our national IDs to show that we are citizens. The minute you have a problem or an anomaly with your ID, you are no longer eligible to be registered to vote. We do accept and we have encouraged people to say, if they correct those anomalies they can still reregister and appear on the 2023 election, so it is not necessarily fatal.

TZ: In the process of printing ballot papers, how safe are these ballot papers and their specimens from leaking to the public?

PG: The places that we have chosen for printing of ballot papers as you know, Printflow is printing our ballot paper for council elections and Fidelity is printing our papers for the presidential election and the National Assembly. We have absolute confidence in the security with both those buildings with regards to ballot papers that are in the process of printing.

The question of leaking to social media, nothing is ever a 100 percent foolproof but what I will tell you with regards to the process is that we are basically an administrative body. In terms of administration, the design of the ballot paper originates in a department here at ZEC. So, we have a ballot paper design department which is manned by experts who sit down and say this is how we are going to design the ballot paper, these are the colours that we are going to use, are we going to use A4 size paper or are we going to use A3. So, for instance, I will tell you that for the presidential election, ordinarily we procure what are known as ballot paper rolls but for the presidential election we now had to procure ballot paper sheets because of the high number of candidates. Human beings being what they are, there is a department here, all of our offices here I have a 100 percent confidence in their ability to keep our material confidential.

TZ: What happens if they do leak?

PC: If they do leak, we must find the source of the leak and prosecute the person.

TZ: Does it not compromise the process or otherwise a rethink of the process?

PC: No, I don’t believe that it compromises the process because the constitution gives us the exclusive mandate to design, print and distribute. So, we still have the exclusive mandate we are still in control and we will still print and go ahead and proceed. People can speculate on social media, we understand all sorts of things on social media, that the ballot paper if you put an X on one end it can migrate to the other end after 12 hours, a lot of the things being said on social media are mere speculation.

TZ: MDC Alliance, one of the contestants in these elections, has just reiterated that it will not participate in the coming elections if certain demands are not met. Can you highlight what demands have been made to you, at least formally, and what your response to the same is?

PC: The first thing I would like to say is that our electoral laws are persuasive, they are not mandatory. For instance, let`s take registration to vote; we don’t have laws that compel Zimbabwean citizens to vote. In certain jurisdictions, if you do not register to vote within six months of turning 18, certain things will happen to you. We do not have laws that compel citizens to participate in the electoral processes. Similarly, if you register to vote and you decide not to vote on election day, we do not have laws that follow you to your house to come and say, you are on the final voters’ roll why didn’t you exercise your right to vote?

The right to vote and the right to participate in electoral processes in Zimbabwe is voluntary. If I decide as the chairperson of ZEC to say I am not going to exercise my right to vote I am allowed to make that decision and the law does not come to look for me to ask why I did not exercise my right. It is actually my right to decide not to exercise my right to vote. I think I have answered your question without commenting directly on what other people may or may not have said. One is at liberty to exercise one`s right by deciding not to participate.

TZ: But we are talking about what is considered a major player in the process. If they decide not to participate will it not render the process a sham and its outcome?

PC: I would like to go back to the Constitutional Court and the judgment which they gave sometime I believe was in February 2018. The Chief Justice has given us guidance. Remember we said as an Electoral Commission we are always guided by law. Two political parties went to the Constitutional Court and asked the Constitutional Court to stop the election on the basis that they would like the law changed with regards to financing of political parties, they were of the view that the law was not fair to them.

They said dear Constitutional Court please stop the election so that we can change this law so that it is fair to all of us. I have said and I was paraphrasing what the Chief Justice said in that judgement, he said, once the President proclaims the election date nothing can stop that election because in proclaiming the election date, he is exercising an exclusive mandate which is derived from the constitution. Once an election date is proclaimed, those timelines which kick in up to this date cannot be stopped by a court of law. If you actually take that judgment – it`s a judgment of the full bench of the Constitutional Court – and you read it, the Chief Justice actually says that it would be incompetent for any court in Zimbabwean to make a court order to stop the election because an election is called in terms of the constitution.

I did paraphrase what the Chief Justice said, I said in other words he said nothing short of an earthquake will stop the election. I was telling stakeholders that we are guided by what the constitutional court said. To answer your question directly, I believe that we have been guided by the highest court in the land that once the election date has been proclaimed nothing can stop that election. It is a question of the law which has been interpreted for our guidance by the Constitutional Court; it is not ZEC playing games with anyone, it is the law.

TZ: Some people think you are being arrogant. What is your response to that?

PC: My response to that is that I am not being arrogant when I am merely interpreting a judgment of the Constitutional Court. I may have paraphrased what the ChiefJjustice may have said but in essence, that was the ratio decidendi of that judgment from the Constitutional Court in dismissing that application by political parties which said please stop the election because we need to do certain things. The Chief Justice said once a proclamation has been made nothing can stop an election, it is there in that judgement. I was merely paraphrasing those words in a bid to advise stakeholders that whatever legal remedies you may have, stopping an election is not one of them.

TZ: What is the role of foreign observers, do foreign observers and envoys influence the way you discharge your mandate?

PC: I will answer the last part of the question first, the answer is absolutely not. As I have already said; not even the Government of Zimbabwe can direct or control ZEC to do anything or not do anything. So, foreign observers or envoys cannot place us under their direction or control. We do have engagements with them, where they try and understand the electoral laws. We try and disseminate information saying in this jurisdiction this is what are law says with regards to such and such. We are not influenced by them although they are one of our vital stakeholders and we do have discussions with them.

TZ: How much are these elections costing us and are resources available to see the process through?

PC: As you know we submitted a budget of $198 million to Treasury. Treasury committed itself to releasing a $140 million to us and the deficit we are grateful to our funding partners UNDP, European Union, UN Women and others. So far, I really would like to acknowledge and thank the Government of Zimbabwe for putting their money where their mouth is because the primary responsibility for funding our election lies with the Government of Zimbabwe and they have fulfilled their primary responsibility. In fact, we are expecting the last tranche of all the money. We have procured ballot papers, ink, operational vehicles, all electoral and election material using money from Treasury. Of course, the deficit was made up by our funding partners.

TZ: Can ZEC and Justice Priscilla Chigumba be trusted to deliver a clean and acceptable process of election in Zimbabwe in the year 2018?

PC: Justice Priscila Chigumba is not above ZEC, Justice Priscila Chigumba is a servant of the ZEC; which means she is a servant of the Zimbabwean electorate. I would like to reassure Zimbabweans, those who are registered to vote and even those who are not registered to vote; we will deliver a free, fair, credible and transparent election. I would like to acknowledge and thank Zimbabweans for being very peaceful. We had a very peaceful pre-election phase, we are now in the election period, we did have isolated incidences mostly of intraparty violence. We had a few clashes around the primary election and mostly our country has been peaceful and I would like to thank Zimbabweans for that. Let`s encourage each other to be peaceful towards each other, we really need to be able to exercise our rights to choose our preferred leader without necessarily fighting with each other if we have different choices.

State Media

Elections will go ahead as scheduled on July 30 and no one has the power to reverse the proclamation scheduling voting on that date, President Mnangagwa said yesterday.

Addressing senior Cottco officials and Government officials who include Vice President Constantino Chiwenga at Cottco ginnery at Gokwe Centre, President Mnangagwa said questions over which presidential candidate was coming first or last on the ballot paper were not an issue.
He said the issue of where a name of a presidential candidate will be placed on the ballot paper would not stop the elections.

“Everywhere we have been to, the people are very clear. This confusion that there are no elections is only in Harare. The rest of the country, they are geared, they understand what they want to do,” he said.

The President said no one was born with a name. “This question of saying my name should be here or there or an alphabetical order must be used is null and void. When they saw my name on top of the ballot they said they should have used alphabetical order and therefore Mnangagwa’s name should not be on top,” he said.

“Elections will go ahead whether you start with the initial C or M on the ballot paper. Elections will go ahead. But you must remember that there is only one person who can decide to stop the elections and it’s me who proclaimed them and no one else made the proclamation. It’s only Zanu-PF which can decide whether elections are held or not”.

President Mnangagwa said the election observers should be allowed to observe the polls from anywhere in the country. He reiterated that elections will be peaceful, transparent and free and fair.
“When election observers visit you, allow them to observe, treat them well. Explain to them how we operate and assure them that we will hold credible, peaceful and free and fair elections,” he said.
The President later addressed a well-attended Zanu- PF rally at Mapfungautsi Primary School in Gokwe South yesterday where he said Zimbabwe was in a developmental mode that will bring prosperity to the people.

“Yesterday I was opening the Empower Bank which is aimed at capacitating young entrepreneurs with loans to start business projects. Last week I officially opened the Zimbabwe Women’s Micro Finance Bank which provides loans to women and small scale businesses. Everyday this current leadership is asked to officiate at ground breaking ceremonies or opening factories, this and that every day as we build our economy,” he said.

President Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe was an awakening socio-economic giant that needs the input of every Zimbabwean. He said the new dispensation was putting in place a conducive environment for businesses. “As a Government we work to ensure that the companies are supported locally and that investors are also given an opportunity to invest in all sectors of the economy. Now hotels are becoming very few as more and more tourists continue to visit the country which is open for business. Jerusalem which had been destroyed is now under reconstruction. A stone on top of a stone, we are building layer by layer and the home we are building as Zimbabweans will be very strong,” said the President.

He said the country will continue with its re-engagement drive to maintain friendly relations with all countries. “The last 20 years or so we were isolated as a nation and didn’t have any friends but now we are saying we are open to engagement and reengagement. Those countries we had strained our relations with, we are reengaging them and we are starting new relationships with those we previously had no relations”, said the President.

He said Government was committed to opening up closed companies like Ziscosteel in the Midlands Province. “We want to create a better Zimbabwe so that we leave a legacy for our children. Midlands Province almost has all the minerals we have in the country and as such we have a programme to assist small scale miners so that they have equipment to mine,” he said. “On infrastructure development we are going a head with developing roads from Beitbridge, Masvingo, Harare to Chirundu as well as the Beitbridge, Bulawayo to Victoria Falls road. These roads must be dualised. In Gokwe I hear DDF is busy rehabilitating roads so that they can be used by motorists.”
The Government, he said, was looking into sources of energy like solar, thermal and gas to move the economy.

“We need to see power here in Gokwe to push the growth of our economy. We are looking at hydro power, gas and solar programmes and we have investors or companies that are looking into that so that we take power to the people. There should be clean water to the people of Gokwe and passable roads as part of socio-economic development of this area. The school also should be well equipped and I am donating 50 computers,” he said. – State Media

Terrence Mawawa

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has warned Zanu PF rebels against using his name to score political marks.

Mnangagwa has also castigated independent candidates who claim to be Zanu PF members.

At a rally held in Gokwe today Mnangagwa said: “If you an independent candidate then it means you are no longer part of Zanu PF.

I have received reports about individuals who are using my name to gain political ground.

I do not work with rebellious characters, please go and tell those people to stop tarnishing my image.”

“Genuine party members will not stand as independent candidates and those who are doing so are rebels.

In Zanu PF we do not have room for malcontents who are determined to soil our reputation,” added Mnangagwa.

Terrence Mawawa

The ruling party Zanu PF has challenged the ruling by the High Court on barring the ruling party from forcing pupils and teachers to attend its rallies.

The ruling party through its legal team has filed an appeal to the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe arguing that in the new dispensation pupils and teachers have never been forced to attend political activities.

The ruling party has also slammed the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission for presenting biased information to the High Court.

According to a report compiled by the ruling party’s legal team, the details presented to the High Court were outdated and devoid of facts.

“For the avoidance of doubt, it is clearly and unequivocally stated that President Emmerson Mnangagwa is totally against violence, hate speech and derogatory language.

As such nobody is compelled to attend political rallies. As a matter of fact that those who attend rallies do so voluntarily,” a member of Zanu PF’ s legal team said.

Terrence Mawawa

President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s decision to interact with ordinary Zimbabweans on twitter has backfired following a barrage of attacks from angry individuals.

” I had the honour to inaugurate Empowerbank, Zimbabwe’s first Youth Empowerment bank. A truly blessed initiative.

$12m will be made available to support young Zim businessmen and women.

Creating opportunities for our youth is my number1 priority. You are the future of this great nation! ” tweeted Mnangagwa.

Below are responses to his tweet:

“Tsvee zvekutonga nyika and sorting out cash crisis. You open a bank in a country with no cash – where you are failing to run the few banks already there ? Shame manhingi”

“$12m to a youth empowerment bank and $200m for billboards and t-shirts. What a focused president.

This is the longest July I have ever encountered!

First it was Command AgriBank
Then Women’s Bank
Now Youth’s Bank.”

“Action on Cash Crisis = 0
What’s next ? Powerbank ?”

” When do you think will be the right time to retire from politics Mr President?

President, are you not embarrassed that at this rate of opening banks we shall soon have more banks than cash? We have enough banks toda mari!!!”

” Unfortunately Mr President, us the youth see the future of this great nation without you at the helm.

Dai matonosasa ve team yeku colcom vawedzere nyama mu pie kwete zvema cashless banks.”

“War vets bank, rural bank, street kids bank the list is endless.

If you are serious about us being your #1 priority just resign.hamudiwe #coup prez.”

Terrence Mawawa

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has chided opposition political parties saying they are mere curtain raisers in the July 30 elections.

Addressing Zanu PF supporters in Gokwe today Mnangagwa has described Zimbabwe as a democratic nation in which individuals are free to exercise their constitutional rights.

“We have so many pretenders in this race but as you know I am the main man in the polls.

We really need these curtain raisers because they are just like those who provide entertainment at traditional ceremonies. Can you hold a traditional ceremony without incorporating entertainers?

Tell your relatives who have decided to leave the ruling party to come back home,” said Mnangagwa.

He also boasted of the ruling party’s massive support in Midlands Province.

The EU Observer Mission during their press conference Friday morning said that the demand by MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa to be furnished by ZEC an analysable BVR and to be involved in the printing, storage, transportation and distribution of ballot papers, is in order as it enhances and improves transparency and openness.

Below was their statement – REFRESH TO READ

EUROPEAN UNION ELECTION OBSERVATION MISSION
REPUBLIC OF ZIMBABWE HARMONISED ELECTIONS 2018

Chief Observer Brok: “The 2018 harmonised elections are a critical test of Zimbabwe’s reform process”

HARARE 6 July — “These elections are a critical test of Zimbabwe’s reform Process. Given the context of past elections, great efforts need to be made to ensure public and political confidence in the 2018 polls” stated Elmar Brok, Chief Observer of the EU Election Observation Mission, in a press conference in Harare on Friday. Mr Brok added: “Necessary efforts include transparency and inclusivity, confidence in the integrity of the voter roll, emphasis on secrecy of the vote and the peaceful conduct of the polls.”

The Chief Observer concludes today his first visit to Zimbabwe. During his stay, he met with the President of Zimbabwe, the Chair of the Zimbabwe Election Commission, political parties and candidates, civil society and other stakeholders.

“The presence of the EU Election Observation Mission demonstrates the European Union’s commitment to the conduct of peaceful, inclusive, transparent and credible elections in Zimbabwe. The EU wishes to accompany Zimbabwe in its transition to satisfy, the legitimate expectations of the Zimbabwean people and stands ready to engage further if the appropriate conditions are met. Elections are in this regard, an essential step in a long and challenging reform process.”

We hope the presence of EU observers can be a source of support for the conduct of credible elections. Our observation focuses not only on the election day but on the entire electoral process, including the environment for the polls, conduct of the campaign, results transmission and the resolution of any election-related legal disputes after voting has finished. In making our assessment we will consider the environment and context for the polls alongside election day itself”, said Mr Brok.

A core team of ten analysts arrived in Harare on 6 June 2018. Forty-four long-term observers arrived two weeks later and are deployed to all ten provinces to observe the process in urban and rural areas. A further forty-four short-term observers will reinforce the mission before Election Day. They will be joined by a Seven-person delegation from the European Parliament, as well as by diplomats of EU Member States and partner countries, bringing the mission’s strength on and around Election Day to some 140 persons.

The EU EOM conducts a comprehensive and impartial analysis of the whole electoral process. This includes assessing the legal framework, the performance of the election administration, voter registration, candidates’ nomination, campaign activities, respect for fundamental freedoms, access to and conduct of the media, voting and the counting and transmission of results, and the period after the Polls. If a second round of voting is required, the mission will remain in Zimbabwe for this.

The EU EOM is bound by a code of conduct, which requires strict neutrality and no interference in the process. The mission undertakes all its work in accordance with the Declaration of Principles for International Election Observation and cooperates closely with national and other international observers. The EU EOM will publish its initial findings in a Preliminary Statement, which will be presented about two days after Election Day. A final report will be published within two months.

MDC Alliance presidential candidate Nelson Chamisa yesterday claimed that they he had met Sadc and the African Union (AU) officials to register his displeasure over poll irregularities, and assured them that he would not boycott the elections although the ground was uneven.

Addressing scores of party supporters at Garwe Stadium in Chivhu, Chamisa said: “The reason why I am late (to the rally) is that I was engaging the Sadc and AU over irregularities ahead of the polls. I even told them that [President Emmerson] Mnangagwa will not get 25% or 20% of total votes. We will not boycott the election. I know all their tricks to bring in fake ballot boxes,” he said.

The MDC Alliance is currently pushing the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) to be transparent on ballot paper printing, among other demands.

“It is not going to happen (election). You won’t threaten or harass me. I am like a tick, if I bite I won’t leave. I have told Sadc and AU that there is a misfit in the country. The process by Zec to print ballot papers is disputed,” Chamisa added .

The youthful leader said his move was triggered by Mnangagwa’s refusal to engage all parties for a dialogue on how to move the country forward.

Chamisa’s assurance that he would not boycott the polls came amid reports that he had told other MDC Alliance principals on Tuesday that he was now considering the option given Zec’s intransigence.

The youthful opposition leader also hailed the army for pledging to respect the country’s Constitution and not to involve themselves in partisan party politics.

“I am happy to hear that the army has vowed to follow the Constitution. That is good, they are there for the people. When Mnangagwa and Chamisa tussle in the political ring, they should step aside. But when Chamisa wins, they should salute, they will be saluting the government, not me,” he said.

Newsday

By Paul Nyathi|Advocate Thabani Mpofu says that the MDC-T faction led by Nelson Chamisa remains the genuine MDC-T and entitled to all the benefits associated with the party.

In an wide ranging interview with the media on Thursday, Mpofu said that the splinter faction led by Dr Thokozani Khupe can not claim to be the genuine MDC-T previously led by the late MDC founding President Morgan Tsvangirai.

Mpofu said this responding to statements by the Khupe led MDC-T Deputy President Obert Gutu that they have since adopted the genuine MDC-T following a withdrawal from the High Court by the Chamisa led faction.

Advocate Mpofu threw away Gutu’s claims that Chamisa withdrew contesting the name case from the High Court indicating that the case is still being heard at the High Court.

“The case is still at the High Court with Chamisa indicating that he is leading the MDC-T as Khupe and her collegues were dismissed from the party,” said Mpofu.

“We only withdrew the case from an urgent court hearing to a normal roll and we wait for a court date to be given where we will bring witnesses. Gutu and their lawyer Professor Lovemore Madhuku are aware of that,” said Mpofu.

Responding to claims that the Khupe faction is demanding Chamisa to pay back to them $1. 8 million advanced to the party by government under the political parties funding, Mpofu said that the Chamisa led faction rightfully received and used the money as the genuine MDC-T.

“The money was directed to the party that runs the MDC-T headquarters and its the party led by Chamisa. Even the Bulawayo regional office is run by Chamisa which clears to who the funds should be directed to,” said Mpofu.

“Every Zimbabwean who is serious about life knows who the genuine MDC-T is,” said Mpofu.

“The MDC-T name which Khupe is using is not the MDC-T referring to Tsvangirai that everyone knows but its MDC Thoko referring to Thokozani Khupe,” said Mpofu.

ZimEye.com could not get a comment from Gutu and Madhuku on the claims by Advocate Mpofu.

By Paul Nyathi|President Emmerson Mnangagwa has expressed excitement on being connected on social media platform WhatsApp for the first time.

The President opened his public WhatsApp chat page on Wednesday which he says he will use to connect with the people of Zimbabwe and to promote dialogue.

For one to join the WhatsApp chat group, he or she should send a message on mobile number +263 776 910 469.

President Mnangagwa confirmed the authenticity of the WhatsApp platform on Thursday speaking at his Munhumutapa offices. Mnagwagwa said one of his friends came up with the idea to connect him on the social media chat platform.

“Yes, we now have a WhatsApp chat platform. A friend of mine came and asked for my WhatsApp number and I told him that I was not on WhatsApp.

“He also asked for my email address and I told him that I did not have one. I said I don’t need all that and he laughed. He said there was need for me to connect with the modern world and talk to the people,” he said. “He came back a few minutes later asking for my mobile phone to install the WhatsApp software,” the President said.

President Mnangagwa said he finally accepted the new technology. “I am now on WhatsApp and I will let it operate for some weeks and see how it goes,” he said.

Early this year, the President opened his official Facebook account and invited followers to message their thoughts as part of “a new national dialogue”.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday literally broke his arms traditionally for the European Union chief election observer Mr Elmar Brok who visited him yesterday. The president can be seen in his mukwasha pose in the below pictures.
This is not the first time the head of state has broken his arms for foreign dignitaries. He has done the same for the Ambassadors of Great Britain, and the one of Australia.

State Media: The head of the EU observer mission in Zimbabwe visited the President in the company of his deputy Mr Mark Stevens and the EU Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mr Phillipe Van Dame.

Mr Brok said he had had fruitful discussions with President Mnangagwa. “I have explained to the President why we are here. We believe in free and fair elections which brings people together.

“It is most important for a peaceful country and it does not matter who wins. We would like to see that happening. It should not only be a creation of fairness on the election day but fairness must also prevail even in the run-up to the elections.

“Our findings will determine which type of elections we will have here in Zimbabwe,” said Mr Brok.
EU has deployed 44 long-term observers throughout the country ahead of the harmonised elections on July 30.
High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission Mrs Federica Mogherini also appointed Mr Brok, member of the European Parliament, as chief observer of the EU EOM to Zimbabwe.
In a statement, Mrs Mogherini said the Zimbabwean elections were key for the country.
She said the future President, Parliament and local Government councils would have the responsibility of steering the transition process in the country. Mr Brok said the elections, to be held under a new electoral framework, represented an important step in the country’s political transition.
The EU said the 44 observers team was the second contingent, following the core team consisting of 10 analysts which arrived in Harare early last month.

The team will stay in the country until the completion of the electoral process and then prepare a comprehensive final report. Together with diplomats accredited in Harare, the EU EOM is expected to deploy on election day about 140 observers from all 28 member states as well as Norway, Switzerland and Canada.

A further 44 short-term observers will be deployed a few days prior to election day.
A delegation of the European Parliament and diplomats from EU Member States accredited to Zimbabwe will also reinforce the mission on election day.

Terrence Mawawa

A Gutu man has been arrested for fondling his daughter’s breasts and licking her her private parts.

The man, Livingston Mbizvo(39) of Magombedze Village in Gutu District appeared at the Magistrates Court in Mupandawana Town last week.He was charged with indecent assault.

According to the State outline, the incident happened in 2016 and Mbizvo’ s 13-year- old daughter was afraid of disclosing the matter to her mother.

Mbizvo followed his daughter to her bedroom and forcefully opened the door while the girl was fast asleep. The incident happened when the girl’s mother had had gone to a funeral.

When Mbizvo entered his daughter’s bedroom, the girl tried to run away but her father overpowered her.

He forcibly removed her clothes, fondled her breasts and licked her private parts.

The girl later disclosed the issue to her mother who reported the matter to the police.

Terrence Mawawa

The ruling party Zanu PF has ordered sugarcane farmers to make donations in cash and in kind towards its political programmes before the July 30 polls.

According to sources in Chiredzi ruling party officials met with the leadership of Commercial Sugarcane Farmers Association of Zimbabwe and demanded donations towards Zanu PF activities.

“Every sugarcane farmer under the association is compelled to make contributions towards Zanu PF political events.

A meeting was held at the weekend and sugarcane farmers were instructed to fund ruling party activities,” sources revealed to ZimEye.com yesterday.

However an official at the association has said the donations will be made out of ” out of goodwill and voluntarily.”

“This is not a new thing, it is our obligation to support political programmes,” said the official.

Terrence Mawawa

Outspoken Zanu PF critic Antony Taruvinga has sensationally claimed President Emmerson Mnangagwa’ s Zanu PF is funding 21 Presidential aspirants in a bid to dilute MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa’ s support.

Taruvinga argues Mnangagwa is terribly afraid of Chamisa’ s growing influence.

“Nearly 21 candidates are an extension
of Mnangagwa’ s Zanu PF. They are being sponsored to participate in
the elections and in the event the MDC Alliance boycotts the polls, they will endorse the rigged plebiscite.

They are not complaining about ZEC and Mnangagwa voters’ roll and ballot printing shenanigans,” said Taruvinga.

“Some of them have already
endorsed the ongoing fraudulent processes.

The end is not looking good for
Mnangagwa and Chigumba but
we will not let them steal our mandate.”

Terrence Mawawa

Irate mobile phone users have lambasted the government for pestering Econet Wireless over its alleged failure to slash down service charges.

The government is accusing the country’s leading mobile phone service provider of deliberately defying a directive from POTRAZ on the reduction of tariffs.

Below are comments from angry mobile phone users on the looming showdown between government and Econet:

Dady VaAngie:
Eco-cash is not a government programme and Econet is under no obligation to explain its modus operandi to Zanu PF.
Fix cash problems and stop relying on other people to fix your mess.

Kukue Haripo:
If Ecocash is down we must use cash zve nhaimi..
Where is the cash you promised us.

Gift N Ndlovu:
Hehehehe…we are a sick nation,the government must solve the cash crisis rather than seeking clarification from Econet,this is happening at a time our clueless leaders are boasting of the introduction of plastic money.

Gotwe Siza Wekwachizinga:
Leave Econet alone. You are failing to solve the cash crisis and instead of thanking Masiyiwa you want to give him the burden of your mess. That’s an insult and unacceptable.

3pm – There are serious network challenges in Chivhu here. We shall bring you the footage once we are back on air. 

ZimEye is about to go LIVE at MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa’s rally in Chivhu.

– REFRESH THIS PAGE TO WATCH –

” Of course I veered off the road but it was not such a bad thing for people to publicise it like that,” Buhera South MP Joseph Chinotimba tells ZimEye.com following his accident on Sunday afternoon in Birchenough Bridge. AUDIO:

By Farai D Hove| The British Prime Minister Theresa May has openly announced to President Emmerson Mnangagwa that there will be no support until he reforms.

In an open message at Westminster, May answered the chair of the parliamentary portfolio committee on Zimbabwe, HON. Kate Hoey saying, “I say to the honourable Lady, I commend the excellent work that she does..she continues to do as chair of the APPG on Zimbabwe and obviously we welcome the announcement of the date of the election the 30th July but we are urging all parties involved to pursue free and fair, peaceful elections, cause that I think that is what the Zimbabwean people deserve and we will certainly trade carefully to see how those elections are conducted and consider obviously the conduct of those elections as appropriate.

“And we have repeatedly said if the Zimbabwean government can demonstrate commitment to political and economic reform then the UK stands ready to do all it can to support its recovery. But obviously that commitment is essential.”

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, ZEC has reinstated six of the eight MDC Alliance candidates previously listed as having withdrawn from contesting the parliamentary elections set for July 30.

The six — Clifford Nhamburo (Gorromonzi West), Knowledge Mupini (Gutu West), Ernest Mandigo (Gutu Central), Justin Makota (Masvingo South), William Zivenge (Zaka West) and Francis Mangwendedza (Bulawayo South) — registered to participate in the poll under MDC Alliance in the constituencies where another MDC Alliance candidate had already listed.

Their nomination resulted in the Alliance having two candidates for each of the six constituency.

The MDC-T leadership wrote to Zec informing that the six had voluntarily withdrawn from the race.

Their names were then published in the press on Tuesday as candidates who had agreed to withdraw from the election.

Zec was later notified that the six had not voluntarily withdrawn and went on to correct the error by reinstating them as National Assembly candidates for their respective constituencies contesting under MDC Alliance.

Reads the notice by Zec: “It is hereby notified that the notice specifying the names of candidates who withdrew from the 2018 general elections published in the local newspaper of July 3 contained errors.

“The candidates listed below did not withdraw their candidature, but remain as contestants in the 2018 general elections.”

In an interview, MDC-T presidential spokesman Dr Nkululeko Sibanda confirmed the matter, saying some of the candidates had tricked them into believing that they had indeed withdrawn.

“The candidates told us that they were voluntarily withdrawing, but it now looks like they have gone back behind our backs with a different story,” he said.

Dr Sibanda said the Alliance also suspected that the development might be a result of fraud.

“We suspect that it can be the work of some people working on the other side who forged signatures with an intention to cause confusion within the Alliance,” he said.

“The party is looking at it and those found to be behind the fraud will be brought to book.”

By Talent Gondo| MDC Alliance Presidential candidate Nelson Chamisa has welcomed both regional and international observers who arrived in the country over the past weeks for the upcoming harmonised elections slated for July 30.

Speaking at a press conference at Morgan Tsvangirai House in Harare Tuesday, Chamisa said:

“We want take this opportunity to publicly welcome our guests, the regional and international observers who have come from around the world to bear witness to our historic election on 30 July 2018. This is the first post-Mugabe election. This election presents an opportunity to correct and undo past electoral misdemeanours and transgressions known by all of you.

They (Observers) are here because they know an election is not an event which starts and ends in a single day. It is a process that begins well before polling day and continues well after it, until at least there is transfer of power, which we are confident will happen this year. It is necessary and long overdue.

Thank you for being here with us and I hope you will, during your time here, also enjoy our traditional Zimbabwean hospitality. Our people are kind and generous, please feel at home. And as you travel around our country, please take time to enjoy the gifts of nature that God, the Almighty has bestowed on this wonderful country.”

Chamisa said Zimbabweans are a hopeful people with so much passion for the development of their nation hence the importance of a free, fair and credible election.

“I see great hope and deep passion in the eyes of the people, the young and old, men and women, even boys and girls whose future is at stake in this election,” he said.

We are a nation of kind and generous people with great courage, big hearts, resilience and creativity. These qualities have seen us through extremely tough times and we bank on them once again to see us through.

Zimbabwe, attained its independence from the blood of revered and courageous brave men and women who fought and some died for the right of each and every one of us as citizens to have a right to vote for a leader of our choice in an inclusive, free, fair and credible election.”

Terrence Mawawa

Parents of pupils and students at Victoria High School have petitioned Primary and Secondary Education Ministry Permanent Secretary, Sylivia Utete-Masango to fire the head, John Muzamani for gross incompetence and maladministration.

The parents are demanding the immediate removal of Muzamani from the elite school.The disgruntled parents accuse the head of failing to maintain the high standards expected at the school.

“We have since written a petition to Utete- Masango and we expect her to address our grievances as soon as possible,” one parent told ZimEye.com yesterday.

The parents have also called for a total shutdown to force Muzamani to resign from his position.

“We will stage a demonstration this week and we have also agreed that our children will not attend lessons until the matter has been resolved,” said another parent.