The senior national women’s soccer team, the “Mighty Warriors” are involved in a stand-off with ZIFA over their winning bonuses and allowances for the triumph over Namibia in an Africa Women Cup of Nations first round qualifier.
The Zimbabweans won the battle 4-0 on aggregate.
However, the players have refused to leave the ZIFA Village until the Association pay them their winning bonuses and dues.
Reports on ZTV last night said the players had been given $5 each for those based in Harare, and $20 each for those based out of the capital, for their travel allowances.
ZIFA promised they will then deposit the winning bonuses and out of pocket allowances in the players’ bank accounts.
But the players refused the deal and remained camped at the ZIFA Village.
The Association spokesman Xolisani Gwesela said they were going to resolve the issue and said they remained committed to paying the Mighty Warriors their dues.
The women have always complained of being unfairly treated by the football mother body compared to their male counterparts.
The women’s team is always accommodated at the substandard ZIFA house while the male teams are accommodated at five star hotels.
MDC-T President Nelson Chamisa says that ZANU PF is abusing the late Joshua Nkomo family by deliberately drawing the family to comment on a misinterpretation of utterances he made at an MDC Alliance rally in Bulawayo over the weekend.
A disappointed sounding Chamisa blamed forces within the ruling party for deliberately misinterpreting his statement in order to raise the Nkomo family emotions against him.
Speaking in an early morning interview on Skyz Metro FM a Bulawayo community radio station on Tuesday, Chamisa said that forces against him deliberately opted to misinterpret his statement on his visit to the Joshua Nkomo National Museum in Bulawayo before his rally.
“I have seen the misinterpretation. I said that I met them and they were very excited to meet me and they said they were so excited to meet me so much that they wish they could give me a rod to use to drive out thieves,” said Chamisa. “It was just a happy moment.”
“The misinterpretation has even drawn the Nkomo family to make a comment which I feel is an abuse to the family by ZANU PF,” he added.
“The Nkomo family should not be drawn to comment on issues that have no facts,” said Chamisa.
Speaking to various media houses including ZimEye.com on Monday, Joshua Nkomo’s son Sibangilizwe Nkomo said that Chamisa never met with any members of the Nkomo family but only met with employees of the Joshua Nkomo National Foundation which is run by the government under the Department of National Museums and Monuments.
Nkomo said that the family would never offer to give any of Joshua Nkomo’s rods to anyone outside the Nkomo family.
Chamisa said that he was driven to visit the Joshua Nkomo heritage site to give honour to the liberation icon who was heavily undermined by the ZANU PF government through the years.
The Home Office has published a Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules which was presented to Parliament on 20 July 2017. The purpose of the statement is to make changes to the family Immigration Rules following the decision of the Supreme Court in the Case of MM (Lebanon) v SSHD [2017] UKSC 10.
The case of MM (Lebanon) dealt with the Minimum Financial Requirement that’s requires a gross income of £18 600 to sponsor a partner to come to the UK. The rules require an additional £3800 for the first child and £2400 for any other additional child. This requirement applies to British and settled sponsors and their families but not EEA nationals. It also applies to refugees who formed their families after they left their country of origin. The Minimum Financial Requirement was found to be lawful and acceptable in principle by the Supreme court. However, the Supreme Court further held that the Home Office Instructions and Rules unlawfully fail to take into account the Secretary of State’s duty under section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009, to have regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children when making decisions which affect them. The Supreme Court held that the Home Office Instructions also require amendment to allow consideration of alternative sources of funding when evaluating a claim under Article 8.
The Explanatory Memorandum to the Published Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules states that there are around 5000 applications on hold which fail to meet the minimum income requirement. The Secretary of State considers that the changes set out in the statement will enable her to decide these outstanding and any future applications.
Following this decision in MM (Lebanon), I have noticed that the Home Office has been delaying making decisions in any application whether made inside or outside the United Kingdom, which involve a partner and/or child whether or not it’s likely to fail to meet the financial requirement. Some cases have been outstanding for more than 6 months, which again is generally in breach of the Home Office policies.
The changes are intended to permit the use of other sources of income or finance beyond those currently permitted under Appendix FM and Appendix FM-SE in the Immigration Rules. The changes further seek to give direct effect to the Secretary of State’s duty under section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 to have regard as a primary consideration, to a child’s best interests in an immigration decision affecting them.
The changes in particular insert new general provisions in Appendix FM which:
Require the decision-maker, in the specified circumstances, to consider whether the minimum income requirement is met if the other sources of income, financial support or funds set out in the new paragraph 21A of Appendix FM-SE are taken into account. The specified circumstances are that, firstly, the minimum income requirement is not otherwise met and, secondly, it is evident from the information provided by the applicant that there are exceptional circumstances which could render refusal of the application a breach of Article 8 because it could result in unjustifiably harsh consequences for the applicant, their partner or a child under the age of 18 years who it is evident would be affected by a decision to refuse the application;
Refer to the new paragraph 21A of Appendix FM-SE, inserted by these changes, which makes provision as to the other sources of income, financial support or funds which the decision-maker will take into account in such cases. These are a credible guarantee of sustainable financial support from a third party; credible prospective earnings from the sustainable employment or self-employment of the applicant or their partner; or any other credible and reliable source of income or funds available to the couple. Paragraph 21A also makes provision for particular factors which the decision-maker will consider in determining the genuineness, credibility and reliability of such other source of income, financial support or funds;
Require the decision-maker, where an application for entry clearance or leave to remain made or considered under Appendix FM does not otherwise meet the relevant requirements of the Immigration Rules, to go on to consider, on the basis of the information provided by the applicant, whether there are exceptional circumstances which would render refusal of the application a breach of Article 8 because it would result in unjustifiably harsh consequences for the applicant or their family. This brings the test of proportionality under Article 8 into the Rules. That test was previously applied by the Secretary of State (through guidance) in considering whether to grant leave outside the Rules on Article 8 grounds. The substance of the test was upheld by the Supreme Court in Agyarko & Ikuga v the Secretary for the Home Department [2017] UKSC 11. These changes mean that the Immigration Rules now provide a complete framework for the Secretary of State’s consideration on Article 8 grounds of applications under Appendix FM by a partner, child, parent or adult dependent relative; and
Require the decision-maker, in considering applications under the new general provisions in paragraphs GEN.3.1. to 3.3. of Appendix FM, to have regard, as a primary consideration, to the best interests of any child affected by the decision, thereby giving explicit effect within Appendix FM to the Secretary of State’s existing duty under section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009.
Make further consequential provision in respect of the changes arising from the Supreme Court judgment in MM (Lebanon) & Others. This includes providing that where the new general provisions in paragraph GEN.3.1. or GEN.3.2. of Appendix FM apply, an applicant granted entry clearance or leave to remain as a partner or parent will be on a 10-year route to settlement (Indefinite Leave to Remain), with scope to apply later to enter the five-year route where they subsequently meet the relevant requirements; and
Make other minor and technical changes and clarifications to Appendix FM. In particular: – ensuring that children are granted leave of the same duration and subject to the same conditions as their parent, who is or has been granted leave under these Rules; – ensuring that the partner of a person here with refugee leave or humanitarian protection cannot qualify for Indefinite Leave to Remain before that person has done so; and – clarifying the drafting of the English language requirement for further leave to remain as a partner or parent.
The Changes set out in the statement of Changes will take effect from 10 August and will affect all decisions made on or after that date.
If you, your partner, or child(ren) was refused entry clearance or leave to remain under the current Rules, you may need to re-apply if for instance, you have a credible job offer or credible third support. We are yet to see how in reality the Secretary of State will implement these changes.
Andrew Nyamayaro is the principal of Tann Law Solicitors, a specialist immigration and asylum law firm in Coventry. He can be contacted on e-mail [email protected] or office phone 02477632323.
Disclaimer: This article only provides general information and guidance on immigration law. It is not intended to replace the advice or services of a solicitor. The specific facts that apply to your matter may make the outcome different than would be anticipated by you. The writer will not accept any liability for any claims or inconvenience as a result of the use of this information.
The ConIFA World Football Cup is an international football tournament organized by ConIFA, an umbrella association for states, minorities, stateless peoples and regions unaffiliated with FIFA, planned to be held every two years. Below is the press conference in Bulawayo this morning:
A 27 year old carpenter from Kwekwe met an untimely end after being struck by a bolt of lightning whilst doing some construction work.
Knowledge Ncube working on the roof of a client’s house when he was struck by a bolt of lightning.
His relative, Mr Prince Vhiriri, confirmed the incident.
“We are still to come to terms with the whole incident which took Ncube’s life,” said Mr Vhiriri.
“We received a call from one of his workmates to the effect that Knowledge had been killed in a lightning incident,” said Mr Vhiriri.
He, however, said the family suspected foul play as there was no rain on the day.
“There were no rains on the day. Some clouds only gathered in the sky but there wasn’t even a drizzle. The next thing we learn that a person was killed as a result of lightning, it’s shocking,” Mr Vhiriri said.- state media
By Farai D Hove| The Presidential spokesman George Charamba has said President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s trip did not at all blow $2,3 million.
Charamba told the state media Mnangagwa did not spend more than $2 million as reported in the private media.
The development has been hailed as the first time in the history of Zimbabwe this has happened that the government has released invoices of proof of costs incurred in a presidential trip.
Charamba was quoted by the state owned ZBC News saying government paid US$1.3 million to hire a private jet for President Mnangagwa’s trip, contrary to some media reports which had speculated that the trip had cost US$2.3 million.
Charamba reportedly “showed the state journalists receipts and invoices of the amount paid to Comlux by government through the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.”
The invoices showed a total of US$1,396,000 was paid to Comlux, ZBC reports saying.
Said Charamba, “the first plane which we got would cost us an upward of US$2 million. Air Zimbabwe also gave us a quote of slightly below US$2 million, but which was still very high.”
The Presidential spokesperson has challenged the nation to look at the cost benefit analysis of the President’s trip to China, saying the Asian giant is the world’s second largest economy after the US, hence it is only prudent to engage such an economy and the benefits will be immense.
Meanwhile, the state’s ZBC news reported saying Mnangagwa has been preaching the gospel of a transparent administration and in line with a new thrust.
President Mnangagwa is not begging for aid during his official visits to other countries but is aksing for business deals since Zimbabwe has enough resources to steer economic revival, a Government minister has said.
Minister of State for Manicaland Provincial Affairs Cde Monica Mutsvangwa said this on Saturday while addressing hundreds of people in Machongwe, Chimanimani, who gathered to witness the groundbreaking ceremony for the tarring of Charter-Peacock Road.
“President Mnangagwa is not begging because Zimbabwe has all we need to resuscitate our economy. What is lacking is good governance.
“Corruption and nepotism had become deep-rooted in the country. The President is saying no one must be left behind. Even our office here in Manicaland is overwhelmed by investors who want to bring money for investment in the country,” Minister Mutsvangwa said.
She said President Mnangagwa’s slogan was “Zimbabwe is open for business”, and his vision can only be realised when there is unity and peace in the country.
She urged people to be united and shun violence during the forthcoming elections, saying peace was the ingredient for development.
Minister Mutsvangwa said bureaucracy in some institutions was contributing to the country’s underdevelopment.
She said Zimbabweans should heed the President’s call to engage people who are willing to work and contribute to the nation’s development.
“The President said let’s remove those who do not want to work and replace them with those willing to work. We cannot afford to withhold development. Our country needs to move forward and nothing will stop us from graduating into the First World,” she said.
Minister Mutsvangwa urged those into farming to form synergies and optimally use land, saying the land reform would not be reversed.
Zanu-PF Central Committee member Cde Joshua Sacco, who is also eying the Chimanimani East constituency in the forthcoming elections, thanked the new dispensation for improving road networks in the area.
Cde Sacco was entrusted by Zanu-PF to superintend Chimanimani East following the expulsion of the area’s legislator, Samuel Undenge, from the ruling party. He said roads had been neglected for nearly 22 years. He also called for formalisation of mining activities in Chimanimani. State Media
Jacob Mafume | When the Alliance President meets with key figures and key institutions of Zimbabwean soceity it is called Third Party Endorsement.The meetings will extend to international persons and institutions.The meetings involve ordinary persons to iconic historical families that make up part of today and our heritage.Some of the people will have recognisable names some will not.Its all part of the process of explaining ourselves and reaching out to the masses.The people so met are not surrogates of the campaign .They do not necessarily have to become party members.The point is we have met them, laid out our case and have won their support and vote.The meetings are withou discrimination based on political party affliation,religion or any other ism that seeks to create barriers to dialogue.The danger would be to campaign only among or to your own supporters.Our suppporters believe in Chamisa but they expect him to bring more to our cause.On that note our soceity is made up of victims and perpetrators of violence.A healing process involves meeting the victims to understand the pain and search for healing solutions.In the same vein the perpetrators have to be met so one understands their motives and what drives or drove them to commit heinous crimes on their kith and kin based on an artificial man made barrier called political affliation.It must be understood Chamisa has been a victim too of political violence .The difference is that he is in a position where he could potentially enforce a solution .To proffer such he must understand all sides to avoid prescribing paraffin to a fire.It is also regrattable that individuals and families are being pressured and lynched to explain why they met a key opposition figure .They feel obligated to explain that they invited no one to their doorstep.It is not the zimbabwean way nor is it the African way .There is no standard format for one to be invited to an African home.I have not seen it .What I know is that our culture demands that when you visit a town or place as required etiqutte you must ,it demands, visit traditional leaders,families,individuals and so on. As such we are going to meet all zimbabweans without discrimination on any ground whatsover.We have a messege and a mission for zimbabwe which must be delivered.We have lost too much as a nation on artificial differences .CHAMISA 2018.
Freeman Chari | In this season of election where everything is at stake, truth and facts are sometimes sacrifised at the altar of expedience and cheap shots. A time at which technology has afforded everybody the gateway to express themselves has also been a time where people are extremely vulnerable to abuse and emotional chicanery. A case in point is the mischaracterization of Nelson Chamisa’s visit to Joshua Nkomo Museum in Bulawayo. Here are the facts.
MDC Alliance had rally in Bulawayo on Saturday at White City Stadium. Nelson Chamisa before he attended the rally decided to pay his respects to the iconic figure. He decided to visit his home at Number 17 Aberdeen Road in Matsheumhlophe. This house is now a museum that is managed by the Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo National Foundation (JMNNF) .
Nelson Chamisa was given a tour of the museum. There are sculptures, photos, clothes , chairs, traditional relics and Nkomo’s walking sticks. Nelson was given a guided tour of the museum and the members who did expressed gratitude at this visit.
At the rally at White City Staium this is what Nelson said about the visit:
“I was going there to see the history & contribution. Yes he is one person we need to apologize to. Yes we can’t apologize to the dead, but we apologize to those who are related to him. Because he was abused for liberating this country. He was abused for being the father who wanted peace… But they told me one thing, that ever since Dr Nkomo died , you are the first national leader to come here. So we wanted to give you a walking stick. Induku! .. So yes Dr Nkomo represented what Dr Tsvangirai represented”
*Now separating the chaff*. They wanted to give him a walking stick as a gesture of their heartfelt appreciation of the visit. They never at any point said they wanted to give Chamisa a walking stick that belonged to uMqabuko. They just wanted to give him a walking stick. This is an acceptable gesture in the Ndebele culture.
*Now the politics*. Emmerson Mnangagwa and the military junta running Zimbabwe by force today presided over the worst massacre of civilians in Southern Africa since the 1904-07 Herero Genocide. For six years him as Minister Of State Security and the likes of Perence Shiri as commanders of the 5th Brigade provided the command and direction that resulted in thousands of people of Ndebele ethinicity being butchered mercilessly. He knows people know about it. He knows that he directly contributed to the death of one of the gallant commanders of the liberation struggle Gen Lookout Masuku whom he refused access to healthcare after prolonged torture. He was the running dog that was unleashed at Nkomo by Mugabe until the revered old man had to go into exile. He knows the people of Matebeleland remember these things.
Now, he would rather defecate on the table that his victims set out to receive those who revere them than see them go about their business with dignity. Nelson’s visit exposes Mnangagwa’s government as a regional, isolated collection of tribal supremacists who are happy keeping other people in their place. Instead of celebrating the rich legacy that we were left by the man he hounded, he would rather unleash his running dogs (zvimbwasungata) to attack and threaten the Nkomo family and the Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo National Foundation.
They have descended into their propaganda war mode. Their goal is to meticulously and ruthless hound Chamisa in the same way they have hounded many before him. Their goal is to discredit him as an immature and dishonest leader. So at every opportunity they erect distorted scenarios which they feed to their agents and balloon into a well-orchestrated media spectacle. This is a propaganda onslaught on a civilian leader using state machinery and resources by an unelected and unelectable junta.
It remains necessary that citizens remain vigilant and start profiling the running dogs of this junta. It is a propaganda war which of course they will lose!
State Media – Six suspected MDC-T supporters from Bulawayo have been arrested for allegedly setting alight a bus hired by MDC Alliance supporters from Gweru at White City Stadium on Saturday, destroying property worth $2 500.
Clifford Sibanda (30), Dumisani Moyo (39), Bongani Phiri (28), Thandolwenkosi Moyo (24), Tatenda Nyandoro (35) and Darlington Siziba (27) all from Mzilikazi suburb allegedly connived to burn a T and H bus which was hired to ferry MDC Alliance supporters from Gweru while the bus driver, Mr Lameck Kusosa was on board.
Two of the six accused persons allegedly poured petrol on the rear side of the bus before they set it alight.
The other four members were allegedly waiting for their accomplices in a get-away car.
The fire partially burnt two curtains and the rear left side of the bus was damaged and covered with smoke.
The six appeared before Western Commonage magistrate Mr Lungile Ncube yesterday facing public violence and malicious damage to property charges.
They pleaded not guilty to both charges and were remanded in custody to April 23 for trial.
Prosecuting, Mrs Memory Ndlovu said on Saturday, Mr Kusosa parked the bus along Hyde Park Road opposite Mabutweni Police Station.
“He was seated in the bus waiting to ferry MDC Alliance supporters to Gweru who were attending the MDC Alliance rally at White City Stadium. He observed one male adult pouring a liquid substance on the body of the bus and some liquid splashed into the bus through the rear left window which was open,” said Mrs Ndlovu.
“Immediately the bus driver saw fire sparking on the body of the bus at the same position where the liquid had been poured. He went out to investigate and he saw that the bus was on fire. Kusosa used soil to put out the fire. He then saw two male adults running away from the scene and they left behind a 5-litre container with some petrol.”
Mrs Ndlovu said the two men jumped into a Honda Fit in which there were four other passengers and the car immediately sped off.
The court also heard that some motorists who were close by and saw the incident gave chase and blocked the Honda Fit, leading to the arrest of the accused persons.
Meanwhile, a suspected MDC Alliance supporter from Harare was sentenced to an effective nine
months in prison for stealing property and cash with a combined value of $556 at the White City Stadium rally.
Godwin Muchechete (44) from Highfield, Harare, forced open Mrs Fungai Tangara’s locked car with a screw driver and stole $166, R1 300, two cellphones, a handbag and a pair of boxer shorts.
Muchechete said he stole from the car because he did not have money to return to Harare since his wallet was stolen while he was on one of the buses with other party members.
“I came for the rally but I had no money to return home because someone stole my wallet while we were on the bus on our way to the rally,” he said.
He pleaded guilty to theft from a motor vehicle charges when he appeared before Mr Ncube yesterday.
Mr Ncube found him guilty and sentenced him to 12 months in prison of which three were suspended on condition of good behaviour.
In passing sentence Mr Ncube told Muchechete that he was free to attend any rally he wished to as long as he respected other people’s property.
“Losing your wallet does not give you the licence to steal. You lost your wallet in the morning so you had ample time to ask for money from your colleagues since you came as a district,” he said.
The magistrate also questioned Muchechete’s main reason for travelling with a screw driver among his belongings.
Prosecuting, Mrs Memory Ndlovu said on Saturday at around 10AM Mrs Tangara parked her car outside the stadium.
“Muchechete went to Mrs Tangara’s car and forced open a locked door with a screw driver and gained entry into the vehicle,” said Mrs Ndlovu
“He stole $166, R1300, a handbag, two cellphones and a boxer short. He was caught in the act by detectives who were on surveillance.” All the stolen property was recovered. – state media
GABORONE – Botswana’s former Minister of Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security Sadique Kebonang has been summoned to appear before the Public Accounts Committee to answer for the alleged looting in the National Petroleum Fund (NPF). A fund which he was overseeing as the former Minister. An alleged 230m has been “illegally” looted from the fund. – WATCH LIVE:
By Dorrothy Moyo| Some Zimbabweans have alleged that the late Joshua Nkomo ‘s son might have been threatened by the ZANU PF Lacoste faction and ordered to humiliate MDC leader Nelson Chamisa….
Was Nkomo’s son threatened by Lacoste and told to humiliate Chamisa?
Mutoko residents yesterday launched a protest against the council for poor service delivery. They will be conducting the official protest on Saturday and below is their (unedited) published schedule of talking points.
Chabvondoka
Friday 13 April
All Mutoko Residents Let’s meet paVarimi and march to council office to call for resignation of Sigauke, Mukwekwe and Kahuni and other corrupt officials Time 10.00am. Police have been notified.
TALKING POINTS:
1. We want our tarred road yakabirirwa kuiswa.
2 We want services in residential stands.
3 We want transparency pama rates arikubva kuma quarry.
4 We want 3 new primary schools and two secondary schools.
5. We want maroads kuma residential areas
6. We want our money they stole back
Huyai wagari wemaMutoko tanyanya kubirwa Vese wanogara kumaruva huyai Tine rutsigiro kubva kuhofisi huru yenyika ino.Ngatisararei anamhanduwe tichibirwa Munhu vese ngatisanganei tonowapedzera pacouncil. Pass to others who reside in Mutoko rural and urban # maBudya hachada asvinura.
By Farai D Hove| 116 people ( two of them who were Zimbabweans) were killed at TB Joshua’s church, inside a building that he constructed illegally without planning permission and using decrepit materials. His church after at first claiming that it was the terrorist group Boko Haram which did it, began blaming the 2014 collapse on the Nigerian army saying the structure had been bombed. Soon after the collapse the preacher was filmed while bribing several local journalists dishing to them thousands of dollars after rescuers had been assaulted by his church staff. For several hours people were trapped in the heavy rubble many who could have been rescued and eventually 116 people were killed. To this day the preacher claims that he is being persecuted and has led thousands of people into believing this.
By Dorrothy Moyo| War veteran, Jabulani Sibanda has reacted angrily following the visit to his house by MDC leader Nelson Chamisa on Saturday.
Sibanda fired at Chamisa saying he is not happy that his pictures were published by the MDC partyin a away that appears to indicate he is in solidarity with Chamisa.
He wrote back saying, “Zimbabweans, I am surprised to see my photos with Chamisa all over the social media. If thus(sic) [this is how] MDC operates they are heading [nowhere] no way(sic) I was surprised to see him and his delegates at my house; little did I know that their mission is to portray me as one of them. I couldn’t chase them away, all what they said didn’t make sense on me.
“I have taken a sabbatical on politics. MDC please don’t use my name you could have told me that you were taking my photos for your political mileage I know where I belong. I disassociate myself to what ever story is attached to my Photos,” he concluded.
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s envoy has said Zimbaabweans living in South Africa are safe. He made these comments at the Munhumutapa building.
Responding to a question on the safety of Zimbabweans who are threatened with revocation of their permits, ambassador Mphakama Mbete said, “these are the things we are going to focus on as we build this one stop border post, to ensure that trade is of a mutual benefit to both countries, so it’s one of the things. The premier of Gauteng province, the richest and most important province economically in South Africa is destined to come here soon so these are the issues that we are going to discuss…”
Below was the video update as the European Union launched new projects in Zimbabwe worth €23 million “to improve people’s access to health services and enhance their livelihoods.”
State Media – Government has approved a list of 46 countries, 15 regional and continental bodies to observe general elections set for July this year as President Mnangagwa’s administration makes good its pledge for transparent, free and fair polls.
Jeffrey Lane Flake and Andrew Jackson Young Junior from the United States of America are also part of the invited observers.
Mr Flake is the US Senator for Arizona and is currently serving on the US Committee on Foreign Relations while Mr Young Junior is a former Congressman (1973-1977) and US Ambassador to the United Nations (1977-1979).
Between 1982 and 1990 he was the Mayor of Atlanta.
Some of the countries invited last observed elections in Zimbabwe over a decade ago.
The invitation is in line with Government’s drive to re-engage the international community and President Mnangagwa’s call that the forthcoming elections should be free, fair, credible and violence free.
In an interview yesterday, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Secretary Ambassador Joey Bimha said President Mnangagwa cleared the list of the proposed observers and invitations would be issued soon.
Asked on the rationale of inviting all countries including those that had frosty relations with Harare during the previous administration, Ambassador Bimha said: “During the previous elections, we had a stand-off with the West. Some of the Western countries imposed sanctions on us and the rationale in Government then was that they were no longer neutral observers when they had already taken a position against us.
“In the new dispensation, Government decided to re-engage with the West and the rest of the international community and this (the invitation) is also in line with the Government’s commitment to run a free, fair and credible election. Government has nothing to hide, so we are inviting everyone including those countries that still maintain sanctions on us.”
On the issue of sanctions especially by the US, Ambassador Bimha said their removal was a process. He said there was a re-engagement effort underway and that there positive understanding from Washington.
Invited countries include all 15 Sadc member states, and all members of the European Union bloc.
Other European countries are Russia, Belarus, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland and Turkey.
In North America, Government is inviting the United States of America, Canada and Mexico while Brazil, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Venezuela will represent South America.
From Asia, Government approved China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Palestine, South Korea and Thailand and from the Caribbean invitations will be extended to Cuba, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and Barbados.
Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea are also going to be invited from the subcontinent.
Regional liberation movements such as the African National Congress (South Africa), Chama Cha Mapinduzi (Tanzania), FRELIMO (Mozambique), Botswana Democratic Party (Botswana) and MPLA (Angola) also top the list of invited observers.
Organisations to be invited at Sadc regional level are the Sadc Parliamentary Forum and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). International organisations coming to observe Zimbabwe’s polls are the Commonwealth and the Non-Aligned Movement.
The African Union Commission and the Pan African Parliament have also been approved to observe the elections and will join organisations such as the European Union Commission and the European Union Parliament.
Over and above that, the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group and ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly are coming to witness the polls.
Diplomats accredited to Zimbabwe will be authorised to observe the elections on request.
This is a departure from the 2013 situation when only diplomats accredited on full-time basis observed the polls.
By Paul Nyathi| MDC-T President Nelson Chamisa has been accused of lying to the world that he had met with the family of the late nationalist Dr Joshua Nkomo and was promised to be given the popular rod which Nkomo carried in his hand throughout his life.
Angry son to the late liberation icon Sibangilizwe Nkomo told ZimEye.com in an interview that the Nkomo family is absolutely angry at Chamisa’s utterances describing them as very disrespectful of the family and its traditions.
Nkomo said that no one from the family ever met with Chamisa and discussed with him anything to do with the late Father Zimbabwe nor his sacred rod.
“We are absolutely angry at Chamisa’s lies and disrespect of the Nkomo family,” said Sibangilizwe who is Dr Nkomo’s eldest son.
“No one has ever discussed my father’s rod,” said Nkomo angrily. “In fact very few of us know where that rod is and talking about it the way Chamisa did is a serious taboo to the Nkomo family,” he said.
“That rod is not anything to play around with. It liberated this country, it saved people’s lives and Chamisa is just too young to even talk about it let alone claim it,” said Nkomo.
“We can not as a family stoop so low as to take the head of the entire Nyongolo family and give it to a stranger. What is so special that Chamisa has done to deserve to be given Dr Nkomo’s rod or any rod by the Nkomo family.”
“Chamisa is just too young for this issue. His father and even his grand father and his ancestors respect that rod, who is he to claim it?” Nkomo said angrily.
Nkomo said that Chamisa did not even visit the Joshua Nkomo home in Pelandaba which is a stone throw away from White City Stadium where he held his rally.
“Chamisa visited the Joshua Nkomo museum in Matshamhlophe which is a public place under the responsibility of the Parks and Museum Department not the Nkomo home in Pelandaba where I and the Nkomo family reside,” said Nkomo.
According to Nkomo, Chamisa was invited to the museum by Jabulani Hadebe who is the CEO of the Joshua Nkomo National Foundation and a member of the MDC-T and not by the Nkomo family.
“I have never met Chamisa in my life and he does not know me. I only know him from pictures and the television and so he must never lie that he met with the Nkomo family,” added Nkomo.
Contacted for a comment Hadebe also recused himself from Chamisa’s utterances claiming that they never discussed anything about him being given a rod by the Nkomo family.
Hadebe said that Chamisa was just making an unfortunate political statement for his own expediency.
According to Hadebe, Chamisa only promised that he will give assistance to the Foundation when he gets into power after the elections in July.
Mehluli Moyo, the National Director of the Joshua Nkomo Cultural Movement which is chaired by Mr Sibangilizwe Nkomo said that what Chamisa did by claiming the rod of an elderly man of Nkomo’s stature was a serious taboo according to traditions.
“What Chamisa said is serious taboo, he never met the family, he didn’t even meet Mr Nkomo . Chamisa visited the museum just like everyone else would do and there is no rod that was given to him nor promised to him,” said Moyo.
Asked to comment on the actual where about of Dr Nkomo’s rod which Chamisa claimed, Moyo said that even he himself was not at the liberty to discuss the rod.
“As an official of the organisation myself, l am not in a position to discuss Mdala’s rod. That is a deep family issue to be discussed in public. If you hear anyone talking about it in public that person will be telling a lie,” said Moyo.
A Matabeleland cultural activist who asked not to be mentioned due to his links with the MDC-T also lamented at Chamisa’s utterances claiming that the young leader may have just brought himself a curse from the Nkomo elders that may haunt him for a long time.
“Chamisa knows very well that he lied and disrespected the spirit of the old man Nkomo, the best he may need to urgently do is to physically visit the Nkomo family elders and sort the issue out,” he said.
“Some people may take it lightly and belittle the Nkomo family but Joshua Nkomo is an ancestor of many and highly respected in the region for young Chamisa to play with his name like he did,” he added.
ZimEye.com efforts to get a comment from Chamisa’s spokesperson Luke Tamborinyoka were futile as his mobile phone was not reachable at the time of writing.
Nomusa Garikai | Zimbabwe is in a serious economic mess, let us all agree on that! Unemployment has soared to 90%, ¾ of our people are living on US$1.00 or less a day, millions of our people are in the diaspora as economic and/or political refugees, etc., etc. If that does not spell a very serious economic mess, then I do not know what does!
Why is the country in this mess and, more pointedly and urgently, how are we ever going to get out of this mess? Is the question that has occupied the nation’s mind.
When it comes to addressing our national problems, we have blundered from pillar to post; which explains why we have fallen from our perch as one of the top five rich countries in Africa to the poorest in 38 years! We have clearly learned nothing in these last 38 years, because we are still blundering from pillar to post!
“No matter how pessimistic you are, you cannot tell me that nothing will come out of this. President Xi of China is at the moment the most powerful man in the world. He is heading a country with the most powerful economy right now. Even UK, France and Germany are queuing to work with him, so why not Zimbabwe?” Wrote Eric Knight, according to a Zimeye report.
“Listen, I don’t really care what Party you support, it is your choice and your right. I am talking about my country. What kind of a person would be angry when efforts to change our economy are being put? Are you normal!?”
A normal person, Sir Knight, would go where the evidence leads him or her and not blunder blindly. It was none other than former President Robert Mugabe himself who has called China Zimbabwe’s “all weather friend” and for the last 20 years the country has pursued its “Look East” policy, to underline the special relationship. And yet that has not stopped Zimbabwe sinking into this economic mess.
President Mugabe signed many “mega deals” with China, Russia and many other nations and nothing has come out of those deals; that is a historic fact.
Meanwhile, China has benefited greatly from its close relationship with Zanu PF taking full advantage of the political and economic chaos that has ensued under this Zanu PF dictatorship. The Chinese have been at the centre of the wholesale looting of Marange and Chiadzwa diamond, for example.
Zimbabwe is in this economic mess because for 38 years the nation has been stuck with a corrupt and incompetent Zanu PF regime that rigged elections to stay in power. Guess which foreign nation has played the biggest role in helping Zanu PF rig the elections – the Chinese.
The most important deal President Mnangagwa signed with the Chinese during his recent state visit is between Zanu PF and Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The CCP will be giving Zanu PF the financial and material support to rig this year’s election to guarantee another Zanu PF landslide victory.
Everyone, including President Mnangagwa himself, knows that Zimbabwe’s economic recovery will dependent on Zimbabwe being able to attract foreign and local investors and getting financial assistance. “Zimbabwe is open for business!” is President Mnangagwa’s clarion call to underline this point. He has also acknowledged that Zimbabwe needed to end its image as a lawless nation to attract investment and capital and hence his promise to hold free, fair and credible elections.
It is one thing promising free and fair elections and another delivering on one’s promise, especial for when it is almost certain that Zanu PF will lose such election. For President Mnangagwa and his junta who had risked all to stage the November coup to lose power hardly a year later was clearly out of the question.
Everyone, especially the West’s investors and financial donors, could see that the junta was not going to hold free and fair elections. All the claim that Zanu PF had changed after the coup was a lie. The country was still ruled by thugs and no investor wants to do business with thugs.
The flood of investment and capital the Junta had hoped for with the “Zimbabwe is open for business!” call has failed to materialise. By the time ED went to China, last week, he knew and so too did the Chinese, that Zimbabwe’s hopes of reviving its economy by renewing investor confidence was dead in the water. Mnangagwa, just like Mugabe before him, had no choice but to turn to the Chinese and hope they will not give him the same run-around they gave Mugabe.
The Chinese signed more mega deals with Mnangagwa than they signed with Mugabe but, as before, most have strings attached and will never materialise. Opposition leader, Joice Mujuru, has dismissed most of the mega deals as “MOU (memorandum of understanding) and not MOA (Memorandum of Agreement)”.
The only MOA China signed was one to help Zanu PF rig this year’s elections which will slam the door shut to Western investors and financial help. Zimbabwe has always enjoyed good relations with China and has even signed a string of mega deals with the Asian economic giant but that has not stopped Zimbabwe’s economic decline. It is naïve to believe that things would be different this time when nothing has changed!
If we are serious about ending Zimbabwe’s economic mess, then we must start by ending the Zanu PF dictatorship that has left the nation stuck with a corrupt and incompetent regime all these last 38 years! We need to make Zimbabwe attractive to investors and for that we must hold free and fair elections.
China has exploited a corrupt and impoverished Zimbabwe and it is helping Zanu PF rig the elections to ensure we remain in its sphere of influence for its continued benefit! Those who think China will bankroll Zimbabwe’s economic recovery are day dreaming!
“If you are one of them, then you have a BIG problem, we can’t help you. Well done Team Zimbabwe for the efforts. We need friends and funds! Its coming. God is not a fool!” concluded Eric Knight.
No, God is not a fool! But you and many others out there are! Zimbabwe’s economic recovery will come from meaningful democratic change to ensure competent and accountable governance and not from Chinese bankrolling a corrupt and wasteful, vote rigging and murderous Zanu PF dictatorship.
Prince Bulelani Lobengula Khumalo left with a member of the Royal Council.
By Paul Nyathi
The Mthwakazi Kingdom Royal Council has given MDC-T President Nelson Chamisa a thumbs up on his stance on the revival of the kingdom which was destroyed by the white settlers in 1893.
Speaking to ZimEye.com in an interview on Monday, the Chief Executive Officer of the Royal Council Effie Ncube said that the council is pleased by Chamisa’s positive approach of the matter.
“We appreciate his support for the right of the people to practise their cultures freely and to raise and nurture traditional and cultural institutions to uphold and preserve those cultural rights,” said Ncube.
Addressing the MDC Alliance coalition rally at White City Stadium in Bulawayo on Saturday, Chamisa promised that he will see to the coronation of Crown Prince Bulelani Lobengula Khumalo as the King of the Ndebele people after the coronation was blocked by the ruling ZANU PF party in March.
Ncube hailed Chamisa for his stance calling on all other political leaders in the country to also adopt Chamisa’s position or risk being purged by the Matabeleland region.
“For political leaders the choice is very simple: you are either for the people and their culture or against that,” said Ncube.
“We are glad to see some leaders picking sides with the people. The other side is just not sustainable,” he added.
Ncube explained that the Ndebele king is meant to be just a cultural figurehead who will not be a have a political influence.
“The Ndebele Kingship means no harm to anybody. It will be a cultural institution that will neither discriminate against anyone nor usurp political power from the elected representatives of the people,” said Ncube.
He went on to dispel the ZANU PF government perception that the installing of the king is in line with the Mthwakazi cessation proponents.
“The King will be a cultural leader and not a territorial leader. No borders will be erected against people from other cultures. No one’s political office and legitimate political power will be threatened by us having a King,” he said.
Members of the Mthwakazi Republic Party however downplayed Chamisa’s promise on the king claiming that he was only scoring a political mileage.
Ncube on the other hand said that the Royal Council takes Chamisa to his words and they have no reason to doubt his promise.
“We take public officials at their word believing that their word is their honour and it is not for us to judge people on the basis of that which they never said,” said Ncube.
“He has said he supports the coronation of our King and we take him at his word. At this stage we have no reason to doubt the integrity of his undertaking.”
“He promised the people and it is the people who will hold him accountable just as much as it is the people who must decide the fate of those who use public office to deny people their cultural rights.
Ray Nkosi | Presidential Spokesman George Charamba has contradicted Zanu PF UK leader Nick Mangwana, on how President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s son found himself in a high powered delegation to China, last week. Mangwana took to twitter telling the world that Mnangagwa and Foreign Affairs Minister Sibusiso Moyo’s sons lived in China and had only come to greet their fathers.
Wrote Mangwana, “Regarding Minister SB Moyo’s son and Collins Mnangagwa, it is my understanding that the 2 live in China and naturally they went to meet up with their parents. They did not fly with their parents on taxpayers’ tab.”
However, adding to the confusion Charamba told ZIFM radio that Mnangagwa’s son was not part of the President’s delegation but of businessmen that travelled to China ahead of the President on their own. Charamba also dismissed any plan of a presidential debate taking place before elections, telling Zimbabweans he was not moved by advocate Nelson Chamisa MDC Alliance’s huge crowds at rallies.
Ray Nkosi | President Emmerson Mnangagwa has thrown away regalia designed by formerFirst Lady Grace Mugabe who always bragged of being a fashionista, which she launched just before her husband Robert was ousted from power by the military.
Mnangagwa launches his own new reglia just when exiled professor Jonathan Moyo took to twitter telling the world that tax payers had footed the bill for the expensive at $2.3million China jaunt, with the budget including the new campaign materials.
Grace launched her new regalia at the 2016 Zanu PF conference in Masvingo explaining to delegates; “We decided to come up with this design as the women’s league so that we can fundraise for our activities. The philosophy behind the fabric design is that we wanted to do away with the razor on our cloth and replace it with the map of Zimbabwe, which represents a tea pot from which we all drink.”
However, Obert Mpofu told the local Daily News that Zanu PF was discarding all regalia that has Mugabe and his wife Grace’s face on it, explaining that the party was now ready with the new regalia that was approved by its politburo.
“We are ready now, we have regalia for our supporters and it will soon be ready for distribution,” he said.
Zanu PF insiders say the paraphernalia, which includes caps, T-shirts and scarfs, among several others, was imported from China.
While Mpofu would not confirm their source, he admitted that some of the regalia had been acquired from outside the country.
“Where we acquired the regalia is surely the business of the party but I must say the majority we sourced from local companies although in other instances we got donations from outside our borders,” he said.
“What has been delaying…is we were still deliberating on the design,” Mpofu said.
Sources in the ruling party’s procurement department told the this publication that the first consignment from China was expected in the country last week.
“A team responsible for the acquisition of the items led by Danny Musukuma was in China recently and it was expected that about 8 million T-shirts, caps and scarfs will arrive in the country on Thursday in time for the campaign that will begin in earnest after May 5 when we hold primary elections,” a source privy to the goings on said on condition of anonymity.
Mpofu said new party regalia was not only meant for the forthcoming elections.
“We always acquire regalia for our supporters even when there is no election, so it is not about elections but about our identity as a party,” he said when pressed to say why they had purchased 8 million when the number of registered voters is about 5 million.
Zanu PF supporters are no longer allowed to put on the regalia that was used during the Mugabe era, despite the fact that Grace, who was the women’s league secretary, had just launched her own designs for the Zanu PF regalia.
The three containers with former President Robert Mugabe’s belongings that were stuck at Zimbabwe House have been moved to his Blue Roof mansion, five months after he was ousted.
The containers – which were being kept close to the presidential helipad at Polo Grounds adjacent to Mugabe’s former official residence – were allegedly broken into and 119 laptops were stolen.
The alleged theft was discovered on Tuesday when the former first family wanted to collect their belongings that were stashed in the containers following his resignation on the back of a military operation last November.
Former first lady Grace Mugabe made a police report on the same day under case number CR110/04/18, with a detective Nyabonde being the investigating officer.
The containers were delivered at Blue Roof on Thursday, sources said.
“The containers were only delivered after a report was made that 119 computers were stolen after the containers had been broken into,” the souce said.
Deputy chief Cabinet secretary Ray Ndhlukula denied claims the Mugabes had been failing to get their property removed from Zimbabwe House since January.
“Get your facts right,” Ndhlukula said. “Who bought the containers in the first place?
“I am working well with the former first family to ensure that he gets all his belongings from State House.”
Ndhlukula contradicted claims by President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s spokesperson George Charamba that Mugabe was refusing to vacate State House. Standard
Terrence Mawawa | Outspoken social media analyst Antony Taruvinga believes MDC leader Nelson Chamisa will beat President Emmerson Mnangagwa by a wide margin in the coming polls because of his remarkable achievements in and outside the party.
“I have seen some questions raised in form of some stupid jibes on Nelson Chamisa’s accomplishment in Kuwadzana Constituency.
I know that those asking are Zanu PF goons on
payroll, who are determined to soil the image of our
Presidential candidate by peddling falsehoods.
I have been thinking hard on whether to give them a
response or let a lying toothless dog bark until it
runs out of oxygen. I have decided to give out my
response not for their benefit but for the benefit of
party supporters
who may not have a clear history of Nelson Chamisa
as Member of Parliament for Kuwadzana
Constituency,” wrote Taruvinga.
“Nelson Chamisa is the best MP Zimbabwe has ever
had since 1980. I have always told people that the
late Morgan Tsvangirai and Nelson Chamisa inspired
me to join the struggle way back in 2000.
I always
learn from the best not the burst. That’s why even up
to this day, a mere thought of Dr. Morgan Tsvangirai
(RIP) comes with uncontrollable tears.
Nelson Chamisa does what is supposed to be done
as MP despite socio-economic challenges facing
Zimbabwe. He is not a back bencher in Parliament,
actually one would think that he is either the chief
whip or the leader of opposition in Parliament.
He periodically gives feedback to residents
of his constituency,” added Taruvinga.
“Below is part of the achievements, that I know
myself, not all, by Nelson Chamisa in his
constituency:
1. Successful feedback mechanism in the
constituency, with regular meetings of all residents
monthly and consistently, and 3 rallies annually in
line with our social democratic values as MDC-T.
2.We have a thriving Kuwadzana New Zimbabwe
upliftment fund for women in SMEs.
3.The MP scholarship fund for the girl child targeting
orphaned and child headed households.
4. More boreholes per capita than any other area.
5. Sponsorship of prizes to excelling schools and
school pupils.
6. Computerization and internet connection for
Kuwadzana schools.
7. Furnishing Kuwadzana 2 Community hall.
8. Sewing machines for women’s clubs in
Kuwadzana.
9 . Supporting youths through the Chamisa stars of
all age groups under the sports academy.
10. A functional widows ‘forum and senior citizens
forum.
11. Mobilized well wishers for the tarring of roads
and pothole-filling in Kuwadzana.
12. Supporting the home industry in infrastructure
and amenities.
13.The MP’s contributions in Parliament need no
further elaboration.
14. Completed the construction of a state of the art
Kuwadzana Library after mobilizing over US$80 000 from
donors, a feat not achieved in any other
constituency since 1980,” argued Taruvinga.
The EU stands ready to accelerate support to Zimbabwe during its transition
process, the block said in a statement after meeting President Emmerson Mnangagwa earlier today.
Terrence Mawawa | Motorists are unhappy with the congestion at the tollgate along the Harare- Masvingo Highway, just outside the capital city.
Angry Motorists told ZimEye.com yesterday ZINARA officials at the tollgate were deliberately creating mayhem to pave for the manual payment system.
“The ZINARA officials are creating chaos so that they can use the manual payment system because it enables them to tamper with the figures,” claimed one motorist.
” You ask the
Zinara guys what the cause is.They say the congestion usually occurs on Sundays.
Why are they failing to hire part-time staff members
to ease the congestion?
A lot of unemployed people out there
would jump at the chance,” fumed another motorists.
Botswana President Mr Mokgweetsi Masisi arrived in the country this afternoon on a working visit and is currently meeting with President Mnangagwa.
He was met at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport by Vice President Kembo Mohadi, Acting Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Minister Simon Khaya Moyo, Harare Metropolitan Minister, Miriam Chikukwa, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Petronella Kagonye, several diplomats and senior Government officials.- state media
Terrence Mawawa | The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has expressed concern at the prolonged bickering between Nelson Chamisa and Thokozani Khupe saying the wrangle is likely to affect key electoral processes.
Khupe and Chamisa are involved in a struggle to control MDC structures with both claiming to be at the helm of the party.
“We attach here a copy of the letter received from Honourable Thokozani Khupe for your consideration.
It is not the intention of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to wade into internal party politics but to bring to your attention issues that could have a bearing on future processes relating to the 2018 Harmonised Elections such as the nomination of candidates and use of party symbols among others,” read part of ZEC’ s letter.
By Snodia Mawupeni | Disgruntled Zanu PF aspiring candidates camped at the party national headquarters on Monday venting their anger over disqualifications although vetting is still on-going.
Party insiders told ZimEye.com aspiring candidates from Masvingo, Bulawayo, Matebeleland South as well Mashonaland West had highest number of complains among them war veterans.
‘We are not happy over how the selection panel has recommended rejection of some individuals at the expense of long serving members,” said one of the sources declining to be named.
It is alleged that former provincial chairman Philip Chiyangwa had top provincial member only identified as Kadhosa being removed to pave way for himself uncontested.
“Kadhoza has been in the party structures far longer than Chiyangwa and this is a deliberate attempt to smuggle corrupt and dubious characters so they cannot be contested,’ said one of our sources.
Webster Shamu’s wife Constance was forced to withdraw from Norton where Presidential Advisor and former war veterans leader Christopher Mutsvangwa will not be contested.
Another lady identified as Mai Phiri of Banket was also forced out.
“In Zvimba North former minister Ignatius Chombo’s wife Marian was forced out while former provincial administrator Christopher Shumba was elevated to represent the party. It’s a circus as majority of war veterans have been denied the right to represent the party,”added a party member who also declined to be named.
However, Mashonaland West vice chairperson Keith Guza denied allegations of imposition and deliberate rejection of potential candidates.
“We are still vetting the CVs and no one has been confirmed to raise those unfounded allegations. We cannot comment on anything that is not official yet,”said Guzah.
Zanu PF has been rocked by internal revolt with war veterans claiming to take charge of campaigns ahead of forthcoming elections set before August.
Terrence Mawawa | MDC Deputy Treasurer General Charlton Hwende has dismissed claims by Zanu PF that the opposition party bussed 50 000 supporters to Bulawayo.
Hwende said: “ZanuPF is in denial of the truth. Our structures are now energized, our message of hope, transformation, opportunities and prosperity is being well received across the country and our rallies and meetings are getting oversubscribed.
Not this nonsense of saying that we are bussing people.
How do you bus 50 000 people or even 20 000 in a day without disrupting the whole city or road networks?”
He added: “We are now going to the rural areas and we are going to visit village by village.
2018 is the year of change in honour of our departed president and the thousands who died fighting for a Democratic Zimbabwe.”
President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s recent trip to China which cost a total of $2.3million of tax payers money, was ostensibly to buy Zanu PF regalia for the forthcoming elections, former minister Professor Jonathan Moyo has said on his twitter portal. The former minister also explains that in the 2013 elections diamond revenue was used to fund Zanu PF campaign, at a time that former CIO Boss Happyton Bonyongwe has confessed before a parliamentary committee that for a truth the CIO controlled diamond mining activities.
In 2013 #ZanuPF used diamond revenues & State funds to buy & ship campaign regalia from #DRC & #China worth over $70m. #ED‘s $2,3m #China trip was to cover up use of State funds to buy & ship from #China#15m t-shirts, #15m caps & #2m cloth wrappers for JuntaPF’s campaign! #ZACCpic.twitter.com/svlZN834oR
Nearly 4 000 individuals have expressed interest to represent the opposition MDC in both local government and parliamentary elections set to be held by August this year.
This was revealed by MDC leader Nelson Chamisa while addressing journalists in the capital last week.
Chamisa, who is also the MDC Alliance presidential candidate in the forthcoming elections, said the party’s preparations for the elections were now at an advanced stage.
“To attest to our readiness, the party’s elections directorate has received CVs from aspiring candidates who wish to stand in the local government and parliamentary polls and we have received a total of 3 911 CVs and this confirms the willingness of Zimbabweans to represent the party,” he said.
“Our preparations are well on course and in the next few weeks, we will have a complete panel of candidates that will represent the party at all levels,” Chamisa added.
The former ICT minister said the MDC was determined to meet the 50 percent threshold for women and the 20 percent youth quota “in line with the constitution and the resolutions of the supreme organs of the party”.
He also said the MDC was now in the process of “fine-tuning our policy programme and our people’s manifesto” that will be launched soon as the opposition party’s campaign goes full throttle.
“We have rebranded and revamped this movement and in the next few weeks, we will be unveiling the detailed policy programmes on how we will rescue this country from the abyss,” he said.
Chamisa promised that his government, “when, and I am not saying if” he wins the presidential race, will turn around the country’s waning economic fortunes.
“We have done it before and we will do it again. Zimbabweans are under no illusion about the MDC’s capacity to govern, given our record during our stint of delivery between 2009 and 2013.”
“With our competent hands on the wheel of government, the future can only be bright for the people of Zimbabwe. The party is ready; Zimbabweans are ready and they continue to show their confidence judging by their participation in the party’s activities,” he said.
“The region and the world are anxious for a truly new dispensation that delivers to the people.”
Meanwhile, the ruling Zanu-PF has also said it has been overwhelmed by aspiring candidates who intend to contest in the May 5, primary elections.
Zanu-PF provincial executives are meeting this weekend to go through all the CVs submitted.- Daily News
Terrence Mawawa | Senior government officials in Matabeleland South Province have accused former President Robert Mugabe of deliberately stifling infrastructural development in the area.
The officials said the roads in the area were in bad shape because Mugabe’s government was not interested in channelling funds towards infrastructural development in the area.
“We do not have even a single tarred road in this area,” said John Brown Dube, the Bulimia Rural District Council Chief Executive Officer.
“Those who were in power over the past three decades totally neglected us.
They concentrated on channelling funds to a few selected provinces, neglecting us in the process,” said another government official in the area.
A Harare man was reportedly abducted by four women before they took turns to rape him at an unknown location in Rusape, a court heard.
The victim (name withheld) had been offered transport in the quartet’s Toyota Prado on his way to work on February 7, this year but ended up in Rusape where he was eventually sexually assaulted.
One of the women, 34-year-old Estery Dhliwayo appeared before Harare magistrate Josephine Sande charged with kidnapping and aggravated indecent assault.
She was remanded in custody to tomorrow for bail considerations.
Prosecutor Progress Maringamoyo alleged that on February 7, this year around 7am, the complainant left his residence going to work and boarded a dark Toyota Prado.
The court heard that he failed to identify the registration figures and inside the car were Dhliwayo and three other women.
The car was driven towards town but along the way one of the accused persons sprayed the complainant with an unknown substance on the face. It was alleged that the complainant became unconscious and his hands and legs were tied together before being taken to Rusape.
The court heard that he gained consciousness around 11am and noticed that he was in a dark room in the company of Dhliwayo and her accomplices
The women ordered him to have sexual intercourse with them without his consent but he resisted.
They reportedly took turns to have sex with the complainant and after the act Dhliwayo took the victim’s phone and sent herself $12 using EcoCash.- Daily News
Terrence Mawawa | Mighty Warriors coach Sithethelelwe Sibanda has said there is need for better preparations for the second round of the Africa Women Cup of Nations qualifiers
against Zambia.
The Mighty Warriors mentor also expressed the need for extra commitment from the corporate world and the government.
Zimbabwe progressed to the next round after beating Namibia 2-0 at Rufaro Stadium on Sunday.
The Mighty Warriors started their preparations a few days before the first leg on Thursday and were clearly struggling with match fitness.
“When the body is tired, the mind also gets tired. The girls were tired, and I kept on encouraging them because they lacked match fitness,” said Sibanda.
“The league is not running so these girls are not playing any competitive games. They just used their experience but it was tough. Now the competition is getting stiffer, and it now needs better preparations.
We need to prepare well for the game against Zambia who are much tougher and experienced than Namibia,” added Sibanda.
The Zanu PF Mashonaland East provincial elections directorate set on Sunday to make recommendations on CVs for candidates wishing to contest in the party’s primary election set for next month with all the incumbent members of the house of assembly seeking re-election.
According to the final list of CVs read by Provincial chairperson Joel Biggie Matiza, all the constituencies have challengers with some like Goromonzi South having as many as 13 candidates while only Mudzi South is a two-horse race pitting current legislator prominent lawyer Jonathan Samkange and former MP Eric Navaya.
Matiza said those who have submitted their CVs should wait for the final approval from the party headquarters to start campaigning.
“All those who have submitted their CVs should now wait for the final approved list from the party HQ and I urge you not to start campaigning as doing so will result in your candidature being withdrawn,” he said.
Zanu PF politburo member Dr Sydney Sekeramayi said members should maintain the unity they exhibited during the submission of CVs and work to ensure the party wins resoundingly.
“Lest continue with the spirit of working together we all exhibited during the submission of CVs and continue with our party programmes so that the party wins resoundingly,” Dr Sekeramayi said.
More than 2 000 members submitted their CVs for the national assembly, senatorial, women quota, proportional representation and local government positions.- state media
Nigeria billionaire Aliko Dangote has renewed interest to inject a US$1.5 billion investment package in Zimbabwe.
A team from Dangote Holdings arrived in the country this afternoon comprising of two geologists who stated the billionaire’s interest in a coal venture which they will utilise towards their targeted investment in a power plant in Zimbabwe.
The facilitator of the deal Ms Josephine Mahachi is optimistic that the deal, affected in the last two and a half years by bureaucratic bungling and lethargy, will soon be finalised as the billionaire has reaffirmed his commitment to seal this investment within the shortest possible time.
Given the revamped political will under the new administration which has expedited deals that have stalled over the last five years, there is strong optimism that the Dangote deal is left with a few months before it is translated into a tangible activity.- state media
Terrence Mawawa | Former Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition Programmes Manager Nixon Nyikadzino also known as Cde Mao has warned MDC Leader, Nelson Chamisa to be wary of political vultures in the alliance.
Below are Cde Mao’ s views: While the MT brand and template worked during his time, that template no longer fits the new political dynamics.
MT had numbers but there has always
been something missing to grab state power.
Unfortunately those who advise the new leadership are
swamped in the MT paradigm and they are hoping to glide to
power that is under a defacto military rule.
What we see are individuals who want to appease the new leadership without focusing on to the real prize, state power.
What we have criticised in Zanu PF is now evident tiki taka in the Alliance.
We need a new thinking that is objective and people centered.
Vultures should be confined to the forest.
If this is not dealt with NC will beanother captured institution by these vultures.
Eddie Cross | All humans experience seasons – those dictated by the weather and those dictated by our individual histories and events that pick us up and throw us into the future. We have little choice over either except in our limited abilities to pack up and move and at any one point in time 150 million people are on the move from the places where they were once settled and trying to go somewhere else. It’s one of the great movements of human history and it has its roots in all sorts of things – climate change, political upheaval, economic collapse, war and violence, sometimes, just wander lust.
In my own case my family has seen two major shifts in location. The first, when at the start of the Great Christian Mission era, my great grandfather, a young graduate from Theological College in Belfast, accepted the call to pastor a Church in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. He was one of many thousands and they have changed the character of the Christian Church and today white, Anglo Saxon Christians are a small minority of the global Christian family.
He sailed from England to Port Elizabeth in South Africa by sailing ship and was landed on the beach. He and my Grandmother had a family and he had a fascinating life, hard at times, several wars including the first real guerilla war and freedom struggle – the Boer War at the end of the Century when he, controversially backed the Afrikaners against the might of the British Empire. But what a life, by comparison had he remained in the comfort of his own culture and people, his life would have been very different.
In the process, the Cross clan became South Africans and my Grandfather, and his brothers and sisters made a significant impact on their new country. He, going on to become a close friend and confidant of General Smuts, serving in the South African Cabinet through the Second World War. Other members of the family became wealthy businesspersons, one a Supreme Court Judge. My Grandfather became a Magistrate, eventually becoming the Chief Magistrate of South Africa and a fluent speaker of Afrikaans with many Afrikaner friends in all spheres of interest.
Then came the Great Depression – the massive global collapse in stock markets and currencies that started on Wall Street. My father, a young executive with an American Oil firm in the Transvaal, was told bluntly that he had to move to a new country called Southern Rhodesia. He and two friends in the same position, just climbed onto a train and travelled to Bulawayo – no passports, no exchange control, then just transferred their bank accounts to Bulawayo. He married several years later, and I was part of the progeny, nothing dramatic but part of the human migration all the same.
When he was over 80 years old, Dad told me that he had never really known an extended period of stability. First the Great Depression, then the Second World War, then the formation of the Federation and its breakup, then UDI and sanctions and finally the war of liberation against minority rule. By Independence he was retired and spent the rest of his life living with us and our own family. He had been disabled in a Zanla attack in Harare, but it had little impact on him and how he lived.
So, I grew up as a Rhodesian and then became a Zimbabwean. My, what a journey it has been. I grew up in Bulawayo, going to school on the back of a bicycle ridden by the gardener, watched the first national strike in 1949, not knowing this was the start of the long struggle for freedom and Independence which would end in 1980.
I went to the University of Rhodesia and Nyasaland and got a degree in Economics from London University (the local University was a College of various UK Universities). There I met a young guerilla just back from military training in Algeria who basically converted me into a political activist while he became a Christian and abandoned the liberation struggle – migrating as a refugee to Germany. I never joined the armed struggle but supported the movements fighting for change politically – in the process becoming a friend of one of the main leaders, Joshua Nkomo and a passing acquaintance of Robert Mugabe whom I rejected as a leftist radical at the time.
I cannot imagine what it must be like to live in a 9 to 4 society, where you get a job and work at it all your life, going on retirement at 60 and dying of boredom at 75. Living in a small house in a large City where my medical and other needs are all provided by a State that provides social security. For many in the modern world that is their ambition – I think it’s almost a nightmare.
‘Life in Africa is not for Ninnies’ says a large billboard in Johannesburg. Life here is never easy or boring and I often refer it to white water rafting on the Zambezi below the Victoria Falls. If you have done that you will know exactly what I am talking about. The river changes character every few metres and you cannot relax for a minute, but its one of the great experiences in life and if you have not done it, you have really missed out. It looks very dangerous, but we do not lose too many river rafters!!
Why then does this country have such a pull? I am constantly amazed by the fact that many families who have fled this country for whatever reason in the past only to find their children coming back, settling and making a new life for themselves and their families. Almost invariably they find themselves self-employed or working with close associates. If this economy opens up and starts to grow and young people born here are accepted as Citizens with all their rights, then I expect this trickle to become a river and it will change this country in every way.
But right now, it is autumn – clear blue skies, little humidity, mild temperatures and the country is green and the rivers running. The next two months are just the most amazing time, weather wise. But all our seasons have special characteristics. Our veld is always spectacular, always changing constantly. Often conditions are very hard, but somehow its beauty remains.
Then there are the people; we are a hard-working, enterprising people who are used to making a living under a government that constantly violates the basic rules of sound economics. Our real economy is more than double the official estimates and the volume of money movement in the informal sector, double the level of activity in the banks. But it’s more than that – we are an open, welcoming society with many characteristics that make ordinary Zimbabweans quite exceptional in the region. Perhaps it is because of the Christian revival that has swept the country in recent years, but its roots lie also in our history.
My own commitment to Zimbabwe is well known, it’s not mindless or political, it’s just that this is such an amazing place and our quality of life so exceptional. We have little money or assets left after 37 years of Robert Mugabe, but so many compensations. We go fishing on the Zambezi or to the Umfurudzi bush or in the Highlands to cold trout streams. We can go into the Matobo Hills just 30 kilometers from home. In three hours we can be in some of the wildest and most spectacular wild life areas left in the world.
At work we have the world at our feet. We are pioneers with opportunities galore. All it needs is enterprise and hard work. Our schools offer some of the best all round education experiences. Just ask anyone who employs Zimbabweans by choice. Zimbabweans coming home from abroad are bringing back world class skills in many fields including eye surgery, medicine and engineering. These are the seasons of life and the real key is what we make of it, where ever we live.
President Mokgweetsi Masisi left for Nambia this morning (April 9) to meet with his counterpart Dr Hage Geingob.
This is Mr Masisi’s first international visit as President of Botswana following his innauguration on Apil 1.
A press release from the Ministry of International Affairs and Cooperation says the working visit will serve to further strengthen bilateral relations and friendship between Botswana and Namibia.
The statement further says the President will on the same day pay a working visit to Zimbabwe to meet with President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
The working visit will serve to deepen and broaden the scope of bilateral cooperation between Botswana and Zimbabwe.
He is accompanied on both visits by Minister of International Affairs and Cooperation, Mr Vincent Seretse and Minister of Transport and Communications, Mr Kitso Mokaila.
The President and his entourage are expected back home later today.
Source : Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation
By Paul Nyathi| Apparently MDC-T President Nelson Chamisa lied to the world that he had met with the family of the late nationalist Dr Joshua Nkomo and was promised to be given the popular rod which Nkomo carried in his hand throughout his life.
Angry son to the late liberation icon Sibangilizwe Nkomo told ZimEye.com in an interview that the Nkomo family is absolutely angry at Chamisa’s utterances describing them as very disrespectful of the family and its traditions.
Nkomo said that no one from the family ever met with Chamisa and discussed with him anything to do with the late Father Zimbabwe nor his sacred rod.
“We are absolutely angry at Chamisa’s lies and disrespect of the Nkomo family,” said Sibangilizwe who is Dr Nkomo’s eldest son.
“No one has ever discussed my father’s rod,” said Nkomo angrily. “In fact very few of us know where that rod is and talking about it the way Chamisa did is a serious taboo to the Nkomo family,” he said.
“That rod is not anything to play around with. It liberated this country, it saved people’s lives and Chamisa is just too young to even talk about it let alone claim it,” said Nkomo.
“We can not as a family stoop so low as to take the head of the entire Nyongolo family and give it to a stranger. What is so special that Chamisa has done to deserve to be given Dr Nkomo’s rod or any rod by the Nkomo family.”
“Chamisa is just too young for this issue. His father and even his grand father and his ancestors respect that rod, who is he to claim it?” Nkomo said angrily.
Nkomo said that Chamisa did not even visit the Joshua Nkomo home in Pelandaba which is a stone throw away from White City Stadium where he held his rally.
“Chamisa visited the Joshua Nkomo museum in Matshamhlophe which is a public place under the responsibility of the Parks and Museum Department not the Nkomo home in Pelandaba where I and the Nkomo family reside,” said Nkomo.
According to Nkomo, Chamisa was invited to the museum by Jabulani Hadebe who is the CEO of the Joshua Nkomo National Foundation and a member of the MDC-T and not by the Nkomo family.
“I have never met Chamisa in my life and he does not know me. I only know him from pictures and the television and so he must never lie that he met with the Nkomo family,” added Nkomo.
Contacted for a comment Hadebe also recused himself from Chamisa’s utterances claiming that they never discussed anything about him being given a rod by the Nkomo family.
Hadebe said that Chamisa was just making an unfortunate political statement for his own expediency.
According to Hadebe, Chamisa only promised that he will give assistance to the Foundation when he gets into power after the elections in July.
Mehluli Moyo, the National Director of the Joshua Nkomo Cultural Movement which is chaired by Mr Sibangilizwe Nkomo said that what Chamisa did by claiming the rod of an elderly man of Nkomo’s stature was a serious taboo according to traditions.
“What Chamisa said is serious taboo, he never met the family, he didn’t even meet Mr Nkomo . Chamisa visited the museum just like everyone else would do and there is no rod that was given to him nor promised to him,” said Moyo.
Asked to comment on the actual where about of Dr Nkomo’s rod which Chamisa claimed, Moyo said that even he himself was not at the liberty to discuss the rod.
“As an official of the organisation myself, l am not in a position to discuss Mdala’s rod. That is a deep family issue to be discussed in public. If you hear anyone talking about it in public that person will be telling a lie,” said Moyo.
A Matabeleland cultural activist who asked not to be mentioned due to his links with the MDC-T also lamented at Chamisa’s utterances claiming that the young leader may have just brought himself a curse from the Nkomo elders that may haunt him for a long time.
“Chamisa knows very well that he lied and disrespected the spirit of the old man Nkomo, the best he may need to urgently do is to physically visit the Nkomo family elders and sort the issue out,” he said.
“Some people may take it lightly and belittle the Nkomo family but Joshua Nkomo is an ancestor of many and highly respected in the region for young Chamisa to play with his name like he did,” he added.
ZimEye.com efforts to get a comment from Chamisa’s spokesperson Luke Tamborinyoka were futile as his mobile phone was not reachable at the time of writing.
ENGAGING THE PARENTAGE……Party President Adv. Nelson Chamisa today led a team of MDC-T leaders to the ZCTU offices for a meeting with the leadership of the country’s labour confederation. The party was formed out of the labour movement in 1999 and the two frequently engagage. pic.twitter.com/5sSb2ThwZu
By Don Chigumba| On the midnight of 04 April 2018, Herald Newspaper published an article titled “EX-PM’s Secret Nuptials Exposed”. Herald claimed the late Tsvangirai paid lobola to Nobuhle Marylyn Ndiwani while married to Elizabeth Macheka Tsvangirai. The paper went further to claim that Nobuhle gave birth to Joy, the late Tsvangirai’s child on 27 July 2017 and that the Herald is in possession of the brothers of the late Tsvangirai (Casper and Sam)’ pictures while paying lobola to Ndiwani family.
Therefore, this article seeks to condemn Herald Newspaper for tracking the late Tsvangirai to the grave through their article published on 04 April 2018 at 00:04 midnight. The late Tsvangirai’s spirit should be granted peace order against the unconstitutional/immoral Herald’s attacks. In our Shona culture, there is a dictum that goes ‘wafa wanaka’, we always respect the dead no matter what the evil they could have done during their time of breathing oxygen.
When Tsvangirai passed on, President of Zimbabwe and his deputy acknowledged that Tsvangirai was a hero and fought for the new democratic space in Zimbabwe. The ZANU PF government offered to pay for the hospital bills and funeral expenses, surprisingly, Herald Newspaper can even manage to torment the late Tsvangirai’s spirit. Why are they fighting against the dead?
The late Tsvangirai’s spirit should be in the purgatory right now, waiting to join the paradise but Herald newspaper is busy praying to God so that Tsvangirai’s spirit should be thrown to hell against the wishes of the opposition followers, President and Deputy President of Zimbabwe. I am therefore calling for all Zimbabweans across the political divide to join me in condemning the Herald News Paper.
Herald newspaper claimed that they are in possession of photos of Casper and Sam while paying lobola on behalf of the late Tsvangirai. To what an extend should we accept the photos as evidence of paying lobola? Why did the late Tsvangirai refuse to tell the nation of the new development? Herald newspaper should prove that the photos were linked to lobola and not other things/issues.
The Herald claimed the union gave birth to a baby called Joy, surprisingly, the Herald had already taken the DNA tests and verified that Joy was the late Tsvangirai’s baby. If the position is true, the Herald newspaper should apologies to Tsvangirai family and MDC-T followers for taking DNA tests of the alleged Tsvangirai’s child without the consent of the dead.
The death of Tsvangirai was controversial and for some people to claim to have known the late Tsvangirai’s DNA samples is very dangerous. Herald newspaper should therefore, tell the nation that they were not responsible for the demise. How did they come to know the DNA samples of the late Tsvangirai? How did they come to a conclusion that Joy was Tsvangirai’s love child? Did they use the alleged photos to ascertain the paternity of Joy?
Conclusion
Tsvangirai family and MDC-T followers should get details of the late Tsvangirai’s alleged lobola payment and the evidence to prove that Joy was Tsvangirai’s love child. The Herald should come out clean on why they have decided to follow the late Tsvangirai to the grave? Why should the Herald go against the views of the president and his deputy? Who gave Herald authority to take the alleged photos of Casper and Sam in their possession?
There are allegations that the Herald is out there to destroy the legacy of the late Tsvangirai, why are they harassing the living-timeless? Herald newspaper should apologies. Herald should promote peace and not disunity.
.Don chigumba is a mixed methods research specialist, can be found on twitter @Donchigumba
By A Correspondent| Zimbabwe’s military transition is going to be under discussion on Saturday the 14th April this weekend.
This will be at the Independence celebrations in Nottingham.
“The meeting will talk about the November 2017 events the current ED government’s mandate the sudden death of the MDC and its impact; Constitutionalism in Zimbabwe,” the Chairman of the Nottingham Zimbabwean Community Network, the Regis Manyanya said.
He told ZimEye the meeting will also look into, “Our citizens being held in UK detention centres for being opposed to the rule, immigration rules & regulations in the UK. Obviously we will have lighter times to joke about the Asante Sana mantra & the scarf.”
President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s scarf fashion brand will be on sale at the function. The event will coincide with the upcoming visit of a high powered ministerial delegation from Zimbabwe. FULL DETAILS ARE BELOW:
The first high ranking European Union official to visit Zimbabwe in recent years Mr Neven Mimica is in Zimbabwe and has met President Emmerson Mnangagwa at Munhumutapa building this morning.
Mr Mimica is the EU International Cooperation and Development Commissioner and is expected to launch a number of projects that are being funded by the EU.-
Vice President Retired General Constantino Chiwenga, Acting Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Ambassador Simon Khaya Moyo, Special Advisor to the President Ambassador Chris Mutsvangwa and the Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Dr Misheck Sibanda and other senior government officials attended the meeting.- state media
Marian Chombo, ex-wife of former Finance minister Ignatius Chombo, has spoken out on how Robert Mugabe hounded her out of Zanu PF.
An angry Chombo dismisses claims she voluntarily quit the ruling party saying she was pushed out, as she attacked Mugabe for ganging up with her husband Iganatius to harrass her.
Marian, who was recently readmitted into Zanu PF under the new Emmerson Mnangagwa administration said she was happy to be back in the party.
In an interview with the local Newsday at Chikeya in Zvimba, Marian said she was relieved to have been readmitted, as her roots were in Zanu PF, a party through which she contributed to the country’s liberation struggle as a war collaborator, and was ready to serve in any post.
“Firstly, I am happy that I am back in the party. However, I want to state that I never left Zanu PF on my own volition but I was pushed out by former President Mugabe.
I’m sure everyone heard Mugabe saying it out during a rally in Chinhoyi and that’s when I joined Joice Mujuru (of the Zimbabwe People First then) since we shared liberation history, but my heart was always with Zanu PF,” she said.
Marian said she was ready to serve the party in any capacity that would help uplift the people’s welfare.
“I think the people at the grassroots are better positioned to decide if I should serve them at any level they see fit. I am ready to serve in any position if the people choose that I serve them. Remember our President (Emmerson Mnangagwa) believes that the people’s voice is the voice of God. It is the ordinary person, who will decide who they choose to lead them,” she said.
“Right now, I am not worried about having a position, as that is for the people to decide.
“My focus right now is that we unite the party and join hands in campaigning for our President so that he wins the 2018 elections resoundingly so he can continue to open up our country for economic growth.”
In the 2013 polls, Marian contested in Zvimba North constituency against her former husband in Zanu PF primaries before she was expelled for defying a directive not to contest.
LIVE-BLAST The CIO boss during the time when activist Itai Dzamara vanished on the 9th March 2015, Happyton Bonyongwe is today being grilled before parliament over the missing $15 billion diamond revenue – Watch the LIVE proceedings as they continue below:
Zanu PF Mashonaland West provincial chairperson, Ziyambi Ziyambi, has rubbished weekend reports that several Zanu PF chefs will stand on the party ticket after ‘dubious’ disqualifications of other potential candidates.
Ziyambi tells the local Newsday that said no member was disqualified, all they were doing was screening them to see if all candidates met the prerequisite criterion.
“We didn’t shut out anyone, as a province, we were tasked by the national directorate to see if the CVs submitted meet the required prerequisites and give comments for the directorate consideration. It must be noted that even if the member did not meet the requirements it is not for us to disqualify them we just put comments for the national directorate to consider or not,” Ziyambi said.
He said it was very unfortunate that some of the party members were not familiar with Zanu PF’s rules and regulations regarding primary elections.
Ziyambi said politburo member, Prisca Mupfumira’s Makonde senatorial post went uncontested after no other female party member submitted nominations for the post which was reserved for women candidates.
But a disgruntled party member, who declined to be named, insisted that the selection process was fraught with irregularities.
“Those provincial guys are busy removing CVs for those that they perceive as potential threats in the constituency they applied for … why didn’t they bring members from other provinces to oversee the process like the previous elections?” he asked.
Meanwhile, Provincial Affairs minister Webster Shamu, is reportedly eyeing the Chegutu senatorial post after he surrendered his Chegutu East seat to provincial youth leader, Vengai Musengi.
Former Minister exiled Professor Jonathan Moyo has spoken on the coming elections, which he says are ‘G-40’ elections, as well as other issues including his Zanu PF membership and the November coup. Below is part of the interview published in The Standard paper.
On 2018 elections Moyo says: The 2018 poll is what political scientists call a “critical election” in that it is as historic as the one in 1980, which laid the foundation for Zimbabwe’s first republic under the Lancaster constitution.
It’s a critical election because it’s going to be characterised and defined by a historic realignment of voters in a major generational way that will lay the foundation for the country’s second republic based on the new 2013 Constitution.
Whereas the 1980 election was dominated by the Independence Generation — which was principally made up of a broad coalition of nationalists, veterans of the liberation struggle, peasants, workers and students — the 2018 election is dominated up to some 64% by the freedom generation, which is largely composed of compatriots who were either 10 years old, or were not yet born in 1980.
Seven years ago, in 2011, I described this demographic as Generation 40 or G40. So, make no mistake about it; the 2018 election is a G40 election. This is historic.
Moyo explains the coup : The claim that the so-called G40 did not see the coup coming is false and preposterous.
Amai Dr Grace Mugabe warned about it on several occasions and in public.
I wrote to President Mugabe about the coup plot under confidential cover more than a year before November 15, 2017 on January 8, 2016 based on what Patrick Chinamasa had told me and on July 5, 2016 based on information I had been given by impeccable sources.
I also raised the matter in the video I presented to the Zanu PF politburo on July 19, 2017 about Mnangagwa’s coup plot against President Mugabe.
So, of course, we saw the coup coming and gave appropriate warnings at various times.
But we did not ever consider to resist it violently through counterforce, an option that was always available, but which was undesirable and therefore unthinkable.
JM: I think that’s now for historians to unravel. But one unfortunate but true explanation is that President Mugabe never ever believed that Mnangagwa and Constantino Guveya Dominic Chiwenga would ever depose him in a military coup.
President Mugabe was impervious to that possibility because he trusted these two men more than he trusted anyone else.
The fact that Mnangagwa and Chiwenga, of all people, joined hands and used the military to depose him is something that I’m 100% sure President Mugabe cannot understand, let alone believe, to this day, yet this is exactly what happened: Chiwenga conspired with Mnangagwa to oust President Mugabe in a military coup.
It is not surprising that both Chiwenga and Mnangagwa are finding it difficult and in fact impossible to go out there and campaign for the 2018 elections because they know only too well that they did the ultimate Judas Iscariot act: they sold out and used the violent arms of war to humiliate the one person who groomed them and made them what they are today.
This fact of treachery and betrayal of President Mugabe by Chiwenga and Mnangagwa is painful and totally unacceptable to an overwhelming majority of members of what was Zanu PF before November 15, 2017.
That’s why Zanu PF is today dead. All you have is Junta PF, which is failing to explain to former Zanu PF supporters what happened to President Mugabe and why.
It’s also the reason why the likes of Obert Mpofu are chickening out of representing their constituencies.
They don’t want to face the people because they have no explanations for their treachery and betrayal of President Mugabe.
Amid the furious attacks against President Emmerson Mnangagwa over his trip to China, popular journo and DJ Eric Knight has come out to speak in his support.
Writing on his portal, Knight said, “well, I was not there in Beijing but I can assure you, these men were not talking about Football!
“I can guarantee you they spoke about the Economy of my country, they spoke about Zimbabwe, they spoke about helping each other, they spoke about investments, so they spoke about making things better for our people.”
He continued in his arguments by asking, “so what is wrong with that? Yes, we want to see results but results are only an aftermath of effort! A problem discussed is half solved.
“No matter how pessimistic you are, you can not tell me that nothing will come out of this. President Xi of China is at the moment the most powerful man in the world. He is heading a country with the most powerful economy right now. Even UK, France and Germany are queuing to work with him, so why not Zimbabwe?
“Listen, I dont really care what Party you support, it is your choice and your right. I am talking about my country.
“What kind of a person would be angry when efforts to change our economy are being put? Are you normal!?
“If you are one of them, then you have a BIG problem, we can’t help you. Well done Team Zimbabwe for the efforts. We need friends and funds! Its coming. God is not a fool!
Zimbabwe Hoye!
Three people are in trouble for squandering different amounts of money amounting to nearly $279 000 that was erroneously deposited into their accounts by the Central African Building Society (CABS) following technical glitches at the financial institution last year.
The costly mistake also resulted in the bank firing 13 Information Technology (IT) employees after the error was detected.
One of the three CABS clients who got the “windfall” is Kelvin Kutadza (24), a student nurse at Gweru Provincial Hospital who squandered $54 000 that was erroneously deposited into his account following the bank mistake.
Kutadza appeared before Midlands provincial magistrate Mrs Phathekile Msipa on Friday facing 54 counts of theft.
He pleaded guilty and was remanded in custody to today for sentencing following his conviction.
“The accused is found guilty of 54 counts of theft and is remanded in custody to Monday for sentence,” said Mrs Msipa.
In his defence, Kutadza said as a devoted Christian and a believer in miracles, he thought the money was miracle money when he saw the surprisingly huge figure in his savings account balance.
“When I checked my account and saw the money, I thought it was miracle money. I’m a Christian and thought that my prayers had been answered and I regret using the money.
“I’m a final year student nurse at Gweru Provincial Hospital and I am supposed to graduate on May 5. May the court pardon me,” said Kutadza.
It is the State case that between July and October last year, CABS was upgrading its IT system resulting in functional challenges in updating balances of accounts.
The system, the court heard, failed to record the correct figures each time a client transferred money from the CABS bank account to an Ecocash account or any other bank account using the electronic banking system.
It is alleged that the accused person discovered this systems failure and capitalised on it.
From July 5 to September 20 last year, Kutadza using his mobile phone, transferred various sums of money from CABS to his Ecocash number and to his MBCA savings account prejudicing CABS of $54 052. 34.
With the money, Kutadza went to purchase a house in Mkoba 19 suburb for $32 460 and two non-runner vehicles for $5 500 and $5 000 respectively.
CABS later discovered the offence leading to Kutadza’s arrest.
Total value stolen is $54 052.34 and total value recovered is $2 384.12.
According to court papers, two other CABS clients in Gweru who withdrew $20 000 and $205 000 that was deposited into their accounts through the error are expected to appear in court soon.
Mrs Memory Chitsunge appeared for the State.- state media
Ndaba Nhuku | Zimbabweans must learn to think beyond our grandfathers’ zvigayo/izigayo, bottle stores and tuckshops .
Nelson Chamisa has breathed a new way of thinking and economic progress into our politics. Other nations are progressing doing what he is talking about and you are seeing it as impossible. Because you all want to own are flea markets, zvigayo, bottle stores, buses and tuckshops; none of you dreams about owning shares in some railway project or other infrastructure. None of you dreams about riding a plane from Murehwa to Harare or Hwange to Bulawayo. Our mentality is engrained in our want our fathers knew, envied and spoke about.
Many folks in Diaspora talk of business back home when only talking of having run down trucks to transport maize to GMB or abandoned combis and internet cafes. Please folks, the world is moving fast beyond that. If Ethiopia, Botswana, Namibia and other African countries that are actually poorer than Zimbabwe can plan for bullet trains etc, why can’t Zimbabwe do it? Why should we be stuck with having Matambanadzo or Siposami buses? What can stop us from having cheap flights between out cities and within the region? Only CORRUPTION, and stunted thinking that ends at the tip of our nose can stop such developments.
Yes , Chamisa brings in a new way of thinking they young people should embrace and work towards attaining for their country.
Farai Maguwu | The withdrawal this week by the Emmerson Mnanagwa government of the tender awarded to Geiger International for the dualisation of the Beitbridge-Harare-Chirundu Highway revealed shocking levels of corruption by the Zimbabwean authorities which awarded the tender to an undeserving company in the first place. The $2.7 billion tender was awarded to Geiger International in 2016 and close to 3 years later, no construction has started. Government has cited lack of progress on the project as reason for the cancellation of the tender whilst the contractor has remained mum. But what could be the reasons for the lack of progress?
On its website Geiger International describes itself as ‘a leading supplier of security products, vehicular equipment, textile and housing products’ adding that it ‘has successfully been manufacturing under license military goods in its own factories in mainland China for over two decades’. On construction projects the company website states that ‘our regional head offices in Shanghai- China run significant construction projects with some very competent and very powerful companies as joint partners in the following sectors…’ It relies on subcontracting other players in the construction sector. With no competency of its own, the company has built a syndicate of Chinese companies which it subcontracts for various projects which may entail inflating the costs. A google search on the road construction projects carried out by Geiger International shows only one project – the stillbirth Beitbridge – Harare – Chirundu Highway!
When government announced the estimated cost of the Beitbridge – Chirundu Highway dualization project, there was an outcry from Zimbabweans who argued that the price was inflated. It was also revealed that local contractors would receive a 40% share of the first phase of the project, valued at $400 million. There was no criteria on how the local players were going to be selected. The fusion of fraudulent Austrian-Chinese companies with local tenderpreneurs, equally without capacity, meant the project was primarily for the self-aggrandizement of the negotiators. Predictably, when the underhand deals failed to materialize the project fell through. It would be interesting if Geiger International would issue a statement on why it defaulted on the project. Demand for bribes, corruption and nepotism will top the list of grievances.
The Chinese Connection
Government has repeatedly stated that Geiger International is an Austrian company. Whilst its administrative office is based in Feldkirch, a medieval city in the western Austrian state of Vorarlberg, Geiger International moved to Asia and established its regional headquarters in Shanghai in the early 1990s. It claims on its website to be operating in China but using European standards. This is why the company has maintained that it is headquartered in Austria, ranked 16th on the Transparency International corruption perception index, to disguise its opaque operations. Geiger International has been part of China’s crusade to plunder Africa through negotiating corrupt deals with ruling elites on the continent. It is therefore no surprise that the tender was jointly awarded to Geiger International and China Harbour Engineering Company. This gave an impression of two international companies, one from Asia and the other from Europe, when in reality these are both Chinese companies of the same syndicate.
In 2017 legislator Eddie Cross quizzed Transport Minister Joram Gumbo over the award of the tender to Geiger International, arguing that it is a very small company headquartered in a small Austrian Village with no capacity to carry out such a big project: “…I cannot find any record of it in Austria and all, none at all. It has an address in a small Austrian village but that is the only thing I can find”, queried Hon Cross. Minister Gumbo defended Geiger International as ‘a very big company’ with capacity to deliver.
In 2011 the World Bank blacklisted Geiger International’s Chinese partner, China Harbour Engineering Company alongside ten other Chinese companies for fraud and corruption. By the time the Beitbridge – Chirundu highway award was made in 2016, information over the blacklisting of this company was now in the public domain. In awarding such a contract, or any contract for that matter, due diligence is a prerequisite. This means government, in particular the Minister of Transport Joram Gumbo were well aware they were engaging criminals. Minister Gumbo is also embroiled in yet another $33 million tender scandal involving the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe, according to the Zimbabwe Independent.
This is not the first time Zimbabwe has chosen Chinese investors without any proven track record for the job they are contracted to do. In 2006 a multi-billion alluvial diamond field was discovered in Marange, eastern Zimbabwe. Instead of allowing locals, who had discovered the diamonds in the first place, and the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation to extract the resource, government deployed troops and massacred over 400 artisanal miners and awarded the lucrative fields to shoddy Lebanese, South African and Chinese syndicates who had no history of diamond mining. One of the investors was a Chinese mafia king, Sam Pa, who has eight aliases and corresponding passports. He is also known as Antonio Famtosonghiu Sampo Menezes, Samo, Sam King, Sa Muxu, Tsui King Wah, Xu Songhua, Xu Jinghua, Ghui Ka Leung- is the head of the Hong Kong based 88 Queensway Syndicate which has brokered lucrative deals for China on five continents.
Three Chinese companies – Sam Pa’s Sino Zimbabwe, Anjin Invetsments, and Jinan were nicodemously licensed to extract Marange diamonds. In 2016 former President Robert Mugabe announced that the diamond mining firms had robbed Zimbabwe of more than $15 billion in potential revenues.
Time to take a stand against corruption
Parliament in Zimbabwe has not been able to carry out its oversight role, especially where tenders are involved. For instance when Geiger International was summoned to appear before Transport and Infrastructure Development Parliamentary Portfolio Committee it didn’t show up and nothing happened to them. Former Minister of Mines Obert Mpofu was also summoned to give evidence on the missing $15 billion and he refused to speak, seemingly untouchable. Most of the corrupt deals are done by Ministers and their principals. If parliament is allowed to play its oversight role corrupt deals are exposed and nipped in the bud and prevent this national disgrace. It must be legislated that all deals of 100 million and above must be approved by parliament to safeguard the national interests.
The anti-corruption commission must be fully mandated to handle matters of high level corruption and be empowered to recommend prison sentences on offending public officials. The judiciary must be strengthened so it h=can adequately deal with matters of corruption by passing deterrent sentences. Unless and until corrupt officials are sent to prison and forced to pay back the proceeds of corruption, Zimbabwe will remain handicapped by corruption
Above all, Zimbabweans must hold office bearers accountable by organizing demonstrations and various forms of protests against corruption. In the Geiter International case the citizens must organize themselves and demand the resignation of Transort Minister Joram Gumbo and call on the President to institute an inquiry into the scandal.
Farai Maguwu is Director of Centre for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG). He writes in his personal capacity. He can be reached at [email protected]
Ray Nkosi | Outspoken Member of Parliament at the weekend raised alarm over an imminent Zanu PF implosion, warning of an MDC Alliance led by Advocate Nelson Chamisa victory.
Mliswa took to social media to protest the situation in the ruling Zanu PF party amidst reports of several chefs avoiding party primary elections in the provinces, among them Christopher Mutsvangwa and Phillip Chiyangwa.
Wrote Mliswa on his Twitter portal: “MDC Alliance is gaining momentum whilstZANUPF plots its implosion. When talking about this we’re labelledChamisa fans but they’re scoring own goals, Bhora musango!We’re nearing a2008 scenario where this timethe junta’ll be powerless&under pressure forfree, fair&credible elections.”
The state media reports that Zanu-PF provinces are today expected to submit to the party headquarters in Harare curriculum vitaes (CVs) of aspiring candidates for the party’s May 5 primary elections with the list of successful candidates out by the end of the week. Most provinces had completed the vetting process by yesterday, with some bigwigs reportedly one foot in for the primaries after candidates who had registered to challenge them failed to meet the basic minimum qualifications.
Other Politburo members, however, breezed through uncontested. Although some provinces have resolved to recommend candidates who should be disqualified, the ruling party’s national political commissar, Lieutenant-General Engelbert Rugeje (Retired), reiterated yesterday that all CVs should be forwarded to Zanu-PF’s national elections directorate (NED) to ensure the process was impartial and transparent.
Provincial structures, he said, had no power to disqualify candidates. “All the names will be sent here and we will do the vetting and verification from this side. There had been complaints from the provinces that the incumbents were shutting others out,” said Rugeje.
“So, in the spirit of fairness, we will do the vetting of candidates from here (party headquarters),” he said. It is believed even uncontested candidates have to be confirmed by the NED.
Notably, in the Midlands province Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Dr Sibusiso Moyo, who is eying the Mberengwa Senate seat, was unchallenged.
Speaking yesterday after compiling the list to be forwarded to party headquarters today, Midlands provincial chairperson Daniel McKenzie Ncube said his province had received many CVs from members aspiring to be councillors, legislators and senators.
He said senior party members, s Tafanana Zhou, Chiratidzo Mabuwa and Tsitsi Zhou, whom the provincial executive recommended to be suspended, could contest while waiting for a final determination by the party’s national disciplinary committee.
“We received a lot of CVs from aspiring party members and of note is the CV of Lt-Gen Moyo (Rtd) which was accepted unchallenged for the primary elections to be held soon,” he said.
Meanwhile the Midlands provincial leadership has recommended that suspended Kwekwe Central legislator Masango Matambanadzo be disqualified from the primary elections.
Matambanadzo was suspended for alleged insubordination and creating parallel structures.
First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa attended the meeting.
In Mashonaland West, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi and Central Committee member Philip Chiyangwa were among senior party members who stand a chance to avoid a contest for primaries after prospective candidates were disqualified because they had not served as party district members for the stipulated five years.
Chiyangwa, who recently moved to Zvimba administration district from Makonde, emerged from a pool of six other aspirants – s Walter Chidhakwa, Crispen Saidi, Zandile Maseko, Peter Chiridza, Sign Chabvonga and war veteran Jesca Tapfumaneyi – who fell by the wayside.
Provincial chairman Ziyambi Ziyambi was also unopposed after aspirants, including s Francis Chitewe, Mercy Dinha (wife to Mashonaland Central Provincial Affairs Minister Advocate Martin Dinha), Webster Chinomwe and Elvis Mareverwa, were disqualified for not meeting the set criteria.
Chegutu West saw youth chairperson Vengai Musengi going uncontested, while Politburo member Christopher Mutsvangwa is also unopposed in Norton, as is Prisca Mupfumira eying the Makonde senatorial seat.
Dexter Nduna (Chegutu East) was uncontested after three other candidates failed to measure up to the requirements.
In Hurungwe West, Keith Guzah found no challengers, but in Hurungwe East, Tongai Mujenje will face s Mary Marumahoko, Ngoni Takundwa Masenda and Patrick Maponga.
Senate President Edna Madzongwe withdrew from the Chegutu Senate race, leaving Anna Guhwa and Lydia Tsomondo to fight it out.
A record 870 Zanu-PF aspiring candidates in Masvingo had submitted their curriculum vitaes to contest in the party’s primary elections slated for May 5.
Among these were CVs ofthose with pending disciplinary cases. According to provincial chairman Ezra Chadzamira said they had accepted the CVs pending a final decision by the NCD.
“We have only made recommendations on some of the aspiring candidates’ CVs because they have pending disciplinary issues,” he said.
Among high-profile people who have joined the political fray ahead of the primary elections in Masvingo are Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education,Science and Technology Development Professor Amon Murwira (Gutu North), his Mines and Mining Development counterpart Winston Chitando (Gutu Senatorial seat), ex-Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries president Mr Callisto Jokonya (Gutu South) and ex-diplomat Ambassador Jonathan Wutaunashe (Gutu South).
All the other provinces were finalising paperwork before submission today. Herald
Three people died after being struck by lightning in Chimanimani. Tragedy struck on Thursday near Machongwe, Chimanimani East when lightning struck and killed three people Miriam Mtetwa, her daughter Tariro and Dorothy Muterei in an incident that also burnt a house and also killed three dogs.
In an interview at the burial of two of the victims, Chimanimani rural ward 14 councilor Johanne Ndiyama and a villager Eliot Machikichi said the deceased were severely burnt.
“The lightning killed three people while a woman and two kids survived. It also killed three dogs. The deceased were severely burnt,” he said.
George Tukutire who is brother to the late Miriam said the news of the tragic incident shocked the whole family as people never imagined burying a mother and daughter on the same day.
Miriam left seven children with the situation complicated by the death of her husband a few years ago.
“Miriam was now the only parent for her children after the passing on of her husband. The family is deeply saddened by the loss,” said Mr Tukutire.
There is consensus, with the increase on the number of cases of lighting more awareness is needed on the dos and don’ts during rainy seasons.
“The number of people being killed by lightning is now worrisome hence the need for awareness programmes,” noted Zanu PF Central Committee member Cde Joshua Saco.
Six people were last November killed by lightning and locals in Chimanimani are now in fear of moving around even when it is drizzling.- state media
Ray Nkosi | Plans for former President Robert Mugabe to meet President Emmerson Mnangagwa have once again been delayed, with concerns the former leader stands to lose out should there be no dialogue between the two.
This comes as a church coalition under the banner of the Zimbabwe Amalgamated Churches Council are understood to be backing efforts to bring Mugabe and Mnangagwa together, to map a way out of the current impasse.
However, Mugabe is currently on medical treatment in Singapore with his former spokesman George Charamba warning, ” He (Mugabe) is the one with issues to raise with his successor, which means the delayed contact is to his detriment.”
Of concern to Charamba in the local Daily News is the ‘meddlesome’ G-40 which is backed by Mugabe under a new political outfit the National Patriotic Front.
Church sources close to the initiative told the Daily News; “All Zimbabweans are concerned by the tension between our former leader and the country’s new president, and as an important constituency in our nation we are saying that we need to do something quickly to end his unnecessary tension.”
Last month Mugabe told journalists in his first press conference since stepping down that Mnangagwa’s ascent to power was an “illegality”. He said he was willing to discuss with Mnangagwa how to “undo this disgrace” but insisted he would need to “be properly invited for that discussion”.
“Currently I’m isolated,” Mugabe said at the time.
Fireworks are expected this morning as former CIO boss who over-saw the disappearance of Itai Dzamara entered the parliament building to be grilled over the missing $15 billion diamond revenue.
By Farai D Hove| Home Affairs Minister Obert Mpofu is back in parliament today and ZimEye.com will bring our valued readers and viewers the LIVE COVERAGE. Former police boss, Augustine Chihuri and Vice President, Kembo Mohadi are this morning also set to appear before the parliamentary committee on Mines And Energy.
refresh this page to watch LIVE
ZimEye could not at the time of writing verify if Chihuri will appear this time since last month the former police boss was nowhere to be seen as rumours flared that he has fled the country.
Notwithstanding, the below was the full schedule-
ORAL EVIDENCE: MINES AND ENERGY COMMITTEE MONDAY 9 APRIL 2018
The following people have been invited to appear and give evidence on the diamond sector to the aforesaid Committee on Monday 9 April 2018 at 09:00hrs in the Senate Chamber:
A Chihuri
Commissioner General G. Matanga
Mr R Chingodza
Moyo CIO
Mr W. Manungo
Hon P. A. Chinamasa
F. Mazani ZIMRA
Mr G. Masimirembwa
Mining Houses: ZMDC/ZCDC and Board, MMCZ and Board
F. Gudyanga
Mr T. Musukutwa
Mr T. Biti- Apology
Marange Development Trust
Ex Mbada Diamonds Workers
Mr L. Kurotwi
K. D. Mohadi
Mr Rushwaya
Matshiya
Bulawayo Province ZANU PF candidates for this year’s elections will be announced by the party’s head office in Harare.
The revelation was made by the provincial elections committee to the party’s Provincial Coordinating Committee at the weekend.
The elections committee which is led by the Bulawayo Minister of Provincial Affairs Angelina Masuku received applications from aspiring candidates and deliberated on them over the weekend before declining to disclose the names recommended to take part in the primary elections set for the 5th of May.
The committee told party members that it had completed the verification of all the curriculum vitae provided and sent all its findings to the party’s commiserate in Harare to publish the names of contesting members.
Unlike all the other provinces that received applications over the weekend, verified them and immediately advised contesting candidates, Bulawayo province said that it was not their duty to proclaim the successful names.
Masuku said committee members who will release details on the meeting are not loyal to the party and would not be following party’s procedures.
“We all agreed as a team that details of this meeting will only emerge after the headquarters in Harare has processed their CVs. With your (PCC) approval we request that this report should be submitted as it is. We followed the guidelines, nothing else is being used from the local authority to the Senate. We worked according to the guidelines so that the report to Harare is as it is,” she said.
“Anyone who will announce details of this meeting is not loyal to the party. This report constitutes the party’s security documents. So we don’t expect it to be released.”
Masuku said the national office has the final say in the processing of CVs for aspiring candidates.
“Harare will then tell us as Bulawayo that among the people who submitted their CVs, in our assessment these are the people who should contest in the primaries,” she said.
Aspiring candidates had been milling at the party’s offices yesterday as they waited for the committee to announce the recommendations that had been arrived at.
The decision not to make the report public did not go well with some of the aspiring candidates who claimed that they should have been told of what transpired during the CVs verification process. “I might be wrong but although we are candidates, we are part of the provincial leadership. And I think we should be told of what transpired,” said one of the members.
Makokoba Constituency MP Retired Colonel Tshinga Dube concurred saying it was pointless to try to hide details of the meeting as some people would just release it.
“I will agree with her, I know that before the end of the day today I probably would have received details of the report. Some people are ready to release information,” said Rtd Col Dube.
Bulawayo provincial chairman, Professor Callistus Ndlovu however, said the committee was justified not to announce the recommendations that had been arrived at.
Zimbabwe is disabled by a negative risk profile. This stems from past policy volte-faces or shifts, and from our poor debt-servicing record.
Recently, President Mnangagwa faced a difficult question: if Zimbabwe is now open for business, are its doors also open to capital when it wants to leave?
Where does the foreign currency to disinvest come from, given the current paucity of United States dollars? Can an investor repatriate his earnings in US dollars?
We have many investors whose dividends are trapped inside our country, for want of foreign currency.
From these and much more, it is not hard to see why Zimbabwe still has more to do in order to shake off the “trap-door” image that dogs it, dissuading investors and lenders alike.
Until one appreciates the cost which all this levies on efforts to recover our economy, one may never quite appreciate what President Mnangagwa is doing. Or even be able to measure how well he has done so far, or is doing presently.
All is made worse by the gathering electioneering environment in which easy judgments and facile comparisons are made by empty, juvenile opposition politicians at recycled rallies.
Situating travel
The Abidjan meeting of CEOs was critical in so far as it secured a commitment from Afreximbank to de-risk Zimbabwe by unveiling a US$1,5 billion support facility to investors intent on setting up shop in Zimbabwe.
To have a bank availing so much at such a well-targeted meeting is no small story, let alone one deserving to be greeted by a litany of cynical comments which are both uninformed and politically self-serving.
As Zimbabweans, we cannot talk down ourselves and our country, at a time when such a serious and judicious institution is vouching for us.
And Afreximbank has kept Zimbabwe afloat even when the country was at its nadir.
Its bullish rating of Zimbabwe has a lot to do with the changes it reads in the horizon, thanks to the new dispensation, and of course the identity of its key shareholders who understand us better and more, thanks to diplomatic efforts that are underway.
As such offers are made, it is important that the country’s leadership spells out clearly to investors areas deserving priority attention.
Needless to say this situates President Mnangagwa’s travels.
China visit
The just-ended State Visit to China – itself the world’s second largest economy – at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jiping resulted in a raft of key gains.
But for me, three gains stand out and above all else that was achieved during that short six-day visit.
China, which is owed millions of dollars by Zimbabwe, charitably de-linked Zimbabwe’s debt obligations and settlement plans to Zimbabwe’s eligibility for fresh loans and grants.
To this end, both its banks and its insurers are now ready to provide capital and cover to Chinese venture capital.
This is a fundamental shift in Chinese policy, but one requiring reciprocation by a new, serious Zimbabwe which honours its debt obligations and makes itself attractive to foreign direct investments.
This breakthrough came on the back of a Joint Commission which thrashed out sticky issues between the two nations, and of course from the amazingly warm chemistry that developed between President Xi and President Mnangagwa.
The ball is now in Zimbabwe’s court.
Dollarising such a major policy shift by a mega-economy makes costs of travel to China paltry.
Strategic partnership
The second key gain came by way of the Chinese initiative to upgrade Zimbabwe-China bilateral status to that of Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
This is quite a departure from the nebulous “all-weather friend” status which, though sweet to repeat in the political mouth, materially and concretely amounted to little in the marketplace.
Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Status in effect bilaterally confers on Zimbabwe preferred status as a destination for Chinese investment capital, aid, skills and other initiatives.
We are now well positioned to tap from both the $100 billion facility announced by China in South Africa a few years ago, and of course from China’s more recent Belt-and-Road Initiative to network the world into one commercial village.
The Forum ob China-Africa Co-operation slated for Shaghai in September 2018, and to which President Mnangagwa is already invited, should allow us to take hard-headed stock.
Key outcomes
Beyond the flow of people, skills and capital, Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Status is a major step towards breaking the jinx of isolation from which Zimbabwe has suffered for nearly a decade since its Land Reform Programme.
Sinosure’s decision to provide cover to Zimbabwe-bound Chinese investment capital, complemented by a decision by a Chinese bank to open shop in Zimbabwe, are key outcomes from the State Visit.
More telling is the preparedness of China to accept trade settlements in Chinese currency, a decision which has far-reaching positive implications for economic interaction between Zimbabwe and China.
Additionally, the decision by CCCC, China’s largest global infrastructure company, to open shop in Zimbabwe is a major milestone and statement of confidence whose tractive value to otherwise dissonant China can hardly be overemphasised.
This is a ringing third-party endorsement for Zimbabwe.
Alongside other infrastructure construction companies, not least those focusing on the long-delayed Kunzvi Dam, on Hwange 7&8 sure to start shortly, on Robert Mugabe International Airport, on road dualisation, on rail expansion and transnational linkages, on construction of Parliament and new Government Complex, “Quad C” will underpin President Mnangagwa’s vision to turn Zimbabwe into a modern-infrastructured, middle-income economy by 2030, a mere 12 years hence.
The third key gain to come out of President Mnangagwa’s State Visit relates to the Chinese offer of an unlimited market to our agricultural produce.
With a population of 1,3 billion, China’s appetite and belly are hard to encompass, much harder to fill.
They need citrus and other fruits from Zimbabwe. They need cotton from Zimbabwe. They need soya from Zimbabwe. They need our meats. They are already buying our tobacco and motivating our tobacco farmers.
What is staggering is that the offer of this vast market comes with substantial commitment to support our agriculture for greater productivity.
China has already availed more money for dam construction. China is offering support for us to turn the more than 10 000 water bodies across the country into irrigation propositions.
Above all, China is ready with inputs and skills, the former coming to us not as exports in finished goods, but as major investments in fertiliser, gas and agricultural equipment manufacturing.
In respect of cotton, the President was able to motivate several Chinese companies that want to sponsor vast cotton fields for feedstock for textile companies which will be set up here to manufacture for global markets.
The Chinese have done as much in Egypt and in Ethiopia.
Special mention
Deliberately, I have shied away from highlighting deals clinched with private companies. Those concerned are better placed to speak to them.
But there is one requiring special mention.
A day before his departure, President Mnangagwa met the owner of Afrochine, the chrome processor already operating just after Selous as one goes to Chegutu.
The investor now wants to develop three other furnaces including one in Mutorashanga and another in Shurugwi.
But these are “smalls” in his investment plans.
The big one for this economy is a steel plant, fashioned after one already operating in Indonesia which employs 20 000 people.
In his own words, Zimbabwe has all the ingredients for such a plant: abundant chrome, abundant iron ore, nickel and abundant and untapped coal for an independent power plant so necessary for such a big, power gulping investment.
But he has been knocking on Government offices for the past three years, to no avail. Still, he didn’t give up on us.
In that 30-minute meeting, the investor was able to walk away with concrete commitments on all his requirements, opening the way for an early start to the project.
Food for stomach
I referred to the above encounter to raise a key component in President Mnangagwa’s challenge in reframing the National Question.
He has to deal with a bureaucracy notorious for its slothfulness, disarticulation and arthritic pace and manner of doing business. Besides, a bureaucracy which has picked the dubious fame of predatoriness.
What the hard nationalistic rhetoric did to us was to mould a bureaucracy full of centurions whose self-view was to guard idle subsoil assets from intending investors, all against begriming poverty.
The out-turn has been paradoxical: a highly mineralised country which is frigid to investors, amidst deepening poverty and social malaise.
Until now our resources were hermetically sealed – a subject for idle, rumbustious boast – ever guarded by a highly efficient “army” of “ragged trousered” nationalists who had no compunction in letting Zimbabweans starve while “feeding” them with the twin alibi and sweet lie of “indigenisation” and “empowerment”.
For that reason, the old dispensation gave Zimbabweans lots of food for thought but hardly any for the stomach, to use the late Achebe’s acerbic phrase.
It is this bureaucratic temperament which has not only put off investors, but has bred a corrupt, anti-business outlook for which we have paid dearly.
And which, too, accounts for the extant overflow of cynicism around any national initiative, threatening to blight all that the current President seeks to do; so that there is no Emerson Mnangagwa – only a Mugabe look-alike.
There is no gainful venture to drum up investments; only another wasteful jaunt recalling years and behaviors gone by!
Swings and roundabouts
There is a dire need for institutional reforms, for new mindsets if this nation has to regain belief in itself again.
Today this frigid beast – the bureaucracy – has to stir, and then be made to function nimbly and honestly.
If not, all will be lost, including the mega-deals just concluded with China.
There are key institutional reforms which beg. There are new mores sorely needed; indeed a new work ethic which must be invented and infused within the bureaucracy.
The President’s emphasis on the rapid results initiative, with its 100-day execution and accountability cycles, is a good start which must gain irrevocable traction.
His zero-tolerance on corruption is a necessary complement.
Above all, there is dire need for institutional reforms – stated thrice – around institutions that handle and interface with foreign investors and foreign investment projects.
I am very clear about one thing: current ministries – both by structure and temperament – cannot be the panacea to this age-old challenge.
We need a new institutional framework, arguably akin to what we saw and met in Rwanda.
There, one supremely executive and overriding institution deals with investors, deals with them from start to finish, all in 24 hours!
This corporatised executive authority led by a CEO who is at par with Cabinet ministers, and who reports directly to Cabinet, passes for a one-stop shop which decides on everything an investor requires to speedily set up shop: from land, policies, laws, by-laws, registration, incentives right down to environmental impact assessments.
It commandeers utilities for various inputs needed by an investor, including factory shells.
Above all, it takes decisions on tax breaks and holidays, including flexibly extending them to allow for enterprise growth.
The guiding philosophy is straightforward: what we miss on the swings, we gain on the roundabouts; what we can’t get now, we get later, or eventually.
There is no Zimra; there is no Finance, Harare City Council or some such hackneyed bureaucratic contraption which shames Whitehall.
Only all these functions melded into one efficient unit that is on the go go.
Bigger picture
This is the new African environment within which Zimbabwe competes for FDI; indeed the new, competitive environment within which she reframes the National Question.
She must believe in herself, making much out of her resource endowments the Almighty has been so generous to give.
She must believe in herself, restoring faith in her leadership, even though broken and betrayed in the past.
Nations go through lows, hit troughs. But the key is to pick themselves up in order to recover.
We cannot do so on gratuitous cynicism deriving from past failures. We can’t do so by concentrating on “smalls” of big national visions and initiatives.
Or by disguising yesterday’s rhetoric of nationalist paranoia into today’s fastidious demand that our leadership remains with us at home, so in suicidal solidarity, we all sink deeper into the slough of despondency as a nation. We have to look at the bigger picture, articulate bigger visions, court bigger players. In China and other nations and concerns of goodwill, we have an opportunity for a fresh start.
George Charamba is the Presidential Press Secretary, and Secretary for Information, Media and Broadcasting Services in the Republic of Zimbabwe. He wrote this article for The Sunday Mail Newspaper – Read Full Article (Part 1)
The multiple initiatives that President Emerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa’s administration has launched may be confusing to a citizenry already buffeted by years of debility and decline.
It is thus important to explain and place in context this flurry of initiatives, a good many of which may involve costs and foreign travel, but all of which are aimed at putting Zimbabwe on an even economic keel.
Key to understanding this broad strategy of many initiatives is appreciating that President Mnangagwa is re-framing the National Question beyond the rhetoric of liberation struggle and land reforms.
Not that both don’t matter to the whole recovery calculus.
No National Question excludes or turns its back on core considerations of national liberation, national sovereignty and the national land issue.
The three form a baseline triumvirate for the modern nation-state.
Yet the key is to restate and reframe these three core issues within a proper, scientific grasp of socio-economic conditions obtaining in Zimbabwe, and at this stage in her evolution.
As I write, such an exercise has become both necessary and urgent, all against challenges which our country Zimbabwe faces.
Economic nationalism
And as the man at the helm, President, Mnangagwa bears the responsibility of this redefinition.
President Mnangagwa’s Zimbabwe-is-open-for-business mantra and punchline summarises the reframing of the National Question under current national social conditions.
His emphasis on anchoring the National Question on business and investment may have inspired his recent remark in Abidjan, Ivory Coast that Zimbabwe has shifted from “hard nationalism” to “economic nationalism”.
There is thus a new vocabulary in the air designed to refocus and redirect national effort towards a pro-business, pro-marketplace culture, but all within strictures of national interest and proper, lawful and ethical business practices.
This, in my view, summarises the re-framing exercise.
But this summary has embedded interconnections which are very easy to miss, and a lot easier to throw pot-shots at for cheap electoral politicking.
National interest, which the President has been emphasising, provides a key link with the liberation ethos. We have been free and independent for nearly 38 years.
Our sense of nationalism and liberation cannot remain as it was in 1980 when we became free.
Those distinct and clear-cut demands and magnitudes of the 1980s today coalesce into this overarching notion we call national interest.
Simply put, it means taking decisions and doing things that positively redound to our common, collective good, all the time assuming that we remain a free and sovereign nation.
Time was when the National Question amounted to a call to arms. Then it morphed to consolidating our nation through national unity which we attained in 1987.
Setting aside the massive national social investments of the 1980s and 1990s, the National Question took us back to the struggle for our land.
That, too, got settled, albeit with great acrimony and at huge national cost.
Beyond or because of land, we found ourselves back in the national trenches, thanks to the second challenge to our sovereignty by the West.
Still we deepened the National Question by raising the broader issue of resource nationalism. But there were serious setbacks and contradictions which precipitated the November 2017 16-day wonder revolution.
Today, and in the context of the new dispensation, we face a new National Question: namely the promotion of business and investment in order to re-jig that same liberation ethos.
Another country
With a past in the national liberation struggle, and given his legal grounding, President Mnangagwa is a perfect human/leadership fit for this badly needed transition whose time has come.
The measure of the transition is in how it at once unleashes the entrepreneurial energy of the nation, while defending and upholding both its interests and its sense of law and morality.
Hence the concurrent, two-track rhetoric of business opportunities on the one hand, and zero tolerance on corruption on the other.
I emphasise this duality to lay to rest a misperception that cracking down on externalisation and some such corporate malfeasances, perforce contradicts the thrust to rally businesses – both local and global – for investments in the country to recover and grow the national economy.
Simply, the new ethos calls for fair, deserved reward to clean, lawful business initiatives by whomsoever.
Simply, too, the new ethos draws a cut-off point with a past where business behaviour was predatory and akin to liquidation, both of which left us anaemic.
We have to break with the bad past, and naming and shaming unorthodox business practices, apart from bidding for restitution, sends a clear signal that the past is another country.
Policy dimension
But the call for greater investments in the economy is not an open cheque. Current adversity must never breed desperation.
We are a well-endowed country, a proud people. We have interests; we ought to have plans and priorities.
The call for investments is thus predicated on key strategic national calculations meant to secure our national interest.
President Mnangagwa’s recent visit to Rwanda put all this to the fore. We need to have a national plan and strategy which is both policy-focused and spatially drawn.
The policy dimension sets out our national priorities based on our competitive edge and where we want to be in the next decade. It motivates players through a raft of incentives we offer to nudge itinerant capital towards desired areas.
Spatially speaking, we need a geographical national masterplan which locates given enterprises in certain parts of our country, consistent with our resource endowments and needs of those enterprises we hope to attract.
Above all, consistent with our wish for growth with justice, indeed for growth which lifts all our communities thereby consolidating our national cohesion.
More critically, the spatial masterplan must be backed up by efficient infrastructures which lower entry/establishment costs for business, thereby improving the ease-of-doing business.
Rwanda ensures that areas zoned for specific enterprise clusters are well enabled by way of infrastructure like roads, rail, electricity, water, information and communication technologies etc.
Equally, land is availed competitively for secure operations.
Both Rwanda and China have offered to assist in this broad planning exercise so sorely needed ahead of luring investments in the country.
This awareness and offer is a key take-away from the President’s recent itinerary. It needs to be actualised on the ground.
Struggling Nkosana Moyo led Alliance for People’s Agenda opposition party has been hit by an inevitable split in its Bulawayo province structures.
Members of the party’s Bulawayo Province left the party over the weekend to establish a new political set up called the Independent Bulawayo 40 (IB40.)
The provincial executive members resigned from the party to set up their seperate unit claiming that Moyo lacked political acumen to campaign in the election and denying them campaign funds and material ahead of this year’s general elections.
The nine provincial executive committee members who are initiating the new political movement tendered their resignation to APA immediately announcing their intention to stand elections seperate from the party.
“We also renounce our candidature under the APA ticket in the upcoming 2018 elections. The reasons for us departing from the party are; there is value in being an independent candidate, more in touch with the electorate on the ground, lack of party funding for candidates, no clear structure within the party especially at national level, no clear road map for the election campaign,” part of the letter read.
“It has been a pleasure and a joy working with people who have a heart and a conviction for a new Great Zimbabwe! We greatly appreciate the leadership and the guidance afforded to us from the party. We wish you and the party all the best in the upcoming elections.”
Those who resigned are provincial secretary-general, Nkosana Mkandla, Mduduzi Ndlovu (organising secretary), Nhlanhla Moyo, Natasha Karimakwenda (youth secretary-general) , Johane Marufu (committee member, disability), an AC Gula-Ndebele (elections strategist national youth wing), Nqobizitha Mabhena (chairperson, Matabeleland North) and Dave Ncube (a member).
Ncube, the IB40 interim chair, confirmed the development yesterday.
“IB40 isn’t a political party, but a movement for independent candidates under the age of 40 running for council seats in Bulawayo. This movement was formed after the realisation that party politics have failed to deliver proper service delivery with councillors more preoccupied with keeping their political positions as opposed to the expectations of the people,” he said.
“Independent candidates have their mandate only to the people of Bulawayo and as such will focus more on the service delivery. IB40 will contest in the 2018 elections for council seats.”
Other IB40 interim leaders are Mabhena, as co-ordinator, Mkandla (vice-co-ordinator), Marufu (strategist), Ndlovu (secretary-general), Karimakwenda (treasurer), and Gula-Ndebele as spokesperson.
“What we stand for are local jobs to be given to local people and separation of council business from party business. We need a clear separation between the city of Bulawayo and Bulawayo City Council, non-partisan residents’ association. We are residents first before being political beings, service delivery affects all of us despite our political association,” Ncube said.
“We need a united residents’ association, non-partisan ward development committees, to establish ward development committees involving all stake holders in the community including, police, teachers, health workers residents to tackle developmental issues in the community, to frequent ward feedback meetings, councillors to conduct frequent feedback meetings on council business, and questions and answers sessions.”
Botswana’s new President being sworn in last Sunday
By Paul Nyathi| Botswana’s newly inaugurated President Mokgweetsi Eric Keabetswe Masisi will today be making his first official international visit by making a courtesy call at President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s office in Harare only a week into his inauguration.
According to a Botswana government statement, President Masisi will Monday pay a one-day state visit to Namibia and Zimbabwe.
The statement said the tour aims at deepening and broadening the scope of bilateral cooperation and discussing regional continental and global issues of mutual concern with his counterparts Hage Geingob and Emmerson Mnangagwa.
President Masisi will be accompanied by the International Affairs and Cooperation and with Transport and Communications ministers, Vincent Seretse and Onkokame Kitso Mokaila respectively.
The president and his entourage are expected to return to Gaborone later on Monday evening after short visits to the two neighbouring countries in a state charted flight.
President Masisi, 55, was inaugurated as Botswana’s fifth president last Sunday after President Ian Khama stepped down, ahead of completing the constitutional maximum 10 years in office.
Khama became a friend with Zimbabwe after Mnangagwa successfully executed a smart military coup over former President Robert Mugabe who Khama confessed to disliking for a long time.
Khama disliked Mugabe for what he openly described as impunity on Zimbabweans and dictatorship “which collapsed a once big Zimbabwean economy.”
In sharp contrast to Zimbabwe, Botswana is one of the Africa’s most stable countries and the continent’s longest continuous multi-party democracy.
It is rated as the least corrupt country in Africa by Transparency International and has a good human rights record a huge contrast to Zimbabwe.
The country which is home to tens of thousands of Zimbabwean economic refugees is faced with rising unemployment rate of about 18 per cent and an HIV/Aids epidemic.
“It is because of the peace and tranquillity that our leaders have sustained for so long that Batswana (people) have continued to enjoy relative prosperity,” President Masisi said after taking his oath.
“One of my top priorities as the president of this country will be to address the problem of unemployment, especially amongst the young people,” he said.
The visiting German broadcaster, DW’s Director General, Peter Limbourg has called on Zimbabwean authorities to release their grip on the media to allow development of the sector under the country’s new administration. VIDEO :
CABS Bank errors gave devoted nurse “miracle money”
By Paul Nyathi | A final year student nurse at Gweru hospital is languishing in remand prison after squandering $54 000 “miraculously” deposited into his CABS Bank account last year.
Twenty Four year old Kelvin Kutadza of Mkoba 19 in Gweru was on Friday remanded in custody to Monday for sentencing after pleading guilty to 54 counts of fraud totalling $54 052.34 .
According to the court, sometime in July last year, CABS Bank erroneously deposited the money into Kutadza’s bank account following a system failure, money which Kutadza went on to squander by making various transfers into his mobile phone account and into his MBCA Bank Account.
Kutadza went on to buy a house in Mkoba 19 for $32 000 and two cars worth $10 500 using part of the money. $2 300 was recovered when the bank realised the mistake last week leading to his arrest.
In his defence, Kutadza confessed to being a highly devoted Christian and believed that the money was miracle money which he had been promised in church.
“When I saw the money in my account, I honestly believed that my prayers for miracle money had been answered that is why I used the money,” Kutadza told the court.
He pleaded with the court to forgive him and allow him to finish his training as a nurse where he is due to graduate on the 5th of May. He pleaded that he was going to dispose the house and cars to pay back the money to the bank.
The bank is also reportedly investigating two other people who benefited from the error and swindled the financial institution of over $200 000. The bank has since dismissed thirteen of its information technology staff members over the system technical failures.
By Farai D Hove| Former police boss, Augustine Chihuri and Vice President, Kembo Mohadi are this morning set to appear before the parliamentary committee on Mines And Energy.
ZimEye could not at the time of writing verify if Chihuri will appear this time since last month the former police boss was nowhere to be seen as rumours flared that he has fled the country.
Notwithstanding, the below was the full schedule-
ORAL EVIDENCE: MINES AND ENERGY COMMITTEE MONDAY 9 APRIL 2018
The following people have been invited to appear and give evidence on the diamond sector to the aforesaid Committee on Monday 9 April 2018 at 09:00hrs in the Senate Chamber:
A Chihuri
Commissioner General G. Matanga
Mr R Chingodza
Moyo CIO
Mr W. Manungo
Hon P. A. Chinamasa
F. Mazani ZIMRA
Mr G. Masimirembwa
Mining Houses: ZMDC/ZCDC and Board, MMCZ and Board
Perhaps the strongest sign that the famous, fearless war veteran is joining the MDC party, Jabulani Sibanda met party leader on Saturday on the sidelines of the White City stadium rally. PICTURES
FILE COPY – Zimbabwe in match with SA… ESPN picture
Zimbabwe senior women’s football team, the Mighty Warriors beat Namibia yesterday.
The Mighty Warriors did not show signs of fatigue in a contest which produced no goals in the first half action.
Although the hosts had a 2-0 cushion, Sithethelelwe “Kwinjie 15”Sibanda’s charges did not hold back in the second half with Emmaculate Msipa scoring the opener much to the excitement of the home crowd that turned up at Rufaro.
Mavis Chirandu sealed the game as a contest after doubling Zimbabwe’s lead 4 minutes before full time to hand the Mighty Warriors a 2-0 win which ensured they sail through to the second round of qualifiers on a 4-0 aggregate victory.
Sibanda was pleased with how her charges performed while her counterpart from Namibia was gracious in defeat.
After overcoming Namibia, the Mighty Warriors will now be bracing up for a tricky second round where they face Zambia. – state media
As the opposition MDC party cancelled primary elections, ZANU PF on the other hand has pursued a somewhat democratic path, save for two constituencies. Below is the latest events-roll in the ruling party’s selection process for the 2018 elections according to the state media –
Zanu-PF provinces are today expected to submit to the party headquarters in Harare curriculum vitaes (CVs) of aspiring candidates for the party’s May 5 primary elections with the list of successful candidates out by the end of the week. Most provinces had completed the vetting process by yesterday, with some bigwigs reportedly one foot in for the primaries after candidates who had registered to challenge them failed to meet the basic minimum qualifications.
Other Politburo members, however, breezed through uncontested. Although some provinces have resolved to recommend candidates who should be disqualified, the ruling party’s national political commissar, Lieutenant-General Engelbert Rugeje (Retired), reiterated yesterday that all CVs should be forwarded to Zanu-PF’s national elections directorate (NED) to ensure the process was impartial and transparent.
Provincial structures, he said, had no power to disqualify candidates. “All the names will be sent here and we will do the vetting and verification from this side. There had been complaints from the provinces that the incumbents were shutting others out,” said Rugeje.
“So, in the spirit of fairness, we will do the vetting of candidates from here (party headquarters),” he said. It is believed even uncontested candidates have to be confirmed by the NED.
Notably, in the Midlands province Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Dr Sibusiso Moyo, who is eying the Mberengwa Senate seat, was unchallenged.
Speaking yesterday after compiling the list to be forwarded to party headquarters today, Midlands provincial chairperson Daniel McKenzie Ncube said his province had received many CVs from members aspiring to be councillors, legislators and senators.
He said senior party members, Tafanana Zhou, Chiratidzo Mabuwa and Tsitsi Zhou, whom the provincial executive recommended to be suspended, could contest while waiting for a final determination by the party’s national disciplinary committee.
“We received a lot of CVs from aspiring party members and of note is the CV of Lt-Gen Moyo (Rtd) which was accepted unchallenged for the primary elections to be held soon,” he said.
Meanwhile the Midlands provincial leadership has recommended that suspended Kwekwe Central legislator Masango Matambanadzo be disqualified from the primary elections.
Matambanadzo was suspended for alleged insubordination and creating parallel structures.
First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa attended the meeting.
In Mashonaland West, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi and Central Committee member Philip Chiyangwa were among senior party members who stand a chance to avoid a contest for primaries after prospective candidates were disqualified because they had not served as party district members for the stipulated five years.
Chiyangwa, who recently moved to Zvimba administration district from Makonde, emerged from a pool of six other aspirants – Walter Chidhakwa, Crispen Saidi, Zandile Maseko, Peter Chiridza, Sign Chabvonga and war veteran Jesca Tapfumaneyi – who fell by the wayside.
Provincial chairman Ziyambi Ziyambi was also unopposed after aspirants, including Francis Chitewe, Mercy Dinha (wife to Mashonaland Central Provincial Affairs Minister Advocate Martin Dinha), Webster Chinomwe and Elvis Mareverwa, were disqualified for not meeting the set criteria.
Chegutu West saw youth chairperson Vengai Musengi going uncontested, while Politburo member Christopher Mutsvangwa is also unopposed in Norton, as is Prisca Mupfumira eying the Makonde senatorial seat.
Dexter Nduna (Chegutu East) was uncontested after three other candidates failed to measure up to the requirements.
In Hurungwe West, Keith Guzah found no challengers, but in Hurungwe East, Tongai Mujenje will face Mary Marumahoko, Ngoni Takundwa Masenda and Patrick Maponga.
Senate President Edna Madzongwe withdrew from the Chegutu Senate race, leaving Anna Guhwa and Lydia Tsomondo to fight it out.
A record 870 Zanu-PF aspiring candidates in Masvingo had submitted their curriculum vitaes to contest in the party’s primary elections slated for May 5.
Among these were CVs ofthose with pending disciplinary cases. According to provincial chairman Ezra Chadzamira said they had accepted the CVs pending a final decision by the NCD.
“We have only made recommendations on some of the aspiring candidates’ CVs because they have pending disciplinary issues,” he said.
Among high-profile people who have joined the political fray ahead of the primary elections in Masvingo are Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education,Science and Technology Development Professor Amon Murwira (Gutu North), his Mines and Mining Development counterpart Winston Chitando (Gutu Senatorial seat), ex-Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries president Mr Callisto Jokonya (Gutu South) and ex-diplomat Ambassador Jonathan Wutaunashe (Gutu South).
All the other provinces were finalising paperwork before submission today.
By Terrence Mawawa| Zimbabwe’s former Cricket coach, Heath Streak received a massive round of support on Sunday after being accused of being racist. Below were some of the reactions:
A Form Three pupil from a secondary school in Mangwe District reportedly hanged herself after school authorities ordered her to bring her parents to school over a scuffle she had with another pupil over a boyfriend.
She was reportedly sent home by school authorities on 22 March to summon her parents to school after she had fought with another girl on the same day. She was buried on Saturday last week in Ezimnyama in Mangwe District.
Matabeleland South acting police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Loveness Mangena confirmed the suicide.
“Yes, we confirm that we handled a matter of a sudden death by suicide of a Form Three pupil at Mqokolweni High School in Ezimyama. The girl was found hanging by her sister in a kitchen hut on 24 March at about 5.30am. Police attended the scene and the body was conveyed to Plumtree District Hospital. A doctor waivered post-mortem as no foul play was suspected,” said Asst Insp Mangena.
She appealed to members of the public not take their lives but seek counselling in the event of problems or disputes.
“Members of the public should approach elders, police, traditional leaders and churches for counselling. In fact they should involve third parties in trying to solve disputes to avoid unnecessary loss of lives,” she said.
However, according to a source close to the matter who identified the pupil as Inamandla Ncube (17) of Ezimnyama under Chief Wasi, the girl allegedly fought with another pupil at school over a boyfriend.
“After that fight the pair was ordered to bring their parents the following day which was a Friday. However, she did not tell her parents about the issue but came home complaining of a severe headache. The day she was supposed to take her parents to school she woke up complaining of the same problem and did not go to school,” said the source.
He said on the day in question, the pupil woke up early at around 5am pretending to go to school but proceeded to a kitchen hut and hanged herself.
“She was found hanging from the roof truss with a rope around her neck by her sister Vezile Ncube (20) who had gone to the kitchen to do household chores. She alerted the elders and the matter was reported to the police who came and collected the body,” he said.
Recently, a Plumtree District Hospital worker was found hanging in his bedroom, nearly a week after he had allegedly disappeared.
The body of Nathan Ngqabutho Masuku (31) of MaKariba section was discovered after a stench emanating from the house disturbed neighbours. – State Media
Matopos National Park to be turned into a City in the MDC Alliance government
By Paul Nyathi
Prominent writer and critic Hopewell Chinono has laughed off MDC-T President Nelson Chamisa’s promise to turn Matopos National Park into a city when he comes into power.
In a Facebook posting on Sunday, Chinono who refers to Chamisa as “Wamba Dia Wamba” said the thoughts to turn the world heritage site into a city is the most absurd thought in the week.
“So the MDC Alliance leader Nelson “Wamba Dia Wamba” Chamisa spoke about Matopos being turned into a town if he becomes President,” wrote Chinono.
“That to me is a Wambology because Matopos greatest gift is it’s natural and virgin state. Turning it into a town will destroy what makes it unique and attractive as a tourist destination.”
“Foreign and local tourists come to Matopos for its flora and fauna. It has archaeological, historical and cultural sites that should never be tempered with if it is to retain its relevance in the world of tourism,” said Chinono.
Addressing a huge crowd of MDC Alliance coalition supporters at a rally held at White City Stadium in Bulawayo on Saturday, Chamisa promised the people of Matabeleland that was soon as he comes into government he will ensure the development of the tourist attraction into a major city.
Addressing a similar rally in Dete Matabeleland North a couple of weeks ago, Chamisa also promised to turn Victoria Falls into a Las Vegas from its current semi natural state.
“When I say these things people think I am out of my mind,” said Chamisa in Bulawayo.
“It is possible and we will do that. They can’t see these things happening because they have run out of ideas for this country,” he insisted.
Chinono opted to differ with Chamisa imploring that the tourist sites are serving their purpose best under the conditions they are currently being kept in.
“It is also a popular camping destination because of its current status,” said Chinono.
“You can’t turn Harare, London or New York into camping destinations.
So by making it a town, you would have killed that natural beauty that attracts tourists to it.”
“Victoria Falls is what it is today because the visitors want to be in a natural habitat and not locked in modernity.
That is why restaurants in Victoria Falls make money when they have that ancient feel to them as opposed to the modern metropolitan feel.
“That is why I find the Wambology about turning Victoria Falls into a Las Vegas detached from why Victoria Falls is a popular tourist attraction,” said Chinono.
“What Matopos needs is funding to enhance the parks and its virgin status not turning it into a town,” concluded Chinono.
Young Lemmy Mabaso pen whistling at a very tender age.
By Paul Nyathi
Legendary South African musical group The Soul Brothers have yet again lost one of their long serving members.
Long time saxophonist, composer and dancer Lemmy “The Special One” Mabaso died in Johannesburg on Sunday afternoon after a short illness at the age of 69.
The group announced Mabaso’s death in their official Facebook page and website on Sunday evening.
“Good evening ladies and gentlemen. We lament to announce to you the sad passing of Lemmy “Special” Mabaso,” said the group’s information office.
“Lemmy joined us in March 1979 after the tragedy that took Mpompi Sosibo and Tuza Mthethwa. He came in the fill up Mpompi’s space,” said the band.
Mabaso was born on 15 April 1949. He started his music career when he formed a band called “Alexandra Junior Bright Boys” with his brothers at a very early age.
In March 1979 he joined the Soul Brothers and his first recording with them was the album “Deliwe” which was a tribute to the late Tuza and Mpompi.
The Soul Brothers only surviving founding member “Black” Moses Ngwenya said the band will always remember Mabaso as a great musician.
“We will always remember him as a brilliant musician, a penny whistle star, a saxophonist, a dancer and a composer of merit,” he said.
Dynamos Football Club’s new sponsors, NetOne on Sunday morning said they paid Dynamos forward Christian Epoupa Ntouba a gross total of $18,125.00 this year.
This is contrary to reports from Ntouba’s camp claiming that Dynamos is yet to settle the player’s signing on fees in full.
NetOne CEO, Lazarus Muchenje faced the media on the occassion to give the sponsors’ side of the story.
“…in the recent past, the media has been awash with stories surrounding the strained relationship between Dynamos and its foreign player- Christian Ntouba Joel Epoupa; and have read with anguish the various versions of the story.
Whilst, this matter is purely what we would like to believe, a misunderstanding between Dynamos and Epoupa, the prolonged stand-off between the two parties has become a cause of concern for our brand.
To this end, we went over and above our contractual obligations and called for an all stakeholders meeting with Dynamos and Epoupa’s manager, on Friday evening to seek clarity on the matter with a view of assisting both parties to find an amicable resolution that is mutually beneficial to all brands.
To this end, we wish to put on record and categorically state that NetOne is not in any financial breach in terms of its sponsorship agreement with Dynamos and has processed all Epoupa’s allowances and Sign On fees as per the schedules submitted to us by Dynamos.
To date NetOne and Dynamos have paid a gross total of $18,125.00 to Epoupa this year…,” he said.
Part of the 50 000 crowd at White City Stadium for Chamisa’s Rally.
By Paul Nyathi| Following several arguments on social media on how many people actually attended the MDC Alliance coalition rally held in Bulawayo on Saturday, a ZimEye.com reader says that expert evidence can confirm that at least 40 000 people turned up for the rally at White City Stadium.
The reader who requested anonymity also says that at most 10 000 people may have travelled for the rally from outside Bulawayo leaving the majority to be Bulawayo residents.
The reader says that the figures are not worth arguing about as ZANU PF can still bring the same number into the venue when it holds its rally.
The reader says the figure is very insignificant when compared to the total registered voters in the province.
The writer’s full opinion reads as follows:
“Just how many people were in that bumper crowd at White City Stadium on Saturday?
Let’s stop arguing from the air and work on facts.
White City Stadium has a normal sitting capacity of 15 000 people. That is when people are seated at the designated sitting place on the terraces and not inside the pitch. For a fact ALL those seats were fully occupied so there were certainly over 15 000 people.
On top of the 15 000 there were those of us who were standing right behind all the seated people and in the cycle track. A fair assessment will say perhaps another 15 000 people occupied that area but to give the benefit of the doubt we would half that number and make it 7 000 people. That takes the figure to 22 000 people.
The area in the pitch could be about a hectare which is 10 000 square metres. Seated loosely as is normal the case at these rallies two people occupy a square metre while three people can occupy a square metre while standing.
For a fact not the entire 100 hectares was occupied we can cut a quarter of the hectare and say about 8 000 square metres were occupied. Of that 75% was occupied by standing people which will give us 12 000 people standing inside the pitch taking our tally to 34 000 people.
2 000 square metres of the area was covered by seated people at two people per square metre giving us another 4 000 people. That takes our tally to 38 000.
Then there was the huge number of the carefrees who were loitering behind the terraces and outside the stadium enjoying their drinks and merry making. Those who were at the venue can agree with me that those could easily make up another at least 2 000 people.
Justifiably then, 40 000 people attended the rally using the least possible computations. If extremes would be used the crowd can still be pegged at 50 000.
How many of these were people from in and around Bulawayo is the big question.
I personally had an opportunity to go around the stadium before settling inside shorlty after Chamisa and his crew arrived. I did not see the thirty buses parked outside the stadium which are being claimed by other people. At most I saw no more than ten buses. Working on the claimed buses with an average 60 people in a bus that will be 1 800 people.
There is also claims of some fifty trucks. Say each truck carried 40 people it will give us 2 000 people. There is also claims of Kombis carrying people. Say up to even 500 Kombis came in from outside Bulawayo carrying 16 people each. That will give us 8000 people. These figures will give us +/- 10 000 people coming in from outside Bulawayo. Even if the figure could be put at a straight 10 000 it leaves 30 000 to 40 000 being people from in and around Bulawayo.
Sad fact though is that 450 000 people registered as voters in Bulawayo. The figures need no celebration as it is not yet uhuru for MDC Alliance coalition. ZANU PF and Emmerson Mnangagwa can still come to Bulawayo and easily hit the same numbers.”
Terrence Mawawa| NetOne has revealed Dynamos striker Christian Joel Epoupa Ntouba has received a total of$18,000 from the company.
In a statement, the NetOne CEO Lazarus Muchenje said the company cleared all the money owed to the Cameroonian as part of their sponsorship agreement with the Glamour Boys contrary to media reports that the club failed to pay his dues.
Epoupa missed the opening games of the season, demanding his outstanding dues that amount to over $16 000.
The fall-out has attracted media attention
since the beginning of the 2018 season.
“To this end, we wish to put on record and
categorically state that NetOne is not in any financial breach in terms of its sponsorshipagreement with Dynamos and it has processed all of Epoupa’s allowances and Sign On fees as per the schedules submitted to NetOne by Dynamos.
To date NetOne and Dynamos have paid a gross total of $18,125.00 to Epoupa this year,” said NetOne in a statement.
Terrence Mawawa ZPC Kariba collected their first point of the season
following a goalless draw against struggling Harare Giants Dynamos at
Nyamhunga Stadium yesterday.
PSL results:
ZPC Kariba 0-0 Dynamos
Ngezi Platinum Stars 1-0 Chicken Inn
Yadah FC 1-2 Triangle United
Bulawayo City 0-1 Black Rhinos
Harare City 2-0 Bulawayo Chiefs.
Due to the biting economic hardships people can do all sorts of weird things to beat the crunch crisis.
Police in Buhera last week visited Bheghedhe Secondary Schools to investigate a case in which a Form Four girl was spotted selling mbanje.
Authorities at the school refused to comment on the matter.
However Buhera District Schools Inspector, Godfrey Chimbwanda said investigations were in progress.
Sources at the school said the girl was confronted by senior staff members and she disclosed she was working in cahoots with 13 pupils and several staff members in the deal.
Workers who were dismissed from work by Sugar producing giant, Tongaat Hullet will soon petition President Emmerson Mnangagwa to intervene in the ensuing fracas.
Tongaat Hullet retrenched 181 workers citing low production of sugar that was triggered by the invasion of its land by Zanu PF supporters last year.
The workers were served with termination of employment letters last Tuesday, according to sources at the company.
The Zimbabwe Sugar and Milling Industry Workers Union has vowed to petition Mnangagwa to intervene in the raging dispute.
“As you know, the President has introduced policies that attract investors so we do not expect the company to dismiss employees arbitrarily,” said a member of the union.
“We are therefore compiling papers for presentation to the President,” he added.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa and members of his government were not happy with the fact that Geiger International, the company that had won the Harare- Beitbridge Road Dualisation Tender flatly refused to be manipulated by ruling party mandarins.
Two weeks ago Masvingo State Minister Josaya Dunira Hungwe told reporters in the ancient city the ruling party would oversee the recruitment of workers in the road dualisation project.
A Geiger International official yesterday revealed there was a standoff between the company and the government pertaining to the administration of funds.
“We refused to be cowed into submission and as a result senior government officials became furious,” said the official.
Mnangagwa announced that his government was unhappy with Geiger International’ s dithering in the project.
Mnangagwa ditched the Austrian company following what he described as mega deals he clinched in China.
Terrence Mawawa, Masvingo| MDC-T official were yesterday involved in a horrific accident as they were traveling from Bulawayo to Chivi.
The officials were on their way home after attending the party rally that was held in the city of Kings yesterday.
“Joachim Chiware the Chivi North District Secretary, Emmanuel Chidaushe and 13 others were involved in an accident on their way home from the Bulawayo rally.
The 13 are admitted at Filabusi Hospital while Chiware and Chidaushe are admitted at White Bospital in Zvishavane,” the party said in a statement.
A worker with a telecommunications company died while another is battling for his life after they were electrocuted while pulling a telecommunications cable in Victoria Falls on Friday.
The two employees whose identities are being withheld for the time being were badly electrocuted when the telecommunications line they were drawing accidentally got into contact with a high voltage Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company line in Mkhosana Suburb in Victoria Falls.
The two workers were connecting a WiFi line to a private residence when the incident occurred.
According to the owner of the house the two tried to draw the line over a Mango tree when their cables got into contact with the live electricity lines.
“I heard a loud scream from where the two were working, when I rushed outside to check I saw the two men wriggling in agony with their clothing on fire,” said the home owner.
“I called for help from neighbours but when an ambulance arrived one of them had already died,” she added.
The surviving employee was airlifted to the privately run Mater Dei Hospital in Bulawayo where he is reportedly in a very critical condition at the Intensive Care Unit.
Police in Victoria Falls confirmed the incident saying that investigations are still on going and the public relations office will issue a statement on the matter soon.
The expelled former MDC spokesman Obert Gutu and also the man in the below video, say that MDC leader Nelson Chamisa smuggled supporters into Bulawayo for his rally yesterday using buses from northern provinces.
$50 000 spent on bussing people to Byo….
We pursue Realpolitik….not self – delusion and self – deception.
Results of Election 2018 will confirm who are the FAKE and who are the REAL politicians…#ServantLeadershipAndService
We will seat your king, Chamisa promises the Ndebele.
By Paul Nyathi
Opposition MDC-T President Nelson Chamisa has implored Ndebele King designate Prince Bulelani Lobengula Khumalo to prepare for his coronation in September this year when the MDC-T replaces the ruling ZANU PF party in government.
Chamisa made the promise at a hugely attend MDC Alliance coalition rally at White City Stadium in Bulawayo on Saturday.
Chamisa earned himself a thunderous applause from the people of Bulawayo when he promised that if his party wins the landmark elections set for July or August this year he will allow the Ndebele people to go ahead with the coronation of Bulelani Lobengula Khumalo which was blocked by the ruling ZANU PF in March this year.
“I was very disappointed when the ZANU PF government barred the Khumalo family from seating their cultural king in March,” said Chamisa.
“When we come into government we are going to respect the cultural values of our people. The Khumalo’s will be allowed to practise their culture and seat the king the way they want,” he said.
“I want to tell Prince Khumalo that he should not be worried, come September we are going to see his coronation as king and we will all attend and bring all our ministers with us,” he said.
The ZANU PF government got the ire of the people of Matabeleland in March when they declared as unconstitutional the crowning of a Ndebele cultural king.
By Paul Nyathi| MDC-T President Nelson Chamisa has reiterated his call for an end to deploying Shona speaking teachers and health personnel into the Matabeleland region.
Addressing a huge crowd of about 40 000 people who thronged White City Stadium in Bulawayo on Saturday, Chamisa said that when his party comes into government after the elections in August it will bring an end the deployment of teachers and nurses who fail to speak local languages of where they are working.
“We are not saying that Shona speaking people must not come to Matabeleland,” he said. “What we are saying is that when they come to work in the schools and clinics in the area they must be able to speak both Ndebele and Shona.”
Chamisa who sporadically battled throwing in a couple of IsiNdebele words in his speech, castigated former President Robert Mugabe and his successor President Emmerson Mnangagwa for being at the helm of the country’s leadership for thirty eight years but still failed to speak IsiNdebele one of the main languages in the country.
Chamisa who himself is married to a Ndebele speaking wife said that he was still perfecting his Ndebele declaring that his government will make it compulsory for all national leaders to speak in the three main languages spoken in Zimbabwe, English, Shona and Ndebele.
“In our government no one will be allowed to be a national leader and not be able to speak the three main languages,” said Chamisa giving co MDC Alliance coalition principal Tendai Biti an ultimatum for him to start learning Ndebele.
“Cde Biti you have to start working on your Ndebele. You can not be a national leader and lack leadership,” said Chamisa to the PDP leader.
“Leadership entails being able to connect with people through their culture and language,” he said.
People from the Matabeleland region have through the years been complaining about government deploying non local languages speaking teachers to teach in schools in the region.
Meanwhile, MDC Alliance coalition co principal and Spokesperson Professors Welshman Ncube has apologised to Matabeleland people for having the Bulawayo rally being dominated by Shona speaking people.
In a Facebook post responding to complaints that have flooded social media by people in the region complaining on the Shona dominance at the rally, Ncube said that the Alliance realised it late into the rally that Shona was dominating the proceedings after noting live social media complaints.
MDC President Prof Welshman Ncube response about the Bulawayo MDC Alliance’s leaders speaking in Shona
“Concerns which were filtered to us during the rally were not in vain. There was an inadequate attempts to correct which included having Rita Ndlovu who speaks Ndebele becoming the anchor MC towards the end,” said Ncube.
“We considered introducing translation but then Cde Biti was already in the middle of his presentation and we thought since I would speak next in Ndebele that might be enough. We knew that Cde Chamisa would speak in as much Ndebele as he could master and that he will also use as much English as he could under the circumstances. However we fully accept the criticism and we will correct,” he said.
